Chapter 25
Renos awoke groggily, his hands were bound to a metal chair he sat on. He was sitting in a plain white room.
He sighed loudly and spoke to the empty room.
"Aright, let's just get this over with. What do you want from me and do I get to live if I tell you?"
There was no response, no one in the room, just him and the chair.
"Hm, OK then."
Renos began to work on his hand and finish disabling any receivers while whistling a song to himself. A man walked in wearing a plain black surgical uniform with a data pad.
Renos finished his modification and stared at the man,
"You look familiar, have we met?"
The man looked at him and back at the data pad.
"Are you allowed to talk to me? Or are you the torturer? No, the Overseer would want to do that himself. So what does that make you?"
Renos gave an experimental tug at his bonds, but they were too tight. The man finally spoke,
"Physical check-up. After all, you have just undergone surgery."
"Wait, what? Surgery? Please explain."
"You were seriously wounded, the Overseer asked for your surgery. He sure does care about you, any idea why?"
"I honestly have no idea. I was expecting him to torture me, he seems to think I'm some kind of traitor. What kind of wounds are we talking here?"
"Well, the electrical shock damaged your nerves and made your hand explode, which sent shards of metal into your arm. But your hand has been repaired and the shards removed from your arm. After that was the reconstructive surgery, at the Overseer's orders."
"So you removed the shards and repaired my hand? Thanks, but why am I still restrained then?"
"Precautions, after all, you did just attempt to murder him."
"Well yeah. Maybe just a little bit. So what happens now?"
"Your check-up."
The doctor undid his bonds and performed a series of tests. Once he confirmed no lasting damage had been done to Renos, he left and the Overseer entered.
"Hi boss. How're you doing?" asked Renos congenially
The Overseer did not respond with words, but sucker punched him in the gut without a word. He sighed,
"Sorry, just needed to let that out."
Renos bent over and coughed, slightly winded,
"No, it's fine. I deserved that. At least it wasn't a knife."
"So, sit wile I explain everything to you."
Renos sits down while the Overseer pushes a concealed button, making a holoprojector rise out of the floor. He begins to speak as though Renos was insignificant,
"I know, and knew, everything. At every point, every moment."
Renos scoffed,
"What, are you some kind of god? And if so, what do you want with a humble mortal such as myself?"
The Overseer laughed, then stopped as quickly as he started,
"You could say that."
The lights dimmed as the projector lit up. Renos leant back in his chair,
"So let me guess: you're going to have me watch as the Empire carries out a devastating operation against the Republic to break my morale, thus forcing me to spill my guts before you kill me. That sound about right?"
The Overseer smiled,
"No no no, not at all. I'm going to tell you, and show you, a story."
"Then go ahead."
Two soldiers entered the room and stood by the door. The holoprojector showed an image of Renos and his contact at the Jedi Temple.
"Renos Turro, Jedi Sentinel and Investigator, often used for tasks such as the one he took place in several hours ago."
"Oh boy, it's like an interview. Can I retcon any of this before we publish?" said Renos drily
"Oh shut up." The image changed to a close up of the contact,
"Renos, and his trustworthy wisecracking ally, or contact."
"Let me guess, one of yours?"
"Aww, how did you know? Would you like to see who it is?"
"Sure. I figured it out the moment my hand turned on me. He never gave a name, dissuaded me from interrogating Watcher Nine further, kept his hood up at all times and I'm thinking this was your idea from the very start. The Republic wouldn't have this kind of dermal covering and tech available on the open market, and finally, the location was decidedly un-Republic like. So by all means, show me whomever it was who so artfully tricked me."
"Oh, I'm surprised you have not figured it out yet. Well, I am that good after all."
It changed to a picture of the Overseer wearing the contact's cloak
"Surprised, no?"
"No. You were my second guess. I initially suspected you weren't the type to get involved with this sort of grunt work. As I said the first time we met, just because I'm from the Republic, doesn't mean I'm a complete idiot, just a partial one. Like, 35% idiot maybe, if this is anything to go by."
"I am not like other officers. I don't mind getting my hands dirty when needed."
"Revealing yourself to me doesn't really accomplish anything does it? You Imperials, you love to gloat. At least the sith have the power to back up their bravado. You're just a man, a cold-hearted, genocidal man."
Renos paused,
"I'm sorry, that was rude of me. If I may, I have two questions. One, what happened to RoXY? And two, why? Why got to all this trouble to bring me here under this ploy when you could have easily sent someone like Rek Mass to finish the job? I'm useless as a prisoner, and the little information I have you probably already know."
"I have power to back my claims and bravado, in all forms. Anyhow, it will all make sense in the end."
Then let's keep the story moving shall we? I'll sit here quietly until you're finished."
Renos settled in for the Overseer's monologue. The next image showed the detention facility,
"It was a shame that Watcher Nine had to go, but all loose ends need to be executed- I don't think that's how that phrase goes."
Renos grunted in agreement. The next image showed the Citadel,
"Upon your arrival at the Citadel, you were scanned. In a nutshell, I had a Fixer hack into the scanner to make it come back as positive."
Next, his office,
"Here, I had to make sure you were the one, the one actually intelligent enough and skilled enough for my 'master plan,' we'll get to that in a moment."
The ship,
"Here you met RoXY, the AI I created. But because I'm so nice, I implemented an unwavering loyalty protocol; she responds only to you. Think of her as a gift. She's the only one of her kind."
The resort,
"Not much to say but… thanks."
The dead drop on Lah'mu,
"I am actually impressed that RoXY was able to retrieve that information. After all, I am her creator. Anyhow, your agent was intercepted and the information destroyed."
The contact's communication,
"To be honest, I ordered you to murder me to throw you off… as well as for my own sick humour."
The attempted assassination,
"I really have nothing to explain about this but… nice try."
The holoprojector shut off and receded into the floor.
"Any questions?"