David followed Natsuko and continued to scan the pathway. "We had a pleasant talk after I convinced him that it would be in his best interest to comply. I would like to here what the civilians are saying first. I believe there is some disagreement in what happened."
"The civilians are saying there was a disagreement at a bar or something. The Barras family got mad, demanded tribute or something later. When the civilians wouldn't pay up, the Barras family started the blockade," Ai summarized what she had heard for David.
"That doesn't surprise me." Natsuko led the group toward the power station, toward the remaining two members of the Zenpyou's crew. "It sounds just like something a pirate would do."
Roken remained on alert while the others talked, he was half listening to the conversation, "So now all we need to do is just convince them to return to the colony right, doesn't really sound like a hard thing to do," Roken said as they made there way to the power station. "With them dealt with the blockade issue will be solved.....right?"
David nodded his head and responded to the others. "Our prisoner has told me that they're are not pirates. It would appear that our innocent colonists killed one of their children in a bar fight. The colony brought no one up on charges and that infuriated the traders. This is a matter of revenge. We need to solve this issue diplomatically. I would like to see no blood shed here."
"Personally, I am more likely to trust the colonists over some prisoner. They attacked us for no reason anyway, without so much as a peep about anything. That hardly seems to me like some angry traders," Ai responded. She was rather surprised and annoyed that David seem to take the prisoners word as a matter of truth that easily.
"I agree with Ai. They did attack us, that doesn't help their story any. Why would you attack the people that could help you?" Natsuko asked, "Did they have any evidence to support the claim?" Natsuko mulled over the implications, it basically was a he-said she-said argument, and with more people saying one thing than the other it seemed more likely to be the case.
Roken was a little surprised by what David said, "Well, no matter what anyone says they still need to answer for there crimes.....and before that we need to get them." Roken just took a note of the information he was able to listen into, already knowing that the family still needed to be dealt with and that the colonists still had to answer for not handling the situation (if it was true). "Now how are we going to get them here again?"
David looked Ai in the eyes and shook his head. "I am not trusting this man blindly. I am giving them a chance. They attacked us because they have been ordered to keep the blockade. They are not going to get off with no punishment but if there is truth to their claims then we much investigate so this does not escalate any further," David looked at Roken. "I plan on asking them politely. If that doesn't work I plan on using the threat of organized military response.
Gin made her way back to the other members of the away team. Stopping short when she heard talking about using a threat from the military. I think I will wait to find out what I have missed. She thought. What could we use as a bait that would lure the Barras family out so we could capture them? She wondered.
"So we're going to investigate the claims?" Natsuko asked rhetorically as the group joined up with Gin, "Maa, you're the boss." Natsuko looked over the group. "Let's get investigating then, one side says one thing, the other another. Somebody is lying, but I doubt it's the citizens. Nonetheless, question as many people as you can, if you find any inconsistencies with their stories than take note of them but don't let them know. If the citizens are telling the truth then the story will be roughly the same from all of them," Natsuko said. "If anyone asks, we're building a case against the Barras Family." Of course, as far as Natsuko was concerned they were in fact building a case against the Barras Family, a community that large wouldn't be capable of such an elaborate lie.
Natsuko opened up a telepathic link with Gin, "It appears that the prisoner we caught claims that the citizens killed a child of theirs. The citizens claim something different than the pirates, somewhere someone is lying about something, though I bet it's the Barras family personally."
Roken almost wanted to complain, he really didn't want to go and ask the colonists questions, "Well they're both guilty in my opinion till we get the facts strait." Roken let out a sigh as prepared to go back and ask them, "there should be colonists at the town hall, and there might be something on there computers that might help a little." He did not want to say how he would find the info if he could access their systems but even then he could just ask someone there where to start. "Also we could hit the bar here and find out what the owner knows."
"That's right... the colonists did say they had their computer that we could access data from. It'd likely have the information we needed," Ai said. This whole thing was just getting tedious.
"Alright then, Peacekeeper Roken, Recruit Karasu, you'll start questioning the colonists. Ai and I will handle the computer," Natsuko said, allowing the small group to break up. "Use encrypted channels for communication and let anyone know if you find anything."
"Understood," Roken looked back at Karasu. "I think we should hit the bar first and on our way there we can ask anyone we might run into." He honestly wanted to handle the computer but oh well at least he wont have to do anything that would get him in trouble.
Gin smiled, "Well, talking to the locals may not be exciting, but its a place to start. With two of us, we can either interview two at a time, or one interview and the other observe the person's reactions."
"Okay, Natsu-chan. You two, keep on your toes, just in case," Ai said to the two recruits. She didn't want to say it, she just wanted to believe the civilians since it seemed so much easier to believe, but she was supposed to be unbiased and help whoever was in need.
With guidance from one of the colonists it didn't take long for both Natsuko and Ai to reach the computer room. Once inside they were shown how to access all the functions of the computer including its logs, surveillance cameras, city budget, and any other function that the computer controlled or was a part of the process for.
Ai attempted to access any relevant information about the interactions between the Barras family and the colonists, specifically whether a child was killed or whether there was some drunken rage occurring that started that whole mess.
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Likewise, it didn't take too long for Gin and Roken to reach the bar. As the pair of armored peacekeepers entered an uneasy silence fell upon the establishment. "Wanna take off your hat and stay awhile?" the bartender asked from behind the bar, "What'll it be?"
Roken looked over at the bartender, "Love to but we're still on duty....actually we would like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind." Roken eye was looking over each person that was in the bar including the bartender, he did not want to show that he was not intimidated by any of them and that he didn't want to put them on edge enough, after all he was the one in power armor.
"Sure, fire away." the bartender said as he bent down to wipe down the counter while he waited for Roken to ask him his questions.
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Meanwhile, Ai's search turned up several results. There were many records in the budget concerning financial transactions between the Barras Family and the colony, as well as, several videos recorded from security cameras corresponding to their visits. One such video, met the criteria of Ai's specialized search. As she played the video, one of the colonists was attacked and killed by a drunken member of the Barras Family. Something though didn't feel right about the film. After more careful inspection an inconsistency was revealed. It appeared that several drinks on the bar just disappeared out of the blue just before the fight.
"Well great. This was pointless. They doctored the video..." Ai groaned. "I suppose that kind of proves the colonists wrong, huh?" Her armored hand lightly face palmed her helmet.
"It doesn't look good, that's for sure," Natsuko responded, "But the Barras family could have hacked it or something right?" Natsuko didn't like where this was going, and she didn't like being lied to.
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Gin paused to take in the bar and then moved up to join Roken at the bar. She put her helmet on the bar and said, "I'll take an ice water please." "I would prefer taking the people into a room and questioning individually, out here it will be hard to ensure they don't parrot each other," she thought. Then she sent a message to Roken. "Perhaps we should inquire as to a room where we can talk to the people privately?"
Roken walked over to the bartender, yeah finding a private area to talk is a good idea. He removed his helmet, as he leaned over to speak. "First....do you have a room where we can talk to some of the colonists privately?" He couldn't really keep an eye on the other people in the room since his other augmented eye was still damaged but knew that Gin had him covered. "When we find a room we should start with the bartender and work are way through every person in this room," Roken sent back to gin.
The bartender nodded and showed Roken to a back room, "You can use this room if you'd like." the man said. "If you'll excuse me I have to get back and manage the bar, somebody called in sick today."