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The Parable of Two Families
(Taking my cue from ctishman.)
Excerpted from The Second Book of Parables, Serco Holy Library, SkyCommand.
The events that we speak of lie in the past, many hundreds of years before the return of the aggressors we have come to know are the murdering Itani of old. It was at the time that those who would become the UIT were preparing to abandon Serco Prime and our progress there, forsaking their part of the great work to wander restlessly through space. During this time, on the edges of our land, near one of the towns of the Territories there lived two proud families whose names are lost to the fog of time.
Now it came to pass that the eldest sons of both families were competing for the same position within the regional garrison. Since neither would yield the position to the other, they met several times on the field of Honor at the local games but neither could gain a clear edge in their contests. Because of this, neither was given the position, it going instead to someone from another region in order that neither would be granted the right of command over one he had met in personal combat but not defeated. Time passed and both men advanced in rank together, neither gaining advantage over the other, and eventually both men became the heads of their families.
This failure to gain dominance deeply disturbed one of the men, and as the years passed, his dissatisfaction grew into distrust, and finally into a deep grudge. Gathering his brothers, sons, nephews, and those friends he could trust, he plotted against his rival. Finally on a day chosen because his rival was returning from a raid to recover technology stolen by the Neutrals in their quest for space, the man attacked his weary and unprepared rival, justifying the action to himself and his allies as necessary to end the feud that existed only in his mind.
The battle was hard and bloody, but the man and his allies were able to win a swift victory, as his rival was outnumbered and already weary. The household was slaughtered, the control codes of his rivals beasts taken, the house and outbuildings of the homestead looted. It was in the farthest of these outbuildings that the man discovered the youngest of his rival’s boys, frantically pulling boxes out of a small storage cabinet. Upon being found, the young boy turned and scrambled, ending on his back with his upper body partially trapped within the cabinet, staring fearfully at the man who had destroyed his entire family. The man ridiculed the boy, calling him a coward and telling him he was unfit to be Serco, as he was unwilling to fight but would rather try to hide. The man raised his energy rifle and pointed it at the boy.
It is at this moment that the man’s own son comes rushing in, stumbling slightly over the threshold of the small outbuilding door. The man, reacting on instinct to the noise and primed by the adrenaline racing through his system, turns, bringing his weapon to bear on his own son. A shot sizzles through the air with the static *CRACK* of a lightning bolt, and the man, a stunned look on his face, topples forward revealing a growing bloodstain spreading from the scorched area on his back. The son, looking past his dying father sees the boy, a small pulse blaster held steadily in his hand, and the back panel of the cabinet swinging open to reveal the hidden weapons cache within. The boy looks at the man’s son with calm, emotionless eyes, showing no trace of the fear he displayed earlier and speaks but one word in a compelling voice that demands respect; “leave”.
Excerpted from The Second Book of Parables, Serco Holy Library, SkyCommand.
The events that we speak of lie in the past, many hundreds of years before the return of the aggressors we have come to know are the murdering Itani of old. It was at the time that those who would become the UIT were preparing to abandon Serco Prime and our progress there, forsaking their part of the great work to wander restlessly through space. During this time, on the edges of our land, near one of the towns of the Territories there lived two proud families whose names are lost to the fog of time.
Now it came to pass that the eldest sons of both families were competing for the same position within the regional garrison. Since neither would yield the position to the other, they met several times on the field of Honor at the local games but neither could gain a clear edge in their contests. Because of this, neither was given the position, it going instead to someone from another region in order that neither would be granted the right of command over one he had met in personal combat but not defeated. Time passed and both men advanced in rank together, neither gaining advantage over the other, and eventually both men became the heads of their families.
This failure to gain dominance deeply disturbed one of the men, and as the years passed, his dissatisfaction grew into distrust, and finally into a deep grudge. Gathering his brothers, sons, nephews, and those friends he could trust, he plotted against his rival. Finally on a day chosen because his rival was returning from a raid to recover technology stolen by the Neutrals in their quest for space, the man attacked his weary and unprepared rival, justifying the action to himself and his allies as necessary to end the feud that existed only in his mind.
The battle was hard and bloody, but the man and his allies were able to win a swift victory, as his rival was outnumbered and already weary. The household was slaughtered, the control codes of his rivals beasts taken, the house and outbuildings of the homestead looted. It was in the farthest of these outbuildings that the man discovered the youngest of his rival’s boys, frantically pulling boxes out of a small storage cabinet. Upon being found, the young boy turned and scrambled, ending on his back with his upper body partially trapped within the cabinet, staring fearfully at the man who had destroyed his entire family. The man ridiculed the boy, calling him a coward and telling him he was unfit to be Serco, as he was unwilling to fight but would rather try to hide. The man raised his energy rifle and pointed it at the boy.
It is at this moment that the man’s own son comes rushing in, stumbling slightly over the threshold of the small outbuilding door. The man, reacting on instinct to the noise and primed by the adrenaline racing through his system, turns, bringing his weapon to bear on his own son. A shot sizzles through the air with the static *CRACK* of a lightning bolt, and the man, a stunned look on his face, topples forward revealing a growing bloodstain spreading from the scorched area on his back. The son, looking past his dying father sees the boy, a small pulse blaster held steadily in his hand, and the back panel of the cabinet swinging open to reveal the hidden weapons cache within. The boy looks at the man’s son with calm, emotionless eyes, showing no trace of the fear he displayed earlier and speaks but one word in a compelling voice that demands respect; “leave”.
*Loud applause*
...and Serco's library grows!
...and Serco's library grows!
***hmmm, i think i'm gonna name the boy, I'm gonna age him a dozen years and slap him into at least one more story, i think he's gonna become my version of a serco Eo ***
Cool! I'm working on another parable myself, also involving a youngster. Sheesh!
wow spellcast, i really liked that one!