Cross Ange: The Knight of Hilda

Chapter 15: Exposed

Alone and humiliated, Salia sat in the first squad's briefing room and waited. Shortly after the invasion had been repelled, security had come for her on Jill's orders. That had been hours ago and still Salia waited to hear what her fate would be. For what seemed like the hundredth time, she looked out the window toward the bustle of activity across the way in the hanger. In the wrecked and fire scorched launch bay, armorers worked frantically to repair the damaged equipment and to clear away debris. Wrecked Para-mail were taken below and scavenged for any usable parts while the DRAGON carcasses were dragged via tractor, forklift, and bulldozer to a pit that had been dug out in the center of the massive crater that the lead enemy had blasted out of Arzenal's northwest quarter. One group in particular were using welding torches to try and melt the wall of ice from when Hilda had fired her freeze bullet at the enemy who had infiltrated the launch bay. 

Finally, the door opened and Salia looked up as Jill entered the room. The Arzenal Commandant glared at her with eyes as cold as stone and an expression of barely contained fury. It was a way Salia had never seen the one she once called Mistress look at her.

"Jill," she tried to say.

"On your feet!" she ordered and Salia nearly leapt out of her skin. Jill stepped forward and Salia was suddenly more afraid than she had ever felt before. "What were you thinking? Do you have any idea of what you've done? Villkiss was nearly destroyed because of YOUR actions! What do you have to say for yourself?" Salia felt as small as a frightened child but somehow managed to work up the strength to speak.

"I...just wanted to prove that I could do it," she whispered. "I wanted to prove that I could be of use to you." Jill grunted and pulled a cigarette from her case.

"To me? Or to him?" Salia'e eyes widened at the accusation. "I see the way you look at him,"she said as she lit the tip. "Did you think that if you proved you could pilot Villkiss then he would fall in love with you? It's time you woke up. This is no fairy tale. Your role is to be the Captain of the First Squad. Ange's role is to pilot Villkiss. But because you chose to ignore that for the sake of a fantasy, you nearly cost Libertus everything. I told you once that you can't do what you can't do. And if you still can't understand that then you have no place here!" Each word cut into Salia's heart like a knife and she felt as if the entire world was about to collapse around her. "If it weren't for the fact that we've sustained such heavy losses," she continued, "I would throw you into the brig. But right now I need every pilot I can get. So for now I'll settle for demoting you. As of right now, you're no longer captain of the First Squad." With nothing more to say, Jill turned away and Salia felt something else besides shame and hurt. Anger began to seethe within her and her fists clenched at her sides.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jill turned back to her. "You said that a royal ring was all that was needed. But you lied! I never had a chance of piloting Vilkiss! Why? Why didn't you tell me the truth?" Jill stared impassively at her before turning away.

"You didn't need to know." Jill then left and Salia was once more left alone. Setting back into her chair, Salia's eyes finally overflowed and the bitter tears fell into her lap.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she repeated.

For the first squad, the scene before them in the infirmary inspired an eerie sense of Deja vu. On the rear cot, the human they knew as Capt. Algren, but who they now knew was named Rio, lay with his head and torso bound in gauze. However, unlike the air of sorrow and rage from when Ange was laid out in a similar state following Captain Zola's death, the current atmosphere was one of curiosity and disbelief. Following the revelation of Rio's identity, word had spread like wildfire about what he had done so he had been sequestered in the infirmary to prevent a disturbance. But even then, a crowd had gathered in the hall outside hoping to see if the rumors were true. In the examiner's stool next to him, Hilda sat with her hands wrapped around his. Following the DRAGONs' retreat she had practically glued herself to his side, leaving only to change into her uniform and so Maggie could take him for x-rays. It was a sight none of them would ever have expected to see. From what they could gather, roughly a third of Arzenal's residents had been killed and the number of injured was too great for the infirmary to handle. Therefore, the Jasmine Mall had been converted to a makeshift hospital. Throughout Arzenal, the surviving Norma did what they could; clearing rubble, repairing vital systems, and disposing of their dead. At the moment, Jasmine was explaining to them all; minus Salia; along with Ange and Momoka the reason for the deception regarding Arzenal's guest.