//------------------------------// // Chapter 38 - Communication // Story: The Freelancers // by OverHeart //------------------------------// “Sir, about that craft we shot down…” “Yes, what of it?” “Well, the CEO of Darkspace, Grim Dawn, is on the phone and wants to speak to you urgently.” The bat-pony commander sighed. “Fine, put her through to my headset.” “Yes sir.” The commander put on a heavy headset, complete with built in screen for video calls like the one he was to receive. He walked off casually to his desk on the highest part of the room, beyond the prying ears of his subordinates. “Commander Ultra Violet, I hear you’ve been exercising your muscles again.” Grim Dawn said, with barely perceptible malice. “Yes Ma’am, we shot down a rogue-” Ultra Violet said before he was cut off by an angry hiss. “Did you stop to consider what was on that craft? It was carrying Crown Agents, specifically the kind that could melt your pitiful walls into slag if he wanted.” Grim Dawn barked. “Are you TRYING to piss off the Crown’s enigmatic leader?” “Ma’am, it had no IFF, no tags, no-” “Had no IFF…” Grim Dawn let out a freakish chuckle. “That doesn’t mean you just blow it out the sky you monumental moron. You let it land, and you arrest the occupants, they would have come quietly. That craft was carrying ponies that have been messing with my colleague’s plans for weeks now, and I really could’ve used what they knew.” “Well, they wont be a problem anymore at least?” Grim Dawn considered laying into Ultra Violet again, but stopped herself before she spewed fresh insults. “True enough, I’ll give you that. Assuming they didn’t survive, which knowing their track record that’s probably very unlikely.” “Ma’am, with respect, the drones searched the wreckage and didn’t find the survivors, but there was a trail of blood and a few shell casings found. It’s likely they survived, but I couldn’t say where they are now.” “For your sake, I hope they did perish, otherwise me and you will be having a VERY difficult discussion.” The link went dead and Ultra Violet shakily removed his headset, placing it gently onto his desk before he started to hyperventilate. He had to find these ponies, if only to prove to himself that they had died. They couldn’t have survived a crash like that, he thought. Matterhorn sat in Steel’s car, the one that looked vaguely like an expensive sports car in its earlier life, now more utilitarian than stylish in its form and function. The interior was strangely dark and you couldn’t see out of the windshield. It looked like the kind of screen used in AV windows to provide an outside view without using glass, but he was unaware that they made them for cars too. The driver’s side door opened, and Steel clambered in slowly groaning a little bit in exertion before he settled into the seat. He stared at the back of Matterhorn’s head for a moment and let out a gruff chuckle. “You good?” “Yeah, let’s get going.” Matterhorn grumbled, pulling his hind legs into the car and closing the gull-wing door. “You not telling your friends we’re heading out?” “I don’t need to be babied. They don’t need to know where I am at all times, besides, most of them are too out of it to really care.” “Alright.” As if by magic, the once dark interior of the car lit up. The dark panels in place of the windshield jumped to life dissolving into a near perfect representation of the outside world, and on top of it, some information was displayed on both the driver’s side and passengers side. Exterior temperature, humidity, current weather, even the UV index. Matterhorn was impressed, quickly catching on to why such information at hoofs reach was important. The garage doors opened and the car quietly pulled out into the forecourt, Steel nimbly steering it past the CHOOH2 pumps and wandering ponies out onto the one and only paved road in sight. “Antenna we’re heading toward is a little ways away, may as well pass the time with a little chat.” Steel said hopefully. “I’m sorry if I came off as a bit abrasive when I dropped your food off earlier, that was before I found out what happened.” Matterhorn nodded appreciatively. “In fairness, if I were you, I’d have been a little wary too. Too many ponies out here that don’t have the best of intentions.” “Interesting you of all ponies should say that, actually.” Steel chuckled. “I’ve only seen a pony with a barcode on the back of his neck once, and that was before he leveled a rival clan’s camp.” Matterhorn’s hoof shot up to the back of his neck. Just under his neural link was a barcode tattooed into his very flesh, it marked him as an agent to those in the know and was usually hidden under his armor and jumpsuit. It’d been visible all this time to everyone around him without it even being mentioned, but now he was aware that it was in full view, he started to feel self conscious. “If you’re worried about me prying, don’t be.” Steel reassured with a strangely warm smile. “Just an observation I thought was worth making.” The car sped down the paved road, passing by a few other vehicles headed toward the city. One of the antennas in the distance should be their destination. The antennas themselves looked to be unmarked save for an almost illegible corp logo and identification plates, Matterhorn had to trust that Steel knew where he was going as everything looked the same in all directions. Steel noticed a car in the other lane, motionless, like it was waiting. He slowed down for a moment as he approached, and after a brief glance at the other car, sped up again, this time much higher than the allotted speed limit. “Trouble?” “Possibly. That car belonged to another clan, one that’s been muscling in on us recently. It isn’t following us, so just act natural.” After a short drive, the two arrived by the fenced off portion of the antenna, inside which was a rusted metal staircase that led up the creaking metal tower. Steel pulled the car behind some sheet metal that had been stacked up against the fence, either to repair it or to hide damage already done. Steel got out, gesturing for Matterhorn to do the same. He walked over to the stacks of sheet metal and pulled them aside, revealing a small hole, big enough for Matterhorn to fit into, but not the burly Steel. “I’ll stay down here and keep the engine running. There’s a panel up on the top level you can jack into, but be careful up there, the wind can be pretty dangerous.” “What about you?” Steel shook his head. “You don’t need an old stallion holding your hoof, besides, I need to keep an eye out for trouble.” “If you get into trouble, leave, okay?” Matterhorn said. “I can make my way back on my own if something happens.” “Golden didn’t leave you lot to your fate, and I wont either.”