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// Chapter V: Tank 
// Story: Cosmic Rifts 
// by Silvak 
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	When the Project Sinkhole became active, my hopes were that, when Equus was attacked, the forced ejection on Selene would leave the invading forces in ruin. If things went as I hoped, then we would have salvaged the remains of the enemy equipment to develop some kind of understanding of how they worked. Sadly, the reality we faced was one far from that; one that was sending those from the other guard divisions into a panic.

"All Aegis Guard units, get into cover!" I ordered through the radio, before scanning the direction from where the tank round came from. It didn't take long to spot the tank; a four-legged walker tank, with one cannon barrel on the right side of the turret on top, and two barrels on its left side that looked like anti-infantry guns. Seeing that it was directing its weaponry towards my squad's position, I shouted, "Everyone, stay behind cover, Gervas, call in air support to help take that tank down," before teleporting to a position away from my squad.

As my squad scrambled for better cover, the tank fired off another round from its cannon, taking down a tree that almost crushed Agate. Checking the rocket launcher I had, I saw that its readings were set to what I assumed to be the Xartik language, which I don't know how to read. I hope that soldier reloaded this thing before I blew his head off... I thought to myself as I aimed the launcher at the tank before pulling the trigger. Thankfully, it fired, a rocket shooting out that reached the tank… only to explode harmlessly on its shields. Regardless of the failure, I seemed to attract its attention as it turned its guns towards me, forcing me to dash to some cover, which took the form of a large rock. As I saw the green anti-infantry rounds whizzing by me, punching holes through any foliage in their path, I began to wonder what was taking so long the air support I asked for to show up.

"Gervas, where is th—" I started to say, until my cover was annihilated by what must’ve been a round from the tank's cannon. The resulting explosion sent me flying into a tree with enough force that I actually was sent through it, breaking it in two as I crashed onto the ground. After coming to a stop, I blinked for a bit, my ears still ringing from the explosion, and wondered how I wasn’t torn to bits, before shaking my head clear and ducking into cover again, this time the stump of tree I went through. Thank Luna that she and Celestia went through the trouble of getting this armor, I thought to myself as poked my head around the tree, only to be greeted with the walker’s guns, forcing me to dive back behind it as the gun’s rounds splintered the edge.

Crawling into the dense foliage left of the stump, I yelled again into my radio, "Gervas, where the fuck is my air support‽"

"They're coming Captain! They just had to keep their dista—" Gervas started explaining before I decided to interrupt him.

"Just get them here! I don't want to be sent through another tree again!" I yelled, before I heard another explosion, right behind me. Stealing a glance behind me, I could see that the hole-ridden stump was now just a smoking stain on the ground. Grunting at the fact that if I didn't keep the tank distracted, it would lay waste to the entire force, I pulled a grenade off my belt before tossing it in the direction of the tank.

"Sent through a tree? Again?" Gervas parroted, causing me to groan as my grenade exploded.

"That's what happens when you're sent flying by an exploding tank shell!" I yelled, as the tank fired its secondary gun all over the area. Knowing its main cannon would fire again soon, I dashed forward from my spot as more shots whizzed by my head. Looking in its direction, I saw that some soldiers have gathered around the tank as they fired at me as well. Knowing that without any heavy support, taking down that tank wouldn't be feasible without taking losses, nor would my shielding last long enough for someone to pull off an attack.

Thankfully, things start to turn around as I heard a pony calling out on my radio, "This is Delta Seven, I'm approaching the area with Delta Two and Delta Nine in tow, and I spotted the tank. Is there anypony in close engagement with it?"

"Delta Seven, this is Captain Aura. No friendlies are near the tank, so fire a salvo then back off for safety before doing another run on it if it survived the first one. There may be anti-air support nearby, so keep on moving and don't stay in one place for long. Once the tank is down, retreat back to a safe distance," I ordered as I started to put some more distance between the tank and me.

"Roger Captain, engaging target now," the pilot said, which was shortly followed by the sound of rockets being fired overhead. Taking a look at the tank, I watched as most of the rockets impact the tank, a few hitting the area around it, sending the soldiers flying like I was earlier.

After the smoke cleared, I saw that, while the tank was still standing, though its shield clearly failed based on the mangled metal that was the cannon. However, it was still active enough to turn its turret towards me, where it opened fire with the guns again, causing me to run for my life, only to be hit by two of the rounds, the rest spraying the round behind me. Once again, the shield saved me from taking any serious damage, but the impact of the round sent me flying off my hooves.

Hitting the ground hard a few meters away and tumbling across it, the tank loosed another burst of fire at me. One of those hit me, sending me sprawling into a ditch in a daze , with my shield thankfully holding. It was short moment later later when I hear another salvo coming from the attack copters, accompanied by a rather loud explosion that told me that the tank finally succumbed to the assault. Dragging myself out of cover and looking towards where it was, I took a moment to enjoy the sight of its smoldering remains... until I felt something yank me back by the neck.

"Gyak!" I croaked out, turning my head around to lay eyes on a Xartik robot, a type I hadn’t seen yet, it’s hand still clamped around my neck. Though my shields and armor kept it from being able to choke me, I saw it reach behind its back, pulling out what looked like a flat rod until I saw energy pulse out of it to form a blade. Not wanting to chance my shield against that, I lit my horn with my magic, distracting the robot, giving me enough time to teleport out of its grip. Appearing right behind it, I pulled out my rifle and opened fire, only for it to turn around and block it with a shield. That was when I fully saw how it was a different design from the regular soldiers; it bore heavier armor from the rest, with dark red lines running down its armor to differentiate it from the common grunts. What the significance of it was, I couldn't tell, and it wasn't going to give me a chance to find out as it charged at me.

I fired a few shots before rolling to my left before the Xartik could swing its blade at me. However, before I could aim my rifle at the robot, it was able to turn around and swing its blade back at me, forcing me to block with my rifle, which was cut in half as a result as I was forced back. "Just grand," I muttered to myself as I hopped back to get a bit of distance from my foe before placing my left hoof on my right foreleg armor. Flipping a switch, a blade came out of the armor, etched in runes and pulsing with magic as I held it in a defensive posture.

Seeing that I was actually equipped for melee combat, the robot took up its own stance, telling me that its programming included situations like this, causing me to lean towards it being a specialist after all. It circled around me, leaving me a moment to wonder why none of other Xartik were taking potshots at me, till it charged at me, only for something to crash onto it, crushing it upon impact and sending its blade flying into a tree.

"Fear not, guards, for the Princess of the Night has arrived!" declared the interloper that was known as Luna, her right hoof in the air as she pointed towards the sky. Lowering my right foreleg as I looked at her with a confused expression, Luna continued, "Ah, there you are Captain Aura. How goes the battle?"

Looking around for a bit, I saw that fresh troops from the Lunar Guard were landing, presumably following their princess, as I responded, "Can't say for certain, but they may have some tanks on the field. Already engaged one, so be ready for some more and possibly some other vehicle support. Furthermore, they're using rockets against our air forces, so we can't bring in air support except for quick runs, and only if we really need them."

Nodding, Luna replied, "Very well, my guard and I will handle it from here. This would be a good experience for me, since I will see how my magic will fare against their initi—" before the crushed robot moved a bit, promting Luna to smash her hoof into its broken head, silencing it, "—initial forces. Furthermore, it would be good to personally see how my guard compares to yours on the battlefield."

Pulling out the embedded blade from the tree, I held it next to my own blade as I said, "Very well, though please don't destroy their weaponry if you can. We need to salvage what we can, so we can send it to the Aegis scientists to analyze it," before clashing the two blades against one another. Withdrawing the Xartik blade, I noted that, while my blade was still intact, there was a notch where it was struck. "Even with magic giving us an edge, we still have a ways to go, and little time to make it up before the Xartik decide to bring everything they have against us."

Eyeing the notch as well, Luna commented, "You raise a good point. I will do my best to disarm the enemy before vanquishing them," before she raised her wings to take off, pausing when she saw me raising a hoof to stop her. "What is it Captain?"

"You're approaching this battle with a bit of flair judging by your 'entrance' and your choice of words. I advise you abandon that flair, cause we're going to be fighting a dirty war, where honor is a thing of the past, especially against the Xartik," I explained, causing Luna to frown at me before giving me another nod.

"Shame that was the fate that war came to have," Luna commented before taking off, as my ears perked at the sound of someone coming to me, causing me to turn my head around to see my squad and Gervas coming to my side.

"Captain, what are your orders?" Grevas asked while saluting me.

Giving him a flat stare, I answered, "You're going to follow Luna and coordinate our forces with her forces for the rest of the battle."

After giving me a second salute, Gervas flew off, allowing me to look at my squad where Agate questioned, "Why aren't we aiding Princess Luna?"

Sighing, I replied, "It's best if she handles this on her own, she might even figure out some things that I wouldn't be able to due to my background. Besides, we're going to try to drag as much weaponry off the field in case the enemy pushes us back. Now get to it, before another tank decides to send me through a tree—I’d rather keep it down to once a day at most."