I knew Marshal Monke: A letter discovered after the end of the Selenian War of Independence

2500 AD. Planet: Selene. It’s been approximately 30 years since Marshal Monke’s ascend to power. 30 years… how quickly they have passed.


You asked me to write to you how I became a soldier of his, a story so you can tell your children and inspire them to be heroes as well.


I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was on the frontlines, fighting for the Rat General. The bombs were landing one by one around me, killing dozens of my comrades. I was in panic. I dropped my gun. I tried to grab it but couldn’t, something was preventing me. Maybe it was my subconsciousness, maybe just my fear, I don't know.


A bullet hit me, piercing through my body. My shoulder started bleeding. I fell down and my eyes were beginning to close. The cold, combined with what had just hit me, and the idea of my children and wife never being able to see me again, made me panic. I was fairly certain I would die.


As my eyes were closing, I saw him: A monkey approaching me.


I passed out and woke up in a bed. Surprisingly enough I was not tied or anything, but everything dangerous: sharp objects, anything made of glass, knives, pistols, etc had been removed from the room. The walls were metal, and there was only a table with nothing on it, and neither were there any windows.


I got up. My injury had been treated by someone, probably a nurse. I tried to open the door but it was locked.


Then, the same monkey unlocked the door and entered the room.


I can’t remember any details, but I do remember he wore a big golden crucifix around his neck. He is a devout Christian after all.


He brought me some food. Pasta with tomato sauce if i remember correctly. It was surprisingly well cooked and delicious.


We sat down.


-”Hubert Fleming… Allow me to introduce myself. I am Monke. Marshal Monke. I, like all the inhabitants of Selene, wish to see an end to this war…”


-”Ironic to hear that from the person who started it…”


-”Ah yeah, I forgot you were one of them for a second… But let me ask you this… do you really believe I'm the one who started it?”


-”Yes”


-”Did they not start the war when they came to our land? When they took our homes and enslaved us? When they destroyed our cities, schools and hospitals? When the Rat army invaded, they killed thousands of our inhabitants, including children and families. Just to take a planet that wasn’t theirs…”


-”You don’t have evidence of that!”


Then, Monke pulled out a set of photos and showed it to me. The photos were disgusting. I almost puked… They were depicting various war crimes committed by the Rat army.


I was gonna respond, but… I couldn't. Something inside me knew that what Marshal was saying was correct.


I tried to open my mouth to refute him…


But I couldn’t


I started shouting incoherent things at Monke, tried to prove him wrong.


But I calmed down, I couldn't prove him wrong.


And you know why I couldn't?


Because I was a member, a soldier of the rat army. I had committed those war crimes myself… I still remember those people begging me for mercy. But because I had been brainwashed, I couldn’t give them mercy


And yet, despite that, Monke did not seek to kill me, but rather he forgave me, he loved me like a son, and showed me the true path… What the real noble cause was. Being a rat myself, i had been convinced that the cause to colonize Selene was the noble one.


We had been brainwashed into believing we were the superior species because we were the technologically advanced ones. And those people we were killing? It was to bring development to a disgusting inferior planet…


But no. Monke’s cause was the noble one. To free his planet and to keep it free, even if it meant using violent methods.


I suddenly… changed. What my eyes were watching… the bodies, the slaughtered children, I knew I had been wrong my entire lifetime.


And so I decided to do it. To become a soldier of Marshal Monke.


And now, here I am, 30 years later.


What haven’t i heard about Monke? I’ve heard him being called a tyrant, a dictator, a cruel person, everything…


Well, if he is a dictator, he is certainly a benevolent one. Ever since he took back our planet and took over he has built schools, churches, hospitals and has constructed a socialist system. And while he isn’t always greeted by everyone as a hero, he certainly is!


I am very positive for what the future holds! I don’t care if Monke is a dictator or an elected leader, he has given all future leaders an example of what leadership should be like. Strong but merciful, violent but fair, religious (A devout Christian to be exact) but also a man of science.


But that’s all I can remember from this era, my dear friend. Thank you for reading my letter. May God bless you and may you have peace in your home.



Your dear friend, Hubert Fleming.