His Majesty's Dragons: The Battle of Britain

[Charon]

Jake looked from the dragon to his captain and back again, before he whistled as he turned back to look at Judith. "Well, never heard a prayin' dragon before. We sure have a crew here don't we?" Jake grinned.

"Two military types, a barnstormer, a studied boy, and a religious dragon and his female pilot." Jake shook his head, still grinning.

"I love it!"

[Agent Fisher]

Jack nodded. "Well, should make things interesting." He said, looking around. "So, does anyone know where the Mess is?" He asked.

[LadyTevar]

"Migh' as well, eat... we've heerd Grace said ..." Judith joked weakly.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Indeed we should. If anyone wants steak, I know Waldwanderer cant eat that whole cow... it is almost as big as he is"

[Agent Fisher]

Jack laughed. "Well, Godfrey could cook it for us." He said, looking over at his dragon.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Yeah... you think I am joking..."

"Waldwanderer! Bring me a piece of that if you please!" he projected back at the dragon

Walwanderer had bolted down most of the cow, but had left a good bit of one of the shoulders. He grabbed a piece with one claw and slashed withe the other, ripping off about 2 kilograms of meat, then took to the air. landing beside his captain and presenting the meat

"Now we can either eat it raw... or we can find some sort of grill... or I can make one..."

Waldwanderer spoke up

"i prefer it raw... but I hear you humans prefer it cooked"

"I am indifferent on the matter, sometimes one cant start a fire in the woods..." Richard said "Your choice..."

[Charon]

Jake looked shocked. "Use a Spitfire? To cook some beef? Isn't that akin to dropping a bomb on an anthill? A Spitfire flame has two settings, off and blackened. I think I'm gonna find the mess tent." Jake looked at the rather ancient conditions. "If there is one."

Jake began to wander off at this point, thinking of grabbing a bite to eat before going out to nap with his dragon.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Well that is why you only use ihim to start the fire... or use matches..."Richard followed, wondering if there even was a mess

[LadyTevar]

Judith looked from Richard to the haunch of meat and back again. She crossed her arms, lowered her head slightly and glared lik e a schoolmarm over invisible glasses. "Stop playin' the smart-alec, yer not 'mpressin' no-one, leas' o' all me."

[Comrade Tortoise]

Richard turned back

"Just trying to get a chuckle, loosen tension, as there seems to be a lot of it... in my own ham-fisted way. In all honesty though the offer for a good steak is genuine, I just have to find a way to prepare it. I have some wild herbs in Waldwanderer's saddlebag I have been wanting to try on something other than venison, now is as good an opportunity as I will get before we have to intercept the next dragon squadron"

[Cynical Cat]

Reynolds waited patiently for them to babble on and then slapped the kraut across the face. "Listen up you bloody fool. It isn't a game up there. A squadron operates as a team. Team. We aren't in charge up there because we are smarter or better than them, we're in charge because we are bloody social animals and a social animal makes better social decisions than a semi-solitary bloody hunter. Your dragon will live or die by the decisions you make up there."

"You see that big scary Spitfire there? He's dead if Frostfell wants him to be. One lunge and fangs will be around his neck before he knows what's happening and that'll be the end of him. But if we stop that kind of thing from happening, he can roast even the toughest of our enemies. A dragon captain isn't just taking care of his own dragon, but every other dragon in the squadron.

"You wanna know why Frostfell's pushing? Part of it is dominance games, but most of it is find out if there are any weak sisters in the flight before it gets us all killed by not doing their part. Get your mind in the game. Odds are you and your dragon won't make it through the war. You have to be more than ready."

[Comrade Tortoise]

Richard nodded solemnly

"You are right of course."

[Comrade Tortoise]

"either I learn all of that, and take it to heart and quickly. Or more than just Waldwanderer and I are at stake. The dynamics here are different from what I am used to. It seems I have forgotten that"

[LadyTevar]

Judith had been shocked by Nathan slapping Richard... and Richard meekly accepting it, without even his dragon snarling and stepping forward was more shocking still. The last time someone had tried to get a little too friendly with her, Jeb had nearly taken his head off.

[Agent Fisher]

Jack stood slack jawed, staring at Richard. "Are you bloody kidding me? You just got slapped and you agree with him? You don't even seem angry? Remind me to stay away from you when we are going up against Jerry, you'll probably try to talk them into surrendering." Jack said incredulously.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Then the lightbulb went off on his head. The connection between Frostfell's pushing and Nathan's slap. Both were dominance games and a test.

And Richard kicked Nathan in the gut. Waldwanderer barred his teeth in Nathan's direction. And raised his tail, the two were even now.

[Cynical Cat]

Nathan saw the kick coming and slid to the side. His hand moved, gravity knife out of his pocket, blade flicking free. He froze, the blade a centimeter from the younger man's neck. "Kicks are too slow for a reliable strike from surprise," he said. "Not against a flier and certainly against someone like me. Hand strike to the throat, sternum, or nerve cluster. And every dragon rider better have a knife they can deploy like that so they can cut themselves free if the lines get tangled. Every fraction of the second matters if you don't want to end up like me."

[General Havoc]

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Captain Rankin stormed into view of the assembled dragons and Captains, his revolver in hand, looking absolutely furious. He had stopped to meet and greet the Australian Captain of the Venomspitter assigned to the squadron, who was presently standing to the side, watching the proceedings carefully, with his dragon staring wide-eyed at the cows in the pasture being devoured. Obviously he had waited a little TOO long, because no sooner had he glanced up at the others than he had spotted Captain Reynolds slapping another captain, then dodging a kick from the latter and pulling out a knife.

What a way to make an introduction... but there was nothing for it.

"Are you two DAFT?" he shouted, hearing Aequitas galloping up from behind him and grinding to a halt. "There's a bloody war on, and you're pulling knives on each other? In front of your bloody dragons?! What the hell is the matter with you?"

He hated to start out meeting his new Captains with a tirade, but this plainly could not be borne. Let them think him an ogre. He was in charge here, and he was not having ANY of this.

"Put the goddamned knife away this instant, and back away from one another before one of your dragons takes fright and I wind up with a hole in my flight roster that's unlikely to ever get filled," he said, and he holstered his revolver ostentatiously. He was reasonably certain that he had all the Captains' attentions by now, so now was as good a time as any to make his introduction. He cleared his throat and began speaking in a slightly more formal tone

"My name is Captain Michael Rankin," he said, buckling his holster once again, "on Aequitas." The Malachite Reaper nodded as his name was mentioned, but did not remove his eyes from Captain Reynolds, lest the knife somehow wind up pressed against his own Captain's throat.

"I've been appointed squadron commander here at RAF Tangmere," said Rankin, continuing. "Some of you are RAF, but most of you are volunteers from the Commonwealth or the United States. Whatever your points of origin however, all of you... all of us, dragons and men alike, are here for the same reason. To stop the Huns, safeguard England, and win the war." He stared at the two combattants as he said the last line, to re-enforce the utter stupidity of what they had been doing.

"Lest any of you have illusions about what will be happening here, ladies and gentlemen, this is the tip of the spear. South of us lies the Channel, and beyond that, lies the Nazi Second and Third Air Fleets. We are all that stands between them and victory in this war. If we do not hold our section of the line, the Nazis will have a hundred-mile hole through which they can pour their dragons to pulverize every city and fortification on this island. Rest assured, they will do their utmost to destroy us."

He took a few steps forward, hoping that he was sounding like he knew what he was talking about, looking each Captain squarely in the eye as he spoke.

"This is an ad-hoc squadron," he said. "Our breed mix is far from ideal. We are overstaffed with lightweights, and understaffed with largely everything else. The Germans that come across to fight us will outmass us in general by at least two to one. They will send against us squadrons that have in some cases been fighting together since the Spanish war, who have been expertly trained and are captained and crewed by the finest soldiers that Germany has to offer. It will nonetheless be our job to stop them at any price, because the consequences of failing to do so are unthinkable."

He paused only for a second before continuing in a softer tone. "Most of you are volunteers, but any man or dragon among you, volunteer or otherwise, who does not believe that they have what it will take to defeat the Germans under these conditions, may apply with me for a transfer to another formation. Dragons are in high demand everywhere these days, and I have no doubt that the admiralty will be happy to agree to my request. There will be no shame attached to such an action. You have not only yourselves to think of but your crews and your dragons, and to be frank, anyone who does not believe that they belong here, does not belong here. However shorthanded we are, I will not send men and dragons to confront the Hun who are not prepared and willing to go."

He decided to try to end on a lighter note.

"But if you are prepared," he said, "or at least think you are, then you've come to the right place. The last squadron based here had to be pulled out of the line after suffering a series of terrible batterings from the Germans. No doubt the Germans' spies and scouts will have told them soon enough that there is a new squadron here, one made up half of foreigners and the other half of odds and ends, and being Germans, they will be arrogant, and assume that this makes for easy pickings along our stretch of coast. No doubt they will wander over here soon enough, expecting something of a holliday at our expense. When they do, ladies and gentlemen, I have every intention of showing them the door."

He glanced back up at Aequitas, who smiled and gave the slightest nod. When he turned back to the assembled Captains, there was a slight smirk on his face.

"Does anyone else wish to help me shut it in their faces?"

[Cynical Cat]

"One would think," drawled Frostfell, "that there was some fighting going on. Where is your knife, Captain Renkin?"

The blade vanished, folded up and back into Nathan's jacket problem. "My apologies captain," said Reynolds. "I should have told you I prefer demonstrations and graphic examples when passing on instructing the new boys. Helps makes the lessons stick."

[Comrade Tortoise]

It was only the command of Captain Rankin that stopped Waldwanderer from tearing nathan to tiny bits. Even if that psychotic White Devil returned the favor, Nathan would be dead. As it was though, his jaw snapped shut with a loud clap making his prior intent known, and he removed his claws from the soil where they had clenched. His eyes narrowed on captain Reynolds, he knew the slap had a purpose and was willing to accept it, but the knife was unacceptable, and he shot daggers at the older man, the sort that were just shy of actually penetrating his flesh.

Richard was equally pissed and had his hands clenched on his own hunting knife when Rankin broke up the fight. His normally calm demeanor was marred by a rage that died down only slowly, seething within him. If he had any misgivings about why he was here they were gone. Gone, or at least put on the back burner was the sense of moral obligation that brought them here. Now it was his dignity that made him stay.

"I would prefer beating them with it sir"

[Charon]

Jake came to a stop as the argument had apparently escalated. He turned back to look at Rankin and the others. Outmassed two-to-one? Sounded like a grand old time. The young pilot grinned, eager for this kind of combat.

The young pilot, hands clasped behind his head as he stretched his back spoke up. "Only question I've got is where the mess tent is. I'm starvin'."

Kunja had slept through the whole experience, not even the yelling of Captain Rankin able to rouse him easily.

[LadyTevar]

"One would think," drawled Frostfell, "that there was some fighting going on. Where is your knife, Captain Rankin?"

"A fight?" Jebediah asked, his head jerking up and searching out Judith worriedly. When he saw she was on the outside of the cluster of men, merely watching, he relaxed only a little. "Wha' in tarnation's goin' on o'er there?" he muttered.

Rankin's down-dressing carried clearly over to the dragons, as well as his peptalk. "Sound's like we're bein' thrown inta th' lion's den, Frostfell," Jeb muttered, watching Judith's body posture. Watching the girl grow up had given him a knack that bordered on mind reading with her, and he could tell she was having second thoughts.

Second thoughts, third thoughts ... Plans never survive contact with the enemy, and Lofty Ideals never survive the realities of war.

Judith was seriously thinking she'd made a big mistake. First, Richard's mild reaction to the slap, then Jake's taunting seemed to trigger Richard into trying to fight back. Nathan's reactions were far faster than she'd thought a man that wounded could make -- maybe he wasn't as badly hurt as assumed? But when the knife came out she was glad Captain Rankin stepped in. It was a grim picture Rankin painted: outnumbered, outclassed, and a certainty that the Germans knew they weren't going to prepared. Her hazel eyes ran over the gathered group, and she seriously asked herself what a back-woods farmgirl was truly thinking she could do.

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help..." Jebediah rumbled behind her, having slithered over the pasture fence and quietly joined them. "My help cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and Earth. He will not suffer they foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore."

The Psalm was quoted fully, a low rumble of comfort meant for his Captain alone. If the others took heart from it as well, then the Lord meant that to be. All Jebediah cared about was the slight smile the Scripture had brought to Judith's lips, as well as the straightening of her spine.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Richard was not religious. At all. But hearing a dragon quote from Psalms was oddly relaxing, if only because the voice was soothing.

He gave Waldwanderer a look, and the dragon nodded in return, then they spoke.

"If the germans outmass us by such a larger margin, our chances of victory in a straight up fight are low, this I need not say. However, there is no reason why the fight has to be straight up. When outmatched, fight dirty. Use trickery, deceit, ambush and the environment to your advantage. We will need to plan in advance..."

[Agent Fisher]

Jack looked at the German sounding man. "Plan in advance? You must be having a laugh. We aren't attackers, we can't plan in advance. We just wait, get the signal from a RADAR post, take to the air and do battle with Jerry. They don't really tell us where they'll be so we can plan." He scoffed.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Jack looked at the German sounding man. "Plan in advance? You must be having a laugh. We aren't attackers, we can't plan in advance. We just wait, get the signal from a RADAR post, take to the air and do battle with Jerry. They don't really tell us where they'll be so we can plan." He scoffed.

"The location does not need to be known. There are generalities we can plan for. How to break up a formation that out-masses us, how, exactly, to take best advantage of what we do have and exploit weaknesses in their tactics that we can forsee. If we go out and "do battle with jerry" as we could afford to do if we had more and heavier dragons, we will loose"