A Danger in the Stars

Chapter 5
We dropped on a planet commonly known as Argon II, located at Sector 55 near the outer colonies. Argon II was formerly a colony of Equestria until it was taken by the enemy during the early stages of the war. Since then it was used as an outpost by the enemy and nothing more. But recent intelligence has showed an increasing amount of enemy soldiers massing on the planet, suggesting that they might use it as a staging point for a possible offensive. So the E.S.F. decided to strike first, before the enemy can hit us.

Hitting the enemy before they knew it and foiling their plans before an offensive. So me, and my fellow Troopers were now assigned to take the planet and fight off an enemy that was as equal in technology as us. Great, makes me wish I had joined the Fleet instead, knowing that they barely see action. Sure there were a couple of skirmishes between our vessels and theirs, but nothing major. Although, that still brought a small chance of me being in one of does skirmishes and loosing.

In fact, I wished I never left my PR job at all; too bad they had to disband my department.

The planet was covered by a thick jungle, with green trees and thick groups of plants surrounding every area. Vines littered the place, connecting it with other trees and acting as a net, making it impossible to see what was in front. It also blocked the path, as we learned that the vines were quite strong and was like flexible steel cables. The trees, which were everywhere, were twenty feel high and covered with leaves that sized up as five feet in length and two feet in width. The soil we stood on was soft and soggy, like mud, making it difficult to move our hooves. If it wasn’t for the strong pressure exerted by the suit’s exoskeleton, it would have been impossible to move.

So as our platoon stood in the middle of the clearing, which acted us our drop zone, we felt trapped and surrounded by the planets natural barriers.

The veteran members of the platoon, which was basically everypony, moved immediately, without orders, as they secured the perimeter of the landing zone. They scanned the area with their sensors as they deployed their weapons, laser guns sticking out of the side of their suits as it looked for something to lock on and shoot. But there was nothing to shoot at and they just remained there waiting for orders.

“Alright everypony, form up. Standard battle formations now move it!” The Sergeant called on the intercom, making everypony move up to their portion of the formation.

The standard battle formation was a formation used by every platoon during an assault. It was basically a row that formed a straight line, wherein everypony had a pre-assigned position. Each pony is spread out with a twenty foot gap from one another in both sides. This is to ensure that no two ponies gets killed by one artillery shell exploding and so that the efficiency of the suits are maximized. With all the sensors and weapons, an individual pony with a suit could cover a lot of ground. Twenty feet on both ends was easily within arch of protection of one suit.

On the far left of the line was the position of the corporal, marking the end of the line with his beacon. While on the far right was the platoon commander, marking his end with his beacon. The beacons gave us a basis on where the battle line was, enabling us to maintain a straight formation.

Although, another way to keep the formation straight was to refer to the suit’s radar by making sure you were aligned to the two ponies on your sides.

The radar was a great way to inform you of the location of your platoon mates, as well us picking up things like the enemy and objects that are surrounding you. It gave you an advance warning on anypony or anything the starts moving up towards you. It was a great piece of technology that, too bad the enemy had the same thing on their soldiers.

My position was near the center of the line, sandwiching me between two experienced ponies, which made me feel safe, knowing that I would have both my flanks covered and secured.

“Ruby…” The Sergeant called in the intercom. “…I want you to keep an eye on Silver over there. She should be on your right, if I’m correct.”

“Copy that.” Ruby Cloud said, before linking her radio to main, ensuring what she was going to say would only be heard by the two of us.

“Alright, rookie, listen up. I want you to keep up with the line and never stop unless you’re told so. I don’t know what they thought you before they brought you to our outfit, but we Trooper like to keep things fast. So I don’t want to see you left behind and hearing the Sergeant yell at me to go fetch you up. Got, it? Good. Now I you have any troubles, just switch your radio to this link and talk to me.”

“O…okay.” I said, as I got to my position on the line.

“Alright, platoon, gallop!” The Sergeant ordered, as soon as the platoon got in the line of battle.

The line immediately moved forward, racing towards the direction the Sergeant marked, in her heads up display, as a red dot. Using their suits power, they were able to move at speeds faster than an ordinary pony could go. Within seconds, the line was now far away, moving at fast speeds, without a single pony breaking a sweat. Thanks to the suits capabilities, every step a pony takes is amplified, giving more distance with each step taken.

As the platoon moved forward, I was momentarily left behind. Being new to this all, I haven’t gotten used to the unit cohesion that most of the ponies have imbedded in their skulls. So I didn’t move when the order was given, and was left to stand awkwardly behind.

But remembering Ruby’s words, I soon raced forward. Clumsily at first, but moving forwards none the less. I had never used the suit for galloping before and I had to admit that it was the first time I did so. It felt weird when I moved, but I was surprised at how fast I was going.

For a physically weak pony like me, to be able to go this fast, under my own power which was helped by the suit’s amplification, was an amazing feat. I was soon back on my position, advancing with the other ponies in my platoon.

As we moved forward, I noticed a large dot appear on my radar and wondered what it was. I didn’t have visual of it yet, as the jungle concealed my field of view, but my radar manages to pick it up from a distance.

“Hey, uh, Ruby, what’s that dot on the radar?” I asked, connecting to the link she made earlier.

“It seems to be a Methane Vent.” She informed me. “This place is littered with it. They are usually harmless until somepony lights it up. Best that we avoid it, just in case.”

This was the exactly what we did. The Sergeant ordered the platoon to split into two, one taking the left while the other took the right, before reconvening once we passed the vent. Ruby and I took the right half of the platoon as we passed by the vent. Our section skimmed near the vent, giving me a quick glimpse of it, as the density of shrubbery was lesser there. The vent was basically a bump on the ground, in which I estimated to be five feet high and eight feet in diameter. The top of the vent had a small hole on top, as gasses leaked out of it. The entire thing was basically a mini volcano that was steaming methane out of its top.

After passing the vent, the platoon then returned to its formation before continuing its movement forward, till the Sergeant ordered as to halt and keep our guards up.
I could hear the distant sounds of battle coming from the left side. The sound of laser and plasma guns were distinct, even though the only time I heard them was during a controlled situation. I also heard the sound of explosions as explosives were flung around and exploded in the distance. But despite the noise, the battle couldn’t be seen. The thick jungle proved impossible to see anything that wasn’t directly in front of you.

“Alright, everypony, listen up. The Lieutenant and the center platoon have made contact with the enemy and want us and 3rd Platoon to start a pincer movement and blast the enemy’s flanks. So here’s the plan. We’re going to swing the platoon so that we would soon face the enemy’s right flank.”

I was confused during this moment, since I never got the chance to conduct platoon movement. Almost all the battle formations and movement were jargon to me. So I was having a difficult time understand what the Sergeant was saying. All this tactical nonsense was just nonsense to me. I just hoped Ruby would have a simple explanation for me, or else I would be in trouble. I doubted it if the Sergeant would be happy to see a pony lost as we conducted this maneuver he was ordering.

“We’re going to swing the platoon towards the enemy, so I want you all to fix on the corporal’s beacon…” I briefly looked at my display and note the beacon on the far left of the line “…He will be the anchorage of the line. He will stay on his position, while I move left. I will act as the end of the line as we swing. We’re basically going to act like a door, swinging left, everypony got that? Good.”

I was surprised on how easily I understood the orders. The Sergeant had the talent of making things clear and trying to keep things as briefly as possible. Well it was a good thing that I manage to execute the movement without any problems, as I was able to keep up with the swinging line.

After swinging the line, we moved forward to close the distance between us and the enemy.

We moved forward, keeping low and moving fast. Although there was a thick jungle the blocked the view, the enemy we were about to face had technology that enables to see through it. Like us, they had radar and sensors that could sense our approach. So we kept low to lower the chances of a stray shot hitting us.

As we approached, a blast of plasma fire landed near us, causing us to hit the dirt. I immediately felt the shakes as nervousness and panic took over me. I started to breathe heavily as I looked around to see streaks of laser fire above me.

Soon more fire came upon us as the enemy noticed out advance and tried to pin us down. Their weapons were similar to ours, if not more powerful, making them a difficult match for us. But from what I was told, there was no such thing as a match for the Equestrian Troopers.

“Take cover and open fire!” The Sergeant ordered as we broke formation and found the nearest cover we could find.

So I took cover in a large bush and watched the battle in front of me. Sure this wasn’t the safest place to take cover, seeing that lasers could easily incinerate the bush, but it was the only one that I could find. I just hoped the any shot directed to me would be deflected by my suit’s armor.

Streaks of laser fire flew all over the place, setting fire to some of the leaves, as plasma guns fired their chunks of hot plasma, exploding as they make contact on their targets.

The sounds of battle were now louder, as more fire and explosions erupted all over.

A plasma round exploded near me, causing me to shriek in alarm and panic. More rounds fell near me, as I tried to dig myself a hole using my hooves. Although I have to admit that this was not the most effective plan on keeping yourself safe in a battle. I’m actually surprise that I wasn’t killed then and there. Maybe someone up there is watching over me, thinking that I could be useful someday and that it wasn’t my time yet. Probably not since I was nopony special, but I’m glad none of the shots hit me.

So there I was, fighting in a battle and screaming my head off. Very typical of me.

I tried to see what was happening, but it was too hard to interpret the battle, due to the explosions and the lack of visual capability. The only way I could tell the positions was through the radar and still that wasn’t enough. The green dots marked the friendly forces, while the red dots marked the enemy. From what I could see, it looked like there were more red dots.

A streak of laser fire landed right in front of me, causing me to back away in panic. I was really tempted to run away and never come back, right then and there. But I fought the urge, knowing that the death penalty would wait for me if I did.

So instead I took a deep breath and did the only thing I did best, scream.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!” I shouted, letting my voice flow through the intercom link Ruby had provided me.

“Would you stop that screaming?” Ruby shouted, obviously irritated at me. “It’s very distracting.”

“B…but I can’t.” I said, shaking within my suit as sweat soaked my fur. Despite the cooling system, my suit felt like a mine sauna. “They’re shooting at me.”

I could just imagine Ruby bring her hoof upon her face, as she heard what I said. I know, I know, what I said was stupid, but I was panicking at that time. Try bringing yourself into battle for the first time, with little training, and see if you won’t panic.

Because during that time, I was panicking as if there was no tomorrow. It made it impossible for me to think clearly, which made me make stupid remarks.

“Then shoot back!” She yelled. “Seriously, rookie, I know your stupid, but I didn’t expect you to be that stupid! Listen, just try to breathe in and breathe out. Relax yourself. Having a clear mind might save you from dying.”

Having nothing better to do to quell my panic attack, I decided to take her advice. Taking a deep breath, I slowly took in the air, before slowly breathing it out. I continued to do this procedure till I felt my body stop shaking. Wow, that actually works, good to know.

With a clear mind, I fixed my position and looked towards the battle in front of me. More shots were fired towards us as my fellow Troopers fired back. I tried to lock on the nearest target as I used my suit’s auto-aiming system, as it automatically kept the gun locked at the enemy.

For a brief moment, I saw one of the enemy soldiers move from one position to another. From that brief moment, I manage to see enemy that we were fighting. The one I saw stood on two legs, they were bi-pedal, and was at least five and a half feet, if not more, high. It wore armor like as and carried its weapons on two appendage attached to its upper body. They were weird looking creatures, said to resemble gorillas. (If gorillas could travel thorough space and where armored suits) From what we have learned, these creatures were very much alike to us, as they breath oxygen and other scientific stuff I don’t have time for, and plan on colonizing planet that are suited foe pony life. From what our Intelligence Corps have gathered, these creatures were called, ‘Humans’.

Other than those basic facts, I didn’t know anything more about them. But right at the moment, the only thing I cared about was getting out of there alive.

Having finally deployed my laser gun, as it stuck out of my suit, I fired it, not caring if it locked on a target or not. I fired a couple of shots, as the streaks of laser fire exited the barrel and landed harmlessly on the ground, hitting nothing. I never had time to learn how the locking systems work, before, let alone fire the weapons, so it was obvious that I wasn’t doing things properly. The targeting system was locking on different targets, but I fired the weapon too early, making each shot miss.

Proper procedure would have been to lock on one target, as the auto-locking system pointed at the enemy, waiting for the command to fire. My mistake was that I didn’t allow the system to lock properly and instead made it choose another target and another, while firing it at the same time. That would explain why it kept on locking to different targets.

My attempts to fire at the enemy led to nothing but harm to myself, as the hot beams of laser burnt the leaves of the bush I was hiding in. The bush quickly erupted on fire, as I quickly got out of it and headed towards and better position.

“I’m surprised.” Ruby commented. “I didn’t know it was possible to miss with the auto-locking system, this must be a new record.”

I didn’t say anything but let out a grunt of annoyance.

“Well if I may suggest, would you please hit the enemy?” Ruby said. “Because the enemy is starting to advance and your help would be kindly accepted.”

Looking towards the radar, I learned what she said was true. I could see the red dots slowly approach, one heading towards us, while the other towards out flank. The amount of enemy fire was also increasing, as plasma and laser shots landed everywhere, causing the jungle to burn, while some lucky shots bounced on pony’s armor.

Frantically, in hopes that I might provide help to the battle, I deployed my plasma gun and begun firing erratically. Like before, I didn’t wait for the locking system to find a target as I begun shooting everywhere, send hot plasma flying all over the battlefield and over the heads of the enemy. I was shooting too high, making most of my shots miss.

What I didn’t notice was one of my plasma shots flew towards a Methane Vent, which was hidden within the jungle foliage. The shot landed within the hole, igniting the methane gas contained within, causing a chain reaction inside the methane filled chambers below.

A large explosion shook the ground, as a large ball of fire engulfed the jungle. The flames flew high as it burned the plants and threw dirt and rocks up high. I was confused at first, on what had caused the explosion (Not knowing it was me that caused it), and looked upon in with fear and shock. A large ball of fire, rising up, sending debris everywhere.

My fear soon subsided as I was mesmerized by it. Its glowing flame and size was something that would attract the attention of evepony. Like a mosquito to bright light, it stared at it with awe.

I stared at it with amazement as the lames slowly went up, its thick black smoke going up with it. It was like a scene out of the movies, yet it was happening right in front of me.
Immediately, the amount of enemy fire decreased as our own fire increased. For me, I didn’t shoot as I continued to watch at the ball of flame with amazement.

I didn’t remove my gaze from it till I noticed that the red dots on the radar were falling back, as the green dots started to advance.

The large explosion seem to have scare them off, as they decided to pull away from the battle, letting us fire and advance, taking their positions. The Sergeant took advantage of the enemy’s confusion, ordering as to open up with all we got.

I watched as beams of light and shots of plasma flew in the air, as if it were one gigantic light show. The hot laser beams and plasma shots burned more of the jungle as the rest of it burned from the flames of the fireball.

We slowly moved forward, firing as we went, as the enemy retreated and moved away. The battle was soon over, but I would later be told that what we encountered was just as skirmish. I gulped at the thought, if that was just as skirmish, then how confusing and chaotic could a real battle turn out?

As the skirmish subsided, and some ponies from my platoon secured the area, I walked on top of the scorched part of the jungle, where the explosion occurred. It had burned all the nearby plants, creating a large radius were no foliage remains. Only a large crater on the ground was left, where the Methane Vent used to be, as well as the ashes of the plants that were burned by the fire. In fact, the fire was still spreading in some parts and it seemed that nopony bothered to extinguish it.

“What in Celestia’s sweet name did you think you were doing?” The Sergeant shouted at me as I stood on the middle of the ashes. Although I couldn’t see his face, I could feel the anger radiating out of him.

“Wha…what? Umm…what do you mean, sir?” I asked shakily, not sure why I was in trouble.

“Don’t act stupid, I saw what you did.” He said, pushing his hoof upon my armored chest. “I saw you fire those plasma rounds all over the place and I saw one of those shots land on the Methane Vent, causing that explosion. You’re lucky that the chamber below that vent was small or you would have blown us along with the enemy. You’re carelessness almost caused this platoon the lives of its members!”

I felt small as he yelled at me, and I felt like I was going to break down at the moment. I was in a place I didn’t want to be in, getting shot at and risking my life, while going through the worst nightmare of my life. Add the fact that I almost killed everypony and that the intimidating Sergeant was yelling at me and chewing me out, then I believe that I could have cried a river of tears any moment from now.

What saved me during that moment was Ruby, who trotted towards us.

“Oh, cut her some slack, Sergeant, she did save us from an enemy onslaught.” She said, as she moved up next to me.

“While risking our lives at the same time! That explosion could have had killed us all.”

“But it didn’t” She stated.

I could tell that the Sergeant wanted to say something else about that, but was stopped when the Lieutenant trotted by and requested his presence. The Sergeant shot a stiff glance towards me before nodding to the Lieutenant and trotted away with him. I gave a sigh of relief, knowing that I wasn’t going to get chewed out anymore. But I also knew that he wouldn’t forget this event and would probably keep an extra eye open for me.

“Hey, rookie, that thing you did earlier was impressive.” Ruby said. “But if you don’t stop showing off, you’ll end up toasting our flanks to a crisp. So I suggest straightening yourself up. Now come on, I want to hear what the Lieutenant and the Sergeant are talking about.”

Smiling, I followed Ruby as she went towards the platoon and company commander, so that we could ‘listen’ to their conversation. I was glad that Ruby helped me earlier and I was at her gratitude. Despite her teasing, she seemed to be covering my back all the time, helping me despite my helplessness.

We stood nearby the two, far enough for them not to mind us, but close enough to hear what they were talking about. We pretended to check our ammunition and suit’s system as we listened to their conversation.

“The enemy is falling back!” I heard the Sergeant say. “We should follow up on our push before they can reform.”

“No…” The Lieutenant said as he shook his head. “…I have orders for us to fall back. I have marked a retrial zone for the company and we would move there as soon as possible.”

“Fall back?” The Sergeant sounded shocked. “But why?”

The Lieutenant sighed and explained. “I just received word from the Colonel. She says that Alpha 1 landed a couple of miles from our position and has encountered a serious problem…” He posed momentarily before continuing. “Apparently the Element Bearers have been captured and that Alpha 1 is experiencing heavy opposition in their attempts to rescue them. She also informed me that an enemy fleet is fast approaching and that our fleet wants to avoid a major battle. Most of our vessels up there are transports and have little defense against a battle fleet.”

The Sergeant continued to argue on the thought of retreating, suggesting that we should try our best to rescue the Element Bearer, but I didn’t listen to any of that. I was too shocked at the thought of having one of Equestria’s greatest weapons under enemy control.

Now, I didn’t know how the Element Bearers were captured, with it being classified and all, but I did know that it wasn’t a good thing. With the Element Bearers and corresponding Elements of Harmony within enemy control, then a major problem would soon arise. With the Elements gone, who knows what could be the faith that awaits us.