“Who is she?”
That was the question being asked all over the base following the arrival of a particular shuttle, carrying a most peculiar passenger: a soldier said to be out of her time, having been left in a stasis after being fatally wounded in a long-ago battle with the Ryxarri.
Why she’d been awoken to rejoin the fight against the aliens who threatened to take over their universe was unknown; she was not particularly special, no person of legend.
Siri Zirel. She was no one—so why was she here, and why was the commander making such a big deal out of her arrival?
Turned out, she didn’t have the answers either. But, with any luck, that was about to change.
“You requested my presence, Commander?” Siri said as she stepped into the quarters of Commander Ferral, the leader of this particular sect here on Planet 8.4.
The room was large and had been set up as both an office and Ferral’s personal armory, with a large computer console in the middle of the room and armaments of various sorts lining the walls.
“I did,” Ferral replied, looking up from the console and the various holos hovering over it. Frowning a little to himself, he looked her fully-armored form over and commented, “I hear nobody’s seen you take off your armor since you got here; guess the rumors were true.”
“I can if you would like.”
“But you wouldn’t like, would you?”
Siri tilted her helmet-covered head to the side, considering. “…No, sir, I would not.” She couldn’t say why, but she felt more…secure in these strange surroundings while in full body armor.
“Hm.” Ferral didn’t make any further comment on it, which was a relief.
For a time, all was silent.
“…Sir, was there something you wanted to speak with me about?”
“As a matter of fact, there was,” Ferral said, as if he’d been waiting for her to ask. He motioned for her to step up to the console with him, and she did.
Once she got there, her gaze immediately drifted to the holos hovering before her, and she was surprised to see her own personal files there, along with a holonote addressed to Ferral. She didn’t dare read it out of respect for her commander, but she did notice that the sender was someone working for the military’s laboratory.
“We went through some trouble to wake you up, as you’re already aware of,” Ferral said, and Siri turned back to him. “You must be wondering why.”
“I suppose.”
“Well, turns out you’re the one person we know of who has the right genes in you to stand even a slight chance of surviving the latest experiment our labs have thought up.” He gestured to the holonote, which Siri realized must’ve held the details. “If everything goes according to plan, you could be the first of a new kind of soldier, one capable of taking the fight straight to the Ryxarri homeworld. If, of course, you agree to be the subject—know that this isn’t an order, but an offer, and you’re free to turn it down,” he added, watching her carefully. “I’ll send you the details, and you can have a few days to consider it. This is a big decision, and I get that—”
Siri was not in the habit of interrupting her superiors, but the words came out of her before she could consider them. “Commander, the Ryxarri took everything from me. If I am being presented with a chance to bring their reign to an end, I will accept it in an instant. It is not like I have anything left to lose.” She said it simply, like the fact that it was; it made it easier to bear.
It seemed to take Ferral a moment to process that. Finally, he gave his head a nod. “I see. I’ll send the details to you like I said, and you will be allowed a few days more to think on it while the labs get ready. If your thoughts change at any point during that time, notify me.”
They would not, but Siri dipped her chin. “Understood.”
“Good. You’re dismissed then.” He still sounded somewhat surprised, as if he’d expected a much longer conversation.
“Thank you, Commander.” Siri tapped her fist to her breast in salute and strode from the chamber.
She had already made her decision.
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.
