From Formspring: What if it wasn't a vampire but a group of humans with a suitcase nuke (or similarly powered explosives)? How would the Echelon deal with that? Or would they?

You're talking about a series of highly improbable events. First, you have humans who are aware of dragons--a very small number. Next, some of these aware humans have decided they dislike dragons for one reason or another. Possibly for religious reason, or maybe because they just don't like knowing dragons exist. Add to that ability to construct or knowledge to find a nuclear weapon coupled with a willingness to sacrifice one's life to attempt to kill a dragon...as well as any innocent bystanders who may be caught in the blast, or damaged by the fallout.

But, lets assume for a moment that such a group exists. Most of the time, the Echelon figures dragons can take care of themselves. If one gets killed by humans somehow, they would probably just assume the dragon didn't do a good enough job of protecting himself. Since the suicide bomber is likely to have died in the explosion, retribution becomes moot. If there is a group behind the attack, and the Echelon has reason to believe there will be more attempts on dragons, they will respond directly, usually by sending dragons they know and trust to take out the enemy.

It should be noted that a nuclear weapon--especially a portable one--isn't guaranteed to kill a dragon. It almost certainly could do so in human form, but a very large and powerful dragon would probably survive. He might be out for a few days, but he'd be back...and ANGRY, especially if his lair got damaged. Depending on the dragons familiarity with bombs, they would likely smell one before it went off and take dragon form for protection, even flying away if need be. If these aren't options, the dragon might kill the bomber before he can activate the weapon. This isn't as simple as it seems...lot of ins, lot of outs, lot of what-have-yas...