Skeletons in Our Closets

(08 August 3049)

There are some within our beloved empire who only smell the roses and see the crystal blue waters that spring eternal across our thousand worlds of the Federated Commonwealth. While I love and honor our beloved homeland, such blindness is pure folly; naiveté at best, absolutely dangerous at worst.

Young as our nation is, the stabbing pains of growth have reverberated, stretching our collective skins taut; and beyond. Ignoring those events is tantamount to children mimicking ostriches, tucking our heads into the sand and hoping we’ll forget what almost happened. Much to my dismay I’ve witnessed attempts to suppress these events. Not outright eliminating the history in textbooks; not yet, at least. Instead, subtle tweaks to the presentation that change the tone of those trying times, and hence the potential lessons to be learned.

For those young minds tainted by such overzealousness, permit me to refresh your memories. In 3034, the Free Rasalhague Republic was formed, resulting in the Federated Commonwealth turning over numerous worlds; many of them planets our brothers in blue died to liberate from the tyrannical Draconis Combine during the Fourth Succession War. Many of my compatriots within the media decried this event as a travesty. I stood with a courageous few willing to back the First Prince’s and Archon’s decisions; a brilliant and long-term astute move.

I believe the First Prince and the Archon fully understood and embraced the desire of the Rasalhagian people to finally form their own union after seven centuries under Combine rule. More importantly, the formation of Free Rasalhague also weakened the Draconis Combine, as they too relinquished control of numerous worlds, while creating a buffer state between our nations backed by the power of ComStar. What logic…what dynamic leadership! To look past the pettiness of a few planets lost and instead see the needs of the dynasty for decades to come!

Yet just as samurai within the Draconis Combine were blinded by their petty notions of honor and could not accept their Daimyo’s decisions—from which the Ronin Wars erupted as a result—our own Federated Commonwealth likewise felt the harsh sting of ignorance as the Skye Crisis blossomed.

Normally I have nothing but praise for the men and women who protect our far-flung borders, but as civil disobedience spread over this decision, their over-reaction turned a paltry temper tantrum into a full-blown civil uprising that lasted weeks, leaving hundreds dead and thousands wounded.

What’s more, the wounds from those days are spirit-deep and despite the heroics of Duke Ryan Steiner in quenching those flames of unrest, they are not extinguished, only banked. The coals still simmer deep within the hearts and minds of many in the Skye March.

And if we forget…if we turn our heads aside in distaste and try to ignore those unpleasant skeletons in our closet…it will be on our heads if they escape during the night, bony claws rending our empire’s flesh once more as we lie sleeping in our self-made ignorance.

—Olivia Daver, Commonwealth Press