The Color of Steel

Part B - DUTY, Chapter 1

Traethpont, despite supposedly being of the same nation as Bryngarth, was a far cry from the agricultural hub in virtually every way imaginable. She felt the difference as soon as the cargo hatch opened, letting in air that smelled of oil and traces of a hundred other chemicals. Slipping past the workers unloading the plane revealed an airport in a state of disrepair. Rather than the intentional lack of activity in her prior location, this place seemed that someone was actively trying to keep it in shape, and simply did not have the tools to do so. The walls had visible patch jobs in a number of places, and grime collected near the edges of the floor despite the cleanliness of the central areas.

A quick detour on a cart much like the one that had gotten her onboard the plane in the first place brought her to the main area of the airport. Leaving presented little trouble, and she was soon confronted with the view of Traethpont's dismal skyline. Rather than the towering corporate offices or agricultural labs, it was dominated by heavy smokestacks and a fog that could have fooled someone into thinking the city had been built in a miasma-ridden plain, rather than on the mountains most of modern civilization dwelled upon. Indeed, part of the smog was likely similar in nature to the miasma; magical fuels and reagents were among the exports of the city, and provided the reason for the massive fortress that dominated the western part of the horizon. It was the largest garrison in Andunon, even larger than the ones in Rhosarn and Mawrdin.

Unfortunately, this did not translate to stability. Impressions of a rampant criminal underground leeching off of a dissatisfied, disillusioned populace echoed in her mind. She remembered her missions being more difficult here because of all the interference. From her brief observations, it also seemed worse than it had been, in terms of the cleanliness of the streets and visible signs of poverty. She wondered if that was related to her current objective; Arthurson had been enacting campaigns to clean up the city and stave off the various harmful effects of industry in the area. It seemed that in her absence, things had slid backward.

She double-checked the information she'd saved to her uplink earlier. Her target wasn't to be found within the endless forest of stacks atop the factories, but in the smaller commercial district of Traethpont. To get there, she only needed to navigate a narrow strip of the sprawling industry in the city, and then the residential neighborhoods the corporations had wrapped themselves in a vain attempt to isolate themselves from the pollutants that seemed to spew from everywhere. The effectiveness of this tactic was dubious, but her understanding was that it was quite good at ensuring the enmity of the populace.

Leaving the airport left her with several route choices. She could simply cut straight through the town and head in a mostly-direct path to her destination. A large road manned by a few of the remaining taxi companies could likely bring her close to her destination quickly. They had a reputation for being difficult to coerce; it was a useful trait in a place like Traethpont, but it also meant that they were less likely to simply give her a free ride for fear of government reprisal. The third was, of course, the tunnels. Traethpont's were more extensive than Bryngarth's, but less interconnected. The mapping was also poorer, by a brief search. The city's infrastructure was more decentralized than most, with individual companies often maintaining their own systems for the patches of land they owned within the city.

224 slunk forward into the shadows between buildings as she considered her options. The direct route had the most potential for running into slowdowns. She was still uncertain whether she had truly encountered a human trafficking organization earlier in Bryngarth, but if she were to have another encounter, this was prime ground. She had no doubt that she could defend herself from such, but doing so would take time and run the risk of early detection by both the government and her target.

The main road was likely out. There would be few physical obstacles to her, but she would be even more conspicuous than usual traveling along it, and judging by the maps, it wound enough to significantly increase the distance she would need to walk. The utility of not dealing with obstacles was limited as well; it wasn't as if she would realistically be able to use her top speed without drawing attention.