The recorder clicks on and some soft shuffling can be heard.
"...At times like this, I find myself wondering if men like Edison Trent really ever existed at all, or if that name was a legend created simply to give name to the faux-victory achieved during the war nineteen years ago, when I was a child."
Rachel lets out a soft sigh, sinking into her chair.
"Sometimes I wonder if I would've been better off as a simple planetside cop, like dad was...then, I wouldn't know the things I know...or do some of the things that I've done."
Rachel sighs again, shaking her head.
"..But then I remember that you cannot redo your life, and here I am, back in the world of Acting Fleet Admiral Rachel Baker...hah, Acting Fleet Admiral is right...I don't even know how this happened, but whatever...here we are, on the verge of repeating that war from nineteen years ago..."
She paused to clear her throat, biting her lip as she sat there in silence, staring into the recorder for a long moment.
"...It's a good thing that I had the pleasure of serving under, and befriending David, that is, former Fleet Admiral Hale...elsewise I'd still be a rigid, by the books, cookie cutter Naval Officer...and, well...I don't think I would've come as far as I have, nor would I still have such an...open mind."
She laughs, almost sarcastically.
"I still find it hard to believe that despite my private fears and lack of confidence that I'll do right by my subordinates in the coming hell...that I have even a little hope left that we'll stop this thing, and that this hope was granted to me by our supposed enemies...things don't make sense anymore, but I guess they probably didn't nineteen years ago, either..."
She sighs heavily, leaning back into her seat, running her fingers through her hair.
"More and more high profile Gallic defectors and rebels keep showing up in Liberty..and with them come stories straight out of some sci-fi horror flick...and offers of aid. Then there's The Order who every now and again, provide a valuable piece of intel...whenever it suits them to do so. I don't know what's going to happen, or if I'll be alive at the end...but maybe we can at least line up the pieces necessary to stop this thing...if we can't, well then I guess I hope Edison Trent really does exist."
She laughs softly, rolling her eyes and switching the recorder off.
![[Image: CHI4y9i.png]](https://i.imgur.com/CHI4y9i.png)