“Tazia, cielito, stop fussing, you look beautiful.”

Taz dropped her hand from her head with as forceful of a huff as she could manage in the ridiculous dress her mother and aunt had coerced her into. All lace and poof, it suited her nearly as well as the teased hair and eye-drooping

makeup they'd assaulted her with. “I look like you could slice and serve me as a wedding cake, mamá.”

“You look like a young lady,” her mama said. “As well you should, for your quinceañera. You’re fifteen now – a woman grown. Time to stop being such a muchachota. You’ll never catch a man’s eye climbing trees and picking

fights like you do.”

“One day,” Taz said. “That’s all I promised.”

Her mama sighed. “Dios muerto, my daughter, what am I to do with you?” She lifted the curtain, ever so slightly. “Have you at least decided which chambelán will have the honour of the first dance with you?” Taz followed her mother to the window. “Maravilloso,” she whispered despite herself. The yard was unrecognizable, her aunt and cousins having turned it from chickens and grass to a twinkling wonderland – fairy lights and flowers, guests in all their finery, the band setting up in

the corner, and a cake almost as large and decorated as her dress. She’d been dreading this day for months – a quinceañera was a girl’s coming out party, and there was nothing Taz hated more than being the centre of attention.Especially in an outfit like this. The archaic-style mass had

been bad enough, sitting up at the altar on display for everyone to see – but now she had to go out and face them, talk to people, smile… and dance.

“I don’t know, mama,” Taz said. “I don’t want to dance with any of them.” Her chambelanes, or escorts, were a motley collection of awkward youths, pimply and barely moustached, and most of them her cousins.

Her mama tutted and opened her mouth, but just then there was a wicked crashing sound, far away but close enough to shake the windows of their tiny house. Her mama looked up worriedly. “I didn’t think it was meant to rain today.”

One of Taz’s older cousins poked her head in the door. “It’s time, Tazia! Everyone is waiting for you!”

Taz froze and cast a glance back at the safety of herbedroom, but her mama took her by the arms and marched her forward, but gently. “I’m proud of you, hijita mia.”

There was applause as she exited the house, and Taz wanted nothing more than to die, or maybe have the earth just open up and swallow her. Perhaps a hoard of ravaging robots could conveniently stage an attack on their village

right at that very moment -

A second crash, closer, caused a falter in the applause, and Taz saw her mama look up at the unclouded, starry sky with worry. A third, and then a brilliant flash, and Taz was no longer on her feet but soaring through the air. For a second she felt nothing but exhilaration. Fear overcame her

just before she hit the ground.

Unable to breathe, unable to move, Taz tried to open her eyes and found them burning from the smoke filling the air around her. Shutting them quickly, she listened instead. Screams, and more explosions. A dreadful ripping of something that wasn’t cloth, and then the sound that struck fear and hatred into the hearts of every human still living on

Earth – the unmistakable mechanical sound of a robot.

Dragging her hand over her mouth, she took a cautious breath and coughed. She had to get out of the smoke. Summoning all her strength, she managed to will herself to flop and roll across the blackened grass until the air entered her lungs a little easier. She wanted to rest, to sleep, to give

in to her overwhelming sense of fatigue, but the screams had gone silent, and it unnerved her. Staggering to her feet, she pulled herself to her full height and squinted through

the hazy air.

Rrrr. Rrrr. Rrrr.

Through a tower of smoke emerged the deadly white form of a robot, and its weapon-arm was pointed directly at her.

“Up! Up! Come in, Up!”

The lieutenant coughed and reached blindly for his

crackling radio. “This is Up.”

“Thank dead God you survived. We saw that blast from up here – how’s the rest of your team? We can’t get them on the line.”

Up raised his head. He was on his belly on the ground. All around him were the charred remains of seven human bodies. The G.L.E.E. insignia was still visible on the chest of the one nearest him, but he couldn’t tell who it belonged to. He turned away, feeling ill. “There’s just me.”

A pause on the other end. “All right, Up, get yourself back here. There’s nothing more you can do for these people.”

“Got it.” Up winced as he stood, battered but not really injured, and took in his surroundings. He had only taken a couple of steps in the direction of the pickup location when he heard a scream. A terrible, human scream, raw and edged with anger and fear, but more than anything, defiance. It

was a girl.

His soldier’s instincts made him turn back.

The scene was bizarre as any he’d come across. Half a dozen robots in a circle, dead bodies and spilled cake and in the centre, trussed and hanging upside down from the branch of a tree, the girl. She spun slowly, giving the same dreadful battle cry with each twist of the rope. She was

wearing the remains of an elaborate, smoking dress, and her tangled black hair fell loose, reaching for the ground. Her face was blackened and swollen. She had put up a fight. She hadn’t noticed him yet, and neither had the robots.

One stepped forward, tapping a two-by-four against its palm as if it was a piñata stick. “Hush, little hu-mahn,” it said. “We are just wanting to play a little game with you.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha,” deadpanned the others.

“I’ll see you all burn in hell! Hijos de puta!” the girl

bellowed, and the force of her efforts turned her again. Her eyes met Up’s, and widened. The robots turned.

Up moved. It was quick, and if they had been human, it would have been bloody, but that wasn’t a problem when your enemy was made up of soulless automatons. It was over in less than a minute, and amidst the smouldering metallic remains, the soldier turned to the girl piñata.

She was watching him with very large eyes. He was breathing heavily, and it sounded far too loud in the sudden silence. Finally she said, in a thick Mexican accent, “Aren’t you going to cut me down?”

He did so, making sure he was close enough to catch her before she hit the ground. She was tiny, featherlight, and in pain, that he could tell from the gasp that escaped her when she landed in his arms. “Are you all right?”

“What the hell kind of question is that?” she asked,

gritting her teeth. He looked around. He supposed it was adumb question, she’d just been strung up by robots and they were surrounded by the bodies of likely everyone she knew.

She closed her eyes, took a breath, and looked at him.“Who are you, anyway? Where did you come from?”

“I’m-” Up swallowed and wondered why he was feeling so thick-headed all of a sudden. “I’m Lieutenant Up, from the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration. I’m a – I’m a Starship Ranger. My platoon landed nearby to try and

curb this attack, but I’m afraid we were too late.”

There might have been the chance of a tear in her eye, but she blinked it away. “I’m Taz,” she said. “Put me down, I can walk.”

He complied, setting her down as gently as he could. She still seemed too delicate for words, but her fiery eyes, taking in the scene around them with a frightening lack of emotion, told him otherwise. “Walk? Walk where?"

“Wherever you’re going, Starship Ranger,” she said.

“I’m coming with you.”

“That’s some stray followed you home, eh Up?”

“Pretty little thing, I’d say, once she’s cleaned up. A real muñeca.” Chortles followed him down the hallway, but Up didn’t look back. He’d deal with those idiots later. He knocked on the Commander’s door, still not sure exactly how or why he’d gotten himself into this situation.

“Enter.”

Commander Li was seated at her desk, looking solemnly at a glass of scotch.

“Lieutenant,” she said. “At ease.” Indicating for him to take a seat, she reached to pour a second glass. “Bad scene down there. Lost some good men today.”

“Yes, sir,” Up said. They’d been his men. Not the first he’d lost, and not the last he would. The harsh reality of war.

“Another Lieutenant without a team. I guess that means I’ll be returning you to the Academy for reassignment,” the Commander sighed. “I’ll be sorry to see you go, Up. You’ve been a good leader to those Rangers.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“And as such an exemplary soldier, I am sure you are well aware that starships armed for battle are not in the habit of taking refugees on board on a whim?” Up had taken a sip of the scotch, and coughed. “Yes, sir, I am aware of that.”

“So please, enlighten me, Lieutenant. What in the galaxy caused you to bring that young lady on board my ship?”

Because she damned well wouldn’t let me do otherwise was what he wanted to say, but that wasn’t quite right.

“There was nowhere else for her to go, sir. Her entire village was destroyed. There are still robots on the ground, and no bunkers for miles.” He saw the girl again, swinging defiantly from that tree branch amidst the smouldering ruins of her life. “She would have died.”

The Commander didn’t respond, but raised an eyebrow and Up knew exactly what she was thinking – why should that matter to him? He'd laughed at death a thousand times over and had just lost seven good men. Who cared about some Mexican girl who could scream like a banshee in the face of certain death? He set the glass down on the desk, a little harder than he’d meant to.

“Permission to speak freely, sir.”

The Commander waved her hand.

“What’s the harm in it? We’ll be back at the Academy within a couple of weeks and I can’t see her being much trouble. Clearly she doesn't eat much.”

“And what shall we do with her when we get to the Academy?”

“The refugee centre will set her up with something, give her a roof over her head at least. There’s nothing for her here, and we’re halfway to the next station anyway. We can’t just kick her off the ship now.”

Commander Li looked unimpressed. “As was surely your plan, Lieutenant.” She sighed. “I guess that’s settled, then. You’d better go collect her from sickbay.”

Up stood, then paused. “What – why? Shouldn’t she stay there?”

“The medics tell me she’s not seriously hurt. The beds there are full of our own men, and we’ve just established that you’re down a few bunkmates, aren’t you? You brought the girl on board, Lieutenant. She’s your responsibility until we get to the Academy.” She stood up, too, and gestured at the door. “Congratulations, Up. You get to keep your pet after all.”

He saluted, and walked out of her office. Snide bitch, he thought. Reassignment was fine with him.

The girl was sitting, legs curled up around her, in one of sickbay's metal chairs while medics bustled back and forth between Rangers suffering varying degrees of injury. She’d been cleaned up and her wounds tended to, and someone had scrounged up an old ensign’s uniform for her to wear.