Jackknife was giving Echo squad orders as the crow touched down on the landing pad on the side of the C.O.G. building. The wind and rudders from the crow made it hard to hear what he was saying. The C.O.G. Tower was a colossal building that reached higher then any other structure in Canterlot. It was once the castle that housed Celestia and Luna, but that was a long time ago. Now it was the C.O.G. turned it into a Command Center. This is where Chairman Prescolt leads and organizes operations against the Locust hoard.

“Okay everypony, once we get inside we’ll bring Phoenix to the Chairmen for debriefing, then we’ll head down to the barracks for some R & R. The members of Echo squad all hopped out of the chopper and made their way to the building’s entrance. Pot turned around and tipped his cowboy hat to the pilot who saluted him back then flew off. The two armored guards saluted Jackknife then opened the double doors to the building.

Jackknife always hated to report to the Chairman, not because of Prescolt, but because wherever he was, Colonel Hoofman was there too. He had a nasty habit of, in Jackknife’s words, ‘being a real asshole’. The only thing that made the trip bearable, was the fact that he got to see Twilight. Jackknife didn’t have feelings for her, but only cared for her as a family member. Twilight was a very good friend of his wife, Dew Drop, who had gone missing a few years ago. This was about the same time Jackknife joined Echo squad. He hoped that he would find her one day during a mission to find and recruit stranded. Twilight still searches the data base for any signs of her, but most of the leads she gets turn out to be dead ends.

Echo squad had to pass through the Command Center floor to get to the elevators that lead to the Chairman’s office. It was bustling with ponies relaying commands to other squads out in the field. Jackknife found it hard to believe that all of them could concentrate with everypony talking at once, but some how it worked so he just put it out of his mind. He saw Rarity in one corner of the room nodding off in her chair with an off computer screen in front of her. He put his hoof on her shoulder and said, “Hey Rarity, you seen Twilight?”

His voice caused her to jump a bit. With her hoof over her chest to calm her down, she answered. “Oh dear you startled me Jackknife. Um...yes she and I traded off shifts a few moments ago, you must have just missed her. She had told me you were going to report to the Chairman, so I assumed that you did not need me.”

“I see, did she say where she was going?” He asked.

Rarity shifted her gaze to the ceiling and put he hoof under she chin, then said, “I believe she mentioned something about checking a lead on your wife. Poor dear hasn’t slept in two days.”

This made Jackknife feel guilty about keeping Twilight from her much deserved sleep. “Alright thanks Rarity. Tell Twilight I really appreciate her looking into Dew Drop for me, but she needs to rest. Let her know I said it’s okay for her to take a break. Oh and Rarity....” His face straitened out in seriousness. “....Never assume that we don’t need you. You’re one of the most important members of this team, so we need you focused and alert.”

She was not offended by his statement, but she was so tired. It was getting harder and harder for her to stay awake, but the thought of her being one of ‘the most important’ members on the team spurred her on. “Yes sir.” she said with confidence, then turned on the computer and went for a cup of coffee.

Echo squad continued towards the Chairman’s office. Jackknife put his code into the lock on the door and it granted him access to the room. When he opened the door, Prescolt was in the middle of a conversation with a unicorn scientist. The conversation abruptly came to an end when they entered. The scientist looked at the Chairman with expecting eyes. “We will continue this conversation another time doctor.” Prescolt said.

“Yes Chairman. I’ll be in the lab.” With that, the unicorn scuttled out of the room past Echo squad.

Jackknife was relieved that Hoofman was not present. He saluted Prescolt then said. “Sir we’ve brought you the prisoner we rescued.”

The Chairman looked past Jackknife at Phoenix, “Thank you Corporal.” Prescolt put his hoof over his shoulder, “You and your men go get yourselves some rest. You’ve earned it.” He patted him on the back. “As for you Phoenix. You’ve been demoted to private for your actions at the defence of Manehattan.” Phoenix’s face seemed as if he was enraged, but he was quiet and acted quite calm. “You will give me a full debriefing on the information you have gained from the Locust prison. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir.” said Phoenix in a low but agitated and angry voice.

“Good, now have a seat we have much to discuss.” Prescolt sat down in his chair, then noticed that Echo squad was still standing there. “That will be all Corporal.”

Before they left Jackknife asked, “Sir, I was just wondering, where’s the Colonel?”

Prescolt smiled, knowing why he asked the question. “He’s left to rendezvous with Delta squad. He has a mission for them to recover something from Alpha squad who went dark somewhere near the House of Sovereign. I’m afraid that’s all the information that I can release, it’s on a need to know basis.” Jackknife nodded then signaled for his team to to leave.

Echo squad went down the elevator to the barracks. “Hey Jack, What was that ‘need to know basis’ shit Prescolt was givin’ us about Delta and Alpha.” asked Axle.

“I don’t know man, but it’s got to be important for Hoofman to get out from between the Chairman’s legs to go do it.” said Jackknife with a smirk.

Tank Tread ended the chuckles by saying, “I dunno bout you guys but I’mma hit the showers. I got Locust juice all ova’ my ass.” Tank was the teams heavy weapons expert and was an extra large, dark brown stallion who’s appearance gave you the hint not to fuck with him, but had a good sense of humor and loved to lighten up any situation with jokes. He is Pinkie Pie’s cousin and shares her personality and pink Afro mane. He likes to where a helmet to protect his head. Even though the rest of the squad prefers not to.

“Whoa Tank, I didn’t know your barn door swung that way!” They all started chuckling at the comment Axle made.

Tank quickly retaliated with, “Man, shut da fuck up. If I remember right you was the one getting yo mane brushed by that one big Blaster, back in Tyrus. Oh yeah he really liked you, what did he call you again? Oh right his little pony pet. HA HA!” The others started to laugh even harder.

Axles face reddened with anger. “Hey man! You said you wouldn’t tell anypony, what the fuck?!” Axle was the squad’s field engineer, and always picked on Tank, although he seemed to win more often then Axle did. He was the smallest of the bunch though not by much. His orange coat and spiky red mane made him the target of many jokes, such as ‘orange ass’, and ‘ginger’.

“Aw, relax baby, you know I ain’t gon say nuthin’. Just gotta put cha in your place every once in a while.” Tank laughed.

Axle, still upset, said, “Whatever man, let’s just get to the showers so I can wash off all this shit.” Axle and Tank Tread had known each other since before the war. They met one day while Axle was getting beaten up by two bullies in the school restroom. Tank Tread walked in and picked up the two ponies in each hoof and threatened them if they didn’t leave. When Tank asked why they were fighting him. Axle responded with “Well I was skipping class to try and fix my invention when the ugly one came in and said ‘You got a pretty small screwdriver there buddy.’ I told him that’s not what his mother said, and politely asked him to go fuck himself. He did not ablidge.”

Tank could barely breath after hearing the story, he was laughing too hard. Tank immediately took a liking to him and they have been good friends since. They were an unlikely friendship due to the fact that Tank was on the Hoofball team, and Axle was loner who was extremely gifted with machines and mechanics.

Once the team had showered, they had to clean and inspect their equipment. Axle was wiping his goggles as he made sure all of his tools were accounted for. Pot McShot had completely disassembled his Sniper rifle and was cleaning every individual piece to make sure that the rifle would function properly. Tank Tread had his Mulcher on top of the table and was charging the battery while counting the number of rounds he had for the gun. Jackknife had cleaned off all the blood from his rifle and it’s bayonet, and was now using a tooth brush to scrub the nooks and crannies of his armor.

Jackknife, still scrubbing his armor, asked “You’re awfully quiet Mac, something on your mind.”

Pot was checking the sights on his scope when he said, “I’m not sure exactly what it is Jack, but somethin’ doesn’t seem right. With all that’s goin’ on with the Chairman and Hoofman. That doctor that got outta’ there in a hurry seemed aspecious. And what’s the deal with this new bloke Phoenix? The Chairman doesn’t just send a whole squad to get one prisoner from a heavily guarded base like that, just for what little Intel he may or may not have. I’m just sayin’ lad, it all seems a bit dodgy to me.”

Jackknife had known Pot long enough to understand that when he had a feeling, it was best to take it very seriously. “Your right Mac, but for now all we can do is wait and see what happens. In the meantime let’s just enjoy the time we have off before Prescolt decides to cut it short.”

Pot shot had finally reassembled his rifle and aimed down the sights at the opposite wall, “Whatever you say lad, you’re the boss.”

At that exact moment Rarity blindly busted through the door with her front leg over her face, as to avoid seeing them exposed. “Jack I have a message for you and your team. It’s from Prescolt he wants you to finish what it is your doing quickly and report to him asap. He says he has a mission for you.” She was fumbling around still covering her face. Most of them were in the under clothes but Rarity refused to see them naked even though most ponies used to wear nothing at all, but times have changed and it was looked down upon to go nude. She herself had on the standard female uniform, a C.O.G. grey long-sleeve skirt one-piece with black boots.

“Speak of the Devil.” Groaned Axle as he put on his goggles.

Jackknife grabbed her and directed her to the exit, “Thanks Rarity, let him know we’re on our way.”

“Roger, Wilco Jack.” She said as she fumbled her way out the door.

Jackknife turned around and disappointingly said, “Alright you heard her Echo, get geared up and grab a quick bit to eat. We wouldn’t want to keep the Chairman waiting.” He said sarcastically.

Tank packed up his ammunition, “What about those drinks sir?”

Jackknife put on his visor and said, “They’ll have to wait. Don’t worry they’ll be cold when we get back.

Once Echo squad was suited up and had eaten, they went back up the elevator and down the hall to the Chairman’s office. When they entered the room, Phoenix was still there but he was wearing, outdated, C.O.G. armor. Jackknife was going to ask a why, but before he could the Chairman interrupted him. “I hope your three hour vacation was enjoyable, because you’ve got a new assignment. Your mission is to locate and destroy a locust supply base somewhere near these coordinates.”

Jackknife looked at the map, ‘Ponyville, that’s where Twilight and Rarity are from. I hope they don’t have a hard time dealing with this.’

The Chairman continued, “The Locust are using this base to supply weapons and ammunition to their little grub friends that are attacking the city. If we don’t cut them off now, they will eventually weaken our defences enough to climb up here without us sending them back down to the holes they came from. Find and destroy this base, and the Locust will have no choice to retreat all the way back to Tyrus city. One more thing, I’m assigning private Phoenix to Echo squad. He will be joining you on your mission, he had the base’s location memorized. He will lead you to it. Corporal I’m counting on you and your men to get the job done, don’t fail me.”

Jackknife raised his hoof to salute the Chairman. “Sir, yes sir. Don’t worry we’ll take care of it.”

Prescolt sat back down in his chair. “Oh yes, I forgot to mention something. Commander Macintosh has a surprise for you in the armory. Before you leave, go down there and get supplied. I think you’ll like it.”

“Yes sir.” Jackknife and the rest of Echo squad turned around and left for the armory. Once they were down the elevator and in the armory, they searched for Commander Macintosh. They easily spotted him with his bright red coat and orange mane. “Commander, the Chairman said you had a surprise for us.”

Commander Macintosh nodded his head slightly and pointed to the weapon’s rack. “Eeyup.”

As they all walked over to a weapons crate, Pot and Jackknife were in the back of the group. They looked at each other for a moment then at Phoenix who was up in the front. Then finally Jackknife asked, “What do you think Mac?”

Pot tipped up his hat and rubbed his goatee with his hoof. “Dodgy.....real Dodgy.”

Jackknife looked back at Phoenix, “I see.”

Once the group arrived at the crate, Axle pulled out a crowbar from his tool pouch and pried it open. He picked out a shiny new riffle with an under chainsaw attachment.

“Oh dear Celestia, is that the new Lancer X-5 model?” He asked.

The Commander closed his eyes and said, “Eeyup.”

Jackknife was unfamiliar with modern weaponry, “What’s an X-5 model?”

Axle was in shock, “Are you kidding me? This is only the most advanced riffle yet. With it’s gas powered chainsaw, high-tech Laser cross-hairs targeting system, it’s light carbon fiber frame, and longer spiral barrel for greater accuracy.”

“Actually the chainsaw’s ethanol powered, and the frame is made of Stylocite, not carbon fiber, whatever the hay that is. It also takes .308, 5.56 NATO, armor piercing rounds to really give it that kick to get through a grub’s armor.” Commander Macintosh corrected Axle.

Everypony stood silently with their mouths open in amazement, Axle being the most astonished.

The Commander just looked at the ceiling with his usual half awake face, “Eeyup.”

Jackknife didn’t know what else to say but, “Thank you sir,...we’ll on our way now.” and proceeded to leave.

Commander Macintosh waved goodbye and said. “Y’all come back now ya hear!”

Echo made their way back to the elevator, when Phoenix asked Jackknife, “So what now Corporal?”

“Now we head for Ponyville private. Axle, call in a King Crow to drop us off. Oh and by the way private....welcome to Echo.”