>Within a tavern, Safe Harbor_
Castle Archer Guardsman Robin sat upon a rickety old stool, and stared listlessly down at a carven wooden cup half-full with some lukewarm bitter-tasting herbal tea he didn't really care about enough to remember the name of.
He was having one of 'those' moments. Those times when you've caught a break, but are too tired and too bored to really want to do or think about anything, and wind up sitting or standing around doing- and thinking- about exactly nothing except experiencing the evergoing march of time. Whether you know you have better things to do or not.
The establishment he was currently resting in was one of the city's longer-running taverns, never particularly busy, but popular among members of the Castle Archer Guard due to its proximity to the Safehold. The family who owned were amicable enough, and the place almost perpetually smelled a strange and somewhat off-putting mixture of citrus, alcohol, and various teas after the most common drinks served.
He sat alone on his table, there were few other people present in the relatively small room with him. All of them paid little mind to one another. It was towards the end of the day, but most city-dwellers at this time would be working their various jobs at this hour. If not, they were no doubt distracted by the foreigner's presence.
Robin was tired. A whole inferno of a lot of stuff had happened these last few days, but little of it directly had to do with him, to be frank. He and his fellow ballista-operating guards, who weren't present with him in the tavern, had spent a significant portion of their time since the thwarted attack being drilled by the Castle-ballista guard commander to improve their effectiveness, efficiency, and especially speed loading and unloading spears from the launchers; arming the heavy machine; as well as testing and retesting their aiming arithmetic and instincts against flying targets.
If Robin didn't know any better, he might just sympathize with the slowly spreading rumors which suggested their commander was 'inspired' to these drills after they had been upstaged so severely by the foreigner's ship-mounted air defenses, but those were just that: Rumors.
The sound of a small bell tinkling and an old wooden door swinging open behind him caught his attention, and he swiveled his head around and peered over his own shoulder with one eye.
Coming through the tavern door was a somewhat bedraggled looking fellow that Robin vaguely recognized to be one of the secretaries that worked in the Safehold. He almost stumbled across the small room to the tender's counter, drawing the attention of the rest of the tavern's patrons as he went.
He ordered a cup of something strong-smelling from the young tender currently wiping down dishes at the counter after a cursory good evening, passed some nickel coinage to the young man after he had drawn some liquid from a small barrel into another carven cup, and trudged through the lantern-lit room until he sat down with a grunt at a thin table adjacent to Robin's own.
"You seem tired." Robin greeted.
The probable secretary let out a loud sound that was simultaneously a sigh and a groan and slumped his shoulders over, burying his own face in his hands.
"These foreigners are lunatics." He said.
He took a draw of his drink, wincing as he did so. Before turning to face him. "I spent all day these last couple days with them. You wanna know what they're up to? Because it's scorching weird. You remember the Night Dragons they slew?"
Robin nodded. How could he forget?
"Well here's what they did. They tracked them all down, where they fell, that is. Then they tied the corpses to these... moving metal machine things- I think that's what they are, yeah... and then they dragged them over near where they're setting up all those tents and stuff. That's weird enough in itself. Why would you do that with a dead dragon? If you slew a dragon, what would you do with it?"
Robin thought the rhetorical question over. Truthfully, he didn't know. It wasn't something he'd ever thought of. "I don't know. What would you do?" He returned the question.
The exhausted-yet-talkative secretary seemed to pause and think it over himself. "Well... I actually don't know either."
Robin withheld a snort, and the man continued.
"Anyway, here's what happened next. A whole bunch of new foreigners with a bunch of weird tools and books and papers and things showed up. They kind of remind me of the city doctors and nurses in the way they held themselves. Very professional. Very by-the-book, you know?
"They walked around the dead dragons- which were starting to smell by the way- and talked amongst themselves for a while. Taking notes in their thin books and papers. I couldn't understand hardly anything they said. I'm part of the translation effort, by the way. That's why I was there. I was one of the only ones brave enough to go near the dragons, even though they were already dead.
"Anyway, even though our, and my own, grasp on the foreigner's language isn't very good yet, I'm getting better at recognizing their words from their sounds and from context. We're figuring out patterns in their tongue that allow us to puzzle out some words by how they sound compared to other words, even though we haven't learned that word in particular. Interesting stuff, not relevant now.
"Point is, these doctor-looking guys were using words I don't even begin to recognize. They talked to each other a lot about the felled dragons, and seemed to obsess over every part of it. I swore they spent like half an hour looking at and talking about the horns alone. It's so strange! You'd think they'd never heard of a dragon before or something.
"But that's nothing compared to what they started doing next. You want to know what they did? They took out a bunch of weird looking knives and saws and other things and started cutting the dead dragons open."
"They did what?" The young bartender looked up from a dish he was rinsing in a basin of water.
"That explains the smell..." Someone else muttered from another table.
The secretary-turned-interpreter paused and took another quick draw from his cup for effect. Robin, for his part, kept trying to pay attention.
"Ugh. That stuff's harsh. So yes, the foreign doctor people started cutting the dragons. They cut off scales, cut open parts of the legs, neck, chest, took samples of their blood, you name it. I'll admit I'm a bit squeamish, so this was all pretty uncomfortable, and it was all really gross. But these foreigners were anything but messy. I'll give them that.
"Anyway, they started taking different parts of the dragon out of it. They took bits of muscles, organs, tendons, even bones. Oh, I just remembered: When they were examining one of the dead dragon's muscles on and around their shoulders and chest, probably muscles that drive their wings, one of the foreign doctors started yelling about something. Almost like it offended him or something. I have no idea what he was on about, but it was kind of funny to watch."
"Wait, did you say they took out some of the dragon's bones?" The bartender asked.
The secretary-turned storyteller nodded emphatically. "Yep. Took whole bones out. Did all kinds of weird stuff to them, too. Cut them apart, took tons of notes, even did some what looked like strength tests on them. You know, like when the blacksmiths make new designs for swords and things and try to bend them in all weird ways to see how much force they can take? They did that, but to the dragon bones.
"But even that's not the weirdest thing they did, no. You should have seen what they did to the dead dragon's heads. I guess they must have wanted to try and learn about the dragon's senses, because they started cutting out the eyes and ears of a couple of the dragon corpses. And then they started cutting those apart too."
He turned to face Robin fully once again and mimed clutching a ball shape in his hands. "Have you ever seen the inside of a dragon's eyeball!? Or any eyeball, for that matter!? Because I have! It's gross!"
He took yet another swig from his cup and coughed, deflating slightly. "Blech... On the other hand... it was a little bit ironic... and somewhat morbidly cathartic... to see a dragon's corpse mutilated for a change."
The mood in the room tangibly darkened, and those that had been listening in on the conversation turned fully back to whatever it was they were doing. Robin folded his arms and sighed, but didn't say anything. They all knew what he was talking about. Heard the stories.
The secretary shook himself, but continued on. "...Anyway, the foreign doctors finished messing with the dead dragons, packed their stuff and samples, and left. It was around the end of the day at that time. Some other foreigners threw these weird giant unnatural-feeling covering sheets over what was left of the corpses, I think the word they used for them was 'Tarp'. This all happened yesterday."
He took a final draw from his cup, setting it down sharply on the table he was sitting at with a loud clack. "And I don't think I need to remind you all what happened today..." He trailed off.
"The sea dragon..." the guy at the other table said. Robin nodded absentmindedly. Even he, separated as he had been to the events transpiring around the newcomers, had heard of what they were referring to.
"Yep, the sea dragon. Don't ask me how they were able to catch that thing, because I don't know. And I'm with them trying to talk with them most of the day. But now we have a sea dragon chained up on the other side of all those tents they're setting up, near the city."
"That dragon is dangerous. What if it got free? How many people would it get? If the strangers had such an easy time slaying those eight night dragons, then why not this one?" The other patron added.
"Like I said, I couldn't tell you. Although I am pretty sure they deliberately want to keep that dragon alive, from what I can tell."
The other man sighed and shook his head.
"And all that's without even mentioning the new foreigners... but I don't really know enough about that to talk about it anyway. You wanna know what they got up to with the dead night dragons earlier today? It involves their strange weapons."
Robin perked up, and paid closer attention. He'd only really been half-listening for most of the supposedly exhausted secretary's story, but the mention of the foreigner's intriguing and alien weaponry that he himself had been pondering over so much since the failed attack caught his ears.
"Go on," Robin encouraged.
"Well, it all started when they uncovered the dead and now partially taken apart dragons, and dragged them over to this clearing in the forest a short distance from the city, taking a bunch of equipment with them."
"Similar to the foreign doctors, these foreigners held themselves in a rather professional, by-the-book manner. However these ones, the ones that seemed to be doing the investigating, that is, were a lot less... uptight... yeah, that's it, than the doctors were. Anyway, we all got out to this clearing, put the dead dragons out on one side of it, and collected a bunch of stuff on the other."
He looked down to the floor, shaking his head with a chuckle. "You know, a week ago I would have considered the prospect of doing stuff for prolonged periods of time in a flat empty field in the middle of the forest absolutely terrifying. I mean, what better place for dragons to see you? But I guess these foreigner's confidence wears off on you.
"That aside, the foreigners set about measuring a bunch of stuff out on the ground using these strange retractable measuring lines that were scarier than they look. That sounded really weird saying it out loud... Nevermind.
"I got a close-up demonstration of what these foreign hand-held weapons can do. Hey, you're a Castle Archer Guardsman, were you able to see the sky when the night dragons tried to attack us? Were you in the Safehold? Did you see what the foreign air defense weapons did?" The secretary directed at him.
Robin nodded. He had seen it. Quite clearly.
"It involved explosions, light flashes, and loud noises, right?" He asked, before immediately continuing: "Right. Well, the weapon-things they carry are similar. You know the ones that look like... well... they look like..." He waved his hands, moving them about as if trying to imagine holding one of these strange arm-length staffs Robin had seen some of the newcomers wielding from a distance.
Robin noticed something. The man he was discussing with, and most other humans, including himself- he realized- often use hand gestures when conversing with one another. He also remembered noticing at one point, when observing some of the newcomers sharing a conversation in their strange language, how still they stood. At least in contrast to what he was used to. Pyhrrian humans seemed to use a lot of hand gestures when speaking verbally, at least to a much greater extent than the foreigners did. Robin wondered what it meant, or if it indeed meant anything at all.
"-You know, crossbows?" The secretary cut into his reverie.
Oops, that's a question. I wasn't paying attention enough to know what he asked me. This is awkward.
"Sorry, you lost me." Robin responded.
The talkative secretary waved him off. "That's all right. The way these weapons work is pretty confusing to me, too. The closest analogy I can think of that might make sense are crossbows. Are you familiar with them?"
Robin nodded, grateful for the save. He was, actually, relatively familiar with the projectile weapon. There were a few in the Safehold's armory. Crossbows were rather like a downscaled, carryable version of the large spear-throwing ballistae atop the Safehold which he was part of the team that maintained and operated. Both machines were fairly similar in design philosophy, being effectively a bow and drawstring built horizontally onto another block of wood that provides structure and stability, a trigger mechanism that made it easy to wield, and using the spring-like qualities of wood to launch sharp-tipped projectiles faster than they can be otherwise thrown.
Crossbows weren't very widespread in their usage, because they were expensive. A pain in the butt to craft, especially in numbers. They were mechanically complex, and didn't really offer enough shooting power over much cheaper and readily available longbows that all Archer Guards trained with and regularly used to justify their expense.
If he thought about it, though, he realized the hand weapons the foreigners carried were somewhat similar to crossbows in visual appearance.
"Yes." Was all Robin said.
"Great. Well, you see, the foreigner's weapons are somewhat similar in appearance and even principal, but their mechanism of function and what they use for projectiles are much different, from what I can tell."
"Different how?" Robin pressed lightly.
"Well for starters, they don't shoot arrows or darts or whatever. From what I saw, and from what I think the foreigners tried to explain and show, their weapons throw little metal bolts at very high speed. So fast that you can't even see it."
"How small?" The other man interrupted, finally turning from whatever it was that he was focused on at his table to look at the other two men, revealing a scruffy middle-aged face that looked like it held a perpetual expression of mild scrutiny.
"Oh, well... You see, they varied quite a bit, but they were around... eh..." The secretary twiddled his fingers about, as if trying to imagine holding or outlining one of the bolts he was referring to with his hands. "Most of them were around... well, I should say the parts of them I'm pretty sure the foreigners explained were the actual projectiles... they were around as big as the last segment of my finger, ish. Some were smaller, others bigger."
Robin raised his brows. That's pretty small.
The other man scoffed. "Seriously? They think that'll do anything to a dragon's scales?"
"Yeah, I was expecting the foreigners to be disappointed, too. Before they actually started, that is.
"When I said these foreign bolters throw their little metal things at high speed, I mean really high speed. So fast that it looked like the dragon scales just shattered when hit, even though the bolts themselves were so small. I'm not really sure how it works. One of the foreigners I was with I think tried to explain some of it to me, but I couldn't understand hardly any of the words he was using. Something about speed and energy, I dunno.
"Anyway, I really wanted to see how one actually uses one of their bolter-weapons. One of them tried to get me to use his, I guess to show me how it worked, but he got yelled at. Nobody else tried to let me use one.
"Did I mention how loud these things are? You all could probably hear them all the way over here when they were testing them earlier. It's ridiculous. Everytime one of those weapons launches a bolt, it makes this huge thunderclap sound. Deafening. It seems everything about these foreigners, even their weapons, are scorching loud." He shook his head.
This was all... interesting information, to say the least. Robin wished he could have seen these demonstrations for himself. Though this all left a distinct question within his mind...
"Do these... bolters, as you call them, have anything to do with the strange air defense weapons these same newcomers used to slay those night dragons mid-flight in the first place?" Robin asked.
The secretary quickly nodded. "Pretty sure those are just scaled-up versions of the bolters. Kinda like how the ballista atop the Safehold are just scaled-up crossbows. Or are crossbows scaled down versions of the ballistae..." he trailed off.
"Hang on." Robin said "You said that the weapons fired metal bolts, but the so-called 'scaled up' ones seemed to create explosions in the sky. I also didn't see any projectiles being flung from the ships."
"Well, yeah. Remember I said these things threw their bolts so fast you can't even see them. Also, I don't think that the bolts these things throw strictly need to be solid metal, they can have stuff in them. The ones coming from the ships could have had explosives packed into them or something."
"Alright, what about the streams of fire that were seen being flung up from the ships and from that flying machine at the dragons. We could see those, they seemed to move pretty fast, and came out in semi-steady streams. How does that work?"
"Oh yeah, right. Did I mention that some of the bolts these weapons throw are on fire when they come out?"
The what.
"Yeah, I don't really know how it works, either. You want to know what's even crazier? Many of the bolters were repeaters."
That last word rang a bell to Robin. A bell regarding an old theory- that ultimately went nowhere- for an upgrade to their ballistae that massively decreased the reload time via a complicated machine that loaded new spears as the bows and block were drawn back. It was the subject of much speculation and many a casual conversation among the Archer Guard, but Robin always found himself particularly drawn to the concept because it would greatly increase the effectiveness of their artillery against attacking dragons, and because it meant that he wouldn't need to practice manually loading those scorched polearms all day.
"Now, I have absolutely no idea how those things work..." The secretary continued, "But to be fair: I'm probably the worst possible person to ask. I'm a secretary and a scribe. I do books and letters and memoirs and stuff like that. The artisans or alchemists would probably be able to tell you more, but there aren't that many of them in the translation effort.
"Point is, they can shoot over and over again really quickly. Just connect a box full of bolts or a chain of them to one of the repeating bolters, hold the firing trigger down, and ratatatatatatatatat!" He lightly smacked his empty cup against the table rapidly to emphasize his noises.
Huh. Is that what it was, then? Not a steam of fire necessarily, but rather a bunch of flaming metal bolts thrown from a repeating bolt-launcher. Fascinating.
"What about the dead dragons? What did the foreigners do to those?" Robin asked after a moment.
"Oh, right. Well, they pulled a bunch of scales from different parts of the dragons off, set them up on these stand-things they set up, and shot at them with different bolters from different distances. Then some foreigners with notepads and weird writing utensils went up to the damaged scales and looked really closely at the damage they did, writing stuff and talking to each other a lot.
"Then they- and this is the much nastier bit- starting shooting the night dragon corpses directly, but slowly. They usually cut out the flesh around where their bolts hit, and I guess studied that too. Blegh. Once again, I'm more on the squeamish side, so I kept my distance. I didn't stick around that long, either, I probably left halfway through their tests and stuff. I'm not super sure on what they did to the corpses after they were... done with them... but I'm pretty sure they burned them."
He sighed, looking towards the tavern door. "Speaking of leaving, I need to get going. I've been here awhile."
He stood up from his table, taking his empty cup back to the counter, before turning for the door. He stopped across from Robin.
"By the way, what's your name, again? I'm Pistachio." He said with a grin, holding out his hand.
"Robin. Castle Archer Guardsman." Robin in turn, accepting the shake.
"Well in that case, I am Pistachio, Castle Secretary and Scribe." The other man said with mock haughtiness, shaking Robin's right hand. He quickly became more serious, "Keep surviving, brother."
Despite himself, Robin breathed a laugh at the age-old salute phrase. "Keep fighting, friend." he reciprocated.
Pistachio released the shake and made for the door once again. "Take care of yourself, Racoon!" he called out as he left.
"Yeah, you too." The young bartender responded.
The old tavern door clattered shut, and Robin found himself looked back down to his half-empty cup of lukewarm bitter tea. It didn't look any more appealing.
Quietness returned to the bar. Only the gentle flickering of the lantern light illuminating the small room, the sounds of Racoon the young bartender tending to some more dishes following a dinner rush that had already passed before Robin came in. The sounds of some gentle bamboo wind chimes coming through a window. The strange combination of smells that was alcohol, citrus and tea wafted the room.
A rare moment of serenity.
"Do you-" The forlorn middle-aged man from earlier cleared his throat. "Do you really think that the foreigners can find a weakness in the dragons? A chink in their armor?" Robin wondered if he was imagining the faint tinge of hope in his voice.
He sighed through his nose. "I don't know. But if anyone can, it's probably them. They might already have."
***
~
Regarding terminal ballistic characteristics of various man-portable kinetic and chemical-explosive weapons against newly discovered 'dragon' species epidermal natural armor and protection.
Abstract:
This paper describes the terminal ballistics of current standardized US Army cartridges against the natural armor and tissues of one newly-discovered predator species, dubbed Nox Draconis by researchers, following tests conducted by various weapon specialists. Cartridges tested include: .38 Special, .45 ACP, .30 Carbine, .30-06 Springfield, and of course .50 BMG. As well as various other weapons that do not strictly classify as rifled firearms. The penetration characteristics of each of these rounds against the different kinds of keratin scales that cover the dragon's exterior are unexpected, and wounding effects vary wildly by caliber, impact angle and range. This paper will not cover external and intermediate ballistic characteristics of various mentioned cartridges, as information regarding those has already been produced, and it would significantly lengthen the breadth of this report.
Introduction:
Following the discovery and classification of a new dragon-like organism, along with confirmation that said organisms prove themselves a threat to our own ongoing well-being, it was decided to investigate the effectiveness of our current common man-portable weapons against their natural armor. Note that this paper does not include weapons classified as autocannons (i.e. 20mm Oerkilerons, QF-2 Pounders and Bofors 40mm L/60 cannons) within its scope, as the effectiveness of those were already demonstrably demonstrated. This report strictly followers common weapons and calibers employed by the US Army and Navy that are found in high stocks with our current supplies. This testing took place after autopsies and biological examinations were conducted on fallen 'Night Dragon' specimens, and with scales and tissues pulled from said specimens which formed our control variables. Our first tests were to determine whether or not the majority of our bullets were even capable of reliably penetrating the dragon's scales, then to map out penetration capabilities from various approach angles and deflections, finally to measure post-penetration wounding potential.
Caveats:
It must be noted that, similar to the medical team conducting research on the dragons beforehand, we are operating on limited prior knowledge, with relatively limited tools. That said, the main drawback to our acquiring accurate and reliable data was not due to a lack of the necessary tools, (For what we had on hand proceed adequate) but rather the fact that all our control variables (The dragon specimens) had already been thoroughly perforated with bullets, shrapnel, endured a high-momentum impact with terrain, and had been partially dissected. Point being, our control variables for these tests are likely not an entirely accurate representation of what one of these dragons would be in their natural, not-already-shot-to-pieces state.
Procedure:
The procedures for these tests were simple and straightforward, as far as ballistic tests go. Various undamaged samples of the three distinct types of scales that adorn the Night Dragon's exterior were procured, and set up at set ranges from a fixed firing position, with distances ranging through 10 yards, 20 yards, 50 yards, 100 yards, 200 yards and 500 yards for rifles and other larger weapons. Impact angles were also fixed, ranging from 0°, 30°, and 60°. Various other body parts were also set up to test wounding potential, including ribs, a skull, and other large bones. Since we do not have any accurate models that replicate dragon tissues at this point, physical samples of flesh were taken from deceased corpses in order to test wound channels, cavitation, and pressure wave effects various calibers would have. (Yes, it was messy.)
Cartridges & Weapons tested:
.38 Special (9x29.5mmR), 158 grain bullet, approx. 850 ft/s from 4-inch revolver barrel.
.45 ACP (11.43x 23 mm), 230 grain bullet, approx. 830 ft/s from government-issue M1911A1 pistol, and approx. 950 ft/s from Thompson M1A1 submachine gun.
.30 Carbine (7.62x33mm), 110 grain bullet, approx 1990 ft/s from M1 Carbine.
.30-06 (7.62x63mm), 174 grain bullet, approx. 2,800 ft/s from M1 Garand Rifle, M1919A2 Browning Automatic Rifle, and M1919 Machine Gun.
.50 BMG (12.7x99mm), 619 grain API-T bullet, approx. 2910 ft/s from M2HB Heavy Machine Gun.
Various 12-Gauge slug and buckshot, 437.5 grain slug, 54.6 x 8 grain buckshot, approx 1,560 ft/s and 1,325 ft/s respectively from Winchester Model 12.
M9A1 Rifle Grenade (48x284mm), 590 grain impact-fused rifle grenade with 113 grains pentolite explosive filling (Hollow charge configuration), launched from an M1 Garand rifle equipped with an M7 rifle grenade projector.
M6A1 2.36 inch HEAT Rocket (60x546mm), 40oz anti-tank rocket launched from M1A1 man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher.
Brief Test Target Overview:
According to the medical technicians and our own observations, the night dragons have 4 distinct types of protective keratin scale that cover their bodies. However, only 3 of that 4 are relevant for the purposes of determining the lethality of our own firearms against them. Those scale types have been generally dubbed as follows: "Plate scales", "lizard scales", and "soft scales". These in turn are arranged in transverse rows that cover the upper neck, back, shoulders, and top of the tail- in seemingly random order on the limbs, joints and sides- and also randomly on the underside of neck, chest, torso and tail respectively. Specific size, thickness, and hardness differ from scale to scale and from dragon to dragon according to strength tests already conducted upon them. Given the most important aspect of the scales for the purposes of this report are the thickness of these scales, and since the surface area vary too widely, thickness averages were determined as follows:
Plate scale: Roughly 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick
Lizard Scale: Roughly 2/8 inch thick
Soft Scale: Roughly 1/8 inch thick
These scales heavily resemble the scales found on many kinds of lizard and snake, and are incredibly thick, even proportional to these creature's large body size. These scales are lightweight, lighter than we initially expected they ought to be given their size.
Before any confusion arises, particularly from any servicemen that hail from the US's southernmost states, these scales have little in common with the natural armor seen on Alligators and Crocodiles. They are not bony scutes, but rather keratin scales. For all the little that we know about these dragons, they do not visibly have much in common with crocodilians, but rather share more characteristics with giant monitor lizards. (Though bear in mind that connection is still very loose.)
Before the first round of firing tests, it was initially theorized, or rather expected, that the dragon's scales would be highly bullet-resistant. At least being able to stop rounds up to the .30-06, necessitating use of heavier weapons to counteract these dangerous creature's natural body armor. However, test results showed that rather than being able to resist bullet impacts, the night dragon's scales were instead surprisingly vulnerable to the high-velocity projectiles, with the plate-like and lizard-like scales only slowing the bullet down slightly, and the soft underside scales offering virtually no protection whatsoever. Only the lower velocity .38 Special and .45 ACP having any semblance of trouble punching through the thicker plate scales at angles greater than 60 degrees. Why this is the case is not known for certain, but we do have some theories.
Theory Regarding Dragon Scale Weakness:
The most plausible theory regarding the dragon scales being defeated by high-speed projectiles was formulated after taking into consideration information shared with us by the various medical technicians that conducted the initial autopsies on the felled dragons. As well as data regarding each individual scales' mass, and whatever information could be gleaned from the locals. Which, for their part, have considerably more experience with these creatures than we do at the moment. The theory predicates as follows:
The night dragon's scales are lighter than they probably should be, given their composition and size.
Local accounts point to these scales being highly resistant against their own standard attacks, to the point of being considered almost invulnerable by many people. (We even gave some of the hard scales some hard strikes with some of the local's melee weapons, and concluded that they are indeed resistant to that form of damage.)
Medical techs examining the dragon's skeletons also found that their bones were lighter than they should be; Given their size and density. As a result of this, it was also discovered that the bones were semi-hollow and had particular internal structures that decreased their weight compared to solid bones and made them incredibly strong, but were comparatively weak against specific kinds of stress and damage as a result of that.
Therefore, it is theorized that something similar is at play for the scales as well. It is possible that these scales are not entirely solid, but instead are composed of a sort of microscopic lattice structures that allow it to take considerable amounts of blunt trauma by distributing the kinetic energy from the impact over a wider area than the exact location of the impact. This is possible thanks to most of the scales, namely the plate-like and lizard-like scales, having very high hardness and rigidity.
However, when subjected to a very localized, high-velocity impact- such as being hit by a small projectile traveling at 2000 ft/s or more for example- that rigidity winds up working against the dragon's favor, as any solid-state substance that is incredibly hard is also brittle.
The scale's structure and "built-in damage control system" fails when struck by something very small moving with incredible relative velocity. As such the scale collapses and shatters without stopping the projectile.
So critical is this particular weakness, that something even as weak as a blowgun could feasibly penetrate these dragon's scale armor at some angles.
That said, it is not as though these scales impart no effects on impacting bullets whatsoever. High hardness materials tend to be highly resistant to bullet impacts in general, with high-hardness steel being among the most bullet-resistant materials we have. The scales that cover these dragons, while much weaker than high-hardness, rolled or cast steel, are still able to diminish the relative velocity of an incoming bullet by 'catching' and redistributing its kinetic energy over a wider area. Though this process damages the surrounding scales, and likely induces bruising in the various tissues located just under the affected scales.
Background Information:
The wounding potential of a given bullet is related to the retarding force between the bullet and tissue as the bullet penetrates, which are equal and opposite according to Newton's third law of motion. In air, the retarding force- or drag- on a bullet is small, because air is not very dense, the bullet is streamlined, and it has a small cross sectional area. However, organic tissues are, on average, 1000 times denser than air. Many bullets experience more drag in tissue than is initially calculated due to expanding, tumbling, and fragmenting. Bullet penetration requires tissue to be actually damaged rather than just being pushed aside. Thus while most bullets will travel thousands of yards in air, penetration depths in tissue are measured in inches or feet.
Wounding potential in a living target is governed by the force profile of the penetrating bullet in tissue, which is, in turn, governed by the impact energy and bullet design characteristics as they relate to tumbling, expansion, fragmentation and penetration. The three wounding mechanisms as they relate to this retarding force profile are often described as:
1) Permanent cavitation (the remaining hole of destroyed tissue after the bullet has passed)
2) Temporary cavitation (the temporary cavity left in the bullet's wake by tissue stretching out of the way from large retarding forces for a few milliseconds until snapping back into place due to elasticity)
3) Remote injury effects beyond the reach of the temporary cavity attributed to propagation of a ballistic pressure wave.
Permanent Cavitation:
Permanent cavitation occurs when tissue affected by any given force, be it from a penetrating bullet or knife or what have you, moves and damages the tissue beyond the point where it could spring back into place due to its innate elasticity and is destroyed. Leaving a cavity in the tissue. As a result, permanent cavitation will be most severe where retarding force between the bullet and tissue is at its greatest extent. In other words, the closer given tissue is to the penetrating object and the denser said tissue is, the more permanent cavitation will occur. Fragmentation can considerably increase the amount of permanent cavitation caused by a penetrating projectile.
Temporary Cavitation:
Temporary cavitation only really occurs with the implementation of high-velocity and medium-velocity penetrating objects, such as bullets fired from high-powered battle rifles and sniper rifles, and projectiles fired from handguns, submachine guns and shotguns respectively. Projectiles fired from these weapons have enough velocity to form a pressure wave created from tissue being rapidly accelerated radially away from the bullet's path. This intense stress field propagates outwards from the main retarding force between the bullet and tissue, and falls off quickly due to the inverse square law.
The actual amount of damage this phenomena inflicts depends on the attributes of the affected tissue. The greater the density of a given tissue, the greater the retarding force between it and the penetrating bullet, and therefore the greater the amount of energy transferred to it. Tissues such as those found in skin, muscles, and intestines are relatively flexible and resistant to stretching. Contrasted by tissues found in organs such as the liver, spleen, kidney and brain which have much lower tensile strength and are likely to split, shear, and shatter due to temporary cavitation effects.
A recent study regarding wound ballistics of current weapons excerpts the following:
"With this realization of forces involved in the production of the missile casualty, some of the otherwise anomalous manifestations in the wound appear much more logical. For instance, fractures occur at some distance from the missile tract without any direct contact between the bone and the missile. Forces may be transmitted through the essentially noncompressible blood and rupture a vein some distance from the missile's path. Nerves may be paralyzed yet fail to show gross evidence of physical damage. In some wounds in muscle, splitting along facial planes will be noted for a considerable distance from the path of the bullet. Fluid filled viscera are often blown asunder by the operation of hydraulic forces. High velocity missiles may pulp the brain substance. In some cases the bones of the skull are separated along suture lines as though an explosion has occurred within the brain case. This is but another manifestation of the forces operating in formation of the temporary cavity, and examination often reveals clean holes of entrance and exit of the missile showing Ballistics of the 30-06 Rifle Cartridge 16 that the bony rupture occurred after its passage. Similarly, shooting through a can of water, the rupture of the can occurs after the through-and-through passage of the bullet."[pp. 135-136]
In addition to these effects, the temporary cavity creates a region of hemorrhagic tissue.
The average volumes of the permanent cavity and temporary cavity have been found to increase linearly with the mechanical work done by the bullet as it passes through tissue. This mechanical work is equal to the kinetic energy lost by the bullet and directly related to the force between the bullet and retarding force from the tissue. It has been found that the average volume of the permanent cavity is 0.002547 cubic inches for each ft-lb of mechanical work; and the volume of the temporary cavity is 0.066247 cubic inches for each ft-lb of mechanical work done by the bullet passing through tissue.
Ballistic Pressure Wave:
When analyzing bullet wounds, ballistic pressure waves usually only become a major factor when a bullet has been stopped by armor, but the kinetic energy carried by the bullet causes deformation in the armor. That, combined with the momentum from the bullet rapidly transferring to the target, can and will cause tissue damage regardless of whether or not the bullet actually penetrates.
Similar effects are observed to occur when a body is in close proximity to a powerful explosion, where energy released in the initial explosion forms a sonic blast wave due to the onset of pressure. This phenomenon is known as Blast Overpressure, and is exceptionally hazardous to any living creature.
In regards to the wounding potential of a given bullet to organic tissue, ballistic pressure waves can cause damage to tissue beyond the effect radius of temporary cavitation, as described in the above excerpt. In human case studies and in live animal tests, pressure waves are known to cause remote injury. That being damage sustained in organs entirely separate from the impact location of a bullet (i.e. components such as the lungs, spinal cord and brain taking damage after a subject is shot in the thigh).
Caveat regarding dragon internal tissues;
The vast majority of wounding potential tests regarding terminal ballistics have been conducted with human combatants in mind. From a precise medical perspective, the tissues that make up these dragon's internals are far removed from our own in terms of their makeup for obvious reasons. However, for the purpose of this study and evaluation it is sufficient to treat the tissues in largely the same manner, because fluid dynamics tend to stay the same across organisms.
Wounding Potential Analysis
.38 Special (9x29.5mmR):
The actual utility this cartridge would provide against dragons leaves a lot to be desired, to be frank. Standard ball ammunition and full metal jacket are able to penetrate most of the target's scale armor and enter the body, but a combination of the dragon's physical size and the bullet being somewhat slowed down by the scales it penetrated means the bullet does not do an especially high amount of damage to the subject, relatively speaking. A shot to any non-vital part will not incapacitate a dragon, and will more than likely make them angrier- such as with bears. A shot from one of these rounds to the heart, lungs, gut, major artery or vein will likely cause eventual death due to organ damage, toxification, internal bleeding or blood loss. That will not be the optimal outcome should one of these giant creatures be charging at someone and he needs to render it noncombatant in a timely manner. (And one can simply forget about stopping power.)
That said, this round was shown to cause a fairly high amount of superficial damage to muscle tissues and other components relatively close to the skin layer as a result of the bullet not being able to penetrate very deep.
If forced to use one of these rounds while facing a dragon, what is likely the best possible course of action is to aim for the neck, especially if the dragon is facing you. In this orientation, the softer underside scales are presented, which provide minimal resistance to an incoming bullet. Aiming for this region will maximize the chance of striking a critical artery and causing blood loss or asphyxiation, or it could strike the spinal column and cause paralysis. Shooting the chest should not be one's first option, as the ribcage will stop one of these bullets and a single shot penetrating a lung will not incapacitate, though it could prove a mortal wound. Same goes with a shot to the heart. It is likely one of these creatures will survive a shot to the gut.
.45 ACP (11.43x 23 mm):
This cartridge showed many of the same disadvantages displayed by .38 Special, but with some redeeming qualities that are more a result of this round's application than due to the bullet itself. In general, .45 ACP shows good stopping power for a pistol round despite its relatively low velocity by making up for it with its relatively high mass and tendency to deform once entering tissue thanks to its size and shape. When fired from an M1911A1, the bullet shares many of the same weaknesses with the .38 Special, most likely not having sufficient velocity to penetrate far enough into a dragon's body or deal enough damage to cause immediate catastrophic organ failure. However, the wide diameter of the round (11.43mm) means that it creates a much larger permanent cavity than many other rounds, including rifle rounds, which can lead to rapid blood pressure loss especially if critical parts of the circulatory system are hit. Unfortunately, it is still unlikely that these rounds will quickly incapacitate a dragon target due to the creature's outright size.
However, if multiple successive .45 ACP rounds strike a target, such as if an 7-round magazine from a standard M1911A1 is fully or partially emptied into a target, or if fired in a burst from a Thompson M1A1 submachine gun, the lethality of the round increases substantially. Mostly as a factor of there now being multiple of them. As stated above, the method these scales utilize to redistribute force from an impact means that other scales surrounding the one actually hit will be damaged. This implies that subsequent bullets will have an easier time penetrating after a single bullet already has, and will lose less energy on initial impact. This, combined with compounding wound channels in close proximity to each other, vastly increase the lethality and stopping power of this particular caliber against a potential dragon hostile.
If engaging a dragon target with an M1911A1 service pistol, it is once again advisable to aim for the neck with priority, and aiming for the chest and torso as secondary for the same reasons. Though bear in mind the wound channels created by .45 ACP are much larger than .38 Special, and therefore more dangerous. Be aware that the relatively low velocity of this round and .38 Special mean that they will have difficulty penetrating the harder dragon scales at range, however those ranges are beyond the normal operating ranges of the weapons that utilize these rounds anyway.
A successful hit from one of these rounds to the cranium will also most likely be lethal, despite the slower rounds not being able to reliably penetrate the hard skull. This is due to the bullet imparting enough kinetic energy and pressure to damage brain tissue within the skull past the point of it becoming dysfunctional.
.30 Carbine (7.62x33mm):
This higher powered cartridge shows much more damage potential due to its speed compared to the pistol rounds. The bullet, because of its greater relative velocity and more streamlined shape, will penetrate much deeper on average than the other two previous rounds will. However, a single hit from one of these still provides little in terms of immediate incapacitation or stopping power against a dragon hostile. Fortunately, the firearm that utilizes this cartridge, namely the M1 Carbine, is a gas-operated semi-automatic firearm with either a 15 round box magazine. Multiple shots are what is required from a gun like this to render a dragon hostile noncombatant, and multiple shots it can deliver.
The same targeting philosophy that applied to .38 Special and .45 ACP still apply to this round. With the knowledge that this round will penetrate much deeper into tissues, but will not leave as large of a wound channel as a result of its smaller diameter.
.30-06 Springfield (7.62x63mm):
With this mainstay round we finally get a more considerable boost in lethality, but is still unfortunately not a game-changer compared to previous smaller cartridges. The .30-06 Springfield is a versatile round to be certain. Being able to punch through a fair bit of armor for what it is while still delivering large amounts of internal tissue damage upon penetration. Conforming to what is quickly becoming a pattern, this round on its own comes up somewhat lacking in terms of incapacitation and stopping power against a dragon hostile due simply to the creature just being huge (granted, it is much more likely compared to the smaller, slower bullets that a single .30-06 hit would incapacitate a dragon should impact somewhere on the chest or neck, and especially on the head, though it still is not as good of a chance as we would like). For the most part, this round remedies a major disadvantage shown by the other rounds in that it can actually penetrate through a considerable portion of a dragon's tissues before stopping, leaving a wide wound channel as it goes. The simple fact of this round having a considerably higher amount of kinetic energy behind it due to its speed means that it has a lot more potential damage that it can inflict.
Even more versatile are the weapons systems that utilize this particular cartridge. Examples used in this test include the mainstay M1 Garand rifle with its gas-operated semi-automatic system and an 8-round internal clip; the M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle with a 20-round box magazine as a light machine gun; as well as the M1919 Browning Machine Gun with its belt-fed system. We have no doubt each of these weapons will prove lethal (especially the latter two) due to their high fire rate allowing the user to perforate a dragon hostile with multiple high-powered bullets. As far as we can tell so far, the best way to counteract the dragon's advantage of being able to take an infantry-standard caliber bullet because of its size, while yourself still using said infantry-standard caliber, is to simply hit the dragon with multiple bullets in a rapid fashion. (Which will not be as hard as may initially be thought, given these dragon's large relative size also makes them a large relative target.)
If one were to face a dragon while wielding an M1 Rifle (which is relatively likely, given the circumstance), they should obviously continue to prioritize aiming for vital sections as already mentioned. However, the superior wounding potential of the .30-06 Springfield combined with the M1 Rifle's theoretical possible fire rate means that shots to the chest and torso are also more feasible in terms of immediate lethality. If wielding or controlling an M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle or M1919 Browning Machine Gun, the rapid fire rate and ammunition capacity means a user can simply aim center mass and engage.
Various 12-Gauge slug and buckshot:
While not as commonplace in usage as aforementioned rounds, the venerable Winchester Model 12 is used widely enough that it warranted testing, which would also work to prove the feasibility of shotguns in general. Shotguns, for their part, are renowned for their versatility in civilian roles and close range stopping power in combat. Unfortunately, these weapons too show considerable falloff in their potential combat-effectiveness against a living dragon target. With standard buckshot load, the harder dragon scales are able to significantly diminish their velocity, and therefore wounding potential, if not outright resist them at many longer ranges. At close range, there is a very good chance that the balls will penetrate the weaker underside scales, but engaging in close quarters combat with one of these creatures while it is still combat effective should be avoided at all costs. Why exactly dragon scales are so resistant to buckshot is not fully certain. But we theorize it has to do with each of the individual ball's relatively low mass compared to full-caliber munitions.
The use of slug munitions remedies many of the problems faced by buckshot. The heavy weight and wide diameter of the slug means that it offers catastrophic wounding potential, creating a particularly large permanent cavity that will lead to lasting damage and immediate blood loss. It is even rumored that humans suffering direct hits from slugs to the shoulder can lose the respective arm entirely. In our testing, common 12-gauge slugs had far superior energy retention compared to buckshot following scale penetration, and as such inflicted catastrophic damage to internal tissues nearby impact location. Shots to the neck will sever critical parts of the circulatory system and destroy the windpipe. Shots to the head will cause fatal brain trauma. Shots that miss the ribcage will penetrate the lungs and render them unusable, or it will damage the heart and disable it. A shot to the gut will destroy intestine lining and vital detoxification organ tissue, releasing deadly toxins into the bloodstream. A direct hit to any of the limbs or tail will cripple it, most likely permanently. Any one of these wounds will prove fatal without immediate advanced medical attention. The downsides involving using slug munitions involve the limited ammunition capacity and short effective range of the Model 12 shotgun in general, and the apparent tendency for the lead core slugs to deform heavily after penetrating the scales leading to them not penetrating very deep into the target.
While the Winchester Model 12 loaded with slugs is an effective weapon in terms of outright damage against a dragon target, the actual effectiveness of the weapon is diminished by sub-par accuracy relegating the weapon to close-range combat. Right now, given the natural strength and weapons these dragons possess, along with the biological aerosol flamethrower the medical technicians speculated them to have, the consensus is that any personnel should avoid getting near one of these while it is still dangerous if at all possible. It would be safer to engage a dragon hostile from a further distance with a rifle.
.50 BMG (12.7x99mm):
While technically not typically a man-portable weapon, it was judged that the M2HB Browning Heavy Machine Gun and its cartridge, the .50 BMG should be included in these tests because of how widespread they are, and by just how sheer much of them we have. In regards to its lethality against dragon targets that are at least similar to the test subjects, we are pleased to report that the .50 BMG does not share the lack of stopping power with all previously mentioned smaller cartridges against a hostile dragon. Such an outcome is logical, given the round's original conception as an anti-armor projectile, and later adaptation into an anti-aircraft or anti-material role. The M8 dedicated armor-piercing ammunition is easily capable of penetrating 0.75 inches of rolled homogeneous armor-quality steel at a distance of 500 yards. That in of itself is far beyond what tests dragon scales were capable of in terms of bullet resistance.
Against unprotected human targets, .50 BMG is actually known for having a slight effectiveness falloff. This is because there is usually a trade-off between armor penetration and wound potential with relatively smaller rounds. In other words, the human body is small enough, and the .50 BMG powerful enough, that a penetrating round will cleave clean through and out again without tumbling or fragmenting, as a result of it's high velocity and relatively immense kinetic energy carrying it through the body (Bear in mind, the energy to bullet does impart is still enough to cause fatal damage to a human disregarding exceptional circumstances).
Dragons, on the other hand, do indeed have enough biomass and dense tissues to fully slow down and even stop a .50 BMG round, leading to massive and unprecedented wound channels. It is in this way that we finally see the dragon's large size, which lent them resistance against smaller rounds, finally working against their favor.
Even that is without mentioning the diversity of .50 BMG cartridges we have available, some of which include standard ball, armor piercing, armor piercing with incendiary component, armor piercing with tracer component, even armor piercing with an incendiary and tracer component. The effects each of these different loads would have on internal tissues are numerous, and none of them are beneficial for the sake of the tissues themselves.
If one were to find himself facing a dragon hostile while operating an M2 Heavy Machine Gun, aim center mass and engage.
M9A1 Rifle Grenade (48x284mm):
Testing of the M9A1 Rifle Grenade followed more from a general curiosity regarding how exactly a hollow charge warhead would interact with a dragon's scales and tissues rather than an actual concern about whether it would be effective or not.
To the surprise of none that were present at the test, a molten copper jet moving at up to 5 miles a second has no problem penetrating through scales and internals alike, destroying everything in its path.
Unfortunately, the initial blast itself and fragmentation from the grenade body did little more than mangling and ripping off all the other scales around it, and critically damaging muscles, tendons, blood vessels that were directly nearby the impact location, due to the M9A1's relatively small explosive filler. However, it was also noted that there were large portions of damaged, hemorrhagic tissues in the area around the blast. With other pressure-related injuries no doubt occuring in other places where delicate organs are present.
The ready availability of this weapon- the projector can be easily attached onto nearly any standard M1 Garand Rifle, with the necessary blank charges needed for propulsion easily sourced- make it an effective weapon against dragon hostiles.
M6A1 2.36 inch HEAT Rocket (60x546mm):
Similar to the M9A1 Rifle Grenade, testing of the M6A1 anti-tank rocket stemmed primarily from an honest curiosity regarding what exactly would happen rather than from an actual concern about its lethality. Once again similar to the rifle grenade, the anti-tank rocket has no problem inflicting what would be mortal damage to the test target.
Notably, one of the rockets fired even blew apart the ribcage of one of the deceased dragons being used as a test target, rendering it unsuitable for further tests.
Conclusion:
To summarize the findings of this investigation, the natural armor of the felled dragons proved ineffective at withstanding direct hits from various US Army standard cartridges at most ranges and impact angles. We suspect the scale armor has a weakness in their composition that makes them particularly vulnerable to that type of damage. However, it stands to reason that given the sheer size of these creatures, that they will most likely be able to to take one or more hits from smaller rounds without being incapacitated, unless one of those rounds were to critically damage something vital, such as the spinal column or brain. Bear in mind that these results could be inaccurate, given that the only test subjects we had available were already dead. That is to say killed violently and already partially dissected by doctors acting as researchers. It is possible that the various cartridges tested will actually turn out more damaging to a fully functioning organism due to remote injury effects and other trauma. What is discussed in this paper is only a benchmark.
In respects to the effectiveness of each type of cartridge used, medium-velocity rounds such as the .38 Special and .45 ACP showed a distinct effectiveness falloff compared to high-velocity rounds such as the .30-06 Springfield. Jacketed bullets displayed greater efficiency when penetrating scale layers, and also tended to deform as a result of getting through the hard scales, exacerbating wound cavities. Many smaller bullets were stopped by many thicker bones, with an exception of the .30-06 Springfield proving itself able to punch through some thinner structural bones, such as some parts in the ribcage. Most bullets excluding .50 BMG were unable to penetrate the incredibly dense skull bones, but the kinetic energy imparted by the rapidly stopped bullet is sufficient to cause lethal brain damage anyway.
Given the effectiveness of the .50 BMG, we would recommend consideration be placed on developing a means of making a properly man-portable firearm capable of chambering it. Perhaps revisiting the anti-tank rifle concept is warranted.
Final note: Shrapnel from fragmentation grenades also proved largely ineffective against the thicker portions of the scale armor which adorn these dragons, unless the grenade was detonated at what we would determine unreasonably close proximity. They do not, however, have any problem perforating the wing membranes these creatures possess.
***
>Author's note:
By the way, here's the source for that excerpt: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/citations/ADA291697