allowed evil to go unpunished in the name of justice and forgiveness.” He paused and took a deep breath, then looked around the room.
“We need to decide what path we are going to take. Are we going to be a people that will forgive those that had wiped out three other sentient races, nearly wiped out the fourth and killed our own people with no provocation? Are we going to seek justice?” Adrian’s gaze hardened and his eyes locked with Tomas’. “The truth is that our word to Sowir means as much as theirs means to us. Nothing. The one you give your word to needs to be worthy of trust and respect. The Sowir are none of those things, they are not worthy. We need to end the threat that they represent, not just because they pose a danger to us, but for all other races that they might encounter in the future.”
Laura looked at her son, “How can we fight them to such an extreme when we don’t understand their motives?”
Adrian turned his eyes to her. “It is exactly because we don’t understand them that we must fight them. The Sowir had had time enough to make their thinking known. And make no mistake, they understand us. They were a part of the Consortium for a long time. They couldn’t have done that without knowing the motives of the Consortium races. And yet they never even tried to make themselves understood. They are schemers and backstabbers. And they do not suffer other races to be in their vicinity. Their reasons don’t matter, their actions do, and they need to be stopped.” Adrian then turned back to Tomas.
“If you want the Empire to become what you imagined, we will need to be ready to make this kind of decisions. I am not saying that we should respond to every threat with force, but we must not shy away from it. Negotiating, trying to understand one another, and compromising, are things we cannot abandon. There will be times in the future when we will need to use these things. Willingness to completely annihilate any threat that refuses to negotiate, refuses to understand us or teach us to understand them, and refuses to compromise, that, is the thing that will make us strong. It will be a burden on us yes, but in the end we will save more lives, and keep countless others from suffering.”
Then Adrian’s eyes softened a bit and he continued. “We humans like to think of ourselves as morally right, as good guys, as people that believe violence and war have no place in a civilized society. Those are ideals we strive towards and look up to. But the truth is not so simple. We are not a peaceful race. No matter how much we try to tell ourselves and others that we hate war, we relish and thrive in it, even with all the horrors it brings. Having an ideal of peace to strive towards is a good thing, it is what keeps our nature in check. And humanity is capable of acts of immense greatness and goodness. But deep down most of us are fighters, survivors, and warriors. A mother will kill to protect her child, most humans will take up arms and fight to protect something dear to them, violence is not something that is hard for us. We must not forget that, our warrior nature is what has brought us this far against so many obstacles, we cannot abandon that part of us for as long as there are things we wish to protect.”
Tomas looked at Adrian and thought back on the boy that was in command of a small warship in the orbit of Earth, speeding away to avenge the deaths of innocent people. With every word Adrian spoke, Tomas could feel something inside himself finally come together.
“You are right Adrian. We cannot afford to let the Sowir run free across the galaxy. Whether they will force us to deal with them permanently or not is their decision.” Tomas said. He then looked at Isani. “What do you think?”
Isani was thoughtful and didn’t respond immediately, then after a couple of moments he spoke. “Our history has made us abhor violence and war, we believed ourselves superior, as you said
“We need to decide what path we are going to take. Are we going to be a people that will forgive those that had wiped out three other sentient races, nearly wiped out the fourth and killed our own people with no provocation? Are we going to seek justice?” Adrian’s gaze hardened and his eyes locked with Tomas’. “The truth is that our word to Sowir means as much as theirs means to us. Nothing. The one you give your word to needs to be worthy of trust and respect. The Sowir are none of those things, they are not worthy. We need to end the threat that they represent, not just because they pose a danger to us, but for all other races that they might encounter in the future.”
Laura looked at her son, “How can we fight them to such an extreme when we don’t understand their motives?”
Adrian turned his eyes to her. “It is exactly because we don’t understand them that we must fight them. The Sowir had had time enough to make their thinking known. And make no mistake, they understand us. They were a part of the Consortium for a long time. They couldn’t have done that without knowing the motives of the Consortium races. And yet they never even tried to make themselves understood. They are schemers and backstabbers. And they do not suffer other races to be in their vicinity. Their reasons don’t matter, their actions do, and they need to be stopped.” Adrian then turned back to Tomas.
“If you want the Empire to become what you imagined, we will need to be ready to make this kind of decisions. I am not saying that we should respond to every threat with force, but we must not shy away from it. Negotiating, trying to understand one another, and compromising, are things we cannot abandon. There will be times in the future when we will need to use these things. Willingness to completely annihilate any threat that refuses to negotiate, refuses to understand us or teach us to understand them, and refuses to compromise, that, is the thing that will make us strong. It will be a burden on us yes, but in the end we will save more lives, and keep countless others from suffering.”
Then Adrian’s eyes softened a bit and he continued. “We humans like to think of ourselves as morally right, as good guys, as people that believe violence and war have no place in a civilized society. Those are ideals we strive towards and look up to. But the truth is not so simple. We are not a peaceful race. No matter how much we try to tell ourselves and others that we hate war, we relish and thrive in it, even with all the horrors it brings. Having an ideal of peace to strive towards is a good thing, it is what keeps our nature in check. And humanity is capable of acts of immense greatness and goodness. But deep down most of us are fighters, survivors, and warriors. A mother will kill to protect her child, most humans will take up arms and fight to protect something dear to them, violence is not something that is hard for us. We must not forget that, our warrior nature is what has brought us this far against so many obstacles, we cannot abandon that part of us for as long as there are things we wish to protect.”
Tomas looked at Adrian and thought back on the boy that was in command of a small warship in the orbit of Earth, speeding away to avenge the deaths of innocent people. With every word Adrian spoke, Tomas could feel something inside himself finally come together.
“You are right Adrian. We cannot afford to let the Sowir run free across the galaxy. Whether they will force us to deal with them permanently or not is their decision.” Tomas said. He then looked at Isani. “What do you think?”
Isani was thoughtful and didn’t respond immediately, then after a couple of moments he spoke. “Our history has made us abhor violence and war, we believed ourselves superior, as you said
Similar Books
