Prologue
What I Can Tell You
Ace. That's what they called him. Hundreds of people killed in 27 years. Young. Dangerous. Invincible. That was Ace.
Tall. Brown hair. Blue- and gray-flecked eyes. A goti. Scruffy-looking. Insanely muscular. Very hot, very charming, very deadly. That was Ace.
Quite untrustworthy. Responsible. Turned on you in a flash. Easy to accept him. Hard for him to accept you. Betrayer. That was Ace.
You kind of get the idea of who this…"Ace" guy is. Actually, we haven't even scratched the surface. I don't even understand him, and I am the first to know him.
His real name is Jason. Jason Gav'ace. He was orphaned at the age of 13, after seeing his parents slaughtered like dogs. What he told me not too long ago when we first met was, "When I saw them kill my parents like they were butchers, I also saw my heart destroyed. Ever since then, I have hilled many people without a care." I saw someone hurt down deep inside, someone looking for answers like a child seeing a new world for the first time.
Our galaxy is millions of light years away from yours. You haven't even heard of it. In fact, even with our technology (and after seeing yours I have found it more than appropriate to use the phrase "So advanced it makes your greatest sci-fi movies look primitive"), I'm surprised you're even reading this. It has taken 2 years to beam this to you, and you can be sure—more is on the way. (Note: if you tried to beam something back to us it would take over 100 million years to reach us.)
Anyways, our galaxy is called Novus. It contains 30 inhabited solar-systems, each of them named. In Novus, there are also 5 regions: Outland, Outskirts, Trade, Inland, and Core. There are over 1,000 languages spoken, and there are half as many different intelligent species—including what you call "robots". (We call them Liandri, or "The Corrupt".) Only few will be mentioned in this book, though. Also, there a millions of different alliances and armies. Ace is currently with a normally peaceful but powerful people called "Ronin". I am joined with millions of mercenaries in a group called "Iron Guard".
Before I leave you on your own to hear Jason's—Ace's—story, let me set the stage: We start before a major battle, and Ace is with his unit in a small Ronin base. 100 people are in the base, including his sister, Jester. That's what I can tell you…
For now.