Chapter 9: R&R

It has been a rather long day for the two recon teams of Lambda 3-4 and Lambda 3-5, especially Lambda 3-4 with their spectacular luck and gains in their mission while the other teams could barely establish contact without some sort of incident or attack. The sun had finally sunk into the horizon and night beveled the villagers and the MTF operatives, but the day ended not with a grand victory, as it turns out many of the villagers have died in the ensuing chaos, some trampled over under the hooves of horses, others pushed down and stepped on to death. Those who are too close to the engagement site received third-degree burns, some died from the scorching fire and heat stroke that they have endured for hours.

Seeing the importance of the Flame Dragon and its influence on the people, General Marcus called for the retrieval of the corpse for it to be studied and perhaps be able to be used for future diplomacy with the natives of this world. It provided some assistance for the recon teams on cleaning up the mess as two Chinooks with some more operatives arrived at the scene one hour after the battle ended. The newly arrived operatives helped dig the graves and helped carry the dead villagers into their final resting place, 6 feet underground. As fast as they have arrived, they quickly leave after the carcass has been attached to the two helicopters via cables and flew back to base, shame the recon teams can't have a ride with them.

Alone once again, the members of the two recon teams stood before the graves of those fallen today, innocent civilians and villagers that wanted to live a better life, trying to escape the looming threat of the Flame Dragon, but sadly fell into its jaws. The remaining villagers stood behind them paying their respects as well, the crying of children is very clear as many that have fallen are parents. The Kant counter Cassie carries began beeping faintly as purple fireflies or sort have risen from the low grass, Cassie went and turned it off to not ruin the moment.

A few minutes passed and the villagers are packing their belongings and sorting them out, Richard came face-to-face with the village chief to speak to him. "You are leaving them?" Richard recounted what the chief said earlier, the village is abandoning the orphans and few of the elderly.

The chief slowly nodded his head in contemplation and with a heavy heart. "We are already struggling to survive ourselves, it is with a heavy heart that we must leave them to the gods." The chief spoke in a low voice, clearly not wanting to come to such a decision but it just shows how dire their village's situation is. Then the chief chuckled gazing off at the rotting arm of the flame dragon that was left behind. "But I am sure the scales of the flame dragons would make us all rich" The chief looked at the arm, then back at his villagers with a smile before looking back at Richard. "I still don't know how to repay you people, you have done so much for us, even killed the flame dragon a-and i.."

The village chief is still speechless when talking about the flame dragon, chuckling to himself once more to regain his thoughts and composure before speaking once again. "You have done great things that the people of these lands would be thankful for, if you people ever need anything, I and the village will always be happy to help, it is the least we could do to pay back what you have done for us." The old man, who's turning sixty-two years old shed a tear and wiped it away, these people have done a feat that was deemed impossible to do, killing the flame dragon was just a mere fantasy for the great warriors of the past, but now that it is nothing more than a lifeless carcass, he couldn't believe it. Even if he hasn't seen its full potential as the tales told him, he knows that the souls of the past would be thankful, and can rest easy.

Richard couldn't help but smile at the moment, glancing down at the ground to reclaim his memories and think when was the first time he felt humane in his line of job. Interrogating what appears to be civilians, the helpless screams of D-Classes when he threw them in a cell to be mauled apart, and the death of his subordinates that he swore he could have prevented. But at last, he feels like that sensation, that warm sensation of humanity slowly brushing its fingers into his soul again and returning to him. He looked back up at the chief, continuing to smile under his balaclava and nodded. "It is a pleasure, and you don't have to repay us, we were glad to help." Maybe he should file a complaint to the O5 that some of their operatives are still human, and maybe just giving them a bit of time off the gun would be great.

Bowing for the last time for a while to Richard, the chief put his straw hat back on and walked back to the lines of carriages and wagons that were reformed. The chief said that from this point on they will be safe and the teams can let them go by themselves, and after watching the chief walk away, Richard returned to his humvee and his squad who themselves have gathered some scales as well. Standing beside the lines of foundation vehicles are the children and elderly that are left behind by the villagers, he waved a friendly wave to them then gestured them to enter the vehicles. "We will take you in as refugees," Richard said wholeheartedly, and his response made the group happy, the now orphans cheered, and the elderly smiled with a nod of appreciation. He also noticed the two mages being a part of it as well, and they walked up to him asking for confirmation once again whether they can go with the operatives. He thinks long and hard but thinks the study of how magic and reality-bending are learned in this world might be worthwhile so he nods and gestures to get inside the vehicles.

And when the refugees started getting in, they began to hear cheering from the direction of the village convoy. Facing that direction, they saw the villagers cheering and waving goodbye at the group with massive grins and huge smiles, some operatives waved back in response before the team re-entered their vehicles and drove off back to the FOB.

Imperial Senate, Sadera. 2 Hours After the Death of the Flame Dragon.

"This is insanity!" Cried one of the senators that have stood up from their seat. "Do we have to sacrifice more men!? We have already lost ¾ of our military to the otherworlders and the beast, our vassals are in revolt and banditry is spreading across the lands like wildfire!" Their voice echoed throughout the marble halls and between the supporting pillars, his complaint is logical. "We already lost this war!"

"Nonsense!" Exclaimed a bulky man in armor, appearing to be one of the military leaders of the Empire, a scar across the right eye is evidence of his long and brutal fight in warfare. "We may have lost the offensive, but now what we must do is defend! You are a coward thinking the Empire will bend its knees down to a foreign invader!" He argued with the previous senator. "We should increase conscription to recover our army! Until then we must defend!"

"You are a madman thinking we could win against these foes!" A new senator flares up as they stand from their seat. "Persious! Open your eyes you old man! We are fighting against an army of mages that are beyond our own, and you expect us to defend against the beast too!? It'll be another slaughter!"

Persious, the military leader and senator, spoke out once again with now his subordinates standing up on his side. "Cowards! All of you are cowards! You want the Empire to collapse!? All of our riches, gains, wealth! All gone without a last fight!? We will all be enslaved by these invaders, the least we could do is fight with honor and down to the last man!" Speaking about the enslavement of the senators appears to shut most of the pro-peace mouths up.

This supposedly mid-night meeting has turned into a battlefield, instead of speaking about the problems peacefully, the senators happily take up their anger as motivation and spout them out like a dragon's breath. The Emperor, Sol Augustus, seems disappointed while he sits on the throne, watching the annoying blabbering of the senators, but he must wait until the right time before he speaks his orders. But soon, more senators came to the defense of Persious, few also standing to defend the pro-peace senators, a house divided. "Enough you spitting mongrels!" Augustus yelled as his voice echoed across the senate building, and everyone fell silent. "Yes we have indeed lost greatly to the foreign invaders, and yes the beast is death itself, but we cannot let the Empire collapse"

The senators, the guards, and some of his children are listening closely to what he is speaking. "This is our lineage, this is what we have fought for centuries, the Empire is the cultivation of countless wars so that we may prosper, and humanity standing tall against all else. We cannot afford to lose what we have gained, Legate-General Persious, I am assigning you to the defense of the Empire. Do what you must to recover our army and spread them out accordingly, I will be handling the Otheroworlder's movements" Persious stood tall with a massive grin, smiling from ear-to-ear after hearing the Emperor's orders. "We will not lose the Empire!"

The senate building erupted into cheering and praising. "Long live the Emperor! Long live the Empire!"

Foundation Forward Operating Base, Barracks Rooftop.

Richard sat on a bench on top of the Barracks, overlooking other buildings and staring out into the dark horizon. His body leaning forward and fiddling with his fingers, he's quickly deep in thought. Despite the nearly complete darkness of the night slowly consuming him, he stayed. His vision averted and looked up at the countless stars of this world. "Wished Trisha could see this…" He muttered under his breath, gazing at the bright stars then drifted away to look at the moon. It's a breath-taking sight and he wishes to share the moment with somebody else, but right now he is all alone. He closed his eyes and went thinking, into the deep reaches of his mind to stay and just think, the darkness and eerie silence complimenting his form of meditation.

This world is untouched, free of Earth's politicians and corrupt governments, and without ruthless capitalists trying to exploit the riches that are here. He had always been a self-proclaimed philosopher so thinking like this is normal early in his life, but with him entering the military then joining the Foundation, moments like these are hard to come by. Now that the moment is here he is not about to miss out on it.

He questions himself, why? Why did he go down this route in life? Maybe he's also one of the money-hungry people he always hated so much, seeing the paycheck in that confidential letter he got from his commanding officer back in the Army, now look at himself, serving under the boots of a secretive organization with other similar organization in this unbelievable fever dream of a world. It did open his eyes to the truth of Earth and his questions answered, nearly everything is a lie and no matter how hard you try you will always be found. What was he thinking? What it is he's doing is for the greater good, right? There's the Ethics Committee constantly supervising the Foundation's actions, or is it all just a lie to give comfort to the people working under the Foundation? He doesn't know, and probably won't ever know.

Then the question of the refugees came into his mind, what will happen to them in a month? Hell, he'll give them a week until the Foundation does something to them. He was shaken out of this state with quite a heavy pat on his shoulder, he glanced at the hand that rested on his right, then looked up to see Roomy. "Oh hey Roomy, why aren't you asleep?" Richard asked while scratching his neck.

Roomy chuckled as his hand slipped away from Richard's shoulder, and walked around the bench to sit on Richard's left. He smirked as he gazed at the stars just like Richard, then looked back at his CO to answer the question. "I could ask the same to you, Lieutenant. I just can't sleep, adrenaline's been pumping since the battle" Roomy answered, most likely an excuse to stay up. Richard then turned towards the base's main gate, the big metal blast door. "Marcus sent out a team to grab hold of 049, should be back in a couple of hours if there's no other problem."

The blond Lieutenant took a glance at the main gate as well, sighing before looking back up at the night sky. "How long do you think until the GoIs take interest in this world?" Richard suddenly asked a question to Roomy, crossing his leg on top of the other.

"I say a month, we've been here for a couple and there's news of one of our outposts getting hit by CI, only a matter of time 'till the fuckers comes," Roomy answered blatantly and confidently, but the Corporal is right, soon it'll not just be the SCPs, it'll also be the Chaos Insurgency, Serpents Hand, or maybe even the GOC taking an interest. Roomy sighed and looked back at Richard.

"Yeah… My thoughts exactly" Richard replied, sighing and pulling out a pack of cigarettes and offered one to Roomy where the Corporal accepted gratefully. Pulling out one himself he lights his and Roomy's taking a quick huff of it.

"Lieutenant, i have a question"

Richard chuckled and nodded. "Go right on ahead and ask Corporal"

"We're not exactly a charity organization, so I'm worried about the refugees. Too many secrets to hide, too many risks."

Richard sighed, about time one asks him about the refugees but he's quite unsure of what to answer that question, he gave it some thought, and considering what he has seen he could only think of the worst that could happen. "I'm not sure myself, my best bet is they'll get amneticized and probably sent off to one of the towns after we got what we want out of them" He takes another huff of the cigar, gazing back at the beautiful clear stars. "The Colonel did give them tents and commodities to live by, didn't give me many details except we'll be watching over them, you've read the paperwork I sent to the team?"

"I did sir, and what you say might be right. But it can't be worse than what the Chaos Insurgency does right? They have Chaos in their name, tell me that's not the perfect name for the bad guys" Roomy let out a chuckle before taking a huff of his cigar as well. "I'll never forgive them."

Richard suddenly stood up and kept his cigar in between his lips, looking at Roomy then gestured to the door. "Let's go down, tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Forward Operating Base Courtyard, 0800 Hours.

"Calm down Dr. Bright" Cassie attempts to verbally restrict the doctor who is pretty much very excited to see the refugees, there's an apparent distaste in her voice and Richard could only sigh. While Josh is giggling to himself, watching the overwhelming excitement the doctor is showing through his over-exaggerated gestures and flailing his arms around. As for Roomy, Roomy is not here currently.

"But you all must understand! The existence of a different species is huge for evolution studies! And on the other hand, previous estimates and predictions state that it's impossible for humans to evolve outside our own!" The doctor then turned around with confidence and straightened his posture, placed his hands on his hips, and smiled. "But now I have living, and breathing specimens to work with!"

Richard sighs again and walks up beside Bright and crosses his arms. "Just don't ask them that many questions, understood? These people are still inferior, a doctor with your experience and expertise would know"

How it came to this situation started when Lambda 3-4 were handing out rations to the refugees for breakfast, the food was taken well by the refugees and describe them as the most delicious food they've ever tasted, and that is predictable behavior since what they usually eat is wheat bread and soup that's occasionally seasoned with salt. The team couldn't help but be amused, and at the same time warm-hearted by these reactions since it really shows how easily accessible and cheap everything is now, and they should be grateful even if it comes to diet-restricted military meals.

It was all doing fine and dandy and went without a hitch, the refugees were fed and they slept well last night and that is when the team gets a call from central to gather the refugees in one corner of the courtyard. And surprise surprise, five minutes later Dr. Bright showed up.

Richard wonders what will happen next.