Goliath One-Status: K.I.A.

Chapter Six

Earth

June 21, 2023

Final adjustments had been made to the satellite and it was being transported to the space station launch site for deployment. Because the satellite and the loadstar being carried in the satellite were both unmanned, it was a lot lighter so it was being transported by an air convoy. Two chinook helicopters carrying the satellite escorted by four VTOL warships made up the large convoy as they moved to the launch site. The whole operation was being disguised to the public as just another shuttle launch due to a malfunction on one of the space stations, to keep any unwanted suspicions from perking up.

  “Transport squad One-Six, we have you on the short-range radar. Prepare for a quick security check as you make your approach." The operator spoke through the lead VTOL warship's pilot comms.

  "Rock Star One-One, copy all. Be advised, we have the satellite en-route via two chinook helicopters we are escorting. Code-names are Heavy Five-Niner and Heavy Six-Niner. How copy?"

Two escort drones could be spotted taking off from two different helipads on the massive launch station. A smaller-scale, unmanned space shuttle carrier could also be spotted mounted vertically on the main launch tower in the middle of the facility.

  "Flight command copies all. Two escort drones are en-route for further escort, your squad may return to other duties as needed."

  "Roger that, Rock Star squad is status R.T.B."

The four VTOL warships all banked in the opposite direction of the large base and soon disappeared from sight, leaving the two chinooks and the two escort drones for the rest of the way.

“Heavy squadron, do you copy?”

  “Heavy leader here, go ahead.”

The two chinooks flew side-by-side with the two escort drones on the outsides as they thundered towards the large, unmanned shuttle carrier.

  “We are assuming manual control over the drones, follow them to the area where you’ll set down the satellite.”

  “Roger that. Be advised, we’re going to need to refuel here after we drop this thing. The trip hauling this thing here sucked us dry.”

  “Sure thing, I’ll see if I can free up a couple of helipads while you make the delivery. Stand by.”

The two escort drones positioned themselves on either side of a large courtyard where there was a huge flatbed platform with numerous sets of wheels for carrying large packs of supplies to a rocket being launched. Or in this case, for carrying the satellite loaded with the U.A.V. to the shuttle carrier. Heavy Five-Niner and Six-Niner both made their way side-by-side to the courtyard, afterwards they positioned themselves over the large platform with the satellite over it.

  “Easy...easy now......release cables.”

Both the helicopters dropped their cables simultaneously and the satellite rested on the platform.

  “The satellite is on the platform, I say again the package has arrived. Now we need those helipads, over.”

The V.S.A.T. satellite loaded with the loadstar U.A.V. slowly rolled towards the awaiting shuttle carrier. When it finally got there, a huge, shipyard-like crane rolled over the satellite and picked it up to mount it to the shuttle carrier’s specialized mount.

  “Keep it steady now, no need to rush.”

  “Don’t worry, I got it covered. Hey, why isn't that bay door open! I can’t strap this thing to the top ya know!” Yelled an agitated crane operator.

A few moments passed before the massive bay door on the top of the shuttle slowly broke open to reveal the large spot for the satellite to be stored until ready to deploy over OBJECTIVE DEEP SPACE.

  “That’s better.”

The crane set the satellite on a big rail connected to the storage bay in the shuttle carrier and it slowly moved along the rail until it was fully set inside the bay. The rail retracted and the bay door closed shut as jets of pressurized air shot out of it, sealing it air-tight.

  “Attention all units, please pull away from the launch site immediately, we are now preparing to launch. I repeat, we are preparing to launch, get clear now.” The voice boomed over the intercom throughout the base as vehicles and people all moved away from the tower.

  “Final preparations will be completed in about two minutes. Start the countdown at T-minus three.”

  “Copy that, T-minus three minutes and counting to launch.”

“T-minus thirty seconds and counting.”

The various service rails and platforms connected to the main tower started folding up and moving away as smoke billowed from the base of the rocket.

  “T-minus ten...nine...eight...seven...six...” Bright flames started shooting out the sides of the base of the tower. “...five...four...three...two...one...LAUNCH!!”

The main clamp holding the rocket to the tower released as huge amounts of flame and smoke erupted from the rocket as it gradually gained altitude. Everyone on the ground applauded as the rocket disappeared into the clouds. The rocket, codename “Odyssey”, soon penetrated Earth’s atmosphere and the afterburner thrusters engaged, propelling Odyssey at just over mach 38 or 38 times the speed of sound.

  "All is good, Odyssey is currently on course for OBJECTIVE DEEP SPACE. At current rate and trajectory, we will exceed our solar system in just over a day, and we will make contact with the planet in an additional half day. This operation is underway."

~~~~~~~~~~

Marcus and Rainbow Dash were at the barn when Marcus stopped.

  "Hold up a second Rainbow, I have an idea."

Rainbow Dash stopped and looked at him.

  "Oh yeah? What's that?"

Marcus got a very happy grin on his face.

  "Okay, so I can see the top of Twilight's house from here." He pointed to the large tree top in the distance. "Now do you see how the forest curves around behind it about eighty meters?"

Rainbow Dash gave him a blank stare in return but smirked afterwards.

"You sound like an egghead... But yeah. Why?" After 'egghead she realized her mistake when Marcus gave her a 'really...?' Kind of look, but perked back up afterwards as Rainbow Dash blushed slightly.

  "Okay, so to avoid being spotted by your town’s population, cause’ who knows what will happen, I'm just going to sneak around the edge of the forest until I'm right behind Twilight's house. Got it?"

Rainbow Dash had to process her first military briefing before replying with an assuring nod.

  "Good, now come back here with me. I need to give you something to help us communicate."

Rainbow Dash gave him a curious look before following him back to his jet. When they got there, Marcus walked up to the large compartment panel he'd used yesterday and pressed an unlock code while Rainbow Dash watched. The panel opened with a hiss and Marcus reached inside. When he pulled his arms and head out, he had some kind of card in his right hand. He looked over at a large compartment that took up about half of the left of the inside of the main compartment, and swiped the card in a small slit that jutted out from the side. The door to the smaller compartment then beeped and cracked open slightly.

  “What’s in there?” Asked a curious Rainbow Dash as she craned her neck to get a look. “I wanna see!”

Without turning around Rainbow Dash could tell something in that compartment was greatly exciting Marcus.

  “My second favorite part of the plane.” Marcus replied with a wide grin.

He pushed the door open the rest of the way and revealed a FN SCAR-L with a laser, M.M.S. (millimeter scanner), suppresor, and foregrip mounted to the back wall with the stock folded in, a TITUS-6 mounted to the left wall, and ammunition for the two guns and Marcus’s B23R all in separate strapped to the right wall. A control tablet linked to the three MQ-27 Dragonfires also rested in a groove in the base of the compartment.

  “Uh... what is all that stuff?” Rainbow Dash looked jaw-dropped at the contents that rest in the container before her and Marcus.

Marcus reached in and pulled out the FN SCAR-L and unfolded the collapsed stock with a ‘click’, then he pulled out the mag to see the large F.M.J. armor-piercing bullets inside. Then he put the mag back in the gun and pulled the charging handle. Marcus adored the sound of a rifle charging handle being pulled and he looked at Rainbow Dash, who had a slightly fearful look on her face.

  “What da’ ya think?” He asked with a smirk.

Rainbow Dash found herself staring at the large metal object in Marcus hands.

  “W-what is that thing?” She finally asked.

Marcus rested the gun on his right shoulder.

  “Well, this is an FN SCAR-L. But don’t be fooled by the name, I assure you; this will leave more than a ‘scar’.” He said, proud of his own terrible pun.

Rainbow Dash was as a loss for words, both in amazement and fear. Before she could operate her brain again, Marcus walked over to her.

  “Here, let me show you how it works. So, you you remember when I showed you my pistol? This thing?” He pulled out his B23R and Rainbow Dash nodded slightly. “Oh don’t be so scared, I won’t even think about hurting you.” He kneeled down next to Rainbow Dash and pulled her into a quick one-hand hug with his left hand, while his right rested the SCAR on his right shoulder.

Rainbow Dash blushed heavily but calmed down afterwards.

  “I’m sorry Rainbow, I won’t show you this is you if I’m freaking you out.” He said as he got up and walked back to the jet.

Rainbow Dash immediately got up and gave Marcus a firm look.

  “What? The mighty Rainbow Dash does not get scared! But I really want to see that, SCAR though!” She begged.

Marcus stopped and gave Rainbow Dash a questioning smile.

  “You sure?”

Rainbow Dash nodded quickly.

  “Okay.” Marcus walked back to her and knelt down. “Well, as I was saying before, do you remember the bullets my pistol shot?”

  “The little thing, right?”

  “Yeah, well this thing shoots the same thing as my pistol, only these are bigger, they do more damage, and have greater range.” He said as he pulled out the mag and showed it to Rainbow Dash. “There’s another variant that shoots a even bigger round, but I don’t have that one.”

  “That’s really cool! So basically this is the same thing as your, um pistol, but it just is bigger and better?”

Marcus got up and walked back to the jet with Rainbow Dash.

  “In a nutshell.” He said with a soft smile.

“Now for that idea I had earlier.” Marcus reached into the other side of the whole compartment and pulled out a small, black case.

  “What’s in there?”

  “Well, for my plan on getting to Twilight’s house, we’ll need to keep in touch so you’ll know when I’m behind Twilight’s house.”

Rainbow Dash pondered what Marcus just told her.

  “What does ‘keep in touch’ mean?”

Marcus undid the single latch on the case and opened it to reveal six compact comm. earpieces, the kinds that clip to your ear and the microphone bends down in front of your mouth.

  “Keeping in touch basically means being able to talk to one-another, and these devices will help us do just that.” Marcus said with a smile as he took one out and pared it to his helmet radio.

  “Those little things? How?” Asked a baffled Rainbow Dash.

Marcus shrugged as he turned the earpiece on.

  “I wish I knew, all they really taught me was if you talk into this end,” He pointed to the microphone end. “I can hear you from anywhere. And vise versa.”

Rainbow Dash smiled in excitement as Marcus moved to put it on her right ear.

  “That’s so cool!” She exclaimed.

Marcus had to fiddle for about twenty seconds before he finally got the comm in the best place. He then bent the microphone down so it was by Rainbow Dash’s right cheek and pushed the button on the side to set it to Marcus’s channel. It beeped and Marcus did the same.

“Alright, let’s go. I getting hungry!” Marcus said as he and Rainbow Dash made their way back to the barn, but not before Marcus grabbed six extra SCAR-L mags and put them in the pouches he had flattened against his abdomen armor. He then closed the compartment on the side of the jet and sealed it. As the two got to the barn, Marcus heard a low, southern voice call to him.

  “Hey there, Marcus!” Called Big Mac as he trotted towards the two.

Marcus stopped and looked at the large red stallion.

  “Hey, that’s the one I saw when I first arrived here.”

  “Hey there partner, mah name’s Big Macintosh.” He said calmly as he stuck out a hoof.

Marcus looked at the outstretched hoof before taking it in his hand.

  “Pleasure to meet you Mister Macintosh. Say, are you the stallion I saw when I first arrived here?”

  “Ah sure am. Now listen here, I’m okay with ya romin’ around here because of your contraption landin’ here, but I’ll have my eye on ya whenever you’re around mah friends. Know that.” Said Big Mac as he gave Marcus a very serious look.

Marcus smiled, he admired the care this stallion was showing for his friends and he respected that.

  “Very well, I promise you I will not even attempt to harm any of your friends when I am around them. I very much respect your care and therefore I respect you.” Marcus replied with a smile.

Big Mac smiled too for a second before speaking.

  “That’s good, now I have to get back to bucking some apples.” He said as he walked off.

Marcus and Rainbow Dash then walked through the barn and stopped at the front entrance, where Marcus did one final arsenal check.

He had his six extra mags for the SCAR-L, the three extra mags for his B23R, his attachments on his SCAR-L as well as the laser for his B23R, his ballistic armor plating covering many parts on his body, and finally, his trusty helmet with heads-up-display, the radar--which didn’t work because there were no U.A.V.’s or areal units on this planet--, and built-in thermal/night-vision. Needles to say; he was ready for anything that damned forest had to throw at him. He looked at Rainbow Dash with a confident smile.

  “You look like you’re ready!” She said with a smirk.

  “Damn right! Okay, so once I’m behind the house, I’ll contact you on your radio.” Replied Marcus.

  “Got it.”

Marcus walked out of the barn and immediately turned and jogged into the thick forest, head held high, while Rainbow Dash started on her way through town to Twilight’s house.

~~~~~~~~~~

Marcus was still a bit skeptical about going into the forest that almost ate him for brunch, but he had only had his B23R. Now, he was ready to take it by the horns--er branches...oh whatever! As he walked, Marcus did some serious thinking along the way.

  “I still can’t believe I’m in another world. I wonder if I’m missed at all back on earth. If they know I’m actually gone... I’ve really warmed up to these ponies that live here, but I still can’t wrap my mind around why they could warm up to me. Well, considering there was a fucking manticore in this god-forsaken forest, I’m probably not the worst or strangest thing they’ve come across here... I’ll have to ask them.”

Marcus did a quick surrounding check with his M.M.S. to make sure he wasn’t being stalked.

  “I wonder if Twilight would be able to tell me why I’m here, or better yet; how I can leave...”

Marcus smiled at the thought of surprising everyone at base upon his return, even though it was probably a bit far-fetched. He glanced at the top of Twilight’s house, which was closer. He suspected he was about half-way there. He also looked at the digital clock on his data gove. 12:03 P.M. It had already been fifteen minutes? Jeez! Marcus then went from a walk to a slow run to close the gap.

“Hm, I’m surprised I haven’t come across any obstructions...” Marcus thought as he ran. Not bothering to look another two inches downward, Marcus didn’t see the giant root jutting out of the ground. Before his eyes even caught sight of it, Marcus was laying face down on the dirt floor of the forest, his SCAR laying next to him.

  “I had to think so!” Marcus mumbled as he pushed himself up and grabbed his fallen rifle.

He looked back and was tempted to census himself with his hand at the sight of the root.

  “Think what Marcus?” Asked Rainbow Dash through the radio on his helmet.

Marcus jumped slightly, forgetting about the radio he had given Rainbow Dash.

  “Nothing, I just... tripped...” He deadpanned, wanting to kill himself again from the humiliation.

  “Oh, heh heh... If you say so!” She chortled back.

  “Shut up!” Marcus joked.

Marcus was about to continue when he heard a female voice in the background.

  “What’s that Rainbow?”

  “Oh this? I can talk to Marcus with this, it’s really cool!” Responded Rainbow Dash to the unknown accomplice.

“Who’s there with you?” Asked Marcus as he got up and grabbed his rifle.

He resumed his trek, this time keeping a lookout on the ground and more so on his surroundings. As he jogged/ran through the forest edge, he thought he saw something white jump behind a nearby shrub. Marcus shrugged and kept going.

  “It’s Twilight, I’m outside her house right now with her. We’re just waiting for you to show up.”

Marcus grinned.

“Oh cool, how bout’ you let her give the mic a try?” He asked.

  “Oh sure! Hey Egghead!”

  “For the third time today, don’t call me that!”

  “Whatever, you want to talk to Marcus?”

Marcus chuckled a little at the ‘nickname’, and mentally bookmarked it. After a few seconds of fuzziness through the mic from it being handed over, he spoke.

  “Hello? Anyone there?”

He waited a few seconds before an unexpected response came.

  “HELLO? CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

Marcus cringed a little at the sudden outburst while he could faintly hear Rainbow Dash cracking up in the background.

  “Hey! Twilight, I can hear you just fine, you don’t have to blow out my ears.” Marcus responded, still a little shell-shocked.

He checked how close he was to Twilight’s house and saw he had about 100 yards left until he turned.

  “Oh... heh heh, sorry...” Twilight meekly responded.

  “It’s okay, hey did you figure out how to put the microphone on?” Marcus responded as he stopped walking for a bit.

  “No, I’m just holding it in front of me with my magic. It’s easier.”

  “Cool. Did you figure out how to send me back yet? Or at least how I got here?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know how I can send you back to your world, but I think I do know how you got here. It’s a long story, so I’ll wait until you get here.” Twilight stated.

Marcus sighed. “Okay, I’m about one minute away right now. I’ll be-” Marcus was cut off by a loud rustling in the bushes to his right.

  “One sec, I gotta go.” Marcus said quickly as he turned off his comm.

Rifle at the ready, he slowly approached the bush as the rustling stopped, and looked at his M.M.S. Some kind of Avian being was knelt behind the bush. He was able to guess it was a wild chicken or turkey due to it’s posture. He tried shooing it away, but instead of squawking and fleeing like a normal bird, it jumped on top of the shrub and glared at him. Marcus would’ve never thought a bird could glare, but this one was somehow giving him the same wide-but-narrow eyed stare that he got during Jones’s birthday party. But this one had glowing red eyes.

With his sights still fixed on the bird, he was about to walk away when he felt his right leg going numb when he tried to lift it. He looked down and almost had a heart attack. His right leg--including the clothing and armor-- from right below the knee down, was pure, dark grey stone. And it was creeping slowly to his kneecap. For the first time in at least four years, Marcus panicked. On instinct, his trigger finger jolted inward, and with a quiet sphew, the odd chicken fell off the bush and Marcus half ran, half limped out of the forest. His statue-leg easily left deep footprints in the dirt and crumbled twigs that would only snap under a normal foot. As he got into more open ground in plane sight of any citizen in the small town of Ponyville, he slightly crouched down to at least lower his chance of detection, and made his way to the back door of Twilight’s house.

~~~~~~~~~~

“One sec, I gotta go.” Marcus said quickly before a small sputter of static emitted from Twilight’s comm and was silent after.

  “Hm, what was that about?” Asked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight lowered the microphone and shrugged.

  “Dunno, hey do you want me to put this thing back on your ear?” She asked as she examined the ear clip.

Rainbow Dash brightened up and nodded.

  “Yeah, sure. I like wearing it because I can always talk to Marcus. Here, just put that little clip over the top of my right ear so the little rod is by my cheek.” She said as Twilight fumbled with the comm. for a minute.

After the comm. was put back on, Twilight went into the living room where the other four--plus Spike--were to finish up making the group lunch, while Rainbow Dash went to the back door to wait for Marcus.

Rainbow Dash stepped outside and looked towards the thick treeline of the Everfree forest, and saw a short figure lumbering towards the house. As it came into better view, Rainbow Dash brightened up more as she recognized the figure as Marcus, and ran towards him. However, concern overtook her happy mood as she noticed he was limping.

  “Oh my god, Marcus! Are you okay?” She asked quite loudly.

Marcus looked around before standing up tall with his rifle in hand.

  “I...I’m fine... But we should get inside, like now...” He said quietly.

Rainbow Dash, not being able to see his half statue-ified leg due to the tall grass, ran to his side and escorted him to the house.

  “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Rainbow Dash frantically asked.

Marcus stopped next to the door and pointed to his leg.

  “You tell me.”

Rainbow Dash gasped at the sight of the stone appendage. She looked back up a Marcus with a more curious look.

  “You didn’t happen to have a staring contest with a red-eyed chicken, did you...?” She slowly asked.

Marcus nodded slowly.

  “That was a cockatrice.” Rainbow Dash responded flatly.

Marcus looked at the pegasus like she had an extra wing sprouting out of her back.

  “A cocka-what?” He asked with a slightly tilted head.

Rainbow Dash opened the door and stepped inside.

  “I’ll tell you later, but for the matter at hand, Twilight knows how to fix this. C’mon.” She said as she beckoned for Marcus to come inside.

He obliged and stepped into the small doorway.

~~~~~~~~~~

“What the fuckis a cockatrice?!” Marcus pushed the pointless question out of his mind as he walked through the room, Rainbow Dash at his side.

As he stepped onto the first of the three stairs leading into another room, something, that Marcus can’t say he was surprised about, happened. As his right foot came down on the second step, the entire three-step staircase collapsed under the immense weight of Marcus’s stone leg, making him fall forwards like a 6’9” wood plank. Luckily, the front of his helmet took the jist of the impact as he hit the floor.

  “Damnit...” Mumbled Marcus as he rolled over on his back.

  “Oh shut up.” He said jokingly as he saw Rainbow Dash’s face scrunched up from holding back laughter.

  “Pssst...Pffffft... BWAHAHAHAHA!!!” Rainbow Dash fell onto her back as she couldn’t hold it back any longer. “You...Just, BANG!... And...!” She sputtered through bursts of laughter.

Marcus sat up to asses the damage, and saw the whole three-stair staircase was gone, and was now a pile of splintered wood, as well as a small dent in the wood floor where his cranium had connected with it. His rifle had somehow managed to impale itself into the wood, and was jutting upward with the stock facing up.

“Oops...” Marcus said meekly as he looked up to Rainbow Dash.

She had stopped laughing and was giving him a fake worried look and pointing slowly with her hoof behind Marcus. Knowing what she was pointing at, Marcus looked behind him and saw Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy--who was cowering behind Twilight--, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie--who was bobbing up and down slightly--. They all had shocked looks on their faces.

“Look, before you yell or get angry towards me, I think, this may answer your questions.” He said as he got up and showed them his leg.

He was relieved to see them all soften up a bit at the sight (Excluding Fluttershy), which Marcus assumed meant they’ve had this problem before. Still none of them spoke.

  “So, is there any way you can fix this?” He asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Finally, Applejack walked over and examined his leg. She raided her foreleg and tapped the surface a few times, which emitted a few clinks from it.

  “Well, now I know how people with prosthetic legs feel...” Marcus thought bitterly.

The rest (yes, even Fluttershy) slowly walked up beside Applejack to take a look.

  “Do you have any feeling where the stone is?” Asked Rarity.

  “Not at all. It’s completely numb.” Marcus replied flatly.

Twilight turned to Rarity and whispered something in her ear. Rarity nodded and turned to the door and walked out. She then turned back to Marcus.

  “Rarity went back to her place to get something that will get rid of your ‘problem’.” She said as she gestured towards Marcus’s stone leg.

Marcus sighed, and remembered why he and Rainbow Dash had come here in the first place.

  “So, Rainbow here tells me Spike,” Marcus put his hands at his hips and gestured towards the miniature dragon. “can make some decent grub. And I can safely say I’m famished.”

Spike obviously didn’t know how to respond, so Twilight saved him.

  “Uh, yeah. We were actually going to go to the farm for a picnic we have ready. We really planned on visiting you so, you can just walk down with us if you want.” She said.

Marcus nodded in approval and looked over at his rifle, which was still stabbed into the floor. He gave a “how the hell?” gesture with his hands to no one specifically and turned back to the group, who were also giving questioning looks at the weapon.

  “Sorry bout’ that.” Marcus said uneasily as he pulled it out of the wood.

Twilight sighed. “Don’t worry about it. Now, you gonna join us?” She asked as she and the rest walked back into the kitchen.

Marcus shrugged and followed them.

Marcus walked into the room to see all of the group gathering the picnic supplies, and a question that had been itching at him surfaced.

  “Hey um, I was meaning to ask you all something.” He said, which made all of them look at him casually.

  “And what might that be?” Asked Applejack.

Marcus tried to piece the right words together.

  “Why... does your town look like a Halloween party for a seven year old?” He asked as he gestured outside.

Pinkie Pie stepped forward at the question.

  “Oh that’s because the town’s getting ready for--” She was cut off when Marcus waved her off.

  “Hold that thought.” He said sternly while he press a couple of things on his data glove, making the security warning that flashed across the right side of his H.U.D. disappear.

His face shaped into a slightly concerned look, and he looked up at Pinkie Pie.

  “Hey Pinkie, uh, do you recognize this particular citizen of your town?” He asked slowly as he activated camera footage, forwarded it to his data glove, and showed the small screen to the pony.

The streaming video showed a camera view of the inside of Marcus’s F/A-38 cockpit from the top of the dashboard. Because of the thirty-degree angle on the camera because it is meant for facial I.D. scans, Pinkie Pie and Marcus were able to see a mint green unicorn sprawled out and drooling over the top of the hull behind the glass.

  "Oh boy..." She said as she got a very 'oh boy' look on her face and her eyes widened.

  “Well...?” Marcus asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “That’s Lyra...”