An Outcast among Outcasts

[Cat]

February 2, 823 A.S.,
Planet Malta,
Omicron Alpha

Kyle Cross stood on the edge of the landing pad, staring at the gray sky and the vast plain covered in orange grass all the way until the eyes could see. If told 3 years ago that he'd call Malta home, Kyle would've taken it as a moderately bad joke. But here he is, standing on the surface of this accursed planet without a rebreather. And everybody knows that there's no going back from that.

Even though he has been living on Malta for two years already, and Cardamine became a necessity long ago, there were days when Kyle couldn't come to terms with it. Eventually he grew more and more used to the planet, but once in a couple of months he would just observe the scenery and think back to the times when he only heard about Malta and barely saw any Outca... Maltese, as some of them prefer to be called, apparently.

"When did it all go downhill? Was it that final job for the Colonials? Or maybe right after my graduation from West Point and that mess in the Hudson system... Or a bit later, when I crossed the LSF... 'Crossed', huh? What an awful pun."

He smirked, turning to the center of the landing pad and seeing his new Sabre. It looked almost the same as his previous Sabre that he flew during his long tenure as a freelancer, but there were differences. Firstly, it ran on MOX, just like Rheinland vessels. Secondly, this Sabre had "Wyrm" tachyon cannons and an Outcast transponder instead of standard civilian equipment. And the last but not least, there was a small emblem on this new ship... The emblem that marked it as the property of the 101st squadron, otherwise known as the Ghosts of Razgriz or Maltese Spectres.

"At least I'm a free man now... As much as that goes for anyone who breathes in the air of Malta with full lungs and doesn't get high."

He chuckled as he walked towards the ship. He knew that the joke was bad, but it made him think about present as opposed to the past. And things were definitely looking up for Kyle. A chance to fly after spending a couple of years grounded was definitely a step up. Almost like back in Liberty when he first became a Navy pilot...