Geras GÇô Nearly two months after the existence of cloned soldiers was made public to the cluster by Jacus Roden, Modern Finances has released a positive report on the financial viability of the soldiers. According to the report, the average cloned soldier begins providing a greater return on investment with each passing day, allowing them to quickly overcome their initial cost.

While the costs to create and train an individual cloned soldier is greater than an ordinary soldier, due to the necessity of implanting the brain scan devices, these costs are overcome GÇ£within three months on averageGÇ¥. Due to the retention of skills and the ability of the cloned soldiers to fight without fear of permanent death, the soldiers are quickly capable of outstripping the value of baseline troops.

GÇ£One of the largest costs of any military or mercenary outfit is training soldiers,GÇ¥ the report reads. GÇ£While the initial cost for the same is higher with cloned soldiers, because they have much lower attrition rates, there is a much lesser need to replace them. Additionally, their ability to gain knowledge and experience through repeat trials by fire allows them to become more highly skilled than other units. Camaraderie also remains high, as squad members need not be replaced with new recruits, allowing intra-unit cohesion to flourish.GÇ¥

While the report stops short of advocating a complete abandonment of traditional soldiers, it does recommend GÇ£increasing the usage of cloned soldiers utilizing second generation implants.GÇ¥

It also notes some potential negatives of the soldiers, such as the GÇ£tendency for cloned soldiers to take low-reward risks when caution would have been advisedGÇ¥ and the risk of GÇ£cloned soldiers becoming maladjusted to life off the battlefield and experiencing an extreme form of post-traumatic stress disorder.GÇ¥ However, these concerns were dismissed because GÇ£the profit potential far outweighs these additional costs.GÇ¥

5...1...4...

Were I to walk the streets of any city I wonder what civvies would see.

I'm a little surprised I'm not crazy.

I haven't actually changed a whole lot, far as I can tell. Still enjoy rum, still like playing blackjack with the boys, even if my new looks freak 'em out some, and I still catch myself lookin' at storms through the station windows when I'm off duty.

Truth be told, I never really hurt a whole lot whenever I got cut down. I guess my body just goes into shock or something when I get hit, or maybe my CEO's got it good with a pharmacy and slips us extra-strong painkillers, I dunno. But I'll be honest... I hate wakin' up.

It feels like I'm someone else and the real me got left behind, pulled out somewhere between the dirt and the CRU. I don't like it. Don't like to think about how there's a thousand me's somewhere up in the stars, starin' down and accusin' me of theft. Feels like it isn't my body, feels like I stole it and don't know how to give it back.

They'd probably find that they have to go and see a psychologist themselves or maybe even join us to come close to understanding. We can't talk to civvies about this, they have nothing to relate it to. It's like the butterfly trying to explain to a caterpillar what it feels like to fly. The only thing the butterfly can really tell the caterpillar is "You have to go through the darkness first."

It's just unfortunate that that our darkness never ends.

5..... ahem

I got lucky.

The injuries that lead me to get voulentold for the program wiped my previous memories. The training is still there but everything is still a blank. Only my call sign followed me and that name has become mine.

War brought me into this world, I am going to make the war regret such.