After making their way into the spire, Trixie and I both took a moment to catch their breaths. Going up against a fully grown Spider Tank on their first mission was not something that they had anticipated. Trixie deactivated her visor covering to wipe a bit of sweat off of her face while saying "I sure hope we don't run into many more of those Boss." I just nodded in agreement. There was a pause before Trixie asks "So what is the plan now."
I lifted up her rifle making sure that it was still to go before saying "Same as before. Kill the bad guys, link up with the rest of the squad and complete the mission. Twilight- 10 should be further into the spire and Twilight-16 should be near the top."
"I hope they haven't run into too much trouble."
"I'm sure they are alright but the sooner we link up the better. I don't like leaving my sister's alone for too long."
With that said, we both started to make our way deeper into the spire. I was taking point while Trixie was off to my right and behind me, keeping her eyes focus on what was ahead and what could be coming up behind us. When we came up to a locked door, I had Trixie blow open the lock which would force the door to open. Such an action would cause the bugs on the other side to be surprised and wouldn't have time to react before we put them down with accurate blaster fire.
As we were moving, I kept my scanners up hoping to pick up Moondancer's signal. I knew that it had to be close by but I wasn't sure how close it was. It wasn't until we got in front of another door that I heard the sound of fighting going on. Acting quickly, I ordered Trixie to blow the door lock while keeping my focus and rifle on the door.
As soon as the door opened, we saw Moondancer was in combat with two drones. Before I could have a chance to shoot at one, I saw her tackle one of them while using the vibroblade attached to her armor to slit its throat. Staying in the motion, she pulls her pistol out and brains the other drone leaving them as nothing more than a bloody sack. Lowering my rifle since I could see no more threats, I smile before saying
"Nice job there MD-10."
Moondancer nodded her head before placing a hoof up to her helmet and saying "MD linking to your HUD now sir." I nod and placed my head up to receive the connection. A quick look over saw that Moondancer had taken some hits but didn't appear to be in critical condition. Making a note to be on the lookout for any kind of healing station, I look to the other side of the room only to see a force field blocking our way. That wasn't going to be an issue as there was also a console nearby. Pointing at the console, I said "Get to disabling that force field Moondancer."
She nods her head and makes her way to the console. I watched as she got to work hacking the interface, a knowing smile hidden under my helmet. At our home, Moondancer had developed a knack for hacking and computer splicing making her an invaluable member of our team.
Trixie made her way to watch the force field and we saw that a few drones appear to be moving into position. No doubt they plan to open fire on us as soon as the field went down. I looked over at the show mare and said "As soon as the field is down toss a Light Sphere." Trixie nodded her head and using her magic pulled out what appear to be nothing more than a simple black ball.
The moment the field was down, which happened the minute Moondancer said "Hack complete", Trixie tossed the ball at the group of drones. They all stepped back and started to disperse as if expecting an explosion. However no explosion happen. Instead the ball suddenly started to glow with a bright white light which was strong enough that even with our helmets on we still had to turn away from it. Once the light cleared out, we turned around and proceeded to shoot the now disoriented, blinded drones. Once all of them were taken out, we reloaded our rifles and began to continue up the spire.
Eventually we found ourselves in a large area where one side of the room was open up to show the sky. Parked in front of the open wall was a few of the fliers that the Changelings use though they were currently unattended to. Perhaps it was due to an oversight or something but I knew that I couldn't just leave those fliers alone. After all if I did that would mean more of our own fliers dying. Putting my hoof to my helmet, I activated my comms before saying "Twilight Lead to Advisor requesting mission update."
"Go ahead Lead." Flash replied in a casual tone.
"We are located it what looks to be a hanger and have two fliers currently docked and unmanned. Requesting permission to destroy them."
There was a pause as we waited for the go ahead or not. While I was sure we would get the okay, there was always the chance that command didn't want to risk us attracting more attention then we already had. "Request granted. You are to sabotage any fliers that you come across but not at the expense of your primary objective."
I nod my head before putting my hoof down. Pointing to the fliers, I say "Trixie I need an explosive solution on those fliers."
"You got it Boss." Trixie replied as she made her way over to the fliers. She looks them over figuring out the best way to do it. She didn't want to have to use up too many of her charges in case there was need of them at a later time plus it was also suppose to be a stealth mission. She eventually decided on planting one charge along the side of one of the fliers and plant it in such a manner that it would crash into the other one and hopefully send them both into the wall. She starts to plant the charge while Moondancer and I take up positions to cover her. For a moment, I was surprised by the lack of drones or even resistance that we were running into. At first I was thinking that it was due to the battle outside but something didn't seem right.
I then heard a faint buzzing sound and I quickly realized what it was. I let out a shout "Drones!" Moondancer, seeing the sudden swarm almost as soon as I heard it quickly dived into cover. Trixie was more focused on the charge and so when she heard my call hesitated for a split second. That hesitation cost her as three drones fire their rifles at her, breaking through her shield and causing her to let out a scream as her armor was ripped apart and she fell to the ground. My eyes widen in horror as I saw a bit of her blood starting to pool on the ground. I went to move to assist her but several more blaster shots forced me back into cover. I now found myself caught between helping a wounded squad member or repelling the swarm of drones.