Jaix grumbles to himself, his feet stomping and clanking against the metal plates and ground of their corvette and home. "Please tell me you got some bounties," Dadea asks as she walks up to the trandoshan as he takes off the bounty visor. "Cap is tuckered out, and he is worried about where to get some more jobs to help pay all this off. We are keeping bit by bit afloat, though."
"I did. The bounty was for the dead only. So we are three thousand richer and going to turn this into a trophy," Jaix says, showing her a severed batarian head.
Dadea's mouth gapes open slightly as if finding the words before shaking her head and closes her eyes. "Please make sure there are no bloodstains. The captain doesn't need another headache," she sighs before looking at the time on her omnitool. "I'm going to check up on him. You do…you," she voices before walking away to Arcane's quarters.
Jaix hums and adjusts the broken helmet on the batarian head before walking off. "Three thousand…" he sings as if that number constituted a song for itself.
Dadea presses the button to Arcane's room, and the door slides open. "Captain?"
A loud yawn reaches her ears, and the mirialan peeks in to see the large alicorn slouching against his table and sitting his haunches on the floor. "Hey…find anything good?" Arcane asks tiredly while Dadea walks in and sees the long list of websites and windows open on his terminal. "Oh…this? Yeah. So many. And not a single one that helps pay us off and keeps us in shape. There is an entry to find a lost cat. The payment is one hundred. And there are past 'Find this cat' entries. You want it?" he asks, picking his head up and looks at her. The dark bags that are under his eyes are not helping his overall image at all.
"Jaix brought in a three thousand bounty. He's also turning the decapitated head into a trophy of some sort," Dadea informs.
Arcane hums, still looking the girl over. "Right. How are you?"
Dadea blinks and looks at him in surprise. "You're…not bothered by that little bit of information?"
Arcane gives a slow, sleepy blink. "He's a trandoshan. It's in their nature to do so. And I asked you."
Dadea looks at him like he has grown another set of wings before sighing and hanging her head, giving up on questioning the only male alicorn to everyone's knowledge. Weirdness is in Equestrian nature. "Fine enough. The problem is I am also trying to help you find some jobs. The main thing is finding one that pays a lot like the last one. And your brother isn't going to help much now since he…what was it? Was it kicking you out of the nest?" Dedea guesses to which Arcane gives a slow nod. "Yeah. So we need a reliable 'quest giver' as it were."
Arcane looks at her in deep thought before he blinks again and slams his head against the table.
Dedea jumps back from the smack of flesh meeting metal and leans down to her leader. "Cap…you okay?"
"I am an idiot…" he mumbles before picking his hoof up and places it on the table. He then fiddles with his omnitool and calls a specific number that Dedea catches a glimpse of in just a second. "Hey, Ruby."
Dedea ends up being surprised to see a pretty good looking mare show up on the screen, but even more surprised at what she is wearing and reclining in a seat to show off the modified dancer outfit. "Hey, handsome. You still look like shit," Ruby jests with a grin.
Arcane sighs and picks his head up to look at her. "You wouldn't happen to have any jobs that my team and I could do? Maybe something your patrons talked about?" he adds as an afterthought before his tail flinches at him as if she will hear it anywhere else.
"You didn't hear this from me, but the Thresher gang on level twenty-five seems to be making moves. It seems like they are also hiring help," Ruby says, nearly whispering and moves in her seat to lean over close to the terminal. Both Arcane and Dedea can even see the cut-off parts of her outfit even better than before.
Arcane gives a curt nod before sighing and picking himself up to sit straight. "Thanks, Ruby. When this one is finished, I will come over and get another six hours for you," he promises, and Dedea slowly points at the stallion at talking this casually about buying time with a dancer. The mirialan always thought they were sunshine and rainbows when it comes to treating others.
"See you then."
"I'll be holding you to that promise," Ruby notes, smiling at the alicorn.
"You heard her. Gather up the crew. We are going to work," Arcane instructs, with his coat now looking brighter and fluffier while the bags under his eyes seemingly disappeared. Now Dedra wonders if going from being tired to wide awake as if nothing happened is an Equestrian thing. If so, she wants some.
"Right captain. I'll get them together," Dedea says before walking away. When she looks back, she sees Arcane looking happy and even clapping his hooves together in some excitement.
Definitely an Equestrian thing.
"So, who is going to approach them?" Jaix asks as they ride the elevator, still disappointed he didn't get to finish his work.
"Who else? Our glorious leader," Mevea jokes and Arcane give a small snort in her direction. "Please, they can't resist something that looks like it belongs to a girl's birthday party," she adds, grinning.
Arcane frowns before huffing. "I feel more comfortable with this. Plus, it's nice to stretch my wings and my hooves," he notes, pushing one of his forelegs off to the side, and they hear a crack from his joint. "Oh…yeah. That's nice."
"They are going to try and cheat us," Mevea says disapprovingly.
Arcane groans and rolls his head around as the elevator slows to a stop. "For meetings only. And don't make jokes about it," he warns towards her before changing to a human. Arcane hums and looks over his outfit to see it is adequate. With it having the armor he was wearing, only now in a personalized style tailored for humans where he is now looking like a warrior that would fight with a sword than blasters.
"Better," Mevea comments as they exit the elevator.
What stands before the group as they step out of the elevator and into a rubbish area full of trash and stains of various bodily fluids, including lots of blood on the walls and floors. Every one of the group prepares themselves, keeping a hand on their blaster hilts for anything that might jump out at them.
The whole area looks to be made for hangar bays and the corridors connecting each one. Many small personal ships were littered and standing on stilts and stands of metal beams to be worked on in the middle of the room; tools are left behind nearby while crews work on what they can, and whatever credits they can earn. Already it feels like a terrible warzone as the deeper they go through the hangers while seeing less and less of a working crew on the ships and more bodies and spent heat sink cartridges piling up on the ground.
As they continue through the areas, they come across two roughed up looking humans who have seen better days. All their armor, or what's left of them, has been scorched and broken down into pieces, and some heat sinks are placed on a crate nearby as if that were the last ones given to them. "Guess that's our gang," Arcane guesses.
"One way to test," Dedea notes, and they all turn to Arcane, who closes his eyes in some annoyance.
"Yeah. Send the guy out who can make a shield," Arcane breathes out before sighing and standing up from his cover on the wall. "I'll call you." The three watch around the corner as Arcane slowly steps toward the two who instantly spot him and point their weapons at Arcane. "Whoa there!" Arcane calls, putting his hands up. "I am here for the job."
"What job?" one asks, holding his gun and ready to shoot. Arcane noticed it wasn't even a blaster, but a slugthrower.
Arcane frowns as he tries to come up and think back to what Ruby said. "You guys said you needed help. Well, my team and I can fill in that position," Arcane explains as he keeps an eye on their trigger fingers.
"We never said that," another says.
Arcane frowns heavily as he wonders if anyone knows about the job. "How about I speak to your boss? Clear this whole matter up? If nothing, I can walk away, and we forget about this whole thing?" Arcane suggests, wondering if this is a legit job or Ruby might have heard just random mumbles.
"Take the spy to the boss. We can let him make him squeal," one of them says.
'Spy?' Arcane sweatdrops before yelping when one of them grabs his arms and tosses him forward, a barrel at his back. 'This better be worth it, Ruby.'
"That went as well as I expected," Mevea whispered as they see Arcane being pushed deeper into the territory.
"I kinda expected Arcane to be shot at truthfully," Jaix says.
"Cap can be a bit naive at times," Dadea points out.
"Or maybe dumb luck," Mevea adds on.
Arcane's meeting with the Thresher gang's boss was an interesting one. He did get the contract for the job. And now he is talking over with the boss of how they were going to assault the Nebulus gang and kill the leader. It seems simple enough, but Arcane has an inkling of a feeling that there is more to this job than just killing a leader as any gang wouldn't just kill one person and call it a day. No, there is usually more.
Arcane sighs. "It sounds good, but I need to look over things. Plan things out and see if our ideas can work. If so, we'll come back to you," he explains while getting up and stretching. "Maybe within the day if lucky. Heck, this boss might be standing at a window, and we can shoot him easy," he chuckles, and the boss laughs along with him. "Alright. We'll be back soon," Arcane says, waving him off while the rest follow, somewhat confused as to why their captain just held off on taking what should be an easy job.
Dedea leans over once they are out of earshot of the gang members. "Boss…is there a reason we didn't…?"
"Something doesn't add up is all," Arcane starts while they head for the elevator. "This is a gang. Not the three mercenary groups Aria has on her payroll. Their motivations are very different then those three. If I had to wager a guess, it could be hidden somewhere, and it's staring right at us. Dedea?" he asks as they get into the elevator and start to head up while Arcane changes back into his pony form. He groans and stretches out his wings as best he can and then his hooves.
"Something for me to grab?" Dedea guesses.
Arcane smiles. "Yeah. Find that contract they put out. I need to make a couple of calls."
Arcane taps his hoof against his desk. It has taken Dedea some time to track down where this job is posted. As it turns out, they used some out of the way job posting website for bounties and contracts. She was even able to count them all currently. Ten. All they had was ten. But all the jobs were so low level and cheap, she summarizes that this was merely simple things. And this job is the only one so outlandish. It made no sense to Arcane until Dedea told him how much the initial cost to post a job.
Now Arcane sighs as he has been waiting for his call to be picked up before it finally stops ringing. "Arcane? Is that you? Or is this a changeling or family member who stole your omnitool again?" Arcane hears and smiles.
"No, Ink. It is I. His father, who has called to see why haven't you bothered to call his son. And turn on the damn camera," Arcane jokes and orders chuckling.
The camera switches on, and he can see a little home office setup with a stallion sitting in a simple, cheap seat on the other side. The stallion is a white unicorn wearing a blue suit and pants with a pair of specks on the bridge of his nose and topped off with a cutie mark of a paper with writing and signature area on the bottom—a real business lawyer. "Hey, man. It has been a while since the academy. How's it going on your end? It looks cushy. Got into the military?" Ink asks with a grin, pushing up his specks, making Arcane feel like he was giving off a malevolent aura.
Arcane rolls his eyes amused. "Nah. Mercenary life. It's tougher than I expected but a bit more fun. Anyway, you got the message I sent?"
Ink nods and looks off-screen at something, possibly his computer. "You said the job was to kill the leader and get your pay, huh?"
Arcane sighs. "Yeah. Just something didn't feel right with his one. These are gangs fighting over each other. Can't just be killing the leader and call it a day."
"No, shit. I am looking at his, and there is no mention of a leader. I don't deal with bounty contracts at all, but this screams of a cheat and scam. It actually reads of how many missions you do and whatever place you take over for the gang. So…yeah. This is a joke job or, as your father would call it, a long term contract," Ink says in disappointment.
Arcane scoffs to the side. "So, the bastard was lying to us."
"There is something else," Ink speaks up again, and Arcane looks back at him. "I am looking at the website rules this thing was posted, mainly what happens with posting and all. And I see that you can rescind at any time with no penalty. Its because this site is more used for simple jobs like…yep," he says, scrolling through the other jobs. "Getting some papers, fetching a cat, check up on some people, which are all menial jobs. These guys know the initial stuff and exit while hoping you wouldn't read too much into this."
"Fuck…" Arcane groans and throws his head back. "At least I can do the contract by its words. How much for the job it lists?"
Ink looks to another side of the screen and hums. "You may want to call Craft. It seems it mentions no limit of any kind or full payout, just by missions and locations. I think I have his number," Ink says, calling another number, and it rings for a few seconds before a very annoyed face looks at them on the second screen from what looks like a restaurant.
"This better be important…Arcane? Is that you? Have you grown any bigger?" the stallion asks, peering closer as the two ponies look over the huge and slightly older earth pony with his blond coat and wearing a vest with a pocket watch sticking out of the breast pocket, while his cutie mark is a pin on a clipboard.
Ink smiles. "Nice to see you too, Craft. Listen, Arcane is dealing with a cheat of a contract giver. He needs to figure out the best way to cheat them out of their credits and the most efficient way," Ink informs while Arcane sends over the papers and then the map area that is marked as under attack on Omega.
Craft hums while digging something out of a bag and opens it on the table he is at. "I see…yes. This will take some time, but I can tell you initially if you split up the area by sections and scout each part, never straying far past the marked fields, you will get that initial 'scouting' payout. For this other stuff…give me a bit. Oh, how are you? How is life treating you?" Craft asks with a smile as he types on the keyboard with his hooves, which impresses Arcane as he even has trouble and uses his magic to do so.
Arcane hums. "How does dodging blaster bolts and bullets, escaping from explosions, and leaping off ledges sound?" Arcane asks, half lying about those things.
Craft sticks his tongue out at him before going back to his work. "Sounds like quite a life. Too bad we got ours," Ink notes, tapping his desk.
"What do you expect? He is that one's son, after all," Craft retorts.
Arcane sighs and relaxes back a little. "Well, I get lucky at times. Payout and all. But we are always running low. So not as glorious as if we are jumping into a pile of bits. That's your fair warning," he notes, pointing a hoof at them.
"So did you hear?" Ink asks the two, sounding morbid now.
Arcane stares at him as even Craft looks like he can't drink that cup of coffee next to him. "What happened?"
"The solar legion claimed responsibility in the attempt to ram shuttles full of explosives into the planetary elevator," Ink informs.
Arcane frowns before calming himself down. "They didn't win, did they? My little brother would be pissed, and so would my dad."
"None of them got close, but the last one tried to ram a transport filled with school foals," Ink informs.
"Celestia should have reigned in her cult a long time ago. Despite what she says, I think she approves of their goal," Craft says a bit angrily.
"That's my aunt you are talking about. And besides, she loves my family now. I doubt she wants them this way or even at all," Arcane mutters before making a mental reminder to call Celestia and Blitz someday.
"Yet she says nothing to dissuade them. They may not listen as a whole, but some would step in or alert others to plans like this if she did," Craft says mad.
Arcane is silent for a little while before sighing. "Your little nephew was on that transport, wasn't he?"
"Yes, his griffon father and I are trying to put together a petition to force the rulers to label the solar legion for what they are finally. A bunch of terrorists," Craft says.
Arcane looks to Ink, which makes the lawyer nod as well. "They need around one hundred thousand. They got seventy right now," Ink answers, getting the unneeded question.
'Aunty, you not wanting to take responsibility is coming back to bite you in the flank again,' Arcane thinks.
"And we are still counting. That griffon is on the way to Griffonstone and then the Crystal Empire to get more by making a speech," Craft says bitterly and makes Arcane look away to the side, which the big pony notices. "Ah, don't worry, Arcane. It's not your fault she's sitting on her ass and doing nothing."
'I better call mommy. If this spreads too far, Aunty will most likely be imprisoned for not heading this off, and then that will embolden the solar legion even more. She can't do this alone,' Arcane thinks.
"Okay. I got some ideas and plans drawn up for you. You can read them later, but it should give enough a general idea of where to go. You and your group can handle the details, right, Arcane?" Craft asks, finally calming down and drinking his coffee.
Arcane nods while he gets the message. "Thanks, guys. And say hi to Mic for me. I haven't heard from him in a while," he requests.
Ink smiles and gives a mock salute. "Yes sir, Arcane, sir. And I'm sure that guy is sleeping till night right now…why did we stay friends with him when he slacked off the entire time?" he asks for nopony in particular.
Arcane sighs. "One of the reasons I did this was so I wouldn't be roped in on things like this."
Ink smiles and shrugs. "Hey man, you got us still…and Mic as soon as he wakes his ass up. You need anything else, call us," Ink assures.
"Yeah, I will. Got to call mom as well, or she will be sending half the fleet to make sure I am ok," Arcane says.
Craft laughs. "That's a mother for you. And maybe with a hot steaming dish of your favorite food for you."
"Especially when I have twenty-one of them," Arcane says to the side with a smile.
Ink grins. "And yet they are all still in their prime and kicking ass. Seriously, I doubt you would want to go up against any of them."
"Yeah, each can destroy you in a different way," Arcane says, chuckling at the thought. "Anyway, I have to go and brief my team," he says, smiling. "It's great to hear from you both again."
"See you, man," Ink says before ending the call.
Craft now holds a frown on his face before Arcane sighs for him. "I'll see what I can do, Craft."
"Better. Anyway, see you next time you need a plan," Craft says with a small wave before ending the call as well.
Arcane frowns when it does end and decides to call another number to an immediate pickup.
"Hello?"
Arcane brings up two more numbers now and has them ring a few times before one picks up, and he seems interested by the recipient and how serious Arcane's expression is while the last holder of the call is still ringing before it is finally picked up.
"WORK YOU FANGLED THING!" Celestia curses as she smashes the now sturdier phone handset repeatedly with a hoof before stopping as she sees the screen.
"We really should get her that new voice recognition device," Twilight says.
"Or a camera style," Blitz mutters. "What's this about son?"
"Just heard about the solar legion's recent escapade," Arcane informs.
All faces darken, and Celestia sinks back into her seat cushion while looking away, feeling very ashamed of the group's actions. "How did you hear?" Blitz asks in a low tone as they knew they had a hold on some of the news for at least a one day stall on the news like this.
"One of the passengers of the shuttle full of school foals was the nephew of my friend. My friend, who is so pissed, is not keeping quiet and is already starting to spread word," Arcane informs.
Twilight sighs softly, taking a deep breath. "Was going to get out early in some time."
"Then, we just silence thi…" Celestia starts before the look from the other three stops her.
"Sweetie, you know as well as I do that any move on your part could put your life or Luna's in danger. We have to make a proper plan. And then make ten backups," Blitz warns.
"What's worse, his brother in law is a griffon who is already in the kingdom," Arcane says.
Blitz rubs at his forehead while Terran appears next to him, giving a concerned whine to them. Then Terran steps off the screen and then reappear next to Celestia and curls up in her lap to comfort her.
"I still have so many questions about this family pet grandfather," Celestia states before petting the strange varren.
Arcane shrugs and waves a hoof. "Think of him as momma Pinkie and leave it at that," he says, and Terran picks up his head to look at him as he does so and eyes a particular part.
"Right," Pinkie says, appearing on a fifth screen.
Arcane stops and starts to count the screens. "Momma Pinkie…that's call number five. Who's four?"
"Oh," Pinkie says and reaches a hoof through the screen window before banging at a piece of the background and knocks away the background to show Sunshine swinging on a swing and singing. "That's why."
"Sunshine, dear. This is grownup talk. Go eat the strawberry ice cream in the fridge," Twilight says, giving permission.
"Yahoo!" Sunshine cheers and jumps through her screen before going through Blitz's screen and out of view.
Arcane was about to continue when there was an explosion on Blitz's side. "Sir, the enemy is launching a surprise attack!"
"Then send Rovern's squad out there and end it. After that, send the heads of them back in a box and show them how serious we are!" Blitz orders.
"She went through yours," Twilight reminds.
"I know," Blitz says, showing Sunshine sitting nearby and eating a tub of ice cream that was definitely back home in the fridge. "Now, as you were saying, Arcane."
"Oh, before this continues, let's get some others in the loop," Twilight says, and there were more ringing and Lightning, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Rainbow picked up.
"Whoa…must be serious considering how many are already on here…Sunshine, you were supposed to be feeding the pets and babysitting your younger siblings," Spitfire lectures.
Sunshine mumbles something past her ice cream while shoving more in her mouth.
Arcane smiles and shakes his head. "Anyway, onto business and…" he stops when his omnitool beeps, and he frowns to look at it to notice a text message. Arcane raises an eyebrow to open it up to show a picture of Blitz's office door and somepony walking up to it. "Strange."
"Sir, we got five of them. One escaped. Let him go?" someone asks off his screen.
"Terran, sic," Blitz simply states.
Terran barks before jumping off of Celestia's camera, and soon, everyone heard anguish and painful, agonizing screaming coming from somewhere.
"No one escapes. Also, Tek, I know you are watching. Join the call," Blitz stated.
Arcane looks between his omnitool text message and Blitz's feed before shrugging, thinking it's Tek is the one playing a prank. Soon, Tek joins the call with a smile on his face and Eve lying on his back and head while resting up from the looks of it.
"The solar legion has been a real pain in the flank. I have allowed them to exist because they were beneath my notice, but with this news, I will be forced to act as the leader of our planet, we will be forced to act," Blitz states.
"We should have dealt with them a long time ago," Rainbow states.
"Same. They have been a pain in our flank too. Got to our shows and all," Fleetfoot notes before Terran reappears on her screen, and she giggles before hugging and nuzzling the happy panting varren.
"Let's hope AJ doesn't hear about this call. We all know her feelings on them when they tried for her foals," Lightning states.
"Oh, that guy didn't survive, don't worry. Though I wish she left a piece for me," Blitz says, smiling at the thought of his wife really going ham and looking sexy while doing so.
"We know. AJ beat him so hard; they needed shovels to put him in the body bag. Which is why she and Celestia there has a rocky relationship at the moment," Twilight says.
Arcane smiles at the idea that this is his family, yet all this is normal to them. "Any case, they are close to getting a petition made to have Aunty Celestia or the governments of our homeworld announce these guys as a terrorist group."
"Which could lead to Celestia being indicted for one reason or another because of their attention," Twilight says.
"Which will motivate the legion to take more drastic measures, costing who knows how many lives," Blitz says.
"And because they are off the grid, I have a hard time tracking and identifying any of them," Tek says while making sure Eve is comfortable on his back.
Celestia looks worried between all of the ponies on screen. "So…what shall we do? It seems any action would lead to somepony being hurt."
"I have methods to find them, but because of the government, I am not allowed to act in such a way on the planet nor or my subordinates. Something that you pushed through, granddaughter," Blitz reminds.
Celestia flinches at the hard backhoof before sighing. "To appease and set minds at ease. The last thing we need is panic that this is a military planet only."
"The world is full of dictatorship. Which is how you reigned for nearly a thousand years," Twilight reminds.
"Guys…aunty is not on trial here. We are here to figure out how to get these guys and not hurt anyone else," Arcane reminds.
"Celestia is on trial?" Applejack asks, joining the calls.
Almost everypony freezes in place while both Celestia and Applejack seem to be having a staring contest that Celestia is losing.
Blitz looked at a watch he had. "Hum…later than I expected. You have to put one of the little ones to bed?" Blitz asks as if expecting this.
Applejack gives a slow nod while still staring at the camera.
"Dad, did you tell her?" Arcane accuses.
"No…you will learn about these things when you are married," Blitz explains.
Arcane sighs and shakes his head. "Anyways, we have to get this figured out before something worse happens."
"Celestia. You know there are two ways out of this. One leaves you liable still," Twilight says as Blitz whistles, getting Terran to appear beside him before giving the varren something. Then Terran appears beside AJ with a bottle of unopened cider.
Celestia slowly nods sadly before sighing. "I…will do whatever keeps my ponies safe."
"Option one, you must petition the council to allow the fleet to come down and start hunting these terrorists of the sun legion. This will leave you liable. Or two, help us set a trap," Twilight states.
Arcane wonders what his aunt will choose before hearing another beep from his omnitool and groans as he looks at it and sees another text message with only a photo attached. When Arcane opens it up, he takes notes of a pony standing outside his castle home near the back gate. "Mom…" he starts, unsure since the last message. "Can you send changelings to check the back gate?" he asks, wondering if this is some fancy app Tek has made to make suggestions based on camera feeds, and he's the guinea pig.
"We already have three snipers trained on him," Twilight informs.
Arcane scratches his head confused before shrugging, and thinks it could be the changelings sending the messages to everyone needed. "So aunty…what are you going to do?"
"Traps usually have higher success rates," Celestia says as AJ frowns heavily as she knows. This is the option that would allow her to most likely to escape the blame.
"Okay, then. We are going to set up an announcement for you, and you will announce their status from then on. After this, you are to meet us at the academy. I can protect you there if they try to target you and Luna," Blitz instructs.
Arcane gets another beep from his omnitool, and he groans in frustration. "Who keeps texting me?!" he yells in frustration and looks to see another photo, but this one of a cockpit and…out in space. What? And the pilot seat has one of a single pony flipping switches.
"After that, we will monitor all activity. They will try for a serious attempt on father and the rest of us," Tek says.
"Ah, yes. If that is the case, boys, kill that solar legion spy out there with you," Twilight calls to her office door.
Arcane keeps looking over the photo for anything strange about before one more came in. This one of the hallway interior of the ship and the tail number. "Little bro, I am sending you something. Check it out for me in the meantime," Arcane says, sending the photo.
"…transfer incomplete? That is not right," Tek says, humming as the photo couldn't be sent.
Arcane frowns before twisting his omnitool around and shows the photo to the camera. "This help?" he asks, showing the ship's tail number. "Check the ship status for me."
Blitz raises an eyebrow while Terran appears next to Twilight and on top of a changeling head of an advisor that was next to her while the changeling looks unamused at the playful varren. Both of them seem heavily interested.
"And this is why I do such detailed background checks on all your subordinates," Blitz says to his girls.
Tek, meanwhile, checks the number. "Ship is located out in scout group six. A crew of two…sent out for maintenance?" he asks Arcane.
Arcane shrugs. "Dad?" he asks with a particular expression that tells Blitz his son knows something.
"Say it," Blitz says.
Arcane takes a deep breath. "Take the ship back."
"Tek, activate the emergency lock on that ship and the tracking beacon," Blitz instructs.
Tek nods before activating said systems. "Now that part is over with, back to matter at hand," he says.
"Marine ship Delivery. It seems something activated the anti-theft system on one of our scout ships. Please proceed to it and check it out. Over," Blitz says to another computer.
"I shall do what I need to grandfather. At least more won't have to suffer." Celestia voices and shivers when she felt a hard glare from one certain mare.
"AJ, what have our little ones been up to?" Blitz asks, trying to distract her.
AJ's glare softens, and she smiles. "Our little filly just had her first cider. And she approves of my new recipe mix."
"You're testing cider? You promised you would only do that when I was there," Rainbow whines.
"Pipe down rookie. No drinking before flying," Spitfire lectures and makes Terran and Arcane snark.
"Says miss downs a gallon of beer before duty," Rainbow says.
"Girls…" Blitz tries to interrupt, but still holding a smile.
Arcane chuckles while another message comes up, and he raises an eyebrow at the picture of a pony in chains while held at weapon point by some fleet soldiers. "What was that ship about anyway, dad?"
"I'm asking that right now, son," Blitz says, smiling as the mares keep bickering. "Delivery, how's it looking? Over."
"Commander, we will need biochemical handling units. They have what appears to be a dirty bomb and a nuke detonator," they all hear as a response.
Everyone stops and freezes in place before Blitz frowns and turns entirely to the terminal. "Delivery…take them to area D," Blitz instructs.
Arcane blinks and looks to his messages before blinking as he tries to find the pictures, but they were nowhere under the unknown number. It is devoid of any messages at all. "What the…?" he asks himself while Terran seems to have found a camera of his own and is now panting like a happy varren he is, staring intently at the screen, mostly Arcane as he messes with his omnitool.
Blitz eyes Arcane now before making a note to talk to him later. "Back to you, sweetie. Make sure you deliver this message. And then you and Luna come to me immediately. Don't waste any more time after getting out of the public eye and cameras," he says to Celestia, who is now recovering from this news.
"I expect you over here after that. We have a night of drinking planned Blitz," Spitfire says.
Blitz smiles over to her. "Don't worry. I'll be there. So everyone knows the plan now?" he asks and gets nods in return while AJ still looks a little miffed. "Okay. Then the meeting adjourned," he says, and everyone starts to end the call while Celestia raises a hoof to smash her phone. "Just say call end, sweetie," Blitz quickly says.
Celestia stops and looks closely at the machine. "Call end?" she asks, and her screen cuts off.
Arcane looks to Blitz and Terran as they stare back at him. "Dad…I…"
"We only had rumors of that plot."
"I…what?" Arcane asks suddenly, picking his gaze to Blitz as he leans in his chair.
"How did you get that number of the ship being used?" Blitz starts to ask while Terran blankly stares at him as if he knows the answer, but can't tell it.
Arcane looks to his message box and sees nothing that can help him. "I have no idea. I don't know what to tell you about this," he admits, turning his gaze downward.
Blitz ends up starting at him, keeping up a gaze. "MalO, make yourself known," Blitz says after a long pause, looking like he was thinking hard.
Arcane becomes confused before another beep to Arcane's omnitool makes him look down and sees the picture of his room back in the castle, and one particular figure is in the back of the room. A robed creature in monk's style clothing with an old rope around the waist while the head is of a dog's head…only, it was a cleaned and stripped skull of skin, muscles, and eyes. But the dark holes seem to bore deep into the viewer, namely Arcane. "How…?" he starts to asks, looking up to Blitz and sees him at his terminal, looking up something.
"You progressed a little faster than what it says. Maybe magic," Blitz thinks to himself out loud before looking back at Arcane.
Terran barks and pants at the two as if saying, 'It's me.'
Arcane slowly blinks at what is going on before his omnitool beeps again, and he sends his gaze to the side while keeping his head locked in place. Only a picture of a large meaty bone in the center of the kitchen table is there. Arcane was about to speak before seeing Terran's camera empty of anything and was then lifted up by a holed hoof and carried to the kitchen to show Terran munching on said leg piece. "Sorry, my prince. It seems he got away from us," the camera changeling apologizes.
"Since that one is harmless, we shall let it be for now. Now I must go. I have a plan to coordinate. Then got to go drinking with all my wonderbolt wives," Blitz says, getting up.
Arcane stares at the screen in utter confusion as Blitz leaves. With the camera staying on Terran, munching his large colossal leg piece.
"What just happened?"