The Galaxy flew in low over the Indarian deserts and canyons, making for the drop point as explosions continued to light up the Crown, even at night.
Spec Ops Division Seven, or SODS as everyone else called them were inside said Galaxy, receiving a briefing from their Engineer, pilot and Commander, Uno, so called because he was blind in his right eye.
He was still a damn good Galaxy pilot, though, but he did have a slight swearing problem.
"Here's the mission boys- As of noon yesterday, the damned Respawn systems displayed a new Respawn option- Vanu Sunderer Wreck. It was around for a few minutes, but was open to all factions. A bloodbath insued and all involved were killed during a Mosquito strike on that area."
"We're going to go to the site, salvage anything that can be salvaged for the damned techies, and get the hell outa there before those bloody Vanu detect us."
The 'ground team' of six Heavy Assaults equipped with PDW-16 Hailstorms and NS Annihilator Rocket Launchers radioed acknowledgement over the radios. The SODS were well known for being a highly unorthodox but effective unit, and that was the only reason they remained instead of being transferred to the 'Meat Shield' Roster.
The squad was unusual in several ways:
First was the fact that everyone in the squad used the same main gun- the PDW-16 Hailstorm SMG, except their infiltrator. Many other Commanders would say that having everyone use the same gun makes a unit more vulnerable, but everyone carrying the same type of ammo had saved them more than once during their tours of duty on the frozen wastes of Esamir.
The squad had also completely refitted their Galaxy- by cannibalising parts from their old Sunderer, the Galaxy's troop hold now had extra Sunderer armour around it as well as two extra deployment hatches behind the wings as well as the Spawn Point, not to mention the two extra M20 Basalisk Machine guns mounted under the hull of the craft, all painted the squad's trademark jet black.
They even carried cans of black spray paint so they could denote a captured enemy tank or piece of equipment as their own.
The pair of Light Assaults, Tals and Rex, who operated the wing guns also acknowledged the order over the radio, along with the two medics who operated the top and tail guns.
The only one who didn't acknowlege was the team's MAX unit and leader of the ground team; Pyro (so called for his use of dual flamethrowers, weapons that hadn't even been put into production yet.) Pyro scared the whole unit, never saying anything and simply pointing to issue orders.
The only reason they kept him around was he was damn good to have behind you in close quarters. He was also a good cook, somehow managing to make the usual bland ration packs they had into something that actually resembled proper food.
"Two minutes until we hit the damned drop zone- it's a hot one, so lock and load boys. Heavies, remember no shields- we don't want a bloody Scythe patrol on us, do we?"
The six heavies grumbled to each other as they switched the clips in their SMG's and checked their Launchers were loaded. Still, they were rather annoyed they hadn't been allowed to use their extra layer of Nanite Armour over their Nanoweave Armour and regular shields even if it did mark them out like walking lights.
Pyro simply checked his fuel gauges.
"One minute- Heavies on the Baslisks, shut down the control HUDs. Lights, prepare for drop. Ready, maggots?"
The Galaxy cleared a ridge before it hovered above a small canyon. "Anything down there?"
"Negative. Dropping in." Rex, the leader of the pair of Light assaults radioed back as he and his wingman, Tals, jumped out of the dropship, firing their jet packs on the way to guide them in.
The two Lights rolled as they landed, swinging their SMG's upwards to scan the cliff tops for Vanu through their night vision scopes. "Still nothing up there, Capt."
"Heavies and Jerry, you're up next."
"Ja. Schnell, schnell, schnell!" Jerry, the ground team's medic, yelled as he led the six Heavies in their own drop.
After a few minutes of dropping from over a kilometre above the surface onto the ground, Jerry radioed back.
"Perimeter secured, you may bring ze Galaxy in."
"Roger that." The Galaxy began it's straight vertical decent into the narrow canyon but according to intel, the massive dropship would fit in the canyon.
The Galaxy eventually landed in the canyon, unloading Pyro's MAX into the field.
"Has the data been collected yet?"
"Nein, Herr Commandant. We need zwei more minuten."
"Hurry up, a Scythe patrol could be overhead at any minute."
Bang
The gunshot echoed into the soundless night, followed by the sound of the plasma bolt plinking of the Galaxy's thick armour.
Several more bangs followed, along with a screech of pain over the radio.
"Ambush! Schnell, back to ze Galaxy!"
The sound of SMG fire sounded around the canyon, oddly distorted by the closed-in walls and rocks before a Vanu Infiltrator's body fell onto the cockpit.
===================================================
"Steels, get some suppressing fire on that position while we make a run for the dropship! We'll cover you after!"
"Of course."
The group of heavies had taken cover behind a small outcropping of boulders across form the Galaxy, under sustained sniper fire from the ridge tops.
Steels stood, raised his SMG, and let rip at the cliff top, seeing a Vanu Heavy fall while he had a satisfied expression on his face.
The five others activated their shields, causing their armour to glow a evil-looking shade of red, as they sprinted across the ten meters of open ground between them and the Galaxy. Viper, their commander, looked back to see Steels sprinting along behind them as they ran into the Galaxy's open rear door.
He let out a burst of gunfire at the cliff top to cover Steels before he climbed into the control for one of the Baslisk HMG's, ready to shred anyone left on the cliff top once Uno had taken off.
A sniper shot rang out as Snipes, the unit's Infiltraitor, picked off another enemy.
Steels leaped inside and the Galaxy's rear doors began to close as Gamble and Blades, two other members of the Heavy team, fired out the door, picking off a infiltraitor that had been trying to sneak into the Galaxy.
A explosion shook the Galaxy, hurling Viper into the wall. "Take off Uno, now!"
The Galaxy slowly began to lift into the air as bullets and rockets smashed into the hull, rocking the dropship.
"Aw, cheese." was the only thing Viper could say as he heard the whine of Scythe engines.
The Galaxy exploded in a volley of 32 high explosive rockets, rendering the entire team MIA as they never respawned.
Or that was what the official report said.
=============================================================
"Bloody hell, what was that?" Uno grumbled to himself as he sat up in the Galaxy's cockpit. Black spots still clouded his vision, but he could still fly the dropship.
"Status, squaddies?"
A chorus of groans and complaints came over the radio, at least they were still alive.
Uno glanced down to the weapons loadout, full ammo on all guns. He looked up, revealing a purple-ish sky over a forest not that unfamiliar from those on Amerish.
How did we get to Amerish from Indar?
He blinked once he saw the sun hovering just above the horizon.
And it's bloody daytime on Amerish right now, not dusk.
These questions could be answered later. For now, there was the task of finding out where the nearest food source was.
Easing the Galaxy forwards, uneasy about the miracle that had saved them from being turned into a mess of dust, Uno sighed.
He hoped there would be decent food here. He would kill for some bacon about now.
"Do we go for stealth or psychological warfare?" Uno yelled into the comms, it was a choice the squad made on operations.
The universal response from the squaddies, even in their current bashed up state, was obvious.
"Psychological!" They cheered, it was rare they got to use the speaker system to blare out whatever song they felt like having played at deafening volume.
"Usual?"
"Obviously!" Viper shouted into the comms over the cheers from the others.
Uno grinned under his skull helmet, this was going to be fun.
He pressed the button that activated the speaker systems they'd 'borrowed' from Zurvan Amp Station and was greeted by a burst of static.
"God damn it..." Uno muttered to himself. Of course the damned rockets would break something, and that just had to be the speakers...
"Uno! Where's the music?" Vioer shouted into the radio, nearly deafening the one-eyed pilot.
"Damned Vanu Scythes destroyed the speaker systems and the music store."
"What the hell are we going to do now then?"
"The hell should I know? I'm the one flying this hunk of metal, not you. So shut up and do whatever checks you need to do!" Uno retorted.
Viper audibly sighed over the radio."Can you never do anything right?"
"I got us off the Crown that one time, didn't I?"
"Fine, but we're even now. No music, the Vanu blew the speakers up."
There was another round of groans from the squaddies.
Uno spotted a cluster of buildings squatting atop a hill in the middle of a large forest, as good a site as any to set up a forward HQ.
"Buildings up ahead. Prepare for drop, you bloody fools!"
The soldiers groaned over the radio as the rear ramp decended and the Heavies lined up, prepared for the drop.
"Go!" Uno yelled into the radio as the Heavies leaped out of the rear of the aircraft.
==============================================
Viper landed on the ground with a thud as the others slammed into the ground around him.
After flicking their shields on for a few seconds, covering them in a blood-red glow before scanning the area through the night vision scopes on their SMGs for hostiles, the heavies flicked their shields off and gathered in a group around Viper.
"Right, here's the plan. Me and Steels will proceed to the group of buildings at the top of that hill. Hector, Gamble, head that way." Viper jabbed a finger to the northwest. "Beyond the buildings. Marbo, Shepard, you go north-east. We came in from the south, so we know there's nothing down there."
"Ground team, there is a town to your northwest. Tals and Rex have dropped in to take a look around, needs reinforcement. Galaxy is proceeding to outlying buildings- those are our HQ. Snipes is dropping in there to check for hostiles. Meet back at HQ at nightfall. Get a bloody move on, boys!" Uno radioed over.
Viper sighed, sometimes their leader could be a bit... Annoying, to say the least. "You heard the boss, haul ass!"
With that, the heavies sprinted off, eager to actually be doing something and to stretch their legs.
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Snipes crept through the house, uncloaked, pistol at the ready.
He turned into yet another seemingly pointless room, dominated by a table with a series of cupboards around the edges. Satisfied that there were no hostiles in the room, he lowered his pistol and ran to the door opposite, poking his head round the doorframe as he took cover behind it.
"Huh?"
There was something in here, and that something was a strange orange blob. However, Snipes was not the curious type, if you were on Auraxis you would have died very quickly. His attention was very quickly drawn to a brown hat resting on a table.
He looked at the hat. He smiled to himself.
"I needed something to go with my cigars and aviators..."
He walked over and placed the hat on his head before he slipped his sunglasses out, pushed them onto his face and lit one of the many cigars he had stolen off of officers from all three factions.
Placing his pistol back in its holster and heaving his sniper so that it rested on his shoulder, Snipes walked out, happy about his new hat.
===============
Tals and Rex fired their jet pack boosters as they landed on the balcony, guns tracking along its length.
"All clear."
"Roger that."
Twoo
"What the hell was that!" Rex pointed his weapon up into the branches of the tree, scanning for the source of the noise.
Tals reached out and pushed Rex's gun down. "Relax, it's just a owl."
"What the hell is a owl?"
"One of my old squaddies was called Owl back on Amerish, had some weird bird painted on his shoulder pad.. Damn good with C4." A sigh of despair came from Tals's helmet. "Too bad he and the other Warhawks are dead."
"You were in the Warhawks?" Rex asked, a measure of fear and awe in his voice. "Those bloodthirsty S.O.Bs that somehow brought down the Vanu warpgate's energy shield?"
"The very same."
"Sheesh, it's like everyone has a dark history in the S.O.D.S..." Rex muttered.
"What's yours then?"
"Blew up a mass of bridges behind NC lines. Killed one helluva lot of 'em. They couldn't get ammo to the front for days."
"Know any of the others stories?"
"Jerry used to carry out torture on prisoners. Pyro was.... Well, Pyro. Viper shot Uno's eye out. Steels used to use throwing knives. Snipes... He was a contraband dealer. You know any of the others?"
"Gamble was a drunk and addicted to gambling. Hector drew first, asked questions later. Uno insulted the brass." They both shared a laugh on that one, of course their 'glorious leader' would insult someone important. "Marbo saw too much war. As for Shepard... Who can tell with that half-cyborg face of his?"
"This is the first time any of us have had a talk about the others, isn't it?"
Tals sighed. "It's a subject not to get attached to your comrades. Once you're in a S.O unit, you survive or die. We're those that are too good to kill, so we have one Respawn point. When that goes down..."
"Yeah... Let's move."
"Roger."
Recovering from their talk about the past, Rex walked over to the door and kicked it open, scanning inside for hostiles.
Tals walked over to a intresting object, a tripod-mounted sniper scope.
I wonder how much zoom this thing has...
He placed his eye into the scope, and was slightly shocked by what the zoom was.
"Rex! Get over here, we've got some 20x scope thing!"
Rex ran out of the tree-building and stood next to Tals, staring at the tripod-mounted scope.
Rex looked into the end of the scope, and brought his eye away, as amazed as Tals had been.
"Take it?"
Rex shrugged. "Why the hell not? You take the scope, I'll take the tripod."
Tals detatched the scope after a few minutes of looking for the release catch and and clamped it to his belt, next to the C4 while Rex tide the tripod to his back.
"Into the tree!" Tals yelled with mock enthusiasm as he and Rex walked into the wierd tree building.
The door opened into a corridor with a door at the end and on the left and right.
The two soldiers took one look at the corridor, it was the perfect place for a ambush. A green light lit up the corridor from the doorway to the left.
Rex nodded and pulled a smoke grenade out, ripped the pin out and rolled the grenade down the hallway, spewing white smoke over the corridor.
Tals advanced down the corridor, eye pressed to the NV scope that eliminated the smokes obscuring effects while Rex advanced behind him in a similar fashion.
Tals turned into the left hand door, revealing a purple horned thing sleeping on some form of bed.
"Uno, we've got a sleeping hostile. Take back for interrogation?" Tals whispered into the radio.
"Affirmative. Steels and Viper have already gathered up the other hostiles up at the farm."
"Roger that."
Tals walked over to the bed and heaved the horned thing out of the bed in one mighty pull, resting it across his shoulders as he grunted under the weight.
"Rex, you got anything?"
"Some paper written in the strangest typeface I've ever seen. You got a hostile?"
"Yeah, it's damn heavy for something so small. Let's move."
The two soldiers walked through the rest of the building, eventually finding their way outside into the square as the rumble of a Lightning's engine was heard, soon followed by the appearance of the tank in question, towing a cart filled with...
Were those cupcakes? And was that a bottle of vodka?
"Hey, Comrades! Look what we found!" A red-armoured figure that could only be Gamble from his accent shouted out from the Lightning's turret hatch while Hector grumbled from the cart.
"Where the hell did you find vodka and cupcakes?" Tals shouted, slightly surprised that two things so rare on Auraxis had been found within a hour wherever this place was.
"The cake and booze stores, you idiot!"
"They sell cake and booze?"
"Not anymore!" Hector shouted out, a tiny bit of happiness present in his normally emotionless voice. "We liberated it in the name of the Terran Republic! Hop on, and I'll tell you how it happened..."
=========================================================
A few minutes earlier...
"There's no booze in this goddamn place! I'm down to my 26th bottle of vodka!" Gamble roared in anger as he and Hector made their way through the town.
"Try there." Hector pointed to a brightly painted building that appeared to be made out of those pastry things the brass ate all the time.
Gamble sprinted over to the building and found the door locked. Not one to be defeated by a locked door in his quest for booze, he ripped his Chainblade out of its sheath as quickly sawed the lock in half before kicking open the door, revealing...
Cupcakes. Hundreds of them.
Gamble turned and shouted out the door to Hector "I've found the cake store!" with a hint of glee in his voice.
A loud rumbling filled the air before a Lightning spray-painted black raced round the corner, Hector's helm poking out the hatch.
"And I found a tank."
Hector pushed himself out of the hatch, climbed off the tank and walked in through the doors.
"Well..." Hector rubbed his hands together.
They turned to each other.
They turned back to the cupcakes.
They grinned, before charging off and placing every cupcake they could find into boxes which they piled onto the back of the Lightning.
"Go outside, see if there's a trailer or something to put them in." Gamble told Hector as he walked outside with a load of cupcake-filled boxes in his arms.
Hector wandered out through another door, and soon enough returned with a wooden cart.
Hector shrugged and lashed it to the back of the Lightning with gaffatape before he began moving boxes off the engines and into the cart.
"Back to HQ, then." Gamble grumbled. "And still no signs of booze..... Wait." Gamble paused as he spotted a sign with something that looked suspiciously like a beer bottle on. "That's a booze store! Hector, go over to the shop with the purple front and take anything that says whiskey, vodka or beer!"
Hector grumbled as he got off the cart and walked over to the booze store, returning a few minutes later laden with crates full of beer.
==========================================
"And that's how we found the cake and beer." Hector finished.
There was a soft groan from their purple prisoner.
"I think it's beginning to wake up." Rex observed.
The Lightning turned to the right, travelling up a small road that led to their temporary command post.
When they arrived, Tals leaped out of the cart and carried their prisoner into the main building which the Galaxy was parked next to.
Tals walked through the first room, where Steels, Snipes and Marbo were engaged in a game of poker and into a room that looked like a mess hall where Shepard was leaning against a wall.
"Take it in there." Shepard pointed to a small room across from where Tals was standing. "That's where we're holding the others."
Tals grunted acknowledgement as he walked across the room and tossed the prisoner into a room with three more of the things.
He shut the door behind him and walked out, looking for where he would be billeted this time.
======================================================================
Twilight groaned as she came out of a dream where she wouldn't have to fix everything, and the sun and the moon still moved across Equestria in the usual way.
She opened her eyes to a dark wood ceiling that was not anything she had in her library. Wondering if this was all some sort of elaborate plan by Chrysalis or Discord to get their revenge brought her nowhere and nothing but a headache, so she sat up, revealing the sleeping forms of the Apple Family.
What is going on here...