Therex watched as the class’ teacher entered the room. Having attended many of these lectures, he was expecting a straight-faced, spitting, and all around “tough guy”, sargent. Instead, the man who walked in was in his mid thirties, had a rough face, and blank, hollow eyes. Sitting back, he watched the man, curious at the choice of teacher, and yet also intrigued by him. He had obviously seen some action on the actual battlefield. Scars dotted most of his exposed skin. The class was about Combat Interrogation, so it made sense. Besides, Therex preferred these kind of teachers. They had seen the action. They knew from experience rather than a textbook.

“Interrogation,” the man began, his voice quiet, yet with small gravelly undertones. “Is the act of asking questions with the intent of learning something.”

He began pacing in front of the data board at the front of the lecture hall. His hands made gestures as he spoke, and he stared into empty space while talking.

“However, sometimes your target isn’t so willing to give up that information. So how do you get it out of him? Well, bribery always works, sure, but it can get costly, and you can’t always buy silence afterwards. How about blackmail? Sure, that works too, but first you need a target you can actually find some good dirt on. Again, not always effective.”

He turned to face a small desk at the back of the room, and reached into a drawer. When he turned back, Therex recognized the syringe in his hand. It was one that was usually outfitted into an interrogation probe.

“Drugs.” The instructor lifted the syringe up for people to see. “One of the more effective methods. You dose up your victim, and pretty soon he’ll tell you who he banged last, and how good it was. Give him enough, and eventually you’ll find out that he’s married and his wife would have never approved of before mentioned woman.”

Snickers rose through the class as the old soldier seemed to soften slightly, acclimating to the room. Looking at the syringe, he scoffed lightly and tossed it over his shoulder.

“However, even drugs have a downside. You may not be able to apply them, or not have enough to dose some creatures. Yet other species are completely immune to mind-altering drugs. So what do all species have in common? How about pain?”

Unholstering an antiquated slugthrower in the blink of an eye, The soldier pointed it at one student and fired. The small projectile whizzed past the startled man, and clipped his ear. The man yelped and clapped a hand over his ear. Pretty soon, a small rivers of blood poured between his fingers. The teacher pulled out a small cloth and tossed it to him.

“Stop the bleeding with that. Now tell me, did that hurt?”

As the young recruit tried to staunch the bleeding, he merely nodded.
“See? We all feel pain. But not just any pain, anywhere is gonna get the desired effect. For example, I never asked him a question, but if I had, that would have been a good example of intimidation. You wound your target, not mortally or even severely. Just enough that they take you seriously and know you mean business. Aim for small, non-essential targets, that will hurt, or bleed a lot. Top of the scalp works great, or maybe a finger. Plus, never use a blaster for this. They cauterize wounds too quickly. If you have nothing else, try a knife, or even your fingernails.”

The instructor made a lunging motion towards the young wounded soldier, this time with his hands clawed out like he was gonna gouge out his eyes. Ducking with a yelp, the man owered beneath his desk as the teacher chuckled to himself.

“If your target is used to small pain, then you have to go a little further.”

He motioned to an assistant who nodded and brought in a small gurney with a holo unit built in. With a flick of a switch, the projector displayed a 3-D human body, and propped it up vertically.

“Now, let’s say that you only have about five minutes to get your target to answer your questions. It’s middle of a fight, and he has intel on enemy movements.Whadya do?”

One man raised his hand.

“Yes?”

“Well, it depends on how important the target is,” the man said, “If they are needed in one piece you have to be more careful. But if he is nothing more than a one time informer, you can threaten his life.”

“True. So, you shove the gun under your target’s chin and he tells you to do it anyway. I mean, what options does he have? He knows he’s expendable. So, in the end...”

Approaching the holo, he held two fingers under the projections chin and motioned them back like he had fired a gun. The projection’s skull exploded and a large red sign flashed on the screen.

“Deceased.”

“Anyone else got an idea?”

Therex raised his hand, and stood up.

“Shoot out his legs or blow his hand off.”

Nodding to himself, the instructor stroked his chin, and looked up at him.
“Very effective.”

Making the same two finger motion at the 3D holo, he fired two more imaginary shots. This time they blew away the dummy’s knee caps, and left him with stubs for hands. Instead of flashing a red “Deceased” sign again, this time it showed a ticker. Three minutes were counting down.

“Now, your target is going into shock, or dying slowly. What do you say?”

He motioned to Therex, expecting him to follow through with this mock interrogation. Clearing his throat, Therex tried his best to play along.

“You wanna lose the other leg? Or maybe you don’t need either hand. Now, tell me what I wanna hear, or I may lose my temper and just take off the rest of the limbs.”

The instructor flicked off the projector. Pacing slightly, he smiled and nodded at Therex.

“Not bad. It’s a good start. Let’s see if we can refine that a bit.”

Therex sat through, and listened intently to the next hour of lectures, learning everything from how to bandage a wounded target, so as to let them live longer, but still experience the pain you need, to what tools every interrogator needs.