"What we need to know," the Captain said to Zuthus, "is how he killed those people, why he did it, and who he's working with, or for. Be careful though, friend. He's a Jedi, or a Sith or something. We've got him on a sedative so he can't pull anything fancy on you, we think. Good luck, Mr. Bralor. Let's hope we can put these bastards away for a long time." He patted the Mandalorian on the shoulder and then went back inside the freighter. It had been a hard fight and a long flight, and he needed some sleep. He also had a letter he felt compelled to write to Sarous's mother on Iridonia, who deserved to know that her son had died doing something worthwhile.

Gregory Blount
Imperial Intelligence

"Well, at least we got some wine and women out of it," Roland mused on the way back to Taris the following day. Voss was heavily sedated again and tucked away in one of the rooms in their Barloz-class freighter. The Mandalorians had handed him back after four hours of interrogation, having obtained absolutely no information. But this wasn't from want of trying—it seemed that the Mandalorians, true to form, had pulled out all the stops in the interrogation; OV600, lacerations in the face, broken bones in the hands, even finger and toe nails pulled out in circumstances that the Captain didn't doubt hadn't exactly been clinical. Voss hadn't apparently found any of it persuasive.

The Captain shook his head. "We certainly had a better night than our suspect did," he agreed, drily. He didn't like handing over someone in his custody and care to be tortured, especially not in the way the Mandalorians had gone about it. But he had no illusions about the line of work he was in.

"So, Taris?" Roland asked.

"Yes," the Captain nodded, "Coruscant says the Jedi are sending someone there to meet us."

"Think the Jedi can ID the guy?"

"Maybe," the Captain shrugged, "Should be able to tell us something about him, I hope."

"Like why he's still alive with all those known diseases inside him?"

"Yeah, or else the doctors can tell us that. He's going to need a lot of medical attention when we get to Taris."

And he did receive it. When they landed on Taris a day later, Voss, still sedated, was treated at an NRI safehouse on the planet and, in the process, was administered an interrogation drug that was derived from Bavo Six, with Bavo Six's power to stimulate cooperation but none of its associated pain enhancing effects. It did no good. However it was that Voss's body was regulating the diseases within it, it was also regulating the chemicals that the Mandalorians and, now, the NRI had attempted to use. And so Voss was given bacta treatments for his wounds and, as soon as he was deemed conscious, was officially read his rights and informed that he was in New Republic custody on Taris awaiting trial for the deaths of the dozens killed in the Dantooine plague.

The Captain and Roland, by now, were long gone. Roland caught a passenger liner back to Coruscant, while the Captain returned the Barloz-class freighter to the dealership on Bonadan where he'd rented it under a false name some weeks ago and then he, too, would eventually make his way to Coruscant. Back on Taris, Voss would be placed under light sedation—enough to make it difficult for him to concentrate and use the Force, but not difficult to communicate—as he waited in an interrogation room for whatever Jedi that Yavin had sent to question him.

Gregory Blount
Imperial Intelligence

This assignment had intrigued him at first, when he was told that the NRI had in its custody a suspect believed to be Force sensitive. The NRI had contacted the Academy, requesting assistance in questioning him, and Jace had been on Bandomeer, near to Taris, to retrieve his X-wing following the recent incident on Krayiss II. It was convenient for everyone. But even if he was indeed intrigued at the many diseases found inside the man and the assumption that the Force might be involved in regulating them, he was also appalled at how the NRI, or whoever had captured him in the first place, had treated him. Jace had shaken off most his agitation on the way to the holding room where Voss waited, however, and he entered it with a blank expression on his face. But his mind was working, as if holding up to the light all of the thoughts and emotions he could sense from Voss. No doubt, Voss would be doing the same.

"My name is Jace Varitek," he said as he seated himself opposite Voss at the table, "I'm a Jedi Knight. And you are?" He paid close attention to the man's reactions. There certainly was an odd sense about him, as if even in this sedated condition, the Force was at work within him. He reminded himself to study this in closer detail in a few moments, once he had Voss talking.

Jace Varitek
Manager/Administrator from January 2003 to Present
My recent posts here, pre-2009 archives here

"When my information changes, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
—John Maynard Keynes

Furthermore, a dancing Wookiee:

Brakiss was still out there somewhere, his thirst for blood apparently not quenched with the millions he killed on Almania. Drasek Cale might be alive, might be dead. Who knew? Then there was Kenas who, the last Jace had heard of his old friend, had become a mercenary on the Outer Rim. But it would be uncharacteristic of him, or Drasek for that matter, to fall in with a man like Voss. Jace lamented to himself that the Academy was not better at restraining the worst instincts and passions of its students, so that he would need not doubt his old friends and peers. But he admonished himself, then, not to come to conclusions so soon. It was possible that Voss indeed hadn't encountered a Jedi, as he claimed. Jace had sensed that he wasn't lying, but that didn't mean he wasn't mincing his words.

But Voss was certainly Force sensitive—Jace had a better sense of that feeling inside the man, now. The Force was indeed busy inside of him, but there was no sensation of the Force being manipulated, being willed, as it was when someone "used" the Force. It was almost as if Voss were using the Force without knowing it. One thing was for sure, from the man's medical record; he should be dead. Perhaps, then, the Force was the reason he wasn't. Suddenly he wished that Master Solusar were here. She was far more knowledgeable than Jace about such things.

The Mandalorians, Jace thought solemnly. Had they done this? He shouldn't be surprised, he supposed. The Mandalorians didn't exactly have the most sterling reputation. He shook the thought from his mind and returned to the issue at hand. "Well," he said, "You can tell me how it is you happened to be on Tatooine at the same time that an anonymous individual on that planet who claimed responsibility for the release of the plague on Dantooine—a plague comprised of several of the diseases inside your body, and was released in locations on Dantooine where you were known to be—demanded that the Chief of State give him a crate of credits to make it stop."

"Would you like to admit to this?" Jace asked him, "Or do you maintain that you're a victim of what is surely one of the largest coincidences in the history of ever?"

Jace Varitek
Manager/Administrator from January 2003 to Present
My recent posts here, pre-2009 archives here

"When my information changes, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
—John Maynard Keynes

Furthermore, a dancing Wookiee:

But did Jace believe this was the reason that Voss had gone to Dantooine? No. Jace sighed. "You must have some very cunning enemies," he said, "to frame you so completely as to use exactly the viruses and compounds inside your body, and to release them in all of the places you happened to be. And speaking of those places, that's another curious thing, isn't it? You went into—" he glanced at a file that had been provided to him—"four bars and three restaurants, crowded places, and never ordered anything to eat or drink. And quite a few of the patrons, and later victims, told the police that they remembered a tall and pale human with a breath mask carelessly bumping into them." The Jedi's tone of voice was not sarcastic, as it might have seemed, but was rather a dispassionate recounting of the facts. "As far as they can tell," Jace said, still looking at the file, "it seems you were the only person who visited all of the places the plague was known to originate from." He looked up at Voss for a long moment, but said nothing.

Jace Varitek
Manager/Administrator from January 2003 to Present
My recent posts here, pre-2009 archives here

"When my information changes, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
—John Maynard Keynes

Furthermore, a dancing Wookiee: