Királynö had never known her breaking point until that fateful day. She had just traveled to the Vestian Outpost to meet with Petra, who had become her close friend over the past year that Kira had been serving the Reef, and subsequently, the Queen. Petra was in shambles, and she could barely hold back her tears. "She's gone," she stuttered, wiping her eyes. "T-the Queen… the entire Royal Fleet… even Prince Uldren. Gone."
Kira instinctively clenched her fingers into fists, and then uncurled them, calming herself. "Petra," she began, "What are you talking about?" She might have already known, the meeting she witnessed with Eris and the Vanguard had told her almost everything she needed to know. Oryx had destroyed the entire Awoken armada in one fell swoop. The one who claimed to be King only needed to fire once.
"The Queen sent out the entire armada to destroy the Dreadnaught," Petra muttered, "She and her brother went along to make sure the deed was done. The Queen…" she sniffled. "She used her power to summon projectiles to fire against the Dreadnaught. They didn't even scratch the surface." Kira blinked, urging Petra on. "Then the Dreadnaught fired back, and the blast killed everyone in the vicinity. The Galliot X-1 was destroyed, along with the Crows and the entire armada."
Királynö felt her heart sink. There was no way. It wasn't possible. The Queen had to have escaped somehow. "She didn't use an escape shuttle?" Petra shook her head. There was no time, she said. The blast had destroyed everything within seconds, the armada and the Crows tried outmaneuvering it, but they were caught in the shockwave, torn to shreds.
"Excuse me, Petra. I'll talk to you soon." Kira found herself wandering away from her friend, summoning Ghost to bring her ship around. She needed to get out of here as soon as possible, as soon as she could without drawing attention to herself. Kira thought of all the ways that the Queen could have survived, but none of them fit Petra's story. Mara Sov was gone.
As soon as Ghost beamed her onto her ship, she set course for the Tower, and turned on autopilot. She held it in as long as she could, clenching her fingers into fists and gritting her teeth. "It's not true," she murmured, leaving Ghost concerned but silent. As they began to warp towards the Tower, she left the pilot's seat and hid in the cargo bay.
She cried the entire way back to Earth.