Dan Vs. Season 2 Preview "We'll See"

"You're dismissed."

The two guards exited the room. A new person entered.

Dan recognized the voice. Unmistakably smooth and level, naturally tempered. Not the kind of voice that evoked hatred, yet Dan couldn't imagine hating anyone more at that moment. Even with the chemicals and energy seething through and around him at the time, he still recognized the voice. And then, he walked in, and Dan focused his eyes on him.

This was him. Good, he was still alive and he was close. That meant Dan could still kill him.

"Twenty-nine hours. Quite impressive. Even the species that enjoy pain usually break after a few minutes."

The main was tall, had broad shoulders and jet black slick-backed hair. He sported a strong jaw and strong, thick arms under a gold-and-black uniform. No scars, no jewelry, shoes polished to a mirror shine and white gloves. Everything about him looked perfect right to the Terran Empire insignia pinned on his chest and his rank insignia which denoted him as an admiral. Yes, this was the man Dan was searching for. This was Fleet Admiral Johnathan Daine.

Daine approached Dan's torture chamber and knelt so he was at eye level with him. "I'm happy to see someone can defy expectations. Am I what you expected?"

Dan's entire body was completely restrained, so he had no way of answering. Over the past day, he'd been subjected to every form of torture the Terran Empire had at its vast disposal. It even surprised himself that he hadn't broken. He'd been burned, poisoned, electrified, nearly frozen and burnt out an agony booth in the process. The worst of it, however was the pop music. There was only so much millennial emo rock and Spice Girls anyone could take before they cracked; even Dan had his limits.

Daine tapped a button on the side of the torture chamber. The agony field clamps over Dan's mouth withdrew. First thing Dan did was breath.

"I'm going... to kill you," Dan finally said. He laughed. "And I'll... I'll enjoy that more than any sick pleasure you've gotten from torturing me. You're all... going to pay."

Daine broke eye contact and looked away, smiling. He was silent for a long moment. "I know," he said calmly. "I don't enjoy this. But if I hadn't ordered it, someone else would have. It's the way things work around here, unfortunately."

"I...don't care... just shut up."

Daine sighed. "Were they important? The ones I killed, were they like you?"

"GO TO HELL!!"

"You were close to them, weren't you?"

"FUCK YOU!"

"I'm sorry for their loss," Daine said, sounding genuine. He was genuine, not that Dan cared. "Like all this, though, if I hadn't killed them, someone else would have."

"I'm going to burn... all of Terra... the way you burned my friends."

Daine stood again, paced. "We deserve it. All of us. You know, I really wish I could tell you the Terran Empire was better. For all our talk of superiority... we're not. We're not any better. That's the truth and I really wish more Terrans could accept it."

"You're all full of shit..." Dan's head was still spinning. The room was still spinning to him, but Daine's voice came through clearly, even through the blurry, dizzy haze. It was probably intentional; they wanted prisoners to be able to respond and recognize the Terrans in case they needed to extract information.

"We are. And you're quite adept at cutting through the shit. That's what T'Vrel doesn't understand. She's devout, that one. You'll have to deal with her at some point." Daine stood at the control terminal at the side of the torture cage. He held his hands over the controls.

"I am sorry about your friends. I'm sorry about a lot of this. It's not what I wanted."

The strength to speak finally found its way to Dan. "What the hell is it you want, then? If you're so sorry, why go along with it?"

He turned to Dan. "I told you. If it wasn't me, it would be someone else. It's the truth of the Terran Empire."

"What truth?"

"That you're right. You've been right all along about us. We're evil, amoral, corrupt, cold, heartless, bloated, stagnant... we have been for generations," Daine said, looking away again. "Our judgment has been forestalled time and time again. Delayed. If there was anything worth redeeming in this Empire, it's long since dead and gone." He locked eyes with Dan again. "Death is all that remains for the Terran Empire. The only question is how much we'll spread before we're gone."

"Spare me this fatalist garbage. If you believe any of it, let me out of here and I'll give the Empire the death it's been avoiding."

"We'll see," Daine said. "There have been revolutionaries, too. You're strong... but so is our corruption. We'll see if it makes a difference. We'll see."

Daine deactivated the torture cage. Dan dropped to the floor, rose quickly and went after Daine.

But Daine was already gone- vanished. Did he beam out, was he a hologram or had he even been there to begin with? Dan didn't know. Alarm klaxons began to blare through the facility. Dan ripped the grate off the nearest vent and escaped.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Looks like Dan is going to put a solid Foundation on his revenge on the Terran Empire.

Good thing you cant use magical synchronicity on thought patterns. The peaceniks just cant bring themselves to shut down all the evil thoughts, but the thoughts of evil? Oh, they can have so much fun, Fun, FUN, with such a device.

Hmm.. intresting news from Hawkings last research before he died. A theoretical proposal for recovery of information from black hole event horizons. Someone falling in can live forever.