Staff Sergeant Benjamin Grayson :July 1st:2188 AD: PAS California: One week later

Grunt country, a name given to a section of a ship reserved for the ship’s SI complement, filled with living quarters for the enlisted, a small mess hall and a gim complete with workout gear and a sparring ring.

Said sparring ring is where I am getting my ass handed to me by my friend Avery Fallon.

Since we got back from Nova Tanis the Docs were able to give him a prosthetic left arm to replace his old one that got melted off by a fucking dragon, after a couple of days adjusting to the new limb I offed to spare with him to help speed things up a little.

You would think I would regret such a decision but I knew going into the match that I would get my ass handed to me anyway as I was never a good hand-to-hand fighter and it's not like we had any need to get up close with the lankies.

“Getting winded yet Gray!?” Avery said as he delivered a right low jab at my abbs whilst I swung my left fist towards and passed his head.

I jumped back a few feet to get my bearings, by now we gathered a small crowd cheering from outside the sparring mat. Both of us had gym shirts on plus shorts and boxing gloves, Avery was sweating and had a few bruise marks but other than that he looked way better than me.

“I’ll get back to ya on that!” I said readying my stance again as I tried to figure out a plan of attack.

But before I could a voice rang out “Hey Grayson! Would just say uncle already, some of us want a turn to let off steam!” It was one of the SI grunts and he looked interested in our fight but clearly wants to have a few rounds himself.

Avery and I looked at each other for a moment before he said with a smile “Well guess I have to wait till next time to have my 70th victory in the sparring ring.”

With that we shook our hands and made our way out of the ring and towards the changing room to change back into our usual fatigues.

Before long we were out of the gym and into the hallways of the PAS California.

“So watcha want to do now?” Avery asked me as we passed by a couple of SI troopers in full battle-rattle.

“Well since the Doc will want to see how your new arm’s holding up we should probably head to Medbay” I said with Avery nodding in agreement as we made our way to the Medical Bay.

After Me and Avery were saved from that Dragon thing back on Nova Tanis we went to the evac point only to discover that aside from us the Major, SCARS and a few of the Rebels were all that's left of the defence at Heaven.

Since then we got debriefed on what was going on since we left the Washington, apparently the Alliance along with the other signatories of the United Nations Defence Force decided to commit to a second Front with the Imperials.

From what I was told it will be a small front, small enough that it won’t take a lot of resources away from the Lanky front but big enough to fix the Imperials in place until we could spare the manpower for larger offensives and given the casualties we sustained during that last operation I can definitely get behind our current strategy.

Which leads us to today, currently the California and her battlegroup along with escort ships for transports of two full Tactical Divisions from the 7th Space Combat Army are in Orbit of Nova Tanis getting ready for the full invasion.

Spec-Ops forces like Force Recon, SEALs and SCARs are currently on missions to get in touch with many of the smaller rebel cells to both get a better idea of the terrain and defences as well as what we’d be facing and to launch attacks on the smaller outposts scattered throughout the planet whilst the main force will attack the Capital.

As for me and Avery? Well we’ll be on standby, giving the hell we’ve gone through. High Command decided to give us a bit of time off but we will be participating in the full Invasion.

We soon arrived in the medbay. Aside from the staff, not many were in today but I did notice over the week that the Staff were busy in various things like checking medical supplies and what not, possibly in anticipation of the Invasion.

“Doctor Hillson!” I called out, catching the attention of the oldest men in the bay.

He was a tall man able to reach the top of most bulkhead doors and he had a military approved haircut, he was also sixty and had the rank of major.

“I see the new arm is working as advertised Sargent Fallon?” Doctor Hillson said as if I wasn’t even here.

Giving me a glance before turning his attention to the good doctor Avery said “Yeah just as responsive as my old arm but I keep feeling this..uh buzzing feeling I guess? I wouldn’t mind if you gave it another look.”

Hillson nodded before finally turning to address me “I’ll handle Staff Sergeant Fallon Sergeant Grayson but would you mind giving my staff some assistance?”

I nodded before me and Avery went our separate ways for now.

That was until we all heard a noise coming from one of the doors across from us.

“Ah HELP!” A muffled woman's voice came from the other side.

“GET SECURITY!” I yelled to Doctor Hillson who nodded before gesturing to his staff to leave the bay whilst Avery and I moved in with our Goodbyes at the ready.

The Goodbye was a nickname for a emergency sidearm that all combat troops have, officially it's meant to be a backup just in case the trooper in question losses his JUMBO and whilst it's capable of penetrating a Lanky’s hide it only works at short range and has only one shot before needing to reload. The more common unofficially reason we use the Goodbye is because in many situations where death is all but certain it's best to go out quick as such the weapon nicknamed the Goodbye by the troops, of course the Goodbye is only used in the event you know that you’ll not be making it home alive but in this very unlikely situation I’m glad we have them.

“ROE?” Avery asked me as we stacked up on either side of the door.

“Don’t fire unless I say so, given who's supposed to be in this room it's likely she’s confused and doesn’t know where she is.” I explained which got me a confused look from Avery before his eyes widened in realisation.

“The Princess?” He asked

“Who else?” I replied before opening the door and me and Avery stormed in.

Twilight Sparkle:Moments earlier

“Why couldn’t you save us?”

My eyes opened as my mind recognised that voice and my surroundings soon after.

I was in a large room with stained-glass windows on either side with a large double door in front of me. The room itself was in ruins with four of its six pillars having collapsed and the floor having cracks in it from falling debris. The carpet in the centre leading from the door, once a bright red with gold highlights, was now a dull maroon colour with no sign of any gold. The windows were no better with many having holes in them and some were completely shattered, their depictions of my home’s history and friendship ruined.

“What’s the matter Crylight!? Tongue tied!?” Said another voice as I hesitantly turned around to face the opposite side of the room.

Standing between me and the two broken thrones across from me were five mares, all of them had some form of armour on but like the rest of the room their armour was damaged and broken whilst their bodies had many wounds such as bruises, cuts and whatever.

I breathing picked up as I stared at these mares who looked back at me with venom in their eyes, my friends those whose lives I couldn’t save that day-THIS DAY right in the centre of Canterlot.

“I-I wanted to stay, to at least die with you guys b-but” I tried to say through my own emotions and the sudden shaking that tuned like a heartbeat but Rainbow, the mare whose loyalty was always to her friends yelled at me saying.

“BUT YOU DIDN’T PUSH HARD ENOUGH! YOU KNEW WE WOULDN’T MAKE OUT OF THAT TUNNEL BUT YOU LET FAITH WIN OVER REASON!”

“I-” I couldn’t say anything to that either because I had nothing to counter that or that I didn’t want to add fuel to the fire.

“And now our home has turned into something terrible” Fluttershy said, her eyes just as full of hatred for both me and the modern imperium alike.

I tried closing my eyes and turning away from them but they kept shouting at me as if they were everywhere. Their words becoming jumbles of sounds as I’m reminded of that day, the day I left my friends to die and the day I let the Equestrian Imperium form.

I was so lost in the noise of what I’d assume was hell that I didn’t notice that same noise fading away until that same heartbeat shaking turned out to be beeping, a heartbeat monitor.

“I’m alive?” Was the first thought that came to me as my eyes opened and quickly closed to stop the bright light from killing me.

Soon enough though my eyesight adjusts and I could tell I was in some sort of hospital room laying on the softest bed I’ve been on in years, the room itself was small so I was probably its only occupant.

“Heart rate dropping back to stable levels, better keep the sedatives just in case.” The voice was female and confirmed I was not in fact the only one in the room.

Slowly I turned my head to the right whilst simultaneously sitting myself reluctantly up upon the bed. There was a mare with a white overcoat hiding what features she has underneath, currently she was looking at something in her hand distracting her from the heartbeat monitor in front of her.

Carefully but quickly thanks to a thousand years of living I got out of my bed as quietly as I could whilst grabbing the nearest sharp object I could find.

As I noticed her looking back at the heartbeat monitor I pounced.

“AH! HELP!” She shouted before I put my left hand over her mouth whilst my right holding the sharp object went to her throat, I then turned us to the left facing the door in anticipation for the guards to come storming in.

“Listen here bitch you’re gonna tell me what I want to know or..” I whispered but trailed off at the end as I noticed the mare I was holding wasn’t a mare but a human woman.

Her gold eyes were laced with fear and confusion all over her pale face.

I began to slowly lower the sharp object from her throat before two other humans burst into the room with large heavy looking pistols.

The first was a man who had very short black hair and baby blue eyes with pale skin like the woman I was holding, the second human was also a man whose hair was also very short but appeared blonde and had blood red eyes.

The man with short black hair lowered his weapon slightly whilst holding one of his hands up in an open palm gesture.

“Take it easy ma’am nobody is gonna hurt you unless we’d have to” The man then said in a young voice, probably in his twenties or something.

I began to back away from the human woman to my left in full view of the two human soldiers.

“My name is Twilight-” I began to say before the black haired blue eyes interrupted by saying.

“I know who you are ma’am, I was the one who helped rescue you.”

40 minutes later

“And what of possible reinforcements?” One of General Adams' aides asks the supposed Alicorn who stands next to a holo-screen across the table ahead of the General in question flanked by officers of the Oceania Defence Corps, from the fleet and Military Intelligence to the Spaceborn Infantry.

Over half an hour ago Adams was introduced to Twilight Sparkle who if Private Maxson was to be believed was over a thousand years old and an arch enemy of the Equestrian Imperium, a valuable asset to be sure though Adams himself was sceptical about the woman’s origins.

Still Twilight was being cooperative in shedding some light on what the SI would be facing down on Nova Tainis. Unit compassion, how they deploy and what sorts of tactics they could expect, which painted an uphill battle even in the most favourable conditions.

The reason being that most of humanity’s military forces have been geared to fight large hostile threats such as the Lankies which doesn’t translate well to fighting humanoid threats.

The aide from before then clarified his question “How fast can we expect the Imperium to send reinforcements and in what numbers?”

Looking at the aide directly Twilight said ”Given that the Imperium hasn’t encountered a spacefaring civilization before I’d wager they send a full three squadrons one of which would be a full Battleship Squadron, as for time I can’t say sirs but given current levels of Equestrian Technology I would put an estimate of about two to four months”

“On the topic of Equestrian Technology” An MI Major stated before looking at the former princess.

“We analysed several of the weapons we were able to salvage a week ago, so far we have been able to identify the lens and the power source but have been unable to get them to work despite the fact that we’ve quadruple checked them for any damages or faults.”

“The only fault you’ll find is that all high grade Equestrian Technology runs on magic and only those who can use said magic can use those weapons, we had to juari-rig most of ours to get around the problem.” Twilight said deactivating the holo screen for a moment.

“Magic..” the Major repeats, despite the reports they’ve read and having eye witness accounts many within the California’s CIC briefing room can’t believe that something like Magic exists.

“Will the Lab Coats be able to learn what they can about this “Magic?” Adams said, looking at the Major as he shook his head before saying.

“Even with Miss Sparkle’s help we have few samples to give them to study, unless Miss Sparkle you know where we could acquire more”

“As a matter of fact I do” Twilight says as she held up her hand before concentrating, before long a burst of light erupted from her hand and an image of crystal with some machinery appeared.

“This here is a data crystal the linchpin of most of the Equestrian electronics in the imperium, if your technology was based on Ones and Zeros then the Equestrian equivalent would be emotions and energy.” She explained.

“So we get our hands on one of those we could fast track our understanding of the enemy tech, that right miss?” The MI Major asked, if the Lankies have taught humanity anything is that the faster you know your enemy the better you can fight him without suffering yourself.

Displacing the image from her hand Twilight replied “Not just any data crystal, but the one in the capital city as it has the most relevant information on the Imperium’s military forces, troop deployments, fleet composition. Anything both military and civilian of moderate importance will be on there.”

“Will they try to wipe it?” General Adams asked.

Twilight nodded “As soon as it looks like their position will become untenable they’ll wipe the crystal, so I’d suggest a quick strike hard and fast to grab it before the imperials have a chance.”

“It would be the most logical thing to do but.” General Tomus Oscar in charge of the 203rd Tactical Division began.

“But most of our people have been trained and equipped to fight large slow moving targets like the Lankies, even if we had the right gear we’d still need to train them in tactics that would be best suited to combat the Equestrians which takes time we don’t have.” Oscar concluded before General Andrew Markulles of the 98th Tactical Division spoke up.

“Not a full division no but a company sized force could be outfitted with the M66s we have from the rebel base and be deployed during the initial landings, whilst the Equestains are distracted with the main landing force this small strike team will infiltrate the city via Dropships and secure the target.”

“How long will it take to get this force trained?” General Adams asked.

“About a week and that’s pushing it, especially if we want people down there who can handle the data crystal properly.” General Markulles replied.

“With respect General Markulles” Twilight said, getting the General’s attention.

“I think it would be best if I go with the strike team personally to retrieve the crystal, as I owe you for saving not just my life but the lives of the rebels whom I have trusted. Plus I don’t like sitting out of a mission that MUST succeed.”

“That’s too risky!” General Oscar said, sitting up from his chair.

“Even if you’re our best chance to get a treasure trove of information you’re also a VIP with much needed first hand experience on the Equestains, we can’t afford to lose you”

“We don’t have many other options General Oscar” General Adams interjected.

“Whilst we have the enemy contained on Nova Tanis the longer we wait the more time they have to prepare and the more time we give for whatever reinforcements are coming, it's in our best interest to take the city soon preferably in the next month and as such we can’t wait for miss Twilight to train up even a single specialist.”

“If I may, General Adams?” Major Graves asked, stepping forward from his position to Twilight’s left.

Nodding General Adams gestured to the Major to continue “I suggest me and Sergeants Grayson and Fallon form a fireteam to protect Miss Twilight whilst she accompanies the strike force.”

“Given your experience with her and lack of other options I say go for it Major, we’ll contact you when the strike force has been assembled.” Adams agreed as he dismissed the four whilst the rest of his staff worked on the rest of the details for the invasion.

“That went well as could be.” Staff Sergeant Fallon said once they were in the hallways.

“It's not ideal, but given the overall strategic situation this course of action is the best one.” Major Graves says before looking over his shoulder at Grayson who had a downcasted look on his face. “Guess you’ll be late for your end of service party, sorry Grayson” he says with sympathy written all over his face.

Twilight who was walking next to Grayson looked over at him just in time to see him reply “It’s nothing Major, I’m pretty sure I’d be stuck in this system for a while anyway due to my experience with our VIP here what with her used to being a alien of near Demi-god proportions and the fact that she’s our best and only credible source of intel on the Imperials at the moment.”

“In short command are assholes.” Avery Fallon said uncaring if anyone heard his crude comment.

“Heh well anyways until they decide who to send with us into the meat grinder we might as well get Miss Sparkle ready.” Graves said drawing a look from Twilight.

“Ready for what?” She asked before she noticed the grin on the Force Recon’s face.

“If you're gonna fight with us then you need to look like us starting with your hair.” He simply said.

Twilight Sparkle:PAS California: July 1st:2188: 20 minutes later

There was something odd about seeing myself without my long purple and pink striped hair, for one it reminded me of that incident with my “future” self, the same future that no longer exists. Another thing was that despite the reverse conversion I underwent to gain the trust of the Human rebels my human form actually looked rather young, roughly twenty years old if I hazard a guess.

I was currently in the women's room (onboard the “California” as I later learned) getting myself ready for training.

Major Graves told me that if I’m to fight alongside them I'm to look like them which involves having my hair done to be about the same length as theirs and having myself dressed in their “fatigues” as they called them.

The ones I’m wearing include a grey patterned T-shirt, a pair of trousers that are similarly patterned and metal boats that are compatible with the “Battle Armour” I would be wearing during our assault on the Governmental Palace.

Looking at myself one more time in the mirror I then began to make my way out of the restroom to the hallway where the others were.

“You ready to get your Hardshell on?” Major Graves asked to which I nodded.

Apparently “Hardshell” was the nickname for the Battle Armour the humans used so with a nod I followed the three humans to the ship’s armoury which was next to the hangar.

The armoury was massive, capable of housing much of the combat gear that the Carrier’s two onboard SI battalions have, as we entered a couple of technicians waved us over towards one of the armour stands where presumably my suit was being kept.

“We were able to get your basic measurements whilst you were unconscious so it wasn’t at all difficult to get the suit to your size but we’ll still need to take secondary measurements to be sure before we help you put this on.” The lead technician said, gesturing to my BA.

“No problem.” I said before the rest of the “Techs” as the human crew called them sometimes began to use various lasers to measure my body, soon enough I was suiting up in what was perhaps the most advanced piece of kit I’ve ever seen.

Not only is it made of some very strong material but it also features systems that are only available on the Imperial’s Stormtroops, the fact that the base Alliance soldier has such advanced gear makes me optimistic about our chances in the coming week.

A while later I had just about finished fasting my armour on minus the helmet when I noticed Benjamin Grayson looking at me.

“What?” I asked whilst putting the helmet on and waiting for the techs to walk me through how to use it.

“Ah nothing, just watching that awed look on your face brings back memories.” He said with a small smile.

Before I could ask what he meant the techs got to work on teaching me how to work my helmet along with its many features.

“Is she up to tabs?” Major Graves asks a while later as I began to take the armour off.

“Yes sir, she’ll be as ready as she can be and better once she has time in the simulators.” The lead technician said after I was out of the armour he and a few other techs were storing it along with the other armours.

“What’s the situation sir?” Avery Fallon asked whilst he and Grayson were checking out some sort of AT-rifles. Though I noticed that there were a lot of them onboard the ship, I couldn’t tell at the time if they simply had a greater focus on Anti-Tank tactics or that the ship just happened to have a surplus of them.

“Briefing brass has selected the unit that’ll be dropping with us so we have to make our acquaintance ASAP so we can move on to simulator training.” The Major said as he led us out of the Armoury and back into the hallways of the starship.

“So who's dropping with us, Major?” Grayson asked as we passed through the hallways of the California.

“Third Company of the 5th Space Combat Battalion, 2nd Tactical Brigade, 98th Tactical Division.” Graves said as we finally entered the briefing room.

“Also known as Reject Company.” He added as I took a moment to survey the room.

To my left was a screen mounted on the wall with a slightly raised podium in front of it whilst to my right were rows of folding chairs with only a few dozen occupied by Alliance Spaceborne Infantry Troopers.

“Is this all of them?” I asked as we took our position to the group’s left in the corner.

“Nah just the team, squad and platoon leaders a less complicated briefing would involve the whole company but for important shit like this?” Grayson said, gesturing to the whole room before continuing.

“It's best to have only the NCOs and Officers know so they can break it down to their enlisted.” He finished.

“Officer on deck!” Someone in the room shouts and all the seated SI shot to their feet.

At first I thought they were referring to us but then a voice came from the door.

“As you were.”

I looked to the door to see three men walk in, one had a more complex insignia on his shoulders so I assumed he was the highest ranking officer though it wasn’t him who took centre stage, it was one of the lower ranked men with him.

“Now then introductions are in order, these lovely fleet boys and their girly guest are Major Graves SI Force Recon, Staff Sergeant Grayson Pararescue, Staff Sergeant Avery Fallon Combat Controller and Advisor Twilight Sparkle.” He said his voice carried a very distinct accent which is very different from what I’ve normally heard here on this ship.

“These fine officers will be a critical point in our mission in the coming days, as I’m sure you're all aware we will soon be invading Nova Tanis which has been occupied by a non-Lanky race. A race that the Alliance and her allies have deemed too hazardous for our health and as such we are launching an invasion in a week to take back this colony.” He stated which got some mumbling to occur amongst the seated SI troopers.

“However due to many of the Spec-Ops guys having been indisposed of for the time being Command has chosen our company to conduct a very vital raid on the day the invasion begins in the enemy HQ to retrieve enemy data and our guests will be critical in the acquisition of said data.” The officer continued before one of the seated SI troopers raised his hand.

Nodding to him the Officer allowed the SI to speak.

“Sir all of us here were trained to fight Lankies, if the rumours are true then we’d be at a very distinct disadvantage when it comes to tactics and experience. Sir.”

“That’s why for the next six days we will be doing large amounts of training both in the simulators to relearn some old tactics and on the firing range to get used to the M66 Flechette rifle that we’ll be using.” The officer said.

“Why not the M67?” Another SI asks.

“Because Sergeant only the HD has those and we are a long way from Earth and Arcadia so we have to make do with the small stockpile of M66s that the Rebels were able to maintain over the years.” The officer replied.

The rest of the briefing was mostly about the details of the operation, the training regime and our objective overall which I had to fill in.

After a while we were told to head to the simulator area whilst Reject Company’s officer Cadra informed its enlisted personnel of the upcoming events for the next week.

“You alright Miss Sparkle?” Grayson asked

Turning to him I said “Yeah I’m fine Sargeant just getting used to..all this, and please call me Twilight.”

Nodding he then said “Then call me Ben Twilight.” before we resumed our walk towards the simulator rooms.

Prism’s Flank: Planetary Headquarters: Same day

The mood within the HQ of both the Imperial Army and Imperial Guard was tense to say the least, ever since the failed operation to take out the rebel stronghold a week ago the entire garrison was put on high alert and preparations were being made to withstand a siege until reinforcements arrived.

The plan is to hunker down in the capital city which houses the planet’s only planetary defence cannon, which can easily destroy one of the enemy warships.

City-348C has undergone much change within the last week.

Barricades were placed in key areas of the city, trenches and bunkers were built in three main defence lines outside of the city and the civilians were quickly moved to underground shelters.

Because five out of the seven regiments of the Imperial Army were rendered combat ineffective a week prior the Imperial Guard had to be the first line of defence in the outskirts whilst the remaining two Army regiments focused on defending the inner city with the remaining five that were basically smaller independent units at this point either helped with the main defence lines and attached themselves to Guard regiments or were sent out to the smaller installations across the planet to protect them.

The 560th Line Regiment had been badly mauled during the operation a week ago, out of five thousand combat capable Stallions and mares only eight hundred remained combat capable with another thousand badly wounded.

As a result the 560th is assigned to protect the Govermental Palace whilst the 549th Mobile Regiment guards much of the inner city.

Colonel Brickfield stood on the steps of the palace overlooking the plaza, soldiers were erecting barricades and setting up firing positions for heavy weapons along the front of the palace both in the structure itself and over the steps.

Despite his stoic outer appearance on the inside he was as nervous as a green recruit on his first deployment, this was mostly due to what they learned soon after the failed assault a week ago.

“Humans, we’re fighting humans” He thought dreadfully as he watched a few trucks pass by.

They were able to retrieve a couple of the alien bodies during the operation on the rebel stronghold despite their best attempts to recover their dead, the following examinations reveal the advanced aliens to actually be humans or at least related to humans.

The implications were not lost on any of the high ranking officers on Prism’s Flank.

“Colonel!” A voice shouted from the top of the stairs over the sound of military activity.

Turning to the soldier in question Brickfield walked up the stairs to the young stallion to better hear him over the noise.

“The Lord General requests your presence urgently!” he said before saluting Brickfield.

Nodding and returning the salute Brickfield went back inside the palace to see the General.

The inside of the palace was just as it was on the outside with soldiers guarding various points in the hallways, rooms having their furniture rearranged to provide maximum cover for the defender and heavy weapons set up at key points to hold down multiple hallways simultaneously.

“Yet it may not be enough.” Brickfield thought as he arrived at the Lord General’s office.

The stallion himself was at his desk talking to one of the IG officers, they both turned to Brickfield as he entered the office before the IG officer saluted the Lord General and then exited the office.

“At ease Colonel.” The Lord General said when Brickfield was about to give him the same salute.

“You wanted to see me sir?” Brickfield asked.

The Lord General then got up from his seat before placing both of his hands on the table and said “Normally I’d get all the flag officers here to everything done at once as per protocol but given the fires we had to put out, from organising a defence to intercepting the enemy raiding parties I had to brief everyone one at a time which is inefficient as buck.”

He then sighed before straightening up with his hands behind his back.

“But the humans won’t care about our problems when they invade so we have to make do.” The Lord General said.

Colonel Brickfield shifted uncomfortably at the mention of “Humans” and “Invade” in the same sentence.

“There’s no use in denying it since the docs have studied the bodies we were able to recover.” The Lord General continued.

“The humans are more advanced than we gave them credit for and have enough offworld resources to field twenty starships at least, on top of that we’ve been enslaving the ones here for eight decades. Not the kind of thing you’d just forgive were it us we would have come to the same conclusion, war.”

He then turned to his left looking at a painting of Aurora the Equestrian homeworld before saying “A war that our people will not be prepared for.”

Brickfield’s face showed confusion before saying “Even if the rest of the Imperium has no knowledge of our enemy now doesn’t mean we can’t-”

“It's not just about the nature of our enemy Colonel.” The Lord General interjected before continuing.

“In the entirety of our military history since the Unification Wars a thousand years ago we’ve only had face advisories that either the strength to contest us in the void and can barely contest us at all, this new enemy however whether they are humans or not have not only the ability to contest us both on planet and in the void but surpass us because we never had to face an enemy on equal footing before.”

“We still have 55,000 or so vessels across a thousand systems and millions of soldiers of both the Army and Guard surely-” Brickfield tried to counter but-

“Doesn’t matter if all those ships weren’t made or organised for war and the logistical systems in place currently won’t get the troops to where they are needed fast enough with what they need and that’s before we get into the troops themselves.” The Lord General said before he shook his head.

“The sad truth is our ancestors never believed there was a force in the galaxy that could rival us without the use of magic and this war will shatter that belief”

Brickfield said nothing, just standing there awaiting his orders.

“Enough of that however on to the actual reason I called you here, I read your status reports and whilst I share your reasons for extra time training the militia troops I’m afraid your regiment must be redeployed.” The Lord General said before tapping a button on his desk and a hologram of the city and its surrounding areas appeared.

A small section a few kilometres to the southwest of the city is then highlighted before the Lord General continues.

“You and your regiment will be stationed at the Orbital Defence Cannon outside of the city, this weapon is the only thing keeping the enemy fleet out of view of this side of the planet which in turn is preventing them from simply blasting us back to the stone age.”

Colonel Brickfield did a double take before saying “Sir but, what about the palace? If my regiment isn’t here to defend it it’ll only be the local militia and security forces, what if they strike at the palace?”

The Lord General shook his head “I doubt the humans would be crazy enough to make such a deep strike without complete void supremacy and given the state of your regiment I can’t just have you split your stallions up when we need as many soldiers in the best locations as possible. Is that understood Colonel?”

It took a few moments before Brickfield straightened up and saluted the Lord General before saying “By the Goddess’s name Lord General”

The old stallion nodded before dismissing the Colonel and went to look at some work on his desk.

Brickfield for his part made his way out of the office before taking out a comm-link from his pocket and contacting his 2IC.

“Major, gather the brass we have new orders.”

Staff Sergeant Benjamin Grayson: July 7th:2188:PAS California: One week later

“Drop stations! Drop stations! All hands to drop stations!” The voice sounded over the PA as everyone on the Battle-Carrier began calmly but hurriedly reporting to their assigned duties whenever we have such a large drop such as this.

Me, Graves, Avery and Twilight were in the armoury getting our combat gear on, the past seven days were rough evidenced by our slightly sluggish nature. We only had six hours of sleep just before the announcement along with the rest of Reject Company, their CO Captain Jimmy Rims or Rimmy to his friends is much like other company commanders I had to work with whenever I was assigned away from my parent unit. A competent officer who takes time to know the men under them and willing to balance the line between completing the mission and getting their men home.

“Grayson help our guest would’ya?” Major Graves ordered as I noticed Twilight struggling to click the chest piece into place.

I walked over and began to help her get the chest piece on.

“Uh thanks.” she says moments later as I finished getting her chest piece on properly.

“You okay?” I asked out of curiosity.

She hesitates for a moment whilst she finishes putting on her helmet before saying “I’m just a bit nervous, whilst I have fought for many centuries all those years in battle were informal at best. This’ll be the first time I’m going into battle with a professional fighting force like yours.”

I nodded understanding her concern before Captain Rimmy began to call us all to his attention.

“All right! You lazy gits and wits! Listen up!” He started whilst jumping onto a nearby ammo crate, his Australian accent clear as day.

“We have our orders, inserting into enemy lines and retrieve a HIO vital to this new front of the war!” He said receiving a round of “Oo-Rah”s in return.

“Everybody knows what's going on? Everyone knows where we’re going?” He asked receiving a second round of “Oo-Rah”s.

“EVERYBODY READY!?” He shouted.

“OO-RAH!” We answered at the top of our lungs as the PA system announced that it was Reject Company’s turn to board the dropships.

“THEN LET’S DO THIS! DIGBY! SECOND! LEAD OUT!” The Captain shouted whilst gesturing to the airlock to his left.

“You head the man! Second Platoon on me!” A posh British voice sounded over my platoon channel.

Soon enough the members of Reject’s 2nd Platoon marked by my helmet began to fill through the airlock, as our fireteam was assigned to 2nd Platoon for this op we too began to fill out through the airlock behind the SI grunts.

Out on the hanger deck was the entirety of the California's SI Battalions loading into the dropships with CAS craft loading up on ordnance and fuel.

“Try to keep up fleeties.” Lieutenant Digby said as our platoon filled into our Hayabusa.

As I strap myself down in my crash crouch I couldn’t help but think about the LT’s words.

This wouldn’t be just another mission.

It would be an initiation.

For all of us.

“Charlie Actual to Alpha Actual, all eggs are in the basket and ready for frying over.” The LT said over the comms a few moments later after the whole platoon was present and accounted for.

I look to my right towards the rear ramp seeing Major Graves sitting beside me with Avery on his right.

“I synced your suit's TAC-LINKs to mine so you could hear and see what's going on.” Graves said whilst checking his M66.

I nodded in thanks, normally in these kinds of ops I wouldn’t be able to see the wider picture through my TAC-LINK because I’m not an officer nor a Combat Controller like Avery.

With Graves giving us access through I’ll be able to oversee other parts of the operation without trouble.

“All units, all units this is spaceman standby for drop, repeat standby for drop.” A voice said over the TAC-LINK.

“This is bumble 2 roger.” The voice of our dropship pilot responded whilst the other dropship pilots are no doubt saying the very same thing.

We’re soon in one of the many airlocks of the California awaiting the clearance to detach from the Battle-Carrier.

On the TAC-LINK which shows a 2D map of the fleet with the California at the centre, I could see a few dots representing dropships and strike craft leaving the Troop ships, Assault Carriers and Battle Carriers alike.

The small craft soon formed up into small groups before heading away from the fleet. By that point the 2D map changed to a 3D map with the planet in the centre, half the space around it was covered in a red glow indicating where the enemy’s defence cannon can spot and shoot down starships. Which is why the fleet is on the other side of the planet away from the cannon’s line of sight, this does mean however that all those dropships and Strike craft have to travel further whilst also entering the atmosphere.

Normally during a drop op the mothership would park itself as close to the target LZ as possible so that the pilots won’t have to worry as much about having enough fuel to go to and from the surface and their mothership.

When fighting against the Lankies that tactic still worked given the Lankies lack of terrestrial based ranged weapons, the equestrians however because of their Orbital Defence Cannon don’t have to worry about our ships flying over their heads bringing death from above.

“This is Spaceman to all units Second wave drop in T-minus 40 seconds!”

“Forty seconds!” Digby shouted over the platoon channel as we got ready for another round of russian roulette.

“What can I expect when we drop?” Twilight asked who was sitting to my left towards the cockpit.

I hesitated for a few seconds in trying to come up with what she could expect but I couldn’t think of any advice except…

“Well your stomach will probably try to claw its way up your throat and feel like your sent flying into the ceiling but other then that-”

“-TWO, ONE DEPLOY DEPLOY!!” Was all I heard before our dropship was launched into the black once again.

I looked through one of the dropship’s cameras on my suit’s HUD, the familiar sight of a Washington Class Battle-Carrier grew smaller as our Dropship sped away from the starship.

Other dropships and Strike craft were also launching from the Carrier, their lights and icons the only things that tell me that they are there at all.

“D-Does it get any better?” Twilight asks clearly, feeling a bit unwell from the launch sequence earlier.

Switching off the view feed I looked at her and said with a smirk “It gets tolerable, eventually.”

“MUSIC PALUESE PILOT!” LT.Digby shouted over the comms.

Before me or Twilight could ponder what he meant a song began playing over the platoon channel.

“Oh yeah!” One of the SI troopers across the hold yelled.

“The Company’s favourite!” Another one commented just as the whole Platoon began banging one of their boots to the music.

“More like the division’s favourite!” Another SI laughed as the song continued.

“Do all these kinds of missions start like this?” Twilight asked as even Avery and Graves started to bang their boots along with the music.

“Uh sometimes? Mostly to relieve tension in the air and gives them something to do whilst they wait to land at an LZ” I replied.

“Yeah and this song is a classic!” Another SI trooper said over our channel.

“Oh please Ride of the Valkyries is more of a classic then Survival!” Avery argued.

The channel soon devolved into an argument about which song was the true classically of the two, which continued for a few seconds until just before the end of the song, where the pilot put on another song.

“Oh come on!””Traitor!””Really!?” Were a few of the comments the SI grunts made after our pilot made his opinion clear.

Sometime later I began to feel the Hayabusa shake violently which told me we were finally entering the atmosphere.

“Hang on back there!” Our pilot commented as the shaking intensified before after a full minute it stopped and just like that I was back on Nova Tanis.

“Alright, let's review the plan one more time.” Captain Rimmy said over the company channel.

Soon a 3D image of the Capital city appears in my vision as I imagine the same happening to the rest of the company.

“We’ll be coming in through the east and land right next to the Governmental Palace in the plaza. The 34th Drop Wing from the Cal will be escorting us along with the majority of the Fast movers from the fleet. Their objectives are twofold, reducing the enemy’s capacity for defensive actions whilst also presenting more targets for the enemy’s guns allowing our company to complete its task.” Rimmy stated which inwardly I can understand.

The California's Air Wing consists of one Drop Wing and one Strike Wing, enough to ferry one of the Battle-Carrier’s two SI battalions down in one drop and provide air support but not enough for large scale landings like what the Assault-Carriers are capable of. Due to them being designed for planetary Assaults Assault-Carriers have six times as many wings as what a Battle-Carrier could ferry, as such it didn’t surprise me that fighters from other ships would be coming down with us.

The image of the city which had since been marked with various icons and arrows to give us an overview of our approach vector changed to a 3D image of the Governmental Palace itself.

“Once we land and unload, Bumble 2 and 4 will give us air cover as best as they could whilst also covering the north and South approaches.” Rimmy said as the icons representing our dropships appeared above the image circling like hawks.

“Bumbles 1 and 3 will run interference with the enemy and try to buy us time as well as strike targets of opportunity.” Rimmy continued, I nodded a bit understanding that the less enemies our rear guard had to face the better.

“As for us First and Third Platoons will form a defensive perimeter on the east and west sides of the palace whilst Second Platoon plus Fourth’s First and Second Squads enter the palace itself and secure the package, Fourth’s Third squad will divide into two fireteams and support the west and east lines.”

Fourth Platoon was our heavy weapons platoon with Third Squad being made up of AMP EXOs whilst first and second squads were command and security respectively. With me, Twilight, Avery and Graves that makes the total number of boots going in to be 54 an overstrength’d platoon.

“Once Second has the HIG we fall back to the dropships by platoon and dust off towards the rest of our comrades that landed, Clear!?” Rimmy concluded as we all shouted our acknowledgement back at him.

“Hold on back there!” Our pilot said as the images used from the briefing disappeared from my view and immediately I pulled up Bumble 2’s TAC-LINK.

The screen that occupied my vision was a 2D map constantly changing as we moved west from the east, the only thing remaining constant was the position of the icons that both represent our dropships and those of the Strike Craft accompanying us.

Before long however those Icons began bobbing and weaving to avoid the Anti-Air that was coming our way.

I cringed as I saw a few Icons representing the Strider blink out of existence, the FA-23M8 Strider was one of the first dedicated anti-Lanky strike craft developed by humanity. It was first rolled out in January of 2124 and saw its first combat deployment in April that same year, said deployment happened to be during the rescue of the Avenger Class Battle-Carrier NACS Washington in the Capella system where my grand-father was at the time.

Since learning of that fact I developed a respect for the craft and its pilots, to see them going out like that makes me feel bad but I steeled myself.

Better to make sure they’re sacrifice is worth it then feeling sorry for their deaths.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t those fighters launching countermeasures?!” Twilight asked, seeing the same data as me.

“Because the Lankies didn’t have any AA weapons to speak of so our current fleet of strike craft lacked countermeasures.” I answered back as we were finally entering the city and soon be touching down on our LZ.

“SHIT WE’RE HIT! BUMBLE 3 IS HIT!” I hear over the channel and my stomach drops.

Bumble 3 is the dropship carrying fourth platoon, if they go down..

“Port side wing took a hit, but we can make it to the LZ; however I don’t want to chance it taking off again over.” Bumble 3’s pilot said as I sigh in relief and then frustration, whilst Bumble 3 will be able to land with their cargo intact the fact they can’t take off again meant Bumble 1 will have to pull screening duty all by themselves.

“40 seconds to land!” Our pilot said as the whole Platoon got up and checked their weapons and gear, I had long since switched off my link to Bumble two and began to check my gear.

By the time we all had our things in order the light of the hold went red.

“RED LIGHT!” Digby said and soon after there was a hard THUD before the light went green.

“GO! GO! GO!” The lieutenant shouted as the ramp lowered and we stormed out in a textbook tactical formation.

And just like that I’m back on Nova Tanis.

Attached Asset: Twilight Sparkle

I followed Grayson out of the dropship remembering the training I received in the past week. I took the M66 in my hands and swung it to the right as we all came off the ramp.

I could see just a few metres away to my left closer to the palace, the Drop ship carrying Third Platoon callsign Delta, said platoon is getting ready to move through the ground floor of the palace to the eastern side after we cleared the way.

“Charlie! Forward to the X!” Lieutenant Digby ordered as we began running across the plaza towards the palace.

Charlie was the codename for Second platoon with Digby being referred to as Charlie Actual and the squads as Charlie 1, Charlie 2, Charlie 3 and Charlie 4 whilst the two squads from fourth platoon have the callsigns Charlies 5 and 6 respectively.

As we began to ascend the stairs I looked back over the plaza just in time to see First Platoon and their AMP support setting up defensive positions around the front of the palace which faces the west.

Across the plaza I could see Bumble 1 doing some attacks on Imperial troops supposedly hiding in the buildings.

“Charlie, prepare for breach! Charlie 2 goes first and clears the lobby and then proceeds to cover the main hallway directly ahead, Charlies 4 and 5 will then go in second and break off left and right to cover our flanks and Charlies 1 and 3 will be in last. Once we secured the looby Third Platoon will move by us and set up on the east side whilst 4, 2 and 5 secure the building and set up a casualty collection point, 1 and 3 will move below to secure the objective.” Digby said as our platoon stacked up on the double doors to the lobby of the palace.

Me, Grayson, his friend Avery and Graves were attached to the Platoon’s Third Squad Charlie 3

The platoon got into position and I could see the members of Charlie 2 getting ready.

“On my mark, MARK!” With that the ten SI troopers stormed into the palace.

I could hear brief bursts of gunfire over the comm channel and through the access granted by Graves I could see through the TAC-LINK what was going on.

There were about 7 guards in the lobby behind some of the desks and there were two more on the second floor. Charlie 2 was able to kill 4 of the guards before heading for cover but two SIs were just seconds too slow and were gunned down.

The remaining eight SI were able to dispatch the remaining guards but not without a further four had suffered some minor wounds. Charlies 4 and 5 were able to make entry with no problems and proceeded to quickly secure the left and right sides of the lobby before holding at the hallways.

It was then that Charlies 1 and 3 entered the three story building.

The scene before me as I entered behind Grayson was one of a quick but brutal firefight, the bodies of the two dead SI troopers had the trailsigns of a laser bolt on their heads whilst the ones that were still alive had marks on their chest plates with a single medic giving aid.

We then passed the remaining three members of Charlie 2 who were holding the main hallway that cuts through the palace and made it about halfway before we again stacked up on a door to our right with Charlie 1 taking the lead.

The door opened to a spiral staircase which leads to the lower levels of the palace where the data crystal is stored.

“Charlie 1 moving to the lower decks.” One of the SIs from Charlie 1 said as they opened the door and moved down the staircase.

Soon Charlie 3 was moving down the stairs at least a few metres behind with me moving behind Grayson and in front of Avery and Graves.

We spent about twenty seconds I think before I heard a voice over the main platoon channel followed by gunfire and laser blasts.

“CONTACT DOWN THE HALL!” I noticed a few steps down and away several icons that indicate enemy infantry.

“Charlie 1-1 advance on my mark Charlie 1-2 provide covering fire!” Digby says over the platoon net.

I look over the TAC-LINK and bring up a 2D map with data provided by Charlie 1, they’re in an intersection with the enemy on the other side of the hallway in front of the stairwell meaning we can’t move in to help without getting shot.

The enemy which were shown on the right side of the map numbered about 3-4 whilst Charlie 1 which was shown on the left had eight men standing with one of their icons glowing black with a silver outline signifying that they were dead and the other a yellow icon meaning they are wounded.

Putting my memory of the lower levels whilst I was here to good use I decided to try and even the odds.

“Lieutenant, there should be a power breaker at the end of that hallway to the right.” I told the LT over the comms remembering how our very Battle Armour has built in night-vision.

“Roger! NOW!” Digby says in quick succession.

On the map I could see five of the blue icons rushing across the hallway killing three of the now confirmed four hostiles.

“Clear move up.” One of Charlie 1’s SI troopers said as we made our way down the staircase and into the intersection.

“Found the breaker going dark in 3,2..” Digby said over the comms before the lights overhead suddenly went out.

“Charlie 1 will clear this side whilst Charlie 3 will take the overside.” Digby said as we headed down the hallway to the left of the stairwell with our night vision on.

“Keep it tight, if intel is right then we should be coming upon the prison cells.” The squad leader of Charlie 3 said over the squad channel. The hallways were tight only half a metre wide so we had to move in single file, when the forward elements of Charlie 3 got to the end of the hallway the pointman held up a fist that I could barely see from my position a few soldiers behind, he looked over the right side edge of the hallway before speaking over the squad comms.

“Contacts, four setting up and one on radio probably trying to call for help.”

“Smoke em.” The squad leader said as a few of the SI at the front moved around the corner and I could hear gunfire as well as cries of alarm.

“Clear! Moving to secure the cell blocks!.” The same voice said a few seconds later.

A team of Charlie 3 then went to the left as we were coming up around the corner towards the cell blocks.

The rest of us moved ahead, advancing through the black and picking off the Imperials one by one until we reached the main data centre.

“This is it.” I began as we prepared to breach. “Behind this door is the main data centre for the whole planet, it's probably well guarded so we should be aggressive but careful.”

“Nine troopers should be enough, Rico, Max, Typhoon, Zach and I will go first and get their attention whilst you fleeties give us covering fire set?” The Squad leader said as his team moved to stack up on the door.

“Set!” We replied before the door opened and the first three members of Charlie 3’s alpha team moved through the door.

Only to be shredded by a fury of lasers.

“BUCK MULTI-LASER!” I cursed on reflex as we all took a step back from the doorway.

“Could’ve warned us about fucking that before it started firing!” One of Alpha’s survivors Typhoon said as he and his squadmate Zach hunker down across from me, Graves, Grayson and Avery.

“It’ll overheat in a few seconds.” I said ignoring the comment from him

After a few seconds the laser fire stopped and we wasted no time in moving over the bodies of Alpha's Squad leader, Rico and Max and through the doorway into the data centre, firing as we went.

The centre itself was a squared room with one side across from us being raised slightly higher than the other. The imperials had the high ground and a heavy weapon in their favour but as I took cover I noticed that they were all staff personnel and not frontline troops, so we probably have an edge in training.

“I count seven of the bastards!” Zach said as he took cover behind a set of consoles to my right.

Facing the enemy I was in cover on the right side of the room with the two remaining members of Alpha team whilst Grayson, Graves and Avery were over on the left side.

“That turret is mine!” Avery said as he aimed his M66’s grenade launcher at the multi-laser just as it was about to fire on us again.

“Fire in the hole!” He shouted before I heard a small explosion where the multi-laser used to be.

“Careful!” I shouted over the comms as I sighted my M66 on another Imperial and pulled the trigger, the computers in both my armour and my rifle then calculated the number of rounds needed to ensure in the nano-second it took for my rifle to start firing and moments later my HUD told me I sourced a kill.

“We need at least one of them alive so I can-” I said before Typhoon shouted “GRENADE!”

In a span of a few seconds I was pushed onto my back by something or someone whilst hitting my head on something so head that if it wasn’t for my helmet I would have died, I could barely hear Grayson’s voice over the comms before I succumbed to darkness.

Staff Sergeant Ben Grayson: 17 minutes since landing

“How is she Sergeant?” Lieutenant Griff Digby asked me as I checked Twilight’s vitals once more.

It's been ten minutes since she was unconscious by that plasma grenade the Imperial Staff officers had and since then Charlie has regrouped in the data centre along with our prisoner.

Said prisoner was tied up near the corner furthest from the door with two SIs from Charlie 3’s bravo team standing guard.

Standing up from Twilight’s prone but still armoured body I turned to face the LT before saying “Well her suit is showing signs of brain activity so she should be waking up soon.”

Digby simply nodded before reaching to the side of his helmet to activate his comms to get in touch with the rest of the company, I could understand if he didn’t like that Twilight was still not waking up.

Every moment that she was asleep was a moment that we were staying in the Governmental Palace and at risk of an attack that could doom us all. The rejects had suffered greatly in the few minutes since we landed with Charlie being the most badly mauled by the Imperial defences, so far up top the Imperials have conducted one assault to retake the palace but it was repelled so far.

Digby then got off the comms before looking at me in the eyes or visor before saying.

“If she’s not up in the next ten minutes we’re pulling out, understood?”

I simply nodded before a certain Imperial prisoner started yelling.

“YOU WON’T BE GOING ANYWHERE YOU HUMAN DOGS! ONCE MOTHRUL COMES YOU SCUM WILL BE BEGGING FOR MERCY!”

His voice was loud and definite but one glance at his eyes would tell you that he was scared shitless and thus would say anything to try and intimidate us but we know better.

Not to say he wasn’t lying or telling half truths he was just telling us things we already know thanks to Twilight.

I know I would rather not go for round two with a Dragon.

“So what should we do about him if we have to bug out LT?” One of the SIs asked, referring to our prisoner as I went back to checking on Twilight.

“Smoke him obviously.” I smirked a bit as I imagined the Prisoner’s face once he heard Digby’s answer

I then noticed Twilight’s form shifting and one glance at her readings tells me that she’s waking up.

“Well that was convenient” I thought as I helped her into a sitting position.

“How-How long was I-” She started before I interrupted her with the answer.

“Ten minutes and so if you don’t mind we need to get what we came here for and “book it” as the LT would likely say.”

She nodded before standing herself up with my help and after she got her bearings walked under her own power towards the prisoner.

“If you think I’ll help you achiv-” He started to talk before Twilight grabbed his head with both of her hands and said “You won’t” before her hands glowed with a purple-ish aura and I could see from my place beside her that her eyes were glowing under her helmet.

During the week of training prior Twilight explained in brief how the Imperial computers work and from what I understand magic plays a key role in the same way electronics do, in order to access the data crystal we’ll need a magical signature from one of the personnel on site and once she has that all Twilight would need is time to gather all the relevant information into the crystal before disconnecting it from the “mainframe” of the imperial data centre. She says she can do this by using a spell that can copy specific memories and implanting them in her own mind. It was how she was able to learn how to pilot an AMP EXO when asked to demonstrate her abilities.

After just a few seconds the glow on Twilight's hands rescinded as she pulled her hands away from the prisoner who once again had a look of shock on his face.

“Wh-What did y-” He started to say before Twilight walked over to the crystal and started to literally work her magic much to the increasing shock of our prisoner.

“How long till-” I started to ask before Twilight’s magic disappears and she tucks the crystal under her arm.

“We’re good.” She simply says.

“H-How!? Humans are incapable of using magic!” The prisoner said trying again to sound definite but I can tell in his eyes that the event clearly shaken him, something to remember I’m sure.

“Who says I am human Grayshard?” Twilight asks the prisoner, by his name I figured.

The now named prisoner looked at her in even more shock.

“Y-You were an Equestrian!?” He shouted as the rest of Charlie began to pack up and head to the Evac point.

In response a glow appeared around Twilight’s armour and whilst I couldn’t see her face I understood that she was mad, well maybe not quite mad but definitely pissed.

“NO I WAS A ALICORN AND BEFORE THAT I WAS A UNICORN IN A TIME WHERE MANY RACES INHABITED AURORA, BEFORE THE SO CALLED “UNIFICATION WARS” BEFORE PONYKIND COMMITTED THE GREATEST CRIME IN THE MEMORY OF THE SO CALLED GODDESS CELESTIA YOU SO REVIER! NOT A SO CALLED EQUESTRIAN! ” She suddenly shouted and the tone and volume of her voice was unlike anything I heard before or since and in that moment in time I believed the stories about her being a demi-god for no normal being, human or otherwise could produce a voice that felt like it could shatter worlds and break souls just from hearing it.

The prisoner just sat there in silence as Digby got everyone’s attention.

“Alright listen up chaps! The EZ will be hot as the enemy isn’t interested in letting us go and wants to get a few more bloody noses, Alpha will board Bumble 1 alongside us whilst Bumble 4 will pick up what’s left of Delta and our EXOs. Bumble 2 and some extra wings from the fleet will give us cover as we make our way out but remember that priority One is Miss Twilight here, she gets out unharmed clear!?” We all responded with a series of “Clear”s before we made our way back towards the stairwell leaving our prisoner behind with a new hole in his face.

Once we began entering however.

“SHIT! DRAGON SIGHTED WE NE-” The soldier on the other end didn’t get to finish as I could hear and feel massive amounts of heat coming from the surface alongside the shaking.

“This is Bumble 2 weapons hot!” The muffled sound of a cannon firing full auto greeted my suit's microphone as we climbed up the stairs.

“This is Bumble 2 Dragon is EKIA, repeat Dragon is EKIA. Be advised Delta is KIA over.” I cursed as we finally made it back on the ground floor of the Governmental Palace, despite being down there for only a few minutes it feels like I came out into another place entirely.

The entire hallway we were in was starting to catch fire which was coming from the right or east depending on your view.

“Charlie Actual to Alpha Actual! Inbound to the X what's the situation over?” The LT asked as we gathered into the main lobby.

“Approaching FUBAR Lieutenant! The enemy has MANPADs and Bumble 4 is down, Alpha’s down to 7 men and two AMPs!.....Digby, anyone not on this bird in the next 50 seconds is gonna have to hope there’s another bird coming otherwise.” Captain Rimmy said and I felt my stomach clench.

One dropship isn’t enough to get our battered company off the X in just one run and by the time it could get back…it’d be too late.

Surprisingly Digby simply said “Yes sir” before addressing the rest of us.

“Platoon listen up! Bumble 4 is down and Bumble 1 is a sitting duck the longer it waits, the enemy has MANPADS of a sort and are not afraid to use them. Here’s the plan Charlie 1 and 3 will make a run for the dropship whilst the rest lay down covering fire, once we get onboard Bumble 1 will take off and hopefully take out enough of the hostile force to allow the rest of the company to break out and secure a secondary LZ. Not a good plan I know but it's a plan, am I clear troopers!?”

Again we respond with a cry of “clear”s before Charlie platoon excluding Charlie’s 1 and 3 took up positions on the steps outside of the lobby.

As soon as the first SI trooper began firing his weapon our little band began sprinting to the dropship which was parched right in front of the palace.

To our left I could see one of the two remaining AMPs firing its DADDY JUMBO into the distance against unseen Imperials whilst two of Alpha’s troopers to cover beside it behind some debris.

Quickly turning back to our front I was already stepping onto the ramp when I heard over the company net.

“SHIT MANPAD!” I could see through the bulkhead of the dropship thanks to the icon the position where the AA trooper was spotted.

Fortunately someone from either Charlie or Alpha was able to spot the danger and the icon winked out as quickly as it came.

“GET YOUR ASSES DOWN FAST!” The crew chief ordered as he help everyone both fit and wounded find their seats.

Surprisingly by the time we were airborne again I was sitting next to Twilight again.

“This is Bumble 1 package secured and inbound to the rendezvous point.”

“Is this normal?” Twilight asks as we sit in our seats in a strange silence, the cargo hold was full of both the survivors of Alpha and Charlie platoons as well as the whole company’s WIA.

“This outcome I mean, do missions like these end up like this?” Twilight clarifies and I’m suddenly confronted with the realisation that we went into a fight we weren’t ready for and came out with what 80, 90% casualties?

Normally nowadays if it were against the Lankies it would at average be 40 to 60% even at the best of times and that's only at the company level.

“I, I don’t know.” Was all I could say as I suddenly felt the past week’s fatigue finally catch up with me and I soon dozed off to sleep in my seat with many others following soon after including Twilight.

July 7th:2188: Day One

By the end of the first day of the invasion the 203rd and 98th Tactical Divisions of the 7th Space Combat Army had secured a rough perimeter around the city at the cost of 13,000 men and women from across the two forces adding to the 410 pilots lost.

For the next two months the situation on the siege would be reminiscent of WW1 with both sides constructing trenches and keeping to themselves with the occasional raid or prob, whilst back in the Sol system the Pacific Alliance HighCom is working on getting the training and equipment needed to fight small humanoid threats to the 7th Army as quickly as they can but with the Lanky front taking priority the wait will be long for the men of the 7th space army indeed.

Author's Note

And so another chapter is done! And another milestone! Am I on a roll or AM I ON A ROLL!?

Also if there are any veterans who read this sorry if this chapter has made you cringe a bit especially in the action scenes, I’m no soldier and I don’t think I’ll ever be one but I do my best thanks to some sci-fi military books I listened to and watching some military stuff on YouTube.

Again have any thoughts? Post them in the comments.