Swap war stories with the Sergeant

Nathan was interested in hearing from the sergeant. Jericho was older, somewhere in his mid to late thirties, of African descent and about three inches taller than the six foot tall Nathan. The scar across his cheek told Nathan he was a man with a story to tell. Nathan turned to the sergeant and asked, "So what's your story?"

The Sergeant laughed at his bluntness. "Well there's not much to tell, grew up on earth, little place called Johannesburg. Went to college, mother wanted me to be a dentist but the war broke out my second year in the program. After the attacks on the Jupiter colonies I joined the UENF and swapped my dental tools for a shotgun. I still manage to pull some teeth from time to time though, just trying to make my mother proud." The sergeant laughed.

"You seen a lot of combat?" Nathan asked.

" My first campaign was the push to take back the helium fields on mars. A real bloodbath, lost a lot of good men. It was a real trial by fire where you really learn whether you're cut out for this kind of life."

"Sounds rough." Nathan remarked.

"Yeah..." Jericho stared off into the distance. "It was just the beginning. For the next decade I moved from one bloody campaign to the next, racking up medals and promotions along the way I found myself commanding my own platoon soon enough. Landed aboard the Ithaca once my body just wasn't responding as quick as it used to in combat. It was supposed to be an easy position, just sit around on a patrol ship out on the edge of the galaxy, no trouble to be found there. Now we're out in the middle of nowhere fighting dragons and wizards and big foot and god knows what else is out here."

"Dragon!" Olivia called out

"I already said dragons." The sergeant said. Before he could clarify with her, a colossal dragon with a 40 ft wingspan dove straight at the team. Olive had already grabbed her sniper rifle, an SRK8 module model that folded into a compact square for easy travel. The compact square unfolded into a full length sniper rifle with the press of a button. Olivia fired two armor piercing shots at the Dragon, clipping its shoulder and piercing a wing. The injured dragon drifted to the left allowing Jericho to swerve and avoid a direct hit.

Jericho shifted gears and slammed his foot down on the gas. The team sped away as the dragon composed itself and came around for a second attack. Olivia lined up another shot. Nathan sat up on his seat, turned around and braced himself against the windshield. He unloaded his **** rifle into the dragon but his bullets didn't seem to pierce the beast's thick scales.