//------------------------------// // Chapter 26 // Story: The End has Begun // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 26 Unknown to the Europeans, an American Field Operative of Fourth Echelon was scouting ahead. He was in a fenced open area and was about to move. “We need to save those kids. If Makarov kills these foals on live broadcast, we're sunk.” “Are we worrying about the broadcast or the murders?” he asked his officer. “For now, the broadcast. It'll buy us time to stop the killings. Makarov’s broadcasting from an antenna on the roof. That's your first objective; you'll find the rest on your OpSat.” The agent activated his night vision and moved up the fence, avoiding guards. He leaved the area and climbed another fence up as he intercepted a radio chat. “Colonel, the landmines are in place; make sure nobody without polarized thermal sensor enters the area.” With that as warning, the commando switched from night vision to solar vision which was similar if not equal to Thermal vision. With that, it was easy to avoid the mines and by pressing against the wall, he avoided a spotlight too. Then the Field Operative climbed the roof up by jumping on a rubbish can and on the ledge. On the roof were windows were Makarov prepared the broadcast with his men and members of the Phoenix Connexion. “I want all identified details straight to the room. Keep the lights off from the walls. Give them fuller highlights. We need to clearly see their faces when they die. Where's our sound-man? Make sure we're close enough to hear prayers.” The agent reached the antenna and turned it off. “What just happened? The broadcast antenna is down. We've got no outgoing signal.” A Terrorist reported confused. “We're under attack. The Americans and Europeans are here. They've taken out the broadcast antenna. I want a squad of Bears repairing that antenna. I want the Americans and Europeans found and killed.” “Yes, sir.” A Wolf replied. “Sounds like you shook things up pretty well. But it's gonna buy us a few minutes. Find these children, Fisher.” Fisher waited in the dark and took two Bears out that wanted to repair it. Then he moved inside to go lower through the stairs. He came to a bathroom as he intercepted another radio chat. “Kill the foals. Take them to the studio and kill them. We'll release the footage whenever we can. I want the foals prepped and in the studio; the executions are going forward as planned.” “Yes, sir.” Also he overheard some soldiers talking. “That was Makarov. He wants us to escort the foals to the studio.” “You copy that, Fisher? The executions are going forward.” “I heard. We got any more diversions?” “You gun's full of them. Make sure that escort doesn't reach the kids. But JSF forces along with European Enforcers are already en route to extract the hostages.” “Good to know.” He took the escort with his rifle out. A Phoenix member was sitting at a desk in a small office. Fisher grabbed him to interrogate him. “What the?” “Where are you keeping the Children?” “My comrades will get you and torture you, just like I did torture them!” “I already don't like you. Don't make it worse for yourself. You're just the stupid one who likes to hurt people, huh?” “E...Exactly...” “Can you think of a reason why the world wouldn't be a better place without you?” “No. But I won’t tell you.” “Where are they?” Fisher tightened his grip. The Terrorist let out a painful grunt. “Where?!” “The basement.” “And why would you work together with a splinter group?” “Money and resources. Kill me.” Fisher granted him his wish and stabbed him in the back. “That explains a lot. I just hope they are in good shape.” “Don’t worry, Grim. White torture is the only possibility I can think of.” “Let’s hope so.” He moved to a hatch and crawled into a tunnel and grabbed a pipe taking him to the ceiling. He moved through and reached another hole above three soldiers who were chatting. “What about the broadcast?” “It's not our place to question, let's go.” Before they could go, Fisher threw a sleeping gas grenade down to knock them out. Then he jumped down and moved on. He saw how Combat Engineers placed wall mines. “Last week it was those turrets, this week its wall mines.” “So? I use the tool they give me.” “You're obsessed over them.” “You have dropped mean. These are cool.” “Yes, but if we plant too many, it's dangerous.” “They're supposed to be dangerous. They're mines for god sake.” “Darkness.” Fisher shot the lamp above them then fired at the mine, causing it to explode and killing both of them. He walked down the corridor. He hides himself in a dark corner as two soldiers crossed his path. “That's sick. I am a soldier, not a sadist.” “Come on, you know you want to watch.” “I don't. Broadcasting murder is barbaric. Civilians, especially, Children?” “You're naive to think it's anything but history. Sometimes you have to make an example.” “It's a pointless conversation. We're on patrol until the alert quiets.” “Don’t tell me you feel pity for them.” “They are children for Christ’s sake!” “But they are Europeans and equally guilty as the soldiers of Europe. We should be with the others watching the broadcast.” “No I won’t.” the soldier knocked his comrade out and ran to the basement but overlooked a mine and was killed by the explosion. Fisher could hear crying at the far end of the basement. “Grim, I think I found them.” “Good. Poor kids, they must be scared to death.” Perspective: Dinky We’re would die and we knew it. All I could hear was Sweetie Belle sobbing. She had given up. I couldn’t blame her, as all our faith was lost after they told us that we would be executed. The door was open but they placed a wall mine to make sure we would stay here. We were cowering. They let us starve. My stomach ached. “Psst, over here.” I looked up and saw the man that interrogated me back in the city. “I get you out of here.” “Please help us. But be careful, these are motion sensitive.” “Don’t worry, I got this.” He moved very slowly to the mine and deactivated it as the light was green. Apple Bloom looked at him. “Ah wanna go home.” “Makarov wouldn't let them torture us. He kept saying we had to look pretty for our execution. But they tortured her.” Sweetie Belle pointed at me. “Thank Celestia, they were gonna kill us. We haven't eaten in two days. I'm not sure I can walk.” Scootaloo was glad. “You've come to save us. Where the others?” I asked. “It’s just me at the moment. But JSF forces and European forces are on the way. What’s going on here?” “I can tell you but your government must hear it.” “They hear everything I've do. Shoot.” “As Russia was losing the war, Colonel Imran Makarov from the 26th Assault Battalion went rouge and called his Battalion Ultranationalists now. They do not accept defeat and wish to return the country back to what it was during the days of the Soviet Union. They believe that the government leaved his citizens behind as they surrendered to the European Federation. They allied themselves with the Phoenix Connexion who has similar goals. They want to execute us to show that the war against the European Federation is not over yet, and to start a new war. They are a splinter faction and have a complete disregard for the Geneva Conventions or any of the rules of war. They will kill anyone who gets in their way and they do not spare civilians or children like us. As my friend told you, they tortured me just for fun.” I quivered after I told him everything. “Don’t worry, you’re safe now.” As he said that, we heard radio chatter. “Remember, this is bandit country. Shoot everything that moves.” It was Peter. “It seems that the rescue team has arrived, Fisher.” A woman spoke to him. But then a second radio chat came in. “Damnation. The Americans and Europeans have taken the basement. I want all available men armed to converge on the basement. We'll kill them all.” “This is easy! We kill them and then we go home!” another man said on the radio. “Please, help us!” Sweetie Belle pleaded. “That’s why I am here.” He dropped a radio and leaved. We held each other for dear life as we heard screams and shots. The radio allowed us to hear the progress of the rescue team. “Lieutenant Tom, this is Bullseye, we're clearing the east wing heading for base security, over." “Roger, Bullseye, we're right above you in the vents, watch your fire.” “Copy that, sir.” We heard gunshots on the radio. “Lieutenant Tom, Boxcars reporting in. We're meeting with heavy resistance in the south wing. They've locked down our access point over here, over.” “Roger Boxcars. Regroup with Locksmith and help them gain control of base security, over.” “Roger that, sir. We're pulling back to regroup with Locksmith. Boxcars out.” More screaming and shots, outside and on the radio. “Peter, this is Tom. We've taken over base security. What's your status, over?” “Locksmith, we're in position. Open the door.” “Roger, we're on it.” On the radio was silence for a brief moment. “Come on, come on! Open that door!” “Just about… Got it! Doors coming online now.” Again silence. Outside was very loud. “Peter, can't you make it open faster?” “Negative sir. But you can try pulling it if it'll make you feel better.” “Plaisantin.” Tom said in his native language. “Grim, there’s too many. I could use some help.” Fisher stayed calm. “Boogeyman, what's your status, over?” “Boogeyman in position, at the southeast side of the basement. Standing by. Are you at the far wall over?” “Affirmative. Preparing to breach.” Two explosions. Peeking around the corner, I saw that Fisher was gone, but Tom and his men flanked from the left side, a Platoon of American soldiers I never saw before from the right. “Clear!” They moved to us but someone grabbed me from behind. “Put down your weapons!” my captor screamed, pointing his pistol at me. I was scared but as Peter handled such situations before, I knew that he would save me. One Grenadier smiled at me. “Sorry Dinky. But we have orders. And you’re in the way.” Peter was confused and so was everyone else. I feared he would kill me with whatever he was about to do. With a quick move, the Grenadier fired from the hip; a bullet penetrated my gut and killed my captor. “Are you crazy?!” Peter looked at him in anger. “Sorry Lieutenant, but there was no other way.” I held my gut and grunted in pain, it felt like very painful, more painful than any injury I suffered before. I really hoped that my stomatch or an other organ wasn't damaged behind repair or that I would die later of it. “Don’t worry; I got you fixed up in no time.” Peter took care of it. It was painful but not fatal. “Peter! Look!” Apple Bloom pointed to something next to the dead Terrorist. “Merde! A bomb! It can blow this entire basement up!” Tom checked it. “I got this.” Peter was defusing the bomb. But there was not enough time to run or to defuse it. 5 seconds. 4 3 2 1! I closed my eyes and raised my hooves to shield myself from the explosion as the bomb beeped and flashed white. “Aww crap!” One American said. But the explosion never came. “Bomb has been defused.” Slowly opening my eyes, the timer stopped at 00:00:01 and the code 115 was on it. “That was TOO close.” Peter let out a breath of relief. I and my friends had held our breath and were glad that the bomb was defused. “Now, let’s get you out of here.” He picked me up and removed the ring, while some of his men took the others. “Sir, this is Müller at the security station. They came in by trucks. I'm thinking we can all use them to get outta here. I'm sending you the coordinates to the vehicle depot.” “Roger that. We'll meet you at the vehicle depot! Out! Everyone follow me, let's go!” Tom ordered. Apart from us and Peter, one of the Americans followed us. His name tag showed that he had the name Jackson. And that he was a Ghost of the JSF. Whatever that was. Probably the special forces of the USA. “All teams this is command, recommend you exfil from the area immediately. Large numbers of hostiles are converging on your position. Get outta there now.” “We got company! Enemy reinforcements movin' in!” He shouted and took them down. At the vehicle depot, they took out the remaining enemies. “All right, get in the trucks! Let's go!” “You heard the man! Move!” Jackson said as Tom entered one of the trucks with us. Saving us from death was easy. Getting away will be more difficult.