From Soldier's Rifle, To Dragon's Wings: Revelations (Book 3)

Hostage

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~14 YEARS LATER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m not doing that!” Shadow stated as he looked at the water below us. “Its fine Shadow. Ill be right behind you.” I replied, looking over the cargo hatch at the water, which seemed to be dancing due to the prop wash.

“Oh no no no. I know what your trying to do!” Shadow said before retreating toward the front of the hovering Helo. “And what might that be?” I asked. “Your trying to push me off the side. I know you too well dad.” he replied with a smirk. “Not well enough son.” I stated before hitting a small red button on my right, which in turn opened a small hatch underneath him sending him into the water.

After I heard a splash, I turned and jumped out of the cargo hatch, landing in the water with grace. The cool feeling of salt water running over my body was relaxing, and the small fish swimming by made it even more so. I stayed underwater for a few moments, taking in all the sensations that I loved, the coolness of the water, the vibrations of the Pave Low props, the ability to see deep into the dark waters below.

Deciding that I needed to find Shadow, I looked toward the top of the water, and began to swim. Swimming for a dragon like me was as simple as flying, that’s because we used our wings underwater. I broke that surface and began to scan the top of the water for Shadow. “I hope you know that I hate you now!” Shadow stated from behind me.

I began to laugh as he swam to my side. “Ok son. We have 3 miles of treading water until we get back to the carrier. Can you take it, or should I tell the pilot to get you out?” I asked with a smile. “ha ha! Very funny. Come on, you don’t want to get back to mom late, shell kill you.” I smiled at him and signaled the pilot to leave. “Ok, lets go.” I stated after the Pave Low began to fly away from us. I then dove below the surface, opened my sings, and began to swim back to the carrier.

The past 14 years have been………you could say, moderate. Since only Firedrake and I were the last active members of Talon Squad, we needed new recruits. After we had been reunited with Firedrake, we were sent to a recruit facility where the new recruits were being trained. Firedrake and I then tested the recruits that the government had chosen for possible squad residency. Although they were strong, none passed our selection.

After giving it some thought, Firedrake and I decided to start training Shadow and Nina to join Talon. It caused some controversy from Faline, but she eventually went along with it. We started there training on Nina’s 10th birthday with just basic things like perfecting there aerial combat and flying ability. They had both taken quickly to the training and were almost immediately ready to go into combat. Although they begged and pleaded to do just this, we wouldn’t let them. Shadow was now 14 years old, but he was still my son.

As for the Warlord we had been hunting, his reputation as a ghost of war was still with him. We were not allowed on missions unless they were high value. Thus leaving us allot of time to sit around and do nothing. Only recently did we receive orders to board the Aircraft Carrier U.S.S Enterprise. The next day, we thrown onto the ship and began to make our way to Sadr City in Iraq. After 3 days out at sea, I decided to do some more training with shadow, which led to us to jumping out of the Pave Low into the ocean.

The sight of the carrier scrambling F/A- 18’s pulled me from my memories. “What’s going on there?” Shadow panted. I stopped swimming and slowly began to scan the deck. There were at least 7 Seahawks, 3 Pave lows, and multiple jets ready to take off. “Lets go!” I ordered him before continuing toward the Carrier.

After another 15 minuets of swimming, we caught the carrier and boarded it by a open boat launch area on the back. There was a lot of commotion here, and this place was usually never occupied. “TARO!” I heard Firedrake call out from a doorway. I glanced toward his direction and quickly ran to meet him, quickly taking notice that he had his Weapon Vest on. “What’s going on, why are we on stand by?” I asked. “A small patrol in Baghdad came across a Nuke with its warhead primed and ready to fire.” Firedrake stated before motioning for me to follow him.