I am the Commander of the 9th Fleet of the First  Battalion. Sensors were reading normal so what ever we hit must have been small but it tore through the primary engine. I raised the alarm and ordered all crew to abandon ship. My 2nd grabbed my arm and we ran to the command module, we had barely fastened our harness when the first explosions started tearing through the ship.  The mooring clamp has disengaged with enough time for us to jettison and we launched into the still, blue atmosphere of our enemies world. All the ships escape pods are programmed to locate the command module and land as near to it as possible. The readout told me that 97 of the 104 pods had been successfully launched before the ship exploded.

It is impossibly bright, the sun is burning my eyes. I am on my knees with my hands tied together, to my left is my 2nd and to my right is my communications officer. She is weeping. Blood is running into my eye, my head hurts and I am trying not to pass out. I close one eye to limit any infection and see for the first time that there are at least eleven of our enemies, all armed. The murderers of our most remote colony. When they opened fire from their battleship they killed close to a million of my people. There was no warning, no attempt at discourse. They just slaughtered them. A colony of mostly miners, families, teachers, medical staff and a small garrison of militia. They posed no threat. They were neither suitably armed or capable of defending themselves.

We seem to be in some sort of parched land, a desert. It is becoming increasingly hot and I am finding it difficult to breath. The tallest of them steps forward and shouts something in their alien language. He points a gun at my 2nd and shouts the same words again. I think my communications officer may understand what it is saying, she is speaking in a string of odd, short syllables. I am ashamed to admit but they frighten me. They look so unusual. They seem warlike and have ignored every attempt to negotiate peace. My communications officer is speaking faster and faster and the alien is screaming. He fire at close range into my 2nd’s face. I try to stand but he sideswipes me in the head with his weapon and everything switches off.

I do not know how much time has passed. I am lying on a bunk. I think this must be one of their younger males. He is wiping blood off my face with a warm, wet cloth. I cannot understand what he is saying but he seems to be trying to help me. I am grateful. He offers me water and I sip a little but it almost instantly make me feel sick. I ask him about my crew  He clearly does not understand. he lifts his shoulders and smiles and mops the last of the dried blood from my cheek.  The tall one pulls aside the flap of the tent and pushes the boy aside. He grabs me and pulls me out into the harsh sun. There are more then 40 of my crew dead, lying where they fell in their own blood. He forces me down to my knees and I am next to my communications officer, she is not dead but bleeding heavily. She reaches out and puts a communication device in my hand. I instantly hear the hail command from central. “Wipe them out.” There were twenty battlecruisers following our scout ship. I think I have have just sentenced these aliens, these ‘humans’ to death. As the bullet smashes though my cheek bone, I pray they are shown no mercy.