Harmony, very insulted, remains in the cockpit, door closed behind her, and glances away from the stars, back at the Cortex screen. "Might as well..." she mutters, opening up an offline message- one she can send once they're not flying dark- and starting to write. Then, she checks their course to see if they are far out enough to require their going dark.
"If the Alliance brainwashed their soldiers, I wouldn't be here now would I?" replied Vash after Harmony walked off.
"Although I do have to admit Alliance is a proud bunch. They tend to to think themselves as very gallant and noble. I was kind of like that, until I began freelancing."
Vash slurped up some noodles before looking toward the way that Harmony has gone.
"It's a trait she still has, it seems, and would still take it hard if someone insulted the Alliance. Lets hope her temper about it won't show up while were in the asteroid field, eh?"
Christopher continued his meal, keeping a neutral tone of voice.
"Everyone fights for what they beleive to be right, and often with a gallant passion. The Browncoats were every bit as convinced that what they were fighting for was just and honorable, and the Alliance was something of an evil empire."
"Some believe that propaganda could be a form o' mind control," Kelly contributes. "All subconscious muck and whatnot. Both sides did it. But hey, let's not go insultin' the woman who has the controls of the ship, eh? I understand why you feel the way you do, Doc, but not everyone else agrees."
Kelly is notoriously impartial on the subject of the Unification War. He has declined to state which side he fought for in the war, but you are all free to make your assumptions and guesstimates.
-
Things are running smoothly so far, Harmony. But it does irk you that they defame the Alliance so readily, when you obviously know otherwise of it. It might even irk you that nobody else responded the way you did... but that's life on this ship.
Out here, in the Black, Harmony knows she is alone. The only people who will agree with her have been trained to be extremely suspicious of her- along with any other non-Alliance ship- and aren't too likely to stand up for her in an argument, what with being just outside of sensor range on an entirely different ship. But, at least she has friends... She looks at the message she'd recorded, and sets it to send as soon as Gan Ying can fly hot. And then, she goes back to staring at the stars, wondering if there's anyone out there who actually trusts their government.
"Alliance won due to superior numbers, better technology, and a more organized cause. I was a Independent sympathizer, because I beleive everyone should have the right to live their lives as freely as possible, let em do their own governing, but I will not deny that some planets probably would've been worse than they are now had the Independents won. Alot of Independent planets had shoddy leadership that barely stood together in wartime, muchless peace. Could've been anarchic."
"And you think the Alliance really helps those same planets now? Sure, everything's happy and shiny in the Core, but beyond the Halo... the Alliance is taking what they like from the border planets, and either leaving 'em just as lawless as they were, or under power-hungry military overlords. Folk get called citizens; doesn't mean they get treated like 'em."
"I'm speaking in theory here. The reality is both ends do not work too well. The Alliance can't keep up with every planet they have, and if the Independents had their way, then a good number of those planets would've been driven into the ground by insurgents, poor leadership, and all the other fine things that come with most rebellions."
"Hey, I'd like to see any of you run a galaxy and not tell me it's a difficult job. It takes time. It may not be in our lifetime, but one day, you can bet all those planets on the fringe will be just as nice as the Core. Course, by then there'll be new planets to be discovered that'll be the new fringe..."