章 151: Black Market
The guard in command pulled his sidearm out with slow movements, and handed it to me aiming downwards. I took the gun and walked away from him before removing the magazine.
"Is there something wrong, sir?" the commander asked.
"Depends." I said. "Commander, do you have anything worth mentioning?"
"What does that mean?"
"Do you have anything you might want to say to me at all?"
"No... sir."
"Wrong answer." I said. "Arrest the commander."
The commander looked at the guards under his command. They looked at me. I stared back.
"Corporal, you are the new commander. Arrest him." I said.
Corporal - the new commander of the guard force - turned to his ex-commander.
"Sir, your weapons and equipment please."
"Thank you, corporal." I said. "Hold him in confinement until his interrogation. You may reduce government guard readiness level to normal after making sure everything is in order."
"Yes, sir."
The guards left the president's office. I was left alone with the professor.
"Okay, hold on." said the professor. "What is going on here? This made no sense whatsoever!"
"Admiral Mei knows more." I said. "She had someone confess a crime to her, apparently. The credibility of it will be more clear after the interrogation."
"Crazy stuff..." said the professor. "Let's go then!"
After the spaceship traffic was resumed to and from the surface of Makemake, Admiral Mei and some other people came down with a shuttle.
"Admiral, welcome to our humble underground city." I said, greeting her on the pad. "Cut it out." she responded.
"And captain, please, step out of the vehicle." I said the cargo ship captain who made the confession. "Everyone, this way please."
We went to an empty room in the government site for the investigation.
"So..." I said, clapping my hands. "Speak."
Both the admiral and the captain looked at me, but couldn't say anything.
"Well, don't talk all at once!"
This time, both of them started talking, interrupting each other. I sighed.
"Captain, please, from the beginning."
"Alright." he said. "I'm starting over... The guardian commander of yours is about to commit a murder!"
"A murder already happened." I said.
"Did it!?" he got excited. "My gods, I was too late! I'm sorry, I was-"
"The past is in the past." I said. "Tell me more, how did you know that? Did he tell you?"
"No, I didn't... Well, sort of, I guess." he said. "I didn't know he was talking about murder!"
"What did you talk? When? Where?" I asked a few questions at once.
"We didn't talk. I just happened to intercept some transmissions coming to and going from my ship."
"Who were talking?" I asked. "What did they say?"
"The guardian commander and a shipmate of ours. They were talking about some sort of deal... Money issues. I didn't follow it carefully until I heard suspicious words."
"What words?" I asked.
"Removal- no, retirement I think... Or something like that. Ha, forced retirement! Those odd phrases caught my attention."
"Details?"
"The commander was asked to 'retire' somebody. I didn't understand what they were talking about first. The thought hit me much later."
"This shipmate of yours..." I said. "What is his duty?"
"He is what we call a 'general crew'. There are usually a bunch of them aboard cargo and tanker ships. Multi-purpose people, they do whatever task has to be done aboard. He is not specialized in any certain task."
"Admiral." I said. "Get him down here. Forcefully, if required."
"Yes, sir." the admiral nodded, saluted and walked out of the room.
"Anything else you want to say? For example, why were you intercepting the transmissions?"
"I usually do." said the captain. "I wonder what personal communications my crew might have, if they are using my ship's systems to communicate. It is not good for business - if they have personal needs, they should get their own devices so I won't intercept their transmissions."
This felt a little odd.
"What?" he said. "Am I a creep?"
"No, not really." I mumbled. "We are done here, but you will have to wait until we interrogate others."
Until the admiral's return, the professor and I tried to deal with the ex-commander of the government guards.
"Now, tell us." said the professor. "Why did you kill one of our guards?"
"I didn't." he said. "It wasn't me, why would I do that?"
"That's what we are asking. Why would you do that?" the professor pushed him further.
"Look." I said. "If you just be honest and help us resolve the situation, you might as well get some reconsideration to your level of punishment."
"I didn't do anything!" he screamed. "I don't know what you are thinking, but you've got the wrong guy!"
"Maybe." I said. "But the guy at the other end of your deal didn't say so."
"W-who?" he asked.
"That guy from the cargo ship." I said.
"Alright, alright fine." he said. "I did it, but he gave the order!"
"There we go, that's much better." I said. "You almost saved us the need to interrogate the other guy."
"You- what!?"
"Bluffing actually works sometimes, huh?" the professor said to me. I nodded.
"Now, what was the deal?" I asked. "You already admitted to your crime, now just fill in the details."
"It was a payment issue." he said. "One of my guards had made a deal with the marketer for some medicine, but had missed his alternate payment times a few times in a row, even though the delivery was made. The seller instructed me to get rid of him, so that's what I did. If I didn't do it, they said that I wouldn't get my own deal."
Both me and the professor went pale.
"What... exactly is this whole business?" the professor asked. "Who is selling what, and with which authority?"
"What market could there be in this community?" I asked. "The cargo is under direct control of the presidency and the fleet admiral."
"Not really." the commander said. "I can't believe that you all could miss the giant black market in front of your eyes. I simply thought that you were tolerating it for some reason... The ship captains turn a blind eye to this business, so I thought they were instructed to!"
"The captains are aware of the black market?"
"They even get some of the profits simply by promising not to interfere." he said.
" A black market, huh?" I said. "Black market..."
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