The Good Soldier - Bridget Kielas-Fecyk
I'm a brave and proud soldier.
I'm strong with sword and bow.
And upon my Leige’s orders,
My enemy did I lay low.I found my enemy was a father.
A child now filled with tears.
Into my arms I took her.
And tried to calm her fears.My Leige, oh please, forgive me.
For my duties I must forsake.
For I've killed this child's father.
Now as my child, this girl, I take.Now I've grown older and perished.
Oh God, forgive my soul.
For I was merely a soldier....
When my enemies, did I lay low. -- DaniAndShali
When meat meets metal, be holding the metal. It seemed like simple advice, but war is never clean, never easy, and never, ever, simple. There are some parts of it that are simple. When it's them or you, you make sure it's them. But when it's their kid or you...
It had been reflex. Pure luck that Zyf had got their blow in first. Luckier still that the other armoured figure in the smoke and chaos had been unable to strike back. Zyf hadn't wanted to. That was one of the complicated parts. More complicated still was the tiny figure that came out of hiding to try and convince a corpse to get up and save her.
It would have been easy to classify her as enemy and finish her as quickly as the last one to die. But... truly honourable people don't just stop at the easy solutions. It wasn't ethical to kill an unarmed noncombatant, and Zyf's combat eyescreen disagreed. This was one of the enemy. Toxic, hazardous, dangerous... Zyf ignored it and adjusted the settings. Their suit would send an alert to Top Brass, safely in orbit above. Let it. This was the right thing to do.
Zyf shipped their weapon and scooped up the child, running out of there before more ordinance could land on the site. A war zone was no place for a child. Then again, it had been a residential zone before the war came to it. Not for the first time, Zyf questioned their allegiance to the hawks high above. Those who had never held a weapon on the field, yet gave out orders to kill and die.
There were small vessels at the landing site. Now without much of the combat overlay, Zyf could see it was a sporting field. With a playground nearby. Those vessels were meant to be short range, with accommodations for evac to the orbiting strategy stations. If they busted their transponders...
The kid was too scared to move once Zyf strapped her in. She just watched in mute horror as Zyf strategically abused their suit first, and a specific part of the combat transit unit next. Zyf didn't blame her. As far as they knew, she had just watched them kill her parental.
The tricky part was flying back to the nearest orbiting strategy station without raising any alarms. It was easy to fake battle damage and fly to a strategy station not their own. The hard part was dodging everything going down.
The really hard part was coming next.
Zyf gathered the kid and activated their shields, grabbing a spare physical shield for extra insurance. They fired wide, to scare the crews away, and plotted a direct path to the nearest Top Brass Escape Yacht.
Rule one of the military: Any military equipment should be ready to use by any military personnel. That makes it easy to hack. That makes it easy to steal. But, just to be sure, Zyf took the time to disable any and all security measures on board.
Nice thing about the stuff made for Top Brass... preserving anyone on board was max priority. Therefore, the yacht could not be shot out of space or rendered "dead in the water". It was almost laughable how easy it was to run from the field of battle.
They had time to calm down, in-between jumps and in transit. Time enough for Zyf to make it clear that they were not going to hurt the little girl. Time enough for some basic communication.
Her name was Monde. She was the furthest from the hideous slavering monster that Zyf was taught she was.
Zyf didn't stop running until they got to a place where nobody asked questions... a place where such a dangerous cogniscent could at least try for a decent life and maybe even find others of her kind.
The Edge Territories. Where Humans like her were allowed to live their lives without the 'necessity' of "having to be put down".
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / innovari]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [47 remaining prompts!]
