Facility 13

[Backo]

Facility 13

Eliza Valdez did not expect that Don Arturo 'Muerte' Sforza's invitation for a casual drink to actually be a facade into getting her involved into a scheme she had no pleasure being part of. And how did the old man obtain this information that he shared with her in the first place? She did not know. Perhaps there was more to Arturo than what meets the eye. He was a Don after all, even if he voluntarily decided to serve under Valdez in the Maltese Legion. Perhaps all Dons were as cunning and secretive, even if their outwardly appearance sometimes made people think otherwise. Either way, if what Arturo said was true, it was imperative that the Outcasts reacted before it was too late. And Eliza's prior experience with the location in question made her the prime candidate for this mission.

On the next morning she was ready to leave the safety of her homeworld Malta and head into the vast cold void that was the expanse of the Sirius sector. Flying towards Omicron Theta, Eliza did feel somewhat nostalgic about her old ship of choice - the venerable Series Z "Sabre" fighter, but at this point she felt comfortable enough to be in the newer and much more lighter LHX3-F2S "Longsword" that she had purchased many months ago in what some would consider a rather spontaneous buyers impulse while being in Liberty. Once in Omicron Theta, the more dangerous part of her journey began. But her choice of space chariot had an extra benefit of being much more sleek than the heavier "Sabre" and with that it was much easier to avoid being caught on scanners while traversing the Amarus and Napo clouds. With a flick of Eliza's hand, her breather mask injected Cardamine straight into her lungs and from there the orange powder was absorbed into her blood stream. Soon enough she was about to enter the home system of the Corsairs and every possible advantage in reaction time and concentration was going to be well needed. The next system on her route greeted her with yet another green cloud - the Malvada. Visually it looked much like the previous two, but in reality this was the most dangerous one of them all as it saw the most enemy patrols. Luck was on her side and she managed to slip undetected to the Omicron Kappa jump hole that was a few sectors away. The gravestones that were the derelict Corsair fighters around the jump hole reminded her of those in Siniestre Cloud back home, perhaps a testament to the fact that as different as the Corsairs and Outcasts were, at one point centuries ago they were the same people aboard a Sleeper ship traversing this very same vast cold void. Something to think about, but not here and not now. Her next waypoint was sector 3F in Omicron Kappa where the connection to Omicron Delta was located according to her navmap computer. Passing by Planet Primus meant she had managed to slip through the Corsair defenses successfully without being detected. Not the first time she had done so, but still as exciting as it once was. Some more klicks of cruise flight and she made her way to the Omicron Delta system. This was where her final destination resided - planet Nauru, a barren desert world, devoid of anything pleasant. Eliza Valdez's history with this planet had a bad track record and the Outcast pilot had a feeling that this visit would very likely not be far different as those before...

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Republic of the Sword and Sun