Captain Horatio Nelson stood at the front of the bridge in the UNSC Trafalgar. To his left and right were the ships Dawn Under Heaven and Bermuda. Their three ship battle group consisted of a carrier, Halcyon-class cruiser, and a Strident-class frigate. Before them sat the smoldering ruins of the port city of Baltimare. Many of her once proud building now lay in blacked piles of ash and rubble.
Nelson rubbed his stubble as he looked down from the bridge of his carrier. Every so often, he could make out the shapes of gryphons running and flying through the city. While stealth was never on his priority list, he did want to try to avoid alerting them as long as possible. Though it now seemed the secret was out.
“Midas, I want Sabers and Longswords in the air now. Have Shortswords and Hawks focus on taking out any ground targets,” Horatio ordered as he walked back to a nearby display table, where a map of Baltimare was being projected.
“Aye, sir. Launching aircraft,” the AI replied as the first fighters came off the catapults.
“Alert the Dawn and Bermuda that they are clear to begin ground assault,” Horatio added.
The AI merely nodded before the first wave of dropships left the cruiser and frigate. As the Captain watched the map, five red spheres slowly rose up from the ruined city and began to slowly fly away. Curiously, Horatio walked back to the large window that made up the front part of the bridge. With a pair of binoculars, he began to search for the five contacts. Sure enough, five airships were trying to gain altitude.
“Midas, alert Sabers. Have them engage the airships,” Horatio shouted as he continued to watch the airships rise.
Seconds later, three Sabres, followed by two Longswords, screamed past the bridge of the Trafalgar and flew straight toward the ascending airships. The human watched silently as all five airships exploded as the fighters made a single strafing run. The flaming debris quickly crashed down to the city ruins below.
Horatio nodded his head silently as he watched the various fighters engage any gryphon trying to fly away. This was coupled with the sounds of the carrier’s point defence cannons kicking into action every time an enemy combatant strayed too close to the ship.
From his high vantage point, it was clear to the Captain that the gryphons were carrying out a scorched-earth policy. Loot and destroy the area, rendering it unusable by anyone. The entire city was like this. Burned out buildings, smashed windows, and various other scattered debris. Capturing the city would be easy. Rebuilding it would take time and resources.
However, now was the time for fighting, not worrying about the difficulties of the future. With not much better to do, Captain Nelson tapped a few buttons on the map display and pulled up the helmet camera feed from one of his squad leaders.
The squad of marines had just disembarked their Pelican when they immediately came under fire from across the street. While the inferior weapons of the gryphons were nowhere near a powerful as the standard assault rifle carried by almost every marine, they could still kill.
The gryphons continued to fire their semi automatic rifles for a few more seconds, keeping the humans in a burned out and destroyed building. As soon as the gunfire stopped, three marines pulled grenades off their belts and lobbed them at the gryphon’s position. With no time to react, the grenades exploded behind the wall, killing anyone unlucky enough to be within the blast radius.
As the humans slowly made their way across the street to confirm the kills, the squad leader began muttering to himself.
“My god... these poor fuckers probably have no idea what kind of weapons we have. Shit, they might not even know what a grenade looks like...”
Satisfied that their targets were neutralized, the group continued their push toward the city center. There was occasional fighting along the way, but nothing that really wanted much more than a few rifle bursts and an occasional grenade. With Sabers and Longswords keeping the skies clear, the marines could focus on the ground.
~~~
It was clear to all parties involved that the gryphons were at a horrible disadvantage. Robbed of their flight ability left many in disparaging states of mind. One group of gryphons in particular were having a very bad time.
They were hopelessly pinned in a burnt, two story, building across from the remains of town hall. While many of their brothers and sisters had opted to fight, these five decided to hide. They were low on ammo, out of basic supplies, and out of hope.
Their fear only spiked as they heard the doors to the building come crashing down, followed by the sounds of numerous footsteps. The five gryphons quickly took positions behind overturned desks and broken doors as they waited. They didn’t have to wait long as nine humans with rifles slowly made their way up the stairs.
While the room had no working lights, the bright lights attached to each of the human’s weapons provided ample illumination. With great care, the group of humans continued their search of the building. Chorsis, one of the gryphons hiding behind an overturned desk, gripped his rifle and clenched his eyes shut. he knew that if the humans found him, they would most likely kill him on site.
To his relief, the sounds of bootsteps became increasingly dull before disappearing altogether. Chorsis let out the breath he was holding and leaned his head forward on the side of the table, producing a small thunk. Then he heard it. Numerous metallic clicking noises, much like the sound he heard when he loaded his rifle, echoed through the room. The humans were still there. Looking at the wall behind him lit up only confirmed his fear.
His fear climaxed as the table he was leaning on was violently kicked backward, throwing him onto his back. This sent his weapon sliding across the floor until it hit the far wall. Suddenly, a blinding light filled his vision. As he raised his claws to block out the light, he found his arms quickly pinned to the ground by two humans.
“You move, you fucking die!” the human shining the light in his face shouted.
“All of you! Weapons down and hands where we can see them!” Another marine shouted.
Slowly, the remaining gryphons set their weapons on the ground before slowly sitting back on their haunches and raising their front claws. Chorsis then found himself flipped onto his stomach where his front claws were quickly bound, only wide enough apart to allow him to walk. He assumed the others were receiving the same treatment as he heard numerous ratcheting sounds.
“Trafalgar, this is Whiskey two seven. City center is secured. Requesting evac and prisoner transport,” one of the marines said as he brought a hand up to his head.
“Copy that, two seven. Transport inbound.”
The humans then led the group of gryphons outside into the city square. The sight infront of Chorsis nearly caused him to freeze. Hundreds of humans were standing around as two massive aircraft began setting down what looked like buildings. He even heard on the the humans comment on something called a “modular command center”.
His assumption was confirmed as the two halves were quickly welded together and smaller structures were set down around the command center. It was then that Chorsis knew it; they had no chance at winning. With this revelation confirmed, the gryphon began to laugh.
~~~
The UNSC Minotaur and Leviathan both cruised along the western coast of Equestria. Since making their landing, they had helped with the liberation of Canterlot, and were now on their way to secure the city of Los Pegasus.
Unlike other pegasi cities, Los Pegasus was easily accessible to non-fliers. This meant that Unicorns and Earth ponies alike could enjoy the sights and attractions of the very touristy town. However, this also allowed legions of minotaurs easy access to the city.
With a relaxed sigh, Captain Agitha Theseus leaned back in her chair. On her right was the beautiful coastline of Equestria, to her left was the UNSC Leviathan and the White Tail Woods. Just beyond that, flashes of light signaled the explosions of artillery and other high impact munitions.
The ship’s clock read that it was starting to turn to evening, though the sun remained in it’s noon position. Shrugging that minor piece of information away, Agitha focused on the fast approaching city. With the city in visual range, the full scene unfolded.
While most Equestrian towns had quickly been overrun, Los Pegasus was still putting up a fight. And to the Captain’s surprise, they seemed to be holding the minotaur legions at bay. A thought then dawned on her; she was about to destroy minotaur legions with a ship named the Minotaur. Irony is a cruel bitch like that.
The ponies had managed to erect barricades at each of the three entrances while the lack of gryphons allowed the pegasi to bomb the minotaurs with lightning clouds. It was an effective tactic, but sometimes difficult to aim.
It was during one of such bombing runs that the human warships were spotted. The pegasi pushing the black stormclouds simply stopped in their tracks as the destroyer and cruiser made their presence known. By simply flying over the battlefield and then sliding to a halt over the battered city, every fighter on the field stopped and looked skyward.
With a smirk, Captain Theseus reached for the intercom. “Solomon, give me the external speakers. And launch a drone. I want to hear their response.”
The AI nodded. “You’re good to go, ma’am.”
Agitha stood up and cleared her throat as she walked up to the panoramic window on her bridge.
“Attention minotaur forces. This is Captain Agitha Theseus of the UNSC Minotaur. Surrender your weapons and cease hostilities immediately, or I will be forced to open fire. You have one minute to comply.” With her ultimatum delivered, Agitha turned to the weapons control officer. “Bring archer missiles online and arm the fifty millimeter guns.”
“Ma’am, the fifties are only point defence cannons,” the weapons officer replied with a raised eyebrow.
“I understand that, but if you haven’t noticed, just about anything on this damn ship will be an effective weapon. So unless they start hucking nuclear missiles at us, use the cannons for ground attack,” Agitha replied with a slight scowl.
“Yes, ma’am. Bringing point defence cannons online. Archer missiles are ready to fire. Just give me some targets.”
The Captain glared at the young officer and pointed at the window with exaggerated sweep of her arm. The officer, knowing what she was suggesting, turned sheepishly back to his monitor and made the necessary adjustments to the weapons.
It was then that they received a response from the drone.
“Now you listen here, you dirty, hairless apes! If you think your flying machines and your skins of metal will stop true, minotaur strength, then allow me to personally send you to whatever hell you believe in!” One of the minotaurs shouted as he waved his axe high in the air.
“Huh... oh well.” Agitha said with a shrug.
With a dull thump from inside the ship, a single fifty millimeter shell was lobbed at the offending minotaur, vaporizing him and the six others around him.
“Nice shot!” Agitha shouted with a chuckle. The weapons officer grinned and gave her a thumbs up before returning his attention back to his bank of monitors. After that first shot, every gun on both ships began to rain down on the legions below.
The effect was instant as the minotaurs broke ranks and began a desperate charge toward the city, only to be cut off by a continuous barrage of explosive shells. The ponies of Los Pegasus were too stunned to even duck down behind their makeshift cover as the warships above them mercilessly pounded the ground in front of them.
For the next two minutes, nothing was heard over the constant bombardment. Soon through, the ship’s guns became silent, allowing the dust and smoke to clear. Where once stood legions of minotaur warriors, now only lay craters and scorched earth. Not even bodies remained after the vicious onslaught.
While many would call two minutes of constant bombing to be excessive and unnecessary, Captain Agitha believed otherwise. As far as she was concerned, the town was now safe and secure. With a content sigh, she stood up from her captain’s chair.
“Alright, well done people. Inform the Infinity that we have secured the town. Now, ready a Pelican. I wanna meet with the ballsy guy who held off an army for this long.”
~~~
General Pudu stared straight ahead as his Gryll sped over the Equestrian landscape. All around him, other light transports and Scarabaeus main battle tanks rolled toward the frontier town of Appleoosa. It had taken all of the deer by surprise when the gryphons suddenly withdrew from the border regions of Ecotonia. If it hadn’t been for the Grafton telling the Queen about the siege on Canterlot, then the deer might have missed the opportunity to aid their Equestrian allies.
The General looked up as a formation of Crotal attack aircraft passed overhead. If everything went according to plan, the Pudu hoped to catch the gryphons off guard as they tried to make their way up the mountain. Reports had been flowing in in the early part of the previous day, but suddenly went silent around noon. Something had gone wrong.
This fear was amplified as the massive convoy passed through the Macintosh Hills, only to see smoke rising from the town of Appleoosa. With a single order over the radio, every tank and transport vehicle prepared for combat. The tanks took the lead, allowing the smaller and lightly armored troop transports to take cover behind them. Even over the roaring engines, Pudu and his troops could hear the sounds of a raging battle.
As the General and his troops emerged from the south passage, numerous ponies came out to see what was happening. Their looks of shock and joy only served to spur the deer General onward toward the rising smoke.
Just north of the town, a group of frontier ponies had erected a fairly sizeable barricade of everyday items. This wall was the only thing keeping the minotaur legion from simply rushing into the town. Luckily the ponies had help in the form of multiple buffalo tribes from the surrounding plains. While the two groups of defenders were fighting admirably, they were slowly being whittled away by the might of the much stronger minotaurs. Until the deer arrived.
“Commander Mazama, take your division and swing west around the barricade. Commander Pavlod, I want you to swing east. My division will go right up the middle. Wait for my signal to fire,” General Pudu shouted into his radio over the rushing wind.
A series of affirmatives sounded over the radio before both groups of tanks and Gryll broke off from the main body of the convoy. The General ignored the confused looks of the ponies defending the wall as his lead tank smashed through the gate of the barricade, sending splinters and wood chunks flying.
As soon as they passed the wall, all eyes on the battlefield turned to the deer as the tanks lined up. The minotaurs watched in utter confusion as the heavily armored vehicles lined up in a horizontal line, allowing the infantry to dismount in safety. Pudu smirked as he looked to the east and west flanks. His forces had managed to surround the field and were about to level it.
The buffalo quickly took note of this and began a hasty retreat to the north. With a new, and much more worthy opponent in front of them, the minotaurs began to charge. Pudu chuckled as he reached for his radio.
“All tanks, fire at will.”
The air was split as dozens of tanks began firing their main cannons. Pillars of dirt, debris, and bodies shot up where each shell landed. After almost thirty seconds of continuous shelling, the deer infantry took over.
While lacking the intense magical ability of the Equestrian army, the deer were much better equipped. Each soldier wore a harness that held a semi-automatic rifle attached to a mouth trigger. All the user needed to do was bite down to fire the weapon.
As the tanks continued to fire shots into the rear of the minotaurs, the infantry opened up with their own gunfire. As the first wave went off, almost every minotaur in the front two rows fell. General Pudu couldn’t fathom why the minotaurs favored axes and broadswords over modern firearms. Bringing a knife, no matter how big, to a gunfight just didn’t seem like a smart thing to do.
Once the minotaurs got within a hundred feet of the deer, a new weapon emerged on the battlefield. Overhead, the sound of dozens of rotors signaled the arrival of the Ecotonian Airforce. The lightly armored Cortal aircraft were held aloft by a pair of rapidly spinning rotors, allowing them to hover over the battlefield.
This provided a stable platform for their pilots to aim their tri-barrel rotary machine guns. The charging force was once again hammered, this time by almost fifty aircraft machine guns. The effect was almost instantaneous. With the support of the aircraft, the divisions of tanks and infantry were able to cut down every last minotaur before they could even reach the Ecotonian lines.
As the dust settled, General Pudu looked around at his forces. Not a single troop had been touched, and all his tanks were still operational. So far, things could not be going better.
“Commander Pavlod, I want you to stay behind and help protect this town. The rest of us will continue on our path to Canterlot. Radio back if you need reinforcements. General Capreol should be only two hours behind us,” Pudu ordered as his troops climbed back into their vehicles.
“Yes, sir. Stay safe,” the Commander replied.
After a few moments, both divisions reformed and continued their push north. Rather than head straight up through Ponyville, General Pudu opted to follow a western arc. By crossing over Ghastly Gorge and coming in across the Unicorn Range, Pudu hoped he might be able to catch the gryphon’s exposed flank.
An hour of driving later, Pudu had successfully crossed the bridge at Ghastly Gorge. Now he was cutting across the rolling hills that made up the Unicorn Range. That was when one of his tanks reported something unusual.
“General, we’re seeing something up ahead that doesn’t look right. Some kind of machine. Never seen anything like it,” the soldier reported.
Perplexed, the General reached for his radio. “Alright, pull over. Let’s see what this is.”
At his command. every vehicle stopped their advance. General Pudu quickly got out of his vehicle and trotted up to the lead tank. The low elevation of the valley floor, combined with the high tree line, obscured Canterlot from their position. Sure enough, a large metallic object sat at the base of the hill. Oddly, the object seemed to be made of a glowing, slowly spinning wheel, attached to slightly concave cylinder. The entire thing was covered in slamm blue lights and was only seven feet tall and twelve feet long.
“What is it?” the lead tank driver asked with wonder.
“I dunno, never seen anything like this before,” the General replied as he slowly walked up to the mysterious machine.
As he inspected his, his eyes caught on what looked like scratch marks and burns on the object’s casing. Small dents could easily be seen dotting it’s surface. Whatever this thing was, it had been through some rough times. Not wanting to mess with the mysterious object, Pudu walked back to the tanks.
“Call in a Erucha, I don’t want to leave this thing just sitting in the open. I also want a few vehicles to scout out up ahead. See if there is anything else like this.” At this, five Gryll sped off up the hill toward the tree line.
Twenty minutes later, three large Erucha heavy cargo haulers approached from the west. While not the fastest things on land, they were more than capable of handling even the heaviest loads, making them excellent at carrying heavy cargo. As the massive tracked vehicles came to a halt, the radio came to life once more.
“Uh, General... we may have a serious problem,” the scouts announced.
Pudu shook his head as the Erucha crew quickly attached lifting cables to the strange device. Luckily the small crane on the vehicle was strong enough to lift the object.
“What is it?” The General asked.
“You... may want to come up to the hilltop. I’m not sure you would believe me otherwise.”
Pudu turned and trotted to the nearest Gryll and pointed at the hilltop. The driver stomped on the accelerator and took off for the hill. As the vehicle crested the hill, Pudu could see the other five Grylls all sitting in a line, their crews watching an unimaginable spectacle.
Before them, sixteen gigantic human warships mercilessly pounded the valley below. The sounds of warfare echoed off the trees as massive explosions left craters in the land. Equally stunning was the smoldering wreckage at the base of the hill. It was difficult to recognize, but the deer General could have sworn it was one of the human ships that had visited the nation a few months ago.
About a hundred feet down the hill was another object. This one was easily twice as big as the other object they had recovered. Though instead of numerous lights and moving parts, this one was a simple triangle shaped box.
As the deer silently took in the scene in front of them, Pudu came to a realization. The two objects must have come from the crashed human warship. The general grinned as he reached for the radio in the nearest Gryll.
“Erucha two and three, we have another object here to recover. It’s a bit bigger so you may need both cranes,” Pudu ordered as he watched a number of small aircraft descend onto the wrecked ship, followed closely by a warship that looked just like the Grafton.
“Right away, sir. If you don’t mind me asking, what are we going to do with these things?” One of the Erucha drivers asked.
“Simple. We’re going to return them to their rightful owners.”
~~~
“Princess Twilight, Princess Cadance, glad to see you’re both doing alright,” Captain Laskey said to the two ponies sitting across from him.
“Thank you again for all of this,” Cadance replied with a gentle nod.
“It was no problem, ma’am. If I may ask, what’s your next step? Canterlot and Ponyville are both retaken and secured. I take it ponies will need some form of familiar leadership to look up to,” Captain Laskey stated as he leaned back in his chair.
“Well, I guess the two of us will have to take over all of the duties usually left for Princess Celestia and Luna,” Twilight said with a sigh.
“Especially moving the sun and moon. Though I’m not sure how difficult that will be,” Cadance replied as she put a wing across Twilight’s back.
“Oh my, I nearly forgot about that.” Panic suddenly filled Twilight as she looked around the room. “Captain, what time is it!?”
“Six forty three.”
Twilight’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks as she looked to Cadance. “We need to lower the sun! It hasn’t moved since noon!”
“Calm down, Twilight. We can handle this.” Cadnace said as she tried to reassure the younger mare. “I apologize, Captain, but we will need to go. The sun and moon aren’t going to move themselves.”
“Of course. Will you need a ride back to the surface?” Laskey asked as he picked up his radio.
“Yes, that would be most helpful,” Cadance said with a nod.
“Alright, Sergeant Jin here will take you down to the launch bay. Also, I’ll have the quartermaster prepare quarters for the both of you; at least until the castle is returned to a livable state,” Laskey said as he stood up.
“Thank you very much Captain.” Cadance replied as she and Twilight turned to leave. A marine standing next to the door opened it as both alicorns made their way out of the room.
With both Princesses gone, Laskey slumped back down into his seat.
“Rough day, sir?” Roland said from a display pad on the Captain’s desk.
“You have no idea. I take it you have something for me?”
“Yes, sir. Reports from the field. I gotta say, some of these are fairly interesting,” the AI said with a chuckle.
“Alright, lay it on me,” Laskey said as he turned to look at the AI.
“First off, search and rescue found no additional survivors aboard the Tuscany. However, her flight recorder was recovered and techs are going through her data logs before the crash,” Roland replied.
“Speaking of the Tuscany, how are Captain Ryan and Commander Zerom?”
“Both are aboard the Hopeful, however, they are being transported back to Reach along with Princess Luna and a few others. The UNSC Pony Express will be docking with Hopeful in the next half hour,” Roland said as Laskey nodded.
“Good to hear they’re going to make it. What’s next?” Captain Laskey asked.
“Well, this is where things get a bit interesting. Grafton has successfully recovered the FTL drive and reactor from the Tuscany. Apparently the Ecotonian military made a push up from the south and recovered both devices during their push north. In addition, the deer have secured the border town of Appleloosa,” Roland announced.
Laskey looked at the AI with a surprised expression. “Huh, so the deer are here. Nice to know they’re with us. What else?”
“The Minotaur and her battlegroup were successful in breaking the siege of Los Pegasus. Captain Theseus has reported that the city was being used as a large refugee destination. She has requested additional ships and supplies to reinforce the area.”
“Granted. Send the Iwo Jima and Gettysburg, and have a few firebases sent to the area. Make it easier to fly in more supplies,” Laskey ordered as he stood up from his desk and retrieved a coffee mug. “Next?”
“The Trafalgar and her group have made contact with the city of Baltimare. Unfortunately, the city has been completely destroyed. Still, a few reports have come in stating that gryphon soldiers are losing the will to fight. Many are just laying down their arms and surrendering peacefully,” Roland reported as the Captain poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Great, ONI will love having more things to play with. Got anything else to add?”
“The Armageddon's Edge and Leviathan are preparing to move against Cloudsdale. However, UAVs and other orbital sensors are not showing a strong enemy presence. It is possible that the city has held out against the attacks,” the AI announced as he pulled up a map of the area.
Laskey took a sip of his coffee and stroked his chin. “Interesting, an entire city made of clouds. Guess that makes them immune to ground attacks, and being a city for fliers warrants that they would be experts at defending from aerial attacks. Though I’m certain a few other factors might have influenced this.”
The AI nodded. “My thoughts exactly. Anyway, that’s all I have for now. I’ll keep you updated as more news arrives.”
“Thank you Roland,” Laskey said as the AI vanished.
~~~
It was a nice late summer day on Reach, a day that Celestia was currently enjoying. For the first time during her stay in New Alexandria, she was laying on the grass with the sun beating down on her back. Having the warmth of the sun was a very welcome and comforting feeling. With a content sigh, Celestia set down the datapad that she was reading on.
With a massive yawn, the solar Princess rolled onto her back and began to writhe in the grass. She smiled as she continually rubbed the grass into her coat. It was invigorating, being able to smell grass again. Just being outside was incredible on it’s own. With a grin on her face, Celestia continued to roll around on her back, driving blades of grass and flecks of dirt farther into her coat. Neume chuckled as she glanced over to the white alicorn before turning back to her own book.
“Enjoying the day, I see,” Optikanner said with a chuckle.
Celestia turned her head sideways and rested her cheek on the grass to get a better view of the human. From her very undignified position, she could see the grinning human. With an embarrassed chuckle, Celestia rolled over and quickly stood back up. With a quick shake, most of the loose grass and dirt fell from her coat.
“It would be shame not to take experience of such great day,” Celestia wrote in broken english on a floating notepad.
As the Princess looked around the massive skyscrapers of the city, five red and white pelicans touched down on the nearby landing pads. Curiously, both Celestia and Optikanner walked to the edge of the park. Looking down on the landing pads, the two could just make out a number of figures being taken off of the aircraft. None of them were recognizable, until a blue form caught Celestia’s eye.
Even at a distance, Celestia could easily make out the form of her younger sister. With a worried expression, she looked to Doctor Optikanner. The human rubbed his chin before looking over at the Princess.
“It seems we have some new guests. Neume will have to take you to physical therapy today. I expect my attention will be required shortly,” Optikanner said with a sigh.
Celestia watched the Doctor walk briskly back into the hospital. Neume was quick to walk up next to Celestia. She cast the alicorn a worried glance.
“Are you okay?” Neume asked with concern.
“I’ll be fine.” Celestia quickly wrote on her notepad.
The changeling could taste the worry coming from the Princess as she watched numerous patients being unloaded from the aircraft. Neume was able to barely catch a glimpse of a dark blue figure being wheeled into the hospital’s trauma ward. Quickly making the connection between the dark blue figure and Celestia’s worry, Neume was able to determine the identity of the dark blue figure.
“I’ll tell you what, let’s get you to physical therapy and then I’ll go check up on the arrivals. Deal?” Neume said with pleading eyes.
Celestia nodded solemnly and followed the changeling back into the hospital.
~~~
Spotlight waited patiently outside the office of Director Burr. He had landed on the Pony Express only twenty minutes prior. To his surprise, ONI agents had been waiting for him as soon as he had stepped off the spacecraft. They had said nothing during the short flight back to Olympic Tower.
This is where the young changeling found himself, not even given time to change out of his combat armor. Truthfully, he was a bit nervous. His nervousness only increased as the double doors swung open.
“Agent Spotlight, come in,” the Director said firmly.
Without missing a beat, Spotlight jumped up from his chair and trotted into the Director’s office before taking a seat facing the black metal desk. Burr quickly walked back to his seat and leaned back as he looked at the changeling.
“I take it you have no idea why you are here?” The Director asked with a neutral expression.
“Yes, sir.”
“Then allow me to clarify. You are being put up for a job review. Normally this would take place between you and your commanding officer, which would be Captain Ryan. Though given recent events, that is not possible. Therefore, I will be conducting your review,” Director Burr stated as he set a grey folder on the table.
Spotlight watched in silence as the human began reading through the top few papers before looking up.
“I have to say, you received a lot more field training in one month, than most probationary agents receive in their first two years on the job. Captain Ryan sites you numerous times as being instrumental in cracking difficult subjects. He even cites an incident with one Domri Windscar as a testament to your abilities as an agent. Do you have anything you would like to add?” The Director asked with a hint of a grin.
“Only that working with Daniel has been the high point of my life. As such, I would love to continue working with him,” Spotlight replied nervously.
“I see. Well that might be a challenge. It all depends on how well he can recover from his injuries. At any rate, I also hear that Infinity recovered a near treasure trove of intel from the gryphon command center. Hell, they even managed to capture the king. So here’s where we stand. There is a lot of data that will need to be cataloged and analyzed. Feel like taking on that task?”
“Of course, sir,” Spotlight replied eagerly.
“Excelent. Talk to Agent Rolvinov down in cryptology. She’ll get you set up with an office to work out of,” Director Burr instructed as he pulled out a clear plastic object. “Also, you’ll need this. it’s your security badge. Welcome aboard, Field Agent Spotlight.”
The young changeling couldn’t help but grin at this as he took the keycard. Imprinted on the front was the ONI seal with his face printed just below it. Even as he read over his name, he couldn’t help but shake with excitement. He was now a full blown field agent of the Office of Naval Intelligence.
“Wear it proudly. Also, you might want to stop by the locker rooms and shower before heading down to meet with Rolvinov. You kinda smell like puke,” the Director said with a chuckle.
Spotlight blinked as he sniffed his side. Sure enough, it smelled like vomit. “Oh, right. Someone threw up in the lifeboat.”
“I’m not surprised. Those things aren’t really built with a smooth ride in mind.”
Spotlight tried to stifle a laugh as he got up from his seat. “Well, thank you, Director.”
“Good luck, Agent Spotlight.”
With all said and done, Spotlight tucked his new ID into a pouch on his side before happily trotting out the door.