Interstellar Age



Nearly immediately after injecting the serum into the prisoner's bloodstream, her eyes opened wide as if she had entered a trance. Allowing Erich to ask the question that he needed to know previously, but had been denied due to a lack of knowledge on the behalf of his previous prisoner. 

"What is your name and rank within the Order of Sages?" 

The woman immediately responded with complete and total obedience, as if it were physically impossible for her to lie or to conceal any information. 

"My name is Elainne Darkheart, I am a Lesser Prophet 1st Class...."

Erich looked over at Tia, who immediately began searching every network in the galaxy for any information regarding this woman that might be useful for the interrogation. Meanwhile, Erich continued to ask his questions.

"What is your purpose for coming to Teutonia?" 

Once more the sage spoke in a completely monotone voice, as if all the life had been sucked from her body, and she was nothing more than a slave. 

"My purpose in coming to Teutonia was to assess the defences of the Dark Sage's residence, and to potentially kidnap one of his loved ones to use as leverage..." 

Erich frowned when he heard this. Just like his vision told him, the Sages were now actively making moves against him. This was something he did not appreciate, and because of this, he was quick to ask the next question on his mind. 

"Where are the Sages hiding?" 

The sage continued to give Erich the information she knew, while Tia monitored her brainwaves, to see if there was any risk of death, like in the previous interrogation. 

"I do not know, that information is classified beyond my rank..."

Erich obviously knew this would be the answer he received when he heard the woman say he was a lesser prophet. Thus, he scoffed before asking his next question.

  "Then who does know this information?" 

Once more, the Sage gave Erich information he already knew. 

"You would need to find a Greater Prophet 1st class."

Knowing this already, Erich was quick to ask the next question on his mind, though judging by the tone in his voice, his patience was beginning to wear thin. 

"Alright.... Where can I find this Greater Prophet 1st class? And if you don't know this information, then give me the identity of someone who does!" 

Almost as if this were an exact repeat of his last interrogation, the sage said the words which Erich already knew. 

"I do not know this information, but if you wish to find a Greater Prophet 1st Class, then you will need to speak with Thyrin Shieldscribe he is-"

Before the Sage could even finish her statement, Erich snapped at the woman, and began to yell at her with a hostile tone. 

"Thyrin is dead! Who else can lead me to this Greater Prophet 1st Class that you speak of?" 

This information was almost shocking to the Sage, and there was clearly a sign of distress on her face, despite the fact that she was forced by the drug in her body to remain in control of her emotions. Thus, the next thing she said was finally the information that Erich needed to move forward with his plans. 

"If Thyrin is dead, then the Sages would send a replacement to fulfill his role. The odds are that they will be sent to the quadrant of space that Thyrin was in charge of monitoring.... Which, if I remember correctly, was Asuran Space. I am afraid I do not know of this individual's identity, as I have not been formed of Thyrin's passing until this moment."

The moment Erich heard this, he lost control of his emotions, and flipped a terminal over while shouting at nobody in particular. 

"That's just fucking terrific! Even if we have located the quadrant of space which this prick will be sent to, there is no way of knowing which celestial body they are hiding in without an identity! For all we know, they could be seeking refuge in a fucking space station! It's like finding a needle in a mountain of needles! Fuck!" 

Tia could sense her master's fury, and was quick to speak of another question, which he did not think of while in his moment of rage. 

"Do you have the means to contact this replacement? Or somebody else within your order?" 

Shockingly, the sage nodded her head, where she proceeded to give the requested information. 

"I do... Among my belongings is an encrypted communication device. That would allow me to speak with any sage within the galaxy. With the right passcodes, one might be able to trick the sages into thinking they are a member of the order. Would you like me to teach you?" 

Tia smiled when she realized she had asked the correct question and quickly implored the prisoner to teach her how to crack the code. Unfortunately, in the next moment, the sage's consciousness had begun to fade, which Tia quickly worked to remedy. 

"Yes- Oh no! Master! The sage's brain function is collapsing. Like the previous prisoner, she will suffer total brain death in less than two minutes! What are Master's orders? To get as much information about the encryption as possible, or to use what little time Tia has left to research a way to fix this problem once and for all?" 

Erich sighed heavily as he thought about this question. If they received partial encryption, it would take Tia significantly less time to crack the code on her own. But if Tia used this time to perfect the truth serum so it had no risk of death or other side effects on a Sage, they could easily get the whole thing the next time they captured a Sage. 

With no time to waste, Erich was quick to come to a conclusion, even if it may not have been the best option available. 

"Scan the sage's brain while it is still functional and find a fix to this fucking side effect! By the time we get our hands on the next sage! I want this serum to be flawless!" 

Tia cutely saluted before doing exactly what he said. Where she began to scan the prisoner's brain, and find a workaround to the problems this serum had with Sages. And by the time the Sage lie dead in her seat, Tia wore a wide smile, knowing that she had finally fixed this problem once and for all. 

"Though we lost the prisoner, Tia believes she has found a solution to this problem. Give Tia some time to perfect her work, but once she has a functional prototype, she will need another test subject to confirm that it is 100% effective..." 

Erich nodded his head, though he did not know if he made the right choice. At the very least, Tia would have solved the problem with the serum by the time they got their hands on the next sage. Thus, Erich was confident that he was one step closer to winning this war.