fanfiction The Story of Training Flight 19, Lost on Ark Survival Evolved.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 26 Ragnarok

 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Eddie keeps repeating as he and David pick themselves off the ground from on top of the others.

“Don’t worry about it,” answers Captain Powell. “The important thing is that you two got back here when you did.”

Overhead, a brilliant light is seen engulfing one side of the now distant Earth. Over the span of an hour, it dies down to a spray of glowing molten embers that eventually engulf the entire planet turning what was once blue, white, and green into a dirty brown with glowing orange patches breaking through the turbulent clouds and flashes of lightning.

“We got out of there just in the nick of time,” reports Sargent Pasenna as he picks himself up and goes to check the console control under the Obelisk. “The portal to McChords AFB no longer exist. In fact, I don’t think that anything exist there any more.”

“Roll Call!” announces Coronal Powell. “Lets make sure that everyone made it and are OK, then we’ll help Sargent Pasenna take an inventory of what made it here with us.” One by one each rock drake and their two riders sound off as they untangle themselves from the pile in the platform, then, it is their kids and their military and civilian friends. Major Powell is soon busy treating scrapes and bruises that resulted in the mad scramble to get into the Obelisk. Fortunately, all the injuries are minor.

Next, she has a chance to ask Eddie what he went back to his camp for. “You’re one of the lucky ones to have some of your personal items from Earth.” she tells him. “Most of the rest of us didn’t have the chance to bring such items with us.” A crossbow has been brought back along with the bolts that Eddie has used for keeping the feral dogs at bay.

Captain Powell and Lt. Jerry organize a detail to craft up several temporary wood structures for storing the supplies which are then inventoried and place inside under cover. The Rock drakes are pulling security and exploration of the nearby area as the work progresses. It takes much of the day to get everything done as some early exploring and testing takes place among the group’s experts.

“Good news,” reports Major Powell after she has done some testing in the new environment. “The seawater is fresh.”

“We have an abundance of berry types here, just like we found on Aberration.” reports Private Grobbal. “Best of all, there are none of those dangerous red mushrooms present.”

“So far, there are no dangerous creatures in the area that we can’t deal with on our own,” reports Captain Shrivers.

“This is very suitable terrain for climbing and gliding,” reports Mayor after he has a quick look around.

“We’ll organize some exploration patrols once we get established here,” answers Coronal Powell. “Then, we can look for a more suitable place to establish a permanent village.”

“Do you think that there may be others survivors here with us?” ask Captain Powell. “We do have a journal from someone named Helena that was able to escape from Aberration before we arrived there. We just don’t know if they made it back to Earth or not.”

“I’m not aware of any records of a Helena or any members of her tribe ever showing up on Earth,” answers Coronal Powell. “It would certainly help with the survival of our species if they were to show up here so we could become allies in this new world.”

As that discussion is taking place, it is an interesting twist of fate that Helena and her next in command Cleo are high up on a ridge observing the activity taking place down below. They had decided to investigate a registering of activity at the Blue Obelisk. Being dressed in Gille Armor, they have remained hidden from observation for the time being.

“I’ve never seen a more organized group then this,” comments Helena. “We are in severe trouble if they have come here to attack us.”

“I’m thinking that they are refugees from the Earth,” answers Cleo. “I’m seeing some civilians working with those military personnel. They must have escaped just before that huge explosion we saw turned it into a burned up cinder. What I don’t understand is where did they get all of those rock drakes that are working with them. It would have been impossible for any of us to tame so many, let alone find that many eggs at one time.”

“This is so interesting,” answers Helena as she keep studying the rock drakes. “There appears to be a command structure among the rock drakes as well. Some have tame saddles on them but no bridles. They all appear to be doing some kind of security patrols or are hauling building materials on their own for their masters. OH! that’s incredible! Are you getting the same reading from them that I am?”

“How can they all possibly be registering as wild?” answers Cleo. “No wild rock drake has ever willingly worked with humans before. Even those few egg tames that we had were never so independent.”

“This is even more weird,” answers Helena. “This young rock drake is registering as a tribe member. He’s not wild, he’s not a tame, It’s like he is one of them.”

“The young man with him doesn’t register at all,” answers Cleo. “Neither do any of the women, three of the soldiers, and two of the men. I don’t know what that means.”

“What are you doing here spying on our friends?” a strange voice calls out from behind them.

“Helena, I think that we have rock drakes standing just behind us in stealth mode,” warns Cleo. “They are registering as wild.”

“Then, who’s voice was that?” ask Helena. “Rock Drakes can’t talk.”

“Yes, we can,” answers the same voice from the direction of the one rock drake as he uncloaks.

“Oh! My! Gosh!” a stunned Helena answers. “A wild rock drake is actually talking to us.”

“I’m Daryl. This is my mate Darlene. We didn’t know that there were any other humans living here.”

“You are most interesting,” Helena tells Daryl as she walks up to him. “Both of you register as wild rock drakes, you have tame saddles on you without the bridles, and we’re talking to each other. How is that possible.”

“Our leader formed an alliance with the humans so we could escape from Aberration before it was destroyed,” answers Daryl.

“It looks like that alliance was a good one,” answers Helena in agreement. “Did everyone make it out of there?”

“Yes, we did,” answers Daryl.

“By my last count, there were only 16 of you when my tribe made the escape after our fight with Rockwell, yet I count more then that,” answers Helena. “How is that possible?”

“Actually, there were only 14 of us left after Rockwell killed two of my friends after you left,” answers Darlene. “They helped us bring our eggs back with us. We were able to hatch them for the first time in our memory on their Earth.”

“Now, I understand your loyalty to them,” answers Helena. “Stealing and hatching rock drake eggs for tames was never a good idea. The tames that resulted were always such dumb creatures. Cleo lost hers last week when he decided to pick a fight with a Rex. He wouldn’t listen to her to just run away. You’re so much different, far more intelligent then I ever imagine. I now wish that we could have done it your way.”

“Darlene is so much more enjoyable,” answers Cleo as she goes up to pet her. “I wish Raymond could have been like her.”

“How did you end up here on Ragnarok,” ask Daryl

“We arrived here a month ago when we were able to get away from Rockwell long enough to engage the portal. It sent us to a small island lush with redwood trees. We built rafts to sail West towards a safer area due to the dangerous predators living on the mainland. We have settled in an area called Vikings Bay.”

“How did your group manage to escape from Edward Rockwell?”

“Our Captain Powell trained and organized us into attack squadrons,” answers Daryl. “We were the pilots and the two humans on us the bombers and gunners. We went in as an attack force and sank him. Then, we made a mad dash to the portal before Aberration fell apart on us.”

“How is it that you have appeared just now with all of those supplies?” ask Helena.

“The portal sent us back to Earth where we ended up in a place called Ft. Lewis.” answers Daryl. “There had been a zombie plague ten years earlier that had killed everyone there except for a few survivors. It is on the Earth where we were able to hatch our eggs, raise our kids to adulthood, and get the supplies needed to escape to here before Aberration crashed into the Earth.”

“So, that’s what caused the explosion that destroyed the Earth,” answers Helena. “You’re now trapped here with the rest of us. I’d like to go visit your commander if you are willing to take me down there to see him.”

“You can both ride on my saddle,” answers Daryl.

“If it is all right with you, I’d like to ride down on Darlene,” ask Cleo. “I’ve got to meet this Private Ledfoot she’s been telling me about. He sounds like a wonderful and caring young man.”

“Oh my,” answers Helena. “Your Darlene is already being a bad influence on one of my tribe members.”

“This is going to be so different riding on a rock drake and not having to control it every step of the way,” answers Cleo. “I wish we could have became friends with them in the past.”

“I think that we have already done so,” answers Helena as she gets on Daryl.

The discussion among the two Powells is interrupted when Coronal Powell sees Daryl and Darlene come gliding in towards them with riders. “It looks like we just got our answers about others living here,” answers Coronal Powell.

Daryl makes the introduction. “This is Helena, the author of the journal Sargent Gullivar found up on the portal campsite. Her second in command Cleo is riding on my mate. Captain Powell is in charge of operations here with his great grandson Coronal Powell in overall command.”

“I’m very impressed,” Helena answers as the both of them dismounts so the two rock drakes can head back out on watch duty.

“I’m assuming that your intentions are peaceful given that Daryl would have never brought you here if he sensed otherwise,” answers Captain Powell. “They have proven to be such loyal honorary marines that we have placed complete trust in their judgment.”

“That is so extraordinary,” answers Helena. “I wish that I had been born with better judgment of human behavior after suffering from the betrayal of Sir Edmund Rockwell.”

“Lt. Jerry sure learned that the hard way when his flight crew paid Rockwell a visit to seek his help and were wiped out by him.” answers Captain Powell. “The important thing is that we all able to escape before he had the chance to destroy Aberration and then the Earth.”

“Sargent Thomas, find Mayor, Rocky, Sargent Gullivar, and Private Grobbal and bring them over here. I want Helena to meet the people and rock drakes that made this all possible.”

“Cleo,” a voice calls out behind them. “I want you to meet Private Ledfoot, my good friend.”

“Oh my,” answers Helena. “Darlene really is a bad influence on Cleo.”

“It’s all right Mam,” answers Private Ledfoot. “She is just trying to return the favor of my nursing her back to health after her fight with Rockwell by finding me a human mate.”

“I think that I understand her plan,” answers Helena. “She want all of us to find mates together.”

“We’ll understand if you want to move more slowly then Darlene with getting our two groups together,” answers Major Powell. “We have three ladies with us that have had a very unpleasant 10 years as sex slaves to a tyrant we were forced to kill in order to free them.”

“Here comes the rest of the group for our meeting.”

“Oh, oh!” Helena tells Captain Powell. “I had a very bad experience with that rock drake and his mate over a month ago.”

“Perhaps, you two had better settle your differences before we start our meeting,” suggests Captain Powell. “Mayor is my second in command.”

“Do you know who that is standing next to you?” hisses a very upset Mayor who has flared his war bonnet in anger as he spots Helena.

“Yes I do!” answers Captain Powell in disgust. “And, I expect the two of you to find a peaceful solution to your personality conflicts before I can start this meeting!”

It is during the next 20 minutes, that starts out with an intense argument between Helena and Mayor. It then simmers down into a general conversation as Cleo and Margaret joins them. It finally ends with Helena and Cleo petting Mayor on his neck as they all walk in together. “Can I inquire what that was all about? ask Captain Powell. “It looked like Mayor was about ready to bite your head off.”

“Over a month ago, we were involved in a fight over a stolen rock drake egg,” answers Helena. “As we found out the hard way, they are very defensive over having their eggs stolen even though none of them have ever hatched in the wild. We hatched the one we had stolen from Mayor’s mate Margaret. Has we known how dumb an egg tame was going to be, we would have never taken it. It was Cleo’s tame that the Rex killed last week. It broke her heart to lose him in such a worthless fight. And, if Mayor didn’t think that this meeting wasn’t going to be so important, he would have bitten my head off in revenge for stealing Margaret’s egg.”

“It was a misunderstanding on both our parts,” apologizes Mayor.

“Thank you, both of you, for coming to terms over your differences,” answers Captain Powell. “Now, we can get down to the business of planning for our future together.”

“As you can see, we managed to escape from Ft. Lewis with a sizable amount of survival supplies before we were forced to leave early. We cannot go back. None of us can go back. Aberration crashed into the planet somewhere in the Rockies just seconds before we shut the door and activated the portal. Thirty nine of us, twenty two Rock Drakes, two old yellow labs, four Shinehorns, and four Glowtails made it here with us. We had planned to bring Joe’s goats and horses with us but were forced to abandon them when the shock wave from an explosion on Mt. Rainier spooked them to parts unknown and threaten to bury us in a massive mudslide. Sargent Pasenna has confirmed that the obelisk at McChords air base no longer exist. Given what we have observed from here, it is unlikely that there is anything left on Earth that we can ever return to.”

“A month ago, we were able to use the Portal to escape from Aberration as our warriors were engaged in a battle with Rockwell,” answers Helena. “He had just destroyed our village killing a large number of the children and elderly living there. Twenty eight of us women, one egg tame rock drake, two shinehorn bucks and two male glowtails made it to the Red Obelisk on Ragnarok. The warriors never made it as planned. We gathered what resources we had, crafted up a fleet of rafts, and hugged the northern coast line until we found what we called Vikings Bay which is East of here. We were planning on building our village on the beach in the Scottish Plains where we found wild horses and sheep, but decided against that location when we saw that there were dragons living up by the volcano. After the bad experience we had with Mayor when we stole Margaret’s egg, we decided that we didn’t want to have the dragons angry at us as well, especially after our egg tamed rock drake got killed by a T-Rex. So, we moved on to Viking Bay where we had better materials to build with to protect us from the Rexes that hunt on the high slopes up by an old abandoned castle.”

“It looks like that we both have something in common,” answers Major Powell. “We have the supplies and skilled men to get a more secure place to live constructed. You have the women and their primitive survival skill to work with the environment. Together, we can help rebuild a new civilization on this lifeboat for humanity.”

“That’s sounds like a good plan,” answers Helena.

“Then, we are all in agreement,” answers Captain Powell. “We combine our forces to work together for the good of us all.”

“Let me find Mary and Lt. Jerry so we can go visit Viking’s Bay before it gets dark. You can use Daryl and Darlene to make the trip back there saving you from a walk through the jungle. Then, we can form a plan of action for rebuilding humanity in this world.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 27. Viking’s Bay.

 

In another interesting twist of fate as this story continues, Mayor, the leader of the Rock Drake, has volunteered to take Helena and Cleo back to Viking’s Bay. “Are you sure that you want to do this?” Captain Powell ask him.

“What happened in the past between us was a complete misunderstanding,” answers Mayor. “It’s the least I can do to make up for being so angry at her.”

“Here’s Lt. Garber with Mary,” answers Captain Powell. “We’re ready to go.”

“Why did you pick Mary as your personal mount and not Mayor?” ask Helena.

“It was a command decision to work with Mary given that Sargent Pasenna was already working with Mayor,” answers Captain Powell. “Besides, had something happened to us, Mayor would still be available to take over. Working with Lt. Garber, Mary has proven herself to be a worthy combat mount in battle. I have complete confidence in her decision abilities.

“Now, I understand how you were able to defeat Rockwell without losing anyone in your command.” answers Helena. “What did Daryl mean by ‘We sank him?’”

“I trained everyone on using attack tactics that a flight squadron would have used in attacking a battleship,” answers Captain Powell. “We hit him on all sides at once until he was weakened enough for Lt. Garber on Daryl to deliver the kill shot. That’s when they sank him.”

“An interesting tactic,” answers Helena. “If they can, I’d like to get up high on the cliff so we can get a better view of this area.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Mayor tells Helena. “We can make the jump from the cliff you were on by gliding through the jungle and climbing up the high one in the interior.”

“I think that one of the men in my tribe may have known you,” Helena tells Captain Powell. “We found him ten weeks ago on Aberration in The Portal area. He mentioned flying with you on a training mission when the plane suddenly vanished from under him and he ended up there.”

“Was his name Michael Belvelto?” ask Captain Powell.

“Yes,” answers Helena.

“Somehow, he vanished from my plane on a training flight along with the cockpit door and his parachute while we were flying out to sea off the eastern Florida Coast on a training mission.” answers Captain Powell. “We never found any trace of him.”

“What happened to him on Aberration?”

“He organized the attack on Rockwell so we could escape.” answers Helena. “Unfortunately no one survived the battle that day. Rockwell must have done something to the Ark that disabled their ability to be reborn when he killed them.”

“It saddens me that such a brave man was forced to lose his life in order to save his fellow comrade. The tragedy is that his family and the world will never know of his sacrifice he made that saved so many lives in your tribe.”

During their discussion, good time is being made gliding through the jungle to reach the cliff where a waterfalls is coming down from it on the left. “It’s a good thing that Cleo and I stuck to the shoreline,” Helena tells Captain Powell. “I see quite a few high level predators living down in there.”

“That’s what I was afraid of with establishing a beach side settlement.” answers Captain Powell. “We would be at constant war with the predators trying to establish anything inland of where we are now.”

“At least, Viking’s Bay is much quieter with a large flat area for grazing and farming,” answers Cleo.

As the Rock Drakes climb up the cliff face, signs of the construction of the past inhabitants soon appear. “What’s this?” ask Captain Powell as Mary climbs up to a stone causeway. “I never knew that there were any signs of past civilization in these jungle cliffs.”

“Lets follow the causeway East,” answers Helena. “We should have a good view of the bay soon.”

Following the stone causeway, a spectacular view is seen as they look to the Northwest towards the sea. The Blue Obelisk is observed floating in all of its glory with the static electrical charges rising along the blue column as the blueish fog filters down from it.

“That looks like there is an entrance to a chamber cut into the mountainside,” reports Lt. Garber.

“Lets go check it out,” orders Captain Powell.

Dismounting the Rock Drakes, the foursome go to check out the new discovery. “It’s quite dark in there and too small for our rock drake friends to come inside,” reports Lt. Garber on his quick inspection of the entrance.

“Toss some flares in there,” orders Captain Powell. “Have your assault rifle ready just in case there is something in there that wants us for a meal.” Several flares are thrown inside, then the foursome proceed to cautiously enter the chamber which is showing man made primitive structures inside.

“Oh! How disgusting!” Cleo reports as she has to look away from the petrified body with an ax buried in the back of his shoulder lying on the floor in front of them.

“Oh frack! There are more of them in these cages,” answers Lt. Garber as he spots several cages ahead, some with victims in them. “Here’s one on a torture rack. He looks like that he was skinned alive.”

“What kind of people would do such horrible things to their captives?” ask Helena.

“It looks like the handiwork of Eric Bloodaxe,” reports Cleo who is still in shock of what she has seen. “He was a most ruthless leader of a viking tribe that came to power by killing four of his brothers at an early age.”

As they continue to explore the man made cavern, their torches light up an area with furniture arranged in place. “Oh no! This is going to make things most difficult in obtaining an alliance with the Ragnarok dragons,” warns Helena when she sees a pair of mounted dragon heads on the wall with the desk in front of it. “They are definitely going to consider us their enemy.”

“There’s a map on the wall here,” reports Lt. Garber as he light up a standing torch so everyone can better see it.

“Well, if there is one positive thing to this whole mess, we get a chance to see what Ragnarok looks like,” answers Captain Powell. “Here’s where we are at the Blue Obelisk. Here’s this room. This must be Viking’s Bay.”

“There’s a leather map in the drawer that we can take back with us,” announces Lt. Garber as he searches through the furniture.

“What’s in these crates?” ask Cleo.

“Break one open and find out,” answers Captain Powell. “If they are anything like the ones we found on the beach this morning, they will contain some useful primitive weapons.” A pike, a viking wooden shield, sword, and metal ax is found packed in the crates. Cleo takes the items before everyone heads back outside.

“What’s wrong?” Mayor asks Cleo when the foursome come back outside. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“I did,” answers Cleo. “I saw a ghost from my viking past. This island was the stronghold of Eric Bloodaxe, the most ruthless viking warrior that ever lived. We saw some of the remains of his handiwork inside. Worse yet, he had dragon heads mounted as trophies on the wall behind his war desk.”

“How will you ever form an alliance with the Ragnarok Dragons if they had been hunted for trophies in the past?” Ask Mayor.

“We don’t know,” answers Captain Powell. “All I know is that we had better be armed with plenty of tranc darts if we want to avoid having to kill any of them. We’ll just have to face that problem once they find out that we are here. From what I saw in there, I’m sure that they will consider us a to be threat to them.”

Continuing on after the shocking side trip, Viking Bay comes into view. “What a gorgeous place this is.” reports Captain Powell. “I can see why you decided to settle here.”

“Is there anything up at that castle?” as Lt. Garber.

“I don’t think so,” answers Helena. “It is occupied by hundreds of giant bats and spiders. It was just too dangerous for us to go inside to check it out.”

“I’m glad that we decided to settle here instead of up near the volcano. Now that I see just how the dragons had been treated by those vikings in the past, there is no way we could have made peaceful contact with them or stop an organized attack by them.”

“When we get your village established, we can always go send out an expedition to see just what their intentions might be when we let them discover that we are living here with them,” answers Captain Powell. “Lets go meet everybody so we can get back to our camp before dark.”

It is an interesting meeting as Helena’s tribe gathers around the two strangers and their rock drakes friends. “They register as wild?” Selina asks in puzzlement. “How is that possible that they are behaving as if they are tames?”

“Somehow, they made an alliance with them,” answers Helena. “All 14 that escaped Aberration with them register as wild. The other eight register as members of their tribe. The only reason I can figure out why that has happened is because they were naturally hatched from eggs by their parents while on Earth. What’s so amazing is all of those hatched that way are just as intelligent as their parents. We definitely screwed up by trying to raise Raymond when we should have attempted to become friends with the wild ones in the first place. When I get the chance, I will need to further study how they interact with the others and us.”

“You should be able to work with Major Powell,” answers Captain Powell. “She has already done a complete examination of them including a DNA sample that has shown her the gene that allows them to go into stealth mode. She can also fill you in on raising the youngsters and tracking their growth pattern.”

“How fast did they grow?” ask Helena.

“It was a matter of days until they reached adulthood,” answers Captain Powell.

“It was the same growth rate we observed with Raymond,” answers Helena. “What did they eat when they were growing up?”

“Drake milk, feral dog and wild pigs,” answers Captain Powell.

“That alone might explain how they became so intelligent,” answers Helena. “Raymond would only drink Nameless Venom while growing up. We couldn’t get any milk from the wild females that we had knocked out.”

“Major Powell estimates that Danny, our first born, who Darlene raised from an orphan egg, was already as smart as a nine year old when he was just our size.” answers Captain Powell. “Their metabolism was something else. Major Powell was able to obtain a tissue sample from one of the youngsters that she had to stitch up it’s foot when it sliced it open on a broken window. She said that the laceration was fully healed in less then an hour.”

“I will definitely want to talk to her,” answers Helena.

“Men, so many,” swoons Sandra as she comes over to join the continuing conversation.

“Lets just take things slowly,” answers Captain Powell. “Three of us are married with two others already spoken for.”

“You may want to add a fourth one,” answers Cleo. “Darlene has already set me up on a date with Private Ledfoot.”

“Oh Wow!” answers Helena. “She really is serious on getting the two of you together.”

“He seems like a really nice young man,” answers Cleo. “He’s a bit embarrassed by it all, yet he has been very polite to the both of us.”

“This area looks good for building an expanded settlement,” reports Lt. Garber. “Joe is going to find it interesting here. Helena’s tribe has found sheep up in the meadows East of here. They also found some interesting looking horses that are easily tamed and can be ridden bareback. We won’t need to be so reliant on our rock drake friends for our general transportation needs once we have horses.”

“Oh, it’s quite all right,” answers Mayor. “I don’t mind you using us for transportation now that we have become such good friends.”

“We consider you our friends, not our tames,” answers Captain Powell. “You need to have more time for yourselves to spend together with Margaret and Marlene.”

“You’re right,” answers Mayor. “It has been a hectic last couple of days. I’d hate to rush you. It is getting late and we should head back before it gets dark out.”

“He’s right,” answers Captain Powell to Helena. “Why don’t you pay us a visit in the morning with the rafts. We can sort out the supplies that you can bring back to the village. Then, my engineers can plan to lay out a more permanent settlement that we can get started on.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 28, The new settlement.

 

That evening, Captain Powell calls a meeting of everyone by the Blue Obelisk including all of the rock drakes. “As you know, we paid a visit to Helena’s tribe this afternoon. They are the ones that escaped from Aberration before our arrival. Unfortunately for them, maybe fortunately for us, all of their men were killed keeping Rockwell busy so they could escape to here. My gunner, Michael Belvelto, who disappeared from my plane during a training flight over the same area we did, was one of those men killed. I don’t know what that is going to mean for us or them. Most of those ladies are young just like most of you are young. I can tell you this much, we will not be going back to Earth now or ever in the foreseeable future. In spite of that, I expect everyone to be on their best behavior around them. If anyone, and I mean anyone, forces themselves on any of those young ladies, we have found a most ideal Viking’s Brig where you can spend some time cooling off in over on the ridge.”

“Speaking of that awful place, we have learned that the former occupants of this Ark hunted dragons for their trophies. Therefore, we can assume that they are going to consider us, including our drake friends, their enemy and will likely attack us on sight.”

“Helena tells me that these dragons can attack with fire, lightning, and poison at range. She even thinks that there may be some of them capable of a freeze attack. Thankfully, none of them are capable of going stealth. Keep an eye out for them when we are on exploration patrol or working on the settlement we plan to start in Viking’s Bay. I don’t want to be forced to confront them at this time, but if we have to, lets be prepared to drop them with tranc dart. When we are ready, we will go pay them a visit and see just what we are dealing with.”

“We’ll continue with our watch schedule as always. Lets be prepared for visitors in the morning from the sea. I’ll be sending a detachment with them to do a survey of the area to start construction on a permanent settlement for all of us.”

It is mid morning when Helena and Cleo come riding into camp on their horses. These are of Mongolian breeding that look like zebras with a roached mane and beard, but of much stockier build, much like a draft horse.

“Where did you find those strange looking horses?” ask Joe.

“We found them in the Scottish plains beyond Viking’s Bay,” answers Cleo. “Our scouting party brought them back last night on their rafts. They were easily passive tamed with wild carrots which we found growing in some of the abandoned gardens up there. We also found sheep grazing with them as well.”

“Excellent.” answers Joe. “Those sheep can prove most useful for providing us with wool when the time comes to replace our worn out clothes.”

“The first load of supplies, along with building materials for a temporary shed, are ready to go,” reports Sargent Pasenna.

“We’ll escort them with about half of our group and rock drake friends who will then stay in Viking’s Bay to start construction of the new camp and provide security,” reports Coronal Powell. “Major Powell, Sargent Root, Sargent Harvey, and their girlfriends will travel with them so they can set up a clinic. The rest of us will continue to secure this area and prepare more supplies for transfer. Sargent Thomas is going to be in charge of overall construction and planning with Helena’s input. We will keep in contact by radio if you need us or anything else.”

“Any news on the whereabouts of the Ragnarok Dragons?”

“Ellen observed two of them yesterday when they were out taming horses in the highlands” answers Helena. “They spotted a dark reddish fire dragon and a light gray with reddish brown trim on its wings. They appeared to be aware of our existence but looked like that they were just observing us, watching what we were doing. They followed her as far as the ridge when her group rode the horses down to the raft, but kept their distance from them.”

“To be safe, we will go in groups armed with tranc darts,” answers Captain Powell. “We’ll have some of our rock drake friends keep an eye on them if they do show up at Viking’s Bay.”

“Here comes the rafts,” announces Lt. Jerry.

“Sorry we’re late,” reports Selina. “We found some more of those abandoned crates along the shoreline with viking’s gear in them.”

“The metal pick and hatchets will be most useful for gathering construction supplies,” reports Lisa.

“Excellent,” reports Sargent Thomas. “Lets get these supplies loaded on your rafts and get going.”

With the rafts loaded, the group has split up into two teams with the larger heading escort on the rock drakes as the civilians ride the raft.

Eddie, behaving independently as usual, has taken off with his rock drake friend David up into the cliffs to explore them. They find an interesting looking canyon which contains some natural bridges of vines and a skeleton backbone crossing it. “That is so weird,” he tells David.

“I see a cave up on the cliff side near that skeleton bridge,” reports David. “Should we go explore it?”

“That sounds quite interesting,” answers Eddie. “Let me toss some flares into it so we can see inside.” As luck would have it, this cave is completely empty other then for some crystal formations and a couple of creature skeletons embedded in the rocks. Eddie dismounts from David and gathers some of the crystal to take back with him.

As they come back out, David suddenly flares his war bonnet and goes stealth. “Climb up the rock face,” orders Eddie as a T-Rex roars at them by the entrance. With Eddie hanging on to his neck for dear life, David climbs straight up out of the canyon to the top of a butte overlooking Viking’s Bay. They then glide down to where the rafts have just landed.

“Where have you two been,” Captain Powell scolds them.

“We found a cave with this crystal in it,” answers Eddie. “Then, a T-Rex chased us out of there.”

“Did you see any spider webs or cocoons in that cave?” ask Helena with concern.

“No,” answers Eddie. “It was just a small cave with some dinosaur skeletons embedded into the walls.”

“Don’t ever go cave exploring in Ragnarok without an escort!” scolds Helena. “You two were lucky you didn’t stumble across Eric’s Cavern. Had you did, you two would probably be hanging from the inside of a web totally paralyzed as you are slowly eaten alive from the inside out by the baby spiders that live in there. Audry’s expedition barely made it out of there alive when they found it yesterday. There were poison dart traps hidden in that cave everywhere. She reported seeing a live cocooned T-Rex hanging from the ceiling groaning in pain as it was being eaten alive by spiders.”

“We’re sorry,” answers Eddie. “We did find this crystal in the small cave before the T-Rex scared us out of it.”

“If you want to be of any help, go back up on that small butte you came down from and keep a watch out for any dragons,” orders Captain Powell. “And, stay on David so he can keep you safe from any of the giant eagles that may be living up there nearby.”

“They really got mad at us for going into that cave,” Eddie tells David as they head back up to the butte.

“They were probably right,” answers David “We have no idea what could be in these caves. Besides, being paralyzed and eaten alive by giant baby spiders is not my idea of having a fun time.”

“I don’t care for that either,” answers Eddie. “Anyhow, it’s such a nice view of the bay and surrounding area. I can see a long ways from up here with this spotting scope. There’s two of those dragons way in the distance. They are just too far away to register what they are in the spotting scope.”

There is suddenly a rustling sound as heavy claws scrape at the rocks on the slope from below them. “Cleo, what are you and Darlene doing up here?”

“We decided to volunteer for dragon watch after Private Ledfoot was assigned to survey duty,” answers Cleo. “Anyhow, it was a good excuse for me to spend some time with Darlene. She’s been so wonderful to be with.”

“I know what you mean,” answers Eddie. “David is such a good rock drake friend.”

“We’ll were off to the other butte nearby,” answers Cleo. “Give me a yell on the radio if you see something.”

“I’ll do that,” answers Eddie. “You and Darlene have a good time together. Keep a watch beyond the castle. I saw two dragons flying over there in the distance half an hour ago.”

“Were they white and dark reddish brown?” ask Cleo.

“Yes,” answers Eddie.

“I saw them the other day when Raymond was killed by that T-Rex,” answers Cleo. “They seemed more curious of us rather then being a threat.”

Down below, the survey has been completed under the supervision of Coronal Powell and Helena. Areas have been laid out for the living quarters and common area. A temporary wooden fence is under construction to be later replaced with more permanent structures. So are storage barns by the newly constructed dock for placing the supplies in that are now being ferried by raft and several of the rock drakes. A farming area has been set aside near the water South of the rock entrance. A large pen and taming pens are planned in the large flat area to the North.

“If things keep running this smoothly, we can have everything over here in two days,” reports Sargent Thomas.

“Alert!” warns Silvia. “We have a T-Rex coming out of the western jungle. It’s heading this way.”

“We’ll take care of this,” answers Sargent Thomas as he and Sargent Pasenna get on Mayor and Margaret with their escort gunners.

Heading out to the Rex in stealth mode, the two rock drakes proceed to flank the now confused T-Rex that is trying to find them. “Rockets,” orders Sargent Thomas to the gunners. Two rockets later and the threat is over.

“This is interesting,” comments Sargent Pasenna as his crew and the two rock drakes proceed to butcher the carcass. “A metal pike, some armor, berries, and arrows. How do these apex predators collect all of this stuff?”

“It must be from them killing and eating the previous inhabitants,” answers Helena who has come out to check on the kill. “We found all kinds of stuff on the Carnos and Spinos on Aberration.”

“We found the same thing on some of the raptors and other creatures that were killed in battle,” answers Sargent Thomas. “Lets get a crew out here to haul back all of this meat for us and our rock drake friends.”

“Get some fires going,” orders Helena as she returns to the campsite. “We have raw prime that needs cooking before it spoils.”

Before they can get done with the butchering, there is another interruption as a warning comes from the dock area that a whale size fish has gone after one of the supply rafts. “Beach it in the shallows,” orders Joe who is sailing a raft nearby. They both ram the raft into the shallows as the Leed charges in behind them beaching itself as well while trying to bite one of the raft a second time.

As everyone rushes over to the raft with their weapons, Mayor comes gliding over landing on the Leed’s back, digging in all four claws as he starts biting it behind the head. “Melee weapons only!” orders Captain Powell as his men rush over to help out Mayor. The Leed gets its eyes poked out, then it is stabbed repeatedly with the pike poles until it is killed.

“Mayor, You’re crazy,” Captain Powell tells him. “That thing could have drowned you.”

“It’s all right,” Mayor answers. “We can swim quite well.”

“There’s Megalondon sharks in these waters,” warns Helena. “They’re as big as you are and tend to attack in wolf packs. You would not stand a chance against them if they caught you in deep water. Lets get this thing butchered before they show up to harass us.”

“We’ll never get all of this raw prime fish cooked,” warns Audrey as they work on butchering the giant prize.

“At least, we are going to be well supplied with hide for a long time,” answers Joe McDonald. “I’ve never seen so much quality hide from one creature, especially from a fish.”

“I’ll radio Lt. Tylor that we are all set here for the night,” reports Coronal Powell. “We have more then enough work here to keep us busy for the rest of the evening.”

As everybody is settling in for the evening, David and Darlene come gliding back to the camp without their riders. “What’s wrong,” Private Ledfoot ask Darlene when he sees the worried look on her face.”

“Cleo and Eddie took off flying on those two dragons that have been watching us ever since we got here,” answers Darlene.

“Oh! My! Gosh!” answers Helena in alarm. “That white one is an Alpha. No one has ever managed to get close to an alpha and live to tell about it let alone ride on one. Tranc darts won’t stop an attacking one either. I pray that they are going to be all right after we saw those trophy heads yesterday.”

“All we can hope for is their safe return,” answers Captain Powell. “It’s too dark and dangerous out there now to go looking for them now. Besides, those dragons can fly and our rock drakes can’t. We’ll send out some patrols in the morning to go look for them.”

[rpicardi1]

 

Chapter 29, The Ragnarok Dragons.

 

“Eddie, get over here now!” Cleo radios to him in alarm.

“What’s wrong?” Eddie ask.

“The Ragnarok Dragons, they are a lot closer to us then they were a couple of minutes ago,” Cleo answers.

“Lets get over there,” Eddie tells David. With a flying leap, David is over to the larger butte with Darlene and Cleo. They quickly get close to each other as they observe the two dragons flying closer to their location.

“I’m scared,” Darlene tells Cleo as she goes into stealth mode.

“Be brave, both of you,” answers Eddie as David goes stealth as well.

“Hold your position,” Cleo orders as the two rock drakes now so badly want to get out of there. “Lets see what their intentions are before we do anything.” The two frightened rock drakes are pressed tightly against each other as the two dragons come into land of the far side of the butte.

They are soon talking to each other.

“Are you sure that those humans are not the vikings?” ask the male.

“They only have rafts, not longboats,” answers the alpha female. “Did you see how quickly they killed that attacking T-Rex? And those rock drakes working with them, they have no bridles to control them. Then, that one just leaped onto that Leed that was chasing one of their rafts.”

“That is so unusual,” answers the male. “We’re close enough now to see that they do not register as tames. The one that attacked the Leed seems to be in charge of the other rock drakes, even the humans that are talking to him. They are nothing like that egg tame that got itself killed the other day.”

“I still don’t know,” answers the female with a tear in her eye. “I so miss my Melvin when those awful vikings killed him and cut his head off.”

“I know, it was so long ago when they killed my Trixie the same way,” answers the male back. “I really miss her.”

“Oh no,” whispers Cleo to Eddie. “Their mates were the ones that became the trophies in the viking’s war room. How can we possibly make friends with them now?” The two dragons continue talking to each other as they move closer to where Eddie and Cleo are.

“Steady David,” Eddie whispers to him. “I don’t want you getting into a fight with them.” The two dragons come even closer as they continue talking to each other about the humans and their rock drake allies down below in the village.

“David, NO!” Eddie yells at him as he jumps off of his frightened rock drake to get in front of him.

“Awk!” the alpha female dragon goes as she freezes in fear of suddenly seeing a human so close to her. David comes out of stealth with his war bonnet up full and hisses at her causing her to take a step back in fright.

“David, calm down!” Darlene yells at him as she comes out of stealth mode. “You’re scaring them.” Everyone is now staring at each other, not knowing what they should do next.

Eddie makes the first move by getting back on David and starts stroking his neck to calm him down and get him to lay backs his feathers. Both dragons are also starting to relax some as they resume talking to each other about the strangers now facing them. With David finally settling down, Eddie gets back off of him and looks at the female fire dragon. “Do you have a name?” he asks her.

She hesitates for a moment as she is still frightened by the encounter. Then, she answers. “I’m called Tammy. My friend with me is Tarmac.”

“It’s all right Tammy,” Eddie answers back. “I know that you’re still frightened of us. We won’t harm you as long as you don’t do anything to harm us. Everyone, be brave. Let us get used to each others presence.”

“How is it that David doesn’t register as wild or tame?” ask Tammy after they have spent several minutes looking at each other. “Why does Darlene register as wild even though she has a tame saddle on her with no bridle? Why do you not register at all when Cleo registers as being a member of the tribe of Helena?”

“Darlene is one of our rock drake friends from the Aberration Ark,” answers David. “She became our friend of her own free will. David is Doris’s son. He was hatched and raised by her on Earth. I’m from the Earth. We escaped to Ragnarok using the portal when Aberration crashed into the Earth destroying its environment.”

“A rock drake was hatched naturally by his own mother,” Tarmac tells Tammy. “Maybe that’s why he register as a tribe member and not as an egg tame. He’s nothing like that egg tame that we saw get killed the other day. He’s as smart as the rest of the rock drakes. That has never happened before in our dragon world.”

“We have to learn more about these humans,” answers Tammy. “They are definitely not like those vikings in the past. Especially Eddie, who is brave enough to not run off when his rock drake friend is so willing to protect him from harm.”

“Can I come up to pet you?” ask Eddie, who has been comforting David by petting him on the neck.

“Oh, I guess so.” answers Tammy. “You have peaked my curiosity as to why your David is enjoying it so.” She is hesitant to have Eddie get so close to touch her as he carefully approaches her. but when he finally does, she breathes a sigh of relief and lays down. “That really feel good,” she tells Eddie. “Now, I understand why your rock drake friends are so willing to work with you humans. Tarmac, it’s your turn to be petted.”

“Go ahead Cleo,” Eddie tells her. “Let Tarmac get used to you being so close to him before you pet him.”

“You’re right,” Tarmac tells Tammy as he lays down next to her. “That does feel good.”

“It looks like our first contact with the Ragnarok Dragons is going well,” David finally tells Darlene. “I was so afraid that I was going to have to fight them to protect the rest of us.”

“That was quite understandable,” Tammy tells David. “We didn’t know what to expect either.” It isn’t long before both rock drakes are laying down next to the two dragons as they are all engage in conversation about their first contact with each other.

“Such remarkable creatures,” comments Eddie after they have been with the dragons, talking to them for the past half hour. “I’m glad that we held our ground when they landed here to determine that they were just curious about us and not hostile.”

“I’m glad too,” answers Cleo. “Tarmac is a lot like my Raymond, but so much smarter. He has already told me so much about this place then I ever knew on my research on that awful Eric Bloodaxe and his conquests.”

“Would you like us to take you on the grand tour of Ragnarok?” Tammy asks Eddie. “David says it is quite enjoyable having you humans ride on him.

“I thought that you would never ask,” answers Eddie as he hugs her around the neck.

“What should we do,” ask David. “There is no way we can keep up with you once you go flying on your new dragon friends.”

“Why don’t you two go ahead and head back to the village,” answers Eddie. “We no longer have to keep watch for the Ragnarok Dragons. We’ll be back in a while.”

“How do we get on you to ride you?” Eddie asks Tammy as the two rock drakes glide back to the village below.

“I don’t know,” answers Tammy. “No human has ever ridden on me before. I guess that you do so the same way that you get on David,”

“I’ll take it easy with you until we know how this works,” answers Eddie.

Eddie carefully gets up on Tammy as Cleo gets on Tarmac. “They seem to have a natural saddle on their shoulder,” Cleo tells Eddie. “I now understand why the dragon riders of the past preferred riding them bareback. It feels quite comfortable sitting on Tarmac.”

“It does feel quite comfortable having you sitting on me,” Tarmac tells Cleo. “Where shall we go.”

“You’re in charge,” answers Cleo. “Lets see what Ragnarok look likes from high up in the sky.” The two dragons take off in formation and fly for the clouds.

“Eddie,” Tammy tells him with surprise. “This is so unexpected. It feels so natural having you ride on me.”

“I’m happy that you are finding it so enjoyable.” answers Eddie. “It’s going to help us form an alliance with my friends back in our new village.”

“This place is so vast,” Cleo tells Tarmac as she observes the surrounding. “I can see Viking’s Bay, the castle, the volcano where I first saw you two near the giant forest, and the Scottish Plains.”

“I see what looks like a desert and rugged mountains in the distance,” reports Eddie. “What is over there?”

“We don’t know,” answers Tammy. “After we lost our mates we have sort of kept to ourselves up near the volcano.”

“That’s too bad,” answer Eddie. “You two need to be with your other dragon friends.” Flying high up in the clouds, the foursome continue on their exploration flight that takes them over the Scottish Plains and the edge of the Redwood Forest.

“What happened to the time?” ask Cleo after they have been flying for a while. “It’s already starting to get dark down below.”

“Should we fly you back to your village?” ask Tarmac.

“No,” answers Cleo. “We better find some place to stay out here for the night. Only David and Darlene knows that you are not a threat to the others. They have some dangerous weapons among their military command. They know what happened to your mates and are concerned that you will consider them as a threat. We should wait until morning so we don’t frighten them and accidentally get into a fight.”

“You’re right,” answers Tammy. “I saw just how quickly they eliminated that T-Rex threat to them, then took out that Leed. Lets fly over to the World Scar and find a nesting cove where it’s safe and warm. It can get quite cold in Ragnarok during the night.”

Gliding down, the two dragons reach the high end of the scar and land by an abandoned nest. It is very hot by the cliff side but is quite comfortable in the alcove with the nest.

“How come you two haven’t become mates after losing yours to the Vikings?” ask Cleo as they continue talking to each other late into the evening.

“We don’t know,” Tarmac answers back. “We have always left our flock and gone celebrant whenever one of us has ever lost a mate.”

“But, you both have something in common,” answers Eddie. “Even though you have both lost your mates and gone into exile, you have been staying with each other.”

“If there is one thing that I have learned from my father after he lost his first wife to breast cancer, you go through your period of grief, then, you get on with your life. “My mother had lost her first husband to a terrible accident. Eventually, the two of them started dating each other, got married, and had me.”

“I never thought of it that way,” answers Tammy. “We would not be violating any of our customs since neither of us has a mate any more. Tarmac, what do you think?”

“I think that Eddie has become our match maker,” answers Tarmac. “If you are willing, lets see what happens between us tonight.”

“I promise not to look,” answers Eddie. That has everybody laughing including an embarrassed Cleo.

It is 2 in the morning when both Cleo and Eddie are awakened by two dragons that come over to snuggle next to them. “You’re mate boosted,” Cleo answers as she checks her Specimen Implant. “Good for you.”

“We don’t know why we didn’t get together after losing our mates so long ago,” both dragons tell Cleo as everybody settles back to get some sleep.

Back in the village, it has been a fitful night as an extra watch has been added to the rotation. Two dragons had been observed that evening flying high in the sky away from the village towards the volcano, but nothing else had been seen since.

“We better get some patrols set up to look for them,” orders Coronal Powell as the sun rises over on the east shore of the bay.

Then, a report comes in over the radio from one of the temporary outposts. “There are two dragons heading this way from the volcano. It looks like they have someone riding on them.”

“Hold your fire,” a radio message comes back from Cleo. “These dragons are our friends. Let us land outside the village. Have Helena and Coronal Powell come out to see us on Mayor and Margaret. These dragons are still unsure about the rest of us so try not to frighten them.”

“Is that white one an Alpha?” ask Helena as they come flying in.

“It sure is,” answers Coronal Powell. “It’s even mate boosted. Eddie of all people is riding on her. Cleo is on her mate. Here they come in to land. Lets get on Mayor and Margaret and go see them up close and personal.”

Mayor walks up to the two dragons with Margaret close behind, but no one knows what is being said in dragon speak. Then, he tells Helena and Coronal Powell to rub their forehead when they come up to them. “It must be a form of a greeting I knew nothing about,” answers Helena as she goes to pet Tammy. “Oh! She is really nice. Eddie, How were you able to make such good friends with her.”

“We just had to do it one step at a time,” answers Eddie. “They were really frightened by us when we first saw them up close.”

“His friend David was so frightened of us that he was going to take us both on to defend them,” answers Tammy. “Eddie took control of the situation in total disregard for his own safety.”

“I wanted this to work out for all of us,” answers Eddie.

“How did an Alpha get mate boosted?” ask Helena.

“Those were their mates we found in the viking’s war room.” answers Cleo. “Eddie was able to talk them into getting together with each other.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry after seeing what Eric Bloodaxe did to your mates.” answers Helena.

“We know that your tribe was not responsible for what those Vikings did to them,” answers Tarmac.

“Wow, you ladies had better stay away from Eddie,” answers Coronal Powell in jest. “He’s a smooth talker and a match maker.”

“Just kidding, Eddie. Good job in establishing a peaceful relationship with these two dragons in spite of what had happened to their mates.”

“Tammy, Tarmac, is there anything we can do for you?”

“Just being our friends will be reward enough,” answers Tammy.

“David, Darlene,” both Eddie and Cleo say in surprise as they come up to see the two dragons again to say hello. “What a surprise.”

“How was the ride?” ask David.

“It was great,” answers Eddie. “It was like flying on an ultralight aircraft back on Earth. We were way up in the clouds as the sun set.”

“OK, I guess,” a sad looking David answers back.

Eddie has to think for a moment before he talks to David. “Tammy, I don’t wish to disappoint you, But, David is still my best dragon friend.”

“I understand,” answers Tammy. “It was never my intention to take you away from your best friend David. I’m really interested in learning more about Helena. I’ve been watching her tribe from a distance ever since they showed up on Ragnarok. Her tribe has done well surviving the challenges of this place. Helena, come ride on me so I can show you more of Ragnarok.”

“I’m speechless,” Helena tells Coronal Powell. “No wild dragon has ever asked anyone to ride on them before let alone an Alpha.”

“You better take her up on her offer,” answers Coronal Powell. “Saline can help handle things here in your absence.”

“It looks like we are going to be gone for quite a while,” answers Helena as she gets up on Tammy and they talk to each other for a couple of minutes. “I’ll update this map for us while we are out exploring.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 30. We are attacked.

 

With Helena and Cleo out exploring Ragnarok, the construction on the village continues on. About half of the supplies have been moved the past couple of days into temporary sheds. “We should have the move completed by tomorrow evening,” Sargent Pasenna tells his crew.

Eddie and David have gone back up to the butte to continue to watch for Dragons given that no one knows how many more are out there or if they have been given the word that the latest visitors to Ragnarok are not a threat to them. Before leaving, Tammy has told Captain Powell that she would be looking for the other Ragnarok Dragons to spread the word that they are not the vikings.

“Yesterday was so interesting,” Eddie tells David. “You were so brave in your effort to protect us.”

“I was scared out of my wits,” answers David. “I now realize that Tammy could have beaten the crap out of me if she had wanted to.”

“That’s all right David,” Eddie tells him. “The important thing is that they are now our friends.”

Judy soon climbs up on the butte with a stranger riding on her. “What a surprise,” answers Eddie. “Who’s your friend that you brought with you?”

“I’m Lisa,” the young lady answers. “I want to know more about how you and Cleo became such good friends with the wild dragons.”

“It was scary at first,” admits Eddie. “But, it was great flying on Tammy. We were soaring high in the clouds above. You could see for miles from high up in the sky.”

“Wow,” answers Lisa. “Do you think that there are more of them out there?”

“I’m pretty sure there are,” answers Eddie. “Helena will probably find them as she rides on Tammy to go exploring Ragnarok.”

“I sure hope so,” answers Lisa. “Before the force field failed on Aberration and ended up killing them, they looked like they were such good flying mounts.”

“That is such a crying shame,” answers Eddie. “Tammy was so enjoyable to fly on. At least the rock drakes made it out of there alive with their eggs. I’m interested to see what this world will look like once the village is finished and we can go exploring again.”

“Me too,” answers Lisa. “Oh, oh! I see two purplish dragons flying straight towards the village. They don’t look friendly in the spotting scope.”

“You have incoming,” warns Eddie as he radios Captain Powell from the butte. “I don’t know what kind of dragons they are. They are heading straight towards you in attack mode.” Both Eddie, Lisa, and the two rock drakes watch in horror as both dragons unleashes lightning bolts that blast apart two of the housing units, then sets them on fire.

“Tranc darts!” orders Captain Powell as his men drop what they are doing and form up behind another housing unit. The second dragon is circling around aiming for one of the supply barns when it gets 10 darts to its neck. With a squawk of surprise, it hits the ground unconscious sliding into the barn demolishing it and scattering the supplies everywhere.

As the first dragon circles around to attack again, it suddenly hesitates when he sees his mate fall out of the sky into the supply shed. Coming in to land, he finds himself upside down, pinned to the ground, when an angry Mayor and Rocky body slam him from above and start hissing in his face.

“Hog tie that female before she wakes up,” orders Captain Powell. “I don’t want to be forced into killing either one of them.”

“Can we get a hold of Helena on the radio?” ask Sargent Thomas.

“Never mind, here she comes now,” as Captain Powell spots the white alpha dragon coming in fast with a rider on her.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” the male lightning dragon is now telling Mayor as two more rock drakes pile on top of him, pinning his wings to the ground along with his neck and tail.

Tammy lands close by and heads directly over to the pinned male. “Why did you attack this village,” she ask him in an angry voice.

“I thought they were the vikings,” the frightened male whimpers back.

“Well, they are not!” Tammy tells him sternly. “And, I expect you to apologize to these humans and their rock drake friends when they finally decide to let you get back up.”

“Anybody hurt?” ask Helena as she gets off of Tammy.

“No, Eddie warned us just in time that they were coming in on attack mode,” answers Captain Powell.

“What about the other lightning dragon?” ask Helena.

“She’s out cold,” answers Captain Powell “The tranc darts did their job of safely dropping her out of the sky.”

Eddie and Lisa are now back with their drake friends to find out what has happened. “Anyone hurt? He asks.

“No,” answers Sargent Thomas. “Only these three building were destroyed. They can easily be replaced.”

“What kind of dragons are these?” ask Lisa.

“They are lightning dragons,” answers Helena. “Like a bolt of lightning from a storm, they can do a lot of damage to whatever their electrical discharge hit.”

“Mayor, Rocky, Lady Rocky, Margaret, let him get back up,” orders Captain Powell. “I think that he has learned his lesson about blindly attacking something without knowing what he is getting himself into.” The four drakes step back off the still shaking lightning dragon who then gets back up and continues apologizing to everyone.

“Come on over to your mate,” orders Helena. “She is going to be scared out of her wits once she wakes up from the effects of those tranc darts.”

Lisa has gone over by the female, stroking her on the forehead as she starts coming to. “Oh, my head,” the female says as she opens her eyes to look at Lisa with her mate standing right behind her. “What happened?”

“We made the mistake of attacking these humans,” answers the male. “They knocked you out with tranc darts. I had four wild rock drakes tackle me from above and pin me to the ground. They are all friends of these humans including Tammy and Tarmac.”

“Don’t try to get up until the effects of the tranc darts wears off and I have untied you,” orders Lisa as Captain Powell gives her permission to untie the restraints on her legs.

“Do you two have names?” ask Helena.

“I’m Electra,” answers the female as the trancs continue to wear off. “My mate is Tesla.”

“You can go ahead and get back up,” Lisa tells her as she finishes removing the ropes that were securing her legs together. “Just take it easy for a while until you are feeling better.

“Here comes five more dragons,” warns Sargent Pasenna. “Two of them are green in color.”

“Stay with these two,” Helena orders Lisa. “The Ragnarok Dragons are starting to find out where we are.”

“We’re safe,” reports Captain Powell as he places the spotting scope on the leader. “Cleo is escorting them in on Tarmac.” Helena and Tammy go over to them, along with the two newcomers and the four rock drakes, as the five land outside of the village to talk.

“Tesla, what happened to you?” ask the poison male “You look like you went through hell.”

“I made the mistake of attacking this village,” answers Tesla. “These rock drakes knocked me out of the sky.”

“You are lucky to be alive,” answers the poison male. “I lost two of my friends when we attacked that Viking village down in the southern canyon. They got impaled with large iron arrows shot at them when they flew in to attack.”

“I know,” answers Tesla. “These humans dropped Electra out of the sky with something they called tranc darts before their rock drake friends tackle me from above. They could have so easily killed the both of us but they didn’t.”

“We know what the vikings had done to your kind,” answers Helena. “We have seen their handiwork over in their war room. No one here wants to harm you. Can we declare your attack on us as a misunderstanding and become friends?”

“Yes” answers Tesla. “Can I ask you a question? Where did you find wild rock drakes to have as your friends? I’ve never seen them before on Ragnarok.”

“They come from the Aberration Ark,” answers Helena. “They ask Captain Powell for his help to escape from there. Then, they came here with them when the Earth was destroyed by the Aberration Ark crashing into it.”

“That is most interesting. What can we do to help you to repair the damage?” ask Tesla.

“Can you help ferry supplies for us from the Blue Obelisk to here?” ask Captain Powell.

“We can do that,” all the dragons answer back.

“Thank you,” Captain Powell tells them. “I’ll radio over to Joe to tell him that additional help is on the way.”

“I’d like to ride over there on Electra if she will let me,” ask Lisa.

“I’ll let you ride on me,” Electra tells Lisa.

“Go ahead,” Helena tells her. “You always wanted to ride on a dragon over in Aberration. If she’s anything like Tammy, she will enjoy having you riding on her.”

“Thank you so much,” Lisa answers back as she gets on her.

“Helena is right,” Electra tells Lisa. “This is quite enjoyable.”

“I’m so happy that you are enjoying this,” answers Lisa. “It will help us all become good friends.”

“That’s great,” Joe answers on the radio when he gets the good news that the Ragnarok Dragons want to help move the supplies to the village. “We’ll rig up loads that they can carry using their feet. If this works out, we should have everything out of here by late afternoon.”

“How much can they carry?”

“Lets limit the loads to 300 pounds for now,” answers Captain Powell.

“We’ll have the first ones ready to go when they arrive,” answers Joe.

Lisa is the first one there on Electra as she guides her in to show the others how to pick up the sling of supplies for the return flight.

The transfer process goes well as the six dragons start transferring the loads as if they were supply drones. They fly in over to each sling where Joe places the loop over the claw of the rear leg as they hover over it. Then, they are off to the village where they place the load by the shed that is being rebuilt.

“This is really going well,” Joe tells his group. “Those dragons seem to be enjoying this.” By late afternoon, the last of the supplies are transferred with the heavier items being placed on the rafts sailing back to Viking Bay.

“Can we hitch a ride?” Joe ask Lisa when she comes back.

“Ask our new friends,” answers Lisa. As the dragons land, Joe, with the four crew members left, pick a dragon and get on them for a new adventure.

“Thank you for your help,” Joe tells Tesla as he gets on him.

“It was the least we could do to make up for accidentally attacking your village,” answers Tesla.

They fly back to quite a sight as twenty more Ragnarok Dragons are seen in the new village with Helena and Cleo. “They had to come see for themselves,” reports Helena. “We even found a pair of frost ones up by the Murder Snow.” Everyone has gone out there to see them. The 20 newcomers are enjoying all of the unusual attention.

“This is so wonderful,” Sandy tells Tammy. “I never knew that being around humans could be so enjoyable.”

“It is such a welcome change from being hunted by them in the past,” answers Watson.

Major Powell and Helena spend the next hour recording a record of each dragon for their research. The dragons agree to let them get a blood sample and DNA swab. The records includes the type, sex, name, and a brief history of any past encounters with humans on Ragnarok. “I now understand why they were living in the southern region,” reports Helena. “The area was too hot or rugged for the vikings that were living here to harass them.”

“Tammy mentions of a barrier that used to exist similar to the force field that is out far to sea.” answers Helena. “She tells me that it kept the vikings away from them during the time they were being hunted by them. That is probably why we had only seen Tammy and Tarmac before finding the rest of them today.”

“There is some really beautiful terrain on this Ark especially to the south. There are abandoned settlements over there that are not viking that we are going to need to explore in the future.”

“The dragons are going to be leaving to go back to their homes for the night,” reports Cleo. “I told Tammy and Tarmac that they should go back with them to reestablish their friendships. They said that they will come back to see us in a couple of days.”

“This has been a most productive day,” reports Captain Powell. “Our temporary housing should be complete in a day or two, then we can start on the permanent settlement, get our pasture area secure, and establish our farming area.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 31 Our New Home.

 

“What remarkable creatures these flying dragons are,” Helena comments to Captain Powell at their evening meeting.

“I’m glad that Eddie was able to establish a peaceful relationship with them,” answers Captain Powell. “Given the damage that Electra and Tesla did to the village, they would have been a formidable force to deal with in a coordinated attack.”

“At least they were good sports about it once they learned that we were not their enemy,” responds Lisa.

“Tammy was so remarkable,” answers Helena. “Eddie was so fortunate to get on her good side especially after knowing what Eric Bloodaxe had done to her first mate.”

“In the morning, we need to enroll Eddie into the Marines.” answers Captain Powell. “We’ll start him out with some basic training and give him the discipline he has been lacking when he takes off on his own. Maybe enroll David into the corp as well so the both of them can stay out of trouble in the future.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Coronal Powell chimes in. “It’ll give both of them a purpose in this new society we are going to be creating on Ragnarok. In the morning, we draft Eddie and David into the Marine Corp.”

“These Dragons are really interesting,” reports Major Powell as she discloses her examination results. “Technically, they are not true dragons in the sense that they would have four legs and wings. These dragons are classified as wyverns. While I can understand how the fire, lighting, and poisons are able to generate and deploy their attack weapons, I do not understand how Sandy and Sammy are able to use their freeze attack without being frozen by it themselves. It is as if they are spraying their target with some kind of freezing liquid.”

“I’m thinking that they might be using liquefied carbon dioxide as their weapon,” answers Sargent Root. “That can be stored as a liquid under pressure at room temperature. When that pressure is released as it is sprayed on something it instantly freezes whatever it touches.”

“That would seem biologically logical,” answers Major Powell. “I could easily test for that the next time that I see them.”

“How have your sessions with Barbara, Jenny, Silvia and Masucci been coming along?” ask Captain Powell.

“The ladies have been recovering quite well,” Major Powell reports. Barbara and EM Masucci have even started dating together. He has been kind and understanding about what she had gone through being Harry’s slave. Jenny and Silvia have been a bit more cautious about getting involved with anyone. I’m happy to say that your men have been understanding of what they have gone through. At least they are no longer frightened about what they had went through and are willing to share those unpleasant experiences with us and each other.”

“The transfer through the portal and this Ark has reversed all signs of EM Masucci’s exposure to his smoking, drinking, and his bar maid chasing, the latter evidence by his behavior around Barbara. The damage the exposure to those powerful low frequency EMR had done to his body is slowly healing up. He is responding quite well to his PTSS. I believe that his involvement with Barbara has been good therapy for what the two of them went through.”

“All four of them have taken an interest in our new dragon friends and would like to spend some time with them if they are willing to do so.”

“I’ll ask Tammy when she and her dragon friends come back to visit us,” Helena answers in return.

“We should consider setting up an outpost to shepherd the wild sheep up in the Scottish Highland rather then bringing them back here and confining them to the pens.” reports Joe. “They would be better off being wild and protected from predators then being confined where we would have to constantly gather food for them. Cleo has told me that they can be easily captured and restrained for sheering as needed.”

“That would work out well,” answers Sargent Thomas. “We could periodically send patrols along their borders to eliminate any predator threat in their grazing land. The Rock Drakes and Dragons can then feed on the nearby predators to keep them under control. We can also establish an overnight outpost to keep watch on them on a rotating basis and leave some tamed horses out there as well.”

“There is also some abandoned cropland in the same area with good soil,” reports Cleo. “With some fencing to keep the grazing animals out and an application of fertilizer, which we can easily create using compost bins, we could be growing Savroot, Rockarrots, and other crops for our use.”

“When we get the village completed, we can look into starting the two farming projects in the Highlands,” answers Captain Powell. “It’s been a long and interesting day. I’m turning in for the night. Everyone will get an assignment in the morning after we officially draft Eddie and David into the Marine Corp.”

It is the following morning after breakfast that Captain Powell announces that he is drafting Eddie and David into the Marine Corp. On Helena’s suggestion, Lisa and Judy are also drafted. Sargent Gulliver has been assigned the training duty.

It is quite an interesting morning for those four as the two teens are dressed in army fatigues with the rock drakes wearing a makeshift sash on their neck. Sargent Gulliver starts their training by putting them through some marching drills, some PT exercises, and gives them some history about the old Marine Air Corp of the 40s and its role in WW2. Lisa is questioning the role of women in the Corp until Coronal Powell pays them a visit to explain how things have changed since the 40s. He tells them the history of the corp since the 40s up until the present. The two rock drakes have found it interesting doing the PT and marching drills.

The afternoon is spent with target training while riding on the rock drakes using crossbows with blunt arrows on targets. Lady Rocky is along with Sargent Gulliver to show them some of the tactics they used when training to attack Rockwell. Similar to what happened when Daryl and Darlene first developed the tactic, there are a couple of mid air collisions until the two young rock drakes have figured it out. As soon as the tactic has been learned, it is live fire with the crossbows on straw targets.

Having used them before Eddie is quick to pick up on using the crossbow on both stationary and moving targets while riding. Lisa take a bit longer as she has not trained on the use of those weapons while riding. They both finish up the early afternoon with target practice while riding, then gliding on their rock drake friends. They are then given the rest of the day off with a notice that they will all be pulling guard duty during the night.

“How is it going,” Captain Powell ask Sargent Gulliver.

“They are progressing quite well,” Sargent Gulliver answers. “Our new recruits will become Marines in no time.”

“We’ll we will see if they can stay out of trouble when on guard duty tonight.” answers Captain Powell. “I’d would love to test them in actual air to ground combat when Electra and Tesla come back to visit. It would make taking down a T-Rex much safer if we can use their lightning attack on one in addition to our ranged weapons.”

“I’ll have to see of our dragon friends are willing to cooperate in such an experiment when they do return,” answers Helena. “It would give us the chance to test out their offensive abilities and fine tune them to maximum effectiveness for both of our benefits.”

“I saw some really dangerous creatures out there on my survey flight on Tammy that she told me they are very afraid of. There is a gigantic mountain of a sauropod that could smash this village flat with ease. Fortunately, it is a herbivore so is normally not a threat unless provoked. However, she says that they are extremely stupid. She saw one walk off into the water and drown. It swam like a rock. If we are ever attacked by one, all we have to do is to taunt it into following us into the water where it will drown”

“The two they fear the most are the Giga and the Death Worms of the desert. “The Giga is three times the size of the Rex and is a killing machine that kills just for the fun of it. It is also capable of smashing stone walls and structures. She says that they are very difficult to kill. I was able to tame one of those demons in the past, but found it to have a Jeckle and Hyde personality. I lost several very good tames to that devil, including my favorite raptor, when he went rogue on me forcing me to kill it.”

“Tammy says the Death Worms are the worst of all. Living strictly in the Dune Desert of the South West, they travel under the sand dunes and can strike without warning. They attack by suddenly appearing from under the sand and will pull their prey under to eat it. She has even seen an Alpha Death Worm take out a Giga.”

“The Death Worms should not be an issue so long as they live in the sand dunes and we stay out of there,” announces Captain Powell. “Since the Gigas can show up around here, we should develop some tactics for taking them down safely, both with the rock drakes and with our new dragon friends.”

“This is what I want to do with Eddie and Lisa as they continue their training. I want them to develop the tactics on their rock drake friends, then work with Electra and Tesla on aerial combat for safely taking out an attacking Giga, especially if it is a high level one.”

That sounds like a good tactic,” answers Helena.

During the day, a great deal of work has been done on the new village. The temporary storage sheds have been upgraded with stone ones. A pair of Doeds were tamed up and have been most useful in mining stone for the structures. A common building has been constructed with wood. Housing units have been laid out and completed for everyone. Work has started on a barn for the Rock Drakes and a perimeter wall to secure the village from any carnivore threats given that saber tooths have been discovered high up on the plateau.

“We have made good progress,” reports Captain Powell during the evening meeting. “Tomorrow we can send a group over to the Highlands to survey construction of an outpost and fencing for pasture for the sheep. In the meantime, our marine recruits have guard duty tonight. Their job, keep watch on the southern perimeter of our village.”

“That means no necking among the four of you, or sleeping on guard duty, when you are all out there alone. One of us WILL be checking on you at random during the night.”

“Oh darn,” the four of them think silently to themselves.

Captain Powell escorts them out to their assigned location on the south side of the village. The wall is only partially finished there so needs to be watched in case any larger predators or herbivores show up to try to get in. “You four have watch of this area for the night. Work in teams of two, a human and a rock drake on each team so you can keep each other awake. If you spot trouble, call us on the radio. You two can use these night vision goggles if it gets extremely dark. Even though your rock drakes partners can see in infrared, they may not be able to spot some of the cold blooded predators out there if a storm rolls in during the night. That is why I am having you work in teams of two with the night vision goggles.”

Eddie and David are assigned next to the jungle area as Lisa and Judy take watch near the bay.

They are not the only patrols out as the Marines and Helena’s tribe also pull rotating watch. While it is far less dangerous on Ragnarok, given that the dragons are now their friends, there is always the threat of large predators that can include an Allasaur pack or a T-Rex.

“Such a peaceful night,” Helena tells Captain Powell.

“I’m sure it is not always like this,” answers Captain Powell. “Aberration certainly was not.”

“And, from my survey flight on Tammy, this place can be quite dangerous as well,” answers Helena.

“Hopefully, our lovebirds will stay out of trouble,” captain Powell responds back.

That night becomes far from typical as a storm rolls in from the sea. The rain and cold is making it miserable for the rock drakes and the two people on guard duty. It becomes so dark when the fog rolls in that even the night vision scopes are barely functioning. “I can’t see anything out there,” Eddie tells David. “It’s totally pitch black out.”

“I can’t see anything either,” David tells him. “I can see where you are in infrared but I can’t see nothing else out there in this miserable weather.”

Captain Powell comes out to see them with Private Grobbal and Ledfoot bringing them out ponchos for protection from the weather. “What a miserable night,” he tells them. “I had some oversize ponchos made for your Rock Drake friends to help keep them dry.”

“That helps a lot,” David tells them as they place the poncho over his wet and cold leathery reptile body.

The weather remains miserable for the next couple of hours, then clears to reveal a moonlit sky. “That is so much better,” Eddie tells David.

It has been quite a night even though nothing dangerous has shown up.

By dawn, Captain Powell releases the guard duty so they can go get breakfast, clean up, and get some sleep before being placed back in training. It isn’t long before the four of them, the two recruits and their rock drake friends, are found sound asleep in a pile of straw in a barn inside the new village.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 32. Our Ragnarok Home.

 

During the morning work session, the South Wall has finally been completed with watch towers. Sheds have been built for the rock drakes where they can seek shelter should the weather be like it was the night before. With the village completed, a survey crew has been sent out to check out the feasibility of fencing in pasture and farm land in the Scottish Highlands.

“If we have to, we can fence in a large grassy area for the sheep in their highlands pasture,” reports Sargent Thomas to Helena and Captain Powell. “It’s just that most everything is going to have to be hauled in for the construction given that the area is lacking in wood, fiber, and especially, stone that the doeds can break up.”

“I recommend that we have teams craft up stone walls in areas where those materials are readily available, then transport them by raft to an outpost where Cleo saw those dead whales.” answers Sargent Pasenna. “From there, they can be transported overland into the highlands.”

“Just so long as we can stay upwind of those beached whales,” answers Helena. “Otherwise, we better find a way to get rid of them.”

“The Stony Isles have lots of stone available along with plenty of driftwood.” Helena tells them. “We’ll just need to bring the fiber with us for crafting the wall sections of the fence.” A work crew gets prepped up with extra fiber and sets sail to the Stony Islands where they spend the rest of the day crafting up wall sections.

During this time, the village is paid a visit by the Ragnarok Dragons which have gained several more to their numbers. Nothing else gets done that day as everyone goes out to give them some attention especially to the newcomers that are so astonished to find that humans are not so bad after all.

Helena has asked Tammy if some of her friends would be willing to become friends with the four people that have been under Major Powell’s care for PTSS. All of the newcomers are interested in getting involved. Jenny and Silvia quickly take an interest in Flame and Torch. Barbara and Masucci are fascinated by the looks of Sleeper and Slumber and are soon off with them enjoying each other’s company.

Eddie and Lisa have been out flying on their two lightnings friends Electra and Tesla when they come back with some alarming news. “There is a high level Giga tearing up the sheep flock in the Highlands.” They are quickly followed back by Barbara, Jenny, Silvia, and Masucci on their dragon friends.

“I guess now is as good a time as ever to try some tactics to take it out,” Captain Powers responds. “Are you dragons willing to learn some combat tactics to kill a Giga?”

“Yes,” Tammy and the rest of the dragons answers back.

“Mayor and Margaret, go get your flight crew and have them armed themselves with rockets. Eddie and Lisa, you’re with us on your lightning friends. Jenny ans Silvia on your fire friends, Barbara and Masucci on your poisons. I need volunteers to fly on two ice ones. Helena and I will fly on Tammy and Tarmac to supervise and provide backup if needed.”

“We’ll do it,” both Terrie and Tina volunteer.

When everyone has been assembled, Captain Powell lays out the combat plans. “We’ll fly out to our target in formation with our mated pairs of dragons. I want the poison pair of Barbara and Masucci in the lead followed by Jenny and Silvia on the fire dragons, then Eddie and Lisa on their Lightning friends followed by the ice dragon team. Mayor and Margaret will be on the ground acting as bait to keep the Giga out into the open.”

“Mayor, Margaret, don’t get too close to that thing, it could easily kill you in one bite. Just tease it to get it out into the open. Have your crew use their range weapons to torment it into chasing you.”

“When the Giga is out in the open, I want the poison team to hit it in the face with their poison attack. That should slow it down enough for the fire team to set it on fire. Then, the lightnings can come in to paralyze it with their lightning attack. Finally, I want the ice dragon team to freeze its head at which time a rocket or two to it’s frozen head should kill it.”

“Does everybody understand their role in this attack plan?”

“Yes, everyone responds.

“Good, lets go kill that thing.”

It doesn’t take long for the eight dragons to line up in formation with their crews as Mayor and Margaret start heading out to the Highlands. “It’s out in the open near the Spire Point,” Sargent Pasenna radios back as the dragon flight takes off to make their attack run.

“Good,” Captain Powell radios back. “Keep it busy. We will be there shortly.”

“I hope this works with all of those rookies doing such an important combat jobs for their first time,” Captain Powell thinks to himself.

Rocky and Lady Rocky have perched themselves high up on a spire, well out of reach of the enraged Giga, its eyes glowing in anger, as it tries to climb up to get them. It is with a roar of surprise when it gets two poison balls in it’s face. Choking from the gas as it staggers away in it’s attempt to reach the safety of the Redwood Forest, it gets set on fire, then paralyzed by a combined four second burst of high voltage lightning. Sandy and Sammy come in close hovering next to it as they unload with their freeze attack to the Giga’s head. Still on fire, but with it’s head now frozen, it gets killed with the first salvo of rockets and crashes to the ground as pieces of it’s head go flying everywhere.

“We have never been able to kill one before, especially a Level 185 Giga,” Tammy tells Helena and Captain Powell as they land next to it.

“Good job everyone,” Captain Powell praises them. “That’s what one can do with tactics and their combined forces. By hitting it with different types of attacks in a row, that Giga was unable to respond to defending against any of them. As Daryl would say, we sank it. Dragons, be sure that you get your share of raw and prime meat off of it. We’ll take the hide and any tools it may have collected from past attacks.”

“Level ups? What are those for?” Tesla asks Eddie. “We all got ten of them for killing that Giga.”

“Welcome into our tribe,” answers Helena. “Lets us show you how those level ups work.”

“That felt so wonderful,” Tarmac responds as he gets leveled up in four different areas of abilities. “I never knew there was such a thing.”

“Being our friends is probably why that ability has become available as a reward to you,” answers Captain Powell. “We are limited to a level 110. I’m not sure how far you, or our tames can go, but there will be a limit that will eventually be reached.”

“Anytime you are threatened by something as nasty as a Giga, come to see us. We will be more then willing to help you out.”

“We can keep an eye on the wild sheep for you,” Tammy tells Helena. “We prefer to feed on the predators that keep going after them.”

“Doesn’t that mean that you will have to leave your homes in the northern badlands to defend the sheep?” ask Helena.

“No,” answers Tammy. “Most of us are moving back into the World Scar so we can build our nest in there to raise our young.”

“That would be so wonderful,” answers Captain Powell. “Our Rock Drake friends were so happy when they were able to raise youngsters on their own for the first time in their memory. Enjoy your young ones when they hatch. They will grow up so fast to become adults.”

“That will save us a lot of construction if they hunt the predators for us,” reports Sargent Thomas. “We now only need to fence in the gardens to keep the herbivores from eating our crops.”

It is evening when the work crew gets back and gets the word that only fencing will be needed in the garden areas.

The four dragons that volunteered to make friends with the four humans being treated for PTSS have been hanging out with their new human friends since the battle to kill the Giga. “It’s been so wonderful to be getting all of this attention instead of being hunted for trophies,” Torch says to Sylvia.

“I never knew that humans could be so cruel to each other,” Flame tells Jenny after she hears her story of being a slave of Crazy Harry.

“You have been such a great friend to be with,” Barbara tells Sleeper.

“I can’t believe that my childhood fantasy has become true,” Masucci tells Slumber.

“This has been so totally unexpected,” Slumber answers. “I really like you.”

“You and your friends did great in taking out that Giga,” Mascutti tells him. “I’m so glad that we have had the opportunity to become friends with you.”

“At least this world has gotten off to a good start after we were forced to leave ours,” Jenny tells Flame as she is petting her on the forehead. “Our rescuers have been most understanding of what we have been through. But, most of all, you dragons have been willing to become our friends in spite of how you were treated in the past by other humans. That is the most remarkable thing of all.”

“Seeing the wild Rock Drakes and their young working with your tribe is what gave us the confidence that you humans had to be different.” answers Torch. “I’m so glad that Tammy took the chance of becoming friends with you especially after learning how quickly your tribe was able to stop an attack by Electra and Tesla without harming them. I can see us having some most interesting experiences in the future.”

“I do too,” answers Jenny. “Like you, we will start raising our families here on Ragnarok. Perhaps, in the future when Earth has recovered from the damage done by Aberration colliding into it, our children may return to repopulate it. Hopefully, your children will join us to live in peace together.”

It is the following morning when Barbara, Jenny, Sylvia, and Masucci ask permission to go exploring on their new dragon friends. “Be sure that you take desert armor and canteens with you if you decide to go into the southern regions,” Coronal Powell tells them. “Helena says that it can be quite hot in that area. Don’t stray too far from your dragon friends as it can be quite dangerous out there. Give us a report of what you have discovered when you come back.”

Helena and her crew head out on the rafts to sail to a place between the volcano and an old lighthouse. They find a path by a stream that will take them up to the farm fields where they can fence them off for crop farming. Tammy and several of her dragons friends head out with them to scout the area. Using the tactics that they observed used to take out the Giga, they quickly get rid of a pack of Allos that are in the area chasing after the wild horses living there.

“Thank you for getting rid of those predators,” Helena tells Tammy. “We can use the horses to transport the fencing to the farming fields.”

“They were quite tasty,” Tammy answers. “We found these items on them after we had killed them.”

“Those will be most useful,” Helena tells her as she checks out the blueprints, high level tools, and crafting recipes. “We’ll tame up these horses, then start using them to haul up fencing to the fields.”

It is a short while later when Cleo comes riding back on an unusual looking white horse she has tamed with rockarrots from the stream nearby. “Is that a Unicorn?” ask Helena.

“Apparently, they do exist,” answers Cleo. “He just tamed up like any of the other horses out there. I was concerned that my quality time I had spent with Private Ledfoot would have prevented me from taming him. That rule must not apply on Ragnarok for taming a unicorn.”

“Other then the horn on his head, he looks like all the other horses I have seen out here,” answers Helena. “Lets get to work hauling up the fencing for the first farming plots.”

With the help of the horses, all the farming plots are soon fenced in. An outpost and barn is also constructed for the purpose of staying overnight and storage of harvested crops. With a load of harvested crops that have been found growing wild in the fields, the expedition loads their raft, along with the horses and sail back to the village.

“What an unusual find,” Major Powell tells Helena as she examines the unicorn. “As you suspected, he is no different then the other horses except for the horn and the fact that he can’t breed with them due to the differences in his DNA structure. Like the dragons, bulb pups, the shine horns, and other unusual creatures here, he has to be totally artificially created. It’s possible we may find a mare for him during our future exploration of the highlands.”

Barbara and Masucci come flying back on their dragon friends to file their report on what they have seen out there. “We have found some interesting ruins and an abandoned dock in the giant swamps to the South West of here beyond the giant canyon,” Masucci reports. “It is an area that you certainly don’t want to explore on foot or by a raft without a dragon escort. It’s just crawling with giant boa constrictor snakes, huge centipedes, scorpions, and several species of alligators. I don’t know how the smaller herbivores can even survive in that death trap. They are constantly running away from the predators. At least the islands beyond the swamp were much drier and safer.”

“Here comes Torch and Flame back from their exploration. Where’s Jenny and Silvia?” Captain Powell ask them.

“They are flying back on a most unusual creature that they found near the big canyon,” Torch answers. “It may take them a while to get here. It flies a lot slower then we do.”

“Major Powell,” reports Sargent Pasenna as he puts a spotting scope on a bird like creature with two riders. “You are not going to believe what those two are flying on.”

“A winged creature with an eagle’s head with front claws, yet, with a lion’s back end?” questions Major Powell. “Impossible, there is no such thing as a Griffin.”

“No one ever heard of real dragons either until flight 19 showed up back on Earth with their Rock Drake friends.” answers Coronal Powell.

“Where did you find such an unusual creature?” ask Captain Powell as the two ladies land with the Griffin.

“It was up in the big canyon,” answers Silvia.

“Let me get a DNA swab of this creature before I run out of test strips,” ask Major Powell.

“Well, what did you find out there?” ask Captain Powell.

“We had quite a good time on Flame and Torch,” reports Jenny. “We found a temple on an island that was safe for us to explore. It had a stairway inside that went from the top of the hill to the sea below. There was also an abandoned terrace nearby. We saw nothing dangerous living on that island. We also found more of those silk flowers growing in the landscaped terrace and brought some silk back with us.”

“Inland, we found a most unusual temple built into a waterfalls. It was called the Patron’s Temple. Most interesting among the statues and carvings were the names inscribed on the wall. All of our names were there along with hundreds of others. Some of them I recognize were of those that vanished without a trace in the Bermuda Triangle long ago.”

“That is most interesting,” answers Captain Powell.

“Here is the DNA report from the Griffin,” announces Major Powell. “It is definitely a genetically created hybrid given that there is no possible way such a creature could have been bred naturally, or artificially. I am unable to classify this creature as either male or female, the genetic markers are not there and the biological scans do not show any sexual organs at all. It confirms my theory that some extraterrestrials have created this place along with all of the creatures living here. This Griffin had to have been placed here by them. There is no other explanation for its existence or its docile behavior around us as a tame.”

“Who knows what other surprises wait for us as we continue exploring this strange place,” comments Coronal Powell. “This Ark gets stranger here all of the time.”

“We may find out when we  can resume a detailed exploration of this place to learn all of its secrets, how they all fit in to this lifeboat in space, and what it all means for our future.” answers Captain Powell.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 33. Kidnapped.

 

It is three days later when Coronal Powell calls everybody together for a morning meeting. “Good job everyone on constructing our new home,” he announces. “We can now settle down to exploring and living on this new Ark at our leisure.”

“I would especially like to thank our Dragon friends in making this all possible. Without their help and friendship, all of what has been accomplished here would still be weeks, even months, away.”

Eddie, Lisa, David and Judy are now sworn in as graduates of the Ragnarok Marine Corp. “You have done well to make it to this elite group,” Coronal Powell tells them. “Your assignment for the next couple of days, go out there and explore the southern wilderness of Ragnarok. Watch out for any unknown danger when you go to check out those unknown areas of this Ark. File a report when you get back from your exploration.” There is a standing O for the four new recruits. Then, they are off preparing their supplies for a four day mission of independent exploration.

“Flame and Torch want to take us back out exploring,” Jenny tells Captain Powell.

“Go ahead,” Captain Powell tells them. “Just be careful out there.”

“We’ll be back by nightfall,” answers Jenny.

“It sure is wonderful that those two dragons have taken such a liking to those two young ladies,” Major Powell tells her husband. “It’s going to help them get adjusted to being back in civilization again.”

“It’s good for those dragons as well,” answers Coronal Powell. “They will soon be bonded in friendship with each other much like Eddie and David are.”

An exploration of the Murder Snow has been planned for the day. Cleo and Private Ledfoot have prepared for the trip by crafting extra heavy fur armor under the supervision of Joe and their frost dragon friend Sandy. “It can get dangerously cold up there especially during a storm,” she warns Cleo.

“Does the extreme cold affect you?” ask Cleo.

“No, It doesn’t affect us frost dragons.” answers Sandy. “But, it can freeze a human to death in minutes. When we were fighting the Vikings over a year ago, I captured one of them by paralyzing his horse with my freeze attack, then grabbing him off of his horse with my foot. He decided that he had better hang on while I was flying over the Volcano. But then, he froze to death in less them a minute when I flew into the Murder Snow with him.”

“If it gets too cold for us, we will let you know,” Private Ledfoot tells Sandy.

As they fly up towards the glacier, Private Ledfoot spots a cave in the glacier itself. “Is there anything inside there?” he ask Sammy.

“You don’t want to go in there,” Sammy tells him. “It is home to the Ice Worm Queen. She is bigger and deadlier then those Death Worms everyone is scared of.”

“Better put on your fur armor. It is going to get bitter cold soon.”

“Wow! You are correct about this being called the Murder Snow,” Cleo tells Sandy. “How can it be so nice just a short distance away, yet, I am already measuring a temperature of 60 below zero on the thermometer?”

“How are you handling this cold?” ask Sandy.

“We’re doing all right,” Cleo answers. “The fur armor is doing its job of keeping us warm. I’m surprised that anything can live in such bitter cold conditions down there. Who are the two other frost dragons down by the edge of the frozen pine forest?”

“Those are Snowball and Freezer,” answers Sandy. “I’ll land and introduce them to you.”

“There are Vikings on you!” Freezer shouts in alarm as Sandy land by them.”

“It’s OK,” Sandy answers back. “These are our friends. They come from that destroyed Ark we saw hitting the Earth several days ago.”

“You’re right,” Freezer says as he comes up so Cleo can pet him without a glove on her hand. “You are not those Vikings I saw yesterday when I was out hunting for Troodons. They have a fortress built in the Southern Badlands in an inlet by the archway canyon.”

“We thought that all of the Vikings had been killed off some time ago,” answers Private Ledfoot. “Tammy never mentioned to us that they were still living on this Ark.”

“That’s because everybody though that they had been defeated years ago in our final showdown until I saw their new fortress.” answers Freezer.

“Then, they must have escaped or were reborn,” answers Cleo. “That is bad news. I have seen what Eric Bloodaxe did to Tammy and Tarmac’s mate. He has been equally brutal to other humans as well.”

“Oh no!” warns Private Ledfoot in alarm. “Jenny and Silvia could be heading into harms way if Flame and Torch don’t know that those Vikings are still out there. They were planning on flying into the southern canyons to explore them. We better get back and warn them before they leave. Would you come back with us so you can alert your other dragon friends about them?”

“Yes,” Snowball answers. “We’ll follow you back to your village.”

“We may already be too late to warn Flame and Torch,” a concerned Cleo answers back. “They were preparing to leave when we left to come explore out here.”

Flying back to the village. Captain Powell comes out to meet them with Tammy and Mayor. “We must go finish them off now!” Tammy answers in anger when she hears that the vikings are still on Ragnarok.

“No!” both Captain Powell and Mayor tells her sternly. “If you go flying in to attack them not knowing what kind of defenses they have placed in their fortress, you risk getting yourselves killed. Daryl and Darlene learned that the hard way when they tried to take out Rockwell on the Aberration Ark. It is only with knowing what they have for defenses is it possible to plan an attack on them without getting yourselves killed. Freezer, show us on this map where you saw their fortress and we will send over a recon team of Marines on Rock Drakes in stealth mode to see what we are up against.”

“They’re right,” Helena tells Tammy. “We lost all of our men to Rockwell when they attacked him so we could escape to here. He had done something to their implants that prevented them from being reborn.”

“Daryl and Darlene only survived because I was able to get them out of Rockwell’s Lair before he could kill them.” answers Lt. Jerry. “Then, he wipe us out with a weapon that left us paralyzed and defenseless. It was with training and the knowledge of what Rockwell’s Lair was like that we were finally able to defeat him without losing anyone in the battle. Let us take the Rock Drakes over there to do a stealth recon to see what we are up against before we go do anything to them.”

“You don’t want to go in blindly attacking them.” Sleeper tells Tammy. “We saw them kill Watson and Volt with iron arrows from those giant crossbow turrets they now have when we found and attacked their base a month ago in the Southern Canyon.”

“You knew those Vikings were still there and didn’t tell me about it?” scolds Tammy.

“We didn’t want to see any more of us get killed by those crossbow turrets,” answers Slumber. “It was awful watching Watson and Volt screaming in pain as they were dying with those arrows impaled into their chest. We decided that if we didn’t tell anyone, they wouldn’t try to attack their fortress and be killed by those awful things.”

“I guess that you’re right,” answers Tammy in disappointment. “I don’t want to lose any more of us to that Eric monster and his Viking horde.”

“We better give Jenny a call on the radio and warn them to stay out of the Southern Canyon.” Captain Powell answers.

“Oh $hit!” warns Joe. “They didn’t take a radio with them.”

“Call Eddie,” orders Captain Powell. “Warn them about the location of that Viking fortress and tell them to be on the lookout for our sightseers.” The call is made after a bit of trouble in establishing communications.

“We had to get up on top of a plateau in order to get a good signal,” Eddie reports. “We are in an area that borders the vast desert with the badlands. There is an abandoned settlement along the river that separates the two areas. We were just about ready to go check it out when you called.”

“That is scary that Eric Bloodaxe and his Viking Hoard are still around,” reports Lisa. “We’ll be extra careful before we go down into the badlands area.”

“Have you seen Jenny and Silvia on Flame and Torch?” ask Captain Powell.

“No,” answers Eddie. “We could try calling them on the radio from here.”

“They forgot to take one on their trip,” Captain Powell answers back.

“Oh Crap!” Eddie answers back. “We’re going to have to go looking for them. We’ll try to stay high on the buttes so we can get a good view of the area. We may not be able to reach the islands in the west unless we can find a high enough peak close to the shore to glide over there.”

“Just stick to the mainland,” Captain Powell orders Eddie. “I don’t want you four to end up swimming in a shark infested sea. We’ll send Barbara and Masucci out on Sleeper and Slumber to check out the western islands for you.”

“What are we going to do if Eric has captured them?” Lisa ask Eddie after he has completed his call on the radio.

“We go into stealth mode to case the joint,” answers Eddie. “Then, we get back to a high point and radio back for more instructions.”

Meanwhile, Jenny and Barbara have been having a great time on Flame and Torch who have been enjoying taking them for the ride. “These canyons are fun to fly through,” Torch tells Flame.

“Lets fly under the arches,” Flame tells Torch.

“This is great fun,” Jenny tells the dragons as they head to fly under another arch where a bay shows on the other side.

“Are those Viking Longboats in the bay?” Barbara asks Jenny in alarm. “Flame, Look out! There’s a net in our way!”

Spotting it, the two dragons pull sharply up but the stone arch prevents them from climbing over it. They bank hard, but are going too fast to prevent them from slamming into the cargo net feet first. There is a loud squawk of panic from both dragons who promptly get tangled up in the hanging cargo net which gets pulled loose and goes crashing to the ground below. Jenny and Barbara are hanging on for dear life as they are screaming at the two dragons to stop struggling in the net. Several gas bombs are dropped from above which soon render the foursome unconscious. “What luck!” Eric’s head commander tells his men as he goes down to inspect their quarry. “We captured two young ladies and their fire dragon tames. Let get them secured in the cages before they wake up.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 34. Rollo Bloodaxe.

 

It is written in early Viking history about Eric Bloodaxe and how he rose to power when he killed four of his brothers. A fifth brother survived that attack but not much else is written about him. In this fictional story of the Vikings on Ragnarok, Rollo has survived after having his back broken in that fight for domination. The injury has left him a cripple who has to rely on a wheelchair to get about. Eric has let him live given that his brother was good with taming and training the beast in his kingdom. How they all ended up on Ragnarok remains a mystery. One thing remains certain. While in Ragnarok, Eric has had a passion with wanting to have his own dragon to ride on to conquer all of Ragnarok. Capturing the wild ones to tame them had proven to be all but impossible. His Viking warriors had been able to capture some of them, but, in spite of their best efforts, were unable to tame any of them. He even had an egg successfully stolen from one of their nest and had his brother attempt to hatch and raise it. That had failed when the baby dragon starved to death because no one could obtain the dragon milk needed to feed it. He had beaten Rollo mercilessly over that lost. But, between his obsession and his killing of several of the Ragnarok Dragons, he had finally alienated them all into an all out war that resulted in so many casualties that the dragons moved away and Eric’s Vikings had moved into the southern canyon to establish their fortress. So, it was with extreme interest that Eric goes down to the cages that have been built to hold the two fire dragons that were captured in the nets when he saw the two women riding on them through the canyons that afternoon.

“Wonderful, this is the first time we have ever captured dragons that have been successfully tamed,” Eric proclaims as he examines the semiconscious creatures.

“You had better move slowly with getting them to work with you,” warns his brother Rollo as he examines the semiconscious dragons from his wheelchair. “Unlike a horse, dragons are only loyal to their master.” He has already confirmed in his initial examination of them that they are far more intelligent then anyone realizes. Wondering how the two ladies had managed to be riding on wild dragons and not tames, he whispers into their ear for them to be submissive if they want to stay alive, that he will try to give them their freedom when the opportunity arises.

It is late afternoon in their search for the four explorers when Eddie and Lisa spot Viking Longboats in the bay ahead. “Stealth Mode,” Eddie orders both rock drakes. “Land on the butte above the arch so we can see what is going on down there.”

A sentry tower is spotted as the two drakes come in to land. They quickly bank away landing on a lower butte nearby. “Good job spotting those sentries,” Eddie whispers to David. “They have iron crossbows mounted in those turrets.”

“Oh NO!” Lisa whispers back to Eddie. “They captured Flame and Torch.”

“I see Jenny and Barbara in a cage next to them,” reports Eddie in a whisper as he places a spotting scope on them. “It looks like they are being questioned by a Viking leader. There’s someone in a wheel chair by Flame and Torch. Is that Eric Bloodaxe standing by them?”

Thwack! An iron crossbow arrow shatters a rock close to where David is standing sending up a shower of sparks and bits of gravel. “Lets get out of here!” orders Eddie in a panic.

“Did you hear that?” the sentry tells his friend.

“Yes, but I still don’t see anything but that dust cloud that just appeared,” answers the second sentry. “We better send somebody over there to check it out and recover that arrow.”

Now on the plateau and out of sight of the sentries, Eddie radios back to Captain Powell. “They’ve been captured!” Eddie reports excitedly.

“What is their status?” ask Captain Powell with concern.

“The Vikings have Jenny, Barbara, and their dragons in cages by their fortress on the bay,” Eddie answers back. “They appear to be OK for now.”

“Stay hidden up on the plateau,” orders Captain Powell. “I’m sending out a recon team to go check out that Viking Fortress once it gets dark. Then, we can plan to rescue their hostages.”

“What are we up against?” Harold says to Alfred as they inspect the lower butte after the rock drakes have left it in stealth mode. “Those look like dragon tracks, but their claw marks are so much bigger. There are no tracks here made by their wings. Could they be of the four legged variety.

“There were definitely dragons here,” answers Alfred. “Yet, I saw nothing. It is as if they were invisible.”

“There is no such thing as an invisible four legged dragon,” orders Olaf when the other two file their report. “You better keep quiet about this before Eric sends you out on patrol into the desert of the Death Worms.”

Having been through being a captive before, Jenny and Barbara successfully play Eric for the fool that he is in order to buy some time to await rescue as he questions them about their dragon tames. Barbara has played dumb in not knowing the viking tongue but knows from the discussion among Eric and Loki that something out of the norm has just taken place. Eric soon leaves with Loki to go investigate the strange activity for himself.

“I’m sorry for getting you into this mess,” Torch tells Jenny as he comes up as close as he can to her.

“It’s not your fault,” answers Jenny. “None of us knew that there was a trap set up for us out there.”

“Don’t let Eric or anyone else know that you and your dragons can talk to each other,” a voice warns them from the shadows. “My brother would kill them if he ever found out. Then, he would kill you for not telling him.”

“How did you end up paralyzed?” Jenny ask him as Torch comes up to the edge of his cage to listen in on the conversation.

“Years ago, Eric attacked all of his brothers in his effort to become supreme leader of this Viking Clan. He had left me for dead when he broke my back with his battle ax. When he later found out that I had survived, he kept me his prisoner in this wheelchair as punishment for remaining alive.”

“How did you end up on Ragnarok?” Barbara asks him.

“While sailing across the North Sea to conduct a raid on a Monastery in the British Isles, we ran into a freak storm. It sank our fleet of longboats as it tossed us into the stormy sea. A strange glow lit up the angry sea as we prayed to Odin for deliverance. Before we knew what had happened, we found ourselves in this strange new world with all of its even stranger creatures.”

“Be quiet now, someone is coming.”

“Rollo, how are your getting along with these dragons?” ask Loki as he returns from investigating the report from Olaf.

“They are adjusting well to being confined,” Rollo answers. “I could use some raw meat to feed them, they appear to be quite hungry. Bring the ladies something to eat as well.” The food soon arrives with some fruit for the hostages and two slabs of raw phenoma for the dragons.

“Why aren’t they eating the raw meat?” ask one of the warriors after placing the meat just inside the cage.

“I think that I know why,” answers Rollo. He goes in to the cage with Flame, cuts off a piece of the phenoma, and eats it in front of him. Then, he offers the slab to Flame who carefully takes it out of his hand and starts eating it.

“They certainly don’t trust any of us,” the warrior says as torch hisses at him after he places the other slab of meat nearby and quickly runs away from the cage.

“Would you if you were our captive?” Rollo hollers back at him as he pulls the raw meat into the cage for Torch to eat. “I pray to the Gods that your friends can get here to rescue you soon, he whispers to Torch. I don’t know how much longer I am going to be able to protect you two and your lady friends from Eric and his enforcers.”

Back at the Mesa, where Eddie and Lisa are located, Captain Powell has just arrived with 14 Rock Drake and their fully armed flight crews. 20 of the Ragnarok Dragons have also arrived with Tammy and several members of Helen’s tribe. Joe and Major Powell come gliding in on Danny.

“Eddie tells me they have guarded their fortress with crossbow turrets,” Captain Powell tells Tammy who is still quite upset that they can’t just go charging in there. “They took a shot at David while he was in stealth and fortunately missed. As soon as it is dark enough, I’m going to take the rock drakes in to find the rest of those turrets so we can mark them for destruction. They can see in infrared where Eric’s hoard is located. We can use our night vision equipment to find all of his outpost and main defenses. I’ll sneak into the fortress with Mary to see if I can make contact with the hostages. When we know what we are up against, we can then plan a raid to go rescue them.”

“It still bothers me that we just can’t go charging in after them,” an upset Tammy tells Captain Powell.

“Be patient,” he tells her. “You will soon have your revenge against them.”

Eddie and Cleo are now with Tammy as they try to comfort her while the others head out on their recon patrol. “I don’t want to lose any more of my friends to those evil vikings,” Tammy tells Eddie while in tears.

“Neither do we,” Eddie tells her. “It was hard for me to stay hidden when the zombie plague struck on Earth and killed my parents. Just be patient, we are here for you. Captain Powell will find a way to rescue your friends.”

“Thank you so much for being such a good friend,” Tammy tells him.

“The recon goes smoothly in spite of the heighten alert status of Eric’s Viking warriors. Several iron arrows get fired at the sounds of heavy drake feet scratching about in the cliffs, but are all way off the mark as they shatter whatever they hit. Captain Powell and Mary successfully make it into the canyon where the cages are located. Rollo is still with the captives half asleep in his wheelchair when they arrive.

“Don’t do anything or you are dead,” Mary tells Rollo quietly as she sneaks up behind his wheelchair.

“Thank the Gods you have arrived to rescue them,” Rollo whispers back. “I don’t know how much longer I could have kept my brother from killing them. Take me with you or I will be dead for sure.”

“Damn, Now what are we going to do,” Captain Powell says quietly to himself when he hears some of the crossbows being fired as he checks on the status of the four hostages. “Everybody hang tight, we’ll have you out of here as soon as we can eliminate the threat of those crossbow turrets.”

“Lets take Rollo with us,” Mary tells Captain Powell. “He could prove to be quite useful.”

“Are you sure about this?” Ask Captain Powell who is quite shocked at Mary’s request.

“I am very sure,” Mary answers back. “Flame and Torch have told me that he has treated them well in spite of the difficult conditions down here.”

“Rollo, I’m placing my trust in Mary’s judgment about bringing you back with us.” Captain Powell tells him. “You realize that I am going to have to handcuff and gag you for our security when we leave here.”

“I understand,” Rollo answers back. With Rollo bound, gagged and tied to the forward saddle, Captain Powell and Mary proceed to sneak back out of the prison area and away from danger.

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 35 The Raid

 

Captain Powell has now removed the gag from Rollo as Mary has glided beyond sight of the outer outpost. “What kind of a dragon is Mary?” Rollo ask Captain Powell. “I’ve never seen one like her before.”

“She is a Rock Drake,” answers Captain Powell.

“She is a most interesting looking dragon,” Rollo answers. “How did we get past those sentries without them seeing us?”

“She can cloak herself to become invisible along with anyone riding on her,” answers Captain Powell.

“So, it is not a sorcerer's trick,” Rollo answers. “How come I have never seen them before on Ragnarok?”

“That’s because they came with us from the Aberration Ark, then the Earth,” answers Captain Powell.

“That’s most interesting,” answers Rollo. “How soon before we can we go back to rescue those two dragons and their lady friends?”

“As soon as I get the recon report, we will plan and conduct a raid to rescue them.” answers Captain Powell.

“I’m very concerned that my brother will try to kill them the minute you attack his fortress,” Rollo tells Captain Powell.

“Don’t worry,” answers Captain Powell. “I’ll have my marines go in under cover to be in a position so Eric can’t get to them.” They soon reach the temporary camp on the plateau where most everybody have arrived.

“That’s a Bloodaxe riding on Mary!” Tammy screams in anger when she sees Captain Powell and Mary come back from their patrol. “Let me at him!”

“Do not harm him!” Mary hisses back with her war bonnet up full. “He’s been doing his best to protect Flame and Torch from his evil brother.”

“Mary must see something in him that can help us to rescue your friends,” Captain Powell tells her. “Eddie, Cleo, help me get Rollo off of Mary. He’s been paralyzed from the waist down.”

“Then, is it true that your brother did this to you when you tried to stop him from killing his four other brothers?” Cleo asks him.

“It is true,” Rollo answers. “He has only kept me around because I am good working with the creatures of both of these world.”

“How do you know this?” a now curious Tammy asks Cleo who is now close enough for Rollo to touch her on the forehead.

“The story is written in my Viking past what Eric did to his brothers,” answers Cleo. “We are distant relatives.”

“Oh!” answers a shocked Tammy. “I’m so glad that I didn’t know that. We would have never became friends had I known you were related to them.”

“It’s quite all right,” Rollo tells Tammy. “You have every right to be angry at me for what my brother has done to your kind. I’m going to do everything I can to help your friends get them back.”

“I still don’t like you,” Tammy tells Rollo with a tear in her eye as Rollo rubs her forehead. “I just don’t want to lose any more of my friends to your evil brother.”

“I don’t want to see any harm come to them either,” answers Rollo. “Flame and Torch are some of the nicest dragons I have ever been with. They have been very cooperative with my effort to help them to stay alive.”

“The rest of our patrols have just arrived,” Captain Powell tells Tammy. “Lets us get their report so we can plan a dawn raid to get our foursomes out of harm’s way.”

In the meeting that takes place, a layout of the fortress, the cages, and the outposts with their fixed crossbow turrets, are sketched out in the sand of the plateau. With the Intel that has been provided, Captain Powell can now conduct the planning for the rescue. “We need to target these turrets with rockets before we can safely enter the fortress and free the hostages. Sargent Pasenna, assign 12 of our rock drake teams to take out these targets when we attack the fortress. We’ll give them the time needed to get into position while cloaked. I also need someone to be at the cages when we do open fire. Eddie and Lisa, that will be your job to take two other marines with you on your rock drake friends.”

“There is just one thing missing,” ask Mayor. “How do we get Eric out in the open before we attack his fortress?”

“Good question,” answers Captain Powell. “Anyone have any ideas?”

“What would happen if Eric were to see his brother flying in on Tammy and have them ask for the release of the hostages?” suggest Eddie. There is a long pause of dead silence as Tammy looks at him in shock. Then, she answers.

“That’s would be the last thing Eric Bloodaxe would ever expect, his brother Rollo flying in on me with all of my dragon friends in escort, then landing in front of the main gate to negotiate a hostage release.”

“It’s brilliant!” Rollo answers. “It just might work.”

“Are you sure that you would be willing to do this?” ask Captain Powell. “It could be extremely dangerous for you to expose yourself like that to get Eric to come out into the open.”

“If it means getting rid of Eric Bloodaxe once and for all, yes, I’ll do it!” answers Tammy.

“It is sure to get my brother to come out into the open when he finds out that I am riding on Tammy,” answers Rollo. “But how am I going to protect her when we do this? Eric hates Tammy with a vengeance. I’m sure that he will attacks her with one of the crossbow turret once he responds in anger to my request?”

“We still have those armor vests back in the village that we used on the Rock Drakes when we went after Crazy Harry,” Joe answers back.

“Go get them!” Captain Powell tells him. “Take Sargent Root with you and a couple of the dragons. Get them back here ASAP.”

“We’ll do the raid as follows; Using their cloaking ability, our Rock Drake teams will get into position so they can take out the turrets and protect the hostages. When they are ready, Rollo will fly in on Tammy with the other dragons as escort to get Eric out into the open to negotiate for the hostage release. If things go badly, which I expect they will, our Rock Drake teams will open fire on the turrets, take out the rest of the defenders, and go release the hostages. We’ll leave Eric for Rollo and Tammy to deal with.”

“Tammy, I know that this is going to be hard for you.” Captain Powell tells her. “Don’t go blindly charging in after Eric when you have the chance to get your revenge on him. None of us want to see you get badly hurt.”

“Thank you for your concern,” answers Tammy. “I’ll do my best to control my anger when we go after him.”

“Lets go over this plan again while we are waiting for Joe to get back with those armor vest.”

The morning is starting to light up the horizon when Joe radios that they are on their way. “We have the rest of the dragons helping us to bring this heavy stuff out there,” Joe tells them. “We should be there in ten minutes.”

Arriving, Joe and his team start fitting the armor vests on Tammy as they position everything to best protect her vitals. “It’s going to be heavy,” he warns Tammy. “It’s the best protection we can give you against those iron crossbow turrets.”

“I can manage this,” she tells Joe after they have fitted her with 400 pounds of armor vests and she makes a test flight.

“Then, lets get started,” Captain Powell orders. “Send out the stealth teams. The rest of us will head out there as soon as they are in position.”

“You better tie me into a saddle on Tammy,” Rollo ask them as final adjustments are made on the armor vest. “I don’t want to accidentally fall off of her when we go in to face my evil brother. I pray to my Viking Gods that this will work.” With Rollo secured to a saddle on Tammy, the advance team have radio back that they are now in position to take out the crossbow turrets. Tammy and the dragons are now on their way.

Halfway there, a private conversation is taking place. “Rollo, I’m scared,” she tells him. “This might have been a bad idea.”

“Be brave,” he tells her. “Follow the plan. It’s normal to be scared when one deliberately goes into harm’s way.”

“We have dragons coming in from the East,” warns Alfred at Eric’s fortress from the watch tower. “There must be over 30 of them following that Alpha Fire Dragon.”

“This is it!” warns Eric. “Everyone to the ramparts. We finally have the chance to wipe them all out, once and for all.”

“Oh! My! God!” Loki tells Alfred in surprise as he places his spotting scope on the lead dragon. “Get Eric up here. His brother Rollo is riding in on that Alpha Fire Dragon! He has several others warriors armed with crossbows flying with him on the other dragons.”

“How in the frack did he manage to escape and tame that bitch!” an angry Eric yells at his men. “Hold your fire until I see what Rollo is doing on her. Get a frackin detachment down to the cages to guard those hostages.” Tammy has now circled around coming in to land in front of the main gate. The other dragons land on the bluffs just out of range of the crossbow turrets.

“Eric, release those hostages,” Rollo orders in a loud voice as Eric steps out of the partially opened main gate to confront his brother.

“Never!” Eric yells back as several of his men push the gate all the way open exposing a crossbow turret aimed directly at Tammy.

“Don’t do it!” Rollo yells at Eric when he sees what his evil brother is about to do.

“Die you bitch!” Eric screams as he goes to pulls the trigger.

Two rockets suddenly appears out of nowhere hitting the turret just as Eric has pulled the trigger firing off its iron arrow. The explosion destroys the turret killing several of the men that have pushed it into place. Eric is blown back into the courtyard by the blast, his armor protecting him from most of the splinters of the shattered turret. 20 other explosions out of nowhere quickly take out the other turrets on the ramparts before any of them have a chance to fire their iron arrows at Tammy. The Vikings that are manning them are blown off the walls or into the courtyard below as the dragons come flying in off the bluff to attack.

“Awk!” Tammy yells out in surprise when the heavy iron arrow hits her on the armor vests protecting her chest. Rollo gets thrown out of the saddle as Tammy gets knocked down to the ground from the impact, screaming in pain. He hits the ground hard breaking his arm in the process.

Picking himself off of the ground after being thrown some distance away by the rocket that has destroyed the crossbow turret, Eric rushes out with a battle ax focusing on where Rollo has fallen to the ground, who is struggling to get back up so he can defend himself. “I should have done this long ago!” he yells as he comes running out towards a helpless Rollo with his battle ax raised high in the air. But, before he can reach Rollo to land the fatal blow, something grabs hold of his left arm, first spinning him around with the sound of bones being crushed, then tearing it off near the shoulder.

“That was for attacking me and your brothers!” Tammy yells at him as Eric now faces his new attacker. He stands there frozen in horror, as his battle ax falls out of his right hand to the ground, his crushed severed left arm laying on the ground in front of him, when he realizes that the Alpha Fire Dragon is the one yelling at him.

“This is for kidnapping my friends!” she yells at him again shaking with pain and anger as she sets his armor on fire with her flame attack.

“And, This is for killing my Melvin for a trophy!” she screams hysterically at him before she bites his head off and spits it out towards the remains of the crossbow at the front gate. She then falls back to the ground due to the pain resulting from having used her fire attack on him.

Down below, the detachment sent to guard the hostages gets taken out with tranc darts from four long neck rifles. The unit leaders surrender when they find themselves facing several angry rock drakes that materialize in front of them. The marines quickly tie them up as Eddie and Lisa go to free the hostages from their cages.

The battle is quickly over as the defenders up on the gate that watched in horror, as their leader gets killed by Tammy, are now running for cover as the Rock Drakes come out of stealth to join the dragons attacking them. Their sudden appearance, with their two armed riders, shock all of the remaining defenders into laying down their arms. Captain Powell now orders a cease fire. Loki, the only Viking of any rank that is left alive, orders a surrender. The dragons fly over to land by Tammy who is now in a great deal of pain from her effort to kill Eric.

“Are you all right?” Rollo ask Tammy as she gets back up and limps over to check on him, still frightened from what she just went through.

“No! It’s hurts!” she tells him in a painful shaky voice. “I’m scared. I don’t want to die!”

“You’re not going to die,” Rollo tells her while in pain from his broken arm. “Look around, Your armor vest has done its job saving your life. That arrow that hit you is lying on the ground. Thank you for saving my life. Take it easy. Major Powell should be here soon to take care of your injury.”

“The impact from that iron arrow was most terrifying.” she tells him. “I thought sure that I was going to be dead when it knocked me to the ground.”

“It’s a good thing that you were wearing that armor,” Rollo tells her. “Those things are dragon killers. I saw them take out two of your lightning friends a month ago. Can you help me get back up? My arm was broken when I was thrown off of you.”

“Grab a horn on the back of my head,” Tammy tells him while crying as she places her head down so that he can reach it.

The survivors are now coming out of the fortress gate as they get over the shock of what has just happened. Loki, with several other individuals, are walking up towards Rollo until a still shaken Tammy looks at them and gives off a warning hiss. They stops abruptly, then Loki asks Rollo, “How did you manage to tame her?”

“I didn’t,” Rollo answers. “We had a common enemy and she chose to let me help her defeat him. Don’t come any closer. She’s been hurt and is still very upset over what we have just went through.”

“I’m just glad that it’s over,” Loki tells them as everyone holds their position. “We no longer have to live in fear of Eric and his enforcers. Rollo, is it possible for us to live together in peace with these dragons?”

“That will be up to Tammy and her Aberration friends,” Rollo answers.

“I still don’t like you Viking,” Tammy tells him while sobbing as a result of the shock and pain of what has taken place. “So long as you no longer harm any of us, we will no longer harm any of you.”

“That’s sounds fair enough,” Loki tells her. “You take it easy, It looks like your friends are coming to help you.”

Having being freed from their cages, Flame and Torch now land nearby with Jenny and Barbara who get off of them and bring Rollo’s wheelchair over to him. “Thank you for rescuing us from Eric,” they tell him as they help Rollo into his wheelchair so he can start rubbing Tammy’s forehead with his good arm in an effort to comfort her.

“Making friends with these Dragon been quite an adventure of a lifetime,” he tells them. “I always knew that dragons were very intelligent, but these Ragnarok Dragons are most exceptional. I’m so glad that we are now finally at peace with them.”

“Last night, I was ready to kill you over what your brother had done to us,” Tammy tells Rollo as she has now regaining her composure. “I’m so glad that Mary came to your defense. You have proven to be a great friend. Perhaps someday, if Major Powell can cure your paralysis, you can fly bareback on me for the grand tour.”

“That might be a possibility,” Major Powell tells Tammy as she and Joe have just arrive on Danny to check them both for their injuries. “I will know for sure when I can examine him back at our village.”

“Please cure him,” ask Tammy with a tear in her eye as Rollo insists that Tammy gets examined and treated first. “I want to give him that ride without having to wear this saddle and that heavy armor.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Major Powell tells her. “Joe, help me get this armor off of Tammy so I can find where she’s been hurt. It has to be quite uncomfortable.”

“It’s a good thing that she was wearing this,” Joe reports after removing the makeshift armor and inspecting the damage done by the heavy iron arrow. “That point blank shot would have been fatal without it.”

“You got a real nasty bruise and two cracked ribs from where that iron arrow hit you.” Major Powell tells Tammy after examining her chest area using a portable scanner. “It’s the same type of injury that us humans would have suffered had we been wearing this and some sniper had hit us in the chest with a high powered bullet. Take some of these narcs, they should help ease the pain and help with the healing of those ribs. Don’t even attempt to go flying until those cracked ribs have had a chance to heal up.”

“But, I don’t want to stay here,” Tammy tells Major Powell with a tear in her eye as some medical brew is applied to the nasty bruise on her chest. “It’s such a dreadful place.”

“With cracked ribs, you’re in no shape to fly back to our village,” Helena tells her who has now landed near by on Tarmac. “I’ll stay with you until you have recovered enough to make the flight back to Vikings Bay.”

“I’ll stay here with you too,” Tarmac tells her.

“So will I,” answers Eddie and David.

“I now have an understanding why those crossbow turrets were so dangerous to our kind,” answers Tammy as all of her friends come over to comfort her. “Even wearing your protective armor, it still knocked the wind out of me. I’ve never been so frightened before in my life especially after Sleeper told me what happened to Watson and Volt when they were hit by them. Captain Powell and the rest of you, thank you for convincing me not to rush over here to attack this fortress. I now know for sure that Eric and his warriors would have killed me and my dragon friends had I done so.”

“I’m glad that you chose to listen to reason instead of rushing off and getting yourself killed.” Captain Powell tells her. “We would have sure missed having you and your friends being curious about what we are doing in Ragnarok. We’re going to secure everything here and care for their casualties. With Eric and his enforcers gone, we should be able to turn over control of this fortress back to Rollo and Loki before we have to head back to Viking’s Bay.”

“Neither one of you are going anywhere for now.” Major Powell tells Tammy as she sets Rollo’s broken arm in a makeshift cast. “You both need to get healed up before you do anything else.”

“I just happened to think of something,” Captain Shrivers tells Captain Powell. “Does Eric and his warriors have those Specimen Implants like we do?”

“What does that mean?” ask Tammy with concern as Captain Powell walks over to where Eric’s severed left arm is and examines it.

“It means that Eric and his followers could already have been reborn somewhere else on Ragnarok,” as he shows her the Specimen implant in his arm and the one in Eric’s severed left arm. “Frack! Are we going to be condemned to fighting this frackin battle over and over for frackin forever?”

“I don’t think so,” a familiar voice tells Captain Powell.

“Belvello, how did you end up here on Ragnarok?” ask an astonished Captain Powell. “Who are these other people with you?”

“These are the men and women from Helena’s Tribe that went with me to confront Rockwell so that Helena could escape from Aberration with the rest of her tribe,” Belvello answers. “When we were killed by Rockwell on Aberration, we ended up on an ark called Grumpytown and were taken prisoners by its inhabitants for their entertainment. Then, today we were replaced by someone called Eric Bloodaxe and his Viking warriors. The Keepers of the Arks, as they called themselves, sent us here in trade for Eric’s Vikings to punish them for their mistreatment of their favorite creatures, the Ragnarok Dragons. They will not be returning back here, ever.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” a relieved Tammy says to Belvelto. “That is the best news I have heard all day.”

“Mistreatment is the least of it,” answers Captain Powell. “Not only did they kill Tammy’s mate for a trophy, they killed several of her friends just for their entertainment. They nearly killed her when we came here to rescue both our and her friends that Eric had taken as hostages. Be careful when you go up to see her. She is still quite sore from the bruising and cracked ribs she suffered when she was hit with that iron arrow from a crossbow turret.”

“What a wonderful creature you are,” Belvelto tells her as he pets her on the neck. “Get well soon. Grumpytown was a most unpleasant place to be in. Our three day stay there was most unpleasant. An eternity in that hell hole will be a just punishment for what Eric has done to you and your friends.”

“Thank you so much,” Tammy answers. “You are most kind.”

“You are now in an elite group,” Helena tells him. “Tammy is quite selective over who she will have as her friends.”

“Only three days in Grumpytown?” Captain Powell tells Belvelto. “Einstein was right about his theory of relativity. It was two months after you vanished from my training flight when our squadron of five bombers vanished in the same area along with a PBM sent out to look for us. Helena’s tribe left Aberration over a year before we ended up there. These Vikings left Earth sometime in the 10th century. When we escaped to returned to Earth from Aberration after killing Rockwell, it was the year 2046. That dirty brown ball you can see up there in the sky is what is left of Earth after the Aberration Ark smashed into it.”

“Does that mean there will be no escaping from here back to our time on Earth in 1945?” ask Belvelto.

“Yes,” answers Captain Powell. “Time can fast forward, slow down, or even be stopped, but it cannot be made to go backwards. Currently, there is no Earth left, as we know it, to go back to. The climate to the North on this Ark is much like that of England and Scotland. It is quite pleasant living up there. As you can see, we have made friends with the Aberration Rock Drakes we brought back with us and all the Ragnarok Dragons including their leader who you just made friends with. You just have to be aware that you don’t accidentally become a meal for some prehistoric carnivore that live in this world. Some of them are quite huge and nasty.”

“How did you manage to tame all of those wild rock drakes and the dragons?” ask Belvelto. “We were at constant war with the Rock Drakes for taking their eggs to raise their young for our use.”

“We didn’t,” answers Captain Powell. “They are all wild, even Tammy. When we learned that the rock drakes were as intelligent as us, they chose to work with us to defeat Rockwell so they could escape from Aberration. I have even made their leader, Mayor, my second in command. In spite of what Eric Bloodaxe had done to them, Tammy and the rest of the dragons became our friends when they learned that we were working together with the wild rock drakes.”

“That is most remarkable,” Terry from the Helena tribe tells Captain Powell. “We were at constant war with the rock drakes when we stole an egg from one of their nest to raise Raymond and the others. What ever happened to Raymond?”

“He was killed when he got into a fight with a T-Rex,” Helena answers. “It broke Cleo’s heart to lose him. She has since become good friends with Tammy’s dragon mate Tarmac.”

“How did these people get here?” ask Mayor who is a bit upset at the presences of his old human enemies from Aberration.

“It’s all right,” answers Helena. “These are the warriors of my tribe that died fighting Rockwell so the rest of us could escape from Aberration. They were traded for Eric and his warriors from the Ark Grumpytown by The Keepers of the Ark.”

“We’re sorry for what we did to you on Aberration,” Terry tells him. “We didn’t know.”

“As I was able to make my peace with Helena when we first arrived here, I can certainly make peace with the rest of you,” Mayor tells him.

“Thank you,” Terry tells Mayor as he goes over to rub his neck.”

The visits from the surprise return of Helena’s warriors continue as she tells them about where they are living and what has taken place since they arrived on Ragnarok. Several of them get the VIP treatment when the dragons volunteer to take them back to the village in Viking Bay to meet their spouses. There is jubilant celebration when they reach the village flying in on the dragons.

Captain Powell and his Marines continue to round up the Viking survivors with Major Powell treating the injuries among them. Loki continues to help with assigning people to look after the wounded and take count of who has been banished to Grumpytown and who has been allowed to stay.

“How’s Tammy doing,” ask Helena when she goes to check on her finding that Rollo has been staying with her all of this time.

“She’s been resting comfortably,” Rollo tells her.

“That’s just what Major Powell has ordered for her,” Helena answers. “The past 24 hours took quite an emotional toll on her. A good days rest will help her to heal up so much faster. Then, we can all go back home together.”

[rpicardi1]

Chapter 36. Peace at last.

 

“Good morning sleepyhead,” Rollo tells Tammy when she wakes up the following morning. “How are you feeling?”

“I haven’t slept like that in ages,” she tells him. “I feel so much better now.”

“You are doing so much better,” Major Powell tells her after conducting a quick exam with the portable medical scanner. “You’re back to your cheerful curious self. Those cracked ribs are nearly all healed up. You are cleared to go flying again. Just take it easy for the next couple of days until they have healed completely.”

“What about Rollo?” ask Tammy. “He stayed here with me all night in total disregard to his comfort.”

“Let me examine him,” Major Powell tells Tammy. “Oh! This is most interesting. In addition to his arm mending a lot faster then is normal, his spinal injury appears to have healed itself up on its own overnight.”

“Does that mean that I will be able to walk again?” Rollo asks Major Powell.

“There is one way to find out,” answers Major Powell. “Loki, Eddie, come over here and help me get Rollo out of his wheelchair.” There is a cheer from the viking survivors and the others when Rollo takes his first steps unassisted. “Take it easy until you have regain complete control over your legs and get your strength back.”

“Thank you Tammy, for all you have done for me,” Rollo tells her.

“Such a strange turn of events,” Tammy answers. “Yesterday, the only thing that prevented me from killing you was Mary. Then, my good friend Eddie, comes up with a crazy idea where I end up letting you ride me into battle. Now, I can’t wait to take you for that ride I promised you.”

“You are most kind,” Rollo tells her. “Becoming friends with you and your dragon friends was the last thing I ever expected would happen to me. As soon as Major Powell gives us the OK, I will go with you on that ride.”

The rest of the day is spent in organizing the remainder of the Viking tribe. “We would like to move back to Vikings Bay if that is possible,” Loki asks Rollo and Captain Powell.

“You had better ask Tammy,” Captain Powell tells him. “She and her dragon friends have been living there ever since Eddie became friends with her. It will be up to her if she wants to have you as our neighbors.”

“Now I know for certain that these dragons are not yours or anyone else s tames.” answers Loki as he looks at Tammy.

“Loki, I was too upset yesterday for you to get close to Rollo and I,” Tammy tells him. “You can come up now to pet me if you wish.”

“I don’t blame you one bit,” Loki answers as he comes up to rub her forehead. “Yesterday’s battle had to have been a most stressful event for the both of you.”

“You may move your tribe back to Viking’s Bay,” Tammy tells Loki. “There is plenty of room by your abandoned settlement to rebuild.”

“Thank you Tammy,” Loki and the rest of the tribe tells her. “It is so good to have you and the dragons as friends instead of our enemy.”

It is quite a party that evening in both locations as preparations are made for the final move.

That following morning, with the OK from Major Powell, Rollo gets his promised grand tour on Tammy.

“This is so much better flying on you bareback with none of that heavy battle armor,” Rollo tells her. “What a vast land this Ragnarok Ark is.”

“Did you ever see any dragons when you were still living on Earth?” Tammy asks him.

“No,” Rollo answers back. “The fantasy of dragons existing were part of our culture. We place carvings of their heads on our longboats with painting on the mainsail and our shields to create fear among our enemies when we launch raids against them. Eric became obsessed with capturing one when he first saw your kind on Ragnarok. It is why he killed your mate for a trophy to hang in his war room when he was unable to tame him. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that ordeal before our final battle to rid Ragnarok of him forever.”

“It’s OK,” Tammy answers. “If it wasn’t for the arrival of Helena, then Captain Powell with the Rock Drakes, we would have probably killed each other off by now.”

“Tammy, do you know where you and the rest of the dragons came from?” ask Rollo.

“Come to think of it, I don’t,” Tammy answers. “With the exception of that one egg Eric stole from a nest, none of our eggs have ever hatch before. It is as if, like the unicorn and griffin, we were just created and place here to see what would happen.”

“That is most interesting,” Rollo tells her. “Us from the tenth century, you fantasy creatures from our legends, those extinct creatures from millions of years ago, Captain Powell of the 20th century and his grandson from the 21st century, all were placed here in some kind of grand experiment by whoever created this place.”

“What do you think will become of us in the future?” Tammy asks Rollo.

“I believe that future is up to us to create,” Rollo tells her. “And’ it appears that we have made a good start that will ensure our survival.”

“It has been a most enjoyable conversation,” Tammy tells Rollo.

“This Ark is so beautiful from up here,” Rollo tells her. “I see the longboats are sailing North along the coastline of the great swamps. Lets head for Viking’s Bay so I can see what our new home will look like so we can start creating that future together.”

 

With those discoveries and many more to follow, life on Ragnarok has settled down to the daily grind of life in this most unusual community. Most everyone has found a mate and has settled down to raising their families. Even the dragons have started to raise families of their own when, for the first time in their lives, their eggs start to hatch on their own in their nests. The kids on both sides have been thrilled in growing up together. There are adventures galore waiting for them as the caves get thoroughly explored, boss creatures get defeated, and an expedition that finds the Labyrinth of Time and successfully completes the task of unlocking its secrets.

 

Does the Damaged Earth eventually heal itself up so it can be repopulated by a future generation of humans? Do our survivors ever send out expedition to explore the other Arks known to be out there?

 

Those are topics for some future sequel of the Flight 19 crews that vanished without a trace, the crew from the PBM rescue flight which also vanished without a trace, the survivors from a destroyed future Earth, the Vikings that vanished in a storm in the North Sea, and the tribe of Helena that escaped to live with them.

 

This completes this most unusual adventure for now.