Insane.

The plan was insane. There was no other word for it. Not only was it insane, it went against everything I believed.

The rising sun of the breaking dawn illuminated the top of the cloud layer, making it look like a frozen sea burning from the inside-out, and making the snow shimmer and gleam around me. Team A: consisting of myself, Smoking, Xyalia and three Luna Guard, snuck through the dawn shadows towards a tall mesh fence running the perimeter of a mountain top Enclave compound which we knew to be an aircraft storage and restoration facility. Further down the snowy mountain ridgeline, three more Luna Guard accompanied by Seafire, Mantis and Minor formed team B, and would soon be striking at a food storage warehouse.

Lying in the snow I tried to ignore the barding leaving traces of blood on the crisp white ground. I’d been bedecked in a gruesome set of ex-raider armour. Blood caked the edges of the raw leather draped over my back and tipped the metal spikes that ran along my spine and forelegs. The stench was horrific, but thankfully, the Elder had permitted me to keep on my ASA suit underneath, so at least I didn’t have to endure the rank fabric touching my skin. I did however have to try and ignore the axle grease that had been smeared on my muzzle in an attempt to imitate warpaint.

The others weren’t so lucky. Smoking was grimacing at his own raider gear; which we were all certain wasn’t made from cowhide, but at least his wasn’t covered in so much blood. The rusted spikes that adorned his armour were his only real worry, positioned in such a way that it seemed its previous owner had delighted in hugging its victims to death. Xyalia was whom I felt most sorry for. Rather than hide her stripes, the Luna Guard decided to accentuate them using blood. It had taken several bloodpacks to do the job but now Xyalia looked terrifying, as if she had just forced her way through the chest of a pony and burst out the other side. Lying prone on the ground she was leaving a pink trail wherever she went.

The three Luna Guard,however, weren’t being subjected to anything nearly so disgusting. Their only concession to the ruse was wearing slightly less pretty versions of their power armour with a dents, scratches, a bit of rust, and a few of the less important plates missing. They looked like wrecks, true, they were a far cry from the horror show we had to wear.

Crawling on our bellies, we reached the edge of a ridge line and peered over the top. The two meter high fence was topped with razor wire, running the perimeter of a imposing red brick warehouse set back slightly on a hill. A trench filled with piles of rusty, jagged metal surrounded it like a moat. The only clear way through by hoof was a dual layered gate, flanked by a pair of guard towers. Even at this distance I could make out the Enclave soldiers patrolling behind the fence and the teams manning the various machine guns that topped the two guard towers. There were only a dozen guards on duty, but given we were outnumbered two to one, it seemed like very tall odds.

I felt a firm hoof grab my shoulder.

“Do you remember your instructions?” a low, synthesized voice growled.

Staring coldly back at the Luna Guard, Maelstrom Meringue if I remembered right, I gave a slow, reluctant nod. “Swing wide, target the guard tower. Once they’re dead, use grenades to blow a hole in the gate.”

Maelstrom didn’t even respond to my tonless reply and simply vanished.

Crawling left, I pulled the old sniper rifle I had been issued off my back and loaded the magazine with the massive .50 calibre rounds. The rifle had seen better days, but it was equipped with a SATS assisted module that linked with my Pipbuck. Crawling forwards and poking the barrel over the crest, I closed an eye and peered down the scope. Four ponies were in each tower: two with plasma-saddles, one sat next to a control console, and one covering the entrance with a pintle mounted gatling laser.

I grit my teeth. ‘No survivors’ they’d said. That’d been the condition for Helix and Foxgloves safe return. The idea was to make this attack and the separate attack on the food silo to the north look like the actions of mindless raiders. That meant death, blood and mutilation.

The buck on the communication console turned and spoke to the mare controlling the gatling gun. She responded with a laugh and a smile. It was just another day to them. Another day of boredom. Elder Smoothie had chosen this base specifically because it hadn’t been attacked in over ten years. The guards were complacent and casual. High up in their mountain fortress, they figured no pony could touch them and that no pony would be stupid enough to try. One buck wearing a plasma saddle punched the console operator in the shoulder with a hearty laugh. I gulped.

Any second now, Smoking would start shooting the guards inside the compound, drawing their attention behind them so I that when I started on the towers, they would be too caught up in the confusion to return fire. Once that was done, the three Luna Guard would swoop in and begin killing the remaining guards while Xyalia scaled the fence and made sure the guards in the tower were truly dead. It would be bloody. It would be brutal. I could see no way out of it. And then it began.

Bullets felled two guards further inside the compound, instantly drawing everyponies attention. The guards simply stood there in surprise, until another bark of gunfire ripped into then, dropping felling another two. The sharp crack of Smoking’s rifle broke the pristine dawn. I watched in horror as the round puncturing the guards volatile weapon, engulfing the entire watchtower in a vicious blue fireball. Burning ponies tumbled out of the burning structure, into the trench, becoming impaled on the debris within.

Tears streamed down my face as I tried to line up the gatling gun mare in my sight, her wing speared through by a piece of debris and her mane burning freely. My magic wavered on the trigger. ‘Don’t do it… please don’t do it.’ my inner pony begged. ‘There must be another way?’ But I couldn’t see it. The mare died with a hole clean through her skull, SATS ensuring my aim was true. I turned the gun on my next target, wiping tears from my eyes, and pulled the trigger once more.

My soul burned. My eyes were blotched with tears and my body sagged with despair. In my hooves, the family of four beamed happily up at me while the father lay beside me his eyes gazing blankly into the void.

“Seafire?” A gentle but metallic voice coaxed. “Come on, we’ve got to move. We can’t get behind time.”

“He… he… he had a family,” I croaked. “Look at them.”

“Seafire…”

“Look at them!” I yelled shoving the picture in the Luna Guards visored face. “He had a family… and we killed him! We killed…” I couldn’t speak as the sobs overtook me again.

This wasn’t me. I didn’t want this to be me. I hadn’t fired a single shot since we’d started our attack, just using my magic to topple boxes and slam doors, trying to knock out or disable the enclave ponies who worked at the food storage facility. But it’d done no good. The Luna Guard had spared no pony. At least Fruit Wing had tried to disable his targets rather than kill, but the other two had simply gunned them down, worker or guard alike.

I let Fruit Wing pull me to my hooves. I wiped the tears from my eyes with my hoof, doing my best to avoid touching the filthy raiderfied boiler suit that I’d been forced to wear. Nearby, Mantis and Minor were reloading their weapons, Minor looking as if he was going to be sick, while Mantis just looked grim. Their own raider armour was just as filthy as mine, covered in blood and scrawled profanities.

Solar Decay; the Luna Guard who was incharge of our little group, gruffly reloaded his twin assault rifle battle saddle and stomped over to us. “Quit bitching and focus on the job.” He snapped, his own synthesized voice having a very rough and unpleasant edge. “Unless you want your friends to die.”

I shot him a glare of pure loathing; something I had never felt myself capable of back in Seventeen, but out here, right now… it came as naturally as breathing.

Solar Decay sneered, heading through a set of double doors and into the main storage warehouse. WIth encouragement from Fruit Wing, I followed, keeping the rusty—but fully functional—assault rifle floating before me; not that I had any intention of firing it.

The warehouse was similar in size to the one outside of Seventeen, but this was compartmentalised by walls of old, cracked bricks. We had yet to see any cloud architecture like I had hoped, but given the facility was built on a mountain top, I guessed they didn’t need to bother. The closest we’d come were the cloud locks on the doors and the cloud touchpads on the computers. Each section was filled with different kinds of fruits and vegetables in clear, hermetically sealed cubes about a metre along each side. In the center of the room, suspended from the ceiling, was a huge tank like device linked to each compartment by a series of conveyors. Also linked to this machine were an array of stainless steel tanks, labeled with the words ‘Danger - High Pressure LN2 - Do Not Touch’.

“Here,” Solar Decay called from the far end of the warehouse. “Brandy Butter, Fruit Wing. Get those forklifts over here. Move the food in front of the shutters,” He indicated a set of rolling shutters that lead out to a landing strip at the back of the complex. “We have eight minutes left on the Enclaves best emergency response time. With any luck they will go to the Vertibuck store first, and we will be long gone by the time they make it here. You three,” he pointed at Mantis, Minor and myself, “cover that entrance. If you don’t shoot back, you will die and then your friends will die; so I advise you pull your triggers.”

Taking up a covered position on one side of the double doors, I gritted my teeth and glanced at Minor. The poor buck had been with us less than three days and already he had been forced to kill innocent ponies. Sure, the Enclave were far from innocent. Their actions in the late stages of the war and since they closed off they sky were proof, but that didn’t mean they deserved to die, and certainly not some buck with family who was just doing his job.

I felt another tear begin to run from my eye.

With the guards at the fence dealt with, we’d moved swiftly up to the main building; a single imposing structure of red brick and mortar with a veranda running around the perimeter. Following the Luna Guard I cantered up towards a set of large frosted glass doors - which surprisingly was intact - checking the windows to the left and right. A strange whirring sound caught my ear. I glanced up then dived hard to the right as the turret mounted machine gun opened fire. The Luna Guard were far slower to react, and judging by the number of bullets they took before making it to cover, this hadn’t been part of the plan. I scrambled to a stout pillar that supported the veranda just before the concrete at my hooves exploded from the stream of bullets.

Pausing to catch my breath, I saw across from me Smoking and Solar were pinned behind a similar pillar that had fallen to the ground, with no way to bring their weapons to bear. There blips were there on my EFS but I couldn’t see where Xyalia nor the other Luna Guard were taking cover: I guess it was up to me for this one. I switched over to Jury selecting a low speed and high energy setting, hoping to take out the turrets with a single well placed shot. I glanced at my spark-battery level, breathed deep, then swung out taking aim at the nearest turret.

Only two shots made their target before my SATS spell was interrupted by the hail of fire that slammed into me. I scrambled back behind the pillar, but not before I felt a lance of pain run up my leg making me scream. Tears swelling in my eyes, I glanced down at my leg. Two bullets had made it through the shield, ripping into both my suit and the meat of my thigh. I gritted my teeth at the pain, testing if I could stand. The answer seemed to be yes, albeit with considerable discomfort. On the upside, the sound of bullets seemed to have lessened, a look at my EFS confirmed there was one less bar; at least my attack had been successful.

A deafening blast shook the windows around us, and a second blip dropped out of my EFS. One turret to go.

I peeked out from behind my pillar again. The remaining turret was now torn between shooting at Smoking and Solar behind their pillar and the other Luna Guard who’d managed to advance up the wall, outside the turrets range of motion. However they couldn’t move out now to get a shot without totally exposing themselves and had effectively got themselves pinned.

I gritted my teeth against the pain in my leg, swinging out once more and taking aim, only to come face to face with a hail of bullets. I flattened myself against the pillar, red brick dust scattering around me, gunfire tearing the pillar to shreds. My face pressed to the bricks I watched in horror as the pillar wall began to creep towards me, bullets slowly eating away at my barrier like a invisible roaring monster. Any second now I was going to run out of cover or the pillar would collapse on top of me.

The hail of gunfire suddenly span away, bullets shattering windows and concrete as the turret flailed wildly before exploding of the wall with a almost comical popping sound. I took a moment, breathing deeply before I peered round what remained of my pillar. Xyalia hung from the wall of the building where the turret used to be, one of her bladed hooves piercing the targeting gem embedded in the turrets gimbal.

My panic lapsed, allowing me to catch my breath and for the guilt to come crashing down once more. They were dead. They were all dead. I’d tried, I’d tried so hard just to wound them. I might even have succeeded if a member of the Luna Guard hadn’t let fly with a flamethrower.

I was never going to get their screams out of my head.

‘How am I going to face her…’ my inner pony sobbed. ‘How do I justify all this? Is it even possible. Her life over another’s? Many others!’

“Francium.” My head jerked up to look at Smoking. Judging by his expression, that hadn’t been the first time he’d called my name. “We need to move. Time is ticking… you’re hit…” Before I could tell him I was fine, Smoking knelt beside me and began wrapping a regular bandage around my upper leg and thigh.

“This isn’t right,” I stated dryly, letting Smoking bind up my leg. “But I can’t see a way out. All these ponies lives against just two? They’ve done nothing wrong and we’re just…”

“You’d rather Helix and Foxglove died?” Smoking asked, deftly securing the bandage with a safety pin.

“Of course not!” I snapped, regretting it instantly when he flinched, but that didn’t stop me from continuing to vent. “I’d rather no pony died and we all lived in a world of sunshine and rainbows but we don’t, and we are here right now, and I am choosing the life of two friends over those of some strangers descended from ponies who abandoned Equestria—”

The rifle butt caught me hard in the head, sending me sprawling.

“Shut up and get up,” a metallic voice growled.

I glared up at a rather burly mare, spitting dirt out of my mouth. Smoking shot her a filthy look but she ignored us and moved back to the door leading into the warehouse.

The main storage warehouse for the Vertibucks stood resolute in red brickwork before us. There were no large exterior doors that I could see, only a small personnel door that had all too recently been guarded by an automated minigun, an occasional spark spitting from its mount. We had considered blasting our way through the walls but there was too much risk of collateral damage making us miss the rendezvous with the other team at the food storage site.

Another Luna Guard - who went by the name Kiwi Thunder - finished hacking the door and nodded to his companions who readied their weapons. He flung the door open and the rest of us pressed through the gap into the darkness of the hangar. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the gloom, large shapes in the darkness becoming more distinct.

“Wow,” one of the Luna Guard whistled up front, sounding impressed. “Jackpot.”

I gulped.

Their profiles were obscured by white sheets, but there was no mistaking what they were. No less than ten Vertibucks stood in their bays, each one seemingly untouched for decades. The Luna Guard began to roughly pull off the sheets.

The idea of ‘Jackpot’ quickly went up in smoke.

‘What the fuck?” I heard Maelstrom hiss. “Their all… their all…”

“Junkers,” Kiwi finished in shock.

As we tore off the covers one by one, I realised he was right: not a single Vertibuck was complete. I jumped up into the closest craft to me, a gloss white civilian spec machine. It was missing its cockpit windows, rear door and most of its interior. Only the key systems seemed to have been left intact. I tapped on the console to see if it would turn on, but nothing happened.

“Twilight, Kiwi. Find one that works!” Maelstrom yelled. “I don’t care what state it’s in as long as it flies.”

The next machine along was toast. Literally. The inside had been incinerated by a major fire. A glance at all the melted glass and warped trussing confirmed that the Vertibuck wasn’t going anywhere under its own power.

“I’ve got one!”

I cantered towards Twilight Shadow’s call from the far end of the warehouse, catching sight of the vehicle in question. Maelstrom was already inside and checking out the controls with his fellow Guard, but I was far more concerned by the total lack of armour plating on the aircraft. Brand new pipes and conduits snaked all over the inner fuselage and between structural beams. I spotted a pile of wrecked panels in a skip at the end of the bay, their once shiny exteriors spattered with bullet holes, scorch marks and other signs of serious battle damage. Beside me, Smoking looked like he was having an aneurysm, and even Xyalia looked shocked; by which I mean one of her eyebrows was slightly raised.

“We can’t fly in that…” I gesticulated at the half finished machine. “... if they catch us we won’t stand a chance.”

“Get in the vehicle now, or I’m leaving you all behind.” Maelstrom didn’t look up from his work at the controls as clouds began to form on either side of the craft.

With that ultimatum, the three of us cautiously boarded the craft as the storms crackled into life and the Vertibuck began to rise into the air. There were no seats; ‘And no rear door,’ my inner pony noted, so I used a pair of straps that hung from the ceiling to form a makeshift harness around myself while Smoking and Xyalia did the same opposite me. Wind whistled through the cabin as we taxied out of the work bay and into the centre of the warehouse, only to be thrown forwards as the craft stopped in mid-air.

“What the buck?” I heard Maelstrom yell from the front. The door to the cockpit opened and the Maelstrom pointed a armoured hoof at me. “You, cut the tether,” he ordered before disappearing back into the cabin and slamming the door behind him.

Smoking gave me an ‘I’ll do it if you like?’ look, but I shook my head and unclipped my makeshift harness. Approaching the edge cautiously, I hung my my head over the edge of the bay and looked down to see a braided steel cable tethering us to the ground; presumably to keep the craft from crashing during testing while they reassembled it. Jury was pulled from under my grungy barding and I took aim at the hook on the ground. A moment with SATs, and Jury let fly a bolt of energy leaving a trail of plasma in its wake. The Vertibuck lurched abruptly, the cable snapping with a resounding crack, sending me sliding over the edge.

I flailed with my hooves, trying to grab anything that might stop me but there was nothing to grip. I topped head first out the compartment, then slammed in to the side of the Vertibuck. Glancing up I saw a strap on my Raider Barding had caught on part of the incomplete ramp hinge

Maelstrom either couldn’t see what had happened or didn’t care, because the Vertibuck continued to rise towards the ceiling and the massive doors built into the roof. Though the reluctant groan of rested wheels from the retracting roof was undoubtedly the louder noise, the only ones I could hear were the fibers of my tearing barding.

“Grab on.” I heard Xyalia call. I looked up to see her dangling out of the aircraft above me, hooves outstretched while Smoking bit down on her barding to stop her falling too. I swung my hooves upward but she was just too far away for me to get a grip. I heard more strands tear dropping me a few inches further away.

A carabiner on a rope dropped into my vision and I quickly magiced it around myself and clipped it tight. With a heave I began to rise again just as the Vertibuck cleared the roof of the Warehouse.

Below me I could see the trail of death we had left in our wake, fires burning throughout the compound. My breath was squeezed out of me as the rope went tight and I felt myself being pulled up and back into the Vertibuck. Good job too as the last strands of barding gave way just as I was rolled back into the relative safety of the Vertibuck.

Smoking was panting from exertion - while Xyalia seemed totally unphased - but he still managed to huff. “I’m going to kill that buck if I get the chance.”

I waited. The longer I knelt behind the box of carrots I was using for cover, the more the rifle shook in my magic, terror and fear building inside me. But I wasn’t scared of being shot, nor was I afraid of dying - a part of me felt that that would be preferable to the alternative. No, I was afraid of getting somepony else killed, and no matter how I thought about it, it seemed inevitable.

If I defended myself, and shot at the Enclave ponies who were sent in to fight us, they would probably die. I couldn’t bear the thought of tearing apart another family, or denying a engaged couple of the happiest day of their lives, or becoming the ‘death do us part’.

If I did nothing - let myself die, or simply refused to fight back - I would be signing the death warrant of two friends I cared about dearly. If I somehow did survive and made it back, would Helix and Foxglove be killed because I hadn’t done as I was ordered? Or would mission success be enough to secure their release? How did I balance the lives of my friends, against the innocent soldiers who were likewise doing as they were ordered, and were only drawn into this situation by my actions and the misdemeanors of those driving me.

A retching sound me made turn. Minor was emptying his stomach onto the floor, his nerves and fears clearly getting the better of him. I felt for him, I really did. Barely two days away from his own stable and he was already in a fight for his life. I realised that wasn’t all that much longer than the time between my own exit and when my world came crashing down.

“Seafire.” I heard a hiss on my other side. Mantis was giving me a pointed look. I noticed he held a piece of paper in his hoof which he tossed to me. I caught it in my blue aura and quietly unfolded it to read the message ‘Double Cross?’

I looked back at him, then pointed in the direction of the three Luna Guard with a questioning and shocked expression. He simply nodded, his gaze firm. I glanced back at the Luna Guard who were finishing the process of stacking and strapping the food boxes onto a pair of flat pallets; which I guessed would allow us to hang it from the underbelly of the Vertibucks. Thankfully none of them were looking our way. I glanced back to Mantis and gave him a fervent shake of the head, quickly writing a reply of my own with my magic ‘Can’t, Risk H & FG’ before tossing it back.

Mantis simply glared at me, frustration evident on his face. He settled back down into his covered position, rifle at the ready, before suddenly vaulting over the box and pressing forwards towards the doors.

“Mantis!” I hissed in desperation. “Come back!” But it was too late.

“What’s going on?” Solar Decay appeared beside me, his voice suddenly rather tense. “Where’d he go?”

“He must have heard something,” I lied. “He’s used to stealth, so something must have caught his attention.”

“I don’t see anything on my TFD,” he replied, as if that was the be all and end all of the discussion. “Don’t you have EFS on that thing?” He kicked my PipBuck.

“No,” I lied again, hoping he didn’t notice that I glanced down to see the little green marker that was Mantis swaying back and forth as he moved. “It has something called NARS instead, but that only works underwater.”

“Why the buck…” Solar began, but his retort was cut short by the unmistakable crack of a rifle followed by a smattering of SMG fire. “Shit. Brandy, Fruit, we have company.” There was another burst of SMG fire, this time it seemed to impact the side of the building.

While Solar was distracted, I looked about and caught Minor’s gaze. He looked scared and confused. I suddenly realised he also had EFS thanks to his Pipbuck, even if it wasn’t as sophisticated as mine, it would be clear of any red or yellow markers. I put a hoof to my lips in a ‘Shhh’ manor and gently shook my head to indicate he should remain quiet. He seemed to take the hint, but I would have no way of telling him in any details.

A thump to my rump made me jump.

“You first.” Solar leveled his battle saddle at me, gesturing at the doorway. I did as I was told, heading back through the maze of corridors and offices with the rifle floating at my side. According to my EFS, Mantis appeared to have gone straight outside but I kept deviating and going down different corridors as if I was searching for him, trying to throw Solar off and hoping he didn’t realise what was going on. ‘But what was Mantis planning to do?’ I thought to myself. My worries were interrupted by a sudden explosion in the direction of Mantis’s marker. Just what was he up too?

We reached the main door to the building to see that the doors had been blown apart by an explosion, seemingly done with a plasma grenade. Blue fire burned on surfaces, setting alight the wooden reception desk and dilapidated sofas and coffee table. Mantis was only a few metres away but he was nowhere in sight.

“Mantis?” I called, but there was no reply. With Solar Decay now at my side, I cautiously headed outside through the burning doors, trying not to step on the fragments of glass scattered all over the entry way. Four meters away, three meters away… where was he?

Blood sprayed across my face as Solar Decay’s head exploded. I screamed and topped backwards, blinking blood and pony brains from my eyes. I stared around wildy to find where the shot had come from to find Mantis above me, standing on the veranda above the doors, double barrelled shotgun in hoof.

“We need to get back,” his words were clipped and formal, no trace of remorse or shock from what he had just done, “before the others realise.” He jumped down beside me, taking Solar’s blood splattered plasma rifle from the growing pool of blood and hoofing it up into his grasp. He unleashed a pair of point blank shots into Solar Decay’s body then turned and began to gallop back to the store room.

When I didn’t move from my spot, staring down at the remains before me, he yelled back, “Come on! We need to hide! Seafire!”

“Why the buck did you do that?!” I turned and screamed. “You… you… you’ve killed Helix and Foxglove!” They’ll never let us go now, they’ll kill us all the moment we return and all the deaths and pain we’d caused would be for nothing.

“Come on!” Ignoring my response, he pulled a spark battery from his pocket, which seemed to have a metal bar taped across the contacts. He yanked out a piece of scrap plastic from under the plate then tossed the battery down an adjacent corridor. “Seafire, fall back!”

As the spark battery went into overload and detonated, I realised what he was doing. A blue fireball rolled down the corridor and burst into the room, igniting stacks of paper and shattering light bulbs, but my mind was elsewhere. Now he’d started this little drama, we couldn’t stop, we’d have to maintain it and hope to Celestia that the Luna Guard didn’t catch on before we left.

I cocked the battered rifle and turned around, unloading a spray of bullets into the windows making a cacophony of sound that sure sounded like we were being assaulted. I turned and galloped after Mantis. As I passed him I shot him the angriest and most disgusted glare I could muster.

He could very well have killed us all.

The Vertibuck creaked and groaned as we tore through the sky. My ears and hooves felt like ice, the wind ripping through the open cabin denying us of any heat that might have been retained through our raider barding. Having recovered from my little escapade on take off, I did my best to peer towards our destination which was resting on a solitary peak just a few miles away from the Vertibuck storage unit. In one corner of my EFS, the timer I had set slowly counted down - 3 minutes and 40 seconds left - We would be cutting it close.

From up in the cockpit I heard Maelstrom yelling into his radio over the sound of the wind; presumably letting the other team know we were on our way, but his tone didn’t sound like somepony for whom things were going smoothly. I was about to look back out at the base when Maelstrom slammed the cockpit door open - or he dropped the latch and the wind did the rest.

“Solar Decay isn’t responding. Presuming hostiles. You have EFS on that?” He pointed at my PipBuck. I nodded, not bothering to try and yell over the wind without the help of a suit mounted amplifier. “Good, we will circle around and look for hostiles before dropping you three outside. You make your way inside, clearing out the enemy as you go. We will head in through the roof and fight the other way, trapping them in a pincer movement.” I nodded again, and Maelstrom returned to the cockpit.

“Fran,” Smoking yelled to me over the battering wind. “This doesn’t feel right.”

“What, you mean the other team not responding?” I yelled back.

“No… this whole thing.” Smoking replied, looking thoughtful. “If I were them, I’d let us do all the dirty work then at the last minute kill us or leave us behind. They certainly don’t seem above backstabbing us.” He glared at the back of Maelstrom in the cockpit. “Just… keep it in mind.

I gave a curt nod in response, trying not to imagine what might happen to us if we were caught by the Enclave. From what little Typhoon had told us, they seemed civilised on the surface, but their manipulation of the facts and control of the populous couldn’t be maintained without an ear and a hoof to the ground at all times; Typhoon’s botched scouting mission was proof. And despite their cavalier attitude toward the fate of their own, I would be willing to bet that they would rather torture a wastelander for information than one of their own.

I was brought out of my revery as the aircraft began to bank, circling the compound. There were signs of combat around the perimeter but nothing that looked like the Enclave were on the scene. I caught a glimpse of green and orange blips on my EFS, but there was no red to be seen. A smooth decent and we kissed the ground, allowing Smoking, Xyalia and myself to leap out the rear of the Vehicle. Smoking motioned to advance, our hoofsteps drowned out by the roar of wind from the ascending Vertibuck. We made it to the brick walls, and in unison we peered towards the main doors.

“I see something… or somepony…” I whispered to Smoking. “In the doorway.” He nodded, signing out our next move. Advancing in a spread, we cantered to the main doors, keeping low and listening out, but there was nothing on my EFS. There certainly was, however, somepony in the doorway, or bits of somepony at any rate.

“What the buck.” Smoking knelt down and pulled out a piece of metal from the pool of fresh blood. “Is this… Solar Decay?”

I glanced around at the decapitated and the bizarre radial blood splatter that marked the floor. “Or what's left of him…” I replied, quickly looking through the windows around us to see where the shot had come from, but all I could see was blue fire and smoke. “Who the hell shot him, and with what?”

Smoking fished a few more pieces of metal out of the blood with a hoof. “No idea. Could be a sniper round, heavy calibre revolver, maybe a shotgun slug. But certainly not an energy weapon.” He caught my gaze. “Like I said… this feels wr…”

We spun round as a green marker appeared on our EFS. Seafire trotted carefully out of the smoke, a energy rifle in her magic. “It was Mantis.” She replied , nodding to the mess at our hooves. “I’ll explain later but for now, we need to make it sound like the world is about to end out here… again…” She gave a very tired, dejected sigh, pulling out a stack of blood packs that we had been given. “Let’s use these then get out of here… we only have two minutes left on their best response time.”

Something was wrong. Very wrong. But I didn’t have time to ask Seafire right now. Yanking out my own stack of blood packs, I emptied the contents all over the courtyard, squirting and splattering it with my magic before using my welding and cutting spells to burn and scorch marks across the walls and floor. My mess made and only thirty seconds to go, I sprinted after Smoking and Xyalia; who’d set various fires and bucked the ancient desks to splinters respectively, while Seafire fired off her Black Hawk and the Laser Rifle simultaneously, shattering windows and bringing chunks of roof down from the ceiling.

“Seafire!” I yelled over the cacophony of destruction. “Lets go!”

For a moment, she stood there, destruction and fire beginning to lick around her, as if she was quite happy to stand still and let the carnage consume her. I yelled out to her again, my voice lost as the ceiling came crashing down, billowing a cloud of dust out in all directions. She turned to shield her eyes, and her gaze locked onto mine. In that instant it was if she was naked, bearing all her fears and abandoned dreams to me. She just looked… broken.

Our moment fractured as Smoking barreled round the corner. “They’re ready to take off! Come on!” That shook Seafire into action. Without a word she galloped past us and into the warehouse. Smoking gave me another confused look - he seemed to be doing that a lot lately - then chased after her. I gave the vandalised room one final look, then turned and galloped away.

Upon entering the main hangar, I tailed Smoking and Seafire as they made a beeline to the nearest Vertibuck, noticing the entire roof to the building had been retracted to allow the Vertibucks to enter. I glanced at the two massive pallets hanging from the underside of each craft, laiden with maybe a dozen boxes each; we must be stealing several tonnes of food. I had been feeling really bad up to this point but seeing just how much food the Enclave had in storage, I figured they could spare some. ‘If only we hadn’t needed to kill so many ponies to get it’ my inner pony reminded me.

Setting aside my feelings one last time, I leapt up into the back of the armourless Vertibuck to join Smoking and Xyalia before both craft slowly lifted into the sky. They had squeezed a few last crates into the cabin, leaving us with just a ponies length at the back of the craft for the three of us. I quickly reattached the strap and carabiner I had been using before; not wanting a repeat of earlier, and grabbed the nearest crate for support. Gunfire to my right made me turn. Seafire, Mantis and Minor fired out the side door of our Vertibuck, raining rounds down on the doorway we’d just run through. What were they doing? I was about to ask Smoking when he raised his battered assault rifle and began to plug away with short bursts of fire as we cleared the edge of the roof.

Pulling away I looked back at the Warehouse. Smoke billowed out of the windows around the entrance, flames licking a few of the windows, shattered glass glistening in the sunlight. Everyone continued to send shots down at the building, seemingly at random; clearly there was something going on that I hadn’t worked out.

“Be ready for contact,” I barely heard Maelstrom yell from the cockpit. “They might try and follow us.” They?

In unison the two craft dipped into the tops of the fluffy clouds and sank into the gloomy abyss below.

“Smoking?” I asked, as loud as I dared over the wind noise. “What is going on. Why did Mantis shoot Solar?”

“So far as I can figure, to make it look like we were under attack. It also evens the odds a little if we ever end up having to fight our way out of this.” He grimaced. “If the Luna Guard work out what happened we are bucked.”

“Why the buck would he do that?” I shot back angrily. “He’s risking all our lives.”

Smoking gave me an brooding look, shaking his head. “I’ve no idea. We’ve not known the buck very long. I’ve had these thoughts for a while but perhaps bringing him with us wasn’t the best idea. However, without him we wouldn’t be where we are now.”

“You mean being pressed into the thoughtless slaughter of innocent ponies?” The words shitched in my throat as I continued. “How… how can we justify this?”

“You’re not stupid Fran. The Luna Guard have us by the proverbial balls with Foxglove and Helix as their leverage. Now Mantis has made a stupid decision that we can’t change and has put us all at risk. If the Enclave have spotted us this could be a very short ride. Not to mention comparing the value of Helix and Foxglove against the twenty two ponies I believe we’ve killed and injured in the process of getting this damn food. It hardly seems like a good exchange no matter how you look at it.”

His piece said, Smoking gave me a grim, defeated shrug before turning away. Stunned into silence, I started to mull everything over in my mind. Just what were we doing out here anymore? Four weeks ago I’d been in Seventeen working on that damn piping, and now…

Bullets spalled across the Vertibuck’s roof, shards of metal ricocheting across the cabin. I clung on for dear life as the the Vertibuck lurched into a barrel roll, sending the three of us tumbling into each other in our makeshift harnesses. With no idea which way was up, the thick clouds removing all reference of orientation, I found myself trying not to be sick while looking around for whoever shooting at us. Muzzle shots flashed out the rear of the Vertibuck sending more lethal projectiles our way. The craft rolled again in the opposite direction in a desperate evasive maneuver and kept rolling. I could feel us beginning to fall from the sky, spinning faster and faster. I lost my grip on my handle only to be pinned against the inside of the Vertibuck as it dived.

Glass cut at my face when the privacy window between the rear compartment and the cockpit shattered, the wind blasting it into my face like a thousand microscopic knives. Painfully blinking the shards from my eyes I caught Maelstrom and Twilight fighting in the cockpit, with Kiwi slumped in the control harness of the Vertibuck. Twilight took a heavy hoof to her gut and was then bucked straight into the door which snapped open sending her spiraling into the boxes. Her armoured wing caught in a strap and with a horrible scream I watched her wing bones snap, but the way her wing was hooked was now the only thing preventing her from being thrown out the back of the craft.

My muzzle slammed into the floor. I screamed as I felt myself bite my tongue, blood filling my mouth, but I couldn’t stand up or reach for a healing potion due to the crushing g-forces that kept me pinned down. Slowly, I could feel us leveling out, but we were still hurtling through the sky, and I had no idea how far from the ground we were. As if waiting for the opportune moment, the ground suddenly appeared below, covered in a scattering of very sharp looking rocks and large sickly green plants.

Slowly but surely, I felt us slowing. The moment I felt it was safe, I grabbed and downed a half used healing potion, the feeling of my tongue stitching itself back together being one of the most unpleasant sensations I’ve ever felt. With a crunch the craft settled down, allowing me to stand up. I immediately tossed the remainder of the potion to Smoking who’s muzzle looked like it had caught the worst of the glass. Xyalia for the most part looked unharmed, until she tried to stand and toppled over with a whimper, her left foreleg folding unnaturally at her ankle.

“By the stars… I think, I think my… my leg is broken!” She exclaimed in mild surprise.

I made to get up, but froze as I felt the barrel of a gun place itself against the back of my neck. I risked a glance over my shoulder to see Maelstrom, a plasma pistol in his teeth, and a strained but victorious grin on his face.

Minor panted heavily beside me, trying to keep the Vertibuck aloft. I pressed down as hard as I dared on the wound in Fruit Wing’s neck. It had all happened so fast. Somepony had shot at us. Brandy Butter had opened fire into the fog, shooting wildly into the shadows, but the bullets had kept coming. Somehow Fruit Wing was hit, a round or shard of shrapnel cutting deep through one side of his neck and sending us into a steep dive.

When Minor had rushed forwards to try and secure himself into the other flight control hardness, Brandy Butter turned his weapons on us, only to have his brains splattered across the cockpit bulkhead by Mantis’s shotgun. Despite taking a plasma round to one of his legs, Minor had made it into the hardness and taken control. I still had no idea who had shot at us, but right now I didn’t care.

“Get us on the ground. I don’t care where just land us!” I yelled to Minor as I rifled through the remains of the Vertibucks medi-kit, blasted into pieces by of of Brandy’s wayward rounds. I found two undamaged magical bandages which I quickly wrapped around Fruit Wing’s neck, trying not to strangle him at the same time. Staring up at me intently as I rushed, he kept wheezing and squeaking as if trying to talk, but I couldn’t understand anything he said.

I wrapped his neck in my blue aura, trying to feel out the damage with a basic medical spell Helix had taught me. His windpipe had been cut; that explained the wheezing, but both arteries seemed to be intact. With how he was still able to control the rest of his body, I could only guess that the damage had missed his spine. “Fruit Wing?” I asked. “Can you understand me?” Fruit Wing just wheased in my hooves, his eyes wide and fearful: that was probably a no. “Oh Sisters, please, how do I fix this…” I was jostled as we touched the ground, not quite level but good enough. “Mantis, keep pressure on, I need to try and contact the others.”

Once I was sure he was applying pressure correctly, I opened the rear hatch and made my way outside.

I pulled up the settings that Fran had given me to Stable Seventeen’s Gold channel and activated the short range transmitter. “Seafire to Francium. Seafire to Francium?” I called. “Seafire to Smoking, are you receiving me?”

Silence. I hadn’t expected a reply but it still made my heart sink.

I kept trying for a few more minutes, staring out into the orange tinted mist that surrounded us. So far as I could tell, we were back in the same valley as Dirtville, the colour of the ground and the rocks just seemed familiar. The only difference was there were plants here: green sickly-looking hemi-spherical mounds with vertical ridges at regular intervals; they reminded me of the prewar barrel cacti. Besides them however, there were no signs of life.

I dipped back inside the Vertibuck. “No reply from Fran or Smoking.” I said to nopony in particular. I made my way past the scorched and smoundering boxes of food to where Fruit Wing lay, Mantis still pressing on his neck. He seemed calmer now, his breathing regular, if shallow. “How is he doing?”

“Fine, so far as I can tell. One of us needs to see to Minor’s leg though.”

“No, I’m fine,” Minor replied with a grimace. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“You can’t stand on it, and you’re using the harness for support,” Mantis replied flatly.

Minor shook his head calmly. “I can still fly if I need too, and it’s not like we have the supplies left anyway.” He gestured at the remains of the Medi-kit we had. “A single magical bandage would suffice for now, but I am not sure what we have left.”

“I didn’t have anything to start with besides bloodpacks,” Mantis grumbled. He looked up at me expectantly. “What about you, got anything left?”

“Med-X, Rad-Away, two blood packs… and a Dash inhaler.” I layed out the items before me, the last item with a hint of disgust. “My last Healing Potion was smashed… so yeah, that’s all we have.”

Minor tapped his hoof in a thoughtful manor. “So, any idea who shot at us?”

“You mean inside the craft, or outside?” Mantis replied angrily, glaring at what remained of Brandy Butter. “Once Solar Decay was dead, he should’ve known their plan was a bust.”

“Plan?” I snapped back. “You killed Solar Decay, putting us all at risk and jeopardising this entire mission.”

“No, their plan, remember.” He pointed at Brandy’s body. “Solar, Brandy, Maelstrom and Kiwi. That little coup they were planning.”

Coup? “What the buck are you going on about?”

Mantis, gave me a confused look. “They didn’t tell you? I thought we were all in on it?”

“In on what?”

Mantis suddenly looked rather sheepish. “Uh… well…

I remained as still as I could. Across from me, Smoking looked like he was going to try and reach for the firing bit of his rifle, but his movement drew Maelstrom’s gaze. “Ah ah, hooves off. Toss that over here.” He grunted around the trigger. When Smoking hesitated, Maelstrom pressed the pistol harder into my skull. Thankfully Smoking took the hint, unclipping and tossing his rifle across to us. It landed next to Twilight Shadow who still lay, gasping and bleeding, atop the boxes. “Good. Now, drag the stripe outside, and hurry up.” After a supportive glance to me, Smoking did as he was bade, doing his best not to catch Xyalia’s leg as they dropped out the back of the ship. With them out of slight and with no weapons, Maelstrom kicked my flank until I got to my hooves. “Pull out your pistol… slowly.” He ordered. I considered trying to pull a fast one, but at this range Maelstrom would struggle to not incinerate my spine. Jury dropped next to Smoking’s gun, and I did my best to glare back at the Luna Guard. “Good, now get out. And you,” he sneered sarcastically at the whimpering Twilight. “Don’t go anywhere.”

I dropped down out of the Vertibuck and cautiously looked around. A heavy mist hung low over the area, limiting visibility to just a few dozen feet. I was reminded of Dirtville by the orange tint to the dusty ground, but here there were many cacti-like plants growing; squat domes of pale green skin covered in ridges which were covered in stubby white spikes.

“Any last words?” Maelstrom sneered from the back of the Vertibuck, leveling his Plasma Pistol at the three of us.

“You’re going to kill us?” For some reason I was surprised. Yeah, In the past few weeks I’d been shot at, held at gunpoint, almost eaten by a giant fish, but suddenly it seemed this was my moment to die. No pre-amble Just… death.

Maelstrom laughed, a satisfied glint in his eye. “Yeah. Yeah I am.”

Green energy erupted from the Plasma Pistol, striking me square in the chest. I heard myself scream, my chest burning with pain. I felt myself falling, my entire body feeling like it was on fire. My eyes were seared by a brilliant explosion of green light that encompassed my entire vision, until slowly everything went dark and I simply stopped thinking.

I couldn't believe it. I didn’t believe it, but it seemed Mantis was capable of some very stupid decisions.

“So you were ordered? And you did it? Without question?”

“What would you do?” Mantis replied defensively. “I had nothing else to go on, and as far as I could tell, having less of them on the mission made us safer anyway; less chance of them being able to turn on us.”

“Shooting them was going to make them turn on us anyway!” I snapped back. “You only got the drop on Solar through dumb luck. I’ve still got his bucking brains in my mane!”

“That’s not the problem anymore. Something is going on, and we’re being put in the middle of it, like it or not.”

“Like what exactly?” I couldn’t think of any logical reason why the mare we’d just met would secretly ask one of us to act as an assassin whilst on a dangerous yet critical mission of her own making. “I just can’t see any kind of pattern here. No rhyme or reason. If Mango Smoothie wanted Solar and Maelstrom dead, or suspected them of plotting to overthrow her, why would she wait? There is no way she would’ve know we’d arrive and present this opportunity for her to send her enemies out on a dangerous mission.”

Mantis went silent. For a minute I thought I’d made him see sense, or the lack thereof, but he suddenly started to nod. “The robot told me to kill Maelstrom Meringue, and Solar Decay. It also said if I failed it wouldn’t affect Helix and Foxgloves safety… yes that was it, ‘it will not directly affect the safe return of your friends’, and that it still ‘may well result in their and your other friends deaths.’” He recited, mulling something over in his mind, but something else caught my attention.

“Woah, wait? You mean the robot, Mr Squeaky gave you these orders?”

Mantis stared back blankly “Yeah, that's what I said isn't it?”

“You just said Mango Smoothie gave you other orders. I figured that implied that she had told you in person. And now you are telling me it was that damn robot?” I yelled back. “In Luna’s name, what made you think that was a good idea? Or any of this? You’ve put us all in danger. You were even explicitly told that it wouldn’t affect Foxglove and Helix if you did nothing and yet you risked everything!” I finished screaming.

Mantis didn’t respond for a moment. Then his eyes narrowed viciously, bitterness in his voice. “Deciding to help you lot was the wrong choice.” He waved a hoof dismissively. “Whatever, we need to get out of here and find the others. And we still have no idea who shot at us.”

I’m not a pony for ideas like the afterlife, but I would happily be proven wrong. I still felt alive, but how could you tell the difference? So when I opened my eyes, I was expecting nothing but white in all directions. Perhaps with a sun in the sky or a few minor features to fill an otherwise simple and featureless landscape. What I got was orange. Orange dirt: Not very Celestial. I decided to try moving. It wasn’t a bad idea, but I hurt everywhere, like the dull ache after an illness. I managed to lift my head high enough to look around, wondering if I’d see a pair of gates, or perhaps a path that lead me up to a throne where Luna and Celestia would sit side by side. Instead what I saw was green fire… rather a lot of green fire.

It was then that something else made its presence known. A tingling covering my whole body. It wasn’t unpleasant at first, but it continued to build and build until it felt like my body was being burned by flames across every inch of my skin. Even my horn felt like it had been turned around and jammed back into my skull, a searing point of agony on my head.

“Fran? Fran?!” I barely heard the words through a ringing that was growing in my ears.

“Arrrgh?” I grunted, a mix of severe pain and acknowledgement.

“Sweet Celestia, you’re alive!” The voice sounded very surprised.

“Uurrrgh...arrrrgh” I responded slowly.

“Sorry about this…” The voice said.

What were they sorry—abou-ghaaaagh! The needle stabbed straight into my rump, briefly overcoming the burn encompassing my body, before, slowly, all my pains receded to a dull ache; though it still felt like I had a spike in my forehead.

With a great effort I sat up and looked around. To my side lay Xyalia, her eyes wide with shock. Next to her was Smoking, still standing and yelling at somepony across from us. I looked round to see Maelstrom, half his armour blown off, the front half of his body burnt and blackened and missing his entire lower jaw. His body topped forwards into the dirt with a heavy thud, and lay motionless. ‘Who…?’ my inner pony began to ask, until I spotted Twilight Shadow, panting hard, Smokings rifle under her remaining good wing. ‘She shot the plasma pistol?’

I felt my barding being removed and my ASA suit being unzipped. I didn’t have the energy to resist, I simply slumped into Smokings hooves as he worked to free me from my garments. “Oh shit…” I heard him mutter. What was wrong? I glanced down and gulped. My whole body was burned. Smoke curled up from my scorched and melted fur, revealing a distinct pattern of raw red dots all across my body, blisters already starting to push up from under my fur. Smoking lay me down on top of my suit then dashed out of sight. I could hear him digging and rummaging, probably searching for healing potions and bandages. I noticed the discarded Med-X syringe he’d jammed into my rump, which explained why the burning had lessened. It also explained why I felt so drowsy. Damn stuff always made me sleepy. In fact, now seemed a good time to take a nap.

I awoke a short while later - at least I think it was a short while later, the green fire still burned and so did I - to a familiar humming sound. I rolled over and tried to look around, but my muscles still burned and ached, making movement strenuous and extremely painful.

“Smoking? Xyalia?” I called out. “Can you hear that?”

“Yeah.” Smoking whispered back, reading his rifle. “Take Jury, and be ready. Sounds like a Vertibuck.”

Gingerly taking my pistol in my magic, I lay as still as I could, doing my best dead impression, keeping my breathing low and shallow. Over the next few minutes the noise grew and faded, as if the craft was flying in a pattern towards us, but the heavy fog in the air was carrying the sound over a much greater distance making it impossible to know if the aircraft was just missing the edge of EFS range or several miles away.

“I think I caught it.” Smoking whispered. “Blue dot appeared on my EFS, due East.” I perked my ears up and listened intently. “Here it comes again. Yes, blue dot… maybe dots.”

“Seafire?” I asked, hoping Smoking would understand my one word question; it was painful to talk.

“I don’t know. Xyalia, how is your invisibility gem?”

“Sporadic.” The Zebra replied.

Smoking gave a gruff snort. “Will have to do. I’ll hide in the Vertibuck. Xyalia, activate your gem and try to stay hidden. Twilight, I’m sorry, I dare not move you so... just play dead. And Fran, do the same.”

Great.

Xyalia shimmered out of sight beside me; a part of me noticing that the gem took far longer to activate than it used too, while Smoking leapt up into the Vertibuck once again. With the others out of sight, all I could do was focus on the sound slowly drawing closer. At some point I realised it was no longer coming and going but growing steadily as if they finally had a destination: us. I watched the blue dot on my EFS move back and forth, the sound growing ever louder. Jury lay near my horn, my magic poised to grasp, aim and fire; just in case.

When the drone of engines became the now distinct sound of storm cloud thrusters, I shut my eyes and lay as still as I could. A unnatural wind ruffled my mane, followed by a gentle rumble as the aircraft set itself down. I felt hoofsteps through the ground, drawing closer and then…

“Look… Fran? Is she dead?” Mantis?

“No… she’s alive… I can see her on my EFS… but what happened here?” Seafire.

“Shit went down.” I head Smoking call out from inside the Vertibuck. “Friendly coming out.”

I opened my eyes. Seafire and Mantis where here! They both looked like hell, Seafire especially so, blood and gore splattered through her beautiful mane. I grunted and tried to sit up again only to be helped by Seafire.

“Fran… what happened to you?” Her voice was filled with anguish, her eyes darting all over my body, taking in my burns and blisters.

“Got shot.” I grunted back. “Maelstrom.” I looked over at his jawless corpse.

“Bastard.” I tried to chuckle at Seafire’s expletive but it turned into a painful coughing fit.

“Seafire, do you have any medical supplies?” I heard Smoking ask.

“No we…” Seafire began, only to stop, her ears pricking up. “Shhh… do you hear that?” I listened and I did. Another aircraft was nearby. There was nothing on my EFS, but the noise was unmistakable.

“Enclave. It has to be. Shit…” Smoking swore. “We don’t have a pilot any more. Maelstrom is dead and Twilight has a broken wing.”

“Fruit Wing is severely injured. Brandy is dead. Minor is injured but well enough to fly.” Seafire replied, her tone quick and precise, her security training kicking in. I felt a sudden wave of nostalgia as I remembered her inspiring and beautiful presence in Stable Seventeen as I grew up.

“So we only have one pilot?” Smoking asked.

Seafire nodded grimly. “If they catch us we’re dead. If we go back with no food, we’re probably dead.”

“Probably is better than definitely,” Smoking replied. “Seafire, you’ve got the better medical training. We have one remaining healing potion. I don’t think a single potion is going to fix Fran and it certainly can't help Twilight. Would it heal Fruit Wing’s wound so we can get both craft out of here? Or would it be best for Minor so we have one strong flier and get the hell out of here?”

“Give it to Minor,” she replied swiftly. “I am not sure giving it to Fruit Wing would do him any good.”

“Mantis, see to Minor. Seafire, Get Fran into the Vertibuck. I’ll get Xyalia.”

“What about Twilight?” Seafire asked as she carefully lifted me with her magic. “We can’t just leave her here.”

“We’ll get her last.” Smoking replied bluntly, helping Xyalia towards the other Vertibuck. “We might have to ditch some of the food too. I’ve no idea what the lifting… Shit. EFS.” I glanced at my readout and gulped. A large red dot was speeding towards us, growing in intensity with every passing second. “Fran? How long do we have?” Smoking asked, as Seafire deposited me down into the back of the aircraft next to Xyalia.

But I didn’t need to reply. A deep rumble sounded nearby and dust began to swirl around us. The large red dot split into five separate markers that quickly swarmed towards us. Outside ,Smoking and Seafire raised their hooves, dropping their weapons. I found myself facing down the barrel of a pristine, shimmering plasma rifle, and this time I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be so lucky.

Footnote: 50% To Next Level

Author's Notes:

Good things come to those who...

Ouroborous isn't dead! Started writing again back in December and I've finally found my momentum again... well I hope so anyway.

As before you have Honey Mead of Rolling Bones fame to thank for pre-reading; sorting out my wayward explanations and odd speech style. But this time I am pleased to say I have the amazing Relentless of Frozen Skies behind me as well, so a great thank you to the both of you.

I can't garurentee when the next chapter will be out by I hope it will be some time around the end of April. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.

- Fran

...wait.