The alleyway was narrow, damp, and reeked of decay.
Alexander moved through it cautiously, his steps silent on the slippery pavement.
The neon light spilling from the main street barely reached this far, leaving most of the area in shadow.
The crowd noise faded behind him, replaced by the occasional shuffling of someone huddled against the wall or the low noise of machinery embedded in the infrastructure.
His sharp eyes scanned every corner.
He wasn't used to this kind of warzone a place where battles weren't fought with weapons but with desperation, hunger, and fear.
And yet, it was painfully familiar.
As he turned another corner, he found what he was looking for: a small group huddled around a makeshift fire burning in a rusted container.
Their clothes were patched, their faces pale.
They spoke in low voices, occasionally glancing around as if expecting trouble.
Alexander stepped into the flickering light, his commanding presence immediately drawing their attention.
Conversations halted.
A younger man in the group thin, wiry, and tense stood, eyeing him suspiciously.
"You lost?" the young man asked, his tone more a challenge than a question.
Alexander stopped a few feet away, his expression calm but firm. "No," he said simply. "I'm looking for answers."
The young man snorted. "Answers? You think we've got answers? Try the Overseers. Or better yet, the System itself."
"Those aren't the kinds of answers I'm interested in."
Alexander's tone hardened, his gaze unwavering. "I need to understand this world. The cities, the people. And how it all works."
The young man's bravado faltered under Alexander's piercing gaze.
Another member of the group, an older woman with sunken cheeks and a weathered face, raised a hand to stop him from speaking further.
"And why would you need to know that?" she asked, her voice cautious but curious.
"Because I'm not from here," Alexander replied honestly. "I've seen how the System controls everything. I've seen the fear on people's faces. But I need to know the truth the things you don't say out loud."
The group exchanged uneasy glances.
The older woman's eyes narrowed. "You're either stupid or reckless. Maybe both."
"Or I'm the only one who's not afraid," Alexander shot back.
That earned him a faint smirk from the woman.
She gestured for him to sit.
He didn't, but he stepped closer, crossing his arms as he waited for her to speak.
"You want the truth? Fine. This city Zorath it's one of many. Dozens of them, scattered across this world. All under the System. You're born into it, you work for it, and if you're lucky, you die before it chews you up."
"And if you're not lucky?" Alexander asked.
The woman gave a bitter laugh. "Then you disappear. No one knows where, and no one asks. People who get curious don't last long."
"That's just here," the younger man interjected. "The city's bad enough, but go beyond the walls? It's worse. Wastelands. Ruins. You wouldn't last a day out there."
Alexander frowned. "So the entire planet is like this? Ruled by the System?"
The group hesitated again.
Finally, the woman shook her head. "You really don't know, do you?"
"Tell me," Alexander said, his voice firm.
"This isn't just one planet," the woman said, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "This is a galactic civilization. Thousands of worlds, all connected by the System. Zorath is just one cog in the machine."
Alexander's expression didn't falter, but his mind broaden.
A galactic civilization?
The implications hit him hard.
He had expected a tightly controlled city, maybe even a planet-wide system of oppression.
But this?
This was something else entirely.
"How?" he asked after a long silence. "How does the System control that much territory?"
"It doesn't need to," the woman replied. "It's all automated. The Overseers handle enforcement, and the rest of us… we just follow the rules. There's no central government, no leaders. Just the System."
Alexander stared at her, processing the information.
An automated civilization spanning thousands of worlds, governed not by people but by a machine.
It was efficient, ruthless, and utterly devoid of humanity.
"And what about the people?" he asked. "What do they want?"
The younger man laughed harshly. "What do we want? To survive. That's it."
The older woman sighed. "There's no room for anything else. The System makes sure of that. It gives you just enough to keep going. No more, no less."
"And no one fights back?" Alexander pressed. "No one resists?"
"Resist what?" the woman shot back. "You can't fight the System. It doesn't care. You could burn this entire city to the ground, and it wouldn't matter. The Overseers would clean it up, and the System would go on like nothing happened."
Alexander's jaw tightened. "That's the kind of thinking that keeps people enslaved."
The woman's eyes flashed with anger. "And what would you have us do, General?" she spat.
The title slipped out like an accusation, but Alexander didn't flinch.
"Change the game," he said evenly. "But first, you need to understand the battlefield."
The group fell silent, his words hanging in the air.
The fire crackled softly, its light casting shadows on their faces.
"You talk like someone who thinks they can beat it," the younger man said finally. "But no one beats the System."
Alexander met his gaze, his expression calm but unyielding. "No one's tried hard enough."
The older woman shook her head, her face a mix of pity and frustration. "You'll learn, stranger. Either you'll break like the rest of us, or you'll vanish like the fools who thought they could change things."
Alexander didn't respond.
He turned and walked away, his mind racing.
A galactic civilization ruled by a faceless system of control.
Millions, maybe billions of lives reduced to obedient cogs in a vast, uncaring machine.
The scale of it was staggering.
But Alexander had seen impossible odds before.
He had faced them and won.
This would be no different.
As he left the alley, the lights of the city seemed brighter, harsher.
The streets were no longer just pathways they were veins in a body that stretched across the stars
A body that needed to be dissected, understood, and, ultimately, overthrown.
Alexander's lips curled into a faint smile. "They built a galaxy to keep people in line," he muttered. "Let's see how they handle someone who doesn't follow their rules."
The war had just begun.
And this time, it wasn't for a nation it was for freedom.