[Story/Chapter Tester]

No Rest For the Weary

[3]-[Chapter Title]

Script Version

Note: ‘Zebratown’ is used here.

No Rest For the Weary

< 3 >

“Cap, I don’t know how you expect us to get to the nerve center of this place,” Comet said. “It might be early in the morning, but there’s already going to be too damn many.”

“Unless we kill our way through, of course,” Sharp suggested.

“Don’t want to kick the hornet’s nest while we’re in the nest,” Stardust said. “Comet, you sure about how many griffons are already milling about?

“Cap, we turn this next hallway ahead of us, and we can make it to a hallway overlooking the trading floor. We can make our judgements from there.”

“Good enough.” They turned the next corner, also devoid of any griffons. “Let’s take a look.”

At the end of the hallway, they could see windows. And outside the windows, they found what they expected to be the upper walls of the trading floor below. Stardust peeked around the corner. “Two contacts, thirty-five meters, moving away. We’re clear.”

The pegasi slipped over to the window. Down below them were banks of screens, numerous, numerous desks, and what could only be described as a warehouse where there was space.

“Shit, Cap, we’re going to need to find something telling us what’s where if we’re going to get anywhere.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Are the crates marked?”

“Might have some shipping papers attached to some of them,” Match said. “Not going to do us any good up here.”

“If we make our way through the griffons fast enough, we might be able to get to the operations center, get down there, and exfil before they realize something’s up,” Sharp said.

“Not that many griffons up right now. Most are probably asleep.”

“Well…” Stardust considered. “Ain’t exactly a ghost town, but it’ll have to do. Arrowhead, make a course for the operations center. Weapons free.”

The four set off at a quickened pace down the hall, headed for their original destination. As they passed one intersecting hallway, a griffon was walking down it, barely twenty meters away. They passed in front undetected. “Sharpie, watch our six. That bird gets too close, execute.”

“Copy.”

The four kept up the pace to the hallway intersecting theirs and passing by the back wall of the trading floor. There was the sound of a suppressed round firing and a bolt cycling. “Target neutralized.”

A quick check back revealed the griffon bleeding out on the floor. They reached the corner without any further distractions. “Place is starting to wake up,” Stardust noted. “Everyone get in firing positions, we’re making lots of shots here.”

“It won’t take long for one to stumble over a hall of dead bodies,” Match said.

“Then we get in and out quick,” Stardust said. “By the time they notice, we’re making our way to the trading floor.”

“They’ll be on alert for our entire time here.”

“It wasn’t going to matter anyways,” Comet said. “Griffons just noticed there might be something suspicious going on in the basement levels,” he said, listening to the enemy comms.

“We’ll make this quick then.” Stardust peeked into the hallway again. “Group of three, over there. Mark and execute.”

Within four seconds, the command was carried out. Turning the other way, there were much more griffons. “Just kill ‘em all.”

Their rifles began spitting bullets, each one catching a griffon. Some tried to scream for help, and they might have gotten it off. But within twenty seconds, the hall was cleared. “Let’s go, let’s go! Operations center on the right, middle of this hallway.”

“Cap, comms just got busy. We kicked the nest.”

“Let’s get out of this area fast then.” They came upon the conference room. “Magnetics shows seven griffons, two dogs, and… that’s a dragon.”

“Make these shots count,” Match simply said.

“Door’s not reinforced,” Sharp said. “Breach?”

“Stack up. Sharpie, get the door down.”

“Aye, Captain.” The three others positioned themselves around the door. Sharp flew into the door, bringing it down with his weight. Immediately, the other three poured in, executing the surprised targets. Care was taken to get the dogs and dragons with shots to the head.

Stardust looked around. “Alright, we’re in.” The room was filled with various computers and documents. “Comet, can you get anything from here?”

“Can hack into their computers. See what I can get.”

“Do it. Match, search these corpses. Especially the dogs and dragon. Let’s see if they know what’s up. Sharp, guard outside. Kill anything that gets close. I’ll look through and see what they have out right now. Get to it.”

While he rummaged through the various documents, he radioed it in. “Specter, Arrowhead, we’ve broken into their operations center and we’re searching for intel and seeing if there’s a map of the shipments below. We’ve intercepted comms and they might be onto your position. What’s your status?”

:::::

“Sleeping tightly,” Orion radioed back, keeping an eye on the corridor. So far, no enemies had bothered to investigate, but Orion had the feeling that was about to change.

“Drones away.” Yelena handed Orion a control. Lynx kept her Vector trained down the hallway.

The drone flew down the hallway, fading from view.

“Ventilation shaft?”

“Big enough.”

The .50 made short work of the grille, allowing the drone to sail through into the tunnel beyond.

Orion reorientated the drone. Flying it along the shaft was hard enough, the wings frequently scraping the walls.

“Left at this fork, and another right.”

The drone dipped, following directions. It emerged overlooking the trading room.

“Arrowhead, there are enemy troops headed your way from the trading room,” Orion reported, watching the ghostly white figures pass through the doors at the opposite end of the room. “Pick up the pace. Grab your intel, head down and find HYDRA. Give us the signal once you’ve found a sample.”

Yelena pulled out a PDA. “The barracks is swarming, Arrowhead.” The live satellite feed wasn’t assuring. “We’ve got ten minutes, tops, ‘fore they swarm us.”

:::::

“That’s just great,” Sharp grumbled.

“Comet, no time for window shopping. We need something telling us where those shipments are.”

“Just go it, Cap.” An image was pulled into their optics. “They’re sectioned by desks. Pick any from those farthest ones to the middle.” He motioned to the window.

“Those crates all HYDRA?”

“According to this, sir.”

“Match, you get anything off them?”

“Just that it’s apparently secret enough that even they don’t know,” Match said. “Orders are basically ‘handle with care’. Not even explained.”

“Well, I’m guessing they’re not too happy about that either. Sharpie, we clear to move out?”

“Aye, Captain,” the lieutenant said. “Hall’s still clear.”

Stardust grabbed what documents were spread out, finding nothing that revealed the nature of the weapon. “Comet, grab what you got from the database. We’re leaving.”

“Already done, Cap.”

The four made their exit. They ran for the hallway and stairwell from which they entered the floor. “Contacts, up ahead,” Match whispered.

Their camo kept them hidden from the eyes of the unobservant griffons. “Execute.”

Quick work was made of the enemy squad, allowing them a clear path to the stairs down. “Cap, some shipments should be right out of the stairwell.”

“Noted.” As fast as they could, they made it down to the trading floor. “Guards are all around. MG nests in various desks.”

“We have to get one of the crates open,” Match said.

Sharp scoffed. “Bloody hell, we don’t even know what’s in the damn things.”

“We’re gonna have to find out.” Stardust lead them through the shipments, finding a spot in the middle. On the crate next to them, a label informed them that it was their objective. “Sharpie, Comet, get that crate open. Match, we’re covering.”

Sharp motioned for Comet to get over next to him. “Knives. Cut shallow.”

They took out their knives. The blades began glowing with magic, allowing faster cuts through the wood. Meanwhile, the two captains rested their rifles on surrounding crates. The desk near them was empty, but another one slightly farther away had an MG position.

“Shit, Dusty, look up front.” Where Match was looking, squads of griffons were assembling.

“They’re going to sweep the area,” Comet said while he worked. “Their comms are frantic.”

“You two almost through?” Stardust asked.

“Just now,” Sharp said as he lifted the lid off. “It’s a metal box, Captain. Magnetics won’t let us see through it.”

“How does it open?”

“Might be a latch on the side,” Comet said as he started cutting the side of the crate.

“Make it quick.” The two captains kept their rifles pointed at the approaching griffons.

:::::

“They’re playing with fire in there,” Orion murmured, maneuvering the drone into a better position.

Suddenly, something caught Orion’s eye. The drone twitched, zooming in. A particularly well-muscled Griffon barged past the assembled ranks, followed by a well-armored D.dog.

The onboard programming began to match the faces. Orion waited as hundreds of known Griffons were compared.

The console beeped. A match.

“Oh shit,” Orion breathed, as she stared at the glowing red words. “Trouble.”

“Who is he?”

“Spec ops spook. Gregor. ‘The Light’.” Orion watched Gregor pull something roughly off the harness of one of the assembled soldiers.

The pin flew out and the grenade skittered into the room.

Orion spotted the blue band. “Shit, EMP!”

:::::

Stardust spotted the grenade go out. There was nothing they could do as their optics fizzled out and their camo dropped. “Oh shit.”

He looked up back to the operations center, where griffons were setting up, clearly noticing them. “Bigger oh shit.”

He flipped the optic out of his eye’s way, as the others had already done. Although they no longer had a synced data feed, they still had their ARCANEs to pick up the slack on everything else.

“Dusty, we gotta cover for them. Comet, how much longer?”

“Trying to find the right side of the crate, Cap…”

“Okay, Match, who first?” Stardust asked as they unscrewed suppressors.

“Windows.”

“Going loud on your shot.”

Match aimed in on the window. “Fire.”

Gunfire erupted from the floor, and the fight had begun. Bullets impacted the crates, sending splinters around them. “We’re gonna get surrounded here, Match. I’m not too keen with the idea of throwing explosives in a room full of weapons.”

“Specter, we need a minute. Give us a distraction.”

:::::

“Aye, distraction it is!” Orion stood up. Her CAWS clicked. Orion rose up to two hooves.

“There’s an MG nest right behind this wall,” Lynx reported. “Highlighting Griffons.”

Three ghostly figures appeared in the wall.

Orion cocked her hoof. The hydraulics whined for a second.

“Execute.”

At her will, Orion punched through the concrete wall, the Exo giving her more than enough multiplicative force to turn concrete to dust. Her hoof wrapped around the neck of the Griffon, twisting it violently and ending his life.

“Blow the wall!”

Preset det cord detonated, blowing a hole big enough to allow three ponies to jump through at the same time. It couldn’t be more perfect. They were entering at a right angle to the Griffons, who turned their attention away from the four stallions in the center of the room to the dust storm in the corner to their left.

Orion rolled, coming up in a crouched position. Her CAWS barked repeatedly, turning soldiers into red mush with each burst. Yelena mounted the now liberated MG, lighting up the scores of troops.

Lynx vaulted into an MG nest, bucking the Griffon clean across the room. She took cover as a hailstorm of bullets slammed into the thick wooden desk.

Orion felt a sudden spike of heat across her right hindleg. Gathering energy, she lunged into cover behind another wooden desk. Checking to see that no Griffon could easily flank her, Orion looked down at the armor plating there. Sure enough, there was a neat hole in the metal, and red rivulets ran down the Exo hydraulics.

“More coming in from the front!” Yelena screamed over the gunfire. Orion canned the pain for now, rising again. She pulled the pin off a grenade, lobbing it high and into the narrow entranceway. There was a muffled explosion, and bloody feathers flew past her.

But, as surprising the attack was, they were still outnumbered. All three mares sported various wounds, none serious enough to incapacitate.

“Minute’s up, Arrowhead, how much longer you gonna need?” Orion shouted across the room.

:::::

“Got it open, Cap!” Comet lifted the hinged lid on the case. Inside were numerous metal cylinders, about half the length of their leg and just as thick. “And I don’t want to know what’s inside this right now.”

“We making our exit now, Captain?” Sharp asked as he suppressed the griffons up front.

“Toss out a smoke. We’re leaving.”

“Smoke out!” The grenade was thrown, giving them a smokescreen to run through.

Stardust let the others go ahead of him. “Specter, we’re headed towards your pos—“

He was interrupted as he was violently tackled into a crate next to him. A quick thought of ‘oh fuck’, and he moved his head out of the way of talons.

He wasn’t free yet though, as his leg was grabbed and he was thrown into another desk. “Ah… son of a bitch…”

“Dusty, where are you?”

He didn’t answer as a large griffon came upon him through the smoke. “Just go! I’ll get over there!” He felt a shot nick his wing as he took cover behind a crate.

A soldier’s silhouette appeared through the smoke next to him. HV rounds cut cleanly through his flesh, and Stardust made a dash to escape.

It didn’t work out very well because the next thing he knew, he was tackled against a crate again. “Oh, for fuck’s—“

He was interrupted as his head was slammed against the wood.

“Dusty?!”

“Bit fucking—“ Another interruption, and he made out the sound of the growling chuckle of a griffon on top of him.

“Heh heh… I’ve heard of you. What’s the name? Stardust Rapture? 1st RSD?”

“Kill this bast—“

Another slam against the wood.

“Hold up, we’re comin’ for ya! Specter, give us a moment!”

:::::

Orion could move faster than anypony else in the squad, thanks to the Exo. This she put into good use now as she sprang out of cover again. She zipped past the retreating—now turning—Arrowheads, making a beeline for Gregor.

“Move aside, punk!” Orion’s hindhoof made strong contact with the armored side of the Griffon, launching him with sheer kinetic force off of his victim. “I’ve had enough of this damn place!”

Orion drew the SMAW. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Arrowhead move off.

“Eat this!”

The rocket lanced out, entering the enemy fortification and detonating. The ensuing blast shrouded the area in dense smoke. Orion used the time to recover, moving backwards. It was now a retreating battle, with the Specters withdrawing in tighter circles until they were all in the corridor.

“Blow the escape charge!” Yelena tapped Orion’s shoulder three times.

The little detonator came up, and Orion pressed the button, simultaneously waving to the Griffons approaching.

Down below, the can shaped object flared. Thin blue lines of fire burnt a neat circle around the teams. When the circles connected, the entire chunk of floor dropped, with the team on it.

A brief respite.

“Humvee, load up. Yelena drive, Lynx on the gun!” Orion shouted.

“Dusty?” Match asked.

“None worse for wear. Face fucking hurts. Comet, you have the package?”

“Secure, Cap,” Comet answered. “In my bag.”

“Let’s get the hell out of this place. Specter, where’s extraction?”

“Head for the beach exfil point! Once we hit the road, turn right and follow the river!” Orion looked at the map.

The vehicle peeled out of the garage, jumping the barrier and landing on the road. Its tyres screeched as Yelena floored it. Orion reloaded the SMAW and popped open her hatch.

“We got company!” Lynx swiveled the turret and began chattering away.

Other Humvees followed, careening along the road. A well aimed burst shredded the tyres of one, sending it into the river, out of control.

“Tank! They got a tank coming over the bridge!” Yelena shouted.

Orion aimed the SMAW. The light rocket leapt out of its tube, impaling the armored vehicle and detonating against the armor.

“Definitely rustled his jimmies.” The Humvee roared past as the tank rumbled back to life.

“Take this turn onto the highway!” They skidded onto the sliproad, entering traffic. Yelena spun the wheel, swerving in and out of traffic.

Orion turned around. Behind them, the enemy was still chasing. “Air support for them!” Lynx ducked as a strafe from a flying Griffon wrecked the turret MG.

Orion wasn’t so lucky. The high calibre bullet entered her shoulder, blasting her back against the rim of the hatch. She slid back down into the vehicle, dazed by the pain. The loaded SMAW clattered to the floor next to her.

“That fast mover will be trouble.” Yelena gripped the wheel.

“Match, top cover. Sharpie, get back here and help me cover our rear. Get that SMAW. Comet, check on her wound.”

Within the tight confines of the vehicle, they moved into position. Just as Stardust opened the rear, a shrill whistle went past them.

“Cap, I got our optics back up.” The 2nd Lieutenant went over to check on the mare. “Ma’am, how’s your wound? Critical or not?”

“Wonderful.” Stardust flipped his electronic optic back over his eye and, looking far back, the tank was speeding ahead on the highway in pursuit. “Got company. Take out that tank.”

“What, from the front?!” Sharp exclaimed.

“Just disable it! We just need a technical knock out!” Amidst incoming MG fire, another tank round screeched past them. “That motivating enough for you?!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it!” Sharp stuck his head out and leaned to the side, bringing the rocket to bear. “Gun or tracks?!”

“Well can you hit the gun?!”

“On a bit more steady platform, probably, yeah.” As added emphasis, the Humvee lurched as it ran over something.

“His fault for getting in my sights while he was flying in front of us!” Match yelled.

Lynx nudged aside the stallion, ripping open a medpack and grabbing a specialised screwdriver. She released the perforated armor plate, revealing the jagged wound. A few seconds of digging removed the bullet.

“It could be worse. The explosive fuse didn’t go off.” She gestured to the bent tip, before tossing it out of the window. “But she’s going to bleed out unless she get medical attention stat.”

A entire pack of cotton wads jammed up the wound. Lynx used some bandages to hold that in place.

“Turning!” Yelena jerked the wheel, narrowly avoiding an enemy Humvee going the wrong way. “Five mikes out, get rid of that tank!”

Lynx grabbed the final rocket from Orion’s pack. “Tsk tsk, NE rocket?”

Shimmying over, the mare quickly replaced the preloaded rocket. “That’s a thermobaric rocket!” She shouted over the vehicles. “Just hit the tank anywhere!”

“Got it!” The stallion leaned out and fired. The rocket impacted its front hull, but what was left after the smoke was a flaming, knocked out tank. “Good enough for me.”

“Match, how’s it going up there?”

“Still workin’. Toss me a mag of HV.”

“Cap, we got issues. Gettin’ real familiar with their helos. 2 o’clock.”

Stardust growled. “Any more bright ideas? Anyone?”

“Just one, Captain!” Yelena swerved, avoiding a rocket. They passed under the helicopter, doing 120 kilometers per hour.

“This exit!” Lynx pointed.

They pulled off the highway, now onto a coastal road. Wide. Embankments on either side.

The perfect killing zone.

“Specter to Viper 2-3, engage enemy helicopters to our six.”

“Roger that, Specter. Rolling the uranium carpet.”

The Osprey uncloaked roughly seventy meters ahead of them. The minigun on its belly opened up, hosing the helicopters down with a shower of Depleted Uranium rounds.

“Woohoo!” Lynx shouted, pumping her hoof. “Air superiority, motherfuckers!”

Yelena pulled the Humvee over, grinding to a halt. The Osprey touched down not to far away.

“Hurry to the Osprey!” Yelena hooked a leg of the comatose Orion over her shoulder, dragging the mare out of the car. Lynx primed a thermite charge in the abandoned vehicle.

The engines whined, and the massive aircraft rose into the sky, shimmering and fading from view.

:::::

The teams settled in the Osprey. They glanced at the two other mares as they attended to their commander.

“You know, I’m still not entirely sure I like working with them,” Sharp said to his team.

“Really, Sharpie, after all that, that’s all you have to say?” Stardust said as he began looking through the documents he had snatched. “I know we don’t know them, but based on their performance, I have no problems working with them.”

“Would’ve been nice to know where our aerial assets were…”

“We have to inform tech that the current EMP shielding has been surpassed,” Comet said. “Fried a lot of the systems. Couldn’t get them back up when I rebooted them.”

“You know,” Stardust started, “it’s just work, Lieutenant. I ain’t askin’ you to get real nice with ‘em and go and fuck ‘em.”

Match chuckled. “You should.”

“Bed ‘em,” Comet slyly grinned.

“Oh, you’re all real funny,” Sharp said, unamused.

“Didn’t Comet already put money on it?” Stardust asked. “Know what? I will too. Thousand bits you can’t get it done within a week.”

“What the bloody hell?! Are you serious about this?!”

“And if you don’t, free drinks for us, courtesy of you, for three nights.”

“He’s got you, LT,” Comet chuckled. “Would you feel less intimidated if they weren’t wearing the exos?”

“You know, paying tabs doesn’t seem like a bad alternative,” Sharp grumbled. “And Crosser—I outrank you. Don’t push me.”

“And Cap outranks you. And I’m on his side.”

Sharp grumbled.

“Yeah, yeah, you know it’s your loss, Sharpie. I think we’ve offered a good deal,” Stardust jested. He changed the subject. “Comet, let’s see what we got.”

Comet unslung his pack and put it down. He searched through the contents before pulling out a black cylinder. “Well, shit, Cap, what do you make of this thing?”

There were minimal markings on the metal case. Only a few seams near the ends, but the case was otherwise smooth. Nothing indicated what was contained inside. “Can’t tell. Could be anything. There might have been something on the inside of its containers, but we’ll have to get the recording off of our optics for that.”

“I think that’s enough of trying to figure it out,” Match said. “We should just let the labs back at Innocence do it. I don’t like the idea of just holding and staring at a secret weapon.”

“Yeah. Let’s stow it. Osprey should have some safe containers around here somewhere.”

Stardust got up and searched the Osprey, passing by Specter while he did.

Yelena carefully removed armor plating from the Exos, tossing them into separate piles for fine, dinged and perforated. They still wore the skeletal hydraulics, if just to be able to keep moving properly.

Lynx leaned back near the wall, cradling Orion’s head. Her forehooves applied pressure on the wound.

“Another successful mission, wouldn’t you say, Ri?” Lynx whispered.

“I ain’t dying,” Orion murmured back, “That’s gotta count for something.”

“Do you like the Arrowheads?”

“I don’t mind them being around. They can be useful at times.”

Yelena sorted the last of the platings. “We need thicker armor. Those barely stopped the 7.62s. And we need another drone.”

“Coming in for a landing.”

Orion looked around. “That was quick.”

“Odd,” Yelena agreed, “Innocence probably had to move or something.”

The helo stopped with an audible thump. A familiar feeling of slow motion falling. When the ramp dropped, Bastion was waiting at the end of it. “Did you su...”

He eyed Orion, being support by Lynx down the ramp. “How’s the wound, Orion?”

“I’ll live, sir. It could have been worse, the HE bullet didn’t detonate or fragment.”

“The Innocence is heading for Zebratown. Intel retrieved by Vahalla suggests that whatever HYDRA is, they plan to deploy it in civilian populations of countries that have stayed neutral. You did get a sample, right?”

“Right here, sir,” Stardust said, carrying a box. “Still no piece of intel telling us what it is; we’ll have to find that out on our own.”

“Very well,” Bastion said. “We’ll take it over to the analysts immediately.” He motioned for ponies to take it from Stardust.

“Debrief, sir?”

“Same room, one hour.”

“Yes, sir.” Stardust turned back to his team. “Arrowhead, let’s unpack and settle back in.” He reentered the Osprey to retrieve his own items, in the process, finding Specter. “I don’t suppose you’ll need any help from us. We’ll see you in debriefing.”

“You’re going to the medbay.” Lynx guided Orion towards the appropriate door. Orion relented, allowing the purple mare to guide her.

“What do you think HYDRA is?”

“Could be biological or chemical.” Lynx shrugged. “Nowadays, they prefer their territories undamaged, so it’s unlikely that it is a nuke of any sort.”

“Orion.” A unicorn greeted the trio.

“Effigy.” Orion stopped the unicorn. “How’s Vahalla?”

“Nothing special, no injuries yet.” The mare smiled. “Can’t say the same for you.”

“Hell naw, we’re used to it.”

“Grats for bringing in HYDRA.”

“That’ll be Arrowhead’s honor. We were just there to exfil them.”

“All teams debrief in an hour, y’all know that?”

Orion looked at Lynx. “Not the all teams part.”

:::::

One hour later, Arrowhead made their way down to the conference rooms.

They found the hallways clogged with ponies.

“So that’s what they meant by all,” Stardust said.

“Watch it, Cap, Sharpie might faint having to be around all of these other guys,” Comet teased.

“Crosser…” Sharp hit the blue pegasus in the back of his head.

“So, anyone know what this is all about? I just know we’re redeploying.”

“Well, if it’s about finding out what HYDRA is, those analysts work fast,” Stardust remarked.

“They made the plans before we got here,” Match noted.

“Guess it can’t be any simpler than a complete debrief then.”

“‘Simpler,’” Sharp said.

“Relatively.”

“Hey Cap, think Specter will be here?”

“Are you asking if all of Specter will be here? In that case, I’d say yes. No bullet or medical reports are going to stop our type from getting some place important like this. If she won’t get here herself, someone’s gonna make sure she does.”

“Warriors of the Innocence. Settle down. Got some serious news.”

Orion settled in at the back of the room.

“The intel brought in by Vahalla indicates that the Griffons are targeting major civilian populations, but thanks to the efforts of both Arrowhead and Specter, their list has dwindled due to the lack of their weapon.”

The black canister sat forebodingly on the table.

“All attempts at discovering what this is has been fruitless. That thing won’t open. But we do have a list of new targets.”

The screen flashed. All eyes on the screen.

“Zebratown is the closest to us. We’ve notified command and they’ve seeked approval from the Zebra authorities to send in Equestrian forces to secure the HYDRA. The Innocence will rendezvous with the fourth amphibious assault fleet and land via the beaches.”

“Where’s the weapon gonna be?”

“It’s being secured in an underground bank vault in the Trust building.” A video began playing, showing a grainy feed. Several Griffons hauled a particularly large box into the vault, followed by some Zebras holding weapons.

“Separatists,” somepony hissed. “Damn traitors.”

“For now, get some rest, all of you. It’s gonna take a couple of hours to reach the rendezvous. Dismissed.”

Orion rose from her seat, following the crowd filing out of the room. “Specters, machine room. Let’s this time to repair the Exos and rest.”

:::::

“So, what do you think of it, Cap?” Comet asked.

“Good presentation, but I think they should upgrade to holographic projectors.” Stardust’s off-topic response left the other three speechless. “Dear Princess Twilight, your intelligence officers request an upgrade to Innocence’s presentation systems…”

“And the mission, Captain?” Sharp asked.

“We’ll see. Right now, I want to know how hard Gryphonian counter-intel is going to be hunting us.”

“Could be deploying them with all shipments of HYDRA now,” Match said.

“Wouldn’t expect any less of them. And they’ll be much more careful this time. And they’ll probably skip the face-bashing part.”

“So, anything you want us to do right now, Cap?”

“They told us to rest. I say study what you can about the target region. 3R’s got good info on Zebratown. Also, Sharpie, your second mission starts today.”

“Oh, fuck you.”

:::::

The acrid smell of oxidiser filtered out of the vents as Yelena welded armor plating together, forming thicker sandwiches.

Orion laid down in one of the bunks. These weren’t as comfortable as their rooms, but repair work had to be done together. She released the fluids from the hydraulic systems, oiling down the moving parts before reassembling them.

Lynx checked the armory. The new drone twitched erratically in her hooves, uncalibrated as it was.

“Took them long enough to send down the new gear,” she groused. “It’s only been four hours.”

“Relax, Lynx.” Orion raised a hoof. “At least they sent it to us.”

“Whoo, the platings are done.” Yelena raised her mask, a coat of sweat covering her in a shiny film.

“Got about another half hour to the rendezvous.” Orion laid aside the hydraulics. “I’m gonna grab...”

Red lights flickered on. The PA system blared.

“General Quarters, General Quarters. All hooves, man your battle stations, this is not a drill. I say again, all hooves, man your battle stations. This is not a drill.”

“Let’s get topside!” Orion took a left at the door. Another passageway, and she opened the hatch to the outside. A walkway passed just inside the hull of the Innocence, another way to get around the ship. Already, it was crowded with sailors.

“Excuse me, coming through.” Lynx bumped past several red-jackets.

They stood at the railing, peering out to sea. In the distance, several pillars of black smoke left little to the imagination.

“Holy...” Orion whispered.