Elderly viewers across the Federation showed complex expressions, memories flooding back of friends who'd died at fifteen, sixteen, seventeen – children forced to become soldiers before they'd learned to be adults.
"The price we paid was severe. Catastrophically severe. All of us watched friends and family die. There is not a single family in this entire Federation that hasn't paid for our current peace with someone's life."
His eyes became fierce, burning with intensity that made even watching through screens feel overwhelming.
"But this peace we worked so hard to build? It's an illusion! A comfortable lie we've been telling ourselves!"
His voice rose, carrying across the airways with increasing power.
"While the masses enjoy their peaceful lives, hundreds of soldiers die every single day at the battlefronts. EVERY SINGLE DAY–"
BAM!
He slammed his hand on the podium, the sound echoing like a gunshot.
