5 Hours Since Departure From NYC
Operator: Tyro Serelath, Nina Salanth
Location: Classified
Assignment: Infiltration
We followed the 22 holding Taro and Shadow for hours, it circled around a few times to check for a tail, which met we had to put down and wait. Thanks to LiVE sat and Taro's GPS however, we never lost their trail. Night fell as we waited, rain clouds had moved in and it was pouring heavily. The rain was clunking on our 66's metal roof and rolling down the windshield. Greyson was keeping an eye on the LiVE sat feed and Nina had somehow managed to get to sleep. I wanted to sleep, but I couldn't, I had way too much on my mind. I was still aching over learning of Hunter's death, was still wondering what I was going to tell Mnerloth when I made it back to Romeo. I was also trying to mentally prepare myself for the knife in my chest that would be Taro's death. I couldn't stand the thought of the dragon who helped bring Adelind and I, as well as Sozenn and Fireclaw up. Sozenn and Fireclaw, Hunter had helped raise them too. It was the first time their names had come in my head since this whole thing started, what was I supposed to tell THEM? I sighed and lay my head between my paws, certain I was going to lose so close friends before this ordeal came to it's end.
“Your not asleep are you?”, I asked looking at Nina.
“No”, Nina replied quietly, “what gave me away?”
I sighed, “Nothing, I just wondered how you were sleeping when I wasn't.”
“What have you got on your mind?”, Nina asked.
“What on Earth I'm going to tell Hunter's daughter when I get home”, I answered, “I doubt he died a peaceful death and I'm not gonna lie about it.”
Nina sighed, “then tell her the truth.”
“What's that?”, I asked.
“He died to save Shadow and I”, Nina said.
I didn't answer, I wasn't sure how to.
“Hey Tyro we got movement”, Greyson said.
I stood up and poked my head into the cockpit, “On the GPS?”
“Yeah”, Greyson replied, “their path evened out, looks like there making a brake for home.”
I looked on the Sat feed and saw that the V22, which was registering as an orange blip, began heading for a huge red smear.
“That's gotta be the prison ship”, I said, “get this bird in the air.”
Greyson flipped a few switches as the engines began to prime up. The propellers began to slice through the wind and rain. The 22 gave a lurch as it began to lift off. The lights inside the cabin went off and the tach and all the dials lit up in a faint orange glow. As we started forward, I opened up the coms.
“Attention any station, any station, this is Major First Class Tyro Kyloth Serelath, calling any and all Romanian forces in the area, how copy?”
“Copy all Major”, a female voice answered, “you got the USS Empire, Captain Abigail North answering, what you need?”
“Requesting a 10 dragon and 20 man reinforcement package at our GPS location”, I replied, “I have located a Project Draco ship and have reason to believe that there is an HVI in imminent danger.”
“Rodger that major”, the Captain replied, “chopping a task force to your location, ETA in 20 in minutes.”
“Copy your last”, I answered, “Tyro out.”
“Fly low”, I told Greyson, “stay under their radar.”
I turned back into the cabin and began peeling off my vest.
“What are you doing?”, Nina asked.
Not answering, I opened a metal box. Inside were a couple of diving suits.
“Taro said there was a ship involved”, I said pulling it out, “so I came prepared. There's one in here for you too.”
I slid my suit on and put my vest over it, strapping the re-breather to my chest and the grappling hook to my back. I helped Nina into her suit as Greyson turned back to us.
“We'll make it in two minutes, get ready to jump!”
“Are you good?”, I asked looking into Nina's eyes as she tightened her vest.
“Yeah I'm good”, she answered.
I nodded to her and then punched the door release. As it came down, wind filled the cabin and attempted to suck us out. The mist from the engines and the rain blasted in and threatened to soak us before we even dove in.
“Come back alive you two”, Greyson said, “two deaths are enough for today.”
I held up two fingers as Nina and I dove off the edge. There was a faint window of seeing a dark, starless night sky before the cold, salty ocean water engulfed us both. Under the surface was so inky black it was impossible to see an inch past my goggles. I broke a few glow sticks and then radioed Nina to do the same. A few seconds later a yellow glow popped up in front of me. I gave her an OK hand signal and she did the same.
Swimming wasn't that difficult for dragons because we used our wings under the water. Where it differed from flying was how you stroked them. Since water was many times more dense than air, if you tried to use them like in flight, you'd just end up jerking yourself back and fourth and never get anywhere. So to avoid it, you would extend your wings forward, like you were going to grab someone and then thrust back. I took the lead as we started forward. I could feel the push from the ships propellers, so Nina and I got in the middle of the stream and followed it until we could hear the chop, chop, chop, of them in the water. Once we had the sound we veered to the right and swam until we had the side of the ship. I gave the motion to surface and we detached our tanks and started up. When we surfaced, Nina gasped for air.
“You okay?”, I asked.
“Yeah”, she said planting, “I always had problems holding my breath is all.”
I reached onto my back for the grapple gun, “our first objective is to disable the communications, objective two is to free Prisoner 0, three is to release all prisoners and 4....is to recover Taro's body.”
Nina didn't answer. We shot our lines up to the deck of the ship. They caught on the side railing and Nina and I started our assent. I could hear some very faint chatter coming from the other end of the ship. Here was hoping they didn't see us come up and raise an alarm. My gun's electric motor slowed down as I reached the top. I gripped the side of the boat and pulled my head over, I could see a few dragons who weren't armed laughing and having a good time at the other end of the ship. They were wearing party hats and had glow sticks stuck in a cake, so I guessed they were celebrating a birthday. I felt a twinge of anger at them, but quickly brought myself in check. Couldn't lose my head, this could end up like my nightmare if I did.
“All clear Nina”, I said hauling myself up and over.
Nina followed closely behind me. I heard her growl and mutter something under her breath at the dragons on the other end of the ship. Nina and I quickly trotted over to a door. Nina opened it and I slipped inside, coming face to face with a little silver cub who appeared no older than Tyson. Nina walked in behind me and stopped quickly. He just sat there and stared at us through curios eyes.
“Cool”, he said quietly, “you do what my older brother does.”
I leaned down so I was looking him in the eyes, “whose your brother?”
“His names Arson”, the little cub said, “do you know him?”
“No”, I answered, “but I've seen him around, mind not telling him you saw my friend and I? We can't get into any more trouble with the commander.”
He made a motion as if he were zipping his lips and then went outside. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“That could have ended badly”, Nina whispered.
“Yeah it could have”, I replied, “let's keep going and see if can avoid killing anyone on the way.”
Nina nodded and we pressed even deeper into the ship. I could hear all kinds of lively chatter from the levels above and began to suspect that this was a kind of Firebase instead of just a prison ship. After all, what would a little, year old cub be doing on a prison ship? And wandering the halls on his own? Knowing that more troops were on their way, I radioed to Captain Abbie.
“Captain Abbie”, I called, “this is Major Serelath, do you read me?”
“I read you Major”, she called.
“Be advised”, I replied, “the ship has turned out to be a Firebase with entire families on broad. Advise all soldiers to enter quietly, using lethal force only if absolutely necessary, confirm.”
“I'll let my men know”, Abbie answered, “thanks for the heads up Major, out.”
I shut off the coms. Nina and I arrived at a door way with a sign that read “Stairwell”. There was a map posted on a wall right next to it, for new dragons by my guess. Judging from the map, the ship had three levels. B1, which Nina and I were currently on, B2, which held the barracks, kitchen, armory and recreational rooms and then B3, which was labeled, “brigs and interrogation rooms”. The tower floors were listed a F1, briefing room, F2, infirmary and F3, Command center.
“Looks like it's right up”, Nina said.
“Let's go then”, I answered.
Nina pulled the door open again and I slipped through. The stairwell was lit in dim orange light and stretched up pretty far, about 300 or so feet from the looks of it. Nina slipped in behind me and shut the door behind her. We started up the staircase like mice, retracing our claws so they wouldn't make noise. We crawled up the stairs as low as we could, they creaked a little under our weight, but not enough to make anyone who heard us expect anything but aged metal and ocean waves. The floors past quickly, B1, F1, F2 and then we arrived at a door labeled F3. Nina slowly pulled the door open and I quickly slipped inside, finding the room empty. I guessed the commanders of the ship were either with the birthday dragon down on the deck or asleep.
“So nice of them to leave the room un-guarded”, Nina said.
“Let's get to work”, I said.
I popped two panels off the control console and set a small LEMP charge inside. I replaced the panels and watched the dials go dark as a small zap sounded behind them.
“That should keep it dark a while”, Nina said.
“Let's get down to the prison and get Shadow out of this mess”, I said.
Nina and I slipped out of the control room as quietly as we could and snuck back down stairwell to B3 floor. On the way down, a dragon voice came over the radio.
“Major Serelath”, it said, “this is Staff Sargent Aron, were in position outside the ship, ready to move in.”
“Stay put until I give the order”, I replied him.
“Copy all”, he replied, “out.”
Nina and I arrived on the lowest level of the ship. There was a red light that looked like it was about to give out glowing above the door and the sign on the door said, “Authorized personnel only”. I gave the rusted, squeaky handle a turn and slipped through. Instantly the smell of blood hit my nose. It had happened.
“You smell that?”, Nina said shaking a little.
I sighed, “I wish I didn't.”
The prison level was a long hallway lined with crates and barred cages, like what you might find in a county jail. They were just bar walls separated by more bars. The drip, drip, drip of water could be heard near by. The lights in the hallway flickered, as if the room was blinking. Nina and I started down the hall. All the cells were empty, a somewhat unnerving sight. With the smell of blood so heavy in the air, I assumed they had put many others to death right along side my friend.
I growled at myself as Nina and I turned a corner. This hallway was lined with heavy, steel framed concrete doors with thick barred windows. I couldn't hear anything from them other than the squeak of what I thought might be rats. The entire place was under the influence of a single, red bulb attached to a single wire hanging from the ceiling, talk about psychological warfare. As Nina and I walked down the hall, I spotted an open door, the smell of blood seemed to be drifting from it.
I swallowed, I didn't want to go in there, but I did. And what I found, made me want to throw up, but...wasn't at all surprising.
Taro lay dead in the room. There was a single bullet hole in the base of his head and a bloody, spent 20 caliber long range cartridge on the floor. Taro's eyes were still half open and covered in a cream colored glaze. There was a hole in the top of his muzzle and his neck was basically gone, attached to his body by a few, grizzly fibers that the 20 had spared. His tongue had a knife hole in it and was hanging out the side of his muzzle. I crouched down and closed my friend's eyes. For him, it was over, at least he was at rest.
With a solitary tear in my eye, I pulled his dog tags off his neck.
“Rest in peace brother”, I said quietly, “I promise I'll find who did this to you.”
There was a gasp behind me and I turned to see Nina holding her paw over her muzzle. I stuck Taro's tags in my pocket and turned to her.
“Let's go”, I said, “we still gotta fin-”
I was interrupted as a gun shot echoed through the hallways. Nina and I ran down the hallway as I opened up the coms.
“All forces move in!”, I ordered, “I repeat all forces move in, non lethal fire only!”
I shut off the coms as Nina and I ran down the empty hallways. It was filled with large, metal supply crates, perfect for cover if we needed it. At the end of the hall way were two dragons, both of which had been attacked. By who, I could guess. Nina and I ran over to them. One of them, the older looking one, had a Bowie knife broken off in his skull. His eyes will still open and had a petrified look in them. Nina bent down and closed them while I looked at the other dragon, who was still alive. He had a huge gash out of his muzzle. There was a gash starting at his chest that ran almost to his rear legs. His stomach was peeking out of the gash and he was crying heavily from the pain. I watched his eyes go from pain to fear as I knelt down.
“Oh god no!”, he whined, “please don't kill me! I haven't done anything wrong!”
I placed my paw on his muzzled and reached into my medical kit, “I'm not here to kill you, none of us are here to kill you okay? Just rest, it's a bad gash, but it's survivable.”
I gave him a shot of morphine and bandaged him up as I got onto my radio, “attention all forces, I have a wounded Project Draco dragon on the bottom level of the ship in the brig, he needs immediate medical attention. I have reason to suspect that Captain Shadow Salanth is in a state of extreme rage and is willing to kill anyone who crosses him. If you get eyes on, radio it to me at once!”
A swarm of orders confirmed messages came in as Nina and I ran up the stair case. We were coming around a corner as I heard a door slam echo through the metal walls. A crack came on my radio.
“Tyro”, it was Greyson, “Shadow's climbing up the command tower!”
“Keep eyes on!”, I shouted, “if he so much as scratches anyone, you shoot him till he's immobile!”
“Can do!”, Greyson called.
No matter what happened, I was going to keep as many dragons and humans as I could from biting it, no one had to die tonight.
Nina and I came out of the tower and were greeted by a few Resistance shot gunners. Greyson's V22 was hovering around the command tower and Shadow, who was dressed in his fathers crimson red and black suit and mask was clawing at the door. Nina and and I started up the tower ourselves. We climbed as fast as our body density would allow and soon made it to the door of the tower. It was wide open and I could hear talking inside.
“Razgriz! No...no please....PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE!”
I pulled three flash grenades off my vest and tossed them inside. Nina and I quickly entered the room. Shadow was back on his hind legs with his paws over his eyes and there was a red dragon in the corner.
“Get on the ground!”, I roared as Nina went to check the red dragon.
Shadow either didn't hear me, or wasn't in the mood to listen.
“I said GET ON THE GROUND!”, I shouted.
“Wait...that voice...Tyro?”, Shadow asked.
“Shadow?”, Nina asked.
“Yeah”, Shadow said, “yeah it's me.”
She ran to him and threw her wings around him.
“I thought they killed you”, she cried.
“I thought they killed me too”, Shadow replied nuzzling her, “how'd you find me?”
“Your Dad's mask”, I answered, “he had a GPS in it. I had your location in a matter of minutes.”
“Where is he?”, Nina asked, though I wasn't sure why.
Shadow sighed and looked away.
“So he was right huh?”, I asked.
“What do you mean?”, Shadow asked, “what do you mean, he was right?”
“This was all part of our father's plan”, I answered sitting back.
“Plan?”, Shadow asked.
“Your Dad was hunting someone”, I answered, “He's been on the hunt since he faked his death all those years ago. After some searching, he found out he was here. I don't know how he is, but Taro said that he was important, so I didn't question his motives. The plan started with finding you and Nina in San Francisco and then leading you to a link in New York. He knew there was a Draco unit in the area, so he planed on getting captured. He knew he would be brought here and killed, just not that you would be taken with him. I was supposed to follow the GPS from SF and then free this guy from captivity. He said we would understand once we found Prisoner 0. He planed to die from the beginning, for you.”
“W...what?”, Shadow asked, “he planed to die?...For me?”
"He said you would understand once we found Prisoner 0", I asnwered
“I promised that I wouldn't shed any more tears”, Shadow said, “that I would finish this an carry on his legacy, let's go get this target of his.”
We walked out of the command tower and back to the deck. The Resistance Marines had cleared the ship and all of the dragons were laying by the 22s. There were a few families, which confirmed my suspicious and a few more pairs who I assumed were either mated or siblings. The little silver cub who had greeted us was laying with his older brother who looked completely clueless as to what was going on, and the blue dragon that Shadow had cut up was getting looked at by the medics. There was a Resistance Battleship that was anchored about 450 yards away that had all the lights on. I walked over to the crowd of dragons and looked them over.
“Does anyone know of Prisoner 0?”, I asked.
“Screw you”, a green dragon spat.
I walked over and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.
“I'll ask nicely once more”, I said calmly, “where is he?”
“Floor C, holding lock B”, he growled, “now leave me be.”
I let him go.
“Let's go get him Shadow.”