As Kita slowly opened his eyes, he saw the dim light that somewhat lit the room from a single corner.
As if noticing that He had woken up, the bright lights in the rooms quickly lit up. Filling up the white room with light.
Kita didn't got up just yet, He turned to look towards the door, it was still tightly shut as expected.
He looked at the celling as he laid in a small bed in his room. Or rather, it'd be more apt to call it a Prison cell. He had been detained here for who knew how long. He had long lost track of time since they had confiscated his comm.
He had a general idea of how much time had passed. Seeing as they still hadn't transitioned into FTL, It has probably only been a few days. Everyone in command must be busy with cleaning up the mess he had left behind.
"I wonder how the council must have reacted.", Kita slowly murmured as he laid there.
What Kita had done was basically equivalent to mutiny. He had taken control of the war console without prior authorization, and he had deliberately fired a warhead towards a specific target. Depending on how one looked at it, it could be stretched to mutiny.
Normally such a person would be put on trial immediately and judged according to the magnitude of his actions. But Kita wasn't a normal crew member. He was the head researcher of the research division of the shore who ranked right after Dr. Kbom in the hierarchy. So his trial couldn't be conducted by the normal panel of judges. Instead he would probably be put on trial before the council.
"I bet they'll have a bunch of questions regarding the planet." It didn't take a genius to figure out that what Kita did was highly calculated. Although the result wasn't something Kita was expecting. Kita expected a modest blast for around the target zone, But never did he imagine that the whole planet would split in two.
He knew what had occurred. And he had to admit that such a possibility had slipped his mind. But he wasn't dissatisfied with the results. It presented him a greater spectacle than he had expected and he wasn't complaining.
What he was afraid of was, how much had the council figure out. Cause once they figured out what kita had done exactly, he could kiss his freedom goodbye.
As he laid there and wondered about the future proceedings, the gate of the cell suddenly opened.
Kita quickly sat up on his bed and looked at the oncoming entourage. It was Dr. Kbom and York.
As they entered the room, Dr. Kbom looked straight at Kita, York stood behind him.
"Hello, Doctor.", Kita said in a low voice.
"Good morning, It's nice to see you all rested up. Can't say the same for myself though."
Kita didn't say much to reply the doctor. Instead, he left out a small smile.
"I fucked up huh?", There was playfulness in his eyes.
"Yeah.. Pretty badly." Kbom wasn't surprised.
"Where are they gonna put me?", Kita had resigned himself to his fate when he pressed that button. So he only wanted to know what that fate was.
"Heh, You sure are confident you aren't getting executed?", Kbom gave a mocking laugh.
"Hehe, I was dead the moment I lost Helen. This will just be officiating that. There's nothing wrong with dying. Instead, it's the best thing that can happen. There's hardly anything to do once you're old enough. There's no point in living forever. Specially for someone without a reason. Someone like me. So, to answer you question. I'm not confident that you won't kill me. I just don't care if you do.", Kita said in a single breath without a pause.
Dr. Kbom was stunned. He didn't expect Kita to answer like that. The more he looked at Kita, the more he thought that he didn't knew the person sitting in front of him.
'Did Helen's loss changed him that much?' Dr. Kbom thought to himself.
He decided to not ponder on this too long. So he continued.
"Well, We aren't gonna execute you. We're gonna head back to the Bican System. Where you're gonna stand trial for your actions. You'll be charged with Insubordination, and mishandle of military property."
Kita looked surprised for a bit. He had thought that they were gonna just execute him and be done with it. He didn't expect them to cancel the previous order to continue the mission and ask them to head back for now.
It seemed that there was something more going behind the scenes on that met the eye. But he couldn't be sure what.
But he had figured something out from this conversation. The council or his mentor hadn't figured out what he used to destroy the energy lines and release the energy inside them, otherwise they would be having a very different conversation right now.
His thoughts were interrupted by Dr. Kbom.
"It seems like surprised. Did you expect to get excepted?"
"To be honest. Yes, I did."
"Well you didn't do something to warrant an execution. Also, I managed to persuade the council on the account of you losing Helen. Seeing that your mental state might not be in the best of conditions. They are being considerate this time. But you'll still receive punishment according to the trial."
"Well, It doesn't matter anymore."
"WHAT? It doesn't matter?", Dr. Kbom suddenly boomed.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT DOESN'T MATTER? YOU JUST THREW YOUR WHOLE CAREER WITH THIS INCIDENT. DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND? YOUR WHOLE CAREER, EVERYTHING YOU BUILT, ALL YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS! EVERYTHING WILL BE COVERED BY THIS! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU DID? ARE YOU STILL SANE?", Dr. Kbom yelled at Kita on the top of his lungs. He was really furious.
Kita was his only pupil that he had spent years training. He was supposed to take over after him. And how his only pupil and gone on to destroy his whole career with a single decision.
No matter what, this everyone would remember this event as Kita's downfall. This will forever be in his records. And there's no way he could get rid of this mark.
"You were finished the moment you decided to push the button. There's no turning back. I expected more from you Kita.", Kbom gave Kita a hard stare as he reminded him what he had done.
"I cannot apologize for my actions because they were a deliberate choice, and I accept any consequences that may come as a result. But I will say this. I'm sorry that I couldn't live up to your expectations of me." Kita said in an unwavering tone that stunned both Dr. Kbom and York.
They looked at Kita like a stranger, It was like they didn't know him anymore.