Vasilyev looked out over the beach in front of the fleet from the door of their helicopter, watching as the armada was preparing to land soldiers. His squad, along with the American one, had been chosen to be the first ones ashore on the beach. He gripped the bar above him harder as the MH-60 went into a bank, showing a new view of the fleet.

Below him, he could see half a dozen helicopters lifting off from the Sevastopol, the Russian Federation Mistral-class amphibious assault ship that was with their small fleet. From its open bow, several large patrol boats and -class hovercraft emerged, crowded with Russian Marines and enough equipment to set up a Forward Operating Base.

To his right, Sokolov watched the dozens of watercraft and helicopters stream towards the shore, preparing to establish a base. Several Mi-24s from the Sevastopol escorted the formation, as did over two dozen MQ-8C drone helicopters, armed to the teeth with hellfire missiles and unguided rockets.

"We are beginning descent. Hang on, everybody." The American pilot (Sokolov had never caught his name) said over the radio. Moments later, Petrov translated it over the 'Net' systems to those who could not understand English.

The helicopter jerked underneath as it began to descend, encountering turbulence from the ocean wind. Sokolov gripped the bar above him with his left hand tighter, keeping his right hand on his MTAR-21. As their helicopter sank lower, it quickly passed the assault craft approaching the beach and crossed over land seconds later.

The Blackhawk rapidly slowed down, coming to a hover. It slowly sat down on the grass beyond the beach, just as the first wave of assault craft landed. Vasilyev quickly pulled on the handle to open the door of the helicopter, sliding it towards the rear as one of the Americans jumped out, and then another, followed quickly by Kozlov and all the rest.

Vasilyev himself jumped down from the floor of the helicopter as its rotors began to spin down, landing on the soft grass that was beyond the beach. He scanned the surrounding terrain with his 'Net' glasses, finding no signs of life beyond a stone road two kilometers away, with large sections of forested land one kilometer further on.

The Russian Lieutenant lowered his rifle, after confirming no other forces in the area aside from the Fleet's. Several helicopters began to land, letting out dozens of Russian Marines and soldiers. Meanwhile, above the landing zone several MQ-8C helicopters hovered in place, protecting the landing forces. Several BTR-3 and BTR-4 Armored Personal Carriers drove off of the landing hovercraft and into the water, shortly driving up on the beach.

With that, the official Human presence in this new land had begun.

One mile offshore
USS Gerald R Ford

Captain Henderson watched the local radar screen as the 'Net' units of the Russian teams onshore light up green, signaling that they had landed. One by one, he watched as the red dots slowly disappeared, signaling that it had been a success.

However, there was still one problem that he had to take care of.

"Ensign." He said, walking over to the Flight Deck Manager, who sat at his own console, relaying information to the flight deck crew. "I need you to mount a loudspeaker on one of the MQ-8C's and get those ponies on that cloud away from here. They're a risk to flight operations as it is."

"On it, sir." The Ensign said, quickly imputing orders into the 'Net'-linked device.

With that done, Captain Henderson moved back to monitor the radar screen, confident in the success of the landings.

1,500 Feet above sea level
One mile away from Fleet

It had taken five minutes to rig a loudspeaker to a MQ-8C and directly control it to the cloud. With that done, Ensign Jones maneuvered it to be in front of the cloud, and its 'residents'. They looked startled at the sudden appearance of the drone, and even more startled with its proximity.

With that, Ensign Jones turned on the microphone, quickly dialing up the volume.

"Attention unknown 'Pegasi'." He said in a prepared, monotone voice. "Please leave the area immediately. You are a threat to flight operations. Failure to comply will result in the use of force."

Of course, the only weapon that the MQ-8C had on it currently was a imported and up-scaled version of the SVT-2 Sonic Incapacitation Weapon/Crowd Control. It was designed to suppress large scale riots by incapacitating large crowd with a blast of noise with a frequency of 7 Hz. However, he did not want to use it. Although there would be no physical damage, several might just fall into the ocean if he turned the damn thing on.

However, it was not needed. The ponies quickly vacated the area, most flying off towards the island in a near-panic.

"Nice job, Jones." One of the crewmen next to him said. "Looks like all the birdies have run home."

"Yeah." Ensign Jones said in a deadpan voice, wondering why he had been asked to waste his time doing this.

Radio Traffic south of unidentified town
Forty kilometers north-east of large city on mainland

[R-1-2]: All sections, town is in sight.

[R-1]: Rodger that 1-2, we have permission to move through the road in the center of town. Do not attempts to proceed with overt interactions with the populace: State that you and others are passing through. Do you copy?

[R-1-2]: Copy. We will be at town edge in ten minutes. 1-2-1 through 1-2-4, keeps inside your vehicles. Platoons leaders of 1-2-1 through 1-2-4, keep in the open to explain the situation to the natives, if need be. American armored force, you should try to answer their questions first: You understand them.

[A-/-1-3]: Copy that, Russian unit. We'll take the lead. Just try not to grab all the attention of the locals.

[R-1-2]: *laughter* We shall try, American. 1-2 out.

[R/A Local Announcement (Bilingual)]: All Russian and American units, be advised that we will pass through a town populated by the local inhabitants, explained in the last 'Net' Local Announcement. Stay inside of your vehicles if you can. If you cannot, try to avoid answering too many questions. Out.

Author's Note

Hi guys! Just a quick chapter before things star happening again. The next few chapter will be out within the next two weeks. Sorry for long delays: School is a bitch.