Intergalactic Summit

*The feed opens up with a middle-aged Ni-Kunni woman sitting in a chair, her facial expression stoic. The the woman is calm of demeanor, the dark eyes staring into the camera betray her malaise. After a few seconds, she glances sharply up and to her left, apparently at some off-screen cue. Lifting a small datapad, she reads in a firm, clear voice:*

Are you a slave, Pilot Hanaya, or have you ever been one?

Until a person has been a slave, it is not for them to decide how a person should feel about being enslaved.

*She lowers the datapad, glancing off-screen again for a moment, the pause seemingly used to collect her thoughts. When she speaks again, it is clearly her own words.*

It is the most terrifying experience I have ever endured, Miss Hanaya. I do as I am commanded, I obey the rules that were laid out when we were brought to this world. I know that, so long as I am obedient and complete my tasks as dictated, I will be okay. But I watch my slave-brothers and slave-sisters receive punishments that they did not expect, for transgressions they had not realized they'd made. I have seen a man lose his tongue for blaspheming against a god he did not know existed.

It is terrifying, because I know that no matter how much I try to be good, I cannot know all, and I could be punished at any time, as the Master sees fit.

*When the woman finishes, she glances again to something or someone just off-screen and the recording terminates.*

*The feed opens up with a middle-aged Ni-Kunni woman sitting in a chair, her facial expression stoic. The the woman is calm of demeanor, the dark eyes staring into the camera betray her malaise. After a few seconds, she glances sharply up and to her left, apparently at some off-screen cue. Lifting a small datapad, she speaks in a firm, clear voice:*

With my Master's permission, I would like to point out that he allowed us to elect from amongst our number an advisor, to help him manage his stock in a way that we would be familiar with and thus easily understand. The man that we elected served for three years as a slaver hound trainer on Oris before he was taken by members of the Katanga Caravan when the cruiser he was traveling aboard was destroyed.

My Master has deviated from his advisor's suggestions only where circumstances have not made it feasible to manage us exactly as a true Holder would. We are fed well, housed properly, clothed sufficiently for the environment of this planet when our labors require us to be outdoors, we have been immunized to the local virulent threats, and we are not abused or unjustly disciplined. So far, none of us has been killed.

Good behaviour beyond that specifically required of a slave is incentivized in accordance with the advisor's suggestions. My series of posts here on the IGS, for example, are a reward for my own behaviour. Instead of working the plant today, I am in the Master's quarters on board his Phantasm, watching holoreels and recording messages for the Intergalactic Summit.

This is still the most terrible thing that I could experience. Soon, I will have to ask my Master's permission to visit his private lavatory.

Do you know how humiliating that is? Or the sense of dread I feel as I consider that he might say no to such a simple thing, on a whim?

*The woman sighs, her lower lip quivering slightly, just enough to be noticed, but she takes a deep breath and continues.*

Fly well, Ushra'Khan. I was raised in the Empire. I am its product. I never understood what all the fuss was about, why all the killing, why all the loss. I have been a slave for less than a quarter of a year. I understand, now.

Go and free your people.

*The Ni-Kunni woman's eyes tear up and she nods to her left. A moment later, the back of a fine black jacket with silver filigree embroided upon it comes into view, a smooth and well-manicured hand gently placed on the woman's head, smoothing her hair. The man's other hand casually gestures with a remote control and with the push of a button, the recording ends*.

Shortage of abusive holders lately so we've got to let a perverted Minmatar take the reigns and show us how it's done.

-Eran

I am a slave to God, my lady.


"Only through many hardships
Is a man stripped to his very foundations
And in such a state
Devoid of distractions
Is his soul free to soar
And in this
He is closest to God"
- The Scriptures, Book of Missions 42:5