//------------------------------// // Operation Borealis - Part 1 // Story: The Chain That Binds // by xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx //------------------------------// The first thing Bryan Wilks noticed was the piercing light swinging lazily above his head. The second thing he noticed was the presence of another person in his peripheral vision, but he was unable to turn his head. He then tried to sit up, but failed; his movements were countered by leather straps around his wrists, ankles, chest, and forehead. The person, who seemed to have noticed his struggling, stepped closer. The badge on their breast came into focus; an E encircled by five-point stars. Enclave. "Well, you're finally awake. Welcome, Mr....?" They said. Bryan, still squinting into the light, spat, "Who the fuck are you?" "Mr. Who-the-fuck-are-you, I am Lieutenant Carl Stroud. You may call me Carl. You may be wondering where you are, Who. Do not panic if you feel numbness, suicidal tendencies, or experience short-term memory loss. They are merely side effects of a Mesmerizing. Do you remember how you got here? It's quite a tale, should you not." Carl smugly stated. "No, I don't remember how I got here. And these fucking straps are chafing me." "If you stopped writhing," said Carl, "Maybe they wouldn't. Now, allow me to refresh you-" "I meant I don't know the specifics. I get it, you captured me and all that shit. No need to rub it in." Bryan growled. "Oh, but it's really quite a tale! Your prototype Mjolnir-class assault walker-" "My what-class what?" "Interrupt me again and you will be punished accordingly. Your, ugh, what was it that you scum referred to it as? Yes, 'Liberian Pride', I believe?" "You mean Liberty Prime?" "Whatever. Its moniker matters not." Carl glanced at his watch. "It seems we've spent so long in our little spat that your side effects should be in withdrawal. Remind yourself, I shall return eventually to continue." The muted whir of the Vertibird's rotors outside the hull accompanied half-a-dozen power armor-clad soldiers and a naked guy as they huddled around a holotable. One of the armored soldiers, Sarah Lyons, moved representations of Brotherhood squads and Enclave task forces around a projection of a dilapidated plantation, dubbed creatively as the Plantation. The Plantation was an Enclave science base, the molding manor concealing a massive, gear-shaped door emblazoned with the number 104. The Burkittsvile Vault, one of the few control Vaults, and recently occupied by the Enclave. "Here's the plan, Pride." Said Sarah, "We let Prime 2.0 get their attention, and once we confirm that most of their forces are engaged with him, we carpet-bomb the patriotism out of them. Then Prime blows the bunker open, and we rope in. Questions?" The naked guy spoke next. "Sweetie, where is my combat suit? I'd love to storm the bunker in the buff, but I can only afford so many Stimpacks." "You left it in the wash." Sarah replied. The other soldiers audibly sighed through their suits' speakers. Everyone knew what was coming next. "Why didn't you tell me that before we left?!" "Well if you didn't leave me to take care of Kyle while you gallivanted through Maryland-" "I do not gallivant!" "Then maybe I would've had time to do the damn laundry." "God, look, I'll just take the pilot's Recon suit, it's not like he needs it. Hey, Joe, you need clothes to fly this bucket of bolts?!" Naked guy shouted towards the cockpit. "Well, I mean it's preferable-" The cockpit replied. "Great, I'll just climb on up there and you can give me your clothes, capiche?" Soon-to-not-be-naked guy twisted open the cockpit retaining door, clambering in despite the protests of the two pilots. "Alright, now that he's gone, we can get down to business." Sarah said, "Vargas, Kodiak, Wilks, you'll be the pointmen for this op. Try to keep if nonlethal with the scientists and brass, we might have a use for the intel." The two veterans checked that their holstered Mesmetrons were fully charged while Wilks stuffed a bag of cable ties into his armor's carrying pack. "Glade, Dusk, you'll be sweeping up and securing prisoners. Gallows and I will help crush the survivors of the bombing. Everyone, prepare for-" "Effing ay, I banged my knee on the dashboard and-" The now-clad-in-Joe's-Recon-Armor guy interrupted, reemerging from the cockpit, a faint sobbing behind him. "So, I guess I missed the briefing, what do I do?" "Well Kenny, since you've blown up half the vaults in the Capital Wasteland-" "That was one time! And there was like, sixty guys who kept going 'Gary, Gary Gary! Oooooh, Gary! Gaaaaaaary!' and I found this Fatman shotgun hybrid thing and I wanted to test it-" "I was going to say that since you knew the layout of Vaults in general so well, considering you were raised in one, you could... sneak, or shoot, or whatever you do that's so effective off to the Overseer's office, and rearm and reprogram the defenses to target Enclave grunts. Also, some logs would be nice. And if you unlock the armory, you can keep whatever you find in it." "Free guns? Sweet. When do we jump?" "As soon as Liberty Prime-" "I'm jumping now, seeyoulater." Kenny, or Recon Armor Guy, shouted as he wrenched the Vertibird's hatch open and flung himself out. "How is he not dead yet?" Vargas said, in a near-murmur. "Why did I tell him my name?" Irving Gallows said in a similar tone. "Heh. Irving." Dusk chuckled. All the while, Bryan Wilks rested his face in his palm as he tried to comprehend what exactly had happened in the briefing for his first mission as part of the Lyon's Pride. Bryan's remembering was interrupted by Carl returning. "Great story, yes?" The Enclave interrogator said. "I haven't gotten past briefing. Do you know how crazy it can get in there? Pent up testosterone, or some shit." "Oh, sorry. Let me speed things up for you, then. According to security cam footage, you and two other grubs waltzed through the Plantation, attacking our civilian scientists and eliminating their meager guard, and right into our trap for you in the common room. And now we have you." "What exactly do you need us for? You have better technology than us, and I bet my AER-9 you know more about the inner workings of the Brotherhood than I do." "Science, of course. I'm just letting you know that your assault failed spectacularly and rescue will never come for you in time." "It's not like there's anywhere you can take me, I think I can wait the week before they come back." "Well, Who-the-fuck, my boy, you'll be gone from this world within the hour?" "Wait, what? You're going to kill me? One, I'm like 20, and two, you just said you wouldn't!" "I'm a man of my word, and you literally will not be in this world any longer. Well, if the teleporter doesn't work. If it does, which I assure you there is a minuscule chance of that happening, you'll just be fine. Or have your insides outside. Or your ass on backwards. Otherwise, you'll end up somewhere, alternate reality, hell, I could care less. It's like a paper shredder, but for maggots like you. Well, off we go," He said as his wristwatch beeped an alarm, notifying him of some kind of event. "Off to meet the wizard. Er, teleporter." The teleporter was a dilapidated looking thing; no stark white metal or any aesthetics, but a rusted, industrial arch with caution tape looped around it. Bryan stood with his wrists and ankles bound, strapped to a cart like the other subjects in the room, who he recognized as Vargas, Dusk, and Kodiak. At least Glade and Kenny had escaped, and most likely told the Brotherhood of their predicament, for all it mattered. With no pomp or circumstance, one of Carl's lackeys, a shaking young man in a too-large Enclave uniform, probably a 'recruit' from the Vault, tore the ribbon from the arch and pressed a few buttons hidden by them. The arch whirred in activation, but didn't produce any visual cues. Vargas was wheeled into it first; he vanished bit by bit, the disappearing into thin air instead of appearing on the other side of the arch. Next, a lackey wheeled Kodiak towards it. Suddenly, Kodiak's cart jerked and overturned, his raw strength enabling him to break his restraints. Carl produced a plasma pistol and brought it to bear on Kodiak, but the beast of a man was on him in an instant, a sharp headbutt incapacitating the officer. One lackey darted off down the hall, sounding an alarm on their way. The other, the shaking man who activated the arch, spoke. "Can I... can I come with you?" He said. "What do you mean, come with us? We're not going anywhere yet." Kodiak said as he undid Dusk's restraints, and then Bryan's. They each shook out the kinks, and scavenged equipment from the lockers and cabinets in the room. "Hey meatbags, our gear's in here." Dusk said, cradling her recovered sniper rifle. Bryan and Kodiak moved to retrieve their items and suit up. "Hey, where's my armor?" Bryan asked. "I dunno, but we don't have any time to look for it. Just take the Enclave fuck's clothes, and go through the portal-thing. It's our only way out." Dusk replied. "Er, so, can I? Through the portal, wherever it goes? They'll kill me if they find me here." The man said nervously. "No-can-do, you Enclave fuck. In fact, I think I'll kill you here." Dusk aimed her rifle, and flipped her hair as Bryan stepped in front of her and pushed her rifle down. "I know his look, and judging from circumstance the Enclave forced him to join up. Most likely because he's the best... something, that they've got here. He could help us, wherever we end up." Bryan metaphorically shot at her. "Okaythanky-" The man said as he dashed through the portal before Dusk could reply. "Don't ever do that again. Or I will tear off your left nut, Wilks." "I love you too, Dusk." And with that, the three soldiers ventured to where no man had possibly gone before. Or their certain doom. In Ponyville, the biweekly farmer's market bustled with ponies of every kind as friends and lovers sampled produce and stocked up on foodstuffs. One group in particular loitered nearby the Hyphaemporium, where Old Gill sold his various fungi. "Pinkie, why do you need so many mushrooms?" A purple Alicorn said, as she levitated a bulging sack with ease. "I think there might be a stolen metaphor coming up soon that the author really liked, so I'm getting ready!" Pinkie said with her usual enthusiasm. "I, uh, nevermind. So, how was everypony's weekend? I wish I could've been here to experience whatever great things you all did while I worked with Celestia, but..." "Well, I went and bucked some apples. Though, some of 'em are dying already. Can't put my hoof on why, but it's only one in every few dozen or so, and I'm more productive buckin' instead of thinkin' too deeply in all that 'n such." The orange Earth Pony, Applejack replied. "Oh, I stayed home and cared for my animals. Polly was being very feisty a few days ago, and I wanted to make sure she didn't do anything she'd regret." The yellow Pegasus said, a rabbit peeking from her saddlebag. The cyan Pegasus mare who floated lazily above them on a butt spoke next, "Oh, nothing special, just saw the most awesome Pegasi around, the Wonderbolts, at the Derby!" "Oh, that's great, Rainbow Dash! I bet Cadance would've loved to see some stunts, but we didn't really get to do anything." Twilight responded. "Really? Did Tenderhoof go too rough on you? I know he's a bit stronger than other masseuses in Canterlot, but I just like them that way." The only unicorn in the group said, concerned. "I wish we had been able to make it to the appointment, but a diplomatic emergency came up and Celestia was busy with a really bad day in court and Luna's visiting the Seaponies, so we had to go." Twilight said dejectedly. "But on the bright side, we got to eat at a Buffalonian banquet! I don't know anypony else who's done that! Well, except for Cadance. And the other ambassadors there. And probably any other ambassadorstothebuffalobutImeanIreallydidn'tmeanjustushadbeenthereand-" "Breathe, darling." Rarity said, a hoof in Twilights mouth. "Away. Butt." Twilight muttered, very muffled. (Stick a hand in your mouth and say 'I can't' if you don't get understand.) "Ooh! Sorry." Rarity, mildly embarrassed, retracted the offending limb. "That's better. Now, let's all go get hammered to the spa, from what I've heard it sounds like we could all use some plain relaxation, no evil gods to defeat or anything." Twilight said. "I agree." Rarity said. "Mmm-hmm!" Mmm-hmmed Pinkie Pie. "Sounds good to me! I mean, like not bad, but not great." Rainbow Dash said, her astounding social dexterity ever-awing her friends. Kodiak, Vargas, Dusk, Wilks, and the Enclave Recruit, now known to them as Eric Harris, huddled around a fire in a small clearing of forest. "For daytime, wherever we are, the ominous breeze sure makes it cold." Harris stated. Dusk, still hostile over the day's earlier events, spat out, "Thank you, Private State-the-fucking-obvious." "Maybe you don't want to know where we are, then." "Wait, this entire time, you've known where we are?" Dusk shouted at him. "Well, I'm not telling you." Harris said, chin up to avoid Dusk's infamous glare. "Tell me or I will eat your testicles." "She's entirely serious, just tell her. Please. For all of our sakes." Vargas interjected. "Fine. We heard over the emergency broadcasts from other vaults that the outside world was dangerous and hostile, so our overseer put us to work trying to find... other worlds, simply put. We were helped along by what we assume was alien technology in the form of what seemed to be a teleporter in a crashed UFO. The first guy who touched it just... disappeared. We took it back, and after we lost a few more scientists, we shut it down and reverse engineered it to be safer. A little bit. Give it a hundred more years, and viola, intergalactic or dimensional gate." "Do I look like a fun guy?" Kodiak said, standing to his full height of nearly seven feet. "What do you want to hear?" Harris stammered. "Then why the fuck are you keeping me in the dark and feeding me bullshi-" "SURPRISE!" A pink... thing shouted, as it burst out of their fire, scattering burning logs and what appeared to be mushrooms across the clearing. "Mutie! Kill it!" Kodiak shouted. "You have the Gatling Laser, shoot!" Harris responded with an equally jostled mindset. "What the shit is that?!" Bryan yelped, jumping out of the way of a butt of embers. "It's jammed, it's not working!" Kodiak screamed. "Oh god I don't wanna dieeeeee!" Harris shrieked. "Hi, my name's Pinkie Pie and-" "BURN IN HELL MUTANT!" Dusk charged at it with her rifle clutched by the barrel, and swung directly at its head. It ducked out of the way with inhuman speed, and reappeared out of a bush at the edge of the clearing. "I love hoofball! Strike one!" Pinkie shouted, when suddenly she dropped to the forest floor, a blue arcs of electricity playing throughout her fur. Vargas twirled the Mesmetron around his finger, and blew away the non-existent smoke. Pinkie Pie had just disappeared through a cupboard, and had yet to return, unlike normal. Normally, she'd randomly stick her head in something, yell, and come right back out, but this time, she'd fallen all the way in, the door closing behind her, and wasn't there when Twilight opened it back up. Twilight grew concerned, "Uh, girls, I really think Pinkie might be in trouble this time." "Don't 'chu worry Twi, she does this all the time." Applejack said. "I know, but... she's been gone a while. And she'd never skimp on a spa date, unless..." "She must be planning a surprise party!" Rainbow jumped with glee, splattering water across the floor of the spa, and earning a few dirty looks from other spa-goers. "Well, you ruined the surprise with all your thinking, but, party! All right!"