General Shielded Vengeance opened the door to the meeting room and stepped inside. The Council had called him in. As planned, they were at Fort Wind to oversee the ACU and Third Fleet maneuvers. And for security reasons, the meeting was in the Wonderbolt’s Unit.

He knew something was immediately wrong because Captain Marble Falls was slunked down in her chair and tense. She was irritated and close to snapping. Shielded Vengeance had never seen her so wound up. She was on the verge of being dangerous.

Colonel Nova wasn’t happy either. He wasn’t dangerous, at least not in the same way. But he was just as unhappy as Marble Falls. Marble Falls had something else bothering her.

They also had a visitor at the table that Shielded Vengeance had never seen before. A young lieutenant. As fresh as his short haircut was and as green as his forest green coat. He was nervous about being in the room.

General Shielded Vengeance took the closest seat to the others, which happened to be by the lieutenant.

“I was helping prepare for the maneuvers,” Shielded Vengeance said. “I am surprised you are not onboard the Buttercup. I was not informed there was a meeting.”

“Well, you were not on the original list,” The Fourth Counselor said.

General Shielded Vengeance raised his eyebrow, intrigued about what could be so important that two of his staff members would be deemed more important than he was for a meeting. Everything they did involved him.

“They want to ask!” Marble Falls snipped. “I told them to never to ask again! Yet they don’t seem to remember that. If they ask, they will die.”

Marble Falls wasn’t joking, nor was she blowing hot air. She would kill them. General Shielded Vengeance flashed her smile and a short nod, showing his support.

General Shielded Vengeance looked at the Council. “You are idiots. If you have her that wound up… I have never seen her that way. And she is one of my best! And she has proven her cool!”

General Shielded Vengeance felt his defensive switch flipped on. “Both of them are calm and collected. So what the fuck did you do to some of my best officers and fliers? And if you say Colonel Nova can’t fly, you never saw him fly and you can’t count him out yet. He still has that wing on for a reason.”

The counselors were disturbed, showing it each differently. They hadn’t calculated on Nova being able to fly. He was labeled 100% disabled and the wing was on for dignity. They had never considered dignity still being able to fly if pushed to that point.

The Fourth Counselor breached the topic after a few minutes. “We… have to keep going below. We… don’t have that option. And the Aerial Combat Battalion… its… the best place.”

“Spit it out,” General Shielded Vengeance order. “Just say it and we will deal with it after.”

“I’m Lieutenant Quick Blitz,” He confidently stated. “And it has been tasked to me to pick up the mantle of getting recon teams below. We will be successful.”

“Fuck off,” General Shielded Vengeance ordered. “Where is Major Winters Breath?”

“Retired,” The Chief Counselor said.

“Unretire him,” General Shielded Vengeance ordered.

“We can’t,” Seventh Counselor said. “We tried. He told us to fuck off and took full retirement from us.”

“You fucking idiots,” General Shielded Vengeance spat.

“I am qualified in…”

“Shut up!” General Shielded Vengeance ordered the Lieutenant.

General Shielded Vengeance growled. He was backed into a corner. “The ACBs will support this on one condition. All files have to be released from every recon and scout mission. All of them. Every single terminal too. I want the raw reports. Even of the Inquisitors.

“No, I am not going to open an investigation, but I do want them home. I will award any and all medals that need to be awarded. I will find out what happened and I will keep trying to get in contact with them.”

“Well, that may be hard to do,” Fourth Counselor said. “For one, Nova is hiding the bulk of the records.”

“Fuck you,” Nova spat. “You have everything you need for every authorized mission.”

“Fuck you Nova,” General Shielded Vengeance shot back. “I knew you were hiding something, but we never could figure out what you did. I need them. Then we can get back to the real work and get it done.”

“No,” Nova decreed. “You don’t need it. You got every report we could give you.”

“What are you afraid of?” General Shielded Vengeance asked, trying to keep his cool when talking to Nova.

Nova wasn’t going to respond, so General Shielded Vengeance looked at Marble Falls.

“I’m sorry, but do you know anything about Nova hiding even the tiniest piece of paper?”

“No,” Marble Falls spat. “I was there only a few hours before we flew. I don’t know anything. I don’t belong here. My stance is final! Why won’t you leave me the fuck alone!”

Marble Falls sucked back tears.

General Shielded Vengeance scanned the room. “For the same reason I’m not going to let this job go anywhere else! Because twice this has gone on for me. Once under my control. The other, control was given to me right after. I won’t let the shit hit the fan. I don’t trust any other pegasi with the job. I’m not saying either of you three are doing it. But I need those damn records so we don’t make the same fucking mistakes. I have learned to lead that division!

“Because Scout Command hid stuff, and it got them slaughtered. The Inquisitors started out open, but then closed and it caused unknown problems. I will have it completely opened to me, my direct line of soldiers who need to know, and you counselors.

“And then I’m going to get Shadow Flare back. We will focus missions on finding him. By tracing him, we can trace out the wasteland. We can map it, we can find the hot spots, the cold spots and learn where we can begin to safely build forward outposts at. And he will have a shit ton of stuff to give us.

“I want Squad 4 closed. Permanently. And we can’t do that until we get the Inquisitors back. They were gifted with Squad 4 after the previous Squad 4 retired from being the Wonderbolts going below. The Dragon’s Roar did their duty, amazingly. And they paid with four bodies. And now with the Inquisitors blood, its going to be retired.

“Give me the info and I can have a team rolling in six months to pick up at Rosemary. That’s a promise. Even working with his fresh ass. Because I’m not going to pull any shit. And at this point, he shouldn’t have any bad habits.”

Marble Falls turned her eyes at Shielded Vengeance. They were filled with hate.

“You all three looked at each other,” Second Counselor stated. “Or better put, Colonel Nova and Captain Marble Falls both shot glances at you. What did you do?”

General Shielded Vengeance grunted. “Ours job, that’s all.”

“Who did you send down?” Second Counselor said, not giving up. “And where.”

“I’ll get it,” Marble Falls said standing up. “But, some of it, not even you get to know. Because there is no fucking reason for you to need to know.”

Marble Falls almost tore the door off it’s hinges and the Wonderbolt Colonel fell into the room.

The Chief Counselor was standing in an instant. “Where you spying on us!”

“No!” The Colonel shot back. “I was practicing key Wonderbolt skills.”

Nova coughed on a chuckle.

“But without these three we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing. It stalled out. And I am just underneath him, above her and equal to him. So, why was I not invited? I was in the 88^th as well. I know the shit that happened. The second shit storm happened at my fort!”

The Colonel sat down next to General Shielded Vengeance.

Marble Falls was back a moment later and dropped a file on the table. Some photos slid out. She took her previous position up, hunkered down in her chair.

“The location doesn’t matter,” Marble Falls stated. “The location was verified and holds no value to the Enclave. That is all that matters.”

The Second Counselor swiped the folder off the table and looked through it. “Where is this?”

“Classified,” The Colonel stated. “Only three of us know where, and none of us are speaking. I verified it. Those posters, are the ones on our main hallway’s walls. It was a wartime Shadowbolt location. I’m the current historian for the Wonderbolts. So, like I said, it holds no value and it’s location will not be divulged for multiple reasons.”

The Second Counselor narrowed his eyes at the Colonel. “I’ll scour the Northern Mountains if I have to.”

“For what purpose?” General Shielded Vengeance shot back. “There is no fucking purpose. A waste of time and resources for nothing. Anything that mattered was documented and taken. Leave the location to rest. What matters is that message. Shadow Flare risked his life against the ice to leave it. And we responded accordingly.”

“How far is accordingly?” The Chief Counselor asked. “I am currently concerned with your leadership and control over your troops. And I am concerned about the Aerial Combat Battalion being the home for further scout and reconnaissance missions.”

General Shielded Vengeance grumbled as he adjusted his sitting position. “I dropped Sword and Shield onto Rosemary.”

“Rosemary was thoroughly investigated,” The Fourth Counselor stated. “And that wasn’t covered up in any way.”

“Their report wasn’t, no. But, the location was. I have proof on that.”

“Sword and Shield are no proof,” The Chief Counselor reminded them all.

“Yeah, I know,” General Shielded Vengeance grinned. “But you can’t fuck with the report we got back. That group Shadow Flare was letting grow to cover their asses, well they actually knew of the Inquisitors. Not in unit name, but they knew names and ponies. Shit you can’t make up.

“So yeah, we left a message with them for the Inquisitors. A recall message, just like we wrote on the wall. And they were going to happily keep it. Because they owe a lot to them, including lives. And even if they found out they were Enclave soldiers, they would never second guess anything.

“Which is why I won’t let this go anywhere else. Because they fucking lived. And they were undergoing missions past their MIA date. And… Shadow Flare is believed to be the only one alive. If he is now. He left to settle something. And he gave them Rosemary.”

“How the fuck did you find Rosemary?” The Fifth Counselor asked.

“Give me full control, and all files, and I’ll say. But I assure you. Our cover was never blown. And the Inquisitors, they never blew their cover either. But until we can confirm their deaths, I won’t stop doing what I can to find them. Because the Inquisitors were under my wings. And I won’t leave a soldier behind.”

“That choice is on Colonel Nova’s Wings,” The Chief Counselor said, looking at Nova.

“Fuck you,” Nova spat. “There was a huge difference with Scout Command verses the Inquisitors. I made sure of it. We were much more autonomous back then. So were the recon teams. We barely shared records in between. We never hid anything important. But they were mostly different counselors back then. And they didn’t like our plan.

“The plan Scout Command drew up right after I went below; all Squadrons agreed and were in on planning it. We were going to map it. All. And we were going to run Atlas, starting at the military installations. Because they would have maps!

“But the Council said no. They didn’t like it because they wanted to know where we could begin to do immediate work reclaiming materials. So we hid a lot of missions that went smoothly because they would not approve!

“Scout Command was answering to the Council, not to General Quick Breeze! The same with the Recon Teams.” Nova slammed his hoof down on the table. “I made sure Major Winters Breath didn’t have that same autonomy. I made sure he was under the Colonel at Fort Wind. I made sure that they had the control they needed, with the over watch they needed. I learned from how we used the system so it couldn’t be done again!”

Nova sulked for a minute. “Fine. The records are at Camp Bullis.”

“Where the fuck are they!” General Shielded Vengeance exclaimed. “We tore it apart!”

Nova chuckled. “You guys were just as dumb as you are now. The Squadrons could always run circles around any of your Wonderbolt Squads. At any time during those five years. But mostly, at the start. Before we lost anypegasus.

“You think you are the only ones who can do covert things. Now, the Recon Teams were bullish and dumb. But, well we had Camp Bullis figured out within six months. I know every gun you hide there. I have shot most of them!

“I put the files away in the maximum security vault. The restricted vault, Vault 1. Yeah. I have been in that vault too and unlocked it’s secrets. And no, the Warrant Officers are not to blame. We got around them. After the initial probe, it was deemed useless and kept only to the original members. It died with them.

“You can tell the boxes because they were marked ‘Project Atlas.’”

Nova sighed. “And we almost got it done.”

“What do you mean by almost?” General Shielded Vengeance asked before anypony else could.

Nova shook his head slowly. “Atlas was the final operation name for a reason. To cover multiple other missions. You got the final results of everything. That is what matters. But the 22 missions I was cited with, its way under shooting it.

“If you look at the track record, we have a very slow start, with a big rush at the end. No, we picked up speed a lot faster. If a mission had a death, we never hid it or messed with it. I personally lead another 14 missions to military installations. And that was only those military installations. I don’t recall the real numbers. That is in those crates.

“Some of what we hid away were weapons we recovered. Others were reported in by Wonderbolt Squad 4 and ended up in your vaults, which you use to teach the EWW training. You have a lot that you owe to us that you never knew about about.

“That snack gun Golden Dawn is still cleared to use, she is nasty with it. A natural. But that serial number, yep. Its in our records. I picked that up south of Las Pegasus’ ground city. A installation buried in the sand. I doubt it can be found again. Yeah, you owe a lot to us.

“Squad 4 may have been Wonderbolts, but they really came under Scout Command. They were not apart of the original 9, since they came in a year after we started, but they were one of us. They bled like we did, they ran these operations with us and helped us hide some of the things.

“We had a whole covert operation dedicated to find all of them. We found battlefields and bunkers, academies and fortresses. We covered most of Equestria in search of them, even reaching into the far south. Because we deemed them more important for recovery purposes. We also believed we could get an accurate map from those targets. We did get several, and they did a good job even after all the years. It was never anything big enough to complete the mapping all at once. But we went against the Council.

“Oh, the crate marked ‘Project Atlas Nova’ is mine. Personal belongings I could not walk out with. I want it back. I have been waiting for it to come back. Open it… you die.”

“When did you do this?” Marble Falls asked, pissed off. “We finished our report and then were swarmed by medical personnel, ending our time there.”

“Oh, most of it was secretly stored over the years. But if you recall, after you arrived, you went with Rose to the QM Cage. We boxed up and hid the last of it up before the mission brief. Nopegasus knew but Jade and I.

“You all were so disconnected with what we were doing. We didn’t have anypony looking over our shoulder. Why do you think we never went to certain areas? We ran into a lot of horrors that kept us away. Like Baltimare. Fuck that place. We are not ready to go to there, even on recon missions. You will get killed. I landed at Fort Strong and then we tried to get to the Equestrian Naval Academy. It all failed, quickly.”

“Oh?” Marble Falls growled. “Why? Because there were ginormous mutated ponies that like to crush you and eat you?”

Nova’s eyes went wide. “Fuck.”

“Yeah,” Marble Falls said, nodding to him. “The Inquisitors got blasted hard there. Shadow took a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with Valor there. They got pinned and shit happened.”

Nova nodded, thinking. He was pretty sure there was more to it.

“What do you know?” Marble Falls pressed.

“Nothing,” Nova said. “Knowing and seeing are two different things.”

“How?” Third Counselor asked. “If you saw something, you know it.”

“No,” Nova replied. “Especially as a Scout. It is very easy to see something that isn’t there. Or see something wrong. Or not see something you should see. Just because you see something, doesn’t mean you know it either. Because you have to know what you are seeing before you see it to know what you are seeing.”

“Every report is like that,” General Shielded Vengeance stated. “All Scout Squadrons and Recon Teams functioned like that. And they do it for a good reason. They can’t suppose anything.

“The Inquisitors did as well. They will have better reports and finding they didn’t send because it either can’t be sent via terminal, or other reasons. They were like the others when it came to immediate reports verses full reports. We got some, but we know others were not sent, or wouldn't be reported until we talk details with them on certain aspects.”

“Yes,” Second Counselor nodded. “I have our science teams working on a solution to the Diamond Dog’s evolution into Hell Hounds and how we can work with them.”

Third Counselor snorted. “But, if you were to suppose?”

“We can’t risk it,” Nova warned. “Its bad. It has little reclamation value, or better put, too high of a risk to try and reclaim anything from there.”

“All of us here know the reports from the Inquisitors,” The Colonel stated. “Spill.”

“We spent two days and three nights there. We spent half trying to sneak into the Naval Academy, and the other half poking around Fort Strong. Both were beyond secure by the things. Bumbling idiots with some ability to speak.

“But there were places we thought the lights were different. Not their lights. And a city always has noise. Some of it didn’t sound brutish. But we kept getting chased off and it was too dangerous to try and stay any longer.

“But I’m confused. Because I knew what was planned. Scouts hated recon because of how they viewed themselves. We never did anything past five days in the area. And never more than two weeks below total. And yes, I have been on those extended missions. Recon would go to one place for two or so weeks.

“The Inquisitors, as they became known as, were designed to go down for a month of two. And they were to target Fillydelphia and the Canterlot lowlands like Ponyville and Appleoosa. They were expanding on where we were trying to hone in on for a reason. Baltimare was discouraged by me. We needed them to survive, and that meant working in the areas we had some tangible idea of the dangers of.

“If they went to Baltimare, something was wrong. Seriously wrong. They must have been booted out of Fillydelphia, at least twice. And they would have gotten good information from each.”

“Three runs,” General Shielded Vengeance said. “The last being a strategic bombing. Yeah, they bombed the city. They reported sky guns. Giant automatic cannons designed to protect the bases from dragon attack. A deterrent. We had no idea they got installed in Fillydelphia.”

“That’s what knocked us out,” Marble Falls said. “I… it makes sense.”

Nova just nodded. “Then also that means something went wrong. I know they hit the Hollow Shades, and I only know because Shadow got me intel I needed to answer a question. It was one time that protocol was broken, because I needed that info for scouts as soon as possible. But that’s a different case.”

“They went to the Hollow Shades?” General Shielded Vengeance said confused. “None of my reports from Honey Bee have that!”

“Fuck!” Nova swore. “That pinprick is going to get it from Shadow when he gets back.”

“When did he contact you?” General Shielded Vengeance asked, frustrated.

Nova was unsure. “Uhh… well, let me think.”

“Are you stalling or can’t remember?” General Shielded Vengeance growled.

“I can’t recall,” Nova replied slowly. “And that is what the message was about. I was shot at over the Hollow Shades. And half the unit said yes, the other didn’t hear or see a thing. Which is why shooting radiation at me scrambled my fucking head!

“Aha! Yeah! Unit 0 was a hot mess still. I took the call while I was looking at soldiers to boost their numbers even more and help solve their discrepancies. So it was before ACS.”

“FUCK!” The Colonel raged. “That marks communication past their reported MIA date. We need them back.”

“And that’s where it all goes to shit,” General Shielded Vengeance said to the Council. “Which is why I need that terminal! I need to find out what they really said and when it was said. Because I know he will tell us the message was delayed.

“I don’t care about his ass. I know he learned his fucking lesson. We need the Inquisitors back. They are our soldiers! We don’t leave anypegasus behind! I don’t believe they decided to stay down on their own. And this stuff just adds to that belief.

“Still, they went to Baltimare. They had a tough time. They warned about the grave danger of the Super Ponies and they found it to be too difficult to clean out to gather resources from. I hope there is a better report hidden, because it was kept vague.”

Nova just grunted.

“What does that mean?” The Chief Counselor pressed.

Nova shrugged. “I can attest, and so can my reports, that Baltimare is a loss and will take more than we have to gain anything from it. But they must have found something. Either something so dangerous it was better off keeping hidden, or something so precious it needed to be fostered.

“I lean towards dangerous, because that Fort Strong was hiding something. And he probably got injured there, trying to take it. It’s roof makes for a great spot to quietly camp out on. The things are idiots.

“I have a question,” Nova said, switching his demeanor. “Are you sure the terminal is there?”

“What?” The Chief Counselor asked. “Of course its there. Its locked in our most secure facility.”

“And we broke into Camp Bullis’ most secure places,” Nova shot back. “It isn’t hard. Especially to quietly pay somepegasus off.”

“If its not there,” General Shielded Vengeance growled. “Only two have a reason to get rid of it.”

The Sixth Counselor put her hoof up to silence him. “As long as you do not go after Lieutenant Honey Bee, you are cleared for everything and anything. Under our direct control of course. But the Lieutenant is off limits. His family is too critical to the Enclave. I am the Social and Schooling Counselor for a reason.

"It's not about power, it's about how it will effect us as a whole. He has family that is serving still and it will cause a huge rift. The Enclave would collapse on itself. He is the youngest in his family, with three older brothers who are serving in key position. But none of them have his, drive. His father is the Head Stallion over the the Admiral Fractus Cloud Academy, the most prestigious military school in the Enclave.

“I would love to remove him. I do not know the military side, I admit that. I don’t even understand how he took over that job from the Major. However, I do believe he fucked up.

“But it has been dealt with. He has a blacked out mark on his file. He has been skipped on a promotion already and likely will be skipped on at least one more. And after the actions at the Squad Barracks, his reputation got knocked down several pegs.

“And the physical beating he has taken from Commander Cardinal Spitfire those three times was a hard reality check. She is lucky all three were his fault. We saw the records and we passed no fault judgment on her.”

“How close is he to the Council?” Marble Falls asked.

Nopegasus answered right away. The sixth Counselor finally spoke up.

“Close enough that I am satisfied with how things settled down. And can attest to how much he learned.”

“What power does he have?” Marble Falls pressed.

The Sixth Counselor sighed. “He is of the Clover Lineage.”

Marble Falls’ ears perked up. “As in Golden ‘Lord’ Clove, the Fleet Admiral who reorganized the fleet to it’s current structure, designed the Monitor class, and who the only ship in it’s class is named after.”

The Sixth Counselor just nodded.

“Fuck,” Nova said. “That would shatter the Enclave.”

Marble Falls’ lips curled a bit in a smile. “Well, she got away with a lot those two times.”

“Two?” Sixth Counselor said. “I had three.”

“It was surprisingly not four,” Marble Falls grinned from her hunched down position. “No, the third time is not confirmed. She will never confirm or deny anything. But a few days later, Cardinal Spitfire did the same thing when Bull was over Colonel Nova.

“She is going to be one of the best the Wonderbolts have ever seen. She ran an emergency stop at high speeds at a tough angle and was dead on accurate. All she did was drop hard and fast and used the individual as her break. It also tosses them back to create space. It breaks her body though.

“It wasn’t until after she landed, and got her head screwed on, that she reacted to who is was. But she let up, instead of pouncing, and warned him about Shadow coming for him. She hurt from the drop, but she survived. She also almost killed him when he spilled food all over her first flight jacked. It was her happy one, before Shadow was MIA.

“She got lucky that none of you pushed.”

“She had an ally on the Council,” The Chief Counselor said. “For those matters. But if she starts anything or goads him into anything-”

“She gets branded and kicked below,” Marble Falls finished.

“No,” The Chief Counselor said. “Public execution. The Clove Family would have it no other way.”

Nova shook his head. “Shadow Flare will kill him if it is found that he did something wrong. Shadow Flare is trained and hurting. I don’t know if we can stop him.”

“I can’t have a loose canon in our ranks,” The Chief Counselor said.

“Oh, he isn’t a loose canon,” Nova grinned. “He is controlled, calculated. He will not get angry or rage until its time. And then it’s a righteous fury and you won’t be able to stop him. By then, the whole Enclave will know and back Shadow Flare. And I doubt it will be quick retribution.”

“That is still something we can’t let happen,” The Fourth Counselor said. “I thought he had more control than that. He is a Recon Soldier.

“Exactly,” Nova declared. “You haven’t been below. You wouldn’t understand what it takes to face all of that, day after day. You have to be calculated. Smart. Able to out think your opponent. And worse, ruthless. There is no middle ground down there. Its either kill, or aid. That is what the wasteland means to a highly trained Enclave Special Operations Soldier.”

Marble Falls shook her head. “He will make sure Honey Bee learned his lesson. He really is hurting, but he might be hurting so much he lets him live. To forever face his shame. He would rip him apart so hard that his family would cut all ties. And… that’s probably the more likely ending.”

“What does that mean?” General Shielded Vengeance asked. “You said he is, not might be.”

Marble Falls looked down, trying to figure out what to say.

“Damn it!” General Shielded Vengeance swore. “I know by now Pony Patrol has looked at those records. Its part of what you are training them for. Speak.”

Marble Falls shook her head. “No. Yes, we got the files read, but no. Its nothing in those files. If the terminal is secure, it might be in there. I just know him.”

“Why hasn’t he come back?” The Colonel pressed. “You have an idea.”

“Nothing but speculation. And nopony else knows in Pony Patrol or has any idea. Not even Cardinal Spitfire. Especially not her. Its just that, speculation and not worth mentioning.”

“There is more to it than that,” General Shielded Vengeance pushed. “I know it. The terminal will either confirm or deny that speculation. No harm, no foul. The Council will know the truth too.”

“No,” Marble Falls said, resisting.

“Damn it!” Nova swore. “Marble dear, please. Anything to help us understand and then we can make a recovery move earlier. We are past judgments, so Honey Bee can’t get in any actual trouble from it.”

Marble Falls locked eyes with Nova. After a minute she broke. “Alright. I believe the Inquisitors got kill orders for a group of Dashites. And it was bad for them. And they didn’t know if they could trust going above, or be exiled for killing them. That’s what I believe happened.”

“We haven’t Banished anypegasus below in over seven years,” The Chief Counselor stated. “Certainly not since I have been Chief Counselor. And unless Nova hid something, we have no reports of Dashites grouping together.”

“I would have reported that,” Nova said. “In person.”

“Fuck,” The Sixth Counselor swore to herself. “It makes sense. They would be hurting and confused.”

No others understood.

Marble Falls spoke quietly, barely enough to hear. “There are two or three others that know. I wasn’t the first to figure it out. But I can guarantee that its secure.”

Marble Falls took a few deep breaths in and out. “You have the Turnip Homestead working in the south. Lance Turnip got to read Shadow’s files. He called me to clarify something. Its not something actually in the files, but something that lines up.

“Think back to when the recon team was actually announced MIA.”

“The Ice was still new enough,” The Second Counselor said.

“More than that happened at the same time,” Marble Falls said.

“The Seventh Counselor retired and was replaced,” The Third Counselor said. “The Fourth Conclave finished up at that time. Then the Pillars of the Community went below.”

“Fuck,” The Colonel swore.

The Fourth Counselor was lost for words. The Seventh Counselor had his head in his hooves, while the Second Counselor was grimacing. The others were lost.

“Chief,” The Sixth Counselor quietly said, when it was evident they would not put it together. “The Pillars of the Community was more than just a group going below. I know the list of who and where they came from. Dream Catcher, of the Turnip Homestead ended up joining. She died below.”

“So?” The Chief Counselor asked.

Nova swore to himself as he connected it.

“Chief, the recon team was declared MIA for 4 weeks, two days after the Pillars of the Community was slaughtered. Two days. There is no coincidence in that.”

The Chief Counselor just grunted.

“Shadow Flare would be confused,” Marble Falls said. “He wouldn’t know who to trust. They all would be. They would fear going above. I doubt they were told it was going to be murder. If it was me, I would have told them it was Dashites that were large enough group of dissenters that the Council couldn’t punish them, or lose to the mob. Its not a hard stretch.”

“Fuck,” General Shielded Vengeance sighed. “Counselors, can you honestly say you were not happy when they died?”

None of them responded right away.

“Nova?” The Chief Counselor said. “Back then, would Scout Command have given those orders?”

Nova took a deep breath in. “I… I am glad we were not in that spot to have to discuss it. That’s all I can say.”

“I have more to back it up,” The Colonel said. “But I need to know who Dream Catcher is first.”

“It’s Shadow Flare’s younger sister,” Marble Falls said. “She looked up to him as her hero and he loved deeply.”

“That, explains even more,” The Colonel said. “The Wonderbolt Squad that responded to the emergency call. All of the Counselors received that report. It said a chaotic scene, where they were all murdered and raided of everything they had. All of the members were defiled and set on fire.

“The belief was that they were killed and tortured for being pegasi. If you put it to the Inquisitors killing Dashites, and then finding out the truth, that they were given permission, things change.

“And drastically if Shadow found Dream Catcher. They would have put them neatly together, broken everything down, and then lit it on fire. A funeral pyre. It would have only burned so long, and they never would have had time to make sure it all burned to ash. The smoke would have attracted a lot of attention. But they would have done their best to honor them.

“And with Dream Catcher dead, there would certainly have been no way they were going above until they figured out who betrayed them. They could only see betrayal. And for that, they can not be blamed. You all would see the same if you had been ordered to kill the one you loved, without knowing it."

“That’s a bad situation for them,” Nova said. “Scout Command would have freaked. And, its not pushing it to make that logical jump for the order. Half of the military would have jumped at the chance to send a team to kill them. But they all knew what happened. They watched it along with everypony else in the Enclave.

“All except the Inquisitors. They were out of the loop for the entire thing. And Shadow Flare had been barred from doing crowd control of any type. He was too connected to the situation, being a farmer. Despite his best, he got leave for a reason from that portion. So did Cardinal Spitfire, which is when they got married. But they both hated the disruption, especially Shadow. It would take nothing to pull it over his eyes as his duty to take care of dissenters.”

The Chief Counselor suddenly lunged across the table, grabbing the phone. He dialed out.

“Yes, this is the Chief Counselor. I need the Lenticular to go to Fort Wind immediately.”

…

“Nine hours. Not bad. The reason will be explained upon arrival.”

The Chief Counselor hung up the phone. “I am going to drag Lieutenant Honey Bee off the Lenticular. He is stationed with an army company on the Lenticular. I am going to sit him down and force him to tell me if anypegasus gave kill orders.

“Not as a punishment, but for the sole purpose of recovering the Inquisitors. I think this speculation is correct. And its faster than getting the terminal here. Besides, I would do this anyway. To make sure he never crosses us again. He has potential, if he doesn’t try and control everything. Or cross us."

“Then I better call and get that terminal,” The Fourth Counselor said. “It was locked down by Storm Eye. I have his manual. He left it with me as an override security measure. Nothing can be deleted from it. It appears to be, but he made it impossible. And then I will get Camp Bullis to get those crates over here.”

Nopegasus had anything to say. They sat in silence while the Counselor made his calls. As he finished, there was a knock at the door. The Chief Counselor sighed. They could use the distraction.

“Enter.”

General Red River entered and closed the door. “Ah, good. I didn’t know you all were together, but I was wanting to speak with all of you. Except the random Lieutenant. Side thing first. I would like to get onto a ship to see these exercises.”

“Of course,” General Shielded Vengeance smiled. “You shall join me on the Lord Clove. She is too slow for the exercises, but she makes a perfect ship to watch from. Her flat top deck is excellent for it.”

“Thank you. Now the other thing has to deal with my retirement. I am not going to yet, but I have been thinking about it. Counselors, the reason I am considering it is simple. I took this job as part of advancement. I didn’t have anything to do with teaching at the time. Most of it is done by the NCOs. Any officer basically watches over them.

“We have had some phenomenal classes come through recently. I am not claiming sole victory on that. Like I said, the NCOs do the work. I have done everything I can to be a teacher. To learn that job. I even have operated in the field exercises that happen before the barracks are tested against each other. When they face the instructors and our laser pointers. It is a blast.

“But I am off track. I learned to love it and put everything I can into making our training program better. But I want to make sure it goes to the next level. It is high time that the general over Fort Wind is a teacher. Somepegasus that can not just watch over the troops and make executive decisions, but make the program better.

“One who can forge the new techniques that train today’s recruits the best way possible. Who understands and can support the drill instructors and other staff that work directly with recruits. I do not have anypegasus in my ranks that fits that, but you do General.

“I would like Captain Marble Falls to be my replacement. To begin now to be trained as my replacement.”

Marble Falls sat up. She hadn’t seen that coming. And this wasn’t something that pissed her off like everything else was.

“That is a good idea,” Fourth Counselor said. “But the Captain is a Wonderbolt. She can’t function as a General.”

“Excuse me?” General Shielded Vengeance asked, shocked. “I am a Wonderbolt. She can certainly be the General over training and a Wonderbolt.”

“Wonderbolts function in squads,” Sixth Counselor said confused. “How would she handle being in a squad and controlling the Fort?”

“Like I do,” The Wonderbolt Colonel said. “I’m Squad 88. Me and me alone. I move around, a lot. To where I am needed. Recently, it has been here. At any time, I can join up with a Squad and do whatever mission we need to do.”

“I am Squad 1,” General Shielded Vengeance stated. “Another single Wonderbolt Squad. One of the 6 we have. And there are several doubles and triples as well. There are always teams here. She could hook up with them if it came to that.”

“The teams are stationed here for the aerial shows,” Sixth Counselor stated.

“Not anymore,” Marble Falls smiled. “We haven’t done a single show since we got back, despite all of the recruits that have graduated. All three of us, 12, 19, and 43 have had too much to do. We have been training others. That is our current mission here. To train others in the ACUs while they expand.

“We have not had time to even learn a routine. Actually, we haven’t flow together in ages. I’ll have to fix that. Assuming none of you ask, so I don’t end up in chains.”

General Red River raised his eyebrows. “So, the legend that you told the Council to fuck off is true.”

Marble Falls only gave a silent nod.

The Fifth Counselor had a question. “How will this affect your command structure?”

“Simple,” General Shielded Vengeance snorted. “You are aware of our new rank system. Our two Majors are technically the same rank as a captain. And they are here because we are going to be fixing that. These exercises halted this plan for a bit.

“I am the General. I can wear all four stars for a reason. I have no generals beneath me, only Colonels. Until recently, that is all that has been needed for our size. But it no longer works. I need generals. I can no longer go around without rank or false rank. I am going to make my promotions permanent now, in front of you all. First off, Colonel Nova-”

“Fuck,” Nova spat.

“-Will be promoted to Brigadier General. Still Scout Command. Captain Starry Champron has served for a long time as the lead over the Mareland units. She was due for a promotion a long time ago. Nova complicated things.”

“Then give her the star,” Nova said. “And I’ll keep my wings. If you recall my promotion not long ago, it was begrudgingly accepted. I’m still sore about the whole thing.”

“Nope,” General Shielded Vengeance smiled. “Because both of you are needing a star. Starry Champron shall take on the regular units. I have no good title for that yet. Still working on that. But on the Wonderbolt’s side, I need Major Windstone Hill to come up a bit and take on the position as the Wonderbolt’s Brigadier General, with Major Glancing Ice as his Colonel.”

The Colonel was shocked. Entirely out of the loop. And it was obvious. “I guess my name will be lost. I’ll be the last unknown leader.”

“I wish it was not so,” General Shielded Vengeance sighed. “I lost mine too. The reshuffle killed it. But its built a better system.”

“Names are still dangerous. The idea was too keep them hidden to avoid assassinations.”

“And have we needed to?” General Shielded Vengeance asked.

“No,” The Colonel sighed. “And we have never had an attempt. Thus ends an era. I will mark it in our Wonderbolt History Books. They are due for a real update. Its been over 60 years. These past weeks have taken us into a new moment. Squad 4 needs their due, we have new information on the Shadowbolts, and the ranks make the need for an addition.”

“Then you, shall be Lieutenant General Firestorm. Second in Command over the Aerial Combat Battalion. I want you to focus on the covert operations of all the ACB. That means the Wonderbolts, the Scouts, and Recon. All three. I’m going to be focusing on developing the regular ACUs into something greater.”

“I approve,” The Fourth Counselor said.

The Fourth Counselor was the only one who needed to approve. But none of the others objected, even though they could and knew they could.

“But, were does that leave the Captain?”

General Shielded Vengeance deferred to General Red River.

“I was thinking Colonel to start. The goal would be to focus on leading the training of the aerial side of Basic Training. It still will allow her to easily work with Squad 12 and everything happening at the Squad Barracks. From there, General and she learns to cover the rest and become my replacement. That way, nopegasus can cause a fit with her replacing me at my retirement. She will be the best option and already trained for it.”

“I like it,” General Shielded Vengeance said. “I like it. And I approve of the promotion. And no, Cardinal Spitfire doesn’t automatically become Captain.”

The Council and the Lieutenant were the only ones not laughing. They didn’t know Cardinal Spitfire enough.

General Shielded Vengeance took the moment to drive things home and finish it all. “And to you Counselors, we have reached a good compromise. Marble Falls doesn’t do what you want her to do, but she does take over the training of the recruits. And she will naturally take her experiences and put them to use in training all future recruits. Not just her barracks she has for the flight segment. A win win all around.”

Marble Falls gave a slow nod. “I can live with that compromise.”

“I am glad that expansion happened,” General Shielded Vengeance announced. “With Ensigns added as the first rank, First Lieutenant is easy to justify leading a unit. And then Lieutenant Commander and Commander make it so much easier to pull out the better ones and improve moral.”

Lieutenant General Firestorm chuckled. “And we still are halfway through our list, dealing with those promotions.”

“It feels good to have promoted my officers,” General Shielded Vengeance sighed contently. “I didn’t want to do it prematurely. But its done. And still better, Marble Falls’ future is secure, in a very good path.

“This is going to work, deploying Units from the Third. It will make for an extremely effective defensive force and a highly reactive group with speed and firepower to handle backing up any of our future missions below. And we still will have the Wonderbolts in reserve.”

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