Part Two: Arrival

Commander Thunderlane fell against a tree trunk limply. Blood poured from a small gash just above his right eye. He struggled to regain his breath. What was supposed to be a lazy day, followed by an enjoyable night, had quickly turned to hell far faster than anypony could realize it.

He and his squad, or what was left of it, had been running for sometime now in a desperate bid to get back to their LZ. They were nearly there. So close, and yet so far.

As his vision swam around him, a feminine voice suddenly rushed into the edge of the Pegasus' consciousness. "Come on Commander! Stay with us! It's right on our tails, come on!"

The voice sounded faintly familiar, but he couldn't quite place who, in his delirium. It echoed into his mind again, growing more urgent by the second. "On your feet soldier!" A second voice, masculine, joined the first. "Let's go Equestrian, I'd rather not be this creature's dinner!"

Finally, Thunderlane's mind snapped back to reality. Opening his golden eyes, he snatched up his MA5B and surveyed the scene around him. His squad was looking at him with a mix of fear, concern, and anticipation. They were all prone along the sides of the nearby tree trunks, their rifles tense and pointed in every direction.

As he drew breath to speak, his radio suddenly began issuing strange static, accompanied by urgent whispering. Thunderlane's eyes widened in terror. That, that thing, was nearby.

---

2 hours previous...

Skies Above Everfree Outskirts

Wyvern Gunship Delta-59

1km from Enigma One's Last Broadcast Location

2km From Ponyville

February 14th, 2552

4:33 PM

Commanding Officer Thunderlane

"Alright, Reaper One. Get tactical!" Commander Thunderlane shouted.

Thunderlane was a charcoal coated Pegasus with a steel-colored mohawk mane and tale. His cutie mark could be seen under his armor; a dark storm cloud emitting a bolt of lightning.

His combat B.D.U was much like that of his fellow squad mates. It was an up-armored variant of the already tough suits worn by Imperial ODST's. The sole difference however was that Thunderlane's suit was command silver, whilst the rest of his squad had matte-black, or various colors representing their specializations.

The members of his squad he now shared the Pelican's troop bay with were of diverse, and rather colorful backgrounds. The first, sitting next to him, was the squad medic, a unicorn named Scarlet Tide.

True to her name, she had a coat of pure blood-red, with piercing maroon eyes. Her mane was also red with blueish highlights, and it flowed like water gracefully across her head. Her cutie mark was a stylized heart over a white medical cross. Her armor was white as fresh snow.

Sitting across from her and the Commander was the squad's Lieutenant Chu, decked out in matte-black armor streaked with silver. For a human, he was rather quiet by nature, and only spoke when it was necessary. For the most part, Thunderlane appreciated his no-nonsense attitude. He had a stern face, blue eyes, and sleek, dark hair.

Next to the Lieutenant were Reaper One's resident 'gear head' and demolitions expert. The engineer was an earth pony by the name of Running Gear, or Gear for short. He had a grey coat and a cropped blue mane, His cutie mark was sure enough, a series of cogs crossed by two wrenches. His armor was grey.

The Demo Specialist was a woman named Mira Vantos. She was, as she put it, the squad's 'go to girl for blowin' shit up'. Mira had olive colored skin, a smooth face, and shoulder length brown hair. She was equipped in an orange-red suit.

"What's the sit rep, Commander?" Running Gear inquired. Thunderlane had to raise his voice over the din of the VTOL's thrusters. "Contact was lost with the outpost just minutes ago, Section One's got squat on what may have happened to everypony."

"Well at least it's not the damn Covies, I'd hate to have to ruin perfectly good Equestrian soil and grass with their putrid blood, as fun as it may be to blow them to bits." Vantos remarked.

Gear nudged her in the shoulder. "I'll be sure to tell an Elite or two about the 'fun' part next time we go on an ONI/IBI op." He said with a grin.

"Stow the chatter." Chu growled, looking down to inspect his BR55. He held the weapon almost reverently in his arms, before setting it down on the rack next to him.

"If it wasn't Covenant that attacked those Scientists, than who do you suppose could have done it Commander?" Scarlet Tide asked.

Thunderlane shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, Scarlet."

Their pilot's voice issued over the radio. "We're at a good LZ, Commander. I'm bringing us down through the canopy now."

"Roger that. Reapers, masks at the ready! Remember we still don't know the nature of the containment breach." The squad put their HAZMAT gear in quick-to-reach locations. "Alright Imperials, pile out!"

They emerged from the troop bay into the waiting fog of the Everfree Forest, rifles trained straight ahead, flashlights cutting through the gloom. Despite it barely being the Evening, the forest's foliage and thick fog made the area constantly dark. Delta-59 veered away to make room for Delta-60, which carried Reaper One's support fire team. The second dropship landed, deploying the additional eight Section 7 operatives.

The outline of the research base could just barely be seen in the distance.

As the two teams formed up in the center of the clearing, Thunderlane began issuing commands. "Alright, Fire team, I want half of you to hold this LZ, report anything strange. The rest of you, we're going to investigate and determine Enigma's status."

Chu caught Thunderlane's attention. "Commander, I'm picking up a transponder from inside the structure, someone or something must still be active inside."

"Then that most mean there are survivors, we have to find them!" Scarlet said.

The Commander nodded. "Let's get moving."

As the nine soldiers made their way across the cold, muddy ground, they chanced upon a strange sight. It was the facility's landing pads. It wasn't the structures themselves that were weird, but rather what was on them.

"Those pelicans?" Gear wondered. "It looks like somepony set them on fire." The rest of the group shared Gear's dumbfounded expression.

The blackened, warped frames of the VTOL's sat on their pads like the discarded carcasses of massive beasts. Gear rushed up to one of them, running one of his hooves along the aircraft's charred nose. "I'd say they used an incendiary spell. That, or someone fired a high yield particle beam." He said.

"Why would they torch their own birds?" Vantos wondered. "Maybe Enigma didn't want whatever broke out going for a joy ride out of the Everfree." Thunderlane suggested ominously.

Now inspecting a bent wing, Running Gear spotted something of interest. "Hey, this an ONI Pelican!" Everyone got closer to look. Sure enough, the symbol was the delta-wing design overlain by a circle characteristic of the UNSC Office of Naval Intelligence. "The Spooks!? What the hell were they doin' here?" Vantos interjected.

Lieutenant Chu looked worriedly at the Commander. "Commander, Section One never mentioned anything about this being a joint operation with the UNSC."

"This worries me too, Chu. Section 7 is supposed to know everything, we are the Bureau's clean up crew after all. This whole operation is starting to really bother me, I can't lie you to ya Reaper." Thunderlane sighed for the second time that day.

"Let's just proceed into the facility."

Passing the burnt-out husks of the aircraft, the squad approached one of the facility's main entrances. The base itself was a two-story structure with a rooftop observation tower and detached shack that housed the outpost's fusion reactor.

Scarlet thought she saw something, a humanoid figure, in one of the windows on the second floor. "Commander, I've got a visual on someone! Top floor window, left side." Without hesitation, everyone trained their rifles towards the window.

There was nothing there.

"What the hell, Tide!" Vantos interjected. "Is our own medic tryin' ta give us all heart attacks? Celestia's mane, this forest must be really fucked up if it's starting to get ta our weakest member already!"

Scarlet gave her a withering look. Chu thumped Mira in the back with the butt of his battle rifle. "Oww! What the hell was that for?"

"I've really had it with your antics, Corporal!" Chu spat back. His stern face was now drawn in a tight scowl. "Leave Tide alone. Were it up to me, she'd be Lieutenant, your ass would be court marshaled, and I'd be perfectly happy being the squad's Parasprite mascot for all the care I give for your bullshit."

Thunderlane put himself in between the two humans, holding his hooves up in a neutral gesture. "Lock it down, both of you! Somepony may have very well died here, and I'll be damned if any squabbling among my ranks is going to threaten our trying to rescue survivors. We clear?"

The two nodded tersely. Their body language implied however, that their business had yet to be concluded. Reluctantly, The Commander turned from them to the outpost's entrance.

"Alright people, let's getta move on." They approached the door, weapons tense and ready. Looking at the panel, Thunderlane shook his head in frustration, then turned his gaze to Running Gear.

"Panel's been put out of commission. 7.62x51mm AR round right in the keypad. Do you think it can be bypassed, Gear?"

Gear approached the broken console to inspect it. He put his hoof to his muzzle thoughtfully. "Theoretically, I could reroute a few wires to the appropriate terminals. Theoretically. It's gonna take some time, sir."

"Proceed, Engineer." Thunderlane replied.

As Running Gear got to work getting them access, Scarlet turned to Chu, who had focused his attention on the sprawling overgrowth surrounding the facility grounds. Vantos had struck up a conversation with the Fire team keeping watch further down the walkway, well out of earshot.

"Hey, I just wanted to thank you, for sticking up for me." She said. Chu merely shrugged. "Someone's gotta keep Vantos in line, and Thunder's always too busy. Just doing my duty, soldier." The two smiled at each other.

"We've got access everypony, fall in on me! Masks back on!" Thunderlane shouted suddenly.

As the party assumed CQC positions around the doorway, Chu and Scarlet moved to join them. As she went, the Medic could have sworn she saw something in the window again. If she hadn't been mistaken, it looked like arms, three black appendages, sliding across the edge of the window pane.

Shrugging it off as merely her own wild imagination, the unicorn mare moved to join her squad mates into the darkness of the entry corridor.

"Nightvision!" Thunderlane ordered. The squad's helmet visors lit up. The armored suits, in addition to the standard issue shielding systems, could also be modified to house thermal and ACOG sight equipment for low-light situations. In the case of the corridor, it was pitch black. Scarlet was the only member who did not need them, as her horn could provide lumination, as well as navigation and target acquisition.

However, when she ignited it, she almost lost her dinner at what she saw. The entire corridor: floor, walls, ceiling and all, were smeared with blood. Accompanying the blood, were torn bits of clothing, armor, and bullet casings.

Thunderlane turned to figure out what was wrong, but in the process, his armored hoof stepped on something with a sickening squish. Looking down, he found a mangled human hand clutching a data pad. With a twinge of disgust, the Commander picked the device up, careful to avoid the hand.

Smearing the blood off the screen, Thunderlane discovered a text message in the device's mail inbox labeled 'TOO LATE' from Dr. Leimann. It was dated having been sent at around 2:30 PM the same day. He handed it to Gear for inspection, who read the message aloud to the squad, his face growing ever more disturbed as he read on.

"He calls to us, in our dreams, haunting us. And now, he is loose, the spirit of the forest. We realize now, too late, that we cannot escape Him, cannot control Him...cannot escape...the Tall Man. Whispers...whispers around every tree. Every wall. Every corridor. Celestia forgive us for our arrogance. He calls to us now."

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Creepiness Level Satisfactory yet? I think not. Tell me what you think in the Reviews, if you feel like it.