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Chapter 3

Sergeant Herik strode up the steps that led to the entrance of Peacekeeper Center 12, the center which he worked out of. It was a sleek black building, composed of a sturdy alloy polished to an almost mirror sheen. There were no windows on any Peacekeeper Centers as most of them doubled as emergency shelters for civilians in times of crisis and were intended to be proof against both military attacks as well as some natural disasters. Fortunately no events happened to necessitate such actions during Herik's time as a peacekeeper. Twin cameras monitored all who entered and exited the center, plainly obvious to all who approached the building.

He had called in the incident at Amy's home, explained all that had happened and was desperate to start looking for her. Every minute that passed was a minute colder any possible trail could get and that was unacceptable to him right now. He stepped through the automatic doors and entered the building, not caring about being wet at the moment as the rain still fell outside. Fellow officers greeted him but the lupari said nothing in reply. He barely heard them speak. Herik strode through the main hall of the center and headed to the elevators. He took the first one he could get to the third floor and walked out to the collection of desks and monitors that he was normally stationed at when not out on patrol. As it was late night, the staff was slightly reduced in number. Herik stalked forward towards his superior's office when he heard a familiar voice call out to him from behind.

"Sergeant Herik, sir, the lieutenant isn't here yet. He should be arriving shortly. Is there anything I can help you with right now? I've been apprised of the situation already. I... I noticed it on my monitor detail. It's Amy, isn't it sir?" The feminine voice dipped to a near whisper at the last words.

Herik turned slowly to look at the female viliti before him. She was a tall member of her species, less than half a head below him in height and covered with brown and white fur in splotchy patterns. Her ears were very long, even for her kind, and she tended to keep them pulled back and lightly bound together to keep them out of the way. Officer Milaj Ivinni was a data coordinator in the center. Her job was to provide technical support and information to peacekeepers out in the field. Though a full peacekeeper officer, she rarely left the center. Herik knew she preferred it that way. She hated direct person-to-person confrontation, but excelled in the tasks set before her at her terminal, and loved computers.

The lupari gave a slight nod of his head and mumbled, "Yes."

"I thought I recognized the address sir. I offer any and all assistance to you that I can provide on this matter. I'm sure the lieutenant will agree to send you on the case immediately and we can..."

Herik held his hand up and sighed, "Please Milaj, not now. Just... just let me sit here in peace and wait for the lieutenant, okay?"

The viliti looked a little crestfallen and backed up a few steps, almost stumbling over her big paws. "Yes sir. I'm sorry for being a pest sir." She turned around and began to shuffle off towards her data station and terminals.

Herik watched her go and immediately felt bad. His tail flicked in annoyance, mostly at himself. "Wait. I'm the one who's sorry. You're not a pest Milaj. I'm just out of sorts at the moment. Forgive me," he called over to her.

She halted immediately and her little nub of a tail that poked out of the rear of her black and gold uniform wiggled. Milaj looked back at Herik and smiled. She clutched a large data pad to her bosom with one hand and pointed to her station. "Right there... I mean I'll be there, right there, when you need... I mean if you need me sir. Not that you have to use me as there are others here to provide support, but if you..."

"Milaj, that's fine. Go. Shoo," he said. It was almost impossible for him to not smile at her awkward enthusiasm. Even as emotionally scattered as he was at the moment, Milaj was there for him and making him feel just a little bit better. The viliti scampered off to her cubicle, took a seat behind the partition, poked her head up over the barrier once to look at him, and then ducked back down out of sight. Herik sighed and took a seat at his desk a short distance off. He slumped back in the chair heavily and covered his face with his hands.

He kept running over the sights of Amy's home in his head, over and over. He was trying to see if he missed any slight detail. He was sure he hadn't. The Proxy saw all that could be seen. He was thorough after he calmed down. Herik dragged his hands down his face then shook his head. The lupari pulled the Proxy out once more and set the case before him. He took it out and set it up, then began to remove the evidence he collected from the site. He knew this was a breach of protocol. He was supposed to leave it on site, but he had to follow this up. It was Amy. He had to find her. No one else cared for her like he did.

Herik pulled out a small set of micro tools from the top shelf of his desk, used to make repairs and adjustments to Proxies just like his. He activated and linked into the Proxy, had it remove the small swatch of cloth from its arm then took the visor off to see it with his own eyes. Though the Proxy could see and hear better than he could due to its sensors, there was one thing it could not do. It could not smell. There was no way for it to translate any data in the form of scent to him. That he considered the Proxy's biggest flaw. For a lupari to not have access to their sense of smell was a truly disorienting matter. They had the keenest sense of smell out of all the member races of the UTO, able to discern the slightest of details by scent alone. For Herik, not smelling things in his Proxy made him feel half blind, but he had learned to adapt. He hoped that future models of Proxies would be developed that could get past this sensory hurdle.

The lupari used a set of tiny tweezers to lift up the thirty centimeter by thirty centimeter square of cloth. He carefully raised it up to his nose and sniffed at it a few times, waving it side to side. He immediately frowned and his nose crinkled slightly. The dominant aroma on the cloth was strong and pungent. It reminded him of some manner of cologne or body wash, likely meant to hide unpleasant body odors due to perspiration. This was a distinctly human strength scent. Almost none of the regular sized thirteen races would use such a powerful fragrance, as virtually all of them had better senses of smell than humans did. Herik turned his head quickly and sneezed, rubbed at his nose, then went back to sniff at the cloth again. Under the oppressive cologne smell was a bare trace of human scent. They had very distinctive smells, but unfortunately he might not be able to precisely pinpoint the specific person this belonged to. He silently cursed the cologne.

Herik carefully set the cloth to the side within a small evidence tray. He next took out the bloody glass fragments and set them in the tray too. For this he would need Milaj's assistance. She could get a run up of the DNA in minutes. If it was on planetary file, then he would have his match and the hunt would be on immediately. If not... Herik shook his head.

"Milaj," he called out.

A clamor arose from within the cubicle the viliti was in and the sound of things hitting the floor was heard. Herik saw a data pad get bobbled up into the air then snagged by a brown furred hand before it fell. Milaj scurried out from her station, data pad in hand and her yutri at her hip. She practically skidded to a halt at his desk and huffed softly.

"Yes sir?" she said.

Herik nodded to the chair at the side of his desk. She looked at it and back at him, a quizzical expression on her face. The lupari glared at the seat then back at her. "Oh oh!" she exclaimed and quickly sat down. He sighed softly and smirked.

"Milaj, I need a blood analysis and DNA trace on this sample. How long will that take?"

She peered down at the tiny fragments of glass and her nose wiggled a little. "Hrmm, not a lot to go on there. Just powder really. I estimate about ten to fifteen minutes. I assume you want it checked against the human database we have, yes?"

Herik nodded. "Exactly. All this was taken from the site via my Proxy. There is no way this is anything but evidence left behind by humans. They committed this crime against their own. One of them is responsible and out there, and I'm going to find him and any of his accomplices."

The viliti's big paws shuffled on the floor, a look of slight apprehension on her face. "Umm, sir, shouldn't this all be done by proper evidence investigation technicians? Evidence is not supposed to be... removed..." Her voice trailed off as she saw the look Herik fixed her with. "Right, Amy. Soooo, I will get this blood analyzed right away for you sir."

She took the evidence tray in hand and carefully carried it back to her station to carry out Herik's request. He hoped she would not get into any trouble for this. He would take all the blame should he have to. It was his fault after all.

The lupari leaned back again and let his mind wander. Memories of years gone by raced through it over and over. He remembered the first time Amy met him, when they were paired up as Guardian and Charge. All the others were slowly trying to get used to the humans they were with, doing their best to convince them it was safe to be held in their hands. Herik had lowered his down before the blonde haired human girl with her back turned to him. He clearly recalled clearing his throat to get her to pay attention to him and stop talking to another human. When she turned he heard her shout, 'OMG I got a woof!' She practically jumped upon his hand, almost causing him to jerk it back in surprise. She called out for him to lift her up and asked what was taking him so long. He remembered how embarrassed he was when he saw that everyone else was staring at him and her in a mix of shock and mirth. Amy demanded he lift her up to his face whereupon she hugged his muzzle with no sign of fear whatsoever. She was either the bravest insane person, or the most insane brave person, he ever met. Their friendship started from that moment onwards.

More memories flashed by and Herik had a smile on his face from it. He was broken from his reverie by a hand gently shaking his shoulder. Herik opened his eyes and glanced up, meeting Milaj's green eyed gaze. She blushed and pulled her hand back quickly when she saw he was awake.

"Yes?" he asked her.

"Oh, ah, you looked like you were sleeping and I was afraid to bother you, but I thought you might like to know that it's done."

Herik frowned and looked at his chronometer. He had dozed off for almost a half hour. Without looking up he asked, "So, what's the result Milaj?"

The viliti looked a little nervous and said, "The blood is definitely human, and not Amy's. However, the DNA is not on any of our files, either for the city or entire planetary database. This is an outworlder, one who has to be here illegally, or his DNA data would have been automatically entered into the system. I... I'm sorry sir. I can't get a positive match for him other than to assure you he is male, between the ages of thirty two to thirty five terran years old, has brown hair and eyes, is more than likely overweight due to the presence of an FTO gene variant, and has a higher likelihood than normal to contract the neurological disorder humans refer to as Huntington's disease. I'm sorry I can't get any better details for you without making use of the units we have in the evidence hall."

Herik nodded. "You did fine Milaj, thank you." He felt his heart sink a little more as he realized how much harder it might be to find Amy now. He had to hope some video units may have picked her up as she was being stolen away. Darrintin was a generally lawful society though, open and trusting of its citizens who usually returned that trust. Ubiquitous video observation was a thing of a more paranoid past long, long ago. Herik rubbed at his face once more, trying to decide what to do from this point on.

"Um, Herik, I may have something applicable to Amy's disappearance, though you won't like to hear it."

He looked at Milaj between his fingers before his eyes. His ears flicked slightly and he nodded for her to continue.

The viliti quickly set down her pad and connected it to her yutri to bring up holographic displays for Herik to see. Without a word she began to flip through several news feed articles about human disappearances. He saw that they were scattered across the planet from among the three human districts found on it. There were also other articles detailing disappearances of humans on other UTO planets. They were spaced out across a period of three years, a total of almost a hundred humans. There were no clear matching qualities among them though. It was a broad mix of demographics. Male, female, old, young, different ethnicities; nothing matched at all as Herik looked over the data. He lowered his hands and stared at Milaj.

"Is all this factual? I don't place any faith in those pathetic propaganda and conspiracy articles that come out Milaj. I know you read some of them," he said.

"No no sir, not at all. These are actual articles from reputable planetary news feeds I have been collecting," she said hastily.

"Then why hasn't this been brought to my attention before?" he growled.

"You are not on the missing persons' task force sir. You deal with theft, robbery, and homicide, as per your requested assignment. You patrol the streets and keep them free of crime."

"Why aren't we having officers deal with this? How wide spread is this? Who the hell is taking humans?"

"We do have officers assigned to these crimes," she said softly. "They are a small group as set up by Lieutenant Tashk. Five officers total."

"Then I need to be on it. Have any of these humans been found yet? Are these even all related or just a string of coincidences?"

Milaj began to organize the various articles, her fingers deftly sliding the holograms about in the air, putting them into order based on the planets they happened on. "When looked upon in this matter, it seems like a series of unassociated events happening across twelve worlds. A human or two here vanishes over a three year span; four missing from this planet; another five from this one. They are spread out, just random enough to not raise extreme suspect, however..." She shifted them all into full chronological order of the crimes as a whole, "This has been an ongoing series of events for the last few years, moving from world to world in an almost predictable manner. Someone or some group has been snatching up humans, slowly and carefully. Picking from among them in a way to arouse the least amount of outcry, at least from what I have pieced together. Over ninety five percent of the humans that have gone missing are unmarried, with little to no surviving family, and no connections to any major corporations or local government. Not a single one has been found in this string of disappearances either."

Herik growled in anger. "Are you sure about this Milaj? I want to agree but this is still..."

"I'm sure sir. I know you know I like to read mystery novels and conspiracy theory articles and such fare, but this is real. Humans have been abducted on UTO worlds for the past three years in a slow and methodical manner. It almost seems like they are chosen for their differences from each other, as if as broad a selection of humanity was being... collected. By spreading it out across many worlds it keeps the events from raising too many suspicions. Few peacekeeper centers work on a cross planet scale. Crimes are rarely that broad and sweeping. Those crimes that do cross planetary boundaries fall into the jurisdiction of the military; piracy, major smuggling, and other similar illegal practices. However, the military is too busy to delve into the minutia on a single world at a time in a matter such as this."

"So you're suggesting that someone or some group is snatching humans up slowly but surely, one at a time, across over ten planets, just to avoid it looking too suspicious." Herik looked over the data and his brow furrowed once more. "It even follows a path, heading from coreward on out, stretched across a major trading line."

"That line begins in Medigaa-III and winds through six of the highest density population belts," said Milaj. "And it concludes... here, on our planet. Khorosh."

Herik gripped the desk he sat at tightly. His claws scraped along the top of it, etching lines in the hard plastic. "Sentient trafficking?" he asked as he met the viliti's gaze. "It's not common at all, but it happens."

"If so, this is the first recorded incidents of it befalling humans. Due to their fragile nature, the penalties for abusing humanity are extreme. I can't imagine who would dare to try something like kidnapping humans, other than their own species." Milaj tapped on her chin a few times and mumbled, "Then again, I have read that their own history is utterly mired in abuse of their own kind to an almost psychotic level."

"I have to bring this to the attention of the lieutenant then. I'll tell him I noticed this. I won't drag you into it Milaj. I know what he thinks of you already," said Herik.

The viliti forced up a slight smile. "Oh, I don't mind if he thinks I'm socially unadjusted or weird. I don't live with him, so no big deal." She shrugged and tried to keep the smile on.

Herik knew she had a reputation in the center for being the odd one out, the girl who believed in space faring birds or unknown alien races living on the fringes of UTO space. That coupled with her awkward social mannerisms and general uncoordination made her an object of some fellow officers' ridicule. She was teased or made the butt of jokes on far too common a basis, enough so that Herik even snapped at other officers for it. His standing up for her at all is what made Milaj so willing to help him in any and all matters.

The lupari reached over and put his hand atop hers. "I appreciate you, you know that. If all this you showed me is real too, then you have no idea how much this means to me if it leads to finding Amy."

Milaj blushed slightly and nodded. She was terrified on how to respond to his words so she changed the topic immediately. Her eyes darted towards the lieutenant's office. "He's here you know. He came in while you were napping, to address this missing person case. Frankly, I'm surprised. I thought it would take him a lot longer to get here. He must have been out in the city at the time."

Herik nodded and stood up. "Thanks. I'm going to speak to him on this now. I can't waste any more time. Amy's alive, I can feel it. If some freak or freaks took her, I have to get her back." Herik quickly used his yutri and linked to Milaj's. She shared all the compiled data she had on the missing human cases, copying them onto his device. The lupari quickly made his way to his superior's office, leaving Milaj to gaze after him fondly.

He rapped on the door to Lieutenant Sekma Tashk's office. He briefly heard the gruff voice call for him to enter. Herik slid inside the Spartan office quickly and shut the door behind him. He moved over to the chair before Lt. Tashk's desk and took a seat. Tashk was a lupari, same as Herik, with dark brown and black fur. A touch of grey was flecked across his muzzle, a slight hint of his increasing age. His amber eyes rose up from the data pad in his hands, a cold and stern gaze. He was a thirty eight year veteran of the peacekeepers and was not afraid of pulling rank and chewing out his subordinates. With a nod of his head, Herik was given permission to speak up.

"Sir, I trust you know exactly who was taken from the New Eden apartment this evening. Am I correct sir?" said Herik.

The lupari nodded.

"Good. No need to mince words then. I formally request to be on the case to find her and the persons responsible for her abduction."

"Denied," said the lieutenant flatly.

Herik sat there, stunned, for a few moments. Lt. Tashk's gaze never wavered, looking Herik eye to eye. Before the sergeant could speak up Tashk spoke first.

"I already have officers to assign to a missing person case, trained for such duties, and proficient with Proxy use. They can scour the New Eden district and find who is responsible for this. You're too close to the victim, this Amy of yours," he said.

Herik finally found his voice and barked out, "She's my Charge. I'm her Guardian. You have to..."

"I don't have to let you do anything, is that clear Sergeant Herik?" snapped Tashk. "The whole Guardian/Charge dynamic is fine in academy or in the military or whatever, but here in the peacekeepers, that doesn't fly. When the first humans are fully integrated, they are going to be assigned to provide aid in their district, to police their own people, so we normal sized folk don't have to use a pathetic toy to safeguard a race too small to be able to protect themselves easily. That aside, you are too emotionally attached to this person to do the job as required by the law. You will continue with your regular duties as per protocol Sgt. Herik. Is that clear?"

"But she was one of our own! She just passed the exam and was..."

Again Tashk cut him off. "I know that! I was informed of this while I was out having dinner with some friends. If you don't think I'm concerned enough about her disappearance, you're out of line then. I am treating her disappearance with the same exact respect and attention that any citizen of our city deserves according to the law. I'm not about to make any exceptions to the way this center runs just to appease your feelings about some tiny person you like to cuddle in your hand like a doll."

"You son of a..." growled Herik. He leaned across the table and put his face closer to the lieutenant. He grabbed him by the collar of his black and gold jacket, tugging him forward. "There are dozens of more cases like this going on. This is not an isolated event, you hear me? This is not just happening here, but on other worlds too. Humans, scores of them, are being taken by someone. You need to look at all the data I have here in my yutri."

Tashk growled, baring his fangs, and gripped Herik's wrist. He yanked his hand off of him and shoved the younger lupari back. "Don't you ever lay a hand on me again like that or I'll have your emblem!" he snarled. Tashk leaned back in his seat and glared at Herik. "You get out of my office and take two days off to calm down. Not another word from you. Out!"

Herik stared at Tashk, eyes wide, barely reigning in his anger. He finally stood up and shoved the chair away from him, knocking it over in the process. He stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind him, the sound reverberating through the large open hall. Several heads poked up from their cubicles to see what happened, then ducked down just as quickly.

Herik stormed back over to his desk, which Milaj rapidly scurried away from. The lupari threw himself into his seat and gripped the sides of his desk with both hands. He growled under his breath. Don't get angry. Get smart. Don't let emotions get the best of you silly woof. Amy's words jumped into his head. She used to tell that to him all the time when she saw his temper flare or when he was overcome with bouts of depression over his sister's murder. She spent hours with him calming him down, always finding the time to help him. He needed her now so badly, but he had to find her first. She needed him. Herik closed his eyes so tight tears streamed down from them. He took slow, deep breaths, calming himself little by little. Finally, he relaxed and raised his hand up to wipe at his face and nose.

The lupari froze in place, his hand up at his nose. He felt a sensation creep over him like he had never felt before. It was a knotted twisted feeling in the pit of his stomach, churning in place. He was not sure if it was disbelief, confusion, anger, betrayal, or all of them mixed together.

The door to Lt. Tashk's office opened up then closed after the lupari exited it. He quickly pulled a rain coat on as he strode off towards the elevators, not sparing as much as a single glance towards anyone else in the hall. His tail thrashed behind him in agitation as he stormed out. Herik's eyes locked onto Tashk and followed him until he was out of sight.

Slowly he stood up and sniffed at his wrist again. The scent of that pungent human cologne was on his wrist, the exact spot where Lt. Tashk had gripped him. It was faint, but it was there, an unmistakable odor. The slightest trace of human scent was there as well. His eyes narrowed to menacing slits as his thoughts raced at the implications of that.

Herik called back to Milaj in a calm voice. "I need you to be my assist on this Milaj. I'm going out and am keeping you on open call. Will you be there for me?"

Milaj stood up inside her cubicle, her head well over the top of the partition. She was unsure what he needed her for, or why she felt this unnerving calmness overcome him, but she gave the only answer she could to him. "Always Herik. I'll stay as long as you need me."

Without another word Herik stalked off after Tashk. He was going to get an answer from him, and hundred gods of the ralai help him if he was in some way involved with Amy's disappearance.