//------------------------------//
// Prologue: Long Tall Sally 
// Story: Operation: Homecoming 
// by RoadRunneR 
//------------------------------//


Prologue: Long tall Sally



Saying the Zone is a dangerous place would be like saying that shooting yourself in the foot would be itchy. It not only would be a gross understatement, but also a complete untruth. Every stalker knows that, and they are not the only ones. The Chernobyl exclusion Zone was world famous. The biggest operation to date was operation Fairway, which had been directed by the Ukrainian military. It had been executed with no real planning and its goal was to go straight to the center of the Zone using choppers and APCs, and of course resulted in a massive failure.

Choppers fell from the sky, either shot down by Monolith forces or hit by anomalies. Obsolete APCs got annihilated by radiation, rockets and grenades. Infantry got slaughtered by small arms fire and, to top it all off, a massive Blowout had wiped out nearly every living creature within the Chernobyl and Prypiat areas.

Suffice to say the Ukrainian military had been reluctant to send any more forces inside the Zone ever since.

So that’s why the brass laughed when a group of scientists came up to them, claiming they had discovered a portal to another world.

They stopped when they showed the documents.

Reports of anomaly measurements, concerning an anomalous space bubble.

Measurements mentioning ‘another Noosphere’ leaking through the bubble.

Reports, measurements and anatomy notes concerning a creature, who was designed as ‘Celestia’.

A photo of a buzzed stalker with a massive rifle on his back, clad in a lightened exosuit, crouching down next to a white, small equine with horns and wings. The equine was wearing what looked like Monolith armor and was armed to the teeth, like the stalker next to it. Its eyes were freakishly big, yet somehow they didn’t seem out of place, giving off an impression it was straight out of one  like in one of these old western cartoons. The stalker had an arm over the equine’s shoulders which in turn had extended one of its wing over the stalker’s back. And both of them were smiling.

When put in front of such proof, the Ukrainian brass deliberated for two long months, before putting together an extensive plan to assist a scientific expedition into this unknown land.

All of which went out the window when the Ukrainian government was overthrown and Russia invaded Crimea. Instead of a massive military support, SBU Colonel Alexander Degtyarev was assigned a squad of Spetsnaz and given the responsability of the mission to escort the scientists to the trip they wanted to make.

Of course, a squad was far less than enough, so the scientists turned towards this ‘Celestia’, who hadn’t lost her time.

During her year in the Zone, she had met an ex-Monolithian sniper, a giant bruiser, and so many others. Together, they mounted a new faction, based in the Jupiter factory, near the very center of the Zone. They started small, only a few dozen people… but after a year, they had more ordinance than both the local Duty and Freedom antennas, a fortified home base and nearly three hundred stalkers under their command, all well trained and armed to the teeth.

They called their faction, Dawn.

With their men, they formed most of the personnel and they owned most of the helicopters and ground vehicles that were on operation, named Homecoming. Of course, they didn’t do it out of kindness for the scientists. Celestia, the co-leader of the faction, had a very personal interest in the good execution of the trip.

Why?

They were going back to her world, hence the name.

She knew there was a 0.1% probability the scientists had been wrong and that the space bubble lead on a totally random world, but according to measurements, it had a Noosphere which signature’s was over 90% similar to her psychic powers’ energy signature, which meant there were sapient creatures similar to her there; the atmospheric conditions were identical to the Earth’s and the videos brought back by unmanned drones showed images of luscious green fields with a mountain in the distance -mountain which had been identified by Celestia as ‘Canterhorn’. That had elicited a good laugh from the scientists.

And so the Dawn faction offered its help to the scientists.

Of course, Hermann and Kruglov - the leaders of the main scientific teams- paid good price to ensure their safety on this trip.

And what a security detail did they get.

While the Ukrainian military only sent a squad of Spetsnaz with an outdated Mi-24 and a BTR to back up Colonel Degtyarev and the scientists, the Dawn guys came in with tanks, APCs, helicopters and personnel amounting to a small army.

When asked why they brought so much ordinance, the leaders of the Dawn factions each had answers of their own. Vano, the bearded hulk in power armour, had replied that ‘there is no such thing as overkill’. Strider, the co-leader, had just shrugged.

Celestia, the other co-leader, had insisted on how dangerous some creatures populating her world were and that the situation there was unknown.

After all, she was right. Maybe there had been an uprising following her disappearance, resulting in her sister being overthrown and the Elements of Harmony being killed or lost, rendering the country weak to outside attacks. Maybe there had been a war, set off by an opportunist country that didn’t like Equestria so much… who knew? Fourteen months is a long time.

And that was why a cluster of helicopters, all overburdened with troops, ordinance and sling loads, were soaring through the air, set on the massive space bubble suspended one hundred meters in the air that led to another world, the ruckus caused by their engines and their blades whacking the air beneath them disturbing the usual relative calm of the Cordon.



	

A face met a palm. “Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me.”

Vano shrugged his shoulders, holding up his hands. “What? It’s good music!” the massive stalker countered.

The whine of the modernized Mil MI-24 turbines and the roar or the rotor slicing the air, maintaining the gunship in the air would have been deafening if it wouldn’t have been for the music blasting full volume in the habitacle, forcing the passengers to yell to make themselves understood.

“Why do feel forced to keep making pop culture references?” Snag half-shouted half-asked, raising his face from behind his hands.

Vano leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms and pouted, raising an eyebrow and giving his boyfriend an air of ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’.

Most of the six Dawn Rangers that accompanied them were observing the scene, sat in their seats, their rifles held vertically and pointed down. Most of them had amused expressions on their faces, except one who was leaned back and was staring at the ceiling.

“Why didn’t I enroll in the Spartans…?” he asked himself, sighing.



	

Most of the Dawn Spartans were in another helicopter, a bigger, heavier, more powerful Mi-26. The massive chopper was soaring through the skies of the Zone, cruising at nearly one hundred and sixty kilometers per hour, which was far from its top speed; but was not too shabby considering the troop carrier was full of… well, troops and ordinance and that to top it all of was carrying a sling loaded tank. 

Inside the chopper, a disciplined silence reigned. Not a word was uttered, the only noise coming from the friction of the air on the hull and the turbine engines overhead the big cabin. The only people having any kind of interaction were two men and… a white coated, horned, and winged equine.

Celestia is her name. She was fairly small compared to the humans, topping at 1.40 m at the base of her horn. Neither human nor mutant, she was an oddity, even by the Zone’s standards… and well, she was a she. Saying women are rare in the Zone is like saying the Zone is dangerous… you get the idea.

The man sitting across her was your run-of-the-mill Loner. A badge showing the typical Loner radiation symbol on his shoulder, badly shaven beard, hirsute hair, a questionable body odor and what would have been considered like medium-level gear, if it were not for his lightened armor and black sniper rifle laying next to him.

The other man, who was sitting next to her, was similar in appearance, except his hair was buzz cut, he didn’t smell as bad and he was wearing a lightened exoskeleton armor bearing the colors of the Dawn faction instead of a simpler, cheaper suit. The purpose of such a exosuit could have been questionable if it weren’t for the massive rifle sitting next to stalker.

“And so this is yours,” the Loner stated, examining the big, tarpaulin covered car secured in the middle of the cabin between him and the two others sitting in the seats in front of him. “Where in the Zone did you find it Strider?”

“In the very same vehicle yard we found our first BTRs,” replied the buzzed man, checking his big anti-material rifle again. "The engine and most mechanical parts were junk, but the shell was salvageable."

“Interesting. What is it? ”

“I cannot tell you," Strider smiled. "But rest assured that it is quite a unique piece.”

“Yes, it's got a lot of custom parts I made myself, and a few others we actually imported from the outside,” Celestia told the stalker in front of her, excitedly ruffling her wings. “I’m just happy we found it. It was nice, working together on getting it back into shape.”

Strider smiled warmly. “Yes. While I am not really a fan of mechanics, I immensely appreciated the time we spent together on it, even though it is not completely finished.”

“Just a few touches though,” Celestia chimed in. “I really look forwards to cruise in this thing together,” she added, nuzzling Strider’s neck.

Runner sighed longingly, looking at the happy couple in front of him. “I hate couples,” he muttered to himself, his gaze drooping to the ground.



	

The formation of helicopters approached the bubble, and one by one, entered it. Seconds after the first helicopter had hit the barrier, the last one - a big Mi-26 carrying a sling loaded T-72 - hit it too, disappearing in the shifting mass of energy. There was no drama, no explosion, no flash of light, only the massive bubble swallowing the thunderous flying machines one after another.

And like that, there was no more noise, only the occasional mutant scream or gunshot echoing in the distance, distant and anonymous witness of the dangers of the Zone.