Tuned in Taris

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

From far above, thunder boomed ominously and rain slicked down in sheets across the viewport of a light freighter as it slowly made its' way to port. One occupant sat at the pilot's seat, peering through and softly cursing at the inclement weather as they slowly began to touch down; the other was occasionally making smart remarks at the pilot.

When Skuld finally landed where they were directed by a surly local enforcement officer, she turned to her companion, black brows beetling over an icy gaze. She had dressed in full armor, the armorweave shrugged around her shoulders. The rain didn't disturb her... it was the events on Nar Shaddaa.

And now they were following a hint from corpses... to maybe more corpses.

She might not be one of those witches, but kriff, even she had a decent instinct for trouble.

And this just stank of it.

She unbuckled then stood, tilting her head to Tomic.

"Vhat do you think, sonnur? Long stretch, or right sources?" She didn't wait for a smart remark, but slipped the helmet on, squaring her shoulders.

She was tired of waiting for action. Now was a time for more answers.

@Nefieslab

 

[Tomic Domin]

The hunt for their prey was... already longer than what Tomic had imagined. In fact, it had taken them from Nar Shaddaa all the way to Taris and it showed no signs of letting up now. For all he knew, this was going to end up being something he spent years doing. He really, REALLY, hoped that it wasn't but he had heard the horror stories from others about how some cases just dragged on for years until just the right evidence came to light or the enemy was finally sloppy enough to be noticed.

This would be the first case of that type for Tomic and he really didn't want any part of that. He knew, eventually, he would have something that would be his 'white whale' or whatever they called it but he really hoped that this wouldn't be it. Not only because it meant he was likely going to keep a sub-par arm but because it meant that the target was going to keep mutilating people and that wasn't something he could stomach.

If nothing else, a body count would reflect poorly on his record.

Tomic stood from the co-pilot's chair as they landed, checking over his weapons and armor. His armor had no features that identified him as an Imperial so he was happy enough to be here for now. He shook his head as he stepped out of the ship alongside the woman, pulling his own helmet on as he did.

"I hope this isn't our case." he told her bluntly as they approached the crime scene, "This... the law enforcement reports we got sent were horrific. If this is a lead that takes us to our guy?"

He sighed as he held up the police tape around the outside of the apartment building for Skuld to walk under.

"Then I don't think we'll want to find him."

@Killa Ree

 

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

She had already done a check-through of both armor and her weaponry, but one last one couldn't hurt. Working with local law enforcement was a first. She hadn't anticipated them to be willing to help an Imperial agent, or an engineer, on the hunt of a cybernetics madman, but... perhaps the galaxy truly was changing.

She still was not convinced it was ever for the better.

She had been anticipating something terrible, but nothing prepared her for what waited inside.

Three bodies.

The moment she ducked under the tape, she could smell it. A stench of fear, blood, and decay. She took in a deep breath to steel herself, and nodded tersely at Tomic. She knew he would be able to stomach such a sight better than most youngbloods, but even for someone that had fought in the bowels of nightmares and marched through sure death, there were things that could still rattle her to the core.

Dead children were one of them.

One such small body was covered by the familiar cloth that was placed in respect to the dead. There were two others... she assumed not familial, but the result was still the same.

She tightened her grip on her ax, and wheeled towards the closest large body, squatting close.

...This seemed to be the place.

Only three shapes indicated having limbs attached to the trunk. The fourth?

...perhaps the other bodies had better indications of what might have happened. But nonetheless... there was something about this body that was off.

The magnifier of her Scout HUD activated, as she gently peeled back the cloth.

His left arm. Male. Tognath, adult.

Something was definitely off, but she proceeded to examine closely anyways, gritting her teeth. "Vhat do you think now?" she muttered to her companion, icy eyes narrowing.

The place where the arm was, was jagged, as though it were sawn off. But that wasn't the most disturbing part.

He had no chest. The breathing apparatus, and anything that was attached, seemed to be removed as well. Also just as savagely... as though whatever was harvesting them hardly cared what was flesh, and what was once cybernetic.

@Nefieslab

 

[Tomic Domin]

Ah bodies.

Bodies were something that Tomic had become acquainted with over the last year or so in far greater numbers than he had ever expected. Bodies on battlefields and in other places as well. These ones? Well they were different because of the way they had been killed and because of the mutilation that they had suffered through.

The fact that one of them was a child? It was, depressingly enough, not unique amongst his experiences but it was enough to make him retch slightly. He... he didn't think it was going to be this bad but he supposed this was what happened when he assumed it couldn't be that bad; it showed that it could, indeed, be that bad.

"I think this guy is a sick son of a karker." he told Skuld bluntly, his mechanical hand tightening into a fist as he looked over the corpses, "And I think the CSI guys from this local backwater have done more to butcher the evidence than a literal fire would have done."

The area had been stepped all over by the CSI team. Apparently they had been careful during their investigation but felt no guilt about contaminating the scene for when they arrived. Probably some professional insult or something - not that he cared. Tomic reached down to one of the corpses and began to explore the cuts.

By which he meant he began to stick his fingers into the wounds and go routing around.

"Alright..." he pulled out a small piece of metal, "Neural interface... linked into the nerves. The limbs that were removed, this one at least, was robotic."

@Killa Ree

 

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

She nodded, then glanced around to the other bodies, and sighed. Hack marks, saw marks, it was almost like a machine had just attempted to devour them and left only organic parts behind. Her eyes narrowed as she hummed in contemplation, and as Tomic spoke about neural interface she tilted her head slightly.

This wasn't her specialty; she felt remarkably out of her depth. But when he mentioned robotics, something seemed to click. She swept her gaze around the room to the other two bodies. Though they might have been mistaken for a familial unit on first glance of the bodies, all three were male, and all three were missing body parts.

But the oddest thing of all was not the fact that they were missing the limbs. It was the fact they were not only treated callously, but that they were different species entirely... and that they were killed.

Whatever hunted them down, it didn't want there to be witnesses. Shame there were no security drones or cams on this backwater...

She rocked back on her heels, then stood, pacing to another body. Twi'lek, also young... but it was a hand. Cybernetic... but the silver cuff that attached the limb to the flesh. Something glinted in the low light.

She suddenly squatted down again, gently rolling the arm over.

"What in the Gods..."

​

@Nefieslab

 

[Tomic Domin]

This kind of work was usually done by specialists within the Imperial Intelligence services but Tomic had been given enough training to take a stab at it. He would never be a qualified crime scene technician but that was fine by him - he didn't want to be. What he did want was to be able to make heads or tails of this ONE crime scene. He honestly couldn't care less what happened in 99% of any other murders.

He only cared about this one; because it related to him.

Selfish? Yes.

Did he care? Not really.

Getting through this kind of environment required you to be able to put your mind elsewhere, to have something to help you to power through any and all unpleasantness. His was that he kept reminding himself what it meant for him. If he kept that in mind he found that he could push himself further for longer.

He was still poking around in the wounds when Skuld spoke.

"... well you can't just say something like that and not explain further." he called out to her, "So are you going to explain or what?"

@Killa Ree

 

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

Stamped on the cuff was a series of numbers, partially sawn off. She carefully rolled the stumped limb over, but... was this the reason why the areas where they were ripped from their bodies was done so savagely? And who could do this so calculatingly, with so much savage intent as to throw off the scent for anyone looking for particular markers.

...If this was their man, she shuddered to think what he would do to those that submitted to tech.

"Look at the serial numbers," she muttered, gently putting the arm down.

Next was the child.

She had to pause and take a breath to steel her nerves. She had seen bodies explode and burning villages; she had witnessed the slaughter of people and terrible things that would test the resolve of most soldiers. Yet every time she found it difficult to face the bodies of children, human or not.

She gently peeled the rough fabric aside, and gritted her teeth. Same thing, but to both arms. Neural interfaces almost scraped off, with only the vaguest imprint of where attachment cuffs used to be... with roughly the same thing.

"They are the same three numbers... vhy would they do this? Vhat would benefit from pulling cybernetic limbs from a child?" She bit back other words, but she longed to say something else. It burned in her throat, and her right hand clenched. Was it worth it? Was finding a better limb really worth the struggle in the long run?

She stood, then shook her head.

"There must be other clues, other than serial numbers. Vhat else do you see, Tomic?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Tomic Domin]

What else did he see?

"Nothing much to see." he responded darkly, "That's the thing. Whoever this was made sure to take a lot, making it hard to even identify these people. Even the local police can't ID them and they're calling up for the results on DNA tests right now - but right now? Right now these people are FUBAR and I can't help but think there's a reason for that."

He crouched down next to one of the bodies and touched the skin around where their robotic arm had been attached. The pale white skin around the area was a light bronze colour in some areas.

"See here?"

He frowned.

"The arm had a brass finish. It would have been... distinctive." he looked up at Skuld, "I think it's our man and I think he did this to make it harder for someone to recognise his work. Which means he likely knows we're on his trail."

@Killa Ree

 

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

She scowled at that thought. That was exactly what she was dreading; she did not want to think that the man they were hunting down was this willing to destroy evidence so terribly that he... it... would even sacrifice children that probably had no idea for what their limbs may have exposed them.

...Was it worth it?

She stood abruptly, then paced to the first body again, ripping the cloth aside to see better. They were dead; they could not be shamed any longer for their exposure, and callousness at the hands of local law enforcement. She would no longer treat them as honorary dead; they were bodies, and they needed some sort of clue about this mysterious body dealer.

That was when she caught it.

It would have been mistaken by most to be nothing more than one neural attachment to the stump. But she had seen Tagal Saxon at work; she was starting to recognize key components.

What was embedded was not one of them. She crouched once again... and slowly pulled it out. Glanced over her shoulder at her companion, and sighed. Covered in blood, but unmistakable. A clue. Another hint where to head next.

She couldn't imagine the sheer amount of will the man had to endure to hide it from his murderer... but she would make the pain worth it.

"I think I know where to go next. But I doubt you'll like it... unless you see anything else, this will be a dead end to other paths. Vhere did you hear of this person, anyhow?"

@Nefieslab

 

[Tomic Domin]

Where did he hear of this person?

Well that was a fairly innocent question that had no nice answer. Tomic stared Skuld, safe in the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to see his hesitation on his face due to his helmet. In the end he decided that telling her the truth was probably the best option in the long run, even if it might have some side effects in the immediate future.

"He's the dealer I was contacting to upgrade our replacements."

There - simple and to the point... but probably needed more.

"They've got a lot of names, none of them pleasant, but their product is second to none. The level of quality on display here means he can only realistically be him."

And originally they had been supposed to make deals with him!

@Killa Ree

 

[Eva 'Skuld' Stark]

She gritted her teeth, but didn't make a sound. Not of accusation, or anger... but her body stiffened visibly. She had to remind herself he was young. He was experienced, yes, but still young. And he was cavalier with his personal safety, far more than most she knew.

But this was their man, it seemed; she wanted to meet this Body Dealer, and ask them why.

Why bother with those that had such necessary enhancements. Were they a bad deal gone wrong? And if so, why involve a small child?

She suddenly stood, pocketing the small piece of evidence in a pouch.

"Come. The trail is not cold yet, Tomic. Ve still have a long way to go."

She turned away from the crime scene, jaw set and eyes flashing.

She could hardly wait to bury her ax in this motherkarker and keep him inactive for good.
/End Thread

@Nefieslab