Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat and wiped out the bead of sweat that had recently formed on her forehead. Before her eyes, stood nearly four dozen NC soldiers, all of them waiting for Twilight's plan to assault the nearby Tech Plant. Light and heavy assault infantry, medics, engineers, snipers, all of the Eagle Wing survivors and even MAX-clad soldiers, all waiting for her orders. Rainbow Dash and Big Mac, the two few familiar faces amongst the crowd of blue and gold, sported reassuring smiles.
Nighttime had already reached the continent of Amerish. It also announced a change of guards: snipers and fellow light assault warriors now patrolled both the innards and the extreme borders for any Equestrian or Vanu loners attempting to infiltrate the base on their own. The platoon of Vanguards that delivered the killing blow in the defense of the small base were fully repaired, parked alongside half a dozen of gargantuan Galaxies, the standard transport airships. All of those vehicles were brought to the outpost upon Twilight's request. Now, it was time for her to speak up for the battalion:
"Ummm... well. I've made some requests from the nearby bases and outposts, and I managed to receive some additional Vanguard main battle tanks, and six Galaxy transport aircraft. As for how our assault on the Equestrian base will go: We will load all of the Galaxies and launch a full-scale air invasion. Then, we will send a few soldiers off the planes and they will work on deactivating the shield generators. Meanwhile, our tanks will be gunning down their AA turrets, and any kind of ground troopers. After the shields are deactivated, our pilots will land on the station's landing pads, drop the rest of us, and provide air support for our tanks with the gunners. Any questions?"
Twilight's tension in her shoulders went away as no arms were raised. Instead, all of them shook their heads and waited for further info. Whispers of approval could be heard throughout the battalion. Rainbow Dash walked in front of the crowd and lifted her bulky light machine gun, resting the barrel on her shoulder.
"What are you waiting for, people? Man the tanks and board the planes! Go, go, go!" She clapped her hands together and dispersed the mass of NC troops towards various directions. Dash then neared Twilight and patted her on the shoulder. "Seems like a plan. But remember: we're attacking a Tech Plant, not your everyday outpost. Even if this plan goes smoothly, there will be crap-loads of reddies."
"I know, Rainbow. There's an average of 100 soldiers in those facilities," Twilight replied, smiling nervously.
"Uhhh... yeah. Now let's go. The Equestrian Republic must be getting comfortable on their rumps by now." Rainbow awkwardly thumbed her friend up and left for her transport.
Twilight quickly snapped and jogged briefly to catch up with Rainbow, spotting a large rocket launcher on her back. Strangely enough, Big Mac wasn't by their side. She carelessly shrugged that thought away and paid attention to the already airborne Galaxies, their turrets rotating from time to time. If they looked intimidating while on the surface, they seemed to be indestructible flying fortresses while hovering. Her eyes traveled downwards: one single Galaxy was still grounded, as if waiting for someone with its hatch open wide. She could spot a few comrades sitting inside, their gazes directed at the sergeant, and three others were standing and looking through monitors. The gunners, obviously. Dash suddenly increased the speed of her jog and joined the crew, Twilight uncertainly sitting by her side. Their ears were being assaulted by the loud engines.
"Sir! Why are we taking so much to take off?" A female engineer asked, her eyes covered by a thick black visor.
"Wait a bit more, private. We've got... a special friend coming," Dash replied with a devious tone of voice.
All of them looked to the outside: a large, tall, heavily armored men came into the Galaxy's transport bay with a loud clank. His actual body was mostly covered by bright blue plates of hard steel with golden trims, his head protruding from the mech. The helmet little gave detail on the wearer. His arms were bearing large scatter-guns, whose effect could be devastating in close range. The dropship's tail sunk significantly from his weight into the dirt, gasps being heard all across the squadron. All of the squad stared at him with in both amusement and mild fear.
"Eeyup." The man revealed himself to be Big Mac with one word.
"Pilot, please, report in." Rainbow called out for whoever was driving the aircraft.
"Starlight Shadow, leader of Eagle Wing, reporting for duty, sir." Starlight called from the cockpit and gave the crew a quick glance before turning her attention to the control panel. "We're off to the attack."
Multiple arms were raised to hold on the handlebars above them. The engines were set at full throttle and gravity took its toll on the soldiers as the airplane lazily raised in the night sky. A few exchange of radio chat and the thrusters were placed backwards, propelling the transport ship forward. Twilight scoured her gaze across the squad: men and women, all clad in the same heavy armor, some being either different by the number of plates or their helmet design. She shrugged carelessly at her squadmates and waited.
"Hey, I know that we were the last to take off and that this thing is a big momma, but why are we so slow? Did you guys load an elephant back there?" Starlight's voice rang in the transport bay, earning the attention of every single trooper.
"Not exactly, pilot. We've got a freaking MAX here!" A voice that could only come from Vinyl Scratch replied, multiple curious stares being thrown at her.
A frustrated groan played on the intercom before the transmission ended. Big Mac placed himself in the middle of the bay to equal his weight on the Galaxy, but it did little to maintain balance. The soldiers little did care about the giant among them, some even showing signs of boredom. Most tapped their weapons or stomped the steel beneath their feet hard, trying to pass time. Some others hummed strangely familiar tunes to themselves. The few remaining gave their faces constant swipes to take out the sweat: the transport bay was surely hot.
Twilight's heart beat faster and faster as she could feel the battle nearing her by each minute. Her hands gripped against her rifle as if they would crush it. Drips of sweat ran down her porcelain face. Her legs rocked back and forth in angst. She was halfway there to whisper on Rainbow's ear, but a shout cut her off.
"ENEMY MOSQUITOES! OPEN FIRE, OPEN FIRE!!!" The gunner frantically squeezed his trigger, being followed by ear-shattering gatling guns. An explosion made the galaxy shake violently, forcing the troopers inside to hold onto their handlebars tighter.
Everyone inside the transport bay prepared themselves for the drop off. Twilight's eyes widened as she saw her squadmates stand up in unison. She was abruptly brought to her feet by Rainbow Dash, whose face had a teasing smile stamped across it.
"Relax, Twi. We're not dropping so soon. Did you forget about your own plan?" Rainbow said in a reassuring yet mocking tone.
"I-I know... it's all so sudd-"
All of the soldiers, save for the MAX, were launched against the walls from yet another unexpected brute sway of the Galaxy. When the aircraft returned to its normal hovering line, all of the NC troopers stood up, groaning and rubbing their heads in pain. A small dent on the belly of their transport was quickly noticed. And it wasn't caused by the whole squadron being thrown against each other.
The hatch opened. They all stared wide-eyed at the confusing mess of smoke and lasers coming from the outside. A damaged ER fighter gave them a flyby, its engines on fire. Much to their misfortune, something detonated upon coming into contact with the Galaxy, and an unaware soldier slipped from the transport. Her cries of desperation were the last thing they heard.
"C'mon people! Those assigned to-" Starlight's speech was interrupted as an AA shell hit the aircraft. "To deactivate the shields, jump now!"
Three soldiers pushed their friends aside and leaped into the over-passing plant, disappearing into the grass and being briefly spotted by their jetpack's thrust. The hatch remained open, forcing the crew to grip the handlebars even tighter. Starlight slowed them down and landed hard on the landing pad, sparks raising from the already severed belly.
"Go, go, go!" She screamed, tilting the transport ship's tail down to throw the soldiers right into the landing pad, and of course to prevent vulnerability from the nearby AA turrets and possible rocket launchers.
Pushed by Starlight's rapid take off, the squadron fell from the hatch and landed harshly on the steel surface. With the help of each other, they all stood up, cocked their weapons, ready for combat. Big Mac was the last to drop into the conflict, his armor making the landing pad shake. They all staggered for a second, caught off-guard by his drop. Rainbow barely took noticed on that, raising an arm to point towards the doorways. The squadron marched as one.
Twilight took a moment to notice how large that facility was, its roof covered with antennas and a digital flag showing off a glowing Terran Republic logo, proudly emitting a red light in the dark night sky. She was snapped back to reality when someone patted her on the shoulder.
"See that thing? It's getting blue and gold this night!" Rainbow pointed where Twilight was staring, a devious grin on her covered face.
They both paid attention to the battle as their squadron neared the doorways. Taking cover behind the thick steel walls, all of the NC invaders tucked their heads into the room. It seemed to be eerily silent and abandoned, despite the raging battle outside.
"Hehe, it seems that those reddies are-" The medic's taunting speech was interrupted as a single soldier emerged from where the gravity launchers were.
He solely opened fire at the exposed medic, emptying his magazine with such force that the now bleeding corpse was thrown against the walls from the outside, nearly falling from a fearful height. In a matter of seconds, a sudden horde of red-painted soldiers emerged from the innards of the facility, mercilessly firing at the covered NC troopers. The other squadrons who dropped from the other Galaxies arrived, losing most of their numbers due to their unawareness of the newly-deployed defensive mass of Equestrian loyalists.
Ducking at the right time from the wave of bullets, Rainbow cocked her light machine gun in rage, and with the click of another hidden button on her bulky armor, she was enveloped in a bright aura of blue. Her bodily figure doubled in an optical way, she simply stepped out of the safety of the walls and revealed herself to the advancing Equestrian platoon.
"Come and get me, reddies!" Dash madly laughed and lured the swarm of Equestrian soldiers to her glowing figure, their shots simply bouncing off from her temporarily.
Twilight used their distraction to her own advantage. Leaning to her left side, she got a perfect view of the interior, filled with newly-deployed troopers of the Republic. She squeezed the trigger, taken back by the recoil. Using her hands to tighten the grip around her rifle and keep it in line, Twilight ended up emptying her magazine in mere seconds. Blood flew through the air as her bullets succeeded to precisely hit the heads of three soldiers, but the rest of her clip simply ended up in the hardened chestplate of an Equestrian MAX.
"What?!?" She yelled and put herself back to cover, shakily replacing her magazine.
"Enemy MAX! Put hi-" A random soldier's speech was cruelly interrupted as he was launched back by a sudden barrage of shots, his vital fluids painting the catwalk underside him.
Rainbow finally got back to cover, panting heavily, her shield gone by the time. Grey smoke raised from her joints, probably signifying that whatever device used to create such a powerful personal shield had overheated. She reloaded her machine gun quickly, gave Twilight a nearly paranoid look and raised her arm.
"Retreat! Hold your position at the landing pad!!!!"
She instantly grabbed Twilight by her wrist and used her own body armor to shield her friend from the incoming enemy fire. She crouched to dodge the wave of shots directed at her and waited for the rest of the New Conglomerate troopers to fall back, most of them being killed before they could even respond to their order. The defending faction kept sending more and more soldiers into the heat of the conflict, enough to make Rainbow think of the mission's failure.
She could even hear the sounds of the ongoing air battle, and what seemed to be a Galaxy going down together with those deafening noises of explosions and battery fire.
Twilight mimicked Dash's action and lowered her body to get a better view on the doorways, spotting the feared MAX slowly making its way to the cornered rebel squad. She opened fire desperately at the advancing soldiers, lowering their numbers as their bodies started to fall over the heavily-armored Equestrian. His eyes seemed to burn with rage as every single comrade of his poured their own blood over his already crimson armor.
"Die! Die! Die and burn in hell, you filthy terrorists!" He screamed from behind his helmet, unloading his chain-gun placed right at his left arm.
“Eenope!" Big Mac's voice rang in, much to everyone's surprise.
The blue MAX ran towards the Equestrian mech, deflecting all of its rounds into his chest-plate. Big Mac gathered all of his strength to force his suit to come to a jump. With great effort, the quiet man was sent into the air with a fist raised, sparks flying from his armor as desperate Equestrian troopers unloaded their clips at the airborne MAX.
Big Mac's fist came down like a lightning on a tree on the Equestrian's MAX face, sparks and even blood coming out. The red mech staggered back while trying to use its armored arms to reach for his head, achieving no success due to the multiple layers of steel. Both the New Conglomerate and the Equestrian Republic soldiers stopped their gunfights for a second to look in both awe and shock as Big Mac lowered his arm momentarily and raised it with more force, launching his opponent backwards and making him fall square on his back. He didn't hesitate and quickly sat over his enemy and punched his face repeatedly, fighting to raise up his scatter-gun and end with him right there.
"Go, go, go!! Open fire! They're distracted!!" Rainbow yelled seconds, pressing her trigger and taking a better shooting stance with a newfound vigor as Big Mac and the enemy MAX continued to brawl and wrestle brutally against each other for dominance.
Rainbow's men and women all concentrated their fire on the remaining defense line of the Equestrian Republic, taking cover on the not-so protective walls and from newly-deployed anti-infantry turrets placed by nearby field engineers. Rebels piled themselves behind their engineers to take cover from enemy fire, leaning in to shoot and potentially kill the defending red-clad warriors.
Morale fell down greatly as Big Mac's armored and intimidating figure was seen flying through the cool night air, landing harshly on the landing pad's surface and sliding on his back. The enemy MAX emerged, damaged and bleeding, chain-gun spinning and hissing frantically, eager to spill rounds. However, the MAX could be seen as a decoy to attract their attention: emerging from the same spot as their advanced-armored comrade, yet another battalion from the ER immediately laid suppressive fire on the weakened rebel attack squad.
Only those who ducked in time were able to survive the merciless counter-attack coming from the Equestrian Republic. Unfortunately, Rainbow's shoulder was painted in red as a bullet whizzed past it. Twilight's eyes widened as she saw her friend slowly crawling behind behind Big Mac, who was groggily standing up to cover what was left of the NC. His arm then created a blue, glowing shield and protected his friends, taking a few steps back as every single survivor that took cover on his back directed the enemy fire even more to his shield.
Much to their desperation, Big Mac's retreat was pushing them down into the surface, and of course, to a deadly free-fall. The quiet man took notice of that, and, giving the Equestrian troopers a warning shot with his grenade launcher, he shouted to his cornered squadmates.
"Go! Clutch yourselves to the light assaults, and jump!!"
A pair of rebels, one being an engineer and the other a jet-pack equipped trooper, hugged each other and dropped off from the platform. Twilight's eyes went wide as she saw them going off so fearlessly.
"C'mon, Twilight! Go and leave with Rainbow! I'll hold those bastards off." Big Mac ordered with seriousness, now advancing towards the enemy fire rather than retreating.
Giving a nod to his figure, Twilight struggled to wrap her arms around Rainbow's heavy armor. Noticing that she didn't have much time left, Twilight threw herself and Dash downwards on the grassy surface below them with a shy hop to the free-fall, hints of metallic structures appearing on the dark atmosphere.
Dash used what remained of consciousness in her body to hug Twilight back and keep from falling to her death. Her calmness was strange for such a fall. Twilight, on the other side, desperately ran her hand through the device strapped to her back. Her heart raced madly as the grass and metal got nearer and nearer by each second. To her luck, she realized that the jetpack had a simple, hidden button right on her right forearm, and reaching for it with her left arm, she activated the gadget.
With a brute and raw kick, the duo was briefly held in the air by the jetpack's fuel. Twilight released the button and they both fell on the dirt surface, the same soldiers who leaped from the platform earlier helping them get back on their feet as quickly as they could. A fellow combat medic neared the injured Rainbow Dash and healed her with the healing tool, fixing the sergeant up to the ongoing battle.
Smacking the dirt surface beneath her, Dash got up with a loud, annoyed grunt that scared even the medic and the nearby soldiers that came flying from the high landing pad. Placing a hand on Twilight's shoulder for support, she gave the recently arrived combat medic a furious glare and questioned:
"Private! How's the situation on the battle? Now!"
"I-It's going quite w-well, sir! Our tanks are crushing their defense, still, we lost control of the landing pads!" The woman replied, a look of defeat on her pale face.
"Of course that we lost it, maggot! We just came flying from that piece of crap!" Dash sounded even angrier than before, and the simple thought that she potentially lost her MAX unit was enough to make her shout madly to the skies.
What sounded like the haunting whizzing of a bomb falling from the skies above was enough to make the small squadron duck unconsciously for whatever was falling over them. Some hid behind the large generators, others simply dived for bushes. But that was no bomb: there was a loud *thud* followed by a wave of dirt and grass flying over the surroundings. The survivors of Dash's team tucked their heads from their spots and gasped:
Big Mac was still alive. His MAX suit was torn and crushed by his last stand against the Equestrian defense. Wires that connected the power source on his back to the rest of the armor were hanging off, sparks of electricity spurting from them. His helmet was badly damaged, giving a view of his face and hair. Using his massive hands to get back on his armored feet, Big Mac stood up weakly, every joint of steel clanking together.
"I hate rocket launchers..." He stated, a frown of annoyance on his face.
Without a word being said, the squadron's engineer neared the critically damaged MAX trooper and attended to the dents and broken parts with his repair tool. Dash now breathed with newfound vigor, signaling her remaining soldiers to follow her into the heat of the battle.
They all stepped into the road circling the facility in a tireless sprint. Burning carcasses of what were once Vanguards and Prowlers rested along the way, shells of still prevailing tanks dashing past their ears. The surface was entirely riddled with holes and deformations from explosions. Rainbow Dash herself holstered her machine gun and grabbed her long rocket launcher. Noticing an idle Prowler slowly moving towards their position. She halted her sprint, aimed, and shot.
Much to her desperation, she didn't notice that the missile hit the tank's frontal armor. Its engine stopped roaring for a second as its cannon turned in her direction. Wide-eyed and mildly panicking, Dash pushed herself to run again and yelled for her jogging comrades:
"Enemy tank! Take cover!!!"
Twilight, who was reasonably tired from running through such harsh terrain, wasn't able to even dodge the incoming shell. The explosive landed right next to her, sending her body flying through the night's air. Her ears were assaulted by the lingering ringing, and her vision was blurred, spotting only flashes of yellow, blue and red. She landed hard on some kind of wall, the glass on her visor shattering to pieces and bouncing off her body.
Bringing her hand to her head, Twilight rubbed her forehead for seconds. A trail of blood came down her face, cleaned by a quick sweep of her palm. Using her elbows as support, Twilight slowly got up from her "crash site" and looked around: She was in a maze of buildings and small facilities.
She kept quiet and decided not to shout for help: she was in a battlefield, and now, deep in enemy territory. The conflict didn't seem to have reached her position yet, considering the eerie silence and the lack of dents and fires on the buildings. Twilight jumped in place as her ears finally stopped ringing and heard numerous footsteps getting louder and louder by the moment. She bent over to grab her rifle, reloaded it quickly, and ran to the nearest wall to take cover.
"I'm telling you, my friends: I saw a rebel soldier flying right here!!" A bubbly, hyperactive voice came in, sounding strangely angry and authoritative.
"Pinkie Pie?" Twilight whispered to herself, tucking her head out of cover to see whoever was talking.
"Pinkie, sugarcube. Please, we should be helpin' the rest of our soldiers back at the heat of ta’ battle!" Another voice came, but it was much more soft and carried a thick accent.
"Applejack?!" Twilight whispered more loudly now, her tone nothing but a huff in the night air. From her cover, she could see both Applejack and Pinkie Pie examining her earlier crash site. The overexcited woman suddenly looked over her shoulder towards the huff she had heard.
"Oh, there you are... AFTER HER!!!" Pinkie loudly announced to her squadron, her aim already set on her target.
Twilight punched herself inwardly as she used all of her energy to go into a mad sprint for her dear life. The moment she looked behind, the Equestrian squad was running dead on her tracks, their rifles and submachine guns going ablaze and unleashing a barrage of bullets in her direction. Twilight's stomach went ice-cold, but much to her luck, the fellow armor plates placed on her back, buttocks and legs deflected the shots with precision.
Taking advantage at her hunters' reloading time, Twilight broke her straight line and turned right, arriving at a dark alleyway. She hopped over a nearby pile of ammo boxes and used the thrust from her jetpack to land gracefully on top of the building. Her sprint was still on full speed, forcing her to leap the gap between a building and the other, landing with ease. The pursuers blindly shot forward, barely noticing the NC soldier right above them. Twilight's heart raced as she knew what to do.
The world around Twilight seemed to freeze as she activated her jetpack to hover right above the Equestrian squadron. She saw them turning their heads towards the source of the sound, their faces contorting in desperation. Not losing her momentum, and neither her chance, she relentlessly squeezed her finger on the trigger, blood flying from their heads and chests with the bullets. Twilight passed her sights to the leader, Pinkie Pie. Unfortunately, her magazine was prematurely emptied.
Pinkie activated her own jetpack to reach for Twilight. Grasping around the rebel, the Republican trooper laced one arm around her opponent's body and the other came smashing against Twilight's face. Blood and even a tooth were spilled from her mouth as Pinkie took full control of their human rocket. Twilight didn't sell herself short: noticing that Pinkie stopped with her failed attempts of hitting her legs with wild kicks, she planted a firm punch on Pinkie's stomach.
Groaning in pain by the hit that she just received, Pinkie unconsciously directed their bodies towards the road, where the platoon of Vanguards were finally getting the upper hand against the Prowler line of fire. Twilight's eyes went wide as she realized that Pinkie's jetpack ran out of fuel in that exact moment. The bubbly woman gave her a kick in the gap between her legs, enough to take control over the situation again. However, she barely realized that Twilight got on top of her, and that they were losing altitude faster than usual. Her only action was to try yet again to hit Twilight on the legs.
*Clank!*
This sound rang in both womens’ ears as Pinkie landed harshly on her back against the cannon of a stationary Prowler. Twilight was sent sliding through the vehicle, grabbing the anti-infantry turret by the muzzle to prevent herself from falling off the tank. The Equestrian loyalist shot a mad grin at the struggling rebel, a pistol in hands and the barrel pointed to her head. The NC light trooper quickly searched for her own handgun, tightened her grip on the turret and finally threatened to end with Pinkie with her own secondary weapon.
Pinkie's eyes lost its triumphant glisten as she realized that her pistol was, in fact, empty. Twilight simply smiled at her enemy in a mocking fashion as she pressed her trigger. Crimson liquid poured on the Prowler's armor, a lifeless body limply falling off and disappearing on the conflict. Twilight felt victorious for the first time, but then she remembered that, if she wanted to escape from the tank, she would have to somehow destroy it.
C'mon, Twilight! Think, think!
She glanced downwards to see a fragmentation grenade resting on her belt. It would be suicide, although it would ensure the destruction and even the triumph of the New Conglomerate. Taking hold of the round object in her hand, Twilight stood up on the tank's surface. She dived in to dodge the turret's fire, crawling slowly towards the cannon. Stretching her arm, she slid the grenade into the cannon, and desperately tried to hop off from the armored vehicle.
Twilight failed to jump. The explosion set the tank afire and made it erupt in an even bigger detonation. Twilight's body flew through the battlefield, seemingly lifeless and followed by a spurt of blood coming from her stomach. Those who were already idling on the battle watched in worry and concern as a fellow comrade crash-landed hard on her back, enough to even send a small shock-wave on the ground.
Her gaze was directed upwards. The blurred and speeding figures of fighters and transport aircraft dancing with their engines flaring. Small flocks of fire descending from the tank's destruction soared towards the land. Before she could give up on her life as her injuries slowly affected her by the second, she spotted the crimson digital flag... turning into a vibrant blue.
"Come're, buddy. You took a nasty fall... lemme fix ya up." A face came into her field of view and her body was enveloped in a green, healing light.
Again, that comfortable feeling of being fixed up by the miraculous tool shot through her body. In a matter of mere seconds, her world returned to normal. Now, New Conglomerate warriors happily unloaded their weapons to the skies, while others hugged one another; the remaining exchanged chit-chats and bragged about how many kills they got in the attack. Twilight smiled at the NC's victory and celebration, but her smile widened even more when she saw Rainbow Dash and the rest of her squad running towards her.
"Twilight! You're still alive!!" Rainbow then gave her friend a bone-crushing hug, lifting her off the ground.
"Can't... breathe..."
"Oh, sorry, egghead. But seriously, that was some sick move you did there to destroy the tank. It was awesome!" Dash squealed in happiness and excitement.
Twilight didn't respond as her eyes glued on an incoming Galaxy. It was obviously from the New Conglomerate, but it looked way more decorated, since the turrets looked different from the conventional ones and its body had long, shiny gold trims. The landing gear came out from the innards, and the Galaxy came to ground level with ease. All of the nearby soldiers' eyes went wide as the hatch opened and revealed Spitfire herself, clad in a woodland camouflaged armor and sporting no weapons at all. Every trooper on the surrounding area, including Dash and Twilight, saluted deeply. Spitfire walked slowly towards Rainbow:
"Sergeant Rainbow Dash... you and your attack force have done a nice job here. The capture of this Tech Plant will help the New Conglomerate even more in the control of Amerish. Though, I think that I'll transfer you to another continent." Spitfire's voice was authoritarian and quite loud, which made some of the rookies in the squadron shake a bit. She placed her hands on her back and walked from side to side.
"Yes sir! What continent will I be transferred to?" Dash asked, not even breaking her upright posture.
"Esamir. Our troops need quite the boost there. Now, board the Galaxy, take some rest at the Warpgate, and get to Esamir ASAP."
"Sir, yes sir!" Her squadron said as one as they ran and boarded the Galaxy without a word being said. Spitfire simply smiled weakly at them, and turned on her heels to order the rest of the troopers to reinforce key defense positions and repair the damage done by the attack.
And there went Dash's squadron, towards the Warpgate to ready themselves for their next assignment. But are they ready for the inhospitable, frozen wasteland that goes by the name of Esamir?