The General's black polished boots clicked across the cold concrete slabs of the prison. It had been decades since he had served as a frontline soldier but his strides still held the memory of those disciplined marches down bombed out streets. He carried his black leather in his hands behind him, and he scowled as his gaze fell across each cell he stopped. The doors were made of a thick cast iron and had only a little slot at the bottom for food to be pushed through. Inside was bare, with only a raised metal platform for the occupant to sleep on and a crude toilet which sloped downwards at an uncomfortable angle. "Truly a horrible place", the General thought, but everyone who resided within those cells deserved to be there.
The General followed a guard who stopped at one of the many cell doors. The guard went through a ring of keys, found the one he was looking for and inserted it into the lock of the door. It swung open with a groan and the General entered, looking down at the figure curled up on the bed. He turned to the guard and nodded, and hesitantly the guard closed the door behind him. A dim light flickered on in the cell and bathed the little room in a soft glow.
"Will you not speak to me?" said the General to the figure on the bed, "have you nothing to say?"
"Nothing to say to you." said the figure. He sat up, letting the light reveal his face. It was bruised and covered in scratches, and his rumpled grey jumpsuit was torn and stained with blood.
"By the gods what have they done to you?" gasped the General.
"Only things deserving of a traitor" said the man in a monotone voice.
The General opened his mouth for a moment, then hesitated. Finally he said;
"I just want to know why? Why did you do it? Why did you help those terrorists?"
"They are no terrorists," replied the traitor, "they are simply people fighting back against their enslavers."
The General scoffed.
"Enslavers? We came here to change their planet for the better. Did you know that before we arrived it was almost impossible for a woman to achieve any position of power? They constantly warred with their neighboring nation even though they shared the same genetic make up. There were thousands if not millions jobless and without homes. Their society was a walking corpse, collapsing in on itself."
"At least those who were old or sick could continue to live" said the traitor quietly, "how many homosexuals and transgender people were sent away to 'reeducation' camps because they did not 'contribute to society'? How many of those living here do we send away?".
The General voice came more hushed this time.
"What we did was for the betterment of our society. We were once like them, barely maintaining even the façade of a functioning planet, but now look at us."
The General stared off into space for a moment, basking in his nation's glory.
"We are peace bringers" he continued, "we civilize the savage, we bring light where there is darkness. Soon, all of the known galaxy will know our might, and our spirit. We are a nation of kings."
Now it was the traitors turn to scoff.
"We are a nation of slavers, of barbaric imperialists. We bring no more peace than a predator brings its prey. You have filled your head with nonsense and propaganda, and like a stubborn mule you refuse to look up and see reality."
The General said nothing, and the traitor stared blankly at the floor.
"You know they will execute you tomorrow?"
The traitor continued inspecting the floor.
"They will line you up against a wall and shoot you" said the General, becoming more agitated, "they will march you out to the courtyard and shoot you. You will die. But you can still save yourself. That's why I came here. If you give up the terrorists that you leaked the information to, they will release you. You can be free and all this madness will be over."
The traitor looked up at him, but said nothing.
"Please. They will kill you."
"It's what a traitor deserves," said the man quietly.
The General suddenly became angry.
"You know what? Fine. Die. For all I care you are dead to me already. You are a coward and a traitor to your nation. All that you tried to achieve will be for naught. I only wish you could live long enough to see how wrong you are."
The traitor looked down at the floor again. The General's patience was gone, and he turned around, rapping on the door. It took only a moment for the guard to open the door and he began to step out when the traitor spoke.
"So long, father."
The General pushed past the guard and left.