Colonel Lyn was taken even deeper underneath the prison and whenever she thought that they had arrived, the guards took her even deeper.
At her destination, the guards opened heavy metal doors to reveal a large bald muscled man chained by his arms and legs in the middle of an otherwise bare cavernous room. He wore a leather muzzle around his mouth and had a metal rod zap him with current at regular intervals.
The two guards at the door had blackened eyes and one of them smiled at Colonel Lyn revealing several missing teeth. Judging from the congealed blood, it must have happened fairly recently.
"Did he do that?" Lyn asked.
Their silence was all the confirmation that she needed.
The guards unshackled the man's arms and legs, gave the keys for his muzzle to Colonel Lyn and almost sprinted out of the room as they shut the doors behind them leaving the two of them alone.
The man blinked and stood gingerly after all the restraints were removed. He stretched out his frame until he stood at a full height of about two metres or six and a half imperial units.
"You must be a scientist," the large man said as he rubbed the welts made by the shackles on his wrist. He circled Colonel Lyn like a predator examining his prey. He seemed to bask in the fear that came off the Colonel. His voice was deep but not baritone, so why did it seem to vibrate the ground?
"How would you know that?" she asked while trying to force her shoulders to relax as she stood close to the middle of the room.
"Your stripes indicate the rank of Colonel but your uniform tells me that you've never seen battle and your posture tells me that you never spent much time marching or saluting," he replied.
"That doesn't entirely make me a scientist. What if I was signal corp?" she replied.
"I figured that which other department would they send to talk to a traitor right before he is put to death," the man said. "Signal corp would've been an idiotic guess."
"I don't consider you a traitor Lord Commander Wrath," Colonel Lyn replied with her shoulders relaxing. "On the contrary, I consider you a hero of the Union."
"Titles are useless inside these walls and flattery is wasted on me," he said while seething. "I hold no rank or prestige in this place."
"Regardless, I need to know what you found aboard the UNS Omen in the final days of the second Akkadian war," Colonel Lyn said impatiently.
"Why did you not ask my former crew, study the wreck or check the ship's flight logs?" he asked curiously.
"You're the only one from that mission still alive," she said. "The wreck was destroyed due to orders from way above, the ship's flight logs were corrupted, the Captain's report and journal were never handed in and the UNS Omen was decommissioned and scrapped into spare parts shortly after. The ship was the pride of the entire first fleet and even the Imperial Navy which tells me that someone desperately didn't want the truth getting out."
She strained to follow him as he circled her. The floodlights were trained at the centre of the room so he seemed to be dancing in the shadows around her which was disorienting.
"Is that why my execution was delayed? You need information that only I can provide and to make me comfortable, you unshackled me," Wrath said.
"Is it working?" Colonel Lyn said with undisguised anxiety.
In an instant Wrath materialised in front of Colonel Lyn, grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground. Colonel Lyn was taken by surprise so she only managed a short audible gasp before she was hoisted into the air by Wrath's powerful arms.
"Why should I tell you anything? I'm already scheduled to die and probably by the same ones who want the information buried. I could take your life as my final act before the guards can save you…. That is... unless you instructed the guards not to interfere," Wrath said as he turned his gaze to the heavy metal doors.
"You would only do that if you had something to offer me," Wrath said with a lowered voice. "Something so valuable that taking your life would seem counter-productive."
Wrath relaxed his hand and abruptly dropped Colonel Lyn to the ground and took a casual stroll around the room as she coughed violently. It took a few moments for her to regain her composure.
"I've looked into you," she said with raspy breath.
"And what did you find?" he asked
"You are indeed the monster that everyone thinks you are but you're the monster we needed. No other general could've singlehandedly ended the wars with the Akkadians which had already lasted a hundred years. None of them was willing to do what needed to be done. You instilled fear in the Akkadians and they quaked in their boots every time they had to face you... like in Boettia," Colonel Lyn said as she struggled to stand.
Her eyes were bloodshot but her voice was beginning to return to normal. Wrath stopped circling and entered the light to face her. He was much taller than her so he looked down at her face.
"None of this is news to me," Wrath said. "Tell me something I don't already know."
"I also know why you are... the way you are. Most generals in the UN army are from well off families and only read about brutal battles like Triskelion but you're a child of war that grew up witnessing such battles," Colonel Lyn said.
At the mention of Triskelion, Wrath eyed her with curiosity and suspicion.
"How does a science officer know where I am from?" He asked. "Not even military intelligence is aware of my past."
"I'm good at my job," Colonel Lyn said before coughing. "I know something about you that other people don't."
"And what's that?" Wrath asked.
"You're a pacifist," Colonel Lyn said.
"I'm a soldier," he replied.
"It doesn't matter, I know that you're actually Akkadian but you sided with us humans because you believed that humanity was capable of greater compassion," Colonel Lyn said.
"How do you know this?" Wrath asked. "Surely no record of my beliefs exist anywhere in the universe."
"I was able to find your friend, Link and gain his trust. I brought him with me. He's now a civilian cybernetic pilot for the Union," she said. "If you like, I could have him brought here."
Wrath softened visibly. His hunched shoulders relaxed and he crossed his arms across his chest.
"What is it that you expect to gain from this?" He asked. "What do you have to offer me in exchange for knowledge that I possess?"
"Tell me what you found on UNS Omen and I will do what I can to make sure you're remembered as a hero of the United Nations of Earth and not as a traitor... or the Butcher of Boettia that you're currently known as," she said.
"Sorry about your neck but you've misjudged me," he said. "I don't care about my reputation. I'm a soldier of the Union. I did my job."
"Your selflessness is admirable but--"
The metal doors suddenly opened and Lieutenant Masako emerged from it. Behind him, Wrath noted the guards that lay dead or unconscious on the ground.
"Lieutenant Masako, stand down," Colonel Lyn said as she spun and walked towards him unaware of the dead guards. "I'm in the mid--"
Before she could finish, Masako buried a Vibro-blade in the gut of Colonel Lyn.
Wrath tried to surprise the assassin with a blow from the shadows but the Liutenenat was skilled with a blade and managed to draw blood from Wrath's left forearm. He detected the telltale signs of basilisk venom and channelled his Aether to counteract the poison coursing through his veins.
The two of them tussled again. Wrath barely managed to dodge two clinical strikes and blocked a third with his bare right arm before unleashing a powerful kick that sent his opponent spiralling away from him.
"Impressive. This is the shadow blade dance of the Umbaran assassins of Akkadia," Wrath said but his opponent remained silent.
Wrath began to feel himself slow down as he fell to his knees before collapsing.