Blood and Shadows

Operation: Blood and Shadows

Location: Classified

Date and Time: Classified

Subject: Classified

Objective: Retrieve enemy intelligence

"Ok boys, you know the drill. Get in, get the intel, and get out. No kills, no noise, no trace. Any questions?"

"Can I go potty?"

"Shut it Foxtrot! Now is not the time for jokes!"

"Jeez Alpha, I was just trying to lighten the mood."

"Any real questions?"

No response. Just silence.

Silence. Silence was what I liked most. It allowed me to think. Now, albeit, the helicopter blades made sure it was far from silent, but this was as close to silence as I was allowed.

We were on a stealth op. It seemed pretty straightforward: Get in, get some papers, and get out. Of course, it wasn't that straightforward. The documents we needed were on an aircraft carrier out in enemy waters. So we decided it would be best to use the cover of night to try and sneak our way through. If we had stealth on our side, maybe we could make use of the intel before the Elites even knew we took it.

What a wonderful plan, I thought, maybe the guards will be blind *and** deaf!* Stealth missions don't normally go smoothly, especially when you have a team like mine. If we were lucky, we'd pull together and get through this easily. Although I suspect at least one magazine of ammo will be spent before the night is out. Who am I kidding? We'll use it all!

Of course, a hand goes up. Yes, he was actually raising his hand.

I sighed, "Yes, Foxtrot?"

"Can I go potty now?"

I was about to slap him when Delta cut in.

"Remind me why we bring him along?"

I raised an eyebrow at Delta, then shook my head and leaned back in my seat, "For comedic relief."

Delta just chuckled and went back to spinning that silver coin in his fingers.

I reached into the storage compartment, and pulled out the baggie of Lyradex pills and handed them out. We each popped them, and waited until the pilot gave us a green light. You see, the plan was to drop us off about a mile or so away from the actual ship, so that way the helicopter wouldn't risk getting seen. However, due to all the rigging that had to be done for the stealth equipment on the helicopter for it to even get that close, it flew poorly. So we would be jumping into the water from pretty high up. And if you hit water with enough momentum, then you might as well be hitting concrete. The pills were supposed to reinforce our cells, to keep out brains intact when we smacked the water. Plus, it would give us the extra boost we'd need to swim to the carrier.

This plan sounds better by the minute! I thought, this way, when we finally get on the boat, not only will we be goners, but we'll die tired and soaking wet! That was probably a little pessimistic, but it didn't make me look any more forward to swimming that far. I knew Lyra personally, until she up and disappeared. Her company still outputs products, but I'm still a little skeptical about using them. I trust Lyra, but not her company.

The intercom fuzzed as the pilot started to talk, "15 seconds to drop time."

We all put on our Lyradex g-force masks. The pills kept our brains from being smashed, but the masks kept our faces from being shredded. Foxtrot opened the door, and the wind blasted in. It would have been unbearable, but the masks worked just as well on wind as they did on water.

"10 seconds to drop time."

I turned to my two teammates, "Are you guys ready?" I yelled

Foxtrot puffed out his chest, "I was born ready!"

Delta looked at me, "Ready as I'll ever be!"

"Okay!" I yelled, "Let's do this!"

"5 seconds to drop time."

I grabbed my P90 and snapped it to my vest. Foxtrot and Delta did the same.

"Drop on my mark."

Silence, silence was what I liked most.

"MARK!"

Delta jumped, and I waited for Foxtrot to follow, but he didn't. I looked over at him, to see him gesturing towards the open door.

"Ladies first!" He yelled

"Oh!" I called back, "How kind of you!" I said, jumping out.

And just like that, I was flying. Only there was one problem, I couldn't spread my wings.

The suit I was wearing, the same suit that Delta and Foxtrot had on, was completely black. In order for maximum concealment, it had to go over my wings as well.

So I went into a face-first nose-dive, straight for the water. Praying to Celestia that Lyra's tech worked the way it was supposed to.

Smack

So, you remember that time you tested the bath water, and it was too cold? Colder. What about that time you fell in the pool in the middle of winter? Colder. The time you tried to write your name in the snow with your pee, only to have the urine turn into ice before it hit the ground? Well, maybe you're close.

The water felt as if it was a step down from ice, and took my breath away. Not figuratively, literally took my breath away. I swam up as fast as I could before I started inhaling my death. I broke the surface of the water, and gasped for air. Of course, the first thing to greet my ears was Foxtrot's voice.

"Oh! There you are cap'n!" He said, as sarcastic as possible, "It's about time you showed up! I thought you had stood me up!"

I would have lifted the mask, but it was suction cupped to my face from the impact on the water. So I smiled underneath it and said, "Oh, I'd never stand you up, Foxy."

Delta groaned from my left, "Great, you too?"

That got a chuckle out of all three of us.

But fun-time was over, it was time to get to work.

"Alright, let's get going." I said as we started to swim.

It took us a good hour to reach the ship. Normally, we'd be exhausted, but thanks to those pills, we were just barely winded. Now was the time for the hard part, actually getting onto the ship. The ship was currently stationary, for how long I was unsure, but the problem was that we had to climb up the side.

"Alright guys, time for the fun part." I said, pulling out my pair of Lyradex magnets. They were basically disks with earth-magnets built into them, and handles for me to hold on to. Foxtrot and Delta pulled theirs out, and attached them to the boat. They hoisted themselves up, and started to climb the walls as if there were ladders. I followed suit.

Of course, things didn't go smoothly. About halfway up, the boat jerked, and water started to spray up every once in awhile. The boat had started moving, which meant this experience would be a lot less pleasant for us. Every ten or so feet, water would splash up the side of the ship and re-soak us. Though it did reassure me of the durability of Lyra's tech.

As luck would have it, our climb was cut short by an open docking bay off the side of the ship. Lucky for us, the magnets worked just as well on hanging surfaces as they did on vertical ones. We used the devices like monkey bars and worked our way to the end where two pairs of legs dangled over. Two Elites sat right above us, talking about football or something, I wasn't sure, I couldn't hear over the sounds of the ship hitting the water.

Foxtrot looked at me and I nodded. Then, as if he read my mind, he grabbed one Elite's leg, and I grabbed the other's leg. We yanked down hard and the two plummeted towards the water. Without Lyradex tech, they might as well have been falling towards concrete. Plus, we hadn't been given up yet either, because their screams were muffled by the loud smack of the front of the boat on the water. Wait...which meant.

I slowly turned my head and stared my doom straight on. A giant wave of liquid turbulence was on its way along the side of the massive ship. At that instant, I knew if we were in it's path, we'd be wiped off the face of the planet.

"Move, now." was all I said, as I started a silent prayer that we weren't spotted. I swung myself up onto the platform, and bolted for the nearest cover. I didn't even check to see if Foxtrot and Delta were behind me. I dove behind a cart holding some missiles when the wave gushed in the docking station. Water went everywhere, setting off alarms left and right. Instantly, Elites started rushing in, and lights began turning on. This just got a whole lot harder.

The Elites rushed about cleaning up the mess the wave left behind. Their brown coats and black manes matted and soaked. Their eyes still lacked pupils, same as always. Plus, they still towered at least two feet taller than us.

Foxtrot scared the shit out of me, as he whispered in my ear, "Can I start shooting now?"

Delta jumped in the whisper fight, "Absolutely not! We're on a stealth op!"

"Every party needs a pooper," Foxtrot began to sing, still whispering, "that's why we invited you!"

"I'm going to beat the shit out of you if you don't-" Okay, starting to get a little loud.

I cut in, "Look, can we just get this shit and get out?"

Foxtrot and Delta both clammed up and nodded in agreement.

The moment we had a chance, we bolted for the nearest door, and rushed inside. It didn't take long to wait for them to turn their backs, most of them were busy cleaning up anyways. Now it was time to get searching. I turned to Delta and he instantly brought up his wrist-mounted tac-pad. He pressed a few buttons and began a scan of the ship. Within a few seconds the device displayed a 3D map of the surrounding area, any nearby hostile threats, and anything that might be a firearm. Plus, it kept scanning even afterwards, until a full map of the ship was produced. Damn, Lyra was one smart cookie.

Most guards were at the docking bay, so the trip to the objective was easy. A little too easy if you asked me, even for a catastrophe such as that. I began to question the map that Delta's tac-pad made for us. Was there a trap? It was impossible to be sure, the Elites knew stuff we didn't even know they knew. Which is scary, because in war, intelligence on your enemy can be the key to victory or defeat. Which is also kinda funny because that's exactly what we were here for.

"The documents should be in the next room," Delta said, pointing at a door, "open it Foxtrot."

Foxtrot put his hand on the handle.

"Wait." I said, stopping him.

"What? Why wait now?" Foxtrot said, "The guards could come back any minute."

I ignored his complaints and turned to Delta, "Delta, run an x-ray on this room."

Without question or hesitation, Delta walked up to the door and held his tac-pad up to it, tapped a few buttons and waited. In a few seconds we had a clear picture of what we were about to step into.

"What are all those red marks?" Foxtrot asked, pointing to a few red triangles across the screen.

"Anything marked with a red triangle means it's hazardous." Delta replied.

"Oh," Foxtrot commented, "that's a lot of red."

It was all rigged to release the chemicals by a mouse trap rigged to the door handle, like a Rude Goldberg device. The image sent chills down my spine.

"Damn it," I said, "any other way in?"

"There," Delta pointed to an open electrician's shaft, "that's probably how they got out after they set it up. I wouldn't be surprised if the entrance is guarded."

"Well, that's the only way we're getting in there alive. So I guess we don't have much of a choice, do we?" I replied.

Delta ran another scan, and we followed the shaft along to the next room, which was guarded by an Elite and a guard dog. The Elite was at a table playing a card game, probably Solitaire. I always hated that game, I could never seem to win. Well, unfortunately we'd be cutting his game short, and since bullets impacting the metal walls wouldn't be exactly quiet, it seems we'd literally be cutting his game short.

Foxtrot cracked the door, and the dog growled. The Elite asked, "Callsign?"

Foxtrot replied, "Uh...whiskey?"

There was a brief moment of silence and then I heard the growling subside, and the Elite's voice return, "Come on in, Mason, Winnie's been muzzled."

"Whatever you say." Foxtrot replied, as he snapped the door open and planted his knife in the Elite's throat. The Elite flailed his hands in a hopeless attempt to get Foxtrot off, but the life quickly faded from his eyes.

The dog, muzzled, was very quiet. He scratched hopelessly at Foxtrot's legs. Foxtrot removed his knife from the Elite and went to stab the dog. That is, until Delta stopped him. Instead, Delta snatched up the dog and strangled it into unconsciousness.

"What did you do that for?" Foxtrot asked.

"Sorry," Delta said, "I have a soft spot for animals."

Ignoring them, I slithered into the electrician's shaft and weaseled my way through the death trap rigged in the next room. I grabbed everything that looked important, other than the radioactive crates, and went back out the way I came in.

"You got it?" Foxtrot asked.

I held up a small waterproof bag that I put the documents in, "Right here." I replied.

"Good," Delta commented, "Now can we get the hell out of here?"

The trip out was a little more difficult than the trip in. The docking bay gate had been closed, which meant we'd have to climb up to the flight deck and jump from the side of the ship into the water. Again. There was only one problem, we didn't have the pills reinforcing our cells this time. Which meant we'd have to scale down about half way along the side of the ship, and jump from there. Easier said than done.

We creeped along the hallways and up stairwells until we were right below the flight deck. Delta ran another scan to make sure the coast was clear, which it was due to inclement weather, and we opened the hatch.

The moment I opened the hatch, a jet slid right over my head,  the landing gear nearly taking me with it. The boat was rocking so hard, that the helicopters and jets that sat on top were going everywhere. Somebody didn't do a good job of securing their gear. So I climbed out, and the boat rocked again, the jet began to come back. I dived out of the way and the landing gear missed me by a hair. Delta and Foxtrot climbed out and we instantly dashed for the edge of the ship. A helicopter rolled past us, a jet skidded through our path. The whole time, rain poured down on us in buckets as thunder roared in the sky.

We finally reached the edge, and pulled out my magnets. I clamped to the side of the ship and instantly started descending. The waves splashed us in the face, but our masks were still on, so there really wasn't a problem there. It was just the matter of holding on so we didn't lose our grip from the magnets.

I climbed what I thought was a reasonable distance down and simply let go. I smacked the water with a force that would probably sting in the morning, but no major injuries. Delta and Foxtrot quickly followed, and we began to swim away right as a jet fell off the side of the ship right where we were just climbing down.

We began treading water and simply watched as the ship floated away. It seemed like ages before the helicopter came and got us. Mainly because they had to wait for the boat to get even farther away because in order to get close enough to the water to get us, they couldn't use the rigged stealth-chopper. Sometimes I hated technology.

"Captain, I have some important news for you." The general said to me, "You've been fighting with the Wonderbolts Corps since the war effort began. You're more qualified for a promotion than anybody else here. So it's my pleasure to inform you that you'll be shipping out first thing tomorrow morning!"

They brought us back, took the documents, and took Delta and Foxtrot to debrief. Me, I had to go talk to the general, "What? Why?" I asked him.

"Well, some higher ups really like your work, so you're going to work for them. I don't really know too much about them, they're very classified, just that they say they're the best there is. Which means you must be too if they want you to join them. Most likely permanently." He replied.

"So, do I have a say in this?" I asked.

"No, they'll be here to get you at ten-hundred hours, STAT."

"Great. Here I was, thinking I was at the top of the ladder, only to be told I'm not quite there yet. Plus, even though I'm comfortable on the rung that I'm on, I gotta be forced up to the next one."I complained.

"Rules are rules, Dash. Uh...I mean- shit." In the Wonderbolts Corps, in order to retain maximum confidentiality, we were only supposed to know each other by callsign. Nobody followed that rule, but it was still a rule. A rule that saved lives every day.

"It's fine, Carrot Cake." I replied with a smile.

"Hit the hay, you have somewhere to be in the morning." He came back, stoic as before.

I turned and went for my quarters, opened the door, to find Foxtrot waiting for me. He was out of uniform, his shirt off, revealing his off-white coat, and his dark blue mane and tail.

"Wassup cap'n?" Soarin asked.

"You know I hate it when you call me that?" I joked.

"Oh c'mon! I think it's cool!" He said with a chuckle. Yeah, he knew I liked it.

"Well you won't be calling me that much longer, I'm getting promoted." I said walking towards the bed.

"Oh yeah? What to?" Soarin asked.

"I don't know. Something even more classified than the Wonderbolts Corps." I replied, flopping down on my bed.

He sat next to me, "When you coming back?" He asked.

"I don't know if I am." I said. Wait, where was everybody else? Normally the barracks were full.

"Well, the general tells me you're probably not." He said.

"Wait, the general talked to you about this?" I said, as he layed down next to me.

"Well of course! Who do you think cleared out the barracks for us?" Soarin replied, as a scandalous smile crossed his face.

Oh my, is it hot in here?