Spiral Knights: Equestrian Front

by Chazonic

Same mission, same raid, different circumstances

"Whee! This is always a fun time!" Another explosion rocked the level.

"You know we've gone through this place already, haven't you?" A nearby knight sighs with disdain as he unloads another shadow energy clip into a nearby toxoil that was thrown by the blast.

The knight's name was Dusk-Shooter, the sharpshooter of the group with the largest stock of weapons to use. He has a gun for almost any situation, and is his squad's primary source of shadow damage. Originally asocial, he took a while to open up to his squad mates.

Another knight looks at the gunner with amusement in his eyes as he approached. "I thought you were at least somewhat used to Blast's antics, Dusk."

Dusk-Shooter groans. "I still find it irritating that he dashes off before we can get any ground work done on a strategy. Sure; his bombs keep him relatively save, but without proper co-ordination they only serve to fling mobs our way." He turns to look at the other knight. "Surely you agree, Flame-Lance."

Flame-Lance is the leader of Delta Squad, one of the spiritual successors to Alpha Squad. High-spirited yet quick-tempered, he devises strategies and tactics with Dusk-Shooter for any situation they may come across. He is also the first knight to get Dusk to open up, and was the one to slowly form Delta Squad. His hot temper is reflected in his preference for fire weaponry, though he does have other weapons for flavor.

"I agree with you somewhat. Being tactical about how we tackle a compound like this will guarantee a successful run. However, we seem to be just fine with the basic 'go for broke' strategy considering our adaptable load-outs."

"I-I don't think that's something we should pride ourselves in..." Both the knights turn to the newest participant of the conversation; Volt-Crasher. Being the youngest of the group and the only Champion among three Vanguards, he has more than made up for it with his unique status as a supporting shock guardian. Despite his role, he is very shy, and is often the last knight to reach the end of a floor if the entire squad simply runs for it. His shyness can be a deadly lure; if his squad or any innocent creature is in mortal danger, he will enter a fit of rage.

Dusk gives him a inquisitive look. "What took you so long? Your the only one who can run faster thanks to his armor."

"Dusky, give him a break. You know how nervous he always gets." Blast-Bomb ran over to join into the conversation.

Blast-Bomb lives up to his name as the pure bomber of the squad, something seldom found amongst the Spiral Knights. He has almost every single mist bomb, bombs that spread a status-causing mist upon detonation, making him vital in a support sense. He is considered the most happy go-lucky off-the-wall knight in the Order and heavily modified a second Nitronome into a Party Bomb to showcase his love for parties.

Blast looks at Flame with pleading eyes. "On the subject of tactics and strategies, can't we forget all of that for just one floor? It's fine and all, but doing it all the time gets BOOOOOOORING!"

Flame-Lance sighs. "This floor ONLY. It isn't nowhere near as brutal as the next floor of this place, even though we always finish just fine. As soon as we reach the elevator, we get something worked out before continuing."

"YIPPIE!!!" Blast runs of, a Nitronome already primed.

Dusk shakes his head. "We better keep up with him to make sure he doesn't get himself killed..."

"Agreed."

The hack-and-blast method of attack worked out in the end. However, they encountered some slightly tight spots because of the toxoils ability to spread poisonous oil by simply moving. Gremlin scorchers also kept setting them on fire while menders kept healing everything, making for a hazardous fighting environment.

Compound 42 was infamous for these hazards, despite the fact that the two most prominent monster classes, slime and gremlin, are weak to shadow weapons. Toxoils and their turret-like brethren, compound polyps, are only found here, and many knights who attempt to fight their way through always get poisoned at least once. The gremlin presence only serves to make the place even more of a burning nightmare for knights who don't know what to expect.

Delta Squad wasn't one such group... on most days.

"Just... what were you thinking, Blast?" Dusk was giving his blast-happy squad mate the stink eye.

Blast simply looks at Dusk with innocent eyes. "I wanted to have some fun. What's wrong with that?"

"I said it before, I'll say it again; The Clockworks isn't some place to have fun in. That kind of attitude gets most knights killed in these depths."

"But we aren't most knights now, are we?"

"That's not my point..."

Flame simply shakes his head. "There they go again. Blast's energetic personality always clashes with Dusk's more serious outlook."

Volt looks at Flame with a little fear in his eyes. "S-shouldn't we try to stop them? If we get ambushed..."

"Nah, the elevator to the next floor is over there anyways." Flame stops right before stepping onto the elevator.

"Oh come on, why did you... oh right." Blast sits down on the elevator and looks at Dusk and Flame expectantly.

Dusk nods to Flame. "Then here's the basic battle plan; for engagements in tighter areas, Blast-Bomb will keep in front of us with a Shivermist Buster primed at all times. When the enemies are frozen by the mist, I'll fire on them with my Obsidian Carbine or Umbra Driver while Flame and Volt attack them with their shadow swords. If the Shivermist is unable to reach some enemies or if they are polyps, I'll switch to my Permafroster and Volt can switch to the Polaris."

A round of nods from his squad. Dusk looks at Blast and adds, "if you can find the time between Shivermist blasts, you can use your Dark Retribution for more damage."

Blast salutes. "Affirmed, Dusky!"

Flame steps forward. "For the bigger battle areas, we are going to try something new. The Shivermist is good, but I feel we can use combinations for greater effects."

Dusk puts a hand on his chin. "Pray tell, what kind of strategy do you have cooked up now?"

Flame rolls his eyes at the unintentional pun. "I feel it would be more effective in bigger areas, which is why I waited until after you were done with your strategy for narrow areas. Blast and Volt are going to lay down Stagger Storms and Voltaic Tempests respectively. While it won't immobilize them like the Shivermist, they can still be pushed around and the effects won't end when they get hit.

Volt's eyes widened in realization. "The shock-stun strategy."

"Exactly. During all this Dusk, you can use your Grim Repeater, Obsidian Carbine, or Umbra Driver for pure damage output while I use my Archarons charge attack. If the enemies get a bit too close, I can pull out my Valiance and use its blasts to push them away. Blast, you can use Dark Retribution for additional damage or the Nitronome for when they get too close."

"Affirmed as well, Flamey!"

"Volt, If you think you can, take a few shots with your new Phantamos or use your Gran Faust. Simply laying Voltaic Tempests doesn't suit your combat style.

"A-alright."

Flame nods once more. "Alright guys, lets do this. Let's see if we can spare creativity with our tactics."

---

"That went a lot better than expected." Dusk took the final shot at the last remaining giant toxoil before it could attempt to spike everyone.

Flame gives dusk an amused look as he went around picking up crowns. "You thought it wouldn't work?"

"It was more so the fact that Blast was once again getting a little too careless for my liking. Oh well, what's done is done."

"Of course it's done! Would you expect any less from us?" Blast skipped over to us and gave each of them a pat on the shoulder.

Volt wandered over as well. "W-we shouldn't get swelled heads over--"

*INCOMING TRANSMISSION*

Flare looks at his Mission Interface Pad with mild surprise. "They never tried calling us while we were in the clockworks before." He hits the receive button.

"Delta Squad come in, we've got an urgent problem that needs attention."

Flame looks at the female knight with surprised, yet stoic eyes. "Give us the briefing, Kora."

"As you know, Spiral HQ has been confused for a while over how the Clockworks could have levels where, not soon after one squad of knights pass through, another squad enter the same place with it once again teeming with enemies."

Dusk adopted a thinking posture. "I was always curious about that myself. Sure, the undead family simply rises again after a short amount of time and constructs are able to manufacture more of themselves or through gremlin production, but the other monster families?"

"Our thoughts exactly, Dusk-Shooter. Even the fiend family with their ability to summon more allies from the underworld shouldn't be able to repopulate levels that fast. Before I continue, are all of you familiar with cloning technology?"

Volt narrowed his eyes a bit. "Cloning technology was banned from use before Isora's takeover by Morai."

Blast look uncertain now. "Wasn't it to prevent the use of 'mass-produced bio-weapons'?"

Kora nodded. "Exactly, as it filed under animal abuse to clone a creature then warp its mind with physical and mental augmentations to fight and die for us." She shakes her head. "That's not stopping the gremlins from trying to eliminate our presence by any means necessary."

Flame's expression changed to that of anger. "You mean..?"

"We found a hidden away gremlin facility thanks to Zeta Squad's reconnaissance. They found out that the gremlins are cloning slime, beast, fiend, and even their own families in that facility."

Dusk sighed as he twirled his Grim Repeater. "So you want us to pay a visit to that facility and shut it down?"

"Affirmative, Dusk-Shooter. Your mission is to raid the facility and destroy it, along with recovering any intel you can on the gremlins operations. Be wary, not only might it be one of many cloning facilities, the gremlins might unleash all the monsters they cloned on you all at once, so expect a major battle if you're caught. Constructs will be there but are few and far between, so shadow and piercing weapons are highly recommended."

Delta Squad nods all at once before Flame says, "give us five minutes and we will head out."

"Actually, Morlin wants to see you guys in the lab before you head out, stating he has something that may help you during the mission."

"Alright, we'll head there first."

"I hope for a successful raid. Kora out."

Author's Note:

All status effects are found on the Spiral Knights wiki here .

Sorry for how clunky this chapter might seem. I originally had a simplified summary of the squad as a type of prologue chapter, but it was sadly rejected.

List of weapons used or mentioned in this chapter sorted from first to last mentioned:
-Nitronome
-Shivermist Buster
-Obsidian Carbine
-Umbra Driver
-Permafroster
-Polaris
-Dark Retribution
-Stagger Storm
-Voltaic Tempest
-Grim Repeater
-Archaron
-Valiance
-Phantamos
-Gran Faust