Operation: Swordbreaker

Operation: Swordbreaker

Chapter One

Nathan Harper stood unmoving inside of the small platoon of soldiers that stood silently in the at-ease position, waiting for the announcement that would tell them the reason they had been ordered here.

Whatever it was, it was apparently important, during the walk to the auditorium, rumours had been quietly passed back and forth, most of the whispers mentioned something about so top-secret project and government conspiracy, they were ridiculous and lacked any real detail to them so Nathan decided it was best to ignore them. The facts and their own logic told them that this had something to do with The Black Tide, almost all of the 'important' announcements made in their compound had something to do with the Tide, the Company was tasked with assisting the effort to slow the Tide, or to lend a hand to any of the ongoing research to save humanity, or the few that claimed to be able to do both. Their Company was based in Kirghizia, near a city called Bishkek, their exact location however, was unknown to them for security reasons.

Suddenly one of the commanding officers, who's name Nathan didn't remember, called the platoon to attention, they all stamped their left foot on the ground as Commander Ellis stepped up to the podium.

"Good morning men! Are you feeling well today?" He asked

"Sir, yes sir" the platoon chorused back

"Good! Now I would like to begin by telling you all of how exceptionally well you have performed during our long deployment"

Commander Ellis was an older man, he had greeting hair that was cut to the exact regulations of the U.I.A.F as well as his moustache and goatee-like beard which both gave evidence of his former hair colour as they were only flecked with grey and showed the ginger of his youth. He was dressed as he always was, in his uniform, which was ironed and pressed to perfection.

The Commander was still talking "Because of that, High Command has authorized me to offer 27th platoon-your platoon-of the 57th Company-Our Company-an opportunity" with that the men visibly perked up, an opportunity to make a difference was one all men of the uniform wanted and dreamed of

"...unfortunately, I am not permitted to give you the details unless you accept right here right now" as quick as they gained it, the men lost almost all of their interest and excitement. In their line of work when you heard 'Not permitted to give you details' or something of the like, it usually meant 'Something extremely dangerous that will most likely result in your death but I don't want to scare you off by telling you.'

Nathan kept his eyes focused on the Commander, wondering what this was about but keeping his features emotionless and statue-like, a skill he had mastered through his service.

Ellis looked at the platoon, sweeping his eyes across all of the cold hardened faces before speaking

"Any volunteers?"

For a moment, no one moved, until slowly Nathan raised his fist into the air. His sense of duty driving his arm up, for years he had wanted something like this. To feel like he was actually making a difference, and even though he had no idea what he was getting himself into, his gut told him that this was the right course of action.

Commander Ellis looked at Harper, a flash of recognition flashing in his eyes.

"Fall out Corporal" Ellis said, Nathan turned on his heel, stamped his left foot, and marched out of his rank and up into the Commander. Nathan gave him a salute which Ellise returned.

"No one else then? Alright, the rest of you; dismissed!" the rest of the company turned on their heels to the right, and stamped their left foot and then broke formation. All of them going their separate ways, a few taking curious glances back at Nathan.

Ellise turned his attention back to the Corporal in front of him

"At ease" Nathan relaxed from his at-attention stance and allowed himself to actually look and the Commander

"Sir, If I may? What am I to be doing?"

"All in good time... It's Harper isn't it?"

"Yes sir"

"Alright, come with me" without another glance Ellise turned and walked off to the left, Nathan quick behind him, the Commander led him across the auditorium and to a lair of double doors on the far left side of the room. Walking though them revealed a long hallway with door lining the sides, offices and briefing rooms, Nathan guessed. His theory was confirmed as he was led up to one, Commander Ellise opened the door and the two soldiers entered into the briefing room.

The briefing room itself was akin to a theatre, several rows of comfortable-looking red chairs with small desks attached, the chairs placed in a slowly ascending manner. The lowest being closest to the 'stage' area of the room that was a raised platform with a single podium off to the side and a projection screen hanging from the ceiling.

What drew Nathan's attention though was the man standing next to the podium, as they approached the Corporal could make out his features. He was a stout older man in a brown suit and red bow-tie and had massive spectacles, bushy salt-and-pepper beard, and bald head.

The Commander walked up to the man and spoke

"Seems we only have one volunteer Doctor, but I assure you he's as good as anyone"

"Well, I trust your judgment Commander" the man replied, before walking off the platform and approaching Nathan and offering his hand

"Pleasure to meet you lad, I am Dr. Paul Velchiek, and you are?" Harper gripped the Doctors hand firmly and shook it

"Corporal Nathan Harper of the 57th Company at your service sir, a pleasure to meet you sir" as he let go of Nathan's hand the Doctor chuckled a bit

"Well at least you're polite" turning back to the platform the Doctor gestured to the front row of chairs "Have a seat, Corporal" he said. Nathan obeyed and watched as the man retook his position next to the podium. Commander Ellise simply stood to the side, his arms crossed and face devoid of any expression

"Now..." The Doctor rubbed his hands together "let's give you the briefing, shall we?" Looking down at Nathan he began to explain

"As you already know, our planet is in peril. Slowly being consumed by what is commonly called 'The Black Tide' what you may also may know is that there are several teams putting their efforts into projects to slow, stop, or destroy the Tide." Velchiek looked at Harper to make sure he was paying attention, after confirming that he was, the Doctor continued.

"I come here representing one such project, Project: Harmonics to be exact. now what is 'Project: Harmonics'. you may ask? Well...." The Doctor looked at Nathan again "Tell me Mr. Harper, do you believe in alternate universes? That is to say, realities that exist parallel to our own?" Nathan had to think about that for a moment, the concept sounded like something out of one of those science fiction novels that his father had always tried to get him to read. Nathan had never thought about abstract concepts like aliens or alternate realities.

"Never given it much thought sir" the Corporal eventually said "but I suppose it's entirely possible." Velchiek raised an eyebrow at the soldier, muttering something about jarheads, before speaking again.

"Well... I am here to tell you that such realities do exist. And we have found some of them." This raised Nathan's eyebrows "The point of Project: Harmonics it to search for alternate worlds for Humanity to inhabit in the event that the Earth is lost to the Tide" a flood of emotion raced through the Corporal's mind. The information that alternate realities existed didn't surprise Nathan at all, it the grand scheme of things it didn't really effect the soldier. The thing that did was what Project: Harmonics was implying, that their was no hope, Earth was doomed, and they had to escape. Not comforting thoughts for a man who had spent his late twenties fighting the Tide in any way possible.

Naturally, Harper kept his feelings hidden and retained his professional facade as he spoke up

"...So where do I come in sir?" He asked, causing Doctor Velchiek to scowl slightly. "I'm getting to that" he said before continuing on

"Now, getting to the point, the objective of Project: Harmonics has, as of recently, succeeded. We have located a world that can potentially hold a Human population, however, there is one slight... Ah, speed bump if you would" there was silence for a few minutes before Nathan addressed the elephant in the room

"And what would this 'Speed bump' be sir?"

"Well... It appears that the world is already inhabited, by what appears to be sentient life-forms" the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a small remote, he pointed it at the projection screen and clicked a button, the screen flared to life and did what it's name suggested and projected an image to the observing soldier. It showed an image of a world that looked very similar to Earth. The green grass and trees were immediately obvious. Deep blue skies with white cotton-puff clouds spanned overhead. It was picturesque, though it seemed oddly brighter than Nathan was used to seeing.

"Now this world, this world looks very like our own. Some species of plants are unknown to us, but we see many that look very similar to ones that we have here on Earth. We've seen animals that at least look like normal birds, squirrels and rabbits." Harper kept his attention fixed on the screen, a bit amazed at what the Doctor was claiming to have accomplished.

"Now, we were able to send some probes over and we've discovered that, while the atmosphere is very slightly higher on oxygen, perhaps 23% or so, and the gravity is very slightly less than here on Earth, and the environment seems to be totally and completely compatible with human life." The information was interesting, but not relevant to Nathan's current situation, but out of respect he let the Doctor ramble. Velchiek clicked the remote again and suddenly the image shifted, it took Nathan a few moments to figure out what he was looking at before he realized it was a top-down view of a large town, with winding streets and brightly-colored rooftops.

"This is an image of one of the towns we've managed to find. Now it's important to note that the population density is nowhere near that of the Earth, at least in the regions we've been able to see so far. Granted, that's only a small portion of this world, as there is something about this one that makes matching harmonics with it... well, tricky, to say the least. But it's entirely possible that we can co-exist with the inhabitants. But first, we need to learn more about them. Because, you see... they aren't exactly human." The Corporal raised his eyebrows as the Doctor clicked the remote again and suddenly he was being showed a video, the Doctor spoke over it as if he was narrating a nature documentary

"And here we see some lovely rolling hillsides, with a fairly large forest off to the west. As you can see, it's a pleasant day. Small insects buzz by, and there you can see a few rabbits grazing on the grass. And what's this coming up over the hillside? Why, it's a collection of this world's most highly developed inhabitants!"

Nathan stared as several multicoloured shapes appeared at the crest of the hill

"As you can see, they are-"

"Holy shit, ponies!" As soon as he said it the Corporal clamped his mouth shut and felt his face go red, he looked at the Commander to see him giving the soldier his infamous you-fucked-up-big-time-bitch look.

"Language soldier" he said softly and Harper nodded submissively

"Yes sir"

Doctor Velchiek cleared his throat to get the Corporals attention again

"Yes, well, ponies. Though, obviously nothing like what we'd find here on Earth. Note the bright colors. You'd never see a bright purple pony running around here on Earth, unless its owner had dyed its coat that color! Also, these ponies talk. They use tools. They build things. And that's not all. Look at what you see here. Here come more ponies... And not all of them are walking." Nathan stared in awe at the images shown, what he was seeing barley registered in his mind as he just stared dumbly. I mean, one of them had Wings for God's sake!

"Now" the Doctor said "We come to why we brought you here Mr. Harper, while we do have diplomacy and co-existence in mind, both me and High Command of the U.I.A.F agree that taking the world by force is an option we must consider should negotiations fail, that is where you come in Mr. Harper." With a click the Doctor turned of the projection screen and stared directly at Nathan

"Your task will be to go to this world, learn of their defences, their tactics and compromise them if necessary. While the Ponies do not appear overly dangerous or hostile, they are from an entirely different reality and thus we have no idea whatsoever what their combative abilities are, we aim to remedy that with this Operation"

Already the uncertainties were getting to Harper, there were too many variables, what if he was discovered? What would these 'Ponies' do to him? Torture him? Eat him? Turn him inside out and jack-off with with his intestines? The horrid possibilities were endless.

"With... All do respect sir" Nathan said slowly "I'm no infiltrator, certainly no spy. Why me and not a better suited soldier?"

"It is exactly because you are untrained in this field is why you are perfect for it" Commander Ellise spoke up "While an Infiltrator might have more suited training for this sort of job, you have something others do not; genuineness, your going to be posing as a dutiful soldier with only mediocre combat skills, and since your already one of those, you don't need to work at it" the barest hint of a grin flashed behind the Commanders ginger beard, before he reverted back to his stony expression.

Nathan didn't know wether to be insulted or flattered, perhaps both. In reality he was a bit overwhelmed at the significance at what he was being told here, some of that must of shown on his face because the Doctor spoke up again

"This must be very overwhelming to you Mr. Harper, tell you what, I'll give you until tomorrow to give us your answer" as Velchiek walked off to the side, Ellise stepped forward.

"That means you're dismissed, soldier. Head back to your barracks and rest up. Report to my office at thirteen hundred hours tomorrow, and in the meantime, I ask you to not mention this to anyone. Run along now." Nathan stood up, saluted the Commander and exited the briefing room. Harpers journey to his barracks was filled with turbulent thoughts, his brain weighing the options and the implications.

The Corporal walked through his barracks door still lost in his own thoughts, until a familiar French-accented voice broke him out of his stupor

"So, you are part of big operation now, no?" Nathan jumped a bit and turned to see Nicholas sitting on his bunk, grinning at him

"Zat iz what everyone is saying anyway, iz it true? The Commander seemed more serious than usual, no?"

"Hey Nick, I'm afraid I can't tell you anything. Commanders orders" the Frenchman groaned in child-like frustration as Nathan climbed into the bunk above Nicholas

"Aw come on" he whined "Not even a little bit? Location? Who else is involved?" Nathan sighed

"No I can't Nick. where are the other guy's anyway?"

"Zhey are in zhe mess hall, I guess I won't be seeing you much will I?" Harper didn't answer immediately, instead, a smile slowly grew on his features

"No, I'm afraid you won't Nick, I think I'll be gone for a while"