Warning before you read: Wasteland Guard is a fun project and won't follow any kind of time plan. I'll only continue writing if i'm bored or out of ideas for my other stories. So if you're looking for a regular updating story this probably is nothing for you. With that out of the way: Have Fun^^
"There are two kinds of people in this world, son. Those who save lives, and those who take lives."
"And what of those who protect and defend? Those who save lives by taking lives?"
"That's like trying to stop a storm by blowing harder. Ridiculous. You can't protect by killing."
Those were the words of a famous writer who lived hundreds of years ago. For my whole life those words had accompanied me; they were my guidelines throughout my whole life, the unwavering constant in my otherwise constantly changing existence.
I tried my whole life to life up to them, but if you're a child of the wastes like me, that isn't easy. The wastes aren't a nice place to live in and every weakness you show could lead to your early demise.
I fear, I have to admit that more than once I had to break my codex just to survive. I never really meant to, it’s just.....
If your life is in danger, you normally don't think before you act. Your instincts kick in and, depending on whether your species had been prey or predator for the past centuries, you either run or fight. And I did run, more than once, and left behind those that had needed my help. In a way you could say that it was my cowardice that cost them their lives.
Like I said, it's nothing I’m proud of, but in the wastes you can't survive alone, not to mention change anything. You need friends, comrades that are willing to help you overcome any and all problems. People that will stand as firmly by your side as you will by theirs; but where to find them?
I already mentioned that the waste is unforgiving, but so are their inhabitants. We all live short lives and most aren't willing to risk the already short time they have by trusting others, not with so many people around that would kill you for a handful of bottle caps.
Yet, somehow I managed to find my friends, my comrades, that would help me to change the wastes to the better. It wasn't, easy nor was it painless. But no matter what anyone wants to tell you, I know that it was worth it.
Many people asked me how it all started. Well, I’m not sure myself. But, if I had to choose, I would say that it all began there .....
**********
I was sitting on the top of an old building, my eyes focused on the building in front of me. Through the scope of my weapon, I could see my targets hiding in one of the rooms in the upper floors. They were trapped there, without a way out. It would be an easy mission.
I withdrew from my rifle and looked over to the radio lying next to me. As soon as we received the order, my teammates and I would enter the building and take them out. Until then thought we had to wait. That gave me time to think.
I sighed and looked down at my hooves. For an outsider I must have looked completely calm, but if that someone would have looked a little closer, he would have seen the slight trembling of my hooves.
The truth was, I was afraid. Not so much for my life, I wasn’t afraid of dying, but for what I might had to do and what it would mean for me.
If the mission went wrong, it would be the first time in my life i had to actively go against my codex and kill someone with my own hooves. The thought was off-putting to say the least.
I didn't know if I was ready or not. I had been trained to kill, sure, but up till today I always had been sure that I would never need to use this knowledge. But now, out here in the field, I suddenly doubted that it would be so easy as I thought ....
Fortunately for me, I was pulled out of my thoughts when my radio sprang to life, saving me the trouble of finding an answer. I think it was for the better, if I had been forced to make a decision right there and then I probably would have gone crazy instead.
I picked the radio up, just in time to to be greeted by the gruff voice of our commander, breaking through the silence of the night.
"Everyone ready?" he asked. He didn't raise his voice, yet it seemed to thunder in my ears and I gulped to swallow down my tension.
"Ready!" I mumbled. Funny, my voice sounding much more confident then I felt.
A moment later my radio sparked again and the rest of my team confirmed that they were ready as well.
"Then start the mission," the commander said, before deactivating his radio.
Without wasting any time, I adjusted the scope on my rifle and aimed at the building across the street. I only had to wait for a few seconds before I saw the shadows of my teammates approaching the building.
The first one, belonging to a mare in light armor, called Serenity, approached the house from the side and she quickly made her way over to the building’s front door. She tempered with the lock for a while, before she quietly opened the door and slipped in.
The other one, this one of a griffin called Amos, glided down from the night sky and landed on the rooftop. He stopped for a moment to scan his surroundings, before he quickly moved over to the roof entrance and out of my vision.
Reassured that so far everything had gone according to the plan, I began scanning the buildings surface. At the same time I used half an ear to listen to the radio while I waited for further orders. I didn't have to wait long.
"I reached first level," the voice coming from my radio said. It was female indicating that it was Serenity that gave the order. "Chrome, can you check if there's someone hiding in front of me?"
"I'm on it," I confirmed. I quickly closed my eyes and concentrated my magic. Once I was sure my spell had worked, I opened them again. Thanks to the magic now concentrated in my eyes, the formerly gray and shadowy world now shone in a gleaming unnatural light, allowing me to see everything around me as clear as day. Using my now enhanced senses, I quickly scanned the windows. I searched every room visible to me, and even did a double take, but came up with nothing.
"Seems alright to me," I said in my radio, "I can't see anything waiting for you. Keep moving."
The second the words had left my mouth, she started moving, and she followed her way deeper into the building. It seemed that she would be able to stay undisturbed for a little while longer. I on the other hoof hadn't such luck.
"Chrome," I heard the voice of Amos coming from my radio, "I'm under attack. Anything you can do about it?"
"I'm on it," I said before quickly readjusting my scope. Sure enough, I soon found him on one of the upper floors, trapped by two turrets. I didn’t waste any time and fired a few shots, quickly disabling the two obstacles.
Now with a free path, Amos gave me a quick thumbs up, before following his route deeper into the building.
Satisfied with my work, I took a moment to catch my breath and waited for my next orders. This time I had to wait for a few minutes, then my radio sprung back to live.
"I've regrouped with Amos," Silver said, her voice a little lower than normal, "Going to enter in 3.. 2... 1...."
On her mark Amos moved forward, and with a heavy strike of his claws he broke down the door. I on the other hoof had started moving the second Silver started the countdown and, after a short leap of faith, was now standing on the neighboring building, which would give me a better view of what was happening.
I could see my two partners burst into the room, weapons drawn and ready to strike. Across from them three raiders were standing, two of them holding hostages. The one in the middle, clearly the leader, aimed his weapon directly at the two new arrivals, while his comrades had theirs aimed at the hostages.
The three had been paralyzed for a moment when my friends had budged in, but now they were waving their weapons around and, even though I couldn’t hear them, I could be sure that they were probably screaming threats.
While the three were tumbling around in sheer panic, the three of us waited. None of us was sure what to do. We hadn't expected hostages, so the whole mission suddenly had become a lot more complicated than what we were expecting.
Luckily for us, the decision was taken out of our hand. With a spark, our radios came back to live and once again the voice of our commander echoed through the night.
"What are you waiting for Chrome?" he bellowed "Shoot!"
"But, Sir. They got hostages!" I replied
"So? Who cares? Shoot!" he bellowed.
"But..."
"I SAID SHOOT!" he thundered. His voice was enough to drive my over the edge. Before my brain could react and try to stop me, I activated the trigger. I watched as a single bullet left the muzzle of my weapon, and flew through the air, right towards the crowded room across from me. I watched as it broke through the window, shattered the glass, passed the head of the raider I had aimed for and embed itself right in the center of Serenity's chest piece.
For a moment there was only silence, then the voice of the commander cut through the night.
"That's enough," he said. He didn’t scream, but that only made his words so much more frightening. "Mission failed. The simulation’s over, return to me ... promptly!!"
And with that it was over. The "Raiders" released their "Hostages" and, after helping Serenity up, they left the building, my partners in their wake.
I watched them go with blank eyes, while my mind still tried to fully proceed what just happened. Slowly I stood up and looked behind me, towards the camp standing there and the black and white flag of the Wasteland Guard, proudly waving in the wind.
We had failed... I had failed. Not only the mission, but also myself. I knew I couldn’t take the shot without risking anyone, so why did I do it? Why had I been so dumb?
I tried to withhold my emotions; I only managed barely. That action might have ruined everything. Not only for me, but for my partners, too. To think that we might not be able to join the Guard because of me was .... I couldn’t imagine anything worse. For years it had been my dream to work for them, to work with them.
The ponies back home laughed, when I told them that I wanted to join them. I think they never really understood what the guard was; what it meant.
The wasteland guard was founded a few years ago. A bunch of misfits and outcast that were tormented by the raiders and slavers one to many time, decided to take things in there own hooves. They united under one flag and together they tore apart the bandits - literally. It could have been a great day for them, but in the waste nothing good happens without a price. During the fights, the village they came from was entirely destroyed, and their friends families and loved ones together with it. With nothing left, they started to wander the wasteland, offering their help to everyone that need it .... for a price.
For a while, they made great progress. Every new town they help, a few new recruits joined them and soon they were a force to reckon with. They might have been able to really change things in the wastes. Sadly it never came to happen. Because of them; the Enclave.
A few months ago, during the time the guard called the "Broken Sky" incident, our pegasus brethren, who had abandoned us so long ago, finally returned back to the ground. But instead of helping us, they decided to attack us, killing hundreds of innocents during their so called cleansing of the land.
As soon as the Guard heard of what was going on, they send out their troops to help the civilians. They fought bravely, but in the end they were no match to the superior equipment of the Enclave. Over half of the member of the guard lost there live during the fights, and soon others abandoned them, after the war was over.
Today, the guard was nothing more than a shadow of its old glory. Only two dozens of the old members remained, and there were only a handful of fresh recruits.
I was one of those recruits. And up till now, I had been fairly certain I would be able to join. After what happened a few moment ago though.....
I swallowed heavily, in an attempt to overcome my fear.
I climbed down the building I was on, and made my way over to the camp. No matter how down I felt at the moment, I had an order to follow.
Quickly I moved through the rows of buildings, my head still spinning with thoughts. Still, I didn't really needed to think to find my way. For one I walked the path so often I knew it by heart, secondly the building wasn't hard to find. The recruit barracks were one of the biggest buildings around, easily dwarfing it's neighbors by four or five floors. Even during the darkest night and blinded on one eye I'd probably find it without much trouble.
At the doors, I absent-mindedly nodded at the guards and made my way up to the commanders room. It took longer than expected. Some idiot managed to break the freshly repaired elevator and so I had to walk the whole way.
After climbing five floors of stairs, I finally stood in front of my goal. Taking together my courage, I knocked and entered the room.
The first thing I saw after entering, was the back of the commander. His name was Stormrage, and he was an old, but still powerful, pegasus with a coat color of dried blood and a washed out, blue mane. He was one of the oldest still living Dashites and an veteran member of the guard. At the moment, he was looking at some kind of reports, ignoring me completely.
Directly behind him were my teammates, already waiting for me. No one moved a muscle, resulting in a rather awkward silence. Pretending as good as possible not to notice it, I hastily made my way over to them and took my place in the formation.
Once I had positioned myself, I looked to the side in the most subtle way I was capable of. I tried to look at their faces, in the hope that I would find out what they were thinking.
Directly on my left was Serenity. She was a midnight blue earth pony mare with silver colored mane, that was on one side covering her face. She wore the recruit uniform of the guard, a simple low quality armor painted in the colors of the guard - black and white. On her flank, she had engraved her cutie mark, a strange star constellation I didn't recognize. In addition to the armor, she had a rifle and a few explosives strapped to her side. Of course, they were mostly recreations and dummies, we didn't need any actual gear during the practices. They were only there to give us a feel for the real deals.
Serenity was the leader of our group, a position she had proven herself worthy of quite a few times.
She was the one I was worried about the most. After all, she was the one I had hit. Making her angry was one of the last things I ever wanted to do, it definitely would prove fatal for my health if I did. Sadly, I couldn't see her face since it was hidden behind a curtain of her hair, but I imagined that she wasn't all that happy about what had happened.
To her left was Amos. He was an enormous griffon, easily two or three heads taller than everyone else around us. He was a dark brown color with slightly brighter colored crown feathers. He as well wore the guard's uniform, together with a pair of wing blades and two high caliber hand fire guns.
Trying to read him was near impossible, since his face was the same emotionless mask it always had been.
Sighing, I turned my attention back towards the commander, and not a second too soon. Before I had time to even blink, Stormrage whirled around. He stared at us for a moment, before taking a step forwards and directing his attention on Serenity.
"Miss Serenity," he said. His voice was even gruffer in real life than it had been on the radio. "You've done quite good. A little lacking when it comes to being stealthy, but apart from that, there weren't any major flaws in your performance. You've done well, girl."
Serenity only reacted with a nod. She’d never been one for breaking protocol, and even after receiving a compliment, she wouldn’t budge. In return Stormrage gave her an approving nod, before continuing towards Amos. He looked him up a few times before he opened his mouth.
"Amos. You did acceptable. Very good fighting skill, though the part with the turrets were unnecessary, don't you think? I mean, what are these for?" he asked and pointed at the two guns at his side.
Amos looked at the commander for a while before answering. His voice was surprisingly high for a guy of his stature, though still very rough. It was very likely a result of the scar running over his throat. "I tried to use them, Sir," he said. "But they were jammed. Forgot to let Chrome take a look at them."
Ah, yes. I was the repair guy of our group. I had spent most of my younger days helping my father, a merchant, in his shop. He had taught me a lot of tricks to improve and maintain the quality of our goods to get a good price for them. Those abilities were now used to keep the equipment of my team in top condition. Well, at least better than average. That was something too, right?
"Being unprepared, can cost you your life, recruit. Don't make that mistake twice." Amos nodded to indicated that he understood. Satisfied, Stormrage continued his way. Then his eyes focused on me. I could feel myself shrink under his glare. Still, I remained where I was, ready to face anything he had to say.
"Chrome," he began. "Your performance was quite interesting. You're certainly a good shot and your magic makes you a valuable addition to the team, but..."
I knew what was coming next, and I braced myself for the upcoming storm.
"What the hell was that last part supposed to be?" he thundered. His voice alone was enough to nearly sweep me away, and if I hadn't seen it coming, it probably even would have done so. Stormrage certainly lived up to his name.
"Not only did you cave in and weren't able to make a decision in time, but you also endangered your teammates by giving a shot that was guaranteed to take sacrifices." He took a deep breath before continuing. "Tell me why did you shoot?"
"Because you ordered me to do it, Sir...." I said lamely.
"IDIOT" he shouted, small flecks of saliva flying from his mouth "Only a fool follows orders blindly. Tell me Chrome are you a fool?"
Under his heavy stare, I couldn't find my voice, so all I could do was shake my head.
"Damn right you aren't son. YOU ARE A SOLDIER. And a soldier needs to be more than just a puppet, led around by his superiors. He needs to be able to make his own decision, even under difficult circumstances, and sometimes that even means ignoring orders." He calmed down a little and stared me directly into the eyes.
"Listen, kid," he began, "this mission wasn't only meant to test your skills, it was intended to test how you would react under pressure, and to be quite frankly ... you failed." My head dropped and all I could do was look at the ground. "But," he continued, and my ears perked back up. He remained silent for a moment before he continued. "You might not be able to join the main force right now, but you've proven yourself to be talented and capable enough to join us as our brothers. .....and sister," he added after glancing at Serenity.
Slowly I raised my head. I couldn't believe my ears. Did he really just said what I thought he did? I couldn't help but ask. "Does that mean...."
Our gazes connected and I could see the grin on his face. "Yes, it means exactly that. Serenity, Amos ... Chrome, welcome in the guard."
Footnote:
Chrome Streak:
Reached level 3
Perk added:
Welcome to the Guard
You’ve been trained by the Veterans of the wastes. You deal more damage with your favorite weapon.
Perk added:
Lunar Sight
Your senses are very well accustomed to the darkness of the Wasteland. You gain a +1 bonus to Perception in the dark, and penalties for light levels are reduced by 50%.
Serenity:
Reached level 3
Perk added:
Welcome to the Guard
You’ve been trained by the Veterans of the wastes. You deal more damage with your favorite weapon.
Amos:
Reached level 3
Perk added:
Welcome to the Guard
You’ve been trained by the Veterans of the wastes. You deal more damage with your favorite weapon.
