Out of those about 8,000 came from species that still believed honor could be earned through ritual combat. A crystalline cadet from the Cyhorian species pulsed bright, amused colors through its body. His skin carried the ritual markings of a real veteran, not the fake scars that some Academy show off's war. Her species had kept the academy running smoothly for over 800 years and she looked like someone who had seen every kind of problem, until now. Some say the cooperative erased the dominion's history so no one could bring back their ways.

Out of those about 8,000 came from species that still believed honor could be earned through ritual combat. A crystalline cadet from the Cyhorian species pulsed bright, amused colors through its body. His skin carried the ritual markings of a real veteran, not the fake scars that some Academy show off's war. Her species had kept the academy running smoothly for over 800 years and she looked like someone who had seen every kind of problem, until now. Some say the cooperative erased the dominion's history so no one could bring back their ways.

Out of those about 8,000 came from species that still believed honor could be earned through ritual combat. A crystalline cadet from the Cyhorian species pulsed bright, amused colors through its body. His skin carried the ritual markings of a real veteran, not the fake scars that some Academy show off's war. Her species had kept the academy running smoothly for over 800 years and she looked like someone who had seen every kind of problem, until now. Some say the cooperative erased the dominion's history so no one could bring back their ways.

Out of those about 8,000 came from species that still believed honor could be earned through ritual combat. A crystalline cadet from the Cyhorian species pulsed bright, amused colors through its body. His skin carried the ritual markings of a real veteran, not the fake scars that some Academy show off's war. Her species had kept the academy running smoothly for over 800 years and she looked like someone who had seen every kind of problem, until now. Some say the cooperative erased the dominion's history so no one could bring back their ways.

Out of those about 8,000 came from species that still believed honor could be earned through ritual combat. A crystalline cadet from the Cyhorian species pulsed bright, amused colors through its body. His skin carried the ritual markings of a real veteran, not the fake scars that some Academy show off's war. Her species had kept the academy running smoothly for over 800 years and she looked like someone who had seen every kind of problem, until now. Some say the cooperative erased the dominion's history so no one could bring back their ways.

Effective immediately, his voice echoed through the translation systems, all cadets from Class 10 or higher death worlds are suspended pending psychiatric review and possible expulsion. Students from the toughest planets shouted in protest, the granite-skinned Commonwealth cadets, the Vowesh from their heavy gravity moons, and others from dangerous worlds. Yesterday during a simulated survival test, another death world student killed and began field dressing a holographic creature before realizing it wasn't real. This morning, he said, lowering his voice, we found two cadets comparing scars in from predator attacks, as children. Death world species show chronic hypervigilance, casual acceptance of violence and an unsettling comfort with death, and worst of all, they believe this is normal.

Effective immediately, his voice echoed through the translation systems, all cadets from Class 10 or higher death worlds are suspended pending psychiatric review and possible expulsion. Students from the toughest planets shouted in protest, the granite-skinned Commonwealth cadets, the Vowesh from their heavy gravity moons, and others from dangerous worlds. Yesterday during a simulated survival test, another death world student killed and began field dressing a holographic creature before realizing it wasn't real. This morning, he said, lowering his voice, we found two cadets comparing scars in from predator attacks, as children. Death world species show chronic hypervigilance, casual acceptance of violence and an unsettling comfort with death, and worst of all, they believe this is normal.

Humanity would be banished to the chasm, a region of space where the laws of physics twisted in impossible ways, where ships vanished without a trace, and where madness seemed to leak from reality itself. They had been branded as the face of humanity, though they were merely the crew of Earth's first deep space exploration mission. Three months later, the transport ships released 40,000 humans at the edge of the chasm, not just the condemned crew, but volunteers, families, and those who refused to let humanity face extinction alone. Six months later, human ships glided through the chasm like dancers, predicting rifts and surfing temporal waves. Two years after their exile, the first human ship reappeared near council space, then another, then a fleet.

Humanity would be banished to the chasm, a region of space where the laws of physics twisted in impossible ways, where ships vanished without a trace, and where madness seemed to leak from reality itself. They had been branded as the face of humanity, though they were merely the crew of Earth's first deep space exploration mission. Three months later, the transport ships released 40,000 humans at the edge of the chasm, not just the condemned crew, but volunteers, families, and those who refused to let humanity face extinction alone. Six months later, human ships glided through the chasm like dancers, predicting rifts and surfing temporal waves. Two years after their exile, the first human ship reappeared near council space, then another, then a fleet.

Humanity, he declared, has been found guilty of aggressive expansion, cultural interference, and disturbing the balance of galactic civilization, effective immediately, all human colonies beyond the soul system are to be evacuated. Rebecca looked around at the representatives of the other races, the VRN who had taken for millennia just to colonize three star systems, the courtish, who after 6,000 years still hadn't managed faster than light travel, and dozens of old, slow species who had become too comfortable, too afraid of change. What the council failed to realize was that humanity's greatest strength had never been its technology or military power. But unlike the council, humanity opened its doors, refugees from oppressive worlds, scientists seeking freedom, and merchants tired of corruption, all found a new home in human space. Humanity had been exiled for being too ambitious, so they built an empire that turned ambition itself into their greatest strength.