[ WP ] Dragons are real . They are space dwelling creatures that spend 30 years on Earth every 10,000 years . They exhale fire due to the Earth 's atmospheric content . Modern society meets folklore thought to be myth .

*cold. why cold... why... oh. Oh. I remember. Coming back to fireworld. Remember... blood. Smelled like melting metal. Hairless monkeys bled red blood. I remember now. Now, now comes pain. But then... then comes blood. * 
 
 Even as the thought came, the atmosphere began to burn. 
 _____________________________________________________________ 
 
 `` One minute to jump! One minute!'' Staff Sergeant John Pushtov screamed into his mic, his remainder of a Ukrainian accent bleeding through. The twelve man stick stood up and shuffled towards the door, clipping their static lines to the wire. 
 
 The Staff Sergeant reached forward and jerked on the harness of the man in front of him, making sure everything hung tight. 
 
 `` Sound off! Red Twelve good!'' 
 
 `` Red Eleven good!'' 
 
 `` Red Ten good!'' 
 
 The men of the 75^th Ranger Regiment counted down as the Sergeant made his way to the door. Overhead the light changed from green to red, and the door slid open. 
 
 `` GO! GO! GO!'' The Sergeant screamed, though the men were already running out the door and leaping into the abyss. He was the last one out the door, and as the wind began to bite at his face the plane peeled off it's flight path after dumping the Rangers into their Low Altitude Low Opening ( LALO ) jump. The ground appeared green from here through his Night Vision Goggles ( NVGs ). 
 
 His headset crackled to life. 
 
 `` Alright guys you know the drill. DARPA wants whatever hit the ground over here. ExFil is in ten minutes via Black Hawk. Hit the ground, secure the meteorite, make sure nobody else gets it.'' 
 
 Twelve radio clicks came back in confirmation. The men were professionals, but this was also the longest briefing they'd gotten on this jump, which had been thrown together in the last twelve hours as somebody high up panicked and tried to get a mission going. The only reason they'd managed to get this much, a Ranger stick, some Black Hawks from the 160^th SOAR, and an AC-130 Gunship for Air Support was because some suit wanted this badly. 
 
 The Sergeant rolled the moment he felt his boots hit the ground, absorbing the shock of impact. It was a mostly windless night, and they'd been released close to the ground, so the thirteen men were all close together. The Sergeant sliced away his parachute, and let the black silk drop to the ground. There was no point in hiding it, they did n't have the time. 
 
 The only warning the Sergeant had before everything went to hell was one of his men whispering into the radio. `` What the fuck? 
 
 Then his NVGs were whited out and his eyes watered from the pain. 
 
 `` Gah!'' The Sergeant yanked his goggles off and wiped tears from his eyes. A few yards over, one of his men was aflame, and screaming. The Sergeant forced it from his mind. Someone else had gotten here first, but the only gunfire he heard was suppressed, his own men. 
 
 He looked around wildly, but did n't see anything until there was a sudden blast of fire again, illuminating the desert for a few brief seconds. What he saw would stay with him for the rest of his life. Some massive... thing... was spraying flame over his men. Three of them were burning, and only one of the three was still moving. The rest of his men were spraying bursts at the machine, but it seemed most of the rounds were bouncing off its armor. It writhed around, spewing flame from its... mouth? Those definitely looked like eyes above it... which would make those bayonet looking things claws. *Oh Christ they sent us to fight a fucking dragon. * 
 
 The Sergeant screamed into his headset. 
 
 `` RED EAGLE RED EAGLE THIS IS RED LEAD WE NEED FIRE SUPPORT ON HOSTILE AT OUR POSITION DO YOU COPY?!'' 
 
 A mile above the desert floor, a radio operator spoke calmly into the mic while waving to get the attention of the gunner. 
 
 `` We copy Red Lead, can you paint the target, over?'' 
 
 `` RODGER RED EAGLE PAINTING TARGET! FIRE NOW GODDAMN IT WE'RE GETTING TORN TO PIECES!'' 
 
 The operator was shaken, it took a lot to drive a Ranger to screaming into the mic for fire support. 
 
 `` Rodger Red Lead, firing!'' 
 
 The gunner up in the AC-130 put his crosshairs directly over the massive metal creature that was currently being hit by four targeting lasers while it spewed fire, playing hell with his optics. 
 
 The 40mm Bofors cannon erupted, and sent shells sprinting downrange to slam into the target. The gunner was right on the mark, and on the ground the Rangers grinned as the thing shuddered under successive hits, before finally lying still. 
 
 In the distance the quiet sound of Black Hawk helicopters began to reach the ears of the Rangers. The Rangers ran up to the creature, covering it with their weapons. Fully half of their number lay dead on the ground, mercifully silent. The creature's head reared up slightly, and two of the Rangers simultaneously screamed `` FRAG OUT!'' and hurled grenades, which bounced once before detonating in the face of the creature, blinding it. 
 
 It hissed loudly, in a language none of the men understood. 
 
 *There. Will. Be. Others. *
