Wings of Honor: Tales of Pyrrhia

Chapter 31: Aftermath

Kish's POV

I sat down in the small Stationhouse office, really the only quiet room on the first floor, and even then you could hear the commotions of Sanctuary outside and the squad milling about inside. The muted hammer blows of Hastings fiddling with his machinations, and the faint static of Gossling manning the radio. It was us three Airborne in the building at the time.

But then I took a deep breath, getting up out of my chair and drifting out to the doorway. A couple of dragons milled around in the common area, snacking on the gifts the civilians gave us, a few of them were familiar.

"Hey. Sergeant Kish is here!" The dragons stirred in my presence.

"Hey Sergeant," Hastings mumbled through his face protecting doohikies. I could already smell something faintly burning over there.

"How's Sanctuary?" I asked.

"No radio traffic, sir. Us or the enemy." Gossling spoke up.

"The Enclave assisted the Outclaws helping scavengers get their pets down from a tree," Meerkat remarked.

"Queen Thorn still has no new intel regarding your soldiers." Armadillo hung his head.

A few of the other dragons who weren't messengers or representatives looked equally as solemn.

"We'll find them, and get them back." a pale orange SkyWing said.

Wren was disassembling her carbine on the table for the fifth time today. "They keep moving. It's like they have no rhyme or reason, the C****s."

"Woah." All of us humans reacted. None of us expected Wren to say that; but then again, if anyone would say that, it would be Wren.

I sighed, taking another look around. Wesley and Towne were off helping Thorn at her food drive they have at the Scorpion Den. After Reed, Rossum, and Jimmy were ambushed there, Thorn dedicated at least five dragons to support us at all times, not to mention assistance from Queen Glory and Queen Ruby as well. It was a blow to all of Pyrrhia that they got captured. Even without any semblance of leadership, the Japanese could still surprise us.

At least one nice thing to come out of that was the perfection of joint operation doctrine between tribes. If the rainbow of dragons milling in the lobby was any semblance, the various tribes were beginning to work with each other to complement their tactical advantages and limit their weaknesses.

We helped form the first teams of loitering SkyWings and patrolling HiveWings for peacekeeping, and rapid response MudWing and teams equipped with special nonlethal weapons and tactics pioneered by all of us. After a series of forest fires threatened the nearby mountains, we grouped together Icewing flights to help combat them, and LeafWings to aid in regrowing the damage. And every army of almost every tribe attended our intro to dragon and human first aid classes, then hosted by Jimmy. I also led the practice scenarios against Japanese forces. "Boom-and-zoom" tactics proved especially well for breath weapons, and even a SeaWing flailing about in the middle of a platoon managed to prove decently effective.

But our best fronts were on human and draconic relations. While I didn't give up my cross, Turtle and Qibli helped us out by enchanting a few service star pins and large necklaces to have the same translating effect. I didn't keep track of the number of true multilinguists on both sides, but by now, they were firmly in the double digits. A full dictionary was in the process of being written, and already a technical manual of common phrases was being pushed out across Pyrrhia. Once humans and dragons stopped fighting with each other, it was surprising how much they discovered they shared similar goals.

Technology exploded across the continent, starting in our little city of Sanctuary. Hastings designed a massive steam engine for a factory. And after being built by human hands and dragon talons like, clothing, printing, plumbing, metal smithing, and manufacturing of all sorts took off like wildfire across town. Soon there were SandWings with winter parkas when they ventured further north. Hundreds of armor designs appeared for the various tribes that were still more concerned about melee than being shot. And of course, everyone was excited seeing gunsmithing take off, with both repeating firearms for humans, and both handheld and pack models for dragons. Never would I have thought of putting a cannon on the back of a dragon and rigging it so it would fire by biting down on a mouthpiece, but then again, I'm not Hastings.

For what omnipresent danger the Japanese remained, it wasn't enough to prevent Pyrrhia from catapulting into a new technological age. One where Queens could communicate directly via radiotelephone, running water in nearly every building of even small towns, a few buildings like the Stationhouse were even beginning to rediscover electricity, and of course, transport methods for dragons and humans alike were rapidly developing. Dragon-powered trains and boats were proposed, but everyone agreed they would be novel at best and demeaning at worst. But I digress, that would be pretty awesome.

And almost like clockwork, at 0630, I would go on a walk up to a nearby bluff to look over Sanctuary, see where we've been, and see how far we were now. It was pretty impressive seeing a city where smokestacks appeared in front of your very eyes, where every house was built better and bigger, where individuals could be seen with decent shirts and jeans or semi-covering uniforms with pockets galore.

I think Marvin would be proud of how far we've gotten since he left.

And I would stay there on my little overwatch position, watching the sun drift down beyond the mountains, blanketing Sanctuary in a blanket of gold. Then I would see the city slowly ramp down, the faint puffing of engines drift to silence, and all movement eventually cease. And in those last few moments of light, you could only make out the gentle plumes of smoke rising from the houses, stoked to keep the inhabitants warm and comfortable.

I think that's how far we've come since The Battle of Jade Mountain. Sure, Marvin and Travers and McManus didn't stay to see it, but they also gave us the foundation for us to build on, for us to continue what Marvin envisioned.

And as the stars began to reveal themselves amongst the glorious night, and I looked to see one of the three moons begin to peek behind the mountains, I resigned to begin making my way home. But not soon after, a familiar set of footsteps got louder. I turned to meet the approaching IceWing.

"Why do I even bother coming all the way up here to take you back? What about Jimmy, or Reed, or Rossum?"

I laughed. "They won't attack me with you nearby. And... maybe... because we're both waiting for someone to return."

Me and Winter nodded solemnly.

"Do you think he will be back soon?" Winter asked. "Moon... Moon didn't know, she couldn't see ahead that far."

I just looked up into the sky for a long while, sighing. "I know he's up there fighting the good fight. I know he is."

The both of us looked up into the navy sky, splashed with piercing white stars, too many to count.

"He's just waiting for a chance. He'll be back. He's coming back... soon."