Shining considered his options and came up with a plan of action. “We’ll need somepony to go to Patricia’s place and relieve Ace, Puppy, and Skydancer. During the daytime I feel more comfortable just sending two.”
“Do you mind if I go?” Báistí asked. “I could help, like if I saw someone I knew going into Patrica’s house.”
Shining nodded. “Good idea. Rough, Airborne, go with her.”
He turned to the rest of his team. “At the moment we don’t have enough evidence to proceed with an arrest. We haven’t checked into Ganymede yet. We might be able to find something in the courthouse archives even if he is dead. Mag, Dim, Soft, get on that. Afterwards, go over to the police station and see if you can get anything else out of the griffons that have been arrested so far or from the police evidence.”
Addressing the faces that still remained, Shining said, “Now that we’re beginning to attract more attention, we need to think more about protecting ourselves. I don’t know why the pirates have flares, but one of them could do serious damage to the ship. We need to have guards on deck at all times. Flash, while you recover you would be a good candidate to sit around and keep watch. I’d prefer somepony else to stay with you. Cyrus, there’s still some money left in the gambling fund. I’d like you to use it towards camouflaging the ship.”
Shining paused. He didn’t have jobs for the rest of his team for the moment, and until he did it seemed wise to just order them to help Cyrus.
“Wiz, can I have a word with you?” Shining nodded to the police officer. The two of them left the room and went up on deck. Flash had already positioned himself nearby, poised to watch the ship.
“I think you’re doing well,” the griffon said. “Anything I can do to help?”
“Can you bring some help?” Shining asked. “If we start making arrests, we might need more badges.”
“I don’t know,” Wiz admitted. “I don’t really have the pull with the Chief that Stormfeather does. I’ll try.”
“How about getting us set up somewhere else? As you heard, this ship is both an obvious and vulnerable HQ.”
“Well…maybe we could let you set up in one of the houses where you’ve arrested someone.” Wiz frowned. “I don’t know if that would be an improvement, though, as those houses are obviously well known to the pirates.”
Shining nodded, knowing he would have to make a decision on that. Changing the subject, he said, “I also had an idea. Is there any way we could let Gilgamesh out of prison on bail or something? Maybe we could follow him to his bosses. Either he’ll find them or they’ll find him.”
“That’s an interesting thought.” Wiz bobbed his head. “I’ll see if I can make it happen.”
“Thank you.” Shining said goodbye to him and went back below deck.
He spent some time working out. It helped with the boredom and gave him some time to think. The ponies who had been watching Patricia’s house got back. They hadn’t seen anything they could act on, just more griffons coming and going.
After finishing his workout, Shining had a shower and sat down at his desk. He sifted through his paperwork to see if anything came up that could refresh his memory or reveal something he hadn’t considered before.
The flares came across Shining’s mind again. The pirates might have a few on their vessels for basic safety, but why would one of them buy a whole crate? The only thing Shining could think of was starting fires, and if they were trying to attack the Guard ship, it certainly wouldn’t take that many.
His thoughts drifted to the large scale corn thefts. What was the endgame? Was Hookbeak trying to manipulate the economy? Checking his case files revealed that while corn was far from the only thing the pirates were taking, they still had taken a significant amount. Gilgamesh had been caught trying to sell some, but it was hard to say if the rest of the pirates were slowly selling their haul of grain or holding on to it. If they had been stockpiling, the sum total could be several large silos’ worth, significantly more than Mr. Thrift had.
Getting help from the Port Talon police would help. Hopefully the Intelligence staff returned from the station with something interesting. Shining thought he might get Soft to spend some time with Wiz and find out a little more about him. The biggest thing on his mind, however, was getting more officers. Hopefully Stormfeather would return soon.
Shining heard a few ponies arriving and went to see who it was. Mag, Dim, and Soft had come back, and it looked like they might have something very interesting.
“Ganymede was confirmed as the dead griffon,” said Mag, getting straight to the point. “We have a list of evidence regarding him.”
Dim consulted her notebook. “We got his address and checked out his house. We found his diary. He was having second thoughts about the piracy. He also thought that Abernathy might be eyeing his position.”
“Are we thinking that Abernathy killed him, then?” Shining asked.
“We’ve got the list of evidence from the scene at Abernathy’s house,” Dim replied. “We’ve got a few business papers, a radio, money, and some love letters from Silver to Abernathy.”
“Silver of Silver’s Sweets?”
“Right, they’re dating. The letters mentioned some strange ponies came into her shop asking questions. She told Abernathy about it. I’m guessing he decided it was as good a time as any to eliminate Ganymede.”
Shining frowned. If they hadn’t sent ponies to talk to Silver, Ganymede might still be alive. Alternately, if they had interrogated Silver more thoroughly, it might have been discovered that her boyfriend Abernathy was a pirate much sooner. But there was no way Shining could have known the consequences, and feeling bad about it wouldn’t help.
As if reading his thoughts, Soft began speaking to distract Shining. “Gregory reacted negatively to the news that Ganymede was dead. He was a bit of a hothead about it, of course. Apparently if he didn’t get out of jail soon he was going to send his helper, Yong, after Abernathy. Yong was the griffon who was with Gregory when he attacked. Anyway, we also learned a few other interesting things.”
Soft checked her notes. “Gregory said that Abernathy might have gone out east. He didn’t know where, but had heard something about that. The two of them did speak a few times. Through that, plus watching us investigate a few locations, Gregory managed to figure out we were sticking our noses in and attacked. I don’t think he or any of the pirates realize who we actually are, though.”
While looking at the map, Shining thought about how to act on the new evidence. He might send Soft and somepony to protect her to talk to Silver. However, Silver would probably guess who they were. Better to have Wiz with them to pressure Silver for being connected to a suspected murderer. Hopefully Wiz was busy at the police station getting the help Shining had requested of him.
Flash came in, asking on of the other team members to take over his job for a little while. He came over to Shining, a troubled look on his face. “Captain, can I talk to you?”
The two of them went into Shining’s office and closed the door. Flash fidgeted a bit and said, “I’d like to report a conflict of interest.”
“Oh really? What’s that?” It was important for Guards to be honest and report these things, but Shining silently prayed that it wasn’t something that would break the case.
“Sir, after you finished talking with Officer Wiz and went below, he chatted with me for a little while before going to the station.” Flash paused and then said, “I think he’s interested in me.”
“Oh.” Shining blinked. “I can tell him to knock it off if you want.”
“Well, that’s the thing…” Flash swallowed hard. “I kind of like him. This is kind of embarrassing sir, but I know that I should tell you because he’s working this case.”
Well, Shining no longer had to worry about his sister hanging around Flash. He nodded to the younger Guard. “Thank you for being honest. Just keep it professional, okay?”
Flash nodded and left the office. Shining let out a breath and shook his head at the new wrinkle in things. Still, better to find out now rather than later.
Before he could contemplate the junior Guard’s relationship status any further, the radio on his desk buzzed. The voice was scratchy but sounded like Airborne. “Captain Armor? We’ve got a situation here. A griffon matching Gaston’s description just went into Patricia’s house. Ms. Báistí thinks it’s him.”
Shining grabbed the radio. “How long do we have to nab him? Do you know if he’s staying long?”
“No idea, sir. It could be a few minutes, it could be half an hour.”
It was a golden opportunity, but one that could easily be lost. Plus, Shining remembered all the other tasks to accomplish that had just been shoved to secondary priority since this call had come in.
“Er, can we try stalling him until Wiz arrives?” Airborne asked. “What are we authorized to do, sir?”
I'd prefer to just follow Gaston, maybe send Baisti as a griffon would probably attract less attention. But keep a pegasus on her for backup, like a chain (pegasus for ease of movement, we might not have enough time to cross a bridge). Gaston is in Baisti's sight, then Baisti is in the pegasus's sight. If we can't capture him, knowing where he goes is the next best thing.
If we need to stall him, maybe have someone strike up a conversation with him, and some bullshit reason to find out his name (just because he looks like the guy doesn't mean he is). Something along the lines of, "excuse me, I'm looking for someone named Gaston, do you know where I could find him?"
If we can get an extra base, maybe hole up in Gregory's place and try to set up another radio relay. Gilgamesh's or Abernathy's home might work too, but G's might be too far from Boat HQ, and A's might not be far enough for an effective relay.
Wait for him to leave, then have Baístí catch up to him a little ways away from Patricia's house, so she isn't seen by the suspected griffin. Have Baístí initiate some chatter until Soft and/or Shining can get to him, and then start a light interrogation. The longer you can keep it as a "not-interrogation," the better. Get Wiz involved if things start getting dicey, but try to save that for somewhere that's not all that public. Taking the Mayor in for questioning would be huge gossip, and would reach the wrong ears way too easily. If possible, talk him into letting you interrogate him in his office out home, with Wiz there only as means of idle restraint. We don't want to make an enemy out of the mayor if we can get him to talk with neither side losing face.
We can't be certain if that griffon is Gaston so let's wait for him to come out and tail him until we can find a safe spot to pull him aside and find out who he is.
We should also potentially invest in fireproof spells, or spells to dectect intruders in case the pirates try to attack HQ.
I don't trust Wiz as far as I could throw him, and his "interest" in Flash isn't helping his case in my mind. If he is a mole for the pirates, working a relationship with one of the ponies could be part of a plan to sow dissent among them. Alternatively, it could be a plan to acquire a hostage.
If I was Shining, I would keep an eye on him.
Unlike what others said, I'm not sure sending Baisti after Gaston would be a very good idea. Shining may think that pirates aren't exactly geniuses, but from the way these guys have covered their tracks so far, someone with more than two brain cells is calling the shots on this. And if that is indeed the case, Baisti has been seen several times with the Guards, including Shiny, whom the pirates themselves attacked. Of course, that's because it seems to me that that attack was ordered from above instead of being a spur-of-the-moment thing, in which case my point would be at least half moot.
Gaston could be coming out in the open as a ploy to bring heat onto himself as a distraction, or lure them into a trap. Methinks it'd be worth the risk to take out such a convenient ally of the ponies, even if it means getting openly in trouble with Port Talon police. The pirates' foothold in the city is already falling apart or at least starting to do so; packing their bags and leaving for another port town shouldn't be a big issue if security is a priority.
Of course, I may be giving these pirates a little too much credit, I dunno
3568351 I hadn't thought of that. Good point.
Did Wiz get a radio? If not, the police station isn't too far out of the way - send one pony to get Wiz (or heck, Shining, go yourself) and another pegasus to support Baisti. I agree that they should tail him without interacting. That said, if they're spotted, hopefully whoever's on the scene has the sense to get in Gaston's way and wait for him to make the first blow. Then they can claim self defense. As an aside, does Shiny not know how to teleport? He's clearly powerful enough, and going from the ship to the police station in a blink would be a great help in time-critical situations like now.
A horrible thought occured to me. Silos tend to be highly flammable, not because of the grain itself, but because of all the particles that build up. Flour especially is almost explosive. Fifty bushels of corn, ground down into flour, with a flare each, and you could possibly burn the city down. I know, I know, stop helping come up with even more horrible ideas.
Don't nab the dude just yet, watch what he does and then follow him to see where he goes. (Its not illegal to follow someone unless they have a restraining order against you.)
For finding a second base, go to Baístí for help, not Wiz. She's already passed scrutiny after all. Pikop might know some good places too.
And it would probably also help to post a rotating watch on current HQ. Discretely, naturally.
Do we have anyone who can magic us up some impromptu listening devices (literal magic or otherwise)? Because while we're doing this recon business, listening devices seem like they could be quite helpful. For example, Patricia has to leave home sometimes (food, etc)-- planting a bug could discreetly happen then. Hell, you could even send someone over and have them barge in, pretend to be travelers and they were told this was a hotel or something. We can certainly work out a way to plant them, the question is just if we can make them or not. ...Also if the griffon government has laws about privacy and whatnot. I don't figure they would, given the general tech level and the lack of magic (which presumably makes spying on people a lot easier, and thus a bigger target for legislation in places like Equestria than in places like Griffon...istan? I don't know the name of the country we're in. o_o), but it's better to at least be informed before we go making these decisions.
3568919
I'm with this guy, be a stalker. Also on the trusting Baisti over Wiz bit, because Wiz is still sketchy. I'm not homophobic, I swear. >_<