“How is progress?”

“Plants one to eight have been on schedule with production, but plants nine and ten are slightly behind due to raw material shortages.”

“Good. What about The Weapon?”

“The project is progressing as planned. However, laboratory one suffered a plasma leak and subsequent minor meltdown, but the damages should be fully repaired by the end of the week.”

“And the carrier?”

“Prototypes one and two are already built and are ongoing ground testing. Flight certification should be ready in a few days.”

“Very good… very good.”

“But we are losing a lot of fighters since the introduction of the JF-200. Just yesterday we lost a patrol fighter on the border, and a squadron on an interdiction mission also suffered heavy losses. I think I can represent the entirety of the air force when I say upgrades should seriously—”

“That would not be necessary. Focus all resources on developing The Weapon, we cannot afford to fight this war for much longer. The Weapon can bring us decisive victory. Upgraded airplanes cannot.”

“So you are willing to use the death of our pilots to buy us time to build some weapon that has a good chance of not even being able to function?”

“Are you questioning the decisions of the Council?”

“Yes, I am. I do not believe that human lives should just be given away to create a weapon of mass destruction that will only take the lives of many more.”

“Human lives?”

“Sorry… I misspoke.”

“But it will mean victory for us.”

“So? Victory at the cost of more than half of the global population?”

“Yes. And may I point out that the pilots you refer to are incinerated under your supervision every other day.”

“That’s…”

“Just because they look like people and talk like people, it doesn’t make them people. I thought that was established long ago. The only reason we have not lost the war was because of that invention and that belief.”

“I’ve only done so because of orders from you people. If I had the chance I…”

“You will what? As a reminder, we greatly value your ability as a captain and tactician. We would much prefer not to have to terminate you prematurely for rebellious behavior.”

“…Understood…”

“You may now leave.”

The man nodded. Then he turned and marched stiffly out of the door, the guards closing the door behind him.

Now, the Council sat alone in the wide conference hall, a deathly silence hanging over them, pierced only by the splattering of rain on the tinted windows.

“Sophia, are you sure that it’s the best idea to wipe out more than half of the global population?”

“Are you not the one who first proposed it? Researcher… sorry, Council member Alexander.”

“I just put it forward as an idea. I never meant for it to be chosen as the final solution. I was never sure if destroying the whole of New Asia was really something that would be for the greater good.”

“Alexander. It is almost unanimously agreed by all, including you, that having both cities survive will only lead to future conflict. It is also without a doubt that our city is objectively the superior one as compared to New Asia. We have less crime, less child fatality rate, and better health and living standards. By all means, if we win the war, the future world will be a better—”

“Yet we are still losing the war.”

“Do not cut me off, Alexander. By the time the Weapon is finished, we will grant ourselves the final victory. All the losses made along the way will be recorded down in history books as heroic sacrifices.”

“And how will you justify the destruction of all the little towns and villages? The mass murder of civilians?”

“Humanity needs to be united. We cannot risk the possibility of another civilization rebuilding itself and creating the chance of another conflict. With just one society, with people who all have the same goals and beliefs, there will be no more war. We are doing this for the greater good of humanity. Of course, details such as these can be omitted when creating the history books.”

“I sure hope that you are right…”

*****

Lenn

He could feel vibrations against his head, which lay on a pillow crudely constructed out of folded clothing and bandages.

Lenn opened his eyes and saw what appeared to be the ceiling of the cargo hold of some aircraft. Red light dimly illuminated the space, which seemed much tighter than the cargo hold of his JF-200.

There was the sound of talking, but the noise of the engines was too loud for the words to be intelligible.

His head hurt, a dull ache that pounded through the skull.

He thought back to the events before waking up.

He remembered the dogfight, the tracers, the explosions, and the fire.

Then it dawned upon him. He is now a prisoner of war, aboard the enemy fighter that shot him down.

Instinctively, his hand reached down to the side of his hip to search for his pistol, but, as expected, it wasn’t there. Then he realized that neither his utility belt nor his flying suit was on his body. He was dressed with only the innermost layer of his clothing, the cold, stale air just now beginning to make him shiver.

Then he realized that none of his teammates were around. The cramped chamber was dark, but even so, he could tell he was very much alone.

“Kang? Rei? Ying?” He whispered into the darkness, more out of hope than anything else.

There was no response.

Have they been killed? Have they been left behind?

Thoughts raced through his mind as he desperately tried to convince himself that his teammates were somehow alive. He could not, would not, accept that they had been killed because of his own uselessness. For the time being, he decided to believe in the latter, that they had been left behind.

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He looked around and saw no windows. But judging by how still the aircraft felt, he figured that they were probably not in the air.

Fighting his headache, and as quietly as possible, he crawled towards the cockpit on his hands and knees. He found his clothing items in a pile in the corner of the chamber and began clumsily looking for his service pistol.

Eventually, his fingers wrapped around the cold grip of his pistol, tangled up within the rags of clothing.

With wobbling knees, he pulled himself to his feet and leaned his ear against the door to the cockpit, but all he could hear were the various vibrations of the flying aircraft, which obscured the talking voices.

He backed up a few steps and examined the door. It appeared to be unarmored but durable, with a little viewing panel near the top. A gentle twist of the handle confirmed that it was unlocked. It would probably be difficult for him to kick the door in, especially in his current state. So he opened the door a sliver, just enough for the latch to not engage.

Then he backed up and threw his foot forward.

The door flung open to reveal a cockpit lit dimly by sunlight and filled with a grey glow from instrument panels, the morning sun barely shining over the trees and tinted canopy.

He took aim at the first figure he could see and pulled the trigger.

A loud bang and a bright flash, then a spark where the bullet hit the instrument panel and ricocheted into the ceiling. The person he was aiming at ducked and fell to the side, leaning over as far as his harnesses would allow him to avoid the line of fire.

He took aim again and was about to pull the trigger when another person grabbed his gun.

“Lenn! Stop!” The person shouted. “I’m Kang! Oi! Sto-”

Kang’s words were cut short when another round was squeezed off by Lenn, the bullet burying itself into the floor. It took a moment for his brain to recognize the voice, and when it did, he let go of the gun and stood there astonished.

“Two-five, switch on the lights,” a monotone voice commanded.

With a click, the cockpit became filled with a warm yellow hue. Under the light, Lenn recognized his three teammates standing in front of him.

“It’s fine, we’re safe…” said Kang, dropping Lenn’s pistol onto the floor.

The four of them dove towards each other in a tight embrace. After a few seconds, they came apart, and Lenn stood there a little dazed, looking around at everything.

His eyes glanced over the other pilots, and for a moment, he was sure they were lying to him.

“Erwin?” Len exclaimed

Then he looked at the three other Europeans.

“You four?”

They didn’t reply.

“So, we…” Kang began to speak.

“Don’t ramble,” Lenn cut him off. “Explain everything to me. Just explain everything to me.”

*****

“So… what you are saying is that… these guys are our enemies. Well… used to be. But they’ve had a change of heart due to certain events, and now they are on our side?” Lenn asked, confusion scattered upon him.

They sat together in the back of the aircraft, the European pilots doing some checks in the cockpit for battle damage and getting ready to fly.

“Well, yes, but no. Well… sort of,” Kang answered. “We don’t really know much either but… they fixed us up after the crash and took us aboard to get out of the cold.”

“How can we trust them?” Asked Lenn.

A strange emotion was boiling within him—the pain of betrayal, the relief of survival, and the overwhelming confusion.

“Well, because they haven’t killed us yet,” Rei said. “You see, Europeans, according to records, never take more than two prisoners aboard. And the fact that there are four of us here now is a good sign they are what they say they are. Plus, they let us have our weapons.”

“I still don’t know what to feel about them,” Lenn mumbled.

“We don’t really have a choice.”

“Why don’t we just… you know…” Lenn gestured with finger guns.

“Then what? Fly back in this thing? European aircraft require correct bio-signature to start.”

“I see…” Lenn nodded his head. “So we got shot down…”

“Yeah…”

There was a click.

“Here they come…”

Lenn turned to see the four Europeans walking out of the cockpit door.

“Hello. I am code One-six of the fifteenth heavy fighter squadron,” Erwin said. “I guess it’s time to talk some more.”

“One-six?”

“Yes. And this is One-five, Two-six, and Two-five,” One-six explained, gesturing to the other Europeans in turn.

“Yeah... let’s talk some more,” Lenn said with a wry chuckle.

“Sure.”

A strange sense of awkwardness and uneasiness hung in the air. It was weird to be sitting so close to his enemies and simply having a friendly chat. But it wasn't long before it began to fade, and the words flowed a little more easily.

As their conversation progressed, they learned that the soldiers of Europa didn’t have names, just numbers. Erwin is One-six, Charlie is Two-six, Tyler is One-five, and Kate is Two-five. They made up names for themselves for use in New Asia since they figured code numbers might seem suspicious.

Lenn decided that he would still call them by their made-up names. Code numbers just felt too unnatural.

“Why are you doing this?” Lenn asked.

“We found out that after our military service is over, we get put into incinerators to be ‘recycled’,” One-six told him.

“So you decided to come to New Asia…?”

“We decided to see what being a soldier is really like. To have a reference. And the only way for us was to see New Asia, see how people there live.”

Soon they found out that the European soldiers had never actually lived inside of their city before they joined the military. The earliest memory they have is the white walls of the military nursery.

The New Asians talked about their own city too, about their origins, their families, and why they decided to join up. Ying spoke little throughout the entire conversation since she did not like to bring up her past.

“I come from a very poor family in the slums,” said Kang. “I joined because I wanted to escape the filth and the boredom. Shooting down planes just felt much more interesting.”

“My family is from the factory district,” Rei explained. “I joined because I felt it was my duty to serve my city and because I didn’t want to inherit the family business as my father intended.”

“I come from a poor family too...” Lenn said when it was his turn. But when he tried to speak about his family, his breath caught in his throat. It was like his mind forced him not to dig up the memories of his past.

His teammates noticed, and Kang told him not to push himself too much.

“It’s alright,” Erwin assured Lenn. “You don’t need to tell us.”

Lenn nodded his head as a sign he acknowledged Erwin’s kindness, even though he was still very skeptical about their intentions. After collecting himself, he continued. “I was drafted into the military because of a shortage of pilots.”

The Europeans nodded their heads collectively. It turned out that they didn’t have families, and that they were born already predetermined to be soldiers. They never had the chance to make a choice. A year in the nursery, two in accelerated training, and then straight into a fighter squadron.

They all seemed to be around the same age, but it was hard to say. One, because Lenn and Ying didn’t know their exact birthdates, only roughly the month and the year. And two, because the European pilots seemed so much more mature, it would only make sense for them to be at least a few years older.

“You know, they teach us that Europa uses bio-robots as soldiers,” Kang said. “I never believed it, though. But if it’s true... then you four...” He stopped, looking up at the four European soldiers, searching for a reaction.

“Interesting... The merchant pilot who flew us here said the same thing. But as far as we know, we've never heard about such a thing,” Erwin muttered. “Well, we’ll be getting to the bottom of that.”

“Anyways, where are we going?” Asked Kang.

Lenn and his teammates tensed up.

“Settlement number fifty-three. It’s right next to us. We will refuel there, then head back for Europa, and you four can get picked up by a rescue party from New Asia,” Charlie answered.

“Aren’t you not welcome?”

“They won’t do anything to us,” said Charlie. “Or Europa will level the town.”

Lenn and his team let out a gasp of relief. Although none of them trusted the European pilots, those words alone gave them a sense of comfort. Maybe they really were going to make it out alive, maybe they really were going to get another chance.

“It’s right next to us. We’ll be lifting off in a minute,” said Erwin, getting up and walking towards the cockpit.

They followed him and crowded in between the seats. It occurred to Lenn that the F-51 has seats arranged in a square shape instead of a diamond, leaving a narrow aisle that grants access to the cargo bay. On their JF-200, access to the cargo bay from the cockpit is impossible.

The Europeans ran through their checks and soon they were airborne. They came hovering over a ridge, revealing the village nestled in the deep valley.

It wasn’t uncommon for aircraft to stop over at some towns during long missions to refuel and rest, both military and civilian. But towns like this that sit in the contested territories rarely get visits from anyone other than merchants.

As they descended towards the landing area and settled down beside trading planes, Lenn could see people panicking and running about. The bony grey of European fighters and their iconic blue insignia struck fear into most who aren’t close allies with them.

The side door opened, and Lenn and his crew walked out into the chilly air of the mountain village. A group of mercenaries with rifles raised greeted them.

“We’re prisoners! This is not our aircraft!” Kang shouted.

“Walk towards us with your hands in the air!” One of the men shouted back.

They complied and walked forward slowly. The men threw them down onto the ground and began putting handcuffs on them when a merchant approached.

“Captain Eric, what is going on?” The person asked in a very Asian accent. Lenn swore he recognized the voice.

“Ah, sir, these four came out of the F-51 that just arrived,” the man explained.

“Well, let’s see who they are. Let them stand.”

As Lenn raised his head, he saw a man with a battle-hardened face and a faint beard. “Specialist Takeshi?” He asked in disbelief.

Takeshi took a moment to look at Lenn, then at Kang, then at Ying, then at Rei. “You four? Hah! I remember you four! Captain Eric, get these men out of handcuffs, they are acquaintances of mine.”

The mercenaries obeyed and quickly removed the handcuffs. Takeshi beckoned Lenn and his team over.

“Didn’t think I’d see you four here,” Takeshi said. "So soon, huh?"

“Neither did we.”

“I’ll save the questions for later,” Takeshi laughed. “Anyhow... welcome to Valkyria!”