Captain Gerald Mansa strode towards the prisoner’s deck at a determined pace, undeterred by the prospect of who, or what, he would be ‘interviewing’. As the Captain of the newly minted Sultan, the first of the cutting-edge Templar class, he had certain duties to carry out, and an infallible image to maintain. Yet no man is infallible, and the Captain was actually quite nervous about the prospect of what he was about to do. The prisoner in question had earned quite the reputation after all, and even though all the necessary precautions had been taken there was still an air of uncertainty that permeated the ship. This only served to make the crew nervous, and a nervous crew is a crew not performing at their best.

Either way, it wasn’t anything the Captain couldn’t handle.

There was a reason he was made Captain of such an important ship at the startlingly young age of thirty, His reputation was simply exceptional, and his track record was almost legendary. Scratch that, it was straight up legendary. Nevertheless, it wasn’t like his reputation was going to help him now. The only things that he could rely on right now were his integrity and wit, so he steeled himself as he made his way to the prisoner’s deck. He walked on for another ten minutes, deep into the bowels of the ship. He lamented it being so far away, yet as he approached, he could almost see the hostility radiating from where the prisoner was held. He was suddenly thankful for all of the security afforded to the prisoner’s deck.

After many twists and turns, he arrived towards the entrance of the deck. Only he and a few others on board were permitted to know, as they were the only ones mentally strong enough to guarantee that they couldn’t be psychologically influenced. To ensure that the location was kept secure, the entrance wasn’t even visible to anyone without clearance. To casual onlookers it simply looked like a smooth, featureless section of the wall, much the same as the rest of the walls on the ship. He placed his hand onto it, allowing the three-factor authentication to take place. His fingerprints, DNA and soul were analysed, and once all three were confirmed to belong to him the door opened.

“Open sesame”, he called out to no one in particular, still chuckling either way. His ‘jokes’ as he liked to call them were the bane of his crews’ existence, much to his amusement. With a deep sigh, he entered the deck.

An existential dread almost washed over him, which was orders of magnitude more severe than the mere hostility he felt before. The air was shimmering with it, much like how it did in deserts, except here there was no illusion of an oasis. There was no mistaking the nature of the creature producing it. Even so, the Captain was mostly unphased, as it wasn’t the first time he’d dealt with such evil. Such was the nature of his job.

The Captain made his way towards the prisoner’s cell, ensuring that every single security parameter was activated and standing by. Should anything bad happen, they would ensure that the prisoner wouldn’t escape, or at least severely weaken it if it did. Its escape would mean bad news for every mortal being in the sector, and the Captain didn’t want to be responsible for anything like that. He activated his own security parameters, ensuring his psychic shield was beyond one hundred percent charged and making sure his soul was truly secure. Any fuel for this creature would mean its certain escape, especially a soul of the Captains calibre.

He stood in front of the prisoner’s cell, slap dash in the middle of a brightly lit corridor surrounded by multiple war droids. Every physical avenue of escape was considered, meaning that the only chance of escape the prisoner had was via the Captain’s mind and soul, meaning he couldn’t show any weakness. Weakness would mean the death of every mortal in the sector. The Captain repeated the security procedures in order to enter the cell and begin the procedure.

He entered the cell and took note of his surroundings, making sure to note and rectify any potential changes. Thankfully, the prisoner was inert. The room itself was ten by ten metre stark white room. It was brightly lit with no seams visible, giving an impression of it being separate from the rest of the universe. Everything in the room was made of neutronium, even the lights. The prisoner’s feet had been sunk into the floor and padlocked with hyperdense neutronium alloy chains, which didn’t even allow a nanometre of stray movement. Its arms were also padlocked with these chains and splayed outwards, giving the impression of someone being crucified. They weren’t even given enough liberty to breathe or blink, as their entire body had been coated in energy draining neutronium. All of this meant that the prisoner was barely alive, nonetheless if the Captain made one mistake, he knew it would be his end.

With a single gesture, he undid the seals on the prisoner’s eyes and mouth, allowing it the liberty of looking at him. Knowing that he couldn’t show a single sign of weakness, he walked up to it and kneeled, making sure to look it directly in the eyes. From here on it would be a battle of wills, and the person with the strongest would come out victorious.

“You are going to answer my questions, demon. If you do, I will allow you the mercy of a quick death.”

“You call that mercy, human? It seems we have different definitions of mercy.”

“Don’t play games with me. You know its merciful, in comparison to what your kind does to the mortal races on a daily basis. Now answer my questions, creature.”

“Or what? You’re acting awful cocky for a mortal, human.”

The Captain sighed and with a swift motion activated one of the hundreds of security parameters surrounding the demon. The energy draining neutronium liquefied and covered the demon’s entire body. Within a second it was activated, and the demon let out shrieks of agony.

“STOP, STOP IT! PLEASE, I’LL ANSWER YOUR BLOODY QUESTIONS! AAAGHH!”

Unfortunately for it, the Captain wasn’t in a merciful mood. He let it go on for another couple of minutes, which seemed like an eternity to the hellion. Only when the shrieks weakened did the Captain allow it any reprise. He allowed the material to remove itself from the demon, revealing that it had become significantly smaller. Its formerly crimson skin had become almost pink, moreover its formerly large, midnight black horns had been reduced to small, grey and brittle nubs. The Captain walked up to it and kneeled again, looking directly into its eyes.

“Are you sure you don’t want to change your mind?”

“….. I’ll answer your questions, mortal”, it spat, its vitriol clear as day. “But only if you answer my questions first.”

“Depends on what you ask me, demon.”

“How the fuck did you do that? Did you take back the souls I had consumed?”

“Unfortunately, we’re not capable of taking back already consumed souls. Not yet, at least. But what we are capable of is denying you the energy you received from them.”

“…how? How did you do this? Through this cursed material you’ve coated my body in? Who gave you mortals such a material? They will PAY FOR THIS”, he roared, or at least attempted to. He was a shadow of his former self, after all, and his voice had suffered as a result.

“Nobody gave this to us, demon. We created it ourselves, in order to deal with creatures like you. The mortal races of the C.S.S have suffered for too long under the tyranny of your kind, so we found ways to deal with you. I know you’re alien to the concept, but its called innovation. Maybe your kind should try it out sometime.”

The Captain walked up to the demon and put his hand on its shoulder, in a mockery of friendliness. “I’ll be nice to you, however. I know that Beelzebub favours you, so you’re bound to know plenty of information about him. Tell me his whereabouts and I will return your energy to you. That’s a promise”, he said sweetly, a fake smile plastered across his face.

The demon was silent for a few minutes, yet the Captain knew what its answer would be. A universal constant for supernatural creatures was their greed, and the Captain knew that the demon wanted nothing more than its energy returned to it, even at the cost of its master. He didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

“He’s currently in a meeting with the other higher demons. The coordinates are 223141-56823. You’ll find a spatial anomaly there, through which you can enter the demon’s realm. Now keep your part of the deal, human. Return my energy to me.”

“No.”

“Wait, what!? YOU BASTARD, I’ll KILL YO—AGHHHH! NO, NO SPARE ME PLEASE, I’LL DO ANYTHING. I’LL GRANT YOUR DESIRES. PLEASE JUST LET ME G- AAAGGGGHhhh….”

The Captain watched the demon whither away, the energy draining neutronium doing an excellent job. He wasn’t in the business of granting mercy, especially to the supernatural. He headed back to the captain’s deck, having already relayed the coordinates to navigation and HQ. He could foresee little rest or relaxation ahead, but that’s what it meant to be a member of the C.S.S navy.

He had work to do.