Personal Log - 15 December 3306
15 Dec 2020Quriosyty
“But there’s no such thing as free. There are only different and more horrible ways to be enslaved.”As I looked back at the rim of Cemiess, a field of stars framing the shining planet against the obsidian backdrop of the void, I felt only one regret, that I was leaving my beloved Empire behind, and with it the princess who had so captured my heart and mind those few years ago amidst the exultant swell of people filling the esplanade. Aisling Duval.
Before leaving Cemiess, I saw her just once more; following that memorable day when, as a bitter and angry sixteen-year-old, I had looked into her eyes and fallen under her spell, bewitched not only by her beauty and her vulnerability, but also by her nobility. When I close my eyes I can see her still; small and defenceless beside her father, yet shining with an inner light which magnified her, in my adolescent mind, to a figure of strength and power which dwarfed her father’s comparatively colossal frame. Not quite a goddess you must understand, but as close as a young boy would ever find without actually touching the divine.
In my final year of training her father visited the academy to inspect the class of 3294, and Aisling came with him. The intervening years had seen her blossom into a woman and something about her presence lit up the entire academy; as though she radiated some immensurate, unquantifiable, invisible energy. No one who saw her that day could fail to be affected by her presence, none could forget her radiance. Me least of all.
People may forget what you say, people may forget what you do, but people will never forget how you make them feel. Aisling Duval made me feel proud. Proud to be a member of her empire, proud to belong, proud to serve – in my own way.
I serve her still – in my own way, with the same pride. Maybe even love.
If this offends you, if this disgusts you, if you mean to judge me then you should know this. I make no apology nor bear the slightest iota of shame or guilt. Aisling Duval represents, to me, everything that is great about the Empire. And the Empire is great.
Anti-imperialists often state that they are opposed to its ideals; colonialism, colonial empires, hegemony, imperialism and the territorial expansion of a state beyond its established borders. For them, the Empire embodies a tyrant. They will argue for other forms of government which they insist surpass the ideals of empire – though they are often unconvincingly vague when drawn out about what their ideals truly are and are quick to refute any criticism of their beliefs, swiftly dismissing argument as ignorance, counterpoint as intolerance. But perhaps the most contentious issue with the Empire, and sadly the most partisan, is the question of slavery.
Let me say only this: I, like Aisling Duval, abhor the practice of slavery. And, in her name, I will fight to see it abolished, expunged from the Empire, from the galaxy. I will burn it to the ground, bury it in an unmarked grave and salt the earth so nothing may grow from its remains.
To those who oppose the Empire for this reason, who offer up Federation or Alliance or any other form of so called democracy as an alternative I have this to say. Corporate Politics: the art of using euphemisms, lies, emotionalism and fear-mongering to dupe average people into accepting, or even demanding, their own enslavement, is no alternative. It is the same animal, disguised in different attire; a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It's not an endlessly expanding list of rights — the 'right' to education, the 'right' to health care, the 'right' to food and housing which liberates man. That's not freedom, that's dependency. Those aren't rights, those are the rations of slavery — hay and a barn for human cattle.
Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery. None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Slavery does not merely mean a legalised form of subjection. It means a state of society in which some men are forced to accept from others the purposes which control their conduct. Poverty makes a slave out of men. In order to eat he will accept work that gives no pleasure.
You wish to extinguish slavery in the galaxy? Look to the minimum wage, to corporate greed, to the desperate masses who give their ingenuity, their industry, their lives to earn a crust. Slaves have no rights beyond those which they are given. They are fed, albeit poorly, housed, albeit in squalor, abused, albeit in the name of progress. Where then lies the distinction between slaves and those apparently free individuals who work for a pittance, can only afford to live in squalor, and have no rights beyond those which they are allowed? And those promises on which they pin their hopes and dreams? They are as thin and easily torn as tissue. How is this better?
I do not see it. If you do, then perhaps you need to look at the galaxy with better eyes.
Yes, I am an imperialist. But that does not make me a monster. I give my allegiance freely and in good faith. I know whom I follow and why.