Chapter 149

　　Hyperion, the Piercing Radiance.

　　Katherine stared up at the Titan before her with a mixture of dread and apprehension. It was the same feeling she had whenever she was near it. Despite its beauty and grace, curving lines, and flowing frame, she knew it was just an exquisite exterior hiding the demon inside.

　　Hyperion was supposed to represent light and warmth, but why did she experience nothing but darkness and cold when she was in its cockpit?

　　Her father had warned her about his reaction to Piloting the Titan, how he would fly into an uncontrollable rage when he was linked to it. He became a mindless beast, lashing out at everyone around him to the point where he was unable to Pilot it without fear of striking his allies or causing irreparable harm to Havencroft.

　　Katherine had never experienced anything like that. Terror gripped her the entire time, making her timid and unsure of her actions. She feared its abilities, making her hesitate to use them.

　　Worse, she felt the Titan judging her. Its golden eyes would weigh her in silent judgment, assessing her capabilities and finding them lacking. Even now, looking up at Hyperion, a shiver ran up her spine.

　　Behind her, Kal and Mare were both climbing into their own Titans. The three of them would be travelling together to Terra ahead of the others. Once all the Titans were gathered on the surface, and if it didn`t result in everyone killing each other, the rest of the delegation would arrive.

　　Taking a deep breath to try and quell the negative thoughts swirling in her head, she climbed the stairs to the platform behind Hyperion, where she could enter the cockpit. A faint yellow glow suffused everything inside, providing enough illumination for her to see the terminal in front of her.

　　Putting her helmet on, she pressed the console.

　　"Initiating Neural Link."

　　Immediately, Katherine was assaulted by a feeling of abject terror. It felt like a pair of eyes were staring at her, the presence causing goosebumps to cover her skin. But when she looked around the cockpit, it was the same as always, dimly lit and empty.

　　She thought she could hear whispering on the edge of her senses. It was as if something were trying to communicate, but she couldn`t make out the words. If she strained a bit more, perhaps she could&.

　　Katherine pulled away from the thought, squashing it ruthlessly. Her father had warned her that Hyperion would try to wrench control from her in any way possible. The terror was simply how it affected her while it had used rage and madness against her father.

　　Piloting a Titan was to walk on a knife`s edge. One slip, and you would be at its mercy.

　　Still, it did sound like someone was trying to talk to her. Maybe it was important, a secret to be shared that could help with their current circumstances. If she could just understand a single word&

　　"Ready?" Kal asked, his helmeted face appearing on her HUD. He seemed so calm and relaxed, like the Titan`s stress was doing nothing to him. She envied that.

　　For some reason, she took comfort in his appearance. She suddenly wasn`t alone. Kal could bear some of the burden for the upcoming meeting, allowing her to focus on controlling Hyperion and ignoring everything else.

　　To her surprise, hearing his voice made the terror abate, and she sunk into her seat tiredly. The tension had left her drained, and she needed a moment to recover.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

　　"I`m ready. Mare?" Katherine had Hyperion turn its head to her right, looking for the Ouroboros. Unlike Atlas or her, Mare`s Titan was still dark.

　　"Give her a moment. She`ll be fine." Kal assured her, having faith that his wife could overcome whatever difficulties the Ouroboros gave her.

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　　Ouroboros, the Infinity Coil.

　　Tears streamed down Mare`s face from her grief. An endless ocean of melancholy weighed down her soul, preventing her from moving or speaking. A stream of visions assailed her mind.

　　Terra burned countless times in her memory, the people around her dying from lasgun fire, falling buildings or vaporizing in a wave of blinding white light. She saw her grandparents die endlessly. The Emperor lay murdered while people laughed and cheered at his death.

　　Mare sobbed into her hands as the Titan took advantage of her emotions to gain control. She could feel it pushing against the Neural Link, trying to free itself from her influence. She tried to fight, to drive the Titan back and place it under her command. But the visions kept coming, and she was failing.

　　She was weak. Her time as Ouroboros` Pilot showed her that. She had such as easy life on Terra, without hardship or strife. Mare had sought out conflict in a VR game because her parents had forbidden her from taking any kind of risk.

　　The Titan was telling her that in order to be its Pilot, she would need an iron will and the resolve to fight. Kal had that resolve. She had seen it in him every single day. She was constantly impressed by his ability to keep walking forward despite setbacks.

　　He had been imprisoned for centuries, released to a fallen world in a galaxy that saw him as a pariah, yet still managed to succeed in spite of the odds against him.

　　While Mare had been laughing and enjoying the comforts of Terra, he had been fighting madness in a stasis chamber or fighting to reclaim Caledon`s pride.

　　How could she ever compare to him?

　　The thought made her collapse onto the terminal in front of her seat. She was nearly blind from the tears, and her heart felt like it was breaking. The grief was overwhelming. And in the darkness, blue eyes watched as its Pilot nearly lost control.

　　"You should give up. If you can`t even withstand a bit of sadness, how can you ever hope to Pilot such a fine machine as this?" A voice sounded out in the cockpit, and Mare`s head shot upright at the sound. It was unfamiliar to her, but there was something about its tone that she recognized.

　　"Who-" Mare turned to look at who entered the cockpit while she had been crying but found the hatch sealed. The cockpit was empty. In the dim blue light, there was no one there but her. The distraction from the voice was enough to shake her from her melancholy.

　　Wiping her eyes, she tried to remember where she had heard that voice before. It was maddening, like a forgotten word on the tip of her tongue or a dream that she had forgotten on waking.

　　Sitting back against the seat for a moment, she then leaned forward, about to touch a few buttons on the Titan`s terminal, when it spoke again. It sounded like it was directly behind her right ear, and she could swear she could feel their breath on her skin.

　　"You don`t deserve such a gift." It was clearer this time and unmistakeably a man`s voice. This time, she caught the hint of an accent, Terran and Aristocratic.

　　"Shut up!" She shouted, her feelings of grief replaced with anger at the slight. Ouroboros was hers. It had chosen her! How dare anyone say she didn`t deserve it and didn`t work hard to get where she was now.

　　"Ouroboros is mine." Mare whispered. Tapping the console, she engaged the Titan`s systems. The holographic display showing its status hovered in the air momentarily before the mechanical voice spoke.

　　"Initiating Neural Link."

　　Immediately, she could feel the Titan pushing against her mind, threatening to overwhelm her. She had been nearly broken just sitting in the Mobile Suit while it was in standby mode, drowning in grief. Now that she initiated the Link, the feelings magnified tenfold.

　　An ocean of pressure crashed down on her mind, and she was nearly lost.

　　"If the Ouroboros is yours, then show me. Prove to me that you are worthy of it." The voice whispered, and Mare screamed as she threw her will against the Titan. At first, it seemed like all of her efforts were wasted, that she gained no ground. But gradually, the Link stabilized.

　　Finally, after an eternity, Ouroboros was under her control.

　　Mare leaned back in the cockpit seat, panting from the exertion. She had done it. The Titan was truly hers now and would respond to her commands. She no longer had to worry about it harming her or refusing to listen.

　　She had won.

　　A feeling of relief washed over her, and with it came clarity. She knew whose voice that had been. She had heard it before, on hundreds of historical recordings. She had heard it in her learnings throughout her training on Terra. It was a voice any historian or noble would recognize.

　　It belonged to the Unifier, the first Pilot of Ouroboros. It had been his Titan before becoming hers.