Mental Equity

[Janick Beauchamp]

Meanwhile, Janick was to provide a painkiller to the first one, while the vandal with hypothermia forced her to go around and provide hot water to both criminals, hoping that they would be more willing to talk if they aren't in pain and that they are being taken care of, with a burn dressing being applied on the hands of the vandal with hypothermia. Janick realized that she would need to wait until those painkillers kicked in, while [member="Dax Fyre"] would probably get answers from the vandal he punched in the face before he could get any from the other vandal hit by a neural storm. Calm down, due process, and due process mandates that criminals under our custody are still entitled to medical attention at least until judgment would be passed. Also, only if we exhaust what can be obtained by conventional methods can we go for the enhanced ones, she thought, while she was preparing questions pertaining to the liquor store being vandalized, of which she saw it all.

"What did you hope to achieve by vandalizing the liquor store?"

"By sabotaging the booze supply... we could make the people realize that they may... need help for their booze addictions" the vandal hit by a neural storm answered.

"You, Janick, are one of the big symbols of a major tihaar brand in ORC space, so I could kill two birds with that stone" the vandal with hypothermia answered.

 

[Dax Perl]

The two rioters that Dax was questioning tried to put on a hard face and stare defiantly back at Dax. He was certainly younger than either of them, but they didn't know who they were dealing with. Dax stared each one in the eye for a moment or two. The first stared defiantly back. The second however, kept it only for a mere moment before looking away. That was the one that would tell Dax what he needed.

The Rogue began focus his attentions to the second of the vandals. He gave him a light slap on the face, "Hey, look at me. This isn't just about the liquor store is it?" The rioter tried to look to his friend for help, but seeing none would come began to panic, "Man, I'm just here cuz they asked if I wanted to smash some chit up, I promise!"

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Booze addictions: now that you mention it, it appears that materials were stolen from the Utapau Alcohol and Drug Abuse Recovery Center construction site. Perhaps we could drop the attempted assault charge if you could provide information leading to the recovery of the stolen materials or the people who stole the materials" she told the vandal with hypothermia.

"It can't be us: it would be hypocritical of us to steal from a construction site of a medical facility used to treat alcohol addictions and also vandalize a liquor store: we'd be shooting ourselves in the foot" the vandal hit by a neural storm answered.

"The Asobi 95% tihaar you represent has caused so many problems. However, since you mentioned a drug rehab center under construction, what's your relationship to the drug rehab center?"

To that she'd rather not tell them the whole truth, even though she could still tell part of it and that she knows exactly what she can and cannot tell the vandals about the drug rehab center, while remaining truthful with what she can tell them. However, for the plea deal to be valid, the information would actually have to lead to the stolen materials or the people who stole them on-site. Otherwise it could be entirely possible that an additional charge of obstruction to justice could be laid on these vandals. Yet the hard part was proving that the information was intentionally misleading and she'd rather not accuse them of any more crimes than they have evidence to prosecute based on. [member="Dax Fyre"] being busy dealing with similar problems in the other interrogation room, so Janick may be pondering why would the vandals be asking about her relationship to the drug rehab center. Do they seriously think about accusing me of conflict of interest? I get the NIMB is supposed to be amoral, but they usually divest quickly of any investments belonging to our enemies, she thought, while the Asobi 95% tihaar was, in fact, nationalized.

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax turned his head to the last of his two victims, "Oh did you now." The Marshall moved to the next man, "And why did you decide to come to this event him?" the look on Dax's face seemed almost unnatural. A strange close lipped smile and eyes that almost appeared psychopatchic. A touch of Force influence, and the Rogue had the Rioter talking. Unfortunately, it wasn't anything they didn't know.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"I understand your concern. It's just that, when Utapau was attacked, the Mandos hit the old rehab center in the upper levels, and the ORC Naval Investment Management Board does, on occasion, bankroll reconstruction of medical facilities. Perhaps you could be more productive and, if you can provide a clue as to where the materials stolen from the new rehab center under construction, or who could possibly want to steal materials from that place... or even whether the materials were sold to somebody else"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you anything; we're just grunts"

While she knew that often, grunts had to be tight-lipped to succeed in the underworld, she realized that it's not enough to a lead to qualify for the plea deal. But she has reached the point where no more info could be gleaned using conventional interrogation techniques. Now would come the hard part: assessing which enhancement would be in use to get the information from the vandal that suffered from hypothermia because a mental scan revealed a high probability that there would be a lead in play. A clue even, but arresting this person may prove to be more difficult than planned, unless that person was already in custody for something else. And yet, she could feel [member="Dax Fyre"] being unsuccessful in getting extra information out of the vandals, so the onus was on her to extract the additional information, the information that is leading to the stolen materials or the thieves, while remaining aware that stealing materials in bulk isn't the same as stealing a datapad. Surely knowing who these vandals work for would help, she thought, while unsure of how to proceed.

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax wasn't getting anywhere either. It was clear that these two didn't know anything else. "I'm charging both of you assault and battery, assaulting an officer, destruction of property and disrupting the peace. I'd tell you to get a lawyer, but it'd be poor advice. You'd only be wasting your money."

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

While [member="Dax Fyre"] was bringing the two vandals to their cells, under charges of battery, assault, destruction of property and disrupting the peace, she realized that she had an overwhelming desire to use Memory Walk so as to make sure that she actually can use memory Walk if she needed it, if she believed that such painful methods could save somebody a worse fate. Especially when all other methods were exhausted. By now she was turning on the Force-datachannel, and then force the vandal with hypothermia, still shivering from said hypothermia, to relive the most unpleasant memories as it relates to its relationship to the vandals' employers. She did so feeling that, since the hypothermia was distracting the vandal (even when it was steadily recovering) the vandal may have less energy to devote to mental defenses. It's more specific than other practitioners of Memory Walk usually do, but she made a shocking discovery about the relationship between these vandals and the construction materials theft case after forcing the opening of the mental memory file in the vandal that related to exactly that. Writhing in pain, from the use of Memory Walk, the vandal delivers its confession:

"Two weeks ago... the leader, HiteVision... hit us eleven times... with durasteel rods... stolen from the construction site... for insubordination: we didn't want... to take part... in the theft of construction materials; we were beaten... in the Pack Rat storage for rent"

"HiteVision? That guy operates a swoop gang in the lower levels of the city, and the Pack Rat storage for rent has at least part of the stolen materials"

 

[Dax Perl]

The Grand Marshall left the interrogation room and waited for the Witch to finish with her two detainees, leaning against the wall outside the door and he rolled over a couple thoughts in his head. What did any of this have to do with the construction site theft? Why was anyone even stealing anything from a construction site? They had to be building something, but what exactly? None of it sat quite well with the Rogue.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"I already spilled too many beans. HiteVision wanted to build a new bunker but he spend the next two weeks trying to get an architect that will agree to kickbacks to get the bunker built, to no avail. HiteVision was a notorious alcoholic, too"

I'm glad to see the vandal rcovering, but we need to arrest this HiteVision and recover the stolen materials for his trial to proceed. Hopefully the extra costs induced by the delays the theft has caused won't be too bad, because the NIMB is on the hook for any cost overruns for the rehab center, she thought, while the two vandals were being brought back to their cells. And, of course, Memory Walk has stopped. Now the picture became much clearer in her mind: why there was a theft in the first place, what HiteVision hoped to accomplish by stealing construction materials, she had to report a condensed version of the testimony induced by Memory Walk to [member="Dax Fyre"] and he would probably be happier to know that Janick finally made some progress in this case, thanks to vandals that were imprisoned under assault, battery, destruction of property and troubling the peace charges. The witch crossed her fingers and actually expect HiteVision to be there when the police is going to raid the Pack Rat on the lookout for the stolen construction materials, hiring one 54-foot truck to get the stolen construction materials back to the construction site.

"A criminal ring led by HiteVision is responsible for the theft of the construction materials from the Utapau Alcohol and Drug Abuse Recovery Center's construction site. Right after the theft, HiteVision beat one of the vandals with durasteel rods stolen from that construction site for refusing to take part in the theft, and he did so where the materials are held, a storage space in the Pack Rat, somewhere in the lower city"

 

[Dax Perl]

"What do they want to do with the materials?" the Marshall asked, "Build a fast food restaurant or something?" The sarcasm was thick in his voice. He just couldn't figure out why anyone would steal building materials. It seemed rather ridiculous...why wouldn't they just purchase the materials themselves, it wouldn't appear to be odd at all from a legal standpoint.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"A bunker, but I believe the theft was motivated by target-related reasons more so than cost-cutting reasons" she told [member="Dax Fyre"] prior to boarding the squad speeder.

There's one way to find out: arrest HiteVision and question him, either pre-trial or during the trial proper. But only once we have arrested HiteVision can I even think of drinking tihaar to get my headaches under control, she thought, while taking a seat into the squad speeder that escorted the truck, on its way to the Pack Rat self-service storage. She would probably have realized that materials are not usually a viable avenue for money launderers to launder money using construction-based methods, but then again she also rode the squad speeder in expectation of catching HiteVision upon arrival. The witch knew that she was not going to be happy because the rehab center was part of the medical infrastructure that was destroyed during the Mando attack. Once they arrived at the place called the Pack Rat, at the lowest level of the city, she arrived to a location filled with storage bays, most of them being 3m high and 3m wide, but coming in various lengths: the smallest were 3m long, and the largest were 12m long, with those storage bays being multiples of 3m in length. She asks the clerk prior to having the truck parked:

"This is the police, we have reason to suspect one of the storage bays is hiding stolen supplies. I have a question for you: which storage bay is rented to HiteVision?"

"HiteVision? What relationship does he hold to the crime you're mentioning?"

"One of the vandals we arrested earlier today is, in fact, working for HiteVision and was punished by him in the storage bay in question for not taking part in the theft of construction supplies"

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax stood by and simply watched Janick do her thing. He was content simply observing for once, instead of being the one to rush in heard first. While she spoke with the storage bay owner, the Marshall reached out with the Force to see how many other life forms were in the building. He could feel the owner and Janick clearly, which was no surprise given they stood nearby, but everything else seemed foggy, and lacked any clarity...interesting.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"HiteVision? Stolen construction supplies? Bay 327"

"Thank you for your cooperation"

What would Bay 327 hold? Would HiteVision be there? Looks like the Pack Rat held some ysalamirs because she couldn't sense anything in the Force within those bays, and that the Pack Rat's owner based the business on the premise that Force-users are a legitimate security threat. Which meant that she would need to use her beskad to defend herself if HiteVision was hostile, unless she could somehow stay some distance away from the garage door of the storage bay. The truck was getting docked to Bay 327, and Janick stayed some distance away, knowing that she isn't a front-line brawler by any stretch, and an anti-riot shield would be necessary of the cops closest to the dock where the truck is moored. The cops open the dock's door, finding one sentient guarding a mound of dry duracrete in pallets of powdered duracrete, durasteel rods and other parts used for structural work and other utilities work for building a bunker. But it was obvious to Janick that it was not the end of the story. The Tro'zet gangster had to bow down to get out of the storage bay... with [member="Dax Fyre"] nearby.

"Why have the vandals not returned from the liquor store?" the Tro'zet gangster asked, once the police opened the storage bay door.

"They have been arrested while vandalizing it"

 

[Dax Perl]

Dax ducked into the storage unit after the officer with his slugthrower drawn, "So, we heard a guy named HiteVision might be here? Know where we can find him?" the Marshall said, nonchalantly. "What kind of name is HiteVision anyways."

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"I AM HiteVision!" the Tro'zet gangster shouted, loud enough to be heard about a hundred meters away.

"Set the weapons to stun" the lead cop ordered his fellow cops. "Aim..."

And yet, unless HiteVision wanted to hijack the truck, he would find it difficult to get out of the storage bay because the truck was docked tightly enough against the storage bay door that it would only allow a somewhat narrow opening, too narrow for a Tro'zet to exploit, and any alternative way in or out of the storage bay would involve doors built for humans/Near-Humans. HiteVision is of the same species as the one being called Sortz, whose name I've heard around. Perhaps I could have a blaster on stun, she thought, while wondering if there was but one agent that could fire a blaster on stun that had enough stopping power to stun HiteVision at a deliberate firing rate. With [member="Dax Fyre"] ducked near the storage bay in question, he will realize that HiteVision is a little oversized for the storage bay and that he had to continually bow down while in the storage bay. He's about to go on a rampage and, because the ysalamirs are making their job harder here, she had to let the cops fire the blasters so that the gangster could be controlled. Once the blasters were carefully aimed to fire stun bolts at the Tro'zet, the cops opened fire; the sheer size of the target made it difficult to miss, and the Tro'zet fell to the ground after taking a half-dozen stun bolts.

"You're under arrest for the theft of construction materials, battery, conspiracy to trouble the peace. You have the right to remain silent; anything you might say may be held against you. You have the right to retain legal counsel; however, if you can't afford it, it's fine, too"