Food and War: Part I

Kamela < Sasen < The Bleak Lands
Kamela V - 24th Imperial Crusade Logistic Support 
Y113.07.03

   Akai truly hated the Inquisition. It was an elemenal force of pure hatred and suspicion, directed solely upon the Empire's best and brightest; they culled the weak and sought the traitor, the heretic, the terrorist within. Many who were innocent found themselves branded and facing a firing squad, for simple infractions or an overheard joke. In his time as a cadet, and later as a full Inquisitor, Akai witnessed and participated in numerous atrocities; many truly were traitors and worse, but many more were simply guilty by association.

   It had taken awhile for Akai to truly see how viciously devastating, and worse, brutally effective the Inquisition was. Years, in fact. But even then, he couldn't bring himself to hate the Inquisition; even after the massarces at Kihtaled, his belief in King and God left no room for such ideas. Hate the Inquisition? The idea itself was blasphemous, for it was the Empress herself who had founded the Holy Inquisition, dedicating it to the unearthing of evil and corruption from within.

   In the end, it was on Amarr when hatred first blossomed like a sickly flower in Akai's heart. Amid the impossibly tall, thin golden spires and gilded thoroughfares sprawling in every direction, Akai stepped out of the non-descript military shuttle in disbelief. Despite his capsuleer status, and his family's fortune and connections, Akai had never set foot on Holy Amarr; in fact, he had never been planetside anywhere.


   Born on a military cruiser, he had grown up amidst the stars, a child of the fleet. His father, a decorated Admiral in the Royal Navy, had served with distinction in many of the fleet actions against the Amarr Empire, and his innovative use of covert operatives still forms the backbone of Khanid special forces tactics. His mother was the most decorated fighter pilot during the Succession War, and was the test pilot for the first Khanid-developed Malediction-class Interceptor. A hot-shot, speed-freak ace fighter pilot and the infamous, ingenius Admiral of the Royal Special Forces; they were an unlikely pair, unsanctioned due to the diffrence in age and rank, yet love found it's way in amid the horrors of war.

   Shortly after Akai was born, during the last major offensive of the war, his mother led her Interceptor wing on a covert mission deep behind enemy lines, providing fighter escort for a squadron of Stealth Bombers. Halfway to the target, they were ambushed and decimated. Through sheer courage and vicious aggression, his mother led the strikeforce away from the target, while the bombers under cloak managed to deliver a combined payload powerful enough to destroy the target five times over. Just before her Interceptor burst asunder from numerous impacts, she watched as the flagship of the Amarrian 5th fleet was lit from within, the nuclear flashes searing the afterimage into her retinas. Her body was found almost a month later, floating and dessicated amidst the wreckage of a dozen Imperial Slicers. Akai's first memory was of her funeral, and never could forget the face of his father as he pressed the activation stud, shunting her flag-draped casket out into the endless void of space.

   "Every ship has it's weakness, and every pilot has their strength," the Admiral said, quietly as if to himself. His voice, raw with emotion and used to command, echoed across the vast hangar. "That was her motto, her creed. Remember the dead, and heed their wisdom; her strength was her dedication to duty, and the weakness of the Interceptor is it's speed." Turning, he faced the gathered crowd of officers and ratings, pilots and crewmen, his face graven and shadowed. "This war may end soon, but know that war is in our blood. The Empire and the Kingdom both revolve around two things: Food, and War. Oh, the Word of God may bring meaning to both, but even before we knew the Word, our path was the warpath. We Khanid take the bloodprice, living or dead. Go, make her proud, make her sacrifice worth it. Walk the warpath, my brethren, and take the bloodprice for the honored dead!"