My First Day

As I step through the groaning, creaky metal front gate of the station, I take a moment to marvel at how far it’s come. What was once a dilapidated, blown out abandoned eyesore has transformed into a prim and proper, manicured, clean and proud representation of what I hope my Department will be. The dwarves did a fantastic job. I spy one of them trimming a bush along the side of the building, snipping away.

It’s early morning, and it’s about time I put my men out on the street for the first time. After countless drills, re-drills and classroom lessons, I’m reasonably confident they won’t kill anyone their first day on the job. My back hurts, but it’s different from the stagnated, life-suffering pain I’d had before. It’s a hopeful kind of lower back pain. It’s tough to describe it that way, but it’s true.

There’s a department-wide meeting scheduled for 0900 hours; our first daily briefing. Before that, I have to tie up loose ends with The Slime. As soon as I step in the door, my ears ring.

“You wanted to see me, sir?”, Hue inquires, without me having said a word to him. I head up to his office.

Once again I’m met with the techno-cave of surveillance that Hue has fashioned for himself. This time, there’s not just one layer of screens, but twenty, constantly cycling from back to front surrounding his plush office chair. That chair spins around, and I’m met with the sight of this puny, gelatinous, featureless blob.

“It’s time you transitioned from mere surveillance to active crime monitoring.”, I say, one eyebrow raised. “You’re to report to me twice daily on general trends of crime within our jurisdiction, and immediately seek out and report on capital crimes.”

I can barely tell, but it looked like the slime nodded.

“In particular, you’re to use our new radio network to dispatch officers to deal with crimes as soon as you detect them. Your workload will be vastly increased from what you’re used to. Are you up for it?”

“Yes sir. I’m glad to finally show you what I’m capable of.”, he beams, in his classic Mid-Atlantic radio announcer voice.

With a firm smirk, a nod, and a quick retreat from his surveillance office, I walk down the hall to meet with my favorite dwarf, Maahnn. I peek my head in the door. He lights up, pitter-pattering to the armory gate.

The armory is now flush with gleaming, clean weapons, and particularly, some new axes and polearms. Somehow, he snuck those in behind my back as part of the roster. What I’m here for is the radio. With the recruits trained on the prototypes, he and his family had been hard at work at soldering together not only the master radio receiver station, but individual handheld units for each officer. They’re slightly bigger than the latest units I had back home, but they function perfectly.

“You’ve come to see them, sir?” He asks, with as much gruff glee as can be expressed by a dwarf, through his thick beard.

I pore over them. Simple, well built, and lightweight. A transmit button, a rocker switch for changing channels, and a panic button, marked in red. Much better than the terrible brick-shaped giant monstrosity sitting on the shelf from the olden days, or the car-mounted, metal-framed monster that preceded it.

I gave Maahnn a firm handshake. Job well done. These radios are to be brought down to the troops at once.

I step into the conference room. All my boys are lined up in front of me, fully uniformed, looking the part of policemen. Well, as close to policemen as I can make them look. The Orcs in particular stand proud, unmoving, at perfect attention.

“At ease!”, I bellow. I take my position at the front of the conference room. An eerie, anticipatory silence fills the air. I took a deep breath.

“You all have made me truly proud to be your Chief. From the very first day I met you, you’ve exceeded my expectations, and I’ll say you’ve made my life easier. That all changes today. I’m giving you the opportunity to make my life a living hell. As your Chief, every decision you make will eventually fall back on me; I will be held responsible for your screw-ups.”

“By signing up with us, you took on an oath to enforce the law fairly, and to do right by the people of this city. If you continue to make me proud, I will see it. If you fail me, I will also see it. Think carefully about the impression you give, not only to me, but to everyone you meet.”

“With that, I’ve got your new radios. You already trained on them before. Fredericus will give your district and beat assignments. Go do your job, and good luck!”

The Orcs immediately cheer and break into applause, along with the rest of the recruits. Fredericus immediately steps in and relieves me of the burden of public speaking. Soon after, I spotted all my boys lining up in the front courtyard, divided into teams, and sent out via the front gate to do foot patrols.

Special liaison officers had been assigned, the vast majority of them human, to receive direct telecommunications from Hue in the event of emergencies. For a brief moment, I’m allowed a respite at my desk and fix myself a light drink. My neck hurts, of all things. Must be from all the upright posturing.

Leaned back in my chair, ruminating on all the potential issues that are coming my way, I hear a gentle knock at the door. It’s Leia.

“It’s your first, first day, right?” She smiles at me. We’ve been living together for almost a month now. She’s brought me some sort of savory pastry snack.

“Aren’t you proud of them?”

I am.

“I’m worried for them. I’m sending an army of guys who’d never stepped foot on the streets into a situation even I don’t have a clue about. This was an easier call in my previous life; at least I knew what the stakes were.”

“You already know what the stakes are, dummy.” Her rueful, blue eyes pierce right through me.

“That’s why we picked you. You know better than everyone else what’s required of those men.”

She’s right. I watch them through the window of my office, filing out in groups of three.

My head rings. It’s Hue, again.

“Chief, we’ve got a report of a murder approximately 1.5 miles from the station. One suspect is at large. The victim is cleaved in two.”

Cleaved in two?

“I’m sending you the location now.”

A screen pops up at my desk. Given my daily walks, I think I can get there myself. Despite my reservations about bringing Leia along, my gut tells me it’s a good idea, so this time I grab her by the hand and haul her downstairs. A few of my fresh recruits have also been dispatched to this scene.

A short jog with my team in tow and I’m met with the typical scene of a broad daylight homicide. A crowd of voyeurs and witnesses, a stream of blood running into the street. I carefully, but purposefully push my way through the crowd to take a look.

It’s a woman, severed entirely in half at the waist. A clean cut. An indelible expression of pain is left on her face; it’s clear she died quickly. I had Leia stand back beyond the crowd precisely to avoid her seeing this up close. My team of three recruits, an Orc, a human and a Dark Elf look to me for orders.

I had the Orc immediately tend to crowd control. Separate the rubber-neckers from the witnesses, push them away from the scene, maintain order. The human assists me on the direct aspects of crime scene investigation. The Dark Elf set out immediately for the suspect, with a description from Hue over the radio.

Like a well-oiled machine, we tackled this homicide scene with just 5 people, including Leia. Once she got over her squeamishness, she gave me some insight as to how the killer did this. It was wind magic. The characteristic tearing patterns in the flesh could only be from wind magic. Once the coroners hauled away the body, and the witnesses were catalogued and interviewed, we headed back to the station.

Firstly, Hue’s surveillance network had captured a suspect description. A thin, small, lanky build, wearing a dark cloak, clearly out of place in the daily bustle of this market district where the crime took place. The woman had bumped into him, and out of frustration, he sliced her in half almost instantly with a blast of wind that blew out nearby windows. He then launched himself up into the air, and escaped at maximum speed.

There was a lead as to where the guy ran to. His robe was typical of the Slime Worship Cult, whose members were indoctrinated to the point of insanity as to the feebleness and unworthiness of regular human beings. Slimes reign supreme above all else. That’s their belief. The suspect’s escape trajectory landed him squarely in line with their headquarters, as displayed on a map.

It’s time to do some real detective work.