A man is always judged by the consequences of his decisions, not the reasoning behind them.
The double doors hissed, automatically opening in the presence of a human being. He took the golden helmet off his head. His expression was gentle, outlined by his fair looks as he walked into the deck. He was wearing golden marine armor and a long red cloak signifying his rank.
Ceremoniously the captain of the ship wanted to leave the seat in the middle of the pressurized metallic room, but the gold-wearing man made a sign with his hand to calm him.
“I am just here to admire your work, Captain Serra.”
“As you wish, your grace.” The captain said looking straight ahead.
It was a tense time for the emperor to visit the main deck. Asteroids filled the view while the planet Canosis lay enormous in the background, in an enigmatic blue. The operators were so focused on controlling the ship they forgot protocol, yet, it was allowed in such circumstances. Still, a captain of the royal cruiser couldn’t take such privilege.
The man in gold stood there, crossing his arms. Feeling a numbing sensation in his chest as the planet grew with each mile they cautiously approached. A presence stood by his side, making the numbing feeling even heavier.
“There are other ways to make justice for these men, your grace.”
The emperor took a glance. It was his advisor, Andromedus. He was a very experienced military advisor and mentor since the emperor was just a prince in a cradle.
“No… not this time. They must know they have a choice.”
The advisor said no more. The evasive maneuvers were ongoing and after destroying a few rocks with the plasma cannons of the cruiser the way was now opened to them, proceeding to normal speed. You could feel the tension softly diluting from the room.
“If you want to rule men, you must make them feel they want to be ruled by you” The man in gold whispered.
The emperor remembered his father’s words. Considered the greatest of them all, Octavius Graviota the III held the kingdom of Roma (Previously known as the “Milky Way”) with compassion, wisdom, and justice. Now he, Octavius the IV, had to fill some big shoes, but it wasn’t his immediate concern. He was there by his own design, by his own definition of justice his father legated on him and now, there was this urge to instill compassion and wisdom upon those who needed it, such as the inhabitants of Canosis.
The planet, three times the size of sacred Earth, was from the beginning a challenge for mankind. With breathable air, but twice the gravity, it took Einstein’s relativity to its maximum to extend civilization to this rock, extremely fertile and rich, but it had something else humans did not account for. Iridium dust. Pulverized by the fierce gravity its presence was almost gaseous and the first colonists while enduring the bone-breaking conditions also developed a powerful physique and piercing concentration. Over the years, the planet was promoted as a health paradise, but as generations came and went, the people of Canosis became harder to deal with. They seemed to have lost the ingenious mankind was famous for and instead, their mighty physiques left space for warmongery, brutality, and impulsivity.
Octavius the III managed to keep the peace. Somehow, he made the Canosious people believe he was divine, and so, the empire now counted on a natural human-made army of the best warriors the human genome has ever made. But he made a mistake in the eyes of his son. He made them believe his power was absolute, and also terrible, like of the gods of old. This was done easily because Canosis for some time went isolated from the wonders of technology the moment its inhabitants were unable to learn complex math. When Octavius recruited them, he purposely created a terrible thunderstorm in which he personally floated unharmed with his royal cloak weaving and his hands to the sides, demanding obedience with a powerful voice. They all kneeled. And the empire was safe, for the warriors of Canosis were quite a feat. For some reason, the iridium phenomena didn’t occur in the nearby galaxies, so they lacked the ferocity and deadly concentration of an enhanced army, almost invincible on planet pacifying.
Sadly, their lack of wits also made them objects of demeanor from the other planets and their human adaptation, although many others admired their simple culture and their bond to nature. The emperor among them. After all, there was no simpler and yet deeper wisdom to find but in nature itself.
And so he was there to grant them a gift, for there were no Canosious people who could escape from the flames of war universe-wide. Their whole planet was considered a planetary training camp with the cruelest of tests. It was almost their culture, like the divinity of the emperor god who came to visit them.
The cruiser landed in the Octavius temple, in the Ecuadorian belt of the planet. The bridge extended as the imperial guard filled it and in the end, a big, bright yellow door-gate, where the godborn would pronounce his speech.
The man in gold walked, escorted by his advisor. They both remained silent all the way while the guards stood arms at his passing. He was feeling aggravated by the multiple hieroglyphics attesting to his divinity filling the temple but he said nothing and stood by the yellow gate which opened with a mechanic hum leaving the view of thousands of millions of Canosious people gathering, looking at his face by the holograms in the clear blue sky. They all cheered unanimously and he smiled at them, feeling as if those were his children. He made a sign with his hand, and they all quieted down.
“People of Canosis,” The emperor started saying, looking at every side until the horizon “It is an honor to be among you, for I am here to bestow a gift upon you all for the great service you have made to the Roman empire”
The man in gold opened his arms like once his father did.
“I grant you freedom”
The silence grew deeper.
“Yes… freedom. You have been told that my father came from heaven to bestow upon you the honor of fighting for the empire. Now I bestow upon you the honor of fighting for your own wishes.
You will still have the opportunity to fight for the empire. But that is what freedom means. If you don’t want to, you won’t be forced to go outplanet to fight an enemy far away. If you want to stay and care for your plants, so be it. To construct your bond with nature… so be it. To care for your family, so be it. This is the end and the beginning of a new era for all of you! The era of free Canosis!”
At this moment the silence was so tense it could almost be cut with a knife. But the man in gold, Octavius the IV kept his gentle smile.
“Can… Can I grow my children here?!” Someone shouted.
“Yes! So be it…!” He answered.
The crowd filled with whispers slowly turning into cheering, so loud some said it could be heard from miles away. Now with his mission accomplished, the man in gold turned back, walking towards the cruiser. The golden yellow door closed behind him.
“The reports are coming planet-wide,” Andromedous said with a grave expression. “The freedom of Canosis will cost us 23 thousand more years of war galaxy-wide”
“I am aware…” The man in gold said.
Without the full help of the planet, winning will take longer, and so the bloodshed extends for another 23 millennia according to the experts. But to Octavius, the IV, how you win a war mattered far more than the results.
Time would prove him wise. The nature of the Canosis people, warmongery as they were, still counted for half of the population as empire warriors, now instilled with morale. Turns out, as they could choose their actions, they decided to have families, and thrive, while going to war to achieve honor for their families and clans. They fought with way more brutality and resolution than before when they were mindless slaves. War ended even sooner and Octavious managed to see the end of it.
He would be remembered as Octavius The Wise, the last of his name.
Images from pixabay
