Protect

Hopes

Note:

"Quotes": talking

'Apostrophe': thinking

*Asterisk*: sound effect

Italicized and underlined: flashback

Sometimes they will be used differently, but mainly to emphasize.

̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶

"Report!" said Commander Kokoci with a serious face.

"The Galactic Pirate Alliance has decided to withdraw. Our troops are gaining the upper hand as we regain control of the power station and the supply route."

"However, even though we have just repelled the second enemy force, we still have not been able to form a team to search for the group that sent the SOS signal."

"Whattt!?"

Admiral Tarung flung the conference table against the wall in a fit of rage, growling furiously at the only subordinate who could communicate in a language other than "mob".

"Is it that hard to just send a support team to a group of five people!?"

The subordinate faltered. He also wanted to start the rescue operation now, but...

"W-We apologize, admiral. The battle just now caused our force a lot of casualties, and the rest of them were also worn out, leading to a serious shortage of manpower. As you know, this second enemy army is small, but all are elite troops of their alliance. We will do our best to arrange the search team as quickly as possible!"

'It's too late!' Admiral Tarung almost shouted at his subordinate.

We had to find another way.

The admiral mused quietly, his serious eyes flashing with a cold glint as if the person who had just erupted into a rage was someone other than himself.

"Start getting ready!" After a few seconds of silence, admiral Tarung commanded in a cold, stern voice.

"But-"

"I will also join the search team. Is that enough combat strength and support?" Admiral Tarung interrupted. The eyes he looked at his subordinate were not impatient, not in a hurry, only...

The calm gaze of an admiral who had been through many battles.

"And I will stay and take over the battle in place of the admiral." Commander Kokoci chimed in. His brown eyes hidden under thick sunglasses glimmering with rare fury. The fact that those pirates dared to drag unrelated people to the battle ignited a fire of indignation in him.

'But...'

He hated them once, he hated himself ten times.

He had the title of commander but didn't realize those pirates' dirty trick, sneakily sent a second force to attack that planet where-

'...The kids are there.'

He tried to push them out of this battle.

But in the end, because of his fault...

"Please help me save them" commander Kokoci uttered, with a hint of urgency in his voice. As a commander, he knew he shouldn't let his emotions interfere with giving orders, but-