The Best of the Worst

A light blue stallion stared up at the sky with a mixture of boredom and longing. Sure, everything was tinted tiberium green but the sky was still the sky, even in a flight suit, and he would have given anything to be up in the air again. With a sigh, he shook his head, looked at the picture of his family fastened to his rifle, and focused on his HUD again. Sky Sentry had picked up this insurgent group working out of a decommissioned base from the war and it was up to Sergeant Swift Mist and his fireteam and to keep the runners from getting away while the rest of the company smothered this thing before it became a problem for the Baltimare Blue Zone. The fact that a GDI Security Platoon was present with his team didn’t count for much in his eyes, and he focused on the task at hand.

“You’d think they’d give us gear with climate control that actually works…” one of his team, a lithe pegasus griped, “Think I can nab a spare breather off these Zoners without’em noticing?”

“You know the rules, Bouncer, ‘nabbing’ gets you a strike. Asking politely gets you laughed at.” Mist told her, “Besides, they have to save all the new stuff for the Troopers and tankers or else we’ll go soft like those weekend warriors.”

“Yeah yeah… still…” she started before her helmeted sergeant turned his head slightly and she backed down.

“Anything on the rebels down there, sarge?” another of his team asked. This one was a griffon by the name of Apollo who happened to be the team’s designated marksman, but was for the time being, propped up against a rock with his rifle in his lap. His casual demeanor born of the fact that this was the 8th insurgent encampment his team had been part of a raid on this week alone and none of them had managed to so much as scuff the griffon’s armor so far.

“Cap thinks it’s a shiner enclave, but 3rd Platoon saw scorpion tails on some of the gear.” Swift told him, causing the rest of the team to pause slightly.

“But this is a defunct GDI facility, why would they hole up with heretic equipment?” Bouncer chimed in, only for her inquiry to get drowned out by gunfire and their comm systems to start blaring out orders.

Like clockwork, Swift’s fireteam got to their positions, weapons at the ready and already trained on the choke point they had created. In contrast, their counterparts in the Security Platoon were less organized and weren’t fully in position when the first insurgent burst through the rear gate of the abandoned base. Swift Mist’s team did their work quickly, efficiently, and without remorse as pony after pony ran right into their sights and were swiftly put down. By the time the engagement came to a close, around 20 Nod insurgents were dead either by the hoof of the assault teams out front, Mist’s ambush, or through zealous suicide in the face of the GDI oppressors.

Thankfully, none of his team knew any of the dead Noddies.

“So much wasted blood…” Swift thought as he looked down at the earth ponies in their haphazard Brotherhood regalia, some of it was older than the gear he was using, which was saying something considering that much of the GDI Expeditionary Legion’s gear was originally issued during the last months of the Tiberium War nearly 8 years ago. With a sigh, he looked back at his family’s photo, back to the sky, then got his team heading back to the Timberwolf that brought them out here, and for the third time that day, the pegasus known as Swift Mist wished he still had both his wings.

“Still beats walking…” he finally let out as the APC started lumbering off towards their forward operating base a few clicks to the south. GDIEL weren’t allowed inside the Blue Zones except when on leave or when visiting their families before their term of service was up, so their encampment was still in the yellow zone that many of them had called home during and after the war.

“And finally some damn AC.” Bouncer let out, “Didn’t want their soft, Blue Zone hides to get all sweaty before coming after us even back then, eh?”

“For a Red Zone refugee you sure bitch about air conditioning a lot.” Mist quipped.

“Only during summer, sarge, and even you have to admit that it’s a scorcher this year.”

Mist took his helmet off specifically to raise an unimpressed eyebrow at her before letting what amounted to fresh air work over his mane and into his suit. His armor had been cutting edge a decade ago, now the damn thing couldn’t even get good circulation to his remaining wing without his seals being open. He would never complain though, the gear he had when he was fighting for Nod was shabby even back then, and while not as new and advanced as what they gave to GDI’s regular troops, it was more than enough to keep him alive for another 3 years no matter how hard the sun or Nod’s remnant tried.

The rest of the trip was uneventful as the aged APCs and their Predator escort made their way back to “Fortress Exile”, the FOB that Swift Mist and the rest of the company he was attached to called home. Physical and magical barriers were lifted or moved aside to let the convoy in, and without ceremony, the companies that took part in the raid made their way to their respective barracks. Apollo and Bouncer were first through the decontamination airlocks, and were both out of their gear by the time Swift made it through. The green pegasus and grey griffon both looked at their sergeant who simply waved dismissively at them after tossing his helmet onto his bunk. They nodded, smiled, and made their way towards the mess hall airlock.

With his team now officially dismissed for the evening he took his time getting out of, cleaning, and storing his gear properly, with his rifle saved for last. The photo of his family was gingerly moved to his pillow and he looked at his wife and son one more time before he began cleaning. They were safely inside the Canterlot Blue Zone of all places, his wife was working at tiberium research facility, his son going to a nice elementary school named after some dead war hero, and all the while he was sitting out here in a yellow zone for the next three years. For another three years he would do the jobs the GDI regular army couldn’t handle, and things that the Zone Troopers or Commandos didn’t have time for. It would be rough, slogging through it with outdated equipment, a constantly rotating roster of new arrivals and fresh departures, and all while living in an environment that most ponies would consider inhospitable.

And yet the thought of this made him smile as he continued diligently cleaning his weapon. Life under Nod had been nothing but broken promises of a better life, of a life without the unicorn primacy and classism of the past. Nod was gone, and it had cost him a wing, an eye, and half of one of his legs, and all he had to show for it was a ramshackle home for him and his pregnant wife. No veterans benefits were coming from the now defunct and decimated Brotherhood, and as far as he knew at the time, they were on their own.

All that changed the moment a GDI officer entered their dilapidated village and gave him the opportunity of a lifetime. 10 years of service in the Expeditionary Legion, or a medical discharge due to combat-related injuries, and he would be a full citizen of GDI. His wife and infant son however, would be granted citizenship and a place in a Blue Zone immediately. His wages were his own to keep or send home, and the fact that he had been a Confessor did nothing to deter the officer who had recruited him. In fact, it was the reason he still had three stripes on his uniform instead of one, or Luna forbid, none. No one was in a hurry to bump former Nod NCOs and officers down to Private and add insult to the injury of being on the losing side of a world-spanning war.

His thoughts were interrupted as the comm device underneath his pillow began vibrating. Quickly he put his rifle aside just long enough to grab it, tap the button to accept the call, and then prop it up next to his family photo. Looking back at him was the very same colt and mare who were standing next to him in the photo.

“Busy week?” his wife asked with a smile.

Swift Mist returned the smile and gave a sly wink to his son before looking his rifle over once more.

“Pretty routine, actually. So, how did school go?”

Author's Note

So it begins; no posting schedule, "chapters" will be added as they're written. Let's see how far we can take this!