His Majesty's Dragons: The Battle of Britain

[Cynical Cat]

Frostfell looked up. "You're not a dragon," he said to Capricorn, "you're a dog in a dragon's body." He spread his wings and launched himself into the air, gaining altitude as the Dreamweaver lost it. He circled above the Australian dragon once and then headed east.

[LadyTevar]

"Well... dangit," Judith muttered as she watched Frotsfell rise up. "You wanna go tell him wha' Ah'm plannin', Jeb?"

"Lik' Ah'm gonna catch 'em," Jeb muttered. The larger the dragon, the faster in a straight run (unless it's a Swabian). The Smoke Devil heaved a sigh and leapt into the air. "Whistle fer me." he called back as he went for altitude, wings beating fast as they could to get up speed. "FROSTFELL! Slow UP, damn ya..."

Judith turned and hurried to the Hospital. Once inside, she grabbed a nurse and got Reynold's room number. It didn't take her very long to find it, and knock on the door. "Nathan? Ya up fer visitors?"

[Avian Obscurities]

Flinder watched as the dragons of the covert took off around the camp. Allen had said that this was a hard working squadron, frequently sent out into the thick of battle, and that everyone would have many things to do that would keep them all busy. Just like the ranch, he had explained.

Still, after months of training in Cairnes, amongst not only crew but other dragons that were confused and frightened by him, Flinder had become accustomed to being ostracized. Thus it was with a heavy heart that he watched the other dragons fly away.

He turned back to Allen, practically drooping. "I thought things in England were gonna be different."

[rhoenix]

Chuckling again, a sound audible in the air above, Veritas answered as he and Kunja began the aerial dance of war that only dragons could do. The huge disparity in their sizes only made the movements all the more interesting.

"Aye, a sparring partner always makes things more interesting," Veritas replied, one of his forepaws coming within inches of Kunja's rear leg during a sudden pass, trying to grab it.

As Veritas looped around from the side, Kunja would be forced to be dive up, down, or to the right - to the right meant being boxed in by the close proximity of Veritas, up or down were the seeming best options.

[Cynical Cat]

Frostfell wasn't much inclined to slow down, but he wasn't flying very fast either. "What do you want?" he asked when the Smoke Devil drew close.

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"Come in," Nathan rasped. "Just bring a strong stomach with you."

[Cynical Cat]

Frostfell wasn't much inclined to slow down, but he wasn't flying very fast either. "What do you want?" he asked when the Smoke Devil drew close.

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"Come in," Nathan rasped. "Just bring a strong stomach with you." His face wasn't a pretty sight. He had gotten his goggles and mask off in time to save his eyes and nose, but the flesh of his lower face was a permanently redden and twisted like a burn victim.

[LadyTevar]

Judith came in, took a look at Nathan's face, and did a very good job of trying not to show what his looks did to her stomach. However, her eyes did twitch, looking for a safer place to look at him. "Ah... Ah was comin' in ta pay m' respects... an' ta see if you were feelin' like a trip outside." She had planned it to come out sounding better, work it into the conversation, but that flew out the window.

"Frostfell's pinin' 'way fer the sight o' you. Ah was gonna see if Ah could wheel ya outside, let ya'll talk a bit." she finished in a rush.


======================
Jebediah strained his wings, catching up to where he could talk neighborly with Frostfell. With the Wendigo, Jeb was going to talk straight and to the point. "My captain jis' went ta try ta fetch yours outta th' horspital long 'nuff ta talk ta ya. Ya wanna turn 'round an' see 'em or not?"

[Charon]

Kunja was far more maneuverable than Veritas, even for being a heavy lightweight. Boxing in the lightweight was not a simple option. The lightweight went up and to the left giving himself plenty of breathing room from which to initiate his own attack on Veritas.

[Cynical Cat]

Frostfell whipped around so quickly that his tail almost smacked Jeb in the snout. The dragon's speed went from a leisurely coast to a full out charge.

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"Yeah," said Nathan, "not a pretty sight is it? There are bad things that can happen to besides death. You die and its over. In some ways that's easier."

He leaned up off the pillows. "The bitch nurses treat me like a god damn invalid and they're light on the morphine, as if I haven't been sucking down opiates for the last two fucking decades. Funny thing is that the arm is barely anything and that's all they're giving me morphine for. Bloody hell, I can barely tell I'm medicated. You got a wheelchair. They say its too early for me to walk. Might pull my stitches in my side and start bleeding again."

[rhoenix]

(NOTE: after collaboration with Charon, this post was edited for feeling and tone overall)

Though Kunja was much smaller and much lighter, he wasn't faster overall than the much larger Veritas. Despite this, Kunja was more maneuverable, and knew better than to let the much larger dragon get close.

Though the smaller dragon moved with breathtaking maneuverability, Veritas patiently kept up, closing the distance between the two slowly, over time. Suddenly racing up and to the left, Kunja managed to get some brief distance (and breathing room), but Veritas was relentlessly closing once more.

"Pull that maneuver again, I think I have it figured out," called Veritas.

This wasn't the first time the two had sparred in the skies, and bouncing ideas off of one another had led both to revising their toolboxes of maneuvers, and it had certainly led Veritas to be much less clumsy against Lightweights - two weeks ago, Kunja had been able to get close enough to lightly slap Veritas in the head with his tail as he flew by - now, he kept his distance. That was a start, according to Veritas, but he had much further to go.

[LadyTevar]

Jeb squawked as he ducked the tailwhip, and that let Frostfell get a huge head start back to the compound. His job done, the Smoke Devil took his time gliding back.

==============
Judith darted out the door and grabbed the wheelchair she'd seen outside, wheeling it over to Nathan's bedside. "Ah've always heard tis worse things n' death," she agreed, trying to be polite about not looking at his face and being rather awkward about it. You don't want to stare, you don't want to offend, but what can you do?

"Frostfell took off, but Jeb was gonna get 'em to turn round. By th' time we're out front, Frostfell should be there," she continued, trying to figure out how to help Nathan into the chair without hurting him or embarrassing him (and herself).

[Cynical Cat]

"Go ahead and look away. There's a reason I wear a bloody mask. I know what I look like." He edged off the bed and into wheelchair. He pulled the blanket off the bed over him. "Thanks for this," he said.

As Nathan and Judith dealt with the wheelchair, Frostfell swooped down towards the hospital.

[LadyTevar]

"Jeb n' Ah owe ya," Judith answered as she wheeled him out of the room and down the hallway, glaring at a nurse as to dare her to stop them. "You'd not be shot if Ah'd not been stupid an' tried fightin' wit'out proper harness."

After that day's practice, she'd removed Jebediah's armored harness so he could take a bath. When the raid happened, he'd been in nothing but basic flight harness, which Albatros' wingblades had sliced like butter. Jake had argued she couldn't have known the raid was coming, and she wasn't at fault. However, she still felt it was all her fault.

[Cynical Cat]

"Maybe, maybe not," said Nathan. "Bad things happen. You can try and push the odds in your favor, carry things to help deal with them, but the fact is no man or dragon is beyond the power of a lucky bullet to kill."

[LadyTevar]

It kinda helped that the one person who had the most cause to yell at her was trying to be philosphical about it. Judith wheeled the chair outside the hospital doors, going as far as the chair could on the rough earth so Frostfell would have some room. "We gots a new dragon, by-th-bye," Judith added, pointing to the Midweight purple beast talking to Æquitas. "Jake call't it a Dreamweaver afore he n' Kunja went ta play wit' Veritas."

A shadow on the ground was about all the warning they got as Frostfell headed for a landing. "Ah'm thinkin' Ah should leave you two 'lone fer a bit...."

[Charon]

Kunja mumbled something under his breath and Jake gently patted his dragon on the side. "It's for him as much as you. Just do it ok?"

Jake flipped around in his seat again to keep an eye on Veritas. Just because they were pulling the same move again didn't mean they were going to go easy on the much larger dragon.

Kunja pulled away again, up and to the left. As Veritas began to follow and prepare for his own attack however, the slight upwards angle turned sharp as the Aussies began a sharp loop. Veritas was larger and faster, so the pair had to use the maneuverability as best they could. There was no way a dragon as large as Veritas could achieve a loop, let alone one sharp enough to keep up with Kunja, as it was Kunja was either going to end up behind and above the heavy or they weren't going to finish their loop and simply start going the opposite direction.

[Cynical Cat]

"Dreamweaver," said Nathan. "Pretty as Thunders in their own way." He fell under the shadow of great white wings. "Frostfell."

The Wendigo landed softly in front of him. "I was worried."

"I'll be back to normal, or close enough," said Nathan. "We'll fly again. Soon."

Frostfell nudged him gently with his maw. "Good."

"Now behave yourself," said Nathan. "They aren't going to be happy about breaking orders, but they can pretend to ignore it if we don't rub it in their face. We play this smart, yes? You're a good little dragon, take orders like a nice tame lizard, and you were just off course on a training run?"

"Yes sir, Captain Reynolds sir." Frostfell leaned close, encompassing Nathan within the span of his wings and the heat of his body. "Anything else?"

"Just stay a while."

[LadyTevar]

Judith left the two alone, figuring none of the nurses would want to brave the huge white dragon in an attempt to retrieve Nathan just yet. She did make a note to find Nathan's second and see if the man could slip Nathan some whiskey or something to take the pain. If she'd been home, she could have called up a few cousins for a jug of 'shine that would have cured Nathan of several ills.


Jebediah swooped down to land lightly beside Judith, having seen Frostfell curled up like a kitten around Nathan. "Ya done good, there, Judith."

"Ah think they both need'd that," Judith answered. "Now... how'bout we meet this DreamWeaver, hmm?"

"Always nice ta be Neighborly," Jebediah answered, following Judith as she walked over to join Æquitas and the newcomers.

[rhoenix]

Seeing Kunja lightly dart through the maneuver again, Veritas began his maneuver at the same time, performing a (somewhat sloppy) wingover, facing a different direction than before when complete, and already beginning to accelerate. Though it didn't let him catch Kunja, it did drastically shorten the time it would have taken to be on the Lightweight's tail once more. Veritas grinned as he began to close the distance again, attempting to get above the smaller dragon using his naturally higher speed.

"Here we go, testing the Swat From Above - hang on!" Captain Braithwaite called to his crew, just as the maneuver began.

[Charon]

Jake grinned as Veritas began to turn. "Ready for the mongoose?"

Kunja glanced backwards. "You really want to try that?"

"What could be the harm?"

"Alright let's try it."

Kunja did something entirely unexpected then. Despite everything ever said in any book of war ever, the lightweight turned to face the heavyweight, still having the benefit of superior altitude, Kunja had a little more speed than Veritas, and Veritas couldn't put much more speed out. The infinately smaller dragon flapped his wings hard, pushing himself forward as fast as he could directly towards the rising Veritas, trying to get the giant to meet the charge. In standard combat, where gun turrets were involved, the little dragon would likely have been chewed apart by the guns during this maneuver, most likely long before this point in any battle. Thankfully however, this was not a standard battle. Kunja came down towards Veritas, as soon as Veritas saw that he could not gain altitude on Kunja before Kunja reached Veritas, the behemoth Russian turned to meet the much smaller dragon. Kunja stared directly into the face of the waiting dragon. As Veritas lashed out with his teeth the much smaller dragon pulled his head back, and then shot it forward as well, opening his mouth and releasing a rather large wad of spit which caught Veritas mid-way up the snout and splashed up into his left eye. As the dragon reflexively shut his eye and turned his head to deal with the gob of spit Kunja beat his wings hard, trying to gain just enough altitude to skim over the larger dragon and make a few "strike points".

Unfortunately Kunja had 'fired' too late, and didn't have the time he needed to get out of the way. Though the jaws of the massive Russian dragon were not a danger, the much smaller dragon bounced off of the neck of the beast a few times before the giant wing of Veritas caught the Australian pair and slapped them towards the ground on accident. The duo careened towards the surface for several hundred feet before finally managing to get control of their dragon again.

[rhoenix]

At one of the few times Veritas lost his composure, he simply stared in shock for half a moment as Kunja missed his maneuver by only a fraction, slapping the lighter dragon downward toward the ground below with a wingbeat, more by accident than design.

Stopping to maintain his altitude with slow, heavy wingbeats, Veritas called downward, obviously concerned. "Holy Dragonsbane! Are you okay, Kunja?"

[Charon]

Kunja and Jake leveled off and Jake gave a quick thumbs-up that they were fine. The pair were rattled and a little dizzy, but all in all nothing had broken from the collision. It was clear however that for now the pair of Aussies were done with training and began to circle downwards towards where the Dreamweaver was.

[rhoenix]

Seeing Kunja make for the ground below in lazy circles following Jake's reassurance than the pair were alright, Veritas followed suit, drifting in for a landing. Their exercises done for now, meeting the newcomer should be interesting.

They landed in the open field, the crew immediately beginning to pack away and remove all the gear Veritas wore.

[LadyTevar]

Jebediah looked up as he heard Veritas call out in concern, and saw Kunja circling down unsteadily. "Well... th' damn fools jis' done som'thin' stupid," he muttered. "Veritas is askin' iffen they're ok." That got Judith suddenly looking skyward to see if Jake was safe.

"They seem righ' nuff..." Jeb assured her. "Jis' prolly tried som'thin new tha' din' work out right. Again."

"He migh' be an idjit... bu' he's My ijdit," Judith answered with a shake of her head. "He'll be fine... watch him come o'er askin' fer a kiss ta make it better."

[General Havoc]

Æquitas stopped himself from saying anything he might later regret. He'd heard of Dreamweavers of course, but had never met one. Clearly their reputation wasn't exaggerated...

As the Australian Captain mentioned who he was to report into however, Æquitas visibly hesitated. For several seconds, he struggled for words, and when he finally did speak, he did so with an iron formality that clearly indicated something was wrong.

"I'm... afraid Captain Rankin is... on re-assignment in Uxbridge at the moment. Captain Bader, on Tempestas, is in command here at Tangmere. I'm... reasonably certain he'll be able to see to your crew and lodgings for Flinder as well as yourself. Such as they are here at least..."

Captain Bader was indeed on his way towards the new dragon, riding his Greyling lightweight as he might have ridden a stallion or a warhorse. The reason for this rapidly became apparent. Captain Douglas Bader, RAF, had no legs, both of them having been amputated below the knee.

Tempestas walked towards the two dragons and stopped, Æquitas nodding to both him and to Captain Marston befrore retreating a pace or two. Æquitas and Tempestas had never gotten along, Æquitas found the Greyling insufferably stuck up, which to a Malachite Reaper was saying quite a bit, but for now the lightweight said nothing, as Captain Bader saluted Captain Marston without making any indication that he was to dismount.

"Captain Marston, I presume?" said Captain Bader. "Doug Bader, temporary Squadron commander here at Tangmere." Æquitas sensed that the word "temporary" was more for his ears than the new captain's. "Welcome to Sussex. I trust your Dragon can shift for himself, we've no fancy quarters here. We'll put your crew in the baracks, such as they are, and you'll have to pitch tent alongside your Dragon, unless you'd prefer the baracks." It was a rhetorical question. Any captain who did not spend most of their free time with their dragon was regarded in the RAF with intense suspicion.

Meanwhile a small yellow-brown dragon had trotted out of the woods nearby and jogged over to watch the proceedings, having taken no apparent harm from the sharp remarks Frostfell had directed his way. Capricorn likely didn't even understand them. Faced however with a dragon breed he DID recognize, Capricorn smiled benevolantly and sat down in front of Flinder, ignoring the subtle growls of Tempestas, who had not taken a particular liking to the Tasmanian. Not that Capricorn could be counted on to notice.

"G'day!" barked the Venomspitter in a soft Australian accent. "I'm Cap! D'you want a cow?"

This passed for wisdom.