Damian and Allison, though unaware of each other's journeys, led similar experiences. Their lessons always took place in a new clearing and involved someone that they knew, but all of them required some deep thought to understand. Some of them still puzzled them, like Damian's encounter with a talking kangaroo or Allison's meeting with a jogging dolphin, but for the most part Cobalt and Illumina could try to explain, although they didn't know much more than their respective Vulcan did.
According to the Dream, the two Vulcans were a special case. Normally there would only be one dragon/padmiri team at a time, but for this event there were two needed. The telepathic bond between all four was also necessary, so the Mother Dragon was allowing it only this once.
And as the lessons went on, both dragons grew to be taller than the Vulcans when on their hind legs. Their scales stretched over well-honed muscle, and their black horns curved forward until they were almost at the end of their snouts. The neck, or dorsal, ridge also developed a way to move; raised when they were relaxed or sprinting, and lowered when angry or afraid.
And then came the day on which the lessons were over.
~~~~~~~
Allison opened her eyes, noting the sounds of the birds in the trees, as well as the faint calls of faraway dragons. She slowly sat up, looking around her and finally spotting Cobalt. He was about six or seven feet tall now and, to her surprise, his eyes were completely black.
"Good morning," Cobalt said, dropping his jaw into a close imitation of a smile. His voice sounded like a male version of Allison's voice, with a slight catlike purr or growl under it.
She blinked. "Did you just speak out loud?"
He nodded. "Now that you are no longer in the Dream, I don't have to talk telepathically all the time. I don't have to rhyme, either," he said with a rumbling laugh.
"Well, THAT is a relief," another male voice came from nearby. Allison turned and saw Damian sitting next to another bronze dragon with black eyes. Damian's dragon, Illumina, was very similar to Cobalt, with only the shape of her neck ridge and more delicate-looking legs to distinguish her. Cobalt's neck ridge was like sharp inverted curves, while Illumina's dorsal ridge was more wavy.
"No kidding," Illumina said out loud in a higher-pitched, feminine version of Damian's voice. She, too, had a slight rumble to her tone, as well as an Australian accent that matched Damian's perfectly.
Allison stood up. "How long have we been here?" she wondered out loud.
"Nearly one month," Cobalt answered.
"One month?!" Damian and Allison exclaimed.
"We were supposed to meet up with the Yel'Hal-tor weeks ago!" Allison said. "I wonder if they're looking for us..."
"Well, you WERE about to make a comm call," Illumina pointed out. "I think we should head back and see if the comm system even still works."
"Good idea," Allison said. "Let's go."
The foursome stepped back into the forest, in the direction of the downed shuttle.
~~~~~~~
The Yel'Hal-tor glided through space, and for all appearances it seemed like everything was normal. But inside the massive ship, there were a lot of very worried crewpersons.
"They can't have just disappeared," Kristian said for the umpteenth time. "The Cerioa and the Kitrack said that they did indeed leave Embryian, but we know that they didn't make it to the rendezvous point. No comm calls, no distress calls, no nothing! Where can they be?"
"Could something have happened to them?" Jessie asked.
The two were on the bridge, keeping their voices low enough that it was a private conversation. The other members of the bridge crew worked furiously, trying to come up with a likely place for the two missing officers to be.
"I think that's very likely," Kristian started to say, but suddenly Ensign Felsinger yelped in surprise.
"Sir, I'm getting a signal from the Igen'Zahelsu! Audio only."
"Put it on speakers, ensign!"
The speakers clicked on. "Danks to Yel'Hal-tor, please come in..." the Captain's familiar voice said.
"Yel'Hal-tor here, Captain. Where in the galaxy ARE you?" Kristian answered, overwhelmed with relief. The other crewpersons audibly sighed, thrilled that the Captain was finally found.
"We're on a previously unnamed planet in the Damark sector. It's a binary star system, with a yellow star and a red giant star. This is the only inhabitable planet, which the natives call K'ti'ma V. We crash-landed a month ago."
"'We'? Does that mean Damian is with you?" Kristian asked.
There was a pause, and several voices chuckled before Damian's voice finally came through the speaker. "Yeah, I'm here too."
"Can you come and pick us up?" Allison's voice said. "We kind of wrecked the shuttle. The comm's all that works, and that took a bit of jury-rigging."
"We're already on our way," Kristian answered. "Yel'Hal-tor out."
~~~~~~~
The Yel'Hal-tor pulled into orbit around K'ti'ma V a few hours after the call, and they immediately established contact with the two officers.
"Patch me in to the transporter room," Allison said, and Ensign Felsinger redirected her frequency down to Nick's panel.
"Lieutenant Danks here."
"Nick, lock the transporter onto us. We're slightly north of the shuttle. Four to beam up."
"Pardon? Four?"
"Yes, four. Two Vulcans, two non. That's an order, mister."
"Yes, Captain." Nick sounded puzzled, but he followed orders. "Energizing four."
Allison, Damian, Cobalt, and Illumina materialized in Transporter Room 2. Both dragons immediately ducked their heads slightly at the appearance of the roof, but they recovered quickly and turned to Nick.
"Hello, Nick," Cobalt offered to the stunned half-Andorian boy behind the console.
He stared at them, open-mouthed. "You've got....dragons?"
Cobalt extended a bronze paw and shook Nick's hand. "I am Cobalt of K'ti'ma," he said, scales chiming slightly at the motion. "Pleased to finally meet you."
Illumina also shook Nick's hand. "I am Illumina of K'ti'ma," she introduced herself, making the same musical noise as her scales shifted.
Just then, the doors swooshed open, and Jessie, Karin, and Steve quickly stepped into the room. All three froze at the sight of Allison and Damian with two large bronze dragons behind them.
Allison grinned and waved. "Hi."
Damian looked over at Allison. "I think we've got some explaining to do..."
~~~~~~~
Over the next two hours, Allison called together the other nine time-travelers, and the fourteen officers gathered in the Briefing Room. Cobalt and Illumina sat on their haunches near the table, and watched as each officer entered. They would receive the expected double-take from whatever person it happened to be, then the person would slowly sit down and watch the dragons out of the corner of their eyes.
Once all of the officers were present, Allison stood up. "First thing's first. It feels really good to be back home." She glanced over at Damian and he shook his head a little. She nodded back. "And now, down to business. I'm sure you're all dying to know where we went and why exactly there are two dragons sitting right here." She sat down, and Illumina and Cobalt stood up and moved closer to the table.
"I am Cobalt," Cobalt introduced himself. "This is Illumina. We are both dragons of K'ti'ma. The dragons of K'ti'ma were created by what you used to call the Force , and have been around for many millennia. When one of us is born with the right mix of mental and physical characteristics, we may be chosen to mentally bond with someone strong in the Force. We who are chosen will have black eyes, which is an easy way of telling us apart from the other, crystalline-eyed dragons. Our kind has been in contact with the human race before, but over the last few thousand years we have lost contact. Over time, your kind has dismissed such tales as fantasy, but your ancestors who colonized Earth knew this to be true."
Illumina picked up on the narrative. "Your planet Earth was colonized by a race of humans from another galaxy. Our planet and its system, K'ti'ma, were also moved via the Force to this 'Milky Way' galaxy when the humans also moved. Your planet was hit by an ice age, which erased the knowledge of the dragons of K'ti'ma, as well as all the technology your kind had invented. Since then, our kind has waited for someone to rediscover our planet and take their place as a padmiri of a chosen dragon. Cobalt and I are honored to have Allison and Damian as our padmiris. We know all that they know, and vice versa. It is our way."
Jessie raised a hand like she was in school. "Wait a second. R'IljiN said that Allison was the only one who could still see the future, so how does Star Wars exist? George Lucas should have that gift, too."
"No, not exactly," Cobalt said. "There still are several humans, young and old, in the 21st century who can see the PAST. George Lucas is one of them. But Allison sees the FUTURE. See the difference?"
Jessie acknowledged that yes, there was a considerable difference, and that she understood.
By this time, Cobalt and Illumina had circled the entire Briefing Room table once, and then they returned to where they were before they had begun speaking.
Allison began again. "The entire month that Damian and I were missing, the dragons of K'ti'ma put us in a dream-like state in order to teach us certain things. Apparently, this is also to prepare us for the event that R'IljiN told us about. He also mentioned the Azure and the Crystal." She waved her hand in the direction of the two dragons. "The Azure and the Crystal are Cobalt and Illumina. But I can definitely understand why they have to be with us. I had Steve scan them and compile a medical report." She nodded at the Chief Medical Officer, and he pulled out a padd.
"Both of the dragons have the same basic physiology," he began. "They have thick skulls, and a strong spine connected right at the base of their skull that would allow them to ram through almost anything without being hurt at all. Their claws and horns have some kind of titanium in them, and they have a second layer of scales which is practically indestructible, aside from exposure to extremely acidic compounds or the full power of a starship's phasers on overload. They both have the ability to produce their own acid, which can injure or kill one of their own kind if their body chemistry is even slightly different." He put the padd down and looked up, a slight smile tugging at the side of his mouth. "It's a good thing they're on OUR side, because I'd hate to have to patch you all up!" he said, and everyone laughed.
Cobalt immediately took it upon himself to say, "I am dragon, hear me roar!" and beat on his chest like Tarzan.
After that, the tension in the room decreased quite a bit, and the other officers felt mostly comfortable around the dragons. However, Karin and Cheryl were a bit annoyed that the two dragons couldn't pronounce their names right. They had already started calling Karin "Karn", and now Cheryl was being called "Chell." Damian seemed to think it was because they had the letter "r" in the middle of their names, and those names seemed to be rather hard for the dragons to get their tongues around.
However, after a few hours had passed, the ship simply had to resume normal functions. Damian and Allison, accompanied by their respective dragons, went to their quarters to change into their uniforms, while the other twelve time-travelers resumed their normal duties.
While in her quarters, Allison set up a place for Cobalt to sleep and recorded her account of the detour to K'ti'ma, and then sent the recording off to StarFleet Command with a request for shoreleave. The answer came back almost immediately. Shoreleave was granted, on any planet of the Captain's choosing.
Grinning to herself, Allison sent up a message to the bridge, ordering a course change.
Yes folks, that's right, I UPDATED! *has a heart attack from sheer shock*
Seriously, though, it's been over eight months. ^_^;;; Oops. Thank you all for being patient with me, and expect to see chapter eleven just around the riverbend! (Argh, stupid CD...that song just HAD to be playing while I was typing...)