Chapter One: Twenty-Three Percent

For that one instant, even those who had mocked him closed their mouths. Harren watched him for two seconds, then waved a hand. "Request denied. Next candidate." Leon stepped down from the platform. He did not return to the dormitory. He owned little: a few clothes, a multi-tool wrench, and an old military tag from his father. All of it was already in his pack. Not because he had expected failure, but because people from the slums did not leave their exits in someone else's hands. Outside the academy gate, a dust storm was building a wall on the horizon. A group of cadets followed him out. At their head was Kellan Royce, son of the mining city's administrator and the highest score in their class at eighty-seven percent.