Your name is Thoramien S'itasvar, nickname Tora. You are a female cat morph, born on Mirandis 3 in 4278 using artificial incubation. You were charged with attempted piracy in 4290 on Kuridas 2, but the charges were dropped. You are currently working for Antares deep space research ltd. Is that correct?

Yes Sir, that... it's all correct.

For the protocol, my name is Lieutenant Major Silvester Tharrons, of the Mirmidas Sector Law enforcement. This is an official examination regarding breach of the 3820 indigenous life protection directive with several casualties. You have the right to deny statement. You have been informed about your rights and duties. Do you understand them?

Yes Sir, I do.

Excellent. Now with the formalities out of the way...
Let's get a bit more comfortable. These interrogation rooms aren't nice, but my chair is as uncomfy as yours, so at least its fair...
OK, now... would you kindly explain to me how you ended up on planet SCT 3792 428 dash 3 and what the hell happened there?

I... ehm... It started...
Hmm... where do I start...

If I may help, your shuttle was a jump capable Mariaki Mk 3, owned by Suff.... S'ffghrd-rhan? Deep space rentals. Hope I pronounced that right.
3 standard days ago, it was loaned to a certain 'Anthony Badgers', fake ID. You boarded it on outpost Iluthien 7. Maybe if you start there. Who was the crew and how did you know them?

Yeah... that, well, I guess M.C. rented the ship. Damian knew him from his smuggling days. We met by chance on Iluthien 7, and Damian invited me to their "safari trip". He said it'd be fun.

Damian as in Damian Black? Your former alleged 'pirate' crew mate?

Yes?!? I... hadn't seen him in years. We met on the outpost totally by chance. They were waiting for another party member who hadn't shown up, so he invited me instead.

You didn't pay for that trip?

Only a share in expenses. Around 8300 gal credits. Damian said they didn't want to make profit of an old friend.

Did you know where you were going?

No... they didn't tell me. Damien said he didn't know either. M.C. had it all organised.

So you had NO idea where they were taking you?

Well... ... I know a bit about astronavigation. I know we went outwards from Iluthien, maybe 20, 30 lightyears, not more than 5 jumps. I knew pretty certain we were still in the Mirmidas sector somewhere, but I didn't have access to the nav computer. That's hundreds of stars.

Then you also didn't know that the planet was quarantined?

No, certainly not. I asked Damien if this was all legit. He said M.C. had taken care of all the paperwork and I shouldn't worry. I assumed we probably had a valid hunting license or something like that. 

You assumed... OK, What else can you tell me about this M.C.?

Almost nothing. He's.. He *was* a croc morph, and he was loaded. I think he was the client for a lot of Damien's old smuggling gigs. The type you normally don't meet in person.
I don't know his real name, or where he was from, but he and Damien seemed to be best buddies. He didn't talk much to me much during the flight.

There were two others, Richard, a wolf morph and Skh'i, a Nirigien. Richard kept trying to hit on me, he seemed to think it was funny somehow.

When we got there, M.C. opened a locker with plasma rifles. Large caliber. For the "big game" he said. I never went hunting before, so I had no clue what he meant. I hadn't planned on shooting anything, I thought we'd just have an adventure trip.

The first day we shot some small critters, for target practice. Just like space rats, but bigger. We ate one of them, grilled on open fire, and I thought all this was pretty fun. 

Did you encounter any of the natives?

You mean those blue furry things with the flexible trunks? Not until the afternoon of the second day. M.C. and Skh'i were really excited, I guess they recognized them. Then Rich asked Damien and me if we wanted to see something "really fucked up".
I had no clue what he meant, or I'd have gotten back to the ship that moment, but Damien was all like "bring-it-on!"

There were four of them. I saw them through the long range scope. A family I think. Two big ones, one a bit larger, and two children. M.C. fired on the smaller adult. But he didn't kill it, he just paralysed it. Spine shot.

He shot at an M'ghurrli?

Is that what they are called? Yes. From over a mile away. Then he was all like "OK, let's get out of here..." and dragged us back to the camp, while that creature was laying there. We could hear their screams all the way.

M'ghurrli are an intelligent species. They have a complex society, spoken and written language. They have developed semi-advanced technology in the past, but currently most prefer to live more simple, tribal lives. That's why the planet is off limits.

I... I didn't know that. At first. But ... M.C. must have. They had launched a hunting drone and kept video taps on the one we shot. There were around a dozen or so others, and at first they tried to help the injured one. It was a female. When that didn't work, they all stood in a circle, and the big one, probably its mate kept hugging trunks with her. It looked pretty intimate, almost as if he was saying his goodbyes. It made me sad to watch that. Then... It... she couldn't move, or feel much, but it looked like she could still be aroused somewhat, and he went pretty intimate with his trunk, playing with her, and ... then they made sex.

And then during the sex he started eating her.

Eating, as in cannibalism?

Yes. But not... not... hostile. They still hugged and tried to comfort each other, but all the while he took bites out of her body. I don't think she felt that. Not with her ruined spine, but she was definitely conscious. And then all the others joined in and ate her. Alive.

That's not unheard of. The tribes don't leave anyone behind. Do you think M.C. knew that?

M.C... Yes. And Skh'i and Richard, too. They made all sorts of... *comments* about it. And Skh'i was masturbating I think. It's hard to tell with Nirigien anatomy. Damien seemed to be torn between being fascinated and horrified. He definitely hadn't seen that yet.

What happened then?

With the M'ghurrli? I don't know, I... I left. I couldn't watch it anymore, so I went out of the tent and a bit into the forest, cause I had to throw up.

I went there, barfing under a tree, when I heard something. Like a branch cracking. It was between me and the camp. I didn't dare go back, so I climbed on the tree instead.

Was that the same tree we found you on, later?

I think? I climbed as high as I could and ... I kinda froze there...

What happened then?

There were M'ghurrli. A lot of them. But they... they were different. They had clothes, and spears. I saw three, but I heard more. They had our camp surrounded.

They didn't check your tree?

Mmmm.. I was so afraid... I thought any moment one of them would turn around and see me and just rip the entire tree out and... I...   We deserved that... We really deserved that.

Deserved what? What did they do?

They collapsed the tent. Right on M.C. and Damien and the others. Then.... they pulled them out and killed them. But not right away.... First they made them suffer. They crashed trees on the shuttle. Shields weren't powered up, the hull gave in, then something caught fire. They had them watch our ship burn. Then they pulled Damien and Rhich limbs out. Then M.C.'s. They ate them, alive! All but Skh'i. Him, they just trampled to mush...

Savage... but not unheard of.

Ugh.... After they left, the ships fuel containment failed and it exploded. I... There was smoke everywhere, I couldn't breathe... I think I passed out.

You got lucky that the wind turned before the fire reached your tree. Your ship had a homing beacon that alerted the rental company when it caught fire. They got us involved. You were still unconscious when we found you.

I... thank you... 

You're welcome. I hope you learned your lesson.

I... Does that... Does that mean I'm free to go?

Almost. Only one last question. You said M.C. shot the M'ghurrli, right?

Yes?

How come the plasma rifle with your fingerprints on it was the only one which had a long range shot fired?