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  • 📅 April 2024 is YE 46.3 in the RP.

RP An Interview at the Fortress

Ethereal

Banned Member
RP Date
YE 45.1
RP Location
Uesureyan Fortress, Kyoto, Yamatai
Uesureyan Fortress, Kyoto, Yamatai

A pair of military police Nekovalkyrja brought Iemochi into an interview room in the ancient, castle-like Uesureyan Fortress, where Taisho Ketsurui Yui was waiting for him.

"Good morning,"

Mochi had been fairly tuned out of the situation for the last few hours, knowing that there wasn't really anything he could do to turn things one way or another until he actually had more information.

He stared blankly at the sight of the three pairs of feet, one set his own, moving through the corridor. Being frogmarched with one Neko holding each of his arms wasn't pleasant, but it was hardly the worst thing that could be happening.

The Uesureyan Fortress was an imposing place, perhaps one would say brutalist in the way that it made one feel quite small from being within eyeshot of the place. Clearly there was a reason he was being incarcerated here awaiting interview.

With the door opening and the two Nekos pushing him into the room, the Elysian blinked against the bright inside lights, his green eyes taking a moment to adjust. The figure of the Commander sat across the table made his blood run cold. It was one thing to have her name, and that of the Empress, on a piece of paper. It was quite another to see her sat across the table.

Instinctively, the Shosa put up a salute as would be expected. "Commander, I wasn't expecting to see you here-" Mochi replied clearly processing the implications of that fact. "Should I sit?"

"Alright," Yui said, gesturing at a chair. "Do you know why you are here?" she asked.

The Elysian stepped over to the plastic-and-metal chair, which seemed not to have much padding. Probably standard for this kind of room, he supposed. Mochi sat himself down and shook his head.

"No, ma'am. I was told I was confined to quarters but nobody could tell me a reason. Usually I think I'm supposed to know why I'm under arrest, but I understand the Empress made it an imperial decree?"

"Are you familiar with Baroness Soon Bardoon?" Yui asked Mochi.

The man across the table from Yui seemed to think for a moment, "Oh, I think they're the sovereign ruler of some foreign country? We had to give her a few million KS for some intel, if I recall. I was going to try and barter it down to save the Empire some money, as I think that's part of Kuvexian culture, but we were told to pay in full..?"

"She's the representative of a Kuvexian megacorporation called Quallox Vaibal, which is kind of the Ketsurui Zaibatsu of the the former Interstellar Kingdom of Kuvexia and she is the administrator of Sood Zadra. Recently Bardoon sent the Empress a video of you on Sood Zadra, which appears to be authentic, escaping your crew mates to visit a brain-hacking booth in their street vendors. Do you want to explain what it is you were doing at that time?"

"I can't say that I enjoy entertaining Kuvexians. We're both veterans of that war, so I'm sure you understand. Giving over a few million to them left a bad taste in the mouth, in my opinion. The Empire forgave all that awfulness very quickly, if you don't mind my saying, Commander."

Mochi thought on her question, wondering what exactly to say. "We were ordered to gather intel, but at the same time it was shore leave. We weren't allocated to fireteams or any kind of standing structure. With my background I didn't feel that I needed a Santo Hei to protect me, so I was enjoying poking around on shore leave with my comrades only a street or so away, ma'am."

"You don't see putting your head in a Kuvexian machine that can alter your identity and read classified codes from your brain as a problem?" Yui asked. "Do see how that looks from a security perspective?"

The Elysian scratched one cheek with a fingernail gently, a small frown on his features. "I never said I did that, ma'am. I've not heard anything beyond me visiting the booth so far."

"If you want to sit here and deny things and lie to me I'm going to fucking kill you," the Taisho warned Iemochi. She looked entirely serious. "Do you honestly think I wouldn't send SAINT counterintelligence agents to tear that place apart and interrogate the occupants? You're a senator of Yamatai, for Chiharu's sake... I could turn you over to the civilian government. The Yamataian National Police are in the next room over waiting. Either way stop acting like a snake and try to be honest for once in your life."

Mochi visibly recoiled at the threat, blinking a couple of times. Very carefully and deliberately, he asked a simple question. "Are you suspending Article 2?"

Yui's table went flying off as she stood up. "I don't think you're really listening here," she threatened him. "In here there is no law, no regulations, there's you and me as people, and you have nothing to hide behind."

The Elysian watched the table flip across the room under Yui's inhuman strength, returning his emerald gaze to study her features. "I don't know what to say, Yui-taisho. I've given my life in service to the Star Army and Yamatai as a whole. I've always stood behind the authority of the state and the rights it guarantees to the people. It might be you and me, ma'am, but I don't know what to think about all this."

"Stop," Yui said, grabbing Iemochi's collar. "You're here for one reason and that's to give me your side of the story before I decide what to do with you. If you cooperate, you'll have my gratitude, which bears considerable weight. If you don't, I'm...well, you'll be on your own,. But don't lie. There's only one response I can give to a disloyal officer. Are you starting to get the picture here?" She released him and waited for him to talk.

Mochi straightened his formal uniform once she let him go, ensuring that his ribbons hadn't ripped any holes from the sudden movement. He sat there for a few seconds wondering which path he wanted to go down here. It was going to be a big choice, he could feel that in his bones. Yui wasn't anything like he'd expected, but Mochi supposed that she was old school, back from before things like the constitution and a codefied military law was a thing. Wild west.

"I would hope I already have your gratitude, ma'am. After nearly ten years of service, if that doesn't endear you to me, then I don't know who else it would endear me to. I-"

Yui reached her hand over towards her small table and it jumped into her hand and she put it back. She turned back to him and didn't look happy. "You can lean on your service record if you go to tribunal. I am ordering you to tell me your side of what happened and if you say anything else but what happened on Sood Zadra and what your line of thinking was. Truthfully. That's all I want. Will you?"

"I would never do anything to harm Yamatai. This land is my home. That's all I'm required to say - if you've already made up your mind, that's it for me." Mochi shrugged defeatedly, his bright wings dipping low. "Just.. don't hurt my family. Please." Truthfully speaking, he'd been wondering when something like this would happen, by one hand or another.

Taisho Yui looked disgusted and scowled. "I have asked you repeatedly to tell me what you did and you just keep trying to change the subject. I've ordered you to tell me, and yet you still refuse. I can't just give you chance after chance. This could have gone well for you if you just came clean to me and asked for my help. Instead, you wasted my time."

"I'm not going to incriminate myself, especially if ordered to do so. Any other officer would be charged for ordering me to do so, ma'am. You already know my record, I don't know what else you want from me."

"Simply the truth," Taisho Yui said. "It's over for you," she added. "SYSTEM, we're done here, send them in."

Mochi chuckled despite himself, "You know, this could be an Overseer test. Unlawful orders from the Commander. What a world.." His wings ruffled slightly, disappointed but it seemed like the Elysian had chosen his values above all else.

Two military police officers came in the room, "Senator Iemochi, you are under arrest, you are charged with making illegal soul transfer copies of yourself. You have the right to remain silent..." they began reading him his rights as they escorted him out of the room and down the hall.

"You can stop there.." Mochi shook his head as they read him his rights, "I don't think that one applies to me." He took one last look at Yui before they frogmarched him back out, there wasn't any anger in his gaze, just a light that told of cogs turning in his mind. So much to process.
 
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