Prologue:

  Nathan Albeck was a simple kid, from a simple background. Two loving parents with government jobs he didn't understand, and a simple life. At least he was, until around his eighth birthday.

  Some kids dreamed of being fantastical super spies growing up, some dreamed of being soldiers fighting the insurrectionists, and some, just dreamed of family.

  Nathan dreamed of none of these things. His dreams were cut short at the age of eight, when his parents were shot dead in the streets just because they worked for the United Earth Government and were unfortunate enough to have been sent on a peace keeping mission across the outer colonies.

  Maybe that's where his personality pivoted from that of a simple child, to the analytical mind bent on threat assessment, or maybe he was always somewhat tactically inclined.

  Who can really say?

  Either way Nathan was no longer the smiling child he once was after that day. He never even got to say goodbye to his parents before he was swooped up, and shipped off to live with grandparents he had never met before. Not that that mattered much when he was shipped off to military school shortly after.

  His days as a carefree kid were over.

  ***

  "So, Nathan..." The words hung on the air, as he sat ramrod straight in the plush chair within the Shrink's office.

  "Yes, Ma'am?" He answered without a shred of the tension he felt wound up inside able to bleed through into his voice.

  This was supposed to be the easy part for most applicants attempting to join the Office of Naval Intelligence's field operations unit.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  'Supposed to be'. He hated that phrase. Life was full of things that were 'supposed to be'... That didn't stop the bad things from happening, and it sure as hell didn't stop his tension from rising each second he sat in the bone white office of the shrink.

  Her name was Doctor Hillary Pomper.

  Or maybe it was Palmer?

  He couldn't exactly remember, nor could he focus on caring given her incessant clicking on her relic of a keyboard attached to a sleek computer terminal. Even the most basic of modern holo-terminals had a silent feedback option, so he figured this was just another one of her many mind games that she had been running since he first started this interview with her.

  "You've really had a rough life, haven't you." Hillary said, looking up from the terminal.

  He winced, just barely, but he knew she caught it. A glint of sharp intellect cutting across her gaze as she eyed him.

  She let out a soft sigh.

  "Look Nathan, I'll cut to the chase. What do you hope to achieve by doing field work?"

  "What do I hope to achieve?" Nathan Echoed back softly.

  He sat with the question for a moment, before she continued.

  "You have an impressive history in school, High GPA, top of your class, several notable academic awards, and by all appearances, you've set yourself up quite nicely for a position in the Strategic Command wing rather than as a field agent... So why apply for field work? Why take that risk?”

  That was a good question.

  Why did he want to take the risk?

  It was a question he didn’t exactly want to answer. At least not honestly. He could tell her he had a death wish, but he wasn’t even quite sure that’s what he was after. It's not like he was suicidal... And it’s not like he could lie anyway, at least not without it being flagged by the Dumb A.I. overseeing the interview. He was caught, and he knew it. If ever he were going to fail his Pysch eval, this was it.

  He settled for a half truth instead of a blatant lie.

  Nathan took a steadying breath, and answered.

  “I want to make a positive impact on lives, before I shuffle off this mortal coil.”

  ***

  “So, what do you think of him, Eight?”

  The voice came out as a gruff rasp, from a darkened figure standing over a holo-table. A recording of Nathan’s interview with the shrink frozen on the screen.

  “Intelligent, with antisocial tendencies, and a low aversion to violence. He has potential.” came a monotone, and slightly digital sounding voice.

  “Well then… Let’s stick him in a squad and see how he performs.”

  “As you say, Commander.” Eight responded, materializing as a hologram of a metallic sphere with a single camera-like lens for an eye.

  ***