There are times when we do things that we believe are right, and just. We are so narrow minded in our beliefs that nothing anyone can say can change our minds.
We, are doing the right thing.
The problem with doing the right thing, is that there will always be those whose beliefs are diametrically opposed to yours.
That, is when it comes to the crunch. Do you keep doing the right thing? Or do you step up to those you hold dear and ask, is this the right thing?
Of course, the results when you do this are not always what you expect, and sometimes it has consequences that far outweigh your beliefs.
Like when I revealed to my CEO that I was being blackmailed because of my slave trading operation. I honestly had not thought of the consequences, because I honestly belived that they were better off in my care than in someone elses.
Sometimes a loved one has to step up and show you the right way. There is no more fierce hatred than a betrayed lover.
The blows came quick and fast. Fists backed by tribal fury hit again and again and again at the face of betrayal, and still she took them. The look of anger on her face, of my dear Kikia as she vented her anger I will never forget. Pain is nothing to me, humiliation I learned on my knees never to forget. But the look in her eyes. The pain, the anger, the hurt. That I will never forget.
It was there, lying broken and beaten in a pool of my own blood that I realised what I had done. Mere hours before the catastrophe had been sorted out, the slaves freed, over ninety million in damages set aside. As I watched through my one good eye, I could see the news vid, can still hear the sounds....
...and in other news a surprise releasing of over forty five thousand slaves by the Matari Militia has been achieved. Quite how they came to be brought to the stations involved is not known at this time, but those who were interviewed seemed to be well fed and looked after, each having been given a large sum of money. The corporation behind this has not been available for comment due to recent political upheaval, but we will bring you more on this as it breaks. In financial news, stocks in quafe dropped slightly....
I belived I was doing right, and yet it was obvious it was wrong. In my battered state I could see that now. No more the clarity I had when I was under the insidious curse, else maybe I'd have seen straight. But to hurt one of my own so badly by not seeing that I was hurting my people as a whole...
What I had become, would hurt her. Would hurt the corporation. Everything they had created. Everything they were would collapse. Because of me. And my crimes.
And so I wrote her a note, left it on the bed we once shared. Explained to her that I had to leave to protect them. I did not want a Shaman and a promising leader of our people to be slurred by the taint of a slaver. I could not, and would not let that happen. Again, perhaps I should have thought it out more.
When I limped into the offices of the Security Services on the station I let them know my crimes. I asked for no leniency. For my crimes were legendary when it was revealed that I was the source. I had expected brutality, hatred, but recieved only succour, medical treatment and a cell. Everyone was forbidden from talking to me while the tribal council was summoned. A monster it seems needs to be examined in detail by the right people.
So when I stood up before them and told them everything I was confused. I had taken neigh on fifty thousand people, bought them, traded for them, kept them in stations. They should have pinned me down and branded me slaver, for all to see. But they did not. They should have heaped punishment on me for my crimes, but they did not. When my sentence was handed down, for crimes against the Republic I expected more than what I got. House arrest? To be kept under the watchful eye of a guardian to be appointed by the court?
As I was led away, as the doors closed I could hear the arguments and protestations coming from those in there. It was just a show trial. A mockery of justice, I believed in my heart I was guilty of terrible crimes.... and then I wondered. My beliefs had caused this, maybe I just needed to think it through, was I wrong, was I right?
There are many worse placed to be placed under house arrest than my own. My Geisha House is a paradise, a cell with oceans and vistas, with protection and benefits. A guard platoon to stop me from leaving. And so I walked the beaches contemplating, swam the ocean thinking. As friend and foe stopped by to see me I came to a conclusion. I had hurt my Kikia more by running and leaving her than I would have by staying. As I sat on the edge of the pier, my pistol in my hand, a stranger beside me trying to talk me out of the suicide I had planned. I mean... without her... what was the point? She who had given me so much in so short a time.
I'm sure the guards will not get into trouble, I mean there is no way they could have kept me from leaving without a small fleet in orbit. I went through them like a knife through butter, and left my girls to care for them. I had one place to go, one person to see. But how to get there, and what to do when I did.
We, are doing the right thing.
The problem with doing the right thing, is that there will always be those whose beliefs are diametrically opposed to yours.
That, is when it comes to the crunch. Do you keep doing the right thing? Or do you step up to those you hold dear and ask, is this the right thing?
Of course, the results when you do this are not always what you expect, and sometimes it has consequences that far outweigh your beliefs.
Like when I revealed to my CEO that I was being blackmailed because of my slave trading operation. I honestly had not thought of the consequences, because I honestly belived that they were better off in my care than in someone elses.
Sometimes a loved one has to step up and show you the right way. There is no more fierce hatred than a betrayed lover.
The blows came quick and fast. Fists backed by tribal fury hit again and again and again at the face of betrayal, and still she took them. The look of anger on her face, of my dear Kikia as she vented her anger I will never forget. Pain is nothing to me, humiliation I learned on my knees never to forget. But the look in her eyes. The pain, the anger, the hurt. That I will never forget.
It was there, lying broken and beaten in a pool of my own blood that I realised what I had done. Mere hours before the catastrophe had been sorted out, the slaves freed, over ninety million in damages set aside. As I watched through my one good eye, I could see the news vid, can still hear the sounds....
...and in other news a surprise releasing of over forty five thousand slaves by the Matari Militia has been achieved. Quite how they came to be brought to the stations involved is not known at this time, but those who were interviewed seemed to be well fed and looked after, each having been given a large sum of money. The corporation behind this has not been available for comment due to recent political upheaval, but we will bring you more on this as it breaks. In financial news, stocks in quafe dropped slightly....
I belived I was doing right, and yet it was obvious it was wrong. In my battered state I could see that now. No more the clarity I had when I was under the insidious curse, else maybe I'd have seen straight. But to hurt one of my own so badly by not seeing that I was hurting my people as a whole...
What I had become, would hurt her. Would hurt the corporation. Everything they had created. Everything they were would collapse. Because of me. And my crimes.
And so I wrote her a note, left it on the bed we once shared. Explained to her that I had to leave to protect them. I did not want a Shaman and a promising leader of our people to be slurred by the taint of a slaver. I could not, and would not let that happen. Again, perhaps I should have thought it out more.
When I limped into the offices of the Security Services on the station I let them know my crimes. I asked for no leniency. For my crimes were legendary when it was revealed that I was the source. I had expected brutality, hatred, but recieved only succour, medical treatment and a cell. Everyone was forbidden from talking to me while the tribal council was summoned. A monster it seems needs to be examined in detail by the right people.
So when I stood up before them and told them everything I was confused. I had taken neigh on fifty thousand people, bought them, traded for them, kept them in stations. They should have pinned me down and branded me slaver, for all to see. But they did not. They should have heaped punishment on me for my crimes, but they did not. When my sentence was handed down, for crimes against the Republic I expected more than what I got. House arrest? To be kept under the watchful eye of a guardian to be appointed by the court?
As I was led away, as the doors closed I could hear the arguments and protestations coming from those in there. It was just a show trial. A mockery of justice, I believed in my heart I was guilty of terrible crimes.... and then I wondered. My beliefs had caused this, maybe I just needed to think it through, was I wrong, was I right?
There are many worse placed to be placed under house arrest than my own. My Geisha House is a paradise, a cell with oceans and vistas, with protection and benefits. A guard platoon to stop me from leaving. And so I walked the beaches contemplating, swam the ocean thinking. As friend and foe stopped by to see me I came to a conclusion. I had hurt my Kikia more by running and leaving her than I would have by staying. As I sat on the edge of the pier, my pistol in my hand, a stranger beside me trying to talk me out of the suicide I had planned. I mean... without her... what was the point? She who had given me so much in so short a time.
I'm sure the guards will not get into trouble, I mean there is no way they could have kept me from leaving without a small fleet in orbit. I went through them like a knife through butter, and left my girls to care for them. I had one place to go, one person to see. But how to get there, and what to do when I did.
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