The blood-tainted sweat trickled down his face as he desperately wormed his way through the mines.

What would he find when he made it out? He didn’t know. He’d heard stories of worlds beyond that which he’d known. He’d come into existence here—a slave born. But somehow he knew his world wasn’t right.

How could it be?

Men, women, children toiling for the greater good of an empire they knew little about.

Behind him, the plasma bullets fired relentlessly. He ducked, rolled and weaved to avoid their deadly force, as the tallulite exploded from the walls in glowing, orange balls of hot fire.

As he ran, he gripped tightly the gun he held in his own hand. And he remembered how it had come to be in his possession. How he’d struck the overseer hard with a chunk of stone and split his skull. It was the first human he’d ever killed, and he didn’t know how to feel about it.

But he knew he needed to feel freedom. And, as he turned the corner, his escape lay before him—a starship, fueled and ready.