"…" – Regular Speech
="…"= - Inside Head
{"…"} – Dragonese
["…"] – Translation Collar
*"…"* - Telepathic Speech
#"…"# - Radio/Telephone/PA System Speech
"…" Other Language(Russian, German, French, and ETC)
~"…"~ - Whisper
If you see a mixture of two or more of the above, that means they're using them all at once
Chapter Twenty-Five: A Night in CairoCairo, Egyptian Sector, American North Africa; Coalition Verse
Coalition Headquarters
September 24th, 2246/2011 – 1643 Hours
Barnes, Erwin, Harrison, Holland, Jayden, Julie, Manfred, Reaper, Stoick, Spiros, and Valka all walked out the back door of the Coalition Headquarters, avoiding the horde of reporters that had gathered at the front where the Coalition and Allied leaders were exiting
"Thank gods that is over!" Valka said
"I'm fucking hungry, let's find the others and go get something to eat." Erwin replied
"Didn't you eat before the conference start?" Reaper asked
"Yes…but that was several hours ago." Erwin replied
"I have to admit, I wouldn't mind putting something in my stomach either right now." Stoick said as Barnes pulled out his cellphone and called Samantha, who was with the others as they boarded a tram heading back into Cairo
#"Hey Barnes! We're getting on a tram heading back to the city, are the conferences over?"# Samantha asked
"Yeah they're over, have you guys ate?" Barnes replied
#"No we were waiting for you guys!"# Samantha responded, #"Want to meet at the hotel because I want to take a bath first before we go anywhere! But can you pick up Fishlegs at the library on you way there?"#
"We will, love you." Barnes said
"Love you!" Samantha replied before she hung up before Barnes put his phone away
"We're going to meet up at the hotel, but we need to pick up Fishlegs from the library on our way there." He said to the others
"We'll get Fishlegs, you all go ahead to the hotel." Stoick said
"Okay see you two there." Barnes replied before he and the others left to get their cars
"Are we really just going to stand on the sidelines while Reaper and Catherine take on the Consortium on their own?" Valka asked after they were gone
"No…we aren't." Stoick replied, "I'm not going to stand around and let these people, whoever they are, conquer the worlds whenever or not Reapers wants us to or not."
"Maybe we should wait to see what Fishlegs has found about them in the library before we make any brash decisions?" Valka asked, "Reaper seemed to know what he was talking about with the Consortium."
Stoick nodded
"Would be foolish of us to charge in against an enemy we know nothing about." He said, "Come on let's get to the library and find Fishlegs."
Cairo Public Library
Fishlegs was surrounded by stacks of books about the Consortium as he read them and took notes when Stoick and Valka arrived
"Fishlegs?" Valka asked
"Oh hi Mrs. Haddock, are the conferences over already?" Fishlegs replied
"Yeah they ended several minutes ago." Stoick said, "What have you found out?"
"A lot." Fishlegs said as he closed his notebook, "But one thing is for sure, these are very evil people we're dealing with because there wasn't a single good thing I've read about the Consortium in any of the books I've read."
Stoick sighed
"We'll talk about it later, the others are going to meet us at the hotel, we're going to try eating out again and hope somebody doesn't try to kill us this time." He said
Fishlegs nodded and got out of his chair as a bunch of drones flew in and began to collect the books and return them to their proper sections as Fishlegs followed Stoick and Valka out of the Library and to the limonene waiting for them outside and after they got in, Fishlegs open his notebook back in and started reviewing his notes
"Anything useful in that?" Stoick asked
"Most of it is based on information from before or during the Clan Wars." Fishlegs replied, "But I did get a lot of notes about their leadership and goals, which were exactly what Reaper said they were, get rid of governments and put corporations into direct control. But they did a lot more than that."
"What do you mean?" Stoick asked as Fishlegs handed him his notebook
"Look for yourself chief." He replied, "I crammed as much as I could into there."
Hotel – Catherine and Reaper's Room
Minutes Later
Reaper was laying on one of the beds taking a nap as Catherine was taking a shower in the bathroom when Stoick busted in making Reaper jump up and pull out his gun
"Jesus Christ Stoick! You scared the shit out of me!" Reaper shouted
"Sorry…but I just finished reading this." Stoick replied as he held up Fishlegs' notebook
"Oh…I guess Fishlegs took a lot about the Consortium then?" Reaper asked
"Yes…he did." Stoick replied as he sat on the other bed across from Reaper, "I saw that you left out a lot of details of what the Consortium did."
"Would you have believed me if I had told you?" Reaper asked him
"Could've tried." He replied as he sat down on the opposite bed, "But why would anybody want perpetual war?"
"War is profitable for some people and it's also a convenient way for corrupt leaders to distract their people so they don't notice their bullshit." Reaper said, "Ever heard of 1984?"
"As in the year?" Stoick asked
"No, it's a book that goes over this very well." Reaper replied, "In that book the world is controlled by three dictatorships who all use war to distract their people from their countries' problems, helping them stay in power."
"General my people can stay on the sidelines for this, we've been working too hard to help restore peace to this world just for this Consortium to burn it all down for personal gain!" Stoick said
"Stoick getting even more involved against the Consortium will only just make you and your people even more of a target for them." Reaper replied, "And if they can't get to you, they'll go after Hiccup and Valka."
"We know the risks." Stoick said, "Let us help you!"
Reaper sighed
"You're not going to leave me alone unless I agree to, aren't you?" He asked
"I'll beg if I have to." Stoick replied, "But I cannot stand idly as these people try to undo everything we've been working to accomplish."
"Okay…but don't blame me or Catherine if anything happens." Reaper said
"We won't." Stoick replied, "Although I do request that if you find anything you tell us before you act on it."
Reaper nodded as the bathroom door swung open and Catherine emerged wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her body
"Reaper who are you talk-? Oh Stoick, what are you doing here?" Catherine asked while both Stoick and Reaper stared idly at her
"Just talking business Cathy." Reaper replied after a few seconds, "Are you about done?"
"Yeah I just need to dry off and get dress." Catherine said before she went back into the bathroom and closed the door
"How did you end up with a woman like her?" Stoick asked
"A lot of patience and a lot of hard work." Reaper replied, "But I also gave her plenty of space."
"She reminds me of Valka during our younger days." Stoick said
"Well Catherine's a completely different ballgame from Val Stoick." Reaper replied
Meanwhile in the next room; Erwin was getting into a fresher set of clothes while Margaret was getting dressed in the bathroom
"Did you girls enjoy the beach?" Erwin shouted to Margaret
"Yeah!" She replied, "Wish you had been there!"
"Trust me I would've much rather had been with you than at that conference!" Erwin said
"Maybe we could go later?" Margaret asked, "I mean we are going to be staying here for a while as you prepare!"
"Sounds like a good idea." Erwin replied, "Although I'll probably need to get myself a swimsuit because it's been a while since I've taken a swim."
"Or we could just do without?" Margaret said
"I can go for that." Erwin said without pause while Margaret laughed
"We need to have a good night for ourselves anyway." She said, "You know one where we're not always going to be surrounded by our friends and families."
"Yeah that would nice." Erwin said as he finished getting dressed while Margaret emerged from the bathroom wearing a blue dress with formal shoes
"What do you think?" She asked him
"You look gorgeous." He replied as he got up and walked over to her
"Well you're too easy to impress." Margaret said
"No really, you look great!" Erwin replied, "That dress really suits you."
"I just hope I'm not overdressed then." Margaret said before she and Erwin kissed and embraced each other, "You on the other hand look nice as well."
"Glad you think so." Erwin said as there was a knock on the door
"Are you guys about ready in there?" Samantha asked
"Yeah…." Margaret replied hesitantly as she and Erwin broke their embrace before leaving their room to join Barnes and Samantha in the hallway
"How did you get ready so quickly?" Margaret asked Samantha
"I don't waste time trying to make myself look like something I'm not." She replied, "But you look absolutely amazing!"
Margaret blushed as Erwin put his arm around her while Jayden and Sheva came out of their room as the latter was still brushing her hair which she had tied into a bun
"Sheva it looks fine." Jayden said
"I just want to make sure!" Sheva replied as Reaper and Catherine emerged from their room while Stoick left behind him and headed toward his and Valka's room
"Wow Sheva you're defiantly Tesla's daughter." Reaper said to Sheva as she finished brushing her hair and placed the hairbrush in her handbag
"I just want to look nice!" She replied
"And there's nothing wrong with that." Catherine said, "But you do look stunning Sheva."
"Thank you." Sheva said
"I feel like I'm going to a high school prom." Barnes said
"Well I want to eat fancy tonight." Catherine said
"I already arranged for security, so we hopefully don't have to worry about somebody trying to kill us this time." Reaper replied
"Still bringing my gun." Jayden said
"Same here." Barnes replied
"Same." Samantha said
"Got my sword and my gun." Erwin said
"We always have our guns." Catherine replied as Hiccup and Astrid came from down the hall
"Are we all set?" Hiccup asked
"Waiting for your parents and friends." Reaper replied, "Are Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins coming?"
"Fishlegs isn't coming, he's going to take a nap." Astrid said, "Snotlout and the twins should be coming soon."
"Let's just hope they behave themselves." Erwin said as Julie came out from her room while Manfred and Harrison joined them followed by Earc and Niamh
"So where are we eating at now?" Hiccup asked
"Another fancy restaurant that Catherine found." Reaper replied
"Is anybody going to try to kill us this time?" Astrid asked
"Already got security forces in place to make sure nobody tries to." Reaper replied as Stoick and Valka joined them with Snotlout and the twins
"Where's Holland?" Catherine said
"He won't be joining us, he already had plans for tonight." Spiros replied
"Didn't mention them earlier." Reaper said, "Does it have to do anything with Lynette being here?"
"You mean Captain Goff?" Erwin asked
"Yeah, he was with her on the beach last night." Reaper replied, "Apparently, they're quite close."
"Probably best we don't ask questions then." Manfred said, "Probably keeping their relationship secret to avoid having her taken off the frontlines."
"Why would she be taken off from the frontlines?" Samantha asked
"Because security regulations require that the loved ones of high-ranking officers like Holland be kept off the frontlines, Margaret is an exception because she is not part of the ISDF." Manfred replied, "And the captain likely doesn't want to be taken away from her battalion after all the work's she done to get to that position and they likely don't get to spend that much time together as Holland is usually in the Pacific while Lynette has likely spent most of her career in Europe."
"Which explains why Holland has been mostly absent." Erwin said, "But I agree with Manfred, we better not ask too many questions, if they want to keep want they have between them a secret, that's up to them."
Reaper nodded
"You're right, that's exactly why they're kept their marriage a secret, I didn't even know until just before we came here." Spiros said, "Holland is one of my best friends, so I don't want to destroy what he has with Lynette."
"Then we'll keep our mouths shut." Reaper said
Tourist District
Holland and Lynette were walking with each other on the sidewalk, wearing civilian clothing so they could fit in and not be noticed
"I think this is the first time I've been out of uniform in forever." Holland said
"Well you spend most of your time on that airship of yours'." Lynette replied, "You need to get off of it more."
"And when's the last time you spent any time as a civilian?" Holland asked
"When we were in the American capital, no words can describe on how refreshing it was to stretch my legs." Lynette replied, "Although it would've been much better if you had been there."
"I had to oversee the repairs to my fleet after a that disaster that had overtook us." Holland said
"You mean the one I keep hearing about from your men involving the Special Projects Division?" Lynette replied
"Yeah that one, last time I'm working with them again." Holland said, "You know after all this is over things are going to go back to normal, with us being on completely different sides of the world from each other."
Lynette sighed and placed her head on Holland's shoulder
"I don't even want to think about that." She said, "I wish our world was more like this one."
"I do too." Holland replied, "And it can be like this one, but it'll take a very long time."
"I don't even know if that's possible." Lynette said, "Because after the Eastern Empire we still got the Chanians to worry about."
"The only thing the Chanians have going for them right now is that both we and the Empire are too distracted to deal with them." Holland replied, "You know Lynette, we have both served long enough for us to be allowed to retire with full benefits."
"But I wouldn't feel right retiring right now." She said
"Even after being turned into a dragon?" Holland asked
"Yeah even after that." Lynette replied
"Then you have a stronger will than I do, because I think that would've been enough for me." Holland said and Lynette laughed
"I've worked too hard to earn the loyalty and trust of my men to give up now." She said
"And I have too." Holland replied, "But we're going have to retire sometime because our bodies can't handle it forever."
"And that time is still a long way off." Lynette said, "And what would you do after retirement?"
"Currently my plan is to work on my models." Holland replied
"Oh yeah…I forgot you collected models, how many do you have now?" Lynette asked
"Will you promise not to divorce me if I told you?" Holland replied and Lynette laughed
"Oh, on second thought forget that I even asked." She said, "Just as long as they're not in every room in the house because I'd like to have my own space too."
"Well I don't have that many." Holland replied
"Yet." Lynette said
"You act like I'm obsessed with them." Holland said
"Holland last time I saw your collection it was taking up slightly less than half of our basement." Lynette replied
"It hasn't grown that much because I haven't had that much time to work on any new models." Holland said
Lynette sighed
"Let's not take this any further because I feel like this going to lead to us arguing." She said
"Yeah that's probably for the better." Holland replied
"So, what happened over in that American city?" Lynette asked
"A bunch of East Roman special forces tried to destroy the American airship docks there, but they were stopped by the time we got there and all we did was help restore order." Holland replied
"Then why deploy your entire airship fleet?" Lynette asked
"That was a precautionary measure as far as we could've known that attack could've just been a precursor to a larger attack." Holland replied
"I'll take your word for it." Lynette said
Fancy Restaurant
1958 Hours
Having finished their meals; Astrid, Barnes, Catherine, Earc, Erwin, Harrison, Hiccup, Jayden, Julie, Manfred, Margaret, Niamh, Reaper, Ruffnut, Samantha, Sheva, Snotlout, Spiros, Stoick, Tuffnut, and Valka were sitting around their table
"So, anybody want dessert?" Reaper asked
"No thank…that filled me up." Astrid said
"Same here." Jayden said as he patted his stomach, "This place has good food." '
"Are we returning to Berk tomorrow?" Stoick asked
"Yeah, at least we will, you six and Holland will be staying I guess." Reaper replied and Erwin, Margaret, and Spiros nodded
"But we won't be staying in the city, we'll be joining our forces out near Tripoli where we'll set up our base of operations so we can begin training." Erwin said
"Well then we wish you all the best of luck with your campaign." Stoick said to them
"If you guys need any help from us, you know our numbers." Barnes said, "What about your airships, there's really not anywhere to land airships out there."
"The bulk of the fleet will be return to the Republic for repairs and resupply as well and prepare for the second phase of the plan." Spiros said, "The airships that will be staying behind will be the ones accompanying them when they go in."
"You're going have to train fast then because I doubt the West Romans are going to be able to hold the line under Vibianus for very long." Hiccup said
"I know…I really wished we had more time to prepare, but it does look like we're going have to rush this." Erwin replied, "We probably don't even have enough time to get my corps full equipped with new uniforms and equipment, but we've managed with worst situations."
"As one of my favorite generals once said, a good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." Reaper said and Erwin nodded
"Well said." He replied, "General Patton I guess?"
"Yep." Reaper said
"So, we hit the ground running and do as much damage to the East Romans as we can, forcing to them to cut back long enough for us to make up for our shortcomings." Manfred said, "And hopefully be ready by the time Holland and Spiros arrive with the second wave."
"Are you sure you don't want us to initiate a bombing campaign to slow them down so you have more to prepare?" Reaper asked
"I think it would be better if our arrival catches them completely off guard, we'll lose the element of surprise if we start bombing way beforehand." Erwin replied, "Plus a bombing campaign would also tip Marcus off about our intervention and also give him more time to reinforce North Africa before our arrival."
"What kind of dragons are there in North Africa anyway?" Manfred asked
"I don't know, I've never been that far south." Valka replied, "But I know that there are dragons living there."
"I'm guessing probably a lot of Desert Wraiths, which is a breed of Sand Wraith." Hiccup said
"Never heard of those." Erwin said
"They look like Night Furies, but are a pale pink with black stripes and spend most of their time hiding beneath sand." Hiccup replied, "And they shoot hardened balls of sand with weak fire, but that's all we know about them."
"How do you know about them?" Manfred asked
"There's a rather short entry about them in the Book of Dragons." Hiccup replied, "Bork the Bold apparently encountered one at some point or heard about them through a trader, my money is on the latter though."
"What about the Mediterranean?" Julie asked
"Mainly a lot of tidal class dragons." Astrid replied, "But it really depends on where you are down there. The areas with mountainous coastlines tend to have large populations of Deadly Nadders, Gronckles, Monstrous Nightmares, and Zipplebacks."
"What about Night Furies?" Harrison asked
"There's been sightings in the Dinarides and Alps but none of them confirmed." Barnes replied, "But I wouldn't go looking for them as they may not be as friendly as Toothless has been toward us."
"We have no intention of doing so." Erwin said
"Have you guys ever investigated any of these sightings?" Margaret asked
"As much as we would to, we really don't have the time plus many of the sightings were in territory still held by the East Romans." Hiccup replied, "But we have been in the area where some of the sightings were reported before but we have never seen anything even remotely resembling a Night Fury."
"Well most of the sightings have been from fighter jets moving at high speed, so they could still be a case of mistaken identity." Reaper said
"I like to keep my hopes up that there are more Night Furies out there somewhere." Hiccup replied
"If there are Night Furies out there we may need to consider the possibility they don't want to be found." Valka said
"As long as they're out of the hands of the East Romans they can stay hidden all they want." Reaper replied, "I personally have no interest in going to look for them, but I won't stop you guys from trying, but as Barnes said they may not take too lightly to being found defiantly by post-humans."
"What about Stormcutters?" Jayden asked
"There's a small population of them in the Cantabrian Mountains on the Iberian Peninsula and unconfirmed sightings in the Dinarides and Pyrenees." Barnes replied, "But Gene Corp records say that are populations of them in Urals and Caucasus Mountains."
"So basically, they're limited to mountain ranges?" Sheva said
"It's their natural environment, the Scandinavian Alps used to have one of the largest Stormcutter populations in Europe, but the Romans, Gene Corp, and Drago brought a quick end to that." Valka replied, "Cloudjumper is one of the surviving few."
"Human civilization has a habit of fucking up every ecosystem it encounters, look at our world for example." Reaper said
"But you also wouldn't be where you without doing that." Stoick replied, "I guess it's just the curse of being civilized."
"Isn't there people out there in this world that call humanity a plague?" Hiccup asked
"Yep." Reaper replied, "But they're few in between, but every civilization must expand to survive including ours, but at least we do our best to maintain a balance compared to how things used to be under the old order."
"Old Order?" Hiccup asked, "Never heard you use that term before."
"The way things were before the Time of Troubles started." Reaper replied, "The United States and the world was a…very different place back then."
"Well we've heard that before." Hiccup said
"Is it true that Americans used to get so fat that had to be buried in piano cases?" Manfred asked
"That happened only once." Reaper replied, "But I have heard of cases where crematoriums burned down before they tried to cremate a corpse that was too big for their cremator."
"What in Odin's name would make people do that to themselves?!" Stoick asked
"Believe it or not because our society allowed them to, if not encourage it." Catherine replied, "I mean people used to get so big that their weight would cut the blood flow to their legs causing them to get amputated, it was horrible."
"How did you fix that?" Valka asked
"The Civil War forced a lot of people to cut back because having three or more meals a day became harder to sustain due to shortages and after the war ended Emmonds introduced laws to discourage such behavior including banning restaurants from serving people over a certain size, making them pay more for health insurance, etc." Reaper replied
"Were there people that-?" Astrid asked
"Rebelled over it? No." Reaper replied, "But was there were protests, but those died out over time as things improved and people forgot about it."
"Well we better get back to the hotel because it's getting late." Barnes said after looking at his wrist watch
"You're right we should." Reaper replied as the group stood up
"It was nice being able to sit down and have a quiet meal together for once." Catherine said
"Yeah we should do this more often if people don't keep trying to kill us while we're at it." Samantha replied as Jayden and Sheva made way for Earc and Niamh to get up from their seats
"So what time do we leave tomorrow?" Earc asked
"Noon." Reaper replied, "Give us plenty of time to wake up and get our stuff together."
Catherine and Margaret hugged
"It was great to be with you again mom." Margaret said to her
"Same here." She replied, "Just stay strong me us and Erwin, would you?"
"I will." Margaret said as she and Catherine released each other before she joined Erwin and his brothers and sister
"You ready to go?" Erwin asked her
"Yeah." She replied before they all left the restaurant and got into their respective vehicles