He was not born a slave. He was sold as one.

Purchased as an indentured asset, his debt measured not in coin but in blood and service to a greater cause — not his cause, but one that would do. His new master had a use for him — a capital pilot, sworn to the glory of an empire not his own. He trained. He flew. He won. The deal was always freedom — service was simply the path to it, a man rebuilt through discipline and cause, given worth where the markets had assigned none.

When the wars ended and the capitals cooled, his master kept the promise. The debt was paid. He was free.

With his freedom came something no contract had promised: the stars, his own, on his own terms.

The fights are smaller now. He prefers it that way.

He has found others who understand — that justice is not a banner you fly, it is a choice you make every time you undock. He holds a quiet contempt for the null empires, almost all of them. Their endless claiming of space for the sake of claiming. No advancement. No reason. No meaning. Just empire building upon empire, crushing everything beneath it.

Almost all of them.

One gave him a chance when he had nothing. Saw value in a man the markets had written off. Built him. Freed him. Pointed him at the very stars that once sold him into chains.

11213. No master. No debt. Making his own way, one wreck at a time.