[Maketh considers Drake, wondering where to start.]
I don't know how it is in your home, but in mine, we have space travel. And as such, many habital planets. Many different people, many different beliefs and systems of government. And little order.
[She leans back in her chair.]
There was a war when I was young that destroyed most of the infrastructure, on both sides. In the aftermath, the few groups that had any military force to speak of united behind a single leader. That became the Empire. I enlisted as an infantry trooper, but I was recruited into the new officer corps. We were all -- quiet young.
[At this, she's quiet for a moment.]
I don't mean to excuse what was done. But you ought to know people were starving. Bowing to the Empire was better than risking a life with the warlords. We wanted to fix things.
We've gotten to the moon and that's about it. I've got a friend here who says they've colonized lots of other planets, though... and it sounds like at that point, things become kind of a mess.
[ He listens, then, tilting his head at her implication that this military force was automatically a bad guy. ]
That happens, sometimes. People fighting for control, killing each other to get it. Those who can't afford protection are crushed underfoot.
[She drinks her coffee, mostly for something to focus on.]
The Emperor promised unity, an end to the all the wars. He would bring order to places without it. No one would starve or be forced to sell their children into slavery.
[She thins her mouth.]
But control must be taken, of course, and it must be kept. Our loyalty must be absolute or we would be a threat to what the Empire stood for. The instructors made that clear on the first day. They shot one of the other cadets in front of us. She was weak. She didn't believe and so she had to go.
In a sense. [She sips her coffee, voice carefully even.] I was given a small command on a planet the Empire hoped to develop. The locals were--resistant, and my men were unable to apprehend the rebel leaders before they caused significant damage. And embarrassment, of course.
[Calmly, she sets her mug down.]
My lieutenants were executed for their failure. And as their commander, their failure was my own. Someone had to be blamed. And I--ran out of allies. So I turned to an enemy. I had intelligence the rebels needed.
[A shrug.]
It was entirely self-preservation. I don't deny that. And to their credit, I believe they did genuinely try to get me out. They were just--too late.
So... the empire killed you over basically a failed mission?
[ He isn't surprised to hear that she's dead -- he's probably dead, too, and a number of other people he's met have had similar stories. He is surprised that they'd execute for failure like that. They must surely run out of commanders if no one ever gets the chance to improve. ]
Failure must be punished. A warning to the survivors.
[She shrugs. It happened over a year ago and it was the expected course of events.]
Oh, one of my colleagues figured it out. Kallus, my counterpart in the Security Bureau. Command would have executed one of us regardless of what I did. Kallus simply...took advantage of the situation.
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no subject
[ Drake nods. ]
Me neither. I don't trust either of them to give even half a shit about us, and I won't be used as canon fodder.
no subject
I don't know how it is in your home, but in mine, we have space travel. And as such, many habital planets. Many different people, many different beliefs and systems of government. And little order.
[She leans back in her chair.]
There was a war when I was young that destroyed most of the infrastructure, on both sides. In the aftermath, the few groups that had any military force to speak of united behind a single leader. That became the Empire. I enlisted as an infantry trooper, but I was recruited into the new officer corps. We were all -- quiet young.
[At this, she's quiet for a moment.]
I don't mean to excuse what was done. But you ought to know people were starving. Bowing to the Empire was better than risking a life with the warlords. We wanted to fix things.
no subject
[ He listens, then, tilting his head at her implication that this military force was automatically a bad guy. ]
How were they going to fix things?
no subject
[She drinks her coffee, mostly for something to focus on.]
The Emperor promised unity, an end to the all the wars. He would bring order to places without it. No one would starve or be forced to sell their children into slavery.
[She thins her mouth.]
But control must be taken, of course, and it must be kept. Our loyalty must be absolute or we would be a threat to what the Empire stood for. The instructors made that clear on the first day. They shot one of the other cadets in front of us. She was weak. She didn't believe and so she had to go.
An abject lesson. Of course it stuck.
no subject
That's... Can I ask, is that the kind of thing that happened to you?
no subject
[Calmly, she sets her mug down.]
My lieutenants were executed for their failure. And as their commander, their failure was my own. Someone had to be blamed. And I--ran out of allies. So I turned to an enemy. I had intelligence the rebels needed.
[A shrug.]
It was entirely self-preservation. I don't deny that. And to their credit, I believe they did genuinely try to get me out. They were just--too late.
no subject
[ He isn't surprised to hear that she's dead -- he's probably dead, too, and a number of other people he's met have had similar stories. He is surprised that they'd execute for failure like that. They must surely run out of commanders if no one ever gets the chance to improve. ]
Or did they find out about the betrayal?
no subject
[She shrugs. It happened over a year ago and it was the expected course of events.]
Oh, one of my colleagues figured it out. Kallus, my counterpart in the Security Bureau. Command would have executed one of us regardless of what I did. Kallus simply...took advantage of the situation.
[She smiles, utterly humorless.]
He was always clever in that way.