Slavegear - Part 4

(Radiance)
"Does it strike anyone as odd that Chamber's name is going to on the infrastructure in Nyx? But there's also something striking me as off about all of this. Why are we immediately questioning one of our own government and taking a known liar for his word?" Radiance looked at everyone "We already fell for this trap once and look how that turned out."

"That's a valid point" Kaylee frowned at the floor, thinking: "Marek could be lying about Chambers. But.. why?... He already helped us stop the canister"


"Did he?" Mercer called: "He only showed up, after Maggie already gave up. He was nowhere to be found, while we were trying to talk her out of releasing the virus"

(Radiance)
"He's not exactly in the best physical shape. I was with him when we were stopping Maggies. I'm surprised he could even still fly. Though he did make a comment about someone in Nyx that could possibly hurt him" Radiance offered "may have just been a reference to the masters, but with him anything is possible"

"Do you remember when we cornered him in Drahoslav?" Kaylee asked: "When he was giving a speech in front of the crowd, in that underground cave?
He bolted out of there like a hurricane. Flew as fast as I did. Probably faster. And that was only two days ago"


"Kaylee.. we can't know for certain.." Harlequin quietly said: "He may have been at his limits today"


"I know" Kaylee said, frowning at the floor again: "..well... he said he wanted to see us again. Lets go talk to him.."

"Great" Moon mumbled sarcastically "I know little about politics, but I don't think we should be very trusting right now."

Rain walks beside Harle as they make their way down, she seemed to be deep in thought, her eyes wander left to rightbas if searching for some sort of answer, "...fuck me..." she brings her hands to her eyes, "...when will it end..." she shakes her head.

(Guess whos back~)

Kaylee: a shadow swoops in beside you, "so we could possibly have two genocidle maniacs on our hands." the phantom speaks loudly yet her voice whispers through your ears.

Twilight: "You're still alive... Even after everything..." Fire says her hands innher pocket as she casually walks beside you to your right, whisps of black mist from her body as she moves beside the lavender girl, "...but honestly twilight..." her cold lifeless eyes burn into twilights temple, "...how much longer do you think you'll last..." she laughs softly and appears to her left now, "...your trusting mirek... An old man who forced you to murder over 100,000 people... Someone who almost ended the lives of everyone in canterlot... No... Everyone in equestria... And here you are somewhat trusting this old man..." she shakes her head, "I thought you were the smart and sensabke one." she teases

Twilight rubs her chin again.

"I think I'll agree with the general consensus here. Both of them have rather shady stories with lots of doubt over them. Marek is still the head of the group, he may have a plan. At the same time, the Gerran officials seem to hold quite a studied tone to us. She's reading that off cuecards, not from the heart."

"She said 'pity', not 'guilty'. A smart choice of words to look innocent. Which may prove exactly she's hiding something."

Twilight: "in politics twilight dear... When is anything from the heart? Arent arguments ususally just read from cuecards?" she eyes the girl, "isn't it usually the one who speaks from the heart deemed... Immature... Unable to control their feelings..." she chuckles, "mirek is dangerous... His reckless abandon comes from the heart... He WANTS to save his people and all of his doings are for his people... He has heart... But... Is he immature for doing so?" she falls back a little and walks close behind her now, "...so if mirek's actions come from the heart... Where do the councelers come from?"


"And more importantly... Where do you stand?"

Kaylee nodded to Moon and Twilight: "..agreed. We should keep our guard up, until we have more information"


As the phantom of Firewing swooped down beside her, Kaylee involuntarily flinched and cursed in her native language. Then gave Firewing a quick glance, before quietly whispering:
"How bout you ssssstop that"


Harlequin gave Kaylee an odd glance, before looking at Rain: "..lean on me. We'll get through this together" she quietly said to Rain, looking at her with determination.




Before moving on, Mercer hesitated for a moment, then called Johan:
"...How are you holding up? It seems we've dragged you into quite a bind"


"N-no, not at all" Johan shyly smiled and waved his hand: "I don't mind.. it seems everything is working out in the end.. though, t-the Neurochip is a little alarming me to be honest.." he released a shy smile and subconsciously rubbed the back of his head, where the Neurochip was located:
"I... still can't remember who put it there or.. why.
Marek never mentioned it... But I guess since I received the mind control vaccine, it should be fine right?"



Mercer gave him a long concerned look:
"..still... having something like that, recently installed without your knowledge or will... its a troubling experience, on top of everything else.
Johan, Doctor Zarovee has somewhat become our unofficial psychiatric councilor on base.
If you or anyone else feel like you need someone to talk to, he promised to help. Its probably going to be some time before our debriefing begins.
Johan, if you wish, you can head over to Dr. Zarovee right now"


Johan shyly smiled and hesitated for a moment: "..I.. I see... well... if its okay then... I'll.. head over to him now"


"Very good" Mercer nodded with a smile.




As Johan waved to everyone and split away into an adjacent building, Mercer looked straight ahead and slightly frowned to herself: "...I really couldn't bring myself to drag him through any more of this. He's been through enough...
Come on. I can't wait to hear what Marek has to say to us now"



A few minutes later you entered the prison cell block. A long and empty row of cells stood to your side and an alarming number of guards mingling about. They all seemed slightly on edge and kept throwing glances further down the corridor.

Their attention was a single cell, at the end of the cell block. No bars. It was completely sealed off room with reinforced walls and door.
Mercer nodded to one of the guard nearby and he opened the door.





Inside was a single desk and chair. Marek was sitting behind it, handcuffed and as soon as you entered, he leaned forward and began rapidly whispering:

"You have to do something for me, there isn't much time!" He seems on edge, desperate or scared, its unclear.

"What?" Moon mumbled "Want is to pass on a message to your lover who lives in a mountain she joked "Or is it a 'tell so and so that I love them' favour?"

"This is no time for jokes!" Marek waved his hand in frustration: "Councilor Chambers won't stay on this base forever, and once she leaves, we loose all hope of saving my people!"

He looked at everyone in desperate frustration and took a long breath, trying to calm down:

"...Councilor Chambers carries a briefcase with her, everywhere she goes. It is a very special briefcase. The one that links directly into the Gerran military defense network. And to her personal files"



"...you're talking about a Councilors 'Red Phone' briefcase" Kaylee slowly repeated, her eyes growing wide with bewilderment: "That's the kind of briefcase world leaders use to issue missile strikes and order wars.
It is the most highly classified, most sensitive piece of equipment. From that briefcase, the Councilor can talk directly to her military command and access her military network"



"Precisely" Marek quietly said: "And you're going to steal it from her"


"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR BLEEDING MIND!?" Kaylee barked in bewilderment.


"No! Listen to me!" Marek leaned forward in desperate frustration: "That briefcase can access her personal files! If she really planned to unleash genocide upon my people, the evidence will be there!
You can prove her intentions! Put her behind bars for good!"


"WE'RE TALKING ABOUT STEALING THE MOST SENSITIVE, HIGHLY CLASSIFIED FILES FROM A UNION COUNCILOR!" Kaylee shrieked in bewilderment: "IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG, IF THE EVIDENCE IS NOT THERE, WE WILL BE ACCUSED OF TREASON AND SPEND THE REST OF OUR LIVES IN JAIL! AND THAT'S THE BEST POSSIBLE OUTCOME!"



"The evidence is there! I know it!" Marek quietly said through gritted teeth: "I know... I've seen it before..." he turned and looked at Harlequin:
"...you will be the next leader of our country. You have a responsibility to keep our people safe!

Councilor Chambers is not done with her campaign! And now that I have been swept under the rug, there will be nothing stopping her from trying to wipe out Nyx all over again!

You don't believe me, fine. Then get the briefcase and look at the evidence yourselves"




"The briefcase is chained to the Councilors hand!" Kaylee said, rubbing her face: "Or her assistants hand. How are we supposed to get it off her?"


"I don't know, get creative" Marek said, exhaling: "Find a similar looking briefcase and switch between them, I don't know. You won't have to worry about committing this crime once you see the evidence. Then you'll have ground to arrest Councilor Chambers"



"God dammit" Kaylee said, beginning to pace around the room. A heavy internal struggle was raging inside her.

"...we can't overlook this opportunity.." Harlequin quietly said: "..if Nyx is still in danger.."

"I know.." Kaylee quietly said: "Its just... with all due respect Marek, last time we trusted you, we ended up burning a city.."

"Do you want to know why?.." Marek quietly said: "...all the answers are in that briefcase... all I ever wanted, was to protect Nyx. I'm still doing that"

Moon shrugged "Tjis may sound stupid, but wait until the councillor goes to the bathroom. Seriously, I doubt she takes it with her there."

"She probably passes it to one of her staff during that time" Kaylee said, thinking: "The staff probably handcuff it to their hand as well"


Mercer's expression was grave. Countless thoughts were visibly racing through her head:
"...the ramifications of this action, should it go poorly, will be devastating. This may cause an international incident"


"To avert genocide!" Marek scowled: "Yes, I think its worth the risk. If you don't want to steal the case then find some other way to access the computer inside it. But you have to look at those files. The future of Nyx depends on it"

Twilight eyebrow raises a bit.

"... How exactly have you seen it before?"

Rain smirks, "we could pull the harddrive out of it... She gets to keep the case and we get pretty much everything inside." she shrugs and looks to the group, "just a thought... It would take getting close it it while shes not looking, perferebly while shes asleep..." she now looks to moon, "or we could get our theif to do it."

"Councilor Chambers is scheduled to leave Mother Base within the next hour" Mercer said, thinking:
"Our time is very limited"



Marek started fidgeting in his seat: "That's why you have to hurry! Look." he shifted in place and looked at Twilight:
"After the slavery ended in Nyx and we overthrew our Masters, I began taking steps to maintain our safety.
I started reaching out to batponies around the world. Those in positions of power, or close to it. Government officials, Union staff, security officers in sensitive areas, so on.

I tried to turn them into double agents. Or informants.
If they agreed, their job was to subtly eavesdrop on whats happening around them. If some government was planning a move against Nyx, I would know well in advance.

Then out of the blue, one of them called me. A security officer, tasked with protecting Councilor Chambers. He smelled something foul brewing so he sneaked into her office, pulled out her computer data and showed it to me, via cellphone video call.


What we saw, stunned us. I told him to copy the data and go public with it immediately, but he was discovered. We never got the evidence"




"...what happened to him?" Kaylee quietly asked.

"What do you think happened?" Marek sighed: "She made him disappear. Or killed, to be more blunt. Its not hard to pull off, for a Councilor. The rest is history.

What I saw in those files was incomprehensible. It eventually pushed me towards stealing Slavegear, and engineering the gene virus. It was the only option I saw at the time. Now, we have another.

Look at the files, go public with them. Its the only hope of saving Nyx"

(Radiance)
"You still haven't said exactly what this atrocity was. It's super bad, trust me isn't much to go on." Radiance casually crossed his arms. "We need to know exactly what we're looking for in the brief case"

"There is nothing I can say, that will make you trust me" Marek said, irritated: "The only way to prove my statement, is to look inside the briefcase. You are wasting time"

He leaned back, slowly exhaling and attempting to calm himself:


"I told you before, Slavegear was originally built to unleash genocide on my people.
Officially, Councilor Chambers started this project as a peace keeping weapon. Slavegear was to be a deterrent against terror. So that the Architects and the Cult of Uroburos and others like them, would think twice before opposing the world.

And every time another 'Architect' would arise, Slavegear would be there to hammer him down.
That was the official plan.


Unofficially, Councilor Chambers would hire a black operations team, to 'steal' Slavegear from under her nose.
This black ops team would pose as some phantom terrorists, some nutcases that stole Slavegear and would later rampage across Nyx, using the robot to crush and burn everything in their path.


By the time the Union would realize what was happening and mobilized to stop the robot, the black ops team would have reduced most of Nyx, into a burning husk.
The black ops team would fade into darkness. And the world would find Nyx in an even worse state than it is today.

Cities crushed, fields burned, countless dead. The batpony survivors would have nothing left in their barren land and the Union would have to step in and provide them shelter... on some foreign soil.



Nyx would be left empty... and the Tilerium left unattended. Nothing to stop Councilor Chambers to mine it to her hearts content.

That's what the batponies are to her, obstacles. A nuisance to get rid off"


Marek sighed: "...she needs to be held accountable" he looked at Harlequin: "It is your duty, as the next ruler"







"..you're asking us... me... to commit a crime" Harlequin quietly said.


Marek released an unhappy smile: "...not so easy, is it? Leading a country. Sometimes, you have to do things you may despise... sometimes... you have to get your hands dirty, to protect the people that you are responsible for.
Be glad you only need to steal a briefcase, and not do something much worse...

I hope you never have to face the choices I did. Do not judge me" Marek quietly said, looking at you.

Kaylee quietly motioned everyone to the far corner of the room and quietly whispered:

"...what do you think we should do?

Marek could be telling the truth, and Nyx is still in danger.
Or everything he said was a well thought out lie. And he's trying to manipulate us, to advance his hidden agenda.

The stakes are pretty high, either way we look at it.


Should we accept or refuse his request?"

"Hmmmm.... Something just doesn't add up for me."

"I agree it's a gamble to belief his words about councilor Chambers out of the blue. Especially after what we've been through due to his lies. It's entirely possible she'll do it. But this plan of her he mentioned is exactly what he has done, just change Nyx to the Union capital."

"Kalyee, you remember what was neccisary for us to open the doors to Slavegear in the first place. That condition wouldn't have changed if it was the group of councilor Chambers that would "steal" Slavegear. Which means it needed a high-ranking military unit and a government official."

"So, here's my question: Who would open the doors? If anyone studied the hangar and found that security measure, they'd know it was an inside job. Unless they got their hands on both components without being connected to them. Wait... That's us. Take it how you want, but us going missing and having no one search for us, is kinda suspicious."

"I could give my full personal analysis would take too long, we need time. And sadly, the only thing I can come up with is either sabotaging the planes or putting laxatives in her coffee."

"Placing laxatives in the Councilors coffee sounds good" Harlequin nodded: "The fast acting kind. I doubt she will have time to pass the briefcase to anyone and will run with it to the bathroom.
Then, its possible she will briefly uncuff it and place it on the floor somewhere.

After that, we'll need to find a way to subtly take the case, remove the hard drive and put the case back. The Councilor will eventually leave the bathroom with the briefcase and hopefully, she won't notice anything.

We also have the element of surprise on our hands. I doubt she will expect to be robbed here, in broad daylight.
The only thing we need to worry about, is her gang of staff members, following her everywhere. Someone will have to delays them. Prevent them from following her to the bathroom, so we can nick the hard drive in peace"




"Geez, are we really doing this?" Kaylee said with worry: "Once we start, there's no going back."

"Its worth the risk" Harlequin quietly said: "We have to be sure. We have to be sure Nyx is safe.
I understand if someone feels uneasy about this. If it comes down to it, I'll do it alone"

"I'll go with you, geez!" Kaylee said, frowning: "Worst case scenario, we steal the case again and put the hard drive back, no harm done"

Mercer crossed her arms, frowning: "Steal the case, twice in a row? Kaylee..."



"Enough" Harlequin raised her hand with determination: "If this whole thing goes south, I will take the blame. I will say that it was my idea to steal the case, and that I forced you or black mailed you or threatened you.
I will take the fall. Everyone else will be blameless" Harlequin looked down: "...I have to do this.. for my people..."

// Hey guys, we're playing cards at the moment ^^
If anyone's free, feel free to join in:

http://pyx-1.pretendyoure.xyz/zy/game.jsp#game=73

password: idkcats123

"Ok but if we have the hard drive... We should take pictures and just hold onto it indefinetely... Or... Is there a laptop on board? We could copy all the data onto the laptop and replace the hard drive without even turning on the case we take the
Hard drive, copy everything into the laptop... That way we have all the evidence we need..."

"Let me take the blame" Moon said "I've commuted treason once, this is a walk in the park. What's the worst that can happen?" She asked