The Equestria Offensive

Siluam Forest, 4:37 A.M., May 18th, 2013

Alpha Squad had been positioned outside of Siluam. The mission: Infiltrate the Caelian communications center. Within the communications center contained passcodes to access the Caelian database. Retrieving the passcodes would allow Equestria to know Caelian plans just as they make them.

Midnight lied on the grassy hilltop with a perfect sight of the west gate and of the communications tower. He was to keep watch just in case things didn’t go as planned. Ace, Storm, and Mahoff had found their places to take watch out of sight. Thunder was perched up on the hilltop by Midnight. This mission was a mission for Thunder. He was the designated stealth operative on the team. The mission was made for him.

The morning was dark as the sun barely peered over the tree lined horizon. The town was still asleep. Thunder spent the last three hours on a high hilltop, mapping out each of the patrol officer’s paths across Siluam. His eyes shifted back and forth over the streets like a hawk. Then, without warning, he took off down the hill and pinned up against a wall of the first building outside Siluam. He gracefully snuck through the streets behind guard after guard. He came to the first door of the central tower to find it to be locked by a key. Down the dimly lit street came an armed guard, just passing the shadows that Thunder had been hiding in. With the feather on the edge of his wing, he found the keychain on the griffin’s belt, slipped it off, found the key to the door, and slipped the key back unnoticed.

Inside he found a small labyrinth of halls. He had no idea where he was going. Nonetheless, he slipped down the halls past guard after guard, and camera after camera, staying out of all sight. He knew being seen would compromise the entire mission, no doubt.

Just down the hall, was the control center he had been looking for. Carefully slipping down the corridor, he could see the room was occupied by three Caelian guards. He sat in the shadows for a minute assessing his options on how to enter the room with minimal detection. After a few minutes he devised a plan. If he could create a distraction, maybe just maybe it could buy him the time he needed to acquire the intel. Maybe if he could trip some sensors he could get the guards’ attention. But he also knew the risks of attempting something as dangerous as that. If he slipped up it not only would it mean his demise, but it would result in the mission’s failure.

Down the hall, he found an entrance to the air ducts. “Maybe I could make a distraction here.” He thought. “But how?” He took a moment to think, looking at the rusted air ducts. Then it came to him. He quietly worked his way into the ducts, making his way up and making as little noise as possible. After working his way up, he pulled a flash grenade off of his belt, pulled a loose string from his suit, and tied it to the pin. “Now, I need a weight.” He thought. He saw a rat sitting in a corner of the vent. “Perfect.” Tying the other end of the string to the rat, he set them both down and began making his way to the control room, knowing his bomb he just made could go off any second.

Quicker than thunder had hoped, the rat began running and the flash grenade bounced around behind it. The pin was quick to come out. The bang went off and both the rat and the grenade frantically bounced around in the ducts behind him. He could hear the guards talking below him.

“Jnep pni zymg jel pnep?!”

“O Tur’p gruj. Rupnork nebbirit ur lmiir.”

“Muci ur auy pju. Ji riit pu mnimg pnol uyp.” The three guards ran from the room, slamming the door behind them. Thunder jumped out of the duct, landed in the control room,

locked the door, and made his way to the computers.

“All right. I’m in.”

“Good. They have to keep the passcode somewhere. Find it and get out of there.”

“Roger. Order acknowledged. Thunder Out.” He scrounged across the tables through papers and machinery. Under a small radio, he found a card with a 16-digit code on the back. “I think I found it.”

“Roger package retrieval confirmed. Now try to make your way out of there.”

“Hold on. I’m gonna try and see if I can get any useful information from here.”

“I said get out of there. That’s an order.”

“Sir, if I can get any information on advancement plans, it can put us ahead of schedule by about a week.”

“And if you get caught, we’ll be put behind even farther. It’s not worth getting caught. Get out of there now!”

The guards stopped down the hall, “Pnihi’l rupnork nihi.”

“Ceadi op jel fylp luci hepl.”

“O’c bhippi lyhi hepl tur’p cegiruolil sogi pnep.”

“Aien? Jnep isli juyst op di kiroil?”

“Ji ehi ep jeh. Op muyst’wi diir e lba.”

“Ocbullodsi. Uyh limyhopa uo pnol bsemi ol liicsill. Rup bepnipom soppsi bura muyst ceji op pnhuykn.”

“Jnepiwi. Sip’l fylp niet demg pu pni murphus huuc.”

“I said get out of there! Now!” Mahoff shouted through his headset.

“All right. I’m just erasing any footage of me being in the building.”

“You’ve wasted enough time. They won’t look for the footage if they don’t know you were there.”

The guards came up to the door to find it locked. “Jnu sumgit pni tuuh ur pni jea uyp?” The guard pulled his key off of his belt.

“All right. I’m done here. Heading out.”

“Rup ci.”

“O totr’p.” The guard opened the door to see thunder just beginning to make his way into the duct above. “Un. O zymgork pust auy pju!”

“Shit.” Thunder knew the guards had spotted him. Releasing his grip in the duct, he fell down to see one guard going for an alarm on the wall and the other two pulling their rifles. He quickly pulled his smg from his side taking each guard down in a row from the one heading for the alarm to the other two and landing down back in the room. “That was way too close.”

“Thunder! What the - happened?!”

“The three guards came into the room just as I was making my way back into the ducts. The three were neutralized and prevented from setting off the alarm.”

“Damn it! This is what happens when you don’t follow through on orders. There’s no time to argue or hide the bodies. You need to make it out of there while preventing any guard from realizing you were there. Permission to kill only if needed.”

“Roger. Over and out.”

Thunder made his way back to the air duct. He then jumped up into the vent and reinstalled the grate and began to advance towards the exit. He stopped, hearing muffled sounds coming from the room he had just been in. he could hear yelling and then his worst nightmare came to life. His cover had been blown and the scouts triggered the alarm.

“Orphytih esihp. Ess eweosebsi nertl hibuhp pu pni murphis huuc ep urmi.”

“Oh shit! I gotta move now!”

Thunders pace quickened as he tried to crawl as fast as possible through the maze of ducts. At that point in time he didn't care where he was going so long as the voices grew quieter and quieter. Soon they couldn't be heard anymore so he stopped to catch his breath. As he panted and waited he failed to notice he was sitting on a grate till he fell through it and hit the floor and his head. Thunder groaned and lay dazed and stunned.

A ways away on the hill, Midnight laid in wait. His ears twitched at a new noise. He turned slightly and listened to the sound. His eyes then widened realizing what the sound was. “Shit...”

As Thunder regained his awareness, he found himself in a supply closet. He heard voices just outside the door. “Liehmn pni irpohi dyostork! Pnihi'l lucipnork nihi, ert ji tu rup hilp yrpos ji zort noc!” Thunder didn’t have time to react. The door in front of him opened slowly and a single soldier stood in front of him. “Irica nulposi zuy-” Thunder pulled out his smg, killing the soldier, hoping he was quick enough that the soldier didn’t say too much. That hope didn’t go far though.

The siren sounded from the tower above. “That’s our signal!” Mahoff yelled out. “Go! Go! Go!” Mahoff, Storm, and Ace stormed off into the town while Midnight stayed perched on the hill. “Kill every griffin in uniform you see! No one gets out alive!” Bullets stormed back and forth through the air. The three members of Alpha Squad made their way through the streets. All three members were zigzagging, ducking, rolling, and finding multiple cover points to avoid being hit. “Alpha 1 reporting! The mission has been compromised. I repeat, the mission has been compromised! Requesting immediate backup to secure Siluam!”

“Roger, Alpha 1. Reinforcements have been sent to your AO. ETA 20 minutes. Hold position. Help is on the way.”

“Roger.” He clicked his channel back to his squad. “Alpha, reinforcements arriving at AO ETA 20. Secure the perimeter and hold position till further orders have been issued. Thunder, Ace take northgate. Storm, eastgate. I got southgate. Midnight, secure westgate.”

“Roger that, Alpha 1. West side gate is secure.”

“East side gate secure.”

“North secure by both of us.”

“South secure. Hold your positions.”

“Alpha 1 to Cobra 1 requesting firing support. Focus all fire on the main street. If it moves and it’s not a friendly and it’s in uniform... kill it.”

“Cobra 1 to Alpha 1 attack orders received. Moving to engage targeted area.”

In the distance a speck approached the ongoing battle. The enemy paid no attention to it thinking it was a bird. It grew bigger and bigger till it was above the battlefield.

“Kyrlnob, pegi muwih!”

Griffins scattered as molten steel rained from above blanketing the street below with

holes. A few feet away a small hissing sound was heard. Soon the air became rank with the smell of rotten eggs. Mahoff smelled it before any of his squad did and a wave of fear swept over him

“Cobra 1, hold your fire! Hold your fucking fi...”

It was too late. By the time he had gotten to “fire” bullets hit the pipes under the street and ignited the fumes. The street itself rose in the air as the explosion erupted underground. The raised street then imploded and caused a huge crater to appear. Mahoff listened and waited, for any signs of the enemy. The gunfire had stopped but had they died? Or did the retreat? The answer wouldn’t be known till the smoke had risen.

The smoke faded and it was clear this battle wasn’t over yet. Gunfire continued to rain through the streets. The fight raged on for almost an hour. Things picked up after more reinforcements showed. Seen enough, the bullet rain slowed down. “Alpha 1 to Alpha squad, move up and secure the town.” The five moved carefully through the streets as the squads behind them held the perimeter. After a thorough search, they were sure the town was secured.

“Alpha 1, south cleared.”

“Alpha 2, west clear.”

“Alpha 3 and 4, north secure.”

“Alpha 5, east secure.”

“Roger, Alpha gather at west side of the com. tower.” The group gathered up by the tower. The whole squad could see it on Mahoff’s face that he was NOT happy. Thunder looked down at the ground away from Mahoff.”

“Sir, I-” Before he could say any more, Mahoff spun around kicking Thunder in the face and knocking him to the ground.

“What in the name of Celestia do you think you were doing?! If you would’ve listened and got outta there when you should’ve, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”

“I know. I have failed you and I have failed the squad. Any form of punishment that you see fit, I will accept.”

“*sigh* We ain’t got time for punishment. Come on, get up. We’ve got a job to do.” He clicked his headset on. “Alpha 1, reporting. Siluam is completely secure. The entire enemy force has been eliminated. After objective failure, we need a new game plan.”

“Roger, Alpha 1. What are your thoughts?”

“Well, it’s obvious we can’t just leave Siluam yet. If the com. tower were empty, Caeli would notice and take immediate action.”

“What do you propose?”

“We take as many Caelian speaking soldiers of ours that are here and have ‘em play out the basic actions so Caeli thinks nothing happens.”

“Roger. While you’re there, we want you to be feeding all of your information to us.”

“Roger that, Overlord. Alpha 1, over and out.” He turned back to his squad. “How many of you know Caelian?” Midnight and Storm raised their hooves. “Right, you heard what I said. Each of you take positions in the com center as Caelian guards. The rest of us are gonna keep watch.”

“Roger.” The whole squad replied.

“I’d get yourselves used to this place. We might just be here for a long while.”