6

With billions of dollars invested in space infrastructure while war was paused, the nation turned to another pressing issue. For decades, they had propped up a failing economy with slave labor. The prison-industrial complex had more bodies than ever but nowhere to put the citizens deprived of their freedom in pursuit of bumping the Dow a quarter point.

Stellar Force ships were repurposed for prison transport and orbiting satellites were reconfigured to mine asteroids. Fatalities among the initial groups of forced laborers were high, but years of propaganda took the average citizen's mind off it.

Eventually space was the destination for all criminals that fell into two groups: those "too dangerous" to remain in prison alongside other workhorses and those "too skilled at escape" who would jeopardize the state's investments if they remained in Earth cells.

Going to space as a data-licensed technician is out of the question. It requires a twelve-year training program, during which potential candidates are brainwashed and inundated with Panwestian propaganda. Even if you could pass the polygraph tests, you don't have twelve years to sit around and waste your time—not to mention risking your brain and your keen understanding of Panwestia's weaknesses.

No, if you're going to space, it will have to be the other way. You'll need to find your way into a prison cell and then quickly convince the state it's best to put you in space.

You've given it some thought. You're going to…