Lost Generation

The NTF rebellion still has everyone on edge. Ever since it started, no one has really been too keen on getting back out into space and fighting the only other humans that are out here in this corner of the galaxy. I remember last year seeing Admiral Bosch's face on newscasts announcing the NTF's intention to break away from the GTVA. A lot of us in the so-called "lost generation" were inspired by what he was selling. What was interesting was in how he purposely left out the Vasudans. That became clear later when he said the GTVA was a mistake.

In one way, I can see what he's trying to do. He wants humanity to stand on its own two feet without help from anyone else, much like how Earth had done when it jumped out here for the first time and managed to hold its own until the Shivans came. But things are different now. A lot of my classmates' parents were hard hit by the fact that the way to Earth was gone. Just like that, it meant that we were alone out here with a former foe. Not everyone adjusted to this kind of life and to hear them say it, Bosch came off as a kind of messiah who had the right idea.

There were a few incidents then, between humans and Vasudans on Beta Aquilae, but nothing major until the NTF announced their intentions to break away. As much as Bosch had tried to convince many of us that his way was the only way for humanity to survive, it was still one man's opinion.

In the three decades since the Great War, we've done pretty well for ourselves and the Vasudans have done what they can to aid us. My parents told me stories of those early years. They said that some thought that the Vasudans should have done more to help us and not everyone was happy to see their engineers and specialists, as if they were rubbing the fact that we were refugees in our faces. With the Vasudans doing far better than we are, I guess that only gave more reason for those people to hate them. The seeds were planted way before Bosch did his thing, but I never thought it would turn into armed rebellion.

I'm part of the lost generation, but I don't think I've lost sight of what is really important...that we need to stick together to out here to make things work. That's just something that my parents wanted me to grow up with knowing and what had also gotten me into trouble with kids that wanted nothing to do with Vasudans in general. Still, hating someone because they're just extending an open hand to you is just stupid in my view.

None of the other pilots think of themselves as "lost". We're out here to do a job and we're going to focus on doing it right. Wilkins thinks that the rebellion will be over before the end of the year, and Takeda just shrugs his shoulders if he's asked if Wilkins is right. Sheryl doesn't say much about the NTF, but the rumors that I've heard is that it's because her parents might have been on Polaris when the NTF seceded from the GTVA. Studi just wears that poker face of his, although I can tell that something is bothering him about the NTF.

Not all of my friends made it through the academy with me. Some of them left to join the NTF. For me, that's the worst part about all of this. As selfish as this might sound, humans are still fighting humans out here, but some of those will have been people that I grew up with.