The life of Zacarias Poncho

[Zapp]

One month ago....

Deep inside Corsair space, an Osiris Battleship pulled itself through the ether. It was heading to Tripoli Shipyard, newly commissioned and ready to see service in the defense of their ship yard facilities. Adrian Martinez, the commander of the new ship, walked down the corridors wrapped in silence. Completely absorbed with his own thoughts, he didn't notice his crew saluting, working on panels, or carrying on conversations. While there was a low buzz generated by the ship and people living in the ship, Adrian heard nothing.

He entered the massive room that housed the sensors. The Osiris had originally been designed for covert ops, and its ability to take in information via sensors only showed how good it had filled that purpose. His right-hand man, Angello, was standing in front of a large console, reviewing data spread out before him. By the look of his face, he didn't like it.

"Report," Adrian said offhand, while walking up to take a look over Angello's shoulder.

"Errmm... it's a match, sir."

"Damn! How?"

"Perfect match. I double and triple checked, sir. He is your son. Not even the infestation of cardamine could change his genetics too much. And there's something else: he could be allergic to cardamine."

"What? An Outcast allergic to cardamine?" Adrian asked, puzzled. His hatred of the Outcasts was skin-deep only, tempered by having met Catalina.

"Not an Outcast, a mix of Outcast and Corsair decent. The Corsair genes rejected the cardamine, obviously. He's allergic. And because his Corsair genes rejected the cardamine, there's a chance he can be saved from it."

"Hmm... yes. We'll turn my old boy into a Corsair. Clean all the cardamine out of him if we have to go to Atka to do it... Alright, but out a Bulletin: his ship is not to be attacked by any Corsair ship. Tell them that we captured him before and subverted him to be a spy for us. That should be satisfactory." Adrian was smiling to himself. The son he had never had was right there.

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