Heading Down Range
The days went on, training and learning. Duke administered several written tests on the lectures he had given over the last couple of days, thankful that the stallions knew how to read and write. They all passed with varying degrees of satisfaction, but all passed. The obvious leaders were Rashid and Hamid, but that would only be relevant after Duke and Frost were gone, at which point, they didn’t care. The two humans would lead two stallions each for the time being.
Duke and Frost were getting anxious to get the intel on OGA and the Gryphon fighters. They wanted nothing more than to get out there, find their guy, and get out. Duke had a feeling that Sauri was holding back in order to get the most he could out of the humans, but he couldn’t say it to anyone other than Frost for risk of causing offense. It was a frustrating situation to be in.
Now, Duke and Frost were in their quarters with Amel, setting up an urban combat scenario that would use the less affluent section of the city. The objective would be to find Amel in the city, held by Duke and Frost, within a time limit to simulate her having an injury. The training was one of the things they had wanted to simulate for a while. Alas, it was not meant to be.
Several knocks sounded at the door, drawing all eyes away from a set of drawn out plans on the table. Duke and Frost exchanged a quick glance, and Frost nodded and headed over to the door. The knocking continued until he finally opened it.
“Can we help you?” he asked, unhappy at being interrupted.
Before him stood an ordinary guard, looking nervous and sweaty. “You are requested by King Sauri.” he replied shakily. “He said he wants your skills for a mission. ”
Frost looked at the guard, zero emotion visible on his face, then nodded. “Very well. Thank you.” The guard nodded quickly, then trotted off as Frost shut the door.
He walked back into the room, a smile growing on his face as Amel and Duke continued going over plans. After a moment, Duke asked, without turning, “What was that about?”
Frost chuckled. “That was about us putting our plans on hold. Sauri wants to see us, says it’s urgent.”
Duke took in Frosts information, remaining still for a second, then nodded. “Alright. I guess we can do this another time.” He turned to Amel. “I want you to see if you can finish this while we’re gone. If we have the time when we come back, we’ll put them through this.”
“Yes Duke!” Amel replied, giving him her best salute. It was hard for both humans not to laugh at the silliness of how she was standing.
The men began to set themselves up and got out their gear, readying for a potential operation. They grabbed their plates, helmets, weapons, blowout kits, compasses, and anything else they might need. Canteens, flash grenades, and their webbings were picked out first. As they went through this, Amel watched with uncertainty, wondering if they would go out, and more importantly, if they would come back. As they finished up and started to head out the door, she ran over to Frost and wrapped her forelegs around his leg.
“Just make sure you come back.” she said, feeling dread in her bones.
Frost smiled and patted her twice on the head. “No worries, little lady. We’ll be back. Hopefully with another human.” Amel nuzzled his leg and stepped back, waving to her human friends, her only friends, as they walked out the door and shut it gently behind them.
Duke and Frost looked to each other once and nodded, and they walked at a brisk pace to the throne room. Seeing their sense of purpose as they made their way through the palace, guards and servants made it a point to stay out of their way and give them plenty of space. Seeing the humans in their battle gear set a few nerves on end, some guards slightly lowering their weapons in case something were to occur, but the men gave no indication of noticing or caring. They were too preoccupied to care.
They were saluted as they walked through the doors of the throne room, and as they quickly approached the end of the room, they noticed King Sauri sitting on his throne, talking to someone whose back was to them. The men slowed their pace to give them more time to speak, simply out of respect for whoever this other one was, and listened. It turned out that he was the last one they had any respect for at all.
“Nedal, ، وسوف لا يكون لديك تفعل أي شيء لهم!” Sauri shouted. The soldier before him didn’t even flinch. “هم أفضل الأصول لدينا، وسوف نعطيهم الاحترام الذي يستحقونه. أنا واضح؟”
Nedal didn’t move at all. When Sauri repeated what he asked, the stubborn stallion finally gave in and reluctantly nodded, snarling as he did so. Still, neither one of them had noticed the humans’ entrance, though that was alright. It gave them a chance to see how Nedal was with his superior officer and ruler.
Sauri looked up from Nedal and his eyes landed on the two humans, a small smile appearing on his face. “Ah, speaking of.” Speaking of? What were they saying? “I am glad you could get here so swiftly. I’m sure your stallions will be along shortly?”
Duke nodded. “I’m sure they will be.”
Sauri’s smile faltered for a second, but it came back quickly. “Well, I’m sure you know them well by now. Come, we have much to discuss.” Sauri hopped off the throne and spun around, making his way back to through the hall and to the war room. Duke and Frost followed suit, then followed by Nedal, seething with anger behind them. It made them uneasy having him behind them in a closed space.
When they got to the war room, it looked drastically different than it had the day before. Before, it was just another empty room. Now, there were analysts sitting at the chairs, papers scattered on the large round table. There were maps and random items strewn about, like screwdrivers and tiny screws, which made little sense to the men. The pictures hung up were mostly of gryphons, but there was just one of OGA. The face was dark, though, so they couldn’t tell what he looked like in it.
King Sauri pointed at two chairs on the right of the one that was clearly his. Seeing two chairs instead of sitting cushions, the men obliged and took their seats. As they sat down, the horses around them gave them looks of wonder and awe, this being the first time for most of them seeing the humans at all. it was certainly the first time any had seen them in their warfighting gear.
Nedal took the seat to Sauri’s left, something Frost learned from Amel that was incredibly insulting in some scenarios. He didn’t doubt that this was one such scenario.
“Alright.” Sauri began, taking on a tone the men had not heard before. He sounded like a commander. “From the information we have received from the papers Duke and Frost brought us, what do we know?”
One of the stallions not too far to the right of the men stood up. “We know that they have number of camps where they base their attacks out of.” the stallion replied in English. Sauri must have told them to speak in English. “Most of them are resupply camps, and can be taken care of easily by Commander Nedal and his stallions.”
Nedal puffed out his chest and gave the humans a smug look. Duke remained stoic, more concerned about the briefing than about putting down Nedal. Frost just smiled innocently at him, drawing a small shudder from the stallion as he turned his head back. He remembered the last time he got a smile like that; his mouth still felt like it needed to be cleaned out.
Another stallion stood. “We know that there are two camps, though, where they keep prisoners. They are here,” the stallion pointed to two locations, one in a valley, the other by a river. “And here. They might kill the prisoners if Nedal’s teams go in.”
“So?” Nedal asked angrily. “Why does it matter?”
Duke and Frost wanted to go over and hang him out to dry, but the stallion spoke before they had a chance to. “Because the prisoners in one compound, at least, are very wealthy. We believe. In whichever one is the other one there are foreign prisoners, at least one from Equestria. From our source, though, we believe that the pony is very important.”
“Can’t have an international incident.” Duke commented, remembering the Algerian Hostage Crisis where a number of foreign hostages died. It hurt their relations with several countries. “It would spell a lot of trouble for you guys.”
“Exactly.” the stallion replied. From the side, the men could hear Nedal growl. he was ignored by all. “Those missions will be reserved for the humans and their team.”
He sat down and was replaced by another stallion, more toward Nedal’s side of the table. “Our spy in the organization, called Hawkani, said that there was rumored to be a human hostage at one of them. Which one, he did not know.” Duke and Frost scowled. “But he did say that both places would have more information to gather.”
Duke pulled a map from the table and checked it. The river compound would be easy enough; they could approach by the water. From the looks of it, there was a lot of vegetation between the water itself and the compound, so they could sneak in through that and move out from there. The valley would be a lot tougher, though. The only way in was a direct approach from either the sides, where there was an altitude advantage, or down below, where they might be able to sneak up to it by using rocks and plants for cover.
While Duke looked over the information that they had before them, Frost got into the discussion with the analysts. “What’s the sitrep- How many enemies are we talking about in either compound?” he asked.
Another stallion spoke, without standing this time. “At least two dozen, maybe more.”
“Damn.” Frost thought. “Alright.” He thought. He and Duke had gone against tough odds before. They hadn’t exactly been the PJ’s in Mogadishu, back in the nineties, but they went with some Navy SEALs into a village in Sierra Leone where there was intense fighting happened about two years prior to this. It wasn’t as bad as Mogadishu, though. “How about enemy gear? What do they have at their disposal; Are they armed, do they have armor?”
The analyst took a moment to understand. “They have no armor, but they have plenty of swords. We believe that they also have crossbows, though this is unconfirmed, so you must assume the worst. They have lights and some other simpler items at their disposal, but the main thing you should worry about is their weapons.”
“Good.” Frost said, turning his head toward Duke. “What are you thinking boss?”
Duke set down the papers he was holding. “I think we need to move soon and get to this river compound.” Frost cocked an eyebrow at him, and he continued. “It says here that there might be an injured hostage at the river compound, the severity unknown. We need to get out there and retrieve the prisoners ASAP.”
Sauri nodded. “Very well, your team shall go to the river first.”
“And mine will take care of the valley.” Nedal interrupted aggressively.
Sauri hissed, “You will do no such thing!” He turned around and snarled at his soldier. “You will attack the camps that I tell you to, and you will follow my orders. I am your king; you do as I say.”
Nedal hesitated in responding. “Yes, my king.” Duke and Frost could see, clear as day, how their presence was making tensions between these two much tighter as each day passed. Well, it’s not their problem anyway. Not yet, at least.
Sauri turned back to the men. “You will take care of the river compound, then prepare to attack the valley once you have returned.” With that conclusion, the king cleared his throat and sat back down. “Speaking your language is not so easy.”
Both men chuckled. “Most people back home can’t even speak it right.” Irony. “It’s an annoying language at times, with all its rules and grammar.”
Sauri smiled. “I am glad you agree! It is the reason that I had these made when you first agreed to work with us.” The men cocked eyebrows as Sauri turned around to yell at someone to bring something in. “They were just finished; they are translating... uhh...” Sauri tried to find the word as the items were brought in and placed on the table.
Duke picked one up. “Comms.”
Sauri flashed him a toothy smile. “Yes, that.” The men put two of the total of eight headsets on, maneuvering the mics to their mouths and getting the earpieces securely in their ears. They were very light and didn’t get in the way at all. “They were very expensive and the spells are very intricate, but they are also sturdy and weatherproof. They are very special, though, with a large number of delicate spells put into them; they are a very well kept secret. We do not have the time to make more, so you will only have two spares.”
The men put them on and blew into them to test if the noise came out on the other’s end. They worked nicely. “Very nice.” Duke said, taking his off.
“Yes, they are good? Just do not lose them; we would rather avoid having these fall into the hands of the enemy, so please, only use them with your soldiers, and do not lose them. I could end badly if the secrets within them were exposed to the enemy.”
The men were unsure of how terrible the secrets of translation spells could be in enemy hands, but they had no idea how magic worked, so they let it go. “Sound great. Thank you.” They bowed to the king and the analysts who were no doubt involved in making the items. This also explained the presence of screwdrivers. The men slipped their own on, adjusting the tightness of the restraints to fit them as well as possible.
Duke felt something and turned around in his chair. “I wonder when they got here?” he wondered aloud, drawing the eyes of Nedal, Sauri, and Frost backwards. Behind them stood the stallions of their team. “Well, this is a perfect time to issue their new comms.”
Frost hopped up, grabbing the new mics, and walked over to his new team, holding them all out in front of him like they were radioactive bomb cores. At first the stallions didn’t understand, but when Hamid spotted the one on Frost’s head, he took the hint and put one on. The others soon followed suit, but all took some time, not having hands and all. How the did it at all was a mystery to the men.
“Magic.” Duke concluded, hating the word more and more every time he came to that conclusion. Why this world couldn’t just make sense, he would never know.
When the stallions finally had their mics on, the men just listened for a minute.
“I’m glad they finally got us some mics.” Hamid commented.
“Yeah.” Aziz replied. “Equestria’s always been ahead of our gear, so it’s nice to get something that they all have.”
So this land of Equestria was vastly technologically superior, or at least a little bit better. Maybe that could come in handy in the future.
Malik and Rashid joined in the conversation, and now, Duke and Frost were listening to all four of their teammates whom they did not understand at all before. It was an odd thing, listening to guys that they know weren’t speaking their language, yet understanding perfectly. After a few minutes, Duke broke up their conversation.
“Alright, boys. Do you understand me?” he asked. All the stallions stopped and looked at the humans, surprised at hearing Duke’s voice in their own language. They all nodded, faces unmoving, but clear excitement in their eyes. “Good. We have a mission. We’ll brief you on the way there.”
Frost looked back to the table. “What time are we leaving?” he asked.
Sauri stood. “Get all the items you need, then head to the front gate. You must leave for the river by noon.”
Duke listened and made his own plans for him and his team. Not a lot of time to prepare, but still more than the needed. He would do a gear before they left to make sure everyone had what they needed.
“You all get that?” he asked rhetorically, unsure of whether or not they got it. “Pick up anything you’ll need and be at the front gate at 1000 hours. Wheels up at 1200. Dismissed.”
The stallions saluted and left, eager to go on their first mission ever with the humans. Duke watched them go, wondering if their first mission would be a success or a catastrophe. His bet was on the former, but as always, he planned for the latter.
“Lets get ready to go, Frost.” Duke ordered. All their gear already on them, and grabbing a map, the men said their goodbyes to those in the room and went out to the front gate to wait for the stallions, hoping that their reduced training time was enough to get their new teammates into shape for this kind of mission.