Cantrell - Engel

[Allard Keever]

Theme​

Allard frowned slightly as he sat in the waiting room for the meeting with the leader of one of the political parties here on Ord Cantrell, the Conservationist Party.

The slicers within the Guild had confirmed that the attack on the Militia building had been a terrorist group located on Ord Cantrell with suspected links to the party in question. Sat in the waiting room, Allard's blood was still boiling from the fire that had been caused.

The deaths that had occurred.

It hadn't been the only attack either and more than a dozen innocent civilians were dead alongside almost a hundred militia personnel. It was too much and too far for Allard to accept as just another fact of life.

He had asked Nolan to come here as well, to the capital building, to discuss this with the politician but if he was being honest with himself?

He had asked Nolan here so he had someone to hold him back.

@Catbert

 

[Nolan Kodd]

Again, Nolan felt out of place as he was sitting in an armchair in the waiting room. Expensive resort planet aside, he'd be dealing with powers that be for the first time in his life. Even if that power was limted to only one planet. After all, during all his time on Nar Shaddaa he had never attained enough prominence to meet with even a mid-level Hutt Cartel member.

But then again, it was Allard's meeting, not his. Nolan was surprised to be invited: after all, the original plan was to just infiltrate a militia building and grab a gun from there. But now the councilor of the Free Trade Guild was apparently intent on bringing to justice the people who were responsible for the ruthless attack that had occured moments before the two would-be infiltrators had a chance to go in and try to steal the weapons.

It still somewhat baffled Nolan why the smuggler would pursue this seemingly rewardless endeavor. Sure, it was the right thing to do, no doubt about it. But nobody Nolan knew would go these lengths just to make right for an incident they witnessed. Nobody except for Allard, apparently.

"You do the talking, right?" Nolan asked his friend, if only to start a conversation. However, more questions nudging the young man. The most outstanding was simple: "What information is there to be gained from this meeting?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Allard Keever]

Would he do most of the talking?

"Don't worry about the talking - talking I can do in spades." he assured Nolan with narrowed eyes as he glared at the secretary as if willing the time to move faster so that he could get on in there and lay into the politician, "What I need you to do, Nolan, is make sure that talking is all I do. Because if this man is as responsible as I think he is?"

He left it unsaid.

"Hopefully he can... direct us."

Allard planned on finding those who had actually carried out the attack and doing something about them. And the something he planned to do with them just so happened to be the permanent and lethal kind of thing. Normally he would have wanted to capture them but considering what they'd actually done?

Not so much.

The secretary waved them in and Allard already could tell that he wasn't going to like the man sat behind the desk.

"Representative Tremmel!"

Allard closed the door behind them and locked it... before proceeding to smash the access panel that allowed the door to be opened. He scowled at the politician,

"We are going to have a chat about this terrorist group... Crimson Dawn."

The representative swallowed thickly,

"Nolan... keep an eye on the windows. I don't want to be arrested."

The politician shook his head a little bit,

"Look... just... don't do anything rash... we can talk this out..."

Spoiler: Dice Rolls

How intimidated the representative is

@Catbert

 

[Nolan Kodd]

Meeting with a guy to ask for directions like that? Nolan had doubts it would work, but he let Allard carry on with the plan nonetheless. That's why he followed him into the room.

What Allard did next caught even Nolan off guard. After all, you don't just walk into an office, block the exit and expect to hear answers from the owner of the said office about something that could potentially explose his implication in some nasty business.

That's why Nolan couldn't stop Allard from smashing the console in time: it wasn't how he would've done things, but then again, Nolan didn't have the clout and fame that his associate had.

The young man looked at Allard with confusion after receiving an order to keep an eye on the windows and the motivation for it; after all, so far during this meeting Allard had been doing everything to get the two of them arrested. With a nod he went over to the window, turning his face to the politician as he passed him.

"Sorry about the mess. Never seen my friend like that," Nolan didn't even have to fake a shrug, as he had actually never seen Allard like that: "I guess you'd better tell him what he asks, he's pretty upset and isn't thinking rationally."

The politician seemingly ignored Nolan's remark altogether: either Nolan was below his notice, the "good cop" approach came too soon. There was also the option of the politician being too intimidated by Allard to pay attention to anyone else, which was the most likely reason.

Either way, Nolan took a position near the window, keeping one eye on the street and the other on Allard, in case he'd try to do something rash again. This time Nolan would be ready.

Spoiler: Dice rolls

The success or failure of Nolan's "good cop" approach

@Nefieslab

 

[Allard Keever]

Allard could tell that the representative was beginning to sweat and that was good... to be honest, smashing the console had done quite a bit of good in getting Allard to be able to calm down a little bit. Hence why he didn't pull a gun or something stupid like that but instead just sat down opposite the Representative with a sigh.

There was silence for a moment before Allard nodded to Nolan,

"My friend here is right." he declared after a moment, "I am very upset Mr. Tremmel. See... there's been some terrorist attacks on your world recently..."

The representative didn't so much as twitch but Allard could tell that he knew where this was going. Indeed, the representative's hand were still shaking a little bit but he put them together on the desk to stare back at Allard, giving Nolan a few glances as if asking for support,

"I... have no idea why you're talking to me about this." he defended himself rather weakly, coughing a little bit, "Is there... any particular reason you felt the need to ask me?"

Allard just raised an eyebrow at the representative before glancing at Nolan,

"Want to tell the representative why that isn't the best answer he could have given?"

Spoiler: Dice Rolls

22 more points needed to intimidate/coerce the Representative to reveal his connections to the terrorist group
How intimidated the representative is
New Total: 16

@Catbert

 

[Nolan Kodd]

Nolan still stood by the window, throwing an occasional glance there. He could only hope that Allard would manage to squeeze the confession out of the politician in time. Otherwise his staff might get too worried or the law enforcement would probably arrive. How the noise of the breaking control panel hadn't drawn attention yet, Nolan couldn't comprehend.

In the meantime, Allard was busy talking to Mr. Tremmel, now in a more peaceful manner. The situation has de-escalated for now, but Nolan wouldn't bet on for how long. As Allard addressed him, Nolan shrugged: "I don't know," he walked over to the table to stand by Allard's side, looking at the politician. "I mean, it's not like my advice has been taken to note this far," Nolan shrugged, now turning his face to Allard: "Look, even if he doesn't tell the truth, don't push it, ok? I don't want the repetition of the last time. Just put what you found on the HoloNet, it'd be much worse than whatever you could do here."

Having said that, Nolan winked to the politician with an encouraging smile that basically said: Don't worry, at least he probably won't harm you physically. After that he walked over to the window again. Hopefully, Mr. Tremmel would now be a little more off balance, concerned with what Allard could do and what they knew.

Spoiler: Dice rolls

Nolan's persuasion attempt[
New total: 18

@Nefieslab

 

[Allard Keever]

Allard could see that Tremmel was taking this all rather hard.

Nolan was beginning to get his way into his head and the man was still very much afraid of Allard so it was time to push it all a bit further and Nolan had given him the perfect way to get into the politicians head.

"Right you are my friend." he agreed, taking the lead again from Nolan as he held Tremmels gaze, "The thing is Mr Tremmel... We already have quite a lot of evidence to suspect you are linked to this terrorist organisation. We are here because we do not deal in rumours and hearsay. We deal in facts."

Tremmel swallowed thickly.

"The public? They don't deal in facts... do they Mr Tremmel?" he tutted, "No... as much as we like to think that people are smart, the truth is that groups of people are dumb. They panic. And they act based on emotions. How long do you think you would last if we made the evidence we have about your connections public?"

The man swallowed thickly but he couldn't think to speak at this point.

"I... I mean I..."

Spoiler: Dice Rolls

How much more effected the representative is by Allard's push
Total has reached required amount - next round politician will provide all information.

@Catbert

 

[Nolan Kodd]

To Nolan's surprise, the politician turned out to be easily intimidated; at least it looked that way, and Allard sure made it look easy. Before Tremmel's confusion could finally get the better of him, Nolan interfered, moving towards the table again.

He started speaking in a calm and somewhat reassuring tone: "Look, it doesn't have to go down like that. If it had to, we wouldn't be here. All we want are answers to some questions and then we'll be on our way, and hopefully never cross paths again," Nolan shrugged and looked at Allard, as if to confirm that it was indeed the plan. Evidence aside, at that very moment he was feeling kind of sorry for the politician.

As the young man turned his face towards Mr. Tremmel, he continued weaving his net of persuasion, offering a convenient way out: "No reasonable man would deal with the likes of Crimson Dawn by his own choice. I'm sure you had your reasons. But those are dangerous people, and this planet would be better off without them." He let the thought sink into Tremmel's mind.

"We took the deaths we saw during the attack to heart, and my friend wants to bring the perpetrators to justice," with that, Nolan made a finger gun to illustrate how Allard intended to carry out that plan. "So, can you help us?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Allard Keever]

Allard knew that the man was going to break so he reached into his pocket and removed a datapad, pushing a record function on it so that what was said next was fully recorded and could be used against the man if he went back on his word. And so that they would have records of what we true and what wasn't.

It was just good practice when dealing with politicians.

"Alright I... the Crimson Dawn was just a small terrorist group when... when I contacted them." he admitted, surprising even Allard with the admission that he had contacted them, "My political party's rival was gaining more influence under the banner of securing the planet against attacks so... I gave the Crimson Dawn access to information about our militia defences, outposts and bases so that they would be hit."

Allard ran a hand through his hair,

"By the Force... you just gave them everything?"

Tremmel was quick to add,

"They were small time! They weren't supposed to be able to get this amount of firepower or numbers from the credits I supplied them..."

... and the story just kept getting worse didn't it?

Allard stared at the man for a long moment in silence,

"You dropped the credits off at their base?"

Tremmel nodded so Allard continued,

"Put the co-ordinates into the datapad. I'm going to clean up your mess." he declared firmly before glancing back at Nolan, "I don't expect you to come on this one Nolan. If you want to back out that'll be fine - I'll make sure you still get the money and the weapon once this is all over but I... I want to see this through."

@Catbert

 

[Nolan Kodd]

Nolan listened to the politician's confessions from a distance; it was still Allard's show, for the most part. The reasoning Tremmel had given was weak, and the reasons were clearly dirty. But having grown up on Nar Shaddaa, Nolan wasn't surprised by the intrigue or didn't find it overly revolting. The Smuggler's Moon had worse kinds of people.

With the confession recorded, Allard turned to Nolan and informed him of his plans. The whole thing had definitely grown a lot from the simple "sneak and grab" operation they were planning at the beginning. Nolan definitely wouldn't have gotten into it on his own.

Even now he wondered: why would he even agree for such a mission? He was a pilot, not a vigilante. Sure, what Crimson Dawn did was wrong on any level fathomable. Did Nolan feel sorry for the victims? Definitely, yes. But was it Nolan's problem to solve? No, even if he felt strongly about it.

Then, there was Allard; a person whom Nolan had come to think of as a friend over a few past meetings with him. He seemed to have principles, unlike many people on Nar Shaddaa. Helping him to carry out his plan was the right thing to do. Still, that alone wouldn't have swayed Nolan.

But there was the last straw: the fact that Allard had promised him a good deal with upgrading his ship. If he perished on his idealistic crusade now, Nolan would've done it all for nothing. Not the most noble motivation, sure. But the combination of all the factors mentioned above has led to Nolan making up his mind.

"I'm in," the young man said, with a faint trace of reluctance in his voice: "I guess we're done here?" With that, he threw a quick glance at the politician, before returning his gaze to Allard. Nolan was standing and ready to leave. "I just hope that door has an override."

@Nefieslab

 

[Allard Keever]

Allard took the datapad from Tremmel with a sigh and he just shook his head at the politician as he stepped away with Nolan towards the door. He honestly couldn't believe that the representative had been that stupid but... well when it came to human beings he supposed there really wasn't a lot that they weren't stupid enough to consider when there was the right mix of greed, fear and stupidity thrown into the mix.

This was going to be a hell of a lot of fun, right?

Fighting terrorists wasn't what Nolan had signed up for and Allard appreciated that the other man was sticking around with him regardless.

"Thank you Nolan." he thanked the man sincerely before nodding and pulling a small lever along the side of the door that forced it open a few inches, like a lift door, so he could pull it open, "There's always a way out."

/End Thread
@Catbert