April 24, 2342 – Xoto-II; Orbital Elevator Station #3

Main Commons (8:47 AM {6:32 PM Planet Time})

{Four Months Ago}

            After the successful docking of the Luxuria and paying the docking fee of a thousand credits, Kathy, Lliam and the rest of the crew headed out; after telling the kids to stay on the ship and keep the hatch shut and sealed. Stepping into the docks the first thing everyone noticed was the smell of oil, sweat and machinery. Sylvia and James were mostly fine but the heavy smell nearly brought tears to everyone else’s eyes.

            Sylvia, Albert and Kathy split off from the others and searched around the docks; asking if a damaged ship had docked recently. Lliam, Nate and James worked their way through several areas outside the docks asking; less the reputable people, if anyone had seen a group of humans possibly guarding a black and white furred vixen and her young daughter.

            They had no luck finding any possible leads matching what they asked. They decided to search the main commons area next; considering every part of the station connected here their chances of possibly seeing or running into the Outcasts drastically increased.

            “This is impossible, how the hell are we going to find them here?” James asked as he had to side step past multiple people in his way to keep up with Lliam and Nate.

            “Keep an ear out for anyone referring to a person by the name Mateo or Cobalt, two look for someone matching the description I gave you of Mateo.” Lliam said as he nearly bumped into someone.

            “Right, wears cobalt colored armor, has a scar cutting through his right eye which is blind, light brown colored hair and a short mustache and beard. That about it cover it?” James asked.

            “Yep” Lliam said as he stopped and decided on where to head next.

            “Maybe we should split up and search for them. Might be faster.” Nate said.

            “No!” Lliam said firmly. “Mateo is just about as fast as I am. Not to mention I think there’s another one with him that’s just like him. If they found out either of you were looking for them you’d be dead.” Lliam explained to him.

            “Don’t forget about the fact there may be Outcast solders with them too.” James pointed out.

            “Don’t remind me.” Lliam said and cursed the fact they had to leave their weapons behind.

******

Orbital Elevator Station #3, Docks (8:50 AM {6:35 PM Planet Time})

            Meanwhile; as Lliam and the others explored the main commons, Kathy, Sylvia and Albert were asking anyone and everyone if they had seen a damaged ship that fits the description of the Outcast vessel.

            After many tries and false leads, Kathy walked up to a man who was quite helpful. “Nope, can’t say I’ve seen a ship like that around here but if they were damaged chances are they’re docked three levels up in one of the repair bays. Guy’s in charge around here are picky over things like that.”

            “Really? Oh thank you, you’re the first person who’s said anything helpful.” Kathy said and walked over to Sylvia and Albert.

            “Any luck?” Sylvia asked.

            “He said he hasn’t seen it docked down here but it may be in one of the repair bays three levels up.”

            “Looks like we’re heading up then.” Sylvia said as the three of them made their way to a turbo lift.

            Boarding the turbo lift, the three of them went up to the repair bays. Once the lift stopped and the doors opened, the three of them were looking at two rather tall Outcasts; both about six feet four inches tall. It was obvious that they weren’t of the True Outcasts but the danger still remained. When they first noticed Kathy and Sylvia, devilish smiles had crossed their faces until they saw Albert who towered over their six feet four inches by an additional six inches.

            They both backed off and it became clear they weren’t about to start a fight with them. They exited the lift with caution and realized; once the two Outcasts boarded the lift, that they were in the right location. Looking left and right they saw many more Outcasts lazing around, conversing with others and a few who looked like they had just run sprints.

            One thing that caught Kathy and the others eyes was the fact that none of the Outcasts were armed. Just like them, they had been disarmed by station security but none of them; not for a single second, believed the Outcasts were unarmed or any less dangerous

            “Guess it’s safe to assume they’re still here huh?” Sylvia whispered as she and Albert carefully observed everything and everyone.

            “Yeah, let’s find an area where no one can hear us and contact Lliam’s group.” Kathy said as they walked off to find a vacant area.

******

Main Commons (9:00 AM {6:45 PM Planet Time})

            After searching several of the multitude of areas the main commons that sold replacement parts and repair kits, the guys found themselves in what was considered the food court. However the place was more like a massive bar and gambling den. Food was served but by the looks of it the guys figured it’d be safer to eat back on the ship.

            They were about to head to another area when Nate noticed that James was missing. “Lliam have you seen James?”

            Turning around and looking at a few places nearby Lliam answered “No… and I don’t see him anywhere.”

            There was a sudden uproar of cheers coming from one of the places they had seen gambling going on. Curiosity getting the better of them, they decided to go and see what the uproar was about. Due to the both of them being less than six feet tall, they couldn’t see around the crowd of people; most of which were over six feet tall.

            “Excuse me, what’s going on?” Nate asked one of the people.

            His question was met with a “Fuck Off” and when Lliam asked another person the same he was met with a “Shut up small fry”.

            Where Nate had kept his cool, Lliam said “Small fry?” before turning the same man around and decked him in the face and kneed him in the gut before throwing him to the floor. His actions just made others who saw what happened cheer and laugh before he saw James with dice in his hand. He was playing street craps among several other people and he was winning.

            “Come on… come on…” James said as he shook the dice.

            “James, what the hell are you doing?” Lliam asked as he pushed someone out of the way to get next to James.

            “Not now, I’m winning!” James said as he threw the dice. Cheers went up around them as both Lliam and Nate shook their heads while James yelled in triumph.

            “This is attention we don’t need.” Lliam said as he and Nate scanned the crowd.

            “Let him waste his time here, it’s his money. Let’s put a little distance between him and us yeah?” Nate suggested as they both headed off.

            After leaving James where he was; but staying close enough to keep an eye on him, they fought their way through the torrent of people. After looking around for a little bit and through the ruckus of the crowd around them, Lliam managed to hear “What are you doing here Mateo?” Turning around Lliam quickly scanned the crowd around him before catching a glimpse of Mateo speaking with an Asian woman at one of the bars.

            He immediately stopped Nate and pointed at them before they both tried to get closer.

********

A few moments prior

            “So it’s done then Isaac?” Mateo asked a man as he walked up to him.

            Isaac Bray; dressed in crimson colored power armor, had short dirty red hair and green eyes. He was slightly smaller than Mateo; who was six foot one while Isaac was five feet eleven inches tall. His build wasn’t very muscular or athletic but instead was rather plain and ordinary looking.

            “Yep, we handed both her and the little girl over. Funny though, the ship they left on was one of the ones used by Mors Mortis.” Isaac said as he sat down next to him at the bar and ordered a drink.

            “Well mission complete then, though it’s a far cry from what Delta usually sends us out to do.” Mateo said as he took a sip of the brandy he had.

            “What are you doing here Mateo?” A feminine voice asked from behind him.

            Turning around both Mateo and Isaac saw an Asian woman of Japanese decent. She had brown eyes and black hair and barely looked out of her twenties. It was Mei Akane; one of the thirteen Electus leaders.

            “Mei, uh… we just completed a mission assigned to us by Delta.” Mateo said.

            A look of confusion came across her face as she said “What mission would that be?”

            After filling her in on the details Mateo said “…and Isaac here just came back from delivering her.”

            “Mateo, he wouldn’t give such an order.” She said with a confused look. “Who told you Delta wanted you to do this?” Mei asked as Mateo looked over to where Isaac sat.

            “What?”

            “When you said Delta had a mission for us, who gave you the details?” Mateo asked him.

            “It was Patrick.”

            “Why the hell would he give you the details of a mission Delta assigned? And why didn’t you tell me that in the first place!?” Mateo yelled.

            “Hey, I aint under Delta’s wing like the two of you are. If any of you…” Isaac said looking at Mei “…tell us Delta said to jump, we ask how high. We don’t question what one of the Electus leaders say and Delta even less so.” He finished while looking at Mateo.

********

            Lliam and Nate had flanked the three of them; Lliam trying to stay out of view while Nate moved in closer. While Lliam was hanging back a bit, he still easily heard them mention Delta and that something seemed to be wrong.

            Still listening in, he heard the woman say “Delta will not be pleased after hearing this.”

            “Isaac, do you realize how many innocent woman and children we killed to find those two, let alone all the people we killed while attacking the colony? If you had told me Patrick told you about the mission we could’ve spared all of them! Now we have to worry about Delta.” Mateo said and shook his head.

            “You two have nothing to worry about… that is once I inform Delta that Patrick sent you off under false pretexts. Did any of you get a look at the ship that they left on? I’m sure he’d want to know.” She asked.

            “Yeah, I did.” Isaac said and scratched his head “It was a Mors Mortis prison transport, seemed kinda strange seeing one of them here to pick ‘em up.”

            The words ‘Mors Mortis’ hit Lliams ears like a boxer taking a jab at someone’s face. He couldn’t fathom them being taken to such a hellhole but his attention was grabbed again when the woman said “Mors Mortis huh, looks like he’s going to use them against Rrahkarr Sutarra, I think that was what his name was.”

            “He is alive… and at Mors Mortis!?” Lliam thought as his eyes widened; zoning out while the conversation continued.

            “Sutarra? Hmm… I’ve heard that name before.” Mateo said after thinking for a few moments.

            “Rrahkarr was once a fighter pilot in the Federation before becoming a Freelancer. He and his team were one of the best and his name got around quite a bit.” Mei told him.

            “No… that’s not where I heard it. It was back on that colony; Falora.” Mateo said.

            “That albino wolf you said dodged all your attacks and was a descendant of Tro’nen?” Isaac asked.

            “Wait, did you say descendant of Tro’nen?” Mei asked.

            “Yeah, he said his name was William Sutarra and… what the?” Mateo was saying when he caught a glimpse of Lliam in the mirror behind the bottles of alcohol of the bar they were at. “Shit we’ve been followed!”

            “Lliam get down!” Nate yelled from where he was observing them.

            Lliam looked up and saw Mateo standing up and drawing a hidden weapon. He ducked just as Mateo opened fire; sending the crowds of people fleeing.

            “Mei get out of here now! We’ll meet up later.” Mateo yelled over the yells of the crowds and continued firing.

            The moment the first shot was fired people had broken out in panic and started fleeing the area, but at the same time station security was also alerted. Isaac too had pulled out a hidden weapon and aimed directly at Lliam just moments after Mateo let out his first shot. Just as he was about to fire Mateo pushed him away and said “Get back to the ship and go, security will be here shortly and they’ll lock down the ship.”

            “What about you?” Isaac asked as he looked between Lliam and Mateo.

            “Just go!” Mateo yelled.

            Isaac hesitantly withdrew and headed back towards the turbo lifts. Even though Mateo was firing his weapon, Lliam could tell he was just firing in his direction to keep him pinned down rather than firing at him. Every shot was fired near him but they were aimed at something so that no one was hurt. Alarms started going off when Lliam got a call on his comm.

            “Lliam, we’ve found their ship… wait what the hell?” Kathy said when gunfire erupted from the comm.

            “Kathy what’s going on?” Lliam asked as the gunfire being fired at him stopped.

            “They’ve opened fire on security and are falling back to their ship… we just got under cover. Great, another one just showed up in crimson colored armor.”

            “Careful, that’s another True Outcast.” Lliam warned as station security rushed to his location to subdue Mateo.

            As station security arrived on the scene Mateo dropped his weapon and gave up without a fight. Station security were not at all gentle while cuffing him; slamming his face into one of the tables before doing so and escorting him away to the brig.

            While security dealt with Mateo, Nate rushed over to Lliam “Are you alright Lliam?”

            “I’m fine, Kathy contacted me and said they found their ship… unfortunately the rest of the Outcasts must have been warned on what happened because they opened fire on station personnel.” Lliam informed him as James rushed over.

            “About time you got over here.” Lliam said to him when suddenly the ground started shaking; causing everyone there to fall over.

            Not only did they fall over, but it seemed like the whole station started shaking. It was so bad several ventilation shafts broke free and fell along with other parts from the ceiling. Piping in several areas also became loose as pipes cracked; spewing waste, water and other chemicals and fluids to the ground below.

            “What the hell was that!?” James shouted and stood back up as Nate grabbed his comm.

            “Guys, are you three alright over there?” Nate asked but didn’t get a response.

            “Fuck!” Kathy said a few moments later “Yeah we’re okay; they boarded their ship and blew a hole to get out but they also fired through the station. Thankfully the shields sealed the breach but the docks are a complete wreck. How are things over there?”

            Activating his comm, Lliam said “Mateo is in station custody.”

            “That’s great now we can find out where they were heading… wait, how did he end up in their custody?” Kathy asked, knowing that he could’ve easily defeated them.

            “He gave up without a fight. We overheard them talking and we know where Sara and Aurora are… as well as Rrahkarr.” Lliam let her know and added “I’ll fill you in when we meet back up.” Before she could ask about Rrahkarr.

            “So… what now?” Nate asked as he got to his feet and brushed dirt off his pants.

            “I think we should return to the ship, we already know where they’re being taken.” Lliam said as he stood up and started heading towards the turbo lifts.

            “Do you know the exact location in space we need to go?” Nate asked as both he and James started to follow him.

            Stopping he said “Good question.” He then activated his comm and said “Kathy…”

            “What’s up?”

            “Do you know the coordinates of the Mors Mortis Prison?” he asked.

            “I do not… but I do have files from multiple sources that paint out a rough idea of where it’s supposed to be.” She said then asked “Is… is that were they were taken?”

            Sighing Lliam said “Yeah… do you think you could locate the place based off those sources?”

            “Most likely, if a ship has gone there in the past twenty four hours when we get in the area I’ll be able to follow its trail right to up to the prison.” Kathy said which caused Lliam to chuckle.

            “From what we overheard, a ship used by the Mors Mortis prison just left not long ago. When we get to the area we can follow its trail.” Nate informed her.

            “What about Mateo?” Sylvia asked over her comm.

            “I’ll go and try to speak with him… alone.” Lliam said as he started walking and noticed the others following him. “You two just get back to the ship… I won’t be long.”

********

Brig (9:25 AM {7:00 PM Planet Time})

            Lliam was able to follow station security from the Main Commons to the stations brig. He entered the brig only to find very few guards; and the only security he saw were the few who had brought in Mateo.

            Having seen the albino wolf enter, the on duty guard beyond the protective shielding asked him what his business in the brig was. After relaying some information, the guard told him he had just been thrown into one of the cells. After asking if he could talk with the prisoner the guard escorted him to the holding cells.

            The holding cells were rather simple; each cell a box with three sides completely closed off while the fourth side was closed off by a force field. The cells themselves were plain; white walls and ceiling, a single bench; with a thin mattress pushed up against the wall for the person to lie on and a toilet and sink. Each cell was three by seven and held one person each. 

            Walking up to the farthest cell Lliam saw Mateo; stripped of his power armor, wearing a shirt and pants. He was on the bench lying on his back looking at the ceiling. Hearing someone approaching he threw himself forward into a sitting position. Upon seeing Lliam he grinned and started chuckling.

            “So… the little white wolf has come for me eh? Gonna have me killed pup?”

            Giving him an icy look Lliam said in a cold tone “I could care less about you… I just want the location of Mors Mortis.”

            The guard did a double take at Lliam after hearing what he said. Mateo gave him a curious look before asking “You’re… not here for vengeance?”

            Giving him a calculated look, Lliam said “No… I’m just trying to save my niece and her mother.”

            A full minute of silence passed between them before Mateo started to chuckle. A few more moments before his chuckle broke out into outright laughing. Calming down Mateo said “And here I went and let myself be captured so that you could kill me.”

            This surprised Lliam so much he couldn’t help but ask “What do you mean?”

            Smiling to himself, Mateo answered with “I’m sure you heard a good chunk of what we said. When I saw you I thought you followed us so you could kill us. The reason I gave myself up so that you could is because I gave my men the order to kill all those people believing it to be Delta’s order. Had I known it had come from that deceitful bastard… none of those innocents would have lost their lives.” He finished with a forlorn look on his face and in his voice.

            If what Lliam was seeing and hearing were correct, this True Outcast was feeling regret, remorse for what had transpired and was willing to let himself be killed by those he had harmed. After deflating a little with a long sigh Lliam said “You’re not at all what I pictured you Outcasts to be.”

            Looking back over to him, Mateo asked “And how did you picture us? As murderers, heartless inhumane bastards or did you just picture us as weapons of war?”

            “I figured you were all of that and more… like Delta; heartless wouldn’t begin to describe him, inhumane doesn’t even scratch the surface of that iceberg.” Lliam said; deflating the rest of the way, as he looked at the ceiling.

            A small smile worked its way across Mateo’s face yet Lliam didn’t notice it as Mateo said “Then… his plan is working.”

            Lliam looked back at Mateo and said “What plan?”

            “That I can’t tell you… just remember this for when the time comes. What he seems to be is nothing but a façade; an elaborate disguise over a hundred years in the making.” He said as he stood up and walked right up to the force field and motioned for Lliam to come closer.

              Hesitating for a moment, Lliam slowly walked closer to the cell; with warnings from the guard. Making a gesture to indicate he was going to whisper something to him, Lliam brought his ear closer. His eyes widened a little as Mateo spoke softly. Walking back to the bench he laid down.

            With a smile he said “Can’t have everyone knowing its location.” Then his voice took on a serious tone “It’s not a safe place to travel through, and most vessels are fired upon by pirates once entering the area. Make sure the ship you’re on can handle it.”

            “Why would you tell me?” Lliam asked; confused that Mateo gave him the information he wanted so willingly.

            “I see it as making a small… no, a miniscule piece of atonement for what I’ve let happen. I’m the one who carried out the orders and I’m the one who has to live with that.” Mateo said and turned onto his side; indicating he was done speaking.

            Lliam thought back to that day on Falora; Mateo could have easily killed Kathy before being transported away. Thinking harder he realized that once the ‘operation’ had been completed Mateo didn’t want to take any more lives but why did they aim their main gun at the colony.

            “So I take it, aiming the main gun at the colony was part of the order as well?” Lliam asked.

            “No… that idea was Isaacs… I’m glad that we were attacked before he could fire it. If I was on the bridge at the time, we would have just left.”

             “The one in crimson colored armor?”

            “Yeah… I told you what Delta seems to be is a façade, well me and a few of our… brothers, are also a part of that façade… Isaac however is not. If you see him again; assuming I haven’t dealt with him, feel free to kill him.” Mateo said and yawned as he motioned with his hand for Lliam to leave.

            Lliam nodded as he started to turn away but stopped and said “Thank you… for telling me where it is.”

            He then started walking the way he had come from; followed by the guard who was thoroughly confused. A few moments after he left Mateo rolled back onto his back and thought “I hope you can reach them quickly… Patrick is usually not known to drag things out.”

            Sitting up he smiled and thought “Well, might as well take this as a break and enjoy it for a few days before breaking out.”