The Value of a Human
02 Dec 2021Rhaazerus
//synchronizing logbook . . . CMDR Rhaazerus Orzhov
CMDR Log - #011
Star Date - December 2nd 3307
Felkan System, Jack's Town
Jack's Town . . .
Talk about a "hole in the wall"; these people take it quite literally.
Certainly some rough and rugged people here. But they're nice folks.
I've heard of the place but never got the chance to see it for myself until now.
A starport cut out of an asteroid . . . Not sure who's bright idea this was (Some guy named Jack I'm assuming?).
Well, I kinda like the place.
It was about a week ago, I heard the news about those NMLA guys showing up again.
They hijacked some megaship and were planning on moving that Theta 7 guy before disappearing into the black again.
I still remember those starport bombings.
All those people. . . That burning starport in Sol. . . all those scared faces of people scrambling to get out . . . The wreckage drifting through space . . . the bodies.
All those people, killed for some insane ideology and grudge over Imperial rule and a bunch of nonsense.
In the end it's always the regular folks who suffer for it.
I don't know what made me do it. Maybe some sense of justice. Maybe the credits. Probably the credits to be honest.
Either way, I made my way to Mudhrid, where the fighting was taking place between an Empire backed faction and the Neo-Marlinists.
Imperial space. I've never really spent much time in Imperial space. It felt, different, alien. Like some other culture.
Lots of Imperial loyalists scrambling about, praising their rulers and glorifying their fight against the NMLA like some holy crusade.
Gotta' admit, they seem like a bunch of weirdos, but they have a sort of regal valor to them. It's admirable.
Maybe this wasn't really my fight to take up.
I didn't have any stakes in the happenings of the Empire, but I felt like I had to at least do something while those Theta guys were within reach.
A few days went by. I was in and out of the starport and jumping into the fray throughout the system.
There were a few close calls there. I guess you never really think about dying until it happens.
In the end, the Empire won out, and the NMLA have been beaten down. The Theta group slipped away into space again.
I even hear the Duval's had a new kid today too. I'm sure that's gonna ruffle their feathers even more.
A small victory for the galaxy I guess.
But all that time, in the midst of all that fighting; I saw ships getting destroyed but I guess I never really considered the pilots who flew them.
You get used to the sight, but in that other ship there's another pilot shooting back at you.
I took down a few, but how many of those pilots survived? How many did I kill?
This galaxy . . . We've spread humanity across the stars, we've terraformed worlds, we've colonized planets and star systems.
Humans are all over the place, but . . . what value is a single person's life in this vast, uncaring galaxy?
Hell, even starports will blast your ship without a second thought just for loitering.
I guess, in the end we all have our hopes and dreams, our fears and worries, but the galaxy does what it will.
Ah well, 'dems the brakes it seems!
It's a harsh galaxy. You've gotta embrace the freedom along with the danger, gotta have them both!
So now here I am in Jack's town. Maybe I'll do some work around here for a while.
//log end . . .