Tori A2.1-2 (Patreon)

My rewrite is starting to pick up steam. This scene will look a little familiar—its got some old stuff and some new, but I really think we're online to tell a winning tale now!

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During her early supper, Tori managed to find a furnished apartment online. With a tap, she transferred in a ridiculously high rent payment to secure it without any long-term commitment. Druka picked up some snacks and beer for the refrigerator, and the trio set off to Security Ops. “Just want to meet my new boss before we turn in,” she said.

Holly led them to a sturdy metal door on thirteen. “Security” had been stenciled down its height in bold geroo glyphs. He knocked and the door slid open a half meter. A muscular female with tan fur and black ears peered out. Holly’s eyes went wide.

“Uh, er, uh…” he sputtered.

She cocked her head and studied him with golden eyes. “Whacha need?”

“Uh, I’m Administrator Holly,” he finally managed. “I brought your new transfer, Investigator Tori.”

She shrugged and slid the door open the rest of the way. “New transfer, Chief,” she said before returning to her desk.

“Transfer? What transfer?” grumped an older male with greying pelt. He pushed back from his desk at the rear of the empty station and stomped to the door. “You?” he sneered, pointing at Holly. “You don’t look like you could break up a fistfight in the nursery.”

“Oh, not me, sir,” said Holly, lowering his ears. Though roughly the same height as the security chief, the older geroo probably weighed double what the administrator did and was clearly much more assertive. Holly stepped out of the way and pointed at Tori.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be joking,” he groaned, rolling his eyes. “Why wasn’t I informed about a transfer?” he shouted before stomping back to a monitor screen on the wall. With a few taps, he pulled up the transfer list and then tapped on Tori’s photo. “Murder investigator? I didn’t request help on the investigation!”

“Lucky for you, then,” Tori said. “Free help.” She shuffled into the office and tapped her strand against the one on his shoulder to share her contact info.

“No! No! No!” he shouted. “I didn’t ask for help. Don’t need it. Don’t want it. You can’t come barging in here and try to take over my operation.”

“Fine by me,” said Tori as she shuffled toward the door. “I’ll run my own investigation and stay out of your way. For now, all I need are a copy of your investigation files, and full access to the ship’s records.”

“Full access? Are you insane?” he gasped. “I don’t know what sort of totalitarian ship you transferred from, but our crew has an expectation of privacy. If you uncover evidence that warrants further investigation, bring it to me or show it to a judge. Then we’ll grant you access to that one geroo’s files. You’re not getting blanket access to everyone’s.”

“That’s not a very helpful attitude, Chief…”

“Tipohee,” he completed for her. “And I don’t need a crippled investigator’s help. Go transfer back—”

“I plan to,” Tori sighed. “Trust me, I never wanted to come here. I’d much rather be back at home, surrounded by family while I heal, but obviously someone thought it was important that I help out, so here I am. I’ll put in for a transfer back as soon as I’m done.”

She put her paws on her hips. “And as for needing my help… I’ll admit that I don’t have a long history of catching killers—I doubt any geroo does—but as this is the first serial killer aboard the Sailor’s Gambit I, I dare say that you’ve caught precisely zero. I don’t need your appreciation, but you’ve got my help, so don’t be foolish and squander it.”

On her way out, Tori paused and touched the other officer’s shoulder. “Nice meeting you,” she said quietly.

The officer’s ears grinned wide, clearly amused at the exchange with her boss. She pulled her strand from its holster and with a long arm, tapped it lightly against Tori’s. “Sese,” she said. “Nice meeting you too, Investigator Tori.”

Holly, clearly unsettled by the confrontation, made a mumbled excuse, leaving Druka and Tori to find the new apartment without his help.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Druka finally spoke, “That… That wasn’t the gal I traded beads with.”

Tori yarped a quiet laugh. “Well, maybe not the first time we traded beads,” she admitted. “I’ve grown a bit since the accident. It’s made me less fearful. Like, what can anyone do to me that hasn’t already been done?”

Druka smiled without replying.

“Disappointed?” she asked. “Want your bead back?”

“No and no,” he said. “I like it when you surprise me.”

They unlocked their new apartment and Tori peeked inside. “Well, this is nice,” she said with a smile on her ruined ears.

“Very nice,” said Druka. He wandered into the kitchen to put away the few groceries he’d brought. “Maybe we should stick around for a bit after you solve the case and get your body fixed up.”

“We’ll talk about that later,” she said as she shuffled to the bedroom. “First, I’ve got to solve the case. Everything depends on that.” She stripped off her shoulder holster and laid down on the bed.

Druka, with an open beer in paw, peeked in. “Tired?”

“Exhausted,” she said. “Well, my mind is wide awake wondering what’s wrong with this ship, but my body’s pooped.”

“What’s wrong because they’ve got a serial killer?” he asked, taking a seat beside her.

“No, it’s stranger than that,” she sighed. “Chief Tipohee didn’t want my help and remember how everyone acted back home when our killer was on the loose, how the markets were always empty?”

“Yeah, wasn’t like this,” he said. “Everyone’s going about their business here.”

“Right. I asked Holly and he said that the killings weren’t a secret, but no one seems to care. And the weirdest thing of all? When I told Holly that I was here to find the killer, he asked me, ‘Why?’”

Druka stared at her, wide-eyed. “Why? He doesn’t think the killer should be found?”

Tori shrugged and her mate scratched the back of his neck. “Well, he is a really odd guy.”

“He’s unusual,” she admitted, “but I think some of that is because he has no idea what he’s doing. He said he only got the job two weeks ago, and he’s never met another Administrator, so no one trained him, and he’s got no one to go to when he has questions. He’s just making it up as he goes along.”

“Yeah, this ship is a weird place,” agreed Druka. From the nightstand, Tori’s strand chimed. “Want me to get that?”

“Would you please?” she asked.

Druka removed the strand and tapped on its face. “Looks like a bunch of files from security. Nothing that can’t wait until morning.”

“Yeah, but I’m dying of curiosity. Aren’t you?” she asked. “You wanna skim through and read some of it?”

“Yeah, okay.” He propped a pillow against the headboard, and after taking a big swig, he set his beer on the nightstand. “Hrm. The local beer is kinda weird. Gonna be a bit of an adjustment.”

“That’ll be the least of it, I think,” she sighed. “Not being able to visit with Kaz, not being able to talk to my family will be harder.”

“Yeah, I know,” Druka said with an encouraging smile. “But it’s all gonna be worth it.”

He tapped on the message, flicking an attachment to move it to the wall-mounted screen. “Here’s the list of victims. Wow! Seven murdered over the last seven weeks. Our killer’s been busy.”

Druka whistled and Tori looked up from her pillow. “What?”

“I can see a pattern already,” he said. “Three administrators, two officers, and two crew members without a title.” He tapped on Tori’s strand. “One … no, both of the regular crew members were supervisors in their departments.”

“Wow, indeed!” Tori rolled carefully over and propped her head up with two pillows. “No wonder the crew doesn’t seem rattled. If he’s only targeting geroo in charge, then I guess everyone else feels safe.”

“Though it makes me even more curious about Administrator Holly,” he said.

“Well, it’s consistent with what he told me,” said Tori. “Promoted two weeks ago and no one’s been around to show him how to do the job. That would make sense if all the other Administrators are dead.”

“What if he’s the killer? Do you suspect him?”

“Everyone’s a suspect at this point,” said Tori, “but he’s got a fairly unlikely scent. If he was trying to open up an Administrator position, then why kill all three? Why kill the officers and supervisors? And if he did kill the administrators to get a promotion, then why keep killing once he got it?”

“Yeah, that would be crazy,” Druka agreed.

“No, what’s crazy is: why was he surprised that I was trying to catch the murderer? If the killer is targeting Administrators and he is one now, wouldn’t he want the killer caught? His life is in danger so long as the murderer is on the loose!”

Druka covered his eyes and shook his head. “No way I’d have taken that promotion if I was him.”

“They may be having a hard time finding anyone who would,” said Tori, “if he’s the only Administrator aboard now.”

She looked at her mate, feeling more alert now that the mystery was unfolding. “What else? Did the victims have anything else in common?”

Druka tapped the first name on the list. “First victim was Raksa, a supervisor in the agriculture deck. Autopsy revealed brandy in his stomach that had been laced with quinalbarbitone,” he sounded the unfamiliar word out carefully. Then he tapped on the strand again. “Second victim was poisoned with it too… All of them were.”

“Seven poisonings in seven weeks,” said Tori. “This could be tough. If the killer has been poisoning the victims’ food and drink, then he might not have been anywhere nearby when they died.”

Druka frowned. “You ever heard of this quinal … this poison stuff?”

“No, never, but I’ll research it tomorrow.” Tori stretched and yawned. She smiled at her mate. “Sure was strange finding that memory card at dinner.”

“I looked it up while you were talking to Holly,” Druka said with a grin. “Sounds like this ship’s got its own little rebel video director.”

Tori raised the remains of her ears. “Rebel? How so?”

“Well, I read that he’s producing an animated video, but instead of publishing it once it’s done, he’s releasing it scene-by-scene … presumably as he films it.”

“Animated?” she asked, her eyes opened wide. “Like a lio manga?”

“Not a lio,” he said. “A geroo. Someone aboard this ship.”

“Geroo can make lio manga,” Tori explained. “It’s a style that was coined by the lio, but lots of sapient races use it to tell stories.”

“Oh,” said Druka, his voice devoid of interest, but that was hardly a surprise to Tori. Although she was a huge fan of the style, he’d never really gotten into it. “Well, instead of selling copies, he’s been publishing anonymously—dumping the files in public places and relying on others to post them to the network.”

Tori tilted her head. “Why?”

“The article I read said that the video was strongly anti-authority.” He shrugged. “I suppose that publishing it anonymously prevents censorship, keeps him out of trouble with the officers.”

“Or the krakun,” she suggested.

“Yeah, they’d probably deal with him harshly, if they catch him.”

Tori melted into the pillows, starting to enjoy the first night in their new apartment. “Hey Druka, do you think we could download it?” she asked. “I can study all the notes tomorrow, but now that I’ve got my mate back again … I’d sure like to spend some quality time with him.”

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Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gvufALP9Ni7ux-FTxZLNllVvnK0yKdn2McDto42L15I/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?