Starbound Ascension: The Next Generation

Chapter Eleven: Armed Assault

Ship and Jet were the first to bust through the doors of Princess Celestia's throne room. They skid to a stop and saluted promptly.

“We came as fast as possible Princess! What is the situation?” Ship and Jet bowed.

“Time is of the essence. Twelve hours ago the rogue nation of North Equestria and their Equalism philosophy reached their breaking point and proceeded to invade and annex the islands of Altis and Stratis from Equestria's rule. They have made a proverbial wasteland in their wake as more and more citizens convert to their ideals. Island life hangs in the balance. Take down Starlight Glimmer by any means necessary and topple her as the king of the hill of Altis and Stratis before she brings Armageddon to our world. You have my word,” Princess Celestia slowly gave a nod.

“Yes ma'am! We will not disappoint you!” Jet washed over with zeal as he stood to salute.

“You are dismissed. Colonel Firebrand and Rav Seren Coltberg will give you a further operational briefing once you reach Stratis. Good luck and may my sun guide you!”

“You can count on us!” Ship closed the door behind her and looked to Jet, “So, NE has finally got the balls to challenge the council.”

“That country has always been a basket of tartarus. Thirty years ago they were nothing but a simple village in the mountains. Now they share a border and DMZs with the Crystal Empire and Equestria. Assholes still think that giving up their cutie marks makes them better than the rest of us. What's say we give them the smackdown of the century?”

“You and me both,” ship gave a brohoof to Jet and smiled, “Let's hurry back.”

An hour later they were all piled into Blossom's Goblin dropship en route to Stratis. A flight of AH-99 Blackfoots escorted them on their way to the staging area of Stratis Air Base. Blossom feathered in her landing and touched down on one of the many hastily prepared helipads. The entire force of the NGJSF dismounted to meet with Colonel Firebrand and Major Coltberg.

“Welcome to Stratis. Glad to see you're all punctual,” Colonel Firebrand greeted the arriving reinforcements.

“Father!” Morning saluted with a smile.

“At ease son,” Firebrand put his arms out and was tackled by both Blossom and Morning, “And to you too Blossom! It's nice to see you again, but let's get down to business. At 02100 hours North Equestria had the audacity to launch an invasion on the Equestrian controlled islands of Altis and Stratis. I've currently got a situation at Camp Maxwell down in the south. When the invasion first hit shit kicked off here in Kamino to the northeast end of the island.”

Firebrand continued to talk as they entered the HQ building of the airbase.

“The survivors of the initial attack made their way to Maxwell and are currently cut off from any and all outside assistance. I would appreciate it if you can get our boys outta there,” Firebrand continued as he briefed them at the table.

“Colonel! We got a situation!” Major Coltberg rushed into the tent.

“Hm, what is it Rolo?”

“Dad?” Simon raised an eyebrow.

“Not now son. There's been some developments regarding friendly forces based at Maxwell. Apparently they've escaped by boat to rendezvous with our forces on Altis. No word on their status so far they were last seen departing from Girna heading northeast,” the blue earth pony with black hair reported in, “Our surveillance radar lost track of them when two enemy fast movers flew over them.”

“You heard him NGJSF! I've got some guys missing and in open water. We need to mount a search and rescue operation, and fast!”

“Yes sir Colonel Firebrand! We'll bring our assets to bare!” Ship saluted to the Equestrian commander.

“Oh and one more thing. Blossom!”

“Yes daddy?”

“If you have to set something on fire, please make it the enemy. You are all dismissed!”

Taking only thirty minutes to prepare for the mission Jet, Avia, Tough, Fenrir, Morning, Petal, Flip, and Hornet took off to provide escort to Blossom's dropship flying in formation with them.

“This is Blossom, callsign Inferno. Are are en route to last known position of sunken speedboats, how copy?” Blossom reported in with an eight pony caulk in the back seat comprised of Nelly, Passion, Wishful, Umbra, Prelude, Frag, Scratch, and Simon all in diving gear ready to drop out with an inflatable dingy for rescue.

“Solid copy Blossom, we are tracking you on the Sky Buster at orbit altitude. Standby! We see multiple enemy fighters inbound!” Mac Book supported the air assets with radar coverage, “Fighter squadron! Weapons free! You are cleared to engage!”

“Vertical engaging!” Jet boosted forward past the dropship with his squadron, “All fighters switch to AMRAAMs and engage BVR. Fox Three! Fox Three!”

“Good separation! Tracking!” Avia called out as they peeled away from their missile launches back to guard the dropship.

“Don't let any fighter get through! If they shoot down Blossom it's gonna be a huge blow to all of us!” Jet flew around the dropship in a large circle, “Formation: wagon wheel!”

The fighters of the NGJSF formed a large circular parameter ready to intercept any North Equestrian fighter that gets close.

“Bandits spotted! Engaging!” Petal pulled away from the wagon wheel and cloaked her fighter to get onto the tail of an enemy XR-45 Cariburn, “I'm so close I can see those equal sign roundels! Shadow! Fox two! Fox two!”
With a clean impact the Cariburn burst into flames and tore in half before plunging straight into the ocean.

“Good splash Petal! We see three more Cariburns followed by a four ship flight of A-143 Buzzards and times two To-119 Neos,” Mac Book relayed the radar intel.

“Solid copy. We're almost to the coordinates! Yo Blossom what do you see down there?” Jet looked down at the low flying dropship.

“I see a lot of debris in the water. I'm not gonna hover until you guys deal with those fighters! Nelly, how you guys doing back there?”

“Holding stable! Great flying Blossom but a lot of your evasive maneuvering is knocking the crap out of us.”

“Just hold tight! Shit! Missile! Missile! I'm locked! Dumping ECM!” Blossom pulled her dropship into left and right banking turns to throw off a few missiles launched from long range. While she managed to dodge two of them one of the missiles impacted her wing. Causing her to lose control of her craft, “Shit! Inferno is hit! Mayday! Mayday! We are going down!”

“Holy shit! Blossom just took a hit!” Jet flew down to observe the crash as the dropship violently cartwheeled over the water and exploded in a secondary explosion. Jet's heart sunk along with the wreckage of the VTOL, “Inferno! Sitrep... I-Inferno! Respond! Celestia dammit, did anypony make it?!”

There was nothing but static on the radio. Jet pulled away from the formation and climbed. He punched the side of his canopy and started to weep.

“I-I can't... N-No! Inferno! Respond! Dammit Blossom! Nelly! Passion! Anyone?!” Jet's futile efforts were met again with silence. He was resisting the reality that there was no way any one would have survived a crash like that. He pulled off his helmet and flew into the clouds to conceal himself and withdraw, “They... are gone... Dear Luna, my friends! M-My darling Nelly... They're dead! CELESTIA DAMN THEM TO TARTARUS!"

Jet furiously pounded the side of his cockpit in equal parts rage and sorrow. His eyes wallowed with tears as he saw the plane that shot them down.

"What the fuck is that?"

Jet flew past the alien looking craft. It was all form fitting with little to no seems present. In the vague shape of a dolphin with an all metal cockpit using a COFFIN system like that of UPF aircraft yet it was neither a Cazador nor a Black Jacket. It was something else altogether.

"Jet!" Mac Book yelled to him, "That's the bastard who shot them down! Wait one second! I'm hacking into their comms!"

"This is Brigadier General Night Glider, callsign Night Owl. I've splashed one NGJSF dropship. How copy Starlight?"

"Solid copy. You just earned yourself a few medals by bringing down such a vital asset to the Equestrian military," Starlight Glimmer came through over the radio. Her voice zealous at the confirmed kill of the dropship, "Now deal with the rest of those fighters!"

"Roger that. Night Owl engaging!"

"Heads up team!" Mac Book linked them some intelligence to display on their HUDS, "I've got some intel on that fighter! Codename: Delphinus. It's a state of the art prototype reverse engineered from UPF and Equestrian technology! Watch out team! That thing has some cyber-attack capabilities!"

"Noted! All units engage and destroy the Delphinus!"

"Oh isn't that cute. Guess I really pissed them off," Night Glider spoke to herself in the cockpit, "Let's see you guys recover from a virus induced stall."

With one press of a button the cyber attack of the Delphinus cut off the engines of all the NGJSF aircraft. They started to plummet with their control surfaces locked in place as well.

"We're falling! We're all falling! Mayday! Mayday! Dawnlight is going down! I'm ejecting!" Morning Shine punched his ejection seat and shot right up. He wasn't equipped with a parachute and glided down into the water with his wings alone, "This is Morning! I've made it out!"

"Petal here! I'm okay too!"

"Same here!" Tough Heart treaded the water towards his friends who were shot down, "I see Hornet's and Fenrir's chutes! They made it out too! Where is Jet and Avia?"

Jet's fighter was in an uncontrolled spin. He was being knocked side to side unable to reach the eject handle.

"This is Jet! I can't reach my eject handle! I'm going in hard Ship! I don't think I'm gonna make it!"

"Jet! Jet! Keep trying! JET!"

"I-I'm gonna miss that sweet voice..." He awaited the impact of the water to take him to death's door. Jet felt a lifting sensation as a new sound filled his ears. His engines miraculously restarted and vectored him into VTOL mode, “What?”

“I gotcha bro...” Avia flew past him with her fighter still operational, “It's gonna take a lot more than a simple cyber attack to knock out Zoey now that she's properly functioning.”

“Sweet Celestia and Luna in all the heavens! Thank you Zoey!”

WITH PLEASURE CAPTAIN JET. BE ADVISED ENEMY AIRCRAFT STILL IN AREA OF OPERATION. ENGAGE AT WILL.

“You got it!” Jet threw his fighter back into CTOL mode and formed back up with Avia, “It's just us two.”

“We can take em...” Avia nodded, “Tally yo! Bandits in the merge!”

“Starlight, two of the enemy planes have not succumb to my cyber attack.”

“Well don't just sit there! Engage!”

“That's the enemy leader's voice. Hey Mac Book! You got any of your Aparling friends in on this op?” Jet asked.

“Of course! Need another hack?”

“Give them a taste of their own medicine. This is for the others. Give them the nastiest you got!”

“Roger, initiating Kill-Switch Protocol,” With deft typing on his keyboard Mac Book uploaded a virus into the enemy planes. The resulting effect was dramatic as the on board missiles of the enemy craft promptly exploded with no warning. The only unaffected craft was the Delphinus.

“Starlight! All of my squadron's been wiped out! My fighter detected the virus in time and stopped mine from being compromised!”

“Head back to base Night Glider. You've done your part for today.”

“Solid copy. RTB,” The Delphinus turned away and disengaged. The advanced engines of the craft punched hypersonic and the NGJSF were left in the dust.

“Dammit! He's getting away!”

“We'll get him... And we'll avenge the others,” Avia flew down low to look at their own who were shot down, “Hold on! What's that?!”

“Wait, that can't be!” Jet threw his craft into VTOL mode and looked at a tiny dingy trying to pile in the downed pilots, “Guys! Are you okay down there?”

“You'll never believe what just happened Jet!” Nelly came through the radio. Jet was filled with relief, joy, and excitement to hear her voice once more.

“N-NELLY! How the fuck did you survive that?!” Jet orbited the inflatable boat rescuing their squadron.

“Thank Wishful Fun for that! He pulled a crazy spell that knocked him into a coma but it somehow managed to make us survive that horrific explosion with no injuries! I think it's worn off now though. My shoulders are starting to hurt from pulling everypony out of the drink. We're all okay! Send in some rescue choppers!”

“Will do! We'll maintain CAP until they arrive!” Jet and Avia flew around in circles to secure the perimeter until a flight of CH-67 Hurons landed on the water to pick them up. Colonel Firebrand was right there to help his son and daughter into the helicopter.

“I gotcha kiddos. All that matters right now is that you're all safe and that you gave it your best shot. Let's RTB for some dinner. Mission failed,” Firebrand sat next to his two children. Blossom was still recovering from the crash.

“I thought I was gonna die... Daddy, I was scared.” Blossom shook. Her father wrapped his arms around her and her brother also came over to support her.

“You did fine Blossom. Had we known they were bringing in that plane I would have never sent you on this mission. Once we saw it on long range radar I rushed to send this rescue party out hoping for the best. Guess luck was on our side today,” Firebrand stoked his daughter's mane to comfort her, “You're okay sweetheart. Daddy's got you.”

“Hey! How's Wishful back there?” Nelly turned to Flip who was treating the knocked out unicorn.

“That spell really took a lot out of him! He's gonna need emergency medical assistance once we touch down! My scanner's detecting some internal brain hemorrhaging.”

The flight of choppers touched down in a few minutes to offload them back onto the airbase. Wishful was rushed out back to the medical bay for immediate surgery while the rest of the uninjured ponies regrouped with Firebrand back in the HQ building.

“Take a break everypony. Get yourselves something to eat and rest up for the next operation,” Firebrand sighed, “Dismissed.”

“Respectfully sir, the only thing we're hungry for is blood. What you say guys?” Jet trotted up to the squad with more zeal than ever.

“Yeah, I didn't even get to shoot anything,” Flip commented as he checked his rifle, “We need to get even for what they did to Wishful.”

Everypony able enough to walk agreed.

“Alright if you're up for a task then I will direct you to assist with some FIA rebels that need our help. We've gotten word that a civilian from North Equestria wants to defect. Says she's got valuable intel on how to free everypony,” Firebrand pulled up a map of Stratis, “She's being assisted by a double agent in North Equestria. I need you guys to conduct a raid to the south of the island here where she is being held captive one team, Alpha, will strike at valuable assets on the southernmost tip of the island causing distractions so the main force, Bravo, will assault Air Station Mike here in the center of Stratis. Once you guys break in you are to retrieve Sugar Belle, codename: Snow Pie, and get her to the safety of our airbase. Sounds good?”

“Sir yes sir!”

“Also, I think some allied support might be in order,” Firebrand looked to his watch as it beeped, “And here they come now!”

“Hello!” four ponies trotted in. They looked oddly familiar and the one unicorn mare that walked in looked almost like Strella of Task Force Frostbite, “By now you are probably wondering why we're shoehorning ourselves in so much. Obviously we just wanna kick ass and take names! And I heard there was a rogue nation problem on your homeworld so the UPF decided on some black ops to maintain our sphere of influence. It's good to see you guys again!”

“Strella?! Wow, you look great as a pony. Um, where is your cutie mark?” Jet cocked his head to the side.

“Oh, don't you know! UPF Formshift technology can't replicate Equestrian cutie marks. My mom just likes to paint hers on when she's in pony form,” Strella grinned. Her half carnivorous teeth replaced by a more omnivorous set.

“I'm really not used to my knees being so high,” Mitch was having some trouble using his magic.

“You should have trained more,” Quinten shrugged. His white earth pony form matched well with a snowbound environment. He was biting softly on a lollipop with the stick waving back and forth along his cheeks.

Alyssa flew in, being the only pegasus of Frostbite. Her fiery mane and coat did well to emulate her natural Vulpix colors, “We brought in some friends too! An entire armored division and air wing are ready to assault Altis once we take control of this island! They're en route as we speak but right now it's just us to help out. Our pony forms should disguise us well from the enemy.”

“Frostbite will be Charlie Team. They will attack enemy assets to the east of the island while Alpha leads a hit and run attack south. The operation begins at 2300 hours today. You've still got some time. Make me proud!” Firebrand looked to his two children and saluted, “Good luck. Dismissed!”