“This is not an expedition. It is an execution. When they put you in here, they don’t want you to return. And even if you do, and even if they keep their promises… what freedom waits for you? A few dying ships in a sea of dead stars?

If there is still hope, it lies beyond the veil. Hope in this void is as illusionary as the starlight. I will choose to breathe my last at the bottom of an ocean, unseen, unheard, and uncontrolled.

They will get their execution.

I will get my freedom.”