Irry looked over to Silver as the others spoke up, and the fireteam also turned from whatever they were doing once the questions and comments started coming. The one-eyed vulpine looked over the group and tried to read their reactions. Mostly, their faces showed what he expected: sadness, fatigue both physical and emotional from the gruelling battle and the loss of more of their numbers and from the damage to the settlement itself, no doubt. 
Aihara came to attention and offered himself up as the cause of Aidan's death, and the fox was taken aback for a moment. How could Kuraiko have been responsible? But he thought he understood: he felt some kind of connection to the event, felt some need to think that their friend would be there had things gone a different way. 
Slowly shaking his head, the fox waved the black-furred GEAR pilot back to his seat.
"Stand down, Aihara," he said quietly, but firmly. "It wasn't your fault, or any of your fault. Aidan did what he felt he had to, and what he could. Just like he did on our other operations together, both in exercises and in the field." Slowly, he unfroze and moved over to a nearby chair, bidding the others to sit down as well, before he spoke up, words coming slowly; awkwardly, as he found them and his emotions began to untangle themselves.
"I've been crossing the wires in my head thinkin' about how I coulda done things different on the last op, or on this one, to change it so no-one got hurt, or so we didn't have to sit here again and try an' find out what went wrong, or what any of us coulda done different. And I don't know myself. Right now, I feel like y'all have the right to walk outta that door and make a formal note of no faith in me; two missions into our career, and we've got three KIA's and one WIA to our name, along with a whole mess of people reassigned from our startin' lineup. And that's not countin' the damage to our equipment."
He matched eyes with everyone in the room, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, more conversational and confessional than confrontational or formal. Somehow, it fit the moment, and what he was trying to say, trying to feel.
"Aidan was a good man. I liked him, a lot. Losing him feels like a stab in the gut, or like somethin's been cut outta me. We've only been a unit for a few weeks; maybe a month. And we've had so many come an' go in that time, that it's been hard fer us to form any bonds or find out how we gel together as a group. But he did what he had to, put himself out there as a medic an' as a damn fine soldier. I feel like I betrayed that by not havin' his ass in the fight-" he nodded to Kuraiko "-same as you, I bet, or any of us do. Hell, I can only imagine the hell y'all are feelin' right now," he added with a softer tone, nodding toward the fireteam. They'd been with him right at the end, in the same corridor.
"But the long an' short of it is," he continued, his tone firming slightly, and his eye falling to his own hands, stretching them both out before him, one black-and-white and artificial, the other black-furred and original. "We do a dangerous job. We put ourselves out there, in harms way where the bombs, bullets and whatever else are flyin', all aimin' ta kill us, or th' other guy. An' it seems right now, our little unit is right on the edge of somethin' messy, big, an' dangerous. An' that means folks are lookin' to throw their weight around, and we're gonna be havin' to push back. We got caught out twice; once by the Imps and it cost us two of our own that time. And this time the Southerners decided t' break their silence with violence, death an' destruction, and caught us out because of it. 
"I won't blame any of y'all if you wanna be reassigned. I'll sign off on it, and I'll hand you a glowin' recommendation. You all deserve it for sure, after all we've been through. But me... I got doubts, an' plenty of 'em after what we've seen, an' what I went through before all of this too. Gotta say, feels like some of its' repeatin' on me. But, I can swear to you all, I don't wanna see any more of you laid out without throwin' myself right inta harms way with every furry fiber of my old ass to ensure that if death comes lookin' fer you, it's gonna have to fight through me first. And on top of that? I wanna find out what is so dear; what is so critical an' important to these two giant factions, that it was worth killin' our guys for, and layin' waste t' half of Martenstown".
He stood up again, pacing around the other a little as he spoke, more fire coming into his words. 
"We been knocked down; hurt and left weakened by our losses. Especially losin' our people an' gettin' hurt. But we got somethin' back, we have intel from the Princess herself, an' whatever it is Kellia is onto as well. An' we have new orders too: We're headin' out first light to Antaria Flats. An' y'all know what's there; the hottest gear in the LDF and lots of it, an' all of the LDF's Special Operations units. Doesn't take me too much to draw some conclusions there. I reckon we're about to get pretty reinforced. We'll be there in a day an' a half. Time enough fer us to lick our wounds, search our souls, and firm ourselves up... or to make any other decisions y'all wanna make".
He gestured toward his open office door in the corner of the common area the individual bunk rooms all lead onto. "I'll be in there if y'all wanna speak to me about anythin'. As you were," he commented with a nod, and turned slowly on his heel, moving back into his room.