Western Highway, Sera

Starlight's POV

"So tell me again why you didn't mention this place to me? I thought you were driving us to Lima city, not this Tollen place." I asked, starting to question if my friend knows where she's going. Not seeing her face but from the sound of her voice, I could tell my friend was a little irritated and slightly jittered.

"We were, but when I saw that sign back there for the road that leads to Tollen. I remembered that Tollen gots road leading through the mountains that lead up to Jacinto faster than the road we were just on. By taking this route through Tollen, we could be in Jacinto by this time tomorrow afternoon rather than be driving another three days."

"So all of this just came to you when you saw that sign back there?" I asked.

"Yes," Abby confirmed.

"And you're sure it's the fastest way to the COG?"

"I am."

"Bill, do you believe that?" I asked our robot companion who stayed in his mobile compartment.

His head popped up and nodded in confirmation.

"Why are you asking him?"

"Just making sure we are not lost, due to your driving."

"Is there something wrong with the way I drive?"

"Oh no, there isn't, only that you seem to hit every bump in the road."
I said with a slight tease.

Missing humor part of her voice due to the roar of the engine, "It's not my fault that there's so many of them, besides. The Armodilo's suspension needed a light workout after being in that vehicle bay for so long. And it's not like we have people to spare to fix the roads all the way out here to do so.

"Anyway, we should be getting close to Tollens radio broadcasters now, from there it's just us using our com pieces to transmit and bounce off to reach COQ command, won't be long now till we should start seeing Locusts patrols as well so keep an eye out while I talk to them." I heard Abby say over the roar of the Armadillos engine. "You can listen in but don't say anything unless asked too."

This was the start of her third-day I have been in Sera. I'd hadn't told Abby, but I could slowly get a sense of dread, anger, and fear the closer they got to the city. Whatever thoughts I'd had of going back home were pushed to the back of my mind. We were too far away from the portal to return and would just make us too much of a target if I left Abby now and walked back into a still unknown world to her. The safest place I could be is by my friend's side and support her for when she needs her.

"Let's try radioing in again, I know we should be in comms range by now. Let see if we can raise command." I then watched Abby puts her finger up to her head and pressed down on the transmit on her comm piece and proceeded to speak, "Command, this is Sargent Terrell, call sign BRAVO two-two. Identification code Six-three-six whiskey tango four-four-eight-nine. Are you receiving me?"

A pregnant pause was then followed as was only met with static, hope soon soured as an unknown male voice came over mine and Abby comm pieces. "Call sign and identification confirmed," The male voice sounded old rough and reminded me of the royal guard trainers.

"Sargent Terrell, where Sam's hell have you been? You've been missing in action for over a month now with your platoon declaring you dead, and without any radio check in's or other signs of communication. Now whats your status and location so we can send a retrieval unit to pick you up. I want to hear from you, why it took you so damn long for you to get back." The old man's voice did not sound very friendly but was most likely in a seat of power.

I then heard Abby let out a small laugh before answering back, "It's great to hear your voice again Colonel Hoffman sir. I'll be sure to debrief you once we arrive and you've got a moment."

"We? Who's with you, Sargent?"

"Made a new friend with some of the old tribes out in the UIR territories on my little adventures colonel, she's a recruit that I've been training myself from out in the boonies. Anyway, we are northbound about to enter Tollen area on the old Skyway. We've been lucky enough to have not encountered any Locust forces on our way here and should be crossing the front lines soon and see the city any moment. Is there any operations going on in the area that I need to know to lend any support or should be made aware of to avoid?"

A moment of silence answered her friend before the colonel's voice came back over the com's in heavy static, but the message was clear, "Sargent, Tollen is gone."

"... Come again, command? It sounded like you said Tollen was gone, did the town fall, sir?" Abby said into the mike.

I took a look outside down the road aways. Up ahead appeared to be a colossal stone dame next to a lake at its base that looked dirty and had had a bunch of homes that sat at the edge of its shores.

Something made my eyes blink again as I lean closer to the window, getting a closer look at the water. 'There's a lot of wood and dirt floating around in there for some lake' I thought to myself before spotting something in the water that made my face pale.

Turning to my friend I raised my voice to shouted at her. "Stop the Armadillo! Now!"

Hearing my shout, the armadillo came to a dead stop in the middle of the road. Grabbing my Lancer, I slammed my hand on the door hatch switch, opening the troop door out front. Ignoring my friend's protest, I ran ahead, there from what I saw made my blood run cold.

Reaching the side of the road, I got a better view of what was left of the human town.

It was flooded and sunken under its waters.

I could only look out in horror at the destruction before us. Stone masoned buildings were slightly peaking at the surface of the water, sharp rigged and broken rocks stabbed upwards along the water line. Wood and other debris floated aimlessly around whatever surfaced. The sky quickly darkened overhead, giving the town a darker feel to it. This was Tollen, and off to the side held towns welcome sigh. In big white bold letters on a faded blue rectangle, she head Abby read aloud.

"Tollen, Population fifteen thousand, two hundred seventeen... What the hell happened here? Command this is Bravo two-two, we made it to Tollen. What the hell happened to this place, sir?"

"..."

"....."

"Command, do read me?"

"....."

"......."

The static was all we could hear out of our com pieces as Abby kept trying to raise them. But I didn't care about that, all I wanted now was to know what could have done something so horrible. Back in Equestria, a town of this size being destroyed to avoid the point that looks like this hasn't been recorded since before the unification of the three tribes. The more I looked at the destruction, the more fear that was beginning to fill her, like a rock in the stomach. I wanted to throw up but didn't want to look weak in front of Abby. I felt a hand on my shoulder tore me away from unhealthy thoughts and back to reality. Looking back at the hand's owner, Abby held a serious face on her before she spoke.

"Somethings jamming long-range communication, which means we got a big problem here."

"What is it?" I asked if things couldn't get any worse

Abby looked away and around them and scanned the sky before stopping at the unusually black clouds coming overhead, "Seeders."

I raised an eyebrow at that, "Seeders? What the hey are seeders? I don't remember you telling me about those back in Equestria."

"I've only seen a few of them in my time in this war. Seeders are some type of giant animal that the Locust breed that shoots out that inking fog-like substance that fills the air." Abby said as she points to the sky towards the mountains. "It also shoots out another kind of creator we call a 'Nemeses,' that act like living bombs for defense. They are also huge and are a real problem for scouting teams that are on missions, messing with communications." Abby summarized.

"And for them to be out here this close to Jacinto, that's bad, right?"

"Worse, the lines have moved inland closer to the city itself. Like I said we are only a days drive away from the city. While the city itself is heavily fortified by heavy fortifications and mountains, it could only hold out for so long against a siege. Now that Tollen has fallen, and with no running power towards the munition factories that supplied the cities defenses." she told me. I felt confessed in that second part. "Plus, with seeders in the area, we got to watch the skies just as much as the ground.

"What are you talking about the munition factories?" Abby just answered me by sticking her finger out in the distance.

"Over there past the town, you can see that big wall that's the Tolland Dam. It's a hydroelectric power plant; it uses the water's current from the river and converts it to electrical energy for the nearby towns. From the looks of it, the water has been redirected elsewhere, with the water redirected to somewhere else, theirs no more power running the factory lines. Which means no ammo running to our guns."

Looking to where Abby was pointing. I saw the massive wall of gray stone in the distance when they first drove up to the town. Kind of hard to miss. It stretched up to the sky between two mountains making a bridge between them. Among them were four faces that marked along the bridge, some of the nation's rulers maybe, I didn't know.

"With the factories out of commission, I don't know how long the COG will last. Heck, it might just be smart just to turn back now and make a run for Equestria..."

When Abby finished that last sentence, my mind was in a fury of emotions. I thought that I could help her friend's people and fight this terrible enemy. I had been told it was dangers and what she may have to do. Ignoring all the warnings, I took heart still pressed forward with what I'd thought was right. By using the same determination from when she wanted revenge on her teacher Twilight and her friends for taking her town. I felt that I could help repay her friend by helping defend humanity and defeating the Locust. By now I couldn't stop the doubt and fear that poured into my mind.

My mind was jolted back to reality when the sound of the radio crack in her earpiece with a different male's voice coming out.

"Hello, iz anyone receiving thiz tranzmizzion? This is MAKO zix actual, You out there?"

The voice was indeed a male's voice, and he had a stalliongawd draw to it from the way the radio sounded to Starlight. Looking up at Abby, my friend was already acting with the pronatalism I'd seen her do before.

"This BRAVO two-two, whats your status and position MAKO, over?"

"About damn time we heard a familiar voice. We thought we were lozing our mindz when we ztarted to hear your tranzmizzion. We're up zhit creek without a paddle right now, and the zituation is getting worse. There's a bunch of Zeederz in the area, and they're zending a bunch of Nemeszez in the air. They are creating a huge radio blackout net izolating the whole valley from the dame outward from the outside world. If we can hear you, then that means that you're inzide the net. Tell me are you able to mount any kind of rezcue to zave our collected lovable azzez? We're held up in Speyer's radio tower. Its location was the only place we could make any lazting defenze." Mako explained over the radio.

Having barely studied the facial reactions of humans, I could tell from her friend's face that a bunch of thoughts was going through her head before replying back. "As much as we like to that's a negative MAKO. We were in the same boat as you not long ago and just barely got out ourselves," Abby explaind MAKO. MAKO was silent before answering back.

"I zee... That's a damn zhame. Kinda let down our hopez right there."

"I'm sorry, there's only two of us out here and with not much in the way of supplies either." Then Abby's eye's then hardened. "What supplies do you have left, and the strength of the Locust presents? We may not be able to do much, but I'll be damned if I'm going to leave you all to die like this without doing something." Abby declared.

I suddenly felt pride swell up in my chest from Abby's speech. Like back in the hive. Her confidence in being steadfast against danger and rescuing others. In a way, it reminded me of Abby's cutie mark. An old beat up book with a heart protected by a shield. It made my heart flutter at why she got so close to her friend over the time she spent in Equestria. MAKO's voice snapped me out of my thoughts again, explaining the situation to them.

"Zhit, don't know what you can do with just two of you. You'd be better off taking your Zelf and make your way to Jacinto. Then again I can't Ztop you from doing anything even if I wanted to." MAKO said sounding amused.

"As I said, we're in the town of Zpeyer, held up in the town'z radio tower. As for the Locuzt, their forcez are just a bunch of dronez and a few boomerz that got us zurrounded. They can't get near us on account of us having made a kill zone just outside using a pair of heavy fixed machine guns. We've been holding them back now for zix days and lost most of my men. My guys are tired, minorish and running on old coffee. And we're almost out of coffee. How zoon can you get to us?"

"We are just outside of Tollen. We can be in Speyer area within an hour if you know of a safe route to you? Also, I hate to say this but how many are you? I say this because we only have enough room for six or seven extra people we can squeeze in our Armidilo." She told the man. We didn't hear a reply back after several seconds.

"Our little-held garrizon of two hundred and fifty; when we pulled back to the radio tower we were brought down twenty-five, now there'z juzt four of uz left..."

I covered my mouth with a gloved hand to stop her self from gasping. They were slowly getting killed by the advancing hoard that surrounded them. Watching one by one of their friends falling in battle, and over the course of several days? If this happened with her losing Twilight, Trixie, and Abby, in the same way, I wouldn't probably break at that point.

"We'll come up with an extraction plan for you, give us a few minutes to figure ourselves out."

"Hell, you coming out there coming to our rezcue we will be ready for whatever crazy plan you couped up," he replied

"Stand by a minute while we figure out something on our end, and for god's sake don't die when we make up one."

"Not on my thingz to do, keep us pozted, MAKO out." The transmission then went dead. I was the first to speak, mainly due to wanting to find out kind of plan her friend has up her sleeve, "How are we going to play this like you just said we don't have much in the way of supplies and not really in a place to do much."

Abby then looked to her left and started talking to the thin air as if someone was there. "Bill do you have their location?" Then right out of thin air, our third party member the JACK bot Bill appeared.

"He can become invisible?!" I yelped in shock.

"Yes he can, didn't I tell you about that?" Abby asked, looking a bit confessed.

"NO, you did not tell me your robots can cloak like a changeling!" I replied with an angry glare.

"Sorry, thought I told you they were used in recon missions."

"Yea, you did. Not become like ghosts and disappear whenever they like." I said with a disapproving look.

"Oh, anyway moving on from this rather off topic. Bill there location please." Abby asked as she turned away from me and back at the floating robot, slightly irritating me in the process. Bill opened a lower compartment and a glass plate popped forward displaying a bunch of lines and letters along them with a red dot centered in the middle.

"Now plot a route from our current position." Bill let out a few beeps and wins as the screen changed slightly to include a blue line along the road. "Mmmm... Alright, looks to be pretty straightforward but I'm concerned about going through these towns. While I'm not all against making a run for it if we run into trouble, it's how much room we're going to have."

"How big are these road?" I asked.

"Just single-lane roads. It's going to be tight for the Armadillo when we enter the town. There may be a few abandon cars that we can drive around, but once we get into town, there's no guarantee we can get close if the town indeed blocked off."

"Is there any way they can get out and meet us someplace where there isn't so much stuff blocking the road?"

Abby just looks at you and smiles, "That's a good idea lets ask." She then puts a finger up to her ear, "MAKO, this is BRAVO come in, over."

"Thiz iz MAKO, go BRAVO."

"Is the roads in your area blocked by any chance. We're trying to see if we can do a snatch and grab on you but not sure what the route in your area is like."

"Da. The roadz in our local area are indeed blocked due to our hazty fortificationz againzt the Locuzt; now the grubez have them and are uzing them against uz."

"Is there an opening you can exploit to get out of town and onto the towns main roadway? That way we could it be easier for all of us to get out quickly."

"Well... now that you mention it there iz an ally way not too far from us that can lead out to the central road that goes'z ztraight through town. But it's got several gun emplacementz that we zet up and if they are ztill usable..."

"They would be used against us, brilliant." Abby gowned in announce. "Will just have to hope for the best that they aren't then. You guys better be there because will only have enough time for one shot at this. Otherwise, the Locust will know what we're doing."

"Now start punching hole's in their defenses and get out, we're coming at you hot and ready," Abby commanded over the radio before to the armadillo.

"Muzic to my ear'z, you heard the lady move like you got a purpoze! " The man yelled over the mike.

Taking her finger off her radio, Abby looked at her with a small smile. "Alright rooky let's get moving, don't want to be late for your first mission," Abby said before putting her helmet on.

Author's Note

Speyer

Tollen Dam

Thank you all those who has been supporting and following this story sense its beginning and those who recently found this story. For the next chapter I'm going to be doing something a little different for the next chapter in the story.

That's right I'm turning this next part of the story be decided by you! The readers.
Commit below or message me on which two seens want to happen in the up coming chapter.

Seen 1. The girls make it through to the center of town by running over everything in their way, only to face with a triatic horrible sight when they get there and make things complicated on their way out.

Seen 2. Our two lady's get stopped when a Bremak blocks their way in (or Out) and have to find another way into (Or out of) town to save the doomed Gears. Which so happens to be a draw bridged that someone will need to stay behind to cover their escape.....

Seen 3. The road leading to where they need to pick up the Gears is blocked by abandon cars and cant be passed through by the Armadillo, by can be on foot. Do they risk a messy two women assault on foot? And What horrible price needs to be paid when their leaving?

That's for you to decide readers, from the time till this chapter is posted to February 20 I will counting up the votes on witch seen do you want to play out.

In the meantime see you all on the web,