Slavegear - Part 2

Rain takes to the air, her bow out. You barely hear the flap of her wings as she stays in the air, she also is hardly visible as she moves across the room above. The lights, theres a gentle rattle as Rain takes position on a light in the middle of the room.

(Wyvern)

"That's the million dollar question.." Elisabeth quietly spoke, briefly nodding to Wyvern.
Kaylee was keeping close to her sister, slightly crouching down and looking over the tire tracks on the ground.

Johan seemed frightened and out of place. He stood a bit closer to Twilight and began inspecting the machinery as well. After a few moments it becomes clear he has no idea what he's doing, or supposed to be looking for.










(Twilight)

The forklift closest to you, seems to be directed toward the rail tracks and abandoned right in the middle of the maintenance station. The machine was dirty, covered in grease and machine oil. Parts of it were covered in some dark powder. It takes you a few moments to recognize it as coal.

Nothing around the machine really stood out. The drivers seat was horrifyingly dirty and small chunks of coal could be seen here as well.

For several moments you don't seem to notice anything else, until Johan slightly shifted behind you, and the light bulb he was obscuring, now sent a few more rays of light at forks of the machine.


You suddenly notice a dry smear of white paint, on one of the forks of the forklift. The smear was small, thin. Its hard to tell if it was there for a few days or a few weeks.

















(Moon Dusts)

The scent began taking you deeper and deeper into the maintenance station. The shadows cast by the heavy machinery, drew bizarre and frightening shapes on the ground. There were too many dark corners here. Too many places to hide.

As you continued to walk forward, only the faint sound of your own footsteps and breathing, could be heard over the deafening silence.


After several moments, you came close to a massive wooden fence, seemingly built right in the middle of the maintenance station. The fence was built solid. You can't see anything through the cracks between its wooden planks.

It was tall, went all the way up to the ceiling and completely isolated a large part of the room. You notice a massive wooden door in the fence, closed shut by an impressive lock and chain.

Giant red warning signs were hanging across the entire fence. The signs were all different but they told the same picture:
'WARNING! DO NOT ENTER! DANGER OF CAVEIN!'


As you continue to inspect the wooden fence, you slowly realize that the smell of drying paint, is coming from the other side of the fence.
















(Radiance)


The door creaked and swung open, as you entered the maintenance office.
It was quiet here. The sounds and voices of the others, became distant, slightly fading away in the background.

For several moments you hear nothing at all. Only a gentle rustle of papers, somewhere off to the side. It seems there some sort of documents on the table nearby. There also appears to-


"-Notice anything?" a voice suddenly echoed behind you. It was so sudden, it takes you several moments to recognize it, belonging to Elisabeth.

You never heard her approach.
Not her footsteps, rustling of clothes or even her breathing. If she hadn't spoken, you wouldn't have noticed her, standing behind you.


The silence with which she moved was eerie. Her breath control and silent footsteps did not fit her profile of a simple nurse, at all. This level of training was usually reserved for forest rangers, trackers and military commandos.

As you tried to recall anyone else who ever came close to moving this silently, the only one you can think of was Harlequin.




For some reason, you got the feeling that Elisabeth was looking at you. She audibly turned and slowly drifted across the office. Each of her footsteps was heard now, but they sounded deliberate. Its as if she was forcing herself to walk loudly.  


She waited a moment in silence then quietly called: "..I thought you might need a hand here... I'll tell you what I see in the room"

She looked around for a moment, then began quietly calling out everything she could see.



The office here, was surprisingly tidy. Neat rows of documents, folders and books filled numerous shelves of the office. Several metal cabinets stood to the side.

A large window overlooked the rail tracks. A wooden desk stood right under it.
On the desk there was a bunch of pencils, placed inside a dirty cup. A few blank sheets of paper in the middle.

Off to the side of the desk, there were several notebooks, neatly stacked together and labeled in a clear handwriting:

'Shift Schedule'
'Team Roster'
'Incident Reports'
'Gear List'
'Peppy's Book - Don't Touch'
'Maintenance Reports'
'Magic Station of Awesome'


Elisabeth finished reading and audibly shrugged.





















(Rain Runner)


The massive scale of the maintenance station became even more vivid from above. There was a lot of heavy machinery here, a lot of maintenance equipment. The whole picture became a lot clearer, watching from above, though you still don't see any signs of life. The entire place looks abandoned.


After several moments, you noticed that most of the forklifts in the room, where concentrated close to the rail tracks. Most of the cranes were directed toward the rails as well.

You notice numerous and vivid tire tracks on the floor. Several heavy trucks must have left them, though not a single truck can be seen in the room. A few moments later, you traced the path of the tracks.

They appear to start at the rail tracks and continue deeper into the maintenance station. The tracks end at a massive wooden fence, on the far side of the station. It seems a large portion of the maintenance station was sealed off, by this wooden fence, and the tire tracks lead there.


You notice Moon standing next to the wooden fence and inspecting it. From your position, you can see several red warning signs, hanging on the fence, though you can't quite tell what the signs say.
The fence was extremely tall and went all the way up to the ceiling, completely isolating that area from the rest of the station.

You can't seem to see what's on the other side of the fence. Though the tire tracks clearly go through it.

Its hard to tell in which direction these trucks moved.























(Tarmikos)


Peter released a cynical, bitter laugh:
"...please.. you can't possibly be this naïve. Medical care isn't free. It never has been. Not during the Union and not before it. People always had to pay for medical treatment. In every country, that's how the world works.

Its true that the military covers the basic medical care package, for all of this soldiers, but it can't cover the rare and expensive medication. It can't cover the highly accurate and expensive medical scans. And since you were so brutally thorough with my father, he needs that expensive treatment to survive!!"


He bitterly snarled at you: "My father, is not the only injured person in the world right now. In case you have forgotten, there are several hundred thousand injured left, in Artemis alone, after your Slavegear incident.
And there are countless injured more, throughout the world, who get hospitalized every minute, for various reasons.


No government can provide free medical care to everyone, its impossible. Or did you think Equestria was any better before the Union? Got your pills free at your local pharmacy did you? Wake up!
Life's not fair. What kind of world you think you live in?"



The doors to the elevator suddenly opened and Eva's angry voice echoed from inside the hallway:
"-...what do you mean he went to see me? He never arrived! What k-" her voice broke off.

Through the open doors of the elevator, you could see Fluttershy and Eva, standing in the hallway, just next to the medical wing.

They slowly looked at you, their faces distorted in shock. Peter was still pinning you to the ground, his hands locked over your neck. When he noticed Eva looking at him, Peter jumped off of you and pressed himself into the elevator wall, heavily breathing.


Eva's sight shifted from you, to Peter, to the dent in the wall. Her expression was becoming a mix of anger and shock:
"W-... WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON HERE!!!" She barked at the top of her lungs.

(Eva) Fire stands beside her "looks like this pony is trying to kill tarmikos..." she smirks, "...this should be an intresting explaination."


(moon) "Hay Moon." Rain says over the Radio "Find out if there are any locks on that gate... Follow the tire tracks and find the entrence..." she watches moon from the light.

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Wyvern)

"That's the million dollar question.." Elisabeth quietly spoke, briefly nodding to Wyvern.
Kaylee was keeping close to her sister, slightly crouching down and looking over the tire tracks on the ground.

Johan seemed frightened and out of place. He stood a bit closer to Twilight and began inspecting the machinery as well. After a few moments it becomes clear he has no idea what he's doing, or supposed to be looking for.









(Moon Dusts)

The scent began taking you deeper and deeper into the maintenance station. The shadows cast by the heavy machinery, drew bizarre and frightening shapes on the ground. There were too many dark corners here. Too many places to hide.

As you continued to walk forward, only the faint sound of your own footsteps and breathing, could be heard over the deafening silence.


After several moments, you came close to a massive wooden fence, seemingly built right in the middle of the maintenance station. The fence was built solid. You can't see anything through the cracks between its wooden planks.

It was tall, went all the way up to the ceiling and completely isolated a large part of the room. You notice a massive wooden door in the fence, closed shut by an impressive lock and chain.

Giant red warning signs were hanging across the entire fence. The signs were all different but they told the same picture:
'WARNING! DO NOT ENTER! DANGER OF CAVEIN!'


As you continue to inspect the wooden fence, you slowly realize that the smell of drying paint, is coming from the other side of the fence.

" 'WARNING! DO NOT ENTER! DANGER OF CAVEIN!' " Lord Wyvern reads the signs quietly to himself as he catches up with Moon Dust "This is all one big cave; so if that area of the roof is unstable, then this half should be too..."

Twilight slides her finger over the machinery, picking up the coal. "Hmmmm..." ~When Slavegear was discovered, they said they replaced it with coal... Could it be?~

She wipes it off, ignoring the paint as she looks for a way to start the engine. After a bit of searching, she tries to turn the forklift on.

(Twilight)


The forklift crackles and comes back to life, its engine quietly rumbling.

Kaylee and Johan were mingling somewhere behind you. Kaylee seems to be looking at the pieces of coal as well:

"...mm... its true that Slavegear was replaced with coal, during the incident, but coal is also being transported through the HGTS on almost a weekly basis"
She looked at the pieces of coal on the ground: ".. these traces may not necessarily be connected to Slavegear.." she thought for a moment.


"...T-Tamara?.." Johan quietly called: "..please be careful.. that machine looks dangerous to drive.. please look for a seatbelt..















(Wyvern, Moon, Rain)


As you look at the ceiling, you don't seem to notice any cracks or signs of instability of any kind. The walls, floor and ceiling look solid.

You notice a massive wooden gate, in the fence. It seems to be closed shut by a heavy lock and metal chain.

Several sets of tire tracks seem to go under it.











(Firewing, Eva)

Eva didn't say anything, but her frown grew as she stared at Peter and Tarmikos, gritting her teeth.

"Hmmm, right..."

She turns it off. She then turns to the two with her and gets out.

"Seems these weren't left here behind in a hurry, even if there was paint spilled on it. If needed to escape, driving vehicles might give a stamina advantage. And if they were taken before anything could be done, the engine would've been empty. On top of that, with how these are positioned... Are they trying to give a clue?"

(Twilight)


"I dunno.." Kaylee said, looking at the rail tracks: "...there's no room for a vehicle to drive on the railroad. The rail tracks would make a bumpy ride. And forklifts aren't very fast. You can probably walk faster than them on a brisk pace.
They only built them with heavy lifting in mind"

She looked around the edge of the station: "..all these heavy lifting machines were left concentrated, next to the rail tracks.. even cranes are pointed in this direction.. what were they doing here?.."

// Hey everyone, I'm going on a small vacation tomorrow, to Greece. I'll be there from the 16th to the 21st of October, so I'll already be back this Friday.
I'm not sure about the state of the internet there, hopefully I can find a wifi connection somewhere. I'll try to post during this week as best I can, but if it won't work, I'll resume posting on Friday as soon as I'm back

Have a good weekend everyone =)

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Twilight)


The forklift crackles and comes back to life, its engine quietly rumbling.

Kaylee and Johan were mingling somewhere behind you. Kaylee seems to be looking at the pieces of coal as well:

"...mm... its true that Slavegear was replaced with coal, during the incident, but coal is also being transported through the HGTS on almost a weekly basis"
She looked at the pieces of coal on the ground: ".. these traces may not necessarily be connected to Slavegear.." she thought for a moment.


"...T-Tamara?.." Johan quietly called: "..please be careful.. that machine looks dangerous to drive.. please look for a seatbelt..















(Wyvern, Moon, Rain)


As you look at the ceiling, you don't seem to notice any cracks or signs of instability of any kind. The walls, floor and ceiling look solid.

You notice a massive wooden gate, in the fence. It seems to be closed shut by a heavy lock and metal chain.

Several sets of tire tracks seem to go under it.











(Firewing, Eva)

Eva didn't say anything, but her frown grew as she stared at Peter and Tarmikos, gritting her teeth.

Lord Wyvern walks over to the gate and examines the lock.

Kaylee Brown wrote:// Hey everyone, I'm going on a small vacation tomorrow, to Greece. I'll be there from the 16th to the 21st of October, so I'll already be back this Friday.
I'm not sure about the state of the internet there, hopefully I can find a wifi connection somewhere. I'll try to post during this week as best I can, but if it won't work, I'll resume posting on Friday as soon as I'm back

Have a good weekend everyone =)

// How are you getting all these holidays? First it was the skiing resort, and now Greece...

// College semester only starts at the 6ths of November,




(Wyvern)

On closer inspection, the lock seems to be brand new and quite heavy. The metal surface still shines a bit. Someone placed it here recently.

Kaylee Brown wrote:// College semester only starts at the 6ths of November,




(Wyvern)

On closer inspection, the lock seems to be brand new and quite heavy. The metal surface still shines a bit. Someone placed it here recently.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" Lord Wyvern shrugs and begins picking the lock.

Rain tilts her head and flys over to the very top of the fence, examining the top of it trying to find if theres a way in. Her voice echos around the area, "well... To lift heavy equipment you need more heavy equipment... Check the spacing of the tire tracks... Is there any sign that there was a bigger vehicle?" she says into the radio still examining the top of the fence.

(Eva) Fire crosses her arms and her white pupils gaze at the two, "I feel your upset eva..
"

(Radiance)
Radiance let out a sharp breath at Elisabeth's stealth "Please...do not sneak up on me like that. It's not a good sign having two ponies sneak up on me in less than a week"

He waited for her to finish reading the titles then answered

"Compare this months Incident report to both the Shift Schedule and the Team Roster. Figure out what names are on all three and make a list. Then do the same with the Maintenance reports. If any names appear on all four make a separate list for them."

He walked over to the desk and placed his hand on it. Listening for anything that might indicate a trap or alarm system. Electronic circuits and sometimes magic often emitted a very faint hum. As long as he was within less than 2 feet he would be able to hear it.

"Also check the Team Roster for any new hires in the past 6 months"

(Tarmikos)
"I was," he pulled himself up with what appeared to be considerable effort "coming to speak with you Eva, but your guard over here had it in his mind to confront me. One thing leads to another and it ended with him attacking me."

"I'm partly to blame for this," he looks to the dent in the wall "but maybe don't assign guards with a personal vendetta against me as my escort." Tarmikos didn't sound accusatory in his tone at all. It was as if he was simply making an observation and commenting on it.

(Wyvern, Moon)


It took several minutes but the lock finally opened with an audible click. The chain holding the double doors together, loudly fell to the ground. It appears there's nothing else preventing the doors from being opened.

"-Wyvern, Moon, be careful.." Kaylee's muffled voice rang through the radio: "I don't know what to expect on the other side"















(Rain Runner)


It seems the wooden fence goes all the way up to the ceiling. The planks were built too close together, you can't seem to make out anything on the other side.

Down below, you hear an audible metallic echo, as a large chain fell to the floor. Wyvern and Moon were standing in front of a massive set of double doors in the fence. The doors appear to be unlocked
now.


"...I don't see anything bigger.." Kaylee's muffled voice echoed through the ear piece radio:
"But there are three massive cranes, just next to the rail tracks. I think they're big enough to lift a truck"

She paused, thinking: "... the only way to bring a truck here, is via a train. Perhaps someone placed several trucks on a train and brought them here. Then took them out of the train using one of the cranes.
But.. why bring trucks here?... did they need them for maintenance work?... construction?... seems.. odd..."












(Radiance)


"You don't ask for much do you" Elisabeth sighed and sat behind the table.
After a moment you could hear her flipping through notebooks. The sound of a pencil writing, began to echo across the room.

"Alright.. we have... no incident reports in the past month.." she quietly called after a while:

"...buuut... there was an incident roughly a month and a half ago. It seems the far side of this maintenance station experienced some sort of a minor cave in? The report indicates cracks in the walls and ceiling.
According to these notes, the local staff assessed the structural damaged and closed off the area with a wooden fence.
No one was injured. HGTS Management is yet to send a proper inspection team to assess and repair the damage.


Lets see... we have... 28 people in the Team Roster. Twelve of them were present during this cave in. All twelve signed off on this incident report. Next day, the other twelve came in, apparently also assessed the damage and signed off on the report as well.

They all reported this incident basically.



The Maintenance Reports notebook, appears to be a record of every broken train, that ever had to be fixed here. It seems the local maintenance station didn't have any trains to repair in the past two months. No major train breakdowns happened in this tunnel section, so other maintenance stations took care of it. Lucky break for this station I guess"


She flipped through several more pages in another notebook:

"Team Roster... new hires... yeah, a few people seemed to have joined in the past six months... quite a f-... what the hell?..." Elisabeth audibly froze up, then began flipping through the notebook with increasing franticness:

"...new hire... new hire... new hire... week 3... new hire... staff member replaced.... week 4... new hire... staff member replaced... new hire.. replaced..."


The notebook slowly fell onto the table. The chair creaked as Elisabeth audibly turned toward you:

"....Radiance..." she quietly called: "...Every member of this station... was gradually replaced by a new hire, during the past 4 months.

It was subtle. Seemingly by accident. By a new guy never failed to show up, and one of the old members would transfer to another place in HGTS.
Until the entire Maintenance Station C, became staffed by new hires. All popped up in the past four months...

All now work here. All of them filed the cave-in report... and all of them skipped work today... The shift schedule says they should be here today, but they all collectively skipped work...

Their exact names are-... bollocks! They ripped off the new Roster page! Their full names aren't listen anywhere else... damn it..." she got up from her chair and walked around the room, heavily breathing.



As you place your hand on the desk, you don't seem to hear anything out of the ordinary, though Elisabeths loud footsteps slightly disturbed the otherwise silent office.
















(Tarmikos, Firewing, Eva)


"What are you talking about?! What vendetta?" Eva seemed like she was only half listening, her frown only gotten deeper:

"...we.. are fighting a war out there..." she quietly said, heavily breathing and trying to keep herself from lashing out:

"...the world... is falling apart... we have every assent chasing down Marek and trying to prevent civil war, and you two can't spend two minutes without painting the walls red?! Wake up!!!


He started it, she started it, what is this, kindergarten!? We don't have time for personal grudges!! I need every available asset in the field! Not babysitting here and breaking up fights!

So you two better get your shit straight and you better do it fast!! Both of you!!!" Eva barked at the top of her lungs:

"I need you to act honorably and responsibly. As a Union soldier. As a Scientist" She looked at Tarmikos and Peter. The look in her eye was disappointment:



"....I expect more from you.." she slowly turned on her heels and walked away.

Moon nodded and slowly walked through the gate. Her ears flickered as she attempted to hear every tiny thing, and she sniffed to track the scent of dried paint. And she walked further in.

(Radiance)
"But why today of all day?" Radiance stood and brought a hand up to his chin "New hires with perfect track records skip work the day we show up. It's either a coincidence or they knew we were coming."

Radiance's eyes narrowed "What are the changes, whether intentional or not that there is an information leak?"


(Tarmikos)
"Not like I haven't been trying" Tarmikos muttered with a barely audible tone under his breath before turning to Fluttershy "Can I speak with, in private?"

(moon) You feel Rains cold bow brush you as she walks past you making sure nobody rushed you. She speaks over her radio, "rooms clear... We got passed the gate, stay over there we will look around over here.

(eva) "you intrest me eva... You seem to be the most sense... And thats why i like you..." fire says walking beside you

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Wyvern, Moon)


It took several minutes but the lock finally opened with an audible click. The chain holding the double doors together, loudly fell to the ground. It appears there's nothing else preventing the doors from being opened.

"-Wyvern, Moon, be careful.." Kaylee's muffled voice rang through the radio: "I don't know what to expect on the other side"















(Rain Runner)


It seems the wooden fence goes all the way up to the ceiling. The planks were built too close together, you can't seem to make out anything on the other side.

Down below, you hear an audible metallic echo, as a large chain fell to the floor. Wyvern and Moon were standing in front of a massive set of double doors in the fence. The doors appear to be unlocked
now.


"...I don't see anything bigger.." Kaylee's muffled voice echoed through the ear piece radio:
"But there are three massive cranes, just next to the rail tracks. I think they're big enough to lift a truck"

She paused, thinking: "... the only way to bring a truck here, is via a train. Perhaps someone placed several trucks on a train and brought them here. Then took them out of the train using one of the cranes.
But.. why bring trucks here?... did they need them for maintenance work?... construction?... seems.. odd..."












(Radiance)


"You don't ask for much do you" Elisabeth sighed and sat behind the table.
After a moment you could hear her flipping through notebooks. The sound of a pencil writing, began to echo across the room.

"Alright.. we have... no incident reports in the past month.." she quietly called after a while:

"...buuut... there was an incident roughly a month and a half ago. It seems the far side of this maintenance station experienced some sort of a minor cave in? The report indicates cracks in the walls and ceiling.
According to these notes, the local staff assessed the structural damaged and closed off the area with a wooden fence.
No one was injured. HGTS Management is yet to send a proper inspection team to assess and repair the damage.


Lets see... we have... 28 people in the Team Roster. Twelve of them were present during this cave in. All twelve signed off on this incident report. Next day, the other twelve came in, apparently also assessed the damage and signed off on the report as well.

They all reported this incident basically.



The Maintenance Reports notebook, appears to be a record of every broken train, that ever had to be fixed here. It seems the local maintenance station didn't have any trains to repair in the past two months. No major train breakdowns happened in this tunnel section, so other maintenance stations took care of it. Lucky break for this station I guess"


She flipped through several more pages in another notebook:

"Team Roster... new hires... yeah, a few people seemed to have joined in the past six months... quite a f-... what the hell?..." Elisabeth audibly froze up, then began flipping through the notebook with increasing franticness:

"...new hire... new hire... new hire... week 3... new hire... staff member replaced.... week 4... new hire... staff member replaced... new hire.. replaced..."


The notebook slowly fell onto the table. The chair creaked as Elisabeth audibly turned toward you:

"....Radiance..." she quietly called: "...Every member of this station... was gradually replaced by a new hire, during the past 4 months.

It was subtle. Seemingly by accident. By a new guy never failed to show up, and one of the old members would transfer to another place in HGTS.
Until the entire Maintenance Station C, became staffed by new hires. All popped up in the past four months...

All now work here. All of them filed the cave-in report... and all of them skipped work today... The shift schedule says they should be here today, but they all collectively skipped work...

Their exact names are-... bollocks! They ripped off the new Roster page! Their full names aren't listen anywhere else... damn it..." she got up from her chair and walked around the room, heavily breathing.



As you place your hand on the desk, you don't seem to hear anything out of the ordinary, though Elisabeths loud footsteps slightly disturbed the otherwise silent office.
















(Tarmikos, Firewing, Eva)


"What are you talking about?! What vendetta?" Eva seemed like she was only half listening, her frown only gotten deeper:

"...we.. are fighting a war out there..." she quietly said, heavily breathing and trying to keep herself from lashing out:

"...the world... is falling apart... we have every assent chasing down Marek and trying to prevent civil war, and you two can't spend two minutes without painting the walls red?! Wake up!!!


He started it, she started it, what is this, kindergarten!? We don't have time for personal grudges!! I need every available asset in the field! Not babysitting here and breaking up fights!

So you two better get your shit straight and you better do it fast!! Both of you!!!" Eva barked at the top of her lungs:

"I need you to act honorably and responsibly. As a Union soldier. As a Scientist" She looked at Tarmikos and Peter. The look in her eye was disappointment:



"....I expect more from you.." she slowly turned on her heels and walked away.

"That took a little longer than expected" Lord Wyvern commented as he cracked his knuckles and follows Moon Dust "I must be getting out of practice..."

Twilight looks around, noticing almost everyone has left. She activates her earpiece to talk to everyone.

"Team, I'l discovered a bunch of cranes and forklifts pointed at the tracks. They're covered in coal and are still useable. Thier use has yet to be revealed from here. What are you locations and discoveries? Over."

(Radiance)
"Elisabeth and I are inside of the office building" Radiance responded over the radio "We've discovered that every employee from this station was gradually replaced in the last four months. They had perfect employment records up until today. All 28 of them reported on a cave-in then skipped work. Their full names arent' anywhere to be found and seem to have been deliberately removed"

"Me, Moon, and Wavern are exploring past the fencing..." she says over her radio.

firewing11 wrote:"Me, Moon, and Wavern are exploring past the fencing..." she says over her radio.

"If we run into that cave-in, we'll let you know" Lord Wyvern adds over his own radio.

// Hey guys, just got back from the trip, will update the rp in a few hours,

Also let me know if anyone's free this Saturday or Sunday for Cards Against Humanity, in the evening. I'll try to organize another match ^^

Have a good weekend guys =D