The rain had stopped, and late that afternoon the clouds had begun to break at last. Now, as the exhausted men sat on rocks and fallen logs and watched clouds of fog form from their breath, stars appeared in the night sky above them. The heavenly lights were brilliant pinpricks against the deep black void. I tilted my head back and looked up at them and somehow, I felt better. Probably since the beginning of time, men had been looking up at the stars and drawing strength and renewal from them. The stars were proof that the universe was a big place, and in the long run, man’s petty squabbles didn’t really amount to all that much. Not a hill of beans, really, I told myself. Whatever happened here tonight, no matter how long this, seemingly endless war turned out, those stars would continue to burn, changeless, eternal. Life would go on… I shuddered as a light suddenly brightened and then vanished in a flame of fire. One of the stars I had been watching had just went supernova… I felt colder inside then I had ever had before. I pushed the thought back as my second in command ran up to me… “Sir, they’re mounting another attack!” My clone army picked up their pulse rifles and began to move out of the dense underbrush… We had been fighting them off for weeks, barely holding our ground to they’re larger and ever-growing force… As my small squadron scrambled into waiting fighters, and my ground troops manned they’re pre-determined positions, I wondered if I was unwise to be holding on to this planet. I had others, I had better planets, I had other fleets… but why do I try to win an unwinnable battle against an unbeatable enemy? I’m not sure, maybe it’s that I’m tired of being beaten back, I’m tired of falling back to my next system, only to be destroyed there as well. And here I make a stand… But, is this bravery? Or is it merely an act of stupidity? “Smith,” “Sir?” my second in command looked up. “I want you to call in my main fleet…” “But sir!! Why? That would be a waste! And it would put your fleet at risk! We’re fighting a losing battle here, and a few more ships might not even make a difference anyway…” “A few ships?” “No, not a few…but still…” “Call them in.” “Yes sir.”


More stories by Whitesavage02:
• Dog Soldiers
• All Gone?
• It Makes me Feel Special
• An Omen