Angels2200

Looking back upon it all, I find myself overwhelmed by what they accomplished, of how much more they gave than what they had any right to possess. None of us who had the battle scars of body and mind gave them a serious thought, at least not beyond some trivial use to accomplish our mission. Yet, they somehow tapped into a strength that went deeper than their youthful years. And when the crucible of war enclosed them within its fiery embrace, a war that was never meant to be theirs, they bore it with an obtuse dignity and a stubborn resolve.

I will not go as far as to say they were the best soldiers I had ever known. Such accolades are given by those ignorant historians and self-serving politicians who pin metals to graves for deeds they never had the courage to perform themselves. However, I will say that the Icebreakers, in all their naiveté and inexperience, brought something to the Terran Navy that had long since been bombed and shot and starved into extinction. The Alliance initiated the draft out of necessity, the admirals tolerated it for expedience, but when the guns fell silent and the dead littered the vast tomb of space, the Icebreakers and those other young girls who followed in their path brought the unflinching eyes of children to the war. And when we saw what they saw, when the folly of our deeds was laid naked before us, we could no longer deny our own futility. We had shed blood for the sake of our fathers, continuing a war not out of any aim save our own unspent grief. We could never have stopped the war ourselves. But within those eyes, those pairs of too-soon-spoiled mirrors, we were shocked into action and rightly shamed into peace.

Why throughout the human story the blood of innocence must be shed for the redemption of the guilty, I cannot begin to guess. All I know is that Icebreaker Squadron became the sacrifice we so desperately needed. As a soldier, I can do little more to truly honor them than to simply give their names. My memories of them are my own, and I treasure them privately. But their names I can give to you, O Distant Reader, for they are the only part of them within your reach:

Sasha Carelli
Francesca Martines
Mary O'Reilly
Rebecca Bradley
Juanita Valdez
Mitsabi Kiseko

Speak them aloud. It is the least you can do to honor them. The most you can do is to live your life in blissful, but thankful, ignorance of the ravages of conflict. As for me, I take a small comfort in my later years that the girls who were forced to fight in the war were not the hopeless throw-aways I knew them to be.

They were meant to be cannon fodder, but thanks to all the good powers beyond this weary Universe, they became heroic cannon fodder.

- Excerpt from "Women At War", the Memoirs of Terran Navy Captain Robin Kurosawa

*Applause*

Why thank you sir.

I recently got another idea for a fun fanfic using the main Angels characters that I'll try to finish within the next couple weeks.