War - what is it good for?
13 Apr 2021Monkey Knuts
War has come to my quiet little corner of space. For a passive explorer like myself, lazily floating through space sipping tea and honking at planets; I find that it's one of the only things that can cut through the background noise of my Lonestar's engines...no mean feat I tell you!
There is, of course, one problem; I'm no combat pilot and I have no interest in war. I'm no pacifist either and with some training I'm sure I could duke it out with the best of them. I just haven't found the time or the inclination to buy a combat ship and learn to fly it yet.
I'm usually too busy sipping my tea and honking at planets. Have you seen some of the views out there?!
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So why does the war matter and why has it punctured the drone of the Asp's engines?
It comes down to a fundamental quality required in any pastime and that is fun. It has to be enjoyable. War can be fun under certain circumstances, the rush of combat, the taste of victory, the change that it can bring to those caught up in its wake.
This though, isn't fun, it isn't endearing or necessary. It lacks a point, or purpose, in the grand scheme of things considering the context.
I have no interest in pandering to the egos of commanders spoiling for a fight. I don't care for the childish cowardice of a squadron commander picking a fight to get back at his former squad. I can only hope that they exiled him over this zealous need for bloodlust.
I'd imagine the conversation went along the lines of:
"Why attack them? We have a ceasefire in place...you're only going to provoke them..."
"So what? I'll spin it so that we're the victims and they're bullying us"
"Honestly don't bother. It's not worth it..."
"I'm just taking my carrier out to have a look"
"Honestly... Stop... We still have the ceasefire in place after your last vendetta"
"Too late. They asked why I was here so I killed one of their officers, you should have seen it, two against one, didn't even know we were at war.. It was amazing."
"Really?! You need to apologise or we'll have to kick you..."
"You can't kick me, I already quit and took some my fanatics with me."
"Great. We'll fight the war you started then shall we?!"
"That'll teach you for kicking us!! Now they'll attack you and you'll be sorry for not having my back. We'll start a better squadron, a bigger one, one that loves us."
"You started this... Ugh.. What's the point?!"
"That'll teach them. Their squadron will collapse without us in charge and its all because our enemies were jealous of our mighty power."
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The problem with bullies is that they never take any responsibility for their actions. They always find a way to throw the first punch and then blame their victim for fighting back. How very dare they?!
If you amass a force at someone's border and goad them into reciprocating, which eventually they'll need to do, then start sending combatants "to test their responses", eventually someone will get hurt. Which then gives the bully the chance to attribute blame because "they were asking for a fight."
They weren't, they just didn't want your military sniffing at the border when you had no good reason to be there.
So now war has come to my quiet corner of space, not for an ideological reason, or one of self preservation; it came because a school yard bully didn't get enough hugs, and wanted more attention. It's a pathetic excuse for a conflict and one that shames us all.
I'm so sorry to your former squadron. It wasn't their fault. Their leaders betrayed them and disgraced them all. I'm sorry to your fanatical followers that still think you deserve their respect, I pray that they will come to see you for who you really are. I'm sorry for your former allies, each of their efforts placed at risk because of your vendetta, you shame their achievements.
I'm also sorry for my own squadron, they were attacked, seemingly without provocation and worse still after trying to seek a peaceful resolution to your posturing; how did you think they would react when you started killing them in their own space?
You want someone to blame but it can only be yourself. You stood in the playground pushing kids over until one fought back. You then cried to the teacher that the other kids are fighting you and hoped to play the victim whilst your own victims suffered further.
The simple truth is that you're a bully. You're nothing special and you deserve no recognition. You goad people into fighting you because you know that your mates will have your back. They are no better than you and they too deserve no respect or adoration.
So now you have it, the fame and attention, your playground politics paid off and you have your war, your victims are suffering at the hands of others whilst you quietly leave the system and start a new squadron. Good job, you must be so proud.
In the end you only reiterate the final fundamental quality of any bully. You are a coward, you chose this path, you chose to antagonise and when your victims finally fight back, you ran away to whatever hole you crawled out off...blaming everyone else along the way for a problem of your own making.
Well done Commander, you are the worst of us, a petty man ruining everyone else's day out of spite. I do not hate you though. I won't give you the satisfaction. I am not at war with you nor will I give you the pleasure of picking a fight with me. I don't care about your reasons, your intent or your endgame, you're a bully, why do you deserve my time?
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Now, if you don't mind, I need to go and buy a combat ship to defend my friends from the victims of your leadership until someone sees sense and peace descends once more.