"Protocol 187, Subject Zion Arakiel, terminated."
The voice crackled in Zion's ear as his drop pod ejected from the battleship, hurling him toward the dark wasteland below.
His heart pounded as he stared through the small window with bloodshot eyes, watching the warship grow smaller between the stars.
"Those fuckers…"
Thick metal straps pinned down his arms and legs, and a sharp pain throbbed in his skull.
Then, its engines ignited, a soft glow appearing behind the ship.
Followed by a blast of white light.
"They're leaving me."
A second later, a violent shockwave slammed into the pod. Zion's world tilted as alarms screamed and the capsule spun wildly out of control.
The pod spun faster. Red lights flashed all around him, and loud sirens blasted through his pounding head.
"Altitude breach. Brace for impact."
"Impact?" he whispered, barely able to breathe.
His limbs wouldn't move. The straps held him down, pressing hard into his arms and legs. His whole body ached, and his head was spinning.
Then—
The pod hit the ground with a deafening bang.
Zion's vision went black as the impact slammed his head sideways.
Then, complete silence.
Minutes passed.
Zion groaned and shifted. A sharp ringing filled his ears as he forced his eyes open, coughing hard.
'Smoke?' he thought, his mind still foggy.
Looking around, he found his pod on fire and the small window in front of him shattered.
'Am I going to be burned alive?'
"No," he muttered, his throat dry. "I refuse to die like they want me to."
The straps had loosened just enough to let him move.
Zion grit his teeth, twisting his body with all his might to get himself out.
The harness creaked, then released him with a heavy clunk.
Zion fell on the scorched metal floor of the pod, coughing wildly as smoke entered his lungs. Everything ached, but he pushed through the pain and the intense heat, dragging himself towards the shattered window.
With one good shove, the hatch gave way and fell to the ground.
'Almost,' he thought, desperation in his eyes as he crawled through the open hatch.
Managing to drag himself out of the burning shuttle, Zion pulled himself a few feet away from the capsule before collapsing on the ground.
The air outside was thin and bitter, tasting like some kind of ash.
The ground beneath him was dry and cracked. It probably hadn't seen water in decades.
He rolled onto his back, gasping. Smoke from the ruined pod behind him rose into a deep red sky with two massive suns.
He stared up at the sky for a long time, his chest heaving as he remembered what had happened.
'My parents,' he thought, tears from anger and sadness welling up in his eyes.
His fingers dug into the dirt, his whole body trembling with rage.
'For something I didn't even fucking do.'
He didn't want to remember.
But the image forced itself back into his mind.
He could still see the fear in his parents' eyes as they were being held down.
"All of them knew it wasn't me, but no one spoke up."
The sky above him started blurring from the heat radiating from the crashed pod. Every breath Zion took felt like it scorched his lungs.
He pushed himself up with one elbow, ignoring the sharp pain shooting through his ribs.
Cracked earth stretched in every direction, except for a few strange shapes in the distance.
Zion wiped the tears from his face, exhaling slowly as he desperately tried forgetting his pain.
He forced himself onto his knees, narrowing his eyes to get a better look at the shapes.
'Those aren't natural,' Zion thought, gritting his teeth as he forced himself on his feet.
He had no gear, food, or even hope.
But lying here would kill him faster than searching for shelter would.
He took one shaky step after another, gritting his teeth as he pushed through the pain. Memories flashed through his mind, fueling his body with every step.
'I have to keep going,' he thought, his eyes focused on the shapes in the distance. "I can't let them get away with this."
Everything around him blurred, all noises faded. All Zion could see were the shapes resembling buildings in the distance.
Each step brought him closer to the structures.
Now that he was closer, Zion saw the buildings were all rusted and half-destroyed.
'An entire city,' he thought, glancing around. 'They really exiled me to a deathworld.'
As the reality set in, Zion stumbled.
"Keep moving," he urged, trying to at least get shelter near one of the buildings.
But his body didn't listen anymore.
He collapsed.
The light in his eyes fading until everything went dark.
Time passed by slowly.
Eventually, Zion's fingers twitched as he slowly woke up again.
The suns were gone. Only darkness and stars filled the sky.
'It's cold,' he thought, dragging his body to lean against a metal structure.
Looking up at the stars, memories flashed through his mind.
He remembered his parents' execution in great detail, the way the person he thought was his best friend overloaded them on nanobots they couldn't handle until their bodies exploded.
"That fucker," he rasped, his throat too dry to scream. "I'll kill him and his entire family for this."
"And then the entire corrupt Echelon Sovereignty."
Words couldn't describe the anger he felt.
He had never been lucky with his condition that rejected nanobots, but he'd always tried his best.
"Now I'm stuck on this forsaken dead planet."
His fists trembled as he pushed his back against the metal wall behind him, managing to get himself on his feet again.
"If I don't move... I'll die here. Just like they wanted."
He wobbled deeper into the city, hoping to find anything left behind from before the planet had been destroyed.
After searching two buildings and finding nothing, the hope in his eyes began to fade.
'I can't give up,' he thought, continuing to the next building despite the immense pain near his ribs.
As he reached what looked like a ruined tower, he suddenly heard a loud metallic scraping noise.
He froze, looking around.
'Am I not alone?' he thought, cautiously.
Zion took another step.
Suddenly, the ground shook.
Silence.
Then again.
Around him, buildings began crumbling as he stood frozen.
Finally, the ground all around him lit up in a bright light.
"What the hell is going on?" he shouted, his voice raspy from dryness.
Unbeknownst to Zion, deep underground, something long forgotten had come back to life.
[Host proximity confirmed. Reactivation process initiated.]