Work Text:
The next writings are part of the incoming book "Where the Jackals lie" by Reuben Oluwagembi. Among the combatants in the second UAC civil war, there was one of the last Ravens, who accepted an interview before leaving the war-torn estate.
"Why here? Why Africa?"
"First, you're the people with the curse of having valuable resources without the strength to defend them. I either aid those who wants to keep your riches for themselves, or the few of you rich enough to put a dent to their plans. Whatever pays the most or amuses me that day. It helps most of these wars are by proxy by the fat cats sabotaging each other, not caring about civilians dying in the crossfire. It's not like they're in their country."
"What about the lives of the innocents here?"
"The lives that matter me the most are myself and my team, which are my operator, my Storker, and my mechanics. I'll not senselessly shoot civilians like the Brigadors overseas, by I'll not prioritize their lives over my mission. You don't get far in this line of work without the clients knowing you're efficient and reliable."
[...]
"You should now this already, but I'm saying this for the benefit of your followers. When you fight proxy wars, you learn to distinguish who are the main players for the gear their pawns use. Did you find M-16s in the trucks of a rebel band? USA wants something from those guys. Did you find a single IS Rafale Revive guarding the diamond mines? Clearly Dunois ran out of gifts for his latest mistress. Are those submarines who attacked Pala last week using hordes of self-destruct drones? Fucking Omer is at it again. With that in mind, who the hell you think hired Bastion UK and MacGrudder-Powell, and didn't pull out their men when news came out of the dried diamond mines? It sure wasn't the dead government."
"You say someone benefits of this conflict despite the country losing its main resource."
"You give your land little credit. With this map I can already see around eight valuable reasons to keep thugs around and install a new leader. And if it all fails, you can always send mechs without the UN making a big fuss. You see, the Alaska Treaty was meant to avoid a MAD scenario among the "civilized nations" with the IS, yet this country, even if it did sign like the rest, is a lawless hellhole where IS, ACs, and the rest can have all the training one can only get in a proper warzone, so by the time the Big Powers decide to ignore the treaty, they'll know what works and what doesn't, ensuring there will be less "civilized" deaths when the Verdict Day arrives, all by the insignificant cost of countless Africans, Arabs, Slavs and Mercs. Thanks, Obama."
[...]
"First job? Mmm… It was to break a Union who highjacked construction vehicles and transformed them into weapons. Both the client and the country had a reputation to maintain as a land free of terrorism, and it was cheaper getting a leg breaker than realizing they should improve their workers' lot beyond increasing their salary. I entered, destroyed the machines, and left. The next day the news praised the police for the quick work in containing the situation and the workers accepted the client's terms."
"Don't you feel sorry for those workers?"
"A bit, but that's not my problem. Not anymore. Let Phantom Task and Vertex use it as an excuse instead."
[...]
"Both the Alliance and Vertex are psychos with a dream at best, their only worth is to rob their credits while I blast both sides in their pointless squabble. Some of my colleagues sees one of them as the lesser evil to end the conflicts, but that's naïve. This is about power and nothing else."
"Do you choose a side in a conflict?"
"Sooner or later, you have to, but as I said before it depends on my pay and personal amusement. One time I was in Libya helping the rebels toppling the local dictator, then when I heard Dunois Industry had a slave camp in all but name, I accepted a sortie financed by the dictator to torch its defenses to the ground. The PR disaster extended the war for six months, giving it more of a year in total, which I used to mooch off every cent the fat cats could give me until the dictator was executed in the drainage."
"Did you want to extend the war?"
"Nah. I just felt needing to shoot some frogs in the face."
[...]
"The Air Forces remain a pain in the ass to this day. Makes sense, why sending expensive mercs and starry-eyed young boys to their deaths when you can send unmanned drones to bomb the next figurehead to remind the raffle who dominates the world? The AC lasted this long for being the first weapon who can tell the drone "No, you" and blow them up instead. Not that it would stop the bombings, but it's always cute to imagine the face of the drone drive after I denied his strategic war crime of the week."
"And the IS went beyond it with the White Knight in Japan."
"I'm sure Obama made the Alaska Treaty so nobody could give him a drone special with a feminine twist. Hell hath no fury to a woman pissed off, or something like that it went…"
[...]
"You Ravens claim that you're the freest people of this world, but think about it for a second. Who are those who ask for your services the most? You live under the illusion that your position makes you apart of the rest, but you're another cog of the machine."
"The difference between you and me is how we cope with these times. We both know this world is insane: you choose to fight it with your reports, while I embrace it with my AC. Fight for work, and work to fight. That's the life of a Raven in a nutshell, and I made my peace with that. If it makes you feel better, your reports can potentially inspire someone to hire me and get rid of the big sharks you expose. It wouldn't be the first time."