Beyond - Legends Scribblings on a Datapad --A Journal for 2008 Diary Challenge-- AR 9/6

Obviously, it hadn?t gone well, or else I would have met them at S?Danno?s earlier



Hmmm...more reports to study...



Great update

 

Author Replies:

VaderLVR64: Oh, yeah, my parents have said as much before.

PHGS_Weyr: Only sometimes. But you're welcome...

KELIA: Thanks. Here's another.

Author's Note: Sorry for the abbreviated entries--I'm working at a summer camp and I don't have a lot of time to write.

ENTRY 25:

Tonight I opened another of the datachip?s files. This one was named ?suspect_one_interview??and it was a mother lode. My mouth dropped open when I started reading it?it was an interview of a teenager named Berle Vact, the very man I had seen talking with the man Jasan.

The contents of the interview seem sort of boring?although I wonder if there?s truth amid the obvious lies Vact?s telling. Certainly he gave nothing to the investigators who had interrogated him that made them pause and go ?This is the guy?. I?ll have to study it more in-depth on some free time. More later.

 

Tonight I opened another of the datachip?s files. This one was named ?suspect_one_interview??and it was a mother lode. My mouth dropped open when I started reading it?it was an interview of a teenager named Berle Vact, the very man I had seen talking with the man Jasan.

I wonder what will happen next!?

 

WOW

I hope Torsy is able to find more information when he returns to the interview.

Great update

 

First of all, yes, parents can be evil like that, and yes, it is fun to torture your kids when they deserve it - you all will find out how true it is when your turn comes.

Annnnd, the plot thickens. Tell us, Laine, when they questioned Vact, did they use the 'good cop/bad cop' routine?

Write on!

 

Author Replies

VaderLVR64: Hmm. I wonder, too.

KELIA: Me, too. Whenever he returns to it.

Sel: Good question, Sel. Not one I know the answer to yet...

Thanks all. Here's a new entry:

ENTRY 26:

Journal, let me tell you what happened. Dad came into my room this morning and woke me up. ?Get dressed,? he ordered as he left my room.

I did so, and stumbled out to the living room just in time to see Dad holstering a blaster. Journal, I didn?t even know he had one of those things?I just stared at him, mouth open at the sight (all while I was rubbing sleep out of my eyes). Dad glanced up at me, then down at the blaster, then back up at me. ?Don?t look so surprised, Tor,? he said, smiling. ?These were standard-issue in the Rebellion?well, if you could call anything ?standard-issue? back then.?

He paused, then grabbed a piece of toast and began eating. ?Don?t just stand there. Get something to eat and follow me.?

I followed after getting some fruit, and we went outside, climbed into the speeder, and left. I wasn?t quite sure what we were doing, or where we were going, but I was pretty sure that it was going to be exciting.

Oh, Mom?s calling me to dinner. More later.

 

Whoa! Dad has a Blaster! Well, really when you think about it...it only makes sense. I hope he doesn't have to use it.

 

uh oh... i have that proverbial bad feeling about this!

Thanks for the pm's

PHGS Weyr

 

Daddy with a blaster! I love it!

 

Oooohhhh his father was part of the rebellion!

I love it!!

I have a sense Torsy is about to find out just how serious this situation is.

Great update

 

Author's Note: I know that I am behind, but I will catch up. Don't worry. I will get my posts in as soon as possible. Just fyi.

 

FINALLY!

Author Replies:

Sel: Yep. Dad has a blaster--and it makes sense to me, too.

PHGS_Weyr: Proverbial bad feeling, eh? We'll just have to see about that...

VaderLVR64: Yep! Me too. I'm glad you're reading this!

KELIA: Good guesses...but you'll just have to wait and see.

Two entries coming right up!

ENTRY 27:

The place Dad drove us to was?well, it was sort of intimidating. It was on the ?rougher? side of Mahcappro, the side closest to the border of the ?other side?. Anyway, it was a tall building made of brick, with darkened windows (some of which were cracked; others broken out) and a man in smuggler clothes lounging near the doorstep.

Actually, lounging is the wrong word. He was guarding, and it was quite obvious once Dad and I started to approach. The man straightened, and his hand went straight for the handle of his blaster. I realized that he was also the young man who?d approached me in city hall to deliver Jasan?s message. ?Your names??

Dad smiled. ?Nex Carumati,? he said. ?I?ve business with your employer.?

The guard quirked an eyebrow. ?You brought the kid along??

I, of course, had to protest. ?I?m fourteen. I?m not a kid.?

The guard laughed. ?Whatever. Follow me.? He led us through several doors and corridors until he stopped and looked at us. ?You saw the note, Mister Re?Carumati. You know what trouble my employer and I can get in for this.?

Dad nodded. ?I don?t want harm to come to you or yours. But justice usually costs something, in the long run.?

The young man shrugged. ?Sounds a bit too philosophical for me,? he said. ?You sound like one of my neighbors.? He shoved open the door and announced that they had arrived.

Bedtime. More later.

ENTRY 28:

The man named Jasan was behind a crate marked ?Fragile?. He stepped out into the lit space of the room. ?Glad you came. I?m sorry we couldn?t meet in better circumstances.?

?That?s quite all right,? Dad said. ?I?ve been in worse places than this.?

The young man scoffed, but Jasan quickly silenced him with a stare. ?Forgive my protégé Noah?sometimes he acts and speaks without thinking. Anyway, down to business. Vact is trying to extend his racket politically. It?s bad enough over there without the biggest baddie making the rules?I don?t doubt that the first thing he?d do is put the smaller operators out of business.?

I had been standing next to my dad, trying to look tough (and probably failing quite magnificently, too). Before what I was thinking hit the ?Don?t say it? filters, it was already out. ?Including yours??

Dad looked at me incredulously?like he was thinking, ?Tor, I brought you out and now you?re being stupid. Stop.? However, I can only guess at what he was thinking, and besides, if you?re not a Jedi, you shouldn?t even be trying to read people?s minds. Oh well. Jasan, however, seemed to take it in stride. ?Yes, including mine, kid. However, it?ll be bad for this side to have him run things. He?s not a good man, and if we can stop him now, we can protect a lot of people, settlers and spacers alike.?

Dad?s eyes hardened. ?What can we do to help??

Jasan handed him a datapad. ?In there is a list of the corporations who have given Vact inside information. I don?t know what the information is, seeing as I?m no longer deep within Vact?s trust structure. Also, a message from him to me detailing what I?m to do with the holographed equipment and why. Unfortunately, I know only a small part of his plan, not all of it. It?s just a contract job that will supposedly free us from under his thumb.?

The young man laughed bitterly. ?Not until he?s dead or on the run?or until we are.?

?Noah,? Jasan snapped. ?If you want to keep saying dispiriting things, you can wait in the ship.? He looked back at my dad. ?What we want you to do is expose it. We would, except that would endanger us. In even more ways than us doing this endangers us. Will you do it??

Oh, time for breakfast. More later.

 

So. the badie is trying to creat his own...monopoly...his own...syndicate. Blackmail, graft, fraud, shakedowns...the GFFA's version of the Mafia, I guess. BAD!

But danged good writing! I hope you can keep it going, Laine. It's a great story!

 

Will you do it

And the plot thickens.

Loved Tosy's inability to keep his mouth shut. That is such typical teenage behavior!

It'll be interesting to see what his father decides to do.

Great update

 

I love the way you're weaving this story together!

The guard quirked an eyebrow. ?You brought the kid along??

I, of course, had to protest. ?I?m fourteen. I?m not a kid.?

I remember my kids at that age! This is typical!

 

Author Replies will take place later. Sorry for such a long wait--and such a short entry--I moved out to a tiny Pacific island for a year as a student missionary and I did not have Internet for a month.

ENTRY 28:

Dad took the datapad and agreed to it. He won't let me look at the contents--yet. He said he has to go over them to see what they're about and what needs to be done. He's making me do research in the library--all discreet, of course. I've learned a lot of stuff--oh the librarian's coming, I have to ask her a question. More later.

 

Once again, author replies will come along later.

ENTRY:

Dad received a death threat today. Probably from Vact.

Oh. I should probably explain what we?ve been doing. Dad had me contact this young reporter at the local newspaper, the Hythrope Happenings. The reporter?s name is Bruce Jameysen, and his boss said that he?s a rising star, whatever that means. Jameysen likes to talk, likes to have his own way?but most importantly, he likes a good story, which is what I have.

Jameysen agreed to meet me at S?Danno?s, though Dad had to foot the bill for his food. I told him that everything was ?off-the-record?, so to speak. He listened as I told the story of stumbling into the story at the Rancorato Place, then nodded, and said, ?You?re on to something. Listen, kid, you need help getting those names out? I can help with that?let me know what you need done, what you want. I?ll talk to my sources and see if I can confirm this.?

I replied that I trusted my source. He wanted to know the name?but like any good reporter, I didn?t give out a name. I also said that I wanted my own by-line, that it was my story, no one else?s. Jameysen nodded, then said, ?Depends on how well you write it, I suppose.?

So, the reporter?s got the list, and he?s checking everything out. I wonder how long it?ll take until it gets confirmed. Oh, and the death threat? Supposedly Vact?s got wind of this?but we don?t know how much he really knows. More later.

 

Most interesting indeed, if Vact decides to give proof of threat or to go through with it this story could easily end up becoming an expose with a couple paper entry line about the situation and the reporter

 

Dad received a death threat today

uh oh!

They've barely started investigating and the death threats are coming?



Great update

 

Death threats must mean they're annoying SOMEONE!

 

[Author Replies] Thanks! I mean, yes, it may be an expose--yes, they just started and it's already getting serious, and yes, they ARE annoying someone!

ENTRY 31:

I?ve been thinking. Mom would say that that?s a dangerous pastime for me. But here I am, all safe in my bedroom, wrapped up in a blanket and typing into my datapad?but I wonder what Jasan?s kids? rooms are like. I mean, do they live on a ship? Or do they live in a real house, like I do? Do they carry around miniature blasters, small copies of the DL-44s that their father has slung on his hips? I mean, I know he has children?and Vact knows it, too. If he knows that Jasan?s a part of this, maybe they?re not safe. Maybe this will have consequences that I can?t see. It?s not like I?m a Jedi or anything?and you know, I don?t really want to be a Jedi. I want to do good, of course, most people do, but I don?t want to have to sacrifice everything for everybody in the universe. Maybe that sound selfish. It probably is. But I think it takes a special sort of person to do that, and I don?t think I?m that type of person. Who knows, though? Everybody keeps saying that I?m just a kid, that I?m just fourteen. Well, fourteen-year-olds know things, too. We aren?t always stupid.

Dad says that somebody?s watching the house, but that he doesn?t know if they?re good or bad. I asked him what he?d do about it. ?It?s not like this is the other side, Tor,? he?d said. ?It?s not like I can walk up to him, blaster drawn, and ask him what?s his business. We have to be a bit more subtle.?

Well, subtle is boring. But maybe it?s safer this way. I?m pretty sure Dad knows what he?s doing. He?s still spending a lot of time working on his book, and I?m thinking up ways on how to write my article. I want that by-line, and I will do anything to get it. I think. Jameysen, the reporter, hasn?t called me back yet, and I sure hope that he isn?t a nerf and steals my story. That?s just not right. More later.

 

Well, subtle is boring. But maybe it?s safer this way. I?m pretty sure Dad knows what he?s doing. He?s still spending a lot of time working on his book, and I?m thinking up ways on how to write my article. I want that by-line, and I will do anything to get it. I think. Jameysen, the reporter, hasn?t called me back yet, and I sure hope that he isn?t a nerf and steals my story. That?s just not right. More later.

Subtle IS boring!

 

Dad says that somebody?s watching the house

I would certainly hope that somebody is good but...

I agree subtle is boring but sometimes it the safer thing to do.

Great update

 

Author Replies:

Yes, subtle is boring, and I hope this story isn't!!

I guess we'll see who was watching the house...

ENTRY 32:

So, Jak and Dar and I were sitting on our front steps, trying to figure out which vehicle held our Nubian Sith angel, as Dar had put it, when a large boxy speeder made for delivering goods jerked to a halt outside of our house, blocking the view of another speeder?the red one that Jak had claimed was ?too flashy,? the one with the dark windows, you know, the kind where the people inside can see out but the people outside can?t see in. Then the box-speeder zoomed away, and what did we know? We?re just a bunch of kids. Right?

The window was broken, the edges smooth as if they?d been burnt or something?and inside, slumped over at the controls, was a man with thinning hair. His blaster was missing. ?Boys, keep back,? said Dad, exiting the house and crossing the street to get us. ?This isn?t your concern. Dar, your dad?s on the way over. I?ve just called it in.?

Something about the way he said that didn?t make sense. It just had happened; how could he have seen it from his office? I mean, granted, he could have been in the living room, but he?s been pounding the keys to his datapad almost obsessively since this whole thing started?he couldn?t possibly have been in the living room. I think.

It took about twenty minutes, but Dar?s dad came in his dented, previously-owned speeder (the one he personally owns, he?s not the type to take a speeder home). He parked on our side of the street, next to the regular police speeder that had shown up, and glanced over at us boys, all quietly sitting on the front steps (Dad made us), then joined my dad. ?Torrence,? he said. My father nodded to him, looked like he was asking some question.

Dar?s dad looked into the car, then nodded. ?Yup, looks like he?s the one we spotted following your wife from the university.? He looked back at Dad. ?What happened??

?Ask the boys,? Dad said. ?They saw it go down.?

Go down? Why is my dad talking like he?s in a spy holomovie, like he?s Semaj D?Nob or something? Dar?s dad looked over at us. He then used what Dar calls the ?captain voice?. ?Boys, what happened??

Dad gave a little nod, like it was okay to talk. I stood up and reported what had happened, how we had seen the boxy speeder come and then leave, how we had walked over and looked in. Dar?s dad looked worried. ?Did you boys touch anything?? We all shook our heads. We?ve all seen way too many CorSec and HySec shows to be stupid enough to touch something. Dar?s dad then smiled and looked at my dad, then motioned at the two officers who?d climbed. ?Well, I?ll have these fine officers here write up a report. I?ll do the same, and we?ll get this taken care of, Mr. Reffins.?

?Thanks, Captain Hughson.?

?Don?t mention it, Mr. Reffins.? With that, he called Dar to him, and they sped off. The officers left soon afterwards, and then Jak?s dad arrived and took Jak home. And then it was just Dad and me. And I was just dying to find out who the man was, why he had been following Mom, what it had to do with my story, and why and how the guy had been killed. It was a tall order, but I was pretty sure Dad could fill it. More later.

 

My, oh my, oh my! Mayhem in the streets right in front of innocent eyes! That's just downright scary...and like typical boys, they all had to go look at the gruesome mess. Wouldn't ya know. I hope they're frightened too! I certainly would be...and I'd be danged scared for my Mom! Wow! Great story!