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Is this Justice?
Title: Is this Justice?
Fandom: Original Fiction - Lizards ‘verse
Series: Kat’s Therapy Journal - 6th Meros, 5434
Prompt: Whipping/Flogging
Medium: FIC
Rating: Gen
Word Count: 637
Summary: Ontferia Historical Record: 26th Brathos: 5434 While on a diplomatic mission to Regalia, Commandant Katrin Cam’ree and her party attended a military justice display arranged by the Regalian government as punishment for the perpetrators of a conspiracy to assassinate members of the conference.
Content Notes: No standard notes apply
6th Meros, 5434
Subject: Public Punishments
This latest trip to Regalia has left me quite upset. I’m still a bit shaken, and it has been four days since I came back. Chase said I needed to write this down because I’ve been waking him up with my nightmares. I’ve been shouting in my sleep again.
I suppose this stems from the fact that our military dropped extreme physical punishment centuries ago. Knowing that other planets, other military systems have different methods of keeping order is one thing, seeing it in action is quite another.
Our delegation was required to be present at this particular punishment because we were the aggrieved party. The people being punished were supposedly the ones that had planted the bomb in the quarters we had been assigned for the conference. I am of the opinion that the culprits were found far too quickly, but I have no say in the matter and speaking my opinion would just stir the already muddy waters. The peace on Regalia is tenuous, the situation could shift at any moment. As things turned for the worse, I sent most of our people home, keeping only a minimal security force for appearances sake, the less of our people in harm’s way, the better.
I digress. The punishment for their crime was a public flogging, to be followed by incarceration. I found the whole display to be degrading and humiliating, it turned my stomach.
There were six people involved in the plot, four men and two women. They were led into the yard where there was a post, to be whipped in turn by one of two men wielding the leather whip. They dragged the first man, literally dragged him, out to the post. After stripping off his shirt, the guard chained his arms over his head. He was sobbing and begging for mercy before the first strike even hit.
It was barbaric. To be lashed like that, until his back looked like bloody minced meat. I wanted to look away, but I could see the officials and delegates watching me, no doubt weighing my reactions the way everything I do on Regalia is weighed. I was in uniform, representing Ontferia, so I clenched my jaw and didn’t let them see me flinch.
In regards to uniforms, I am surprised that these prisoners uniforms were not taken from them before they were sent out for punishment. It was disturbing to me, seeing that blood on their colors. I question the why of this.
Thank the heavens Duck was there with me. He slipped his hand into mine, where no one could see in the press of the crowd. I’m sure his hand was numb from all the squeezing I did, tensing up with each strike of the lash.
I understand that there need to be punishments for crimes, I am not disputing that. What was as equally upsetting to me about this public display was the reaction of the people watching. I am so glad my empathics are still offline, because if I had been reading emotions from that crowd, I might have gone a little crazy. I didn’t need psionics to know that the men around me were excited by what they were seeing. They were eager to see the blood and pain. They leaned forward, their eyes wide, their breath coming fast, some of them sweating. And that disgusted me.
It makes me very glad that our military back on Feria changed over to incarceration and hard labor as the punishment for crime committed by military personnel. I could not witness that sort of brutality on a regular basis. I could certainly never order one of my men to beat another.
I don’t feel that justice has been served by these people being whipped almost to death for their alleged part in the conspiracy.
Fandom: Original Fiction - Lizards ‘verse
Series: Kat’s Therapy Journal - 6th Meros, 5434
Prompt: Whipping/Flogging
Medium: FIC
Rating: Gen
Word Count: 637
Summary: Ontferia Historical Record: 26th Brathos: 5434 While on a diplomatic mission to Regalia, Commandant Katrin Cam’ree and her party attended a military justice display arranged by the Regalian government as punishment for the perpetrators of a conspiracy to assassinate members of the conference.
Content Notes: No standard notes apply
6th Meros, 5434
Subject: Public Punishments
This latest trip to Regalia has left me quite upset. I’m still a bit shaken, and it has been four days since I came back. Chase said I needed to write this down because I’ve been waking him up with my nightmares. I’ve been shouting in my sleep again.
I suppose this stems from the fact that our military dropped extreme physical punishment centuries ago. Knowing that other planets, other military systems have different methods of keeping order is one thing, seeing it in action is quite another.
Our delegation was required to be present at this particular punishment because we were the aggrieved party. The people being punished were supposedly the ones that had planted the bomb in the quarters we had been assigned for the conference. I am of the opinion that the culprits were found far too quickly, but I have no say in the matter and speaking my opinion would just stir the already muddy waters. The peace on Regalia is tenuous, the situation could shift at any moment. As things turned for the worse, I sent most of our people home, keeping only a minimal security force for appearances sake, the less of our people in harm’s way, the better.
I digress. The punishment for their crime was a public flogging, to be followed by incarceration. I found the whole display to be degrading and humiliating, it turned my stomach.
There were six people involved in the plot, four men and two women. They were led into the yard where there was a post, to be whipped in turn by one of two men wielding the leather whip. They dragged the first man, literally dragged him, out to the post. After stripping off his shirt, the guard chained his arms over his head. He was sobbing and begging for mercy before the first strike even hit.
It was barbaric. To be lashed like that, until his back looked like bloody minced meat. I wanted to look away, but I could see the officials and delegates watching me, no doubt weighing my reactions the way everything I do on Regalia is weighed. I was in uniform, representing Ontferia, so I clenched my jaw and didn’t let them see me flinch.
In regards to uniforms, I am surprised that these prisoners uniforms were not taken from them before they were sent out for punishment. It was disturbing to me, seeing that blood on their colors. I question the why of this.
Thank the heavens Duck was there with me. He slipped his hand into mine, where no one could see in the press of the crowd. I’m sure his hand was numb from all the squeezing I did, tensing up with each strike of the lash.
I understand that there need to be punishments for crimes, I am not disputing that. What was as equally upsetting to me about this public display was the reaction of the people watching. I am so glad my empathics are still offline, because if I had been reading emotions from that crowd, I might have gone a little crazy. I didn’t need psionics to know that the men around me were excited by what they were seeing. They were eager to see the blood and pain. They leaned forward, their eyes wide, their breath coming fast, some of them sweating. And that disgusted me.
It makes me very glad that our military back on Feria changed over to incarceration and hard labor as the punishment for crime committed by military personnel. I could not witness that sort of brutality on a regular basis. I could certainly never order one of my men to beat another.
I don’t feel that justice has been served by these people being whipped almost to death for their alleged part in the conspiracy.