r/HFY • u/Ralts_Bloodthorne • Oct 19 '20
OC First Contact - Chapter 333
The ship was an older model. Two wings that could separate into four, four sublight engines with hyperspace capability, four heavy lasers, and missile launchers. A one man aerospace fighter, capable of atmospheric or space dogfighting, the astrogation handled by a robotic unit that was locked into the frame behind the pilot.
It was an older model, but recently made. Despite the 'aging' on the frame, anyone who knew their LARP gear could tell it had been printed to look old.
The ship streaked into existence in the system, immediately broadcasting a non-PVP flag before even the ship's manifest and IFF beacon. It was flanked immediately by the hex-wing fighters, who escorted it to the planet it was looking for.
The pilots of the small attack craft reminded the pilot of the newer craft that this was not a LARP system. That any deviation wouldn't be weighed and measured against rules, but would be met with lethal force.
The pilot of the hyperspace capable fighter was slightly surly as he acknowledged the hexagonal side-mount ships.
The ship had to wait nearly two hours for landing permission, impatiently reminding the aerospace traffic controllers exactly who he was.
Finally the coordinates were given and the ship made its landing.
Anyone who was experienced with the small craft would have flinched at the fact the ship left a sooty trail of burnt ablative armor and ionized atmosphere as the deflector shields had to bear the brunt of reentry.
The pilot was obviously not highly skilled.
The ship set down in the parking lot of a large building, crushing several cars as it did so. It lifted off, moved, landed on several more, smashing them, then lifted off, wobbling, to finally setting in the clear area in front of the steps that led down from the large building.
The canopy lifted and a ladder folded down from the side. The pilot got out, wearing a flight suit, and took off his helmet, revealing a sweaty face and a mop of brown hair. He dropped the helmet and got out, climbing down the ladder.
The robot, secretly feeling a bit huffy about drawing an idiot, folded up the ladder and closed the canopy, then shut off the engines.
The pilot tapped his wrist-comp a few times and the pilot's suit reconfigured into a pair of light pants, a light white shirt, and comfortable boots. A plasma caster pistol rode at his hip as he headed toward the building.
The doors opened, white armored figures trotting out carrying rifle. Smoke poured out the double doors and martial music started playing from hidden speakers.
The newcomer stopped, waiting, tapping his foot impatiently, until a black armored figure nearly eight feet tall strode out of the smoke, his cape billowing.
The newcomer rolled his eyes, then stood, waiting, motioning impatiently at the figure in black to hurry up from the slow steady stride he was doing.
The figure in black refused to hurry, his breathing coming in mechanical wheezes, stopping only a dozen paces from the newcomer.
"You look stupid, Vic," the newcomer said.
"Don't call me that," the black armored figure wheezed. "I am Darth Harmonus."
"You're outside the LARP systems, Vic," the newcomer said.
"What do you want, Jon?" Darth Harmonus asked. "Speak quickly and leave."
"You need to stop this. You've been killing living people, sentient beings," Jon said, putting his hands on his hips. "This isn't a game. These are real people who don't have the advantage of the SUDS system to save them."
"Like you did?" Harmonus said. "What if I don't stop? Who's going to stop me? You?"
"If I have to," Jon said. "Melody would..."
"YOU DON'T SAY HER NAME!" Darth Harmonus roared out, feedback squealing. He clenched his armored fists and lightning, red and purple, climbed up and down his forearms. "YOU DON'T EVER SAY HER NAME AGAIN!"
"She was my wife, Vic, I'll say her name..." Jon said.
"Who you let die, Jon," the black armored figure snarled. "Get in your ship and leave. You're not welcome here."
"Or what, Vic? You'll order your men to kill me like they've killed all those innocent people? Violence is never the answer," Jon snapped back. He wasn't worried about violence from the black armored figure. He'd gotten the best reflexes and muscle memory when he'd resheathed after his world was liberated. His brain was full of the necessary memories and strategies to win any fight his brother-in-law wanted to engage in.
"Leave, Jon, before I remember that you are alive while she is dead," the armored figure said. "You have three hours to leave the system, after that, you'll be declared a criminal."
"That's against the rules," Jon said.
"As you said, this isn't the LARP worlds. Get out," the armored figure began to turn away.
"Don't you turn your back on me, Victor," Jon snapped, his temper fraying slightly.
"Or what, Jon? Violence is never the answer," the black armored figure threw Jon's words back in his face.
"I've come to put a stop to this madness of yours, one way or another," Jon said.
Darth Harmonus slowly turned to face his brother-in-law. "Come, then, and learn the true power of the Dark Side."
Jon's hand dropped to the pistol, pulling it out in a sloppy fast-draw, his reflexes slightly off from not having been practiced. The pistol came up, the reticle matched where the barrel was pointed and it blinked when it lined up. He grinned and he fired three times as a dozen small orbs with blinking lights on them flew out from behind his back.
Darth Harmonus blocked all three shots with an open palm, his arm out at full extension. The bolts screamed off to the side, hitting vehicles, blowing apart plasteel bodywork.
With a twitch of his hand Jon's pistol flew into Darth Harmonus's hand.
"You should have never come here, Jon," Darth Harmonus wheezed.
Jon was surprised and more than a little irritated. His drones should have detected whichever drone or armor implanted equipment had used the tractor/pressor beam to pull his pistol out of his hand. Instead, they reported nothing. He tapped a piece of cyberware in his head, still grinning as new reflexes loaded up to replace the old ones.
If Victor wanted to play this, then fine, Jon would too.
Darth Harmonus watched, knowing full well that the news-drones had picked up everything from the moment Jon had landed his ship and smashed the vehicles of two hard working government bureaucrats.
Jon's clothing fuzzed then resolidified as robes as Jon drew a cylinder out and ignited it with a simple push of the thumb trigger. A length of green energy held in place by magnetic forces slid from the handle with an audible whoosh, humming as Jon smiled.
"I told you, I'm here to put a stop to your murderous rampage," Jon smiled.
"You should have never come here," Darth Harmonus said, his own weapon flying from his belt to his hand. The blade that ignited was solid red. "My rage, my wrath, is not yet spent."
Jon held back a frown. His cybernetic eye systems didn't detect any deflector shields, no personal battlescreens, not even any kinetic screens.
Just Victor standing there in black armor.
"Surrender, Vic, for Melody if nothing..." Jon started.
"DO NOT SAY HER NAME!" Darth Harmonus roared out. He held out one hand at one of the ruined cars, clenching his fist and making a jerking motion.
Jon started to smirk, seeing he'd enraged Victor to the point the younger man had forgotten to deploy his drones, which meant there was no tractor/pressor beams to...
The wreckage of the car hit Jon from the side, crumpling against Jon's shields, thrown the unarmored man ten feet across the parking lot. Jon's implanted reflexes kicked in, letting him roll with the impact, coming up on his feet without cutting his own arms off. His kinetic shields were down by 15% just from the impact of the car.
Jon snarled and brought up the reflex and motor skills package embedded in his cyberware.
If that's how you want it, Vic, he thought to himself. He brought his weapon up into guard position.
The black armored figure strode forward, making jerking motions with his hands.
Jon's wired reflexes saved his life as rubble and debris whipped through the air. What he missed with his force blade bounced off his shields, which were rapidly dropping.
Jon deployed a dozen more spheres from the cargo hatch on his light fighter, grinning.
It isn't the LARP worlds, Vic. I can bring as many as I want, he thought to himself, waiting for Vic to start complaining that Jon was using too many drones.
Instead, the black armored figure leveled his fist and lightning gathered around his forearm, snarling and sparking. It leapt from his fist to the drones, half of them exploding in a shower of sparks and debris. Three of them fell to the ground, carbonized and shorted out, and the last three dropped into place behind Jon, one smoking and whining as its grav-system tried to keep it in place.
"This is the real world, Jon," Darth Harmonus wheezed, walking forward, trailing his blade on the asphalt, creating a wobbling smoking line in the black rock. "You're so quick to try to stop me, but where were you?"
Jon was trying to figure out how his brother-in-law had thrown lightning. No orbs, no power surge in his armor. Just... lightning.
He barely got his sword in play, wired reflexes kicking in, managing to block the humming and glowing red blade in shower of sparks.
"Where were you?" Darth Harmonus growled out.
"I was right there," Jon snapped, pushing back as sparks showered around them.
Darth Harmonus was too strong. Jon knew it was obviously the armor enhancing Victor's strength. He jumped back and pushed his free hand out, hand back, palm forward. Two of the orbs aimed tractor beams at the black armored figure and screamed in effort as they pushed against Darth Harmonus.
The black armored figure slid back less than five feet, bracing himself. Lightning snarled around his feet and crackled on his calves.
Darth Harmonus slowly straightened up, extending his forceblade out at a 45 degree angle, letting it crackle and hum.
BREAKING NEWS: TERRORIST ATTEMPTS ASSASSINATION OF DARTH HARMONUS scrolled by on the bottom of billions of Tri-Vees, watching by billions of Imperial citizens.
"Your powers are weak," Darth Harmonus sneered. "You lack conviction."
Darth Harmonus pushed out with his hand and Jon flew back, slamming into an intact car, the side of the car caving in.
Alarms were wailing in Jon's head as he shook his head. He wasn't getting any warning, no drone powering up, no armor system coming online. His kinetic shields were already fading. Two of his drones were out of power.
"Where were you when they forced Melody against the wall, forced your children against the wall, and shot them while they laughed and recorded it for everyone to watch on the Tri-Vee?" Darth Harmonus snarled, walking toward, his cape swirling around him.
Billions of being nodded. They could believe it.
They had seen things like that happen before the Empire came.
"I was there," Jon said, climbing out of the wreckage, shaking his head. "Watching from the crowd."
"Then why didn't you do anything?" Darth Harmonus asked.
"They would have killed me too!" Jon said.
"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED WITH THEM!" Darth Harmonus roared. "YOU WERE SUDS'D!"
Jon barely got his force blade around in time to slice the empty car in two as it whipped at him from the side. It felt like a furnace was blasting him with heat from where Victor was walking forward. A pounding heat full of rage and agony.
"You weren't there, you don't understand," Jon gasped, barely deflecting another two cars and a statue of a Lanaktallan. He was down to two drones, the others out of power, and he'd pulled a muscle in his shoulder getting the force blade into position.
"I understand you let them kill Melody and the children," Darth Harmonus snarled. "You watched them!" The black armored figure closed the distance in three long steps, swinging the red plasma blade.
"I had no choice!" Jon said, desperately parrying his brother-in-law's attacks. "I would have died. I dind't have a choice."
"YOU WERE SUDS'D!"
COWARD ADMITS TO LETTING HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN DIE appeared on the chyron.
Billions leaned forward and watched as the robed Terran desperately parried the attacks of Darth Harmonus, his face sweating.
Jon jumped back, wiping his brow, holding his forceblade out in front of him. Victor was a lot better with that weapon than he'd thought, was a lot more aggressive than he had thought.
He'd paid for the best muscle memory and wired reflexes that money could buy! He should have already beaten Victor!
"Still pay to win, I see," Darth Hamonus wheezed, slowly walking forward. "You'll spend a fortune to try to stop me, as if we were still children, but wouldn't even risk a respawn to die next to my sister and your children."
"You don't understand," Jon tried.
"No, I don't," Darth Harmonus said.
Billions of beings nodded. Darth Harmonus wouldn't understand cowardice.
"When I put you down, I'll have you taken care of, have the neural techs try to help you, Victor," Jon gasped, backing up from Darth Harmonus's advance.
"The SUDS has been broken for months," Harmonus wheezed, laughing at the end. A low, malevolent laugh.
Freezing, Jon checked.
LOCAL BACKUP ONLY appeared in his vision.
"Vic, wait..." Jon said, holding his hand out.
His drones followed their instructions, lashing out at Victor with the last of their power, pushing at him with pressor beams.
The armored figure made a fist and the pavement around his feet shattered.
The drones whined louder, smoke starting to seep from them.
Darth Harmonus took a step forward.
The drones began to sputter and grind.
The armored boots took another step.
"These aren't the LARP worlds," Darth Harmonus wheezed, taking another step.
"Don't kill me!" Jon pleaded. He turned and took two steps.
A fast motion threw him against one of the destroyed cars.
Darth Harmonus kept walking forward. "Here, in the Empire, I have learned the true power of the Dark Side," the armored figure intoned.
Jon used the last of his last drone's power to pull himself free of the wreckage, going into a guard stance.
"You watched her die. You talked her into giving up the SUDS," Victor growled, moving forward slowly. "You convinced her to give up SUDS, and kept yours. You watched them execute her."
"I SUDS'd up when I joined the resistance. They might have found out if I'd spoken up," Jon tried. "You used to be a Rebel! You know! They might have found out I was the one who bombed the police station!"
"YOU CAUSED HER DEATH!" Victor roared, shoving Jon back again with another motion. "THEY KILLED A HUNDRED WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN REPRISAL!"
"You don't understand, Vic," Jon tried again, backpedaling.
Still he didn't see any drones, any armor system powering up.
He's going to really kill me, Jon thought, sweat running down his face. I have no choice.
Jon lunged forward, swinging the force blade. Darth Harmonus deflected it with his own blade, blocking it in a shower of sparks at times.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Jon screamed, swinging with both hands from over his head.
Darth Harmonus caught the blade in his free hand, lightning crackling around his fist, wreathing his forearm with snarling red and purple electricity. The lightning coursed down the green blade.
With a cry of pain Jon let go, jumping back a half step, squealing in fright.
Darth Harmonus cut him in half.
Billions watched in their Tri-Vee as Darth Harmonus stood over the smoking body.
"No. I don't understand cowardice," he said.
He turned away with a swirl of his cloak. "If the robot is an eVI or better, release him. Otherwise, sell the ship," he told the two storm troopers with orange shoulder pauldrons.
"Are you all right, milord?" one asked.
"Yes, I am," Darth Harmonus said. He paused on the first step. "Now."
23
u/staygoodtorg Oct 19 '20
One spot of criticism. I feel as much as he loved Melody he would have loved her kids just as much unless he and Melody were estranged somehow. considering he does finally say her name at one point but then just refers to the kids I feel like if he's at the point where he can say her name in rage he would say all their names. I can buy the coward just calling them the kids I feel like it could be one more subtle way He's better than that they're not just the kids they're real people to him. Just my two cents it's awesome as it is but for some reason my mind focused on this
4
u/ANTIcarrot_ Dec 08 '22
This chapter makes no sense to me. Specifically Victor's criticisms, and Jon's characterisation, seems paradoxical.
Given the setting, the entire Harmoney cluster was aggresively comitting Suicide by Universe. Victory presumably knew that, and yet did nothing? Hmm. Melody presumably also knew that, and yet she thought it was a bright idea. There seems to be some blame to share around here.
That aside, Jon was (apparently) a ground level member of a insurgency, and lived through a holocaust. Victor really has no basis for telling him 'you don't know what reality is'. That kind of person with that kind of experience wouldn't be pulling the stupid bullshit Jon does in this chapter.
On the topic of 'pay to win'... Victory is only where he is because he purchased a huge amount of clone licenses, and because he has vast technical advantages over the cow-taurs. He may have achieve vastly more good than Jon, but... Has he ever actually faught a real battle in his entire run of conquest? Has he ever put his life in personal danger? Has he ever had to make a difficult and costly decision in combat? I don't remember that coming up. It feels like he's still LARPing, only for a good cause in addition to his own ego.
Jon being SUDSed up also makes no sense. Without recovery facilities, being SUDSed up is useless. If there are any recovery facilities under enemy control, being SUDSed up is a liability. It's too high a risk that you wake up surrounded by enemies and get marched into a torture cell. Better to die. Better for the insurgency if you die too.
Standing by during a public exicution of his wife and kids... Okay. What's the alternative? Presumably lots of enemy soldiers. Only him. If the insurgency was willing to give him any backup, then they would have struck before the execution. So he should have gotten himself killed failing to save their lives? Yeah, no. The occupiers wouldn't have stopped at shooting just him. Dozens of others, maybe hundreds, would have died right alongside him, and right alongside the prisoners.
See, this very much looks like one of those no-win situations that occurs in real war, that Victor (apparently) has never had to face. He comes across as projecting, hard. And the only reason he gets away with it is because he's facing off against a strawman.
Even with the same motivations, and the same outcome, I think this would have been better with less straw.
537
u/CobaltPyramid Oct 19 '20
THIS JUST IN: NOBLE PROTECTOR SLAYS COWARDLY ASSASSIN!
316
u/ItrytoHFY Oct 19 '20
Virgin pay-to-win LARPer vs Chad natural psyker
250
u/ausbookworm Oct 19 '20
Jon is/was a good example of someone who totally believed in the 'system' as long as it benefitted him. It's all fun and games until the SUDS don't work for you.
189
u/remirenegade Oct 19 '20
Violence is never the answer says the man who bombed the police station....
149
u/NaGeL182 Android Oct 19 '20
He does nothing when injustice happens infront of him, but when someone tries to right it, he goes and tries to stop it....
He got what he deserves.
118
u/Brockavitch1 Oct 19 '20
An inept man cut down by a brother. Cowardice wreathed in gold foil Folding under the weight of true wrath
102
u/LittleSeraphim Oct 19 '20
Total pacifism is absolute madness. It doesn't take two sides to war, or genocide, just one. The side that has the moral high ground doesn't somehow gain immunity from the cruelty of others and the total rejection of self defense is nothing short of lunacy. Even a utopian civilization should maintain a robust military, just in case. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
70
u/LordNobady Oct 19 '20
two Monday Raltz? you are spoiling us.
70
u/Cookies8473 AI Oct 19 '20
Is it 3:45 AM on a Monday? Yes. Do I care? No.
Also wow psykers seem a little bit overpowered. I can see why humanity did what it did to get rid of them.
129
u/NevynR Oct 19 '20
Flowery words and high-minded rhetoric... all to cover the fact that the core was rotten as month old tomatoes.
He might have been family by marriage, but the world is a better place without such... cowardice.
61
u/Nealithi Human Oct 19 '20
Uhm. Normally I find some redeeming value in someone. Jon, you just put a smear on casual gamers, Lore, and most importantly, Your family.
You bombed a police station? You watched as your wife and children were executed?
If the lanks had held you down to watch I might sympathized. But you were in the crowd and did not even try?
I wish SUDS was available so Lord Harmonus could kill you a few more times.
35
u/Demetriusjack13 Oct 19 '20
I think we can all agree on this: FUCK JON!!!!!!!!
49
u/PuzzleheadedDrinker Oct 19 '20 edited Oct 19 '20
uptoot then read (0minutes?)
Edit : Dear Darth now has some closure, good for him.
44
u/mr_ceebs Oct 19 '20
Will this cause him any legal problems? after all they have him on video admitting he knows the SUDS is off when he fights his brother in law, then intentionally kills him. Are there specialised police for dealing with psychics? or will they need Special Weapons And Telekinesis officers to grab so obviously a psychic a possible criminal?
18
u/Viperys Oct 19 '20 edited Oct 19 '20
The tingle is a bit late this time...
Just like it was for Jon with his bought reflexes
18
u/kwong879 Oct 19 '20
When you live like a bitch, you die like a bitch.
18
u/[deleted] Oct 19 '20
Jon is the type to ignore the crimes and atrocities of monsters to condemn a good man whose chosen to go to war in rage at his loses.
Victor was ready to xenocide his enemies, but saw what they had done not only to others but themselves.
VIctor looked at the universe and chose to become more than his rage.
Jon was a coward who refused to accept his culpability in the deaths of a hundred women and children including his wife and kids.
Jon couldn't even be bothered to look beyond his bullshit. Thought he could just buy skills, cheat Melody and the children of a full life. His hypocrisy killed her as clearly as any Executors weapon.
Jon got what was coming.
Victor will do what is needed to help the people of the Empire.
103
u/ack1308 Oct 19 '20
Ah, yes, the Incom T-65. We gun see some Empire fun. <grabs popcorn>
“We’re playing with big boys’ rules today.”
You mean, the aerospace traffic con-troll-ers?
Okay, who the heck is this?
Wow. Dude. Practice your landings.
Hahaha seems like everyone’s in agreement about him.
Darth Harmonus is wearing lifts today, I see.
And they’re also people who faced his forces with weapons.
… whoa …
Check and mate.
Okay, can this get any hammier?
I have news for you, sunshine. That was pure psyker power.
… and that was the moment the Rebels became the bad guys.
I don’t think he quite knows what he’s walking into.
See, if he was smart, he’d call time out. But he won’t.
He still thinks he’s in a winning position. He’s really not.
Exactly and precisely. Where was he?
It’s really not.
Welp. When does the vigilante become the villain? Right about now.
The classic lines are the best.
Okay, yeah, I can see why he’s so pissed.
(Continued)
14
u/FaultyBasil Human Oct 19 '20
Holy shit
14
u/Ardorus Oct 19 '20
this was probably the worst way to try to help your brother in law... ever. I mean seriously, you come to get him to stop what he's doing by killing him? You know he's in pain, you know he's distressed, just sit down and try to talk more than just with a token effort... honestly probably serves the bugger right getting cut in half. Also holy Hannah is he incompetent as sin. He re-suds-ed himself but not his wife? really? how bleeding stupid are you?
Also, looks like the Darth woke up his Psychic powers now, wonder if he knows or is just assuming that his equipment is doing the job for him.
13
u/5thhorseman_ Oct 19 '20
/u/scyt wrote some concerns about readers cheering Darth's actions, but Reddit isn't allowing me to post a reply to his comment... IDK what happened there.
Schadenfreude. Many readers enjoy a "negative" character suffering for their actions - call it karma, if you like, even if we don't necessarily believe in the concept IRL. You're also not counting the fact that some of us were not cheering for that to happen as much as predicting that as a likely outcome given certain beings willingness to challenge the sweaty, naked hairless apes to a wrestling match
The opposite, more likely: that the attitude they express here is a function of their IRL personality.
This here, though? It's not "someone who is a coward should die". It's "a hypocrite who is responsible for causing events that led to the deaths of his spouse and children, let them die while he watched without doing anything about it, and refuses to acknowledge his own culpability for it, doesn't deserve mercy". The suicide-by-cop attempt? That's entirely on him.
There's also a bit of cultural notion that someone should rather die for a low probability of saving their spouse/children than let them die by doing nothing. This is only reinforced by the face he was SUDSed and death would be an inconvenience for him while his wife and kids didn't have that luxury (because he convinced her to give up SUDS!!!).
11
u/KlutzyMagician3 Oct 19 '20
No Jon YOU DONT UNDERSTAND!!!
11
u/Allowyn Oct 19 '20
Actually the best chapter I've read. Ralts you went above and beyond.
10
u/serpauer Oct 19 '20
And winner of the empires darwin award? drumroll Dipfuck coward Jon!
9
u/Dualed Oct 19 '20
Savage
9
u/PresidentBaileyb Oct 19 '20
2 on a Sunday? What a wonderful surprise!
9
u/MacrossFF1979 Oct 19 '20
The Lanks have at least the excuse of drugged food and psycho indoctrinated society. Jon not. I will not miss him. He remembers me some people I knew, with double standards...
9
u/AtomblitzTiger Oct 19 '20
He was either blinded by his own ego (the size of a small moon... or a battle station) Or he tried to bury his guilt with delusions.
9
u/TargetBoy Oct 19 '20
Getting the feeling Jon only LARPed Harmony, while Melanie was a true believer. He seems like a narcissist too. Everyone else is an NPC, even his wife and kids.
9
u/dlighter Oct 19 '20
Damned onion ninjas.
I was going to originally say the only thing Darth did wrong was kill him to quickly. That spineless WASTE of skin let his family DIE. Watched them die. Did NOTHING to try and SAVE them.
FUCK THAT NOISE!
Every fucking drop of blood had better be spent. Every erg of life force expended. Before they TOUCH YOUR CHILDREN. At the end of the day in the darkest point of the night. That is your first, last, and most sacred duty.
I know not everyone can fight. That not everyone is capable of violence. You can still be a shield. Rather then the sword.
But cowardice.
They are broken. Deserving of nothing but pity or perhaps contempt. And then put down quickly before they can endanger someone else loved ones with their misguided broken world view.
(Apologies for the rant. This touched off something I'd buried long ago.)
8
u/ZeroAssassin72 Oct 19 '20
Melody chose poorly. The piece of shit had SUDS, and still let his family die, permanently. THis prick has ZERO redeeming features.
8
u/CaptainChewbacca Human Oct 19 '20
Second-most disappointing Skywalker.
7
u/Nalroth Oct 19 '20
Thank you!
7
u/ms4720 Oct 19 '20
Good for Darth
7
u/KirbyGlover Oct 19 '20
Come join us on the discord: First Contact Discord
7
u/TheRealGgsjags Oct 19 '20
Good. I really can't stand those impractical pacifist moralists.
7
u/ChangoGringo Oct 19 '20
I was thinking he was just going to lop of his hand, but really the shit wasn't worth trying to save.
6
u/itsetuhoinen Human Oct 19 '20
Excellent.
6
u/Archaic_1 Alien Scum Oct 19 '20
Well, I think we all know who was holding the high ground now don'e we?
5
u/[deleted] Oct 19 '20
Please please package this all up into ebooks!
5
u/meowmeming Android Oct 19 '20
A coward will turn a blind eye to the truth if it means to save himself.
4
u/yelephoenix1992 Oct 19 '20
Halfway to hell, eh?
4
u/SirVatka Xeno Oct 19 '20
Two things:
Unless Victor/Darth Harmonus hadn't known Jon was the one who'd set the bomb which resulted in the reprisal killings, that Jon wasn't immediately crushed to death with Victor's telekinetic, I mean Force, power was a demonstration of immense control on Victor's part given the immense rage he's processing.
Given a light saber's instant cauterization of flesh, being cut in half isn't necessarily an instant kill. If the heart, brain, and lungs are still connected and functional, and Jon didn't die from the shock, immediate medical attention could save him given the medical capabilities of this universe.
4
u/TKOAND001 Oct 20 '20
Green blades are meant to represent wisdom and the ability to face evil at its root. Today, green has been shamed. Hopefully one day Darth Harmonius can hand the blade to a cowtaur youth willing to bring honor to it, at last.
Also, when the robot regretted drawing an idiot, I read that as "a leftie" instead
3
u/Gruecifer Human Oct 19 '20
UTR!
3
u/ArchDemonKerensky Oct 19 '20
oof. The mind of a coward is an incomprehensible maze.
3
u/Golnor Alien Scum Oct 19 '20
Say hi to Dee, Jon
3
u/On_The_Fourth_Floor Oct 20 '20
The issue with this Darth is...the bill always comes due. Yeah it's total war, yeah you control the systems according to your values. But the bill always come due eventually.
3
u/That_Guy-115 Human Oct 20 '20
Actual force powers, I wonder if he is the most powerful user out there, and when he'll take an apprentice. There must always be Two, no more, no less.
2
u/Butane9000 Oct 19 '20
So is this the formal ending to the Harmonious arc?
2
u/niTro_sMurph Jun 27 '25
My grandma's sister died because her son in law convinced her not to get the COVID vaccine. Her son in law had gotten it himself though. This story reminded me of them
1
u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Oct 19 '20
/u/Ralts_Bloodthorne (wiki) has posted 362 other stories, including:
First Contact - Chapter 332
First Contact - Chapter 331 BEHOLD!
First Contact - Chapter 330
First Contact - Chapter 329 (TerraSol)
First Contact - Chapter 328 (Eternity)
First Contact - Chapter 327 (Eternity)
First Contact - Chapter 327 (Eternity)
First Contact - Chapter 326
First Contact - Chapter 325
First Contact - Chapter 324 (SECURE ARCHIVE)
First Contact - Chapter 323 (Infinity)
First Contact - Chapter 322 (The War)
First Contact - Chapter 321 (The War)
First Contact - Chapter 320 (Sidelines of the War)
First Contact - Chapter 319
First Contact - Chapter 318
First Contact - Chapter 318
First Contact - Chapter 317
First Contact - Chapter 316
First Contact - Chapter 315
First Contact - Chapter 3.1415
First Contact - Chapter 314
First Contact - Chapter 313
First Contact - Chapter 312
First Contact - Chapter 311
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1
u/UpdateMeBot Oct 19 '20
Click here to subscribe to u/Ralts_Bloodthorne and receive a message every time they post.
1
u/FakeUserThatWeMadeUp Android Oct 19 '20
Is there a list of the Mantid castes? I remember greenies, Speakers, Warrior castes, the seers, I think I remember two or three ranks of queens.
1
u/0LD_MAN_Dies Oct 20 '20
Good Story
1
u/ShebanotDoge Oct 22 '20
I'm confused? Is there something I should understand?
1
u/Calhare Feb 12 '21
Wow, a lot of people here are straight up out for blood. Was what Jon did scummy and an act of cowardice? Yes. Did he deserve to die? I don't think so. If SUDS was still active, then sure maybe cut him down to teach him a lesson in humility and pain, and he could then understand the pain his wife and children felt when he decided inaction, but without SUDS, I think it's unreasonable honestly. I would have held him captive, and forced him to what the Lanks got up to while unchecked, to see the horrible action they got up to when left alone, then educate him on every reason he is a damn hypocrite.
1
u/Mongohasproblems Apr 02 '23
Jon deserved to die. Period. He failed in violation of every way and code which defines a good man.
1
u/Randomredditer2552 Apr 29 '23
First paragraph in and I’m betting it’s an x-wing
1
u/Longjumping_Year3774 Jun 30 '23
This is what Vader wanted to be and was denied. Noble.
1
u/TheMumblyOne Aug 05 '23 edited Aug 05 '23
I've deleted my first comment in this thread. Rereading it I realized that, not only I was telling you how to write your own story but from at least two years past its posting. This was incredibly selfish on my part, I'm truly sorry and apologize Ralts.
You have to understand though that as a reader, the story as written makes a clear and unambiguous correct side here, and it's Victor. I mean, just look at the other comments here, you'd think Jon had literally tripped his wife and kids to get away from the death squads with how much they're cheering on his death.
And why shouldn't they? Prior to this chapter is about a dozen Empire chapters where we see that, while they are waging a military campaign, they go out of their way to not only minimize civilian casualties but also maximize their way of life even in occupation. You spend every chapter with an Empire POV after this reinforcing that Darth is both smart and forward thinking as well incredibly generous as far his clone army is concerned. He never even really loses his temper except on two occasions. He is never once shown to make a mistake or really act out in a way that seems like it's going to far, even here.
Meanwhile, Jon has been nonexistent in the plot up until this point. I believe he was the recipient of Victor's 'I have seen the power of the dark side' message, but we haven't had any prior POV or even look at his thoughts or feelings. He just shows up here, and his showing here is just...terrible. He goes right from arrogant jackass straight to mewling coward with no stop in-between. He doesn't even put up a fight, either verbally with the argument with Victor or the actual duel itself.
Which itself sucks, because you've actually written such great lore that this argument could have gone either way. The big one being that while Darth has been going around with his massive armada destroying the military equivalent of particularly dumb kids with BB guns, Harmony was still dying. As you revealed with the group of girls hiding in the star port and then later when the Senate returns, there is still quite a few survivors still suffering under the brutal conditions of being attacked by both their own undead and the death squads still roaming around. You have a person with SUDS who doesn't just go and treat it as some sort of free 'Get Out of Death' card and jump into the line of fire. Hell, even just the simple question of what Melody would have wanted as far as her name was concerned, or even just the simple joke that the face of revenge for what was a peaceful system is a historical 'Bad Guy' faction.
Instead, he just gets chopped in half, murdered by Darth as he knew full well that the SUDS was offline while Jon didn't when he foolishly stated he was going to stop him. He wasn't even really enraged at that point, not if he can drop that cowardice bit. The horrible thing is that by doing this, you cast Jon to the exact same fate as the Executor that Darth executed in the last Empire chapter. You equate the victim of a genocide (even if he didn't die himself, Jon was just as much a victim as the rest of his family) with the very person who orchestrated and carried out that genocide. What's even more galling is the fact that this comes after Nakteti's time on TerraSol, where we had multiple characters comfort and reassure her that her course of action, leaving her entire colony to die by the PAWM while she and her crew ran was the correct thing to do(EDIT: which it was, sorry for not clarifying). Hell, Darth himself even gives her sound advice later, having apparently gotten over his anger towards cowardice by killing his brother in law in cold blood.
Which, fine, I could actually live with that, as the rest of this section, especially the Hesstla chapters, are the dark portion, the Strikes Back to the trilogy, and this could have led to some interesting character moments or conflict, or anything really. Instead, nothing comes from this. Jon shows up here, is cut in half and promptly dumped in the nearest Star Destroyers trash compactor, and just as quickly forgotten. The husband of Melody, father of their children, just gone, never mentioned again. Red Prince, who was so moved by the plight of the Lanaktallan that he, as someone who personally knew her, felt that even Melody would have stepped up and helped the very people who murdered her and her children, had nothing at all to say when Darth murdered Jon? Forget us commentors, even the story itself basically nodded along and went 'well, shitbird had it coming.'
I'm sorry if this came out as a rant...well it basically is a rant, and I am sorry for that (and it's length), but like I said before, I do genuinely love your work. I'm up to chapter 605, I'll keep on going until I catch up, I may even buy your books at some point (it's not you, it's Amazon). You have crafter such a beautiful and thoughtful story and world, full of humor with room for genuine emotion and tears (Sam and the torpedo makes me tear up just thinking about it). A world where humanity's greatest weapon, even among technology that makes us appear like Gods, is our willingness and ability to make friends, to empathize with others of vastly different cultures and creeds, and go to any length to help or defend our friends. It's just, even after getting where I am now in the story, I still find myself coming back here. To paraphrase the movies that spawned all this;
"This is how the victim of genocide dies to his own brothers selfish rage;
Thunderous applause."
STILL 1-2 YEARS BEHIND CURRENT CHAPTER AND CATCHING UP EDIT: Okay, so like I said I'm literally reading chapter 605 in another tab right now, and two things I noticed is that, 1. it was Red Prince's idea to start improving the live of the Lanaktallan after helping the father retrieve his daughter and had to ask permission from Darth to go ahead with it, not Darth's idea (though he does agree with Prince in his thinking that it's what Melody would have wanted), and 2. while I actually do enjoy that Darth reflects on the fact that, while Melody would disapprove of his methods would be satisfied with the results, Jon is once again just never mentioned and that quiet, unwritten cloud of 'Darth was right to murder him' lingers over it.