A SPARTAN'S WAR

Dorian gripped the edges of the saddle just as Andro and Elynth taught him. Not too tightly but then not too loosely. Just tight enough to feel the shift of his Bonded Brother's muscles beneath the saddle and the rush of his blood through his veins. They had decided the best way to take out the two Missile Teams was out of the sun. It would blind the men and render the missiles useless firing into the glare of the sun. Dorian felt his pulse increase just as Ryner gained several hundred feet of altitude and then tipped over and dove for the surface. He saw a flash to his left that could only be Elynth's unique flame tinged breath and then he had Ryner were within range.

Now brother! Dorian barked out.

Ryner drew back his head just a bit and then unleashed a searing stream of raw flame that reached down and fully engulfed the first missile team even as they were turning to view what was happening in the north. Ryner was a pure Firespitter dragon, and while still very young, some of his instructors had noticed the uncanny control he had over his flame streams. These dragons had been awestruck to discover the masterful focus bonding with Dorian Leonidas had granted Ryner and all of them were quick to advance his level of training to its maximum to take advantage of this. Ryner adjusted his downward trajectory slightly and continued burning that stream of flame across the southern walk way until it had reached the second missile team. The Kavalian shooter had been fast enough to twist his body and lift the launcher to face Ryner. Just as he pulled the trigger and the missile began to leave the launcher, Ryner's intense stream of flame scorched the Kavalian Missile Team into blackened corpses. The exiting missile was engulfed by the intense three thousand plus degree heat and its warhead melted before leaving the weapon fully. The missile's propellant added to the blistering flame that engulfed the missile team and added a small explosion that sizzled across their shields as they passed overhead. That small explosion threw Dantio and his Spartans into action and Dorian turned his head to see them rise from the ground just as Daio's men had and begin to rush the southern entrance of the small settlement. The southern doors were always locked in an open position and even as Kavalian Puma Bane troops began to react quickly, another wave of Shi Viskas hurtled through the warm air to smash into their line. Screams and arcs of blood began to follow.

Ryner! Land just inside! Dorian barked. Elynth is sweeping to her right and you do the same. I will remain on your flank!

Hold on! Ryner barked as he dipped his wings and executed a near heart stopping turn and plummet towards the ground. He flared his wings a hundred meters from the surface, felt Dorian prepare himself and the moment he reached twenty meters Dorian leaped from the saddle. Ryner landed just to his right kicking up dirt as he did and let loose with another stream of flame across the right side of the wall. Dorian turned and saw Dantio leading the Spartans forward, drawing them so tightly into the ranks with the confused Kavalians that they could barely use their weapons. Weapons that did no damage against the Shi Viska shields that began to return to their owners streaked with blood and fur.

Dorian whipped his head around to Ryner. Just as Andro told us! He screamed. We sweep right along the wall removing any who might come up behind our men. They we cut to the middle and meet Andro!

Ryner nodded his massive head. Then let us begin!

Kelelm had never witnessed anything like it in his entire life. He was no stranger to combat and among the Rothryn people he was considered a superior warrior and a brilliant tactician. From the moment they had witnessed Princess Lisisa exit the STRIKER in the manner she had on Jeth's back, Kelelm began to realize many things. As he and his three men situated themselves on their stomachs on the end of the lowered ramp and they began to sight down the barrels of the impressive sniper rifles they had been provided, Kelelm realized that these men and women, these Lycavorians, they were utter masters of war. The pilot of the STRIKER held them almost perfectly still five hundred meters above the ground and perhaps half a kilometer outside the settlement walls. What Kelelm saw within that scope was unlike anything he had ever experienced in his lifetime. Like the conductor of a fine orchestra, watching that wave of fifty plus Shi Viskas leap from the arms of the Spartans after being called from Flatspace was not something he could put into words. The Spartans closed far too quickly with the Kavalians inside the settlement for them to establish any sort of defensive perimeter. Once the walls had been breached at either end, the battle quickly descended into a slugfest. Kelelm watched as the two massive, armored dragons on the ground relentlessly pressed forward along the sides of the settlement driving terrified Kavalian troopers out of hiding and into the fray. If they didn't kill them with devastating streams of flame first. Eotharon had mentioned that the Kavalian people were terrified of dragons for some reason, to the point that a single dragon could freeze many of them in horror. It was something within their genetic memories that made them fear dragons and the Union knew this and would use it.

Kelelm witnessed the single Spartan moving with the Sinopia colored dragon, his combat movements nearly a blur. Kelelm realized this must have been the half breed brother of Lisisa Leonidas. He was using his vampiric ability to blur as he struck different Kavalians with lethal precision, always remaining near the left flank of the dragon that was burning Kavalians and tossing bodies into the sky with his massive talons and even blows from his huge wings. This was a different form of combat that was unlike anything he had ever studied or seen in person. The Spartans were using their shields as weapons, their P190A3s extended over the top of those shields and spitting death in every direction. Occasionally he would witness a shield streak across the field and strike a Kavalian, killing or maiming him. Kelelm knew their shields were controlled within their Mindvoice and Etheric ability, but to actually see it used in battle was something else entirely. The Spartans manipulated Flatspace with almost childlike ease. While his own people used Flatspace for some things, mainly the electronic tools their scientists carried, they had not yet obtained the knowledge and skill possessed by these men and women in either understanding it or applying it in battle.

Kelelm spied a Kavalian rise from the wreckage of the side of a building behind where Dorian and Ryner had already passed. He didn't hesitate, drew in a breath and squeezed the trigger as he exhaled. The H40 responded to his action and sent a single 20mm shell into the Kavalian's chest. His body flipped over from the tremendous force of the impact, a smoking hole in the center of what was once his chest. He could hear his men also firing when they discovered a target, providing a deadly support to the attacking Spartans.

His mother had been right Kelelm thought to himself. The moment that their father had discovered the results of the tests done he had changed. He had become driven to do as the Prophecy dictated. They were Lycavorians in his father's eyes. Whatever else his father felt, the instinctual draw of their peoples was undeniable and when he discovered this information it was as if his father embraced his instincts without hesitation. Kelelm saw this is the actions of the crew of the REAPER as they traveled here. They were treated as equals, invited into the quarters of people they did not know to have dinner and learn of each other. His father must have seen this, felt it somehow, because the longer Kelelm remained among these Lycavorians, the more he began to feel it as well. That they could not shift their forms never even came up in casual conversations. The Rothryn people were Lycavorians in the eyes of those within the Union and that is how they were treated.

Kelelm's head turned when he felt the body come to rest beside him. "Sehri!" He hissed. "Go back to the monitor!"

"I wanted to see!" Sehri snapped back at him with wide eyes.

Kelelm motioned with his head. "Then look sister!" He rasped. "Look and behold battle unlike any we have ever witnessed."

And look Sehri did. Her eyes found Lisisa and Jeth in the distance first as they circled the settlement below, twice plummeting towards the ground where Jeth unleashed a stream of searing breath killing something. She could see dozens upon dozens of men locked in close combat and darting between buildings and cover. She could see even more bodies laid out on the ground below. Sehri heard the implant come to life in her ear. All of them had been given the implants to better facilitate communications. The receiver implanted in the skin of their inner ear and the transmitter in their jaw line.

"Colonel Kelelm I'm shifting position!" The voice of the STRIKER's pilot sounded. "The Princess detected several Kavalians trying to establish a bunkered heavy gun position on the west side of Princes Androcles! She wants you and your people to remove them!"

Kelelm nodded his head. "Understood." Kelelm answered instantly.

Sehri felt the STRIKER begin to slide over and draw even closer to the settlement. That is when she and Kelelm both saw him.

Androcles was squatting behind several shipping containers with seven or eight other Spartans and exchanging fire with an equal number of Kavalians dug into the recently destroyed remains of a building. Sehri watched with amazement as she saw him rise and unleash a wave of Etheric power that buckled the ground in front of him, tossing objects into the air as it sped relentlessly towards the entrenched Kavalians. She watched as that wave struck the Kavalian's position and most of them were tossed into the air like toys, the massive concussive wave of Etheric power shattering their weapons along with bones and internal organs. The Spartans wasted no time as they peeled away from around their Prince and the advantage he had just given them, several launching their Shi Viskas and the others firing their weapons.

"By all that we hold holy!" Kelelm gasped with wide eyes at what he had just seen.

Kelelm continued to watch as Andro rushed forward as well, three psychic diamonds launching from his hands and catching two Kavalians in the open as they staggered to their feet. The shaped Etheric weapons punched through their bodies, tossing them aside with great force and leaving large wounds where the diamond shaped projectiles had struck. The obsidian colored dragon burst from the insides of a damaged building, sending concrete and small metal plates flying outward as she unleashed another gout of flame tinged superheated breath that caught two Kavalians in the open and instantly reduced them almost to ash. Sehri watched in awe as Androcles moved with stunning speed, scrambling up the foreleg that the dragon seemed to instinctively hold out for him, and leaping over her back to land among several Kavalians that were staggering about as if they were drunk. She watched his dual swords strike out and kill two of the Kavalians without any hesitation in the least, their heads loping into the air to fall to the ground near their bodies. The third he simply lifted within the grasp of his Etheric power and brought his hand down with a jerking motion, smashing the Kavalian amidst the remains of the building the dragon had just exiting with devastating force. Sehri knew from the way his body impacted that he would not be getting up. Androcles appeared to be shouting orders and he waved his arms towards several other Spartans who instantly began to move.

Sehri gasped when his head lifted and his eyes seemed to fall directly on her.

"Tallyho!" The pilot's voice barked in her ear. "Target at ten o'clock! Kavalian heavy gun position!"

"We have it!" Kelelm barked as he sighted through the scope of his H40. "Preparing to fire!"

"Shit! Another one Kelelm! Three o'clock!" The pilot screamed. "This one is already unmasked! It's firing!"

Kelelm felt deep impacts along the floor of the STRIKER, the heavy shells slamming into the armor of the ship. They were armored Kelelm knew, but from the force of the impacts he wondered how much damage they could sustain. His answer came at the new sounds and he turned when he heard the reverberation of shattering glass and the screams of wounded. The STRIKER heeled sharply to the right and began to spin around, Kelelm reaching for Sehri as she screamed in terror because she wasn't secured to the deck as they were. Her body began to lift off the floor and Kelelm snatched her arms and pulled her close to him.

"We're hit! Shit we're hit!" The pilot screamed, her voice excited but still calm and in control. "Co-pilot is dead! Lost lateral thrusters and secondary engines. Instruments are fucked! I've lost attitude control! We're going in! Fuck we're going in! Brace for impact! Brace for impact!"

"Kelelm!" Sehri screamed as her brother pulled her closer.

"Do not let go of me!" Kelelm screamed at her over the roar and whine of the crippled engines. "Do not let go Sehri!"

Kelelm felt his stomach drop as the STRIKER dipped awkwardly and plummeted down. He felt Sehri ripped from his grasp just as they impacted the ground and began to roll. "Sehri!" He screamed before blackness overcame him.