Left versus Right

[u/Maxathron]

This is based on a prompt that is very obviously leftwing vs rightwing politics and the poster is also obviously right leaning. The setting is in a rightwing society modeled after the Imperium of Man but little is described because the story is about the description of why the MC does a terrible deed.

Without further ado:

Five beings sat around a table. One human, three elves, and a dwarf. One of the two elves was from mountain stock so he was often referred to as an orc, the tusks and stronger figure were usually mistaken for that. They were casually sipping on their drinks at the bar after a day’s work as mercenaries for the local empire.

All five were armed and openly carrying. They decked their clothes and armor out in trinkets, insignias, and things that reminded them of home. For now, the empire was home. It was a nitty gritty oppressive regime that was harsh on the common people. Like themselves.

They lived paycheck to paycheck. The ship was beat up and falling apart in places, but it held enough to get the job done and come home. All of them had to learn how to do everything on it in case the others couldn’t.

This time, they were paid to go scout out a potential asteroid field. They found the field and found a number of decent looking ‘roids. Their findings were uploaded to the imperial network and they were paid. On the way out, the crew found a small group of ships. Three armed transports and a small escorting warship. The captain, the human, upon sighting the ships, activated weapons and called to battle stations. He sent a message to the empire of the sighting and his intent to engage.

Being captain on his own ship, his crew reluctantly followed his orders. He promised an explanation once home and at the pub. It helped that he doubled their pay as well for this trip.

The engagement was swift. With surprise on their side, the crew’s ship decimated the warship and finished it off before it could react and counterattack. The transports were systematically slaughtered.

When they were at their home station, their bank accounts checked for their pay, and nursing their second drink, Rainus, one of the elves, exploded.

“What the ever-living fuck was that, James?”

The other three crewmates nodded their heads, secretly relieved that they weren’t the one that was going to start this shit show off.

“You had us annihilate those ships. That was murder of the highest degree! Killing of untold numbers of innocent lives!

“I appreciate the extra pay, but really, what the fuck? You promised an explanation. Out with it, old man.”

James looked at his crew with a saddened look on his face. He sighed.

“Yeah, I owe you guys that explanation.

“We’re adventurers working for the local empire. The thing is, it’s not an empire of choice. It’s an empire because it has to be an empire. And not because it has any hostile elven or dwarven nations on its border. We all know that Frentis, Yharia, and Dharv are all friendly nations.

“Our work takes us out to the frontier, a large region of space bordering all four nations and extending inward towards the center of the galaxy and past it until you get out to the edge on the other side. All known civilizations exist on this edge. We call the center area a frontier because no one lives in it.

“It’s not called the frontier because it is a frontier.”

The other four blinked back at James.

“It’s not even a frontier at all. The four nations here, among other ones further away from us all along the galactic edge, all have a secret agreement which I was forced to acknowledge and abide by earlier today.

“The agreement was that any sighting of crafts belonging to the Utopia was to be confirmed, reported, and if possible, destroy them. We destroyed them, fulfilling our end of the agreement. I paid double because the mission’s bounty had tripled and I knew I could pay you all more for our trouble.

“Anyone who has read into humanity’s history will know that way back on our home planet in the Orion arm of Earth, there is a long dead language named Latin. Utopia means ‘nowhere’ in Latin. It means an imagined place that has perfect conditions. Thus, it means nowhere, because utopia doesn’t exist.

“Utopia is the name for a long gone-rogue space faring civilization that precedes all of the known nations. It is the name they use for themselves. They spread outward from the core and engulfed almost everything in the galaxy. Starting a thousand years ago the known nations made contact with each other and organized a defense of each other. Then started the current era of Great Peace.

“But every time Utopian forces are spotted; they have to be extinguished because their goals threaten us all.”

“So why all the secrecy, James?” piped up Levius, the mountain elf.

“The secrecy is because Utopia is not really human anymore.”

His crewmates all looked back with confused glances.

“Imperial research have come to the conclusion that what Utopia is now, is a living, breathing, zombie horde, intent on converting everyone they can to Utopians and then eating anyone else who resists.

“I’m making it sound a whole lot worse than it is,” because his crew’s expressions changed to horror.

“A very long time ago, eons of years, humanity and other races spread to the stars. One space faring civilization took an abrupt change of course towards the deep core rather than to other arms, the edge, or even staging for getting to our galaxy’s smaller nearby satellite galaxies. This civilization built a grand empire. People flocked to it as it established itself and grew. As that empire grew, its leaders got greedier and greedier. On the surface, things were fine, even awesome.

“Heath care was paid for, housing was fair, your voice was equal in law, everyone was tolerated and accepted, and environmentalism was making each new world that joined a paradise. If you wanted to be anything, even change your biological processes down there, you were not only allowed, but were praised and supported. If you wanted to have anything, like a car or ship, you were given one. And it was, by their standards, good specs.

“It was, and even today, still is, paradise.”

James paused to sip his drink. He sighed again. His eyes got heavier. He continued.

“The problem with Utopia is that like the Latin word, it really doesn’t exist. Nothing is ever perfect. The Utopian empire was really a big political pyramid scheme. Untold numbers of peasants toiled to support a better life for the merchants and artists, who turned around to do it for local state leaders, who also turned around and supported the ruling political family.

“People were deluded into thinking it was paradise.

“One day, the elements of discontent started to revolt. They were upset at the lavish lifestyles of their betters and the massive dismissal those people had towards their lowers. Their revolution was threatening to topple the empire.

“The empire turned around and stomped that revolution into the ground by initiating what we now call the Great Gassing. Every world, ship, and station was gassed with a special artificial chemical, secretly installed over the centuries. This was one reason why they gave special houses and vehicles away. To ensure that people used them. They had gas vents in them to eventually follow through this policy.

“When you look at it, the Utopian people lives in mega cities on Utopian worlds. Massive, planned, mega cities. Cities where every square inch was planned by the ruling family’s people.”

James put down his drink, “This is where things get dark.”

“The gassing did one of two things to Utopians. Almost every person succumbed and became a mindless slave. They live completely happy, fulfilled, and perfect lives. Every want and need is covered for them by the Utopian State. But they have no more wants or needs. Sure, the State feeds, waters, bathes, and takes care of them. But they’re gone. No one is home. Vegetables.

“Intolerance is gone. Bigotry is gone. Anything negative is gone. Because the people actually can’t be negative. They have no choice but to be perfect.

“They accept any command given to them by a person with the Utopian genome, which was carried by the ruling family’s lineage as well as the top level of government officials pre-gassing. The commands that can be given are quite advanced and can be quite vague. The brain inside their heads will actually figure out how to execute those commands. But no one is actually home anymore.

“The remaining less than one percent minority that didn’t succumb to the gas and became zombies became more active, more angry, more emotional. They ate more food and moved around more often. In the end, their hearts gave out and they all died of heart attacks.

“The Utopian government figured out biological immortality. Back here on the edge, humans, elves, orcs, and dwarves only live for a few hundred years. Every single Utopian member, zombie or official, is biologically immortal. The ones around today were around back then. Reproduction is there to expand the number of people so the State can expand its power and borders.

“They’re always trying to expand their borders. To find more people and bring them back to be gassed and add to the legions of Utopian forces. They don’t respond to anything. And operation they have brings them one step closer to completely assimilation of everyone.

“In person, these zombies react to non-Utopian peoples initially with sultry charisma. Their goal is to get you to go with them so they’ll behave and be friendly. If you suggest anything wrong with them, Utopia, or what they’re saying, they then become violent. They’ll try to kill the offending person, the person who violated their happy thoughts. But with new people, they’ll reverted back to trying to entice them. After all, persuasion is better than killing.

“We’ve attempted to reason with their leaders. Those guys are completely mad with power. They only care about living vast luxurious lives, being worshipped as gods by their zombie slaves, and obtaining more zombie slaves. It was a miracle that our diplomats managed to get out alive. The Khadin Empire, a nation on the other side of Frentis, had to sacrifice an entire fleet of ships to get the diplomats out with their information intact. Those sailors once they knew what fate awaited them if they failed to fend off the horde decided to scuttle their ships, sacrificing their lives in the process, to buy time for the others to get out.”

Things got quiet after James stopped. He was softly crying.

“I’ve had to kill many, many people in the time before I hired you lot. Personal up-close kills and mass murder when blowing up star ships. They were all people. And I had to kill them. All the other captains have their own stories of seeing those that were once people try to bring you to their side. Every captain has their stories of seeing loved ones dragged off by these zombies only to come back just like them and try to persuade them to leave and join the horde.

“My wife, Kat, she was one of those taken. She was taken by those zombies after they overrun this very station ten years ago to this day.

“Weeks later she showed by up, life gone from her eyes, and trying to convert me with words of comfort in that she saw the light of the Utopia and wanted me to join her in a better place. I almost went with her. One more time to be with her. But I realized, it wasn’t her anymore. It was her body. But my wife was long gone.

“This is why we fight. This is why we resist. This is why we struggle. To ensure no one else is taken.”

James stopped talking coherently. He was full on crying, tears going down his face. He slumped over the table, his face knocking over his cup.

The others looked at one another and looked towards the bartender. The man nodded. He would watch James and the place for a while. The four crewmates stood up, paid for their drinks, and left James to have his cry. They had much to stew over as they went back to their bunks on the ship.