CTF Haymaker

by totallynotabrony

Chapter 10

The intel troops set up the morning brief, but Candless already knew what the big news was. There had been a remarkable increase in dragon sightings over the past twenty four hours.

Sure enough, that was the headline the young Marine briefing the group led with. "We've seen a notable spike in dragon activity." He indicated the map projected behind him.

"Most dragon sightings have happened to the north. A few have been to the east. We have several confirmed border incursions."

"We'll have to take this to King Coal," Candless commented. While it was a humanitarian mission, security was part of that. He looked at the briefer. "Any assessment on the dragons' intentions?"

"No sir. None of them have communicated with CTF personnel."

"It would be nice if they wanted to help," said Spitfire.

"Do we have a line of communication?" Candless asked the room.

"Princess Twilight knows a dragon," said Flash Sentry.

"Does that get us what we need?"

No one was sure.

"All right, let's engage diplomatic channels, and maybe see if we can find a dragon interpreter," Candless said.

"Most of them speak Equestrian," Spitfire offered. "That simplifies things, at least. But I'm not sure what they have for government to engage. There is some kind of ruling system, but I'm not aware of any foreign engagement. It's less a country and more a large tribe."

Candless noticed Lombard on the teleconference screen speaking to someone off-camera with her microphone muted. She came back and said, "If I can break in. I just received a report that our destroyer was overflown by a dragon at close range. O'Kane secured SPY to avoid injuring it. We should have more about the encounter soon."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Candless said.

"No," said Lombard, "but my concern is if a dragon decides to do something to a fishing boat. The dragons may not know it, but giving the Chinese an excuse would be a headache for everyone."

No kidding.

The meeting broke up. Candless flagged down his helicopter pilot and got ready for a flight to the royal palace.

---

Chief Warrant Officer Henry sat in the back of a Humvee, his squad gathered around him and the ScanEagle downlink terminal. They couldn't control the small drone, only see the feed from its camera. Someone back at headquarters had launched it and was flying it, but they had gotten a few minutes of use to help scout the territory ahead.

They were west of Phobos, intending to venture into the mountains in the northern part of Tauros. Unlike the rest of the country, boots hadn't yet been placed on the ground there. It was rough territory, but few minotaurs lived there and it hadn't been as affected by the earthquake.

Cisco, and Wall compared the ScanEagle feed with a map of the area they'd managed to get. It wasn't a very good map, but better than nothing, basically being just a black and white shot from a satellite and printed from the BAP on the amphib. A small NGA logo was on the bottom left with scale information.

Henry lifted the microphone, attached to the radio that broadcast through the Humvee's whip antenna, and said, "Swing a little further north."

There was a shadow on the map that the satellite hadn't been able to capture much detail. It was on the northern side of a small valley, perhaps a cliff.

The ScanEagle turned and pointed its camera ahead. Slowly, details came into view on the screen. It was definitely a sheer face of rock, but there seemed to be something at the bottom. A cave?

"Is that movement?" Martinez asked, tapping the screen.

"Looks like it." Henry squinted, impatiently waiting for the drone to get closer. Definitely something there.

Shapes began to emerge, sharpening as the distance closed. Henry realized he was seeing dragons, several of them. And then, he realized, there were minotaurs among them.

The drone pilots were apparently watching, too, and focused on the details. The creatures were doing something, apparently related to the cave.

No, the minotaurs were doing something. The dragons stood around the perimeter, attention focused inward. Almost as if...

One dragon glanced upward and then took off, heading directly for the ScanEagle. The camera turned away as the drone maneuvered, but a second later the screen went black.

Henry glanced up, towards the mountains where the cave lay some twenty miles distant. They were still on the trail of the missing minotaurs from Diony, and he had a suspicion that they'd just found them.

---

"Are the destroyers here?" King Coal asked, eyeing Candless. "Do you have more."

"That's the Navy," Candless said, brushing the question aside. "I wanted to ask you about dragons on the border."

There was some commotion and a young Marine in a flight suit burst into the room, breathing hard.

She glanced around quickly, apparently only just realizing what she had done. Still, she pressed forward, gesturing behind her. "Sir, there's a call for you in the helo."

Candless stared at her, trying to convey the seriousness of his meeting with a head of state. Still, "Is it important?"

She hesitated, but then nodded. "Yes, sir. You need to hear this."