Nick accepted a long hug from Maggie. "You don't have to do this right now," she pointed out, but he shook his head.
"I do need to do it, and I shouldn't delay. People will be panicking. They deserve to know where they stand."
"You know I'm with you, all the way."
He nodded. "I know. Thanks for not hating me for this, Maggie."
His fiance pulled back and looked him in the eyes. "It's the only way anyone could ever stop those sons of bitches, Nick. Those sick, rich old men clinging to power would rather destroy the world than let go. And none of their victims would ever see an ounce of justice otherwise." At Nick's look her expression softened slightly. "All right, maybe some of them would receive some justice, but it wouldn't be enough. You're saving the world from another Reign of Terror."
"Thanks, Maggie." He took a deep breath. "All right, time to record a draft."
"Hold on a sec." Maggie grabbed what Nick thought of as a 'space brush' and tamed his hair in just a few seconds. "I love this thing so much," she muttered.
"Why?" Petra asked.
Maggie blinked, then looked vaguely upwards. "Because it is much easier to use than a regular brush, and faster, Petra."
"Am I easier to use?" Petra pressed.
"Easier than what?"
"Easier than a regular universal matter printer?"
"Yes, but we need to be quiet for a little bit, Petra."
"Why?"
"Because Nick needs to record a very important message now, and he wants to get it right, and you and I should not be in the video or audio so people don't get distracted while they watch and listen," Maggie explained patiently.
"Oh. Okay."
"Petra, please show me live video of me that you can record now," Nick asked.
"Okay, Nick." His image appeared on the nearest wall. Maggie moved out of the frame, leaving just a view of Nick against a bare bulkhead.
"Thanks, Petra." Nick shifted slightly to face the invisible camera directly. "Please begin recording now."
"Recording."
Nick took a deep breath.
"Hello, everyone. This is Nick Tomsun. A lot of people are dying on Earth right now, and you deserve to know why.
"First off, this is my responsibility. I gave Captain Telnik the order to promote Truth, Justice, and Freedom for all the people of Earth, and I let him come up with the plan of action. He warned me what he was going to do, and I approved it. Captain Geh!aoa also checked in with me, before using the weapons on the New Hope to take out Ivanovich. No aliens are attacking any humans without my say so. So, if you have to blame someone for this, blame me.
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"I've ordered a lot of assassinations of a lot of really bad people." Nick sighed. "I know, right now, a lot of you are demanding, 'who gets to say who's a bad person, Nick?'" He felt his jaw clench.
"I do. I decide.
"Do I have the right to do this? No. I do not." His words came out clipped, harsh for emphasis. He didn't want there to be any doubt in anyone's mind what he was about.
"Do I have the power to do this? Yes. I do. As you can clearly see.
"Do I have the responsibility to do this?" He sighed again, heavily. "Yes. I think I do. Because some things need to be done, and because no one else can. There are too many people who think they are above the law, untouchable—hell, some of them think they're a 'higher form of life' than the rest of us. And while some of those powerful people stayed decent and human, a horrible number of them decided that they would rather be monsters. Monsters that the rest of us are better off without.
He shrugged helplessly. "Sometimes, you've just got to put the rabid dogs down."
He looked at the floor for several seconds, then faced the camera again.
"A lot of people have suffered at the hands of these monsters. And if I didn't take this opportunity to stop them, when no one else can...every additional evil act they did would be partly my fault. If I didn't do this, it would be a betrayal of all their victims. I don't think I could live with myself if I left things as they were.
"This...isn't easy for me. But, I think it is necessary. The good news is, there won't be quite as much chaos as you'd expect from the deaths of so many powerful people. Captain Telnik has carefully designed a path, a sequence of events, to get Earth through this with a minimum of pain. I don't understand the details, but he's running predictions on how things turn out, and adjusting the plan accordingly.
"A minimum of pain is not no pain. I know this. I'm not some white knight. I'm...I guess I'm just another power player, meddling in politics. And like anyone else in politics, my hands are dirty now. Innocent people died last night in the attack on Ivanovich. I am sorry. If there was any way to take him out with fewer deaths, I would have.
"But these people don't stop until somebody makes them stop, and I'm sick of people who get away with using human shields. Being more evil should not let you get away with more! Ever!"
Nick closed his eyes for a few moments, then looked into the camera again.
"I know a lot of you will be worried that I'm not accomplishing anything, that the evil people I kill will just be instantly replaced with other evil people. And to some extent, that's true. But not completely. In a lot of cases, a bad person will get replaced with a good person, or at least a better one.
"I know a lot of you are worried that as soon as the ships leave Earth, everything will go right back to the way it was before. Well, I'm doing my best to see that that doesn't happen. I'm going to do some good deeds that can't be undone. Revealing some nasty facts and releasing evidence of crimes, for example. Not all of them, there's too much. But if you try to get in the way of making the world a better place, and you've got dirty laundry, expect it to be published.
"Some talking heads called me the Emperor of Earth. I didn't ask for this, but for the next month or so, I am the Emperor of Earth. I don't want the job, but I have it, and I'm going to do as much good as I can before I leave."
Nick grimaced. "I know I can't ever land on Earth again. I'll never walk on a beach, or touch grass, or look at a moonrise or sunset from my home planet, ever again. I've been pining for Earth for over a year, and now that it's here...I can't have it. But that is a tiny, minuscule price to pay to save millions, possibly billions of lives.
"Hate me all you want. But if I see some billionaire committing heinous crimes against children, and I have the means, I'm going to take that son of a bitch out. Nobody's going to convince me otherwise.
"You guys need to think long and hard about what comes next. You need to pass laws, reforms, I don't know what all else. But I'm giving you an opportunity, and you'd damned well better take it to make the world a better place."
Nick worked his jaw and leaned forward closer to the camera. "Because who knows? One of these days, I might come back to Earth. And if I have to clean up Earth again, I may not be so merciful next time."
"Clean up your act, humanity. Or I'll do it for you."