Hey guys, TSO here with the new chapter for HVP. This is a little longer, but reads a little dry (to me anyway). Not to fear though, the action will start to build up soon enough.
If you want to get a better idea about who Shade is, I suggest reading the other stories (The New Arrivals and Threat Level at a bare minimum).
With HVP, I am finding it a little difficult to try and justify why Twilight would be allowed to stay on base, as well as take part in what I have planned later, so that's why some parts might feel drawn out a little.
Anyway, that's what I think about this at least. Let me know what you guys think about it in a review or something. Every little bit helps.
Enjoy!
Half an hour later...
"So, let me get this straight. You are actually an alicorn pony, originating from a world that is populated by a whole lot more of you ponies, and your kind in particular can harness magic and wield it for everyday use, as well as fly. And when you were casting one of those spells, a magic surge messed with a teleportation spell, sending you here, morphing you into one of us in the process?" Shade summarised the story that Twilight had told him over the past half-hour.
"When you put it like that, you make it sound like something a crazy person would say." Shade had to suppress a chuckle. You don't say... Twilight's voice brought him back to the present. "You seem to be taking this well. I'd have thought you would actually freak out or something."
No kidding..."Well, after seeing and doing the kinds of things I've done, your capability to be freaked out gets numbed. Besides, with what little information we can get about you, your story seems to be somewhat believable. And I don't see any reason to not believe you. Though, let's just keep it between us for now."
"Why?"
"For your own safety and wellbeing, for starters. Chances are that the bosses will send you away to a loony-bin or something, write you off as insane. And we don't want that, do we?"
"I guess not." A low rumbling noise caught the attention of the two in the room, Shade chuckling and Twilight turning a shade of red.
"I guess all that magic, captivity and recovery has left you pretty hungry, right?"
"You guessed right, uh... Tom, wasn't it?"
"Just call me Shade. It'll be easier if you do. Now, I'm going to hazard a guess and assume that the only clothing you have is that gown you've got on?" Shade asked, going a light shade of red in the face.
"Well, yes, but the nurse also gave me a pair of 'underwear', if that's what you're concerned about," reassured Twilight, having noticed Shade's slight embarrassment. "But don't they serve food here?"
"Only if you want to eat mush. If you want decent food, you can come with me to the mess, I'll just need to get you some clothes." Shade grabbed the chart and studied Twilight's measurements, committing them to memory. "Give me fifteen minutes, think you can wait that long?" Twilight nodded, and Shade left the room, headed towards supply. Hopefully they have clothes small enough to fit her.
Twilight sat on the edge of the bed as Tom, or 'Shade' as he preferred, left to get her some clothes. The sensation of being left alone allowed her to reflect on current situation. So, I've made one friend, if you could call him that, on this world. While hesitant to accept what I told him as truth, at least he hasn't disregarded me outright. He seems like a nice man, clearly means well. If it wern't for his profession, which I can only assume to be as some kind of soldier, he would be a very valuable member of society. Not that his service isn't valuable at all, but his mind has clearly been partially corrupted by the horrors of this world, whatever they may be.
I must admit, he doesn't act like a lot of the guards back home. They always seemed too solitary, too withdrawn, much like Tom's friend, 'Chemo'. But Tom, he's different. Twilight slowly stood on her two feet, noticing immediately how much higher her viewpoint was when compared to her natural form. The feeling of standing upright on two limbs felt strangely natural to Twilight, despite the fact that as a pony, she had never needed to stand in such matter. Maybe the morph altered my natural instincts and skills. I'll have to keep that in mind for later. Slowly, she started to walk towards the window in the wall. At first, she could not see outside as the bright light briefly blinded her. But as her eyes adjusted to the light, she quietly gasped in shock at what she saw.
From her view in the base hospital, she could make out a number of grey-coloured structures, each with different sizes and styles, alluding to their uses. One of the buildings resembled a warehouse, while two others looked like apartments. They must be the living quarters and storage buildings. Twilight gazed at each building, before noticing the activity that was being carried out around the place. To her left, she could identify a large flat clearing, covered in tarmac. Strange objects sat on them, some with humans standing on ladders beside them. To the right, she could see a batch of humans standing in a formation, while another pair of humans paced around in front of them. Those must be recruits, but they look older than what I suspected recruits to be. Maybe they have a different aging process.
The sound of movement behind her caught her attention, and she turned to find Shade at the door, a set of clothes in his hands.
"I apologise in advance if they don't fit well, or if they are too big, we don't normally have people of your stature." Twilight watched as he walked over and placed the items of clothing on her bed. She walked over and lifted one of the items, a long-sleeved shirt, as Shade walked to the window to see what she was looking at. "Hm, looks like Ghost is working with Meat to break in the newbies. I suppose you'll want to meet them?"
Twilight nodded as she looked at the shirt in great detail. It was similar to Shade's, but instead of two greens, it had a light grey torso section with a brown-green pattern running across the shoulders and sleeves. The pattern looked stretched out when compared to the pattern on Shade's pants, and appeared lighter in tone as well. She put the shirt down and picked up the pants, noticing immediately that they had the same pattern as the sleeves on her shirt. She also recalled the nurse wearing the same pattern on her uniform. The construction of the pants matched those of Shade's, with gaps where the kneepads were supposed to be. Maybe they're an optional feature. Lastly, she looked at the pair of footwear that sat beside her shirt, coloured in a dark tan with thick laces and soles. He's given me a uniform to wear, maybe he intends to draft me into their ranks... no, he just wants me to blend in and not draw too much suspicion. It's probably the only outfit they have spare to give me anyway, not like Rarity is here to help. Oh, Rarity would have a fit if she saw me wearing this.
"Twilight?" Shade's voice dragged Twilight back to reality, and she stammered a response. "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume that clothing wasn't really a major matter where you came from, what with being a pony and everything?"
"Personally, it didn't matter to me. However, the high society types, and my close friend Rarity, were commonly seen in all kinds of clothing, usually dresses and suits though. I think the most I've worn was a dress for one of the galas held in Canterlot."
"Okay... short answer would have helped, but I'll take that as a 'no, clothing didn't matter', and follow up with my next question. Would you like a hand getting dressed? The shirt is pretty straight forward, it's just the pants and shoes that you might trick up with." The question caught Twilight off guard, and she instantly felt hot in the face.
"I-uh-I mean, uh... I'm sure I can figure it out myself. It can't be that hard, can it?" She finally said, managing a weak smile when she finished. "Besides, aren't there rules or customs or something that forbid that kind of thing?" Shade stood silent for a minute, before shrugging and looking out the window.
"I mean, this unit is mostly all-male, with a few female support staff. There aren't any official 'rules' regarding male-female interaction, since the majority of female staff are in medical or administration, and we men only go to them if we're hurt or need something signs. But there are universal rules that everyone knows to abide by." Shade paused to let it sink in to Twilight, who nodded in understanding. "Besides, I'm only offering my help to you for two reasons: You looked lost when you were holding that shirt, but that could have been you thinking; and you'll find it hard to explain to a nurse why you can't get yourself dressed." Twilight stood there for a few seconds, rather perplexed by the scenario at hand.
"Well, while I appreciate the offer, it shouldn't be too hard to figure this out. I'm not a complete novice when it comes to clothing; this is just a different form and style to what I'm used to wearing. Now, if you wouldn't mind leaving me to get dressed, unless it's customary for the male to watch the female dress." Shade smirked and chuckled at her assumption, she wasn't completely wrong.
"Only if you're married or helping a child, Twilight. Let me know when you're ready." Shade left the room, leaving Twilight by herself again. She looked at the collection of clothes on the bed, and decided on a plan of attack. I guess I'll work my way from the top down. Recalling what she had read in those fashion books from earlier, she widened the collar on the shirt, unzipping it all the way. With that done, she slipped her head through the hole, and then slipped her arms through the sleeves. Shade had done a good job at picking the size, though the sleeves were a little long for her arms; the fingertips hidden by a few centimetres of cloth. She quickly worked out how to fasten the wrists on the sleeves, and fixed the overhang problem in no time.
Twilight then picked up the trousers, undoing the waist and fly on them before sitting down on the bed. She slipped on the trousers, pulling them up to just above her waist before she zipped up the fly and fastened the button. They feel a little loose, probably a little big for me. Feeling around the waistline of the pants, she found two pull-tabs towards the back. She peeled them from the fabric surface and pulled them away, which pulled the waist tighter on her. Twilight reattached the tabs, satisfied that the pants were no longer loose.
The socks were straight-forward to put on, since they were a fairly common article of clothing worn in winter. Getting them around her ankle proved a slight challenge, but not as much as the shoes she had to put over the top of them. In the end, Twilight spent ten minutes before calling Shade in to help her. He admitted that he was surprised that he got the sizing as close as possible, and less surprised that Twilight had managed to put the uniform on.
"Okay, if you're ready to go, let's eat." Shade said as he led Twilight out of the room. Twilight looked around as they walked through the wards of the base hospital, glancing through open doors and reading a few of the posters and notices on the wall. It did not take long for the pair of them to exit the building and find themselves on a pathway leading to the mess hall. As they walked, Twilight absorbed the various sights and sounds that were indicative of activity in the base. The group of men that Twilight had seen from the window had disappeared, leaving a myriad of marks and scrapes on the dirt ground where they had been. A loud roaring sound rushed over her head, and she caught sight of another one of those things she had seen in that flat part of the base, clear of the buildings. She looked at Shade, who had not bat an eyelid at the object. What am I thinking; he's probably seen that thing millions of times.
The two of them stopped at a pair of doors at a small-ish building at the end of the large accommodation building she had seen earlier. The noises inside were muffled, the doors being the only visible entrance on this side of the building. As Shade opened the door, Twilight took in the sight of a large number of different men seated at various tables, each one at various stages of eating their meal. Shade stopped for a second as he appeared to be looking for something... or somepon- somebody, by the looks of it. I suppose he is looking to socialise with his friends. Sure enough, Shade spotted the two other men he was looking for, and quickly led Twilight to their table. Shade sat her down and walked off, saying something about fetching their food.
Twilight looked at the two strangers in front of her, who in turn were looking back at her. The first one was as tall as Shade, but a bit bulkier and had short cut sandy hair. His uniform was similar to her own; however the black and white blotches on his uniform appeared sharper and curved more than her own. His sleeves were also rolled up, allowing Twilight to see his well-toned arm muscles, something that she had also noticed on Shade and that other man, Chemo. The second man was shorter, but just as well built. His clothing could not be defined as a uniform; his shirt was a simple white collared shirt, and he wore a pair of rough-textured blue pants. His hair was a bit longer than the first man's, but shorter than Shade's, and was spiked up at the front.
"You goin' to stop starin' at us, lass?" The rough voice asked, making Twilight jump from surprise. She hadn't realised that she had in fact been staring at the two men intently. Twilight noticed that the sand-haired man was looking right at her, his expression showing that he expected a response.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Just not every day you get to see this kind of thing." She smiled weakly as she felt her face getting warm.
"Fair enough, at least it's good to see you up and about." Another voice, similar to Shade's, spoke. Twilight matched this voice to the other man, and turned to face him. "You were pretty touch and go on the chopper ride back, or so it appeared anyway. Chemo said you were just out of it, but it looked worse than it was. Oh, here comes trouble." The man smirked as he looked up and behind Twilight, who turned to find Shade standing there with two trays in his hands.
"Mate, you should stop talking about yourself like that." Shade said, smirking back at the man as he sat down beside Twilight and placed a tray in front of her. The food looked vaguely familiar to her, however it did not appear very edible. "Twi, I tried to get stuff without meat in it for you, but there wasn't much to pick from. Had to go with quantity over variety, sorry."
"Thanks Shade, I appreciate the thought." She picked up a utensil, something she had only done with magic in the past, and attempted to use it to eat. After a few missed starts, she finally figured out the utensils and was eating the food in no time. The four of them ate their meals in relative silence, but once they finished, the spiky-haired man spoke up.
"So, Shade, you going to introduce us?" He turned to look at Twilight, and proceeded to cut Shade off from his retort. "Hi there, I'm Jayson, and the grouch beside me is Gary. We're friends of Tom, or Shade as you apparently know him by..." he trailed off.
"Please to meet you two. I'm surprised though, I thought you two had names like Shade did?"
"Oh, we do, I just figured it'd be easier to know our real names. Everyone here calls me 'Rook', and they call Gary 'Roach'." He watched as the look of Twilight's face transformed into a look of confusion, as she tried to reason why they had those names.
"Shade tells me that each of you have these nicknames for a reason. He won't tell me his just yet though. But how did you get yours?" She propped her head on her hands, like a child eager to listen to a story.
"Well," Rook began, clearing is throat. "I was probably one of the more inexperienced recruits to the Task Force. Most guys here had at least two or three deployments before being recruited here. Me, I hadn't even been deployed once. I guess my extra-impressive scores from SASR selection led me to be picked for this unit. Anyway, when that got shared around the others in my intake, I got assigned the name 'Rookie'. As time passed, that just got shortened to 'Rook', and that has stuck since."
Twilight nodded as he took a sip from his drink. She was somewhat disappointed by the story, expecting it to be something special. If she was going to be honest, she was under the impression that these nicknames were earned in a manner similar to cutie marks.
"As for Roach here, well, he can tell you." Rook nudged him in his side, and Roach cleared his throat to begin.
"Well, I got my name after my many misfortunes during training back home in the SAS and during my training here. It's tough work, and many times when I tried to complete the objectives, I would hurt myself in various serious ways. Some injuries actually had me risk my place in the unit. Every time, the medics would refer to me as the 'human cockroach', since I was nearly impossible to kill. The guys here heard about that name, and shortened it to Roach. I still live up to that name from time to time."
"So Twilight, what do you think of the place?" Rook cut in, gesturing around himself.
"Well," Twilight paused, thinking of a way to conceal what she was. "It's unlike anything I've seen before. I'm still getting used to all this."
"What do you mean? No military presence where you live?"
Shade cut in. "While we were walking here, Twilight said that she grew up in a country town far from the capital. One of those 'everybody knows everybody' places. Not that she hasn't been exposed to military life before. What did you say your brother was again?" He looked at Twilight and gave her a small wink.
"Well, my older brother, he's part of the guard, he made Captain, actually." She gave a small smile as the memory of her brother's promotion replayed in her mind. "No doubt he's probably looking for me though."
Rook was about to speak up again when a loud buzz played from the speakers fitted in the mess hall. A voice, mixed with static, spoke through the room.
"Team Hotel, please report to briefing room nine. Team Hotel, briefing room nine. That is all." The three men around Twilight got up from their seats and took their trays over to the bins. Shade gestured for Twilight to follow him, which she did. For reasons she could not figure out, she found herself not wanting to be left alone in this place.
Fifteen minutes later, Twilight found herself sitting in a dark room with eleven other men. Shade, and his friends Roach and Rook, sat up the back with her, while the others filled seats in front of them. Twilight had been talking with Shade about the differences between the men in what they wore, especially the small markings they wore on their sleeves. What she had learnt shocked her a bit. These men come from different lands to fight together and to fight against a force called 'terror'. No wonder they all act and sound different from each other. Shade told Twilight that he and Rook came from a land called 'Australia'; two men known as 'Meat' and 'Royce' originated from 'Canada'; 'Toad', 'Jayhawk', 'Scarecrow' and that other man 'Chemo' came from the 'United States of America'; and that Roach and the two others they were waiting for were from the 'United Kingdom'.
Twilight was about to question the reason why they fought when the door off to the side opened. When she saw who entered, she felt herself become very nervous and on edge. The first man looked like he had seen better days, his face bearing a few visible scars such as the one across his left eye. His hair was cut into a narrow channel on the top of his head, the rest of it shaved to stubble that blended with the stubble across his face. He wore a simple white tee shirt with a pair of Multicam combat pants, with something in a pouch strapped to his right leg. The man looked intimidating enough just by looking at him.
The second man simply scared Twilight. He was a little shorter than the first man, but just as bulky. He wore a tan shirt with Multicam combat pants, wearing a strange looking vest over the top of the shirt, the vest covered in pouches and other items. A set of pouches were strapped to each of his legs, the pouches and vest matching in colour. However, the thing he wore on its face was what scared Twilight. He wore a black mask over his head, a set of cups sitting on each side, over his ears. He wore a set of red-tinted glasses, concealing his eyes. But his mask featured a white design on the front, the shape of the design resembling something close to a skull, complete with teeth. The look of him was terrifying.
The first man with the strange haircut walked to the front of the room and faced the rest of the group.
"Alright team. We need to properly debrief after our last operation. Normally we would have done this after we returned, but given the circumstances, it had to wait. You should all know the drill now, so this shouldn't take long." Twilight listened to the strongly accented voice, not noticing the three men beside her standing up and moving to the front of the room. "We'll take it from the top. At zero-eight-thirty hours local, we disembarked Angel 2-1 and proceeded to the target."
A man to the right spoke up. "At zero-eight-forty we made first contact with rebel forces. I exchanged fire with threats on the roof of the target structure. By zero-eight-forty-two, roof contacts were cleared and we proceeded to the entrances of the structure."
Shade then jumped in. "Zero-eight-forty-seven, Rook, Roach, Hotel Six and I stack upon deck one entrance while Meat, Royce, Ghost and Chemo move around to external stairwell to clear deck two. Deck one team made an explosive breach into the complex, eliminating five rebel fighters.
The man Twilight recognised as Chemo started talking as Shade finished. "Deck two team encountered three rebel fighters, one wounded from Archer's earlier fire. All three fighters died of wounds inflicted by the team."
Shade continued on with his part. "By zero-eight-fifty, both teams had cleared the immediate area, when Hotel Six instructed team one to commence a breach into the cellar deck. Upon breaching, I encountered one rebel fighter with one civilian hostage at gunpoint. I neutralised the fighter with extreme caution, and secured the hostage."
"At that same time, Rook and I cleared the remainder of the cellar and commenced the search for the objective. Once the hostage was secured and evacuated from the structure, we placed demolition charges on fifteen minute time fuses. Fuses were armed at zero-eight-fifty-five." The grouchy man known as Roach stated.
The man who started the discussion closed it off. "At zero-nine-hundred, Hotel team was extracted with one civilian hostage by Angel Two-One, with the structure demolished at zero-nine-ten. BDA indicated that the structure was completely levelled with no materials recoverable." He looked over at Chemo and gave him a small nod, and Chemo pulled a small notepad from his pocket.
"The only blue injuries sustained were a slight earache from close proximity detonation of a breaching charge, sustained by Sergeant Thomas Williams. He recovered from injury about thirty minutes after extract." Twilight watched as he flipped over a page and began reading from it. "Civilian hostage had no formal identification on their person, nor could any be found in the structure. Hostage was female, age approximated at twenty years old. Hostage appeared to be suffering from mental and physical fatigue, exacerbated by the stresses imparted during the rescue. She suffered a mild head injury when she collapsed after being secured by Sergeant Williams. Hostage remained unconscious for the remainder of the operation and was placed into medical care upon return to base."
"Have we found anything else about this girl? Any family or friends to contact?" The man, who Twilight had dubbed 'the leader', spoke. Shade raised his hand to get the leader's attention.
"Sir, if you don't mind me interjecting, the girl woke up earlier today. We had a talk about what she knew and what happened, you might want to listen to what she has to say." The leader let out a small sigh as Shade continued. "I brought her along to the debrief, maybe we can work out a plan of action after she tells you guys what she told me." When Shade finished, he stood up and walked over to where Twilight sat.
"Twilight, you can trust me when I say that these guys will do what they can to help you. I've got your back one hundred percent of the way."
How will the rest of Hotel Team (what I have dubbed the core group of 141 members) react to what Twilight has to say about where she came from? Will they be as opened minded as Shade, or will they start doubting the sanity of their own friend?
Find out in the next chapter!
TSO out!