Sorry for the delay, been dealing with some real life problems.

The capital city of the Iron Sting clan was large and set in the Arakan desert. A good week travel by foot from Rock city. They were close to their territories borders and while relations were tense, they largely kept to themselves outside of the odd skirmish. The city, Star tower city, was made out of clay and wood, two of the most common elements they could get their hands on. The Adobe buildings were largely the same, giving the area an old Egyptian or Arabian feel. But like other cities power cables connected the buildings together with some of the roofs having wind turbines to generate power.

The central building of the city, Iron claw palace, was the largest in the city. It was set up like a pyramid, but with a flat top instead of a point at the top. Round towers were set up at the corners of the main building and around them was a large wall that was patrolled by blue armoured scorpion riders. Each one was armed with a scoped rile and sword as they walked along the tops of the battlements keeping their eyes open.

There was a gate on each of the walls with more guards keeping stand. These ones riding their giant scorpions. While there were no tanks, there were plenty of knights on each section preventing people from entering. Along the wall were also turret towers with anti-aircraft guns that turned periodically. The palace was also far away from any airship tower, seeming to prevent people from 'flying' in.

Looking over the building and compound Garrus groaned in annoyance. They were expecting a problematic entrance, but this wasn't good. Each of the sections of the palace was closed off. They had thought about using the sewers, but as it turned out, the palaces sewer system wasn't connected to the cities main system, and was heavily guarded night and day. The initial plan was to ambush one of the gates and sneak into the palace though the sewers. But it looked like both of those were out.

Garrus looked back though the scope to scan to see if there was anything he missed. A few moments in, he heard a noise from behind.

"Find anything?" he asked not turning around.

"Not much," Kasumi admitted as she walked up next to him and lay on her belly. "They got the place locked down tight, but they do have a section of wall under construction. It looks like that they are building it though the night as well though,"

"Damn it," Garrus muttered. "I guess we need to figure out which plan we need to use,"

"Yeah," Kasumi nodded. "We need to look at other options for the attack, Sonja is not going to like that,"

"No she's not," Garrus nodded as the two pulled back and made their way off of the building they were on.

They slid into an alleyway, and hid their gear with brown cloaks before walking out and merging into the crowds. It wasn't tricky, as practically everyone wore similar cloaks. Direct sunlight could cause problems, so people covered to prevent those problems. No one noticed them as they just merged into the crowd.

OOOOO

The airship was quite the marvel for Oriana to look at and inspect with Abby. The Scaled Fang, the group that had saved them, allowed the captives to explore the airship. Reasoning that it would be better for them to do something than sit around doing nothing. Despite this, there were still places where they couldn't go, like the engineering deck, bridge or captains' quarters. They would look over at the engineering section, but not examine the machinery.

But even from this distance, the two could tell that while the and tech was basic and far inferior to what they are used to, the machinery itself was very advanced. Given what Lilith had said about the technology being somewhat equivalent to Earths 1900's era technology, it was amazing what people managed to do with the tech they had accesses to. The airship itself was held aloft with a gas that had the properties of helium but with none of the explosive problems.

It was also stronger so that the airbag could hold up more than what helium could. It allowed for the bags to be armoured and for ships to carry almost 10 times their weight. But the gas was hard to extract and highly toxic. So, few airships could be made at a time, the priority being transport for trade and military.

The Scaled Fang seemed to only use airships as military transport. Which seemed like a good use of the aircraft. But both Oriana and Abby were bias in that regard as they were saved by the tactic. During a discussion about the mechanics of the engine, a bell rang for dinner and the two walked to the mess.

"What do you think we are going to have?" Abby asked. "Those raptor stakes the other day were weird,"

"I know right?" Orina said. "So juicy and tender, but gamy and hard,"

"I suppose that's to be expected, we are eating dinosaurs," Abby shrugged. "I suppose the meat is not going to be as familiar as we are used to,"

Oriana nodded at that. "A good point. I wonder what other food they can make with dino parts," the two walked into the mess and joined a line of people waiting to be served.

It didn't take long for the two of them to grab some mashed potatoes with some odd-looking vegetables and t-tex strips that looked somewhat like bacon. As they sat down, they noticed Lilith sitting down at a table of her own, playing with her food. She looked deep in thought and distant. Ever since she walked onto the airship, she had been secluded and quiet. Something that seemed off for the Scaled Fang commander. Abby indicated to the Shepard with her fork.

"What do you think is wrong with her?" she asked.

"Well, I mean her world has been turned upside down thanks to finding out that her sister is still alive," Oriana suggested. "Maybe she's wondering what to say or how to find her. I mean. From what I've been able to gather, the planet isn't big but there are 'closed off' sections where people cannot get past,"

Abby blinked. "Inaccessible regions?"

The Lawson nodded. "I've been asking around and appar…" she couldn't continue as an alarm blared followed by an announcement from the captain.

"Dragon spotted! All units to battle stations!" he yelled.

The Scaled Fang soldiers jumped from their seats and moved fast out of the mess hall with Lilith leading the way. Oriana and Abby looked to each other before getting out of their seas and leaving the mess. They watched as the soldiers manned gun turrets that were set along side the airships sides. They were quad barrelled weapons set to the sides of a seat. Belts ran from the guns receivers to green boxes set at the back of the turret's seat. Once a soldier was strapped in, they used hydraulic controls to move the turret.

As they were doing so, Lilith walked past them yelling out orders.

"Rember, the weakest point of a dragon is the underbelly and the membrane on the wings. If you can make a kill shot, take it." she ordered as Oriana and Abby ran up to her.

"A dragon?" Oriana asked. "Really?"

"Yeah," she said not looking at the two. "We're close to a border. A section that keeps us from the rest of the world. We don't know why it's there, or why dragons breed and hunt here, but it's on route to Central Island. There's no other way getting back to base without getting close," As she spoke, she kept her eyes locked on the sky around them keeping an eye open for the dragon. "They are dangerous fuckers," she muttered.

"How dangerous are we talking?" Abby asked.

"Burning cities to the ground dangerous," Lilith said.

"THERE!" one of the soldiers yelled out and pointed.

Lilith followed the finger and spotted a brown and green dragon coming up from the port side. The turrets began to fire at the massive beast. .50 cal rounds flew the air at the giant lizard. Oriana and Abby watched as the streaks of light flew through like whips, some missing the target but others hitting it. A loud roar echoed in everyone's ears as the dragon gave them a no so pleasant look. But it was largely ignored as more rounds flew in its direction.

"Come on, just fuck off," Lilith muttered.

The two newcomers looked at her with questioning looks before another roar echoed as the dragon pulled away. As it did Lilith sighed with relief.

"What just happened?" Oriana asked.

"Dragons are fucking hard to take down," Lilith said as the gunfire stopped. "Their scales are bullet proof. Their skin is like Korgan hide. They heal fast as well. The best thing we can do is force them away,"

"They're that tough to take down?" Abby asked and Lilith nodded.

"In the time I've been here, only one has been taken down, and that was a coordinated effort," she shook her head. "We cannot avoid them; abut we can force them away. The respond to force. The more force you show, the less interested they are to take you on,"

"Easy meal, like some earth species," Oriana nodded.

"Keep an eye out!" Lilith yelled. "Remember the protocols involving dragons,"

"Yes sir!" they echoed as none moved form their spots.

As the three talked Kadian Alenko looked over from his place on the airship bridge before turning to face the captain. The elderly aeronaut sighed as he looked at the papers that were recently declassified by the field commander in front of him. The man wasn't pleased with what he read. Unlike Alenko, he was born on Ark with little to no knowledge of the outside world. Normally anything like what he was reading now, wasn't something he wanted to read or was interested in.

But what he read scared him. It was clear as he looked up at the field commander. "Is this accurate?" he asked.

"Every word. It's one of the reasons why I was selected for field command and why it's classified," Alenko shrugged.

The Captain, Kace, nodded and looked back at the document. "It's no wonder, if this is true then it's going to send all of Ark into chaos,"

Alenko nodded. "I agree, but even if it is true… several things don't make sense,"

Kace nodded. "And with the fact that Lilith's sister is still alive and likely on Ark…."

"Something big is going to happen," Alenko nodded.

OOOOO

Sonja sighed as she looked at the map in front of her marked with several rocks for guard placement and hardpoints. She wanted to speak up, but left the planning to Kasumi who knew more than she did about stealing. The only think she did was guess and inform them about possible security and information. But she did have to admit that it was interesting watching a thief at work. The way she planned, the way she considered all options was almost military.

She moved a few pieces and considered a few things as she looked at the map and stones. She then picked up a pen and began to mutter under her breath as she planned, both in a notebook and on the map making lines, circles, characters in Japanese. As she planned what she could. After a good half hour, she snapped up the book and looked up from her notes with a sigh and a curse in Japanese.

"I have an idea," she said looking to Sonja, "But you aren't going to like it,"

Sonja groaned as she turned with her head looking up. "What?" Liara asked. "What's the plan?"

"Muscles here needs to hands herself over to his harem," Jack laughed.

"It's the only way to get in and fix it so we can get in," Miranda nodded.

"If it's the only way to get in then…." Garuss started before he noticed the Commander's look at Miranda and Liara with an odd smile. "Oh no, I know that look,"

Liara paled as well. "Oh Goddess no…" she moaned covering her face.

"Oh Goddess yes," Sonja said with a smile.