《InterCons Story Book I (Wings of Fire/WoF)》 1. Whats Broken Now? //There are errors in these first few chapters from before I began italicizing thoughts. I will be fixing those at some point. Somewhere in international waters, Devan Williamson was zoning out on the bridge of the Presidential, the "flagship" of this figuratively (and sometimes literally) duct taped-together flotilla. He was technically Commodore Devan Williamson, as far as InterCons was concerned. He was unsure of how exactly he ended up in this position, but here he was. Unfortunately, despite his role, there often wasn''t much for him to do. More of his life than he would like was spent writing reports for more senior management and participating in meetings about what items were in most need of maintenance. "Most need" because pretty much everything needed it. Hardly any of these ships were bought new. At least the group was unique. This flotilla was effectively a city on the water. Originally, these ships were everything from retired cruise ships to oil tankers. InterCons repurposed and modified them for its own needs. The cruise ships stayed largely the same; they''re just used as residential or office space. On the other end of the spectrum are the three oil tankers InterCons decided to build simple oil refineries on. They don''t have the number or complexity of processes found in onshore refineries, but they can produce more than enough fuels for his flotilla. What isn''t used or stored here is sent ashore either for sale or further processing. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Devan seems to remember something from a meeting with the CEO about him wanting the flotilla to be as self-sufficient as possible. He figures this is the reason they have the refinery ships. Suddenly, Devan is ripped out of his thoughts by a sudden alarm sound. "Great. What''s broken now?" he asks. There''s a several-second pause before one of the lieutenants replies, "A lot all of a sudden. Today just ain''t a good day--knew it since I woke up this morning." "You haven''t gone a day without calling it a bad one for the last five months." "Anyway, apparently we''ve lost GPS and satellite communication, at least." "Both just now? Huh." Devan radioed to several other ships in the flotilla. All responded that their GPS and satellite communications had just gone down as well. "How is that possible? Have all satellites just decided to stop working?" Devan ponders out loud. "Maybe they adopted our maintenance model," the same lieutenant joked. "Not the time. Something''s gotta be up, but what?" //Just a quick note from the author: I know this first chapter is very short, but new chapters should be around or over 2000 words each. A. A Look Into the Future Gator awoke to the sound of a train going by, each wheel hitting a joint in the tracks loudly--just one of the sounds many dragons like him had been introduced to over the last couple decades. Just to name a few in the area, there was the 60 Hz hum of the power transformer outside, the rumble of internal combustion engines, the arcing of the pantographs of the train''s locomotives making poor contact with the overhead lines, and the sound of the box fan sitting in the apartment window. A less common sound, but one he and his siblings had heard nonetheless, was the sound of a cutout fuse blowing. When they were all much younger, he and his siblings had gotten curious as to how power lines were so dangerous. InterCons distributed written warnings to all the dragons in the area about the dangers of high voltage wires. Their bigwings, Bog (some InterCons agents were looking for another dragon with that name, for some reason), had not allowed them to touch any themselves, which in hindsight was a very good idea, so they settled on dropping a tree branch on one from the air. They had no idea where the fuse was, or what a fuse was at that point, but it still made a painfully loud boom. The branch burst into flames before the fuse could open the circuit, making another ear-shattering noise. They all fled the scene, but were still found by a SkyWing searching for the cause of the fault, and some very angry InterCons linemen gave them all a half hour long safety lesson. Returning his mind to the present, Gator went about waking his siblings up. They had an afternoon shift to work for IPS. He threaded his head and neck through the black sash that was InterCons'' version of uniforms for dragons. When he was younger, he had always heard that "scavengers" wearing "coverings" was just another weird, silly, or pointless thing that they did. He, however, thought that some of their clothes, InterCons'' various uniforms especially, looked pretty cool. They definitely had practical purposes, too. He had never seen a human before InterCons'' explosive expansion across the continent, but he assumes what he was told about their clothing was just another lie to add to the pile. Just about everything he was told or read about humans as a dragonet was wrong. Learning the truth infuriated him--not the learning itself, the actions of other members of his species. Almost every dragon he knew felt the same way, and with good reason. Most dragons rarely interacted with humans, but those who did couldn''t possibly have believed what they told everyone else. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Just one look at a "scavenger den" and more than five seconds of thought would be enough to at least make him doubt that humans were just unintelligent animals, and that doubt would be more than enough to stop him from killing any. Yet that''s what so many did, and it''s sickening. Now we all know what we should have known about humans thousands of years ago. Dragons'' only superiorities over humans are physical, and those superiorities were used against innocent humans. That''s on the same level as abusing a hatchling, as far as he''s concerned. The imbalance of power makes it even more wrong, in his opinion. That hatchling will grow up, though, and then she''ll be able to fight back. Humans have done the same, figuratively. They''ve got much more than their "false claws" now, and he''s honestly glad they do. Of course, he''s also glad they aren''t treating his entire species how a lot of individuals deserve to be. On that note, he can''t stand the pre-scorching history argument, either. All humans don''t deserve punishment because of the actions of a few individuals 5000 years ago, and even if they did, our species would deserve much more for all we have done to them since then. That also lines up with what humans from or associated with InterCons have been telling them. They for some reason find it important that we don''t blame ourselves for the past treatment of humans, but instead blame the individuals responsible. Whatever their reasons for caring about that so much, he found himself agreeing. He feels more angry than guilty now. It makes him want to find the- *bonk* Gator once again snapped out of his thoughts when his wing hit the safety bar in front of the rail crossing. Apparently he had been following his siblings on "autopilot," another human term he didn''t understand the origin of, the entire time he was thinking. He had also been holding his wings higher than normal during that time, which he''s been told he does when he''s angry. It was yet another reminder of how the humans were evidently more considerate of another species than dragons generally had been. When InterCons builds a railroad crossing, they place an overhead bar to remind dragons to keep their wings low when crossing under the overhead wires. The wires are well above the height a dragon normally walks at, but our wings can definitely extend that far. Humans cared about our safety enough to do something about it. Anyway, it was time for their breakfast. That has to be one of the greatest things that InterCons has done. He and his siblings didn''t have to waste time hunting for food now. Local merchants could sell anything from canned fruit to livestock, regardless of location. A MudWing couldn''t be happier! Well, maybe if InterCons didn''t consider being covered in mud an "unprofessional" look, but he could wait until his shift was over. B. The Subject Demonstrated an Adverse Reaction InterCons Temporary Task Force on Dragon Research report: In the afternoon of day 162 after arrival, Expeditionary Team Foxtrot encountered a new dragon subject approximately 18 miles eastward along the coast from the mouth of the Winding Tail River. The events described here were recorded on video. This report uses terms suggested by the this task force and the Office of the President and CEO. The subject, a SandWing, was observed landing approximately one thousand feet from the team. The team and their vehicles at this time were concealed within a wooded area. The subject did not appear aware of the team''s presence at this time. The team deemed the situation to be an opportunity for simple communication, given that the subject was alone and therefore would pose less of a risk to the personnel. As directed in these situations, with armed personnel present and ready, the designated individuals approached the subject with the appropriate pre-made written translation cards. Because this report will be shared outside of this task force, additional context will be added here. This task force deemed written translation cards to be the most practical means of simple communication. These "cards" are simple laminated pieces of printer paper with a word, phrase, or short sentence printed in English on one side, and the "draconic" translation printed on the other side. The decision to use these translation cards was made for the following reasons: 1. Humans would likely experience difficulty pronouncing draconic. Speaking draconic, from what our observations of and interactions with dragon subjects 1-7 suggest, requires the creation of sounds that are near impossible for humans to reproduce, at least at the volumes likely required for our purposes. 2. Memorizing a new language in the short timespan available to us, especially one as vastly different from Earth''s languages as draconic is, would be excessively difficult for most personnel. This task force thus decided that for its own purposes, the learning of draconic by its personnel is not necessary at the moment. Individuals are still allowed and even encouraged to learn to speak draconic if they choose to do so. 3. These cards are easy to use for anyone with minimal or even no training. This leaves more time and resources available for other training related to the objectives of this task force, and enables non-task force personnel to also communicate using the cards if needed. Expeditionary Team Foxtrot''s personnel, upon gaining the attention of the subject, continued their approach when the subject displayed no visible hostility. The subject did, however, keep its eyes on the team while they approached, even beginning to look nervous. Throughout the duration of the encounter, armed intervention remained on standby in close proximity as required by the policy of this task force. Several translation cards were placed on the ground a moderate distance away from the subject before the Foxtrot personnel stepped back a moderate distance from the cards as well. Upon seeing this, the subject continued looking back and forth between the cards and the personnel for several seconds, evidently confused. Eventually the subject approached the cards and appeared to read them. The text on the cards presented conveyed the standard "we are intelligent," "don''t attack us," and "we won''t attack you." The subject demonstrated what are assumed to be first surprised and then skeptical reactions. Probably because the subject observed personnel looking at the backs of the cards while selecting them, the subject turned one of the cards over to its English side. The subject proceeded to stare at the English side of the card for a prolonged period with what is assumed to be a surprise, possibly in thought. After this prolonged period, the subject had a sudden change of attitude, which alarmed the Foxtrot personnel. To put it lightly, the subject demonstrated an adverse reaction. Luckily for the subject, it chose to back away from the team, as if it were trying to find a place to hide itself. The subject appeared to have become panicked or at least upset in some way. It seemed to be struggling to remain standing. Eventually, after about a minute and a half, the subject even vomited in a bush before passing out. The team then approached the subject and confirmed it was indeed still alive. Given this opportunity, Foxtrot personnel radioed back to headquarters and requested additional vehicles capable of transporting the dragon, if available. This dragon subject appears to be relatively small, possibly a young adult at the oldest if our understanding of dragon sizes is correct. The subject was successfully transported back to the headquarters and has yet to regain consciousness. This new subject, given that it will be in our custody for a prolonged period, will be designated as dragon subject 8. This is the first SandWing we have had in our custody. Research of SandWing venom is now possible. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. === Gecko the SandWing === Alright, where the hell is this place? She should have listened more carefully to the directions she was given. Gecko''s mother had "suggested" she visit her younger cousin at Jade Mountain Academy. She had told her how to get there from her home town of Possibility, but she didn''t put much effort into memorizing that information, instead forgetting most of it by the time she had finished getting breakfast. How hard could it be to spot that giant mountain? Apparently she managed not to. She had, however, noticed a river below her. What was that, the Winding Tail River? Was Jade Mountain to the east or west of that? That didn''t seem relevant since this part of the river seemed to run east to west. She decided to keep flying until she found the coast, then go west if she didn''t find the mountain. She was definitely lost. Her mother was probably right that she should leave Possibility more often. Gecko was eight years old at this point but had only left the town a few times in her life. This, however, was the first time she had left the town by herself. She finally saw the ocean shore and landed not too far away from a patch of forest. She decided to rest her wings for a moment before she would head westward, hopefully in the general direction of Jade Mountain. That was when she heard something moving towards her. Scavengers. There was a group of scavengers walking towards her. This was the first time she''d ever even seen scavengers alive, except for a few times in cages at the market. These scavengers were wearing coverings that were far different from what those were wearing, though, if she remembered correctly. What should she do? She tried to remember what she had read about them. It annoyed her that she had spent some treasure buying breakfast earlier. Although that was cooked and prepared nicely, and she was far from a skilled huntress herself. Either way, she wasn''t hungry now. It wouldn''t be too hard to catch one of these scavengers if she wanted to, given that they were actually walking towards her. Or would it be? She alarmingly remembered reading that scavengers could be more dangerous than typical prey if they had those "claw" things they used as weapons. She didn''t even know what that was supposed to mean, but it didn''t look like these scavengers had anything dangerous, and they were still too far from her to do anything. That relieved her a bit. A couple of them did have what looked like small pieces of paper but... shiny? What was that? It looked like something was drawn on the papers. Actually, it looked vaguely like draconic, which was odd. Perhaps they had seen something written somewhere and copied it, or maybe they just stole someone''s business cards or something. She still couldn''t make out what they said from here. The scavengers were also looking at the sides she couldn''t see, so maybe there was something drawn on both sides of the papers. The scavengers eventually placed some of the papers on the ground, and one gestured at them as if it were expecting her to do something. Scavengers are weird; she can confirm that the scrolls were right about that. They are cute, though, in her opinion. The scavengers then walked away from her and the papers they had set on the ground. Now Gecko was really confused. Did they want her to look at these papers? She had never read about this sort of behavior in any scroll before, but now she was curious. She walked over to the papers and saw that there was in fact draconic written on them. Strangely, the letters somehow looked like they were drawn exactly the same each time they were used. Perhaps they were made with stamps. What was more strange was what was written on the papers. They couldn''t have been copied or stolen. These sound like something the scavengers themselves would want to say. "Don''t attack us." Okay, that''s understandable. "We won''t attack you." Could you even if you wanted to? "We are intelligent." Wait, no you''re not. Gecko was highly skeptical of that. She had neither read nor heard anywhere that scavengers were intelligent. Well, there were a few conspiracy theorists who did, but they were always ignored. The experts who deal with scavengers for a living surely know better than those dragons. If scavengers were intelligent, we surely would have found out after 5000 years. Perhaps some crazy scavenger dragon had given these scavengers these papers to stop anyone from killing them. She decided to turn one of the papers over to see what the scavengers were looking at on that side. The paper didn''t feel like pa- What? What is this? There was what appeared to be an entirely different writing system on the back of the paper. What? She had never heard of dragons anywhere using anything other than the one writing system. They all used it. This wasn''t draconic. The doubts finally collapsed in her mind. This writing wasn''t draconic. The scavengers wanted her to look at it. The draconic on the other side made sense for scavengers to say. Scavengers are intelligent like dragons. How could they have never known? How could all the scrolls have been wrong? How could the dragons who see scavengers every day be wrong? What do scavenger dens look like? Are they actually abandoned dragon structures or just bundles of sticks? Probably not! It''s been 5000 years! They''ve been suffering for 5000 years! How many terrible things have been done to them? The stuff we do to them... Oh no. Gecko began to feel sick. She didn''t notice it, but she started shakily walking backwards. Please. She had wanted a quick breakfast before her flight. No. Her favorite restaurant in Possibility had a special that day. No. She had never tried it before. NO. She normally couldn''t get it, so why shouldn''t she try it now? WHY TODAY? The grilled scavenger leg smelled great. NO! SHE DIDN''T KNOW! She was horrified. She was hyperventilating. She wanted to hide. She was holding back tears. She felt even more sick. She was on the verge of vomiting. She felt herself back into something and startled herself and whipped around to see that it was just a bush. That was when she finally vomited. This was too much for her to handle. Gecko passed out. 2. Land Ho! The weeks since the incident that brought them to this world had dragged on slowly. Sure, the appearance of three moons was exciting and all, but only for a day or two. Devan somehow found himself wishing for a little more work to do. That was, however, the catalyst for serious discussions of their new situation, and all evidence pointed to them no longer being on Earth. First, they could not link to any communications networks, satellite or otherwise, despite trying everything they could. Second, there was, again, the fact that there were three moons in the sky. Third, after seeing the three moons, a handful of people (he would say nerds) also noticed that the stars in the sky did not match those visible from anywhere on Earth. This information was, of course, all suppressed as much as possible among the crew and passengers due to its potential for causing panic and lowering morale; however, the new temporary senior management team that was put together a few days after the event was having a difficult time doing so. This temporary senior management team had a lot to deal with, actually. Devan was glad he had managed to not be roped into it. He was also glad that InterCons'' overall President and CEO was on this ship when the fleet was transported here. Otherwise, there would probably have been a lot of confusion over who would be in charge at best, and at worst, given his position, he would have found himself in the middle of a power struggle. Devan had been told several things that would be done if they do not somehow return to Earth before they find land here. First, the fleet and all the InterCons assets on it would be reorganized into a new version of InterCons. The shareholder records they did have on file somewhere would be used to determine the ownership of this new company. Everyone on board the ships in the fleet who owned shares of the original InterCons would be allowed to exchange their shares for shares of the new InterCons. This will make the CEO by far the majority shareholder; he was the largest shareholder on Earth and owns far more than anyone in this fleet. This new InterCons will directly own all assets and operate them until it is deemed necessary to create subsidiaries again. Second, a new board of directors will be elected, and that board will appoint a new senior management team to replace the temporary one. Granted, most individuals on the temporary one will probably be appointed to its replacement. Third, all the fleet''s cargo would be inventoried, including cargo not owned by InterCons. Devan assumed this was mainly targeted at the cargo being transported for the CIA. They had recently been contracted to carry cargo by the CIA''s Directorate of Science and Technology, which is strange because they usually only contracted for the Directorate of Operations. There were a few more CIA liaisons on board than usual too, and they had required access to their cargo at all times. InterCons had not been informed of what the cargo was, or at least Devan hadn''t. It was all very suspicious, but he figured they would get answers soon enough. He didn''t bother thinking about that too hard though. That was all out of his control and not his responsibility. What was within the realm of his responsibility, however, was their food supply. The fleet''s vessels normally carried between 30 and 60 days of food, mostly non-perishable, plus more in several ISO containers that will last the fleet''s current population of approximately 4000 at least another 30 days, possibly more. It had already been 15 days. At worst, that meant that they only had 45 days of food remaining. With that in mind, Devan decided to go get himself lunch. If he only has 45 left, he''s certainly going to try to enjoy all of them. The hallways were relatively empty, which he was thankful for. He''d lost track of how many questions people had asked him about their current situation days ago. He knew avoiding anyone asking questions in the cafeteria, however, would be more difficult. Just as he arrived at the cafeteria, he realized that he could''ve probably just had someone bring a meal to his quarters. Son of a bitch. Well, it''s too late now; he''s already here. At least he could do that for dinner tonight--that is if he remembered. He was able to make his way over to the buffet undisturbed. Perhaps he wouldn''t have to dance around answering any questions this time. He got his food, turned to leave, and almost walked straight into a cook carrying a fresh pan of burger patties. "Oh, hello sir," the cook said, "How has your day been?" Fuck. Devan was so close to avoiding this. "Boring. How''s your been?" he responded. "The usual. I still just make food. Anyway, uhm, you know what, I''ve been meaning to ask someone..." If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Here we go. Devan released an inaudible sigh. "...it''s been, oh, I can''t even remember how long now--" "15 days." "Yeah, it''s been 15 days since whatever happened and we lost our internet and everything. Do you know what happened? I heard about the whole, uhh, three moons thing and went out on deck the other day, and it''s true! What''s that mean? Where are we? Does that--" "Look, I''m sorry, but I don''t have answers to all that. There''ll be a memo or announcement or something when management can accurately provide information on the subject. Until then, just calm down and try to keep things up like normal." "Uhh, yes sir." "Have a good rest of your day." "You too, sir." With that out of the way, Devan finally was able to make his way back to his quarters with his meal, thankfully without further interruption. He sat down and opened the cheap but washable and reusable (though, as he knew, not infinitely by any means) plastic container. He was able to take one bite out of his burger before the phone on his wall rang. "Oh, for fuck''s sake! What could possibly, in this God forsaken shitty place, be so fucking important to these sons of bitches that it can''t wait for another 30 fucking minutes before I get back up there?" He picked up the phone and somewhat more aggressively than intended asked, "What?" "Land ho!" "... What? Is this Larry?" "Yeah, it''s me, and I said land ho. Y''know, when you spot land, that''s what you shout. I know we don''t use it anymore with GPS and--" "I know what it is! Do you actually see land, or are you just fucking with me?" "We can see land now!" "Larry, I swear if I go all the way up there, and there''s no land..." "I promise we can see land, sir." "Do you see any signs of civilization?" "No, not that we can identify from here." "I''ll be up there after I... finalize a report real quick." "Yes sir." Devan hung up the phone and looked back over to his lunch. "You see, this report is critical for our operations to continue running smoothly," he said to himself. Approximately 15 minutes later... "So, what do we have here?" Devan asked as he entered the ship''s bridge. He was handed a pair of binoculars. "Look one o''clock." "Oh, I see." Using the binoculars, Devan could tell he was looking at a beach that transitioned into a dense rainforest not too far inland. "Hmm. Did you call the executives about this too?" "We did." "Did they tell you anything?" "The CEO and some of the others are going to meet us up here after we navigate as close to the land as we can." "Have you seen any animal life over there yet?" "None of us have noticed anything." "Alright, we''ll check the area for hazards first. I don''t want to end up hitting a sand bar... or worse. Call the patrol unit and have them send one of their helicopters over there first with a radar, then have them send over some of their small motorboats. Make sure they''re armed, too; we''ve got no idea where here is, let alone what''s here." "Absolutely." === Elsewhere on the ship === "Damn it!" He had gotten them. He had evidence of everything. All he had left to do was send his findings back to his department. Oh, but no. This bullshit just had to happen, and now he can''t send any more encrypted messages outside the fleet. He was isolated and surrounded by enemies. He just had to keep this up for a while longer. He''d done it for over a month now. There''s no reason to worry about being caught. His mission was critical. This fleet posed a threat to his homeland. === Back to Devan === Devan was lying on the bed in his quarters trying to sleep. His mind was racing with the possibilities of what would happen tomorrow. For the first time in 15 days, something was actually going to happen. He couldn''t wait. Why couldn''t he just go to sleep already? After the fleet had safely navigated to a point approximately one mile from the shore, several executives and other officers, including Devan himself, discussed their plan going forward. They knew they should explore the surrounding area; however, they were all equally sure they didn''t want to send anyone into an unknown rainforest, at least not without scouting it out some. Luckily for them, they had a few long-range commercial drones available that would allow them to explore miles inland from the air. There was one problem, though, other than the fact that they wouldn''t be able to see the ground through the trees. One of the officers more familiar with the drones reminded us that without GPS satellite connection, we would not be able to send the drones on pre-programmed paths or use the return to home mode. That means the drone operators would have to manually fly the drones from the ground stations, which isn''t a problem itself, but if they stray too far away or lose connection to the drones some other way, they''ll just crash. What would usually happen with GPS is that, upon losing connection to the ground station, the drone''s return to home mode would be automatically activated, and it would do just that. The drone would safely fly itself back to its launch point. They don''t have that feature now. Another useful mode they wouldn''t have is the loiter mode. All their drones are fixed-wing. That means that they fly in a circle to stay over one spot. Loiter mode would have been able to do that automatically; however, now that''s something else the operator will have to do manually. Because of this increased difficulty, they decided to only fly one drone at a time. They couldn''t risk losing too many of them. This exploration would start tomorrow. One thing Devan hoped they could get from this rainforest was some sort of food. Maybe it has some sort of edible fruits they could collect. He knew they probably couldn''t collect enough for everyone, but he hoped it would at least supplement their food supply enough that they''d last a bit longer before they ran into trouble. Pretty much everyone learned that they had found land pretty quickly, which was bound to happen since, you know, everyone can see it. Many passengers and crew members already wanted to go on shore already--probably because of the boredom everyone had been feeling at this point. They were, of course, not allowed to go ashore yet due to the potential danger. He hoped he wouldn''t be woken up tonight because someone decided to try to escape to shore. Knowing his luck, though, he decided not to get his hopes up as he finally drifted to sleep. 3. Coffee, Drones, and... Dragons? Maybe Not Enough Coffee. On June 8, 2039 at 9:30 in the morning, the George Bush Center for Intelligence was, for the most part, quiet. One particular meeting room, however, was the exception. It was filled with personnel from the Directorate of Operations (DO), Directorate of Science and Technology (DS&T), and even the CIA Director and his staff. They were discussing a recent tragedy of utmost detriment to the continued operations of the CIA: the break room circuit breaker had tripped, causing everyone to arrive to no coffee. Oh, a major asset had also seemingly disappeared without a trace along with high value cargo. That was also being discussed. The lack of coffee, however, did not help with this discussion. To compound the confusion, the president had recently appointed a new CIA director. He had previously worked in the State Department, so he didn''t have much in-depth knowledge of the subject at hand. "So let me get this straight. Your favorite band of crazy libertarians, along with their entire fleet of... what exactly did they do on there again?" the director inquired. "That''s a lot to explain," a senior contract manager from the DO responded. "Go on then." "Okay, so uhm... publicly, one of the purposes of the fleet was ''seasteading.'' That''s where people live in international waters to avoid being under government jurisdiction. I a big part of it may have had to do with tax avoidance for a lot of people there. If I remember correctly, a lot of people had crypto mining rigs there too, or maybe they were trading it. I can''t quite remember that detail. I think it also just served as a marketing thing for the company, y''know. Having a ''small city'' on the ocean definitely gets people''s attention. Anyway, they had that in addition to the work they did for us." "Which was?" "Normally they''d make weapons deliveries for us. They had the ability to assemble the weapons onboard some of their ships, many of which they also sold outside of our contracts as well. They would also accept and deliver or store other cargo for us on occasion. Nobody would reasonably suspect that the ''crazy libertarians'' were working for us on anything, which made them kind of perfect to work for us, and they were more than willing to help destabilize and topple socialist governments. "Recently, we had to cancel one of their weapons moves. The plan was to have them dock a RoRo ship at the Sinuiju SAR to smuggle in the product via the vehicles they would be selling. Unfortunately, the North Koreans were somehow tipped off to this, so they''ve been stuck with the product--at our expense, mind you. Luckily, whoever the North Koreans got their information from didn''t know the identities of the dissidents the arms were for. "Of course, now all of that is gone and I think it''s their fault!" he said, pointing accusingly at the personnel from the DS&T. "Oh, now we''re playing the blame game again," an officer from the DS&T retorted. "Yeah, because it''s your fault. I want to know exactly what that was and why you felt the need to use our asset to store it." "We did what we believed was the safest. We found an unidentified object randomly on American soil, and we didn''t want it to stay there." "Why did you have to use our asset?" "You recommended them." "You didn''t tell me you were storing some piece of shit straight out of a sci-fi movie when I did!" "Enough!" the Director interrupted. "Whatever happened has happened and is no reason to be unprofessional here. Is there anything we can do now?" "I don''t believe so. Wherever they are, they have the device. If it was the reason for their disappearance, which seems quite likely, we can''t do anything about it." "Well, shoot," another man said, "Well, we do have some donuts if anyone wants some." "Aren''t those the ones we''re supposed to take to the meeting tomorrow? Y''know, to pay back their team for the ones they brought last time." "Nah, I haven''t been paying back anyone donuts for over a decade and a half. What are they going to do?" === Back with the fleet === A room on the Presidential was similarly packed full of people. However, the blame game hadn''t started here--at least not at that time--and they did actually have their coffee. Two days had passed since they had found land. During that time, the drone operators had been practicing manually flying the drones. Thankfully, there weren''t too many "less-than-soft landings" so far. Today, however, was the first day they would be flying them inland. Is there really a good reason for me to be here? Stanley Salazar leaned on a wall, blankly staring out into the crowded room, and slowly sipped away at his mug of coffee. He was an IT infrastructure technician, and he had helped with setting up the systems for the drone flights. However, for some reason, his manager had decided he should stay on hand during the flights "in case something goes wrong." If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. What the hell would I be able to do? It''s a drone. It''ll fall out of the sky before any serious IT problem is resolved. Wait a minute. There''s no way Kevin doesn''t know that too. Did he just assign me to this to get me out of the IT office so he didn''t have to be around me? Dammit. At least I have some potential dirt on him now. I could be doing actual work right now, and I''m sure Kevin''s own bosses won''t appreciate those wasted hours. His thoughts were interrupted by him receiving a text message. He was glad he had bought a SIM card to connect to the little local cell network they had on the fleet. The people who had opted for satellite phones were shit out of luck at the moment, at least as far as mobile phones are concerned. It was Stanley''s son, who had apparently just finished the first arc of the Wings of Fire book series he had given to him. He had enjoyed it when he was a kid and figured he''d give it to his son to read, despite how much some of plot holes that had been pointed out to him after reading it irked him. He still liked the series, despite them. His family was visiting him on the fleet for a few weeks this summer instead of him going ashore to visit them like usual. The kids were on their summer break, and this way, he could get paid and live with his family over the same time period. They didn''t necessarily need the extra money, but more was always good. This job, apart from being separated from his family for half the days of the year, wasn''t much work considering what it paid. Perhaps it would have been better for him to have visited home instead, in hindsight. Now he and his family were uncertain whether any of them would get to go back home. InterCons senior management was being InterCons senior management, but something seemed off to him. They reassured everyone there was a high likelihood that they would be able to return, and that the issue was being actively investigated, but the confidence they normally had when making such announcements seemed gone. He didn''t know how he could tell, but he could. It was probably something most employees didn''t notice, but he had enough experience with the company that he could. Regardless, he supposed he could be thankful he had his family with him, in a way, as long as living conditions could stay comfortable enough there. If some way to return to Earth wasn''t found, most people here wouldn''t be able to see their families ever again. Stanley focused back on what was happening in front of him as the room got quieter. The operators were making their final checks before the flight. He figured he might as well check to make sure the camera feed was being uploaded to the designated server so those who wanted to watch (and who were authorized to do so) could. Several minutes later, the drone was actually taking off. Finally. He didn''t understand what could possibly have taken so long to set up. At least he could watch something now. The live camera feed was displayed on several monitors throughout the room. As the drone made its way into the air and further inland, they got their first look at the interior of what they had determined was a rainforest. Granted, the canopy of leaves blocked them from seeing most of the forest floor, but there were periodic gaps through which they could see clearly. The operator flying the drone was often instructed to circle around these so they could get a better look through them. One interesting thing Stanley noticed when the camera would zoom in was that there were fruits he didn''t recognize at all growing on some of the trees. Of course, he was no rainforest or fruit professional, but he heard murmurs of a similar sentiment around the room. There wasn''t much of a big deal made out of it, though, which was probably because most people here had that same level of expertise--or, rather, lack thereof. An hour or two passed of the drone scanning the rainforest within the confines of its safe antenna range. They had yet to see anything of any significance, at least to him. He was starting to get as bored as he was before the drone flight had began. They had spotted a few animals, but they all looked familiar enough to them. The rainforest seemed to stretch on and on with no hint of any break to the monotony. At least, that was true until someone spoke up that they had seen something in one of the gaps in the canopy. The operator circled the drone around to get a better look at what it was. It had to circle the spot a few times before a few people caught a glimpse of what they were looking for. "That looked like a dragon." Huh? "I think you''re seeing things. We didn''t see it long enough to see what it was. Besides, a dragon? Really? Let''s be real." "Yeah, maybe you need another cup of coffee." "I swear it looked like a dragon." "Sure. Sure." Pretty much everyone in the room didn''t buy it, to say the least. That would be cool, though. "Get closer and slow down as much as you can." "Alright, but that may be difficult here." The operator did as he was told, everyone expecting to just see a fallen log or something where apparently someone "saw" a dragon. "There!" "Dude, we can''t tell what that is from here. It''s a black animal of some sort. What makes you think it''s a dragon? It''s probably just some big lizard or something." "It was more obvious earlier." "How the hell was it more obvious earl--" Oh no. "MOTHER FUCKER!" The camera view abruptly changed direction and started spiraling downward. "Did you just crash?" "I wasn''t close enough to hit anything!" "The branches falling with it say otherwise." The drone tumbled down through the foliage before landing abruptly on a limb. "Well, that''s that. Good fucking job. Someone start filling out the paperwork for a destroyed or lost drone." "Hey, the camera and radio are still working." "Well, that certainly does us a whole lot of good, now, doesn''t it?" At this point, most people in the room were either quietly leaving--probably to avoid being roped into any paperwork that had to be done--or had joined into the bickering match--probably those who either knew they would be roped into paperwork regardless of where they go, or those who were too distracted by the bickering to realize they could leave. Stanley, however, had kept watching the camera view. I wonder if the camera can still move. He slowly made his way over to the operators'' table through the now slightly less crowded room. "Hey, can you still pan the camera from left to right?" he asked. "Umm, I don''t know. Let me see." The view to the left was just the trunk of the tree. Now what can we see the other way? Several people had left the argument in the center of the room and refocused their attention onto the monitor once they noticed what was happening. What they all saw when the camera panned to the right left them stunned. No way. "Uhh..." "Hey, guys." Wow. "Everyone!" Everyone in the room finally turned their attention to the monitor... And the two scaly faces staring back at them. 4. Sun Time, NightWings, and... That Thing? Maybe Not Enough Sun Time. //I have recently added a dragon height estimator to the InterCons Information Book, which is in my profile along with this story for you to reference any time. Here is a link to it as well: https://www.desmos.com/calculator/8dfhbnikuh //Also, there are errors in some previous chapters from before I began italicizing thoughts. I will be fixing those at some point. //In case you would like to privately message me, my Discord username is freedomnuke3. //Anyway, on with what y''all''ve been waiting for... "Watermelon, wake up." "Mnuhh." Leopard was (unsuccessfully) trying to wake his friend from his sun time nap. "Haven''t you napped for long enough already? I have." "..." "Watermelon! We were going to go exploring with Wonder today before it got dark. Remember?" "Mmmm." "C''mon!" "Nuh-uh." "Watermelon, didn''t you always want to go exploring when you were old enough to fly, too? Well, now we''ve practiced our flying enough that we can do that." "I did, but right now I really wanna sleep. You can go exploring with your girlfriend if you want." "Wonder isn''t my girlfriend! We''re just friends!" "Mm-hmm, sure." "I mean it!" "Fine, whatever you say, but I''m staying here." With that, Watermelon rolled over in his hammock. Alright, fine, Leopard thought. Be that way. Leopard headed off towards where the three of them had agreed to meet up that afternoon. It seemed, however, that only two of them were going to be honoring that agreement. Leopard had been surprised that Wonder had been so willing to make friends with himself--with RainWings in general, really. Most NightWings (or at least the ones he had experienced), even as young as he was at three years old, all seemed to hold some sort of grudge against his tribe for some reason. He couldn''t understand why. Wonder, on the other hand, did not. He still had no idea why she was different, and he lacked the courage to ask her about it. He wasn''t complaining, though. She was great. We''re not in love. I just like her a lot. She was already there waiting for him. "Hey, Wonder!" "Leopard! There you are. What took you so long? And where''s Watermelon?" "He wouldn''t get up from sun time. He said we should go ahead without him." "Huh. Well, you''re here. That''s good." "Yes! I mean, yeah." "You''re excited. I guess we should get going then." "Sure." They took to the air, still under the tree canopy, which was luckily easy for them since they were still relatively small at their age. They''d have to learn to maneuver more carefully around the trees as they age, though, but that was a problem for later. Today was a day to have some fun. They flew around for about an hour or two before they decided to stop in a clearing where a patch of sunlight was able to make its way through an opening in the canopy. Their exploration hadn''t been as eventful as they thought it would be. "Other than that stream we found, this has all kind of looked the same," Wonder started. "Yeah. I''m not really sure what I was expecting." "Me neither." "Well, now what do we do?" "I don''t know. I would say we could keep going, but we should probably get back before night. I''m also a little exhausted from all the flying and dodging trees. What about you?" "Yeah. I felt good while I was flying, but now my wings hurt a little." "Maybe we should stay here for a while before we fly back." "What should we do until then, though?" "I don''t know. What do you RainWings usually do?" "Well, outside of sun time, we play games. It''s usually hide-and-seek." "Well, I don''t think I''d do so well at that." "Oh, right. Umm... we could gather fruit. I''m pretty hungry after that. You?" "Yeah, I could eat." "Alright, then let''s do that." "Hang on, do you hear something?" "Hear what?" "That buzzing. It sounds like it''s coming from above the trees somewhere to the south." "What way is south?" "That way." "How do you know?" Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "It''s the afternoon and the sun is on that side of the sky. Haven''t you spent enough time in the sun to know that?" "My eyes are usually closed, though. Wait, I hear it too." "It sounds like it''s getting closer. I don''t remember learning that any tribe makes that sound. Is there some sort of rainforest bird that can make that buzzing sound?" "I don''t think so. I''ve never heard it before. What if it''s some sort of scary monster?" "Whatever it is sounds really scary and like it''s almost here. What should we do?" "I don''t know! Maybe it''ll just fly over us." "We should probably hide just in case! Camouflage yourself!" "Where are you going to hide?" "I... Uhh..." Just then, a large grey creature passed over the gap in the canopy. "Oh no, I think I can hear it coming back! Find somewhere to hide!" Leopard shouted. Wonder tried to sprint to the nearest patch of foliage but tripped on a fallen branch. NO! In desperation, Leopard did the only thing he could think of and lunged at Wonder to try and hide her with his wings. He had no idea whether he would actually be able to hide her as well; he hadn''t practiced this sort of thing all that much. That didn''t matter, though, since he only managed to cover a little over half of her body in his desperate haste. Her head, neck, and part of her back were completely exposed. It was too late, though; the unknown creature had returned and was circling overhead. Please go away... or don''t see us... or something. Just then, a loud crunching sound rang throughout the clearing. Both dragonets shrieked. Leopard got off of Wonder, and the two of them bolted as fast as they could in random directions in an attempt to escape the "monster" that seemed to be diving through the treetops to prey on them. We''re dead. We''re dead. We''re dead. Just run. Only a couple of seconds later, however, there was another crunching sound, followed by the sound of sticks raining down on the ground. Then there was complete silence. What happened? Both dragonets were frozen in place for several seconds. Neither even dared to breathe, let alone say anything. Where is it? Leopard cautiously began looking around the clearing and the surrounding trees. The fact that he wasn''t camouflaged anymore as a result of his panic didn''t even cross his mind. There. He spotted the thing sitting on one of the lower branches of a tree. He couldn''t tell exactly, but it looked mangled. He looked at the ground below it and saw pieces of what looked to be the same material it was made of. Is it dead? He cautiously walked over to the material on the ground. What is this? There was no blood. It wasn''t flesh. It didn''t seem like metal, stone, or wood. The closest thing he could think of was bamboo from how it looked in the places it was broken, but this obviously wasn''t bamboo. "What are you doing?" Wonder whispered from behind a nearby tree, startling him. "What do you mean? You should stay hidden." "Why don''t you do that yourself?" "I a--" Wait. THREE MOONS! I haven''t been camouflaged! Okay, calm down, nothing''s happened. Maybe it really is dead. "Well, nothing''s happened, so I guess we don''t need to hide," he finally managed to say. "That''s a pretty risky way of testing that." "Uhh... well, uhh... it had to be done. Now we know it''s safe for you too." "Uh-huh. Is it dead, then?" "I think so." "Where is it? I''m assuming that''s not all of it." "It''s up there." He pointed to the branch above him. "Up on that branch?" "Yes. I think I''ll go up and look at it." "What? Shouldn''t we go get an adult or something? Maybe even Queen Glory? What if it does something to you?" "That would take too long and we wouldn''t be able to find it again. I think we have to figure this thing out ourselves. Besides, we''re supposed to be exploring, remember?" "Well, then I guess I''ll go with you." "You don''t have to." "I will." The two dragonets flew up to the branch the strange thing was on. They awkwardly tried to position themselves so that they could both see it, with each eventually sitting next to the other on the two prongs of a fork in the branch. It was about their size, but its shape was very odd. They couldn''t see any joints, at least as far as they could tell given all the damage. The injured places looked fibrous and dry rather than fleshy and bloody--it even looked like it may be hollow--and it didn''t smell like meat at all. Its body was rigid, like some sort of exoskeleton. Neither of them understood how it could even move. "It doesn''t look like any sort of animal. Is it some sort of animus-enchanted object?" Wonder observed. "Animus?" "The magic dragons who can enchant things. How little history have you been taught?" "Uhh..." "Never mind. Have you ever seen this stuff it''s made from? It doesn''t look like anything I''ve ever seen." "I''ve never seen it before either. It reminds me a little bit of bamboo where it''s broken, but it''s not bam--" "IT''S MOVING!" "What?" "That thing!" There was a strange bulb attached to the carcass of whatever this thing was. They watched it rotate one way before rotating back the other way--scratch that, rotating back towards them, apparently. They could now see that this bulb had some sort of face, the most notable features of which were a circle of glass covering something behind it and another similarly-sized reflective circle. Both dragonets once again sat in silence, this time staring at this thing. Is it watching us? Unbeknownst to Leopard, it was, but not in any way he could conceive of. === Back to Stanley === There was a long period of relative silence as everyone stood staring in awe at the monitor. Is that? The silence was finally broken by the inevitable. "I don''t want to say I told you so, but... well, actually no. To hell with that. I definitely want to. I absolutely fucking told you so! Oh, sure, ''be real.'' Yeah, well look at what''s really there. I was--" "Alright, alright, I get it, you can shut up now." They look weirdly familiar but not at the same time. "I''ll only stop when you admit that I was right and not crazy." They look like... "Rrrrr... Fine, but just this once, and I had every reason to think you were crazy--key emphasis on ''you,'' considering your usual shit." Are we where I think we are? "My genius, you mean?" How is that possible? "No, I absolutely and unequivocally don''t." Wait, who cares whether it''s possible? "You sure?" This means we know at least something about this place! "Yes, I''m--" "Everyone, I''ll be back!" Stanley shouted out of nowhere before bolting out of the room. "The fu--" was the last thing he heard before he was out of earshot of the room. Stanley had originally planned on sprinting to his living quarters, but that plan did not last long. It turns out that IT infrastructure technicians typically are not that used to sprinting long distances. Stanley wasn''t, at least. Okay, maybe speedwalking is fine. Actually, no, first I''ll catch my breath. Okay, now I can speedwalk. He still managed to be out of breath again by the time he reached his destination. Regardless, he unlocked and barged through the door before immediately hitting his knee on a table. Who moved that there? Wait. I did. Dammit. The commotion was loud enough to get his son to come out of his room. "Oh, hey Jimmy." "Hi, dad. What happened?" "Uhh, that''s not important at the moment. Say, could I borrow those books I gave you for a bit?" "What, Wings of Fire? What for?" "Uhh, official corporate business, actually." I mean, technically... "I just started book six--" "You can finish it later." Stanley walked past Jimmy into his room. "But dad..." Stanley took the entire series from his son''s bedside table. "I''ll get them back to you as soon as I can," Stanley said on his way out. On the way back, Stanley opted for a normal walking pace. He returned to find the room once again full of chatter. "I''m back." "Who are you again? No, just kidding. Why the hell do you have a bunch of books?" "Are the dragons still there?" "No, they eventually left, or at least they moved out of where we can see by panning the camera." "Do you have a picture of them or at least remember what they looked like?" Everyone else in the room had gone mostly quiet at this point, except for a few stray whispers, as they turned their attention to this new conversation. "Yeah, we can get a picture from before, and also yes, I think so." "Look at the dragons on the covers of these books," Stanley said while holding up books three and four. "Didn''t those look like these?" "Umm..." "These two tribes are called RainWings and NightWings. I think--" "Tribes? What are you on about?" "I think we''re in the world from this book series." "Oh, that''s why you have a bunch of books. You didn''t answer bef-- Hold up. What?" "We''re in the Wings of Fire world." "Are you sure about that?" "Fairly." "Well, congratulations! You get to write up a report on these events and your findings. Thanks for volunteering." Fuck.