"What do we know?" Neela asked as she stood in front of Titus and Eliana at the end of the library. Titus was snoring at one of the computers and Neela could see that Eliana was playing Minesweeper through the mostly transparent screen. Neela stewed over the maps and pages of notes that were scattered across the table before her, racking her brain but severely affected by exhaustion that had set in. She sat and stretched, yawning as she tried her best to keep from dozing off. "Eliana, you think that maybe you want to get us some coffee?" Eliana sprang to her feet, logging out of her game and saluting.
"No problem!" Eliana exclaimed as she raced out of the library past Neo was clocking in for her shift. Neo noticed the students across the room and teleported over, waving with a smile to Neela and beating on Titus. She shook him by the shoulders and tried pushing him but it was no use. He wouldn't be moved and he refused to be woken up. Neo looked over at Neela, pointing at Titus and waving her arms in frustration. Neela waved her off.
"I'll take care of him in a little while," Neela told Neo. Neo rolled her eyes, shoving Titus one last time before heading back to the desk at the other end of the library. Ilia threw to doors open closest to Neela and sat down across from her.
"Did you guys have a rough night last night?" Ilia asked.
"No, we just haven't been to sleep yet. Had this hair brained idea that we should look into the Stardust incidents and see if there was anything we could do to prevent the next one, but all of these hits and heists are all pretty random. They don't all happen on the same day of the week, they're on different ends of town, and they never steal the merchandise to sell later, they only steal money, and quite a bit of it. They don't even take Dust from the Dust shops," Neela explained. Ilia looked at Neela's notes and read them over carefully.
"This is a radically different approach from the gang we have back in Vacuo," Ilia told her. "They stole everything, and I do mean everything. Any men that witnessed a crime were killed, and any women were forced into being Strakh's personal sex slaves. Usually, an entire shop would be bare, they'd sell everything down to the sink in the employee lounge to the black market in Mistral for a hefty profit. The only reason I can think that Stardust wouldn't is that they're only after one thing specifically and are worried that doing any more than is necessary might get them caught."
"That's probably true," Neela agreed. Ilia glanced about the room, obviously looking for something. "What's up?"
"Where is Eliana? She's always with you if you aren't at work," Ilia told Neela.
"She went to get us some coffee," Neela replied laying her head down on the table.
"Not a bad idea judging by the looks of you and the lieutenant over there," Ilia said.
Meanwhile, Eliana had already made it to the cafeteria and was on her way up to the kitchen when she spotted Coco entering the door opposite of her. She crossed the room, past several of the tables, and stopped her.
"Hello, Mrs. Adel!" Eliana exclaimed. Coco smiled at her, watching the students gather near the kitchen in some sort of commotion, only to turn away in frustration, grumbling in dissatisfaction as they headed back out. "What's going on? I've never seen the student body this agitated in a while."
"I'm right there with them, to be honest," Coco told her.
"Why's that?" Eliana asked. Coco turned away and Eliana followed suit as her field instructor leaned down.
"Can I let you in on a secret?" Coco asked. Eliana nodded.
"Of course," Eliana replied.
"As you might have heard if you're a coffee drinker like myself or your fellow students over there, we've been out for a few days now, a sudden inexplicable shortage and the vendors in town are out as well. However, I've been given some inside information that there is a shipment coming in from Mistral tomorrow," Coco informed her. Eliana glanced at her.
"Who told you that? No one but the shops themselves are supposed to know that," Eliana said.
"One of the shops I frequent told me, I am their greatest customer," Coco said as she stood back up. "It's a shame really that they ran out. Until the crisis ends, the companies exporting are going to see how desperate we are for it and make a killing, but I suppose that's supply and demand." Eliana's mind clicked and she looked at Coco.
"Do you know when the next Dust shipment will be in?" Eliana asked.
"Of course, next week Thursday night," Coco told her. "That's public knowledge though, Atlas sent the message out over the CCT a few days ago so that people didn't start panicking. Dust reserves are a touch on the low side considering all of the hijackings in Vacuo and White Fang threats forcing several Dust mines to close or work restricted hours." Eliana took off running from the direction she had come. "Hey wait!"
"Thanks!" Eliana called back without stopping. She ran across campus, storming into one of the main buildings, and crashing into the library. Neo leapt up onto the countertop she was working at and put a finger to her lips. Eliana waved her off. "Neela! I got it!"
"The coffee?" Neela asked.
"No! Where Stardust is going to be next!" Eliana exclaimed. Titus startled awake and rubbed his face.
"Huh?" Titus asked as he stood slowly and stumbled before Ilia grabbed him. "What's she yelling about?" Neela moved to her feet quickly and threw her arm over Eliana's shoulder.
"Why don't we take this out into the hall?" Neela asked. They stumbled as they scattered out and Ilia closed the doors behind them. "How did you figure it out, or more accurately, what did you figure out?"
"Coco was talking about a shipment of coffee coming in and it dawned on me that the public isn't usually allowed to know what day shipments arrive. Each Kingdom only has one bank that's run by the government, so each business has a specific drop off day that can't be rescheduled. They don't tell anyone what day it is because the two days that the business has the most money is the day of a shipment and the day they deposit money at the bank. Coco wouldn't have thought to ask that in her investigations and if the police asked, the business owners wouldn't have told them anyway," Eliana explained. "My dad told me that once."
"Okay, but what does that have to do with shipments?" Titus asked groggily.
"There must be a common thread between the Stardust robberies and they must be robbing shops during shipments," Eliana told them.
"How do you know that?" Ilia asked.
"All the news reports said the police were late getting there. If they robbed an armored van for the weekly drop off, the police would be notified immediately, and if they tried robbing the bank… that's pretty much suicide," Eliana said. "I'm still not sure how they know the shipment dates though, only the stores and the Council have that information."
"And everyone knows there will be one next week," Titus said. "But why would they hit such a high profile target? I'm sure that it's going to be just as heavily guarded as the bank."
"But they need Dust just as badly as the rest of us," Eliana said.
"They wouldn't risk it," Neela said.
"Then I guess we're back to square one unless we can figure out how they're getting their information because shipments are random unlike bank drop-offs," Eliana explained.
"You said only the Council and stores have that information, right?" Ilia asked. Eliana nodded. "So then we ask the council."
"They won't hand over that info, even if two of the Kingdoms are run by my family," Neela told Ilia.
"So we hack the info?" Eliana asked. Titus laughed.
"How? None of us have that kind of skill," Titus told her.
"Cobalt?" Ilia asked. They looked at her for a moment. Neela shrugged.
"Worth a shot," Neela agreed. They all left the building together, despite the fact that Neela was exhausted she felt good about the progress they'd made. It wasn't about revenge for the damage that had been done to her body. It was what she felt was their first step towards becoming actual huntsmen and huntresses. Just approach this like a hunt Neela, you can do this. She was impressed by Eliana's breakthrough, her best friend still bouncing out in front of the group, full of energy. Ilia shook Titus by the shoulders as they walked, trying to wake him up and Neela trudged along in the back.
They arrived at the dorm after a few minutes, knocking on the door and waiting for someone to answer but no one did.
"Where do you think they are?" Eliana asked. Titus checked his scroll.
"It's early, they're probably sleeping," Titus told them. Ilia placed her hand against the door, pushing against it for a moment before nodding.
"Alright," Ilia said before grabbing Titus. Titus tried to wrench away but she took over his body and slammed into the door, knocking it down.
"What is wrong with you?" Titus asked.
"I thought we were on a roll!" Ilia stated as she left his body.
"You guys are kidding right now, right?!" Cobalt shouted from the bathroom and stepping out in his lounge pants. Lykos had slid out of his bed, Bái had rolled over and Tawney groaned as she stretched. "You bash our door in instead of waiting?"
"We're in a rush," Ilia said.
"No, we're not. I could use some sleep, to be honest," Titus said. Ilia looked down at the door and then back up at Cobalt again.
"You broke our door first," Ilia said. Titus shook his head.
"What was so important that it couldn't wait?" Lykos asked more aggravated than Cobalt.
"We need Cobalt's skills," Neela said. He smiled and puffed out his chest.
"So what skills are we referring to?" Cobalt asked. Ilia rolled her eyes.
"Don't get too excited," Ilia told him. "How good are you with hacking things?"
"What kind of things?" Cobalt asked coyly. Tawney leapt from the bed and twisted his arm behind him. "What do you need hacked?"
"Well, you see…" Neela started.
"Just some files from the Remnant Peace Council," Eliana stated with a smile. Tawney looked at them like they were crazy and let go of Cobalt.
"Are you mental? Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty tech savvy, mechanically inclined, and however else you'd want to describe my skills, but stealing files from the Council is not exactly my idea of a good time," Cobalt explained. "I'm going to have to decline." Cobalt began to walk away.
"He can't do it," Titus said egging him on.
"That's not going to work on me," Cobalt said. Lykos folded his arms and shook his head.
"You're not denying that you can't do it," Titus stated. Cobalt turned back to them.
"I can do it!" Cobalt said. "But the Council?! It doesn't matter if Neela has connections or not, we get caught doing this and we are going to be blacklisted or something to that effect."
"And again I say you can't do it. You seem adamant towards the fact that we are going to get caught. You can't do it," Titus said. Neela glanced at him. Titus wanted to put NITE on display as much as she did, she couldn't imagine why else the tight-lipped, by the book, military officer would agree to such a thing for. Cobalt stepped forward and grabbed Titus by the lapel and pulled him close.
"What's in it for me Gargoyle?" Cobalt asked. "You must have a little bit of authority with your rank. I want amnesty."
"That's not something I can do," Titus said.
"I'll let you touch my boobs," Eliana said. They all looked at her and she shrugged. "Sure, why not?" Cobalt grabbed his shirt off of his nightstand and ran out into the hall.
"I'll be back after breakfast! Tell me when and where and it'll get done!" Cobalt called back. Neela rushed out after him.
"No! No! I'll get you some manga or something! Get back here! Cobalt, she was kidding! Cobalt!" Neela yelled chasing him. Titus glanced at Eliana and then Ilia.
"Why would you tell him that?" Ilia asked.
"It got him to help didn't it?" Eliana asked. "I just want Neela to be happy." Eliana smiled at them and Lykos laughed.
"Neela's sure a lucky one," Tawney said with a pang of jealousy.
"Can I ask why you guys are hacking the Council's database?" Lykos inquired.
"Quiet!" Bái demanded. "I'm trying to sleep!" She tossed in her bed again and drew the covers over her head.
"Trying to catch the Stardust gang," Titus told him.
"The police and Coco have been after them for months now, what makes you think that we can get these guys?" Lykos asked.
"Aside from not breaking the law, we don't have any regulations," Ilia said. "No red tape."
"Hacking the database isn't breaking the law?" Tawney asked.
"Aside from breaking the law once," Ilia corrected herself. Tawney looked at Lykos.
"We want to help," Tawney told them.
"We can't let you guys run away with all of the glory," Lykos said.
"Great!" Eliana yelled.
"Okay, glad that you guys are on board, I'm going to take a nap," Titus said leaving the room. "Wake me up when we do something." Ilia looked down at the door and then back at Lykos.
"I'll help with the door," Ilia said.
"Stop!" Neela yelled. She pushed Cobalt in front of her and held back the rest of both of their teams behind her.
"I'm going to beat him to death!" Lykos shouted. "I'm going to tear him apart, find someone who can put him back together, and then tear him apart again!"
"Aren't you all overreacting just a bit?" Eliana asked.
"He spied on us in the showers, I wouldn't call this overreacting!" Ilia yelled.
"What's going on out here?" Velvet asked.
"Cobalt-kun was being a peeping tom," Bái exclaimed. Neela shoved Cobalt at Velvet.
"I can explain!" Cobalt shouted. "I dropped a spring that I needed for some of my new tech and it rolled into the doorway. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, so I picked it up."
"And you just happened to have your camera out?!" Ilia shouted.
"Calm down," Velvet told them. Titus pushed through and wrenched Cobalt's scroll away from him.
"I'm sure that there's proof on here!" Titus declared. Cobalt tried to grab it back but Velvet gripped Cobalt by the arm and pushed him into her office.
"Stay in there for a moment!" Velvet yelled. "Now one at a time, I want you to…" Someone shoved Velvet and she stumbled, glancing around and looking into the room to find Cobalt missing. The group shuffled, Cobalt taking off with Lykos close behind him. Velvet chased after them and they disappeared around the corner.
"Did it work?" Cobalt asked from around the corner.
"Why did we need a staff computer to do this?" Tawney asked.
"It's easier if I only have to deal with hacking the database itself, not the school's firewall also," Cobalt told her.
"Pretty crafty with the clone," Neela said as she stepped into the room with Titus, Bái, and Tawney closed the door. She looked at Bái.
"You and I are on guard," Tawney said. Bái nodded. "Cobalt said with Ilia jacking his clone's body, he should be able to maintain its body for longer. Plus Lykos plans to put on a show so Velvet will have to waste some time pulling the two of them apart."
"What do we do if someone comes?" Bái asked.
"Well, we can either ask the teacher to take us to a nurse, or I can pull off your bracelet, but I think that the former is the more practical of the two options," Tawney told her.
Cobalt locked the door and moved to the laptop with Titus and Neela. He sat down, cracking his fingers.
"Great, she logged out," Cobalt said sarcastically.
"Not a problem," Neela said. "Username: Yangarang and the password is BellabootyLover." Cobalt and Titus looked at her and she blushed, averting her eyes. "My mom needs help, I'd rather not talk about it."
"Well at least we have that problem out of the way," Cobalt said. His hands worked methodically on the keyboard and he wiped his brow on occasion. "Will Ilia and Lykos make it to the CCT tower before Velvet catches them?"
"Let's hope so," Neela said. "Velvet's quick, but if worst comes to worst, Ilia can make a last-ditch effort."
"Why didn't we send someone to the tower to begin with?" Titus asked.
"The less time spent in the tower the better," Cobalt informed him. "On top of being caught physically, I need the specialized drive, or rubber ducky if you will, inserted into one of the terminals for the shortest amount of time possible. As soon as that thing goes in, the Council and CCT personnel will know instantly that something is off. So to answer your question from this morning, I can do this, but it's improbable."
"I have faith in you," Neela said.
"Good, because I still demand compensation," Cobalt sneered.
"No, Cobalt," Neela said.
"Cobalt, no," Titus said. Cobalt shifted in his chair.
"Cobalt, yes!" Cobalt demanded. Velvet's scroll began ringing on the desk beside them, displaying a picture of Coco's face. "Well, that can't be good."
"Should we answer it?" Neela asked Titus.
"Wait until it finishes ringing and send a message back saying that we were in the middle of something with a student," Titus said. Cobalt quickly grabbed the scroll and silenced it. They looked at him.
"If Velvet silenced it, it would have gone to the answering machine right away, right?" Cobalt asked staring intensely at the screen. "C'mon Ilia…" Neela's scroll went off. She pulled it out, noting that it was Lykos.
"Yes?" She asked.
Lykos stepped inside of the tower and spoke with one of the operators.
"Hold on baby, let me ask," Lykos said. Neela put him on speaker. "Is it possible to make a call to Vale from here?"
"It is, but we recommend using your scroll if you know the number, it's cheaper," the woman replied.
"Did he call you 'baby'?" Cobalt asked.
"He's in character, shut up," Neela said.
"Do you know the number?" Lykos asked. "She doesn't know the number. If you can just direct me to one of the virtual assistants that can help me contact someone in Vale, I would appreciate it."
"Down the hall to the left," she told him.
"Thank you," Lykos replied.
"Take the door on the right before you reach the end of the hall and make sure that no one sees you," Cobalt instructed him. Lykos did so and closed the door behind him.
"Now what?" Lykos asked.
"What happened to Ilia?" Cobalt asked.
"We ended up separated and I didn't want to incur the wrath of Velvet. We're still on a strict timetable here, aren't we? I assume this is the server room, so where am I going?" Lykos asked.
"At the end of the room, there will be a service panel. It should just open and you should be able to insert the drive," Cobalt told him. Lykos did so and on the laptop the interface changed, prompting Cobalt to quickly bang out his next set of commands. Cobalt shifted in his seat and rapped on the keys again. "Okay okay. We're in. Somebody tell me quickly what we're looking for."
"Department of Finance information?" Neela asked. "We're looking for sales numbers… No, we're looking for the shipping records for Vale's port for the last several months!" Cobalt nodded and clicked the mouse a few times, hashing out another series of meaningless characters and words on the screen.
"There!" Cobalt pointed to the printer.
"Holy crap, he did it," Titus said. Cobalt quickly found his feet and logged out of the computer, moving and retrieving the pages as they printed.
"Lykos, take the drive with you and leave now," Cobalt told him. Titus and Neela walked in front of Cobalt and threw open the door to Velvet's office, running into Coco.
"Neela?" Coco asked.
"Aw shit," Cobalt replied.
"What were you doing in Velvet's office?" Coco asked. "And where is Velv? I tried her scroll, but she didn't answer." Neela glanced back at Cobalt.
"Why me?" Cobalt asked. "Why am I at fault for forgetting?"
"You silenced the scroll!" Titus exclaimed.
"We can explain," Neela said.
"We hacked into the Council's database and figured out where Stardust is going to attack next!" Cobalt blurted out. Titus sighed and Neela shook her head.
"I'm not paying you," Neela told him. She took the pages from him and mulled them over, picking over the specific days. "Their next hit won't be the Dust shipment." Coco took the papers from Neela. "They've only hit shipments that have come in from Mistral."
"The coffee shipment coming in tonight," Coco said. "I'll contact the Council. Dispose of this information. I'll get ahold of you this afternoon and do anything I can to help." Coco left them in a stunned silence as they all looked at each other.
"Tonight it is then!" Neela declared. She turned to Cobalt. "Thanks for the help, we couldn't have done it without you." He cheesed a smile at her.
"Anytime."
Sirius made an attempt to close the door quickly behind him as he entered one of the meeting rooms, but Orion pushed his way in and sat at the table with a cloaked figure, the woman that they had made the EMP drop off with, and Mercury, who had both of the Gemini twins beside him, once on each side. Sirius grabbed Orion by the arm and dragged the chair back.
"I apologize for Orion's actions sir, it would seem that he has forgotten his place and needs me to remind him," Sirius told Mercury trying to wrench him out of his chair. Mercury waved him off chuckling.
"We don't need to make a scene, we can let Orion sit at the big kids' table for a day," Mercury said. Sirius nodded, closing the door and leaned against it.
"Thanks, Merc," Orion told him cheesing a smile. Orion kicked his feet up on the table.
"Don't push your luck," Mercury told him. Orion slipped his feet back off and folded his hands, resting his chin on them.
"So what's the plan?" Orion asked.
"He's a bit daft, isn't he?" The cloaked man asked.
"You're one to talk, Paris. It infuriates me to think about how much further our plan could be along if you hadn't been so greedy and rash when you arrived at Beacon. Were you actually trying to rape the poor girl? Pure unbridled jealousy, blinding rage that you let get in the way of the mission," Mercury told him. Paris stood but Jett grabbed his wrist.
"Sit down Paris," Jett told him. "He overstepped no bounds, everything he said was the truth." Paris glanced at Mercury before looking at Jett. He sat forcefully. "You should be grateful that Mercury is housing you until we can figure out a way for you to be of use once more."
"Better hope it's quick," Mercury said. "Abigor has no patience for slip-ups, though if I were you, I'd be more worried about Jett. Abigor might be the judge and the jury, but Jett here is the executioner."
"Your words do not scare me," Paris told Mercury. "We still have our arrangement. You will provide me with the funds I seek, and I will provide you with Bái."
"Might I ask who Abigor is?" Orion asked. Jett stared at him from the other end of the table.
"Now I see why you sent Sirius instead of Orion," Jett told Mercury. "He is quite dense." Mercury nodded.
"He is," Mercury said.
"He's not the brightest bulb in the box," Asteria said.
"Not the brightest star in the sky Asteria," Astra said.
"Good one Astra," Asteria replied. Orion looked back at Sirius.
"Did I say before that I found them endearing?" Orion asked.
"Remind me again why you let him stay?" Jett asked Mercury.
"He might be dense, to say the least," Sirius told Jett. "But he is one of our better fighters. We'll need him during the exchange tonight." Sirius walked to the table and set a holographic projector down in the middle that displayed the port. "Are they sending the normal crew?"
"No, but these men are well aware of what is expected of them," Jett said. "The soldiers that normally help out had to stay back in Mistral, they're to be dispatched for the woods around Vale next week in another vain attempt to try and flush out Athena," Jett explained. "Besides, if we keep using the same officers someone might finally figure out the common thread and in turn, Sterling would have those men killed."
"The task is simple. The goods will be given to the vendors as is our common practice and once they leave, the soldiers will hand over the money. Then we rough them up a little bit and place an anonymous tip to the police telling them about the robbery. By the time they show up, we'll be gone," Sirius explained. "We have no reason to expect any resistance, with next week's Dust drop off I'm sure that everyone will be far more occupied with preparing their defenses for that shipment. We anticipate that they've put two plus two together already. It's more than likely that they know what the EMP does and it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to know that it runs on Dust and lots of it. They'll be expecting us to rob the Dust."
"But we won't," Mercury added.
"Won't need to. We'll be able to purchase all of the Dust required and still have money to spare," Sirius told Jett. "Mercury plans to oversee the job himself tonight, accompanied by Paris, myself, and Aurora."
"Aurora?" Orion asked looking up at Sirius. "Really?"
"Why not?" Sirius asked.
"If things really do go sour, you'd rather have Aurora than me?" Orion asked.
"Orion…" Sirius seethed through gritted teeth.
"Let him finish," Mercury said. Orion smirked and nodded to Mercury.
"If I'm not mistaken Sirius, I'm the one who saved you from Xiao Long," Orion reminded him. "You were so determined to show that girl how cruel the world could be that you underestimated her and she made a fool of you. I'm willing to bet that if I hadn't been there, you might have died." Sirius looked pissed, he knew that Orion was right.
"Take Orion instead," Mercury said.
"But sir!" Sirius protested.
"He proved himself last time, there's no need to play our ace yet," Mercury told Sirius. Sirius took a deep breath and bowed slightly to Mercury.
"Of course. I'll let Aurora know that we are not yet in need of her services," Sirius declared as he left the room.
"Do we need to worry about this Xiao Long?" Paris asked. "I fought with one of the 'promising' first-year students, I was less than impressed… He was more of a nuisance really."
"Team NITE isn't to be taken lightly. What Orion says is true, Neela almost killed Sirius, and the other three teammates of hers forced the twins to use their semblance. Even Athena has taken notice of them, they're first on her short list for securing Vale," Mercury explained.
"Camellia delivered the files to Crimson a while ago, Athena has some of her best work with Admon on decrypting them," Jett informed them. "Though if Athena fails, I wouldn't say we should go out of our way to take them down. Unnecessary precautions will get us nowhere." They all nodded. Jett stood first, Mercury following suit and shaking her hand. "It's settled then. I'll be back in a few months. I look forward to our next meeting."
"As do I," Mercury said.
"Paris, keep a level head," Jett told him. She nodded at Orion and left the room. Paris stood and left the room next, Mercury close behind. Orion smiled at the girls as they stopped beside him and rubbed his shoulders.
"Sirius could have died," Astra said.
"Orion saved him, Astra," Asteria said.
"Perhaps we should repay him, Asteria," Astra replied.
"Would that please you, Orion?" Asteria asked. Orion smirked.
I could get used to this.
NITE thinks they know what Stardust is planning and Orion is doing his best to move up the ranks. Next week, a peek into Ilia's past and another fight in Chapter 53 - NITE vs Stardust Redux!
A big thank you to Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!