What did Hale just say to her?..Had she done what the infantry had done so long ago? She had made the UNF into faceless enemies, she had done the same thing her fellow soldiers did to stay sane. Aura shook her head and picked up Hale's pistol, one not dissimilar to Aura's own, and thumbed the magazine release, the mag hitting the table below with a dull [i]thud[/i].  Aura now thumbed the safety, clicking it into place as she walked up to Hale and presented it to her, grip first, the only round in the weapon being the one in the chamber. Aura kept an iron grip on the barrel however, cautioning "[color=0072bc]"I'll go on your mission, Commander, but remember this. Those UNF soldiers pulling security? The ones we're supposed to kill to a man, to put down the screaming wounded? They're just like me, and each soldier in this bay. We've shot the ones they call family too, Commander, and you know what? I've got two bullet scars, one treated by one of our men, and another by a UNF medic.[/color]" Aura noted, with no small amount of pride in her fellow infantry around the bay, that they'd thumbed their safeties and brought their weapons to bear. With her free hand, Aura gestured at them all, saying "[color=0072bc]I can't speak for the weapons scientists, I'm not one, but I AM a soldier, an infantrywoman at heart. Most of those troopers aren't in there to oppress the poor, they're only soldiers because they wanted to help, to do what they thought was right. They're eighteen and twenty year old kids, Commander, and now all they want to do is protect their comrades. If you think of them as monsters and not humans, just something to destroy for victory, then what makes us better than them? I joined the OS because we're the good guys, ma'am, let's keep it that way.[/color]"

If Hale hadn't taken her gun by now, Aura set it back on the table and walked back to where she'd stood, adding "[color=0072bc]So you know Commander, if one of them drops their weapon and surrenders I don't think I can pull the trigger. If that's a problem, I don't need to be on this operation.[/color]" Her anger clearing and her philosophical rant over, Aura honestly felt better. It was good to know these things still bothered her, that she was still human, an affirmation that war hadn't eliminated her moral code just yet. Aura the person was satisfied, so it was time for Aura the captain to have her go. Clearing her throat, Aura added "[color=0072bc]Presuming my little caveat hasn't put you off sending me on this operation, ma'am, I need to know what the package is. Are we trying to exfil with their entire project, just the data, something else? Also do we have any actual estimates on enemy security? Infantry, armor, valks, air support, the works.[/color]"