Chapter Thirteen – Dragons
The dragon was small, and very young. It peered down at the group through a group of leaves, and then slowly dropped from the tree. It seemed hesitant and fearful, but gradually approached.
Allison watched it. The dragon was a few days old, at best. Its scales were an emerald color, and its horns were only about an inch long. Crystalline eyes studied the officers from behind the force field.
Damian glanced at Allison, and she half-closed her eyes and reached out to the dragon with her mind. 'Hello,' she said, trying to keep her "tone" friendly. 'I'm Allison, padmiri of Cobalt. Who are you?'
"I am Jade," the dragon spoke up, and Damian grinned. Success! The dragon's voice was high and silvery, and very feminine. She eyed the two larger dragons nervously. "Are you going to help me?"
"We will do what we can," Allison replied. She motioned Steve forward. "Scan her and see if they've been treating her properly."
The chief medical officer complied, running a tricorder in front of the emerald dragon and compiling a list of her stats. He quickly read it over. "Nothing wrong with her, Captain. But she hasn't been here for long."
"How were you captured?" Jessie asked.
"I had just hatched," Jade said, idly scratching the dust with her hind talons. "I was curious of them but I was also afraid. Before I could decide what to do, I was here."
"Well, you won't be here for long. I'll be back in five minutes," Allison promised. She and Cobalt headed for a nearby employee. While the sight of a large bronze dragon distracted the poor Dei, Allison confiscated his remote control without him being aware of it. After getting the "key," Allison stood a short distance away while Cobalt screamed out a wordless challenge. She watched in amusement as every nearby alien fled, and the poor Dei employee scrambled away as fast as he could, tripping over his own tail in his hurry to escape. After the area was completely deserted, Allison walked back to Jade's cage.
"Piece of cake," she commented, holding up the remote and hitting a green button. The forcefield shimmered and vanished.
Damian tapped his commbadge. "Beresford to Yel'Hal-tor. Seven to beam up."
With a flurry of golden sparkles, the four officers and three dragons vanished into thin air.
~~~~~~~
It took only a few minutes to evade angry Dei leaders and escape to Federation territory. The Dei didn't know what government the Yel'Hal-tor crew belonged to, so no charges were able to be filed. The officers had gotten away with the "theft."
Jade was an immediate favorite of the crew. She wasn't tall and intimidating like Cobalt and Illumina, and she was a very good listener. The only problem was, nearly everything was capable of scaring her at least once. The emerald dragon soon developed a habit of following Karin, Jessie, or Nick whenever they were nearby. Karin was her favorite person, however.
"And this is what you do all day, Karn?" Jade asked, looking around Sickbay. "It must be scary sometimes."
"It is," Karin agreed. "Although I'm sure you don't want the gory details."
Jade stuck out her tongue in disgust. "That's a gross phrase."
Karin chuckled. "Right. Sorry."
Steve came out of his office and noticed the two. "Hey, you conducting a tour or something?" He laughed at the guilty looks on their faces. "It's okay, just make sure you don't touch anything, Jade. I like to know where my equipment is. I also like it intact."
"Yes sir," Jade answered, her neck ridge ruffling a little in uncertainty. "Karn, let's go see the Bridge," she suggested.
Karin smiled, sending a "Nyeer!" look at Steve over her shoulder. "All right, Jade. But the same rules apply there as in Sickbay: don't touch anything, don't distract anyone, and try to remember that none of the flashing lights are going to hurt you."
Steve chuckled to himself as he saw Jade and Karin head out the doors. "Kids these days."
~~~~~~~
Over the next few weeks, life on the ship settled into a comfortable routine. Allison and Damian resumed their daily sparring bouts in the gymnasium. Jessie occasionally worked out with her bat'leth against any crew member willing to challenge her. Cobalt and Illumina wandered freely around the ship, checking on ship's operations occasionally and frequently chatting with personnel. Jade learned how to help out in Sickbay, and as a result stayed near Karin quite often. StarFleet Command finally shushed up about the entire incident, frustrated at their inability to prevent this new captain from doing what was well within her perogative as starship commander. In other words, things were mostly back to normal.
One morning, there was a change.
Allison first became aware something was amiss when a loud crashing noise startled her out of sleep. She opened her eyes and listened for the noise again.
It came, as expected, but this time it was accompanied by an odd sense along her telepathic bond with Cobalt. She nudged Damian, awakening him and getting him to loosen his grip on her. The two Vulcans glanced at each other, then got out of bed and hurried to the main living area of their quarters.
Cobalt was furiously scratching at his head, occasionally crashing into something as he stumbled around the room. Illumina was staring at him, black eyes unreadable, but both Vulcans could pick up a sense of wonder from the female dragon.
"Cobalt, stop it!" Allison said, stepping forward and trying to grab hold of the dragon's forepaws. His tail came out of nowhere and nearly swept her legs out from under her. "Cobalt! You're going to hurt yourself, now stop it!"
Cobalt ignored her. The need to tear at his skin was drowning out everything else. His ebony claws slashed deep into the scales, and he cried out at first in pain, then it slowly transformed into one of amazement and joy. Dropping to all fours, he began to furiously shake his entire body. Powdery bronze scales flew everywhere, creating a dull russet cloud that obscured the dragon from sight.
And then the dust settled, and Cobalt sat in the middle of the room, powerful and proud and utterly beautiful. "Oh, YES! Who da maaan?" he shouted, ignoring the mess he had created and bounding over to hug Allison.
Illumina, who had been watching the proceedings from the corner of the room, suddenly gasped and scratched at her own scales. Damian's eyes widened in awe as the other dragon also began the process, without the running-into-everything part.
That room was not going to be clean for a long while.
~~~~~~~
Alpha shift began. Kristian took the science station, nodding to the previous shift's officer who was just leaving that station. Lia and May arrived together, as usual, and began to check their consoles for updates on course and speed of the mighty ship. Jessie was already at the Security console, double-checking safeties and automatic systems.
The turbolift doors swooshed open right on schedule, and there was the sound of two pairs of boots on carpet, accompanied by the chiming of dragon scales. Kristian turned around to greet his commanding officer and her Bondmate, and stopped in utter surprise.
Cobalt appeared to be encased in shimmering sapphire scales. Dark blue ran across his back and wings, and gradually lightened to a cerulean blue and then a blue-green color on his belly that even ranged into the yellow-green range. His pitch-black eyes and horns glittered, and his talons caught every bit of light that the bridge lights gave off. His wing membranes and neck ridge were nearly transluscent, shimmering under the lights. Incredibly well-honed muscles rippled under his skin, demonstrating ultimate grace and power.
Illumina, on the other hand, looked as if she were forged from a diamond. Her entire body was covered in shiny, faintly cyan scales that somehow weren't transparent enough to reveal her internal organs. Her black horns and ebony eyes seemed to scoop up all light and fling it back at observers. Her claws reflected the bridge lights, creating tiny rays of light that shot in every direction. Her wings almost looked as if they were made of glass, and her neck ridge appeared to be a smooth-faced jewel. At every step, muscles stretched and coiled, exposing her strength and fluid movements.
Allison and Damian grinned at the expressions of the bridge crew as the two dragons preened and posed dramatically. "As you were," Allison said at last, and the officers slowly shared amazed glances and went back to their tasks, occasionally shooting a glance in the direction of the newly-shed dragons.
Allison began to hum a tune to herself as she took her place in the command chair. The song was "Treasure Of You," causing Cobalt to grin in amusement. Illumina and Damian supressed twin snickers, and Damian sent along a telepathic message to his Bondmate. 'A message, Ael?'
She sent back the image of herself sticking her tongue out at him. 'You hush, Deletham.'
'Yes, ma'am!' he quipped.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Yes, it's been horribly long since I've updated anything, but here we go again! STAR TREKKIES COMETH! About three more chapters and an epilogue to go, and then we start in on book #3: Kaunshuk, where we get into the stuff that these first two books have just been setting up for. ^_~
Ad G: Yes, this is a trilogy as you can see. I normally hate expository and "Setting up" stuff, but this one I've having fun with. All will be made clear in book 3.
Washu/Transformon: I've already written a fair bit into book three, but I'll see what I can do. You're going to have lots of fun hobnobbing with...whoops, can't say....in book three. ;) Patience, young Padawan.
Jedi Takeru: Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't need any more ships.
Super Hurricane: Ah, the great mysteries of the universe. ^_~ Actually Damian suggested it back when we barely knew each other, so we spent a good five months getting that idea wrapped around our brains before I actually wrote it. We did it mostly for shock value. :P It appears we succeeded.
Mistoffelees: Yep, this is kind of an obscure canon crossover between Star Wars and Star Trek. See whatever chapter it was where we came back with dragons for more details. :P
Dark Jedi Princess: Yes, and here be ANOTHER new chapter! :P Happy readings, I hope?
The dragon was small, and very young. It peered down at the group through a group of leaves, and then slowly dropped from the tree. It seemed hesitant and fearful, but gradually approached.
Allison watched it. The dragon was a few days old, at best. Its scales were an emerald color, and its horns were only about an inch long. Crystalline eyes studied the officers from behind the force field.
Damian glanced at Allison, and she half-closed her eyes and reached out to the dragon with her mind. 'Hello,' she said, trying to keep her "tone" friendly. 'I'm Allison, padmiri of Cobalt. Who are you?'
"I am Jade," the dragon spoke up, and Damian grinned. Success! The dragon's voice was high and silvery, and very feminine. She eyed the two larger dragons nervously. "Are you going to help me?"
"We will do what we can," Allison replied. She motioned Steve forward. "Scan her and see if they've been treating her properly."
The chief medical officer complied, running a tricorder in front of the emerald dragon and compiling a list of her stats. He quickly read it over. "Nothing wrong with her, Captain. But she hasn't been here for long."
"How were you captured?" Jessie asked.
"I had just hatched," Jade said, idly scratching the dust with her hind talons. "I was curious of them but I was also afraid. Before I could decide what to do, I was here."
"Well, you won't be here for long. I'll be back in five minutes," Allison promised. She and Cobalt headed for a nearby employee. While the sight of a large bronze dragon distracted the poor Dei, Allison confiscated his remote control without him being aware of it. After getting the "key," Allison stood a short distance away while Cobalt screamed out a wordless challenge. She watched in amusement as every nearby alien fled, and the poor Dei employee scrambled away as fast as he could, tripping over his own tail in his hurry to escape. After the area was completely deserted, Allison walked back to Jade's cage.
"Piece of cake," she commented, holding up the remote and hitting a green button. The forcefield shimmered and vanished.
Damian tapped his commbadge. "Beresford to Yel'Hal-tor. Seven to beam up."
With a flurry of golden sparkles, the four officers and three dragons vanished into thin air.
~~~~~~~
It took only a few minutes to evade angry Dei leaders and escape to Federation territory. The Dei didn't know what government the Yel'Hal-tor crew belonged to, so no charges were able to be filed. The officers had gotten away with the "theft."
Jade was an immediate favorite of the crew. She wasn't tall and intimidating like Cobalt and Illumina, and she was a very good listener. The only problem was, nearly everything was capable of scaring her at least once. The emerald dragon soon developed a habit of following Karin, Jessie, or Nick whenever they were nearby. Karin was her favorite person, however.
"And this is what you do all day, Karn?" Jade asked, looking around Sickbay. "It must be scary sometimes."
"It is," Karin agreed. "Although I'm sure you don't want the gory details."
Jade stuck out her tongue in disgust. "That's a gross phrase."
Karin chuckled. "Right. Sorry."
Steve came out of his office and noticed the two. "Hey, you conducting a tour or something?" He laughed at the guilty looks on their faces. "It's okay, just make sure you don't touch anything, Jade. I like to know where my equipment is. I also like it intact."
"Yes sir," Jade answered, her neck ridge ruffling a little in uncertainty. "Karn, let's go see the Bridge," she suggested.
Karin smiled, sending a "Nyeer!" look at Steve over her shoulder. "All right, Jade. But the same rules apply there as in Sickbay: don't touch anything, don't distract anyone, and try to remember that none of the flashing lights are going to hurt you."
Steve chuckled to himself as he saw Jade and Karin head out the doors. "Kids these days."
~~~~~~~
Over the next few weeks, life on the ship settled into a comfortable routine. Allison and Damian resumed their daily sparring bouts in the gymnasium. Jessie occasionally worked out with her bat'leth against any crew member willing to challenge her. Cobalt and Illumina wandered freely around the ship, checking on ship's operations occasionally and frequently chatting with personnel. Jade learned how to help out in Sickbay, and as a result stayed near Karin quite often. StarFleet Command finally shushed up about the entire incident, frustrated at their inability to prevent this new captain from doing what was well within her perogative as starship commander. In other words, things were mostly back to normal.
One morning, there was a change.
Allison first became aware something was amiss when a loud crashing noise startled her out of sleep. She opened her eyes and listened for the noise again.
It came, as expected, but this time it was accompanied by an odd sense along her telepathic bond with Cobalt. She nudged Damian, awakening him and getting him to loosen his grip on her. The two Vulcans glanced at each other, then got out of bed and hurried to the main living area of their quarters.
Cobalt was furiously scratching at his head, occasionally crashing into something as he stumbled around the room. Illumina was staring at him, black eyes unreadable, but both Vulcans could pick up a sense of wonder from the female dragon.
"Cobalt, stop it!" Allison said, stepping forward and trying to grab hold of the dragon's forepaws. His tail came out of nowhere and nearly swept her legs out from under her. "Cobalt! You're going to hurt yourself, now stop it!"
Cobalt ignored her. The need to tear at his skin was drowning out everything else. His ebony claws slashed deep into the scales, and he cried out at first in pain, then it slowly transformed into one of amazement and joy. Dropping to all fours, he began to furiously shake his entire body. Powdery bronze scales flew everywhere, creating a dull russet cloud that obscured the dragon from sight.
And then the dust settled, and Cobalt sat in the middle of the room, powerful and proud and utterly beautiful. "Oh, YES! Who da maaan?" he shouted, ignoring the mess he had created and bounding over to hug Allison.
Illumina, who had been watching the proceedings from the corner of the room, suddenly gasped and scratched at her own scales. Damian's eyes widened in awe as the other dragon also began the process, without the running-into-everything part.
That room was not going to be clean for a long while.
~~~~~~~
Alpha shift began. Kristian took the science station, nodding to the previous shift's officer who was just leaving that station. Lia and May arrived together, as usual, and began to check their consoles for updates on course and speed of the mighty ship. Jessie was already at the Security console, double-checking safeties and automatic systems.
The turbolift doors swooshed open right on schedule, and there was the sound of two pairs of boots on carpet, accompanied by the chiming of dragon scales. Kristian turned around to greet his commanding officer and her Bondmate, and stopped in utter surprise.
Cobalt appeared to be encased in shimmering sapphire scales. Dark blue ran across his back and wings, and gradually lightened to a cerulean blue and then a blue-green color on his belly that even ranged into the yellow-green range. His pitch-black eyes and horns glittered, and his talons caught every bit of light that the bridge lights gave off. His wing membranes and neck ridge were nearly transluscent, shimmering under the lights. Incredibly well-honed muscles rippled under his skin, demonstrating ultimate grace and power.
Illumina, on the other hand, looked as if she were forged from a diamond. Her entire body was covered in shiny, faintly cyan scales that somehow weren't transparent enough to reveal her internal organs. Her black horns and ebony eyes seemed to scoop up all light and fling it back at observers. Her claws reflected the bridge lights, creating tiny rays of light that shot in every direction. Her wings almost looked as if they were made of glass, and her neck ridge appeared to be a smooth-faced jewel. At every step, muscles stretched and coiled, exposing her strength and fluid movements.
Allison and Damian grinned at the expressions of the bridge crew as the two dragons preened and posed dramatically. "As you were," Allison said at last, and the officers slowly shared amazed glances and went back to their tasks, occasionally shooting a glance in the direction of the newly-shed dragons.
Allison began to hum a tune to herself as she took her place in the command chair. The song was "Treasure Of You," causing Cobalt to grin in amusement. Illumina and Damian supressed twin snickers, and Damian sent along a telepathic message to his Bondmate. 'A message, Ael?'
She sent back the image of herself sticking her tongue out at him. 'You hush, Deletham.'
'Yes, ma'am!' he quipped.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Yes, it's been horribly long since I've updated anything, but here we go again! STAR TREKKIES COMETH! About three more chapters and an epilogue to go, and then we start in on book #3: Kaunshuk, where we get into the stuff that these first two books have just been setting up for. ^_~
Ad G: Yes, this is a trilogy as you can see. I normally hate expository and "Setting up" stuff, but this one I've having fun with. All will be made clear in book 3.
Washu/Transformon: I've already written a fair bit into book three, but I'll see what I can do. You're going to have lots of fun hobnobbing with...whoops, can't say....in book three. ;) Patience, young Padawan.
Jedi Takeru: Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't need any more ships.
Super Hurricane: Ah, the great mysteries of the universe. ^_~ Actually Damian suggested it back when we barely knew each other, so we spent a good five months getting that idea wrapped around our brains before I actually wrote it. We did it mostly for shock value. :P It appears we succeeded.
Mistoffelees: Yep, this is kind of an obscure canon crossover between Star Wars and Star Trek. See whatever chapter it was where we came back with dragons for more details. :P
Dark Jedi Princess: Yes, and here be ANOTHER new chapter! :P Happy readings, I hope?