Beyond - Legends What Was It All For? [short vignette -- OC speculation on the Vong war]

Title: What Was It All For?
Author: Idrelle_Miocovani
Timeframe: post-NJO
Genre: general
Characters: OC
Summary: A young girl contemplates the meaning of the war while looking at the sky above her peaceful world.
Notes: Eigth vignette for the 52 vignette challenge. I?m trying to catch up on the ones I missed when I was on vacation. This one, too, is a little weird and was written more quickly than I would have liked since I have very little time on my hands.

VIGNETTE FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 28 ? SEPTEMBER 3

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As I lean against my window sill, I stare up at the darkening sky above. The heavens are painted a dusky red which are quickly receding into purple and a dark, inky blue. The first lights of the stars and the many constellations swirling above are beginning to shine through the heavy blanket in the firmament.

The stars and constellations have always held a great interest for me. When I was young, I had wanted to see them all ? visit every system, every planet, and every country. I wanted to be an adventurer and see mystical and majestic things beyond my mind?s comprehension and imagination.

I never got the chance. I still remain on this small planet, orbiting a minor star in a distant system on the outer-rim. My hopes and dreams were shattered when the war came and the Yuuzhan Vong invaded.

Our planet watched with increasing agony and despair as the HoloNet reported their advances ? the battles, the defeats, the destroyed planets, the billions of people who died. Through it all, we became agitated. Hardly anyone recognized our planet and knew we existed. Even though we were on the opposite side of the Galaxy from the invasion, what if a Vong craft arrived here, on our planet? What would we do then? We were, and are, a peaceful nation ? we had no strong weapons, no means of defending ourselves. And the government would hardly come to our rescue before it was too late and we would all be dead or taken as slaves to the beastly alien race.

The war is now over. We survived it without any contact from the Vong. I do not even know what they look like, but I imagine them as horrible creatures with rough, scarred skin and evil, bloodthirsty eyes. They are a terrible nation. And they still exist.

As I look at the stars, I wonder if I will ever be able to visit them all. The war destroyed so much. I wonder if those planets orbiting the bright specks of light in the sky are maimed and deformed without any life support at all. With that thought, I wonder what it was all for.

War is pointless. My nation is soft-spoken and peaceful. We do not understand the economics of war, or the reasons why people go to war in the first place. We do not understand oppression. The Yuuzhan Vong would have been welcomed peacefully into this Galaxy, I know it ? but they decided to wage war instead. Total armies were destroyed on both sides; we all faced annihilation because of it. Death is a terrible thing, but those aliens seem to embrace it.

They are a terrible species. They do not understand negotiations and peace. They, like most of us, want things their way because they believe that it is the right way and the only way. Unfortunately, they had the power to try to make everything their way and they brought destruction and ruin on everyone.

What was it all for?

I do not know. I cannot see into their minds and see the point of the war. I shall remain with the philosophies of the stars. At least they do not fight; at least they do not argue. They are accepting rays of light, piercing the cloud of thoughts and conflicting natures. Only in their light do I feel truly at peace.

 

I loved the whole thing, but the ending was especially good. Bravo!

 

Thanks, VL!