Ashes of Freedom
by K. J. Coble
THE REGIME — Once human, the Corvans have rejected their humanity, embracing a society of cybernetic order where caste dictates free will, and free will means power. Their Awareness, a techno-religion of linked minds, rejects compassion, individualism, and any authority that is not their own. The galaxy threatens this vision, with its thousand races, and ten-thousand creeds. Freedom is chaos. The Awareness cannot abide that. So, the Corvans will end it. THE RESISTANCE — Lurinari was just one world caught up in the Corvan's interstellar blitz. But while the cyber-fascists conquered much of it quickly, hardened pockets continued to hold out. City-states formed to defy Corvan tyranny by conventional means. Guerilla movements sprang up to resist by unconventional ones. And what should have been a quick Corvan victory has dragged out into years of grinding, remorseless war of attrition. THE FIGHT — While Lurinari battles on alone,...