The survivors spitefully call them “Runners.” They escaped when the Hetarek, murdering or enslaving any humans they found, first invaded and seized the system. But, after nearly a generation, humanity is returning to Earth. Bryan Howe leads Free Human Special Forces Detachment 8222. The twelve men and women, weathered by twenty-three homeless years of endless war, know failure but not surrender. They fight because they must, undaunted by the challenges of liberating their homeworld. The Hetarek rule their captives with an iron fist. The violently oppressed slaves hate their masters only slightly more than the Runners who left them behind. Still, Howe must unite and teach them to fight for a common purpose. Only by building an insurrection from nothing can one battle-weary team hope to free the planet. From light-years away, a dedicated team supports them, fighting a secret war within a war. Xander Gretter masterminded the operation. His relationship with the Ahai, humanity’s precarious allies, drives the joint mission to liberate Earth. Jean Costeaux, one of the few pilots still flying fighters from inside the cockpit, leaves the front line for the first time in his life to push deep into Hetarek space. Together, they share one bring humanity home. "...Thomas has thought through the mindsets of victors and vanquished, skillfully shading in the psychologies of the opposing forces before small feints and ambushes bloom into full-scale war... A well-written, fiery sci-fi tale about human warriors battling an alien regime." - Kirkus Reviews Matt Thomas is the creator of Wroth Worlds, a developing SciFi universe. Learn more about the universe at www.wrothworlds.com. Before founding Wroth Worlds, Matt was the lawyer for US Special Forces, prosecuted white-collar crime, and was a non-sleazy plaintiff’s attorney. He’s found consistency in people worn to the bone whether they’re in Iraq, Afghanistan, or New York. Matt loves dropping realistic problems into unrealistic worlds through science fiction.