Last time: Kitsu and Illara found out that someone place a 1,000,000 credit bounty on Sasha.

Now: Cien gets to have a chat with an imperial.

Chapter 12- Interrogation

Cien smirked from behind the one way transparisteel, watching the officers try to interrogate the Imperial sympathizers. Kyr was standing next to her, they both had their arms crossed. It was late into the evening, but this was actually pretty good entertainment. She had never seen law enforcement interrogating people before, and their harsh questioning tactics were… cute.

"Don't smirk, they're doing their best." Kyr admonished next to her.

"You said this guy was a stormtrooper?" Cien asked him.

"Yeah, at least from the way he carries himself." Kyr said, having a better read on such things than her.

"Do they think he'll just answer the questions if they keep asking?" Cien said, a little incredulous.

"I dunno." Kyr said, "not like they're allowed to do anything more."

"Yeah." Cien groused, "and he knows it."

Kyr just shrugged, and was quiet for a few moments. "That bounty hunter guy, you think it was just coincidence he was involved in this attack on us and what happened to Op and Sasha?"

"Yeah. He was a bounty hunter that got all his good contracts from the Empire, so he had a lot of sympathy for them." She replied. "He also knew this Signa person, and it really does look like coincidence."

They watched for a moment longer in silence.

"Should I just go in there?" Cien asked again.

"Let the professionals do their job." Kyr said with a slight smile.

"I am a professional at that." Cien said annoyed. "These guys aren't even hobbyists."

Messan walked into the room at that point, quietly closing the door behind her. She looked at Viran sitting in the corner with a distant expression, and looked at Kyr and Cien watching the interrogation like they were watching a sports match.

"Look, see?" Cien said, not having noticed Messan walk in and was talking to Kyr. "He's not even scared, he's just bored."

Messan stepped to their side and looked at the, admittedly, not very good interrogation that was going on.

"Just got a call, I'm going to step outside." Kyr said, stepping away.

Cien noticed Messan standing on the other side of where Kyr had been and tried to reign in her annoyance at how sloppy the job in the room was going. And Messan knew she was. They stood in silence for a while as the officer in the room tried to verbally bludgeon the former stormtrooper into divulging what he knew about the Imperial Remnant on the planet, and the stormtrooper just sat there, staring straight ahead. To both their eyes, he looked like he was somewhere between trying to suppress a yawn and a smirk.

"So you're a Force user too?" Messan finally asked.

"Yes." Cien replied, still watching the exchange.

"How'd you get the information from that bounty hunter?" She asked, still looking through the glass.

"I was an interrogator, I have some expertise in that area." Cien said, feeling that was the most expeditious way to explain it.

"What would you do for this guy, then?" Messan asked, nodding through the glass at the unarmored stormtrooper.

"Scare him." Cien said. "Imperials know that things are different now. They had to face worse punishments for not cleaning their armor properly than they would for what they did on the street before. Remind him of the bad old days, when he had a real punishment to be afraid of."

"And how do we do that?" Messan asked with an arched eyebrow, still looking through the glass.

"I'm not sure how you would do it." Cien said, "I just know how I'd do it."

"You a deputy marshall too?" Messan asked inquiringly.

"I guess, yeah. Yes." Cien said, having to remember if she was or not. Technically everyone in the family was, she remembered. This was the first time she had realized it, and realized she was technically under the employ of the New Republic, in that respect. If only her Sith Empire superiors could see her now, she thought with an amused smirk.

After a moment Messan just shrugged. "Fine, have at him, just don't do anything illegal." She said, as she pressed a call button to recall the officer that was in the room.

Cien smiled maliciously as put her buy'ce on, and made note of where the lightswitch was. "Give me a minute and start pounding on the door when I threaten to kill him." She stepped out into the hallway and passed the officer that was leaving the room, heading towards the caf machine.

Messan looked back towards Viran, and her head shot back around to the glass as the lights in the room went dark.

"The hell is this?" The former stormtrooper asked, confused as the lights went out.

The door opened after enough time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and an armored silhouette stood in the doorway, regarding him for a moment.

"You're one of those Mandalorians right? What? The cops here run out of options and sent you in?" He asked before laughing. "They must be desperate."

The door closed, and the light went away with it, making the room pitch black. Her voice echoed behind him, too quick for her to have been able to move there. "Not desperate, trooper. Tell me, did you ever serve under Vader? Hear the stories about him?"

That silenced the trooper for a moment. "Who hasn't heard stories of him?"

"What exactly were those stories?" She asked, right next to his ear. "The red lightsaber? His anger? His powers?"

The man didn't answer as he shuddered slightly at that.

There was a snap hiss in the room right behind his head and it was bathed in brilliant blood red from behind him. "He was a Sith, you know. Do you know what a Sith is?"

"No," his voice shuddered out. He slowly turned to look at the light. And he paled.

"It's an ancient sect of Force users." She said slowly, "but we're not like Jedi at all. We relish the pain, the blood." She said with a malicious purr. "Who do you think will rescue you?" She asked.

He swallowed as a lump formed in his throat. "What do you want?"

She laughed maliciously. "What do I want?" She asked as she circled to stand next to the table. She threw her hand out, and with a screech of metal, the table went skidding across the floor, blocking the door from being able to open. "What I want, that is a very dangerous question." She growled as she slowly started approaching him.

The man shook in his chair as he was now scared. "I promise I'll tell you anything! Just don't kill me!" He begged as he started to sweat in his seat.

"Oh, trooper, I have no intention of killing you." She said, her voice dripping venom, "not for a long, long time." She heard pounding on the door, right on cue. "They can't save you. No one can now." She laughed maliciously as she let loose some Sith lightning that traveled up and down her gauntlet.

The man scrambled out of his seat and towards the back corner of the room, away from Cien. "Look, we just take out New Republic officers and anyone who follows them. That's it! I swear! I'll even give you the names of the men we work for! Please just… knock off this crazy witch stuff!" He pleaded.
The chair he had just vacated went flying across the room with a vicious throw of her arm as she approached him. "Do I look like a… Republic," she spat the word out, "officer to you? You made a mistake attacking me, and now you are mine, because they gave you to me." She said with a malicious cackle as she raised her saber. She finally let go of the table, letting them open the door.

Messan came rushing in. "That's enough, leave him alone!"

Cien looked at the officer with a cruel twist of her neck, then back at the trooper. "Very well, you may have him." She spat out, "but he is mine if I think he's lying, as per our arrangement."

"I swear I will tell you everything," The man cried out. "Just get this witch away from me!"

"Just go." Messan said, visibly seething at Cien and pointing at the door. Cien felt the emotion under the gesture and nodded, with one last malicious look at the trooper. She went out the door, with Messan following her. Once the door was closed Messan froze for a second before she burst into a small fit of laughter. "That was pretty awesome I will admit. Your husband is back in the interrogation room, he has news." She said, as she composed herself, put a stern expression on her face and stepped back into the interrogation chamber, flipping the light switch on her way in.

Cien smirked and walked back into the observation room. Kyr was looking at her with what she could only assume was a bemused smirk from under his buy'ce, and she took her helmet off.

"Did you have fun?" He asked.

"Yes." She admitted. She glanced over and saw Messan leaning back against the chair, looking at the trooper still on the floor, talking to him quite sternly.

"Well I'm glad." He looked between her and Viran. "That was Kitsu and Illara. They found Signa's office, and they think they know where he might have taken Sasha and Op. Either of you heard of Myrkr, or a ysalamiri?" He asked, looking between Cien and Viran.

"No," Viran said as he stood from his seat and walked over to them. "I haven't heard of either."

"There's apparently a rumor that these ysalamiri can block out the Force." Kyr continued, "and they found the scales of one in Signa's office. So he had one. You said you guys saw Sasha tromping through a forest? If you wanted to disable Force users, why not drop them on a planet full of these things?"

Viran frowned. "I guess that would be the way to do it," he said. "That's why it was so hard to connect with her." He looked at Cien on that.

Cien was troubled. "How could something blot out the Force like that?"

Kyr just shrugged. "That's your guys' department."

"I don't know," Viran said, worried. "Did they find out anything else?"

"Yeah…" Kyr said, scratching the back of his neck, even though he was still fully encased in his armor. "Research on how to disable Force users, and…" He stopped, and he took off his helmet so he could speak to them directly. "The bounty. An advance payment of one million credits, and dossier on Sasha. She was the target."

Viran blanched at that as he took a step back. "What?" He barely breathed out as the air was sucked from his lungs.

"You guys said you saw her talking to Op, right?" Kyr asked quietly.

"Yes." Cien said, "talking to someone, at least. From the way she was, it seemed she was talking to Op." Cien said, looking over at Viran worriedly, as Kyr did the same.

Viran blinked at that and ran a hand over his face. "Who would pay a million credits ahead for Sasha?" He asked, his voice shaking.

"I don't know, we'll find out after we get them back." Kyr said.

Cien walked over and put her hand on Viran's arm. "How far away is Myrkr? Are Kitsu and Illara sure this is where they've gone?" She asked Kyr.

"Tac says it's about three days away. Kitsu and Illara are a little closer, and they are already on their way there. They seemed pretty sure about it."

Cien nodded.

Viran swallowed and took a steadying breath. "Alright. Let's go," he said.

The door to the room opened and Messan stepped in, "he's spilled all of it, given us what we need on the Medical center attack."

Cien nodded, "our cousins got a lead on where Op and Sasha are, we're going to go get them." Kyr and Viran were already headed for the door.

Messan just looked between them and nodded. "Good luck."

"Thank you," Viran said as he glanced back at Messan before heading out of the room. Kyr followed him out, hefting his blaster rifle into a more comfortable position on his sling. Cien was the last out the door, following them.

"Cien." Messan called, and Cien stopped in the doorway.

"Yes?" She asked in reply.

"When you get Op back, remind him… He still owes me a drink." She said looking Cien in the eye.

Cien froze for a second before nodding slowly. "I will, Kait." Before she continued following her husband and brother.

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