What do I do for a living? I'm a smuggler. What do I smuggle? People. From where to where? From Deregger places safely into the Alliance. Hey, it pays good, I make people happy, and I get to pretend to be a scoundrel and get a few laughs. Life is good. -- Anon Guest
Let me tell you something for free. It's not easy when you do cogniscent trafficking for the greater good. High risk, high reward... sure. It's very much that. Every trip, you're betting your life that the Dereggers don't notice what you've done. Not just your life either. You're betting everyone who's with you.
Dereggers must think the Alliance is scared of everything. Well. When they shoot antimatter nukes at you for running away with their people? A little paranoia is not enough.
Whenever I approach or leave their ports? It's livesuit on and all hands in the lifepods. Just in case. It really is better to be prepared than be fatally embarrassed.
There's times when it's fun. Like when the alleged security on the Deregger side is absolutely positive that I'm up to something but can't get any proof to justify their actions. They know what happens when they try to shoot a Galactic for "resisting."
They're not as dumb as they like to play they are. They're just... very determined to be cruel for the sake of cruelty.
As if being a terribly abusive and ignorant sack of shit is a virtue somehow. Like negating every good someone else does with absolute stomach-churning vile behaviour isn't the reason why there's people like me in the first place.
When you inflict your morals on other people without giving them a choice about beyond "do it or die?" When you treat people like things? Or like garbage? That's evil.
I can't stop them from choosing evil, but I can stop them from doing evil unto others.
That's not enough. My little ship and all it can hold is not enough. The people I bring in to disrupt them isn't enough. The people I take out with me are not enough.
I can't save them all.
So they tell me again and again. Trust the Dereggers to be a broken flakking record about their ignorant talking points.
I know I can't save them all.
But I can save this lot.
And I can smile while I lie about it right to their angry red faces. I can pretend I have no idea what they're talking about. They can search my whole ship. They can count my crew. And they do.
If they bothered to look at their faces?
...we'd all be screwed.
[Image from https://www.naturescape.co.uk/product/scarlet-pimpernel/ with many thanks]
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