Author's Note

This was the longest chapter yet and took a lot of planning to do.

I like to thank DarkShadowClaw for submitting his OC of Captain Gavin Nickoli

To thank The-Black-Knight for pointing out my major flaw that I have with my writing style. Which is why I'm going to re-due my writings for the better.

So yea I've said this before and starting this week I'll be taking all the chapters off my last Gears story. I'll be both Adding and editing it so its less like a third person view and more first person.

Oh yea try and find the clue I put to give everyone a hint on where they end up next. Only real GOW fans will figure it out.

So yea enjoy, stay tune and I'll see you all over the web

Highway rescue Prt,2

Town of Speyer, Sera

Starlights POV

"Umm, Abby."

"Yes, Starlight."

"What in the name of Celestia is that?" I politely pointed out.

"That my friend is a pile of shit," Abigail answered.

Due to the makeshift roadblocks that led to the town where the trapped gears were holed up. The pair had been traveling towards Speyer to rescue a team of Gears that they made contact with only for them to be redirected around the town to avoid Locust patrols around the edges of town, making this stop number three. The drawbridge that leads into town, the way seemed to be clear for the moment, and there was no sign of Locust nearby, except for the only way in was having to drive through piles of eight-foot hight by fourteen-foot long leftovers of a walking monster that remained unseen.

"I see," I said. "And what made them?"

"Bremaks, pray you never see one. Good thing our helmets filter out smoke AND stink otherwise we would probably say hello to our breakfast from this morning." My friend answered before she walked around to examen the area ahead. "Aw shit, it looks like we're walking from here."

"Why?"

"This bridge is littered with this shit, look."

I looked past the brown pile to dozens more of the disgusting monster feces littering the bridge. "The stuff is too soft for the Amadilo to drive through without getting stuck in this shit," Abby cursed. "Will just have to go ahead on foot and meet with them before things get too much for MAKO."

Agreeing with her friend, I took the Lancer off her back and followed my friend around the mounds of crap across the bridge. I walk to the bridge's edge and saw a roaring stream of water flowing underneath. With my curiosity satisfied and with no sign of the Locust, I hear Abby touch her mike to call MAKO again, "MAKO this is BRAVO over." she said.

"Go ahead BRAVO."

"We're inside the town and just crossed the drawbridge on the northeast side of town. We had to go in on foot due to a bunch of blockages that the Locust put in our way."

Yea blockage, that's an excellent way of putting it. I mused. "Plan hasn't changed though; we'll cut a path too you and meet us somewhere in between."

"Roger that, looking forward to meeting you face to face BRAVO."

"Same here, BRAVO out." Cutting the comm, she turned to me. "Let's go Starlight, stay alert and watch yourself."

"Got it."

Staying close to Abby, I raised my gun and scanned the buildings we wormed through. All looked like they've seen better days, some more then others depending on if they had a blown out wall or crumbling rooftop. What made the sightseeing worse had been the number of dead bodies that littered the ground. Both Locust and human piled over each other on makeshift barricades. The Locust boodies I could see had been riddled with holes from all the gunfire that the Gears had fired on them. Their weapons left and discarded by there sides. When we climbed through the blown out hole in the COG fortification, my body became stiff as a bored at what laid before me. Blood, blood everywhere on everything. Not only blood but the owners of said blood were all over the place. Severed arms and legs spewed out away from their owners, and some even lost their heads that rolled off somewhere. Their armor that once held the shiny blue cover like the one I am wearing were splashed over in crimson, as blood dried over them. What made it worse, is that there were more dead Gears then Locust on this side of the barricade. "Sweet Celestia," I gasped, as I could not tear my eye's away from what lad before me. A good thing I wasn't alone, as my friend brought me back to reality.

"I know, this is why I didn't want you to come to this world. It's full of monstrosities like this, just keep moving Star. Nothing we can do for them now. All we can do now is save those we can and make the ones who did this pay for it. Mourning now will only cost us time, time which MAKO doesn't have." Abby comforted.

Shaking my head out of it, I went back on mission, "Right, right save the ones that are still alive, take down the bad guys, then break down when not in a place that has enemies lurking around every corner." I said before raising my weapon up to a nearby alleyway.

I heard Abby laugh a little before speaking again. "Now you're getting it."

We continue down the ruined street, passing by abandoned cars and dispair buildings. Our progress halted when the road had a collapsed building blocked our path.

"We're going to need to find an alternate route. Come on let's check that building there." Abby gestured to the building on the left. It reminded her of some of the apartments that made up the middle-class homes in some of the big cities she had been before. Walking up to the front door Abby jungled the door nob to find the door locked. She then took a step back and kicked it making it fly open and making the building accessible to us.

"knock knock," Abbu said jokingly before stepping inside with me following behind her. The inside was just as fabulous as the outside; wallpaper was peeling everywhere, the ceiling was cracked and crumbling. Everything was just dandy. Navigating through the halls while ignoring deteriorating walls and old furniture, they climb a set of stairs to the next floor. There they find the roof partially collapsed revealing the sky above. They quickly navigate the halls to were the sounds of gunfire echoed the air.

"That must be Mako; they sound close," Abby said. The fighting got loader when they reached the other side with no problems. Looking out the windows, they witness a firefight escalating in front of them. A team of four gears racing down the street while being pursued by a big Locust force. Drones and Boomers, from the description Abby told her, fired down the road at the retreating humans.

"MAKO six actual this is Bravo, is that you I see running down the road?" Abby called out over the radio.

Looking down at the fleeing group, I saw that the four gears stopped and slid to any nearby cover and started firing back with what weapons they have. "Thiz iz MAKO, good to hear from you BRAVO, What iz your pozition over?" MAKO called back over the radio.

"Were to your eleven o'clock up on the second floor, fall back we'll cover your escape."

"Got it, when we're clear will meet up nearby." He said before he cut is radio and joined the others.

"Starlight, focus fire on the Boomers. There the biggest threat to them." Abby ordered before sticking her Lancer out out the window releasing several bursts of fire on the Locust, catching a few of them off guard as bullets rained down on them. But the shock was gone after a moment as their guns trained on us. Ducking down from the incoming fire, Starlight watched through her helmet as bullets flew over her and embedded themselves into the wall behind them.

"Feel free to join in at any time Starlight," Abby snapped while firing her weapon. Hearing her friend pull her back to the current situation. I lifted my gun and sighted on one of the Boomers before letting loose on them with small bursts of fire. Now She was by no means a marksman with her Lancer. Back before she entered this word, Abby's been teaching me on the fly on how to use ballistic weapons. Teaching her how to clean them, test fire, and when should you use it. Along with a crash course of the necessary tactics and battle drills, and when she got to this world, Abby has been reviewing everything in my new body. So when shed squeezed that trigger, she felt a rush of adrenaline hit her. As if time had slowed I watched as my shots fly at the enemies below.

Abigails POV

Finally hearing Starlights weapon going off I refocused on the nearest Locust Drone. Seeing the closest one was still charging at the grounded Gears, she needed to be taking care that one fast. Letting a few rounds go off I watched as my shots hit the Drone in multiple locations along its body before going down. I then went to the next Drone, this one a Grenadier taking pot shots with a shotgun. When its head popped up, she introduced it with a few bullets making its head crumple up from the meeting. That went over and over for all the enemies that came out. After the tenth enemy that I took down, I saw MAKO had successfully escaped a few blocks away and was now the center of attention for the Locust.

"Starlight, MAKO's clear let's pack up and get out of here!" I ordered.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Starlight replied.

They moved back into the inner sections of the apartment building to shelter themselves from the increase gunfire that the Locust was poring over the area they took cover at, and a good thing too, when we ran around the next corner a multitude of explosions that went off behind them. Looking back I knew that this wasn't going to be the last they see of that particular hoard of Locust; with as many that they were holding off back there it was only a matter of time till they meet again. With Starlight right behind me, we continued onwards through the halls till we reached the road they exited earlier, this time on the other side of the collapsed building that we stopped. Sweeping the area for any hostiles, and seeing none in sight. I motioned Starlight to follow me out and made our way in the direction that MAKO went. 'Hopefully, we can catch up to them and get the hell out of this rundown town before they run into any more trouble.' Abby hoped as we moved.

As we moved down the street, we came upon a checkpoint with its defenses breached and its defendants slain. "We should be close to MAKO, take a moment to look around for ammo. We both wasted a bunch of it back there." It was true; we didn't have much when they first entered the town, now we had a few mags between Starlight and herself. "Find what you can salvage, guns, grenades, whatever that can find to be useful." Even though she can't see her face under her helmets mask, she could tell the former unicorn wasn't very comfortable with scavenging from the dead. But she nodded in understanding and went to the nearest fallen soldier.

I will always feel terrible for doing this, but with how low resources are and how little remained after the Hammer Strikes. Filling up my pouches with ammo to the brim. I also picked up a fallen gnasher shotgun that a grenadier had. Now she was fully armed and ready. She now eight magazines for her Lancer and two dozen shells for the shotgun. Looking over at my companion, I saw that Starlight had her lancer on her back and had a new weapon in her hands. One that she hadn't seen in a while. "Where did you find that?"

Starlight looked up and shrugged her shoulders. Whether it was confusion or a simple, 'I don't know' look was her guess.

"It was over here by this guy," She said while she gestured to the dead Gear next to her. "I thought it looked interesting, so I picked it up. It also had the same knife like the one you have on your shoulder, is that where you got yours?"

Glancing down at her chest, she did have the same knife like the one on the old weapon. "That's right, What you have right there is Mark 1. Retro Lancer. The generation before the one you have on your back. You don't see them too often nowadays."

"Why's that? Do they performance issues or something?"

"Oh no, they still work great even after all this time. Veteran Gears that served back in the last war continue to use these old Lancers despite the fact that of certain disadvantages it has when fighting Locust."

"Like what?" Starlight asked as she looked at her new weapon.

"It was made during a time when the COG was fighting another nation, the UIR. Fighting in a more ground and open warfare. So it was great when fighting other humans, but against Locust, the falts became quickly recognized pretty quickly."

"What were the falts? It looks like any other deadly weapon out here."

Having heard that from my friend I probably walked up to her and smacked her upside the head. Making her shoulders jerked up at the surprised contact. "Starlight Glimmer, as both your combat instructor and your friend I am ashamed to hear you say that. For fuck sake, after all, I told both you and Twilight about gun safety I figure you'd understand the different purpose of each of my weapons I demonstrated to everyone back in Equestria." And what a time that was indeed.

--

Ponyville, Equestria

one week after the changeling attack

Abigails POV

"CAWPOW!!!"

"OW, my nose!"

Looking downrange, she saw that the tin can that she set on the fence was still intact. Not long after the award ceremony for defeating the changelings and killing Chrysalis once and for all. Starlight made the desition to return to her homeworld to fight for her friend's people. And since I couldn't talk her friend out of this, no mattered how many times I tried to persuade the unicorn not to come back with her wouldn't hear any of it. So I took it among herself to at least train her in the ways of modern combat and firearms safety.

When word got around for this Twilight brought Spike and her friends out for the weapons demonstration. Rainbow Dash even brought along a few VIB members of a flyers group called the 'Wonder Bolts,' that's part of the ponies military. A captain Spitfire and a lieutenant's Fleetfoot and Soarin.

I thought the three of them were ok in her book; Spitfire reminded her of a female Hoffman with the way her voice acted out. Like what a drill sergeant's voice at basic training would sound.

After a twenty minute briefing on firearms history and safety. I used my snub pistol on a few cans do demonstrate its effectiveness, followed by the Lancer and Longshot. Having never really seen my weapons in action they were both in awe, and a bit scared at how dangerous my guns can be. The Wonder bolts too were impressed, primarily when I demonstrated the Lancers chainsaw bayonet to saw through wood. I then asked if anyone would like to use any of them. Both Starlight's and Rainbow's hoves went up in an instant, followed by all the Wonder Bolts. With having a limited amount of rounds left after the assault on the changing hive. There was just a single magazine worth of Lancer ammo, two clips of pistol rounds, and a handful of Longshot shots that I was using for this set.

Having prepared the string, I used back at the hive for the non-unicorns in the group. I let Spitfire go first and fire three single shots from my Lancer and missed the cans that were set up for her. The Captin was a little surprised by the kick that the weapon gave off after each shot but liked the power that it gave off. I was a little nervous about letting Rainbow Dash use the Lancer next, but to everyone's surprise, she hit one of the cans. Then proceded to gloat over how awesome she is. Then came Starlight, her pupal as it were, using the Longshot. Only with one problem, she held it in magical grip in front of her face. So when the weapon fired, it flew out of her grasp and smacked her in the face.

Now Starlight was on her back with her forelegs clutching her face.

Holding back on how humerus that was, unlike some members of the audience. Looking down on my little student of warfare I gave her a little smug grin.

"Rule one, don't assume all guns are the same. Rule two, don't put the but of the weapon in front of your face unless you want a shinner like the one you'll have tomorrow."

Present

Abby's POV

"My nose still feels sore from that day." said the but hurt ex-unicorn.

"To answer your earlier question. The difference's between the two is pretty straightforward. The newer mark 2. Lancer has a chainsaw instead of the bayonet like the mark 1. The reason being that Locust skin is thicker then most creatures have, and it is known to break during battle when put through enough stress. Another difference is the rounds they fire. The older model fires a bullet that's twice the size than newer Lancers." I explained.

"Wouldn't that be better in a firefight? Bigger the shots fired at the enemy with a better of a chance to kill them." She asked before she turned the weapon on its side to give it a look over. Nodding in agreement with what I was saying.

"It's that reason why traditional Gear's still favored them, each round acts like a sharp hammer hitting them each time. It's handy when fighting bigger targets and does a solid amount of damage to armor. But those rounds come with a few drawbacks by themselves."

"The clips hold fewer rounds due to their size, and it gives off a harder recoil. Making close corners combat not very fun or when facing multiple enemies. So are you keeping it?" I asked my friend.

"...Yea, I think I will. If at least to help me when I run out of ammo on my other Lancer." She replied before she switched back to the newer one.

"Alright your choice then, just make sure you have plenty of ammo for it. You'll run out before you realize it if you're not careful." I said to which she got an affirmative nod.

Before another word could be said, I felt a familiar tremor from under her followed by hearing pavement cracking. Looking to where the cracking was coming from, a ring of dust burst out of the ground before the ground collapsed under itself. Leaving behind a while ten-foot hole in the road, when my eyes saw the dust fly up panic and adrenaline filled her senses.

"E hole!" I shouted as we readied for action. "Starlight, take cover!" I ordered her friend as the two of them got behind the checkpoints barricade. During this, the first drones came up from the depts. Looking breathly over their cover I spotted three drones emerge from the ground and ready for a fight. All armed with Hammerbursts. Having seen us, they roared off their war cries and begun firing. Hearing the challenge, I rose up and started shooting back with Starlight doing the same. Within seconds of their combined fire shredded the closest drone. Upon doing so, they took cover as the other two drones fired back. Peeking back over she saw that another two drones were about to climb out of the emergence hole. "We got to plug that E hole, or they are just going to keep on coming!" Starlight gets up and fires a few rounds before getting back down and looks in my direction.

"How do we do that!?" She shouted over the sound of the gunfire.

"Tose a grenade in there. That will seal it." I replied. Looking at their options for her plan she needed to work fast.

"Keep them suppressed! I'll flank right to get in close, toss one in and seal it up!"

"Alright, got you covered!"

Raising back up, Starlight fired her weapon at the nearest drone And receiving multiple bullet holes to the face killing it instantly. Seeing her opening, I vaulted over the barricade and ran along the sidewalk. Jumping from cover to cover it didn't take me long to reach a spot that allowed a secure position for a toss. It also didn't take long for the Locust to realize what I was doing and began focused attention on her. But they were too late as I had armed one of my grenades. Seeing the hole within throwing distance, then saw another Drone about clime out of the hole. I wouldn't give it a chance and let my grenade fly. It bounced once on the pavement before falling into the hole. A moment later an explosion overtook the hole and sealed it up.

With the hole now sealed, I began focusing on the remaining Locust. I counted four Drones that were still kicking that needed to go down. The drones became furries that the hole was sealed up and began to pour more fire on the two of them. One Drone got close to her and tried to gun rush me, getting my hand on the Lancer handle I waited till it got close before pulling the handle back preparing to rev up the chainsaw. As the Drone got closer to me, it was still spewing shots at my cover trying to keep her down. Then I'd overheard the distinct click of a gun going empty. Having heard that, I revved up the chainsaw and charged in its direction of my attacker. There only a few feet of distance between herself and the Drone in question in the prosses of reloading. So the gap was quickly crossed as I brought down the Lancer on her foe. The Drone tried to block my attack with its arm but proved fruitless as the Lancer went through its arm effortlessly before carving into its chest. The Drone whimpered in pain before clasping on the ground and drowning in its blood.

With the deed done, I turned towards her other aggressors. While there were three Drones left standing it didn't take long for both Starlight and Me to put them down.

Starlight would fire bullets forcing them to take cover, and she would flank them and finish them off up close. When the last drone fell back dead, I regrouped with my friend. Walking up to her, I could see Starlights shoulders shake. Probably from being in her first firefight and having participated in an actual combat situation instead of sidelining it.

I caught her looking at the dead drone in front of her, her first kill. Looking back and forth between Starlight and the Drone, I hunched down on the drone and did a little work. When I stood back up, I waved for her to come closer. "Come here Star I got something for yea."

Having gotten her attention, she walked over to her. I then presented a gift to her. "Why are you giving me that? Don't I have enough weapons on me."

I just smiled, even if she cant see me under the mask. "This is a reminder of your first. So you know that you have the choice to take a life or not. I was watching your shots back at the apartments, and you didn't make one kill. That here is proof that you can overcome such obstacles like this and use it to protect others. Because I can guarantee by the time you return to Equestria, your going to have more notches on your belt. Now turn around so I can equip this properly." Starlight did as I instructed and turned her back to me. I now had a proper look at what I was dealing with, on her right thigh held the Snub pistol she gave her to use as a backup weapon from the first day. Not the right side of her back had the Retro Lancer she picked up from the checkpoint. On her left thigh had a grenade pouch with her grenades and her communications book from Equestria. Seeing nowhere else, I strapped Boltok holster and pistol on her belt, angling it so she can access it from her left side. It was somewhat unique too, while most Boltoks had a bronze finish this one didn't and instead had a silver finish.

"There, now you're ready to for whatever comes next," I said with a smile.

'THUMP.'

My smile vanished.

'THUMP...!'

Her eyes widen in fear at the vibrations in the earth.

'THUMP!'

Starlight had turned around to look at me in suspense. I couldn't see it, but I knew that fear was showing through the blue-lit eye holes.

'THUMP!' "Raarrr"

Turning to where the growl came from my face paled at the monster just a few city blocks behind her. There a thirty-meter tall Bremak stood eyeing the pair of them like they were a tasty snack. "Except maybe that, RUN!"

We then went into a dead sprint down the road just as the armored monstrosity gave a bellowing cry. It's twin heavy guns on its arms rain death on us as they ran for our lives. Taking hold of Starlights arm, I pulled her out of the line of fire behind checkpoints barricade.

We huddled close as death rained around us. I knew we needed to get out of the open but could not see. Looking out, I couldn't see any decent cover nearby that they can be utilized against the Bremak. I felt hopeless in the situation they were now in, and she had hoped that the two of them would avoid against something like that. If she had a few more Gears with some heavy weapons, then I'll feel better about the situation.

As if the heavens above had opened up and answered her prayers, the guns of the Bremak suddenly halted as sounds of explosions filled the air. Looking behind us, I saw the Bremak getting pelted with bombs and gunfire from across the street. It was MAKO; they came back for them! Relief filled her at the sight of them. I then hear one of the Gears call out to us. "Hey, wanna live?! Get the hell off the street!"

"Wait for us!" I called back. Before turning my attention to Starlight, "Come on Star we got to move."

We broke out of our coverage over to where MAKO was firing from, which turned out to be an old corner store that use to sell everyday consumables. As soon as we were in, the six of us rushed inward into the store and out the back door into a narrow alleyway. The four Gears that found us lead us around the building till we reached an empty factory assembly line area. Starlight and I were breathing heavily from the continued rush of adrenalin that was leaving our bodies. Now that the moment was cooling down, I finally got a look at the Gears we were here in the first place.

The man in front of her had no helmet on so I could make out his facial features easily. He was an old gear for sure; his skin was light brown male and his built made pretty tall, his sported black goatee and black braids along his head. There was also his hazel brown eyes and the look that he carried him. The look that every veteran Gear held that showed that he saw too much much in life which confirmed her suspicions. I saw his primary weapon of choice to be a Retro Lancer, on his back carried a gnasher shotgun and his sidearm a boltok pistol. In the years of war, I had been in you can tell a lot of a man just by his looks and weapons. Turning on her heads-up display for the IFF tags, she read out load for she was addressing an officer. "Captain Nikoli, MAKO Actual I presume? Sargent Terrell sixty-six highlanders BRAVO two-two, this is privet Glimmer and bob." I introduced me, my friend and the bot the decloced making everyone jump back for a sec before relaxing..

The man smiled as he looked us, "Da, glad to meet Zargent, privet." He replied in heavy Gorasni accent. "I am Captin Gavin Nickoli of the twenty-first wester coast regiment; I was the second in command here under Major Smith. Thoze with me are all that left." He points to the three men behind him. My HUD picks up all three of there IFF tags. The one on the left was, Privet D. Tompson, he wore first generation blue armor, similar to what I gave Starlight, and carried a Lancer in his hands a Boomshot on his back. The tag in the middle read Sargent J. Rushton. He wore the same armor as the privet, he also carried a Lancer but had a Longshot on his back. He looked to be a little short for a Gear, but since he and I shared the same rank, then he must have done something right to which I gave a nodded gesture of a fellow NCO to which he returned. The last one was a bit of eye candy for me, a tall Privet C. Carmine. He was tallest of the four, about a head and a haft more on Rushton, and wow did he have a gun show. And I wasn't talking about the Lancer in his hands of the Boomshot on his back. But the Two he had for arms, he was wearing summertime armor, which wasn't that odd to me. Seasons could change fast depending on where you get sent. What did interest me was the decal in the center of his chest plate. It was a big gear with the words "Grub Killer," in the middle. One doesn't do that unless he's done something to make himself known for it. But those arms, you crack nuts with just a flex I bet. I wonder what his thighs look like? Maybe he has abs that you can grind meat off of. I was so in-depth of ogling the tall privet that I didn't hear the first words that came from Captin Nickoli. Something about her helmets HUD from the sound of before I started listening again.

" - didn't know that there was any Onyx guard still around. I thought you all died off or on zome zecret mission. But thoze or queztionz for another time. One'z best zaved for when we leave thiz infested town." He finished to which I agreed with the usual nod of understanding.

"Agreed sir. We parked our ride not to far from here we can be there before the lunch rush if we hurry." She answered.

"Zounds like a plan, where you park at?"

"It's on the other side of the drawbridge that near here."

"Alright then, lead the way, Sargent. We got you-" His speech was interrupted when a sniper shot went off and impacted against Rushton. The Sargent's body jerked back, a spray of blood painted the wall behind him.

I cursed under my breath at their misfortune. I, Starlight and Carmine quickly took cover behind assembly line while the Captin and Tompson drag Rushton with them back to an office to the other side of the assembly, Bob just reclocked to avoid being a target. Looking across the factory, I spotted several Locust taking up firing positions along the second story catwalk. Looking right I see a set of stairs leading up, I then motioned for Starlight and Carmine to follow me. "Head upstairs and clear them out," I ordered.

The tall Gear took up position in front of me before turning back, "I got this sarge, I've got a bit of pet up aggression that needs some release." He said to me before he took his Boomshoot off his back and fired a shell at a pair of Drones. I watch the Boom shell arc up and impacted head-on on one Drone, turning him into several chunks of burning red meat. The other Drone was pushed up into the air off the catwalk and landing hard on the ground. Maybe the "Grub Killer" has some weight with this guy.

Climbing up the stairs, we began to desk hop two of us would shoot at the Drones while the third would go from cover to cover and got closer to the enemy and giving us a better firing position.

When I saw the three of us in good positions, I signaled them to lay waste on them. Standing up straight, the three of us engaged against three separate Drones. Mine and Carmine's drones became quickly riddled with bullets while Starlight's Drone retreated out the double doors from which they came in. Keeping my eye on the doorway, I rounded up the two that was with me and headed back down to the ground floor of the assembly line to meet up with the others. Reaching the office that the others had taken shelter in we came upon a grim sight. Tompson was walking away from the scene, Rushton sat against the wall with his head hang low with blood coating his armor. Captin Nickoli was there standing in front of Rushton with a set of COG tags dangling from his hands. Which only meant their company was down to five.

From the reactions, I can see from those around me. Nickoli was stoneface, having to live longer than another Gear he commanded. Carmine muscles stiffened up; his hands clenched into fists. If I hadn't spent time in a world of magic for a time, I swear he was just radiating in anger. But I was more worried about Tompson and Starlight. Starlight for her well being and Tompson with the symptoms of the shakes, most likely from PTSD after continues days of fighting.

The Captin was first to recover from the moment and turned to address the situation. "We need to move, to many have died under my watch and I'll be damned if I'm going to let them die in vain." His eye's then settled on me," Sargent lead us out."

I replied back by giving him a firm salute before answering, "Yes sir."

Turing on my heels, I lead everyone out the nearest exit. Looking down the street, I made a note to keep an eye out for that Bermak. Despite its size, that thing could just pop up and mow us down if given a chance. Seeing nothing, for now, we made our way down the street till we reached the blocked road from earlier, showing that we were on the right track. However, before we could make our way around, a high-pitched scream from behind us It was so loud I thought that my ears were about to bleed. Turning to face the advisory, I spot a single wretch on top of a ruined car down the street. It didn't take long for dozens more to suddenly pop up everywhere.

Wretches, the lowest form of annoyance us Gear have to face. I certainly didn't miss these guys when I was Equestria. Maybe If I remembered them back then, then I would have stayed in pony land. Maybe become an instructor for the princesses guard. Whip those pony boys into real soldiers instead of just decoration like what the ones I saw in Canterlot.

As one, we all pointed our weapons and began to unload on them. With Starlights lack of formal military training, I could quickly see how unprepared she was when facing multiple enemies. She was having trouble deciding which wrench to shoot at as she kept switching between targets and missing. I took a spot next to her to keep them off her and protect the team's flack. Seeing me fighting beside her must have given her some confidence back as her shots were connecting to her targets more often. The others were no pushovers either. Captin Nickoli and Carmine were mowing down enemies with ease with their weapons. Nickoli had switched to his shotgun for the ones that got to close to him while he stood by Tompson and Carmine. Taking down another wretch that hoped up on the car in front of me they were starting to get to close for comfort. When I felt my mag ran dry, I switched to my shotgun instead of reloading. Flicking the safety switch, I blew the next wrenches head off with little sense of satisfaction. Looking past my just kill I can see there was only a few more left.

After claiming more two kills, the what seemed like an endless hoard of annoying troubles stopped. Seeing the fighting had slowed to a finished, I fished my pouches for ammo and began reloading my weapons. I then heard call out to everyone if we're alright. "Are you all alright? Soundoff!"

"I'm up" I replied.

"Ready for more sir," Carmine said eagerly.

"I'll live sir," Tompson responded.

"I'm good," Starlight replied shakenly.

"Alright, we should be close to that bridge, let's move." He ordered.

When he finished, a door burst opened and a pair of grenadiers popped out and started shooting at us. Raising my weapons up, I and everyone else opened fire on the duo and turning them into mincemeat before they took five steps out the door. Two against five in the open, not very smart are they. With the two of them down and the open door in front of us, we made our way in the building. We quickly made our way through the halls and rooms till we made it to the back alleyway that hid behind the building. There we caught the interest of a few drones that had taken up residence and engaged them. Taking up position behind some dumpster with Starlight right next to me, we fired at a couple of drones that set themselves up on an emergency fire escape staircase. With them having no cover what so ever. They were quickly taken down. While we were doing this, the others were engaging their set of targets on the ground.

When the ones above-taken care of, Starlight and I focused our efforts on the ones on ground level. Our weapons at the mixed we quickly took another two down. When there was just one left it tried to make a break for it down the alleyway behind it. It didn't get far as a bullet entered its leg and it was brought down to a crawl by Carmine. He then walked up to it kicked it's side, making it turn on its back facing him now. He then brought his boot up and smash its head into the pavement as blood and bone stained the ground.

"Damn, those muscles aren't just for show are they?" My words must have caught him at just the right time as his back straighten up in surprise as my voice hit home. He quickly looked back behind him and saw that I was watching him.

"Not bad on the execution, if you had added a one-liner at the end there then I would be impressed. Oh well, better luck next time." I then quietly walked past him, swaying my hips making sure everyone got an eyeful. "Then you can prove if you are a 'Grub killer.'" Oh god, it's good to be an NCO.

Going through the alleyways unhindered by the Locust and around the next set of buildings we eventually made it to the towns water edge. Looking to my right, we were only about a hundred meters or so from the drawbridge, our ticket out of here. "There it is, that what we need to cross."

"Good," said Captin Nickoli. "Let's hurry; I don't want to be here any more than necessary at this point."

Nothing more was needed to be said as we went down the waterline till we reached a closed up staircase up. The stairs were sealed up by an iron gate with an old rusted chain and lock. I walked up and grabbed the gate and jerked my head over for Carmine unlock it for everyone. Pulling the gate to expose the chain, Carmine wordlessly revved his Lancer up and cut through the chain, allowing us access to the bridge above.

Now we were on the bridge looking across the fairway. I could quickly make out the Armadillo as it sat exactly where I parked it.

"HUMANS!"

The hissing roar let off. I turn around only to face the most damnable sight. Locust Drones and Boomer running right towards us. There were dozens of them!

On instinct, I raised my weapon and let out a spray of bullets into the oncoming hoard. It wasn't long before everyone else was joining with me. Our combined fire took down a token of their forces before they started firing back. We all took cover on anything that was near us. Starlight was next to Tompson behind a ruined car, Captin Nickoli jumped behind a concrete barrier in the middle of the street. Carmine and I went behind an overturned box truck.

Raising my weapon, I stepped out a bit and started firing my gun at the nearest enemy, taking him down to the ground and making his buddies nearby duck for cover. When the Locust began to target me, I hid back into cover. During so everyone else picked up my slack and started firing. When they started to get shot at, I would pop back up from cover and redirect fire on me. This tactic had the desired effect I like. We were widdling down the enemy as they came but more seem to pop up after we kill a few. "They just keep coming!" Tompson shouted out. "What do we do?!"

"Captin Nickoli answered, "Just hold them, we can do this!"

Checking my pouches for another magazine for my lancer, I realize I was down to my last two. I then called out my issue"Sir, we're running low on ammo, whats the plan here!"

"Just keep firing!" He replied as he fired his Retro Lancer.

Looking behind us between the Armadillo and us was a lot of ground to cover in an open space. Even if we started running now, the hoard would just follow them.

"Bremak!" Tompson shouted to everyone.

Turning to look further down the road, I can see it a few city blocks away. Now there was no way the had the ammo we had on hand would hold that off. "Sir!" I called out getting Nickoli's attention. "Get Tompson and start up the Armadillo, will cover you!"

He nodded in understanding before turning his attention to the Privet. "Tompson! Fall back to that Armadillo man its guns and provide covering fire for everyone else." With that said the duo moved across the bridge. With those two on the run, I refocused my effort on a Gatling welding Boomer that was getting to close for comfort for me.

Emptying the magazine in it brought it down for me, now I'm down to my last mag. "Last mag, tell me those two are made it to the APC?!" Carmine was the one that answered me.

"They are climbing into it now!"

"Good! When they start firing fallback!"

My senses became disordered by a loud explosion coming from behind us. Looking in the direction of the destination, so did my hopes.

The Armadillo was up in flames. And so were our hopes of escaping.

"What the fuck happened to the Armadillo?!" Shouted Carmine.

"Locust must have gotten to it and set a trap for us!" I replied.

"Captin Nickoli and Thompson were inside that thing! Abby, what do we do?!" Starlight shout to me.

Looking at Starlight and Carmine, then the ever-growing force of destruction that was approaching us. I could easily see how little the chances were if we stayed where we are. We could try to make a run for it across the bridge and try to lose them somewhere along in the forest. But they would run just run us down a mile or so down the road. We could double back down the waterway but will be boxed in the town with a large enemy force on our heels. With each second that past by our chances of surviving was dwindling. I focused on Carmine shooting another shell from his Boomshot, killing a pair of Drones that got close. Looking over to Starlight, she was looking back at me waiting for me to say something to get us out of here. The presser of it all weighted down it down to me. Whatever decision I could think of could only delay the end outcome,"I don't know..." It was the one sentence I hoped never to say.

Before anyone else could be said, our radios turned themselves on, and a new voice reached our collective ears. "This is KR-five four, calling any colation personnel, are you receive me over. I say again; any COG ground units are hearing me over."

Hope filled me once more from hearing that call, keying my radio I began taking over the net. "KR- five four this is BRAVO, your timing couldn't be any more perfect. We need an emergency evac; we got a large Locust force coming down on our position. Can you assist?!"

A moment later KR- five four responded back. "Roger that BRAVO, Coronal Hoffman sends his regards. Where you want... never mind we see you, coming at you from the northwest now."

Turning to the Northwest, I spot a pair of King Ravens flying low and fast.

"I see you have a Bremak problem," said KR-five four. "Let's fix that, KR-five six think you can help them with that?"

"I reckon I can; you guys better run for it. I'm about to strafe the whole street your on."

"Just avoid the bridge and burn everything else! Bring the rain!"

"Bringing it!"

"Everyone across the bridge NOW!" I shouted.

Breaking from cover the three of us put everything we had into running for our lives. With Carmine being the biggest he was ahead of Starlight and me by a few strides. As soon as we got to the middle of the drawbridge, the Locust had chout up and started to occupy the positions we were at; it was then that the King Ravens made themselves known. What I assumed was KR- five six launching missiles and shooting its chain guns. I couldn't see it, but I could certainly feel the explosions going off behind us. While he was doing that, KR-five four hovered at ten meters with its door guns out and laying down cover fire. When we reached the other side of the bridge, the Raven lowered itself down to the ground.

"Get on board, now!" I ordered. Carmine was the first to board the transport, followed by pushing Starlight on board with me following in. "Were on board, get us out of here pilot!"

"Roger that!"

We then began to rise and turn from the ground, giving all of us a good view of the Armadillo that brought Starlight and me pushed across the country in, now a burning tomb for Captin Nickoli and Tompson.

Quickly rising in altitude, we sped off the ground and watched the countryside disappear before us as we made our way to the heart of the COG.

What happens next was anyones guess. Taking my helmet off, I let down my cherry blond hair down. Looking over to Starlight she did the same and took her helmet off to and let her purple with turquoise stripe hair out for all to see.

The look in her eye told me lots of things. But mostly it said to me she was tired which I could relate wholeheartedly. I grabbed her hand and gave her an understanding look. She understood me by leaning up against me and drifted off to sleep. Looking across from me I see Carmine with his head up against the wall, most likely had fallen asleep. I felt sorry for the guy, he just went through hell and became the only survivor.

The stress of everything was now building up, and it didn't take long for me to follow everyone's example with sleep. After a quick call to the pilot to let us know when we're near our destination. I fell into a dreamless slumber and hoped for better days ahead.