3 Years Later…

Dusk sat in silence aboard the Pelican on his way to his new “home”. After three years of experimental surgeries, augmentations, and plenty of time in cryo, ONI had determined that the best use for their new pet project was as a replacement for a Spartan officer on the human flagship. He had received a blue set of FOTUS armor, modified to accommodate his physiology, but ONI had ensured that he wouldn’t be able to remove the armor without a direct code from either Doctor Halsey or Admiral Osman.

Dusk looked up at the ODST that was assigned to escort him. He was a member of Kilo-Five, the group he had grown to despise over the last few years. His name was Vaz, and under his depolarized visor, he was staring at Dusk.

“Something wrong Corporal?”

The ODST simply flipped Dusk off before tossing him a tacpad. “This is your new assignment. You’re replacing Commander Sarah Palmer as the XO on Infinity, and will be overseeing all ship-based Spartan operations.”

Dusk sat back in his seat. “So, just a way for Osman to keep me under her thumb?” The ODST didn’t have a chance to say much else, as the Pelican hit the deck and the rear ramp dropped to the ground. As Dusk started walking down the ramp, he turned back to the soldier. “Oh, and tell Osman, from me of course, to go fuck herself.”

“Pretty sure you already covered that much.”

As the Pelican’s ramp went up, Dusk turned to find himself face to face with both his predecessor and a bemused Captain Laskey. Dusk handed his tacpad to the Captain. “Commander Dusk reporting as ordered.”

Palmer groaned. “Figures ONI wanted one of their lapdogs-”

“Palmer, just stow it.” ordered the Captain. He looked through the tacpad before looking back up at the Spartan. “Lot of black lines in here…”

“I do know the encryption to unblock most of that, if it helps.” suggested Dusk. “Granted it would probably be best if we went somewhere a bit more private to go over all of the details.”

The Captain simply nodded, before leading Dusk and Palmer through a series of hallways and elevators before arriving in his ready-room. Lasky handed the tacpad back to Dusk, who popped a chip out of his greaves and plugged it into the tacpad before handing the device back to the Captain. “You should find all of the necessary codes, as well as the ONI database I’ve been saving for a few years.”

Palmer cocked an eyebrow. “ONI database?”

“Ya.” Dusk looked over at the Captain. “By the way, there should be the release codes for my armor in there. Take the pad’s hardline and plug it into the back of my helmet.”

The Captain looked over at Palmer before shrugging and plugged the device into Dusk’s helmet. Once it was plugged in, the faceplate on Dusk’s helmet jutted forward, allowing the Spartan to remove it and reveal his-inhuman features.

Palmer was the first to respond, pulling the magnum off her hip and pointing it at Dusk. The Spartan only sighed before disarming Palmer and breaking the slide out the back of the gun. “Look, let’s get some things straight. First, I can’t stand having someone put a gun in my face-”

Palmer was about to punch Dusk when Lasky got between the two and stared at Dusk. “ONI used you as an experiment?”

Dusk nodded. “They had me in and out of their labs and cryo for the last three years, and they needed a way to watch me. Palmer was a good scapegoat for not eliminating Catherine-”

“You know Doctor Halsey?” asked the Captain.

“Yup. She had the gun to her head while she did half of the surgeries and experiments on me.” said Dusk. “Now, as I was saying, because Palmer didn’t eliminate Catherine when she had her back on Aktis Four, and Osman needed a way to keep me under her thumb, she took the opportunity to Scapegoat the good Commander and put me here. Because you answer to her, Captain, she could control me through you.”

A yellow hologram appeared on the Captain’s desk. “Well, that’s grim.”

“Ship’s AI?” asked Dusk. The Captain nodded, and Dusk walked over. “Roland, right?”

“You got it.”

“Captain, can you give copies of everything I gave you to Roland so he can go through it?”

“Any specific reason?”

Dusk chuckled before staring out the viewscreen into the void. “It’s simple. I want him to track down my homeworld.”

______________________________________________________________________________

A few short hours after wrapping up his introductions with the Captain and his predecessor, Dusk made a beeline for the ship’s armor development lab on S-Deck. Ditching his armor, and giving the order to check all the systems for bugs (at Roland’s suggestion), he procured a bottle of scotch from the mess and found a quiet spot to sit and think in one of the many starboard observation lounges. He had been getting a number of stares and confused looks from the crew, especially when they saw the rank patch on the shoulder of his jacket. For the first few hours he had mostly been left alone, with the occasional ONI analyst watching him and taking notes before leaving.

“Commander?” Dusk turned around and found himself looking up at one of the many Spartans stationed on the ship. The man was in the normal Spartan duty attire, looking rather stuck up and tense.

“Kid, just have a seat and calm the hell down.” said Dusk as he motioned to a lounge chair. The Spartan sat down and tensed back up again. “What’s your name?”

“Spartan Gabrielle Thorne, sir.”

Dusk only chuckled “Alright Thorne, I’ll tell you what. You could really give the Royal Guard a run for their money with this whole hyper-discipline you’ve got going here.” Dusk tossed the Spartan the Scotch. “Have a drink and relax. And stop calling me sir while you’re at it.”

“Sir?”

Dusk facepalmed. “What did I just say?”

Thorne seemed to relax. “Sorry, I’m just-”

“Just stow it Thorne. You don’t need to apologize.” said the unicorn. “I’ve never been a big fan of formality as it stands.”

“Fair enough. Anyway, I’ve got some things I’d like to ask.”

“If it’s why an alien got Spartan augmentations and was given command of an entire contingent of supersoldiers on a human ship, then blame ONI. I’ve been doing it for the last few years.” Thorne only cocked an eyebrow, before Dusk simply shrugged.

Before anything else could be said between the two, Admiral Osman strode into the room, Naomi and Captain Lasky on her heel. Thorne stood and went to salute, but Dusk instead smacked him in the back of the head as he got up.

“Quite the mess you’ve caused here.” noted the Admiral. Behind her, Naomi cocked her magnum back.

“Ya, for you maybe.” quipped Dusk. “Oh, did Vaz tell you that I said to go fuck off? Is that why you’re here, I hurt your-” Osman stepped aside while Naomi went to pistol-whip Dusk. Dodging the Spartan, Dusk jumped on her back before blasting her in the back of the head with a blast of uncontrolled magic, while pulling her shotgun free from it’s place on her back and sticking it in the Admiral’s gut. “Huh, figured you would’ve actually had a plan if I snapped off your leash.” Dusk suddenly dropped the shotgun, turning around to stare down the barrel of Naomi’s magnum.

“If you didn’t notice by now, I did.”

“Ya… Oh, I almost forgot. Roland?”

The AI’s projection came up from the lounge holotank. “Ya?”

“I’d like you to forward copies of all my files to Lord Hood.”

“I can do that. It’ll take about two minutes to get them all together.”

Dusk turned back to Osman with a wry grin. “Checkmate.”

Osman looked over at Roland, now with her own smirk. “Undid Iridium.”

Roland seemed to just tap his foot before crossing his arms. “Really?”

Lasky cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the Admiral. “I may have neglected to mention in my previous reports that Roland overrode that part of his programing.”

Osman developed a look of irritation, before turning to the Captain. “I’m more interested as to how an AI discovered-”

“Thank Halsey for it.” quipped the AI. “Oh, and those files are ready to go out ahead of schedule.”

“Roland, you will-”

“Let me think for a moment…” said the AI. “Ya, forget it. Files sent. Lord Hood should find them on his personal terminal, in his terminal at Fleetcom... You get the idea.”

“Good work Roland.” Dusk crossed his own arms. “Now, do you really want to explain to Fleetcom why not only you gave Spartan augmentations to a previously unencountered alien, and had him executed for blowing the lid off your program, or do you want to back the fuck back?”

“Naomi, stand down.” ordered the Admiral. “You do know that this isn’t over, right?”

Dusk nodded. “Oh, I do. And I know that I now made myself too big of a target for you to eliminate without attracting attention from Fleetcom, with the whole assisting an invasion of a mostly pre-industrial planet and kidnapping one of their own to experiment and torture him for Celestia-knows-what.”

“Sir, I have Lord Hood requesting to speak with you and Commander Dusk.” informed Roland. “He’s also requesting that Admiral Osman return to Earth immediately.”

“Like I said Osman, checkmate.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Dusk and Captain Lasky were waiting in the ready room while Roland prepared the transmission with Lord Hood. Lasky was pacing about, while Dusk had taken the seat behind the Captain’s desk and put his feet up.

“You’re gonna burn a hole in the deck if you keep pacing.” quipped Dusk. “Just relax. It’s not like you did anything.”

“This is still Lord Hood we’re talking about. The man commands the entire Navy, why the hell shouldn't I be nervous when he finds out my ship is involved in an ONI conspiracy?”

“Sir, I’ve got the line to Lord Hood ready.” reported Roland.

“Put it through.” Lasky straightened his uniform out quickly before the image of Lord Hood appeared on the monitor. “Lord-”

The senior Admiral chuckled. “At ease Captain. I’m only here because I’m a bit interested in this data that Roland sent me on behalf of you new XO.”

Dusk rose from his seat and took a spot at Lasky’s side. “That was a lot of data that Roland sent. How the hell did you go through a terabyte of files in ten minutes?”

“It was a bit easy when Roland made sure to put the surgical and experiment reports at the top of the pile.” The Admiral furrowed his brow and leant forward. “I’ll be honest. I’m far from thrilled finding out that ONI has been experimenting on previously unencountered species, let alone that they were forcing a prisoner to do the experiments.”

Dusk shrugged. “Catherine wasn’t all bad. Without her help, I wouldn’t have been able to save anything.”

“And we never would have found out what ONI was doing. I can’t even begin to apologize for what they did to you, but I will deal with Osman-”

“Look, just keep her under your thumb.” quipped Dusk. “She still knows where my homeworld is, and unless something changed ONI is still supporting the Enclave’s efforts.”

“Enclave?”

“You’ll find numerous references to the group, including communications, their refinement of the Quantum Mirror technology they discovered, combat plans, ship specs, reports from Kilo-Five, and intelligence reports of the UNSC Coral Sea, Redoubtable and Paris.” said Roland as his avatar clicked on.

Lord Hood’s eyes went wide. “They've known where they are?”

“From at least 2553 onwards.” noted the AI. “They were also responsible for jamming their distress beacon so the survivors couldn’t be located. I do have their coordinates, and as such I’ve got the location of the Commander’s homeworld.”

“Captain, your orders are simple. You are to go to the Paris’ last known coordinates, engage any hostile opposition and assist the Paris and the locals however necessary until we can get ONI under control. Are we clear?”

“Crystal, sir.”

“Good. Now get moving. Hood out.”

______________________________________________________________________________

On the bridge of the Paris, sparks and smoke had clouded the bridge. “Where the hell is Redoubtable?” yelled Baxter.

One of the recent Equestrian recruits was typing furiously away at his console. “Looks like they’re tied up dealing with Euclid’s Anvil.”

“What about the Coral Sea and Regent?”

“They’re throwing themselves at the Pioneer.”

Baxter leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Tell the Redoubtable to pull back-”

“Sir, we’ve got a contact!” the recruit turned around, pale. “It’s big.”

“Fuck. All ships, fall back to low orbit!” ordered Baxter. “Helm, bring us about!”

While the Paris began to bank away, the contact dropped out of Slipspace. It was just under 5700 meters in length with the armament to boot, and easily dwarfed the Frigates that were launching from the ventral surface of the ship.

“This is Infinity to Paris. We’re on station, ready to assist.”

Another, more familiar voice chimed in. “Look, Baxter, do you want me to help save your sorry ass or not?”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Was there any reason to add that?” questioned the Captain.

“Why the hell not?” asked Dusk. “Should sell em’ on the idea we’re on their side. Beyond that, what do we know about those ships?”

Roland’s avatar lit up on the bridge holotable. “We’ve got four friendly ships. IFFs are reading as HMS Paris, HMS Coral Sea, HMS Redoubtable, and HMS Regent. All appear to be equipped with shields and some sort of energy weapons. Bar the Regent, all are UNSC designs of the Paris, Mako and Stalwart class respectively. That other one is a bit tricky-”

“Stow it Roland. What are we dealing with as far as hostile ships?”

“We’re stacked up against UNSC Euclid’s Anvil and UNSC Pioneer, both now crewed entirely by ONI staff and outfitted with some of the most modern equipment we have to offer. Only problem I really see is Euclid’s Anvil, considering it’s, you know, a heavy crusier.”

“Roland, open a channel.” ordered Lasky.

“Channel open.”

“Euclid’s Anvil, this is the Captain of Infinity. Stand down and prepare to be boarded.”

“No response.” reported the AI. “Pioneer is moving to intercept, and Euclid’s Anvil is making a run for the planet and is preparing a firing solution for the MAC battery. Projecting impact site now.”

On the holotable, the image of a city hanging off the side of a mountain appeared, bathed in a dull red outline.

“Fuck, they’re targeting Canterlot!” Dusk looked out the forward viewscreen, and got a good view of the aft engines of the Anvil. “Roland, lock all forward Archer batteries on the Anvil and fire at will.”

“I’m sorry, but what?” questioned the AI

“Just do it. Canterlot’s population is mostly civilian-”

“And we can’t run the risk of an assault.” finished the Captain. “Just do it Roland, and prepare the MACs.”

“Aye sir.” From the bridge, the trails of exhaust from a volley of Archer missiles was seen streaming towards the Anvil, impacting on the aft shields before a handful punched through and hit the outer hull armor. “Direct hit. Their shields are down to 80%, but they’re diverting power from two of their reactors to recharge. Also of note is that they’re now coming about.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Captain, Euclid’s Anvil is breaking course. Looks like they’re going after Infinity.”

“Alright. Tell Coral Sea and Regent to deploy Blaze, Hammer, Aurora and Archer squads to the Pioneer and take the ship, then have them fall in with us and Redoubtable.”

“And what do we do sir?”

Baxter leant forward in his chair. “Target the Anvil and fire everything we’ve got. Tell Redoubtable to do the same.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Captain, Paris and Redoubtable are moving on the Anvil” reported Roland.

“Status of the MACs?” asked the Captain.

“Ready to fire, but we’ve got a problem. The Anvil has got in too close. We can’t calculate a good firing solution because of it.”

“Roland, just hit em’ with a broadside.” quipped Dusk. “We know anything else?”

The AI’s avatar nodded. “I did tap into the local communications, and it appears that one of the settlements on the planet is under attack. Locals call it Dodge City. Looks like there’s some ODSTs and local military units down there, but I’m still trying to figure out who the commander is.”

“What’re they getting hit with?” questioned the unicorn.

“Their main force is company-size, with armor and minor air support. It appears that a firebase was established about twenty miles south in the desert. What concerns me about that is the slipspace signature that’s coming from the base itself.” said Roland.

“Probably some sort of portal for supplies.” noted Dusk. “Roland, tell Palmer to meet me on S-Deck with a fireteam of her choosing, and prep a Pelican gunship for launch.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Palmer had assembled Fireteam Majestic and had them armor up on S-Deck. They were grabbing weapons out of the lockers when Dusk approached with another Spartan, both already armored.

“I take it everyone knows Miller?”

Palmer facepalmed. “And why do we need Miller?”

“Never hurts to have additional individuals with good experience in logistics and troop deployment.” pointed out Dusk, who clapped his hands together. “Alright, once we leave this ship we’re on our own until Equis’ orbit is secured. We’re heading down to a town called Dodge City. It’s a major railhead in southern Equestria that’s getting hit by ONI scumbags-”

“Just gonna stop you for a second-”

“Madsen, put a sock in it.” ordered Thorne.

“No, just hear me out. Why are we taking orders from an alien again?”

“Because I was given the job and the title.” snorted Dusk. “Look, those are my people getting slaughtered down there. For the most part, the best defense we had when I left was the Paris, and she was beat to hell. Everything else is mostly early-industrial.”

“So, you’re sitting ducks?” asked one of the other Spartans, this one a red-headed female.

“That about sums it up Miss Grant. Once we hit the ground, we’ll split into two teams. Thorne, Palmer, and Miller are with me as Delta. Spartans Ray, Madsen and Hoya are running as Gamma and Grant will be flying the gunship. Our objective is simple; we stem ONI’s advance on Dodge City, do whatever we can to reinforce the friendly forces on the ground, and prepare a landing zone for future reinforcements.” Dusk looked around at the assembled Spartans for a moment before grabbing a railgun, magnum and the associated ammunition for both out of the storage lockers. “Then if there aren’t any other questions, lets get moving.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Dodge City

The town of Dodge City was mostly ruin. For two days, ONI forces had pounded away at the town, and were slowly pushing the defenders back from the outskirts further towards the town center. Marines, Royal Guard and the entire Ranger corps were all struggling against the onslaught. The damage was most evident in the town’s former school, where classrooms had become temporary morgues for the small legion of fallen soldiers.

Meteor Shower was in the town hall, pouring over reports from the frontline units. “Not enough ammo, Sparky’s mags are starting to fail… Can this day get any better!” yelled the stallion.

Cosmo walked in, decked out in his standard ranger armor. “General, we could use you out here.”

As the pair walked out of his makeshift office, Cosmo pointed to the holotable that had been rigged up in the waiting room, now showing a massive ship in orbit. “We just got a partial connection to tacnet, and this is what we got.”

Meteor stared at the ship. “Can we raise Captain Baxter?”

“No luck. Comms are still being jammed, and we’re having issues clearing it up. We were picking up on some sort of static about twenty minutes ago, something about ‘infinity’.” noted the Ranger.

“Dodge City zzzzttttt one zzzztttt copy?”

Before either stallion had an opportunity to clear up the signal, a massive shockwave shook the town hall, knocking out what little power was available.

“Cosmo, now would be a good time for a miracle.” groaned Meteor.
______________________________________________________________________________

“I say again, Dodge City this is Alpha-One, do you copy?” Dusk clicked off the cockpit radio in frustration before putting his helmet back on. “Grant, find us a spot as close to the town center as you can so we can touch down, then try to put a dent in some of that armor.” Dusk walked back to the troop bay and grabbed a seat with the other Spartans. “I’ve got no luck getting in touch with the local commander. As of right now, we need to assume that there’s either no command structure left, or their radio is busted. Either way, our objective remains the same.”

“Anything specific you want us to do?” asked Spartan Ray.

“Take Gamma and head for the outskirts of the city, try and bolster the defenses. I’ll take Palmer, Miller and Thorne and try to find the local commander and establish a comm line to Infinity.” stated Dusk.

“Ten seconds to ground!” yelled Grant from the cockpit.

“Alright Spartans, time to get mean!” yelled Dusk as he rose from his seat. With a thud, the gunship hit the ground, and the group of Spartans disembarked and spread out while their ride flew off into the distance, leaving the echo of rifles and machine guns as the Spartans’ only company.

“What, no red carpet?” quipped Madsen

“I doubt you’d even warrant that much.” snarked Hoya

“Look, the lot of you stow it and move out.” ordered Dusk. “Miller, you’re up front with me.” As the Spartans went their separate ways, Miller seemed a bit uneasy. “Something wrong?”

“Just not used to field ops.” noted the Spartan.

“I’d take it the lack of friendly faces is part of the issue?” questioned Dusk.

“Exactly, we’re in the middle of a warzone, which so happens to have overtaken a decent sized town. Where are the civilians or the second line defenses? And the decided lack of radio communications?” Miller just held his arms out. “The whole town’s just abandoned!”

“And since when is that a bad thing Miller?” questioned Palmer. “I swear, you’re whole career involves panicking.”

“Palmer, he isn’t wrong.” noted Dusk. “And I’d expect a trap to be a bit better than empty street!”

Two ponies exited from a structure just opposite of the group with weapons raised. Dusk only chuckled. “Chaser, Starry, just quit while you’re ahead.” Dusk holstered his magnum and took his helmet off. “Not like the two of you would win anyway.”

“Bloody hell.” sighed Lightning Chaser.

“Glad to see you aren’t dead.” quipped Starry.

“What can I say? It wouldn’t be a party without me.”

“Well, he’s still an asshole.” noted Chaser. “And I hope you brought more than just your crew of misfits, because we’re facing down an army-”

“Way ahead of you kid.” Dusk turned back to the other Spartans. “Meet Palmer, Thorne and Miller. Ray, Hoya and Madsen should already be on the perimeter by now with the marines.”

“Good to know.” Starry waved the group to follow. “Come on, Gramps is gonna want to see you four.”

As the group got further into the town center, they passed the old school with the medics rushing about trying to stave off death for the few that were still alive at the makeshift hospital.

“How bad have the casualties been?” questioned Thorne.

“Twenty dead the first day, fifteen wounded.” answered Chaser. “Three of the wounded are back on the front, two died of their wounds and the others are still recovering.”

“How are the medical supplies holding up?”

Chaser chuckled. “If you count air as a medical supply, we’ve got plenty. Most of the first aid gear got destroyed by an artillery shell.”

“Once we get a line up and running to Infinity, I’ll see if Dalton can send some fresh supplies.” added Miller.

“Good enough.”

As the group approached the town hall, a grizzled stallion in a set of battered royal guard armor walked out, a ranger on his heels. “Starry, Chaser, what did I say about bringing strays?”

Dusk strode up in front of the group. “Probably something along the lines of shoot first, ask questions later?”

Meteor walked up to Dusk, who was easily a foot taller than the old stallion, before wrapping him in a bear-hug before stepping back. “Didn’t think I’d be seeing you again.”

Dusk cocked an eyebrow. “And when did you become all mushy and overly emotional?”

“After we lost hope finding you alive. That was a year after that Spartan shot me.”

“If it makes you feel better, Naomi won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.” said Dusk. “Same thing with her boss. Fleetcom has all of the information I had on ONI’s activities on Equis and their experiments on me, and to put it bluntly they’re pissed.”

“That isn’t going to do jack about the troops already here.” quipped the ranger. “They’re operating under the command of General West Wind.”

“In other words, Fleetcom can’t do anything to reel them in?” asked Miller

“That about sums it up.”

“Then the goal here is simple.” stated Dusk. “We push back the ONI forces, take out their base, and be home in time for dinner.”

______________________________________________________________________________

On the outskirts of town, the marines continued to take a beating from the ONI forces, even with the three Spartans that had rallied with the battered defenders

“Did someone forget to tell these guys to pack up and go home?” asked Madsen as he split apart the helmet of an ONI soldier with a shot from his rifle.

Hoya slamfired six shots from his shotgun before ducking down into the trench with Madsen. “Something tells me they really don’t care!” yelled the Spartan as he popped out of cover and blew away one of the advancing soldiers.

Ray dove into the trench with the two other Spartans, sticking her rifle up over the top of the trench before burning through the magazine. “And I don’t care at all. Just keep these bastards back!”

“Delta to Gamma, what’s your status?”

Ray tapped the side of her helmet. “We’re getting nowhere fast!”

“Copy that. We’re inbound.”

“Shit, enemy-” Hoya didn’t have a chance to finish as the shell from an ONI tank struck only feet away from the edge of the trench, tossing the Spartan back.

Ray popped her head up over the top of the trench, staring down at a Grizzly tank that was spraying machine gun fire on the other trenches along the outskirts of town. “Delta, we’ve got enemy heavy armor on our asses over here!”

“Don’t worry about it.” squawked Grant over the radio. As she started her run with the gunship, the Grizzly she was bearing down on caught sight of her, and blasted the port side wing off with it’s main gun. “On second thought, ya might want to worry about it.”

Grant dove out of the back of the gunship, as it spun out of control and crashed right behind the Grizzly. The Spartan ran up to the other members of her team and dropped down in the trench. “Anyone else have a bright idea?”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Infinity uplink is active.” said Miller as he scrambled back to his feet.

Dusk nodded and walked up to the holotable. “Ground team to Infinity, anyone there?”

“Roland here. We’re reading you loud and clear Commander.”

“Roland, the marines are getting their asses handed to them down here. Anything you can throw my way?”

“Give me a sec.” There was a moment of silence before the AI returned. “I’ve got Warbird Company deployment-ready, and Fireteams Kodiak and Lancer are gearing up. I can have them on the ground inside of fifteen.”

“Do it.” Dusk turned back to the assembled Spartans. “Miller, stay here and coordinate with Infinity. The rest of you are with me.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Captain, Warbird, Kodiak and Lancer are free and clear.” reported the AI.

“Good. You hear anything on the Pioneer?”

“Supposedly they’ve taken the bridge. Beyond that, I don’t have much-” Roland paused for a moment. “Scratch that, they’ve vented the atmosphere and have set the Pioneer on a collision course with the ONI base planetside. The Regent is extracting the Spec Ops teams now.”

“Well, that’s different.” as the ship’s deck shuddered Lasky looked out on the ongoing engagement with the Euclid’s Anvil. “What’s the status of their shields?”

“Holding at roughly 75%.”

Lasky sighed. “Is the MAC still on standby?”

“Never shut it down.”

“Lock onto their bridge and fire at will.”

At the Captain’s order, twin streaks of light flew out from the MACs, punching a hole through the Euclid’s Anvil.

“Target hit. Their shields are down.”

“Lock onto their reactor.” ordered the Captain.

“Target locked, ready to fire.”

For a moment, Lasky seemed to hesitate before turning back to face Roland. “Fire.”

The second shot acted as the killing blow to the wounded Anvil. Explosion after explosion could be seen along the hull before the reactor went critical, blowing the damaged vessel to pieces.

“Target destroyed Captain. We now have orbital supremacy.”

“Good. Send a message to Fleetcom and bring them up to speed on the situation. Once you’re done, deploy engineer teams and get a firebase set up near Dodge City.”

“And what about you sir?”

Lasky turned and walked to the front of the bridge. “I need to go play diplomat.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Dusk dove into one of the blown out buildings as Palmer expended another set of magazines for her pistols. He tossed Palmer his railgun, which she used to obliterate a machine gun nest that was tearing into a position occupied by a group of Equestrian Rangers. Dusk broke from cover with his own pistol and rushed the remains of the machine gun nest, grabbing the broken turret as he ran and started spraying lead towards the still-advancing ONI soldiers.

“Figured these guys would’ve quit by now!” yelled Palmer as she ducked into the crater left by the railgun.

“And where’s the fun in that?” asked Dusk as he ran out of ammo for the turret. Dropping the turret, he pulled his magnum off his hip once more before delivering a headshot to the driver of an advancing Warthog transport. “Batter up!”

Palmer scrambled out of the crater, before blasting away at the Warthog with the railgun. The first shot hit the troop bay, blowing it clear off and killing the group of soldiers riding in the back, while the second hit the Warthog’s fuel tank, turning into a fireball before dropping the railgun. “We’re out of ordnance!”

“Well that’s fucking great!” yelled the stallion. The pair rushed forward and took cover behind the burning Warthog. “Miller, where’s my reinforcements?”

“They’re roughly five minutes out.”

“Good, we’ll leave the cleanup to them” Dusk looked over at Palmer. “Up for a hail mary?”

The Spartan nodded, and the pair tore off towards the main group of ONI soldiers. As they rushed forward, Dusk vaulted over a wall of sandbags and landed on an unsuspecting marksman. He took a knee before shooting the marksman’s head and grabbing the dead soldier’s rifle. Checking the ammo counter, he noticed he had a full magazine. “Good enough.” The unicorn charged forwards and swung his rifle like a bat, breaking the helmet of the ONI officer that was supervising the offensive.

Palmer took the initiative and tackled the dazed officer, before unloading two shots from her magnums into the poor soul’s chest. As she got up, she looked around at the shocked ONI soldiers. “Anyone else?”

Yet no new challengers came. The sight of their commander being executed by the Spartan broke the morale of the advancing ONI soldiers, who turned and began to run back towards their base in the desert.

“That’s right, run you fuckers!” yelled Dusk as he unloaded the clip from his rifle at the retreating army. As Palmer started shooting away, Dusk caught a glint of metal out of the corner of his eye, spotting a retreating Scorpion tank, it’s gun trained on the two Spartans. As it fired, time seemed to slow down as Dusk went to tackle Palmer out of the way. As the he hit the Spartan, the shell impacted and exploded against the ground only inches from where the two stood, sending them flying back into a muddy ditch.

Dusk began to drag himself to his feet. “Palmer!” he yelled. Looking around, he saw the Spartan face down in the mud. He scrambled over to her and flipper her onto her back. Her helmet’s visor had been shattered, and her armor had been ripped off her left side from the blast. He tore her helmet off, and was met with an unbreathing Spartan. “Shit…”

The unicorn used his magic to rip Palmer’s damaged chestplate off and started pumping away on her chest. “Come on Palmer!” Dusk charged his hands with pure magic before he brought his hands down on her chest. Palmer gasped and tensed up before falling back into the mud, her breathing labored. Dusk picked up the Spartan and began to carry her back to the trenches, and was met by the members of Majestic. He brushed right by them, and walked into the back of one of the now-empty Pelicans. Placing Palmer on the floor, he went up to the cockpit. “Get us to Canterlot. Roland can give you the directions.

As he walked back to the troop bay, Majestic had already taken seats in the bay.

“What happened?” asked Thorne.

“Receiving end of a Scorpion.” replied Dusk as he sat on the floor with his unconscious predecessor. He propped her up into a sitting position and leaned the wounded soldier against his side.

“Is she gonna be OK?” questioned Madsen.

“I don’t know.” said Dusk. “I just don’t know.”

Author's Note

Coming up next: The Reunion!