Confrontation

“The Crocodile! Tell me what you know!”

Hassan sat there, a smug king of horrors in his dirty, sweaty castle. His smile never changed, as if it were painted onto his mask of a face, worn for particularly unwelcome guests. He leaned forward ever so slightly and gurgled as he spoke.

 
“I’m not in the business of disclosing information about my business partners. You know…that could be dangerous for me, and my partners. A man such as yourself ought to understand that. Or be made to understand.”

I gripped my blade, barely wiped dry of the blood of Hassan’s guards. I had hacked my way into the fortress, through far more intimidating foes than this pile of filth before me. But my face must have twitched, because he laughed, barking, so suddenly that I thought he was choking on his drink. 

“Don’t look so surprised, Captain ‘Hook’. Of course I’ve heard of you, and your vendetta against the mad Gorn. It’s my business to know of such things. But obviously I have you at a disadvantage, because you don’t seem to know me.”

“I know enough. I know that you’ve been in business with that ‘Mad Gorn’ for longer than you care to admit. I know he has something on you, and that you, in turn, have to provide illegal military technology and medical supplies. What I don’t know is why.” I saw a flicker of defeat on his face, and I acted on it. I took a step forward. 

“Wrong, Captain. What you don’t know is that I never do business with second-rate pirates…” 

“Wha…” a transport beam began to dematerialize around me. Damn. 

“Well, I suppose that’s actually a lie,” Hassan’s voice cracked, “I meant to say, I never do it face-to-face!”