The Graveyard of Morals
17 Mar 2024Im.Phoenix
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Encrypted log received.
Beginning decryption
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mar 17 3311
-Hey, are you able to meet?
> Yeah, just finishing up a haul. What do you need?
- I wanted to meet up to talk. I need to apologize and explain myself.
> You going to apologize for shutting me out and jumping off to assist in a massacre?
- Yeah... Yeah I am. But I also need to show you something.
> Fine. Where do you need me?
- Meet me in Hyades Sector FB-N b7-6
> You insane? That's where a Titan is!!
- That's where a Titan was. trust me on this.
> I swear this is the last time I trust you. If my ship is destroyed, you're paying my rebuy.
- If that's what it'll take to get you out here, very well.
She awaited patiently for them to arrive. She was still piloting her chieftain, ready to defend her friend should they be interdicted. As she was sitting in supercruise, eyes locked on the drop out point, her mind began to drift. She started to think back to when she had first encountered the thargoids. They had pulled her out of witch space and probed her ship. She remembers being terrified and worried for her data, only for them to disappear as quickly as they appeared. She didn't feel safe, even in witch space where not even other commanders could touch her. She felt hunted. Comparing that feeling to now, in her chieftan built specifically to hunt and kill thargoids. She had become the hunter, but she felt empty.
The ship's AI pulled her out of the trance.
"Luna, there is an incoming hail from Ranger. Do you want me to patch them through?"
"Y-yeah. Go ahead."
"Understood. Patching them through"
"So lets just cut to the chase because I don't want to be in thargoid space longer than I have to. What did you want to show me?" Ranger asked as they engaged nav-lock and begun to follow Luna
"I wanted to bring you to the remains of Taranis and see what AGEIS is promoting."
"Woah... Now you're on their side?? Didn't you say that you were fighting them because they killed humans?"
"I never said I'm on their side. I just-" Luna pauses, as she did not know what to say. She knew she had played a part in the destruction of Taranis, and she knows that it wasn't right. Whatever she said would fall onto deaf ears.
"You good Luna? You cut out."
"Y-Yeah... Just having issues with my transmitter."
Luna kept silent after that. She was wrestling with herself. She was trying to figure out the real reason why she had helped in killing the titan. She felt grief mixed with sorrow, and she couldn't figure out why. She hoped that having her friend with her and examining the remains of Taranis would help her find answers.
As the two ships dropped out of supercruise and plunged into the caustic remains of the titan, Luna composed herself and begun to talk once again.
"Y'know... I'm hoping that there are at least some people left."
"What do you mean? Like... The abducted people?"
"Yeah. Otherwise I would have contributed to the massacre of not only thargoids, but humans as well."
"You're regretting it, aren't you?"
"I am. I really am."
She could feel the harshness in their voice. She could not tell if they hated her, or only wanted her to see the error of her ways. Before she could dwell on that thought, Taranis came into view. it's petals were shattered and scattered. Somehow they survived the blast. As she readied her xeno scanner, she silently begged that this place was nothing more than a graveyard of humanity's morals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
END OF LOG
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~