442 442 Getting Answers
Four shuttles managed to transfer the entire crew of the two vessels to a secure Hangar aboard Terminus, where they were restrained and placed in the former produce cooler as a group holding cell.
Max hadn’t considered the need for a prison facility, so they didn’t have any proper holding cell aboard the ship, an oversight he would have to rectify eventually, even if it was just for these sorts of rare incidents.
The Reavers didn’t usually try enemy crews in court or capture ships unless the crew couldn’t afford to pay the ransom to make reparations. If they did, they would have more ramshackle ships than they did people by now. But these weren’t Pirates, they were proper military ships from a recognized nation, so it wouldn’t be proper to treat them like Pirates.
The fact that their nation was about to fall didn’t help the odds of them paying to get their ships back either.
Once they were all aboard Terminus, Max decided it was time to say his goodbyes to Lord Joseph and let the planetary leader return to his business while they finished making his order and got ready to send it to the surface.
“Lord Joseph, it has been a pleasure working with you. My men report that there were no casualties among our combined force and no damages to our Mecha at all. Your landing force did an exemplary job of dealing with the invaders.
But, now it is time for me to begin interrogating them about their intentions and working on an official agreement for their surrender.”
Joseph gave him a pleased smile at the word “interrogating” and rose to his feet. He extended a hand for a formal handshake, then motioned for his entourage to head back to the station.
p、A,nd A-n、o、ve,1 “Feel free to come by again. You are always welcome in Klux, and I suspect that you will receive a hero’s welcome after the population gets a chance to sample the Replicators.”
With that, he headed back to the station, and Max left for the hangar that the prisoners were being held in, which was on the far side of the ship, closest to the two Cruisers. Nico was already over there, having personally escorted the landing crew who had bounced off the Shielding of Terminus, and Max could sense from the Illithid’s thoughts that he was there too and found her version of interrogation highly entertaining.
She hadn’t hit anyone yet or even tied them to a chair. Instead, she had begun by insulting and berating one of the officers until he cried and then began asking him questions in between threats. It was working far better than it had any right to, and even the Illithid was impressed by the efficiency.
When Max arrived, she was leading her first victim back to the holding cell and looking for corroboration of what they had been told.
“Alright, Holy Worms, who will volunteer next? Tweedle Dumbass already told me what I want to know. Now I want one of you to tell me if he was lying. All you need to do is tell the truth, and it will only hurt a little bit.” She announced, dragging the first man forward to rejoin his crew.
The tear-soaked face really helped sell the story, and Max could sense that even if she had explained that she didn’t hit him, nobody would believe her.
“Lady Tarith, I will go with you on behalf of my Crew.” Cardinal Red announced, looking grim as if he was facing execution.
Max followed the two into the room across the hall and took a seat beside Nico across the table from Cardinal Red.
The Holy Truth leader was the first to speak, and he looked very sincere and contrite already, despite no pressure being applied. “Lady Tarith, I apologize on behalf of my crew member. If I had known that he would try something so outrageous, I would have personally had the men searched for weapons.”
Max watched the replay of the incident in the Cardinal’s mind and saw that the crewman, affectionately known as Tweedle Dumbass, had attempted to stab Nico as she walked through the crowd to pick out the first person to be interrogated. She had kicked the feet out from under him and caught him by the hair before he even hit the ground, so she could swiftly drag him out of the room while the others tried to process what happened.
Once they were in the room, Nico tossed him into a corner and began shouting at him. It seemed a bit too effective though, so Max looked deeper into her thoughts and found that she had electrified her hands so that the metallic walls would work as a taser, shocking the subject as she shouted at him.
It wasn’t as gentle as Max had first thought, but it was surprisingly humane, considering the source.
“Apology accepted. How about we start with the easy questions? What would you do at home if we released you now that the Cygnus Fleet has arrived on your homeworld with no intentions to leave?” Nico asked.
Max checked the communications log quickly and saw that they had intercepted a message only a few minutes ago while he was walking to the holding cells from the Cygnus Fleet, announcing that the Holy Truth nation was now under their control.
Nico replayed the message for the Cardinal, then a second message informing all Holy Truth vessels that they were to return to the planet for the transfer of assets.
That was even faster than he had expected. Max had thought they would at least put up a few days’ resistance, but it appeared that they folded within thirty minutes of the Cygnus fleet announcing their terms.
“Holy Light has fallen to Cygnus? No, that can’t be right. It has only been a few hours since we left.” Cardinal Red replied, confused.
Nico replayed the message, and a stream of horrified thoughts passed through the Cardinal’s mind before Max saw a hypnotic suggestion take effect, and the man reached into his robes.
“None of that. Hands on the table.” Max shouted, moving to grab him before he could do anything and pinning his arms to the metal table.
He had a small vial in his palm, which Nico took away, opened, and carefully sniffed, then analyzed with a scanner from her pocket.
“Dragon Fire Root poison. Potent enough to cause his cells to combust if he drank it. The Holy Truth clergy must have some sort of suicide pact.” Nico informed Max.