The Second Dark Age

[Monk]

part xi
Lost Knowledge

Godsend, Imperium’s North Shore
1600 hours, First Encounter +4

A Scientist sat alone in the lab, the dark room about him was silent with only the hum of the computer in the corner to keep him company. Dim light shined forth from the monitor as white text appeared letter by letter. The man brought up his right hand and rubbed his weary eyes and sighed, they ached from looking upon the screen for so long. As the text finally stopped appearing he read over the file on which he had searched for. They were records of the treaty of Abbadon, an agreement signed by three nations that seemed so long ago in time. “Solicous” he spoke for the first time in hours, his voice barely above a whisper. He coughed suddenly as he grasped his throat, ‘so dry’ he thought to himself. His eyes scanned the darkness for his cup of water, and to his right the faint outline of it stood; quickly grabbing it he poured it down his throat. the rush of the cool liquid washed away the dry feeling and he smiled.

The Scientist sat down the now empty container and read the file on the treaty, his heart was starting to beat faster for some reason as he did so. Slowly he felt a strange anxiety rising, he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself but to no avail. The words before him seemed meaningless and served to the Imperium’s great advantage; but why now after so long would he be ordered to review it?

“This is pointless.” he said aloud to himself in frustration, it must have been the fourth time in the last seven hours he had read over the document. Still the words were the same; nothing was different save maybe his attitude toward his assignment. It did not help matters that the only copies were made in the Solician Language; a clumsy and unpredictable language hardly fit of civilized people. He grinned to himself as he thought that. He leaned back in the chair and looked at the ceiling; the darkness around was like a shroud, he could barely see beyond the dim illumination that his monitor provided. As he took his eyes away from the screen his eyes slowly began to stop hurting, he closed them for a moment and was about to try to rest them when he heard the sound of footsteps.

His eyes suddenly sprung open as a set of footsteps echoed down the hall just outside his door. The scientist turned and looked at the door. His stomach was tying itself in knots nearly making him fall upon the floor. Slowly the foot falls got closer; each step echoing in the perfect silence until they were directly outside the doorway. Slowly the knob turned and the door then flew open quickly. The scientist was blinded by a sudden rush of light, as he tried to adjust his eyes the only thing he saw was a dark figure standing in the doorway. He did his best to conceal his fear, raising an arm to try to shield his eyes from the light attempting to see who stood before him.

“Have you found it?” the figure said, his voice was low and rigid. He stood perfectly still as he said those words, yet as he spoke one could not help but feel afraid for some reason. As if this one man had enough power to end your life. That is the exact way the scientist felt as he looked upon him. In an instant his covered fear came screaming to the surface, he could feel his gut wrenching about, making him sick to his stomach. He cleared his throat and managed to keep his voice from cracking.

“No…” he replied softly, his eyes were slowly adjusting to the light yet all he saw was still a dark figure.

The dark figure sighed slightly, however it was barely noticeable. “I don’t think you realize what’s at stake here” his frustration found its way into his voice, despite his control over his reactions.

“Of course!” the scientist said, slight desperation setting in. “Of course I do! I…I just need more time!” his thoughts were denying his words even as he tried to reassure this man he could complete the task he was given.

“The Berserkers Jarls no doubt already have the Information we need.” The figure clenched his fist showing his anger. “Must I remind you the penalty of failing the Emperor?”

“No!” the scientist shouted in pure fear, he knew he couldn’t find what they wanted him too. However to fail was to die. His hands began to tremble slightly as he rose to his feet, pushing back the chair against the desk, making a soft noise as it hit the two crashed together. “I’ll find it!” he was praying that his lie went unnoticed.

The figure thought for a moment, or at least appeared to think. He finally made a movement, yet to the scientist’s dismay his hand traveled to the gun that was strapped to his side. He removed it from the holster and stood with it drawn. “You had seven hours to accomplish the mission.”

“Please!” the scientists shouted, nearly begging as he spoke desperately. His heart was racing from his fear and the sickness he felt in his stomach turned into a slight pain. “I beg of you…I have served the Emperor countless times” He had jusr begged for his life, and he was hearing a voice screaming in his mind to run. His eyes scanned the room quickly; no way out. “…please more time!”

The figure raised the weapon to the scientist’s head, the scientist’s bottom lip was trembling as the shadowy figure spoke; “You have failed.” He slowly squeezed the trigger and the gun fired, the noise filled the room and silenced all about as the bullet exited the chamber. The scientist’s head was thrown back as the bullet hit, his blood splattered on the wall behind and his lifeless body fell to the ground; his eyes frozen open in pure horror. Blood began to flow from an exit wound on the back of his head. A spent bullet casing fell to the ground and bounced toward his body, it rolled on to its side and rested beside him.

The figure put his gun away and walked over to the monitor, he wiped the blood that had splashed onto the screen away and then looked at the words. He input a command and jumped to the third page of the document, where he saw words that translated to “Resolution of DEFENSE.” He read on to where the text displayed an agreement between the Imperium, The Kingdom of Solicous, and a third party called The Dominion of Berserker Jarls that stated “Technology will hereby be put forth and shared between all nations. As payment to The Imperium, the Nation of Solicous agrees to give 1/6 of unoccupied land to the Imperium and puts at their disposal the minds of their research teams.”

The figure opened a new file with the punch of a few buttons, he read over the first few lines and smiled, it was the information he needed. He read over the first line aloud to himself “The Imperium enacts power given to it by the Treaty of Abbadon and demands that the Kingdom of Solicous provide it with a new weapon, as payment for assistance in their Second Civil War.” He shook his head and laughed slightly. He was looking at the secret agreement between the two nations, forged shortly after the war.

“The fool” he said as he looked at the dead scientist. “He was interpreting their archaic language wrong.” He reached down to his side and flipped a switch on his personal communicator. As he did so a voice came over the channel. “Unit 2463, Report!”

“This is 2463” he replied, “mission complete.”

“You found it then?” the voice on the other end asked.

“Of course” he answered as he smiled to himself.

“Good job brother. Purge said item from system mainframe.” The channel was closed as the voice ended the transmission.

The dark figure leaned over the interface and punched in a series of commands; the screen suddenly flashed and went blank. After a few moments, the words “File deleted by order of the Emperor” appeared. Satisfied with his work the man turned and walked out, grabbing the door handle and closing it behind him. The dead body of the scientist was cloaked in darkness as the computer shut itself down, leaving a terrible silence behind.




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what do you say when you forget to update something in 13 days? ...oops? seriously, sorry for taking so long in this one everybody. hope you enjoy this part at least a little bit

btw, i hope some of you are starting to figure out what is going on. if not, i screwed up