The Unkindest Cut of All
Sarna News
| The Unkindest Cut of All | |
|---|---|
| Product information | |
| Type | Short story |
| Author | Phaedra M. Weldon |
| Pages | 13 |
| Interior Artwork | Bradley K. McDevitt Earl Geier |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | BattleCorps |
| First published | 25 August 2006 |
| Content | |
| Era | Jihad era |
| Timeline | 25 August 3068 |
The Unkindest Cut of All is a short story by Phaedra M. Weldon that was published online on BattleCorps on 25 August 2006. It was also published in print in the third BattleCorps print anthology, Weapons Free, in 2012.
[edit]
| “ | Treason. Everybody's worst nightmare. Friend turning against friends, for the sake of an outsider. Cut a man ninety-nine times, and it will seem but a scratch against the one cut made by a former friend. Precentor Mori knows this. She uses it against others. But never did she think about just what effect her actions might have on others... | ” |
Plot summary[edit]
Greta McGruder is a fugitive from Rasalhague whose family was killed by ISF and O5P operatives. As the trusted friend and right hand of Precentor Sharilar Mori, Greta dropped a framed image of her father in shock when a Word of Blake propaganda message revealed Mori herself to be an O5P agent. The women locked eyes and Mori confirmed the fact, then ordered Greta to keep silent about it and not confirm Blakist propaganda. But when Mori said something about fools and foolishness and laughed, Greta flew into a rage and sliced Mori's jugular open with a glass shard, feeling Mori was a traitor and unsuitable as a leader for ComStar.
The story is told in flashback scenes as others storm the office, and Greta tells Precentor ROM Victoria Parrdeau what just happened. Prompted by a comment from another person in the room Greta recalls that Mori often referred to herself as the greatest fool of all, and may have been laughing at herself when Greta snapped. Confused, desperate and under great stress, Greta kills herself with the shard.