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The Scout

By: DankeDonuts

https://dankedonuts.sofurry.com/

Selonians, as a rule, lived underground. The tunnel systems which surrounded their hive-cities from all sides -- above, below, all around -- were vast and labyrinthian. Whether natural or carefully constructed to appear as such, the majority of them led only to dead ends. Many of the remainder were cultivated to confound and re-direct unwelcome intruders. There were only so many ways that an outsider should be able to enter the secretive aliens' population centers. All of them carefully monitored.

How then, did an Imperial Scout Trooper delve so deeply into the Viaducts east of Lertulsya? A mere three kilometers from the first defensive wall? Of nearly equal concern... How his they end up dead? Felled by a fallen stalactite?

This was the question being pondered by the city's Quorum Of Five. And it was Chief Inspector Lusomde's task to facilitate the process. A sterile female, as were the overwhelming majority of Selonians, she stood tall and slender and regal in bearing. She wore nothing more than pieces of banded armor about her shoulders and forearms. Her position and rank were displayed via a jeweled skull-cap comprised of three strips of durasteel. A coat of tawny fur was all the other protection from the Galaxy's ills that she required.

Lusomde's office, deep within the Burrow Of Law Enforcement, was circular, and starkly lit. The forensics table beside her was dominated by a large, fire-orange hologram. That of the Scout in question, laying on their back, limbs akimbo. Dressed head to toe in the imposing armor of their branch of the Stormtrooper Corps. A small blaster still clutched in their right hand. The exposed half of their head unidentifiable under a mess of blood and fractures. The jagged cone of rock believed to be the cause of death at the was also present in the hologram. It was nearly as large as the corpse itself.

Surrounding the sterile one and her holotable table were five more holograms. Each a full-scale representation of one of the Quorum members. The city Queens, ever-fertile females from which the life of the community flowed. All but one seated at large, rounded chair. All observing from within the centers of their personal dens. Guarded sanctuaries from which a Queen rarely departed. Their orange light added veiny striations of highlight to the hand-hewn stone walls.

The Inspector's short, sleek tail was high and rigid in respect. "I have a contact on Drall who's quietly looking through CorSec's genetic database to identify the victim-"

"Suspect," corrected Yartun. There was a slight, but unmistakable swell to her belly. Her clawed hands were steepled.

Lusomde bowed her head slightly, but her dark eyes remained focused upon this Queen. "I stand corrected. Thank you, Your Majesty. To continue, baseline scans do confirm the deceased is Human." As opposed to the dozens or hundreds of alien species collectively defined as 'Near Human' by Galactic anthropologists. Selonions were blessedly unique.

"Has the Empire started hiring anything else?" Tuvoos snarfed. She had pair of cubs to her breasts.

"Does anyone else think it a bit convenient that a 'spy' would be dressed in such easily recognized armor?" Chivan asked. This Queen was practically immobilized by the full-term brood she was carrying. The claws of her feet were dug heavily into the fore-plate of her throne.

Suhen raised her hand in concurrence. While the other matrons were wearing open-front tunics of state, tailored to match the ornamental apexes of their thrones. she was completely nude. As she would be until she was once again bearing a brood. The Quorum had already been recessed once in order for her to... engage in her primary duty to the city and her people. "It could be Saw Gerrera's Partisans," she opined. "Trying to bait us into joining their fool crusade. Kill an enemy, plant the body where it can do them some good."

"Or the Sal-Solo bloc on Corellia might have done the same thing," suggested Yartun. "Tempting us towards misadventure nearer to home with another of his 'false flag' operations."

Everyone present, flesh-and-blood and holographic alike, stiffened and sneered at the use of that phrase. Humans lied as easily as they breathed. After so many millennia of contact with the Humans of Corellia and the greater Galaxy, it was something Selonian-kind could scarcely fathom. Save for those females specifically trained in xeno-diplomacy.

That was the responsibility of one of Chivan's septs. Children of the same sire from within a Queen's harem, routed from birth into to specialized tasks. She slowly leaned her bulbous form over to speak with someone unseen, then back to an upright position. "My specialist agrees strongly with this possibility. I propose we should seek to discern where the body came from, with as much certainty as possible, before setting upon a course of action."

There was a round of hands tapping buttons on armrests. A moment later, Chivan announced, "Motion passes." Consensus meant everything on Selonia, or the system would fail. Lusomde herself sighed a quiet breath of relief to know that even in a crisis of this magnitude, her leaders would not debase themselves or their people with cliquish squabbling.

"Will we be able to keep this inquiry secret?" Asked the one fertile female who wasn't seated at a throne. Wecni's seat was smaller, more modest, though also topped by a sweeping series of curved lines. At a mere fourteen years of age, she had yet to take up a position as a Queen. But she had been thoroughly prepared for her future role. She was sitting in for her mother, Queen Kiroom, who was at the moment preparing to birth her forty-fifth litter. "Fins our answers before the ones behind this trespass catch on?"

The question was a wise one. Lusomde could scare hide a tail-twitch of pride at belonging to the same sept as the future leader. "Of course, Your Highness. None have entered the area save the patrol droids who made the find, and the forensic droids we have scanning the area. We are leaving no evidence of Seleonian presence that may be used to falsely incriminate our citizenry." One of which was providing the live-feed. "I have cordoned off a one-kilometer-radius sphere around the crime scene." She taped a control, and the dead Trooper's body faded away. Replaced with a tri-dimensional map of the Eastern Reaches. A blinking dot at the center being the crime scene. "Construction is underway some distance coreward. The people will accept this as a reason to stay clear, without need of any untoward deceptions."

This answer was satisfactory to the extent that within moment, the five leaders had concurred to offer Lumonde a formal statement of praise. Followed by a direct order to focus upon backtracking the suspect's path of entry and closing all possible holes in security over all other considerations.

"Understood, your majesties. I thank you for your guidance." She lowered her head once more, and her leaders' holograms blinked out in unison.

All save one. Wecni's.

The Inspector blinked her surprise. "Your Highness?"

Wecni rose from her seat, and put a paw upon her mother's throne. Which fizzled partially into view. "The Eastern Reaches is to be my expansion when I'm of age."

"I've been made aware of this. I made sure the interdiction sphere would be large enough incorporate the cavern you chose to make your den." This was the construction project of which Lusomde had spoken.

"Yes. I've been there to visit a few times. It's higher than Mother's, but not so wide. With a waterfall to one side, that splashes down onto a bed of glittering crystals. With plenty of natural pockets for my guards to watch from." There was a bit of wistfulness to the Princess' voice.

"It sounds... lovely." Lusomde didn't dare ask why her superior was deigning to engage in this line of conversation.

"Will I be safe there?" she asked, with a wriggling muzzle.

The older Selonian smiled softly. "I'm confident we will have the situation resolved quickly. If not, should you wish to relocate the center of your expansion, I'm sure your mother and the other Queens will be willing to discuss the matter in Quorum. There's time yet to see to your requirements. No need to worry yourself."

"Will I be happy?"

The Inspector stammered through an answer. "I've always been quite satisfied to serve the community in the way I was raised toward. As are we all."

"As are we all," the Princess sighed. She waved a hand over the arm of the smaller chair, and her image faded away.

Leaving the Chief Inspector with a crime to solve. And questions she would likely never have answers to.