Fallout Equestria: Duty

Fallout Equestria: Duty

Chapter 35

Dreams of the past Part 6

“All hands abandon ship! We're gonna ram that thing!”

~O~Frostmane~O~

Princess Luna and I were walking through the corridors of the Luna Dream. Two weeks had passed since our first assignment, and we had carried out several more missions since then. Not a single Pony life had been lost in those skirmishes, and no Zebra civilian had fallen victim to our fire.

        “I must say Frostmane, I did expect quite a lot from you when I gave you this ship, but I didn't expect five perfect operations in a row. Furthermore, from what I have seen, your crew seems to be in perfect health for the most part.” Luna said as we turned the corner that would lead us to the mess-hall.

        “Well... I do my best not to endanger my Ponies needlessly.” I replied, a silly grin on my face. What the Princess had said was embarrassing me slightly.

        “It's too bad you won't allow me to be present during one of your operations. I could, of course, insist on it, but I respect you too much for that.”

Just as I wanted to start explaining to my friend and Princess that it was way to dangerous for her to be aboard the Luna Dream while we were running an operation, an alarm sounded. Instantly, my reply to Luna was forgotten, and I turned my attention to my broadcaster.

        “Frostmane to bridge. What's going on?” I demanded. It didn't even take a second for a communications officer to reply.

        “Vice-General, we have received a distress call. It's the Glorious Dawn. They're being attacked by three Zebra war-baloons. Zebra fliers are boarding. Major Firestorm has ordered us to go onto an intercept course.” the stallion rattled down, and I threw a look over at Luna. She looked a little like a child who had pegged her parents to go to the carnival, only to be scared by the haunted house then.

        “I'll be right there. Full speed ahead.” I replied before addressing Luna. “Looks like you get your wish.”

OooOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

About two minutes after the alarm had started up, I stomped through the door to the bridge of the Luna Dream, Princess Luna following close behind me. Firestorm noticed my entrance, and immediately stepped back from the main command console in the center of the bridge.

        “What's the status?” I asked as I sat down on the chair in front of the console. Using SATS, I read through the incoming reports, while my ship cut through the sky at top speed. When I came out of the targeting spell, Firestorm reported.

        “The Glorious Dawn was scheduled for an air raid on a base near the Zebra border this morning. About ten minutes ago, they started their bombardment. As is usual, they also began to transmit regular status updates to high command. About three minutes ago, the first distress call reached us. In reaction to this, I ordered the Luna Dream to set course for the Glorious Dawn to help.” she said, looking rather stiff. I sighed inwardly, since I really hated it when she acted like we hadn't shared a sleeping bag during several cold weather missions.

        “Understood. Well done Firestorm.”

Looking over at Luna, I saw that the Princess was standing behind me, looking rather lost. Everypony else was flitting about to and fro with purpose, checking readouts and reports that were constantly being intercepted by the Luna Dreams communication equipment. I sighed.

        “Luna, you come here and sit down. You wanted to see us do our stuff? Now's your chance.” I said rather disrespectfully, earning myself some shocked looks from my subordinates. Nopony argued however, when the ruler of all of Equestria followed my instructions.

        “ETA 4 minutes!” one of the navigators called out and I nodded. Looking over at Firestorm, I saw that the mare already knew what I was about to say. Before I had even given the order, she made her way for the flight deck.

        “All Earthpony teams, man the deployment shells! Pegasi teams Dream eleven to twenty, report to the flight deck. Aerial combat is to be expected! Dream one to ten, report to hangar four. Same goes for Unicorn Teams Dream thirty to forty-five!” I called into the microphone on my console. Images of the battlefield appeared on the main command hologram, showing the Glorious Dawn surrounded by three war-balloons. There were a few green blips flying around, but they were very hard to see through the sheer mass of red ones. The Pegasi soldiers trying to intercept their Zebra attackers were somehow still managing to keep some of them at bay, but that wouldn't last long.

I could order them to retreat, but I wasn't sure if they would acknowledge my commands. Not to mention that we would have to break radio silence to do so. The moment we did, the Zebras would be able to home in on our signal. I had to get the most out of this, to take some heat off the Glorious Dawn. The other Thunderhead was already badly damaged, and I could see that we would have to act fast.

Looking over at Luna, I gave her a look that said more than a thousand words. An expression of utter disbelief and fear appeared on her face, even before I spoke.

        “Luna, you've got to order these Pegasi to retreat, and the Glorious Dawn to abandon the battle. If they continue fighting the Zebras will either destroy the ship, or take it over. Once the Zebras see however, that you are here, they will most likely abandon their chase of the Glorious Dawn and come after us.” I said, sliding my microphone over to her. It was already set to the right frequency. Luna looked lost for a moment, not sure what to do.

I could tell that she had not expected something like this. She had wanted to be on the front lines with us, but she had not expected to be used as bait. Of course I knew that she was in no danger. The LD was bigger than the GD, but she was also faster. If the battle went south, we could easily outfly the Zebras. As soon as Luna began to speak, I pressed a button on my console. The Stealthbuck array which had kept the LD hidden up until now, was deactivated and I could see that the war-balloons did exactly what I had expected. All three of them turned slowly towards us.

        “This is Princess Luna of Equestria, calling the brave defenders of the Glorious Dawn. We are here to help you. Please, bring yourself to safety!” Luna said, tears forming in her eyes. I saw, at that moment, that the full weight of the war had finally caught up with my friend. Until now, it had been nothing but statistics and tactical meetings for her. She hadn't even seen what had been left of her magic school, since the Ministry Mares had advised her not to. The war had just become more than real for her, and she didn't like it.

The Luna Dream shook as the first shots from the war-balloons impacted on our hull. Damage reports came in, showing that the Zebras had managed to put a dent into us, but that we could still put up a fight. I turned to the main command hologram again.

        “This is Captain Gale Chaser of the Glorious Dawn. We're retreating.” came the voice of an old stallion over the speakers, and I could see that the other Thunderhead was doing it's best to get away from the fight.

        “Dream eleven to twenty, you've got start clearance! Clear the skies of any Zebra fliers! One to ten, you take the skytanks to transport the Unicorns. One to three, you are to land on target number one, four to six, you take target number two. Seven to eight, you fly your charge to the Glorious Dawn. Help with the wounded and extract any memories of our involvement in this battle. Dream twenty-one to twenty-nine, launch towards target number three. Take it over if you can, destroy their weapons if you can not. Afterwards, wait for extraction!” I ordered. All Squad-Leaders responded in the affirmative, and all hell broke loose.

Luna was watching in rapt awe as all my orders were carried out simultaneously. Deployment shells impacted on the third war-balloon, and the main command hologram changed to show the view from inside the Zebra air vessel. Cherry Cream was commanding her Ponies quickly and efficiently, so I switched the view to the Pegasi teams. Aerial combat was always a problem. We had the better fliers, but the Zebras had numbers on their side.

        “Firestorm, two tangos on your six, one on your nine. Evade thirty degrees upwards and circle around.” I ordered, not waiting for a confirmation, as I switched through all of them, while always keeping an eye on the main hologram.

I could see how Firestorms flight team was cutting their way through the enemy fliers, clearing a way for the Unicorn teams and their escort.

        “Why don't you fire back?” Luna screamed, as another volley of shells impacted on the hull of the Luna Dream. More damage reports filtered in, showing me that they had hit the exact same spot as before. No vital systems were in that area, but I instantly knew what they were trying. They tried to punch through our hull to board us.

        “Turn our other side to the enemy! They're trying to get through the hull!” I called out to the four navigators, before turning towards Luna. A few taps on my console changed the main command hologram, showing a group of Zebra fliers. Behind them were two of the Zebras war-balloons. When the ships fired, part of their group was torn apart by the projectiles heading towards the Luna Dream.

        “If I order the LD to fire, I will endanger my Ponies. We're just bait right now so the GD can escape to safety. The war-balloons fire projectiles, while we fire with magical energy. Projectiles can be evaded, but magical energy is usually to fast, not to mention that our cannons have a much wider spread. Besides, if we can capture their ships, we could gain some vital information. Troop movements, troop strength, planned operations and so on. Sure, I could have blown them out of the sky, but that wouldn't have helped anypony. Also, while the Glorious Dawn was still so close to them, there was a chance that it would have been caught up in the blast.” I explained, pointing at the smoking silhouette of the GD that was escaping the battlefield painfully slow.

After making sure that Luna had strapped herself in, I turned back to the command hologram. Time and time again, the Luna Dream shook as their shells hit our hull. I registered each and every damage report, but my main focus was on the command hologram. I slipped in and out of SATS, analyzing the battlefield while time stood still for me. I had to get my Ponies out of here alive at any cost!

~O~Firestorm~O~

Two of my subordinates had been shot down by Zebra rifles, but I could see that they had found clouds to hide themselves in. According to the reports they sent me, they weren't severely injured, but enough to be unable to fly for the time being.

Direction markers flashed up on my EFS, coming directly from the Vice-Generals command console. Without a second thought, I followed them, evading a group of batwinged Zebras who tried to come at us from above.

        “Just like in training! Fan out and pick them off!” I shouted, but my order got overridden by one coming from the Vice-General. She ordered us to stay closely together and set a waypoint that led us away from the fight. Dream twelve and fifteen shot past us as we flew towards the waypoint, taking care of the Zebras behind us.

At first, I didn't see why we had been ordered to leave the battle, but then I saw it. A group of Zebras was assaulting the skytanks that were headed towards the Glorious Dawn. They returned fire, but the Unicorns inside were not trained in the use of the plasma cannons. The Pegasi escorts were busy, trying to keep two more groups at bay, while fliers from the Glorious Dawn assisted them. Luckily, the tanks stopped firing as we approached, allowing us to intervene in the battle.

        “OK! Make sure none of those striped bastards gets aboard the tanks! Aim for the Talismans on their necks, and they'll drop like stones!” I ordered, and this time I was not overruled. My flight fanned out from behind me, breaking formation. A moment later, we were caught up in a full blown battle. As it turned out, the Zebras had redirected the brunt of their fliers towards the Glorious Dawn and our skytanks...

~O~Frostmane~O~

Two hours had passed since the last Zebra had been shot, and the skytanks were still flying back and forth to retrieve our soldiers from the war-balloons. We had managed to capture all three of them. Two of their commanders had destroyed any secret documents when they had noticed that they didn't stand a chance against our boarding parties, but one of them wasn't fast enough. We now had information about several secret supply depots the Zebras had set up along our border, which we would smoke out in the course of the next few days.

Our victory however, didn't come without a price. We had lost thirteen soldiers, while one-hundred-twenty-four lives had been lost on the Glorious Dawn. Only a skeleton crew had survived. Had we arrived any later, the Zebras would have taken the ship, and with it one of Equestrias most powerful weapons.

The Luna Dream had sustained major damage to it's outer hull, and the Stealthbuck array was out of order for the time being. It was the first time I had lost soldiers since I had taken command of the Moon Skulls. Each and every one of the survivors was congratulating me on a job well done, but I didn't feel at all like I deserved their praise. Thirteen black body-bags in the infirmary were a testament to that.

Luna had been a shivering mess when she had left us an hour ago, and I could see in her eyes that she had seen enough battle to last her a lifetime. Firestorm was tending to her injured troops, helping with the relief efforts and recovering the ones that had hidden themselves in low clouds due to injuries.

I sighed as I opened the door to my quarters. They could do the rest without me. All I needed now, was a stiff drink and a good nights sleep. Imagine my surprise, when I found a Zony mare lounging on my sofa, two bottles of Wild Pegasus Whiskey on the TV table in front of her, accompanied by a few packs of snacks.

        “I thought you might want to talk a bit.” Jerakal said, as she picked up one of the bottles and threw it into my direction. I caught it in my magic, and couldn't help but smile. It was the first of many drinking sessions with Jerakal.

I never told the mare, but these little get-togethers did me a world of good. Without them... I might have lost my marbles...