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canopy. As she suspected the first pass was a resounding success. The drone was fast and as it lost altitude it gathered speed. She inserted her vision and senses into the drone and dove madly downward. At the last possible moment she flashed right in front of the lead dragon’s eyes. With sublime timing she gun the rotors in a twisting turn the must have caused a small ruckus.?

The dragon was focused solely on the road and the fleeing target. When the whirring bird object appeared in its face an instinctive defensive measure made it careen wildly to the side. It made a stab at biting Jan but missed. The attempt slowed the dragon and a low branch caught it right on a shoulder. The branch snapped away harmlessly but the dragon completely caught off guard took off straight up into the sky. Self preservation it appeared was an essential dragon trait.?

The following two dragons unaware of the drone attack merely followed the lead dragon for some reason believing that was the new pursuit direction.?

On the back of the retreating cart the female magic caster grimaced in surprise but then smiled. Luck had changed the day! Now what in the name of Saul was that thing? She searched out seeking the thing with her mind’s eye. A strange consciousness felt her invasion. Perception of a wink came back at her from the creation. Odd indeed!?

Zafiri Col Naarmyr had almost been certain they were done for the moment that dragon flight.? It must be doing long patrol from Masden.

Masden…or what was left of it, if the stories of fleeing refugees was true.? She never thought anyone, not even Turriq, could do what he had done. And now his troops were spreading out.? Her father had hoped that, as long as they kept going by carriage, they could stay ahead of the advance. It hadn’t been easy.? They had passed up a number of refugees on foot, pleading to be taken along.

They hadn’t stopped for any of them.? Not for the women, not the children. Her father had been tasked by the Queen of Apa, and the results of that request had been secreted within concealed sections of the chests they carried.? There was the obvious provisions, but also many of her father’s medical and philosophy books. Even her books on spellcraft occupied one of them. In each chest was a false bottom, and inside each were 20 silver bars.? Given the number of chests they carried, that was a small fortune that rode with them, and they were tasked to getting it to the Queen and her allies.

They had received writs of safe passage in Kolto, before sailing to Klausburg, with the idea of meeting with the Queen’s people in Masden, and finding some sort of sanctuary in the Torquani quarter there.

So much for plans.

Today, on the road south, Turriq’s army found them in the form of a dragon flight.

There was no way their horse-and-cart combination could have outrun those beasts, but instead of finishing them off, the soldiers had a different idea:? They’d play with the fleeing tieflings for a while, at least until their horses gave out.

That was the game.? Of course, to make sure they made it, Zafiri just HAD to conjure up a shield once they started spitting fire and acid at them.? Now they couldn’t just let them go. If they didn’t kill her, they’d capture her. She’d be killed, or worse captured. She’d be brought before the inquisitors for being a Torquani who had the Gift of magic.? They’d—

No!? She told herself.? Focus! One thing at a time…feel the magic’s pull…form another shield…start drawing mana for another—

Then something happened.? The lead dragon…it looked like it was struck…by something small?? It pulled back and wheeled upward. The dragons behind, not knowing what was happening, instinctively followed in the tangled spiral, as their riders tried beating their beasts with their goads in a desperate effort to regain control.

They had a chance…by Saul they had a chance!

But what happened?? Something was out there, but she wasn’t sure what.? She called up the Wizard’s Sight, searching with her third eye, pinging the weave of the world…and the weave…winked?

Well that was odd—

“Zafiri…” came a groan from the front bench.? “I need you…”

“贵补迟丑别谤?”

“Take the reins,” he said quietly.? “I’m so tired…”

He tried to hide the fact that he was rubbing inside his robe.? There was pain in his chest again. It had gone away, but it was back.? The stress of the chase, and controlling the horses…

She made her way forward and took the reins…

—————

“…and now the dragons are spiraling away,” Lucia explained.? “I never saw a trick like that.”

“I have,” Julian said.? “It’s an old Army Ranger trick.? One recon drone to get rid of an attack chopper or AV-4 that gets too cocky.? Good job, Janet.”

He knew there was a soldier in there.

“I’ve got four wounded coming your way, with attending medics” Julian said.? “I still need you guys to get those FAV’s up here though. Unless I miss my guess, that cart’s going to be here in short order, and those dragons and their riders are eventually going to turn around and start looking again.”

“Why so worried?” Lucia asked.

“Two reasons,” he said.? “First, those dragon riders are eventually going to get bored.? When they do, they’re going to take note of the CHOOH2 fields, and the road leading to Troy.? In the boots of those FAV’s are an M-60 and an RPG launcher, respectively. They might be the only tools we have to bring those beasts down.

“Second…we need to make some friends, and I have a feeling that saving a wizard in distress might be a good way to start making them.? So move your asses.”

“Right Cap,” Jan said instinctively. The inclusion and praise had raised her spirits. The feeling was dashed just as suddenly as reality set in. She was back in the thick of it.?

“尝耻肠颈补,” auto command your drones back here. We’ve got to bug out yesterday!”

Jan abandoned the controller after sending a return request to her three drones. She ran hard for the two FAV’s still camped nearby.?

This was an advanced vehicle from the ICV’s in her past but functionally it was identical. She pulled open the door and landed in the driver’s seat with a thud. Just as comfortable as she remembered. With a pull on the power switch the four wheels plowed deep ruts in the fertile field. The repeater on the roof would do her little good without a shooter but for the moment that wasn’t necessary. As the FAV accelerated for the tree line she caught sight of Lucia following behind.?

The dash of the FAV had a wonderful heads up display with graphics, instant sat positioning and link to the command structure that included helmet sight, appointment and direction of assault. Unfortunately the Sats were gone and the unit was doing without optical helmet displays. The screen image was getting a fix on the unit as a group via communications guidance but the directional display was spinning slowly as it couldn't grasp not having sat information or a magnetic pole to fix on.?

Jan dove mentally into the display using her Psy-tech skill to manually adjust compass altitude and longitude. She used the sun as a sort of north south reference. Instantly the display righted itself. Using the new global orientation it depicted the unit as 2 klicks NW. She pushed the capability to the other FAV.?

Just in time she let her awareness note real world circumstances. They’d made good time to the edge of the old world. The woods of this foregn place loomed. She slowed to a crawl and made time as best she could through the thickly wooded forest.

Jan managed not to crumple the FAV into a tree and soon the burning building and her new outfit came into view. Sliding to a stop she jumped out and examined the mounted weapon on the roof.?

The double-barreled Shriek was pointed rearward. She raced to the load out compartments and examined the contents.?

Lucia drove up with equivalent violence the FAV doing a nice imitation of a slurve.?

“贬别测,” Jan shouted. “Do we have ordinance for the Shriek?”

A tap on her shoulder made her jump.

“It’s on the other side. That’s the RPG.”

Jan nodded numbly. “I’m Jan.”

“Jose, but everyone calls me Meat.”

Jan smiled then covered it with a neutral grimace, “Well Meat you grab that RPG and I’ll see if I can’t wrangle the ammo for the Shriek.”

Others were running up now and she recognized Julian. Several of the men were blood splattered but none looked harmed.?

She cast Julian a sloppy salute and a look of concern. “We going to extract those people in the FAV’s?

?????“I don’t know yet,” Julian confessed.? “I’m makin’ this up as I go.”

?????They had two FAV’s, an RPG, the Shriek (which he thought was an M-60 for some reason—must be getting old), and lots of small arms.? There were two people coming on the ground, and one of them was apparently a wizard. He was hoping there was some way to communicate they meant no harm.? He still wasn’t sure what these guys were speaking. It sounded…Eastern Euro-speak.

?????Then there were the three dragons and their riders.? What they did really depended on whether they wanted to continue pursuit, take note of the smoke, or one of them could go “Hey!? Has anyone noticed that wheat field before?” at any point. In fact, he was pretty sure it was only a matter of time.

????“尝耻肠颈补?? Get your drones back up,” he said.? “Keep an eye on those dragons. I want to know what their activity is.”

????“On it, Jefe.”

????“Meat, get the RPG out,” he continued.? “I’ll give you your set-up point in a bit.? Double-time our wounded out of here…”

????He was cut short by the sound of thundering hooves coming closer.? From the curving road, it came. Two enormous horses, drawing a wooden four-wheeled cart.? Behind it was a man and a woman, and contrary to Lucia’s opinion on camera filters, the man was green, and the woman was blue!

????There was more, though.? The man was older, with forest green skin, advanced balding dark grey hair, and a long chin-drape beard.? What most stood out were the horns, black in color and curving back along the crown of his head.

????The woman, she had a deep blue skintone, hair so black it seemed to absorb the light, and a small pair of horns that were beginning to spiral like ram’s horns.? Despite these peculiar things, or maybe because of them, she was beautiful.

????Despite himself, Julian was grinning.? They 飞别谤别苍’迟 just fighting dragons, they were rescuing a damsel in distress.

—————

????Zafiri had her attention in three places.? There were still dragon riders about. What if that meant there were more soldiers?? Her father’s condition was getting worse, and she was worried about him falling off of the bench.? She had control of the horses, but just barely. If the road curved too much—

????She acted before thinking, yanking back on the reins as she fought to bring the horses to a stop.? The mighty Clydesdales came to a halt, but the cart slid sideways, its back right wheel falling into a rut.

????Before her were people.? Zafiri had never seen clothing like what they were wearing.? One man…she couldn’t help but stare. He stood out, with his swarthy complexion, sharp facial features, regal bearing…Trinity no!? An Ispaaran Hidalgo? Here? Her heart began to sink…but she wasn’t going without a fight, no matter how drained she was.

—————

????Julian froze as the woman rose in the seat, gestured with her hands, and watched as those hands began to glow, limbed in blue flame.

Jan stood apart from her new unit. Was she really back at this again? Like the others she was hypnotized by the odd features of these humanoids. Language was going to be bitch but she thought there might be another way.

Using her Psy talent she pushed outwards with her mind. The animals were exhausted but still excited. She felt some net of energy around them. She followed the strand to the woman in blue who was doing something new with her own talents.?

Using just emotion with her thoughts Jan projected calm and peace. Tentatively she tried to convey friendship. ‘We are not your enemy. We mean you no harm.’?

Some other energy she was not accustomed to feeling also moved from her mind to the one in blue. She couldn’t describe it as metal more like some form of energy. It was emanating from her but the power was not. The uneasiness in her grew. Power was coming from all around her. It filled her with a dream-like serenity that made her want to dance and laugh out loud. The land wasn’t technological why was it powering her like this?

Streams of energy flowed in from the ground, the trees and even her Nomad comrades. It came to her naturally. She tried to calm this new potency and with some effort was able to. The tendrils of essence or power whatever it was did seem to react to her wishes.?

Shaking her head to clear the dream-like quality of this new power she refocused on the blue mage.

Words came to her. Not english or Spanglish or German but some new tongue.?

‘I am Janet. We are a lost people new to this world. Forgive us our appearance and behaviors. We only came to help the victims of some horrible men. We killed them.? I am the one who buzzed the dragon. I was trying to help.’

A reply came quickly to her mind.

‘Zafiri Col Naarmyr I am named. Thoughts are strange, perplexing but I understand. You are not evil!’

The first obvious indication that things might’ve been de-escalating was when the blue lady’s hands stopped glowing, and she lowered them.? Julian however was giving Janet a sideways glance, then he looked at blue damsel again, and back to Janet, and began to wonder…

He had only been a noncomm during the Polar War, but he had heard the rumors—all sorts of rumors…including something about a psychic unit, or “Psy-Ops”.? He never really concentrated on those, however. First off, rumors were rumors, and therefore often bullshit. Secondly, the rumors that 飞别谤别苍’迟 so much fertilizer but possibly true were probably well above his pay grade.

If she is Psy-ops though, I think we’ll need a talk, he thought.? Right now though, I’m just glad she kept the peace.

A groan escaped the old man, and a look of panic crossed as she turned to see him slide/fall off the bench seat and onto the ground.? Suddenly Zafiri’s thoughts went into a panic.

‘Father no!? Nononono…please.? Don’t leave me all alone I need you…!’

Julian didn’t need a translation for what was happening.? “Medic! Now!”

One of the remaining med-wagon drivers—Abed, if he recalled—strode up.? He was already pulling out his medscanner, and saw the “Bones McCoy sticking up out of his rucksack.

Julian quickly went over to Janet, and spoke quietly.? “Not exactly sure what you’re doing, but can you assure her our man here is going to try and help?”

“Jefe!” barked Lucia. “You wanted me to let you know when those dragons changed course?? Well, they did. And I think they spotted us, ‘cuz they’re coming in fast. ETA, about 10 minutes!”

狈耻迟锄…

Jan nodded, “Zfiri nala donchi.”

Zfiri replied in an unspoken glance in the unverbal dream speak that they had used before.

‘They are tough. Yet just below the head at the very middle of their neck is a soft spot.’

Zfiri bent to tend to her Father. His fingers were so cold. She took one up and held it to her cheek.

Abed ran a quick scan over the wrist of the green man. The pulse was weak but steady. He put a hand on the blue ladies arm. I got this he seemed to say.

Jan nodded again. Loudly in Spanglish she repeated her words to Julian. “Target the Dragons in the middle of the neck just below the head!”

The blue-skinned mage stood up from her concentration on the old man. Her golden eyes seem content with the aid the Medic was giving. As she turned her attention to the looming threat the power of this strange creature who had spoken in her mind staggered her sensations. This Jan had no knowledge of what she could do. Zfiri gestured with her fingers pulling them into tight fists, shaking them with a ferocious intensity. Then she employed the alien spirit with her will.

Jan staggered away from the group towards the incoming threat. Arms held before her she began to moan in true agony. Her head flopped on her shoulders and her knees buckled.?

As her crew raced to secure the injured old man and gain firing positions she could hear the growling flare of the Shriek as it powered up. These outward senses seemed to fail. Sounds faded and sight dimmed.

The pain in her skull made her shudder. Her skin felt as if it were on fire. A rage built in her unlike any before even when she’d performed the sacrifice. Sweat formed on her brow and blood dripped from her mouth as she bit her tongue. What was happening?

The lead Dragon broke the tops of the tree line gliding in casually. They were not aware of the danger that lay ahead. Tracer fire opened immediately on the lead Dragon.?

Jan, now on her knees was crying and shouting in Latin. “Noctis crepusculo incipit illucesceret dies pariunt ignibus gehennae”

She repeated the phrase as her head drooped leaden to her chest. The other two Dragons appeared from beyond following the leader.

A beautiful shimmering blue flame appeared around Jan’s body then began to elongate towards the attackers in a wave that rippled like a spiralling heat mirage. It began to pulse and dark flecks appeared within like ash or puffs of smoke.?

In response the lead Dragon breathed its own ruddy flame a gusher of sickening red and black volcanic fire. It took aim at Jan as if she were all that remained of its hate and violence. When the Dragon’s flame hit Jan’s cool blue wave a detonation like a ton of high explosive splashed bright in a circular two-dimensional explosion of expanding gasses. A shock wave from the blast struck everyone.

The Dragon could not stop it’s flight and it bore headfirst into the weirdly two-dimensional exploding circle.

As the Dragon bore through the conflagration it changed color to a sooty black as tendrils of the expanding field smoked grimly from its body. A sound so terrible belched from its fanged mouth. A cry so horrible and full of agony ripped the air. In a sudden unexpected maneuver it plunged straight down and crashed with a monumental crack that shook the earth.

Jan felt the tremor through her knees. She did not see the other two Dragons dance in amazement around the strange circle in the air that was beginning to disperse.?

Then she knew nothing at all as the world went dark and she fell forward on her face.

For a moment that seemed like far far too long, Julian watched…what?

If flying dragons and multicolored people with horns 飞别谤别苍’迟 enough, now crazy blue magic was being thrown about, and he watched as one of the the aforementioned flying dragons bellowed in pain, and fell out of the sky.? Then it was over. The remaining two wheeled, and got some distance, obviously trying to compe to a decsion (“Did you see that!?”, “Yeah, what do we do?”, “We avenge our buddy, what else?” seemed to be the conversation happening), before finally wheeling again and beginning to close.? This time, they decided to split the difference. They began to close from separate attack angles.

Zafiri found it all hard to take in.? This one stranger with her, seemed to cast a form of magic she was unfamiliar with.? What were those words? Were they a verbal incantation? She was still deeply concerned about her father, though.? It seemed as though this…healer knew what he was doing, but the instruments were unfamiliar. If only she could understand them…

Then she remembered:? She could! It was a simple little spell, too.? She extracted a small slip of paper and a piece of vine charcoal, closed her eyes, and focussed as she used the charcoal stick to inscribe the small sheet.? Satisfied, she folded the paper up small, stuffed it into her mouth, and swallowed. It wasn’t a permanent solution, but it should at least cut down on the communication barrier for a while…she hoped she did the langauge comprehension runes correctly.

She waited a few moments, and listened…

“翱办补测, here’s what we’re doin,” Julian said aloud.? “Shriek crew, aim for the port incoming. Meat, you and your RPG take the starboard.? The rest of you split your rifle fire to cover. Got it?”

Shriek?? RPG? The Hidalgo was clearly talking about weapons, but the terms made no sense to her.? Rifles? By the gesture of some of the people, it was clear he was talking about those armed with those strange looking arquebuses.? They looked so small and slender, but her educated eye could catch the fine details that screamed a mastery of mechanical craftsmanship.

At the same time, her attention was diverted back to the healer as he pressed some sort of wand against her father’s exposed arm.? She heard it hiss, and then he spoke, seemingly into the air.

“I’ve given him a combo injection of anti-coagulant, beta blockers and nano-surgeons,” he said.? “That should take us out of the immediate crisis, but he could really use some bed rest at the hospital.”

Anti…?? What did dirt clods have to do with it?? She understood the words “beta-blockers”, but the meaning defied her.? Nano-surgeons? “Nano” meant something infinitesmally small, surgeon meant hand work.? Small handworks?

Her attention was riveted back to the dragons, as one bellowed on its way inward.? The Hidalgo…he was standing there for all to see, like the dragons 飞别谤别苍’迟 a threat.? Was he insane?

“Steady children,” he said.? “Wait for them to come to you.? Meat, get ready.”

Zafiri watched as the one called Meat presented something that looked vaguely like an Arquebus, while another opened up a case and pulled out…she wasn’t sure.? It vaguely resembled a chicken leg, assuming the chicken was immense. One end was bulbous, but it looked like two cones joined at their widest points. Out of one end was a slender bar.? She watched as the object was slid into the not-arquebus bar first, and some sort of pin was pulled out of the front end of the cone. With that done, the one called Meat raised it up…but he looked like he was holding it wrong.? Why was part of it over his shoulder?

“Take the shot when you’re ready,” Julian said.? “You’re starting this.”

At first, nothing happened.? Meat just calmly pointed his weapon—the RPG, she reminded herself, at the coming dragon.? Suddenly she jumped as a loud “POP!” came from the RPG. The bulbous piece was gone. She jerked her head skyward to the dragon, and covered her mouth to keep herself from shrieking.

The entire front of the dragon—head down to its shoulders—was gone.? All that remained were gobbets of meat and loose wings. The only sign it once had a rider was a pair of legs harnessed to what was left of the saddle as the entire mass plummeted, smashing into nearby trees.

What…kind of…weapon…

And then came a sudden thunderous staccato from what was called the Shriek.? What Zafiri didn’t know is that one in every five rounds was a tracer. At 600 rounds per minute, it looked like bolts of lightning were shrieking out of the weapon (perhaps that’s why it’s called what it is, she thought).? Smaller, more numerous staccatos joined in, coming from the “rifles” as they were called.

The person manning the Shriek was clearly inexperienced.? He tried aiming for the point suggested, but missed. Even so, he was scoring hits, and the rounds were causing damage.? The dragon let out a pitiable combination of a moan and bellow, as bullets tore into its scales, and some ripped into its left wing as it veered, tearing some of the membrane.

And that dragon didn’t care what its rider wanted.? It wanted out of there. Nothing in its life had hurt like this before, and it didn’t want any more.? The rider wasn’t doing much better. The Shriek had missed him, but two rounds from the rifle fire had bored into his back.? He was losing blood, and it was all he could do to hang on as the dragon erratically flew back the way it came…

“Cease fire,” the Hidalgo barked.? He commanded the field like he was born to it.? “Damn! Got away…”

“I’m sorry, Jefe” said the Shriek operator.? “I wasn’t used to the kick.”

“Don’t worry,” the Hidalgo said.? “What matters is that we’re getting away for now.? Let’s gather up our things and—what the hell!?”

He finally noticed Jan’s condition.

[OOC: And as Deadpool would say…"There. All caught up".]

Jan had simply faded into the background after Julian got up communications. The new info on the fire was even worse. Hovering in the back she caught enough of the emotion and language to figure out what was going on. Atrocities! It made her blood mad crazy. It was bad enough that she’d had to kill in battle. That was in the past. Back when she’d come upon the corpses of the innocents. Perhaps she’d even caused the deaths of children. Who could tell? All she knew was that war sucked. Was it being thrust on her this time or had she caused this? This was no remote jungle or desert plain. This was Troy, her Mother’s birth place, her own birth place!

Thoughts roiling she turned away from the group hiding her red faced anger. It wouldn’t do to show that sort of emotion here or anywhere. Unprepared for any kind of action she stood her ground. That might not be all true but her talents were wildly untested and unreliable. This command needed her but then all of Troy did as well. As a scout she’d been top notch. As a Ranger she’d been deadly. They didn’t know that and she wasn’t going to volunteer, not without a full load out. Back at the house she had an old 9mm with some ammo and that was it.?

She sighed deeply and turned to watch them go. Doing nothing didn’t calm the fire in her veins that seemed to make her teeth sizzle.? She could feel the heart in her chest bang away like a crazed hydraulic pump. What the hell was going on with her?

Lucia raised her hand.? “Mind if I grab a few extra drones?? I can effectively control up to three and widen our field.”

“Make it quick,” Julian said.? “They can’t wait.”

“On it.”

She went back to her bike, and broke out an extra pair of drones.? She didn’t stop there, though. She got out an extra trio of drones and an extra controller.? Then, as soon as she launched and linked up the new pair, she hurried over to Janet.

“Hey…you wanna help?” Lucia asked her.? “You can keep an eye on our six and beyond.”

“I’d be happy to help, I’m Jan.” She raised her hand palm outward in a gesture of greeting.?

She accepted the controller. The controls were basic enough. She flipped on the display and rotated the view. Several small displays indicated altitude, speed and direction. Another smaller display showed the power remaining and the distance available on the remaining battery. They 飞别谤别苍’迟 armed as they were much too small but they could get into tiny places that even a small human couldn’t.

The drones launched almost immediately and the two women compared thoughts on deployment and distance.

As she got used to the operation her Neuropsychic abilities kicked in. She explored the array and flited between each of the drones checking for any problems and enhancing any latent efficiencies. Jan felt exuberant with the freedom of movement. It felt as if she were a bird.??

They scouted the area in front of the advancing Nomads careful to check any places where scouts or small forces could hide and attack from surprise.?

As they grew close to the smoking cabin they caught sight of the raiders. They kept their distance not wanting to spook them into flight before the Nomads took them out.

“尝耻肠颈补, pleased to meet you,” the latina girl (she couldn’t have been more than 17) said with a grin.? She got on her comm. “Comm check, do you read, jefe?”

“Five by five,” Julian said, well inside the forest.? “Looks like that interference is nearly gone. What’s up in the hot zone?”

“No change,” she made a grimace. “They’re still…you know.”

“Copy,” he said.? “Keep me updated, we’re closing now.”

Indeed, he was close enough to hear it.? The crack of the whip…the screaming of a young girl, followed by fitful sobs.? The ragged cries of a father. The hoarse moans of an older woman. And all around, the sounds of sadistic laughter, and crueler taunts and barbs.

This ends now, he thought.? His voice just above a whisper to his people.? “Okay…let’s keep it simple as I said. If they’re wearing one of those uniforms, shoot to kill.? If they’re surrendering…

“Use the woods as cover.? We don’t know how many more of these guys there are, got it?”

Everyone nodded, and began to creep forward.

For Julian, it had been a toss-up.? Did he start with the rapists or the guys whipping a girl?? They both turned his stomach. In the end, the decision had been made for him.? Alma, Eva and Maria, all sisters to Lucia, decided to focus on the rapists. So he took aim at the man holding the whip, and…

The man who had been laughing at his buddy’s work with the whip was suddenly screaming as his buddy’s head exploded.? Nothing subtle about a 9mm round. A moment later, the woods lit up with the sound of gunfire unlike anything the mercenaries had ever heard before.? It wasn’t the thunderous “叠翱翱惭” of black powder weapons.? Instead, it was an alien, repetitive “Krak! Krak! Krak!” of weapons with an amazing rate of fire, and worse, high accuracy.? One by one, the mercenaries were cut down.

Laughing boy stopped screaming and went for his sword, only to get hit twice in the gut.? He was screaming again.

The two who were questioning and beating the father?? One ran toward the barn and the obvious stack of matchlock guns, only to take three slugs in the back.? The other hesitated too long and caught one in the throat and two more in the chest.

As for the rapists.? The one who was holding down the woman’s arms took a shot in the head, the back of his skull opening up.? He fell to the side. The guy waiting his turn was peppered by an assault rifle on full auto. As for the man caught in the act, he tried disengaging and running for cover, only to trip on his lowered trousers.? He hauled himself up to his knees…and took a round in his lower guts (that wasn’t where Alma had wanted to hit, but she’d take it for now). He doubled over, screaming his lungs out.

All around, the remaining mercenaries tried to fight back, firing into the woods, but their shots went wild, the closest coming to McCoy, as a large round whizzed to the right of his head.? Three more of the mercenaries went down, before they retreated to the barn, and hopeful cover.

“翱办补测, pistoleros like me,” he said, gesturing to his own pistol, “let’s move in.? The rest of you keep us covered.”

Back on the highway, Lucia and Jan kept an eye on the battle, when Jan’s #3 drone signalled movement in the barn.? Unarmed though they were, the drones were superbly equipped. Millimeter wave radar cut through the wooden structure of the barn, showing not only a trio of three running into the barn, but it also showed six more up on the second level, and it looked like they were getting ready to engage!

“Multiple contacts in the barn,” Jan buzzed on the com. “Upper and lower.”

Jan broke away checking the parameter further to the west and north. Back on com she reported.

?“All clear a klick west checking north,” Jan said casually. Easy to do when you were on the other side of a joystick. An error cost lives and for that there was no fix.

Sweeping north, the drones spotted a dust cloud, about 5 klicks away.? It probably wouldn’t have been much to make note of except for two factors…

The first factor was that it was coming from what was obviously a well worn? trail. It might’ve been called a road if you were being polite, but definitely not by modern standards.? It wasn’t even covered in gravel. It was a well worn rut in the dirt cut out through the forest and its breaks that you couldn’t really call it anything else.? It was clear that heavy conveyances and people had travelled along said road/rut for years, perhaps even decades.

Second factor?? It was moving, and their appeared to be one even more distant behind it—call it two klicks behind the first, or six klicks.? It was currently too far away to get a good bead on either, but given the current signal strength, it’d be possible to get a closer look.

In the meantime, back at? the farm…

“Break!” Julian barked.? He diverted right with some of his people—four in all, while the remaining five broke left.

One of them—Marco, wasn’t exactly fast enough.? There was the thunderous “BOOM” of those matchlock rifles.? All of them missed, save for one.? Marco was clipped in the ribs and went down, but not completely out.

“FUCK THAT HURT!” he yelled.? He seemed more angry than aggrieved.? Julian was thankful for that.

“翱办补测, let’s go!” he ordered as he went toward the door of the barn.? He yelled back over his shoulder. “COVERING FIRE!”

Rifles, semi-auto, full auto and lever action (nomads loved the old reliables), barked back as Julian and his group rushed the open barn doors.? He discovered two people on the ground floor doing the stupid thing: Reloading their matchlocks. The third however was smart; he had thrown aside his matchlock and drawn a short sword.

Julian didn’t waste time.? He drew his combat knife, which was almost a short sword, and got into a classic fighting stance.? The soldier in front of him, a little puzzled, got an angry look on his face and charged, sword first…like Julian had been hoping.

He used the combat knife to brush aside the sword lunge, and followed up with a fist to the soldier’s face.? He felt the crunch of nose, and watched his opponent stagger, before following up, delivering a painful knee to the soldier’s crotch.

The soldier dropped the sword and started to go down, but not before Julian finished him off with a savage left, which clearly broke the guy’s jaw.? He went down in a heap.

The lot of men up in the hayloft, having decided that the rifle fire was too thick, decided to try and support their buddies downstairs…only to be gunned down by the rest of Julian’s crew.? It was over.

翱惫别谤…测别补丑…别虫肠别辫迟…

“We need a medic,” he called out to the forest line.? “Come on, let’s go!”

There was the matter of the peasant farmer and his family.? The girl had lapsed into unconsciousness, and Elian was worried she might go into shock.? The farmer was on his knees, kneeling and crying, probably not sure what Julian and his band of “toughs” were going to do.? The farmer’s wife had done the most movement, having rolled herself into a fetal position.

Wherever we are, it seems like hell, Julian thought.? He scowled. Hell, yeah…I’m just witnessing it. These people are living it.

Jan half listened to the coms while following the path of the drone. She’d had her own loss. She’d had her own self-serving moments of pain, loss and sorrow. On retrospect it pained her how she’d let her own self-pity drive her emotions. Loss is loss, get over it or face the consequences. In this new time saving the world was a real opportunity not wishful thinking.

The drone moved ahead of the dust cloud and settled in the mix of pine and broadleaf trees. She took note of the color. The leaves were changing. Winter was coming. But it was only, had been spring. Jan turned the drone to face north. At least that was the perspective based on the new sun’s position. Telling weather just became a real test of guess work. No more sats to follow jet streams or swirling hurricanes. She faced the road again and felt a lump of something get caught in her throat. What the hell was that??

Something large and lumbering was moving down the road in long strides.?

“Eh, Julian, we got dragons.”

She turned to Lucia, held up her vid screen, “Tell me I’m not going fucking bananas.”

“You gonna blast me to bits like those poor lads?” Jan didn’t smile. She marched past the Nomads towards the fallen.

After a cursory inspection she rose and started back toward her vehicle.

Julian rolled his eyes.? “I’ve got idiots firing off antique black powder weapons.? I don’t know how many there are, and I don’t know what’s burning out there.? If you follow along, I can’t guarantee your safety, and I won’t have to ‘blast’ you.

“But, whatever, chica.? Do what you will.”

He hated arguing with Townies, but he didn’t have much time.

Jan stopped in her tracks and turned on whom she assumed was the leader. “You going to recon a target without any intel? Why don’t you send in a drone first?” Without even thinking the ex-ranger had squared her shoulders and brought her heels together. She knew he had some military training. She could just feel it.

?Just what I need, Julian thought.? Another ex-soldier…

“We can’t send the drone in as far as we want, because there’s interference,” Julian commented.? “There’s a chance we’ll lose contact if it gets too far—”

“础肠迟耻补濒濒测, jefe,” Lucia interrupted, “whatever’s causing the interference seems to be subsiding.? Hell, I even have a couple of bars on my cell.”

Now she tells me, he thought dourly.? Well then…

“Well, send it forth,” Julian said.? “A half mile shouldn’t be a problem.”

“My apologies sir,” Jan said with a straight face. She was being a prick but then the circumstances were so weird. She considered her disheveled appearance and lack of attachments to any local militia and let it go. She was just a pub now and these go-to grunts could ferret out whatever was lighting the new world on fire.

“I have some intel if you care to hear it...sir,” she added reluctantly.?

Oh, why not, the veteran Nomad thought.? It’ll take a bit for the drone to get in position anyway, and you never know where the next clue might come from…right?

“Sure, I’ll listen,” he said.? “What’s your name?”

“闯补苍别迟.”

She sized him up from head to toe. Not bad. A little scruffy maybe.?

“I just came back from the airport off 231. There was a fire there, a plane or something. The road ends not much further. I investigated. Troy, the area has seemed to have replaced the matter that was here before it. By that I mean I saw no evidence of squashed earth below our perimeter. I’m calling it that because the distance to the end of our old haunt is the same in that direction as it is here. The pavement was sheared off as if cut by a fine laser.”

It wasn’t me I swear, she thought abstractly.?

Jan coughed theatrically, leaned in very close to Julian and spoke in a whisper, “Say if some have crossed into our zone isn’t it safe to assume there might be more transgressions? If the tender citizens of Troy are not prepared...”?

She fell back a step ready for about anything. Some leaders didn’t like advice. Especially from some no name lackey who made outlandish claims. Like the one about the city and surrounds being thrust into some other world. Like a pie being put in the oven.?

“If they’re not prepared, then bad things will happen,” Julian concluded.? “It looks like we might have two types of interlopers though.”

He grabbed up his cellphone, and what do you know—three bars.? Either the interference was really dying down, or someone back in town was a wiz with RFID.? Regardless, he brought up Mayor Reeves’ number.

“Hey Julian,” the Mayor’s easy voice came on.? “Good to hear from you again. What’s up?”

“Hey Will,” Julian said.? “Well, I can confirm forest here, but we have another problem:? People.”

“You’ll have to be a little more detailed.”

“We have people coming from out of the forest,” he explained.? “Some seem to be like refugees, but others are soldiers.”

“Soldiers!?” Reeves’ voice went up an octave.? “Julian, I’ll have to let you know: Fort Rucker didn’t make it with us.”

Of course it didn’t, he thought.? If it was, we could just deploy real troops in powered armor to patrol the perimeter.

“On the plus side, they appear to be poorly armed,” Julian continued.? “My people here tell me they’re using weapons and armor that haven’t been in use for at least 500 years or so—crude black powder weapons and plate armor.? I’d suggest getting up whatever drones the Sheriff has and putting them on patrol—particularly in the fields.”

“I’ll do that, thanks,” Reeves said.? “What about you?”

“We’re about to find out what’s burning—”

“Oh my God…” It was Lucia’s voice.

Julian grimaced.? That didn’t sound good.? “I’ll have to get back to you.? We might’ve found something.”

“翱办补测, keep me posted when you can,” was the last thing Reeves said before hanging up.

Julian walked over to his favorite nerd.? “Talk to me, Lucia.”

She didn’t talk, she simply let him look at her screen.? What Julian saw made his stomach turn a bit.

The drone had obviously come below tree-top height, but it was the silent type so it could do that.? It was using its telephoto lens to pick up on a manmade clearing, which contained a small?

About 5 feet behind that, a tied up older man being made to watch the horror.? Given the look of anguish on his face, he was probably the girl’s father. Two more soldiers were with him.? One was beating down the old man every time he tried to stand up or look away. The other was yelling at him.? The audio on this drone was poor, so there was no chance to hear what they were saying. Based on what one of the earlier guys yelled at him, Julian was pretty sure he wouldn't understand anyway.

Another ten feet further behind, there were three men, and…oh my God.

Julian was a soldier.? He knew brutality happened, no matter how stern the leadership was.? Sometimes though, the leadership encouraged such crimes. This seemed like the latter to him.??

Three men…taking turns with a woman who was probably the old man’s wife.? It looked like they had the pattern down pat…like they’d done this before.

There were a few others—three or four, he wasn’t sure.? They were in between tossing the area looking for whatever, and setting the house on fire.? Well, there was his smoke source. He looked up, and saw that many of his pack had gathered around.? Each of them had the same grim look on their faces.

“Children,” he said in a low, gravelly voice, “I may not know everything that’s going on, but I know I can’t let this happen during my watch.? We’re moving in.”

“What’s the plan, jefe?” asked one of his people.

“Simple:? We take out the trash,” he said.? “We go in, and we kill anyone wearing a uniform, unless they’re surrendering, and quite frankly right now I’m almost in a ‘no prisoners’ mood.

“尝耻肠颈补, you come with us, and keep the drone on ‘em.? We’ll split into three teams, use the underbrush to our advantage.? Any questions?”