//-------------------------------------------------------// Spark Wars - New Change -by AverageSMILEnjoyer- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter II - The Windy Skies Of Kitein //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter II - The Windy Skies Of Kitein Chapter II - The Windy Skies Of Kitein I was speeding through the Thunderhead’s streets once more, with the neon-decorated punk already out of my mind. Getting back to N didn’t take long at all, and I already flew my airspeeder towards the same pillar, only from the other side. There, an already open hangar door was waiting for me, with only a transparent field isolating the place from the outside wind. I steered towards the opening and flew inside. The field didn’t hinder my progress in any way, and only projected a blue stripe on top of my hull as I passed through. It was an empty hangar, and definitely much cleaner than the storage hall N showed me earlier. There of course were some thick fueling tubes and a pile of crates in the process of being hauled away by a single DUM droid. There were plenty of docking places to settle in, so I picked one at the furthest side and hovered over a white grid of lines marking the docking spot. The onboard computer of my speeder had then no problem deciphering the grid into a set of docking coordinates and automatically landed the speeder in a perfect orientation after a single button press. The windshield popped open and I jumped out, while at the same time looking around for the striped merchant. It wasn’t hard to spot her. N was walking right up to me with murder in her eyes and a duo of bulky security droids. Reassuringly, one droid pushed a hovertable before it, on top of which was seated the black robo-bug, and right next to it the compacted Mr Handy with its three eyes and arms hidden in its shell. I couldn’t help but to step back a bit as she approached, “Uhh… No hard feelings?” I gave her a nervous grin. I had no idea what she was up to, but she couldn’t plan on stuffing me into a recycler, right? Why else would she bring along the two droids on the hovertable as well? The ‘murder’ on her mind, however, did not reassure me at all… N stepped towards me with a stern look, and poked my chest with the tip of her wing, “You really pissed me off today, kid.” There was a tense second before N glanced at the hulking mech by her left side and nodded towards me. I tensed up as the thing whipped out… ...a briefcase? I expected a weapon, but I won’t shed a tear if I don’t get to stare down a blaster barrel. Thankfully the machine opened the lid and revealed a small golden disc as the contents of the briefcase, placed right in the middle inside a black filling. She wanted me to pay. I took the credit bank in my magic, trying hard to not look like I almost shit myself. “That said, you were right.” N continued. I didn’t need to feel her ‘shit-eating-grin’ to know she was enjoying me having a taste of my own medicine. But then again, I kinda did the same to her earlier so... fair enough, I guess. “Huh?” I just registered her words. I was right about something? N rolled her eyes, “After thinking on it for a while, I would rather you have the droid than some smug bastard from the Exo.” I couldn't help but to be suspicious of her. N was never 'genuinely nice', "Uhh, thanks?" I proceeded to slide the disc into my HoloPone credit bank slot, before using my newly acquired family account privileges to transfer fifteen thousand credit units the credit bank asked from me. I of course double checked with my anti-slicer software and the amount of credits. Then I typed yes to everything and off my credits went into the bank’s credit storage to be used by N in whatever she’s up to these days. I hope whatever she's up to doesn't involve the Homestead, but considering her unusual interest in our Masterclass, I don't think we will be so fortunate. I'm better off leaving and consulting my family first though. We can deal with N's scheming later. I finished with the credit bank which popped up from my HoloPone and I levitated it back into the briefcase. N then nodded towards the other droid by her right and it then pulled the hovertable towards the back of my speeder. *beeb* A quiet chirp came from N's HoloPone which caught the zebra's attention. “Alright, I have a customer to get to. If it’s everything, you better get going.” I nodded and walked off towards my airspeeder. Just in time, as N’s droid closed the cargo holder and walked back to its spot next to the zebra, “See you sometime then.” I nodded to her. “Don’t tell anyone you have it, Violet.” N said, her 'serious-now' gave me a stop. "Uh, sure?" I lifted an eyebrow. “As you yourself said, it’s painting a target on your back.” And with that the Zebra merchant walked away. Leaving me to board my speeder and head on home as well. ``` \ / ==°o•o°==< / \ ``` Forty minutes later I was already in my airspeeder speeding once again across the dark Kitein skies. Liara already set a random course towards the homestead and the Thunderhead was long out of sight. I was flying at a much higher altitude than usual, as this time I wasn’t about to sleep through the journey and was in need of some entertainment. I briefly thought about skipping the random trajectory and making a beeline towards the homestead since nothing ever happens anyway, and with a cargo like this I would really like to be home hours earlier than risk someone snatches me on the way. But in the end, I decided against it. I like to think I never met anyone because I never flew in a straight line or otherwise predictable pattern, and I definitely shouldn't stop with it now. Especially not at this altitude. I was playing something called 'Dejarik'. It caught my eye a moment ago on the Scale, and I decided to download a copy. It took a while to get it this far from the city, but the higher altitude helped with that. So far, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. All I knew was that there were monsters, and they beat the shit out of each other. My mind was not entirely in it either. I only mustered to tap on the holo-screen without any thought or drive to learn how the game works. No. My mind was currently bringing to focus N's earlier warning. That droid is painting target on your back. I knew those were my own bullshit words, but for some reason hearing someone else say it finally snapped together something in my brain. Maybe I should have put some serious thought into it before buying a sketchy droid of sketchy origins from a sketchy merchant. But can anyone fault me? The thing was just sitting there, all depressed-like! I could almost hear the Take me, Violet! You are my only hope! No way was I going to leave my robo-bug-buddy to spend the rest of its robo-life scrubbing toilets or being torn apart for being a rare curiosity. I was really looking forward to learning something about myself from its databanks! Now that I had the time to think about my actions though... I can't help but think who else would be interested in the droid. The droid's previous owners might be one, and since they have 'Empire' in their name, there are only two scenarios I can come up with. Either they might not even care for one lost utility droid, or they might really not be into some idiot parading around with a piece of their technology. I laid back and looked out at the stars outside. The game already forgotten. Thankfully no-one knows I have the droid... yet. And if I am lucky, I bought it before the news of its existence spread around. I'll have to keep a lookout for anything suspicious either way, when I am headed into the city tomorrow again... Suspicious stuff like, friends informing me there was someone asking about me, or stuff like people following me around the city. ... Waiting around my speeder for me to get back to... … People thinking for example, 'there-she-is'... "Shit." That drake I saw was a massive red flag if I ever saw one. Damnit, his brain was literally broadcasting he was waiting for me specifically! He was probably a lookout, checking which speeder I'll get into. Then sending that message along to other thugs so they knew who to follow... "Liara?" "Yes, user Violet?" The VI responded. I gave a glance outside. "Are there any other vehicles in range besides me?" The starry night sky would definitely make it harder to spot anything, but if I had stalkers, they would be ten miles away anyway, if not further. There was a moment of silence, before Liara replied. "Negative. No vehicles detected within a fifteen mile radius." At least not the obvious. There are ways to avoid rudimentary detection systems. Anyone could just turn off their repulsor lifts and be practically invisible on the radar, buuuut since there is the whole gas planet thing... Then again… following anyone across Kitein was not the only option to find out where they are headed. There is one, much easier and reliable method. Suddenly, I had the feeling that the drake added something extra to my speeder. Unfortunately, I couldn't just hop out and look for any suspicious devices on the go. Getting face full of air at mach one is not a pleasurable experience. My head whipped up. "Liara, stop the speeder!" "Command accepted." The vehicle started slowing down until it eventually stopped and the thrusters in the back went cold. Only the repulsor lift kept me steady, and was the only thing keeping me hovering above the depths of the abyss below. "How far away are we from the homestead?" I asked while I rummaged through the side contrapment for my personal scanner. "We are currently one-thousand and three-hundred miles away from the Hors Homestead, user Violet." That was good. If my theory was correct, I realized it early enough that they wouldn’t be able to determine where exactly I was going. Especially since I wasn’t flying predictably, otherwise they would just feed my flight path to an algorithm and I'd be screwed either way. I managed to find the device and levitated it towards me. A tiny black display was at its center, and when I turned it on, two antennas spread out from its sides, blinking and beeping sporadically. “Wait, shit. That’s not it.” I threw the device away, and looked at the bottom of the compartment. “Aha!” I exclaimed and levitated out a small flat block with antennas. The scanner came with a HoloPone port as well, and so I didn’t waste time and detached a small cable from my foreleg and connected the two devices. Already I could easily read the reading of the scanner displayed on the holographic display of my foreleg. All that remains is to go outside and scan every inch of my speeder. "Alright. Liara, open the cockpit." I ordered and slid the purple windshades back down onto my eyes. At once the cockpit opened and the Kitein wind quickly rushed past my face and got caught in my hoodie. The purple windshades covering my eyes did their job well, but the hoodie reminded me I’ll need my wings for what I was about to do. Short struggle to get out of my white hoodie later and I stood up in my whole butt-naked glory. All around me was nothing but darkness and air, with only stars and one of the two Kitein’s moons, Smoulder, visible on the horizon. Red never liked the sheer expanse of Kitein. The thought of a single floating island in a never-ending abyss of just straight up death still sometimes kept even her awake. Not me though. I grew up on Hors Homestead. Blu always envied my ability to shrug off the abyss and even deliberately go out and yeet myself off the farm for a selfie. I whipped out a pair of macrobinoculars sitting on top of the dashboard, and searched the horizon through them just in case. It was completely fruitless of course. If there truly was someone following me, they could be ten miles above me or twenty below and thirty away in any direction. Still, I couldn’t help but to try, just to scratch that itch in the back of my mind. It was like a cold breeze went down my spine standing out there on top of the speeder’s hull, though that could have just been the wind moving through my white fur. With resignation, I let the binoculars slide down and deposited them back on the dashboard. Then I lifted my left foreleg with the HoloPone and the still levitating scanner in my red magic. "Let's do this." I commented and aimed the scanner downwards. Then I turned my gaze towards the HP and the data on it. Seeing nothing suspicious, I aimed the scanner elsewhere and repeated the process. ``` \ / ==°o•o°==< / \ ``` It went like that for a while. The scanner was beeping, my HP found nothing, and I balanced on top of the speeder and slowly made my way across its surface, until eventually I covered even the cargo holder and the two passengers inside. I even checked the loudspeakers. A system I hooked up to blast music on the outside. I once scared the living daylights out of Red with that one. That was fun... Still reaping the punishment, though. Right now I inched forward on my belly towards the very front of the blue M31 on top of the one intact pike and next to the missing one, scanner levitating and scanning. Yet still nothing showed up on my HoloPone. I sat up in a huff, with my hindlegs dangling over the edge. Strangely, I did not feel reassured. Yet, if I found something, it would have been worse. Still. I had to check the underside. *WHOOSH* I transformed and black exoskeleton covered my body once more. I looked over my back and watched my elytra open. Then I started pumping my wings. VRRRRRR My two sets of wings turned into a blur with the sound of a rotocopter drone and lifted me into the air, and then the task of finding a bug in my speeder continued. The wind was no problem for me. Being in a family of pegasi, I quickly learned that twenty miles is fine, ten on Kitein is unheard of, thirty is a work out, and with forty don't expect a journey back. Thirty minutes of zipping around the speeder later, I was back in the cockpit. Thinking. Yet again I found nothing. There was only one more thing I could do, but then I am giving up and going home. Honestly? I should have done this first. "Liara?” I exclaimed, “Has there been any irregularities when I was absent? Any weight changes? Interference? Anything?" "Negative." Liara unfortunately replied. "There have been no detectable changes to this vehicle to my knowledge during your absence." Welp. That's it I— "Any recorded irregularities started after your return." Liara continued. That made me raise an eyebrow. He definitely did not plant anything in front of me, he was way too far and I would notice. It could be some kind of dart tracker when I was taking off... No, I would definitely find something like that just now. "Liara. What was the irregularity?" I asked. "Repulsor lift, channel two has been zero-point-seven percent less efficient during the flight to the Hors Homestead than the flight to the Thunderhead." My eyes widened. "You smart son of a Beldon." Of course the sensor wouldn't find anything you big dummy! The bastard stuffed it into the repulsor lift exhaust port. Sensors have trouble detecting any electronics this close to a repulsor lift's gravity knot. Immediately I sprung up again and leaped out of the still open cockpit with a buzz of my wings. I flew under the speeder and hovered in front of a small grid of slits from where a faint glow and a gust of hot air was coming from. Then I lit my horn and made it glow white, illuminating the insides. There it was. A small grey cylindrical device was latched inside the narrow slit of the repulsor lift's exhaust port. Carefully, I enveloped it in my red magical field and the thing popped off without any resistance. Then I levitated it out and flew back to the top where I sat on the speeder’s hull to take a better look. It was a tracker alright. I am a tech geek and these things are the first thing little-me looked up when I learned about them. Now that I found it though, I pondered what to do with it. I could disable it, take it home, take it apart, and maybe even figure out who used it if I was lucky. Though... I already had a decent idea. First, I took a picture and saved it into my HoloPone. Then I dropped it and watched as the device disappeared into the abyss below. Wind Raiders. The scum of Kitein. Bunch of bandit groups banned from every city, flying around and causing trouble. I really dodged a bullet. Lately I heard stories about them scavenging gas farms like the Hors Homestead to keep their own ships afloat. They have to, as hardly any merchant would deal with them if they themselves don't want to become an exile. Yet... The one thing that didn't entirely make sense, is why me? No way anyone found interest in me because of that droid. Not this early. That tracker was planted there sometime when I was only going to N's. As in, before I even knew I was going to buy it! Honestly? I almost wanted to write this whole ordeal as a coincidence, and assume I just got unlucky and someone noticed a certain luxury speeder was regularly going from and to the city and probably carrying someone rich. They probably wanted to grab me on my way home for ransom... "Liara." Yeah... I should probably move on. Liara would set off a proximity alert if anyone came, but by then they would have me alone as well. "Yes, user Violet?" Liara replied when I didn't follow with a command. "Set course for the Homestead. Lowest safe level." I said. Flying this low was definitely one more layer of protection, as the effective range of sensors was lowered. "Command accepted." Liara obediently announced and the M31 started once more with a downward trajectory, vaguely in the direction of the homestead. Unfortunately the connection to the Scale network would be handicapped as well, and I was still about two hours away from the Homestead which would extend into four due to the higher pressure of air in the lower layers through which Liara would fly in a zigzag pattern on a spiral path. I really didn’t look forward to spending that time counting stars and worrying about what have I gotten us into by buying that droid. ... I should probably call auntie too, before that option is taken from me... ... One hesitant sigh later, I lifted my HoloPone and brought up my usual messaging app. Violet, you are typing. I blinked and there was another message. 020123NH-RedSky> You never think before hitting send. Something went wrong, hasn't it? I went red-faced. Violet? I could feel the presence of Red's lifted eyebrow all the way over here. Fine. And mind your grammar! Pffft. As if anyone cares about grammar when texting. 020216NH-RedSky> I heard that!