Katz considered Alek's answer a moment. Pacing slowly behind the table. "Every second applicant through that door spouts some nonsense about vengence and making a difference... tired old rhetoric that has been rehearsed a thousand times, and only leads to dead pilots in a cockpit. Little children tired of their mother's milk, and set off for the heroic wars that their grandfather's tales told them awaits them out here."
He motioned, and Alicia brought him his battered fifty mission cap, he accepted it turning the worn old cap in his hands, a thumb brushing over the SCRA Cog and Hammer on the peak.
"I fought in the front lines, the battle of Coronado, the Omega campaign under Admiral Karchov... and Ontario. I was trained by Ares himself to look beyond the status quo, to really look at a situation and see the political front as well as the military one. This is a Fighter Corps Officer, he is a warrior of the people, his battlefield is the hearts and minds of the common man, and his enemy is those that exploit him."
He looked up, "tell me, son, why is a pitchfork and a barricade more powerful than a pistol or a bomb? Why was a worker standing before tanks with nothing but his shopping bags terrifying to the totalitarian regime of Premier Li Peng?"
Katz folded his arms and looked over at the other man standing within earshot, Benjamin the computer said.
"Feel free to offer your answer as well, Ben," the Premier stated, setting the cap down on the edge of the table.