I really could not care less what you think of the work I am doing, Remilia. It isn’t for you, or anyone here. It is for my kin torn apart by war, those fleeing and those left behind, those dying and those bereaved. We don’t know the crew manifests on the ships in the fleeing fleet, we don’t have the channels to reach the tens of thousands of my kin racing for the lifeboats on doomed ships while savage captains compete to turn them to slag the fastest. All I can do is relay what has been passed on to me from my people, and convey them to anyone who might hear, in the hopes they will find who they are meant for. But you’ll believe what is most convenient for your worldview, as always, no matter what the truth may be, and neither I nor anyone else have any words that you will ever truly listen to.
“Naa amasha guuha vyepaakt: raavi, caandra, haacu taarvat.”
“Three cannot be concealed: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
But let me address everyone else. Anyone who can watch the Scope footage of Orvolle and not feel nauseated both by the eager butchery and the smarmy sanitization of the commentary has lost what remains of their humanity, and you will never be a friend to my kin. But for the rest of you, those who remember the Five Thousand. Those who know that the Syndicate only exists through the sacrifice of our forebears, who spoke out against the terrible war with our Caldari kindred and were marooned in deep space for doing so, left to die alone in the dark. Remember that we did not perish, then; and know that we will not be destroyed by Torigo’s bloodthirst or Saraki’s avarice, nor by the vultures fighting over the bones of our people. All they have done is ensured the suffering and hate of generations to follow, of a people that is far too clever and far too angry to be erased from history through a second terrible betrayal. Even and especially by those we called brothers and sisters and friends.
“Vrashokra saadyedakol ashail hyevratu ulkalka.”
“Final victory comes to the one who endures.”
But it is not my people’s lives alone at stake in the events today. By letting the likes of Heika Torigo commit unchecked atrocities; and gleeful butchers like Remilia and bigoted propagandists like Niina continue to speak for the State, immeasurable and irreparable damage is being done to the reputation of the Caldari. What all these brutes illustrate so clearly is the difference between believing in the ideals of the State and the *idea* of the State. For the latter, anything can, must be justified, no matter how horrible; even if it betrays all the principles that once earned the Caldari people the respect and trust of the cluster. It is intellectual weakness and ethical cowardice not to confront the crimes of those you allow to claim authority. Every moment you wallow in indecisive trepidation, more blood is on your hands, and the greater the debt you incur for future generations to pay. If any of you still believe in the ideals of the State, in the Truth, Honor, and Loyalty which so glibly flow from the lips of your politicians and your philosophers, you will speak out against what is happening. You will hold these monsters to account. You will stop slaughtering my people as they attempt only to flee.
“Kada bikidsa raajayn, payanca illor loka.”
“When the king errs, the people suffer.”
Or you will not. And then one day you and your descendants will look back at this as the day you watched the seeds of ruin be sown, and then reap the terrible fruits of that harvest with the full knowledge of your own silent complicity in them.
