Chapter 16: Stage of the Apocalypse
Chapter 16: Stage of the Apocalypse
“This is the way the world ends: not with a bang but a whimper.” — T.S. Eliot
Stonehenge Turret Network Type-0 airspace, Sudentor, Neue Gryphus/Belka
May 19th 2020, 1020 hrs
The Stonehenge crew rushed to their respective positions. They had just received the news that a large squadron bearing the kingdom and EAF I.D.s were en-route to their position. There was no doubt that a large scale air raid directed at the turret network will be conducted.
The cannons groaned as the supercomputers pointed the cannons to the north. Many buildings and skyscrapers rumbled when the cannons lined up to their positions. When the cannons were finally aligned, the large rounds were loaded before the cannons launched them, forming several shockwaves as the rounds pierced through the sound and rainbow barrier. They even gave out colorful streaks in their wake.
As beautiful as they may have seemed, these rounds were about to cause a lot of trouble for the allied forces.
After their rendezvous with Crimson Squadron and the unicorn battalions, Avion and Newt, the Stonehenge Strike team, as they were referred to by Marcus, continued their heading towards the massive railgun network. So far, they managed to bypass the early radar warnings by flying close to the ground. Both Avion and Newt decided to teleport themselves near the facility while waiting for the allied squadrons to arrive so they could begin their strike.
The Stonehenge Strike Team even received some nourishment along the way, and after hours of flying, they finally saw the city of Sudentor along with the railgun network in the distance. Some of the ponies whistled in awe at the size of the cannons, but they were soon greeted by the railguns themselves in the form of four huge explosions forming in front of them.
“Whoa, look at that!” one of the members of Northwind yelled before the secondary explosions and the shockwaves shook the skies.
“Dear Celestia…” Honey Rays muttered in horror as she felt the heat radiating from the explosion from their current location. Soon, Marcus’ voice came in to their comms.
“Altair Beta to Stonehenge Strike Team, we will commence attack operations against Stonehenge Type-0,” the griffon radio operator announced with a strong voice. “All unicorn battalions, initiate your attack immediately. Aquila and Verde squadrons will provide cover as you advance to the generators.”
“This is Quox of Avion Company. We’re advancing towards the first generator right now,” Quox announced. “We’ll be counting on you guys for support!”
“This is Fire Crackle, Newt Company,” the gray unicorn stated. “Making our way to the second generator. We hope that the Northern Eagles will lead us to victory!”
“The Northern Eagles?” Kite suddenly cut in. “I thought we’re called the Four Wings of Aquila?”
“Stay focused, lad,” Riddle warned. “This is Aquila Squadron, don’t worry. We’ll keep you guys safe.”
“This is Verde Squadron; you can count on us too!” Jet exclaimed in confidence.
“Hold your chatter; I’ve detected another wave of attack coming from Stonehenge! All teams get out of the danger zone!” Marcus warned as multiple red spots appeared on the teams’ scanners.
“Northwind 1 to all units, disperse and keep your distance!” Rod exclaimed. “We need to distract their fire to us!”
“Southwind squadron, follow me!” Ronin ordered to her subordinates. “Make your flying aggressive; get those scums’ attention!”
“You read my mind, ma’am!” Gilda smirked.
Marcus began the countdown for the attack as both Avion and Newt continued their advance towards the generators. The teams’ movement was halted when the explosions erupted right above them, but the unicorns casted their shield spells to protect themselves from the shockwaves.
“Here comes the secondary blast, hang on!” Fire Crackle yelled before the secondary explosion ripped through the skies and rocked the ground beneath their hooves. Several unicorns from both teams fell due to the force of the blast, and some of them, who were not directly beneath the shields during the explosion, suffered 2nd degree burns on their coats.
“Avion, report damage!” Quox demanded before her team gave the blue unicorn a brief report of the damage. Only two unicorns were wounded, but they were still in top condition to fight. Newt reported that three members received minor burns, but that didn’t hinder their combat performance a bit.
“Come on, let’s go!” Fire Crackle yelled as both teams continued their advance. Suddenly, the unicorns’ scanners detected a massive amount of Belkan troops with high to moderate magical readings heading towards them. “Fire Crackle, Newt 1 to aerial squadrons. We’ve got some hostiles heading our way. Request support!”
“This is Verde, hang on Newt. We’re coming in,” Jet responded as he and his team dove towards the ground. The Belkan leader noticed the incoming attack as he immediately warn his troops,
“Panzer 1 to all units, incoming enemy squadron! Open fire!”
“Keep those allied dogs away from Stonehenge!!”
The unicorns immediately fired their offensive spells at the incoming griffon squadron. Verde squadron responded by breaking their formation, making it very difficult for the unicorns to shoot them. Some of the members realized that they couldn’t shoot down the griffons, resorting to direct combat once the griffons neared the ground. Though some of them put a valiant effort to fight off the griffons, they were eventually overpowered by Verde and Newt’s combined might. The Belkan leader finally decided to call in for additional help.
“Panzer 1 to aerial squads, requesting support! We’re being slaughtered over here!”
“This is Titan and Ater flight. Hold on, Panzer, we’re heading over to support!”
Soon, more than three Belkan pegasus squadrons and two griffon squadrons took to the skies and headed straight for the allies’ location. Jet noticed this, and he immediately called in for help,
“Aquila, there’s a large number of enemy squads approaching from the network.”
“Roger that, Verde 1,” Riddle answered shortly. “Aquila squadron, spread out and engage at will. Make all your attacks count!”
The squad replied “Roger!” in unison before they flew out to engage the hostiles. As usual, Black Star and Kestrel decided to team up and take the middle pegasus squad first. Kite immediately accelerated, planning to use his speed to deliver fast strikes to the enemy. Riddle, on the other hand, stayed in place as he started to think about a viable strategy to take down the opponents efficiently. Two more rounds were launched from Stonehenge, and they went past the main team, just as Northwind planned. Rod and his teammates quickly dispersed and let the rounds explode harmlessly in mid-air.
Black Star and Kestrel immediately engaged the pegasus squad following the missiles’ explosion. The Belkan pegasus squadron proved themselves to be more persistent than their counterparts in Pisa, but they were still no match for Black Star and Kestrel’s combined might. They were also infuriated by Kite’s quick strikes, which distracted some of the members before they were taken down by Black Star and Kestrel.
“Verdammt! This is Ater 3, unable to engage!” a pegasus growled. “Requesting retreat for now!”
“Damn, what’s with this squadron!?” one Belkan griffon yelled in frustration. “We’ve got the numbers on this fight, how the hell did they managed to eliminate one of our squads with ease!?”
“I heard about them before,” his comrade spoke grimly. “A squad who bore that eagle emblem on their I.D.s…”
“No way… the Northern Eagles!? Here!? Oh, man we’re screwed!” the griffon groaned.
“Screwed, as we may be, we have our orders… For Neue Belka!!”
With that last battle cry, his comrade engaged the griffon duo… only to be dispatched with ease by them. The last griffon decided to engage as well, not caring about the outcome of the battle anymore. He too was defeated when Black Star rammed him from the front, dazing him long enough for Kestrel to deliver a precise kick to his head. Both Black Star and Kestrel clashed their talons together before they engaged the remaining enemy squads.
Fire Crackle also ordered his men to attack the incoming Belkan troops, though slowly, they were outnumbered when more enemy troops kept coming from multiple directions. The situation was also made worse with the constant explosions caused by Stonehenge’s rounds detonating above. Quox’s Avion Company also encountered the same problem until a spear thrown by Hammerdown pierced one of the Belkan soldiers.
“This is the 4th Royal Guard Division, “Regal” to Avion, sorry to keep you waiting,” Hammerdown said through the comm. Soon, another voice came in,
“This is the 3rd Lunar Guard Division, “Selene.” Hang in there, Newt, we’re coming to help.”
Sure enough, Fire Crackle watched as the bat-like ponies swooped in and tackled some of the Belkan soldiers. The unicorns tried to stun the newcomers with their spells, but the armour worn by the Lunar Guards easily deflected the spells. Hammerdown roared as he, along with Featherdust, attacked the Belkans without any mercy: angered by the atrocities they had committed on Pisa. However, they were forced to break off when one of Stonehenge’s rounds erupted above them.
“Incoming fire!” Marcus warned as the allied unicorns immediately cast their shields spells to protect the royal guards and themselves, but despite their effort, several of the unicorns and royal guards were caught in the secondary explosion, incinerating them on the spot.
“Newt 5 is gone!” Fire Crackle exclaimed in horror. “One of the Lunar Guards gone too!”
“Avions 7 and 9 are dead…” Quox said in a somber tone.
“Regal 6…” Hammerdown growled. “All Regal units regroup now, we will avenge our comrades’ deaths!”
The Royal Guards hollered in response as they continued fighting. The Lunar Guards and the rest of Newt Company also went back to engage the Belkan troops. Crimson squadron, who was tasked to keep on a lookout at high altitude, finally decided to descend and support the ground forces. The members of Verde squadron also increased their pace by eliminating most of the Belkan troops before they could arrive at the allied ground force. Aquila was still busy keeping the skies clear from any enemy squads, and so far, they were doing a pretty good job.
More Stonehenge rounds streaked past the main forces, heading straight for the distractor squadrons. Honey Rays had to admit, fatigue began to wear her down for a bit, but she knew that the simplest slips ups on this mission would be catastrophic. Her squad immediately gunned on the throttle when the missile was close, so she and the other could watch the explosions at a safe distance.
More rounds were launched from the cannons as the Stonehenge crew was growing desperate to shoot down these annoying pests from the sky. They knew that the three squadrons were just a distraction to fool the computers while the main force was inching closer to the generators’ location.
“All available squadrons scramble at once!” the main griffon commander yelled. “Stop those dogs’ movement before they reach the generators!”
“But sir, the Northern Eagles are one of them!” one Belkan pegasus snapped.
“I don’t care! We’re not going to let those dogs get their way!” the commander barked back.
“Altair Beta to Stonehenge Strike Team, more enemy flyers are heading towards your position,” Marcus announced.
“Aquila here, I see them,” Riddle responded. “Intercepting them now.”
Marcus then switched his frequency and called the distractor team.
“Distractor team be advised, you’re cleared to move forward. Prepare for the attack signal when the generators are down.”
“Northwind 1 acknowledged, Altair Beta.”
“Southwind 1, wilco.”
“Swallow Squadron, roger!”
Then, Quox’s voice came in to Marcus’ comm.
“This is Avion 1, Quox. We’re nearing on the first generator!”
“This is Newt, second generator in sight,” the brown unicorn stopped for a moment before continuing in a weak voice. “Celestia’s mane…”
“What is it?” Marcus asked in confusion at the unicorn’s behaviour. “Newt 1, do you comply? What’s the matter?”
“There’s a whole mount of machine guns stationed on the second generator…” he began. “… and they’re already tracking our movements.”
Another explosion went off in the distance as the distractor team inched their way closer to the site. Some of the Belkan flyers panicked when they saw how close the explosion was to their position, giving Aquila and Verde time to pick them off one by one. Fire Crackle on the other hand decided to do something stupid.
“This is Newt 1, I’m charging ahead to the second generator! Selene 1, you stick close to my flank if you want to live.”
“What are you planning on doing, Newt 1?” Marcus asked.
“Something very, very stupid, Altair…” came Fire Crackle’s only response as he grabbed Red Moon by his magic while casting a large shield in front of him. Red Moon soon found himself being lifted by the unicorn’s magic before being put to Fire Crackle’s back, all the while being shot with dozens of bullets.
“Newt 1! What the hay are you doing!?” Quox demanded angrily. Fire Crackle didn’t heed her words as he and Red Moon continued their brutal path to the second generator. Once they were close, Fire Crackle increased his speed, planning to knock the door leading to the generator down. Red Moon quickly caught on with his plan and decided to join in by extending his armored hooves to the front. Both ponies managed to knock the door down and safely entered the bunker.
“This is Newt 1, second… generator breached,” Fire Crackle announced between pants. Red Moon only managed to chuckle tiredly before he muttered,
“That’s the craziest plan I’ve ever been on… Don’t ask me to do it again.”
“Hey, we’re the EAF. When danger comes, we’ll be ready to get the job done!” Fire Crackle boasted as he quoted his drill instructor’s motto. Red Moon smirked; he too knew about the motto. Then, the two ponies immediately shut the large generator down, disabling half of the automatic guns. Suddenly, an alarm blared as an electronic voice announced,
“WARNING! POWER HAS BEEN REDUCED TO FIFTY PERCENT! UNABLE TO SUPPORT WEAPONRY ON THE WEST SIDE!”
Much of the Stonehenge crew was concerned when they received the warning of the sudden power drop. The commander himself was flabbergasted by how those EAF griffon dogs managed to breach the security system so fast. Panic swept him off from his mind as he directed every single squadron stationed there to stop the allied forces in any way. He also ordered the Stonehenge crew to keep firing at the skies regardless of position to take out as many griffons as possible. Marcus quickly warned the squads about the danger.
“Looks like they’re getting serious,” Riddle stated. “All squads, go all out! Show no mercy!”
Multiple responses from different teams answered his orders. Following the wake of yet another explosion, the griffons and pegasi immediately engaged the enemy with all they had. Quox and her team also encountered the same obstacle Fire Crackle had encountered, and already the blue unicorn was planning to do the exact same thing Fire Crackle had done. The only difference was that her whole team charged together.
The rest of Avion Company kept the shield up as Quox entered the bunker with Hammerdown. The main generator was huge, as it was filling up the whole bunker. Hammerdown quickly got to work disabling the generator while Quox readied a shield spell just in case the generator decided to blow up in front of them. The blue unicorn sighed in relief after a faint groan was heard as the generator slowly shut down. Another louder alarm blared as the same electronic voice announced,
“WARNING! POWER INSUFFICIENT TO POWER ARTILLERY. COMMENCING EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN.”
Those words were like music to the allied forces. Soon, pretty much all of the automatic guns stationed around and near Stonehenge went dead, including the jamming tower, which prevented Ursa Major from doing their job. Quox decided to be the one who broke the good news,
“This is Avion 1, generator one disabled. The jamming and anti-air weaponry are gone.”
“Good job, now that’s they way you do it!” Marcus spoke in an excited tone. The griffon regained his composure before he announced, “The jamming signal has ceased, and the anti-air guns are disabled. All units, you’re cleared to make your attack on Stonehenge!”
“This is Ursa Major 1, about time you guys done it!” the harpy griffon boomed. “Ursa Major Squadron, let’s deliver these packages now!”
Soon, five friendly signatures appeared on radar from the north. At the same time, four rounds were launched at the bomber squadron. Rot saw the incoming danger and ordered his team to hit the deck. The five griffon bombers dived until the explosions’ were out of range. The Belkan flyers immediately gunned their throttle to intercept the bombers, but the allied squadrons halted their advance and engaged them head on. Both sides struggled to gain the upper hand/hoof, but they were occasionally interrupted by the explosions.
“Ursa Major Squadron, 2 miles to targets.” Rot announced. Whether his squadron was getting some clearing or not, they were delivering these bombs if it was the last thing they would ever do. One Belkan noticed the griffon bomber squad getting closer and contacted his leader. His squad leader responded by dispatching four griffon flyers to intercept them.
“Titan 3, en-route to bombers!” one of them stated. “Engaging at wil—OOF!!”
His sentence was cut short when Kite streaked past him while delivering a jab at the left side of his ribcage. His other three comrades tried to engage the fast-moving bluish-white griffon, but Riddle knocked one of them out by delivering a quick wing strike at his face.
“Sir Wonderfalke…” one of them said weakly when he saw the blue griffon. “Please, sir… don’t kill me!”
“I won’t kill you if you guys stay out of our way,” Riddle said bluntly. The griffon was silent for a moment, before he lowered his arms.
“Very well, sir. I won’t.”
Riddle gave the griffon a smile and told him to leave the area immediately. The griffon nodded and left without another word. His leader saw his actions and called him out, calling him a traitor and coward for fleeing the airspace. The griffon could only respond,
“I respect you, commander. But I respected my father’s friend more.”
The commander growled when he realized who his subordinate was talking about. He quickly flew towards the blue griffon without caring about anyone flying around him. When he finally confronted the blue griffon, he raised his arm and pointed at him.
“How dare you return to the land you betrayed!” he snarled. Riddle just sighed in response. He recognized the commander when he saw the red feathers covering the tips of his wings and the two long feathers which extended on either side of his feline tail.
“Can’t say it’s nice to see you too, Detlef Fleisher. Tired of being a university professor?”
“Silence, traitor!” the griffon, Detlef, snapped. “I heard of Braunfalke’s demise at your talons, and I’m eager to take the risk of avenging my comrade.”
Detlef roared and attacked Riddle head on, however, the blue griffon parried the attack and retaliated with a double kick to his chest. Detlef coughed but he soon find himself within Riddle’s armlock.
“Listen to me for once, Detlef,” he began as both of them continued to struggle, “Orel Braunfalke made his choice at Pisa, you know that he was dying, right?”
“Quiet!” Detlef growled as he scratched Riddle’s face, causing the blue griffon to let him go. The red griffon faced Riddle; both of them stared at each other before Detlef continued,
“I know that! He told me himself, and that’s why he was so eager to bring glory to our once holy land!”
“But he failed,” Riddle said while he held the wound near his eye. “During our battle, he said that the Belkans had lost their own honor and pride by committing those atrocities. Civilians dead by the talons and hooves of Belka’s soldiers, and Braunfalke couldn’t bear it all… not with his illness eating his life too… so he asked me to take his life. Please, Detlef, stop fighting and see the truth. What have we become? Is this all really necessary to bring back old glory days?”
At first, Detlef was stunned to hear what the blue griffon had told him. He never heard anything that the Belkans had committed those atrocities, hell, the mercs never told him anything about all of the frontline operations. His anger reached his peak before he let out a mournful screech. When Detlef finally calmed himself down, he could only turn himself away and hover there. Not moving an inch.
“I’ll be seeing you, Detlef…” Riddle said before he flew towards the still ensuing battle.
“Maybe…” Detlef muttered to no one as he saw the bomber squadron fly past him from below. Stonehenge launched another round directed at the bombers, causing them to repeat the same drill on evading the explosions. Detlef looked at the direction of Stonehenge before he turned towards the city of Sudentor. Hundreds of civilians who refused to fight were probably still being kept in the quarantine zone held up by the unicorns. Some of his friends and relatives were there too.
A flash of determination formed on Detlef’s face. He knew what he had to do.
Meanwhile, Rot finally saw the opening he desperately needed. The harpy griffon quickly gained altitude before folding half of his wings to achieve the maximum speed for the GPB. The bomb was attached to several cables that were directly linked to the griffon’s scanner, and the bomb itself had several sensors that reads the airflow: showing how much speed was needed for the bomb to be successfully launched. Rot kept his eyes glued on the scanner as he slowly reached the designated speed. Once he hit the mark, Rot released the GPB, and the cables automatically detached from the bomb.
“Bombs away!” the harpy griffon announced.
Rot watched as the bomb glided at high speed until it hit directly base of the first railgun. Rot immediately yelled in triumph as he watched the cannon slowly tip forward with the barrel hitting the ground first.
“Hit confirmed! First railgun cannon destroyed!” Marcus announced excitedly. Rot did several somersaults at his success, while the rest of his team made a go-around for the second approach. This act greatly boosted the allies’ morale as the fight slowly switched to within the airspace above the railgun network itself. Stonehenge’s remaining cannons kept on firing rounds into sky in a desperate attempt to shoot down the allied forces. The distractor squadrons quickly shifted into the offensive with Ronin and Rod leading the way. The unicorn companies on the ground also fired their beams to distract the Belkan forces. Slowly, the Belkans were thinned out, but they weren’t going to give up that easily.
With Detlef missing, Titan 2 quickly took hold of the command, and his first orders were to call more flyers from the city. Two pegasus squadrons, Comet and Specialist, responded to his call.
“This is Comet 1, roger that, boss. We can take ‘em.”
“Specialist 1 here, we shall stop those Northern Eagles once and for all!”
When Riddle noticed the two new squadrons approaching, he only groaned in response. He switched his comm’s frequency and called his teammates.
“Aquila 1 to all Aquila units. Be advised, we’ve got two elite squadrons from the Neue Gryphus Defense Force approaching. Change of plans, Aquila 2, you accompany Aquila 4 on intercepting Comet. Aquila 3 wait for my signal.”
“What about, the other squad, sir?” Kestrel asked.
“Don’t worry about them, I’ve got something in mind for them,” Riddle responded with a smirk.
Black Star, who had just finished on taking down a Titan member, quickly contacted Kite, demanding his current position.
“Below you, cap’n Blake!” the small griffon responded. The dark-feathered griffon looked down and saw Kite flying below him. Both griffons streaked through the sky and headed straight for Comet squadron. The leader saw both griffons closing in and responded by spreading his squad out so they could surround the two once they were close.
“Alright, kid. Go all out on them on the count of three,” Black Star spoke. Kite quickly nodded as he began his countdown. When he reached “three,” Kite used every ounce of his energy in a sudden burst of speed. Comet 1 and several of his wingmates were caught off guard when the griffon streaked past them, dealing fast blows which stunned two members at once. Comet 1 was too distracted by the small griffon; he completely forgot Black Star’s presence until it was too late. The dark griffon’s fist hit his face, sending the pegasus spiralling down to his grave.
“Comet leader is down!” one of the members stammered. “Who’s responsible for that?”
“It’s the Ghost, the griffon with the black feathers!” another member exclaimed. “Take him down immediately!”
Black Star grinned in excitement as he accepted the challenge in silence. He just couldn’t wait to test the power of these so-called “elites.” Another explosion was heard from the distance as Ursa Major managed to deal another crippling blow to another one of Stonehenge’s cannons.
“Second railgun cannon destroyed!” Marcus announced. “Two cannons left.”
“Alright, Aquila 3. Head for Specialist squadron,” Riddle ordered. The pastel griffoness responded with a single “roger” before she flew off. “Aquila 4, make another go around and strike Specialist from behind once you’re close.”
“Got it, sir.” Kite chirped from his end.
“Specialist Squadron, stay in formation!” the leader barked when he saw Kestrel closing in, unaware of Kite’s presence above them until the last second. The small griffon zipped past the squadron above their heads and gave all of them a single slap. The squad soon fell into disarray, giving Kestrel a perfect shot to deliver two strikes at the leader and his wingmate. With both of them dazed, Kestrel grabbed both of their heads and brought them together, easily knocking them out from the sky.
“Hmph, so much for Specialist,” Kestrel sneered at the remaining members. In a fit of rage, one of them attacked her first, but Kestrel already knew how this was going to end. She gained some altitude at the last minute before delivering a hard kick to the pegasus’ spine. Another pegasus flew in to attack her, only to met his demise by Black Star’s powerful wing smack and Kestrel’s precise kick to his neck.
“Wow, that was quick,” Kestrel remarked when Black Star approached her.
“Elites, my ass, these are all rookies with over-inflated egos,” the dark griffon scoffed, causing the rest of the Specialist members to attack them all at once. Both griffons parried every single attack before retaliating with their own attacks, knocking some of the rookies out and sending the rest running for the hills. Black Star, Kestrel and Kite used this brief opportunity to catch their breaths, but something on the city soon caught their attention.
“Smoke?” Kestrel spoke out loud.
“I hear some yelling too!” Kite added from above. Suddenly, a brief but unknown transmission was heard from everyone’s comms.
“Citizens, let us fight—*static*—… mercenary dogs… —*static*…”
“What the… whose voice is that!?” Ronin asked from her end. Only Riddle knew the owner of the voice, but before he could tell the others about it, Marcus’ voice came in.
“Hold on, I’m tracing the signal right now,” Marcus stated before he went silent for a few minutes. “Tracing complete… it’s coming from the Belkan radio station.”
“Radio station? Geez, we’re in a war here!” Rot said in annoyance. “Ursa Major, ignore the broadcast. Keep attacking Stonehenge!”
“He’s right, we should focus on the mission,” Ronin added in agreement.
The griffons and the EAF squads continued their engagement, but something seemed to bother the Belkan troops as several of them noticed the smoke pillars rising from the city. This momentary distraction gave Ursa Major a wide shot on attacking the third railgun cannon. Soon, the giant barrel came crashing down onto the ground, spewing dirt and dust into the air.
“Third railgun cannon destroyed!” Marcus exclaimed. “Now there’s only one more left!”
“That cannon is mine!” Ursa Major 5 said in determination, but he was flying too close to the third cannon’s barrel. When the cannon fired, the shockwaves generated by the launched round threw him back. Unfortunately, the shockwave also ruptured his ears, disabling the griffon’s sense of balance. Rot tried to grab him before he and the last bomb impacted the ground, but Black Star got to him first.
Once Black Star brought Ursa Major 5 to the ground, the griffon stuttered,
“I can’t do it… the world’s spinning like crazy… Ugh! Ghost, you do it… there’s no time… promise me this… please, hurry…!”
Black Star looked at the injured griffon for a moment before he stared at the GPB and the specially linked scanner. With a single look of determination, Black Star nodded before he wore the scanner on his left arm and took the bomb with him. The bomb was quite heavy, but he was sure he could lift it off the ground.
“This is Aquila 2, I’m taking Ursa Major 5’s duties in destroying the final railgun,” Black Star announced.
“This is Ursa Major 1. Aquila 2, you can’t be serious!? Let one of my teammates do it for you!”
“No can do, your comrade put his words on me, and I can’t back down from a promise!” Black Star spoke again. Riddle smirked when he remembered the knight’s promise he and Black Star made with each other when they first met. Rot sighed before he spoke,
“Alright, have it your way, Ghost. Remember, the scanner will tell you if you’re fast enough to drop the bomb. You have only one shot. May the sun and moon shine upon you.”
A smirk formed on Black Star’s face when he heard those words. Though he was struggling, Black Star kept climbing to a higher altitude. It took him nearly five minutes, but he finally reached the designated altitude before he let gravity pull him down. He half folded his wings, straightened his body and hugged the bomb closer towards his body, trying to minimize the drag as possible. The speed gauge on the scanner rocketed, but it still wasn’t enough for him to deliver the bomb. With the ground inching closer, he completely folded his wings and hugged the bomb tighter.
“I think this is the first time I’ve gone at such speeds!” he thought just before the airspeed gauge hit the designated mark of release. Black Star quickly released the bomb and pitched up, starving his brain from the oxygen-rich blood due to the high G force. Black Star nearly blacked out and hit the ground, but Rod and Ronin came to his rescue, just in time as the fourth and final railgun hit the ground with a thunderous thud.
“Fourth railgun cannon destroyed… I can’t believe it…” Marcus stammered as he tried to find the right words. “We did it… we destroyed Stonehenge!!”
A loud cheer was heard from the allied forces while the Belkan troops and flyers could only gawk in horror as they saw their trump card lie in ruins. The commander quickly called them all back, stating that they were needed elsewhere at this moment.
Black Star regained his consciousness, although he had a minor nose bleed due to his stunt earlier. Rod and Ronin congratulated him for destroying the last cannon, despite him not being a bomber griffon. Even the Ursa Major squadron praised him for the destruction, stating that he will make a decent bomber with a little more training in hand.
“Now that’s a spectacular coup de grace!” Fire Crackle exclaimed through his comm.
“You said it, Crackle. It’s ironic really: during the Equestrian War, that griffon, Black Star really put us on the edge, but here? It’s like the area’s safe whenever he and Aquila squadron are around,” Quox stated.
Though he vision was still a little bit blurry, Black Star really appreciated all the praises being thrown at him. It was like he finally found his way back after reconciling with Kestrel. Suddenly, everyone’s comm beeped as Marcus radioed in,
“All units, I’ve got a mission update,” he began. “I’ve confirmed that there’s just been a full scale rebellion in Sudentor. The civilians are planning to revolt against the mercenaries and the Neue Belkan forces!”
Everyone was surprised when they heard the news. It seemed that not all Belkans had agreed on this little conflict being staged to reclaim their honor. All members of Aquila turned to see their leader gazing off at the capital city. His home and his family were in there… somewhere. With a voice full of determination, Riddle finally responded to Marcus’ call,
“Wilco, Altair Beta. We’ll do what we can,”
After finishing those words, he ordered the Aquila units minus Black Star to engage the hostiles threatening the civilians. He also ordered Black Star to stay put, stating that “he had done enough for today”. Kestrel was unsure about leaving the dark griffon, so she decided on staying to treat Black Star’s wounds. Riddle couldn’t say no to her decision.
“Alright, but join the fight when you can, captain. Aquila 1 out.”
“Take care of you boyfriend, ma’am!” Kite exclaimed from his end, causing both griffons to blush in embarrassment. The rest of the squad also followed suit as they all headed to Sudentor, all except Sapphire, who was ordered by Quox to get Black Star back in shape ASAP. Though the unicorn was still slightly wounded from her unfortunate accident during Kriegstreiber’s capture, Sapphire managed to heal most of her wounds to allow herself back to the front lines. She and quickly got to work on diagnosing Black Star’s injuries.
Meanwhile, Riddle and the rest of the allied teams finally reached Sudentor in no time. The civilians immediately cheered when they saw the allied forces’ arrival. One of them, a Belkan owl griffon with dark green feathers, recognized Riddle’s form hovering above the city.
“Bloody hell… I never thought ‘bout seein’ him again!” he spoke with a smile. He then reached for his comm that he carried with him and contacted someone. “Oy, Fleisher. Ol’ Wonderfalke’s here with the Northern Eagles!”
“Really? Huh, then he must’ve received my message earlier.” Fleisher answered from his end. “Go up to him, Bernhard. It’s time to bring the Knights of the Round Table back together for this fight.”
“You read my mind, Detlef!” Bernhard said excitedly. He then closed the comm and flew up to meet the blue griffon. Kite and several other griffons and pegasi immediately moved to their defensive, thinking that Bernhard was a threat, but Riddle immediately recognized the owl griffon.
“Bernhard Schmidt, I never thought I could see you again!” Riddle said as he extended his talon to greet his friend. Bernhard extended his own and shook Riddle’s talons while he chuckled.
“The same could be said for you, Wonderfalke,” the owl griffon smiled. “Detlef organized this little get together to reunite some ol’ friends of ours.”
“He wants the Knights back together, huh?” Riddle mused in interest. Kite felt kinda let out and decided to ask about the identity of this owl griffon. Riddle explained that Bernhard was also a former member of the Belkan Air Force, and he led the infamous 8th Tactical Griffin Squadron “Grun.”
“A pleasure on meetin’ one of the Northern Eagles,” Bernhard said as he shook Kite’s small talons. “We’ve great stories about you lots from those mercenary dogs.”
“Uhh, t-thanks…” Kite stuttered, feeling uneasy being in the presence of a famous Belkan ace like Bernhard. Meanwhile, the mercs and the Neue Belkan forces quickly fired their offensive spells and weapons at the group, causing them to split up to avoid the attacks.
“Yikes, feisty lots are they?” Bernhard commented.
“Yep. Say, Bernhard. Do you want to experience the old glory days again?” Riddle asked to Bernhard’s delight.
“Bet your ass I do, mate!” the owl griffon said in determination. Following those words, Riddle, Kite and Bernhard quickly broke and engaged any mercs they could find. Bernhard, being a more skillful tactician, directed Riddle and Kite to places that needed more air support than the rest. Rod and Ronin immediately directed their subordinates to help the civvies while eliminating any hostile forces they could find. Gilda decided to accompany Kite, stating to Ronin that she wanted to see the small griffon’s performance a little bit more. Unknown to her, Rave who was flying as Crimson 7, overheard her plans.
“Crimson 1, requesting to engage the hostiles at will,” she asked Blade.
“Crimson 7, permission granted. Go ahead, Ravencroft.” Blade answered from his end.
“Thank you, Crimson 1. Crimson 7, breaking off!”
Rave wasted no time and quickly flew to Kite and Gilda’s current heading. The small griffon delivered his attacks to enemy forces left and right while zig-zagging among the buildings. Gilda had to admit, Kite really did have some skills that made him a worthy member of Aquila.
“Huh, pipsqueak is actually owning them…” Gilda thought out loud after she punched a mercenary. Suddenly, Rave’s form flew past her and rammed a Belkan griffon who was about to attack the brown griffoness from her side. Gilda wasn’t exactly glad about her interference.
“Egghead…” she began with a smirk.
“Alpha bitch…” Rave replied with her own smug grin.
Suddenly, both of them noticed two enemy pegasi sneaking up from behind from opposite directions. Gilda quickly brought her fist and struck the first pegasus right on his snout, while Rave brought her own fist from below and delivered an uppercut on the second pegasus’ chin. The two griffons turned towards each other and smirked before Gilda began,
“One for me.”
“And one for me,” Rave added coolly.
“First one to get ten wins?” Gilda challenged in which Rave responded with a chuckle.
“You’re on.”
Both griffons then broke their stare and started searching for any enemy unit they could find. Meanwhile, Riddle and Bernhard were finally reunited with another member of the Knights of the Round Table: An azure-coated pegasus stallion with a lance and and shield cutie mark called Dmitri. So far, the trio’s presence alone caused massive panic and chaos to the mercenary and Neue Belkan ranks with some of the rookies fleeing for their lives after realizing who they were.
“Come back, you cowards!!” one of the remaining Neue Belkan commander yelled in frustration. “Gah, useless fools every single one of them!!”
He angrily activated his comm and contacted the one pony he could count on in times like this.
“Hog, where the hell are you!?”
“I’m busy, call me later!” Hog answered in a not-so-quite-himself tone.
“Sudentor is falling to this scums’ claws, and you’re more worried about your work!?” the commander said sharply, causing Hog to groan from his end.
“Eh, actually I never cared to any of that bullshit, commander,” the unicorn stated in an eerily calm tone. “Heck, I never cared for any one of you in the first place. With the finalizations of the remaining Z.O.E. drones, Valkyrie, and now the destruction of Stonehenge, my work here is done. My only duty now was to cleanse this whole area to eradicate any evidence from the Royal Princesses, and the King who sleeps in Avalon shall be the one to do it…”
Hog’s words managed to send chills down the back of the commander. What did he mean by cleansing this whole area? And who the hell is the King who sleeps in Avalon? It took him nearly a minute before he managed to understand what Hog meant.
“N-No… you can’t do that!” he yelled in horror.
“It has already been done…” Hog answered coldly. “See you all in hell.”
The transmission was cut off, just in time when Riddle managed to pounce the scared-stiff commander onto the hard stone street. The blue griffon pinned the commander down before he demanded Hog’s location from him. The griffon commander snapped out from his trance and began to stutter,
“Wonderfalke… h-he’s going to destroy everything! Hog, h-h-he said that… The King who sleeps in Avalon has been awakened! Sudentor… destroyed… wiped off the map!”
“Calm down, mate!” Bernhard jumped in as he landed beside the blue griffon. “Now be a good soldier and tell us clearly.”
“N-no, you don’t understand! He will destroy everything!! Esser, Hog, Valkyrie… Sudentor is doomed!! We’re all going to die!!”
The griffon began to pant rapidly with his eyes darting towards all directions. He was clearly on the edge of sanity. Riddle sighed and let the griffon go, and decided that it would be best for them to search the Sudentorian city hall to find Hog. Both Bernhard and Dmitri agreed before the trio took to the skies, heading straight for the city hall while eliminating any hostiles that dared get in their way.
Once they arrived, the trio quickly got into the city hall, but they found it empty. Dmitri motioned them to split up to cover even more ground. Bernhard was unfortunate enough to find bits and remains of Esser’s victims, be it griffon or pony. Riddle, however, managed to find Kriegstreiber’s former office. The blue griffon quickly got to work by activating the computer and started typing some commands into it. To his frustration, all of the data on the computer had been erased. Suddenly, his comm crackled to life as Dmitri’s voice called,
“I saw him! He’s heading for the back exit through the mess hall!”
Riddle quickly got up and headed straight for the mess hall where he met up with Bernhard. They both saw the kitchen door swing a little bit and headed straight for it.
“Dmitri, talk to us! Where is he!?” Riddle called again.
“I’m in pursuit; he’s taking a shortcut through the alleyways!”
Riddle and Bernhard exited the building through the back exit and resumed their pursuit. They finally saw their friend flying over a corner on a nearby street. They poured more energy into their wings as they rounded the same corner and resumed the pursuit. The growls and groans of Dmitri were heard as the pegasus finally tackled the unicorn just near the duo’s location.
Finally, they saw the green unicorn struggling to free himself from Dmitri. As he tried to teleport out from the pegasus’ grasp, Riddle quickly punched him in the face, causing the unicorn to lose concentration for his spell.
“Wonderfalke…” the green unicorn hissed.
“Grimmsworth… or do you prefer Hog?” Riddle asked with a smirk.
“None of that matters now, all of you along with me shall be gone before nightfall!” Hog exclaimed before Dmitri shut him up by punching him in the face.
“Quiet, dog!” he growled. “Now tell us, what kind of message did you send to Avalon?”
“A scorched earth policy!” Hog spat between pants as his mouth curved upwards into a malicious smile. “Soon, the great King Valkyrie will come and scorch this pathetic city into nothing! We, won you fools! We got what we wanted! Esser cannot be stopped! You may have liberated Sudentor, but you still lose!”
He then used his tongue to remove one his teeth, which turned out to be a disguised cyanide pill. The green unicorn crunched the pill before the trio could stop him. Soon, foam began to form in his mouth as the unicorn’s body started to tremble.
“My task… urgh… is complete… Hail… Argh! Exiles—URGH!!”
Hog was cut off when his heart finally stopped beating, and his body went limp. Dmitri and Riddle could only stare in silence as they got up and distanced themselves from the corpse. Bernhard could only exchange several glances at Dmitri and Riddle before he asked,
“I suppose we should issue an evacuation?”
“Agreed,” Riddle responded. “Whether he’s bluffing or not, we should act before it’s too late.”
“But first, we’ve got to get everyone to stop fighting,” Dmitri pointed out. “And I doubt that Detlef could do such a thing, even with his charisma.”
“Then we tell them the truth. Bernhard, Dmitri, you guys tell Detlef about the situation. I’ll contact Gryphus Command Center to relay this information to them,” Riddle stated as he began his march back, while Bernhard and Dmitri took off and headed back into the chaos. The blue griffon opened up his comm and decided to call both Black Star and Kestrel to tell them about the situation.
“Aquila 2 and 3, are you there?”
“This is Aquila 2, what is it, sir?” came Black Star’s voice.
“Blake, we’ve got a serious situation here,” Riddle said in concern. “You two and whoever’s left up there need to get to Sudentor ASAP. Details can wait for the minute.”
“Understood, sir. Blake out.”
As soon as Black Star ended his transmission, Riddle switched his frequency and contacted both Altair Beta and Alpha about the situation.
“Understood, Aquila 1. I’ll have Marcus to scramble the GRGs to Sudentor immediately. They will secure a safe route for the civilians to evacuate,” Saetos spoke from his end.
“This is Altair Beta, already sending some GRGs. I’ll alert the second strike team at Avalon. Keep me posted with updates, Aquila 1. Out.”
Satisfied with the responses from both controllers, Riddle closed the comm as he re-entered the still ensuing chaos that engulfed the city. Mercenaries and Neue Belkan troops were beaten back, and some of the wounded ones were dragged away by their comrades to safety. The not so lucky ones were captured by the civvies and were beaten to death. Riddle kept his eye open as he made his way through the tangled crowd, avoiding punches and delivering jabs and slashes to those who dared attack him. Suddenly, something amongst the crowd caught his attention; he moved closer and saw a light blue griffoness fighting a Neue Belkan griffon with a metal pipe.
“Gertrude…!” he thought before he rushed towards his wife’s side. The griffoness, Gertrude ,mistook him as an attacker and quickly brought her pipe to hit Riddle’s face, but the blue griffon caught it just in time.
“Hold it, Gertrude! It’s me, Ratsel!” he exclaimed at the angry griffoness, hoping that she would recognize him. Gertrude’s face immediately lightened up before she embraced the blue griffon with tears of happiness rolling down from her eyes. Riddle returned her hug without a second’s thought.
“Ratsel… thank the stars you’re safe…” she choked between sobs. “I was so worried…”
“Me too, Trudy. Me too,” Riddle said softly while he stroked Gertrude’s feathers.
As the two griffons were savoring their reunion, a loudspeaker installed on top of the city hall screeched to life before Detlef’s voice sounded from it,
“People of Sudentor! Please, I request that all of you must cease your fighting and heed to my warning!”
Slowly, the battle started to die down as the crowd was curious about what sort of warning Detlef had in his mind. The allied squadrons and teams also stopped to listen to his words.
“Griffons, ponies, brothers and sisters! For far too long, we have been living inside our own cages made by bitterness and hate for the Griffin Kingdom. But that hate poisoned our minds and let that fool Kriegstreiber and his goons into our land!”
Everyone stayed silent as Detlef’s voice grew in each word he spoke.
“They deceived us, played us like puppets on strings, making fake promises that eventually leads to this! Look at yourselves, my fellow Belkans! What have we become!? This isn’t us, and there’s no doubt now that we deserve to be hated by the world…”
Loud mumbles were soon heard from the crowd as they looked at each other and to themselves. Some of them dropped their weapons in shame, knowing fully well that they had let their hatred consumed them.
“A wise griffon once told me, ‘hatred cannot be the only motivation for war; it only brings about more pointless deaths.’ Kriegstreiber fueled our hatred, turning us into mindless monsters that needed to be put down. Esser, the supposed mastermind behind this conflict, intends to destroy Sudentor, along with us by using his ace card: Valkyrie! Please, put down your weapons and let us escape before death comes to our front door.”
Several gasps and worried chatters erupted from the crowd. The allied squadrons and teams were shocked to hear this as well. Without wasting anymore time, the squadrons, along with some of the Neue Belkan troops, directed some of the panicking civilians to several exits from the city. Several mercenaries decided to flee from the scene, although a small number stayed behind and helped the civilians escape. Riddle and Gertrude, however, had other things in their minds: they needed to take their children with them.
The mass evacuation was proceeding slowly, but smoothly. Those who were already outside the city limits met the GRGs and were directed to a safe route which lead them to Pisa, Dinsmark, and several other Belkan cities.
Black Star and Kestrel flew above the large mass, crawling to the exits as they kept their eyes open for their leader. They finally saw Kite, Gilda and Rave, who were busy directing several stray civilians to the main crowd. Both griffons descended to greet the trio and asked them about the situation.
“We’ve got to get these griffons and ponies out of here, Captain Blake!” Kite said in concern. “This city’s going to be destroyed by that maniac and that dragon, Valkyrie!”
Kestrel was mortified by Kite’s reveal, while Black Star was severely disgusted by it.
“Where is he?” Black Star growled, causing Kite to back up a little bit.
“That’s the thing, sir, we don’t know,” he stated. “Hell, he could be anywhere!”
Both Black Star and Kestrel gazed at the clear skies above, silently pondering the brown griffon’s current location. Meanwhile, Riddle was finally reunited with his two sons: Elinor and Riedl, the latter being the elder. Their reunion was cut short when Riddle told them to escape with the other civilians, promising them that he would return once he was done clearing out the city.
“No, Ratsel,” Gertrude objected. “I’m not losing you again, and like it or not, I’m staying with you.”
Riddle just sighed, but before he could respond to his wife’s statement, his comm beeped, indicating an emergency message from Marcus. He activated it and let the griffon controller speake through,
“Aquila 1, I just got an update from Avalon,”
“What’s the update, Altair Beta?” Riddle asked.
“That’s it, sir. There have been no updates nor radio contact from the Avalon Strike Team. Their IDs had also disappeared from my screen,” Marcus stated. “It’s strange ,since Thunder Battalion, the team in-charge of Operation Valkyrie, always posts an update on the miss… Wait, I just got an incoming transmission from them now!”
“Patch it through, Marcus. I want to hear what he has to say,” Riddle demanded, to which the griffon operator complied. After the transmission was patched, a stallion’s voice could be heard from the static-filled transmission.
“This is Collins…—*static*—der Battalion… Is anyone there…?—*static*—”
“Collins, this is Altair Beta. Where is Lieutenant Bertz, and what is your current situation report?”
The stallion, Collins, could be heard sobbing and panting for a moment before he responded,
“They’re gone…—*static*—… Bertz, Baelz… Crossbow… Jade… everyone…—*static*— in this operation are gone… —*static*—… I think… I’m the only survivor…”
Marcus’ exasperated sigh could be heard from the comm.
“Collins… what exactly happened down there?” the griffon operator asked again.
“It happened too fast…—*static*—… that awful screech, large wings…” the stallion then changed his tone, as if he had hit a realization. Riddle and Marcus felt the urgency in his voice. “The Valkyrie!…—*static*— it has awakened… and it’s heading your way!!… —*static*—”
Both griffons went silent as cold sweat began to form on their skins. Before they could do anything, both griffons along with everyone else in and out of the city, heard an unusual sound coming from the west. Then, they felt some kind of shockwave pushing them off their feet or throwing them off balance in the air. Once the shock wave subsided, all of them found that all of their electronic devices were offline. Several lights in the buildings also went out after being hit by the mysterious wave.
“What’s going on?” Ronin said in confusion as she tried to reactivate her scanner. “My scanner and comm are both dead.”
“Same with me, ma’am!” Butterclaw shouted as she too tried in vain to reactivate her equipment. The entire city went deathly silent and everyone was still figuring out what was the cause of the strange explosion and shock wave. Rod had since gave up on trying to reactivate his and decided to survey the mass migration from on top of a building. Suddenly, something in the sky caught his attention,
Something big.
With no way of contacting everyone, Rod spread his wings and dove down as quickly as he could. He finally found Riddle and his family.
“Sir!” he yelled to get the blue griffon’s attention. “SIR! There’s something in the sky!!”
Before Riddle could even get a chance to respond to Rod’s call, nearly everyone present looked up and started pointing at the sky. The ones who could fly quickly gained some altitude so they could see the thing more clearly. What they saw was something that came out from a science fiction movie.
A large skeletal dragon with an incredible wingspan of over 30 meters landed near the mass crowd of refugees. When the dragon finally landed, his weight caused a minor tremor that caused several refugees to fall on the ground. He folded his massive wings and used them to support his body weight. The dragon was huge, bigger than any dragon the griffon or the EAF forces had ever seen in years. He was about 23 meters in length and 12 meters in height. What really made him stand out was that his whole body was composed of many jet-black bones with massive power machines installed inside his rib cage, stomach, and along the spinal cord. Robotic joints stuck the bones together while steam was floating out from them. Two metal fins were placed on either side of the dragon’s head, while two glowing red orbs made up his eyes.
Everyone froze in fear as the dragon stood still, not moving an inch since his arrival. The dragon then turned his head sideways and rested one of his eyes upon the terrified populace. Then, nearly everyone’s hearts jumped out of their chests as the dragon opened his mouth and let out a screeching roar which shook the heavens.
Valkyrie has arrived.
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Ladies and gentlemen...fasten your bloody seatbelts.
4961013
It's going to get bumpy from here on out!
Damn, this is going to be intense!
4987296
Looking forward to yours too.