QC - Network

[Mr.Cardaminum]

Incoming Message

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Sender: Don Hernan Escudero
Recipient: Cartel Staff
Subject: Dragons

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Señores y Señoritas,

I will be brief. Recently I read a report from a renowned hunter Pedro Himenez, that loco from Malta that hunts the wildlife all across Sirius. In his logs from 823 AS he describes a specimen of particular interest - Nuremberg dragons. This 6-10 metres agile carnivorous lizard has been terrorising the locals for decades, like other pretty hazardous to humans specimens of the local fauna, and is particularly renowned for its fast breeding and regenerative capabilities. Himenez described a case when a leg of the "Dragon" shot clean off with a laser rifle showed signs of bone, muscle, and neural tissue regeneration already after a week of the wound inflicted. Himenez could not estimate the true extent of regeneration as that specimen eventually was hunted down and killed by him. The locals who named the creature "Dragon" for its partial resemblance to mythological creature, consider it to be too difficult and costly to hunt, so Rheinlanders just eradicate them like pests with the use of napalm and aerial bombardment of Dragons' lairs., hence the properties of the specimen are known to a limited extent.

I write this with a very clear objective in mind: I want those dragons for my personal zoo in Cadiz. Perhaps, Doc Balenciaga will also find use to them in his experiments. I want the eggs and the live specimen so that we can start the breeding. Those should be a fine addition to my collection. As Himenez disappeared somewhere on Gaia in 824 AS (perhaps caught by the Gauls or Gaians), we have to rely on ourselves and our possible Rheinland contractors. I expect you to do well, and I promise you good pay for the work done. Send the mercs, do it yourself - I don't care. Just get me those dragons.

Respetuosamente,
Hernan Luis Escudero Grijalva

Attachments: excerpts from Pedro Himenez hunt log

... Maria will be pleased to see the new scar I got on Nuremberg - will be a fine addition to my manliness. Yesterday I finally traced one of those dragons - a fine female, roughly 8 metres long. Managed to sneak on it and unload the whole magazine of laser cartridges - the creature is quite resistant to the termal damage and the damage inflicted was substantial yet not enough to put that thing down. I had to use stun grenades to desorient the creature that was already looking for me. As I was quite close, just behind a fallen log in 20 metres from the creature, I had little time to change the lenses of the laser to more powerful. As the stun and blindness effects started to wear down, the dragon rushed at me but I was ready and unloaded a barrage of laser rays into its legs to cripple the beast down. Luckily, powerful lenses did its thing right when the damned dragon was almost in the melee range and cut its leg off. The dragon twisted in pain and started to spin around, kicking me with its tail and setting me airborne - I smashed the tree behind, the plate armour preserving my bones from such a hit. Got that scar on my left hand where the armour wasn't quite solid to keep extra munitions. I stood up in a few seconds but the dragon was already gone, leaving its leg as the first Nuremberg trophy of mine. Time to track it down and finish the job. Too bad the beast doesn't bleed, a downside of termal weapon...

Shooting at the dragon point-blank

...Finally after a weak spent in wilderness I managed to track the dragon down by tracks of a beast with only 3 legs and altered posture. The female rushed to its lair which turned out to be some abandoned remote meteorological compound providing solid protection from the moisture. This time I was better prepared and instead of going in point-blank range I took my position over the cliff approximately 130 metres away from the beast. I had a sniper rifle with cumulative ammo caliber 125 mm. This would pierce a light spacecraft and leave no chance to a biological creature of that size. With a clean shot to the neck, I put the dragon down immediately, separating its head and my trophy from the body. The interesting thing that upon the inspection of the carcass to get the head, I noticed that despite severe burns, the place where the severed limb should have been showed indicators of regeneration. Amazing! Usually, after laser burns no regeneration is possible. This thing, however, could grow a small knob consisting of bone, muscle, and nerve tissues as if later on to become the leg. I have no idea how long the regeneration process would have taken, but given that knob I would say 2 months until the fully re-grown limb. Strange that the locals just burn dragons with napalm when they could have studied these properties. However, taking into considerations stories of how fast those dragons breed, I understand the necessity of napalm. Paying a tribute to the locals, I burned the eggs of the slain female and headed back for the spaceport...

Taking sniper shot


burning the eggs

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End of Message