Sable's Experiences

[Toaster]

//No longer canon.

September 3, 828 A.S.

The bottle cap fell to the cockpit's floor with a muffled clang. Olivia sighed, raising the bottle to her lips and taking a long pull, emptying it by half. One leg up on the dash and reclined leisurely in her pilot's seat, she glanced out through the canopy into the station's small hangar bay.

It was quiet, save for a few maintenance crews trying their hardest to keep a handful of Xeno fighters spaceworthy. Off to the side, a small group of pilots stood together, discussing among themselves. Olivia couldn't make out what they were saying, but their debate looked heated. One of them had bandages wrapped around his head, spots of blood staining the gauze. Likely, they had returned from combat with a Libertonian patrol.

The mercenary's gaze wandered to the far side of the bay, where a small vessel stood out from the uniformly beaten up ships of the terrorist cause. Its scarab-like hull and aggressive, swooping wings gave it an almost alien appearance, not entirely unlike-

Olivia closed her eyes. Fragments of the Nomad's visions flickered in her mind, like images from a broken holo-projector. A black sea; great monoliths piercing a white sky; a long, discordant screech, like a distorted cry.

Jesus Christ, Olivia thought, opening her eyes again. What the fuck was I thinking?

Apparently, coming back to Liberty despite being a wanted criminal had not been exciting enough for her. No, she just had to go ahead and risk her life - or her sanity; she wasn't sure which was at greater risk - luring a Nomad warform away from populated space. It had been a reckless, foolhardy decision, one she wasn't sure why she had made. She had never considered herself particularly selfless. So why had she risked it all just to drag a dangerous alien life form away from a hive of scum like Fontana?

She shook her head. In the end, it had worked out - somehow. The Nomad had followed her all the way to the northern outskirts of Ontario where, by sheer luck, they had run into an LSF cruiser. In the ensuing confusion, Olivia, Romero, and Darche had been able to escape back to California; shaken and exhausted but otherwise alive and well.

Relatively well, Olivia thought, reaching up with her free hand to rub the side of her head. She could feel a migraine coming, the first one in weeks. Whatever was going on in her mind, having it invaded by alien thoughts probably wasn't going to help. She took another long draught from the bottle, emptying it. Sighing, she tossed it aside, letting it clatter to the floor behind her, and reached down between her legs, producing another from a small crate.

Olivia's gaze wandered back out over the hangar again, lingering once more on the strange ship in the shadows on the far side. A lone man stalked around it, inspecting it despite its clearly pristine condition. His dark clothing made him hard to make out in the dim light, and so it almost seemed as though he faded in and out of visibility as he slowly moved about. Unconsciously, Olivia nudged the canvas bag and its crystalline contents beneath her seat with a foot, as if to push it farther out of view. Getting that man's attention would mean trouble.

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Olivia Sable