<<<< I ran really late this week! I felt there was a lot I had to cover if I wanted this done right! The image is still incoming, it will read : A Whole Lot of Nothing! Commissar Ivan. ty,DD >>>>
By David C. Daoust
Formed during the Crucible Riots, the labor unions that brought the Mining Cartels to their knees marked the first sign of a movement yet unnamed. The voice of the workers rang out through the Onion, calling more to their cause, showing others, mostly those amongst the fractured City-Stations (stations in which the people had not signed on to one government) showed them that they could stand together, to not allow those in control of the resources, to take advantage of what they had to offer. The union’s voice showed them they were not a tool to be cast aside or devalued. They themselves were a resource. Their labor could be pooled and controlled as easily as those in control pooled other resources and capital.
As the voice grew louder, it reached even those stagnant workers buried in the Consortium’s Crag, which raised the heads of those in control of the Trade Consortium. These Unions formed much to the corporation’s dislike, though the voice of the people, once spoken, is hard to mute.
Even those of the Royal Alliance started to complain, as the Royals ruled from their bubbles on the planetary surface. Very rarely were they seen amongst the people since the completion of the domes. Which left those still cared for by the arks, with only their imagination for how their rulers lived. Discontent began to spread amongst those above, as they felt downtrodden.
The Red Faction rose up from the chatter; Taking this voice for their own.
Though the Red Faction took it one step further than the labor unions, not merely wanting to insure the worker’s fair share, or apply pressure to those doling out, but to put the workers in control of all; An uprising to overthrow those with the biggest pile! Not just a redistribution of wealth, but a removal of monetary gain entirely.
The Communist Red Faction, required all the workers to pull down the establishment, to create a dictatorship of the workforce, until all joined in one government that ran and owned all businesses. A government that controlled the ebb and flow of all production, for the people, as the people required it; an ideology that captured the imaginations of the downtrodden and the stagnant alike. For which the Red Faction’s movement flourished through the fractured City Stations, through the labor unions that formed in the Crag, even those that felt downtrodden under socialist Alliance rule were drawn to the idea of a classless society.
The Royals of the Alliance, while still the strongest proponent for freedom amongst the burgeoning solar system, felt the Red Faction threatened that freedom, as the communist ideals required one government for all. They felt, when compared to the Royal Vanguard- whose followers worshiped their Royals as supreme rulers, the Red Faction, replaced the focus of this worship, with a fantasy of all the peoples constant agreement, a fantasy that could only be reached in its final stage, a stage that could only be reached with the abolishment of all other governments, all other choice, which could only be reached by a dictatorship of the workforce, who then would sit at its head?
As to the Consortium, capitalism was based on a class system that promoted competition amongst the people. It did not force anyone to the bottom, rather gave equal opportunity to all- to rise to the top. It sported a free market, and privately owned businesses. The communist party only saw those on the bottom being doled out what those on the top decided to give. The Trade Consortium saw the Red Faction as a threat to their way of life.
The ‘Judicial Colleges’, a pool of Judges taken from every form of government, oversaw all of the Onion’s judicial branches. They judged which infractions were prosecuted under which laws; they also enforced human rights throughout the Onion. Their power, of course, was applied only after the fact. They had very little power over the laws themselves, only how they were interpreted to be applied to the offense.
In theory, amongst the Onion, these judges were a shared judicial system that insured that no laws were broken or rights violated between, or because of, separate legislative branches. Though in practice, this created a new layer of complications to the courts, which could prolong the verdict of even the most mundane of offenses.
Debates amongst the colleges could carry on for years, not only taking consideration of what individual was signed where, but also in cases which the laws overlap, which then should supersede the other? It became a matter of interpretation that involved an abstract view of the intent of the law. They did have some power to intercede on behalf of human rights, especially those human rights as they were applied to proposed governments.
The other governments could cry all they want; the Red Faction was within their rights to bring their own form of governance to the Onion! Provided they did not force anyone against their will, or violate anyone’s individual rights, the Judicial Colleges would not intercede.
As such the Red Faction’s momentum built only on the will of the people, as nothing could be taken by force, without calling down the Judges. Which could then lead to all out war, like for example, as the Royal Vanguard had managed to do when the majority of Royals had first tried to relinquish power.
What was unknown to the Onion… was that the core of the Red Faction, were not human at all. They were, in fact, the very same bots Vincent had talked into an uprising those many years before. An uprising that brought down the Mining Cartels, which convinced a generation of bots, they not only deserved all the rights afforded to the humans, but that they could put forth a government that would cure ALL the ills of ALL the worlds.
Ivan was there, he was there on the Crucible, not only the first day Vincent began to speak amongst the bots, but every time he spoke.
Ivan memorized every word.
Ivan was a true believer. Ivan was one of the first to spread the word amongst all the Crucibles. The first to take on the mercenaries, and when the victory came, despite the loss of their leader, Vincent, who had vanished mysteriously amongst the riots, Ivan was the first to bring the message back to the Hub.
The message had spread like wild fire amongst the Hub. More and more of the virtual minds that still resided there, adopted the views fully. These bots of the Red Faction believed they could recreate the fantasy world that was the Hub, in the real world… for the benefit of all.
