AN: This is a Hunger Games-AU, inspired by a post on the buckle-up meme (- it will end up being a Jim/Bones fic). Title may change.
Also my first fic and English isn't my first language; please review and feel free to point all mistakes... (Just no flames...)
Hope you like it!
I own nothing you recognize...
Prologue
Becoming Emperor has changed you - you've realized that revenge's not necessarily the same thing as destruction. Simple destruction is not what you need to keep the rest of your species, or what remains of the Federation, in line.
What you need is power, the power to control beings, to have them follow you even if they hate you.
Especially if they hate you.
The Narada can't control the minds of people. It can hurt them, kill them, make entire planets uninhabitable. It's a great power, but one you can't use too often - you'd decimate the population of your Empire beyond recognition.
This realization leads you to not using your technology directly. After your first year ruling, you don't have to. You now have a far better weapon at your disposal.
Fear.
Fear is the base of all your power. It's in the devotion you receive from most your trusted advisors and soldiers, in the respect of your allies. It's making your enemies hesitate, to afraid to gather in a unified resistance.
Fear is a great motivator and tool. You find something an individual truly fear and you influence their behavior.
In the most difficult group to manipulate are those who have no fear for their own safety. You have to find something - or more likely someone - to threaten in their stead. Parents, relatives, friends... it's hard to find people without relationships with children. That common weakness is easy for you to use.
That's why you created the Hunger Games; as a way to punish your enemies and as a tool to control those who might defy you in the future.
The Hunger Games teaches your subjects the consequences of opposing you.
The rules are simple: have the children of your enemies fight each other to the death without modern weapons. Just once every year, and just a few children at the time. Draw their names at random, or close to random, so that there's no predictable pattern in the choosings. Have the chosen children fight each other in an arena until there's only one survivor.
You realize that most people can't be controlled by fear alone, which is why you leave your enemies with some hope; maybe their child won't be one of the chosen, maybe their child will make it back alive.
You want your subjects to fear, but not to become desperate enough to start a rebellion. You want them to live, because their continued suffering satisfies you.
Becoming Emperor taught you that watching your enemies' despair is a far better revenge than simple destruction.