Part 48: Mission 49: A Dance With Dragons

By the time we'd overrun the inner ring of the enemy's defenses, our science division had finished their report on the Knight of Death, the skeletal horse-riding wizards we'd encountered early in our offensive. Given our lack of live specimins and a dearth of corpses they had to work with, though, there wasn't much they could tell us. Their magical abilities were fearsome, to the point that they were deadly even to armored battallions, and seemed to focus entirely on stopping motion. This allowed them to halt incoming bullets in midair, causing them to drop harmlessly, and applied on the molecular level, could cause local temperatures to drop as low as within a few degrees of absolute zero. Temperature reductions were less dramatic when applied over a wider area, but could still be used to kill large groups within moments. Ironically, Knights of Death were most dangerous in warm climates, where Alliance soldiers were less likely to have winter gear that could improve their chances of survival.

We also learned that the Knights of Death themselves reported to someone, or something, higher on the chain of command. Interrogation of orcs who had served under the Knights of Death revealed nothing conclusive, though a few had overheard them say the name "Medusa" a few times.



The next priority for our scientists was to research the ruins of the Fortress of Terror we had destroyed. We hoped that learning how the enemy had gotten such a massive object to move would give us a head-start on the recently-approved superheavy tank project. Everything seemed to be going so well.

We'd torn through everything the Forces of Darkness had thrown at us - started thinking there was nothing they could throw at us that could stop us, since they would surely have done so by now. Then came the alert.



It happened not an hour after we'd killed Tharag-Gur. One after another, our forward radar posts showed the same thing, then went dead, one after another. I asked comms personnel to confirm the readings, and their faces paled as they did.

Five dragons, all headed toward us. Nobody in the Alliance had ever seen more than one at a time. Our division still held the Alliance's single confirmed kill, and that itself had come at significant cost. It seemed that Dragoth truly was the master of dragons, and in his desperation, had called all under his command against us.

Mission 49: A Dance With Dragons

Attending:
Lazarus (Forlorn Hope, Flamethrowers)
Solrick Skaft (Scion of Emer, Flamethrowers)
T. Hinman (Ethereal Corps, Flamethrowers)
"Doctor" Snark (Mage Killers, Hi-Tech Infantry)
Habitually Red (Sane Max's Own, Hi-Tech Infantry)
Gordon Frohman (Concerned Citizens, Hi-Tech Infantry)
Logan "Hardtack" Smith (War Dogs, Mobile Infantry)
Joe Moore (War Boys, Mobile Infantry)
Patrick Gallagher (Just In Time, Elmag 2)
Svetlana Aliyev (Rusalka, Elmag 2)
Mael Radec (Radec's Rhinos, M1 Abrams)
Erik Spanner (The Toolbox, M1 Abrams)
James "Griff" Griffin (Party Crashers, M1 Abrams)
Basil (Paladin, M1 Abrams)
Jorji Costava (Cobrastan's Best, M1 Abrams)
Isara Gunther (Edelweiss, M1 Abrams)
Reginald P. Linux (Doom Squad, Leopard 2A5)
Aethereon Darkfyre (The Mary Sues, UDES)
Stephen Smith (The Counts of Monty Python, UDES)
Grand Inquisitor Solaus (Balkanian Inquisition, MLRS)
Michael de Boulogne (Chivalric Order of Saint George, MLRS)
Gregor (The Swell Swords, MLRS)
Anil E. Hilated, Esq. (Polite Obliteration, M106)
Cholmondely Featherstonehaugh-Smythe (Sphinx Battery, Roland)
Sigrún Raske (Skysmasher Brigade, Roland)
Roger Murtaugh (Less Than Lethal, Roland)
Billy Mays (Infomercial Men, Mi-24)
Bob & Doug McKenzie (Royal Canadian Red-greens, Mi-24)
Ragna T. Bloodedge (The Black Beasts, Humvees)
Vlasta Devínská (Paper Tigers, Universal 2R)



Hardtack: Let's go, all Mobile Infantry airborne!



Solaus: We'll need to sit this one out, boys and girls. Let's hope the ones armed for this can fend them off.



Mael Radec: Everyone in position, okay! Dig in!
Vlasta Devínská: Dish is up! We'll see if the 2R can pick up these scaly bastards before it's too late.



Vlasta Devínská: Spotted, coming from the west!



Patrick Gallagher: Nooooo, why meeeeee?!



"Doctor" Snark: Bring it on, you fuckers! I've killed one of you before!



Bob McKenzie: We aren't half-bad flyers ourselves!
Doug McKenzie: And we can breathe fire in a manner of speaking, eh.



Habitually Red: How the hell did you pull off that kill, Snark? These chainguns aren't doing shit!
"Doctor" Snark: You've gotta hit 'em at the exact right spot, on the underside of the throat!
Habitually Red: How do you propose I hit a small, twisting, moving target while spraying lead?
"Doctor" Snark: Do what I did and make up for inaccuracy with volume!



Cholmondely: Have at it, you blighter. It's been far too long since I've gotten to do this.



Joe Moore: Fuck yeah, did you guys see that? Fired that rocket right into its eye!



Reginald P. Linux: I'm unloading with everything I've got, but it isn't doing much good!
Mael Radec: You're distracting it! It can't afford to ignore you when a lucky shot might wound it!
Reginald P. Linux: Oh, good, I feel so... useful?
Hardtack: Trust me, we need all the distraction we can get up here!




Griff: Get a good line of sight, Linux, and you might just score a kill!



Isara Gunther: Shit, there's still three left and they're right on top of us
Sigrún Raske: And they're readying their flame breaths! Brace yourselves!



Hardtack: Mayday! They're all converging on my unit! We can't-



Joe Moore: Oh my God, Hardtack!



Joe Moore: GET OVER HERE YOU SCALEFACED FUCK!



Joe pulled off an incredible shot here. He managed to fire a mini-missile dead-center at the dragon's throat, right as it turned and threw its head back to ready another fire breath. The force of the resulting explosion broke the dragon's neck, killing it instantly.



"Doctor" Snark: Hurry up, they're both wounded! Finish them!



Roger Murtaugh: Confirmed hit! Fourth dragon is down!



Patrick Gallagher: Swiss Dragon, anyone?
Mael Radec: And that's five. We've done it, people.
Roger Murtaugh: We really have... heart's pounding right now. I'll be honest, when I heard there were five dragons, I kinda thought we were fucked.
Svetlana Aliyev: You haven't been with the Drunken Slavs long enough, Roger. We've been doing the impossible since we entered the war.



We'd done it. Dragoth's last-ditch effort had failed, and he'd been left with very little to show for it. We'd taken losses, yes. Heavier losses than we'd taken storming both fortresses, but it was too little, too late. He could no longer hide behind his vast hordes. We were coming for him.

KILLED IN ACTION:

Hardtack