Doomsday, part 2

Posted on Sat Oct 9th, 2010 @ 12:32pm by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Lorne Jaxara

1,308 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Peace, or Something Like It

ON

[OLD]

"So, you want to make sure that if anything happens to you, you want all life on Turkana IV to be destroyed out of, what? Arrogance? Self-aggrandizement? A need to play God?" She glared at him. "What gives you the right to decide who lives and dies? You claim to want what is best for your people, but you want to make sure every single one of them dies if you leave the planet? No wonder you can't be bothered with peace. You'd rather destroy everyone and be cone with it."

[NEW]

Teenan couldn't be bothered to argue with the Commander so he chose his words carefully "This is merely a case of mutual agreed destruction and considering humanity's track record I hardly consider you as the most reputable source to censure me. So I would thank you to hold your tongue until you have something valuable to say on how to get us out of here."

"Earth went through that period in the late 19th Century. Then they realized how stupid it was and decided working together for peace was a better way to go. You said in the conference that you were willing to step down for the good of your people. Obviously you were lying," she said, not hiding the contempt in her voice.

The Grand Marshal ran his hand over the top of his head. He was staring to become annoyed with his cellmate.

"My words carry meaning, I wouldn't say them if I wasn't willing to back them up with action. If these talks had any chance unifying my people then I would happily step aside."

"After so many years of fighting, however, one has to remain pragmatic. These peace talks were a long shot under the best of circumstances and an assassination plot at the worse. My insurance policy was agreed upon by a number of men and women in my staff who would rather die then give up what has been won, each one of them would have done the same thing as I." Teenan thrust his hands out. "Apparently we were right to take precautions as these talks were nothing but a sham."

"They're not a sham. Not until you made them so," she spat. "And there's nothing pragmatic about hating people -- even your own people -- so much that you would rather kill them than make peace. You're worse than the people you despise."

"I will not be lectured by you." Teena roared as his reserves finally snapped. "I would kill a thousand people from the Alliance or Union to protect one person of mine. More than that, I would die for that one person without a second thought. I know this to be true of almost everyone in the Coalition."

"I am a warrior, bred for combat. Peace means that I will very shortly become obsolete, a tool with no purpose. I came to these peace talks not out of personal gain but because I want my people to have the best chance of surviving, so much the better if the entire planet experiences the same as a by-product. I dared to think of peace and this is how I'm repaid." He looked briefly around the cell. "Now my people lose, the Alliance loses and the Union loses."

"You speak like you want peace, but you act like you care for nothing and no one but yourself and your petty little grievances. You don't see the rape squads, the children dying because no one cares enough to stop the fighting. Mothers dying to protect their children. You don't care about anything or anyone. You'd rather see every man, woman and child on this planet killed than take a chance that maybe, just maybe the others are willing to do something to stop the fighting."

She poked him in the chest. "I've seen your world. I've read the reports of what it was. I saw how it's changed. I came here to HELP you. But you do care? No. You just want your petty revenge. You don't believe in peace enough to give it a chance. You're so bent on being right that you want to destroy your word because you're too afraid to try and save it. You don't have enough honor to call yourself a soldier. I know a man who would die to protect others. A man with honor and dignity. A man who puts freedom and peace above his own needs. He's ten times the man you'll ever be."

"I see you are bent on not listening to what I have to say. Therefore, I will not continue to waste my time on you. I would prefer it if the weapons were not launched for obvious reasons, so I'm going to try to think of a way out of here. You could either help or continue to waste time convincing yourself of your so called moral superiority." He looked away from her and focused his intention on the wall instead.

"Oh, I'm listening. You are the one who refuses to see outside his tiny." She wasn't going to keep arguing with him. He wasn't worth the time. He'd proven himself inflexible and unwilling to admit he could possibly be wrong. Her mind had cleared and she lay on the floor so she could focus on the people above her. It shouldn't be that difficult to read their minds...

There appeared a brief slit of light from above. A tray, with two plates of something resembling food was dropped into the hole. The door above closed again.

"They're not from here," Sam announced. "The people who captured us. They're not from Turkana IV. And they're not from the Union."

She walked over to the food. It didn't smell appetizing. It didn't look appetizing, either. "Slop. I'm not hungry enough to eat this... stuff."

Teenan glanced at his tray briefly before tossing the contents across the room. "Well then, it seems I can agree with you on at least one thing."

"Mercenaries most likely then. Neither the Union nor Alliance has a generator that can block my communication line anyways. It was designed specifically to pierce their shields, amplify it even."

"Another thing we agree on," she said, chuckling. "There's hope for this relationship." She glanced over at him. "They're also dampening my telepathy. I can't read them as clearly as I should."

"So, we don't really know where we are or who it is that currently holds us captive. Care to speak out on why we were targeted?" He said, borrowing earth terminology.

She looked at him for a moment before answering. "To disrupt the peace talks. Granted, you'd walked out and weren't going to come back, but I think someone was afraid you'd be talked back." She shrugged. "The only thing I can think of for my being here is to keep the Federation from focusing on why you disappeared."

"Okay, then why not just kill me and leave my body on the floor for everyone to see when you woke up? The Coalition would immediately wall up and become hostile and the Alliance would mistrust the Union thinking it was their plot. Peace talks would be in shambles, the Federation would be forced to leave and it we would be back to exactly where we started."

"I don't know," she admitted. "I'm glad they didn't just kill us, but I don't know why."

Teenan sighed and looked down at the dirty floor "Well for all we don't know we do know this; if we don't find a way out of here soon, millions will die."


OFF

Commander Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Calypso

Grand Marshal Teenan Varik (NPC)
Leader of the Coalition
Turkana IV

 

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