SECTION 012
PLANS IN MOTION
DATE: JANUARY 14, 251 A.D.E.
TIME: 1445 HOURS
LOCATION: THE DOME, CENTRAL TOWER, DOME COUNCIL CHAMBER
In all her time in politics, Miranda Gothi had never seen the Council Chamber fill as quickly for an emergency meeting as it had today. Even during her tenure as Mayor, it would normally have taken at least a day for every representative to drop what they were doing to attend even the most important meetings.
And yet, every seat was filled, all eyes on her as an incessant murmur filled the cavernous room.
At least until General McKrillen entered, his footsteps echoing into the rafters as every mouth fell silent.
"General McKrillen," Gothi tried not to flinch under the intense glare as he stepped up to the table. "What do you have-"
"An attack plan." Gregorio turned to face the amassed representatives, the emitter rising from the table behind him. "Ladies and gentlemen of the council, for two hundred and fifty years we fought the Dragonoids; watched nations fall and lose more of our world to them day by day. I am here to tell you now: One week from today, this war will be over." He let the thought sink in, as murmurs flew about in the dark and the image of an unfamiliar Dragonoid mecha bathed the chamber in pale blue light. "This is a Night Fury, captured intact, the A.I. deactivated. With it, we have gained access to the key to Washington Crater: A Dragonoid's IFF signal." The Dragonoid disappeared, replaced with the three-dimensional map of England, North America, the Atlantic Ocean…and a swarm of green dots on the English west coast slowly turning red. "By linking all forces into this signal, we will be able to bypass whatever surveillance devices they've planted between us." He stared out at the silent masses as the map faded. "At 0500 hours tomorrow, every able-bodied soldier from every division who is not on mandatory service is to report to the mobile fortress docking ports. We leave for Washington Crater at 0800."
"Leave?" behind her anger, Gothi felt herself jump to her feet. "Now wait just one moment, general! I'll admit to allowing some leniency towards you in the past, but if you think I'm going to allow you to take every Military Police officer on another damn crusade without a vote or-"
"That is exactly what you are going to do."
"E-excuse me…?"
Her voice died as the General turned back to her. Cold fury lacing eyes and face as he leaned his fists against the table. Gothi found herself slumping back into her chair, even before he spoke.
"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear," he said, deathly quiet. "I am going to take everything. Every soldier, every gun, every assault frame, AF transporter and mobile fortress. And I am going to take them across the ocean to that devil's nest, and I am going to kill every demon in that hell forsaken crater. By the time this week is out, I will have ended this war." He leaned forward, the table creaking ominously under his weight. "And there is nothing you can do to stop me."
Then, he left. Strode silently away, without a backward glance, even as every uniformed man and women left their seats and guard posts to follow him.
And Gothi could only watch as they left, followed even by some of their civilian counterparts towards the end, leaving her and precious few others alone and powerless in the cavernous Council Chamber.
DATE: JANUARY 15, 251 A.D.E.
TIME: 1033 HOURS
LOCATION: THE DOME, CENTRAL TOWER, MILITARY POLICE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT, SICK BAY 7-2A
Huh. An unfamiliar ceiling.
White panels greeted stinging eyes and a splitting headache, my ears and nose assaulted by the quiet sounds and clinical cleanliness that could only come with spaces used by the Medical Department.
So, I'd passed out. That couldn't be good.
"It's a mess."
Astrid sat at the foot of my bed, cuffed there hand and foot, bandages peeking through a bullet hole in her trousers just above the knee. Outside the open door, I could see a nervous looking Fishlegs fiddling with his pistol holster. Not a good sign, when the Military Police was apparently so short-handed Fishlegs was assigned to guard duty. And guarding the top two AF Training graduates at that.
Speaking of giant mecha…
"How long-" my voice croaked.
"Around a day, give or take." Astrid shifted in her seat, trying to get comfortable with two limbs chained down. "You missed your Dad. He looked in on you before they left at 0800."
"The Night Fury?"
"He took it with him. The scuttlebutt's had it that he's planning on linking the fleet into its' IFF signal, get across ocean undetected-" She stopped when I laughed, then frowned when it turned into a violent coughing fit. "You okay?"
"Peachy." as if masking a fleet of mobile fortresses under one signal was going to work. Just how dumb did Dad think the Dragonoids were? "What about Ruusaan?"
"Still under guard. Waif was there, last Fishlegs heard. You practically left the keys in the ignition, Alex. There wasn't any need to bring her along."
"Great." Some good news at least. I tried to sit up and get out of the bed, only to find my arm cuffed to the rail.
Why…oh…right. The whole 'betrayal' thing.
"You must feel horrible." her words cut through my thoughts. "You've lost everything. Your father, the trust of the people you serve-"
"Thank you for summing that up." I snapped back, falling back onto the pillows with a soft thump. The last thing I needed right now was a recap of my most recent failures. I didn't even have to think long about when everything had started to go horribly wrong. If…if I'd just…
"Why couldn't I have killed that Dragonoid when I found her in the woods?" It hurt to say it, a lump in my throat cracking my words. "It would have been better for everyone."
"Yep. The rest of us would've done it." the answer came without hesitation. Honest, but not cold. "So why didn't you?"
…
"Why didn't you?"
I turned my head away, my cuffed hand stopping me from twisting away from her completely. "I don't know. I couldn't."
"That's not an answer-"
"Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?" I rounded back with a glare, only to falter when I caught her look.
Astrid stared at me, eyes intense, body leaned forward as far as her handcuffs would allow.
"Because I want to remember what you say, right now."
I winced, looking up to the unfamiliar ceiling just to avoid the weight developing in my chest under her gaze.
"What do you want me to say?" I asked quietly. "I was a coward? I was weak? I wouldn't kill a Dragon-"
"You said 'wouldn't' that time."
"Well, I wouldn't," I laughed hollowly. "Two and a half centuries of conflict, and I'm the first Human who wouldn't kill a Dragonoid!"
…
"First one to talk to one, though. First one to befriend one too."
That…that was actually a good point. No matter what happened, Ruusaan was the first friend I'd made in…years. Not a sometimes friend like Patrick, or a friend made because of the fame I'd gained these past few months. Ruusaan was a true friend; someone who had my back, and vice versa. Someone I trusted with my life.
But how had it all happened? What had started this chain reaction that had led to a Human and a Dragooned ignoring over two hundred fifty years of bad blood…to become friends?
"I wouldn't kill her…because she looked as scared as I was." I felt my eyebrows rise in disbelief as I voiced the thought, a great weight lifting from my shoulders. "I looked at her…and I saw myself."
I saw Astrid smile, settling back in her chair. "I bet she's really frightened now."
"All alone. Locked up in the heart of enemy territory. Who wouldn't be?"
"So what are you going to do about it?"
I gave her a look. "Locked up in here? Probably not much."
"Humour me."
…
"Probably something stupid."
She laughed at my sheepish grin. "Good, but you've already done that."
…
"Something…crazy?"
"That's more like it."
She smiled in the sudden silence, then glared towards the door. "I said, that's more like it!"
"Oh, was that my cue?" of all the faces to suddenly come swinging smugly around the doorframe, Snotlout's was probably the last one I expected. "Sorry, you two were being all motivational and junk in here, so we blocked it out. Kinda messes with the whole 'tough girl' thing you've got going on, Sarge."
Astrid rolled her eyes, even as the grinning idiot wiggled his eyebrows and tossed her the key to her freedom. Why he was still trying was beyond me. The 'developments' between Astrid and me weren't exactly a secret amongst the soldiers under twenty, although I had heard the scuttlebutt talk of being 'just a phase' being thrown around before…all this happened.
And Henrik wasn't even our only visitor. Even as Patrick abandoned his post to unlock my restraints, the Thornston twins were grinning their heads off from the doorway.
"Sooo…what's going on he-"
"You were wise to seek help from the world's most deadly weapon!" Tuffnut proclaimed out of nowhere, grinning like a maniac. "That's me, by the by."
"Uh…"
"Oh yeah, I love this plan by the way." Snotlout nodded eagerly, momentarily distracted from trying to steal Astrid away. "Don't know what the plan is yet, but if it's you, I'm sure I'm going to love it!"
"But I didn't-"
"You're crazy," my field of view was suddenly blocked by the face of Ruffnut, close enough to see every spot, zit and blackhead, her eyes lidded in an attempt to be sultry. "I like that."
Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Not even going to entertain that line of thinking. Not without being violently ill anyway. My vision was quickly cleared by Astrid, violently yanking Rita aware by her collar, muttering something about 'refusing to turn a triangle into a square' as she took her place with an encouraging smile.
"So, Lieutenant. What is the plan?"
I grinned as I sat up, even as I cringed at the rank. "You really have to ask?"
TIME: 1102 HOURS
LOCATION: THE DOME, CENTRAL TOWER, LEVEL SEVENTEEN, MILITARY POLICE DETENTION BLOCK
She'd been distracted. That was Ruusaan's story and she was sticking to it. Distracted by Alex and what he had told her of home, and High Superior Zearaan. Distracted by Alex, the Human named Astrid and the interactions between them. Distracted by Alex. Worried about Alex. Something clenching in her chest because of-
It was little wonder Ruusaan had been caught off guard. The Humans hadn't even given her a chance to fight back before she'd been knocked out cold. And now, here she was; chained and shackled to a hard metal chair with no one but her guards for company. Guards that, as of this morning, had been replaced with a single tiny Human female, who shook so hard every time the two of them made eye contact that the large rifle in her hands looked close to rattling itself apart.
Something must have happened. Ruusaan refused to believe that the fearsome Human resistance that had held strong for over a hundred sixty cycles would use such terrified soldiers to guard over their enemy prisoners.
Speaking of which.
The girl shrieked, rifle aimed towards the loud thump of the detention block's door opening just out of sight. She faltered at something Ruusaan couldn't see, conflict evident on her face.
"Y-you shouldn't be here," she whispered, her voice muffled by the thick glass of the cell door as her face went bright red. "G-general's o-orders. N-no one c-can see her u-until he r-returns. Especially you. S-sir."
From beyond the wall, Ruusaan heard a laugh. It was sad yet familiar, as though the one who voiced it had heard similar sentiments just one time too often.
"Yeah, I thought you'd say that."
And then, there he was. A little paler than before, dark rings encircling his eyes as he smiled sheepishly at the shaking girl and her rattling rifle. Her co-pilot, her friend, her…
"Hallex…"
He caught her stare, and gave a comforting smile, before turning back to her guard. "You need to let her go, Waif."
"I-I can't. G-General McKrillen-"
"I know what my Dad said, but if you don't help me his own orders are going to get everyone killed." he stepped forward, grabbing her shoulder before she could step back. "Sarah, I can stop this. We can stop this. Hell, if I'm right, we might even be able to end the war completely-"
"And if you're wrong?"
"Then we're all dead anyway." A smirk slipped onto his face. "So what do you have to lose?"
The guard frowned, features scrunched up in an uncomfortable mental debate.
Finally, her shoulders slumped.
"O…okay."
And then, the door was opening. And Alex was there, all smiles reaching up to his eyes as he slipped keys into locks and pulled shackles off her sore limbs.
"Sorry I took so long-"
She didn't care about what he had to say. She didn't care for the crowd that was warily watching her, or that Astrid's eyes narrowed in time with Ruusaan's rise out of her seat. Ruusaan just wanted to make sure he was real, that everything happening wasn't just some bad dream induced by lack of sleep or torture.
So she stood up and pulled Alex towards her, hugging him tight to her chest.
He was there, he was real, his hands coming around her waist and resting against her back, holding her just as tight.
"Ugh, really!? The alien chick too!?" A flat faced Human ruined the moment, turning to Astrid with disbelief on his punchable face. "I get that he's good with Vikings and Dragonoids, but he's still Hiccup! Where's this appeal coming from, Sarge?"
"Because he's…" Astrid trailed off, looking to the guard for help.
"He's…" Waif, in turn, shrugged, a shy smile on her blushing face aimed at her boots.
Ruusaan merely grinned, holding him tight for as long as she dared, burying her face in his hair.
"Becouze he'z Hallex."
TIME: 1127 HOURS
LOCATION: THE DOME, CENTRAL TOWER, DOME COUNCIL CHAMBER
She hated alcohol. It wasn't until Gothi had emptied the second bottle of green stuff that her Deputy Mayor had hidden under his chair 'for emergencies' that she remembered why. It burned her throat, dulled her senses, and in a few hours would make her more miserable than she already was.
But after today, what could a bit more misery do to her?
The chamber was empty, those few loyal representatives that hadn't followed General McKrillen out having long gone home. What was the point in holding parliament if two-thirds of those who were supposed to be there, weren't?
The Dome was quiet, for now. The absence of the Military Police had been noticed immediately, but even the shadiest of the settlement's denizens were keeping to themselves. Times were too uncertain for even the underworld to make a move. If something happened to the fleet, if anything but a victory for Gregorio occurred…well, Miranda didn't want to think about it. In fact, the mayor didn't want to think about anything except the third bottle she was currently reaching for…
"Mayor Gothi?"
…until a voice she shouldn't have been able to hear broke through her muddled thoughts.
Alexander McKrillen stood before the grand table, peering uncertainty at the drunken woman slumped on the floor beside her chair. Wasn't he supposed to be chained to a bed somewhere? Weren't the others that surrounded him supposed to be guarding hi…oh.
Even with her brain currently like mush, Gothi could put the pieces together.
"You see, Greg?" she muttered to the annoyingly absent general. "This is what happens when you take every able soldier on a…a credulous crusade."
"I think you meant ridiculous, Ma'am."
"Perhaps. Perhaps not." she staggered to her feet, forcing her vision to sharpen and focus on the should-be prisoner that studied her. She shook his hand away.
"You obviously didn't break out of your restraints to stare at a drunk politician, Lt. McKrillen." He winced at his rank. It almost made her smile to see such a reaction from the general's son. "But if you think I can do something to stop your father, as you can see, you're sadly mistaken."
She gestured to the empty hall as she reached for the bottle again, only to be stopped by a pale hand over hers.
Alex smiled at her. "You might want to keep a clear head for this one. Well…a clearer head anyway."
Miranda scowled, slumping back into her chair to stop the room spinning quite so much. "I have no council with which to hold parliament, and no other plans other than waiting to see if it's your father or the Dragonoids who will be cresting the horizon. So please, Lieutenant, enlighten me as to why I cannot drown myself in drink until then?"
"Well Ma'am, I'm no expert, but I don't think it bodes well for diplomatic relations when one of the representative parties can barely stand."
"What are you-" She stopped when the small group parted, revealing a single tall Humanoid behind them. A Humanoid with a long, narrow face, flanked by ridges of bone where her ears should have been, slitted green eyes watching her carefully, thin lips pulled back into a nervous smile and revealing a row of sharp teeth behind them.
"Ah." Gothi felt she should have said more. Or maybe just screamed it a little louder. She gave a little wave. "Hello there."
The Dragonoid mimicked the movement awkwardly. "Hullo dere."
"Huh." the mayor blinked owlishly at the alien, then turned back to her companion. "And to what, Lt. McKrillen, do I owe the pleasure of having one of the enemy standing in front of me?"
"Well, for starters, she's not our enemy. None of them are," Alexander still smiled as he gently helped her to her feet, "and for seconds, if you'll let her, She's here to help you answer a question…and maybe even end this war."
TIME: 1403 HOURS
LOCATION: ENGLAND, NEWQUAY RUINS, CMF SAINT GEORGE, COMMAND CENTRE
She was the first of her class, the first of three, her sisters, Beowulf and Vahagn, now flanking her sides. Her Y-shaped hull crushed ruined buildings under her immense bulk, bristling with weapons ranging from anti-air to the twin barrel rail guns mounted where the bow split. A mobile fortress far larger and more powerful than any vessel of war before her. A true dragon slayer, Stoic mused, and now once more, Saint George led the charge to slay the beasts.
Around the dreadnoughts, numerous Cerberus destroyers followed them into war. Behind them came the AF transports, each filled to capacity with Assault Frames armed to the teeth. When the time came, they would flood Washington Crater with bullets and mortar fire, missiles and rockets, but for now, they all followed on silently behind Saint George, their connection to the flagship hiding them from the view of the enemy.
Electronically, at least.
Locked down in one of Saint George's larger cargo bays, the Night Fury betrayed its' makers; broadcasting its IFF signal, a signal every unit in the fleet now broadcast. The surveillance network wouldn't be triggered, and Dragonoids wouldn't fill the skies. Not this time.
"We need ta talk."
Gobber was at his side, a grim look on his weathered face. Stoic kept his eyes on the ocean ahead, and the thick fog that was rolling in beyond the Bridge's windows.
"There's talk in the fleet." his friend continued when he didn't reply. "Don't take this the wrong way, but ye've got a lotta people wundering what exactly it is we're up ta here."
"Isn't it obvious?"
"They get the basics. It's the details they're sketchy on." Gobber's frown deepened. "We've followed ya this far, Gregorio, 'cause ye've always been the man with the plan. Except fer now. 'Cause now I've got whisperers asking if there's a plan at all. And what dat plan might be."
"Sail to Washington Crater. Kill every monster within it. Take back our home." Gregorio glanced over at the Major with a thin smile. "Enough of a plan for you, Gus?"
To his annoyance, Gobber rolled his eyes. "Oh, of course. The ol' smash and grab. Wunderful."
"You don't think it will work?"
"I don' think ye've got ye head on straight. Not after everything that's happened."
Silenced reigned, orders stopped flowing, and the wide eyes of all watched as Gregorio slowly turned to his friend.
"Are you questioning me-"
"Ye damn right I'm questioning ye!" Gobber scowled as he saw Stoic blink in surprise. "Don't give me that. I've followed ye on operations where 'gone ta shite' don't exactly cover it, but this right here? This is mad, Greg. Ye not thinking straight, or are ye telling me that the Dragonoids are dumb enough not to question why a large number o' friendlies are heading fer home fer no good reason?"
"They're monsters, Gus." Stoic tried to smile, a painful movement that matched the sting in his chest. Why didn't he understand? Gobber had always stood by him, even in his darkest moments after the Paladin disaster, and the things he did that followed it. What was different now? "They're animals; mindless, savage-"
"That's bullshite an' ye know it!" the words stopped him cold. "I can call the Dragonoids a lot o' things, but stupid ain't one o' 'em. They're gonna see this a mile off, Gregorio. An' if ye'd just stopped this mad rampage of insane thoughts for a moment, ye'd see exactly why ye've dragged the entire fleet out here!"
"Fergus, don't you dare-"
"Ask yeself this Gregorio!" Gobber thundered on. "If Alexander had done what anyone else would've done when finding an intact Dragonoid mech and its' pilot in the woods; if he had brought them to ya on a silver platter, would we really be gallivanting across the Atlantic, or would we still be back home, maybe actually planning an attack-"
"He betrayed us, Gus."
"Yeah? Ye ever think 'e might have 'ad a good reason?"
"A good reason?!" Stoic laughed hollowly. "What reason could he possibly have for keeping this from us!? The Dragonoids are monsters, Gus! They've wiped out entire nations, killed billions and reduced the Human race to a handful of fractured settlements of limited numbers. And now we have a way to fight back, a way to catch the enemy off guard and push them off our world once and for all. And Alexander tried to hide that from us. He had the key to victory for months, and he hid it from us! So tell me Gus." the general leaned in close, eyes narrowed at Gobber's unwavering scowl, "What possible reason could he have for doing that, besides betrayal?"
"I-" Gobber stopped, the anger frozen on his face, slowly becoming confusion as his gaze fell to the deck.
It took only a moment for Stoic to realise why.
Saint George was shuddering, far more than the ship's magna-lift engines should have allowed.
And it was only getting stronger.
"General…"
As the windows started to rattle, Stoic followed the horrified gaze of his helmsman out into the fog.
From the grey, a shadow emerged; long and tall, towering over the fleet maybe ten kilometres or so into the air. From its head, red stained the clouds, a rippling heat tearing through the mist and slowly revealing the last thing Stoic expected, or wanted, to see.
Ruus beh Tsad Droten pulled through the grey, her thrusters pushing against the ocean and miraculously keeping the entire ship aloft.
Then, from her hull, a new shadow emerged, spreading out from the hull, joined by the low drone of a thousand engines like a swarm of angry hornets.
"I dunno, Greg." Gobber sighed as he watched the Dragonoids fill the sky and blot out the sun. "Maybe 'e just knew better."
Author's Notes
The Council Chamber scene was another of those sequences that I envisioned early in development, and has stuck with me until it was put to digital paper. I think I think it came into being around Section 07, when I started to diverge from the main plot into more original elements, and it came about when I realised how much updating to a modern setting had changed certain character roles. In HttyD, Stoick's word is law, and everyone else follows him no question. Here, Stoic is a high up on the military ladder, but still has the civilian parliament to deal with. Writing this scene also influenced a lot of the changes that you'll see as the finale plays out.
Sarah 'Waif' Andrews is a strange little character, in that she was created for a one shot appearance in Section 04 as something to show that Gobber was in the middle of debriefing. She's been referenced a couple of times since, mostly fame-crushing on Alex, so when it came to getting Ruusaan released from prison, she seemed like a good fit to help the scene move through quickly. Alex's side of this chapter is about mixing up the status quo, so to go through a shoot out as I originally planned, even if we just ended up with wounded, felt like the contrast with Stoic's side of things would fall a little flat.
I don't think I've talked about the Mobile Fortresses, have I? Mobile Suit Gundam gave me a certain fascination with the 'land battleship' concept, and they were introduced into Dragonoid as a potential platform for future battles. At the time of concept, back in Section 03, I wasn't sure if the battles involving them would take place at land or sea, so the creation of a single vessel capable of travelling across both terrains seemed to solve the problem. The Cerberus-class was primarily inspired by Big Tray-class land battleships from Mobile Suit Gundam, while the Saint George-class was inspired by the Heavy Fork-class land battleship seen in Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO 2: The Gravity Front. The Assault Frame transports were inspired by the Theta-class AT-AT barge as it was seen in the video game Star Wars: Empire at War and the Y-85 Titan dropship, also from the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
In earlier drafts, Saint George was called the Odin, with her sisters being the Thor and Loki. While this was more a reference to HttyD's Vikings rather than Marvel superheroes, I felt the theme naming of dragon slayers was more appropriate considering their debut was going to be in the final battle.
Gobber not calling Stoick out on the way to the Dragon's Island was a bit of a sore spot for me when watching the movie back. Previous scenes had shown that Gobber had Stoick's ear (Hiccup wouldn't have been in Dragon Training if he didn't), so that he didn't even try to sway Stoick here, even if he'd failed, was something of a missed opportunity I think, and I've tried to show how I might have liked the scene to go here.
That's all for today. See you next time!