//------------------------------//
// Planning Ahead 
// Story: That Others May Live 
// by CptBrony 
//------------------------------//








Planning Ahead





Duke and Frost walked with purpose as they went to the war room to meet with Sauri. They had been called early that morning, at around 0400 hours, told that something urgent had come up. The guard who told them wasn’t able to say, not being in the loop, so the men took that as a sign that they had to haul it to the room. There must have been some kind of unexpected development.

Amel was still asleep, so the men just left her a note explaining their possible absence when she awoke. Frost had wanted to wake her and tell her, but Duke wanted to go immediately to see the king. Their priority was to do their job, and to do their job quickly and efficiently.

As usual, they went right through the throne room doors, and as expected, there was no one on the throne at the moment. They briskly made their way across the room, wearing serious expressions and ignoring the slightly greater-than-usual number of guards present. They didn’t particularly know why there were more guards, but the men just figured it was a sensitive meeting.

They went onwards through the hall and reached the door to the war room. Duke saw that the doors were closed and banged on them three times, hard, before going to enter. When no one even answered, he thought it best to wait.

“What do you suppose is happening, boss?” Frost asked with a hint of uncertainty.

Duke shook his head. “I couldn’t say, Frost.” he replied, also feeling uncertain. “But whatever it is, it sounds like it’s important.”

Frost was about to respond with something witty, but the doors suddenly shot open. nearly striking the men across their faces. Before them stood a very stern-looking stallion, a most displeased expression on his face. He took one look at the men and nodded, moving aside to let them in. They entered without another word.

At the table sat the same group as before; analysts, strategists, Sauri, and Nedal. They were all in the heat of some intense debate, yelling and screaming in what sounded to the men like gibberish. No one noticed as they walked up behind Sauri and simply stood.

Nedal shouted something, then turned his head in angry disgust, spotting the humans.

“Well, look who came to crash the party.” he said with disdain.

Everyone stopped looking to look at whoever Nedal was talking to in what most of them heard as gibberish. As soon as they saw the humans, they all shut up completely and waited for the men to respond.

“All that’s missing is ‘pin the tail on the donkey’.” Duke replied. “What’s going on here?”

Nedal turned back to the table, ignoring the men, and looked around. He wanted to continue discussing their plan, but no one else was too intent on talking now. He hated this effect that the humans had on everyone around him. It took away the power he had grown accustomed to, and he feared that he might lose at least some of it permanantly.

Sauri turned in his seat. “Men!” he shouted, a smile now plastered across his face. He looked incredibly exhausted. “I am glad you have arrived!”

Duke nodded, and Frost smiled. “Well, you rang for us.” Frost said. Sauri didn’t understand, but simply pretended to and went on.

“We have a new... development.” he began.

“What kind of development?” Duke asked, a mild feeling of dread forming up in his gut.

Sauri sighed. “Well, at thee valley compound, my good friend may be in much more danger than we previously believed.”

“How much more?” Frost asked.

Sauri looked to the floor. “They might kill him soon, if we do not act.”

“Was that not already on the table as a possibility?” Frost asked, annoyance entering his voice. “When something like this comes up, you NEVER take the worst case scenario off the table. It’s basic hostage-rescue 101.”

“Easy, Frost.” Duke said, hoping Frost hadn’t offended the king with his little quip. He turned to Sauri. “We don’t exactly appreciate the situation getting this far, but we’ve worked with worse. How bad is it?”

Sauri turned back to the table. “Well, thanks to the information you and your team obtained last time, we can assume that the valley compound is very heavily guarded. And odds are, they won’t be asleep like in the last location.”

“Dang.” Duke thought. “They’re in a defensible location with lots of manpower, weapons, and they’ll be way more alert than in the river compound. Fantastic.”

“They have my friend Blueblood from Equestria, a dear old friend of mine, knows what it means to be a royal.” Sauri continued. “Anyway, he isn’t exactly known for his tact... he’s rather more upfront than I about being a royal and deserving all that comes with it.”

Frost had some choice words he would have liked to have said, but decided to let it slide to hear the rest. The more they knew about their rescue charge and the area, the better equipped they would be to deal with anything that arose.

“We have no idea if your friend OGA is there.” Sauri said with a hint of shame. “If he’s still in Saddle Arabia, he will be in this compound. If not, once this is done, we will send you along your way to wherever he may be.”

“That sounds good to us.” Duke replied, thankful that he at least had an idea of when they would be leaving this damn desert. “The sooner we get out of Saddle Arabia, the better.”

“We have a sketch of the compound, and a potential layout.” Sauri said, pointing to two large pieces of paper. Duke walked over and picked up the floor plan of the compound as Sauri went on. “The compound was built by our forces long ago, and we used it as an outpost back in the days before our nation was unified.”

Duke nodded slowly as he read over the floor plans. “Now what was that about ‘potential layout’?” he asked, unhappy with where that could be heading.

“Well, they may have altered it to fit for their flight habits or for more usable rooms.” Sauri explained. “We can’t be certain. We know the layout of the land around the compound, but once you’re inside, we don’t have any solid information for you.”

“So we’ll be going in blind. Again.” Frost thought with an inward sigh. “Greeat.”

“Now, we must ask you; what do you think your odds are of getting in and out without serious consequence with your team?”

Duke looked to Frost, Frost to Duke, and they exchanged their doubts through their quick visual exchange. There were all kinds of problems with this, and a small team would have an impossibly difficult time getting inside without being detected given what they had. They didn’t have UAV recon, no quick extract, no air support, and not a lot of firepower for the numbers they would be facing.

“Probably not.” Duke replied. “We don’t have nearly enough here to pull off that kind of rescue with a small team.” And that left them with one thing.

“Very well.” Sauri said. He turned to Nedal. “Nedal, أنت وقواتك يجب استكمال لهم وتوفر لهم نافذة للحصول على. سوف تعمل جنبا إلى جنب معهم.” The only thing they had at their disposal was Nedal and his stallions. And it was a safe bet that they weren’t intent on being a Quick Reaction Force.

Nedal’s face only served to prove what the men were thinking. “لا يمكنك أن تطلب مني أن أعمل معه!” He sounded rather angry. “أنا والفحول بلدي يمكن أن تأخذ هذا أنفسنا!”

Sauri was clearly very, VERY unhappy with the response he got. Immediately, he started yelling at the stallion, positively barking at him. The men took a step back, unsure of how to handle the situation, and opted to just watch. After a few minutes of argument, Nedal finally gave a defeated sigh and slumped in his chair like a little boy who just got punished for stealing a cookie.

Sauri turned back to the men. “You will tell him exactly what you need done. He will do it. If he does not, you can حاكم أمام مجلس عسكري him.” The men raised their eyebrows at the king. “How do they say it in Equestria?” he asked his advisors.

“Court martial.” one replied. Nedal flinched at the phrase; he knew what that would mean.

Frost let a tiny smirk cross his face, glad to hear that Nedal had to do whatever he said. The world did seem to have a way of making up for some of the crap it tends to put people through. Duke however, took it with a curt nod and an emotionless mindset.

“Very well.” he replied.

Sauri nodded back. “Good. Nedal,” he said, irritation dripping from his voice. “الذهاب معهم الآن والبدء في وضع خطة للهجوم. ولا يخيب لي.” Nedal growled under his breath but obliged with whatever his order was and stood.

He walked over to the humans. “Well, let’s get going.” he said. He was absolutely furious right now. “Let’s make this plan.”

The men turned around and started walking out of the war room and down the hall, followed by Nedal, who seemed to like to keep his distance. The whole way, he was talking in his language, making disgusted sounds and generally being resentful. The men ignored it, instead choosing to try to think of possible plans of action while they walked. As much as they didn’t like working with Sauri, they had to be professional about it.

Once they were in the throne room, they stopped at the fountain in the middle of the room.

“Nedal.” Duke said stoically.

“What?” the stallion responded curtly.

Duke didn’t care. “We are heading out there to perform an important mission. The guy we’re rescuing is in a serious life or death situation; if someone screws up, he dies. I can’t have the soldiers under my command unwilling to work with each other. If you’ve got a problem working with us, say it now so we can deal with it. If we go in the way we are now, we all might get killed.”

Nedal blinked. He hadn’t expected Duke to be straightforward about it. He had never met a human before, but from what he could tell, they weren’t the most straightforward species. Even so.

“I don’t like you.” Nedal said simply. “I hate both of you. I have no desire to work with either of you. You have no place here, and worse, you’re trying to take mine. So yes, I have a problem with you.”

“That’s a damn shame.” Duke said. “But I don’t give half of one. If you’ve got a problem, you need to figure out how to solve it, or you aren’t going on this mission.” Nedal’s eyes shot wide and he bared his teeth at the human. “We can’t have an ineffective team leader on this with us. Like I said, you or others will be killed. I need to know that you can get over your little problems with us and do your damn job like the professional you supposedly are.”

Nedal closed his mouth. “Yes, Duke.”

“Good.” Duke replied. “And if it makes you feel any better, after this mission, Frost and I won’t be sticking around.” Nedal was surprised. “Does that help any?”

Nedal could tell that Duke was mocking him, but he still felt some level of relief from his words. “Yes, Duke.” 

He nodded. “All right. Go gather up your stallions, we’ll gather up ours, and we’ll meet in the garden to discuss the plan. Ten minutes. Go.” Nedal nodded curtly and ran off to retrieve his soldiers.

Duke and Frost went off to collect their own soldiers, taking only a few minutes to reach their barracks and then a few more to get to the garden. two minutes ahead of schedule, they waited for Nedal and his assault team to arrive.

He arrived just on time, thirteen seconds to spare. Punctuality is a good thing, especially in the military.

The enlisted non-human soldiers all sat around in their groups, assault team and what was recently labeled as the Search and Rescue, or SAR, team. It had a different acronym in Saddle Arabian, but the men had no idea what it was.

Duke, Frost, and Nedal took the center of the little area they were sitting in and looked about. The whole team was actually pretty ragtag in the eyes of the men. Trained primarily as light infantry with a poor leader, with a small group of guys who were barely trained as their new unit of special forces, they didn’t come off as that impressive. But to Nedal, they looked like the pinnacle of power and capability.

Duke took center stage and spoke. “Nedal, I’ll need you to translate.” Nedal frowned at him, but silently agreed to do it.

“Alright.” Duke began. “Our job is to go into a compound in a valley and retrieve two high-value assets from inside the compound.” He paused for Nedal. “We believe them to be somewhere inside. Our team, the SAR team, will be going inside to retrieve the assets.”

“The assault team, you guys, will be outside for the entirety of the operation. You will be providing the force necessary for us to slip in and out either unnoticed or with minimal resistance. Any questions so far?”

Nedal finished his translation and waited for questions. When he got none, he nodded to Duke.

“Good.” Duke replied. He turned to the SAR team, all of whom had their mics on. “Team, go over your usual setups and think about what you’ll be bringing. Aziz and Rashid are with me, Malik and Hamid are with Frost. Questions?” None. “Good.”

Nedal, as much as he hated the humans, had to admire Duke’s professionalism. He was a soldier first, not a politician. But still, Duke was a threat to his power. That was bad. And Frost, he was just as bad, only he was more annoying. He was actually a threat to Nedal.

“Nedal.”

Nedal turned to the human who said his name. “Yes, Frost?” he replied.

“I don't know how you usually brief your men or set them up, but you might as well do that now. Give everyone their roles and set’em up.”

Nedal frowned; of course he was going to do that. Just not at the moment. He replied in the affirmative and turned to his assault team and spoke to them.

The men waited for him to finish, then went over to him.

“Let’s go over the overall plan.” Duke said flatly.

Nedal looked to the man. “I’m all ears.” he said. He didn’t have the full command over his troops in this fight, so naturally he wouldn’t be too happy.

Frost spoke first. “Our SAR team is going in first, obviously, but we aren’t getting in there without something to keep the enemy occupied.” he said. “That’s where your team comes in.”

“We think it would be best if our team snuck up on the compound from one side and your assault troops attacked from the other to distract them and dwindle their numbers,” Duke added. “We’ll be able to slip in and out without nearly as much resistance when your...” Duke looked over to see how many troops Nedal had. “twenty-five guys attack the compound from one side.”

“They can definitely handle at least eight gryphons, right?” Frost asked.

Nedal snarled. “Of course they can, they are the best in our army!” he replied angrily. Frost just shrugged his shoulders.

“Anyway,” Duke said as he pulled up the map of the AO from his waistline. “We think that the best method would be this. Duke laid out the map and started pointing at various spots.

“Your team would have the best advantage if they attacked from up this hill here,” he explained, pointing at a steep hill. “If you bring along some crossbows or ranged weapons, you can pick off the gryphons while they fly up to your location. From there, you can make your way down the hill, where you’ll still have the advantage of altitude, and make your way to the compound.”

Frost took over. “We’ll attack from the other side, where there seems to be somewhat more foliage and a less steep hill. Once your assault begins, we’ll make our way inside. We’ll try to be fast, but since we don’t know what’s inside, it might take us a bit of time. If you come down and we still aren’t out, secure the outside area and wait for us. With our weapons, more friendlies in a confined space is much more dangerous.”

Nedal looked at the plan and thought. It wasn’t that bad, really. He still had most of his command over his troops, and he would be handling a major section of the operation. But he had been hoping for the chance to go in and rescue Blueblood. He wanted to show Sauri that the humans weren't necessary and that he could handle whatever came their way, but it seemed unlikely at this point. It would be a sore point for him, but like Duke told him; he needed to be professional.

“It seems good enough.” Nedal said. “Are there any fine points for us to go over?”

“Yeah, but those can wait until we all have all our gear and we’re ready to head out.” Duke said. “The sooner we head out, the better.”

“Quite.” Nedal replied. He turned to his team. “فريق! الحصول على العتاد الخاص بك والحصول على استعداد لترك!” He turned back to Duke. “We should meet at the front gate of the city. There will be carriages waiting for us there.”

“We’ll meet you there in half an hour.” Duke replied, receiving a nod from Nedal before he turned away. Duke turned back to the SAR team. “Get your gear and meet at the front gate of the city in half an hour! We’re heading out!”

His order was met with several “Yes sir’s!” by the team, each of whom ran off to get his gear.

Duke and Frost ran up to their room to retrieve their own gear. Careful not to wake Amel, they retrieved everything they could need and made their way to the front gate of the city.

“Boss?” Frost said.

“Yeah?”

“I have a feeling that this op isn’t exactly going to go the way we expect it to.”

“Well, Frost, we may make our plans and we may have our contingency plans, but what we were really trained to do is react accordingly to any situation. So the bottom line: Never expect the op to go how you expect it to.” Frost just chuckled at that as they ran off through the city to their next major operation.