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Teodore nods to Mc'Gele. "Our friends risked their lives for us back at the refinery, we owe it to them to do the same. I'm willing to take our case to Commissar Cole. But only if we're ready. If there is anything else we can plausibly do to investigate this thing, than I say we do that first. Up to you all."

"Agreed. Cole is our best bet, but we aren't ready for that,"

Njal turned to Tambo "No, I couldn't pick this guy out from any other snowflake in a blizzard."

Simond dredges through his memory for the name. Could it be someone he met in the camp bar or when he was in the clinic getting treated for his injuries from the previous mission?
After a long few moments of quiet thoughtfulness he confidently replies. 'Never heard of him before this all. Perhaps we could make some inquires. Could make up a pretense and ask around a bit.'

Wyona looks at the facility again "Hmm.. best ideas I have is to go to the guards at the entrance, say "we were send to fetch Perez" and play loyal, dump soldier afterwards. You know "Don't know, didn't ask. We are just here to come get him" whenever they ask anything. Maybe we get lucky and they are to bored to inquire what we want from him.
Or we look around for someone on his smoking break and tell him, we are 'friends' of Perez and have some urgent business with him and he should meet us at the fence. If he really is our guy, he might come out thinking his fellows have to tell him something and come out. But he might as well be warned this way."

The lot of you think some more, until Tambo chips in "Maybe Teodore can come up and say he is a medicae and there is some infection spreading and that he MUST see Perez immediatly, as he had contact. But that it is very important to keep this low so that no panic spreads. The guards might buy this and Teodore could look for Perez without alarming him. Hell, we might even get away with taking him with us without anybody asking too many questions."

Teodore nods to Tambo's idea. "I like that idea. Maybe one of you can come with me though, maybe pose as an assistant or something."

"Simond is the best man to go with you Teodore. He can handle things if Perez gets cold feet and tries to drip."

Teodore nods: "So what's the plan, lure him out to a quiet place and have a friendly chat with him, or just confront him on the spot with what we have and hope he squeals?"

Simond gives the sergeant a smile. 'Right Teo, the kind of infection that a man wants to keep quiet, the kind that a man would urgently get treated.' He gives the medicae a sly smile.

'And if he decides to cut and run I'll get Balwin around the corner with the mounts, if he manges to get that far.'

"Probably lure him out to someplace private, anywhere really, and then turn up the heat.

I like where you are thinking Simond."

''In the experience of this tro... from what I experienced with the Catachans, we best do it out of sight, yes. As for the infection, this might cause further panic if we are caught, it may not be wise to start something that may spiral out of control if someone is at the wrong place at the wrong time''

Teodore nods to the mysterious Kreigsman. "Right, so I'll be reporting that Simond has contracted a rare disease that could be linked to a water parasite, and that more people could be at risk if he doesn't follow me immediately to the water treatment plant. That will definitely get his attention. At the very least he'll want to cover it up so he doesn't get in trouble. Then we'll lead him into a trap, and if he gets suspicious, Simond will mysteriously recover from his brain disease and restrain him."

Njal nodded along, "Sounds like you got it.

The rest of us will mill around out here. Maybe Tambo and I can get a game of Emperor's Grace going as cover? Anyone got any dice?

Use the comm-bead if you need some help. Not sure what exactly we can do though."

The plan sounds good enough and after settling for a quite spot outside of the fence around the corner of some buildings outside of the guards sight, Teodore and Simond start their way towards the guardhouse. The others disperse, with Njal, Tambo, Poncho, M'gele and Erc sitting down at the meeting point for a game of dice, while Wyona and Balwin go around to wait near the back of the facility, should Perez try to leg it.

While Teodore was thinking through what to say really hard, the two sentries at the gatehouse first and foremost look bored out of their mind and don't bother too much with both of you. Teodore has rarely started with his tale of some kind of disease as they already wave him through "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get the guy and fix him up. Can't have that stuff in our water supply." before turning their attention again to a small screen with some kind of telenovela on it.
That was... surprisingly easy.

Once inside you find yourself in between a confusing arrangement of pipes, barrels, drums and containers, with water and other fluids slushing and washing around in large basins, being filtered and cleared into a not really clean, but at least drinkable state. A couple of short inquiries lead you towards Perez working place, a bureaucontainer on stilts 8 feet above the ground supervising a set of four of these pools through a wall of windows. Through the glass you can see a slender middle aged man with combed over hair brooding over paperwork at his desk, that might be your man. A steel gangway leads up to the container, which is currently occupied by at least another woman that came into view a couple of times.

 Pyroalchi wrote:
The plan sounds good enough and after settling for a quite spot outside of the fence around the corner of some buildings outside of the guards sight, Teodore and Simond start their way towards the guardhouse. The others disperse, with Njal, Tambo, Poncho, M'gele and Erc sitting down at the meeting point for a game of dice, while Wyona and Balwin go around to wait near the back of the facility, should Perez try to leg it.

While Teodore was thinking through what to say really hard, the two sentries at the gatehouse first and foremost look bored out of their mind and don't bother too much with both of you. Teodore has rarely started with his tale of some kind of disease as they already wave him through "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just get the guy and fix him up. Can't have that stuff in our water supply." before turning their attention again to a small screen with some kind of telenovela on it.
That was... surprisingly easy.

Once inside you find yourself in between a confusing arrangement of pipes, barrels, drums and containers, with water and other fluids slushing and washing around in large basins, being filtered and cleared into a not really clean, but at least drinkable state. A couple of short inquiries lead you towards Perez working place, a bureaucontainer on stilts 8 feet above the ground supervising a set of four of these pools through a wall of windows. Through the glass you can see a slender middle aged man with combed over hair brooding over paperwork at his desk, that might be your man. A steel gangway leads up to the container, which is currently occupied by at least another woman that came into view a couple of times.

Teodore approaches the man, leading Simond by the arm.

"Excuse, I need to speak with a Mr. Perez. Are you him? You see this man, I have here? He is suffering from some kind of neurotoxin. And worse still, I 've encountered five similar patients in the last five days. Now my superiors were concerned that these patients contracted the illness from the water supply, but I assured them that this could be ruled out once the water treatment adepts turn over the latest water samples. Surely that will rule out water borne illness. At least that's what I told them."

"And you would be the person to get us those samples by coming with me right now to the water treatment plant right? So that way, this preposterous theory blaming you for a water contamination issue doesn't ever make it into an official report right?"

"Sorry to be blunt here. But I really don't want these accusations to go into any official reporting. The sooner I can put them to rest the better off we both will be."

Simmond tries to supress his surprise . At the first mention that he is a patient he stoops a bit more, then after some extra thought he lets some spit dribble from the corner of his mouth the way it does on the old or infirm.

[Nicely described, you two]

Upon entering the control room, you are received with a questioning look from a female clerk in her late forties doing some filing work on a large file cabinet, while the man you saw from below turns around on his desk chair. A name tag on his chest already spells "Perez", so this might be your guy. He doesn't look as if he would recognize you, so he does not seem to know of your pictscreen appearances. And if he was really involved directly into framing Malakai and Adamo, he doesn't seem to make the connection to you two - so far so good.

As Teodore tells his story, you see his face change from disbelief over a confrontative but unspoken "are you implying I did something wrong?" into something with a fair bit of panick sprinkled in, as he realizes he might be in a fair bit of trouble if his negligence caused some officer to fall ill. Teodores implication that the whole business might be kept on the low therefore meets with quite some gratitude and Perez gets up from his chair "of course, of course. Lets get down there and collect what you need. I can also show you the report cards, we have them all filed away, I guarantee it! Everything complete and in order!" The generell impression is one of a person with an almost fanatical adherence to proper filing, not really of someone able to commit a coldblooded murder. You do notice though, that he has his accesscard in a plastic-sheet buttoned to his chest, so it seems rather unlikely that someone would have been able to use it without him noticing.

As he passes Teodore to get to the door, he keeps as much distance as possible to the drooling Simond muttering to Teodore "Is it contagious? Throne I hope not..."
He would lead you down towards the insane connection of pipes and barrels towards a couple of valves from which water samples can be drawn. So far so good, but you still need an explanation why he should get outside of the compound if you want the help of the others questioning Perez.


___________________________


Outside at the dice game, Tambo thinks out loud: "When they bring our guy, I would propose we play some 'good cop, bad cop'. Poncho, your people are known for their uncompromising loyalty to the imperial cause. So you just... play yourself. Threaten him that you will haul him to the next blackhat dead or alive or that you will summary execute him on the spot for his treason. Njal, I think you make a convincing good cop. Show him some sympathy and tell him you are willing to let him go. M'Gele, Erc and me stand back a bit and see which approach works better. If we need more heat we put some more pressure on Ponchos side, if he needs a way out we let it look as if we are corrupt enough to let him leave, if he sells us his cronies."

Njal nods, "Good plan Tambo. But in the meantime..... I think I just rolled up the Emperor's Grace! Look at that boys. I might be in Throne's Grace today!" The Saint Paulian clapped his hands with unusual glee.

 Pyroalchi wrote:
[Nicely described, you two]

Upon entering the control room, you are received with a questioning look from a female clerk in her late forties doing some filing work on a large file cabinet, while the man you saw from below turns around on his desk chair. A name tag on his chest already spells "Perez", so this might be your guy. He doesn't look as if he would recognize you, so he does not seem to know of your pictscreen appearances. And if he was really involved directly into framing Malakai and Adamo, he doesn't seem to make the connection to you two - so far so good.

As Teodore tells his story, you see his face change from disbelief over a confrontative but unspoken "are you implying I did something wrong?" into something with a fair bit of panick sprinkled in, as he realizes he might be in a fair bit of trouble if his negligence caused some officer to fall ill. Teodores implication that the whole business might be kept on the low therefore meets with quite some gratitude and Perez gets up from his chair "of course, of course. Lets get down there and collect what you need. I can also show you the report cards, we have them all filed away, I guarantee it! Everything complete and in order!" The generell impression is one of a person with an almost fanatical adherence to proper filing, not really of someone able to commit a coldblooded murder. You do notice though, that he has his accesscard in a plastic-sheet buttoned to his chest, so it seems rather unlikely that someone would have been able to use it without him noticing.

As he passes Teodore to get to the door, he keeps as much distance as possible to the drooling Simond muttering to Teodore "Is it contagious? Throne I hope not..."
He would lead you down towards the insane connection of pipes and barrels towards a couple of valves from which water samples can be drawn. So far so good, but you still need an explanation why he should get outside of the compound if you want the help of the others questioning Perez.

"It's not contagious, but it IS a water borne illness. It's not likely that it came from the water supply. More likely that it was contracted while they were in the field, but we have to be sure."

After accepting the water samples, he pauses.

"I'll tell you what. Since you've been so helpful, I'd like to repay the favor. I can get a preliminary test done on the samples in an hour. In three hours I'll need to turn my report in. So how about we meet up at the [Bar where they all hang] in about an hour and a half? That way I can give you a little advance notice if this is an issue, maybe give you a little extra time to deal with any potential fall out if the test comes back positive?

Perez still seems rather stressed regardless of Teodores nice demeanor and nods eagerly "I'll be there, you can count on it!" before he hurries back to his control room. You get the feeling that he is pretty spooked, but that is not surprising in light of the trouble he might be in.


Counting that as a success, the two Guardsmen finish their special mission and return to their fellows to plan the next steps.

(Anything special planned or do you just wait for Perez to met you at the bar?)

About half way to the med center Teodore turns to Simond. "Alright you know what the guy looks like so just head there and let the rest of the lads know he's coming. I'll continue on to the Medical Center to run these "tests." After the lads interrogate the guy we can all meet back up at the barracks.

[Teodore is going to let the rest of the crew do the interrogation to put some distance between himself and the shakedown, just in case anyone is following them or otherwise spying]

Simond returns to the group and fills them in on the meeting.

Njal nodded. Easy as plucking fish out of the ice.

"How do we want to play this? It is possible this guy wasn't involved at all, just had is ID ripped, or he could be in neck deep.

Perhaps the Sarge should stay out of this, and let Tambo, Simond, Poncho, and I do the dirty work?"

"Sounds good to me..." Tambo answers, while Wyona looks rather contemplative "I don't really want to stay on the sidelines on this... but you might be right, Njal. Squeeze him a little bit, but don't get to far. If he is innocent, we might get into some serious trouble."

Tambo on the other hand suggests "I could see if the innkeep of the bar is open to some... gifts. Your know as compensation for giving us some privacy with Perez. We wouldn't want everybody and their mother talking about it tomorrow.
Any other ideas before we start?"

Simond scratches his chin. 'If he is suspicious once he sees me he will bolt. Maybe I should stay back, and stop him from reaching the door if he wants to try to run.'

''Well I was never really trained in dirty work'' The Kriegsman seems hesitant, the fact near-normal human interaction is somewhat of an alien concept for him, even with the time spent with the possibly less unhinged Catachans, probably explains it

''I will help my comrades, however, you can count on this trooper''

Njal laughed, "All you have to do is be yourself, that will do the job nicely Poncho."
He slapped the Krieger on the back good-naturedly.

Some time passes until finally, as the hour mentioned by Teodore, Perez appears at the door of the tavern. Besides your lot there are not many guests around, a pair of workers in heavy overalls had entered shortly before and are drinking silently at one of the tables and an off duty guardswomen is gambling away some of her credit slips on a slot machine. The innkeep had pointed you towards the hindwall of the bar, where there are some alcoves for you to talk a bit more privately and has turned the volume of the music from the speakers in the front half of the room a bit louder. Of course if you start screaming, the other guests will notice it, but they should not hear the details of a normal discussion.

Perez looks very tense, even a bit agitated. The whole business with the water seems to have really gotten on his nerves. He approaches the desk with Teodore who sits alone in one of the alcoves, while the rest of the "interrogation team" is rolling some dice and chatting in one of the others to not immediatly scare him off. Through your combead Wyona wispers "There's a group of four that arrived shortly after Perez and are smoking LHO sticks in a corner outside... Just that you know..."

'Do they look like they could be armed?' Simond asked in a carefully measure tone. 'If not, then they are probably not here for us.'

 Pyroalchi wrote:
Some time passes until finally, as the hour mentioned by Teodore, Perez appears at the door of the tavern. Besides your lot there are not many guests around, a pair of workers in heavy overalls had entered shortly before and are drinking silently at one of the tables and an off duty guardswomen is gambling away some of her credit slips on a slot machine. The innkeep had pointed you towards the hindwall of the bar, where there are some alcoves for you to talk a bit more privately and has turned the volume of the music from the speakers in the front half of the room a bit louder. Of course if you start screaming, the other guests will notice it, but they should not hear the details of a normal discussion.

Perez looks very tense, even a bit agitated. The whole business with the water seems to have really gotten on his nerves. He approaches the desk with Teodore who sits alone in one of the alcoves, while the rest of the "interrogation team" is rolling some dice and chatting in one of the others to not immediatly scare him off. Through your combead Wyona wispers "There's a group of four that arrived shortly after Perez and are smoking LHO sticks in a corner outside... Just that you know..."

Teodore speaks quietly but gestures for Njal to approach as he does so. "Thanks for meeting me here. In case you hadn't figured it out already, you actually have bigger problems than the water supply. Now in one moment, I'm going to stand up and go to the bar to get a drink. While I am doing that, my friend here is going to step in and ask you a few questions. It's really important that you answer the questions honestly, he's not the sort of man you want to cross."

Teodore gets up and hands off the conversation to Njal.