//------------------------------// // 5.b) Marines (Rainbow Dash) // Story: Civilization: Beyond Equestria // by May I Cut In //------------------------------// Author: Co-Author: Editor: Curious Quill “Whoo-whee! Look at how far that round went! I’m glad we finally got some way to put distance between the aliens and us!”-attributed to famed Mortar and Sniper Spotter “Big Boom” Braeburn. “What do you mean that an entire armoury worth of weapons disappeared?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I’d understand if a huge amount of local wildlife were sighted near her place but come on! Even that is a stretch! How could they even sneak in to take them, let alone know how to use them!?” “Well, according to our sources,” Spitfire began, “It was the Culper Cell that took the items. Even then, Fluttershy was able to find them and reclaim them. It seems some of the colonists were less than thrilled with her soft-handed approach to handling the wildlife and decided to take matters into their own hooves. The Culper Cell were just hired hooves within that plan.” “This is worrying. We need to sweep our ranks to find them. I don’t know how they got here and I don’t want to find out what they plan to do.” Dash said. “I hope that no one was replaced just to make room for one of their agents.” “Should I start an investigation of the staff?” Spitfire asked. “No need for that, I trust the loyalty of my ponies. But we need to be careful of them.” RD said. “How is the prototype heavy guns doing? Are the eggheads done with it?” “They finished a prototype, but it’s still not suited for mass production,” Spitfire said. “The wildlife’s been getting rather curious recently. The work crews are getting uncomfortable” “All the more reason to get our arsenal upgraded,” Rainbow Dash replied, “The sooner we can assuage our colonists’ concerns over safety from the hostile lifeforms, the better. So, is it ready for a field test?” “The last report we received said yes, Princess,” Spitfire replied as she took a quick glance down to a dataslate she was holding, “The Lab facility is just waiting for us to assign the first several produced units to field teams for a proper baptism by fire.” “Very good,” commented Rainbow Dash, “Do you have a particular unit in mind?” “As a matter of fact,” answered Spitfire, “Yes. Yes I do.” She put three datapads onto Princess Dash’s desk. Spitfire cleared her throat and continued, “Due to the weight of the weaponry, I stayed mainly with Earth Ponies and Bison, although I am willing to assign unicorns, Pegasi and other races if they qualify. The Spotter is Major Lee Triggered. He’s an unusual combination of sharp eyes and a sharp mind well-versed in advanced math and Hooftonian Physics. Before leaving Equestria, he earned a reputation as a trick-shot artist. “The loader is Sergeant Steel Sabot. His record isn’t extraordinary, but he is amongst the top One Percent when it comes to passing the PT Exams and is known for entering Strongstallion Competitions on the side. “The Trigger Pony will be Col. Eagle Eye. He’s a grizzled Bison vet who was already an excellent shot with a quick and steady draw, and top-notch tracker and scout even before he joined our military. He earned his third Crystal Heart Commendation during the Battle to relieve AJ’s forces when they were ambushed by the local wildlife. While he’s not thrilled by your pro-active approach to the native fauna, he’s a pragmatist and loyal.” “You sure about his loyalty?” Rainbow Dash asked as she read the slates. “Without a doubt. I’d stake my personal reputation on it,” Lightning Dash countered. “Very well,” Rainbow Dash acceded, “While I do need loyalty for troop cohesion I also need them to think for themselves as well. Nothing but disaster can come about when you're surrounded by nothing but ‘yes-ponies.’” The Princess signed off on the individual slates with a light pen. “Very well, considered them reassigned. Inform them of the news and have them sent over to the eggheads for training immediately. You are dismissed.” “Yes, ma’am!” replied Spitfire as she stood at attention, did an about-face and marched out. …... “Can you believe it?” grunted Steel Sabot as he adjusted the ammo pack on the back of his power armor, “After several weeks, we finally get to give this thing a proper field test!” “Yeah, it’d better work, though,” Triggered replied, “I don’t want a cooked round exploding on us because we didn’t properly clean out the bore the previous day. I’m not sure if even our armor could handle that.” “You and me both,” agreed Eagle Eye, “We’ve been forced to carry so much ammo that we didn’t have room for a fire extinguishing kit.” “I’m just grateful the tech ponies had enough sense to leave us enough room for gun oil, cleaning solvent, and a cleaning and zeroing kit in our rucksacks,” Triggered continued. “I swear, even with this exo-suit, this ammo weighs a ton!” complained Sabot. “Alright, enough chit chat! Look sharp, I see the Company we were assigned to up ahead!” Eagle Eye said as they trotted up towards a formation of Marines in an encamped circle. “It’s good to see you, Sir,” said one of the Marines who came forth to shake Eagle Eye’s Hoof, “I hope you don’t mind me avoiding doing a salute out here. We’re not sure if the local life forms are sentient enough to comprehend the concept of a ‘sniper check’ or not.” “I understand,” replied Eagle Eye, “Anyway. If everyone is assembled could we possibly go out on patrol now?” “I’m ready if you are Sir,” replied the representative, “Since you are now the highest rank here, you call the shots now.” “Maybe, but I prefer to let the NCO’s do their thing and I stay out of the way. I merely indicate what point A and B are,” the Bison chuckled, “And you already have your orders form Dash, so we should get a move on.” “Sounds good to me, Sir,” replied the armored Earth Pony, with a curt nod. …... They were on a road march, a company of Marines doing guard duty for a construction crew trying to build a new roadway between the newly found outpost of Fort Loyal. They wanted the new roadway build to speed up supply lines between the capital and outpost to develop it faster. But so far, progress had been slowed due to constant skirmishes with the native wildlife. It was then they heard some yells and screams of terror from the nearby construction crew. Arthropod Xenos were starting to dig up from the ground around the construction site. “Troops! Round up the wagons! Circular formation around the civilians!” yelled Eagle Hoof, “Sabot! Triggered! Get that high-calibre rifle assembled and loaded! DOUBLE TIME!!!! MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!!” “You heard him. Let’s move!” Sabot said. “On it.” Triggered grunted as he lifted the heavy gun and began moving. “Over there is a good spot. Set up and prepare to fire.” Sabot pointed. The three soldiers got in position and began to set up. “Gun ready to go!” Sabot announced. “Trigger. Calibrations?” Eagle Eye asked as he got into position to man the rifle. “Range is approximately one klick. Elevation, negative twenty metres. Windage more or less three kilometers going from northeast to southwest.” replied Triggered. “Steady ponies, bison, and others,” growled Eagle Eye. The creatures started to crawl towards the formation slowly. “Steady,” Eagle replied. The creatures were getting closer and growled more. “Steady,” Eagle growled at the anxious troops and workers. The creatures then roared and charged. “Open fire!” Eagle yelled out as he drew a bead on one of the larger bugs and squeezed the trigger. The rifle let out a loud and thunderous report as a Sabot round flew from the rifle and hit the creature in a neck joint. The beast fell over onto the ground with a loud “thud” and let loose a death rattle. “RELOADING!” Eagle Eye yelled out as he pulled back on the bolt to get a fresh round, “Trigger, keep your eye out for high priority targets! I’m going to put another round in the big one on the right! Sabot, have fresh magazines and coolant on standby! And watch our six!” “Yes, Sir!” yelled out the other two crewmembers. And that was how it was for most of the battle. The new Heavy Weapons Team using their high-calibre sniper rifle to take out harder targets while the infantry provided covering fire. The troops functioned as one, akin to a finely tuned machine or a phalanx of ancient times. Wash, rinse, repeat. There were relatively few stoppages, but they would have to put them in their field report back to HQ so the rifles could be fine-tuned for mass production. So far, other than that, the rifles seemed to work properly. “Well, this should put a smile on Dash’s face.” replied Sabot, “She’s been even more strict than usual after the recent incidents.” “Yes, I just wish it didn’t have to be this way. That there were another path.” replied Eagle Eye. “I know Sir, I know.” replied Triggered as he gently patted the massive power-armored bison on the shoulder, “Let’s just focus on the task at hand and check up on the troops and civilians, shall we?” Eagle Eye solemnly nodded in agreement. …… “The first field test was a success Ma’am. Actual casualties suffered was substantially reduced from estimated casualties if no support was given.” Lightning Dash announced as she passed her a report. “That is some good news. It’s about time we came up with a way to deal with these ‘raids’ What are your recommendations, Captain?” Rainbow Dash inquired after skimming through the after action report. “We recommend the creation of a new branch dedicated to purely operating these long ranged weapons. The engineers are confident of their effectiveness at long ranges.” Spitfire said. “How long will it take to be implemented among the other colonies? I know that Princess Rarity has been dealing with a lot of the rather aggressive aliens.” Rainbow Dash asked. “It will take three to four days for us to compile a detailed operating manual and training guide, let alone develop proper instructors for both the front and backline units. I would suggest pulling back our initial squad after they get some more time under their belt to aid in this, if they live long enough. Plus, the ponies in the lab coats are going to need feedback for fine-tuning the final product. As for the fabrication of the weapons, it depends on their end. Production-heavy colonies like Princess Applejack’s can probably make enough for an entire unit in two to three days while for the more ‘peaceful or ‘culturally’ focused’ like Princess Fluttershy it might be faster to construct and send it to them…” Rainbow Dash took a moment to think before agreeing. “Hmmm. Fluttershy will be less than thrilled about us making and sending her a new weapon to deal with the Xeno problem. However, as a friend I do have to at least say I tried to offer her a chance to accept something new to defend her colonists with. Especially since many of them have been asking for the same thing. Alright. Get started on it. I’ll let the captains in the other colonies know about the new branch we’re developing. You are dismissed.” “Yes, Ma’am!”