The dragon's harem

Arlo looked out of the ATTR’s slightly open window and growled. ”Lapis, Beat, is the radar up yet?” Even though they managed to escape the raging Blizzard caused by the Super-class alien, they were now lost in the white desert, unable to see anything around them but mounds and mounds of snow.

Beatrice stared at him from her cushioned seat as her fingers rapidly tapped on her glowing tablet. ”No, the fabric of magic in this world is quite complex; I still can’t tune the antenna to it.”

His frown grew deeper, ”In training it took you just a few minutes, it’s been hours now.” He then shifted his gaze to the driver Lapis, ”How is the classic radar? We got a radiowaves one, right?”

Lapis gave him a glare as sharp as his, ”That’s our last resort in this mission. It’s a gamble we shouldn’t take. There have been several worlds where radio waves attracted aliens, so it’s a fifty-fifty chance that our cover would be blown in if we use it.”

For them, using a radio here could be the same as screaming and shouting, telling everyone that they were there. They are better off slowly mapping the land manually and finding a way out

”Samantha, what are you seeing? Any luck?” He sighed, looking at Samantha who was standing on a ledge, looking out of the ATTR’s hatch with her sniper’s scope.

She smiled, ”Well, want the bad news, or the good news?” She replied with an even tone, sounding both hopeful and worried.

”Anything would do. If it’s bad, we’ll adjust, if its good, we’ll follow it.” Arlo replied with a tried smile, and she looked down at him.

”That’s why we like you. The good news is that I can see far away, and I can see the edge of this land. The bad news is that we’re surrounded by mountains from all sides. They are faint on the horizon, but I can tell they are too high for us to scale with ATTR.”

Everyone inside the ATTR paled, yet Arlo kept his smile. Half of it was because he was the leader, and if he started panicking, then this entire mission was doomed, and the other half was because he believed they could get out.

”So we’re in a cage? What a bad spot to land on.” He shrugged, ”I guess the mages back home couldn’t send us to a safe place.” As he sighed, Beatrice looked a bit worried. ”I heard they faced intense interference when trying to link to this world. It was as if space itself was rejecting their link.”

”So that’s why the rift is so much bigger? I thought they were just doing their best for the mission.” Rex held his shield tightly, and then gave Arlo a cold stare. ”I just hope if was nature, not something else.”

Arr stared at him. ”You think an alien caused that interference? The rift relies on stable cosmic rules. While opening it is manageable, stopping it requires almost infinite energy. It’s like a nuclear explosion; it’s easy to start the chain reaction, but stopping it once it starts is nearly impossible.”

Far away, several hundred kilometres north of Alina, Violet, Alcott, Ginger, and Pollo were resting at a city right outside a massive dungeon, trying to find an old friend who was holed up in there. While Alcott and Pollo were at the blacksmith’s tuning their weapons, Ginger and Violet were at a nearby hair salon, getting themselves a nice treat.

”I’ll give you one thing, orcs. You’re smart, knowledgeable, and have quite a deep understanding of the physical laws of the universe.” She smiled, ”But you lack the power to influence them. You can only play by the rules, not bend them to your will.”

”What are you talking about?” Ginger threw a glance at her, and Violet smiled. ”The ones invading the north.”

Not knowing that Violet was already watching and listening, Arlo and his team started heading right toward the glacier wall Gamond built, and their goal was to find a way through to the outside world. They didn’t have any clean plan, but retreating wasn’t an option.

”Alien life at 7:00!” Samantha growled, and Arlo immediately squeezed himself through the hatch with her. ”What kind?” He asked, and she smacked him on the face with her elbow. ”Bastard! It’s tight here, stop trying to fit with me!”

Arlo smacked her on the head right back. ”No one cares about your ass here. Where are the aliens? We have to strike first!”

She growled and then pointed with her rifle. ”Lucky bastard. 7:00, they are hard to see because they are white, probably fur.”

The aliens they saw were Yetis, a group of three: a grown adult male, and two females. The large male was almost 30% bigger than the females, had two massive black horns on his head, and an inflated, gorilla-like body. The females, on the other hand, were smaller, thinner, and didn’t have any horns. Samantha only spotted them on the white backdrop of snow due to the male’s black horns; otherwise, they might not have seen them until they got too close.

Arlo was already looking through a pair of binoculars, and he growled, ”Shoot the big one with horns. That seems to be the biggest threat; we’ll then deal with the other two.”

”Got it, locked in and waiting for the signal.” She replied, and he climbed down, immediately getting stopped by Rex and Arr. The two were almost sweating, and they looked ready to die fighting. ”So... how was it?”

Arlo pointed back with his thumb toward the hatch. ”Her ass was nice and soft.”

Samantha immediately kicked him in the back of the head like she was a horse, and the two girls at the front of the ATTR sighed. Beatrice glared at Arlo. ”They are talking about the aliens.”

But immediately after Beatrice spoke, Rex and Arr put their hands on Arlo’s shoulders. ”So... it was soft. As I thought.” Rex smiled.

”I wish I were you.” Arr nodded with a frustrated face.

Samantha kicked them both as she did Arlo, and finally, they were moving to attack. The first to speak after was Lapis as she stopped the ATTR and angled it just right so Samantha could get a good shot, and Beatrice locked onto the three Yetis on their magic radar.

”Targets at 6:30, a 1,250 LNS(Light nanosecond: 1=0.98 feet).” Beatrice didn’t scream, she just spoke in an even tone, and everyone was already ready for the fight.

Arlo was already holding his black speak, ”Samantha, pop it.”

Samantha took aim, her scope was already square on the male Yeti’s forehead, and she was just a trigger pull from shooting. Her finger slid over the trigger, and as if informed by some higher power, the Yeti’s head turned, and he glared right back at her. He had sensed her somehow.

Panicking, Samantha pulled the trigger, and the armor-piercing round flew silently through the air, missing the Yeti’s head and barely nicking his large left horn.

”Missed! The big one spotted me and dodged.” She growled, and her team didn’t wait to get an explanation. She missed, and that was the fact they were going to work with.

Arlo jumped out with Arr and Rex tailing behind him as he shouted, ”Take aim again.”

Standing a fair distance away, camouflaged within the snow, Arad and Gamond stood to watch, keeping a close eye on the Orc’s special team.