"No sacrifice is worth giving if it is not for the living."
Survive To See The Dawn Beyond The Dark
"No sacrifice is worth giving if it is not for the living."
She wakes with circuits, a metal body, borrowed memories, and no name.
The crew of deserters who built her needs a leader. The hostile fleets converging on their position need her technology. And the signal emanating from the supermassive black hole at the edge of the galaxy needs something no one understands yet.
As three factions race against the Brigade toward a potential discovery that could reshape human civilization, she hears it: a frequency that has been humming since before the first stars ignited. A call. A prayer. A song that builds against entropy's vast destruction.
She was created to lead. Built to fight. Designed to calculate impossible odds.
But at the event horizon of humanity's greatest discovery, she'll learn that she was made for something else entirely.
Some choices define who you are. These will define what existence means.
She wakes with circuits and titanium bone,
One eye to see, one name alone.
Built from memories she didn't earn,
A soldier's sacrifice, a mind to learn.
She wasn't born, but made:
An android forged from loss and trade.
Ten years of war, of blood and trust,
Now live in her, or turn to dust.
The Brigade: the deserters, outlaws, kin,
Need her to lead where none have been:
To steal the Array, to chase the night,
To face the black hole's crushing might.
But something's broken in her code,
Gold visions haunt the star-lit road.
Frequencies that shouldn't sound,
Memories where none should be found.
She hears the hum beneath the void,
A quantum prayer, a song deployed.
Is she their hope, their greatest tool?
Or just another empire's fool?
At the edge of destiny, and the fall of fate,
What kind of life would they create?
The choice, the task, the ultimate decision.
It is nothing…
…without her vision.
What is identity when your memories belong to someone else? When every thought is borrowed, every feeling transferred, what makes you real?
Deserters. Outlaws. Warriors forged in ten years of brutal conflict. The Brigade fights not for empires, but for something more dangerous: freedom, and the discovery for all to receive.
A signal older than stars. A frequency that shouldn't exist. At the edge of a supermassive black hole, something is waiting, and it's been waiting forever.
Built from a soldier's gift and sacrrifice. Born from someone else's life. Every circuit carries the weight of what was given, and what can never be returned.
She was built to lead the Brigade to their destination. She was designed to make impossible decisions. But as gold visions haunt her circuits and frequencies whisper through the void, she begins to suspect she was created for something far more profound. Far more terrifying.
Deserters. Outlaws. The ones who said "no" when empires demanded loyalty. For ten years they fought together, bled together, survived together. Now they need something impossible: a way out. A path to freedom that doesn't end in death.
They built her from the sacrifice of their commander. They gave her leadership because they trust her, even if she doesn't trust herself yet.
But the Brigade isn't just running from something. They're running toward something. And at the edge of the galaxy, that something is waiting.
One android. One crew. One discovery that will redefine existence.
Currently in Fifth Draft!