War Gone Cold

by Bronycommander

Chapter 5 Fight as One

Chapter 5: Fight As One

They all stared at what they just heard. It was supposed to be a simple mission. Instead, they had discovered something terrible.

“W-what did we get ourselves into?” Lily stuttered yet got hugged by Fletcher.

“Shh, calm down. Whatever it is, we’ll keep you safe.” She gave him a weak smile, her three friends did too.

“Still, it will make your job harder, no doubt. But for now, rest, all of you. You have earned it.” Midnight added and everyone nodded as the choppers arrived at Mother Base.

The knights had a short break, eating a snack as Patch and Wagensroll walked up to them.

“We might have found the locations of the other Dark Horse members.” Patch said and Midnight smiled.

“Really? Where?”

“In Africa, to be exact in the same area you just operated.”

“Then let’s go! There is no time to waste.” Fletcher pointed out and the three knights called the chopper.

They got brought to the same cliff the children had been dropped off, the map showed that the signal was near.

Looking around they spotted an Earth Pony stallion in the distance. His armor was made out of furs and leather, wielding a pair of throwing axes. He was white-coated and wine-red maned, long and shaggy with a beard and tail to match, tied up in knots with bronze rings, also staggering around.

“Careful.” Midnight warned as he and his friends closed in to be in hearing range.

But as the Earth pony spotted them he roared and started to charge, like a wild beast and the knights dodged his attacks as good as they could.

“Easy! Easy there!” Midnight exclaimed as the Earth pony tried to slice him with his axes.

Fletcher and Wolf managed to combine their attacks, with Fletcher firing a stun arrow that worked like a Taser, causing the Earth pony to drop the axes as it grunted in pain and Wolf attempted to knock him out but the stallion recovered quickly.

She dodged a series of wild punches, trying to stay calm, with Fletcher and Midnight trying to restrain him by tackling him to the ground.

They had to use all their strength to do so and Wolf quoted the vow.

It caused the Dark Horse member filched and groaned.

“By Gods and Horses, where have I ended up?! Humans?! Sand?! Loud, ugly guns everywhere?! Am I in Tartarus?!”

“No, you’re not, Atgeir.” The batpony replied with a smile and attached a Fulton and the Earth pony screamed upon getting extracted.

“According to the map, the next signal is near that burned down village we came across earlier,” Wolf said after looking at the map and they made their way to the forest area next to it.

It didn’t take long to spot another Dark Horse member. It was a tall unicorn mare, lithe and deep-indigo in coat with a long, trailing white mane that nearly reached the ground, her eyes hidden by a blindfold of azure cloth, and a gold circlet with prisms of lapis lazuli rising high upon it. She also wore a dress in the same color as the blindfold. Several crystals floated around her as she stumbled through the forest.

However, the moment she spotted the knights, her crystals glowed and the forest was engulfed in storms of flying crystal.

“Don’t worry, I got this!” Fletcher cast a shield spell in response, protecting Midnight and Wolf as they closed in.

Midnight threw some smoke bombs to break the mare’s concentration and as she coughed, he quoted the vow.

Upon the smoke clearing, they saw how she grabbed the sides of her head and mumbled, “Oh...dear...The eyes of ancient Emperors glow blue once more...the bloody haze lifts...the voices dispel...I am in control again...” She raised her head, weakly smiling. “I didn't hurt anypony did I?” Her tone was calm and compassionate.

“We are fine, Insistra.” Fletcher replied, “How’s your teleport?”

“It’s working just fine.”

“Okay, here’s a diamond of where we have our shelter,” Fletcher replied, having found it hidden on Mother Base, as some soldiers intended to hide them for some reason. Insistra nodded after grabbing it and licking it.

The crystals started to spin round her at ever-increasing speed, a white light slowly emerged from the center of their orbit, spoke softly in an unfamiliar tongue,

“Natte-Ard-Safara.”

She got engulfed in the white light and vanishing once it was gone.

“Only one left. It’s near the oilfield.”

Following the signal, it led the three ponies to a cave, hearing groans of pain.

The slightly gasped to see a bright blue unicorn stallion with black mane arranged in elegant curls and a trim mustache and beard in heavy, golden armor, decorated with depictions of cobras, lying on the ground, a great mace next to him.

He was twitching and trashing, having a seizure, so the knights tried to grab him in an attempt to calm him down, quoting the vow.

After a view minutes, he stopped, slightly panting and exclaimed, “The Gods are good. Aid has come at last! I...” He stopped abruptly as he stood up and faced Midnight, his expression becoming one of dismay. “Lord Commander...Is there somewhere the situation may be explained to me?” He asked in a blunt, forthright tone, as if he had little respect for the knights.”

“Yes, there is one, Siyarjit. Are you fine?” The Lord Commander asked and the unicorn nodded, walking out of the cave.

“I can handle things myself from here on. No need for your...spells.” Siyarjit insisted, pushing the Fulton away.

Midnight shrugged. “Fine by me.”

Once in the chopper, they briefed Siyarjit about the situation. “Your shadow-magic wouldn't have anything to do with this, would it?

“No.” Midnight replied icily.

“I am merely concerned. Such arts are catastrophic when control is lost and this could be-“

“This is beyond any of our control, Siyarjit. And considering we have the most experience dimension-hopping, I suggest you take our advice from here on.” Midnight interrupted him.

In response. Siyarjit fixed the knights with a resentful glare. “Then I will do so...however much I feel is necessary.”

As the chopper arrived at Mother Base, they saw, saw Atgeir and Insistra waiting at the helipad with the others. “I take you got briefed about the situation?” Midnight asked.

“Yes, Lord Commander and we are ready to serve you again,” Insistra replied.

Just then, Snake walked up to them. “Sorry to bother, but we got another mission.”

“No problem. I just hope it’s quick as it gets late.” Midnight replied as the sun was setting, yet the kids smiled, showing no sights of getting tired before they boarded the choppers and played the info tape.

“There's a violent power struggle going on within the contract forces of Africa - the PF that ran security for the Mfinda Oilfield. Most of their key people are Afrikaners, but naturally for a South African organization, some of its founders are British. Details are sketchy, but apparently the Afrikaners are holding the British personnel for interrogation near Kiziba Camp. We've been asked to rescue one of them, a man known as the "viscount." We don't know the viscount's exact location, but he doesn't speak the Afrikaner's language, Afrikaans. They'll need an interpreter who speaks English in order to interrogate him. Meaning if we tail the interpreter, he'll lead us straight to the target. By the way, the contract specifies that it's alright to ignore the other British prisoners... But the final decision is yours, Boss.”

As the choppers closed in, Miller informed on the details.

“Several high-level British CFA officials are being held by their Afrikaner colleagues. One of those prisoners is the rescue target, a guy known as the ‘viscount.’ The target location is unknown, but they’re bound to have an interpreter present when they interrogate him. We’ve used info from the Intel unit to predict the interpreter’s location. It’s on your iDroid. Follow the interpreter and extract the target when you find him.”

As the chopper touched down, Abstraction, together with Siyarjit, Atgeir and Insistra followed Snake and DD, the Pegasus and batpony used the clouds, scouts and Snipers got dropped off near good vantage points of the camp.

“I think I see him, south entrance,” Blau reported as he spotted a soldier with a green beret, just like Lovec had worn next to him was a soldier with a red beret. Both walked up to a tied-up man having blue colored clothes with red and white stripes, being escorted by a guard.

The guard and man with Red beret had a short chatter before the prisoner was led away.

“I found another prisoner, southeast in a small booth,” Katja said and the flying ponies took a look, with Snake and his companions following the interpreter to said prisoner, who stood up as they arrived, with the red beret soldier saying something in his native language.

“This is your last chance.” The man with green beret said in English and the ponies realized that this was the interpreter, the other one was the interrogator. “The MPLA's oilfield rights - where did you get this information?”

“I told you, I only know it was an anonymous source…” The POW replied and the interpreter translated before replying,

“You're not fooling anybody.”

“Ask any of the others. Nobody knows anything.” This response from the POW caused the interrogator to say something in an angry tone.

“You made up a story with the others. You British are all liars. You know how much the Afrikaners suffered because of you in the Boer War?”

“That wasn't me.” The Brit replied at the translation.

“But it was you that betrayed us.” Was the counter of the interpreter.

Slightly panicking, the Brit answered, “It wasn't me, it was the viscount...!” But got swatted by the interrogator’s rifle and the two CFA members walked away.

“So, our rescue target was behind some kind of plot.” Ocelot concluded as Snake made a sign for Siyarjit and Atgeir to take care of the POW.

The Earth pony rushed forward and knocked the CFA guard out with several punches before the mercenary had even a chance to react and the unicorn extracted the prisoner with a Fulton.

“Two more POWs, man and woman, to the east of the camp in cages,” Dinky reported as she looked around, seeing also that three CFA members guarded them, with the two officers arriving shortly.

As both POWs were brought out, the interpreter started the questioning “Now you will both talk. Where did you get the information on the MPLA's oilfield rights?”

With a scared expression, the male prisoner replied, “We don't know anything, I swear!”

“Believe us...” The woman sobbed.

“You mean you attempted to contact the MPLA based on information from an unknown source?” They both got asked by the Interpreter.

In response, the male POW answered, “We thought it was suspicious, sure. But we stood to make a lot of money out of it. We're businessmen...”

“You're a joke, not businessmen. Failed mercenaries trying to skin this country.” They got accused.

“We didn't... we didn't try to hide anything... The viscount said to keep quiet for now, that's all...” The woman tried to explain and the English-speaking African translated for his superior,

“Then the viscount can tell us the rest.”

“W-wait! She had nothing to do with this!” The male Brit pleaded before getting swatted by the other officer.

After the officers left, Insistra whispered, “Go, Go gadget stun shot!” And her crystals hovered over the guards unnoticed, shooting blue lasers that had the same effect as a Tranquilizer, putting them to sleep. Abundo checked the two prisoners then for injuries. Having not found any, Midnight and Wolf extracted them.

As Abstraction followed the officers he took notice of a piece of paper in the radio building on a table with the radio, next to a sleeping soldier on a cot. Using his magic, he acquired the paper without a sound and scanned it with his IDroid.

“This is…a list of prisoner detainment locations…” Miller realized and marred the location of the last prisoner, being on the west side of the camp.

Seeing how well everything well pleased the children. But suddenly the sound of an engine greeted their ear and they turned around. “Incoming truck!” Stay down!” Sergei warned as their vantage point was next to the road, staying prone.

They held their breaths as the truck stopped in front of them and both passengers took a look, apparently alerted by the parked jeep.

Lily’s heart raced as one of the soldiers came dangerously close to her and pointed a flashlight into her direction. Please don’t see me!

“Huh? What’s that?” He ordered and the filly quickly realized she had to neutralize him or the alert would be sounded and the prisoner executed.

As he spotted her, his expression was one of surprise, yet grunted in pain as Lily and Dinky opened fire, throwing him back as they aimed for the chest, the siblings did the same with the other CFA soldier.

This gave Sergei and Lovec a chance, rushing over and knocked them down with the butts of their rifles. Despite not speaking Afrikaans, holding the CFA members up was enough to show that they should stay down and the kids let out a breath of relief.

The Eternal Knights and Dark Horse members reached a house, where a prisoner was led in, Miller confirmed it was the target and DD barked as the two officers came into sight and entered too.

“Sorry we kept you waiting.” The interpreter started, yet the Viscount had his head lowered.

“You're gonna kill me anyway...”

In responses, the language specialist replied, “Perhaps not - depending on what you tell me.”

“We don't know the informant's identity.”

“He does not believe you. If you want to die, we will make it happen. We never should have worked with the Brits.” The interpreter translated what his superior said and the Viscount looked up.

“You're a nationalist? Apartheid's on its last legs already - get with the times.”

“That's some attitude from a traitor.” Was the cold response of the CFA officer.

Slightly desperately, the Brit said, “What am I supposed to say? Trust me? But how about we make a deal?”

“That door is closed already.” The interpreter finished and both left

Snake watched after both officers until they were far enough from the house and said, “Fire!”

Blue neutralized the specialist, Fletcher the interrogator. Both knew why Snake wanted to extract them, the former would allow him to understand Afrikaans in future missions, the other one had very likely his skills that would be of use for Diamond Dogs.

At the same time, Abstraction vaulted through the window and knocked the guard out, then carried the Brit outside and extracted him, just as Snake did the same with the CFA soldiers and they all extracted out of the hot zone.

“Debriefing coming right up!” Patch informed his friends and they all listen to Miller.

Boss, one of the other British prisoners filled us in about the viscount. It turns out he's a real two-faced son of a bitch. He was planning on securing the MPLA's oilfield rights for himself in exchange for swapping the CFA's alliance from the anti-government UNITA rebels to the state-backed MPLA. He hid this from the Afrikaners, but once he thought the jig was up, he tried to pin it on the other British personnel and take off. The Afrikaners captured him, and that was when he asked us to rescue him and only him. I'll throw him in the Brig for now, but... we may have to be extra "persuasive" with this one.” He paused.

“By the way, Boss, we got some interesting news out of our friend the "viscount." He mentioned that more than a few PFs in the region have purchased Walker Gears. The CFA's the same. That's Soviet Army technology... and it's still a prototype. Only Cipher could be leaking it to the PFs. But the question is... why?”

“I hope the viscount will set in the brig for a long time for betraying his own.” Wolf slightly growled with disgust, the others nodded, yet Fletcher had to smile.

Dinky, Lily, Katja and Blau had fallen asleep, snuggling with each other and Blue put a blanket over them with a smile of her own.

“It’s…fascinating. They went through so much, things that would scar children of their age for life, and yet they want to help where they can.” She whispered, not to wake them and everyone nodded.

“Their parents can be proud of them,” Insistra added.

Upon arrival at base, Fletcher and Blue brought the children to bed, before resting for the night.

---

In the next morning, they all breakfasted and Dinky asked, “Siyarjit, do you, Atgeir or Insistra mind to tell about yourselves?”

“Not at all,” Siyarjit replied, “I’m a Ghoran unicorn warrior-prince. I was famous for leading a group of Najiksatra across Ghora to root out Glamourling influence among the ruling classes.”

“And I am an Erdornish beastmaster. I get often hired by villages close to the Frozen North to deal with monster threats.” Atgeir told the kids.

“As for me, I am mage of the Crystal Empire of the School of Lapis Lazuli. Though the scholars always wear blindfolds, I have no trouble of my surroundings, as you have seen.”

“That’s very interesting.” Blau smiled as Snake walked towards them.

“Sorry to bother so early in the morning, but the next mission just came in.”

None of them minded, they nodded and got their gear and boarded the chopper, listening to the info tape of Miller.

“Boss, this contract comes from the MPLA - the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola. Apparently, "new, Western bipedal weapons" have been deployed to Ditadi Abandoned Village and are a threat to their troops. Our job is to eliminate them. The "bipedal weapons" they're talking about are of course Walker Gears. As I've previously reported, they're already in active service with PFs in Africa. But don't you find it strange? A PF employed by the West obtains a prototype developed by the Soviets... Yet the Russia-backed MPLA don't know the details. Eastern weapons technology developed in Afghanistan is being supplied to the West in Africa. Only Cipher would be capable of making something like that happen. So Boss, eliminate the Walker Gears at Ditadi Abandoned Village just like the MPLA have asked. Once you do, the PF will need to contact its supplier. Giving us a chance to close in on that supplier - Cipher.”

Again, Miller gave them the details as the choppers closed into the area of operation.

“Destroy them, extract them, whatever you see fit.”

As they all got out, the ponies and soldiers saw how Snake had Quiet with him, she moved towards the outpost at every fast speed, looking as if she leaped through the air, similar to the Mist unit

“Wow…” Lily mumbled fascinated.

“Yes, I never saw such abilities before,” Abundo commented on it.

Getting into position, they all saw that Quiet had already scouted ahead, having marked all targets and soldiers at the burned down village, saving them some work.

Still, the children marked the soldiers that were out of Quiet’s sight, seeing that the four Walker Gears were beige in color, armed with either miniguns or missile launchers, pared next to a tent.

“I see two prisoners, one in the tent, the other one in a ruin,” Katja reported.

“Leave it to me,” Insistra replied and sneaked towards the ruin, stunning the guard with her crystals.

“Thank you…” The POW said weakly as he got extracted.

Sneaking towards the tent, she overheard a conversation between two CFA soldiers.

“So, what do you think of the biped?”

“It's not bad. Whatever the terrain, you can just charge right in.”

“Yeah, but riding it is hell on your knees.”

“How did a PF get the money to buy the things, anyway?” The other soldier wondered.

“Rumor is, it's kind of a scam. They sell the units cheap, but then rack up the price on the optional on-board weaponry.”

“Like what? Surface-to-air missiles or something?”

“Well, that's the thing... This is just a rumor, but I heard it's a nuke. Ultra-compact.” This caused the other CFA member to be surprised.

“Are you kidding me? Mercs like us with nukes? Nuke tech is a nuclear power's biggest secret. No way we could just buy 'em. Even the South African government's having trouble developing nukes.”

“Hey, it's just a rumor. I gotta go.”

“Sure…”

At the tent, she also used her crystals to stun the guard.

“But...why?” The POW wondered as he got freed.

“Because it’s the right thing to do.” She replied and extracted him with the Fulton once out of the tent.

“Destroy or extract?” Abstraction asked Snake.

“Extract, they may come in handy for future missions.” He replied and attached a Fulton to the first Walker Gear. Abstraction took care of the second, Siyarjit and Atgeir of the other two and once that was done, they all extracted.

The debriefing by Miller on the way back was interesting.

“Boss, we were right. Once you'd eliminated those Walker Gears, a resupply call was made from Ditadi to CFA headquarters. The CFA then contacted none other than SANR... that's right, the shell company that "owned" Mfinda Oilfield. So SANR was just a front for Cipher... The resupply won't be happening just yet, but we did learn that the Walker Gears are transported out of Nova Braga Airport. Apparently there's a distribution network on the savanna that links all the PF outposts. I'll have the Intel Team investigate this network. If Cipher is supplying PFs with Walker Gears, the PFs have to be offering them something in return. We follow the money trail, and we might just find ourselves on Cipher's doorstep.”

“Sounds like are on the right track.” Midnight was confident of that.

For the rest of the day, they helped out at the base, with Lovec chatting with his fellow soldiers. “I haven’t received a reply from my parents yet. I hope they understand.” He said with worry.

“Think positive, my friend.” Chernov gave him a smile. “It’s a long way, give them time.”

“Da. I am sure they will understand.” Sergei added.

Lovec smiled slightly. “Yeah…”

It was evening as the next mission started for them all, listing to the briefing.

“Boss, about those Walker Gears deployed by the CFA... It appears that it's not just the CFA, PFs all along the Angola-Zaire border are also getting equipped with them. The bipedal technology was developed by the Soviets... but Cipher's the one supplying it to the PFs. The question is why? What's in it for them? The answer may lie in the "compensation" being traded to Cipher by the PFs. Many outfits operating in Africa get locally-mined resources as spoils of war. Diamonds, nuggets of gold, and rare metals. According to the Intel Team, there's a PF convoy that regularly transports the goods. Escorted by armored vehicles, no less. Pretty heavy security for crossing the Angolan savannah. I can't imagine Cipher would be so interested in minerals alone. Those convoys have to be transporting something else. Something that holds the key to Cipher's plans. Boss, I want you to extract the truck, cargo and all, from the PF convoy. Let's find out what Cipher's real goals are.”

They also informed themselves about Zero Risk Security, as Intel suspected they were here too.

“Zero Risk Security aren't as hardcore a military outfit compared to the other two PFs in the region. The company sends operators to conflict regions around the world, not just Africa. They have decades of combined experience. They're also based out of South Africa. Their headquarters is in Johannesburg. A lot of their work involves corporate security for South African companies, but a good number of their operators are retired South African military. So don't mistake them for a bunch of security guards.”

As usual, Miller gave the details to everyone. “Your objective is to steal an entire truck from a PF convoy. We don’t have a fix on the truck we want. But the Intel Team has spotted the unit that’s tasked with escorting it. They’re stationed at the guard post to the north of Nova Braga Airport, on the savannah. The rendezvous with our target will be any time now.”

With that as info, they all made their way towards the outpost, with the kids marking the guards from a good vantage point, seeing how Snake sneaked towards a tent.

“You’ve found an intel file. It’s the escort plan for the transport truck. I’m putting the predicted route on your IDroid.” Miller informed as Snake came out of the tent and they all took a look.

The route was from the airport, to the camp and ended at the Oilfield. And just then they spotted the escort moving up, consisting of a jeep with heavily armed soldiers of ZRS, and two Stryker IFV, one of them had a tank cannon fir fire support.

Despite the darkness, they all had a clear view of the Zero Risk Security personal. The vehicles were colored in navy blue, so were the uniforms, looking almost identical to the CFA, except for wearing long dark pants. The logo was visible on the shoulders and caps, a yellow and black circle, with the name of the company being formatted to fit around the circumference of the circle (with "Zero Risk Security" being at the top, and "Special Protection Service" being at the bottom), as well as a globe within a hexagon with 12 stars forming a slight circle around the wireframe of the globe, as well as 12 spokes jutting out from the hexagon center. The spokes varied depending on whether they were located on the sides of the hexagon or the corners, with the latter being longer than the former. At the topmost spoke, a crown was adorned on top, while on the northwestern, southern, and northeastern spokes had the "Z", "R", and "S", adorned on them, respectively.

“Let’s go to the airport.” Snake suggested and everyone agreed.

At it, the kids looked around and spotted a navy blue truck with the back covered by a canvas. “That truck is the target.” Miller confirmed but they couldn’t make a move as the escort arrived.

“HQ, this is transport. We’ve rendezvoused with the security escort. Heading to the destination now.” One of the ZRS soldiers spoke into his radio, presumably the driver and walked up to a fellow soldier, who asked,

“You ready to set off?”

“Anytime.”

“What is it under the canvas, anyway?”

“You're better off not knowing. Besides, you'd violate our contract if you look.” The driver warned.

“I've heard rumors... You think it's true that anyone who you looks under the canvas will be possessed by Nzambi?” The soldier asked with unease but the driver’s expression stayed stern.

“Do not look under the canvas.”

“Right. So you're driving to the Munene River?”

“Yeah. Do me a favor and contact the outpost there.”

“You got it.”

“Watch my back out there, guys.” The driver said before getting into the truck and the convoy moved out.

Snake and the others followed it, trying to find a good opportunity to stop it but the APC would spot any attempt to get close.

The convoy stopped at the guard post before the camp and the guards surrounded the truck, so Snake and his companies could only watch as a CFA soldier asked the truck driver, “What's up?”

“You notice anything odd?”

“Nothing really. But...”

“But what?” The driver was curious.

“A lot of guys have gone missing around these parts, lately.”

“Gone missing... Like, abducted?”

“Beats me. But, you ever hear this rumor? There's this jungle around the Zaire border, full of ghosts. And anyone-“

“Anyone who goes in there never comes out.” The ZRS driver finished.

“So you know about it?”

“Listen, don't go talking about that stuff, OK?”

The expression of the CFA member became confused. “What do you mean?”

“I owe you guys out there. So just take my advice.” And with that, the driver got back into the truck, unaware of his pursuers.

Again, they followed the convoy until he was stopped by a guard at the camp. “Something wrong?” The truck driver asked.

“Need to inspect your cargo.”

“Hey, cut it out! You know the rules. Open that canvas and my client will go berserk.” The driver warned slightly surprised and Snake used this together with his allies to get in close, knowing this conversation would take a while.

“You think I give a shit?” The guard countered calmly.

“We have an agreement. You'll be charged with a breach of contract!” The driver yelled, yet the CFA member wasn’t impressed.

“Tell your boss to send a bill.“

“What the hell, man?” The driver did not understand.

“There's an infectious disease going around our post downstream. It's likely it was set loose by another PF.”

“And you're blaming us?”

“I never said that. But right now we're all a little touchy about outsiders. Just one look and we can clear this up.” The guard replied, yet the driver became annoyed.

“I ain't taking the fall for this...!” He exclaimed before the guard’s radio buzzed.

“This is CP. Let the convoy through. HQ has just contacted us. The message is: ‘We have a collaborative relationship with Zero Risk Security in this matter. Unilateral actions in the field will not be tolerated. Unilateral actions in the field will not be tolerated.’ Those were HQ's orders. We have no choice.”

Snake and his allies were just about 35 meters away as they got a surprise.

4 flashes came out of the truck and before the operatives could blink, four humanoid rock stood at each side of the truck. An armor-like walking flesh-form made up of craggy rock with an eerie glow between the fragments. Goggle-shaped chunks of stone made up the eyes eyes giving them an insectoid look.

“The Skulls!” Miller exclaimed in disbelief, “If these bastards are pulling guard duty…That proves that the cargo IS headed to Cipher.”

“Those guys look tough, I don’t think any of our weapons can harm them much.” Fletcher suspected as she looked over to the kids, noticing that they were gasping and coughing, the Soviets were too and his eyes went wide. “Oh no…”

“F-Fletch…” Dinky said I pain over the radio and everyone saw how all PF soldiers got proceed by the Skulls, just like in Afghanistan.

Realized he had to act fast, Fletcher teleported over to the children. “I can help,” Ifrit said and both unicorns cast a healing spell.

The kids and their bodyguards groaned, holding their heads, yet stopped to cough. “That should keep those…things from controlling you.”

“Th-thanks…” Sergei said with a slightly pained voice. “Still, how are we gonna deal with them?”

Fray thought for a moment and got an idea. “This might do it.” He drew his bow and fired an arrow right next to the truck. Blue gas released from it and the Skulls stumbled for a moment, before they collapsed. “Sleeping gas.” He explained as the Mist cleared.

All PF soldiers stumbled for a moment, struggling to stand.

t was in vain as they all fell to the ground, becoming unconscious as they twitched and reversed to their normal state again.

“You defeated the Skulls! I can’t believe you took those things out…” Miller commented surprised, “Now you just have to extract the target.”

Fletcher did as told, attaching a Fulton to the truck and Abundo spotted an Anti-Air radar on a hill, destroying it with his hammer, so the extraction chopper could land here.

“Go ahead, I join you shortly.” Snake waved a hand, extracted the truck driver, some soldiers and the APCs as the ponies extracted. They understood, Diamond Dogs could need the manpower and listed to Miller’s debriefing.

“Boss, we searched the truck you recovered. There were two primary types of cargo. First, drums of malachite, a copper ore. That took up most of the truck bed. But malachite isn't valuable enough to warrant an escort. The real cargo was most likely the second item, a shielding container. The contents? Yellowcake. That's right. The raw material for a nuclear weapon. That might point to the "weapon to surpass Metal Gear" Emmerich told us about, but who can say... Thing is, there isn't a lot of it. Not enough to make a nuclear warhead. Give us some time. We'll look into it, try to figure out why they had this under such close guard.”

“Looks like we hit something big.” Siyarjit commented.

“Yes. But we can think about it tomorrow.” Midnight replied and they all hit the hay once arriving at Mother Base.

---

As the morning sun came, everyone breakfasted, with Blau asking, “How is Snake doing?

“Currently coming back from a mission.” Patch took a sip of his tea. “He rescued two Intel Members that got captured by the CFA. I heard that CFA soldiers died from a decease lately and the CFA blamed Diamond Dogs for this. But the symptoms of the infected soldiers are similar to the bodies of the Oilfield and it happened after the Oilfield was destroyed, especially among local hires sent to the Masa Village area.” He told with concern. “I fear…we might have really caused this.”

“We don’t know that, Patch, it could be something different.” Dawnwind pointed out. “Right now we can only investigate this further.”

“Righto.”

Dinky and her friends looked at each other, hoping it wasn’t really their fault.

The day passed without anything unusual as evening came once again. “What do you think of the Africans the Boss extracted?” Lovec asked his friend.

“They decent, just like us. That African Interpreter understands me well. And you?”

“Me, I learned a little but Afrikaans, even a bit Kikongo.”

Lovec smiled. “Nice!”

“Men, get ready, the next mission is up!” Sergei called out and both saluted, the kids stood behind the former commander, smiling warmly.

Onboard the chopper, Midnight started the recording of Miller’s briefing.

“There are six targets. They're soldiers. The contract is to kill them. They used to be with a platoon of Mbele rebels, but then the Buta authorities captured them. They're at two locations - the Bampeve plantation and the Kungenga mine. The client is none other than the general they served under. He wants them dead to keep them from talking. A commander murdering his former men. That's what this boils down to.” Despite this, the children were at ease, they knew Snake would choose to extract over killing and Midnight did start a recording about the enemy forces.

“Rogue Coyote operates mainly out of Africa these days. Of the three PFs, they're the smallest. However, they scooped up most of the Rhodesian SAS after the country collapsed four years ago. Picture their entire organization as one big special forces unit. With Rhodesia a British colony, the Rhodesian SAS had its origins 22 SAS, C Squadron. They started out as a group known as the Southern Rhodesia Volunteers, but in '51 they were incorporated into 22 SAS as members of the British Commonwealth, and deployed to fight guerrillas in the Malayan Emergency. Even now, 22 SAS keeps the "C" squadron designation empty in recognition of their service. In a way, you could say the SAS almost makes up the core of Rogue Coyote. Later on, they were bolstered by other talent including former Selous Scouts and 32 Battalion. These guys are direct descendants of some of the best special forces in the world. They won't go down without a fight. Don't get careless.”

“Funny, Ocelot told me that Rogue Coyote lacks any kind of company-wide doctrine. It's made up of multiple commanders, each operating a unit at his own discretion. Not so much a corporation as a mixed bag of hired guns working together under a single banner.” Blue added with a taunting tone.

“I guess having been with the SAS makes up for that,” Fletcher replied.

The snipers, together with the children and their friends got dropped at the hill near the plantation, having a perfect overview, the rest a bit away to avoid alerting the enemy.

“Okay, I see three Mobile Gun Systems patrolling around the area,” Dinky reported, having been told the actual name of that variant of the Stryker by Wagensroll earlier.

They were colored navy blue, with the logo of the PF on the sides. It was primarily black and white, featuring an upside-down black spade as well as the center featuring a white Coyote skull to the upper jaw, two AK-74s with their barrels facing away at the bottom, and two palm leaves, with the tip of the spade featuring the name of the organization.

The soldiers themselves wore brown BDU shirts and beige cargo pants, and Lily spotted a man wearing a black beret and a white shirt emblazoned with Rogue Coyote's logo. “That’s the target.” Miler confirmed before a loud roaring sounded in their ears.

“Down!” Sergei yelled and all did as told, seeing a Hind with a searchlight flying past them.

“That’s an enemy gunship. A single burst from its machine gun could cut a man in half. Tread carefully.” Ocelot warned.

“How in the world does a western supplied PF end up with a Soviet chopper?” Chernov wondered.

“The other side of this conflict is supplied by the East, so I guess they must have captured one from them.” Lovec suspected.

Seeing that the target went into a building, Snake leaned against the wall and spun his bionic arm, creating a sound that lured the commander out. The moment the target stepped out, Snake grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, knocking him out.

Abstraction then levitated the man over the wall and Siyarjit extracted him.

“Extracting the target. Our contract was to kill the target, but I’ll go with your decision.” Miller commented at Snake’s action as the leader made his way towards the mine with the others.

One of the APC came towards them but Insistra said, “Mine!” And one of the crystals buried itself into the ground in front of the vehicle. As it drove over it, it started to spark, being disabled, allowing them to get past undetected, with the crystal coming out of the ground afterwards.

However, just after a few meters, Snake, the knights and three Dark horse members were forced to go prone as the Hind came back. “The Hind could make problems when we get to the prisoners.” Abstraction feared.

”I’ll take care of this!” Wolf flew over the hind with the cloud she was using and punched it. Lighting hit the chopper and he smoked. Due to the damage, the pits were forced to leave the area for repairs. “That should do it.”

Getting into the view of the mine, they saw that Quiet had already scouted ahead, waiting for the others to get into position, humming calmly as it started to rain.

A large outpost, made of several rock formations, with the actual mine being all the way to the bottom. “Cover me!” Snake ordered.

With that order, the snipers took out the soldiers in the watchtowers, Quiet fired a non-lethal, suppressed Czechoslavakian Vz. 5 too. The Dark Horse members and Knights knocked out any soldiers that were in Snake’s way.

After the outpost was secured, the mercenary leader moved into the mine, Abstraction, Atgeir, Insistra and Siyarjit behind him.

They carefully moved through the tunnel until they came to a cell, seeing five…children. They all had their heads lowered.

“Bingo. You know what to do.” Miller reminded Snake as one of the boys looked up. He put one hand through the bars, holding a diamond and Snake eyed it for a moment as the boy had an expression of hope. The others did the same. “Their lives for a fistful of Diamonds, huh? And what happens after that? They can’t go home…They’ve only got two options, Heaven or Hell.” Miller pointed out.

Siyarjit’s and Atgeir’s eyes went wide as they saw Snake checking his rifle and the kids backed up in fear. “Snake, wait!” The prince exclaimed but got held back by Abstraction, the mare held Atgeir back, they both struggled but couldn’t get free.

“No. There’s another.” Snake stated.

“Outer Heaven? Tape’s rolling, Boss…”

The child soldiers screamed as Snake pulled the trigger.

Silence.

“How about it, Kaz?” Snake asked. “Looks like our client just got outbid...” The two stallions and the children looked at him surprised, seeing he had shot a bucket instead.

Kaz took a deep breath. “We got the recording. Objective accomplished.”

“Let’s go.” Snake said as he opened the door, yet noticed that one of the kids had a bandaged leg, unable to walk, so he carried him.

“I already took care of the radar, the chopper’s safe to land,” Abundo reported as the group let the mine and the child soldiers got loaded into the chopper and everyone extracted.

Dinky and her three friends smiled, proud and happy that Big Boss had helped those poor kids.

Back at Mother Base, the child soldiers were amazed at what they saw. As Miller walked up, one of the kids accidentally bumped into him, causing him to lose balance and fall. Lovec helped him up.

“Whatcha thinking, Boss?” Kat asked Snake.

“I’m thinking he’s tougher than he looks. A little training, he’ll make himself useful.” The leader looked at the kid who had bumped into Kaz.

“Never liked kids. Especially ones with guns…” Kaz repeated the same when first seeing Dinky and her friends and hit the kid’s shoulder with his cane.

The boy then grabbed Snake's rifle and pointed it at Miller while breathing heavy, a scared expression.

“See? Kid’s a natural.” Snake commented.

“No…He’s no natural.” Just like with Katja, Miller grabbed the rifle and clamped it under his shoulder, taking the magazine out, as well as emptying the chamber, effectively disarming the boy. “Far from it.”

The child soldiers then got brought away by the three Soviets, with two members of the Medical team taking care of the wounded child on a stretcher.

You probably noticed on the way in, we’ve expanded housing. They’ll have their own quarters, separate from ours. Won’t be counted as staff.” Miller told his Boss.

“So we’re running a daycare, now?”

“They’ll learn how to read and write, do basic jobs.”

“A chance at a real life…” Snake figured out, “Just not from behind a gun.”

“Being behind a gun‘s what we do, Boss. There’s no room for angles in our heaven.” Miller replied and walked away.

Dinky and her friends looked with slight pity after the child soldiers, the adult ponies did too, hoping those poor kids could get a chance.

But none of them would know what those child soldiers would cause.

Comments

[midnightwolfGX]

Pretty good chapter. Looks like the squad, having learned what they did during the POW mission, is that much closer to dealing with a great threat that could mean the end for all of them!

Also, when Siyarjit first appeared, it gave me vibes of the Forsworn from Skyrim. I guess it's their more primitive armament or something.

[Bronycommander]

9820872
Well, they are based off Skyrim and don't let their weapons fool you