Chapter 14: Training Day (Part 3)
August 6, 2558
2130 hours
Everfree Forest
Alpha Platoon`s Makeshift Encampment
Fireteam Icebreaker sat in a circle in a small ditch, each eating an MRE.
“You know, I'm glad they decided to improve the quality of our food supply,” said gunny. “Remember when you`d rather die than eat one of these things?”
“Hell yeah,” said Shifty with his mouth full. “Those were the glory days…”
“I think it`s `cause they`ve actually had the time to make them better since the war ended,” said Sergeant Thompson.
Suddenly, Jenkins began to chuckle to himself.
“What`s so funny, mate?” said Sidney. “You`ve been awfully quiet up until now.”
“Yeah, c`mon then,” said Marcus. “Tell us the news.”
“Well, it`s just that,” said Jenkins, still slightly chuckling. “It`s just the fact that last night all of us slept with some pony.”
They all then began to chuckle, for they had to admit, it was kind of funny.
“Now, when you guys said that you`d slept with them,” said Jenkins. “Did you mean, like, in their beds?”
“Whoa, hell no,” said Shifty immediately. “The hell are you thinking? We just meant somewhere in their houses. I mean, me? I slept in one of the guest rooms in Sugar Cube Corner. Marcus? Didn’t you say that, while Rarity slept on one of her, like ten queen-sized beds, you slept on her only king-sized one?”
“Yeah, and on the other side of the hallway too,” said the Corporal. “I insisted that that be where I slept too, and she agreed without a second thought!”
“You lucky bastard,” said Sidney. “Fluttershy put me on the couch on the first floor of her house surrounded by a bunch of snoring animals!”
“You poor child!” said Sergeant Alex sarcastically. “I had to sleep in a barn with nothing but hay under me and a thin blanket for warmth, all while surrounded by animals that smelled like shit!”
“I thought you enjoyed being on a farm again Alex,” said gunny. “Didn’t you grow up with that kind of stuff?”
“Yeah, but we would never actually sleep in the barn! Anyway, Jenkins? Why exactly did you ask that question?”
They all stared intently at him.
“Oh…” he said very awkwardly. “No reason…”
Shifty caught on immediately.
“You dirty boy!” he said jokingly, punching Jenkins in the shoulder. “You were in bed with her!”
“Okay, but we were as far apart from each other as possible when we got in!” said Jenkins. “Now can we please change the subject?!”
“Why? You brought it up!”
By this point, everyone in the small ditch had erupted in laughter, and just outside the Everfree forest, a rainbow-maned pegasus blushed furiously as her five friends and a princess all looked at her.
. . .
August 6, 2558
2305 hours
Everfree Forest
Near the Castle of the Two Sisters
Lieutenant Daniel Dietz stood crouched in the field west of the castle; the marines of his platoon were crouched around him among the tall grass. Darkness surrounded them, and all had donned their gas masks and had their night vision setting turned on.
“Comms check,” said Dietz into his helmet mike.
“Fireteam Hawk reporting.”
“Fireteam Wolf is all accounted for.”
“Fireteam Juno is all set.”
“Fireteam Ivy is ready.”
“Fireteam Sword ready to go.”
“Fireteam Charlie ready to go.”
“Fireteam Icebreaker is in position east of the castle,” came gunny`s voice into Daniel`s helmet.
“Remember the plan Alvarez,” he responded.
“Roger.”
“Solid copy Icebreaker. All other Fireteams, move up!” said the lieutenant as he raised a fist before extending it into a hand and pointing it forward. He then raised his own MA5D assault rifle as a symphony of “Oorah”s erupted into his helmet. “Let`s get tactical marines!”
The grass suddenly gave way to about one-hundred meters of an open field of short-grass between the tall grass field and the castle. As the marines sprinted across the short but open expanse, their rifles raised, they encountered little resistance.
But after the first fifty meters or so, all hell broke loose. Gunfire burst from the castle windows and a few of the lieutenant`s men went down; a few paint grenades burst, tossing some marines to the side like the dirt kicked up by the explosion.
“Move up men!” shouted Dietz through the maelstrom as he ran towards the castle, firing his rifle in bursts all the while. “Move up!”
The marines managed to consolidate and lay down an effective line of fire, taking out a designated marksman in a second-story window and two machine-gunners on the first floor. This created a short lull in the fire coming at them, allowing them to charge forward and take cover next to the windows.
“Fire in the hole!” shouted one marine as both he and the LT tossed a paint grenade inside.
. . .
On screen, the explosives went off inside the castle, and a flash of light momentarily illuminated the ground around the group of ponies and humans who watched. Then, the marine subordinate who had thrown his grenade in with the lieutenant jumped inside, followed by two more.
“Sweet Celestia!” exclaimed Rarity, seemingly unaware of the princess she just named right beside her. “This is just barbaric!”
“This is intense!” squealed Rainbow Dash. “I'm sooo glad we`re staying here all night for this!”
“I find it quite intriguing how they manage to stay so focused under such circumstances,” said Twilight.
“Well it`s like I said,” said Lasky. “It`s those years of experience kicking in again. Corporal, let`s check on Icebreaker now, see what they`re up to.”
“Aye sir.”
All of a sudden, as the feed from Lieutenant Dietz`s helmet cam showed him jumping through the window behind two of his men, the screens switched from the chaotic scene to a much more quiet picture on the other side of the castle. Five other screens depicted a similar setting; it was feed from all six of the helmet cams of Fireteam Icebreaker.
“Sounds like it`s time to go,” said one of the marines.
“That`s `cause it is time Shifty,” said another.
“Hey! I recognize those guys!” cried Pinkie. “That`s Fireteam Icebreaker! They same humans we all met!”
“Uh, yeah Pinkie,” said Rainbow. “That`s what Lasky told us like, two seconds ago! Right before he switched to them.”
“I know, I'm just saying, isn’t it weird how all the humans we met are all on the same combat group?”
Twilight suddenly seemed shocked by this statement.
“Y`know what Pinkie?” she said. “That is quite a coincidence…”
. . .
“Sidney?” asked gunny. “There any hostiles in the windows?”
The private was looking at the house through the scope of his silenced DMR.
“Only one, sir,” he responded before pulling the trigger twice.
*Pew-pew*
Two small splatters of paint suddenly appeared on the enemy marine`s chest. The six marines of Fireteam Icebreaker could faintly hear him say “God, damn it!” as he dropped his rifle and laid down on his back.
“Target down,” said Sidney.
“Alright, let`s move,” said gunny as he raised his M45D tactical shotgun. “Single-file across the bridge, go!”
They moved across stealthily, gunny in the lead followed by Jenkins, Alex, Marcus, and Shifty in that order; Sidney pulled up the rear walking backwards, checking the forest behind them just in case. Alex had his SAW on his back and held his now silenced DMR in his hands; Marcus had his sniper rifle on his back and instead shouldered gunny`s battle rifle.
Unlike their comrades on the other side of the castle, Icebreaker encountered no resistance either during or after the crossing.
“Alright, we`re gunna keep this as silent as possible for as long as we can.” said gunny upon reaching the other end of the bridge. “Marcus, you and Sidney make your way up to the top of that tower and see if you can give good sniper cover from up there. If you can`t, then let me know and then just relocate to wherever you see fit.”
“Roger,” said Marcus as he and Sidney then turned and entered the castle through a broken section in the wall.
“Everyone else, on me.”
As they stacked up on the window, gunny peeked through it from the left as Alex did so from the right.
“Clear left,” said Alex.
“Clear right,” said gunny before Jenkins slowly crept through the window, followed by Shifty, himself, and then Alex.
The four of them moved stealthily down the hallway. As they came to an open room in the center, Sidney`s voice came over their helmet radios.
“…Sir, we`re in position. There`s a nice hole in the roof that allows us to see a great deal from here…”
“Excellent,” said gunny. “We`ve reached the center of the building, do you have eyes on?”
“…Not yet…”
“What? That doesn’t make sense. He should be there. LT said he`d be as far from the fight as possible.”
“…Wait! Hold on,” said Marcus. “Someone`s coming from the west end through the top-floor entrance!...”
Gunny and Jenkins peeked out towards the walkway (gunny was standing and Jenkins was crouching), aiming down the sights of their guns. They could just make out multiple shadows approaching the doorway.
“Multiple contacts,” said Jenkins. “If it`s him, then he`s got an escort.”
“Marcus, if it`s him, take the shot,” said gunny. “Then we`ll focus on cleaning up that escort. If it isn’t him, we`ll just take `em anyway, so be ready to shoot.”
“…Roger…”
Just a few moments later, their target came into view. Lieutenant Frederick Evans stepped into the light, flanked on both sides by two of his men.
“…Taking the shot…”
A sniper shot rang out from above, and Evans was struck in the middle of the chest, red paint splattering on his two teammates, who were both immediately shot in the same place by precision fire from gunny and Jenkins.
They could just barely hear the dour lieutenant say, “Ah, shit.”
“LT,” gunny spoke into his helmet mike. “Evans is down. How are things holding up on your end?”
“…We`re taking heavy fire from the top floor hallway! Flank `em from behind!...”
“Roger, moving now,” said gunny before turning to his teammates. “You heard him, let`s move! Lieutenant Evans must`ve set them up to cover his escape.”
The four of them ran up the stairs and onto the walkway, where Evans and his two men were playing dead.
“Marcus,” said gunny into the helmet mike as they stacked up on the entrance. “Nice shot! You and Sidney stay put, we`ve got this one.”
“…Roger…”
“Stay frosty,” he said before squeezing Jenkins` shoulder.
The four then moved though the hallway, their guns raised and ready, Jenkins on point, Alvarez second, Shifty third, and Alex in last on rear security. As they went, they could hear the combined-fire of a SAW gun and multiple assault rifles getting ever closer; soon, it was right around the corner.
Rounding said corner, they came face-to-face with an enemy Fireteam, though not literally; the five men were unaware of Icebreaker`s four man presence to their right. One man, as expected was in prone position firing down the hallway with a SAW, while three of his teammates were firing in the same direction with assault rifles.
The fifth and final man was arming another paint grenade. Gunny, Jenkins, and Shifty each managed to shoot one man each, taking out two marines with assault rifles and the one SAW gunner. Alex managed to turn around just in time to shoot the third man with an AR as he was turning to shoot at Icebreaker.
The final marine, seeing no other option, tossed the grenade at them before Jenkins shot him in the center of the chest; it rolled into the middle of the group.
“GRENAAADE!!!” yelled the PFC, his teammates crouching down and covering their helmets, as he threw his rifle aside and jumped on top of the explosive.
. . .
On screen, the blast lurched Jenkins about two feet off the ground before he came crashing back to the floor, his teammates unharmed (or in this case, clean of red paint).
The front of Jenkins` entire body however, was now covered in the stuff. He was also clearly struggling for breath, as the force must have knocked the air out of him.
Lasky, realizing that innocent ponies had just witnessed this, turned to see their reactions.
Every single one of them had their hooves over their mouths in shock that a living thing would perform such an act. Lasky turned to Celestia and saw that she too had a hoof over her mouth.
“Oh my,” was all she could utter.
Fluttershy had been excruciatingly quiet the entire time; so, as you can imagine, it was quite surprising when she spoke the first full sentence after the event had unfolded.
“Why? Why would he do that?” she squeaked/sobbed. She was covering her eyes as tears had begun to form.
Dashie had been hovering in place with her wings, but now was slumped on her haunches.
She removed her hooves from her mouth and asked, “Is he all right?!”
As Jenkins rolled up onto his back, she gave a hefty sigh of relief as her question was now answered. On screen, the marines were now just starting to assess what had just occurred.
“Jenkins!” said Sergeant Alex as he knelt beside his comrade, patting him on the shoulder and shaking his head in disbelief. “You are one crazy son-of-a-bitch.”
“*cough* You`re welcome,” Jenkins struggled to say. “And yes, I'm fine, *cough* Thanks for asking.”
“You sure?” asked Alex. “It might be the blast shaking up your judgment, cause you don’t look fine.”
“Or sound fine for that matter,” said Shifty. “It sounds like something ugly crawled into your throat and died.”
“Just take it easy son,” said gunny as he approached Jenkins` limp form. “And thanks.”
Jenkins nodded, before laying his head down and nodding off to sleep.
. . .
August 7, 2558
0630 hours
Everfree Forest Tree Line
Field Combat Training Grounds
The morning after the attack, everyone who had been “killed” the previous day crowded onto a single pelican to be transported out. Among them was Private First Class Ogden Jenkins, who, needless to say, was more red in the face (and torso, and arms, legs, etc.) than all the others.
Upon stepping off the pelican`s ramp, the marines dispersed, most going off to sit in the grass and relax after the previous day`s adrenaline rush, and to also reflect on their own, individual performances and how they could improve upon them.
Jenkins was walking over to a group to do the same, when he was suddenly tackled by a cyan blur.
“Ohmygosh!” was the squeal he heard from his back. “You`re okay!”
Jenkins, now on his stomach, managed to cock his head over to see Rainbow Dash tightly hugging him. He had to admit, that was pretty cute.
“Heh, it`s good to see you too,” he said as he ruffled her mane.
“You guys were amazing!” she exclaimed as her five friends rushed over with Captian Robert Peterson and Captain Thomas Lasky in tow.
“Wait,” said Jenkins in disbelief as he looked over to where all the TV screens were set up. “You guys were watching that?”
“Uh huh.”
“You saw, all of that?”
By now, the group was within talking distance.
“Ya dern fool!” shouted Applejack. “Why`d ya hafta go an` blow yerself up fer?”
“Would you rather we all got taken by the blast?” asked Jenkins.
“Well couldn`t you have kicked it away? Or ran away? Or both?” asked Pinkie.
“I'm not sure if that would’ve helped as much,” the marine responded. “In that confined of a space, it`s too risky to assume the fuse is long enough for all of us to escape. But then again you may be right; the pin had been pulled right in front of me, so we may have actually had the time to escape. I don’t know. All I do know is that it`s happened and it`s over; we can`t do much about it now, can we?”
“Son, that was an honorable act of valor back there,” stated Captain Peterson.
“Thank you, sir.”
“I ought to put you in for a promotion.”
“With all due respect sir, just me, sir? What about the rest of my guys? Didn’t they perform commendably as well?”
The marine captain thought for a moment before saying, “I'll see what I can do.”
“Thank you, sir. I'm honored, sir.”
“You wanna see how your squad is doing right now?” asked Robert as he pointed at the TV monitors that he and his group were at a minute ago.
“Yes sir!” said Jenkins, immediately getting up and walking towards the screens, eager to see how his buddies would fare throughout the rest of the exercise.
. . .
That night, Delta platoon attacked the castle. Though the fight was hard, it was evident that Delta`s preparation for the assault wasn’t as good as Alpha`s.
For one thing, their attack commenced while the sun was still setting, allowing for a little more light that made them easier targets. Also, they seemed to have gotten a little too clever for their own good, for half their force attacked, or at least attempted to, across the narrow rope bridge, where they thought their opponent wouldn’t expect them to come from. As expected, they were all sitting ducks, and were taken care of easily.
As for the other half that attacked on the west side of the castle, Alpha was even more greatly prepared. Machinegun teams were on both floors this time; those that were on the first floor had men behind them whose only job was to catch grenades thrown through the window and throw them harmlessly through the hallway entrance in the back of the room, where no one was present or on guard; those that were on the second floor had men whose job was to simply throw grenades down at enemies that were getting too close. Designated marksmen were in every window, supported by sniper teams that were posted in both towers that could both observe in three-hundred-sixty degrees around the castle. Simply put, they had learnt from the castle`s previous owners and were now a much more difficult target.
And to top it all off, Alpha was able to hold them off long enough to spring their trap. Bravo platoon charged out of the forest behind Delta, effectively surrounding them and “killing off” every last enemy.
At long last, the training exercise was over.
