The Humvee came to a stop. Henry stepped down, holding onto the passenger door as he disembarked.
He looked east, into the ruins of Minos. The road was paved with cobblestones, but the tsunami had washed soil over it and littered it with debris.
"I'll take point," Henry said, closing the door and walking forward. He wasn't expecting IEDs or anything, but to get the Humvee by the wreckage unscathed it was a good idea to take a personal look.
Three minotaurs approached. One said something in their own language to Henry. Based on the, uh, udder, this was a female. The two smaller minotaurs with her were likely kids.
Henry called for Specialist Lee. He talked to the three minotaurs, working out that they were looking for someone.
"His name is Copper Kenny," Lee said. "That's a pretty common naming convention for them, some mineral followed by a formal name."
Henry wrote it down, but there wasn't much they could do other than promise to keep their eyes open.
They picked their way east, following the road. They would probably find quite a few more displaced citizens before the day was out. Henry asked Lee to stay with him for that reason.
"Tell me what you know about Tauros," he said. It was partially for conversation, partially to fill in any gaps in Henry's memory.
"They have a theme that is almost like Greek," said Lee. "Of course, that isn't so interesting when you take into account that most Equestrian names are puns on human places."
The rift had definitely changed things. Who knew what they would discover next?
Looking down from the cockpit of the C-130, Jordan noted the destruction along the coast, centered around Minos. The tsunami hadn't washed the whole coast of Tauros, but the earthquake had also shaken dwellings up and down the country.
The back of the plane was empty and the loadmasters sat on the tailgate. Jordan and crew were out for a familiarization flight. It was not only to check the accuracy of the charts, but to get eyes on the territory where they would be operating. Once the ground forces had pushed further inland, there would probably be more work. Maybe cargo drops.
The roads looked reasonably intact from the air, but a few thousand feet was a long way. Up in the mountains, maybe that would be different. A whole pass collapsing could take months to clear.
He turned inland. The sky had zero pollution, and he could see to the horizon, where the mountains to the north rose up. A leisurely flight of an hour took them on a loop over the highlands. The center of the country appeared green and growing, rising up to forests and eventually high peaks. In the winter, the skiing might have been good. Supposedly there were some mines out this way, though what exactly they produced no one seemed to know.
Corporal Shino Hitoshi checked the map and squinted forward through the windshield of the Komatsu LAV. The road ahead ran north, up into Tauros' farming country. It was mostly clear, but not really made for vehicles. Hitoshi wondered if that was why they had sent the Japanese north, because they were used to narrow streets.
The LAV, while sharing its name with a North American armored personnel carrier, was instead a four-wheeled vehicle roughly shaped like an SUV, but armored against rifle fire. It rode high on independent suspension and could mount a gun on top. While the four of them inside carried their Howa 64 rifles, no one was on the alert. So far, there had been no indications of hostilities on the humanitarian mission.
He and his squad were on a simple recon mission. They had a radio and supplies for a few days. Their main job was just making sure the map was accurate.
Well, for the main roads, at least, that shouldn't be too difficult. Hitoshi periodically checked the GPS and if he happened to spot a landmark, put it down on the map spread across his knees.
In the distance, a few buildings came into view. On the map, it was probably the city of Diony. This was a farming area, and they'd already passed field after field. Most of it seemed to be grain. Hitoshi was from the city and couldn't tell exactly what it might be. It looked like a lot of food. Then again, minotaurs probably needed a lot of food.
They passed a sign with some words painted on it. Based on the GPS, this was Diony. There were a few cracks in the walls of a few buildings. Standard earthquake stuff, Hitoshi had seen it before.
As he looked around, though, he didn't see anyone. The buildings didn't look that damaged. Were they at lunch or something?
"Pull up there," he said to the driver. They came to a halt in what seemed to be a town square. Nothing stirred. The only sound was the LAV's diesel engine.
Could the minotaurs have seen them coming and fled? Did they not get word from the capital that help was coming? Was there something else going on?
"Call it in," Hitoshi said to the radioman. "Then, let's get going."
The meet-and-greets had been taken care of, the chain of command had been established, and now it was time to begin business in earnest.
Sky Colonel Spitfire had arrived with a unit of one hundred pegasi. Spitfire herself was apparently the leader of a trick flying squadron, though she was here along with everypony else on a volunteer basis. Hogan seemed to know who she was, though none of the humans had ever met her before.
"The Equestrian Army will be on its way," she said, using good English. "They have more supplies. I was told there will be three hundred of them."
The pegasi had arrived with sparse equipment. Each of them had carried in a bale of hay, a spear, and their personal items. The hay, while not appetizing to any of the humans, would sustain minotaurs in need.
The group of CTF leaders and their aides had gathered around a table in the command tent, minus Captain Lombard who was wired in via teleconference. Candless and Morita wore their green camouflage. Hogan wore his green flight suit.
Spitfire wore a blue utility-style uniform. To Candless it most resembled a US Coast Guard uniform, not the least of which was because it came with a ball cap. He was sure Lombard probably had a ball cap. He himself wore the usual Marine Corps eight-pointed cover. Morita's hat was rounded like a cylinder. Hogan, of course, wore a bush hat.
But it was the differences that brought them together. Each had their own expertise to bring to bear on the problem.
He did have to ask, though, "Why bring spears?"
Equestria surely had to have issued projectile weapons, Candless knew the technology had made it across the rift. A sidearm was much more compact than a spear taller than a pony. A spear didn't make any sense from a regalia standpoint, either, with the utility uniforms.
"A spear has a nonleathal side, too," said Spitfire. "But given an absolute need to kill, it's all about penetration."
"That's a good point," Candless acknowledged. "If we were to run across aggressors, I'm not entirely sure a 5.56 round would do very much to a minotaur."
"JGSDF has 7.62," Morita reminded him.
Candless nodded. "Right, and somewhere in the MEU we have a handful of M14's, M40's, and Barretts."
"Somerset has a pair of 30mm chainguns and all the ships have 20mm gatling," Lombard added dryly. "It's not a pissing contest, gentlemen."
"The dragons would win it anyway," said Spitfire.
That was a definite shift in the tone of the conversation. "Are we expecting trouble from the outside?" Candless asked directly.
"I would just expect trouble from dragons in general," Spitfire said. "That's not my lane, though. When the Army gets here, they'll probably have a few analysts to add to the combined intelligence cell."
Invasion was not a scenario typical in humanitarian missions. Candless made a mental note and then followed the conversation back to other matters.
Minotaurs were...well, Candless didn't want to call them stupid, that would imply a lack of brainpower, but they certainly were isolated. Being in a small country between two mountain ranges would do that. They had a few unique ideas about the way the world worked.
Apparently, once a geologist had explained to the minotaur government exactly why the earthquake had occurred, the king's first response was to organize teams of the nation's strongest minotaurs, which is to say all of them, to punch the tectonic plates back into place. The human observers were incredulous, but the Equestrians were at the very least curious.
Candless did at least ask, "Is it working?"
"Not that we've detected," replied his aide.
Candless reminded himself not to look down on anyone just because they were different or hadn't had the same opportunities. Maybe he'd find funding to build them a library or internet café or something.
They discussed general lines of effort. Spitfire had a few things she could add to the maps, though an expert would have been better. The group agreed that while they needed to help the closest minotaurs, the rest of the country still needed a survey to figure out what else might need fixing.
When the meeting was over, the leaders went their separate ways. Candless ended up walking out with Spitfire. She paused to grab her spear.
Candless decided maybe instead of a Beretta he would begin carrying his Ka-Bar.