Allen audibly sighed when the video call abruptly ended.
With Melanie gone, he could only silently gaze at the screen which displayed his wallpaper.
He didn't know how much time he spent idly staring at the wallpaper, not that his lack of activity would negatively affect P.A.I.N.
After all, this was still the same P.A.I.N. that he built from nothing.
The same P.A.I.N. that won the funding from the Confederation over the other psionic division competitors.
And P.A.I.N. was also the only thing tying him together with Melanie.
But when this thought came across his mind, he could only do one thing.
"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Why did I think that the perfect time to say that was over a video call! She works in the same place as me for goodness sake!"
After angrily venting his thoughts, Allen sighed before he slumped back onto the seat of his office. This time, when Allen spoke, his voice was tired and exhausted.
"Oh why do I even bother? It's too late to bother salvaging anything at this point."
It was not long until the door's of Allen's office was opened before being followed by the sounds of footsteps and a voice.
"Berating yourself for your shortcomings again Arthur?"
Allen didn't even need to face the voice to know who it belonged to.
Only a few people were given the privilege of entering his office without an appointment first.
One of them was a woman of average height, with short hazel-brown hair and a fair complexion that gave her a 'warm motherly look.' She only wore a pseudo exo-suit, displaying that she was not a combat operative of P.A.I.N.
Her name was Theresa Light; the Head of P.A.I.N.'s private human resources department and a gifted psionic in her own right.
She was also one of the few people who he allowed to get away with referring to him with his real name.
It was only after Theresa took her seat opposite Allen did he face her. Her mouth gently curved upwards into a faint smile while her eyes appeared calm and serene.
With a tired sigh, Allen decided that now was the time to speak.
"I'm guessing that you heard me."
In response to Allen's question, Theresa chuckled before she answered in a joking manner.
"Of course I did. I can hear it all the way from my office."
"Hah, like that even counts. You can listen to the water running in the sewers if you really wanted to."
When Theresa heard Allen's reply, she broke out into a short laugh before she spoke up.
"Ahahaha, you got me there."
However, her laughter quickly died out. Soon, the faint smile on her face receded a little bit while a look of concern grew on her face.
"But it's not your style to be sarcastic... what happened? Does it have something to do with your estranged daughter?"
Allen would only give another sarcastic remark to answer her question.
"What do you think?"
Unlike before, Theresa didn't respond, instead, she allowed the silence to speak for her. Seeing this, Allen couldn't help but sigh before proceeding to explain himself.
"I tried... to ask her to call me father again..."
Although Theresa's eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth in an attempt to reply, she was instead quickly interrupted by Allen before she could even speak.
"I know, I know that was stupid of me. But knowing Melanie, by the time she returns, she will probably act like it never happened anyway... I still don't know whether that is a good thing or a bad thing... maybe both? Is that even possible? Can it be both good and bad at the same ti-"
"Stick to the point Arthur."
Allen's expression froze in response to Theresa's interruption and soon after complete and utter silence followed. The silence was not meant to last however, within a few short moments, Allen was able to muster his voice again.
"I just... I just don't know. I guess when I saw one of the new psionic recruits; this young girl named Cynthia, I was just reminded of what Melanie was like when she was Cynthia's age. Young children... Naive children who were born with so much potential... so god damn much potential."
The concerned look on Theresa's face only grew upon hearing Allen's last sentence. Her eyes no longer appeared as serene as before and the smile on her face seemed to be on the verge of breaking.
Even when she spoke, Allen felt as if she was struggling to maintain her cool.
"And all they need is a 'guiding hand' to reach their true potential? Come on Arthur we both know that you're a smart man. Surely you can see that attempting to recreate the past won't end with anything positive. At best you would just create another Melanie... At worst... you would create another-"
"Don't say his name!"
Although Allen knew that he had no right to interrupt Theresa with a shout, he still couldn't stop himself. Within moments, his mouth began shouting out loud again.
"He was a traitor and now he's dead! I killed him! I 𝘩𝘢𝘥 to kill him! And I don't want to be haunted by the ghosts of the past! So please! Please don't bring his name back up again."
Allen was standing up over Theresa while his chest was heaving up and down by the time he finished his short rant. He didn't know when he stood up, he just knew that he was.
On the other hand, Theresa somehow seemed to have regained her cool. Although the smile on her face was completely absent, instead replaced with a frown which displayed her concern, her disposition appeared to be more calm than it previously was.
Now, when she spoke, Allen was only able to get a sense of familial worry, like how a sister would worry for her brother.
"But you're willing to risk making more ghosts? First it was Melanie, then it was... 'him,' and now it is this 'Cynthia.' How many is it going to take for you to let go?"
"Shut up."
Despite Allen's antagonistic response, Theresa maintained her calm as she continued questioning him.
"How many more Melanies and 'hims' are you going to create just so you can relive that high of fatherhood?"
"Shut up!"
Once again, despite Allen's antagonistic shout, Theresa still managed to remain calm as she questioned him.
"How many more innocent children are you going to turn into living weapons under the guise of 'parenting' just so you could feel like you are being a good father again."
"I said shut up!"
Suddenly, Allen's psionic power flared up from within him, causing a miniature heatwave explosion that created a singeing shockwave.
Although the shockwave itself was quite weak, it still forced Theresa to brace herself with her forearms to defend from the impact.
It didn't take long for Allen to realise what he just did. Within seconds after his realisation, he attempted to apologise to Theresa.
"O-oh my... I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"
"It's ok."
But much to Allen's surprise, she quickly accepted his apology, as if he never truly harmed her in the first place.
He opened his mouth to try and say something else only to be interrupted by Theresa's voice.
"I can see that you have a lot on your mind. Perhaps it's best that I leave you alone for a moment."
Before she stood up and left the office without even saying a goodbye.
...
Elsewhere, within the territories of the Euronic Republic, on the border system; the 'Boraxis System,' one of the powerful frigate class spaceships of the infamous Velsulis Family; the 'Chromata' was currently on its way to one of the criminal syndicate's hideouts.
But in the state it is now, it was highly unlikely for it to reach its destination.
Because it was seconds away from being completely obliterated.
It was now a literal husk of its former self.
Pieces of debris that were once part of the ship were now drifting off into space while the ship itself struggled to merely hold together.
If it weren't for the warp shielding that was supposed to protect the Chromata from attacks, everyone on board would have already died due to the lack of a proper atmosphere.
Multiple large holes were visible on the Chromata while other large chunks of the ship were absent altogether, as if a gigantic creature took numerous bites out of the ship.
Directly parallel to the Chromata was another ship, which unlike the Chromata remained completely intact. In fact, the ship was in pristine condition.
Not even a single scratch could be found on the other ship which stood in stark contrast with the burning hulk that used to be the Chromata.
However, the pristine condition of the ship wasn't the only thing bizarre about this other ship.
For starters, it's appearance wasn't very human in terms of design and was instead very 'alien' in its shape.
Unlike human ships which were typically blocky and rectangular in it's architecture, this other ship was very triangular in design, with multiple platinum blue triangular plates with golden outlines making up the hull of the ship.
However, these triangles weren't angular in shape but instead curved like circles at the would-be edges, giving the already strange ship a distinctly exotic look.
Felicia could only glare at this alien ship with contempt as she slumped against the flooring of the Chromata, pretending to be dead.
If it wasn't for that alien ship, the massive hole in the Chromata's bridge wouldn't be giving her a clear view of that aforementioned alien ship.
And if it wasn't for that ship, Felicia also wouldn't have to play dead amongst the bodies of her colleagues.
Even with her exo-suit's helmet filtering what came through her nostrils, she could still smell the pungent smell of rotting corpses.
But unless she wanted to become a corpse herself, she could only silently persevere until the assailants who were still on the Chromata's bridge were out of her sight.
[Damned Elvnari, what the hell do they even want from us!] Felicia mentally cursed the Elvnari assailants as she glanced at the few of them that were still on the bridge.
Since she was playing dead, she could only move her eyes as to not rouse suspicion. Thanks to her exo-suit's helmet obscuring her face, she was free to let her eyes remain open and even look around as she played dead. She just can't move her head or any other part of her body.
All of the pointy eared bastards were wearing what Felicia could only describe to be 'futuristic medieval armour' albeit with its own Elvnari flavour. The Elvnari wore pale-blue coloured plate armour that was composed of curved triangular plates much like their ship.
Embedded onto the shoulderpads, gauntlets and greaves of their armour were deep navy-blue coloured, spherical gem-like objects while the armour plates all had golden trims. Visible under the plates was a very lightly coloured blue skin-tight suit, very similar to that of the humans.
For all intents and purposes, this 'medieval armour' was pretty much the Elvnari counterpart to the human's exo-suits, it was just Felicia's first time seeing them.
There were only four Elvnari within the bridge, and among them was the unconscious captain of the Chromata; Charles Khols, the only human that they willingly kept alive.
However, soon the doors from the main hallway of the Chromata opened before another Elvnari woman walked into the bridge.
Unlike the other Elvnari, this lone Elvnari woman did not wear the Elvnari armour but instead donned a light blue coloured robe. She had waist long, pale-blue hair which matched her similarly blue coloured eyes and she seemed to be enveloped in a 'heavenly' aura.
While still playing dead, Felicia watched all the other Elvnari bow upon the woman's arrival before one of them spoke up.
"Here is the captain of the ship, alive, just as you wished madam."
The woman smiled graciously in response before replying in an equally gracious tone.
"Very well, let us begin the interrogation."