Slavegear - Part 2

"Not exactly." She looks at Elizabeth, her gaze sharp.

"If that specific alloy is meant to reduce magic damage by a set percentage, that precentage will never reach a true 100%. That's common sense. If reduced by a set number, breaching that number will deal damage normally."

she leans a bit forward more. "You also say that it needs a massive amount of unicorns to do such a thing as moving a landmass. That's true. But there's a flaw in that statement. Before the sun and moon were raised by the royal sisters, and later by Princess Celestia alone, several unicorns did this task every day. This means that Celestia can generate and apply an equal amount of power as that number of unicorns together. And while rare, unicorns of such a level do exist in this world. Who they side on, that's up to them."

"The Union isn't controlling the rest of the world. The Union is the world" Elisabeth sighed:

"Every country in the world has joined into a single body, and called it the Union. Every country has a representative in the Union. A person to look out for his countries interests. Equestrias representative is Katherin Mercer, for example.


Slavegear was meant to be a deterrent, to stop rogue elements like the Architects.
It wasn't meant to be used, ever. Especially not against a civilian population. You've seen significant signs of this, when the robot attempted to lock down its weapons, when you ordered it to fire on a city.

It doesn't rule the world with fear, because the world didn't even knew it existed. And if another Architect would arise, he would be directly threatened by the Union to back down, or else face the Slavegear. That's all there is to it"

Elisabeth looked at Twilight: "I'm not familiar with unicorns of that power. I'm not ready to commit to that theory until I know more.."

"Even though it is a union it doesnt really matter now does it? They still hate each other... It doesnt matter what anyone else says, they always want more from the other..." she gets up and looks out the helicopter, her wings opening a little.

"If we find slavegear, can't we just blow it up? It would be for the best." Moon suggested, staring at them.

"You're right" Elisabeth nodded to Rain and Moon Dusts:
"It would be best to destroy Slavegear outright but its just too big.
Our plan is to capture it, then bring it back to mother base. We'll keep it there, until a sophisticated engineering crew can arrive and safely dismantle it"


She looked out the window, as the sky became obscured by a heavy layer of clouds and the staccato of rain began to echo across the choppers surface.




The flight took a little over two hours. By the time the helicopter came to a stop, the entire sky was completely obscured by heavy rain clouds. No sunlight came through, and the entire area was obscured by a gray twilight.

The downpour had briefly stopped, just as the helicopter tilted and began its descent. Several minutes later it touched down, in the middle of a barren field, covered in rainwater and mud.




Elisabeth slid the door open and jumped out. Her boots sending a splash of mud flying over her trousers:

"We're here" she quietly said, scanning the immediate area: "The country of Artemis"




Kaylee slowly jumped out as well and looked around with a grim expression:
"...I remember this place. We're close to where we left Slavegear.. Its this way, come one" she waved everyone to follow, just as the helicopter took off again and flew toward the cover of clouds.



You seem to be in the middle of a barren field, covered by gravel and mud. The entire area looked dark and gray, caused by the heavy rain clouds above.
In the distance, you spot a large mountain. A massive tunnel entrance was built into it. Kaylee shuddered and quietly said:

"...there it is... the HGTS..."




Elisabeth pulled out a small touch pad. Its screen lit up and she showed it to you:
"Here, take a look at this.
This is the map of the area. We're currently in Artemis"











"And that, is the HGTS" she pointed at the massive tunnel entrance ahead:
"We call it, the Heavy Gear Transit System or HGTS for short. It is a massive underground railway, built under a long mountain range. It connects several countries together and allows quick transportation of massive amounts of equipment.

The are several stations and trains run through them on a fixed schedule, delivering construction materials, provisions and so on. The entrance before us is one of the train stations. This is where you left Slavegear, and according to your reports, an unknown group has loaded it on a train and the robot disappeared in the tunnel, never to be seen again"



She presented the touch pad again: "This is the map of the HGTS railway system"










"We are currently standing close to the North East station, in Artemis" Elisabeth finished and looked around.


As you began to near the entrance, you notice that the entire area is almost deserted. There were no civilians, police or the military around for miles. It was eerily quiet, only an occasional gust of wind and the splashes of mud as you walked, broke the deafening silence.


Only when you were almost in front of the tunnel, you noticed a small group of ponies in maintenance uniforms, slowly working on some sort of electricity generator, just next to the tunnel.
They seemed to be quietly talking amongst themselves and sluggishly working.

They don't seem to be paying much attention to you.



"Alright.." Kaylee quietly called: "Lets spread out a bit. Look for any signs of what happened. Check every place you can think of.
We'll scout this area for a bit, then continue into the tunnel"

Moon nodded and looked about, looking for any signs of something happening.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"Alright.." Kaylee quietly called: "Lets spread out a bit. Look for any signs of what happened. Check every place you can think of.
We'll scout this area for a bit, then continue into the tunnel"

"Does the Slavegear have a self-destruct mechanism of any kind?" Lord Wyvern asks Elisabeth.

"No" Elisabeth shook her head: "But it has a built in protocol, that can lock down its weapon systems for 5 hours, if a government official and a military officer personally input the command.

If that happens, the robot won't be able to move or use its weapons, for five hours. After that, its systems will go online again. To initiate this protocol, the two officials need to input the command inside the robots cockpit"









As you look around, the immediate area doesn't reveal anything out of the ordinary.
You spot a large train station, filled with massive cargo cranes. Apart from the few maintenance workers, sluggishly tormenting an electrical generator, the station is mostly deserted.

No one seems to be at the crane controls, or at the stations main offices.

Next to the train station, you spot a wide and empty road. Judging by the strong tire marks, small piles of scattered coal and an occasional beam of wood, this road appears to be mainly used for unloading the train cargo and driving it to the nearest city.



Massive light poles were scattered around the area, and you noticed a large number of security cameras, hanging from one of them.

The cameras seem to be pointing at the tunnel entrance, the train station, and the part of the road that's immediately adjacent to the train station.




Some of the maintenance workers briefly stopped tormenting the broken generator and looked in your direction. They seem curious, eye brow raised, but mostly they seem to be using your unexpected arrival as an excuse to gawk and avoid work for another few minutes.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"No" Elisabeth shook her head: "But it has a built in protocol, that can lock down its weapon systems for 5 hours, if a government official and a military officer personally input the command.

If that happens, the robot won't be able to move or use its weapons, for five hours. After that, its systems will go online again. To initiate this protocol, the two officials need to input the command inside the robots cockpit"

"Why wasn't a self-destruct mechanism installed?" Lord Wyvern continues.

"I don't know for certain. My guess is, the people who designed it, never saw a need for that.
Slavegear is an extremely expensive piece of hardware. I'm guessing they didn't want it destroyed.

And they never thought it could fall into enemy hands.
Even if the enemy captured it, they would never activate it without Union officials. They wouldn't even been able to enter the cockpit.

I guess no one could predict mind control..


Another theory is that, they simply saw Slavegear as just another war machine. Like a submarine or an aircraft carrier. You don't install self destruct mechanisms on aircraft carriers do you?"

"Not to mention that the self-destruct mechanism can be triggered accidentally. It would be terrible to lose that much money because one idiot spilled his drink or something."

She looks in the direction of the mechanics, frowning a bit.

~Why are they staring at us so much?~

Kaylee Brown wrote:"I don't know for certain. My guess is, the people who designed it, never saw a need for that.
Slavegear is an extremely expensive piece of hardware. I'm guessing they didn't want it destroyed.

And they never thought it could fall into enemy hands.
Even if the enemy captured it, they would never activate it without Union officials. They wouldn't even been able to enter the cockpit.

I guess no one could predict mind control..


Another theory is that, they simply saw Slavegear as just another war machine. Like a submarine or an aircraft carrier. You don't install self destruct mechanisms on aircraft carriers do you?"

"Well not me personally" Lord Wyvern shrugs "But surely they must have at least considered the possibility of hot-wiring?"

"I couldn't tell you all the technical details, but from what I've heard the Slavegears main computer systems are located deep in its carcass. To even attempt to hot-wire it, you'd have to take it apart, remove the armor plating etc.

Even with the help of heavy cranes and machinery, it would still take hours. And to fully map and understand the Slavegear internal systems, an outside engineer would require days, maybe weeks before he can attempt to forcefully activate the robot, without accidentally frying its systems or permanently shutting it down.

I don't know exactly what counter measures were installed to prevent this, but the Slavegear designers were pretty confident it couldn't be forcefully activated"






A few mechanics noticed Twilight looking at them, and awkwardly waved to her.
One of them was munching on a sandwich, looking at the unfolding scene, as if he was watching TV.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"I couldn't tell you all the technical details, but from what I've heard the Slavegears main computer systems are located deep in its carcass. To even attempt to hot-wire it, you'd have to take it apart, remove the armor plating etc.

Even with the help of heavy cranes and machinery, it would still take hours. And to fully map and understand the Slavegear internal systems, an outside engineer would require days, maybe weeks before he can attempt to forcefully activate the robot, without accidentally frying its systems or permanently shutting it down.

I don't know exactly what counter measures were installed to prevent this, but the Slavegear designers were pretty confident it couldn't be forcefully activated"






A few mechanics noticed Twilight looking at them, and awkwardly waved to her.
One of them was munching on a sandwich, looking at the unfolding scene, as if he was watching TV.


 

"I see" Lord Wyvern nods "So wherever Marek has hidden the Slavegear, he's not getting inside it anytime soon."

Elisabeth turned slightly grim and shook her head:
"...I'm afraid Slavegear was already activated, during the incident.
It is now fully functional and Marek can use it however he likes.

That's why we have to find it.."

Kaylee Brown wrote:Elisabeth turned slightly grim and shook her head:
"...I'm afraid Slavegear was already activated, during the incident.
It is now fully functional and Marek can use it however he likes.

That's why we have to find it.."

"But he needs a Union official and a Union general to do anything serious, right?" Lord Wyvern asks.

Rain raises her brow looking tonthe mechanics half tempted to walk over there and show them how to fix a generator like the military does.

Radiance kneels down as if to adjust his boot, as he does he places his hand on the ground. He directs his attention towards the workers listening and sifting through their conversations. He takes note of their movement and numbers, separating the ones who move like they are awake; the ones moving sluggishly; and any who appear to be moving unnatural or stiff.

Elisabeth looked at Wyvern: "To be honest, I don't know. He made sure that Kaylee and Twilight activated Slavegear, before they left it here. I don't know how many systems are still unlocked, and how many require an additional authorization.

But he can definitely pilot the robot now. A machine that size, he won't even need a big gun. He can just take a stroll in that thing and level a few blocks in seconds"






As you examine the workers again, you count about twelve of them. Unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies. You don't see any batponies among them.

Parts of their conversation reach you. Half of them are talking about basketball. One is munching on a sandwich and loudly burped.
Another is complaining about Penny canceling her latest concert. Two more are still awkwardly waving to you.

A few of them are talking about you, trying to guess if you're a group of lost tourists, if you are police or the safety inspection.
The last one appears to be muttering profanities in an unfamiliar language, still tormenting the generator.



Most of them were huddled around the generator. One of them wandered toward the office building. Another one is heading toward the portable restroom booth.

You don't notice any unnatural or stiff movements among them.

Kaylee Brown wrote:Elisabeth looked at Wyvern: "To be honest, I don't know. He made sure that Kaylee and Twilight activated Slavegear, before they left it here. I don't know how many systems are still unlocked, and how many require an additional authorization.

But he can definitely pilot the robot now. A machine that size, he won't even need a big gun. He can just take a stroll in that thing and level a few blocks in seconds"






As you examine the workers again, you count about twelve of them. Unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies. You don't see any batponies among them.

Parts of their conversation reach you. Half of them are talking about basketball. One is munching on a sandwich and loudly burped.
Another is complaining about Penny canceling her latest concert. Two more are still awkwardly waving to you.

A few of them are talking about you, trying to guess if you're a group of lost tourists, if you are police or the safety inspection.
The last one appears to be muttering profanities in an unfamiliar language, still tormenting the generator.



Most of them were huddled around the generator. One of them wandered toward the office building. Another one is heading toward the portable restroom booth.

You don't notice any unnatural or stiff movements among them.

"At least that's one thing on our side" Lord Wyvern says "If Marek does do anything with Slavegear, we'll certainly know he was behind it."

Elisabeth nodded, looking around with concern.

Johan was standing a bit off to the side. He seems slightly afraid, unsure what to do with himself.


Kaylee inched a bit closer to Rain and subtly nodded toward the maintenance workers:
".... you think those guys work in the tunnels?"

Kaylee Brown wrote:Elisabeth nodded, looking around with concern.

Johan was standing a bit off to the side. He seems slightly afraid, unsure what to do with himself.


Kaylee inched a bit closer to Rain and subtly nodded toward the maintenance workers:
".... you think those guys work in the tunnels?"

"Johan, you okay?" Lord Wyvern asks.

"Y-yes.. I'm just.." Johan looked around wearily: "...I've just never done anything like this before..
Its a bit... overwhelming.."

He looked around for a bit: "..did you.. find anything you could use? Something in the environment or the people around, that could tell us more of what happened?"

Radiance stepped towards Kaylee and Rain, "From what I heard they're the workers. They appear curious of us but not too suspicious."