((M'kay, so the reality decided to fold itself and deny the last moments, it seems. I mean, I did not ask for this, but if we're given a second chance I'm using it to dot all the "i"s and cross all "t"s on the matter.))
I see. I see it well, Steve. But you are mistaken. I "aided the enemy" out of compassion - I volunteered to help. I worked and helped throughout the HMRC service out of the same compassion - and I helped people on my own volition; I was a surgeon, a medic, a doctor.
I came forward to the Doctor, and became his student for the sake of the survival of humanity, because that is what I believed in. I accepted Simus' offer of scientific position on Hephaestus because it coincided and I could help. I grew attached to its people, and did what I could to help them; I offered my service for the General's duty for the same reason.
But I am not a scientist by heart. There is only one significant scientist in ARM, and you know him. In the end, it doesn't really matter if I would help him, or not. We all are just flecks of dust on his and yours road. So I aspired to be more than that.
And that is why I will not contend with the role of a trooper. And that is why I will not contend with the role of a scientist. You have many, many, many people to fill those roles for you. Before, perhaps, there had been some uses to my assistance when we had our backs against the wall; now, with a safe way out, it is no longer the matter of "whether humanity would survive" - it is the matter of "how much of it we will be able to save". I am not truly needed there, and you know it full well. So I offered you the only unique thing I could suggest - my ultimate service, to put my life on the altar of human history - with just the off chance it would not be lost in vain. Few people would have the nerve and willingness to do that much, and even fewer would have the qualities that made them suitable for such an attempt. That is where, I dare say, I couldn't be easily replaced by another trooper.
In the end, the authority, legal standing, ability to dabble in research and ARM strategy - they all are secondary. These are my secondary specialisations or potential assistances I could provide. But if you, Steve, do not have a use for my willingness - if Humanity does not have a use for my willingness - then I am truly and fully interchangeable, and is not of any special use to anyone, and do not care if I live or die any longer.
So I ask you for the second, and final time, Steve: would you let me fulfil my fate, allowing me to atone for my sins (which you - Humanity - have judged significant) and bring my best ability to use, or do you truly have no use for the person like me other than as yet another brick in the wall?
Demand the bloody answer from Steve.