“We’ve got a problem,” Hxlt said, setting a holoscreen down on the table between Varyna and Opun, then rubbing his bald, gray-green head.

The three COPS sat around a table in a small meeting room with the Kremel team lead at the head. They met this way weekly to go over their tasks for the week or to plan a trip if they had an assignment on a far-off planet.

“What is it?” Opun asked as Varyna turned the holoscreen to her and began scanning the information. Her fellow Human Officer asked a lot of questions. That seemed to be his main role on the team. He was a well-built, middle-aged man with light hair and dark eyes that didn’t miss a thing.

“A series of suspicious murders out on Imadrin. Looks like we may have a serial killer on our hands.”

Varyna’s eyes widened, and she looked up at the senior officer. She had seen quite a few different kinds of crimes back at the Capitol, but she had never personally handled a serial killer case before.

“What’s the approach?” Opun asked, turning the holo to himself and skimming over it. He didn’t seem particularly unfamiliar with the situation.

“That’s the strange thing,” Hxlt answered. “The victims are all completely different. We’ve got a female Nemarian, a male Kremel, and a male and female Human.”

“Then why do they think they’re connected?” Varyna asked.

“They were all killed the same way, four stab wounds to the same location. Then tied up postmortem with varying styles of holiday ribbon and left in front of random gift and souvenir shops,” Hxlt explained.

“Were they locals?” Opun pitched in.

“No. All tourists there to see the Haunted Cave.”

Opun nodded. He was no longer looking at the holoscreen. Instead, he had pulled out his holopen and was scribbling furiously in the air next to him. The pen would store his writing and project it onto any desired surface when he was ready to read it again.

“So what do we do first?” Varyna wondered.

“We’re going to start by trying to retrace the victims’ steps,” Hxlt declared. “The most recent murder that we have a record of was a week and a half ago, so we may find more victims when we arrive.”

“Why did they wait until the fourth victim to report this?” Opun asked. “I would think three victims with the same MO would have been more than enough to call us in.”

“Apparently the local doctor has to travel to other towns occasionally, so the bodies were all waiting on ice for her. Once she confirmed that the cause of death was the same, the local law enforcement decided it was over their heads, and sent for us.”

“So we’ll be dealing with the local enforcement as well.” Varyna frowned. Her past experience of working with planets’ law enforcement agencies was less than great. They were always lazy, belligerent, and uncooperative. And these yokels were already showing their colors, waiting on a doctor’s opinion to recognize an obvious serial killer.

“When do we leave?” Opun jumped in, clicking his pen off.

“As soon as possible. Go pack and meet me at the shuttle dock.” Hxlt rose from the table and Opun and Varyna followed. They split up after leaving the room. While Varyna appreciated the quiet and the privacy of being the only person using the woman’s wing, it was inconvenient as well. She always had to go farther than her fellow officers to get to and from her room.

Still, the privacy meant that she didn’t have to worry about anyone accidentally stumbling upon her investigation into the Runner who’d stolen Leviathan.

Varyna jogged to her room. When she arrived, she packed quickly and efficiently—a skill she had learned early on after entering the COPS academy. With her pack on her shoulders, she made her way back across the station to the shuttle dock, where she found Hxlt and Opun waiting by a mid-size shuttle.

“Took you long enough,” Opun teased.

She rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder hard enough to hurt, but soft enough to pass as a joke. Ever since she had complained about having to jog everywhere since her quarters were farther away, her teammates had taken to teasing her about it.

They all stowed their bags in the small luggage compartment and took their seats. Hxlt was the most experienced pilot, so he took the helm. Opun took navigation as he was more familiar with the sector, and that left Varyna in charge of weapons, which was her preferred role anyway.

The trip out to Imadrin went smoothly. The little rock floating in space was the smallest planet Varyna had seen. It was also greener than she expected. As they entered the atmosphere and descended towards the main landing area, she could hardly see any buildings through the tall, thick foliage.

The landing pad appeared below them and they followed the directions from the control station, taking a spot near the edge. The pad was surprisingly full, the first sign that the planet was busier than one might expect from its location.

Once they landed, they grabbed their luggage and made their way out of the landing station. A rather rickety looking crawler was waiting for them at the entrance. It was a tight fit for Hxlt to get in and Varyna and Opun had to squish beside him on the back seat.

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A Human male and Nemarian female sat in the front seats. The Human glanced back as soon as they closed the doors.

“Welcome to Imad, the capital of Imadrin. I’m Peacekeeper Ershel and this is Peacekeeper Benou-Alf. We’ve been the ones working most closely on this case, so we’ll get you up-to-date on our way to the clinic.”

“Excellent,” Hxlt answered politely.

“Peacekeepers?” Varyna muttered under her breath. That was the first time she’d heard such a pretentious name used for a local law force.

Wasting no time, Ershel and Benou-Alf began recounting the details of the case as they drove. Most of it was already familiar from Hxlt’s briefing that morning and the case notes they had read, but as they had feared, more bodies had been found since the report had been sent to the COPS.

“A male Kremel was found last week and a female Nemarian was found two days ago,” Ershel explained.

“And is there any pattern to the time between bodies?” Opun asked, his holopen already out.

The two in the front seat shared a look, then the female Peacekeeper answered. “We haven’t seen a set pattern,” she said. “The shortest time between bodies was two days and the longest was almost a full week.”

“Sounds like this Serial Killer is an opportunist,” Hxlt said thoughtfully. “We just need to figure out how they’re choosing their targets. Clearly it’s not about species or gender. Do the victims have any physical similarities?”

Ershel snorted. “What kind of similarities are you expecting to find between Nemarians, Kremel, and Humans of different genders?”

“It doesn’t have to be an inherent quality,” Opun answered, cutting Varyna off before she could snap back at the rude ‘Peacekeeper’. “Even something like having similar piercings, tattoos, wearing the same color of clothing or the same style of shirt can be meaningful in a case like this.”

Ershel made a doubtful sound, but he didn’t say anything more. Varyna made no attempt to conceal her scowl. These yokels had already failed to solve the case and yet had the gall to treat the COPS with such a superior attitude.

Hxlt, sensing her anger, quickly cut in with another question before she could take the condescending Peacekeeper to task.

“Did you save all the clothing and effects of the victims, I assume?”

“Of course. We also have pictures of the crime scenes. I know we are not standard COPS, but we’re not as inept as you seem to think.”

“Ershel,” Benou said in a warning voice. She looked back with an apologetic frown. “The Clinic is nearby. Our Doctor is waiting to brief you on her findings.”

Varyna resigned herself to a curt nod, and Opun smiled his gratitude at the Peacekeeper for ending the argument before it got any worse.

They all spent the last few minutes of the ride in tense silence. It was clear that Peacekeeper Ershel didn’t approve of their presence, but Benou seemed to be happy to have them there.

Varyna expected the Doctor to be as standoffish as Ershel. Instead, she found a female Kremel with a kind smile and tired eyes.

“Thank the Suns you’re here,” Doctor Srxw said after they had finished introductions.

“What can you tell us about the bodies?” Hxlt asked, jumping right in.

Predictably, Opun had his holopen out, taking notes. Varyna just listened carefully to Srxw’s explanation of her findings, trying to piece together any similarities that might connect the victims.

After she had briefed them on her findings, Srxw took them to a small back room. “I’m sorry I can’t offer more space, but this will give you the best access to our data. We’ve got a holoscreen here with all the crime scene and autopsy photos. We’ve also got the reports. If you want to go through their personal effects yourself, I’ve got that all bagged in this room back here.”

She led them to a larger room with shelves full of boxes. Each box was labeled with a name, body number, and case number. Srxw pointed out which ones went to the victims and Hxlt directed Opun and Varyna to help him carry those boxes directly into their workspace.

They set all five boxes on their large table and put gloves on, then began going through them, carefully handling the clothing, jewelry, and other personal belongings of the victims.

“Has anyone notified their families?” Varyna asked as she pulled out a small locket that had belonged to the Human female. It had a small holoscreen inside that played a video of the woman kissing a man.

Opun and Hxlt shared a look, then shrugged.

“You should go check with Benou-Alf,” Opun suggested.

Varyna nodded. She put the items she had been going through back in the box and removed her gloves, then left the small, cramped room.

She found the Peacekeepers in the lobby, chatting with the Doctor.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Varyna said, stepping up to them.

They both stopped talking and turned to her. “No worries. I was just about to go anyway,” the Peacekeeper answered.

“Actually, I had a question for you. Has anyone contacted the families of the deceased?”

Benou sighed and ran a scaly hand over her fins. “That’s the weird thing. Somehow the victims targeted were all visitors with no immediate family. We’ve tried to contact the nearest relatives- mostly cousins, aunts, or uncles.”

Varyna paused. “Really? The Human female had a locket with a holoscreen-”

Doctor Srxw nodded and Varyna stopped, looking at her expectantly. “We thought the same, that she had a husband, but he apparently passed away a few months ago. She actually came here because this is where they met.”

“Oh.” Varyna frowned. “But how would the killer know who had close family and who didn’t?”

“That is the question,” Benou said. “Perhaps tomorrow, I can show you and your fellow Officers around the town, introduce you around a bit. You have a fresh perspective, so maybe you can figure this out.”

Varyna nodded. “That would be very helpful. Thank you.”

She returned to her temporary headquarters and relayed what she had learned to Hxlt and Opun. They both seemed very interested and Opun immediately put away the effects he was looking at so he could pull out his holopen and take more notes.

“We should clean this up for now and get settled for the night,” Hxlt said, glancing around. “We’ll leave the boxes here. I want to have them close at hand, just in case. Tomorrow we’ll start getting to know the people. For tonight, we need to focus on getting a good night’s sleep.”

They headed to the lobby and Doctor Srxw called Ershel to show them to their lodgings. The Peacekeeper was just as annoying and condescending as he had been earlier, but he limited his conversation to brusque directions.

Soon Varyna found herself in a small, cramped hotel room. It was not the smallest or dingiest place she’d stayed in her life, but it was certainly lacking compared to the COPS stations she had stayed at in her previous assignment.

She sighed and put her stuff away, making sure to leave her blaster well within reach of the bed, just in case.