There is need (Sci-Fi Flash fiction)

Based off this prompt: Humans are the only species in the universe with concepts of hatred and vengeance, and this is what makes us so warlike. The galactic council’s decision to punish us for exceeding their arbitrary “population cap” backfires HORRIBLY because of this. (writing-prompt-s.tumblr.com) 

Hey all! Happy Friday :) This flash fiction piece has been kicking around in my head since I saw the prompt above. I hope y'all enjoy!

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“I surrendered,” Commander Mag says. He’s been saying those two words over and over again since his capture two hours ago. He rubs his antennae together, desperately not looking at the smoldering wreck of his ship floating just outside the station’s viewing deck. “I surrendered.”

None of the humans guarding him have even spoken to him. He doesn’t recognize the expressions on their mobile faces— that wasn’t on any of the flash cards given to him when the humans first joined the federation. They look still, like their flesh has hardened into exoskeleton. Their eyes gleam when they look at him.

He doesn’t know why it unsettles him so much. He wants to fly away, but his wings are bound much like all three sets of his thoracic arms. That’s another new thing – he did not know the humans had built devices like this, shackles and bonds strong enough to accommodate his species’ anatomy.

A flash of memory: Laser canons strong enough to tear through his ship’s shields and the horrible sound of ripping metal as their attackers latched onto the exterior hull and tore through it. Who could have known the humans capable of such savage interstellar warfare? Who could have foreseen?

The doors in front of him slide open and the human Captain strides in. He doesn’t know her name, but he recognizes her from the brief message she’d transmitted to him before the attack. Commander Mag feels his unease slide away. Finally someone of adequate rank to understand that he surrendered!

“I surrendered—“

“Yes, I’ve heard,” the captain says. She strides toward him, her footsteps oddly heavy for a being half his size. She stops in front of where he’s been forced to kneel. Her eyes, like her crew’s, gleam. “I suppose you want my thanks.”

Commander Mag’s mandibles click. “I want nothing but what I am owed. Release me as per council regulation—“

A human from behind him makes a harsh and barking noise. Then, as the captain continues to stare at Mag, another human makes the same noise, chest heaving. Then another and another until the deck is filled with that awful barking sound. He has always seen the humans as soft, their flesh hardly sturdy enough to protect their vulnerable, meaty insides. But this sound is hard and biting in a way Mag has never heard before. It chills something in Mag and he tries to speak, to demand they stop, only to find his vocal mechanics are paralyzed from fear.

The captain raises one hand and the humans fall silent. She’s baring her teeth at him in an expression that Mag remembers as smile. A friendly, happy gesture.

It is very, very wrong.

“Your council,” the captain says, “killed over twenty percent of Earth’s population.” She studies him. “Did you think you would be allowed to surrender after your part in the genocide?”

Mag’s mind goes blank. Allowed to surrender? Allowed? “You war was unsanctioned. It is only by the grace of the council that they entertained a surrender—”

“Let’s just kill him, Captain Simran,” a crewmember standing behind Mag interrupts. From the tone of voice, this is the one who laughed first. He steps around Mag, glaring, and comes up alongside the captain. “He won’t understand.”

“Stand down, First Officer Blanche,” the captain says. But she doesn’t move to reprimand him further, even stepping slightly to one side so that the human man can stand in front of Mag with her. “We have our orders.”

Kill him? Mag clicks his mandibles. “As per council regulation, once a formal surrender has been accepted all participating parties are to cease hostilities—”

“Your council regulations,” Captain Simran says. She doesn’t flinch as Mag hisses in frustration at the second interruption. “After the Council’s…lackluster decision to cull our population, Earth has agreed to go in a different direction.” Her eyes flash. “Your council is currently facing the same situation as you.”

First Officer Blanche’s eyes drift out the viewing window where the last of Commander Mag’s ship’s light have finally gone dark.

Mag feels his hearts pounding in his chest, so loud that they can be heard buzzing outside his body. “Ridiculous! The Council won’t fall to inferior species’—”

“Commander Mag of Merstilan, you have been found guilty of seventeen separate war crimes,” Captain Simran says.

“All of my actions were sanctioned--!”

“The full list of your crimes shall be made available to you upon request,” she continues as if he’s not speaking.

Enraged, Mag struggles against his bonds. “I am not a criminal! The surrender was processed!”

“Thank you,” Captain Simran says, “for sparing the millions of lives on your home planet. That is what your surrender bought. However, someone must pay for the millions of human lives lost.”

“A life for a life,” First Officer Blanche says. His lip curls in an expression Mag abruptly remembers as contempt. “Surely you must understand that.”

“I do not,” Mag says. His six eyes dart from the captain, to the first officer, all around the deck to the various crew standing guard. No, not standing guard. Spectating. They’re here to spectate his death. “The consequence for murdering a sanctioned agent of the Council—”

“It is a shame you have one life to lose for the millions you slaughtered,” the captain observes. She doesn’t seem to notice Mag’s thrashing or the panicked pitch of his beating hearts. She pulls a pistol from her belt. “It will have to be enough.”

“The war is over!” Mag bellows. He recognizes that pistol. Its ammo is strong enough to cut through steel. His exoskeleton won’t stand a chance. “There is no need for further loss of life!”

“There is need,” Captain Simran says. She brings the weapon up to point between his eyes. Her face is frozen into that mask-like expression, her eyes gleaming. “Your death will only satiate a part of that need. Goodbye, Commander.”

Captain Simran of Earth pulls the trigger.