Revelation
05 Nov 2021Cicadia
The harsh light of the LED strips above flickered in complaint. The catwalk-hashed metal flooring, covering the Bake Sale's obscene amount of corridor wiring, clanged under Thallia's mag-locking boots. Dressed in flight suit, cargo trousers and jacket, Thal had a broad smile plastered on her face. In her hand, a PDA chimed in jubilant celebration as the transaction to 'Limae Medical Solutions' was approved and confirmed. The treatment had been worth every penny, Thal contemplated cheerfully. Isabella was healed up to a state where she wasn't frustrated or held back... she even saw her smile.A harsh blip rings out. It was the PDA, a 'Titan Internal Affairs' notification appearing in the corner. "Huh, what's Paladin done now..." With a thumb, she opens up the notification and reads it offhandedly as she glances where she is going from time to time.
'In a statement issued today, Squadron Commander Aurora Adair has claimed responsibility for the death of Orion Drake and issu...'
The clang of footsteps ceased. The smile dropped from her face like a car off a cliff. Her other hand came to the side of the PDA, bringing it closer as she re-reads the beginning of the article. Thallia makes an impression of a statue, only her eyes moving from side to side as she devours the text.
'Commanders, I need to apologise for my actions an...to claim responsibility for something spec....I killed Orion Drake...I lied about the circumsta...y not revealing that Drake was already dead.... be able to pursue Paladin...planted his PDA....rigged several fake transmiss....buy time.... hunt Paladin....my careless, selfish actions have made a new enemy....a true apology will hardly mean much now.... not excusing... So I'm going to get myself together and make things right... I'll take full consequence of my actions... I'm sorry if you feel betrayed...we will keep CSF strike forces withdrawn and start ti....'
Silence became defeaning, punctuated only be the whine of flickering lights and the occasional buckle of supercruise travel. Thallia stared at the PDA, reading. Re-reading. Re-re-reading. Over and over. Time stretching out as if gravity had been seized and stretched by some invisible hand from the void.
"That lying, selfish juvenile *******! ******* yellow-bellied ****! Selfish, manipulative, arrogant ****. ******* ***** **** **** ****!" Thal screamed out, letting the PDA fly from her hand down the corridor at speed. Her feet moved this way, alternating between walking forwards, turning and backwards. She blinked furiously, anger giving way to confusion... only to relent to anguish as she let out another loud, despairing cry of agony. Her knees hit the metallic floor with a thud, the pain rippling through her senses as she grabbed them in her hands and curled up against corridor's wall.
"..." Her senses felt numb. Staring at a single point on the far side, she saw not the metallic panel that secured her from the void beyond. She saw the flames of Navarro's Hold. Torrents of laser fire puncturing the hull of her home. Canopy's shattering as the world implodes. Running through corridors. Levine's body, limp and bleeding, on the floor. "No wonder we were pardoned..." came a mumble laced with venom. "...Aurora couldn't handle it on her conscious..."
Sharales. Solix. Levine. The four of them had dived into the jaws of hell for Titan... and it was all Titan's lies, all along. She felt the tip of fingernails on her scalp as she found herself unfolding. Head coming to rest against the cold surface behind her. For all the light in the world... Thallia felt like a void had sprung into reality inside her. It was all a deception... it was a fake... they were pawns for Aurora's selfishness. Her sense of pride. Her arrogance. She had nearly taken Starlight from this world.
"Never again," Thallia said picking herself up from the floor. The gleam of joyous wonder in her eyes consumed. A void in it's place, looking to devour the sins of this world. "Never again."