In the prison that was hardly used, there was a sudden abundance of people standing guard at the entrance, while there were two on the other side of the entrance: one within a cell, the other outside.
The layout of the entire prison wasn't complicated at all, as it was just a long hallway with cells on both sides, and one at the far end. Kapel didn't wish to let others hear the discussion between him and Jogrin, as it might contain some sensitive information, though he wasn't exactly sure what it'd be. Still, it was better safe than sorry, so he chose to let Jogrin into the cell at the far end of the hallway.
"Go ahead." Kapel urged Jogrin somewhat impatiently.
"Back in the cubicle, there were the two soldiers stationed within. They felt threatened when I approached them, without any ill intentions. However, because of my preconception from my experiences, their fear grew to great extent and eventually they shot me. Proxer, on the other hand, tried to calm things down, but you know how that ended up."
Jogrin paused. Kapel stared at him dubiously and urged him to speak on.
"Why did you stop? Continue." He didn't relent at all towards the victim of the besiege who could've been traumatized by said incident.
"I'm not sure how I should word this, since I believe, to you, this is nothing but a farce I'm making up to be deceitful."
"Just tell me what you know."
"Then, I'll be completely honest with you."
"Honest? While it is how I wish you would be, are you sure about that?"
"It's better to tell the truth instead of making up lies, especially toward someone like you. If I told lies, sooner or later, you'll find out, and it'll come back to bite my tail in the end. Moreover, it's likely that you already knew the details of the bombardment, and you're just testing me."
"Hoh? It appears you have imagined some scenarios regarding our current exchange."
Kapel seemed a little impressed by Jogrin's ability to predict various outcomes from imagination alone. Since he didn't know about "emotional perception," he wasn't aware of the fact that Jogrin managed to read his emotions as if it was a walk in the park.
"And? What is it you need to inform me of?" Kapel put all of his focus on what Jogrin was about to tell him.
"'Mind tampering'. It was what served as the catalyst of the bombardment."
"Elaborate." Before he denied the strange term coming from Jogrin, Kapel asked him to explain further.
"An ability capable of intensifying emotions to point of reaching the extremes, or that's how I interpret it."
"This sounds like a convenient excuse for your wrongdoings."
"Even though what I said is indeed true, I can't argue with you there."
If their roles were to be reversed, Jogrin wouldn't believe it either. That was why he thought Kapel's retort was rational.
"If you insist on being truthful, tell me: how would you know it's an ability's interference?"
"Because I could sense their emotions with my 'emotional perception.' As the soldiers were panicking and Proxer was attempting to calm them down, I sensed an abrupt surge in their fear, simultaneously, to the point that it'd taken over their actions as they were acting impulsively. Well, to be more accurate, the 'fear' from them already felt abnormal before they even fled and came back for a besiege."
'Could it be the reason they disobeyed the protocol?' Kapel, despite still not trusting Jogrin's words, imagined a scenario where the so-called "mind tampering" was involved.
"This sounds hardly believable. It also sounds as if you were blatantly slandering us about our discipline. Our soldiers have been trained to never act on impulse. They would only take extreme measures if their commander determined the situation dire enough."
"I don't mean to insult you, but what I said what indeed the fact. Besides, they weren't on their right mind since, like I said, their minds were being tampered with. Their fear had been amplified which clouded their judgement."
"I am reserved about the authenticity of this statement. I will have to dwell on this more... However, I know one thing was certain: you protected Proxer during the incident, and that was not any scheme of yours... You simply wanted to do so."
"He's an innocent man that was caught up in this chaos. Besides, I didn't exactly protect him, since I actually knocked him out."
"... Why did you do such a thing?"
"My powers makes any who are close feel disgust, in severe cases, they might even throw up."
"In other words, you used your powers after you knocked him out."
"If you're thinking of asking the soldiers about the powers I used back then, don't bother. Their memories of the bombardment process has been completely wiped out."
"How would you know?"
"I interpreted it as such after reading them with 'emotional perception.' Of course, you can confirm it yourself, by speaking with them in person."
"If this 'mind tampering' does indeed exist, how did they return to normal?"
"Simple. It wore off itself, though at a slow pace, if I may add."
"Once again, it sounds like a convenient excuse."
As Kapel pointed his distrust towards Jogrin out again, Jogrin sighed heavily, as if having already fed up with hearing that same sentence.
"Say... Don't you think Proxer is acting too nicely towards me? Did he experience anything for him to become like this?" Having recalled the way Proxer treated him, Jogrin wondered.
Kapel didn't respond to him, and only averted his gaze and looked to the wall on the side.
"Is that an acquiescence?"
"I have no right to speak of it. As cold as this may sound, this is his personal matter. I believe it would be better if he told you himself."
"Are you not against it?"
"As I have told you, it is his personal matter, so the say is his. If you are wondering whether it is classified information... It used to be, but words spread like wild fire. Before we knew it, the general public was already aware."
"Hmm, then will the news of my arrival spread like that?"
"After the blunder last time, I have taken adequate measures to prevent information from leaking, you do not have to concern yourself over it."
"... Say, do you happen to know the whereabouts of the shuttle that came with me?" Swiftly, Jogrin changed the topic on one of the things he'd been most concerned about.
Since it was Kapel, he should be able to provide some clues, even if just a few. For now, the most imperative thing was to at least have a direction as a start.
"Shuttle?"
"Hmm?"
"What exactly do you mean, shuttle? According the reports by witnesses, only you were seen crash landing."
Both Kapel and Jogrin were full of questions at the latter's mention of the word "shuttle." So, Kapel didn't know about the shuttle. Jogrin pondered deeply.
The duration of Jogrin's blacking out was approximately 4 hours, according to Proxer. Even if the duration between Jogrin and Proxer's first conversation and the current time, it shouldn't have been more than half a day.
Even if some nefarious individuals wanted to take the shuttle for themselves for whatever reason, they wouldn't have enough time to bribe and collude with the witnesses and come up with a fake report, which would've taken even more time.
Thinking from another perspective, being separated from the shuttle midway was another possibility. If that was the case, it'd be nigh impossible to find the shuttle in the vast universe, where it could literally be anywhere.
Could it be that he never was put in a shuttle in the first place? Even with his fast regeneration, Jogrin doubted it could catch up with the damage dealt by all the radiation in space, along with numerous other factors that he wasn't aware of.
In other words, there was no way to know anything about where the shuttle ended up. Even with a zillion hypothesis, Jogrin could get nowhere without at least one lead.
Only more confusion arose, it seemed. He never expected looking for one shuttle could be so complicated.