The Great War - Part Two
#2 of The Great War
I hope you enjoyed the intro, people, because now the main show begins. Again, this story is a melting pot of ideas forged into one story line. If you're under 18, you shouldn't be here, you might get nightmares.
Part Two - The Death of Oil
Saphyra was somewhat relieved that there weren't more of those men and vehicles they had fought before. If the people in this desert had that kind of bravery, weapons, and training, the 'Retaking of our Homeworld', as General Shale had called it, would have hit its first real snag. But now, three weeks after that fight, they were taking another human territory, this one called Iran. She still remembered the new orders the general had given that morning.
'None of you remember how the humans drove us from here, but now we take the next step towards reclaiming what is rightfully ours. We will make slaves out of the people in this next territory, and as many as we can in those after it. We will use them, throw them at these humans on the ground while we attack in the air. We must be sneaky about it at first, as they will surely kill themselves if defeat looks inevitable and escape impossible. Any of you are welcome to your own personal slave...'
She snorts out loudly, as if to banish the memory from her mind. That male was pompous and arrogant. And to think he had his eyes on her. Another snort. "Something wrong Saphyra?" The voice comes from next to her, as Cynder comes up beside her, the black of her scales shining just as bright in the light as her blue ones did. "Nothing, really." She responds.
"Tell me again about this city, this...Terran." Try as she might she still couldn't properly pronounce Tehran. Cynder nods. "There are about 17 million humans in it, hiding in their big buildings. With the slaves from other cities, we should have enough to go building to building for the entire city. We will have more than enough to sate our appetites and make a large ground force to fight the humans in these narrow ant hills of theirs." Saphyra nods, tho both of them dislike what they have to do: make a sentient being subject to the will of all dragons. Especially when the ones being changed were pleasing to the eye before, and after, looked like an upright monkey with scales more than a human or a dragon. "Let's get this over with." She says, keeping to herself what she knows Cynder is also thinking, since one of the general's pet commanders was nearby. "I am hungry."
Five days later, the battle for Tehran and its people was going extremely well for the dragons. The weapons the humans fired at the Hybrid slaves were not very effective until they got in close, in which case the hybrids had the advantage.
Most of the men were shocked when they first saw these humans coming at them faster than any human could, bullets bouncing off their green scales, sending fireballs at them, or rather nearby them, enough to scare them half senseless, and then dragging them off. It was enough to make even the religious fanatics drop their jihad against America. A quick message out to the US President, and a few meetings, and a plan was settled upon.
Private John McLintock yawns, leaning back with the strength of it. Then again, he had only gotten three shaky hours of sleep before they had been called to duty. But, that was all a part of being a Ranger. Now he's sitting here on a plane, flying over Iran. "Hey, look." Someone says, looking out the port side windows. John gets up, getting a view in the night sky, and stares. Below are massive fires. "Are those oil fields?" A corporal down the line, new to the regiment, asks. Before anyone can answer, a resounding voice comes up. "COMPANY!" Everyone jumps up to their feet. "PLATOON!" The platoon leaders call out. "ATEEEEN-SHUN!" Everyone snaps to, and the old man starts walking down the line. "Alright people, listen up. Some of you apes have jaws as loose as a whore's pussy, so we saved the briefing until now. XO."
The XO speaks up, following behind his commander. "About four weeks ago, a US patrol on the Kuwait border was attacked by an unknown hostile. They killed it, but only after suffering losses of one bradley, its crew, and two infantrymen. Here's what they recovered." A picture springs up one the back door of the hercules. A few murmurs come around. "That's right, it's a dragon. Scale samples were taken back, along with dna and internal scans. An hour later, the group, and its reinforcements of an M1 platoon, were attacked and destroyed by ten hostiles, with only two kills in return. Scans revealed a mysterious energy permeating the cells of these creatures, generated from them. From what we have gathered from the scans and other scans done on those samples, as well as taking many myths, legends, and not a few wild guesses, our think tanks have come up with the following: We are fighting a race who left the Earth thousands of years ago, during BC times. They fell into myths and legends as time went on."
The Commander speaks up now, to a stunned silent company of Rangers. "Men, everything you ever heard about dragons and magic, every story about wizards and witches, everything, is to be considered as possible from now on. Do NOT underestimate this enemy. Right now we are headed to Tehran, where their main attack is commensing. We will drop on the outskirts, and then hop into Iranian transports and go to their front line. They are fighting a new bastard. Humans who were captured by dragons and changed into some kind of mix between dragon and human. Their scales are as tough as a dragon's, and they can breath fire. Other than that, they look just like a human."
He holds up the new rifle every man got. It looks just like a M4, except the barrel is a bit thicker. "This is your new rifle. The M4A4." He says. "It fires a 7.76 solid steel slug at the enemy at a rate of 600 rounds a minute. It has more kick than the M4 that you are used to, but it makes up for that in being able to penetrate the hide of your enemy. The Air Force will provide top cover for as long as it takes us to reach the ground, but after we hit they'll bug out. They are diein' so we have time to reach ground." He says. Looking up at the front of the plane for a minute, he straightens everything out. "We jump in five minutes. Get your shit geared up and ready to go."
John turns after that and gets everything ready, taking time now, as most do, to re-examine the rounds in his clip, taking one out and looking at it. It doesn't look different from the normal round they used before, except that the tip is more pointed. He puts the round back in the clip and gets ready. A red light comes on in the plane as it nears the drop zone.
Outside, the presence of five C-130s has not gone unnoticed by the dragons. Fifteen race up into the sky, intent on intercepting these planes and trashing them. American F-22 Raptor fighters dive out from the clouds and engage the dragons with cannons and missiles, mixing it up with the dragons, one taking a hit on the wing from a red dragon's fireball, melting it off, causing the fighter to tumble until hitting one of the buildings in downtown Tehran.
Saphyra looks up at the noise of approaching aircraft and growls. She wishes she could go up there, but no, she's stuck on the ground, helping this general to gain ground forces. She motions with her nose to a building and fifteen hybrids run inside, the cries coming out from the humans almost as soon as the things ran inside. Gunfire and flashes in the windows, and the red of flame being shot out, the first female humans already being drug out with their babies ripped out of their hands and eaten. After fifteen minutes the building is emptied, and she sets about reaching for the humans' minds, wiping them of all thoughts and binding them in magic to obey orders from dragons. She doesn't notice the men jumping out of the airplanes, nor the dogfight happening over her head. She waits for five minutes while the changes take affect, listening to the screams of agony as the humans are forced into a change their bodies were not made for, and after that, having a fresh set of seventy-five new hybrids to order into the next building.
At the green light, McLintock runs out of the plane, setting himself properly until his chute opens, and then, looking around him as he floats down. The air battle overhead is not looking good, one dragon with a beam attack is raping the Raptors in the air. As he looks around, he sees another parachute, this one different, a pilot's chute. So, one managed to eject. Good. As he looks on, a dragon swoops down and snatches up the pilot in its jaws, rocking his parachute as it passes and leaving the pilot's chute to tumble down to the ground. He shivers and looks down. Good, not far until they hit dirt.
Two minutes later he's on the ground, and all the remaining raptors, all two of them, turn tail and get out of dodge. Even tho they are much more vulnerable than dragons in the air, they are much faster. They run at mach 1.5, breaking the sound barrier over the city, the sonic boom breaking glass all over the place. Once on the ground John reports in. "Right, squad, form up. We board transport three." Getting up his gear, John takes off towards the troop transport. It must be the first time an Iranian was ever happy to see an American soldier.
The buzz comes to Saphyra only minutes after she sends in her hybrids into a large building. "Saphyra, the humans brought in more forces, ones like the ones you fought weeks ago. One of their pilots of their fighters ejected and landed nearby. Take five of your slaves and go get him." She sends a confirmation but doesn't otherwise answer the general, even as she sends the area he landed at. She could get away with it. Selecting five hybrids, she turns and heads off towards where she felt the pilot landed at. After a few blocks she found the pilot. Sending her hybrids after him, she sits down and watches, waiting for the inevitable. Surprisingly, the pilot ducks behind a burnt out SAM launcher, pulls out a pistol, and shoots, the rounds digging into her hybrids, killing three and injuring the other two. She glares at the pilot and stabs out with her mind, lancing into his thoughts. At first she has free reign, but then, there's some resistance as the pilot tries fighting back against her. With a growl, she renews her efforts, seeking entrance, forcing her will upon him, only to still be fought back, the pilot using images of the flag of his country and his pride in his father to keep her out of most of his mind now. "You will be MINE, human!" Saphyra roars at him, and doubles her efforts.
Saphyra's concentration is so focused she doesn't notice as a transport stops nearby and lets out troops. She continues to not notice until one of the steel rounds bounces off her shoulder, feeling like those round from the Bradleys weeks before. Feeling her hold slipping away, she does the one thing left to her in desperation. She links her mind to his.
Even tho she can't take him over now, she'll be able to feel where he is in the future. Another couple of rounds bounce off her before one actually cuts thru her scales and gives her a small wound. Growling at them all, seeing the infantry is now only about ten feet from her, and the bullets starting to penetrate, she jumps into the air and falls back, the pilot slumping down. "Medic!"
The Rangers were as happy as they could be at the moment. The new weapons were effective! They had annoyed the dragon enough to drive it back. Now he rushes over to the pilot who is slumped down, breathing hard. "Medic!" He calls out, but the pilot shakes his head. "I'm just tired..." He says. "She tried to...take my mind." He says. Shaking his head, McLintock helps the man back to the transport, which promptly speeds off towards the refugee landing zone, where large Chinook helicopters were taking refugees out. As it races away, McLintock goes to where his squad went, into a nearby parking garage, setting up to be able to fire down on both streets coming from the dragons' line. They could already see more hybrids coming down the road. "FIRE!" At their sergeant's order, all the men in the squad opened up on the advancing horde, as their Iranian liason called in for friendly fire support.
McLintock was concentrated in his own little corner of the fight, firing, aiming, and firing again, and then ducking down as fire lances up at him from the hybrids. "FUCK!" someone calls out, and ducks down as a large torrent of fire bathes the wall near him. "Got a dragon here! Everyone out! Move to the next building!" He calls out, as artillery starts falling on the street, only killing those it lands directly on or nearby. THe troop runs back thru the garage, exiting out the back and running across the street. A man screams out in pain as he is pounced upon from behind, the hybrid tearing at him with its claws, ripping a leg off, locking its jaws around his neck and yanking back, taking the man's head clean off. John turns to fire at it, catching it in its leg and dropping it to the ground with one burst, killing it with the second, still running, as the next man in his squad stops to fire at the advancing enemy. Soon enough, he is thru the door. He turns, going to the adjacent window, and fires out of it, taking a pouncing hybrid in the chest, the force of the impacting round sending him into one of his comrades behind him.
Saphyra is annoyed by now. She went and got the rest of her hybrids, only for the humans to fall back to another building. They were stalling, buying time for them to get more people out. The humans had concentrated their darting missile defenses around where they were bringing their people. They loaded them onto big helicopters and flew them out, and there was nothing they could do to stop them. The dragons who approached came back on the ground with shredded wings, and two didn't come back at all. Stupid lower breed dragons... Then she got a good look at one of the uniforms of those humans she was engaged with now. The flag on the right shoulder reminded her of the flag in the mind of that human, as well as the patches on those vehicles she and her wing fought weeks ago. "Kill them all!" She says. "Take none prisoner." The hybrids nod and all collectively charge the building the humans hid in and did not stop their run, even as many of their number fall from fire from the humans. She watched as they streamed into the building, saw the orange of flame and the white flashes of human gunfire from the second floor, then an explosion ripped thru the wall halfway up the first floor. The humans started coming out of the hole, moving to the next building.
Growling, not liking how this was going, Saphyra opens her jaws and lets loose a burst of energy, cutting thru the first man in the line of American Rangers running to the building, and tearing apart the building itself, making it into a street fight. All of the newly landed humans were falling back, but slowly, and taking a toll on the attacking hybrids. Saphyra knew right then that it was foolish to think that hybrids, as they were, would be able to inflict real damage on these people, even as one of them caught a human and spun him around. The human killed it with a burst from his rifle, but was soon taken down from behind and ripped apart by others.
Snorting, Saphyra touches the minds of all her hybrids and plants into them some of the Raptor tactics of ground fighting. The hybrids pause for a split second, then divide up, seeking cover. Things started evening out some. She preens just a bit in self satisfaction. Now things are more to her liking. She now has the advantage of numbers and near even training. They weren't in the middle of the street anymore, begging to be shot. They were moving much like the humans were, in cover, with covering shots of fire coming from their squad mates. As she watched, she searched, wanting to find where that human went to, the one she wanted as a personal slave. She had decided she would not change him, she likes the hybrids better when they looked human. She finds him, but can't get a location, his mind is still shielded by his intense concentration on those same two things. Growling, angered that her prize was stolen away by these men, she rushed forward herself, chasing after the men, who duck into an alley, firing at her as they run. Cursing her luck, she breathes fire into the alley, catching three men in the back.
McLintock couldn't believe it. Now he was in command. Only five men left. "Keep running!" He says, turning and firing around the corner at the hybrids chasing them, catching one in the shoulder. It was the change in tactics that got them. They were not expecting it so soon. Then that dragon firing off and blowing up the building, and that letting some of those bastards catch their last corporal. His radio squawks. "All units, report!" He immediately calls in. "This is squad five. We've lost all but five guys, falling back to squad four!" "Squad three here. We are falling back. Enemy has changed tactics on us. Moving to alternate position four." "Squad four here, we're ----" Static. The commander waited for a few minutes before issueing orders. "Squad five, regroup with squad three and retreat to extraction." He says. "Iranian forces are down to 5 percent. We have no more combat effectiveness. Command has ordered a retreat. Out."
Captain Davis watched from the back door of the chinook he was put on as it left the city. Half of the large buildings were on fire, the blaze starting to spread thanks to the dragons' fire. What a nightmare, and he'd had his own little part of it.He could feel that dragon looking for him. He didn't know how, but he knew she was looking for him. The farther away they got from the city, the less he could feel her. Finally, when the city was out of sight, he couldn't feel her anymore. He let down the guards in his mind. He started thinking about what was happening. These dragons are smart. He saw a television on his way out that said Saudi Arabia was under attack, and that practicly no oil was coming out from the Middle East anymore. That was trouble. "And they say fantasy isn't real." He says sarcasticly to the soldier nearby. McLintock nods. "Sure do. I'll have to read some, find some weakness." He says. Both grin to each other, then look back at the horizon that was darkened by the smoke of what once was Tehran, and the millions they were forced to leave behind.