Rain drummed down in great sheets from above, falling like curtains from the uppermost spires of the city skyscrapers and lofty towers. Rain collected on open wires and came dripping down in trickling runnels of water, only to collect in great puddles on the pavement gurgling away into the gutter to vanish down storm drains.

Massive, colorful, neon signs hung above in the driving rain, casting reflection down onto the sodden pavement giving an eerie sort of light to the darkness. There were few people on the street at this time, though figures could be seen flitting from the shadow of one overhang to another. Despite their efforts, the soaking cold was nearly impossible to avoid.

As unoccupied as the street was, it gave more than enough room for a dark figure hurriedly splashing through puddles as his long leather coat whipped behind him, collar pulled up against the rain.

Massive television screens running with rivulets of water rose up on all sides boasting advertisements ranging from fur care to skin cream to casino resorts. The voices of these advertisements babbled through the rain, impossible to understand with a background of white noise.

The echoes rose upwards, following the trail of advertisement screens as they rose ever higher into the night, taking up every available surface until the very peaks of the skyscrapers high above in the rainy mist.

The darkly clad figure was joined a moment later as two other figures hurried from the shadows, one no more than two feet tall, and another that towered over the first figure by nearly a foot.

Little eruptions of water leapt up from where their feet splashed through the puddles.

A delicate silver halo outlined the figures as rain bounced off their bodies and back into the air.

With a motion of his hand, the first figure motioned his companions sideways, and into a long-dark alley. The stream of water that ran down it's middle was nearly ankle deep, and the three figures made to avoid the worst of it, walking along the side of the alley, though sometimes they were made to choose between ankle deep water or refuse.

The rain grew harder, drumming down against their backs as they hurried across another cross street, down another alley and towards their final destination.

Foot traffic had picked up now, though it happened to be as a direct result of the bright neon caution holograms blocking off an area of buildings just to the right of their alley.

A dark furred Tesraki, posted out under an umbrella-like energy field waved them through without bothering to check their ID.

The three of them stepped through the cation hologram and towards the shopfront passing under a curtain of water, and into the little shop beyond where they stopped.

They waited there for a few moments, until a figure appeared from the long line of shelves: A Tesraki wearing a large hat, with holes cut in it for the ears.

"Admiral, I'm glad you could make it."

Admiral Vir shook water from his coat, and undid the belt that held the front together, allowing it to hang open. He then removed his hat, shaking it out beside the door.

To his right, Sunny shook runnels of water from her carapace, while Dr. Krill cleared droplets from his prismatic orange eyes.

Admiral Vir adjusted the collar of his shirt, absent of a tie, "We came as soon as we heard." He said fitting the hat back onto his head. His face was slick with humidity, though the protruding brim of his hat had kept the worst of the rain from his face.

"We do appreciate it." The Tesraki lifted a hand, "Follow me, but don't touch anything."

Admiral Vir held up his hands to show the mostly-dry leather gloves he wore, "Not a problem."

The Tesraki nodded it's head and led them further into the shop past lines and displays of cheap touristy trinkets likely manufactured for a quarter of the price on Noctopolis. Just to their right a refrigeration unit hummed. Peering past the glass Admiral Vir was surprised to see cans of human soda preserved behind the glass.

They passed through the side of the shop, and were stopped outside the opening to the back room, where another Tesraki insisted they put plastic covers over their shoes and feet.

Everyone was supplied with gloves, before they were allowed in.

Sunny flexed her hands against the strange rubber synthetic, though Dr. Krill seemed right at home.

Admiral Vir was the first to step through, passing into the dim back room to immediately be met by the sharp tang of blood. He paused as if he had hit a wall face screwing up in response to the smell. It wasn't human blood, of course, it was Tesraki blood, a smell that had been all too common during the Drev war.

He blinked hard, allowing his eyes to adjust to the room, which was dark, mostly, except for the flickering holovision on the wall across. A couple of technicians were busy setting up flood lights on the side of the room. His vision was mostly obscured, by a large sofa just to his front, but slowly, and with direction from the Tesraki, he inched around the side until he was finally able to get a good view of the scene before him.

He crushed immediately and turned his head away fighting down a sudden and surprising bout of nausea, though it passed within moments.

He turned his head back inch by inch grimacing slightly as he did.

Rosy blue light from the holovision glittered down on the scene before him glittering lightly off a coagulating green pool that appeared almost black in this lighting. The figure was stiff and still having not been moved since it was found.

The dead Tesraki lay sprawled on its side in a pool of his own blood, an expression of fear and horror frozen on his face. Admiral Vir had to force himself to look closely at the body, which he could see was missing it's tail, a leg, and one arm. Looking around he could find no sign of where the missing limbs might have gone.

"We've never seen anything like it before." The Tesraki said, walking up to stand beside him.

Admiral Vir grimaced, "Never?"

"No, never, which is why we called you."

He turned to look at the Tesraki, long leather coat brushing against his pants just above the knees, "Why? I'm no detective."

The Tesraki nodded, "We know, but you have to understand, we have NEVER seen anything like this... not EVER." He leaned into his emphasis, turning to look at the Admiral, "Tesraki don't commit crimes like this. If we want someone dead, there are always traffic accidents and poisoning."

Admiral Vir raised an eyebrow, "I wasn't aware Tesraki were even capable of committing murder."

"Not directly, no."

He paused staring at the body as the implication set in, "You don't think a Tesraki did this."

Off to the side of the room, the technicians had managed to rig up the lights, and the room was suddenly filled by double beams of blinding white light illuminated the scene before them with sharp contrast. The black blood became green, the shadowy mound, which had been the body was suddenly brought into sharp relief, each hair visible in excruciating detail on it's dismembered body.

"Sweet Jupiter." He muttered

His oversvation from before had been correct. The Tesraki was missing three of his five limbs. The blood pool in which he lay was a good four foot circle around him. The eyes were open and glassy, staring up into nothing. His face and lips were twisted into an expression of pure horror. Coagulated blood matted the fur along his back and sides. His remaining arm was covered in a line of deep and shallow defensive wounds while the fur about his chest was matted with green icor.

"What do you know so far?"

"Nothing much, we've been waiting for them to set up the lights."

Admiral Vir motioned Dr. krill forward, "Think you can take a look?"

The doctor nodded his head, "I believe I can."

At his announcement one of the Tesraki walked forward offering up a floating platform for the Dr. to stand on. He looked as if he was about to reject the offer, but took it, using it to keep off the floor around the crime scene as he floated closer to the body.

Admiral Vir rested his hands on his hips as he watched.

"Who is he?"

"His name was Inenor, the owner of the shop you came through on your way in. Admittedly he was no one of great renown, mostly profited in selling high priced and cheaply manufactured trinkets to tourists, a practice that might be frowned upon, but not one that generally gets you killed."

"Or dismembered." Admiral Vir added, reaching down a hand to rub absently as the junction where his stump met his prosthetic.

The Tesraki nodded, "Yes, by all rights he was your average shopkeeper in the tourist district. None of his wares are particularly expensive, he had no more enemies than his average shop rivals, no family, and, based on our cursory glance through his online history, no involvement in any other nefarious groups, plots, schemes or otherwise."

"Shop rivals?"

"The other shopkeepers in the area selling the same thing."

"And you don't think it could be one of them."

The Tesraki shook his head, "No, they may not like each other, but Tesraki business owners rely on competition to keep the economy working in each district. Prices fluctuate between shops creating a constant cycling of where the tourist goes for the least expensive or highest quality goods. It avoids stagnation, and allows for a dynamic environment where money is always trickling in. They may hate each other, but they understand how to work a balanced system between each other."

Admiral Vir glanced over at Kril, who was busily scrutinizing one of the Tesraki's stumps

"So you think a human did this."

The tesraki held up his hands, "I didn't say that."

"It's alright. I can see where you are coming from." again, he looked away from the body, "A nobody who works a shop in the tourist district on an alien planet is brutally murdered and then dismembered. There is not history of such a crime ever being committed by Tesraki in living memory. The Rundi couldn't do it as the water content in Tesraki blood could hurt them, not to mention they aren't known to be tourists. We can rule out the Gromm, Celzex, Bran and Iotins for similar reasons." He took a few steps forward, "Gibb and Vrul are completely off the table as they aren't nearly strong enough or vicious enough to do something like that."

The Tesraki was nodding in agreement.

"So you must have come to the conclusion that there are really only three options. Burg, Drev.... Or humans." He walked around to the other side of the couch to get a better look at the missing tail. Though the stump was matted with congealing green and black blood, he could still see a small spike of bone protruding from the flesh, "And the Burg have been withdrawn from GA airspace since the burg war, and are only now starting to return, so it couldn't be one of them. That leaves Drev and humans. Drev have a history of dismembering their victims but....."

Sunny stepped up beside him just then, resting a hand on his shoulder. He felt her squeeze lightly, though to everyone else it wouldn't have been noticeable.

"But generally they do not take the limbs with them." She added before pointing to the body, "Those cuts are too clean. A drev would rely on power first cutting into the leg, breaking the bone and then ripping through. IT would be a much messier process."

Admiral Vir nodded, allowing her hand to linger on his shoulder longer than was absolutely necessary before stepping away.

Dr krill leaned back from his work and looked over at them, "I tend to agree with Sunny's oversaviton. These cuts were very clean, probably cone by a sharp knife or scalpel of some kind. The bone itself has been sawed through. Now whoever did this were no medical professionals as the cuts were half hazzard and mostly center on the middle of the bone." He turned to look at them more intensely, "Besides, whoever came here came for his limbs specifically."

There was a shocked pause.

"You mean."

"I mean the Tesraki was dismembered postmortem. Cause of death was likely strangulation."

Admiral Vir shook his head in disbelief, "You mean they came here.... Specifically for his limbs."

Krill nodded, "it would seem so." He glanced over at the Tesraki, "Nothing else is missing."

The Tesraki shook his head, "Credits are still there, and the manifest is showing that all his wares are here as well."

"Why would someone take the limbs?" Sunny asked, incredulity coloring her voice as she stared down at the gory scene before them.

Krill sat up "How about the prodigum, they are known to feast on decaying flesh."

Admiral vir shook his head, "No, if it was a prodigum they would have taken the whole body, not just the limbs, besides, they have connections with the slave trade and get most of their exotic feeding there. This entire thing doesn't make sense for them."

"Does that mean, Admiral, that you are suggesting...."

"Suggesting that humans did it?" He finished, and the Tesraki nodded.

Admiral vir paused for a moment before sighing, "It would seem so as much as I hate to admit it. Humans are more than capable of doing something like this, and brutal murder is not somethng we are strangers to." He walked around to the other side of the body again, holding onto the lapels of his jacket, which were now mostly dry, though he couldn't feel sure past the leather gloves he wore, "We have a brutal human-like murder on the edge of a major human tourist district. No cash or credits are missing, none of his wares (which don't seem worth thieving anyway) and whoever they are they likely went after his limbs for.... Some reason."

From the corner of her eye, Sunny saw a flash of guilt on the man's face, and knew he was withholding something.

"How long ago did this happen." He asked

"Not more than a few hours."

Admiral Vir tapped his foot on the floor, "Than they couldn't have left planet just yet. It wasn't a military installation as I know where all of those are located, and none of the fleet were here during the time of the murder. It would have to be a civilian." He pulled up his sleeve to check his implant, "i will call in and order all civilian transport grounded. That should give us enough time to investigate if you find anything, don't send any of your men in, but call me."

The Tesraki nodded in agreement, "Thank you Admiral."

"Let me step out to make the call."

The Tesraki let him go, and he stepped out the door, pulling the now soggy plastic covers off his boots as he made his way to the front of the stoor. Sunny listened patiently as he called a halt to all civilian transports, smiling a little when he ordered the man to stop complaining and do as he was ordered by power of the combined UNSC and GA.

Eventually, he cut the call and turned to look at her.

She could tell by the pained expression on his face, that his original thought had only gotten worse.

"What are you thinking?" She mumbled softly, looking over her shoulder to make sure no one was listening.

He paused before answering, "I think I know why they took his limbs."

Sunny paused, "What! Why?"

The human grimaced, his face shot through with pain and shame, though that seemed odd as he hadn't done anything.

"I think.... I..."

A horn blasted from outside making the two of them jump before it faded into the distance.

Admiral Vir hung his head, "I think they are going to...."

She put a hand on his shoulder, "spit it out."

"Eat him!"

Sunny froze, and the two of the locked eyes, one horrified, the other ashamed.

"No...."

"Yes...."