Fubar.

The shot rang through the night. The voice of maximius dying out as metal penetrated the dragon’s skull. Allen could feel a ripple through whatever he felt when Tanith spoke. He was suddenly aware that his hairs where standing on edge and Tanith was trembling from anger under his touch.

 “And hell is six feet deep” Tanith echoed after the silence that followed. Allen just felt something that was beyond that Tanith said, a anger that was not only fuelled from his own distain of the horrific treatment of the dragon.

“Walker I know you are there” The corporal put simply, like nothing happened before.

“The admiral wishes to speak to you right now.” Allen stood up and gave a salute that turned his stomach again.

“Sir yes sir” he gritted his teeth.

“Something the matter recruit?” Smith noticed the distained tone in Allen’s voice. “Permission to speak freely sir?”

“Granted.”

“I am disgusted by this act. Wasn’t their already enough dying. You have to kill one of our own.” Allen tirade did do nothing to corporal smith.

“you done?” He asked simply and when Allen was just perplexed he added “We are done here, Don’t grow soft for these beasts. They will eat you up if they get the chance.”

“And you wonder why dragons hate humans?” Tanith said in the back of his mind.

“At this rate, I will hate humans” Allen whispered back before making his way to the admirals tent. When he announced his presence and entered he was surprised to see there was no one with the admiral. It was just her and Freya who had stuck her head through a flap of the tent.

“Ma’am, Recruit Walker reporting” He saluted to the admiral.

“At ease” Evans said. “I heard a shot, did you happen to hear what happened?” In a moment Allen’s blood boiled again.

“Yes Ma’am, Corporal Smith snot Maximius” The admiral signed, she took a chalk and walked to an board where names of dragons their pilots and their crews where listed. Many had a red cross trough the names, Evans simply took the chalk and crossed out the name Maximius from the list.  Allen looked for a moment and then realised

“Ma’am, is that board correct?”

Admiral Evans nodded “I am afraid it is”

Allen surprised an upheaval of his stomach “All our dragons are dead?”

Evans nodded again “All the wounded dragons outside are from the Spirit of freedom who is sunk.” She returned to her desk and pulled some paper.

“Normally I wouldn’t do this but this war left me no choice.” She slit the paper over to Allen. “You have handled your own in battle, still too green for my liking but I have send worse pilots off to be slaughtered. Congratulations Airman first class.”

Allen took the paper and new insignia with trembling hands. He had no words to say, feeling as if his promotion was earned with the horror show of what was laying outside.

“Now, as the only active airman here on this base. We need to brief you”

“Admiral” Allen started “Permission to ask a question, freely.”

The admiral’s right eye ridge raised a tat. “Given the circumstances, yes Pilot.”

Allen waited just a moment “How you feel about pilots killing their dragons?”

Freya moved, just like her pilot she was shaken by the sudden question. “Walker, I don’t like the tone in your voice.” But Allen suddenly lost the care.

“We lost good dragons today, dragons who gave their life to defend us and how do we repay them? By shooting them when their wing gets blown up in their service. That is no way to respect…”

“WALKER!” Admiral Evans suddenly shouted. Allen in his tirade did not notice that Evans lost her cool. A single tear rolled across her cheek.

“That’s enough Walker and I want you to never speak about this again” Her eyes where red. “Evans, might I?” Freya said and moved to tenderly lick a tear away from Evans’ face.

“Walker, if you only knew…” The admiral softly pushed Freya away and collected her cool

“I understand you are passionate about your dragon Walker. I hope you keep some of this and don’t treat her like shit. But if you keep pushing things like this you would leave me no choice to reassign you to clean the dragon pits for the rest of your life.” She warned him, tossing a mission folder on the table. Allen took it and opened it to see a map.

“Tanith and Freya are the only two dragons capable of long distance flight that are still able to fight. Thus the joint chiefs have decided to send us on a mission.” The admiral took two glasses of whiskey and offered one to Allen, he instantly did not like where this was going. Trough he took the glass with a thanks to the Admiral. He needed the dutch courage for what was coming. The whiskey and was smoother then anything he ever drunk before. It got him the idea he drunk his previous wage worth of liquor just in one glass. His eyes skimmed the paper, a mission to fly across the ocean to spy at what was coming soon. Some new type of weapon that was developed. Permission to bomb whatever they could.

“We can cut the bullshit here” Admiral Evans said again.

“today I have failed the chiefs and this mission, this mission is certain suicide. We are going to carry a long wave radio but we might never make it back and only if we are lucky we end up death, if not a POW camp” Allen closed the folder and his courage sunk to his shoes.

“You are the only one I can trust on this mission Walker. I expect we have an mole in our midst and you are the only one with a confirmed location for every moment thanks to the massive amount of complaining the dragons did.”

Walker rolled the whiskey around while he worked the file over. “I assume I have little choice about this ma’am” his mouth turned dry when he spoke again.

“No really, unless you desert.” Admiral Evans answered the unasked question.

 “When we leave?” Allen folded the mission folder and put it back n the table that separated the two.

“Tomorrow before dawn.” Allen took a last sip of the drink and placed the glass carefully on the table.

“I will inform Tanith. That is my own conditions, she has to know what she flies into.”

“Granted Walker, I expect you to be up and ready at six o clock sharp. Dismissed” Allen nodded and turned around, feeling rather hollow. Slowly he made his way over the field, searching for Tanith yet again who had moved away from the corps of Maximius that was laying on the ground like a discarded piece of machinery not a living breathing animal. He found Tanith over the hill, looking across the harbour that was burning. The fires reflected in her eyes giving her a sad but dangerous look.

“When does this killing stop? I lost my brother, my friends, my last pilot..” she paused and looked at Allen “I don’t want to lose you too” Allen placed a hand on her scales.

“I don’t want to lose you. Trough” he paused not sure how he should bring the news to the dragon. “Allen” Tanith shifted, feeling the problems boiling in Allen’s mind. “What did Admiral Evans tell you?” Allen took a deep breath

“We are going on a mission.” He started “I can’t tell you the details in public but…” he took a moment to collect himself “If we are lucky it’s a suicide mission”

Tanith’s gaze turned back to the ocean. “Allen promise me one thing” Tanith started “I don’t want to die like Maximius” She turned to look with both eyes at Allen, the gaze harsh and piercing his sole like never before.

“I rather desert then kill you.”

“No, I don’t mean that, I want you to kill me before I ever can hit the ground. I wish to die with winds under my wings. I wish you to shoot me before you parachute off” Allen leaned against her flank, a hand on her nose. “Tanith” He started, while he was not sure how he would feel about killing her, trough he was sure of one thing.

“I will be with you to the end.”

“Allen, just promise me you wi…” Allen interjected her.

“No Tanith, you get me wrong. I will be with you to the end. Your final moment is mine” Tanith closed her eyes and pushed her head against his chest

“Stupid noble human” She cooed to him.

“That is Airman stupid noble human to you” Allen placed his head on her forehead holding her close. It was that moment he felt something he missed long ago, and amidst the heart of destruction his mind finally found a threat he was looking for ever since his parents died. A sense of belonging, of love and of family. Tanith, while her body was scaled and monstrous was already his surrogate family.

“alright” Tanith broke their long silence. “When is the mission” She withdrew her head from his hug to gaze at the harbour again. Watching the moon rise above the water.

“At dawn” Allen pulled himself against Tanith’s flank and closed his eyes, enjoying the warmth she gave amidst the cold evening that dawned up on them. He did not even think to check his barracks, believing without a doubt that it was destroyed. He could feel Tanith drawing her wing across his body. “Good night” She curled around.

“Good night.” Allen’s voice spoken without moving his lips. He was to tired to notice the discrepancy in reality, Tanith was to tired to notice. Together they drifted off into what they happened was just a moment of peace that they will get for a long time.

Tanith was the first to rise, startling Allen. He had not thought that he would wake up surrounded by dragon. His drowsy mind had not placed himself on the grass, under Tanith’s wing. “Its time to prepare” Tanith voiced, nudging the grumbling Allen to his feet. He reacted a tat slow, still not quite aware of the situation. Trough Tanith’s determination got him moving alright. He had prepared a mental note of what to get rom the quartermaster.

He was pleased that the warehouse was not damaged during the attacks, the same could not be said for the barracks that had made Allen his home. He pushed the door open, slightly surprised to find no quartermaster but the admiral instead. Besides her where three trunks with straps to attach to a dragon’s harness. “Ma’am” he greeted her with a salute but soon continued along his way to fill his own flight trunks.

“You read what you need to pack Walker”

“I have, and I have an idea what extra’s to bring” Walker filled the trunks with ready to eat meals and warm cloths. Extra set of flight gear, navigation equipment. A good deal of first aid supplies and other survival gear. He made sure he had enough to patch up a moderately wounded dragon. He wouldn’t be much use to a dragon that was fatally wounded. He did not fill the same amount of trucks as his Admiral trough they trunks stacked where higher then him.

“Easy for you to pack you don’t have to carry it” Tanith mocked him.

“A strong dragon like yourself should easily carry that” Freya joined the two. She came from behind the warehouse and was ready to go. She helped her admiral get the trunks on her back. Tanith helped Allen.

“Walker” The admiral turned to Allen to inspect the two. She pulled a flask encased with hard brown leather and a winged engraved on the front. It had the scripture “Death from above” written under it. “This is for you Walker. Seeing how we will fly into certain death, it’s the least I can do.” Walker took the flask without saying a word. He turned it around to see more text on the other side. “Fly trough the valley of death. Fear no evil, be the evilest son of a bitch in the valley.”

Allen looked up at the admiral again and saluted. “Ma’am, Thank you Ma’am”

“Don’t thank me yet Walker, Thank me when you are going down into the firing against an opponent that will certainly kill you and this is all you have to sooth the pain.”

“In that case I retract the thanks Ma’am” trough walker kept his salute for just a bit longer before easing up.

“Walker. Are you ready” The admiral solemnly nodded to him.

“Yes Ma’am”

“I can’t hear you Pilot”

“born ready Ma’am”

“Alright airman, to your dragon, lets bring these sons of bitches what is coming for them”

“Or die trying” Allen added to the admirals words. He did not smile when he spoke the words, but it felt like death was the only thing he had control of this point.  Allen got on the back of Tanith, He strapped himself into the harness ready for flight. Freya’s massive lavender body was the first to take to the sky, with her large wings she beat the sky into submission. Tanith followed suit, if she had trouble with the extra weight she did not let it know to Allen. She was eager given the situation, perhaps because of the situation. He could feel an joilt of freedom when she took to the sky but was unsure where it came from.

The wind rushing trough their hair, the scent of the burning city disappearing behind them and chancing for the salty smell of the ocean. Allen could feel his mind at ease for the first time since yesterday. While the mission they set out would properly be their last, he was at least in his element or felt like he was.

Tanith felt never greater as that day to leave the city behind her, it had brought her nothing but death and destruction. With anyone she cared about death and buried in the city and only Allen on her back, she was sure there was nothing that could harm her soul anymore. She could feel every shift of Allen in his saddle and feel an presence in her mind that was slowly getting clamed. For some time she could feel Allen in her mind when he was near her but never so crisp. She welcomed the presence of him within her head.

Tanith closed her eyes when the lid of her transport crate was opened. It was the first time in a week she seen the day light and the sun was burning in her eyes. She just came from the hatchery and had been told she was big enough to start in war. Today she would get a pilot that would stay with her until death did them apart. Not that she had a choice in any of it. She was put into a line with other dragons. She could smell that her brother was somewhere in this line.

“Alright recruits!” A young Captain shouted to a gathering of recruits. Her voice carried long and far. “Today is the day you will all get a dragon. When I call your name, you have been promoted from Recruit until airman, those who are not named are promoted to dragon crew. Do I make myself clear”

“Ma’am yes ma’am” the recruits shouted back and the list started. Tanith was the last in line, not quite the runt of the litter but she was not strong and bulky like her brother. Her sleek build less suitable for fighting. “Carl J. Gerrald, you are promoted to airman second class, Your dragon will be Tanith.”

Tanith couldn’t even speak to her pilot for a week and when she could she could already feel he had grown cold to her voice. He was not a bad pilot, he did not treat her like an complete animal but rather did not acknowledge her input in decisions. She felt more like a subordinate then part of a theme. In desperation she just took the role, What could possibly be worse then this life in servitude? Maybe parade a few times. The last war just ended, no one would start another one in a while, she was sure of it.

The rude awakening came a just a decade later, She was called to man one of the new dragon carriers. It was smelly cramped and generally an awful place to be in. She at least managed to get through her pilot so that he was talking some words to her. An hello to her each morning was more then all other dragons gotten and the result of a decade of work. Was it wrong of her to wish for more?

She had not noticed that she slightly drifted of course. “Are you alright” She could hear Allen shout to her over the wind that their flight caused. “Yes Allen I am alright, this flight just had me drifting to memories”

“Finally time for yourself?” Freya interjected them. “Enjoy it is my advice, just keep to my tail Tanith and I will keep Admiral Evans from shouting at you to get in line.”

Tanith could hear the admiral saying something to Freya about that but couldn’t hear what. Only the tone in her voice that was light-hearted at her dragon. It reminded her of one of her flights with Carl, a flight across the ocean to visit one of the colonies. A flight that resulted in Carl saying hello to her ones in a while. She wanted to drift off into that dream again, to just compare her two pilots but Allen was already to present in her mind. She just wondered where she would be when she did not met Allen, trough she knew where she would be. Burned alive or drowned.

A blinding flash of light filled the dragon deck. Tanith’s ears rung with the pain of a pressure wave that went through the dragon deck. Heat licked her scales and shrapnel hit her scaled hide. Dazed and confused she did not know what happened. The scent of blood and fire filled her nostrils, causing her to snap to action. Still chained down against the metal dragon deck she observed the destruction that that occurred. “Melqart!” Tanith shouted for her brother who has just been standing there.

Her calls where left unanswered, only a flaming hole in the deck where her brother ones where was left. Other dragons have been torn apart of killed by shrapnel. “Carl?” Tanith looked around, her pilot was just around. He could free her, he could…

Carl laid dead in front of her. A metal pipe had lodged itself in his chest. Her hope for escape from the ship disappeared in front of her eyes. She could feel the rumbles from down below, people hitting against metal, screaming to escape the fiery hell. Even if anyone was alive and even if someone saw her, they would not free a dragon.

She could hear a door open, it was from one of the side stairs that wasn’t used often. A young coal dust covered man stood, gazing at the scene and then at her. It looked like he wanted to go trough one of the doors outside but at the last moment he moved closer to her. She could smell the coal and fire on his skin, he came from deep in the ship.

Moments later she felt the chains drop from her body, She was saved.  Without thinking she grabbed the human to come with her, safety was near.

While Tanith was lost in thought about the Goliath Allen could feel a strange pressure on his mind. It felt like a hive of bees where bussing in his head. The unpleasant experience grew and grew until he was drawn into something. He could not call it a vision, more a memory. A memory of that day on the Goliath.

He stood in the door, looking at the dragon that was chained on the ground “Tanith?” he asked.

“Allen?” Tanith was shook from the memory when Allen spoke to her in her head.

“Tanith?” Allen asked again, not aware of what was happening.

“What by the ancients is this?” Freya almost stopped in the air when she too could hear Allen speaking in her mind. She levelled off to look at Allen and Tanith. On Freya’s back the admiral was visibly confused what just happened and why Freya acted odd.  

“You two have got some explaining to do.”

The two dragons stopped on a deserted island, it was one of their stops among the way to the other side of the ocean. The Admiral and Freya waited only until Allen dismounted Tanith. They spared him no time to stretch from sitting. “What on earth is going on?” Freya immediately spoke to Allen. “How could you possibly speak like us?”

“Allen, is this correct?” Evans asked more calmly then her dragon. Even though her confusion was visible from a mile away.

“I guess Ma’am” Allen voice came out mangled and confused.

“What are you saying airman?”

“That I don’t know Ma’am, I don’t know what happened how I did it and what is going on in general. Why is it that I am the only one who can hear other dragons, that seems to care about what happens to dragons.”

“You are not the only human who cares about dragons Allen, nor is Tanith the only dragon who has a pilot who gives a damned.”

“But” Admiral filled in her dragon “You are the only one who can hear other dragons yes. Which in our case is handy that we don’t have to use signal flags.”

It did not make Allen feel any better, instinctively he took a step back, closer to Tanith, closer to safety. 

“We could ask the elders?” Freya offered Evans.

“We could, and should.” She turned to Allen again “Alright Walker, You are going to meet the elders. If you know what is good for you, you will keep your mouth about anything that happens from now on.”