“So, why are you here cadet?”

“Sir, to kill zebras sir!”

“hrrrmmm, that might be what we do, but why are we here?”

“uhhh, sarge?”

“We are here to protect ponies, cadet. To protect all the citizens of Equestria from what her enemies would unleash on her. We are the princesses shield, and their sword. Do you understand me?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

Now what?

I had heard that thought the first time, I didn’t need to repeat it. Taking a few steps from the doors that stuck into the air I felt a rumble again as the doors closed back up behind me, and a pile of rocks slid forward, covering up the doors. I blinked, there was now no indication of those doors. Which would be a problem for getting back in. With a frown I drew my knife and carved three crescents into one of the rocks, my cutie mark would serve as a marker.

Sheathing the knife brought my ear close to the pipbuck, where I finally noticed the clicking noise. There was a small dial in the top left corner labelled ‘Rads’ with a needle floating up in the green marked zone, though any radiation was more worrying than no radiation. I remembered the message on Project Lead Muse’s terminal.

Stop that.

Stop what?

The titles.

It seemed unprofessional to omit the Project Lead’s title, while we were outside the traditional chain of command, ranks and titles were still important to respect.

It’s annoying.

Well, we’ll just have to agree to disagree then... Me. What had happened to me while I was in stasis? I shook my head and looked back to the pipbuck, noticing some text running across the bottom of the screen.

‘Trying to contact Stabletech network... Fail, switching to alterative frequencies. Ministry of Arcane Science Emergency Broadcast System frequency detected. Rerouting. Contacting Pipnet system. Updates found. Install? Y/N’

The Y/N prompt flashed on the screen. I was not sure what was going on, but it made sense to keep my equipment up to date. Especially when it was having to use an emergency broadcast system to get the update. Using the dials on the side of the device I highlighted the ‘Y’ and selected it. My very blank E. F. S. Compass vanished from my peripheral vision as the screen rippled and became scrolling code. Even the rad detector stopped clicking, which seemed like an oversight.

While I was waiting for the update I took stock of my surroundings, I appeared to be at the edge of a forest, or at least, what used to be a forest, these trees were bare and twisted, a dark brown that seemed more like the sickly stains of nicotine than the bare trunks of fall. There didn’t even seem to be any grass about, just cracked dirt trailing off into assorted rocks that lead over to some kind of drop. Walking over I could see the land drop away in a series of terraces down to a river, and up again on the far side where some mountains rose on the horizon. A horizon that faded into dusty brown clouds, the whole sky was covered in cloud reflecting the dusty brown of the land. Looking back towards the hidden exit I spotted something over by the woods. Trotting closer I could see it was some kind of wooden structure, built between two trees.

The little building had an entrance and, sticking my head inside I could see the far wall had a couple of narrow slits at pony eye level to look out from. A pair of binoculars still hung on a hook between the slits.

A bird hide?

I blinked. A what now?

A hidden place to watch birds from.

Oh, that would explain the binoculars. Though not what a presumable publically accessible structure was doing practically on top of a secret military base. Deciding to take the binoculars I flipped the strap over my head, hanging them round my neck, and as my head craned up, I noticed the camera in the corner of the structure. Maybe those down below did know when people were here.

I raised the binoculars to my eyes and looked out of the viewing slit, seeing a forest full of dead trees and not a single bird. Where was this anyway. Dropping the binoculars I looked about the hide, just in case there was a map of some sort. Not finding one I looked outside the hide, but still could find no identifying marks. I took a few steps into the trees, wondering if I would be better to push through the forest where there would be cover, or skirt the edges. I gave the side of my head a scratch, I was feeling a bit itchy, and my stomach had started lurching, reminding me that I had not eaten since I woke, and technically hadn’t eaten since I went into stasis. I started to raise the binoculars again and noticed something written on the top.

‘Property of Whitetail Woods Ranger Service’

A chime came from my pipbuck and I looked to that to see the message ‘Update Installed, welcome to OIA-Framework 6.5. Note: Soliton Sparkle System (S3 Program) has been delayed until future patches.’. It looked like Project Lead Muse hadn’t updated in a while, another chime came and the screen stated ‘new biosignature detected. Creating new profile, profile ‘Dr Muse’ will be sealed with user password. Shared information settings are; map markers, radio presets, inventory management preferences’.

Err, what? The screen flashed again, this time reading ‘Welcome New User’ before displaying an image of a pony looking happy with a shield icon on their body and their head. Also, the rad meter kicked back in and the needle jumped up to the top of the green band, occasionally bouncing into the yellow, with a much more insistent clicking noise.

I immediately turned and dashed back towards the secret exit and hears the clicks subside. Checking the pipbuck I could see the needle had dropped back down towards the lower end of green. I keyed over to the map, to try and get my bearings, finding a little arrow in the centre and the region next to it labelled ‘Whitetail Woods’. Which I had already established from the binoculars. Strangely, it also had a pin labelled ‘FT Station 5’ next to me, which seemed like something you shouldn’t include on a map in a fresh user profile, but I remembered that one of the things shared from Project Lead Muse’s profile was map data. Stabletech had missed that little security flaw. An idea came to me and I zoomed out the map, panning around, spotting a number of familiar locations around me, Applewood, Littlehorn Valley, aha! There we are! Over near the pin for Ponyville, by the hoofhills to the west, was a pin stating ‘FT Station 1’.

Unfortunately, the most direct way there would be through the irradiated woods, which given I had no anti-radiation, or radiation purging drugs available, would be a problem.

“Mission parameters,” I whispered to myself, “find supply of Rad-X and/or Rad-Away.”

There might have been some back in Station 5, but I wasn’t looking to tackle the ladder again any time soon. Hugging the treeline as close as I could, while still keeping the rad meter low in the green I set off north, aiming to circle around the woods. I had been travelling for maybe an hour, it was hard to tell when the sun was hidden and the world had a sepia tint, but the clock in my pipbuck helped, presuming of course it was correct. There was a rustle in the trees to my right, and a little pip appeared on my E. F. S. Compass, a red pip. Hostile.

I tensed, pressing against a large rock and circling around it, trying to get the stone between myself and the hostile. I wasn’t completely hidden, but it would have to do as a black blob buzzed its way between the trees, I made an involuntary face of disgust at the buzzing blob as it bobbled in the air. It might have once been a paraspite, but now it was a mass of cancerous growths with wings. There was a ‘pfthh’ sound and something bounced off the rock near my head, a black spike of some sort, turning back to the bloated sprite I could see another spine growing out of the bottom of it as it buzzed its way towards me.

Half way towards drawing the operator from my leg holster I froze. One magazine of ammo. Only seven shots. Was I going to waste that on this? It didn’t look tough enough to require that. Knife? Not sure I want to get too close to that spike. I ducked down further behind the rock as another spike clattered off, checking my pipbuck, could it analyse the spikes? I had a bad feeling they were poisonous. Instead I found that it was on an inventory screen listing my weapons; combat knife, IF11-1S Operator, Resolve.

Wait. How was my resolve a weapon? Highlighting ‘Resolve’ the pipbuck flashed an icon of a pony, with an arrow pointing to the small of its back. Confused I reached back there, finding something metal tucked in a loop on my barding. Catching it with my hoof I pulled it back round so I could see, another dart pinging off the rock.

It was an Ironshod Firearms IF15 Workhorse, an unremarkable, standard issue equestrian military sidearm. Where had I got this? Thinking back, I remembered sitting by the collapsed exit, a gun cradled in my hooves, the gun that had belonged to that skeleton, the gun that had ended its life. Turning it over I could see the word ‘Resolve’ engraved on the slide. That unicorn had named his standard issue gun. A gun that held twelve rounds, rather than seven. I had a quick check of the magazine, ten 10mm bullets, I frowned and pulled back the slide. There was bullet eleven. Where was bullet twelve?

Oh. Yes.

I winced, returning the magazine to the pistol and placing the grip in my mouth. I cocked back the hammer with my hoof and tonged the safety. It was already off. Again, oh. Yes. Checking the alignment of the red pip I waited for the clatter of another spike then popped back up from behind the rock, engaging S. A. T. S.

Primarily, I was using the Stabletech Arcane Targeting Spell to get the drop on the sprite, the perceived slowing of time was useful for getting the gun around and lining up the shot. Single shot, centre mass. The spell ended and my tongue twitched, then pulled back as the spell overrode my muscle memory that was much more used to highly sensitive triggers. With a bang the single round was launched from the barrel, streaking across the, by now very short, gap and into the sprite. Which exploded. Messily.

Goodbye number eleven.

Glad I was counting my ammo, not glad of the putrid mess which was now scattered around my rock. More red pips appeared on the E. F. S. the sound of gunfire must have attracted them. Time to move. I made a dash to another rock, gun still held in my mouth, and slid behind it. The pips were the other side of the rock. Waiting a minute or two for S. A. T. S. to recharge I popped back up and dropped into the spell. The advantage of the little standard issue pistol was that it didn’t take much effort to fire, meaning that in S. A. T. S. I could take multiple shots. Three more bloated parasprites had buzzed out of the woods, but with the spell following my mental commands I could target one, assign a shot then toggle over to the next sprite. The spell ended and ‘Resolve’ barked three times, obliterating the pests.

Ten, nine, eight. Just like an old Appleloosa cowpony from the films.

It’s hard to quick-draw or fan the hammer in earth pony style though. Wait, no, that’s irrelevant. I checked the compass, no more hostiles. I holstered the gun on my back again, sighing. Now I had seven rounds for each gun. I needed to find a resupply point. Or a civilian settlement. The Pipbuck suggested there was a settlement called Littlerock just around the corner of the Whitetail Woods, hopefully that would be a viable resupply point.

Continuing to trudge north I looked at the pipbuck, tabbing over to the radio section, the update had said something about an emergency broadcast system so I navigated to the frequency labelled ‘MASEBS’ and tuned in.

‘this next song goes out to you, Stable Dweller. May Celestia and Luna wrap you in Their tails.’ A loud, boisterous stallion’s voice cut through the still air before transitioning into a mournful tune.

Is that Sweetie Bell?

That is a beacon for any and all hostile life to come to me. I switched off the radio, at least until I could figure out the volume settings.

I continued to walk throughout the day, stopping every now and again to hold up my binoculars to my eyes and scout ahead.

Why not levitate them? Scout and walk.

Conserve magic, deceive opponents, subterfuge.

There’s no one around.

I looked pointedly at something I had just seen in my binoculars, a metal sphere with wings. A Spritebot. If I strained my ears I could catch a faint blast of tuba on the breeze. One of Ministry Mare Pie’s little projects, to inspire, and keep tabs on, the populous. I had no desire for her little spies to pick up a special operative wandering about in the day.

They’re what?

Spy drones. Pinkie Pie is watching you FOREVER.

My rogue thoughts were quiet after that, so I kept on walking, the sun fading out, setting as I rounded the northwestern tip of the woods and turned to head east. Trekking along the edge of the woods I spotted the gleam of a campfire off to my left. From this distance I could see a number of figures around the fire, a cluster of rocks and a small cabin. I shrugged and continued east, a small camping party was unlikely to have the items I required, this Littlerock was still my best option.

A scream came from the shack, drawing my attention. I pulled up the binoculars and looked to the camp, spotting five ponies near the fire, now looking back at the shack who all looked like they’d raided a sporting goods store, then a BDSM club before combining their loot. Another pony came running out of the shack, a mare with a warm yellow pelt, mottled with bruising, her flight was intercepted by two of the ponies at the fireside, tackling her to the ground. Another sports store raider came limping from the shack,

“She bit me!” he screamed, and when that failed to illicit sympathy he added, “she bit my cock!”

He still failed to gain any sympathy as the rest of the ponies instead burst out laughing with one them, a mare by the tone of the voice, shouting “she bit Gnat Bite’s Gnat!”. One of the fireside ponies drew closer to the pinned mare, one I presumed was the leader by virtue of his bigger armour, and looked first at the mare, then at this Gnat Bite.

“Then we teach her a lesson about pain and obedience.” His voice was lower than Gnat Bite’s screeching tones, but carried just as well, “unless you’re too injured to get it up?”

Gnat Bite laughed, “I’ll manage, payback’ll make it well worth it.”

The leader nodded to the two pinning the mare, “stand her up, and spread her legs.”

The mare started screaming, a different scream than the one that had drawn my attention in the first place. Thinking about the pitch, that scream must have been Gnat Bite getting bitten.

I dropped the binoculars and turned back east, somewhat troubled by what seemed to be happening in the background of the war. Or, given the state of the station, I guess the war was over and we lost.

Save her.

That wasn’t the mission, they weren’t zebras, weren’t the enemy. The mission was to resupply, I had to get to...

WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S NOT THE MISSION?!

I shook my head a little, it’s not the mission.

WHY DID WE JOIN THE WAR?

To defeat the zebras.

TO SAVE PONIES! YOUR MISSION IS TO SAVE PONIES! SAVE HER!

I paused. The rogue thoughts had become very insistent, and I wondered why I was in such conflict with myself. The scream came again and I turned back to the group to see the mare with her face pressed into the dirt and her rump in the air.

Save her. Please.

I counted six hostiles, one hostage, all attention on the hostage. Cover by the rocks and the shack.

“Sneaking mission, huh?” I muttered to myself, tucking the binoculars under a strap on my back.

I was on a slight rise above the pack of ponies and when the mare next screamed, I slid down the rise, the noise covering the sound of my descent. I pressed against the cluster of rocks, gave a quick glance around and scooped up a large pebble in my hoof as I dropped my head and drew the Operator from my leg holster. Seven shots, but it was supressed, I was going to have to rely on the element of surprise here, and a heavy dose of misdirection.

I tongued off the safety and popped my head up above the rocks, slipping into S. A. T. S. And highlighting two of the ponies on the far side of the group that now clustered around the pinned mare. I could see Gnat Bite’s... Gnat, drawing close to the mare’s rear in disturbingly slow motion. I had to put that thought out of my mind, this spell only had a limited window. I targeted the heads of two ponies on the far side of the group and dropped the spell. The trigger pull was much easier and smoother than Resolve’s, with the two shots ‘pfft’ing in quick succession, almost sounding simultaneous. As the second shot fired, I threw the pebble in my hoof over the group, it sailed over their heads as two ponies found themselves missing big chunks of their heads. The pebble hit the ground with a clatter and all eyes turned away from the centre if the huddle, and, more importantly, away from me.

Seven, six,

Which meant we were down two ponies, six, five. I scooped up another pebble and made a dash for the shack, keeping low and trying to place any other rocks or small rises between me and the group. Scooting into cover behind the shack I could hear more yelling as the sports ponies acknowledged they were being shot at. I popped out from the corner of the shack and brought S. A. T. S. Back up, targeting another two ponies, two who seemed slower to react than the others. Two more suppressed shots ‘pffft’ out and I chucked the pebble back at the rocks.

Five, four,

Four, three. The mare and one of the ponies pinning the hostage dropped.

“They’re everywhere!” Gnat Bite shrieked, his arousal well and truly banished now.

The leader looked at the fallen ponies, “no, just one side.” He said, ears twitching and his head snapping up to look at my previous location by the rocks. “Over there. Hard Time check the rocks, Gnat Bite, the shack.”

The two nodded, with Hard Time releasing the mare, only for the leader to plant a hoof on her neck, drawing a whimper from his hostage. I took a note of their progress then ducked back around the corner. Hard Times moved with confidence, a firearm in his mouth as he went towards the rocks, Gnat Bite was jittery and slower, floating a knife. He was a unicorn, I reassessed the plan, it didn’t alter it, he was much too spooked and jittery. I watched the rocks from my hiding spot and tagged Hard Times swaggering up to them, he transferred his weapon to a hoof and ducked his head to the strap of his armour, coming back up with a metal apple that he held by the stem. I raised an eyebrow, that seemed like overkill, then he swung his head and chucked the grenade over the rocks. Or, at least he would have if I hadn’t activated S. A. T. S. And targeted the grenade.

The apple blew up in his face, sending the pony to the floor with a wet thump.

Three,

And we were down to two hostiles. I slid along the wall of the shack, circling around the end of the wall and pressing myself against the musty wood of the shack.

“Hard Times?! What buck’s going on?” the familiar high pitched, panicky shout of Gnat Bite sounded from the other side of the cabin.

I peaked an eye around the corner to see the twitchy pony stick his head round, low to the ground, floating his knife ahead of him. I pulled my head back and crouched slightly, pushing off the ground with my forehooves and pulling myself up to standing on my rear ones. Now up in a zebra combat stance I pressed my back to the wood of the shack, feeling it flex under me, both the binoculars and Resolve pressing in to my back. I pressed my right hoof to the wall and rapped it twice against the wood.

“Huh?” came a high-pitched voice, “w-what was that noise?”

I cocked my ear, tracking Gnat Bite’s hoofsteps as he slowly made his way along the back of the shack. His breath was coming in gasps and I could hear the parts of his knife rattle as it shook in his magical grip. How scared did somepony need to be for their magic to shake? He was close now, I remembered how he had peeked around the last corner, turned my head slightly in anticipation and queued up S. A. T. S.

Gnat Bite stuck his head around the corner, low to the ground, getting a look at my hooves and barding covered fetlocks. I activated the spell and targeted his face as it slowly rotated to look up at a pony in an entirely alien position, gun held in mouth. From this angle the compression seams of my barding would look like the ghost of ribs on the black suit, my dark colouring likely obscuring my features.

His mouth slowly began to split wide, even within the slowed perception of S. A. T. S. I could hear the scream start reverberating in the back of his throat. Before that could happen, I released the spell and Gnat Bite wasn’t going to hurt anyone again.

Two,

Only one remains.

I dropped back down to all four hooves and left Gnat Bite decorating the floor, sneaking my way along the wall to the front of the shack. I could still feel the ghost of the gun and binoculars pressing into me and pondered that I really needed saddlebags. Regaining focus, I pressed myself to the wall and slid my head forward, trying to get a bead on the last pony.

“Come on out ‘hero’,” the leader called, and I could see him near the fire, mare still pinned by a hoof on her throat and a gun pressed to her temple. “I don’t know what you think you’ve achieved. Five corpses for a cunt that can’t be brought to heel? Lets make that seven, unless you come here now.”

Seven?

Us and her.

Oh.

Capture was an opportunity for information and escape. I didn’t think this mad stallion had any interrogation skills, so confidential information about the unit wasn’t at risk. He was plenty willing to just send his own comrades against a deadly infiltrator with no support, and I had no reason to believe he wouldn’t shoot his hostage. That would fail the mission. Mission failure led to reset. As did death, which could be considered the ultimate mission failure. Tonguing the safety, I holstered the Operator then clenched my teeth, drawing in a breath between them then letting it out.

“Tick tock hero,” came the leader’s voice again, “I don’t wanna hold this too long.”

The mare whimpered and I stepped around the corner of the shack, raising a hoof in the air.

“I’m unarmed,” I said, trotting forward on three legs, I got about half the distance before he shouted at me.

“Bullshit! You’re not unarmed unless I got your gun. Toss it here.” He racked the gun he was holding to the hostage. In a magic field. Unicorn again.

I slowly lowered my hoof to the holster on my leg, staring at the leader as I did so. I brought it up equally as slowly, pointing it at the dark, cloudy sky.

“Toss. It. Here.”

With a flick of my hoof, I chucked the Operator at the sole survivor the sports store raiders. Taking a few more steps I was halted by his barked order.

“Hold it! No further.” He looked down at the unfamiliar gun, and back up at me in my barding, “who the hell even are you?”

I opened my mouth but was cut off again,

“nah, doesn’t matter, I know what you are,” the Operator was coated in a field of magic, like the one around the shotgun he had pointed at the mare’s head, it was a strange colour I could best describe as ‘puce’. My gun was lifted into the air and pointed straight at me, “you're dead!”

I stared past the gun and straight at the unicorn who had a mad grin on his face, grinding his hoof into the mare’s throat, drawing distressed gurgles from her.

I should have seen this coming.

‘Click’

I did.

“What?!”

“Have you tried the safety?”

At my quip he ground his hoof into his hostage again and magically triggered the safety switch.

“There!”

‘Click’

The leader screamed obscenities and threw the gun at my head, whipping up the shotgun he still held. I had been concentrating since he fiddled with the safety, and a barely seen ripple in the air had encircled him in two spots.

Before he could fire, his tirade tailed off into strangled hiss as a red ring appeared around his neck and the shotgun fell to the ground, the magical field having vanished. His horn fell first, severed near the base only to be followed moments later by his head, which fell on top of the poor mare as his body fell away in the opposite direction. She screamed and wriggled and kicked until the head was off of her.

Mission Complete.

The mare rose shakily to her feet and stared at me.

I blinked. I didn’t know what to say. My missions had very little interaction with other ponies.

Ask her how she is?

I cleared my throat, “err, are you alright?” I asked, before taking a step closer to her. She shied away. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m a... Special Operative. Attached to the Equestrian military. 900th Unit.”

There was no recognition of any of that, which wasn’t too much of a surprise from a civilian, but something was still clearly wrong here. I tried to take a step towards her again and this time she at least stood still. I bent towards the Operator on the ground just as I heard something behind me. Galloping hooves. The mare screamed again and I felt the grip of magic against my back.

As I craned my head around to identify the threat, I was half blinded, half deafened by Resolve firing while still tucked against my back. As my sight returned I saw Hard Time, most of the flesh peeled from his face, forelegs and barrel, peppered with shrapnel and drenching the ground with blood. The first round fired from my back hit him in the neck, another in his left fetlock and a final one found its mark directly between his eyes. As the corpse dropped the floor, the gun kept clicking, the mare still trying to fire it.

So, uhh, zero in Resolve.

Now, all hostiles down.

“Erm, you can stop firing now.” I said, turning to look back at the mare, “He’s dead. They’re all dead. Its over now. Miss?”

She released Resolve from her magic grip and I hoofed it off my back, the barding offered some protection, but I could feel the heat from the barrel seeping through to my back. I looked at the gun, swearing I had clicked the safety on when I had holstered it back there.

“Peach,” I heard the mare say, “Peach Lemonade.”

I nodded, “Miss Lemonade, what was going on with these ponies?” I asked, they had seemed beyond the help of either the Ministry of Peace or the Ministry of Morale.

The mare stared at me like I had grown a second head, “They’re Raiders?” when met with my own blank expression she continued, “they’re a sickness in the wasteland, on top of everything else. Ponies who don’t want to help, to heal, they just want to take and take and take until there’s nothing and no one left.” Her voice had taken a rise towards the hysterical as she had continued, but she took a deep breath and calmed herself, letting it out with a shudder. “How do you not know that? Where are you from? A Stable?”

“That’s classified.” I responded immediately, before my rogue thoughts insisted I gave away everything.

Ask her where she’s going

“Where are you going to go?” I asked, “do you have shelter?”

She looked anxious, perhaps I was not the most comforting presence. She pawed at the ground and mumbled “I’mfromlittlerock,”

“Littlerock?” my head jerked up, “I was on my way there.

“Why?”

“Resupply.” I lifted a hoof to her, “I could escort you.”

She shook her head, “I can’t go back.” I cocked my head to the side, confused before she elaborated, “daddy always said I was as soft as a peach, s’how I got my name. I wanted to show him he was wrong. I stole his gun and set out from Littlerock. I was gonna be a hero, like the Stable Dweller on the radio.”

She hugged her tail and forelegs around herself, looking at the ground. “I snuck out at night, thought I could just head into the wasteland and start righting wrongs. But my cousin followed me, my younger cousin Rosy she wanted to be a hero too and we walked right into that group of raiders and-and-and...” her head snapped up, teary eyes staring straight into my dull grey ones, “I killed her! I killed her. She ran right out in front of me with a knife in her teeth as I fired the shotgun. I caught her in the side and she went down. I dropped the gun and they grabbed both of us.”

Her head went back down, tears staining the ground, “they knew she was dying, said they wanted to have some fun with her first, while she was still warm, they said. They did... Horrible things to her, horrendous things. I... I can still hear her screaming. And when she was dead, they mutilated her. They took her apart and decorated a rock with her parts. Then they dragged me here.”

Peach Lemonade’s voice had dropped to a whisper. She was shaking like a leaf in a breeze, but her tears had run out, no more fell even as she sobbed.

Hug her you fool.

I took a few steps towards the mare and threw a foreleg around her, pulling her towards me. Her forelegs unwrapped from around herself and she threw them around me, holding on like a drowning sailor clings to a spar of driftwood.

“I would recommend you to a Ministry of Peace counsellor, but I don’t think that’s an option any more.” She looked up at me, confused.

She can go back,

“You can go back.”

Her family won’t think any less of her.

“Your family won’t think any less of you.”

They’ll just be glad to have her back.

“They’ll just be glad to have you back.”

Peach Lemonade sniffed, “do you really think so?” she asked, and I nodded,

“Yes, Miss Lemonade, I do.”

She chuckled, “you don’t have to be so formal, just call me Peach. What do I call you?”

I paused, what should I say? Protocol was just to give my rank. Any military unit I would be working alongside would just refer to me as that. Other unit members would just use my call sign 909. Maybe that was it.

“Just, call me Operative Neun.” I said.

Peach kept looking at me with an odd look, “You are really strange. Is, is that Horstrian?”

I nodded, and looked back down at Resolve, the slide locked open. How was I going to escort her back to Littlerock with only two rounds in the Operator? I looked around at the scattered bodies, giving a slight sigh. I hated this, but that was going to be how we survived.

OSP.

What?

On Site Procurement.

Author's Note

Thanks to kkat for creating this crazy mashup and letting others play around in it.
Thanks to Somber too, I may reference things from Project Horizons and Homelands here and there.