4. Operation Dream Knife
Canterlot Castle
20:00
October 12, 1196 CE
Day 1
Commencing Operation Dream Knife
The rotors on the team’s chosen Black Hawk, “Buzzard”, began to kick up dirt as it ascended. Mitchell looked out and saw the Princess and her entourage staring up at them, then shut the door of the vehicle as it reached the altitude they’d be travelling at for the duration of the flight.
The team had chosen variants of the M8 for the most part. Its light weight and ergonomics lent well to the speed the mission was aiming for, though it was restricted by its lack of customization options; it was best used when speed and simplicity were of paramount importance. Mitchell and Ramirez had chosen a standard carbines, while Hume and Smith used the compact carbine variant. Each of them kept the integral advanced weapon sights and fitted their weapons with a suppressor. But then, if it turned into a firefight where the full extent of their firepower would be necessary, they’d remove the suppressors.
Matt Beasley used a suppressed M8 carbine, and Alicia Diaz chose an M8 DMR with a sound suppressor. They’d be the sniper-spotter team, working in conjunction with a Cypher unmanned aerial vehicle operated by Joshua Rosen from Canterlot. If necessary, Mitchell could take control of the UAV himself.
“You know what I just realized?” Ramirez questioned.
“What?”
He pointed at Diaz. “Small town girl, livin’ in a lonely world.” He then pointed at Beasley. “City boy, born and raised in south Detroit.”
A round of chuckles came from around the chopper.
“That in mind, Captain, I really hope you’re not trying any matchmaking here,” Diaz said. She was very professional, mostly because she was part of the minority of females in a male-dominated profession.
Similarly, Beasley was something of a loner. He had no problem working in a team, but he was wary of volunteering and preferred not to take point. His self-sufficiency was excellent, and he took quiet pride in it.
As two of the most professional Ghosts, there was little chance of romance, even by the standards of their unit. They were practically family.
“Relax, I’m not.” Mitchell assured them.
“Besides, Journey’s great and all, but in the end no band’s as good as Queen,” The pilot chirped.
“Well,” John Hume began. He was the team’s demolition specialist and secondary marksman, and was known to be quite animated. They’d brought him in case they needed fireworks.
“Here we go…” Ramirez muttered as the coming argument became obvious.
Paul Smith quietly chuckled.
***
“I really need to ask about those beasts they ride,” Twilight said as one of the aforementioned creatures lifted off.
“Actually, I think they’re some kind of machines,” Shining Armor stated, gazing with her.
The other ponies present, including both Princesses, looked at him as though he were a foal who’d said something stupid.
“I could give you a dozen reasons why that sort of technology is infeasible,” His little sister deadpanned.
“Sorry… Do you think sending them out there was the right idea?” He asked her. He then realized he’d questioned the choice of a deity and proverbially backpedaled, trying to reframe his question. “I mean, I’m sure Princess Celestia had her reasons and that she’s made the right choice, but what do you think her reasons were?”
“I don’t have a clue. A better question is, ‘Can they do it?’, at least in my opinion.”
“I’m not sure myself…” Celestia muttered to nopony. She’d overheard their conversation despite their discretion. She found their unshakable faith in her perfection, all ponies faith for that matter, to be quietly depressing.
As much as ponies believed otherwise, she wasn’t perfect. She sometimes considered herself unfit to make the decisions required of an immortal monarch whose word was treated with unquestionable authority. And now, she’d sent stranded soldiers that depended on her and whom she knew little about into a foreign land, solely to try and find a mare who might not even be alive, on the chance that she might have useful information on a group that posed an existential threat to Equestria.
I hope it was the right choice.
***
“Over the LZ in one mike,” The pilot, Second Lieutenant Jordan Luft announced. He’d gotten the team to the city in just over an hour, although in the different time zone it was after midnight.
“Deploying Cypher UAV in three, two, one… Deployed!” The co-pilot shouted.
“I’m linked to the Cypher, and I’ve linked up to Buzzard’s radar to get a map of the town,” Rosen told them over their Crosscoms. “There’s a small tower with a good view of the area around the Carte Blanche Inn. Diaz and Beasley can work from there, and they can rappel down the sides if the staircase gets too risky. Transmitting map and coordinates to your team.”
“Copy, Rosen,” Mitchell responded. “Diaz, Beasley, I want you on that tower.”
Buzzard passed over the city, which had low-level fog on that night, about a meter above the ground.
“Ten seconds!”
The helicopter tilted backwards and descended to fifty feet as it neared the landing zone, providing reverse thrust to stop the vehicle’s forward momentum. It came to a hover in the closest securable area to the target building, where the team could safely make landfall and fight off an ambush if need be.
After looking down at the empty business district below, Mitchell grabbed a rope and hooked it to a latch on the floor. Next to him, Smith was likewise hooking in. They backed up and fast-roped down to the cobblestone street. Ramirez and Hume came next, followed by Diaz and Beasley. As soon as each soldier hit the ground, they unhooked and shouldered their weapons.
“Buzzard falling back to loitering distance.” The chopper flew away and left them on their own. The city seemed empty, or at least this part did. Probably a mixture of ponies being home instead of at their workplaces, and some fear on the part of anypony who saw them.
“Ghosts, move out.”
They did as he commanded, and the overwatch team split off to head to their position.
Smith eagerly took point, followed by Mitchell, Ramirez, and Hume. In a staggered line, they walked through the streets. If anypony saw them, they didn’t make themselves known; they were probably staying inside while the Ghosts were out. Still, they remained alert as they advanced to their objective.
“Target area looks clear, Captain,” Diaz informed them.
“UAV reads no hostiles on your route, Scott,” Rosen added.
“Put it on a patrol of the target area, half klick radius, and call me if anything comes up. Out.”
After several more tense minutes of making their way through the silent streets, they reached the Carte Blanche Inn. It was a two-story stone building, and it looked fairly classy. The front door was locked, and forcing it open would make too much noise.
“I can pick this, Captain,” Ramirez assured him. He’d originally joined the Army because he’d been getting in trouble increasingly often, and he was told frequently he needed that kind of order in his life. Mostly he’d gotten in trouble for hacking, but he’d done a few other kinds of criminal acts. And when the team needed a computer cracked or a lock picked, they usually turned to him. “Watch my back.” He pulled out a lockpick and went to work, slinging his rifle over his shoulder.
In less than ten seconds, he was finished, and he tucked the picks into a pouch. “Done.” Every Ghost knew how to pick locks for when entries needed to be silent, but he was the best of them.
Mitchell and Ramirez stalked in with their pistols drawn, followed by Hume and Smith, whose compact carbines swept the lobby for movement, the lasers built into their advanced sights showing their fields of fire. As silently as they entered, they closed the door.
“We’re in. What do we know about the layout?” Mitchell whispered over the radio.
“The manager should be in a suite on that floor. The only one on that floor, actually,” Rosen answered.
“Found it, boss,” Hume said. “How we gonna do this, good cop, bad cop?”
“Unless you speak French, I’ll handle it alone. Ramirez?”
“On it…” He spent a few seconds on the lock. “Done.”
Mitchell crept inside, alone and with his suppressed HK45T drawn. He swept for hostiles and holstered his sidearm. Instead, he drew a knife with his left hand and held it over the manager’s throat. He covered his mouth with the other hand, which woke the golden stallion.
“Pas de cris, pas de mouvements brusques,” He whispered in French. “Que savez-vous sur Calliope?” He moved his hand to let him speak.
“Elle est arrivée récemment et... Je peux pas. Ils me tueront si je parle.”
“Ne me forcez pas à vous couper la gorge pour voir si mes réponses y sont.”
“D'accord, d'accord! Ils la gardent à la cave, c'était la seule façon de la déplacer discrètement. Elle était encore vivante il y a deux jours. C'est tout ce que je sais, je vous le jure!”
“Merci.” He smothered the pony until he passed out, then tucked him in. With any luck, when he awoke he’d think it was a dream, at least until he realized his illicit guest was missing. Moving out of the room and closing the door behind him, he motioned for the team to form up.
“The package was last seen two days ago in the wine cellar, alive. Diaz, how’s the outside look?”
“All clear Captain.”
“Rosen?”
“No move- Wait. I’m seeing something. Switching to FLIR. Captain, you’ve got multiple hostiles moving in on your position, I’d say twenty. A lot of parkour happening down there. Uh-oh.”
“What?”
“Sir, another two dozen are heading towards you, and they’re gonna pass by the sniper team. I think they’re heading to extract the package.”
“Diaz, Beasley, get out of there and stay undetected. Forty of them is way too many and they’re highly agile. In this kind of terrain they’ll bypass any cover we have or any obstacles in their way, flank us and tear us apart! You two get to the nearest LZ, Buzzard will pick you up.”
“Yes sir!”
“Smith, use those hunter’s senses of yours and watch for hostiles. Hume, Ramirez, help keep this area secure. I’m going downstairs to secure the package.”
They nodded, and he proceeded downstairs to the wine cellar, his suppressed sidearm in hand. His M8 carbine was already plenty compact and easy enough to use in buildings, but in very tight quarters it was still too large. He searched the aromatic lower level for the door to the cellar and ended up finding it by following the scent to a hallway, where he searched for a door that was marked as a wine cellar in French. The door was unlocked, and he snuck in.
It was dark, and he was quietly thankful that the glow of his Crosscom eyepiece was hardly noticeable in pitch black, though it wasn’t quite that dark. Barrels were arranged neatly in several rows, mounted on wooden racks.
He could hear moaning coming from the other side of a neat pile of barrels. He peeked around to see the hostage tied to a pole. A pair of thugs watched while a third tried to beat something out of her.
“I swear to Celestia, if you don’t tell me where you hid the notes, I’ll start breaking legs!” The interrogator barked.
“I already told you, numbskull, I keep ‘em in my head,” Calliope replied with a glare. “Notes are a liability on stories like this.”
For the record, Mitchell believed her. He’d heard of reporters doing that kind of thing, including the one he’d helped rescue in Mexico a few months earlier.
He smacked her.
“Go mess yourself. I’ll be here when you get back.”
Mitchell emerged from cover as the stallion wound up his foreleg to punch her.
He fired a shot into the closest stallion’s temple, a loud cough coming from his weapon, then one into another’s side as he walked towards her. The interrogator tried to kick him, he sidestepped and kicked him to the floor, shooting him in the neck before he could get up.
The mare just gazed at him in a mixture of awe and fear. He untied her and helped her to her hooves. She pushed him back and moved away from him, proving that she could move well enough, while also demonstrating her caution.
“Package is secure. How close are the hostiles?” He reloaded his pistol as he whispered into his microphone.
“I give you forty seconds.”
“Damn it. Calliope, we need to move right now.”
She nodded, still in shock, and followed him as he ran through the cellar and halls and upstairs to the lobby. She stumbled as she tried to ascend the stairs, her abuse in captivity clearly hindering her.
“Alright, we go out the back, take the alleys south to LZ Foxtrot. Calliope, stay close.”
She shook her head, indicating both disagreement and that she had pieced herself together from the shock.
“Why the hay should I do that? I don’t even know what you are!” The mare protested.
“Because there’s about forty ponies closing in who want your head and ours.” That convinced her to obey, though it didn’t really seem to assuage her suspicion of them.
Smith opened the back door and motioned to the team that the coast was clear. Mitchell then signaled for them to move outside. They hustled several blocks southwards before the man on point held up a fist. The quintet pressed themselves against the darkest shadows in the nearest alley.
The Ghosts and their guest gazed upwards as around a dozen cloaked figures passed over them in a crude delta formation. They’d likely split up to cover more ground, and they were fanning out around them, heading parallel to their escape route.
The Strangers took up positions watching the area. They’d be unable to move very far without being spotted.
“Rosen, our escape route is looking crowded. Get that Cypher above us and mark our targets, we’ll take them down.”
“Got it, Scott. I’ll have it there in a few seconds.”
A few moments later, a dozen red diamonds appeared in the area around the street, each one signifying an enemy. Mitchell began to gesture from each teammate to a trio of targets, assigning them the ponies they were supposed to neutralize. They aimed down the sights of their weapons and waited for the order to fire.
“Now.”
A dozen claps in three salvos, a dozen puffs of blood, and a dozen bodies fell limp and lifeless to streets and roofs in the area. Calliope just gazed awestruck at the ease with which they delivered death.
“Let’s move,” Mitchell whispered.
The Ghosts dashed further south, until their HUDs told them they were a dozen meters from the waypoint. By then they were just outside the town, on the northern bank of the wide river that separated them from Equestrian soil. As soon as they reached the spot, they took to their knees and formed a 360 degree field of fire.
“Buzzard, we have the package and we’re clear for extraction.”
“Roger, Captain, on our way. ETA, half a mike.”
“Thirty seconds, people.”
“Uh, what’s that sound?” Calliope inquired, presumably talking about the approaching noise from the Black Hawk’s rotors. Moments later, its silhouette could be made out, its outline against the blue night sky eerily similar to an ocean predator. To her it must have seemed an otherworldly creature, and most ponies had a subconscious fear of the unknown, just like humans.
The aircraft in question soon arrived and did an orbit around them before touching down on the thick grass. The side door slid open, and the sniper team motioned for them to get in, while music played within. Mitchell waited for the rest of his team to get onboard before grabbing Calliope under his arm and bringing her onboard, ignoring her protests. Smith shut the door behind them, and their new “friend” began to fidget slightly.
She’d just been “rescued” from thugs by a group of extremely dangerous beings whose motivations she knew nothing about. For all she knew, they’d do even worse things to her.
“Good work, Ghosts,” Mitchell said before turning to the reporter. “You can relax, we’re bringing you to Canterlot.”
“We’re what you’d call ‘good guys’, so don’t worry,” Ramirez added. That didn’t seem to calm her much. Most people - or on this world, ponies griffons and the like - considered themselves “good guys” if they fought for a cause they believed in.
“Sir, Princess Celestia needs to talk to you, now,” Rosen interrupted. Some words could be heard in the background, likely him explaining how to use the NARCOM system.
“Captain,” The regent said, her visage appearing in the top right corner of his HUD. “There’s been an incident. I don’t know if it’s related to the Strangers, but we need your help.”
“What’s the situation?”
“I’ve had a sort of magic-based early-warning system set up for centuries, and it just went off. Somepony is constructing an Aegis Gate in the Everfree Castle, and I believe it will be finished and activated before dawn, when the full moon sets. The consequences of it being opened are very dire. It'd take some time to explain exactly what it is, but it's essentially a very dangerous, very volatile type of portal that could detonate horrifically if misused. It's deep inside the Everfree Forest.”
“Most of my team is with me now, and we won’t be back in time to stop it. Rosen, have Reeves take his team and a guide familiar with the area if possible, it's dense and cramped from what I know.”
“I can provide a guide who knows that area. Her name is Artemis Arrow. She’s more familiar with the Everfree than almost anypony else I know. She was a specialist we recruited a few years ago to help our guards deal with larger creatures and wilderness situations. She's not a guard per se, but we know she can keep quiet and she's quite capable of handling herself.”
“Boss, I just told Reeves and he’s readying up now.”
“Tell Reeves his team will take our other Black Hawk.”
“On it, boss.”
“Thank you,” The Princess said.
Mitchell decided to change the subject. “Princess, we’ve extracted Calliope. She’s alive and in decent shape, but she was physically abused by her captors.”
“I see… Is there anything else you can tell me? How many lives were lost?”
“Ma’am, a total of twenty targets engaged. Six by Captain Mitchell, three each by the rest of his squad for fifteen total. Sniper team engaged five, two by Beasley, three by Diaz. All targets are confirmed kills. No friendly or noncombatant casualties,” Rosen told her.
“Twenty dead…” Celestia repeated morosely, still trying to come to terms with the violence seeping into her life. Though she authorized the mission in question, she clearly felt guilt for the score of deaths.
“The Strangers are gonna cover their tracks and clean up the bodies if they want to stay secret. The inn’s manager was collaborating, but I neutralized him without doing any real harm. I’ll give you a full report when I get back. Out.” He cut the transmission.
“Wait, you know about the Strangers?” Calliope asked, her curiosity piqued enough to override her fear and awe of the humans.
Hume gave her a quick and condensed synopsis of their arrival on Equis, and Ramirez explained the attack in passing. Mitchell explained how he interrogated one of them, and some of the key points he learned. They all refrained from giving her the whole picture out of caution. Actually, they gave her the absolute bare minimum.
“We came here because you’re our only lead on them right now. How much do you know about them?” He asked
“A whole lot. I’ve memorized all of it and I always test my memory of info, so I can guarantee it’s accurate. As a precaution, all of my notes and documents are mailed to a friend, who stores them in a fireproof safe in my Canterlot apartment. He has several duress words available for emergencies, and a few codes to prove it’s him for when he sends me mail confirming my notes have reached safety. And the last package I sent him was safe, so I can back up all of my claims. Nopony but nopony messes with my work.”
“Good to hear. We’ll need to look over what you’ve got on them. Princess Celestia and I will work with you to piece together more information. Oh, and one more thing,” Mitchell told her.
“Yeah?”
“You can’t tell anypony about us, or what we do. You’ll probably need to stay with us while you lay low; you’ll help us and we’ll protect you. Understand that?”
“Yeah. Not like anypony’d believe me without hard evidence anyway.” She nodded slowly, frowning at the thought of having to sit on a huge story like this. “It’ll be an interesting experience at least.”
The captain chuckled quietly. “It sure is for us.”
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Learning French sucks.
You sir, write like a professional. Very well done! Looking forward to the next chapter!
Awesome chapter man. Can't wait to see Reeves' s POV
interesting, now i want to fly a Blackhawk
I would like to hear some of them, Twi.
I wonder how will the other operation go...
Should you ever come across the need of some german than I offer my services.
Considering that we had Prench I guess that Germane is also possible.
You're damn right.
3204164
I might include Germane. I know there's at least one other German following me, and I was going to ask him if I ever needed help, but I might ask both of you.
3203775
3203877
i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b520/TJbrena/TSConsiderTheFollowing_zpse1712beb.jpg
1. Such a complex vehicle would require extensive training, making it impractical to mass produce
2. Humans don't have magic, so they obviously couldn't power it if it were a machine
3. A craft that heavy would require an enormously powerful energy source, equal to almost four thousand ponies in strength.
4. Assuming the aforementioned problems could be surmounted, the problem of finding fuel that is sufficiently energy-dense remains. With so much interior space, no machine could hope to carry enough fuel to sustain the power it consumes for enough time to make such a craft advantageous.
5. If it were a machine, it would be highly fragile, having so many moving parts
6. With as many moving parts as it would have to have, it would need to be constantly under maintenance to ensure that they were all in working order
7. It would be prohibitively expensive to build
8. No known combination of metals could possibly be light enough to match the projected weight of such a vehicle
9. The creatures have been given names, something unheard of for mere transportation outside of water-faring vessels, but common for living creatures
10. Because of the aforementioned reasons, using it in dangerous situations would be downright stupid
11. The willingness the humans show to use it for such risky purposes demonstrates that they're confident in the creature, something illogical for an unreliable machine
12. The humans could be seen feeding it through a hole in the side, which is the most convincing piece of evidence of all
3204471
Excellent points! Really. However:
We are humans.
Your arguments are invalid.
Though in all seriousness, are you planning to show us her reaction to that little reveal? Or will there be no reveal at all? Wait, that's spoilers... gotta wait and see, then!
Here is your requested review.
Prologue:
So...she screwed up and that's it? With all the detail you put into the rest of the chapter, this event and her reaction to it seem kind of insignificant.
1:
Black Hawks escorting an Osprey? I guess that's possible, although the helicopters wouldn't be able to keep up at the VTOL's max speed.
Mitchell only learned about his adaptive cammo over the radio? They sent him out on a mission without knowing the capabilities of his equipment? Also, you never mention this capability again when they're doing ops or whatever.
2:
The process of bringing down the aircraft seems simplistic. Celestia never really gets worked up, never stops to think in detail about what the strange objects look like, and the pilots apparently don't even try to get away.
Mitchell got KO'd by a hit to the head and he just wakes up and doesn't even feel pain?
When the wave of pale orange magic swept through the castle, it took until the next paragraph before I got any sense that this was a bad thing. It just didn't grab my attention like it should have.
Um, so who were the attackers? I don't think you ever explicitly said. You never described the bodies or the prisoners or anything.
3:
It doesn't make sense that each team leader would be temporarily bumped down from an O-3 to an O-2. Why didn't they just bump the Ghost leader up?
Okay, so here you describe the attack as carried out by an unknown force. That would have been good to know last chapter so I wasn't confused.
So does this mean he read a bunch of books? How long after dinner is this taking place?
So the prisoner he interrogated had a cyanide capsule in his tooth, I guess? He activated it and died in the span of one paragraph. It seems like a pittance for such an action.
Marey Pat Foaly - I see what you did there.
4:
Fun fact: there's actually no such thing as South Detroit - it's Windsor, Ontario.
While I know it's probably a stealthy helicopter, they just hovered at fifty feet over a city and nopony noticed?
Nobody asks what an Aegis Gate is or why they care?
With a civilian - a journalist - with them, I would think they would be more careful about what they were saying and certainly not just tell her who they were.
Overall comments:
Your description is kind of long. My personal rule of thumb is keep it short enough that the reader doesn't have to click "more."
My biggest overall impression is that you don't give enough importance to important events. A couple of times I had to go back and reread something to make sure I understood because at first glance it didn't seem important.
Your spelling and grammar are good. The descriptions of the Ghost technology is interesting, particularly because I never played the games or read the books.
I'd like to see where the rest of this goes.
3204471 Well, its always good to have options.
For shits and giggle I shall answer some of these points. 3204574
1. Heck yeah, it takes a few months to get the basics and a few YEARS to actually master the craft.
2. Screw magics, we have Internal Combustion
3. Yes indeed, we call it a turbo-fan, the Black Hawk has two of those.
4. You have no idea how ridiculously energy efficient the stuff called Air/Kerosine mix is.
5. Well, no argument there.
6. We build stuff to last, it still needs a proper check-up at least once a year.
7. If you have the proper economy to back it up.
8. *cough* Titanium *cough*
9. Seriously? We name EVERYTHING.
10. Hmm, we arent really as sane as we seem.
11. Twilight, you have no idea how wrong you are. We rather trust machines then any form of creature larger then ourselfs (except for horses).
12. Yeah, a refined hydrocarbon compound that is toxic to any biological digestion system, oh did I mention its highly flammable aswell? So if you dont want to eat roasted dragon tonight I recommend you keep your green scaled firend away! Hmm, can dragons digest Kerosine.....
Edit: Everything regarding fuel and engines is set for regular Black Hawks. The ones in the story are hydrogen powered.
3204777
I laughed!
Wait, that almost sounded like Molestia...
And I'm afraid they have the experimental hydrogen powered choppers. Give them water and science happens. No kerosene for you!
3204674
Yeah, some of these things have popped up in my eyes aswell, I personally tend to ignore these issues at first and see how the story evolves. This attitude was well placed a few times, Blue Angel comes into mind.
Its good to see that someone as imprtant as TnaB beeing interested in this story. His feedback should be helpful in the long run.
3204808 Ah shit, forgott to mention that in the footnote!
Edit: Done!
3204820 Please. Me, important?
3204674
Thanks for the feedback! I'll get to editing right away.
Prologue
It doesn't make sense until much later. Although if you listened to the REAL first woman in space before you killed her to as part of an agreement to prove the US's innocence to the Soviet Union regarding a nuclear detonation in Tselinoyarsk, you might have an insight as to why that all mattered. If you don't know who I'm talking about, then have fun finding it out.
Chapter 1
AdCam becomes prominent in the coming chapter and going forwards, especially with the various SF teams. Still, I went back and did some editing to clear up why Mitchell didn't know about the change to the uniform.
As for the radar thing, edited, they're not legit stealth aircraft by any means, it just reduces their radar profile enough that they could operate in Cuba with relative impunity.
Chapter 2
You're right. I made a mistake by not making it clear that nopony knew who the hell these guys were.
The Pain is fixed, and so is the orange magic.
Chapter 3
I didn't bump Mitchell up because I can't take characters with alliteration in their names very seriously. Unless they're superheroes or their alter-egoes. So really I sacrificed some logic so I wouldn't antagonize myself by writing "Major Mitchell" a lot. Besides, he's turned down promotions previously, so I figured there was a precedent for this.
Like I said, the previous chapter was edited to make sure the Strangers are strangers. And since this takes place about two hours after the firefight, with a bunch of people specifically looking for information on the new world, they could definitely find enough mentions of such happenings. Edited it a little bit to imply that though.
Chapter 4
The Aegis Gate is explained now, and it's stressed that the Ghosts gave Calliope the bare minimum of information.
Overall, I'm glad you like it, and I'll try to work on applying your advice going forwards.
3204777
All of that? That's the joke. Twilight - bless her adorkable soul - doesn't understand how awesome human technology is. I can't imagine her face when she finds out we flew to the moon because of a silly rivalry!
Wait a sec. Holy shit, your post number!
You got genie trips! A genie will visit you tonight and grant you one wish, as His Holiness Bateman decreed a decade ago.
Dat French... Merci. :3
I can't wait untill the next chapter and some possiable pony on pony combat mixed with advanced gunplay.
3205943 Wat wat WAT?!!! What about my post number? #67? I dont get it.
3205000 Of course, whenever your name pops up in the comments of any military themed story the overall quality starts skyrocketing.
Hmmm...interesting. Awaiting developments on the next chapter.
~ Super-Brony12
Chapter 5: Suppressed XM8s, nothing like the delicious, gooey taste of freshly melted handgaurds :P
3214269
I didn't say they'd jam, the XM8 was actually the most reliable weapon in the competition and even beat the SCARs...
But it likes to keep working even if its outer shell turns into fondue, and slapping a suppressor on that is only going to speed that up. It's a cool weapon, it just has a funny flaw.
3203872 and I want to fly an SR-71 Blackbird, If this made you want to fly a blackhawk than you will love to hear that the blackhawk and all its different unique and badass capabilities have yet to be displayed this far into the story... such a versatile platform the UH-60 is. Its a beast to be feared, respected, and trusted.
3214289 Its obviously not that cool if it tends to melt its handguard. It needs to be revisited in the future I feel that it was underdeveloped, it still has a ton of potential. Just to costly overall. Maybe it needs a redesign, fix its flaws and make improvements.