Dodge Junction

It was silent aboard the Guardian during the flight south to intercept the Enclave airship. They were in formation with four other Pelicans ahead of the Paris, all laden with Marines. Members of Sergeant Tremble’s company were riding in on the Guardian. Dusk was in the pilots’ seat when the Enclave airship was first spotted.

“Paris, this is Guardian. We’re ready to engage.”

“Copy that. Stand by for shot.”

Moments later, the Paris’ MAC lit up, sending a ball of death flying at the Enclave airship. The explosion that followed left the air crews blinded. But as the smoke and dust cleared, the Enclave ship still stood, seemingly unharmed.

“What the fuck?” Dusk stared out the viewscreen in shock, before the Enclave ship opened up with a broadside from it’s main guns. “Shit!”

The flight of aircraft scrambled out of the way of the incoming fire, only for the Paris to get hit with the brunt of the Enclave assault. “All Pelicans, engage!”

Dusk flipped a few switches on his console, and was met with an artificial sounding voice. “AI designate Ozzy now online and awaiting instruction.”

“Take the stick and try not to get us all killed!” Dusk ran back into the cabin, worried look plastering his face. “Alright we need ideas, now! The MAC didn’t even leave a dent.”

Around the cabin, the marines began to converse between themselves before one stood up. “Isn’t this thing powered by a microfusion reactor?”

“It’s got two of em’.” said Steeljack.

“Then let’s pull one and use it as a bomb.” suggested the marine.

“And how would you propose doing that?” quipped Starry. “Didn’t your so-called ‘big gun’ prove useless?”

“Then let’s get aboard that damn ship, plant the core, rig it to blow and get the hell out.” responded the Marine. “Odds are that the thing can’t handle an internal explosion.”

“Has it been done before?” questioned Dusk.

“It has.” noted one of the still-seated marines. “Some Spartan pulled a similar stunt during the Battle of Fumirole. Crazy bastard single-handedly sent a Covenant cruiser straight to hell.”

“Alright.” said Dusk with a sigh. “I’ll get on the line with Baxter.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Across the bridge, officers were scrambling to figure out what happened with their MAC systems. Baxter was pouring over damage reports from the repair teams as they tried to keep the Paris airborne after the volley of fire from the Enclave airship.

“Paris, this is Guardian. I think we have a plan.”

Baxter walked over to a communications console before hitting a few buttons. “Really? Well if it involves our MAC, you’re screwed. Everything I’m seeing suggests it was working fine-”

“I’m not suggesting the MAC. The Guardian is powered by two microfusion reactors. If we pull one, we could rig it up like a bomb. We just need to get into the ship, rig it on a timer and get the hell out.”

“Did one of the marines bring up Fumirole?”

“Gee, how’d ya know?”

“Because I saw the cruiser blow up from orbit. Just make it happen, because I’ve got no other ways to take that ship on.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Alright fillies!” yelled Dusk as he walked back into the cabin. “We’ve got the go-ahead. Steeljack, pull the main reactor core. I’ve already switched everything over to the secondary core. Lilith, we’ll need a detonator off one of your rockets and something with a timer.”

“I’ve got a tacpad.” said one of the marines as he tossed the device over to Dusk.

“Damn straight. Let’s get this shit in gear!”

______________________________________________________________________________

Across the bridge of the airship, Enclave officers were running about giving order to their subordinates. At the center of the controlled chaos was a pegasus decked out in an armored tan duster. Adorning his lapel was a simple silver star.

“Can I get a report on the first volley?”

“The enemy frigate has suffered significant damage to it’s forward hull and their MAC cannon is offline.” reported one of the officers.

“Good.” the pegasi turned and walked to a console at the rear of the room before pressing a few buttons. Immediately, a black and white symbol appeared, before being replaced the a human female. “Admiral Osman.”

“General West Wind.” the human noted. “Something to report?”

The general nodded. “We’ve engaged the Paris. You were right to assume that Commander Baxter would resort to the MAC right away.”

“Then I’d take it that the shields held?”

“I wouldn’t be talking to you otherwise. Our first volley took it out, so I doubt we’ll have an issue.”

“Good. Let me know if anything else comes up. Osman out.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Paris, watch your fucking fire!” yelled Dusk into the radio as he had to dive away from the Enclave ship once again. “Steeljack, how’s our bomb looking?”

“Just about done!” yelled the stallion.

“Ozzy, set a course for the top of that airship.” Dusk got up from his chair before walking back to the cabin once more. “Alright, anyone having issues with their gear?” Dusk looked around the cabin at the assembled group, and from all appearances there weren’t any issues with the modified BDUs that Sergeant Tremble had provided.

“Alright, we’re done.” said Steeljack as he stood up from his makeshift explosive.

“Good.” Dusk looked over at Star and Violet. “Once we touch down, I’ll need you two to help me and Gramps cut a hole in their hull. The rest of you need to protect the bomb, otherwise this plan is a bust.”

Once their ship hit the deck, the group filed out on the hull before spreading out. Around them the main cannons for the Enclave ship were going off, creating an ear-deafening roar. Under one of those cannons was a bulkhead door. Dusk motioned for the group to follow, and with a burst of magic ripped the bulkhead from it’s frame.

Once the group filed into the gun’s main battery, the found themselves in a room that was empty bar a computer on the far side by a ladder down to some lower decks.

Dusk walked over to the computer, and plugged his pipbuck into one of the exposed ports. “What the hell is ONI?” he asked as the term scrolled across his screen.

“That’s the Office of Naval Intelligence.” said one of the marines. “You sure?”

Dusk hit a button on his pipbuck, and the chevron of the intelligence agency appeared on the computer’s screen. “Pretty sure.” Dusk started sifting through the main computers, before downloading a full copy of the ship’s specifications. “If it’s any consolation this thing’s rated for vacuum and slipspace, and has a working subspace comms array.”

“So why does the Enclave have human tech?” asked Lilith.

“Can’t say, but I’m seeing a lot of references to something called Kilo-Five. They could have given most of this stuff to the Enclave.” suggested Dusk.

“But ONI is supposed to answer to Fleetcom. Since when do they go out and give technology to a potential hostile force?” asked the marine.

“Son, what’s your name?” asked Meteor.

“Major Jim Dooley, 7th Recon.”

“Alright Jim, how much do you know about ONI?”

The marine shrugged. “Not much. They’re secretive. Really the only time I’ve dealt with ONI is when I’ve sent them a scouting report. Even then, its always been a field operator from Section One.”

“Then it’s probable that there are parts of ONI that answer only to the hierarchy of the organization?”

Beneath his helmet, the marine cocked an eyebrow. “What are you getting at?”

Meteor furrowed his brow. “I think that this ‘Kilo-Five’ either went rouge, or more likely is acting under direct instruction from someone within ONI to supply this technology to the Enclave. How and why remains to be seen, but I don’t see any other way that some Enclave scientist could have developed all of this tech on his or her own.”

“Look, it doesn’t matter.” quipped Dusk as he unplugged his pipbuck. “We’ve got a copy of their database, so we can go over it later. Right now we need to find a place to plant the bomb and get the hell out. Flash, Comet, Strike, Dart, and Lightning Chaser. I need you three to stay here and cover our exit. Gramps, Lilith, Patch and Starry, you’re with me. We’re going to try and find the weapons control and take it down. Steeljack, Star, Violet, stay behind us with the marines and protect the god-damn bomb!” With that, Dusk jumped down through the hole in the deck, before landing about fifteen feet down on what appeared to be an armory.

As his compatriots followed him down, they spread out through the room and found a number of suits of spare power-armor and plasma rifles sitting in wait on storage racks. Dusk pulled out his radio and clicked it on. “Tremble, you there?”

“Ya, go ahead.”

“Listen, we found a full armory right below our el-zee. Any chance you can get a Pelican and some marines up here to grab this shit and go?”

“Consider it salvaged.”

“So we’re blowing up their ship, and stealing their stuff?” asked Starry

“What can I say? It’s Piracy 101.” said Dusk as he took a plasma defender and a handful of energy cells.

Suddenly the ping of an energy weapon went off behind the group, causing them all to whip around with weapons ready. Instead of an Enclave soldier, they found Major Dooley with what appeared to be a laser rifle and a scatter of burn marks on the wall next to him. “Just putting this out there, but I call dibs on the laser shotgun.”

Patch marched up to the marine, ripping the rifle out of his hands and examining it. “Huh… Metal blaster, who would’ve guessed?” she said as she tossed the weapon back to the marine.

“Can we quit fucking around?” asked Dusk as he opened a bulkhead to the interior of the ship.

As the group filed down the corridor, some of the marines began planting explosive charges in nooks and crannies in the walls as they moved. Only the dull thud of the guns firing could be heard by this point. As the group came up on a small atrium, Steeljack walked over to a loose wall panel and set to work trying to pull it free.

“Something’s up.” said Dusk as he looked around the room. “No guards, no crew, nothing!”

Suddenly, the marines spread out and took up positions by the bulkheads. “I’ve got contacts.” said Dooley as he poked his head round a corner. “Looks like they’ve got active camo.”

“They right down that hall?” asked Dusk. Once the marine nodded, Dusk walked in plain view of the hallway before pulling his DMR off his back and shooting from the hip down the hall. The shots impacted the invisible soldier, dropping his cloak and sending him to the ground, clutching at the holes in his chest. “Open fire!”

The marines rolled out from their cover and began spraying rifle fire down the halls at the oncoming soldiers. One after another, the Enclave troops feel to the ground either dead or dying. “We’ve got more incoming!” yelled one of the marines.

“Star, you’re up. Get on that main bulkhead!” yelled Dusk as he took cover with Dooley.

The alicorn took to the opening and began spraying fire from her minigun while throwing some occasional blasts of magic at the now-visible group in an effort to conserve ammunition. “How long do I have to do this again?”

“Until I’m finished with this fucking bomb!” yelled Steeljack, who was now ducking from bolts of plasma that were coming from advancing Enclave soldiers.

“We’re gonna need a diversion!” yelled Dusk as he stuck his plasma defender around the corner before shooting away one of his energy cells, before looking around the room. “Anyone seen Gramps?”

The old stallion teleported into the room with a pop. “Alright, I’ve got a charge on one of their secondary reactors.”

Dusk cocked an eyebrow before shaking his head. “We’ll save that for later. In the mean time, you’re with me.” Dusk bolted into the hallway, rifle in one hand, plasma defender in the other as he fired away at one of the soldiers who was attempting to advance down the hall.

Meteor was right on his tail, before ducking around Dusk and tossing a knife at the soldier. The knife glanced off the chestplate, but provided enough of a distraction where the stallion could get close enough to grab his quarry’s helmet before turning his electricity spell on the unsuspecting soldier.

As his grandfather dropped the now dead soldier, Dusk holstered his plasma defender before charging at a group of three soldiers that broke cover and were advancing towards the pair. He delivered a hard blow to the leader’s head with the butt of his rifle before swinging the rifle back over his shoulder and pulling out his knife and plasma defender once more. As the two remaining soldiers charged him, Dusk stabbed one, before shooting the other in the neck.

“Dusk, you better have a better plan than running around.”

The unicorn chuckled. “Oh ye of little faith, just put a sock in it. Oh, and blow that reactor while you’re at it.”

______________________________________________________________________________

The airship’s bridge shook from an internal explosion, sending a few of the Enclave officers to the deck. The General had been tossed about in his chair, and was suffering from a minor case of whiplash. “Report!”

“The number three reactor just blew, shield integrity has been compromised!” yelled one of the officers.

“Break off engagement and order all remaining strike group assets back to the island.”

“That’s not going to work sir.” said the same officer. “Our main battery just shut down. We’re getting further reports that there are hostile elements in control of the battery control room, and another group has just emptied our primary armory.”

The General sat back in his seat and sighed. “Then set a course for the Badlands, best possible speed. And someone send a report to Osman and inform her that we’ve been out-maneuvered. If we’re lucky, she’ll send some sort of reinforcements.”

“You could ask her yourself, she’s on comms now.”

The General rose from his seat and went to the communications console. “Admiral Osman-”

“General, we have a problem. Someone forced their way into our computers through your network connection and downloaded our entire database.”

“How?”

“Your boarding party probably has a good hacker with even better equipment, something the Paris most certainly didn’t have when she left Earth.”

“Admiral, I’d love to sit here and debate semantics here but that boarding party took out one of our secondary reactors, took our main battery offline and compromised our shields. My men are having issues pushing them back as it is, so I doubt we’ll be easily able to get your data back.”

“Then we’ll have to make due. Regardless, Sierra Zero-One-Zero is inbound to provide assistance whatever assistance is necessary.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“You hear that?” asked Dusk. Both he and Meteor were hiding around the corner from the entrance to the bridge, listening in on the General’s conversation.

Meteor nodded. “And I don’t like it.”

“Then let’s introduce ourselves.” Dusk tore around the corner and shoved the General away from the console while Meteor took him as a shield.

“Who the hell are you?”

Dusk chuckled for a moment. “Name’s Dusk.” Dusk plugged his pipbuck into the console and hit a few buttons. “Now Admiral Osman, you mind telling me what your game is?”

“This conversation is over.”

Dusk tapped his foot impatiently. “Ya, I forgot to mention I hijacked the comm line, didn’t I? Anyway I’d prefer to hear it from someone at the top, but do you mind explaining what the hell this little ‘Kilo-Five’ group has been pulling on my planet?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

Dusk pursed his lips for a moment before shooting the console. “Not like I won’t find out anyway.” As he turned around, he found himself staring at a large armored being who had taken Meteor in a headlock. “Well, you must be Sierra-”

“Stow it.” ordered the giant. “The copy of the database, you’re going to hand it over.”

As Dusk looked at his grandfather, he saw the old stallion wink. “Ya… I think not.” Dusk whipped out his pistol before firing off three shots right into the giant’s helmet. As Meteor forced himself away from the being, he delivered a kick square into the it’s gut sending it to the ground. “And now we run!” Dusk turned and started shooting at one of the forward viewscreens before breaking off in a run and diving through the glass and tumbling into the cabin of the now-waiting Guardian.

“And what if that didn’t work?” asked an amused Sergeant Tremble.

“Then we both would have plummeted to our deaths.” said Meteor as he got to his feet. “You know anything about giant armored…” Meteor jarred his thumb over his shoulder. “Whatever that thing is?”

Tremble walked to the back of the cabin, staring at the armored giant. “Fuck, they’ve got a Spartan.”

“So that's a Spartan?” asked Dusk, as a red dot lit up on his chest. "Well, fuck!"

Tremble pushed Dusk to the side. “Hard right, now!”. As the Guardian banked a red laser streaked out from the Enclave airship, stripping some of the armor plate from the ship’s hull.

“Who the fuck is flying this thing?” asked Dusk.

Dart poked her head back into the cabin for a brief moment. “Probably the least qualified pony on this boat.”

Dusk frowned before facepalming. “Didn’t I say something about lack of respect for my shit?”

“If you did I wasn’t there.” quipped the Sergeant. “Now, the good news is that the airship is probably going to follow us. Bad news it that they’ll probably try to shoot us down.”

“Then we make the most of it, lead them into the Badlands and keep them there long enough for the bomb to go off.”

“Then it needs to be believable.” noted Meteor. “Sergeant, see if the Paris is in any shape to pursue. Otherwise get the Pelicans unloaded and have them start hammering away on the airship.”

Suddenly, another blast came from the airship, clipping the port-side fan and sending the ship rocketing towards the ground. Dusk ran to the cockpit and pushed Dart away from the controls and tried desperately to keep the ship under control.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Commander, the Guardian just took a hit.”

Baxter slammed his fist down on the bridge holotable. “How bad?”

“Some sort of energy weapon hit one of their engines, and they’re losing altitude.”

“Sergeant Tremble, report!”

“Paris, now really isn’t-zzzzzzzttttttt”

“Commander, they just took another hit.”

“Do we have our birds back?” the officer nodded in silence. “Good. Prep two for search and rescue.”

Steeljack and the remaining members of the boarding party strode onto the bridge. “Bomb’s a bust.”

“What?”

Steeljack nodded. “Something pushed us back. Whatever it was, it had shields and human weapons.”

“Doesn’t defeat the fact that it had it’s own squad of marines.” quipped Lilith

“That thing, was it about seven feet tall?”

“Commander, there’s no doubt in my mind that we got hit by a Spartan.” said Dooley. “It fought like one, had our equipment, and had some ONI spooks with it.”

“ONI?” asked Baxter. “What do they have to do with any of this?”

“Probably everything.” Dooley tossed the Commander a chip. “Dusk has a copy, but I made sure to get one. He said there were a bunches of references to ONI and something called Kilo-Five.”

Baxter turned the chip over in his hand before plugging it into the table. “I’ll start going through the data. Dooley, make sure our IFF beacon and subspace transmitter are offline. I don’t want any outside hacks while we’re looking at this shit.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Fifteen Minutes Later

Dusk’s head was spinning after the Guardian hit the ground. He had forced Dart to the ground and used himself as a shield, suffering plenty of damage himself from the impact; flying glass had cut his face and blood was streaming down from his forehead. He was still in a daze when someone grabbed him and started to drag him out of what he thought was the ship’s cockpit before he got doused with a bottle of cold water.

“What?” Dusk looked up, finding an unharmed Dart and a battered Sergeant looking back down at him.

“Pretty bold move you pulled in there.” said the Sergeant as he tossed away his broken helmet.

“Ya, just help me up.” As Dusk got to his feet, he stared up at a clear sky. “Where’s the airship?”

“Gone. I don’t know how, but the bomb vaporized the damn thing.”

“That’s just-” suddenly, a bullet whizzed past Tremble and clipped Dusk’s horn before embedding itself in the Guardian’s wreckage.

Tremble whipped around before getting tossed to the ground by their Spartan assailant. Dart attempted to rush the giant, but was picked up in a choke-hold and tossed aside like a ragdoll.

“You do realize we weren’t done.” said the Spartan as she grabbed the unicorn by the arm.

“You’re right.” said Dusk with a smirk. “I never got your name by the way.”

“Naomi.” said the Spartan. “And that’s all you need to know.” From behind her, Meteor chucked a piece of hull armor at the Spartan, who turned around and shot the old stallion with her pistol. “Now then, I have someone who wants to meet you.”

It took a few hours to find the Guardian’s crash site. Commander Baxter was the first person on the ground, and was responsible for finding the unconscious bodies of Tremble, Dart and Meteor Shower. That was three days ago. Until the three woke up, marines and royal guard combed the crash-site searching for Dusk. It wasn’t until Meteor awoke that it was discovered that the Spartan, Naomi, had taken Dusk aboard some sort of ship before he passed out from blood loss.

______________________________________________________________________________

Canterlot Castle, 3 days later

Dart was sitting in Celestia’s study in silence. She had Meteor Shower and Steeljack with her, both of whom were just as pensive. The three stood when the Princess walked in with Tremble and Baxter.

“Well?” asked Dart

Baxter shook his head. “Our probe came back with nothing. Odds are that this ‘Naomi’ flew in on a stealth prowler. No way we would have seen it leave.”

“Then we have no idea where he was taken?” asked Steeljack

“Not a clue.”

“Regardless, it’s become apparent to me that we have a need for strike teams like Blaze Squad.” noted the Princess. “As such, effective immediately, I’m reinstating Commander Meteor Shower to oversee our special forces.”

“Good to know you still need me.” snarked the stallion

“Furthermore-” noted the diarch “Dart, you are hereby presented command of Blaze Squad.”

“Huh?”

Steeljack nudged the unicorn. “Kid, Dusk and I were trying to get you ready for a leadership role.”

“And based off of Steeljack’s council, you’re the right type of pony to sit in, as Baxter would say, the ‘big chair’. I will of course make any necessary resources available to you, as well as any advisors you might need.”

Dart sighed before falling back into her chair. “Now I see why Dusk drank so much…”

______________________________________________________________________________

Dusk awoke tied to an operating table. “Well, ain’t this a cliche.”

“Easy enough for you to say.” Admiral Osman said from the side of the room. “Now, here’s how this is going to work. The good doctor is going to do some tests, maybe a few surgical alterations, and if you’re a good boy I might not have you killed.”

“Serin, that’s enough. I think we both get the drill.” noted an older woman from the other side of the room.

“Good to know.”

As Osman’s footsteps faded down the hall, the good ‘doctor’ looked down on Dusk with a pair of saddened eyes. “I’m sorry we had to meet under such-”

“Unusual?”

“I was going to say grim, but that fits.”

Dusk smirked up at the doctor. “Name’s Dusk by the way.”

“So I’ve been told. Now I’m not going to lie, the things that I’ll be doing to you will be painful. Serin made sure of that. I’ll try to go as quickly as possible if its-”

“Just tell me your name.” said Dusk. “If you and I will be getting better acquainted through this little torture session, and clearly you aren’t here of your own free will then I’d rather avoid killing you when I bust out.”

“You do realize that we aren’t talking torture?”

“I still don’t have a name…”

“Halsey. Catherine Halsey.” said the doctor. “Most of what will happen came from my own experiments and notes.”

“That’s reassuring.” said Dusk as he relaxed on the table. “So, dear old ozzy want my brain in a jar?”

“No.” The doctor sighed. “She wants to make you a Spartan.”

Author's Note

Whelp... There's that. Expect a flash-forward three years in the next chapter by the way... I really doubt I can put the pen to paper and really describe the image I have in my head of Dusk in ONI captivity, I'm redoing the prologue because of how this keeps changing, and eventually I'll do some one-shots to fill in the three year gap.