Here's another one short story set on Besk; each of these stories has been a good opportunity to start branching out and building the world through the POV of off-shoot characters.
The howls of packs in the distance kept Raige Rivis up later than he would like; he needed to be up early and knew it, yet, even that fact wasn't enough to help him sleep. He had been given his target to investigate, Raige didn't have to visit the location to know that a pack had formed. Degradation was the curse of Beskin's; the sole reason their civilization had fallen so many times before; the effects of it completely removed all rational thought, there was no freedom of choice for the victims and the only mindset left of the individual was total obedience and loyalty to the pack and only the pack. The researchers and scientists spoke of ways to reverse it, but, the government of Besk wasn't able to put too much funding into finding a cure; not when there were weapons to buy. "The top priority is safeguarding against outbreaks before they spread." By that they meant extermination, lest the packs become too large.
Raige was utterly alone, he had nothing and no one. He was too afraid to get too close, he saw firsthand how quickly degradation takes effect when someone was to become too familiar with others. He had to force his eyes shut; had to force his mind to clear; force himself to sleep.
Waking to the dull morning sun trying to penetrate the thick clouds of Besk, reflected his own emotional state in a lot of ways, as did the bars on his window; "Protection against the night." Protection. More like restriction. Fear, in steel form. Not that he could do anything about it, the safety of having them was more important than the fear of what roamed out there.
Preparing himself, he felt slightly more at peace, mainly because for even a short time the liquid thoughts that ebbed through his mind would stop. The conversations he would have with himself ceased; he didn't need to think about life when putting his armour on and equipping his weaponry. Another day.
Raige wanted a friend. Someone who wasn't a Beskin; the result of the research showed that Beskin's may be safe from degradation, so long as they mixed only with non-Beskins. A human? A Doshan? He'd settle for a Gnosian if they could form coherent sentences, or at the very least listen to his own. Besk was a miserable planet, it was always dull, always cold, if it wasn't raining at that moment, you could be sure it was just around the corner. Raige wanted to leave this world, heading for somewhere a bit more bright, with opportunities that didn't revolve around killing. There were plenty of jobs here on Besk he could go into, assembly lines, engineering, and more work like that. Shipbuilding had always been Besks main industry, he knew he could do it, but, not here, not on this world. He could do it somewhere like Scoosha, Jex, maybe Dosha; anywhere else, anywhere other than here. The monotonous factory work in this miserable place was far too depressing of a prospect for him, not that working as a glorified exterminator was any better, but, it did offer the chance to be out in the, mostly, fresh air.
The ground outside was slick with rain from the night before, the mud he trod through suckered onto his shoes and with each firm step out of it, the suction would squelch with each step. It would be impossible to sneak up on anyone in this. His communicator distracted him from his thoughts and as he answered he could see the face of Eral Hene, the head of Den Dispatch; his boss.
"Raige, I have an update on the den," Eral said with a still look. "What is it?" "There are more than previously stated. There was an attack last night in the vicinity, the victims are all dead, and their body parts were found strewn around the scene today. I think for your own safety, exterminate them immediately, don't try to talk with them, or offer a chance to come back." Raige was shocked that he was asked to kill the occupants without a verbal warning. "But, it goes against our policy." Eral shook his head. "If you want to follow procedure, that's on you. But, I'm telling you now, the risks are too great." Raige answered with a nod. As much as he hated the idea of killing without warning, this was a suggestion from the top and he wasn't in the position to dispute it further; but something about it made the job seem like murder. Eral ended the session abruptly, and once more Raige was left on his own.
As he arrived at the location; an old derelict shop front on the edge of town, he was surprised to see a ship parked not far from it. The victim's ship? He wondered, but, that idea was swept away when he saw one of the occupants of the ship step out, followed closely by two others. They were all heavily armoured; battle ready. They carried weapons too, by the shape of them, one seemed to be a Trisken and the other two seemed to be human. By the look of their armour though, they seemed more like robots. They were walking directly to the shop's door before one of them stared at Raige. The Trisken who seemed to be leading the outfit gestured to the others. One turned and started to walk toward Raige, while the other two stepped closer to the shop front and stood by the door.
"What's going on here?" Raige asked, but the human who approached didn't respond until they got much closer than Raige felt comfortable with. "We're here, err, by order of the government of Jex. There are reports of, err, Beskins inside who have large bounties on their heads."
"Bounty hunters?" Raige asked, feeling bewildered by the idea of bounty hunters on Besk. "How much is it worth? Flying out all the way from Jex to collect." He continued, the story didn't make sense. "It's a significant payout, we're, err, the payment was worth the trip." The human replied, looking back to the others occasionally. The other two kicked in the door and carried on inside, howls, roars and wailing could be heard. It made a cold streak run through Raiges body, he could never stand the sound of it. "This doesn't make sense, you are too heavily armoured to be typical bounty hunters. I've been sent here to clear out this den, the occupants are suffering from degradation and have to be put down. Raige noticed a small crowd gather around, other Beskins, each one standing far apart and far enough away from the shop front to stay safe from the Beskins inside.
Soon, the two men reemerged, dragging one Beskin each, who were restrained and sedated by the look of it, their legs were limp, trailing behind. "What is this? You can't just come here and take them away like that, they have to be put down." The human he was talking with had no response and instead was darting back and forth looking at the small crowd. He turned as one got closer and waved a hand in their direction. "Step back! We're on official business!"
Raige looked over at the Beskin who was getting closer, but he watched them stop as they were shouted at. "No, they're not, they say that they're bounty hunters." The human looked at Raige and shook his head. "I'm here on official business, I've been sent to dispose of this den." The Beskin who had been getting closer was now shadowed by some more of the crowd and one of them was visibly angry by the presence of humans.
"I've been off-world! I know what they're doing, I see ships arrive all the time. They were sent to collect Beskin's suffering from degradation to sell to fighting pits back on Jex!" One of the Beskins shouted, which seemed to noticeably shake the human. "No, that's not true. We're, err." Raige had never been off-world, he'd never known this to be a thing, but, the way the human responded, he had a feeling that the Beskin was right. The story didn't add up and it was far too risky for a typical bounty hunter. "They work for syndicates back on Jex." Another Beskin piped up. "I've heard enough," Raige responded and stepped around the human, he unholstered his pistol and took aim. One shot each, through the heads of the limp Beskin's being hauled; at the distance, it was an impressive feat of skill. Instantly the two carrying them dropped the bodies and were visibly shocked. Then he walked over to the door of the shop, ignoring the protests of the "bounty hunters" and also paying no mind to the slight cheers of the assembled crowd. Raige removed one of the charges from his waist and tossed it into the building, holding the detonator with his free hand. "Move back!" He commanded everyone in the area, which they all obliged.
"I'm giving any and all occupants of the den one chance to come out and return to your normal lives." The mantra was something he'd grown used to, not that he had ever had one success; if anything, he said it to make himself feel better about all the death he dealt. There was no response from inside and he stepped backward away from the building. "Stop! We have official business here!" The Trisken shouted as he approached. "So do I." Raige clicked his detonator and a massive explosion erupted, as the blast ended, flames spewed out of the building, but soon they also dissipated, leaving nothing but a trail of black smoke behind. "Collect the bounty from their corpses," Raige said as he turned and walked back the way he came, away from the noise and chaos of the scene he left behind.
He could be sure that there was yet another den waiting for him back at base; another job. Raige decided to file the encounter into his report and planned to speak with Eral when he got back, to find out if he or anyone else had encountered off-worlders hauling away Beskins before.