//------------------------------// // 33 -- Déjà Vu (Part Two) // Story: Mente Materia // by Arad //------------------------------// “Forgive yourself for not having the foresight to know what now seems so obvious in hindsight.” -Judy Belmont ------ 19:45, 12/16/2015, STRIKE READY ROOM, CANTERLOT Shouts from teams assembling for deployment were met with reports of teams returning from combat, and this was all amplified by the general din of conversation and movement that came with cramming nearly a hundred soldiers of various races into a single room. Zhang, however, was the exception to that rule. As always, his posture was ramrod straight and his hands rested on his legs. His closed eyes and steady breathing gave a strong impression of meditation or some sort of inner peace, but the truth was far different. The effort to regain his inner tranquility wasn’t helped any by the arrival of Captain Harris. “Hey, Zhang,” Matt said conversationally, his volume low enough not to carry much further than the bench that they both now shared. He waited until Zhang opened his eyes before continuing, “How is the new armor treating you? It was tested back on Earth, but this might be the first combat deployment with it if we’re sent out.” Never one to get straight to the point… Zhang thought before glancing down at the armored gauntlets on his hands. “The Nightcrawler armor is lighter and allows for a greater range of motion at the expense of protection and the powered armor component of the Titan armor system. It has yet to be seen how the teleportation system performs when under stress rather than a controlled environment.” “Has Durand complained about how heavy it is yet?” “No, she has not. I have not heard any of her usual complaints since…” Since Sergeant Jenkins was murdered in her bed, where she should have been safe! Zhang thought with a grimace. “... since the last operation. You’ll have to forgive my frankness, but I suspect that’s the main reason for this conversation.” A guilty wince was the initial response from the captain. “I suppose I should have known that beating around the bush wouldn’t work with you. I had a chat with Victor a few days ago, and it highlighted some morale problems that we have at the moment.” Matt finally looked up and met Zhang’s gaze. “I know you tend to keep to yourself and you aren’t going to break down… but I want to know how you’re doing.” It was Zhang’s turn to glance away as he mulled things over. “You and Sergeant Jenkins were aware that I do not fear death. I know that when I put on this armor and ready my weapons, lives are going to end. If mine is one of them, then I am prepared to face it and fight to the last. That is how things are here, and that is how things were during my service with PLASOF. During my ‘independant’ time, though… there was a very real possibility that someone with ill intent would target me during downtime, during a meal, or even when I slept. My encounter with the longma that attacked Alvar was more coincidence than intent, but Sergeant Jenkin’s death…” he clasped his hands before him and let out a breath. “I do not fear death. I fear that it will come for me when I have no means to resist it. I had hoped to never experience it again after I was recruited to XCOM, but now…” No further words came for Zhang, and he gritted his teeth. “After the execution, Captain Armor gave me a report on his investigation. They discovered a security vulnerability that allowed the assassins to evade the guard scanner sweeps of the city. For what it’s worth, it won’t happen again,” Matt explained, frustration apparent in his voice. That frustration vanished immediately with his next words. “Ah, I’ll be right back.” Zhang followed Matt’s gaze, and even amidst the chaos of the ready room it was obvious who he was going toward. “Hey there, Twily. How are you feeling?” As Matt and Twilight spoke, Zhang let himself drift back to his earlier thoughts. Death is a part of this business, but I always expected that myself or one of the others would have fallen first. Given the nature of her gift and her proficiency with it, I would have never thought that Sergeant Jenkins would be laid low. While Zhang hadn’t seen the MEC pilots area after the assassination, it was all too easy for him to conjure up the image of Jenkins lying on the bed with no means of defending herself. It was also too easy for him to imagine himself in that position. “Command, this is Harris,” the mildly annoyed tone from Matt was enough to shake Zhang free of the doubts that gripped him. He looked up to see the captain throwing a sideways glance while Twilight waited patiently beside him. “Understood, I’ll grab a team and we’ll check it out,” Matt replied to whoever was on the other side of the radio before turning back to Twilight. “I’m afraid something’s come up, Twily. Why don’t you get everything set up in my office and I’ll swing by once we get back? It shouldn’t take more than an hour or so.” When Twilight nodded and trotted away, Matt motioned for Zhang to follow towards the teleporter pads. Any questions as to his plans were interrupted when Matt turned towards the entrance to the ready room. “Spiegel! Finch! Durand! Front and center!” The three soldiers in question immediately broke off from the flow of troops reporting for duty. Matt looked each of them in the eyes before he began the briefing. “I just received a report of some kind of incident in a small village, and we’re going to deploy to ensure that there’s nothing going wrong in the area.” “Well, that’s not vague or ominous at all, boss,” Finch muttered before raising his voice to speaking volume. “Any idea what we’re facing? Abduction? Raider on a bombing mission? EXALT being prats?” “Unknown at this time. The only report that’s out of the ordinary is the contact from the Changeling network went dark with no explanation. According to the last report, nothing out of the ordinary was happening… then, nothing.” Matt explained. Finch’s expression soured. “EXALT Jammers could cut the signal, but they’d have to get close to deploy, which would raise an alarm. The poor changeling clod could have been in the very first spot that got bombed, but that doesn’t seem likely…” “Or it could be nothing,” Durand added, and she immediately recoiled when both Finch and Spiegel gave her angry looks. “What? It could be nothing!” Finch covered his face and groaned. “Dear, when has it ever been nothing when someone makes a comment like that? I’m calling it right now, this op’s going to be so sideways that it’ll be in reverse.” “There have been no sightings of ships descending from orbit, or any reports of rotor noise from helicopters. If this isn’t nothing, then we might be facing something new,” Matt explained, and he took a moment to put on his helmet. He waited for the others to follow suit, and his voice now came through the radio channel. “Even if it is something, I think we can handle it. Among other things, the town is playing host to nearly a thousand griffon refugees, so if it’s a minor abduction mission then the alien troops will probably be all dead when we get there.” The chuckles on the radio were weak and forced as the group assumed their positions on the teleport zone. Taking the Mente Materia members on an easy mission will help their confidence, Zhang concluded as he knelt with the others in the squad, and his respect for Matt grew just a bit more. The unicorn in charge of the teleport sequence began to bellow a count down, and Zhang closed his eyes to prevent himself from being dazzled by the gathering magic. I just hope that it’s as easy a deployment as you expect it to be… ------ 19:45, 12/16/2015, SITUATION ROOM, CANTERLOT It took no small amount of effort for Shining Armor to keep his mind from wandering while the various assorted creatures in the situation room ran from place to place. The global map in the center of the room was almost completely devoid of reported enemy contacts, save for one team responding to a report of a UFO flying a tad too close to Shirogane’s lair; with predictable results. The relative tranquility made it far too easy for the unicorn captain to lose focus. I’ve not felt this way since before the wedding… Shining shook his head to try and clear the cobwebs from his thoughts, but the feeling in the pit of his stomach only seemed to worsen. That’s not right, what I’m feeling now is ten times worse. Shining had expected to feel some lingering negativity after the execution, either misplaced guilt at not objecting or the lingering doubt that the whole situation had inspired over the past couple of days. What he was feeling now was an oppressive sense of wrongness about something he wasn’t aware of was making him twitch. ‘Dread’ may have been the best way to describe the experience, if he could just pin down what exactly was inspiring the emotion in him. “Excuse me, Captain?” The question nearly caused the unicorn to jump, and he turned quickly towards the speaker. Firecracker offered an apologetic smile before continuing, “I didn’t mean to startle you, but there’s a message for you.” Rather than elaborate any further, she stepped to the side to reveal filly that was an identical match for the older changeling. The younger version scrambled to stay behind the older, but that didn’t stop her from peeking around Firecracker’s legs at Shining. The mare wrapped one hoof around the filly and scooted her to the front while chuckling. “If you’re going to talk to somepony, you shouldn’t be hiding, Firefly.” The filly, Firefly, gave one last pleading look towards Firecracker. When no help was apparent from that front, she slowly stood and looked up to Shining. “Mom wants me to tell you something. She says, ‘I would not blame you for being skeptical of my words, but I wanted to share my condolences for your loss. Equestria is a sadder place without your wife. My words may have no worth to you, but I am sorry.’” It hadn’t taken long for Shining to realise just who ‘Mom’ was in this conversation, and he had to restrain the impulse to walk away or snarl with an angry retort. He was in the process of forming a polite reply when Firefly continued to talk and completely derailed his train of thought. “‘Now smile like I taught you so that he won’t be angry and why are you still repeating everything I’m--’,” An alarmed look crossed Firefly’s face before it settled in an apparently well rehearsed grin. The slip elicited a facehoof from Firecracker, and a small chuckle from Alvar, who had also arrived while Shining had been far too lost in his thoughts. If that was a rehearsed slip-up designed to diffuse my temper… it worked. Well played, Shining thought as he suppressed his own laugh. “Tell your mother that her well wishes are appreciated,” he replied diplomatically, but for all of his willpower and diplomatic training he couldn’t force himself to wish her a speedy recovery. Shining was saved from delivering the insincere platitude when he noticed that the smile had disappeared from Firefly’s face. “Is something wrong?” “Mom says that the relay drone in Shoe Falls just partitioned herself from the hive,” the changeling filly reported. “There was no enemy activity observed, and the drone was in no danger of being revealed by the local populace either…” The dread that Shining had been feeling since the execution had been momentarily forgotten with Firefly’s arrival, but it came flooding back with a vengeance at the report. “Has there been any UFO descent reported in that area?” he asked, and the observer on duty responded with a quick ‘no.’ Changelings don’t partition themselves for no reason… right? We have to be sure. One hoof reached up to tap his headset. “Harris, Command.” “Command, this is Harris,” came the response after a moment. A brief exchange went between the two before he acknowledged the orders and apparently making arrangements to meet Twilight in his office when he returned before the link was cut. That led to an entirely different set of worries that Shining had been making a strenuous effort to avoid. Was I always this helpless without you, Cadance? I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so alone in my life… “I don’t need to be a changeling to know you’re bothered about something, captain. It’s written all over your face,” Firecracker said, her voice quiet enough to nearly be lost in the general din of the situation room. A sympathetic look was on her face when Shining turned to look at her, and she held his gaze before glancing over at her younger sibling and Alvar on the perimeter of the room. “It isn’t my place to pry answers out of you. You’ve got family to do that.” Firecracker’s tone had been distant and likely intended to be reassuring, but it still struck Shining like an arrow to the heart. Firecracker’s voluntarily exiled herself from her own kind, and Alvar’s the last of his line. I don’t know if there’s any loss I will ever suffer that will be worse than Cadance… but I’ve not lost everything, he thought. Maybe I should take my next day off and spend the day at home. If Twilight can find the time, then we can spend some family time together… It was a happy thought to entertain, but now wasn’t the time to daydream. He shook his head and looked back to thank Firecracker for her help, only to notice that the disguised changeling’s attention was now on the monitors that lined the wall. Shining followed her gaze, and he immediately tapped his headset radio. “Harris, Command, what’s going on?” The reply was nearly drowned out by the sound of screams. “Command, Harris! The entire town’s panicking, but we have no confirmed alien contacts!” The monitor from the human’s armor cam showed ponies running as though a dragon was chasing them, though no threat was visible. “We’re going to need backup to restore order if this keeps up!” “I’ve got eyes on one of the garrison guards! Get out and help, you clod!” came a shout through the radio, and the odd accent made it immediately recognizable as the human named Finch. His armor camera bobbed as he sprinted towards the pony in question; an Earth Pony in mail armor cowering beneath a wagon. The guard spotted the approaching soldier and bolted from beneath the wagon, screaming with every step. The next report came from Durand, her voice frail and shaking. “I can feel their fingers on my mind… their breath on my shoulder... One of them is here. One of them is here!” The feed from Zhang’s armor cam flashed, and the street view was replaced with a rooftop. “Command, Zhang. I have eyes on an enemy craft, Overseer class, hovering below the building level near the town square--” The report halted with a swift inhale as the camera feed zoomed in on a distant rooftop beside the hovering UFO. A pair of white-armored mutons surveyed the anarchy from their vantage point, while something that could be described as an armored casket hovered upright behind them. The camera view was focused on the last of the aliens on the rooftop. It stood serenely at the head of the group, the entirety of its head hidden beneath a glossy black helmet. A quintet of sword-like objects hovered serenely behind it, and a black and gold robe hid the entirety of its rail thin body. “Command, eyes on Ethereal plus escorts in the town square!” Zhang shouted before he let loose a LANC shot that cut through the evening gloom towards the alien leader. The Ethereal, either by sheer luck or sensing the killing intent directed toward it, twisted to the side to face Zhang. The movement was enough for the headshot to miss by less than an inch. The reaction from the aliens was immediate. The two mutons immediately interposed themselves to shield the Ethereal and the casket, both of which began a retreat towards the Raider. The five floating devices that hovered behind the Ethereal did not follow. They jerked upwards and shifted towards the Zhang like a flock of birds sighting prey, and a hail of plasma fire leapt from them. The camera angle tilted sideways as Zhang dove for cover. As soon as the plasma fusillade halted, he ducked up from cover just in time to see the alien quartet vanish into the Raider. The UFO rose above the rooftops and rapidly accelerated, but not before disgorging nearly a dozen heavy floaters. The sight of the enemy reinforcements snapped Shining out of the shock that had gripped him. “I want a dragon in the air to chase off that airship, and two more full teams with pegasi and griffons to fight those heavy floaters! Now!” Shining roared, and the disciplined technicians within the situation room suited action to his words without hesitation. “Captain… those aren’t floaters,” the words came from Firecracker, and the faint tremble in her voice gave Shining enough reason to glance back. The changeling stared at the screens with horrified eyes, and her expression was mirrored by Alvar’s. Shining once again glanced back to the screens, and his expression soon came to match the others. The flying enemies bore a superficial resemblance to the mutilated monsters that the aliens fielded, being little more than torsos being propelled through the air, but that was where the similarities ended. The engines that kept the horrors aloft were mounted on mechanical pinions that sprouted from their backs, giving them the appearance of having wings of smoke and fire. The left arm ended in a heavy plasma weapon while the right held a fist full of foot-long metal talons. The most telling feature was its head, being little more than a bald and scarred lump of flesh married to metal and electronics… and one very easily identifiable facial feature. “Revenants…” Alvar whispered, but anything else he might have said was overpowered by the sounds of the Myrmidon’s talons gouging into the marble floor as they clenched into fists. ------ 18:00, STREETS OF SHOE FALLS I hate it when Finch is right about these kinds of things. If we survive this, he’s going be insufferable, Matt lamented as he stepped out from cover to take a shot at the flying aliens. Five of the flying horrors had begun to orbit above the town, and they immediately scattered and reformed when Matt fired. He had to dive through a storefront window to evade the rain of return fire. A strangled gasp was the first sign that he wasn’t alone in his temporary refuge. A half-dozen griffons cowered in the corner, and they all recoiled and scrambled into the farthest corners of the store when Matt rose to his feet. “It’s all right, I’m with the Equestrians,” Matt offered as he turned toward the shattered glass he had used as an entry point. Despite the offered explanation, the griffons continued their desperate search for a somewhere to hide from him. What would make them act like this? During the attack on Canterlot, nearly every griffon in the city was in the fight without hesitation. Could the Ethereal have done this? We haven’t encountered one that could panic an entire city… Any further musing was put on hold by a shout from the street. “REVENANTS! REVENANTS IN THE SKY!” The scream was filled with equal parts outrage and horror, and didn’t have a single ounce of the fear that gripped the city. “To arms! TO ARMS!” The effect on the griffons in the shop was immediate. Almost as one, they straightened and rushed towards the broken storefront. Shovels, rakes, and other tools were stripped from the shelves as the passed, and they all launched themselves into the air the moment they cleared the shattered glass at the entrance. “Harris, Spiegel. I’m near one of the refugee centers and the griffons just took everything that wasn’t nailed down before heading outside.” Panting could be heard on the line as Victor apparently ran to keep up. “What’s going on out there?” That’s a damned good question… “This is Harris, regroup on my position, double time! Enemy has deployed modified heavy floaters, and I don’t want anyone getting cut off!” Harris shouted as he leapt out of the shattered storefront. His rifle swept upward, but the suddenly congested skies kept him from firing. Dozens of griffons had launched themselves into the air, each of them carrying some sort of improvised weapon in their talon. Repeated shouts of ‘Revenants!’ continued to echo through the streets, and the number of griffons lifting off nearly doubled before Matt’s eyes. As one, they charged. The enemy formation immediately broke as the fliers scattered. Stuttering bursts of plasma fire lanced out towards the oncoming tide of griffon refugees, and they avoided each attack like a school of fish parting before a barracuda. For all of the alien enhancements and technology, it wasn’t long before the dogfight broke down into a mid-air melee. Despite the suddenly congested skies, the heavy floaters dodged and wove through the air with far more grace than anything Matt had ever seen before on Earth. One such floater spun in a roll to avoid a griffon wielding a garden hoe like a pickaxe, stopping for just a moment to fire a single plasma shot into the attacker. It continued the spiral maneuver, the talon-tipped left arm picking off two incoming strikes from a cricket bat and a spade before slashing the bladed digits across the attackers. The three attackers tumbled from the sky trailing blood and feathers, only to be caught at the last minute by another wave of griffons poised to join the fray. The floater paused for just a moment to deliver a coup de grace on the wounded griffons, but was interrupted by a fourth griffon that launched a spinning attack with a sledge hammer. The blunt weapon connected squarely with one of the rocket armatures holding the alien aloft and snapped it in two, which sent the alien spiraling downward to the street. Matt trained his weapon on the downed floater as he approached, and he fired a quick snap shot as the crashed floater flipped over and used its remaining rocket to lunge at him. The LANC rifle shot was on the mark, connecting squarely with the alien’s skull and blasting clean through its body. The lunge became an uncontrolled tumble as the corpse crashed back to the ground and went still. He had almost walked past the body but was forced to do a stunned double-take to confirm what he was seeing. Aside from the different arrangement for the propulsion system, the corpse was strikingly similar to the heavy floaters that had been encountered on Earth, right down to the naked augments plugged into the poor creature’s skull. There was one other major difference: the corpse lying on the ground had a beak. “Command, Harris. Enemies in the zone are not floaters. New designation is Revenant,” Matt reported, and he slowly looked up to the massacre that was happening in the skies. More than a hundred griffons now flooded the skies in pursuit of the other Revenants, but with not nearly as much luck as the first kill. The way they’re charging is suicidal! I need to do something or this is going to be a bloodbath… A dozen desperate plans were discarded before a thought occurred to him. There is no chance that this is going to work… but I have to try. If there’s even a shred of the creatures Zhang has talked about left in them, then it should make them hesitate at least, he thought as he placed his rifle on the ground beside him, and drew his sword. Now I just have to get their attention. Of all the things that Matt thought to say, the challenge that came to him was the one line from the one book he could ever remember reading in literature class in high school. The quote had been from a man to an unstoppable beast, and it seemed a perfect fit for the griffon flair for the dramatic when it came to personal combat. Dire circumstances and thematic synergy didn’t make it any less embarrassing for him to shout at the top of his lungs. “REVENANTS! TO THE LAST I GRAPPLE WITH THEE!” Matt bellowed, his voice amplified by the speakers built into his helmet. He waved his sword before pointing it skyward, and every one of the remaining Revenants whirled around to face him. “FROM HELL’S HEART I STAB AT THEE!” Matt continued, and the brief bit of hope at his spur of the moment plan working turned into alarm as every single Revenant in the sky abandoned their current dogfights to full-burn charge towards him. “FOR HATE’S SAKE I SPIT MY LAST BREATH AT THEE!” he finished and set himself into his best guess at a defensive stance with the sword before him. Well, at least they don’t seem to want to use their plasma rifles… not that it’ll matter much, Matt thought as the remaining nine Revenants closed the distance, talons-first. A whip-crack rifle report echoed down the street followed by a LANC beam, and one of the Revenants tumbled to the ground. A second and a third shot cut through the night, and two more enemies went down. Weapons fire, both LANC and plasma, flew out from the nearby alleyways and rooftops to catch the enemies in a crossfire. Only one Revenant was able to get through the weapons fire unscathed, talon raised high for a descending strike. Matt shifted his stance to try and intercept the strike with the sword, only for a burst of laser fire to zip less than a handspan from his shoulder to connect with the Revenant’s face. “D-did I get it?” Durand asked from somewhere behind Matt, and her shaky voice rose into a cheer when the last Revenant failed to rise. “I got one!” “All Revenants are down,” Zhang reported through the radio, and Matt saw the sniper rise from a rooftop position several blocks away when he turned around. “Durand, we may need to discuss proper firing procedure when friendlies are near the line of fire…” Durand’s indignant protest was lost in the background as Spiegel and Finch emerged from the nearby buildings in the alleyway. “Nice move with the sword there, boss. Got the enemies to funnel themselves nice and neat into the killzone,” Finch complimented, before his voice took on a smug tone. “Oh, and does anyone hear a phone ringing? Because I fucking called it!” Groans could be heard throughout the radio channel, but Matt couldn’t force himself to reprimand the soldier for radio discipline in an active operation. I’m glad noone was hurt… we really needed this win, he thought to himself as he sheathed his sword and retrieved his rifle. “All right, operation’s not done yet. I want a sweep just to make sure that we’re clear, and we’re going to help the following squads restore order. Understood?” “Yes, sir!” came the chorus of replies. ------ 00:15, 12/17/2015, OFFICE OF CAPTAIN MATTHEW HARRIS, CANTERLOT It had taken nearly six hours to restore order to the town, with a large detachment of Equestrians being deployed to get control of the situation. Every single resident had been enraptured by some sort of inescapable terror that overruled all reason for them, and it seemed that only the passage of time lessened the effect enough that the affected citizens could be sedated for treatment. The exception to this had been the griffons. The moment the last of the Revenants had fallen, the refugees had lined the roof edges for the entire street that Matt’s impromptu ambush had taken place, and their attention had been divided equally between the enemy corpses and staring at Matt as he and the rest of his men swept through the city. While not stricken with the panic that affected the Equestrians, none of the griffons had been able to speak a single word until the effects had worn off. Things had only been further complicated when their dragon support had returned to report that the alien ship had fled through speed alone rather than ascending back into orbit, which raised a very real possibility of an alien base of operations somewhere on the planet. It also meant that orbital detection wouldn’t be enough to warn of an incoming attack by whatever had caused the entire town to lose it’s mind. Once everything was said and done, the humans had returned to Canterlot for some well-earned rest; for most of them at least. I know I’m forgetting something, but what is it? Matt asked himself as he stepped into his office. The lights were low to account for the late evening hour but bright enough for him to shuffle over to his desk to hopefully find some sign of what he was missing. The reinforcements from Earth are expected tomorrow morning… but that’s already been arranged. Their lodging arrangements and arrival times have already been hashed out with the quartermasters… What is it that I’m missing? The soft sound of movement from behind triggered an immediate response from Matt, and he whirled around… and found the answer to his question. The coffee table on the opposite side of the room was covered from end to end in neatly ordered stacks of paper, some ranging from just a couple sheets while others were more than an inch high. Several pens were arranged in the center of the table, and a pair of empty saddlebags could be seen leaning against one of the table legs. The source of the noise had come from the couch by the table, as Twilight Sparkle shifted in her sleep. Oh… I told her it would just be an hour, didn’t I? Matt recalled as he ran a hand over his face. He made his way over to the couch as quietly as he could and sat beside Twilight. His right hand absently moved to scratch the base of her ear, which caused her to shift again in her sleep. What would Lana think if she were to just walk in right now? She’d probably crack some joke about molesting the princess in her sleep. That bittersweet thought led to a fridge realisation. You don’t know anything about Equestrian social boundaries. How do you know you aren’t molesting her in her sleep right now? The moment the thought struck him, his hand flew away from Twilight’s head as though it was on fire. She asked me to do it before, on Earth! There’s nothing wrong with it! The argument was immediately rebutted with a counter statement. She was dying at the time, people ask for strange stuff when they see the end coming, don't they? As… as much as I would rather avoid it, I might want to talk to Firecracker, just so that I’m not embarrassing myself and Twilight in the process. In the process of… what? Just what are you planning to do with her? Rather than address the armor piercing question, Matt instead elected to follow the example that men had been setting for thousands of years… and focused on something else instead. All of the papers on the coffee table were written in English, and it took only a moment to divine their purpose. She’s laid out a plan for Gifted humans to counter the Jammer grenades… and she’s also worked out lesson plans for every member she knows about to hone their powers, Matt realised as he scanned the various lists that had been arrayed on the table. This is really going to help us, Twilight. Now, it would be a shame if I depended on you to do everything, wouldn’t it? With a sigh that was most definitely not a strangled yawn, he reached out towards one of the pens in the middle of the table so he could add his own notes and feedback to all of the work that Twilight had already done.