"Sometimes I wonder."
"Why don't I have bodies as strong as yours, or your perfect marksmanship?"
"I have nothing but courage."
Samoa returned with Justicar to the building in front of the plaza. From the top-floor office, they looked out over the area beyond the Rebel Army's control.
Justicar stopped in front of the desk, hands clasped behind his back as he watched the Chaplain standing at the window, gazing outside.
After a long silence, Justicar said, "Different people have different specialties. Let the professionals do their jobs. Courage alone isn't enough to fight."
Samoa turned around. "I still remember the uprising in Celerus Hive City. I led the troops myself. When they caught me, they beat me until I pissed and shit myself, then broadcast my miserable state to humiliate you all—"
"You're not a warrior." Justicar shrugged. "You can't control your body's reflexes with sheer will. At least no matter what they did, you never said what the Hive City Defense Force commander wanted you to say."
"Could it be that I was beaten so badly I couldn't speak, rather than that I refused to talk?" Samoa said with a mischievous grin.
"If that's the case, who was it that told us not to bother with you?"
"Instinct. Just like pissing and shitting myself when they beat me. It was instinct."
Samoa suddenly sat down, crossing one leg over the other. "Cut me some slack, buddy. I can't exactly say I had the willpower to shout, 'Don't bother with me,' but not enough to hold in my piss and shit."
When he brought up this immense humiliation, there wasn't the slightest trace of pain or shame on Samoa's face.
Justicar was always amazed by Samoa's optimism.
"Why have you never said that Lucian IX's eldest son is your