Andros regained consciousness with a groan. He kept his eyes clenched shut as he tried to come to grips with his last thoughts.

Wasn’t I shot in the head? Shouldn’t I be dead?

He cracked his eyes open and artificial illumination stabbed directly into his brain and elicited another sound of discontent. He thought about closing his eyes and attempting to return to unconsciousness, but the fighter in him wouldn’t let that happen. He opened his eyes fully and went to sit up. The movement caused his stomach to roil and he had to fight down the urge to vomit.

Glancing around, he realized he was in a hospital bed. He had been in one for long enough on the Expedition that it was immediately recognizable. He lifted his arms and looked at his wrists curiously. The lack of restraints was new.

“So, you’re alive after all, huh?” The voice was throaty and it sounded amused.

Andros knew he should’ve been alarmed to find himself in a strange place with an unknown person talking to him, but he felt bone-deep tiredness that kept him from caring. His life over the past couple of weeks had been a series of vignettes featuring him waking up in strange places with stranger people. He had already been shot in the head with a pistol and figured that life couldn’t get much worse. Dull-eyed, he turned his head toward the speaker.

Before responding to the speaker, he let his eyes wander across his surroundings. He was in a medbay similar to the one he had spent time in on the INS Expedition. This one was larger with close to a hundred fortasteel beds and a team of white-coated doctors patrolling the corridors and talking to various patients. Only about a quarter of the beds were filled and no one looked like they were in critical condition.

He noticed two Imperial Marines standing guard by the exit. They wore blood-red armor that covered the entirety of their bodies. Their chest pieces looked like a more heavily fortified version of the guards he had already seen. Instead of a black biosuit between the various pieces of armor, he saw that everything from their groins, upper arms, and thighs were just as heavily protected as the rest of them. In the creases between the armor, he spied a thick underlayer that looked dense enough to stop a knife. He filed away the information for later. He didn’t have a weapon on him, but he needed to be prepared to fight them. He would guess better than even odds that they were there for him. His analysis took less time than it took for him to turn toward the person addressing him.

The man who spoke was a shorter-than-average man with broad shoulders and a slender athletic body. There didn’t appear to be an ounce of fat on him. His orange biosuit matched Andros’ own and it revealed corded muscle and thick veins snaking their way across his body. His face was remarkable because Andros had never seen anything like it on his planet. Dark brown pupils within an almond-shaped eye lent him an exotic look. Andros had seen more colorings and body shapes since being exposed to the Empire that he had ever seen on his planet. The man’s short black hair topped a strong jawed-face with high cheekbones. He had no facial hair to speak of which wasn’t unusual. In his admittedly limited experience, it wasn’t popular in the Empire to have facial hair. The man was grinning in Andros’ direction and his pure white teeth reflected the glaring medbay lights.

“What, do you think I’m pretty?” The man ribbed when Andros hadn’t said anything.

The Hodan barked a laugh. “Aye, I do. You’ve got the look of a dancer.” His eyes twinkled merrily. “You’re not my type, but I’m sure one of the Marines over there would take a liking to you.”

The man places a hand over his heart with a wounded expression. “I’m a gentleman!” He good-naturedly protested.” He winked. “They’d at least have to buy me dinner,” he said before chuckling.

Andros shared his laugh. “What brings a gentleman like you to a run-down place, like this?” gesturing to the medbay around them. His question was light, but there was a dark undercurrent that both men recognized.

The strange man tilted his head toward Andros’ attire and his voice grew serious. “Likely, the same as you since we’re both wearing orange biosuits. They don’t give them to just anyone, only men of a certain caliber.”

He stuck his hand out. “Looks like us criminals need to stick together,” he declared with a grin.

Andros lamely looked down at the outstretched hand, not knowing why the man would extend it toward him. He tapped the top off it with a hand like he was patting a favored dog. The man raised an eyebrow before letting his hand drop away. Andros had not returned the response as intended.

“I’m Zhang Wei,” the man announced.

“Andros,” he returned. “It’s good to meet you considering the circumstances.” His eyes quickly panned to the Marines at the door and back.

“Yes, considering the circumstance,” Zhang replied, catching the signal.

They released their greeting and before Andros could press for more information, he was interrupted.

“Ah, Mr. Aeton and Mr. Wei, good of you to join the land of the living.” The voice was cold enough to turn a spring shower into a blizzard.

Andros lazily leaned back onto his bed and studied the newcomer. She had long white hair that fell to the middle of her back. She had a dainty, porcelain look like fine crockery. Her youthful face didn’t fit her white hair, but it was only one of the many idiosyncrasies that Andros took in.

It was her eyes that disturbed him the most. They were yellow-orange like a jungle hunting cat. They were illuminated by an internal fire that looked uncaring and utterly merciless. Andros didn’t think he was being metaphorical. No, they glowed.

Instead of wearing the coat of a medical professional, she was dressed in the all-black of Imperial Intelligence with a pistol on her thigh. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she gave off the impression of a coiled spring. The Hodan did not doubt that even a wet fart would be enough for her to pull the pistol and shoot him in the head once and for all.

“To whom do I owe the pleasure?” He asked. Zhang remained silent, which probably meant that he was smarter than Andros.

The contempt on the woman’s face deepened. Something, Andros wouldn’t have believed possible if not for seeing it with his own eyes.

“My name is Chief Impez, and I will be responsible for your Indoc. Now, come with me.” She had already turned to leave while Andros’ brain was scrambling to catch up.

“Chief like the Navy?” He questioned, sure that he had seen the rank before.

She stopped abruptly and turned ahead over his shoulder. “No, not like the Navy. Like the Bureau Chief for this entire facility on Ceres.”

Her perfectly raised eyebrow seemed to be daring him to ask another question. Andros found himself intrigued despite the situation, so he slipped off the side of his bed and made his way toward her. Though, he wasn’t stupid enough to ask her another question. The concept of rank within the Intelligence Department was new to him. He assumed they must have had some sort of internal structure, but without analysis provided by his intranet link, he couldn’t confirm the suspicion. Zhang was apparently dumber than Andros thought because the man spoke again.

“Hey Chief, what about me?” Zhang’s sloppy grin accompanied his query. Andros watched his smile slowly fade as the ice queen’s gaze fully settled on him. Instead of replying, she looked at her personal control device and a holo interface popped into view.

That’s new, Andros thought. He was always interested to see the different things the Imperials could do with their technology. The chief made a few taps and then looked up at Zhang expectantly.

The subject of her gaze had just opened his mouth to speak once more when he arched his back and his limbs started to shake like he was having a seizure. A gut-wrenching scream erupted from his throat before he bit into his tongue and blood fountaining from his mouth changed the scream into something garbled and grotesque.

Andros saw blood running from his eyes and his ears and he could smell Zhang’s loosened bowels. He felt his stomach churn at the sight of a healthy man being reduced to a quivering pile in a matter of seconds. The spectacle went on for minutes longer than it should while Andros felt increasingly uncomfortable. He looked around the room to see if someone was going to help the man, but either the orange jumpsuit was a warning, or they simply didn’t care enough to bother. Blissfully, the scene ended when Zhang passed out and lay still.

One of the doctors on the opposite side of the room casually strode over to the bed and started callously peering at the holo screens floating behind it. No alarms went off and the doctor didn’t look particularly concerned. Andros decided that his new friend was probably alive, if not in a good place. The warrior forced himself to look away and meet the eyes of the Chief.

“I hate stupid questions,” she declared. “Pray that you don’t make the same mistake, or I promise I can make it much, much worse.”

Without waiting for his reply, she began walking toward the exit. Andros quietly fell in behind her. He didn’t want to be the object lesson and now he knew why he wasn’t restrained. A couple taps on the gauntlet on the woman’s arm and he would be rendered a seizing wreck with his shit running down his leg. He considered the possibility that tapping a few keys on her control device was all a show in the first place. He had no doubt, she could have simply sent the command over her intranet link.

They passed the two Marines guarding the door and even though they were wearing faceless helmets, Andros could feel their gaze settle over him. He imagined that they were still bitter over his injuring one of their brothers. The warrior knew that he would be just as upset if one of his crew had been hurt.

They were taller than him by half ahead. Their relative size was off-putting. There hadn’t been many individuals who were taller than him. He also noticed that they were heavily armored and didn’t have any of the weaknesses that Andros had used to defeat his prior captors. They were hulking brutes whose only job was to bring inflict suffering upon anyone foolish enough to oppose them. One Marine had been enough to pacify his entire village with a group of combat droids. Having two to guard one unarmored man was simply overkill.

When they passed, neither of the Marines followed them into the corridor. Andros was surprised that they didn’t follow him as they crossed the threshold. He had expected a pair of constant escorts since his last murderous adventure. Their absence was an indication of something else.

Clearly, the Chief is enough to make sure I don’t get out of line, he bitterly recognized.

The pair continued their journey in silence and after a series of winding corridors and a couple of lifts later, they made it to what Andros assumed was an observation room. When the door slid open and he got a look at the inside, he noticed it was devoid of all ornamentation except for a huge transparent window overlooking a chamber as large as the hangar deck on the INS Expedition.

The Chief stepped right up to the window and peered through quietly. Her hands were clasped behind her back which made her look composed and regal. Andros couldn’t be sure if it was an intentional pose or simply an effect of her personality. Although her silence was discomforting, he stood beside her and gazed at the room beyond with interest.

There were formations of soldiers littering the chamber. Some were going through strenuous agility drills while being screamed at by a superior. They walked across narrow beams in full armor, balanced themselves on rolling metal spheres, or dashed through beams of light that forced them to change direction without warning.

Others were practicing with a variety of different weaponry. He watched one group laying down fire on a series of holo targets while a hulking mechanical giant was launching missiles from receptacles on its shoulders. Many such groups were going through everything from hand-to-hand fighting to piloted combat. From where Andros watched, it looked like expertly controlled chaos. Despite himself, he wanted to be in the thick of the training. He wanted to know the full capabilities of his Imperial enemies, and the fact that he wasn’t dead already meant they might have a use for them.

“I believe in coming to an honest arrangement that benefits both parties,” Chief Impez began.

She was still looking down on the training facility but Andros gave her a sidelong glance. Her voice had surprised him. He thought he had been expected to divine something from the training taking place below.

“To that end, I think that it’s important for you to know a few things.” She finally turned to look at him properly. He felt like little more than a particularly interesting insect. He was a curiosity, maybe a bit dangerous if one weren’t careful, but still easily destroyed. He felt the comparison was appropriate.

“First, the Empire has decided that you will be a valuable addition to its fighting force. You’ve displayed a raw skill that the Empire, and Imperial Intelligence, in particular, want to refine.”

Andros cut her off. He was growing tired of the Empire imposing its will without regard to the consequences. “What makes you think I’m going to join your Empire?” He angrily asked. He conveniently ignored his previous desire to take place in the training.

“If you didn’t notice, I was willing to die on that transport out here.”

The Chief nodded perfunctorily. “I did, and that’s why I think you’ll respond well to what I have to tell you next.” She paused and gave him the chance to speak, but Andros remained silent. He didn’t know what else to do. He felt like the Chief held all the cards and he was just waiting for her to reveal the play.

Her eyes looked over his shoulder and he turned to see what she had been peering at.

“Lydia!” He shouted in surprise before rushing over to her. He went to hug her and his arms passed right through her. The lack of resistance made him awkwardly stumble. He backed up and noticed small things that he hadn’t caught in the initial excitement. Her eyes were lifeless like a painting. Her clothes didn’t move and she was absolutely still. This wasn’t her, it was a projection.

“Where is she?” He growled out while drinking in the sight of his wife.

“She’s on Ganymede, with your two children.”

As Andros watched Alexios appeared at his wife’s side and Agathi on her hip. The scene was so similar to their last meeting that his heart hurt. He might’ve thought it was a trick, but he noticed the small crescent-shaped scar on Lydia’s cheek. It was a long-healed injury that she had gotten while still a child. The Empire could’ve gotten a hold of them, but to replicate his wife with such accuracy, they had to have repeated contact with her.

The Chief continued as if she didn’t notice or didn’t care about the pain he was feeling.

“If you decide to join Imperial Intelligence, you will go through four phases of training. Every time you perform above average, more resources will be allocated to your family on Ganymede. Every time you fail in your training, or even if you succeed with just the bare minimum, their standard of living will decline.” She waited for him to digest the information.

“Right now, they’re the poorest of the poor on Ganymede. Their Basic Living Allowance is barely enough to feed them. I expect that Lydia will have an empty stomach more nights than not. The chief sighed before continuing. “Unfortunately, that’s the norm for individuals with little value to the Empire.”

Andros tore his gaze away from his family and glared at the chief. “I thought your empire was all-powerful and prosperous,” he spat.

If the chief was bothered by his fury, she gave no inclination. She seemed bored. “It is. The Empire only asks its citizens what they have the capacity to give and it gives them only what they need. It’s more efficient than any other system of government.”

She glanced back at Andros’ family. “Your family’s only worth to the Empire is their labor. They’re suitable for little else besides farmers on an agro-world. If you want a better life for them, you’ll have to show the Empire that you’re worth the expense.”

Andros clenched his fists. “So that’s the carrot, and the stick is whatever you did to Zhang.”

“You’re more intelligent than you look.” It was the first time Andros had seen the woman smile—It wasn’t a pleasant experience. She had the look of a cat playing with her food. “The stick is the deviance inhibitor that was integrated with your neurological system while you were unconscious. With a single thought from either the trainers or myself, and your entire body will be shut down.”

She gave him a calculating look. “I don’t think the stick will be necessary, will it?”

Andros ran through the facts in his head. He could put up a token resistance, but then his family would suffer. On the other hand, if he performed as they expected, his family would be safe while he plotted his revenge. Coming to a decision, he took a deep breath and released it with an explosive sigh. “No.”

Her smile faded and she returned to her normal business-like demeanor. “I didn’t think so. You’re an intelligent man.” She turned away from him and continued to peer through the window.

“You’ve had some other enhancements that will reveal themselves over time. I’ve already approved greater access for your intranet link. What you were able to accomplish with Class I is remarkable. I expect that a Class III link will be even more effective.”

Andros tested the new link by trying to bring up more details on the Bureau Chief. When the link returned her name, rank, and organization, he knew it was working. Despite the situation, he was excited by the wealth of information at his fingertips.

“One final thing,” the Chief interrupted his musing. “You’re no longer Andros Aeton from a backwater world called Hod. Your past is now an onyx-level secret. You will now be known by your codename, Kronos.” Her eyes met his and she answered the question that had been on the tip of his tongue.

“You’re the first of your kind and your new name reflects the fact. I expect you to research your codename using your improved intranet link. It might give you an idea of your legacy and your purpose at this facility.”

“Kronos,” he rolled the word across his tongue. “It’ll do.”

On his planet, Kronos was the king of the gods. The Empire didn’t know that his people were already familiar with the gods. From their history, Kronos had led the new gods when they had overthrown the old hierarchy. It was fitting. He would be the instrument that overthrew the Empire. He had already decided he would comply for now, but eventually, he would find a way to break free of his bondage and save his people.

“I’m glad you approve,” Chief Impez said in a tone that conveyed she didn’t particularly care what he thought about the code name.

“Your first orders are to report to the armory. After that, you may stop by the chow hall and grab some food. Your medical reports indicate that you’re slightly undernourished. You’ll be able to eat as much as you want, so take advantage of the situation.”

She looked him over, and Kronos didn’t like the way her eyes were drawn to the gauntness of his face and the lean muscle of his figure. It wasn’t sexual, it was more like a horse trader studying their wares. She continued. “Once you’re done stuffing your face, I expect you to go to your room where you’ll spend every free second of your time researching the Empire and Imperial Intelligence. Your training begins tomorrow.”

That part of his orders was something Kronos had intended to do anyway. “Aye, Chief,” Kronos replied as directions overlaid themselves over his vision.

It was a fascinating feature of his new link. Now he understood how the Imperial forces had been able to coordinate so well. Since he had just been given his marching orders, he assumed that the directions would lead him to the armory. With one last look at the training bay, he turned and left the room.

The chief remained where she was and let a small satisfied smile cross her features. Kronos had responded exactly as predicted. It was times like these that she marveled over the efficiency of the Empire. She sent her report to Director Sita as she had been ordered. The director was personally involved with this project and if she did well, she might find herself in the Planetary Bureau Chief’s position. With that promotion, she’s been approved for her next rejuvenation treatment on Terra. Nothing was free in the empire. It was bought through cleverness, ambition, and most of all, success.