I own nothing except a few characters and the plot.
STAR WARS REBELS
The New Spectres
The Nasty Weapon Part 2
PHILADELPHIA - 2030
"It's about time that got here. I was beginning to think that either they were holding onto it or the store owner was being uncooperative." Lucy said as Schultz dropped an envelope from the Philadelphia Police on her desk. She opened the envelope and pulled out a letter from Detective Jenkins and a number of pictures. Eric walked in with a cup of coffee as she looked over them.
"I was hoping for the actual footage." He said.
"They probably have a good reason to hold onto it. At least I hope they do." She told him and read the letter.
"I just lost my appetite. I'm glad we're getting these weapons off the market." Eric said as he looked at the photos.
"Don't tell me. Same model as the ones recovered from Ord Mantell."
"Unfortunately."
"I wonder if another operation there is being planned. Maybe that's what this Housner person wanted with Jacen and the Ghost." Lucy said as Ty walked into her office.
"What are we dealing with?" He asked.
"Another flame weapon." Eric replied.
"A couple probably found their way off of Ord Mantell before Admiral Vanto's fleet arrived in system and put the blockade in place. Or there's still a few floating around the Black Market on this planet. Which would make sense since you can't bring something like that through Customs or Spaceport Security without triggering a Cavity Search." Lucy added.
"Admiral Reige's fleet was near Onyx recently. I'll ask him if he caught anything going in or coming out of there that tried to pull an evasive maneuver on him." Ty told them and left running a hand across R9's dome as he did.
"General Marlion." A man with a German accent wearing a black suit and matching fedora said. Ty looked at the man and noticed that he was flanked by a pair of Death Troopers.
"You wouldn't be Major Housner would you?"
"I see you've heard of me already."
"Yeah. Thought General Felth locked you up for a psych eval after your goons threatened to shoot Captain Syndulla and hijack his ship."
"If General Felth wants me, he knows how to reach me." Housner said as Eric appeared behind him.
"Hello, Housner." Eric said.
"Hello, Schuyler. I see you've made yourself at home here."
"Well, people higher up on the chain of command thought I would fit in better here then with you three loonies." Eric told Housner who let out a snarl at Eric's wisecrack.
"From what I hear, he's right about you, Hochster, and Zollet." Ty added.
"I should shoot you two on the spot for mocking an RSB Agent." Housner said angrily.
"How about I have you arrested for threatening a superior officer. Stormtroopers!" Ty told Housner sternly as a pair of Stormtroopers appeared.
"You have no witnesses."
"Actually, I have three witnesses. Major Schuyler and your two men."
"My men won't go against me."
"I'm still a witness." Eric told his former colleague.
"I heard everything." Lucy called from her office followed by a couple of beeps from R9.
"Secure Major Housner in a cell while I notify General Felth of this incident. Eric. make sure he doesn't try to escape and dismiss these Death Troopers." Ty said and headed for his office to fill out the report for Tevin detailing what Housner said and did along with his own thought that Housner had intended to get Lucy to authorize him to use the Ghost even though Jacen Syndulla had stated that only Tevin and Kelly could authorize it.
A couple of hours later, Lucy, Eric, and R9 arrived at a warehouse where Detectives Jenkins and Allen were waiting for them.
"Let me guess, you guys got a tip that brought you here and whatever you found inside was grounds for you to call us." Lucy said.
"Yeah, the Property Manager said that the person renting this warehouse missed the last three payments and wanted the contents inventoried before having it padlocked. Lot Superintendent found these, called us, we came, saw them, and called you guys." Jenkins explained as he led the three over to a group of crates.
"T-7 Ion Disruptors. Not what we were looking for, but still nice to get these nasty things out of circulation. I hear the Lasat are still ticked off about these things being used on them by the Old Empire. Also things that three of my former associates don't need to be getting their hands on either. I'd be happy to drop these into a sun or a black hole. I heard a black hole once destroyed a pair of superweapons that did not need to be in circulation." Eric told everyone.
"Detectives!" A police officer called over to the group which made its way over to where the officer was standing next to a crate.
"What's in there?" Lucy asked as R9 looked over the crate.
"I didn't open it. It just said "Weapons" on it. I don't know how to open these things and I wasn't going to try."
"That's what we have R9 for." Eric told the officer as R9 beeped something and opened the crate.
"What did it say?" Detective Allen asked.
"Contents of crate. Model D-93 Incinerator Flamethrowers with D-93w Flame Projector Guns. Of course, there's two missing. Secure this building and I wanna see every piece of paper that exists on the rental of this warehouse." Lucy said.
"Another box of toys that my former associates don't need to have." Eric added earning looks from the two Detectives.
"Something we're missing about him?" Jenkins asked.
"I was transferred here from Remnant Security when the Banks Case broke. Watch this warehouse belongs to Brad Warren." Eric replied as the Lot Superintendent came over to them.
"Here's the name and address of who this space is rented to along with the lease and the method of last known payment. What do I do with this stuff?" He said and gave a bunch of papers to Lucy.
"The Remnant will be taking custody of the contents of this warehouse. It will be inventoried and removed to a secure location until it is dropped into a black hole or otherwise destroyed. We will notify the tenant in person of the seizure of their merchandise when we arrest them for having and selling this stuff." Eric explained inadvertently allowing his faux-German accent to slip out while Lucy read the papers.
"I'm guessing you once gave someone else that speech." Lucy said to Eric.
"Yeah. When I questioned the owner of a warehouse in Miami-Dade who rented it to a guy who was arrested by the Mexican Federal Police for dealing weapons. Miami-Dade Police found three crates of T-7s and six crates of other weapons all marked "Property of the First Order". The Federalies recovered two more crates of First Order weapons."
Lucy and Eric sat in their car with R9 around the corner from the house where the suspect they were looking for lived after making sure that their suspect wasn't already in jail somewhere. A car pulled up behind them and Darius stepped out with a piece of paper.
"Didn't expect you." Lucy said.
"Mr. B. heard about this and wanted a Jedi along for the raid. Ms. Forbes found the time to apply for a no-knock warrant on the house and Judge Connors signed off on it." Darius explained and gave Lucy the warrant.
"Good. Hop in back. All teams, move in." She said as Darius hopped into the backseat with R9. A group of armored vehicles moved out towards the street where the house was located followed by Lucy's car. A number of Death Troopers and Stormtroopers got off the vehicles as the four got out of Lucy's car to wait for the all clear. A loud bang was heard as a flash grenade went off after the Death Troopers had breached the door and entered the house followed by the Stormtroopers. A man was dragged out in handcuffs by two of the Stormtroopers while a third signaled that the house was secured. Inside, they were led to a room where one of the missing flame weapons from the warehouse was along with a crate of blaster that were also marked as property of the First Order.
"All of this goes back to the office." She said.
"I better tell Dad what we found in here so he can tell Mr. B." Darius added.
"Who's Mr. B.?" Eric asked.
"That's what he's called President Bridger even since I've known him. Let's go have a chat with our weapons dealing friend." Lucy replied. Outside, Darius had told Tevin Felth of what was going on and was telling two Philadelphia Police Officers what was going on as Lucy, Eric, and R9 emerged.
"Where's my hump?" Lucy asked.
"In here." A Stormtrooper replied and led them to a patrol car where their suspect was sitting in the backseat. Eric looked at the suspect who was a male human and then looked in his pockets for the card containing the Miranda Rights, which he found in his jacket.
"In the United States, we're required to read you this. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a Court of Law. You have the right to an attorney. If you are unable to afford one, one will be provided to you at no cost. Having those rights in mind, do you want to talk now?" He asked.
"As long as you guys don't torture me like the last time." The suspect replied.
"Why did they do that?" Lucy asked.
"Said it was standard procedure for them."
"It's not and whoever did that is probably in a tom of trouble with my dad right now. We can talk more at our office." She explained and closed the car door as Darius joined them.
"Did I miss something?" He asked as the car carrying their suspect took off.
"Our suspect was tortured by what I think was the RSB and we have three ideas of who it was. Well two since the third seems to have a policy of summary executions." Eric replied.
"I'm going to guess you didn't join RSB by choice." Darius told him.
"The Force tell you that?"
"The contempt in your voice when you mentioned Major Housner's policy of having people shot for no reason." Lucy told Eric.
"Dad said something about that when I told him. I am surprised that the guy is still breathing after he threatened Jacen like that. Dad had a CIA man killed when Mr. B. first showed up in New York for actually trying to perform a summary execution on someone." Darius said earning a head-slap from Lucy and a confused look from Eric.
"Policy of Michael Myers whenever that guy was mentioned by name or even referenced to. It was Myers who actually gave the order to kill that man and it was a justified shooting. He tried to kill Landon's grandfather because Mr. McKnight wouldn't tell him what he knew about President Bridger which was really next to nothing other then Landon had the same idea that Dad had regarding where President Bridger should live. Then Dad found out that the CIA fired the guy months before because he flunked his last psych eval." Lucy explained.
"Was this guy's name Thompson?" Eric asked.
"How do you know about him?"
"Josh Myers told me about him when I introduced myself to him. He said his dad wasn't a huge fan of Intelligence agents and Remnant Security because of that guy and Captain Hochster."
"Captain?" Darius asked.
"I told you about that last night. He got demoted by the court-martial for when he mouthed off and screamed at Landon. You asked if he was also punished for screaming at Caleb given Hondo's remarks on that."
"You just told me they made a decision about his fate. Not what it was. It's all moot if he ain't getting out of the funny farm anyway." At the office, the suspect was placed in the Interrogation Room with Ty asking the questions as per Tevin's orders. Lucy, Eric, and Darius watched from outside through the one-way window.
"I'm General Marlion, commanding officer here. Did my people read you your rights? I'm sure they did, but I just want to double-check." He said to the suspect and looked over the folder given to him by Schultz.
"They did."
"Did you understand them?"
"Yeah. At least they read them to me unlike the last guy who dragged me into a place like this."
"Those officers are being disciplined. Torture is unacceptable of our people. Now Thomas, do you want to answer questions now or wait until you've had a chance to consult with a lawyer?"
"I think I'm better off talking to a lawyer first." Thomas said. Ty simply got up and left the room.
"Get him booked and ready for arraignment on the weapons charges. I can't see him being our killer. The only thing he finds more powerful then RSB torture is money. Once he's been arraigned and talked with his attorney, he might be wiling to talk about the murder in exchange for a lessor sentence. I want the killer, not a weapons dealer who claims that the RSB tortured him." Ty told Lucy and Eric while Darius looked at Thomas through the window.
"Are you getting some feeling through The Force on him?" Lucy asked Darius.
"Why did he miss the payments on his warehouse space? That doesn't fit into the puzzle." Eric said.
"I think he's scared of someone and it is not an RSB expert in torture." Darius added.
"I'd follow the money trail. We might find something there." Lucy suggested.
The next day, Lucy and Eric went over Thomas' financial records from when the warehouse was first rented.
"Here's the deposit for the space. Paid by check of course, but it looks like the rent itself was paid in cash. There should be a deposit into this account to match the amount of the warehouse security deposit. I can't see that being a cash deposit too." Lucy said.
"Who walks around with that kind of pocket cash?" Eric asked.
"No one with a brain. I made Darius get a cashier's check when he invested in the expansion of Noah Rodgers' soup business. But, I also had my mom look into it first. I was afraid Noah was mixed up in something involving Hondo Ohnaka."
"Here's a deposit for $20,000 into Thomas' account from a personal check. It doesn't say who though. I guess we'd have to ask the bank for the details." Eric told her and passed apiece of paper over to her.
"Banks don't like to share this information even when served with a subpoena for it."
"Another thing we learn in the RSB. Intimidation tactics. But, I'm sure a subpoena will help too." Eric said causing Lucy to chuckle. An hour later, Eric was in the bank lobby wearing one of his suits and his fedora with three squads of Stormtroopers behind him talking to the bank manager.
"I hope you are aware that my company's policy is not release information on client transactions which is what this subpoena amounts to."
"That's nice. There are no bank secrecy laws in the United States and you are obstructing a criminal investigation that involves weapons that previously belonged to the First Order. A known terrorist organization." Eric told the manager in his faux-German accent.
"I beg your pardon."
"These Stormtroopers are going to tear this bank apart brick by brick to look for the information we've subpoenaed. This will take a while. In the meantime, the bank will be closed and you will enjoy the hospitality of one of the Remnant's finest jail cells while we decide if we want to prosecute you for obstructing a criminal investigation."
"This transaction did not originate here."
"Are you prepared to go to jail and have these Stormtroopers carry every piece of paper and computer out of here? It will take a few weeks or months for us to go through it all." Eric told the manager.
"Time is money. I close this bank down, I lose a substantial amount of money and the Remnant will answer for all of it. Now, I have no time to play games with you."
"For the truth, there is always time. Arrest him." Eric said as two Stormtroopers came forward and placed the bank manager in handcuffs.
"Do you know who I am? I have powerful friends."
"Of course, and we will also find out just who those friends of yours are. Take him away and bring the truck in so we can load all of this stuff." The Stormtroopers began securing the bank almost instantly while two of them took the manager outside and put him in a car for transport down to the Navy Yard where Lucy would have a chat with him.
A few hours later, Shirley Forbes arraigned Thomas whose last name turned out to be Reyburn on various weapons charges and the bank manager, a man named Peter Flannery on a charge of Obstruction. Judge Connors set bail for Peter at $250,000 cash or bond and ordered Thomas held without bail. Lucy and Eric were joined by Schultz, the two Philly PD Detectives, and eventually Darius in going through everything Eric had seized from the bank.
"Is there anything you didn't seize?" Detective Allen asked Eric.
"The furniture, the plants, those lollipops they give the kids, and the kitchen sink." Eric replied as Ty walked in on them.
"I guess Flannery's friends in high places cut him off. No one's posted bail for him."
"I wonder why?" Darius asked.
"They don't want their names connected to someone who may very well be bankrolling the return of the First Order." Eric replied with his accent."
"I heard about that too." Ty said.
"Dad would have done the same thing in his shoes." Lucy told him.
"What is this transaction?" Schultz asked and gave Lucy a paper.
"Well, $100,000 is a large sum of money to transfer between personal accounts." She replied and passed it onto Ty.
"If we can find the relevant withdraw, we can see what this was about." Detective Jenkins said as he pulled out more papers.
"Where are the computers?" Ty asked.
"They were sent up to New York. Mom and Dad have people going through them. A lot of people are going to have frozen bank accounts soon."
"Followed by allegations of a shakedown." Darius added to Lucy's reply.
"Being investigated is what happens when you make large financial transactions on a rather frequent doing those weekly is a good way to become the subject of a criminal investigation. Especially when you have an account with a bank has a policy of obstructing criminal investigations." Eric told him.
"So, when do you plan to shakedown the Cayman Islands?" Darius asked.
"When we decide we have to."
"Here we go. Money for the warehouse rental comes from a guy named Unkar Plutt." Schultz said looking at a paper.'
"Unkar Plutt? He's one of many crimelords who sprung up in the Outer Rim after the death of Jabba the Hutt at the hands of the Rebel Alliance. Plutt's a real piece of work. He hears about a crimelord dying somewhere and moves in on their territory and operation. Anyone who rips him off is usually killed. He must have came out this way under the radar after President Houston had Grinta the Hutt killed and took on Black Sun. I'm going to see what Admirals Tyson, Vanto, and Reige know about his operations. Maybe he thought there was profit in picking up where the First Order left off." Ty told them.
"That's him. I might be able to pull the RSB file on him." Eric said.
A few days later, Unkar Plutt's ship had been spotted and captured after a brief pursuit by the Chimaera. Jacen Syndulla took Lucy and Eric up to the Star Destroyer so they could conduct the interrogation of Plutt. Plutt of course denied having anything to do with everything even after the money trail had been revealed and was taken to Philadelphia for trial on an assortment of charges including murder and arms trafficking. The actual killer was revealed to be a man named Nettles who was willing to testify against Plutt in exchange for protection as he feared that Plutt would have him killed in prison. Thomas Reyburn eventually pled guilty to weapons charges and received a sentence of 50 Years from Judge Evans. Peter Flannery pleaded No Contest to a charge of Obstruction and was given ten years of probation from Judge Holmes. Unkar Plutt was tried for his crimes in New York and received the Death Penalty. A number of other people were also charged with various crimes relating to the large sums of money moved in and out of their bank accounts and their failures to report those transactions to the IRS. All the recovered weapons were eventually destroyed after being dumped into space by Jacen and used as target practice for the Chimaera's gunners. Lucy and Eric sat in the kitchen at the office with Jacen and Darius.
"Why do I keep getting dragged into adventures by you guys?" Jacen asked Lucy.
"Because my dad trusts you with these things." She replied.
"You could always leave the Ghost here with us if you don't wanna go on all of the adventures with us." Darius suggested as Eric grinned. He had heard all about how Lucy, Darius, Josh, and Noah had tormented Jacen to no end with one thing or another.
NEW YORK-2030
A squad of Stormtroopers had responded to the call from the shoe store of an armed robbery. Kelly Felth went with them hoping that Chris and or Josh hadn't been hurt. She ran into the store and found Chris sitting in a chair while the handcuffed suspect was on the floor shouting at everyone.
"Did you read him his rights?" She asked the Stormtroopers.
"Yes, Ma'am." One of them replied.
"Then tell him to use the one to remain silent or get him out of here." She told them. Two of them took the suspect out of the store while she looked over her oldest son.
"I'm fine Mom." Chris said.
"I can see that. I'm guessing that this robbery went wrong somewhere."
"BB-8 got under his feet, he stumbled, fell on the floor, lost his gun, I grabbed it before he could get it back, pushed him down, and sat on him until they got here. I think I got it from Dad."
"You probably did. Well, we have to take your statement and do the line-up just to make the case against that guy stronger." Kelly told Chris.
"When do I get a gun?" He asked.
"We'll talk about that at home. Where's Josh?"
"Thankfully for that guy, going to Philadelphia with Noah for something relating to the business expansion. Josh would've chopped his arm off."
"Or put him on his knees like Darius did to Captain Hochster after he screamed at your sister while she was pregnant. He's lucky he wasn't shot for that." Kelly said.
"I know Dad was really pissed about that."
"You have no idea. I'm just glad Tori wasn't here."
"He probably wouldn't have tried it if she was here."
"True. People tend to forget about droids."
"Holding that gun kinda felt good. Must be a family thing." Chris said earning a smile from his mom.
