Memory transcription subject: Estala, Prestige Extermination Officer, Krakotl to Venlil Extermination training leader.
Date [standardized human time]: October 12th, 2136
I felt fear grip my heart, a terror threatening to strike me down where I stood, as I witnessed what was happening in front of me. I alternated between gawping at the absolute stupidity of the Exterminator instigating the event and being terrified of the danger he was putting us all in.
Things had gotten worse. Way worse. Somehow against all rational logic the humans had resisted their primal urges to destroy and devour every innocent prey, and instead had managed to worm themselves deeper into Venlil society; playing the part of innocent refugees as they became a constant fixture of our lives, walking our streets and stalking their prey in Venlil Prime’s never ending sun.
The Venlil had become… used to them, at least in the capital. I’d heard that the more rural towns still had some sense about them in regard to the predators, but the capital was full of them: Adopting the beasts, introducing them into our homes, our schools, practically inviting them in for the upcoming invasion.
One such beast stood in the street, intimidating, towering over all reasonable prey, bloodlust filled eyes hidden behind its reflective visor, meaning you had no idea what prey was being focused on as they stalked around doing… whatever predators did when they thought good people weren’t watching them. Probably murdering and eating people.
Even worse, and nearly just as harmful, was the stupid exterminator stood next to him. Orvan was dressed in his noble silver fireproof suit, flamer gripped tightly in his paws as he did the single dumbest thing I’ve ever seen: He decided to antagonize the thing. The Venlil was moving aggressively as they spoke accusatory words towards the predator, flamer lifted ready to fire, the only thing keeping the predator from striking.
It might have been a brave thing to do, standing up against the predators invading our home planet, but it was also the stupidest thing to do. Being aggressive against a predator, allowing it the option to choose violence, then being able to justify it? Even if the flamer would stop the thing from doing damage to the herd, the long term repercussions would be… bad. I rushed over as quickly as I dared, not wanting to run too quickly and trigger the predator's hunting instincts, still hearing the pair in an argument as Orvan held the thing at bay.
“What are you doing here, predator!”
“Nothing… I told you I’m just walking back to the refugee centre.”
It was getting agitated, clearly struggling to keep its bloodlust in check as its deceitful actions were being challenged. I practically froze as I saw its visor snap towards my position, as I could feel its hate filled eyes glaring at me behind the smooth metallic surface. I pushed on regardless, using my years of Exterminator training to glare back at the thing, standing as tall as I could as the predator sized up their new ‘meal’.
“Come on, another one of you guys? I’m not doing anything, I just want to get back before curfew starts.”
I could hear the human trying to make a convincing protest, as if they weren’t up to anything nefarious and just wanted to get back to its lair. Still, keeping it here in the street, antagonizing it, was just putting everyone else at danger. Normally the humans would be smart enough to avoid causing any recorded damage on Venlil Prime, but I wasn’t about to test how far that intelligence went when other members of the herd were around, Venlil scurrying past, smartly giving the thing a wide berth.
“Then leave, predator,” I stated, trying to keep my voice steady, not showing any weakness that could be pounced upon. “You shouldn’t be here, make haste back to your lair.”
Orvan seemed agitated at this statement, tail flitting around with confusion and anger, pointing his flamer once more at the predator as it took a step back.
“But it was lurking around and-”
“Is going to leave.” I interrupted the Venlil, placing my wing on his flamer and pointing it at the ground, my feathers flaring in anger as I tried to get Orvan to stop putting everyone in danger and holding up the predator. Thankfully, the thing got the hint that this wasn’t an easy meal, taking this opportunity to leave quickly in the direction of the refugee centre.
I gave a sigh of relief, my heart still thudding in my chest as the fear of the situation I’d just been in still remained, before I turned back to the well-meaning but idiotic Exterminator, glaring at him as I looked the moron dead in the eyes.
“Just what do you think you’re doing!” I hissed at him, keeping my voice as low as I could manage to not cause a stampede with the already frighted herd, while my pure fury emanated through my words. “Are you an idiot with a deathwish?”
“But the predator was skulking around, who knows what it was up to?”
“It wasn’t hurting people, that’s all that matters!” I responded, hoping the Exterminator could work out just how stupid they had been. “And you thought the best thing to do was to antagonize it, with hundreds of innocent people around?”
Orvan seemed to take offence to that, as if this was an argument against his competence instead of basic safety.
“I have my flamer. If the thing tried anything I-.”
“It’s still a risk that you didn’t need to take!” I responded angrily, this time my voice breaking the whisper as I hoped the moron would learn the lesson. “And even if you had, what do you think would happen? If you actually set it on fire? Tarva is under their predatory delusions, do you want predator soldiers and cattle controllers swarming the streets of Venlil Prime in order to ‘protect their people’? Sure we know the idea of a predator protecting anything is a myth, but that will be the excuse they use to have their armed cattle masters roaming among us! Because if a human gets hurt because of an Exterminator, that’s what’s going to happen!”
The predators were clearly squirming their way into our lives, biding their time, waiting until they’d fully integrated themselves within prey society before they struck. Luckily for us, they wouldn’t have enough time for that, as the Federation was already making moves against the humans to save us all from their evil blood filled plans.
“But we’re Exterminators.” I could see Orvan slowly deflate as he said those words, as if finally realizing just how stupid. “Killing predators is what we do.”
I knew how he felt, the complete betrayal of the organization that had kept the Venlil people safe for centuries, discarding all logic and Federation science based on the lies of the predators.
“No, we protect the herd. That’s our job. Right now the best way to do that is just preparing. We watch and wait for when we’re needed.” I said softly, a sadness creeping into my words at just how… hopeless it all was. “Look, we don’t have to hold out for much longer. The Federation is coming to save us. Kalsim himself is leading the charge to remove these predators.”
The Extermination fleet would be here to heroically save us all, the finest the federation had to offer to wipe out these predators who endangered us all, led by none other than the hero Kalsim. The Krakotl captain was legendary in his fight against the Arxur and predators everywhere, and hearing his impending charge to free Venlil Prime from the humans filled me with hope for the future of prey everywhere.
“We’ve just gotta be smart and stay back for a little while longer, and everything will be fine.”
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Memory transcription subject: Estala, Human Methods Advisor to the Exterminators.
Date [standardized human time]: March 18th, 2137
“So, his name is Orhew, also goes by the name ‘Mute’. He was born with a birth defect making it difficult for him to speak, rich family, grew up with their uncle, competent and generally well liked by his coworkers.”
I spoke simply, reading off the details on the file from the pad in front of me. Once again we were sat in the van as it travelled down the streets, this time getting closer to the cursed district of Dawn Creek. Well, it was either a curse, or something was in the water. There had to be a reason to explain how this district consistently had the worst things happen within it by a consistent margin.
“Compared with the rest of the idiots who made up the Exterminator guild in Dawn Creek, Orhew has a near flawless record, apart from two blips: The first being the Tarlim case: he was part of the three-person team who originally took the poor Venlil into custody. We both know about the second case.”
Even with my shattered mental state at the time, [4 months] ago, everyone had heard about the shocking attack on one of the many human supplied meat cloning factories that had been built across Venlil Prime. The Exterminator Orhew single-handedly attacked the facility with a full outfit of flame weaponry, on a one man anti-predator crusade. That had gone about as successfully as one expected, with the Exterminator being promptly detained and arrested.
“Wait.” Jkob responded in the seat to my left, the Letian reading from the details on his own pad as I verbalized the summary. “If this is someone who is both competent and has a history of anti-predator violence, why wasn’t checking on this Orhew higher on the list?”
“Because he’s currently in prison, making him safe.” I responded simply. It turned out that even for an Exterminator, attacking a government facility with a flamer is still illegal. “We focused on Exterminators who might still be doing harm if they were the killer. Mute is hardly going to go on a killing spree while locked up.”
The conversation ended as the van pulled up to our location, depositing the both of us directly outside where Orhew’s home was. It was a nicer part of Dawn Creek, his family’s money showing as a grand four-bedroom house standing in the centre of a large garden. It had seen better days, the grasses outside unwatered and yellowing, the plants wilting in a mirage of what had once been a well maintained property.
“The plan is simple: We’re looking for anything that ties him to the murderers. We know the killer took trophies, so anything like that is what we’re looking for.” I stated as we approached the door
“Don’t we need a search warrant to check his place?” Jkob asked with a little concern.
“Yep, we already got one. Turns out there was a warrant given after Orhew’s attack on the facility, but none of the ‘new and improved’ police in Dawn Creek wanted to risk entering a ‘True Predator lair’. We’re just executing a check that should have been done [months] ago.”
I suppressed a sigh at the general disarray found within Dawn Creek’s law enforcement. To be fair to the police here, it wasn’t really their fault: Forced to take on roles they never agreed to, because of the incompetence of the Exterminators here. I didn’t hold it against them as I pressed my pad to the front door of the nicely sized house, seeing my Exterminator override unlock the entrance with a little confirmation, allowing us easy entry into the house.
Orhew’s place was… strange. At least for a home that had been presumably lived in, there was no evidence of it being… well, lived in. The furniture you’d expect in such a place existed, but the rooms had no sign of life in them, every surface and storage area completely stripped of their contents. Aside from the layer of dust that covered the entire house, the four-bedroom home was spotless, as if it had been scrubbed clean.
“I’ll take the upstairs, you take the downstairs and see if there’s anything in the shed, Jkob.”
I slowly made my way up the stairs, a feeling of unease increasing as I walked through the sterile space, each step as if I was trespassing in a place I shouldn’t be. Well, technically I was kinda trespassing, the kind of trespassing that’s allowed within the law for an Exterminator. Each room was empty, even the bathroom devoid of any kind of toiletries apart from several bottles of cleaning supplies.
The strangeness was a constant as I entered room after room, opening empty cupboard after cupboard. Was that his plan, to leave the house as if he’d never been here when he’d started his attack? Cleaning up as if he knew he was never coming back? The entire place was a shell of a home.
I opened the final closet, this one a storage area found in what was presumably the main bedroom, this time instead of an empty space, a small chest sat at the bottom. A tiny thing, but something to investigate at this time. I saw the small box just sitting alone as I reached down to open it up.
Trinkets and keep sakes lined the container: A self-help book titled “Finding Your Voice”, a pen with the logo and name of one of the few disability organizations that existed within the Federation, to help those with limitations join the herd. At the centre of it all was a photo, two Exterminators I recognized from the Tarlim case: Orhew and a Gojid called Sol-Vah. The Venlil whose house I was going through had taken the time to have this photo printed out, a passage showing two very happy people just standing in front of the house in a goofy pose.
But that was all, just a bunch of things you might find in and on a bed stand just shoved into a box and thrown into the corner of a closet. As if they were items you both wanted to hide because of the pain they brought, but never thrown away. Orhew was a anti-predator fanatic, and if he was in a relationship with the Gojid in the picture during the omnivore reveal… well that wouldn’t have ended cleanly.
“Estala, you better come outside and see this.”
Jkob’s voice sounded from my radio, breaking my concentration from the container of personal items, my wings hastily closing the box. I exited the room through the window, gliding down towards the shed which the Letian was standing beside. Jkob gave a startled jump as I swooped down upon him, leaving me to give a chuckle as I finally managed to get him back for all the times he’d managed to sneak up on me with his strange ability to glide silently. The chuckle died on my lips as I looked upon the chaos in the shed.
“Well, this explains where all his stuff is.”
Someone had shoved all the personal items of Orhew into this small space, the little shed packed from floor to ceiling with every manner of object someone would need to live in a four bedroom home. Clothes, musical instruments, wilting potted plants, books and electronics. But that wasn’t what captured both of our attentions, because at the forefront of it all, untouched by the surrounding chaos, was a shrine with an offering bowl laid out before it. One whose imagery I regrettably recognized.
“What is that?!” Jkob asked, pointing at the giant religious object that was bigger than I was.
“It’s a shine to The Herd. A more extremist sect, you offer it trophies from predators to keep the herd safe.”
“Exterminators do that?!” The Letian exclaimed with shock, looking warily at the object and the containers of offerings I could see were claws and bones of predators. “Sounds, dare I say it, predatory.”
“Officially no. Officially if someone is caught taking trophies of predator cleanings, at the very least they’re getting empathy tested.” I stated as I looked over the shrine. “Unofficially… there are rumours that it’s a practice more common than we’d like to admit.”
I gave a small sigh as I looked the strange object over, noting two strange things about it. The first was the unopened packets of food popular amongst the Gojid population here. Tossed in as if they had been the last things to go inside. The second was the candles on the shine, or the lack of them. Normally the five spaces where candles would be lit before praying, but here they had been burned to nothing more than a pool of wax that dripped onto the floor.
Which meant someone had been here recently, or at least ‘after’ Orhew had been arrested.
“We should add Sol-Vah to our list of people to contact. This entire thing feels wrong, and a Gojid has possibly been here recently. I found a photo of her and Orhew in the house, meaning she might know… something…”
I trailed off as my eyes caught the offering plates, each filled with predator claws and bones, a lot of them. Something was off about the shapes though. I was an experienced Exterminator, and I had seen my fair share of shade stalker bones and corpses. This wasn’t that, the shape and size resembled…
I slowly and gingerly picked up one of the plates, making sure not to touch the items inside as I looked closer, realizing where I recognized that claw shape. The most common claw found on Skalga.
Venlil
“By Inatala’s talons!” I exclaimed with pure shock, as Jkob’s own eyes widened with realization, his ears pressed flat against his head as he too worked out just what they were. Neither of us had expected to find…. This.
“My god Estala, is that, is that what I think it is?”
I gave a small nod, swallowing nervously as I gingerly placed the offering plate back where it had once been, my heart beating fast in my chest as I realized my search for the Heartbreak Killer was over sooner than I ever expected.
“Get forensics here right this second.”