Chapter IV

Rise Again

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

English Channel, two miles north of SSV Kosciuszko 1805

'Mr Perry, what's that in the water?' Captain Catherine Harcourt asked, indicating a giant white, black and blue…something a few miles north of the formation's current position.

Whatever it was, it looked to be roughly a mile square in terms of area.

The young ensign in question was silent for a good ten seconds.

'Mr Perry?' Harcourt asked, trying to sound stern.
'…You might want to have a look yourself, Captain. I 'ent seen anything like this before.' Perry replied.

Harcourt sighed internally, making a mental note to discuss this with the boy later as she peered through her spyglass. Maybe put him back down to being a runner again for a month or two until he learnt some diligence.

The thought died a quick death as Harcourt studied the anomaly: It was the size of a small island, but it almost looked like a cross between a fortress and a ship-of-the-line.

And the huge letters emblazoned near one end only added to Harcourt's confusion:

The inscription read 'SSV Kosciuszko,' maybe Captain Laurence could've identified this…ship, for lack of a better term, but it was a mystery to Harcourt. The thing wasn't flying colours though, so…

'Ensign Gail, signal the formation: Unidentified Vessel Ahead.' Harcourt ordered her signal ensign, observing as the flags were run up in short order.
'Enemy, two points to starboard and closing fast!' Called Perry, pointing to the wing in question.

Fortunately, relaying this development was irrelevant, as flags to that effect were already being run up on Immortalis' and Messoria's harness masts.

Trust the French to show up when they weren't wanted.

English Channel SSV Kosciuszko 1805 concurrently.

'Admiral, we may have a problem.' Called one of the sensor operators.

Admiral Fletcher glanced in his direction, then came over after directing some of her subordinates to monitor the logistics.

Abacus as usual, was at her elbow still.

'Give me one second.' Admiral Fletcher said as she arrived at the terminal, before knocking back a half-full cup of lukewarm coffee in one go, then putting it down on the terminal slightly harder than absolutely necessary. 'Okay, lay it on me.'

The sensor operator brought up a satellite map of her Kosciuszko's position in the channel, the ship itself marked with the Alliance coat of arms.

To the north was an arrowhead marked with a Union Jack and coming from the south east was a Tricolour.

'So, you've got English dragons coming from the north and some French ones from out down around Normandy?' Admiral Fletcher clarified. 'It's 1805 right now, this is what the French and English were up to around this time. Granted, not with dragons, but still.'
'That's not all, there's also Harvestors inbound from the west.' The sensor operator elaborated, highlighting another shape inbound on their position from west-north-west. 'Mind you, never thought I'd have to bring a flight of dragons to your attention.' The sensor operator added.

This time, Admiral Fletcher could see the problem.

Judging by how Abacus' faceplates had spread wide open, it could as well.

'Fletcher-Admiral, those three forces will meet directly above us!' It said with a tone that may have been alarm evident in it's synthetic voice.
'Alert all combat teams, every fire team we've still got here is to report to the shuttles or the hull, they're going to be fighting in the air, everyone else is to deploy to their posts. Deploy all flaps for extra cover and ready our hull for ground combat, I'd rather not have to hunt husks through the ship.' Admiral Fletcher ordered.

She turned back to the sensor operator.

'Ensign, I don't think any of us ever expected to have to deal with dragons.' She said, sounding more conciliatory than encouraging.

English Channel, 1805 concurrent.

Laurence had just finished checking his pistols when Emily Roland piped up.

'Captain, wing three points to starboard and two points down. I'm not seeing any colours though.' She called.

'Laurence, those do not look like any dragons I have seen before.' Temeraire chimed in, indicating with his head a strange group of blue shapes that appeared to be gliding lazily from the island or ship or whatever it was that Captain Harcourt had reported.

The only reason Laurence could see the shapes at this distance was the colour contrast between the blue and white from the glassy grey water and the fact the shapes must have been ten yards long themselves.
He looked through his spyglass at the island and to his surprise, saw what looked like sails rising, along with portholes opening, from which more shapes were launching, these ones quickly attaining speeds that should have been impossible for anything over the size of a cannonball.

Laurence didn't need to wonder where the things had gone, because Emily's cry of surprise made Laurence whip around in time to see the dagger-like shapes scream by,-literally moving so fast they made the very air scream as the strange shapes flew,-firing cannons at the wing off their starboard at an ungodly rate and oddly, the dragons that made up the wing returning fire at a similar rate.

A shadow passing over head made Laurence glance up, in time to see a fellow in dark grey armour with a red stripe down the left arm drop down right in front of him.

Before Laurence could react, he found himself staring down the barrel of a pistol. A quick glance to the left showed Granby was also at gunpoint by a second boarder, this one a woman.

'Sorry for dropping in like this, but you, this pack of dragons you're with, your crews and the French just got conscripted into the Human Systems Alliance. We'll talk terms, conditions and pay once those things,'-the newcomer jerked his chin at the strange wing which was currently engaging the dagger-like shapes in a ranged fight,-'are dead.' The stranger arched an eyebrow behind the visor of his helmet. 'No questions? Good. You can air your grievances with Admiral Fletcher when we're done here.'

Laurence traded a side-on glance with Granby as another two people,-these two looking ever-so-slightly wrong in ways Laurence couldn't adequately put his finger on right at that moment, then looked at his 'recruiter.'

'I beg your pardon?' He asked, sounding more bewildered than anything else.

English Channel, 1805 concurrent.

'I'm not in the mood to be repeating myself.' Lieutenant Tiberius Kent replied. 'But, in good faith,-' Kent reversed his grip on his M-6 Carnifex so the grip was facing the fellow he'd dropped in front of, acutely aware that the dragon who's back he now stood upon was eyeing him from over the man's shoulder, watching him with a predator's wariness.

The whole situation was surreal and FUBAR but then, this greencoat probably had similar views.

'Good faith payment.' Kent explained.

'What do you mean by-' The man Kent had been addressing tried again as he gingerly accepted the Carnifex, only to be interrupted by Turset 'Tucker' Vernite, a Armiger Saboteur Kent had heard of by reputation, but never deployed with before:

'Harvester!' He shouted, before grabbing one of the straps beneath his feet.

Kent and the man he was talking with both glanced around at Tucker's call, and both immediately went for straps, the greencoat calling out as he did: 'Temeraire! Enemy to port!'

Suddenly, the dragon swivelled midair and everyone else aboard the dragon were forgetting about the strange boarders and bracing for the impact, nearly throwing Kent off and it was only with great effort that he remained on his feet in his crouch.
Then the Harvestor hit the dragon on the left shoulder and Kent found himself looking down the desiccated throat of the worm-neck.

The dragon managed to hurl the Harvester loose, but almost immediately, Kent could pick the sound of Cannibals firing below and the screams of wounded and dying men.

'Shit. Daria! Maenette! Keep those things off of us and watch for Husks. Tucker, you and I have got work to do, precision shots or short controlled bursts. Shotguns are to repel boarders only.' Kent ordered his fire team.

'What the blazes is going on?' Asked the greencoat to the left of the man who Kent was addressing.
'I'd very much like to know that myself.' Kent's greencoat added.
'You just got boarded. Again.' Kent replied.

The fellow Daria had been covering paled, before undoing his carabiners and beginning scrambling down the rigging on the dragon's left side.

Kent, for his part latched a grappling line onto the main strap running down the dragon's back, before drawing a M-12 Phalanx and abseiling down after him, while Tucker used his jump jets to manoeuvre down.

Kent hadn't known what to expect down below, but a covered net full of supplies making up a lower 'deck' hadn't been high on the list.

Said 'deck' was currently a violent melee between the men down here and five Cannibals and around seven Husks.

He swung in and retracted his grapnel before using his omni-blade to shank a Husk before it knew he was there, then gunning down a Cannibal that had just bitten one sandy-haired young man's arm off just below the elbow.

Several more men were lying dead or bleeding on the ground.

Before Kent could act further, the man who'd started scrambling down the rigging appeared and promptly shot another Cannibal through the face, before Tucker came barrelling in using his jump jets and rammed another two clear of the 'deck,' that left one more, which was currently grappling another man into submission as Husks attacked anyone else still standing.

Kent pistol-whipped one before booting it backwards until it tottered off the edge of the 'deck,' before drawing a Hornet SMG and shooting a third Husk through the back of the knee, blowing its leg off.
The man who'd rushed down promptly decapitated a fourth Husk with a cutlass, as a crewman who'd won free of the now more even melee clocked the remaining Cannibal with a hammer.

Tucker took the opening and leapt forward, knocking a man trying to keep a Husk from tearing his eyes out and his assailant down, before skewering the Cannibal between the eyes with his omni-blade, then coming up and bisecting the second to last Husk with his off-hand omni-blade as the last Husk was unceremoniously pulled off it's victim by the crew and promptly hacked to death by some of the crew down here who'd had time to draw weapons.

The man who'd scrambled down with Kent turned to him intent on questioning, but Kent was already busy, doing what he could for the wounded:

Applying medi-gel, setting broken bones bandaging injuries, whatever worked. All through this, he was attracting wary looks and sword points, which he acknowledged, but didn't let distract him from playing field medic.

'Are you going to tell me what the blazes is going on, or am I going to have to pitch you over the side?' The dark haired man asked as Kent finished bandaging one man with a strip torn from his coat.
'Telling you what's going on right now would take too long.' Kent replied. 'Suffice to say these things,'-Kent kicked one of the Cannibals that hadn't been thrown overboard yet,-'couldn't give a rat's arse if you're French, British, black, white or blue. They'll kill us all just the same. The job of me, my team, everyone else in the Alliance and now you lot, is to kill them first. Specifics can wait until later.' Kent added as one of the Harvestors went spiralling into the sea with a wing shot off before promptly exploding. 'Clear enough for you?'

The man swallowed visibly.

'Lieutenant Granby, on Temeraire.' He said extending a hand.
'Lieutenant Kent, fire team Bravo Five.' Kent replied, shaking briefly, before looking at Turset. 'Tucker, back up top. Until we're in the clear, you're on overwatch.'

Tucker didn't bother with confirmation beyond a raised fist, before he used his jump jets to ascend again.

English Channel 1805, Lily's back concurrently.

Harcourt decapitated the crime against nature that had just floored her first Lieutenant as the most recent enigma to happen on this flight punched a second one in the face so hard its head exploded.

The first that she'd known that something was up was when a wing of flying boxes had swooped over the French formation before sweeping over her own, and depositing four beings on Lily's back, two of whom looked downright outlandish, even at a glance.
Before she'd really had time to process the development, the one closest to her had pushed her Lieutenant who'd stepped in front of her aside and briefly informed her that she, her crew and the whole formation had just been conscripted, along with the French.

Then, before she'd had time to raise query or objection, some unnatural parody of a dragon had broadsided Lily from above and deposited roughly a dozen assorted monstrosities to assail her, her crew and her unwelcome passengers alike.

However, where her crew had been caught on the back foot, her uninvited 'guests' were a lot more proactive:

Having made a little room, her recruiter hurled something at the sick parody of a dragon that had latched onto Lily's side as a French Papillon Noir locked in a vicious grapple with another of the creatures fell past not three dragon lengths distant.

A plume of flame drew Harcourt's attention back to the foreground as the incendiary grenade lit the parody's back on fire, which caused it to screech high and sharp, but do little else.

Then another of her uninvited guest's arm's glowed orange briefly and the parody's back flared up anew in a fierce conflagration intense enough for the parody to flinch away from Lily, leaving deep gouges where it had latched on.

'Lily! Come on around and spray that thing if you can!' Harcourt shouted as she shot one of the red creatures in its grotesquely muscled back.

Her recruiter wasn't done yet, raising his right arm yet again, revealing an array of vicious looking knives that had deployed from the back of his gauntlet, which were promptly catapulted at tremendous speed into the retreating monstrosity.

This brief respite was enough time for Harcourt to look around and take stock:
Her formation, along with the French formation were in total disarray, fighting the unnatural creatures that had seemingly come out of nowhere with desperation.

Further back, those strange flying boxes were wheeling about as if to make a second pass, but it didn't seem they'd be making it back before the battle swung one way or the other.

As she watched, Messoria managed to catch one of her assailants in the side and proceeded to rip one of its wings clean off before letting the monstrosity fall to the ocean below, where upon impact with the water it promptly exploded as if someone had touched off a ship's powder magazine.

Her guests weren't done yet though: Her recruiter pulled a strangely proportioned carbine from his back and proceeded to fire what appeared to be a stream of light at the retreating monstrosity as Lily struggled to gain altitude.

A 'man' who had a visage reminiscent of a dragon hurled a crackling blue orb after the creature while a scarlet being with a glowing lantern in place of a head fired an arcane looking rifle at the thing.

Meanwhile, a woman clad in a suit of armour that wouldn't have looked out of place in the crusades was busy treating the injuries her crew had just sustained.

Finally, Lily had regained some height and the initial surprise of the ambush had worn off.

And presented with a clear target courtesy of a Pacheur Couronne that had just thrown one of the monstrosities off, Lily sprayed.
The grey cloud of acid hit the not-dragon all across its wings and back and made short work of it's wings and what little flesh it possessed, but taking slightly longer with corroding and melting through its metallic armour.

Not that it mattered.

Without the support of its wings, the creature fell out of the sky to detonate in the sea below.

'Don't bother standing and fighting, we've got to get above the Kosciuszko.' Harcourt's recruiter said after cocking his head to the side. 'The shuttles and Theta Wing will keep the Harvestors occupied, but we have to move.' He explained, gesturing to the gigantic 'ship' as he spoke.
'Run up the flags!' Harcourt called, but even as she said it, she saw it was unnecessary: Both formations were already fighting clear of the swarm of monstrosities as the flying boxes and those wickedly fast dart things came around for another pass.

Even so, some of the creatures tried to follow and for their trouble were shot down:

Either from concentrated fire from the dragons' backs or from cannons that had been deployed from the 'ship.'

Considering the ease with which the 'Harvestors' were shot down, even at this extreme range, Harcourt shivered as she realised that they were well within this 'ship's' kill zone.

'Cover your ears, this is going to be loud.' Advised Harcourt's recruiter.

Sure enough, as soon as the last of the dragons was over the massive ship, the flying boxes and the dagger-things broke off their harassment.

The close-quarters hadn't been kind to them and their numbers were less now, but now the 'Harvestors' were sitting out by themselves.

And without missing a beat, the guns arrayed below the two formations on the flank of the Kosciuszko began to speak in sequence, massive blasts of yellow streaking out to strike the 'Harvestors' out of the sky, more often than not simply annihilating them entirely.

Inside of a minute, there wasn't a 'Harvestor' left in the sky.

'Alright, excitement's over. I just got word from the Admiral, she wants a word, land on the deck and we'll take you to her.' The recruiter said.

Harcourt opened her mouth to object, then shrugged.

It'd be easier to do so on the ground, where Lily's bulk and protective instincts would be a more convincing argument for this 'Admiral' to come to them than any she could devise on her own.

'What about the French?' Asked Pech, one of Harcourt's lieutenants.
'You're on the same side now. I suggest you work whatever differences you have out over a drink. Odds are likely you'll be providing close support together at some stage.' Their recruiter replied, sounding distinctly indifferent to Pech's question.

Harcourt was more concerned on what they were going to do for Lily as the formation came to alight together on the flank of the massive ship, the French coming down some ways further towards the bow, where they were shortly joined by a gigantic Grande Chevalier.

Harcourt shivered.

Where had he come from? If the French had've been able to carry out their ambush as planned, who knows what sort of damage that monster could've done.
And where had Choiseul and Praecursoris gotten off to?

Those thoughts went out of Harcourt's head as her surgeon started to marshal assistants from the crew.

'Tell your Admiral that if he wants to talk, he can come up here and talk. Lily's injured and I'm not going anywhere until I'm satisfied she's stable.' She said to the recruiter.

He started, then cocked his head to the side.
'Alright, fine. But we're posting guards out here.' The recruiter rumbled in his strange accent.

Harcourt nodded. That was to be expected.
That order of business satisfied, she turned her attention to Lily, who despite the huge gashes in her side, was gazing down on her alertly while the surgeon and his assistants worked.
She approached and as soon as it was convenient, Lily lowered her head until the two were eye to eye.

'Do you know what's going on, Catherine?' Lily asked in an undertone, which was still likely perfectly audible to all within thirty metres.

Fortunately, there was a great deal of orders being shouted and arguments being had between other dragon Captains and their strange recruiters.

Catherine shook her head as a quartet of helmeted men arrived, which heralded the departure of their recruiter and his entourage.

'Lily, I haven't the foggiest.' Harcourt replied honestly.

This took a lot longer to write than it should have, owing to the fact that I couldn't figure out how to balance this, Crane's arc, Rankin's arc and the arc in China, along with other bits and pieces I've come up with that'd be fun to explore, like a primarily Blood Pack squad showing up in Russia, or a joint Alliance\Batarian team showing up in Africa during a slave raid.

In the end, I've found the solution: Use interlude chapters for those sorts of vignettes and keep the story focused on those few characters.

Thanks this time go to animefan29 and GoobyNoober for their reviews.

Also, general thanks to everyone who followed and favourited. It's always nice to see that efforts meet with approval.

Hopefully, the next update won't be so long next time.

Until then, enjoy.