[Verse 1] I was twenty-three with a salvaged corvette and dreams bigger than the void Thirty crew slots, barely filled, running cargo routes I couldn't avoid Every credit mattered then, counting costs on hull plating and a single railgun mount Back when losing one reactor meant everything, when every battle was an amount I couldn't account [Verse 2] I remember my first real fight, some pirates thought I was easy prey My hands shook on the fire controls, watching my shields flicker and fray Lost half my crew to a hull breach on the starboard side But I made it out, limped to station, and something changed inside [Chorus] This is what the void does to you Takes that bright-eyed kid and makes him new Every ship you lose, every crew that falls Every desperate jump through hostile sectors, answering the call I've built my fleet one wreck at a time From scrap and salvage, losses and climbs [Verse 3] Upgraded to a frigate next, thought I was something special then Added point defense, a missile bay, convinced I'd never lose again But the void doesn't care about your confidence or your shiny new design Met a destroyer in contested space and barely made it out alive that time [Pre-Chorus] You learn fast or you don't learn at all How to angle your armor, when to stall Which fights to take, which ones to flee The void's a teacher, and the tuition isn't free [Chorus] This is what the void does to you Takes that bright-eyed kid and makes him new Every ship you lose, every crew that falls Every desperate jump through hostile sectors, answering the call I've built my fleet one wreck at a time From scrap and salvage, losses and climbs [Verse 4] I'm forty now, standing on the bridge of my flagship dreadnought Three hundred meters of ion cannons, railguns, and hard-fought lessons bought My fleet spreads out behind me, twelve ships holding formation tight Captains under my command who once were me, hungry for the fight [Verse 5] My crew doesn't flinch anymore when the shields go red They know their stations, seal the breaches, pull out the dead We've taken territory, held stations against odds that should have crushed us flat But I know every system, every weakness, exactly where the armor's at [Bridge] Sometimes I think about that kid in his little corvette The one who thought he'd conquer space, hadn't learned regret I see him in the new recruits, that fire in their eyes Before they learn what vacuum sounds like when somebody dies [Bridge Continued] I've got a fleet now, reputation, sectors that answer to my name But every promotion, every victory tastes a little less the same The void takes something from you with every jump, every year Until you're piloting a warship made of competence and fear [Verse 6] Today we're hitting a fortified position, enemy carriers and defense platforms high My officers are running calculations, plotting firing solutions across my HUD's display I give the order smooth and cold, watch my fleet move like a machine This is what two decades in the black makes you, something in between [Chorus] This is what the void did to me Took that bright-eyed kid, made him what you see Every ship I've lost, every crew that fell Every desperate jump through hostile sectors, every personal hell I've built this fleet one wreck at a time From scrap and salvage, losses and climbs [Outro] My flagship's reactor core hums beneath my feet, power flowing through every deck I'm the captain of an armada now, but sometimes I still feel like that wreck That kid in a salvaged corvette, just trying to survive another day Before the void got in my bones and turned my hair to grey [Outro Continued] But the new captains, they look at me like I'm something to become And I don't have the heart to tell them what you lose when all is done So I give the jump command, watch the stars streak past And wonder if that kid I was would recognize me, or just see a stranger from his past
