Those Who Remember; Those Who Forget.
31 Mar 2020Nirakoji
16 March 3306
Kobayashi Outpost, Gamma Hydri
Ordo Corona Stellarum briefing room
“Absolutely not! Korie, you need to stop this right now.” I slammed my hands on the desk in exasperation. Eyeing me coolly from across the table, stone faced, lips pursed, sat Progenitor Korie Alford.
“Korie, this is not what our Order is about. Our boys and girls are free to make their own minds up about the conflict without us raining hell down on them. We never asked for this war, and I certainly don’t want their blood on our hands as well.”
She shifted her weight from resting on one arm of her chair to the other, her chin cradled on her gloved fist.
“Nira, they’re a threat to our people and they need to be made an example of. Lives hang in the balance, and leadership means making hard choices.” She leaned back, raising an eyebrow at me.
I took a deep breath as I looked out our office window in Kobayashi Outpost. Distant puffs of orange and showers of sparkling liquified hulls met my eyes, and my diaphragm shook as I mentally reviewed the faces of the many young men and women I had the privilege of growing up with, any of whom could be at the center of those explosions right now. I said a prayer, hoping that their Remlok tech was keeping them as safe as I had been in my now distant encounter with pirates in the rings of the Hyades. I knew many of their parents. I’d watched more than a few of these brave pilots grow up.
The insatiable greed of two back to back conflicts incited against our recent economic and political success in Gamma Hydri sickened me. Serve family. Honor is vital. Champion the weak. Retreat with honor. Establish law. Uphold the dignity of all. These principles of the Order’s Code wrapped around my heart like the sinews of a tree around it’s heartwood. Another glance out the window, and the bright red hull of C.S.V. Zakar sat, hardpoints extended, waiting for me. Zakar means remember in an ancient, almost forgotten language. It’s a reminder to me, every time I strap into the seat, to remember that each time my hardpoints are aimed at another ship, that the pilots are remembered by someone, and that someone cares about them the way I remember my own. Ordo Corona Stellarum is to be the crown of the stars, and much of the shine of the crown comes from the restoration of what has been tarnished in our galaxy. Tarnished dignity; corrupted dominion; and tainted prosperity. What good is born out of blood…
"Yes Korie, leadership does mean making hard choices - which is the harder choice here?"
17 March 3306
Shipping Lanes, Volcani
Zakar’s afterburner roared to life as the T7 and I closed the gap. COVAS Gerhard barked at me in German as the automated targeting engaged. Two kilometers. Korie’s information was accurate. One kilometer. We didn’t start this, but we’re certainly finishing it. Five hundred meters… I pulled the trigger and eased off of the throttle as my hands danced across the control panel. A clank and a roar reverberated through Zakar and I blinked hard as a bright blue rocket plume blazed toward the T7.
“Gotcha!” I tucked Zakar low and flipped belly side up as I matched pace with the T7 that was maintaining its course, seemingly oblivious to my approach. At the last moment, it tried to frantically pitch and roll - but it was too late. With a loud clang piped into the flight deck by laser-sonic proximity sensors, I heard the satisfying clamping of the hatch breaker limpet smash into the T7’s cargo bay.
“... you’re mine now.” With a roar of venting atmosphere, the T7 bucked and gave up it’s cargo all at once. Eight cryo-life pods dumped into the abyss. You can always count on hostage takers to keep their “cargo” secure and docile for negotiations. Two more flashes of limpet light, and I set about restoring these hostages to their rightful allegiance.
“Welcome home, boys.” I grinned as I set the short-range comms mic back in place. Three new signatures flashed to life on my radar, Gerhard calmly informing me in German once more that their hardpoints were detected as engaged.
War is fought on many fronts. And war, as undesirable as it is, can be as much about life as it is about death. I salute these men and women that are willing to lay down their lives for life. May we never lay down our lives unto death, whatever conflict we’re drawn into.
31 March 3306
Kobayashi Outpost, Gamma Hydri
Kobayashi Ceremonial Hall
Five hundred sets of eyes stared back at me as I stepped up to the podium. This hall in [Kobayashi Outpost] could barely hold more. A dozen cameras piped a feed to, ostensibly, the remaining over two thousand souls of Gamma Hydri; of home. Behind me in an orderly row stood Vice President Lynwood Harvey, Vice President Antoine Farmer, Prospect Wilton Hendrix, and Progenitor Korie Alford. I cleared my throat, gripped the podium, and anchored my feet on the ground. The first minute of a public speech was always the hardest, even if I’d done it a thousand times before.
“This is not a victory speech. This is not a time to cheer or to clap. This is a moment to pause and reflect. To sober ourselves. To slow down, and to look around; look around you, please. Gamma Hydri Industry. Purple Allied PLC. Gamma Hydri Purple Partnership, yes, even you, I know you’re here too. And Ordo Corona Stellarum. Fourteen days ago saw the end of two conflicts. The fifteen days prior to that saw the end to many friendships, partnerships, and lives. Look around you. We’re not a large group though this room may feel small with the crowd. We know each other; and sadly, we know a side of all of us too well that we could wish we never had seen. We bleed and grieve together as one. I’m not here to gloat triumph or to separate heroes from villains. I’m here to forge peace out of what was broken. We rebuild together as one.
The majority of you have placed your confidence in Ordo Corona Stellarum for that very reason, and I know that many of you are afraid that you have much to lose for that very reason as well. I won’t dispute that. You very likely will lose much - all change involves loss. But loss doesn’t have to be without consequence, and as the faction tasked now with control of Gamma Hydri, I want to turn that loss into a new kind of gain for all of us.
Dignity. What divides us may be in our hearts and minds, but what unites us is in our veins and in our souls. Dominion. Not as ruling conquerors, but as those with power responsible to make changes - and changes for prosperity, changes against the inequities that greed and pride and fear sow into the fabric of our frailties. Prosperity. Not of a credit that you can print and flip between your fingers - no, not as simple or material as that. Ordo Corona Stellarum stands for a galaxy where no one is driven to slavery or to piracy because they could not meet their needs, nor were they lost between the cracks. This is why I ask you to look around. We’re all represented here. Look around you, because we are working together again. This is our home - and may these wars be the last our stellar shores see again. And may we not forget; our sin is in forgetting what we ought to always know.”
With that, I stepped away from the podium, turned around, and pulled down the shroud that covered a mysterious frame behind me. And as it fell, a gasp and reverential silence fell upon the room. I stepped away from the stage and cameras. Behind me was a monument to the fallen. The forms of four giant men and women, forged from shattered starships still wearing the mixed liveries of our four factions, welded together with long veins of a golden alloy; Kintsugi on a larger-than-life scale. And between the four, held by one hand each, was a plaque with the names of the fallen, blasted through a worn iron plate in the shape of a flag. The four faction leaders stepped forward at this point. Each read a line off the plaque out loud.
“Please rise if you know them, so that we all may witness your loss” and reading the names of the fallen in the hearing of all, pausing after each one in silence as members of the crowd rose. I caught Korie’s eye and nodded.
War may unfortunately be a part of our fabric as long as we have breath. In war, however, we all lose. In war, we all leave scarred and injured. In war, even the victors leave with demons new and old alike. And in peace, we all must bear our cross and heal together. We all must face each other, and above all, we must never forget.
