Author's Note

CJ: Crimson Justice, for those of you that don't take the time to figure it out. It's a pretty easy one, but I know a few people that... well... let's just say you have to be pretty obvious to get them to understand. Plus some people are just mentally lazy.

While I was writing this, I realized that this Chapter is almost like Firestar is actually just writing things down, instead of a it being just a book telling a story. Um... sorry for the info dump, if you don't like it...

I feel like the last paragraph was... shaky, I guess? Eh, whatever.

Chapter 13: Base Commander

POV: Sergeant Major Firestar
Location: Beta Base

We’d been a group for four and a half years, now. I’d recovered – as much as anyone could – from Soft’s unexpected death.

I’d told Allen I’d recovered, and he’d put me in charge of Wolfhound’s new base. We called it Beta Base, as we already had our HQ, now also known as Alpha Base.

I’d been promoted, following our capture of Beta Base. Apparently, I’d gotten even better than when we’d done the ranking. Not like I cared.

Talking about Beta Base, there were a lot of repairs that had been done already. And more than twice as many that hadn’t even been started, yet. But Celestia’s top engineering and technical teams were a huge help. Plus, we had a lot of materials, both from the debris and from what we could buy or already had in the HQ’s warehouse.

Apparently, being Second-In-Command of the whole organization means I was in charge of Beta Base. I sketched a map of the whole base, but I’d have to update it quite a few times, in the future. The majority of buildings were pretty much unidentifiable piles of rubble and debris, now. Even most of the remaining buildings were damaged.

I'd counted nineteen spots that buildings had already been in, not including the watchtowers. Plus, if we needed to, there was plenty of space to build more. Plenty.

The watchtowers around the base are in a seven-by-ten number configuration, as is the base itself's size, length to width. Beta Base's length is longer than its width, and the larger sides got twenty watchtowers. That means the other sides had fourteen. Plus the side with the gate had an extra two, purely for defending the gate, itself. That made a whopping grand total of seventy watchtowers!

Talking about size, I didn't fully grasp how big the place really was. Kind of hard to do that when you're focusing on if there's a bad guy around the next corner, ready to blow your brains out. Beta Base was a good seventy square miles! It took us around fifteen-and-a-half hours to secure it. Crimson Justice built everything big, here. One of the smaller buildings, the Infirmary, was about a whole square mile, by itself.

I don't know how we didn't know it was here long before we discovered it. While still extremely small compared to all of Equestria, it's still a sizable chunk of land. Another thing I don't know is why Celestia actually gave it to us. In fact, we didn't even ask. She practically shoved it onto us. Not that we'd refuse. More space means more capacity for supplies and personnel, which means we can both store more things and recruit more people. And that usually only leads to more good things.

As time passed, Crimson Justice eventually decided to step up in their campaign against Equestria, what with us stepping up against them, in our own campaign. Before Tom had defected, it hadn't been that bad. They usually had - at best - a decent strategy, and their forces weren't very well trained. Honestly, one standard Guard fresh out of training could probably take down at least three alone.

That all changed. For a bit, we thought we'd almost exhausted their basic forces. Then, they didn't have any "basic" forces. Suddenly, every CJ grunt we came across was the equivalent - or better - of your average Royal-Guard-in-training. The grunts now had almost as much skill as the veterans.

We'd identified a few classes for the Crimson Justice military, and what they usually fought like, and what attachments they carried.

Grunt: Gets what amounts to a Guard's Boot Camp training, without the advanced courses that most Equestrian Guards take. Rarely do you see anything but iron sights from these guys.

Veteran: Might not have actually been in combat before, but they definitely fight like they have. Skill range goes from Elite Guard to Royal-Guard. Reflex sights and red dot sights optional. Some of the higher-skilled ones seem to be the team/squad leaders.

Officer: They're the main military leaders. They have the skill of a top-notch Royal Guard. These aren't the squad leaders. These are the guys that highly-skilled squad leaders become. They can sometimes have under-barrel attachments - shotguns or grenade launchers - or more advanced sights on their weapons, such as an ACOG sight or a hybrid sight (which is both an ACOG sight and either a reflex or red dot sight, put together).

Shotgunner: Name pretty much says it all. These reckless maniacs carry shotguns and pistols. Skill varies depending on the above categories. Some of the more skilled ones also have either semi-auto or fully automatic shotguns. Grunts always have pump-action ones. Doesn't mean they're not dangerous.

Marksman/Sniper: Just like the shotgunners, the name says it all. 4X-20X scopes, depending on the gun and skill level. Some of the Officers even have suppressors, but that's rare. Although their skill more than makes up for their rarity. The ones with suppressors also seem to have some pretty decent CQC training. All of them have a very keen awareness. If you're in their visual field for longer than a second, you're pretty likely to be seen. Their hearing is good, too.

Commander: These guys are Crimson Justice's best of the best. We've only tackled these juggernauts a few times, but each time was a huge challenge. They've got everything; skill, weaponry, attachments, armor, and supporting manpower. They're usually surrounded by top-notch Officers and Veterans, to make matters worse. We once lost an entire squad to a Commander by himself. I myself actually saw one lugging around a mini-gun. That guy was terrifying. These guys are the whole package: Bullet-sponges, damage-dealers, and highly intelligent, to boot.

After that info dump, just think; those are only the general categories. I could think up probably half a dozen more, if I wanted to be more specific. And terrifying. Using just those ranks, I'd say Tom would probably be worse than any Commander we've come across, by far. Seriously, if that ba**ard wasn't a traitor, he could've taken down two Commanders in full-out combat by himself. And walk away, whistling Jingle Bells.

Anyways, I was still trying to really process the fact that I was fully running something as big as this. Whenever the impact comes down, it'll come down hard. I was sure of that.

I'd allocated some resources to build a Training Hall out of the destroyed Barracks, as the Barracks that wasn't destroyed was way more than enough for us. Seriously, when one building houses - beds, showers, bathrooms, and all - over a thousand people, I think a group of less than a hundred can live there pretty comfortably.

Still, even with all of our preparations, gear, skills, numbers, and effective mindsets. Everything we had and were. We were about to dive head-on into things we would never have been able to be even remotely ready for.