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Humanity has spread out into a massive sprawling empire throughout the galaxy. The edges of the sprawl remain poorly guarded and sparsely settled after all humanity throughout a thousand stars has always been alone. This like all things will change.
2724 Gazelle system 708 days from Earth
You are Lieutenant Commander Tobias Cromwell, the captain of the aging corvette Forgone Mist. You sit in your chair staring glumly out at the inky black void next to the small mining station that was slowly churning out titanium ore from the barren planet below you. It was your opinion this posting was a waste of perfectly good men and supplies. The outer ring was desolate pirates didn't strike out here and no misguided rebel would want unprocessed titanium ore yet you were stuck here on orders of the sector admiral. The ship's XO taps you on the shoulder and hands you a steaming cup of coffee, swiping it from the man's hand you take a sip, the stale beans used to make the drink giving it a foul aftertaste far less pleasant than you hoped, you huff and lean back in your chair. You grumble at your position stuck on the ass end of human space nearly two years distant from earth on the fastest transport, with supplies that didn't last and ships that were antiquated when your grandfather was a young man. It was a single accusation of cowardice during a pirate raid that saw you bumped down two ranks and shunted off to finish your career aboard a corvette. The corvettes dual torpedo mounts and twin coil gun cannons were nothing compared to the heavy cruiser you once had captained and the battleship you were meant to captain as the crescendo of your career in the navy.
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