[Game Thread] Chapter 2 [Empire]: On the Hunt

[grenadierman]

Corporal Molta scoffed, "The last barabel I met almost shanked me in the kidneys. Don't let your guard down around them." If a barabel was running a seedy bar, then there would be little reason to restrain himself. "I'll bring him in for questioning. Tell the local patrols to expect... disturbances and noise complaints in that area."

He wasn't sure what gameplan Hack was formulating in that co-processor of his, so he asked him a question.

"I'm glad you're as eager as I am, Hack. Let me ask you this: Are you a scalpel, or a hammer? If we are going to get this done, we'll need to work as a team." He didn't know what goes through an assassin's mind, but he imagined it must be vaguely similar to a soldier's: Get things done with the least effort possible. The amount of collateral varies from assassin to assassin, but for a soldier it is almost expected.

On their way to the speeder Molta checked his weapon loadout and ammo. As he pumped his scattergun and checked the chamber, Molta asks his assassin companion, "You have a weapon of choice?"

[stitchlipped]

Hands splayed on the table in front of him, Vullze keeps his eyes intently on the young woman's face as she rattles off her story. It proves to be inconsequential. This Anazider seems to have been smart enough not to give anything away to his mark. But there was once a time when she was more than a mere mark. Maybe, if he's lucky enough, something Belos remembers from back then might either offer an immediate clue or turn out to be useful later.

"Miss Belos," the inquisitor speaks up again after she's finished, "you previously stated that you don't know anything useful, but you're wrong. You once knew Anazider well enough that you intended to marry him. There are things you must know about him that, while seemingly trivial, may turn out to be extremely helpful in finding him. For instance, what do you remember about his interests, indulgences, or habits? Particularly any that are costly or rare."

[Craigthulu]

From what IIc could discover Miss Belos was a woman of remarkably bad judgement and little awareness of pattern recognition. This Anazider sounded like a con man as Miss Belos revealed more about her former lover. Most likely Anazider used his romantic attachment to net good terms for his fathers shipping company. When the deals were completed Anazider probably pursued more financially lucrative deals.

Years after the end of the engagement Anazider used Miss Belos for her access to the prisoner holding area. IIc could have asked if the guests had gone through proper security screening, statistically speaking the odds of that seemed significantly low. More than likely the old romantic connection was used to exploit Miss Belos' feelings. The fool even failed to take proper pictures of these intruders. It wasn't important IIc had pictures of them all ready.

Based on this simple interrogation IIc had come to two conclusions. Miss Belos did not know anything of import. She was too unreliable to have planted the bombs or actively worked for the treasonous plan. This low level civil servant was of sufficiently low intelligence to be a threat to the empire. As source of information she was lacking. As a hostage Miss Belos was less than ideal. It was clear that she placed more emphasis on her romantic relationship with Anazider than the old space pilot placed on her.

Miss Belos was too weak willed be left in her current position. Her cooperation aside she had all ready allowed access of a terrorist to upper and lower levels of an Imperial compound without proper authorization. Her only possible useful function was as bait. IIc would have to inform as many information broakers as possible to ensure that news of her public execution reached Anazider.

IIc had no doubts that Anazider would sell out his Jedi cargo with a little coaxing.