Monday 11 November 2013

Arzad, and the character of the Crusade

Sleep has been elusive of late.

When I first started in the Crusade, it was when the Amarr forces had been pushed to their breaking point. Only a few strongholds held out.

My own contribution to the inevitable turning tide was negligible. But turn, the tide did.

Crusdaers had a sudden surge in skill, passion and above all, luck. They pushed the Republic capsuleers back, taking several systems.

One such system was Arzad.

The taking of Arzad was... special.

Jamyl Sarum, the Emperor of Amarr ordered the system to be bathed in slave blood. Not warior's blood. Not Matari. But slave.

A freighter was brought to the Infrastructure hub by capsuleers. It was full of slaves. The Crusdaers fired upon the defenseless freighter. Their lasers stripped it's hull quickly, and it detonated, killing many of the slaves inside.

They were the lucky ones.

The wreck floated in space, slaves still surviving inside. Slowly, their pressurised cargo containers lost integrity, and they suffered an agonizingly slow death, as their oxygen was depleted.

After an hour or two of taunting the Republic, daring them to rescue their bretheren, the Crusaders opened fire again, vaporizing the wreck, condemning the slaves inside to the harsh vacuum of space.

I very nearly left the Crusade that day, King's orders be damned.

I stayed believing in Khanid II. I stayed trusting his leadership would never set the Khanid Kingdom on such a bloody thirsty and psychotic path. We Khanid may be harsh taskmasters, but slaves are still a valuable resource for us. We are never so wasteful.

So I stayed, turning a blind eye to the psychotic nature of the Imperial Navy, and the Crusade.

There are many fine pilots here. Many who are helpful, and many who act like decent human beings. But even these could not stop Arzad. And so now, they are tarnished by the actions of others they could not stop.

And that includes me.

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