Chapter 120: V.2-C.21│Problems in Paradise III│
Interrogation, the action of interrogating or the process of being interrogated.
This process was usually slow, meticulous, tedious and usually didn't come up with any results as people scrambled, lied, acted, told half-truths or just straight up admit to something they have done but are still able to get away with things according to the law.
Unfortunately for criminals within the Empyrean, they didn't have an easy time. They didn't have an easy time at all.
Especially those who ended up being taken by higher forces within the government, that were not a part of the police system or judicial process of the Empyrean.
There were many ways to make one talk and it was made all the more easier with Anakin having taught those of whom are Force-sensitive the ability he had developed for himself. It regards to telepathy, empathic and mind reading techniques used through the Force with which allows those who are Force-sensitive to be able to see through the minds of others completely.
Of course they didn't a way to protect themselves as well, just as he had started out all those years ago.
The living droids had taken an extremely potent liking to these various techniques for two reasons, one being the most important. It was taken as a divine gift to them, a divine gift meant to be used against those who would want to do harm to Anakin or others around him. A gift to protect themselves.
Basically a power granted to them through his grace, and they weren't exactly wrong as through their bond to him, he is able to transfer some knowledge to them if he wanted to. His own integrated interface works like a way to better connect him to the living droids, which of course only increased their devotion towards him.
Anakin feared what they would do or how zealous they would become once the creation of their synthetic bodies are done.
The target, now that he had been captured was chained and brought into the asteroid belt of the Obana System where the Intelligence Division or Department was located. No one knew exactly where their headquarters were, not even the citizens knew but they knew that the Empyrean had such a department.
It was meant to keep out an eye for both internal and external affairs related to the safety of the people.
The target, now prisoner was being brought in with metaphorical 'chains' as the technology this galaxy had access to was far more potent and efficient than simple chains. The use of chains would be cruel as well as it could create physical damage to ones body, not that an enhanced person that has gone through with the super serum couldn't easily handle.
For now this person will be referred to as the prisoner because his name has still not been identified. The prisoner was adamant in not giving anything up and had even gone so far to cut his own tongue off.
It was a gruesome sight to see but the agents had been mentally and emotionally trained for such events and it helped that they were predisposed with distinguishing traits that made it all the more easier to stomach such radical behavior.
The prisoner now having his tongue bitten through and damaged would be incapable of saying anything even if they tortured him ruthlessly, not that they were even going to do that anyway.
Grievous would be coming in to make sure he knew nothing, or if he knew something that would lead to the goals, desires and designs Anakin had in store for them all. One such goal is to make sure conflict is there, as without it the Empyrean could stagnate and he wouldn't want that.
There is a reason Humans within his past life even still fought in wars up to the day he had died. It didn't only bring in advancements in many fields but it also brought along with them various amounts of valuable resources.
Here however, Anakin's valuable resource he is fighting for here is the prosperity of the Empyrean itself because it is a threat from the inside they are taking care of. He cant let corruption exist, even though there currently really wasn't any real form of corruption from within.
Other than himself of course, but he believes and from the results shown to him that he is doing a great job. From his position however it is all too easy to sometimes think about people in terms related to numbers and not just think about the people themselves.
This is partially why he allowed such radicals to exist in a suppressed manner that wouldn't lead to many harmful acts. They had not killed anyone, at least anyone from within the Empyrean because they seemed to know that if they took it to that level, they would be thoroughly annihilated.
Insurgence to fight corruption and make sure he is given a wake up call every now and then in relation to what the people want. Of course he wont just take the words of radical people into account as their views were too extreme but they could point out to him from where those views originated.
He could then enact laws or remove laws that fostered such a sentiment.
The Empyrean was within a constant state of flux, just like it was for any living being. Evolving and ridding themselves of the old while trying out the new and improved bits and pieces. Whether it worked or didn't all depended on how well this evolutionary path adapted to its environment and Anakin was all for that.
"Now that I have you alone, prisoner. It would seem that you have made it impossible to communicate with you in a normal manner." Grievous stated as he paced around in the room the two were in.
Since it was only Grievous really capable of talking, and he had time to spare, Grievous decided to play around a bit with the prisoners mental state. Not to torture him in some way, but to make sure his mind is rattled up enough for him to go in and read the mans mind.
He is a Human, and a man. Enhanced by the super serum at an unknown point of time and whatever records they could have had were not there. Meaning identifying this man would have taken a bit of time because it would seem their records didn't include this man within their system.
"It was quite foolish of you to become like this and it even seem that you had go so far as to remove any and all data of your existence. Which should be impossible...." Grievous trailed off thinking about the artificial intelligence known as Siri. 'She is scary.'
And she is. She is entrusted to the various amounts of information provides and even retains within his head himself, she is directly connected to him that way. He did create a semi-spiritual realm for his living droids consciousness to exist and Siri is the moderator of that virtual dimension.
"Your dissidence has been noted now and we have re-recorded your information. Now we are just missing the more important things. We do not need the times you have gone to the bathroom, or what you have to eat." Grievous said before continuing.
The man just kept a blank face and was quiet. Before he was quite the mischievous prisoner and an annoying one because after mutilating himself he had decided to cackle in his new mutilated state.
"We are not a greedy corporation that would pay for your private information through the use of an ethernet account." Grievous continued. "No. We dont do that as that is incredibly invasive and you have even gone so far as to make sure you dont speak no matter what we do..."
The prisoner seemed to be smug and nothing was there to cover his mouth as he made weird laughing sounds.
"At least that is how you think about it but you miss alot of important information. You and the dissidents aren't the only ones capable of withholding information." Grievous said in quite the ominous tone that started to set the atmosphere.
"You are in alot of trouble and your punishment will probably be not easy depending on what information you have, what you have done and various other factors once we discover who your family is and everything else."
The man seemed to be shocked here at the mention of his family, not knowing that Grievous didn't have that information yet and was only implying he would gain it. The man however had this tidbit go over his head as he panicked now 'knowing' his family is on the line as well for his stupid decisions.
"Don't worry, we wont go after your family and those not involved will not be punished at all. That is just stupid." Grievous continued his mental manipulation without the aid of the Force to make sure the man is emotionally in the right place making it easier for him to invade his mind.
It would seem that even crazed radicals have their own families as well. Grievous didn't know how he should feel for the mans family, whether he should grieve for their stupid son, be angry the man would put his family at risk or lament that he wouldn't be able to have children on his own.
If only there was some way to restore his body completely anew. Not that he disliked his new armaments and additions to his now mechanized form, it was just that it still wasn't the same.
Even with the Force he was starting to notice that while at a higher level, it couldn't act as a proper replacement for a lost limb. Or multiple.
The feelings were different and Grievous was starting to miss those feelings now more so than ever as he couldn't even get it on with his lover. Not that they would or should be even allowed to considering both of their ages at this point.
The prisoner makes a strange noise like he was trying to say something but was unable to which brings Grievous out of his thought and brings him back to the present situation.
"I am sorry about that. Of course I didn't forget about you my friend. I think I have had enough talking for now and with to proceed with the real interrogation."
The man seemed confused and if he could he would say something like. "And how the hell would you do that."
And Grievous responded to the mans thought as he could read clearly his thoughts and sense his emotions to the full extant at this point because of communication. Being sociable is a scary thing and would lower the guard down of anyone knowing that a person wouldn't be doing anything harmful to you.
It became even more so real for the prisoner as Grievous just paced around the room, which did create some feelings of fear, but only for those very mentally challenging emotions released to protected someone's mind, were put to ease by Grievous.
It was not like Grievous had a special way with words, or that he was all that charming to the Human. No, it was through simple psychological pathways to get to the root of the mans mind and then subtly entering without his knowing.
It is a complex process that took Grievous a long time to learn but now that he has it, it opened up much of the world to him. Which is why he was feeling the need to want limbs again now knowing the thoughts and emotions of people looking at him.
While tolerance is high for all kinds of people, especially those that had to become synthesized or otherwise mechanized because of the peoples love for Anakin, that didn't mean they still wouldn't get scared by his appearance.
Now being able to delve into the mans mind, Grievous did so slowly as while he had finally gotten it down that didn't mean he would be totally unable to avoid harm to either himself or the person he was trying to mind read.
There had been reports of things like both people, specifically living droids as they were the only ones really not prohibited in its use, the initiator and the other droid being mind read were both killed. Their consciousness totally and completely destroyed but they were lucky to have a backup stored within the matrix.
'Careful now Grievous. Your training. Remember your training.' Grievous thought to himself whilst simultaneously trying to unravel the depths of the mans mind.
His name was quickly and easily identified as Trevor Icinghold, a strange name but Grievous didn't discriminate as he had a weird name himself. It was as if the person that was writing the fate of this universe was having some delicious cake that was absolutely covered in creamy chocolate icing.
Delving deeper, Grievous ignored alot of information trying to assimilate itself into the probe sent into the now identified, Trevor's mind.
Many problems are identified in this technique but even though the problems are said to be problems they are just the baseline risks to developing such an ability. It was extremely influenced by the dark side and as a result, it would try and cause chaos for both parties involved.
Please refer back to the example given above where two droids were destroyed in the process but were only able to survive such an event because of Anakin's matrix.
What Grievous wanted was everything included in the procedure, information that relates to the rebellion currently going on. Resources they posses, various locations and bases spread through Kemal, and otherwise outside of the Empyrean. The higher ups in bigger, better positions that could be held onto and many, many other things.
'Now this is interesting...' Grievous had come across who the mans family is and they were in fact normal citizens within the empire and they had no relation to the dissidents other than being unknowing and connected to him.
'A wife, three daughters. My god, this guy has been living the life, what could have-' Grievous was starting to complain about how the man had it better than him, with a wife, a real body and a family of his own, while he had nothing.
He was interrupted in his though process by two things. First is arguably the more important one, which included information about a weapon the dissidents were trying to and have successfully gotten. A explosive device of some kind that would cause alot of damage if unleashed and why the man had joined this radical group.
It was depressing. What had at first seemed like a normal life and setup, the man was cucked... But not cucked in the traditional sense but cucked by Anakin indirectly because his wife was, lets just say VERY interested in him. To even find out his daughters were smitten with him as well, it certainly didn't do wonders for the mans psyche.
Then there was the depression over not being able to work anymore, not that he couldn't find work elsewhere but most of his skills were within jobs that droids had taken over.
'That is depressing... Maybe I dont want what he has after all.' Grievous thought to himself as he retreated outside of the mans mind. Of course, Grievous still did want a body, a wife and a body that he could use but the events within the man showed him a problem.
A problem at which Anakin could start to work on within the coming few days to weeks.
Weekly Power Status
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