Prologue: Freedom for a Price

I never felt this cold before. So devoid of life, chained to the walls of my prison. Put to ice for good measures. For what I have done, could never be forgiven. Years become decades, and decades become centuries, my physical self, unmoving and preserved by the cold. But my mind is well awake; I can hear everyone's voices as they speak to me about my crimes and condition. They know that I can't say anything, but they continue to talk anyways.

Over the years, the number of people visiting my cell dwindle, even the doctors and security guards that were supposed to check on me stop coming. It became quiet. I could not hear anything from outside my cell. The silence continued for days, no one came in, I felt alone.

The silent was calming at first, but it soon tore my sanity out. There is a limit how much solitary life a man can take. But I' am a warrior, I never let myself fall into insanity. But I have my limits as well.

I endured this torture for several days, but just when I was about to break and succumb to madness, I felt warm all of a sudden; I could tell my body was warming up. The chain that held me slackens. A man walked into my cell, he was blurry at first, but as he gets closer I could see him clearly. He wore a full body suit of armour, from the looks of it his chest plate is balak tech, and the rest of his armour is man-made. The ice was melting and I could move my body for the first time after years of imprisonment, strength started to flow throughout my body. The man walked towards the wall and pressed a button which unlocked my chains. "Prisoner name: Morfias, Crime committed: the destruction of the orbital station Sendir and the murder of the High Council of the Drihi, and a lot of other shit too," said the man.

Chunks of ice were starting to fall off now; I could ball my hand into a fist as he continued to talk. "I have a job for you convict, and this job is not as easy as the crimes you committed," said the man. With what strength I have I burst out from my frozen prison, the chains no longer supporting me I fell to the floor. I tried to pick myself up, but numbness from the years of being frozen made my recovery hard and slow. I tried to breath but it was difficult and painful. "And at last you are free," the man said.

Regaining my strength I manage to kneel, every part of my body was screaming with pain but I ignored it. My HUD started to reboot itself. Within seconds my visors are filled with information. I had to close my eyes because of the brightness. Reopening my eyes I could see the room more clearly, my lens focuses on the man that is standing in front of me. "Finally," I manage to say. "I have been waiting for this day, thank you, what is your name boy?"

"I am Staff Sergeant Sivesko of the 122th Earth Gov. Battalion and I am not a boy, I am a man," explained Sivesko. With effort I lift myself up, my legs still numb by the cold. "I ask for your name not your ranking fool and I don't really if you are a man, boy or a girl, now tell me why you need me for your mission, your leader's lock me up here and you expect me to say yes. As you said I did a lot of bad things in the past." I said.

He hesitated at the response I gave, not knowing what to say. I swear if he said it's classified, I will rip his tongue out. "Come on tell me your reason why you need me on this mission, from the looks of it we don't have much time," I said to him, getting a little impatient. His face was still blank but I know he was trying to think of an answer.

He regained his composure quickly, not letting me get the best of him. "We need you on this mission because we have to attack a vilok infested planet, we know that you are an expert in their biology," he explained. "But that's not the main reason why, scans detected that vilok numbers has increased on the planet, it could be a preparation for an invasion on earth."

Everything changed from there, earth was my home, it was nearly destroyed by the retched viloks, and now they are attacking again. But this time we don't have help from the other races as earth government has dispatch the alliance. "If earth is involved in this mission then I will join, I don't really care much about the safety of the government but as long as earth is safe I am happy," I said.

He smiled at the statement. For some reason that made me uneasy. "I noble speech from a traitor, but if you are interested, this mission comes with a reward, and that reward is your freedom and a hefty amount of credits," he announced.

I don't really care what you think of me, but never call me a traitor, as for the reward, I'll take the freedom, I have no use of credits," I told him.

"Then it is decided, the general would like to meet you on the cruiser, over there you would also meet up with your squad," he said. "I'll show you the way to the entrance, you could easily get lost here."

"Great as long as you don't leave me behind I am fine," I said. Walking out of my cell for the first time in years feels satisfying enough.

Sivesko smiled and said, "Don't worry, we are alone in this hell hole" He then followed me out the door.

The prison looked like a ghost town. All the prisoner cells were left open wide and there was no security guard in sight. The sound of our heavy footsteps was deafening to my ears. It's as if someone was banging a bell near my ear. The thought of someone finding us crossed my mind, but I quickly reminded myself that there was no one here but us.

The prison was huge; I didn't know that it was this big. Guess that's what happens when you were frozen for years. Luckily Sivesko was here. If not, I'll be spending a lot of time trying to find the entrance. It was also really dark, since the power was shut down. Although our visors could pierce the dark no problem, it is still blurry. But finally for what seems like hours walking through the darkness, we manage to reach the entrance. The smell of fresh air excites me, the feeling made me shiver inside my armour. Sivesko moved forward to open the blast door. I felt strangely uneasy and stopped him. He looked at me with a worried face, "What's going on?" he asked.

At first I didn't know what I was doing. Then I remembered why I stopped him. "You told me we are alone, right? What happen to the other prisoners and security guards?" I asked.

Sivesko stared at me for a good while before answering, "The security force had been evacuated from the planet and all of the other prisoners were executed for their crimes yesterday, they are useless to our mission."

"Such a cruel way to die," I said, saying a silent prayer to those that lost their lives here. "They deserved it Morfias, just leave it be and forget about it," he said.

Annoyed at his statement, I clinch my fist and face him. "There are better ways to die then just being cruelly executed; they are better of dying in an arena, killing them here is like murdering them," I shouted.

"Well, we both know what you are Morfias, a cold merciless killer; no different from the rest of the scumbags here. But your combat experience and skills are required to make this mission possible. That's why Earth Gov. chose you," he explained. "Now they are gone, deal with it, it's not like they are your men."

"Bloody cold hearted bastard," I whispered, knowing that what he said are true. His words are like hot needles piercing my heart.

Sivesko pressed the button to open the blast door. Air rushed inwards. I breathed in, filling my longs with fresh air. Sivesko walked out first; he waved a hand without looking at me, to encourage me to follow.

I followed him out; my mind is troubled by the actions done here. People nowadays are just plain sick. But all of that feelings disappeared when I could hear the sound of the drop ship, its sound is like heaven to my ears, my heart calmed down as I knew I was free. Even though the drop ship looked like a piece of shit, some of its armour plating was ripped off and its hull has rusted, hell it looks more like it was painted with shit, but as long as it could fly I am happy. Sivesko went on aboard first, seems to me he can't wait to get out of here too, he then extend a hand to me and I waved it off. "I could get up myself," I said. He shrugs and went to the cockpit.

The drop ship engines become louder as it lifted off. It's been a long time I have not ride one of these things, so I feel I bit sick. Sivesko was seating near the cockpit, probably guarding it from me. The co-pilot glanced at me and smiled, "Are you not Morfias?" he asked.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" I shouted back. The roar of the engines was really loud and I had to raise my voice.

"I heard that you got into jail because of leading a rebellion, is that true," the co-pilot said. He checked the pilot to see if he's alright, and then turned to me again for an answer. His face was full of curiosity.

"Look kid I don't remember, last thing I did before they put me to ice was that I killed the Drhi Council; I don't remember starting up a rebellion, now please leave me in peace." The co-pilot nodded. "You know, you are not such a bad guy," he said.

I smiled beneath my helmet. At least someone respects me. I looked at Sivesko and notices he was looking at me. "Well how far are we from this cruiser," I asked, trying not to look uncomfortable. He looked at his watch and said, "About 7 hour ride you should get some sleep.

I nodded at him and lay my head on head rest. Even though I have been sleeping for centuries when I was frozen, I felt I bit sleepy. I made myself comfortable and decided that I will take a nap, if I could take a nap on this bumpy ride. The last thing I saw before I took my nap was the stars as the drop ship exited the planet's atmosphere. Then all went dark.