Disclaimer: I do not own Killzone or its related materials. The speech by Visari was not written by me either, it is here simply as a reference.
This oneshot was thought up on the spur of the moment. If you watch the Killzone intro movie closely (with Scolar Visari's big speech), you will see that when the three men are being executed, we never see the third man being shot. And the executioner seems to pause for a second…ever wonder if something like this could have happened?
Anyway. On with the story.
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The Traitor's Execution
By now, Scolar Visari was being treated to shouts of approval from all the Helghast soldiers assembled, in a manner very unlike a militarist nation as controlled and disciplined as Helghan. But no matter, he thought, let the soldiers have a little fun. And it certainly does my image no harm.
"…Our enemies at home have been re-educated!" he continued, a fanatical gleam in his eye and an insane grin on his face.
"We have given them…new insights…into our cause."
Not a very far distance away, five men were oblivious to Visari's speech. Three were kneeling on the dusty ground, their arms bound behind their backs. One of them wore the black-with-white-accents cap of a higher-ranking Helghast officer, and was giving orders to the fifth man, who wore no headgear but carried the standard issue IvP-18 Tropov combat machine pistol issued to all Helghast soldiers.
"I leave the rest to you, executioner," said the officer, nodding towards the man with the gun.
"Of course, Sergeant Metrac," replied the executioner, saluting his superior.
Sergeant Metrac returned the salute and stepped back a few paces.
The executioner drew his pistol and slipped a helical drum magazine into the magazine well underneath the barrel. He cocked the weapon and set it to single-shot mode.
He walked up to the kneeling man on his right, pointed the weapon at the prisoner's forehead, and without a second thought, pulled the trigger. The crack of the weapon echoed briefly, and the prisoner fell sideways, a hole in his head right between his eyes.
The executioner walked over to the second prisoner and shot him too.
And now only one prisoner remained kneeling on the floor, and for some reason the executioner did not dispose of him as casually as the other two. Instead he lowered his weapon, walked over to the sentinel-like Sergeant Metrac, and had a brief, whispered conversation. For while the other two had been executed for ineptitude in combat, the third man's crime was far greater.
"Of course, executioner," finished Metrac, stepping forwards to face the last remaining prisoner, who, in spite of being restrained and starved of food for five days, slowly raised his head and glared at Metrac and the executioner.
The latter was irritated, but not visibly. Damn the Helghan custom, he thought privately, the price for breaking our laws is death. So why treat this one any different?
Because of his crime, thought the other half of his mind.
The punishment for all crime is the same, yet the method of punishment is different depending on the crime…how strange, retorted the first half.
All is as Scolar Visari had decreed it, thought the second half. And to that the executioner could find no counter.
Indeed. Long live Scolar Visari.
And those words made their way out of the executioner's mouth before he realized he had spoken. "Long live Scolar Visari!"
Sergeant Metrac turned, his eyes showing a mixture of surprise and confusion…and above those, strong agreement.
"I admire your patriotism executioner…yet I doubt that this is the time," said Metrac slowly.
"Of course. Forgive me, Sergeant," apologized the executioner, bowing his head. Sergeant Metrac nodded, and then turned back to the condemned man.
"Elite Lukas Straatman, by the decree of the High Council of Helghan, you have been deemed guilty of the crime of high treason, and of consorting with our national enemies, the ISA," he began.
"This, as all assembled here know, is one of the most severe crimes, against the nation of Helghan and its principles, against its leader the great Scolar Visari, and against its people," continued the Sergeant.
"As a punishment fitting this most heinous crime, you have been sentenced to death, in a unanimous vote by the High Council. May the Great Deity have mercy upon you, for we will show you none. Executioner, do your duty," finished the Sergeant.
The executioner stepped forward yet again and raised his pistol to point at the condemned man's forehead.
"As appointed executioner of the High Council of Helghan, I now carry out the punishment you have been sentenced to. Does the condemned have any last words?" said the executioner.
"None," said the prisoner, his voice low.
"Then I deliver you to justice," said the executioner.
And his hand steadied, the barrel of the gun pointed at the prisoner's forehead, and he pulled the trigger. Elite Lukas Straatman jerked and was dead before he hit the floor.
The executioner engaged the safety on his pistol and holstered it.
"Come, executioner, we should be on our way. The invasion will begin soon," said Sergeant Metrac.
And the two of them walked away, towards the air force base, where Helghast ships were preparing for takeoff.
The three bodies of the executed prisoners lay still in the dirt.
Back in the Hall of Assembly, Scolar Visari was finishing his speech. The assembled soldiers were now very enthusiastic in their support, throwing away all discipline and shouting in approval at every word, some even firing rounds into the air as a show of agreement.
"On this day we shall act as one! And we shall be ignored no more!" shouted Visari, above the noise of the crowd.
As he said this, the first wave of ships was making its way into ISA space. The attack, the retribution, the uprising – had begun.
"Defenders of the Helghast dream…now is our time!" finished Visari, and the assembled soldiers went completely wild, firing their rifles and waving Helghast flags.
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Author's Notes:
-Sergeant Metrac is meant to be the same character as General Armin Metrac in Killzone Liberation (on PSP). No, I don't own him either.
-"Straatman" is a name that can be assigned to a bot player in Killzone multiplayer. Or maybe it was Straatham. I can't remember.