Starwind awoke to commotion coming from outside the barracks. He wondered what could start such commotion on a normal night on Chromeon 9. He groggily got out of his bunk and walked to the window to see ponies running in every direction yelling and screaming. He realized the situation was not what he had expected to be on a night like this. He quickly grabbed his helmet and locked it into place. The all too familiar start up diagnostic programs started to perform their tasks; checking his bio-signs, loading up his heads up display (or HUD, for short), scanning the terrain and providing him with a tactical mini-map, and linking up with his 3 other squad mates, Stonehand, Duststorm, and Blizzard.
After the tasks were completed, he quickly slapped a fresh magazine into his assault rifle that he keeps next to the nightstand and plugged it into one of the auxiliary ports along the right side of his chest piece. The rifle magnetically attaches itself to his armor, freeing up his hoofs and syncing with his helmet as it loads a targeting reticule and an ammo counter. Starwind always wondered how the engineers, that made the standard issue armor, came up with a pressure plate inside the armor that fired any weapon attached in either of the auxiliary ports located on both sides of the chest piece.
As the commotion outside grew in volume, he quickly trotted towards the front of the barracks when Duststorm's gruff voice erupted over his comm-link. "Starwind! Thank Celestia you’re up! Get your flank to the western wall! Now!" Before Starwind could respond, the comm went dead.
"Well, that can't be good." Starwind thought to himself. He quickly pushed the barracks’ main doors open to be greeted by the sounds of gunfire and marines yelling. He didn't waste any time taking in the scenery as he galloped down one of the trenches, towards the western wall. As he rounded the corner he ran headlong into one of the company’s lieutenants. "Ow! For Celestia's sake watch where you’re..." He quickly stopped his sentence short, "Oh, sorry lieutenant I didn't see you there!"
"It's fine, cadet. Just get a move on. The western and northern walls need reinforcing! Move it!"
"Yes sir!" Starwind ran past the lieutenant and up the ramp to the top of the western wall. The scene was a gruesome and terrifying sight, the likes of which he has never scene. Before him where snow and rocks should be, was nothing but moving blackness. A swarm of changelings barreling down upon Outpost Omega 9.
His comm-link erupted again and this time it was Blizzard's voice that came over his comm.
"Starwind! Stonehand and Duststorm have the left flank handled but are quickly being overrun. Move to their position and help lock down the left flank."
"Roger that Blizzard. Moving now"
Starwind rips his vision away from the massive changeling horde and starts to run left along the battlements until he spots Duststorm and Stonehand.
"Duststorm, Stonehand! I'm here to help secure this section of the wall. Where do you want me?"
Duststorm’s gruff voice erupts over his intercom again. "Start blowing those bastards off the wall! Don't let them rip through or we lose this side!"
"Roger that!"
Starwind still wonders how the toxic fumes from the experimental firestarter suit that Duststorm wears hasn't caused permanent brain damage to the stallion yet. He quickly gallops over to the wall, flicks the safety off of his Z-14 Rifle, and begins to pour round after round into the oncoming swarm of changelings. He starts to pick the ones closest to the wall then moves back accordingly. As the ammo counter in his HUD dwindles down to 0, the rifle ejects the magazine and Starwind slaps another into its place as he continues to fire.
"Starwind, Stone, Dust, the right flank is being breached! I'm losing control! I'm down to my last mag, and we..." Static erupted into all three of their comm-links as Starwind's HUD updates the squads’ bio-signs, then colors Blizzards' silhouette red. “An indication of KIA….”, Starwind thinks. An explosion can be seen on the right flank of the western wall followed by the screeches of the changelings as they pour through the gap.
"Blizzard, no!" Starwind screamed into his helmet "Blizzard! Blizzard, answer me!"
Stonehand's voice comes over the comm. "She's gone, Star. Forget about it! We need to hold this position!"
The bases’ sirens start to blare. The alarm signals a full retreat back to the landing pad.
"Come on Starwind, we gotta go!" Duststorm ran over, picked up Starwind, and jumped down to the ground off the battlements. An easy 10 hoof drop that could have killed most ponies that never received the secret training that firestarters did. But he just stood up, shook the dust off himself, picked up Starwind and kept on trotting. “Stonehand! Let’s go!”
Starwind always wanted to know what the training to be a firestarter was like. He asked Dust one time but all he got out of him was something about augmentations and surgery. It didn't make much since to him at the time but he never pressed further for fear of angering Duststorm. His temper was very short and when it was released it was like an explosion of fury and hate.
Stonehand followed behind, hopping the 10 hoof gap with ease, and landing next to Starwind with grace and elegance. Starwind also wondered if Stonehand also endured the rigorous training that Dust did as well.
Duststorm shouted over his shoulder, "Come on! The landing pad is in the middle of the outp-" His sentence was cut short when the piercing sound of claws on metal erupted from behind them. Changelings were at the wall trying to claw their way through. It’s would not be long until they finally burst through.
"Hurry!” Duststorm's gruff voice dragged Starwind out of his thoughts and into reality. He instantly took off running towards the center of the camp.
Starwind hopped into the trenches and cautiously made his way through the twists and turns, with Stonehand and Duststorm in tow.
"Clear. I'm moving." The sounds of claws on metal fill the air as the changelings rip through the camp’s defenses. Some of the smarter changelings use their companions as a boost to clear the 12 hoof high wall.
"They've broken through. The southern wall is the last one standing." stated Stonehand coldly.
"We don't stand a chance against these creatures. Why would they have us set up an outpost on one of their colony worlds?! This must have been a suicide mission from the start." Duststorm said.
"Quiet." Starwind snapped. "I got movement around this bend. Lock and load."
Starwind ejected the half used magazine and snapped in a fresh one. He set up along the trench’s’ wall, preparing himself to wipe out whatever was around the corner.
"Ready?" he said into his comm link.
"Ready."
Starwind prepared himself for what he would find as he bounds around the corner rifle ready. The sight that greeted him wasn't pretty. He turned the corner to be confronted by three changelings feeding on a dead pony.
"Move!" yelled Duststorm as he pushed passed Starwind and released jets of flame from his twin Perdition flamethrower. The changelings gave a blood curdling screech as they burned alive.
"GO! GO! GO!" yelled Duststorm as he ran past the smoldering corpses towards the landing pad, with Starwind and Stonehand in tow.
"I can see it! It's just up ahe..."
Dustorm cut his sentence short as he saw what the pad contained. Scattered corpses of the last marine division were being turned into dinner by hungry changelings. Those that were alive put up little fight as they were swarmed and devoured.
"We... We're doomed" stammered Stonehand. "No escape. Not for any of us."
As they ran up the ramp one of the changelings took notice of the foreign sound of metal on metal and looked up towards the source direction. To its surprise were three living, breathing pony marines ready to be devoured. It screeched a warning to alert the other changelings and rushed headlong towards the trio.
Duststorm ignited the lone changeling that decided to rush a fully armored firestarter. "Back! Get back! Head towards the southern wall! It's the only one that hasn't be breached!" He turned back towards the oncoming changelings that finally took notice of them and sent forth twin bursts of flames as he held the changelings at bay so that his squad mates could escape.
"Burn baby burn! Hahahahahaha! Come get some you buckers!" Starwind and Stonehand could hear Duststorm start yelling his catch phrases as he continued to pour flames into the oncoming changelings in an effort to provide them with enough time to escape. Duststorm started back towards the ramp as the changelings grew in number. "They just keep coming! It's like they're coming out of the bucking walls!", he thought as the swarm of changelings continued to grow to unmanageable numbers even for Duststorm to handle. As he backed down into the trench, it opened up two more avenues of attack for the changelings. Dustorm spotted movement from the left and right on his minimap. He ignited the ones in front of him then turned to the left and sent a jet of flame down the trench. As he was satisfied that the left was handled he turned to the right only to be tackled by two changelings. He didn't even get a chance to open his mouth to scream before the pack erupted into a marvelous display of flames and fire.
Starwinds’ HUD flashed as Duststorms’ silhouette was painted red.
"Buck!" yelled Starwind as they rounded a corner in the maze work of trenches and came upon the southern wall. To Stonehand’s and his surprise the wall was fairly intact with only 3 marines holding the ramp from the changelings.
Starwind rushed towards the ramp, spraying a hail of gunfire towards the three changelings rushing it. He cut down two and Stonehand dismembered the other as he closely followed Starwinds lead.
"Thank Celestia you guys are here. We heard a rescue squad was dispatched to save us. Are you them?" The marine that apparently held the highest rank of the three asked. "You can't be, right? There are only two of you. More are gonna come right? Right!?"
"I'm sorry, but we are the only survivors left in the outpost. We got overran at the northern, western, and eastern walls", Stonehand said, clearly exhausted from the full sprints they had to do. Something he was not trained to do in the heavy marauder armor he was wearing.
"Wait… what? You can't be serious. They told us to hold this wall and a rescue squad would come and relieve us as the transports got near."
"I'm sorry, but it appears they aren’t coming. When we arrived at the landing pad for our e-vac, it was overrun with changelings and those that had been lucky enough to make it there were either dead and being devoured or were being cut down with ease."
The lead marine hung his head in remorse. He looked as if he was actually about to cry.
"I… I need to go sit down…." The stallion walked over to the edge of the battlements and sits down, placing his head into his hooves and weeping quietly.
"Is…. is he going to be okay?” asked Starwind.
"Yeah, he'll be fine. Just give him some time. Name’s Mirage, that one over there is Lightspark, and you already met Tremor.” The mare gives a friendly smile to the two newcomers.
Starwind returns the smile. "Name’s Starwind. He's Stonehand." Starwind motions to the pony behind him with a turn of the head. "Pleasure to meet you."
A few seconds later, a screeching howl pierces the silence as the changelings regroup to drive out the last surviving marines in the outpost.
"This is it!" shouts Tremor, "This is where it ends." He glances back towards the wall and manages a quick peek over the side, only to find a 12 hoof drop that would definitely kill him if he jumped.
Starwind gulps as the approaching swarm of changelings start to rush in from all sides. “This is it", he thinks to himself, "I won't make it out alive this time."
The lead changeling, sensing a kill is near, picks up speed as he races to be the first one to devour the last marine’s flesh. As it nears the ramp, the changeling uses all its force to jump in an effort to gain a height advantage over the marines stationed on the battlements. The changeling soars toward the marines, but is swiftly gunned down in mid-air by machinegun fire.
"Open fire!" shouts Stonehand, as he opens up with automatic rifle fire into the swarm of changelings. Following his advice, the other four marines open fire as well, and start to shred through rows and rows of changelings.
Over the next twenty minutes, countless changelings are gunned down by the marines, and they begin to run low on ammo.
"We can't hold out much longer! I'm running low on ammunition!" screamed Lightspark. "I know, I know!" yelled Starwind in response. "We have to hold out as long as we can!"
Starwind's ammo counter on his HUD snapped to 0 and a clack emanated his rifle as it tried to fire from an empty mag. "Buck! My rifle's magazine is jammed!" As he fumbled with the rifle he lets a changeling slip through the line. It realizes its victory and barrels towards Lightspark. As Lightspark turns towards the oncoming changeling, he released a burst of fire, catching the creature in the side and causing it to fall on him. The force of the fall pushed both of them off the battlement. Lightspark and the changeling landed in a heap on the ground. The fall killed Lightspark instantly as the changelings weight crushed his armor and broke his ribs.
"No!" screamed Tremor as he rushes over to the edge that Lightspark fell over. He peers over the ledge to see a broken body and a changeling lying on top of it. Tremor dropped to his knees and tears streamed down his face.
"Tremor, get your flank over here! We need you to cover his section!" yells Starwind as he unjams his rifle and slaps a fresh magazine into it.
As Tremor got up he felt a claw grasp his hoof from over the edge. The claw trips Tremor, and he falls to the battlements, dropping his rifle fifteen hooves away.
"No! Help me! Somepony help me!" screams Tremor as he realizes a changeling has grabbed ahold of his back right hoof and is attempting to pull him off the battlement.
"Tremor!" yells Mirage, "Hold on! I'm coming!" Mirage quickly dispatches two changelings coming up the ramp and turns to find Tremor already gone.
His screams could be heard from the ground below as the sounds of fangs ripping into flesh fill the air. The screams became less pony-like and more like a dying, cornered animal as the marines on the balcony listen to the pony’s final moments. As the changelings rip through his armor, one catches a grenade pin and manages to pull it free. A few moments later there is a blinding white flash followed by an explosion, destroying the wall and the battlements and sending the marines flying.
Starwind looks around and manages to move his arms but his chest and legs are in agonizing pain. "Argh!" screams Starwind. "Stonehand! Mirage! Somepony help me!" No response. "Stonehand come in, over!" Silence. He quickly pulled up the bio-signs of his squad which has been updated to show Lightspark’s, Mirage’s, and Tremor’s as well. Red. Every bio-sign is red. "Buck buck buck buck buck" he mutters to himself. He tries to stand up but realizes that his chest and legs are pinned beneath debris from the wall. As he tries to move it, more pressure is added on his chest and legs. "Argh! The pain!" He cries out in desperation hoping that his helmets bio-sign reader malfunctioned and that Mirage and Stonehand will come running over to move the debris off of his body. His motion tracker bleeped inside his helmet and showed a lone red dot move towards his position. Then another. And another. As he felt immense weight being pushed down on his chest and legs a changeling pops its head over the wall. It peers into his visor and lets out a horrible scream, coating his helmet in spittle and blood. Starwind thought to himself, "This is it. This is how I die. Pinned to the ground by a piece of equipment designed to keep me safe. If this is how it ends, then my only regret is…" His thought remained unfinished as the changeling lunged.
