Victor had spent roughly fifteen minutes trying to set the room up to his exacting standards.The room wasn't as large as he would have liked, only 7x7 meters, nor did it have the atmosphere of relaxation. In fact the walls of the room had quite the opposite effect, being such a horrid white colour, they had a most distracting effect, its only saving grace was its cleanliness. All credit to the Zoners in that regard. The desk was clear, save for his pens, pencils, papers, books, hourglasses and other such timers and audio recorders. Two plain metal chairs sat opposite one another.
He seriously hoped it would not put off his guest's arrival. Outcasts were notoriously fickle when it came to these matters.
When, at last, he was somewhat satisfied with both his layout and his appearance he sat down and quickly wrote on the first sheet of paper:
Interveiw with Maltese Exiles (History, culture, philosophies, language.) Written for the University of Cambridge's Anthroplogy library by Victor Steiner.
Date: 6/03/824 A.S.
Freeport 1, Omega-3 system
Subject: Rosa Veraz
After writting that he simply waited, although he didn't have to wait long before he heard the sounds of approaching footsteps. He growled to himself, the room was supposedly soundproof, he made a note to remind the Zoner who told him that dishonesty was not a wise move. He stood up before his guest arrived and smoothed his civilian clothes over and stood beside the desk waiting for her to come in.
His guest didn't even bother to knock at the door and just got in the room, her expression was just emotionless like usually, a somewhat unfitting look in addition to the uniform she wore, it was the CID's one, the signs for her former rank still on it. The only difference to the current CID one had been the symbol of the Maltese Exiles.
The room was just as expected but she didn't mind it, it was just the usual Freeport in the end, and approached him. Forcing a weak smile.
"Hola, Victor. I hope you didn't have any issues coming here?" Her words were followed by a simple short nod towards the chairs, already sitting down on the one closest to her.
''None my lady'' Victor replied giving a short bow as Rosa Veraz strolled into the room without so much as a tap at the door to announce her arrival. She was of average height and build, wearing clothing with a variety of dark patterns and shades. He curiously noted that she still wore Maltese ranks, dispite leaving them behind.
''Thank you for taking the time to share your history with me, although I must apologise in advance, there may be some questions which you....might not wish to answer. In those cases, please don't, i will turn the Recorder off if you wish, but it would be nice to leave it on for as long as we can. But ultimatly, you are in charge of this interview, i can't force answers out of you.''
He sat down, and moved a few books aside before presenting her with a single sheet of paper and a pen. ''The contract, stateing you are here of your own free will and are conducting this interview because you choose too.....it's for the ethics board. Would you mind signing it?''
She raised an eyebrow at his words. Questions she likely wouldn't answer?
"I have hidden the details behind our Exile for long, our history should be documented as whole or not at all."
After these words she just sighed, wondering if after this interview their history was even going to appear in said libary.
"Sure, I'll sign it." Was everything she bothered to say then before taking the paper and pen from him, swiftly reading most of what was written on it before signing it, handing it back to him. Silently waiting for him to start with an undefinied expression on her face.
''What i mean is, some details of your history might bring some unwanted memories to the surface'' He said taking the paper back from her and tucking it in his briefcase. ''Fear not my lady, everything will be documented and published. Shall we begin?''
Turning the machine on, Victor offically began the interview by logging the time, and date into the machine.
''Interview with Miss Rosa Veraz on the Maltese exiles, on the 6th of the 3th 824 A.S. Interview begins at 10 AM on Freeport 1''
He paused and gave his subject his full and undivided attention before contining; ''Starting from the begining, When and how did the Maltese Exiles come to be? Who did they follow and why were you exiled?''
She took a deep breath once the interview started, leaning a bit back on her chair.
"The founder of the Maltese Exiles was John McMurphy, a Libertorian and former Liberty Rogue. He gained the status of a Maltese around 818 A.S. , I served like most of us on the Warship he commanded. It was in the late 822 A.S. when we became what we became again a few months ago again.
It must have been around September 822 when the Crimson Cross took advantage of an anomaly leading to Omicron Delta and started to lay siege on Freeport 11 in cooperation with the Slomon K'Hara. John as well as most of his crew couldn't stand working for these things, especially after they betrayed us multiple times. Things went crazy the moment they left us alone in a battle against the Core, we barely got out of it.
Once the repairs were finished and we returned to the front, we went against the Maltese Fleet and managed to damage them nicely before having to retreat, we found temporary help here and there. Basically we chose to stay in Exile ourselves as the Crimson Cross kept our betrayal hidden and therefore no official statement ever came to light."
As she ended she sighed weakly, remembering how they lost John to their, humanity's very enemy in the end.
Victor Wrote the most important or most interesting answers down on paper along with various other questions that came to mind.
''You'll have to forgive me, my knowledge of Nomads is limited at best, the Solomon K'Hara, are they what the Nomads are called by Outcasts? Futhermore Why would the Outcasts just up and attack a Zoner freeport?''
He dragged a book from the side of the table and flicked through a few pages, he sighed and pushed it aside. ''You mentioned fighting against the Maltese fleet, was that durring your escape?''
All she did was waiting until he finished writing down before going to answer his questions, surprisingly she was way more calm than she usually is.
"Slomon K'Hara is the term researchers would take, 'Spirits' is how many Maltese refer to them while the rest just calls them like the ordinary person, Nomads."
"The Crimson Cross was directly tied to the Nomads, they saw them as greater beings and almost saw them as gods, they followed their will and assisted them in Omicron Delta, we fought them directly even before we had to flee."
He jotted down a few more questions before continuing.
''Spirits? is that a broad term or does it mean something else, as in, do the Maltese believe that these spirits are their ancestor's souls? or are they aware that they are xenos?''
Pausing before continuing, ''University records show that the Crimson Cross were once the leaders of the outcasts, but we've heard nothing for a very long time. Where are they now? What happened? Actually, one moment'' He said as he got up and wandered over to the door, opening it he muttered a few words to the Zoner outside before closing the door and returning to his seat. ''Apologies ma'm, please. Continue''.
She waited until he sat down again, sighing weakly before she continued to explain it to him..
"They aren't aware of the danger the Nomads pose to anyone. The countless generations of Cardamine usage makes us less human, enough to make them see us as something they don't need to hunt down but some think for odd reasons we could work with them.
Well, the Crimson Cross still exists. Malta's Church never fully disappeared, they are still part of the current goverment but they were stripped of almost all their power. What remains are blinded people though and this is still a serious problem."