Dimensional Travels: World at War-Chapter 65: Lockheed Martin

Before crossing into

Empire territory, Eric stopped to address the convoy. "Spread out. Maintain

visual on each other. We will stop every twelve hours to rest for three hours,

and switch drivers." He looked to the Dragons. "You will be in charge of

noticing if the supernatural or mana spikes in the atmosphere. Maintain

vigilance. One slip could mean death. Move out."

After six hours of

travel, the convoy passed through a small ravine. Thousands of vultures lined

the small creek-bed. The convoy members looked to each other, not speaking as

safeties clicked. "Proceed slowly." Eric’s voice cracked over the radio.

"Weapons hot." Each turret was loaded, while AT-4’s were prepared.

They passed through

the small clearing north of the ravine, and the smell hit them. A soldier

gagged while Felicity gasped. "This is horrible." She said softly. A voice

grounded them as the radio came to life. "Keep moving."

They passed by the decaying

bodies and burnt village. Dead eyes seemed to beg for vengeance and mourning.

The next day, the

convoy sat in a circle, some soldiers stood on the turrets, keeping guard,

while others sat inside the circle, eating or resting. No one spoke. They had

passed four villages of varying decay. At the last village, Felicity had begun

to cry. A teddy bear laid next to a child near their path of travel, the

distant eyes of death staring at the soldiers grimly.

Eric stood with

Michael as they looked back at the soldiers. "Morale is breaking." Michael said

as he turned to look over the valley.

"They’ll come

around." Eric said as he finished a can of spaghetti-o’s. His hands tremble as

he threw the can into the trash. "What do you think?" He motioned back the way

they came.

"I don’t think we

ever left Earth." Michael responded as he threw the remnants of his MRE into

the trash.

Eric sighed as he

looked up at the sky. "Sometimes it feels like it, eh?"

The rest of the

journey passed quietly as the convoy reached their target point. Up armored

Humvees spread out in a two hundred meter circle on top of a hill. Eric had the

Humvees with AT-4’s on each of the cardinal directions, while the Dragons stayed

by the tree-line, spread out one hundred meters from each other. "Alright, get

those birds in the air. Five hour window, then wheels up."

Eric walked over to

Felicity. "Are you okay?"

The girl was

trembling as she looked to the North. "Something is watching us." She

whispered, her voice barely audible. "Something powerful. Ancient." Her legs

collapsed as Eric turned to the North.

He met a pair of

eyes. "I hope you like the show, asshole." He grumbled as he turned back to

Felicity. "Get up. Your mission is to scan, not worry about eyes on a 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

mountain."

She nodded, leaning

against the tree. "Yes Master Sergeant." She whispered again, offering a brave

smile.

"Uh, Sarn’t...?" A

voice broke Eric from his staring competition with the horizon.

"Yes?" He responded,

slightly irratated that his peace had been broken.

"You might want to

see this. The scans are coming in... and."

The soldier paused.

"You just should make sense of it yourself."

Eric sighed as he

stepped into the truck. He saw the images on the screen.

And dropped his chew

tobacco. "Are you fucking serious?"

The camera’s on the

drone zoomed in. He saw men dressed in OCP loading metallic rods into cargo

containers. A forklift was being driven towards a large airframe. He saw the

wings, and the designator on the sides. "Shit. They’re already here too." Eric

thought, his hands clench as the Copenhagen can crunched. He had stepped

forward to observe the scene. "Pan around to the east side."

On the east side,

Eric saw the very airframe he feared discovering the most. "Zoom in on that."

The zoom revealed

his worst fear as he watched Empire soldiers point weapons at the battalion

soldier that had fallen down loading the container next to the Jet. The

designator on the side?

F-22.

He felt his chest

constrict.

The empire now had

Earth technology.

"Bring the birds

back and load the trucks. We are done here."

Before the soldiers

could question him, he raised his hand. "Get it done."

He then walked

around the perimeter, issuing out the same orders. "We are leaving, pack up and

get in your trucks." Confused murmurs were whispered, but his orders were

followed.

Michael woke up and

got out of the truck. He looked around at the soldiers and turned to Eric.

"What’s going on?"

"They have a goddamn

Lockheed Martin facility. And they’re using our soldiers to figure out how to

work the equipment."

Michael looked at

Eric with mouth agape. His jaw tightened as he looked down the ridge. "Fuck."

Eric groaned, face

palming. "Have some bearing, you damn cherry."

Michael came back to

Earth. "I’m a captain now." He grumbled.

"Yeah, but to me you

will always be the LT who drove for an hour with the map upside down."

After the drones

were packed, they began the trek back to Hood Hill. Eric updated Milano on the

situation. "Sir, we have pictures and video of the site our men are being held

at. We will arrive back at Hood Hill and verify images." Milano’s line went

silent for a moment before he responded: "Good copy."

Eric sighed as Hood

Hill came into view. The journey was over for now, but he couldn’t relax. He

parked his truck and gathered his soldiers. "You do not speak a word of this to

anyone." He said, looking around. "Passes to Town freedom and Riemskin will be

revoked if I hear a single mention of ’Lockheed’.

"For everyone." He

turned to the Young Dragons. "That includes you too. I will inform your

leaders. If they decide to discuss it with you, that is their business."

"Dismissed."

Eric stood in front of the command room doors. He sighed as he entered. This was one briefing he wished he did not have to do.

A stack of papers was handed to each leader in the room. The dragon elders had been given translated copies so they could follow along. Hammond was there as well, he would translate the brief so Eric could focus on getting the information out.

After describing what had happened, Eric stood still as he looked at Miher and Milano. They sifted through the paperwork, each General taking notes on pages and studying images from various angles.

"What do you think they are planning to do, Dryer?" Milano said as he studied one image in particular. An F-22 was in pieces, and it seemed like Empire engineers were studying each piece.

"Sir, I think they are trying to emulate our capabilities. I did not see a single piece of machinery on the outside of that facility that was operational, but... they may be able to replicate the technology with mana. They have already done that with their Llrathels."

Milano looked at the last picture in the folder. His fisted clenched around the edges of the corner before he looked up at Eric. "It’s time for them to be assigned a mission."

"Get our men out of that facility."

Eric nodded.

"Yes sir."

Eric sighed as he got in his truck.

"Another day in paradise."

As he drove up the road to Vegas, Eric saw the Sphere first. It had turned from a news center to a free concert for the people stuck on Brishan. He assumed that the civilians had complained on social media about the 24/7 news coverage, so the Sphere was now broadcasting music videos.

"I’ve been watching that thing for several days, and couldn’t figure it out. What is that?" A voice called behind him. It was playful and witty. If foxes had voices, the voice was what Eric imagined they would sound like.

"Its called the Vegas Sphere. It is controlled...

What the?"

He pulled the truck over and turned around, pulling his pistol out and pointing it at the creature in his vehicle. His eyes widen as he saw the figure. Its eyes matched the eyes he had seen on the mountain. It was short and skinny, and its entire body was made of flame. "Who are you?"

The being chuckled as it floated over to the front seat, studying the pistol with interest. "I must say, demigod, the weapons of your world amuse me. The sharp cracks remind me of my children hatching. Of course, my last child was born ten thousand years ago, so maybe my memory is fuzzy!" The entity laughed at it’s own joke.

"And I am the Cardinal Phoenix Dreha. I represent the flames of desire and dreams. I have been watching you, Demigod. You amuse me."

Eric’s eyebrows arched as he looked at the phoenix. "Why do you keep calling me a demigod?"

Dreha sighed as Eric started the engine. "Do you really not know? I can see the lines of fate, child. You are clearly aligned with Goddess Triamal. And not by fate, child."

"By blood."