Glimpse: Into the Breach

'I venture into the unknown, alone. I brave the dark depths, unafraid. I will complete my goals and objectives unencumbered by those who would seek to stop me, and will emerge victorious. None can do my job but me. I procure the information that is not easily attained. I am a Scout. '

--Scout's Creed, Unknown



Tralen Vitala tensed as explosive decompression let him know his pod had been fired from the capsuleer ship. He gripped his handholds violently as his cloaked, man-sized pod streaked towards the destination. He was hurtling towards a planet in the Heimatar Region. It was always a bumpy ride, and he hadn't even hit the atmosphere yet.

Minutes later, his pod sensed the planet's surface and automatically activated an intertia dampener as it drew closer to the planet's surface. It sped towards landfall more than a mile away from the planetary installations that were Tralen's target. After settling in quietly on the planets surface, the airlock broke, and the pod's single door slowly opened. Tralen rose slowly and scanned over his surroundings. It was night and the planet was M class...for the most part. The planet's jet black sand had a constant flow of steam rising from it, and the mountainous terrain was jagged and uneven. Lightning flashed constantly without the sound of thunder and light precipitation fell. Tralen grabbed his gear and headed towards a high point so he could get his bearings.

In a sense he would never leave this place. Scout Extraction was simply too risky and difficult. After completing his assignment and sending the details back to his employers, he would enter the pod and close his eyes. Minutes later his employers would hit the kill switch on his clone, and he would wake up at a station of his choosing, millions of ISK richer for a job well done. He would spend a two weeks downtime at a Gallente resort and return to work when he felt like it. Tralen gathered information for those who lacked the means to obtain it, but possessed the ISK to hire out. It was his job to drop in unseen onto planets, stations, ships, installations and other heavily guarded facilities and give the 'lay of the land' to the people who wanted it. It wasn't his job to be concerned with how the intel he gathered was used, and he never was. He pulled out his Ocular and the single scope visual amplification device zoomed in on an installation slightly less than a mile from his position. Previous intel gathered revealed this installation didnt have sensor capabilities outside of the premises. Some corporations had the benefit of being alerted every time a planet's atmosphere was breached, some could detect vessels in orbit, even better detection equipment would send alerts when unregistered craft entered their systems, but that wasn't the case here.

The Ocular spotted and catalogged three Madrugar tanks, atleast two CRUs and a single clone facility. And while that was the information his employer needed, what Tralen was looking for were patrols. A man in his line of work valued stealth. In fact, it was essential to survival and payment. Sure, he could protect himself, but he wasn't some armed-to-the-teeth mercenary with an endless arsenal of weapons. Tralen's objective was to be invisible and collect information. No backup was ever coming to assist him and no corporation would do anything save disavow all knowledge of his actions. Being spotted by manned or automated patrols, turrets or other detection equipment before getting a 'mapping completed' reading on his location device usually meant a quick death and zero payment, and professionals like him didn't work for free.

Thirty minutes later, after evading two patrols, three automated turrets, automated cameras and after taking snapshots of each side of the facility, his ocular went from a red 98% completion reading to the familiar green 100% he desired. His work was done here. His employer had the intel they wanted and he was a million ISK richer. He quickly returned to his coffin-like pod and closed his eyes as the airlock sealed and the greyish, man-sized device sunk beneath the black sand, leaving no trace it had even been there.