I had returned to my office after finalizing matters with Michael, giving the dragons a cautionary gaze and a warning. I needed to try and process their existence, what I had been told and what was to come. I was unaware of how much time had passed till Emy had informed me that the operation was about to begin. Funnily enough the voices had started once more, some begging me to reconsider while others called me a horrid monster. My usual methods to quiet them down proving less than effective this time, their many overlapping voices slowly causing me a mild headache.
“Sir, I have Michael on the holo-vid and I’ve set up multiple feeds ranging from the group of ships that we have sent along with their current approach to the planet. We have also begun setting up the multiple cameras on the men and women who have chosen to perform this strike but are you sure about this sir? Is there no way for us to somehow spare the kids or elderly?” Emy informed me before once more asking me if I was sure.
Her words seemed to cause the voices to become slightly more vocal. I had to nod my confirmation, not trusting my own voice to not betray me. Thankfully I didn’t need to say anything as Michael’s voice soon carried over from his own projection.
“Emy, dear, this is something we have to do. I know it’s difficult, I know it seems monstrous but they need to pay for what they’ve done. This Leviathan is a white whale for the old man but the church is something I want to see destroyed. I know you don’t like this but you don’t know the horror they have wrought, the atrocities they have committed. While the old man wants this to be a way to flush the Leviathan out and harm its shadowy powerbase my own desire is far simpler, I just want the church to hurt. The children are no doubt indoctrinated already and the elderly too entrenched in their ways to be broken from the brainwashing. I will not risk them ever having any kind of chance to hurt you or our future family.” I watched him tell her, noting the softness and hints of hope when he spoke of the last part. It ignited feelings inside of me I hadn’t felt in a rather long time.
I gently placed a hand on her shoulder, her gaze turning to me as she bit her lip. “What we do now is not for us, and I know it is seen as us being the bad ones but this isn’t for us. It’s for the future generations, so there won’t be any chance of them being brainwashed or harmed in their fanatical ‘cleansings’ whenever someone disagrees with them or their views.” I told her gently as Michael nodded, voicing his agreement with a gentle smile on his face that soon turned serious as he turned his focus to me.
“Okay old man, we should unfortunately get back to business now and break from this rather touching moment. I will be taking partial lead but you have command sir. Our agents are in position, both those assaulting and those on the ground who will be giving us the opening to strike before they realize what’s happening. They’re disguised as bio-tech employees, guards and technicians. They will begin disruption of the planet’s main cities communications once our ships get closer. I had expected us to use this place as our staging ground so I had a few extra explosives sent ahead of time. The ships are also flying the church’s colors so should help somehow come they will retreat but still be seen as the church rather than our own. Those going down will also pass fake documents and church documents and doctrine notes so if our people get discovered it will play into the act. We will be deploying a total of ten dragons for this; each augmented with aggression boosters but not much else to avoid suspicion. I also took the liberty of having a few extra ships without our own patterns waiting in the wings, or in this case kept on standby to swoop in later and clean things up under the pretense of saving whatever is left. Just give the word and we can start,” Michael told us. I felt Emy pull away and stand next to me, her eyes wandering over the many screens, many flickering from one scene to another.
Taking my seat behind the table, I glanced across the screens as well. “I take it I’m patched into the communications?” I asked getting a nod from Michael. “Good. Ladies and Gentlemen this is the spark for our future. Commence the operation. Focus on the four largest cities and the planet’s main ore dragon factory. For the cities ‘preach’ about the dragons rising up and taking their rightful place before causing havoc by letting them loose while you all charge into other sectors. Spare no one, do as much damage as possible. We need to make this believable and create a big enough scene that this won’t be swept under the rug or explained away. Michael has directed where each team will deploy and what dragons would cause the greatest effect. I leave command to him and will only give input when required or I feel is needed.” My words seemed to take Michael by surprise, clearly not expecting me to allow him control of this operation but I felt I needed to trust him. He had potential and as I said before, I saw my younger self in him. If something happens to me, I needed to see for myself that he could handle extreme matters and hard operations such as this. My own little test to see if I was right about him or not.
I watched along with Emy as he took command. I wasn’t sure what dragons had been chosen, another point I had left in his hands. I smiled as I saw him give proper directions, ordering a water, lightning and ore dragon to assault the largest city, the lightning and water dragon meant for killing while the ore dragon rampages, destroying both buildings and acting as a distraction for the killing, appearing as the bigger threat, a fast one to destroy where their main power and communication center and for the last two cities another pair of water and lightning dragon each, their purpose to kill and destroy people while the soldiers destroyed buildings and the city itself. The final pair, both ore dragons were the meat shields and the means to destroy the ore factory farm, perfect for blending in and trampling anything in their path and giving the last group of soldiers their opening.
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I will admit he was working smart, hoping to limit the number of casualties by using the dragons as the main force. I listened and watched as the ships steadily landed, each screen showing them draw a crowd as for each city they landed in the middle of them while the last two landed just outside of their respective targets.
We watched as they landed in the center of the city. It was something that was not allowed to happen, no doubt the reason it drew so much attention. The security seemed to find it more amusing than anything, choosing to watch what happened and enjoy the show of the dragons being brought out by what they assumed to be dragon priests.
That’s when they struck. The soldiers dressed as priests made a show of standing on benches and to be off the ground as the ore dragon’s eyes turned red, rushing forward and crushing a portion of the crowd. Screams rang out as it forced its way through buildings while the water dragon climbed the ship alongside the electric dragon; it soon let out gallons of water to flood the area and drench the fleeing people only for the electric dragon to let loose a stream of lightning blowing numerous street lights and electrocuting anyone even slightly wet including one of the unfortunate soldiers who stood too close. The panic soon spread from there, killing people in droves as panic set in, the soldiers gunning people down left and right without care as explosions rocked the cities.
I watched as the ore dragon and its group of soldiers made short work of the factory’s defenses, the soldiers killing the personnel before herding the dragons out, splitting up and leading them to the small on-site colonies for the workers’ families.
As they began planting the various bits of ‘evidence’ pointing to the church being the culprits I saw Michael smile and could hear him give more direct orders, guiding the soldiers on where to attack, what to target along with subtle suggestions to ensure it matched the way the church’s pattern of attack.
The screen soon turned to the ore dragon assaulting the city, carving a path of destruction as it built up steam. I couldn’t keep the frown off my face though when it seemed to rear back and roar before changing its path, rushing as if guided towards a school rather than continuing through the busy business area.
I soon found myself gripping the table as I saw it not only throw itself through the front of the school but seemingly target the children, its lumbering form crushing some, its head swinging around for its jagged, metallic growth to gore others.
I felt my stomach turn as a teacher tried to hurry their students to safety only for the dragon to snap at her and swallow her top half while splashing the children in her blood before throwing its entire body towards them. Emy couldn’t watch anymore, having turned away and I could hear her retching.
“Stop that dragon, get it focused back on the more busy and populated areas.” I finally said. I wanted slaughter and chaos, but needlessly going out of the way to kill children was not something I would accept. The death of children was unfortunate but to actively target them was going too far.
The soldiers tried to herd it back. I watched them use the various bio-weapons to try and steer it back only for it to roar at them in clear anger, attempting to attack them before turning its gaze to a hospital not far away and begin lumbering towards it, its tail swinging and killing a few soldiers as the others tried to stop it with little success.
“Michael! What the hell is going on? Even when the church does a ‘cleansing’ they don’t target hospitals or schools like this.” I said coldly turning to his holo-gram noticing his own growing anger and dread.
“I know that! Dammit, even when they go overboard, they don’t actively hunt children or go for hospitals! Something’s wrong with it! The berserker compound was triggered but it’s clearly acting with intent. We can use this as a means to further frame the church but this isn’t from my side. Soldiers bring the damn beast down! Bring the electric dragon over to help kill it! Blue, that’s the leader level dragon who’s true to its namesake claims there’s something influencing the damn thing, directing it and controlling it.”
His words had me snarling. “Leviathan…” The word slipping past my lips soft but still loud enough for Michael to hear.
“More than likely unfortunately, but it shouldn’t be this strong…” Michael muttered before giving a fresh set of orders.
This though more than ever cemented my conviction. The assault would have killed many, adults and children without regard but children wouldn’t have been actively targeted. Had Michael ordered such a move I would have spoken up had he chosen to do so. Many of the voices had quietened down now, a fair few still calling me a monster, accusing me of genocide yet most having gone silent. I would like to feel that they realized the reason for my actions but I knew their silence wouldn’t last.
“This is why humanity needs to unify, why I need to reign and take control… I am the one in the right, a simple attack has turned into a far greater bloodbath than it should have been. My actions are justified.” I muttered. I could see Michael give me a look I couldn’t quite discern out the corner of my eye as I stared at the screens.
“Begin a burn, leave as much evidence as possible and retreat, kill the ore dragon and leave the others to rampage under the control of those who agreed to sacrifice. I’ve gotten some reports from other agents that the attack’s been reported and various forces are en route, sending our own in as well to commence the clean-up and not only help sell the story but to ensure the evidence and ensure less fingers can be pointed at us.” Michael ordered making me nod slowly.
Pulling up a separate screen I saw the reports flooding across news networks already having caught wind of the attack. Emy was back at my side now, hands covering her mouth as various images of bloody murder and slaughter flooded across the newly opened screen as various social media and news groups reported on the attack.
I slowly got up, gripping my cane for support, the screens showing the attack now showing scenes of blood and flames, survivors fleeing and running only for the dragons or soldiers to kill, maim or injure them.
“And so it has begun, the first true strike. The spark that will ignite the flame of a new war, one filled with bloodshed and corpses, leading to a stronger unity under my lead. But one planet may not be enough, it is a good start but I may need to strike one of the other corporations… Perhaps Ether Energy Syndicate? A blow to the suppliers of energy would no doubt push things over the edge, more so if I can somehow frame one of the other corporations as being part of it… Yes, if need be, we can do so, fan the flames further while framing Christopher or Agatha? If done right it would certainly free me of possible future complications.” I muttered softly as I walked to the window. A new age was dawning, things were changing steadily and I would ensure we reach the outcome we desire no matter how much blood needed to be spilt.
