Standard Disclaimer:
The curtain pulled back on a scene of domestic bliss. Bob sat on a chair in front of the kitchen sink scrubbing the dirty dishes and muttering vile curses to himself.
"Have you finished the dishes yet?" Alyx screeched from off stage.
Bob bowed his head in defeat. "Not yet dear," he replied.
Alyx's head popped out from one side and she glared at him. "I told you it was your turn to do the dishes six weeks ago! But did you listen to me? We'll have finger food, you said, it'll be great, you said. Four god-damned weeks of Ding Dongs and Potato chips and I'm sick of it! I want a real meal. You should have let me buy that dish washer!"
Bob put down the scrubber and turned to glare at Alyx. "That dish washer was a French guy named Jacques who only wore a thong! And he couldn't even cook! I thought they taught everyone over there cooking! But no, you just wanted wet beefcake."
Alyx blinked and growled. "Don't mention beef! I would kill for a roast!"
Bob smiled evilly, "I hear the neighbors bought themselves a new calf last week."
Alyx returned the grin. "Let me get my gun," she replied, then she disappeared.
Bob turned back to the mound of dishes and pulled out a particular noxious plate. Using a knife he peeled off the four week old potato skin that was glowing orange from the mold. He sniffed the skin and blanched, then he slid the moldy skin into a plastic baggie.
"I'll save that for Alyx's salad. If she complains I'll just tell her Jacques sent her his special croutons creation," he muttered.
Bob turned to the audience. "While I return to my domestic bliss, why don't you read the chapter. Oh and we don't own Harry Potter or the dragon riders and if we did, we'd have a real dish water, Frieda, the naked German singing dishwater and I know she can cook too!"
Beneath Sovereign Skies
Chapter 12
First Blood
Lac Logipi Weyr, Late September 2005...
Harry dropped lightly from Chekiath and hit the ground. He pulled off his riding cap and resisted the urge to throw it to the ground in frustration. This had been their seventh day of patrolling the Red Sea with nothing to show for their efforts other than several bad sunburns and one bad case of sun stroke.
The Saudis had been up with their aircraft, but thus far they had not engaged the dragons from Lac Logipi Weyr much to Harry's frustration. In fact the Saudi aircraft never ventured more than a mile or two away from their coast line while Harry and his group kept the Sudan in sight while the dragons from Lac Logipi fished.
The dragons of Lac Logipi were enjoying the change in diet. Usually a dragon in that small Weyr might get to enjoy dolphin once a year, but in the past week every dragon had managed to get one.
May reluctantly stepped out from a nearby tent that she was sharing with Lisa Turpin. Instantly her thin khaki shirt and shorts were plastered to her as the heat and humidity struck her like a physical blow.
The tent that May and Lisa shared was cooled magically to a comfortable level, but outside it was roasting. Both women had set up a temporary clinic to deal with human and dragon problems. May had storage rooms and a small office in the tent while Lisa had the rest of the space reserved with beds for any riders. So far she had only two patients, a rider with a bad case of sun stroke and another with an infection. With help from Issac, Lisa was working to stabilize her patients so they could be taken Between back to Campbeltown.
May had even fewer patients at the moment and she hoped that wouldn't change anytime soon.
May walked over to Harry and handed him a chilled bottle of water. He smiled in thanks and nearly drank half the bottle then he poured the remainder over his head. "No luck?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No, there were a few Saudi air force jets up, including some kind of radar jet, but I think the back door warning via the British might have scared them off for now. They ignored our fishing dragons completely. I'm fairly certain they didn't detect us, we stayed out of range of their infra-red capabilities and the dragons were disillusioned."
"I know why we're here Harry, but I hope we don't have to fight anyone," she replied softly. "Have you heard from Hermione?"
He shook his head. "Its not easy getting a signal flying over the Red Sea, is there a problem?"
May smiled at him and shook her head. "No, no problem. She'll be here in a few hours with some news for you."
Harry paused and pondered that. He couldn't think of a single reason for Hermione to join them in Kenya, she and Maggie Shepard were busy negotiating a contract with Fiat. The Italian auto maker wanted to experiment with some new engine designs powered by hot rocks. Right now the plan was to design engines for large trucks and buses, but there existed a possibility of eventually getting the engine size down to something that would fit a passenger car. Harry really wanted to see that contract closed, there had been several attempts at hot rock powered vehicles but so far none had reached the market.
He shrugged, "Very well, I'm going to check in with the wing leaders. None of the dragons have complained about any problems, but Lisa is going to have her hands full with sun burn cases."
"I'll let her know. Thanks to that potion recipe from Madam Pomfrey we can quickly fix them up," May offered.
Harry nodded and quietly grasped her hand for a moment, then he turned and walked over to where the wing leaders were assembling around a large cooler of cold drinks.
May smiled to herself. Harry was a very private individual unlike some riders and he rarely exhibited any public displays of affection. A hand squeeze from Harry was sufficient for both girls because they knew that once they were alone he could be very affectionate. May and Hermione knew they were really married to two men. The Weyrleader was the public face of the Weyrs worldwide, but Harry came out when they were behind closed doors.
It warmed the hearts of both girls to know that they were the ones who really saw Harry Potter the man, instead of the Weyrleader.
Draco looked up from a discussion and he waved when he spotted Harry coming closer. "Another wasted day," he offered with an apologetic shrug.
"Yeah I'm beginning to think that asking the British to warn the Saudis that we would take action if it happened again was a mistake on my part," Harry admitted. He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, "I also didn't count on this heat being this bad."
Draco nodded, unlike Harry, he had only been on patrol for four hours and even then, the riders had taken to dipping into Between every ten minutes to cool down. The weather the last few days had been clear and cloudless and very hot. The heat radiating off of the surface of the Red Sea actually added a few extra degrees of discomfort for the wings flying at five hundred feet. The wings were constantly adjusting their formation and altitude, but generally they were staying under one thousand feet.
"It's been a hot one alright, but we're dealing with it," Draco offered. "I just wish Michelle were here."
Harry grunted sourly, Draco and Michelle had married a year before he married May and Hermione. Michelle was pregnant with their first child, but Issac had down checked her for this mission because of her pregnancy. Given what they knew about life on Pern, Issac had decided to play it safe and automatically grounded any woman who was entering their third trimester of pregnancy from going Between. There was no real science behind that decision, but no one wanted to risk the lives of the women and their babies to chance. What they knew for certain was that Between had adverse effects on pregnant women on Pern.
Issac pointed out that Pern's medical abilities were not as advanced as modern medicine and magical healing, but he still wanted to err on the side of caution.
For Harry this meant that nearly a third of the female first riders were down at the moment, having their first, or in a few cases, their second baby. Harry wouldn't dream of interfering with that, but in the case of Draco and Michelle, she was his wing second. Her absence left Draco with a hole in his tactical roster and a rider that wasn't used to being Draco's wing second.
Harry looked around at the assembled Wing leaders. He had brought all of Division One with him, five manned wings in all. The rest remained back in Campbeltown, waiting for Harry to call them. He had plans to include more than one division, but having experienced the heat of Kenya he opted to keep everyone other than the main division back in Scotland.
"Any problems today?" he asked.
Most of the Wing Leaders shook their heads. "Just the usual Harry, some cases of sunburn. Hopping Between seemed to help prevent any further cases of heat stroke," replied Lee easily. The others nodded in agreement to Lee's statement.
Harry spotted Lisa approaching and he motioned her over. "Lisa? Do you have anything for me?"
"Just one thing Harry, I'm sending Adrianne Pace back to Campbeltown for Issac to look over. She's got a swelling in her left leg and a high fever that might be from an insect bite. Considering all of the things around here that can be bad for us, I don't want to take any chances. Willy Newman is also going back to Campbeltown. He's no longer suffering from Heat stroke, but I'd rather not risk him having it again," she said a bit uncertainly. Lisa was still attending school, working on becoming a medical doctor so she only spent a few hours per day here before going back to Scotland to attend classes. She was determined to be the first homegrown Weyr doctor and was not the only rider taking graduate courses for advanced degrees.
Harry turned to look at Abbey Rhodes, wing leader for Wing five. "Abbey? With Adrianne and Mirriath gone you'll be down three riders will this pose a problem for you?"
Wing five had been tasked with maintaining security over Lac Logipi just in case the Saudis opted to switch tactics. As far as anyone knew, the Weyr's location was still unknown to everyone, but no one was taking chances anymore. Three dragons were dead and everyone was treating this as the threat it was.
Abbey frowned. "No I might have to juggle the weyr patrol schedules a bit, but I think we'll fine."
Harry nodded, then he bid everyone a good night. He and May shared a tent to themselves next to the main administration tent and he desperately wanted a cool soak in the bath.
Five minutes later Harry sank into the cool water and sighed in relief. He didn't know it, but he had come dangerously close to heat stroke during today's patrol over the Red Sea.
"I hope we don't have to do this much longer Cheki," he said softly.
"I hope so too Harry. The dragons don't mind the heat, but they are worried about the riders."
"The dragons aren't the only one worried about the riders," said a voice.
Harry smiled and cracked open one eye. "More sunburns?" he asked May who stood in the door.
"No or no more than usual, but Lisa is worried, and so am I. If this goes on for another week, it will be my opinion as your Weyrhealer that we need to rotate each division through here for week long stints instead of expecting one division to stay here continuously. Both Lisa and I have noted an increase in irritability and general fatigue. This heat saps our energy, we're just not used to it."
As May spoke she unbuttoned the lightweight blouse and shrugged out of it. Harry opened both eyes to watch her. He had been with Hermione and May for years now and he was still captivated and aroused by their beauty.
She pushed down her shorts and stepped out of them, then she went to step into the tub. Suddenly she paused and turned to Harry. "Cool bath?"
He nodded and chuckled at her slight grimace. "It is 43.3 degrees out," he reminded her, "And I've been out with Cheki all day while your little infirmary has cooling charms built into it."
"You could use a cooling charm on yourself," she reminded him.
"I could," he agreed, "but what message would that send to the non-magical riders?"
"We're supposed to set an example," Chekiath added in a tone that make it obvious that he wasn't convinced.
"There's setting an example and then there's taking unnecessary risks love," she replied. "We've had one case of sun stroke and I'd rather not have to help Lisa treat another."
Harry shrugged a bit helplessly, they both knew this was an argument that neither she or Hermione could win. She was comforted by the fact that every morning she was able to get him to use a heavy sun block cream so his risk of sun burn was minimized at least.
She settled into the water next to him and reached for a washcloth and a bar of soap. While Harry might not use a lot of magic outside of their home, inside was a totally different story. Harry and Hermione both used magic to make their private lives easier. Hermione knew instinctively when May was approaching the most uncomfortable time of her period and cast the charm to reduce her cramps without even being asked.
And Harry had discovered a charm that allowed him to give them massages simultaneously. He could massage one girl and the sensations would be instantly repeated on the other.
May put down the bar of soap and approached Harry. "Sit up so I can get your back," she said. "I want to wash the sun block off you."
Harry leaned forward and groaned slightly as she started to clean and rub at his tense shoulder muscles. When he was good and soapy she pulled him back against her. Harry smiled deeply, he could feel her large breasts pressed up against his back, and he could feel her hand reaching for his growing arousal.
"Do we have time for this love? I mean isn't Hermione due to arrive soon? You said she had some news?"
May hugged him a bit tighter. Their bedroom rules had relaxed considerably over the years to include quite a few things, but both girls were interested in Harry, and having sex with Harry, not with each other. It had led to some interesting times where the girls worked together but everyone was aware of the limits they wouldn't cross. "She'll understand, or she'll strip down and join us in the tub and wait for her turn," May said against his ear. Her breath sent delightful shivers down his back.
Nearly two hours later Harry worked tiredly at the same desk Dobby stole from Snape shortly after he had impressed Cheki. He was personally glad that Dobby's hobby of larceny/midnight purchasing came to an end when Dobby had a child with Tisky, the head cook for the Weyr.
The mystery of young elves was solved when Harry finally got around to questioning Dobby. It turned out that the European house elves were having their children in the Americas as a way of saving them. Prior to having them in America the babies ran the risk of death from a British Wizard that didn't want to house and feed an elf baby. The female house elves were adept at hiding their pregnancies from humans, this allowed them to have their babies elsewhere and return with their masters never knowing they had been pregnant.
Harry, May and Hermione were appalled at the tale and spent a number of days reassuring Dobby that it would be safe for any elf to have a baby at the Weyr. Now two years on and the Weyr boasted a day care service that took care of the rider's babies and nearly twenty baby elves. Harry told the Elves that the Weyrs would shelter and protect any elves and their babies. When word of that spread, nearly every Weyr gained a small contingent of elves eager to help in exchange for a safe place to raise a family.
The dragons announced that the elves could not impress, but they could still form a very close tie to dragons that was as strong as the typical human/dragon friendship bond.
Harry shuffled the map around again and frowned at his notations. He was trying to tweak his plans and no matter how hard to he tried, he couldn't see any way of improving them.
A hand suddenly came into view and placed a small plastic bag down in front of him on the map.
"What?" he said with a blink, then he leaned a little closer and looked at the bag which contained several plastic sticks.
"Pregnant," he whispered, reading the display on the little LCD screen. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment and his brain refused to make the connection.
"Pregnant?" he said again, then he looked up. Hermione stood there looking at him anxiously. "Really?"
She nodded. May stood in the doorway watching them both. She had known that Hermione was concerned about Harry's reaction. She had gotten so busy working on those Fiat negotiations that she had forgotten to take her potion for a whole week. Once she realized that she had skipped and risked a pregnancy she was afraid of what Harry would say. She knew that privately it irked him that there were holes opening up in his wings as more girls became pregnant. He would never say it to any of the riders, but both May and Hermione knew it was causing problems.
Harry turned in his chair and he reached out with a trembling hand to touch Hermione's stomach.
"Harry, say something," Hermione whispered.
He caressed her belly gently. "We're having a baby. He's in there right now. Our baby," he replied with a touch of awe, then he sniffled and wiped at his eyes. "Our baby," he repeated with a watery smile.
Hermione laughed nervously and he pulled her into an embrace with his head resting against her stomach. He waved to May to come closer and she reluctantly did. As soon as she was in reach he included her in the embrace.
Hermione choked back a sob and she leaned into Harry and May.
He said something unintelligible and May frowned. "Harry, we can't understand you when you're talking into Hermione's belly."
Harry looked up at the two of them, the joy was clearly visible in his expression. "Our baby," he repeated firmly. "Our children will have the two prettiest and best mothers in the Weyr."
May relaxed slightly and Harry looked at her curiously. Her face flushed and she looked away in shame at her thoughts.
"May, surely you aren't thinking that I would treat you any different now that Hermione is having our baby?" he asked.
"Our baby May," Hermione echoed with a bright smile. "Isn't it obvious to you? This isn't just Harry and me having this baby, it's all of us, all six of us. Listen to what Harry is telling you, this baby may come from my belly, but it belongs to all of us."
"He," Harry said firmly.
Hermione turned to look at Harry incredulously, "How can you be sure? Even Issac said we won't be able to tell for another month."
Harry shrugged and started unbuttoning Hermione's blouse from the bottom so he could plant a few kisses. "Call it a hunch, or call it magic, but something is telling me that you are having our son."
Hermione laughed as Harry tickled her lightly. He pulled away and looked away. "A baby, a real family," he said softly in awe.
"You're not mad Harry? I know you grumble every time one of us women have to be grounded," Hermione asked nervously. "Aren't you interested in how this happened?"
May laughed and gently poked Hermione in the shoulder. "I think he knows full well how it happened."
"It doesn't matter how it happened love, we're starting our family and that's all that matters," he said, then he turned to May and gave her a bit of a leer. "I think it would be nice to make sure our son has a sister to play with, don't you May?"
She laughed and pushed him away. "Tomorrow Harry, we'll work on that daughter tomorrow after I take the antidote. Right now I'm going to suggest you take Hermione to bed. I know she was very nervous about telling you, besides, we tried earlier in the evening. It's Hermione's turn."
May turned and left the small office. Harry stood and scooped up Hermione in a bridal carry. "You know something don't you? Why are you so certain I'm having a boy and May will have a girl?"
Harry leaned closer and kissed her gently for a moment. "I'm not sure, it just feels right. I don't know how or why but something tells me this is how our family will start. You'll have a boy and May will have a girl."
Hermione cuddled closer in his arms and smiled to herself. She had been afraid Harry would be angry with her for getting pregnant, "Are you really happy about this Harry?" she asked.
He pulled her a little closer again and kissed her on the nose. "You know that all my life I've wanted a family. I'm going to need your help learning to be a father, but tonight I intend to show you exactly how happy you've made me."
He carried her into the bedroom they shared and closed the door behind them. May knew she could have joined them, but instead she opted to sit in the living room and read one of her textbooks.
"A hatchling is a good thing," Trath announced. "You should have a couple with Harry too."
Trath's comment caused May to chuckle, "Sweetie you know humans usually only have single births. Twins and the like don't run in my family. I'm afraid I'll have to do them one at a time."
"Being a rider didn't run in your family either," Chekiath observed, "And now look at you, consort to The Weyrleader and mother to his offspring. You could have two. It's a shame you can't do like dragons and control how many eggs you have. You could have ten and never have to worry about it again."
May shuddered at the thought.
"Ten? Why so few? I can lay nearly fifty eggs if I want to," Trath interjected.
"All right you guys, I get the picture, not all of us have your advantages," May replied. "Now if you'll excuse me I want to finish this chapter."
"Yes May," replied Trath.
May turned back to her book, then she glanced towards the closed door where Harry and Hermione were. She had been worried that Harry might treat them differently once he knew Hermione was pregnant. Now her worry was replaced by a bit of shame for ever doubting her husband.
Moscow Military District Headquarters, The Kremlin, September 15th 2005...
Major General Iskady Sukov sat quietly at his desk reading a report on the production of a new jet fighter, the SU-34. Originally intended to compete with the high performance aircraft from America and Europe, the designers had done everything they could to 'tweak' the design to go up against dragons. It was the very best of Russian engineering and Sukov was convinced it still wasn't good enough.
The prototypes were performing beyond all reasonable expectation and Iskady was quite proud of that fact, but nothing he or the designers could think up would help against a foe capable of teleportation.
The door opened and his aide entered carrying the morning dispatches. "Your morning mail General," Irina said softly.
He grunted sourly and motioned for her to leave the mail on the side table.
"Is everything all right Iskady?" Irina asked hesitantly. "You have been very quiet since you returned from that trip you took last week."
Sukov pulled his glasses off and wiped tiredly at his face. It is time finally, he thought.
"Bellarina died last week," he said simply. His wife had been lingering for years. Her illness made it impossible for her to follow him from post to post so she had returned to her family home in Bellorussia. His wife's protracted illness had been the reason he had taken Irina as a mistress in the first place.
Sukov did love his wife, but the illness had killed her personality off long before it destroyed her body. And somewhere along the way he had fallen in love with his mistress.
Irina gasped and she sat on a chair. "I'm sorry Iskady," she said softly.
Sukov nodded and took a sip from his cup. "I'm not. Her last years were painful, this is a mercy, and yet it now leaves me with a dilemma."
"Dilemma?"
Sukov looked up at the woman who had been his aide and mistress for the last several years. "With Bella gone, I can finally take what we have to its logical conclusion," he said. "Irina Katarina Hannanov, would you consent to become my wife? I know I am much older than you, but my feelings for you are true."
Irina gasped and nodded tearfully.
"Excellent, let's have lunch to discuss what needs to be done. The quicker, the better. Things are coming to a head and I will not be surprised if we find ourselves in a conflict soon."
Irina stood and walked over to him and he looked up from his chair at her. She leaned down and kissed him long and passionately. "If times become difficult that I shall do my best to make sure your home is untroubled and a haven," she said.
He turned in his chair and pulled her into his lap. "Yes I know you will, and I believe I have enough authority at this point to prevent you from being reassigned. It might be best if you kept your name at least for official uses."
Irina looked at him in surprise, then she understood, married couples were rarely posted together. She clung to him a bit longer before sliding off his lap and standing. "I hadn't thought of that," she said. "I would like to continue serving as your aide Iskady."
"And so you shall," he replied, then he grinned. "But no more spying Irina. The only piece of dirt that FIS had on me was my relationship with you, and once we're married, even that will dirt will go away."
Irina gasped. "You knew?"
"Of course I knew. I knew as soon as you replaced Igor Bostinov as my aide. There had to be a reason for his replacement, he was removed from my office and no one I talked to seemed to be able to help me get him back. That spoke of involvement from an outside source that no one wanted to anger. Who else but FIS would do such a thing?"
"You know then I only told FIS that you were dedicated and loyal?"
Sukov chuckled, "Had you said otherwise, we would not be here and I would be in one of the Gulags than everyone claims don't exist anymore. Now you have duties to attend to, we will speak further at lunch."
Irina nodded and flashed him a quick smile, then she retreated from the room. A few minutes later she found herself sobbing in a bathroom stall. She knew exactly how lucky she had been, had he reported her for spying she would have been severely punished. Instead he loved her and wanted to marry her. FIS would frown on that, but they wouldn't be able to do much about it.
Back in Sukov's office he sipped his tea and chuckled to himself. That went better than he had hoped it would, he thought. Perhaps I am not too old to be a father, I would love to have a daughter like Irina.
Satisfied that things were turning around in his personal life, he turned his attention back to his paperwork. They were gearing up for a conflict and like most military men, it was not something he looked forward to.
Off the coast of Sudan, October 10th 2005...
Harry leaned against the bank and Chekiath dropped lower. This was their second time in the area. After consulting with both Isaac and May he decided to rotate the wings. Even with that measure, there had been several more cases of heat stroke and one dangerous insect sting that resulted in a rider being hospitalized in London for a week.
As promised, when Division two served its time in the area, Harry took a very hands off approach, allowing Ronan's second to run the division. During that time Lac Logipi continued to fish the waters off the coast of Sudan without any incident.
Now Division one was back at Lac Logipi and mentally better prepared for the conditions they would have to endure.
Harry glanced down at the small panel that was attached around Cheki's neck and secured to the riding harness. It was a prototype unit from Ronan's group that contained a built in GPS unit that gave location and altitude. It also contained the smallest computer they could find that would fit and a small radio that allowed the rider to converse on several standard marine and aviation channels.
Their current position put them out of range of any aircraft with infra-red seeking abilities. According to Skip Taylor and Ronan, most IR seekers had a limited range and Harry made sure they would stay close to the Sudanese coast and away from any aircraft.
A brief flash of light caught his eye and he fumbled at his belt for his pair of binoculars. "There is a big ship in the channel," Chekiath observed.
Harry swung his binoculars around and he quickly spotted the tanker slowly making it's way out of the sea and into the Indian ocean. "Another oil tanker, they aren't interested in us." he replied. He swept the ship with his binoculars and idly noted it flew a Panamanian flag. Since he started the Weyr patrolling these waters he had seen flags representing nearly every country.
"There is another, smaller ship that is very close to that big tanker boat," Sinnath announced.
Harry blinked in surprise. Draco and his wing were about ten miles further down the coast so his angle could give him a bit better view of the tanker. Harry and his wing were shadowing the Lac Logipi dragons who weren't even trying to mask their presence; while Draco and his wing were positioned closer to the center of the sea, right smack in the contested waters. Draco's wing was more exposed and using the dragon's abilities to remain largely invisible to everyone.
"Wing one, maintain station, Cheki and I will be right back," Harry sent to the dragons of his wing.
Bob Malwich acknowledged Harry's order. As Harry's second and wingman he tended to keep a close eye on Wing one for Harry. It allowed Harry to have a greater degree of movement than most Wing leaders enjoyed.
"Cheki, let's break formation and take us to a point about four hundred feet over the tanker, I want a closer look at that smaller ship," Harry said.
"Alright Harry."
Chekiath and Harry popped Between and appeared over the tanker. The large dragon was hiding his presence from sight, but that didn't stop Chekiath from being detected. An alarm began to ring from the smaller vessel and Harry had a quick look at a missile launcher on the smaller ship swiveling around crazily as if it couldn't quite get a target lock.
Harry grimaced, "That's a naval ship of some kind but not a gunboat," he muttered. "Let's get out of here."
From what they knew of the previous attacks, the Saudis had employed a small missile patrol boat that usually had a small crew of less than a dozen men. This time it seems the Saudis had changed their plans and the Weyrs were confronted with a much larger vessel and crew.
Chekiath popped Between and the missile launcher slowly returned to its center rest position. Another alarm rang on the military ship and the Badr class corvette went to full power and pulled away from the the shadow of the larger oil tanker.
Harry pulled out a small reference book and thumbed through the pages. He had already marked the appropriate sections. "That's a Badr class corvette," he said to himself. A quick check of the ship specifications confirmed it's anti-aircraft abilities.
"We have four jets coming into the area from the north. There are two groups, one north of our position and another northeast. We are pulling back to the coast" Sinnath warned.
This is different than the last time, Harry thought to himself. Last time there was a smaller ship and fewer jets.
"Harry, that little ship is moving away from the tanker," Chekiath announced.
"All wings, listen up," Harry sent. "It looks like they have changed their attack plan. We have more planes and a much larger naval vessel to deal with. We discussed this possibility. You know what has to be done."
He closed the book and stuffed it back into his pocket, then he looked down at the new command panel that Ronan's people had built and wondered if the metal had been enough to pick up on the radar from the warship. If was the only significant piece of metal they carried, everything else was far too small; with the warship was less than a quarter mile from the tanker, perhaps even the small metal panel had been big enough to be picked up at that range.
Harry pulled his binoculars and watched the corvette turn abruptly towards the Sudan coast. The forward missile launcher swiveled from its rest position but it didn't fire.
"The British are still here also Harry," Lee's dragon Soranth added. Lee had his wing wired for video and scattered up and down the coast line. Harry wanted there to be no mistake as to who did what to whom and when. Fifteen video cameras recorded everything.
"Things are getting interesting," Chekiath commented. "Should we move the British ship closer so they can see everything?"
Harry grinned, then discarded the idea. He didn't want to scare the crew of the London, or have them start shooting. "No, they can see plenty well enough where they are. And interesting? You've been hanging around with Hermione too much," Harry replied finally. He dearly loved his wife, but she did have a tendency to understate things at times. "Alert the Weyr Cheki, have them stand to and make ready to initiate the plan."
At Lac Logipi, Abbey Rhodes ordered her wing to land and the riders scrambled to equip themselves with extra equipment. In less than two minutes later they were airborne and another two wings of Campbeltown non-bonded dragons took their place as overhead security for the Weyr.
Harry pulled his binoculars out of their case again and looked in the direction of the British. Soranth was reporting on a small British naval force that had been steaming back and forth in the Red Sea for the past month, ostensibly they were performing a right of passage exercise as well as running anti-piracy drills. Unfortunately, the British naval vessel was below the horizon even at Harry's altitude that meant they would only see what their radars could report.
"Everyone reports being ready Harry," Chekiath said after a few minutes of straight flying.
"Let's get the wing into position then," Harry said tensely. His original plan had changed after the first week of patrolling in the region. Harry didn't want to deal with this problem only to have it crop up somewhere else in the world. The Weyr was looking to make a statement that everyone could understand.
"Wing one, follow me to shadow the north eastern jets, Wing three shadow that ship and make sure your cameras are running. Wing four adjust to follow the northern pair of jets," Chekiath called, then he went Between. As dragons repositioned themselves in the skies overhead, the Badr continued on towards the Sudan coast line, blissfully unaware of the dragons.
As the dragons moved around the Red Sea they maintained positions behind the various aircraft. They knew most aircraft tended to have forward looking IR sensors. By remaining behind them they reduced the chance of being discovered.
Two dragons from Lac Logipi, Skinth and Mosanth continued flying a circular pattern nervously pretending to be looking for a dolphin pod. They had faith in The Weyrleader, but both dragons wished they could help more to protect their weyr.
The corvette suddenly accelerated to full power heading directly to the Sudanese coast and the orbiting dragons. "Div two, Wings one and two, I need you near that ship to back up Wing three," Harry sent suddenly. In his mind he was reviewing his forces and where they were supposed to go.
In Campbeltown Weyr forty dragons lifted off and vanished from sight. It was a fairly common occurrence and only the riders knew something unusual was in the works. Anyone watching in Scotland would have no clue that something was amiss.
"Div 2 wings are on their way Harry," Chekiath announced.
Harry grunted in acknowledgment, but didn't reply. Wing one and three were being hard pressed to maintain a close range on the much faster fighter jets. The Weyr had recognized early on that this would be a problem and their solution involved a series of jumps Between that would move the dragons closer to the jets. It wasn't an ideal solution because the dragons simply couldn't keep up with a jet going super-sonic unless they wanted to intercept the jet and kill it.
A dragon could jump right on top of a jet no matter what speed it was going, but that technique only worked if the dragon intended to destroy the jet. Shadowing a high speed aircraft was much more difficult as the jet went faster. The faster a jet went, the more jumps a dragon needed to do to maintain a close distance on the jet.
Harry glanced at his watch and noted he had ninety seconds before the next jump Between. He fumbled again with his binoculars and quickly scanned around. The corvette was now closing on the Sudanese coast at a high rate and the pair of jets that his wing was following seemed to be providing shadowing the ship.
"Weyrleader, Draco says he thinks they are going to reverse the trap this time. He thinks the ship will fire the missiles," Sinnath announced.
"Yeah I'm starting to think that as well," Harry replied. "Lee, make sure you're covering that ship."
"Lee says he has five camera equipped riders following the ship Weyrleader, he has ten dragons backing them up with help from Division two. He's also covering the dragons that are fishing and the jets," Soranth replied.
Harry nodded to himself, there were fifty dragons following the corvette, that was more than enough to sink her if necessary.
Minutes ticked by tensely while Harry and his group spent time hopping Between to keep pace with the pair of jets they were following. The corvette continued to close with Skinth and Mosanth. The Saudi corvette was now clearly violating Sudanese waters.
Suddenly both groups of fighters went to full throttle and rapidly opened the distance from the dragons.
"Wing one hold back," Harry called. The jets were going too fast for the Weyr to easily follow. "Everyone track visually."
Both wings slowed and stopped hopping Between, instead opting to rely on the dragon's superior eyesight to track the jets. Harry pulled his binoculars out and quickly scanned the sea for the corvette. The ship was turning tightly, coming to a course that ran parallel to the coast line. Suddenly her forward missile launcher swung off center and two streaks of smoke leapt from the corvette.
Harry could only assume the missiles were infra-red heat seekers by the way they were unerringly heading towards the two Kenyan dragons.
"Harry!" exclaimed Cheki.
"Now Cheki!" Harry snapped.
"Campbeltown go! Wing one, take down those airplanes," Cheki sent, then he roared his defiance to the sky. A half second later Wing one vanished from sight. The Kenyan dragons also jumped Between, returning to the Weyr. In less than a second the missiles had no target to close with, their targets were now many hundreds of miles away, safe at home.
Back in Scotland four divisions of dragons and riders leapt into the sky and vanished. The departure of so many dragons finally alerted the British Army base next door that something was up, but no one had a clue as to what.
The Saudi pilot saw a sudden shadow appear overhead and suddenly nearly every alarm in his cockpit started screaming. The horntail had hit the aircraft with his spiked tail and nearly severed the tail assembly from the aircraft, then he gripped the wings tightly with his paws and pulled the wings out of shape.
The pilot screamed in fear and yanked hard on the lanyard that activated his ejection seat. The high tech was smart enough to know that firing the rockets when the canopy wasn't open was a bad idea, so the rockets never fired. The canopy was stuck in place thanks to the warping of the airframe by the dragon.
The Horntail released the jet and it began to it's long drop into the sea, trailing pieces of debris and one doomed pilot.
Harry watched dispassionately as his wing destroyed two world class fighter jets. He knew the pilots were already dead, or they soon would be. It wasn't something he was proud of, but it was necessary.
Aboard the HMS London in the Red Sea...
"Missile Alert! Tango One just fired two missiles sir!" The radar operator reported. The source of the missiles was over the horizon, but the missiles couldn't have come from anywhere else. The radar trace showed the missiles climbing in altitude.
"Action stations," replied Captain William Adams as a precaution. He wasn't exactly sure what action he could take, but at least now his ship would have her defenses at full readiness. His orders were to observe and report back to the Admiralty.
He leaned forward and watched a television monitor that was tracking one flight of Saudi Air Force jets. This was the closer of the two pairs of aircraft and at that it was barely in range of his infra-red cameras. The camera was slaved to his missile tracking radar so it smoothly kept pace with the high speed jets. The rear of the jets bloomed white with engine exhaust and Adams watch keenly for signs that the jets were going to fire their missiles.
The suddenly screen turned pitch black, which for an air combat situation didn't make any sense to him. It was a black and white display and black could only mean intense cold.
"Captain, radar reports the Saudi aircraft are breaking up," reported a deck officer.
"Both flights?" asked the Captain incredulously. He stared at the monitor, but the image was still unstable and showed over a hundred patches of intense black and smaller patches of falling white. Presumably debris from the aircrafts.
"Both sets of jets Yates?" repeated the officer into a handset, then he listened and nodded to the Captain. Four Saudi jets had just somehow been knocked out of the sky by the dragons.
"Ready the helo for search and rescue," Adams snapped.
Another officer echoed the command into a handset.
"Captain sonar reports tango one ceasing engine noises."
The captain frowned heavily, there were 75 men aboard that ship. The sonar had reported the range to the Saudi naval vessel to be over fifty thousand yards. At that distance it was over the horizon and the deck lookouts would not have a visual on the ship.
"Sonar, continue monitoring tango one," Adams ordered.
"Sonar aye."
Adams turned to examine his plot. He had orders to observe and not get involved. His executive officer came to stand next to him at the plot table. "Sir? Do you want to launch the helicopter?"
Adams grunted sourly and muttered. "You know our orders, if we stumble onto a fire fight what then? We don't have authorization to fight."
"Yes sir, but there may be people in the water," offered the executive officer.
Adams glanced up at a wall clock, it had been nearly five minutes since the first report of missiles being fired.
"Sonar, what do you have on tango one?" he asked.
"She's dead in the water sir, no engine noises and my fix is deteriorating rapidly. Shall I go active?"
Adams straightened and took a deep breath, what he was about to do could end his career.
"Launch the Puma, ahead full, set your course to 335 degrees. Lookouts are to watch for men in the water," he said. He glanced down at the plot table and noted they would be in position in less than thirty minutes. The helicopter would be there a lot quicker.
"Commander, you have the bridge, I'll be in the radio room," Adams said, he wanted to prepare a dispatch to the admiralty personally.
His second nodded and stepped over to just behind the helmsman. While the captain hurried below, he said, "Aye sir, I have the bridge."
Lac Logipi, Kenya...
Wing three appeared first over head. A second later the Weyr below erupted with bellowing dragons. Draco guided his wing down towards the special holding pens where they dropped their loads. The pens were little more than hastily erected hurricane fencing that Campbeltown installed a month ago for just this purpose.
Dazed, confused and more than a bit frightened the Saudi Arabian sailors and pilots huddled together in fear. A dozen large horntails faced the fenced in area. Each man inside the pen was certain one wrong movement would result in their deaths.
The holding pen was small and the men were getting rather crowded. Originally the plan had thought they would be dealing with small patrol boat with a crew of less than twenty. The pen had been set up with those numbers in mind, but now were seeing a much large group of prisoners. The crowding added to the discomfort and fear among the prisoners. The crowding would also force the Weyr to get rid of their prisoners sooner than anticipated.
Wing one appeared next, dropping another eighteen sailors. Overhead more wings appeared with dragons that were carrying a sailor that they had plucked from the sea.
Harry stood off to one side watching grimly. Unlike the others they hadn't plucked anyone from the water, or attacked one of the jet fighters.
Draco strode up to Harry with a wide grin on his face. "Seventy eight people Harry. According to Jane's the ship carried seventy five," Draco frowned and scratched at his head. "Not sure where the extras came from."
Neither mentioned the pilots of the aircraft. Harry had wanted to keep the deaths to a minimum, but he also had to send a hard message.
Harry nodded in satisfaction. The original plan as he explained to the British Prime Minister had undergone some changes. Harry had to work within the confines of diplomacy and the politics both here in the Middle East and back home. He hadn't informed the British of the change to his plans and he hoped they appreciated the extra work involved. He had left the British with the impression that the Weyr would not hold back when it fought the people killing the dragons. But Harry's plan was to keep the deaths to an absolute minimum in the initial attack.
The original trap that killed the three dragons was believed to involve just two jets and a small missile patrol boat. And that was exactly what they had planned on this time. No one thought that their warning via the British would result in a larger, more capable force.
He had originally intended to sink the Saudi ship and knock the jets out of the sky. Harry was certain that would embroil the Weyr in a shooting war that would put all the Weyrs into a difficult position. War may be inevitable, but no one would be able to say that the dragons started it. Capturing the sailors had always been part of the plan, even if they did expect a much smaller ship and crew. Given the size of the ship and the number of sailors he had opted not to sink the ship.
The loss of four aircraft and their pilots, coupled with the rest of the Weyr's actions would have to suffice.
As each dragon landed, an elf popped in and handed the rider bottle of cold water. Nearby a water tanker truck flown in by the Weyr provided water to any dragon that wanted a drink.
When the last prisoner had been dropped into the holding pen Harry turned to Chekiath. "The Lac Logipi dragons can watch our guests," Harry said, "Assemble the Wings Chekiath, its time to join the rest of Campbeltown."
Chekiath stomped heavily and bellowed a call that echoed across the Weyr. Over one hundred riders scrambled to mount their dragons again. When the riders were all in position Harry pumped his fist twice and they lifted off and vanished. Harry and his personal Wing along with a few others would accompany him on a special mission, the rest of the wings would join up with Campbeltown over Saudi Arabia.
The only wing not participating in the attack was already back in Campbeltown, copying the digital videos while Lee Jordan called the various news networks to let them know the Weyr would be holding a special press conference in an hour's time. He then offered dragon rides to any network that needed to get a reporter and camera crew to the Weyr.
Saudi Arabia was about to be taught a very expensive lesson.
May stood in front of the tent she and Lisa shared and worried at her lip. Normally she would have gone with the Weyr, but one of the Lac Logipi dragonlings had come down with a scale infection that she needed to keep an eye on. She had wanted to go along with her wing, but Harry had told her to remain behind manning the aide station. He was worried that they may still come under fire and he wanted her ready to deal with any injuries.
"You are worried," observed Sorth the senior dragon for the African Weyr.
May turned to look at Swedish short snout, "I suppose I am. I worry that dragons might be injured, and I worry about Harry."
Sorth sat down in front of May and huffed a little in the hot sun. "I would worry about my mate. But your mate is The Weyrleader, he will come back. I do not think you need to worry about him."
May smiled, "Perhaps, but it is human nature to worry about the ones we love. Especially when they are trying hard to avoid a fight. Harry could have ordered that ship destroyed and its crew. Now he has to try to convince a country to stop."
"Yes, but what they did was wrong. The Weyrleader will fix it. He has been a great friend to Lac Logipi," replied Sorth.
May nodded, she knew this was one difference between herself and Sorth. She had confidence in Harry, but she also knew that somethings weren't under his control. Sorth on the other hand felt Harry could do no wrong and would always prevail. It was something she had noted among all of the non-bonded dragons. They had absolute faith in Harry.
"I'm about to go check on Copath, would you like to come?" she asked.
Sorth looked at her with half lidded eyes that twirled with faint green streaks. "I will watch our guests and make sure they behave themselves. I even promised the Weyrleader that we wouldn't eat any."
May laughed and shook her head, then she picked up her kit and started the hot walk up to Copath's weyr.
Aboard the HMS London in the Red Sea...
Captain Adams looked at the Saudi Arabian corvette in his binoculars and scowled heavily. The ship was deserted and it appeared to be largely intact. The damage done to the ship had been carried out with precision. There were scorch marks on the hull and superstructure here and there, and someone had systematically destroyed the ship's ability to communicate or fight back against an aerial threat.
The ship's radar and radio masts were melted away.
The forward missile launcher was gone, or rather the spot where it once existed was now a cooling area of melted metals. The missile storage bay nearby that supplied the launcher was heavily damaged but the missiles stored within hadn't exploded in the intense heat. Both starboard and port close inboard weapon systems were gone, literally melted away and the surrounding metal plating was warped out of shape. Whatever attacked the corvette did so with a precision that the London couldn't replicate and it was a thought that sent a chill down Adams' spine
The ship also seemed to be down at the bow and listing slightly, probably due to peripheral damage from the attack that destroyed the forward missile launcher.
Adams sent a repair and salvage party aboard to assess the damage and they reported that she was leaking forward of the missile launcher. The damage wasn't that bad and the crew, had they stayed aboard could have easily fixed things. As it was the senior chief already had his people working on fixing the leak and getting some pumps running.
The ship was adrift and around it were a few, empty inflatable life rafts. More disturbingly there were no bodies in the water and no survivors.
"Captain, radio room, I'm picking up something on the maritime emergency band that you should hear," said a voice from a wall mounted speaker.
"Put it on the speaker," he said in an annoyed tone. He was trying to find the crew of a friendly naval vessel and didn't appreciate the interruption. His helicopter hadn't found any of the pilots either, which only added to his apprehension. The helicopter was some thirty miles away still searching for those missing pilots.
The overhead speaker crackled for a moment then it came to life. "Calling HMS London, this is Harry Potter. I would like to speak with your Captain, may I come aboard?"
Adams blinked and stared at the speaker. He couldn't fathom why The Weyrleader wanted to speak to him, but he had his orders. The Admiralty wanted to know as much as possible about what was going on.
"Sir, look outs report no ships visible except for the Saudi corvette," his executive officer offered quietly.
"Radar?"
"Besides tango one, we have multiple contacts, commercial shipping in the assigned lanes. Nothing nearby but we do have a spurious contact off the port beam. The return is too faint and indistinct to get more than a vague bearing. The computer unable to provide a range at all and has labeled the contact a spurious return."
Adams reached for a handset, "Patch me into the radio," he ordered, then he waited until his communications office signaled he was all set.
"Station calling HMS London, this is Captain Adams of the HMS London. Where are you?" he said into the handset.
There was a moment of silence and then the overhead speaker crackled again. "Hello Captain Adams, this is Harry Potter. I'm about two hundred yards off your left side, may I come aboard?"
Adams turned and glared at the deck officer who was in charge of the deck lookouts. He shrugged helplessly and pointed out the window. Adams turned and saw nothing but sea on the port quarter. "Radar?" he asked.
"Nothing sir, every so often I get something faint that comes and goes, but the signal is too weak and too faint to get a range and bearing. I've run system diagnostics twice now and the computer says the radar is fine, but the computer can't lock onto whatever it is. It could be a false return or something at extreme range sir."
"Hello Captain? Are you there?" Harry asked again.
Adams keyed the handset again, his gaze fixed on the window. "We don't see any boats off our port quarter," he replied in annoyance.
"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot about that, hang on a second," Harry replied.
Chekiath and four other dragons shimmered into view and the entire bridge crew sucked in a breath. These dragons could have been on them in a flash and they would have no warning of an attack until it happened. At the same time that they appeared, the rest of Wing one also appeared at a higher altitude.
Adams took a step backwards and he shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't help but recall a movie he and his teenage son had enjoyed where a Klingon Bird of Prey uncloaked near the Starship Enterprise. It frightened him to the core to know the dragons could do the same thing. That it happened without the cool movie sound effect was even more sinister. He glanced around his modern ship and wondered if all the fancy hardware had just been rendered obsolete.
Dragons could appear without warning, inside his close in anti-aircraft defensive envelope and no one would know about it until it was too late.
"Is that better? You should be able to see us now."
"Number two?" asked Adams. Privately Adams admitted to himself that he was out of his depth here and he was stalling. Barely two hundred yards from his ship were five very large dragons, dragons that were likely responsible for the deaths of nearly eighty Saudi sailors and pilots. Beyond them another fifteen dragons circled at a greater range.
"He is The Weyrleader sir, recognized as a head of state by our government. Besides, I'm not sure we could do anything about it if he landed anyway."
"Is the landing pad clear?"
"Yes Captain, the helicopter is still out looking for survivors."
Adams nodded and lifted the handset. "Mr. Potter you and your party are welcome to come aboard. Our helicopter landing pad is not being used at the moment."
He pulled the handset away from his head and turned to his executive officer. "Go meet him and bring him here."
"Thank you captain," blared the radio. "It will be only myself and one other."
Adams waited impatiently while watching two dragons lazily circling his ship. The door to the bridge opened up and his executive enter, followed by Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. He recognized Harry instantly from his many TV appearances, but the other rider was unknown to him. Both men wore military style flight suits and bandoleers of all things!
Harry and Draco had wisely left their crossbows in the holster attached to their riding harness.
Adams turned to the two young men. His first impression was not particularly favorable. Harry sported a heavy five o'clock shadow and both men looked pretty rumpled in their flight suits.
"Captain Adams? How do you do? I'm Harry Potter," Harry said holding out a hand.
Adams shook Harry's hand, he was rather confused and rather alarmed by this visit.
Harry smiled tightly at the man, he could understand his confusion. "This is Draco Malfoy, Wing leader for Wing three of Division one, Campbeltown. I realize that our visit today is a mystery to you, but we've been aware of your presence in the area for quite some time now. In fact I rather expected your PM to put a few ships in the region to keep an eye on things."
Harry shared a grin with Draco then he turned back to Adams. "And right now I expect you're rather concerned about what we did to those fighter jets and the corvette?"
"Weyrleader, you killed nearly eighty men," Adams said intently.
"The Weyr did not kill them all!" Chekiath exclaimed. The huge dragon bellowed angrily and it was clearly heard in the sealed CIC."We wanted to but Harry wouldn't let us."
Adam's eyes bulged in his head and he shook his head in surprise. "Wait! What? Who?"
A number of the crew looked alarmed by the sudden bout of telepathy and it was impossible to miss the sound of Chekiath and Sinnath bellowing from the flight deck.
"That would be my dragon," Harry replied mildly. "The big lug said he was only going to listen in on our conversation."
"I'm sorry Harry," Cheki said contritely, "but he thinks we killed all those people."
"I know Cheki, and I will explain the situation to the good captain if you'll let me," Harry replied mildly.
"Alright Harry."
Chekiath fell silent and Harry turned his attention back to the Captain. "Sir, first off the crew of the corvette are alive, if a bit terrified. I'm afraid the pilots of the aircraft didn't survive, but they were in our way and had already killed three dragons. I was not about to allow them to kill anymore.
"As for the ship, we knocked down their radio mast and slagged their missile launcher and anti-air weapons, then they were told them they had two minutes to abandon ship. I'm afraid we did a little too much damage to the ship, but once people started going over the side, we picked them up and took them to a Weyr in a nearby country. Right now they are under dragon guard and as long as they behave themselves, they will remain safe and sound."
"Of course if they don't behave the dragons might eat a few," muttered Draco. Harry shot him a tight smile and sent a message Draco via Chekiath to keep all comments like that to himself. This was too important to screw up.
"You told them to abandon ship? How come we didn't hear it?" exclaimed Adams.
Harry shook his head. "Captain, I don't claim to be an expert, but the rider issuing those instructions was barely twenty feet above that ship. Even I know those kind of radios are line of sight. I'll be the first to admit that several dragons repeated the message telepathically since we sort of melted their antenna. So honestly I don't know if they even heard the radio message."
"They certainly heard the dragons," Draco muttered.
Harry chuckled, "That they did. We were surprised by the utter panic the crew showed. Once their captain realized he couldn't fight back he jumped into the water before his crew and the rest followed in only a few minutes. He was the first man we picked up."
Adams blinked and realized that Harry was right. They wouldn't have heard the radio conversation because the Badr was below their horizon at the time. He took a deep breath and concentrated on what the Weyrleader was telling him.
Harry took a deep breath and stood a little taller. "Sir, the Saudis have committed an act of war against the Weyrs. The Sudanese government gave us permission to fish in these waters and it was the Saudis that crossed over the line to enter the Sudanese waters and fire on my dragons. I think we showed considerable restraint."
Adams thought about that and slowly nodded. He would have been hard pressed to refrain from attacking if he came upon a ship shooting at another British vessel. "So you just dropped in to explain that you captured the crew of the Badr?" he asked
"Well I thought it would be nice to let you know what was happening since you were in the area Captain. Our prisoners will be turned over to Sudan shortly and if we have assurances from the Saudi government that there will be no more attacks on my dragons I'm sure their people will be returned unharmed," Harry replied.
"You really think they will back off because you took some prisoners?" exclaimed Adams in surprise.
Harry smiled tightly and looked at the clock on the wall. "Hardly Captain. Right now the Weyr public affairs office is holding a press conference where he is handing out unedited video of their attack taken from multiple viewpoints. And the Campbeltown Wings are sending an unequivocal message to the Saudis. They are turning the primary runway at King Faisal Naval Air base into a melted unusable mess. In addition to that, the skies of Saudi Arabia are now filled with dragons who are mostly having fun by scaring people and flaming at nothing."
"Within an hour the world will know the Saudis not only attacked two unmanned dragons who were fishing in the territorial waters of Sudan with permission, and the Weyr will have laid the blame on Saudi Arabia for the deaths of three dragons prior to today," Draco added.
Harry nodded. "At the same time the leaders of every manned Weyr will be delivering a message to the leader of their host country saying that we deeply regret being forced to take this action. The Weyrs will not start any conflict but we will not sit back and allow someone to kill our dragons either," Harry said, his tone turning harsh. "That is the message you can pass to your superiors. The Weyr defended itself today from an unprovoked attack. We did it at minimal cost and considerable risk to ourselves to keep the casualties low, but the next time it happens we will not be so restrained in our response."
Adams stared at Harry and swallowed nervously. His initial impression of Harry and Draco had just altered radically. Here was a leader of a dangerous force that had capabilities that he wasn't sure he could counter with his state of the art ship. It didn't help that Chekiath bellowed an order from the aft landing pad and suddenly five wings of non-bonded Campbeltown dragons appeared in the skies above the London. Over one hundred dragons now filled the skies above the London and everyone aboard knew who held the upper hand.
King Faisal Naval Air station, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia...
Norboth banked hard and Abbey grinned at the sight of so many men scattering in every direction. Harry given her strict orders to avoid killing anyone if possible, but he didn't say anything about scaring them witless and that was exactly what she intended to do.
Ten of her wing were slowly working their way up the single runway, turning a ten yard wide swath of asphalt and concrete into a muddy everglowing mess. Meanwhile Abbey and her remaining dragons buzzed the buildings and did their best to reduce the ability of the base to operate. Two of her riders were busy moving all the heavy trucks and other vehicles to the rooftops of the buildings just to be annoying. Several other dragons had set a long line of helicopters on fire.
"There, theres a bunch of people with shiney shoulders running away. Marnith took the truck they were going to use," Norboth announced. All of the dragons had been told to look for people wearing more ornate uniforms as they were likely officers that could have tried to organize a resistance to their assault.
Abbey saw a dragon trying to place a heavy truck on the roof of the control tower. It laid there for about three seconds after Marnith released it, then it fell through the roof into the control room. The tower wasn't designed for that kind of weight. One of the steel support beams buckled and it slowly started to twist while the remaining tower personnel scrambled down their stairway.
The people had just about cleared the tower when the truck crashed out one wall and plummeted to the ground. The tower collapsed on top of the truck a moment later.
Another dragon flew up and away from a hangar that he had just placed a fuel tanker truck. The truck crashed through the thin roof and exploded in a huge fireball taking the hangar with it.
Abbey shook her head in amazement and then turned back to the group of fleeing officers.
"Let's make them run faster sweetie," Abbey said with a laugh, then she leaned against the sharp bank while Norboth bore down on the officers that were running away.
Norboth roared and several of her wing followed her as she came in low enough to force all six of the men to fall face down in the hard packed dirt.
The sound of a machine gun firing caused Abbey to pull up sharply and look around. Another dragon had spotted the man with the automatic weapon and was already diving on him. The soldier screamed and dropped his weapon, then he turned and ran as fast as he could. The dragon bellowed and shot fire to one side, missing the soldier.
"Look he pooped his pants!" Norboth called. For a brief moment Abbey could hear the mental laughter of every dragon in the wing.
Abbey groaned to herself, no matter how mature the dragons became, they never outgrew their fondness for potty humor and fart jokes. "Hush you. Wing five report in, is anyone injured?" Abbey said worriedly.
There was a moment of silence, then Norboth pulled up to a high altitude and looked at her rider. "No one is injured."
Abbey breathed a sigh of relief, she knew Harry would have her head. The man with the machine gun had given her a badly needed wake up call. "Alright, Wing five, form up on me, I think we've done enough damage for today."
Norboth climbed to nearly three thousand feet while Abbey and several others took photographs of their handiwork. The rest of the wing joined her in formation above the burning wreckage that had once been a military powerhouse for the Red Sea. Now it was smoking mess of twisted metal.
"Let's go home Norby, tell Harry to sound the recall," she said softly. They had achieved complete surprise and for nearly ten minutes they had flown unopposed over the air station before someone picked up a gun to shoot back. She was grateful that no one was injured, but she was also unhappy with herself, she had allowed Wing discipline to lapse and had put her wing at risk.
Abbey Rhodes had learned a valuable lesson, Division one, wing five Campbeltown had just experienced the sheer joy of letting the dragons indulge their abilities and it ended on a very sobering note for its Wing leader.
She signaled and the twenty dragons jumped Between. Three thousand feet below, King Faisal Naval air station was a wreck. Several helicopters were burning and the station's fire fighting trucks were currently sitting on top of the fire station, unable to move. Men ran from one place to another, unable to organize any sort of coherent effort to deal the fires and collapsed buildings. Most of the officers were still running away from the base and other than some senior non-commissioned officers, there was no one to issue any orders.
Three minutes after the Wing left, one of the helicopters that was on fire had a missile cook off and slam into a nearby munitions storage building. The explosion was seen and felt as far away as Jeddah.
Campbeltown Weyr, October 11th 2005...
Division one appeared in the early morning sky, they were the last of the manned groups to return home. Harry had sent the others home nearly eighteen hours earlier while he took his division back to Lac Logipi.
It was a crowded sky this morning. Two full wings of riders and another wing of unbonded dragons provided an overhead air patrol. Below a full division of dragons were on standby ready to respond to an attack no matter where it occurred. It was the same at every manned Weyr around the world and would remain that way until the issue with Saudi Arabia had been resolved.
If another attack came, Harry would attack Saudi Arabia with the full fury and might of the Weyrs; and this time there would be no holding back. He had already conferred with the other Weyrleaders and they all wanted to to help.
Harry had received a call from Lord Mills asking for him to return to the Weyr. Isolated in Lac Logipi with only a few satellite phones and a single satellite Internet link the riders had little idea of the firestorm the Weyr had ignited the previous day.
The Sudanese were holding the prisoners now. They wanted to have their own discussion with their powerful neighbors about the violations of their waters and airspace.
Harry was exhausted, he had spent the night talking with a Sudanese government official and conferencing with the other Weyrleaders to plan their next move via his Internet connection. He was just about to climb into bed when the call came from Lord Mills asking that he and his division to return to Campbeltown.
Lee Jordan had held an open press conference right about the time that Wing five was assaulting the naval air station. The weyr had provided multiple digital copies of unedited video showing the Saudi Navy shooting two missiles at a pair of dragons from Lac Logipi. The global positioning data from Lee's command console on his harness clearly showed the Saudis in waters illegally.
The gun camera footage was even more damming on the world stage.
Lee had stopped just shy of the Weyr declaring war on a sovereign nation but his message was crystal clear. The participating networks noted his omission and brought in numerous experts to explain that in their opinion the attacks would continue. Their position was strengthened when word came from Jeddah that the King Faisal Naval air station had been destroyed by a flight of dragons. Prior to that news, the world only knew that for a short time, the skies over Saudi Arabia had been filled with dragons and the population had been seriously shaken.
Word from the official Saudi government was slow in coming and initially it seemed like a real shooting war was about to start between the Weyr and the Saudis. Israel publicly expressed support for the Weyr and offered to allow dragon overflights over it's territory while several Arab nations offered support to Saudi Arabia.
By midnight London time the Saudis and the rest of the world had learned the true extent of the attack at King Faisal Naval air station and Sudan announced that they currently held the Saudi airmen and sailors under guard for violating their waters. They demanded an explanation from the Saudis and claimed they would hold their prisoners until they received a promise that Saudi Arabia would never violate their territory again.
The public evidence supplied by the Weyr, and the low casualty count caused many countries that had been stepping forward in support of the Saudis to back away. As the night progressed, Saudi Arabia realized they had very few supporters. It was very clear to everyone that the Saudis had started the conflict and the Weyr had responded.
Lord Mills stood wearily waiting for Harry to land. He was about as tired as the riders were. For James, it had been a tense night at number 10 as the various ministries reported in on the international scene. Around four in the morning the PM's office received an urgent message from the Saudi government via their ambassador which resulted in James asking Harry and the Weyr to return home from Africa.
The Weyr had spent a tense night waiting to see what the Saudi response would be. While Lac Logipi was still hidden, there were plenty of known, manned Weyrs that the Saudis or their allies could attack. Harry was gambling that the Saudis would not launch an attack on a manned Weyr since that risked involving the host country.
Finally when the division was down, Harry signaled to Cheki to land near where James stood waiting. James knew Harry would be the last to land. Despite Harry's upbringing his ability to lead always shone through in a myriad different ways, like waiting to be the last one down while he watched to see they all got down safely.
James shook his head, this wasn't something that anyone had taught Harry. He hadn't attended Sandhurst, or even spent time in university learning political science. The British government had arranged for special tutoring for him, but that fell very short of a real university education. To everyone's surprise, Harry took what he had and built from there.
Maybe Remus was right, James mused with a grin. He recalled one cold winter night when Remus had stayed with James while his wife Mildred attended a conference in Boston.
"Remus I don't understand what you mean by the bonding process," James said over his brandy snifter.
Remus leaned back in his chair. "You remember when we spoke to Draco and Michelle about their intent to perform the marriage bond?"
"Yes you said it would make for a stronger relationship," James replied.
"The marriage bond makes for a near unbreakable relationship James. It alters the people invoking it. It make subtle changes so that the bond mates do not want to fight. They will still have arguments, but instead of resulting in fights and anger, they will talk things over once the initial outrage is burned out. The dragons and the riders have a similar bond."
James nodded and motioned for Remus to continue.
"Each rider and dragon pair are closely compatible or they wouldn't impress in the first place, but it's still not a perfect match. The bond subtly changes the rider and dragon bringing them closer together. Take Hermione for example. I knew her before she impressed and I never would have guessed she would ever relax as much as she has. Her life revolved around what few friends she had and her books. Comaloth has done much to bring her out of her shell and I think we both know that without Comaloth she would never have agreed to sharing Harry."
"And Harry?"
Remus sipped at the brandy and enjoyed the exquisite taste for a moment. "Harry is bonded to Chekiath and through Chekiath to all the dragons. That had to change him more deeply than any other rider in the Weyr. The dragons needed a strong human to help lead them so the bond gave them that. Harry always had the potential to lead but I doubt it would have ever expressed itself without some outside help. Harry's bond turned him into the leader we see today, and it's why we can see Harry one moment romping with one of the children and the next moment find him deadly serious. He really is two people, Harry and The Weyrleader."
James leaned back in his chair and watched the fire burn in the fireplace for a moment. "I guess then Hermione and May get to see the real Harry more than we do."
"I don't doubt it James, but I think you'll see it more often once he has his own children," Remus offered.
James stepped up to Chekiath and waited for Harry to dismount. Whatever prompted Harry to grow into The Weyrleader, James was glad he had.
Harry dropped lightly to the tarmac and turned to grin at James. "You look about as tired as the rest of us James."
James chuckled lightly. "It has been a long night and there have been some interesting developments that you needed to hear about. I was called down to number 10 soon after Lee gave his press conference yesterday afternoon and didn't come back until about an hour ago. The most important item you need to know is that at four in the morning London time the Saudi Ambassador asked the Prime Minister for assistance in brokering a cease fire between the Weyr and Saudi Arabia."
Harry blinked in shock and his hat dropped from his hand. "What?"
James grinned. "Harry you and your riders have seriously upset some apple carts. For one thing the Saudis are looking at over a billion dollars in damages to King Faisal air station. Apparently one of the helicopters that was destroyed was carrying some munitions that cooked off. One of the anti-ship missiles fired off and went straight into their munitions depot causing further damage.
"The hundred dragons over Riyadh, scared the general population, but the hundred over the oil refineries terrified the government. They realized that you could have ruined their economy in a matter of minutes, but didn't. The Saudis realized that their entire air defense network was pretty much useless against dragons."
Harry nodded thoughtfully, with the sole exception of one wing of dragons that attacked King Faisal air station all of the other dragons had been directed to act ferocious but were forbidden to cause any damage or hurt anyone.
"At sea things couldn't have gone more wrong for the Saudis. When Captain Adams aboard the London called for a salvage tug, an Egyptian one arrived first. It was returning from a towing job to Yemen and happened to be in the area. Adams couldn't exactly turn them down since they were the only salvage tug responding.
"As a result the Badr has been towed to an Egyptian military port. The Egyptians declared it as salvage which means the Saudis will have to pay up to sixty percent of it's value in order to get it released back into Saudi hands."
James paused and took a deep breath, "When you combine everything together, the Weyr has inadvertently shifted the balance of power in the Red Sea. The Saudis used to be the top dog in that region, now things have evened out and everyone is looking at what that means. Initially it appears as if Egypt is now the stronger presence in the Red Sea.
"The Americans aren't happy your actions, but they've learned the hard way that they can't be everywhere at once. And while they have a significant military presence in the Persian Gulf and Iraq, they lack the people and ships to cover both the gulf and the Red Sea. Of course the video released by the Weyr makes it hard for the Saudis to find much international support. Even the Americans are unhappy that they killed dragons.
"Tony thinks that the Americans don't want to tangle with the Weyrs after that one incident."
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well... This went a lot better than I suspected it would. I never once imagined that the Saudis would sue for peace so soon."
He took a deep breath and looked intently at James. "I am willing to listen to their offer, but their problems are of their own making. The Weyr will not offer reparations of any kind, they were the ones who attacked us, not the other way around."
James nodded at this, he had told the Saudi Ambassador that he should expect this position from the Weyr. As far as the Weyr was concerned, the Saudis had declared war on dragon-kind with their first kill. Any expenses they incurred due to acts of war were their own problem.
James smiled tightly at Harry. "Yes I had anticipated that condition when I spoke with the Ambassador this morning. I also informed him that if pressed, the Weyrs could have destroyed every military and civilian airport in the country as well as the ports and refineries. They got off lucky that only one base had been hit. He wasn't happy to hear that, but he couldn't deny the possibility either."
"So we're good then James?" Harry asked.
James smiled. "Almost. The PM did ask me to thank you for your restrained response. The international scene is a bit confused at the moment. Many nations have opted to not express an opinion one way or another, and of course some have clearly picked a side. Canada for example has clearly stated that dragons will always be welcome on their soil and should the dragons need their help, they will do what they can.
"Officially word out of Washington DC was that the Yanks disapproved of the Weyr's action but recognized that the Weyrs were responding to an undeniable provocation. The American public however are very angry that Saudi Arabia killed three dragons, so the Yanks are having difficulty balancing policy and public opinion.
"Japan and China called for a cessation of fighting and offered to mediate a settlement and of course Russia had to add their opinion," James said with a smirk.
"Russia called you a flying bandit aggressor looking to dominate the world. They urged the Saudis to resist and offered to support them. The Saudis however couldn't accept that help without damaging their close relationship with the Yanks."
Harry resisted the urge to smile and thought that Lee would probably try to find a way to use the term 'flying bandits', perhaps in a t-shirt.
"The Yanks, like I mentioned are not happy, but the Saudis have been sharing some information and there are a number of generals and admirals around the world that are looking at you and your dragons with more than a bit of fear tonight. If there is a real downside to any of this, you probably have multiple military commanders around the world looking at dragons in a new and very wary light.
"I know for a fact that the First Sea Lord told the PM that he considered dragons allies and prayed that we'd never have to fight them. Apparently your surprise visit to the London seriously rattled the Captain and the Admiralty."
James paused and took a deep breath. "Having said all that I think things are settling down along the lines you thought they would. Some countries have come out to be very strong supporters of dragons and some have revealed they would like nothing more than getting into a fight with them," James concluded.
Harry nodded tiredly, what James had told him was pretty much what he expected. The world would settle down in camps of supporters, fence sitters and non-supporters. Nothing major had changed from what they had before. The Saudi capitulation was about the only real surprise, he had expected it to take a week and involve several more attacks before the conflict ended.
"Well in that case I reckon I'm going to turn in."
James clapped Harry on the shoulder. "You did a good thing Harry. You sent the world a message that it needed to learn. Dragons make great friends or formidable enemies. You never were going to convince the entire world, but I'm sure some of the nations that were sitting on the fence are really rethinking their position now. Now go get some sleep."
Harry nodded, then he started walking towards his house.
"Harry?"
"Eh? What's up mate?"
"Norboth is asking if Abbey can speak to you in your office," Cheki replied.
Harry glanced towards his house. Hermione was already at home and he knew May was probably there as well. He shook his head and glanced at Cheki. "Let Hermione and May know I'm going to be delayed, I'll be in my office for a while with Abbey."
Harry knew he could bespeak to either of the girl's dragons directly, but by asking Cheki to pass along the message he knew that Cheki's consorts would be relieved to hear from him. Trath had been with him at Lac Logipi, but Comaloth had stayed with Hermione in Campbeltown as she worked on finalizing several important contracts including that coveted Fiat contract.
Harry walked in silence for several minutes until he could tell that Cheki was done chatting with his consorts. "Cheki do you know what this is about?" he asked as they changed directions to go to the main administration building.
"No I don't," the dragon replied with a mental frown that even Harry could feel. "Norboth is unhappy about something, but she isn't saying why she's unhappy."
"Is Ronan in the Weyr?"
"Yes he's awake and in his Weyr with Karen. They aren't due to go to the healers for another two hours."
"If he feels up to it, please ask him to join us in my office," Harry said. "We'll wait until you and Ronan arrive."
Chekiath nodded at him, then split away towards the back of the building and his dragon door entrance. Harry climbed the steps and entered the building. He waved to the rider on duty at the main desk, a boy from Division five, then he turned and entered the corridor that held his office.
He stepped into his office to see Abbey Rhodes pacing in an uncharacteristic manner. She turned and opened her mouth to speak, but Harry waved her to silence. "Ronan will be here shortly Abbey. Let's wait for him. Dobby?"
Abbey flushed and looked down just as Dobby appeared in his office. "Dobby can we have some tea please?"
Dobby nodded and vanished, he appeared just a minute later with a tray. "Abbey," Harry said softly. "I know you're upset about something, but please take a deep breath and relax for a moment. Have a cup of tea, whatever the problem is, we'll solve it like we always do, together."
She nodded jerkily and sat on the edge of a chair. The door opened just as she leaned forward to pour herself a cup and she nearly dropped the pot. Harry took the pot from her hands and waved Ronan in, then he poured a cup for Abbey.
Ronan entered followed by a very pregnant Karen who shot Harry an apologetic look. He hadn't asked for her presence but she had been helping Ronan with his therapy and she insisted on coming along to make sure he didn't miss that.
Harry glanced at the heavy cast that covered Ronan's hand. His remaining two fingers and thumb were exposed but were in a light glove-like bandage. Ronan had spent two weeks in the hospital and now spent his nights at home and his days working some simple exercises to help his reattached fingers. The doctors were cautiously optimistic that he would see them function to a high degree again, but they still refused to say how much function he would have.
With Ronan grounded for the next few months, Harry had told him to spend more time working with the design group as well as reorganizing the Weyr manufacturing facility by hiring experienced hands from various rider families. Harry wanted experienced people in place to help reduce the risks of more accidents like Ronan's.
Karen was due very soon and there was a betting pool among the riders about the baby. Many seemed to think she'd go into labor while helping Ronan with his therapy at the Royal Infirmary.
Harry nodded to the pair and motioned for them to sit, then he turned back to Abbey.
"Abbey, I asked Ronan to drop in because he is my second in command, not because we're going to judge you or whatever you seem to think is wrong. I value his input and hope you do as well."
Abbey nodded a bit reluctantly, then she stood and paced for a moment before turning back to Harry. "Harry I'm not sure I can be a wing leader anymore. I think it would be best for the Weyr if I were reassigned," she said bluntly.
Harry's eyebrows rose on his forehead and Karen gasped in surprise. "Oh? Why is that?" Harry said slowly. He wanted to know what had happened to so shake Abbey. She had always been a very stable, responsible and reliable rider.
Abbey turned away from the window and looked intently at Harry. "Yesterday, when we were attacking the air base. I let my wing get out of control," she said in a rush. "I was so busy flaming trucks and scaring people and enjoying it! We'd probably still be at it, but one of soldiers managed to fire his machine gun and shock me out of my wits. One of my dragons could have been killed and I wasn't paying attention to what my dragons were doing!"
Abbey choked back a sob and wiped angrily at a tear. Karen moved towards Abbey, but Harry motioned for her to stay put.
"My wing was scattered all over the air field, I couldn't even see everyone. We were flaming the runway and setting fires. A pair of dragons were even picking up trucks and relocating them to the rooftops. And then one man got a hold of a gun and started shooting. I looked around and couldn't even see half my wing!"
Harry stood from his chair and walked over to her. He placed a hand on both of her shoulders. "Abbey, yesterday you experienced the full power and might of a wing of dragons. And when that soldier fired his gun you pulled back from the insanity and recovered control over yourself and your wing. You left with a full wing and returned with a full wing, not a single dragon or rider was injured."
"But that was just luck!" she protested loudly.
"It was," Harry agreed, "but it was also your training and your wing's training."
"When I destroyed those tanks in Kenya, I had a full Weyr at my command Abbey, five hundred dragons. I was tempted to find their base and burn it to the ground. I had just killed three tanks with nine normal men who most likely weren't in control of their actions and I ordered the execution eight wizards. I was angry enough to want to kill again," Harry said intently.
"The sound of an injured dragonling shook me from my anger. I had a responsibility to protect my dragons and I did have injured dragons. You weren't there, you hadn't impressed yet, but one of the babies died despite our best efforts."
"It was terrible Abbey," Karen added in a whisper. "We had barely impressed ourselves when Harry returned to the Weyr with a bunch of baby dragons, including one that was fatally injured. We didn't understand until the wounded dragon jumped Between. Our dragons were already mourning before Harry returned, and we didn't really understand it. Then that baby jumped Between in front of two whole Weyrs. The loss, it was terrible. I had never felt anything like it before. Up until that minute when the baby jumped Between being a rider was an adventure.
"At that moment I realized that Harry was our leader and that being a rider meant much more than having a dragon to call my friend," Karen added, then she shivered in remembrance of that terrible day.
Ronan reached out with his good hand and took Karen's hand in his own, then he took up the account.
"We saw Harry come back from Lac Logipi and blame himself for killing those men. I couldn't understand him, he was our leader. Suddenly in my mind it was alright for Harry to kill to protect us and I didn't understand why he was upset about it," Ronan admitted.
Karen lifted her chin defiantly. "We are dragon riders. We are the partners to a race that has abilities that can help or harm. I don't feel like I've done much to help, controlling the finances like I do, but its our responsibility to protect our people, human and dragon."
Harry nodded to Karen then he turned back to Abbey. "Abbey, you and I have experienced what it's like to let the full fury of the dragons be unleashed. Its a powerful narcotic-like experience and the reason why I try very hard to not reach that point. We could have smashed Saudi Arabia into the stone ages and I admit I was tempted to do so, but we didn't. Just like you didn't kill anyone yesterday.
"Like you, I realized that things were getting out of control and I pulled back on the reins, allowing only your wing to attack instead of sending out ten wings, each to a different location. My real question to you is what did you learn from this?" Harry asked intently.
Abbey lifted her chin and looked Harry in the eye. "I will not let my emotions rule me or my dragon. I lost control and got involved when instead I should have been directing," she said defiantly. Her eyes widened, "That's why you and Cheki held back from the action yesterday! So you could command without losing your control. I wondered why Chekiath didn't attack either a plane or the ship."
Harry nodded. "That's right. I know it may surprise people but I really do have a short temper. A leader's job is to lead. Sometimes that means leading from the front and sometimes it means stepping back and letting your people do what they've been trained to do. Do you understand?" he asked gently.
Abbey sniffled and nodded. "Yes. I see it now."
Harry returned to his seat at his desk, "Good. I hereby reject your request for reassignment, you made a mistake and you learned an important lesson. However I think for the good of your Wing and your Weyr you will prepare a presentation for all of the Wing leaders so that they may learn from your experience. If the presentation goes well, you will be expected to present it to a general meeting of all Weyrleaders and wing leaders at the next impression."
Abbey blinked in surprise. "Really?" she said faintly.
Harry nodded. "Abbey a good leader has to be capable of recognizing their own mistakes and learn to correct them. Granted, asking to be reassigned might have been a bit melodramatic but you saw what you did wrong and what you should do to prevent a repeat of it ever happening again. That is the kind of leadership I want my wing leaders to have."
Chekiath crooned soothingly from his stall and Harry smiled at her. "That is the kind of leadership I need for my wings," he emphasized.
"You are a fine rider Abbey and Norboth is a fine friend," Chekiath added.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Harry nodded. "In the meantime, tell your second that I'm giving you a few days off. Why don't you head over to Joensuu for the weekend? I'm sure Ismo has a guest cottage you can use."
Harry tried to hide his smile while Karen openly grinned. Abbey hadn't made any significant attachments within Campbeltown, but it was well known she was very fond of a young man who was a Wing second at Joensuu weyr.
Abbey blushed and nodded, then she quickly made her exit.
Harry waited until she had left before letting out an explosive breath. "You know she's going to be ready for a division of her own one day," he said while looking at Ronan.
Ronan nodded in agreement, "She will. She's always impressed me with her ability to lead her wing."
Harry turned away from the door and looked at Ronan. "How are you doing?" he asked.
Ronan held up his arm. "It's not easy, but we're managing. I'm learning to do everything left handed."
Harry nodded. "I can understand that," he offered. "I've spoken with Issac concerning your recovery."
Ronan looked hopeful. "Oh?"
Harry sighed. "I'm sorry Ronan, but I'm not going to override him. If he says you have to prove you can mount and dismount your dragon without injuring your hand, I'm going to stand by his decision. I did press him over whether you could wear a glove or not. He hadn't considered that and is willing to allow for a protective glove. But even with a glove it's likely you won't be allowed to go Between on your dragon until the new year."
Karen smiled and looked relieved while Ronan's shoulder's slumped. "I suppose thats okay," he said softly.
"It's more than okay," Harry replied. "Issac would have kept you grounded until February had I not mentioned the idea of a glove to protect your hand."
Harry paused and took a deeper breath. "Look Ronan I know this is a blow to you, but I think we can turn this to our advantage."
Ronan looked at Harry in shock and Karen reached over to touch him. He glanced at her and she said, "Just listen to Harry Ro, he's always looked out for us."
Ronan nodded and turned back to Harry.
"I'm have been considering DSL and our ability to make the things we need," Harry said. "First off our building is getting cramped. I think it's time to build a place for all that machinery you've been buying. To that end I've asked Karen to look into purchasing a parcel of land just outside our northern border. Susan is looking at some proposals to erect a building designed from the ground up to be a factory for us.
"She is going to need your input Ronan. As good as Susan is, she's not an engineer and has little understanding of what a factory would need. I also want to pull Mildred Lupin in, at least in an advisory capacity to start."
Ronan leaned back on his seat and shook his head. "Harry, if I am putting this much effort into our design group I won't have time to handle Division two."
"Yes, that occurred to me. But at least for now I am unwilling to release you from that position. I understand its possible, but lets wait and see how things develop. Right now you still have months of healing ahead of you. I just want you to know, there is a very important task that you can do while you heal. I am convinced now more than ever that your job is going to be critical to the future of the Weyr."
"So you don't want me to give up my division?" Ronan asked hesitantly.
Harry shook his head. "No I don't. But I do want you to help Kelly fit into the slot. This way if Issac says you need more time, he can handle it. If he clears you for flight, you get your job back until you tell me you can't handle that and DSL Engineering. And in the meantime I get a division second who can take over a new division or take over for someone else."
Ronan nodded in relief and looked over to Karen who also seemed relieved.
Harry stood, "I know you guys are just starting your day, but I've been up all night. I'm going to head off for some sleep."
Chekiath hit the switch to open his door and Harry followed him out. Karen leveled herself up and held out a hand to Ronan. "Do you know what Harry has planned? I mean he wanted to bring Mildred in on your project."
Ronan shook his head. "If there is one thing I've learned about Harry, its that he has plans within plans. When he's ready he'll let us know."
"Hopefully it'll be after this baby is delivered and I can see my feet again," Karen grumbled.
Author's notes and Mockeries:
* To set the record straight about Ronan's accident. It was just an accident. The Engineering/Design group is mostly made up of college graduates with little or no practical experience. Ronan's accident is a result of that lack of experience and not due to any other reason. As you'll see in this chapter, steps are being taken to hire on more seasoned hands for some of the jobs.
* Fyreheart, we are not responsible for any damages that result from your snorting hot coffee or spewing some other liquid on your keyboard/computer/spouse. Read at your own risk.
* Ronan is not a wizard, so there is no chance of replacing his hand with a magical one. Besides, no one in this story knows that spell. Harry never went to the graveyard and never saw the spell performed.
* Rhett1980, even if he could somehow merge his magic and his dragons to create a shield, unless there was a way for every dragon rider to do the same, it would never happen. Harry is insistent on limiting his professional life to what his non-magical riders are capable of.
* Not too many replies this time since this chapter is larger than usual. So here I'll answer all the questions that everyone asked.
Maybe.
