Your trek was long, hot, and rough. The terrain was rugged abd rocky, the heat was ruthless, and you've been walking for atleast two days.
You were struggling to stay on your feet, though the team seemed to have not been phased by the conditions at all.

"How far are we from the hive..?" You striggle to ask, your throat feeling as dry as the Sahara.

"About 32 to 40 Klicks. Thats about 18 miles, if you weren't sure." Lancaster said, If ee find somewhere safe though, we'll take a bit of a break. Not that I need it."

You groan and hand your head low. Joining these guys was a bad idea… You hopped on board for some action, not exercise!

"I see a cave up ahead, looks empty," The brute Ajax said. You never actually heard his voice before, but it wasn't as low and badass as you were hoping it'd be.

"Amire, check it out and give us the all clear when its safe," Lancaster says. Amire simply nodded, and flew off to the cave mouth, before dissapearing into the darkness of it.

"I call dibs on the comfiest spot in there… if there is one…" You grumbled. You hadn't gotten sleep for two days, so you'd sleep like a rock if you got the chance.

"Whoever finds it gets it. Not like there will be one anyways." Ajax says, turning around and bringing the pair of binoculars to his eyes, which he had strung around his neck. He was surveying the area, looking for anything of possible interest.

Minutes pass, and Amire emerges from the cave, waving you all over. You, Lancaster, and Ajax proceed to the cave.

"Welcome to my humble little abode, ladies! Make yourself at home." Amire chirps as you three had reached the cave, and began to enter.

It was cold, damp, and dark. Obviously. This didn't last long though, as Lancaster had pulled out some weird protable campfire thing, and lit some kind of grayish tinder. The cave was soon filled with light and a very faint, yet noticeable new warmth that radiated from the fire.

"Ahem," Lancaster clears his throat, gaining everyones attention. "From now on, I'm giving you all nicknames for while we're in combat. Just in case. Ajax, you're codename is now Alpha-Xray. Amire, Alpha-Echo. Robin, Romeo-November. You'll all adress me as LC. Understood?"

Ajax and Amire simply nod and give a quick salute, while all you managed to do was give a slight nod. You were on the verge of passing out.

You eventually found a spot to rest. Laying and closing your eyes, you slept.

The Very Next Day

"Get up sleeping beauty, breakfast is ready,"
A voice calls out.

"Hnng… five more minutes…" You groan, trying to stuff you face into a pillow… that wasn't there… "Wat..?" You half ask, half say as you slowly open up your eyes. Now you remember. You were in a cave.

"C'mon pal, we ain't saving any food if you don't take your share now." The familiar voice said. You looked up to the Amire, as she turned around and trotted to where the fire was made. There was a large pot and a thermos or two.

Instead of getting up, you crawl over to the others. You sat up and took the only other full bowl of… stew? Meat stew?

"I thought eating meat was frowned upon… whats this about?" You ask, while dipping the spork into the stew.

"On our last op, we were stranded behind enemy lines. We were starving, and without water," Lancaster explained, "We eventually found a river, in which we took water and boiled it down. It was near four AM when we decided we couldn't handle to hunger… so we sent Amire to the nearest town…" Lancaster went on to explain. "When she came back, she said the town was bursting with security, so she went on a little hunt... She brought back some small animals. Rabbits and what not." Lancaster paused before carrying on. "Ajax and I were hesitant at first, but Amire managed to convince us to eat the meat…
Needless to say, we stopped bring food on mission considering we can catch our own."

"…I didn't need a whole monologue… but hey, at least I'm back in familiar waters with meat.
You know, to me it sounds like Amire here does more work then both you and Hulk Hogan combined." You say, while slurping some delicious meaty soup.

"Hulk Hogan? I like that" Ajax spoke up, with a bit of a smile on his face. Well, you knew what his new nickname is gonna be.

"You'd be right to think that, Robin. Amire is a… very selfless mare most of the time. Always making sure her team is safe-" Lancaster was cut off by Amire-

-"Her friends. Making sure her friends are safe. Thats what I do." Amire said.

There was a moment of silence, until it was broken by Ajax.

" 'Friend' is a strong word, Amire. But I like the ring to it." Ajax said, with Lancaster nodding his head in agreement. You very quickly realised what was going on. These three were just team mates, not friends. Cute. A bunch of elite soldiers displaying their friendly affection to one another.

"…Aaaand as for me?.." You ask, feeling slightly left out.

"Oh come on!" Amire said, bumping your shoulder with her hoof. "We may have known you for only for a few days, but your apart of the team to, so that makes you my friend in my book!" She exclaims, with Ajax and Lancaster once again, nodding in agreement.

"Now that we've eaten up and had a good five minutes of bonding time, hows 'bout we continue our mission?" Lancaster asks, even though he wouldn't take no as an answer.

And with that, you all stood up and exited the cave. The sun was low, and the air was cool. Perks of waking up early, baby!

Author's Note

My pal made a bet that this chapter NOT INCLUDING the Author's Notes to be exactly 1000 words. And I did just that!

Man... I was planning on being at the hive already for this chapter, but I just keep pushing it back. Next chapter, we'll be there.
This one was to just talk a little more about the SAiBr squad and what not- -I was also lacking a creative spark, so thats also why this is here, and not a hive infiltration mission thingy.

I HOPE someone will read and likes this, cause its currently balanced out at 3:3 L/DL ratio, and it kinda bothers me, quite honestly.

See you next chapter? Maybe?