"I haven't felt such a feeling of despair and anguish from another in. . . A long time. He flew with a suicidal recklessness, to kill but also to die. He's a Newtype isn't he?" Romav asked, but the question was entirely rhetorical, more to see what, if anything the Captain would continue to keep to himself. "Yes, Tyrius Garrou is a NewType. As are you Lieutenant." The Captain eyed Romav with a knowing grin, he'd had his suspicions of Romav for awhile, but he'd never really felt the man's presence as he did now. "Perhaps Garrou's presence has awoken something in you Lieutenant..." He trailed off, implying that perhaps the proximity to a more unstable personality in Garrou may have had some beneficial effect on Romav, perhaps forcing him to be more in touch with his own, as yet limited NewType abilities. "Do you think I was too lenient on him?" Jaryk asked with some genuine concern, but it was clear he was testing Romav to an extent. "I'd say yes, you were, put him on ice and let him cool off. We don't have that luxury now. . . And he can't afford that luxury. Whatever baggage he has needs to be burned off before we get planet side. . . Sir." Captain Jaryk nodded, "Indeed we don't have time for him to cool off, and I doubt his demotion will mean much to him at this point. Unfortunately he remains one of our more seasoned pilots, green as he is. He's seen nearly twice as much fighting as many of our other pilots, which isn't saying much."<br/><br/>Captain Jaryk stood up and motioned for Romav to follow him, "Now Lieutenant, do you remember that Garrou said he was a member of the 117th Navy Battalion? Well he was, and that unit was quite known throughout the upper command to have been tinkering around with NewTypes, testing out youth for heightened reaction times and grasping at straws to try and find some silver bullet at the end of the war." Jaryk looked at Romav as they exited the main elevator that had taken them below decks. There a number of access ways could be accessed through various doors for maintenance and other things. Captain Jaryk walked towards an unmarked door, behind which was another elevator. Both had required the Captain's key card to access. "Well Lieutenant, the 117th actually made some progress in their techniques of bringing to the fore the latent NewType potential within certain candidates." Captain Jaryk with his medals of rank on full display took on a different appearance, a fire burned in his eyes of pride and it could be sensed by those around him who could feel such things. In that fire though, there was a flash of something else, driven to succeed. In the somewhat darkened corridor between the exit of this hidden elevator and in front of one of only two doors in the depths of the ship Jaryk looked to Romav, "What you will see here is for your eyes only. I need you in order to facilitate our mission, the hopes and ideals of Zeon will rest on your choices now Viktor, I can only hope that you will support me here. We must both accept that certain things are necessary for the sake of our mission, which outweighs the importance of either of our lives, or the life of any one man."<br/><br/>Jaryk swiped his key card and as the massive door hissed, breaking its seals and sliding open to allow them entry, it closed behind them with a decisive woosh and the sharp clicks of the encoded latches sealing the room again. There was a small staff milling around, seemingly ignoring the Captain as if they were used to seeing him and that those with other tasks to do continued on with them. There were several chambers, they took the appearance of capsules, with vast power grids next to each one, eight in total, though at the moment they did not seem to be occupied. One however drew quite a small crowd, personnel in medical staff attire as well as one ranked officer Lieutenant Commander Heidrich who took notice of Captain Jaryk immediately and saluted, then briefly acknowledged Romav "Lieutenant," with an air of suspicion about including the other officer. "Captain, Lance Corporal Garrou is thus far quite responsive to the prescribed treatment, however," the Lieutenant Commander leaned in as if to only speak to the Captain, "Garrou has been in quite some discomfort shall we say, the treatments are not lightly undertaken though Captain." Jaryk nodded before an agonized scream carried through the lab, the voice was that of Garrou, but he was clearly in pain. "It seems that Garrou has moved on to Phase 3 of his rehabilitation." Jaryk turned to Romav, the sounds of Garrou's screams echoing off the enclosed lab room, "You must see this for yourself Romav, we are mastering what could not be accomplished at the end of the war." He strode towards the chamber that contained Garrou, the prosthetic leg seemingly of no hinderance to him now. Jaryk held his hand out towards the encapsulated Garrou, who had an odd contraption over his eyes, the device bore a passing resemblance to a vision testing machine, but the flickering lights behind it indicated that he was undergoing rapid light therapy along with other visual stimuli that would retrain him. He was monitored by a team of medical staff, but the electrodes that ran down his arms and along his body fired what must have been incredibly painful and rapidly timed jolts of electricity. "Viktor, this is the price of war now, we must steel ourselves, I can feel his anguish just as you can, perhaps more keenly, but I know this is for the betterment of our mission. Our mission that is of import above all else. Tyrius Garrou will play his part, and he will do so without further hiccups. You will be his handler out there on the battlefield Viktor, he will listen to you now. He will listen or he will be re-educated again until he is fully responsive to the needs of the mission. Don't you see what we can do now? The possibilities are limitless, but combat experience can be gained in mere days through implantation and manipulation of memory without ever having had actual combat experience, we will always have pilots for our mobile suits. We can return to Axis as heroes Viktor, moreso we will return victorious!" There was a dangerous glow around the Captain in this moment, but there was also a fire that swirled around him of passion and vengeance for Zeon and its ideals. If Romav had his doubts about the Captain, he would know now, from the pressure emanating from the man that he was a NewType and a rather powerful one. "Viktor, you must be my right hand on the battlefield, we will need your experience at Solomon, we shall make history there in 5 days time. But now, we must let the science team continue with there works, and we should return to the upper decks. You needed to know the truth of things Viktor, you needed to know just how close we are to turning the tides of this war, don't let yourself doubt that this is still a war, one that we will win, with our hardened focus and steeled hearts. Come now." Jaryk motioned again for Romav to follow him, this time exiting the lab. The screams of Garrou echoed for a moment longer until the massive bay door sealed shut again. Though his screams could no longer be heard, the torment and anguish against him could be felt by both Jaryk and Romav, the heart of a wild stallion was forcibly being broken and made to heel and the sorrow that surrounded the silent cries of Garrou echoed through the halls in the form of a sad and hateful pressure.<br/>--------------------<br/>Romav: You have choices to make now. Do you accept that brainwashing, memory implantation and manipulation are truly a means to the end of this war with Zeon as the victors? It is true that being able to harness the latent potential in green recruits, conscripted personnel or those like Garrou who are volatile personalities will go toward the war effort, but where does your conscience lie? You know there are those aboard the ship who would likely support you in putting  a stop to this if they found out what the Captain had authorized be done to Garrou and who knows how many others. However you must weigh your options, Arlen Jaryk is an old friend and his motivations are to see Zeon truly reborn which is your goal as well. Whatever you decide, eventually you will have to stand behind it wholeheartedly and as a grizzled veteran of countless campaigns you know this.<br/><br/>Garrou: As your 'rehabilitation' continues the pain that you experience is numbing, yet you can hear every pop and feel every jolt of electricity as you are 'rebuilt' in an image better suited to your commanding officer. However, the process has created a new experience of pain and sorrow for you, one that perhaps those who operate on you did not intend. Your heart is hardened as a result of the death of your friends, and now the added anger and sorrow of betrayal adds to the fire that burns within you. You cannot let go of your hatred and even these treatments cannot seem to separate you from that. One of the medical staff notes an abnormal reading in your brainwave patterns, something that seems resisting their efforts to reprogram you. The intensity of the machines are turned up and your agony seems to begin anew.