Mitheral
"Growf!"
The limo driver had been one of the first out of the car but had mostly stayed out of the way except to get the door for Alex. He looked about the same age as Alex or perhaps a little older. But where Alex was a geek, Eric Blackwell was clearly a jock. He had a very decent muscle tone, good tan, and he was easy on the eyes. There could be little doubt this guy easily had a babe on each arm when he wanted. He also looked like the boy no father ever wanted to see his daughter bring home. Yeah, he had that bad boy look.
Alex began to explain how he was going to handle translations to Duncan. Dr Tanis’ laptop had software that he had co-written with a scientist working with dolphin speech - to break apart spoken language into sounds and assign symbols. “Once we have sounds I can formulate them into words, assign meanings, syntax, declension…”
“And once you have that … have it translate to any Terran language and run through a text to speech?” Duncan finished.
Alex nodded. “Yes sir.”
“Duncan. No need to be formal with me. Well, sounds like you are way beyond me in skills. But as fast as you can translate I can learn. And my skills are more than of an analyst. Former NSA.”
Alex nodded and seemed to even relax a little.
While they had been talking one of the runts, Thrum had edged in closer, keenly interested in the laptop. Alex nearly jumped half out of his skin when the dragon poked his nose in. It had been one of the rare few times that Thrum had been silent for any sort of length of time. Duncan was quick to steady the laptop lest it get damaged. But he laughed. “Sorry about that. I saw him sneaking up and it was just too good to pass up to warn you.”
Alex glared at the driver. “Eric, some bodyguard YOU are.” But Eric was also laughing. He turned to Thrum and spoke. “It DOES remember things. But … many leaves memory thing? Oh … book? And a leaf memory thing must be scroll.”
It wasn’t long before it became apparent who Roche had decided to talk to - Dr Kjarvel Sverjasson. Apparently the man was a geologist of some repute. Gadget - the dragon that had been climbing all over the missile racks - found a new friend in Mark Hamilton. Eric Blackwell got dive bombed by Bonzai, a young male dragon that just wanted to play. In each case the dragons seemed to speak with a single human - and of the same sex. And it soon became apparent that the dragons didn’t seem to abide by human rules of privacy. And they liked to gossip.
The first potentially embarrassing gossip came when Lowdown announced to Cecile, that Bonzai had said that Eric thought that Alex wanted to mate with her.
Now while all this was going on the drones and Apaches had taken off to carry out Mark’s plan. By the end of the first hour since arriving at the hangar the first wave made contact. And damned if the plan didn’t work almost perfectly. The Uralchai tried to shoot their ballista at the Apaches but to no effect. The armor plating of the combat helis held up. Then the Uralchai switched to trying to shoot the cables. And they were damned good shots. Unfortunately for them the cables the Marines had used were heavy duty winch cables.
Oddly enough the Uralchai refused to have the wyverns take to the air. Instead they sent wartrolls climbing up to cut the cables manually. By this time the helis had been dragging the airships backwards at almost 30 mph for about 30 minutes. They had been forced back about 15 miles, now some 60 miles east of Barstow and into the desert (away from the interstate).
Phase two was an added form of assault - chemical attack. Only this was non lethal. It had little or no effect on the Uralchai or demons, but the wyverns collapsed.
Phase three was sound. They had moved a few tanks into position. One was outfitted with the same sound system used by cruise ships to ward off pirates. Now THIS weapon had an effect. It stopped the climbing. A couple Uralchai lost their grips and fell. Of course, the fall didn’t kill them. And the marines soon found that their weapons were fully effective against an Uralchai on the ground. Their defense system seemed limited to the ships - which explained why the wyverns hadn’t taken off. Unfortunately by the time the marines had the fallen Uralchai secured, they discovered the damned wartrolls regenerated pretty fast.
With combined tactics the marines were able to drag the airships to where THEY wanted to initiate peace talks.
Jasmine was beaming with a smile as she made her reports to the Major. Amaretta’s response was stoic and serene. She simply nodded. Then she walked over to her adopted son. “Mark, it would seem you were correct.” She leaned a little closer and whispered to the kid. “Ice Cream at our earliest convenience. You understand. I didn’t want you so close to a hostile situation. Amanda felt compelled to follow you here. And I think she has been through enough. Hmm?”
Mark looked a little downcast. “Yes ma’am. I didn’t think of that.”
++++++++++++
Back on the Uralchai flagship, Commander Kesh’tkhai, groaned, but smiled. He had been beaten. But it had been by vastly superior forces. And more than anything else his curiosity was merely piqued. “Damage reports!” he roared.
“Moderate damage to the airbags. Propellers may be damages. The humans got their lines caught in the blades and disabled them. We’ll know more once we clear the lines,” his forst officer reported.
“Losses?” he asked
“Two Uralchai from our vessel, one from each of the other two vessels.”
“The humans could have caused more damage - pushed their attack. They chose not to. And they have cleared the terrain. That was no mere show of force.”
“Impressive weaponry,” his first officer noted.
“More impressive is the knowledge to create it. I do not believe it was magic. I believe it was science. Their machines make our clockworks look primitive. We are going to remain here.”
“But Commander! Our mission? The Queen will NOT be pleased.”
Kesh’tkhai smiled. “The humans will come to us. That is why they stopped their attack. They wish to parley.”
“You know the Code. Parley is for the weak.”
“Unless their is a strategic advantage to be gained.”
Rising through the ranks was often a matter of assassination. But this first officer had seen that Kesh’tkhai was no common Uralchai. He had always triumphed in the end. He always completed his missions. Some thought that the Queen intended to mate with him - to make him the supreme general. But sometimes he wondered if his commander even coveted that position.
Alex began to explain how he was going to handle translations to Duncan. Dr Tanis’ laptop had software that he had co-written with a scientist working with dolphin speech - to break apart spoken language into sounds and assign symbols. “Once we have sounds I can formulate them into words, assign meanings, syntax, declension…”
“And once you have that … have it translate to any Terran language and run through a text to speech?” Duncan finished.
Alex nodded. “Yes sir.”
“Duncan. No need to be formal with me. Well, sounds like you are way beyond me in skills. But as fast as you can translate I can learn. And my skills are more than of an analyst. Former NSA.”
Alex nodded and seemed to even relax a little.
While they had been talking one of the runts, Thrum had edged in closer, keenly interested in the laptop. Alex nearly jumped half out of his skin when the dragon poked his nose in. It had been one of the rare few times that Thrum had been silent for any sort of length of time. Duncan was quick to steady the laptop lest it get damaged. But he laughed. “Sorry about that. I saw him sneaking up and it was just too good to pass up to warn you.”
Alex glared at the driver. “Eric, some bodyguard YOU are.” But Eric was also laughing. He turned to Thrum and spoke. “It DOES remember things. But … many leaves memory thing? Oh … book? And a leaf memory thing must be scroll.”
It wasn’t long before it became apparent who Roche had decided to talk to - Dr Kjarvel Sverjasson. Apparently the man was a geologist of some repute. Gadget - the dragon that had been climbing all over the missile racks - found a new friend in Mark Hamilton. Eric Blackwell got dive bombed by Bonzai, a young male dragon that just wanted to play. In each case the dragons seemed to speak with a single human - and of the same sex. And it soon became apparent that the dragons didn’t seem to abide by human rules of privacy. And they liked to gossip.
The first potentially embarrassing gossip came when Lowdown announced to Cecile, that Bonzai had said that Eric thought that Alex wanted to mate with her.
Now while all this was going on the drones and Apaches had taken off to carry out Mark’s plan. By the end of the first hour since arriving at the hangar the first wave made contact. And damned if the plan didn’t work almost perfectly. The Uralchai tried to shoot their ballista at the Apaches but to no effect. The armor plating of the combat helis held up. Then the Uralchai switched to trying to shoot the cables. And they were damned good shots. Unfortunately for them the cables the Marines had used were heavy duty winch cables.
Oddly enough the Uralchai refused to have the wyverns take to the air. Instead they sent wartrolls climbing up to cut the cables manually. By this time the helis had been dragging the airships backwards at almost 30 mph for about 30 minutes. They had been forced back about 15 miles, now some 60 miles east of Barstow and into the desert (away from the interstate).
Phase two was an added form of assault - chemical attack. Only this was non lethal. It had little or no effect on the Uralchai or demons, but the wyverns collapsed.
Phase three was sound. They had moved a few tanks into position. One was outfitted with the same sound system used by cruise ships to ward off pirates. Now THIS weapon had an effect. It stopped the climbing. A couple Uralchai lost their grips and fell. Of course, the fall didn’t kill them. And the marines soon found that their weapons were fully effective against an Uralchai on the ground. Their defense system seemed limited to the ships - which explained why the wyverns hadn’t taken off. Unfortunately by the time the marines had the fallen Uralchai secured, they discovered the damned wartrolls regenerated pretty fast.
With combined tactics the marines were able to drag the airships to where THEY wanted to initiate peace talks.
Jasmine was beaming with a smile as she made her reports to the Major. Amaretta’s response was stoic and serene. She simply nodded. Then she walked over to her adopted son. “Mark, it would seem you were correct.” She leaned a little closer and whispered to the kid. “Ice Cream at our earliest convenience. You understand. I didn’t want you so close to a hostile situation. Amanda felt compelled to follow you here. And I think she has been through enough. Hmm?”
Mark looked a little downcast. “Yes ma’am. I didn’t think of that.”
++++++++++++
Back on the Uralchai flagship, Commander Kesh’tkhai, groaned, but smiled. He had been beaten. But it had been by vastly superior forces. And more than anything else his curiosity was merely piqued. “Damage reports!” he roared.
“Moderate damage to the airbags. Propellers may be damages. The humans got their lines caught in the blades and disabled them. We’ll know more once we clear the lines,” his forst officer reported.
“Losses?” he asked
“Two Uralchai from our vessel, one from each of the other two vessels.”
“The humans could have caused more damage - pushed their attack. They chose not to. And they have cleared the terrain. That was no mere show of force.”
“Impressive weaponry,” his first officer noted.
“More impressive is the knowledge to create it. I do not believe it was magic. I believe it was science. Their machines make our clockworks look primitive. We are going to remain here.”
“But Commander! Our mission? The Queen will NOT be pleased.”
Kesh’tkhai smiled. “The humans will come to us. That is why they stopped their attack. They wish to parley.”
“You know the Code. Parley is for the weak.”
“Unless their is a strategic advantage to be gained.”
Rising through the ranks was often a matter of assassination. But this first officer had seen that Kesh’tkhai was no common Uralchai. He had always triumphed in the end. He always completed his missions. Some thought that the Queen intended to mate with him - to make him the supreme general. But sometimes he wondered if his commander even coveted that position.
