STELLAR: The Dragon Rider

Chapter 19: Let The War Begin

Ben and his team of soldiers watched as Nightstorm and Kate sparred in hand to hand combat. It was an intense battle. Every punch and kick thrown at the other it was countered. They seemed to be equally matched. Then when Nightstorm threw a kick Kate grabbed a hold of it and flipped him over and kicked him in his side. Nightstorm fell to the floor on his back. "Guess I win this round Nightstorm." Kate said, teasing him.

Kate helped him up. "Ok I'll admit your skills are pretty impressive." Nightstorm confessed as he got to his feet. Nightstorm had to say he taught her well. Now if only she could face the Dragon Rider face-to-face and win then, would he be able to sleep easier.

Suddenly Allison and Deadbolt appeared at the door. "What is it?" Nightstorm asked. Their silence told Nightstorm that the situation was serious. Allison and Deadbolt glanced at each other and looked back at Nightstorm. "Adrian is trying to reach our signal. He's hailing us." Allison said. Nightstorm now realized something big was going on.

Nightstorm, Kate, Ben and his team of soldiers followed Allison and Deadbolt into the command center where a large screen projected an image of a red blinking blip. "Put him on." Nightstorm said.

Then an image of Adrian in his ship was protected onto the screen. "I thought you'd never answer." Adrian said, almost as if to mock Nightstorm. "What do you want?" Nightstorm demanded. He knew Adrian was trying to taunt them. "You know at first I thought it was the rebellion who initiated an attack on a Dark Rider base of operations. However then I noticed that most of the kills were done with precision. Only an experienced Neon Rider could've been responsible. I must confess I really am impressed the way it was coordinated, but unfortunately, what goes around comes back around." Adrian said before the feed cut off.

Something wasn't right. The source of Adrian's transmission hadn't originate from within Earth's atmosphere. In fact it was no where near Earth. However Adrian made that statement as if he was already here. Why?

Suddenly the alarm blared. On the screen there was a projected image of a map of the city and several red blips joining together. The map was minimized and a news coverage video was projected and Nightstorm saw now that Adrian had other Dark Riders already on the planet.

Ben and his team of soldiers grabbed their weapons. They all carried a heckler and Koch G36 assault rifle. "He had a small army already here scattered across the planet hidden until the invasion. We were infiltrated from the start." Ben said as Nightstorm and the others gathered their weapons.

Nightstorm and the others got on their vehicles while Ben and his team got in their black Hummers and black Chevy Suburbans. Kate and the Neon Riders rode out with Ben and his men following behind. "Sir reports say that they're killing off civilians." One of his men said. "Okay contact 101st Airborne tell them we have an imminent attack on the city and that we need their help." Ben told him.

"I'm going to leave these bastards lying six feet below the ground." Kate cried out. Nightstorm saw how angry Kate was. He knew that she was going to go on a rampage, but he said nothing to discourage her. For he was angry too. "Lead the way Kate." Nightstorm said as they rode toward the city.

When they arrived the saw a small army of Dark Riders overwhelming police officers who were trying to set a blockade and fight them off. Rifle in hand, Kate repeatedly fired shots at several Dark Riders. She got off her motorcycle with the other Neon Riders doing the same. Ben and his team later arrived. Everyone got out of their cars and took cover behind downed cars after taking heavy fire.

Kate and Nightstorm repeatedly fired their guns at the Dark Riders as they returned fire. Several sites were suddenly fired at them. They quickly ducked down for cover. "So what's the plan?" Inferno asked Nightstorm. "Kill them all." Nightstorm said as he and Inferno fired shots at the Dark Riders severely wounding a few and killing others.

Suddenly Kate noticed that there were several civilians held hostage in a building. "Ben they have hostages." Kate said pointing to the group of people who had weapons trained on them. Ben saw that they were in the middle of an intersection. He knew exactly what to do. He would flank them. He motioned for his team to follow him.

Kate saw this and knew exactly what he was doing. "Allison, Karma, I need you to cover the left side." Kate said. Allison and Karma quickly rushed to where Ben and his men previously had positioned themselves. They took heavy fire from several Dark Riders.

Suddenly several incoming Dark Riders repeatedly fired shots while riding toward the scene. Kate and Nightstorm ducked. Then, thinking quickly, Inferno snipped them down.

Meanwhile Ben and his men had finally reached the back of the building. Good thing there was a back door or they would lose the element of surprise. He and his team tactically entered the building through the back door. They made sure they were quiet. They walked through a long corridor and saw a door. Ben placed C4 on the door. Everybody stood back with guns trained on the door. Ben stood back and detonated the explosives, destroying the door and crippling it to bits of wood.

Ben and his team quickly opened fire and took out the Dark Riders that were holding civilians. There were ten hostages. Ben and his team quickly evacuated them and provided cover fire while the civilians exited the building. Then they quickly took out the Dark Riders that were on the frontlines and had Kate and her team of Neon Riders pinned down. Still, there were many Dark Riders incoming overwhelming Ben and the others.

Suddenly when it seemed as if they would lose this battle, multiple V-22 Ospreys began to hover over the city. From those aircrafts were parachuting soldiers in green Camo uniform. "Hang tight boys the cavalry has just arrived." The commander of the battalion said through Ben's radio. As soon they touched down they engaged in full combat with the Dark Riders. This time they were the ones overwhelming the Dark Riders with troops until they killed every last one of them.

Everybody looked around. The city looked like a total war zone. Luckily there were some buildings that were intact. "I guess we won." Kate said reloading her weapon incase of any sudden attack. "No, this is just Adrian's way of warning us of what's to come when he arrives. This isn't over, when Adrian arrives the consequences will be catastrophic." Nightstorm said.

Later, after the battle, while Ben and Nightstorm were at headquarters in the briefing room discussing battle plans to prepare for the attack a soldier appeared at the door. Ben and Nightstorm glanced at him. "What is it?" Asked Ben who was obviously getting impatient. "It's the Secretary of Defense, she wants to speak with you." The soldier said. Nightstorm and Ben glanced at each other then looked back at the soldier. "Put her on hold, it can wait." Ben said. The last thing he needed was the Secretary of Defense on his behind about the mess that occurred earlier. "Sir, she's not on the video screen, she's here at headquarters." The soldier said.

It was at this moment Ben realized how serious things had gotten. "Take me to her." Ben said as he and Nightstorm went with the soldier to the hangar bay. In the hangar bay a woman in a black formal business attire and high heels awaited him. "Madam Secretary, forgive me for making you have to wait for so long, what brings you here?" He said. The woman had a serious expression. One of conviction. "I thought you said you had things under control." She said. "I thought we had things under control but apparently Adrian had a small hidden army for when he would attack us, but we're coming up with strategic countermeasures." He explained.

"You do realize this is the biggest catastrophe since Pearl Harbor correct?" She said. "Yes ma'am." Ben said. There was a brief pause between the two. "Who's he?" She asked. "This is the leader of the Neon Riders, he's been a great help with fighting Adrian and his army." Ben explained. "Not great enough because we have a possible invasion on our hands, the president is pissed. You better have a good explanation for this because I need something good to report to the Pentagon." She said. There was silence for a brief moment. Ben had nothing to say because even he didn't know how this must've happened. "Adrian had a small army scattered across Earth. There was an attack on our headquarters awhile back. We believe this could've been a distraction to leave behind his army. They remained scattered and hidden until Adrian have them the order. Adrian's sending us a message." Nightstorm explained.

This realization sunk deep into everyone's thoughts. However no-one wanted to believe it. "What message?" The Secretary asked, but she already knew the answer. "This is war." Nightstorm replied. It was with that both the Secretary and Ben knew their fears had come true.