Uncharted Island

For a moment, Patch was taken aback by Steeljack’s gesture. That moment ended quickly when Patch delivered an uppercut straight into Steeljack’s jaw, sending him sprawling out on the beach.

Steeljack groaned and tried to push himself up. “What the hell was that for?” he asked.

“You’re not Steeljack.” said Patch. “I watched him die in a fireball. You might look like him, but there’s no way in hell tha-”

“Oh come on! We took on the Cult of Iron Will together, and unless I’m way off we both thought we were going to die.” quipped Steeljack.

Patch dragged Steeljack up by the collar, before staring him in the face. “You know what the kicker here is?” she asked. Dropping Steeljack back on the ground, she developed a glare that would melt the coldest glacier. “You did die.”

“Patch, please-” Steeljack pleaded

“No!” yelled Patch, tears starting to stream down her face. “I saw you die. I was there when we buried you. And I know that you weren’t there when the twins were born, so don’t say a damn thing.” For a moment, Patch seemed to hesitate, before leveling her rifle at Steeljack’s head.

“Patch, back off.” growled Lilith as she leveled her rocket launcher. “I don’t like it either, but he’s real.”

Violet and Star walked up to Patch, before putting themselves between Patch and Steeljack.

“Star, Violet, get the hell out of my way.” said Patch.

For a moment, Star and Violet exchanged glances. “We’re not moving.” stated Star.

Before anyone could react, Steeljack blew past Star and Violet, before grabbing Patch and mashing his face into hers in an impassioned kiss. Stepping back, Steeljack wiped a tear off her face. “Patch… Please just listen to me-”

Steeljack was cut off when Patch tackled him, pinning him on the ground. For a moment, it appeared that Patch had made her mind up. But that appearance was shattered when she kissed him before wrapping her arms around his head “It really is you, isn’t it?” she sobbed.

Steeljack didn’t say a word, before rolling Patch off him, scrambling to his feet while reaching down to help the mare up. “It’s me Patch.” as he dragged the mare to her feet, he wrapped her in a bear hug. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

“Steeljack…” groaned Patch as she tapped furiously on his shoulder.

“Shit.” Steeljack let go of the mare, before grabbing her shoulders. “You gonna be OK?”

“Now that I’m not getting crushed in a bear-hug, yes. I’ll be perfectly fine and I’ll die at a ripe old age.” snarked Patch.

“Can someone just tell us what the hell is going on?” asked the other green mare.

Steeljack looked over at the mare, taking note of her and her pegasus companion.

“Steeljack, meet Starry Night and Lightning Chaser.”

Steeljack stared at the twins for a moment, before walking up to the pair and wrapping them in a bear hug. “I never thought I’d see the day.” he said as he stepped back to get another look at the pair. “Now, I’ve gotta ask, but where did the two of you learn how to fight?”

The twins looked at each other, before just shrugging. “Just had some good teachers.” said Lightning Chaser.

Steeljack chuckled. “Good to know.”

Steeljack was interrupted when his radio started crackling. “Evans to ground team, prep for dustoff.” Within moments, the Pelican touched back down on the beach, ramp already dropped.

As the group made for the Pelican, Steeljack made a beeline for the Cockpit where he found Evans fiddling with the radio. “You do know we’re not done here, right?”

“It’ll have to wait. I just picked up on some radio chatter from the Paris.” Evans spun his chair around to face Steeljack, a rather grim expression evident on his face. “They’re evacuating the majority of the crew to Dodge Junction.”

“Any reason?” questioned Steeljack.

“Not that I picked up on the radio. But what makes things worse is that I can’t contact the ship, but I can hear them.” replied the Pilot.

Then the cockpit radio crackled to life. “Baxter to Tremble, be advised. The Enclave ship is entering visual range. We’re out of time.”

“Commander, the last Pelican is leaving the deck now. Luna is with me, and Celestia is with Wilkins on the lead Scorpion.”

“Understood. We’ll provide whatever cover we can. Paris out.”

Steeljack furrowed his brow before looking back at the pilot. “Get us back to the ship.”

“No need to tell me twice” replied Evans as he turned back to the controls.

Steeljack made his way back to the troop bay, before he took a seat opposite Patch. “Looks like our talk will have to wait a bit. The Paris is under attack by some Enclave airships.”

Patch cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “The Paris?”

Steeljack just chuckled. “It’ll be easier to see it instead of explaining it.”

______________________________________________________________________________

The floor shook beneath Dusk’s feet as the Paris took another hit from the Enclave airship. Around him, some of the consoles had started spewing sparks, while Commander Baxter was being tossed around in his chair.

“Report!” demanded the Commander

“Forward armor just took a hit. It’s starting to buckle!”

Dusk looked over at the officer. “Lock Archers on their weapons and fire at will!”

Immediately three Archer missles flew away from behind the bridge and streamed towards the Enclave airship before impacting on it’s shields. Since the Paris had taken off, they had been fighting a rather defensive engagement, trying to stay out of the airship’s line of fire, while occasionally throwing a few Archers out in response.

“No effect!” yelled the officer.

Commander Baxter looked back at Dusk. “I think we’ve been patient enough.”

Dusk nodded. “All batteries, fire at will.”

Immediately, streams of fire from the nine-tens accompanies another volley of Archer missiles. The effect was more pronounced, collapsing the airship’s shields before shredding parts of the armored hull.

“We’ve breached their hull armor!” reported an officer.

“Damn straight!” yelled Baxter.

“Well, we’ve got another problem.” retorted Dusk. “They’re sending a boarding party.”

“And how would you know that?” questioned the Commander.

Dusk pointed to the forward viewscreen. “I looked out the window.”

The commander turned his attention to the fore, and spotted the boarding party Dusk spoke of; a group of armored pegasi had taken off from the side of the Enclave airship, and were heading straight for the Paris.

______________________________________________________________________________

Steeljack sat in silence. For the better part of the last half hour, Evans had been pushing the Pelican to reach the Paris, and the constant shaking of the craft was a dead giveaway.

“Steeljack!” yelled the Pilot. “Turn your radio on!”

Steeljack went for his radio, before he clicked it on, and was met with an immediate burst of static. “All units, be advised. Paris has a boarding party inbound. As of now you’re all on your own.”

Steeljack hit the transmitter button on the radio. “Paris, this is Alpha-Two. The cavalry is on the way.”

“Come again Alpha-Two. We’re barely reading.”

Steeljack just sighed. “Evans, where do we stand?”

“I can see the Paris!” yelled the pilot. “They’re really getting fucked up!”

Steeljack looked at Star and Lilith. “Can you two take out some of those troopers?”

“Against nearly impossible odds?” asked Lilith. “Eh, it’ll be a cakewalk.”

“Sorry, but I don’t share your confidence.” quipped Steeljack. “Violet, I want you on the door gun. You and Evans are going to take on the Enclave troops. Lilith, Star, you two make a run at that airship and take out their guns.”

“So what are we doing?” asked Starry

“You, your brother, and Patch are with me. We’re going to keep the Enclave off the Paris.”

Steeljack’s radio crackled to life once more. “Tremble to Paris, Zulu Company and Guardian are inbound. What’s your status?”

“Tremble, Dusk here. Forward armor is starting to buckle, we’ve got Enclave in the starboard hangar, comms are spotty and one of the primary conduits to the engines just blew out. Sergeant, we need that airship off our backs now!”

“Copy that. We’ll deploy Betas One and Two to the hangar. Alpha-Three will ride with us to the airship.”

Steeljack looked up at Patch once more. “Change of plans, we’re going after that airship.” Steeljack went back to his radio. “Tremble, this is Alpha-Two. We’ll clear a landing zone.”

As the Pelican began to bank towards the Enclave airship, Patch took the opportunity to swap sides in the troop bay, saddling up next to Steeljack. “So… What’s with ‘Alpha-Two’?” she asked, using air quotes to drive the point home.

“Just a callsign.” he replied. “I picked it up a few years back when I first came here.”

“We still don’t know what ‘here’ actually means.” quipped Lightning Chaser

Steeljack just smiled. “An Equestria not scarred by war and death. No balefire, no radiation, no megaspells. An Equestria that is actually at peace with the world, for the most part. That is what I mean by ‘here’.”

Patch smiled, looking at Steeljack. “Sounds like fun.”

“Better than dodging raiders and psychopaths on a regular basis.” said Steeljack. “Once we’re done here we’ll all sit down, grab some decent food and talk. I at least owe it to you and the kids.”

“Steeljack!” Evans yelled from the cockpit. “We’re hitting the deck in ten seconds!”

Steeljack got up from his seat and went for the back of the ship. Once the ramp dropped, the door gun unfolded from the side wall. Stepping to the opposite side, Steeljack looked over at Violet. “Showtime.”

Violet nodded as she got up and walked over to the door gun.

Once the Pelican made contact with the airship the group filed off onto the hull and spread out as their ride took off, while Lilith and Radiant Star took to the sky.

Steeljack looked around for a moment before going for his radio. “Tremble, you’re clear to land.”

“Copy that.”

As Tremble’s Pelican touched down and the marines filed off, Steeljack caught sight of Dart, decked out in an unfamiliar set of armor with an SMG of her own. Pushing through the crowd of marines, Steeljack made his way over to the unicorn, before grabbing her collar and hauling her over to his compatriots.

Once he let go, Dart looked up at Steeljack before she punched him in the arm. “What the hell was that for?”

“To make some introductions.” Steeljack looked over at Patch. “Dart, this is Patch.”

Patch stared at Dart before looking back at Steeljack. “What the hell?”

“Patch, I know what you’re thinking and you’re wrong.” said Steeljack. “Dart has been something of a protege since I first arrived here. It’s a rather long and drawn out story that we don’t have time for.”

One of the marines walked up to the group, standing out due to the red markings on his armor. “Steeljack, you see a way in?”

Steeljack shook his head. “Nope. Although I think you have a key Tremble.”

“If by key, you mean a block of C12, you’re right.” replied the Sergeant as he pulled the charge out of a softcase on his leg.

______________________________________________________________________________

By this point, the bridge of the Paris was filled with a haze of smoke, lit occasionally by sparks from broken consoles and the daylight from the forward viewscreen. Dusk looked around, seeing a handful of officers still at their posts, while others were lying on the ground, injured from plasma burns when their consoles exploded.

“Sir, Beta One and Two have pushed back the Enclave in the hangar.” reported an officer.

“About fucking time!” yelled Baxter. “Does anyone have anything else to add?”

Dusk walked over to the Commander, the sleeve on his jacked torn slightly at the cuff. “Supposedly the damage control teams have the power to the engines back to normal, and they’ve started working on some of the internal damage on the forward section of the ship where the armor is buckling. In unrelated news, Zulu Company and some of my associates are in the process of breaching the Enclave airship now.”

As Commander Baxter looked back to the forward viewscreen, he saw a small explosion on the upper hull. “I’ll take it that Tremble found his spare keys?”

“Probably. Either that or he decided to do some redecorating” quipped Dusk.

______________________________________________________________________________

Steeljack was the first one to drop into the airship through Tremble’s impromptu method of entry. As the marines dropped in through the hull breach, Steeljack took a moment to look around. They had landed in a large open room, now filled with smoke and dust from the explosive charge. Dart dropped in right behind him, looking around the empty room, followed closely by Patch and the marines.

As the boarding party spread out, Dart walked up to Steeljack. “Any idea on where to start?”

“First we need to take the bridge.” Steeljack replied. He looked back at Patch, who had found Lightning Chaser and Starry Night and was approaching the pair. “Me, you, Patch and the kids can take care of that.”

“So kick ass and take names?” asked the unicorn.

Steeljack furrowed his brow at the mare. “I wouldn’t put it like that, only because there’s no need to go half-cocked. We only need to focus on securing the bridge, not blowing it to kingdom-come.” Steeljack looked around for the marine Sergeant for a moment. “Tremble! Where the hell are you?” he yelled.

The Sergeant walked up behind Steeljack. “Right here, no need to yell.”

Steeljack turned to face the human. “I need you and the marines to secure the ship. Just fan out and drive the Enclave off. I’ll worry about taking the bridge.”

The Sergeant nodded before facing the assembled crowd of troopers. “Alright marines, we are taking this god damn ship! I don’t give a flying fuck what gets in our way. If it ain’t these fine badasses over here, I want it shot and killed. Understood?”

“Hooah!” yelled the marines.

“Damn straight. Now move out!” yelled Tremble.

Immediately the crowd of marines went for the bulkheads, splitting up into four teams of five. Once the first trooper pulled the bulkhead open, the humans stormed through. Gunfire was immediately head as the troopers advanced down the corridors into the bowels of the ship, met by returned pings of energy weapons. Steeljack led his group in behind Tremble, before coming on a junction to a corridor that led to the front of the ship. The farther down the corridor they moved, the reports of gunfire and energy weapons became more akin to background noise. Soon, the group saw the light at the end of the tunnel; an atrium that connected directly to the bridge, with a convenient one-way window to view the organized chaos below.

Patch was the first one at the window, eyes widening at the sight of a small mob of power-armor clad pegasi amassed below. “Really?” she asked. “I know I’ve seen stupid shit before, but taking on an entire room of Enclave soldiers?” Patch just shook her head.

“I doubt it’ll be that difficult” suggested Steeljack. “Dart, you’re with me on the ground. Patch, try and pick some of those bastards off from up here. Starry, Lightning, you’re on deck to save our asses.”

“So we can kick ass and take names now?” asked Dart

Steeljack just smiled, before breaking the window apart with the butt of his weapon before diving through. Dart was right behind him, and the pair landed on two of the Enclave troopers and immediately fired bursts from their weapons into the chests of their downed foes.

As the two got off the Enclave troopers, their compatriots around the room were staring in shock at Steeljack and Dart. “Well then, who’s next?” asked Steeljack with a cocky grin.

______________________________________________________________________________

Dusk paced around the bridge of the Paris, gathering reports from crewmen as he went before being interrupted by Meteor, who had finally made it up to the bridge with Flash.

“This is where you’ve been hiding?” Meteor looked around the bridge, before looking back at Dusk. “It’s a bit dark, don’t you think?”

“Then here’s a bright idea; replace the light bulbs!” retorted Dusk. “If you didn’t notice, I’ve got better things to do at the moment than just chatting.”

“Good to know.” added Baxter as he approached. “Looks like that airship won’t be firing at us anymore. I just got word from Mr. Evans that the last of their main guns have been disabled, and their troopers are heading north to rendezvous with the other airship, which is holding position just off the coast.”

“Do we have anything from the strike team?” asked Dusk

Baxter shook his head. “I haven’t heard anything since Tremble reported that they were encountering heavy resistance near some sort of cell block.”

“Would it hurt if we went over?” asked Meteor, motioning back to his silent companion.

“I don’t see why not. I’ll just need to stop and grab my gear.” Dusk turned to the Commander. “I’ll take it things should be all set over here?”

The Commander only nodded, and the group made their way for the door.

______________________________________________________________________________

By this point, Steeljack was having some difficulty navigating the bodies that were crowding the floor. By this point, Starry Night and Lightning Chaser had joined the fray, tag-teaming one soldier after another. All the while, Patch was above the group in the atrium picking off soldiers as they popped up from behind the bridge stations.

As Steeljack unloaded another clip from his weapon, he went for his pocket, only to find he had run out of clips for his SMG. Discarding the weapon, he pulled out his pistol and started firing at yet another power-armored soldier, dropping yet another after a sudden removal of brain mass.”Are we done yet?” he yelled.

Steeljack took a step back, before backing into Dart, who had discarded her own weapon and was using a plasma rifle she had recovered from the horde of dead soldiers. “Since when are we ever done?” she asked.

“For starters-” Steeljack ducked the punch from yet another soldier, before grabbing the unfortunate colt’s collar, pulling him close before jamming his pistol up into his jaw and pulling the trigger. “We aren’t.” Steeljack turned to his comrade as his most recent foe crumpled to the ground. “Although a vacation looks quite appealing.” With his back turned, one of the few remaining Enclave on the bridge charge, yet he didn’t get far. Steeljack was in rare form, pulling out a knife before whipping around and jamming the knife right in the temple of the would-be assassin.

With only two remaining soldiers on the bridge, Steeljack turned to face them, Dart on his heels, with Starry Night and Lighting Chaser off to the side. “Look, you could either surrender and live life out in a prison cell, or we kill you two. It’s up to you.” he said with a shrug.

In a moment of wisdom, the two soldiers dropped their weapons, before putting their hands behind their heads and dropping to their knees. Almost immediately, marines started swarming the bridge, weapons trained on the pair. With the marines were two bedraggled ponies. One was a grey earth pony, the other a white pegasus carrying a plasma defender.

As the pair approached the surrendering enclave, Steeljack saw that the pegasus had been maimed at one point; one of his wings was burnt and scarred, while the earth pony had a scar running across his left eye.

“Gentlemen.” said the pegasus. “Remember how I said payback’s a bitch?” The pegasus pointed his weapon at the first soldier, before firing a single shot into the head of the soldier, repeating the same action with the second. “Well, it is. So fuck the both of you!”

“Was that necessary Strike?” asked the earth pony.

Steeljack took the opportunity to approach the pair. “Comet if I knew any better, then I’d say that an execution might have been warranted.” As the two turned back to Steeljack, he just shrugged. “What?”

“Good to see you too Steeljack.” said the pegasus. “Where’s Dusk?”

“Honestly?” asked Steeljack. “I don’t have a clue. He should still be on the Paris if it means anything.”

“Fine by me.” Strike turned to look at Comet, before looking back at Steeljack. “So, we leaving?”

“Hell no you’re not!” yelled Dusk as he walked onto the bridge, Flash Sentry and Meteor Shower on his heels. Dusk strode up to the pair, before wrapping them both in a bear hug. Releasing them and stepping back, Dusk had something unusual across his face; a genuine smile. “It’s been too damn long.”

“I’d agree, but as you can see we’ve been otherwise occupied.” replied Strike, turning to show Dusk his maimed wing.

Dusk cringed at the sight of the damaged appendage. “I’ll see if I can pull a favor with the Princess. She might know a way of fixing… That.”

Strike cocked an eyebrow, before glancing over at Comet. “Did you say ‘Princess’?” he asked.

Dusk nodded. “I’d consider myself a friend of Celestia’s. A rather distant, unusual, eccentric-”

“We get the idea.” groaned Comet. “You let her find that our group exists. I thought you were taught better than that?

“Comet, she didn’t find out. I went and found her.” replied Dusk. “We needed support from the crown. Recruits, equipment, supplies. After we came back, most of what we had left ended up getting used. And did I mention we were broke?”

“Comet, Strike, put a damn sock in it.” ordered Meteor. The pair stopped, looking at a leader they thought long dead. “Look, while I hate the idea that we have to answer to some government burecrats, considering the shitshow I found when I got back? That might be the only reason that there even still is a Blaze Squad left.”

“And I’ll just start listening to a dead guy when it comes to advice then.” snarked Strike.

Dusk laughed for a moment. “If it makes you feel any better Strike, I did beat the snot out of the bastard.” Dusk stopped for a moment, a green unicorn with a shiney black mane catching his eye.

Before Dusk even had a chance to approach the mare, Steeljack got between the two, furrowing his brow.

“What?” asked Dusk.

“Don’t even think about it.” said Steeljack.

“The name’s Starry Night by the way.” said the mare. “I guess you’ve already met dad?”

Dusk’s eyes went wide for a moment. “Bloody hell. When did you have time to have kids?”

For a moment, Steeljack looked over at Patch, who just shrugged. “Theater.” he said as he turned back to Dusk.

“Theater?” asked Dusk. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Patch walked up to Dusk, nudging him. “Unless you want me to scar you with mind-numbing details, don’t ask.”

Dusk cocked an eyebrow. “And you must be…” Dusk paused to tap his chin for a moment, before snapping his finger. “Your Patch, aren’t you?”

Patch deadpanned, pointing at her eyepatch. “What was your first clue?”

“Eh, green mare, blue mane. Steeljack did mention an eyepatch.” Dusk stepped back and smirked. “Easy enough once I thought of it. Anyway, name’s Dusk-”

“Baxter to all teams, two minutes to evac. Start wrapping up.”

Dusk grabbed his radio. “Copy that Baxter, we’re packing up now. Give me a minute to grab the harddrive out of the ship’s computer.” With that, Dusk pulled a cord out from his pipbuck, until now hidden under his sleeve, before hooking into one of the bridge terminals. While the data began streaming before his eyes, he looked at the few remaining marines. “Get back to the Pelican. We’ve got our own ride out.”

As the marines ran out of the room, Comet started fidgeting. “And what would you mean by ‘our own ride out’?” he asked.

“Evan’s is on station for pickup at the primary landing zone.” As the data stopped streaming across Dusk’s pipbuck, he pulled the cord and looked back at the group. “Well, don’t wait on my account. Let’s move!”

As the group ran down the corridor, Dusk’s radio chimed in again. “Baxter to Dusk, I need you off that ship now.”

“We’re working on it!” yelled Dusk. As the group rounded the corridor, daylight was seen streaming in from the bulkhead at the end of the corridor. As the group blasted through the opening, the found themselves running right into the back of a waiting Pelican. Dusk was the last one in. “Paris, this is Dusk. We’re clear.” Dusk turned back to the cabin full of ponies, grabbing onto a handrail as the Pelican rocketed away from the airship. “I’d recommend holding onto something!” he yelled.

The reason soon became apparent, as the Pelican blasted by the Paris, now facing the Enclave ship. For a moment, there was a flash of light, before a massive blast shook the Pelican, leaving the passengers blinded and deafened.

As Dusk’s eyesight began to clear up, he looked back on the mass destruction left in the wake of the Paris’ MAC round. The Enclave airship was nothing but flaming scrap metal, crashing to the forest below. Dusk grabbed his radio once more. “Good hit Paris.”

“Damn right it was a good hit! That’s one less Enclave airship to worry about!” yelled the familiar voice of Sergeant Tremble through the radio.

“While I’ll agree that it was a good hit, we still have one more out there. In the meantime Tremble, I want you to go with Dusk to Canterlot. We’ve been offered more permanent accommodations there for our equipment as well as our pathetic asses. I’ll grab the ground teams and meet you there later. Baxter out.”

“Huh…” Dusk stopped to think for a moment. “Anyone else hoping that we get the same invite?” Met with the quizzical looks of his cabin mates, as well as Radiant Star and Lilith (who had just landed in the troop bay through the still-open door). Dusk sighed. “Is it too hard to ask for a decent bed? Maybe some fresh food?”

“And if I said it was?” asked Steeljack, wry grin plastered across his face.

Dusk only groaned, hitting the button to close the rear door before walking up to the cockpit.

Author's Note

*Edited 10/5/15