Chapter 5
Team Bravo
Fourteen years after the Collective decided to terminate the keepers who had been influenced by emotions and the ponies that were allied with them.
(Enter epic war music here)
Eutisis solar system Front
476th strike force “War Horse”
“Mission Command to Party Rocker, Mission Command to Party Rocker” Night Shades voice came over the radio.
“Party Rocker” Fireball responded.
“Eclipse has broken through estimated time two minutes.”
“Right, we have your window Party Rocker out.”
“Command to War Horse.”
I activated my communicator “I heard ya two minutes.”
“Commander Dream Catcher?” the Transport pilot called.
“Yes?” I answered.
“The landing area is too hot but there’s a clearing at the mountains base a mile out...”
“No were going into the thick of it pilot.”
“Sir?”
“Fireballs demolition squad is down there clearing the way.” Just as I said these words there was a huge explosion at the enemies shielding station.
“Party Rocker to Command, your green” Fireballs voice came over the communicator.
“Rodger that” Night Shade replied. “War Horse we lost the lead wasp (transport) your team is now point.”
“Got it” I then stood up and looked at my squad that was made of all humans that could perform magic. We learned early in the war that the Collective had a hard time tracking creatures of magic which made this team the perfect strike force to go behind enemy lines. “Ok men” I called “For fourteen years this war has been taking the lives of those precious to us but now is our chance to make a difference! Down there is the control station for the collectives forces in this sector. We take it down and the war is that much closer to ending, hooah?!”
“Hooah!” the men screamed in reply.
I spread my wings as the transports door opened and took off while my squad transported to the rocky battleground below. I quickly surveyed the landscape plotting the best path to take to the objective before a squad of brain bots forced me to land. The landscape was filled with humans, vehicles, and machines shooting every type of energy weapon imaginable some of which were heat sinkers, those I hated the most. Above us were a multitude of flying robots fighting unmanned craft that were for the most part controlled by the minds of those on the control ships. Cloud Striker and Screwball were both respected pilots of the coalition’s air force and were surely up there watching our backs. Above the planet though was where the real battle was happening between twelve of the Collectives Nimbus Class Destroyers and ten of the Coalitions Super Class Battle cruisers. Night Shade was on the Battle cruiser The Eclipse, which was the flagship of the forces in this sector. So much has happened during these last fourteen years of fighting, we had seen things that no pony was meant to see and it wasn’t going to end anytime soon.
A sudden laser brushing against my personal shield brought me back from my thoughts as we made our way to the control station. This was our third attack on this particular facility the first two raids ended badly but today we managed to break through the front lines, in other words there will be no retreating. “Aughh, bucking robots” I yelled as another shot broke my shield forcing me to take shelter until it recharged.
“You ok commander?”
“Yeah” I looked up and saw a row of enemy stationary guns “buck” I cursed as I laid my body against a bolder to think.
“Those guns will tear us to pieces if we go any further commander.”
“Right, Sergeant Holk take Jim and Findwick with you and give us cover fire from that ditch” I said pointing to a trench on our right flank. “The main body will then flank the guns from the left while they are turned.”
“Yes sir” Sergeant Holk saluted then made his way to the spot with our two heavy gunners, once in position they engaged the enemy.
“Now move!” I yelled and stepped from behind the rock shooting energy blast with my horn. “Ha!” I cried as the first three guns I aimed at exploded into a shower of sparks. The men used their rifles and made short work of the rest of the turned guns before they were able to react. I tried using a rifle before but being a pony it was difficult to handle but even though my horns energy blasts was not as destructive it got the job done. We stopped just outside of the Control Stations perimeter “Sergeant status report” I called.
“Commander the main force has reported that we have been cut off by the enemy, we are on our own” Sergeant Holk reported.
“What about The Eclipse? It should be here by now.”
“Reports say that another enemy ship has warped into orbit and slowed their advance.”
“Great just great” I muttered. “Only one path left for us then” I replied “Forward!”
We started our slow advance towards the Control Station taking heavy losses as we climbed over scrap heaps and bodies. The situation became more desperate the closer we got to the stations black walls. When the realization that my squad would be surrounded and eliminated just like many others had been before us charging up these same rocky slopes a glimmer of hope appeared in the sky above us. It was a small blade looking fighter plane that we knew all too well The Pillar of Honor Cloud Strikers personal attack craft. A sudden array of energy blast erupted from its front annihilating a line of bipedal robots that were racing towards us.
“That crazy SOB” an awestricken soldier said next to me “always has to dive into the thick of the enemy to prove his worth.”
“Much good his honor will do him if he winds up dead” I replied. Cloud Striker had made it his goal to always take the enemy head on where he was strongest in order to what he called “collect the spoils of war” or what I call the pat on the back for being stupid enough to take on an entire army by oneself. Needless to say he had been shot down more times than I could count but he did get results. Command has tried to convince him to use the unmanned craft instead of putting himself at more risk than he needs to be but Striker only saw that as a dishonorable way of fighting. Like some bully hiding behind his thugs instead of standing up like a stallion and fighting his own battles.
“Thanks Striker” I called on my communicator.
“Ha ha! The weight of justice falls upon them like a hammer on an anvil” he cried back through the communicator as he made another pass clearing a path to the Control Station.
“Now men, move!” I screamed as we made a mad dash for the station and set up a perimeter ‘Private Stern the charges! Private Stern?”
“He was killed as soon as we landed” Sergeant Holk stated.
My eyes widened with fright “please tell me somepony grabbed the charges?” the men looked away not responding “You idiots!!! We have to go back for them.” I looked down the path that we came from and saw a huge force of robots coming our way “were dead.”
“No you’re not” I then heard a voice. I looked to the side and saw Fireballs exhausted ragtag team coming towards us, they were in bad shape.
“Am I glad to see you!”
“Heard your troops screwed up again” Fireball commented.
I stared at him, Fireball was almost a fully grown stallion and extremely powerful which could be seen by the magic brimming through his bodies hair which made him look as if he was on fire. In fact sometimes he did catch on fire when he was mad just like a phoenix would. “I will have the men divide the charges between them next time” I replied while Fireballs men started to set their charges on the Station. That’s one thing that was certain about fireball and his troops they always had an abundance of explosives.
“Good because I won’t always be here to bail you out.”
“Oh, like I haven’t bailed you out too!”
“The score I believe is 12 to 7”
“12?”
“Remember the jungle pit incident with the giant purple slugs?” Fireball replied grinning.
“Oh, right” I remembered after so long of trying to block that particular memory out of my mind.
“Commander Fireball! Were good to go” one of the pyro technicians called out.
“Let’s clear the area then” Fireball replied.
“Yes Sir!”
I then looked at my troops “you heard him unless you want to be caught in the blast.”
“Sir!” they replied and we took cover wherever we could for the impending explosive.
Suddenly a huge fiery wind leapt from the Station followed by a huge blast, even though I was behind a bolder it still rattled my very core. I looked at my men some of who were unfortunate enough not to get good cover and was sent flying several feet away. It took a few minutes to get the ringing to stop in my ears “dang it Fireball! Why do you have to use so much explosives? That was twice than what was needed.”
Fireball grinned “After all this time of trying to destroy this thing I think that putting an exclamation point on its demise was most appropriate. Bro, I bet that they even saw that explosion from orbit! Hope Night Shade got a picture.”
I heard a crash around us as the brain bots started falling from the sky. Without the control station to guide them they had stopped functioning, the same was true for all the enemy forces on the field. “Night Shade how is your end?” I asked through my communicator.
“Enemy ships are silent, now we get to reap the spoils of war and rewrite their programming to help Emotion 1 fight the collective” she answered back.
We had two computer A.I.’s that were created early in the war the first was called Emotion 1 which controlled our own replicating robot force to combat the Collective throughout the universe. The second A.I. was called Emotion 2 which directed the human forces in the war. I looked at the sky and saw that The Eclipse was entering atmosphere it looked very similar to a fat arrowhead as its monstrous size blocked out the sun. Its large size was what actually earned it the name Eclipse. “I will never get used to seeing that” I thought to myself as one of the blue search lights fell upon us and beamed us onboard the ship’s deck.
“Dream Catcher, if you ever worry me like that again I will kill you!” I heard Night Shade yell as she suddenly hugged me from behind.
“I’m..sorry it shall n..ot happen again” I manage to squeeze out.
“You are such a liar!” she replied letting her grip on me go. “This is the third time you made that promise.”
“At least we get results, and I’m fine by the way” Fireball replied sounding crossed.
“Dream Catcher is my battle partner besides, I have given up worrying about you a long time ago Fireball. Especially after all the experimental explosives you make your troops carry.”
“Experimental or not they have more boom.”
She rolled her eyes at Fireball’s comment then looked behind him “Speaking of crazy ponies that I have given up worrying about…Cloud Striker.”
“That I am grateful, making friends worry would be disrespectful to them and in turn myself” a fully grown Cloud Striker replied. On top of his head were a pair of mechanical goggles which improved a person’s sight and reflexes. Next to him was Screwball who was also full grown, her purple hair was more dark and richer than when she was younger but her long straight main was darker still and had some strands of blue in it. She looked like a normal pony except her eyes had a multitude of different colors swimming around her pupil as if threatening to hypnotize those who look at them. She also still acted odd compared to most ponies that I knew, but at least she had gained control over her powers over the years.
“So where’s our new mission?”I asked.
“Home” Night Shade replied “Emotion 2 is sending us to Planet 447.”
“Where it all began.”
She nodded at my statement “Of course the planet is highly populated by the Elite class so fighting will have to be done more carefully. However that will be difficult considering the large quantity of enemy that we will engage. We have learned that the control station is in the old facility where we used to live so at least we won’t have to search for it.”
“Aww, what a shame that we have to blow that hell hole.”
“Fireball…” I began.
“It’s alright Dream Catcher if I spent my time there being experimented on while strapped to a metal table I would hate the facility as well” Night Shade replied. “Even though it was my home we will destroy it like all the rest but I think that my platoon should be the ones to destroy the station.”
It was rare for Night Shade to join the ground battles but instead she usually directed them from the Eclipse. I could tell that she was having some difficulties with the battle ahead being on her home planet even with her putting on such a brave face for the others. “I understand” and I did “me and my soldiers will come with you for support just in case things get too hairy.”
“Bah” Fireball snorted “and my men will still beat you two to the control station.”
“We shall see” Night Shade replied sticking her tongue out at him.
“Humph, that we shall oh master of the shadows” Fireball then walked off, his hoofs leaving hot embers with each step. It always amazed me that he was able to handle explosives without setting them off.
A red light then came on “All crew to battle stations and brace for hyperspace, were going in hot” the captain called over the intercom.
“Yes! More honor to be had. Come my friend Screwball we will soon be needed to clear the skies for the landing party” Cloud Striker excitedly yelled.
“You know? We should have all the ships painted pink!” Screwball suddenly stated out of the blue. “Imagine a fleet of pink ships in the sun’s rays oh, and some yellow too!”
“Screwball could you imagine what the enemy would think if they saw pink spacecraft? Don’t be so outrageous. Besides they would be too easy to hit with the anti radar paint gone.”
“How about glasses then? The Collective wouldn’t dare hit a poor ship with glasses, the war would be won!”
“I doubt it will be so easy, besides how could we gain the spoils of war without the enemy fighting back? No, it’s too ridiculous to even think about.”
Cloud Striker and Screwball then started to walk away towards the hanger’s teleporter “how about giant puppy eyes…” I could barely hear Screwball mention before the teleporter door closed behind them.
I felt a warm hand stroke my main as the ship lurched forward “We should get going too Dream Cather” Night Shade replied then started towards a teleporter room. I glanced towards the glass observation screen showing the stars warping around us at increasing speed then followed her into the room. A sudden flash of blue warm light engulfed us then faded revealing a hanger of thousands of Wasp transports and large mechanical machines of destruction.
The ship slipped out of hyperspace and began its strategic bombardment of the planet’s surface while the fighters began their assault on the enemy’s air force. It took three hours before the ground forces were given the green light to start their decent.
“You ready Dream Catcher?” Night Shade asked.
“Girl I was born ready! Let’s show these robots what we can do.”
“Right, Kick it!” The pilot nodded and the ship started its free fall towards the planet’s surface. The ships dropped hard and fast to avoid the planets defense turrets but right before we were about to crash the engines kicked on and we tore through the sky. This was the part that I hated most of the flight the sharp fast turns and occasional rolls which made many including myself airsick.
“Mam, the main force has started to deploy twenty miles from the objective” the pilot called.
“Good we are closer than I thought we would be. Pilot take us to the ridge a mile in so we can start our forward operations before the Collective has time to gather its strength.”
“Yes mam” the ship swooped in and landed in a nice clearing after scanning it for magnetic mines.
The men quickly exited the craft and set up a perimeter “now let’s see what the enemy is doing…” a large holographic picture appeared before her showing our units in blue and the enemy in red as they began to clash with each other. We stayed around the hologram studying the enemy’s movements looking for an opening that our strike force could exploit. This was the most important part of the operation one mistake could set the invasion back for weeks. “There see that” she pointed to a crater on the map “if we take out the bridges the enemies ground units will have no choice but to maneuver here to support their main force.”
“Yes! And during that time the enemy’s forces would be weak enough to push through, Good eye Night Shade.”
“Of course, was there any doubt?” she asked with a smirk.
“Of course not, never” I said out of reflex.
She patted me on the cheek “Your sweet Dream Catcher” she then left the tent to relay the information.
I looked after her as she stepped out of the portable invisible tent the men erected. Night Shade and I were very good friends but lately it seemed that she was becoming more than that. “You ok sir?” a soldier asked.
I then realized that I was blushing and turned my head from the men in the tent “Of…of course I am, just excitement…from finding a weakness in the enemies formation, yes that’s it.” I gave a slight smile then slipped out of the tent as fast as I could. Glancing up at the sky I realized that it was becoming dark, it was amazing that a planet with two suns and sixteen moons would have nights but it did.
The next two weeks our forces managed to blow the bridges allowing the ground forces to gain an advantage in the fighting but even after all that we still had our hands full trying to carve a path to the command station. “Six more miles, six more miles, six more miles…” I mumbled as we climbed a particularly steep ridge to avoid a large enemy force patrolling the area.
“Well it would be six miles to the control station but after all the detours it will likely be around thirteen” Night Shade replied.
“That’s…not helping” I stated between breaths. “At least you can climb these rocks but I’m stuck taking the steep paths.”
“I told you that I could teach you to climb.”
“You know that I have no hands to climb with.”
She gave a small chuckle “I had no idea.”
I glared at her “you’re having too much fun with this Night Shade. If it wasn’t for the fact that these portable camouflage disk don’t work with the skies backdrop I would be flying circles around you right now.”
“You know now that I think of it you will probably end up going around 14 miles…” her voice trailed off as she turned away trying to hide a slight smile forming across her face.
As we climbed up the cliff to get a better reading of the enemies forces I could see hundreds of the Elites domed buildings littering the landscape. We tried years ago to show my memories to the Elites in order to gain more men for the fight but their minds were not advanced enough like the keepers. Years of ignorant bliss suddenly interrupted by other emotions or memories drove every elite we tried it on insane. Instead we now grow new soldiers in a factory on Planet 214 to replace those that are lost in battle and leave the Elites alone in their little sphere paradises to gape at the pretty lights in the sky from the battle steadily coming their way.
“Alright back down we go Dream Catcher” Night Shade replied after she hooked up the tracker unit on the top of the cliff and camouflaged it.
“Great” I replied looking down at where we came from.
“Come on, stop being such a baby!” she replied and started making her way down. After allowing myself a sigh I followed after her. As we reached the camp a communication came from command.
“Command to Shadow Master.”
“This is Shadow Master” Night Shade replied.
“We picked up an anomaly close to your position; you are to investigate sending location now.”
“Understood, any theories on what it can be?”
“Not of yet but be careful it could be an enemy trap, command out.”
“Well that was interesting…” she replied.
“What is?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing much Command just wants me to check out some unknown anomaly over the ridge.”
“What?! That place is crawling with enemy, you can’t go!”
“It was an order, I have to.”
“Then I’m coming with you for backup.”
“My men can handle it Dream Catcher you should stay here.”
“Not after such heavy losses last week you need backup.”
She stood there thinking about what I had said “Fine but don’t do anything stupid I can’t lose you.”
“You won’t as long as we stick together we are unbeatable.”
She gave a small smile at this and we soon began the force march to the ridge with Night Shades troops on point and mine in support. As we neared the destination we received a report from a recon unit over the communicator.
“Say that again private it sounded like you said alicorn” Night Shade called back regarding the static filled report.
“We (Static) it’s an alicorn” the call came back.
“Private is it Fireball?” she asked but all that we heard back was static. “It’s a jammer” she cursed.
“We have to go its most likely Fireball or maybe Striker was shot down again either way this is now a rescue mission” I replied.
She nodded “right we will pick up the pace” she then motioned the men to move faster signaling that we were on a rescue mission.
As we neared the location fighting suddenly picked up I dove pushing Night Shade down with me as a laser cannon flew past us from an enemy floater (tank). “Thanks” she yelled over the blasts that now surrounded us as our forces engaged the enemy.
“Couldn’t let my battle partner get hurt now could I?” She nodded at the comment then at once we got up and started to blast the robots that were now swarming over a hill at us.
“What was that?” Night Shade called.
“What was what?”
“Someone’s calling your name cant you hear it?”
I listened closer and even through the confusion and loud explosions I could hear my name being called. Fireball? No, it was too sweet and couldn’t be Screwball for she was on the control ships behind our front line. I looked at the direction the voice was coming from it was a familiar voice almost like from a dream long ago. “No” I said to myself seeing an object coming out of the smoke “It can’t be” but it was my eyes widened “mom?”
“Dream Catcher?! Dream Catcher?!” Luna called in her Canterlot voice. There was a battle raging around her between human soldiers and mechanical monsters shooting powerful lasers. “My little boy…” she sobbed in her mind for how could any pony survive in such an evil place “No! I won’t give up” she stated to herself. “Dream Catcher?!” she called again.
I could not help but stare my mind was in shock “how…could it be an enemy trap?” However my heart told me that it wasn’t that my mother had somehow found her way to this hell hole. Suddenly a floater stopped and turned its evil gaze at Luna who was staring back wide eyed as it charged its weapon “No!” I screamed as I ran from cover towards her.
“Dream Catcher!” Night Shade yelled as she tried to grab me and pull me back but she was too late.
“What are you bucking doing? MOVE!!!” I yelled mother partially looked at me but couldn’t move she was too frightened. I have seen soldiers die like this all the time but not Luna not my mother “buck” I screamed as I pushed her out of the way and was struck by the energy cannon which shattered my shield and sent me flying. When I came too I saw the floater coming towards me then explode as Fireballs troops entered the battle and started pushing the enemy back.
“Thank thou for saving us” Luna stated kneeling at the poor wounded Stallions side. His leg and half his hip was severed and losing a lot of blood “Please tell us thou’s name brave horse also does thou know our son Dream Catcher?” she asked as magic flowed from her horn in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding but she knew that it was futile.
I looked up at my mother’s blue eyes “she doesn’t recognize me? Have I changed so much throughout the years?” I thought. I tried to get up but couldn’t suddenly a sharp pain brought tears to my eyes.
“Shhh, thou should try not to move” Luna stopped the stallions head from looking at his wound “don’t, please.” Suddenly a weird looking human pushed her out of the way “Please let us…” the human slapped her across the mouth.
“You shut up! This happened because of you!” Night Shade yelled with tears in her eyes. She then looked back at her wounded partner who was losing consciousness from the loss of blood “Medic!” She yelled “don’t worry I’m here just stay with me.”
“mo..ther” I mumbled as the world became hazy around me then all went black.