The South Pole

Dusk was walking around the cabin of the Pelican, looking over the map of the Enclave shipyard on his helmet’s HUD. “Dad, you realize I’m letting you lead me into a cheese grater, right?”

Sonar looked up from his seat at Dusk. He was wrapped in a set of reinforced leather armor and a fur-lined cloak. “What? It’s just a bunch of sentry guns, anti-aircraft emplacements, some mortar tubes and a few tanks thrown in.”

“And might I remind you that you insisted that you and I were the only two who go on this little trip?”

“And that’s because I have a plan.” Sonar pulled out his own tablet, pulling up the map of the shipyard. “You see all these guns? All of them have one single control station. We take that station, we can take over the shipyard far easier than a full army. Can you tell me why?”

Dusk shook his head. “Because small teams are far more mobile.”

“Exactly. And because of that, it’ll be far easier for two of us to sneak into that shipyard, take over the weapons control station and take out the entire garrison.” Said Sonar. “And then we get that shiny new Raptor-Class airship that’s just waiting to get its power core installed.”

“Wait, you want the airship they’re building?”

“Exactly. It’s smaller than the Thunderhead-class you’re more familiar with, faster and far more maneuverable. Beyond that, they’ve got who knows how many Vertibucks and Sky Tanks finished, along with fully functional assembly lines to build parts to support them.”

“So, overhaul the Equestrian army so we stand a fighting chance against ONI and the Enclave?” asked Dusk. “I’m starting to like this plan.”

“Glad to know that you approve.” Sonar stood and pulled up his hood and mask as the Pelican shuddered. The ramp at the rear dropped, revealing the white-out conditions of a blizzard. “You coming?”

Dusk followed his father out of the Pelican, which promptly took off into the storm. The motion tracker on the inside of his helmet was registering countless white blips brought on by the deluge of frozen water. Trying to turn on his helmet’s VISR only worsened the problem, blinding Dusk until he shut it off. “You at least know where we’re going?”

Sonar nodded, leading Dusk into the squall. “There’s a cliff that can give us a good look at the shipyard just up here.”

“And how the hell do you know that?”

Sonar held his arm out, stopping Dusk’s progress and pointed down. “Because you almost walked off it.”

“Glad to know someone is paying attention.” Said Dusk. “You see a way in?”

“Something that looks like a drain grate, base of the wall about twenty feet from the front door at the end of a trench.”

“That’ll work.” Dusk jumped down the cliff, Sonar right on his tail as he ran for the trench his father had pointed out. The pair dove down into the trench and started crawling towards the wall.

“Lovely weather we’re having…” muttered Sonar as he reached the grate. “Dusk, be a gentleman and get the door.”

Dusk nodded as he crawled forward. He wrapped his hands around the bars of the grate, breaking the bolts holding it in place as he pulled it back before he tossed it to the side and scrambled through into the dim tunnel. “So, we’ll just assume that this doesn’t lead to some death trap?” whispered Dusk.

“Who knows?” whispered Sonar in return. “With my luck, we’ll end up in the middle of a group of armed guards.”

As they crawled through the tunnel, it shuddered and dropped for a brief moment. “You’re an ass, you know that?” The tunnel came free of its mooring, dumping Dusk and Sonar into a storeroom below.

“Look at what we found here…” came a voice from the far side of the room. “On second thought, what am I looking at Vaz?”

Dusk turned over, clambering to his knees. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I take it you know these bastards?” asked Sonar.

Vaz approached, staring down at Dusk before he punted him in the head and hitting Sonar over the head with his pistol. “More like we know him. Mal, you want these jokers in lockup?”

“What do you think?” asked the soldier. “Just toss them in with that old Prowler crew, and we can have Naomi deal with them later.”

Dusk grunted as he tried to get to his feet. “You know, I’m still kicking.”

“I’ll take care of that.” Said a female voice. From behind Dusk, a bolt of electricity struck him in the back, forcing him to the ground. As Dusk began to go unconscious, he spotted a human female in a normal uniform, and a purple-clad Spartan alongside her.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

‘Damn, that hurt…’ thought Dusk as he rolled over. Opening his eyes, he saw the shield bar on his HUD flashing red. “That’s even better…” he muttered.

“What’s better?” asked Sonar from the other corner of the room.

“Its sarcasm asshole!” groaned Dusk as he sat up and reset his shield generator. Turning to his father, he tore off his helmet and wiped his eyes before looking back at him. His father was sitting on the ground with three armor-clad humans with some playing cards. “Alright, what the hell?”

“These would be our cellmates.” Said Sonar. “Meet Jai, Adrianna and Mike of Gray Team.”

The three humans exchanged looks before one tossed Dusk a canteen. “Drink that.”

Dusk pulled the plug off the canteen, downing the contents before tossing it away. “So, what did you three do to piss off Kilo-Five?”

“So that’s what those scumbags are calling themselves?” asked the female of the group. “Well isn’t that just wonderful!”

One of the Spartans ditched his helmet, revealing a dirty face with a shaven head. “So, you have some experience with Naomi and Serin?”

“You could say we’ve had our run-ins.”

“Mike, get our gear back to full strength. Adrianna, pull out the weapons.” The Spartan stood up while the female grabbed three pistols from a niche in the wall while the other plugged some chips into slots on their armor.

Dusk scrambled to his feet and went for the wall by the cell door. “Alright, first things first. We need to find an armory and get some better weapons. Then we-.”

“Look, don’t think too far ahead. Let’s get some guns and go from there.” The Spartans checked their equipment before ripping the cell door off and tossing it to the back of the cell.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Hey Cyclone, you hear that?” asked one of the guards.

“Hear what?”

“Oh, just the sound of me cracking some skulls.” From behind the two guards, Dusk’s armored hands grabbed their heads and smashed them together.

“Found some guns!” yelled Adrianna as she tossed around some rifles.

“Damn straight.” Said Dusk as he caught a laser rifle. “Now we just need to take weapon control station and secure the Raptor in drydock.”

“What’s a Raptor?” asked Jai.

“Enclave airship. Small, decent armament, and rated for vacuum.” Said Sonar. “And then there’s the Skytanks and Vertibucks down in storage that could use a good home, but what the hell do I know? They’re only packing enough firepower to level a village.”

“See why I want that control station?” asked Dusk.

Jai nodded. “Mike, go with them and take those guns offline. Me and Adrianna will keep the locals busy.”

“And if we can’t take the guns down?” asked the Spartan.

“Find a way to destroy the base. I don’t see a reason to let the locals keep the toys ONI has helped them build.” Replied Jai.

“We should get moving.” Said Dusk. “I’m going to bet that the Enclave are already establishing defensive emplacements that’ll need cracking.”

“Then don’t wait on my account. Get moving.”

Dusk waved for his father and Mike to follow, opening the bulkhead to the adjacent stairwell. “On me.” As the group began to climb the stairs Jai closed the bulkhead behind them, leaving the dim red lights lining the walls as their only company.

“Am I the only one getting that whole ‘evil fortress’ vibe?” muttered Sonar.

“Nope.” Replied Dusk. “The red lights do sell the package.”

“Couldn’t you two take this a bit more seriously?” asked Mike. “We’re in hostile territory and you two are debating interior decorations?”

Dusk shrugged as he opened the bulkhead on the next landing. “Why the hell not?”

BANG!

Dusk turned to the dead Enclave officer on the other side of the bulkhead. “Never mind, I see your point.” Swinging his rifle off his back, Dusk swept into the empty corridor. “Mike, you see anything?”

“I see an empty corridor.”

Dusk shook his head. “On your motion trackers?”

Mike chuckled. “Like I said, empty corridor.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“Jai, do we have a plan?” asked Adrianna as she ducked behind a crate.

“Can’t say we do.” Said the Spartan as he leveled his laser rifle. “But shooting shit seems like a good start.” Jai fired a shot from the rifle, followed by the explosion of a fuel barrel on the opposite side of the room.

“Shit, we’ve got intruders!”

Adrianna sighed. “Knucklehead…” The Spartan broke out of cover, making an exercise of her excellent accuracy and dispatching the guard with a single shot to the neck.

Jai pulled his magnum off his hip, clipping one of the soldiers on the upper catwalks.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

In the Enclave control room, two of the Guards were sitting back with their feet up, watching a hoofball game on one of the monitors. Outside were some dull bangs, barely heard over the volume generated by the game.

“Hey Cinder, you hear anything?” Asked one of the guards.

“Nah, can’t say I did.” Grunted the other. “Didn’t we watch this game before?”

“It doesn’t hurt that it’s live this time.”

“To bad you won’t see the whole thing.” Said a voice from behind the guards, before two knives came down through their collars.

“You’d figure they’d have better security.” Noted Dusk as he tossed the dead bodies off to the side.

“Does it matter?” asked Mike as he pulled his knives out of the corpses. “We have our control room. Now we just need the weapon controls.”

As the group wandered the small room, Sonar pulled a panel off the wall, revealing a red lever. “Well that’s different…” he muttered as he pulled the lever. The room shook for a moment, before the bank of computers to Sonar’s left slid down into the floor, revealing a glass sliding door. “I think I found it!”

Dusk pushed past Sonar, ripping the door off its rails and tossing it to the side. “Effin’ A!”

The three walked into the dim room, illuminated by the light from monitors along the wall. Most held readouts from the systems throughout the complex.

“You did say that this is different.” Said Mike as he wandered around, reading the monitors. “Production schedules, completed inventory, test results, power production…”

“And testing reports from that Raptor’s power core.” Said Sonar. “And if I’m reading these right, they just put it in this morning and are just about ready to power up.”

Dusk paused in his stroll, a screen on the far side of the room catching his eye. “I think I found our weapons control station.” As the screen slowly scrolled downward, Dusk hit a button on the keyboard, stopping it in its tracks. “What is this about an orbital defense cannon?”

“Come again?” asked Mike.

“An orbital defense cannon.” Repeated Dusk as he managed to get into the menu for the cannon controls. “Well… Looks like ONI has been busy. They’ve got a cloaked Super-MAC platform in orbit, and it’s fully functional.”

“Someone want to tell me what a Super-MAC is?” asked Sonar.

“Think a gun that fires a round that weighs as much as a large building at nearly a third of the speed of light.” Answered Mike.

Sonar groaned and shook his head. “Will I like the analogy of how fast that actually is?”

“You could go from here to the sun in under ten minutes. On a normal ship at sublight speeds, that would take the better part of a day.” Answered Dusk. “Now, I can take out the cloak from here and… Oh shit.”

“What’s the ‘oh shit’ for? The hidden super-weapon hovering over our heads?”

“Not our heads, but over everyone in Vanhoover. And that thing is preparing to take a shot.” Said Dusk as he typed away at the keyboard. “They’ll be ready in two hours, but now everyone can see the platform so I guarantee that they’ll move up whatever their timetable is. As such, we need to either take out the platform or disable it.” Dusk turned back to his companions and shrugged. “Anyone got an idea?”

“One of the Sky Tanks should be able to handle the trip.” Suggested Sonar.

“Then let’s expand on that idea.” Added Mike. “There’s only three of us, maybe five if Adrianna and Jai aren’t too busy to tag along. We don’t know how many hostiles are on that platform, nor how well armed they are.”

“So we need more bodies.” Said Dusk. “We’ll just deal with that on the way.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Jai dove to the ground as one of the armored wings of the Enclave soldier he was fighting swung past. “You need to do better than that!”

As the soldier tried to recover Adrianna clocked him clean in the face with enough force to knock him back a few feet. “Me or him?”

“Why would I be talking about you?” asked Jai as he scrambled to his feet.

“Three months with no training.” Said Adrianna.

The pair turned to face the crowd of shock troops that were rushing into the room, watching as the glass from the control room above them broke and Mike dropped down behind the group before clubbing the trailing two soldiers in the back of the head. “Miss me?”

The remaining trio turned to face the newly arrived Spartan, before Dusk and Sonar dropped down behind Mike. “Na, I’m more of a loner.” Said Dusk as he cocked back his new magnum.

“Good to know.” Said Mike as he picked off the remaining soldiers. “Now where’s that ride?”

“What ride?” asked Jai.

“The ride we need to get to a giant death gun orbiting the planet.” Said Sonar. “That ole’ chestnut?”

“He means the Super-MAC that ONI has parked in orbit.” Added Mike.

“And you want to raid it?” Asked Jai. “That’s a suicide run we don’t have time for. We know Naomi and her friends are still floating around, so therefore disabling them has to be the priority.”

“Even if that MAC is pointed at a city?”

“Yes. Only because we need to make sure we’re either conscious or alive in order to make it to that platform.”

Dusk groaned. “Then I’ll go. You four deal with Naomi.”

“And who said you could go alone?” asked Sonar.

“I did.” Retorted Dusk. “Naomi isn’t my main concern, but the ponies in Vanhoover are. So, as a result, I’m going to grab a Sky Tank and fly my ass up there and take out that gun. We clear?”

Mike shrugged. “Hey, it’s his funeral.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

UNSC Spirit of Fire

“Serena, do you have anything else on that blip?”

The AI’s avatar shook its head. “Nothing yet sir. We’re still not in a position where the planet isn’t blocking our sensors.”

Cutter sighed. “Has the Paris had any more luck?”

“Negative. They’re still out of position.”

“Serena, open a channel to Baxter.” Ordered Cutter.

“Channel open.”

“Paris, this is Spirit. Can you tell me anything else on that contact you picked up?”

“Paris here. Beyond the fact that it was big, not much. I’m about five minutes from sensor contact.”

“And we’re ten. That really doesn’t get us-”

“Captain, we’ve got a sensor contact.” Interrupted Serena. “Small Enclave ship skirting the edge of the upper atmosphere… Well that’s different.”

“What’s different?” asked the Captain.

“I’m reading the IFF from Dusk’s armor on board.”

“That’s probably because I’m flying the damn thing Serena.”

Cutter sat down at one of the bridge consoles, looking at the sensor readout. “I take it you have a reason for being up here?”

“If you guessed taking out a Super-MAC that was parked in orbit, also pointed at a city inhabited by a few hundred thousand ponies, then you’re right on the money.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Commandeered Sky Tank

“Do I want to know how you figured that one out Dusk?” came Baxter’s voice over the radio.

“I’d rather spare the details for now.” He replied. “I’m maybe two minutes out. How soon can either of you get to that platform and back me up?”

“Five minutes at minimum.” Replied Baxter “What’s your plan?”

“I was planning on guns blazing, only because I don’t have time to sneak on board. Maybe ram this bucket into the station, blow a hole in the hull and board from there.”

“You do realize that’s a suicide run?” Added Cutter.

“I’m pretty sure Jai said something similar.” Retorted Dusk. “And before I forget, ONI had some Spartans captive down at the shipyard. You're welcome in advance."

“What do you need us to do?” Asked Baxter

“Just make sure you're there when I need one of you.”

“Copy that. See you on the other side Dusk. Paris out.”

Dusk sighed and leaned back in the pilots chair before he punched in a new frequency to the Sky Tank’s communication suite. “Hey Dart, you there?”

Zzzzzzttttttt…..

“Hello?”

“Dusk, where the hell are you?”

“On board an Enclave Sky Tank. Listen, I don’t have much time. ONI has a weapon platform in orbit that has Vanhoover in its sights and I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop it in time.”

“Is this going to be some heartfelt goodbye? Because I get the feeling that’s where this is going.”

Dusk let his head hang for a moment. “I honestly have no idea, but I need you to get word to Cosmo. Tell him to get out of the city and set up a forward command center-.”

“Because you think we’ll need it. Alright, I’ll make the call. Do you need anything?”

“Not that you can get to me quick enough.” Sighed Dusk. “Just… Whatever happens, be careful.” Dusk clicked off the radio and turned his attention to the view screen. Ahead of him was the distant grey mark that was the Super-MAC. “Show time…” As the MAC grew larger as the distance clicked off, Dusk pushed the throttle lever all the way forward and jammed it there, feeling the Sky Tank shudder as the afterburner kicked in, propelling him into the void.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Canterlot Castle

“Dusk? Dusk, can you hear me?” Dart slammed her hand down on the top of the radio receiver. “I hate it when he just hangs up!”

“Something wrong?” asked one of the guards.

“Find me Captain Sentry, now!” ordered Dart as she started writing out a quick letter for Cosmo, before sealing it and sending it away in a flash of light.

“Just take it easy Dart.” Groaned Flash as he walked into the wardroom. “What’s wrong this time?”

“We’ve got a giant superweapon over our heads. That’s what’s wrong!” Before Dart could continue, a letter appeared in a flash of light. As it dropped into the mare’s hands, she furrowed her brow and opened it. “God damn it, I just sent this letter. Look, I’ll be right back.”

Dart quickly charged up her horn, and in a pop her surroundings changed from that of clean marble columns to a spacious apartment. “Cosmo, where the hell are you?”

“He’s not here.” Called a female voice from a side room.

Dart followed the noise, finding Halsey studying a set of blueprints. “Then where is he?”

“He was headed to investigate a Changeling outpost on the north coast. Then we got a letter here from Canterlot asking to keep an eye out for additional gang activity in the area.”

“And what do those have to do with anything?”

Halsey tossed Dart the two seals from each letter. “One’s just a piece of wax. The other is a real royal seal with silver leaf laced throughout. Cosmo didn’t think to check the first letter, so Cloud took off after them to try and warn them.”

Dart sighed, tossing the seals to the side. “Then I need to get you out of the city.”

“I would assume that you have a more specific reason?”

“Try the superweapon pointed at the city from orbit.” Snipped Dart as she grabbed Halsey’s arm and dragged her out of the loft and into the building’s elevator.

“Superweapon?” asked Halsey.

“According to Dusk, ONI parked a Super-MAC in orbit over our heads. Per standard high risk contingencies, any ranking personnel in service of the crown is to be removed from a potential danger zone and taken to establish a forward operating base.” Stated Dart. “With Cosmo out of the picture for the time being, you’ll have to do.”

“Should I be flattered that I’m considering that I’m the ranking individual in the room?”

As the elevator opened on the ground floor, Dart led Halsey out of the building in a quick stride. “Take it how you want, but I need you clear of the city before that MAC opens up on the city.”

Halsey stopped, grabbing Dart’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, did you say MAC? As in a MAC Platform?”

“Do you want me to sugar coat it?” said Dart as she started walking down the street towards the harbor’s train station.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Commandeered Sky Tank

“Paris, Spirit. I’m making my run.”

“And just how do you plan on getting onto that station?”

Dusk chuckled, fastening the harness on the pilot’s seat. “I remembered to bring my battering ram.” As the platform began to grow larger as he neared, Dusk pushed the throttle all the way forward before breaking it off. As the tank accelerated, Dusk quickly locked his armor and shut his eyes before being thrown around violently. The harness on his seat quickly broke, letting Dusk’s armored form fly forward and impact against a large solid object.

Dusk slowly opened his eyes, swiveling his head around quickly. Behind him was the wrecked hull of the Sky Tank, serving as a plug to hold the station’s atmosphere in. The shattered glass of the view screen was scattered about after the cockpit crumpled in on itself.

“Dusk, you still there?” came Baxter’s voice over the radio.

“I’m not dead if that’s what you’re asking.” He groaned as he rose to his feet.

“Good to know.”

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a station to shut down.” Dusk clicked off his radio before darting down the hallway.

‘Figured there would have been some guards by now…’ Thought Dusk as he came up on a glass sliding door overlooking a large room. Dusk stuck his hands into the seam between the two halves and slid it open enough to slip through, letting the door slid shut once he was through. ‘Now, what did we find?’ Dusk turned to look over the room he entered, seeing row upon row of Enclave technicians typing away at a number of terminals. In the center of the room was a command station.

“General, hostile ships are two minutes from contact.”

“Do we have the target locked in?” came a static-toned voice

“Negative, the targeting computer isn’t working properly. We’re running on manual control to maintain the lock.”

“Good. Transfer control to the main station.” Dusk watched as a pedestal with a joystick began to rise from the command console, and the officer in charge turned his attention to it. “Well then Meteor Shower, it’s time to say goodbye to your dear hometown.”

‘Wait a minute, that voice…’ Dusk pulled the pistol off his him, dropping the magazine and pulled a round free before he stood up and tossed the bullet with enough force that it tweaked the position of the joystick. A mere moment later the station shook as its main weapon discharged.

“What the hell was that?” yelled the officer.

“General, the shot missed the city center. It impacted in the bay and has caused sizable flooding in the adjacent districts.”

Dusk slid the magazine back into his pistol with a click. “Sorry about that!”

The officer turned to face Dusk, revealing his damaged face, patched back up with metal plate and cybernetics. “Are you sure finding bad times to interrupt isn’t your specialty?”

“Then surviving bullets to the face must be yours Westy. Either that or you've got brains to spare” Quipped Dusk.

“Target the harbor district, prepare to fire.” Ordered the General.

Dusk hopped the railing, dropping down to the lower deck before charging the mutilated General and smashing him through the command console. “Sorry, that order’s been delayed.”

West Wind drew his feet back before pushing Dusk off him and pulling a knife out of his waistband. “Too bad for you then.” West Wind stomped down on Dusk’s back as he moved to get up, forcing him back to the ground.

Dusk tried to push himself back up, only to face stiff resistance from West Wind’s boot. “Damn, you put on some serious weight.” He groaned.

“Cybernetics are a wonderful thing.” West Wind stepped off Dusk’s back, punting him in the side of his chest. “Wouldn’t you agree?” Dusk could only groan in discomfort.

“General, Paris has us in her weapons range.”

The General shook his head. “Get everyone to the portal and set the main battery to fire when charged. We’re packing up shop.” At his word, klaxons and alarms began to blare throughout the station. “I’d say it was a pleasure Dusk, but I’d be lying.” Quipped the General. He waved to the crew, who immediately began to file out of the room. As he reached the door, West Wind turned around and tossed a grenade at the computers, which promptly blew them to smithereens.

Dusk stayed still for what seemed like ages before he rolled over onto his back and looked down at his chest plate. ‘Fuck, that’ll hurt in the morning’ He thought as he ran his hand over the massive crack in the plate before he tapped the panel on his arm. ‘Good, vacuum seal is still intact.’

He struggled to get to his knees for a moment, wheezing as he finally managed to rise from the floor. “Paris, what’s your status?”

“Just coming on station now.”

Dusk walked over to the shattered consoles and shook his head before he turned his head to the main readout on the wall on the far end of the room. Slowly, the displayed timer was creeping up past six seconds. “Paris, target the station’s bridge and fire!”

“Any reason as to-”

“Just do it Baxter!” yelled Dusk as he found a bulkhead to brace himself against. He held his breath before the room around him exploded in a fireball which was promptly sucked out into the vacuum before the remaining debris in the room began to float and tumble in the low gravity of the gutted compartment.

“Dusk, you need to get out of there. The station just lost its stabilizers and is starting to fall out of orbit.”

“How much time do I have?” he asked as his boots magnetized.

“Considering that the station was skirting the upper atmosphere, I’d say fifteen seconds before the station begins to break up.”

“Baxter, did that last round actually hit Vanhoover?”

“Barely, it flooded out just about every neighborhood at or below sea level with the tidal wave it spit up.”

“One more thing. Can you patch me through to Dart?”

The radio crackled for a moment before a familiar voice came through. “Dusk, what the hell just happened? Most of the damn city is drowning down here!”

“I did what I could. It was either let that round hit the city center or somewhere else.”

“That doesn’t help me at all!”

Dusk sighed as the station began to shake.

“Dusk, you’re out of time. You need to get off that station now!” came Baxter’s frantic voice.

“Dart, remember what I told you when me and Steeljack brought you back to the factory for the first time?”

“You said quite a bit. Mind cluing me in?”

“I’ve always fought the hard battles, even if I had no choice.”

“Because someone needs to stand for those who can’t stand for themselves… Dusk, where are you going with this?”

“There may come a day where I don’t come home.” Dusk detached his boots from the deck and pushed himself towards the hole in the bridge. “I get a feeling today might be that day. When this is all over, try to remember me for the fun we had, not the times where we were hurting or angry.”

“Dusk, please tell me this is some sick joke.”

Dusk clicked off his radio as he cleared the bridge and grabbed a piece of the hull and breaking it free before putting it between him and the ground. As the metal began to heat up and glow, Dusk shut his eyes and sighed. “I guess I’ve had a good run.”

Author's Note

Is it a problem that this song starts playing in the back of my head as I imagine Dusk falling out of the station?