Fireteam Odium

by EchoTheFloof

22) Aftermath

Procor stood slowly, opening his eyes and looking around him. He had fallen during the fight, so he hadn’t seen anything that had happened when the Primus had reached the castle.

“Ghost?” The Titan called, the little white machine floating over to him.

“Hey.” He responded, flying by his shoulder.

“What happened? Did we win?”

“As far as I can tell, yes. The Cabal are in full retreat, and Elana is going around reviving the rest of the team.”

The human gave a sigh, turning to look at the castle. The spire of it had fallen during the onslaught, but the rest of it remained intact, though the same could not be said for the city.

Multiple homes were crumbling, and many more were already completely destroyed, shards of crystal covering the streets. In all directions he looked, he could see the bodies of the War Mages that had fought alongside them, not a single one of them moving.

“Damn. Where are the others?” Procor asked.

“Moving towards the courtyard below the castle.”

He gave a nod and turned to face the streets leading to the building. Even more pony bodies lay across it, each wearing a coloured robe. He tried to ignore them as he walked forward, dreading the thought of coming back through there to search for injured.

It took only a minute to reach the castle, the three other guardians, along with Chrome and Flamelight standing there. They were talking with each other, their conversations becoming clearer as he drew closer.

“...and what is the death toll, exactly?” Kervis asked Flame.

“I haven’t seen any of the War Mages that went into battle with us. They might still be out there, but I doubt there are many left.” The blue pegasus replied. He had taken his helmet off, allowing those around him to see his face.

Kervis sighed and looked around, spotting Procor quickly, “Hey, you good?”

Procor nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine. What happened? I’ve never even heard of a Cabal army retreating, especially with how well they were doing.”

“Churchill happened.” Exodus said, joining in with the conversation, “Elana and multiple ponies say they saw columns of smoke puncture two of the ships. They came from space, and my Ghost has detected swathes of Frames moving on the city. All signs of a Warmind.”

“Frames? How did any of this even get here? No other Warmind network was detected when we went through Rasputin’s database, so how did this one never get added?” Procor queried.

“No idea, but we need to figure out what our next step is. We apparently have a Warmind online, and we didn’t even need to excavate that bunker. With it, we can end this today.” Exodus said.

“Exodus, you know we can’t.” Kervis said, “We got immensely lucky with this attack. We need to take a step back and plan out our steps. We can’t rely on the Warmind to do everything.”

The Warlock looked away slightly, the others staying quiet as the Exo thought on what they had to do.

“…If we aren’t going to move immediately, our next best move would probably be to access the bunker. If we can get in there, we can re arm, refuel the ships, and figure out what we can do with the Warmind.” He eventually said, looking at them all.

“Sounds good. We can get a lot of ponies from the camps around Solacium, and transport them to the bunker via our ships. I’ll go and tell the Val what we have discussed, and what happened here.” Kervis said, receiving a nod of confirmation from his companions. With his job now set up, the Titan walked away from them, the roar of his ship becoming louder as he dropped in from orbit.

“I think I’m gonna stay here and help the city rebuild,” Elana said, stowing her sniper.

“I’ll come with you. There might be ponies that need help.” Exodus said, walking away with her.

With the others going their separate ways, Procor figured he could find something to do on his own. He requested his ship be brought down from orbit, and boarded it when it arrived, jumping into the pilot seat and firing its engines up.

His first thought was to go see the Warmind Exodus had mentioned, and hopefully assess how much damage it had taken during its time up in orbit, and with nothing else coming up, he brought his ship back up to orbit, the planet sprawling out below him.

“Ghost,” He said, “Where is that Warmind right now?”

A waypoint showed up on his HUD as he spoke, pointing him towards a distant dot hovering above the planet. Pushing forward, he moved closer, the dot becoming a more detailed machine, various antenna sticking out of it. In its centre, a huge barrel pointed down at the surface, the surface of which was a dull red from the shots it had recently fired.

The hull of it was fairly messed up from passing meteorites and other debris, but the majority of it seemed usable, even the antenna looked in pretty good shape.

“Hello,” A male voice said through the comms. Procor didn’t recognise the voice, but it certainly didn’t sound Cabal, “Are you here to help repair me?”

“Uhh, no. I came up here to see exactly how damaged you were.” Procor replied.

“I see. Well, feel free to look. There is little I can do to stop you.”

They both went silent as the Titan’s ship moved around the machine. The holes within its plating were nothing that couldn’t be repaired, though some of them had come dangerously close to the Warmind’s barrel.

“What’s your name?” It asked after a long while.

“Procor.”

“That’s an interesting name, I have never heard of one like that. I am Churchill.”

“Pleasure to meet you. From what I understand, you helped push the Cabal back?” Procor questioned, moving his ships away from Churchill.

“If that is the name of that alien race, then yes. I apologise for my lack of accuracy, but I had to use the WarSat feed to fire, which isn’t the most accurate way to fire orbital strikes.”

“I can’t imagine it would be. But you still saved us, we owe you.” Procor said.

“I was simply doing my job, though having some shots from the surface moved up here would be most certainly appreciated.”

“Of course. I’ll have my team get on that when we manage to reach your bunker.”

Procor gave one last sweep around the orbital weapon before flying backwards, getting a good look at the entire thing in one go, “You’re pretty beaten up. You sure you’re going to be alright for when we need you?”

“My combat efficiency is still at an optimal level. I will have the accuracy necessary to fire upon the enemy should you get the beacons from Elizabeth,” Churchill said.

“And how many shots do we have? I can’t imagine these beacons are unlimited.”

“The bunker is armed with fifty beacons and fifty shots ready for loading. There are a couple of extra storage zones around my bunker that hold more shells, but the only beacons available are within the bunker.”

“So we have fifty, unless we can build more beacons. Got it. I’ll head back and let my team know about what we have talked about, and uh, thanks. For helping us.” Procor said, turning his ship around.

“You are very welcome. I look forward to hearing from you soon.”

The Titan smiled and pushed his ship forward, re-entering the atmosphere with ease. As the ground hurtled towards him, he opened his comms and pulled up, using the momentum gained during the descent to increase his speed without having to increase power to his engines.

“Everyone, got some news.”

He began getting notifications that others were opening their comms, and when the third notification sounded, he continued.

“Just spoke with the Warmind. Turns out he can’t fire properly without his beacons, which are inside that bunker. There are also multiple storage areas nearby that can provide extra shots if we need them.”

“Sounds good. We shouldn’t even need that many, but it’s nice to know we aren’t limited too heavily.” Kervis commented.

“I’ve managed to get in contact with some ponies that can help us dig, and we have rescued the remaining War Mages.” Exodus said, “There are only twenty six left.”

“And their leader?” Procor asked, his ship coming into the Crystal Empire’s line of sight.

“We haven’t found her. If she managed to survive, she has been either hiding, or she ran from the battle.”

“I don’t see her as one to run,” The bronze Titan said, “You may want to keep searching.”

The comms went silent after that, as the guardians returned to their jobs. Procor’s ship flew into the city, and hovered near the castle, allowing him to teleport down with his Ghost. On the surface, ponies were moving all over the place, some helping to clean the debris from the roads, some trying to find loved ones, and others crying for the ones that hadn’t made it to the castle in time.

With nothing else to do, he joined in the help to clear the streets and find any hurt ponies within the buildings, walking slowly through the crowds of ponies.

‘Is this even a victory?’ He thought as he looked around him, his eyes crossing over the masses of ponies. Shaking his head, he moved onwards, quickly being pulled aside by some ponies pulling debris from a hurt pony.

- - -

“How long do you think it will take for them to get to you?” Churchill asked.

“Providing they have the manpower, a day or two. If they don’t, I would guess a week.” Elizabeth replied.

“Are you able to move those frames to defend your bunker? A day can be a long time, as can a week. We can’t allow these aliens to discover you.”

“They won’t find me. That I can assure you. Even with people working to move the dirt from the top of the bunker, they seem far more focused on attacking cities.”

Churchill went silent for a moment, thinking on the situation, “Are any of the surrounding bunkers still accessible?”

“Storage zone five was built into a mountain face, so providing the rock hasn’t crumbled around it, the shells should still be there.”

“It may help us to let them know about it. Having spare shells would allow me to keep defending these cities.”

“Understood. I will notify them when they arrive.” Elizabeth said, switching her comms off.

Churchill had little to do but watch the beings on the surface go to work repairing the city. Watching them was fascinating, as they clearly were not humans. There was some data sent up by Elizabeth that hinted at that, but he wasn’t sure how reliable it could be from seven-hundred years of possible corruption.

His WarSats didn’t have cameras good enough to look too close to the surface, but he swore he could see chunks of buildings being moved with nothing touching them. Further examination showed that each time this happened, the object would be surrounded in a colourful aura, each one having a different colour.

A few minutes passed before he decided to forget about it. He had bigger things to worry about, and watching the residents of a city was certainly not among them.

- - -

The Primus stormed into the bridge of the last surviving carrier, the crew within barely noticing him as they scrambled to get the ship out of there.

“Where is that weapon?” He called out, gaining the attention of his crew.

“In orbit, probably right above us, sir.” A legionary said, kneeling before him.

“Get as many ships as you can up there and eliminate it. We cannot allow that thing to halt our plans.”

“I-I’m afraid that will not be possible, sir.”

The Primus looked down at him in unbridled anger, “What?”

“This carrier has taken heavy damage to its hull, leaving it compromised, and the others contain the prisoners who would surely perish should they be taken into our breathable atmosphere. We have no method of retaliating against this machine.”

Their leader gave a slew of curses, turning to the front of the bridge. With the position of it, he could see across the hull of the craft. Huge fires and deep holes covered it, and dead Cabal lay upon the upper portions of it, many being workers that had moved up there during the assault.

“Prepare the engineers, I want this ship back to orbital combat as quickly as physically possible.” He commanded, the crew immediately rushing to their consoles to relay his orders back to the other carriers.

- - -

Cadence and Shining looked over their ruined city. With the aid of the Guardians, the monsters were running, and the ponies had been returned to the city to find their families.

“How will we recover from this?” Cadence whispered.

“We’ll recover the same we always have.” Shining whispered in return, hugging his wife, “The heart isn’t broken, and the Guardians are working to defend us. This isn’t over yet.”

The alicorn smiled, returning the hug and holding it for a few moments, “We should really get down there.”

Shining nodded and stepped back, “It’s going to be alright, remember?”

They walked out of the castle after that, little being said as they made their way down. When they reached the bottom, they looked around. Not many ponies were looking at them, as they were more focused on finding others, or helping in the cleaning efforts.

“So where should we start?” Shining asked.

“We could use some help calming these ponies down, if you wouldn’t mind.”

The duo turned to find the blue and black-robed Guardian walking towards them, his weapon on his back.

“Oh, Exodus, correct?” Cadence asked, smiling at the sight of a being she knew was helping them.

“That’s right. We’ve been doing our best to get the injured to safety, but it seems the ponies are getting spooked by us. It would really help if you could assure them they are safe.”

“Of course. I’ll go help talk to them, Shining. We should split up anyway.” The pink alicorn said, giving her husband a quick hug.

“Alright, but be careful.” Shining said, returning the hug once more and watching as she trotted away into the crowds of scared ponies.

Turning back to the Guardian, Shining spoke again, “So what exactly was it that destroyed those craft?”

“There is a Warmind in orbit of this planet. Warminds are a network built during the Golden Age that were used to help defend planets the people thought could be used as homes, or any that were touched by the Traveler. They are incredibly powerful, and are able to fire upon both the surface and objects in space.” Exodus explained.

“Then why didn’t it stop them from arriving in the first place?”

“It was deactivated until now. Thanks to us coming into contact with it, the AI within the bunker seems to have activated it again, though we still need to get down to it.”

Shining gave him a confused look, “Then what’s stopping you? If it is powerful enough to end a fight in three attacks, then surely it would be a good idea to reach it.”

“It is buried under the earth. Unless we can move it aside, the bunker will be too covered by it to assist us.”

The unicorn nodded slowly, thinking on what had been said, “I can send ponies to help you reach it. This is our fight as well, and we will do what we can to help end it.”

“Thank you, we had been trying to figure out how we were going to get willing ponies to aid us, so having some help sent to us would move our plans along greatly.”

“I’ll go gather as many as we can spare, and have them rally just outside the city. They will know what you do when they arrive, just take them to where you need them and they will get started.” Shining said.

Exodus nodded at that, “We can do that. Now, I should get back to helping the city. Thanks again for your help.”

Shining smiled, “And thank you for defending us.”

- - -

Kervis, Chrome and Flamelight walked through the streets of Despectus, hoping to find their two Cabal allies. They had been searching for some time, with little sign of them.

“Are you sure they are even here?” Flame asked.

“Positive. Exodus wouldn’t lie to me, and I have heard from a few ponies that they do in fact live here.” Kervis said.

“But we have been looking for some time now and haven’t seen them at all.”

“Then we keep searching. If we absolutely can’t find them, then we ask the town’s leader.”

Flame sighed, but kept looking around him. After another half an hour of walking, they came across a newly refurbished hall, its door had been rebuilt as well, if the surrounding architecture was anything to go by, making it significantly bigger. Nearby, the ground had been pressed down by an incredibly heavy object, large enough for it to be a drop ship.

“Looks like we found the place,” Chrome commented walking towards it.

“About time. It feels like my hooves are gonna fall off.” Flame grumbled, following Chrome and Kervis.

“Quit complaining. You’re going to be working much harder than this if you want to help us.”

Kervis sighed and banged on the door when they reached it, ignoring the two ponies bickering behind him. Heavy footsteps could be heard on the other side, before the heavy door opened, revealing the Val in his full combat armour.

“Ah, hello again,” He said, looking down at the human.

“Hey. You busy? We need to talk.” Kervis said.

“We weren’t doing anything particularly important, please, come in.”

The Val turned to the side to allow the entrance, watching as the three of them walked in and looked around them. The smell of freshly-cut wood was still present, permeating the air as they moved towards a large table, the only being sitting there being the Centurion.

The sound of a door closing behind them could be heard as the Val moved over, sitting beside the Centurion. The wood creaked below him, but it held just enough against his weight.

“So, what is it you wished to speak with us about?” Thovog asked.

“There has been an attack upon the Crystal Empire. We were able to defend it thanks to some assistance,” Kervis said, trying not to think about how that wooden stool could support something so immense.

“Oh? Have more Cabal seen through the Primus’ lies?”

“Not that I am aware of. There is a Warmind in orbit, and it has been brought online.”

Thovog looked at the Centurion in shock, before turning back to the Titan, “If there is a machine up there, then why didn’t it help us before? My team could have been saved!”

“It was brought online because Exodus managed to speak with its AI. Until that happened, it had remained deactivated, and invisible to both our scans, and the Cabal ships.”

The Val sighed, leaning back a little, “So how do we proceed? Even with this machine on our side, we can’t use it until the Cabal carriers are free of prisoners.”

“That’s something we are going to have to spend some time working out. We are currently focused on actually reaching the bunker, and when that happens, we can create a plan from there,”

“I see. We will do our best to help create a plan of action. Do you need help getting to this bunker?”

Kervis gave a short nod, “If you are offering, yeah. It’s buried underground, so we will have to dig away the earth before we can access its door.”

“We can aid with that. Where exactly is this bunker?”

The Titan turned to his side, his Ghost appearing there, “Can you give them the coordinates?”

“Of course, one moment.” His companion said, turning to the Cabal, “I will send the location to your HUD, if that works.”

“That should do it,” Thovog replied.

Nothing was said for a few moments as the Ghost worked, giving the two Cabal the location they needed.

“Got it. We will give this to the Psions and meet you there,” The Val said, standing up.

Kervis and the two ponies also stood, “Sounds good. Thanks for the help.”

“It’s no issue. The sooner we kill the Primus, the better it will be for everyone.”

Kervis smiled behind his helmet, “Can’t argue with that.”

With that, they left the building, the Cabal moving to the side to await their drop ship. The guardian and his pony companions made their way back through the town, towards Kervis’ ship that had landed on the fields surrounding it.

“You sure we can trust them?” Flame questioned as they walked.

“Why wouldn’t we? They have been helping us since we met them.” Kervis said.

“Well, what if they decide to give the Primus those coordinates? If they knew about it, they would probably attack it.”

“If they plan on doing that, I’ll kill them before they can speak a word of it. The only reason I am siding with them is because we need the help. Badly. I’ve got no intentions of becoming friends with them.”

Chrome looked up at him, “Why not? They are clearly not trying to hurt anypony. They want what we want.”

Kervis was silent for a moment before he responded, his head looking forward, “Because their kind killed the one being I loved.”

The ponies’ eyes went wide, but nothing more was said. Neither of them wanted to piss him off, knowing the damage he could cause should he want, or need, to.

Their walk to the ship remained silent. Neither of the ponies knowing what to say. As they reached it, multiple ponies could be seen getting a close look at the craft, a few of them jumping when the lights on its wings swept near them.

Kervis continued to walk, ignoring them. As he got closer, a few of the ponies noticed him, backing away from him and his ship. Without a word, Kervis’ Ghost teleported the three of them on board, the Titan taking his seat and removing his helmet.

“Team, I’ve managed to contact our allies. There’s going to be a drop ship near the bunker, it’s friendly.” He said through his comms.

“No problem. I’ve got some ponies coming in as well, we should be there in about twenty minutes.” Exodus said.

“While you two do that, me and Elana are going to stay back here. When we have done all we can to help the city, we’ll join you at the bunker.” Procor said.

With their plans set, Kervis raised his ship into the air, turning and flying in the direction of the bunker. He tried his best to not think of what happened, but no matter how hard he tried, the face of Kalis wouldn’t leave him. That was the first time in a long while that he had ever said he truly loved her, and it was to two alien beings. The thought that he found it easier to tell two aliens that the actual Exo was crushing to him.

“Kervis?” His Ghost asked as they flew, drawing the Titans attention to him. He was hovering at his shoulder, looking at him, “Want someone to talk to?”

He shook his head, returning his focus to his front, looking out of the small viewing window, “Maybe later. We have bigger things to worry about.”

Author's Note:

Apologies for how long this took, for those that don't use the group, I had some real issue regaining motivation for this chapter. So sorry if it shows in the writing as well.

I know it's late, but I hope the readers that were hit by the hurricanes made it through alright. England didn't see any of it, so I have no idea how bad it was.

As for the picture of the War Mage leader, Chrome won, so his picture will be the one that is used as her. Thank to everyone who voted!

And lastly, I'm sure you knew this would come up. The story has reach 1,000 views, a number I didn't think it would ever reach. Thank you all for helping make this story what it is. From those who have been there since the beginning to those that are just joining us, thank you. I know I have said something similar to this in the past, but it still holds true to this day. This story has been a great passion of mine, even if my motivation has faltered at times. The fact that people enjoy it makes writing so much better, and you can be sure I'll be finishing this in its entirety.

Thanks again!

Picture of the War Mage that Chrome drew:

Comments

[EchoTheFloof]

8454453
Thanks! I wanted to make sure each side had their situation told, as there are quite a few now

[EchoTheFloof]

FOR THOSE CONFUSED BY THE LACK OF UPLOADS, PLEASE READ THIS.
This will also be in the upcoming chapter's author's notes.

I have come to the decision to slow the uploads of chapters within this story for a little while. I haven't given up on it, I just feel that taking it a bit slower for a while will help me more than just spamming out chapters.

The chapters will be slowed to one every 1-2 weeks until I feel like I can write more in a shorter amount of time. I hope you all understand.

8454453

8426603

8426378

8426275