Devil Towers Camp
Gibraltar
Commodore Dylan Gómez surveyed the men training in the fields at the centre of the camp. The 235 troops from the Gibraltar Regiment were training with the 3 Companies from various areas that had been brought over in the last few days. 700 troops in total, it wasn't a small number of troops, but it was far from the number required to hold Gibraltar if an attack came, even with its insanely fortified position.
240 men, 2 companies, were constantly posted along the border between Gibraltar's airfield, and whatever lay beyond to hold out until reinforcements arrived Dylan presumed. They were supported by the 4 AH-64Es and 4 Trache 2 Eurofighter Typhoons that had arrived incrementally, with vehicles and supplies being shipped over. Gibraltar now had 20 L118 Towed Howitzers, 2 Archer Artillery Systems, 20 Boxer IFVs, 25 245 Ajax, 10 Alvis Stormer Self-propelled (SP) HVMs and 10 Challenger IIs that were planned to be shipped over soon. The Howitzers were set up in the locations of the old batteries that were decommissioned in 1960 and had been effective at stopping invasions before.
The Archer Artillery Systems were on a rotating pattern around and near the airfield to prevent any attempt at taking them by surprise. The Boxer IFVs and 245 Ajaxes were placed in the hands of the soldiers of the British Army who patrolled Gibraltar and were ready to respond to a threat if any were to arise.
Admiral Miller had left to complete his mission of making contact with the natives, leaving behind HMS Albion and 200 of the Royal Marines from 47 Commando with 5 Offshore Raiding Crafts and 5 Commando Raiding Crafts, which can provide fire support and carry elite commandos to their targets where they can strike into enemy territory crippling their defences.
The Marines used these to patrol the waters around Gibraltar and to note down observations of the new land that could be reported back to the UK to help with any plans that would be made surrounding it going forward. They never spotted any people though, which was a relief for Dylan as he would rather not have to deal with that, negotiating or fighting an enemy army to protect his home.
That was until today it would seem. His radio went off, "Bravo 6 reporting in, sightings of people 8km west of Gibraltar, on the land, over."
"Sir, what should we do," his second in command chimed in.
"Have all the men report to their stations, and inform Air Commodore Bowers of this. They could just be some travellers, but let's prepare for the worst, let's prepare to defend our land and our homes," he responded while inflamed with passion.
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Skipian Wilderness
8km West of Gibraltar
"The city holds a very well-defended position, it will be costly for His Highness to take," one voice called out.
"We have 30,000 men and 20 of our newest ships, how can we fail," another replied
"I never said we would fail, did I? I just said that victory will be costly, we could try landing men on the south of the peninsula, while the infantry and cavalry push in from the north, and divide their forces," the first man said.
"A smart approach, but what if they have ballistae, they have a huge height advantage, we would be risking our ships," a new voice replied.
The men snapped to attention and almost shouted, "Captain"
"Calm down, you look like a bunch of buffoons jumping around like that. Though, if we were to secure 20 dragon riders from His Highness, then any risks we face here are greatly reduced," the Captain mused.
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Undisclosed Location
Skipia
"They want dragon riders, what on earth for?" the young prince cried.
"They say that with just 20 dragon riders they could greatly reduce losses and that the enemy has a very enviable terrain advantage to add to their defensive advantage," General Berry reported the scouts report to the prince.
The prince thought for a moment before replying, "I could move 20 dragon riders out of Rhodon and disguise it as part of their investigations on that mysterious object, but it won't come cheap."
"If you could my Prince, it would make the risk taken by mine and Edric's troops much smaller, even a single dragon rider can inflict significant damage to a defended position, let alone an undefended one," the general beseeched the prince.
"Ok, if you wish, I will do so, but you had better make this swift," the prince said.
"Of course Your Highness," the general replied
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Atop the Rock of Gibraltar
Sergeant Thompson climbed out of his Ajax to take in a breath of fresh air, it had been a few days since the sighting of people and the tensions were dying down along with the precautions they were taking. His patrol was the only one on the Rock of Gibraltar currently, it consisted of 2 Ajaxes, 1 Boxer Infantry Carrier Variant and 2 Alvis Stormers equipped with Starstreak HVMs. They had 20 men with them, more than enough to handle anything they could find on the Rock, seeing as the only thing up here was monkeys. The civilian population had been severely restricted in where they could go to prevent any accidents from occurring.
He saw something out of the corner of his eye, and he looked up to see a few dots on the horizon to the west of the peninsula that were constantly growing larger. They were getting closer. He grabbed his radio, "Sergeant Thompson reporting in, we have multiple unidentified objects coming closer on the horizon to the west, over."
"Acknowledged Sergeant, hold tight for now, over," came the reply.
As they got closer, the now noticeable ten dots started to resemble something. But it couldn't be, dragons weren't real, but neither was a country teleporting. The thought that they could be dragons terrified him, how were they supposed to fight a dragon for blooming sake? As they got even closer, he confirmed that they were dragons, or wyverns as a private from his squad so kindly pointed out.
A grimace of true fear appeared on his face, they were coming right for them.
He took a step back, trembling. "Sho- Shoot them down private."
In just a few seconds, 10 Starstreak missiles were travelling at Mach 3 towards the dragons, leaving them with just 6 if any other threat presented itself.
As the missiles tracked their targets, they began to break apart to reveal 3 tungsten rods that span around each other, then as soon as they came into contact with the dragons, they shredded them apart, downing them all instantly.
Admittedly, the Starstreak missiles did as advertised, they did kill anything, even dragons.
Starstreak High Velocity Missile - Think Defence [https://www.thinkdefence.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Starstreak-HVM-Advert.png]