What Have I Done?

Chapter 2: What Lies Below

Orion got up extra early that morning and made his way back to the Iacon Hall of Records. His eyes were set on the databanks and he quickly found the data chip for Kaon's economy.

He checked it; no fights were mentioned. Then he checked the records of the mines. They were highly successful, but again, there was no mention of violence save for a few collapses in the more unstable portions.

Collapses... Orion frowned, pulling up the information about the collapses. There was a few minor ones, and about one large collapse a month, all randomly spaced apart and at different time periods... but they all had nearly the same amount of casualties. There was a pattern. Almost as if it was a front.

He got up and found the mine records for Burthov, which was supposedly Cybertron's most energon rich mining center. Based on the size of the mine, worker amounts, energon density, and the price of raw energon at each location, Burthov mines should be making five times as much money as Kaon.

But it was only making twice as much.

It didn't make sense, but if what Megatronus had told him was true, then a fighting ring would attract currency as well, making up for the gray area. And the whole operation would be covered up by the implosions.

Megatronus told him the Council had made it legal, but if that was true, then there should certainly have been records of it. As such a large and secret operation, it would also need influential sponsors and–

Someone cleared their throat and Orion yelped, throwing his datapad into the air in surprise. The silver mech standing in front of him swiftly reached out and caught it.

Orion looked up, "M-megatronus. I'm sorry, uh, did you need something? Or course you need something, or else you wouldn't be standing there. Or maybe you don't and you just–"

Megatronus cleared his throat again and held up his data chips, "I am returning these."

Orion sighed, "You don't have to return them until your done."

"I am done."

"Oh," Orion grabbed the chips, "you read these all?"

Megatronus nodded.

The archivist stood up and headed for their proper sections while the larger mech followed behind him.

"I don't mean to pry, but I saw your datapad. Did you find anything interesting about the Pits of Kaon?" Megatronus asked as he offered the datapad to Orion.

Orion frowned, "No and yes. There wasn't anything on your fight club, but the mines of Kaon are making far more profit than they should be. Enough so that your assertion would fit. I will have to look into it further."

Orion finished returning all of Megatronus's data chips and turned, seeing that the large mech had gathered more as they were walking.

"The public resource datapads have a section list on them," Orion informed him. "You can search up more subjects and they should tell you where to find them."

Megatronus scowled, "Does that mean your shift is ending soon?"

"No, I just thought you would rather look it up than have to ask me for help. I've been told before I talk too much," Orion explained.

"Not at all." Megatronus smiled, "It is nice to have someone knowledgeable to ask about my queries."

Orion grinned and the two of them parted ways, Orion to his desk and Megatronus to the datapads. An older mech was waiting for Orion.

"Alpha Trion," Orion blinked in surprise, usually the older mech summoned bots to his office, "is there something I can help you with?"

Alpha Trion smiled, "I looked into the problem you asked me about. It seems that datapad reading is getting old. People aren't replacing their pads for newer versions as much anymore. That is the reason for our frequent problems."