Slavegear - Part 3

(Everyone)

"The camera footage should be at the main office buildings, just at the tunnel entrance. Its where we spoke to the workers, just before we entered the tunnel" Kaylee nodded to Wyvern:

"Failing that.. well, those cameras are probably hooked up to the local city surveillance grid. All the footage from them is probably stored inside the local police station somewhere.


We'll have to contact the Artemis authorities... not directly though, we'll have to ask Eva or maybe even Councilor Katherin to do it.
If the trucks really exist, then we need to find out where they drove to. The access to the entire city's camera grid, should give us the opportunity. Hopefully Artemis will be willing to share.."






After Twilights outburst, Johan quickly turned pale. His ears fell and he began frantically shaking his head:
"Drasko?.. No no no no! My brother would never do something like that! Please, you have to believe me! Drasko would never hurt an innocent soul!"



"Johan.." Elisabeth quietly called: "..he's with the Vampire Unit.."



"I know, but!.." Johan desperately stared at everyone in the room: "...please... you have to believe me!
I know how this sounds... I know I'm not very smart in these things and very naïve at times, but I know my own brother! He would never put an innocent soul in harms way! Batponies or not!"



He desperately stared at everyone, his voice shaking:

"..the Vampire Unit started off.. by trying to protect us from the Masters. They saved innocent lives, rescued slaves from the Masters. That's when Drasko joined them. He truly believes he's protecting innocent people. He believes it to his very core, I know it!


That's why I think Marek has hid certain things from him! If Drasko learned what Marek has done with Slavegear, he would never support him again!
Please! You have to believe me, Drasko doesn't know that Marek used Slavegear, I'm sure of it! Drasko would never support the deaths of innocent lives!...


The Sprawl housed dozens of refugees, not all of them mercenaries. Some were just normal people, looking for healthcare. Drasko would never endanger them!..."




He slowly looked into the eyes of everyone in the room, desperately searching for support:

"..you.. believe me right?... Drasko.. isn't like that..."

Rain huffs and starts her way back hearing the conversation, "I believe you..." she says moving beside johan.

"I'm not picking any side in this." she sighed "Ponies can be deceitful, but so can leaders. Ones who we think we know could be different, but leaders could be hiding everything as well. I don't know which applies here."

"All Marek had to do was send him to meet the guys that dealt such a massive and statisfying blow to the "race of the masters" and get them to safety inside the Sprawl. How they planned to get Dakova there is still unknown, but maybe someone else could provide details on that."

She then shakes her head. "But it wouldn't be out of the question if he was in on the whole ins and outs of what went on there. Keep in mind, the first part of what they carved out for us was one long journey to make us the most media attentive group of all time so they had even more options for smuggling this away. And seeing how large the operation is, they need to work closely together, share the information. It's not unreasonable to say he is aware of Marek's whole plan. The only one who knows for sure is Drasko himself."

"Drasko is not a bad person, I promise!" Johan quietly called, looking at everyone:
"If he knew Marek's whole plan, we wouldn't take it quietly, I'm sure of it. He deeply cares for the helpless. You'll know it too, once you meet him!.."

He became quiet and looked down. It seems he has calmed down a little bit.




Elisabeth looked at him for some time then looked down at well:

"...our.. intelligence division has begun constructing a psychological profile for Marek. From what we gathered, he is extremely zealous about protecting his people.
If there was even a chance for a batpony to be hurt, he was known to abort his operations.

The Sprawl housed several dozen batpony refugees on a daily basis. For what it's worth, I do not believe Marek would intentionally do something to compromise their safety. Its entirely possible that the events at the Sprawl were coincidental. An unwanted product of General Dakova's madness"





Kaylee thought for a moment: "...from what I gathered, General Dakova only found the Sprawl, because he implanted tracking devices into Firewing and Radiance, after he imprisoned them earlier.

He staged their prison breakout, hoping they would unknowingly lead him to the rest of us.. then he followed Firewing and Radiance, and once he realized that they got back together with us, General Dakova made his move.


Its true that Drasko showed us the Sprawl, but from what I gathered, Firewing and Radiance found the Sprawl on their own.
Its possible that both Drasko and Marek did not foresee General Dakova's plan and never intended for the Sprawl to be destroyed.
They would be loosing a valuable black market. One of the largest ones inside Nyx. They had to be relying on it for supplies as well, to some extent.



We were framed, hunted down by Artemis military. General Dakova used every resource to find us. Those tactics of cloak and dagger, capturing Firewing and Radiance, implanting bombs and trackers inside them, staging their breakout and following them until they rejoined us.

After we were framed, Marek wouldn't have to do anything. The entire world was on our heels, he would just have to sit back and watch.." she looked down.

Kaylee Brown wrote:(Everyone)

"The camera footage should be at the main office buildings, just at the tunnel entrance. Its where we spoke to the workers, just before we entered the tunnel" Kaylee nodded to Wyvern:

"Failing that.. well, those cameras are probably hooked up to the local city surveillance grid. All the footage from them is probably stored inside the local police station somewhere.


We'll have to contact the Artemis authorities... not directly though, we'll have to ask Eva or maybe even Councilor Katherin to do it.
If the trucks really exist, then we need to find out where they drove to. The access to the entire city's camera grid, should give us the opportunity. Hopefully Artemis will be willing to share.."






After Twilights outburst, Johan quickly turned pale. His ears fell and he began frantically shaking his head:
"Drasko?.. No no no no! My brother would never do something like that! Please, you have to believe me! Drasko would never hurt an innocent soul!"



"Johan.." Elisabeth quietly called: "..he's with the Vampire Unit.."



"I know, but!.." Johan desperately stared at everyone in the room: "...please... you have to believe me!
I know how this sounds... I know I'm not very smart in these things and very naïve at times, but I know my own brother! He would never put an innocent soul in harms way! Batponies or not!"



He desperately stared at everyone, his voice shaking:

"..the Vampire Unit started off.. by trying to protect us from the Masters. They saved innocent lives, rescued slaves from the Masters. That's when Drasko joined them. He truly believes he's protecting innocent people. He believes it to his very core, I know it!


That's why I think Marek has hid certain things from him! If Drasko learned what Marek has done with Slavegear, he would never support him again!
Please! You have to believe me, Drasko doesn't know that Marek used Slavegear, I'm sure of it! Drasko would never support the deaths of innocent lives!...


The Sprawl housed dozens of refugees, not all of them mercenaries. Some were just normal people, looking for healthcare. Drasko would never endanger them!..."




He slowly looked into the eyes of everyone in the room, desperately searching for support:

"..you.. believe me right?... Drasko.. isn't like that..."

"Do you think the workers will let us look at the footage under the guise of camera crew?" Lord Wyvern asks.

"The more I hear, the less I like the sound of things." She mumbled "So does that mean that if we split up, the same thing could happen again?" Moon asked

"Possibly" Kaylee nodded to Moon: "..its best if we try not to split up anymore"


Elisabeth looked at Wyvern: "I doubt they'll let us anywhere near the footage. An archeological photography group should have no business looking over security cameras.

We can try sneaking into their offices and looking at it discreetly, but it runs a risk of us being discover and reported to the police. And its also possible that they didn't keep the footage from two days ago and already recycled it. Or maybe the footage was already seized by the police, and they don't have it anymore.


There's a lot of unknown variables, I don't know if its worth the risk. Perhaps its better to just pass along a request to Councilor Mercer, in turn she can formally ask the Artemis police department, to release the camera footage from the entire region, so we can look at the whole thing and find where those trucks drove to.

It will take time and with the mistrust between the countries right now, Artemis may even deny us the request, but its the safest option I believe.




For now, lets photograph this area and nab any relevant documents" She nodded to Twilight:

"That can help us prove what happened here. If it won't prove our innocence, then at least it will provide proof of how Slavegear vanished. Maybe it'll make Artemis more willing to cooperate with us, if we shared this information later"

She nodded quietly "So how do you propose we get ahold of the footage. I'm sure at least one or two of us are capable of sneaking into the office, and it would take less time."

"We could try sneaking in" Elisabeth nodded: "But we need to make sure the workers don't stumble upon us, while we're going through their camera footage.


We could try causing a brief distraction, so most of them won't hang around the office building, while we work there.
We should also place someone on lookout, while we go through the footage, in case one of them accidentally goes into the camera room as well.




But like I said, there's no way to know if they still have the footage to begin with. They could have erased it by now, or the footage could have been seized by the Artemis police department.

Sneaking into the workers office is a risk, and we may not get any payoff in the end"



She fell into thought: "..I know its gonna be a pain to sit around doing nothing, while we wait for Councilor Mercer to officially request the video tapes from Artemis Police, but its the safest option.

She'll need to place the request eventually. We need the camera footage from across the entire city, to figure out where the trucks have driven to.


Breaking into the workers office, will only show us the camera feed of the tunnel entrance, we'll know if the trucks left the tunnel, but we won't know where they went after that. The payoff is just too small.
But if Councilor Mercer manages to get the tapes from Artemis, we'll get the tunnel entrance footage as well."



She thought for a moment, spacing out:
"...we could try sneaking into the workers office if you want. Just need to be careful. If they spot us going through their computers, they may get scared and call the police"

Kaylee Brown wrote:"We could try sneaking in" Elisabeth nodded: "But we need to make sure the workers don't stumble upon us, while we're going through their camera footage.


We could try causing a brief distraction, so most of them won't hang around the office building, while we work there.
We should also place someone on lookout, while we go through the footage, in case one of them accidentally goes into the camera room as well.




But like I said, there's no way to know if they still have the footage to begin with. They could have erased it by now, or the footage could have been seized by the Artemis police department.

Sneaking into the workers office is a risk, and we may not get any payoff in the end"



She fell into thought: "..I know its gonna be a pain to sit around doing nothing, while we wait for Councilor Mercer to officially request the video tapes from Artemis Police, but its the safest option.

She'll need to place the request eventually. We need the camera footage from across the entire city, to figure out where the trucks have driven to.


Breaking into the workers office, will only show us the camera feed of the tunnel entrance, we'll know if the trucks left the tunnel, but we won't know where they went after that. The payoff is just too small.
But if Councilor Mercer manages to get the tapes from Artemis, we'll get the tunnel entrance footage as well."



She thought for a moment, spacing out:
"...we could try sneaking into the workers office if you want. Just need to be careful. If they spot us going through their computers, they may get scared and call the police"

"If a distraction is needed, a want it-need it spell on a bouncy ball works every time..." Lord Wyvern suggests.

Twilight pats her pockets, looking for something. She then sighs.

"Does someone have an actual camera on hand by any chance? It's a great, safe way to gather evidence, but we do need to have one to actually use it."

(Radiance)
"What about the LIDAR?" Radiance suggests, "Could we use it to isolate the tracks made be the vehicles and follow them? It could narrow down which direction we would need to look in, and it's better than just sitting around and doing nothing.

We can also use it to distract the workers while somepony sneaks in and checks the office. If they're all distracted by a 'group photo' then that should buy whoever goes in enough time to search."

(Tarmikos)
Tarmikos takes a seat taking a moment to collect himself. He briefly examines the room then starts speaking

"How do you do it Fluttershy? How do you keep from losing your cool? I've never been the most tactful with my emotions, even before these past couple days. But I never reached the point where I wanted to burn everything and everypony in my path.

I want to help fix what Marek has started, but I can barely hold a conversation anymore. I know it's not helping my case, but if I had it my way I'd just destroy the planet and start over. This operation is probably going to be the only thing that keeps me from execution when this is all over, but I don't want to lose the one thing that makes me...me."

(Everyone)


"The group photo could work, but LIDAR won't be able to pick up or isolate anything as small as a tire track on the ground. Its not nearly accurate enough and doesn't have any analytical software, apart from scanning the surface and projecting an image of it.


From what we gathered, the tire tracks lead to the railway and stop there. After that, the trucks were probably offloaded at the tunnels exit and from that point, it will be impossible to track them on the ground. Too many cargo vehicles pass there daily, we won't be able to find the tracks we need.


LIDAR won't be able to help us anymore, in that regard. We absolutely need the footage from the entire region. Roads, highways, city districts etc. If we'll have those tapes, we may be able to spot and track the medical trucks, after they left the train station"




Elisabeth patted her pockets and pulled out a touchscreen phone, then passed it to Twilight:

"Here, take mine, it has a camera on it. I'll head back to the offices here, grab all the relevant documents. Hopefully it will be enough, at least to convince Artemis of how Slavegear vanished" she nodded and drifted out of the fenced off area.



Kaylee looked around and nodded: "Okay, lets finish up here and head back to the tunnels exit. We need to inform Councilor Mercer about the medical trucks carrying Slavegear"


Johan awkwardly tangled and untangled his fingers, standing off to the side and looking around. After a moment he quietly called, looking at everyone:

"Um.. I just... wanted to say.. what Marek is doing, is wrong. I.. will do my best, to help you out, any way I can. You can count on me, I promise" he nervously nodded:

"And um... if we run into.. my brother... please, let me talk to him... he's not a bad person. Marek is deceiving him.
I'm sure that.. If we explain the situation to him, I'm sure he'll understand.."





















(Tarmikos)


"Oh my goodness.." Fluttershy looked at you, pain and worry reflected behind her eyes:
"..I .. haven't realized you felt so strongly about this... "

She maintained eye contact, visibly thinking. Her palms subconsciously went up and slightly passed over her face, as she tried to understand and form her thoughts. After a moment, she nodded:


"Um.. well.. when I'm feeling down, I try to remember what's most important to me. Why I wake up in the morning, what keeps me going.
For me, it is my friends.


My profession now is a nurse. People around me are suffering. I see them in the worst moments of their life and they need my help. And so I help them, in any way I can.
I want them to feel better. I want them to be okay again... I want them, to be able to smile.


My patients. My friends. Helping them, is what I desire most in life and it is what keeps me going.

No matter how bad my day becomes, I know someone next to me is also suffering, and that knowledge helps me push passed my limits. Push past my own feelings, passed my own thoughts and desires.


My desire to help others, gives me the strength to do the impossible... because it is my ultimate goal in life.

You, also need to find an ultimate goal. Something strong and meaningful. Something that will give you strength, when you no longer have it. Something to help you focus, when you feel you're loosing your cool.

Something, that will help you push passed your limits. A goal worth fighting for" she released a small smile.

(Tarmikos)

"What if you don't have a goal?" Tarmikos eye's show the frustration and sadness he is feeling "I always lived in the here and now. Each day a new scientific problem or solution. At least when I lived with my family I had something to keep me distracted. But, after I left, I never did manage to rekindle that relationship.

How could I go back to my family after tampering with dark magic and nuclear materials? I was working with the some of the most destructive materials known to exist. "

Tarmikos looked down at his arms, examining them both. The veins on the damaged one pulsed a soft blue seeming to match a heart beat

"I've experienced not having magic before. Back when Tirek stole it from everyone. I felt so empty without it, and now that I may have to give it up again. I don't want to experience that hollowness again."

He looked up at her, the faint shine of tears barely formed in his eyes

"Part of me want's to die on the operation table so I don't have to live with the emptyness again"

(Tarmikos)


"...I understand.." Fluttershy quietly nodded, looking into your eyes. She sat in silence for several moments, before she quietly said:

"...Tarmikos, you must find a goal worth fighting for. A goal worth living for.
It may not be easy, and it may take time, but everyone goes through this process eventually. It is part of our developing psyche.



You must search your inner thoughts and desires. You have to find something that really matters to you. Something that has meaning. Find it and fight for it.

If you truly want to surpass your own limits, you need to find a meaningful goal, to focus on"

"What is the plan after we find the trucks? If it leads us to Marek, that could prove really dangerous. He may be using Slavegear himself. And there is no guarantee that he will be alone." Moon mumbled, looking at Kaylee.

(Radiance)
"Once we find him, we don't necessarily have to fight him alone. If we can convince those under him, Drasko included, that they are fighting someone unstable and leave him, then Marek may see the error of his ways. And if that doesn't work, I'm sure we could get the entire Union army breaking in his front door within a moment's notice."

(Tarmikos)
Tarmikos looks down for a moment collecting himself. The veins no longer pulsing, just glowing a soft purple.

"Thankyou Fluttershy, I'll try to find something worth fighting for. In the meantime, could you see if Eva would be willing to speak with me? And if not her, then Catherin."

(Everyone)


"Yes" Kaylee nodded: "We'll notify the Union, as soon as we have Slavegears location. After that, we'll have the combined military support of the entire world. Things should go smoothly after that.. hopefully.."


She looked around the maintenance station: "Alright, we shouldn't waste any more time. Marek already has a two day head start.
He's been keeping a low profile. I shudder to think what he's been doing behind the scenes all this time. Come on"


She waved everyone to follow: "Lets take the pictures of this place quickly and head back toward the tunnels exit. Hopefully breaking into the workers office will go smoothly"



















(Tarmikos)


"Um.. I believe Councilor Mercer has already left, back to the continent" Fluttershy said after a moment:
"..the Union government is holding an emergency session, to elect a new Union Council. Almost ninety percent of the old council was assassinated during the Slavegear incident, so they need to elect new leaders to start properly sorting the crisis"



She looked down for a moment, thinking: "..I believe Officer Eva is in the Combat Information Center. She's helping to coordinate our forces on the ground. We have several black ops units running missions in Nyx and Artemis at this time.

She's probably preoccupied but perhaps she'll be able to spare a few moments, if there isn't any pressure in the control room. Would you like me to show you the way there?"

Twilight takes the phone and begins to examine it. "How peculiar."

She messes with it a bit before taking a photo of herself. "Gah! Okay, that's the camera... I'm off for a bit."

She heads out of the place, looking at what spots pictures would have the most effect.

(Tarmikos)
"I guess that will have to do, just so long as I'm whoever is escorting me won't snap." Tarmikos stands "I have something that could be very valuable to this entire place, plus being around other's with a sense of purpose may help me find my own"

"Woah there....military! As in, same military who are hunting us!!!" She frowned and rolled your eyes "It's your funeral. Mine too, I guess"

(Radiance)
"Speaking of the workers," Radiance said "we should find out if the staff in station C all became replaced by bat ponies, or were mind controlled using chips like we were. Marek using members of the Vampire Unit would make it easier for him, but controlling others would allow him to mask his involvement and keep his own men in ignorance."

(Everyone)


"Right" Kaylee nodded: "We should ask the workers about this, once we leave the tunnel again. Find a subtle way to inquire about it, without causing suspicion"

She looked around the tunnel again. Several minutes pass in silence, as Elisabeth collected the documents and Twilight went to take the pictures. The more time passed, the more unsettled Kaylee became.




At some point she finally nodded to herself and waved everyone to follow: "Alright, hopefully this will be enough. We should really get moving, I don't want to spend any more time here than necessary"

She said and headed back to the rail tracks.
The walk back through the tunnel seemed shorter this time. Kaylee set a brisk pace, looking straight ahead and trying not to notice the eerie shadows, cast by the dim lights on the ceiling. Her prosthetic methodically clanked over the rails, as she walked forward.






Johan was trying to stay as close to the group as possible. Being next to people seemed to have put him at a relative ease.

Elisabeth walked at the end of the group, watching her back and scanning the general area.


Several minutes passed and the first lights of the outside, began to peak through the tunnel ahead. It was still rainy outside. The sky was covered in a thick layer of clouds, casting a gray twilight on the area.
It was cold, the ground became muddy again. It seems another rain, went and passed, while you were in the tunnel.


As you finally exit the giant tunnel system, you notice the train station again. To your left, you notice the offices and the group of workers you saw before. They seemed to have left the generator alone and switched to torment the engine of a massive cargo crane.

The work appears to be dull and they visibly lost all previous enthusiasm.
As far as you can tell, all of them seem to be concentrated next to the crane. You don't see anyone wandering around the rest of the area.


The offices appear to be further ahead, in the train station. Weather someone is inside them or not, is unclear.


"Ok, so.. " Kaylee nodded: "We'll start distracting them with the LIDAR, say its a camera, group photo and so on. While they're distracted, someone will need to infiltrate the office buildings, but be careful, there may be someone in there right now-"










As she continued to speak, Elisabeth briefly turned away and pressed a button on her earpiece. She began speaking in a hushed voice. You can't hear her at all in your radio. It seems she's talking to someone on another channel.

Elisabeths face remained neutral and unreadable, as she listened to her radio. After a moment, she twitched and scowled at the ground:


"...what do you mean? When?...... how much time do we have?..." she listened for another moment then cursed and switched off her earpiece:



"Everyone, we need to wrap up fast!" she called aloud, looking at everyone:



"..Something just happened in Nyx. Something big. Artemis is mobilizing. I don't have all the info but we need to leave this country, fast. The skies are gonna be full with Artemis aircraft soon and we won't be able to sneak passed them in our helicopter.

We may have an hour, tops, before we need to leave, immediately. Whatever is left to do here, we need to do it fast"

(Tarmikos)


"I understand" Fluttershy nodded with a small smile: "Please follow me"

She slowly got up and went back through the medical wing, showing you the way forward. As you both leave the medical wing behind, two completely new guards seamlessly fell in toe, somewhere behind you.

Their facial expressions were neutral or maybe a bit off. For some reason you get the feeling that they were recently yelled at.


The walk took several minutes. Fluttershy left the building entirely and headed toward a different one, placed on a separate platform. The only connection between the two, was a wide bridge.

Minutes later, Fluttershy entered a massive structure with a giant satellite dish on top and began making her way up the stairs. She started down one of the corridors, then opened a set of double doors, finally revealing a rather large and poorly lit room, completely filled with computer monitors and terminals.


Over two dozen ponies in formal suits were hunched over the screens, quietly talking into their headsets and squinting at their notes on the desk. Some of them moved about the room, calling instructions or exchanging data.
It looked like a humming bee hive, ruled by some form of collected chaos.


You spot Eva, hunched over one of the people here, squinting together with him at a monitor and angrily speaking into a headset microphone. With each minute, she became more irritable:





"...we still have teams on the ground, they needed extraction ten minutes ago... reroute through sector five and coordinate with... I'm aware its a mess, that's why I'm coordinating-.. No! That's no what I asked!.. What do you mean you're-"



She suddenly slammed her headset over the table, making the man next to her flinch in his seat. A muffled voice began to sound through one of the speakers, next to Eva's terminal:


"...Lieutenant... I am tired of this broken phone... you were supposed to be in the field hours ago to coordinate this operation"


"I can coordinate from here!" Eva roared into the microphone: "..I'll fly out on the next chopper, its not a problem-"


"Lieutenant.." the voice in the speaker cut her off: "...we have a severe lack of officers in the field, as you are well aware. I don't have to remind you... Lieutenant, have I understood correctly, that you stayed behind at the base, to guard a.. a prisoner?..." the voice emitted a raspy giggle: "..that's your excuse for shrinking duty? I didn't take you for a coward.."



"GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!" Eva barked into the microphone and hurled it at the desk. She marched off to the side of the room, heavily breathing and clenching her fists.

The noise in the crowded room was high enough, that her outburst went largely unnoticed. Or perhaps it was expected. The atmosphere seemed rather tense between the people present, as they all coordinated and talked to someone on their separate headsets.



Fluttershy briefly hesitated, looking at Eva. She seems to be calculating weather its safe to approach.