Chaos on the ship, part 3/3

Tia's grip on her gun tightened, and her body braced for what lay beyond the heavy metal door as it creaked open. The energy from her body flowed into the rings on her hand, creating a silent hum of readiness.

'Alright, let's go.'

She could sense the elite soldiers behind her, their purple visors focused on the widening gap. The door parted, revealing the chaos within.

Flickering lights cast erratic shadows over smashed display panels that covered the walls, ceiling, and floor. The elevated podium, stretching out like a bridge over a sea of screens, was stained with blood.

Uniformed bodies and shards of glass littered the area. The acrid smell of death and the metallic tang of blood assaulted Tia's senses as she stepped in.

'There was a fight here.'

"Quickly, we need help!" The cry came from two ragged groups, both in disheveled imperial navy uniforms, standing on opposite sides of the room. Guns were drawn, pointing at each other, then shifting to Tia and her death commandos.

'This is too confusing.' Tia's mind raced. Identifying friends from foes in this tangled mess was like navigating a minefield.

She scanned the room, looking for insignia, ranks, and anything else that might give her a clue. Her experience kicked in, and she signaled the squad behind her with a subtle hand gesture, halting their steps.

'Fourteen people, eleven on one side, three on the other.' Her kinetic sense quickly swept through the entire space, counting all the heads. Even though it was logical to trust the larger group, Tia didn't want to make any rash moves without gathering more information.

The tension in the room was electric, a palpable force that seemed to freeze time itself. Tia's voice, calm but commanding, cut through the silence. "I order you to identify yourselves."

There was a brief, hesitant pause before the elderly white-bearded man with three silver stripes on his shoulder, seemingly the leader of the group to the left, stepped forward. His posture was tense, reflective of the high-stakes situation. "I am the first officer, Kimody," he declared, his voice betraying a mix of urgency and caution. "They are traitors, no, monsters. Arrest them if you're not a traitor."

Almost in response, the officer leading the right group, his uniform slightly disheveled, spoke up. His tone was measured, contrasting with the chaos around them. "I am the second officer, Karkoskak. We need to apprehend the real traitor here, the first officer who defected and killed the captain."

'Such bad names... Wait a minute!' Suddenly, a gentle smile formed on Tia's face, and the gun in her hand vanished.

Then, without warning, her demeanor shifted. A sudden, fierce energy crackled around her, an electric tension that seemed to pull at the very air.

"Stand down or face execution," she commanded, her voice resonating with newfound authority. She raised her arms, and in that instant, the command center erupted into chaos.

With a force that seemed to tear the air itself, the weapons flew from the soldiers' hands, hurtling towards Tia with a series of sharp, resonating clangs. Soldiers yelped in surprise and pain, their hands empty and trembling. The sound of metal striking the deck reverberated through the room.

Her eyes, now fiercely glowing, surveyed the room as she stepped forward. Each step was punctuated by the crunch of shattered glass under her boots, a stark contrast to the stunned silence of the onlookers.

'Hmm, it looks like people with superpowers are truly not that common for them to be shocked like this.' Her confidence grew slightly at the sight.

'Let the truth be revealed,' she thought, her mind razor-sharp. With a swift motion of her hands, the two officers were wrenched from the ground and suspended in mid-air as if by an invisible storm.

"Release me at once! Look around yourself! I am not a traitor!" Kimody's shout was laced with both anger and fear, his body twisting futilely in Tia's telekinetic grip. Karkoskak, however, remained eerily composed, his eyes fixed on Tia, a silent challenge in his gaze.

Tia, now the embodiment of controlled fury, approached the suspended officers. The bridge crew watched in rapt silence, their eyes wide with a mix of fear and shock.

Kimody and Karkoskak, hanging helplessly in mid-air, were like moths caught in an invisible web. Tia reached out, her fingers extending towards their temples.

'Show me your thoughts; I need just a glimpse.'

The moment her hands made contact, a visible jolt ran through their bodies, as if an electric current had connected them.

Closing her eyes, Tia's brow furrowed in concentration. She channeled her energy into a torrent of telepathic energy, smashing against the minds of the two officers.

She could feel two barriers stopping her torrents of mental energy, like two dams stopping streams of rivers.

'It is harder than expected.' She wasn't shocked by this, knowing that her telepathy was still only at level one, with only her immense mental powers and energy supply making it possible to aggressively pry someone's thoughts with direct touch.

Gathering even more energy, she pressed, drilling against the two barriers like a drill into a concrete wall, slowly opening her path forward.

It was her first time using her telepathic powers, but she instinctively knew what to do.

'Huh?'

But then, a subtle shift in the air—a prickle of danger on the edge of her senses—caused Tia to recoil instinctively and swiftly step back.

Second Officer Karkoskak, who had seemed disoriented and weakened, suddenly sprung to life with frightening vitality. His eyes, ablaze with an intense, unnatural orange glow, were fixed on Tia with a predatory focus.

"Die!"

With a tearing sound, his fist shot forward in a blur, its power so great that she could hear Karkoskak's own bones shatter and break.