Riders of B E R K

Part 71: Road Trip

Seventy One: Road Trip

"Absolutely NOT! I FORBID you from doing this!"

I sat back, shocked, at hearing Hiccup yell furiously at General Zakhysnyk as we sat in the staff meeting in the Briefing Room adjacent to the General's Office. The General was chairing with Colonel Throk at her right hand, Colonel Mildew on her other side, General Haddock sitting next to Throk, then Gobber, then the Heads Vet Dr Hanssen and Dr Tyler then Thuggory. Major Gothi was sitting next to Mildew, then me and Hiccup sat between Dr Tyler and me. He was on his feet, his eyes locked on her face and his face absolutely furious.

"I wasn't aware you were in authority to order the Command staff," the General asked, her voice mildly irritated.

"You are NOT using the dragons as test subjects!" he insisted, his fury very unnerving. "This facility is dedicated to the study and care of the dragons, as well as their training and use as a secondary function. NOT the other way round."

"I suggest you read the most recent Memoranda from the BERK Hierarchy," Throk told him bluntly. "With Drago's coup in Iceland and his notable use of Dragons as military ordnance, it has become a global imperative to find out the limits of their endurance and ways that they can be circumvented or incapacitated."

"You are not using the dragons as test subjects for missile tests!" Hiccup snapped. "It is absolute insanity to risk destroying such amazing, unique creatures by blowing them up just to see if missiles may work against Drago's forces!"

"But they aren't unique, are they?" General Zakhysnyk pointed out. "Bludvist seems to have several different models that are the same to our own."

"Species!" Hiccup growled through his teeth. "They are termed species, not models. These are living, breathing creatures, not tanks or guns or aircraft..."

"Though they seem ter act like them," Mildew commented snidely. Hiccup glared at him: he had never really gotten being locked up by the man and even though it had been at Throk's behest, something had passed between the two men. I could tell Hiccup loathed Mildew.

"No military organisation that has valuable animal assets wastes them so cheaply for target practice!" General Haddock said brusquely.

"The NATO forces wish to know the effectiveness of their current assets prior to engaging Bludvist's forces," Throk told him. "The BERK Council..."

"Are a bunch of idiots," I murmured. "I mean, they were completely enthralled by Drago and granted him the sort of access that no private individual-especially one with such well-documented ties to suspicious, illegal or terrorist acts-should have been granted. Sorry, sirs-but their judgement must be really viewed with suspicion!" The General frowned at me.

"I did not ask for your opinion, Lieutenant," she said frostily.

"You should have," Hiccup told her sharply, sitting down once more at my side. "She knows an awful lot more than you about the subject!"

"General, Drago has far more dragons than we have and wasting our limited and precious assets in weapons testing is a ridiculous suggestion," Thuggory added. "I apologise for my bluntness but you don't destroy your best weapons just to see if they can be blown up by missiles!"

"And you have to make sure that you resist all calls to hand them over," Stoick added darkly. "He tried once before through BERK. He may suggest we hand our dragons over in a gesture of good faith as part of a non-aggression pact."

"Yeah-we all know what his word is worth!" Hiccup added.

"Standard military wisdom states that you don't hand over your tactical weapons to an enemy just because he doesn't want you to have them," Throk admitted.