Revelations - Rise of the Inquisitor

by R. E. Graham

  “Oh, that’s our cellar down there. We don’t really use it a whole lot since the drought set in. Been a real shame, a lot of people around here can’t grow anything on their farms anymore.”

  Varius continued towards the stairs and the two men made their way to the second floor.

  “Your room will be the second one on the left” Jonnt said as he squeezed by to open the door for his guest. “I hope you find it to your liking.”

  As Varius got his first look into the room he tried to not show the disappointment on his face. Especially since Jonnt had a very large grin on his.

  “I am sure it will meet my needs” Varius said as he stepped into the bedroom. The room continued the same rustic feel of the downstairs foyer. A single-sized bed was dressed neatly with tan sheets and a blue blanket folded at the foot of the mattress. Looking around, the Inquisitor saw a small table positioned up against the windowsill with two wooden chairs, a dresser to his right and then a larger cushioned chair in the left corner. He crossed the room and set his bag down on the small table.

  “Let us know if you need anything” Jonnt said as he began to close the door.

  Just before it closed entirely, the inn keeper stuck his head back inside. “Oh, I almost forgot. If you happen to be hungry you can scoot on over to the diner. The menu is a lot smaller because of the drought, but the burgers down there are something special. In fact, I’d say they are to die for.”

  Varius remained silent and Jonnt got the hint. The door closed, and the Inquisitor walked over and locked the door. Moving back over to the table he opened the bag and pulled out a protein bar. After pulling the wrapper apart he took a large bite out of it.

  Cycles ago, he learned to always bring food with you on a mission. Being an inquisitor for the Corre Republic meant you would naturally make a lot of enemies as you dispensed judgement in the field. Revenge could take the form of many things, including poison in your food.

  Typically, an inquisitor was only sent out once a situation became worse than the local authorities could handle. They were trained in a variety of ranged and close combat techniques, information gathering, negotiating, how to pilot a WarMech, and were taught extensively about the law. Some citizens had come to view the inquisitors as tyrants dispensing their own form of law and order throughout the Republic’s worlds, but that wasn’t how Varius saw it. If someone didn’t maintain order then chaos would reign supreme. Yes, because of his oath to the Republic, his word was now law. Many criminals and dissidents had died because of his judgements against them. Yet, he didn’t wield this power loosely. The law was the law and he sought justice.

  He took another bite out of his protein bar and peered out the window. Several wheeled vehicles passed one another on the dusty street below his window as they went about their business.

  Varius turned and went over to the bed. He looked over the sheets and didn’t see any issues. As he inspected the pillow he discovered a nasty yellow stain on its underside.

  With pursed lips he dropped the pillow and rubbed his hand on his pant leg. Instead he settled on resting in the cushioned chair located in the corner. As he lowered himself down into the chair he was pleasantly surprised to notice that it was incredibly comfortable.

  “Hmm” he said aloud to no one. Leaning back in the chair he rested his head on the cushioned neck support. Within moments, and despite the strange aroma emanating from the chair, he drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 2

  Cycle: 412 Month: 7 Rotation: 1

  Prefecture: Quarry

  Planet: Assembly

  Location: At the Inn

  “Daddy!” a tiny voice called out in the darkness.

  Varius opened his eyes to find himself in bed of a much larger bedroom. The walls were a clean white and the whole room felt like something strangely familiar.

  Suddenly the door burst open and a small pigtailed girl ran into the room. She hopped up on the bed and did her best to crawl over to Varius.

  The small girl propped herself up on her knees and smiled. “Daddy! Daddy! Look what I made for you”.

  Varius reached out and took the handmade multi-colored bracelet. A small purple heart shaped charm hung off it in the center. “Thank you honey. You did such a good job.” Varius said admiring his gift.

  The smile on his daughter’s face seemed to literally light the room up even more. “I know you have to leave for work again, and I wanted you to remember me.”

  Taken aback by the heartfelt comment, Varius said, “Baby, I could never forget you. I love you too much.”

  Just then, a dark shaped figure stood in the doorway. Varius saw the threat but couldn’t move his body. The man’s face was shrouded, unable to be seen.

  “Keyla, run!” Varius shouted out in anger. But she didn’t, instead she pointed at the bracelet.

  “Do you like the pretty colors Daddy? Mommy helped me pick them out.”

  “Keyla! Run, go now!” The man casually walked into the room and raised a gun.

  Trying with all his might Varius fought to move his body, but it simply would not respond.

  “Raaaaah!” the Inquisitor screamed out in rage as the man fired his weapon.

  Everything suddenly went dark.

  An unrecognizable voice spoke out of the blackness. “Damien, wake up!”

  Varius awakened to find himself back in the dingy bedroom at the inn, but it was now nighttime. Standing before him were two hooded figures, the front one holding a knife. The two attackers froze in place by the Inquisitor waking up at such an inopportune time, unsure of whether they should run or press the attack.

  With his training taking over his body, Varius instinctively kicked out with his right boot into the front attacker’s shin causing a nasty crunching sound. The man cried out in pain and fell to the ground. As Varius stood up the other attacker tried to hit him with some kind of blunt object. Instead, the Inquisitor used his right elbow to catch the attacker’s arm at the forearm preventing the strike. Tightening his left hand into a fist, Varius’ glove hardened at the knuckles. Lashing out with his own attack, the Inquisitor punched with his left arm four times into the attacker’s ribcage.

  Backing into the wall behind him, the second attacker held his side from the pain. After regaining his courage, the first attacker grabbed the knife and stood back up.

  Taking a step back, Varius spotted the knife in the right hand of the first man and readied himself for the coming strike. The first man tried to ignore the pain in his leg as he lashed out with the bladed weapon. Varius twisted to the right and caught the attacker’s arm with his own, locking it tight. He chopped the attacker in the throat with his right hand.

  The man dropped the knife again and limped backwards slightly, both hands on his throat as his lungs fought for air. Varius stepped forward, flicked his wrist activating a hidden blade under his right forearm to pop out. It locked in place just as the Inquisitor struck the other man’s chest, stabbing him five times. The hooded attacker fell to the ground gurgling on his own blood.

  Watching his partner get quickly dispatched by the Inquisitor, the second man decided to run out the door and down the stairs. Varius switched the blade back into hiding and pursued the fleeing attacker.

  As he stormed down the stairs Varius heard Mrs. Gorj call out from behind the bar, “Hey, is everything okay up there?” Getting to the bottom of the stairs Varius saw the front door wide open and the attacker running down the driveway. He ran full speed forward and followed the other man down the street.

  The attacker looked behind him and found renewed energy to run faster at the sight of the pursuing Inquisitor. He continued down the road for another block before turning down an alley. Varius came to the edge of the alley and drew his pistol. He cautiously peeked around the corner.

  The building’s siding exploded in front of Varius’ face as the fleeing man shot a pistol several times at his pursuer. Varius replied in kind as he fired his own pistol. The bullets narrowly missing his tar
get. Deciding he had enough, the hooded man ran behind a building to his left. Varius carefully moved down the alley, ready to respond with his weapon. As he rounded the corner of the building Varius watched a red hovercar drive up at the end of the alley ahead of the fleeing man. Varius sprinted after the vehicle but the attacker hopped in and shut the door. It sped off sending trash and dirt into the air behind it.

  “Raaaawh!” In his anger Varius kicked a trashcan over spilling out old rotting garbage. With no trace to follow of his attacker, Varius made his way back to the inn.

  The Sheriff’s wheeled cruiser sat out front of the old inn, red and green lights flashing. A small group had gathered out front, some gossiped while others simply looked on curious what happened. Varius shook his head as he ducked beneath the bright yellow warning strip that surrounded the front porch of the inn.

  Sheriff Tome spotted the approaching man from inside through a window and made his way to the door to intercept him.

  Varius didn’t get three feet in the door before the Sheriff started yelling. “Can you tell me just what in the void happened here?”

  The Inquisitor glared harshly at the Sheriff. “I was attacked in my room by two hooded men and pursued the one on foot.”

  Mrs. Gorj was behind the front counter holding a tissue, her makeup around her eyes smeared from her crying.

  “This here is a quiet town Inquisitor. We haven’t had a murder in these streets in over thirty cycles!” exclaimed the Sheriff as he angrily put his hands on his hips as if scolding a small child.

  The Inquisitor looked at the older man with a deep stare that weakened the Sheriff’s face some. “Do you doubt my word Sheriff?” Varius inquired.

  “Look, I know you inquisitor types are all about law and order. But all I know is that I saw the one guy you took care of upstairs. He looks like a frickin’ piece of meat with how many times you stabbed him” the Sheriff pointed angrily up towards the stairs.

  “Tell me Sheriff, what is really going on around here?”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Tome asked as he crossed his arms in defiance.

  “Inquisitor Kopen was here seven rotations ago and has now gone missing. Within hours of being in my room I was attacked by two men. As I pursued the second, a getaway hovercar drove up and helped him flee the scene.” Varius looked deeply into the other man’s eyes and got uncomfortably close to his face. “That means at least three individuals were involved. You tell me this is a quiet peaceful town, but it sure seems like there is a criminal group operating right under your nose!”

  Tome looked away and ground his teeth. “You big government guys sure think you know what it’s like out ‘ere in the wasteland don’t ya?”

  Varius’ left eyebrow raised. “I don’t have time for your socio-economic problems Sheriff. Have you ID’ed the suspect upstairs?”

  “He is going to the town morgue right now and we will figure things out.”

  “Call me when you hear something then.” Varius reached into his pocket, pulled out his card and flicked it at the Sheriff as he walked away. The card floated to the ground as Tome’s face turned deep red.

  Chapter 3

  Cycle: 412 Month: 7 Rotation: 2

  Prefecture: Quarry

  Planet: Assembly

  Location: At the Inn

  The last few hours of darkness passed without any more disturbances. As the local star rose into the sky, the angle of light began to illuminate the small bedroom. Varius slowly raised himself up from the bed. The flashing lights from Sheriff Tome’s cruiser disappeared about an hour ago. A cloth covered the pool of blood where the dead man had laid.

  Mrs. Gorj had offered to give the Inquisitor a different room, but he declined the offer. He had been attacked and had no strong lead of who might be responsible. Maybe if he waited long enough someone would try again, and this time he could get some answers. If nothing else, this particular room was probably safe since the attackers had to come into the room to get him. If it had been rigged with explosives they would have already used them.

  He reached over to the small nightstand and picked up a bottle of water he had brought along with him and took a swig. While he figured nothing would happen again with so many witnesses out front, he didn’t want to take a chance and had stayed awake straight through the night.

  Placing his arms behind his head, he walked over to the window by the small table and opened the old blinds. The sun streaks that came through the blinds revealed thousands of dust particles that danced gracefully in the air. His eyes squinted slightly at the light coming through the dirty glass.

  From his vantage point the Inquisitor watched for a moment as the townspeople went about their daily business.

  Must be nice…

  Varius yawned widely and ran his fingers through his short hair. He stretched once more then unzipped his duffle bag and rummaged around. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed his boots were dirty from last night’s pursuit. He leaned down to wipe a smudge of dried mud off his show just as the glass where his head had been exploded inward. Reacting instinctively, Varius dove to the ground and rolled away from the window. Several more shots burst through the wall. The Inquisitor crawled over behind the bed knowing that the attacker wouldn’t be able to see him there, unless they had better gear.

  The Inquisitor could hear screams coming from outside as the townspeople panicked and frantically ran for cover.

  Ever so carefully Varius poked his head up to attempt to see the shooter. Across the road a large red building had a perfect vantage point to his window. He spotted an open window but couldn’t really see inside. It certainly had good conditions for a sniper to attack from. He lowered his head just in time as puffs of material from the bed shot into the air.

  His face turned bright red and he grit his teeth. Varius drew his pistol and fired five shots at the window across the street. It was difficult to see, but it seemed as if a shape of a man threw their hands into the air as if they had been hit by the return shots. Varius ducked back just in case waiting for a response from his attacker. His heart beat loudly in his ears as he forced himself to calm down.

  After a few moments of silence, the Inquisitor decided to crawl over to the door. He reached up, twisted the handle and threw the door open. Varius rolled out into the hall, sprang up and made for the stairs. He could hear several people down in the foyer shouting to one another trying to figure things out.

  “Did he get him?” Mrs. Gorj screamed. Her eyes became very wide for just a split second when she saw the Inquisitor with gun drawn coming down the stairs. Something about her face seemed odd to Varius.

  Acting suspicious. I’ll be talking to you when I come back for my bag.

  He opened the door and tried to poke his head out to see if the shooter had a line of fire to the door. Nope.

  Several people that had been on the street before the attack were hiding behind vehicles or building walls, some ran here and there seeking better shelter. Varius sprinted from the front porch of the inn and made a beeline across the street to the outer wall of the red building. He half expected the attacker to shoot at him crossing the dirt road, but perhaps he did hit him earlier.

  For some reason he took notice of big red letters that said, “Repent!” that had been spray painted onto the exterior of the wall.

  A young woman in a plaid green dress that had pressed herself up against the same wall screamed when the Inquisitor approached her.

  “I’m not going to hurt you” he said, but her eyes didn’t believe him.

  Varius slowly looked around the corner at the window.

  Nothing.

  He carefully watched the window as he moved for the front door of the building, his gun held ready just in case. Using his left hand, he opened the door and checked the corners as he entered. An old bearded man was hiding behind a chair in the corner of the room.

  “Are you the only one in the room?” Varius asked half pointing his weapon at the cowering man.
/>   “Y…yes” he replied shaking in fear.

  “Where are the stairs to the second floor?”

  The old man pointed to his left. “Down the hall and around the corner.”

  Being an inquisitor meant that you found yourself in all sorts of dangerous situations. Typically, on your own. Sure, the higher ups may assign you an inquisitor in training or may send you some Republic Troopers, but those brutes didn’t have a whole lot of finesse in instances like this. Varius knew that in this town he was being targeted. He had authority to kill anyone he deemed a threat, and some inquisitors would simply start shooting up a town like this just to get out alive. But being so blatantly aggressive would only add to the number of attackers he would be up against.

  Hoping that his judgement of hitting the sniper wasn’t wrong, Varius moved further into the building and began walking down the hall. The air was musty, and the paint of the hall was peeling in some spots. Alachua was clearly a town suffering from Assembly’s unusually long drought. Right now though, his concern had to be focused on dealing with this attacker and getting his bag back. Then he was going to go to the Sheriff’s office and have a long chat about the lack of security in this hell hole.

  Coming to the end of the hall Varius saw a doorway opened that revealed a stairwell. Keeping his weapon up, he ever so carefully began to walk up the creaky stairs. His heavy boots made a muffled thump with each step.

  As he reached the door to enter the second floor he tried to quietly open the hinged door with this left hand. The door swung open to a long hallway with even more doors on either side. Some of the rooms were closed and others were opened. He didn’t say anything, but his heart sank slightly at seeing so many potential places to be attacked from as he would have to clear each room on his own.

  Starting to wish I had some troopers with me…

  He took a breath and moved to check the first room on his left with the door opened halfway. Just before Varius kicked it in and cleared it he could hear coughing and gurgling coming from further down the hall.