Falling Into Place
-----
“So, let’s see, that’ll be ten full medical kits per bomb, plus a couple doctor’s bags for good measure. That’ll come to 4000 caps, then there’s free checkups and upgrades to any and all implants for the next year, add on the clause that if it’s not an emergency, Night Strike gets to be the one pressing the button for the first megaspell detonation, and I think we’ll be even. Well, we'll be even after the standing debt has been fulfilled, of course,” I ran the numbers through my head, making sure to carry the 2’s and add on the percent interest… “Yeah, that seems about right.”
“Eh, yeah, sure…” Jean mumbled, handing over the requisite down payment of caps and medical supplies while the others finished up securing the bombs to their wagon. She scratched her head as she tried to make sense of the calculations, before giving up entirely and turning to trot back to the carts. I jangled the caps about in my hooves for a moment, smiling as I felt the weight to be satisfactory, before slipping them into my saddlebags and returning to the entrance to the sub pen. Night Strike was leaning up against the side, still regaining a bit of her breath after it had been knocked out by Jean’s embrace.
“Jeez, Static, don’t you think we have enough caps by now? I mean, what the heck do we even have to spend them on anymore? We’ve already got free room and board where we need it, medical costs, enough ammo to last us at least a few months, most of which we didn't even buy in the first place… You aren’t seriously planning on spending it all on snack cakes, are you?” She teased, poking me in the side. I passed on a roll of my eyes, heading into the sub pen as she followed behind, Aerith following in past us to retrieve another two of the bombs.
I let off a small sigh, both of us heading through a doorway labeled 'Operations', myself sitting down in one of the office chairs surrounding the large table. “Hey, you never know when there’s some piece of old-world tech you might want to buy, maybe Pearl’s discovered some way to turn ponies into alicorns without destroying their identity. Don’t act like you wouldn’t like being able to throw fireballs around with your head,” I grinned, letting off a small chuckle. Night Strike only raised an eyebrow in response, and I shrugged to answer her. “Well, at the very least we can get more ammo if we need it. Knowing you, the stuff we have is more likely to last a week at most, given your bad aim and tendency to overkill things."
Night Strike simply let out a short laugh, punching my shoulder lightly. “You’re the one calling me a bad shot? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you hit something smaller than the side of a building with Minty’s old pistol. Celestia forbid, if you had a Balefire Egg Launcher you’d probably blow up everything but the Hellhound five feet in front of you!” I grumbled a bit, scrunching my muzzle and avoiding her gaze. Hey, I managed to shoot a bloatsprite... once. Granted, I was aiming at a tin can on a fence at the time, but that's still a pretty hard target to hit!
The heavy thuds of Scouring’s hoofsteps met our ears, and we turned to see the power-armor clad unicorn trotting up from the basement area down the hall, a small stack of holotapes hovering in his magic as he entered the room. “Ay, I think I found something you guys’ll want t' see.” He trotted over to us, slipping one of the holotapes into a terminal on the conference room table. The fans began to whirr to life as the terminal booted up, Night Strike wiping some of the dust off the screen as it did. Scouring punched a few commands into the console, bringing up the data on the holotape - the screen flickered for a moment, before a map of the wasteland appeared. Markings indicated each town and military base, detailed information scrolling out on the side of the screen, such as elevations, distances, and several files labeled ‘Troop movements’.
Scouring selected one of the items, several dots appearing on the map, along with pathway markers and estimated travel times. The current one selected detailed the amount of time estimated to move several standard unmotorized ground troops from Seahoof Armory to the areas surrounding Vanhoover. Scouring tapped down to another, now indicating plans of starving out Hopeville and Maple Creek, as well as shutting down the various railways scattered throughout the region. Wearing a grimace, Scouring shut the program down and ejected out the holotape, before sliding another one into the terminal, the computer whirring as it read the data.
Rather than tactical maneuvers, this holotape simply contained several large picture files. Selecting one, the screen froze for a moment before the terminal began to slowly render a set of blueprints, Scouring letting out a small gasp of surprise. It was difficult to tell at first, but as the picture slowly loaded in, it became clear the designs were of some form of massive rocket propulsion system. The details were a mess of complicated measurements and requirements, something only someone well versed in mechanical engineering could even come close to comprehending - oh, where's Greasy when I need her? “Holy shit… I guess we know what they were after, then,” Night Strike muttered, her eyes scanning the screen as she tried to make sense of the information being displayed.
Scouring ejected the tape, starting to scoop up the others and stash them in his saddle-bags. “This is bad, this is really, really bad. If anypony, especially the ones working with Cerberus, got their hooves on these documents, we’d be lookin' at the great war all over again.” He was looking far more stressed than I had ever seen him, moving to rush out of the base. “I gotta get these to the Rangers immediately, they should be able to keep them safe. Out of dangerous hooves, at least.”
“Woah, woah, hold up right there!” A voice echoed from the hallway. As we looked up, Crash Dive was standing at the entrance, stepping up to intercept Scouring’s escape. “You just said if anypony got their hooves on these it would be disastrous. Forgive me if I decide to take that to mean your Rangers wouldn’t be any better equipped to house that information. Honestly, I’d feel better with it in the hands of some random wastelander, they at least don’t have the technological know-how or the raw troop numbers to actually make use of that information.”
Scouring paused, letting out a grunt of frustration as he tried to move around Crash Dive. “We’re a damn sight a better choice than those ex-Enclave bastards, and do you have any idea what the Elder might do to me if he ever found out this kind of information existed and we just let it go? Cerberus might already have this information, this might be the only way we can actually build an actual means to strike back!”
“And what happens if you lose this information on the way back to your base? Or if your Elder decides that he isn’t comfortable with all the towns around here having the amount of ordinance that they do? If those dragons weren’t coming here to destroy this place, that means they thought there was something here worth retrieving that they don’t have. After all we've done, do you think I - anyone - would want another Grand Pegasus Enclave out in the wasteland? We burn those tapes before anypony, and I mean anypony gets their hooves on them.” Crash Dive stood steadfast between Scouring and the exit, glaring the unicorn down.
Scouring glared right back, occasionally glancing to the holotapes still hovering in his magic. The two stood still, waiting for the other to break first. Finally, Scouring turned his head, letting out another grunt as he walked away from Crash Dive. “Gah, fock! Fuck, we cannae jus' burn these tapes, we don’t know what Cerberus is fully capable of, an' this might be our only means out!” He shoved the holotapes towards Crash Dive, several clattering to the floor as his magic faded from around them. He gave a raspy breath, leaning against one of the desks for support as he looked up towards Crash Dive. “You better know what the hell you’re doing.”
The power armored pegasus didn’t say anything, instead gathering up the tapes and beginning to trot back downstairs. I pushed myself up from the chair, Night Strike following closely behind Crash Dive as she exited the room. I paused, glancing over to Scouring, who just watched the pair head downstairs towards the records room. “Scouring… what’s wrong? I've never seen you be so… loyal to the preservation of tech, I guess is the best way to put it…” I asked. He gave a sigh, looking away from the stairwell back to me.
“Crash Dive’s right, lad. Our Elder… he’s gettin' worried. A year ago, and we were the biggest threat to this area, short of a rogue typhoon, anyways. He never planned on launching any sort of invasion, o' course, but... it’s pretty jarring to lose that sense of security so quickly. The tech in there… that might have given us the leg up we needed again. Between Cerberus, the Vanhoover Air Base, every town being equipped with enough firepower to wipe out each other, not to mention that Valkyrie of yours…” He let out another sigh, trying to maintain his composure. “Sorry, I know ye don’t mean harm, you’re not planning on attackin' our Stable, but… Well, it’s going to be a lot harder avoiding conflict now. What’s gonna happen when Cerberus is taken care of? If anypony finds out the location of our base, and all the tech we’ve got… well, power armor and lasers are only so effective. And that’s just assuming all the towns stay on good terms with each other, too. Sometimes things are kept locked up for a good reason.”
I looked down at the floor, unsure of what to say. We simply stood together in silence, the occasional sound of wind whipping in from outside the only thing to break it. There came the hoofsteps of Night Strike and Crash Dive from the basement, the mares stepping back into the conference room again. Night Strike let off a sigh, adjusting her duffel bag slightly as Crash Dive produced a detonator. “Alright, we’ve got the records room rigged to burn, along with the holotapes. We’ll step outside and light it up, shouldn’t take too long for everything to go up.” Scouring nodded solemnly, and we all headed out into the cold air. Aerith was standing beside a neatly-stacked pile of the remaining megaspells, entertaining herself by doodling in the snow with a stick as Pearl and the other Triage doctors worked with them in turn. She looked up as we approached, wearing a grin, as Crash Dive held the detonator for the records room in her hoof. She pressed the button, and a moment later a muffled bang could be heard from inside the sub pen, Scouring letting off a defeated sigh.
Ensuring the Triage and the HMS Mercy crew would be able to handle the hand-off to whoever the Vanhoover Air Base were sending to get the bombs, we began to load up onto the Clydesdale, Crash Dive, Scouring, and Aerith piling into the back seat as Night Strike and I climbed up into the front. The engine rumbled to life as I started it up, tracks digging into the melting snow and pulling us forwards, away from the large concrete structure and the few ponies milling about outside of it. I looked back towards it through the rear-view mirror, letting off a quiet sigh of my own - it's better for everyone like this...
---
Night Strike and myself hopped out of the Clydesdale as I brought us back to the path to the land bridge and shut off the engine, the others hopping out of the back seat and onto the snow below. We all made our way back towards the lighthouse, the beam at the top cutting into the small bit of fog rolling in from the sea. The door to the small house at the base of the lighthouse creaked as Crash Dive pulled it open, the rest of us funneling in to get out of the crisp air. Night Strike and I slid into the table in the kitchen, Crash Dive and Scouring standing a bit further away from each other than they normally did. Aerith opened one of the cupboards to rummage around for a can of Cram.
‘So, what next, then?’ Aerith’s magic sign read as she turned around, sliding into the booth next to Night Strike. She pulled open the can of Cram, chomping down on the preserved hay as Night Strike placed her leg with her Pip-Buck up on the table. She fiddled with the knobs for a minute, before pulling up her map... I think.
“Hey, Crash Dive, you got any paper handy, or something?” Night Strike asked. Crash Dive nodded, leaving the room only to return a moment later with a large sheet of parchment, quill, and ink vial. She rolled out the paper, Night Strike picking the quill up in her mouth. She began to sketch little symbols out onto the parchment, the occasional splotch of ink falling from the tip of the quill onto the paper as she worked. After a few minutes, a crude mockup of her Pip-Buck’s map had been created, albeit one with significantly more lines and numbers than I remember a Pip-buck normally showing... unless... “Alright, it’s probably about time we actually try and come up with some plan of attack.”
“Eheh, well, first of all, we should probably take care of the fact that Vanhoover looks like it just suffered from a tidal wave. It’s half the size it should be!” I remarked, wearing a smirk and pointing out Night Strike’s crude sketch of the location. She let out an exasperated sigh, Crash Dive smacking me upside the head. Ow, geez! Don’t need to get rough at a bad joke… I shook my head, looking at the crude map and noticing a few new marks over by the location of Fort Maple. I lifted a hoof to point at it, only just now noticing Scouring's wide-eyed expression. “Hold on, what're those? I don’t have any of that on my map.”
Crash Dive looked apologetically over to Scouring before speaking, letting off a quiet sigh. “Alright, we didn’t actually burn everything that the sub pen had. A complete topographical map of the region with marked routes is relatively harmless, and not to mention completely invaluable. As for the locations, it looks like the Tobuck turrets all were linked to central command bunkers in the mountains, and there’s a small forward field base near the bottom of the mountain in the Vanhoover floodplains as well. If we were to assault that place early on, it would give us another good jumping off point for the full attack, besides Saddlebrook. The problem will just be taking it without being blown up by whatever guns they might have, or without them notifying the main base for reinforcements. It’d take about 10 minutes at the most for a few dragons or Harriers to swoop in and bomb the place, assuming we can catch them offguard.”
‘There isn’t any kind of Electromagnetic Pulse Megaspell, is there? We wouldn’t need the electronics, and more than likely anything they have running the place would be fried by them.’ Aerith suggested. Scouring rubbed the back of his neck, thinking things over.
“Well, an actual megaspell would fry the circuits of everythin' in there easy, problem is that it would also make the rest of the area pretty much unusable. Not to mention it’d be just as bad as setting up a giant flag above the base sayin' ‘attack here!’.” Scouring looked down at the map, thinking some more. “But… lightning might be able to generate a small EMP, or at the very least overload any circuits they might have. If we can get a strike on some sensitive equipment with the Valkyrie’s tesla cannons, that might shut things down just long enough to make a swift attack before anypony up at the main fort notices. Then, we'd just need to make sure they don’t notice the Valkyrie flying in.”
I leaned back in the chair, mulling things over. “I’d rather not go flying in a thunderstorm if we can avoid it, maybe we can set up a diversion with some of the tank ghouls?” I sat back up, pointing out a small valley near the base of the mountain not very far from the forward base. “We set a couple of the tank ghouls up there, no more than half of them. We don’t want Cerberus firing off their megaspells thinking we’re launching the full assault just yet, but they can probably hold out against any retaliation while we take care of the forward base. If they start to get overwhelmed, we can fly over and offer support. Just have to cross our hooves they don’t fire off their megaspells as a first strategy…” I said, sounding less confident of the plan with every word.
“Unless the HMS Cadence has the reach with her main guns to help out too, I think that’s the best we have right now. Once we have that base set up and take care of the Tobuck turrets in the mountain passes, then we’ll need to get in and sabotage the main Fort before we launch the full-on attack,” Night Strike looked over at me for a lng moment, before releasing a small sigh. “You and Aerith will have to go in again, and get into the lower levels this time. Taking out the power would probably be the best option, but finding the Cerberus guy and killing him would hopefully cause enough chaos for the rest of us to sweep in.”
“…are you absolutely, positively, without a doubt sure we can’t just plainly try blowing the place up? I’d really rather not risk being sliced open by robot dragons again.” Night Strike gave me a slightly worried look, biting at her lip as she turned eyes down to her map. Crash Dive, on the other hand, was quick to pass on a firm glare, causing me to grimace and look back down at the plans once more. Hey, I’m sorry if my self-preservation instincts are kicking in again! “Yeesh, alright... Too bad we don’t have dad down here. Then he could at least teleport us out of there easily once we shut everything down, so then you could bomb it without worry.”
Night Strike chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Sparky, if we had our dads here now, we wouldn't have to be sticking around to see this crazy plan through. Besides, they probably would’ve blown the place up already with the TOG.” I grinned, shaking my head a bit. Twintails probably would be the kind of pony to go charging into the middle of a fortified military base with something that moved barely faster than a brisk jog... Night Strike let off a sigh, pulling her Pip-buck-clad foreleg off of the table. “Well, that’s probably as good of a plan as we’re going to get. At least until we can actually talk with the Rangers and ghouls at the forward base, and the Cadence is fully operational.” Night Strike looked down at the paper, realizing the amount of wasted space. “…I probably didn’t really need to draw this map out, to be honest.”
“Well, you’re jus' practicing your cartography skills fer when we need to display the plans to everyone, lass. Just get your scalin' down right, don’t want to accidentally send 'em ten miles further north than they need to go,” Scouring joked. Night Strike flicked a dab of ink at him, besmudging his bright white coat. Scouring just chuckled, wiping his coat clean as Crash Dive rolled up the parchment.
“Alright, that’s enough planning for now. Next thing you know you two are going to be planning to attack the base by building a giant trebuchet.” She slipped the paper into a compartment on her power armor, picking up the inkwell and trotting to place them back in the closet. Yeah, I could go for some dinner, it isn't smart to plan on an empty stomach, after all... Night Strike began to fiddle with her Pip-buck again, searching for the radio station, as I leaned forward to swipe some of Aerith’s Cram. A large trumpet fanfare began to play, the singer’s voice fading in.
“I was walking along, minding my business,
When love came and hit me in the eye,
Flash! Bam! Alakazam!
Out of an Orange-colored, purple-striped,
Fruity green polka-dot sky!
Flash! Bam!
Alakazam, and Good-bye!”
"That was Nat King Colt, Orange-Colored Sky, and you're listening to K A O S, KAOS in Vanhoover. This fine evening our top story today continues to be in regards to the first taste of actual combat we've seen here on the HMS Cadence, with the flak gunners quite happily having marked down their kills on the insides of their armored turrets, two large robo-dragons gone the way of the cloudshi- a-ahm, eheh, I mean, uh... Mmh, moving on.
"In other news, we've just gotten reports that the Triage and the Vanhoover Air Base are collaborating together on something, though exact details are a little fuzzy at this time. Far as we know, they might be attempting to see if you can run a fixed-wing flying machine on pony power alone, heh. Whatever it is, apparently the Vanhoover Five did have a hoof in it, so chances are high it's gotta be something worthwhile if nothing else.
"Anyways, as we wrap up this block of assorted songs from our record collection before moving on to full albums again, here's a little somethin' upbeat for your dinnertime listening. Keep an eye out in the sky for 99 Red Balloons, everyone, heh. Enjoy."
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A long yawn escaped me as I trotted down the short hallway to the kitchen, scratching at my back slightly underneath my heavy jacket. Another day, another need for some of that sweet, sweet nectar of the goddesses... bluh, sooner we can get this overwith, the sooner I can go back to sleeping in again. Trotting over to the fridge, the power armored pegasus moved to talk to me, as I popped open another one of the glowing bottles and started drinking from it. A quarter of the way through the bottle, I lifted my free hoof towards Crash Dive, not dropping it until half the glowing liquid had been emptied out of it. "Mmh, alright, I'm awake now. What's going on today?"
Crash Dive held a glare towards me for a few moments, before simply letting off a sigh and giving her head a shake. "We're still getting some things sorted, Static and Aerith went off to Maple Creek to see how Sulfur was getting along with the gun schematics we'd brought to her and Scouring's up on top of the tower trying to get a signal out to his group of rangers, but I just got a bit of interesting news from Lt. Col. Tail End you might want to hear." I blunk a few times, taking another gulp of soda from the bottle. Leiutenant Colonel Tail End... come on, brain, work with me here. Probably isn't Crash Dive's old squad, maybe her old commanding officer gone good, or something? Or... the power armored pegasus let off a sigh, bringing a hoof to her forehead for a moment. "He's the commander of the group we sent over to the HMS Cadence."
"...I knew that. I mean, I would've gotten there eventually, eheheh..." Rubbing at the back of my head and letting off a weak chuckle, I sat myself down in the booth, glancing out the bay window. Rather nice clear day today... "So, uh, anyways, what's the news? You getting a post-collapse promotion, or something? Ooh, we all getting the Enclave equivalent of Celestial Crosses if this all works out?"
The power armored pegasus let loose a chuckle and shook her head, resting her hooves on the table. "Not... quite that. They're still short a few crew, but they figured that the HMS Cadence is in good enough shape now to give her a run-around of the island, see how well she'll handle the stresses of running again." Oh... well, wait a second now, that's still a great thing! I don't think I've ever seen a boat bigger than Trout moving, anyways... Well, I mean, actual boat-boat, not flying-boat. I nodded for a moment, Crash Dive seeming to be trying to hold something back, before relenting with a soft sigh. "...and they also want to perform a test fire of her main batteries. Fowler had requested that you be there for her first voyage after reactivation."
Gulping down the mouthful of soda I had, I turned my wide eyes back to Crash Dive, blinking them a few times before letting a stupid grin spread across my face. Why didn't you lead with that, ya crazy mare? Eight eight-inch guns all firing, loaded with massive high-explosive shells, oh sweet Celestia I'm getting fidgety just thinking about it. Finishing off the bottle and setting it aside, I hopped out of the booth, trotting for the door, only to be stopped by Crash Dive lifting her foreleg against my chest. Taking a step back, I looked over to her, seeing her with her other hoof held to her ear... huh? "Uh... hang on, what did you mean by 'got the news from Tail End', I thought Fowler was the acting comms officer. And didn't you say you reworked your suit's radio systems to fire your cannon?"
As she gave a nod and brought her hoof down from her ear, Crash Dive passed on a smirk towards myself, turning about to head out the door with me. "Doesn't mean I couldn't rework them back into being just a normal built-in radio, while also still being able to fire the cannon. They're ready for us, we just have to wait for the others to get back." As if summoned by that, the distinctive rumble of a large engine on the shore could just be heard over the waves below, Crash Dive letting off a small chuckle as she turned about. "And speak of the cap-pinching devil..."
A temperate blast of air met us from the sea as we stepped out of the lighthouse, myself letting my wings catch the updraft for a little bit as Crash Dive pushed onwards down to the landbridge. Huh, feels like it might be getting a bit warmer... buh, hopefully we can have this all sorted before summer rolls around, I don't know how well I'd handle it when it stops being nice and snowy like this. The Clydesdale's engine rumbled to a stop as we both reached the top of the shore, myself catching Aerith levitating a large steamer trunk off the back deck as Static skipped around the front of the half-truck, a wide grin on his muzzle. Oh, boy...
The trunk landed in the snow with a muffled whump and audible jingling of a bunch of small metal circles with crimped edges, Aerith seeming at least a little interested in the contents as Static undid the latches and moved to open it up, myself landing beside him. He passed on that grin, while I could only let off a disbelieving sigh. "Alright, how many more caps did you mercilessly suck out of the Vanhoover Wasteland's economy, Static? Half a million? A million? Two?"
"Only fifteen-thousand up-front, with a contract in place giving us an even 10% of all sales from weapons constructed from what we found in the bunker. However, that doesn't include the value of the specialty ammunition that Sulfur was putting together with the Hopeville gunsmith, some of which I think you'll at least be able to appreciate..." The earth pony pushed open the lid of the trunk, revealing the bag of caps, along with several neatly-stacked boxes of ammunition. Reaching in, he unsurprisingly took the bag first, before pulling up one of the ammo boxes that sat next to it and pushing it over. I undid the latch and opened up the lid, as Static took to fitting the new pile of caps into his own saddlebags, a few more of the ammoboxes levitating out in Aerith's magic. Alright, let's see what this one holds... huh.
Pulling out one of the shells, it was unquestionably in the casing of a 40mm grenade, but the round's shape was... different, to say the least. They're supposed to be more spherical, not as cone-shaped as this. Setting it aside, I dug through the rest of the ammo in the box, trying to see if there was anything labeling what they were, besides oddly-shaped grenades, anyways. Aerith seemed to've noticed my confusion, as she put up a sign for me to read. 'Sulfur said that these were shaped-charge warheads, they can actually penetrate thick armor thanks to the shape of the explosives, and... I think the copper lining inside? Something like that. She wasn't entirely sure either, but it seemed like it worked pretty well against an old engine block they were using for target practice.'
Looking back to the round, I gave a small shrug, taking a few of them from the ammo box and putting them into my duffel bag, before closing it back up. Suppose I could probably see how effective they are for myself later, maybe we take a trip up to Maple Station and get some more target practice in, or something. If these can penetrate armor, then maybe killing robo-dragons just became a lot easier...
Crash Dive cleared her throat behind me, getting everyone's attention. "Mmhm, right, get it over into the lighthouse, we're a little pressed for time. The HMS Cadence is ready to cast off now, and Tail End doesn't know how long Fowler's willing to wait for us to get over there for the ceremony. Get the Valkyrie started up and ready to go, let's make this quick." Aerith passed on a nod, her horn alighting to close and latch the trunk before picking it up from the ground, her wings spreading wide. Static passed on a hrug and had started making way towards the Valkyrie, as I looked over to the top of the lighthouse.
"Hey, what about Scouring? He ought to at least hear we're leaving before we take off." Turning eyes back to Crash Dive, she was looking at the top of the lighthouse with me for a bit, before looking back to me. And to think I thought we'd seen the end of Crash Dive's piercing glare... eesh, how does she do that? I let loose a weak chuckle, shrinking back a little, the power armored pegasus letting off a small, annoyed sigh.
"Alright, fine, if we must. Aerith, get his attention and let him know, I'm just gonna get onboard the plane." The alicorn nodded and took off with the trunk in tow, Crash Dive letting loose a huff as she turned about and started trotting towards the bomber. I slid myself up beside her as she trotted along, the power armored pegasus eventually taking notice for a moment, just responding with a shake of her head. "I'm not sure if I'm on board with the steel rangers helping out too. Celestia knows what else is in Fort Maple besides Project Cerberus, and whatever Project Cerberus is itself. You saw how he was acting at the sub pen."
The snow crunched underhoof as we trotted around the nose of the Valkyrie, moving to the opposite side where the cockpit access door was. I let loose a sigh, pausing as we stood at the base of the opened doorway. "I know... I'll be first to admit, I dunno how other groups of Steel Rangers work, but the ones back home were at least mostly harmless so long as you weren't trying to attack them. We can't really afford to not have at least a few hooves on the ground to help with holding some of these places, and I doubt we could ask an entire town to just up and go off to war with only standard rifles and pistols against these things. At least the Rangers would have some military training themselves."
Crash Dive looked back towards the bomb bay, staying quiet for a few moments, before letting off a sigh. The two bay doors opened with a hiss of hydraulics, locking in place wide and offering a means of entry for the power armored pegasus, myself stepping onto the ladder. Her power armor whirred as she took a few steps forwards, before reaching up to place a hoof on my shoulder, getting my attention. "I know how important it is to have at least some soldiers on the ground. I'm just not sure what's going to happen when it's all over, if they'll just take what they want from Fort Maple and call it a day, or try expanding out and seizing more stuff. The last thing this wasteland... this place needs is yet another force trying to take it over."
A sigh escaped me as I stood on the ladder, pausing to think. That was a valid point... we can't really be policing stuff if we're going home after this. Guh, I'm not the pony that should be handling politics, dangit, I just like explosions. My eyes moved back to Crash Dive, and I adjusted myself on the rungs. "We'll... we'll work out something. Static can probably broker a deal or something, and if they get too active there are still the Tank Ghouls and Vanhoover Air Base, I guess... We'll try to not let it come to that."
Crash Dive gave a small nod, Aerith landing nearby... alone. We both blunk in a bit of surprise, the alicorn flashing up a screen for us. 'Scouring's gonna stay here, said he's still sorting things out with the Rangers. I think they'll be helping out over by Saddlebrook when things start off, if what I overheard is right.' Crash Dive's eyes sftened after a moment, before responding with a nod, moving back and climbing herself up into the bomb bay. I started again to climb up into the turret, only to be blocked by one of Aerith's signs, the alicorn wearing a weak grin. 'So, uh, kinda missed it, why are we going to the HMS Cadence again?'
I let off a small sigh, looking back to the Alicorn. "Well... put one way, I hope you don't get seasick."
---
"Engineering to Bridge, four reactors hot and a full head of steam ready for orders." The Cadence was more alive with activity than anything I'd ever seen before, as we made our way onto the main control deck. Fowler was stood at a central console with a few other ponies milling about the room, some of which I managed to recognize as the leaders of the gryphon ghouls and the old sailor ghouls. Nice to know they managed to get along with each other in the end... "Gunnery to Bridge, all stowage areas are primed and ready, waiting on your orders."
"Copy Gunnery, hold until we're underway. Everyone else, brace yourselves for cast-off." The old Petty Officer looked up from his console as we trotted in, wearing the widest grin I'd ever seen on his muzzle as he hopped off his chair. Who knew all we needed to do to get Fowler in a good mood was resurrect a whole warship? "Hah, glad you lot managed to show up. The Cadence hasn't breathed like this in, well, centuries! Magnificent, isn't she?"
"Well, to be honest I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that this whole thing is going to be able to move on it's own, myself. Let alone use those turrets down there while doing it..." Static had trotted over to a window at the front of the room, peering down out of it at the front of the ship, and the four massive guns that sat down there. On second thought, yeah, I gotta agree with him... I mean, I know this is gonna move, but it's just weird to think that it actually will. It's the size of a building... "I mean, isn't it going to be difficult to aim when you're moving along in open waters?"
The other sailor ghoul - ahm... wait, wait, don't tell me... Salty Sea? Er, no, Sea Salt! - let off a laugh, trotting over to greet us as well. "Lad, the sea can be as rough as she wants, the guns are stabilized with the horizon. Don't you know anything about these ships?" Static let off a weak chuckle as he moved back a little, Sea Salt turning towards the rest of us, though focusing more towards Fowler. "Come on, Cadence's woken up now and wants to stretch her legs, back to your post Fowler. You lot, just stay out of our way, go onto the observation deck or something till we're off. Lot yet that could go keel-up with her, come on, out."
"Friendly, isn't he?" I answered Static with a roll of my eyes as we shuffled out through the side door, moving down a flight of stairs to the outside decks, getting a good view off of them to the open ocean beyond, along with the far-off shoreline. Oh, I can't wait to see what kinds of craters these guns'll leave behind. A warning klaxon rung a few times, the ship starting to shudder as... something started up, all of us bracing against the side railing. Slowly but surely, the Cadence began to move, making a wide right turn away from the shore of the island and pointing towards the mainland instead. Sweet Celestia, this... this is something else.
The waves began to crash against the side of the massive ship as we traveled out to sea, heading for the stretch of water between the island and the mainland. The ship had picked up a fair amount of speed as we went along, sending some of the spray up to sting at our eyes, myself turning around and steadying on the railing while I rubbed at mine with my jacketed foreleg. Blinking them open again, I looked up to Crash Dive as she rested on the railing, a smile on her muzzle... she's been doing that a lot lately, but it's still odd to see.
She wore a smirk as she glanced over to myself, looking out across the water and to the far-away shore. "Hum... isn't exactly like a cloudship, but it's close to what I remember. Ocean was a lot further below back then, but... yanno, this is pretty nice, too."
I matched her smile, leaning a bit more on the old railing, feeling the ship adjusting course a little further as we steamed through the strait. Crash Dive on a ship... oh, c'mon brain, don't make my mouth do that. I couldn't help but let loose a small chuckle, looking out across the water with her. She seemed to notice, only slightly confused. "Heh, sorry... just, your cutie mark, you ever think you might've been destined to work on a ship like this?"
The power armored pegasus joined my little laugh, giving her head a slow shake as she ended it with a sigh. "You know, I don't think I've ever actually considered it. Maybe somewhere out there, some point in time, I could've been... Always have been curious about the ocean, what lies down in those depths. The textbooks in school only had a little info on that stuff, but what was there just made it seem so... alien, so interesting." We both were looking down to the blue water below, watching the swells and waves battering the steel hull, the choppiness making it hard to see anything down there. Crash Dive wore a smile, another soft sigh leaving her muzzle. "Maybe I could've been a marine researcher or salvage diver, or something. Probably is a lot of the old world still preserved in those murky depths..."
I adjusted myself on my hooves slightly, reaching up to pat Crash Dive's armored shoulder a few times, wearing a smirk. "You, going off and salvaging the old world from the bottom of the sea... well, I don't really see it myself, but if you think you could do it and enjoy doing it at that, I'd say go for it. Yanno, just, after we don't have to worry about getting bombed or whatever, heh." The power armored pegasus answered with a nod and smile, turning eyes back out across the ocean. Below us, a few of the sailors were rushing about, making checks and running stations, as far as we could tell - at least, until out of the corner of my eye, I saw something swing out from the back of the ship.
Blinking a few times, I moved around Crash Dive to get a bit closer along the observation deck, as far as that helped. Another one of the grey things swung out, and just about as it settled in position I finally rcognized what they were. An utterly stupid grin spread across my face as well, and I immediately rushed over to the other side to look down to the forward turrets, seeing the upper one slowly rotate to the same side as the other barrels. Looking back to the others, and bouncing on my hooves a little, they... oh, come on guys, it's eight eight-inch guns that're about to fire! You could be at least a little excited! Don't you facehoof at me, Static, we were both working for exactly this.
The sound of hooves on a metal stairway filled the air behind us as Fowler trotted down, in contrast to the rest of the group at least managing to wear an actual happy smile. It seemed to falter as his eyes moved over me, the old sailor letting off a small chuckle. "Well, suppose ye saw Cadence swinging her guns to starboard, we're just about ready to let 'er rip once again. C'mon, rest are waiting at the midships fighter launch platform, best place to watch without worryin' about blowing your eardrums out, heh."
"Aw, c'mon Fowler, a little tinnitus never hurt anyone. I'm gonna fly ahead, just, well, y'know, eheheh..." Breaking into giggles, I spread my wings out wide, hopping up onto the railing and leting myself teeter over the edge, wind catching me as I fell and carrying me through the air. The sting of the ocean water soon drew near, and I pulled myself up a ways away from the Cadence, just hovering in place for a moment to appreciate the immense size of the ship, and her four great turrets as well. She's like a floating artillery battery, and she isn't even a Battleship... oh, I wonder if there are even any battleships left nowadays...
Flying forwards again, I made way along the length of the ship, the back of it having passed me by as I was admiring it's size. The old world Equestrian flag was flying proudly from the rearmost portion on a straight pole, a rather barren deckspace jutting out a ways before you reached the rearmost turret, both of it's massive guns staying plainly level even as the ship rolled and rocked with the waves. That stupid grin still on my face, I weaved and flew between them, watching the thick grey steel pass me by before pulling up again, the side of the ship raising up along with the second-last turret. Getting back to flying over the deck after passing the other turret's barrels, I let myself roll over to be back over the ship, the tops of the angled launch rails coming into view, along with the storage hangars for the jets that ran off of them. Well, that's where Fowler said to go... oh, this is gonna be great.
Landing on the deck with a heavy thud of my hooves, stumbling ever so slightly, I looked around, eventually getting bearings and heading over to the right side of the ship to view the guns firing. Looking about, I eventually saw an open platform with what looked to be a few ghouls already on it, hopping back to the air and hovering over to them. Only one of the ponies seemed to take notice, the gryphon ghoul pulling his binoculars down from his eyes before picking up an intercom set. "All batteries ready, target at heading 0 9 4, shoreline... Captain, are we really about to fire upon Equestria? From an Equestrian Cruiser no less?"
The intercom fizzled for a moment, myself leaning on the railing to look out at the shore, the gryphon navy Captain responding. "Certainly appears that way. The war's been long over, remember, we've got bigger things to focus on now. Don't let this get to your head, Leftenant." Huh... well, I mean, I guess I can't really blame them much for finding this a little exciting for other reasons. Forgot that these gryphons were Equestria's enemies at one point...
"Aye sir, just... still internalizing it." The gryphon let off a chuckle as he set the intercom back down, the door to our backs opening as Fowler, Crash Dive, Static and Aerith all funneled out, the ghouls and other sailors on deck passing on salutes as they caught sight of the old Petty Officer. He returned their salutes with that same grin, the gryphon stepping aside as Fowler approached the intercom, picking it up.
"We're all set at midships, sir, fire when ready. Let's see if Cadence still bites as well as she growls." The old sailor ghoul set the intercom back down on it's rack, letting loose a chuckle as he leaned up against the railing, myself already leaning over and watching with excitement. The gun barrels at the rear of the ship all adjusted themselves upwards before locking in position, the four forward guns doing the same, everyone watching with bated breath. Eight eight-inch long-range guns... oh, this is gonna be great.
A warning klaxon rung out three times, the air falling dead silent save for the sounds of the ocean. With a brilliant flash and blast of smoke, the rearmost gun fired, followed rapidly in turn with the other one sharing it's turret, then the six and fifth guns, fourth and third, and finally the second and first, each blast from their muzzles shaking me to the core and, admittedly, making it a little difficult to concentrate, really. Legs weak, we all watched towards the distant shore, a slightly scattered line of massive explosions striking firm against the rocky wall, blasting it apart and making the cliffs collapse into the icy water below. The distant blasts eventually reached us, myself swaying lightly on my hooves, stupid giggles escaping my muzzle. Oh sweet Celestia and Luna above, that was something else...
Stumbling slightly, ears still ringing with that lovely sound, I felt myself fall back and land against the deck, breathing heavy as I laid there, twitching ever so slightly in the afterglow of the display of massive firepower. I let my eyes shut, still letting off intermittent giggles, the sound of hooves trotting around me muffled as I began to drift off, feeling spent. Before unconsciousness could grace me with it's sweet bliss following that, my ears could just about make out one voice at least - Fowler's, I think...
"...Oh. So that's why ye asked if we had any washrooms ready..."
---
By the time I'd gotten myself cleaned up - don't look at me like that - and the Cadence had eased herself back into her position at Deadstallion's Island, it was well on in the day, nearly mid-afternoon by the time we'd flown back to the lighthouse to pick up Scouring. Lucky us, just as we were about to head off the Cadence, we managed to get word that the Tank Ghouls wanted our company today, too - suppose we should be glad that the Valkyrie turns a multi-day trip into only a few minutes, heh. The gunnery range had passed us by underneath, myself swinging the Valkyrie about to head back in for a landing, Static letting off a slow whistle behind me.
"Well, the tank shed sure is buzzing with activity, it looks like they're all set to ship out... they have our map, right?" I thought for a moment, slowing us down over the empty field, bringing the Valkyrie into a hover. I... don't remember giving them it, we haven't been back here since picking it up and it isn't like we can transmit it via radio. That would be useful for them to have, wouldn't it?
"Maybe that's what they called us for, or at least some general game plan, anyways. They probably know that the Cadence is up and running again, want to know what they'll all be doing for the big showdown." We eased down onto the test range as we had before, the soft ground taking the weight of the Valkyrie on its landing gear and affording us a smooth touchdown. Man, I am getting -good- at that... I shut the engines off, scrolling through my legputer's screens to find the map, Static opening the bomb bay and unbuckling himself behind me. "Least it is on a holotape, so we can just give it to them to copy, or something. Maybe we'll have to make a detour over to the Vanhoover Air Base, too..."
"Well, let's just head over and ask, then. Then maybe find something to eat, too, I'm starving..." Undoing my own buckles, I could only answer the earth pony with a roll of my eyes, hopping out of the seat and getting to my hooves. Come on, Static, it's only about 6 PM... though, I do kinda have to agree with him. Much as I hate to admit it, a pegasus cannot survive off of Sparkle Cola alone, and I've only had one bottle today... The earth pony's stomach was the louder of both of ours, Static wearing a light blush as he exited the cockpit, myself following behind him to join up with the others.
"Dinner at the Roundhouse, you buy?" Wearing a grin, my hooves met the melting ground, the earth pony looking back towards me with a half-eyeroll. I stuck my tongue out at him in response, both of us heading into town behind the rest of the Vanhoover Five, making way for the tank shed. A few of the more recently-arrived tanks sat outside the doors, but as we approached, there didn't seem to be any sounds of planning or prepping inside. Matter of fact, aside from the lights being on, didn't even seem like anybody was inside...
Looking back towards us in a bit of confusion, Aerith eventually gave off a shrug, hers and Scouring's horns alighting and taking hold of the handles. The large doors swung open with loud creaks, us all troting inside, looking about. Avery's still here, and so is Porschia, and Fyre, and Deathtrap, and the BT-42, and Sensha's tank... where the heck is everyone?
Trotting along, the sound of someone speaking from inside one of the tanks could be just made out as it echoed up through an open hatch, myself hovering ahead to try and make it out a bit more clearly. The metal back of Deathtrap creaked slightly under my hooves as I landed upon it, the voice stopping as I did, some shuffling heard from inside. Caution Tape soon appeared out of Deathtrap's main turret, a pair of reading glasses prominent across his muzzle as he rested back against the turret ring. "Ah, Nacht Strike, nice to see you again! Will have to forgive me, was in the middle of storytime with Sensha, just to take advantage of some of the peace and quiet... What brings you all here tonight, anyhow?"
"We got a message while we were heading off of the Cadence, said you guys called for us for some reason. I'm... guessing you don't know, either." I let off a weak chuckle, rubbing at the back of my head, Aerith, Crash Dive, and Static all pulling up alongside as Scouring went on ahead to the other end of the shed. Caution Tape paused for thought for a moment, tapping his hoof against his chin, before his eyes seemed to finally light up... well, more than a ghouls' eyes usually do, anyways.
"Ah, right, zhey all went for a party at the Roundhouse, some sort of pre-var ball or something. Erm, zat is, a ball before going off to the war, I mean, not a 'pre-war' party, eheh." Caution Tape readjusted himself in the hatch, leaning forwards against the turret roof. "I had to guess, they wanted you to attend vith them. Zhey left only a little while ago, should still be there for most of the night, most likely."
Party at the Roundhouse? Well, I mean, we were gonna head there anyways... guess we'll be going sooner than later. Aerith clapped her hooves together a few times, a cheery grin on her muzzle, before hopping off the ground and flying out of the long railshed, myself turning back to face Caution Tape. "Well, uh, thanks for cluing us in, suppose we'll head over. You sure you don't wanna come with?"
The old zebra let off a small chuckle, waving a hoof in front of himself as he leaned back in the turret hatch. "Ah, nein, you go enjoy yourselves. Big day tomorrow, they're all antsy to get going after hearing the Cadence is alive again, heh. We'll be fine here, nice to have a little alone time every now and again." I passed on a nod, hopping down from the back of the long tank, Caution Tape giving a small shake of his head as a chuckle escaped him. "Well, alone time when you've got a heated shed to be inside, anyways... I'll probably head up later on, would be nice to catch up with old friends, away from the tanks."
"Suit yourself, long as you're enjoying the night one way or another. C'mon, parties mean free food, the best kind of free thing!" Static was already happily heading out for the doorway, Crash Dive letting off a disbelieving sigh and bringing her hoof to her forehead for me, following him behind. I gave one last wave to Caution Tape before he ducked back inside his tank, the crisper night air soon meeting myself as I passed through to the outside, shutting the large shed doors behind me. Taking to the air, the soft blue glow of the railyard took over the darkness of late afternoon, myself eventually catching up with Static and Crash Dive. Heh, feels a bit like old times, really...
We approached the large circular shed that held the restaurant and theatre, the music and sounds of enjoyment and laughter already prominent as we drew near the door to enter. Stepping inside, the large number of tank ghouls all were milling about with each other, myself just trying to pick out a face I recognized. How many ponies came up from Cordite?... well, I mean, I guess the tank ghouls here do kinda need crews for their tanks, too, so that probably bumps the number up a bit. How many was it that Jack said? At least two or three extra crew per tank? Yeesh...
Trotting further inside and finding a table for us to all sit at for the moment, my attempts to try and find a familiar face were suddely stalled out as... -something- started to make an awful droning noise. Static was quick to move his hooves to cover his ears, Crash Dive even grimacing at the sound, as I tried to figure out where it was coming from. It... started to sound like some sort of music, I think, playing out an old tune that I can only assume once was either used as a war cry or a torture device. Probably both. The noise, or music, or whatever it was, kept playing, and eventually I managed to locate what in the name of Celestia and Luna above was making it - well, suppose we found Mad Jack at least, heh...
The old ghoul kept playing his instrument, some sort of plaid cloth bag with an array of pipes sticking out of it, for what felt like a fairly long while. Eventually, the song wrapped up, and the Roundhouse broke out into a loud applause that somehow managed to sound quieter than whatever that pipe-bag was, Mad Jack taking a quick bow and hopping off of the stage. Rubbing at my ears - eesh, maybe tinnitus isn't as harmless as I thought - I didn't hear the sound of four hooves and two paws heading over to us, jumping only slightly as Aerith appeared with Hispano beside her. The gryphon was likewise rubbing at her own ears, myself shuffling in a bit so they could sit down.
"Egh, honestly, I still can't believe that thing's a musical instrument... So, this whole banquet or whatever's for you guys, or something? Whole town's been excited since they heard about the Cadence getting restarted and testing her guns." I could only answer her with a shrug, a waiter passing by to drop off a few menus, us all getting our drink orders sorted. Well, yeah, guess they wouldn't go and make up any fancy dishes just for one event... eh, food is food, and possibly free food is better. The waiter trotted off, Hispano leaning back against the cushioning of the booth. "I'm still having a hard time believing it myself, and I'm the one who got most of the ponies running the thing for ya in the first place. Remind me to head over there to check it out sometime..."
"Believe me, if you're anything like Night Strike, you probably don't wanna be onboard when they fire the guns. Or, at least, ask Fowler or someone if they have any washrooms spare..." Static wore a sly smirk as he chuckled, one that quickly faded as I gave his shoulder a quick shove, knocking him over. I could feel my cheeks burning as Hispano held back a snicker, the earth pony picking himself back up as I shrunk back into the seat. Oh, c'mon, they were eight-inch guns! Eight of them! Can you really blame me for being a little excited?
Hispano shook her head, leaning forwards on the table. "Okay, I kinda figured you were all about the big loud weapons, but... yeah, I shouldn't really be that surprised, should I? Hey, whatever gets you goin' gets you goin', I'm not one to judge." The waiter soon returned with our drinks, setting them all out in front of us. Trying to regain myself, everyone else placed their orders, with me going last as I quickly ran over the menu. The waiter took our menus from us, heading off, Hispano leaning back and looking out across the bustle of the packed restaurant-theatre as somepony went up on the stage to announce the next performance. "Heh, man, kinda reminds me of the first time I came here..."
"Miss Hispano?" A mare's voice caught our attention, myself shuffling about to try and look over to who it was... and facehoofing when my brain finally did me the favor of recognizing it. I'm not really used to hearing Vera talking rather than singing... The ghoulified dame trotted up to our table, done up in her lovely performance dress with a bright red Poppy on the lapel, and only a few faint bits of makeup to accentuate her features, a welcoming smile across her muzzle. It is easy to see why Dad loves her so much... "My word, I hadn't realized you were back in town once again, it has to've been at least a decade. Forgive me for my curiosity, are you still with that lovely young stallion? From what I remember, you two were headed down quite a far ways away."
I blunk a few times as Hispano leaned on the table, letting off a soft chuckle. Stallion? Hispano never mentioned a coltfriend... as far as I can remember. Maybe she did, and I just forgot about it, or something... huh. "Yeah, was up in Seaddle with dad when Hopeville got shelled, came up here to help and stuck around when I ran into these guys. Been nice seeing some old friends again..." Aerith gave a gentle nod as Hispano looked to her, the gryphon taking a pause to take a sip from her drink. Vera looked on expectantly, Hispano leaning back. "And yeah, 'course I'm still with Night, just on a little vacation is all. Might pick something up for him long as I'm here, know if that seamster's got any cute new dress designs? Oh, and anything that might fit a Snow Dog, too?"
Vera let off a light chuckle as the stallion from before got back up on stage to announce the next act again, the performer's ears perking up as she looked over towards him. "Oh, dreadfully sorry to cut this short, but I've got to go on now. Can't tell you how long it's been since I last sang for our armed forces, don't want to keep them waiting. We should catch up after the show, though, it's lovely seeing you again!" The earth pony dame passed on a gentle wave to Hispano as she rushed to the backstage area, the gryphon returning it as I just looked at her in faint confusion. She knew Vera already, and she has a coltfriend, or maybe something more than that by now, and... a pet snow dog, whatever that was? Maybe?
Hispano returned my confusion, taking another sip from her drink before letting off a sigh. "Okay, looks like we're doing the explaining game again. What part's making you give me that look?" A thunder of applause went up in the theater as I was about to say 'all of it', the stallion heading off of the stage and Vera trotting onto it, and up to the microphone at the center. She cleared her throat slightly, the Roundhouse falling quiet. Maybe save it until after her performance starts, Strikey...
"It's my pleasure to perform for all of you brave, valiant stallions and mares of both Her Majesty's Armed Forces, and the more recent forces of Cordite. It's thanks to your efforts that we might one day be able to live freely once again on our homeland, without any further fear of attack or danger, that we may once again become the wondorous land we were so many years ago. I do sincerely wish the best for each and every one of you as you go off to fight our enemies, and for your safe return by the end, so that as I look out across this theatre now all these faces shall remain the same when all's said and done. For our first song tonight, please do join in, as I believe most of not all of you should know these lyrics..." After a short pause, that familiar eight-note opening filled the Roundhouse, soon followed by Vera's voice ringing loud and clear through the speakers. Slowly, the crowds joined in, all singing as one that fantastic, golden, old tune, bringing tears and smiles to every face.
Tomorrow is gonna be a big day, but... I think we'll be able to do it.
---
"Everyone's got their plans, right?" All was sorted by the next morning, and the grounds around the tank shed were alive with the rumble of engines. Porshcia, Fyre, the Avenger, the BT-42, and the Crusader all were poised and ready to set off east towards Saddlebrook, with Rheinmetall, Rangefinder, Gardener, and Ironsides all sticking out of their turret-top hatches, settling in for the journey. Meanwhile, looking towards the south, Avery, Liberty Bell, the T-8, and whatever the one track-truck was called were all set to head for the forward base on the nearer side of the mountain ranges, and hopefully have the luxury of the HMS Cadence's guns at their disposal when they finally arrived. Caution Tape and Sensha both rested outside with their tanks as well, not wanting to miss seeing everyone off. For our part... well, at least we were able to bring a radio outside to hear and speak to everyone.
"'course we do, lass, this is far from our first tussle, and that new map's gonna be one hell of a help when we get nearer to the targets. Just running some last checks, don't want to run out of ammo halfway through the fight, yeah? Heh..." Mad Jack grinned from atop Avery, his metal hat glinting in the early morning sun as he held the radio mic to his muzzle. Porschia's engine revved at the end of the other line, Rheinmetall chiming in.
"Certainly wouldn't be ideal, but I'd assume you'd just start wailing on them with your sword at that point, Jack. Let's try to get through this vith as few life-threatening injuries as we can manage, ja?" The unicorn ghoul let off a chuckle over the set, Mad Jack joining him in it for a moment.
"Oh, come on Rheinmetall, that's half the fun of it! I've got my longbow along, too, so don't think I'll only just jump at the chance to hit the bastards with my sword..." All the tanks' engines roared a little louder in a momentary cascade, Mad Jack's cackling coming over the air. "Though I might just have to see if they'll drive me close enough to do it! All set here, just give the word, lass."
Looking between both lines of tanks, and the four ponies surrounding me at the radio, I gave a nod, letting off a breath. Check the legputer... 10 AM on the dot, and it's even kinda a nice day to start a war. No more stalling, Strikey... "Alright, let's get the show sta-"
A low, long, loud whistle broke the air, even over the rumble of all the tank engines, catching everyone's attention. Okay, that's definitely a new sound, is there another train coming into the station now, or something? Some loud swearing came over the radio set, the whistle blast cutting off, before following the long blast with six shorter ones. The noise of a machine gun being readied broke over the speaker as I saw Rheinmetall fumbling with one on his tank's hatch, myself holding the send button in a panic. "What the hell is that, what's going on?!"
Mad Jack's voice came over first, the earth pony shuffling around the interior of his tank while he spoke. "Had a new warning system installed at the engine house after Hopeville was hit, quick way for us to know when we should scramble. Long blast followed by short ones, that means..." The hatch doors clattered open over the radio, Mad Jack sticking back out of his tank and looking around, before I heard Static filling in the end of his sentence for him.
"Robo-Dragons!" ...ah, shit.
-----
My eyes hung frozen up at the sky as I watched the massive mechanical beasts flying in, the loud, piercing whistle blowing another long blast. The sharp rattling of... some sort of machine gun, I think, came afterwards quickly, as that familiar metal screech echoed through the air. The swift motion of three large metallic dragons sweeping across the sky overhead caught our atention, bright green tracers flying from the top of Rheinmetall's tank as he kept fire upon the beasts, most of the rounds just pinging harmlessly off. Oh shit, this is definitely not good... The massive robots swung out wide, before heading back in towards us, the flickering of charging plasma and lit pilot lights clear inside their mouths.
Hurrying back towards the less-exposed safety of the tank garage, I stopped just short as a wall of flame blasted down in front of me, the heat making my eyes water. The snow nearby quickly melted, leaving a trail of slush as the flame continued along, carving its way across the muddied ground. I jumped over the smoldering grass, bursting into the garage to find a greasy-coated unicorn rushing past me with a pair of really large machine guns. The stallion quickly passed the pair of guns up to where Caution Tape sat, the zebra quick to fasten them to the top of his tank and begin firing at the dragons, more plasma raining n from overhead. Night Strike soon joined me inside, as did Aerith, the both of them hurrying out of the way as Sensha's tank pushed on through to enter the garage as well, only just missing scraping against the still-opened doors.
Crash Dive and Scouring were helping with distracting the dragons for the others to shoot at them, at least, Rangefinder's tank's top machine gun opening up and joining the cacaphony as well. “What’re they attacking here for?! How did they even know we were here!?” Night Strike asked in a panic, looking over to me. I gave her a bit of a look and she rolled her eyes, giving an exasperated sigh. “Okay, fine, we aren’t moving covertly, but still!” She shook her head, glancing over to see Aerith rushing after Deathtrap with Peridot in her grasp. “Well, whatever, we need to get to the Valkyrie now! Those dragons are going to be nearly impossible to shoot down with the tanks, even with the 88mm flak shells.” She hurried back towards the door, myself hanging back for just a moment as I watched her. She paused and turned around, staring back at me, another jet of flames lighting up the side of Deathtrap and forcing Caution Tape to duck, the offending dragon swooping by low overhead. Well, forgive me for not exactly wanting to run right into the middle of a warzone that much! Giving my head a shake, I brought myself back to my hooves, catching up to her and following closely behind.
Occasional loud explosions rang through the air as Rheinmetall's tank fired off shots towards the sky, the turret constantly turning to try and track the robo-dragons while the unicorn tanker kept peppering them with his machine gun. The shells burst in the air, kicking up snow and showering the ground with shrapnel, the dragons deftly avoiding the brunt of the explosions, wings shielding them from the pieces of metal. Crowds of ponies screamed out loud from the town as they sought cover, many making their way towards the roundhouse in the center of town, large lengths of cars moving in a panic to get away from the dragon fight. Night Strike and I hurried down the rows of trains, looking about for more of the massive robots frantically, the new sound of a bunch of rapid-fire cannons lighting up the sky from somewhere in the train yard. Huh... doesn't sound like anything we sold.
Sprinting further through the town to the firing range, I heard several more shots fire off, jets of flame raining down from the sky as the dragons spun through the air. Suddenly there was a flash of silver, and before I could react, a dragon dropped out of the sky, landing on top of one of the nearby train cars. Its metal claws tore holes into the sheet metal of the car, Night Strike skidding to a halt in mid-air. The dragon’s jaws opened wide, the back of its throat glowing a brighter and brighter green as it charged up its plasma cannon. As it reared back to fire, though, a beam of emerald shot through the air, smashing through the lower jaw of the dragon. Its head jerked to the side from the force of the blast, sending the ball of plasma onto an empty set of train tracks, causing a large crater and making the metal melt quickly away, the ties catching aflame in the gravel quickly.
I stumbled past the smouldering dent in the ground, looking up to see another beam slice its way through one of the wings. The dragon scanned about to find the source of the beams, its jaw hanging on barely by a few inches of metal, eventually settling its head in one direction. As I followed its gaze, Royce was hovering in mid-air, aiming her beacon rifle towards the mechanical beast. One final beam of plasma cracked loudly from the barrel, punching a hole clean through the robot's metallic skull. The dragon was frozen for a moment before its servos finally gave out, falling onto the boxcar before rolling to the side and crashing to the ground. Royce hovered over, landing on top of the railcar and looking down at the sparking corpse. She pressed a button on her gun, the cylinder sliding open to let her slip a few more cartridges into the slots. “The fuck are you still standing here for? Get that plane and blow these fucking things up before I have to shoot them all down for you!” She rechambered her rifle, muttering an insult under her breath before taking back to the air.
I shook my head, coming back to my senses to jump over the body of the robot before rushing forward once again. Another dragon dropped down onto a boxcar several rows away, spitting up another burst of flame that engulfed another cart ahead of both of us. Screeching metal echoed around as we managed to find our way past the lines of railcars, a couple dragons rushing in towards us, or heading back to assault the tanks again. Night Strike and I could now see the Valkyrie at the edge of town, my breath becoming ragged, a stich forming in my side. Night Strike let out a grunt of frustration as she began to pump her wings faster. She dropped next to the doorway, dashing up into the cockpit with me running up after her.
Night Strike was already working the controls in a flurry, the cockpit door closing as the engines roared to life, myself landing in my seat behind her. As we began to hover up into the air, however, the sound of shattering glass broke out, shards raining down on us as a robotic claw forced its way through the cockpit. I let out a terrified scream, Night Strike rolling over the side of her seat and whipping out War Crime from her duffel bag. She fired a burst of the massive bullets at the claws, tearing through the thinner metal of the pipe-like forearm and causing wires and hydraulic oil to drop to the floor. The dragon pulled its nonfunctional claw out of the hole, only to place its maw in the opening. The cockpit began to grow warm as it prepared to fire a jet of flame into the enclosed space.
In a panic, I grabbed my umbrella and jumped onto the back of my seat. Jamming the tip up into the mouth of the dragon, I suddenly felt a surge of electricity run through me, the dragon seizing up as its electronics received a jolt of power. A moment later my muscles stopped their forced contractions and I crumpled to the floor of the cockpit, letting out a cough as the dragon peeled off the cockpit, making the plane list slightly before it fell and letting out several high-pitched beeps as it attempted to reboot. I took a deep breath, feeling my heart thudding in my chest as I crawled back into the seat behind Night Strike's, the pegasus getting us steady in the air again. “Holy shit, are you alright?” She asked, watching as I looked down at my own controls.
“Y-yeah I’m -grrgk-, I’m alright. I’ll just have a few heart palpitations for a week, or something. Come on, we need to get up in the air before that thing reboots! Should’ve known they’d install surge protectors in their robots…” I pressed a few buttons, taking control of the tesla cannons under the plane, bringing the turret around to aim towards the tanks, and othe robo-dragons. Night Strike nodded, turning back around to her own console and regaining her composure. The Valkyrie rose, air whipping through the hole in the glass above us. Easing the nose about, Night Strike began to fly us away from the town to give enough room to get clear shots. I looked through the screen of the console, aiming the cannons. It was almost impossible to make sense of the blur of images rushing past, the lans surrounding the town turning into a mess of monochromatic dirty shades through the viewfinder. There was a sudden flash of silver, and I took a shot, thunder cracking as a bolt of lightning hit the tail of one of the dragons. The dragon wobbled in the air before losing its balance, careening towards the roundhouse. Before it could connect, however, Rangefinder fired off a blast from her tank's main gun, hitting the dragon dead center.
Robotic parts flew in all directions, dropping onto railcars and hissing as they fell into the snow, flaming. The Roundhouse was still mercifully intact, however, save for the sign that had been hanging on the front and was now lying shattered on the ground. “Okay, that’s another down, where are the others?” I asked, trying to spot more. The one that had been stunned by the umbrella overloading its system was attempting to roll back to its claws and stand up again, but it suddenly received a barrage of rockets from Scouring Charge and hail of cannonfire from Hispano, destroying it quickly. Night Strike spun us around in the air, my vision turning a little hazy from the forces before she straightened us out.
“Right, I think I see three more, let’s just hope more aren’t on their way...” Night Strike responded. I nodded, looking back down at the controls for another shot. A shell detonated below us, rocking the Valkyrie around as the tanks continued to fire at the dragons. “Gah, damnit, thought we were further away, we’d like to not be blown up, guys!” Another dragon soared by, one of Deathtrap’s machine gun turrets clutched in its talons while its rear legs were little more than scrap. It flung the gun at a stallion that had been attempting to scramble behind of the box cars. A sickening snap was heard as the turret just barely connected with the pony, sending him sprawling to the ground, pinned under the heavy armored turret. I fired several shots at the dragon, a few flying low, but one managing to connect with one of its wings. The dragon careened to the ground, where it was swiftly destroyed by several shots from Deathtrap’s other guns.
The remaining pair of dragons were circling overhead, taking potshots with their plasma breath as they spun and swerved through the air to avoid the shells exploding below and blasts of tracer fire filling the sky otherwise. Night Strike punched the throttle forwards and we accelerated, pulling back on the controls to raise us higher into the air and out of hover mode. One of the dragons spotted us and turned about, firing several shots of plasma in our direction. They landed on the wings, the glancing shots only melting away part of the exterior metal, miraculously enough. Night Strike wrestled with the controls, trying to keep us steady as I switched to the top turret, trying to find a clear shot. I fired several more blasts from the automaic lightning guns haphazardly, all the bolts missing and instead flying off into the sky.
The dragon that clung to us raked its razor-like tail across the hull, the screech of metal causing me to wince as I waited for the cannons to cool off and allow for another barrage, cursing myself for going with the overcharge setting rather than normal fire. Twisting on the controls, Night Strike leaned hard to the right, sending us spinning around to try and avoid more shots from the dragons, a rending of metal hopefuly signifying that one had been shaken off. I took another shot from the bottom turret, squinting to try and make sense of the blurs being displayed by the viewfinder. A bolt of lightning struck one of the dragons behind us, putting a hole through its belly and frying its circuits, sending it plummeting down to the earth. The other, however, had managed to dig its metallic claws into the back of the Valkyrie to stick, and as I switched back to the top turret to find it... well, looking up through the canopy did that job just fine. Snapping its jaws at the glass, it fired several small shots of plasma at the weakened material, quickly melting away a hole in it.
“Fuckfuckfuck, do something!” I screamed, looking up at the dragon’s razor sharp maw. I tried to reach for my umbrella again, but the dragon fired a small shot of plasma, searing the flesh on my leg and sending the umbrella spinning away. I clutched at my foreleg, tears streaming down my face as Night Strike yanked Thumper from her bag and stood up in her seat. I had just enough time to register the snap of the breech closing, Night Strike taking aim at the head of the dragon and the slight motion of her pulling the trigger before I suddenly realized the mistake. The sizzling explosion blew apart the glass, the dragon’s head exploding in a shower of sparks as the wind whipped out all around, the cockpit air becoming acrid and unbreathable for a few scant seconds before the wind replaced it.
“SHIIIIIIIIIT!!” Night Strike screamed, spreading her wings as she was flung out of the cockpit, leaving me stuck strapped to my seat as the Valkyrie raced across the sky. Still clutching my foreleg, I could just barely hear the thud of the dragon hitting the ground, only for a moment later the blood rushing to my head to finally overtake me, and cause me to black out.
---
I let out a groan, my body aching all over as I slowly came to. The smell of severely burnt metal and several flashing lights immediately assaulted my senses. I let out several coughs, blinking as my vision slowly came back into focus. Fumbling with my restraints, I eventually found the seatbelt’s release, pushing it and promptly rolling out of the seat. My shoulders were tender from the belt having dug deeply into them, stomach veeling quite a bit like somepony had just kicked me like they were trying to shake an apple off of me... or threw me into a tree. My hooves wobbled as I stood back up, trying to regain my senses as I wandered over to the side of the cockpit. The soft hum of magic could still be heard as the Valkyrie attempted to patch up the damage that it had suffered during the battle, the glass canopy reshaping extremely slowly into a new windshield. Guh, what the hell was Night Strike thinking with that grenade?...
Climbing over to the cockpit door, I pressed a button to release it, only for the Valkyrie to beep and refuse to open up. Ugh, should’ve known it’d be damaged, or blocked or something. Trotting forwards to the nose end, I headed over to a relatively shard-free hole in the cockpit, placing my hooves on the outer rim and hoisting myself up out of the Valkyrie. My legs stung as bits of glass dug into me, the burn from the plasma still punctuating each little movement. With a grunt, I rolled down the front, landing in the mound of dirt that had been torn up by the Valkyrie’s crash. Looking around, I found myself lying in a snowy field, the large rectangle that was the Starlite drive-in screen visible not too far in the distance. Well, I suppose I’m at least lucky I didn’t crash too far from Maple Station.
I stood back up, looking over the exterior damages to the Valkyrie. Surprisingly, while the canopy was shattered and the claw marks from the dragons were still visible in the exterior, along with a massive gash that ran from the tail to the top turret over the bomb bay, no major damage seemed to have been done. At least, nothing the auto-repair system shouldn’t be able to handle with enough time. As I examined the Valkyrie, there was a hint of movement in the distance, and I instinctively dropped down low to the ground behind the crashed bomber. Peering around the side of the Valkyrie, I spotted two figures trotting towards me from the drive-in's projection booth. They were both rather burly, their hooves stomping loudly through the snow as they approached the Valkyrie. “What the flying fuck is this thing?” I heard one of them say.
“Fuck if I know, I ain’t an astronomer, or whatever. You don’t think it’s a UFO, do you?” The other one responded. The two were now standing on the opposite side of the Valkyrie from me, one tapping a hoof against the side of the vehicle. “Oi, aliens? You got a lotta nerve interruptin’ our movie, you know! We were just getting to the good part, that Termineightor thing was gonna slice up some kid-“ There was the sound of a punch and the stallion that had been talking let out a gasp of air. “Gah, the fuck was that for?”
“Don’t spoil it, dumbass, what if they hasn’t seen the movie either? You wanna start an intergalactic war just cuz someone prolly hasn’t seen the film yet?” I placed my head in my hooves, resisting with all my might to let out a groan of annoyance. Of course, it’s some drugged up morons coming to investigate. Why couldn’t it have been B Company? Or Pearl? Tartarus, even Extra Edition would probably be better… well, okay, maybe not her. The ponies began to walk around to the front of the Valkyrie, forcing me to move to avoid being spotted by them.
“You sure there’s even aliens on this thing? Looks like whatever was inside got hurt pretty bad, see there?" The stallion pointed out streaks of blood on the front near the cockpit, and I went white. Looking down at my foreleg, I realized the wound had been oozing a steady stream of blood for a while, which was now partially caked by snow and dirt. The sound of the two ponies working their way around to my side snapped me back to attention, and I got to my hooves, trying to hurry to find somewhere to hide. Unfortunately, the Valkyrie was horribly exposed, and my blood would only lead them towards wherever I ran.
Glancing around, I tried to find someplace to run to, only to freeze as I heard one of the stallions behind me. “Hey! You ain't an alien, what the hell’re you doing?” In a panic, I hefted myself onto the wing and over the plane, beginning to sprint towards the projection booth, the ponies racing after me. I tried to ignore the pain shooting through my leg as I ran onto the field, the projector displaying the image of a robotic pony clinging to the back of a cart onto the screen. As I attempted to reach the main building and bar myself in, I suddenly tripped, skidding painfully on the ground. Gwuugh, stupid thin snow layer... The stallions quickly reached me, one landing on top of me to keep me pinned. The other stood over me, his horn lighting up to illuminate my face. His expression changed as he saw me, first turning surprised before a look of malevolent glee crossed it.
“Well, lookie who it is! That pony that blew up our old camp! You killed a lot of my pals, you know, not to mention all that sweet ass you let run free. Oh, I think I know just what to do with you.” He snickered, pulling out a rope and tying my hooves up. I panted, my mind racing with images of depravity and horror.
Fuck.
-----
The icy wind bit at my bruised wings, fanning a few smouldering tips of my mane as I pryed myself up out of a mound of snow and bits of tree debris. The distant chatter of autocannons and loud booming of flak fire echoed south from Maple Station as I regained my bearings, and unburied the still-smoking grenade rifle. Fuck, I gotta stop having landings like that... fuck, the Valkyrie! Oh goddesses, Static too...
Pain shot through me as I tried to spread my wings and take to the air, managing at least a few flaps before coming back down and stumbling on my hooves again, grunting from the impact. Okay, not broken but I'm not gonna be flying until I get something in me to fix that. We weren't flying too high up, and we weren't flying too fast, either, so hopefully I don't need to worry about coming across a smoking wreck with a very badly burned earth pony laying outside of it. Looking to the southward sky and forcing myself into a gallop down the slushy road, no obvious smoke columns caught my attention, so, I guess that's a bit of a good sign, at least. Oh fuck, Static...
Further down the road, a few of the trees that ran along either side were far more mangled and torn up, though by some miracle not because of a massive jet bomber. With a grimace as I steadied the stock in my bruised shoulder, I let myself rest back behind a nearby tree, just long enough to allow me to reach in and pull a 40mm round out of my jacket. Dragon's Breath... hardly ideal, but hopefully the crash broke open that robo-bastard's fuel tanks or something. Least I won't hurt myself as bad firing this... fucking shaped charge warhead... fucking me for not having a slug handy.
Taking in a breath, the barrel clicked back into place with the round loaded, dragging myself back onto my hooves and starting to slowly approach the robo-dragon carcass. The distinct, acrid smell of burnt metal and warm hydraulic fluid filled the air as I drew close, Thumper's stock pressed as tight as I could bear between my foreleg and my chest, hooves moving slow as I examined the robot closely. Yeah, that sure loks like a usual robo-dragon alright... but, something about it seems... off. And I'm not just talking about the hole through it's head.
Stopping before the puddle of thick reddish fluid that oozed from the joints, the metal of the dragon's hide seemed like it was already scratched to hell, mauled by something, even. I'm no plantologist or whatever, but I'm pretty sure a tree wouldn't leave three parallel scratch marks in solid hardened armor, no matter how fast the dragon crashed. Thing is... I can't really think of what else would've. Nor do I think I want to ever find out what would've gouged out steel like that. Fuck, Luna forbid they're something under Cerberus' control...
Taking a short breather after determining the robo-dragon definitely being dead, I pressed on southwards along the road, Thumper swaying on my back with the Dragon's Breath round still in her breech. Gotta find the Valkyrie, gotta find Static... gotta find where the hell I am, anyways. Times like this, I really wish I didn't injure my wings this much... Strikey, you've got a legputer. Yeah, brain? So? That legputer has a map in it that always shows you where you are. ...I knew that. Letting loose a sigh at my own stupidity - well, sorry, I just got thrown out of a plane! - I rolled back the sleeve of my jacket, looking at the pip-buck on my foreleg, and my foreleg itself. Gashes in my skin stung every time I pushed at the buttons to get to the map screen, a distinct red liquid oozing out around either side of the legputer's ends on my leg. Just grit and get what you need, Strikey...
Eventually I managed to bring the screen up, taking a quick glance at the surrounding areas. Well, not too far away from Maple Station, at least... huh, marker down at the Starlite Drive-in for some reason. I don't remember setting that... Flicking through the other screens, a task list eventually showed itself, my eyes blinking as I saw the currently selected one; 'Find the Valkyrie'. O...kay, I'm just gonna go and assume I'm hallucinating that due to blood loss and a concussion, and it is really not a good thing that that's my first and go-to explanation for this sorta stuff. Regardless, I rolled the sleeve back down over the legputer, heading southwards to the Starlite, and the marker there. Maybe I don't give that thing enough credit...
Blood-tinted hoofprints were left in the snow behind me as I pulled myself along towards the drive-in, the tall, overgrown fencing that surrounded the lot by the road proving the last big obstacle for me. Gritting my teeth, I spread my wings once more, the aches and pains not having died off in the slightest. Come on, just gotta use them to get over the fence, that's all I need the help for right now... drawing in a breath, I gave a few heavy, pained flaps, my hooves digging into the vines and roots that wound their way through the old boards, half-flying half-climbing up the tall structure. Fuck me, what's the point of makng a fence this tall? Were they trying to block out the sight of tanks, or something?
With a heavy grunt, I managed to hook a hoof over the top, dragging myself up and letting loose a loud cry as I rested with my forelegs dangling over the top. After a moment of regaining myself, I managed to look up out across the lot, the pain becoming dulled as my eyes settled on a big, black, crashed metal triangle, and the distinct gouge it left in the snow in front of the screen. The Valkyrie. A faint trail of red cut across the snow from the cockpit over to the projection booth, what blood I had left in me pounding in my ears as adrenaline carried me the rest of the way over the fence, my legs only collapsing slightly under me as I landed on the other side. Fuck, Static, fuck, Static...
As I drew nearer to the projection booth and concessions stand, the sound of laughter and screaming came out from inside the building, my ears perking to try and make sense of it. The laughing... didn't sound like Static, but that screaming definitely did. My legs stung as my heart pounded faster, that pained trot I was using to get to the building switching to a gallop, Thumper rocking side to side and battering against my wings as I went along. While I couldn't see inside the building, I could just about make out some sort of film playing on the screen, so whoever has Static at least likes being entertained while they're... buying themselves a one-way ticket to a closed-casket funeral.
Half-running half-limping around the back of the structure to the door on the far side, I let myself fall back against the wall outside the doorway, readying Thumper in my hooves. Should've brought a slug along for some lockpicking... Static first, then the Valkyrie. Taking a quick few breaths, I reached over to the door handle, wrapping a hoof around it as whoever it was that had Static let off another feindish laugh, adjusting myself only slightly. Here goes nothing...
With a loud scream of my own, I pulled the door open wide, leading in with Thumper raised and looking across the lobby to see Static tied up on the couch, two other ponies beside him with some odd electrical scars looking over towards me, wide-eyed. My bruised wings at least afforded me a leaping kick that connected with the stallion nearest to me, sending him to the floor with a satisfying thud, the other one falling to his haunches and throwing both of his forehooves to the air as Thumper settled on his face. Just as I was about to give him plenty of new scars, the pony underneath me shifted, sending me off of my hooves and blasting the wall beside the cowering stallion with the sizzling incendiary ammunition, the both of them moving their hooves to cover their ears and wincing from the pain. What's the matter ya cunts, never had tinnitus before?
Taking Thumper by his barrel in my hooves, I brought him up and swung him around, the heavy wooden stock of the grenade rifle connecting with the stallion I'd plowed into earlier, knocking loose a few teeth and sending him sprawling to the floor again. Looking over to the concessions stand behind us, and the other stallion still rubbing at his ringing ears, I charged over to the glass case where they made the popcorn, smashing it open and reaching in to grab for one of the plastic scoops. Yeah, that's just about the right size for a pony's eye, isn't it? Well, if you guys like torture so much, how about I return the fucking favor!
Fitting it onto my right hoof and letting Thumper rest for the moment, I charged over to the stallion on the far wall, shoving him to the tiled floor with my free hoof as the scoop-clad one was brought over to hover just above his eye, myself waiting for him to get his shit together and look me in mine. Tears stained his cheeks as he writhed weakly underneath me, my rear hoof lifting to... encourage him to open up. Or, well, make sure he can't have kids, one of those two. The aged plastic of the scoop pressed against his cheek bones as I slowly started to put more and more weight into it, the blubbering mess of a stallion trying so desperately to not lose his eye, it was almost cute. Up until I heard some familiar, other screaming coming from the couch.
"WHAT THE FUCK, NIGHT STRIKE!? STOP!!" A thin line of blood was oozing from around the scoop's edge where it had pierced through skin, myself blinking a few times as I eased back to look at Static - -really- look at Static. Yeah, he was tied up, but he wasn't injured or anything, at least on his face. His legs didn't sem to be broken, either, and when I looked under him, there were even a few empty healing potions here and there around him, but none of the blood splatter you might expect. And when my eyes moved back to meet his... he seemed terrified. He glanced down to the stallion below me, who was still just a blubbering mess, myself letting loose a shuddering breath as I stepped back off of him and dropped the bloodied popcorn scoop. Static was fine... they didn't fight back at all... what... what was I even doing?
What have I turned into?
---
The large bottle of glowing blue soda trembled slightly as I held it in my hoof, sitting on the couch next to Static and looking down at the floor, the earth pony resting a now-untied hoof on my shoulder. The pair of slavers sat on the small bench at the far side of the room, a certain odd silence only broken by the sound of a film's audio playing out permeating the air. I loosed a shuddering sigh, taking another long gulp of the soda, just trying to get my nerves back at this point. Goddesses, I fucked up... "S-s-so, you were..."
"I was fine, Night Strike, they even patched me up after they found me after the crash. They were just forcing me to watch a horrible movie, you didn't have to come in looking for blood." One of the slavers gave a small grunt of annoyance as Static spoke, making us both glance up to look over at him. His eyes met mine in a glare for just a moment, before he turned back to the film - yeah, no, I completely understand that. Static let off a sigh, squeezing me a little closer. "It probably did look worse than it was, but... I... I never thought I'd see you go and nearly do... what you did. We always joke about you being crazy, but..."
A sniffle escaped me as I held back some tears, screwing my face up and wiping my eyes with my sleeve. "I was... I was scared, Static, I was afraid they were hurting you, and I might end up losing you again. I..." I drew in a breath, before letting it off in a shuddering sigh. Maybe I should tell him, now at least. He was looking at me in a bit of confusion, leaning back into the couch slightly. "This... isn't the first time. Back in that town, where you got... where... where the mercenaries nearly..." Come on, Strikey, get the words out. Another shuddering breath escaped me as I adjusted myself slightly. "The merc that we got the gauss rifle from, Crash Dive kept her alive and questioned her. After she was done... I was scared then, and so angry, I just... I couldn't control myself. I s-sliced up her wings, and-and tore her legs up with Th-Thumper, and h-her head... War Crime..."
Unable to hold it in longer, I dropped the mostly-empty bottle of soda and just threw my forelegs around Static, burying my muzzle against his shoulder and squeezing him in a tight hug. I didn't want to let go at all, feeling the tears streaming down my cheeks and dampening his jacket, the earth pony only returning the hug after a short moment. His hooves gently patted against my back as I let it all out, eventually falling to slight shudders in his weak embrace. I leaned back and lessened the hug a little, my stinging eyes meeting those of Static - his looked... hurt. He let off a sigh, giving me a slight nuzzle, leaning back to look at me.
"I... Night Strike. I do... I do still love you, but... I'm just shocked you'd go to that extreme. I know you're better than that." I let my head fall forwards, shutting my eyes. Better than that... am I? Am I really? I don't even know anymore myself... Static leaned forwards and held me in another hug, resting his chin on my shoulder. "I promise I'll do whatever I can to stop scaring you like that, but you have to promise me you'll at least try and restrain yourself, if there is a next time. I dunno how it might feel when you're doing it, but... it really hurts -you- afterwards. I can see that."
Sniffling in for a moment, I gave him a silent nod, relaxing just a little in his embrace. If there is a next time... I'm not gonna let there be a next time, or at least I'm gonna try as hard as I can to make that so. We held the hug for a few moments longer, before we both just laid back against the couch, myself still rubbing at my sore eyes. Looking outside at the screen, a somewhat aged color film was playing, a giant... plant, with teeth, singing on screen, I think. The slavers across from us were tapping their hooves with the beat, and with all the emotions gotten out now I could just about hear the radio too, in the air of the main building.
Just as I was starting to kind of understand what the song lyrics were - mean lean brother come at her face, I think? - the distinctive rumble of a large engine in a small tank could be heard outside, the sudden crash of an old wooden fence being rammed through at the north edge of the drive-in catching everyone's attention. It didn't take too long for the vehicle to show itself, the large boxy turret housing the massive howitzer on the small chassis coming into view with an alicorn's head looking out the back doors, Aerith holding her hat on with a forehoof. As she caught sight of us in the concessions stand, along with the two other stallions, she lifted out her weapons, the BT-42 pulling a hard right turn in the slush of the lot.
With a sideways slide, the small tank had managed to line itself up straight with the front window, skidding to a halt as the hatches opened up, and a wide array of weapon barrels all were pointing through the glass and towards the two slavers. The radio clattered to the floor as we both looked over to the pair of stallions, who both had their forehooves raised to point up at the ceiling, looking quite nervously between each other for a moment. Aerith had hopped out of the tank and was trotting over to the doorway, her entrance making the pair of slavers seem to shrink back a little in their seat. As I looked back at her... and remembered where we found her in the first place... oh, boy. One of the stallions - I think that was the one I knocked the teeth out of - let off an annoyed grunt, throwing his head back before looking back towards us.
"For goddesses' sake, can't we just watch these movies in peace now!? This is why we quit, it's pretty friggin' tiring to keep having gun barrels shoved in your face, yanno! We've both been beat up enough for one day!" Aerith blunk in surprise, the barrels of her guns lowering as she looked over to us, her expression only getting more pronounced as her eyes presumably noticed a lack of bindings and injuries. A weak chuckle escaped me, leaning forwards onto my hind legs and giving my head a shake. Today's gone from great to horrible to just plain strange too damn fast...
"Come on, Aerith, save your ammo. Let's just go..."
---
"Fully fixed tomorrow, huh? Tough break." It was around mid-afternoon when we finally got the Valkyrie unburied, taken off, and mostly safely landed back at the tank firing range near Maple Station. Still was gonna be around a day until we could fully combat-fly it again - crashes are not great for airframe stability, as it turns out - but at least we didn't have to worry too much about it being trashed or stolen, now. After making our goodbyes and letting Gardener catch up with the rest of his platoon, we all settled down in the Roundhouse, just trying to find some time today to relax and wait for everything to fall into place. At least nobody's getting tortured... "Still was surprised to see you manage to land that thing in that state, I've seen tanks with less damage than that that were fully knocked out. You guys are some kinda lucky."
Hispano adjusted Suiza on the table as she went about wiping off the internals of the autocannon, the ambient music of the Roundhouse having switched over to Radio KAOS rather than any live shows - suppose that makes sense enough, it is kinda slow here at this time, isn't it? Crash Dive gave off a little scoff, her power armor whirring as she adjusted herself in her seat. "Pfeh, lucky? You've got a weird definition of luck if you think getting ambushed by a flight of robo-dragons on the same day we're mobilizing more of our forces against Cerberus counts as 'lucky'. Don't want to know what else they might have in store for us before the day's out."
The gryphon wore a smirk as she leaned back, fitting a part back onto Suiza. "I'd say having your fancy jet pounced by one of those things and still managing to fly it back here despite a major crash would be considered lucky. Not to mention with both of you keeping your limbs intact at that." Aerith passed on a nod as she sipped from a botle of Sparkle-Cola, myself looking over to Crash Dive and giving a shrug. Well, she does have a point, so far we're 2 for 2 as far as major aircraft crashes survived goes... not something I really want to be proud of, but, well, better than the alternative. The large drum magazine clicked back into place as Hispano finished assembling her autocannon, giving a nod and setting her down on the side of the booth gently. "Besides, those guys have gotta be running low on robo-dragons by this point, and with your track record they'd be pretty hard-pressed to find more Talon mercs to send."
"I gotta wonder just how much they must've been paying for us, I mean, Royce and Merlin said they were expecting around a million caps for all five." Static scratched at the side of his head as he munched on a plate of hay fries, resting his other foreleg on the table. "Hm... you don't think there might be even more gold inside Fort Maple, do you? They'd have to have something worth trading, and I kinda doubt that a pre-war base would have a lot of bottlecaps floating around it. The terminal at the sub pen did say that the gold we found was meant for Project Cerberus, that can't have been the only shipment they ever recieved... well, almost recieved, anyways."
A sigh escaped me as I could only give a shake of my head, sipping from my second bottle of Sparkle-Cola RAD. I swear, that pony's got a brain made out of bottlecaps... "If you want to see about getting whatever gold might be down there out, Static, please at least try and let it wait until -after- we kill Cerberus. I might be about as subtle as a megaspell blastwave, but even I know that trying to sneak around with a literal ton of metal bars probably isn't gonna fly that well." Static passed on a small glare of his own as he bit down on another hoofful of fries, myself returning it. What, don't like it when I'm the one thinking sensibly, Sparky?
There was a small whirring of servos beside us, Scouring clearing his throat as he rested his armored hooves on the table. He passed on a weak grin, looking between us. "Eheh, speakin' of the gold, ahm, ye both wouldn't have happened t' have given how you'll be dividin' it up at the end of things any thought, have ye? I mean, considerin' I helped with rewiring that bomb to blow up the sub way back when, and have been helpin' you guys out otherwise, only seems reasonable to get a fifth of it, aye?" Static and myself only blunk, looking at the power armored unicorn. Dividing the gold up... okay, that's definitely Static's ballpark. I'm just gonna sit here and drink my glowing soda, and watch Hispano seem to become even more interested in the conversation herself... oh, boy.
"Hey hey hey, what's this all about gold and getting paid? I know I came up here with dad, but that was just for helping out in Hopeville, and let me tell you, twenty mil ammo ain't cheap." Static's surprised expression shifted to look over at Hispano, myself only gulping down more of the soda. Come on, I'm gonna drown out all this talk of money one way or another... "Look, don't get me wrong, you guys are great, and it's nice to spend time with you, but a gryph's gotta eat. I know I probably can't ask the same as mister Steel Ranger there, but if you're talking gold bars, one or two'd be nice. If nothing, then just to get back what I've spent on ammo while up here..."
Static let loose a weak chuckle as he rubbed at the back of his neck, myself finishing off the glowing liquid in the bottom of the bottle and gasping for breath. I found myself looking through the formed glass bottom at the rest of the roundhouse, the tables and walls slightly warped from the lens effect, another table of patrons catching my eye as they seemed to have taken a keen interest in us. I blunk a few times, lowering the bottle to look over at them in return, a group of gryphons all donned in black combat armor... wait a second...
The song playing over the speakers switched over to another one that started with a few blasts of a saxophone backed by a steady beat, the other table shuffling about slightly as the song picked up. One of the gryphons quickly brought the barrel of a gun up to bear, myself having just enough time to yell out a 'duck!' before the Roundhouse erupted with the sound of gunfire, our table being flipped upright to act as some cover as I dropped behind it. Crash Dive was already up and returning fire with loud chooms of her rebar cannon, Static having fallen to his shomach and laying with his hooves covering his head, cowering but unhurt... and, seemingly relieved. Yeah, let's save payment until -after- the fight.
I dragged my duffel bag down from the booth as more shots peppered the table, Aerith returning some fire back at them with her Tommy gun while she readied her newer automatic rifle, Scouring joining us behind the table for the moment. Well, at least he wasn't planning on using Sunburst in here... maybe this -isn't- a job for Thumper. A metal ball clunked against the side of the booth seat in front of us, myself having just enough time to notice the shaped metal surface of it before it was encompassed in a magic field and quickly tossed back, the fragments from the grenade splintering the wood of our table. Thanks, Scouring...
Racking War Crime's bolt after getting her magazine in, Aerith's rifle had already started chattering away, myself leaning back to ready myself for aiming the large gun. A spray of gunfire splintered at the other side of the table - jeez, where these things made with a metal interior lining, or something? I don't think it's been penetrated once yet - and I spotted Hispano grimacing as she held her talons, looking over at the large autocannon just outside of reach. That... might be pretty useful, actually, considering the sturdiness of these tables so far. Or it might overpenetrate way too much and end up killing somepony else... well, if she gets hold of it, just aim low, I guess.
I tried to lean out to get a sight, only to be met with another spray of bullets, one of them burning a nice line out of my ear. Okay, not making this easy, then! Well, I mean, the .50 MG was an anti-tank round at one point, maybe it can get through this... blind firing a fully automatic anti-materiel sniper rifle, what could go wrong? Shuffling over, I braced War Crime's stock in my shoulder, letting off a long five-round burst back at the mercenaries' table through our own. Hot copper splintered around the outside of their table, a few satisfying screams of pain coming from them as this stupid idea worked, myself letting off a light chuckle. There was a slight clatter that came from the other side of the table as I saw Suiza settle in Hispano's grasp from Aerith's magic, the gryphon readying her gun and bracing herself as well, ready to try the same thing. Oh, please tell me she's got AP loaded, at least...
Suiza blasted out loud, the gunfire drowning out the sound of the music that I'm sure would probably be very befitting of a restaurant gunfight, Hispano's side fo the table practically disintegrating as the massive bullets punched holes through it and buried themselves in the other gryphons. Aerith swapped her empty magazines for fresh ones as I kept the barrage from War Crime up, the return gunfire slowly becoming less and less apparent as the brawl went on. Another grenade bounced off the outside of our table, splintering the wood and sending some fragments through the holes we'd made, peppering my jacket with the hot metal. Well, at least we're doing a good job of throwing their aim off!
The sound of wings flapping and a plasma gun discharging filled the air as we all took a moment to reload, the gunfire otherwise falling entirely silent as Royce wrestled with one of the survivors, Merlin landing by our table. A startled Hispano swung Suiza around, just about managing to smack Merlin across the face with the end of the barrel, the gryphon recoiling from the impact. Egh, sorry, your fault for getting to us in the middle of a firefight, though... "Fuggin... ten years, and I'd still know that barrel impact anywhere. Long time no see, Hispano. Nice to see you guys are at least alright..."
Hispano let off a weak chuckle as she held her autocannon at ease, resting back against the central legs of the bullet hole-riddled table. There was a rather satisfying thwack of a head being hit by something dense from the other side of the room, a low grunt being heard before Royce appeared as well, her beacon rifle steaming slightly from firing. "You really did one hell of a number on them, we're looking at four dead and one unconscious. And, uh, two... yeah, severely wrecked tables. I'm sure whatever these guys had on 'em will cover damages, though. You guys probably don't need any Talon combat armor or anything, right?"
"Y-yeah, we're good, nothin' we haven't dealt with before, eheh..." Static weakly picked himself back up, brushing his jacket off and steadying his shaking hooves. I rose with him, finally getting a non-interrupted peek over at the opposite table - well, uh, I mean, I guess since the booth seat material is red already, it probably won't stain, right? Eheheh... Crash Dive shook a few splinters from her mane, while Scouring pulled his helmet off, Aerith packing up her guns with a grin on her muzzle. The earth pony rested himself against the booth seat behind him, letting off a long sigh. "Okay, am I the only one getting sick of having run-ins with mercenaries? I mean, these guys were push-overs compared to the last group, but they're really just getting annoying now..."
"Oh, so you'd rather be brawling with robo-dragons then, Sparky?" I let off a chuckle, looking back at him, the earth pony passing on an annoyed glare. I just wore a smirk, picking up my duffel bag and shaking a few splinters off of it. "C'mon, at least we can kill these idiots without too much fuss. If Cerberus wants to keep wasting whatever cash he's got in paying for more mercenaries, I say let him, at this point he's only hurting himself."
Static paused for a moment, seeming to consider it, before answering with a shrug. I might not be as cap-pinchy as him, but even I know when somepony's probably wasting their money... Scouring cleared his throat as we all moved out from behind the table, getting our attention, Hispano sliding up alongside him. Oh... come on guys, do we have to do this right now? "So, ah, anyways, ye were about to say how we're gonna be compensated fer all this, aye?"
Static just answered with a few blinks, a nervous grin on his muzzle, as I rummaged through my duffel bag. Pulling a bottle of the glowing blue soda out, I reached over and poked the earth pony in the shoulder with it's cap, wearing a weak grin of my own. Trust me, Sparky, you look like you'll need it...
---
"Vanhoover Air Base, Valkyrie requesting landing on runway one." After a long night of back and forth negotiations, contract building, and what I hope were satisfactory agreements - I'll admit I was drowning myself with Sparkle-Cola for most of the night - the Valkyrie was finally repaired and both Scouring and Hispano were happy... I hope. Considering both she and her dad came over here with us, I really do hope she's alright with whatever Static worked out with her, and she isn't here to catch a plane ride back home...
"Vanhoover Air Base Control hears you Valkyrie, clear for landing on runway one. Welcome back, guys." The mountaintops passed by close as we crested over them, my hoof pulling the throttle back as I nosed us over to look down into the wide canyon the airbase resided in. Airbrakes out for just a little bit to slow us down, little bit of a fast turn to set us up for the end of the runway, gear out, flaps at landing... little bit of flare to slow for touchdown, aaand... The landing gear squeaked as it met the tarmac, us easing down to taxiing speed well before the end of the runway. I am getting so good at that...
A little motorbug rushed out to meet us as usual, myself peering over the instrument panel to follow it around to the taxiway and hangars. A few minutes later and I was able to shut off the Valkyrie's engines, hearing the large things whine down and feeling the bomb bay doors open with a loud thunk behind us. A breath escaped me and I unbuckled myself, Static already moving for the cockpit door while I gathered up my duffel bag, the rush of ponies crowding about to get a look at the Valkyrie curiously absent this time. We dropped out onto the concrete floor of the hangar without any fuss, the few ponies sticking around to help with reorientating the Valkyrie for our departure and a few other workers in the hangar being the only ones here. Where the hell could everyone else be?...
Hispano gave her back a stretch as she moved over to us, her father looking about for a moment before heading off to the hangar entrance. "Nnf, not exactly first class back there, I'm gonna be honest. Least of all on account of the two half-kiloton-yield wall ornaments... Anyways, dad said that he'd heard about this place being storage for some older helicopter designs on top of being an airbase, figured it'd be worthwhile seeing if they could be flown again for medical evac or something." I passed on a nod, us all starting to head over to the hangar entrance to join Cora and the rest of the Vanhoover Five. Suiza clinked slightly as Hispano adjusted her, before the gryphon turned her head to look back at Static. "Oh, yeah, Sparky? When you've got some free time, dad wanted to have a chat with you too, same stuff as last night. He's a bit more of a merc than I am when it comes to that, I'll warn you now..."
Static stalled in his tracks for a moment before dryly swallowing, the sound of several loud fans catching our ears as we watched the roads outside of the hangar. Eventually the Hovervan came into view, easing itself to a stop just in front of us, the right-side door opening up to reveal it being driven by one of the older stallions from the trio... May, right, I think? "Welcome aboard! The Hover-Van Grand Touring service is here to bring you all over to the main control tower, at the request of our wonderful Chief Air Marshal. Should be room for everyone, don't worry."
Cora seemed to study the machine for a moment, before giving his head a gentle shake, instead turning his eyes to meet those of May. "Whoever that is probably only asked for these five, I'm here concerning some of the equipment that was in storage here. Just point me to where you keep the rotary-wing craft..." The older gryphon paused for a moment, his eyes just barely looking back at Hispano for a split second. "...and your ammunition storage areas, too."
As May helped direct Cora and Hispano, the rest of us clambered into the Hover-van, Aerith taking the front seat while Scouring and Crash Dive fit themselves in the middle, myself and Static taking up the back. The two gryphons took to the air with heavy beats of their wings, the doors shutting and the engines powering up, and within moments were were off once again. I let off a sigh, leaning back in the seat for a moment, before opening up and rummaging about in my duffel bag. "Alright... map holotape is, here. Hope the tanks are getting along alright..."
Static gave a small dismissive wave of his hoof, letting off a soft chuckle. "Come on, Night Strike, they're tanks, aren't they? If they come under attack by the robo-dragons again, I doubt they'd get too damaged, and it's probably unlikely for them to get their turrets pulled off. Pretty sure a small machine gun turret would weigh less than a full tank-size one." Keeping the holotape out, I zipped up my duffel bag and passed on a slightly worried look. Well, he was right, they probably wouldn't be able to pull a tank turret like Avery's clean off that easily... but they can still carry explosives, and that's not even counting what could've caused those gashes in that one dragon...
"It isn't the robo-dragons I'm worried about, it's more what else Cerberus might have on offer. We've only seen the robo-dragons so far, that might just be because they can get places fast enough that people won't be able to react to them before they can do damage." The look on Static's face lowered a bit, the earth pony sinking back into the seat cushions. Yeah, really isn't looking as great when you start worrying... What were those robo-dragons after at the sub pen, anyways? I leaned forwards, tapping on Scouring's armor to get his attention. "Hey, do you still have the data we managed to get from Cerberus somewhere? Could you see if there's anything in there related to the sub pen we ought to know about, or anything they might have other than the robo-dragons?"
The power armored unicorn nodded, feeling about on his armor for a moment before producing a holotape of his own. "Aye, went through and pulled as much uncorrupted data as I could off'a the drive awhile back, can give 'er another look when we're in the control tower. Hopefully I had it all sorted alright, heh..." The unicorn gave a soft chuckle as he stowed the holotape back away, the Hover-van coming to an easy stop just outside the control tower. Passing on a quick thank you, we all disembarked and stepped inside the tall building, the Hover-van speeding away towards the fuel depot. Sheesh, those things really do run out of fuel quick, don't they?...
The guard at the base of the stairs stepped aside to let us through, us all making way up to the top of the tower. Bluh, would it kill them to try and get the elevator working in here? This place has got to have one somewhere, at least. Eventually we all arrived, Serene tending to a radio set while Sharpwing came over to greet us, a smile on her face. "Ah, 'bout time you arrived, we were gettin' worried May got himself lost again. Just in time, too, Turbine should be commin' in aboard Dragon Mare II any second, should have plenty o' those recon photos you asked for."
I passed on a nod and headed over to the windows that overlooked the runway with Static and Aerith, Scouring finding a spare terminal to start looking over the data while Crash Dive trotted about the outside, looking down across the airbase. A few moments later, the long-winged black jet came into view past the southern mountaintops, coming in low and slowing down for a landing, the bicycle gear dropping from the fuselage as a motorbug drove out ahead of it. Huh, yanno, I don't actually think I've seen it land normally before... the radio Serene was at crackled, Turbine's pained voice coming over it. "Dragon Mare... reporting mission success. Flak fire's pretty heavy far south, got as many pics as I could before having to bail. Hope they can... work... nuh..."
"Dragon Mare? Dragon Mare, respond!" The radio only answered with silence as Serene tried to get back into contact, us watching the motorbug speeding alongside the plane having to swerve as the wingtip dipped, scraping against the ground. The massive long-wing jet skidded and swerved to a stop at the far end of the runway, a white-painted motorbug already rushing out to get to the wreck.
Well, at least it wasn't on fire this time, right?... Shit...
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While I can kinda understand what Crash Dive is saying, I have to agree with Scouring. Plus, Crash HAS to know through her time on the ground that the rangers aren't as bad as some of the other ranger groups out in the wastes. I mean, what's that old saying? Better the devil you know?
'We wouldn’t need the electronics, and more than likely anything they have running the place would be fried by them.' - True, but I'd think in a world of megaspells, and assuming the devices survive the blast itself, they'd have hardened most military electronics against EMP sorts of effects. Though, some of the old things like motors powering the hydraulics for the turrets would PROBABLY not be specifically hardened, so those could burn out.
'Well, I mean, actual boat-boat, not flying-boat.' - Or landship, in the TOGs case!
'Certainly wouldn't be ideal, but I'd assume you'd just start wailing on them with your sword at that point, Jack.' - Drive me closer! I want to hit them with my sword!
'more plasma raining n from overhead' - I think you're missing something here!
'As I followed its gaze, Royce was hovering in mid-air, aiming her beacon rifle towards the mechanical beast.' Ooooo! I'd been wondering where they'd gotten to in all this!
You know, I will say this: For keeping track on when the Valkyrie is flying all over the place and requiring them to tell them about taking off and suck, you'd think Fowler would give out more calls about incoming robo-dragons...
"Y-yeah, we're good, nothin' we haven't dealt with before, eheh..." - Surely, Static, you don't have to tell that to Merlin and Royce!
"Nnf, not exactly first class back there," - Yes, but it's probably a LOT more comfortable than riding around on TOP of the Valkyrie!
Overall, I quite liked this chapter! Cerberus is fighting back, and I'm sure that surprise attack on Maple station isn't going to be the only trick up their sleeve. Though to be honest, if I'd been the commander of a secret force that noticed a large number of tanks gathering over a few days, and a wartime cruiser with range to hit you suddenly able to travel again, I'd be more than a bit worried. Still, lots of action and plenty of fun this time around! As always, I'm looking forward to the next chapter!