//------------------------------//
// 21. [Twilight Sparkle] Discovery 
// Story: Deep Rock Equestria: Into The Abyss 
// by The Atlantean 
//------------------------------//

Ping.
Twilight sighed and checked her computer. Every half-hour, the satellite network sent her an update on her latest “experiment”. So far, however, the results were less than stellar. She’d picked up numerous transponder signals from active miners, but none of them were on the right frequency with the correct identification code.
“Again?” her fellow Developer Edlin asked. “What are you even doing, anyway? You’ve had that thing running for nearly a week with no results.”
“I can’t give up, Edlin,” Twilight said. “You know how I am with nothing. Even bad results are better than nothing!” She pounded her desk with her fist to express her frustration.
“Come on, Twilight. You’ve hardly left your work area since the incident. Take a break. You’re no good to us half-dead.”
Twilight yawned and scrolled through the update. 15-D was on the week’s Deep Dive in the Magma Core. 2-X was running a final check of the assignment software’s Update 33. 11-A was in the Crystalline Caverns on a Salvage Operation. 17-B was having a hard time in the Sandblasted Corridors, but since they were on the final mission of the probation assignment, there was nothing she could do anyway. Like usual, nothing else caught her eye.
She glanced over at the suit radio attached to her computer by a data cable. She had unlimited access with it to tinker and experiment in the interest of increasing power efficiency, decreasing data loss, etc. Its real purpose on her desk, however, was relay.
“Are you done with the radio, at least?” Edlin asked. “I need to run an efficiency test, and this one finally decided to die.” He held up a suit radio of his own. Its power lights were dark, and the plate covering its control circuits appeared burned.
“No.”
“What are you using it for? I’ve seen your computer, and it’s not running any of the standard tests.”
“By default, all suit radios connect to the Mission Control Center’s antenna frequency,” Twilight explained. “And by extension, they connect to the communications satellite network. Once you have a secure connection, you can access anything in the network from the inside. Install a software patch to keep anyone from noticing your presence, and you’re done.”
“Twilight, hacking Company systems for personal use is strictly against Company rules, subject to immediate termination of service. Why would you risk everything on… whatever you’re doing?”
“Because I can’t accept no answers. You know that.”
Edlin sat back and scratched his beard. “Yes. Yes, I do. But you’re evading the question.”
Twilight sighed. “Fine. I’m looking for--”
Ping.
“That’s not supposed to happen for another 25 minutes.” Twilight opened the document displaying the new update from the satellite network. She scrolled a bit, and her eyes widened.
“Edlin, where’s my ID cheat sheet?”
“Stickied to the other side of your monitor, like usual. What? Did you find something?”
Twilight sensed Edlin's approach as she groped around her monitor for the sheet. Once she found it, she grabbed it and brought it back around. She quickly scanned it and the screen, double-checking her data. Her eye twitched as she realized she’d accidentally smudged the one ID she needed:
Sunset Shimmer -- 17-MT-140-V
Rainbow Dash -- 17-MT-141-V
Rarity -- 17-MT-142-V
Applejack -- 17-MT-1XX-X
Fluttershy -- 17-CR-XXX-D
Twilight Sparkle -- 17-R&X-XX5-G
Edlin leaned over her shoulder to look at the screen. “That’s an employee ID code, all right. But the cave it’s in was excavated over a year ago. All dwarves returned, so there shouldn’t be a transponder there in the first place.”
Twilight tapped her keyboard, bringing up the DRG employee ID cross-referencing spreadsheet. She searched, checked, nodded, then went back to the update sheet and checked it again. She sent a request for the network to confirm the data. Moments later, the computer pinged again. She checked the update.
“Damn, the transponder died after a single pulse. But we do know where it is. Haunted Cave, Glacial Strata, five kilometers beneath sea level. And the transponder code does have a match, so we know it isn’t incomplete.”
Edlin shifted. “Well, whose is it?”
“Transponder code 17-CR-144-D translates to ‘Rig 17, Combat Recovery, Member 144, Rank D’.” Twilight shook her head. “If I’m extrapolating my data correctly, that’s Fluttershy’s ID.”
“But Greenbeard Fluttershy was last seen in the Fun… oh. Oh. That’s nearly 200 kilometers from her last known location! What’s she doing there?” Edlin reached for his comm set. “We need to tell Mission Control. We need to tell everyone!”
Twilight frowned. “Unrecovered dwarves are presumed dead. I only saw this by chance--and that was because I was specifically looking for it. How many dwarves have we left on Hoxxes?”
“They’re presumed dead because it’s a known fact that Glyphids eat miners,” Edlin stated. He focused on his comm set. “Get me Mission Control, please. No, I don’t care that he’s busy. Yes, it’s an emergency!”
Several minutes later, Mission Control entered the R&D workshop. He was big and burly, and he wore an oily button shirt, slacks, and a large headset with a microphone. His balding head showed signs of stress, and he held an open bottle of whiskey.
“What is it, Developer?” he asked, clearly annoyed. “I have missions that require my attention at present--not to mention a Probation Graduation.”
“We have evidence that there’s a lone dwarf in the caves,” Edlin said. “Greenbeard Fluttershy, to be specific. Developer Sparkle found her transponder signal in the Glacial Strata, nearly 200 kilometers away from her last known location.”
“Show me.”
Twilight transferred her computer data to the room’s central projector, which lit up with a map of Hoxxes IV. A red dot materialized at both Fluttershy’s cave and where the transponder appeared.
“All we have is a single pulse, sir, but her ID is embedded in the signal,” she said.
“How did you find it?”
“I, ah…” Twilight paused.
“Go on.”
“I wrote a software patch for our comm satellites to search for it. Any time they weren’t acting as relays, they would occasionally ping the surface with their dish antennas and listen for the return much like the scanning arrays. Of course, to get any real surface penetration, I needed the low-orbit satellites, so I set it up to bounce the signal back to one of the geostationary ones. It took some tweaking to get the system to work, but once it did, I let it run in the background and ping my computer station with updates every half-hour.”
“How did you gain access to the comsats?”
She gulped. “This rig radio,” she began, picking up the object while taking care to not disconnect it from her computer, “is tuned to the Rig Control Center’s antenna frequencies as per its default settings. I used it to piggyback off the Center’s signals and build a bridge to the nearest satellite. Once I did that, it connected directly to me, and I had access from the inside.”
Mission Control took a deep breath. “I’m sure you’re aware of the risks, Developer Sparkle, and you understand that under normal circumstances, I would be discussing this with Management.”
Her lip quivered. “I do, sir.”
“However,” he continued, “in situations like this, I am authorized to take immediate executive action. You, Communications Manager Sparkle, will move your work to the Control Center. There, you will coordinate with all other Rigs and Teams to rescue Greenbeard Fluttershy. I will manage this Rig.” He clasped his hands behind his back. “This is now our top priority, Team. Get to it.”