Berserker Home Island
502nd Special Operations Fighter Squadron
Later that evening
With the afternoon slowly giving way to twilight and the battle seemingly dying down for the time being, the post-humans and dragon riders were returning to the USAS Patton which was now holding position over the LZ where a FOB along with several fire bases were being constructed by U.S Navy engineers
"Wow the seabees are really working their asses down there on that FOB." Carville shouted over the radio as the group approached the Patton's hangar bay while Toothless and Hiccup began to fall behind
"Is something wrong buddy?" Hiccup asked Toothless, "It's the leg again isn't it?"
"I'll be fine." He replied as Barnes was the first to land in the hangar bay with Samantha and Zoey followed by the post-human dragons who were then followed by the dragon riders with Hiccup and Toothless being the last ones to land with Toothless grunting as he touched the ground
"Okay something's defiantly up." Hiccup said after he dismounted Toothless and went to check out on the cast on Toothless' leg to find it completely soaked in blood with a visible bullet hole,"Toothless! You've been shot! Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I didn't want you to worry." He replied as Barnes ran over
"How bad is it?" He replied
"I don't know, but it looks like he'll need a new cast." Hiccup said to him
"I'll go get Ward, you stay here." He replied
Toothless snorted
"I'm sorry Toothless, but you can't fly with it being like that. You can catch something we call gangrene which will cause it to rot and possibly even kill you." Barnes said to him
"What am I going to do then?" Hiccup asked Barnes
"We'll work something out." He replied as he turned out to get Ward, "Just keep him still, we don't want that getting any worst."
"I hate to say it buddy, but he's right, you can't fly like that." Hiccup said to Toothless, who snorted before laying down while on the ground near the Berserker Village, Henderson and Bravo Squad were holding position with the rest of their platoon and a platoon of Powell MBTs on top of a hill overlooking the village
"Henderson! Get up here!" The Platoon Leader shouted to Henderson as he looked down at the Roman positions in the village with his binoculars
Henderson got up and went over to him
"What is it sir?" He asked him before he handed Henderson the binoculars and pointed out one of the Roman positions
"Tell me what you think." The Platoon Leader said before Henderson put the binoculars to his eyes and looked at the position where he saw a unusual-looking Roman soldier wearing heavy body armor carrying a PPSh SMG who was standing idle on top of a barricade
"Looks like he's some kind of elite or heavy infantry." He said to the Platoon Leader
"Exactly what I was thinking Sergeant, but I wonder why we're now just seeing, I don't recall encountering them during the landings." He replied
"Me neither." Henderson said to him, "They might be a general's bodyguard or something like that. Should we call it in?"
"I have already have, but command doesn't know anything about these guys." He replied
"Wouldn't be a first today, nobody was expecting this shit." Henderson said to him
The Platoon Leader nodded when the sound of distant artillery guns and incoming shells firing broke the silence
"INCOMING!" A Marine shouted as Henderson, the platoon leader, and the other Marines scrambled for cover as the shells began to fall and exploded as they hit the ground
"Not very big explosions for such big shells." The Platoon Leader said to Henderson, who was noticing a yellowish brown gas being released by the shells as they exploded
"GAS!" He shouted as he scrambled for his gas mask which was in it's bag on his belt as other Marines began to do the same, but for some it came too late as they began to cough violently while any exposed skin started to blister, when Henderson had his gas mask securely on his face, he looked next to him to check on the Platoon Leader, who had also managed to get his gas mask on along with the rest of Bravo Squad as the gas enveloped them
"Oh shit! Oh shit!" Hernandez stammered as horns started to sound off at the foot of the hill and were followed by the thunderous war cries of Roman soldiers as they started to charge up the hill
"Battle stations! We need to hold this hill at all costs!" The Platoon Leader shouted as Henderson and Bravo rushed to their positions and immediately began firing their weapons at the Roman soldiers at they appeared through the gas
"I can't barely see shit through all this gas!" Benjamin shouted
"Neither can I!" Jasmine shouted
"You let us worry about the seeing! Just don't let them get too close with those sticky bombs!" The Commander of one of the Powells replied while back at the USAS Patton, Hiccup and Barnes were watching as Toothless had his cast replaced by Ward as the others rested
"I know you don't want to hear this, but there is no way he can fly with it being like this." Ward said to them
Hiccup sighed while Toothless snorted and laid his head down when the Patton's alarms started to go off
"Not again..." Barnes said as the Patton's captain came on over the PA system
"Code Black! Code Black! Hostile forces have deployed chemical weapons! I repeat hostile have deployed chemical weapons! All NBC Decontamination teams report to hangar bays! I repeat all NBC Decontamination teams report to hangar bays!" The Captain shouted over the PA System
"EVERYBODY SEAL THEIR SUITS! WE'RE FLYING OUT IMMEDIATELY!" Barnes shouted as the post-human dragons jumped up and started to air seal their armor
"What are we supposed to do?!" Astrid asked Barnes, who looked to the nearest APMAC Officer as the Patton's NBC Decontamination teams started to rush into the hangar bays with their equipment as medevac VTOLs started to fly into the hangar bay to unload victims of the chemical weapon attacks
"Lieutenant! I want you to take them to the armory and see if you can get them fitted with NBC gear and do we have any spare armor for their dragons?" Barnes asked her
"You guys brought a lot of spare parts for your armor, your maintenance teams might be able to throw new suits together from that." She replied before she motioned for Astrid and the other riders to come with her
"I'll stay here with Toothless!" Hiccup said to Barnes
"I already guessed that!" He replied as Zoey came to her father
"Dad, I don't have any shots left!" She said to him
Barnes sighed
"You can stay here with Hiccup and Toothless then." Barnes said to her
Zoey nodded as the other post-human dragons announced they were ready over the radio
"Okay! Lets fly out!" Barnes shouted before he led the other post-human dragons out the hangar while back on the ground, Bravo Squad was still holding it's position against the Roman onslaught as Blackwater troops and vehicles joined the attack
"Where the hell are our reinforcements?!" Jasmine shouted
"Exactly what I'm starting to wonder!" The Platoon Leader replied when a single USMC gunship flew overhead as it fired it's rocket pods and chaingun into the Roman and Blackwater horde
"Well speak of the devil!" The Platoon Leader shouted as the gunship turned around and made another strafing run on the attackers while it deployed IR flares to deflect two incoming SAMs launched from MANPADs
"Don't stop now, our job's not done yet! They're still coming!" Henderson shouted even as the USMC gunship began to turn around for another strafing run before a large dark shape shot across the sky at full speed and grabbed the gunship by it's tail
"What the hell?!" Benjamin asked as the shape came, revealing itself to be a armored Typhoonmerang before it threw the gunship at the Marine positions
"OH *$%$!" Benjamin screamed as he and the rest of Bravo Squad dived for the cover as the out of control gunship crashed into their position and exploded as the Typhoonmerang flew off
"That is one big mother *%$%ing dragon!" A Marine shouted as the Typhoonmerang came back around
"Take it down before it gets too close!" Henderson shouted as he and the rest of Bravo Squad began to fire at the Typhoonmerang as it flew toward the hill, but none of their rounds made it through it's thick armor as the dragon began to shoot down a plume of fire, incinerating an entire squad and disabling a Powell and then began to circle around the hill as it continued to breath fire
"It's creating a cyclone!" The Platoon Leader shouted, "We need to take it down! NOW!"
"None of our weapons are getting through it's armor and it's flying too fast to reliably hit it with AT!" Henderson replied before the Typhoonmerang received a plasma blast from the right that forced it to fly away
"Sorry we're late!" Barnes shouted over the radio, "When did the Romans start using dragons?!"
"No idea!" The Platoon Leader replied, "But thank god you got here when you did, I thought we were toast there for a bit!"
"The Romans are continuing their attack!" Henderson shouted as another wave of armored Roman soldiers began to rush through the dying flames
"Keep your heads down, we'll take care of this!" Barnes shouted, "Zipplebacks, let create a thermobaric!"
"A WHAT?!" The Platoon Leader screamed as the post-human Zipplebacks flew in a delta formation over the Romans leaving behind a cloud of flammable acid
"GET TO COVER!" Henderson screamed as he and Bravo Squad once again ran for cover as Barnes ignited the gas with a plasma blast, creating a massive explosion that incinerated almost all the Romans and Blackwater soldiers
"Okay I think we're clear now!" Wensky shouted over the radio
"How bad is it down there?" Barnes asked the Platoon Leader
"Bad is a understatement general, I've got at least a company of men still in fighting condition the others are either dead or dying from the gas." He replied
"Get your men out of her-" Barnes said before one of the Powell tanks on the hill were knocked out by a plasma blast
"FRIENDLY FIRE!" Henderson shouted
"That wasn't one of us!" Anna shouted over the radio before the dark shape of a Night Fury darted past the hill as a horde of armored and unarmored dragons descended upon the 502nd and Marines from the darkening sky
"AMBUSH!" Vasili shouted over the radio as the post-human dragons scattered and began to dogfight with the armored and unarmored dragons with Barnes chasing after a armored Deadly Nadder, which immediately turned around and came at Barnes
"FOR THE GLORY OF ROME!" The Deadly Nadder shouted with his own translation collar catching Barnes by surprise as he dodged the Deadly Nadder
"These dragons are post-human!" Barnes shouted over the radio as he turned around and continued to chase the Deadly Nadder as it tried to shake him off
"What?! How?!" Samantha asked
"I don't know! Just waste them!" Barnes replied
"Wait! Don't!" Carville shouted, "The unarmored ones have mind control collars on them, they might be trying to use them for meat-shields!"
"%$#$, okay follow the procedures we followed during the First War while killing the armored ones!" Barnes replied
"The Night Fury is coming back!" Henderson shouted over the radio as the Roman post-human Night Fury charged up another shot and knocked out another Powell as another wave of Roman and Blackwater soldiers renewed their attack on the hill
"I'm going after that damn Night Fury!" Barnes shouted over the radio as two squadrons of USN and USMC fighters joined the fight while Barnes broke off from pursuing the Deadly Nadder to chase after the Night Fury as it charged up another shot while it came back around for another attack on the hills
"Hey pick on someone in your own species!" Barnes roared to the other post-human Night Fury as he shot a plasma blast into it's bath, seemingly catching him by surprise and making him release his plasma blast prematurely before he looked straight at Barnes
"I was hoping I would watch one of your attention." The Night Fury said to Barnes telepathically before roaring and charging at Barnes, who dodged the Roman, who immediately began charging up another plasma blast as he came back around before shooting at Barnes, who shot out his own plasma blast which met it halfway and exploded
"Didn't know I could do that." Barnes thought to himself as the Roman charged at him and Barnes once again dodged him, but this time chasing after him and charged up a plasma blast while aiming for the Roman's exposed tail flaps as he performed evasive maneuvers to prevent Barnes from getting a clear shot, but before he could a pair of bolas fired from a launcher on the ground wrapped around him causing him to lose control and crash on the ground with the force of the impact knocking out his armor's power
"Dammit!" Barnes shouted as he struggled to free himself as the Roman Night Fury landed nearby and approached him
"I think in all this chasing around I forgot to introduce myself, I am General Aemilius Casca of the Praetorian Guard." The Roman said to Barnes as he approached him, "And I'm guessing you must be General Barnes."
Barnes snorted
"If you're going to kill me, just do it." He said to him
"Kill you? Not with the price that Gene Corp has been offering for the capture of you and your men." He replied, but before General Casca could do anything to Barnes, he was attacked by Hookfang and Snotlout who were both clad in powered NBC suits as the other riders landed and started freeing Barnes from the Bolas while Casca escaped Hookfang and took off into the air
"You're letting him get away!" Barnes shouted to the riders as Casca disappeared into the night sky as formations of Russian airlifters filled the night skies dropping paratroopers and light tanks while the other Roman post-humans began to retreat from the battle as Russian jet fighters approached
"I know he is, but we can't leave you here like this." Astrid replied as she used a knife to cut through the rope connecting the bolas together
Barnes sighed as Samantha and Anna landed nearby and ran to him
"Barnes!" Samantha cried
"I'm fine Sam..." Barnes replied as Samantha began to nudge him with her snout and like him as the other post-human dragons began to land and form a perimeter as the remaining Roman soldiers and praetorians retreated as more Marines and British Soldiers arrived
"Who was that dad?" Anna asked him
"He said his name was Aemilius Casca." He replied as Astrid's knife finally cut through the rope, freeing him and allowing him to stand up, "Did any of you manage to free any of those mind controlled dragons?"
"Only six, but only one is in a good enough state to talk, the others are too shocked and to make matters worst the one that can speak doesn't know a word of English." Wensky replied
Barnes sighed
"See if you can find a interrupter, I want to see if we can get information off of him or her about Casca." He said to him
"Yes sir." Wensky replied, "But what should we do now?"
Barnes looked back at the hill where the poison gas was now starting to dissipate
"We've got a lot of dead and wounded that need to be moved, so I guess we should start there." He said to him
APMSF Headquarters
Two Hours Later
Reaper was with Paxton and Smict were in a conference room as Conrad reported to them about the chemical weapons attacks on the Berserker Home Island through a hologram
"According to all the reports we've received from the survivors the primary agent that was used in the attacks were sulfuric mustards, more largely known by it's nickname, mustard gas." Conrad said to them
"What about casualties?" Reaper asked him
"Current reports are showing that the 26th MEU has had it's manpower reduced to almost 75% and the 22nd to 88%. The Berserkers were hit more heavily since they didn't have any NBC gear and we're guessing a causality rate of at least 98% including Dagur." He replied
"Mother of god." Paxton said
"What about the Roman post-human dragons?" Reaper asked Conrad
"Barnes has reported that they're apparently a part of the Praetorian Guards that attacked the Marines after the chemical attacks and are led by a post-human Night Fury by the name of Aemilius Casca. He's also reported that they were using mind-controlled post-human dragons as meat-shields for their main force, they've also liberated some of these dragons, but are currently unable to get intel out of them since most of them are suffering from shock and none of them know or speak English." He replied
"Judging from the studies I did on the Roman Empire during my West Point days, I'd guess they're probably slaves or prisoners." Smict said to them
"That's defiantly possible since Karlson has reported that the Romans have been using slaves to build defenses on Hysteria and as human shields and we've also found a few slaves in the Roman camps on the Berserker Home Island." Conrad replied
"I think we need to seriously start considering escalation." Smict said, "Because the Romans are defiantly going to try gassing us again and maybe they'll do it when we start hitting Rome."
Reaper nodded
"Conrad, do you have any thermobaric weapons with you?" He asked him
"The USAS St. Louis has a few old GBU-43s that have been collecting dust in her cargo bay, don't know if they can still go boom, but I think they defiantly could do some serious damage if they do." He replied
"MOABs? I had no idea we even still had those!" Smict said in surprise
"We have plenty of them since they're the closest thing we can get to a nuclear bomb without the radiation and international backlash." Reaper replied, "We might also have to consider deploying another legion to the Archipelago, can the 22nd and 26th still fight?"
"No, they've lost way too many men and most of their equipment needs to be decontaminated, I thinking about sending them to Berk to recuperate a bit before sending them back home." Conrad said to him
Reaper nodded
"I understand, we'll send replacements with whatever legion we decide to send." He said to him
Conrad nodded before the hologram phased out
"I think I'm going to the Archipelago as well." Reaper said to Paxton and Smict, "I'm not going to sit on the sidelines while my people are being gassed, Conrad you take over the preparations and Paxton just keep the nation calm because there is going to be a lot of pissed off people when this news breaks."
Conrad and Paxton nodded
"I'm not going to try bother talking you out of it because I know it's not going to work." Conrad said to him, "But I strongly advise you stay here because I don't know what we're going to do if we lose you."
"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself." He replied
Roman and Blackwater Headquarters
General Atticus was shouting and scream in anger about the defeat of General Decimus' forces on the Berserker Home Island as Walker talked to one of his deputy commanders
"Years of training and experience WASTED in a single attack!" Atticus screamed
"The commanders of Decimus' Praetorian Guards greatly underestimate their enemies and as result, didn't spend much effort in coordinating their attacks according to our intel." Walker replied, "And not to mention the gas attacks didn't have the results that we hoped for."
"What about your men?! You lost just as many of them and their equipment as we did in that attack and they're much harder to replace than my men are!" Atticus shouted at him
Walker took a deep breath
"It was a necessary sacrifice." He said quietly, "But we still have a war to fight! The battles for Hysteria and Bog Burglar Island are still well under way and we need to start preparing for the arrival of more Coalition forces!"
Atticus sighed and came back to the map table where Berk and the Berserker Home Island were crossed off indicating that the fleets there had been wiped out
"Let just hope the gods are with us." He said quietly