//------------------------------// // In the Shadow of the Valleys // Story: Fallout: Equestria - Empty Quiver // by thefurryrailfan //------------------------------// ----- I looked up from the terminal at the sound of the screeching metal, glancing out of the window to see Dragon Mare sliding along the runway down below. Sparks flew from the wingtip as it dragged along the ground, Serene giving a gasp and bringing a hoof to his muzzle as he dropped the radio. Geez, how did someone with such poor flying skills become such a high-ranking member in this place to begin with? Ignoring the sirens from the rescue vehicle, I turned back to the terminal to look over some of the data Scouring had managed to salvage form the drive I got from Cerberus. Alright, so we know about the robo-dragons, is there anything else we should be worried about…? I scanned through a few more of the files and pictures, but all the remaining diagrams were either detailed blue-prints of rocket engines, some sort of arcane reactor, or plans for a submarine. Well, I suppose that could be useful, but I don’t see Cerberus really using a plain old missile sub, and there weren't any at the sub pen when we last left, either... Scouring furrowed his brow, leaning in to get a better look at some of the files. “Hang on, somethin’s not adding up 'ere…” He said, pushing me aside slightly to sit in front of the terminal and start working away at the keyboard. I leaned over his shoulder, trying to see what he was looking at, lines of code running past. “Hrm, look, each file’s about 40 kilobytes, an' there’s only 8 of them in this folder. But if I check the memory…” He punched a few keys into the terminal, few incomprehensible lines of code appearing before a number flashed up on the screen. “Almost 350 kilos are in there. There’s got to be some files hidden in this thing...” He began to type out long strings into the computer, occasionally pausing as the terminal attempted to run his programs. After a few moments of the fan whirring and code writing and erasing itself from the screen, a few more files began appearing below the others. Scouring selected the first one, the screen slowly beginning to load up the image. Like the other images in the list, it was a set of blueprints for some sort of device, however this one appeared to be much, much larger in size. The blueprints also appeared to be only one section of whatever the device was, showing an absolute mess of wires and cables, along with several motors, servos, and other various mechanisms for movement integrated to each portion. They came together to form some sort of… tail? If you could really call it that. If it was a tail, it was for something that looked to be even larger than the robo-dragons were. Scouring loaded up another image, the computer whirring loudly as it attempted to pull up the large file. My eyes widened as the computer began to show something that looked worryingly like enormous jaws, when suddenly something erupted into a geyser of flame out on the runway, the lights flickering for a moment as Sharpwing rushed over beside Serene, myself looking over at the commotion. Scouring worked with the terminal for a little bit longer as Night Strike and I hurried over to the window to see what had happened. As we finally caught sight of the runway below... oh no. Flames were once again engulfing the tail of the Dragon Mare as it rested on the end of the runway, a second motorbug rushing out to assist with quelling the fire. Foam fire-killing jets rained down upon the tail of the craft, the second motorbug pulling up to the cockpit, the few crew aboard it quick to remove Turbine from the plane and get him situated with some help. Even from over here, the dark stain on his flight jacket's stomach didn't look particuarly good... The pegasus beside me held a hoof to her muzzle as she watched on, her eyes going wide as she looked between us. “The photos... shite, the photos! If the fire reaches the camera, we won't have any fresh data on what else they've got!” Sharpwing said, looking to either side of the control tower as I took a step back to watch her panic. Huh, but, wouldn't Turbine have the camera with him? How would he have taken the photos otherwise? She stopped herself in front of an exterior access door, looking over to us. "We found a big electronic surveillance camera that just about fit inside the Dragon Mare in one o' the hangars, were hopin' that'd give better pictures than just sendin' him up with a cheap hoof-held one. We'll be stuffed if we can't get 'em out before they get burned up!" Night Strike and Aerith both pushed past me towards the door Sharpwing was stood in front of, the jacketed pegasus flashing her pip-buck and wearing a determined smile. "If they're digital, that means I can probably move them onto here, right? We'll get the pictures just fine, we've pulled stuff out of flaming aircraft before, eheh..." Sharpwing passed on a nod as she stepped aside, letting them both out of the tower and onto the walkway around it. We all watched them spread their wings wide and fall over the railing, heading off towards the slightly burning wreck, the earthen-colored pegasus letting loose a sigh and rubbing at her eyes, leaning against the desk. Serene trotted over to rest a hoof on Sharpwing's shoulder, myself still watching the buring wreck. This could've gone better, probably... at least we do have the map, still, so we have a rough idea of how we'll have to get around to reach the base on the ground. Speaking of... "A-ahm, oh, uh, we have a holotape we found that you guys might be able to find useful, it's got a map of the valleys and areas we'll likely be taking on Cerberus' forces. It's pre-war, but since this place wasn't too badly hit I doubt too much has changed." Scouring trotted himself over with the holotape at the ready, passing it over to Serene and Sharpwing before moving closer to Crash Dive and I. It was a little hard to tell, but his coat seemed... whiter, than usual. He gave a weak nod over to the terminal he was working on earlier, both of us following behind him as he let loose a shuddering breath. "W-well... suppose we finally got a bit of an answer as to what a 'Steven Electromagnet' is... an' why Cerberus was interested in the sub pen..." The steel ranger stepped aside as I sat down in front of the terminal, looking over the data. Mark VII anti-vessel robotic serpent, codename Steven Electromagnet... anti-vessel? As in, anti-ship? Scrolling down, a full-body internal diagram of the robotic sea serpent came into view, and as my eyes fell on the reference scale for the diagram... "That... that's a big robot..." Crash Dive leaned over to inspect it with me, reaching forth to point at a section on the screen. Obliging her, I scrolled up, letting her read the passage out loud. "The Mark VII prototype is an optimization of the more successful Mark IV design, though due to the concessions made for the more powerful offensive weaponry the armor protection of the Mark VII has been reduced to only stand up against MWT 40mm autocannon fire from usual attack angles and only around vital components. This has been deemed sufficient protection due to the Mark VII's intended role, and should not be of concern... If this thing is the Mark VII version, then the Valkyrie should be able to at least damage non-vitals with the guns it has, might be enough. If it's not been upgraded, well, at least we don't have to worry about whatever weapons it has being even more dangerous." "To be honest, I'm really more concerned about the fact that thing exists at all. Let alone if it's operational..." I leaned back in the chair, really not looking forwards to possibly having to deal with that monster. Well... maybe there are still some of those megaspell depth bombs at the sub pen that haven't been converted yet, or we could always just use one of our own megaspells, right? Or the Cadence could handle it, too, those guns it has are huge! Letting loose a weak sigh, I sat up again, looking over to Scouring. "Night Strike mentioned something about Cerberus maybe having some other ground robots beside the robo-dragons, did you find anything like that in here?" "Well, aye, but she's probably not gonna like it..." I shuffled back to let Scouring work at the terminal, a clatter outside drawing our attention as Aerith and Night Strike both arrived back at the tower. The pegasus wore a proud grin as she held up her pip-buck again, Crash Dive rushing over to look at the screen herself, Night Strike seeming the least bit surprised as her foreleg was grabbed. I trotted over to join Crash Dive as she flipped through a couple of them, myself leaning in and squinting down at a particularly grainy one. “Well, that’s a lovely… pigeon? Can you make anything out of these?” I looked over to Crash Dive, who looked down at the photo on the small screen more intently, squinting and pulling it closer to her face while Night Strike just seemed to go with it. “It’s a bit difficult to make out some of the details, but these still came out better than I was expecting. There, you can see the four turrets on the side of the mountain here…” She pointed to a few circular splotches in one bit of the photo, that seemed to run parallel with a stream at the bas eof the valley. “And those surrounding it should be anti-aircraft emplacements. We'll need to find a projector of some sort to get any real detail out, these tiny screens aren't great for showing high-resolution pictures, but it shouldn't be too hard to find one on an air base like this. Especially considering they already had the camera in storage...” As Crash Dive was studying the photos, there was a small shout from the other side of the control tower, prompting us all to look over. Sharpwing had done a flying leap to get over to us, flaring her wings and turning up at the last moment to come to allow herself to canter to a stop in front of us. “We just got some distress call from the Cadence, just off the coast from that submarine pen. They say there’s summat attackin’ them!” I could only return a look of dread, fearing the worst. But, shouldn’t the Cadence be able to deal with something like the serpent? Those guns should be more than big enough... Night Strike looked between myself and Sharpwing, Crash Dive giving her her hoof back as we all started for the stairway. “Did they say what it was? Harriers, dragons, what? They should be pretty well-defended against most stuff, we only took two AA turrets from them.” We soon reached the bottom of the stairs, bursting out of the doorway onto the tarmac, making a rush for the hangar the Valkyrie was stored in. Sharpwing only shrugged, picking up her speed to keep pace with the rest of us. “No idea, we lost contact before they could give us any details. Whatever it is, it’s gotta be serious, though.” We soon arrived at the Valkyrie, Night Strike and I climbing up into the cockpit as the others moved themselves into the bomb bay. Sharpwing stopped at the cockpit door, looking back towards the engines. “We’ll try to send a few aircraft out to help, but it’ll take a while for them to get there after you.” Night Strike nodded in response, Sharpwing rushing off to allow her to shut the door, as we sat down and began to power up the Valkyrie. “Alright... er, wait, what about Hispano and Cora?” I asked, flicking a few switches to set up the turrets, while Night Strike brought the engines online. The pegasus in front of me waved a hoof, working the controls as the Valkyrie taxiied out of the hangar and back onto the runway. Ooh, please tell me we can take off quickly, especially with that crash at the other end... “They’ll be fine, they can take one of their planes back to Maple Station or something. It’s not like they’re going to hold them captive and make them compete in a race, anyways.” The engines whined as she pushed the throttle forwards, a small clatter being heard behind us. Ech, yeah, seat belts probably wouldn't hurt to have back there... A sudden kick of acceleration hit me as we started to climb rapidly, soon easily cresting over the mountains and making a turn towards the western coast. Ewuh, I'm never gonna get used to speeding up like that... I kept my eyes on the top turret gunsight view as we approached the sound barrier, a few curses managing to be heard from the bomb bay above the engines as we went ever faster. The Valkyrie shuddered only slightly, Night Strike pushing on the throttle controls as far as they'd go, before a muffled explosion rang out around us as we broke through. We dashed through the sky, racing towards the sea as I let loose a sigh. Yeah, watching clouds go past instead of ground is a lot easier on the stomach... Slowing down as we cleared the coast, the ground flashed past us, rocky green-ish cliffs soon giving way to the sea stretching out below us as I swapped to the lower camera. “Alright, they should be coming into view soon. Let’s just hope it’s not something like another angler queen...” Night Strike said, starting to slow the Valkyrie back down as we approached the Cadence. At first, it looked like whatever had been attacking them had already been driven off. There weren’t any dragons circling overhead, and it didn’t appear as if they were being bombarded by something from inland either. As we drew closer, though, it became clear what was really going on - and the pit in my stomach's bottom fell through. Ghouls and ex-Enclave alike were darting back and forth across the deck, a few operating the smaller-caliber guns, spinning them around to attempt to fire upon something circling the ship beneath the waves. Water sprayed up as others threw what looked like huge grenades overboard into the brine, but whatever was below appeared to be unaffected by them. The dark figure changed direction suddenly, darting up and breaching the water. An enormous mechanical sea serpent twisted about to face the warship, its sharp jaws opening wide to reveal a network of wires and talismans, one particularly large gem resting at the back of its throat. Some autocannon fire futiley struck against the beast's hide before there was a flash of light and a loud discharge, as a laser beam shot out of the serpent’s mouth. The beast swept the laser across the deck of the ship, leaving a trail of blackened, scorched steel in its wake as ponies attempted to avoid the searing beam. I looked down at my controls, trying to get a lock on to the dragon as Night Strike swung us back around to begin circling the ship in a steady orbit. Uuggh, heights are bad enough, I really don’t need to be spinning around constantly either. Gripping the controls, I stared through the viewfinder as the dragon’s laser died down, and it started to fall back below the waves. Taking a shot, a burst of lightning bolts flew from the tesla cannons towards the sea serpent. The shots failed to hit, however, instead sending up a spray of foam and a shock through the water several yards away. The serpent let out a mechanical screech before it disappeared beneath the water, diving deep to avoid the incoming fire from the ship. There was a crackle of static, and a voice came in over the radio as we continued to circle around. “Hey, uh, we appreciate the help and all, but would you guys at least try to not fire tesla cannons near the Cadence's deck? The hull can take it, just please be careful. And tell us if you see anything from up there, the sonar was knocked out when the radio went so we're flying blind for the moment.” Night Strike lifted a hoof to her headset, pressing it against the send button. “Roger that, Cadence, we'll mind our fire and go for some strafing the next time it shows itself.” She glanced back at me, and I answered her with a nod before looking down at the water. Ah, come on, I’ve survived 5,000 volts before, I’m sure they can! We turned around once more, circling above the ship as I tried to spot the mechanical leviathan through the turret cameras. A muffled explosion could be heard as a column of water shot up into the air suddenly, splashing against the side of the ship. Another explosion, and I swore I saw the Cadence actually shift a little in the water, as the crackle of static came in again. “Hell, we’re taking hull damage, it’s firing on us from below!” I gulped, trying to spot any sort of clue as to where the machine was swimming as it fired upwards against the Cadence. I took a few potshots that I hoped were far enough away to miss, splashing water up as the bolts struck hard against the sea. A few coils breached the water for a moment, the tail of the beast thrashing about as it tried to obscure its movements. Several shots were fired at the point in the water where the robot had just disappeared, but it was unclear if any of them had managed to connect. There were several more explosions from beneath the waves, and a few ghouls began to hurry to the side of the ship with several large objects gripped in their hooves. They tossed them overboard, a few seconds going by as they fell beneath the waves, before yet another explosion rang out. This time, however, the explosion was met by a sudden stirring as the serpent shot through the water, running away from the detonations. A moment later, the serpent burst out of the water again, its mouth charging up before letting loose several blasts of blue energy up the command tower. Before it could reach the control center at the top, however, I fired a burst of tesla cannon shots towards it, managing to land several bolts into its gaping jaws. The robot’s head jerked backwards from the electrical overloads, several sparks flying as wires and talismans dropped into the water below. The robot snapped its jaws a few times before dropping low in the water, attempting to keep the loose overladed wiring dry as it slithered up to the ship. In a flash of movement, the metal monster lunged up out of the water, its metallic body crashing down on top of the deck. It began to slither and whip its tail around wildly, smashing ghouls into the guns on deck or throwing them off into the ocean. It gripped one of the large cannons in its jaws, thrashing its head back and forth in an attempt to wrench it free from its turret. As it fought with the solid metal gun, a large blast erupted from the barrel, an explosion managing to shred the side of the serpent's head as it let loose a loud roar. The second gun in the turret eruped, another shower of sparks and explosion sending the serpent back away from the ship's deck, the secondary guns and autocannons opening up on the leviathan. As it finally pulled away from the ship, the robot writhed and smashed its tail against some of the gun turrets, causing the ponies working them to be knocked off and smashed against the metal sides of the ship. Night Strike brought us around again for another pass, allowing me to take a few more pot-shots at the serpent while she opened up with the Valkyrie's own autocannons. The robot was beginning to fall apart, several pieces of its armor plating dropping onto the deck of the Cadence as it reared above the waves, trying to keep its perforated body above water. It smashed its tail against the armored hull, sending some of the jagged metal plates flying in all directions. Several ponies began to hurrying up from below decks to retrieve the wounded as the main turrets swung around, aiming up at the serpent. Tracers from the AA turrets and secondaries lit up the sky for a few moments, before the masive main guns erupted in fire as well, punching clean through the serpent's body with the massive shells. It began to flop forwards, attempting to slip back beneath the waves, but several of its components were sparking and smoking dangerously already, a slick film of dark reddish fluid following in its wake. With a final push, it dropped down below the waves, several bolts of electricity dancing across the surface as it fried itself upon re-entry. The air grew quiet as the sound of autocannon fire and explosions died down, a few of the crewmembers that were operating the guns hurrying over to assist with others that were injured. I slumped back into my seat and let out a sigh of relief, Night Strike pulling the Valkyrie around and slowing down yet again to pass by, a hoof moving to her headset. “Looks like it's gone from up here, you guys alright down there?” “Y-yeah, looks like the things been knocked out of commission. You think you can hang around for a while longer, just to make sure they didn’t have anything else planned while we try and recover ourselves?” Night Strike gave an affirmation, only to look up a moment later and spot several planes incoming. I gripped the tesla cannon controls in anticipation for an attack, but there was yet another crackle of static coming in over the radio. “Aw, that's a shame, seems we’ve missed the battle. That’s what you get when you gotta wait for somepony to finish with their tea... Well, we’re here for support, so long as we've got fuel and ordinance left. We’ll take things from here, Valkyrie.” I released my grip on the weapons, finally starting to ease out of the panic of batle, Night Strike pulling away to give room for the VAB’s smaller flying machines to maneuver around and begin to circle the Cadence instead. “Good to hear. Keep an eye out for any follow-up attacks, and let us know if you need any assistance. We’re heading back to the Air Base. Over.” Night Strike responded, before turning to head to the northeast once again. The kick of acceleration from the engines meeting us, we began to speed off, as I leaned back into my chair and began to fiddle with my Pip-Buck's radio, leting loose a long sigh of relief. It took a moment, but soon Jim’s voice came in, albeit a lot more shaken than usual. “U-uh, ah, sorry about that Vanhoover, we, ah, we've just had a slight issue of the massive fuckoff leviathan-esque robotic sea serpent kind. Th-thankfully, um, uh, I guess all our guns are definitely lethal against more than just cliff faces, eheh, as are the Vanhoover Five's aircraft cannons... Anyways, uh, while I try not to have a heart attack here, here’s some more music...” There was a clatter of tapes before the whirr of the holotape player could be heard. "A whop bop baloop-bap a whop bam boo! Tutti frutti, Aw rooty Tutti frutti, Aw rooty I got a gal, named Sue, who knows just what to do She rocks to the east, she rocks to the west She’s the gal that I love best!" --- Arriving back at the air base and pulling into the hangar, we stepped out of the Valkyrie, Crash Dive, Scouring, and Aerith... less hopping, and more falling out of the bomb bay. Scouring rubbed the back of his neck, giving a small grunt of pain as he picked himself back up, walking over to us. “Ugh, s'pose we didn’t really need to come along fer that ride. Hope this crick goes away soon…” Regaining ouselves, we trotted along the taxiway towards the central control tower again, the sun threatening to sink behind the western mountains as we approached it. As we were about to walk through the doors, Serene stepped out of the base of the stairwell, perking up a bit as he saw us. “Ah, thank the goddesses, it’s good to zee you’re all doing vell. Ve heard back from zhe Cadence, zhe flock sent zhere should be equipped to handle any intermittent attacks upon zhe ship during zhe upcoming battle, und zhey're getting their own onboard aircraft ready as vell. So long as you are able to take out zheir dragon production quickly, ve shouldn't have any issues.” I nodded in acknowledgement, Serene turning to face myself in particular. “Oh, and Cora would like to speak viz you, Static. Somezing about his fees? He’s in zhe vorkshop, come viz me.” I gave a small grin as I broke off from the group, and followed after Serene. Fighting off a robotic sea serpent was way more than enough for me for one day... but more opportunities for price gouging? Like I'd ever turn that option down. ----- Static having disappeared off somewhere for the time being, myself, Aerith, Scouring, and Crash Dive all were resting in another section of the Vanhoover Air Base complex. Sharpwing and Serene were stood at the front of the large underground war room where the images Turbine had gotten were being projected, several of the other pilots and ponies who were living on the base joining us for the breifing. "Alright, as seen here, the valleys leading southwards to Fort Maple from Saddlebrook are protected by these Tobuck turrets, four in each complex. Besides these, they also have some smaller anti-aircraft gun emplacements between the first and second, and third and fourth turrets, as well as some form of larger turret further up the mountains - these appear to be a new construction. We're not sure if these are connected to the original complexes as well, but it would be reasonable to think they are." The image being projected zoomed in on the anti-aircraft positions, Serene levitating up a stick to point towards specific sections. "Zhese will be your biggest threat from ze ground, ROQF 1-pounder autocannons. We do not believe that Cerberus vill be able to install heavier anti-aircraft firepower before our attack, at least on ze nearest complex to Saddlebrook, but be vary all the same. Disabling zhem should be your primary concern, zhen you can focus on zhe turrets vith zhe shaped-charge bomblet casettes." Scouring cleared his throat for a moment, sitting up and catching Serene's attention. "Ah, sorry, just thinkin' it might be better fer you lot to focus on wipin' out the main turrets, those'll be a harder nut to crack than the AA stuff. Can get on the radio with B Company, from Saddlebrook they ought to have the range in their artillery to drop a few volleys on those positions for ye, maybe even further back. Safer'n flying over." The power armored unicorn looked about the room for a moment, everyone else having gone silent. Serene's expression... well, I didn't really think there was anything insulting in what Scouring said... "Oi, you think we can't handle those damn AA guns ourselves? We've got enough ordinance here to bring the mountains down on top of 'em if we had to!" I didn't really recognize who had the outburst first, and the general rabble that followed was not very pleasant-sounding either. Oh boy, this might turn ugly... Sharpwing brought a hoof to her face and took to the air, hovering just above the crowd and lifting her hooves to the roof. "Hey, hey! Enough! No fightin' in the War Room!" I couldn't help but stifle a laugh as the rabble seemed to die down to grumbles, Sharpwing glaring over the crowd. As I calmed down and looked around with her, I just about noticed the fact that Crash Dive's rebar cannon was making the not-destructive 'unloading' sound. Oh, for Luna's sake Crash Dive, it was going bad but it probably wasn't going to go THAT bad! The earthen-colored pegasus let off a huff, setting herself back down on her hooves. "Scourin's got a point. Those AA guns might be a far cry from our twelve-point-eights and eighty-eights, but they're just as good at blowin' holes in the wings of homemade flyin' machines, and that's before ye get to the fact that they're bein' run by robots with fancy-feathers computers fer their brains. We can't completely ignore 'em ourselves, but we'll at least make 'em secondary objectives to the turrets threatening the tanks, aye?" Sharpwing looked over at Serene as she finished, the unicorn letting off a small sigh as he dropped his shoulders, answering with a stout nod. "Very well, disabling ze turrets is your primary concern, but if zhere are still operational ROQF 1-pounders while you are in ze area do not hesitate to destroy zhose first." The earthen pegasus gave a light nod in response, stepping back to her previous spot. Serene clicked over the projector to another image, this one being the map we'd given them, albeit zoomed in on the valleys surrounding Saddlebrook and the southern areas. "Luck villing, we should not encounter too much anti-air resistance around Saddlebrook, so ve should be able to fly over zat area vith impunity. Just in case, however, I would reccomend flying on ze eastern or vestern side of ze ranges around ze town, und only cresting for your attack runs." "Hey, uh, what about supporting the tanks directly?" The room had gone silent again, and this time I felt more than a few pairs of eyes drilling into the back of my own head. Oh... please end well. Serene set the hoof he was using to point at the flight routes down, joining in with all the eyes as I let off a weak chuckle. "Eheh, uh, I mean, um, they've got the larger of the two battalions, but they don't have any support from the HMS Cadence's guns. Could you at least do something to help after taking out the turrets that overlook Saddlebrook itself?" The unicorn tapped a hoof against his chin, seeming to think for a moment. "Vell, I suppose, but aren't you going to be assisting in ze Valkyrie as well? I mean, we've only got so many airworthy designs, and not exactly much training in ze art of bombing, for that matter, let alone against moving targets." ...well, it was worth asking about, at least! Though, I can't really fault him for making us handle that in this case, far as it all goes the Valkyrie is kinda our ace in the hole... "And all zat is before us having to deal vith whatever robo-dragons they have as well. We can certainly try and add some defensive weaponry onto our aircraft, but... it vill be a challenge." "Alright, yeah, that's fair enough. Well, I mean, if we get the turrets dealt with, you could at least help with mopping up afterwards, bombing a few disabled robo-dragons or something, right?" The unicorn answered with a small shrug and nod, turning to look back at the screen. So I'm not a tactician, sue me. "We'll do what we can over Saddlebrook, but sooner or later I'm gonna have to divert to Fort Maple for Static and Aerith to get into the main base, raise hell there and try to get them disorganized before the tanks arrive. If they can disable the main AA somehow, you think you could raze some of the outside with the ordinance you have left?" Serene paused for thought again, while Sharpwing glanced up at the clock behind us on the wall, moving towards the projector. As I glanced at my own legputer clock... how is it already this late? "We'll sort somezing out. Anyvays, zat's the basic plan for tomorrow, our planes vill launch as early as ze tanks vill allow. Get some good rest tonight, everyone, you will need it." The crowd of ponies slowly began to shuffle themselves out of the dark room, while we hung behind to let them pass. Serene approached us, checking to see the crowd had largely made their exit first before speaking. "We do have one wunderwaffen of our own we could deploy, a form of short-range missile, but we're unsure of if it would actually be of use. Contrail had taken the engines from two of zhem for his own flying machine back before he left, but we haven't yet tested zhem to see if zhey even still work. Zhey should be quite useful against ze main fortress, however." I blunk a few times as he spoke, giving my head a tilt. Short-range missiles from an air base, and you didn't think this could've been brought up earlier? The unicorn rubbed at the back of his neck, looking to the side for the moment. "I didn't vant to mention it during ze breifing, but if you believe zhis could help, we can see to getting ze launch mechanisms set up und weapons calibrated tonight." I looked between Scouring and Aerith, both of them doing the same, the power armored unicorn responding with a shrug. Well, I mean, any more ordinance we can throw at Cerberus can't hurt... Crash Dive cleared her throat, getting our attention. "If you do set it up for launch, you'll probably only have a small window to do so. Launch too early, and Cerberus will know something's up, launch too late and you might end up catching Static and Aerith in one of the blasts." I blunk a few times, just processing that for the moment. Okay, yeah, when you put it like that, it does make a good argument for why we shouldn't do that. Sharpwing answered with a nod as she trotted herself over, carrying the holotapes with the photos and map on them. "We'll have a direct line to ya through the Valkyrie, won't we? Just give us some forewarnin' of when you're goin' in, and we'll make sure the barrage is stopped before then. We can work out the timin' right, might even be able to have you getting in just as the last one lands." The earthen pegasus smiled as she continued on out, us all following behind her. Well, she sounds confident in the plan, at least. Navigating through the underground tunnels, we eventually found ourselves back near the entrance, something out on the taxiway making a noise like a single-rotor vertibird, and sporting a big red cross on the side of it. Cora and Hispano seemed to be milling about around it, along with a few other ponies actually at the controls of whatever it was. Huh, so that's what he was looking for... A small squeak caught my attention beside me, and I looked over to find Static sitting outside the tunnel, shoulders slumped and eyes wide, staring off into the distance. Ooh, come on Sparky, don't start acting like dad now... His eyes met mine as I moved over to him, before going back to stare over at Cora, a shuddering breath leaving him. "You know, Night Strike, I always thought that I could land a good deal. Not... not... didn't happen with Cora." I paused just for a moment to process what he just said, before letting loose a sigh and bringing my forehead to rest on my hoof. Leave it to Static to get a case of shell-shock through bartering... --- "Good bright, beautiful, early morning Vanhoover, you're tuned into Radio K A O S, and that hue out the port window here is looking exceptionally pretty. Here's hoping things'll last through the whole day, as we've got quite an interesting day ahead of us, indeed. It's a nice and early 5 AM all across this wonderful patch of Equestria, and for all you early-risers or late-sleepers, how about we get on to a bit of early-morning news, eh? "Out of Maple Station, we've got some rather intriguing reports come in from the town of Hope, actually, about a very peculiar convoy headed down this way. Whether or not they're here because of the Vanhoover Five is anyone's guess, though I will admit I really wouldn't mind getting to see whatever in the name of Celestia the 'Great White Northern Slug' is for myself, heh. I might not've been around the wasteland for long, but I can honestly say I have never heard of a giant slug before-" "All hands inside, all hands inside, watch your heads!" "Ahem, heh, sorry listeners for that and any further interruptions, we at Radio KAOS are still getting some things sorted onboard this old warship after yesterday's excitement. But, yeah, this new convoy, on top of having a giant white slug, also apparently consists of a ghost or ghost story from the town of Cordite, and more than a few vertibucks as well. Can only hope that whoever these are, they're at least a benign supernatural force, heh. "Ah, anyways, now that I look at the time, I should move on to the weather forecast for today, while I get the next song queued up here. We're looking at an overall clear day today, moderate clouds giving way to the kind of day the wasteland's sweetheart would sing about..." "FIRE!" "...oh, and to the area east of Hopeville, there may be a -slight- chance of eight-inch high explosive shellfire. Keep your heads down, folks." --- "Engines 1, 2, 3, and 4, all active and idling. Pilot... half-awake." A short yawn escaped me as I adjusted myself in the Valkyrie's pilot seat, the earth pony behind me clacking away at his console in his stealth suit, with the alicorn beside him watching on. The tinkling of magic and hiss of carbonation being released met my ears, and I looked over to see Aerith passing a bottle of Sparkle-Cola RAD up to me, the glowing soda overpowering the glow from the instrument panel. I took it from her aura, putting the neck to my lips and taking a few large, long gulps, a relaxed sigh escaping me as I finished off the first half of the bottle. "Okay, pilot mostly awake now. Things green on your side, Sparky?" "Well, other than being strapped in a supersonic aircraft with somepony who can't even wake up in time for the start of a major war without the help of Sparkle-Cola, just peachy." I gave my eyes a roll as I went to finish off the second half of the bottle, Aerith taking the now-emptied one from me and fitting it back in my duffel bag. "Tesla cannon turrets primed and at the ready, and bombs 3 and 4 are locked down tight with 1 and 2 free. Feels like a bit of a waste to only be carrying two of the thermobaric bombs when we could be carrying five instead, really..." "Better we have the megaspells onboard than leaving them somewhere when we might need to use them, Static. Yes, it is a 'might', but better safe than sorry, yanno..." The soft glow of dawn breaking behind the mountains to our back started to light the sky outside the hangar, myself sitting up in the cockpit chair to watch for the guidance motorbug. Come on, let's stop stalling... I lifted a forehoof to the headphones in my ears, looking either side of the taxiway. The Valkyrie rolled easily out as I gave her a little throttle, trying to net a clearer view. "Valkyrie to VAB Control, we're good and set to go. Just waiting on our runway escort." The radio set crackled with static for a moment, before Sharpwing's voice came across it, Static doing a bit of fiddling with the controls to clear up the signal. "Copy Valkyrie, escort should be there soon. Should have the frequency for the tank radios as well, Ironside dropped it off last night. Won't work until you get near the valley, but at least you'll be able to hear what's goin' on with 'em down there. Ah..." There was a light shuffling, and over the sound of the four large turbines I could just about make out the rumble of an eight-cylinder boxer multifuel powering down the taxiway. "Escort is there, once the runway is clear ye can punch it and head out. Goddess-speed Valkyrie, and good luck." The small half-track slowed as it passed our nose, myself waving down from the cockpit as the pony driving it answered with a nod. The turbines spooled up, and slowly we made our way down the paved taxiway, the headlamp of the motorbug being the only thing keeping the ground lit to an appreciable extent. Turning to line up with the middle of the runway, we came to a stop, the little half-track rushing off to help get the next aircraft in place. I took in a breath, letting it loose in a soft sigh, eyes focusing on the holographic reticle ahead. Go-time, Strikey... Pushing the throttle to full power and releasing the brake, the Valkyrie began picking up speed down the runway fast, a distinct howl echoing around us and in the valley as we accelerated further and further. Pulling back on the stick, the nose lifted up quickly, and with the clunk telling us the landing gear's retracted we were finally fully in flight. I rolled us slightly to put us into a turn, following the valley around to watch the second aircraft take off. More we have to hit 'em at once, the better... The second aircraft to taxi out, even in the orange-blue of early morning, was a very sharp red color, sporting an engine strung under both of the visibly-bent-upwards wings. The motorbug peeled off, and after a moment a loud droning sound echoed up from the valley, the odd aircraft buzzing down the length of the runway and taking to the air as well. Huh, that little thing might even be able to catch up with us... The radio crackled, Contrail's distinct voice coming over. "Ha-ha! Goddesses, first takeoff of the Icarus and she's handling like a beauty, even with a bit more ordinance on her than first planned for. Got 24 hollow-charge rockets on here, should put a big dent in anythin' the tanks're having trouble with." "Copy that, Contrail, we're just finishing our orbit and will start heading for Saddlebrook now. Seeya there." The bright red jet gave a short waggle of its wings as we passed by it, myself leveling off the Valkyrie finally and letting us pick up some proper speed. Gonna have to slow down to loiter when we get there, but no need to take our time getting there in the first place... I glanced back towards Static, setting us up for orbiting around the western edge of the Saddlebrook valley. "You got the turret computers set up for gunshipping, like yesterday? They oughta do some good here now you don't have to be so careful with your aim." "Yeah, it's set, though we kinda do have to hope that the dragons or whatever don't get too close to the tanks. I'm no electrical engineer, but I kinda doubt that concentrated directed lightning and big metal boxes with ponies inside mix that well..." ...kill 'em before they can get on the tanks then, got it. Or I guess if worse comes to, we do have the autocannons to help... oh, I hope they can go down in less than 80 shots. Ah, no, shouldn't worry, these tanks are good for longer ranges, they've got Porschia and Fyre on side, after all... just breathe, Strikey. The valley the destroyed town resided in passed by underneath, and I put us into an easy, high orbit, looking out of the cockpit canopy to the ground below. The tanks were barely visible on the north end of the valley, though the intermittent flashes as the small artillery piece backing them up went to work gave some idea of where they were, as well as the tracers from their own guns. Static worked with the radio for a moment, the sound of muffled machine guns coming in to match with the tanks, Rheinmetall barking orders over his set. "Gardener, Rangefinder, flank far right und hit as many as you can, Ironsides and I shall take ze left flank. Keep your distance und never let zat OQF 17-pounder stop firing if zhere's something to shoot at!" "Come on, Rhymey, I know what I gotta do! Just gotta wait for 'em to- shit!" The heavy rattle of Rangefinder's cupola MG filled the radio, and I was just about able to look down and see red tracers pinging off of something approaching the tank as we reached the opposite side of the valley in our orbit. Static fell silent as he focused, the tesla cannon turrets - both of them at once, surprisingly - sounding out with rapid discharges and leaving blue bolts in the sky above the town. The electrical discharges made the radio frazzle for a moment, but soon it faded back in with Rangefinder's voice. "Hrrm, heh, hell yeah! Get some, ya robo-bastards! Woo!" Well, at least she seems to be enjoying herself in all this. Can't really blame her... "Izzat you up there, Valkyrie? Can ya hear us?" "Bit staticy, but yeah, we're getting you! Here to help, with more friends coming in, just keep at what you're doing and we'll keep blasting 'em." A small chuckle escaped me as I watched out down into the valley, soon reaching the northern edge and beginning on the second orbit. As I looked south, a pair of flashes from the valley beyond caught my eye, followed by two tracers flying in and impacting well short of Fyre. Rangefinder let off a small startled scream, before the sound of her tank's hatch closing met our ears, the blond mane of the pegasus ghoul having vanished down inside the turret. Tobuck turrets are occupied and working, let's just hope that's already their max range... "Bunker turrets are opening up, might not want to press forwards much further, you might be just outside their range." "Jahwol Valkyrie, engaging from range is what Porschia und Fyre are best at! We'll keep our distance, though zhere's been far less activity in ze town than vhat we were expecting. Do you see anything out of place from up zhere?" Holding our orbit, I glanced back to where Static was sat, listening as the earth pony clacked through the viewfinder dials. Turning attention back to the valley below, I tried to spot anything out of place looking down just in time to see another two shells from the bunker turrets land and blast open a large crater in the middle of the road. Huh, that's weird, weren't even any tanks there... Static kept scanning over the area with his cameras, the western side of the valley passing by below once more. Some soft thumps could be heard outside - probably those AA guns mentioned yesterday - the two smaller tanks starting to move in towards the town. The dials clacked a few more times, Static going silent for just a moment, before letting loose a sharp gasp. "Night Strike, bring us over for a bomb run on that new crater as fast as you can, we might have an issue. I'm seeing a lot of magic signatures underground, I think there might be robots hiding in the drains." The radio fizzled as I nodded in acknowledgement, leveling out our orbit and starting to extend out towards the east, setting up for the run. Gardener's voice came over, almost muffled by the sound of his tank's engine, before he presumably dropped down into the turret. "Hiding their main force underground? Oh, now that's a dirty tactic, haven't heard something like that pulled since Jack told about his time in Burroma fighting the stripes there. We'll keep well clear of the crater, hope you've got a lighter bomb onboard than what I've heard you carried in the past!" A tight bank had us lined up and heading directly west again, myself dipping the nose slightly to get a view of the valley. Yeah, hope you're quick on the draw when it coems to bombing Static, because this valley is not that wide at these speeds... The bay doors clunked open fast, the eastern crests falling out of view behind the instrument panel and rushing past the canopy. The soft clatter of the release mechanisms going signified the bomb leaving the plane, myself pulling back on the stick and rolling us over to try and set up for going back to orbiting, and to watch the blast myself. Hey, we've only set off one or two of these so far, I wanna see an uninterrupted blast! Looking out the right side of the canopy, I could just about see a parachute drifting down to where the crater was, before the entire area was rapidly engulfed in a white, misty cloud, followed by a massive orange fireball. The buildings around the blast were quickly flattened, the cooling fireball rising into a lovely mushroom cloud below, a faint little giggle escaping me. Ah, okay, that was alright. Swinging us back east to ease into another counter-clockwise orbit from the viewing pass, Ironside's voice came over the radio next, the old ghoul grunting heavily. "Bloody hell, coulda warned us about the size of that blast! Were only just at a safe distance, it sounds like it pinched the track coverings over, hearing a hell of a scraping noise while on the go. Also knocked out my loader, he should be fine but we'll be a bit slower on the six-pounder, assumin' anything's left to kill." A grimace soon replaced that grin I was wearing, bringing us back into the high gunshipping orbit over the valley, the mushroom cloud getting carried by the winds and dissipating from the floor. Ech, sorry, thought everyone was on the same comms... Static went back to working with his cameras, myself looking up out of the canopy to see a few craft starting to buzz by overhead, sticking to the far eastern edge of the mountain ranges. Hah, well well well, looks like the Stork must've caught on... as did the Reliant Robin, somehow. Guess they made it more reliant, or something. A handful of other varying designs also passed by on the western side as we reached the eastern range, the bright red Icarus buzzing in directly over the valley. Contrail's voice came over the radio set, the stallion letting off a small laugh. "You guys sure know how to leave an impression! Sorry we're a bit late, I uh, eheh, forgot to check my fuel tanks before taking off the first time..." The small jet did an arcing roll over the top of the cloud, before it came back around to match up with us in our orbit, hanging on our right wing. "So, what's the damages down there? Ah mean, besides the obvious explosion an' all, any more stuff these rockets might be needed for?" Static clacked away at his console for a short while, the stem and head of the mushroom becoming wisps on the wind while the ground cloud remained, thick and low. The earth pony behind me let off a few uncertain grunts, watching his screens. "It's hard to see exact figures, but I think we've gotten a healthy number of whatever's underground with that bomb. Still see some moving towards the entrance, though, so try and get set up for a strafing pass or two there. We'll keep gunshipping from up here." Contrail gave the wings of the Icarus a little waggle, before peeling away from us and looping back around. I turned attention back to the valley, watching the wispy ground cloud start to dissipate finally. The tinkling of magic filled the cockpit, and in the corner of my vision I was just about able to see Aerith bring up one of her screens. 'I don't think those are robo-dragons, down there. The way their magic signature looks... it's not the right shape for it.' The cockpit went quiet as I watched down through the canopy again, Static still clacking away at his console behind me. The ground cloud had mostly settled by now, revealing the sight of the now much larger crater, and the flattened structures surrounding it. As I kept watching on, almost able to see the glint of something moving around down there in the debris, the radio broke over with another, panicked voice. "They got-- --flak, HUGE SHELL---! Second complex still live, not enough hits! AA still up! Returning to-" There was a loud boom over the radio before it cut out to static, my eyes darting from the crater to the valley ahead. The air was thick with black, spotty clouds, a few smouldering craters around the emplacements and some large fire burning away on the first and closest of the bunkers. The few aircraft that were still buzzing around were all heading back north, spotty flak fire and large bright tracers following them as they tried their best to escape. A few managed to get over the crest of the mountains, or at least out into the valley where the AA couldn't hit, but... there were more smoke trails than I particularly wanted to've seen, all leading down to flaming wrecks on the mountain's slopes. This isn't good. As we slipped into another orbit, I leveled off the Valkyrie, slowing us down to linger for a few moments longer. "Shit, we're losing too many aircraft to flak! They must've hidden some guns somewhere, or something. Uh..." Looking around the cockpit for a moment, the sound of the earth pony behind me undoing his restraints caught my attention, my eyes looking back to him as he got to his hooves and picked up the helmet of his stealth suit. "St-Static? What d'you think you're doing, we're not going for the main insertion yet! We have to, I don't know, blast the second bunkers away first, at least!" The earth pony moved himself forwards, his eyes meeting mine as he rested a hoof on the side of my seat. A soft sigh escaped him, and the hoof that was on my seat moved to press against my shoulder instead, a sober look on his muzzle. "Strikey, the second complex is split by a slope, even if we did bomb one side there'd still be another pair of turrets and the AA guns on the other to contend with. We only have one conventional bomb left, and by the time you could get back to load up again, we'll have lost even more planes to them. I can get in there with Aerith, and we'll take them out faster and easier, just... trust me." My eyes lingered on his for a long moment, looking back towards Aerith afterwards, the alicorn fitting a flare gun into her armored vest. She passed on a smile and confident nod, myself looking back to Static again. I let loose a long sigh, looking out of the canopy. "Alright. Promise me that the very moment things start to go wrong, you both get out of there, and find somewhere safe to wait. I'll try and loiter to pick you up immediately afterwards, just... please be careful, Static." The earth pony returned a smile, leaning forwards to pass on a quick kiss before he moved to fit his stealth suit's helmet on, the clatter of the access door opening heard behind us. The bomb bay doors clunked open as I made the turn for the location of the second complex, dropping the nose to put us in a dive while I moved the throttle open. The winding valleys below proved well past intimidating at these speeds, so I elected to at least try and keep us as high up and out of them for as long as I could manage. I heard the access door finally close shut, the faintly cratered and pockmarked northern face of the mountain the second bunker lived in started to open up with tracer fire, the back of the Valkyrie shuddering as their proximity-fused shells had trouble keeping pace with our speed. I lined us up for the flak trench, leaning forwards to bring the reticle on target over the main, large cannon, it vanishing in another cloud from the muzzle. Hang on, guys... Both of the autocannons opened up with a burst, the shells impacting against the ground in streams of explosions and fires, some managing to strike the gun and it's ammunition. The shells began to fizzle and pop, other explosions filling up the entrenched position as the ammo cooked off, myself pulling the nose up after the autocannons had loosed sixteen rounds between them. The mountain slope that divided the bunker turrets rushed past as I rolled right to avoid it, hearing the tinkling of magic activate the controls for the bomb bay and the large doors shutting behind me, letting off a breath as I climbed back skywards. The thumping of flak behind me grew muffled as I leveled the Valkyrie off above the mountains, heading back towards Saddlebrook. As I started dropping to get set up for some strafing runs around the wrecked town, a loud roar filled the air overhead, myself looking up in time to see another jet shoot past, followed by a second, and a third identical craft. I watched them speed ahead for a few moments, their odd-shaped tails and lack of visible rear exhausts taking a moment in my brain to register, before I shoved the throttle open wide to pursue them. The Harriers... strafing's gonna have to wait, I have bastards to kill. Catching up on the tail of one, little movements were needed to get the reticle lined up on them, the radio crackling with static every now and again. They weren't any the wiser I was even trailing them... Heh, must've taken their stupid pills today. Grabbing the triggers on the yoke, the cannons began sounding out loud again, myself watching the tracers flying ahead and starting to rip holes in the jet. Explosions threw off debris and cut into hydraulic lines, the radio's crackling growing louder as a vaguely familiar voice started to filter through. Something shot up from the plane ahead of me as it rapidly dropped in altitude, a split second before it passed overhead revealing the sight of a white parachute opening up, a low grumble escaping me. Bastard managed to escape... should turn around and shoot his chute out... "-Gyaah! Fucking hell! Hold fire, we're surrendering! Mercy, mercy!" ...I can honestly say, I wasn't expecting to hear that. I blunk a few times, easing back on the throttle to avoid overshooting the two remaining Harriers, the gunsight settling on the second one of the group. I lifted a hoof to hold against my headset, looking at the frequency on the HUD ahead. "Oh, really? And why in the hell shouldn't I shoot you two down, after all you've done? After this war you've brought on yourselves? Huh?" The radio was silent for a few moments longer, before the voice came over again. "We can tell you what he's up to, why he's still attacking you with his robots. You nearly killed Slipstream already, we just want a fair goddess-damned trial first if we're gonna be offed!" The voice gave an exasperated sigh, myself watching teh two remaining aircraft start to descend. "I'm Private Sundowner, and the other plane is Sergeant Windshear. We're going to land at Vanhoover Air Base, after that we'll give ourselves up as POWs willingly to whoever's in charge of your forces. We just... please, a fair trial to answer for what we've done first." A small huff escaped me, as I dipped the nose to get some bearings. We'd drifted a bit further east than I expected, but we should still be able to get to the VAB soon enough... and I'll have them in my gunsights if they try anything... "Fine. I'll tell them to hold fire on the guns. If either of you try anything funny, I won't hold fire with mine." The Harrier I didn't have my gunsight on gave his wings a short waggle in acknowledgement, myself switching the frequency over to the Vanoover Air Base control tower. "Valkyrie calling Vanhoover Air Base, Valkyrie calling Vanhoover Air Base, I'm coming in with two POWs... whatever those are. Hold fire and have some guards ready to take them into custody." "Reading you Valkyrie, we'll have more than enough here to handle that. Scourin's friends have arrived, gonna be heading south to Saddlebrook shortly to keep it held down, and we're just about t' start launchin' the first few missiles as well. All goes well, we... ahm, hold on..." Sharpwing went quiet for a few moments, myself watching ahead at the two Harriers as they flew on towards the air base. She came back after a moment, the familiar canyon runway just about visible up ahead. "We're seein' you out to the southeast, we'll take over landing 'em from here. Valkyrie, divert back to Saddlebrook, they're havin' some trouble with the robots there, requested your help." Taking a moment to process, I started to bring the Valkyrie's nose back around, powering on towards the town. Trouble with the robots? But they've got guns that're more than powerful enough to handle them, I mean, I saw Fyre blast apart a robo-dragon! Assuming these are robo-dragons... "Copy that Sharpwing, diverting now. Did they say what the robots were? They shouldn't be having too much trouble with robo-dragons, we didn't see any in the area while we were loitering." The radio was quiet for a few more moments, the valley town coming into view fast. I arrived just in time to catch the Icarus loosing a barrage of rockets against something on the ground, Porschia and Fyre's cannons barking away at other things hidden in the dust clouds being kicked up, and the BT-42 running circles around... something that looked worryingly familiar in shape to things I've blown up before. Sharpwing's voice crackled over again, my vision going a slight shade of red as I brought the guns to bear. "They say they aren't the robo-dragons this time, they're..." "Fucking robot Manticores!" ----- The wind whipped around me, my heart pounding against my chest as Aerith and I stood over the open bomb bay doors. A few explosions could be seen below, passing over one of the tanks, the ground sweeping by at a nauseating speed. I glanced over to Aerith, her outer suit jacket fluttering wildly in the rush of air. Taking another breath, I looked through the bay doors once again. The ground suddenly dropped out from beneath us as Night Strike went into a dive, the autocannons firing a stream of bullets along the mountainside as she tried to decrease the distance between us and the ground as much as she could. Leaning back, I let out my breath and threw myself out of the plane, Aerith jumping out after me. The Valkyrie peeled away, the roar of the engines and the explosions drowned out by the air flying past the face of my suit's helmet. Oh sweet Celestia, this was a horrible idea! Fighting against the wind, I pulled a leg down to punch the buttons on the chest plate of the suit, which quickly began to shimmer and turn invisible. Aerith tucked her hooves under her, allowing her to dive until she was below me. Her wings suddenly flared, causing me to thud into her as her horn began to glow. Her own body vanished as I wrapped my forehooves around her neck, Aerith banking to turn us back towards the string of mountain bunkers. We began a steady, slow spiral downwards, and I tried to keep my lunch down as the world spun around me. It was thankfully not very long before Aerith’s hooves hit the ground, and I slid off of her to land in the dirt beside her with a heavy groan. My mind began to come back to me, and I began to register the myriad of explosions once again. Oh, right, big battle on and all... Getting to my hooves, I looked up, watching as the Valkyrie turned about, the scream of its engines drowning out everything else as it passed overhead. I scanned the area, trying to find some way into the facility. Aerith had dropped us down near the northernmost bunker turret, the large guns moving about on the hilly cliffside above as we ducked in the trenches before it. The turret spun about automatically, attempting to get a shot further down the valley where the tanks still were, while other cannons further along the cliffside sent up tracers at the planes overhead. Okay, okay… what do we do now? I glanced over to Aerith - or at least, where I thought she was still standing - hoping she might have some sort of idea. She gave no indication she was even present, let alone any sign she had a plan as well. Letting out a breath, I began to trot forward along the trench, eventually ducking through an opened steel doorway and into the bunker complex below. The explosions from the guns and the shells raining down around us thankfully drowned out any noise that Aerith or I were making as we trotted through the first of the bunkers. Several dragons clambered out of another section of the underground complex, each carrying with them several small shells. My gaze followed their movements, metal wings scraping against the concrete walls as they navigated down the other hallways, presumably towards the turrets. A small sign popped up in my vision, hovering just between my eyes and the visor of the suit. ‘So, what exactly was your plan?’ The words scrolled across. I looked down a little sheepishly, trying to make my next words not sound too idiotic. “I… uh… may not have thought this all the way through. We don’t have anything like explosives to take out these guns, and even if we did, I don’t think either of us would know how to set them without blowing ourselves up. We’re going to have to just go up to each turret individually and try to sabotage them without making it seem too obvious that we’re here.” I muttered as quietly as I could. I could practically feel Aerith smack a hoof into her face and shake her head, forcing me to let out another sigh. “Well, we’re here now, it’s that or run off and force Night Strike to try and pick us up with a rain of shrapnel slicing through the Valkyrie, and tell her that the tank ghouls can't advance without getting shelled, too.” A slight sigh escaped Aerith beside me - well, it's not great, but it's something. Determined, I began to hurry towards the far side of the bunker, past the heavy doors that led to the artillery turret and up a concrete stairway to the higher terrace of trenches. My gaze turned to the nearest gun, which was now turning to track the flight of the bright-red Icarus, firing off a shot ahead of it. Contrail banked sharply to avoid the explosion, flying headlong into a few clouds before turning back around and firing on a few dragons that began to circle the skies. Moving along the trench and rounding a corner, I found myself in the wider pit that held the gun, several smaller ones all laying broken and destroyed from the Valkyrie's earlier strafing run. Well, at least we did something helpful... Another shot rang out from the larger cannon, and I was thankful the helmet did at least a little to muffle the noise and prevent me going deaf. After a moment, Aerith leaned up against the corner of the muddy artillery pit with me, the shimmer of her form just barely visible against the rough stone and wooden planks. Myself giving her an invisible nod, we began to creep closer towards the lone artillery cannon. It rotated around, and rather than a robo-dragon running the gun, there was instead what looked like several large computer banks stacked on top of each other, wires running between them and some hastily-added machinery. A small orb rested atop what would've been the gunner's seat in a pivot, rapidly scanning the skies and making a clicking noise as the lights on the machinery below it beeped and whirred. I felt Aerith tap me on the shoulder, drawing my attention to look down over the other side of the gun's base. Laying on the ground was what looked like a severely mangled corpse of a smaller robotic dragon, one that must've been hit almost directly by one of the shells flying about above. Much of its electronic interior had been stripped, with wires running up from the still intact power core to the device running the gun. Its head lay a few feet away, one of its eyes missing, while the other dangled from a cord lifelessly. Ooookay, so the dragons are breaking each other down into parts to make aim calculators. I can’t really decide if that’s gruesome or not. I leaned backwards, turning to face the machinery again. The eye spotted another aircraft turning about above, the servos whirring loudly as gears began to grind and turn the gun about. As I looked up to try and spot what it's new target was, the howl of the Valkyrie's engines caught my ears, eyes going wide - Oh no you don’t! Opening the facemask, I reached back and pulled my umbrella off of the back of the suit, squeezing down on the handle as the prongs at the end crackled. Jamming it into the machinery, the eye spun about wildly, the gun's servos spinning about again for a short while before it fired, causing the shell to fly up into the side of the mountain instead. With a dying whirr, the lights on the computer banks grew dark and the glow of the eye dimmed. “Well… maybe taking care of these things will be easier than I thought.” I said, stowing my umbrella and turning to Aerith, only to find she wasn’t there... at least, I think she wasn’t there. I really wish I brought my magic goggles down here. Looking about, I spotted Aerith’s faint shimmer standing near another stairway leading below ground, on the far side of the anti-aircraft pit. I hurried over to catch up with her, and both of us descended into the second bunker. The explosions were muffled even further as more and more layers of thick stone, concrete, and earth were put between us and the surface, as we descended into the pre-war ruins. Much like the slaver camp on the coast, this bunker had clearly not been occupied until very recently, as all the lighting was provided by ancient electric lamps, many of which were either burnt out or just plainly missing or shattered. Occasionally the ground would shake as bombs rained down from above, and the centuries-old dirt being shaken loose from the ceiling did nothing to dissuade the thoughts of the bunker collapsing in on itself that were now running through my mind. I shook my head in an attempt to clear it, moving onwards. Another sign appeared in my visor, scrolling along slowly. ‘You think there’s some kind of command area around here? Maybe we can find whoever’s sending the orders out, and stop them.’ Aerith asked. I tilted my head a little, unsure. “Maybe… but that dragon aiming device didn’t seem to be hooked up to anything down here, it was just running autonomously. If anything, they’re probably receiving programmed orders directly via radio waves or something. If there is a command center here, it’s probably not being used.” I muttered, still trying to keep my voice as low as possible in case anything was creeping around below ground with us. ‘True… maybe there’s at least a map somewhere. It’d make finding our way to the other turrets while inside here easier at least.’ Aerith’s sign read. I nodded in agreement, only to voice it a moment later upon realizing Aerith likely didn’t see that. We continued through the maze-like bunker, the sound of our hoofsteps echoing off the walls as we trotted along. The sounds from above grew only slightly louder as we found ourselves standing at the base of another stairway leading upwards, the booming of artillery cannons being the loudest - this must be the second turret... did we take care of the first? Egh, we'll handle it later. Heading upwards, I peeked up through the doorway at the top of the underground passage to see... what I think was the mechanisms for the turret cannons, maybe. Rather than a compact device running the guns, however, there was an intact, smaller dragon, its talons gripped tightly on the gun’s control mechanisms. Its eyes were focused against a viewport that periscoped up to the turret top, the cannons turning as it searched for targets. Aerith climbed up the steps after me, spotting the dragon and pulling out her automatic rifle. She began to creep towards it, staying low to the concrete floor as she lifted up her gun. She was just a few feet from where it sat in the turret, when she levitated the gun a bit higher and took a few shots at its head. Sparks flew across the metal as the bullets... harmlessly bounced off of it. Oh, come on, this wasn't even one of the big ones, and she killed those before with a smaller bullet, even! The dragon roared, twitching its head around to search for the source of the undamaging rifle rounds. Aerith stumbled backwards, the dragon hearing her fall over a wooden box as it looked down out of the turret basket-thing. Its jaws opened, a ball of flame building in the back of its throat, Aerith still scrambling for safety... right by me. Oh, Celestia help us. As the dragon was about to fire, however, an explosion rocked the bunker directly overhead, causing the loading mechanisms to clatter and sending the distracted dragon falling backwards. The fireball engulfed one of the exposed artillery shells as it flew freely, a loud bang going off as the propellant cooked first, the free shell connecting with the point-blank dragon. A deafening explosion rang out in the enclosed concrete space, sending Aerith falling backwards down the steps as the shockwave knocked her down into me. We fell painfully back down into the bunker, the dragon letting out another roar and several loud error beeps as it was torn asunder by the explosion. I fell onto the cold stone floor a story below, slamming my eyes shut from the pain as Aerith bounced off my chest and knocked the wind out of me, ears ringing. Uggghhh, ouch, yeah, that’s going to hurt for a few days... Taking several breaths to regain myself, I tried to get back to my hooves, as Aerith did the same. My hooves bumped up against some concrete debris from the stairwell, which was now completely blocked by rubble and robotic parts, cracks running along the concrete ceiling. “Oww… okay, I think we both agree to not do anything like that again while we take care of the others. Guh, why would the robots even still have their fire or plasma breath active while in an artillery turret with exposed shells? Whose design idea was that to have the shells exposed in the first place, anyways?” We both collected ourselves and began to work our way back down the hallway again, wanting to get as far away from the wrecked section as quickly as possible. We continued along the tunnels, my ears still ringing slightly as we pressed forth - guh, I wish I wasn't so used to hearing loud explosions. Damnit, Night Strike... I suddenly stopped in my tracks, only for Aerith to bump up against me accidentally. There was another stairway leading down into a darkened room of the bunker, and what looked like several boxes stacked up against the walls inside. Looking back for a moment, and disabling my suit's stealth field, I carefully stepped down inside, as Aerith’s horn began to glow faintly to illuminate the unlit room. Once again visible as well, she walked over to one of the crates, peering over into it, as I tried to make out some of the faded writing on another closed one. She let out a soft gasp, as her magic surrounded something and lifted it out of the straw, myself looking back towards where she was. A shell almost as large as my head was being held aloft in her magic, myself stuck staring at it in surprise for a moment. I trotted over to her side of the room, looking down to see the crates stocked to the brim with the huge high explosive shells. Aerith glanced back to me, giving off a small chuckle as a sign appeared beside her. ‘I think we just found our solution.’ I gave her a look, seriously hoping she was just joking. She only grinned wider. Yep, I’m going to get myself blown up today... Aerith began to levitate out more of the shells, motioning for me to follow her. ‘Look, it’s either this or take our chances fighting those dragons one-on-one again, and I don’t think either of us really have the weapons to do that. Just watch my back while we lay these out, in case anything comes down here to restock the guns anywhere else here.' I nodded nervously, following Aerith back up into the main passageway. She began to trot along, and it wasn’t long before we found ourselves at another stairway leading up to a gun turret. Aerith carefully lowered two of the shells onto the floor as another sign appeared in my visor. ‘How much of an explosive load do you think these shells have?’ I scratched my head, looking down at the artillery shell. “Uh… I think it said twenty pounds of explosive filler… maybe. And assuming the explosion is directed by the tunnels, it... -might- be enough to set off another shell? Assuming there’s nothing really in the way, maybe?” Aerith nodded and began to walk down the hall again. After a couple minutes, she stopped, almost causing me to bump into her as she placed another shell on the ground. I looked down at it, only to look back at her shimmering semi-invisible face. “You aren’t seriously thinking about bread-crumbing shells around this entire base, are you? We barely even know how big it is! How would we even set the chain off when we're done?” I asked. Aerith simply held the shell upside down, as if to drop it on it's nose. I dropped my head into a hoof, shaking it as we began to trot back along the hallway to place the remaining shell she had down. It took several trips back and forth, but setting up the shells took surprisingly less time than I had expected. Despite the explosions still thundering down from above, it was also largely uneventful, though that didn’t stop either Aerith or me from checking every corner before we trotted around. “Okay, I think that’s the last of this sector. Just the newer turrets at the top of the mountain to go, how many shells do we have left?” Aerith levitated out the five remaining shells in her magic, and I gave a small nod. “Alright, let’s hope that’s enough.” We began to hurry back towards a cross in the hallways, turning to head down the one that had not yet been dotted with artillery shells. Unfortunately, as we reached the end of the hallway, it suddenly came to a stop and just opened up into an immensely tall vertical concrete shaft. I stared straight up it, some very faint light streaming in from up top, just enough to illuminate a ladder placed in one corner - oh, yeah, no, screw that. Looking over to Aerith, she already had her wings spread wide, her magic encompassing me as we both started to fly up the shaft instead. Well, this might make setting up the shells difficult, but we'll work something out... probably. As we ascended, I heard a faint noise coming from my foreleg, looking down at it. The glow from my pip-buck showed the radio screen - did the explosion knock that on? And, after that, what the heck was that song playing on Radio KAOS, anyways? A mare singing something about eating... snakes? And it was playing at ridiculous speeds, too. What the... Jim's voice broke over the speaker as we neared the top, a weak chuckle escaping him. "Aheh, sorry about that, folks, just a minor recoil-related hiccup here, jarred the player on double-speed. We'll get things sorted-" Turning the radio off, I was set down on the upper level of the massive mountain shaft, Aerith landing beside me. Choosing to not turn around and look down the huge drop we just came up, I turned on the stealth field for my suit, Aerith going invisible again, and we both headed forwards through the uper levels. Stepping through what used to be the end of the bunker complex, I heard metal scraping against stone, the sound causing both Aerith and me to freeze in place. Up ahead, something was clawing away on the other side of the bunker walls. Suddenly the walls gave way to reveal a newly-cut tunnel, and a large robotic beast. What looked like a lion was stepping out of the makeshift tunnel, a scorpion tail reaching out over its head to blast away rock with a laser embedded in it. It pushed aside some rubble, clearing out a hole to reveal the soft earth behind it. It began to walk through the tunnel, a large case balanced on its back. I crept forward, Aerith dropping down the last few shells, saving one as we found our way to a stairwell, and headed up to step outside. I almost fell back down the steps as I took a sudden jump back, finding myself standing among a small group of the robotic Manticores, all of them milling around a complicated-looking machine. Aerith and I slowly walked forward, hugging the walls of the dug-out area at the summit as we moved away from the machine, still watching as the manticores gathered around. Looking back towards the massive mechanical monstrosity, it mounted in it two massive cannons. Each looked to be over twice the size of the ones the dragons were operating below, and had multiple dragons running the whole turret as well. Another two manticores walked past from an earthen bunker dug out on one side of the gun pit, a large crate held up by handles their scorpion tails were slipped through swinging between the both of them. They walked up to the back of the turret, dropping the crate onto the ground as another dragon opened it up. Inside lay a large, gleaming shell - one that looked disturbingly familiar as I studied it. Aerith looked over to me, and despite neither of us being able to read the other’s expressions, we both knew exactly what the other was thinking. She bent down, spreading her wings to allow me to climb onto her back. I took the large shell in my hooves, clutching it tightly to my chest as she began to flap her wings and slowly ascend. As I watched, the dragon opened a hatch in the back of one of the guns, sliding the megaspell into place. Some powder bags followed, and the dragon screwed the breechblock shut. The loaded gun began to rotate upwards as the dragons and manticores operated it, as another dragon slid a second megaspell shell into the other gun's breech, that one starting to elevate as well. What were they aiming at?... A few jets flew past, being pursued by dragons - those... don't look like ones I've seen at the Air base before, but i swear I remember them from somewhere... the Cadence, maybe? I looked down to the pair of massive guns below, watching them elevate and point towards the far west. From where they are, they're either aiming at something off the coast... or, maybe even something a bit more City of Vanhoover-shaped, too. “Oh fuck, fuck, Aerith, get higher quick!!” I shouted, not caring if they managed to hear us. Aerith began to flap harder, and I lifted the last shell we had out in my hooves. Wobbling about a bit on the alicorn’s back, I leaned to the right, hoisting the shell above my head. With a grunt, I leaned back towards the gun, chucking the shell before falling down to grab at Aerith’s neck. The shell fell quickly towards the open rear section of the lagre turret, falling nose-downwards. The mechanisms kept the gun still elevating higher as we both watched on with bated breath, praying to not see any muzzle flashes before the shell hit. Vanishing in the ground clutter below, the shell landed next to two of the manticores that were ferrying the megaspell shells back and forth, and - mercifully - detonated. The resulting explosion sent a shock through us both, making Aerith tumble slightly in the air, starting to fly away from all the explosions. You can thank us later, Vanhoover... Crackling fizzes and pops could be heard below, and a moment later the megaspells gathered around the guns shimmered and exploded, a faint blue light following the shockwave that pushed us both forward. Down below, nearer the base of the valley, the tunnels could be seen blowing apart, collapsing in on themselves as the shells scattered around the bunkers began to explode. Dragons still running the few surviving anti-aircraft guns were sent flying as the ground beneath them blew out, the three un-bombed turrets erupting in flames as their own ammo stowages went up, sending the heavy cast steel domes rocketing into the air. Dirt and stone erupted from some of the entryways as the ground visibly buckled in to fill the bunkers, burying the last of the dragons. Aerith eventually stabilized herself, starting to ride the shockwave out down towards the valleys to the east. I let out a sigh as we drifted down to the ground, landing near a clearing a fair distance away from where the planes were running bombing runs. I pushed the button on my suit, flickering back to visibility as Aerith let her own magic fade. I fell off her back, flopping to the dewy mountain grass below as she pulled the flare gun out of her vest pocket. She aimed it up at the sky, pulling the trigger, the bright ball of light flying skywards. It climbed higher and higher before suddenly bursting, the flare drifting slowly back down to the earth. We both let out a sigh of relief as we watched the flare slowly descend, the smoke rising from the destroyed guns just visible over the top of the hill behind us. “Alright, one base down. One… bigger, scarier one to go.” ----- My breathing was heavy as I finally brought the Valkyrie to a stop, looking down to the yoke and peeling my hooves free from the death grip they had on it, rubbing them softly. The lights flashing on screen indicated zero ammo remaining in the autocannons, myself loosing a few long sighs as I looked past the display and down to the ground below. Smouldering robotic Manticore carcasses littered the area, some mostly whole, most reduced to unrecognizable piles of scrap, an overall sensation of relief and satisfaction washing over me. I love the smell of burning manticores in the morning... "That looks like the last of 'em, we can finally take a breather. Whoo, don't even remember the last time Fyre's barrel got that much of a work-out..." The radio crackled as the tank ghouls all spoke up again, myself still calming down. Hoo, okay, bloodlust satisfied for the moment, and with the Cadence in play on the other side of the mountains I don't think there'll be too many more manticores to blast apart, either... y'know, after getting the guns reloaded and all. Rheinmetall's voice broke over the radio next, coming in with a slight laugh. "I think I have a good guess, Rangefinder, last time your tank had ze pleasure of seeing this much action was vell before she ever had the misfortune of being under zhe command of your hooves." The old unicorn cackled for a moment, before the sudden sound of heavy machine gun fire and metal pinging off of metal filled the radio, along with a few choice explitives. Rangefinder broke into laughter next, Rheinmetall letting off an annoyed grunt. "Hmh, of course, if you'd vish to waste all of your fifty-caliber ammunition scratching Porschia's paint job rather than shooting down dragons..." "Ah, c'mon Rhymey, ya should'a seen the look on your face when you dropped back down into your turret! I was only aiming for Porschia's big fat ass with a short burst, anyways." The pegasus tank ghoul let loose another long cackle, eventually regaining herself as Porschia and Rheinmetall began moving. I could just about see Fyre starting to follow along as well, the BT-42 and Ironside's tank heading in behind them. "Things are looking pretty cleared out up the valley, we'll push on to the turnoff for Hopeville and hang there to regroup with Jack and Epine. You commin' with, Valkyrie?" My eyes fell back to the HUD, and the blinking 'no ammo' alert for the autocannons. Don't think I remember seeing the tesla cannons opening up on the maticores while I was ripping them to shreds, so... yeah, probably would want to remedy that. One hoof grabbed the Valkyrie's yoke while the other reached up to the headset, myself checking the other systems quick. "Gotta head back and get a reload for the autocannons, if there's anything else on the ground to deal with I'm gonna need them. The tesla cannons only go after ground stuff if somepony's aiming them manually, and, well, Static's still taking care of that second bunker system." "Right, we copy you Valkyrie, we'll be holding position at the junction all the same. Rheinmetall, Rangefinder, we'll do a bit of scouting ahead just to see how the second bunker's come along just in case. Memory serving, there's still one more to go, sure hope that Static's up for-" There was a sudden burst of interference, and I scrambled to pull the headset off, the ringing in my ears sticking around for a little bit afterwards. Gwuh, fuckin' hell... what was that, anyways? Something Cerberus was up to? Couldn't have been an EMP... Swinging to look south, there was a large billowing plume of smoke that rose from further down the valley, almost forming into a bit of a mushroom shape. That looks like where the second bunker is... was... Static! Grabbing the throttle and punching it forwards, the Valkyrie quickly rose in the air, a fast transition from vertical to level flight mode getting me headed back towards the valley once again. Ooh, come on, don't get yourself panicked, I'm sure he's just... yeah, they just made sure the bunker was destroyed, is all. Nothing to worry about. Yeah, just don't freak out over the magic-scarred mountaintop or the debris field scattered halfway down the slope, or the sight of the definite mushroom-shaped fireball that might've been from the megaspells Cerberus has access to... brain, seriously, not helping! As I circled the charred remains of the mountaintop in the Valkyrie, a red light caught my eye in the morning glare, exploding in a bright flash a moment later before drifting slowly back to earth. That's off to the east... they made it out! Oh, thank Celestia... or, well, maybe only one of them made it out... brain, shut up and let me have some hope. The mountains leveled off into a clearing, just about big enough to touch down in, myslef doing a circle of the area first. Two black specks in the mountain grass caught my eye, Aerith waving her hooves in the air while Static laid back on the ground. Oooh, he better just be exhausted... Throttling back the bomber, I eased it into a hover, the landing gear compressing as the thrust of the engines trickled down to idle, Aerith nudging the earth pony beside her. He rose to his hooves after a moment, stumbling behind the alicorn as she opened up the cockpit door, climbing inside with a grin on her muzzle. 'One bunker thoroughly taken care of, courtesy of a load of Royal Equestrian Ordinance 120mm HE shells. How nice that they left 'em all just sitting out like that.' I let off a chuckle to match with Aerith's, Static eventually pulling himself up through the cockpit door with some heavy huffs, pulling it closed behind him. "Okay... I'm... I'm gonna need a while... there any other way we could deal with that last bunker before the main one that doesn't involve me being inside it?" He slumped back into the seat behind me as I brought the Valkyrie's throttle back up, lifting us skywards and turning us around to point towards the air base. Well, glad to know he's alright, you'd think he'd be used to escaping explosions by now with me around... that's not a good thing. He let loose a long sigh, the radio crackling for a moment before his voice filled my headset. "Valkyrie to Cadence, Valkyrie to Cadence, come in. We've got a big issue, the mountaintop turrets are megaspell capable, and probably have you in range too. We'll... we'll destroy them as fast as we can, may want to adjust fire and see if you can reach them at all with your guns, if possible." The radio fizzled in silence for a moment as I just stared out the canopy, wide-eyed. Megaspell-capable... shit, they really worked faster than I thought they could. And if they're able to hit the Cadence from here... I threw us into a hard bank to the left, heading southwards along the valleys again. The remains of the second bunker shot past, the skies calmer without as much flak and tracer fire. "Static, I'm empty on the autocannons but we've still got a thermobaric bomb left, if they've got the cannons able to fire on the Cadence then we should at least take one of 'em out, if they're exposed enough. You think you can do that?" The console clacked behind me, as I peered up through the front of the canopy to the mountainsides ahead. "Yeah, the big turrets have open backs, not like the enclosed ones in the bunkers. If the complexes are similarly constructed, hopefully they've got a big open doorway nearby so the blast can get into the rest of the bunker, too..." A smirk came across my muzzle as I powered the Valkyrie onwards, a glinting from the top of the valley side catching my eyes. Lookit you, Sparky, I might've just taught you a thing or two about explosions after long last. The bay doors clunked open behind us as I lined the Valkyrie up with the glinting, a few minor adjustments occuring as it passed out of my view. With a clunk of the mechanisms releasing the large bomb, I began to peel us off and turn back away, a few errant thumps of flak fire being heard outside... "Oh, SHIT!" ...at least, I hope those two thumps were flak fire. By the way Static was scrambling with the radio, I kinda doubted that being the case. "Shit shit shitshitshit, fuck, Cadence, this is Valkyrie, we've loosed a bomb on the third megaspell turret but the guns managed to open fire before it hit, start maneuvering, brace yourselves, I dunno, just, incoming big explosions!" As if on cue, the bomb decided then was the right time for it's lengthy shockwave to catch up with us, rattling the Valkyrie in the air. Truth be told, though, any rattling teh Valkyrie was doing to me was kinda offset by the revelation Static had just shouted over the intercom as we sped back northwards. Ensuring we weren't gonna hit any mountains anytime soon, I looked backwards towards him, finding him chewing on the rubber hoof of his suit. "U-uh, are you sure it was aiming at the Cadence? I mean, uh, well, m-maybe they didn't use a big enough powder load! Yeah, it could fall short instead, just detonate mostly harmlessly in some other part of the wasteland..." My attempts at reassuring... well, they were attempts, at least. There were a few more loud clacks behind me as I settled eyes back forwards, speeding along past Saddlebrook. The worried noises Static was making did not instill much confidence. "W-well, if they were aiming at the Cadence, from their position that puts the shell flying over the dam, Hopeville, Maple Creek, and the lighthouse, so... eep..." ...in other words, a lot of things that would not enjoy getting smacked with twenty-odd tons of TNT. Just what we needed... Static fiddled with the radio again, only silence and dead air coming through, at least until the sound of a very angry sailor broke through. Oh, old Fowler, nice. "WILL YOU KEEP YOUR BLOODY HOOF OFF THE SEND BUTTON FOR ONCE WHEN YOU'RE DONE SENDIN'!? Celestia above! We're making a hard turn to starboard now, won't be giving much in the way of artillery support while we adjust but it's preferable to seein' her get blasted. Thanks for the alert, Valkyr-" The radio came over with a loud squeal in that moment, myself ripping my headset off and casting it aside while Static was fast in turning the radio off, the roar of the Valkyrie's engines filling the air instead. A slightly deafening silence overtook us as I looked back to Static, the earth pony returning a shocked expression. Didn't really need to say what we were both thinking... --- The landing went about as smoothly as could be hoped for, all of us still trying to process what we'd heard over the radio even as we parked the Valkyrie in the loading hangar and disembarked while they saw to geting her refitted with more ammunition. A motorbug rumbled up to the open hangar doors soon after, Sharpwing sitting behind the handlebars, her own eyes going wide as she looked at us. "Hop on, Crash Dive and Scourin' are seein' to the interrogations now. What's happened?" "The... the Cadence... they might've destroyed the Cadence." Sharpwing blunk at us a few times, jaw hanging loose, before she clenched it and gave a nod in response. We all piled onto the back of the half-track, Sharpwing revving the engine a few times before powering down the tarmac, a heavy sigh escaping me. Of all the things we could've lost today... the Cadence was supposed to be the safest place in all of this, goddess-damnit. Why couldn't we have just been faster about it... We soon pulled up beside one of the other hangars down the runway, Sharpwing parking and shutting off the motorbug as one of the other aircraft came in and eased itself to a landing on the south edge. We all hopped off to follow her inside, pained grunts catching our ears as the rumble of waiting aircraft engines was muted by the walls, the pink-maned pegasus looking over to us from where she stood. Not too far away was Scouring, and behind them, tied up on a pair of chairs, were two more pegasi in power armor, albeit the kind that looked more like Flash-Bang or Sugar Rush's old kit compared to Crash Dive's bulkier suit. Two of the bastards that've been causing us so much trouble - just a shame it wasn't all three. Crash Dive took notice of me and stepped back as I trotted up to the more important-looking of the pair, a radio in the corner of the hangar playing out another song. My eyes met those of the Enclave officer, his returning a stern glare, one that was swiftly wiped from his face as I lifted a forehoof and struck it across his smug jaw. He let off a low grunt as he recovered, a smirk forming and soft chuckle escaping him as he looked back to me. "I can honestly say, for somepony who's been a thorn through our wings for so damn long, I expected a better bite. Can't believe I was convinced to surrender to you surface-dwelling lowlifes..." Teeth gritted, I felt my ears start to burn hot, only to feel a hoof rest itself on my shoulder. Looking beside me, Static met my eyes, his look geting me to ease back - if only for the moment. Taking a step backwards, I let the blue earth pony look over the pair, turning his attention off the commander and to the other soldier behind him. Looking over the other pegasus for a moment, Static eased back on his hooves, us all watching. "You know, you guys have a -lot- to answer for. I'm convinced about half of us would love nothing more than to put two bullets in your heads and leave you both in a shallow grave, if I can get them to show some mercy and make it quick, anyways. But, we need answers, and you have them. So..." Static leaned forwards, making the other soldier pull back in his chair, struggling against his binds. "You going to cooperate, or am I going to have to let Night Strike introduce you to all her friends, and see if there's still enough left of you to talk afterwards?" Before the younger soldier could respond, the commander let off a cackle, knocking one of his back hooves against the ground and shaking his head. Crash Dive let loose a deep growl as he did so, myself ready to join her in tearing that bastard apart, piece by bloody piece. "Oh, wow, -that's- the most intimidating you little worms can muster? Skies above, is this kiddie time or something? You have about as much of a chance at getting anything out of us as Cerberus does actually doing anything meaningful in this battle-" Letting loose a scream, I leaped forwards at the commander, knocking him over in his chair and pinning him against the ground with one hoof, my other forehoof going towards smashing his face in as best as I could. After a few punches though, I felt an aura wrap itself around me, pulling me off of the Enclave officer and keeping me held in the air, Scouring looking at me wide-eyed. A few shuddering breaths escaped me as the officer coughed and spat out a bit of blood, tears welling up in my eyes as I flailed around in Scouring's magic. "That was for the Cadence, you cunt! You and your goddess-damned megaspell cannons destroyed it, and everyone onboard!" There were a few sharp gasps from Scouring and Crash Dive, and - interestingly enough - the Enclave soldiers as well. Well, sharp from the one I wasn't just trying to smash into a pulp, anyways. Aerith's magic lifted the officer back to a seated position as Scouring finally let me back onto my hooves, legs feeling admittedly a bit weak. W-we had... seven hundred, maybe more, just, just... Crash Dive put a foreleg around my neck as the tears stained my cheeks, Scouring trotting over. "The Cadence is... that... that can't be right! We would've heard it, or, wouldn't have heard it..." Both myself and Crash Dive, and probably a few others in the hangar all looked over at Scouring as if he was talking crazy. However, as I started to not hear the blood pumping in my ears as loudly, something did catch my ear - music, being played over a radio. And not just any music, no, that was definitely Radio KAOS music... but... but how? My eyes were wide as I stared at Crash Dive, glancing over to Static as well - he was just as surprised as I was, guessing he heard the music too. He stammered for a moment, looking over to the radio in the corner. "But... but... we-we heard the squeal of the reciever getting melted, or whatever, what could've caused that aside from a megaspell exploding and destroying it? How could the radio still be playing music, I don't think radio waves travel THAT slowly!... do they?" Shaking my head side to side in disbelief, and to sorta answer Static's question, everyone just stood and listened as the song wrapped itself up, Jim's voice chiming in afterwards. "'...We play the game with the bravery of bein' out of range!' Aheh-heh, that was The B-bravery of Being Out of Range, by Roger Trotters, and us here at Radio KAOS would j-just like to apologize for any interruptions there might've b-been while that was playing. Suffice to say, even with us being on the opposite side of the watseland, I don't feel like we're really that far out of range from where we are, eheh... On the upside, uh, well, until they can get the transmitter fixed, um, I guess we'll be providing music and info to the nice pilots flying around over there. I'm... I'm gonna try and find a hard drink and a new pair of pants here..." The silence was replaced with the next song on the album, myself letting off a few shuddering breaths before feeling my back hooves give out underneath me, dropping my rear to the concrete of the floor. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I let my head fall back, half-crying half-laughing, a wave of relief washing over me. Oh, thank Celestia and Luna above... As I looked back to the Enclave soldiers, however, they... didn't seem to be quite so relieved. Matter of fact, they both seemed a lot more worried than earlier - which is saying something, considering I'm pretty sure Crash Dive was literally torturing them. Maybe. I mean, I wouldn't blame her... Both of the bound pegasi looked at each other for a moment, before the Officer turned back to face us, his jaw a little more slack. "That fucking madstallion actually did it... son of a bitch, I thought we bombed that tunnel out before he could get those guns! He was supposed to just use those recoilless warheads as standard bombs, or as intended, not turn 'em into arty shells! Fuck!" The tunnel... they were actually trying to seal those guns away? Sheesh, and leave it to us to be inside the damn thing when they dropped at the entrance, they didn't even know we were in there. The Officer thought for a moment, before looking across all of us. "We'll tell you whatever you need to know, that... that lunatic is gonna turn this whole continent into an irradiated hell if he isn't stopped." Static blunk a few times before stepping forwards, rubbing at his own eyes a little - heh, well, least I'm not the only softie. He sniffled a bit, before giving a nod, attention on the Officer. "Alright, how about we start with what you mean by that. Does it have something to do with Project Cerberus?" Wiping at my eyes, I stopped for the moment, looking up. We... actually still don't know what that is, do we? Well, I mean, in our defense making sure everyone was set up for battle was more of a pressing matter the last few days!... and we didn't get that much off of the drives, either. The younger soldier fidgeted in his seat as the officer looked back at him, both of them... not really having confident looks on their faces. "We... we think so. Even we're not sure what Project Cerberus actually is, all we could figure out was that it was some sort of air-breathing megaspell-armed missile, not like the usual ones that leave the atmosphere and then reenter. And also that it was a superweapon that we could use as a bargaining chip to try and threaten whatever the next major wasteland government was for amnesty..." Both myself and Static just stared at both of the soldiers, the officer seeming to wear a slight scowl as the younger one's eyes darted about. "Okay, I admit the plan had some minor flaws, we were desperate!" Just as Static and Crash Dive both looked like they were ready to give both of the enclave soldiers a piece of their minds, the rumble of another motorbug engine driving up was heard before it quickly came to a stop outside, the tracks skidding on the pavement. A red unicorn burst through the doorway, panting heavily, his mane rather frazzled and eyes in a panic. "Zhey've hit the Cadence vith a megaspell! Ze radio's been going haywire vith all her fighters wondering vhat's happening, and our wing of escorts are returning for fuel..." Serene's eyes scanned the room, eventually reaching myself and Static. "Oh, and we've lost good contact vith ze second panzer battalion, zhey weren't in combat at ze time but it would help to know zhey haven't been lost as vell. If you could investigate both, zat vould-" "Oh, for- first, tell 'em to switch to the Radio KAOS waveband for the time bein', just heard from there that the blast took down their transmitter for the aircraft radio set. I'm sure they're handlin' themseves fine enough too, Serene, probably just headed into a tunnel or somethin' is all. We're a little busy right now, if you hadn't notcied..." Sharpwing took point, the red-coated unicorn looking at her like she was crazy for a second before, presumably, also hearing the radio playing in the corner. He let off a weak chuckle, answering with a slight nod as he straightened himself up, clearing his throat. "Ahem, ahm, ah, yes, vell, alright. Anyvays, uh, ze Valkyrie's guns are reloaded if you vant to head out again, and we'll be beginning ze missile barrage against ze fortress shortly as vell once contact is restored vith both panzer battalions. So, ahm, if you vould be so kind as to investigate ze fate of the second panzer battalion, ah..." Serene let himself trail off, rubbing a hoof at the back of his head. Thinking for just a moment, I looked over to Static - well, the tanks'll probably want a bit of a head start anyways, and those missiles probably don't fly so fast that we couldn't outrun the last of them to get in position... not to mention the fact we still don't know the underground layout of the place, at all. Right. "I can fly over solo to find Mad Jack and the rest now, Static needs to stay here to get info out of these two before he heads in. Probably best to give the tanks a head-start anyways, last I checked Avery wasn't too much faster than the TOG, heh..." Static nodded in agreement as I passed him one last look, Serene doing the same before turning and trotting back out the door to the tarmac outside. The door shut behind us as I landed myself on the back of the motorbug, Serene climbing onto the driver's seat. "Oh, right, Static took care of the second bunker but the third one's still active, at least on the smaller turrets. Think you could try aiming a few of the missiles at them, get 'em dealt with quick while I'm tracking down Mad Jack?" Serene gave the engine a quick rev before dropping us into gear, the mini-tank lurching for a moment before settling in to a normal drive. We sped along the tarmac, and as we got near the other hangars, the sight of a few very shiny-looking ponies milling around a vertibuck caught my eyes. Huh... guess Scouring's ranger group has finally decided to arrive. Coulda been a little bit faster on that, yanno... "Sorry, had enough trouble getting ze launch rail set up in ze first place, don't think we can adjust it now to hit a different target even if we wanted. Besides, ze Mountain Springs rangers are here to help out as vell, zhey could probably handle one little bunker complex, at least!" I passed on a nod, watching the Steel Rangers Vertibuck idling beside the other rotor-craft that Cora and Hispano were looking at, the hangar storing the Valkyrie coming up fast. "Alright, that'll work too, just get 'em breifed and all first. We already dealt with the big twin guns on the summit of that mountain, seems like just flat-out blowing their ammo loads is the easiest and quickest way to deal with them." The motorbug came to a halt inside the hangar, the Valkyrie already pointing outwards - convenient that they got it done and turned around so quickly, really. Serene kept the engine running as I hopped off, heading over and opening up the cockpit door. "Vell, I'll pass zat information on, but I can't be sure zhey won't want to try and keep ze bunkers intact. Truth be told, wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing to have a route to ze east under Steel Ranger protection..." "We'll... work things like that out later. Anyways, all clear for takeoff already, yeah? You gonna guide me out?" Serene responded with a nod on both accounts, giving his motorbug a rev while I climbed up into the cockpit to get the bomber started. The engines whined up to idle as the console lit up and canopy shone with the light of the holographic displays, indicators for the cannons showing a full forty rounds each. Might not have to use 'em, but hey, still better than no rounds... Taxiing out onto the runway afforded me a good view as one of the Vertibucks took to the air, starting to head off to the south. Euh, well, hopefully they follow a different flight pattern than I will. Settling on the runway's end, Serene peeled off to the side before waving a pair of green paddles in the air, myself answering with a wave of the hoof and opening up the throttle. The Valkyrie's wonderful howl rattled the cockpit as I finally remembered to drop flaps, mostly gracefully lifting into the sky. Alright Jack and Epine, let's find what's happened to you. Turning a bit for the west, I crested over the mountain range, the Vanhoover Reservior shining in the midday light as the wasteland stretched out ahead of me. Not a view you get that often... hm... "Valkyrie calling Vanhoover Air Base, anyone there reading me?" Static met me on the line - the electrical kind, not the earth pony - as the Valkyrie powered on southwards, myself easing the throttle back a little as the eastern edge of the reservior vanished past the nose. Hooking in east, I settled in to try and find that golf course, and the other tanks... hopefully. "Vanhoover Air Base, this is Valkyrie, anyone even in the tower?" "Haah... hoh... sorry Valkyrie, elevator is still out. Vhat did you need?" Serene's voice came over as I switched the Valkyrie over to hover mode, dipping the nose to be able to scan the ground. The slush-covered hills were spotty with patches of grass, a few muddy lines at least making themselves apparent as I continued onwards. Hopefully what I find is good, at least... "Just a bit of confirmation, you said that they weren't in combat when you lost contact, were they in combat yet before then? Or, near their target? They're supposed to be meeting up with First battalion in the valley, at a tunnel exit..." A few smoke clouds started to rise up ahead as I looked down the valleys, the many pairs of muddy tracks heading towards the plumes. Well, I doubt anyone's having any campfires today... and I think I recognize that track-truck. "Uh... nevermind, Serene, found 'em. They look like they're doing fine, gonna switch channel and see if I can pick them up." Bringing the Valkyrie to a hover, I fiddled with the set, tuning it around a bit. Garbled static eventually gave way to the faint whine of a tank's engine, and... some kind of music, I think. Yep, that's Mad Jack alright. The tune was abruptly cut short by the sound of Avery's main gun loosing a massive shell, the top hatch doors clattering against the armor as the stallion let off a gleeful cackle. "Hah! Take that, ya bleedin' metal monstrosities, that's what true Equestrian engineering can do! Nngh..." There was some shuffling as his plaid pipe-bag-thing was set aside, the unmistakable sound of a sword being pulled free from a scabbard being heard as he hefted himself up into open air. For my part, I got the Valkyrie moving again. "Come on, lads, it's a long way to Trotterary and we won't let these mongrels get in our way! Get me closer, I wanna decapitate one of the clankin' bastards!" I couldn't help but let off a small laugh of my own as I flew the Valkyrie closer to the battlefield, soon getting a look down at the sight of the tanks below, and the massively churned and cratered earth - well, guess the HMS Cadence was doing some good work here, after all. Huh, guess that track-truck must've been a mortar carrier or something, too... Every so often another small blast would rattle the area the tanks were pushing up towards, Avery flanked on the left by the small blue T-8 while Epine and the Liberty Bell covered their right, both of the smaller tanks' guns hammering away into the dust cloud. Could just about make out the sight of that crazy stallion waving his sword around outside his tank's turret. "Jack, I don't mean to put a damper on your fun, but trust me, these things don't lose their heads that easy..." "Hah, Valkyrie, about time you showed up, we were just getting to the fun bit! Eheh, do send my apologies on to the Vanhoover Air Base, been a while since I last used my sword in action and the weight of it threw me off, cut down my own arial slightly. This lot's been an absolute push-over so far, haven't even been fired upon yet!" Mad Jack let off another laugh as I joined him with a weak chuckle, watching out the canopy and half-expecting a plasma ball or flame spout to erupt from inside the dust cloud. Mercifully, it seemed like dramatic irony was finished for now... "How're Rheinmetall and Rangefinder getting along with Ironside and Pip in the valley? Sure seemed like they were having a fair bit of fun earlier!" "You could've asked zhem yourself if you weren't such a klutz with your broadsword, Jack!" Epine's voice chimed in, interspersed with the noise of full brass shells being moved about and a small breech closing shut. Sheesh, she actually is having to run that whole turret herself... thank Celestia we've got more advanced stuff in the TOG. Epine grunted for a moment, before speaking again. "Ach, merde, the smoke is too thick to see anything. Ahm, all machine guns, spray it down with tracer fire and see if anything sparks in there. Get a hit, let loose, zese robo-dragons are worse-armored than even the T-8!... Eheh, I mean, um, just... just fire." Annoyed grunts came from an unfamiliar voice, presumably the commander of the small tankette on Avery's left, as I pushed the Valkyrie's nose forwards to fly ahead of the three tanks. Well, I mean, I guess if I were down there, I wouldn't really want to be told that the tank I'm driving has worse armor than the stuff it's having to fight. The debris cloud passed by as I swung the Valkyrie back around to look at the southeastern side, trying to get a better sight of the targets... if there were actually any left down there, anyways. Pausing for just a moment, all three of the tanks started opening up their machine guns at the base of the plume, the multicolored tracers flying through the smoke and striking against what looked like wood and thin sheet metal. Hm... fiddling with the console a little, the display lit up with a few green wireframe shapes, three triangles above with a few squares below, closer to the Valkyrie's nose. Well, assuming the triangles are the tanks, the square things must be... not friendlies. Hopefully. Lingering for a moment longer, one of the squares stirred as a few of the tracers pinged off of it, soon followed up by two shots from the small tank cannons. The shattered form of a manticore-bot dragged itself out of the debris cloud on three legs, the tail dragging behind it by a few wires as it left a streak of leaking fluids staining the dirt. It craned its head skywards as if to look at myself inside the Valkyrie, another shell ricocheting off of it's armored hide and making it recoil from the impact. Aw, it almost makes be feel bad for the horrible monstrosity... almost. "Jack, robot Manticore about 40 meters off Avery's front, and two more unidentified targets at 35 meters to the south of it, in the cloud. Mind banishing it to Tartarus with a helping of high explosives?" The old stallion let off a deep laugh at the other end of the line as I pulled the Valkyrie back a bit, just in case. The massive mortar resounded with a loud 'thoom', myself just about able to see the shell arc through the cloud and land smack on the backside of the disfigured abomination of a robot. Oh, that's a good feeling. The Mantibot vanished in a fireball, the blast reducing it to shrapnel that peppered the ground around and made me just feel quite relaxed at the sight. The hydraulic fluid was lit up in a blaze with smoke that matched the color of the other plume, myself taking hold of the Valkyrie's controls again. One square down, two more to go... "Good hit Jack, give Avery another kill mark or somethin'. I'm gonna give these last two a quick strafe and then head back, first battalion is waiting for you at the tunnel junction in the valley. Regroup with them and push on to the fort, third set of bunker turrets is getting dealt with by Steel Rangers. Good luck, guys." "Roger that Valkyrie, happy flying! We'll mop up here and proceed on, shouldn't take us too long to get to 'em. We'll send all these rotten robots to the scrap-heap and be home in time for dinner!" Letting off a light chuckle as Jack switched off his set, I pulled the Valkyrie back a little, just enough to give me a good long pass over the pair of wireframe squares. Both autocannons sounded out loud either side of me as they emptied away, a few flashes and sparks seen inside as they struck home, sickly white clouds joining in with the smoky plumes from the burning hydraulic oils. Good ol' white phosphorous, such a wonderful shell. The boxes seemed to flail around a little as the robots tried to escape, before vanishing past the bottom of the canopy as I passed over fully, leveling the Valkyrie off. Giving a short waggle of the wings and looking down out of the canopy at the three tanks charging forwards, I pushed the throttle to max and switched back to level flight, hearing that lovely howl and charging north once again. Least things were going a bit calmer on this side of the wasteland... Hopeville deserved the break. I fiddled with the radio set, getting Serene back on the line. "Valkyrie calling Vanhoover Air Base, got a report on second battalion. Turns out Jack slightly chopped off one of his own antennas, they're handling themselves fine. Should be meeting up with first battalion shortly." The radio was quiet for a moment, as I assume Serene was removing his forehoof from his face, the red unicorn letting off a sigh. "Copy zat, Valkyrie, thanks for the update. We've begun launching ze wunderwaffen, we'll hold fire as son as you return and are ready to take off again. Vanhoover Air Base, out." I let off a sigh as I leaned back in the pilot seat, a smile crossing my muzzle. Pick up Static and Aerith, drop them off in the base, get a good look at the destruction all those missiles did to it... and home's not too far away, either... Ah... nice to have a battle going our way.