They quickly went through what seemed to be sirius itself, ending in a system they understood was Tau-23. Kate was there in her bastet, next to Aurora using an Irra interface.
"You sure this is going to work ?" "Correct." "I'm not sure if I'm supposed to take this as a "don't worry, it's doomed to fail" or "it'll be alright"." "Trust your own judgement. They are coming." "At least that's the part of the plan we can't fail. Isolated in a zone where communications are impossible, they're toast for us." "Concentrate... Kate. Engage your cloaking device."
The two ships cloaked as the Gallic Royal Navy patrol approached. Unwillingly, these soldiers were coming head first into their trap. When they were close enough, Aurora suddenly uncloaked and unleashed an extremely powerful mind wave, knocking the pilots unconcious.
"That was brutal, man."
Meanwhile, Kate activated the hacking device aboard her ship to deactivate one of the gallic ships and board it. After several minutes, the shield of the wing leader turned off and his cargo bay opened. She approached her ship from the Gallic Lynx, turning it upside down to make the cargo bays as close as possible. Sealing her armor, Kate moved from her cargobay to the cargobay of the Lynx using zero gravity, and headed for the cockpit, closing the cockpit door behind her.
"Looks like... Yeah it's a girl. She's still unconcious." "Absorb her memory."
David shuddered involuntarily. This was something he'd never quite get used to. He observed the memory unfolding infront of him with a watchful eye... Or was it a watchful mind? He could never be sure.
The secretary of state seemed remarkably calm, considering the situation.
'Just like him not to be phased by it, I suppose.' The admiral thought to himself as the whole scene played out somewhere in their conciousness.
A few minutes later, the Gallic pilot was dead, her consciousness turned upside down, absorbed by Kate Miller. Her knowledge, her experience and choices, Kate knew them all now.
"She had a daughter. Six years old." "Freedom is not so easily obtained." "Let’s just finish the job. According to what I’ve gathered from her, the artifact will have effect over the whole ship, aside from the Bridge. They’ve got a second shield all over it. Nothing I can’t manage."
Kate Miller was disturbed. Killing criminals was one thing, killing a mother, no matter if she was part of the enemy, was a whole different deal. She realized her acts stripped a little girl of her mother, and she would never see her again. Does anything really warrant that we hurt innocent people? The real question was in itself, "am I still even human anymore?"
Meanwhile, Aurora absorbed the Bastet inside it while Kate turned on the newly acquired Gallic Lynx, quickly having a look at the controls she already knew perfectly thanks to the Gallic. The fly path to return to the Valor they spotted earlier was in the ship. She entered the appropriate commands, heading toward it.
Fifteen minutes later, the Valor was in visual range. Interestingly, it didn’t have the usual escorts. In fact, it had none. “This is not normal… Where are they all?” thought Kate.
This valor seemed to be larger than the one she had seen until now.
Was it really the one they saw earlier?
"Attention Lynx Bleu Neuf, this is Normandie Command. Status report." "This is Lynx Bleu Neuf.. we've... we've been engaged. We killed them all, but only I made it out alive." "Understood. Head to Bay 9, then head to the bridge for a debriefing with the Colonel."
Kate activated the autopilot, and quickly headed for the cargobay. The artifact had to be activated at a very precise moment. The large doors opened, as the Lynx slowed down, untill it came to a full halt by the gravity field.
As soon as the doors closed, a loud, deep noise echoed through the ship. The universe and it's laws that regulate us were not one thing you toy with without consequences. As time froze, dilated by the artifact, objects and persons bound to stand still for the next twelve hours unless Kate Miller decided otherwise, the choice was her. Would she kill them all, or spare them all?
Hale and McKay watched the scene playing out infront of them in silence. David knew the outcome of the choice already as well as the implications of it for the near future.
Robert McKay watched, surprised by the nature of Miller's activities.
'Well I never expected that' he allowed himself to think briefly as he observed the Lynx setting down on board the Normandie.
Things were slowly becoming more clear to him, although the motived behind the action remained a mystery. That troubled him a little. At least this was allowing him some insights into the character of the decidedly strange young woman, even if he couldn't make up his mind if she was terrifying or useful. Perhaps both...