Hamilton Planetary Guard prisoner interrogation log (extract)

Agent Kryztov Hussan (Hamilton Planetary Guard): Let’s be honest here, mister Nurzal. Those alarms? That was a group of your QLF ‘comrades’ trying to get in here to kill you. Not extract, kill.

Biebol Nurzal (QLF):  You’re bluffing.

Hussan: Am I? You’re a self-proclaimed cell leader, Biebol. You should know that you’re too valuable to be left in our custody. And you should know that it’s a lot easier to leave a dead body then to try to smuggle out a wounded man, especially in the middle of a gunfight.

[Pause]

Hussan: Now your associates weren’t very successful. Two of them are dead, and we have three more in custody. They might be willing to talk, especially as they saw one of theirs chopped in half with a Vibrokatana. That sort of thing can loosen a few tongues.

[Pause]

Hussan: And if they give us something useful, well, that means you’re less valuable to us. That mean we’ll downgrade your protection, which means that you’ll be more accessible to your QLF ‘friends’. Now as touching as a reunion might be, I suspect you don’t want that.

Nurzal:  No.

Hussan: I thought not. So let’s start from the top, shall we?

Nurzal:  Can you guarantee me protection?

Hussan: The last person to try and get to you is lying in our morgue in two halves. We can.

Nurzal:  Good.

Hussan: So let’s start with the Blackjack, huh? Where’d you get that? We haven’t seen any other real ‘Mechs with the QLF so far.

Nurzal:  I have no idea where it came from. I received a message to meet our leader and when I did, he presented it to me.

Hussan: Your leader? That would be Prince Zafar bin Muhammad Serakhis, right?

Nurzal:  Yes. Well, sort of. Zafar was the leader of the QLF at first, at least he was when I joined.

Hussan: But something changed?

Nurzal:  Yes. About five years ago, another man appeared on the scene. He came out of nowhere, and was suddenly at the Prince’s right hand without ever being one of us.

Hussan: So he wasn’t a QLF member?

Nurzal:  If he was, I never saw him. He never appeared at any of the meetings we had of other Cell Leaders, and he was stepped into the inner circle out of thin air.

Hussan: I see. I assume there was some reason for this?

Nurzal:  It was when he arrived that things really began to change. All of a sudden, we were getting a lot more equipment in. At first it was just tanks-

Hussan: The Zhukovs and Scorpions you seem to have so many of

Nurzal:  -yes, but we also received a few BattleMechs. I mean, they were all older ones like my Blackjack, but they were apparently coming from him or someone connected to him.

Hussan: And was that all that changed?

Nurzal:  No. Our orders became… more aggressive. We were making more and more attacks on the city now, and ordered to be more violent.

Hussan: And the nerve gas?

Nurzal:  I didn’t know about that. We were told to wait for some ‘special ordinance’ for the artillery, and when that didn’t arrive we were ordered to attack the city anyway. We received a list of targets, but at the same time, we were ordered to do random, indiscriminate property damage.

Hussan: Did you know the bounty hunter?

Nurzal:  He came out of nowhere, I swear. He turned up on-world and said he was after one man and told us to tell him if their ‘Mech showed up. I had no idea that the bastard was going to treat us like that and leave my men to die!

Hussan: That’s what you get for trusting a bounty hunter then. So, back on-topic, your orders are coming from this new top man, now?

Nurzal:  Yes. He and Prince Zafar were partners at first, but as time went on, he began to take more and more control of what we were doing. Zafar took objection to this, and there was a split between the two of them. Zafar was better known and more popular as well, but maybe not as much of a planner.

Hussan: And then the Prince goes and gets himself captured. Funny that.

Nurzal:  I swear, I know nothing about that. I was as shocked as anyone else at the news. Our new leader made a fallen hero out of him, and said that he would do everything he could to ensure the prince’s freedom.

Hussan: So who is this new guy?

Nurzal:  I don’t know much about him beyond his name. It’s Sayyid Niyazi; I’m pretty sure he’s one of us, but I can’t tell you anything else.

Hussan: Thank you for that, Mister Nurzal. You’ve been most informative.