Timberwolves

I crouched in the foliage overlooking the train lines beside the largest metal cage. By now the Captain and his team would be making their way through the sewers of Canterlot and in the next five minutes, a supply train bringing food and munitions to the frontlines would be passing.

The lines had been rigged to explode as the train drew near then the plan was to kill the guards and loot what we could before falling back. The Republic wasn’t particularly low on supplies, especially since the liberation of Manehatten and its industrial districts, but the goal was to lure some of the garrison from Canterlot out and buy the infiltration team a little breathing room. Denying the Celestians some supplies was just an added bonus.

The sound of the train reached our ears a few minutes before it came roaring around a bend in the track. It was a pre-war civilian train reinforced with steel and had a sun painted on the front. Each carriage was further protected by a 50 cal. On the roof, aside from the three flatbeds that were transporting a tank each. Those would make valuable acquisitions.

Among the forest were large metal crates housing the companies’ namesake, Timberwolves. A full pack, including the alpha male, trained to fight alongside Republic forces.

As the train drew close to the explosives, I sent a burst of static through the comlink, signalling the assault to begin. The explosives detonated, consuming the engine and first carriage in flames, then the crates were opened and eight Timberwolves raced towards the stunned Celestians.

“Slaughter them!” I bellowed as I jumped out of the ditch and followed the wolves towards the crippled train.

I ran across the open ground while the wolves tore apart the first defenders. When I came close to the train, I leapt into the air, flying low across the roof and smashing my flail into the face of the gunner with a satisfying crunch.

By now the Celestians had mostly recovered from the shock of the ambush and were beginning to fight back in earnest. Firing slots opened in the carriages and a hail of gunfire poured out.

I hovered above the roof of the carriage, picking off an adjacent gunner with a quick burst from my rifle before dropping down to the roof hatch, opening it and tossing in a grenade.

Shouts of fear followed me as I took to the skies again, seconds before the grenade went off. The muffled explosion was swiftly followed by several secondary explosions as the munitions inside the carriage went up; leaving me with no doubt that there would be no survivors.

Already, the weight of fire from the defenders had lessened and several carriages had been boarded. The roof gunners were all lying slumped in their seats while the Timberwolves prowled the perimeter, ensuring that nobody got the chance to run away. After all, a Celestian left alive today was a Celestian that would fight another day.

I landed on the roof of one of the carriage and waited as the last few carriages were cleared and the company began forming up around the train.

“Alright, hopefully they’ve gotten word to Canterlot and enemy reinforcements are en route. We’re hoping they’ll send them from Canterlot but there’s a chance that Cloudsdale will send a company. Possibly even both. Bring the heavy lifting gear up and get those tanks off the beds and load as much as you can then stand to. Check the tanks for fuel and ammo as well. They’ll come in handy if a mechanised company turns up.” I said before jumping down and assigning tasks to squads.

Barely half an hour had passed before the trucks were loaded and sent on their way to dead drops where Resistance forces would be able to pick them up. The tanks had been found to be carrying full tanks of fuel. A little hunting around in the carriages uncovered several crates worth of ammo for the tanks main guns and the 50 cal. Rounds for the train roof carriages were shifted over to their counterparts on the tanks once they had been lifted off of the flat beds.

“Demo teams, rig the train. What we can’t have, the Celestians sure as hell won’t be able to recover.” I said before hunkering down at a hastily erected sandbag wall.

Suddenly the trees that had hidden us before the assault on the train came to life as Pegasi poured from them to fill the skies above us.

Bullets rained down, tearing apart one of the Timberwolves and several men before we got the chance to return fire.

“Assault squad, on me!” I bellowed, racing upwards and lashing out at a Pegasus with one of my wristblades, opening his throat and spraying my armour with blood.

I gained some more altitude to face the next Pegasus who was riddling the ground defences with sustained fire from an LMG. I raced towards him, holding my arm out to open up a long, deep gash in his stomach before leaning back in order to hit another in the side of the head with both feet, knocking her out of the sky.

“Plant explosives in the tanks. This lot must have come from Cloudsdale, we’ll lose them in the forest.” I said over the comlink as I sped after a Pegasus who was doing strafing runs with an LMG, blasting him out of the sky with a few bursts from my rifle before banking towards the trees.

The company broke up into squads, scattering into the forest as the explosives planted on the train and tanks exploded, taking several low flying Celestians with them and in the confusion, we managed to slip away and begin the journey back to the Republic.