[Jmenschenfresser]

(Enjoy...sorry for the delay.)

2407.4
I can't imagine a more remote desolate-looking place than the colonies in Organtrix. As an amature student of history and culture, I was eager to see the Lasting remnants of the the Xi'Chung. However, I see now with my own eyes the reasons why so many Xi have chosen to leave this system. Many long to see the homeworld and many are so tired of war that they just want to take their families and move on. Of the nearly 200 million Xi on the two colonies some 180 million are leaving for other worlds. I've met many of these future colonists. Tallik and I spent a month on both colonies fixing up infrastructure and bringing news of the Almighty. Quite a few have taken emotionally to our faith. Their fervor is astounding! Since we are late arriving, and several military men, including military priets, have been handing out the Text for nearly a year. They take to our faith mixing it with their own culture, and the offspring produces a strange, but familiar child. I personally enjoy it. I cannot imagine the different views and philosophical directions we'll see in the near and distant future.

We are on our way back to regions more familiar with a hull full of hopeful Xi. Still we cannot take what might be the shorter route through Amon'krie territory. Tallik has spent the Last two weeks locked in his cabin, seeing only me, and that only when I bring him his food. He is sketching possible strategies of both defense and offense were the Amon'krie ever to attack. We still maintain a large military presence in the Olontra system.

On the scientific front, we've gotten word that the homeworld has begun contruction on a ship capable of converting asteroids to planets. It will still take a year and a half until this wonder is complete. A good deal of the empire's resources are going into this ship. Those who know of this project are extremely hopeful that it will again provide the Norak with room to expand.

Other than the long trip to Organtrix and now the trip back, not a great deal has transpired during the Last year. The Amon'krie have been sitting on a treaty of trade with us for several months. After cycling through every known treaty, our diplomats finally hit upon this one that the Amon'krie are willing to hold onto. Our growing corner of the galaxy is again quite.

Tallik and I discuss galactic strategy from time to time as I may have mentioned. He feels our next problem may be with the Sergetti. They've sent several warnings to the High Priest and even vice roys within the CueCappa system attempting to weaken our alliance with the CueCappa. Apparently the Sergetti are trouble makers. She who hung the stars can deal with them in her own time, either by our hand or the hand of another. No one prospers forever when they spread disease and discontent. The Elders are debating the release of part of the Templars from station in Olontra to dissuade the Sergetti from meddling in Organtrix. We know that the Sallega have a keen dislike for the Sergetti. Our scouts in Organtrix are not quite sure of the events but we think the Sallega and Sergetti have been through several skirmishes already. We do know that sometime between the exiting of the Templars from Organtrix and the surrender of the Xi, the Sergetti colony in Organtrix disappeared. I suppose it is possible they abandoned it thinking it unsafe; although, I doubt it. More likely the Sallega destroyed it...whether on purpose or not.

The colonies in Organtrix have sent a Florida to scout out several uncharted systems beyond Organtrix. A colony ship of Norak wait in Organtrix for a suitable world to present itself. I doubt the Elders will consent to sending a colony ship into Sergetti space. But perhaps somewhere beyond it lies an unclaimed world.

Let me now tell you of a small work I am attempting for the Priest of Multiculture. He is binding several volumes of Xi'Chung literature in translation for the greater good of integrating the enroute Xi into Norak culture. He figured that such a publication would give the Norak an appreciation of their new neighbors. The collection now in translation is small, but we are positive it will grow over time. I personally have picked up much of their language. It isn't that hard once one gets over the hurdle of a different script. I, on the other hand, have not been given the task of translation, but rather of collecting a few "survivor" stories or human interest stories for publication in our many newspapers and tabloids. The pieces I've gathered from those who remained in Organtrix and from those on the ship. The column is already in it's 3rd month, and just as an example, I'd like to include part of Last weeks here. It is an interview:

"An interview with Yuzzakri of the fourth pod of Xi'Gyunlhl, once a captain in the Xi'Chung Star Watch.

RAEGHAR: Why are you leaving your homesystem? Organtrix. Certainly, there may be chances for your return, but still, it must take something for a being leave his home for another settlement.

YUZZAKRI: I'm tired. Tired of what being a real Xi involves.

RAEGHAR: From the war?

YUZZAKRI: I can live with war...it's this facelessness of our people I can't stomach. Your, your...historians may ask, 'what does being a Xi mean?' I'll tell you. It means nothing! Once upon a time, before the Sallega stormed the Imperial Hive and dissected our ****ing beloved queen, the general most of us simply existed in a state where all action was collective. Individuality, I am now discovering, is based mostly on the choices, the decisions we make. We made the decisions which most benefitted the Hive. It was easy. It was the common good, as you would call it, but it wasn't living. I am tired of the common good. I am not a selfish person, Raeghar.

RAEGHAR: Then if before the death of the Xi Queen, being a Xi meant being part of a whole and not a whole itself, then what does being a Xi now mean?

YUZZAKRI: Now! Now we are nothing!

RAEGHAR: I thought you were nothing before?

YUZZAKRI: Before we were incomplete. Now we are nothing. I can be anything I chose to be under Norakian law, or something else outside of it. I can call myself a Norak if I want to, or a Sallega or a Zynarrian! Whatever. My point is, I am...we are a blank slate.

RAEGHAR: Then I don't quite follow how this now unlimited frontier of personality and choice can lead to you saying, "I am tired."

YUZZAKRI: How many people are on this ship, Raeghar?

RAEGHAR: Not sure....maybe 150 million or more.

YUZZAKRI: And that speaks to the sudden newness of epistomology we as Xi find ourselves in. Whether tragic or not, I do not know, but it is a situation I think which demands adaptation...am I correct?

RAEGHAR: I would say so.

YUZZAKRI: And therein lies the problem with me and the other 150 million Xi on this ship. The government on the two colonies you Norak now hold, which before were just governors and local officials, have indirectly become power hungry. In order to convince your Elders to allow them to retain power over the rest of us, using the excuse that only a Xi knows a Xi, and can govern his complex nature, they, the leaders had to create this myth of Xi'Chung culture. It is entirely imposed from above. You, yourself, saw the makeshift flaunting of our newly found freedom and culture! What rubbish.

RAEGHAR: Is this disagreement over culture the reason why you've left?

YUZZAKRI: It isn't the only reason.....I would call it more, the only choice left.

RAEGHAR: Meaning you imprisonment.

YUZZAKRI: Yes.

RAEGHAR: Why don't you talk about that. Begin with the organization of your political party.

YUZZAKRI: It was hardly mine. It functioned like a lot of things in Xi society, without a direct head. I really only became it's head once the fighting started. You see there aren't free elections in either of the colonies in Organtrix....not even now. It began long before the Sallega invasion. I began meeting with several officials and intellectuals about changing policy towards the Sallega...and others, but mainly towards our war with them. I am not here to debate the start of this war or right of existence. But the war was going no where, so I and others began a movement within the upper society to end the war and initiate a cooling off toward the Sallega....

RAEGHAR: Are you vindicated now that those who opposed you seemingly made the wrong choice?

YUZZAKRI: Wrong choice?! Whatever that is. I think even you preach that right choices are known only by your Almighty...not by mortals. In anycase, the invasion came before we really were given the chance to let our movement cement. The homeworld was quickly taken and then the rest surrendered to you...well, not you, but.... I fought against the invasion of course. But after our fleet and space defenses were gone, we didn't have the ground capabilities to deal with the Sallega troops. They over ran the cities with ease. After the capital and five other major cities fell, my division surrendered. Normally, I would have been captaining a ship and most likely would have met my maker in the upper atmosphere of the homeworld, but recent Sallega adventures into our space had left me without a ship and decent crew. So when the invasion came I was assigned as an officer to the army. Afterwards the army was disbanded and I was left to myself....not a good thing for a thinking Xi'Chung. Once the new government on the homeworld had been set up, they began this push for a representation of the Xi in the Sallega government. Claiming reasons of culture and minority status and blah blah blah. With several of the same friends as before, I formed an alternative to becoming a Sallegian citizen or a minority. It was a fine line to walk, granted. But it stressed individuality and self-determination. Free thought and a reexamining of every alternative out there. Not some bogus cheap fantasy Xi culture, that never existed. But neither the establishment nor the Sallega wanted to hear it. We were first forced under ground. I personally lived in a hut in the woods for a month. Attempts on the lives of my collegues were made. When the call came form the Norak that they and the Sallega were attempting a reunification of relatives and such, I applied and was accepted for transfer to one of the colonies. Honestly, I think the Sallega still think I am hiding somewhere in their forests.

RAEGHAR: What was your excuse for transfer?

YUZZAKRI: Actually, none. The Norak nor the Sallega knew anything about birth records and mundane stuff like that of the Xi. I picked a generic Xi name and ran with it, calling him my brother. The transfers went so quickly I doubt they checked any of the applicants.

RAEGHAR: So you didn't get that wound on the homeworld?

YUZZAKRI: No. After getting to the colonies, I thought that the movement might work better here. After all, the colonies had always been known to house underground movements and extremists. I met with several Groups. None of which were interested in what I had to say. But at Last I men a Xi named, Khazzari. He introduced me to some of his acquaintances....and on the chain went. Really an overnight hook up. Khazzari worked in the library on Organtrix I. He had a personal stock of foreign literature and philosophy. I would say it had the one of the best collections of political writings in the galaxy. I read books from races I doubt you have ever heard of. Well, to make a long story short, we refashioned what used to be on the homeworld. I felt good about this new group. The people were smart and fierce but compassionate for the average Xi. We began asking questions and attending lectures. We used your own religious schools as places for instruction and recruitment. Within a month we had a thousand members. The local governments became aware of us at about this time. Since the Templar fleet of the Norak had to be recalled to the Olontra system, the colonies in Organtrix were left without much Norakian supervision. The new Xi leaders began to take a strong line against those who disagreed with their interim rule.

RAEGHAR: Death squads?

YUZZAKRI: More or less. Somewhere around this time people began disappearing. We halted most of our open activities, but by that time too many people knew too many names. I started to see shadows following me home.

RAEGHAR: What turned you into militants? I mean, what forced you to fight back.

YUZZAKRI: The death of Khazzari, of course. They even took his books. Watch...once the atmosphere in Organtrix smoothes over, these books will surface...either in another collection or on an auction block. [I have yet to tell Yuzzakri but Khazzari's collection is on this ship. I have been given orders to deliver it to the national archives of enlightened studies. I have put in a request that the books belong to Yuzzakri and should be copied and then returned to him. Hopefully someone listens.] After his death, we armed ourselves. I didn't have anywhere else to run to...not until your ship arrived. But I didn't know that at the time. The skirmishes weren't grand or anything really to speak of. We killed several Guards, including two Norak, hence my sentence, and they killed most of us. I was wounded and taken prisoner. I am sure you are aware of what happened after you arrived. I was in a cell awaiting death. One of my former collegues posing as an independent investigator exposed the interim government abuses, and because of that I was freed.

RAEGHAR: But you still feared for your life?

YUZZAKRI: Yes. It is true that the Norak dismissed several officials after the short hearing on abuses, but most stayed where they were. I had no choice but to leave.

[Since this interview, Yuzzakri has taken up the call to follow the Text of the Almighty. However, he still teaches individuality as the true path to an enlightened knowledge of She who exposes the infinite to the finite.]