Marked

[Toaster]

Olivia was already bruised and weary from the initial acceleration from Ames, the straps keeping her in the bunk's single wall-mounted seat having dug deep grooves into her skin. "This is the rough part?" she growled as she pulled at the fasteners, tightening the harness as much as possible. Whether the pilot could hear her complaints over the deafening roar of the engines, she didn't know. The headset she had put on before takeoff had been among the first items to involuntarily be removed from her person as the craft had shot off into the void like a round from a mass driver.

Apparently at least guessing at her discomfort, the Xeno glanced over his shoulder to check on her. Cursing under her breath, Olivia gave him a thumbs up, to which he turned back and gunned the ship towards Pittsburgh's night side.

Much like Ames, Pittsburgh was one of the many places on Olivia's ever expanding list of locations she would rather not revisit, though - unlike the freeport - Pittsburgh's lack of attraction had nothing to do with having brutally murdered someone. Not yet, anyway, Olivia thought to herself. The Kestrel began to shake as it skimmed the outer reaches of the planet's atmosphere, skipping like a speeding rock over a still pond. The interior rapidly heated up from the increasing air friction and Olivia prayed that enough power was still being shunted to the shields to keep the vessel from evaporating on descent.

Finally pulling back the throttle, her pilot pulled the nose down towards the planet's surface, diving them into the kilometer thick clouds of dust, ash, and pollution that covered most of the arid world. The strong winds that dominated the upper cloud layers buffeted the freighter about. Clenching her teeth, Olivia peered through the cockpit, out into the darkness around them. After several minutes of blind descent, they finally penetrated the cloud cover, the ground less than a kilometer below them. The Xeno tore back at the stick, pulling their nose up from an almost unrecoverable dive. The hull groaned and creaked from the sudden stress and for a brief second, the engines stalled. Then they sprang back to life, propelling the vessel forward at supersonic speeds, mere meters off the desert floor below them.

"Jesus Christ," the mercenary sputtered as she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. From behind, she thought she could make out the Xeno shaking with laughter, but she couldn't be sure over the howl of the engines and the vibrations of the ship.

A few minutes later, the craft finally decelerated for its final approach towards what appeared to be a small bunker built into the side of one of Pittsburgh's many enormous outcroppings. A few floodlights illuminated the area around it, including a large hatch set into the rocky ground, its door sliding open as they neared it. Sand and dust whirling up into the air around them, the Kestrel came to a hover above the entrance. The engines' incessant racket ceased as the VTOL thrusters took over, slowly descending them down the deep hole into a large, steel-reinforced cavern beneath the desert. With a final shudder, the freighter set down on the deck and finally came to a rest.

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Olivia Sable