Utopian News Network Report
Citizens across Cibarci were in shock tonight as the body of a Utopian Moral Enforcer was discovered in the residential sector aboard Liouville Port.
The body was found by maintenance crews shortly after a violent incident was reported to local law enforcement, with early information suggesting the Enforcer had been shot several times at close range.
Although the Cibarci Alliance have opened an investigation into the murder, Utopian officials in Polevnic are understood to have requested the case be terminated immediately.
Unnamed sources within the local police force have expressed bewilderment at the situation: "Normally when a Utopian Enforcer is killed all hell breaks loose as they hunt for the assailant. Whoever this guy was, he must have done something really bad to trigger a cover-up."
Utopian officials have declined to comment.
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Krin hurried along the dark corridors of Liouville Port, his senses alert for signs of danger. Around him, flickering neon lights cast random shadows as they struggled to function against years of neglect.
With each turn he paused, mentally checking the people he passed by. The beggar, the drunk. A gang, a mother.
No-one familiar. No one following.
He soon reached his apartment, one in a block of many caked in grime and decorated with crude graffiti. The door seal was intact, and sighing with relief Krin entered the security code. With a painful grinding noise the door slid back, allowing him entry. As the door closed behind him, Krin called out into the dark.
"Kara?"
No answer. Silence.
Like a reflex Krin reached into his coat and withdrew a small sidearm, eyes straining for information in the gloom.
A passing ship lit up the room casting a silhouette on the opposite wall, a disembodied voice cutting into the silence.
"It is time for absolution, Enforcer Krin."
Adrenaline fired through Krin as the mysterious man switched on a small lamp, illuminating his face. Automatically Krin thought of his family. What had happened to-
"...Kara?" finished the man.
Krin fought hard to keep his emotions in check. "Where is my son? Where is my family?"
Without pause the man responded. "Your son is safe with us, Enforcer. Karas memories of you and her child have been modified. They will never know who they were, and will be safe in engineered ignorance."
"They are innocent people!" Screamed Krin. "Kara believed in Utopia!"
A frown spread across the intruders face as he spoke again.
"Enforcers can never be part of Paradise, Krin. This is our supreme sacrifice, to never lead peaceful lives. An Enforcer must be beyond material existence, beyond temptation and corruption. Would it be fair for them to be a target because of what we do? Your base desires had condemned Kara and your son to a life of fear and pain, all I have done is to humanely free them from this cycle, to free them from you."
The man remained impassive as Krins finger slowly tightened on the trigger. Without warning a low thud burst from the darkness. Startled, Krin looked down to see a red stain blossom through his coat as a second intruder stepped out from the shadows.
Reaching into his pocket, Krin dropped a concealed stun grenade as he doubled over in pain. As the room dissolved into a flash of light he slammed the door control and stumbled outside, barging through confused onlookers as his stunned assailants burst from the apartment behind him.
As he ran into a deserted backstreet, Krin could feel his limbs grow heavy as blood pulsed from his injury. Wearily he fell against a concrete wall, his wounds leaving bloody streaks as he slid to the floor.
The station air was cold and crisp on his face, while high above ships departed from nearby docking ports. Krin thought of what might have been, a happy ending with Kara and their child on some green agricultural world far away. But now she lived a new life with new memories, his son a distant dream. He closed his eyes, and wondered what his son would become in the Paradise he would never see.
A voice behind him echoed along the alley. It was his assassin.
"Paradise is real for your family. Take comfort in that."
Groggily Krin looked up, straight into the muzzle of a gun. Dejected, the fallen Enforcer faced his killer. "Is it wrong for us to dream?" he said sadly.
The man stood over him as a second figure kept watch some distance behind.
"Yes" said his attacker coldly, before pulling the trigger.
"Enforcers do not dream."
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