Just something from an idea that's been running around in my head for a while. The scenario will play out as I go along. Be sure to keep an eye out for a number of surprises that I have in store for the characters.
Merlin and all associated characters are the property of the BBC.
And now to the story.
Chapter I
Returning to the main base seemed to take forever, he had been out west gathering troops for a new group of soldiers from a group of Mustang horses who had been transformed into more humanoid beings they called "Equisapiens" or "Homo Sapien Equus." as they were known in scientific terms. No one knew why these creatures came into existence, it had just happened seemingly overnight, nearly seven million horses, stallions, geldings and mares had mysteriously been transformed into these creatures.
Equisapiens were beings that were eighty percent human and twenty percent horse, the height, and hair color depended on both the individual and the breed. The skull was mostly human with a three to four inch equine muzzle protruding from the face. He had created twelve infantry corps of forty thousand men each, however, he was expanding those by adding twelve divisions of mustangs to the ranks, which would have been seven hundred twenty thousand men once training had finished.
The Equine soldiers on their own were among the best in the world, unmatched in courage, strength, loyalty, discipline, ferocity, determination and honor being the highest prized trait. On the plane, a specially outfitted seven seventy-seven that was every bit as luxurious as Air Force One, he sat with members of his staff, his top officers and the twelve new corps commanders he had just commissioned several days before.
All were wearing dress uniforms based off a pattern the General himself had designed in the vein of mid Nineteenth Century uniforms, they were a solid forest green color sack-type coat and trousers, they had a standing collar, single breasted with gold piping along the seams. Black leather knee boots that came halfway up the calf, black leather saber belts, their sabers stored in the over head bins for the duration of the flight.
The most prominent of the bunch was sitting across the aisle in his dress uniform looking out the window. He was a Kieger Mustang with buckskin color body hair and a head of thick, black hair that came down to his shoulders. This was Major General John Dakota, the commander of the First Mustang Infantry Division. Next to him was Major General Jimmy Kobalt, a tall, and very strong paint stallion, he was the commander of the Second Mustang Infantry Division.
Across from them sat the Commanders of the Third and Fourth Mustang Infantry Divisions, in the four seats behind them were the commanders of the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Mustang Infantry Divisions, and the four seats on their other side were occupied by the commanders of the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Mustang Infantry Divisions. In the seat next to the General sat his Adjutant and right hand man. Colonel Brian McDoogle a stallion who stood at five foot seven, had dark brown body hair and a head of short, but thick black hair. Across from them were the two officers he trusted the most, on the right was his second in command, and the commander of the First Equine Corps, Lieutenant General Edward McDale or "Ed" as everyone called him. He was a tall Clydesdale stallion, about six foot seven, had a coat of Chestnut color hair, a head of long, black hair and a white blaze down the middle of his face.
On the left, was a much shorter officer standing at five foot six who was the General's oldest and closest friend, so close they were practically brothers. He had a light brown coat of body hair, darker brown, almost black hair from his elbows down and short, thick black hair on his head. This was Major General Dale Reiter, Commander of the First Equine Infantry Division. The General was the most important person on the plane being the commander in chief of all military forces under him and the supreme commander of what they referred to as the "Freedom Alliance". He was an average size man with short black hair and a well groomed mustache and beard. To compliment his position, he was gifted with a mastery of strategy and tactics despite having never gone to a military academy. He sat in his seat with his trusted canine companion, Jake, a fawn Great Dane who was laying with his head in his lap, going over a list of troop rosters while scratching his dog's head. He looked over at General Dakota, still staring out the window.
"John, you alright?" The General asked with some concern; "You've been starin' out the window the entire flight." General Dakota looked towards the General and replied, "Partly because I've never flown before and I've left behind everything I've ever known."
"Don't worry about it, you'll adjust soon enough." The two went back to what they were doing as the captain came over the intercom, "Attention all passengers, we are ten minutes out from the home airfield, at this time we ask that everyone prepare for landing."
When the plane had landed and taxied to a stop, the passengers on board were greeted by an honor guard in dress uniforms and carrying their M-one Garands with bayonets fixed. A set of stairs was wheeled into place in front of the open forward hatch on the port side. The officers on board with their swords clipped to their belts exit down the steps, across the tarmac lined with soldiers with their rifles at "Present Arms" to awaiting vehicles, eight olive drab Ford Escapes with white stars on the hood and on the sides.
After several minutes, the vehicles drove forward and out of the airbase. Along the way, General Dakota marveled at the buildings and vehicles that they passed by, as one might do going from a primitive setting to a modern one. He was amazed by the architecture and level of technology before him and could not fathom how it all came to be.
After fifteen minutes of travel, the vehicles pulled into the parking lot of a massive building taking up fifty thousand square feet of space. The outer walls were made of reinforced cinderblocks with wooden walls on the interior except the nerve center which was built into the side of a hill and had a viewing area for visitors that looked down on the staff, desks and the backs of computer monitors facing them. The officers got out of their vehicles and started towards the massive structure.
"What is this place?" General Dakota said in amazement, to which the General replied, "This is the Command HQ, the nerve center of the entire base. All the major decisions are made here. We prefer to have staff on duty at any time, in ten hour shifts, eight thirty to five thirty, five thirty to two thirty and two thirty to eight thirty. That way we always have fresh bodies on post." The group entered the building and walked towards the main offices passing by the receptionist's desk, past many rooms and offices and hallways. They stopped at a set of windows looking down on the control room, several hallways led to offices and a meeting room.
Next to the windows on the right side was a door with a key card lock that led down a flight of stairs to the control room. The General unlocked the door and led them down into the control room, "This is the Control Room where every situation is monitored." The General began as he approached the center of the room; "When we get reports of a possible crisis that is underway, we immediately put a drone in the air so we can monitor the situation in real time as it happens."
Up on the wall below the viewing windows were three monitoring screens and in the corner was a stack of four lights, blue, orange, yellow and red. The screen in the center had a map of the United States that resembled the Electoral College map with all of New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, all the Great Lakes states, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii highlighted in blue and all the other states in red. The screens on the left and right were blank at the current time as they weren't being used at the moment.
The General then led the group down a hall to the meeting room, once they entered, they could see a large room with a round oak table that had enough space to seat twenty-five people. After a while, the General, Ed, Dale, Brian, General Dakota and several others left the building to go to lunch.