A Force to be Reckoned With

[Ultimatum]

Ultimatum had planned for a time such as this, prepared his mental circuits for the stresses found almost solely in the unique field of command. It was the stress of knowing something was happening and that he was one of the decision-makers, but at the same time having already missed the timetable for putting in an order. A notification had come to him, mere moments ago, stating that a suspect was being brought in. According to the laws of bureaucracy and the command structure, that message alone would have taken five minutes to reach him from the field officer. Therefore, though the message had the evident undertone of requesting orders, the highest authority could not, in fact, put an order in, because the situation might have already been resolved.

There was a severe lack of reliable information involving the suspect; what, if any, resistance was being discovered; and whether or not the police at hand were in need of assistance. Perhaps that information had already been given to the local commander in charge of the police officers who were working to detain the potential criminal. Ultimatum had patience, in abundance, but he was easily concerned when it came to the safety of organics. He hoped to change this shortly with the addition of droid units to accompany organics on patrol. Perhaps some day artificials would entirely replace organics, being more durable and superior in most regards, and eventually maybe in all regards. But that was the future, not now. Now Ultimatum was dealing with the stress of the unknown, wondering when, and even if, those officers would bring in their target. He hoped to learn what the suspect would be accused of, who is was, and why they were being charged.

[member="Lirka Ka"]

 

[Lirka Ka]

Lirka was purely furious, she had been tricked, and she hated being tricked. The Boss who had hired her and practically set it up for her to get caught and she wouldn't be surprised if there was contacts and cronies within the authorities themselves.

The Sephi sat there, she noted the coldness of the interrogation room. And her icy blue eyes scanned across the place, they had removed her helmet and after her aggressive displays didn't bother trying to get the armor off. Lirka's blade had obviously been taken away too, but the Sephi was never disarmed. Those eyes of icy blue were looking for something she could reach out with, to use the force to plan maybe even a full blown escape. Unlikely as that may be.

Lirka had been caught serving as the bodyguard for a spice run, and had a few counts of murder on her too. The aggression and brutal Sephi had taken down more than a few officers with his swirling and hacking blade. The massive thing was more than capable of cutting a man in two, and she had done that. A lot.

 

[Ultimatum]

Information was, at last, coming in more quickly, which told Ultimatum that the location of the suspect was now closer to him. He had been alerted to the arrival of a prisoner for interrogation, also being warned that she had managed to kill several officers in the field. This, Ultimatum knew, would probably compromise most of the officers under his work, since many of these people had trained and worked together for a good deal of time. This case would require tact and care, for the droid did not want to put potentially unbalanced persons into the high-pressure environment of an interrogation, yet at the same time, Ultimatum was not supposed to conduct the inquiries, given his position of command.

However, Upari suggested, "This is hardly a normal case, it may require us to discern the reality of this situation." The Shard, which was now secured within Ultimatum's body, spoke over the mental link the two shared.

Imitating the sound of an organic sigh, "I agree, but this will still be a breach of protocol."

"Then it is a breach we shall fix after we have the information we need."

The droid moved quickly; it would be only a few minutes before he stood before the interrogation room. One of the officers outside the door appeared distressed and lightly fingered the stun gun on his hip. An analyst stepped to Ultimatum and handed him a file with what information could be quickly gathered about [member="Lirka Ka"]. The droid held it closed and entered the room, hearing the door click locked behind him. He glanced at the criminal as he opened the file and put it on table bolted to the floor. Not looking up he spoke, "Greetings Miss... Ka, is it? Are you comfortable? We can raise the temperature if you would so prefer." He doubted that his people would appreciate the casual nature Ultimatum was assuming, but for the sake of professionalism, it was important that this be treated as politely as possible. And there was no telling if the media would get hold of this case and try to turn any mistakes they made into reasons for the ICLE to be kicked off world.

Upari remained quiet, feeling with the Force to try and get a reading on this criminal. He sensed a strength in her, indicating a Force connection and perhaps a well trained one at that.

 

[Lirka Ka]

"Call me "Miss Ka" again, and I'll send you to Lotho Minor myself, Droid."

It was quickly apparent Lirka was in no mood for talk, or in any sort of mood to be here. Shocker. She ignored his request of a warmer room, she wasn't someone who expected comfort in things. There was no comfort when you lived on Choah, it was all rocks, fighting, and poor attempts at quarters for the fighters. Sure, she got the best of it all for being the champion but the best wasn't much to write home about.

"You could just give me my sword, my helmet, and let me go so I can go cut that sleemo little rat into pieces."

In the fashion of a proper angry person, she didn't bother with specifics.

 

[Ultimatum]

"Standard reaction. Have the right name at least. Can you get anything Upari?"

"No, aside from anger she is difficult to read."

Ultimatum listened as [member="Lirka Ka"] continued with her demand. After she had concluded, the droid replied, "I understand your anger. However, as a criminal I cannot give you your equipment, or your freedom until I get some answers. You say you wish to kill someone? Who is it; one of our officers or one of the criminals that got away?"

Ultimatum did not need to ask about her involvement in any crime, since she had been caught after killing several of his men, which was a crime in itself. Therefore, she had a definite sentence, perhaps to be lightened should she cooperate, but Ultimatum was not willing to play that card quite yet. It was best to get what one could from a criminal before giving them the trump card.

 

[Lirka Ka]

"I could give less of a damn about your officers, they were in my way."

Like an overaggressive child, Lirka had an atrocious temper. Though soon she "devolved" down to muttering her native language, the Sephi language was rarely used and basic was far preferred. But that didn't mean she wouldn't spit out dozens of insults under her breath towards the man who she had every intent to gut.

"It's the scumbag who hired me, double-crossed me to. Whatever the hell you guys are."

 

[Ultimatum]

Unfortunately for Ultimatum, or perhaps, fortunately, his immediate databanks did not contain the Sephi language. Given more time and freedom, the droid was sure that he could have found it and been able to quickly translate the muttered words. However, that was of minor importance at the moment. He could not tell if the speech was directed at him, or some other person. The droid was not too angered about the outburst towards his officers. It was anticipated that the officers would be disliked at the least by criminals.

Then, [member="Lirka Ka"] spoke of someone who had hired her. That had potential. If they could bring in the person in charge, it might give them a stepping stone into breaking up crime in the area. This was something the droid could allow a deal being brokered with her for this information. Ultimatum quickly asked, "Who hired you? Have you worked for him long?"

 

[Lirka Ka]

"No. I don't stick around with scumbags for too long, one in one off job. Some Rodian nonsense was his name, Gretaa or something along those lines. I didn't care. I just wanted to get paid."

Well that obviously didn't happen, considering she was sitting here. Suitably angry, and kinda wanted to punch the droid in the "face" to let out her anger. She somewhat hid it, but the movement of her body showed how she wanted things to get physical again. Go out and calm her nerves with good old fashion violence.

 

[Ultimatum]

The anger was quite evident, and so was the need to release it. Had she been one of his officers, Ultimatum would have sent her to the training yard, though perhaps slicing holographic targets did nothing to help her. It mattered little, [member="Lirka Ka"] was not one of his people, so he had little ability to send her to a police training area. The droid had a suspicion as to where she could burn off some of the aggression, though it would have technically been a breach of the law. It was dependant on what information Ka had. "Do you know where your employer is based? Could you take us there?"

If he had the staff, Ultimatum would have sent a specialized team for this sort of mission. If the criminal was ready to hire a disposable grunt, a term Ultimatum knew only too well fit the mindset of most criminal tacticians, then it was a short jump to the conclusion that he would have armed guards of one sort or another. The droid could not send a team of his police against that, not without equipment that would offer protection against the lethal firepower their opposition would field. They were lightly armed, lightly armored, and not trained to deal with organized crime. Therefore, he would have to go himself, knowing that he could handle whatever the enemy threw at him. Further, if Lurka knew where to go, then she would naturally be on site and could help in the apprehension of the Rodian. Though, Ultimatum wondered if the random element was really safe to put into the field like this. She could decide to kill the subject and Ultimatum would have little recourse, though justice may have been served.

 

[Lirka Ka]

Lirka bemused what she had just been offered, it had potential, she could give it that. But it also gave the negative potential of letting them use her as a means to an end so they can arrest her. Or shoot her. Her mind leaned closer to the latter after being around scum and villainy for so much of her life.

"Yeah, yeah. I know where he is, I was there. I ain't going to tell you unless I get my gear back. Now, do we have a deal?"

No matter where you stood in the Underworld, always be ready to make a deal. Even if it was with probably one of the worst people to try and attempt it with. At least, so Lirka assumed it would be one of the worse.

 

[Ultimatum]

He had expected as much. It was common for captured criminals to try and cover their own selves before turning their compatriots in. The organic self-preservation was one of the single most potent forces in their biological makeup. It was understandable since their species survival had relied heavily on that ability to detect a potential threat and the desire to survive. The droid might have smiled, if he had been able to express himself in such a manner. He settled for a slight brightening of his eyes and an injection of humor into his voice, "And if I give you your gear, you'll probably rip me apart and tear a hole through the base." He thought to himself, "She might be able to anyways."

Taking a moment to collect himself, or at least giving the appearance of doing so, the droid looked absentmindedly towards the wall. Scratching his chin, in an artificial facsimile to the organic expression of thought, Ultimatum spoke slowly, "If I knew I could trust you to take your weapons and turn them on our collective enemy, rather than on us, I could have been willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. If you were not a criminal with my men's blood on your hands, then I might have taken your word for it. I see that we are at an impasse." A message was sent to him through the police computer system, a positive to being a droid was that he did not need to stop and read any document sent his way. With the message was a file on the identified Rodian, he had a past with the planet's original police force before it had gone under. Not the worst criminal, but certainly not the cleanest either. He had received a death sentence about a decade ago, though it had since expired due to some bureaucratic issues. This organic had earned his share of the chopping block but had managed to avoid his date with destiny. Perhaps this was a day for Ultimatum to give some peace to those old men who had tried to maintain the law in a failing order. "Perhaps we can come to a deal that we would both find beneficial. I would assume you wish to give your previous employer some permanent roughing up?"

[member="Lirka Ka"]