The Revenant’s Shield and Sword, Part 3
“When they burned my world. . . I looked up at the stars that night from the ship we lay imprisoned in. Shackled like a beast and gripping the hand of my beloved as we mourned our little one. . . They told us we were at fault for hiding insurgents, yet across our now ashen home laid the propaganda they fed us, the drink we so greedily swallowed. I served time and time again in doing the unthinkable for my people. For every great leader preaches what they do, for every organization preaches that they give justice, for every great person preaches they are moral and wise, yet they all have hands that do their dirty work. It’s easy, to watch as atrocities are committed and say they shouldn’t, yet I responded to them. I saved lives just as I took them, I built homes and tore them apart, I created a family and have sundered others. Throughout it I claimed to my old Gods that I was honor-bound, that I served with conviction and was a tool of justice and hope. Yet when I slept that night behind cell bars with my wife, when I looked out the glass at my stars leaving me . . . I felt cold. An illusion of a man stared back at me, but his eyes were that of a Demon seeing itself for the first time. My eyes watched the fires of the planet continue, and they have not stopped seeing that again every night. They burned my world. . . They burned my home. Now that our enemies are gone . . . I will simply travel.”
-Journal entry Dated 2268, August 12th. Taken from Derrick Jormun Ishmael’s personal logs. Regarding the beginning of his transfer to Project Black Monarch.
Investigation status: ...... Pending.
Status of Witnesses: ....... Unknwon
Status of Criminal in question: ..... Deceased
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma’s breathing was shallow, her armor breached as multiple bullet holes were showing themselves from her legs to her torso, and even a few on her arms. There she lay against a cave wall, surrounded by near total darkness. Derrick hastily caught his breath as he shifted through their supplies and attempted to patch her wounds. “I suppose,” he coughed before breaking out the medical kit, “That now is a bad time to say I was right?”
Emma glared and gritted her teeth, “You . . . You shot Kyle you bastard.”
“Yes, yes, I shot Kyle, let’s ignore the fact he shot you and then shot me first. After of course the fact that he brutally killed his Monarch who tried to defend us. Silvia was such a beauty too, oh,” he looked off to the side and clicked his tongue in disappointment, “Such a terrible way to go.”He continued to tend to her wounds, getting the bullets out and stopping the bleeding. After an hour or so of work, she was finally stabilized, but in oh such terrible condition. “There we are, see? Good as new!” She glared at him. “Well.... New in the sense of it was only manhandled by a toddler with a machine gun.”
“You . . . Why do they want you?” She struggled to sit up and gasped for breathe, struggling still as he gave her his canteen. “Why,” she grumbled as she took the water.
“Because of my dashing good looks and hidden vault of virgins and riches,” he waved his hand about as he spoke sarcastically.
“Answer me,” she growled, “Or I’ll put you in a shallow grave.”
“I stole something from Director Wolf.”
“What could be so important it was worth our lives?!” She growled louder.
“Calm yourself. . . Speak any louder and they’ll surely find us. . . I stole everything. His plans for the future, his records of every bad deal, the war crimes he had us commit in our own personal lives before this program. I stole everything . . . With this,” he tapped his head. “Project Monarch . . . Surgically implanted AI into our heads. If anything, we are AI’s ourselves now, still ourselves. We were made to be the perfect killing think tank. The morality of man, mixed with the processing power of AI. It has it’s own little personality we were. . . Matched with you could say. We became one being, and were field tested here and anywhere else to slaughter, steal, and now assist our partnered Sentinels in their own wars. Who do you think he tested us on? Every other species. . . Everyone else. He tore our minds apart and forced us to fight. But if you don’t believe me,” he handed her helmet back to her, “See for yourself.”
Emma was distrustful, she spat at his feet before taking his helmet, “You’ve got nothing. . . You can try to prove your point,” he scoffed as she put her helmet back on. What transpired next took her breathe away. The Director and her Sargent, watching the torture of the candidates for Black Monarch. Forcing them to execute prisoners, forcing them to fight each other, forcing them to solve complex puzzles and algorithms or face more torture. Documents, security cam footage, everything was there. “What . . . What is this?” She stuttered as she saw the next file. Project Horsemen.
“Project Horsemen. . . You Sentinels and us Monarchs would be forced to fight to the death, the last standing of us would further be twisted and made monsters. Monsters shackled in the mind and given no free will. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, his Apocalypse. It’s all there.” Derrick gestured as all was shown in her HUD. “It’s all there. . . If you don’t believe me then so be it. I’ll patch you up and head off on my own. They’ve no reason to think you’ve done anything than be taken my prisoner.” He shrugged.
“This,” Emma took it all in. The experiments, the footage, the plans and written documents from the Director’s inner circle. Everything pointed towards the most vile of intentions. “This could cripple any diplomacy we have with any other race in the galaxy. The Venra alone would love to use this as an excuse to start yet another war.” She was stricken, utterly baffled at the sheer ferocity of these experiments. “I guess I see why other races fear us . . . We disregard even our own people by claiming it’s for our version of the greater good.” She blinked, still processing everything before something glowed on her HUD. “How did you get into Black Monarch?” She asked as her eyes caught sight of files named after all of the Monarchs and Sentinels.
“The file says it all, I’m a walking document of how best to be branded a monster in the Terran Republic.” He folded his arms as he leaned back.
“No. . . No,” he closed his eyes, the screams he had always heard softened for but a moment. “A long time ago I was a solider, an infiltrator if you will. I wanted to be an actor, but I got the calling. My people needed me, and I enlisted. Rose up through the ranks and the special units all over. Finally when I had returned for some much needed rest and connect with my beloved wife again . . . The Republic came in private military ships, and scorched my home world. They took the survivors hostage, but not before gunning down my little one.” There was age in his voice. As if a thousand years of pain had settled not hundreds of years past. Now it was only an echo. A memory. His eyes become foggy as his mind filled with the sound of children laughing, the warmth of his beloved near him as he remembered the feeling of holding her. “They took everything . . . I was so lost I simply wandered. Black Monarch gave me a chance to start over. When it was done I searched everywhere, only to discover she died in their torture solely to feed this research. My friends, my family, all but burned so they could make things like you and I, Emma.” He looked up at her. There was no mischief in his eyes. No lying, no tales spooling in his head like fine thread. There was only memory.
“All those people they had us kill during Operations . . . Terrorists . . . Smugglers, arms dealers, drug lords, rebels. . . They were just,” she felt sick to her stomach reading the reports.
“Director Wolf’s rivals for his own arms dealings. The peace protesters who stood against him . . . Against the war. Everyone that stood in their way has burned by our hands.”
“You . . . You tried to warn us,” she stared down at her hand again. In her eyes there was so much blood. . . So much blood that she felt the weight of it crushing her lungs. She butchered innocents. Their screams were not that of traitors. . . They were people. Her mind became sickened. “What. . . What have I done?” She stuttered.
Derrick went and sat next to her, reaching up to place a hand on her shoulder, “Hush . . . You’ve done nothing. You followed your path and went the wrong way, no matter how far your walk or run or crawl, it’s never too late to break off and make a new trail.” He gazed outside the cave mouth at the beautiful sky before them on this xeno-world. “My path branches towards killing Director Wolf, and letting my beloved rest easy. . . Then . . . Then I’m not sure.”
“I . . . I want to leave.” She stated as she gripped her head safely tucked in her helmet. “I don’t want to kill anymore . . . Please, help me.”
“Help? Ha,” he chuckled weakly, “No one in their right mind would dare try to stop you if they saw you. You can easily leave this world, steal our old comrade’s ship and go far, far, far away.”
“No, no more killing. . . Director Wolf did terrible things. . . But for now I don’t want to kill him . . . I want you to come with me . . . Help me do good in the galaxy. Help me, and I will help you.”
“Oh? Help me?” He raised his brow tiredly.
“I . . . I mean,” she sighed as she collected her thoughts, “Just . . . No more needless violence, please,” she shook her head in her hands, terrified of what she had done.
Derrick was about to speak, when something flicked in his head. ‘Your days as a killer are finally over?’ asked a sweet and warm voice. The smell of Mint filled the air as he saw the fiery red hair flash in his mind. He promised. He swore, that his days of going out of his way for bloodshed was over. No more gang violence as a teenager, no more executions as a soldier, no more assassinations of innocents as a Special Operations unit, no more needless killing. Only when needed, to protect people. He swore, swore to her when he came home, and swore to her as he held her corpse for three days and three nights. For once, he was unable to speak. Emma looked down towards him, as even sitting she was still much larger. “I,” he paused. The eyes of the Demon looked back at him through her reflective visor. They were eyes of hunger, they begged for more carnage, as it was all he knew.
“Derrick?” Emma inquired curiously, as she was so use to his quick tongue.
Derrick sighed, “You . . . Reminded me of some words I need to follow. . . Very well. I cannot stop killing, but I can at least only kill when we need to protect ourselves or others. Agreed?”
Emma thought for a minute and nodded, “I guess that’s ok . . . But I don’t want to kill anymore. . . I can’t do it anymore,” she shook her head.
“Good. . . Now when you hear the sound of gunfire and screaming get up and move down the mountain to that clearing below us.” Derrick smiled as he rose to his feet.
“What now?” She shook her head and looked slightly up at him.
“I’m gonna go steal their shuttle and get us the hell out of here.” He grinned.
“Are you mad?! They’ll kill you!”
“I was an infiltrator remember? Best on the job, I can sneak by anyone and anything, but once I get moving they’ll open fire for sure. So be ready.” He grinned before heading off.
“H-Hey! Wait!” Emma gripped her side painfully as it was still quite soar. “Damn it,” she grumbled.
It was several hours, but soon the shuttle did come. They escaped, true to his word none of her squad had perished. Together Derrick and Emma went into hiding all across the galaxy, traveling and using their respective skills to earn a living. Derrick never knew if vengeance would come his way, but he thought that maybe his new promise was misplaced. Perhaps his ghosts were laying at rest, and he was the only one digging them back up. Who knows? Maybe Director Wolf would face justice at the end of a gun barrel.
But that . . . Is a story for another time.
END
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEY YOU! How’s it going? It was a pleasure to work on this arch of the short stories I’m doing this to pass time during my last year of university. Once again don’t forget, if you have any prompts you want me to work on just send me them, tag me in them, anything at all! I will put them in the que if I like em! All my stories are connected so never fear, old characters will always come back! Until next time, Fly safe fellow Explorer’s of the unknown.
On an extra note, your comments, messages, and asks are always appreciated and read, plus almost always answered ^w^ thanks again!
areudirty
annaxmalina
origamiaround
andulkaphoto
2087
yousharknotpass
izzy806
jacobvanloon