Chapter 13: The Battle of Lecompton, Phase One
Sunday, 25 June 2017, 1330 hours, Kansas River, Lecompton, KS
Captain Crane stood on the bridge of the Mississippi Voyager, looking downstream. He could see the floaters holding each course of the anti-sub nets in his ocular, the red ones being the furthest away at half a mile downstream, the yellow ones two hundred yards closer, and the blue ones another two hundred yards upstream of the yellow ones. With him on the bridge were his First Officer, Julia Crowne, and his ship’s doctor, Lucien Macombe. Julia was at the fire control panel, Lucien just standing back, ready to handle communications over the crystal net.
As for the rest of his crew, Aaron Tereshkov was in the forward fire control space, the two machine guns and grenade launchers slaved to his control. Arnie Van Dyke, the second engineer, was on the bridge roof, in the operator’s station there for the machine guns and grenade launcher there. The two pegasi, Chief Engineer Frack and Third Officer Bell, were in the Lounge with the cook, Jason McTerry, acting as Damage Control. The last two, Second Officer Milsap (Recon Viper Three) and Welder Bernie (Recon Viper Four) were circling, nipping below the clouds to get an eye on the approaching forces, Carroll watching the river while Bernie trailed the artillery.
“Recon Viper Four to Buffalo Leader. Artillery wagons are coming around the turn from the twenty-fifty road to Jones Street. I can see two cannon and two wagon loads of rounds, plus another wagon with something under a tarp. Be ready!” Bernie called on the buffalo frequency.
“Buffalo Leader copies. Buffalo herd is placed. Once they stop and set up, we go,” Chief Twogogglehat said quietly.
“Copy that. Recon Viper Four maintaining overwatch.”
“Viper Three to Galactica. Invading force approaching Stone Horse Creek. Will be rounding the bend soon. Estimate ten minutes before contacting outer defense,” Carroll called in from her position.
“Galactica copies, Viper Three. Going to Alert Status One, activating all weapons. Stay high to keep out of the line of fire,” Howard told his Second as Julia activated all weapons, including the forward surprise packages.
“Viper Four, can you give me a visual of the enemy encampment? Ah want to know if they is readying another wave to come after us or not,” Lucien sent via crystal to Bernie.
“On my way, Colonel. Getting good reception?” Bernie thought as she swung east.
“Oh, yes. Look over at the camp, please.” When Bernie did, Lucien whistled. “Damn, that’s a big dragon! Wait, what the?” he exclaimed as a pony lifted off from the camp and made its way towards the artillery group.
“Must be a spotter. I’m after it!” Bernie sent as she nipped up into the cloud cover, closing distance to the rising pony.
Meanwhile, at the invader’s encampment…
Zvezda sprawled on the ground, focusing her magic on both the river force and the artillery force, with Impedimenta as a magical focusing agent. Part of her attention was fixed on Gar, who was in the Kansas River with her team, heading upstream. Another part of her attention was fixed on her artillery commander, a rather ratty-looking white unicorn stallion who went by the name of Long Tom, who had a cutie mark of an old-style cannon firing a cannonball. His thoughts were a scrambled mess, but when it comes to artillery, no pony in her troop was better.
A small part of her attention was focused on her spotter, a black and gray pegasus mare who went by the name of Long Eyes. She had excellent long vision, for sure. Her close-in vision, not so much. On the ground, her mate, an earth pony mare who went by the name of Veggie Stew, one of the camp cooks, was her constant companion. Stew’s fur color was a brilliant pink, with an international orange mane and tail visible from a long way off. Must be why they became such close friends.
Zvezda admittedly found it difficult to split her attention four ways, but it was decided that doing so rendered the communications unjammable, and she could be the coordinator. It was hoped that this would be the max split time, after reducing the riverboat, she could let Genghis run the mopping up.
At the moment, much of her attention was on Long Eyes, because she needed the approximate distance from the riverboat to the artillery battery, for the most accurate gauging of how to set off the cannons and the rockets. As Long Tom had told her, ‘give me a range and I’ll drop on target in the minimum possible time’. Zvezda believed him. He may be certifiably insane, but he knew his artillery, as well as his black powder making. Zvezda trusted all her subordinate commanders, well, as far as an old dragon would trust any pony.
Zvezda was locked in with Long Eyes, judging the distance between the battery and the riverboat, when suddenly, contact was lost with Long Eyes, like the pegasus had passed out. Quickly, Zvezda had Long Tom look around for the pegasus, but he did not see anything. He did hear a crashing sound in a copse of trees to the east of the battery site, but did not see anything. “Long Tom! Set up and commence firing! Gar, attack! Long Eyes is down!” she sent to all her outlying troop commanders. Impedimenta, being the relay, heard the orders and flagged down Genghis, telling him to get the ground force ready for attack while Zvezda hissed, flailing her head in rage.
In the air, Bernie lined herself up above and behind the pegasus, silently closing on the mare until, at point-blank range, she let out a stunning shriek, right at the pegasus’ head. Long Eyes spasmed, muscles tightening, before relaxing, unconscious. Quickly, Bernie grabbed the falling pegasus and guided her to a safe landing in a small clearing. “Viper Four to Galactica, spotter is down! Free the buffalo herd!” she ‘said’ to Lucien.
“Sounds lakh a plan, Foah! Alertin’ the Commander!” Lucien replied via crystal, then did so by voice.
“Galactica to Buffalo Force. Stampede, stampede!” Howard said into the microphone.
“Understand stampede. Executing,” Twogogglehat said before turning to Wakinya. “Follow behind. Tend the wounded. Let us destroy,” he told the child, in Lakota.
“Yes, Chief. I follow. I will tend the wounded,” Wakinya replied in the same language.
Twogogglehat stamped his right forehoof three times. “CHARGE!” he bellowed, leading the way to the small wagon train, which was being broken down to set up the cannons.
The sound of six sets of buffalo hooves caught the attention of the artillery crew. The four earth ponies and three unicorns could only stare in disbelief as the six buffalo came charging up the road, getting bigger faster than anyone could believe, their pupils constricting. “Oh, shit…” Long Tom mumbled, watching the buffalo close in, ignoring Zvezda’s shouting in his head to move!
The six buffalo tore through the wagons, scattering powder, shot, cannon, and the two New Light Anti-tank Weapon rockets, which got stepped on numerous times. The ponies were bowled over and knocked aside, but not trampled. The buffalo wanted to destroy the weapons, not the ponies.
The buffalo herd blew through the wagons and continued up the road, turning right to veer into woods about two hundred yards away. Wakinya slowly trotted up to the scene, going to each pony and looking before moving on, nopony needing any healing. He kept on going, turning into the same patch of woods the other buffalo went. In passing, he did kick the wheel of the one remaining upright cannon, splintering the wheel. Once the cannon fell, the calf pissed on the smashed wheel before moving on.
“Long Tom, report status! How long before you start bombardment?!” Zvezda shouted through the telepathic link.
“You can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd, you can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd, y’cant roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you could be happy if you’ve a mind to…” Long Tom said dazedly before passing out.
“Genghis! Take a squad to the artillery battery and set things to rights!” Impedimenta bellowed, being part of the link. “Right NOW!”
“On it!” Genghis told the unicorn before rounding up his squad of earth pony warriors, the best of the best. It would still take time to form up and go the six-plus miles to the battery site.
Meanwhile, over the river, Second Officer Milsap kept a close eye on the hippogriffs, which she could see from the air. “River squad approaching outer net. Range one hundred yards and closing,” she reported.
“Copy that, Viper Three. Forward guns, set up, set range for one thousand yards on all weapons. Topside guns, maintain readiness, observe to starboard,” Howard said over both radio and intercom.
“Forward guns set for one thousand yards on machine guns and grenade launchers,” Aaron reported from his console. “Ammo belts ready and connected.”
“Same up here, Cap’n. Watchin’ to starboard,” Arnie said from his position above Control.
“Forward guns, set the grenade launcher for a three-round burst, range one thousand yards. Fire when the red bobbers sink,” Howard ordered.
“Forward guns aye,” Aaron replied before setting the grenade launcher for a three-shot burst, steadying it at the appropriate angle. Above, Carroll pulled for altitude. No way was she going to be down where grenades were going to be flying!
At the dragon camp, Zvezda was trying her best to stay conscious while two of the four ponies in her linkup were unconscious. It was not easy. Impedimenta smoothly stepped in, watching Genghis organize his prime squad of warriors while trying to soothe Zvezda. It was not easy, but Impedimenta was a very strong-willed unicorn, and soon had both the camp and the dragon settled.
“Just what is going on?” Zvezda asked once she calmed down. “Why did the two fall off the…” She grunted as Gar fell off the net after three hard impacts.
Impedimenta quickly used her glow to set the dragon down before she fell down. “I felt that, too. Relax and let me see what I can do to find out what’s going on,” she said in her rough voice.
“Genghis is just leaving now with his brute squad, heading for the artillery.”
“Good. Let me get my wits together, and I’ll head out for a look-see myself. How did they know we were coming?” Zvezda asked.
“How they knew we were here now, I can’t say. I’m sure everypony and their little cousins are trying to make tracks here to pick up pieces of the Magic Meteor. Maybe they had lookouts roaming the area,” Impedimenta said.
“From where? We didn’t see anyone, we landed well south of Saint Louis and we avoided Kansas City! We kept a strict lookout, you know that!” Zvezda said firmly while she let her body settle to the ground.
“Nobody’s perfect, Zvezda. Not unicorns, nor dragons. We’ll do an analysis later. Now, we have to get hold of some of that metal!” Impedimenta said firmly. “No matter what it takes!”
Back at the Voyager, Captain Crane recalled the two Recon Vipers and dispatched Frack and Harry, this time each loaded with a harness that held ten flash-bang grenades with long-delay fuses, to allow the two pegasi to swoop, release and get out of range before the kaboom. “Make sure the artillery is completely disabled, then go after any reinforcements. Got it?” Howard told his Chief Engineer and Third Officer.
The two saluted Howard smartly with their right wings. “Understood, Captain. You can count on us!” Frack said before leading Harry outside to take wing.
Howard then collected Lucien, Julia and Aaron to recover the stunned hippogriffs from the river before they woke up, bringing the trio back to the ship AFTER divesting them of their explosives, tools, weapons, harnesses and whatnot. Once at the ship, they were brought aboard and revived by Doctor Macombe, after he made sure the magic spell on Gar was neutralized. He didn’t know what sort of spell it was, just that it was on the mare and he decided to remove it.
“Ladies, ah suggest you all staht lettin’ us know who sent you here with all you tools and foah what reason. Ah also suggest y’all don’t play any games in the storytellin’ or else ah’m goin’ to validate mah marksmanship medals raht heah,” Lucien drawled, holding a forty-five caliber pistol in his glow, pointed right at Gar’s head. “Because if’n ah have to do that, the cook, who is also the steward, is goin’ to make me clean up the mess. A gentleman lakh me ain’t supposed to do such a thing lakh cleanin’ blood.”
Gar looked around, seeing her squadmates on the floor next to her, trussed up and clear of all tools and such. She also saw Captain Crane standing in another section of the room, sitting peacefully, holding a pearl-handled thirty-eight caliber revolver, also pointed right at the hippogriffs. “What he said,” he told them. “I’m the Captain. I don’t have to worry about cleaning up.”
Gar considered her options. She could not feel the presence of Zvezda in her head, nor any of the others. She looked at the Captain, who looked back with a placid look, but holding the pistol steady. “We were sent to disable the boat so we could grab as much meteor metal as we could. Vladimir is not going to be happy. What are you going to do with us?” she asked.
“All depends on what you do. Be polite, and we’ll treat you nice. Be foolish, and, well, fools die a thousand times, true?” Howard said quietly.
Gar and her teammates considered what they were told. These ponies on the Voyager were far tougher than they were led to believe, and they all knew what would happen if they went back to camp without as much as one shot being fired or one mine being placed. Unpleasant.
Gar came to a decision. “In exchange for information, will you protect us from Zvezda and her team? When they find out we’re not trying to kill you, they will kill us. Zvezda and Genghis are not known for being all sweetness and light. They’re known for being ruthless, like their boss, Vladimir.” she said, the two others of her team nodding at her words.
“What do you think, Doctor?” Howard asked from where he was sitting.
Lucien made his horn sparkle with red sparks, and the three hippogriffs felt a tingle run over them. “Ah think we can accept theah word fo’ now, Captain, suh. Of course, if’n we fahnd out their word is bad, that spell ah put on them will stop their hearts. Think betrayal, well, ah can’t stop that. Takin’ actions, ah can.” He put the forty-five pistol down on a hearby table, then his glow surrounded the hippogriff’s bindings, freeing them. “You ladies follow me, an’ ah’ll put you up in a cabin. You’ll have your own water closet, so that won’t be a problem.”
“We will lock you in, just to err on the side of caution. You have to earn our trust to wander freely. Question is, can you do it?” Howard asked as he stood up. He pointed down the corridor with the pistol. “First door on the left. We will serve dinner at five. If matters settle before that, we’ll chat again. Right now, we have an enemy horde to repel. Be glad you stopped here. Going further would be much worse.”
“What do you mean by that?” Gar asked as she got up with the other two.
“We’re just the outer line. The inner line has been working with the meteor metals for months now. How good is your imagination?” Howard asked as he walked down the corridor, opening the door to Cabin One.
“Better than it should be,” one of the other hippogriffs said as she went into the cabin. Once all three were in, Howard shut and locked the door, also adding an outside combination lock on a hasp.
Once all were locked in, Howard and Lucien went back to the Lounge for some coffee. “Think they’ll figure out how much is fact and how much is fantasy?” Lucien asked as he poured himself a cup.
“I hope they will be too worried to attempt to try. Is that heart attack spell serious?” Howard inquired as Lucien moved aside so he could get at the coffee pot.
“To be honest, yes it is. What ah didn’t tell ‘em is that ah have to be the one to trigger it. Ah’ll leave it to them to figure out how much was bluff an’ how much was truth. Ah think y’should unload that pistol and put it up,” Lucien advised as he removed the clip from the automatic.
“Good idea.” Howard removed the cylinder from the revolver and put it in his shirt pocket. “Let’s have some coffee first, then we’ll put them back in the armory.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.029 seconds
Total duration
1,007 users online
1,501,557 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Those are the goons down, Ghengis though is one of the hard core and is going to take more than crippling dissuading to slow him down, and theres a good chance the only stopping, given Resiliance, is going to be Christopher class?
Reeve, or Lee.
this sure sounds as of right now that this is one sided for the most part. well till the big bird gets involved that is.
11305124
I'm curious about your opinion. As for the god Abraham, he can be considered something other than other deities, as in the case of Percy Jackson, where there is evidence of a higher deity in this universe, evidence for this can be found in the book Heroes of Olympus: Diaries of the Demigods, more specifically in the story "The Son of Magic". In it, Hecate appears to the protagonist, Dr. Claymore, in the church. He seems to be praying. When Dr. Claymore asks Hecate, "If you yourself are a deity, who are you praying to?" Hecate replies, "I hope you find out." So the universe was created by God and mankind is the first intelligent species and lesser deities were born from their faiths. As for why God does not intervene, you can follow a similar path to Jack Baker's inquisitorial cycle, where the protagonist's guardian angel revealed to him that God had disappeared. and there are 3 theories in heaven about what happened to him. 1 says god is dead, 2 went to another dimension to see his works do without him, and 3 says god wanted to understand humanity better, so he forgot he was god and was reborn on earth as a human after death. is reborn as a different person with no memories of previous lives, will last until one day god remembers that he is god, among the angels who believe in the 3rd theory there is a group that is looking for a god and when they find him they intend to torture him so that he will never be again he dared to leave his children.
or something similar to this link where the Abrahamic god is the guardian.
. https://mojwlasnyswiat.miraheze.org/wiki/Mag%27azgrad%27letyh_Hraf%27mettg%27lio.
hang in there bro I spent July in bed for the most part. Did you know you can live on Gatorade and rice pudding for at least two weeks?
Somewhere in that my get up and go, got up and went. It is slowly making a comeback but most of August was really slow moving. I expect to find raptors in my lawn when I get the mower running and cut it.
luck to you B.D.