The Chief was abducted from his family, effectively brainwashed, and was training under live fire before he should've been old enough to enlist, but something about this is different to him. Twisted as it was, the Spartans knew what was being done to them. Or at least he believes they did. He still prefers not to think about how little he knew and how young he was when he decided it was the right thing to do. He still doesn't know the full extent to which he was lied to.
The Chief's been leading the Spartans since year two. There's a sacred obligation those who lead in war have to those following orders: to protect them when possible, and spend their lives dearly and well when it's not. You don't play games with that sacrifice, you don't experiment and leave your people to die in the dark just to see what happens. He's watched an AI spin off fragments to buy time before, he's seen how unstable they are. He refuses to believe that the project's Director didn't know this would end in disaster, didn't know he was destroying the people who trusted him on such a narrow chance that it would work while he tortured a living machine into its death throes.
It disgusts the Chief on a visceral level. It could have happened to him, it could have happened to his Spartans, and it could have happened to Cortana. They all would have followed their orders, trusted the command structure, and been powerless to stop it.
"Please tell me they burned for it." The Chief is not an expressive person, but there is an absolute venom in the words.
It wouldn't have bothered him when he was young. The sacrifice of a few people for the potential good of the many is the creed that raised him, and he just happened to be a success story while Freelancer was a failure. But now, after a life spent fighting, his perspective is different. He's protected people as a whole for too long for that feel acceptable anymore.
...Unless it's him, of course, but no one has accused the Chief of not having problems.
no subject
The Chief was abducted from his family, effectively brainwashed, and was training under live fire before he should've been old enough to enlist, but something about this is different to him. Twisted as it was, the Spartans knew what was being done to them. Or at least he believes they did. He still prefers not to think about how little he knew and how young he was when he decided it was the right thing to do. He still doesn't know the full extent to which he was lied to.
The Chief's been leading the Spartans since year two. There's a sacred obligation those who lead in war have to those following orders: to protect them when possible, and spend their lives dearly and well when it's not. You don't play games with that sacrifice, you don't experiment and leave your people to die in the dark just to see what happens. He's watched an AI spin off fragments to buy time before, he's seen how unstable they are. He refuses to believe that the project's Director didn't know this would end in disaster, didn't know he was destroying the people who trusted him on such a narrow chance that it would work while he tortured a living machine into its death throes.
It disgusts the Chief on a visceral level. It could have happened to him, it could have happened to his Spartans, and it could have happened to Cortana. They all would have followed their orders, trusted the command structure, and been powerless to stop it.
"Please tell me they burned for it." The Chief is not an expressive person, but there is an absolute venom in the words.
It wouldn't have bothered him when he was young. The sacrifice of a few people for the potential good of the many is the creed that raised him, and he just happened to be a success story while Freelancer was a failure. But now, after a life spent fighting, his perspective is different. He's protected people as a whole for too long for that feel acceptable anymore.
...Unless it's him, of course, but no one has accused the Chief of not having problems.