Memory transcription subject: Estala, Extermination Officer, ‘Voyak’ Colony Cleanup Division
Date [standardized human time]: ???????
I fled. I could hear them behind me, growling and shouting, teeth gnashing in the dark as I flapped my wings as hard as I could. The sound of gunfire thudded into the brickwork of the surrounding walls, bullets crackling as the attackers attempted to nail down my retreat while I attempted to put some space between myself and Arxur. I could hardly breathe, panting and gasping for air as strained wing muscles worked with the pure instinct of terror to drive me onwards.
I knew I couldn’t escape them even if I wanted to, as I flew low between the twisting streets of the fledgling colony, making sure to keep as much cover between myself and the evil predators chasing me down. The small trickle of blood I was leaving behind would allow the greys to track me down to the ends of the world, in their demented desire to kill and devour. The little droplets of purple blood from the small but purposeful cut on the inside of my left leg led the Arxur onwards along my trail.
Entirely according to plan.
We needed more of a delay. Even after the initial fires had driven back the first Arxur wave, we needed more time, we needed hours when all we had were minutes. Just letting the cruel Arxur abuse their overall range advantage would cause our downfall, but there was only one way to lure a predator: Via Its bloodlust.
We needed someone to draw the Arxur into a close range engagement where the Exterminator teams could use the element of surprise and our flamers. It had been my idea, so I had volunteered. I wouldn’t have suggested any plans that I wouldn’t have been willing to do myself.
I was greatly regretting that decision right now.
I slammed into someone, both of us tumbling to the ground as I hit the Arxur with a considerable amount of speed, as the predator had walked into my path unknowing of my position. Confusion turned to panic, turning to absolute fear as I saw the grey scaled beast, its eyes filled with hate and destruction, teeth glinting in the dark as its single focus mind turned to only thoughts of devouring me alive. We both reacted on instinct, the predator’s claws reaching out to tear me apart.
My own instincts kicked in. I didn’t have my flamer with me, but I did have a small firearm strapped to my side. Hundreds of hours of practice made drawing it in a panic almost second nature, although the many, many rounds sent down the Exterminator guild’s firing range didn’t mean much at this close distance, as I pulled the trigger as fast as I could pull it.
The Arxur might have been driven on bloodlust, but even a predator's eternal evil is no match for several centre mass shots, its reaching swipe of a clawed hand turning into a tumble as the grey collapsed to the ground. I stood there shaking for a moment, looking down at the now dead Arxur lying in a puddle of blood, the entire exchange taking a mere ten seconds. There was no time to waste, the hunting party was still close behind, so I took to the air again.
I was close. I could see the area I’d told the team to wait for my arrival, A mere few meters separated me from safety and the aid of the rest of the Exterminators, I just needed to get a little further, to just stretch my burning aching wings a few more flaps. I turned the last corner at as much speed as I could muster.
Blood, blood was everywhere.
The Exterminators lay dead, floating in the pool of swirling purple blood that filled the small clearing I’d told them to wait at, the liquid coming up to my waist as I stood in the gore. Before me stood an entire raid’s worth of Arxur, cackling and feasting at the destruction they had caused, each of them staring at me, laughing as I stood there. I had no more energy left to fly, no more fight left in my body.
How had they managed to get here before me, how did this happen?
It didn’t matter, just that it had happened. I had failed. There was no escaping a predator, their evil and destruction reigned supreme throughout the galaxy. I could see the murderous beasts approaching, ripples and bubbles swirling through the bloody lake that stretched as far as the eye could see. The colony was gone, replaced with dark shadows blocking my view, holding thousands of glinting predatory eyes staring hungrily at my position.
Something bumped into me, A Krakotl’s body disrupted by the churning of the blood the Arxur’s approach was having, face up and staring blankly towards the sky. A Krakotl I recognized, his throat still cut and guts still splayed out since the last time I’d seen him.
Dad?
Memory transcription subject: Estala, Prestige Extermination Officer, PR Division.
Date [standardized human time]: January 13th, 2131
I awoke with a startle, falling off my perch with a strangled cry, heart thudding in my chest as sleep-based confusion gave away to understanding and realizing where I was. I wasn’t on Voyak, I wasn’t on a planet with the Arxur attacking. I was fine, I was back on Nishtal.
I took deep calming breaths, pushing the nightmare away as the early morning sun streamed in through the window, slowly getting up off of the floor and hopping back onto my perch, repeating the same words in my head over and over until I found the terror dissipating.
I am fine, I am safe, I am fine, I am safe.
As shock led to a general feeling of grogginess and my thoughts calmed to their normal tempo, I decided to get a start on the day’s work: Helping people in my job as an Exterminator always helped keep my mind off terrible things, whether it was my fathers' death at the hands of a predator, the way Talsim had died in my wings, or now, what had happened on Voyak. I looked at my pad and resigned myself to not falling asleep any time soon, checking the day’s messages and meetings.
Another busy day.
They were calling me the hero of Voyak, ‘What it meant to be part of the Federation, to stand up and help the herd in times of need’. It didn’t feel very heroic. My defence of Voyak had been successful, barely, able to hold off the Arxur raiding parties until the Federation fleets had arrived. A mess of decisions made through fear and threats of being killed by predators, on the fly half-baked ideas to hold the Arxur back while the evil beasts tried to kill and slaughter their way through the colony. Somehow my impromptu leadership had worked, and we had survived what should have been a death sentence. The colonists remained safe in their bunkers and most of the Exterminators made it out alive.
Barely.
There were a mass of needless and mundane tasks scheduled for the next few working days. A PSA about detecting predator disease that they wanted me to be the face of, a small news channel wanted me to talk with them in a only half veiled attempt to recruit more people to the Exterminators, a meeting with members of a junior Exterminator’s training centre, and so on. News of what I’d done had spread across Nishtal, a small tiny blip of hope against a backdrop of the general despair of our war against the despicable predatory Arxur. The Nishtal Exterminator’s guild was taking full advantage of this PR win.
I looked across to where my Exterminator uniform was still hung up, awaiting the next day’s work. Two new badges could be seen, glinting in the light. The first was the official signifier of my completion of the Voyak colony cleanup, placed next to my original Little Yortu badge. The second was, larger, more important, signifying the title I’d been given:
Prestige Exterminator.
It wasn’t a rank, so much as a signifier of being an Exterminator of the highest order. You became eligible for the title by one of two ways: You could go through at least ten years of service, and then being given the title via a jury of your peers. Or instead, by going ‘above and beyond in the line of duty’.
What I did didn’t feel that special. People still died, and I was just making stuff up on the fly based on whatever Federation rules seemed to fit.
I looked back down at my upcoming meetings, a feeling of despair falling over me. I wanted to help people, how was recording voice lines for a video game or talking with yet another media presence helping people? That was the problem, wasn’t it. That was why the nightmares were coming back. Work, the knowledge that what I was doing stopped people losing loved ones to predators, was helping people… that seemed to drive away the terrors of my unconscious mind.
This wasn’t work. Being a good little song bird singing for PR department trying to ignore the complete incompetence and lack of… ‘fight’ against the predators being displayed in the Exterminators Guild.
I spent a few more moments staring at my upcoming meeting list, before making a choice in an instant, wing tips moving quickly as I started to cancel every upcoming meeting.
I had some ’actual’ work to do.
Memory transcription subject: Estala, Human Methods Advisor to the Exterminators.
Date [standardized human time]: March 9th, 2137
I sat in the cafeteria, looking across at the Venlil that sat opposite to me. A strange, thin looking person, staring across at me from the table. Only the two of us were in that room as Glena practically vibrated as she sat there, glancing my way and around as if constantly looking for incoming predators.
Although with the way she stared at me, I get the sad feeling she would be more comfortable if an Arxur had broken in through the door.
“I didn't do anything, I wasn't the one who did it.”
I sat alone on the uncomfortable plastic seat, feeling a small amount of annoyance course through me as he once again proclaimed his innocence. Jkob was off doing his set of interviews in another room, not only covering more ground and reducing our time here, but feeling the residents would be more open if they didn't feel outnumbered by two Exterminators.
“I know, like you said the last six times. You're not in trouble, I know you didn't do anything. Just start from the top: what did you see?”
I held my wings up in a calming gesture, causing Glena to flinch as I did so, trying to be as understanding as possible. I knew how much bravery it was taking just to speak with me after the crimes the Dawn Creek Exterminators guild had inflicted upon them.
“I never saw them, wasn't close, I didn't get tainted, I'm not Predator Diseased. But I know who did it. We called him ‘The Stalker’.”
“We?” I asked, looking for clarification.
“The other patients. After the facility let us go because we were cured, we formed a herd of our own, like people without predator disease do. “
I resisted giving a sigh, Glena wasn't the one on trial here, but constantly being reminded of the ‘normal nature’ of the Venlil in front of me was grating on my nerves.
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“I know you're normal and a good herd member, but I need you to focus here. What do you know about the Stalker?”
The Stalker. This was the name I’d heard whispered while I was here, their name for the Heartbreak Killer.
“Well… I never saw it, but I’ve heard a few others talk about it. A beast that hunts down members of the herd.”
“Do you have any more specific information? See anything, know any of this ‘Stalkers’ victims?”
”I did… I don’t know a lot though, because again I never got close to them, I’m not predator disease, I’m not tainted.”
I paused for a moment. Glena clearly had more information, she wouldn’t have risked coming to talk with me if she didn’t, but she was clearly terrified of being branded predator diseased again. Honestly, this had not been one of the problems I thought I’d have. An idea slowly started to form in my brain, the ability to use my position in the guild to my advantage.
“Again, you’re not the one under suspicion here, you seem perfectly free from Predator Disease.”
I could see the Venlil’s body language change, his tail giving a more positive flick at my affirmation, causing me to push ahead.
“I could write you an official document stating that in my opinion, as a Prestige Exterminator, that there is no sign or possibility of Predator Disease on you.”
“You’d… you’d do that? Really?”
“Of course. Again, you have nothing to worry about, you’re not in trouble. But I just need information. Please, anything.”
I felt a small amount of guilt at saying that. Sure, I would write that document, but it wouldn’t actually… do anything. Out of all of the changes humans had brought, the rejection of Predator Disease had been the one to near instantly stick across the entire guild. Most Exterminators felt… betrayed by what the facilities had done. We brought people there to get better, but had instead left them in horrific conditions. There was zero chance these people would ever be put back in a facility. But if giving this Venlil a useless document would cause him to talk, then that’s what I would do.
“Well… I did see it. Once. Kind of. I was with Valen, and we heard something following us in the tunnels, in the dark. A predator, but not like any other predator. We ran, and I fell over as Valen continued. I hid in the dark, in the tunnels away from that… thing, as it passed me by.”
Finally! Now we were getting somewhere.
“Did you see anything? Hear anything?”
“No, I stayed hidden, but I heard it move past my hiding spot. I know it got Valen, then I never saw them again. I… I heard it dragging something as it moved, like something big was being pulled along the ground, I think.”
Not a lot of information, but it’s a start. Just having a confirmation of another victim, with the date and time will be useful on its own, to see if I can find any patterns in this killer’s schedule.
“That’s good, that’s useful, thank you, Glena! What was the time or date? Did you hear what species they were from their footsteps, any voice or mumbling, or any other detail? Even the smallest thing could be what helps me work this out.”
—-------------------
I sat alone in the cafeteria once more, awaiting the next Venlil to finally gather the courage to come talk with me. All of them were the same, all of them talking and acting as if I was going to go crazy and start killing them at any moment. A few had even decided to conduct their ‘interview’ on the other side of the room while I loudly asked my questions across from them. I wondered if Jkob was having better luck.
It honestly… hurt. I joined the Exterminators to help people, to protect people. Everything I’d done, my near religious studying of the Exterminator rules, hours spent training, every Arxur raid and predator call out. I just wanted to help people, but here they looked at me as if I was a danger.
The information I’d gathered all followed a similar pattern. Someone had been hunting these people. A singular person, using a sword. Targeting them in the tunnels where these people lived. But nobody could give me a solid description, anything to work off of. A few seemed to believe they were an Exterminator, but that wasn’t confirmed by-
OW! MOTHER FUCKER! SPEH SPEH SPEH! WHAT THE MALTOS!
My train of thought was interrupted as my tail exploded into pain, causing me to practically fall off of the chair as I spun around to see what was grabbing my feathers, wing instinctively going to my gun from the sudden hidden attack. I stopped, calming down as I saw what had assaulted me:
A little Venlil pup, bleating happily as they reached up once more to try and grab at my feathers, which I swiftly moved out of reach of their grabby little paws. They couldn’t be more than a year old, still crawling around and not yet verbalizing words. I couldn’t help but wonder what a literal pup was doing here: As far as I was aware, the only Venlil here were ex-patients, and someone this young would have never been tested.
Well, unless…. No! I’m not even going to entertain that thought.
“Well how did you get here, you sneaky little fledgling. Awww, you like my feathers do you?”
I spread out my tail feathers, ruffling them out of reach as the cute little pup looked up at the dazzling display of bright blue feathers with a little happy gurgle. I always liked kids, so innocent, untouched by the horror of the universe. I felt my mood brighten immensely as I enjoyed interacting with someone here who didn’t hate me.
“Pola!” I heard a bleat, “Pola, there you are!”
I looked up to see a light grey Venlil running up to me. He looked to be on the smaller side, a child. Maybe 10 years old. He reached down and picked up the pup, signalling apology with his ears.
“I’m sorry, my sister is still learning you shouldn’t grab the tails of non-family.” He turned an eye to the pup in his arms. “I know you love to wander, but you must be careful!”
The baby beeped, pointing and reaching for my feathers, eyes still sparkling wide.
“It’s perfectly fine, she means no harm!” I assured the child, still feeling in a far more jubilant mood. “I’m more surprised to see someone that young here, not many families brave enough to move in with the humans.”
For that matter, even her brother was rather young. I really hope he wasn’t a…
“We had to,” the boy stated. “We would have been sent to another facility if we hadn’t. They would have split me and my parents apart. Make us hurt again. This place is a lot better with the humans, they actually help.”
Oh… of course he was. I shouldn’t have got my hopes up.
I felt another pang of guilt for the uniform I wore, my mood dissipating in an instant as I looked across at this literal child who had been through the system. Sure, I hadn’t been the one to send him here specifically, but every moment I stood in this building seemed to conspire to remind me of the part I have in this.
“Yeah, humans are great at that. They’ll help anyone and anything, no matter what.”
“They do,” the boy agreed. He looked straight at me before his ears raised. “Oh! I’m supposed to greet people with my name! I’m sorry, hello, my name is Jervel. You’re new here, right? I heard people talking about a Krakotl coming in here.”
“I’m not here for long, just here for a… thing.” I paused, deciding that bringing up a mass murdering predator diseased killer in front of a child was a bad idea. “Glad to meet you Jervel, I’m Prestige Exterminator Estala.”
As soon as the words had left my beak, I instantly realized that was the wrong thing to say. It was automatic, almost as instinctual as breathing, the way I introduced myself. The entire core of my person was being an Exterminator. I wasn’t Estala, I was Prestige Exterminator Estala. I helped people, I stood against the Arxur on Voyak and Skalga, I stopped Shadestalkers and protected the herd. Introducing myself in any other way would be wrong, counter to my existence.
Apart from this situation, in which I should have started thinking before I spoke.
Jervel’s eyes widened, his ears falling back in fear. “S-Sulven! Merva!! The-the exterminator! The-they saw Pola! It saw Pola!!!”
I started to panic, reaching out for a moment before pulling back, my feathers ruffling out with worry and concern.
“It’s fine, I’m here to help. It’s fine!” The child looked terrified, my mind racing for some way to fix this. My mind blanking for a moment until I reached into my satchel in desperation, pulling out the orange looking fruit, the only object that I could think of to calm someone down. “Look, do you want a mango? It’s fine, I have food, look!”
It didn’t work. The boy recoiled as if I had offered him something horrid, losing his footing and falling on his rear. He clutched the pup, as if desperate to keep her out of my reach.
A dark grey Venlil burst forward from the entrance to the cafeteria, followed quickly by an off-white woman. They threw themselves between me and the children, huffing in anger. Or, the man was. The woman was huffing, but her ears and tail were still. Not signalling anything beyond the hard stare she was giving me with both her eyes.
“It’s fine! Everything is fine! Nothing’s happening!” I took a startled step back, holding up both wings, the only ‘weapon’ a solitary mango held in my left hand. “We’re just talking, nobody did anything wrong, everything is fine!”
Maybe if I keep saying everything is fine, this will be magically manifested into reality?
The man bared his teeth at me. “You are not taking her,” he hissed, “you are not taking my daughter, I won’t let you kill her! I won’t!”
… WHAT?
“What?” My brain attempted to add more words to that question, every thought coming up blank. Who is trying to kill a pup? What did I do to make them think I’d do that? Who would even do that! “Why would- What is- I wouldn’t. Why is this and-”
“Don’t lie,” the woman stated, her voice icily steady. “You’re an exterminator. You found a child whose parents are tainted. We escaped your sterilization.”
“I won’t let you touch her,” the man, the father growled, “she isn’t a mistake to “fix” or anything.”
“That’s not how it works any more! Or even before, sterilization should only be used in the most dangerous Predator disease cases, as described in section 8A-03.” I shouted out, very, very confused. “By Inatala, who would just kill a child, even before the humans. That’s not regulation!”
Also, the moral reasons Estala! Regulations are not what matters right now Estala! Focus please, stop falling back to rules when you’re stressed! What in the Maltos cursed situation have I walked into?
“You say that like it mattered,” the mother stated. Her eyes squinted at me, one of the first times she showed any emotion. It felt like she was staring through me now. “Why do you say it like regulation mattered in these places?”
“I… I…” I hung my head, looking down at the ground. She was right. She was entirely right. This entire district, this facility, every facility like it. Heck, my entire career in the Exterminator guild had been one battle after another to get people to simply follow the rules. A system designed to be broken for the Federation’s twisted ideals.
“They mattered to me.” I said it softly, still staring at the ground in shame. “They made sure I helped people, kept the herd safe. I’m not here to hurt anyone, or any of that Feddie crap. I’m just here to catch the Stalker, nothing more, nothing less.”
Both their ears perked in surprise at my mention of that name. “Catch?” The father asked, “are you saying they weren’t sent on the orders of someone like you?”
“No, of course not! Why is everyone surprised at that!” I could feel a small amount of exasperation enter my voice. Probably not the best tone, but I didn’t understand why so many people here believed this killer was sent on orders of the Exterminators. “Whoever did this hid it from our official records. A Predator Diseased guy randomly killing people is not official policy. They probably aren’t even an exterminator.”
Well, ‘probably’ is a strong word. Whoever did this has access to our systems, and targeting Predator Diseased individuals was a large coincidence…
“They were one.”
The parent's attention was no longer on me. They were staring at the boy now, the father’s tail signalling cautious worry.
“They were an exterminator,” the boy said again. “I’m not lying. I know what I saw. They were an exterminator.”
“Wait, you saw the Stalker, the Heartbreak Killer?” I stared at the child for a moment, a different kind of excitement beating through my heart. “What did you see?”
I pulled out my datapad to take notes and instinctively took a step forwards, much to the father’s dislike. He reached out a hand and pushed me back. His arm seemed to be trembling with the effort, but it felt like it was the effort of holding himself back more than anything.
“They had your uniform,” The boy whimpered. “The black version. They appeared out of nothing. Cut Daotl’s throat. It was so fast. They-they climbed on them. Stuck a-a sword in their chest. They pulled out the he-heart. It was still moving. It- it lit it on fire. Burned it while holding it. It didn’t see me. Th- the mask was- it was like his eyes were fire in a moving shadow. It was an Exterminator. It was an Exterminator. It was an exterminator.”
The parents knelt down and wrapped their arms around the boy, embracing him in a dual hug. They were whispering to him, too soft for me to hear. But his signs of fear began to lessen before my eyes.
My worst fears of who this person was had been confirmed. Sure technically someone could have hacked into the Exterminator system with knowledge of our record keeping software, stolen a uniform and weapons. But with the choice of target… too many coincidences. The Stalker, the Heartbreak Killer, had to be an Exterminator, or the very least had been one.
I felt a small twinge of guilt at the next question I was about to ask, but it was too important not to ask. I slowly knelt down to be closer to his eyeline, my own body language filled with despair as I spoke.
“I’m sorry you had to see that. I really am. With your parent’s help, do you think you can be brave for me, just for a little bit? We need to go through some details: Time, date, description. Was he a Venlil, tall, short, what did they sound like? I need your help to catch him.”
The boy swallowed. “I don’t- I don’t know. They were a Venlil, but… They-they didn’t sound like anything. They didn’t say anything. They were- they were so quiet. They…” his expression solidified. “I saw them cut off a finger. He took a claw. Put it into a pouch with his sword. Then… then he just walked off. Disappeared back into the tunnels. Because of their black suit.”
Venlil. A black suit. Also… took a trophy. That was information I could use.
“Thank you. This is very important, and you’re a very brave little man for telling me about that. I promise you I’ll find him.”
I glanced up from my position, at the multitude of faces staring back at me. Our shouting had seemingly attracted the rest of the residents to come running, although they still remained a cautious distance away from me. Each of them had the same expression, in their ears and tails.
Disbelief, distrust, not believing I would do anything of note.
All apart from the two parents of this strange little family stood in front of me, their tails swishing in the pattern of another emotion.
Hope.