Starbound Ascension: The Next Generation

Chapter Twelve: Survive, Adapt, Win

As Night Glider taxied into the military hangars of the Altis International Airport there were a few ponies awaiting her arrival. As the Delphinus came to a halt her cockpit popped open to reveal her half conscious and linked to a neural interface. She opened her eyes and unlatched the wired skullcap from her head to depart the craft. She looked back at the fighter and smiled before being greeted by Starlight herself who was in a full military uniform.

“Well done Night Glider. I honestly think you didn't have it in you to shoot down most of the NGJSF. With them down our operations to equalize all of Equus will be that much smoother. But your work isn't done yet. Major Double Diamond!” Starlight called one of her officers over.

“Yes ma'am?” Diamond saluted to his superior.

“I will need you and your team to lead an assault on Stratis Air Base to dislodge that stubborn Equestrian and Crystal Imperial detachment stationed there. Oh and while you are at it can you kill Colonel Firebrand for me?”

“With pleasure!” Double Diamond smiled and looked to Night Glider, “Feel like an airdrop?”

“You bet! Guess you need me for a stealthy air insertion Miss Starlight?”

“Yes! Wonderful Night Glider. Double Diamond, I want your team ready by 2300 hours tonight. Make sure you hit hard, strike fast, and destroy as much assets on that base as possible. And by the way, your new squad is somewhat special today. These guys have no cutie marks whatsoever which gives us a good chance for them to earn their equality on the field of battle! Go back to HQ, both of you, for a full briefing. I need to check on Party Favor to see if our ideals are spreading across Altis. Dismissed!” Starlight smiled to her loyalists troops as they departed to the HQ building at the other end of the airfield. Starlight was escorted by two guards as she boarded her transport Ifrit MRAP bound for the city of Pyrgos, the capital of Altis.

-----

Party Favor was reminiscing on his secret lover recently captured by his own army. He hid his feelings away from all of the staff around his department with the same eerie smile everypony plastered onto their face. He was worried about Sugar Belle and his child she hid from the government for so long. Having found out about the child Starlight ordered a raid on Sugar Belle's home and removed them by force to be held captive at a temporary political prison on Stratis. With all the death and destruction his own nation was causing to the world he wanted out but not before seeing Sugar Belle again. Starlight entered the room unknowing to Party Favor.

“Why hello there Party Favor. Is something wrong?” Starlight asked as she noticed Party Favor's mood.

“Um, it's nothing Miss Starlight! It's just this war that's bogging me down.”

“Look, I know it's not really your thing to do this but we must make the necessary measures to ensure that equality spreads to all corners of Equus and then the universe. Listen, I have good news. With our new suppliers we are well stocked with weapons, equipment, food, and fuel to keep us operational for a long time. Without their help I would have never risked lives with this invasion. We finally have the means to spread our ideals to the world!” Starlight put a hoof around him and motioned in the air like she was showing him something, “Chin up Party Favor! All with see our light soon.”

“Yes ma'am!” Party Favor faked a smile. Starlight gave a quick nod and walked to the head officer of the base leaving Party Favor to his work.

“Officer,” she whispered to the head pony in this department, “Keep an eye on Party Favor. I feel something amiss with him.”

“Yes ma'am,” the officer pony replied silently.

-----

As night fell the three spec ops teams of Equus and the UPF made their slow and steady insertion into the southern part of Stratis via inflatable craft. Jet and his team made landfall to the south at Strogos Bay. Meanwhile Nelly lead an infiltration mission on the radar station with Task Force Frostbite as they inserted near Limeri Bay. All of them were undetected as they departed their rafts.

“This is Jet, we've made landfall at our infil point. How copy?”

“Copy that my love,” Nelly reported in, “Charlie Team and I have made our way to Limeri. We are proceeding into the forest and taking up positions near Air Station Mike. You know your job right?”

“Blow shit up and cause as much havoc as possible! Hell yeah!” Blossom took the radio from Jet and whispered excitedly into it. Jet shrugged and rolled his eyes to the glee in Blossom's face.

“With her around, I think we got this. Avia, Prelude, Flip, Blue, and Blossom you're on me! Let's move!” Jet lead his team and got to the high ground on their left flank. There was a small enemy camp near their insertion point made up of two fishing shacks with a camo net draped over it. Jet told his team to halt, “Stop! Contacts, infantry, two hundred meters front. Enemy camp. Take some covered positions and hold fire until I give the signal!”

“Roger sir, I see some two-pony patrols around here too. They're three hundred meters north and two hundred east,” Flip advised his squad lead.

“Solid copy Flips. Avia, Prelude take a patrol team and watch them. Fire on my mark,” Jet got into position overlooking the camp with Blossom, “3... 2... 1... Weapons free!”

A flurry of fire erupted from their hill as the camp was taken by surprise to their attack. The strike was fast and furious and caught many of the relaxing enemies off guard.

“Clear my backblast!” Blossom fired an RPG at the transport truck at the camp to destroy the load of ammunition which blew up the two shacks near it. Before the last enemy succumbed to their barrage he managed to launch a signal flare to alert the other North Equestrian troops on the island. Avia grappled right next to him cloaked in the night and pulled the trigger with her smart pistol leveled to his head.

“That should attract their attention,” Avia winked.

“Nelly, we've made contact. Just hit a camp near our infiltration point,” Jet reported in as he reloaded his R-101C.

“Copy that but we don't see much activity. That wasn't enough you gotta think big!”

“Think big huh?” Jet looked off to the largest landmark near their location. The Southern Stratis Lighthouse, “Oh that'll do.”

“Arrrgh!” Jet was ambushed by an enemy grenadier hidden in a metal shack. He charged at him with a combat knife deployed on his back hoof and viciously bucked at Jet's chest. Thanks to his powered titanium armor the knife blade deflected off and he caught the back leg of the enemy pony. He bent it back and twisted it, the leg gave way and bone shattered. The enemy soldier cried in pain as Jet pulled out his Federation P33 revolver and shot him right in the heart. They soldier fell with a thud.

“Yeah! Fuck you!” Jet was pumped up, feeling no remorse for the dead pony, “Hold on, no cutie mark!”

“That's odd. Don't all the North Equestrians have equal signs?” Avia approached the dead body.

“That's odd but we gotta move!” Suddenly shots rang out and snaps could be heard around them. A two pony patrol caught wind of the signal flare and started to attack, “Shit! They got me pinned!”

“No sweat Jet!” Prelude was prone on the hill in some good cover. He spotted the two soldiers four hundred meters out, “Easy shot...”

The booming sound of his Creber 14.5mm projected a shell at 1,000 meters per second into the torso of the attacking riflepony. The massive hole ripped caused the other one to scramble for cover.

“That's not gonna save you,” Prelude cycled the bolt and smiled, “See ya!”

Prelude squeezed the trigger and the rock blew apart. The rifle of the dead pony flew up in the air and something started to bleed from behind the rock tinted in green due to Prelude's night vision.

“Tangos down. Move up!”

“What would we do without you Prelude? Can you get an overwatch on that lighthouse?”

“Wait one Jet. Moving to the top of the hill. I'll try to keyhole it through a blade of grass,” Prelude moved up as the rest of the squad continued forward. They laid prone to mask with the tall grass and waited for Prelude to get into position, “In position. Contacts, three ponies, One on a GL turret. A marksman, and I believe an officer.”

“Solid copy. You're up again!”

Prelude whisper-whistled happily. His next shot connected to the head of enemy gunner on the turret. The sudden alarm caused the officer and his bodyguard to pile into the lighthouse.

“Yo Blossom!” Jet grinned a shit eating grin.

“Sweeet!” Blossom pulled out her AX-20B Sunburst grenade launcher. A UPF weapon, the AX-20B was designed to take out targets in cover and around corners with an air burst round. With a ten round mag of 25mm sensor fused warheads the tiny lightweight weapon served as Blossom's primary weapon. Naturally subsonic, she fitted it with a suppressor for added chaos, “Range to target 4-2-8 meters! Setting airburst to two meters! Fire two! Fire two!”

Blossom pulled the trigger twice and sent her rounds downrange. The precise explosions detonated inside the lighthouse door causing one body to drop out.

“Got em! Free to move?”

“Yup! Move up secure the lighthouse!” Jet ordered his squad up the hill. Flip was the first to check the lighthouse.

“Both are dead! Area cleared!”

Again Jet looked to Blossom and motioned his head to the lighthouse, “Do you mind?”

“I thought you'd never ask!” Blossom placed her satchel charges at the base of the lighthouse, “Explosives hot!”

“Get back! Here, take this flare gun and make some noise!” Jet tossed an enemy flare pistol to Blue Circuit.

“Hell yeah man!” Blue shot it right up into the air to signal the enemy. As he did so he rushed back into cover as Blossom took down the lighthouse with an earth shaking explosion.

“Sweet baby Luna Blossom how much C4 did you use?” Jet laughed.

“All of it! Don't worry! I still got five RPGs, three grenades, and fifty six 25 mike mikes on me. Plus I got frag rounds loaded into my shorty 12 gauge!” Blossom grinned ear to ear.

Jet clapped slowly as Nelly interrupted over the radio.

“D-Did you bloody chaps blow up a lighthouse?”

“Oh yes we did my Aussie love!” Jet moved with his squad through the grass. Prelude used his boosts to catch up with them.

“Brilliant work Jet! That should get their attention but looks like they're just now beginning to mobilize! Cause some more chaos down there!”

“If only we had Discord,” Flip sighed.

A flash of light appeared next to them as the slender figure of a mangled mess of body parts called Discord bowed before them, “You called?”

“Can I ask for more explosives?” Blossom put on a puppy dog face, “Pleassse?”

“Oh how can I resist that face?” Discord snapped his fingers and a pile of C4 appeared on Blossom's back.

“Oh! Thank you! Thank you!” Blossom gave him a good hug.

“Toodles!” Discord disappeared with another flash. Flip looked to Jet and sighed again.

“Speak of the Tirek and he shall appear.”

“No kidding Flips. At least he's on our side! There's an AA site to the south of us! Everypony pile into that Zamak truck and let's go!”

They made their way south to the Spartan monument. As they spotted the camp they dismounted and cloaked to approach with stealth.

“All of your frags, I want them over the HESCO walls!” Jet ordered silently as everypony in the squad threw up their hand grenades. The entropy continued as the North Equestrian soldiers panicked for cover. One of the officers yelled into his radio.

“Command! Please advise we are under attack! Unknown number! Possibly a large invasion force! I can see the fires of the other camps from here! The lighthouse is down and all of our southern camps are destroyed! Send help! Send help now-” he was cut off by Blue Circuit as the rest of the squad uncloaked and killed the guards of the base, “Sweet Starlight! It's the NGJS-!”

The blast of sound from Blue's Tac-19 shotgun tore his head off with a massive wub. Starlight definitely caught word.

“Area cleared!” Flip grinned a zealous grin.

“More satchels! Stand by! Move to cover!” Blossom detonated another explosive pack that destroyed the ZSU-39 Tigress stationed to protect the monument from airborne threats.

There was another response from Nelly, “Great work guys! Looks like you made your point! There's a large army converging on your position! I suggest you make your way to the exfil point now!”

“Copy that sweetheart! We're RTB!” Jet pumped up his hoof, “We did it! Let's get off this crap town!”

They ran back to their rafts as an armored enemy Strider MRAP crested the hill. Blossom scoffed, “Hand on...”

With her RPG-45 readied she loaded in a wire guided warhead and destroyed the scouting vehicle with no trouble. Her delighted giggle was followed by a maniacal smile.

“We're done here! Back to the boat!” they all piled into their rafts and exited the area under the cover of the coastal fog. Blossom took off her NVGs and looked to the stars, “Real pretty tonight. We definitely got even for what they tried to do to us.”

“Yeah! Now it's up to Nelly.”

-----

Nelly busted her way into the compound with her rotor blade sword. Her squad of Passion, Umbra, Fragarach, Scratch, and Red October all guns blazing with suppressed weapons. As they entered the main barracks they cleared each others corners and found a holding cell at the back of the building.

“Clear!” Nelly shouted.

“All clear!” the rest of her squad reported in.

“Nelly to Jet, we have Snow Pie secured. I'm entering the cell now!” Nelly breached the door and was confronted by a dark figure standing in the shadows. Clearly a pony but with horn visible and wings clearly spread. It was an Alicorn and clearly not any of the other Princesses.

“Looking for somepony?...” the evil tone of the sadist Starlight Glimmer echoed in the dark. She kicked Sugar Belle forward. The mare was bruised and battered. Cuts and gashes all over her and her newborn foal. She was crying and wrapped around her child, “What's the matter? Didn't expect me?”

“N-no!...” Nelly froze.

“Nelly! Nelly what's going-AH!” Umbra was struck down by a bullet from Starlight's UPF bullpup pistol right in the neck. The rest of the Bravo Team was surrounded by spec ops troops with bare flanks and as Starlight stepped from the darkness she had no mark of her own.

“Such an elegant weapon developed by beings so equal in their race. No cutie marks, no special treatment, and no conflict among their own. I for one welcome these ponies of the United Pokemorph Federation to our cause!”

“NO!” Nelly looked up. She held Umbra's neck in place trying to stop the bleeding, “Traitors!”

“Ah ah ah! Frostbite! Please step forward!”

The four ponies of Task Force Frostbite came through the door and took their place next to Starlight.

“I think I'll treat this ones wound. Figure a good torture session is in order,” Strella knocked Nelly out of the way and started to treat Umbra. The dark pegasus turned pitch black as red filled her eyes.

Umbra ignited with rage. With her neck patched up a glowing aura of blackened fury befell her. She bucked Strella out of the way and planted one hoof right into the face of Starlight Glimmer. With her sin energy causing panic among the group she took Sugar Belle on her back and ran out as fast as she could back to the raft. She threw the mother and child in and made her way out of the island.

“DAMMIT! FUCKING DAMMIT! I KNEW THOSE GUYS WERE TRAITORS ALL ALONG!”

“Umbra! Umbra respond! What the hell happened?!” Jet came over the radio.

“Nelly! The others! Dammit Jet! Frostbite turned on us! It's the UPF that's supplying them with weapons!”

“WHAT?! You're kidding!”

“Jet, we need to talk. Once we establish comms back at the airbase we need to tell Ship and Firebrand. Nelly might be dead...”

“No... NO! Dammit! Oh Celestia! Oh Luna! What of the rest of Bravo?!”

“Probably dead as well. I'm sorry Jet,” Umbra started to cry, “It feels like part of this was my fault... I-I...”

The cry of the newborn and the whimpers from Sugar Belle caught Umbra's attention, “Thank-you...”

“Umbra! Who was that?! Somepony tell me something!”

“I got Snow Pie and her newborn as well. We're RTB.”

“Solid copy. Wait! I got another message!”

“This is Colonel Firebrand! We've detected a Spec Ops force that tried to land and sabotage our airfield! Two of them are dead and they dropped off by a captured Federation An-2000 stealth VTOL. We have their leader captured says he goes by the name of Double Diamond. How goes the mission?”

“Alpha team flawless execution. All of Bravo except for Umbra are MIA and are presumed dead or captured. Jet out,” Jet hung his head low as his sister tried to comfort him.

“We did what we could Jet. We have to tell everypony.”

“But if we do, who can stop the UPF?”

“This is all bullshit and we know it,” Flip shook his head, “Frostbite were our friends...”

“Yeah! Were... Jet to Firebrand, mission complete. RTB...”