Play@YSDC

"Yes, Miss, I'm fine," he said.

Elizabeth Young,The major was a little calmer now, but he wasn't truly fine.

"No, I do mean yesterday, sir. She had a date with you yesterday, didn't she?"

"I don't like what you're insinuating, Captain," said Major Steadman with a frown. "I happen to be a married man."

"Major, I'm sure John isn't trying to insinuate anything," says Elizabeth, calmly but slowly. "However we fear that whatever attacked Nell could still be at large, and pose a risk to other people." She pauses, before going on. "It may have been an animal attack, but that's not certain. If there is anything else that you could tell us that might be relevant and helpful, please do. I'm sure John will be discreet, but there is a risk to the public here, and your information might help save lives."

John nods in agreement, grateful for Elizabeth's save.

"If we didn't mean well, we wouldn't have come here, would we, sir?"

"I'm sorry," said Major Steadman, "but I'm afraid there's nothing more I can tell you."

Elizabeth Young,The major clearly hadn't told them everything.

"Are you sure sir?" asks Elizabeth. "Because with the greatest possible respect I don't think you're telling us all you know."

Persuasion 35%,[dice]0[/dice]

OOC,Mr Handy, is there a chance I might roll my war prestige to try and ply our soldierly connection?

OOC2,in case of yes, here is my roll 35% [dice]1[/dice]

Elizabeth rolls Persuade (stat 35%): [dice]0[/dice]

"I never said I was telling you all I know," said Major Steadman. "I said I had told you all I can." He sighed. "I have no doubt whatsoever of your loyalty, but some things must remain secret. I will only tell you this much: what I was doing last night was vital to the war effort - and most secret. We'll have to leave it at that."

Elizabeth Young,[b]Elizabeth[/b] sensed that the major was sincere in his statement.

John nods and salutes Steadman.
"I understand, sir. We'd best be going then..."

He turns to leave, but then stops, looking back at Steadman.

"That being said, are there places we definitely shouldn't go?"

"You'd do well to avoid the East End as a whole," said Steadman, returning the salute. "The bombing was heaviest there last night."

"Thank you sir for your time talking to us," says Elizabeth. "I wish we could have met under better circumstances."

"You're welcome, Miss," said Major Steadman before they left. "I wish that were the case too."

John salutes and turns to the door. He pauses as he grabs the door handle.

"It's just not right, Major. I can't accept this as an answer."

He turns to face them again, his voice full with emotion.

"I didn't come all the way here to fight the Nazi's just to discover that we're not a hair better than they are. How can we let this happen? People see us as heroes and we turn away when a woman is murdered in the streets because of some secret operation? Do we fail in the face of adversity and turn away when we see evil on our side? Staring into the Abyss for too long will let the darkness into our own hearts!

Help us, sir, help us, we can't allow this to go away without taking a stand!"

OOC,Sorry for the absence, I had a severe case of deadlinitis.

Major Steadman sighed and rose to his feet. "We are better than the bloody Nazis, and don't you forget it for a second," he said. "We're at war for our very survival, and it wasn't one we asked for. Sometimes in war one has to do things that are unpleasant, even downright awful. You think I haven't wrestled with this myself? I don't sleep well, but I do what I must so that others don't have to. We've both had to shoot down Germans who are in the same profession we are, some of them quite young. We can't afford to dwell on the fact that they have mothers, fathers, wives, children who love them. They're attacking us, and we must defend our island, whatever the cost. If the Nazis invade and occupy Britain, it would be unthinkable! In order for us to prevail, sacrifices must be made."

"Sacrifices like Nell?" asks Elizabeth, hesitantly, her voice shaking somewhat with emotion, but trying to stay calm.

"I never said that," said the major, "but war is filled with hard decisions and impossible choices. Do you know how many innocent people the Jerries killed last night? Right now, nobody does, not exactly. The number is in the hundreds, and they're still counting. How many more will they kill if they're not stopped? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? We stand alone against seemingly insurmountable odds. If one person must die so that many more may live - and live free - then that is a price that must be paid."

"Yes, true, in the case of you or I, we go out there as often as we can, and put our lives on the line, hoping that our sacrifice will make the difference. Not in the case of people like Nell Murrow. They're the people we're supposed to protect, and every dead civilian is one too many.
If defeating the Nazi's costs us our humanity, we will have gained nothing and lost much more than we started with."

John sighs.

"Can you promise no more civilians will die by our hand, sir? Because if you can't, and I don't think you truthfully can, we should alter our course."