They were outnumbered; Siri had known that from the beginning. And, although the majority of her men had agreed to answer the distress call from the people of Planet FX-87, there had been a number who had not and had been allowed to board smaller ships to return to base and hopefully get them some reinforcements, leaving their numbers even smaller.
But she—they—had all known the risks, and they’d gone in anyway to do what they could to help the people of the doomed planet evacuate.
Now, Siri stood in the thick of the battle, shooting her gun repeatedly at the swarm of Ryxarri aliens all around her, taking care not to hit any of her comrades as she did so. A tiny red light blinking rapidly in the corner of her vision told her that her armor had taken a critical amount of damage and that many systems had gone offline, but she ignored it, continuing to fire.
She wasn’t leaving this planet until she got word over the comms that the last of the civilians were packed safely in the ship.
“Commander, there are too many; we can’t get into the city,” the voice of Jeneka, her second, crackled in her ear over the communicator built into her helmet. “We need backup.”
Siri blasted a few more aliens to give herself some breathing room, then ducked into a nearby bar—the only one in the tiny town that they’d landed the ship near—to answer.
“Easier said than done,” Siri replied grimly. “Our men are stretched thin, and we need to have people to escort the civilians to the ship.”
“I realize that, Commander, but about half the men here are injured or missing. We need to retreat.”
“There are still civilians trapped in the city.”
“That doesn’t change our situation. It can’t be done, Commander,” Jeneka said bluntly. “We need to pull out.”
Siri sighed, knowing her second was right—as usual. “Get those men back to the ship. I’ll bring a group in myself, and we’ll see what we can do.”
Jeneka took a moment to respond, as if she needed a moment to process what she’d just heard. “Commander, it’s useless; you’ll never get past the walls,” she pointed out.
“I’m not leaving a single innocent life on this planet,” Siri said firmly. “You have your orders.”
Another hesitation. Then, “Yes, ma’am.”
Satisfied, Siri ended the transmission and leapt back out into the decimated city streets to gather her team, blasting Ryxarri all the while.
She’d get these people off-world, no matter what it took. These men had chosen to stand with her, were supposedly willing to give up their lives for the cause.
It was time to test that devotion.
Thank you for reading! I wrote this story as part of the Storytelling Collective’s Flash Fiction February 2023 challenge, so a huge thanks to them for inspiring me to give it a shot.
