The Elysium orbited Aegis II in high orbit, camouflaged in the icy rings of the planet. On board the small fighter ship, sitting at the helm, sat a skeleton wearing the tattered remains of a centuries old System Collective exosuit. The helmet had fractured into a thousand pieces centuries ago, leaving a set of jagged jaws made of glass in their place. The life support system ceased all functionality during the Elysium's maiden voyage to the Outer Rim, not that the man wearing the suit needed life support at the time.

No, he was long dead before his body kissed the Expanse, reduced to a sloughing mess of meat and sinew.

There were only two systems on the skeleton's spacesuit that were "functional". Really, the propulsion system and shields were only maintained for convenience. The skeleton had all but forgotten what pain felt like in the decades since his nervous system decayed into nothing, but replacing bone fragments that were splintered off from a stray blaster bolt or ballistic round was starting to get on his (non-existent) nerves. And the propulsion system? Navigating the Expanse on EVAs was easier if you could control where you were headed.

The skeleton exhaled through his teeth, or at least his mind attempted to make the missing muscles do that. He placed both of his plasma pistols on either side of the control panel in front of him and laid his laser rifle against the edge of the captain's chair.

Behind him, in the center of the bridge, the holoprojectors struggled to flicker to life. The skeleton turned his head, watching the spectacle unfold. It wasn't the first time that the ship's AI, Pythia, manifested on her own. It was like she had a way of reading his mind and sensing when the seeds of doubt were growing too unstable.

"Are you ready, Bonechill?"

Bonechill nodded. He pressed a few buttons and turned some dials before grabbing hold of the helm and directing the ship toward Aegis II.

"Coordinates?"

"The GCP suggests that the rebel base is located near latitude: 44.64146, longitude: 67.88966, in the northeastern quadrant of Aegis II. The agents have confirmed at least twenty-two combatants and six civilians, ages ten to twenty-five. Mostly humanoid, although there is one Etruscan."

An Etruscan? Here? What had the rebels been getting up to now?

The last time that Bonechill had come across an Etruscan was in the Ramsey System, on the complete opposite side of the galaxy from here. The planet he was on was on of the Middle Rim worlds, Ramseys III. Bonechill visited the planet a few times in the days in between assignments.

It was a nice place, tranquil, civilized, good amount of fauna that made for the most exquisite cuisine that he couldn't taste but feel. The purple hue of the star meshed well with the atmosphere, which was made of concentrated methane. The sky was always painted in various shades of purples and deep blues.

As a federal prisoner, Bonechill was barred from much of the finer luxuries on Ramseys III, including access to any of the biodomes that were built for species that couldn't breathe methane. Not that that was a problem for him, his lungs had atrophied the first time he'd ever gone into space and were long dead by that point. But outside the biodomes, amidst the forest of razor thin trees and lakes of salinized nitrogen, there was a restaurant made specifically for the likes of him; the Lasko.

The Lasko, for all its faults and barely compliant structural supports, was the closest thing to a home that Bonechill had for decades. He was familiar with the owner, an Arborean girl with four arms in her mid-two hundreds named...

He couldn't remember her name.

But he remembered the day the Etruscan arrived.

When the ethereal humanoid broke through the atmosphere, it levitated high above the Lasko, passing its judgement on the world below. Bonechill had barely caught a glimpse of the thing, only saw enough to make out some of its features before... before...

He shoved the memory back into the vault where it came from. Now was not the time to get emotional.

Bonechill stared at the planet as he descended. The starskipper was in low orbit now, and would hit the exosphere in a couple of minutes. The tallest peaks of Aegis II were starting to become visible without the help of the monitors. The planet wasn't uninhabitable, but it wasn't like the System Collective to neglect the Outer Rim worlds. There was a grand total of two colony ships that embarked on voyages here, and that was five hundred years ago. There were no records of shipment manifestos, no records of GCP officers stationed there, and hardly any communications with the High Council since the colony ships arrived.

Assuming that Pythia's statement was accurate (she was hardly ever wrong about anything), then Aegis II should have been all but a ball of slag reminiscent of a planet cracking expedition. Despite that, though, there were rivers, foliage, life presumably.

What the hell was going on?

"How much longer till we land, Pythia?"

"Approximately thirty minutes, sir."

"Good, we have time to discuss strategy then."

"Sir, might I suggest killing them before they kill you?"

Bonechill chuckled, "You really have the processing power to spare for jokes these days?"

Pythia shrugged. She walked in front of the helm, sitting cross legged on the control panel in between the plasma pistols.

"It is my understanding that the Etruscan will, undoubtably, be the most dangerous entity on that planet. Neither you or this vessel posses the artillery capable of nullifying it. I would suggest the standard approach, albeit with a greater emphasis on stealth."

Bonechill nodded. Pythia continued, manifesting a diagram of the rebel base through the holoprojectors. She flickered more as the diagram came to life, and when it was finished she was nearly transparent.

"There are several structural insecurities that can serve as covert access points along the eastern and northern exteriors. Additionally, the rebels appear to be transporting pythereum to three Class I star fighters. I must assume there is a higher concentration of pythereum inside of the building as well, possibly near the star fighters, although I cannot access the internal schematics of their facility."

"Why?"

"They've managed to construct a rudimentary signal jammer. Dismantling it would prove beneficial, should you acquire my assistance inside."

He sighed. More work to do.