//------------------------------// // Chapter 85 // Story: Unshaken // by The 24th Pegasus //------------------------------// Roughshod: 16 Votes Trixie: 15 Votes Snapshot: 9 Votes After a moment to think about it, Kestrel realized the first two were obvious choices. “Rough and Trixie will make perfect distractions,” she said. “Trixie’s a professional con artist, even if she don’t use them words exactly, and Rough’s a big loud bastard. Ain’t a more perfect pair of fools to go cause a scene where one’s needed.” “And the third?” Tumbleweed asked. “Send Snapshot with them,” Kestrel said. “He’s best at range, and if he gets set up on a rooftop somewhere, he can raise hell with one of our scoped rifles. They’ll need him more than we do if they’re bringin’ down the wrath of the Pinks on themselves.” Tumbleweed rubbed his chin in thought but ultimately nodded in agreement. “Right, and Snapshot might be a quick draw, but we won’t need his rifles inside of the conference. Revolvers’ll cover that just fine.” “You and me together are as good of a shot as he is,” Kestrel also added. “Though hopefully we ain’t gonna need to shoot our way out of the conference once we start the robbery, but I ain’t gonna be naïve enough to think that’s possible.” “Trouble is to be expected,” Starlight chimed in. “Especially when we have a message to get across.” “So long as we ain’t murderin’ folks unnecessarily, then we’re fine,” Tumbleweed said. “You want us to shoot fat cats for the hell of it, I ain’t gonna let that fly. We’re in it for the money, not for some bloody crusade against those on the top. We might be outlaws, but we ain’t bandits.” Starlight raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware there was a distinction.” “The same kind of distinction that exists between your political philosophy and all the other ones that’re around that mark on the left.” “Point taken.” Starlight shook her head and took a few sips of her beer. “I suppose you have a target in mind for the distraction, then?” “Best I’ve got is the hotel I think the Pinks are stayin’ at,” Kestrel said with a shrug. “Didn’t have a chance to investigate it further to know for sure, but I saw a bunch of Pinks go into there the other day, and they were movin’ some kinda cargo inside. Might be valuable, whatever it is, and might be important enough to draw the Pinks’ attention back to it.” “It don’t matter much how valuable it is, we just need the Pinks to think that we’re there in force,” Tumbleweed said. “Distraction team’ll have to be loud, that’s for sure. Might be able to have them stage a hotel robbery that we ain’t all that committed to. Nothin’ like real crime to bring on the Pinks, and if the real money’s at this conference, then we don’t need ‘em riskin’ life and limb for pocket change. As soon as they get the Pinks’ attention, they can bail. We’ll just need to time things perfectly.” Kestrel took a few gulps of her beer and nodded, turning those words over in her head. “Well, we got that settled, then. That’s good,” she said. “That leaves me, you, Silvie, and Wanderer, plus Starlight and her second to take on the conference. I think that’s doable.” “So long as the distraction works, anythin’s doable,” Tumbleweed assured her. “Though it’s best to figure out exactly what we’re tryin’ to do ‘fore we set out to do it.” “Well, Starlight gave me the rundown earlier.” Kestrel turned to Starlight and gestured with a wing. “You wanna fill in Tumbleweed on what you told me at the bar?” “It should be pleasing enough,” Starlight said. “The Apples are showing off a valuable, one-of-a-kind machine inside of their big auction tent on Friday. I don’t know what the machine is, but it’ll be powered by rare crystals. Expensive crystals. If you find a good fence for them, you’d be able to turn a handy profit, I’d imagine.” “Tryin’ to sell things after you stole ‘em, ‘specially one of a kind things, ain’t always the most straightforward of deals,” Tumbleweed said. “Anythin’ else?” “Well, it’s taking place in the auction tent, so you can imagine what that means,” Starlight said. “They’re going to be auctioning the thing off after they display it, which means that there will be a lot of wealthy ponies in that tent, with fat wallets at their sides. If you work the crowd, you can probably get several thousand bits in bills alongside that machine.” Tumbleweed thought about that for a moment, then slowly smiled. “I like the sound of that,” he said. “We can pull ten, maybe twenty thousand out of this if we’re lucky. That’ll get us about halfway to gettin’ enough cash to scram and start a new life for ourselves somewhere else.” Kestrel let her mind wander a bit as she imagined starting a new life someplace overseas, whether that was in the griffon Confederacy or on some tropical island like the Caymares. Was starting over again even possible for hardened outlaws like herself? Robbing, stealing, and killing were all she’d known for the past twenty-some years. Could a mare just shake that off with a new life and a few thousand bits to her name? Starlight and Tumbleweed continued their conversation in the meanwhile, oblivious to Kestrel’s thoughts. “Goin’ about the business is goin’ to be the hard part, though,” Tumbleweed thought aloud. “There’s only six of us, and even if the distraction is successful, there’s likely to be some sort of security still present in the tent to protect against miscreants like ourselves. Way I see it, we can go in loud, we can go in quietly, or we can try and disguise ourselves as some of the security and staff and be in position for when the distraction kicks off. Each way’s got its own risks, though.” The three ponies took a moment to pause and think about which approach would suit them the best. Kestrel, Tumbleweed, Silver Wings, Wanderer, Starlight, and Starlight’s Lieutenant will perform the job at the conference while the distraction team draws away security. 1.     Loud and guns blazing. If we storm the tent and surprise the security inside, we can get ‘em all taken care of ‘fore they can even react. The gunfire might draw attention back to the tent, though, and we’d only have a short time to make things happen before the Pinks muster a response. 2.     Silently dispatch security. If we can sneak through the tent and the conference grounds, we might be able to knock out all the security and then take the tent without havin’ to fire a shot. ‘Course, the risk there is in gettin’ caught before everypony’s taken care of, then havin’ to seize the tent when they know we’re comin’. 3.     Infiltrate the conference. If we can seize some uniforms before Friday, we can disguise ourselves as part of the security and conference staff, and get ourselves control over the tent without havin’ to fight anypony. However, if they notice that uniforms are missin’ or we get caught snoopin’ around before Friday or, Celestia forbid, we get recognized while wearin’ those uniforms ‘fore the auction, then the plan’s over ‘fore we can even make a move on the tent.