Thief. Orphan. Beggar. Spy. KillerThey say that without the dark, we would never see the stars, without losing the light, we can never truly see it.Well, I’ve lost the light, I’m in a dark place, a planet where the sun never shines. My name is William Alexander Armstrong. Pirates took everything from the lives of my friends and family, my freedom, and even my honor. But I’m not going to let them take my drive. I’m going to escape, I’m not going to stay trapped, working as their prisoner.I'll work with the cast-offs of thieves, beggars, and murderers. I'll work with genetically engineered critters and mad doctors. I'll lie, I'll cheat, I'll steal, and I will kill. I will do everything I can to escape. I might be lost, I may be forsaken, but I will find my way to freedom, and when I do, I will bring fire and destruction on those who took everything from me.

They stole my life, so I stole one right back.My name is William Alexander Armstrong. I come from a long, honorable, military family. My grandparents were heroes back home... but not me. Kidnapped by pirates, I've had to fight to survive on the streets of an alien world. Only now, I've got a way out. The only trouble is, my way out is to serve in the enemy's military, hidden under a stolen identity.I've got to hide who I am, build alliances, and hope to keep my head down at a military institute where one in three trainees don't survive. But hiding isn't in my blood. I'm an Armstrong, I'm born to fight, born to lead... and in this case, that might be the only thing that saves me. Because something is rotten at the Heart of Drakkus Prime, and stolen identity or not, valor may be the only thing to save the day.

Sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight. I've lived the past two years of my life on the ragged edge. Kidnapped by pirates, my family murdered, I've lived as a prisoner and escaped only to fight for my life on the streets. I've lied, I've cheated, I've stolen, and I've even killed to survive. And now I'm at the center of my enemies' most exclusive military institute, hidden under a stolen identity. I've managed to earn the trust and support of a small group of allies, and maybe, just maybe, I can use that to get back home. But if I do that, I'll probably get them killed. Even worse, someone has set them in the crosshairs of a plot that puts millions, maybe billions, of lives on the line. I can't walk away, I can't abandon them, not when the only advantage they have is me, a hidden dagger poised to strike at the Heart of Drakkus.