Ray gripped the steering wheel of his Scrambler with force that made the rubber material wrinkle over the frame. His nerves were getting the best of him as he cautiously proceeded down a pathway through the barren mountains, monitoring the silhouettes of rocks and dead plant life for anything suspicious.
Junkers was in a similar frame of mind, looking down the physical sights in the turret blister and occasionally glancing at the motion-tracking monitor situated to the left of him. His seat was slightly elevated so that he could get a clear view from inside the fully-glazed blister, and it was married to the powered rotation controls so that both moved in unison. The blister was reminiscent to that on an old bomber, though with flat armored glass panels rather than streamlined, and mounted a 37mm cannon on the right side in place of where an additional window panel would be.
Shining Armor leaned forward in his improvised passenger seat arranged in tandem behind Ray, next to Junkers, practically hugging his Heckler & Koch G3 while straining to study Ray's observations of the world outside of the vehicle. His frustration was obvious in that he would have preferred taking priority of the wells before proceeding with the rescue mission, but he knew that this situation called for Ray's elevated authority over him and therefore he struggled to restrain himself.
"Any sign of life yet?" Chrysalis crackled on the radio. She was safe in the 2S25 "Sprut" tank-destroyer tailing Ray's Scrambler, ahead of just one Elytron Model 4 carrying the SMF team.
Ray reached for the handset. "Nothing so far, as far as I can see." He turned to Junkers, who gave him a shake of the head after reviewing the motion tracker that only read the two known signatures. "Nothing on the tracker either."
"What about transmissions? Any unidentified radio chatter?"
"Not on our channel."
"Try other ones then."
He shrugged, glancing at the old receiver. "I don't know, I'm not familiar with this model and there's no displays left so I'm just keeping it on this channel and frequency. Don't want to screw it up."
"We'll try on our end then. How's your fuel?"
He snorted and loosened his grip on the wheel. "You just want to hear my voice, don't you? Feeling lonely in that big Sprut?"
"Ray, remember what we discussed."
"Sorry... my Queen. Fuel's still in the green and we have plenty of reserves, so don't worry."
"Advise any changes. Out."
Ray set the communicator down, tugging at his hot collar with the assumption of judgmental eyes responding to the awkward end of that conversation. He decided to break the ice and turn to Junkers. "Are we loaded and locked?"
Junkers inspected the weapon. "Yeah," he turned to a rack situated behind him, holding six can-shaped containers with spirals of 37mm explosive shells inside of them, "But we only have six Star-clips."
"Should be enough. We're not going to war, Junkers. This is a stealth mission as long as we stick with the plan."
"And what if the situation renders it otherwise?"
He shrugged. "Retrograde and Chrysalis' Sprut for cover, I guess."
"Not very reassuring."
"Look, just trust my judgement on this. This isn't my first time in the desert."
"Yeah," started Shining, "Running away from everything."
Ray took a breath to respond to that bit of sarcasm, but rethought his response as he knew this was true. It was not until his discovery of Equestria that he began to stand up for himself and others rather than retreating from any given threat. "There's no shame in hiding."
A beep sounded on the tracker, catching Junkers' attention. He could see an additional signature emerging from the top edge of the screen, descending as they approached. "I got something here."
"Where?" Ray peered for a glimpse of something along the hills.
Junkers pointed in the direction that the tracker indicated. "Just over that hill to the left."
Ray picked up the handset. "Activity spotted. Eyes on. Follow my lead with low-level lighting." He set it down after receiving acknowledgement from Chrysalis and the driver of the Model 4, then switched to low beams as he slowly guided his vehicle towards the hill. The other vehicles followed his gradual ascent, also switching to lower lights.
He stopped at a particular elevation, shutting off his lights, which prompted the others to do the same, then turned to Junkers. "Still have it?"
"Yeah, still there. It's fluctuating, but it's not advancing anywhere beyond that one area."
"Stay here. Shining, follow me. Let's go have a look." Ray grabbed a scoped CX-4 Storm carbine next to his seat and slid his door open.
Upon exiting the vehicle, Ray and Shining both kept a low profile as they climbed up the hill, all the way to the top where they could see what was over it. They stopped as soon as they could see lights in the dunes ahead, belonging to an industrial complex seemingly filled with human activity.
"This looks promising." said Ray, peering down the awkwardly-mounted rifle scope on his carbine. He spotted several wasteland vehicles parked in a nearby open garage and a fuel truck connected to a large repository, most likely unloading its petroleum cargo from the wells.
"If you say so." was Shining's delayed response.
He continued to observe the complex, spotting awkwardly-built rooms overlooking an open area with jagged steel welded together as if to contain something that was not meant to escape. "Those look like cages... but they're empty."
Shining shifted in the dirt. "Great. Because no other fortress takes prisoners, therefore this must be the place."
Ray lost a hold of his temper and lowered the weapon. "Okay, what the hell is your problem?"
Shining's eyes went wide. "What?"
"This whole trip you've been a pain in the ass, and I'm getting sick of it."
"Listen here, Skyray, if you speak to me like that again-..."
"I don't care what position you are in the Guard," he interrupted, "You better change your attitude or I'll change it for you!"
"Don't bark at me, you scav!"
"Say that again. Say that again, I dare you!"
"Shut up!" Chrysalis shouted from the Sprut, "Both of you! You sound like a couple of foals in a schoolyard! How about some professionalism?"
"Yeah," Junkers agreed, "And covertness."
Both attempted to regain their composure and return focus at the complex in front of them.
"I'll try and forget this conversation in my next report." Shining mumbled.
"Really, Shining?" Ray responded in a quieter tone, "Why don't you just tell me what your problem is instead of being an ass about it? Is this still about the race yesterday, or what?"
Shining met Ray's gaze, then shifted his attention behind him. "What's that?"
Ray rolled his eyes. "What are you, two? I'm trying to have a professional conversation here."
"No, really, what is that?" He cocked his weapon.
Ray trusted his apprehensiveness and turned around. A brightly-lit object emerged from the hills in the distance, slowly heading in their direction. Ray picked up his weapon and peered through the scope to get a better view.
A... train? It was an odd sight, as it appeared to lack any major engine compartment and instead sported massive solar sails, giving the impression of a pirate ship in silhouette against the bright lighting on board. It even had a crow's nest with an elderly human man observing the surroundings with a pair of binoculars.
Ray took a closer look at the ground nearby and spotted a set of rusted tracks a few meters away. How'd we miss that?
"Ray!" Junkers called out while trying to retain a covert tone, pointing in the direction of the sail-train.
"We see it, Junk." Ray responded.
The sail-train rolled closer, maintaining its sluggish speed down the tracks. Ray could spot more human people on the deck, seemingly frantic about something while shouting orders and going about various jobs in haste.
The man in the crow's nest looked terrified at something straight ahead, lowering his binoculars. "Barrier ahead! Barrier ahead! Hit the breaks!"
Ray looked on at the opposite end of the tracks and noticed a pile of dirt and metal debris forming an impenetrable barricade for the vehicle.
A crewman on the sail-train ran up to a pair of levers at the front of the vehicle, pulling them back as hard as he could. The breaks screeched as they rubbed against the rolling wheels, making everyone react to the sound as if they were fingernails on a chalkboard.
"Contact!" the man in the crow's nest shouted, pointing at the barrier.
Three figures emerged from the debris, setting up a SPG-9 recoilless anti-tank gun aimed right at the approaching sail-train. They broke open the hinged cone in the rear to expose the breach and loaded a 73mm rocket, closing the breach once the projectile was secured, then fired the rocket at the vehicle.
The rocket impacted the base of the tower holding the crow's nest, causing it to topple down onto the deck with the man tumbling out of the nest and through a weak point in the deck's wooden construction.
"Junkers!" Ray called, "Take out that cannon!"
Shining grabbed his shoulder. "But this isn't our fight!"
Ray shook Shining's hoof off and climbed to his feet. "I've got a goddamn plan!" he yelled, running towards the sail-train.
Junkers rotated the turret with the 37mm gun trained at the anti-tank position behind the barrier, then fired one of the "Star" shells at it. Success, as the position fragmented from a quick fireball.
"Trikers on the starboard!" a crewman on the sail-train shouted.
Ray stopped dead in his tracks and jerked to his left to find a squad of motorized trikes heading towards him and the mammoth tracked vehicle.
Junkers took out one of the lead trikes with another Star, providing a distraction from Ray's end of the skirmish.
Ray took aim with his carbine and attained a kill. A driver of one of the trikes fell from his seat, allowing Ray to capture the stray vehicle for himself and sped around to the other side of the sail-train.
Two of the train's crewmen manned respective side turrets, which upon closer inspection appeared to be motorcycles with rollcages attached to improvised pivots, armed with sawed-off miniguns. The gunners tried for the remaining trikes but struggled to aim for the fast-moving vehicles in contrast to the slow pivots.
One of the trikers unholstered a small crossbow and launched an arrow at one of the gunners, impacting him in the chest, just below his right shoulder.
Chrysalis' Sprut was in motion, with the Queen herself aiming for the trike with the 125mm gun. "Hang on!" the driver shouted as they literally flew from an elevation in the ground. Chrysalis fired a shell whilst the Sprut was still airborne and destroyed the trike before they touched back onto the ground. "Wooo! Yes!" she cheered.
Ray quickly explored the surrounding dunes and found a natural ramp for himself, launching him and his trike full-speed into the air, heading straight for the sail-train. He crashed into a pile of crates along the deck, forcing him off the trike. He shook off the painful impact and and fired at two trikers that threw grappling hooks onto the sides of the hull.
Only one triker remained and was quickly destroyed by Junkers in the Scrambler.
One of the crewmen approached Ray with an assault rifle, prompting them both into a standoff as they aimed at each other.
"Hey, whoa, wait a minute!" Ray demanded.
The crewman remained still. "Drop the gun!"
"I will if you will!"
Large splinters of wood exploded from the deck, forming a chain of holes as they reached the crewman, shredding him into pieces before his eyes. The man's gun discharged all over the deck, forcing Ray to dive for cover behind the wrecked trike until its clip was spent.
"Gunships!" another crewman shouted in terrified repetition, "Take cover!"
Ray emerged from cover and finally caught the sound of rotor blades in the distance, spotting two helicopters approaching the port-side of the sail-train. "Why can't anything be simple anymore?"
The gunships fired a barrage rockets, attaining hits that destroyed chunks of the crudely-built tracked vehicle, taking out a large amount of its population. They overshot the target and banked around for another attack.
Ray was among a few others that jumped from the sail-train, sprinting for cover near the dunes obscuring the Scrambler and other vehicles.
The gunships apparently did not notice the escape and proceeded to attack the sail-train until it was a smoking pile of twisted metal and burning wood. All that remained were a couple of shipping containers behind it, which were likely left standing due to the possibility of goods inside.
The surviving crewmen looked on at the remains of their vehicle as they lay still in the sand with Ray, some stifling tears and others with vengeful scowls.
The gunships observed the area with their searchlights, looking for any survivors, but suddenly came to a stationary hover. The first one appeared to be an Aerospatiale Dauphin, while the other looked like a later-model Mi-24 Hind, both armed to the teeth. Ray presumed that the Hind was the leader.
"My Lord Overdog." came the voice of the pilot in the Dauphin over its loudspeaker, "We're low on fuel. We should go back and return in the morning for our spoils when we're full and have better visibility."
The Hind appeared to agree despite lack of audible response and turned for the industrial complex in the distance. The Dauphin promptly followed behind.
Satisfied that both were now a safe distance away, the crewmen crawled to their feet and approached the remains of the sail-train, kicking and shoving away the debris to look for any signs of life and intact items still of usefulness.
One of the young crewmen found the old man under a shred of solar sail, still alive but bleeding profusely from a wound on his head.
"Duster!" the young crewman called, "Get over here, he's hurt!"
Another young crewman, obviously a twin brother judging by the same facial features, scrambled over to help, with a few others following him. "Jarrett, get out some bandages."
Jarrett reached for a pouch on his combat belt and pulled out a roll of cloth, proceeding to dress the wounds on the old man's head.
Ray casually glanced over to them while he wandered about the wreckage, with Shining Armor joining him. The Scrambler and the other vehicles drove up to the remains as well to gain a better perspective of the situation.
The old man caught Ray's glance as if he recognized him. "Overdog!"
Ray furrowed his brow, uncertain of what he meant.
"Overdog!" he repeated, "You did this to me, you son of a bitch! You knew we were the only doctors in the whole zone! How could you?!"
"I think you're confusing me with someone else." Ray replied.
Duster restrained the old man from moving. "Be still, Grandman. He's not the Overdog."
Grandman groaned from his pain. "Then who is he?"
"He's just an outlander. A scav."
Ray, taking offense to the term, responded. "My name's Ray. SIC of the REDF."
"Red... Eff?" He pondered the acronym.
Jarrett got up and approached Ray with a stride that made him look authoritative. "What do you people want?"
"Jeez," Ray mumbled to Shining, "Is it so hard to get a simple 'thanks' once in awhile?"
"I asked you a question, outlander!" His authoritative demeanor faded upon noticing Shining Armor, obviously never having seen a creature like him before.
"I'm on a rescue mission. I have reason to believe what I want is located in that complex over there." He pointed in its direction. "You know anything useful?"
"You have no claim there. The killing of Overdog is ours and ours alone."
"I said it's a rescue mission. What I want is to find my friend and his team and get them out. I have no interest in this 'Overdog', whoever he is."
"You wish to enter the Forbidden Zone, then so be it, but do it yourself. We have blood-loss here."
"Hey, I only wanted some info. Sorry to bother you." Ray walked towards the Scrambler with Shining following behind.
Jarrett edged to follow in order to end the conversation his way, but was stopped by his brother, persuading him back to the job at hand.
...
...
...
Agusta paced around Cattani's hospital bed, gripping a file folder under his arm while he held a fist under his chin as an aid for his deep thoughts.
Cattani was fully conscious, though hooked up to IVs and bandaged to the point of looking like a mummy. "Agusta, stop pacing around. You'll wear a groove in the floor."
"Stop distracting me. You're breaking my concentration."
"You're breaking mine too, now stop it!"
Agusta stopped and found a chair, seating himself next to the bed.
"Let me see the file again."
Agusta handed it to him.
Cattani flipped through various pages until he came across the report on the device that resulted in his injuries, then flipped to the report on the one that resulted in the destruction of the department store in Canterlot. He made a grunt and flipped back to the more recent report.
"I just don't get it." said Agusta. "How are we having such a hard time finding this guy?"
Cattani ignored him and continued reading.
"No fingerprints, no hoofprints, no eyewitnesses, nothing."
"You can't expect instant results, Agusta. Think: what do we know thus far?"
Agusta paused for a moment before responding, then took a deep breath. "Well, first off both devices he planted are directional in nature, meaning they force their energy at a specific target."
Cattani nodded. "Yes, what else?"
"Both devices were professionally made. The bomber knows what he's doing and anticipates tampering with his plans."
Cattani shrugged. "I suppose so, but what else?"
"He's careful not to leave a shred of evidence. No eyewitness reports either. Somehow he's able to infiltrate very public places without being spotted."
"There. Think for a moment. How is he able to achieve such a feat in plain sight, even in broad daylight?"
Agusta put his fist under his chin again, thinking hard, until it finally dawned on him. "He's a Changeling!"
Cattani nodded with a grin this time. "He, or she, can be anyone they choose to be, at any moment, and no one would expect a thing."
"Holy shit, Cattani."
"Yes. It's imperative that we keep this revelation out of the books for now, or it may cause an instability in our relations with the Equestrians. If they found out a Changeling was involved..."
"Yes, yes, I get the point."
A nurse Changeling entered the room with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk, setting them down on the table nearby.
"What's that?" asked Cattani.
She smiled. "These are from Lieutenant Nord at REDF headquarters. He wanted to wish you a speedy recovery and gives you his best regarding the investigation."
"Oh." He rolled his eyes.
"What are you guys investigating?"
Agusta was quickest to respond. "That's classified, ma'am."
"I see. Well, I'll leave you to it then. I'll be back in an hour to check your bandages." She exited the room.
Cattani shifted around in his bed for comfort. "You can have them. I'm not hungry."
Agusta rose and made his way over to the table, swiping a cookie off the plate and taking a bite. "These are good. You sure?"
"Yeah. Indulge. I think I'll be sick if I eat something right now."
"Okay then." He finished it and went for another. "So anyways, a Changeling infiltrator."
"Right. I think we should start with all Changelings who have criminal records, then weed them out based on their education. Obviously he must know a lot about chemistry and physics to pull off such elaborate acts of arson."
"And circuitry."
"Oh jeez, don't even get me started on how complex that barrel bomb was. Yeah, this guy definitely has formal education of an advanced level."
"Either that or he's an enthusiast with a lot of time on his hands and a well of patience."
"Hooves."
He shrugged, taking a gulp of the milk. "Whatever." He set the cup down. "Man, that's nasty."
"I only hope we're correct about this. The last thing we need is a dead end, meanwhile he makes more kills."
"I hear you." Agusta put his hand on his stomach, indicating that it was under some kind of distress.
"You okay?"
"I dunno, just... a stomach ache. I think that milk was spoiled or something."
"Want me to ring the nurse back?"
"No, I-..." Suddenly he arched forward with a cry of pain, collapsing to the floor on his knees.
"Agusta!" Cattani patted the bed for the call-button, finding it under the sheets. He pressed it repeatedly. "Hang in there, I'm getting help!"
Agusta vomited a pool of blood onto the floor, much to Cattani's utter shock. The suffering man stood back up, sprinting for the bathroom next to the room, slamming the door behind him.
"Somebody get in here!" Cattani yelled, hoping to get anyone's attention outside.
The door and the entire wall around it suddenly blasted away from the side of the room, showering Cattani with hot debris.
...
...
...
Tempest watched the hospital from a safe distance behind a bush, as a window on the top floor exploded out with a puff of fiery smoke, raining glass into the courtyard below. He could hear the alarms going off clear over from where he was.
"Binary liquids." He said aloud to himself. "I'm a genius. Yes, yes." I hope this time Agusta was caught in the blast. I'll know soon enough.
Tempest backed away and disappeared into the darkness.