Yes, I know it's short, but I don't see enough of these kinds of one-shots around. People assume that leaders are heartless when they destroy, and it irritates me.

DISCLAIMER: Jhonen Vasquez created us from his mind, Nickelodeon owned us for a short time, and now we only exist in reruns and the minds of fans. The scary, scary minds of fans...*shudder*

I tended to look away from the window, feigning disinterest while the planet came into sights. I casually would watch the monitor, ignoring the Voot Cruisers outside advancing upon the planet. Purple would make small talk, mimicking my attempts in his own way. We laughed about Zim's past failures as the first shots were made on the unsuspecting planet. We would turn off the monitors just as a transmission for mercy was obtained coincidentally.

The lasers brightened the dark sky outside, the little sentient creatures emitting a simultaneous screech of pain and terror. Normally I would go into another room, yawning and saying that I was bored. Normally, Purple would purposely turn his chair away from the scene, being slightly more obvious about it.

This time, though, I stared out at the planet. I let the monitors stay on, and shifted my eyes between the scene before me and the ruler of the planet begging for mercy. My face remained stolid throughout it all. The transmission flickered out when a certain beam of pure energy hit a particular spot on the planet. Dead. All of those people, dead or enslaved. The Irken Invader in charge of this victory sat in his Voot Cruiser in front of the Massive, eagerly shooting at random places that weren't necessary to be shot at. The Irken symbol slowly etched itself on the blue and red planet, silent screams escaping into the vacuum of space.

The technicians and pilots also observed the scene, some even having the guts to take notes on how, exactly, the species were eradicated. Others chatted about how the remaining organics would be enslaved. The planet held a rare, unnamed gem in its core, and it would be mined for that until it was empty. The gems would be used only for Irken Elites and us, the Tallest.

Purple laughed nervously nearby, observing the scene as I was. But he winced every time a laser made contact with the surface, most likely imagining the death scream that emanated from that person when they realized their doom.

"Why are we watching this?" Purple whispered to me.

I turned to him, my face carefully unemotional. "We have to," I whispered back.

"No we don't!" he argued back. He turned away. "Watch it all you want. I'm going to the kitchen area."

He left as I predicted he would, he wasn't ever a true soldier, and had more trouble handling scenes such as these. I slowly looked back at the planet. It was quite beautiful, actually. A small planet with three pitted yellow moons. The planet had blue landforms with swirls of red veins, the purple clouds giving the illusion that the land masses and liquid seas formed into one at points.

The black scar on the planet now was obviously the Irken symbol, boldly proclaiming it to be conquered by the Irken Empire. Cheers radiated from the communications line the Massive held with each Voot, the soldiers celebrating another victory. I smiled with the best of them, laughed at witty jokes made at the expense of the species.

But eventually, it was business as usual in the Massive. The planet was forgotten, as was its deceased inhabitants. Purple shot me more than one odd look, noting that I tried to act a little cheerier than usual, was more eager for laughing at inconsequential things. I'm sure he guessed the reason, but if he did, he never brought it up.

I remembered his words, that we didn't have to watch the total annihilation of the planet. We didn't, technically. But I felt like it was my duty to. Those species down there, they once had families, leaders like us. They had tried to defend themselves against us, defying the fact that their defeat was inevitable. They at least deserved some recognition. Not in the form of an announcement, nor in the form of mercy. Those held no lasting impact on anyone, even on myself as a young, bloodthirsty killing machine.

But they needed at least one person, one of the most responsible, to endure their downfall. To wince at the pain, to undergo the mental accusations flung at them. 'You did this' they hissed with their dying breaths. Their screams were never heard up close, but it was enough to force one to imagine them down to the last minutes they remained as a planet independent of any outside rule.

Purple couldn't handle it. His sensitivity wouldn't allow him to stay and watch the chaos he and I caused at the hands of our very soldiers, the ones that swore their undying loyalty to us one minute, then turned and slaughtered everyone around them the next.

I had to watch, for the both of us. I had to watch their agony at our hands. Their pain needed to be recognized and mentally filed away. But it would be brought back out again briefly when I next saw the precious gems inlaid the weapons of the Elite. The soldier polishing it wouldn't know how many deaths that one shiny thing caused, nor did he care. It didn't affect him. It wasn't his concern. Hey, if someone confronted me about how I felt about it, I would deny any feelings of guilt, too. I would proclaim that the species deserved to be eradicated for the good of the Empire.

But I had to witness the deaths, at least once. Intimitely know the screams wound around death threats. Understand how hated we are in the universe, regardless of how we perceived ourselves. One of us had to truly see past the fog of pride. You could tell who had done this and who hadn't. Miyuki obviously had thought these things through, sensitive like Purple, but observant like myself. Spork...he was too obssessed with war to even have the capacity to understand.

Am I a defective for actually feeling, maybe, a little regretful for knowing how many family's deaths I am responsible for? Those rare inlaid gems exchanged for the deaths of millions. I perceive it all for my own reasons.

Was it worth it?