Regarding Slavery
24 Oct 2016Arkadi Kreven
It happened that I met a man called Ben Ryder. We had a littel talk and I had a chance to recap my life-story. It went a bit like this:"Hi there, I am Ben. So you are flying for Archon?" the guy I met in the Harma Circus asked straight away. "Word goes Archon loves his many slaves brought to him by his loyal Kumo Crew..."
I was ready to rise and leave, but the guy infront of me just managed to calm me down. He sayed, he was doing a research regarding slavery in the galaxy. Somehow I got some sympathy for that bold man asking dangerous questions without flinching and without looking menacing in any way. So I ordered a drink and began to tell my tale:
"You see, my family was exiled and condemned to Imperial Slavery becouse they say my father should have commited "crimes against the Empire"...
I fled to Federal teritorry and became a fighter-pilot in the federal navy and in the Hudson special ops. It might not be slavery, but if I have to risk my life each day in combat zones, just to acquire Federal citizen-ship after years of service... it's not much different. Also there were times, where there have been a lot of missions to kill civilians. That's not exactly better then slavery...
So I met some people from the underground resistance. They are called Eclipse. I also joined an arena-fight-club. One thing led to another and so I came to an invitation from Archon Delains Kumo Crew.
Now here I am. I know it is expected from me, that I transport those Marked Slaves to Harma every now and then. I was told those are rivaling bandits, mischief-makers, enemy agents - that kind of people. They are sold into slavery as example. If they have friends who care for them, maybe they will be bought out or if they are strong maybe they can endure until they can flee."
Inbetween I told my tale, I remembered who this Ben was. I have seen his face in some trideo-documentation about Parnav Antal and his entourage. This guy was one of them.
"So, talking about slavery, what about brain-washing and indoctrination? Looking at Simguru Antal there..."
Ben leant back and crossed his arms infront of his chest with a genuine smile.
"As for old baldy I have zero evidence he uses brainwashing and indoctrination. nadda. zilch. The first mention I came across was an article that was made up by a commander pledge to the Empire (who earned a rep for writing stuff about other powers to make them look bad. Think he wrote one about teh crew too.) and on some remote base by members of the crew who read too much 1984 and decided that commune must mean cult and there for brain washing."
I didn't dig deeper becouse my knowledge of these affairs is not deep enough to fuel a debate. Still we had some nice chatter and Ben left soon after, to interview other guests of the Harma Circus. Somehow ... yes ... somehow this all connects. I am sure. But how?