Review: Science Fiction Short Story: "Victory" by Lester del Rey

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Captain Duke O’Neill is returning to his adopted planet of Meloa. After a fourteen-year long war, Meloa has emerged victorious from its struggle with the insect-like creatures of Throm and their allies. The men are singing as the planet comes in sight. Duke cuts his beard and lays out his dress grays, the only thing close to clean clothes he has. He struggles to button them up with the new hand. It’s been five years since he’s seen his wife. The pilots, replacements to steer them into the home port, tell Duke that Earth is offering free passage for all terran veterans. How nice, Duke thinks. They’ll let him come home, just as they wouldn’t prevent him from joining the war. Earth remained strictly neutral when they could have ended this savage war in a year. Duke is too disgusted to think of returning to Earth. Problem is, the war hasn’t left much of Meloa. The people have sacrificed even more than he guessed. Even Duke’s Meloan wife has become a stranger who now regards him as foreigner. This story was written during the height of the Cold War and the doctrine deterrence by MAD (mutually assured destruction). The fear of nuclear war, unwinnable war, is reflected in the writing. However, there is also another level of Machiavellian machinations going on that is both fascinating and repulsive to watch as it unfolds before Duke’s eyes. Which is the better road to peace, posing military might or offering ties through trade? It’s not an abstraction, but a lesson the author wants to teach. Author Lester del Rey was a science fiction writer and reviewer, but became more well known as an editor, particularly for Ballantine Books. under their science fiction imprint Del Rey, where he worked his then-wife, Judy-Lyn del Rey, for whom the division is named. This story is available from Project Gutenberg, as an audiobook from Librivox and on YouTube: _____ Title: “Victory” Author: Lester del Rey (pseudonym for Leonard Knapp) (1915-1993) First published: Astounding Science Fiction August 1955 Source: ISFDB