//------------------------------// // Chapter 1; Interrogation and Operation Gatebreaker // Story: The Specter // by HonestAJ4President //------------------------------// Chapter 1 Interrogation and Operation Gatebreaker I awoke in a room made entirely of crystal. I had my lower shirt and pants. I sat up and was greeted by a guard, who said "Ah, you're awake. I'll tell the Captain." He walked off and after a few minutes another pony appeared at the door. He said "Follow me." and I did. We walked into another room, where I saw on a table all my weapons, ammo, bullet-proof vest, dog tags, mask and everything that was in my pockets. He quickly grabbed my dog tags with his mouth and we entered another room and he told me to sit down. I did and he said "I'm Shining Armor and I'll be one of your many interrogators today. Tomorrow, based on your answers, we will decide what to do with you. Don't bother lying, we have a truth spell that can tell if you're lying. Captain James H. MacTavish I presume." he said looking at my dog tags "My sister has seen your kind before but not like you. Now can you tell me how you got here, why you were chasing that other man, how you were able to kill him from the other side of the room and why were you wearing the mask." "I went through a mirror, that's is classified information with a personal matter and a firearm. Would you like me to go into detail." "Please go into detail about this firearm." "Tell one of you're men to get a bullet, the small brass cylinder." He did so and one of the guards got a bullet. "In this lower part, there is gunpowder. The hammer strikes the primer, which is on the bottom of the bullet. That ignites the gunpowder and that sends the tip out of the barrel faster than sound." "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to do a psychological test with you. This is called the Heinz Dilemma. A women is dying of a disease. The local pharmacy has the cure but it is expensive. The women's husband, Heinz doesn't have enough money to buy it. He has tried everything from fundraising to outright begging the pharmacy to no avail. Should Heinz steal the drug?" He processed the information given to him and was about to answer when he closed his mouth again. "This goes against everything taught to me as a guard, but yes he should. What was the point of the test and you still didn't answer why were you wearing the mask." "Tomorrow you will learn and get comfortable Mr. Armor because it's story time. There was a civilian hospital in the middle of the desert. A team of 60 men from various American Tier One groups were deployed to defend it from a force of 500. Even though they were heavily outnumbered, they stayed because they knew if they left, the enemy would massacre the civilians." "By the third day, there were only 15 left. Knowing they wouldn't last another night, they evacuated the hospital and only sent one of the remaining soldiers with the civilians. The 14 hid among the bodies of their fallen comrades in arms, the blood from the bodies dripping onto them and the sand covering their faces. They waited for the enemy to advance and when they did, they ambushed them with stealth. The battle was long and fierce. When the Americans ran out of ammo, they used their knives. When their knives became dull, they used their bare hands. When the dust and sand had settled, only one of the enemy had survived. He was picked up in the desert, wandering aimlessly, traumatized. He expressed warnings to others of a force so menacing and unbeatable, it could only be described as supernatural. He called them... Specters. It's rumored that those members are now part of a top secret organization that is assigned to the most dangerous missions that come up and that only the best of the best of the best of the best from Tier One American Forces are even allowed to know that it is real. But hey, it's only a story." "That's quite a story MacTavish. Well my time is over. Next is Princess Celestia. And when I leave, I'll find out if that story is true." As he went for the door I remembered my grenades. "And Captain," He turned and looked at me "The small green spheres are grenades. Tell your guards to not pull the pin because once you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade is not our friend." Shining Armor PoV I walked out of the room and greeted Twilight, Flash Sentry, Cadance, Celestia and Luna. "So, was that story true?" My sister said "The spell says it's true. Do you think he's one of them?" Then Flash responded "I don't think he would have told you if he wasn't." Celestia asked Luna "Luna, did you search his memories? Was there any recollection of such a battle?" "Yes, now that you mention it there was such a battle. And I think I have deciphered the personal matter and his comment on 'karma being a bitch'. While going through his memories, I saw the man he killed." I asked "Can you describe what happened." "I can do better. I have a spell that will let you experience the memory. Are you ready? Remember, we will experience everything that he did; his thoughts, his pain. To us, it will be however long the memory is. To the world, it will be a few minutes at most." We all nodded and she preformed her spell. Operation Gatebreaker Specter Team 1 JSOC Strike Team 5 1st Lieutenant James H. 'Ghost' MacTavish June 30, 2016 6:45 Panama Canal The zodiac curved the bank and the Panama Canal came into view. "Remember, this is the Panamanian Rebels last ditch effort to win their civil war. If they win this war will be drawn out and the world will lose a major economic waterway for even longer." reminded Cpt. 'Wraith' Porter, my best friend and team leader. To his friends he was the one man that could walk through hell and not get burned. To his enemies, he is the reason why they sleep with a gun under their pillow. "Our job is to eliminate their main commander and sabotage the artillery emplacements along the northern banks." Stopping near the canal, I looked at the battle that was commencing on the canal wall. The majority of the P.P.L.A(Panamanian People's Liberation Army) forces were defending the canal, which had been taken early on in a surprise attack. We prepared the SCUBA gear we wear using to infiltrate enemy lines. We went under water and swam towards the beach. After we got on the beach, we devised a plan. "Ok, we should split into 2 teams. MacTavish you're with me. Williams go with Howard. We'll take the commander, you take the artillery. Codenames from here on out, stay frosty and move out." said Wraith as we put on our masks. We split up and headed to up the hill. We arrived at the wall and saw the frontline of the rebels. "Go left, UAV says the commander is in one of the control centers." We climbed onto the wall and took cover behind some boxes. Behind the boxes we had the frontline flanked. Wraith whispered "We can't slip through." Then he radioed command "Overlord, this is Strike Team 5. We can't slip through enemy lines. Tell friendlies on the canal wall nearest to the Pacific to cease fire for a while. We may even be able to break the first line of defense." "Copy that Strike Team 5. Informing friendlies on the Pacific wall." After a few seconds of silence, Overlord spoke again "Strike Team 5, be advised friendlies will only cease fire for 5 minutes. I say again, cease fire will end in 5 minutes." "Copy that Overlord. We'll make the best of our time." "Overlord copies all. Good luck out there." "Come on Ghost, I don't want to be here when they open fire." We readied our rifles and charged out from behind the boxes. We immediately knocked over an enemy and shot him. Wraith turned to the south, towards the frontline and I turned North, towards enemy reinforcements. The enemy reinforcements were shocked to see us. Some stopped dead in their tracks, others nervously readied their rifles but most ran away. It wasn't that 2 enemy soldiers were behind their lines. No, it was because those soldiers were Specters and not only that, 2 of the highest ranking Specters. JSOC Strike Team 5 is just a cover-up. The P.P.L.A had suffered the wrath of the Specters all throughout the war. And we had come to finish the job. I could hear the silenced gunfire of Wraith and I followed suit. I had 6 enemies, 3 staring, 1 readying his rifle and 2 running. Immediately, a bullet tore through the skull of the enemy readying his rifle. Turning my M4 to the enemies staring at me, I fired as they appeared in my sight. By the time they fell dead, the ones that ran were out of range so I tapped Wraith's shoulder and we ran to a door that lead to the control center. I placed a breaching charge and after it exploded, we ran down the hallway while Wraith contacted Overlord. "Overlord this is Strike Team 5. The first line of defense is broken. We have entered the command center and are moving on enemy commander." "Overlord copies all. Good job Strike Team. Proceed to Canal Wall Control 1, that's the last place he was sighted." "Copy that Overlord. Moving out." We proceeded to the Canal Wall Control 1. We experienced no resistance which I found odd seeing that their commander is here. However I saw signs of a fight including blood stains, bullet casings and bullet holes. I saw a large pool of blood seeping out from underneath a door. "Hey Wraith, look at this." He stopped and saw the pool of blood. "Probably just the workers that were here on the day of the attack." "No that was a year ago. This is fresh." I opened the door and was nearly knocked over by the corpses of rebel soldiers and their rifles. "Those aren't the fucking bodies of canal workers." "Someone did this," Before he could continue I said "No shit Sherlock fucking Holmes." Then he continued "We need to be cautious." Then we proceeded to the second floor, where we found the door to the control room. I placed a breaching charge on the door and before I could detonate, the door exploded in our direction and knocked our rifles out of our hands and went over the railing. Before we could draw our secondaries, 2 soldiers stepped out of the smoke and dust pointing their rifles at us. They weren't rebels, they looked professional instead of the rags that they rebels wore* and had M16s instead of AK-47s. After a few seconds of awkward silence, it was broken by a man in a suit walking out of the smoke, clapping. Then he spoke in a Australian accent "Ah, it looks like we have the Specters and not just Specters, we have THE Specters." He could most likely identify us because we all have different mask patterns to help us identify each other in the field without speaking. "I suppose your here for the commander? Hmm," then he turned back to the room "Boys bring him out here." I looked back into the room and saw the corpses of rebel soldiers. 2 of his soldiers dragged out the unconscious body of the rebel commander. "Aw, he still hasn't woken up." he then punched the commander in the head "Wake up, ya bugger!" The commander began to stir and upon seeing the man, he began to speak angrily to him in spanish. "Yes I know that we had a deal, but someone paid more." He pointed to us. When the commander saw our mask, he began yelling in spanish, something along the lines of "KEEP THEM AWAY FROM ME!" The man spoke continued "Ah, I see you see the mask. These men were sent here to kill you. However, I'm taking the honor of the first person who has taken a kill from the Specters." He pointed to one of the mercenaries, "Give me your pistol." After the merc did, he shot the commander in both kneecaps. He picked him up by his collar and threw him down the stairs. After walking down the stairs with a creepily giddy smile, the man shot the commander again in the stomach before putting the pistol in his waist and breaking the commanders neck. Suddenly, our radio crackled to life. "Alpha, this is Bravo. The artillery is down, repeat, the artillery is down." The mans smile got even bigger as he walked back up the stairs. Then he grabbed my radio and spoke. "Hello Bravo. I'm sorry but Alpha is a little hung up at the moment." He then dropped the radio and smashed it with his foot and did the same with Wraith's. Then he crouched down and said "I'm sorry about all that. I guess I should introduce myself. No reason to not be proper. I am George Ericson. Good job. Once the rebels heard that the best Specters are in the field, they either fell back to the final line of defense or surrendered outright. That is how much fear you strike into their hearts. The reason why me and my boys are here was that the rebels hired us in hopes of winning this battle. However, the Panamanian Government paid us more to betray them. But, I respect money more than accomplishments. And a great way to drum up business is with the tagline 'The Organization That Killed the Best Specters.' Haha! Now, I'm sorry about this. I really am." Then he stood up and took pistol out of his waist. Before I could react, he shot Porter in the head. He took aim at me and everything went into slow-mo as I was filled with a cocktail of adrenaline and blind rage. 5 enemies, 4 mercs and 1 Mr.Ericson. I grab him on the neck. He gets a shot off, which hits me in the leg. Slam on railing, break arm and take pistol. Sweep pistol left to right and fire at 3 mercs facing me. Hits neck, eye and waist. Flip Ericson over railing, drop pistol and kick wounded merc in leg before grabbing rifle. Go around his side and hold him by neck with rifle. Break neck and throw rifle in final merc's face. As merc becomes disoriented, kick down stairs and draw knife. Charge down stairs and look over railing. I see Ericson running towards door with more mercs coming but he tells them I'm a Specter and it's their funeral if they want to try and kill me. All turned back and I can hear a helicopter fly off as I finish off the final merc. Turn attention to merc. He's trying to draw pistol but he was the merc that gave Ericson his pistol. Throw knife at him. Hits in head, kills immediately. The events played out and after they were over, I headed back up the stairs. I take of his mask and close his eyes. I took out my compass and figured out the direction of his hometown. In the event a Specter is killed, he/she is is pointed towards his/her hometown with his/her weapon by their side with their mask on their chest. After taking my mask off, I salute him again. After finishing that, I covered my face with my hand to stop a mournful sob. After a minute of mourning, I put my mask back on and grabbed my M4. Mourning would come later, I still had a job to do. 29 Hours Later Debrief; JSOC Strike Team 5 Cpt. Porter; KIA Lt. MacTavish; WIA Promoted to Cpt Sgt. Williams- KIA Sgt. Howard- KIA Cpt. Porter and now the Cpt. MacTavish moved on Commander Montegro but an unidentified mercenary group that was previously hired by the P.P.L.A to turn the tide of the battle. Cpt. Porter was killed and Cpt. MacTavish was wounded by George Ericson. Sgt Williams and Howard were killed by an unidentified helicopter, that is most likely owned by the same mercenary group that killed Cpt. Porter, after successfully disabling P.P.L.A artillery. The name 'George Ericson' has turned out to be a false name. Etc, Etc, Etc I read the debrief 5 times in my house with a bottle of whiskey nearby, listening to inspirational speeches and military music trying to cope with the fact I lost my 3 closest friends. Now I had an unofficial mission. I will not rest until that bastard is dead. Crystal Empire When we awoke, we heard MacTavish singing something. Cpt. MacTavish After Shining left, I looked out the window. After 2 minutes, I began silently singing a cadance. "Up in the morning, outta the rack. Greeted at dawn with an early attack. First Sergeant rushes me off to chow. But I dont need it anyhow. Hail O' Hail O' Infantry. Queen of battle follow me. An airborne rangers life for me. O' nothing in this world is free. From a big bird in the sky. All will jump and some will die. Off to battle we will go. To live or die, hell I dont know. Hail O' Hail O' Infantry. Queen of battle follow me. An airborne rangers life for me. O' nothing in this world is free. Early at night its drizzilin' rain. I am hit and feel no pain. But in my heart I have no fear. Because my ranger God is here. Hail O' Hail O' Infantry. Queen of battle follow me. An airborne rangers life for me. O' nothing in this world is free. The mortars and artillery. The screaming bursts around me. Jagged shrapnel on the fly. Kills my buddy, makes me cry. Hail O' Hail O' Infantry. Queen of battle follow me. An airborne rangers life for me. O' nothing in this world is free." Unknowingly to me, I had started singing louder as the song went on and ponies were staring into the room. A large white pony entered the room and said "I think that will be all. We will get you a guest room, though you will not receive your weapons." I was shocked by their change of heart, but accepted the offer.