The Great War - Part Four
#4 of The Great War
Not much action here, I dedicated this chapter to the big picture. Remember, this is my story, with a bunch of ideas from
others thrown into a blender with my own. If you're under 18, get out.
Part four - Of Knowing and Planning
Reassignments were always fun, but this had to be the first time an American squadron was ever reassigned to a European airbase, namely, a French base, since World War 2. Now he stood, watching the television with the others in his squad, and waited, as the Secretary of Defense introduced in the President of the United States. "Thank you." The man says. "My fellow Americans, citizens the world over. We witnessed together a savage attack on Moscow yesterday that shook our very foundations. The question of whether or not other life exists has been answered. Our legends and myths are coming back to life before our very eyes."
He pauses for a second. "We have found several grave sights in Britain, Spain, France, and even several here in America, that indicate dragons lived here with humans thousands of years ago. For some reason, they left. Why they have returned is unimportant. They seem bent on the destruction of the entire human race. Never have we faced such a threat before. This enemy cares nothing for our cities, our populations, or our technology. This enemy will not stop until every man, woman, and child is killed. Because of this, I have talked with the leaders of every country in the known world and we have decided that to combat this threat, we must work as one. The entire weight and wealth of humanity is going to come crashing down on these dragons, and we will not stop fighting until they do, or until we are all dead. Thank you." With that, he leaves the podium, under a siege of questions being thrown at him by the reporters sitting in the press room.
Davis sighs. It's out now. How will the public really react, knowing the whole situation? "Capitan Davis, the base commander wishes to speak with you." A Frenchman, his accent so heavy Davis almost didn't understand him. Davis nods, heading out and towards the office. It's amazing how all the bases in NATO seem to be built the same. He can easily make his way there, and finds the base commander, a tough looking bastard, even for a frenchman, standing looking out the window. "I understand you have fought these beasts before?" He asks, turning around.
"Yes sir." Davis says. "Over Tehran. They are tough as nails, it took all my missiles to kill one, and all my 20mm hitting on the neck to kill another. They tore apart the F22 squadron that I was in while I did it too, and got me a second later."
"An entire squadron of Raptors?" He asks, shocked, then remembers himself and gets serious again. "We are sending everything we've got forward into Germany. Once there, prepare a briefing for the men, tell them what works and what doesn't work. Give the briefing to all of the NATO air forces in the area." Davis nods. "Yes sir." He says, and goes to attention and salutes, the French commander saluting back before releasing Davis to go off and plan.
Thirty minutes later and up at 20,000 feet, Davis listens to reports coming in over the squadron net. Africa is starting to catch it, small spots in the rain forests burning up as the dragons even hunt down and annihilate the small human tribes living in the forests themselves. Fortunately these fires never spread very far. The remnants of the Russian army was retreating East, towards the
NATO forces, with all the speed they could muster, and China had mobilized everything they had. Israel was gone, went black just this morning after a report of contact with the enemy. Pakistan was fighting for its existence.
Rogue squadron sets down at Ramstien Air Base in Germany only an hour later, a bit happy to see the American flag waving over the base. He taxies his aircraft over to the nearby hangar, the crews looking at these new F22s with wonder. They have the same design as the standard F22 Raptor, save that the cannon is always exposed and ready to fire, and the vectored engines can move more, allowing for harder turns. The aircraft is also slightly larger than the normal F22, thanks to all the stuff inside, and the spare room for upgrades. Once Davis gets down from his aircraft, he is surprised to see the base commander there. "Welcome to Germany, Captain." He says, saluting in response do Davis' snap to attention and salute. "Yes sir, Thank you sir." Comes the response.
"I won't keep you very long. We've got an airborne division coming in later today to beef up base security, and a flight or two of Apaches. Good thing America makes enough oil to keep ourselves going, eh?" Without even waiting for an answer, the commander turns and leaves. Thirty minutes later the C130 Hercules transports carrying an airborne division land and start to unload troops, who immediately head to their guard stations. The 130s also unload the Apaches that were coming. Even with what the commander said, Davis knew that was all that America had the gas to send over to Europe.
The very next morning, Davis found himself standing in front of a hundred pilots, each of them squadron commanders, going over what happened at Tehran, how dragons act in the air, and some of the best ways to counter these moves.
Saphyra was more than a little annoyed right now. Upon landing after the battle of Moscow, Shale had scolded her for taking a risk and coming down to swat that helicopter out of the air. Somehow he hadn't gotten it thru his skull yet that
she was NOT his girl. He was handsome, yes, but she was not going to give herself to someone as blood-thirsty and cold hearted as that general. When she snorted at his scolding, he reminded her that he would not have his future bonded be marred by needless scars. Saphyra had promptly said she would rather bond to a human, and stormed away from the general, who knew better than to pursue her, the scar on his arm a delicate, but pointed, reminder.
"Hey Saph." Comes so unexpectedly that Saphyra jerks her head up, seeing Cynder before her with her own bonded, Spyro.
"What's on your mind?" Cynder persists, seemingly unaware that she shocked Saphyra out of thinking about what she just went thru.
"That dumbass general." She says. "He still thinks I'd consent to a bond." She growls a bit at the male's insolence. Speaking to her like she had no choice in the matter at all. Cynder grins at her and nuzzles Spyro gently.
"How's your pet human doing?" She asks, surprising Spyro a bit. Upon his inquiry, Cynder tells him about how Saphyra had tried to take over a human pilot, and how he had been saved before Saph could finish the job. Saphyra doesn't mind having the story told, it brings up the images in her mind, and the recent one of how she surprised him in his bathroom.
"He is well." She says, grinning. She reaches out with her mind and finds him, tho his mind is a tough nut to get into, always has been, she can tell where he is at least. "He's on this continent..." She says, a bit surprised, then a grin sprouts on her face. "I'll go get him, then you can see him in person." She says. immediately leaping into the air.
After a second, Cynder jumps up after her. "Wait a minute Saphyra. You can't go now, in daylight, straight past the human lines." She says. "They would spot you, and if they didn't, as soon as you arrived and snatched this human, they would chase you, and human planes are faster than we are."
Saphyra looks at her. "I can get in alone, and I can probably lure him out." She says.
"But he would not go out alone." Cynder puts in, obstinately.
That makes Saphyra blink. She could not affect all the minds on the base at one time and go unnoticed. "Then what do you recommend, Cynder?"
Cynder seems a bit relieved that she is getting thru to her Princess. "Wait." She says. "We attack tomorrow, perhaps they will send him into the fight, in which case, you can rip him from his aircraft." The plan sounds good to Saphyra, so she nods, heading back to the ground, where Spyro is sitting, watching the two larger dragonesses.
However, the following day, Davis is not at the attack, nor is any NATO army. As the days and weeks start to go on, most of the dragons still recovering from the hard flight into Russia, they notice fewer and fewer humans. Saphyra is a little surprised, a week later, in a country called Poland, to find a large village completely deserted.
"The humans FLEE before us!" The general says, landing next to her, looking triumphant. His grin shows it all. Clearly he thinks that a victory over the humans will ensure that the Queen will offer Saphyra, her daughter, to the general for a bond. After all, wouldn't the Queen want her daughter bonded to a general who defeated an entire world?
Saphyra snorts at the general, deciding to cut him down a bit. "You are as much a fool as you are mistaken. They do not flee before us, they consolidate their people into a more easily defended location." She says. "That is why we have encountered no armed force yet." She flicks her tail dismissively and lifts into the air, leaving a stung and glowering general to order the village burned down. As she flies on with the rest of the dragons, she starts thinking on how best to piss this general off enough to make him do something stupid and get relieved of his position. Maybe then she could have a day when he isn't hitting on her.
The general of the draconic forces in the Sol system, general Shale, growls to himself as he flies, looking at Saphyra in the front, with the other celestials. Of course the princess would lead the celestial dragons, after all, the royal family is a family of celestials, and the other celestials would all equate to high nobility in human culture. He will have to break her. He will need to pin her and rape her and keep raping her until she submitted to him entirely. The only thing is, with all his bravado, he knows he does not command the same amount of respect as she does among the army, and that as soon as he tried to force things, she and her followers would bat him down. Then the humans would take advantage and route them. His own lusts would have to wait, for now...
"We have a new source of intel!" The base commander at Ramstien announces as soon as everyone is seated, overjoyed to finally have some little bit of good news. "NASA has launched a recon sattelite that is able to detect the energy signature given off by dragons. It also has a camera on it and can feed live images and photos to ground recon stations." He says, reading off from a paper to the assembled three squadron leaders, one from Rogue, one from the F16 squadron known as Rattler, one from the F15 Strike Eagle squadron known as Knockout. All of the squad leaders look pleased. "As such, we have been able to determine this:" The commander continues, and brings up a big map.
On the wall, a map of Europe is shown. Several green lines show up. "The dragons went as a group to Moscow, from the Middle East, at a very quick pace, showing that they are capable of near supersonic flight. However, given how slowly they are moving now, we estimate that they can't do that for very long, like we can with our fighters, which is a relief. They aren't supernatural. They have physical limitations just like we do." He motions to the map. "So far, we Have lost Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia..." As he lists them off, the country lines fade from the map and the country's area is shaded in green. "Israel, Jordan, Syria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and half of Turkey. The dragons cut thru Russia all the way to Moscow and burned the city down. Now they are spreading out. They burned Saint Petersburg last night, and are also pushing into Poland, and east towards Siberia and China." The map zooms out and shows the globe, where a great green patch covers what was once central Russia and the Middle East.
"There is no more oil save for what comes from South America. And that will run out soon. Fortunately, our R and D boys say that they are close to developing an alternative way to power our fighters, tanks, and civilian economy." He switches over his papers. "China and India are cooperating with each other, throwing their forces into a tightening band, like we are, pulling civilians out and moving them to major cities, and setting up defenses there. Japan has bought a fuck ton worth of SAM and anti air batteries, and are putting them up everywhere. North Korea is talking with the US, along with South Korea, about defensive plans, and offering to add their nuclear force to America's and Europe's should they be needed."
"Here in Europe, we've mostly evacuated Poland, along with most countries East of her. They ran on their own and we found them halfway in. Ukraine is trying to hold on her own and is failing, tho she is giving us time to pull everyone towards western Europe, and establish our battle lines in the east. Here's how they stand now..." Several blue lines appear on the map, starting in Poland and heading west. "Each of these defensive lines marks a stage in our plan. The first four are a set of defensive positions ranging from central Poland all the way to the last one here, at Ramstien." he says. "If the enemy penetrates those, we begin evacuating people to England and the United States." He motions to England. "England is setting up a big line of SAM belts along her shores facing Europe. She's using our new missiles in the launchers, so they should have a deterring effect against any hostile who comes close enough to be shot at." He looks up. "And that's the situation as is, people. I will now let the base XO explain the new advances in weaponry and the upgrades to our planes, as well as fresh intel on the enemy's forces."
The XO, a tall, skinny man, stands up and walks forward. "Thank you sir." He says. "We've made some leaps forward in weapon's technology. Your aircraft are being fitted with new cannons that are, in effect, railguns. They fire at only 300 rounds per minute, but they do 500% more damage than the bullets you were firing before. This also will let you stay up longer, since the rounds being fired are no bigger than a bullet fired from a rifle." He says. "Our missiles have also been replaced with new ones, these with a small shaped charge in the nose instead of a proximity fuse. As you know, shrapnel will only hurt a dragon's wings. These missiles will close with the target, hit it, and explode towards the target. News from Poland states that somehow the dragons have hardened their scales, so it will take several shots with missiles to actually kill a dragon."
The view on the screen shifts from the map to a picture of a blue dragon, Saphyra, complete with all the small spikes along her back, and the feathered wings. "This is a celestial dragon." The XO says, as Davis stares at the picture of the dragon trying to not only kill his squadron, but enslave him personally. "They come in many colors, but their size, shape, and look are generally the same." He says. "The females, however, are larger and harder to kill than the males." He fixes his glasses. "Celestials have the ability to breath fire, are masters of flying, and have the ability to fire a burst focused energy generated by their bodies." The picture shifts to a blood red dragon. "This is an Inferno dragon." He says. "These dragons cannot fly as well as a celestial, but their fire can melt thru steel. We estimate that this kind of dragon destroyed the main Russian oil refinery." The image shifts again.
"This is a crystal dragon." He says, showing another blue dragon, this one smaller than the first blue dragon, with the normal bat-like wings, and a thin snout. "These dragons are targets of opportunity. They usually do not engage in combat, instead summoning other creatures with their magic." A few months before, there would have been laughter at that, but not now. Now, every pilot is drinking in the information. "This is a ground dragon." He says, the image showing a green dragon with no wings. "They can't fly, and are very tough. They can match our tanks, usually a whole platoon, in battle." He looks up. "We have seen hybrid crosses between all of these classes, so do not be surprised if you encounter one while in battle. A word of warning, however. A pure celestial dragon is a master in the air, just as a pure ground dragon is a powerful force on the ground. So always assume what you are facing is a pure breed." He then goes on to explain the summoned forces of the draconic army.
"Most of these you don't need to worry about. The only thing you need to think about is this." He shows a picture of a gryphon. "This is a gryphon. They are the equivalent of the dog to us. Dragons keep them and breed them as pets. Everything a human would do with a dog we estimate the dragons do with their gryphons, including training them as attack and guard animals. Be on the lookout for them when at low altitude."
The commander stands up. "We receive resupply regularly, so when combat starts, don't be afraid to tear the enemy to pieces using everything you've got at hand." He says. "We expect the enemy to reach the first defensive line tomorrow. That's when we start bombing them. Head out, brief your squadrons. You will be alerted when it's time for the attacks to begin."