Böcker av Zachary Watson

I'd hoped that escaping from the Faithful would be the end of our troubles. That after a year of captivity, torture, and loss, we would finally be free. Instead it seems our struggles are doomed to continue. We may have escaped, but we're low on food, water, and fuel for our stolen ship. A ship carrying us into a storm of Warlords, Pirates, and Slavers. Into a region wracked by the greatest war it has seen in a generation, a war that has seen its balance of power completely torn asunder. A region where the Faithful could be anywhere. Ready and waiting to silence us before we can make it home. We'll be ready for them. We have to be. We won't survive if we aren't.

We'd shut down a smuggling operation that spanned from the Empire to the far end of the Near Reaches. Helped destroy a conspiracy's training facility, capturing or killing hundreds of people who'd been working against our nation. All I wanted to do was go home. Rest before our next mission. To help put an end to that project so that we could move on to another. Instead I was drugged, abducted, and shoved into a prison cell aboard a ship. I had no weapons, no armor, no equipment. No way to call for help, no way to tell my pack that I was still alive. That I needed their help. Instead I have a sealed door, gruel for food, and a cellmate I can't understand. I have no idea where we're being taken. Why we were taken. Who else is on this ship with me. All I know is that my luck had better turn around soon, or else I'll be too dead to find the answers to those questions.

Nothing focuses you like a last chance.I should know. I'm on mine. One more mistake and I'm out of the Imperial service. For a conscript barely halfway through her term of service, that doesn't mean just getting sent home. Doesn't mean exile. Doesn't mean a minor slap on the wrist.It means a penal colony for the rest of my life.It's not easy to forget that, even when I've finally been allowed to do the job I enjoy the most. I finally have a stable pack, finally am doing important work for the Empire instead of just doing menial tasks. I'm learning how to be a real Intelligence Agent years ahead of anyone else. Helping uncover just what really happened on Oshflara.The trail of the false priestess and her smugglers has led us into the Reaches, light-years beyond the Imperial borders. From the automated farms in the Group of Five, to the pirate infested stars along the Ascendancy, then on to a snow covered Ark Fleet outpost, I'll do everything I can to help my Agent find the ones responsible.Maybe then I'll have closure.Maybe then... the nightmares will stop.

My name is Ashe, and I'm one of millions of Imperial Conscripts. Like everyone else, I just want to get through my term with as few demerits and as much excitement as possible. That way I'd actually have a good chance to get into a proper Academy, and not have to go with my back-up plan of joining a minor Strike-Wave league as a goalie prospect. You'd think that would be easy, considering how many people manage it all the time. Sadly I've got a disadvantage that not many in the Empire share... I'm Human. Not even halfway through my term of service, and I've already been assigned to more units than most conscripts will in their entire career. If I'm not being mocked for my appearance, I'm not believed when I investigate corruption and problems. All I want is a chance to prove myself, to prove that I'm worthy of joining Imperial Intelligence even before my conscription is over. I may even have a chance on Oshflara; a multi-species colony. Officially a quiet world where the cultures of the Empire can live together in peace, I know better. Any planet with multiple species is one that's got to have plenty of problems, and with problems there could be chances to test myself. With luck it will be the perfect place to root out secrets, discover hidden knowledge, and maybe even impress my new squad. If I can pull it off, it'll show off my investigative skills in the best way possible. If I can't... I can only hope I'll survive it.