If the Equestrian tabloids were bad, the minotaur ones were even worse, or at the least, worse informed.
Japanese/Dragon conspiracy? read the headline of one. Will "Godzilla" soon be paying a visit?
Setting up a group to collect intelligence via the news had seemed like a good idea, and had produced a few results, but it was becoming almost not worth it trying to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Candless sat back from the morning intelligence briefing. Things had been going so well. Then, one of the ships had been involved in a minor diplomatic incident which caused the Chinese to respond with a warship to "protect their citizens." A coast guard ship would have been a lot less provocative.
That was on top of sightings of dragons inside Tauros.
The CTF commanders sat around the table in the situation tent. Lombard, as usual, via teleconference. Spitfire had invited Flash Sentry, the officer in charge of the Equestrian ground unit. The translators were all there, taking notes. Also, for some reason, Iron Will.
The briefing was unclassified so they didn't have to work through the process of clearing sensitive information to release to the multitude of countries involved. That meant there wasn't really a problem with guests being present, but that was a slippery slope. Candless made a mental note to ask someone to restrict onlookers. At least the media types hanging around camp hadn't managed to slip in.
It came Lombard's turn to present a status report for the Navy side. "The destroyer USS O'Kane is inbound through the rift. She'll be on surveillance and security enhancement detail."
Candless read between the lines and was fairly sure the other military members did too. This was directly balancing the Chinese.
Who knew why the Chinese were even here. To be fair, the rift wasn't that far from their territory, but not close enough that they could legitimately claim anything. Candless made a mental note to ask Lombard to set Tauros up with some naval advice before the CTF left.
The other members read their own pieces of the brief. Teams were still canvassing the country for the missing minotaurs from Diony. Airlifts via Osprey had started to really make a difference in supplying stranded minotaurs. The Equestrian Army coming in from the Crystal Empire had made it to Pavor and began setting up relief there.
That was the best news of the morning. When the meeting was over, Candless flagged down the helicopter pilot he had on retainer. After a quick talk with Spitfire, she loaned him Captain Sentry and the two of them loaded up in the Huey. Robert Fantone, the English translator, and a pony who would translate into Equestrian, went with them.
Flash spoke a little English, but it was next to useless with the noise of the helicopter even with intercom headphones. Candless idly wondered if, because English was the universal language of aviation, that gave pegasi more exposure to it.
The Huey flew into Pavor. An Osprey was just ahead of them. The landing zone marked by the Equestrians was just large enough for the two of them.
As Candless stepped down, he looked curiously at a couple of Minotaurs that were opposite the Osprey, apparently prostrating themselves. He glanced around, trying to figure out who they were kowtowing to.
An Equestrian Army Lieutenant came over and spoke briefly with Captain Sentry.
"He says the situation is stable, but could be better. It looks like maybe the damage from the earthquake wasn't as bad here."
A female minotaur wearing heavy jewelry walked over and stood with her arms crossed.
"This is Brass Knuckles," the Equestrian soldier introduced via translation. "She'd been heading up efforts here."
"The supplies have been most welcome," Fantone translated for her. "Though I'm worried about the rest of the country."
"Tauros is in good hands. And hooves," Candless replied.
The group talked a little more, getting a feel for the situation. Supplies would keep coming in, but the Equestrians would begin to move south to join up with the main headquarters.
When it was time to go, Candless couldn't help but pause a moment longer. "What are those minotaurs over there doing?"
The Osprey lifted off. The small group bowing to it raised their hands to the sky.
"They are paying tribute to our saviors," said Brass Knuckles. "I know it's just a machine, but some are rather more sentimental."
It was an awkward feeling, Candless thought, knowing he'd accidentally started a cargo cult.
They boarded the Huey again and Candless directed a detour back to Minos to meet with the king. Now that all the major cities in Tauros had been contacted, it seemed like a good time to provide an update.
King Coal was happy to hear the news that the humanitarian mission was going well. However, that was not what he wanted to talk about.
"We have heard about a being of great destruction," he said, his voice turning lower and more worried.
"What kind?" Candless asked.
Fantone spoke back and forth with the king for several minutes, apparently trying to get enough detail to figure out exactly what was going on. It seemed King Coal didn't know himself, though.
"He just said it was called a destroyer," said Fantone. He looked at Candless. "Surely you don't think...?"
"Where did you hear this?" Candless asked.
Coal's eyes brightened. "Iron Will came to visit earlier! He always knows just what to say."