User blog:Keystone Gray/Journal Entry, 8 March 2846

Entry Date: March 8, 2846
 * Name: Corra Dald
 * Title: Liberator Operator (MOS: VS-NS-L-Delta)
 * Rank: Preceptor (PG: E-4)

''You know, I can't actually remember why I wrote that first entry. It seems like such an eternity ago. I think my shrink told me to do it as a therapy exercise or someshit, and I did it to humor him. The vodka must've made me forget entirely, I don't really know.''

''But now I write here in celebration. Overdue celebration, of course, but I found this journal after finally getting around to digging through my smuggled belongings. Quite a find you are, journal! Ah, and you still smell like vodka from the night I first laid hands upon you.''

''Celebration, of course, comes from the fact that I was just promoted. But more specifically, I was previously recruited into the Vanu Sovereignty, so one could argue that I was rather transcended. It was an interesting course of events, but apparently some "freaks" had caught ear of my smelly affliction with the smelly reconstruction. Through a series of very discreet messages (which I very smartly decided to not report), they courted me for a while. ''

''They promised to help me with my condition, a condition the Conglomerate execs weren't interested in fixing. Considering that my social life had come to a screeching halt and I had been completely ostracised, I honestly had nothing to lose. I was stationed at the Vanu Archives not far from the front line in Indar at the time, swabbing the deck out on the vehicle pad, before I realized I had a chance to make a break for it. ''

''Earlier I had filched an Infiltrator bodysuit; I wore it beneath my jumpsuit, and took the opportunity. Bolted out right in broad daylight with the cloak at a full sprint, and met a couple of Vanu operators on the outskirts of Peris Amp Station. The first thing they did, of course, was to reprogram the router attached to my spine; death or redeployment would afterward send me to the Vanu Sovereignty Warpgate. It hurt pretty damn bad, to be honest. Some tool they attached to my back did all the work. I blacked out right after that.''

''When I woke up, I was scared. Bright lights, surgeons, the works. Immediately I regretted the decision, and I was delirious from the sedatives. Had to be restrained. Screamed about Alicia and a bunch of other shit that honestly embarrassed me back then. Cried like a damned baby about being exterminated. The things I said were wailed through tears, very little of which made much sense. Nowadays, those woes are irrelevant. It's in the past.''

''As soon as I was coherent, they told me that they had not only cured the stench from the nanites, but also reprogrammed them completely for greater efficiency in hygiene. They said that I'd have the choice of any place I'd like in their society. Within reason, naturally. I was skeptical at first. All of the Conglomerate propaganda I've read pretty much blasted them as religious zealots, but I quickly found that this wasn't the case. They took me in kindly, and very quickly it appeared to me that they had some serious smarts. And they were nice. Still are.''

''A lot of them are scientists. Nearly all of them, actually. The ones who left their empires and joined up like I did were given a choice of any form of education they desired, free of charge. In fact, money really isn't an issue; nanotechnology really solves a lot of the logistical issues economies are designed to cover. A lot of the folks here also chose to be augmented, be it with nanoaugmentation, mechanical parts, or both. Nanites could be programmed to reconstruct these augmentations after death, or to integrate with them on-the-fly.''

''It all impressed me wholely. This was what we were resisting? I understand now; they don't worship the Vanu, but simply respect them. What little we know of their society is here - in public libraries! - for free access. Weapons and healing technology alike shared entire volumes, all pulled from data hive caches beneath the Northern Indar dusts, from beneath the snow and ice of Esamir, and from the mountain laboratories of Amerish. What little of their society remained was buried, lost, but ultimately found and treasured. ''

''Some of it was wrested from the grubby paws of NC and TR troops seeking only to destroy the technology. But I see it now, I see what we in the Conglomerate were resisting. I see what we were trying to destroy and can only describe it as beautiful. This is the future of our society: standing on the shoulders of giants. How shortsighted was I...? How shortsighted were we all? How shortsighted are those I've left behind?''

''Harnessing the sheer power of nanotechnology is difficult, but worth every bit of effort. For example, the Vanu Sovereignty MAX units aren't just mech suits; they're seamlessly integrated into the flesh, muscle built from nanite chains. Our troops have HUDs streamed right into their retinas, circumventing the need for an eyescreen mesh used in helmet visors by the other empires.''

''To think: A few months ago, my worst worry on this damned planet was that I smelled like shit, my girlfriend left me, and that I'd never ride gun duty on a Liberator again. Now, it seems, I fear nothing more than our race repeating the mistakes of its past. My defection may have been a drop in the bucket out of necessity, but I believe that, over time, we'll win hearts and minds. It feels odd to bomb friends, and I've seen a few through my scope. But they'll be okay, some day. When this war is over... if it is ever over... we'll have true power over ourselves the likes of which we had only dreamed of in the past.''

''Oh, and no one will ever have to scrape blood off of a Reaver's landing struts again. The struts will clean themselves, damn it, like the Scythes do after skimming droves of troops off of rooftops.''

~ Corra