//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: CTF Haymaker 
// by totallynotabrony 
//------------------------------//

Lombard was asleep in her stateroom aboard Makin Island when she was awakened by a phone call.  There was no way it could be good news, not in the middle of the night.  She braced herself as she picked it up.

"Ma'am, we have a CASREP from Somerset.  They've collided with a fishing boat."

"Chinese?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Casualties?"

"No injuries.  Good hull integrity on Somerset but there hasn't been a full inspection yet.  The fishing boat sank.  Six Chinese nationals pulled from the water."

Lombard sighed, swinging her feet over the edge of her rack to put on her boots.  "Get me a secure line to Pac Fleet.  I'll be down in a minute."





The Humvee pulled into the headquarters motor pool.  Henry stepped down and headed for the intel center.

He and his team had completed a loop up through northeast Tauros.  They'd radioed what they could and were now bringing in what they couldn't.

He found a young Marine on duty and handed over digital camera chips and handwritten notes.  

Behind him, the rest of Henry's team came in but he waved them off, with the exception of Specialist Lee, who would be needed to translate some recordings of minotaurs.

"Did you happen to hear anything related to giant bats?" the analyst asked as he began to sort through the data.

Henry frowned.  "No.  Do we have giant bats around?"

"We pulled a news article that had something related to that."  He gestured towards a printout of a translated document.

Lee picked it up, scanning the page.  "I think...this looks like an Equestrian tabloid."

"You speak Equestrian?" Henry asked.

"No, but just look at it."  Lee gestured.

Henry gave it a look.  "You know...it does give off a National Enquirer vibe.  Batboy, batpony..."

"Great," said the analyst.  "Now we have to deal with fake news, too."





Jordan completed the eastern loop of the racetrack pattern and headed back.  The C-130 was throttled back, flaps at maximum as it cruised at just one thousand feet.  It wasn't quite as good at recon as a ScanEagle drone, but covered more ground.  Command also had the idea that perhaps seeing an aircraft could help bouy the spirits of those in need who had not yet been helped.

Jordan and his copilot followed the next leg of their route, which took them northwest.  The northern part of Tauros was mountainous.  There was apparently a little valley up there, though surrounded on all sides by rugged terrain.

The plane passed just north of Diaemos and headed west for Pavor.  A secondary function of this flight was scouting good drop zones.  Ground forces would need to get to Pavor to help, but supplies could be brought in via air.

"Alex, two o'clock," said his copilot.  Jordan looked.  A small dark shape moved against the sky, soaring over the mountains to the north.

"Dragon, do you think?" Jordan said.

"There's another one."

Jordan gave the turboprops some more throttle and began to climb to an altitude that would clear the peaks.  He started a slow turn to the right.  "Is it just me, or are they inside Tauros?"

"If we can see them from here...yeah, they'd just about have to be."

While the copilot called it in, Jordan completed the turn, the plane now pointed northeast and headed towards the dragons.  He'd now picked out three or four.  It wasn't until the plane was closer that he realized just how large they were.

A purple, a red, and a green dragon were flying conservatively, as if just hanging out.  Jordan banked the plane away, so as to not be heading directly for them.  The smallest was the size of a fighter jet.  The largest wasn't quite as big as the C-130.

The copilot took the controls and handed Jordan a small point and shoot camera.  As they flew by, he took a couple of snaps.  The dragons had clearly noticed the plane, and seemed to have formed up, as if defensive.

Jordan turned back south.  Whatever was going on, a defenseless cargo plane had no business in it.





Somerset did not seem badly damaged, but it never paid to assume.  Lombard had requested additional support, but it would be a while before the Navy could get another ship through the rift and into Tauros waters.

So she was surprised when a sailor in Makin Island's command center reported new contacts detected.

"What do we have?" she asked.

The sailor manning the GALE electronic intercept terminal refined the signals and queried the computer.  "It's putting off Dragon Eye radar.  It's a Chinese destroyer."

Well, this day had just gone from bad to worse.  Still, maybe it would solve a problem.  Lombard went over to the watch officer.  "Tell Somerset to contact them and see if they'll take the wrecked fishermen.

"Then, ask Pac Fleet to send us a destroyer of our own."