Jace continued to break Qwan's bones for a few hours before he even started asking questions. He made sure to go through all of his finger bones, toe bones, feet, and he even broke ribs. He popped the ribs out by just pressing on them. Then he went through all of them again.
"Do you know about Lord Hoodwink?" Jace asked as he sat in a seat he pulled across the floor and set up opposite Qwan Lee's chair. Over in one corner of the room, Tako had fallen asleep next to his first aid bag. While in a corner behind Qwan Lee, Nina had moved the table with the failed experimental drug doses and syringes along with the prison jumpsuit for Qwan into a corner where she was sitting.
Qwan Lee looked shocked for a moment before he blinked and shook his head. "No I-" He started but then stopped after only a moment. "Yes, I know about him. He goes by a few different names in the Underworld. I was introduced to him by the name Gray Doom. I first encountered him when I was working as a Commando."
Seems Qwan Lee had decided on telling him his story, "We were under the command of the Imperial Guard for a time. During that time an officer I can't remember the name of-"
Jace abruptly broke one of Qwan's fingers.
"AAAHHH! What the hell was that for?" Qwan demanded. As he quickly shifted in his seat.
"You lied. Try again." Jace told him with an unchanging expression as he moved his hand away from Qwan's hand where his finger was quickly fixing itself in a rather disturbing visual where it was popping back into place.
Qwan gritted his teeth, "Okay, fine. It was Oberon West, an Imperial Guard to the first prince and Archduke Beltrum's spy within the imperial guard. I heard he also became the contact for Tyranus in the Imperial Capital. Anyways, he was the guy who connected me to Gray Doom is the point I am making."
Qwan glanced at Jace, who only raised an eyebrow waiting for him to finish.
"At the time I was only starting up with some small illegal gigs. Connect people who left the military to people who needed hired hands. Both legal and illegal work." Qwan took a moment to breathe.
"I was also starting to dabble in being a middleman and information broker at the time. So I started selling out the locations of remote patrols and bases that would not be missed to Gray Doom. Eventually I got caught and fled the nation, coming to my ancestral nation of Oda. But as soon as I got my own gang set up, he came." Qwan took another breath as Jace started tapping on the arm of his own chair.
"At that point I was already struggling but he offered me a lot of money for a simple task." Qwan took a moment before continuing. "He wanted me to kidnap some kids from the slums and hand them over. So I did that and more, human smuggling became something of a speciality of my gang."
He then flinched as Jace's expression was unchanging. "Then these last few years as I have been making contacts in other countries I learned that Gray Doom went by a few other names. The most notable names are those he uses in Oda, Leonair, and the Crystoph Federation. In Oda he is called the Gray Maijin. In the Leonair territory he is called Lord Jonathan Hood. In the Crystoph Federation they call him Wiseman."
"How did you manage to learn about all of that?" Jace asked in surprise. The fact that he was using different identities in other nations was new to them. Yet here they found a fountain of information they could exploit about not just Lord Hoodwink, but also the underworld.
"Because I discovered his main base of operations where he runs all of his work out of." Qwan then grinned, "I searched for the information just in case of a situation where I might need to bargain for my life."
Jace's expression hardened and his eyes narrowed as he stared down Qwan. "What the hell did you just say?" Qwan, Tako, and even Nina all flinched. There was a shuffle as Nina stood up and walked forward. While Tako sighed and stood up pulling open his bag and setting it on the seat he was just sitting in.
"Uhh… I said you would…umm…" Qwan looked around as he heard movement and seemed surprised that both of them were up and moving. Neither of them had even budged earlier when Jace was breaking his bones. "I want to make a deal."
"Wrong answer." Nina whispered behind him.
Jace's expression turned to a smile. "Fantastic." He then held out a hand and a knife materialized in his hand. For a moment it looked like he was holding lightning before it turned into a knife. Jace immediately stabbed the knife into Qwan's knee. He began screaming as Jace twisted the knife. "You know, I have been dying for a chance to break out all of my techniques." Jace sighed and leaned back as he left the knife in Qwan's knee. "It has been so long, I actually have not been able to break out all of my techniques since before I went to the academy."
"Before… the academy?" Qwan's eyes were wide in terror as he began realizing the kind of monster that the Vexical Military had begun employing.
"Anyways I think I should start off with slicing open your limbs and then-"
"Wait, I actually think I know where his base is. I can even tell you without…" Qwan's words trailed off after he interrupted Jace. He trailed off because Jace was glaring at him again and the knife in his knee was sending out electric shocks like electricity.
"Don't ruin my fun." Jace told him. He then sighed and leaned back in his chair. Thinking for a moment before nodding. "Okay, you can tell us what you know. Nina will take notes. But I want my fill of torture." He then grabbed the knife and dragged it down Qwan's leg. Qwan began screaming as his leg was split open so even his bones were exposed.
"Agh!" Qwan gritted his teeth as he endured the pain so he could speak. "His main base of operations is in the Crystoph Federation!" Jace dematerialized his knife and then stabbed it into Qwan's hand going through both his hand and the metal chair arm his arm was tied to. He then whistled as he watched the sliced apart skin move back together and reconnect. Even Tako stepped forward and nodded in appreciation.
Jace was pretending he was not listening as he started cutting apart Qwan and watching him get put back together by the experimental drug that was used on him. But he was quickly giving some very useful information.
Apparently Lord Hoodwink had truly set up his main base of operations within the Crystoph Federation. He had set up on an uncharted planet hidden inside of a mass of gasses. Apparently the gasses hid the planet and the internal atmosphere which was liveable kept out the gasses. Which was how he was able to hide his massive base and his hidden trade.
Lord Hoodwink was the buyer of slaves and sold biological weapons. The biological weapons ranged from living people in machines like what he had several times before to diseases and plagues. Apparently he was popular among the nobility who liked to abuse their power. As well as the nobility adjacent who have the similar power to rule over a large number of people.
Supposedly Qwan discovered it because there is typically only one shipment going to the location. He had a tracking device hidden on the shipment going to the planet. He let his curiosity get the better of him and decided it would be useful information for later especially since Qwan was dealing in a very illegal component of the human slave trade.
Now they were going to need to get deep into enemy territory. But first he was going to need to get clearance for such an operation. While at the same time he needed to find a way to do this discreetly. He had not been keeping up to date on the war with the Crystoph Federation so he was also going to have to get familiar with their current situation.
As far as he could tell they were not yet ready for a complete invasion. The Emperor's faction in Echo System was still making massive preparations. But they would have called him back if they were ready.
But now Jace was worried that the moment their big plan started Lord Hoodwink would abandon the base and go into hiding again. Which was why he was hoping they could get permission to use their stealth technology to sneak behind enemy lines and invade the planet.
The planet is Tyrone of the Orcus System. There were two major military assets in that system. While a single trade asset that would be useful only after the war ended and they captured the system. The trade asset is the biggest space station trading center. It is the major passway between the Oda Empire and the Cthon Conglomerate to the other surrounding nations. The military assets included a fortress moon around the same planet the trading space station is located. As well as a shipbuilding station and mining prison camp that is located on the edge of the system.