Chapter 9: Descent
“What? I mean, alright, if that’s what you want, man,” Hampton said. The sound of shells cycling into her crawler’s cannons intermittently filled the cabin. “Does the commander know about this?”
“No, but we hold the advantage in this fight. And if he doesn’t, the commander will know about it soon enough. Can you accommodate my request?” Hampton could see Wesley’s face on the screen, along with a pair of curious purple eyes peeking out of the corner at her.
“Yeah, I’ll see what we can do about it. Michelin, you read this?”
“Reading loud and clear. I think I can have my beams set them up for a tag-and-bag. Focus beam gravity fields are now operational. Let’s see these suckers try to worm their way out of this one,” Michelin responded. “Feel free to take your pick.”
“Affirmative. This is Mobius to all elements: InOps wants one of these dog-like bastards taken in alive. Incapacitate using any means, but if it gets hairy, don’t hesitate to put a bullet in them. In the case that any of you grunts actually manage to drag one of their sorry asses back to Greenwod, slap him in cuff and toss him in the brig. Let the security systems and grav-fields deal with the rest.”
The familiar sight of faint blue circles began appearing along the entire battle line, as the focus beams’ gravity fields began to come into effect. Hapless creatures stuck within struggled with their sluggish movements, the unfortunate target picked by the beams’ targeting systems completely suspended in place with little recourse on the matter. Trooper squads readily took this opportunity to mow down those that could still flee, leaving only the frozen in place.
“There’s one! Grab him!” A trooper squad advanced forward underneath the covering fire of their comrades, and tackled one of the diamond dogs to the ground and applied copious amounts of blunt force trauma with their fists; if they hadn’t knocked the poor thing out, they had certainly given him ample incentive to pretend he was.
“Right on, boys. Haul that thing back to base.”
“Yes, ma’am. Covering fire!” The trooper squad began dragging the diamond dog back towards the relative safety of Camp Greenwood, as the assault began to die down. Several groups attempting to flee tried to divert their course to attack the group, only to be met with half of the squad’s overwatch fire. The focus beams paused their firing switching back to their default mode of discharge before returning to the fray.
“That wasn’t too hard,” Michelin said. “But the grav-fields are a total drain on my focus beams. Leave that stuff up to the Thunderheads, or until I can get a sustained power source down here with a hardline hookup to the base’s power grid.”
“That’ll be it for now, Michelin,” Hampton said, shifting her crawler back into mobile mode to give a temporary pursuit of the creatures as they fled to their lairs. “Thanks for the help.”
“No problem. Now I have to get my defense systems hooked into the grid and let the con-yard take over the control from there. I’m going to need my crawler’s power units for the big stuff Commander Alexandra’s going to want me to build later.”
“This is Zulu, Mobius. We’re in the base now. Heading for the brig.”
Hampton smiled at Wesley. “Good enough for you?”
“Absolutely excellent, Commander Hampton. Maybe now we’ll find out what they know. Stay sharp.” Wesley looked up, towards something that Hampton couldn’t see. “Lieutenant, meet us at the brig’s interrogation room. Keep your suit on. We’re going to need you to persuade him for us if he doesn’t want to talk.”
“Getting dirty already, doc?” Hampton asked.
“If he’s smart, he’ll realize that the quickest way out of this is to talk. If not...” He shrugged. “Then I guess we’ll have to make a house call.”
“Wow, that is one ugly... thing,” Harold said. He squinted at the barely coherent creature as they observed it laying on the floor of the interrogation room from their observation suite. He looked at Twilight. “What did you call these things again?”
“Diamond dogs,” Twilight replied. “But they normally aren’t so large... or ugly... or aggressive. In fact, back when things were... normal, they tended to stay away from ponies and avoided causing trouble in general.”
The hiss of the hydraulic doors parted the metal blast doors, and in entered Viers, minus his arsenal. The only thing he held in his hand was a combat knife, one larger than human hands intended for use by zone troopers, which he tapped against his thigh. “Just in case.”
“...grr...” The diamond dog began to stir, which Viers attempted to expedite by nudging the creature in the ribs. “...what?! Intruder!” He grunted in exertion as he attempted to flail his limbs around, only for them to remain rooted. “Die! Die, die, die!”
“Real big talker, this one,” Viers said. “Feel free to ask your questions. I’ll keep an eye on him...”
“You think he might try something?” Wesley asked.
Viers’ shoulderguards moved up and down, the closest indication for a trooper to a shrug. “For all I know, this guy might be able to freaking teleport and we’d never even know it. Best to be prepared.”
“Duly noted. I’ll start asking the questions now, so be ready.” Wesley cleared his throat. “Hello there, creature. Can you understand me?”
The dog immediately froze, ears twitching as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
“Hey, dog-face. He’s talking to you,” Viers said, prodding him in the leg. Wesley waited; Viers did not have the translator working at the time, and he wanted to see the lieutenant’s reaction at getting a rise out of the diamond dog.
“You! Invader! You destroy crystal! You must die!”
“Looks like he’s just fine, doc. Feel free to ask him your questions.”
“Right... well, I know for a fact that you are a diamond dog, correct?”
“I will tell you nothing! Invaders must die! You destroy crystal, crystal is powerful! Crystal make us powerful, and show us the future! The future is crystal! With diamond dogs standing with it! No ponies, or griffons! Only crystal! Crystal is everything!”
“Oh, God, it’s like Nod all over again...” Viers muttered. “Crazy whackos seem to be par for the course when we’re dealing with Tiberium, it looks like.”
“This isn’t getting anywhere...” Wesley said under his breath. “We need coercion, but... what?” He turned to Twilight. “Since it’s obvious that you know these things better than I do... any ideas on getting him to talk?”
“Diamond dogs are known for their preference for... shiny gems,” Twilight said. “It might be possible that you could get him to talk by presenting him with one. Unless you don’t have any...?”
“No, we don’t.” He sighed. “I suppose I could procure one... on the off chance that someone likes extremely shiny gems. What would work best. Diamonds? Sapphires? Rubies? I’m not particular the most well-versed on this sort of thing, so...”
“That’s fine,” Twilight said. “I can fake one for you!”
“Um... how so?” Harold asked. “Oh, wait, does that mean... magic?”
“Yep!” Twilight said, happily smiling and nodding. “Of course, I’m going to need to present it in a discreet fashion. If he suddenly just sees it materialize out of thin air, then that’ll be suspicious... and I’m not sure if you guys want to reveal to them that you’re working with the ponies.”
“Well, we have a volunteer for that.” Wesley opened up a private line to Viers’ suit, away from the general comms that linked the interrogation room and the suite. “Lieutenant, we have a plan.”
“Down and dirty already?” A sigh followed. “Alright, but this isn’t going to be prett—”
“No, lieutenant, I’m talking about a different plan. No brutality, so that means keeping that knife away. These dogs like gems, and they like them a lot. We’re hoping to play off of that to see if we can’t get something out of him. Please move your left hand behind your back. Twilight is going to attempt to fake a jewel, which you’ll present to the dog when I give the say-so.”
“Roger, doc.” He inconspicuously moved his left gauntlet behind his back, as the dog continued to ramble at the ceiling, spittle flinging in every direction as Viers stood, unmoving.
Wesley nodded at Twilight. “Give it a try.”
“Okay, here goes...” Her horn began to glow and Harold’s eyes widened at the intensification of the light, drastically more brighter than her casual use of levitation in the hospital lobby. They looked towards Viers’ open hand, where a faint glow slowly began to shift, materializing into a bright blue gem, a sky-blue gem.
“Fantastic work, Twilight!” Rarity said. “Why, the gem looks almost like Princess Cadance’s cutie mark!”
“Princess Cadance?” Wesley said, raising a brow at her. “You mean there’s another princess?”
“Well, she’s my... sister-in-law,” Twilight responded, her horn’s glow slightly wavering as she nodded towards the one-way mirror. “I’ll explain later. Let’s see what you have in mind, doctor.”
Wesley nodded back. “Alright, Lieutenant, feel free to wave that thing around the dog’s face.”
Viers took the initiative and crouched next to the diamond dog, slowly drifting the crystal across his gaze left and right and then precariously holding it right in front of his eyes. “Right on, doc.” He pulled his hand back and the dog’s eye did not waver in the slightest bit. “Got him right where we want him. He’s hooked.”
“Ahem...” Wesley switched the comm back to the interrogation room. “You see that? What do think that is?”
“C... crystal...” the dog mumbled. “So... blue... and so... shiny...”
“You like it? Then maybe we can agree on a deal... tell us what you know about this ‘home shard’... and I’ll let you have it.”
“Have it? Blue gem? No blue gem seen for so long!” the dog exclaimed, now drooling at the mouth as he could see his own mutated reflection in the azure facets of the gem. “Yes... yes! Shiny blue gem! Only blue gem! Give it to me! I tell you everything about home shard, just—” He was cut off as his eyes clenched shut, his face scrunching as he howled with pain.
“What the—?! Doc, what the hell’s going?”
“Yes... it is exactly as I feared...” Wesley said, eyes switching between his PDA and the dog before him. “I’m detecting brainwave patterns, ones different from yours or the ponies, Lieutenant Viers... the signature is strangely similar to the ones used by masterminds.”
“Can you isolate it? Cut him off from the network?”
“I can try to. All of our materials have been tempered with anti-psychic insulation, along with interception broadcast systems to nullify any Scrin control networks there may be. That it isn’t working here means that it’s not Scrin in origin...”
“Great. Now one of the locals with a big enough brain can use it, too?”
“No, it’s... it’s hard to explain.” Wesley cycled through a few tabs on his PDA, frowning at the information displayed to him. “I stand corrected. It isn’t psychic... it’s some sort of energy transmission, a link between the dog and something else. Our systems are filtering it, so the resulting receiving signal is substantially less...”
“There’s a chance it could be magic,” Twiilght said. “It must be very powerful magic if I’m not able to detect it, and I think I’ve seen my fair share of all sorts of magic. Could the crystal—this Tiberium—be causing it?”
“Could be, Twilight. Lieutenant, I’m adjusting the systems to counter this signal, too. Activating it... now.” At the push of a button, the dog’s howling suddenly ceased, and his head merely drifted to the ground as he momentarily passed out, only to wake up again as he looked around the room frantically.
“Wh... what?! Who?! Where am I?” he shouted. “I... body! What happened to my body?!” he shouted as he looked down at his torso, shocked at the crystallic growths on his fur. “The crystal! Crystal! Get it off, get it off!”
“What the hell is he shouting about, doc?”
Wesley exchanged a worried look with Twilight, then typed the discovery into his notes. “That signal was controlling him, lieutenant. He seems to have reverted back to being... himself, if you would. Flash that crystal again, try to get him focused.”
Sure enough, another presentation of the crystal calmed down the dog enough for Wesley to coax an answer from him. “Shiny... crystal...”
“Nice to see that we’re on the same page here. Now I’ll repeat myself: this crystal stands as an offer if you’re willing to exchange information with us, specifically on this home shard. Do you agree?”
The dog nodded. “I... I don’t know what happened. Crystal show up one day, fall from skies. Ponies tried to study it, then they ran from it. Then it spread, and diamond dogs found it. One of us managed to bring it back, put in home with other shiny gems. And then... it... it changed. Turned other gems into more green crystal, and then it... changed us.”
“Changed you how?”
“We... could not resist. It was so shiny, and there was so much... and it was amazing.” He gave a guttural laugh, laced with regret and self-disgust. “And how could we fight it? It was crystal, and not just any kind of crystal: crystal showed that it could make more of itself. All it needed was room. So we gave it room. Broke off shards and spread throughout all of home.”
“Didn’t any of you get hurt? Or die?” Wesley asked.
“Many, yes... but they said things before they died. Told us how crystal was powerful. Promise us many things. Don’t remember anything else, but we gave ourselves to crystal. Mind is blur after that.”
“That’s mind control, alright...” Harold said.
“And what of this ‘home shard’? Where is it?”
“Deep within diamond home,” the dog said. “It change us. Now we serve crystal, and crystal makes us powerful and strong. Make diamond dogs strong, stronger than ponies or griffons. Other animals turn, too. The crystal told us many things.”
“Anything interesting, doc?” Viers asked, out of the loop in the conversation.
Wesley switched back over to their private line. “Tell me something, lieutenant: have you ever heard of Tiberium being able to talk before?” he asked.
“I... what? Hell freaking no. The last thing we need is some talking Tiberium bitching about being turned into munitions and metal plating. Did this dog say something about that?”
“Then I guess this is more worrying than I thought. The dog claims that the Tiberium was talking to them, promising them things and even bestowing them with power.”
“That certainly explains how many of those suckers are still alive. Completely different from Earth-style infestation, with a small few able to mutate. If this new Tiberium can think and mutate things willingly... then we’ve got a problem. A real big one.”
“I’m sure the commander will be very pleased to hear of this. I think the dog will be fine now, so you can step back and let me take over from here.” Viers stood back up and walked over to a corner of the room, standing back and keeping an eye on the dog. Switching back again, Wesley continued. “So... do you have the exact location of this ‘diamond home’?”
“It’s... near pony town. Underneath it, very deep below ground.”
“Those holes in the ground had to lead somewhere...” Harold said.
“So they’re underneath Ponyville?” Twilight said. “They must have expanded quite a bit over the years. Normally, their tunnels wouldn’t even come anywhere close to pony civilization. If they have entire tunnels full of all sorts of creatures... oh, my gosh!”
“What is it?”
“Then they might be trying to attack the Canterlot Sanctum! We... it’s still pretty high up in the mountain, but if they can tunnel up to it... or bring the mountain down...”
“More than enough reason to permanently secure our control of this area,” Wesley said. “And I’m sure Commander Alexandra would approve. Lieutenant, leave the dog here and meet me at the barracks’ command center. There’s a lot to talk about.” He set the room’s security systems to automate, and then turned to Harold and the ponies. “Let’s go. If this threat is clearly as pressing as it seems to be, then it would be best if we acted upon it as soon as possible.”
Alexandra took a sip from his coffee mug, glad to have the warmth of the liquid in his stomach. No amount of artificial heating could ever truly replicate being on a temperate world, so toes and feet were, more often than not, left to freeze against the standardized metal flooring of the Methuselah.
As he sighed contentedly after setting down his mug on the holder in his seat, a transmission appeared; high priority, which meant that it didn’t need to be accepted. Whoever contacted him could speak freely, but the issue had to be imminently important. “Commander, we’ve made a discovery.”
“Doctor Wesley. What are your findings?”
“We may have found the exact location of the enemies’ homebase. Granted, it was already quite obvious, but we may have ideal cause to move on this information. They’re underground, and at the moment, they present a clear and present danger to our newfound contact here.”
“Underground? I suppose that much was obvious. What about this threat puts them in danger?”
“Tunneling. If the tunnel networks underneath the nearby town seem to indicate anything, they have a whole system there that runs very deep, possibly for miles around. The information that we gathered is that these creatures are under the influence of some sort of mind-controlling Tiberium, origin unknown. They may have the capability to level the mountain nearby, which hosts the only known refuge for the ponies.”
Alexandra sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Mind control... how predictably obvious. “I understand. I’ll deploy an expeditionary force underground as soon as possible to weed that thing out. Lieutenant Viers, as the prime commando candidate, will be spearheading the operation.”
“Read you loud and clear, sir, Viers said over the line. “I’ll make sure that rock gets smashed.”
“Great. Until then, I’m going to need more information.” He brought up his command console, sending orders to Hampton and a hefty contingent to relocate themselves immediately to the ruins of the town, right near one of the larger rifts in the ground. “Does this conclude that we have an active clandestine Scrin element on this planet?”
“Negative,” Wesley said. “Currently, I believe that the Scrin had nothing to do with this. The mind control capabilities it has were evolved by something else entirely.” Suddenly, a head peeked over Harvey’s shoulder, a purple-eyed unicorn looking straight at Alexandra. She said something to Wesley that he couldn’t comprehend, then jabbed her hoof at the screen. “What? Oh, yes, I forgot about that. Twilight, this is Commander Alexandra, the leader of our expeditionary group to this planet, and in charge of our protection. Commander Alexandra, this is... Twilight Sparkle, the personal student of Princess Celestia, one of the pony rulers, and quite the researcher herself.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Twilight...” Alexandra said, looking down at his battle fatigues and shrugging. “Though I’d wish I’d known I would be meeting one of the natives before I started talking. I’m no Redding, doctor. I don’t dress up like I’m expected to attend the Secretary-General’s Ball on the drop of a dime.”
“It’s fine, sir... they aren’t exactly big on wearing clothes themselves. Anyway, we should contain and secure this strange type of Tiberium, and see if it reveals anything about this current situation.”
“For the purpose of research, I guess it could be permitted. But I’d like to stress our objective, Doctor Wesley, and the only reason why we’re here in the first place: we’re here to destroy the Tiberium, new variants or not. I don’t care what the brass or InOps thinks: if I think that the crystal poses a threat, then I will destroy it. Is that clear?”
“Absolutely clear, commander.”
“Good. I will be transferring new orders to Commander Hampton and her trooper squads. You are to stay here, in Camp Greenwood, for both your safety and to observe the operation and process information as it comes to you. You’ll have to relay the signals through the crawler, so be sure your uplink is correct. And before I forget: what is the status of the patients you operated on?”
“Both operations were a success, sir. Given that they seem to receive our treatments extremely well, I think it may be safe to move on to medical aid to the population up at Canterlot soon.”
“That’s great to hear. I would imagine that things would have gotten... tense, if you hadn’t succeeded.”
“If anything, sir, it was essentially an all-in solution. Without us, they would have died... and, well, on the operating table or in a magic bubble doesn’t really make much of a difference if it boils down to that.”
“Always a reminder of why we do what we do,” Alexandra said, taking a swig from his mug again. “Oh, and Lieutenant Viers...” he said, as he saw the suited form of the commando turning to exit.
“Yes, sir?”
“No heavy ordnance. It’s going to be dark, claustrophobic, and unstable in there. Infantry only, since we can’t risk vehicles mucking things up down there. Bullets and flamethrowers only.”
Viers saluted. “Of course, sir. Can’t blow them sky-high so it’s time to turn up the heat.” His form departed through the doorway just as the free space was taken up by the curious looks of more ponies, or rather, four of them. They chatted to each other and made strange faces at him, as Twilight annoyedly called out to them and dragged their whole group off-camera.
Wesley merely gave him an exasperated look and a slight frown. “Sorry about that, commander, as you can see... they’re quite curious.”
“That’s understandable, with us being the benefactors here. So long as they don’t push any big red buttons, I think we’ll be fine. Most of our touchscreen and holographic surfaces require fingers to use, anyway.”
Right then, another screen opened up, revealing one helmeted Tricia Hampton. “Hey, boss, what’s going on? You parked us near this giant hole in the ground... wouldn’t have something to do with that, would it?”
Wesley smiled and nodded. “Looks like you’re moving onto the real business now. I’ll keep in touch, commander. And you might want to remind the harvesters to roll back out. They’re still sitting at the refinery.” The screen blanked out, and with a flick of his wrist and several taps of the screen, the harvesters and convoys were back on track for their reclamation duties.
“Hampton, I’m going to need you to set up shop there. Leave the Titans on the surface, and deploy mobile armories for the infantry. They’re going to take the fight to them, and the caves are too unstable to use explosives. Bullets and flamethrowers only. For every four-man squad, I want at least two of them with a flame weapon, got it?”
“Loud and clear, sir. I’ll let them deal with picking the straws on that. Anything else with your order, or is that it for today?”
“Yeah, one more thing. Lieutenant Viers is leading this operation, but I guess it’s great that you’re not really in a position to give orders down there. I’d rather not see a repeat of the missile blitz tactic that you’ve used several times already.”
“Oh, yeah, don’t worry about!” Hampton nodded, her helmet shaking as she gave a salute and laughed. “Nothing so risky this time around, boss, I assure you. Uh, we managed to take one of them alive... can’t we just do the same for the rest of them?”
“I shouldn’t have to remind you about the folly of trying to incapacitate an entire enemy army, Hampton. Not to mention that some of their larger friends might not be so inclined to being shocked.”
Alexandra viewed the entrance to the underground that Hampton had set up next to, just in time to see Viers appear within his screen, hopping to the head of the force with a lift from his jump pack. All the troopers turned towards him, as he began a small speech silent to his ears.
“If things get hairy in there...” he began.
“...bring all our boys back alive. No problem. Mind if I ask what our plan B is if this doesn’t go through?”
“Wait for Redding to show up and let his boys deal with it. I’m letting the regulars have their hand at it, because I know they have what it takes to get this job done. And if Redding isn’t up to the task... I’m sure the Hammerfest’s Inferno Corps would happily take this job.”
“Ooh... the Burning Fists, huh...? Truth be told, I’m kind of missing them right now. Nothing makes you feel more safe than a bunch of pyromaniacs igniting a wall between you and and an army of Scrin. And most of them kind of revere you, don’t they?”
“Yes, yes, the Nod thing. They take my orders very seriously.”
“Aren’t they sort of some offshoot of the Black Hand or something? And worship Kane even though the guy’s already packed his bags and double-timed it off of Earth? They keep mostly to themselves, boss, and they’re kind of... I don’t know... whack.”
“Their... organization is unorthodox, but they’re good men, all the same. If you’ve ever bothered to have a serious conversation with them... they’re quite normal, aside from all the Nod paraphernalia they have hanging around, and the occasional recitation of Kane’s numerous quotes.”
“Yeah, well, this place stinks. I think a lot of us would be happier when they take up the guard, and I’m sure they wouldn’t complain. Besides, that whole forest nearby needs to be put to the torch. Oh, shit, Viers is leading them down now!” Hampton shouted, nearly jumping out of her seat. “Oh, crap, did I...? Oh, phew. Picked the right loadouts this time. Michelin would never get off my ass about it if I screwed up an armory deployment.”
“Don’t worry about him,” Alexandra said, sending off a set of blueprints to Michelin’s crawler, detailing the construction of the ISDI forward base... and the refugee camp within it.
“Holy fuck, it is dark down here. You know something’s up when the night vision works as intended instead of blinding you with the light of shiny Scrin projectiles. At least the flashlights don’t make it impossible to shoot stuff.”
“Hey, at least we still have some elbow room, right? Haha!”
“Shut up, Two, the commando’s here again. You trying to ruin my chances at a recommendation?”
“Chill out, Three! We totally got this in the bag... just some... cleaning house, yeah?”
“Yankee,” Viers said, pausing in his travel and bringing his group of soldiers to a stop. Using sonar, his HUD displayed the shape of the path ahead of them and showed that they still had quite a trek to make. The soldiers had split up the moment they stepped forth into the cavernous entrance, splitting up into several large groups to cover more ground. “You guys again?”
“Hey, you divvied us all out,” Yankee Four said. “We just ended up with you.”
“What’s the holdup?” a trooper shouted from the back. “Yankee’s loud mouth holding us back?”
“Ooh, Bravo Two is feeling a bit tough today, huh?”
“Only when you pansies keep holding us up, man! Come on, we’re here to kick ass and take names, stop bothering the commando with your small talk.”
“It’s fine, Bravo Two,” Viers said. “Let’s keep moving.” The motion detector on his suit brought up nothing; if the creatures were hiding down here, they were going to run into them eventually, but that they’d gone down far enough to require several transmission beacons placed at intervals to relay their progress to the surface.
“Yeah, do what the lieutenant says and zip it,” Yankee Lead said.
“That won’t be necessary, sergeant,” Viers said. “Keep the mood alive, and keep the boys less spooked. I think we’ve been shot at together enough times to drop the ranks. So, Yankee, who are you guys?”
“Oh, shit, he’s asking for our names. What do we do?” Yankee Two said.
Yankee Lead punched him in the shoulder before answering for them. “I’m Sergeant Jim Rosky, Yankee Lead. Or One. The loudmouths back here call me ‘Ski’ for short, when we’re not obligated by protocol to obfuscate clear distinction of rank by name by having damn well everyone in the battalion using numerical denotations. Now sound off, you apes.”
“Right. Uh, Yankee Two, Corporal Thomas Cliff... uh... ‘Cliff’ for short?”
“Private Ken Adalberto, Yankee Three. Call me ‘Bert’ for short. Honor to meet you, sir.”
“Damn it, man, you’re totally ruining our good mood here with your seriousness.”
“Only because I don’t want to stay in a company full of clowns, Cliff. Now stop making me look bad, you goof.”
“Aw, come on, now you ruined my introduction,” the last of Yankee said. “Yankee Four, Private Peter Jensen, at your service. Call me... ‘Badass’.”
“Come on, Jen, we all know what your shorthand name is,” Cliff said. “You don’t get to be called ‘badass’, because I’m totally going to get that name fir—whoa!” He tripped towards his right and tumbled down a small incline. “Shit!”
A wall of flashlights aimed down the tunnel as he slowed to a stop. “You okay, Cliff?” Viers shouted down at him, receiving a thumbs-up in response as the soldier climbed to his feet and picked up his cannon.
“Just fine, sir! A little fall, that’s all... where the hell are we, anyway? Are we even going the right—” A growl sounded off, just a distance away to his right. With the lights of his group on him, and himself being curious, he turned towards the sound, only to be greeted with the sight of diamond dog frothing at the mouth... and all his companions with him. “Aw, shit.”
“Contact! Fire at will!” Viers immediately shouted, bringing up his own cannon and watching his HUD’s simulated targeting reticule landing square on the dog’s center of mass. A pull of the trigger began their first battle. “Watch our flanks! Yankee, you guys stay here and watch the main path. The rest of you, down we go! Clean those bastards out!”
Yankee Two had reached the bottom of the incline just as the remainder of the infantry began their descent. Controlled bursts along with displays of fire along with the actual immolation caused by the fire quickly dwindled their numbers, as the dogs now realized that the humans had brought weapons that clearly gave them the advantage in the tunnel depths.
They howled at the sight of the cleansing flames, shrinking back as the encroaching lights of purgation shone the truth onto their desolate surroundings: bones of ponies, dirt, and death were all that surrounded them, and the zone troopers were more than willing to have the dogs join their unfortunate victims.
“Down, down! Chase them back!” Viers said. “Keep pushing, and watch your backs! Task Force Alpha, reporting to Mobius! We have contact, and are engaging!”
“Copy, Dagger. Task Force Bravo and Charlie have just run into the thick of it themselves, no casualties so far. Sonar scans down that hole show a massive chamber sitting at the bottom of it, and there’s no doubt that’s where whatever we’re looking for is. Uploading the map to the network now.”
“This tunnel connects to a larger one. No doubt that’s where they move the larger ones through,” Viers said. “Lancers! Make sure your beams are ready! Alpha, advance!” More dogs fell before them as pockets of parasprites exploded into clouds of green mist, quickly fading as the air circulating through the tunnels did the work of clearing things up for them.
The lancers of Task Force Alpha, discernible by the energy packs on their backs connected to their powerful infantry-sized laser beams, acknowledged Viers’ order. The sounds of the beams charging up echoed throughout the cavern, as the telltale quaking of a lumbering beast headed their direction quickly gave them pause.
“Are we really going to fight that thing?” Jensen asked.
“We push forward. This passage is bigger, but not by much,” Viers said. “We have the advantage. Let him come to us, then drop the hammer on his face.”
So they stood in silence as the rumbles grew ever closer, until the translucent starry hide of the Ursa Minor presented itself to them. The bear took notice of their lights, and roared straight at them, its gaping maw full of sharp teeth eliciting a sense of terror in the soldiers that Viers’ next response overrode.
“Shoot that son of a bitch!”
A hail of bullets, shells, along with lines of energy beams and columns of flame streamed forth, striking the beast in its vulnerable mouth. A lucky beam struck the inside of its cheek, blasting off a chunk of its left face and caking segments of the tunnel it sat in with flesh and blood, and it gave a roar in great pain before futilely attempting to take bites at them. The tunnel could not adequately fit its snarling jaws, and the brightness of the flames only served to disorient it further.
The lancers had taken to focusing their fire on one of two targets: the inside of its mouth, or the more important visual organs that were left unguarded as its head attempted to reposition itself again and again. Another beam seared a section of its right eye, eliciting another howl and causing the creature to retreat for good this time, its hurried pace back to safety quakin the ground around it.
“That... was one big motherfucker,” Cliff said. “Big game hunting at its finest... or worst.”
“Attention, all task forces: Charlie is nearing the chamber now, and has reported significant enemy activity nearby. They will hunker down and wait for the remaining task forces to arrive at the designated waypoints before launching a final all-out assault on the enemy hive. Bravo and Alpha, please acknowledge,” Hampton said.
“This is Dagger, Alpha acknowledges,” Viers responded.
“Task Force Bravo here. We acknowledge. Anybody run into any of those bear things yet?”
“Alpha has, Bravo. We were damn lucky to be sitting in a small tunnel, or else a good chunk of us would be bear lunch right about now. Damage inflicted to our group was minimal: the creature has taken significant facial and eye damage, and may be retreating to the hive.”
“Shit, sir, you sure know how to black an eye. See you at the assault. Bravo, out!”
“Alpha, down we go!” Viers said, and they stepped into the bear’s tunnel, metal boots making disgusting squishing sounds as they stepped through blood and bits of flesh. “Watch your step... and stay frosty.”
“All task forces acknowledge: courtesy of extra soldiers granted from Aegis’ detail, Task Force Delta is now heading down into the tunnels to lock down all previous cleared areas,” Hampton broadcasted. “Rest assured that more will be coming in due time, as reinforcements start trickling down from topside.”
“Keep moving!” Viers shouted, as they charged down the hill. Clusters of Tiberium slowly began to increase in ever-growing numbers, accentuating the bright glow from their flashlights with an eerie green glow. “Ignore the Tiberium! Keep moving!”
“Are we there yet?!” Cliff shouted.
“We will be when I say we fucking are!” Viers shouted back. Bravo and Charlie had already taken up positions and had their positions updated as such; all that was left was for the final piece to arrive and the stage would be set. “Rally point up ahead!”
“No targets in sight,” Adalberto said.
“They must be preparing one hell of a welcoming party for us,” Jensen said, cycling fresh ammunition into his chaingun. “I’d hate for us to be ungrateful guests, so...”
“Slow down, and.... halt!” Viers shouted. The entire group came to a stop just as the hall began to open up, and another charge down into the lower depths greeted them. According to Viers’ map, sitting at the bottom of that charge was the entrance directly into the heart of the enemy’s territory. And there would be massive carnage to ensue.
“Ugh... down again?” Rosky said. “And here I thought we’d eventually end up on the other side of the planet...”
“Those suckers don’t have anywhere to run now,” Cliff said.
“Task Force Alpha, in position,” Viers said. “All units prepare to charge on my order.”
“Bravo copies.”
“Charlie, copy.”
“Alright then... everybody get your shit together,” Viers spoke on their general channel. “Because things are going to get hairy in there. Lancers have priority on the big targets, and they stay in the back. For everyone else... it’s open season.”
He paused as a roar came from below, as if the creatures within dared the soldiers to charge into their home territory, even though they’d been routed at every turn. Viers’ left-hand grip on his flamethrower tightened; this enemy did not see reason, and they were not going to surrender. So into the breach they went.
“Ready?! Three... two... one... charge!”
“Commander. I’m glad you decided to tune in on this operation,” Wesley said. Surrounding Alexandra were dozens of displays, all carrying a live infantry feed, with the largest one sitting in front of him showing Wesley and the group of ponies looking off-screen as they watched the operation unfold. “Though... you look a bit different.”
Alexandra shrugged and looked down at his integrated combat suit. “I’m set to move planetside pretty soon. CENTCOM seems to be pretty pushy about it. How have things been going so far?”
“As one would expect when sticking their arm into a hornets’ nest,” Wesley said, sighing. “The whole situation has been... standard, so far. Contact was inevitable, and now that it’s happened, there’s nowhere to go but forward. The whole place is almost like an anthill, from what the map shows. Tons of antechambers and smaller halls for the lesser creatures, and primary mainstays for transportation for the larger ones.”
Alexandra’s console lighted and withdrew the displays, producing a 3D map of the surface and the entire tunnel network underneath. At the bottom pulsed a waypoint left by Commander Hampton for the bottom chamber, and the rally points for each respective task force.
“How’s their progress so far?”
“Smooth. Resistance so far has been brushed aside without much problem. Task Force Charlie was the first to encounter shards of Tiberium protruding out of the walls. Turns out that the lower they go, the larger the concentration of the crystals.”
“Have they located the source?”
“That would be the bottom, commander. No doubt that it must be some sort of hyper-advanced flora that adapted to spread at extremely fast rates. Soil samples have revealed seeds of such flora bearing such capabilities. Some of them now sit isolated in the labs as we look into it further.”
“I see that all the forces are already gathered outside of that chamber. I can’t say that I’m not interested in what’s sitting in there myself, really.”
“Agreed, commander. Now if you don’t mind, I—oh, there they go.” All three task forces positions shifted, all streaming into the chamber at once as the telltale sound of gunfire could be heard on Alexandra’s auxiliary feeds, their volumes choppy and partially muted as every camera flashed to life with images of gunfire and flames.
Twilight and the ponies gasped as one of them, a primrose pegasus hiding just beyond Wesley’s shoulder, covered her eyes and squeaked in fear. The rest attempted to comfort her as a means to distract themselves, unwilling to bear witness to the violence playing out before them.
“I take it they’re not familiar with violence,” Alexandra noted.
“Oh, they’re aware of it... just that most of them probably never see something this extreme within their lifetimes. An unfortunate first time for everything, it seems, but they have told me that it’s their... duty, of sorts, to see and understand these things. And Twilight has refused my offer to have the MPs escort her and her friends to somewhere... less gruesome.”
“If they insist... civilians have no place seeing this sort of shit up close.”
“As one of the few that the Princess trusts, Twilight tells me that she and her friends were very important in keeping their country safe during times of turmoil.”
“No offense, but that’s probably some pretty tame ‘turmoil’ if they haven’t exactly realized that everywhere else isn’t all sunshine and daisies.” The roster for the task forces showed that most of the soldiers were uninjured, with what few casualties there were merely being wounded. So far, so good.
“They do seem peaceful,” he said, observing the ponies watching the screens. “Then again, they are colorful ponies...”
“Well, I guess it would be surprising if such... cuteness, as Hampton would put it, masqueraded as anything else. Are you making any sense out of all of this?” The feeds were an absolute nightmare to decode, incoherent with sounds of orders and shouts adding to the frantic pace of combat.
“Not much on my side, I’m afraid. Thank goodness things haven’t gotten worse. The combat’s practically censoring itself at this point. So many flames.”
“So I can see. Dagger, sitrep.”
“Things are hot right now, sir!” Viers said. “I think we got most of them now, and several of Bravo took some hits since they came straight through the middle. We got rid of the big guys and we’re just mopping the rest of them up now. Alpha, hang right! Let’s get to the bottom of this!”
Alexandra brought up Viers’ camera feed as the commando entered the final chamber, his soldiers firing alongside him. “What the hell...?”
“Holy shit...” Viers echoed, stunned enough by the sight to pause as his men continued to funnel past him and finish off the last remnants of the howling dogs cowering on the other side of the chamber. “Hey, commander... are you seeing this?”
“Definitely...” Alexandra looked back at Wesley. “Doctor, what’s your experience with Tiberium types?”
Wesley looked up at him with interest. “Plenty, of course. In simplified terms, I have had research experience for all Tiberium types ranging from the sludge, from green to blue and red. Why do you ask?”
Alexandra paused Viers’ feed, still pointing straight at the object that he knew was the source of this Tiberium incursion, and for the attacks on Camp Greenwood. It was a humongous sliver of crystal, identical in appearance to the Cruentus strain that had been well-documented on Earth.
“...is that what I think it is, commander? The home shard?” Wesley asked, finding himself staring at the feed alongside the ponies.
“I don’t think that’s what we need to worry about at the moment, doctor. Tell me something... do you ever remember Tiberium being purple before?”
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HELL YEAH! Time to read!
Oops, forgot to put in my A/N for this chapter.
Ahem.
Gobble gobble. That is all.
Just the cover image brings back so many feels... ah the good ol' days of pc gaming.
Well, time to go find and dust off my Tiberium Sun collection. Artillery rush ftw
awwww shit......
King somber and his Crystals?
1662095 Nope. It was mentioned in my blog, but I'll reiterate here: season 3 will have no bearing on any of my current stories.
1662027
i cracked up reading this, brought a smile to my bad week
Twilight Sparkle flavored Tiberium!?
Hmm... Purple Tiberium.. I'm going to guess it absorbed some of equestria's wayward magic and became somthing similiar to a hivemind.
You....are.....so....AWESOME.
I love this story so much and it got the right mix of action, plot, and talking. I can't wait to see the next chapter!
Hmm purple Tiberium. I wonder what the molecular composition and mineral density is.
Keep up the good work.
Only reaction was "Uh-oh
".
Hm... Reference to Twilight Sparkle that she is purple *shout from side "Lavender!"* and she is element of magic, which reflected in her fur color and changed Tiberium? Or it was purple and this is a whole big coincidence? dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png
I'm guessing this new strain of Tiberium is a result of magic being used on it.
“Yeah, well, this place stinks. I think a lot of us would be happier when they take up the guard, and I’m sure they wouldn’t complain. Besides, this place kind of stinks.
You need to remove one of the "this place stinks" remarks here.
Also that whole section with Yankee group, really it sounds like they are a bunch of 12 year old kids. That's just not the kind of thing older people, especially if they are military, are going to sound like.
1662027 I have noticed some easily fixed spelling errors while reading. Would you perhaps like a pre-reader?
1662402 Thanks for pointing out the error. It's been fixed. As for all of the Yankee thing, it's a norm: the zone troopers are known for being the sort of gung-ho ready-to-go have-at-'em sort of macho attitude in the game-that-shall-not-be-spoken-of.
1662403 I might consider it in the future, yes. When the next chapter rolls around, I will send you a message. I work out of Gdocs.
1662420 Then I look forward to your contact.
Purple like the Scrin themselves
Well I was right about the D-dogs retaining their "intelligence" with that being a generous term. This whole hive mind thing has me wondering what happened to the Changelings. I could see Chrysalis and a number of her drones having disguised themselves and taken refuge amongst the ponies in the sanctuary. The humans would probably discover them when they start doing medical scans looking for cases of minor or internal Tiberium poisoning and exposing them. Of course the humans wouldn't let anything happen to the Changelings since they are another sentient species and deserve protection with the ponies even if the ponies don't like them. They would also probably be adept at mimicking and learning the human language and function as translators and assistants for the ISDI personnel.
Over and out is a contradictory statement, and isn't actually used over the radio. Over indicates that you're done talking, and are waiting for a response, Out indicates that you are done talking, and that the conversation is finished.
1662629 Ah, thanks for the clarification! I amended it now (to the best of my ability).
Though I'm wondering what would be used if the conversation is not done, but they're not waiting for a response, either.
SHIT just got real.
1662669
To my knowledge, there isn't something specific for it. They might just treat that as an open conversation. I personally think that would create some confusion, and that the conversation would be ended after an order and confirmations have been given.
For now, I'd recommend leaving it as Out, and see if someone with more military background corrects it.
Oh, hell no. The Tiberium merged with/got taken over by The Nightmare, didn't it? Great. How are we going to dead with a pissed off demigod fragment powered up on Tiberium?
1662840
With fire. Lots and lots of fire. And maybe an Ion Cannon.
1662027
Why that is a very interesting opinion on the world's ecological and economical structure kind sire
Yay! A new chapter! :3
1662840
That was my guess as well...
Great, now the Tiberium will be spouting cliche villain speeches while trying to take over the world. 
1662840 NMM is midnight blue, not purple
1663150 personal ion cannons maybe but they're underground, the direct strike ion cannon in orbit can't hit it... I wonder when we're going to start seeing more ponies fitted for armor. Let's face it the royal guard has to get new armor and weapons eventually if they're going to help defend Canterlot. As they stand right now the scrin will tear them apart
1662669 I've been trained on both aviation and police style radio transmissions. It is contradictory and not used by either group. I seriously doubt it's used in military circles either, it's like saying "answer me, don't talk to me."
1662381
Or Twilight is secretly Tiberium Overmind
1662669 1662744
The conversation was finished, so they'd use "out". As far as radios go, there is no such thing as an "open conversation" as that leads to a chance of multiple people trying to speak all at once and invites miscommunication and missed orders. Radio chat is extremely simplified. There's no small talk or side chat, it's just "here's what needs to be passed along", "confirming what needs to be passed along", and all of that happens fast. It's rare to find a long, drawn-out radio conversation. Also, "out" is usually reserved for the superior (that way the subordinate knows that his superior understood what he/she said), and to my knowledge, the only time a subordinate uses it to a superior is when he/she is in combat and can't afford the time necessary to confirm the transmission.
A good source to help (and the US Army Field Manuel):
)
http://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/communications/prowords-used-in-radio-communication.shtml
Army FM 6-02.53 Chapter 12 (Anything and everything you want to know about military communications, and even some things you didn't want to know
1663688
with a shake of the head.
US Army trained here, and we don't. If you say something like that over the radio, your CO will have your ass in a sling for being stupid while using government property and on government time. Hollywood loves it makes they think it makes them smart, those of us that know better just do a simultaneous
>checks email account
>"Tiberian Eclipse has updated!"
pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw1179_pinkkigrandgallopinggala.png
Excellent work, as always!
Purple is my favorite color... you just made a purple strain of Tiberium...dashie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw8055-Beautiful.gif
The beautiful gloooow....denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw3138-insuffiecent_beauty.png
here's a stupid thought; what if this new strain is alive and aware due to high exposure to magic?
I'm enjoying this.
finally an update, love this story,
Purple-T ooohhh interesting, Purple-T must be what happens to Tiberium when infused with magic.
I like how you have adapted the mechanics for a RTS game to a story. Very unique. Keep up the good work.
SUDDENLY URSA MAJORS.
BECAUSE WHY NOT?
...
or a huge purple tiberium crystal.
why not?
1663921 Well duh, Hollywood is about style. They're realistic if it looks good. Otherwise make it look good, we'll worry about the realism later.
DID THEY JUST SAY PURPLE
1662617 THIS
1669729 Forrest Gump? In my comments? Have a cookie.
i.imgur.com/rCJWs.gif
1667612 THAT... and the other thing?
Also Trixie. Will the great and loud boaster be in this story? Will she be the intelligence behind the hive mind? If she is then I can see her freaking out when they get the crystal into the lab and there's Twilight staring at it through the observation window.
Also PURPLE! Is it just me or has anyone else noticed their favorite colour having changed in the last two years?
i have a sinking feeling that twilight has something to do with this
Cryssssstaaaal...
Sombra likes.
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/masonry/000/434/725/853.gif
>> It would still end with "over" because you still have to confirm that your done talking. The word "over" can ether mean your done talking or mean that your done talking and waiting for a response on the statement. Sometimes they do use "over and out," meaning that they are done saying what they where saying and have to stop the conversation because they have to do something else. but still "over and out" is rarely used. p.s. awesome chapter
1711267 Wow, you're right. I'm surprised it went unnoticed for as long as it did. Fixed.
1663688 You could use the orbital Ion Cannon it would just take some time... and the crystal wouldn't be underground anymore.
1714187
Don't you remember what happened when GDI did that to Sarajevo? It f%^&ed up Eastern Europe in a gigantic explosion. I don't think Equestria could survive a similar disaster.