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The stern ramp opened, revealing a gloomy gray world. Gray ice, gray rocks. The only change was the different shades of gray. Even the sky was gray. The distant star Pyros brought little light and no warmth.

I walked slowly down the ramp in my heavy cold weather gear. After getting better equipped in Stanton, I was back on Terminus, the cold, desolate outermost planet of Pyro. It was my second attempt to find the data stick with the virus that the Xenothreat had brought to one of their settlements. The first time I almost froze to death. This time I was better prepared to brave the harsh conditions on Terminus.

I had landed the White Rabbit out of range of the defense towers and made my way to the settlement with the Ursa Rover. The Xenothreat on Ruin Station had spoken of the need to get the uncontrolled spread of the virus under control. So I expected to find a data center or some kind of settlement with computer technology. But if I was honest with myself, I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that there were two settlements and I hoped to find the stick in one of them.

After several minutes of driving, I reached a hill from where I had a clear view of the settlement. From a distance, the grey buildings were barely visible in the grey landscape. It was only through the optics of the sniper rifle that I recognized details. It was a collection of several buildings, some of them large. One appeared to be a garage or warehouse. Barbed wire and metal poles driven into the ground like posts surrounded the settlement. It looked anything but inviting. What I didn’t see were guards. Either everyone was in the buildings or no one was there.

Suddenly, I noticed a flicker in the corner of my eye. Startled, I jerked my head around. A large fire was burning just a few hundred meters away. How could I have missed it until now? A tower sticking out of a pile of garbage was ablaze. Next to it was a small building and a communications antenna.

I approached the fire cautiously. I wanted to avoid a direct confrontation at all costs. My goal was reconnaissance, not combat. To be on the safe side, I had my pistol with silencer attached. I reached the facility unnoticed under the cover of a wall. From my cover, I dared to take a look.

The fire cast a flickering yellowish light on the building, next to which were two containers. There was a fuse box attached to the antenna. An idea came to me.

I reached the box in a few steps and removed all three fuses. If there was no other communication system, the settlement was now cut off from the outside world. Once again, I looked at the settlement through the optics of the sniper rifle. There was no alarm, no one was running around or making their way to my position.

Confidently, I made my way to the settlement. The black and gray paintwork of my Ursa Medivac was the ideal camouflage. The rover virtually blended into the gray landscape. This and the fact that I hadn’t seen anyone prompted me to drive right up to the settlement.

Seemingly unnoticed, I reached the outer buildings, parked the Rover and walked into the settlement. It was an apocalyptic place, radiating nothing but death. Menacing defenses of barbed wire, metal bars and machine guns were everywhere. An eerie silence weighed heavily over everything. Even the sound of my footsteps was immediately swallowed up. I seemed to be looking in vain for anything alive here.

But as I walked around the first building, I saw something unexpected. A plantation. Next to it were several semi-circular, cylindrical corrugated iron huts, probably greenhouses. I hadn’t expected agriculture. My hopes of finding the data stick here faded. Nevertheless, I went to the first hut and pressed the door opener.

The screeching sound of the door opening echoed through the silence. The shrill sound went through my bones. I looked into a dark, dimly lit room. Something metallic gleamed at the side. I cautiously stepped into the darkness. Suddenly, I felt something grab hold of my leg. I stumbled and fell to my knees. I hit the ground with a thud. My hands gripped several thick cables lying on the floor. I had tripped over one of them. The cables all went into the metal cylinder on the side.

I struggled to get up and took a closer look at the cylinder. Goose bumps ran over my body. It was a MOAB, a big bomb. Was the plantation just a cover and were completely different things being grown in the greenhouses?

I went into the next greenhouse. Again, the loud metal door screeched through the silence as it opened. I entered the room with deliberate steps, watching out for tripping hazards. There were several boxes of plants in front of me, but no technology, no bomb, no computer, no data stick.

Cursing quietly, I walked to the next greenhouse. Once again, a loud screech echoed through the air as the door opened. Again, all I found were boxes of plants. I couldn’t make any sense of it. A MOAB between plantations? What secret was this place hiding? What kind of settlement was this?

With a sigh, I opened the door and looked out. It was still quiet. There was no movement between the buildings. Frowning, I looked up at the roofs. There was no one there either. Was the estate even inhabited?

Shrugging my shoulders, I pushed through the door and marched up to the large building. Several large crates stood like barricades at the entrance. After pushing past them, I found myself standing in a warehouse. There were terminals on the wall where you could buy Taranite. The price seemed quite reasonable to me. The settlement was a trading post. But who the hell was trading with the Xenothreat? And where were the inhabitants?

While I was still staring at the terminal in fascination, a shot suddenly echoed through the hall. The bullet smashed into the wall next to me. Pieces of concrete crashed onto my helmet visor. I jumped away from the terminal and landed behind a crate. I had no idea where the shot had come from. With my gun drawn, I crawled between the crates to the exit, where I was met with bullets.

Kneeling on the ground, I looked out into the open. Armed xenothreats were approaching me from three sides. To my left, I saw a small wall just a few meters away. I overcame the distance with a courageous leap. Even before I was back in cover, a bullet hit me in the arm. Despite the heavy armor, a searing pain pierced my flesh. I landed on my stomach in the gray dust behind the wall with a loud crash. A coughing fit overcame me, small droplets rained from inside against the visor of my helmet and it began to fog up.

In a blur, I saw another wall. I jumped to my feet, fired off unaimed shots at my attackers and ran past the wall straight towards a greenhouse. With a loud thud, I almost fell into the greenhouse along with the door. Another cough moistened my helmet visor. I had almost made it. The rover was not far behind the other door. Just as I was about to open the door, it opened by itself. A Xenothreat was standing right in front of me.

Plop plop plop, it sounded from my silenced pistol. My opponent dropped to his knees. I tripped over him and ran as fast as my heavy armor would allow to the rover.

When I got back to the White Rabbit after a wild ride, I first treated my arm wound and then flew to the second Xenothreat settlement. I was done with the first settlement for the time being.

A desolate gray rocky landscape glided beneath me. This planet was a symbol of depression. And yet its bleak landscapes exuded a certain fascination. Without the navigation marker, I would not have found the second settlement. It blended perfectly with its surroundings. To my surprise, I didn’t see any defensive towers. Just as I was considering landing nearby, the scanners showed a defense tower. Then another contact appeared. A Drake Corsair. It was still over 15 kilometers away, but approaching fast.

Thanks to my stealth components, I was still out of range of the Corsair’s sensors. I was pressed hard into the seat as I gave full thrust and moved away. It was better if the pilot of the Corsair didn’t know anyone else was nearby. 13 kilometers from the settlement, I landed in the shelter of a hill and switched off the engines. Shortly before that, I could still see the Corsair strafing the settlement.

I had the Corsair on my radar, but it couldn’t see me. From a safe distance, I could see her speed drop to zero. It must have landed. It stayed that way for what felt like an eternity. Then she took off and moved away until she had completely disappeared from the radar. Now it was my turn.

To be on the safe side, I left the White Rabbit and took the Rover to the settlement. However, I had completely underestimated the journey. At the first settlement, I was driving the Rover on a patch of ice. Navigating along the shoreline was easy. Now I was wandering through a bizarre rocky landscape without a compass. My only orientation was the asteroid belt orbiting Terminus and some landscape features when I was on top of a hill. The marker of the White Rabbit behind me served as a reference point to estimate how far I had already traveled.

Suddenly, the White Rabbit’s marker disappeared. The stealth components were more of a curse than a blessing at that moment. Almost disoriented, I looked for a way through the sculpture-like rocks. I was pretty sure I had driven far enough and was in the right place. But I couldn’t find the settlement.

Hoping to be able to recognize more, I drove up a mountain. Perplexed, I looked down and saw only gray rocks. No buildings, no man-made structures, nothing. Just gray in gray. Was I really in the right place? Had I driven too far?

I decided to head in the direction of my Star Runner. After a minute-long odyssey, I was about to give up when I suddenly saw a faint red light. Hard to recognize, further down in a hollow, between grey rocks.

When I reached the light, I hid the rover behind a rock and continued on foot. From cover, I inspected the settlement with my sniper rifle. It was a single, round building with a tower on the roof. There were greenhouses and containers in front of it. I couldn’t see any movement.

I approached the building, always taking cover. In contrast to the first settlement, the greenhouses were not in good condition. They were skeletons, provisionally covered with metal plates and tarpaulins.

My heart raced as I entered the first greenhouse. Various plants were growing in it, including the Revenant Tree, whose pollen is used to produce the drug Altruciatoxin. I looked around carefully, put some pollen in my pockets and walked between the plants to the rear exit.

On the other side of the greenhouse, I found a plantation outside. Several corpses lay among the small, bony trees. They all wore a red breastplate with a white symbol. Xenothreat. I grabbed the shotgun of one of the dead and entered the building. There were bodies everywhere here too. There were no survivors. Was this the Corsair’s doing? Why had they attacked this small plantation?

I knew that all the factions in Pyro were after the data stick. Was the pilot of the Corsair also looking for it? Had he even found it and beaten me to it? I couldn’t find any evidence of the data stick in the settlement. I had no idea whether it was still in a Xenothreat settlement on Terminus or whether it was already in someone else’s hands. My search ended in a dead end.

I had no choice but to take what I could and leave this inhospitable planet.

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