by Bruce Marcom
Doc says, “They are extremely rare and can change shape back and forth from a bi-pedal form to full Space Dragon Form. She was created in a lab, so she is mutating into a Space Dragon rather than being born one. She is unique, because Space Dragons are born all one color and that color determines their abilities. She is rainbow-colored because she is made up of many different species of Space Dragons.”
“I think she looks very cool. The black spikes are a nice touch. I guess you are not going to be playing piano with those claws,” Che says with a true sense of awe.
Mcloud’s arm falls off and hits the ground.
Meek frowns and mumbles some form of obscenity.
“I’ve got it,” Chad says as he picks up the arm and pops it back on.
Cogg remarks, “Man, people will never believe when I tell them this story. We need to get photos or videos.”
Che snidely says, “What? Are your Big Fish stories not believable any more? So switching to Space Dragons stories would be more believable? I am ready taking pictures and vids of her because I know no one will believe it.”
Eve says, “You guys are funny.”
***
A couple days pass as they cut through a corner of Elemental Empire’s Space. Something shows up on long-range scanners that has the crew operating their stations with full attention.
“Yes, Captain, it is a distress signal coming on long-range scanners. It is directly in our path,” Mcloud informs.
“Activate the cloaking device,” Meek commands.
“I could activate the cloaking device, but it won’t do us any good since it is not hooked up to the ship,” Che says in a sarcastic manner.
Meek mumbles some obscenities under his breath.
“We are now in medium range,” Mcloud updates.
“Approach with caution; put on vid screen as soon as we are in range,” Meek instructs. “Also, be ready to jump in case there is a problem.”
“By your command,” Che says, trying to imitate a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica.
“I like those Star Trek movies better,” Chad says.
Meek says with a sigh, “Focus people. And you better not be stealing movies from my collection, as those are priceless.”
“If you mean the five-finger discount you got them for, then yeah, they were literally priceless,” Che says, poking fun. The crew laughs as Meek frowns.
“We are in range, Captain. Coming up on screen,” Mcloud says.
On the screen, there is a small merchant ship drifting in space.
Mcloud says, “It is a small Elemental Merchant ship about our size. Sensors indicate it is dead in space with the auto distress signal repeating every 30 seconds.”
Meek says, “Life signs?”
Mcloud says, “None detected, and the ship has no power on, except the distress signal.”
“Smells like a bait ship to me, Boss,” Python asserts.
“I am thinking that, too,” Coog gives his opinion.
Meek says, “Yeah, it does seem too good to be true. Keep scanning.”
“We are now at the vessel, Captain,” Mcloud says. “There is cargo, but in lead casings making it hard to scan the contents. No life signs, as the ship has no atmosphere.”
Suddenly, three ships come out at light speed right on top of their location.
“Three Elemental Navy ships just dropped out at light speed right on top of us. Two destroyers and a battleship. The battleship has locked on a tractor beam to us,” Mcloud says.
“Wanking bait ship, damn it,” Meek curses out loud.
“This is General Hurt of the Elemental Navy. You are in Elemental Space, so prepare to be boarded and searched for illegal contraband,” blares over the shipwide intercom.
Che says, “Well, that is one thing we don’t have, ha-ha-ha. If they can overlook the seven wanted posters and a stolen ship with fake papers, then we be all right.”
“We are so busted,” Cogg says.
Meek says, “Put me on audio only.” As he starting to spin a lie, shipwide intercoms on all four ships activate.
Eve says in a smooth claim tone, “Greetings, General Hurt. Looks like you have been demoted to smuggling patrol since the last time we met. How humiliating that must be. I see you have a shiny new battleship. It will be a shame for me to have to destroy it like I did your other one...,” she says, with a sinister laughter.
Hurt realizes who is talking and yells, “Fire all guns at will!”
“Too late,” Eve says.
On the bridge, the pirate crew looks out the window of the pilot’s chair and see a huge electrical field hit all three ships. Then collision alarms sound off. Both destroyers crash into the battleship one on each side. Massive explosions ripple down both sides of the battleship. One of the destroyer’s power core explodes, taking the back part of the battleship with it. The tract beam disengages.
Meek yells, “Get us out of here before that mess explodes and takes us with it!”
Che moves the ship away as fast as sub-light engines can go. The battleship sounds an ‘abandon ship’ order over the intercoms.
“Eve, I will kill you if it is the last thing I do, you bitch!” General Hurt says, just as the battleship breaks up after one final explosion.
“Incoming debris, brace for impact,” Mcloud informs.
“Shields! Plot course and jump,” Meek yells.
“Already on it,” Che says, as the ship goes to jump speed right before the debris showers the area just barely missing their ship.
“Holy crap that was close,” Cogg says out of breath.
“I think I peed in my pants,” Chad adds.
Meek says, “Geez that was just too wanking close.”
Che says, “Just who is Eve exactly?”
Python say, “I don’t care. She just save our asses.”
“Yeah, you got that right,” Shawn says. “She is in sickbay at the moment. Doc is looking her over.”
Mcloud’s right leg pops off and hits the floor.
“Damn it!”
Chapter 3
Eve flails around on the table in sickbay as her mutation spirals out of control after using so much PSI power to destroy the Elemental Patrol. She lights up so bright it becomes blinding. She screams in pain as the last remnants of her humanity are assimilating into a Space Dragon.
“She is losing control. We need to get her off the ship now before she changes into a Space Dragon,” Doc yells over the intercom to the crew.
“Drop out of jump speed, Python. Chad, go down there and help get her to the cargo hold,” Meek barks.
A minute later, the two men see Doc and Gothica trying to drag Eve to the cargo hold, but she is too big for them. They grab her and pulling her down the hall to the cargo hold.
“Gee, she weights a ton,” Python says.
“More like two tons or a hover car is more exact. She is made out of pure enchanted metals,” Doc says in a serious tone.
“He isn’t good with math,” Chad snickers.
“Oh, like you are?” Python huffs.
They pull Eve into the cargo hold. She is glowing so brightly now it is impossible to look at her. She begin flailing again and the ship begins to shake. Python hits the button to shut the door and turns off the gravity in the cargo hold. Then he opens the outer doors and Eve and all the contents in the cargo hold are sucked out into space. They all head to the bridge and take their stations.
Doc says, “Need to back up. I have no idea how big she will be.”
Che replies, “Okay, back way up.” Che moves the ship out a few thousand kilometers as they watch through the windows. Eve starts changing into a Space Dragon for the first time. She grows bigger, bigger, and bigger. Che has to move the ship back a few more thousand kilometers.
“Holy crap! She is gargantuan!” Chad says in excitement.
Meek adds, “That is one big wanker of a Dragon.”
Doc says, “She is still getting larger.”
Che says in bewilderment, “W
oah, she is a huge; I don’t know they got that big.”
“In the wild they don’t. She is vastly bigger than any known Space Dragon—30 or more times.”
“She has four legs and four arms…what the hell?” Gothica says in confusion.
“Makes sense. Her core dragon DNA is Serpent Dragon and they have more limbs, usually six,” Doc informs.
Eve says over the intercom, “Where are you guys? I can’t see you.”
Che says, “Probably because we are the size of an ant compared to you. I will turn on the forward lights and then maybe you can see us.”
“Oh! There you are…so tiny.”
The crew sees a yellow eye the size of a battleship with a black slit in the middle looking at them.
“That is a big honking eyeball,” Cogg comments.
Che says, “Forget the eyeball. Look at those monster-sized teeth. No dinner invitations for you!”
Eve laughs over the intercom.
Meek say, “Watch out! Don’t fly into her nose. I just had the ship washed. No Dragon boogers, please.”
“Yeah, I am not good with the insect in the nose thing,” Eve chuckles.
“Can you roar for us, Mom?” Gothica asks.
Doc says, “No, don’t roar. The shockwave would crush us, not to mention a Space Dragon’s roar releases an EM pulse that kills all electronics. That is how they attack ships before they eat them for metals and energy. They have a nasty breath weapon too, depending on what color the dragon is. Those are some of the things you will have to learn when you get to Dragon Territory.”
“How do I fly in space? It’s a vacuum.”
“Your size, intelligence, and PSI ability should help you fly in space or gravity. You use your wings in gravity, though. Those items also determines how fast you can go. You just think which direction you want to go. A Dragon will have to teach you how to navigate in space, as I cannot instruct you on that. However, you can go much faster than any ship that is for sure. We could ride on your nose bridge and you can use you PSI to access the navigation computer to know which way to go. Probably need the arachnids to web the ship to your nose bridge so we don’t fall off,” Doc suggests.
Meek hesitates, “I am not sure about that.”
Che says, “That would be cool. Who is going to be wanking with us if we are on a planet-sized Space Dragon?”
“Hey! I am not that fat!” Eve interrupts, “But I understand. Um...do I really look fat?” She begins looking at her body.
Che replies, “No, no, that was a figure of speech. You are nice sleek dragon and definitely a low-calorie one.”
Meek says, “ I have done some weird things in my life—that time I tipped a royal sheep two bars of platinum after a drunken night of fun; still swear it was a hairy prostitute—I guess we can trying dragon riding.”
Che landed the ship on Eve’s nose and webbed the ship to it. Then they took off to Laughing Skull.
“Our normal jump speed is 5 and the meter only goes up to 10, which we are at now. Probably going much faster than 10,” Che comments.
“I can try to calculate our speed based on our last position, time lapsed, and distance traveled. Then I can tell you how long it will take to get to Laughing Skull,” Mcloud says.
Not having to worry about the ship, Meek falls asleep in the captain’s chair, snoring from time to time. The rest of the crew, except Che, eats dinner in the galley.
Che replies,” Okay, thanks.”
“About 36 hours to reach our destination,” MCloud says.
“Wow, a two-week trip in 36 hours, nice!” Che responds with astonishment.
“Thank you for fly Dragon Airlines and we hope you enjoyed the peanuts,” Eve says with a sense of humor over the intercom.
Che laughs.
***
Thirty-six hours pass and they enter Laughing Skull’s planetary orbit. Laughing Skull is the home world for the Pirate Lord Cos and is located in the Pirate Lord Territories. The planet has a serious planetary defense grid, including a surrounding minefield. There is a space station there that deals with both non-criminals who go to buy fenced merchandise and with pirates and outlaws. Only criminals with a wanted poster are allowed on the surface. Pirates park at two major spaceports on the surface. Fighting in the air space is prohibited, but on the ground, brawls and shootouts are very common. The surface has ever kind of vice, black-market shops, and even some regular businesses like repair shops. People are killed and swindled here on an hourly basis or sooner.
Meek says, “Now that Eve is back on board, we will land on Platform B. Remember, don’t go anywhere alone. Always carry your weapons and watch out for pickpockets.”
Che says, “Landing now.”
Mcloud’s arm falls to the ground.
Meek sighs.
“I got it, Boss,” Cogg picks up the arm and pops it back in.
“I will have to stay on the ship as I do not have a wanted poster on me like the rest of you hoodlums do,” Doc says in a playful tone.
The crew laughs.
Che says, “What is this? The Doc cracked a joke? Before you know it, she will be on a wanted poster,” Che winks at the Doc.
“Hanging around you vermin, I wouldn’t be surprised. Besides, I want to see more of this Clint Eastwood human. He makes good earth movies with those funny hats and shoot-them-up stuff,” Doc says as the pink Wolfkin disappears back into the ship.
The group goes down to the Custom’s Department where they see a long line of people being scanned for wanted posters before they are allowed through.
“Why is everyone staring at us?” Python notices.
Cogg snaps, “They’re not staring at us. They’re staring at Eve.”
“Oh.”
Eve says, “I am use to it by now. They all want me for my body.”
Che and Gothica laugh.
After waiting for 30 minutes, they finally get to the scanner. A check-in supervisor and several pirate guards are at the door. Every time someone walks through the scan, their wanted poster shows up on the big screen and audibly reads the wanted information. Most of the rewards are between 100 platinum bars and 15,000 bars, with a few up to 20,000 bars.
Supervisor says, “Next.”
Meek steps up and is scanned.
“Abel Meek wanted by the Machine People of the Consortium for the sale of defective merchandise, piracy, scams, and other crimes in other empires. Reward: 12,000 bars.”
“Next!”
“Che Chizital wanted by Wolfkins, Katlin, Elemental Empire, and The Hive for assassinations, piracy, and kidnapping. Reward: 20,000 bars.”
“Next!”
“Chad Wick wanted by Wolfkins, Katlin, and Elemental Empire for piracy, murder, and kidnapping. Reward: 9,000 bars.”
“Python wanted by Reptilian Conglomerate, Wolfkin, Elemental Empire for murder, kidnapping, piracy. Reward: 13,000 bars.”
“Caleb Cogg wanted by Reptilian Conglomerate, Wolfkins, Elemental Empire, and Katin for computer hacking, information theft, cat burglary, general theft. Reward: 15,000 bars.”
“Shawn Belgarion wanted by Katin for political violations. Reward: 10,000 bars.”
Che says, “Yes! Still on top!”
Chad wick says rather annoyed, “What the hell? I dropped down to 9,000 bars.”
“Shawn, the doctor is higher than you now, ha-ha,” Python says in an irritating manner.
Chad Wick shoots the finger rod at Python.
Meek says, “Low man pays for the drinks.”
Shawn says, “For once, I don’t have to by the drinks.”
The compter scanner continures,“Gothica wanted by Elemental Empire for murder. Reward: 10,000 bars.
“Evella Noctu wanted by The Supreme Council of the Elemental Empire for destruction of property on a planetary scale, mass genocide, destruction of the 4th and 24th Navy Fleets, murder of a High Council member. Reward: 100,000,000 platinum bars.”
Che says, “I am having feelings of inadequacy about now.”
Eve remarks to the listed computer information, “That is stretching it a bit, but when do governments tell the whole truth?”
Eve hears scores of weapons activate behind her.
“Now, Retards, what part of mass genocide did you not understand?” Eve turns around and grabs all hundred or so in line using telekinesis and starts choking them. Weapons fall to the ground followed by dead bodies as she releases them. Even for pirates, that was a gruesome scene. The guards pull their big guns out but the foreman puts his hand up waving them off and whispers, “What? Are you idiots? Do you want to get us all killed?”
Eve says, “Geez, planet killers can’t even get any respect around here. What kind of dump is this?”
Eve turns back around and says to the foreman as she motions to Capt. Meek and the crew to come over. “This is Capt. Meek. If you have your big strapping guards over there help him and his crew load all the bodies into the cargo bay of his ship, you and your people can keep all their guns and other stuff they have on them as a tip. If any of them own ships, sell them to Lord Cos and add it to my account here. Keep 5% as a commission for you and your boys.”
The foreman says with utter excitement, “Yes, Lady Eve. No problem, we are here to serve. If you need anything else, the boys and I will jump on it.” The guards head over to begin moving the bodies.
She looks at Meek and says, “Well, you actually have some cargo now. That is at least a million or so bars worth of bounties laying over there. I will get Doc to collect them for you because she is legit if you split it evenly between her and your crew.”
Capt. Meek says, “Thank you, Lady Eve. This run will be more profitable than I thought. You are truly awesome.”
“Finally, jackpot!” Python yells with excitement as the rest of the crew begin dragging bodies.
Che adds, “This has to be the nastiest cargo we have had, but I am all about the money. Hope Doc can freeze these or they will be pretty ripe in the ship.”
The huge video monitor that towers way above the spaceport activates as a big Wolfkin appears in fine clothes on the screen.
Lord Cos says, “Well, hello Lady Eve. We don’t get many people of your stature visiting my humble little planet. I see you have changed quite a bit since that last time we spoke. I have sent my valet down to fetch you and bring you to my palace. Since this is your first visit to the surface, I want to show you around if you like.”
