Carnage by Aer-ki Jyr (the chimp paradox .TXT) 📕

“But you never said we couldn’t!” he protested, looking at his guards as if for validation.

“Couldn’t do what?” Paul asked angrily. “Torture people to death that you don’t like? Or maybe they said something that embarrassed you, or exposed one of your lies? Do you really think that’s ok? Do you really think that’s what leadership is about?”

“It’s my choice as leader of this planet to do things the way I want to do them, just as you do on your worlds.”

“Wrong. I don’t do what I want. I do what is needed. Leadership is about responsibility far more than it is privilege. They don’t take orders from me,” Paul said, gesturing to his commandos, “because they have to. I don’t make them, don’t threaten them, don’t leverage them, don’t control them. They follow my orders by choice, and they make that choice so long as my orders are wise. If I tell them to do something stupid they won’t do it. Because they’re trained not to. They’re taught to think, not blindly obey. I only have leadership as long as I am worthy of it. You are unworthy, but your people are too scared to remove you. That, and they don’t know what to do themselves. They’d probably just end up with another version of you.”

“How I lead is not your business!” the Governor yelled, almost as if he sensed a possibility to maintain his position if he could win the argument.

“I’ve made it my business. And you want to know why? Because of all the little people out there that you don’t care about. They need help. They need rescued. They need hope…and not false hope. They need a future, they need guidance, they need a hero to save them. Nobody else was stepping up to take the job, so I am. That’s the way the lightside works. There are no ranks, no hierarchies, no appointments, no orders, no committees, no voting, no public consensus. When there is a need, we who are lightside step up and claim the mission, and make it our own. So it becomes our business, and whether we succeed or fail, we will fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. And there’s no way in hell I’m going to stand by and let you keep assassinating people when I have the power to stop it.”

“Why didn’t you do so before?”

“I was never on this world before. I came for a visit and found things a mess. So I’m taking it upon myself to clean it up. This system is going to be upgraded heavily, and become part of Star Force with all the benefits that entails. It’ll take us time to build new infrastructure, so we’ll have to use what you have in the meantime, but we can run it better than you have. It’s sad that we offered you technical assistance to upgrade the waterworks and power grid, but you turned it down. I’m curious why you did that. We asked no price in return. It was knowledge freely offered.”

“We don’t need your help, Star Force,” he said with so much venom that every word was as if a curse.

“Arrogant pride then. That’s a betrayal of the leadership position. You cast aside improvements that could help your people because you were not the one to create them. I would say that’s a newb mistake, but you don’t even qualify as a newb. You’re not a leader at all. You’re an imposter, and using your position to hurt others rather than help them. Maybe you just don’t know what you’re doing, and have not had an example to follow from the past, but still…I expect a good intentioned individual, no matter how naïve, to leave what he found in slightly better condition afterward. You have not. In fact, you have made things worse. You are unfit to lead.”

The Governor flew into a rage, picking up a desktop item of significant weight and threw it at the Human…only to have it stop midair as the Human simply raised a hand again.

“You are under arrest, and will be transported to one of the new prison facilities we are constructing. It is unlikely you will ever leave, but we always have a rehab program that, if completed, will lead to your eventual freedom. But to gain it, you have to lose all the bad habits you’ve accumulated and forsake the darkside. I doubt you will, but you’ll have the chance,” Paul said, glancing around at the other towering figures. “You all will. But right now you’re not going to be let loose to cause more harm. You can go with my troops willingly, or you can be stunned unconscious and carried out. Your choice.”

“I’m not going anywhere, you little piece of…” the Governor said, about to go into a long string of curses when Paul fired his left gauntlet and landed three quick stun blasts into his torso.

The Tri’meori fell forward unconscious, but Paul caught him telekinetically as he simultaneously put the desk ornament back in its place, then he theatrically raised his hand and floated the Governor’s body over the desk and into the waiting hands of four commandos who carried him back out the doors as four more Commandos came in to take their place behind Paul.

“What about the rest of you?” he asked. “Are you walking out, or being carried out?”

Several of them dropped the wreckage of their weapons and raised their hands up to their chest, which was how their race indicated submission as it took their hands away from their utility belts that held many items that Paul telekinetically pulled off and started to pile up on the Governor’s desk.

The volunteers were marched out, with the others defiantly holding their ground but not fighting. Paul gave them a little time