Alara drummed her forefinger and middle finger on her security station. Lieutenant West was the first case on a new crew member she wasn't able to crack. There had been some odd crew members, but the majority of them had just been a little socially awkward. West was a whole different case. He had exemplary records and performance on the field, but he still acted off. He didn't seem socially awkward, he communicated fine, but he didn't seem to want to tell anybody anything about himself. He was like a time capsule that had been welded closed, meant to never be opened. But she would find out what he was hiding, even if it took her months, she would find it out.
Then, Jason walked onto the bridge. As an Infantry Commander he was also in charge of advising the Captain when the ship was under attack. His shift started earlier than hers by a half hour, and his shift ended around the same time as hers. She realized that everytime she had gone to start her shift, he was up there mapping out known enemy presences across the galaxy. He was always working early, and as soon as her own shift was over he was already in the bar or mess hall for dinner. She also never saw him go into the simulator, not once. Even though her investigation into Jason had come up with nothing, she noticed one thing as time went on. He started talking to and drinking with Gordon and John. He went with them to the bar after his shift, and he even started to invite Alara to drink with him. He still seemed to be hiding something, but he also seemed to be more open to the ship's crew. One thing strange did remain, however. Whenever Isaac or Bortus was around, he didn't talk too much. Alara figured he may be speciesist, which disgusted her, but he also didn't seem the type. He seemed more nervous around them than he seemed to hate them.
She walked up to him as their shifts were about to end. "Hey," she said calmly, "Gordon wanted to do an old war reenactment from Old Earth in the simulator. Want to join?"
He looked nervous. "Why not," he said, unsure. Only a few minutes later, after their shifts ended, she walked him to the matter synthesizer room and synthesized for them two old military fatigue uniforms from World War Two. "I can't imagine how wars were back then. They were all on the same planet yet somehow ended up killing each other hundreds of times."
"I can't imagine they're too different. We fight wars just like we used to back in the day. Lot of politics were heavily involved, most people didn't want war but couldn't keep peace. Each side believed they were doing the right thing and everybody else was wrong. Our conflict with the Krill is the same thing as most old human wars."
"And how would you know all that?"
He nervously laughed. "I'm just an old history buff."
"Well you know a lot. You're going to have to teach me some of that sometime. Actually, what do you know about the Invasion of Corsin?"
His eyes went wide at the mention of this. "N-not much," he stuttered, "I don't think anyone knows what happened. Only thing I heard is that the entire species was wiped out."
"Yeah, too bad though. It would have been interesting to see them in the Union."
"I don't know if they would, the Corsinian culture was very different from Union values. Religion was a big thing before they were wiped from existence."
"I thought nobody knew anything about them. How did you know that?" She looked very confused now.
"I was just guessing. I mean their culture died out over two centuries ago." He looked unconvinced by his own words. "Let's just meet them in the simulator, eh?"
"Yeah, sure." She was still suspicious of how he came up with that so quickly.
A minute or so later they walked into the simulator, meeting Gordon and John dressed up as soldiers.
"Are you both ready for this," Alara asked, "I heard that this battle was heavy on casualties, and was probably very disturbing. Tens of thousands died on Hill 400, at least that's what the index said the Americans of Earth called it."
"Someone did their research," Gordon scoffed, "Let's just kill some Nazis. Begin simulation Gordon 179."
"Beginning simulation," the computer echoed. Fire and noise began to erupt around them as the scene of the battle started. Gordon loaded his simulated weapon and started to charge with John into the battle. Alara waited for Jason but he just sat there, looking around the hill in horror. "Just like home," he said. "It looks just like home did. Horrible war, terrible war. Houses burnt thousands dead. Horrible, terrible war."
"Jason, are you okay?" She seemed very worried.
"Y-yeah. Let's get moving. He threw the butt of his gun into his shoulder and started moving."
"What are you soldiers doing," a voice boomed, "Get in the battle!" A man in his early fifties laid against a rock a few meters in front of them, and he was keeping up with every other soldier on that field. "You get moving, soldiers, or we're all dead!"
They started moving faster into the battle. Within almost an hour both sides started to retreat, when Jason saw a German soldier with his gun at Alara's head. Jason started running. "It's just a simulation," she yelled, "I'll be fine, you all keep going." Jason didn't listen. A shot fired and simulated blood was slowly flowing from Jason's left shoulder. He tackled the soldier, nonetheless, and started beating the Nazi. After a minute, the Nazi's face was covered in fake blood and he stopped struggling. Jason continued to hit, then John and Gordon pulled him back and held him.
"What the hell, Jason," Gordon said, obviously pissed, "You could've just shot him and moved on. Now we're all dead. The simulation is done." Jason looked up and the scene faded back into the simulation room. The blood from Jason's knuckles disappeared and the dead soldier on the ground immaterialized. Jason stood up and started to walk out, noticing Alara looking at him in fear. He had just beaten a man to death without hesitation, real or not. It was scary. She didn't like the simulated soldier pointing a gun at her, but Jason had been overly violent in turn. She saw him walk back toward his quarters, fists still bunched up. She had to figure out what the hell was going on.