Declaration

Pixel is an engineer on the run from his own past. He doesn't understand people and he's focused on the things he can understand: machinery, mathematics, and design. Now he's on the run from the alien Chxor, after he and his new friends escaped from a prison station, hijacked a ship, and managed to sabotage a lot of Chxor orbital infrastructure in the process. They're far beyond safe human space and they've had to work together to survive.


Pixel has come to trust the mismatched group of humans and aliens that have become his friends. The thing is, they want to select a leader, a Captain for their crew. Pixel knows it is a bad idea... and worse, it looks like blood is about to be spilled over who might become the Captain.


It shouldn't be Pixel's job to solve it. He fixes problems with machines... not those of friendship, trust and leadership. But he knows if he doesn't do something, this election might well turn into a bloodbath. Worse yet, as it calls up echoes of his past, Pixel wonders not only if he can intervene, but if he can do so in a way that will not make things worse.


Renegades: Declaration is the third novella of the Renegades series.