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[Ghost]

"I certainly can," Stettler said, tweaking the dosage he was working on a little. Then he took out another syringe and filled it up with another drug. "An induced and extended R.E.M-sleep. It is not overly difficult to attain, and only slightly demanding to sustain. I'll have to give him a little of this solution at a time, to keep him from slipping under - or waking up. If you are ready, I'll give him this shot to start waking him up, and then administer the other to make sure he remains in the REM-stage of sleep; that he only comes halfway to the surface, if you will."

[kropotkin41]

'Right then' Jones says and cracks his knuckles in a most businesslike way, 'This shouldn't take long and I'll close the door behind me'

Jones sits opposite the slumped gangster and takes hold of his hand in a gentle, almost reassuring way.

'All right fella, Uncle Osman is going to walk in your dreams for a while.'

[Ghost]

Following the described procedure, Stettler administered the 'waking-up'-drug, then followed up quickly with the other sedative that would keep the man in the desired state. He then took up a seat on the other side of the 'patient' from Jones, so that he could increase the dosage when necessary. He then gave a nod to the psion (which he continued to think of Jones as, effctively excluding himself from the category), and watched with interest as the 'interview' began...

[kropotkin41]

Jones doesn't speak at all; his brow furrows a little, but his body remains relaxed. The gangster's form barely moves, although his eyes roll a little as if he is trying to open them perhaps, or is lost in a dream........

kropotkin41 rolled 2d6 ± 5 and obtained 13 ( 5,3, ). Reason : Osman Jones Psionic

After a few minutes, whilst keeping hold on the subject's hand, Jones sits back just a little and says 'Well, he knows that so-called political prisoners have been brought across the frontier into this system, and it seems that Kreeg is aware of the slave trade although he is not involved in it himself in more than a marginal way: apparently he has acquired certain "play things" from the slavers in the past......... Kreeg it seems is a man of bizarre and somewhat sadistic tastes. Kreeg has a number of bases, but his main residence is this supposed mining base not very far from here; according to what this guy knows Kreeg has a portion of the administration of this system in his pocket, but not all of it; his power on this shipyard is exaggerated, but his protection racket helps oil the wheels and he bungs a fair amount of money to the management here to keep things sweet.'

Jones wipes his brow with his free hand and takes a sip from a glass of water.

'It seems that there have been whispers of Zho agents in this system, and some talk of them crossing the frontier into Imperial space from here. Again, it seems that Kreeg find this a little too hot and doesn't get involved. All this guy knows about the Ine Gevar is that from time-to-time anti-Imperial fighters turn up looking for mercs or equipment; it is rumoured that there may be bases, but nothing certain. In short Doctor it doesn't seem that Kreeg is directly involved in anything very much that would provide evidence of GV slave trafficking or working with the Zhos....... not to say nothing, but this guy's opinion of his boss could basically be summed up as "very nasty piece of work, but reassuringly cautious about what he gets involved in." When I look directly for the kind of information that might lead to our next best step everything points to an old orbital rig, Rig 1774, around this system's second gas giant, I think it is the place that was mentioned in the briefing on The Poignard..........'

Jones re-engages with the guy, but you assume that what he is doing now is tampering with memories and "closing doors"; making sure to the best of his ability that his tracks are covered. After another few minutes he lets the guy's hand drop and relaxes back into his chair.

At the same moment Stettler's comm unit buzzes discreetly......

Dr Stettler, this is Lady Margaret, is all well with you?

Edited by kropotkin41, 05 March 2011 - 10:50 PM.

[Ghost]

'He's reading this man like an open book,' Stettler thought as he watched Jones at work. When the psion later related all the information he ha gleaned, Stettler felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise; No secrets safe. No defence against this sort of 'attack'. He felt a little quesy about what they had done - what he had suggested they do. It was so easy to wield the weapon when it lay at hand, wasn't it...? So very easy. How quick would he be to draw that weapon on his own in the future? He found himself almost hoping that unpleasantness he had felt in the restaurant would remain with him; that would make the powers very unappetizing to use...

But there was no denying the value of what Jones had learned; they were certainly closer to what they were after, thanks to the 'procedure'.

"That was as impressive and useful as it was unsettling, my friend," Stettler said to Jones, as he administered a bit more of the drug to put the patient under and out of 'earshot' again, before he took out the communicator.

"M'lady, this is Stettler. All is well here. We also have some very interesting news..." Leaving out his own moral qualms, Stettler then proceeded to relate what they had learned, finishing with the fact that the Rig that had been mentioned in the briefing might be a more likely avenue of investigation.

[kropotkin41]

Dr Lady Margaret cuts in, please save your news until you arrive here. We shall hope to see you in a few minutes.

Jones looks tired now, 'Well, he is actually quite a weak-minded subject, perhaps he has a history of using hallucinogens. In any event your medication made the whole procedure quite straightforward. He won't remember this evening at all. We just need to get him somewhere that won't prompt any memories or provide any links to us.'

[Ghost]

"My dear lady Margaret; you can hope all you like, but 'a few minutes' is a little optimistic. You would rather I was not... 'verbose' over the comms, so suffice it to say I have some business here that demands finishing up. We are lucky if we can be there in half an hour. Reagrdless, we will report in once we are under way. If something makes it so you have to go before that, we will have to come after, by some other mode of transport."

Stettler shook his head at Jones, to show he was rather affected by the sudden rush they seemed to be in. It was chance that they had met this man at all, and lucky that they had gotten so much out of him in so short a time; by rights they ought to have had a lot more time to investigate this Kreeg fellow before rushing off to their next stop. As it was, he wasn't about to get in worse trouble just because the people at the top were getting bored of sitting around.

"Try and relax for a few minutes," Stettler told Jones - once again worried by the level of exhaustion he saw on the man's features after using the 'skills' he possessed. Then he called down to the reception, and asked for a wheelchair to be sent up. As they waited for the chair, he started packing up his things. They'd bring the man downstairs, get him on one for the transports and take him away from the Main concourse, before finding some place to discretely stash him away.

[kropotkin41]

That will be fine Doctor, we also have something to clear up here. If the noblewoman has noticed a tone of exasperation in Stettler's voice she shows no sign of annoyance.

A wheelchair arrives, brought by a little porter-bot.

'Don't worry about me' Jones says reassuringly, 'I expect I'll have time to rest on the flight to Quare.'

[Ghost]

By the time the wheelchair arrived Stettler was almost packed. He asked the bot to hold, and with some help from Jones, he got their guest into the wheelchair, before he finished packing. Once that was done, he loaded his luggage onto the bot, and they took the elevator down into the lobby.

"Do you have a moment?" he comm'ed to Shranael, choosing to be discrete; no names and no info before he got the go-ahead. While he waited for a reply, he paid for his room and prepared to leave.

Edited by Ghost, 10 March 2011 - 09:23 AM.

[kropotkin41]

ooc: Is Stettler calling Shraneal on her comms?........ because she is already posting in the other thread. If you can get away without causing a continuity error that'd be great.... can we just assume that Stettler missed the opportunity for a chat with Shran this time?