“There is no House of Reason. The House of Reason was dissolved this morning. The Legion is in control of the galaxy now. And no, you’re not special. You are, in fact, nothing. The zhee are a blight on galactic civilization. You take. You exploit. You kill. Those are your contributions. That’s your rich and diverse heritage. You’re like wild animals. You’re dangerous. And your time is up. Now the galaxy will have to do without your murder and mayhem. Because there is no House of Reason anymore to protect you from the consequences of your stupidity.
“After Gibraltaar was taken, there were three thousand, four hundred, and thirty-six zhee taken prisoner. I ordered them all executed. Your bases deep in the desert are, as we speak, being struck from orbit, by this fleet. The Legion’s fleet. And as for the slums that have terrorized the Green Zone and the rest of the planet, the so-called ‘badlands’… I ordered them firebombed the moment the last legionnaire was pulled out.”
The look on Bum Kali’s face was… pure shock. And horror. Horror because the man in front of him meant what he said. Even an old thief like Bum Kali knew the cold, hard, brutal truth when it was told to him.
This man was reality.
“I don’t care if you believe me,” Keller said. “I just wanted you to hear me say it. Show him anyway, Colonel.”
Colonel Speich leaned down with a tablet and displayed a series holovids and images. They showed that everything the Legion commander had just said was true. Zhee being executed by firing squad on the desert sands. Satellite images of orbital strikes on bases Bum Kali thought to be well hidden. The slums on fire, cordoned off by the Legion and the loyal marines. Heavy armor guarding the routes out. Ponies and younglings burning. Pack brothers being shot down without quarter or mercy.
Speich clicked off the tablet and stepped away officiously.
“I wanted you to see this,” said Keller, “because you brought it on yourself. You, like most every other race within the galaxy, could have played along and joined the team. But you’ve always been an enemy to a Republic too stupid to recognize that fact. We both know this. And even when we tried to treat you as friends, you stabbed us. Blew us up. Shot at us.
“There’s a maniac with delusions of grandeur calling himself the emperor. And we’re at war with him, too. The Republic, the true Republic, does not have time to send you to prison camps or re-education centers. Hoping that this time you won’t pop back out, a problem just as bad as before. It does not have time to watch our backs. To watch you, waiting to see when—not if, when—you’ll next try to plunge in the knife or send another explosive-stuffed corvette into a population center. The zhee of Ankalor are done. And we both know that once word of what’s happened reaches the other zhee worlds, it all stops. They won’t make the mistake of Ankalor. You, Bum Kali… you did this.”
Keller pulled out his sidearm and shot Karshak Bum Kali in the face. The zhee’s head flopped to one side. Blood and brains quietly drooled out onto the deck.
A holocam had recorded the entire incident. This was Keller’s speech to the galaxy. His response to the House of Reason and anyone else determined to stand in the Legion’s way.
And then there were only the steps of the commander and his legionnaires moving off, heading toward the next crisis that needed to be handled in order to protect the galaxy, and save it from itself.
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Janet Anderson
Robert Anspach
Sean Averill
Russell Barker
Steven Beaulieu
WJ Blood
Christopher Boore
Aaron Brooks
Marion Buehring
Alex Collins-Gauweiler
Robert Cosler
Andrew Craig
Peter Davies
Nathan Davis
Karol Doliński
Noah Doyle
Dalton Ferrari
Mark Franceschini
Richard Gallo
Kyle Gannon
Michael Gardner
John Giorgi
Gordon Green
Michael Greenhill
Joshua Hayes
Jason Henderson
Bernard Howell
Wendy Jacobson
James Jeffers
Kenny Johnson
Noah Kelly
Mathijs Kooij
Byl Kravetz
Clay Lambert
Grant Lambert
Richard Long
Kyle Macarthur
Richard Maier
Brian Mansur
Pawel Martin
Tao Mason
Simon Mayeski
Joshua McMaster
Jim Mern
Alex Morstadt
Daniel Mullen
Eric Pastorek
Jeremiah Popp
Chris Pourteau
Walt Robillard
David Sanford
Andrew Schmidt
Ryan Shaw
Glenn Shotton
Daniel Smith
Joel Stacey
Maggie Stewart-Grant
Kevin Summers
Ernest Sumner
Beverly Tierney
Scott Tucker
Eric Turnbull
John Tuttle
Christopher Valin
Nathan Zoss