The aliens called it something else, of course, but humans couldn’t pronounce it with just a single set of vocal cords. The treaty with the Yetis had opened the door to meeting other civilizations, all thanks to the quick thinking and diplomacy of McNuggen. She was held up as an example to all young officers, Julia included. She couldn’t believe she was going to meet the legend herself, let alone serve with her.
“Have you met the captain yet?” she asked.
“Not yet. I was told I was ‘unconscionably early,’ and to stick to quarters so I’d stay out of the way,” he said. “I was hoping to look around.”
“Don’t worry, I know my way around. These boats are all the same. Let’s stow my gear, then we can find the captain,” she said.
“Are you sure? The chief told me to stay out of the way until I was called on,” Jack said.
“If she’s busy, no big deal, we’ll just wait. I think I’ve got a little common ground with her, considering,” Julia assured him. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
***
The worst, it turned out, was being kicked off the bridge by a security escort. They were taken to a sparse office with a desk and just enough room for the two of them. The door slid shut behind them, and they were alone.
“I can see that rapport you have with the captain is going to get us far,” Jack commented. “I wonder what the record is for getting kicked off an E.F. boat. I bet we beat it by at least a day.”
“We won’t get kicked off. We didn’t do anything wrong,” Julia said.
“Tell that to McNuggen,” Jack said.
“I will.”
Julia tensed when the door slid open, admitting the older woman. The captain was slight, with a cap of curly hair. She looked delicate as a doll, at least until she got to the other side of the desk and Julia discerned her head-on. What looked like delicate features at first glance were all thin, hard edges, as if the years of command had eroded away everything non-essential.
“Mystic First Class Gagnon. Mystic Second class Ronasuli. Why were you on my bridge?” she asked.
“My partner came aboard, so we thought it was time to report,” Jack said.
“Never come on my bridge without my express invitation. I’ve got a hardworking crew that doesn’t need the distraction,” McNuggen said.
“Captain, I was in E.F.—” Julia said.
McNuggen cut her off. “Noted, Ronasuli. I’ve got your dossier. I’m interested in the effectiveness and safety of my crew, nothing else. Mystics have a role in this mission, but when you are not acting in that capacity, you are a distraction.”
“Captain—” Julia started.
“Noted,” Jack cut in, and his dry tone was enough to make Julia choke on what she’d been about to say. “As long as we’re here, do you have time to brief us, Captain McNuggen?”
“I suppose. It isn’t as if I have anything important to do like running a ship.” She sat down and got a datapad from the desk. “E.F.S. Forty-Two will leave at eighteen hundred hours GST and rendezvous with the mothership Sleipnir on our way to Ian’s World. Preliminary surveys tell us that Ian’s World is ideal for colonization. It’s right in the middle of the Goldilocks Zone and shows signs of being suitable for human habitation. Documentation will be sent to you by the time we ship out.”
“Got it,” Jack said. He nudged Julia’s foot.
“Understood,” Julia said.
“We arrive in two weeks. I’ll have an ensign give you the tour, but I don’t expect you to need to know any locations besides your bunks, your commune chamber, and the galley.” The captain stood. “Now, my crew has flight prep to do. Is there anything urgent I can help you with, Mystics?”
“No, ma’am,” Jack said.
She narrowed her eyes, and Julia could guess her thoughts. ‘Ma’am’ was archaic; the E.F. used sir regardless of gender. It could have been a slip, or it could have been a subtle way to bite back. To her credit, McNuggen dismissed them rather than rise to the bait.
***
“That was fun,” Jack said, once behind the closed door of their quarters. He dropped onto the bottom bunk and lay back. “Explain that bond of military service you’ve got again? Is that how captains are nice to each other?”
“Hardly.” Julia sat next to him. She felt embarrassed and disappointed. She’d looked up to Captain McNuggen a long time. She couldn’t help wonder how their meeting might have gone a year ago. “I can’t tell if it’s about me leaving E.F. or just a general anti-Mystic thing.”
“Are you regretting your decisions yet?”
“Not yet,” Julia said. She was sorry there was a yet, but she didn’t know how they’d get by with a captain like that. “Let’s give her time to cool off, then we can take a walk. I can’t stay in here forever.”
Julia thought she’d escape the whispers and sidelong looks when she left the Academy. She turned out to be wrong. Everyone on the crew avoided eye contact and only responded to direct questions. When they ate, they always kept to themselves. No one wanted to be seen near them.
“This is embarrassing,” she said one evening. She’d grabbed a tray of food and took the center seat of a long table. Miraculously, everyone else at the table finished their meals and went back to their duties almost at once.
Jack took the seat across from her. “You don’t have to antagonize them.”
“Living my life is not antagonizing anyone.” She stabbed her fork into something meatloaf-like. “It’s unacceptable. We’re as human as they are. If my crew had treated a Mystic like this…”
“Are you sure they didn’t? Our kind aren’t exactly popular.” Jack watched her take a bite, then waited a moment before he started eating. “They could have been on their best behavior around you.”
“A crew takes cues from its captain. I wasn’t like this. I didn’t go out of my way to make friends, but at least I made eye contact with them. I spoke to them. Even Dante.” She stopped and thought back to her command on Side Liner. Dante had tried to be friendly, and she’d kept him at arm’s length. But that was different. It was having professional boundaries.
Wasn’t it?
She glared at her food. Had she really been that uncomfortable with Mystics?
Jack nudged her under the table. “Is the food really that bad, or did it just insult your mother?”
“I’m just thinking about karma.” She pushed her tray away. “Let me know when you’re ready to head back.”
“Why don’t we hang around? I’m not ready to return to the shoebox, and they have games. We could play cribbage.”
“I don’t think they want us here.”
“Too bad for them.” Jack reached across the table and put his hand over hers. “Listen, we’re not doing ourselves any favors by staying isolated. We need to show the flag. If we’re out here, they have to get used to our presence. We become normal. Maybe it’ll help.”
Julia looked at their hands, then at Jack’s earnest face.
“Is that an order?” she asked.
He grinned. “If it has to be, Mystic Second Class Ronasuli. Now go get us that cribbage board.”
***
Julia looked down at Ian’s World, a blue and green orb that gleamed like a jewel in the Astral Plane. It was the second planet in the binary system. Its two stars moved in a tight circle around each other. Fire streaked from one star to the other in brilliant arcs, as though they sought to embrace each other yet couldn’t quite get close enough.
She had her hand in Jack’s, giving him her strength as he scanned the planet. Everything he told her made it sound like a lovely place to settle. Its temperate zone was lush with forests and open plains. It had a rich ecosystem and substantial mineral deposits useful for colonization. Its gravitation and rotation was like Earth’s, with twenty-six hours to a day.
Julia noted everything he said, but her attention kept drifting to the twin stars. They gave her an odd feeling. An electric blue blob spun between the stars. It was mostly hidden by the
arcs of fire, but she saw how it kept changing shape as it was pulled toward one star, then the other.
“Do you see that?” she asked and pointed.
“I think I see something. What is it?”
“Unclear. I’ll take a closer look,” Julia said.
“Be careful.” Jack let go of her hand. “Yell if you need help. Better yet, get back to your body if it’s bad. I’ll do the same if I see you go.”
“You got it, boss.”
Julia maneuvered herself so that one of the stars was between her and the center. She stayed in line with it as she moved closer, spiraling inward. She had no idea if stealth was necessary, but it never hurt.
While the star was as large as its physical counterpart, it didn’t have the same gravity or heat. Julia wouldn’t care to touch it, but she could get closer. She followed its curvature until the space in the center came into sight.
A pair of dragons coiled together at the heart of the blue energy, forming a ring. Inside the ring were five very small dragons, piled together helter-skelter in the shelter of their parents’ bodies. She watched as one of them yawned, baring its stubby teeth before it settled into a more comfortable position. More dragons moved in a lazy circle around the perimeter, their eyes half-closed.
Julia returned to the physical world with Jack close behind. He opened his eyes a moment after she did. When he saw her pallor, he put the electrolyte drink in her hand.
“Drink,” he said. “What did you see?”
Julia drained the bottle, taking time to collect herself and process what she’d seen. The last time she’d seen dragons, they’d been something out of a nightmare. Seeing them in the Astral Plane with their young felt different. They seemed more than just predators.
“Dragons,” she said finally. “I think we found a nest.”
***
Abuzz with activity, the bridge always conveyed a feeling of excitement when an expedition discovered a habitable world, especially one as lush as this. Even Captain McNuggen seemed pleased…until they told her about the dragon nest. She patched through to E.F. Command, and they spoke to Admiral Gehr on a live feed.
Jack gave the rundown on the planet, since he’d been the one to explore it, then Julia described the binary system and the dragon’s nest nestled between the two stars. The admiral nodded gravely as she spoke.
“It could be disastrous to settle here,” she concluded. “It would be dangerous for colonists, and there’s no way to know how the dragons would be impacted. According to the data we have, dragon nests are exceedingly rare. It could have a catastrophic impact on the species to have a nest disturbed this way.”
“I see,” Gehr said. “We’ll have to negotiate, then.”
“Negotiate?” Jack frowned.
“We need a foothold in this star cluster and, by your own account, this planet is ideal for settlement. We need to work something out.”
“Sir, there has never been a successful negotiation between humans and dragons,” Julia said. She should know; she’d researched them while at the Academy. “By all accounts, they’re intelligent, but they don’t communicate with us.”
“There is an exception, and he’ll be part of your reinforcements. I believe in negotiating from a position of power.” He smiled. Julia thought his eyes were incredibly cold. “Captain, hold your position. Monitor the situation, but do not engage the dragons or approach Ian’s World until I arrive.”
“Sir,” McNuggen acknowledged.
“I have every confidence in you, captain.” The screen went blank.
Julia glanced at Jack, who appeared as worried as she was. She didn’t know what dragons valued or what they wanted besides a doorway to the physical world. Approaching them to negotiate was like asking sharks for swimming lessons. She could only hope their reinforcements came to the same conclusion.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Coraolis boarded Doomslayer with a small measure of nostalgia. Though his last voyage on it ended in a crash landing, he’d made a few good memories on board. Meeting Julia was one of them and foremost on his mind. It was strange seeing another captain at the helm, not to mention an admiral on board.
The senior Mystic had concerns. Admiral Gehr was dead-set on settling Ian’s World despite the dragons’ presence. He didn’t strike Coraolis as someone who took no for an answer. It was possible to communicate with the dragons. Dante had done it. But to negotiate? There wasn’t a single instance of that in Earth Fleet history.
He doubted it would happen now.
He had no doubts about his partner at least. Dante’s arrogance had been tempered by his experiences. He was still a bit of a rogue, but a reliable one—and his sheer strength made him a significant asset. He had unmatched knowledge of the Astral Plane, too, so if they were going to negotiate with dragons, Dante would make it happen.
Coraolis passed the time on the voyage from Earth to Ian’s World by playing chess with opponents from among the crew. Dante wouldn’t play, but he would watch and make conversation. He was more interested in poker. After Cor lost his shirt to Dante the first night, he knew better than to play against him again. Instead, they played board games with crewmembers whenever they found willing players. The crew kept them mostly at a distance, but game nights became a safe common ground.
When they arrived, Coraolis wasted no time entering the Astral Plane. He wanted to assess the situation for himself. The reports had been accurate. The Earth-like planet was ideal for settlement, but the nest in the binary star system presented a problem.
“What do you think?” he asked Dante.
“It’s hard to say until we make contact. They’re at peace right now. As far as I can tell, they haven’t noticed us…. They won’t be happy when they do.”
Julia and Jack joined them. Coraolis had sent a message to Forty-Two asking them to meet in the Astral Plane. They had absolute privacy here, and they didn’t need to get tangled up in who outranked whom. He was technically in charge, but he’d defer to anyone with better insight or ideas.
And, so, he felt within his rights to greet Julia with a hug and Jack with a handshake. He was glad to see that while Julia wasn’t rushing to embrace Dante, there wasn’t open hostility between them. He was just as glad to see her operating in the Astral Plane with ease.
“It’s good to see you, but I’d like to skip the pleasantries. We need to approach the nest with caution. It’s clear the dragons feel safe here. With their young involved, I believe it is a universal constant that the parents will be protective.” Coraolis gestured toward the stars. “Dante and I will take the lead, but I want you two to stay close.”
“Understood,” Jack said.
They moved toward the heart of the system, giving the dragons every chance to notice them. It didn’t take long. A dragon emerged from the nest, its teeth bared. Dante drifted to meet it.
He opened his arms, exposing his torso and neck in a way that signaled surrender to most predators. “We are not here to fight you,” he said.
The dragon pulled up and appraised the four Mystics. It was a massive beast; the four of them would be no more than fleas on its back.
Dante called out. A blue aura appeared around his body, and he reached for the dragon. He spoke, but the words were too faint to understand. The dragon huffed, ignoring the overture, then turned its attention on all of them.
An emotional tidal wave crashed into Coraolis, washing away his feelings. He was overwhelmed with joy and a love for all living things. Soon, it was all he could register. Trying to think of anything else was like trying to remember lyrics with another song blasting in his ears.
The others groaned. It wasn’t just him. He pushed back to ward off the invasion, but before he began he was swallowed by a waking dream.
A thousand images poured through his mind, leaving him grasping at the few thoughts he could hold onto. A star was born in an explosion of light. Another star swelled to a red giant, consuming its satellite planets, then collapsed to a pinprick o
f white light. He felt joy and sorrow in bittersweet combination. He wanted to weep and sing out of pure happiness at the same time.
He was crying stardust, his astral body eroding under the pressure of the dragon’s mind. He couldn’t endure another second. He dropped into his body and collapsed.
“Coraolis?” Dante pushed him onto his back. “Can you hear me? Do you know where you are?”
Coraolis scrubbed at his face but found his cheeks were dry. “We have to get the others out of there.”
“They’re already out. I was about to come after you.” Dante helped Coraolis sit up and handed him the electrolyte bottle. “As we expected, negotiation is a no-go. We might as well try to sign a treaty with a hurricane.”
“Agreed,” Coraolis said. He took a long drink. “What did you pick up?”
Dante sat back and ran his hand through his hair. “Love. I didn’t think love could be an impersonal thing, but it took so much joy out of life itself. Ye gods, it hurt.”
Coraolis nodded. He wouldn’t call it pain, but his heart and head had been stretched out of shape. He hated to think how Julia and Jack were faring.
“Is this different from your experience last year?” he asked.
“Very much so. I can’t say that ‘my’ dragon was different, though. It never explained anything to me, it just took over.”
“So either that was an anomaly, or it was acting like a parent with an infant,” Coraolis said.
Dante grimaced. “If you want to put it that way. I have had a lot of time to think about it, and I can’t say there was any malice in what it did. I consider its actions evil, but I don’t know how that word applies with creatures out of their own dimension.”
“Sounds like a question to take home to the Academy.” Coraolis finished his drink and stood up, faltering and leaning against the wall. “Let’s report in. The sooner we can get out of here, the better.”
***
Dante delivered the team’s report. He did a good job of being concise; if Coraolis described his experience, he’d have to resort to poetry. On the viewscreen, Captain McNuggen sat rigidly in her chair with Julia and Jack standing to one side. They both looked paler than usual and seemed uncomfortable on McNuggen’s bridge. He wasn’t sure if that was because of their little adventure or McNuggen. She had a good name in E.F., but her dislike of Mystics was legendary among Coraolis’s colleagues.
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