He spent the next few minutes writing notes and muttering to himself before asking another question. ''Tell me, who are the enemies of the Maltese, and could you tell me how or possibly why they are hostile?''
This pause in the interview left Eliza with another chance to enjoy the tranquility of the gardens. She took a big inhale followed by a slow and steady exhale as her eyes calmly drifted across the landscape, the trees, the bushes. This place was truly something else, if only her temporary quarters could be anywhere close to this. Seeing nothing but asteroids when you looked out the extra hardened shock resistant window of the hollowed rock they called Cape Wraith Base in Newcastle was far less relaxing for the senses. In fact sometimes it was more unnerving actually as you watched an asteroid fly straight towards your room only to be caught by the station's energy shield and repelled back into it's brethren at the very last moment. A quick realization sparked up in the Maltese girl's head - she had fallen on the level of the miners of Tau-23, thinking about rocks so deeply. The disturbing thought snapped her out of her daydream. She looked at Alfred and wondered what was taking him this long. Driven by her curiosity she made an attempt to peak into the note he was writing so steadily and carefully. Too bad Eliza wasn't experienced in reading text upside down so a few squints and head tilts later she quickly gave up on the notion of spying on her interviewer's writing. The Maltese put her hands on each side of the chair and adjusted her posture again then began to slowly swing her legs like a little girl as her mind drifted into thoughts again. What could Loyola be doing at this very moment? Probably plotting some scheme to gain further power in Maltese society. Eliza's face brightened with amusement, this cartoonish depiction of Loyola as the evil antagonist always brightened her mood. And then salvation finally came, Alfred raised his head from his notes and spoke again. This caught the distracted girl off guard as her brain cells had to work out what had just happened in those few seconds it took for the man to finish his sentence. Oh, the enemies of Malta? Spot on, Eliza, repeating what he said is the way to go! They're... there's plenty of them actually. Corsairs, the Gallic Royal Navy, Kusari Naval Forces, the Crayterian Remnants, the Independent Miner's Guild, the Gas Miner's Guild, Bounty Hunters, Council. In fact now that she thought about it - it might have been easier for her to list the people Maltese weren't at war with. The Corsairs we fight for influence over the Sigma sectors, the Omicrons and Kusari. The Gallic Royal Navy is the ever present threat if they ever decide to expand north towards Malta. The miners have always been good raiding targets and have moved into our own space trying to claim it as their own. Rest view us as dangerous criminals and openly attack us. To be honest we're nearly as hated as the Corsairs, perhaps even more across some parts of Sirius.
He knew she was trying to look at what he was writing, as if he was making major deductions on what the state of her soul was, however the truth was far more bland, he was simply writing more questions and her respective answers down, he felt cross references were going to be needed...which would, inevitably result in more interviews with different people...probably on Malta....then of course if all the enemies of the Maltese found out what he was doing they might want to 'correct' his report...which would result in even more interviews....which was a truely exhusting thought.
''Why would that be, I would have thought the corsairs to be more hated...perhaps that is because I am Bretonia and thus biased but, even so.'' he asked cocking his head to one side.
Eliza looked at Alfred with a hint of surprise. Well there's Kusari for starters, they seem to prefer the Corsairs over us. Or at least her encounters with it's inhabitants had let her to believe so. Though to her Kusarians were also a bunch of very strange and just as angry people that she had given up understanding long ago. Liberty probably doesn't care much about them as it's space is far from any territory the Corsairs frequent. The Crayterians would rather deal with them over us as well due to old battles and unhealed wounds from before the Gallics kicked them out of the Taus and into Coronado. I guess it often boiled down to who managed to anger the locals first. She shrugged, it wasn't like first contact with either nation was peaceful as to the girl's knowledge both the Maltese and the Cretans relied heavily on raiding of transports to boost their own economy. The fact both artifacts and cardamine were either illegal or heavily regulated in all the colonies was definitely a factor to it as well. A grim thought suddenly crawled into her head. Perhaps there's not a single group of people with a spine of their own that isn't against either us or the Corsairs.
Our squadrons heading into the Corsair home world sometimes meet some of their raiders there. That's perhaps the only time we're really cooperating. Though the Rote Hessen Armee, she pronounced the last three words slowly and carefully, does not really want to let us Maltese into Rheinland due to their fear we'll smuggle cardamine in. But as long as we stay out of their "realm" there are no hostilities. I believe we used to be allies some years back, but that was before I became a pilot so I can't tell you much about it. Eliza smiled apologetically, she wished she could tell Alfred more as the Hessians were a can of worms she had opened some months back with hope of learning more about them but nothing significant ever came of it as with her new position in the Legion she had to focus her efforts elsewhere.
He nodded and wrote a few more things down, he checked the time and noted it was coming close to 5:00PM the sun was begning to sink low. A few more questions and he'd call it a day.
''If I can return to Malta for a moment, who handles the comings and goings of visitors and the like? that is to ask, if I decided to pay Malta a visit, who would I talk too?''
If you plan to just visit you'll most likely just have to deal with planetary defense forces and customs on the spot. Contrary to our name "Outcasts", we don't really isolate ourselves from the rest of humanity. she paused her thoughts with a shy chuckle before continuing, There are plenty of trade transports flying from and into Malta so a plain visit won't need any prior notification. Now if you're looking more for a diplomatic meeting then perhaps notifying the National Council about it would be the way to go as they currently oversee most political aspects of Malta. Her gaze shifted towards the garden around them as she awaited the next question. The last sun rays of the day painted the vegetation around them in a sly tint of orange which reminded her of home planet yet again. Though while visually similar, it lacked the one thing which made her body truly feel at home - cardamine. Out here in Bretonia she had to use inhalers to inject the much needed substance that keeps her body from destroying itself in a gruesome withdrawal. It was not as carefree and pleasant as Malta's atmosphere, but it was the price to pay for being able to leave her homeworld and explore the stars.
The shade of the trees had a relaxing effect on him, and he relit his pipe and began puffing away slowly. He streached out and folded his papers, ready for the final statements.
''So all in all, what say you about your home? give me your true thoughts all summed up, this is your once chance to really get the message across to your leaders....there's no press censorship is there?'' he asked with a bit of concern.
Alfred's words amused her. It was a good sales pitch to get an interviewee excited about sharing their most passionate thoughts on a subject. Though for Eliza this was far from her "once chance" to be heard by the Maltese leaders as thanks to her involvement with certain individuals in the higher ranks of Malta she had managed to get audience and voice her opinion more than once already. Though to Steiner's avail she was still going to entertain his question. The people in power should look less towards their own personal gain and rather focus on the greater good of the Maltese collective. The only way for Malta to truly prosper is if it's people align under the same goals and push forward as a whole rather than bicker among themselves and look towards individual prosperity. Those unfit to serve the people before they serve themselves should be removed from service.
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