The Pact’s Frontline Corps operated on a simple arithmetic: each soldier cost approximately 1.2 million credits to train, equip, and stack, while a single battle-droid of equivalent combat effectiveness cost 4.7 million and could not adapt to unpredictable tactical situations. Human beings, it turned out, were the cheaper option, provided you did not mind erasing their personhood one death at a time. Kaelen had done the math in his bunk during basic training, staring at the ceiling of his barracks while the man in the next cot wept softly into his pillow.
