***

--- Coan Forest ---

April 25th, 2025

As Vanguard-7 drove down the dirt road, it had been about six hours since they left Fort Alnus. So far, their mission has been very uneventful. They have only passed a farmhouse with some kids working in the fields.

While looking out the window, Major Sharpe looks at the trees for anything that is suspicious.

As Vanguard-7 moves along, they suddenly hear a loud roar. Before anybody could even speak, a large beast flew right past them with incredible speed.

Sharpe's second in command, Second Lieutenant Charles Johnson speaks through the team radio. "Did everyone see that?"

"How the hell didn't we see that sir?” Private Second-Class Marvin Scott said.

“It a fucking dragon screaming and flying around," Andrew said, “It sounds like a big one.”

Sharpe grabs his radio. "Stay calm and keep an eye out. I think it went..." he stops as he is interrupted by Andrew, "Standby."

"Sir, look to the left, smoke," Andrew said as he pointed in the direction.

Both he and Alicia look to the left and see smoke. It seems like it is only a few kilometers away behind a tree line.

He thinks of every possible situation on why smoke is coming from there. It could be nothing, but it is most likely some town or village. If there is smoke, that usually is a sign of trouble, but so far, they have not seen anything. At least in that direction, it may be something worthwhile checking out.

Sharpe orders for the Vanguard teams to recon the area, find out what is around Alnus, and report back. If anyone ran into the enemy or found themselves in a dangerous situation, they would fall back to base. There is so little the US and Army knows about this world; they are literally writing the rules book as they go. Still, if that is a village, they seem to be in trouble. There is no way he can just pass that up.

He speaks into the radio again, "Rangers. To our left there we see smoke. We are going to check it out. Stay sharp and watch for snipers."

“Snipers?” Andrew asked, “That is my job.”

“An arrow can act as a sniper,” he responds.

The Vanguard-7 convoy heads in the direction of the smoke.

While the team is separated into three vehicles, he can feel the tension among his Rangers. Everyone wants to see something besides trees, maybe some action — anything to end the boredom.

As they approach the location of the smoke, he begins wondering what happened to the dragon. Andrew had said dragons can breathe fire, and while that is only in fantasy stories, Sharpe has no reason to believe that it is not true in real life. With this dense tree cover, if the dragon decides to attack, they will never see it coming.

Once they arrive, all they see is burnt buildings. The ground is black, scorched from whatever that dragon did. Burnt skeletons are everywhere, both humans and animals alike. Everything in the town is destroyed, and the area is completely lifeless.

“We’re not in Kansas anymore,” Scott said over the net, most likely making a pop-culture reference and then making a smart-ass joke comparing it to his current surroundings.

“Watch your language, Scott and show some respect,” Randy said to him, working to maintain order.

“Sorry, Sergeant Major,” Scott replied.

"My god... this is horrible," Alicia said, shocked by the destruction.

"Are we disembarking sir?" Johnson asked over the radio.

They hear another roar from the dragon before Sharpe could reply. Based on the sound, it must be close.

"That's your answer, Lieutenant,” he said, “We keep moving. Hope we can get to the next village in time."

Sharpe looks back to see Alicia, “Alicia, report to base and the other teams in the area. Inform them we might have a fire breathing dragon in the region.”

Alicia nods her head and starts working on her radio system, relaying his message. After that, they move out again, heading down the path.

As they leave, he looks around, reflecting on the burnt bodies. As they pass, he sees three burnt skeletons. Based on the size and number of corpses, he assumes it was a small family.

“Everything good, sir?” Andrew asked him.

Sharpe looks to Andrew. So far, he has grown to like Andrew, shocked on how much they have in common. Nerds for life, he supposed.

“I am fine. Keep focused, Corporal.”

“Sorry sir,” Andrew apologized. “Just noticed your hand tapping the door.”

Sharpe looks to his hand and stops tapping. He did not even notice that.

It has taken almost an hour until they get to the next town. The whole trip is quiet as everyone reflects on the devastation. Normally everyone is very chatty but not now as they see the horrors of war.

Most of the Rangers have yet to see actual combat until this war. While they are well trained, some of the best on Earth, practice and training can only prepare someone so much until they experience the real thing.

“Be advised, we see buildings up ahead. Looks like another town, this one’s alive,” Randy said over the net.

“Thank god. Maybe we can warn them,” Alicia replied.

“To all teams, we stop here unless they threaten us,” he said, “Do not let them get close to our vehicles, though. Help when needed.”

When they arrive at the town, they see the villagers stopping whatever they are doing and watch the Rangers come in.

The townsfolk are all wary and baffled by who they are, looking at their JLTVs with some measure of awe. Sharpe assumes they are all trying to figure out what kind of horses or wagons they are using, being something they have never seen before.

“Alright everyone,” he said, “Dismount and happy faces. However, do not let them get close to our equipment. Don’t want anyone stealing anything.”

“You heard the Major,” Randy said, “Jerry and Scott, stay with the JLTVs. Everyone else is dismounting.”

The JLTVs stop and everyone gets out.

Sharpe gets out of his command JLTV and looks around. He sees Lieutenant Johnson and Sergeant Major getting out and ordering the team along.

He sees an old man walk up, followed by a few other men. Unlike everyone else, this man looks important.

"Hello there, can I see who is in charge here?" Sharpe asked.

Confused looks form on the locals’ faces as they exchange looks with one another, silently debating whether they could trust him or not.

"It is important, we are friends. We mean you no harm unless you mean harm to us,” Sharpe urges.

Finally, the old man steps forth and introduces himself.

“I am the mayor of this town,” he said, “If you mean no harm to us, then we mean no harm to you, either.”

Sharpe nods, accepting the peace offer. He then takes off his helmet and signals to Alicia to do the same.

"Hello there, what can I do for you folks?" the Mayor asked, still somewhat afraid of the newcomers. He looks at the JLTVs, "Impressive... wagons you got there."

"Hmm, oh yeah. Thank you,” Sharpe replied in a more friendly tone, playing himself off as a little dumb as to seem less dangerous, "They are not wagons. We call them vehicles. So, I take it you’re in charge here."

"Yes, now what brings you here? We do not want trouble," the Major asked, seeing the unknown weapons the Rangers are holding — he has no idea what they are, and that is only adding to the fear factor.

"Neither do we,” Sharpe said, “My name is Major Sharpe of the United States Army. We are from the other side of the Gate and new to these lands. We are here to get to know your people and establish peace terms. But first, I need to ask something, are dragons common here?"

Saying all that makes him think about the science fiction TV shows Star Trek and the Orville. First contact episodes were always cool, watching the ship crew make an interdiction to new, unknown people — all with the hope that good things come with that possible relationship. Sadly, that would rarely happen in the shows. He hopes he has better luck with first contact.

“Wait, you people are from the other side of the Gate? So, it is true. The Empire’s army was defeated?” The Major asked, shocked by that statement.

“The Empire’s army?” Randy asked as he walks up.

“What exactly is the Empire?” Sharpe follows up. So far in the war Military intelligence has struggled to find a name for the enemy, which only makes things more confusing.

The Mayor looks confused by the question, “What do you mean what is the Empire? They are the ones who rule these lands. They rule most of Falmart,” he then looks at them, “You really did defeat the Empire? I mean in battle?”

“Damn right!” Alicia answers, all energetic, “They came, they saw, and we kicked their ass back to kingdom come.”

Randy grabs Sharpe’s shoulder and pulls him aside, “So, the enemy is called the Empire? That seems weird.”

“I read the report Sarah made,” Sharpe replied, “The prisoners from Philadelphia said they were warriors of the Empire. We were confused why they never gave us a name of their country.”

“Because they don’t have one?” Randy adds, confused by that, “What kind of country doesn't have a name?”

“No idea,” he shrugs, “But that is why we are out here. Maybe we can get some good intel from this place,” he turns back to the villagers to ask more questions but is confused by what the Major is doing.

The Mayor is looking at Alicia with a slight leer.

“Are you enjoying the view, mister?” Alicia said crossly, crossing her arms to cover her breasts, “It’s like you’ve never seen a woman before.”

The Mayor looks back to Sharpe, “Why is a woman speaking to us men? You allow this?”

Without hesitation, Sharpe moves his arm in front of Alicia to both defend her and stop her from pouncing the elder for that statement. Alicia is annoyed by him stopping her. He can hear her mumble, grumbling derogatory terms about the village mayor and sexism.

“Mayor,” Sharpe speaks up in a commanding, severe tone, glaring directly into the Mayor's eyes. His free hand moves his rifle up and down slightly, clearly implying something bad could happen if the Mayor continued that train of thought, “It is wise not to insult a member of my team. Man, or woman. Do we have an understanding?”

He can see what he said impressed Alicia. She is surprised he would stick up for her.

The Mayor sees the implied threat and realizes he had overstepped. He nods his head, “My apologies.”

“Now, back to my question,” Sharpe asked, relaxed now.

"A dragon?” the Mayor said, “We see Wyvern and dragons once in a while, but they leave us alone. The only time they bother us is when they take our livestock.”

Sharpe is glad to hear that dragons are normal; however, something does not feel right. The Mayor does not seem worried about dragons burning his village down.

“Why do you ask?” the Mayor asked, confused.

“We ask because we saw a town was burnt down by one,” Randy speaks up.

“These dragons, do they normally burn villages to the ground?” Sharpe asked, continuing Randy's point.

Johnson suddenly walks up, after giving orders to the squad, "We heard that noise too,” he points down a direction, “There is a town up the road, that direction."

"Oh, that’s Rolith," the Mayor realizes, “Wait? Are you saying that Rolith was burned down?”

The Mayor turns hysterical by the news, "Oh god... then it has returned. The legend is true, but this cannot be! It should not have awakened for another three hundred years! At least! We need to leave while we still can. Travelers, I thank you for warning us, but we need to evacuate with utmost urgency!"

“Hold on,” Sharpe said, waving his hands in an attempt to placate the Mayor down, “You just said that dragons are normal.”

“Yes, they are, but not this kind of dragon,” the Mayor said, “Only one kind breathes fire, and that is the Flame Dragon. The beast of beasts. We are all going to die!”

The Mayor immediately scrambles to give orders to the townsfolk. Everyone starts rushing around in a frenzy to gather their most valuable things to evacuate with.

Sharpe can feel the gravity of the situation. These people are terrified by this ‘Flame Dragon.’

“Major,” Johnson said, “We should leave before we are attacked. Our orders say we should fall back if we make contact with the enemy, and if this Flame Dragon is a big deal, we are not equipped to handle it.”

Sharpe looks to Johnson and knows he is right. They do not have the manpower or equipment to deal with this situation. Contacting the base will be hard in this dense forest, so there is no reliable way to get help. Besides, it would take a day or longer to get help without helicopters.

He looks around the village and takes a breath. He then looks at the angsty Mayor, “We can help.”

After saying that he then looks to his men, “Johnson, divide the men. See if we can speed this up. Get Jerry to form a medical wagon. Good chance there will be some sick or old people."

“Good call, there is always something,” Randy comments, supportive of his decision to stay.

Johnson nods and then walks over to everyone else to relay and carry out Sharpe’s orders.

Sharpe turns to the radio operator, "Alicia, try and patch me through with command and get Lieutenant Sarah on the horn. I need to report this."

"Oh, yeah. I can try. We are pretty far out though," she said. She then rushes to the JLTV and starts patching into the radio net, trying to get a signal back to Alnus.

***

--- Thirty-Seven Minutes Later ---

The evacuation seems to be going very well. The townsfolk gathered whatever they could while Vanguard-7 helped wherever they could to speed up the process.

Major Sharpe walks along the town to make sure no one is left behind. Growing up, he read and watched the book and movie, We, Were, Soldiers, and Young by Hal Moore. After that, it became one of his major sources to base his morality and soldiering on.

During the Vietnam War, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore said, ‘We Leave No One Behind’.

The United States Army has adopted that phrase. It is a phrase Sharpe lives by, sometimes too closely.

When he is done checking out the village, pleased that no one is left, he starts to head back to his convoy.

As he is about to head back, he sees three men in what seems like military robes rushing away. Everyone else is on the east side of the village, yet these people are going in the opposite direction. They do not look like they are from the village.

He was going to let them go, seeing that it was not worth the interaction. He is alone and doesn’t want to risk turning the village into a battlezone with all of these civilians.

However, something dissuades from him ignoring them any further. The sight of a ten-to-eleven-year-old girl tagging along catches his intrigue. To his shock, she is naked as she is being pulled by their wagon, bound by ropes around her hands.

Before coming to this world, the brass warned the soldiers that they might see things they might not understand or agree with. This world’s culture might be vastly different, but they should be respected, regardless.

The idea behind that order was because the brass had no idea what the culture of this world was. They did not want their troops to get involved in things that they didn’t yet understand. The Army did not want to go into another failed nation-building project like in Iraq and Afghanistan. They only had three objectives: keep the war simple, keep the US safe, and defeat the enemy.

Before Sharpe could react, the wagon and the three men moved around a building, leaving the town.

He knows he should let them go, following orders and focus on getting the townsfolk away. However, for some reason, he just cannot let go and stops them.

"Hey!" he yells at the three men in his commanding tone, "What are you doing with her?"

The three men stop and turn around. None of them look afraid of Sharpe.

They pull out their swords, chuckling darkly at him.

"Mind your own business if you know what’s good for you,” one man threatens.

The girl turns around and looks at him. She has a cold, scared, and defeated look in her eyes.

Sharpe could easily gun them all down with his M4A1; however, he is worried that might risk hitting the girl. He would not have the time to aim since he is so close to them.

He pulls out his M1911 Colt pistol. He gives the belligerent men a defiant glare, showing he means business and that he is not afraid of their size nor numbers.

“Drop your weapons and back away,” Sharpe orders with a stern glare.

As Sharpe said that, one of the men attacks him with a swing of his sword. He dodges easily, his reflexes and training taking over. He moves around the bigger man to gain some distance and shoots the man directly in the chest. The man falls backwards from the shot, dead before he hits the ground.

The second man charges shortly after hearing the shot, wildly stabbing his weapon at the American.

Sharpe steps out of the way, tripping the lunging man. In the corner of his eyes, Sharpe sees the third man attempt to blindside him. He ducks under the wildly flailing sword and steps back to regain his distance once more.

The other man gets back up and joins his comrade.

Sharpe finds himself facing two opponents now. It is no big deal to him — there are odds more worse than this. He has been trained and served with the best the United States Army has to offer. He is confident of his skills and knows his limits.

Meanwhile, he sees overconfidence in his enemies’ eyes.

The Imperial men grin, thinking they have him cornered. Sharpe prepares for them to attack but notices they are just standing there in a defensive position. He is confused by why they will not press their numerical advantage and maintain their close-combat advantage, but if they want to give him a free shot, he will take it.

He aims his pistol, planning on ending this now. However, his gut screams to him that something is off. Glancing down on the ground, he sees a moving shadow, a massive shadow. One bigger than his own. Realizing someone is right behind him about to swing something heavy down on him, Sharpe leaps over to his right. A massive ax just misses him.

At this point, he doesn’t have to think. His muscles and reflexes are running purely on automatic. He sees that this newcomer isn’t a real man but some kind of hybrid lion-human. He had seen pictures in the report of these beasts but still takes seeing to believe it.

Two-legged, Lion-headed, a body almost double the thickness of a human man. And it was angry.

While Sharpe is down, the lion picks him up and tosses him into the mud.

Sharpe rolls his landing and quickly recovers without much injury. As he gets up, a man charges at him. He quickly deflects the sword with his knife, grabs the man’s armor and judo-flips the man over his back and onto the ground before the man knows what had just happened.

Before he can recover, Sharpe shoots the man in the head and starts prowling to the left, trying to maintain some distance between himself and the anthropomorphic lion.

The lion charges once more, letting out a loud roar but this was a distraction for the remaining Imperial to reposition himself to charge at Sharpe’s flank.

Sharpe knows the lion is the greater threat and must be taken out now while he still has energy. Seeing the other man flanking him, he flips his pistol around so he is holding the barrel and knocks one of the swords to the side, deflecting it.

He then grabs the man by his armor and swings him away into the ground, stunning him. The fight returns to being a one-on-one skirmish with Sharpe planning on dealing with the Imperial later.

The lion charges at him. Sharp flips his grip on his knife, holding it by the tip. He then throws it at the lion, hitting it in the shoulder, just missing the throat.

This slows the lion down enough for him to react and aim. Sharpe aims his Colt and fires three times at the lion, forcing it to drop its ax. To his surprise, the lion keeps coming even though it has three large holes in its body.

The lion grabs Sharpe by the ballistic vest and lifts him up like he weighs nothing. The lion also grabs for the hand holding the pistol, finally recognizing the threat the black object possesses.

With his other hand, Sharpe grabs the knife in the lion’s shoulder and yanks it out. He stabs it right into the jaw of the lion.

The lion lets go of him and lets out a painful screech. It stumbles back and pulls out the knife from its jaw.

At the same time, Sharpe lands on the ground and rushes towards the lion. With all of his force, he rams into the lion’s stomach, knocking it over.

While it is down, he aims at the lion’s head. It freezes up upon staring down the deadly muzzle of the diminutive weapon of death. Sharpe pulls the trigger with no warning.

As his adrenaline winds down, Sharpe takes a breath before remembering the last man. He whips around to face the last threat and sees his foe charging at him and a sword flying mid-swing at his neck.

Without warning, they hear the crack of a bullet passing through a skull. The charging man dies instantly and barrels over sideways to the ground, the sword losing all of its aim and passing over Sharpe’s head unmolested.

Sharpe turns to his left and sees Alicia standing there with her still-smoking rifle at ready.

Alicia lowers her weapon and notices that Sharpe has no reaction to his near-death experience, “Are you ok, sir?”

Sharpe merely ignores her. He wipes away the blood on his knife with his uniform’s sleeve and re-sheathes it back on his person. He then checks his pistol for any damage, reloads and safes it, and holsters it back on his hip.

As he did so, he looked at the frightened girl standing by the wagon, her hands still in bondage.

He notices that she has the most beautiful blue eyes he has ever seen. Her hair is dirty but it is clear that she has smooth dark brown hair.

He can see the fear in her eyes. She is probably scared of him after witnessing him take on these four Imperials and killing three of them — one of which being a lion almost twice his size. She is probably wondering why he did that, and, probably from her experience, she is assuming he is claiming her body for himself.

Sharpe takes a deep breath and forces a kind smile. He walks over to her and kneels in the mud, “I mean you no harm. My name is Sharpe, and I am an American.”

He brings out his knife again and begins cutting the ropes off of her.

In the background, they hear another roar from what they believe is the dragon. He realizes he is wasting time and that the convoy needs to leave now.

He finally frees the girl from her bondage. Seeing how weak she is, he picks her up and starts carrying her in his arms.

He can see the girl is more frozen with fear as he is carrying her. He doesn’t want to scare her, but he doesn’t know what else to do. She looks like she has been walking for weeks, and based on the blood and stains between her legs, those sick men have been raping her. He honestly is impressed that she was able to walk at all.

Alicia rushes up to his side.

“Sir?” Alicia said, still shocked at what had happened, “What the fuck was that?”

He ignores her question, “When we get to the vehicles, can you find something for her to eat and wear? And can you clean these stains on her? I don’t want the others seeing her in this state.”

“You are kidding, right?” Alicia said wearily, “But what about Jerry? Shouldn’t the Doc check her out?”

“No time right now,” he replied, “There are too many people as is. Jerry will have to check her back at base.”

He starts walking back to the vehicles but pauses briefly and looks back at Alicia.

“Also don’t tell Sarah,” he adds, “I’d rather not have command know what happened.”

“Oh, hell no,” Alicia said, “These bastards deserve it.”

He does not respond, just heading back to the vehicles.

It only takes a few minutes for them to get back to the main road where everyone is at. It looks like everyone is about ready.

Randy, Scott, and Johnson rush up to him.

Scott speaks first, “We heard gunfire. Alicia ran off…,” he stops upon seeing that he is carrying someone, “Who is this?”

“Doesn’t matter. Go do your jobs, we are leaving,” Sharpe said to them.

They salute in acknowledgement and swiftly return to finish their remaining work.

Sharpe heads to the back of his command JLTV and nods for Alicia to open the back door.

He then sets the girl down in the back. Once he sits down inside, the girl moves away slightly, trying to find anything to hide behind. Understandably, she is still afraid.

He leans in, “Look, you will be ok. I am here to help all these people. There is a dragon. Now,” he motions to the woman next to him, “This is Private First-Class Alicia. She is going to help you. Can you be nice with her?”

“Stop doing that, sir, she is scared enough as it is,” Alicia reprimands, standing right there.

He takes a deep breath and nods. He then walks away to get everyone moving.