There was a dead Rethan on the floor. A young, dead Rethan, with purple plating and a gold collar around their neck.
Atuho, the Imperator of the Vast Sands, didn’t like getting his hands dirty, but, well, this Rethan had broken into his sleeping quarters and tried to kill him. He hadn’t intended to kill the Rethan though. In fact, Atuho was somewhat surprised that a swift punch to the head had done so much damage. Rethans were notoriously hard to kill at the best of times, and were well known for their armoured skulls. But Atuho had only managed to land a single punch, one that had shattered the strange, golden lens over the Rethan’s left eye, and the Rethan just… kinda dropped dead.
With a grunt, Atuho crossed his arms and counted to ten, out loud. As he reached the number five, his six guards all burst in. Two of them checked the room, two of them checked Atuho and two of them inspected the body.
“Uh, Imperator… what happened?”
“Oh, nothing. Someone somehow managed to sneak past all of you and tried to kill me while I was doffing my armour. Nothing special…” Atuho grunted some more. Normally he was much calmer and more relaxed. He had a reputation of being almost too friendly, especially for a Lanex, and doubly so for an Imperator. The Seven Imperators were the leaders of the Lanex, and Atuho mostly focused on foreign affairs and communications with other races, so he somewhat had to be friendly.
“Are you hurt?”
“No. I’m actually pretty dandy. And both impressed and concerned that I managed to kill a Rethan with my bare hands…” Atuho glanced at the guards, then looked down at the dead Rethan. They looked weird. Not like a normal Rethan. Too spiky. Atuho was well aware that there were two different main types of Rethan, soldier-caste and higher- or upper-caste, and this Rethan was definitely not a soldier-caste Rethan, but they had too many ‘strips’, or extra, thinner bits of organic plating on their bodies. Most notably, they had sharp strips running down their back and tail. Most Rethans didn’t have any plating on their tails at all.
“Should we, uh, call the Frozen Scythes?”
Atuho turned back to the guard who had spoken to them. Ahkme was young and pretty new to the job. Admittedly, half the guards here were new.
“What do you think, kiddo?”
“That we should?”
“Indeed. In the mean time, you can all tell me how you let a 2.3m tall armoured brute with a long tail, a snout and purple armour slip past you all! With a gun as well!”
The guards all looked at each other, completely unsure how to answer. However, Phouks, the head guard, shook his head.
“We didn’t see or hear anything. Khlesah, the camera guard would have pointed it out if she had seen movement. I didn’t notice anything wrong until I saw that your door was slightly ajar! It’s as if… they had, like, telepathy or something and… erased our memories…”
Atuho inspected the dead Rethan some more, then frowned and fetched his tablet. He immediately typed in a number and tapped a small button on the side of his mask, activating his Bluetooth earpiece. There was a brief ringing sound, but eventually someone picked up.
“Atuho, hello.”
“Hello, my dear Akah! You busy?”
Akah was the Imperator of the Frozen Scythes, and ran most of the Lanex’s military and police force. He was as cold as they came, permanently dedicated to his work. Somehow, Atuho and Akah were distantly related despite having come from very different tribes.
“Yes. In communication with the 9th and 47th Legions, regarding the attack on their High General.”
“I see, I see. Can you do me a favour, dear?”
An audible sigh. “What do you need?”
“Little Rethais was attacked by a Rethan, yes? Do we know what they looked like?”
“Yes.”
“May I take a guess what they looked like?”
Another sigh. Atuho did enjoy winding Akah up a bit. “Go ahead.”
“Did they have purple plating, pink plating on their shoulders and a gold ring around their neck? Also described as being highly dangerous and potentially having telepathy?”
“How… how do you know that?”
Atuho glanced at his guards. “Yeah, I kinda accidentally just killed a Rethan that looks exactly like the Rethan that attempted to assassinate the High General. Bastard sneaked past all my guards and tried to kill me while I was doffing and getting ready for bed. I had no idea you could kill a Rethan by punching them in the eye.”
The flutter of paper could be heard on the other end of the line, followed by hurried taping on a keyboard and the scribbling of notes. Like most Ice Tribe Lanex, Akah was well known not just being cold, calculating and asocial, but he was very well known for his multitasking skills.
“Alright. Scythe Investigators and Body Baggers are on route to your location right now. I am also sending a backup security unit and have messaged the Rethans, informing them of this new data and requesting a quarter-Legion to give you extra protection.”
“Akah, you’re a dear, you really are, but I’m not sure if I want Rethan guards if I was just attacked by one.”
“Hm. Good point. Order canceled. I will speak to the Skyavok ΞK–Sub-Class and look up private Temthan protection services. Considering both Lanex and Rethan politicians have been under attack, better safe than sorry.”
“Have you-“
“Already sent extra security units to the other Imperators. I will speak to Kua personally and explain the situation, and Athu will just have to put up with the additional security, whether he likes it or not…” Akah paused for a moment. “I am sorry, I did not ask. Are you hurt, Atuho?”
Atuho smiled. “I’m absolutely fine. A little concerned, but fine. My guards are with me now.”
“Will you be returning to Matai, or at least back to Lanex territories? It will be easier to ensure your safety here.”
“You worry too much, Akah. I’m fine. I have work to do. Someone’s got to be the Lanex’s friendly face to other races.”
A final sigh. “Very well, Atuho. Please, stay safe.”
The line went dead. Akah had closed the call without saying goodbye, but that was pretty typical of Ice Tribe Lanex. Still, Akah’s parting words did suggest that he genuinely cared, and that was enough for Atuho.
“Should I make preparations for the new guards?” Ahkme asked.
Atuho nodded, then frowned. “Yes, please. In the mean time, I am going to… go somewhere else for a bit. Away from this room. It has just occurred to me that I just took a life, and I… I need some peace and quiet.”
“Very well, Imperator. Please don’t wander too far!” Phouks suggested as he took photos of the body.
“Don’t worry, I won’t. I just need to digest what just happened…”