Fallout Equestria: Wings of Steel

by TicTac

Chapter 2: Surprises

Chapter 2: Surprises

September 21st, 2077, 02:00 Somewhere in Zebrica

“What in Luna’s name are those?” 20/20 asked, looking into the back of the overturned transport truck.

“Looks like parts for missiles, and a whole lot of ‘em to.” Swept Wing said. “And this is the convoy we were supposed to hit too, was right on time and everything.” He picked up a slightly dented piece of missile, the main body and fins. “Grab one of the nosecones, I’ll check the other truck to see if it was carrying anything else.”

Swept Wing trotted to the second transport truck, which was still upright. The cab had been riddled with so many bullet holes he could see through the engine. He moved around to the back, finding a single heavy duty metal chest sitting in the truck’s bed.

“Well, looks like we’ll be hauling this back with us too.”

It turned out that the case had actually been welded onto the truck, and since they didn’t have any welding equipment with them, Swept Wing decided to just take the entire truck with them.

“Steady, steady, just a few more inches, stop!” 20/20 called out, guiding Swept Wing’s Vertibuck over the top of the truck, a hoof shielding his face from the rotor wash. “Alright, lower the winch.”

A cable descended from the bottom of the Vertibuck, a sling attached to the end of it. 20/20 looped it around the truck, making sure it was secure. “Alright, we’re good down here!”

“Roger, get back to your bird and let’s get out o’ here.” Swept replied. He pushed the throttle up, the Vertibuck’s engines whining as he pushed their RPM towards the redline. “Come on girl, you can do it.”

With a groan, the truck came off the ground, swaying slightly in the rotor wash. “Got it!”

Swept gained altitude, forming up with the rest of his squadron, and headed for home.

***

September 21st, 2077, 12:00 Shadow Field, Seaddle

“This is Steel One to Shadow Tower. We have injured aboard and Class 0 cargo. Requesting immediate landing clearance, over.”

“Roger that Steel One. You are cleared for landing on Pads 2 and 3. Deliver cargo to Hangar 7. A medical team will be waiting for you. Shadow Tower out.”

The other seven Vertibucks landed, a medical team loading the injured zebra on a gunnery and carting him off to the ER. Swept Wing headed for the Steel Wing’s hangar, Hangar 7, the truck still safely secured on his Vertibuck’s winch as he hovered over the top of it, waiting as the roof swung open.

He set the truck down gently, the ground crew detaching it from his winch before landing himself. The other Vertibucks taxied inside shortly afterward, engines powering down after yet another successful mission.

Swept Wing trotted out of his Vertibuck, telling the ground crew to get welding torches and start freeing the case before trotting off to the debriefing room with the rest of his squad.

The pilots took their seats, Dark Cloud setting the nosecone and missile body on the table at the front of the room before waiting for Commander Dash to enter.

The cyan blue mare entered moments later, looking worried. “Pilots, Princess Luna will be debriefing you today.” She said, stepping to the side as Princess Luna entered the room.

“Pilots, atteshun!” As one, the 16 pilots snapped to attention, saluting the Princess.

Luna smiled, returning the salute. “At ease.” She said, examining the missile parts Dark Cloud had placed on the table. “So, tell me what you found on this mission. From what I can tell, it wasn’t what our intelligence told you it was.”

Swept Wing nodded. “Yes ma’am. Now, the mission went exactly as planned. The convoy arrived at the target area at 01:35, and we engaged them soon after. The convoy was destroyed, and I took Golden Star, Dark Cloud, and 20/20-err, Tail Feather down with me to check for survivors. We found one, the driver of the first transport truck. He is currently being attended to by the medical staff. We also checked the contents of his truck, and instead of rifles, we found these.”

Swept nodded at the missile parts. “The back of the truck was filled with piles of nosecones and missile bodies, not what we were expecting. Now, the other transport truck had a large metal case in the back of it, which was also welded to the truck’s bed. We hauled the truck here, and our ground crew is currently freeing it from the bed.”

Princess Luna nodded. “This is most disturbing. The Zebras deliberately gave some of their own troops false information about what was being constructed, which is not like them. I will have to consult our intelligence service about this later, but for now I’d like to see what’s inside of that case.”

Swept Wing nodded. “Of course ma’am, right this way.”

Swept Wing lead Princess Luna, his squad, and Rainbow Dash out of the room and to their hangar, where the ground crew had finished freeing the case and set it on the floor next to the truck.

“Do yer thing Corporal.” Swept said, nodding to Dark Cloud.

Dark Cloud trotted forward, pulling out a stack of bobby pins, a screwdriver, and a crowbar from his bags, and got to work. Within a minute, there was a small click from the box, and he jammed the crowbar into the lip, prying the case open.

Nestled inside the case, were 40 more cases, all lined up neatly. “Now that’s just weird.” Dark muttered, pulling out one of the smaller cases. He didn’t bother with a bobby pin on this one, just knocking the lock clean off with one solid whack from the crowbar.

Dark flicked the case open, taking a step back at the sight of the glowing object inside. “The hell is that?”

Princess Luna stepped forward, her face an expression of fear. “That, is a weaponized megaspell, a balefire bomb. We’ve been developing them in secret, but how-“ She was cut off at the sound of an explosion nearby, the lights in the hangar swaying ominously.

A moment later red lights began flashing, klaxon alarms accompanying them. A stallion’s voice came on the PA system. “Attention, we are under attack. This is not a drill. Repeat, we are under attack. Zebras headed towards hangars 5 through 7. All ponies report to their battle stations. This is not a drill.”

The ground crew scattered, heading for the armory, while all of the pilots drew their sidearms.

“Grab the .32s out of the Verts, we’re gonna need them.” Swept yelled over the alarms. He turned to the Princess, who was levitating a previously unseen Colt M1911 next to her.

“Sergeant, I think I’ll be much safer with you and your squad than somewhere else.” Luna said.

Swept nodded. “Yes ma’am.” He turned to Rainbow Dash, who had a very large revolver of her own drawn. “Commander, my bet is that they’re here for that.” He indicates the box full of megaspells.

Dash nodded. “I’ll take that bet. I don’t know how they found out it was here, but they sure as hell ain’t leaving with it.” She said, moving behind a stack of boxes nearby for cover. She began calling out orders to the pilots, placing them in strategic locations.

“Alright, the eight of you with the rifles, I want half concealed up in the rafters, two behind the boxes on that landing, and two behind that Vertibuck. The rest of you each take position behind one of the stacks of crates off to each side. Four over here and four over there.” She said, pointing to each position as the sound of gunfire outside got closer. “Don’t reveal yourselves until my signal. Princess, you’re with me.”

The pilots got into position, Swept Wing taking position behind a pile of boxes on the right side of the hangar with Dark Cloud, Grey Ash, and Thunder Twister.

A moment later, the front door of the hangar was wrenched open, a squad of zebras moving inside. They wore armored cloaks, and each carried Zebra Carbines.

“There it is. You six clear the room, you three with me on the case.” One of the zebras said, six of the zebras fanning out and beginning to clear the hangar, while the four others moved towards the case.

“Now!”

At Dash’s yell, the hangar erupted into gunfire, the hollow pop of 9 mms and cracking of .32 rifles amplified by the echo of it.

Swept Wing’s Dan Wesson threw one of the zebras into the ground as he caught it three times in the chest, a large pool of blood soaking the cement.

Rainbow Dash fired carefully, each shot sending a zebra down in a spray of red.

Princess Luna was holding her own too, a second M1911 having appeared floating on her other side as she fired away at the zebras closest to the case. They all went down.

“Nice shooting Princess!” Swept Wing called over to Luna, stepping out from around his boxes. “That’s all of them, well, all that were in here at least.”

Luna smiled. “Thank you Sergeant.” She said, the two pistols disappearing into her mane?!

Swept Wing nodded, his eyes travelling over the room, almost missing the shimmer in the corner. “You’re welcome Prince- Get down!” He yelled as he saw it, diving towards the Princess and tackling her to the ground at the same moment a rifle fired. He let out a scream as the bullet went clean through his right hind leg, shattering the bone and cutting the artery.

The zebra got five S&W .500s to his chest before he could fire again, Dash galloping over to Swept Wing as he lay, bleeding, atop the Princess. Dash dragged him off, one of the pilots galloping over a moment later with the trauma kit from one of the Vertibucks. “Get a medical team in here now!”

Comments

[TicTac]

1456041 Badass Luna is best Luna.