VAHKI BONES
By Firework Warrior
Chapter 1
Keika focused straight ahead as she strode through the welding hall at Metalworks Career School. A foolish group of Ta-Matoran had decided to carve a pumpkin with blowtorches and other foundry tools. Under normal circumstances, Keika would have said "not my command sector, not my problem." Then she would have left it to one of the Nuurakh.
But these were not normal circumstances.
Lately, an alarming number of Nuurakh were going missing. This put strain on the squadrons, to the point where Aédynu - Keika's father and the highest-ranked Vahki in Ta-Metru - issued an emergency order. Vahki from other parts of the city were assigned to Ta-Metru in the interim… and Keika was one of them.
"Who thought this was a good idea…" she muttered. "Leaving adolescent Matoran unsupervised with foundry tools. What could possibly go wrong?"
The sarcasm soon turned to shock when she peeked in a window. She opened the door, flipped the light switch, only to find out that the light didn't work. She shone a small light from her hands, making a mental note to ask the electrician students if they needed a project. That mental note soon got stuffed in the files when Keika saw the mess. Stringy slime and scorched rinds were scattered and splattered all over the floor. Some of it ended up on the walls. Keika silently resolved that whoever made this mess would be cleaning it up.
But that was the least of her problems. She looked over at the mini forge and noticed that it was barred with yellow caution tape. The mini forges turned on every class period, taking a break from 12h00 until 13h15 to coincide with the students' lunch break. It was now 12h45, so in 30 minutes it would be lit and Keika would have to leave.
"Why would it be taped off?" Curiosity got the better of her. She put on a pair of heat-resistant gauntlets that her friend Cairos lent her, opened the forge…
…and jumped back in horror!
Inside was the metal skeleton of a Nuurakh - a pre-teen, judging by the size and proportions. Fear jolted through Keika's circuitry, then rage. She took a few pictures for evidence.
"Who did this?" Keika's voice barely came out a whisper, with tears threatening to break free. She could understand why bad guys would go after an adult Nuurakh. But a young one? That was beyond sick!
She looked at the clock. If she wanted this young Vahki to be identified and have a proper funeral, she'd have to get the skeleton out. She had 15 minutes to do just that.
Just then, a Ta-Matoran walked in from lunch break, early. It was Nuhrii, who was an alumni of Metalworks Career School and later trained alongside Keika in university. He saw Keika reaching into the mini forge, behind the caution tape.
"Nuhrii, you might want to go back outside… urgh!" Keika felt herself getting ill. Why did she have to stumble across this?
"What's wrong?"
"I came in here to investigate the mess, and ended up investigating a murder."
Nuhrii's deep crimson mask drained of color and turned pink. "What…?"
"Just go back outside, I'll tell you later!" Keika snapped.
Nuhrii wisely backed out. Meanwhile, Keika managed to remove the skeleton from the furnace. It fell to pieces. This would make it easier to carry, but not any easier on Keika's stomach. She packed the bones up in evidence bags. It took every ounce of her resolve not to cry or throw up or both. Then she spotted a trainee's ID badge on the floor, with its tracker ripped out. Without looking at it any further, she picked it up and stashed it in her tool belt's evidence compartment.
She put the evidence bags in her pack and walked out of Metalworks Career School.