A Dragon's Tale

Station Under Fire

Sorin awoke to the rumbling of the Great Fox's engines as it came to a halt. As He came awake, his armor beeped and Sorin flipped open the cover to the control panel. A frown creased his muzzle and he scanned the small LCD display; he shut the panel and he sighed.

Sorin was thrown to the floor and dangerously close to the sparking barrier. He pulled his muzzle away and the ship rocked again as Sorin struggled to his feet.

What the Hell is happening? He thought and the dragon was thrown sideways to the wall. The built in armor took the hit and something silver flashed around Sorin. The armor had shields and the cushioned his fall.

Then the power shut off. The electricity stopped and Sorin walked over to the bars; he placed both paws on the bars and he forcefully vented his strength. He screamed and the bars bent sideways, allowing him to escape. Sorin hit the elevator button but he sighed ay his mistake, there was no power. Sorin placed his paws on the elevator doors and he screamed again as the doors slid open. He noticed a service ladder on the shaft and he leapt out; his claws caught the ladder and he began climbing.

Sorin took off his boots and he balanced them on the ladder as he leapt into the door; they fractured and Sorin quickly caught himself on the wall. His claws dug in and he exerted his massive strength as one of the doors slid open. Sorin leapt back to the ladder and he grabbed his boots as he rolled into the main hallway that led to the bridge. Sorin strapped on his boots and he ran to the bridge; Peppy was there trying to restore power and the auxiliary systems came online.

"Fox, I've got the aux power online and I'm rekeying the system."

"Good, get those shields up and give us some help." Sorin looked out the vid screen and Sargrasso Station was under attack. Venomian fighters were circling around and he spotted four Arwings and Sargrasso fighters in a massive dogfight. As Peppy was busy on the console Sorin quietly walked out of the room and he dashed down to the docking bay; all the fighters were gone except for his and he ran to it. The hatch popped at his presence and he jumped into it, all the systems came online and he activated the cloak.

Redemption time…

Fox pulled a barrel roll as he zinged by a group of Venomians. Krystal pulled up beside him and he looked over at her, her Arwing was a bit scorched on the wing but other than that, she looked ok.

"How you doing Krystal?"

"Oh just peachy, you?" She radioed and they spilt as a laser blast ripped between them. Krystal pulled off a crack shot and it passed through a Venomian craft.

"Oh yeah, just fine." Fox said and they broke off. The Sargrasso fighters had been decimated by the sheer weight of the Venomians and it was only four against a few hundred. "Oh shit." Fox said as they massed into one group. Falco, Krystal, and Slippy pulled up beside him and their faces came up on the vid shots.

"Well Fox, what do we do now?" Krystal asked. The Venomians fired all at once; Fox turned his craft away but the blast did not come.

"What the heck?" Slippy exclaimed and the Venomians lay in ruins.

"Fox, I'm picking up the cloaked ship and Sorin isn't in his cell." Peppy radioed from the Great Fox.

"He's not there!" Falco said and Fox scanned space.

"Fox." Another vid shot came up on his monitor and Fox took a breath in as Sorin's face came up. "I really don't want to hurt any of you."

"Fox, get back to the Great Fox!" Falco yelled as the three shot off. Fox turned his craft but Sorin's materialized in front of him.

"Fox, I saved your life. I don't want to hurt any of you." To prove he wasn't lying, Sorin moved his craft out of the way. "Go on,"

"Sorin, come back with me to the Great Fox." The dragon smiled and the two traveled back to the ship.

Fox stepped out of his Arwing and Krystal walked up to him.

"Fox, that dragon saved our lives today."

"Yes he did Krystal." Sorin walked up and he was only a foot taller and he struck an imposing figure.

"So are you going to lock me up again?"

"No," Fox said and he looked at Falco who just grumbled and walked away. "So how did you do it?"

"My craft can take an enormous amount of damage and it can also reflect it back. When the Venomians fired, I collected all their fire and reflected it back."

"We are all in debt to you Sorin." Krystal said and the dragon smiled.

"Not everyone is with that opinion." Sorin replied as Falco walked back up to them. They stared at each other and Falco brought out his blaster; before anyone could stop him, he fired. The beam was absorbed into the shields and Falco fired again, Sorin caught it with his paw and he pressed the beam down to nothing.

"Why won't you die?" Fox ripped the blaster out of the avian's paws.

"Falco, what is your problem?"

"His…race almost destroyed the entire Lylat galaxy." He leapt at the dragon but Sorin moved nimbly out of the way. Falco let out an enraged yell and he ripped the blaster off of Krystal's hip holster. He set it to kill and he pulled the trigger; Fox and Krystal had to move out of the way as the dragon evaded all the kill shots. "Stay still you bastard!" Falco yelled and Sorin was suddenly up close to him. His precision faltered and the dragon took the blaster out of his paws.

"Falco, don't let this come between us."

"NO!" He yelled and his fist smacked into the dragon's chest. It encountered the forcefield but Sorin had turned the intensity down so he was only thrown backwards. The dragon walked over to Falco and the avian sat on the ground, Sorin held out his paw and he brought Falco up.

"Come on, stop being so kitish."

"Kitish!" Falco yelled and he stormed away from him. Sorin walked back over to the two vulpines and Fox shrugged.

"That's Falco for you."

"Has he always been like that?"

"Yeah, he'll be ok. He'll probably disappear during the night to go fly somewhere; he'll turn up usually the next day."

Sorin sat in the cockpit of his ship and he brought up the self diagnostic menus; the reflection had hurt his shield and it needed to be recharged.

"Hey Sorin, what are you doing?" Krystal asked as she walked up to the craft.

"Just some maintenance." The vixen sat on the wing next to the cockpit and she looked as what he was doing.

"Thanks for saving our lives."

"Well, it was the least I could do. I want to prove that I'm not like any of the dragons that met you before."

"Yeah." They were silent for a while and then Krystal spoke up. "How did that armor become ingrained in your body?" Sorin sighed and he shut down the diagnostics.

"I was part of an experiment that my government, if you can call it that, performed on me. I was one of many dragons that were abducted when they were young. My childhood was brutal and you can't possibly imagine what I put through."

"Try me." Krystal said and Sorin nodded.

"One day I was on my way to get my armor upgraded and I was walking with another young dragon. He was missing something, I can't remember what, but an overseer saw us and he shot my friend in the head. His shields weren't activated and he was killed on the spot."

"That's horrible."

"Yeah, they really put us through shit." He replied and Krystal jumped off the wing. Sorin leapt out and he made a noiseless landing as the hatch closed silently behind him. Krystal eyed him and he smiled. "That's not all I can do. Here," He threw Krystal a lead pipe and she caught it. "Try to hit me."

"Sorin,"

"Go on, try." The vixen sighed and she took a swing at the dragon. Sorin caught the bar and in a trice she had Krystal in a headlock.

"Whoa, that was fast." Sorin released her and he chuckled.

"Just be glad that we aren't actually fighting." Krystal picked the pipe up again and she threw it at him; Sorin this time did a back flip and he lashed out with his tail, it shot the pipe straight into the deck and it ricocheted at him. He caught it in midair, flipped once and landed on his boots. Krystal's jaw was slack and he smiled again.

"That was amazing."

"Ok, enough with the praise, I'm just doing some entertainment."

"That's not what it looked like, lizard." Falco said and he walked up to them.

"Falco, what do you have against me?"

"Why did you lie and say that you never even knew that dragons were launching a war against Lylat?"

"I didn't lie." Sorin kept calm but Falco flew into a frenzy.

"You son of a bitch, that is a lie!" He yelled and Falco once again whipped out his blaster.

"Falco, put that away." Krystal said quietly.

"No," Falco's voice wavered and his paw quivered on the trigger.

"Falco, don't do this. I know you won't in fact." Sorin said and he took a step toward him.

"No, don't…come…near…me." Falco said and he pulled the trigger. Sorin caught the beam with his paw and his shields flashed as he threw the beam away. Fox came out of nowhere and he tackled Falco; the blaster flew out and Sorin caught it.

"Get off of me!" Falco yelled but Fox had a death grip and he pinned the falcon on the floor.

"No, not until you calm down and tell me what is your problem."

Light shined into her eyes, bright, unyielding light filtered into her pupils. Her paws were tied above her head and she raised her head.

"Hey kitty, kitty, how are you doing today?" A male voice asked. The feline turned her head and a small moan escaped her muzzle.

"Leave me alone."

"Now why would I do that?" A paw caressed her muzzle and she bit at it. "Now be nice or there will be some consequences Ms. Monroe. Now say that you love me."

"No…" He cruelly backhanded her on muzzle and he repeated his sentence.

"Ms. Monroe, so you love me?"

"No, you sadistic ass." Another blow to her muzzle and her ran his paw over her bare chest. "Don't…"

"I'll come back in a while, don't disappoint me Katt." He removed his paw and she shivered as the door slammed shut. The darkness closed in and she felt alone.