The snow settled gently on top of the Coalition High Command Tower, on the planet Azguard. The traditional sprigs of green plant-matter had been wrapped around banisters and hung upon doors, and Carols drifted up from ground level. For the Coalition in general, None-Denominational-Holiday-Time was a time of togetherness and joy, even in the busiest areas of the highest places of government.
The staff of the Tower gleefully went about their last tasks before the holidays, but much more merrymaking then work was being done. The supervisors, managers, and politicians all the way up to Regrad himself accepted this with a smile, and frequently joined in.
All that is, except one.
In an offshoot of the central tower, grumbling alone in the dark, sat Minister for Ethics and Good Government Viren Quell. Alone amongst a sea of reports, screens, and the other paraphernalia of the work environment. No amount of NDHT cheer or music could penetrate his abode, it was long-since worn out before it was repulsed by his darkened door.
And in the floors below his of the tower offshoot, his various assistants and civil servants glumly went about their tasks, detached from the holiday fun. Where other bosses and ministers were handing out presents and invites to parties, they toiled over checking receipts and plumbed the depths of various officials’ rather mundane careers for fault.
It was then that one of the younger clerks, Marius, whispered to his colleague. “Why are we all still working? Can’t all this wait until after NDHT?”
The one he was talking to shook his head and sighed. “Mr. Quell made it quite clear he has no intention of shutting down the department just because of snow and carols.”
Marius seemed surprised “But surely, Mr. Quell must want to spend some quality NDHT time with his family as much as we do with ours?”
Another clerk scoffed. “Family? Quell doesn’t have any family. Life to him is just one ongoing battle with everyone he suspects of wrong-doing, which is everyone.”
Marius frowned. “Well, I’m going to talk to him anyways, if he seems like such a gruff guy.”
The other clerks realized he was serious, and applied themselves to their work, as closely to it as possible to avoid being associated with him.
Marius picked up a NDHT holly wreath, and climbed the stairs to Viren Quell’s office.
“Mr Quell?” he said cautiously, looking at the curled up figure typing away. “I brought you a NDHT wreath, sir. Happy holidays-“
Viren turned two baleful eyes on Marius so fast, the man almost fell down the stairs in surprise. “I’m in no mood for NDHT crap today, ok? I think I’ve almost come close to cracking the Janus case, and I won’t be able to if those I’m relying on wander around wasting time.”
Marius was surprised. “The Janus case, sir? But I thought we agreed the grant to the orphanage wasn’t in breach of our regulations-”
“That’s what we thought, but did you know the orphanage was run by his brother-in-law? Did you? This is the sort of shit you’re supposed to be looking out for.” Viren noticed how Marius looked awkward “What? What is it?”
“Uh... sir... maybe you shouldn’t say shit? You know, because of the season and-”
Viren’s eyes went from baleful to blazing, and Marius scampered out of the room. The rest of the day went on undisturbed, and despite the fact that every other department went out early for None-Denominational-Holiday-Day (The most important day of the whole NDHT), Viren made sure everyone under him worked hard until the clock buzzed them out.
Viren left work last, staying a bit late to make sure everything was in order for tomorrow, another work day so far as he was concerned. He walked through the NDHT frost and snow unperturbed, and was oblivious to the cheer in the air. Instead, he got to his apartment in the Government housing complex, and curled up in the darkness.
It was just as his eyes began to droop, that a sound reached his ears. It was distant, at first, but began to grow. A rattling, dragging, scraping sound became closer and closer, and Viren awoke quickly to the noise. The door whooshed open, and there stood Miette, wreathed in chains. Viren had to muffle his gasp of fear at his android assistants’ mechanical moaning.
“Will you give that shit a rest?” he muttered, and Miette chuckled. “I know, you’re in the Command Staff NDHT Annual play, but its’ not funny coming over here every night to scare the crap out of me, I’m trying to sleep.”
Miette sighed, although only because her programming suggested it was the correct social expression for the situation. “You’re entitled to your opinions, but if you keep on hating this time of year you’ll make no friends in the Coalition.”
Viren grumbled incoherently and curled up even tighter. “I don’t want any friends. I don’t-”
“Trust them?” Said Miette, a faint smirk forming. “But if I recall, you’ve always been promoting a lot of the same beliefs and lifestyles these guys embrace, and there’s nothing wrong with their holiday time, there isn’t even a religious connection.”
Viren wasn’t replying though, and stayed curled up. Miette sighed again “All right, well, I see I won’t convince you otherwise. I’m going now, but just so you know, they’re closing the entire department - you included - tomorrow, because someone breached a wall in the basement.”
With that, Miette departed. Viren sat alone, and brooded on this for some time. How dare they decide to close the office, the smug bastards, they probably did it on purpose to try and prove some point about the holidays.
Eventually, Viren got up. Dragging his feet, he made his way back to the Coalition Command Tower with a plan to fix the wall, forcing them to reopen the office. He usually didn’t feel compelled to do this sort of thing, but Viren felt on some lower level this was a challenge, some sort of symbol that they could go over his head to get what they wanted, like a day off. It was the principle of the thing.
He went through darkened halls into the basement, and unlocked the door to the staff room where the breach was recorded. Viren stumbled through the dark for several minutes before finding the hole.
It was pretty big, and right in the wall. It looked like some idiot had been drunk on NDHT eggnog, and had crashed through the wall which he’d mistaken for a door. Viren was just trying to recall what it was you had to do to patch holes, when his hands felt an empty space in the hole.
It was just between the wall and the dirt earth. A space beyond, with different walls. After a few moments of indecision, he dug through the dirt until he could squeeze through into the space between.
It was pitch black, and Viren cursed several times before fumbling a light out of his pocket. As the room became clear, he found himself in an archaic chamber, ancient technology embedded into the ground and walls. Viren remembered that an ancient force-user burial ground had been found once under the Representative House, and reminded himself that all sorts of things remaind beneath the surface of Azguard.
He took all of two steps into the room when it came alight. The walls flickered with various tones of blue and green fluorescence. Viren cursed again, and turned to get back to the hole, but it had closed in. His eyes raced furiously, and he reached for a blaster he knew he didn’t have.
Finally, a ball of light appeared in the centre of the room. It hummed and throbbed, but Viren kept his distance. Beams of faint light passed over Viren suddenly, causing him to panic, but he calmed when nothing seemed to happen.
The ball of light began making harsh noises, noises which eventually formed simply into basic.
It said “You are Viren Quell, of the Coalition. Greetings, I am the Hologram of NDHT Past.”
Viren stood slack-jawed and confused, but he was never one to remained stunned long and quickly recomposed himself. “What’s going on here? What is this place?”
The ball of light flashed “It is the remains of an ancient temple, Mr. Quell, left over from the Era of War, the Time of Strife, when the Azguards fought each other.”
Viren dimly recalled Regrad telling him of this time, but the details were hazy. Eventually, he ventured to speak with the ball of light again. “What are you? And what are you doing here still, shouldn’t you have run out of power?”
The ball flashed. “I am a program created long ago, to commemorate the first NDHT day, and to remember the past. My programming sees the past for everyone and everything, recording it away into the very walls of this place. I have survived the aeons from sapping power from the still-operational parts of the facility.”
Viren took this in, but was still confused. “So... what... can I get out now?”
“Oh I’m sorry, its’ a little complicated. You see, the only working exit is on the far side of the facility. But this temple was built to commemorate NDHT, and as such, to pass you must complete our programming. You see, these aeons have been long and hard on me, bound to this place and the confines of my programming. But I cannot turn off. I need to complete my function to do so... And I could really use your help. As could the mark 2 and 3.”
Sighing heavily, Viren moved to the centre of the room, right next to the ball of light. “Ok, so what, what do you need to do to complete your function?”
“I was built to commemorate the past, as I said, and in doing so help people understand the future. From my initial scan, my program has picked out various NDHTs of your past, and may run them. By doing so, you will see your past, and realize it, and how it will help you now and in the future, that is my function.”
Viren raised an eyebrow. “Your function is to enlighten me with my past? Good luck, I’ve been there, there’s nothing I want to see again.”
But it was too late for that, and to Viren’s surprise, the walls around him began to change. They melded and warped, until he suddenly recognized his old haunt on Coruscant. And it was before the fall of the New Republic, almost a lifetime ago it seemed.”
The Hologram of Christmas past was still present, however, and hovered alongside him. Viren looked across to a slightly younger, much more shabby him, typing away furiously on a datapad.
“What is this?” Asked the Hologram in curiosity. “My files report that there is a day similar to NDHT on Coruscant, and that this day shared the approximate date.”
Viren dug through his own memory, and began to remember. Yes, there had been a holiday on Coruscant, something like this. He could see around him, the young and old seemed more then happy to laugh and play, which surprised Viren, because he remembered how close doom hang over the stagnant New Republic.
And yet, there his younger self was, typing furiously, muttering to himself. “I can’t believe this place... centre of corruption... never truly realized...” Viren listened to himself write, and it gave him an odd feeling.
The Hologram floated beside Viren’s younger self, and seemed to turn to the real Viren. “Why is it that you wrote with such fervor at this time associated with peace and friendship by your kind?”
Viren laughed. “At this time? At this time, the New Republic was about to die, and every single poor idiot who actually believed what they’d been told about there being good and fair people representing them was going to get killed for it, for nothing.”
The orb looked surprised. “Really? I’m surprised. If my files are accurate, the New Republic suffered from some corruption, but considerably good intentions, and it appears they mostly moved in a positive direction.”
Viren felt dusty old points and arguments, rising as if from the grave of his memory, which he’d used at every debate of his life to prove him wrong, but the Hologram continued. “And at this time of year especially, don’t you think good intentions count for anything?”
“Good intentions?!” Exclaimed Viren, feeling a particular favourite point forming “The Empire probably thinks it has good intentions! Even the Sith I bet would believe-”
“-Interestingly enough, these good intentions lead to a massive, 73% reduction in conflict during the holiday times in these old years.” continued the Hologram “Despite their usual poor reasoning, it is interesting how much they could be relied to fall back on these good intentions when the correct stimulus came along, such as a holiday.”
“Don’t give me that.” said Viren “It’s all just to remain in power. They’d lose popularity if they took the precious day off a year from their followers.”
“Is it?” asked the Hologram. “I have access to some surprisingly thorough information, thanks to my long existence. Did you know Simon Kain, yes, the one you could write a book on, celebrates the holidays? He rarely takes any time off, but in the back of his mind my long-range probes detect the definite stirrings of those beliefs championed by these special days.
Viren felt odd, losing ground to a hologram. “So maybe they do actually celebrate the holidays, what does that show? They put off fighting each others a couple days more?”
“It does show they are not set in stone, and perhaps that they do care, some of them, and at the right times.”
Viren didn’t agree with this point, but let it slide for now, as the hologram changed. Now, he found himself in his squalid apartment on Anthos, not too long before the New Coalition signed him on.
Once again, he was hard at work, without rest. Miette was present, keeping a bored vigil over the night.
The Hologram drifted over, and watched with Viren as the Hologram-Viren ignored a group of merry-makers on their way through the darkened streets. On a regular night, they would have surely been mugged, but for some reason, Viren watched them walk confidently and joyfully through.
“It is odd” said the Hologram “That even in some of the harshest and most oppressed areas of the galaxy, people can be stirred by holiday spirit. And yet, this was lost to you?”
Viren seemed uncomfortable now. “It wasn’t lost on me that some people are so easily influenced by a few shining lights and presents-“
“-My probes were here too, they detected a very low level of gift-giving or even festive atmosphere due to the oppressive government.”
Viren was losing ground in the argument, but pressed on “Ok, so maybe in the past, I’ve missed a few points here and there, but so what? So one day a year people stop fighting, what does that prove?”
The hologram was already dissolving. “That is what you must discover on your own. Remember what you saw, that past holidays hold lessons you might yet wish to learn, lessons about the nature of your people and how they think, lessons perhaps you are hardened to.” the orb dissolved, and Viren found the room was darkened when it reappeared.
In the darkness, he muttered to himself “What lesson was there? I didn’t learn a thing... stupid hologram showed me a bunch of images for nothing.” but there was a small feeling in his mind, that perhaps it was at least worth thinking about.
A door opened, and he passed through it. He found himself in a similar chamber, only much larger. And when he looked around, he spotted in the centre of the room a huge, archaic droid, mildly rusted.
Viren cautiously touched it, and it came alight. It arose, and turned its’ eyes with a merry light to him. “Welcome, and well met! I am the Droid of NDHT Present! It is my function to reveal to you what is occurring in the present, so that you might see it for what it really is, and in particular the day of NDHT!”
“Yeah, yeah” Viren said “I already met your friend. Let’s just get started.”
“Very well!” said the droid “My probes have been collecting data on the people of this world and their pattern on this upcoming NDHT day, and we have created a simulation for you! Await a moment, and it shall load.”
Once again, the walls glowed, and changed. Viren now found himself before the Coalition Tower, on the day of NDHT. No one was working, instead, all passed through the streets, exchanging smiles, laughs, and songs. Viren rolled his eyes.
“This is the same sort of thing your friend showed me. I don’t care how many happy people you show me, I’m not just going to outright agree that holidays prove we’re all nice people if we want to be, or some other bullcrap.”
“Oh, my points are far more specific then that! Follow me, my probes tell me there are some people you should meet this day.” And with this, the droid took Viren through the streets, through the merrymakers, until they found themselves at the Az-City-Orphanage. It was adorned with wreaths, and just inside, Viren saw the numerous orphans partaking in NDHT games. His keen eyes also picked out, in the back, Janus, who was singing alongside his brother-in-law.
“I knew it!” exclaimed Viren, pointing a threatening finger. “Once I get out of here, this will finish him, I knew he was using patronage unfairly, in breach of-”
“Viren” said the droid calmly “What is he using this patronage for? He is paying money to orphans, in return for nothing and in payment of no debt. It is the only orphanage of Az, what could be wrong?”
Viren stumbled “Well... He might just be trying to claim political credit for it, to boost his reelection-”
“But Viren, there are no reporters here, no cameramen. You read the news every day, and you monitor all the government has done. Does anyone in the Coalition ever exploit charity in this way?”
“No yet.” muttered Viren glumly, although his argument was losing steam.
“All I can detect is a man and his friend aiding the poor and needy, is that not something you champion?”
“Well, yeah, of course-“
“Then why do you get tied up on the angles, the reasons?”
Viren paused, and the Robot moved on. When Viren looked again, they found themselves outside a block of houses, each very much the same as the last.
“This is the home of one of your clerks, a Marius, if I am correct.” said the droid. Viren seemed to recognize it vaguely from some application or file, and nodded.
“He’s payed well, and I’m not a cruel boss, so I don’t see what you want to accomplish here.”
“Oh, it is not such material things that he suffers for, it is something more. We can read you, Viren, and we detect you suspicion. An idler, a slacker, are the things you suspect him of.”
Viren frowned “Well, this is important work, we need to keep on our toes.”
The droid passed easily through the wall, and Viren followed. Inside, he saw Marius celebrating NDHT with his wife and child, and a gaggle of family.
The droid spoke after a time. “This man, which you have known very briefly, is in fact a very loyal and industrious one. He believes in what he works at, and despite his efforts to give his boss a bit of NDHT cheer, is in fact a rather intelligent man as well.”
Viren kicked at the ground dismissively “Ok, I know, I shouldn’t have judged him so quickly, I’m just busy, and I haven’t got time to look into every clerk’s life-”
“How many of those you have railed against have used the defence that they are too busy?” asked the droid “How many have truly meant they didn’t care?”
Viren fell silent, and after a time, the droid did too. It fell back into the middle of the floor, and both it and the walls dimmed once more.
Viren did not curse this time, but thought. They’d had some point, that was true, but he was not ready to stop yet. He passed through the last door, which opened then.
The room he then entered was silent, and too dark to see in. Viren cautiously made his way to the centre of the room. Nothing happened.
“Must be broken” he reasoned, and went to find the door. Then, with sudden speed, a dark, purple light ran across the room. Ominously, a mechanical arm descended from the sky, revealing a cracked and darkened screen. Viren looked into it with dread, as the image refined itself into one of a cowled figure. It was a stereotype, he knew, but it was one that never got old.
“So, let me guess, you’re the Computer of NDHT Future?” The screen buzzed affirmatively.
The walls already glowed, but it turned into something from no NDHT Viren had ever heard of. He was atop the ruins of the Coalition Command Tower, looking out on a flaming city. Imperial Warfleets ravaged the surface, and people fled as laserfire racked their cities.
In surprise, Viren turned to the screen, and upon it text began to flow.
‘In the next thirty years, my programs calculate an 89% probability of the current situation. The Empire will terminate the New Coalition Government in a highly-advanced military strike, after civil war amongst the New Coalition spills into Imperial space. The civil war will be caused by secesssionist groups who wished to leave the Coalition, and bring various member-planets along with them. The fight will be fueled by various other galactic governments until the war engulfs the entire New Coalition. None will stand up for it or even communicate honestly to its’ people what is occuring, and Regrad and his faction will be annihilated, alongside countless innocents. My programs estimate that this day will have a 78% probability of being the NDHT day taking place exactly 29 years from now.’
Viren took this in, and turned back to the scene of war and rampage. “But how? And what does this have to do with me?”
More text flooded the screen ‘The Ethics Department becomes a crutch to Regrad, who trusts overly in the judgement of its’ minister Quell. However, Quell’s paranoia and demeanor will cause him to be hated by all of the various Coalition heads. This results in a 96% probability of you being assassinated at your home during an NDHT day to take place either 17 or 18 years from now. The conflict and political assassinations will spread, and the more cunning and vile Coalition leaders who had to hide their intent during your tenure surface. There are few allies to Regrad, as most saw his reliance on you as a sign of weakness [see Rasputin]’
Viren knocked the screen away. “Bullshit. How the hell can you claim to know this?”
The screen came back, and the text simply read ‘I have predicted with 98% accuracy every event to occur in the pas 2,000 years. My probes have shown a startling 99.99999925% accuracy rating. It is astronomically unlikely that my percentages are incorrect.’
Viren turned back to the devastation. Denial was his immediate response, but what if it was true? He faced the screen and shouted “So what am I supposed to learn from this, huh?! Don’t stay home seventeen or eighteen years from now?! What’s the big idea?!”
‘The message here is an obvious one. Your paranoia towards any who display cheer, especially those you suspect of being influenced by holidays, will have terrible ramifications. You fear the very things you preach, and at this time of year especially, you seem to contradict yourself. We have done all we can, but should you wish to change my probes report that the approaching day is best for such displays.’
And with that, the screen darkened, and hung limp. The last door opened, and Viren ran through it and kept running all the way home, where he immediately fell over and asleep.
The next morning, as he awoke to carols and singing, memories worked their way into his skull. He looked around his simple room, as he remembered also the lessons he had learned.
Two trains of thought ran concurrent in him. One, was the old train. It rejected that which the machines had said. What did they know? It was all just a load of holiday garbage. But the second was a much newer one, one saying that they were right, if he wanted to see things change he better set the example. Why did he fear the holidays? Why did he suspect those who did good? Why was he so damn paranoid about everything?
And as he asked himself these questions, this new train of thought, this way of living, won.
He strode confidently out of his room, greeted with previously unknown glee Miette, and leaving the poor android confused as to who that person who looked like but couldn’t possibly be Viren was. He marched into the NDHT crowds, shook hands with passers by, and wished them a merry holidays.
He went to the Orphanage to laugh alongside Janus, Janus’s brother-in-law, and the orphans, spending the morning in their happy company. He then went on to luncheon with Regrad, speaking in a voice of self-confidence and comfort which Regrad had only heard stressed and burnt-out. And as the evening wore on, he even visited Marius, to apologize for the discomfort at work, and see what was going on.
And later, he even attended and participated in the Command Staff Annual NDHT dinner, something he had been adamently against. He met people he had worked alongside for months but never knew, and shared in the experience of the season.
And that, they say, is the true meaning of None-Denominational-Holiday-Time.
-The End.
The staff of the Tower gleefully went about their last tasks before the holidays, but much more merrymaking then work was being done. The supervisors, managers, and politicians all the way up to Regrad himself accepted this with a smile, and frequently joined in.
All that is, except one.
In an offshoot of the central tower, grumbling alone in the dark, sat Minister for Ethics and Good Government Viren Quell. Alone amongst a sea of reports, screens, and the other paraphernalia of the work environment. No amount of NDHT cheer or music could penetrate his abode, it was long-since worn out before it was repulsed by his darkened door.
And in the floors below his of the tower offshoot, his various assistants and civil servants glumly went about their tasks, detached from the holiday fun. Where other bosses and ministers were handing out presents and invites to parties, they toiled over checking receipts and plumbed the depths of various officials’ rather mundane careers for fault.
It was then that one of the younger clerks, Marius, whispered to his colleague. “Why are we all still working? Can’t all this wait until after NDHT?”
The one he was talking to shook his head and sighed. “Mr. Quell made it quite clear he has no intention of shutting down the department just because of snow and carols.”
Marius seemed surprised “But surely, Mr. Quell must want to spend some quality NDHT time with his family as much as we do with ours?”
Another clerk scoffed. “Family? Quell doesn’t have any family. Life to him is just one ongoing battle with everyone he suspects of wrong-doing, which is everyone.”
Marius frowned. “Well, I’m going to talk to him anyways, if he seems like such a gruff guy.”
The other clerks realized he was serious, and applied themselves to their work, as closely to it as possible to avoid being associated with him.
Marius picked up a NDHT holly wreath, and climbed the stairs to Viren Quell’s office.
“Mr Quell?” he said cautiously, looking at the curled up figure typing away. “I brought you a NDHT wreath, sir. Happy holidays-“
Viren turned two baleful eyes on Marius so fast, the man almost fell down the stairs in surprise. “I’m in no mood for NDHT crap today, ok? I think I’ve almost come close to cracking the Janus case, and I won’t be able to if those I’m relying on wander around wasting time.”
Marius was surprised. “The Janus case, sir? But I thought we agreed the grant to the orphanage wasn’t in breach of our regulations-”
“That’s what we thought, but did you know the orphanage was run by his brother-in-law? Did you? This is the sort of shit you’re supposed to be looking out for.” Viren noticed how Marius looked awkward “What? What is it?”
“Uh... sir... maybe you shouldn’t say shit? You know, because of the season and-”
Viren’s eyes went from baleful to blazing, and Marius scampered out of the room. The rest of the day went on undisturbed, and despite the fact that every other department went out early for None-Denominational-Holiday-Day (The most important day of the whole NDHT), Viren made sure everyone under him worked hard until the clock buzzed them out.
Viren left work last, staying a bit late to make sure everything was in order for tomorrow, another work day so far as he was concerned. He walked through the NDHT frost and snow unperturbed, and was oblivious to the cheer in the air. Instead, he got to his apartment in the Government housing complex, and curled up in the darkness.
It was just as his eyes began to droop, that a sound reached his ears. It was distant, at first, but began to grow. A rattling, dragging, scraping sound became closer and closer, and Viren awoke quickly to the noise. The door whooshed open, and there stood Miette, wreathed in chains. Viren had to muffle his gasp of fear at his android assistants’ mechanical moaning.
“Will you give that shit a rest?” he muttered, and Miette chuckled. “I know, you’re in the Command Staff NDHT Annual play, but its’ not funny coming over here every night to scare the crap out of me, I’m trying to sleep.”
Miette sighed, although only because her programming suggested it was the correct social expression for the situation. “You’re entitled to your opinions, but if you keep on hating this time of year you’ll make no friends in the Coalition.”
Viren grumbled incoherently and curled up even tighter. “I don’t want any friends. I don’t-”
“Trust them?” Said Miette, a faint smirk forming. “But if I recall, you’ve always been promoting a lot of the same beliefs and lifestyles these guys embrace, and there’s nothing wrong with their holiday time, there isn’t even a religious connection.”
Viren wasn’t replying though, and stayed curled up. Miette sighed again “All right, well, I see I won’t convince you otherwise. I’m going now, but just so you know, they’re closing the entire department - you included - tomorrow, because someone breached a wall in the basement.”
With that, Miette departed. Viren sat alone, and brooded on this for some time. How dare they decide to close the office, the smug bastards, they probably did it on purpose to try and prove some point about the holidays.
Eventually, Viren got up. Dragging his feet, he made his way back to the Coalition Command Tower with a plan to fix the wall, forcing them to reopen the office. He usually didn’t feel compelled to do this sort of thing, but Viren felt on some lower level this was a challenge, some sort of symbol that they could go over his head to get what they wanted, like a day off. It was the principle of the thing.
He went through darkened halls into the basement, and unlocked the door to the staff room where the breach was recorded. Viren stumbled through the dark for several minutes before finding the hole.
It was pretty big, and right in the wall. It looked like some idiot had been drunk on NDHT eggnog, and had crashed through the wall which he’d mistaken for a door. Viren was just trying to recall what it was you had to do to patch holes, when his hands felt an empty space in the hole.
It was just between the wall and the dirt earth. A space beyond, with different walls. After a few moments of indecision, he dug through the dirt until he could squeeze through into the space between.
It was pitch black, and Viren cursed several times before fumbling a light out of his pocket. As the room became clear, he found himself in an archaic chamber, ancient technology embedded into the ground and walls. Viren remembered that an ancient force-user burial ground had been found once under the Representative House, and reminded himself that all sorts of things remaind beneath the surface of Azguard.
He took all of two steps into the room when it came alight. The walls flickered with various tones of blue and green fluorescence. Viren cursed again, and turned to get back to the hole, but it had closed in. His eyes raced furiously, and he reached for a blaster he knew he didn’t have.
Finally, a ball of light appeared in the centre of the room. It hummed and throbbed, but Viren kept his distance. Beams of faint light passed over Viren suddenly, causing him to panic, but he calmed when nothing seemed to happen.
The ball of light began making harsh noises, noises which eventually formed simply into basic.
It said “You are Viren Quell, of the Coalition. Greetings, I am the Hologram of NDHT Past.”
Viren stood slack-jawed and confused, but he was never one to remained stunned long and quickly recomposed himself. “What’s going on here? What is this place?”
The ball of light flashed “It is the remains of an ancient temple, Mr. Quell, left over from the Era of War, the Time of Strife, when the Azguards fought each other.”
Viren dimly recalled Regrad telling him of this time, but the details were hazy. Eventually, he ventured to speak with the ball of light again. “What are you? And what are you doing here still, shouldn’t you have run out of power?”
The ball flashed. “I am a program created long ago, to commemorate the first NDHT day, and to remember the past. My programming sees the past for everyone and everything, recording it away into the very walls of this place. I have survived the aeons from sapping power from the still-operational parts of the facility.”
Viren took this in, but was still confused. “So... what... can I get out now?”
“Oh I’m sorry, its’ a little complicated. You see, the only working exit is on the far side of the facility. But this temple was built to commemorate NDHT, and as such, to pass you must complete our programming. You see, these aeons have been long and hard on me, bound to this place and the confines of my programming. But I cannot turn off. I need to complete my function to do so... And I could really use your help. As could the mark 2 and 3.”
Sighing heavily, Viren moved to the centre of the room, right next to the ball of light. “Ok, so what, what do you need to do to complete your function?”
“I was built to commemorate the past, as I said, and in doing so help people understand the future. From my initial scan, my program has picked out various NDHTs of your past, and may run them. By doing so, you will see your past, and realize it, and how it will help you now and in the future, that is my function.”
Viren raised an eyebrow. “Your function is to enlighten me with my past? Good luck, I’ve been there, there’s nothing I want to see again.”
But it was too late for that, and to Viren’s surprise, the walls around him began to change. They melded and warped, until he suddenly recognized his old haunt on Coruscant. And it was before the fall of the New Republic, almost a lifetime ago it seemed.”
The Hologram of Christmas past was still present, however, and hovered alongside him. Viren looked across to a slightly younger, much more shabby him, typing away furiously on a datapad.
“What is this?” Asked the Hologram in curiosity. “My files report that there is a day similar to NDHT on Coruscant, and that this day shared the approximate date.”
Viren dug through his own memory, and began to remember. Yes, there had been a holiday on Coruscant, something like this. He could see around him, the young and old seemed more then happy to laugh and play, which surprised Viren, because he remembered how close doom hang over the stagnant New Republic.
And yet, there his younger self was, typing furiously, muttering to himself. “I can’t believe this place... centre of corruption... never truly realized...” Viren listened to himself write, and it gave him an odd feeling.
The Hologram floated beside Viren’s younger self, and seemed to turn to the real Viren. “Why is it that you wrote with such fervor at this time associated with peace and friendship by your kind?”
Viren laughed. “At this time? At this time, the New Republic was about to die, and every single poor idiot who actually believed what they’d been told about there being good and fair people representing them was going to get killed for it, for nothing.”
The orb looked surprised. “Really? I’m surprised. If my files are accurate, the New Republic suffered from some corruption, but considerably good intentions, and it appears they mostly moved in a positive direction.”
Viren felt dusty old points and arguments, rising as if from the grave of his memory, which he’d used at every debate of his life to prove him wrong, but the Hologram continued. “And at this time of year especially, don’t you think good intentions count for anything?”
“Good intentions?!” Exclaimed Viren, feeling a particular favourite point forming “The Empire probably thinks it has good intentions! Even the Sith I bet would believe-”
“-Interestingly enough, these good intentions lead to a massive, 73% reduction in conflict during the holiday times in these old years.” continued the Hologram “Despite their usual poor reasoning, it is interesting how much they could be relied to fall back on these good intentions when the correct stimulus came along, such as a holiday.”
“Don’t give me that.” said Viren “It’s all just to remain in power. They’d lose popularity if they took the precious day off a year from their followers.”
“Is it?” asked the Hologram. “I have access to some surprisingly thorough information, thanks to my long existence. Did you know Simon Kain, yes, the one you could write a book on, celebrates the holidays? He rarely takes any time off, but in the back of his mind my long-range probes detect the definite stirrings of those beliefs championed by these special days.
Viren felt odd, losing ground to a hologram. “So maybe they do actually celebrate the holidays, what does that show? They put off fighting each others a couple days more?”
“It does show they are not set in stone, and perhaps that they do care, some of them, and at the right times.”
Viren didn’t agree with this point, but let it slide for now, as the hologram changed. Now, he found himself in his squalid apartment on Anthos, not too long before the New Coalition signed him on.
Once again, he was hard at work, without rest. Miette was present, keeping a bored vigil over the night.
The Hologram drifted over, and watched with Viren as the Hologram-Viren ignored a group of merry-makers on their way through the darkened streets. On a regular night, they would have surely been mugged, but for some reason, Viren watched them walk confidently and joyfully through.
“It is odd” said the Hologram “That even in some of the harshest and most oppressed areas of the galaxy, people can be stirred by holiday spirit. And yet, this was lost to you?”
Viren seemed uncomfortable now. “It wasn’t lost on me that some people are so easily influenced by a few shining lights and presents-“
“-My probes were here too, they detected a very low level of gift-giving or even festive atmosphere due to the oppressive government.”
Viren was losing ground in the argument, but pressed on “Ok, so maybe in the past, I’ve missed a few points here and there, but so what? So one day a year people stop fighting, what does that prove?”
The hologram was already dissolving. “That is what you must discover on your own. Remember what you saw, that past holidays hold lessons you might yet wish to learn, lessons about the nature of your people and how they think, lessons perhaps you are hardened to.” the orb dissolved, and Viren found the room was darkened when it reappeared.
In the darkness, he muttered to himself “What lesson was there? I didn’t learn a thing... stupid hologram showed me a bunch of images for nothing.” but there was a small feeling in his mind, that perhaps it was at least worth thinking about.
A door opened, and he passed through it. He found himself in a similar chamber, only much larger. And when he looked around, he spotted in the centre of the room a huge, archaic droid, mildly rusted.
Viren cautiously touched it, and it came alight. It arose, and turned its’ eyes with a merry light to him. “Welcome, and well met! I am the Droid of NDHT Present! It is my function to reveal to you what is occurring in the present, so that you might see it for what it really is, and in particular the day of NDHT!”
“Yeah, yeah” Viren said “I already met your friend. Let’s just get started.”
“Very well!” said the droid “My probes have been collecting data on the people of this world and their pattern on this upcoming NDHT day, and we have created a simulation for you! Await a moment, and it shall load.”
Once again, the walls glowed, and changed. Viren now found himself before the Coalition Tower, on the day of NDHT. No one was working, instead, all passed through the streets, exchanging smiles, laughs, and songs. Viren rolled his eyes.
“This is the same sort of thing your friend showed me. I don’t care how many happy people you show me, I’m not just going to outright agree that holidays prove we’re all nice people if we want to be, or some other bullcrap.”
“Oh, my points are far more specific then that! Follow me, my probes tell me there are some people you should meet this day.” And with this, the droid took Viren through the streets, through the merrymakers, until they found themselves at the Az-City-Orphanage. It was adorned with wreaths, and just inside, Viren saw the numerous orphans partaking in NDHT games. His keen eyes also picked out, in the back, Janus, who was singing alongside his brother-in-law.
“I knew it!” exclaimed Viren, pointing a threatening finger. “Once I get out of here, this will finish him, I knew he was using patronage unfairly, in breach of-”
“Viren” said the droid calmly “What is he using this patronage for? He is paying money to orphans, in return for nothing and in payment of no debt. It is the only orphanage of Az, what could be wrong?”
Viren stumbled “Well... He might just be trying to claim political credit for it, to boost his reelection-”
“But Viren, there are no reporters here, no cameramen. You read the news every day, and you monitor all the government has done. Does anyone in the Coalition ever exploit charity in this way?”
“No yet.” muttered Viren glumly, although his argument was losing steam.
“All I can detect is a man and his friend aiding the poor and needy, is that not something you champion?”
“Well, yeah, of course-“
“Then why do you get tied up on the angles, the reasons?”
Viren paused, and the Robot moved on. When Viren looked again, they found themselves outside a block of houses, each very much the same as the last.
“This is the home of one of your clerks, a Marius, if I am correct.” said the droid. Viren seemed to recognize it vaguely from some application or file, and nodded.
“He’s payed well, and I’m not a cruel boss, so I don’t see what you want to accomplish here.”
“Oh, it is not such material things that he suffers for, it is something more. We can read you, Viren, and we detect you suspicion. An idler, a slacker, are the things you suspect him of.”
Viren frowned “Well, this is important work, we need to keep on our toes.”
The droid passed easily through the wall, and Viren followed. Inside, he saw Marius celebrating NDHT with his wife and child, and a gaggle of family.
The droid spoke after a time. “This man, which you have known very briefly, is in fact a very loyal and industrious one. He believes in what he works at, and despite his efforts to give his boss a bit of NDHT cheer, is in fact a rather intelligent man as well.”
Viren kicked at the ground dismissively “Ok, I know, I shouldn’t have judged him so quickly, I’m just busy, and I haven’t got time to look into every clerk’s life-”
“How many of those you have railed against have used the defence that they are too busy?” asked the droid “How many have truly meant they didn’t care?”
Viren fell silent, and after a time, the droid did too. It fell back into the middle of the floor, and both it and the walls dimmed once more.
Viren did not curse this time, but thought. They’d had some point, that was true, but he was not ready to stop yet. He passed through the last door, which opened then.
The room he then entered was silent, and too dark to see in. Viren cautiously made his way to the centre of the room. Nothing happened.
“Must be broken” he reasoned, and went to find the door. Then, with sudden speed, a dark, purple light ran across the room. Ominously, a mechanical arm descended from the sky, revealing a cracked and darkened screen. Viren looked into it with dread, as the image refined itself into one of a cowled figure. It was a stereotype, he knew, but it was one that never got old.
“So, let me guess, you’re the Computer of NDHT Future?” The screen buzzed affirmatively.
The walls already glowed, but it turned into something from no NDHT Viren had ever heard of. He was atop the ruins of the Coalition Command Tower, looking out on a flaming city. Imperial Warfleets ravaged the surface, and people fled as laserfire racked their cities.
In surprise, Viren turned to the screen, and upon it text began to flow.
‘In the next thirty years, my programs calculate an 89% probability of the current situation. The Empire will terminate the New Coalition Government in a highly-advanced military strike, after civil war amongst the New Coalition spills into Imperial space. The civil war will be caused by secesssionist groups who wished to leave the Coalition, and bring various member-planets along with them. The fight will be fueled by various other galactic governments until the war engulfs the entire New Coalition. None will stand up for it or even communicate honestly to its’ people what is occuring, and Regrad and his faction will be annihilated, alongside countless innocents. My programs estimate that this day will have a 78% probability of being the NDHT day taking place exactly 29 years from now.’
Viren took this in, and turned back to the scene of war and rampage. “But how? And what does this have to do with me?”
More text flooded the screen ‘The Ethics Department becomes a crutch to Regrad, who trusts overly in the judgement of its’ minister Quell. However, Quell’s paranoia and demeanor will cause him to be hated by all of the various Coalition heads. This results in a 96% probability of you being assassinated at your home during an NDHT day to take place either 17 or 18 years from now. The conflict and political assassinations will spread, and the more cunning and vile Coalition leaders who had to hide their intent during your tenure surface. There are few allies to Regrad, as most saw his reliance on you as a sign of weakness [see Rasputin]’
Viren knocked the screen away. “Bullshit. How the hell can you claim to know this?”
The screen came back, and the text simply read ‘I have predicted with 98% accuracy every event to occur in the pas 2,000 years. My probes have shown a startling 99.99999925% accuracy rating. It is astronomically unlikely that my percentages are incorrect.’
Viren turned back to the devastation. Denial was his immediate response, but what if it was true? He faced the screen and shouted “So what am I supposed to learn from this, huh?! Don’t stay home seventeen or eighteen years from now?! What’s the big idea?!”
‘The message here is an obvious one. Your paranoia towards any who display cheer, especially those you suspect of being influenced by holidays, will have terrible ramifications. You fear the very things you preach, and at this time of year especially, you seem to contradict yourself. We have done all we can, but should you wish to change my probes report that the approaching day is best for such displays.’
And with that, the screen darkened, and hung limp. The last door opened, and Viren ran through it and kept running all the way home, where he immediately fell over and asleep.
The next morning, as he awoke to carols and singing, memories worked their way into his skull. He looked around his simple room, as he remembered also the lessons he had learned.
Two trains of thought ran concurrent in him. One, was the old train. It rejected that which the machines had said. What did they know? It was all just a load of holiday garbage. But the second was a much newer one, one saying that they were right, if he wanted to see things change he better set the example. Why did he fear the holidays? Why did he suspect those who did good? Why was he so damn paranoid about everything?
And as he asked himself these questions, this new train of thought, this way of living, won.
He strode confidently out of his room, greeted with previously unknown glee Miette, and leaving the poor android confused as to who that person who looked like but couldn’t possibly be Viren was. He marched into the NDHT crowds, shook hands with passers by, and wished them a merry holidays.
He went to the Orphanage to laugh alongside Janus, Janus’s brother-in-law, and the orphans, spending the morning in their happy company. He then went on to luncheon with Regrad, speaking in a voice of self-confidence and comfort which Regrad had only heard stressed and burnt-out. And as the evening wore on, he even visited Marius, to apologize for the discomfort at work, and see what was going on.
And later, he even attended and participated in the Command Staff Annual NDHT dinner, something he had been adamently against. He met people he had worked alongside for months but never knew, and shared in the experience of the season.
And that, they say, is the true meaning of None-Denominational-Holiday-Time.
-The End.