Flash “Havoc” Sentry was not enjoying his flight one bit. The carryall, though specially modified for Special Ops missions, was extremely vulnerable compared to the Dead Six’s modded, shielded, and extremely well armed APC. Add in that their original mission of reinforcing the Crystal Kingdom was shelved until further notice and Havoc was all sorts of annoyed. The siege had already been under way for a good week and the sheer amount of reinforcements that had been diverted to the Crystal Kingdom was staggering to say the least, but Havoc still felt his team was needed if there was going to be any chance of breaking that choke hold. After all, his team, with the help of the Double Rainboom had been the only unit to hold off Spike to date.

It was while Sentry mused about just how his team would help break the siege when the main communications crystal started buzzing, breaking him out of his annoyance-induced stupor.

“Dead Six here, what’s the job?” the pegasus said matter-of-factly with a salute as none other than General Stalwart Shield appeared on the holographic projection in front of his team.

“Good to see you’re still kicking, Havoc. Same to the rest of you Dead Six. I’ll cut right to the chase; 72 hours ago we lost all radio contact, magic or otherwise, with the GDA Canterlot. Given the frequency of ion storms in her patrol sector, 24 hour lapses in check-ins is regular protocol and to be expected. After 48, we sent in a recon team to investigate and possibly provide assistance. What they found was… rather alarming.” the General told them. On the displays around the carryall, short videos on repeat, single frames, and even full minute-length captures started playing out. Alarming was an understatement. Bullet holes and blood splatters covered most of the walls and floors that were displayed, and even some of the ceilings. What bodies were visible were badly maimed by gunfire and magic, and there were burn marks alongside completely melted armor plating all throughout the ship.

“The buck happened….?” Havoc muttered, his eyes growing wide.

“Hell if we know, Captain, but shortly after we got these transmissions from the recon team, they too went silent. Their last message from the team leader was something about Nod troops carving through the team before his helmet hit the ground. Given the sensitivity of this mission, you’ve been selected.”

“Roger that ma’am, mission parameters?” the orange pegasus asked.

“You’re going to link up with the GDA Double Rainboom to pick up sets of ZONE Armor before going in, after that you are to confirm any and all KIA crew members, gather as much intel as you can, and then you are to either call in Sky Admiral Dash to tow the Canterlot back to Cloudesdale for repairs, or you will set her spark reactors to detonate and completely destroy the ship.”

“Asset recovery or denial confirmed.”

“Good luck, Dead Six. Stalwart Shield out.” the mare replied as the hologram faded, leaving a scowling Flash Sentry staring at the crystal projector. The commandos were unnaturally quiet as they kept looking at the videos and pictures taken by the first recon team, at least until one of the Dead Six finally said what everpony was thinking.

“Scheisse.” Patch deadpanned, getting a silent chorus of nods from everypony else.
__________

“What do you mean the suits aren’t ready!?” Flash Sentry barked at the orderly guiding them to the armory.

“If you’ll calm down, sir, I’ll explain. Only three of the suits are functioning at full capacity, the other three are having software and hardware issues that will take longer to fix than your timetable will allow. You’ll have to go in with only half the team armored up. Rest of you will be going in as is.”

“Celestia damnit…” Hotwire muttered, “So, who’s getting all dolled up and who gets to walk around naked?”

“Gunner, Deadeye, Patch, you’ll be suiting up as our heavy hitters.”

“You sure about this?” Sakura asked.

“You’re our best infiltrator the armor will just slow you down, and Hotwire is needed outside of the armor to conduct field repairs or cut someone out if shit hits the fan.”

“‘E’s also bullet-proof all by ‘imself, so ‘e don’t exactly need this fancy getup.” Gunner added as he set his launchers aside and stepped up to the armor station. Pip and Patch followed suit, gearing up in the ZONE armor with various degrees of difficulty.

“It’s a little tight around the chest…” Patch grunted before he got a hoof to the visor from Hotwire.

“Quit moving and let me make sure your HUD calibration is proper.” she ordered, getting the stallion to stand completely still and earning a small chuckle from Havoc.

“EVA, what’s our ETA to the Canterlot?” Sentry asked as he continued to observe his team.

“Optimal deployment range will be reached in… 23 minutes and… 19 seconds.” the AI answered.

“You heard her team. Make sure your gear is ready in 20 on the flight deck, I’ll meet you there.”
____________

The Undiscovered West was, until the war began, a complete unknown in regards to GDI’s intelligence community. Once the war kicked off and Kane’s initial speech was broadcast world wide, it became clear that Nod had pioneered the region and secured much of it. While Mareajevo was secure at the rear of what was originally Changeling Territory, the West had become a bit of a ‘sandbox’ for both armies. Nod needed the region for the precious resources it required for its production plants while GDI tried their damndest to perform asset denial all over the region. Because of this, Kodiaks were routinely put on patrol to see if their air wings could catch a Nod convoy out in the open whenever the deadliest part of the Undiscovered West wasn’t out and active.

Due to the abnormally high concentration of naturally occurring tiberium, an amount matched only by pre-Nod Griffonstone, ion storms were as common to the region as rain was to the Everfree. Kodiaks on patrol couldn’t go more than three or four days without a storm popping up and having to ground their fighter squadrons until it was over. The only reason that the massive aerial carriers didn’t have to land themselves was unicorn magical engineering finding a counter-measure to add to the already formidable shields that surrounded the air ships.

Unfortunately, one of those storms was on a course for the battered Kodiak holding position 10,000 meters above the middle of a valley.

“She looks mostly intact, at least enough to stay airborne. That means she’s at least got emergency power.” Rainbow Dash said with a scowl as another gust of wind nearly blew her hat off.

“Meaning bare minimum on lights, internal defenses, and active terminals. Looks like we’ll have to get to the bridge to get anything done.” Havoc commented. “Thanks for getting us this far, Admiral, we’ll be ready to fly back over in an hour or two.”

“And I’ll be waiting to haul either your carryall or the Canterlot back to Cloudesdale. I’d hate to see such an awesome ship go down, but if you have to scuttle her, do it thoroughly. If Nod gets their hands on even an engine or a schematic… well, our old purple egghead could pump out a version that’s red and black faster than I can fly. Anyway, EVA puts that storm ahead of us hitting the Canterlot in 50 minutes and my ship in two hours. Your shields will get you through the storm if you’re fleeing it, but not for too long so don’t take forever or you’ll be stuck there for a whole day.”

“Understood, we’ll get it done.”

“Good luck, Captain.” the blue pegasus told him, giving a customary salute and getting a silent one in return as she turned heel and trotted back to the bridge. Flash Sentry on the other hand walked into the troop bay of Dead Six’s carryall rather casually as the ramp closed up behind him. Hotwire and Sakura were at the controls, Gunner and Patch were busy triple-checking their ordnance and ammunition, and Deadeye had a book between his hooves.

“You ever going to finish that damn thing?” Havoc asked, a small grin forming on his muzzle.

“Well I only really get to read it when we’re about to jump face-first into our most dangerous missions so I’m either going to finish it at a hundred more deployments, or I’ll get capped by a Noddie and have to ask an angel how it ends.” the young stallion retorted, his smirk unseen behind the unforgiving ZONE armor helmet. Havoc didn’t need to see though, the inflection and tone of his voice said it all.

For nearly a year they had all been working together as a very effective, cohesive commando unit. Other teams were formed, thrown to the meat grinder, and either dismissed or cannibalized for other commando squads but Dead Six just never seemed to lose their edge or come out a member short. While it was true that everyone on the team had plenty more scars (and even some new prosthetics) than when they started out, they always came home together.

“Tower has given us permission to launch, all systems are go.” Hotwire announced, “Standby for lift-off and a hard landing.”

“Confirmed.” came a unison reply from the four stallions in the crew bay as they braced for one of Hotwire’s “patented” hard drops. Right as Havoc had himself strapped in, the carryall shot off the flight deck like a thing possessed and rocketed towards their target. After a few seconds of full burn, Hotwire eased up slightly and Sakura had her EVA pull up the external camera feeds onto everything capable of showing a video.

The GDA Canterlot was a second-generation Kodiak Air-Carrier carrying a crew of 2000 ponies including pilots, ground troops, and support staff necessary for long-range strikes and months-long deployments without resupply. 350 meters from bow to stern, her ventral railguns could batter any Nod position into dust in minutes and her flight deck was littered with point defense weaponry to keep her squadrons safe during takeoff and landing. Underneath the flight deck at the bow of the ship was the bridge and several decks behind and below the command level, the main spark reactor. Add in magical energy shields, armor thick enough to make a Mammoth crew jealous, and enough anti-aircraft weaponry to take on a Parasprite swarm and one could easily understand why Nod didn’t trifle with GDI when a Kodiak was in the sky.

But this one was listing badly, her anti-gravity pods were smoking, and the flight deck was shot completely to hell. That fact alone made Havoc more uneasy about this situation than he thought possible.

“Find us a supply bay that’s open. I don’t want our bird out on that flight deck when that ion storm hits. Shields are obviously down so we won’t get any protection outside.” Havoc ordered as he donned his helmet.

“Copy that. EVA, find us a loading bay that’s still intact.” Sakura answered.

“Scanning….. scanning….” the AI stated, “Please proceed to Supply Depot 3B, starboard side, Deck 5. Opening doors.”

“Perfect. Ready for that hard landing, Hotwire?” Sakura teased.

“You may want to tighten your harness there, Sakura.” the other mare quipped as she whipped the carryall around and brought the guns that she and Gunner had added to it to bear on the large doors bearing the designation “3B”. As the doors started to creak open, Hotwire hit the spotlights as well and, after a quick scan of the bay, landed her bird facing outward.

“Stack up!” Havoc ordered, “Armor in front, pretty ones in the back.”

“That’s a contradiction, mate. I’m armored and pretty.” Pip quipped as the team brought their weapons up and waited for their leader to hit the hatch release.

“You’d rather be out of that suit then, LT?” Havoc asked, his hoof hitting the button and dropping the loading ramp.

“Ha! Buck…. that….” Pip began before they all laid eyes on the inside of the loading bay.

The entire deck of the bay was covered with debris, bullet casings, and dried blood pools, with multiple walls melted open. Cargo containers had been stacked as makeshift barricades against the four entrances into the bay, two leading to the adjacent cargo areas and two leading into the interior hallways. All of the vent covers looked like they’d been melted from inside the ventilation system. The cargo bay looked like it had been the scene of a brutal battle, but what was most alarming was the complete lack of bodies.

“Looks like a dragon got a hold of this place….” Sakura muttered.

“Dragons with cutting torches?” Hotwire replied, “Look at the burn marks, they’re way too precise for dragon breath.”

“She’s right, whatever made those holes in the walls was strong enough to melt right through the hull but small enough to fit in the ventilation system…. what in buck did Nod come up with now…?” Pip added.

“That’s what we’re here to find out.” Havoc answered, “Change of plans; Gunner, Patch, Sakura, you head to the main spark chamber and rig the damn thing with enough explosives to turn this carrier into a pile of dust. Hotwire, Deadeye, you’re with me on the bridge; we’re going to purge every bit of GDI data in the system and then permanently wipe the ship’s network. Got a spare thermite charge, Patch?”

“Of course.” the Germane stallion quipped, levitating a set of charges into Flash Sentry’s saddlebags.

“Anyone with magic move these barricades out of the way as quietly as you can; Deadeye, cover them while I lock down the carryall. Once we’re inside get the job done safely and if you run into the enemy, do not engage. We don’t know what kind of firepower these Noddies are carrying but I’ll wager a guess that it falls in the category of ‘bad for us’.”
__________

Gunner, Patch, and Sakura kept moving slowly towards the main engineering deck, their pace set by the fact that Havoc for once told them to sacrifice speed for safety. WIth whatever and whomever was on board with them, and they were all sure that the Nod bastards were still there, none of the commando team was taking any chances.

“So… young dragon strike team or gryphon Shadow team, take your bets.” Sakura said, trying to break the eerie silence.

“My money’s on gryphon Shadows.” Gunner replied quietly, his helmet lights scanning the hallway.

“I’ll take that bet, Gunner.” Patch added in, walking backwards to make sure nothing snuck up on them.

“I don’t know… Spike can do some damage when he’s not a giant rampaging monster. Remember the reports on that failed assassination?” Sakura muttered, getting a shudder out of the two stallions next to her, only for her to hold up a hoof signaling them all to stop and listen as a faint buzzing sound rang out.

“What…. is that….?” Gunner whispered over the team frequency.

“You heard it too?” Patch asked.

“Yeah…. changeling wings?” Sakura answered.

“Too high a pitch… that’s… that’s something…” Gunner started before the noise started to get louder, and a panel down the hall behind Patch started to glow.

“Contact, unknown. We need to move!” Patch barked.

“Orders still stand, boys. Run!”
_________

“Copy that, Sakura, we’ll keep an eye out.” Havoc murmured into his comm.

“Gunner ran into trouble?” Deadeye asked.

“Yeah, something started cutting through a bulkhead near them, they’re avoiding it and continuing to their objective. Whatever it is, it melts steel like butter. Regardless, we move on. They’ll be fine…. how’s that door coming along, Hotwire?”

“Just another moment, Havoc, the console was practically melted and rewiring it is a bit arduous.” the mare told him as yet another stray wire caused an arc to singe her helmet.

“And just how close are we to the bridge?”

“Schematic puts us four bulkheads away.” Deadeye answered.

“Make that three.” Hotwire interrupted as the console in front of her flashed green and the large hatch in front of the trio opened up, letting the corpse of a GDI pilot land next to her.

“Buck!” Deadeye exclaimed, leaping back a few feet as blood soon followed the pilot’s collapsing form. A few feet down the hall, marked by a grisly trail of blood, was what had to be her GD Mk. IV pistol along with at least another half a dozen corpses, their locations, stances, and bullet wounds indicating that whoever shot them was able to catch them by surprise.

“Looks like she tried to get through the hatch after getting shot in the neck…” Havoc mused before a low buzzing sound reached his ears. “Move.”

“Havoc?” Hotwire murmured.

“Now.”
_________

“The ‘ell was that?!” Gunner barked as he sealed yet another hatch behind his team.

“No idea, but whatever it is, it treats steel like cardboard.” Sakura answered with a sigh. While their sprint hadn’t been their choice, it had gotten them to the secondary objective in record time. Sitting right in front of her was the primary spark reactor keeping the Canterlot in the air.

While most GDI vehicles relied on anywhere from 1 to 20 magically imbued crystals no larger than a pony’s eye for power, Kodiaks relied on a much more potent source. The spark reactors in the massive airships contained thee crystal formations the size of a large boulder, easily as big a Predator tank and given their initial power by GDIs Unicorn Corps of Engineers. Once given a magical ‘spark’ they’d be enchanted to recharge in a cycle so that two of the reactors would be on at all times with the third recharging or being used as an emergency power source.

“So… set this thing to blow an’ run like ‘ell?” Gunner asked.

“Not even an Mammoth could blast through the reactor casing, Gunner, we have to prime her self-destruct and then hope it works like the shipyard workers think it does.” Sakura told him with a slight grin, “Save your explosives for the more fun target, like whoever is still on the ship with us.”

“How long should we set the timer?”

“That’s a question for Havoc, not me. Patch, can you call up our ‘fearless’ leader? I need a timetable to work with.”

“Already on the horn, Sakura…” the Germane stallion answered, “He says set it for a 2 hour silent countdown with 15 minute text reminders on all of our EVAs.”

“That’s a lot of time for whatever’s on this ship to buck with the countdown…” the mare murmured as she got to work. Whatever Havoc’s reasons, she wasn’t going to question them mid-mission.

“‘ey… anyone else ‘ear that?” said Gunner, causing everyone to go quiet. A faint thud could be heard nearby, the sounds of an object impacting metal repeatedly. “Sounds like it’s coming from that room there.” he said, pointing to one of the Capacitor Storage rooms.

“Gunner, take point.” said Sakura, weapon readied to deal with the potential threat. Patch stood back to cover the rear while Gunner walked forward, his massive bulk combined with his Zone Trooper suit causing rather loud clanking while walking over to the door. Glancing towards Sakura, Gunner could see his team was ready and opened the door, immediately moving in to deal with whatever was inside.

“Oh… oh that’s just not right.” he said at the sight before him.

A blood-soaked pony in the jumpsuit of one of the ship’s engineers sat in place, repeatedly banging his face against one of the large rectangular capacitors in the room. His forehead had been rendered raw, and his muzzle had been broken at multiple sections, practically caving into his head.

_________

“That’s just not right.” said Havoc upon hearing Sakura’s team report.

“He’s not responding either.” replied Patch, “Lemme tell ya, I’ve seen plenty of cases of shellshock and the like, but this guys… I dunno if he’s just lost it or what but even after we moved him away from the wall he just kept doing the same motions.”

“Are you able to move him?”

“No boss. Can’t even get him to stand up.” answered Patch.

“Alright. Place him in the safest place you can find there, then proceed to the bridge. We’re almost there ourselves.” ordered Havoc, the dark hallways continuing to expand endlessly around him and his team.

“What I wouldn’t give for the connections to actually be intact…” Hotwire muttered as she kept scanning the walls. Every couple feet, conduits were either bursting out of the wall or showed signs of being shot, cut, or just generally removed. Because of this, nothing they did on the bridge would restore lights, or more importantly, internal security turret power.

“What I wouldn’t give for an Ion strike on this whole damn carrier…” Deadeye replied quietly.

“And set off the entire storm?” Havoc asked.

“I know why we can’t use a strike, but I can’t help but wish we could just turn this derelict to dust from a maximum safe distance.

“Says the team sniper.” Hotwire quipped with a grin, but not before a small chirp from her EVA got her attention and turned that grin to a scowl. “Motion down the hall behind us; unidentified.”

“My scanner has them too… and contacts on the bridge, all GDI.” Deadeye added. “We should probably make ourselves scarce and get up there ASAP, sir.”

“Get moving then. I’ll make sure what’s behind us doesn’t sneak up while we see who’s still alive.” Havoc told them. Once his two teammates started galloping, he quickly took a hoof-full of small disks and tossed them on the walls before joining them. Each one adhered to the metal, beeped twice, and armed itself. Once Havoc sent the command signal, all of the smart claymores shut their warning lights off and became virtually invisible in the lightless corridor.

Almost as soon as they reached the bridge’s outermost security bulkhead, Havoc’s efforts to secure their rear were rewarded with a loud, satisfying explosion. “We shouldn’t have any more friends following us for a while.” he said as Hotwire began messing with the cabling on the wall. A few moments later it opened up, the team being greeted by a rather grisly sight.

“By Celestia’s shiny shoes…” said Havoc at the sight before them. Over two dozen bodies littered the hallway leading to the bridge, most of them bearing some form or another of Nod imagery. However, all of their weapons appeared to be GDI rifles, shotguns, and sidearms. That, however, wasn’t the main point of interest. On the route to the bridge, barricades had been erected using the deployable barricades the ship had for ground operations, along with a number of crates. The bodies of GDI troopers and crewmates could be found behind them, killed by either enemy fire or fragmentation resulting from explosions. Fittingly enough, the walls were peppered with impact bullet dents and scorch marks along with blood sprays. The entrance to the bridge, and the location of the final set of barricades, showed a far different picture from the one presented in the rest of the hallway. The walls were completely covered in blood and gore, with the floor being covered in a sticky mixture of blood, pulped organs, and melted equipment.

“The blazin’ Tartarus did this?!” exclaimed Deadeye. “Never seen a Noddie weapon do this, ‘xcept for tank rounds. Dunno ‘bout all of ya but I don’t think a tank would fit in here.”

“Laser rifles maybe?” asked Hotwire, still staring in horrified awe at the literal bloodbath before them.

“No. Nod’s portable lasers melt through armor and cause flesh to flash-vaporize. If anything, what’s left is a badly-scorched body along with plenty of ashes and faint blood marks. Nothing like… like this.” replied Havoc, approaching the door to the bridge before looking back at the battle that had transpired. “At least we can say they held the fucking line.”

Once more, Hotwire opened up the panel next to the door and began messing with its internal mechanisms. Leaning in, Havoc took a look at the comm panel right above.

“Are comms working?” he asked. So far they hadn’t been able to contact the five GDI contacts within the bridge.

“Nah Havoc. Whatever brought hell to this ship made sure to fry it.” replied Hotwire. “Almost got it open.”

“Hold on a sec. They don’t know we’re out here. If we suddenly go in, we’re likely to get shot at.” Havoc replied. To that, Deadeye stepped forward.

“That ain’t a problem. I’ll go in first and let them know we’re friendly. And if they fire, well then it sure helps being in a walking tank.” he said, stomping the ground for effect.

“Ready to open it on your word, boss.” announced Hotwire, putting away his multitool for the moment.

Giving both of his teammates a nod, he signaled for the door to open. As soon as it did, Deadeye walked in, his huge metal form making him quite noticeable.

“Hold fire, we’re G-” he began before being his head was knocked back by an impact on his zone trooper armor. This was followed by an old voice yelling “Hold your fire!” as the armor’s built-in EVA displayed the damage on his HUD. A direct shot to the helmet, almost penetrating.

“Hold fire, damnit.” an elderly stallion growled as a younger, orange mare with purple hair withdrew her pistol.

“S-Sorry, sir! I’m still a little jumpy.” Scootaloo replied. Pip wanted to say something about how beat up she looked but decided it was better to let Havoc do the talking as usual.

“Captain Firehawk…?” Havoc muttered, “Holy horseshoes it is you. I thought you were still working in R&D, sir.”

“They wish they could keep me bottled up. I may only have one wing left but I can still fight, damnit.” the pale pegasus told him. Captain Firehawk was an old member of the Canterlot Royal Guard with literal decades of loyal service, as well as being the mind behind the next generation of GDI aircraft to respond to the Brotherhood’s own Venom. Like most guards, he had a white coat, but his age showed in his graying mane as well as the fact that his right wing was nothing more than a covered stump. His souvenir from a small incursion with some gryphon bandits a good 12 years prior.

“I can see that, given you’re still alive even after that slaughter we saw in the hallways… is there anyone else alive besides you two?” Havoc asked him, getting a small nod and a sharp whistle from the veteran captain. Three more ponies came out of their various hiding spots on his command. Two were regular GDI troopers, though their armor was scuffed, burnt, and in many places patched together with military-grade tape. What really caught the attention of the rescue team, however, was the unicorn mare standing between them. She had a yellowish gray coat, a red mane with purple highlights, purple eyes, and was wearing the lab uniform of a GDI Senior Researcher.

“I trust we are close to getting off this derelict, captain?” she said, using her magic to push her glasses further back on her muzzle.

“I wouldn’t have given the all clear whistle if we weren’t, Doctor Dancer.” Firehawk replied.

“Good, I have an unparalleled amount of new, most likely highly classified data that I need to get back to General Ironsides, the fate of our planet may depend on it.” Moon Dancer told him, her matter-of-factly tone carrying a surprising amount of authority with it.

“What’s so damn important that we rush you back to Canterlot?” Hotwire asked her, getting an unamused, nearly deadpan scowl from the scientist.

“Well, Miss Hotwire, everything you and your team think you know about what happened to this ship is false. Nod did not instigate the attack on this vessel. Before the riots aboard began, my sensor equipment picked up what the staff here first believed to be sensor ghosts, I think they’re something completely different.”

“Uh… mind putting that in simpler terms, doc….?” Deadeye inquired.

“Very well… simply put, mares and gentlecolts, there is a third party in the Tiberium War, and it is very interested in making sure Nod and GDI continue to believe otherwise.”