//------------------------------// // Chapter 68 // Story: Pandemic: Picking up the Pieces // by Halira //------------------------------// Tattered Wing looked out at the rising sun. The day of Shadow Dancer's trial had come. There were a few odds and ends to take care of before everyone went to sleep, but for the most part it was going to be a calm day. Well, calm in a relative sense. The bustle around town hall was still just as much as it was yesterday. Sewage pipes had already started being laid underground from what she understood, more woods were being cleared, more of the town was officially employed, more shops were opening that hoped to claim parts of those new paychecks, and ponies were asking where to sell their shit. Right now she was just wanting her current choices for Broken Fours to hurry up and show up so she could pitch the job offer and get them signed up. She had picked out four of the six individuals she wanted to serve in the position, all the pony officers. The human officers would take more time to figure out and she wanted to pick at least one of them from the Augusta immigrants. Much as she hated doing it, several of her choices were more or less politically driven. With Sunset Blessing in charge of town and many of the pony leaders being Shimmerists or at least Shimmerist leaning it would look pretty bad if she had no Shimmerists among her leadership team. She'd chosen two just to placate Sunset Blessing's pressures; Joy and Nocte Bellatrix. There was probably going to be a Shimmerist human as well when she was done. She didn't like having all these Shimmerists in there, but it would cause conflict if there wasn't. Joy was at least an effective organizer and a very hard worker--despite her rotten attitude. Nocte was good at keeping other ponies in line--when she kept herself in line anyway. For the non-Shimmerists she had chosen Brick Pounder for her second night pony and Calvin Hobbs who was a crystal pony. Brick was good and level headed and Calvin was a surpringly good listener who others were willing to trust. Now if any of them could just be fast with responding to her asking them to show up at town hall that would be great. It wasn't completely their fault. She had to send ponies out to find them, and the town was a mass of organized chaos at the moment that made tracking anypon...anyone down a problem. She frowned as she saw an entirely different pony than the ones she was looking for approach. Sunset Blessing came walking up the steps of town hall with her eyes fixed on Tattered. "You didn't respond to my email," Sunset said in a harsh tone as she got close. Tattered raised an eyebrow at her. "I was still considering my answer. Your email took me off guard since I didn't expect you to offer yourself up. I'm not sure we should even have been emailing back and forth about these kinds of things. We're all on lists you know. Who knows who can end up reading those emails." "Do you want to take this discussion back to either your office or mine?" Sunset said crossly. Tattered considered the offer. Tonya was just a tool. Sunset Blessing was the pony she knew from the start was the one ultimately behind what had happened, and the one that had been the most untouchable. There would never be any justice against her from the government. Sunset was just too valuable to them for them to go after her over the murder of a pony they'd rather didn't exist. It would take Sunset killing humans to have them go after her, and Tattered was fairly sure the unicorn wouldn't make that mistake. "I'll meet you in your office shortly," Tattered said after some consideration. "Right now I have to make sure I take care of Enclave matters first. I have some officers that need to be installed into their jobs and schedules made out. The rest of the world doesn't stop on a dime for you, and I'm not disrupting my tasks for you either." Sunset stomped a hoof. "We don't have a lot of time to have you just consider. I know I'm offering what you really want on a silver platter." Tattered frowned. The fact that Sunset Blessing was willing to throw herself under the bus for Tonya's sake had caught her by suprise when she read that email. She liked to think that Sunset was all in it for herself and tried to think of some trick to it. That was part of why she was still considering the offer; it felt like there had to be some sort of deviousness on the preacher's behalf. She couldn't think of anything that could be though. "I'll come by your office tonight to discuss it," Tattered stated calmly. "We have till tomorrow afternoon to discuss it. Today you and Tonya are not my concerns beyond Tonya making sure she is here and ready around noon." Sunset narrowed her eyes. "She'll be here. This is her only opportunity to see what's likely to happen tomorrow. She won't miss it for anything." Tattered waved a wing dismissively at Sunset. "Good, then go do your whole pony in charge thing so somepony is keeping track of all this stuff being built around here and I'll talk to you tonight." Sunset scowled but didn't give any verbal retorts. The unicorn simply walked by Tattered into town hall. She sighed and went back to being on the lookout for her Broken Four candidates. Hopefully after tomorrow was over she could sleep without having to deal with more work while dreamwalking. She might just stick it out in her own dreams and try to deal with her own nightmares. She needed a break and when you were a night pony it seemed like sleeping wasn't even a chance to break. Sure, her body rested, but she was still working. Nocte came into view in the air, followed closely behind by Joy and Brick Pounder. That was three of the four accounted for. If Calvin didn't show up in the next minute or two she'd take these three back to the office and begin without him; perhaps considering someone else for the job. "You wanted to see us, Broken One?" Nocte said as she landed. "Yes," Tattered said as she looked the three over. "Go back to my office and wait for me. I'm still waiting for one more to arrive. I'll be back in a minute or two no matter what." "Are we in trouble for something, Broken One?" Brick asked with his ears flattened out and tail twitching. Tattered shook her head. "You're not in trouble for anything. Though I would advise responding to me calling you in a little faster in the future." Joy stepped forward and Tattered noticed that there was an outline of a bird on her flanks. "Just to let you know I've taken a pony name, Raven Word." "And is that just a play on your coloring? What exactly is your cutie mark for?" Tattered asked. "And is that just a play on your coloring? What exactly is your cutie mark for?" Raven repeated back perfectly in Tattered's voice, earning a wide eyed look from everypony, then grinned and continued in her own voice. "I'm really good at mimicking any sound hear, just like a raven. Combine that with my coloration and the name was easy enough." Okay, that was just creepy. There didn't seem to be much magical about it, and she was sure that there were humans that could do the same thing. It was possibly useful, though her mind didn't come up with a good application of the talent other than talent shows and voice acting. She could think of a dozen ways Raven could get up to mischief with that kind of talent though. She didn't think any more about it for the moment though, since she spotted Calvin trotting up towards them. Considering he came on hoof and the others could fly it wasn't fair to get on him for being the last here. "Now that you're all here let's head back to the office," she said. "I have a few things to discuss and I want to get this settled quickly." "You're the boss," Raven said, again using a voice that wasn't hers, this time it sounded like a really husky guy. She then giggled. It was nice that she found something that lightened up her harsh demeanor, but that was going to get old fast. As they went into town hall and into the lobby they could see Sunset Blessing had rounded up several of the various contractors in charge and had a map of town floating up behind her in her magic. It sounded like she was instructing them on what she wanted prioritized over the next few days and where she was allocating extra workers, and they in turn were giving her progress reports. If nothing else, Sunset Blessing could take command of a situation quickly. Tattered led her small group down the left hall to the end and entered into her office. She took her seat behind the desk as the four others shuffled around to find comfortable spots to listen to her from. "Thank you all for coming," she said as she looked the group over. "If you haven't heard we've started a new ranking system. I'm Broken One, Melissa Rivers is Broken Two, Dan Castillo is Broken Three. Now I'm going to be adding to that a Broken Four rank. I want all of you to collectively fill that rank. I'll be adding two humans to that rank as well, eventually." She scanned their reaction. Nocte and Brick looked excited, with Nocte practically preening like a peacock. Raven didn't show much outward reaction. Calvin seemed confused. The crystal pony raised a hoof. "Um, why me? I don't have any real law enforcement experience, and I'm not exactly as...fierce...as these other ponies." Tattered relaxed in her seat. "I want somepony on the officer staff that is a bit more low key and approachable. I also want at least one crystal pony among the officers. You're duties specific for you would be in charge of supervision of any prisioners. Make sure they are properly under control, but also verifying that they aren't being mistreated." "What are my specific duties?" Raven asked. Tattered looked over to the dark furred pegasus. "You're to be Melissa's primary backup and supervisor for ponies in the day shift. You report to her and keep the day ponies and humans on staff in line." Joy frowned. "And what does your pet human that I report to do?" Tattered grit her teeth. "You will not refer to your supervisor as my pet human again. If you do you will be without a job. Do I make myself crystal clear." "More crystal than a glitter bomb," Raven said evenly, earning a scowl from Calvin at the slur on crystal ponies. Joy was thankfully being taken off the streets by this job and less likely to say something offensive to those they were trying to help as a result. "What does my supervisor do then?" She briefly considered just dumping Raven now, but decided against it. Raven would either get her tail in line or she would have a well documented trail of reprimands for when Sunset tried to cry foul about Raven's dismissal. Tattered hated it, but she could play this political game. "Melissa will be in charge of all daytime activities," Tattered answered. "She will be in charge of discipline, setting schedules, reporting to me all daytime activities, and determining where ponies are allocated. You will be there to see that ponies are doing what they are assigned to do and making sure to provide reports to Melissa on every police action." Tattered's face darkened "Mind you, you aren't above being disciplined or discharged if she decides to do so. Do you understand?" Raven sneered. "I understand perfectly clear. I can keep myself in line with the apes." It wasn't worth pointing out that Raven had been an ape just two months ago. Tattered had read Raven's file. It was bewildering to her that Raven was so free with using apes as slur when according to her file Raven had been black even as a human and being called apes was not an unheard of slur against blacks. That Raven was somepony who likely experienced prejudice and was willing to turn around and use the same kinds of slurs once directed at her on humans in general made Tattered shake her head in confusion. What made a pony do something like that? Shouldn't Raven be less inclined to be so hateful? Brick Pounder had been black too in a similar previous income range and he wasn't like this. Trying to understand the psychology of ponies based on those files was beyond her. Demographics alone clearly didn't paint an accurate picture. "Nocte, you will hold the same type of duties as Raven, only on the night shift," Tattered continued on as she turned to the other dark furred Shimmerist. "You will report to Dan who will have the same types of duties as Melissa. Do you understand what is expected of you?" "Perfectly, Broken One. If I think of any questions I'll go to the Broken Three or you about them," Nocte said politely as she bowed her head. Nocte's history of violence was something that could lead to her being disciplined and dismissed if they resurfaced. Tattered had actually chosen her and Raven on the hopes they'd run themselves out of the job. Nocte was more cordial, but she seemed to have issues with males in general rather than humans. Dan would hopefully pick up on any hostility that was interfering with Nocte's job. If Nocte could keep herself in line she could be very useful though. Nocte was a retired defense attorney and her knowledge from that could be invaluable. "Brick Pounder, you'll serve much the same role as Calvin, only at night. Is that acceptable to you?" Tattered asked. The large night pony stallion nodded silently. "If none of you have any objections I have the contracts all laid out for each of you on my desk," Tattered said with a gesture at the papers. "Sign the contract with your name on it, and feel free to read over them. Raven, I'll update your name later, but sign this one for now. I need to go attend to something, but once you have all signed I want Raven and Calvin to stick around for instructions. Nocte and Brick I expect you both here at nine tonight. Am I understood?" "Yes, Broken One," the group chorused as she got down from het chair. She walked out of the office and back down the hall. The lobby was surprisingly clear of activity and those behind the information desk looked unsure what to do with themselves having after gotten a hiatus from the chaos. She advanced to a familiar night pony lounging on a nearby bench with an electronic tablet and a pair of bags beside him. "Do you have everything you need, Rudra?" She asked him as she walked up to him. Rudra looked over at her. "I have all the sedatives needed to deal with Ms. Rivers, Ms. Middleton, and Crystal Wishes. When will they be arriving?" Tattered gave a quick glance around the lobby and saw just the two if them and those behind the information desk, though she heard plenty of activity in the meeting hall still. "I'm going to have Raven bring Crystal Wishes here soon. Tonya and Melissa should both be here shortly before noon," Tattered listed off. "We'll be using the same room I had Tonya previously held in. If you want to take a short nap while it's quiet it might be a good idea, I doubt the trial will be restful." Rudra glanced at his bags and then around the lobby. "I think I'll go to the room everypony is supposed to meet in then to try to sleep. I'm not sure how long this lobby will stay empty." Tattered nodded and watched him gather his things up and head off down the hallway on the right. After a moment of consideration she followed into that hallway as well, though to a different door. She gave it a few quick knocks then entered. Sunset Blessing didn't even look up from the documents she was examining as Tattered entered. "You know, Broken One, when you said we'd speak tonight I expected you to at least not come calling before noon." "I changed my mind," Tattered said simply as she closed the door behind her. "What's your offer?" Sunset looked up at her and then flared her horn. A second later a purple barrier surrounded the room. "I will take full blame for pressuring Tonya into her actions. We both know Tonya more often than not will do what she can to please me without thinking. She is a lovestruck filly who shouldn't be held accountable for what she did under the pressures of her lover." Tattered raised an eyebrow. "And what do you get out of this?" Sunset leveled her gaze on Tattered. "I get Tonya's sentence reduced or done away with. I won't have her suffer those kinds of consequences. It's possible I might get off lighter than her, but I'll accept whatever punishment comes my way." "Why?" "Why what?" Tattered grit her teeth. "Why are you putting yourself on the line for a pony that's just your sex toy." Sunset laid her ears back. "Tonya isn't my sex toy. She's the mare I love. I will do anything for those I love." "I would think the pony you love most is yourself," Tattered said with a smirk. Sunset gave a flat stare. "You'd be surprised how untrue that statement is. In any case, do you accept my offer? I will divert blame to myself and you go hard after me and my actions instead of her?" Sunset still seemed completely on the level. Tattered knew Tonya had to have been just a tool. Sunset would never take the blame for something she hadn't done. It was hard enough contemplating the unicorn willingly taking the blame for anything. This had to be legitimate. "If you focus on taking the blame then I will have no problem asserting the same thing," Tattered said with a smile.