Chapitre 116: Alistair - 014
The door to my quarters sealed behind me, the sound echoing in the cold, empty room. My breath came in ragged gasps as I tried to hold back the tidal wave crashing through every barrier I'd tried to put up.
"Kellan…damn it!" I roared.
The words tore from my throat as I grabbed the nearest loose object—my data pad—and hurled it across the room. It crashed into the wall, denting the metal and clattering to the floor in a heap. But the sound did nothing to quell the fury boiling inside me.
Twice. Twice, I had failed him Even after dragging my men into a mission that led to nothing. No, worse than nothing—it led to a mystery I couldn't solve, to a place I couldn't even find. Umbral Eden, at least what I assumed from half corrupted data spelling U-R-D-E-N.
My fists slammed onto the desk, the surface denting beneath my hand. The pain was welcome, a brief distraction from the rage that consumed me. I let this happen.
Every thought was a knife, twisting deeper into my gut. Kellan, who'd always had my back, who'd been there with me from the start—I forsook.
"I'm supposed to protect them," I muttered, my voice raw, the words almost a growl. "I'm supposed to be the one who doesn't let anyone down."
But I had let him down. I had let them all down. And now Kellan was lost, enduring who-knows-what in a torture chamber I had no way of finding.
How could Phulnos just stand there and refuse? How could he say it wasn't worth the risk? Didn't he understand? Didn't any of them understand what it meant to abandon one of our own?
I paced the room, my breath coming fast, fists clenched at my sides. I wanted to hit something, anything, just to feel the impact, just to have something tangible to fight against.
I needed a plan. I needed to do something. I couldn't just sit here, fuming, while Kellan was out there, suffering because of my failure. But the more I thought, the more the frustration grew. There was no plan, no clear path forward. Every avenue felt like it was blocked, every option out of reach.
I slammed my fist onto the desk again, the pain shooting up my arm. It didn't matter. I had to find a way. I had to find Kellan. I wouldn't let him down again.
"Damn it, Kellan," I whispered, the words a broken plea to the empty room. "Where are you?"
But there was no answer. Only the silence, and the gnawing realization that I was alone in this—just me and the anger that threatened to consume me.
I couldn't stay here. I couldn't let this rage eat me alive. There had to be a way. I just had to find it. And when I did, I would tear down whatever walls stood between me and Kellan. No matter what it took. No matter what it cost.
The anger that had been simmering beneath the surface for so long finally reached a boiling point. As I paced back and forth in my quarters, the frustration I felt began to morph into something darker, more dangerous—a cold, calculated fury that demanded action.
If I couldn't save Kellan by playing by Phulnos' rules, then I'd do it my way. And my way meant total, unrelenting destruction. If these bastards thought they could take one of my men and disappear into the shadows, they were gravely mistaken. I raze everything to reveal them from the cinders.
I moved to my desk, my hands no longer shaking but steady with purpose. I activated the terminal and began drafting plans—plans for complete annihilation. If I couldn't find Kellan, I would make sure there was no place left for his captors to hide.
"Forget minimum casualties," I muttered, my fingers flying over the controls as I pulled up the tactical maps of Draconis IV.
The surface of the planet flickered into view, a sprawling landscape that had once been the center of our campaign. Now, it was nothing more than a grave.
Every city, every stronghold, every facility was marked. I mapped out strike zones, places where we could hit them the hardest. I wouldn't just take out their military assets; I would cripple their infrastructure, shatter their will to fight, and reduce their world to ashes.
Phulnos had wanted to keep collateral damage to a minimum. He'd tried to be measured, to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. But that approach had failed us—had failed Kellan. No more. This was war, and I was going to show them what that truly meant.
I plotted orbital strikes, calculated the deployment of every heavy weapon we had at our disposal. This wasn't about vengeance, not entirely. It was about making sure no one ever thought they could take one of mine without facing unabridged wrath of a knight of the democracy.
"Precision strikes on population centers," I whispered, my eyes narrowing as I zeroed in on the cities that had given shelter to our enemies. "Scorched earth on supply lines. Full bombardment of military facilities. Leave nothing standing."
It would be a culling of the unrighteous, but if that's what it took to find Kellan, to send a message that this would never happen again, then so be it.
I leaned back in my chair, reviewing the plans I had drafted. The scale of destruction was unimaginable, even to me. But I felt no hesitation, no doubt. This was the only way to ensure that our enemies understood the price of their actions.
I saved the plans, encrypting them with my clearance code. It would take some doing to get this past Phulnos, but I would find a way. I was done playing by the rules. If Command wouldn't authorize this, then I'd take matters into my own hands. I'd launch the strikes myself if I had to.
This was war, and I was ready to end it by any means necessary.
I had just finished reviewing the final details of the plan when I heard the sharp chime of the door to my quarters. Only one person had the clearance to enter my quarters unannounced.
The door slid open with a soft hiss, and Phulnos stepped inside. He didn't immediately say anything, just took in the room with a slow, deliberate gaze. His eyes fell on the terminal where the glowing screen still displayed the tactical map of Draconis IV. I didn't bother minimizing it. There was no point in hiding what I was doing.
Phulnos's expression was unreadable as he approached, hands clasped behind his back. His eyes flicked between the map and me, a hint of something—concern, perhaps—flickering in their depths. Finally, he spoke, his voice measured and calm.
"Lieutenant Galen," he began, "I've come to issue your formal punishment for disobedience."
I nodded, though I remained seated. "Understood, sir."
"But first," Phulnos continued, his tone softening slightly, "I wanted to check on your mental state."
My grip tightened on the armrests of my chair. "I'm fine, Commander."
"Are you?" Phulnos asked, his voice dropping lower as he stepped closer, his eyes narrowing as they searched mine.
"Because what I see here," he gestured toward the screen, "doesn't seem like the work of someone who's 'fine.'"
I clenched my jaw, fighting back the wave of emotion that threatened to break through my carefully constructed facade. "I'm doing what needs to be done."
Phulnos raised an eyebrow. "By planning genocide?"
"If that's what it takes to bring him back," I shot back, my voice hardening. "They took him, Commander. This is the only way to make sure that never happens again."
Phulnos sighed, a deep, weary sound. He moved to stand beside me, his gaze fixed on the screen. "Alistair, I understand the anger, the frustration. I know what it's like to lose men, to fail them. But this… it's not an answer."
"What else am I supposed to do? Just sit back and let them take our men? Let them win?" I demanded, pushing myself out of the chair and facing him head-on. "I'm done playing it safe. I'm done with these half-measures."
Phulnos shook his head slowly. "You're thinking with your heart, not your head. You've always been passionate, Alistair, and that's one of your greatest strengths. But right now, it's blinding."
"Blinding?" I echoed, "Or maybe it's giving me clarity. Maybe I'm not the one who's blind. They're not going to stop until we make them stop, and the only way to do that is to hit them so hard they'll never recover. Just like what we did with Talar."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone