The old man sat at a small table gazing out at the moor through the window of his one room cottage. He watched as the white fog came rolling along the gray-green fields like a slow wave. A light rain gently threw droplets against the window, reminding the old man that today was going to be damp and cold. He despised the weather, it was hard for him to move when it got cold, sinking low into his chair he again asked himself why he had chosen to keep living on this dreary planet. He had often thought of leaving, moving off world too somewhere with a warmer climate. Perhaps someday he would even return to earth, it had been so long since he had left and his heart ached to return to the place he had once fought so hard for. He had given everything to protect earth, his home and people, because of that they would never let him go back.
Suddenly a high-pitched whistling brought the old man back to reality, waking him with a jolt. Feeling a little lost the man looked around for a moment, realizing that he must have dosed off, he stood and with a heavy sigh made his way across cold hard floor. The whistling silenced as the man removed a steaming kettle from its place on a wood burning stove, this was a backwater world with little in the way of technology. That was why he had chosen it, after the war the old man had gone as far into the frontier as he could, they had chased him for a while, as he moved from colony to colony. But things hadn't caught up with him yet, and he doubted that anyone would chase him out this far.
Stiffly the old man poured the kettles boiling water through a metal strainer laced with herbs and into an ancient looking metal cup. Rearmed with his tea the man made his way back to his chair by the window, and returned to gazing out across the moor watching the fog. Lost in his thoughts, he once more dosed off into a deep sleep. When he awoke, the sky had become darker with clouds and a heavier rain was now pelting off his window. The old man lifted the tea to his lips only to find that it had gone cold, looking around the room he saw that his fire had also died. Reaching across the table he flicked the switch on a large camping lantern that flickered for a moment, then bathed the room with a dull yellow light. The man shivered as he stood and shuffled across the cottage towards the door, as he moved he cursed himself for not bringing in more wood for the fire earlier in the day before the storm had rolled in. Carefully he removed a faded blue long coat from where it hung by the door, the coat had marks in places that had once been covered by patches or other insignia that had been removed long ago. As he stepped through the door into the dark night the old man pulled the coat tighter around his thin body, it had been the only thing with him when he fled all those years ago, he had not even taken the time to collect the photo of his dead wife. When they told him what had happened, what he had done, the old mans only thoughts were that he had to get away.
Stumbling through the wind and the rain the old man pushed through the door to his woodshed and collected the few dry logs he could find. Once back in the cottage he dropped logs down by the stove and returned his now soaking wet coat to the hook by the door, then the old man pulled off his mud covered boots and walked back to the stove. He gave a pained grunt as he knelt and opened the stove, after shoveling out the days ash he carefully placed bits of kindling to form a cradle and pushed the driest log into place. Satisfied, the man threw a match into the stove and closed the hatch halfway to ensure the fire got all the air it needed. Then he flicked off the lantern and marched to the small cot that sat against the wall across from the stove. The man removed his clothes and slid under the thick blankets, it was some time before he was finally claimed by sleep.
His dreams were filled with memories of his past, his childhood on earth, then his time in Earths united defense fleet. Those had been grand days, he had sailed the stars seeing every wonder the solar system had to offer, and then later in his life the wonders of countless other systems humanity discovered as the expanded into the void. The man had even been there when first contact with intelligent life had been made, and he had fought in the conflict that had followed it. Though he didn't want to remember, his mind forced him to recall the final days of that war. How so many had burned in the void of space. He remembered brave captains and crews he had sent to die, and others that he had saved, and he remembered when it had all ended. How he had won the decisive victory against the threat that had cost the lives of so many human beings. If only he had know how final that victory would truly be.
When morning finally came the old man was greeted by dull sunlight streaming through the window, and the bitter cold of the morning on his face. His body always stayed warm, but no matter how many blankets he had he always awoke with a cold face. After a while he left the bed and placed a fresh log in the stove, once the fire had warmed the room the old man set a pan on the stoves top and cracked two eggs into it, he then filled the kettle with water and placed it on the stove next to the pan. Then the man sat by window and looked out at the rolling grasslands the storm had passed in the night and the rain had left everything covered in a cold layer of morning dew.
He had just settled in at the table with his tea to eat breakfast when the old man stopped for a moment, he thought he had just heard a sound, not the normal moaning of the wind but something more constant. He was about to return to his meal when he heard it again, this time he was certain of it, looking out the window he could see nothing for a moment, then he noticed a small black dot in distant sky growing larger as it came towards him. Sipping his tea the old man watched as the helicopter came closer and its spinning turbines became louder, he thought about trying to make a run for it but he knew that they would not show their hand like this if they had not already surrounded him. As the helicopter landed it shook the inside of the cottage, the man stood and pulled his coat around his old body. As he stood in front of the door he took a moment to run his hands along his clothing smoothing out any wrinkles he could. As the helicopters turbines began to die down the man stepped out of his little wooden home, he had spent the last 14 years hiding from them. But now, they found him again.
The helicopters door opened and two soldiers stepped out and stood at attention, a moment later a young man in a dark suit followed them. He took a moment to look at the tired old man clad in an old uniform, before speaking in a loud and clear voice that carried across the distance between them.
“Good morning Admiral, you have proven to be a very difficult man to find.”
the old man stood uncomfortable for a second and then replied slowly.
“I’m not an Admiral any more...”
the young man smiled and shook his head. “ Actually Admiral, you are. The powers at be decided it was best to allow you to keep your rank, so that you could get the full use out of military justice.” He smiled “After all it would be very tiring to go through the full motions of a regular trial, especially after we spent all this time just trying to find you.”
The Admiral stood silently.
After a moment the young man spoke again. “Now I’d like to get this all over with, come with me Admiral” the young man held out his hand as one of the soldiers began moving towards the Admiral.
The old man waited until the soldier had almost reached him before he quietly said “You know I never meant it don't you?” the young man and the soldiers watched silently as the Admiral began to cry “High command never told me that they were a purely space faring species. I had always assumed that they had their own planets somewhere, a place where they lived and died just as we did.”
“That changes nothing” the younger man said coldly “you destroyed both their warships and habitation vessels alike, you killed billions.”
The soldier continued his advance towards the Admiral.
“I didn’t mean to do it!” the old man pleaded as he fell to his knees, tears pouring down his face “Command told us to destroy their entire fleet, I was only following orders!”
“Only following orders?” the young man spat “It doesn't matter if you were only following orders, you exterminated an entire species of intelligent beings, the only other intelligent life we have found in the entire galaxy!”
The soldier pulled the Admiral to his feet and pushed him towards the helicopter as the young man continued to speak.
“Not only have you committed genocide on the largest possible scale, you destroyed every trace of their culture, every record of their history and your only defense is that you did not know?”
As the soldier dragged him into the helicopter the old man sobbed “But I didn't mean it, I was only trying to protect people...”
The young man stepped into the helicopter and closed the door as the engines powered back on. “Well that doesn't matter anymore, you have already been judged and your fate has been decided.”
The old Admiral looked up “Will you take me back to earth?”
“No, our ship is waiting in orbit, we will take you there and you will be executed.”