Bloody already knew where she was going first, New Appleloosa, for her first recruitment mission before Julion took off with the squad... The Following Night Julion and the ten Commandos looked over a hill at the small fortified location of the Raiders and Slavers, the two sides occupying opposite sides of the camp. Studying the camp through their rifle scopes, Julion counted about 300 total enemies, twice the number Grecko told him. The force was obviously the united force of all the raiders and slavers in a 30 kilometer radius, ready to make a final, overwhelming attack on Grecko, a mere 5 kilometers away. However, through his studying, he quickly realized the tensions between the Raiders and Slavers were high, and all they needed was a spark to ignite them. They could let the Slavers and Raiders then proceed to kill each other while they simply moped up those that tried to run or those left that survived. Julion activated his comm unit, "Alright, we're going in stealthy. We gotta either kill a raider or slaver and make it look like the other side was responsible, or somehow get a raider and slaver into a fight. Copy that?" "Yes sir, loud and clear." The Commandos responded in unison before activating the stealth mode on their armor, disappearing from sight, Julion quickly followed, "Alright, comms dark, absolutely no talking. And no magic either." Julion ordered before the group moved out, approaching the short wooden palisade around the camp. Nodding to his comrades, Julion prepped himself at the base of the palisade and gave each and every Commando a leg up, allowing them them to go over the fence before jumping up and grabbing the top, carefully pulling himself up and over, looking around at the Commandos around him, only visible to each other due to recognition hardware. Drawing Head Hunter out and holding it in his mouth, he motioned with his hoof to spread out and find a way to start a fight between the Raiders and Slavers. (your next post can be getting the next group of recruits lead by Bloody)
New Appaloosa was one of the largest independent towns in the Equestrian wasteland, a town with a population under 2,000. Bloody had traveled directly to the town with her ambition to collect new recruits. After giving a speech about the Commando’s, some of the residents of the town, particularly the youth, seen this as their way out of a essentially boring life. By the end of the night, thirty new recruits were enlisted into the commandos, all of them being aged between 18-35, and was considered a massive success. After being put in their paces, twenty seven of them made it back to the Everfree, three of them washing out. Once they made it back to base, Diamond stood nearby the gate as he watched the sudden surge of recruits arrive. Smiling slightly, he moved back to the courtyard and stood in the center in full uniform as Bloody ordered them into formation. “Welcome to the Everfree Forest. I’m the Major, and training will begin immediately.”
Julion and the Commandos watched as the Raiders as Slavers slaughtered each other, Julion had managed to secretly mind hack a Raider and send him on a rage against the Slavers, who then responded by attack every Raider they could find. In the meantime, the Commandos had set up a safe area next to the exit where they could slaughter any attempting to flee. Gunfire filled the air, incinerators and missiles occasionally arched across the sky to some poor target. As more and more on each side were killed, the fighting sounds slowly died down to intermittent gunfire, at which point the Commandos began combing the camp, before finding the 2 last slavers and 2 last raiders, all happening to be the leaders of the groups staring each other down, weapons discarded due to being either out of ammo or simply broken/jammed. With a single order, the Commandos flashed into view of the Slavers and Raider, who suddenly found themselves surrounded and outnumbered with a heavily armored and equipped with advanced weaponry. A raider tried to charge one, he recieved a slam to the head with the butt of a rifle for his troubles, knockin him unconscious instantly. "any other questions?" Julion asked the three, "No? Good. Gunny, Trigger, arrest them." "with pleasure sir." Gunny responded, peppering the three with blue bolts set for stun before putting hoofcuffs on them, "Alright, prisoners secured." "Good, looks like we'll be getting that bonus we were offered." ****** After coming in to a hero's welcome in Grecko, the group of triumphant Commandos proudly walked out and headed home carrying a total of 100,000 caps, with a bonus of being offered free service at any Grecko service shop, and a pledge of alliance from Grecko, promising to send 10 of its best ponies that turned 18-20 each year. Already, 10 more recruits were willingly following the Commandos in awe and hope they could join...
With Major inspecting the newest recruits and putting them through the intense training needed to become a commando, Diamond could not help but admire his newest weapon. The newest weapon other than the standard rifle was something special that was originally produced by Mark.Co for the siege on Roam. It appeared much like a standard Anti-Material Rifle, but it was almost completely black as if it appeared to be constructed of Carbon Fibre or Titanium. The magazine holder used for standard ammunition was replaced with the signature energy source that all Mark.Co weaponry used for its rifles. The rifle also had a blue lens scope. It was essentially a Mark.Co version of an Anti Material Rifle that was much lighter and packed far more of a punch to the point it was essentially a portable energy cannon. Diamond loved this weapon, but was always happy to change Inspecting the recruits for training, they all seemed to be adapting to the lifestyle well. Under Diamonds guidance, they would wake up, train intensely for twenty hours a day and then sleep for the remainder of the four hours they have left. While his methods seemed unorthodox, the results that it produced were nothing short of incredible. It was like Guardian training in the Federation, except Commando training provided a higher ‘survival’ rate. Each Commando being produced by The Major was the equivalent of an entire squad of Steel Rangers, and that made one hell of a difference in combat. Upon noticing Julion and Alpha Squad arriving back to the camp, the recruits gave them a standing ovation before making a path and standing together. Diamond stood in the middle of this path and saluted at the Solider. (The standard Commando rifle was called the PEAR, right? I remember that it served as multipurpose rifle but I wasn't sure, so I made a new weapon if i was wrong. I'll make changes if you wish for me to do so. Also, the entire encounter with Calamity will be very interesting twist for the story)
(You are correct about the PEAR, and it's totally fine ^^) Julion handed over the ten new recruits to Diamond, "We got our first deal with a town, from now on we'll get 10 recruits every year from them. Not to mention a whole bunch of caps, which I will count and it shall be doled out in equal share to everyone." He said simply before trotting off to the Command Post, saddlebags jingling with caps
Six months later From their somewhat humble beginnings, the Commando's exploded in size. Within the past two months, 200 recruits had been accepted into it's ranks with more joining everyday. By now, there were almost 300 Commandos, 100 of them being classified as standard Commandos in Equestria. This size increase led to Diamond having to share the load with other instructors as he could not concentrate on such a large amount of recruits without studying them in fine detail, only focusing on the unit on a whole. After the introduction of five new instructors, Diamond was still known to be the best of them. Not much had occurred during this period other than recruiting missions led by Bloody and the rigorous training led by the Major. Some job opportunities did arise every now and than, and they were taken and completed with an enormous success rate. Given roughly over a year, the commandos could each a size of exactly 1,000. It was time that the Commandos returned to one of it's original purposes, securing Mark.Co technology. And since the Commandos were large enough, they could perform exactly that without fear of losing unnecessary soldiers. The Major was in his uniform, as usual, but his heavy armor was in his quarters. He was rarely called for missions, but when the need arises, he almost always was with Julion and Bloody with the exception of leading a squad at one point to end a raider threat. He watched the ponies he was training, inspecting their fine movements and could not but feel pleased with the progress.
Julion stepped up next to Diamond and gave a small smile to him, "You've proven quite the training; my many times great grandmother would be proud." He said simply before looking out around the training feild, "I have a new assignment. I have managed to track down a large former Commando outpost on the border with the Zebra. Gather Beta Squad for me and one more thing, we have been given an job; there's a slaver outpost in Manehatten, newly set up. They claim to be from one "Red-Eye". Apparently he's finally gotten big enough to start putting out feelers into the Wasteland. I want to send a message, the Commandos will not let Red Eye expand his operations to a second city or anywhere else in the land." Julion grimaced a bit, "And the slavers at Appleloosa are getting a bit powerful. I want them to be hit at the same time; I want you and Bloody to lead the attacks."
"Sure thing" the Major replied. "I'll gather Beta Squad at the gate for you. For Manehattan and Appleloosa, only a small platoon per city is needed. From previous reports, the slavers at both cities would likely outnumber us roughly 20 to 1. I'll gather Bloody now and inform her and we'll head out an hour after you do."
Julion nodded, "Thanks. But remember, the only territory we hold is the Everfree and the immediately surrounding area, we don't have the troop numbers yet to set up permenant bases around the Wasteland. And I don't want casualties on our side, go in, hit them from afar, keep hitting them, but as soon as you take losses or are about to, retreat. You can wait until they settle down 2 more times but that is all. Got it?" And without waiting for a response, Julion trotted off towards the exit in the woodwork wall.
The Major and 30 Commandos stood upon a large hill to Appleloosa’s east that overlooked large parts of the city, particularly the town center. It was getting late, with the environment quickly growing darker. Every commando had their PEAR converted into long range rifles, but the cannon that was Diamond’s weapon stood out from the rest as they all took their positions, all of them laying down flat on their stomach and looking down their scopes. All of the slaver outposts in the city was essentially one gigantic area that was on a long road that eventually led to the city center, cars moved out of the way. Diamond gave the signal, raising a hoof slightly as he looked down his sights at one particular slaver, their leader who was surrounded by a small group of five other slavers. With a single blue bolt, the slaver leader dropped dead instantly as all nerves in his head were fried, the rifle’s astonishing power was also enough to incinerate the nerves that were slavers eyes as they shriveled and burnt away, followed by other blue bolts, the sniper fire from the Commandos flowed together as if it seemed like it was fully automatic. By the time the Slavers noticed the location of the snipers and began to move towards them, nearly 200 slavers were dead, with many more falling as they made their way up. Diamond, fearing that his troops would soon be in range, ordered them to take out any using heavy weapons. Eventually, the Commandos had to leave when one of them was shot in the shoulder, leaving a total bodycount of almost over 400, using the blanket of the night to make their escape back to the Everfree. Across the communication channel, Bloody 2 was having simular success with her mission in Manehatten, but she had managed to take advantage of a leadership struggle of Red Eye’s group, picking off two slaver sergeants as one thing led to another. They even managed to rescue dozens slaves, who stared at the group in awe before they had to retreat. In all, the Slavers lost much more territory and numbers. Red Eye was forced back to Fillydelphia while the slavers in Appleloosa almost ceased to exist entirely.
(And thus, it is explained why Appleloosa was fairly lightly populated by slavers despite being one of their main bases and why Manehatten never was claimed by Red Eye) Julion and Beta Squad, a squad of 25(as that is the size of each squad) fanned out and went stealth as they approached the old fortified compound, surrounded by 4 meter tall, 2 meter thick concrete walls topped with rusting barbed wire. They find the gate inside, hanging halfway off its hinges, but reinforced in a way that put the Commandos on alert. Once inside, they saw a group of ponies wearing Commando armor that looked extremely worn, and a Beta squad member whispered over comma what they were all thinking, "Commando ghouls..." "They don't look feral..." Another replied quietly so that their invisible forms weren't heard. "That means they're all the more dangerous if they attack, take defensive positions, I'll see if they're friendly." Julion ordered, and the troops did so. Standing next to cover, Julion took a breath before he realized something, they were guarding other ghoul Commandos that were trying to break down the front door. Narrowing his eyes, he scanned the building with his HUD, seeing various pony signatures in seemingly defensive positions all around, that's when a gravely ghoul voice came over his intercom. "Please, you're friendly right? Our long overdue reinforcements? We've been trapped in this damn building longer than we care to remember, because those damn traitors in front of you! And also in various parts of the compound..please, we are in no shape for an offensive strike, but you are! That is why you're here right?" Julion blinked a bit, his questions would have to wait for later, "This is the Soldier, Acting Commander of the Commandos, I am descendant from Dark Light. I am here to take command of this facility." "Well that's fine and dandy AC Soldier, but that can't happen as the traitors remain alive! You can pick them out by the gold paint on the highlights of their armor!" Julion sighed and opened the comm with the squad, "New Orders, it appears we have comrades from the original Commandos trapped by rebels. We are to shoot on sight any Commando with gold paint on their armor, or have their Commando cutie insignia purposely marked out. Fire at will." At that command, blue bolts flung themselves out, slamming into the traitor Commandos, killing half before they could even react. The traitor Commando Ghouls then quickly found cover, returning fire at a force with 15 more ponies than they had, but they had badly greater exprience. The firefight drug out for hours with neither side taking any casualties beyond a paralyzed hoof or two, however traitors who fought their way to the front door reinforced the traitor ghouls, turning the battle against Beta Squad as they were forced purely on the defensive as the enemy slowly advanced from rubble pile to the next. Night fell as the two sides continued to fight each other, now merely 5 meters from the other firing line. Julion had watched as 5 of his Beta squad fell, dead or too paralyzed to continue fighting, but the enemy had fared no better, Julion had seen 10 fall and not get back up, then an idea crossed mind, "Afix bayonets!" He ordered, his troops quickly doing so, "Charge!" He ordered as soon as the enemy paused due to the lack of return fire to save ammo. Before the enemy could react, Beta squad had fallen on them, stabbing where they could and beating to death those that couldn't be stabbed using blunt force to turn the armor into essentially deadly bells. Julion grunted as he braced a hoof against the chest of a dead ghoul and magically removed Silent Death from the now broken visor. Looking around at his exhausted troops, he gave them a small smile, a rare thing to his troops, "I'm very proud of you all, you just managed to defeat 35 original Commandos, at a cost I would have preferred to go without, but we did it." That eliciting a small "Hooray!" From the troops before they went about collecting the 3 paralyzed, which could be helped, and 2 dead. They then brought in the Sky Carriage in which they had brought to store the Mark Co tech on the way home, stripping the dead of armor, arms, and ammo(which they kept) and loaded it up before heading inside the compound...
The Major and Bloody 2 arrived back at base just after midnight after using their low-light vision in their armour to make it past the dangerous environment with both of their squads. The two squad leaders were kind enough to give both of the squad members the rest of the night off, while Diamond slept for four hours until waking himself up at four in the morning to begin training the commandos.
After a mop up operation of remaining traitors inside the compound, Julion met with the commander of the compound, which apparently was named Fort Resilience, before the Last Day, more than a thousand Commandos were based there to oversee shipments and troop movements in the area. They were also capable of being deployed at any moment anywhere in Equestria or the Zebra lands within 12 hours. However, Julion learned that the surviving Commandos(who had a extremely high rate of ghoulification due to how well their armor protected them from the radiation, and because of the armor, they were really somewhere between pony and ghoul, most had the gravely voice and heal by radiation of Ghouls, but they had the appearence of normal ponies, albeit with limited manes, and an almost non-existant feral population) had collapsed into civil war soon after the Last Day, one side wanting the Commandos to take over Equestria and the Zebra lands as a united nation, the other side wanting to let the Wasteland grow and develop and simply act as a bulkwart against the evil forces of the Wastes, much like Julion had wanted. At this compound alone, the 200 year of fighting and desertion had left only 100 Commandos, Traitors and Loyalists together, alive. With the death of the Traitors, only 60 remained. Julion convinced the survivors to join him and his Commandos goals, and together they stripped the compound of Mark Co tech and supplies and head to the Everfree. *********** Julion, Beta Squad, and the Commando ghouls mad it back into the main Commando camp and dropped the rescued tech at the armory and he found his way to Bloody and Major, giving them the simple order of "general assembly" meaning that the Commandos were to gather for a speech.
After the order was given for the Commando's to stop their training and gather for the general assembly, as the Solider's third and second of command, Bloody and the Major made it inside and stood upon the stage respectfully nearby Julion. The hall itself was huge, with seats for the three hundred odd Commando's that were gathered inside, with Alpha Squad being fortunate enough to have the entire front row dedicated to them. The room was designed in such a way to help project the voice from the stage outwards clearly and loudly without the need of a microphone. Diamond stood on the far left of Julion, Silver vice versa. Once they all had gathered together, their general discussion died down until the room was quiet, waiting to what Julion had to say.
Julion looked around the room, just outside the Commando ghouls waited for his signal, then cleared his throat, "Attention fellow Commandos, I bring both good news and bad news. Last night, we took our first severe casualties during our mission to Fort Resilience. Beta Squad members Daisy Sky, Dusk Shine, and Orange Tea are currently in critical condition, fully paralyzed, but they can be healed, however...Glory Apple and Red Clouds...Fell in battle in honorable fashion. Who could have been capable of this you may ask? Well, I'll tell you. I found out that the original Commandos are still alive, ghoulification in a strange manner that renders them somewhere between ghoul and pony, and are currently in the midst of a deadly civil war, one side betraying their pledge to protect Equestria for their own imperialistic goals, and the other trying to maintain that pledge. Mares and Stallions, please turn your attention to the entrance." The Commandos turned to see the 50 surviving Original Commandos trotted in, and Julion gave his two comrades a small smile, "Meet our newest squad."
The crowd looked with a slight amount of surprise before applauding for the squad of pre-war Commandos. Diamond looked at the group and could not help but feel impressed, not only were there much more experienced Commandos, but the following ghouls helped increased Commando power in Equestria, alongside the added benefit that Diamond did not need to train them, or focus on them, as much as he needed to help train the recruits. The applause died down after a while before the stage went back into a dull silence.
Bloody went down and greeted the Commando ghouls, giving each a warm reception and they took places in front of the platform and faced the new Commandos. Julion then continued his speech, "For the next month, you will all go through combat classes directed by the Originals to impart their experience to each of you. After that, we shall begin a campaign in the former border areas of Equestria with the Zebra nation and the areas of the Zebra nation that were taken in the war, as these areas were where the Commandos were based. We will end the civil war and bring the Commandos under a united flag once more. However, we will continue our mercenary jobs to bring in income."
Diamond went over to the group of Commando ghouls and shook hooves with them, introducing himself as The Major and greeting them warmly as all of them went to the front of the platform. Diamond remained in the back however, not wanting to draw attention to himself but was still visible by the crowd of soldiers below.
