Prologue
Fadre Gree was not his real name.
He continued every day as if he were one of the Zahlian engineers. The staff dressed in their civilian clothing lined up in pairs behind the shiny black elevator doors. A nearby man cleared his throat. Gree kept his gaze on the polished obsidian floor to avoid eye contact.
After a minute, the elevator pinged, and the dark reflective doors opened. Two Zahlian Marines, in their crisp crimson uniforms, held repeating laser rifles over their chests. They stepped out of the elevator, their ice-like eyes steady on the engineers.
Behind the Marines stood an officer with a silver tablet in one hand and a blinking metallic wand in the other. He swept the metallic device over two engineers at the front of the group and glanced at his tablet. The wand be
