Once upon a time... A pilot could not cause harm to another pilot of the same nation, not just in that nations's space, but in all the known galaxy, unless one or both pilots where of hated or worse standing by that nation.

I, Roda Slane, did not wish see the atrocities of some pilots go unanswered by myself, simply because they where of the same nation as myself. So I forfeited my standing with my native faction, and in doing so, I gained my freedom. I became free to cause harm to any and all pilots, at my own discretion, regardless of nationality.

I revealed in my new found freedom, and even wrote an article: The free pilot's claim on gray space

In time, the super factions, the ones currently referred to as "nations", responded. They responded by capitulating. The friendly fire restrictions where removed, not only in grey space, but across most of nation space. At the time of this writing, only a very few systems have any form of friendly fire restriction.

The liberty of self determined conflict, that at one time required a sacrifice of native faction standing, no longer requires that sacrifice, except in a very few systems. The liberty is now near universal, to all pilots, of all nations.

To a degree, the super factions won, by losing. By removing most of the friendly fire restrictions, they greatly reduced an incentive for pilots to forfeit their native faction standing.

Now, to a near universal extent, every pilot is a free pilot, not just in grey, but across most of the known galaxy.

The liberty is now so nearly universal, that the very concept of "free pilot" is in danger of being lost.

Languages do not tend to keep words for concepts that have no contrast. We know"dark", because we know "light". If we had no light, not only would we have no word for light, but we would also have no word for dark. One can only be conceived of, in contrast to the other.

The very concept of "Free Pilot", is in danger of being lost, by a nearly complete lack of contrast. We are all free pilots, in almost every part of the galaxy.

For proper contrast, we must be mindful of history. For us to fully appreciate the liberty we now have, we must be aware of a time when we did not have it with out sacrifice.

We are all free pilots now. The territory of grey has changed only a little in that time. Edras and Latos are wholly controlled by Grey. Helios and Ukari are intruded on by the super factions. But Grey as a nation, as a collection of free pilots, is now universal. We all have equal claim on Grey. Grey is now the greatest nation. We are all Grey. We are all free pilots, in all of Grey Space, and beyond, to very nearly the full extent of the known galaxy.

We free pilots have won, so overwhelmingly, that we are in danger of losing.

*Saves in Datapad*
Guess I have more paperwork...

*stands up and applauds*

Go write awesome books and shit man.

Very good, at least we know you got banned from All Nation Space! ;)

Pass that shit!!

Try reading this while humming the theme from "Star Blazers" or "Sedina the Beautiful" ("Oh beautiful, for spacious space, for plund'ring ill-gotten gain..."). Very stirring.

couple of auto-correct foibles:

"because they where of the same nation" - I think you mean "were"

"I revealed in my new found freedom" - What did you reveal? or had you "reveled"

You could connect a few of your single-sentence paragraphs to help the flow.

Overall, I give it a B+

-Conflict Diamond, Space Social Studies Teacher.

It's rare to see my Social Studies Teacher here.