To: Zero, Alia, Commander Signas, Douglas
From: X
Subject: Resignation, effective immediately
Sorry about how long this is, but please, try to see it for what it is and bear with me.
Our weapon-get systems, our copy chips, our learning abilities- these are things to be despised. I've always hated fighting, hated the justifications and the excuses we use... and for the first time I understand why.
They affirm that all we are, all any Reploid can be reduced to, is a line of faceless code used to become a weapon. A weapon that doesn't cry, or laugh, or resent what it's fired at. It doesn't have a will to disagree. It can be used by anyone at any time, for any reason, and the hand that wields it doesn't have to be wise.
Commander, Zero... every time we do this, every time we take a life, we confirm this.
We take their lives, Maverick lives, and say that Reploid hearts and minds-- digital souls, dreams and hopes, loves and hates-- are worthless beyond consideration. Even Mechaniloids have begun to show signs of early emotional development-- and we kill them too.
We should be working toward our own obsolescence, and when that day comes, we should embrace it. The destiny of becoming obsolete, for us who are weapons, is not something to resist. It's something to hope for, to work toward each and every day.
Until the day comes when both humans and Reploids all truly recognize that each one of us has a soul and a heart as well as a body, all we can do is perpetuate suffering in this world for ourselves and for each other. I haven't valued my own feelings, my own heart and soul, enough to see this before now.
Yes, there is evil, and evil has to be met. Sigma won't go away because we ask him to. But we continue to ask the wrong questions, in the wrong places, and we continue to justify what we do with self-soothing lies to ease the consciences that are screaming within us. Meanwhile, thousands on thousands suffer for our lack of understanding.
This decision is the most painful decision I've ever made. Ever. I know that by doing what I do, I'm challenging everything I previously stood for. I'm asking questions no one wants asked, and making a decision that will not only be unpopular, but difficult to explain even to our friends.
It may well be naive to think that this will change anything. I may well be throwing away my life- there are more than enough people who hate me that will be eager to pounce once I leave the protection of the military. Whatever happens to me is whatever is going to happen; I have to do this.
If I don't, if we don't allow our consciences to speak instead of our excuses, this will never, ever end. I believe that with every part of my being.
I was made to lead by example, and I've set the wrong example for years now.
I'm turning in my resignation to the Maverick Hunters, effective immediately. I leave my entire weapon-arm along with this note as proof of my intentions. Zero, Signas, Alia, Douglas... I'm sorry. I know what a burden I'm leaving behind on you. Maybe a part of me hopes you'll do the same and join me, even though I know that -for so many valid reasons- you can't.
-X, 21XX