But Consul Lorethar was not a god. He was a servant of the Stellar Confederacy and he reminded himself of this daily. He has vast powers, but he also had the responsibility to make sure that his actions and the actions of every Star Guardian officer and constable were within the laws established by the Senate. There were times when he wished that responsibility wasn't among those his honor made him take the most serious. The Starkiller case always brought those to the forefront.
The adjunct continued his report as Lorethar gazed upon the world below, his passionless tone seeming a stark contrast to the horrors he was relating: "... and the investigation that followed uncovered at least another seven victims. Further, Chief Constable MacKeren is convinced that Constable Felden had been aiding and abetting Starkiller since shortly after his arrival on Waystation 4. She paid for her treachery with her life, however. She was the Starkiller's last victim before he/she/it fled the system. She was found with—"
"You can dispense with the details," Lorethar said curtly, glancing at the black-clad officer. "I've had enough gory images relayed for one day. I am also more than familiar with Starkiller's methods and signatures. Just give me the highlights and get back to your desk."
The adjunct straightened his back, his face displaying clear irritation. "If you insist, Consul Lorethar. However, I think that—"
"Don't think," Lorethar said, once again focusing his attention on the
planet below. "Just do as your told and be happy that you'll eventually
be back in the halls of the Senate, assuming
Starkiller finally makes a mistake."
The adjunct let out an irritated grunt. Several moments of silence interrupted by electronic beeps followed as he paged through the report on his datapad. "Most of the report deals with the methods of the Starkiller and presents them as support for the conclusion that the rash of killings were indeed committed by him."
"That's not in doubt. Is there anything else there?"
"Total victim tally, including the constables lost in the raid against his/her/its hotel suite, 23." Another series of beeps.
"Any details on the ship Starkiller uses?"
"Nothing more specific than the fact it's one of the SV series of light freighters. They're not common enough in those sectors for traffic controllers to remember what they look like. And like in previous instances, he/she/it corrupted the traffic control computers and back-up systems with a virus before departing."
"More bodies and no new clues. Thank you, adjunct. You're dismissed."
"There is one thing, sir. I think the Starkiller has finally slipped up."
Lorethar turned to face the long-limbed young man. It had been over
a year since the Star Guardians had recognized they were dealing with a
serial killer who was moving from world to world. As they pursued him,
the body count rose. The only thing the Analysis Division had been able
to define was that somehow the being gained the trust of his victims, perhaps
even engaged them in a romantic or sexual fashion, to the point where they
were willing to betray even their most closely held values. Constable Felden
was not the first member of the Star
Guardians to have been discovered to be an accomplice of the unknown
mass-murderer. The reason for the savage killings and how the victims were
chosen remained a mystery, even after all this time. The utter depravity
in the ways the victims were dispatched and the virus that crippled traffic
control stations in the wake of Starkiller's passing was the only constant
in this case. Despite all the resources at the disposal of the Star Guardians,
despite Lorethar's vast powers, the Starkiller continued to make his, her,
or its bloody path through the outlying sectors of the Confederacy, while
members of the Senate Oversight Committee grew louder in their criticism,
and it became more difficult to keep the murders secret from the inter-stellar
media outlets. No one until this moment had said I think the Starkiller
has finally slipped up. Could this annoying Senate weasel have noticed
something the tens of thousands of trained law enforcement officers had
missed? "What do you mean?"
"This was a very sloppily written report," the adjunct replied, wrinkling
his nose. "The officer in charge buried a very important detail at the
very end. A pleasure-cruiser entering the
Waystation system nearly collided with an SV-series freighter as it
jumped to warp. The timing makes it clear that it was Starkiller's ship.
The ship's sensors were not fine enough to get an accurate read on the
class of SV, but its astrogator was able to give us something far more
important."
"Yes?"
"The ship's heading."
"We've gotten those before," Lorethar snarled. "Leave the detection to the professionals, Adjunct."
"With pleasure, sir," the young man replied coldly. "But I think it would probably have taken the professionals another week or two of analysis to determine there's only one possible destination along Starkiller's path."
"What?" Lorethar snatched the datapad away from the other man. He looked at a diagram representing the calculations of the cruiser's astrogator. The SV-class freighter was heading into the spinward section of Mu sector. "How do you reach that conclusion? I see nothing here that says that."
"Before taking a job with the senate, sir, I worked as a clerk for Starshine AgriCorp. They own the Takaran system in Mu sector and operate a pointless little settlement there that is only remarkable because it barely meets its grain quotas every season. However, if Starkiller keeps to his usual pattern, it's the only possible destination along the warp path he/she/it is on."
Lorethar rushed across his office. He inserted the datapad into the database interface at his computer. "Last page," he announced. "Display Mu Sector. 100-times enhancement of projected route from Waystation star system, with all known settlements highlighted."
The holographic projector in the center of his desk flared to life. For what seemed like forever, the computer processed the three dimensional image of Confederated space. The image rotated and shifted as the computer executed Lorethar's commands. Finally, three seconds later—but for Lorethar it might as well have been three hours! —the image froze. Lorethar leaned close, studying the hologram carefully. A dotted line appeared from a glowing dot, extending toward another glowing dot. "Waystation" the first dot was called. The second was noted as "Takaran."
Lorethar’s breath caught in his throat. He gazed through the hologram at the adjunct. "You were right."
"Shall I notify the taskforce leader? Or the administrator on Takaran?"
"Not yet," Lorethar replied. "Computer, display details on Takaran system, Mu sector."
The hologram pulsed and shifted again. A red star with three planets and two large asteroid belts appeared. One glowed red, indicating the main colony in the system. A couple of the asteroids in the outermost belt were green, indicating possible outlaw havens. He skimmed the details of the system. The adjunct had been right. The Takaran settlement was so small it probably wasn’t even included on commercially available star charts. The Starkiller had slipped up, and the Star Guardians had the perfect opportunity to capture him. Finally!
"Sir, time is of the essence," the adjunct stated. "We need to get operatives to Takaran in advance of the Starkiller. Can you imagine what will happen if he/she/it is allowed free reign in such a small community?!"
"Yes. Butchery like we haven’t seen yet." Lorethar frowned at the holograph of Takaran as it slowly rotated. Then he raised his eyes and focused on the adjunct. "I’m going to take charge of this myself. And you’re going to help me."
"Me?!"
"Yes. You. I’m going to call in some special assistance, but I need to have some paperwork pushed through without dealing with the usual nonsense or drawing the attention of the taskforce commander. Injured pride at this point is not something I want to deal with."
"Sir, I really think you should—"
"You can help me, or I can remove you from this case." He gave the adjunct a hard stare. "Remove you. Not reassign you."
The young man flinched. He understood all to well the powers of the Consul of the Star Guardians. "Very well, sir. What do you require?"
Lorethar looked back at the image of the Takaran system. So small, so insignificant. So isolated there was only one charted path in, and one charted path out. But beyond it, in a system on the fringes of Mu sector was a Land of the Dead. This was one of those instances where it was good to be like unto a god. It meant that with the proper means one could recall even the dead to the land of the living, and dispatch him to Takaran quicker than any Star Guardian ships could get there.
If he could pull this off, the trail of the Starkiller would finally reach its endpoint.
—To Be Continued