I stood there, trying to look bold, as Zero glared at Zoe behind me, then she opened her mouth to speak.

“So we, the Scihmets cannot attack the humans, is that right?” Inquired Zero. I could tell she was up to something, but I couldn't tell what.

“Yes, those were my choice of words,” replied Zoe. Then I began to realize what was going on. Zoe has said that she wouldn’t let the Scihmets attack humans. She said nothing about their clients. She might retaliate if they attacked though, since the spirit of her words was there, but her actions were anyone’s guess. She seemed protective of humanity, so she may choose to protect it, but nobody knew for sure.

“If you, the Scihmets give any order against humanity, you must follow two conditions. You must not kill those who cooperate with you, and you cannot target her,” Zoe said. I looked behind me to see a finger pointed directly at me.

“Understood,” was all the warning we had before thousands of hostile ships blanketed the sky. I only now began to realize the situation I was in. I had relied on Zoe too heavily, but she could only do so much without hurting her own goals. She was protecting humanity, which I was immensely grateful for, but she couldn’t do everything. We had to do some things on our own. Dropships started raining from the almost black sky. Troops of several different species swarmed earth, killing, ravaging, imprisoning, and enslaving everyone they came across. Anyone who fought back was killed slowly. I heard screams. It was chaos. I fell to the ground, holding my head in my hands. I wanted to help, but I was powerless.

Wait, I still had one option at my disposal. I took one of my pistols out of it’s holster at my side and shot myself in the head. The world seemed to swirl as I fell to the ground. Then everything went black. Then I felt pain as metal started pushing through my skin. I almost fell unconscious from the pain, but my determination was unstoppable. As the pain subsided, the world began to come back into focus. I pushed myself to my feet. I had informational screens popping up in my vision. I ran to the nearest pair of aliens, who were terrorizing a woman and child, who were hugging each other as a man’s blood poooed in front of them.

I moved surprisingly fast, bashing their heads together, then I picked up their weapons and started shooting at every alien who was not from the human empire that I could find. When they ran out of power, I picked up other aliens weapons and kept firing. I was now covered in blue, red, and green blood from various species, and I didn’t realize the skies were so clear. There was not a ship in sight. I didn’t realize it until I saw Zoe’s face, her look of pity. It pulled me out of my killing spree. I started to feel tired. I started to fall. I was caught in Zoe’s arms. A warm sensation flowed over me as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up, I was in a half cave, half building with a few other humans and the Chimeran ambassador. Zoe was also there, sharpening a sword with a pink handle that had gemstones and a pink tinted blade.

“You awake?” She asked, not looking up from her work.

“Yeah,” I replied, “What happened?”

“Everyone else you saved is scavenging for anything useful. There’s not too many left though,” she informed me.

We sat in silence. I thought. I should have trained people for emergencies. I should have focused more on defense than offense. It was a big mistake, thinking that because I was so deep in my own territory, I was safe. I was wrong. I had allowed my people to be enslaved and killed because I was so arrogant. Now there was what? Ten of us? Twenty? Is that the price I payed?

“In case you were wondering, you saved fourty-five humans,” stated Zoe.

Still, that’s not a lot. What had I done. I went from caring about protecting my people to caring about territory. I was so selfish now. If I had thought of more than myself, this never would have happened.

“I know what it feels like. I lost my people too. I led them, then when I was off being a selfish brat, they were being slaughtered. When I got there, my self preservation instinct kicked in, and I couldn’t control myself. I ran. Now I have a chance to redeem myself and get them back. If I had stayed, would things have been different? I don’t know,” Zoe paused, “If you had focused on defense, would things have been different? Now you have a chance to redeem yourself and save your people. Will you dwell on lost choices or will you move on and get things right this time? Others can be important, but if you want them to follow you, you gotta be down there on the battlefield fighting alongside them. You’ve made your mistakes, now fix them. Still, I have to go. Now you know what it feels like to loose everything. So now you understand why I want to get it back. Work with what you have and don’t dwell on wishful thinking. That is my advice to you.” With that, Zoe fell through the floor, or maybe a portal. I couldn’t tell. Her magic worked in mysterious ways.

Zoe was right, I had do fix my mistakes. I stood up. “Let’s see what we’ve got, shall we?”