Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Session 2: We have Ways of Making You Talk

First, a pair of stormtroopers came for the Duro. They paraded him along a corridor, through a turbolift, another corridor. Finally, he arrived in front of an Imperial officer. Probably the warden, he thought.

"Ah, Baniss Nootka. You can save yourself a lot of pain by telling us what we need to know now."

"What do you need me to tell you?"

"You know."

"No, I don't. What did I do?"

"You know what you did! Strap him in! I'll be inside shortly."

The guards dragged Baniss into what appeared to be an amphitheater. A single, ominous-looking chair stood on the middle of the black stage. Arm, leg, and head restraints jutted out. Bright lights pointed at the chair obscured Baniss' vision of the audience and reflected off the stage floor. The guards strapped him in, enlarging the metallic head restraint to accommodate his large cranium. After several minutes of waiting, in stepped the warden holding what looked like a stun baton.

"Care to tell me who your accomplices are?"

"Accomplices in what?"

"You know what I mean!"

"No, I don't. What did I do?"

The warden touched a button on the baton and it began to crackle with electricity. The warden pressed it to Baniss' chest and pain shot through his entire body. "Tell me who they are?"

"I don't know what I did." The baton struck him across the face and Baniss felt a shock there as well. "Tell me what you want me to tell you!" A jab to the chest this time. I've got to think of something. Maybe they're interested in the datapad programs I collaborated on over the HoloNet. "I'll talk! Their names are lovemonkey28, piloting_ace32, captainduro..." Whap! The hardest blow yet stung his face.

"I want real names, not user names!!!"

"I don't know their real names!" Another jab. I've got to do something! "Give me any name you want! I'll implicate them in a crime! Any crime! I'll... Oh, that's right. You don't need me to do that. You can handle that on your own."

The warden raised a needle. "This is good at making beings tell the truth, but if you're insistent on just giving us anything..." There was a snap-hiss as a door behind Baniss opened. A humming sound began to resonate. "...this is all we will need." The sound came closer.

A needle jabbed into the back of the Duros head; he screamed in pain, then lapsed into unconsciousness.



Next, the guards grabbed the Gungan and dragged him to a similar amphitheater. The warden arrived at right behind the guards this time. After strapping him in, a guard nodded to the warden. He began to pace in front of the chair.

"Yossa Fel. Tell me what you know about your Duros friend."

"He ain't no friend of mine. Meesa just met him at dinner."

"And what do you know about your... prospective employer?"

Yossa shrugged. "He was picking up the tab. I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu."

"I noticed. It was in the report."

"I figured I would get hauled in, so I thought I'd finish the stew."

"You've been hauled in before?"

"No, but I know how you Imperials operate!"

"And how is that?" the warden asked smugly.

"If you need me to tell you, you're in the wrong business."

The smug smile vanished and the guards fastened the head restraint. The baton began to crackle.

"Is this the part where you ask me a question and I say 'F*** you!'?"

Whap! "You will tell me what I need to know."

"And you really believe that?"

Zap! The baton jabbed Yossa in the chest. "The Duros! What do you know about the Duros?"

"I know he's not smart enough to order well when someone else is payin'."

Whap! "What about the Rodian?"

"I don't know what her problem is."

Whap! "Your employer! Where will you contact him?"

"He never showed at the cantina."

Zap!

"I can keep going all day," Yossa smiled.

Whap! "So can I. So. Can. I." Zap!



Next, they took Ith. Upon entering the interrogation room, the guards removed her mask. The warden was already waiting, wearing his own mask in order to supply him with oxygen. There was no baton in sight. The guards led her to the chair where they did not strap her in. The stormtroopers stood on either side of her. They must also have their own masks, Ith Sang deduced. Otherwise they couldn't survive in this. She took a deep breath, obviously glad to be out of that mask.

"So, you fancy yourself a detective."

"Yes, I am a licensed private investigator."

"Tell me what you know of those you were with."

Ith relayed everything she knew, conveniently leaving out any details about Shiv and the meeting point. After this, her belongings where returned, minus her blaster, and she was free to leave.

They came for the Rodian, but barely bothered to ask her anything. She had killed one of their compatriots. Vengance, not information, was their goal.

They didn't bother coming for the human. They simply fined him 2000 credits and confiscated his weaponry.

Ith Sang returned to her apartment to discover she had a message from Shiv. "I need you to clear the name of our Duros friend," he said. "Start with the luxury liner Glitterspur, his previous employer."

With that, Ith left to begin her investigation.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Session 1, part 2: Jailhouse Talk

The troopers roughly shoved their prisoners in to their cell; all except the droid were present. Three of them took seats, but the unconscious Duros and Rodian lay on the floor.

Yossa, the Gungan, spoke first. "Why did I go to the cantina? I knew that Duros looked like bad news when meesa get there. Meesa shoulda walked right out the door!" He paused. "At least the stew was good."

"I gathered that," the strange alien said.

"Well good for you! What are you, some kind of detective?" Yossa spat back.

"Yes."

"Oh," a deflated Yossa replied. He turned to the human. "And you! What yousa problem? That not a human place!"

The human slurred his reply, "I wanted some stew. They make good stew."

"Oh. But then why shoot the stormtroopers?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"'Seemed like a good idea at the time,'" Yossa sneered. "Great. That's great meesa stuck in cell with a crazy human." He glared at the Rodian. "What's her problem anyway? You'd think she'd never seen a pair of binders before!"

"Oh? And you've been arrested before?" the other creature asked suspiciously.

"No, but I know how they operate," he said, switching back to a standard pronoun. "I notice you didn't resist either."

"I hadn't done anything wrong. It's just easier that way."

"And you!" Yossa bellowed at the Duros. "What's your problem?"

Baniss continued to feign sleep.

"Still sleepin' it off?" He turned to the detective. "I want to know what he did! It's his fault we're in this mess!"

"I don't know."

"I don't know either." Baniss decided it was time to speak.

"Look at that! He is awake." Yossa crossed his arms with contempt.

The odd alien went right into detective mode. "Anything unusual happen recently?"

"I got fired today."

"What did you do?"

"I was a navigator on a luxury liner. They fired me to replace me with some human."

"Ain't that always the case?" Yossa shot daggers at the human with his eyes.

"Yeah." The detective sighed.

"I didn't catch your names. I am Baniss Nootka, pilot."

"I'm Yossa."

"And what do you do, Yossa?" Baniss Nootka inquired.

"None of your business, that's what I do!"

"What about you? I've never seen anyone of your race before."

"My name is Ith Sang and I'm a Kel Dor."

"Bishop Naebul." The human chimed in, unsolicited. "I work in... security."

There was a little chatter before they drifted off to sleep, awaiting their interrogation the next day.