A few things we never see in Simoun:
'Chor Caput, Chor Rubor, and what of Chor Tempest can fly when we get there will be staging an assault on the Argentium factory complexes. Our intel sucks, so if it smokes, blow it away.'
'What?' Parietta speaks up first, breaking the shock.
Everyone tries to speak at once, high young voices sharp and clashing.
BLAM Aaeru's hands slam down on the table, startling everyone a moment, 'We lost eleven. _Eleven_. Against those,' she makes a helpless gesture with her hands, 'Ugly things that barely fly. There's just too many of them. They don't even get to choose whether to be a man or a woman, don't get to see the sky except to die in it. Any of us,' she smiles at Limone, a sad sort of smile, 'is worth a thousand of them. But they can throw away a thousand pilots for each of us, and still win.'
'Which is why we need to destroy them, before they destroy us.'
The rest of the meeting covers training schedules, interspersed with outbreaks of complaining.
After seeing the Argentium's islands, none of the Sibyllae can say for sure it wasn't prettier after they flattened it.
[Simulacrum's never fought a real war, and so the Central Command just doesn't _understand_. They have no _history_, nothing to compare it to. The neighbors may have some, but they're not worth the trouble of studying . . . ]
+-+
CRACK the old man rocks back in his chair, staring in shock.
'What are you --'
Neviru cuts him off sharply, 'You know something, old man. Something you think is more important than stopping the Argentium and the Plumbium.'
'What are you talking --' the priestess starts.
'You know, too. It's got to do with Aaeru's grandfather, but beyond that,' she shrugs, 'You're out of Simoun. We can't even do an Iron Remersion, there's only five left. Even if you put the ancient one back together, we don't have any more Sibyllae, since you've sent them all to the Spring. All we can do is fight until we die,' Neviru turns on her heel, the rest of Chor Tempest following after a moments shock, 'And _I_,' she says from the doorway, 'approve all changes of Pair in in my Chor.'
+-+
'Raging Sea Remersion!' Neviru orders, and Aaeru spirals them around the Argentium base ship, then dives back through the middle, barely missing the massive, ugly thing.
It crumbles, burns, falls from the sky, the ancient Simoun breaking off, the Plumbium Sibyllae lost on the wrong side of Simulacrum from home.
The rest of Chor Tempest arrives, and they herd the Plumbium Simoun back to the Arcus Primus.
[Neviru's too passive, and too willing to follow authority when it could have done some good. Even so, if they'd attacked, they might have done some good. But they ran.]
+-+
'Come with,' Momiina says, 'Do what's right, not what they tell you, don't stay and die.'
[But that doesn't provide enough angst.]
+-+
As soon as Messis pulls back out of the Argentium base, they blow it from the sky.
[But that would make too much sense, and imply that their mission, their country, and what Momiina just died for counted for more than their grief. And it isn't like the Argentium don't have enough of an industrial base to replace it easily.]
+-+
The Argentium cruise missiles drop into the city.
'We can't win from here,' Aaeru says, softly, that night, 'They're going to surrender. At this point,' she stands, and settles behind Neviru, wrapping her in her arms, 'We can let them, and there will be another war in five or ten years, or we can hurt them, Central Command and the Argentium both, and maybe put it off a few more years.'
'What do you want to do?' Neviru asks, her hands over Aaeru's, looking over her shoulder at her Pair.
'Simoun don't need fuel, or much maintenence when we don't get them shot up. I don't think we can subborn the Plumbium Sibyllae, but unless we can get at least two more Sibyllae and another Simoun, we're going to have a hard time accomplishing anything more than harrassment,' Aaeru presses her face to Neviru's shoulder, then looks up again, 'But because we can do that much they're going to send us to the Spring.'
'How do you know that?' Parietta asks.
'Because they're doing their best to take everything away from us,' Aaeru hugs Neviru so tight she squeeks, 'And all we've got left are the Simoun, each other, and the fight. With one stroke, they get all of it, and don't even need to waste any bullets.'
'Or get anyone upset about their killing miko,' Kaimu says.
Radoraemon whimpers.
'I'm not going to ask you to fight with us,' Neviru says, 'But I'm not going to the Spring until I'm ready, and I'm going to kill as many of those bastards as I can first.'
'Tempus Spatium needs the Simoun to fly, to offer up prayers, but if there are no more miko, no more Sibyllae,' Morinas says, softly, touches her arm, 'No one will fly.'
[Once again, it's the mission, the fight, duty taking precedence over faith in Central Command. This is _after_ Central Command has destroyed five of six Chors, they've found out that CC has lied to them about the Emerald Remersion, they've found out that Chor Dextra was destoyed to the last Sibylla, they've been fighting a loosing battle with five Simoun for months, and _now_ are suing for peace . . . ]
+-+
Yun steps up behind Onashia, and wraps her arms around the older girl.
'You came,' Onashia says, 'I hoped you would.'
'Come with me,' Yun says, and shoves off hard, dropping both of them into the water with a great splash.
[Come on, you wanted to see that. I know you did.][OK, maybe that was just me.]
+-+
'Why?' Floef stares at the letter, 'It hasn't even been ten years. What did they all die for, if this is all it gained?'
[We don't know who this war involves. If it's only peripherally involving Simulacrum, like the Korean War involved Japan, that's a slightly different story. If it's more closely coupled . . . Simulacrum has a very limited industrial base, resources, population. Maybe this time the Central Command won't be on the enemy's side . . . ]
---
Log:
2007/Jun/13-14:
Watched Simoun, all in one lump, split over two days. I was impressed by the way the setup allowed them to mess with the characters, since despite the military setting they're not soldiers . . . and then the ending . . . I spent hours fuming, and thinking, and chasing history around in my head.
Germany and Japan both started WWII with a pronounced technical lead, against a foe with inferior fighters but a much better industrial base, and both lost as much due to the actions of their governments as their enemies.
Incompetents aren't much better than nutjobs, but . . . I suppose it might be nice to see a story about people who's chain of command is even more screwed up than my own, but I just find it depressing.
2007/Jun/21:
After thinking about it for a while realized I could write a bunch of little stories rather than a rant, and typed this up. I hope it says what I want it to say.