Read Online Solbidyum Wars Saga 9: At What Price by Dale Musser - Free Book Online

continuing.  “It wasn’t the damaged buildings or ruined cities and farms; it wasn’t the lack of fresh water and utilities that affected me.  It was the people.  Somehow, seeing victims of war on the vid screen and actually seeing them in person are two different experiences.  On Alamar-4 I stood strong… and healthy… and safe… before real people who had been subsisting in unspeakable conditions and who had suffered brutalities that I cannot, even now, imagine enduring.  I walked with my father and sister and with representatives from our Federation’s legislative body through the ruins of once beautiful cities and towns that had been transformed into places of violence and torture of innocent women and men and their children.  Until I stepped foot on Alimar-4, I couldn’t even begin to conceive the depth of cruelty and ruthlessness inflicted by the Brotherhood upon its victims.  I saw malnourished and diseased people that were little more than skeletons, clinging to life with the barest of flesh hanging from their frames.  I saw piles of dead bodies – men, women and children – who had been forced to toil as slaves for the benefit of the Brotherhood until they could toil no more.  These people, who had thrived and raised their families on a beautiful planet, had been all but completely exterminated at the hand of an enemy so vile, so vicious, and so evil that its very existence is almost unfathomable.”
    Reide’s voice wavered and I heard him choke for a moment.  He paused briefly, adjusted his posture, and took a deep breath before continuing.  “I could write all day about the things I saw on Alimar-4, but I could never convey the horrors and level of depravity that I witnessed – that all of us witnessed – on that day.
    “After returning home with my father and sister, the memories and feelings that overwhelmed me during the visit continued to intensify.  Every luxury around me mocked the victims that I still saw vividly in my mind’s eye.  I couldn’t justify my home, my luxuries, my food or even my existence in light of what I saw there.  I suddenly came to realize what it was that my father and mother stood for; why my father fought so hard to defeat the enemy; why he sacrificed time with his family to protect not only us, but everyone on every world in the Federation and even those who lived on non-aligned worlds.
    “My father and mother possess the greatest wealth and fame the universe can provide.  They could have chosen more than twenty years ago to raise their family in peace and luxury, far from any enemy threat.  Instead they chose, and continue to choose, to give more and fight harder for others than anyone I know.  They’ve both been wounded in action fighting for the Federation.  My father has died at least once and been revived.  My Aunt Luinella died fighting for the Federation; and Jenira, who is like an aunt to my sister and me and who was once a slave to the Brotherhood, has also been wounded since dedicating her life to defending the innocent from the Brotherhood. 
    I could name more examples than just my family.  All around me are heroes who have fought to preserve life and liberty.  Some were enslaved by the Brotherhood; others lost friends, family and comrades; and the greatest heroes of all are those who paid for our security and freedoms with their very lives. 
    In the meantime, all I have done is enjoy the fruits of their sacrifices.  But I can no longer live that life.  After having witnessed the things I did on Alamar-4, I can no longer justify enjoying any of the things that have defined my life, especially the freedoms and privileges provided to me, without doing something to help fight the evil that denies others even the simplest of daily needs and the most fundamental right to dignity.
    “I understand now what our heroes fight for and I too must join that fight; for if I fail to do so, I fail as a human being and I do not deserve to live,