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Of Mangos and Murder
Chapter 17 - A monster is revealed

Chapter 17 - A monster is revealed

Memory transcription subject: Estala, Prestige Extermination Officer, Krakotl to Venlil Extermination training leader.

Date [standardized human time]: October 22, 2136

It was happening.

Speh speh speh speh speh speh speh speh.

I could feel the terror in my heart as the van sped through the streets, the auto-driver disabled as I pushed the vehicle as fast as I dared, the empty, winding streets cleared as all rational prey fled from predator’s attack. The silver suit I wore felt constricting, the seven other Exterminators in this van also fully suited up, ready with flamers at our sides. A silence overtook us all, each of us ruminating about just what was about to happen.

The predators were finally attacking, they had finally stopped their evil lies and gone straight into their plan. Tarva was probably already dead, along with half of the leadership on the planet, which presumably was the human's plan all along. It was supposed to have been a memorial for the billion predators killed by the Extermination fleet on Earth, but that was the mistake we had made, assuming the beasts understood concepts like grief.

“Estala arriving on route, setting up defensive blockade on Federation Road. Maintain positions, keep eyes on predator refuge centres and known military outlets. Be ready to move back to secondary defensive locations.”

I shouted down the radio, the worry and fear of what was about to happen breaking into my voice, listening to the responses of Exterminator groups from all across the planet initiating their own plans. For now, the only attack had been in the capital, but if this was the attack the predators had planned, then it wouldn’t stay that way for long.

We should have been there, a gathering of predators along with all the diplomats and leaders on Venlil Prime? Our entire job was to keep them safe, especially for this circumstance. The leaders had declined our request to provide security, claiming that in their ‘time of grief’ that Exterminators watching over them would ‘Be contrary to the peace and solidarity we wish to show by hosting such an event’. Stupid empathetic caring fools.

And now they had sprung their trap, attacking our leaders with an explosive device, while we were all sat on our tail feathers doing nothing.

Information of what had happened was scarce, garbled communications regarding casualties and a predator explosive device. Mental images flashed through my mind of dead caring Venlil scattered about, the humans feasting upon them as their instincts were finally allowed to be freed.

The van shuddered to a halt as I slammed on the brakes, arriving at the predetermined defensive location I’d marked out weeks ago for such an event. I could see the fear on my squad’s tails and ears as we rushed out of the van, dragging barricades and setting up along the road, reading ourselves for the confrontation. There were three major bunkers within the perimeter we had set up, anyone who had raced to safety within them were probably dead now, there was nothing we could do about that.

There was nothing we could do about any of it. The predators have a far better military than us, and now they’re everywhere. The entire thing is futile.

Not that I’d go down without trying.

I could see rising smoke and the distant sound of gunfire going off, as whatever the predators were doing raged on within the capital’s centre. The sound of the approaching predators started to rumble through the pavement, the noise of shouting and screaming, tens, no hundreds of thundering feet approaching. I raised my weapon, the gun between my wings and its sights trained down the street as we waited, the other members of my squad doing the same thing; those of us not confident with firearms switching to the shorter ranged flamers.

I felt my breathing slow as I tried to calm my self, my focus increasing as the first attacker rounded the corner into a view and-

Wait, is that a Venlil?!

Indeed, it was, and they weren’t the only ones, the terror on the herd’s tails obvious as the stampede came into view. Venlil and Gojid, Letian and… human!? Indeed, the predators were among the stampede, even though my initial expectations expected them to be the reason for the terror, the beasts chasing down the fleeting prey as easy snacks to be devoured.

It didn’t take much to see that this wasn’t the case, even counter to my expectations. There was no blood, the humans were also fleeing whatever had caused the stampede, alongside the prey members of the herd. There was no pouncing and attacking those around them, instead the predators were… helping them? Picking up those who fell or in some cases carrying small members along as they fled.

Why? What? Why? Why?

If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought that the predators were just as full of fear as the rest of the herd. It had to be some kind of trick, some reason for them to do this. It wasn’t possible, a predator couldn’t feel fear, or empathy, or love.

Couldn’t they?

“Estala, what are we doing?”

I don’t know. I was expecting a predator attack, not… this. Whatever this was, it wasn’t the revelation of predator deception I thought had been happening when I heard about the attack on our leadership. I paused for a moment as the stampede got closer, reducing my decision-making time. I didn’t know what was happening, but I needed more information.

“Get back! Retreat to the secondary position and take standard anti-stampede actions if they make it that far.”

—-------------------------

Memory transcription subject: Estala, Human Methods Advisor to the Exterminators.

Date [standardized human time]: March 30th, 2137

I stood behind the podium, looking back at a sea of faces. Well, while a ‘sea’ might have been overexaggerating, but it was at least a good-sized pond. Various journalists from different news and media outlets had arrived to listen to my press release, regarding the discovery of the Heartbreak Killer; Humans and federation species mixed together awaiting what I had to say.

It was both good and bad news. On the one hand, we’d successfully found and brought a killer to justice. The upcoming trial was nothing more than a formality, since Orhew was fully cooperative and pleading guilty to the murders. The only bug in that fire fruit salad was the human lawyer who had taken the case of the killer's defence. I’d heard that the predator was preparing a defence based on insanity for the ex-Exterminator

Only a human would suggest or try such a thing for such a person…

The bad news was, this looked terrible for the Exterminators guild. An Exterminator had been found executing ‘Predator diseased’ members of the herd, using the perversion of our name and uniform as some kind of guiding light, killing people while proclaiming our values. Rumours had started to fly about his actions, as someone at the prison had leaked to the public the insane rants Orhew had given, with the idea of Exterminator supported purity killings taking hold amongst certain parts of the population.

I gave a small sigh, before starting.

“I am Prestige Exterminator Estala, and this conference is to confirm the existence, discovery and capture of what is being called in certain spaces as the ‘Heartbreak Killer’”. I gave a small pause as I saw a minor ripple of surprise ripple through those gathered, mostly the human participants reacting to the news.

“On [August 7th, 2136], a Venlil by the name of Regven was found killed in, what at the time was considered to be a predator attack. Further analysis based on new information suggested that this theory was not only wrong, but that this murder was also connected to two other ‘predator attacks’. The human internet dubbed this unknown criminal the ‘Heartbreak Killer’. [2 weeks] ago, we linked these killings to… an Exterminator.”

The reaction was stronger this time, several tails and hands raised, half formed questions being shouted my way. I held my wings up to calm the room, shouting over the increased noise level.

“Calm down, calm down, please leave any questions until the end. Through our investigations we tracked the killer to a Venlil ex-Exterminator of the Dawn Creek district, by the name of Orhew, also known as Mute. When presented with the evidence, he confessed, and confirmed our working theory of these three murders being the tip of the treetops.”

I paused once more, watching the tens of faces watching me as I steeled myself to drop the final piece of information.

“We can confirm that for the last [three years], Orhew has been killing people he deemed tainted with Predator Disease, including many released members from the now closed Dawn Creek Predator Diseased Facility. While the true number may never be known, we have a possible number of killings up to… 105 victims.”

That did it. The room erupted into a cacophony of noise, voices shouting over each other as they tried to be heard. tails, ears and arms waving as they each wanted to get their question answered all at once. I held up my wings for quiet once again, but even this wasn’t enough as they just ignored me. I tried to plead for calm, realizing quickly this was a fool's errand, instead I ended the chaos with a high-pitched screech, hitting the higher, louder notes in my natural capacity. Everyone in the room, apart from the singular Krakotl sat in the back, stopped shouting at once, giving a multitude of groans of pain as they held their ears.

“Sorry about that. I understand this information may be shocking, and we will now be answering questions from the press. Please, be orderly and provide them one at a time.”

The room looked like they were about to explode into noise again, but a single glare from me silenced them once more, the threat of being louder than everyone else here giving them pause and forcing the journalists to act like civilized people.

As if. Lawyers, politicians and journalists are the most predatory of professions.

“Saldgen, from the Republic Times.” A light grey Venlil held up their tail as he asked the first question. “You say this Exterminator was killing the Predator Diseased, was this supported by the Dawn Creek Exterminator’s guild?”

“Were they part of the True Exterminators movement that started there?” Another reporter added.

“The actions of Orhew are not, and never were supported by the guild.” I stated this firmly, trying to remove the annoyance from my voice, due to the fact that people kept asking me that. “The Exterminators are not a group of crazed mass murderers, Orhew’s actions were his own, and his own alone. He also doesn’t seem to be part of the ‘True Exterminator’ movement, instead following his own delusions.”

“Reighas, with the Cradle Crew.” A Gojid this time, raising a clawed hand up high to gain my attention. “You say this has been going on for nearly [3 years]. How were this many killings not brought to the attention of the Guild?”

That was a question, one that didn’t have an answer that didn’t raise more questions.

“There was a problem with our systems, that allowed any Exterminator to delete reports without notifying the rest of the guild. This allowed the uptick in deaths, in and around Dawn Creek, to be hidden from view. Since then the system has been updated, and we’re still working with experts to improve the security of all systems on Skalga.”

A black Venlil with white spots on her head and shoulders rose her paw with a holonote in it. “This would be the second known case of an Exterminator being a Serial Killer. What is being done to ensure that others of their ilk don’t continue to be working for the office?”

What could be done? Orhew looked, normal. At least before he started ranting about me being pure. There were no signs that he was going on mass killings or was going to try and set fire to a cloned meat processing plant. That was the issue, killers didn’t look like predators, they just looked like… people.

“I think defining this as an Exterminator problem is unhelpful and doesn’t attack the real problem. The only reason these two were found, was because their position at the guild left a trail behind to follow. These are the easy ones. We think… we think this is a bigger problem, caused by Federation thinking.”

I paused for a second, taking a moment to collect my thoughts as I drank from a container of water, trying to work out the correct words to not cause panic.

“Our entire society has been tainted by incorrect Federation thinking. We were taught that prey didn’t kill prey, so any murders we saw must have been caused by predators. Our initial analysis suggests there is much work to be done to reopen old cases.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Murmurs broke out amongst the group, although none of the voices rose to become a problem. This gave the Krakotl in the back a chance to speak, raising a wing before chirping out their question.

“Palsim, with the Truth Enquirer. Many people have seen the video of you eating ‘fake predator meat’? Do you have anything to say about this and the impact on your ability to keep us safe as an Exterminator?”

Come on! The only other Krakotl here is Feddie brained idiot. Way to reinforce the stereotype!

“I am not talking about that or anything of a personal matter here. This conference is about the Heartbreak killer only. Next question?”

I felt my heart drop as the black Venlil spoke up once more. “Sharnet, with the VRPBN. You mentioned up to 105 deaths. How many have you actually been able to confirm?”

Nope. I didn’t like her. This was the second question she’d asked that I didn’t have a good answer for.

“We have confirmed… 74 deaths in total are linked to Orhew, with the 105 number coming from his confession. We are still going through the records to work out who exactly these victims are, but this is a slow process.”

“And how many of those were previously imprisoned in the Dawn Creek Correctional Facility?”

I gave a sad forlorn sigh. She must have researched this before me. Her questions were too specific to have known nothing.

“29 of the confirmed deaths are from the facility. We are assuming the vast majority of the unaccounted for murders are from that group. It’s difficult to confirm, as most of them don’t have families or a herd who kept track of them, the information as to where or even who was at the facility is scattered. I don’t think we’ll ever know who all the victims are.”

The energy of the room dipped as the sombre nature of my words took hold. This was both a triumph for the Exterminators, and a shame.

“So that’s… 76 victims completely unaccounted for?”

“Not… exactly,” I admitted, “3 of them were not part of the facility, but instead human sympathizing individuals. 42 others are part of another incident that I can’t speak of right now, due to being under a separate investigation.”

An investigation into questions like ‘Why in the Maltos cursed hells was an Exterminator guild dealing drugs’, ‘What exactly is in the water at Dawn Creek, that makes every Exterminator there the absolute worst’, and best of all: ‘how many other offices were involved in the drug trade.’

Another hand rose up, this time from a well-dressed human. Unmasked of course, I wasn’t going to be leading an event where the ‘predators’ were forced to hide their faces.

“Ed Curtis, the Times, Skalga branch. I understand the investigation into the ‘Intestine-Eater’ was led by a human member of staff. Was this the case here as well?”

It was now my turn to feel smug, a self-satisfaction practically irradiating the entire room as I shuffled my feathers with pride.

“No.” I responded with glee. “The investigation was led by myself and officer Jkob. The Exterminator’s guild has made mistakes before, when provided with the wrong information: This is a new world, with new information and new processes sparked by the changes throughout the galaxy. We are learning, and we are learning quickly. This is just the start, while we’re happy to work with them, we don’t need humans to hold our wing.”

My good mood was instantly destroyed as I looked upon the Krakotl once again raising his wing as he spoke.

“Prestige Exterminator Estala, are you a danger now that you are tainted with predatory fake flesh?”

A crumpled up paper bounced off his head right as he finished speaking, thrown expertly not by a human as I had thought, but by the black and white Venlil.

OK, maybe I like her a little bit.

“Of for the love of Inatala! I’m talking about someone who killed over a hundred people! Who cares what plant based food I ate, what part of the last [year] has led you to believe that diet matters you Feddie brained yolkless egg!” What is wrong with you!” I could feel my feathers flaring with anger as I spoke, the unfortunate Krakotl sitting back in his seat as I turned my wrath upon him. ”Does anyone else have any more stupid questions?”

I hoped no one would be dumb enough to answer that question, but I was wrong. A hand raised itself from the back of the room, a small human who had remained quiet until now.

“John Smith, a random guy who followed this group in here because nobody was checking ID’s. How much do you like mangos?”

I’m going to murder this human, and it’s going to be justified.

Seriously, this was a meeting to talk about the deaths of countless innocents, and he thought he could barge in and joke around? At least that lady Venlil seemed to agree with my outrage going by her own glare. I stared at the idiot who was wearing a shit eating grin, willing myself to set the moron on fire through my sheer will and rage.

“I don’t know if your translator is broken, but I wasn’t actually asking for stupid questions! It’s called sarcasm! Since this has obviously run its course, I’m calling an end to this, further details will be released as they become available. Thank you for your time!”

I tried to flatten my feathers as I left the podium, my mood was full of annoyance as I ignored the straggling questions still trying to be posed to me. As soon as I was out of sight I buried my beak into the feathers of my wing and gave a silenced scream of frustration.

Maybe I could get the Predator Disease Facilities reopened, then have every journalist arrested for Predator Disease.

I gave a final deep sigh, trying to remove my rage before I continued on with my hopefully better day. I then spotted a figure approaching, moving away from the rest of the herd and making a straight line toward my position, one that suggested my day was going to get worse before it got better. The good news was my anger had been replaced. The bad news: it was replaced with fear and anxiety.

What is High Magister Rolem doing here?!

There were very few people on the planet who could get me fired: my reputation, willingness to move with the times, and good standing kept the Feddie brained idiots still within the guild at bay. However, calling a High Magister an ‘empty-headed stubborn fucker’ in an official email was one way to get fired. I hadn’t heard of any fallout from my ‘accidental wing slip’, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t coming.

“High Magister Rolem! What a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here sir?”

I hadn’t met the Magister in person before, both of us only really knowing of the other through the requirements of our job. The Venlil looked rather pleased, tail swaying in a content manner as he approached. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

“Hello Estala. I would have thought my reasoning would have been obvious. You called for a thorough investigation to be done on what had been previously thought to be a shuttle industrial accident, and then called a conference to talk about a murderer worthy of the Arxur had been operating in my district. That is certainly a way to grab the attention of an, ah, ‘Empty headed fucker’ I must say.”

I could feel a panic start to set in, heart thudding as if an Arxur was stood opposite to me, instead of a Venlil Magister. I started spluttering and trying to keep my voice steady as I spoke.

“I-I’d like to apologize for the email sent your way. You see, I’ve been having, um, problems with, um, humans finding it funny to break into my, you know, email systems and-”

I was cut off by a single clearing of the Venlil’s throat, maintaining direct eye contact as he stared me down as I tried to create a flimsy excuse for the email I sent. I withdrew within myself, looking down at the ground, feathers flattened in fear and shame.

“I didn’t mean to send that email. I normally rewrite them before sending them and I accidentally sent the message before doing so. I am very sorry, and I won’t do it again.”

He nodded, their spotted wool keeping their expression more unreadable than most. “I do hope I am not intruding with this request: would you walk with me?”

Well, I’m not fired yet I guess.

I gave a small nod as I took position to his left, silently walking with him as we left the press room behind and entered the busy streets of Dayside City. I could feel my mind racing as I tried to work out exactly what to say.

“So, how’s your police project going on?”

Well that was a stupid question. I knew exactly how it was going: Badly. Sure, it was better than what was there before, but at this point an Arxur raiding party would have done a better job than the Dawn Creek Exterminators. The refusal to deal with ‘predator’ problems had gotten worse now that the Exterminators in surrounding districts were no longer responding to calls: I’d heard rumours of at least one human getting into medical trouble with alcohol poisoning due to nobody wanting to ‘harass a drunk predator’.

“I would say it has been going better than expected,” he hummed, “that is not to say flawless, of course. As my expectation was that I would have been, as the humans call it, literally burned at the stake for the complete disbanding of exterminators in my District.”

Wait, humans do WHAT? No, no, focus Estala, work out what that’s about later.

“You could say I’m not a fan of the idea, although you know that already.” I added diplomatically. It was a dumb idea, a short term stupid idea that probably wasn’t even legal. “I understand the old guild in Dawn Creek needed to go, but there are… issues with permanently removing the guild.”

“Oh, that has been quite clear to me. I and the other Magisters have been working hard to restructure things, add new training for the police, and even hire those exterminators who had shown themselves to be truly heroic during that… disaster of a paw.”

“And I support all of that. Training, reformation, restructuring is what the guild needs.” Half my job, when I wasn’t on medical leave, was simply trying to get other districts to take on the changes they needed to survive. “But… you have a staffing issue. The problem is you’re fighting against hundreds of years of cultural knowledge. People know what an Exterminator does, they know what a Police officer does. Trying to mix them, you’ll get the wrong people applying, and the wrong people calling up with their problems.”

“You must at least understand that my biggest reservation is that, quite simply, your plan for the office is very similar to the plan used after the last debacle. The one that got me into my current position.”

“The guild isn’t inherently bad, it just needs… changes, like everything in every level of government the Federation touched. The Dawn Creek guild was terrible, but you don’t ban Strayu because a faulty oven burned a batch of them. The police force you want to build, the Exterminator Guild is already reforming to become that. The main difference is your solution breaks down the existing support structures. The Exterminator guilds in the surrounding districts legally can’t help you with your project, which in retrospect is more Federation tampering.”

“Then does that not further explain my stance? You say I am dismantling support structures, but I ask you: what is it they are supporting?”

I stopped walking, simply taking the time to look Rolem square in the eyes with full sincerity.

“Did you know that 62% of the guild has lost at least one parent? With 78% of those being full orphans? I know I am, that’s why I joined.” I spoke softly, sadly, voice filled with emotion as I thought back to when I became a junior Exterminator back on Nishtal, all those years ago. “I wanted to stop others being hurt, that’s why most people join. Some do it for other reasons, but most just wanted to save people.”

“You say that you wish to help, but have not answered my core question: what is it made to support?”

“The guild’s purpose is to help the herd. The humans arriving haven’t changed that, haven’t changed why we exist. It’s just shown us a better way to do it.”

“But think about that. Who made the determination it was “the herd” and not everyone? Who decided that orphans and the traumatized should be the main resource? And who set up the very danger you volunteered to save people from?”

He paused, letting out a sigh. “Can you see what I see it to have been? What I see it as supporting?”

“The Federation.” I said it simply, a tough pill to swallow that inherently, the entire organization I had placed my life behind was a creation of the monolith of suffering that had blighted the galaxy. “Like everything is. As someone from Nishtal, I always did wonder why the Venlil government worked like it does. Governors having near absolute power over the planet, High magisters having absolute power over their district. Makes more sense now I know what the Venlil originally were, made it easier to control you I guess.”

Well, until one of those Governors uses that power to unilaterally decide to trust a brand-new predator species and completely reveal the Federation’s lies.

I gave a small sad sigh, shoulders slumped as I continued to speak.

“If I could tear it all up as if I were Inatala herself, remove every law and government structure, rebuild them without the Federation’s influence, then I would. But we can’t, that’s not realistic. All we can do is work with what we’ve got, and make it better. I know the end goal, in a generation or two, won’t require the Exterminator’s guild, but that’s not today.”

Rolem sighed, “I do not see why it cannot. Because I feel like if we keep it up, it will just encourage a return to fear and prejudice. So yes, I know you disagree with my methods, as I disagree with yours, but I cannot think of any other way forward. Not on my own…”

Well there was another way, something I’d thought of in the last few weeks, a possible compromise.

“I have an idea. In small towns and cities near the nightside, the Exterminators and Police are basically the same thing, since they don’t have the facilities for two separate organizations. Normally in such cases, the police are a subgroup of the Exterminators under their command structure, but.... there's nothing in the laws or procedures that states it can't be the other way around. You get to keep the name and legal structure, attract people who didn't join the police to do dangerous stuff, and keep the ability for other district’s Guilds to help. You get to keep the public’s knowledge, their support for the Exterminators, and you also get to build them into something better for this brighter future.”

Rolem laughed lightly. “Not so sure about the name, but you do have a point.”

I gave a shrug in response. The name was one of the more important parts. While people had a lower perception of us than they did before, people overall still trusted the Exterminators to protect them, even in these uncertain times. It was our job to ensure that trust wasn’t misplaced. Still, Rolem even considering this was a step forwards.

"It also probably helps your reelection campaign, if you're seen to be 'fixing' the Exterminators, instead of destroying them."

“Heeeeee,” He whistled loudly in amusement, “I have come to terms that I am not going to be reelected no matter what I do the rest of my term. I just have to try and set things up so that things do not get immediately undone the moment I leave, as impossible as that may seem.”

"A year ago, predators were evil, Krakotl were prey, and only predators killed people. The one thing I've learned is nothing is written in stone." I paused, before letting my voice fill with mirth. “Besides, I really need you to win your reelection. If you get replaced by some Veln supporting asshole, I’m going to end up sending an even ruder email to them, and I don’t think my career can survive that.”

“I would not be so sure. The only thing I would have to use against you would be slander, as would they. But unfortunately for them, it is not slander if it is true.”

I laughed along with Rolem at that, a lighter feeling entering my heart as I did so. Even with the sombre information I’d shared with Skalga today, overall this was a positive note. The found herd at the Dawn Creek Facility would be very happy to learn the Stalker would, at the very least, be spending his entire life in prison. A murderer had been discovered, one hidden by Federation thinking, uncovered without the help of humans. In addition, Rolem and I had come to some kind of an understanding.

The universe was a messed up place. The only thing you could really do was try to make it better, one step at a time.

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