Judge
The same side hall with the stairs that led directly to the Anti Deathworlder crimes unit also had a side hall that opened into the main atrium of the CSP. For some reason the designers of the new precinct headquarters had been smart enough to create side entrances for the special units, but not smart enough to create a more discreet path to the Chief’s office. The Arbiter believed that it had been done intentionally, so that the visiting public and other officials could see officers hustling to and fro, giving people the feeling of urgency and importance. For the officers however it was a tedious and frustrating diversion from their jobs, pushing through the throngs of people just to get some miscellaneous paperwork filed with the main office.
The Arbiter didn’t have that issue. People took one look at the dark cloak and made a path for the ADCU to pass unobstructed. Even with the people making way for them it still took a while to reach the doors to the Chief’s office. The designers had made the main chamber of the CSP impractically large, focusing more on the size and scale rather than on how long it would take to cross something this large. The Arbiter could have put on speed and taken longer strides, but that would have given away their species as human. The cloak did much to hide their features, but there were only so many species the same size and shape as humans, and striding across the atrium would have given away the proportionally larger legs of humans.
At the end of the atrium there was a grand set of stairs leading to an upper level where the Chief’s office and his support staff were housed. The whole affair was incredible extravagant for what was essentially the CSP’s accounting division, but part of the new buildings job was to glorify the Unity Station Security while the council pushed for a harsh crackdown on crime.
The Arbiter strode up the marble stairs to the mezzanine level that overlooked the whole atrium, not even giving the amazing view a second glance. A Feal assistant rose from their chair and lumbered to intercept the Arbiters path. “Are you Officer Arbiter?” She said in a high-pitched squeak.
“I am” the Arbiter said, the voice scrambler giving their voice a low distorted growl.
The Feal looked taken a back by the hostility, but otherwise didn’t comment on it “The Chief is ready to see you. Right this way.”
The Feal then led the Arbiter past the front desk and into a hallway leading to the Chief’s office. Feals were another of the Union’s primate species, but unlike Humans who were adapted for plains and endurance, Feals were made for cold water environments. They looked like a cross between a polar bear and a gorilla complete with a blubbery torso. They were too heavy to climb like their earlier ancestors, but had enough watery adaptations to thrive on the cold rocky coasts of their homeworld.
Primates were the second most common order of sapients in the galaxy, surpassed only by intelligent avian’s like Cék’ek, Folidron, and Kanites. There were many different species within the vast expanse of the Great Spiral Galaxy, and they were all varied and alien to each other. That said there were many common adaptations found in common biomes that could broadly allow for biologists to define loose orders of animals. Inherent to those orders were certain traits that skewed towards a higher potential for sentience and civilization. The inherent intelligence required for primates and avian’s gave them a higher chance for forming more complex brains, and social instincts that allowed for packs or herds led to the creation of communities and cooperation. For this reason, the most common orders of intelligent species who had a shared morphology and understood behaviors were avian’s, primates, canines, and pastoral herbivores.
The Feal led the Arbiter down a hall and into the less glamorous offices of the CSP. The offices were necessary for the CSP to function but weren’t interesting enough to be put on display for the public. Previously the old Chief occupied a glass office visible to the public from the atrium, but when Judge took over he found the deepest most isolated office within the CSP and made it his own. He still had to make regular appearances in his official office, but that was only for when he met with councilors or the station governor.
The door at the end of the hall was plain and very ordinary, with nothing on the outside to indicate that it was the chiefs office. The Feal who towered over the Arbiter opened the door and let the Arbiter in before closing the door. Judge was sitting across the massive room in a plain desk staring at something on a data pad. He looked up and fixed his hawkish eyes on the Arbiter, “You can turn the privacy field off.” He ordered.
The Arbiter reached under their neck and flicked the static-like hologram off. Rachel then looked at her boss and mentor and bowed her head. Many Terrans within Unity embraced traditional Japanese fashion as it was what others expected from them, but Judge was an authentically Japanese man whose family traced their legacy all the way back to Kyoto. They had been some of the first humans on Unity and had done much of the groundwork in establishing traditional Japanese clothing as the norm for humans.
He had long onyx black hair that he pulled into a high ponytail, fine sharp facial features and pale cream-colored skin. He wore simple patterned robes and wouldn’t have looked out of place in an old samurai movie. The only non-traditional part of his whole ensemble was the pulse gun at his hip and the bright red sash of the Station Chief.
Rachel herself had to dress much like Judge for her entire life, but she never felt quiet right in them. Her family, the Hearts, were the descendants of freed west African slaves who had struck it rich in the US after designing some of the first efficient EM thrusters. Despite having moved to Unity the Hearts had held onto their African American sensibilities and culture, shedding them only during dinner parties when it was politically convenient to dress like they were from the Edo period. The expensive Kimonos always felt like an ill-fitting costume, like she was an imposter.
Rachel blinked and refocused on the current situation. “Judge, while responding to a violent human attack I encountered Councilmen Ozzath waiting for me.”
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His eyebrows scrunched up as he thought “How many times must I tell you, I am no longer apart of the ADCU, you must call me Chief Jin.”
“With all due respect sir, you’ll always be Judge to us.” Rachel countered.
He sighed, but Rachel saw the fondness in his expression. “What did Ozzath have to say?”
“He offered to have me moved back to patrols, I also suspect that he was the one to call me out to the shell in the first place.”
He looked down and began to tap his finger. Rachel stared at his tapping finger in surprise, Judge was a stalwart man and didn’t fidget unless something was really bothering him. “You are working the assassin case, correct?”
“Yes”
“And there was another attack today?”
“Yes”
His frown deepened; Rachel had an idea of what he was getting at but kept it to herself. “Do you know were the slaughter was this time?” he asked, something about his tone told her that he already knew the answer.
“No, I was only given a body count.”
He nodded as if confirming something he already knew “It was an insurance claims company, a very specialized one.” He explained.
“Specialized how?”
“They work in very extraordinary and unusual claims. They insure the production and safe transport of very expensive but unusual equipment.”
Rachel blinked as a thought occurred to her “Were they by chance working on something unusual at the time?”
He nodded “They were. A company from the Femeri sector had recently ordered a very expensive product from Equara, a subsidiary of Amaterasu Holdings.”
“Why does that name sound familiar?”
“It is the name of the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu. It was also the name of the first FTL ship gifted to Humanity by the Union. My ancestor was the captain and used the ship’s name for the company he founded here on Unity.”
Rachel nodded “Right, your younger brother is the current CEO.”
Distaste flashed across the chiefs face, gone within a moment. It was well known that there was a falling out between the brothers, it had occurred during Judge’s time with ADCU and had forever soured their relationship. “Yes, I recently received a report from them, a shipment of great value had gone missing during transport. The report cited pirates.”
Comprehension hit Rachel “And the insurance company was looking into the theft before they were massacred.” This was the first real lead into the assassin since she picked up the case. The assassin only left behind scenes of slaughter with no indication as to why, this could be the lead she’s been looking for. “What went missing?”
Judge saw the gears turning in Rachels head and nodded his approval “Terraforming equipment.”
“That’s a little too unique for pirates, too hard to fence and specifically designed to only work for one specific world.”
“Yes, I wouldn’t rule out pirates entirely, it could have been a random hit and run. But given the value of this equipment I can’t imagine any ragtag crew defeating the shipments destroyer escort.”
“If not pirates then what happened to the equipment?”
“Maybe it never left, or maybe it left and went somewhere else?”
“Insurance fraud?”
Judge shook his head “the insurance claim was from the Femeri company, and they would have a greater interest in actually receiving their purchase. I think someone in Amaterasu didn’t want the equipment to make it to Femeri.”
Rachel peered at her mentor “You have a suspect in mind?”
He nodded “I do, but this is not someone we can easily look into, even with my authority.”
“You’re not backing down are you?”
“Never!” he said firmly before taking a second to calm himself, he looked at her with a soft look “but I’m worried about involving you. This is a very powerful person who has the power to make you disappear without a trace. They may even be the person holding your assassins leash.”
“You want me to know what I’m getting into?” he nodded. Rachel sighed “This assassin has a kill count in the hundreds, probably more. And if they’re working for someone that powerful then I think the massacres are only the tip of the iceberg. This goes to the top doesn’t it?”
Judge held himself as stiff as a board so as to give Rachel no indication of whether she was right or wrong, which told her all she needed.
“I’m in sir, I joined the force to clean up the corruption at the top. I know it’s there, and I know just how bad those kinds of people are.”
He let out a breath and slid her the data pad, she glanced to the name listed at the top. Jin Kenzo. “Your brother?” she asked I surprise.
“Yes, years ago I came across a violent assault, a human female brutalized to an inch of her life. In there you’ll see where my investigation led me, and everything else I have gathered.”
Rachel scrolled through the case details and the disturbing pictures of the case, she saw the threads leading back to Jin Kenzo. She kept swiping until she got to section with three cold cases with three eerily similar circumstances, the human females in those cases didn’t survive their injuries like the first. There were other cold cases attached as well, smuggling, espionage, bribery, and shady business practices. Rachel glanced up and stared at her mentor in horror, “Would you think less of me if I said this has changed my opinion about you sir?”
He snorted “I would be disappointed if it didn’t. The idea that someone so repulsive could be related to me makes me question myself. Makes me wonder if that kind of depravity is genetic.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Rachel said with a dry throat. Rachel knew that the violent urges she felt when she wore her Arbiter persona came from her father and his side of the family. It was carefully concealed from the public, but she had often seen her father and uncle fall into their rage. “Why haven’t you arrested him?”
He looked down, ashamed. “When I first had my suspicions I didn’t hide my disgust very well, I tipped him off and he cleaned house. Someone attempted to kill my witness with a car bomb, and the trail went dark after that.”
“Is she-?”
“No, she survived, and I helped her create a new identity. But just one witness is not enough to convict someone as powerful as Kenzo, especially after I punched him out on the forum floor. Everyone knows my hate for him, and might suspect my intentions. I have been looking into his activities ever since, it’s why I knew about the missing terraforming equipment.”
Rachel nodded “He also has a good relationship with councilman Ozzath.”
“That is an understatement.” Judge said bitterly. “Ozzath practically groomed him to be an ally since we were boys.”
“So Ozzath calls me away from the CSP right when our assassin attacks an insurance company investigating your brother’s company, and he even attempts to bring me back to patrols and off the assassin case entirely.”
Judge nodded “Yes.”
“I see what you meant about powerful people, that’s two active councilmen.”
“I warned you.”
Rachel nodded, “What do we know about the Femeri company?”
“Nothing besides what was included in the report. The company was a Terran company by the name of Charon shipping co. registered to a human female named Astarte Maidens-Daughter.”
Rachel frowned “That’s an odd name.”
Judge nodded “Astarte is an old middle-eastern goddess.”
“I meant the last part, Maidens-Daughter doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Could it be an alias?”
“Maybe, I will reach out to the station security chief in Femeri to see if he has anything on her or her company. But I don’t imagine them finding much.”
Rachel frowned. Judge had been an investigator for longer than she had been alive, so his instincts were better than hers. But something about this Astarte women didn’t sit right with her. What would a human want with Terraforming equipment, and better yet how did they get the funding? Her inclination to ask questions like that were what landed her a detective position in the first place, and might reveal a whole another side to the case.