Tristan
I pulled the trigger and didn't wait to see what happened before I reloaded my riffle and assumed position again. The view was somehow disheartening. The vessels around the killed adult sat and stared forward, even the ones sitting closest to it, that were now all splattered with blood. I took aim at the adult sitting in the next truck. This one was harder to get a clear shot at, as it sat all the way on the back of the truck and on the side further away from where I was hiding. But as the vehicle travelled down it's course, the angle changed and finally I pulled the trigger again.
I saw that I shot true and spared myself full view of the damage I have done. I looked at the third truck and it wasn't there. Instead it was speeding toward me, already halfway from where the other two trucks now stopped and were turning to follow.
They would be here within three minutes at most and I was close to panic. But then as I watched the leading truck through the crosshair of my riffle I suddenly had a clear shot at the third adult vessel. Years of training took over and I pulled the trigger.
Now with my main objective achieved I snapped out of it and started taking aim and shooting at the vessel driving the first car, then second and third. But if I thought, that it would have bought me more time I was mistaken, because the clones just jumped out of the still driving vehicles, shifted midair and sped towards the rocks, that I was hiding amongst.
I retreated deeper into the group of rocks, when they were upon me. I took out my sidearm, shot the closest vessel's wing joint and saw it landing flapping its other wing frantically. But still it crawled toward me and the others were closer now.
"Stealth?" To hell with pride, I needed a rescue now.
"I'm here Lieutenant." Came am answer, but I actually saw her before I heard her. She dropped beside me, the impact making the ground shake this time and reached a folded wing toward me leaning heavily on the rock I was currently standing on. I grabbed the edge of her wing and took leap onto her shoulder as two vessels almost closed on me stopped at the last moment by a wall of fire and her claws ripping one of the open.
I stumbled and crawled to the spot in front of Stealth's wings as she breathed fire and snapped at vessels that now attacked en masse.
Before I could sit down completely, a strong push pressed me to her back and almost knocked me off my spot. I grabbed a spike before me and held on, as Stealth climbed up three times the speed of when we left the base. Feeling of vertigo was overwhelming and my ears hurt. I looked behind to discover, that the vessels were quite far behind, when suddenly they changed direction and seemingly abandoned the chase.
"St George?" I heard Stealth call, and when Madison answered she reported. "Thirty two hatchling vessels are probably on the way to you now, fifteen minutes away. We have neutralised three adults from this convoy. We will see what we can do about the others, out."
Stealth stopped climbing higher, but my ears felt as if they were about to explode and I started to freeze despite thick combat gear and gloves.
"That went well, do you think you have more fight in you Lieutenant?" Stealth asked.
"What are you thinking about?" I asked.
For a while she just descended couple hundreds of yards, before she stopped and said.
"Sixty degrees. The other transport. Hundred and thirty degrees, can you see the all rocky-holey area?"
It took me a while to find both, but finally I could confirm. Erosion left a larger rocky area filled with round boulders and smooth rifts and holes.
"Now they know, that we are hunting them and it would be too risky to leave it to you. They'll probably locate you after the first shot and squish you before I can help you." She said and I was fine with that. I wasn't a coward, but I didn't want to die either.
"I'll drop you in that rocky terrain. Then I'll engage them within the shot range. They will shift so don't waste bullets on the adults, I'll take care of them. Shoot the small ones, move after each shot, so they don't find you that easily again. I should be able to finish some of the adults and then we can drag the rest to the base, so your friends can help to wipe them all out. How about that?" She asked as the two remaining trucks approached the rock formation.
"Okay." I said and held tighter onto the spikes in front of me as she immediately swept downwards flying in wide circle to avoid notice from the approaching trucks.
I slid off Stealth's scaly side and started towards where trucks would soon be visible between large rocks. I didn't want to linger again and risk Stealth codling me like a baby. I felt a rush of air but heard nothing as she took off. It was slowly dawning upon me, why she wasn't named after a color or a jewel or fire.
I found a good spot granting me almost complete cover while allowing clear view of plateau beyond the rocks.
As soon as I assumed position, I saw two trucks cruising the rocky landscape. When I watched them I suddenly had to duck behind the rock, a vessel in the first truck was using binoculars to survey the surroundings. I decided to wait with aiming at them until Stealth made her move.
I didn't have to wait long. Soon she fell down from the skies, massive, black shape soundlessly diving for the front truck, keeping slightly to north to avoid casting shadow over the cars too soon.
She landed crushing half of the vehicle under her hind legs and turned immediately to rip a head off the injured adult, that happened to ride in the front.
Remaining vessels shifted as one and converged on her. All except for the adults, who took to the skies and flew away. I didn't like it, but there wasn't much I could do except for, what we have agreed upon.
"Madison?" I called. "Stan?" Came her tense voice, the other vessels have probably reached them by then, but I needed to stay focused on here snd now. "Two adult vessels incoming from south in ten minutes. We are stalled by the rest of them, out." I said and got to work, I shot one of the hatchlings, quickly picked up my riffle and slid behind the rock I was standing on. I walked few yards within natural tunnel between large boulders, before I scaled one of them staying low, and took another look.
Hatchlings vessels must have been trained to fight an adult dragon, which presented interesting implications... They swarmed around Stealth's head, neck and wings holding her grounded. It didn't look like she was hurt, but she was struggling, every time she caught one in her jaws others would attack her wings and she'd hurry to spit them out and defend herself. Some of them still fit for fight, though few were severely crippled and lied at her feet in a growing poodles of blood.
"Lieutenant get ready. We are leaving... Now!" I heard her voice in my ear and saw her rolling over and to the side, and then taking to skies in one powerful leap. Three vessels found their bearings in time to react and one bit on her wingtip and held on as she flapped it. The other two tried to reach the other wing but Stealth's tail smacked one right off the air and she bit a head off the other in the same incredibly quick movement. Now all the vessels were pursuing, but even dragging a hatchling on the tip of her wing, Stealth was faster than them. I took aim and shoot the hatchling in the heart.
"Thanks." I heard as it fell down towards it's clones, that now simultaneously changed direction. They circled once and sped towards where I stood. Shit.
I turned and leaped onto next rock and the next. I might have been able to hide in the maze between the rocks but risk of vessels filling them with dragonfire made it absolutely last resort. For now I tried to put as many tall rocks between them and me as possible.
Suddenly I spotted a small opening between two huge boulders, before I could think I stooped and run toward it. It was narrow, just large enough for me to squiz through dragging my riffle behind me. On the bottom of it there was a low hole in the stone at the end if short tunnel made by two boulders leaning on each other, I fitted myself into the hole and curled in fetal position with my gun right in front if my face. I could see only a little sliver of the fissure, that I came in through, with the rest of the view obscured by the boulder that I was hiding under. I fought to calm my breathing so I could hear anything but the pounding of my own heart in my ears. Soon I saw their flickering shadows shortly casting my hiding place in darkness and I heard them flying over, beating of many large wings so low that I could feel slightest rush of air on my face. Not good. I was completely stuck and if they discovered me, they could just bake me here like in an oven. I didn't dare to alter my position though.
They must have decided they have outrun me because they soon flew back, this time slower. Suddenly a plume of dragonfire filled the fissure sucking the air from my lungs. I was too surprised to cry out and then it disappeared to erupt somewhere further along the way. They were looking for me, trying to make me reveal myself. Where the hell was Stealth?! I wouldn't risk calling out to her, when the boulders above crawled with vessels. But I was sure they would find me eventually if I stayed here.
"I'll try to drag them away." I heard Stealth's voice in my ear and almost cried out from surprise. "When I tell you, come to where we staged the ambush." She said as if knowing I was unable to answer.
Soon I heard vessels screeching. The sound echoed back and forth between the rocks but I have decided, they were quite far away. After more screeches joined the first one I slowly crawled out from the hole and stopped abruptly as the bottom of the narrow crack was cast in darkness once more. I saw boots and soon a young man with short cropped hair and vacant eyes dropped to squat on the ground in front of me. " t" The vessel hissed in a voice that had nothing human to it. It sounded as a snake would sound imitating human speech. I shot it immediately but not fast enough. Some forgotten sense made me grab his body as he toppled over and drag it with me back into the small hole at the bottom of the tunnel. I covered the opening of the hole with his body and called "Stealth..." when the fissure filled with fire fiercer than before. It made the air dissappear and I fought panic as the rock seemed to be crushing me and even with the corpse between me and the flame I was getting uncomfortably hot. Just as I was sure I would die a disgusting death by suffocation underground in embrace of my dead enemy, inferno stopped and shortly after a rush of air made it possible to breath again, but I must have blacked out anyways.
"Stan? What is going on? We could use a hand here!" I heard Lieutenant Mitchell's voice, but couldn't answer. I felt strangely numb.
"We are stalled fighting hatchling vessels." Stealth's clipped voice answered. "Lieutenant St Anthony is... stuck, we will have to kill them all here first, out." She said and I remained still.
I couldn't tell how long I have been lying there listening to whatever was going on above the rock. It could be minutes or hours when the body got dragged away, and after a while a soft hand touched my cheek. "Lieutenant?" Stealth started dragging me by my arms, when I regained ability to move. I turned towards her and we crawled up the crack between the rocks. It was much easier to come down here. I stumbled and in the end Stealth took my riffle and almost dragged me up the hole. I wasn't surprised that her small body felt endlessly strong. Finally we stood in sunlight in afternoon sun. I swayed and Stealth held me, over her shoulder I took in the surroundings. The rocks were red with blood and dismembered remains of vessels covered such a large area, that I had hard time to believe there were less than thirty of them. Closest to me lied the corpse of the shifted clone I shot under the rock. His eyes as empty in death as during it's life. Stealth reeked of blood and smoke and burned flesh. I felt nauseated and stepped away from her taking out my bottle of water I drank it all but my voice was barely a rasp, when I spoke. "Now what?"
"I need to clean up this mess." She said waving her hand at the slaughtered vessels surrounding us.
"How?" I asked.
"I guess I'll just pile them up and burn them." She said quietly. "The chapterhouse in under attack and I think we should stay together..." She said apologetically and I almost laughed. Piles of enrmy's corpses were nothing new to me. But then her eyes darkened with something else and I understood, that she wanted to spare me this sight, and I decided not to make it any easier for her.
"That's fine. I'll wait over there." I pointed to a rock outside the death zone and started to walk there.
I found shade under it and sat down to watch Stealth the Butcher shift into her true form and pick each vessel by it's neck to throw it onto a pile, it was a very efficient process and took no more than fifteen minutes. Then she sat down twenty feet away from them and spewed fire. It was mesmerising, flames engulfed the pile and seemed to melt the remains of dragon clones, stench of burning flesh made me gag, so I went a bit more off. Stealth stood there spitting steady fire for what felt likean eternity and must have been at least an hour and then there was nothing left but a pile of ashes. She beat her wings couple of times and it was mostly gone, slipped in between the rocks, blowing in the wind. Then she shifted and slowly approached me. I took a step back when I smelled stench of death on her at which she stopped and looked at me sadly.
"Are you okay?" She asked and I nodded.
"Then let's go back." She said and shifted again. But I just stayed seated and after a while she shifted back and approached me slowly like I was a scared animal.
"Are you afraid of me?" She asked, sadness in her voice made me disgusted by suddenly wanting not to be. But I couldn't forgive myself for imagining for a while that she was different, that she and Lilith were something else than what they were, death. She killed these vessels to get me out, but she killed them all by herself and back in the kitchen of her beach house I thought about taking her into my arms and now I felt so stupid. I was angry at her for being, what I have always known she was, and at myself for being so lonely and stupid.
She squatted beside me and this time I could only smell smoke on her as she touched my arm. I looked up at her and she smiled at me. "We need to go. The chapterhouse is under attack..." She said and I imagined the same soft mouth biting hatchlings in half. I didn't understand the ache in my chest and I didn't have time for it, so I stood up, shouldered my riffle and said.
"Let's go."