idea

talwen is hesitating bc he doesn’t want to commit mass murder (with an ancient mecha’s rifle) as their army approaches
his commander, grey, tells him that they’re past the point of good or bad, the only thing that matters is having the power to survive and the will to use it
the enemy (bioengineered and neurologically altered people) is not human, this is about survival and extinction of humanity
talwen asks why he thinks they aren’t human, and it would matter if they weren’t
because they changed themselves into something unlike us, unlike humanity!
and that the two of them occupy the same space in the ecosystem of the planet, necessarily one must win over the other as there is not enough to sustain both
talwen wonders if it is right to use this power that was only happened upon by chance (discovered in salt mine) to defeat the otherwise impenetrable enemy
or if he should let evolution take the course it should, and allow the enemy to attack without firing, ensuring humanity’s extinction and the survival of the enemy who was more fit to win
finally, talwen considers self detonating the mecha he is piloting, destroying everything.
As the enemy approaches, and the scale of their power becomes visible, talwen is overcome by momentary panic and fires the mecha’s rifle, utterly annihilating the entire enemy force and blasting a new scar through the crust of the earth for miles
talwen realizes the enemy has been destroyed, the mecha still functions, and that its power is significantly more than he had imagined. becomes overwhelmed with guilt and grief over the deaths he had caused, and the reality that the army he was in could now use this mecha to rule with absolute power over the world
returns the mecha to army base, is arrested upon exiting the cockpit