Scenes on Barrier Gate [The aftermath]

[r3vange]

[color=#FFFFFF]Based on the common opinion of the Maltese one would expect to find a rather post
apocalyptic scenery inside an Outcast vessel. Quite on the contrary, the corridors which Samantha and
Anna walked were perfectly clean every single thing labelled. Survival requires perfection, and survival was
the only thing the Maltese people have fought for through the ears. Every single thing inside of the
dreadnought was designed to be as efficient as possible as safe as possible. Every single compartment be it
toilet could become self sufficient in an event of de-pressurisation, the lights were positioned on the walls so
they don't hurt anybody if they fall due to battle damage at every 10 meters there was a first aid kid and a
closed respiratory module...Survival. For the Maltese people every life was sacred and it did not matter if
more credits were spend for designing a simple bulkhead than the annual gainings of a Freeport as long as
it could preserve a life.

Anna was in an odd position, surrounded by people looking at her with eyes blaming her, eyes that would
rip her flesh apart if they could silently walking the corridors to the hangar bay next to Samantha. She had
taken that sacred thing...many times. Sam could only guess what was going on through her head when yet
another crew member gave her an angry look when yet another security guard cursed her in Spanish.

***

Almost two hours later the Pelican touched down on landing pad-1 of the Navy's secondary spaceport.
During the descent the window shutters were down so nobody could see anything. When the ground crew
gave the all clear the boarding ramp slammed the ground and shook the whole ship. As the passengers
walked out Samantha felt the slightly sweet tasting Maltese air which made her smile for a bit she
instinctively turned towards Anna as if expecting some sort of comment. There was none... Sam tried to
look at Malta as if she was Anna, rocks endless fields orange sky and a whole lot of hostile people...a real
hell. But quite frankly that hell was home for Marquez and the feeling that she is here was quite pleasant.
Like a weight of her shoulders, and indeed weight there was. The drama she had to put up. She despised
being the drama queen all or nothing but sometimes it is the only way you can get what you want and to
Samantha the end always absolutely always justifies the means. Several hours later Anna got settled in
building in the administrative complex of naval yards. A tall building built close by a cliff side rising almost
300 meters into the sky. It was a sort of house arrest, she could move about the building and its
surroundings but nowhere further. Several hours from now she'd have her first interrogation session, and
after vigorous persuasion from high command Samantha agreed to be on the interrogation team...

---