The Factory, Solaris City
Solaris VII
Lyran Commonwealth
24 April, 3049


     Pushing through the crowd of reporters, fans, and hangers-on, Faith could still feel the pounding of adrenaline in her head. "Faith, how does it feel to have earned a wild card berth in the second division?"

     "Fucking amazing!"

     "Any response to Peter Faulkner's assertions that your win was, to quote him, cheap?"

     "I don't have anything to say to that motherfucking cuntscraper. He tried to gauss me in the back and I made him look like the little shit that he is. I won. He lost. As we like to say, GGCLOSE. That's all for now."

     She slammed the locker room door shut and let out a laugh. "God, that was better than sex."

     "Maybe you're having bad sex." an unfamiliar voice rang out. Faith glanced in the direction of the voice. A raven-haired woman, dressed all in black, stood against the wall.

     "Who the hell are you?" Faith retorted.

     "A friend. A scout. An asset. People call me Cat."

     "Yeah, well, Cat, this girl is hitting the town. Not sure what you want, but it will have to wait."

     The woman didn't move. Faith put her hands on her hips. "Ok, what do you want?"

     "Right now, nothing. You're going to hit the town, I'll watch your back. Along the way, maybe we can talk."

     She didn't know why, but there was just something in this woman that Faith trusted. Or maybe she just wanted to trust. "So what's your angle?"

     The woman finally moved from her initial position, walking slightly closer. She absolutely exuded confidence, she knew what she was doing and wasn't afraid to let other people know it. "You'll find out. And you'll find out that it's not as nefarious as you're probably thinking. For now, you want to celebrate, go celebrate."

     Shaking her head, Faith headed to the showers, and then to enjoy the spoils of her victory.


Solaris Hilton, Solaris City, International Quarter
Solaris VII
Lyran Commonwealth
25 April, 3049


     Faith slowly became aware of the fact that her eyes were open. She blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what she was looking at. It was a sea of white, with a vast array of lines, waves, and shadows. And that was when it suddenly hit her. She was staring at the ceiling.

     All at once she became aware of herself. Her head was pounding with pain, each beat of her heart sending a pulse of pain through her skull. She was laying on her back, on a bed from the feel of it. The air was cold. She had nothing covering her, and the subtle airflow of the room started prickling against her skin.

     "You're finally awake, I see." She recognized the voice. She wasn't totally sure from where yet. The entire night was a blur. She had various bits and pieces floating around in her head, images, faces, thoughts, sensations. She tried to remember back to when it all started. Then it hit her, the woman's voice was that of the extremely persistent woman she had met after the match.

     "Wha...what are you doing here?" Faith rolled her head from side to side, trying to get her bearings. She was in her own suite at the Solaris Hilton, she recognized it. She also spotted Cat sitting comfortably in a chair off in the corner.

     "I told you I would have your back, and I did. Nobody left with any incriminating photos or video or anything like that. What happens on Solaris stays on Solaris."

     Slowly, painfully, Faith lifted herself onto her elbows, trying to shake away the haze in her mind. "Did I have a good time, at least?"

     "You're the one waking up hungover and topless at 11:30 in the morning, you tell me."

     "Point taken. Look, I don't need a lecture if that's what you're getting ready for." She sat up, wondering if there were any muscles in her body that weren't sore at the moment. She cast about quickly and grabbed a tank top, pulling it on quickly before pulling her legs up underneath her.

     "That's not what I'm here for, I assure you." The woman paused for a moment, then stood up. "Look, you've got talent. You're going to win lots of fame, glory, money, and all that here. But a year from now, you're going to be back on the battlefield. It's just who you are."

     She couldn't deny that. This trip to Solaris was on a whim. She didn't know how long she was going to be here, but she knew that her real place was on the battlefield, fighting back the Federated Suns. Fighting real fights.

     "So, you're going to be here for six months or a year. You can either survive this town, or you can ride this town for all it's worth. At the end of it, you go back to the battlefield, but you have a network of people, information, favors. You leave this place stronger than you came here. And that is my angle. You're smart, and you can take care of yourself. I like to have a network of people like that. You become part of it, we both win."

     What Cat was saying made sense. "So what's the catch? What do I have to do that I'm not already doing?" The answer to that question would determine how she was going to spend the next few months on Solaris.

     "Live the life, but live it smart. Last night you just met hangers-on and nobodies. As you win matches, you'll start partying with money, nobles, politicians, even spies. That's where it gets fun. And that's where I come in. I know some of the players, some of the game. I'd like to be the one to help you out. But it's your call."

     "Well, you earned you pay last night. So yeah, we'll see where this goes"