Kyria
Serenity, 2010

Duty or emotion? I thought. Do I try to save a few million, or try to save a few trillion? Can I sacrifice one planet for the galaxy?

I stood in front of a button. If I pushed the button, a planet would die for a hyperspace bypass that would allow us to slip past the Gordanian defenses and end the menace at the source. Hro Talok, my fiancé, stood beside me, to remind me where my loyalties lay.

"Kyria, I know it's hard. But you have to. Serenity is a necessary casualty. I know you care about them. Your big heart is what I love most about you. But this is for the sake of the galaxy. We can destroy the Gordanians at their source. The galaxy will never have to be afraid again," Hro said.

"This is a planet with more than three million intelligent life forms. There are billions more that aren't as intelligent. How can we knowingly destroy an entire biosphere? How are we any different from the Gordanians?" I argued.

"Lieutenant. Kyria. Thol. You have to trust me. The hyperspace bypass will allow us to destroy the Gordanians. The Serens won't suffer. But if the Gordanians notice this planet, and they will, you know what will happen. It will be a wasteland, completely uninhabitable. It's even possible that Serenity will just move."

"Lieutenant. Hro. Talok. Listen to me. Serenity won't just move, and you know it. A planet will die, just because the High Command can't find an uninhabited planet to use for the hyperspace bypass. I love you, Hro, I really do, but this isn't like you. The man I fell in love with would have found another way."

"Ria, there is no other way. Believe me, I looked. For the galaxy to live, Serenity has to die. I know it's hard. But we have our duty."

"Hro . . . is there, truly, no other way? On your honor, there is no other way? If there is, please, tell me now."

"On my honor and on my head. There is no other way. We have to do this."

"Then so be it," I said, and pressed the button.

A million things happened at once. A blinding light covered the world below, and it started to fold in on itself.

The bypass was operational. The strike force began to deploy, and the ground shifted underneath me. I started to fall, but snapped open my wings and lifted off of the ground.

That's not supposed to happen . . .

Images swum in front of me. The private who had stumbled out of the bypass, badly wounded, and told us the news; that the Gordanians had smashed the Thanagarian force, killing everyone. The Gordanian invasion that we smashed on our own planet. The honorable discharge, leaving me a veteran at sixteen.

Gasping, I woke up. Great. Another nightmare. Because I needed more.

I stumbled out of my cabin and into the cockpit. Time to move on. I had been jumping from planet to planet, moon to moon, trying to find a place I could call home. So far, I hadn't found anywhere.

Serenity, my starship, lifted off into the black. My next stop would have to be a place with fuel, I realized as I checked the gauge. I had enough juice to make it to one last planet, assuming it was close, and then I would have to refuel.

Or I could stay there. That worked too.

Next stop: Earth. A little blue marble, barely a blip on the intergalactic radar, but nice enough. From a distance, it reminded me of Serenity.

No, Kyria. Don't think about that. Think about flying this thing.

I had just reached the atmosphere when I ran out of fuel. My ship started falling, fast. I just managed to coax enough power out of the fumes to not crash to hard on the surface.

Great. I was stranded on an isolated world with no fuel and a beat-up spaceship.

Today was so not my day.