Participants: Xiq'Vuular, Xul'Quaras.
Location: Detention Center, Idar Prime
The Detention Center is quiet, for the most part. Several member of the Idaran Secret Intelligence Service are standing around talking about various prisoners they have in holding. Inside one of those cells lays a member of the Mercantile Authority, beaten, bloodied, tired. It seems that the Intelligence officers have let the man rest.... for now.
The beaten man, Xiq'Vuular, lays on the ground with his eyes barely open. He has resisted what he intelligence service has thrown at him, so far. He just lays there, waiting.
A not-so-imposing figure walks into the Detention Center with purpose, the only thing discernable about it being that it's a female. She looks around, and then moves toward the group of Intel officers. When she arrives next to the group, she taps one on the shoulder and brings him aside. Someone who listens hard enough could hear her giving a slightly hushed report about a raid on an Authority base, and she can be seen giving the officer a small, black folder labeled 'CLASSIFIED, certified personel only'.
One of the Intelligence Officer moves up behind the woman. He clears his throat, "We've interegated this one for twenty seven hours straight. He is resilient, I give him that. He learned to resist this sort of punishment somewhere. His retinal scan doesn't appear on file and his identification was fake. We don't know who he is, but know he is from the Mercantile Authority." He black scaled intelligence officer reports.
The woman turns around after she finishes giving her report, asking in a similarly indiscernable voice due to the distortions of the helmet, "Oh, really? Interesting." She looks over to the cell, asking the officer, "Would you like me to try? I've not interrogated anyone yet, and I can be persuasive."
The Intelligence officer smiles, walking over the the prisoners cell. "You are welcome to try." He nods to the woman, opening the cell. "We will be nearby should you require assistance."
The woman walks into the cell, looking at the Idaran. The visor is barely see-through from the other end, so it would be rather hard to tell what she's thinking. Walking up to the man, the smallish woman asks in her distorted voice, "Are you awake?"
The prisoner nods, faintly. "Yes" He says, barely getting the word out of his mouth. "Are you here to finish the job?"
The woman laughs a bit at that, saying slightly amusedly, "We're not going to kill you, Xiq. At least not yet. That's my understanding of the situation. I know you're part of the Authority, and I'm guessing you know what they're planning. It's well known across the galaxy that they're building a fleet. Why?"
The man coughs, a little bit of blood dripping down from his mouth. "I'm just... just a freight captain." Vuular replies. "I run cargo. Water. Grain. Ore. I just want to make a living." He man says, struggling to say it. "There are those in the Authority who might want to harm others, but us merchants.. have no knowledge of this."
The woman hmms and then says, "You know, I don't think I believe that. I don't think that my fellow Guard members would go through all this trouble to interrogate you if that were the case." She walks up to him, and then says with a bit of anger in her voice, "Your people killed innocent civilians, you know. You would be helping the Idarans as a race if you helped me bring these people to justice."
Vuular shakes his head. "No... it wasn't us. It was.. the Guard. It wasn't our ship that bombed the gathering. A gathering, I remind you, that Mercantile members died at as well. I was captured in the confusion... I was there, watching the preparations for the celebrations. That is all."
The woman says with a little more venom in her voice, "You really expect me to believe that? The Authority is more daft than I thought. I already know you're not who you say you are, Xiq'Vuular, so drop the act and tell me what we need to know."
Vuular chuckles. "Well you know who I am. That is a start. Despite what they may say, a freight captain still needs to be protected, especially from the Guard and it's ways. They would like to see nothing more then my ship taken, and cargo seized. I am of no value to you. I don't know the location of anyone. I just trade."
The woman sighs and says, "I don't think a simple trader would be conducting a business deal that included bringing in revenue for the whole forseeable future. That's a little bit of a high-tier job for a freight captain. This would go a lot more smoothly if you would tell me the truth."
"You don't believe a business man would make a deal that would benefit him for the long term? Clearly, you have been dropped on your head one too many times." Vuular replies. "No business-saavy Mercantile member would turn down any type of deal that could make them wealthy."
The woman shakes her head again, saying, "Not for the Authority as a whole, no. Perhaps if you hadn't given away more clues, like your connection with high ranking members of the Quorum, or being apparently good friends with a Kirvir noble, it would be much less obvious that you were lying."
"That was the first time I met that Kirvir.. As for my connections, that is what happens when you are a member of the ruling clan." Vuular replies. "Nothing the likes of your clan would know."
The armored woman shakes her head and sighs, once again, "Your resistance is useless. We will aquire the information we need from you, no matter how hard you try to conceal it. You can't 'pull a few strings' just by being born into a clan. You're not a simple freight captain. What are you, and what is the Authority planning?"
The armored woman shakes her head and sighs, once again, "Your resistance is useless. We will aquire the information we need from you, no matter how hard you try to conceal it. You can't 'pull a few strings' just by being born into a clan. You're not a simple freight captain. What are you, and what is the Authority planning?"
"Prove it. You can't. End of story." Vuular replies.
The woman shakes her head, "Your story is faulty, I already know you're lying. The fact that you're holding out on me tells me that the Authority is planning something that would hurt the Quorum. Do you really want our whole society to become unstable, our people to be unsafe and uncertain? Do you have any loyalty to your own race?"
Vuular chuckles again. "I have no loyalty to a government that will blindly execute unarmed civilians. I saw those shock troops come out of the Hall of Governors. I saw them open fire on groups of civilians just trying to flee the chaos. It is you, who have no loyalty to your race. You, following orders that are not moral. Give that some thought."
The woman says with a little laugh, "Your lies don't work on me, Xiq. Why should I believe you, when you're not even honest about your own name. Why should I think you've any loyalty to your people, when your fleet attacks the Guard in their own home with no regard to how many civilians die in the process?"
"Look at the recording of what happened, you will see the truth." Vuular replies. "You blindly follow orders. You do not see what is happeneing. The Mercantile Authority only wants to protect its assets, and life."
The woman laughs a little more at that, "I HAVE seen the recording. One of your fighters attacks a square full of people. I don't see what you're trying to prove, here. You know, at first I thought you were a nice guy, but I can see you're a traitor now. You admit to being there when all those people died, and yet you're still here. Why?"
"It only had the markings of the Mercantile Authority. It wasn't us. This I swear to you. We had expected a ship to bring in supplies for the celebration. Not to bomb. Our people died too, not just yours. And how do you justify the murder of unarmed civilians by YOUR shock troops?" Vuular replies, snarling at the woman.
The woman sighs at that, saying, "Your lies aren't even good. I watched the recording, and the shock troops only hurt those who resisted arrest. Your people are the ones who shot a transport out of the sky and killed countless civilians." She kneels down so that she's at eye level with him, and if he's looking at her closely, he can see through her visor that she has familiar eyes, eyes of a pinkish hue that are at once vibrant and calm.
"If you call running for cover resisting, then yes. But the truth can be split easily." Vuular replies, coughing again. "Take a closer look. Look at other similar events. There are patterns. The Quorum has lost its way. Violence is all it knows, even if it means harming its own."
The woman shakes her head at that, turning around and asking for two chairs before turning back and saying a little more sympathetically than before, "I had friends that died that day, you know. I had friends among those shock troops, too. It's not the Quorum whose corrupt. I'll agree that there are questionable officers in the Imperial Guard and the Navy alike, but none of us would resort to terrorism. I don't blindly follow orders, and I don't hurt anyone that doesn't need to be hurt. But it's not hard to see that your people are among those who need hurting."
"Believe what you want. But I have told you all I know. I have nothing further to say." Vuular says, knowing he will not get anywhere, and more torture is ahead regarless of what is said.
The woman sighs and takes her helmet off, revealing her face. Xul'Quaras says, pleadingly, "Look, I don't want you to get hurt, can't you just tell me? I'll even suggest your release if you help."
The black scaled intelligence officer enters the cell behind Xul. "Enough." He says. "We will take this from here." He nods to another officer carring a case. "He will understand pain, until he complies. Leave us." The officer orders.
Xul'Quaras turns to the Intelligence Officer, raising a brow, "That isn't going to work, you know. Look at him. He already knows the sort of pain you're going to give him, and he can steel himself to it. Or you could kill him. I have a feeling that he knows something, do you really want to let such an opportunity slip through your fingers? Besides which, I'm not entirely certain you outrank me." She stands up and puts her helmet back on, her voice distorted once again, "But if you insist. You should switch up your tactics." With that, she walks out of the cell brusqely, heading for the exit.