A gloved hand grasped onto mine and I leaned back, pulling the man behind it up. After a moment, a large man of apparent African decent followed it, leaning up.

"Well daa-yumm. The actin' president? That's some high-level shit. Did I get a fuckin' medal or something? Last thing I remember was getting my ass stuck in here and frozen."

I cracked a wry smile at the man's face, a tinge of bitterness stuck in it. "I don't know myself, but you should've. God knows the world's gone to hell and back while we were gone. Name's Virus. Nice to meet you."

"Virus. That yo callsign? I'm Coal, Vehicle Specialist, Engineer, and the 'Mad Bomber'." I raised an eyebrow. That was a familiar name.

"'Mad Bomber'? You mean the guy who went to town in that one Middle Eastern city? I heard you made your own napalm with their gas." He chuckled.

"Yup. That and the IED's. I set up an ambush point to kill a pair of aych-vee-tee's. It was great to give them a taste of their own damn medicine for once."

"I hear you, I was the sniper on that op. You might know me better as Needle." I pulled my cowl up off my head. Coal's jaw dropped.

"Th' hell man? You the fuckin' president now? You gotta be kiddin' me." He facepalmed.

I grimly smiled. "I'm not. The sitrep's worse than anything in human history, meet in the mess hall in 10 and Phoenix'll brief you. By the way, this is Phoenix, resident CQC specialist and hacker. Say hi." I waved him over to Phoenix. After a moment, he looked behind me on the other side, and for the first time, saw Elder.

"Oh SHIT!" He jerked backwards in the pod and drew a sidearm. "What the HELL is that?!" I jerked his arm up as he pulled the trigger, sending the bullets into the ceiling. I pushed the slide back and with my other hand, removed the magazine, and letting the slide back in place, pushed the trigger a second time, firing the chambered bullet in to the air.

"At EASE soldier!" He stopped panicking, and I removed my hands from his gun. "This is Elder. He's a dragon, yes I know, and he's my new advisor. The world has changed, the rules have changed, and we need you to learn with it. Meet Phoenix in the mess in 10, there's signs all over the place."

He looked shaken for a moment, then met my gaze. "Aye aye. Got a supply room?"

I nodded. "It's in the back, signs'll take you there. It's the 'armory', and it has most everything you need. Also, say 'Muse' loudly and clearly anywhere in this base if you need anything else. She can make you stuff too, she's our resident VI. I'll be with Elder in the control room, meet me there when you're done." I turned around and started walking. Elder fell into step next to me.

"I believe you handled that quite well, assuming that your kind always reacts with latent hostility to other creatures and loyalty to those of high rank. What do you need me for now?"

"I'll tell you in a second." We reached the control room, after a few moments, and I opened the hatch, letting Elder in behind me. We situated ourselves inside, and I accessing data files, syncing my stored info with the master archive.

"I threatened the other races. Now, I intend to make those threats real, not just bluffs." I typed in some more manufacturing specs for Muse, and then my finger hesitated on the 'Enter' key. "I'm going to put in a manufacturing request to Muse for a missile silo at the top of our mountain and non-nuclear Intercontinental ballistic missiles to go along with it, all equipped with MIRV's. In addition, the next step is to activate SS1, which is currently dormant." I turned to Elder with a solemn face. "These are all deterrents to war. But now that I've told you, I need your word that you won't tell anyone else, especially not the other leaders. If you did, I'd have to kill you..."

He responded with a smile. "Worry not, my young friend. I'm a dragon. I have no material possessions left, all I have is my knowledge and my honor. You have my word."

I smiled and lowered my finger on the key. "Thanks. This is the legacy of our kind. Sadly, it wasn't a very good legacy to leave behind, but it's our legacy nonetheless. It's also our deterrent, because we can't afford to take a single hit. There's not enough of us." I turned back to the screen.

"Muse." I called out to the system in front of me. The glass bump on the ground lit up, and after a moment, a holographic avatar appeared above it. She was a Greek woman in a toga, and he strummed idly at a lyre. She was quite attractive, if I do say so myself. "What's the estimated construction time for the silo and missiles?"

She looked me over for a second, then the dragon behind me, and then turned back to me. "It should be done within three days, the projected time is sitting at 62 hours. I've dedicated all out assets towards it."

"Good. Keep the projection available on my AR. Also, I want you to inventory the arsenal and restock anything that needs to be. I also want half a ton of demolition-grade plastic explosive in shaped charges. I also want a kilometer of thermite cord. Yes this is for a demo op, and no, this is not going to be actively used." I thought for a moment. "Oh, and give me some signal boosters for the detonators of those. I'm going to want to be able to detonate them from here."

"Acknowledged. The silo production's projection has updated. Expect the armory to be restocked within four hours."

I turned around and headed up the hatch. "Elder, you're free to roam. The weapons are all pretty cool, if you want to go and check them out. I'll be in the mess, eating and briefing Coal."

On my way to the mess, I began thinking (that's never a good thing) about our allies and enemies. What I was planning to do... would need to stay under wraps, as if any of our neighbors found out about it... Well, now wasn't the time to worry.

I entered the mess to see Phoenix talking to Coal. Coal was holding a data-pad and pointing at things, and Phoenix was explaining something to him. I moved to the kitchen area and started cooking more eggs.

"Anyone want eggs?" I called out the serving opening. A "hell yeah, I'm starving!" and a "sure" came back in. I started cracking eggs into a bowl and then I turned on the stove. Grabbing some cheese (imported) and vegetables (also imported), I chopped them up and added them to the bowl of egg. I then proceeded to make omelets. Grabbing the three plates of four omelets each, I took them over to the mess with utensils and some salsa/ketchup/sauce thing.

"Alright, food's served. Eat up, you need the protein." I sat down next to the other two. "What were we talking about?"

Coal answered, nonchalantly. "Oh, she was just telling me how you completely scared the shit outta all the other animals during negotiations." I chuckled.

"Well, good. I have an op I need you for, Coal. It involves demo, but we don't actually get to set off the charges. In addition, we must stay unseen under any circumstances. Yes you both get adaptive camo, if you want to come."

He raised an eyebrow. "An op already? Well damn! Count me in. When do we do it?"

"Glad you're excited. We move tomorrow at 1900 hours. We're going to plant charges on some buildings. We go in, split up, and then meet back up after setting the charges. I've sent the intel to you already, your armor is in the armory. You don't get an AR, but you get a standard stealth gear HUD." I raised a fist up. "See you at 1900 tomorrow. Get some sleep."

He bumped my fist, and I stood up, finished with my food. "Phoenix, I want you to see if you can activate SS1. I already have a silo under construction and next we'll make a mass driver on the side of the mountain. We need to get to SS1, and hopefully, it's active."

"Sir." She nodded. "I'll get to it asap."

"Good. Don't hurry yourself just yet. I also need you on overwatch for us. You any good with a mag-rifle and tranqs?"

"I'm alright, sir. What range are you looking at?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking. I need to know how well you can shoot if I'm going to plan. Take a look at the briefing and check on the sniper points I marked. I'm going to need you to move with me and spot for me." I turned to Coal. "Your path should be mostly clear, and you'll be meeting with a pair of changelings who'll take you to the targets. They're a pair of support beams holding Canterlot up. Just set the charges, don't pop 'em."

Both the two nodded. "Good. Check the briefing, pick up your armor in the armory, see how the camo works. Phoenix, don't worry about SS1 until after this op." I turned around and headed out. "Oh, and Muse'll answer any questions and provide gear, if you want any."

I headed out of the mess, towards the armory, to prepare for the op. We really needed an engineer... and a fucking cook.

Author's Note

Keep submitting OC's. PM please, I realize that commenting them probably isn't as good an idea as I thought.
I want callsign, description, background, specialization, and whatnot.
I might do a round of zombies with the first 4 characters, L4D style. And maybe some other Omake's.