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THE ROOM THAT THEY held me in was matte grey and wildly uninteresting. I didn’t recall the beating they had obviously laid on me, but I was sore, and my wrists ached like they had recently been in restraints.
“Ah, you’re awake.” I glanced up to see a Phelb in a Marauder uniform.
“Of course, how could I resist seeing your lovely face?” I responded. He hit me on the cheekbone and I laughed. Only amateurs hit you on the hardest part of your face, because it was painful to them as well as to you. “Is that all you’ve got?”
“Why won’t you just tell us what we want to know?” The Marauder demanded.
“Why don’t you just go find out for yourself?” I answered. They wanted to know when and how much of our fleet was coming. The task force had been, according to the Phelbs, losing a ship per day. I had been here for six days, so I knew without a doubt that they were full of shit.
“Your men have been murdered and hung in the square for all to see. Their bellies lay flayed open and their eyes cut out.” The Marauder said.
I glanced up to the window. “Oh yeah? Let me see them and I will believe you.”
He sighed explosively. “You are the most stubborn human I have ever met.”
“Yes, well, unfortunately your scare tactics only work if they were real. My men have you locked out of the underground chambers that you have worked for six thousand years to break into and discover what the Catholics hid from you. And that is just hilarious when I say it out loud. You’ve been trying for all these years and we show up and we’re allowed right inside like the place was built for us.” I laughed. “Isn’t that just great? Man, you guys must have just been pissed to find out that we were inside the chambers.”
The Phelbs face turned red. “You’re going to be executed.”
“Oh good,” I said throwing my head back. “I was wondering what the punishment for killing your Pope would be.”
“It is unprecedented. You have thrown our civilization into chaos.” He winced, realizing he’d given me more information than he should have.
“Did I now?” I chuckled again and spit out a mouthful of foul tasting blood. “That’s just so good to know.”
“You’re going to die, Valentine. Horribly.”
“Yes, probably.” I agreed, shifting in my restraints. They had learned the hard way during the first interrogation that the simple filament cuffs they had used were not even remotely strong enough to hold me, and I had killed three of their guards before they employed heavy steel chains to secure me to the floor. “But that is what we soldiers sign up for, isn’t it?” I winked at him, and he growled. I laughed.
“You will be taken before the High Priests.” He said, standing from the chair he occupied.
“That sounds like a great idea. You know I’ve already killed two of your high priests. I killed Davon, he was like, the second in command, right? Under your Pope? Yeah. I killed him on his ship in his own throne room. Blew his head right off.” I chuckled. “That was such a mess. That was right before I used your Astrul weapons to destroy your entire fleet, killed, what, a couple million of your people?”
“Complete savage.” He spat at me and I kicked out with one foot as he stepped closer, catching him in the groin. There was a howl of pain as I crushed the soft organs and shattered his pelvis.
“You have got to remember,” I said, laughing as he fell. “To stop getting close to me when I’m not restrained.”
That’s how I ended up in a straight jacket, chained to the wall. But it took seven men almost an hour to wrestle me into it, at the cost of two ears, a broken nose, a shattered orbital bone, broken jaw, and one life.
I did was not pleased to be imprisoned. But I was pleased to learn that I had killed the Marauder, he had died from his injuries shortly after being taken from my cell.
So, I sat, quietly, in the darkened room as the lights were switched on and off every few seconds, loud klaxons were blasted in my ears every six minutes for exactly two minutes, and I chuckled to myself. They were desperate to know when the Fleet was going to arrive. And I knew that no matter when they arrived, it would be too late.
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