Fallout: Equestria - Conquistadors

Interlude 1: Hard Choices

Water? About 40 liters per day, more or less…

Ammunition is relative, depends on how things go, but let’s just assume we will end up in more fights than expected…

There is also food, some spare parts, fuel and medical supplies. These are the important items and will occupy most space…

Extra radio, batteries, tools... Is there anything else on the list?

We were gathering things to our next trip. The list of items just went on and on, mentioning every single thing we could possibly need. Captain Nicolay was making sure we were well prepared for this next assignment, and allowed us to pick up just about anything we wanted. The result was a big pile of supplies, enough to keep us alive for over a week. Thank god we aren’t doing this on foot.

Our vehicle of choice was an armored jeep, almost as big as a truck. The thing had plenty of room for this pile and all the personnel involved, which consisted of my whole squad and five extra soldiers. Ten people in total. The jeep itself could withstand small arms fire and grenades. It also had a HMG on top to provide some protection. On a wasteland like this, where many can’t even afford a firearm, it would provide us a quick and safe transport.

The main problem we were facing, however, is deciding how we should store all of this. It’s obvious we can’t keep carrying this all the time, so we need to find a place that is safe, isolated but still close enough to the city. Sure, after spending a few days out there, I already have a vague idea of which places are better, but there’s still a lot to decide. Stablishing ourselves in a good position within the city will make everyone’s lives easier.

Once we manage to settle down, I will speak with Shortbeak about what he need us to do. Meanwhile, I also plan to investigate every single military facility within the area.

Our last adventure gave us a list of research stations and army bases throughout the island, most of them located around Ministry Square. It didn’t say which of them were related to the megaspells, meaning we will have to search through all of them until we get a more precise information. Perhaps I could go to the library inside the Ministry of Arcane Sciences for more intel. Who knows, maybe Snowdrop and her family could help us.

Barin was on the other side of the room, checking our explosives. The bastard loved those dammed things. He had assembled a large inventory of grenades, demolition charges, anti-personnel mines, tripwires, rifle rockets and even a rocket launcher. I tried to argue with him about it, but he convinced me that it would be better to have more than we probably needed at our disposal.

Akio and Suvorov were organizing the food and medical supplies. I could see Dima and the rest of the soldiers loading the supplies into the jeep, while Nicolay stared silently. After noticing me staring, he walked closer and sat down beside me. He appeared calm, bearing the same sharp expression he carried when leading us.

“So… how are you holding up, sergeant?” He spoke, trying to start a conversation.

I looked up for a second and then shrugged. “Fine I guess, it’s nice to see some progress in our search and I’m convinced we are getting into something solid,” I still don’t know for sure, but there is no harm in being positive. “Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this before something bad happens.”

“You thinking about those dead soldiers?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, referring to the dead Europeans from yesterday.

“More or less… can’t help but to feel this might be the beginning of something bad.”

Nicolay gave me a tap on the back. “Don’t worry too much about it, even if the EU does something stupid we still have superior firepower on our hands.”

“I know that, and I’m not worried about a frontal assault or something,” I explained to him, “The problem is that by dividing our efforts like this we run the risk of spending too much of our resources, not to mention the lack of manpower available.”

He nodded. “That’s true, but what other choice do we have? Should we join them in that mad chase for whomever killed their men? I don’t like this situation either, but I’m not about to charge blindly into the fray.”

“But what about the Europeans? We will probably need their help eventually,” I argued. “What if something bad happens to them? We would be losing almost a whole company of well-trained and equipped soldiers…”

Like the captain, I believe we should stick to a defensive posture. If someone wants to mess with us, let them come. The time I spend around Ministry Square was more than enough to understand just how dangerous and demanding this wasteland can be, last thing we need is to expose more of our people to it. Right now, we are in a position of strength and by searching for some unknown threat, we could be kicking a hornets nest.

“I know that,” Nicolay replied, “And I suppose that if something really bad happen we won’t have a choice but to do something about it. However, we both know this is very unlikely, I don’t think the EU are stubborn enough to place themselves in a bad position.”

Our conversation ended there. All of us continued with the preparations, listing off items and loading supply boxes. I decided to follow Nicolay’s advice and stop worrying about what happened yesterday. The only thing that matters now is to make sure we are prepared for whatever difficulties we come across.

I looked around, seeing each of my comrades. Be positive, I thought to myself. Just focus on the mission at hand and we might be home soon. No matter what happens, I will do what is necessary to get us back, whatever the cost.

Everyone would continue to work for several hours, until everything was ready. Going back to the city will only take a few hours, as opposed to almost two days. The extra time will help us speed up our work. Shortbeak told me he wouldn’t give us difficult tasks to do, and even though I still don’t trust him as a person I’m confident that he doesn’t wish to antagonize a group of people as well-armed as us. Hopefully there will be plenty of free time to continue my investigation.

-x-

Fighting alone… just like in Belgrade.

The refusal to help us was unexpected. After a week of mutual aid, most of us had become more trustful of the PAC and were counting on their vehicles and extra manpower. While I knew that it wouldn’t be easy to convince them, I still couldn’t understand why they would rather stand aside and watch as some sort of death squad stalked the land. I get it that our resources are limited, but we are also well stocked and have superior firepower; I doubt there’s anything on this blasted wasteland that could match us.

What the fuck are they afraid? The only reason why we lost those soldiers is because they were heavily outnumbered and didn’t had any support available. If we secure this whole area and begin to use heavier equipment, nothing will stand against us. There is no reason to stand idly by and the sooner they can figure that out, the better.

However, our lack of support isn’t the only problem we are facing. There was something that had been an issue for some time now. I had hoped this could've been sattled once we had made contact with outside factions, but it appears that we still don't have a good solution for this situation.

Of course, what I'm talking about are the prisoners we made when the slaver base was taken (and eventually converted into our headquarters). During this time we have kept them locked away in the basement, trying to follow basic POW protocols. I had hoped that we might be able to transfer them to somewhere else where they would be properly tried and sentenced, but it appears that this won't be possible.

If what we have discovered in these last few days is any indication, nobody around here has any sort of legal system. They only follow basic codes, similar to the ten commandments. The way they deal with crimes is equal to the hammurabi code, an eye for an eye. People found guilty of major crimes are usually executed. That, of course, also goes to slavery.

The issue here is that even though I hate those prisoners for what they've done, I cannot allow them to be killed like that. Yes, I realize we are in the middle of a gods-forsaken wasteland but I still have morals. I believe, just as the government I serve, that the right to life is universal and because of that I can’t allow someone that has ended up under my care to die like this. Their actions may be abominable, but they still deserve a fair trial. I suppose hoping to find an acceptable prison might have been too much.

I can’t give them away… but I can't keep them here either. by doing so, I would need to provide food and water every day, as well as keep someone watching them at all times. These people are a liability, doing nothing beyond consuming our resources. Now, with this new threat looming over us and the lack of PAC support, we have even less soldiers and supplies to spare. There's only two choices available, and I don't like either of them.

Right now, I’m at the basement interrogating one of them. There were six in total, four stallions and two mares. I didn’t know much about them, since they had refused to cooperate with any our attempts to talk. Most of what we knew came from the former slaves, and the picture they described wasn’t a very positive one. The extent of abuse and humiliation these people forced the captives to endure was shocking, to say the least.

Physical and verbal aggression were constant throughout the day, with varying degrees depending on whom ended up watching over them. Sexual abuse was a common form of punishment for just about any sort of behavior deemed unacceptable and sometimes was even used “just for fun”. We also heard stories about all sorts of nasty execution methods (This part wasn’t much of a surprise after I witnessed a child being murdered earlier this week).

A few years back, before the war happened, I had done some volunteer work at refugee camps and war-torned areas throughout Europe and North Africa. Those placed were filled with all sorts of violence, mostly from drug traffic and corruption. I couldn't help but to draw some parallels between what I saw back home and what I'm dealing with right now.

However, from what we understood, some of the slavers tended to be more cruel than others and a few were mostly indifferent to the whole situation. That is precisely what I’m trying to find out. If I can discover which ones are… less repulsive, it will be easier to decide what to do with them. Despite their eagerness to provide information, the former slaves only knew what was possible within their confinement, so there was still a lot to figure out.

“Okay… I’m going to ask you one more time,” I said to the pony in front of me, “When did you join this gang?”

It was a mare; she had a gray coat and brown mane. There were no scars along her body and she sounded young. It was easy to notice the profound hate on her eyes as she stared at me. “And I will tell you once again to go buck yourself…” Staring a conversation with her has been impossible; she refused any type of questions and wouldn’t even look at me most of the time. This interrogation had been going for over an hour I was still unable to get anything out of her.

I decided to attempt a little bit of coercion. “Keep refusing and I’ll make sure you stay locked away through the rest of the day,” My tone was deep and slow, “You are not the only prisoner here and I bet the others would be more willing to give me answers.”

She smiled at me, the opposite reaction I was looking for. “Do you think I give a shit? After everything you have done to us there is nothing more pleasant than to make your life harder.”

That little bitch. “You are a fucking slaver, remember that when you try to speak about the actions of others.”

"You don't know shit about me..."

"I have seen enough to know you earned everything that happened here."

This time, the mare looked at me with narrowed eyes. Her body left its lazy state as she stood up, and I noticed how her muscles were stiffening. “Don’t try to judge me you alien freak! You are nothing but an outsider who decided to play hero and attack us without provocation.”

“But you were attacking others, weren’t you? We attacked you because of the captives you held, because we knew of the cruelty you imposed on those who live on this side of the island,” As much as I wanted to avoid it, the anger inside me was slowly advancing, “Fuck, I saw your boss killing a child right in front of his mother!”

“Ah yes, as if all of us enjoyed that… we did was necessary to survive in this shithole of a wasteland!”

“What I saw wasn’t survival, it was plain insanity and you know it!” I replied while jabbing a finger at her. The frustration of everything I had been dealing with was too much. I wasn't in the mood to deal with this bullshit. "There is nothing that would justify abusing and killing people like that."

“Really now, do you serious believe that? Tell me, just how much do you know about this place huh?”

I decided to remain silent at that question.

“Do you have any idea of how many foals are getting killed or raped at this very moment?” Her previous anger had been replaced by a tone of disgust, “You keep talking as if ponies have the choice of living a happy and quiet life, as if nobody is forced to something they regret…”

“You want to know the truth? We did this because it was either that or starving to death! Most ponies who worked here had families living somewhere; they had foals of their own who won’t be getting their meals because you decided to gun them down. I joined because I had a little brother to take care and it was either doing this or selling myself at some brothel!”

"What about the rape and torture? There were a lot people here who enjoyed that kind of shit." I shot back.

“Yes, our boss was a huge dick, as well as some of the older guys; they enjoyed seeing others suffer, but the rest of us…” As the mare calmed down, she took a deep breath, “Most of us would have dropped our weapons if given a choice, but instead of doing that you decided you knew enough to pick who should live or die...”

"Bullshit! You would have killed us the moment you spotted us, there was no other choice."

"If that's what you believe, why don't you try explaining that to all those families who won't be getting their family menbers because of you?"

Once she stopped, I realized I had nothing to say, the anger and frustration inside was too much. I tried to come up with something, but couldn’t. Instead, I simply stood up and left the basement, trying to calm down my boiling anger. I slowly walked upstairs until I reached the exit. At the door, waiting for me, was Elliot. He probably heard some of the shouting downstairs.

“So…” He began, “You made any progress?”

“It’s going to be a long day…” I answered.