Lyra could feel her heart pounding inside of her chest, as she hid behind the solid concrete pillar. Ahead of her, three Sectiods had taken up position behind their own cover. The Unicorn had fought her way this far, and the aliens still weren’t letting up.
Somewhere behind her, Ditzy lay, victim of a plasma shot to the chest.
Lyra shook her head clear. She couldn’t get distracted right now, she had to focus on the mission.
She took a deep breath, making a quick glance at her weapon, a gun modified by the humans to wrap around an Equine’s foreleg instead of being held by hands.
She winced slightly as her enemy fired again, hearing the objects flying all around her. When they stopped, she readied herself to counter-attack. The voice of her instructor filled her head.
That’s the beauty of shooting, it requires no thinking whatsoever. All you need is focus, you can forget about everything but the gun itself. Just aim and fire.
She exhaled, poked out from behind the pillar, and fired.
The felt the kick on the weapon as the burst of bullets flew away.
Lyra smiled a bit as her target fell to the ground with a satisfying bang.
Before she could celebrate, another enemy volley struck her cover. If she remembered what Spar had told her correctly, objects like this could only take one or two hits. Which meant her cover wouldn’t last another go around with the Sectiods.
Without thinking, she bolted away from the pillar, sprinting as fast as she could for a mailbox that was ahead of her.
She was not more than five feet away when she was suddenly thrown backward, feeling an immense pressure on her midsection.
Lyra’s entire body suddenly locked up, and she cursed herself for not noticing the second Sectiod that had been on overwatch, just waiting for her to break cover. Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice overhead.
*Simulation Terminated*
*Simulation Terminated*
Simulation Results:
Aliens killed: 8 of 10
Good
XCOM Operatives killed: 2 of 2
Poor
Lyra sighed as she lied there; the simulation jacket she was wearing had locked her in the “dead” position.
She became aware of a shadow casting over her figure as Spar knelt down beside her.
“You did exactly what I told you not to do,” He said sternly. “You NEVER make a dash for cover like that when you see aliens trying to surround you. Remember what I taught you: If you’re in a situation like that, use your grenades. Tex might not like it, but a soldier’s life is more valuable than a few weapon fragments.”
“Sorry…” The unicorn said quietly.
“Don’t apologize to me,” Spar said. “It’s your ass on the line here, not mine.” The man stood up and turned to the corner where the control room was located. “Unlock their vests, and reset the targets.”
“Yes sir.”
Lyra felt the jacket unlock, and she slowly rose to her hooves. She saw Ditzy float up alongside them, rubbing the area she had been hit.
“Those Paintballs sting.”
“More incentive for you not to get hit by them.” Spar replied. The soldier glanced at his watch. “Alright, ten minute break, then I want you two at the range so we can get in more practice with the Explosives.”
“Why don’t we head their right now?” Ditzy asked.
”I think Boss and his group are using it right now for their explosives training.” As if on cue, the floor shook a bit from what appeared to be an explosion and Boss’s angry voice shouted.
“DAMMIT APPLEJACK! I SAID ON THREE! TRY FUCKING LISTENING TO ME NEXT TIME, WILL YOU?!”
Spar couldn’t help but chuckle at his friend’s rage.
He and Boss had both started out their careers as members of the United States Marine Corps. Although they both had long moved on past that, they still had some memories of the sadistic Drill Sergeants that had taught them the very things that would later save their lives dozens of times over. And unfortunately for the Ponies, the two had very similar training methods.
*Captain Davis to the Research Labs*
*Captain Davis to the Research Labs*
Spar sighed, and started for the door.
“If I’m not back in time, just go back and refresh yourself on the basic weapons.” He ordered as he exited. As the door shut behind him, he caught a glimpse of an older man standing in the control room wearing glasses and a green uniform.
“Doctor Shen?”
“Ah, hello Captain,” The head of Engineering said. “I’ve just come down to see how the new recruits are doing.”
“And what do you think?”
Shen looked back out at the training area.
“I think it’s quite impressive, considering what you told me when they first arrived.” He said, raising a brow. “I hope you’re not pushing them to hard.”
“I’d be lying if I said I was taking it easy on them,” Spar confessed. “I’m pushing them as hard as I can without breaking them, Maze didn’t leave us with much of a choice.”
It had only been a little over a week since the Equines had first arrived, and the two Special Forces Captains had wasted no time in starting their new recruits’ training.
“And how have the results been?”
“Much better than I would have even imagined,” Spar said. “To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much at all. But they learn at an incredibly fast rate, and they’ve got no short of eagerness.”
“Do you think they are combat ready?”
“I don’t think I’d say that, but Ditzy and Lyra got eight out of ten in the simulation, that’s pretty damn amazing when you consider they’ve only had nine days of training.”
“Indeed,” Shen said, nodding. “I take it my modifications worked well?”
“Yes, their weapon systems are working without a problem.” Spar started for the exit. “I’m sorry to cut this short doc, but Tex wants to see me.”
“A moment Captain,” Shen said, holding up a hand. “I notice you are still wearing your standard gear, is there a problem with the armor we’ve made?”
Spar glanced down at what he was wearing, the standard uniform for the U.S. Military, save for the XCOM patch where his unit insignia had once been.
“The Hydra Armor is exceptional Doctor,” He said. “But it does not suit the needs of my squad.”
“Oh?”
“If this was a regular war, it would be exceptional to our needs. But this is not a regular war. My team is Special Forces, which means we need to be mobile and quick, and while your armor can certainly take a hit or two, it’s also big and bulky.”
“We both know your regular body armor will do nothing against plasma weaponry.”
“That’s a risk I’ll have to take.” Spar said, opening the door to the lift.
“Just be careful, I’d hate to be the one that tells Doctor Stritzel that you died due to your stubbornness.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” The soldier replied as the door closed. He took the lift up to the second level of the base, the door opening to recreational room.
Currently, six XCOM soldiers were occupying themselves during their very brief time of break.
Ghost and Joker were sitting on the couch, playing Left 4 Dead on the Xbox.
Dingo, a Lieutenant with short dark hair and always wearing dark sunglasses, was playing pool with Natasha Dimitri, Trident squad’ sniper whose skills earned her the nickname: “Reaper.”
At the bar was, as usual, Reznov; Trident Squad’s Captain. The man was a cross between your stereotypical Russian and the Heavy from Team Fortress, he could outdrink anyone Spar had ever seen, and yet could make killing aliens look easy while falling over drunk. Next to the Russian, drinking Scotch, was Captain Kenneth “Soap” McTavish, one of Spar’s oldest friends and rivals.
“Hello Gents.”
“Hey Mate.” Soap nodded. “Thought you were on duty.”
“I am, just passing through to the tech labs.”
“Ahhhh….. going to see Tex, da?” Reznov started laughing. “I see what’s happening…. You two need too... uh… How do your people say it Soap? To Shag?”
“What’s up with him?” Spar asked, raising a brow. Soap shrugged,
“He found one of Dusty’s Philosophy books,” The Scotsman explained. “He thinks he’s seeing sexual tension everywhere.”
“Like you my friend…” Reznov put a hand on Soap’s shoulder, his words slurring. “You and that bookcase… Hahaha…”
“Ok, I think it’s time we cut him off.”
“We cut him off over an hour ago!” Dingo called.
“Then how is he still drinking?”
“He carries flask in his boot.” Reaper answered.
“Which boot?”
“Both.”
Spar shook his head, and turned to his drunken friend.
“You better slow down.”
As he left the room, Spar heard Joker yell.
“Dammit Ghost! You startled the Witch!”
After a few minutes of walking through the base, and receiving several salutes, Spar finally arrived in the tech lab.
“OW! What are you doing?!” He was greeted by the sound of Rainbow Dash complaining.
“I am trying to finish fixing your plasma burn,” A dark voice responded. “If you would sit still and shut up for just a couple minutes, I’ll be done.”
With long black hair and crimson eyes, Piper didn’t seem very qualified to be the chief Medical Officer of XCOM, but anyone who had ever been in her care could testify that she was best of the best, even if she was unnerving to all of her patients, even wearing black and other dark colors against regulation, not that anyone really had the guts to order Piper to follow the rules.
“Twilight said I was lucky the blast didn’t hit an artery,” Rainbow said nervously. “What would have happened if it did?”
“Oh,” Piper said, flashing a wicked smile. “We’d probably have to amputate the wing.”
Rainbow suddenly went pale, and another voice shouted,
“Piper!” Tex walked over. “You don’t need to terrorize our new guests!”
“Sorry,” The Medical Officer replied, the creepy smile still on her face. “Just trying to make her feel better.”
“Well it didn’t!” Rainbow squeaked.
“That’s enough,” Spar said, stepping forward. “Rainbow, head on down to the range, Lyra and Ditzy are already down there.”
Dash gave a salute, then enthusiastically exited the labs. Piper glanced at Spar, sending a chill down the man’s spine, then left for the Med Bay.
“Have I ever told you,” Spar said after the door closed behind her. “That Piper reminds me way to much of Alma from F.E.A.R?”
“Yes, you have.” Tex chuckled. “Multiple times.”
“Well, I mean it.” He walked over to the Doctor’s desk. “You wanted to see me?”
“Ah yes!” The scientist said, handing over several papers to Spar. “Here are the results of the examinations we conducted on your training squad.”
“What all did you test?” Spar asked, looking over the reports.
“What didn’t we test?” Tex grumbled. “I did X-rays, I did more X-rays, blood tests, DNA analysis, I even did MRI scans. You have no idea how hard it was trying to get that rainbow one to sit still…”
“Learn anything interesting?”
“Oh yes.” She smiled. “I won’t bore you with the details, but from what I’ve learned, the three subspecies of our Equine friends are quite different.”
“Oh?”
“Take, for example, the Earth Pony; like Applejack and The Doctor. They’re definitely the base species for all of the Equines, their bones are much stronger, their bodies much more resilient. The Pegusi; like Rainbow and Ditzy, are much more fragile, their bodies made for flight. They’re bones are a bit lighter, almost like birds, but the muscles in their wings are incredibly strong, which explains how they can have sustained flight. Unlike Unicorns; similar to Twilight and Lyra, have the weakest bodies of all. They’re bones aren’t very strong, and their muscles weaker than most. However, they obviously make up for this with their ‘magic’ that seems to emanate from their horns. But I can’t find any scientific reasoning for it, nothing in their blood or bones seem to be able to generate it.”
“Maybe it’s because it really is magic?” Spar suggested.
“Magic is just science that we don’t understand yet.” Tex smiled. “And I intend to be the first human in history to understand it!”
“Well, you’re certainly in a good mood today.” Spar answered, a smile coming to his face as well.
“I finally completed all the tasks Maze ordered me to accomplish yesterday, which gave me a few hours to relax. I decided to refresh my mind with a good movie.”
“And what would that be?”
“Les Miserables,” Tex answered. “Kat recommended it.”
“The one that’s still in theaters?”
“Correct,” She gave him a knowing look. “Two and a half hours of excellent music and performance.”
“Two and a half hours? Of singing?!” Spar shook his head. “That actually sounds like the literal definition of hell.”
Tex snorted.
“If you’re done criticizing my taste in movies, maybe you’d like to help.”
“What do you need?”
“The Doctor just finished a device that can detect tears in our world,” Tex said as she moved to a computer. “But we need more power to help boost it so it can come online. Can you climb down to the power circuits and boost the power output?”
“Sure.” As he moved toward the ladder, Tex tossed him a flashlight and an earpiece.
“Use this to keep in contact.”
“Got it.” Spar said as he climbed down the ladder.
The underground construction of the base had been perfect for keeping the base’s location secret, but was a nightmare for construction crews, who had nowhere to go but down when they were looking for where to put the power circuits. As a result, Spar found himself in a dark, cramped compartment lit only by his small flashlight.
“Spar, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear.”
“Alright. Try to find one of the circuit breakers, it should be simple to locate.”
As he started making his way through the small maze of wiring, he realized he had a chance here, a chance to learn more about what his squad mates were always questioning his trust of Tex over.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Uh, sure I guess.”
“You said that before we rescued you, you were attached to an army unit, right?”
“Drafted would probably be the more appropriate word, but yes. When the aliens hit Denver, the Twenty-Seventh Armored rolled into town. They needed a Science Expert, and the Military Experience I got from being around you guys made me a prime candidate.”
“And this unit was wiped out?”
“Yes. We never even got close to Denver, the aliens just ripped them apart, I was lucky to escape with my life.”
“That’s how you ended up in those woods we found you in?”
“Correct. I set off my beacon as soon as I thought I was safe.”
“Right… The beacon…”
Now the conversation was reaching the point where he hoped to get some answers.
The beacon that Tex had used to summon a rescue hadn’t been any normal beacon, it had been one Spar had given to her before she disappeared, one that was used specifically by and could only be detected by members of United States Special Forces.
“What about it?”
“Why did you use that beacon in particular?”
“I…I didn’t have any others.”
“Don’t lie to me. You were a part of an entire unit, one that had multiple beacons. You used the one beacon I gave to you years ago, one that you’ve held on to for God knows how long. I want to know why.”
“…. Do you remember what you told me when you gave it to me? What you promised me?”
“I promised that if you activated it, I’d come running.” Spar answered, continuing to duck-walk around the compartment.
“And you did. Although I didn’t expect you to bring me back here, push me into a lab, and tell me all of humanity would be depending on my research, by the way, thanks for that.”
“But you still turned to me,” Spar said, spotting the circuit breaker. “And that’s what I don’t get. We hadn’t seen each other in years, and I’m sure you found plenty of other saps over that time, why pick me?”
“First, you’re the best soldier I know. And second… do you remember what you asked me? The night before I left…?”
Spar paused, letting out a long slow breath.
“I remember not getting an answer…” He said quietly.
“What was that? I didn’t copy.”
Spar hesitated, then flipped the switch.
“I said the power has been boosted; tell The Doctor his device should work fine now.”
As Spar made his way to leave the compartment, he heard another explosion below him.
“JUMPING JESUS ON A POGO STICK APPLEJACK! I SAID ON THREE! THREE GOD DAMMIT! DO I HAVE TO COUNT IT OUT FOR YOU?! ONE, TWO, BLOODY FUCKING THREE! WHERE THE HELL DID YOU LEARN TO COUNT?! ON YOUR STUPID FARM?!”
~~~
“So run this by me one more time Miss Sparkle,” Maze said looking at the holographic image of the Earth in the Command Center. “What exactly is this device supposed to do again?”
“It is simple,” Twilight said. “We just look for anomalies in the photon lines around the global continuum that can make for a rip at the sub-atomic level that can help us detect tears in the space-time continuum. Any other questions?”
Maze blinked once, then turned to the Doctor.
“What exactly does this thing do?”
“It tells us where tears between our world and this one are opened.”
“Ah, I see.”
“I have already taken the liberty of hooking it up to the global network.” The Brown Stallion walked over to the control panel. “Once I press this button, it should begin operation.” The Earth Pony pressed the green button.
“… Alright, is something supposed to happen?” Maze asked, raising a brow.
“It is working at full functionality. It will alert us when a tear is opened.”
“And when will that be?”
“Who knows? Tears are random, it could be tomorrow, it could be next week-“
Alarms started blaring, as the global map began to focus itself.
“…Or it could be right now.” The Doctor studied the map. “It seems we have a hit.”
“South America…” The Colonel mumbled. “Right outside Rio… Do we have any squads near that location?”
“Alpha Squad is only a few clicks away,” a Control Officer reported. “They were running a surveillance Op in Rio.”
“Send them over to take a look, I want to know if anything came through that tear.”
~~~
Why do you fight the inevitable?
Your species is doomed, you have seen it.
We are your future
Your genetic destiny
Submit now
Or face certain death
“Lieutenant?”
Kate suddenly snapped her eyes open, looking into the face of her concerned Sergeant.
“Sorry Thane,” She apologized. “I just dozed off.”
“Heh, our fearless leader,” Frost snickered. “Falling asleep on the job.”
Kate narrowed her eyes.
“This ‘Fearless Leader’ of yours if just a few seconds away from telling Colonel Maze about your personal game stash you smuggled into the base.
Frost’s eyes widened.
“You wouldn’t…”
“Try me.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Maze’s voice came over the radio. “But you lot have a mission to do.”
“Colonel?!” Frost started. “How much of that did you hear?!”
“All of it Corporal.”
“Son of a-“
“What’s our objective sir?”
“According to the Doctor, a Tear between our two worlds opened up somewhere in that area. It just closed a few minutes ago, but we want you to make sure nothing came through.”
“And if something did come through?”
“You know the drill, take it back to base for analysis.”
“Copy all Overlord, Alpha One out.”
As Kate signed off, she felt the Skyranger land, as the back hatch opened.
“Overlord, this is Big Sky. We’ve reached the AO, request permission to deploy.”
“Affirmative Big Sky, Alpha Squad has permission to deploy.”
The four soldiers set foot into the jungle, the noises of animal and insect life all around them.
“Alright, how do you want to run this LT?”
“Split up and run a standard search pattern,” Kate ordered. “Thane, you and Watch take the North. Frost, with me, we’ll take the south.”
“Yes Ma’am.” Watch said, motioning to Thane with her head.
“So how will we know if we see anything?” Frost asked, looking around the forest.
“Well, you saw the ponies back at base,” Kate said as they walked along. “It’ll probably stick out like them.”
Frost stopped.
“You mean like that?” He pointed. A small blue and purple figure was darting around, obviously confused and lost.
“Yep, like that.”
The pair started sprinting after it, following the noise and color.
“Stop!” Kate yelled. “We just want to help!”
The creature looked over its shoulder, but only ran even faster.
“Damn that thing is fast!” Frost huffed.
“It has two more legs than us!” Kate growled. “Put your fucking SEAL training to good use and speed up!”
“Yes Ma’am!” Frost gritted his teeth and sprinted even faster. “Stay with it, I’ll try to cut it off up ahead!”
“Got it!” Kate shouted as her squad mate broke off in another direction.
The human slowly started to gain on the equine, due mostly to the massive endurance that she had been forced to master in Army Ranger School and later Delta Force training and had been refined by years on the battlefield.
In her mind, she was counting down.
3…2…1…
“Get it Frost!” She shouted.
Out of a bush up ahead, a net suddenly shot out, covering the blue creature. It struggled, yelling and fighting against the net. Kate quickly ran up to it pulling out the ARC Thrower Doctor Shen had manufactured to capture aliens alive. It fired an electrical burst out of its barrel. The creature twitched slightly, then collapsed, unconscious. Frost came up to join her, panting.
“Well, that’s one hell of a way to test a prototype.” He said.
“You can say that again.” Kate put a finger to her ear. “Big Sky, this is Alpha One. Precious cargo in hand, ready for pickup.”
“Affirmative Alpha One, we’re on our way.”
“Well this is weird…”
“What is?”
“This pony thing.” Frost leaned over to get a better look. “It looks like it’s wearing a wizard hat and cape…”