Star Wars: Return to Trigalis Ch. 03

Now Quinn laughed. "I'll tell you just like I told the the cops. All the weapons at the warehouse are mine, I killed all the cops there, and any Zoloz that were there I forced to be there by threatening to kill them if they didn't do as I told them."

Ta'tan'ia and Stormie exchanged a glance. If he was claiming responsibility for everything, they wouldn't have much to offer him in exchange for the weapons' source.

"So if you're all set to spend the rest of your life in prison, you wouldn't mind doing us a little favor, would you?" Ta'tan'ia asked in a friendly voice.

"I doubt it," Quinn responded. "Unless I can get your sexy-ass lips wrapped around my dick again for a while." He paused a moment, then added, "By the way, I liked your outfit you wore at our party the other night. I mean you look great now, especially with your collar and cuffs, but those shorts and sexy-ass shoes you had were..." he paused a moment and shook his head, "amazing!"

Well, at least now Stormie knew she had been at a Zoloz party.

"Were you there too?" Quinn asked, glancing at Stormie a few moments. "I don't remember you, but I was a little drunk, and busy getting a blow job from our sexy Jedi here."

"No," Stormie responded succinctly.

"Tell us who in the Empire supplied you with all those blasters," Ta'tan'ia told him, backing up the command with the Force, and changing the subject. She definitely didn't want Stormie learning she had been here for any reason other than the blasters.

Quinn laughed again. "Who said I got any blasters from the Empire? And even if I did, why the frakk would I tell you who I got them from?"

"Because we're going to find them anyway," Stormie interjected. Then she paused, and glanced over to Ta'tan'ia. "And even if we somehow don't, there's no way the Zoloz will ever see another weapon from the Empire."

Now Quinn leaned towards them across the table. "Like I said, I don't know anything about getting anything from you Imperial bastards. And The Zoloz don't rat on their friends, even to a sexy Jedi and Imperial Security Officer like yourselves."

"Tell us who supplied you with the blasters," Ta'tan'ia repeated, backing up the command with the Force once again.

Quinn glanced between them, then to Ta'tan'ia. "Fine. I'll tell you. I got all those blasters from Lieutenant Kintra here," he said, nodding towards the Imperial Security Officer. "You should throw her over the table and cuff her," he suggested. "You can use mine," he added with a chuckle, displaying the stun cuffs on his wrists.

"Who else knows who your source is?" Ta'tan'ia suddenly asked. She had hoped to catch him off guard, and sense a name, but she couldn't read him at all.

"I told you, she brought the weapons in for me," he replied, nodding his head towards Stormie again. "She just been lying about why she's here. Strip search her, and arrest her."

While Ta'tan'ia did feel that Stormie was hiding something from her, she didn't think she was the Zoloz' source for the weapons. She sensed that she really wanted to find out who was supplying them.

A few minutes—and several crude sexual suggestions—later, they sent Quinn back to his cell. Sergeant Bakuu was waiting with the list of all the Zoloz being held. There were over a hundred names on the list. Stormie suggested they split up so they could interrogate more of them, but Ta'tan'ia thought they should stick together for the time being. She still didn't trust her completely, not that she told her that.

After a few moments of scanning the list and listening to the Force, Ta'tan'ia picked a name out. One who had been arrested at the warehouse, and had been at the party.

While they were waiting for their next Zoloz, Stormie began tapping into her comlink. A moment later Ta'tan'ia felt the subtle vibration of an incoming message. It was from Stormie.

I don't trust Sgt Bakuu. Can you sense if the holocameras are really off?

Ta'tan'ia stared at the message a moment before replying. Him mentioning that they wanted to talk to other Zoloz, and that they weren't recording the interrogation was definitely sloppy, but she didn't know if that meant he was untrustworthy. She looked over at Stormie a moment, then answered on her own comlink.

Okay. And I'm reasonably sure they are off.

Okay. No Imperial would ever run their mouth like that in front of a prisoner. At least not more than once.

Before Ta'tan'ia could reply, not that there really was a reply to that, they brought the Zoloz Ta'tan'ia had asked for. The one they called Sidd.

He was only facing charges for conspiracy, and violation of parole.

"Hey Tawnia," he said with a friendly smile. "I missed letting you suck my cock at the party, you here to take care of that for me?"

"I am Jedi Knight Ta'tan'ia," she replied firmly. "This is Lieutenant Kintra of Imperial Security," she added, gesturing to Stormie on her left. "We're here to talk about the blasters in the warehouse where you were arrested."

"Quinn told me he would kill me if I didn't help him," Sidd replied after a moment's hesitation. "I never wanted to mess with blasters, or get anyone hurt. Frakk, especially police!"

Ta'tan'ia had been around some of the most gifted liars in the galaxy. Galactic Alliance Senators. Sidd was okay. With the Force though, she could sense that he was mostly amused by what he was saying.

"Who did Quinn get the blasters from?" she asked him.

"I don't know. He didn't tell us shavit about that," Sidd answered, still playing being agitated. "He just told us to guard them, and that he would kill one of us for every blaster that was missing."

"Look Sidd," Ta'tan'ia began in a friendly voice. "You didn't shoot any police officers, or even have a blaster on you when you were arrested. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. With the Jedi speaking up on your behalf, you don't even have to go back to prison for the parole violation. You can walk away from this right now. Just tell us who in the Empire he got the blasters from," she told him, backing up the command with the Force.

Sidd glaced between them a few heartbeats, then burst out in laughter.

"Frakk, I bet you get people to tell you all sorts of shavit with that!" he said, grinning broadly. "I even wanted to tell you. . . for about half a second," he added, winking at her. "I mean, I had always heard you Jedi had powers and shavit, but . . . damn!"

Unfortunately, Ta'tan'ia didn't sense any names when she had asked him the question.

"Who else might know who sent them?" she asked him, while he was still distracted.

"You're wasting your time, Jedi," he responded. "The blasters just appeared in the warehouse all by their self."

Ta'tan'ia and Stormie questioned him a couple of more minutes, then sent him back to his cell. For the next three Zoloz, Ta'tan'ia was able to sense fairly quickly that none of them had any idea who the source was. Two of them didn't seem to recognize her from the party though. They must have either been too drunk, or not been there.

Stormie suggested they work through them separately again. Ta'tan'ia declined. She did realize that they would only be able to interrogate a fraction of all the Zoloz in a reasonable amount of time though. She talked with Sergeant Bakuu, and they started keeping Zoloz in two interrogation rooms. That way, while they were talking to one, the officers could change out the Zoloz they had just finished with.

A couple of hours later they decided to end it. They had talked to thirty of the Zoloz, including all of the ones arrested at the warehouse. None them admitted to knowing who had supplied the blasters. Most of them claimed not to have even known that there were blasters there, or blamed Quinn, and said he forced them to be there. When Ta'tan'ia asked them who might know who the source was, though, four names came to various ones' minds. Quinn, Cyllir, Krayt, and Howler.

They had already talked to Quinn. Krayt was one of the Zoloz that had died at the warehouse shootout. As best they could learn, Howler had stayed behind on Trallis II. That left Cyllir.

"You want to try Quinn again?" Stormie asked her.

That's exactly what Ta'tan'ia was considering.

"No," she finally responded. "We know where he's at if we need him again," she explained, standing up. "I got a few questions for Sergeant Bakuu on the the way out though."

"Okay," Stormie agreed, climbing to her feet as well.

"Quinn Nobi is trying to take the blame for everything, and a lot of them are blaming him as well," Ta'tan'ia told Sergeant Bakuu as he was escorting them to the front desk. "Any chance of that working?"

"No way," he replied, shaking his head. "We got six of them on murdering a Security Officer, including two for Quinn. The rest of them we have on conspiracy at a minimum. And most of them were caught with either blasters or drugs on them. Probably half are prior felons too. Maybe a couple will slip through, but not many."

That was very informative. There was one other thing that had seemed odd to her though.

"None of them seemed to be really worried about going to prison," she said. "Any idea why?"

Sergeant Bakuu chuckled. "That because all of the prisons on Trigalis, and most in the sector, have plenty of Zoloz already in them. Where ever we send them, they'll just be with a bunch of their buddies."

That was also very interesting.

"Any idea where we might find Cyllir, the local Zoloz Vice-president?" she asked as they arrived at the front desk.

"If he's not at their clubhouse, no," he replied. "I can put you in contact with Lieutenant Danills though, he runs the gang unit. He might know where else he might be hiding."

"Thank you," Ta'tan'ia answered politely. She could sense he was telling the truth. The part about not knowing where Cyllir was anyway.

The duty officer returned their blasters to them, and Sergeant Bakuu gave them Lieutenant Danills' comm code. He also gave them his own, and told them to comm him if they needed anything while they were on Trigalis. They thanked him, and head back out to the street.

"I'll bet Cyllir knows we're here," Stormie commented once they were outside. "Bakuu probably commed him before they even brought Quinn to us."

"Yeah, I had really hoped he'd tell us what we needed to know," Ta'tan'ia replied. While she didn't know if Sergeant Bakuu had reported their presence directly to Cyllir, between all of the officers and Zoloz they had talked to, word had probably gotten out that a Jedi and Imperial Security Officer were here. They probably knew why too.

"So now we have to find Cyllir, and have a chat with him," Stormie said. "And he's probably either under the biggest rock he can find, or with as many of his scumbag buddies he can get."

"If he's hiding, I'll find him," Ta'tan'ia responded assuredly, signaling for an air taxi. "And if his Zoloz friends try to get in the way, I'll take care of them," she added, patting her lightsaber at the small of her back.

Stormie nodded her head in agreement. "If it's all the same to you though, I'd like to swing by my ship, and get a blaster carbine."

"We're just going to check out their clubhouse," Ta'tan'ia replied as they slid into the backseat of the air taxi. "If there's too many of them there, then we'll back off."

Ta'tan'ia almost asked her if she had been in combat before. She didn't want to get her hurt if she was just an office agent or something. Almost as quickly she remembered that they'd been ambushed, and Stormie was the one that had gotten her out of it. That actually made her feel better. If they got into another tight, she wouldn't have to worry about her too much.

"Well, okay then," Stormie said after a few moments. "You want to comm Lieutenant Danills, and see if he knows where Cyllir might be?"

"Na, I got another angle I want to work first," Ta'tan'ia replied. "Besides, we don't trust Sergeant Bakuu, remember? And he gave us Lieutenant Danills' name."

"Okay," Stormie agreed. She paused a moment, then added, "By the way, just how many Zoloz did you go down on at this party?"

"Just Quinn," Ta'tan'ia answered. "And I let one more fuck me, and practically had sex with a third one in front of a bunch of them while I was only wearing my collar, some black nerfhide armlets, a thong, and fifteen-centimeter plastex heels," she explained.

"Nice," Stormie replied with friendly grin.

Ta'tan'ia glanced at her, and flicked her lekku in embarrassment. Why did I tell her all that?

Five minutes or so later, they had the Zoloz' clubhouse in sight. Ta'tan'ia had the air taxi stop a few hundred meters away. There weren't any speeder-bikes out front. She reached out with the Force, and didn't think she sensed anyone inside either.

"Drop us off at the Zoloz' clubhouse," she instructed the driver as she tapped commands into her comlink.

A few seconds later they came to a stop in front of the doors. Ta'tan'ia stretched her right arm up through the gap in the plastex divider. "Just scan my comlink," she instructed the driver.

He scanned her comlink, and the air taxi ride was paid for.

"We should have frakking blaster carbines for this," Stormie complained as they climbed out.

"Relax," Ta'tan'ia told her as the air taxi took off. "No one's here."

"So should we knock?" Stormie asked as they walked up to the door.

"It's the polite thing to do," Ta'tan'ia replied, pulling out her lightsaber. She ignited the blade, and deftly sliced through the locks of the double doors.

Stormie pulled out her blaster as Ta'tan'ia opened one of the doors. She kept her lightsaber in front of her as they walked inside.

The main room of the clubhouse was empty. There was still some evidence of the party, but someone had at least started to clean up. Ta'tan'ia didn't sense anyone else in the clubhouse either. They did a quick sweep of the main floor, then Ta'tan'ia had Stormie wait at the top of the stairs while she checked the basement. It was empty of Zoloz as well.

"Can't you just like, find them with the Force, or something?" Stormie asked her when she came back up to the main level.

"Probably," Ta'tan'ia answered. "But I want to look around a bit before I get to that." She paused a moment, then added, "Besides, I they aren't anywhere near here."

Ta'tan'ia went to the meeting room she had found on her previous visit. Unlike the rest of the clubhouse, the party hadn't extended into here. It did look like the police had been in here though.

The shorter of the two safes in the closet was wide open, and empty. The taller one's door was open a half-a-centimeter or so. Ta'tan'ia walked over, and opened it the rest of the way.

Inside Ta'tan'ia found a strappy red shirt. A heartbeat later she remembered it was the one she had worn to the Zoloz party the other day. There was a blaster next to it.

"Hey, that's mine," Stormie said as she stepped forward and picked up the blaster. "I must have lost it. . . when they ambushed us."

She checked the power level, and shoved it into her belt. Then she picked up the top.

"What's this?" she asked, holding it up by its shoulders.

"The shirt I wore to their party," Ta'tan'ia answered.

"Sexy," Stormie responded, eyeing the top, then eyeing Ta'tan'ia. "You want to keep it, since you don't have anything else to wear?"

"No thanks," Ta'tan'ia answered, looking around the room again for anything she had missed.

Stormie shrugged her shoulders, and tossed the top back into the safe. Then they went and did a little more of a thorough search of the other rooms of the clubhouse. When they got to the room where Ta'tan'ia had found Tahiri's clothes and stuff, Ta'tan'ia made sure she searched the closet herself. She didn't want Stormie spotting Tahiri's skimpy biker-slut clothes, or cuffs and shackles.

"I need to make a comm call," Ta'tan'ia told Stormie as they walked back up the stairs from the garage.

By the time Ta'tan'ia got to the bar, she was already talking to Jedi Turi Altamik again.

While she did that, Stormie stepped around behind the bar, and started looking around.

"Hey, I need some information," Ta'tan'ia told Turi. "There's a lot of corruption in the local law enforcement here on Trigalis. I need to know if there is someone I can trust in the New Coronet Security Force?"

"Just a sec, let me get to a computer terminal," Turi responded.

Twenty seconds or so later, Ta'tan'ia heard the faint sound of Turi tapping a computer terminal, then a moment of silence. "I don't have anyone noted here," she answered. "Let me do some checking around though, and see what I can come up with."

"Okay," Ta'tan'ia replied. "Please comm me back as soon as you find out," she told her.

"I will," Turi assured her.

Ta'tan'ia ended the call, and glanced over to see Stormie coming back out in front of the bar.

"I hoped to find a blaster rifle or something," she complained. "There's hardly even any booze left though."

"Well they did just have a pretty big party," Ta'tan'ia said, sliding off the bar stool. "And I think we're ready to go," she added. "Unless you have something else here you want to check out?"

"If there's no Zoloz, or directions to where some are, then I'm good," Stormie responded, following her towards the front door.

They went back outside, and started looking for an air taxi. They didn't see one, so they started walking.

"So where are we going now?" Stormie asked her.

"Back to your ship," Ta'tan'ia answered. "To wait for Turi to comm be back, and so I can start meditating for guidance."

"Good," Stormie responded. "I can turn the environmental system down to about ten degrees. This place is like an engine exhaust."

Ta'tan'ia had noticed the heat on her first visit. Her armored bodysuit and cloak certainly didn't help. At least Stormie was wearing a looser jumpsuit, although she didn't have the Force to help keep herself cooler. She also had all that hair on top of her head. Ta'tan'ia was thankful Twi'leks where naturally hairless.

"We are pretty much surrounded by a couple hundred thousand klicks of swamp," she finally replied.

"You know we can get on the local net and have an air taxi sent to us, right?" Stormie responded.

"I'm not in any hurry," Ta'tan'ia said with a shrug. "I can meditate while we walk."

"It really doesn't bother to walk in those heels?" Stormie asked in obvious disbelief.

"They're pretty comfortable," Ta'tan'ia said. "I walked a lot further everyday in eighteen-centimeter stiletto-heeled boots when I was Chief Daala's liaison."

"Well, when we get back to the spaceport, I'm going to rent us a speeder," Stormie informed her. "Something fast, in case we have to chase one of their swoop-bikes. And with a good enviro system."

"Good idea," Ta'tan'ia agreed with a nod.

"What if we checked out one of the other Zoloz' chapters in New Coronet?" Stormie asked. "They might know where Cyllir is."

"Let me see if the Jedi know someone we can trust in the Security Force first," Ta'tan'ia responded after a few moments' consideration. "There's only two of us. I don't want to try and take on all the Zoloz if we don't have too."

"If we kill all of them, then they can't buy any blasters," Stormie countered.

"We're not going to kill anyone we don't have to," Ta'tan'ia told her firmly.

"I was just joking," Stormie said dryly.

Ta'tan'ia flashed her a disapproving look, but didn't reply.

A couple of blocks later, they found an air taxi. They got in, and headed for the spaceport. After Ta'tan'ia paid for the ride with her comlink, they went to rent a speeder. Ta'tan'ia offered to have it put in her name, but Stormie insisted that it go in hers, saying that she might not be ready to pilot a speeder so soon after being knocked out. Ta'tan'ia disagreed on that, but let her have her way.