“Put down the pistol,” you instruct. “Let’s talk this through.”

“I won’t be talking,” he responds, laser pistol shaking in his hand. “But if you have any last words, now’s the time.”

“My team means everything to me. Don’t you feel the same way about your crew? Doesn’t it kill you inside to wipe their memories? To render many of them comatose? Just so military secrets won’t be spilled in an unwinnable war that began before we were even born–”

“You have three seconds.”

“Take my life, if you must, but promise you’ll spare my team.”

The captain pauses for a moment, then nods. A man of his word, he grants your final request.

THE END