(CH13) From Soldier's Rifle, To Dragon's Wing's (Book 1)
There are many things we don't know about in the mysterious world of the military, Project Draco is one of them. I was recruted into this project against my own will at the age of 14. My life went from normal to dodging bullets everyday of my life. You could say that I know death personally. But when you have wings, scales, talons, and can breath fire, you already have a target on your head It's just a matter of time. This is the story of my life, as a Project Draco recruet............as a dragon.
"Your mission, provide backup for the seal team while they execute the mission. Everyone is hostile, are we clear?" Holland asked us. I nodded my head, and so did the others. We were woken at 1:30 in the morning by Holland who was rambling on about making history. We were put on emergency mission redirect and were going to provide backup for a Navy Seal Team, Seal Team Six.
Only problem, we had no clue about the mission or what the Seal Team was going after. All we had been told, kill anyone who tried to harm the seals, wasn't enough for me. After some pressuring, I managed to get more information out of Holland. The location of the assault was a 3 story compound in the middle of Abbottabad, Pakistan, and the targets name, Geronimo.
As we walked to an awaiting V-22, many thoughts were going through my mind. The target we were going after must very high valued. There were 2 Chinook helicopters beside our V-22, both were filled to the brim with Marines. "Man," Firedrake stated as I boarded our aircraft. "How important is this guy?" "Apparently pretty damn important." I replied as our aircraft started to lift off, followed by the 2 helo's.
We had gone cold (No communications usage) as 2 Blackhawk's appeared around a mountain flying very low to the ground. We dropped our altitude to just yards off the ground as we overtook the Blackhawk's. I watched out the back of our aircraft as the ground flew past us. I then started to over look the Blackhawk's, and as surprised with what I found.
I knew immediately who they were, the Night stalkers. An elite group of helicopter pilots that flew only at night. When it came to pilots, these guys were who you wanted with you. "Holy shit!" Cira said as she appeared beside me. "Are those the Night stalkers?" she asked in a happy tone. "Yeah. That means we have to hold our end of the deal up." I replied to her. She nodded before going to sit beside Firedrake, who she had taken a liking to. 'what are we up against?' I asked as the Chinooks began to slow down and land.
LOCATION: Abbottabad, Pakistan
DATE: May 2, 2011
TIME: 4:30 A.M.
MISSION: Over watch
TARGET: "Geronimo"
"What are they doing?" Faline yelled over the humm of the V-22's engines "I'm not sure." I replied to her before we started to drop our altitude, followed by the Blackhawk's. We began to slow down to about 12 MPH just feet above the ground as a green light that signaled our Infiltration began to glow. "GO!" I yelled to the others before jumping out of the aircraft and onto the ground.
I then began to look around our area. There was a large wall surrounding a 3 story compound about 257 yards away from us. The compound had other houses surrounding it, but they were not as close as Holland portrayed. It was also not in the middle of the city either, it was on more like the outskirts. I over looked it as the V-22 lifted off the ground and began to fly away.
The Blackhawk's then lifted off and began to fly toward the compound. "Lets go!" I ordered as I began to run toward the walls. "When we get over the walls, I want a perimeter established around the Seal's." I yelled as a large grinding sound caught my attention. I glanced toward the compound just as the first Black hawk disappeared behind the wall. Moments later, black smoke began to pour from over the wall.
"Lets get over that wall!" I yelled in fear to the others. As we reached the wall, Firedrake and Cira leapt over the it. Faline and I stopped to help the members of our human team get over the wall before leaping over after them. I landed beside Aaron, who was limping due to the massive 12 foot fall.
"You OK?" I asked him. "Yeah, I landed wrong." he replied. I then extended my wing so he could use it as support. He grabbed hold of it and we slowly started to walk toward the wrecked Blackhawk. Cira was helping people out of the wreckage, and everyone seemed to be OK.
The second Black hawk then dropped off the rest of the seal team before flying away swiftly. "Primary, lets go!" a seal ordered to a few of the others before they stormed the compound. I watched them disappear into the house before beginning to make a quick scan around. There were 3 other smaller buildings inside the walls of the compound. There was also a small row of farm crops that the wrecked Black hawk had landed in.
People then began to come outside of the buildings. "Take care of them!" another seal yelled to 4 members of the crashed seal team. They then began to run toward the civilians. "Talon!" a man yelled behind my back. I turned to see a navy seal standing behind me. I sat Aaron down before beginning to look the man over.
He was African American and stood about 6'1. "I'm John Grant, commander of seal team six." He said to me. "Where do you want us?" I replied. "For now......just stay with us." he ordered before beginning to walk to the civilians that were now sitting against the walls of the compound. They all had there scared gazes locked onto us, not having any clue of what we were.
At the end of the line, there was a woman speaking rapidly in Arabic to an American translator, who was having trouble keeping up with her. "Go help him out!" Grant ordered. I nodded to him before ordering Firedrake along with me. As we neared them, the woman's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She was obviously surprised with what lay before her.
"What's she saying?" I asked the translator. "Something about her son still asleep inside the house." the man replied as he pointed to a small tool shed like building. "We'll go get him." Firedrake said to the woman, (as if she could understand him). The translator then said something in Arabic to her. She nodded and sat down,. Obviously satisfied.
"Lets go." I ordered Firedrake before turning and beginning to walk toward a house about 75 yards away from us. "BRAAAAK!" the sound of gunfire coming from the compound caused Firedrake and I to stop and look toward the compound, the sounds were coming from the second story.
"They don't have much further to go." Firedrake said. I nodded with my gaze still locked onto the building. "BRAAAAAAAK." gunfire started to pour from the tool shed. I yelled in pain and collapsed as 3 bullets collided with my right side. Soon, the air was full of the sound of gunfire, and I was laying in the middle of it all.
Moments later, the fire ceased and I carefully stood up with the help of Faline who had rushed to my side during the fight. I was lucky, the rounds were the usual AK-47 rounds, not the dangerous DK rounds. "Can you walk?" she asked in a scared tone. "Yeah, ill be fine." I replied to her before walking toward the tool shed.
I carefully leaned inside, only to see what I had always hoped to avoid. A 15 year old male child laying limp against a small dresser with an AK held tightly in his grip. I quickly turned away from the horrid sight and walked to Faline who was standing about 10 yards away from the shed. "It was a fucking kid!" I yelled to her. She let her gaze drop to the ground before shutting her eyes.
"Its safe." I yelled to the seals. They then began to run toward the shed as gunfire started to come from the third floor of the compound. They then dragged the bloodied body of the 15 year old out of the shed. The woman who had been talking to the translator just minuets ago, then started to scream and cry out at the sight of her son.
Seeing this made me think of what my parents might have done when they found out I was gone. I closed my eyes at the sight of this. Seconds later, a voice came over my headset, "We got Geronimo!" I opened my eyes and locked my gaze with Falines. She smiled at me before we began to run toward the entrance of the compound.
Minuets later, the 8 man seal team appeared carrying 4 bags full of computer hard drives, and flash drives. The last members were carrying a large body bag which they lay on the ground beside the crashed Black hawk. "Are we sure its him?" a man asked. "Brooks , come lay down beside him." Grant ordered a man that stood a good 6'5 foot tall before they opened the bag reveling a face that I never thought I would see, Osama Bin Laden.
He had a hole in his head, and another in his right shoulder. Brooks lay down beside Osama for a moment before getting up, everyone looked satisfied. Grant ordered some of the seals to blow the downed Black hawk as our V-22 and the remaining Black hawk appeared from the mountains, And landed beside us. We boarded our aircraft, and all but 6 of the seals boarded the Black hawk.
"We don't have room, but we'll send an EVAC bird for you. I heard the pilot of the helo say over the comms. Firedrake gave me a quick tap on my back. "We can wait for the next one!" Firedrake said with a smile. "Lets do it!" I yelled happily to the others before both our human and dragon team exited the aircraft. "Go." I said to a seal who was looking around helplessly. "What?" was his reply. "Take ours, we can wait for the next EVAC." I said to the seals. They all smiled at us before running to the V-22.
"Cira, go with them!" I ordered to her. She quickly turned to me and gave me a confused look. "What!" she yelled furiously. "Your the lightest of us all, and the less we have to EVAC later, the better." I said to her. She sat for a moment before turning to Firedrake who nodded toward the aircraft. She then gave him a sort of hug before running toward the V-22 which quickly lifted off and began to fly away.
The downed Black hawk then burst into a ball of flame sending pieces of it flying in every direction. "We need to go!" I ordered the others before helping the humans over the wall. After I cleared it a voice came over the headset. "Talon," it was Holland. This sent an uneasy feeling through me. "We've found a safe EVAC position about 19 miles away from here, its an abandon town. Were going to send the EVAC bird to the town square. I expect you to be there by no later than 11:30 A:M, are we clear?"
I sat for a moment in silence before Carson spoke up. "What are you not telling us Holland". I quickly shot him an angry look, but withdrew when I saw that he wasn't speaking into his headset. "Copy, Talon out." I said before turning to Carson. "Yeah, there's something were not being told." I said to him. he nodded to me, Firedrake then turned around and starred at the compound. "We need to move, there sending people in." Firedrake said before we began to run into the vast nothingness of the desert, with nothing but the night protecting us.