//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 - First contact, engage! 
// Story: On the blood of our fathers, on the blood of our sons 
// by The dragon hunter 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 7  - First contact, engage!

The four Sangheili tensed up as the red dots on their motion trackers came closer and closer.

'Damn it, whatever they are, they're fast,' Tarya thought, noting the speed with which they were approaching their position. “Gusay, we're about to have company. Alert Legek and Huram to keep ready the plasma turrets,” the Zealot ordered through the radio.

“Copy that,” the pilot replied.

“Shouldn't we return to the ship? The hull should provide us good cover,” Nax asked. He wasn't exactly a rookie, but given his role of medic he was the less experienced of the group.

“True, but at the same time our mobility would be reduced, making us more vulnerable,” Tarya explained. “It's better to adopt a dynamic defensive strategy, taking advantage of the cover offered by the wrecked cars.”

She checked her HUD once again. According to the radar, the contacts were about to appear in their visual field. The Zealot looked around, trying to guess where they would most likely appear. The ship had crashed in what looked like a market square, if the flipped stands and the merchandise overturned on the ground were of any indication, surrounded by low-rise buildings. Small streets and alleys divided the buildings to each other, while a larger one seemed to lead further inside the town. She wasn't sure, but apparently there was a large building made of brick and concrete at the end of the main street.

“Contact, on the roof,” the Commando reported suddenly, interrupting her study of the surroundings.

Tarya spun around just in time to see a blurred humanoid shape leap from a roof to another, getting out from her sight.

“There, in the alley!” Nax exclaimed, pointing in the opposite direction.

The Zealot turned again, but once again she wasn't able to catch sight of the creature. All she saw was another blurred figure moving quickly across a dark alley.

“Sneaky bastards,” Felmak growled, trying unsuccessfully to follow their moves with his carbine. “They're more elusive than a bunch of T'vaoans (1)."

“Psychological warfare,” Zhar grunted. It was pretty clear that whatever these creatures were, they were trying to unnerve them.

As if the situation wasn't irritating enough, it started to rain.

'Just what we needed,' Tarya thought darkly. While it was true that their armor kept them warm and dry, the rain made their cloaking devices completely useless, interfering with the system of light distortion. ‘There goes another advantage.'

“Contact, twelve o'clock,” Zhar said, pointing his weapon straight ahead of him.

A lonely black creature was standing motionless in the middle of the road, looking at them.

At first she thought that it was another variety of ponies previously unknown, but she quickly dismissed the idea. The more she looked at the creature, the more she thought that it looked like the perverted result of a genetic experiment, some kind of hybrid between a pony and a Yanme'e. The general shape of its body was the same of that of a pony, with the same peculiar structure of the legs and a face with a short snout and big eyes, but beside this, the similarities ended there. First of all, instead of short fur, the body was covered by a black carapace, articulated at the abdomen to allow a wider freedom of movement without reducing the protection. The lower part of its legs presented a series of holes, while its hands ended with sharp talons. Located on its back was a pair of insect wings that at first seemed too small to lift the creature from the ground, but remembering the footage she'd saw with her uncle that very same day, she decided to not jump to conclusions. Its face wasn't any less strange. A pair of fangs stuck out from its mouth, while a long sharp horn protruded from its forehead. But the most disturbing aspect of its physiognomy was the eyes, a pair of soulless orbs completely blue. Lastly, the creature held in its claws some kind of weapon, a long metal spear roughly two-thirds of its height, ending with a two-pronged fork.

The insect pony remained looking at them for several seconds, before it suddenly raised its muzzle in the air and emitted a long high pitched screech.

'A signal,' Tarya realized as several other creatures started to appear all around from their hiding spots. Some were on the roofs, some from the alleys, yet others hovered in the air, buzzing their insect wings quickly, but all were armed with the same strange weapon.

“Oh, great. We're surrounded,” Nax deadpanned, looking at the countless creatures that were staring at them menacingly.

“Finally, a clear fire line,” Felmak said, aiming his weapon at the head of one of the creatures.

“Hold your fire, Minor. Nobody shoots unless they attack first,” the Zealot ordered. “We aren't here to start a war.”

The young Spec Ops lowered his carbine, grumbling something about the 'damn rules of engagement'.

“So, what now?” Nax asked, turning toward their leader.

Tarya was about to answer, when she noticed that another figure had appeared among the ranks of the creatures. It was much taller than the others, almost reaching the height of the Zealot, and wore a black cloak that hid its body completely. Still, the Zealot was able to see a long sharp horn, similar to a twisted blade, protruding from under the hood, as well as what she assumed was the scabbard of a sword. Judging by the way the figure carried itself as it walked and how the drones seemed to clear a path, Tarya assumed that it was their leader.

“I'll try to use a bit of diplomacy,” the Zealot said, holstering her plasma pistol, hoping to not provoke the creatures by appearing as a menace to their leader, who was currently busy observing the Sangheili.

“Wait, let me get this straight. You wanna try to talk with a bunch of humanoid bugs that most likely have just massacred the population of an entire village?” the doctor asked her, clearly taken aback.

“Yeah, pretty much. Not one of my best plans, but I'd like to avoid turning another first contact into a bloodbath,” she said without turning her gaze from the cloaked figure. “With some luck, I'll manage to convince them not to attack us.”

“What if it doesn't work?”

“Then we will show them why the humans call us Elites,” she replied curtly. Without another word, she began to walk toward the creatures.

'I hope that these creepy guys speak English too.'





Princess Lamia looked at the four creatures in a mix of curiosity and confusion, wondering what they were exactly. She had never seen creatures like these beings before in her life, nor could she see any trace of them in the memories collected by the hivemind, the telepathic network of the Changelings.

They were big, that was a sure thing. The smaller one was taller than her by several inches, while the other three easily exceeded the height of princess Celestia herself. Their bodies resembled vaguely those of dragons, albeit with several differences. They were tailless, and their legs were bent like those of the ponies and changelings, ending with two big hooves. She did a double take when she noticed that each of their hands had two fingers and two thumbs. Finally, there was their equipment. The weapons that they carried and the armor that they wore looked far more sophisticated than anything supplied to the soldiers of whatsoever nation of the planet.

The creatures had a short conversation among themselves in a mysterious harsh and guttural language before the smaller one, dressed in purple armor with electric blue decorations on the helmet and the shoulder straps, sheathed its weapon on the hip and began to walk slowly toward the ranks of Changelings.

'I should order my drones to simply kill them. Mother was clear. Don't leave witnesses or traces of our activity. On the other hand...' a malicious grin formed on her lips. 'They're outnumbered and surrounded. What harm can having a little fun be?' she thought as the creature in purple armor stopped halfway between its companions and the rank of Changelings.

“Hail, creatures. We come in peace,” the creature said in a feminine slightly double toned voice. Oddly, her tone lacked any kind of fear or nervousness, as if she hadn't the slightest idea of who they were facing. “I'm Tarya Rutaen, Zealot of the Seekers of Truth.”

'Strange,' she thought. 'Since our attack on Canterlot, there isn’t a creature that doesn't know about us. Seriously, where did these creatures come from, the dark side of the moon? Oh, well, let's play this little game.'

The young queen grabbed the edge of her hood and pulled it down, revealing her facial features. The queens of her species distinguished themselves among the other castes of the hive not just by their powers and mental individuality, but also for their physical shape, that made them resemble more to a pony than an insect. Her long smooth blood colored hair framed an attractive face, were it not for the draconian red eyes and for the short pair of sharp fangs that stuck out from her mouth that gave her the appearance of some kind of evil entity.

“I give you my regards, Zealot. I'm princess Lamia, daughter of Chrysalis, queen of the Changelings,” she replied with fake friendliness, exposing her sharp teeth in a malicious smile.  “I have never seen anything like you before. May I ask what you are?”

“I'm afraid that I'm not authorized to give you such information.”

Frowning slightly, Lamia subtly extended her mind toward the 'Zealot'. If the newcomer wasn't willing to give her such information, she would have to take it from them by force. She was shocked when she found out that the mind of the Zealot was impenetrable. She could sense her presence, but she couldn't find even a crack through which to infiltrate and access her knowledge; she could sense her emotions, even taste them, but she wasn't able to feed off of them. It was a completely new experience. Her mind was something unknown. Almost alien.
Despite her surprise, Lamia managed to keep a composed expression.

“All I can say is that we are not exactly from around here,” the Zealot continued, apparently not having noticed the intrusion attempt.

'That's quite evident,' Lamia thought. “So, what brings you to the lovely land of Equestria?”

“We are explorers. We were performing a recon mission, when we had a little mishap with the systems of our aircraft.”

“Uh-huh, if you can call that crash landing a ‘little mishap’,” Lamia commented casually with a smirk.

“I assure you that it's nothing too serious. As soon as we finish the repairs, we'll leave this place.”

“Sounds like a good plan, but unfortunately I can't allow you to leave.”

“And why would we not be able to?”

“Oh, don't play dumb with me. You know exactly why. You ended up in the wrong place in the wrong moment. You have seen all of this,” she said, sweeping at the surrounding area with a wide gesture.

“Whatever happened here, princess, it doesn't concern us. All we want is to leave this place as soon as possible and resume our mission.”

“And let you to tell everybody what happened here?” Lamia asked rhetorically, shaking her head slowly. “Not a chance.”

The Zealot straightened her posture, becoming slightly taller than what she already was.

“Alright, listen up, bug-lady. I shall say this only once: leave us alone, and you and your minions will see another day; try something funny, and I swear on my blood that we will kick your sorry asses so hard that your descendants won't be able to sit without pain.”

The young queen threw her head back and burst into a hearty laugh. “Are you really threatening us? You must be very brave or really stupid,” she commented amused when she retook control of herself. “Anyway, it doesn't make any difference.” Her tone changed suddenly, all traces of humor gone. “Kill her,” she ordered coldly.

One of her soldiers quickly pointed its weapon at the Zealot. The drone's horn began to glow, absorbing mana from the surrounding environment and channeling the magic between the twin tips of its weapon until it reached the right amount of energy. The entire process required just a couple of seconds before the spear fired a bolt of green magical energy.
The sphere of magic struck the Zealot right in the middle of her chest but to the great shock of the Changelings, instead of penetrating her armor and burn the flesh beneath, the energy projectile impacted against a white-blue energy shield that had appeared around the body of the Sangheili.

The Zealot grunted, more in surprise than pain, before quickly drawing her weapon and firing a bolt of green plasma right in the face of the drone that had shot her. The head of the Changeling crackled at the contact with the superheated plasma, then it exploded in a cloud of vaporized blood and gray matter.

While the headless soldier fell forward in the mud with the energy spear still clenched in its hands, the Zealot emitted a sound that Lamia would never forgot for the rest of her life.

"Wort wort wort!" (2)






'Fuck the diplomacy!' Tarya thought with irritation as she fired a bolt of plasma right in the head of the Changeling that had just shot her. 'I've tried to be civil with them, but if those assholes want war, we'll give them war.'

“Go, go, go!” the Zealot barked the distinctive Sangheili battle cry and fired again, hitting a Changeling in the chest. Following her example, her teammates quickly joined the firefight, unleashing a deadly volley of plasma, crystal shards, and radioactive bullets on the ranks of Changelings.

The drones were completely unprepared for the extremely aggressive reaction of the Sangheili, not being accustomed to be the ones attacked, and when they managed to recover from the surprise and started to fire back, more than twenty of them were already lying on the ground dead.

“Fight back, you idiots!” The princess ordered, irritated by the clumsy reaction of her drones and the fact that in mere seconds she had lost more soldiers than during the conquering of the town.

Noticing her attempt to bring order among her ranks, Felmak aimed his carbine at the head of the princess and fired two shots, only to see them impact against what looked like a ghostly green barrier located inches from her body.
The young queen hissed menacingly at him, before she charged her horn and fired a massive energy beam toward the Spec Ops.

“Woah!” The Minor exclaimed, barely managing to evade the attack. “That was close,” he said, catching a glimpse of the small smoking crater that had formed where the beam hit.

“New priority target. Shoot her down!” Zhar ordered.

The team began to concentrate their fire against the princess, but despite the entity of the attack, her defenses held.

The sight of their leader in danger seemed to switch a trigger inside the Changelings, who began to fight with more determination and audacity, taking advantage of their flight ability to attack the Sangheili from above.
Despite this, the battle remained evidently in favor of the Sangheili, thanks mostly due to their advanced equipment and their superior physical skills.

“Fall back!” the princess shouted to her troops after realizing that their losses were becoming too high.

“They're retreating!” Felmak exclaimed at the sight of the drones retreating through the main street.

“We can't allow them to escape and bring reinforcements. With the Phantom still inoperative and without the possibility of getting assistance, we'd be easy targets,” Zhar said, shooting one of the fleeing drones in the back.

Tarya nodded. “Alright, let me check the status of the others.” In the background one could hear the noise of heavy plasma weapons and the screeches of the Changelings. She activated her radio and called the rest of the team. “Gusay, how's the situation there?”

“We're earning our daily amount of glory, ma'am,” the young pilot replied. “These pests are trying to break into the drop ship, but thanks to the turrets we have enough firepower to hold them back.”

“Excellent. Carry on. We'll give chase to the leader of the hostiles in the town and secure the perimeter.”

“Copy that. Good hunting.”

The four Sangheili followed the fleeing enemies deeper into the city, managing occasionally to shoot down one of the drones who remained behind to shoot at them in order to cover the retreat of the other Changelings, but the Zealot noticed that most of the creatures seemed to be avoiding the fight.

The team ended up in another square, smaller than the previous one, surrounded mostly by shops. In the middle of the square was a statue of a tall pony with both a horn and wings, surrounded by a flower bed whose bright colors created a strong contrast with the grim atmosphere of the surroundings.
At the far end of the square there was princess Lamia, flanked by half a dozen drones, but aside from them, there was no trace of the Changelings.

“Where are the other ones?” Felmak asked out loud.

“For the hive!” a raspy voice exclaimed suddenly. A great number of drones appeared from their hiding spots on the roofs, unleashing concentrated fire on the Sangheili.

“Ambush!” Tarya exclaimed while leaping forward to avoid several energy bolts.

The energy bolts that the Changeling spears fired had the same color and speed of a plasma pistol bolt, but were noticeably inferior in terms of damage and rate of fire. Nothing that the shields of their armor couldn't handle, but considering the number of enemies that they were facing, the Sangheili opted to split up in order to have a wider leeway of avoiding the attacks and offer at the same time several fast moving targets instead of a big compact group.

Little did they know that it was exactly what Lamia was hoping for.

“Take them!” the princess ordered with devilish delight.

Screeching and hissing, several of the creatures hurled themselves against the team, trying to overwhelm them using their sheer number.
Tarya fired her pistol at the maximum rate of fire permitted by the weapon, but once it reached the overheating point she was forced to switch to her sword and engage the Changelings in close combat.

Looking at the Changeling princess, the young Zealot noticed that despite the heavy losses reported by her troops, she was actually smiling.

'Why? It doesn't make any sense. Surely she knows that once finished with her soldiers, she'll be our next target,' Tarya thought while she sliced the lance of a Changeling in half before sinking the blades into its chest. 'Unless all of this is just a diversion!' the Zealot realized.

“Centurions, now!” Lamia shouted.

In a flash of green flames, five big figures almost as tall as the Zealot appeared in front of the young queen. They had the general appearance of a drone, but with a more massive and muscular physique, and arms ending with long sharp claws. Contrary to the drones, these creatures wore basic armor consisting of a thick breastplate and a helmet similar in shape to the ones worn by the low-rank Jiralhanae.
The oversized Changelings leaned forward and roared menacingly, showing their mouths filled with sharp fangs, then they widened their arms. Their horns flashed and soon their claws glowed with the same luminescence, becoming longer and sharper.

“Kill them all!”

'Oh crap,' the Zealot thought as the creatures entered berserk mode and began to run toward her. She didn't know exactly why, but those glowing claws didn't seem to promise anything good and she had no wish to see their effects in close combat. The Zealot swapped her sword for her pistol and fired a shot in the chest of the closest creature. A faint glow appeared just an inch above the armor, absorbing the plasma shot before it could hit the Centurion.

'They have energy shields too?' Tarya thought in surprise, continuously firing. Like its human and Covenant counterparts, the shields of the creature glowed more brightly every time it was hit, but with a big difference. They were noticeably weaker.
After only three shots its defensive barrier collapsed, exposing the now vulnerable Changeling to the plasma. The next shot struck it in the chest, melting the metal without difficulty and burning the underlying chitin.
The Centurion howled in pain, but despite the extent of its wound, it continued to advance toward the Zealot, waving its arms furiously in an attempt to claw her body.
“Why don't you just die?!” Tarya exclaimed, firing another shot in the body of the war beast, finally managing to kill it.
She fired another shot in its head for good measure, then she raised her gaze, ready to face the other overgrown Changelings, only to see them disappear in a flash of green flames.

“Where did they go?” Tarya wondered loudly in her native tongue, checking her surroundings in search of the creatures.

“I guess you're wondering where the other Centurions are. I've sent them to take care of your friends,” Lamia said with an evil smirk. “As for you, my dear meddler,” she trailed off as she pulled her sword from the scabbard. “I'll deal with you personally,” she ended with an arrogant smirk, pointing the long sword toward the Zealot. The horn of the queen glowed briefly of green light and soon her blade began to shine a matching luminescence.

The Zealot froze for a second, analyzing the situation.

The most impulsive part of her just wanted to draw her pistol and shoot the bitch in that arrogant face of hers, but she soon remembered about the protective shield surrounding the Changeling princess. It seemed to be as strong as hers and she didn't even know if an overcharged plasma bolt could drop it faster. But there was something else that stopped her from doing so.

Her honor.

The Changeling was challenging her to a duel. Refusing a challenge would bring dishonor on herself and her bloodline.

“I will not let you down, uncle,” she whispered with determination. The Zealot attached the plasma pistol to the magnetic support on her hip and grabbed her sword again, activating it. The twin blades of plasma appeared with a fierce hiss, crackling in the air menacingly.

“Come on, then. Make your move, nishum,” Tarya challenged her provocatively, doing the ‘come and get it’ gesture with her free hand.

The Changeling lunged toward her with a battle cry, soon mimicked by the Sangheili. Their swords clashed halfway in an explosion of sparks and electric discharges.
Tarya remained quite surprised when she saw that the plasma didn't cut the Changeling sword, but decided to put aside her surprise and instead focus on the fight.
Despite the disadvantage in terms of size and strength, thanks to her wider agility the Changeling proved to be an even foe for the Zealot.
Tarya silently thanked Haka and his fencing lessons. She wasn't even remotely as skilled as the Ultra with the sword, but many tricks that he had taught her during their training sessions were now proving their usefulness.
They exchanged blows in a fierce succession of attacks and counter attacks, but despite the respective efforts, not one of the two seemed to be able to take the upper hand on their respective opponent.
Their swords clashed once again in explosion of sparks, and the two soon found themselves in a blade-lock.
Taking advantage of her bigger size and strength, the Zealot started to push forward, forcing Lamia to grab the hilt of her sword with both hands.

“You're no longer so confident, huh?” Tarya grunted with a hint of smugness.

“Laugh while you're still able to,” Lamia replied with an evil smile.

A loud screech and the sudden apparition of a new contact on her HUD right behind her alerted Tarya of the incoming threat. Kicking away the Changeling princess, she sidestepped just in time to avoid a glowing claw cross the air where she was just a moment before.

The Centurion snarled in frustration for the lost opportunity before charging toward her again.

“Buzz off, overgrown cockroach!” Tarya yelled dodging another attack and slamming her left fist into the face of the creature. The Centurion howled in pain and anger, the right side of his face reduced to a mess of cracked chitin and blood. Several fangs were broken or even missing, while his damaged eye poured out a blue slimy substance.

“Ew, you were already ugly, but now you're just awful,” she commented before she beheaded it with a swing of her sword.

“Aw, damn. It almost worked,” Lamia commented without the least sign of sorrow for the death of her soldier.

“You ordered one of your minions to backstab me while we were dueling?! Don't you have any honor?” Tarya shouted with indignation.

“Cowards survive, while heroes die,” the young queen said as if it was a matter of fact.

Hearing such words, Tarya felt her blood boil. This creature was the antithesis of everything at the base of the Sangheili culture.

The Zealot lunged towards her opponent with renewed vigor, performing a quick succession of powerful blows that forced Lamia to back away as she did her best to block the volley of attacks.
With a last side blow of her sword, Tarya managed to blow away the sword from the grip of her opponent.

She was about to impale the disarmed Changeling with her energy sword, but Lamia charged her horn and shot her in the chest with the force of a concussion grenade. The Zealot was slammed forcefully against a lamppost, bringing it down, before she fell to the ground heavily.

“Urgh, I knew that you were a shameful bitch,” she grunted as she lied on her back.

“Why, thank you,” the Changeling smirked. Her horn lit up again, this time enveloping the fallen lamp post with its aura. Still dazed from the impact, Tarya could only watch in astonishment as the heavy metal lamp post began to levitate from the ground before it was released without much ceremony, the strange force dropping it right onto her chest, knocking the wind out of her and popping out her shields. If it wasn't for her now discharged shields, the pole would have surely crushed her ribcage in the fall, instead the Zealot found herself simply pinned to the ground.

“Now, be a good girl and stay there,” Lamia said with an evil smile while she retrieved her sword from the ground.

Tarya tried to lift the heavy pole from her chest, but in vain. Lamia began to advance slowly toward her.

“You really thought that you could kill me? You will pay for your insolence.”

She was about to thrust her sword in the chest of the Zealot, when she heard from behind the sound of heavy footsteps that were rapidly approaching.
Catching just a glimpse of the big black figure that was leaping at her, she managed to avoid Zhar’s energy sword strike by sheer luck, resulting in slashing the air where she had been just a moment before. Without missing a beat, the Commando hit the Changeling princess in the chest with a spinning kick, throwing her several meters away.
The force of the impact was astonishing. Despite the protective spells that enveloped her body, the blow was powerful enough to crack her carapace, as well as at least a pair of ribs. But this was nothing compared to the sharp pain that she felt when her back hit the ground, crumpling her wings in the process.

“My wings!” She yelled in both anger and pain. “You'll pay for this, demon!”

Gathering all her available magic, Lamia hit the Commando in the chest with a powerful concussive spell, hurling him backwards through the window front of a convenience store.
Sitting up, Lamia tentatively tried to move her wings, only to receive an intense rush of pain run down her spine. Hissing in pain, she weakly stood up. She would have to spend at least a week in a curative cocoon to heal completely.

“Go, and bring me the head of that bastard!” she ordered to her soldiers. Several drones and two centurions rushed in the small single story building, eager to avenge their fallen comrades.
In the background, she could still hear the noises of a firefight, a clear sign that the other Sangheili were still fighting her drones.
“Once finished dealing with you two, I'll take care of the rest of your team,” the princess said, glaring at the Zealot with eyes burning in hate.

Her confident expression turned into a frown when she felt the confusion in the minds of her soldiers.

“What's happening? Why is it taking you so long?”

“My lady, the black demon is not here,” one of the drones said in its raspy voice.

“What?!” Lamia exclaimed shocked. “Impossible! He must still be inside.”

“You heard the princess, you useless worms!” one of the Centurions barked in its cavernous voice. “Find him! He can't simply disappear into thin air.”

Suddenly, the menacing sound of an energy sword that was activated was heard from the store along with a powerful roar, followed by the noises of a violent struggle and the panicked screeches of the Changelings inside the small building.

'Never try to engage in CQC with a member of the Commando Corps,' Tarya thought with grim satisfaction when she heard the screams of the drones while they were torn to pieces by the invisible Spec Ops Officer.

The screams had almost stopped when there was a high pitched whine, followed by a blinding blue-white explosion that destroyed a good portion of the front side of the shop.

The Commando emerged from where once stood the door, holding a Changeling by its face with one of his massive hands. Glaring at the young queen, he started to tighten his grip around the skull of the drone. The air was soon filled with the anguishing screeches of fear and pain of the creature as it tried in vain to break free from the vice grip, until they stopped abruptly when its head imploded with a sickening CRACK, spraying blood and gray matter all around.

“Pathetic,” Zhar commented with distaste, throwing the corpse at the foot of the young Changeling queen like it was just a rag-doll.
Taking advantage of her moment of distraction, he grabbed his plasma repeater and fired a long volley of plasma. In normal conditions, the energy shield that surrounded her body would have been able to resist damages much worse, but given the state of weakness in the Changeling due to her wounds and her exhaustion, her defenses were destined to fall prematurely.
Right before Zhar had to stop firing to allow the weapon to cool down, the energy shield collapsed, allowing the last plasma bolt of the volley to hit the Changeling on her hip.

Lamia screamed in pain at the sensation of extreme heat that hit her hip, feeling the plasma burn effortlessly through her skin, reaching deep into her flesh.
With eyes filled with tears, she looked up, just to discover with horror that the Commando was about to shoot her again.

“The princess! Protect the princess!” Yelled a drone, leaping on the Commando in the attempt to stop him, only to be killed a few seconds later by a plasma dagger. Another three Changelings followed its example, undergoing the same fate, but the distraction provided by their death gave enough time for Lamia to escape. When Zhar turned his attention back to her, she was already at a fair distance.

“Grrr, coward,” he spat. “Let's move, we can't let her escape,” he said to the Zealot.

“I'm stuck,” she grunted, still struggling to free herself from the heavy pole.

Wordlessly, Zhar grabbed the lamp post with both hands and began to lift it. The metal pole groaned as it was lifted slowly but inexorably by the Commando, then, when it was above his head, he threw it away.

“Are you alright?” he asked with only the slightest note of fatigue, helping her on her feet.

“A bit sore, but nothing serious.”

He nodded.

Without other words, the two Sangheili set off in pursuit of the Changeling on the run, sweeping away any drone that tried to stop them.





Lamia ran like she had never run before, her mind focused on one thought: survival.
She could distinctly feel the number of minds connected to hers decreasing at an alarming rate, meaning that more of her drones were being killed while they tried to protect her escape.
Without the mental guidance provided by their princess or the high-caste warriors, the drones had lost most of their coordination, finding themselves fighting alone or in small groups, following rigid and easily predictable strategies, with the only result becoming easy prey for the Sangheili.

She didn't care.

'Better them than me,' she thought, continuing to run towards her only way of salvation.





Despite the relatively short distance, the chase lasted several minutes due to the strong resistance of the drones, but in the end the Zealot and the Commando managed to get to the other side of the town. As Tarya had previously noticed the street lead to an industrial building surrounded by a large parking area.

The building was big, at least three stories tall with walls made of bricks reinforced by concrete pillars, and a sloping roof made with corrugated metal panels.
Located on the front of the building was a sign that read 'Greenville's Mana Spot Power Plant'.

“Looks like we'll have to flush them out,” Tarya commented, catching a glimpse of the princess and a handful of drones that entered the building, slamming the doors behind themselves once inside.  

Zhar nodded. “We should wait for the doctor and the Minor. Clearing a building is one of the worst parts in urban warfare, and the more we are the safer it is.”

“By the way, where are they? I haven't seen them since the ambush.”





A few minutes before

'Ah, I really missed all of this,' Nax thought with satisfaction as he fired a burst of pink crystal shards in the chest of a Changeling. The unlucky creature had barely time to screech in pain and fear before its body was literally sawed in half by the detonation of the needler's ammo in a bloody explosion. 'I haven't taken part in a battle of such entity in years.'

The Zealot and the Commando were several blocks ahead, but he wasn't worried about them. Despite their young age, they were both excellent fighters.
Zhar was a formidable warrior that kept the Vadam keep high, while Tarya, although she could be impulsive, was a quick learner and had great creativity, both qualities that allowed her to adapt quickly to new situations.

He briefly wondered how the Major Domo would have reacted once informed that he had lost a fight. Very likely he would have yelled and be pissed off for hours. He was snapped out of his happy thoughts by a warning shout from Felmak.

“Doctor, behind you!”

Nax turned just in time to see a hand with glowing claws race towards him. He tried to dodge the attack, but it was too late. The razor-sharp talons of the Centurion cut through his arm with astonishingly ease, severing it just below the elbow.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, my arm!” the physician cried in shock, watching his limb fall to the ground.

Felmak quickly aimed at the head of the Centurion and fired, but due to his haste the bullet just managed to graze its thick helmet. He tried another shot but when he pulled the trigger the carbine expelled the magazine with a loud hiss. That one was his last bullet and now his weapon was empty.

Cursing his own distraction, the Minor grabbed a fresh magazine and reloaded the carbine, but when he looked up at the Centurion, he saw it being engulfed by a big green blaze, disappearing. The Minor looked around in confusion, trying to locate the enemy, when his radar registered a hostile contact right behind him. He quickly turned around, only to be hit right in the face by a green energy beam. The almost point-blank shot completely drained the energy shields of the Sangheili, with the side effect of blinding him momentarily.

Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, the overgrown Changeling knocked the carbine from the grip of the Minor and, before he could extract his side weapon, it slashed one of its glowing claws across his breastplate.

The long talons penetrated through the ballistic ceramic plates and the undersuit with almost no effort, reaching the vulnerable flesh. The young Spec Ops screamed in pain, feeling as if hot irons had been jabbed in his body. His scream however changed from one of pain to one of anger when he saw his purple blood leaking from the gashes. For the Sangheili, losing their blood in battle means to lose their honor, bringing shame not only on themselves, but also on their lineage. And this was something unacceptable.

“Raaah! Blasted bug, you shed my blood!” Felmak roared angrily, activating his right energy dagger and jabbing the creature in the throat with a fluid motion.
The Centurion emitted hoarse gurgling sound before, when the Minor yanked out the energy blade, it fell to the ground, dead.

Felmak emitted a short triumphant roar, then he turned toward the doctor to check his condition.

“Doctor, are you alright?”

“My arm! That bastard cut my arm!” The physician cried, clutching his remaining hand on the stump.

“Uh, doctor?” the confused Minor tried to catch his attention.

“I'll never see action again!”

“Doctor,” he repeated, this time with annoyance.

“I've lost whatever honor I have left!”

“Doctor!”

“What?!” Nax snapped. “Can't you see that I'm in the middle of a dramatic moment?”

“That thing has only severed your prosthesis,” the Spec Ops Minor deadpanned.

“Uh?” Nax stared at him in confusion, then he looked down. Laying on the ground, spraying sparks all around, there was indeed an artificial limb made in Covenant alloy.

“Oh, right. Phantom limb syndrome,” he said sheepishly. “Ahem, let me see your wounds...”





Zhar brought the ray of his radar to its maximum range. A quick glance assured him that there were two friendly contacts right within the limit of reception.

“Don't worry, they're both still alive, in the middle of the town.”

“Good to hear.”

“This also means a change of plans.”

“Which would be?” she asked, tilting her head.

“We go inside, now.”

“Wait, didn't you just say-”

“I know what I've said, but there's something wrong. Of all the places where they could have ran, why did they choose that building?”

“Maybe they've set another ambush?”

“Maybe, but I doubt it. You've seen with your eyes how their leader acted. She was more inclined to use surprise and deception during the fight. Set a trap in a place with a few escape routes in case something goes wrong? I don't think it's her style.”

“What do you suggest we do?”

“I say we hurry to reach them, before they are able to put in act whatever they're planning,” he declared, before he ran toward the building.

'And I would be the impulsive one?' she thought rhetorically, quickly catching up with the Commando thanks to her smaller frame.

“Tarya, the doors!”

“I got it!” she said, overcharging the pistol and firing the massive plasma bolt against the lock. The lock melted at the contact with the plasma, leaving a clean hole with the edges glowing red.

The Zealot reached the threshold mere seconds after the plasma bolt and, using her momentum, she kicked the door open.

Beyond the entrance there was a lobby furnished in a rather anonymous way, with drab carpet, walls painted in yellow, and some framed poster with the topic of clean energy.
The furniture was shabby to say the least but luckily the Changelings had provided to improve the room decor by converting the large wooden reception desk into a barricade, adding further cover with the addition of wooden crates and office furniture. Behind the makeshift cover there were at least a dozen drones, all with their already charged weapons pointed toward the entrance.

“Shit!” Tarya exclaimed as she hastily took cover behind the doorjamb, imitated on the other side by Zhar. Leaning her back against the concrete, she checked her shield indicator. The concentrated fire had drained roughly half of her energy shields.

The Commando and the Zealot looked at each other and nodded. In unison they both primed a plasma grenade and launched them inside the room.
The drones screeched in surprise and confusion at the sight of the small glowing globes, but when they exploded, the creatures screamed briefly in pain while they were burned alive by the plasma.

“Let's go,” Zhar said as soon as the fire from the explosion had died, stepping inside at gunpoint.

The room was a mess. Most of the surfaces were blackened by the flames, while the floor was littered with the bodies of several Changelings: some burned by the plasma, some torn to pieces by the force of the explosions, and some others impaled by the sharp fragments of charred wood that once composed the barricade.

A pair of seriously injured Changelings were trying to reach their weapons by crawling on the floor, but before they could reach the forked lances, Zhar killed them both with a headshot.

“Sector clear, move up,” he said, activating the cooling vent of his plasma repeater.

As they crossed the room, the Zealot had to hold the contents of her stomach.

“Ew, what’s that awful smell?” The pungent stench of burned chitin in the close environment made her wish she had a sealed helmet like the one worn by the Commando.

“Trust me, there are worse ones.”

“You keep your filters off?” she asked in confusion.

“Most of the time. In some situations the sense of smell can help you when sight and hearing fail.”

The two remained silent as they ventured further and further into the building, following an irregular trace of green blood left on the floor by a wounded drone or even by their leader; they weren't sure.
After having crossed a section occupied by offices, the trace led them to a door over which there were a series of stairs that lead downward.

'So far, so good,' she thought. 'The only resistance that we met were those guys in the lobby.' However, she didn't let her guard down. She knew from the war tales that her uncle used to tell her when she was still a little girl that a desperate enemy is a dangerous one.

The stairs ended in a long corridor lit by neon lights, at the end of which they found a heavy set of metal doors with the words  'MANA SPOT - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY' written on them.

The doors seemed robust and, by the sound they produced when she knocked tentatively, they were also very thick. She fired a bolt of plasma against them, with the only result only slightly warming the surface.

“Great,” she grumbled. “Heat-proof alloy. What now?” she asked, turning to Zhar.

“Let's try knocking.”





“How long before the device will be ready?” Lamia impatiently asked the Changeling in front of her, who was checking on a short triangular obelisk made in obsidian.

Along with her surviving drones, she was currently in the recharge room, the actual heart of the power plant. The room was huge, with many metal shelves loaded with discharged power geodes that were disposed radially around a tall pillar of crystal with a frame of metal. The function of the pillar was to channel the mana constantly emitted by the mana spot below to the surrounding geodes. Once fully charged, the geodes were then loaded on an industrial elevator and brought to the upper floor, where they were packed inside wooden crates and sent by trucks to the nearby train station.

The whole plant, a proud facility to the Equestrian’s, had been converted by the Changelings for darker purposes.

The small obelisk intercepted and accumulated the energy coming from the pillar of crystal until it reached the right levels. At that point, the enchanted artifact conveyed the energy to a circle of black runes painted on the floor. The ring of arcane symbols was nothing less than a teleportation platform, powerful enough to be able to transfer objects and living beings all around the planet. The only problem was the energy. Such a device required monstrous amounts of magic to work, the kind that only a mana spot or an alicorn were able to provide, and even so, the charging times were long.

“It's a matter of minutes, my lady,” the drone assured. “The mana is flowing at a high rate through the obelisk.”

“Well, make it happen faster,” she snapped. Once activating the device, she would have been able to contact the hive and call for reinforcements to wipe out those cursed creatures and cancel all traces of the Changelings presence in the town. “Every moment we waste, those things grow closer to-”

A strong impact against the metal doors cut her speech abruptly. The loud noise hadn't yet finished reverberating through the air before it was followed by a second impact, then a third. Something, something really strong, was hitting the door with all its might in an attempt to enter.

The drones tightened their grip on their energy spears, their nervous gazes locked on the metal surface of the security door as they heard yet another impact.
Suddenly, the impacts halted, the only sound being that of heavy footsteps that walked away.

Lamia allowed herself to release a breath that she was unknowingly holding, thinking that the worst was past, just to hear another impact, this time stronger than the previous ones. The deformed doors collapsed inward with a terrible groan of protest, pieces of concrete still attacked to the hinges, before slamming loudly on the ground.

The Changeling soldiers charged their horns, ready to fire at the enemies... only to see a empty hallway in front of them.

“You, go check it out,” she ordered to a nearby drone.

The Changeling groaned, clearly not happy of the task, but nonetheless it obeyed.

The princess watched with a certain anxiety as the drone approached the fallen door with caution, all its senses alert, ready to detect any minimal sign of danger. Once it reached the threshold without problems, the Changeling dared to peek into the corridor.

“What do you see?”

“There's nothing here, my lady,” the drone reported, just a moment before an energy sword materialized in the thin air, stabbing it in the stomach, before disappearing.

“They're here! Kill them!” she yelled in panic, watching the unlucky drone hit the ground.
The other Changelings unleashed a storm of energy bolts at the point where the phantom sword had appeared, only to hit the wall behind it.

Suddenly, a volley of plasma impacted the first line of drones from the left side. The survivors turned to face the invisible enemy, only to be shot in the back by a quick succession of green globes.

Lamia could only watch in horror as her panicked soldiers were slaughtered mercilessly by the invisible enemies, until just the six around her remained alive.

As an act of desperation, she tried to use her mental ability to locate the invisible enemies. Despite the impossibly strong minds of the creatures, she could still perceive their presence.

There it was, right in front of them.

This mind had a different imprint from the one of the Zealot, so she assumed that it had to be the one in black armor. The contact with his mind lasted less than a second, but once she touched his conscience, she withdrew instantly, terrified.
His soul was a concentrate of negative emotions. Pain. Regret. Sadness. But most of all, anger. Never before had she met a being with so much anger inside. An anger against everything and everyone, including himself, that burned inside his soul with the intensity of a fire in a forest.

The air in front of her began to flicker like in a hot day in the desert, revealing a massive figure clad in black armor. It was the same monster that had wounded her and had slaughtered countless of her soldiers like they were flies. And he was staring. Right. At. Her.
The warrior drew his sword and began to advance toward her with deliberate slowness.

Lamia tried to react, but she soon found that her body had become stiff, unable to fight or flee. All she could do was watch the merciless demon come closer and closer.

“Changelings, protect me!” she called desperately, although she knew perfectly that there was nothing that they really could do against him.
The few remaining Changelings hurried to form a defensive line between her and the black demon.

The warrior in black armor stopped about twenty feet from them. He snarled, then he grabbed a small blue ball from his belt and threw it toward the improvised phalanx. The small ball began to glow of a blinding white-blue light the moment it left his hand, crossing the air like a small meteor.

Confused flashes of memories crossed the mind of the young queen rapidly. They belonged to the drones that had died in the convenience store and in the hall of the power plant. She didn't know what that thing was, but she knew of the kind of damage it was capable of.

“Activate the device, NOW!” Lamia ordered frantically.

The small obelisk hummed loudly, transferring magic to the platform, upon which the circles of runes began to glow with blinding intensity.
In a flash of bright light, Lamia disappeared, just a moment before the plasma grenade landed where she had stood. The grenade emitted a high pitched whine, then exploded in a blazing inferno of blue flames that engulfed the surviving drones and the obelisk.





Several thousand miles away, in the core of the region known as Badlands.

The big throne room of the Badlands Hive could have been described with many words, but welcoming wasn't certainly among them.

Like the rest of the Changeling hive, the room's design had an organic look, giving the impression of having grown rather that having been carved into the dark rock of the now extinct volcano.
A complex spider web of green bioluminescent substance encrusted the vaulted ceiling and the thick column of dark stone that supported it, acting at the same time as structural reinforcement and a illumination source, spreading a dim and eerie light all around.

At the far end of the room, at the top of a short set of stairs, stood a big imposing throne made of dark stone, with the back jagged and the armrests carved to resemble two manticores lying on their bellies.

It wasn't exactly a friendly sight. Neither was the figure that sat on the throne.

Queen Chrysalis, supreme ruler of the Badland's Changelings, tapped her sharp nails impatiently on the armrests, an expression of clear irritation painted on her face.

The two Centurion bodyguards at the sides of her throne shifted their weight uncomfortably from hoof to hoof, visibly made nervous by their proximity to their ruler in such a bad mood.
Usually, a similar display of fear coming from some of the deadliest soldiers on the planet would have amused the Queen, reminding her why her name was pronounced with dread and respect among the other species, but not this time.

All her daughters had already returned successfully from their harvest mission, bringing enough nourishment to pass to the next part of her plan. All except for Lamia.  She and her troops were supposed to return just after having sent the inhabitants of Greenville via teleportation; instead, not only were they late, but all communications with them had fallen silent.
This could mean only one thing. Trouble. And if there was a thing that Chrysalis hated it was trouble.

The eerie silence in the room was suddenly broken by the noise of the rusty hinges of the doors of the room. The heavy doors of dark oak and iron opened just enough to allow a drone to enter. The creature hurried to cross the distance that separated it from the throne, then, once reaching the base of the staircase, kneeled deeply, touching the ground with its forehead.

“My queen,” the drone greeted her with its raspy voice.

“Speak,” Chrysalis said, barely acknowledging the existence of the smaller creature.

“Princess Lamia has returned from her mission, your majesty.”

“Finally,” she snorted with irritation. “Let her come instantly. I want to know why it took her so long to return,” Chrysalis ordered.

The drone nodded, but seemed to hesitate.

“There's something else that I need to know?” Chrysalis asked, raising a brow.

“The princess is wounded and we lost all contact with their teleportation device the moment she arrived.”

It took Chrysalis all of her self control to not explode in anger. She forced herself to take a breath and remain calm, but behind her mask of impassibility was a storm of emotions so strong that her bodyguards unconsciously took a step away from her.

“Let. Her. Come,” she ordered again with a tone so cold that it would have made a Windego shiver.

Without wasting more time, the drone hurried to leave the room. Shortly after, the heavy doors opened again, this time completely, revealing the young Changeling queen.
As her daughter walked across the throne room, Chrysalis took notice of her appearance. Her dress was torn and dirty with blood and mud, and she was clearly wounded, as indicated by her limping gait and what looked to be a burn on her right flank.

“M-my queen,” Lamia greeted her with a bow, grimacing when her dress brushed against the burn on her hip.

“Seems like you had some complications, Lamia,” Chrysalis commented casually, glancing with indifference at the conditions of her daughter.

“I can explain-” she began to say, looking with pleading eyes at the Queen before she was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the sharp nails of her mother as she rasped them against the armrest of her throne.

“Oh, you will,” she hissed, rising from her throne and slowly descending the short staircase. “Where are your troops, Lamia?”

The young queen kept her gaze on the ground, unable to meet the eyes of her mother. “They're dead. All of them.”

“Where is your teleportation device?” the Alpha queen asked, her tone increased noticeably.

“Lost, probably destroyed.”

“How could it happen?”

“I- I don't know,” the princess responded pathetically.

“You. Don't. Know?” Chrysalis repeated slowly with an incredulous expression. The queen took a deep breath. “You had one task, Lamia.  Attack the town, bring the inhabitants here, and return to the hive without leaving traces of your passage. An easy task, like the one that I gave to your sisters, who were able to execute their duty flawlessly,” Chrysalis said quietly. Too quietly. “And yet, you've failed. And you know what I do those who fail.”

Lamia raised her gaze in panic, but before she could say a single word, a strong telekinesis grip grabbed the young queen and lifted her from the ground.

“Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now for your incompetence!” the queen snarled. “You had the largest contingent of soldiers among your sisters and your target was one of the most isolated, and yet you've managed to lose all your troops?”

“The attack was a success!” Lamia said frantically. “We've captured all the inhabitants-”

“- leaving behind clear signs of our activity,” Chrysalis ended her sentence, looking at her with eyes burning in anger. “You know how important the secrecy is for the success of my plan, but after this half of the planet will enter a state of alert because of you!”

“It wasn't my fault!” Lamia said in panic, feeling an increasing pressure around her body. “We were beginning to cancel our traces, but then a team of guards appeared-”

“Are you telling me that those morons dressed in tin cans, good only to be fucked by those two stupid alicorns, were the ones responsible for sending my plan Tartarus?!” the Queen snarled.

“No! It wasn't because of the guards! We managed to capture them without problems and we even sent most of them here with the last teleport. Everything was going smoothly, until they showed up!”

“They?” Chrysalis asked quizzically, tilting her head slightly. “Who are you talking of?”

“I- I don't know. I've never seen anything like them before. They wore armor able to deflect our attacks and they were armed with weapons with inconceivable destructive power!”

“And you expect me to believe such bullshit?” Chrysalis asked, tightening her telekinetic grip.

“Please, mother! I'm telling you the truth! Please, look at my memories!” Lamia cried desperately.

The alpha queen considered the idea briefly, ignoring the cries of pain from her daughter.

“Fine. Drop your mental barrier,” Chrysalis ordered sternly.

Lamia did as ordered and soon she felt a powerful entity, that she knew from experience was her mother, invade her mind like a starving swarm. The queen explored her most recent memories with haste, watching with boredom as Lamia led her troops in conquest of the small town and subdued the team of Guards, but as soon as she saw the events involving the mysterious creatures, her mood changed from disdain to complete astonishment.

After what seemed an eternity, Chrysalis left Lamia's mind and released her from the telekinetic grip, dropping her abruptly onto the floor. Lamia hit the floor hard, hissing in pain both from the impact and her wounds.

“Go in your chamber and take care of your wounds. I have to reflect,” Chrysalis ordered with a whisper without looking at her.

“Y-yes, mother,” the young queen replied fearfully with a bow, leaving the room with haste.

Once the doors closed, Chrysalis began to pace back and forth in the throne room, her blood boiling with rage.
'Those creatures couldn't have appeared at a worse time,' she thought irritated. 'I must know if they'll be a further hindrance for my plans.' She hadn't lacked to notice that when she had examined the memories of Lamia, another presence had discreetly taken part in the telepathic link.

“Mirage!” Chrysalis called, looking toward a column located in the darkest places of the room.

The air near the columns shimmered briefly, revealing another young queen, this time with hair black as charcoal and yellow eyes that sparkled with intelligence and malignity.

“Yes, mother?” she asked candidly with a sly smirk.

“You were eavesdropping as usual, weren’t you?” Chrysalis asked, even if she already knew the answer.

“I would never do anything like that, mother. I'm just here to serve you at best,” she said in her mellifluous voice. Of all her daughters, Mirage was surely the craftiest and less trustworthy, always intent on spying and conspiring against everyone. Excellent qualities, considering that she was at the head of her espionage net, but Chrysalis always made a point to keep an eye on her.

“Whatever. You know what's happening. Contact all ours agents in Equestria and order them to enter maximum alert. They must report any unusual or suspicious activity that could be related to these creatures.”

“As you wish, mother,” Mirage said with a slight bow without breaking the visual contact, before she teleported away.

'I don't care who or what they are,' the queen thought, re-examining the memories of Lamia. 'I will not allow them to interfere in any way with my plans. Soon, the hive will rise, and nothing will be able to stop us from taking what belongs to us.'





Tarya was crouched in front of the remains of the teleport platform when she heard sounds of approaching footsteps. A quick look at her HUD told her that it was Felmak and Nax.

“Sorry for the delay, we had a little issue with some pests,” the doctor joked.

“It's about time, I was starting to worry about you two. Where did you end up? I was starting to- what in Librarian's name?!” she exclaimed when she turned and finally saw them.

The Minor had a series of deep transverse marks that ran through his breastplate, as if he had been clawed; the doctor instead was holding in his left hand what remained of his artificial right arm.

“Would you mind explain to me what happened to you two?” she asked, dumbfounded.

“Well, you see...” In a short but detailed way, Nax described what happened to them since they were separated from the rest of the team. “And that's how I've lost my arm. Again. After that, we tried to rejoin with you, but unfortunately we encountered heavy resistance from those vermin. When they finally retreated, we followed the signals of your IFF and found you.”

“Although I have to say that we would have found you even without the signal. The trail of dead and destruction that you two left behind is quite evident,” Felmak commented, looking around in awe.

“Don't look at me, most of this mess is the work of the Commando,” the Zealot clarified, resuming her task. The image of Zhar kickinig down the heavy armored door was still fresh in her mind.

“So, what did we miss?” Nax asked.

“Oh, nothing too important, besides Zhar went into a killing spree, and lady beetle fled using a teleportation device which I'm currently trying to figure out how it works,” she commented, studying with a critical eye a piece of cracked crystal that probably once was part of some kind of circuit.

“And what did you find?”

“Nothing. This thing is completely destroyed,” she said with frustration, dropping the fragment on the ground. All that remained of the device was a blackened hollow pedestal containing some shattered crystals. “Maybe the recordings of our cameras will tell me more.”

“Please, no!” a raspy voice suddenly pleaded not too far off. Apparently some of the drones were still alive.

Without hesitation, Zhar crushed the skull of the creature under one of his armored boots. Tarya grimaced at the sight of the limbs of the creature twitching briefly for one last time, before the body went limp. It wasn't the killing per se that disturbed her, but the way it was performed.

“You could have shot it,” the Zealot commented.

“No sense in wasting ammo.” He grabbed the weapon of the dead drone and studied it attentively, trying to understand how it worked, but without success. There weren't triggers or mobile parts of any sort.

“Maybe it has something to do with their horns,” she suggested. “Every time they fired, their horns glowed.”

“I wonder how they're able to do that,” Zhar asked out loud, still studying the weapon.

“I have some theories, but they're pure speculation,” Nax said. “I'll be able to be more concrete once I have dissected one of their bodies.”

Tarya nodded. “Felmak, grab one of the bodies in better condition. We'll bring it to the ship for further analysis,” she said, gesturing to the dead drones. “And take some of their weapons. Maybe the Huragok will figure out how they work.”





A few minutes later, the team was crossing the corridor to make their way back to the Phantom, when Tarya stopped abruptly, raising a fist.

“I think I heard a noise,” she whispered by radio while turning toward a door on her left.

Her radar was clear of any contacts, but she knew well that the device wasn't able to detect contacts that remained still.
She drew out her pistol and checked the level of the battery. Seventeen percent. Low, but sufficient to kill any Changeling that was hiding behind the door.

Tarya carefully grabbed the door handle, trying to make as little noise as possible. She took a deep breath, then she lowered it and threw open the door, pointing her weapon toward the entrance.
In front of her there was a small dark room with the side walls covered by metal shelves filled with cleaning products and cardboard boxes containing what looked to be spare parts. The Zealot was about to leave, dismissing the episode as a trick of her mind, when she caught the glimpse of a shadow moving behind a large vacuum cleaner at the far end of the room. She quickly turned on the tactical light mounted on her armor's shoulder. The cone of light revealed what looked like a tail of blue hairs that pointed out from behind the vacuum-cleaner.

“Stay where you are!” Tarya barked in English, pointing her pistol toward the unknown contact.

“Please, don't kill me! I surrender!” a female voice cried frantically.

“Get out of there with both your hands raised!” the Sangheili ordered.

“Alright, alright, I'm coming out!”

A light green female pony with a blue mane and tail came out with hesitation from behind the big vacuum cleaner with her hands raised. The mare, if Tarya recalled the term correctly, was dressed with blue pants and a gray T-shirt with the words SOLAR GUARDS. The Zealot also noticed that the pony was one of those with a horn.

“Identify yourself,” she demanded.

“P - Private First Class Morning Dew, of the Solar Guards,” the mare stammered, shaking like a leaf.

'She must be terrified,' Tarya thought, looking at her with sympathy. She sighed and holstered her weapon. 'No sense in scaring her more.'

“Sorry, I didn't mean to be so harsh with you. I thought you were one of those disgusting creatures.”

“The Changelings,” the mare murmured with dread, shutting her eyes and shivering, probably to suppress bad memories. “Where are they?”

“They're dead. We killed them.”

The mare gulped. “Are you going to do the same with me?” She asked, still afraid.

“Do not fear. We have no intention of harming you,” Tarya said in the most kind and reassuring tone that she had.

“R-really?”

“I swear on my honor,” the Zealot said solemnly.

Hearing her words, the mare seemed to relax a bit.

“I have some questions. Are you willing to answer?” The mare nodded. “Good. What's happened here?”

The mare closed her eyes and sighed, recalling the events. “When a few hours ago we lost all contacts with Greenville,  the HQ decided to send our team to figure out what was happening. When we arrived at the entrance of the town, everything seemed calm. Too calm. We moved further into the town and we saw the leftover of the attack. The sergeant was about to contact Canterlot via radio to tell what we had found, when those monsters popped out of nowhere. We tried to defend ourselves, but it happened all too fast. Before we could realize it, the Changelings had captured us. They stripped us of our armor and weapons, then they brought us here and they have separated us. It was the last time I saw my teammates,” the mare ended sadly, lowering her gaze.

“What about the inhabitants? Where are they?”

“The Changelings. They- they- they took them! They took them all!” the mare cried, bursting into tears and trembling violently. “Stallions, mares, foals- oh, Celestia! I could hear them scream while they were dragged here! They begged to be let go, calling for help, and all I could do was listen to them without being able to do anything!”

Suddenly, the Commando sniffed the air, before he snarled menacingly at the mare.

Before Tarya could ask him what was the matter, Zhar activated his sword and thrusted it in the back of the mare, lifting her from the ground. The pony barely had the time to emit a strangled cry, looking in shock at the twin blades protruding from her stomach, before she went limp.

“Nooooo!” Tarya screamed with horror, watching as the Commando pulled his sword from the lifeless body before dropping it on the ground. “Why? Why did you do it, you monster?! I promised on my honor that nothing would have happened to her and you've killed her! Why?!”

“She wasn't what she claimed to be,” Zhar said, nodding to the body.

The body of the mare was enveloped for a second by what seemed to be green flames, leaving in her place the corpse of a Changeling. The pool of blood had a similar destiny, changing the coloration from red to greenish-yellow.

“Hmm, shapeshifting abilities? So that's why they call themselves Changelings,” Nax commented intrigued, strangely unfazed by the scene that had just happened.

“But- how-?” Tarya babbled in utter confusion. “How did you know that she was one of them?”

“She smelled of rain. If she had really been kept captive in the closet all this time, by now she would have been completely dry,” Zhar said, deactivating the sword and putting it at the magnetic plate on his right hip. “In addition, despite what she said, the door wasn't locked.”

Tarya had to suppress the urge to facepalm. How did she not notice?

“So, where are the inhabitants?” Felmak asked.

“Assuming that what she- it- whatever that thing was - said was the truth, most likely they teleported them away using the device that we saw before. As for where or for what reason, I don't know,” she said.

It was in that moment that she noticed that the top of the big industrial vacuum cleaner wasn't perfectly sealed. In fact, it seemed to have been hastily placed on the drum.

'Was it hiding something?' she wondered, approaching to the vacuum cleaner. Without hesitation, she grabbed the sides of the lid and opened it. What she found inside the drum made her drop the lid in surprise.

“Bloody Halo!” she swore loudly.

Inside the drum was a curled up pony female resembling under every aspect the disguise of the Changeling. Well, almost everything. The colors of her coat and her mane were drab, almost grey, as if a malevolent painter had decided to remove their usual brightness. She also had several cuts on her arms and hands, a clear sign that she had tried to defend herself. The Zealot felt respect for the smaller creature. Despite facing a stronger foe, she had still fought for her survival. But when the pony raised her head and locked her gaze with those of the Zealot, Tarya felt her blood freeze. Her eyes, that she had expected to be filled with some kind of emotion, showed none of this. No relief, nor fear, nor confusion. Nothing. Only two eyes that looked at her with a blank expression, as if her own will to live had been taken away.

“Please, help me,” the mare said with a tone barely audible and completely devoid of emotions.

With the greatest care, Tarya picked up the mare from under the armpits and took her out of the drum, before she placed the pony on the ground so that she was lying on her back. She then took a folded plastic tarp from one of the nearby shelves and placed it under the head of the mare as a makeshift pillow.

“Thank you,” the pony said weakly.

“Nax, what's her status?” the Zealot asked the physician.

“She's alive, but not for long,” he said bitterly after he briefly looked at the biometric scanner integrated in his helmet. “I know almost nothing about their anatomy and most of my instrumentation was in my artificial arm, but if they are vaguely similar to the humans, then I can say that her vital parameters are collapsing.”

“Can't you do anything?”

The doctor shook his head slowly.

“You guys are talking about me, I mean, about my condition, right?” The mare asked, coughing weakly. “I can't understand you, but from your body language, I can guess that the news isn’t good.”

“Your health is in bad shape,” Tarya admitted, crouching next to the mare.

“A polite way to say that I'm dying.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Me too,” she said, looking away with a melancholic expression. “It wasn't my intention to give this pain to my parents. I just wanted to make them proud of me by joining the Guards.”

“What happened, private?”

“What that son of a bitch said is mostly correct. We came here to investigate. At first it looked all normal, but when we entered in the town and we saw the damages and the signs of a fight, the Changelings dropped their disguises and attacked us.” Morning Drew sighed. “It was a nightmare. None of us were prepared for something like that. Except for their attempt to invade the capital, the Changelings had never dared to come so deep into Equestria; usually they remained at the borders of the Badlands.
We tried to defend ourselves, but they were superior in term of numbers and firepower.”

“What have they done to you?” the Zealot asked with hesitation. Aside from the scratches and the small cuts that the mare had on her arms and legs, there wasn’t any wounds that could explain her current condition.

“I- I don't know. They feed off of love, or at least that's what I know from the academy, but when that- that THING fed on me, it was as if it was draining me of everything. It's strange. I know that I should be scared, but I'm not. I should feel anger for what they did to me and anypony else, but I can't. I remember that I felt happiness in my life, but I can't even remember how it feels to be happy. I feel... empty, incomplete.” A lone tear ran down her cheek, leaving a darker trail of wet fur behind.

Morning Dew coughed violently. Her breath became more difficult and irregular. “I don't have much time left.”

“Is there anything I can do for you?” Gently, the Zealot held one hand of the dying soldier with one of hers. To die alone, without honor or the warmth of having a friend or a loved one near, was a horrible way to leave this world. If there was something, anything, that she could do to alleviate the last moments of this mare, she would have done it.

“If the possibility should ever arise, I want you to tell my parents that I did my best and that I love them.”

“I'll do my best to fulfill your request,” the Zealot said with sincerity. Odds were that she would be able to deliver the message in person were extremely thin, but she swore on her forefathers that she would attempt to find a way to keep her promise.

“Thank you,” the mare said weakly. She sighed in relief, as if she had found peace. “I'm ready,” she muttered, a small smile forming on her lips. And with those last words, she went limp and remained still.

“Even with death, your journey doesn't end here. May your soul rejoin with your ancestors and loved ones. Die with honor, warrior, and rest in peace,” the Zealot recited the ancient Sangheili prayer, closing the eyes of the young mare gently. “Let's go. There's nothing more to do here.”

“Shall we take her body with us for further analysis? She could help us to understand their abilities,” Nax asked, pointing at the horn on the forehead of the pony.

“No. It wouldn't be right nor honorable doing so. Leave her here, so that her compatriots may give her a proper burial.”

“What do you think that she meant when she said that they 'feed off of love'?” Zhar asked.

“I don't know. But I’ve got the impression that it's another thing that we'll discover soon.”





The ground surrounding the Phantom was littered with the corpses of several Changelings, all with clear signs of plasma wounds.
Legek was leaning against one of the plasma turrets, careful to not put any pressure on his wounded leg, while the Major was walking among the bodies with his sidearm drawn, intent to make sure that none of the drones was still alive, by slightly kicking the suspicious bodies.
One of them emitted a weak cry, but a plasma bolt in its chest quickly put remedy to the issue.

“Seems like you had fun, Major,” Tarya commented at the sight of the corpses.

“You can say that again, ma'am,” the red clad Sangheili said proudly.

“Where's Gusay?”

“Inside the ship, controlling the systems. I have to admit that he fought pretty well... for being just a pilot,” he joked.

“I heard you, sir,” the pilot replied unfazed from inside the ship.

The Major merely snorted.

“Gusay, what's the status of the Phantom?” she asked, stepping inside the cargo bay.

“The systems are on line again, ma'am, but we have a problem with our active camo. Apparently the energy beam hit the ship next to one of the optical modulators, destroying it. ”

The Zealot sighed deeply before she took off her helmet and rubbed her tired face with a hand. “One problem at a time. Contact the Last Sunset. We have to inform them of our situation, before they start sending assault troops via drop pods,” she said, standing in front of the holotank.

“Aye aye.”

While she remained quiet in front of the communication device, Zhar stood at her side without a word. He was the second in command of the team, after all. He was supposed to take part in the post-mission report.

“The Shipmaster won't take the news well,” she said with frustration, shaking her head.

“Don't be so harsh with yourself. Events beyond you influence had occurred. And although I think that it was completely pointless, given what was happening, you tried to resolve the situation peacefully.”

The Zealot blinked. “Uh, thanks. I guess.”

‘I can never understand if his comments are compliments or just observations.'

The voice of Gusay shook her from her thoughts. “Contact with the Last Sunset established.”

“Open the communication channel.”

The holo pedestal took life, and the pale blue holograms of the Shipmaster and of the Second in command appeared just above the device. Haka had his usual unfazed mood, while Vraal seemed clearly anxious.

“Tarya,” the Shipmaster said, clearly relieved to see her. “Thank the gods you're alright. We lost contact with your team for almost an hour after you were struck by that energy beam. What's your status?”

“Zhar, Gusay, and I are fine, but the three Spec Ops are all wounded, while the doctor lost his right arm again. The Phantom is still operative, but the active camo system is seriously damaged.”

“I presume that given your landing point, you entered in contact with the locals,” Haka asked.

“Affirmative.”

“And?” the Shipmaster urged her, clearly anxious to know the developments of their situation.

“First contact didn't end peacefully sir,” Tarya responded. “We tried to use diplomacy, but they attacked us.”

Vraal closed his eyes and shock his head. “I hoped to avoid bloodshed.”

“The situation is more complicated than it looks, sir. The ones that attacked us weren't exactly ponies.”

“What do you mean?” Vraal tilted his head, confused.

Taking a breath, the Zealot proceeded to tell everything that had happened since the Phantom had left the hangar, also adding to her report the mission logs of their combat cameras and the lectures of the scanners.
Vraal listened intently, an unreadable expression painted on his face as he watched the videos of the fight.

“Are you sure that the leader of these 'Changelings' has managed to escape?” Vraal asked in a inquisitive tone after she finished her narration.

The Zealot nodded. “I saw her clearly disappear just a moment before the plasma grenade exploded.”

“So they know about us,” he said dryly, snapping his maws.

“The bright side is that the Changelings are the only ones that know about our existence, but considering that they're not exactly in good terms with the ponies, it's very unlikely that they will bother to alert the ponies about our presence,” Haka observed. “And although we have antagonized one of the races of the planet, considering that they had just attacked a pony settlement this could eventually turn to our favor when we have to deal with the Equestrians.”

“You mean as sign of good faith? Maybe. By now, we have more pressing matters to deal with at the moment. Like the energy beam that hit your ship. If the locals indeed have an EMP weapon, as well a system able to track even the cloaked ships, we should start to worry.”

“We don't have proofs that the locals are involved,” Tarya retorted.

“On the contrary,” Vraal corrected her. “According to the Huragok, the beam was fired from a small settlement located not too far from your original target,” he said, making a map of the region appear on the holograph in front of them, with the settlement in question highlighted in red.

'Alright, now I too am starting to have doubts,' she thought, observing the town. From the size, the settlement seemed to be able to house a population inferior to the thousand of inhabitants.
“Seems more like a rural town than a military base to me,” she noticed.

“That's my same impression, but this doesn't surprise me. The humans used to hide their MAC under crop fields to make them more difficult to identify, so it wouldn't be so unlikely that we are in a similar situation.”

Tarya frowned slightly. There was still something wrong. “If they really were the ones to shoot us down, by now they would have send somebody to check the impact site,” she reasoned. “Instead, the only troops that they apparently have sent here were the ones with the task to investigate on the loss of contacts with the town. Don't you think that's strange?”

“I can see your point, but I won't take any chances. Once you are all back on the ship, we'll study an appropriate strategy about how to deal with this situation.”

“Wait, are you suspending the mission?” she exclaimed in shock.

“Only temporarily. In the light of recent events, it's essential to collect more intel about the inhabitants of the planet and their peculiar abilities before we can consider the idea of contacting them. We will send a larger recon team to the surface once the repairs of the other Stealth Phantoms will be ready.”

“How long will it take?”

“Roughly a day. Both ships have the engines damaged and their hull integrity is compromised.”

She shook her head “We can't wait that long. As soon as the locals will discover what happened here, they will increase their security measures, if they haven't already done so, making our further attempts at infiltration more difficult. If we want any chance of success, we have to continue the mission.”

“And how do you intend on doing that? You were the one who said that most of your team is no longer in operative conditions.”

Tarya looked briefly at Zhar. Her respect for the warrior in black armor had increased significantly since the crash of the drop ship. It was just now that Tarya realized that, although he hadn't given any real orders, the actions and the observations of the Commando had influenced her decisions deeply. There was something special in Zhar that, despite his solitary nature, made him a leader, somebody to look to as guidance and support in difficult moments. 'There's blood of the Arbiter in his veins.'
“It's a recon infiltration, not a raid. Zhar and I will be sufficient to complete the mission. A team composed by just two elements would be able to move with more ease and with fewer chances of being discovered.”

She had expected some kind of reaction from the Commando, but he kept silent, as usual.
It was disconcerting the ease with which he was able to switch from 'war mode' to 'unnerving silence'.

The Shipmaster considered her idea for a few moments.

“Zhar, what is your opinion?” Vraal asked the Commando. Despite his decades of experience in battle, both in space and on the ground, the Shipmaster held great consideration in his officers. When it came to black ops, Zhar's authority was unmatched.

Tarya unconsciously held her breath as she watched the Spec Ops Officer reflecting. The future of this operation depended on his next decision.

“I have to agree with the analysis of the Zealot, sir. We need to know more about the locals before planning our next moves and the longer we wait, the more the risks will increase.” Her expression brightened once she heard his words, but the moment didn't last long. “But there's still the issue about how to reach the settlement. With the active camouflage inactive, they will be able to spot the Phantom easily.”

'He's right. Think Tarya, think, think, think. There has to be way to pass unnoticed in this purple behemoth.' Her eyes widened in realization as she looked at the map. 'Wait. The hull of this version of Phantom is green, not purple.' Her gaze fell on the forest that stretched just outside the town. 'Please, let it be there.'
When she found what she was looking for, the Sangheili equivalent of a smile formed on her face.

“I've found the solution to the problem,” she said with confidence, raising her gaze from the map. “According to the map, not too far from here there's a river that crosses the forest in direction of our target,” she said, highlighting the water course on the holo map. “We'll follow the course of the river, flying just above the level of the canopy of the trees. Given the time of the day and the weather conditions, the color of the hull should be able to blend in with the foliage, while the noise of the running water will cover the engines.” She traced their route on the map. “Once we reach the edges of the forest, the Phantom will leave us in one of these clearings, from which we will reach the town by foot, while the drop ship will return undetected to the battle cruiser thanks to the cover provided by the night.” She looked up at the other officers with expectation.

“Hmm, clever,” Zhar said after a while, deeply immersed in the study of the map.

“It's an audacious plan, Zealot, not without risks. But it can work,” Haka nodded slightly in appreciation, before turning toward Vraal. “What do you think?”

Vraal glanced briefly at the Ultra, then he returned his attention to the map. He reflected in silence for some moments, but he ended up nodding too.

“Alright, let's give it a shot,” he conceded. “Once you reach the town, your primary objective will be to locate the origin of the energy beam and determine if it's effectively a threat to us.”

“How much time do we have?” Zhar asked.

“Thirty six hours. It's the amount of time that the Huragok estimate that will be needed to complete the reparations of our defenses and to access the encrypted communication network.”

“You think that they will attack us once we reveal our existence?”

“Better safe than sorry. Next contact will be once you'll have reached your infiltration point.”
With that said, the communication ended.

Tarya allowed herself to release a sigh of relief. 'Well, it went better than expected,' she thought. ‘At least he didn't order an orbital bombardment on the town.' She quickly chased off that kind of thought from her mind. 'No. Vraal would never take an option like that into account, not only because we're short of plasma.'

After she had put both her weapons in the charging case built-in in the bulkhead that separated the cargo bay from the cockpit, she reached the pilot.

“Did you receive the coordinates?”

“Affirmative,” Gusay said without taking his eyes from the control panel. His fingers seemed to dance on the holographic commands. “I'm inserting them in the navigation system now.”

“Excellent. Bring us to our destination.”

“Aye aye. New route inserted. ETA: one hour at cruising speed.”

The engines turned on with a high-pitched whine as the turbines took speed, until it became the familiar subsonic hum with whereby the Phantom was well known on the battlefields.
Wavering slightly, the drop ship lifted off from the ground until it was just above the level of the roofs. The green aircraft then rotated toward its new objective and accelerated, leaving behind the town of Greenville and its ghost.