Chapter 20: Time for a Change
North of Sakushima Hold, Nov 4, 2030, 0800...
The SPS Dronth was slowly sailing south towards its home berth at Sakushima Hold. They had just completed another rescue mission and returned the sailing ship and crew to their home port. Now they were on their way home and taking their time, there was no hurry. The huge ship was well within sight of those waiting on the pier, but still in deep water when it happened. There was a huge explosion which raised a geyser of water off their starboard beam … right where the new hull section had been replaced the previous year during the Queen's visit.
As those on the pier watched in horror, the SPS Dronth swiftly sank beneath the waves until there was nothing to see. Yuko Isikara was quickly notified of the disaster and he sent dragons out but there was nothing that could be seen from the surface. They were soon joined by a pod of dolphins and even they could find no trace of the huge ship.
'Dragon, we heard a panicked call from China, but now there is nothing!' said Tillek to Isikara's dragon, Rolbirth.
Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleaders Inner Office, 0800...
'Harry, Isikara has just contacted me and said the SPS Dronth has sunk and they cannot find any trace on the surface. There are dolphins on-site who heard an aborted, panicked call from a young female dolphin, but nothing now.'
"Thank you, Cheki," said Harry. For some reason, this reminded him of his birthday when Daniel talked to him in his bedroom. 'Cheki, would you please ask Daniel to come see me? Then ask Isikara to recall all the dolphins and Riders and return to the Weyr.'
'Of course, Harry.'
A few minutes later his oldest son, Daniel entered the room.
"Daniel, we appear to have just had a major catastrophe, but I'm not sure that it actually happened the way the witnesses saw it. I need you to deliver a message for me and then cover here at the Weyr for me until I return."
"Certainly, Dad, where do you need me to go and what is the message?"
"It's more a 'when' than a 'where'," said Harry, cryptically. "I need you to time it to 08755, July 31, 2030, land on the Observatory and make sure no one sees you. I need you to Disapparate into my bedroom at exactly 0800 and give me the following message ..."
After Harry had Daniel repeat the message, he sent him on his way. A few minutes later, Daniel returned.
"Mission accomplished. "Now what?" asked Daniel.
"I need you to cover for me for a while. I should be back really soon if everything works out well, but I need to know you will be here if something goes wrong."
"I will be here when you return, just try to remember to return after 0830, November 4, 2030."
Harry left his office to start his investigation. He had sworn never to do this, but there was just enough ambiguity in what he had heard that he had to try. The ship didn't matter, but the lives on it did. He made his first stop at Jeofrey's Office.
"Jeofrey, I need a list of all new personnel assigned to the SPS Dronth since … this time last year, please."
"Sure, Harry, need it right away?"
"I do, and I will stand right here while you get it for me."
This was so out of the ordinary, compared to the normal, laid-back way Harry usually ran the Office, that Jeofrey knew it had to be extremely important. It took him 20 minutes to verify all the information, but he finally had 2 names for Harry, along with as much information about them as he could find. Harry looked at the two folders.
Ltjg Mary Waters, assigned November 21, 2029. The first name made him immediately think of his oldest daughter. It was one of her favorite pseudonyms. She used to use it when she and her friends would make up stories about life as a muggle. Then he looked at her picture on her employment application … it was his oldest daughter, Mary!
Seaman Second Class Nassor Mustafa, assigned February 15, 2030. This name had him worried. It seemed to be of Egyptian origin and the only country the Dragon Nation still had trouble with was Saudi Arabia. He decided he would need to track down the second name first. At least he knew where he was on February 15, 2030. Perhaps a good place to start would be slightly before then.
Sakushima Hold, Feb 10, 2030...
Harry knew this would be the hardest thing he ever asked of Chekiath. During the entire time they were jumping in time, neither of them could let anyone know they were there as time-travelers. That basically meant that Cheki would not be able to even let anyone, especially other dragons, know he was there. He had spent most of the rest of the day talking to Cheki about it, stressing the fact that every life on board the SPS Dronth depended on their secrecy. Finally, the only way he had been able to win him over was to agree that he could talk to Dronth about their adventure when it was over.
Harry never wanted anyone to actually know for sure, but he agreed that Dronth could make that decision for them both when they returned. Harry had been teaching Cheki Occlumency for the last year and Cheki took great delight in being able to sneak up on his friends undetected. Now it was going to be what saved them.
The Hatching at Spath's Weyr would happen in 5 days and that was when Nassor Mustafa first seemed to appear on Pern. It was as if he had just suddenly appeared out of thin air. Harry had a visual image of the man, but not a mental image that would be easier to find. That was why he had decided to take a chance and come five days in advance. He and Cheki were both in full stealth mode. Cheki had dropped Harry close to the Hold and then left to wait on the plains south of the Hold.
Harry carefully made his way towards the kitchen of the Hold. Just because he was in full stealth mode didn't mean that someone couldn't accidentally bump into him and reveal his presence. He had to get to the kitchen and keep watch for his suspect. He had to find and 'question' him before he appeared on the 15th.
Sakushima Hold Kitchen, Feb 12, 2030...
Finally, there he was! Harry now had a mental impression of his quarry and would be able to track him no matter where he went. Harry carefully made his way over to the entrance Nassor had entered from and patiently waited for the man to leave. He watched carefully while waiting. It appeared that Nassor wasn't being very sociable. He sat by himself and rebuffed any attempts at friendly contact. Anyone watching him would have been immediately suspicious. The only problem was, with the Equality Oath everyone was required to take, almost no one was suspicious of others anymore. That was not a problem that Harry had ever envisioned.
After a hurried meal, Nassor left after 15 minutes. He didn't even bother to bus his own tray. One more crime to hold against him, though Harry had a feeling that it would be relatively minor when compared to what he suspected. As Nassor came closer, Harry very carefully initiated a light legilimens probe to read Nassor's surface thoughts. It appeared the man had only arrived recently and for some reason was extremely tired. That worked in Harry's favor.
As Nassor left, Harry started following as closely as he could. If he could stay close, he wouldn't have to worry about someone bumping into him, as the natural flow of people away from someone walking hurriedly along would keep them far enough away long enough for Harry to slip by as well.
Finally, they arrived at Nassor's temporarily assigned room. Nassor quickly entered and locked the door behind him. Not a problem for Harry, who settled down to wait for the exhausted man to fall asleep.
Half an hour later, Harry quietly entered the room and cast a stronger legilimens on the sleeping man, encouraging him to even deeper sleep. Then he slowly started looking at his most recent memories, going back, day by day, and found a lot of interesting information. The man was a muggle-hired assassin, but the way he had been smuggled to Pern was ingenious … and needed to be protected against in the future.
An hour later he felt he had everything he needed. Now to make sure that Nassor would do exactly what he had come here to do, but in the way Harry had orchestrated. Once that had been taken care of, Harry carefully left Nassor's room and silently disapparated to Cheki's current location. Harry was happy they had only a single point of entry for Earth immigrants. It would make what he needed to do a lot easier. First, close the loophole, then enlist someone to help him from the 'inside'. From the Dronth's new crew list, he knew exactly who that would be.
Spath's Weyr, Immigrant Baggage Claim...
"Sirius, did you see this new security directive?" asked Katherine, his wife and assistant Security Officer for the Dragon Nation.
"What's that?" asked Sirius.
"It's from Harry, dated today. Here, you'd better read this, I won't be able to do anything about it, but you can."
Security Directive: 20300212-001
Classification: Urgent
It has come to my attention that we have a gaping security hole in our immigration checks. From this point on, no incoming pets are to be allowed out of the holding area until they have had the Homorphus spell cast on them. Until that happens, all pets are to remain locked in quarantine in a special area with anti-apparation wards and anti-offensive spell wards permanently engraved on the outside walls of the room.
From the Office of The Weyrleader
Harry Potter
"Hmm," murmured Sirius, "looks like he's worried about an animagus getting on to the Planet without having to take the Equality Oath. Since that's how I escaped from Azkaban, he has a point. I'd better get this set up right away."
Little did they know, but it was already too late to stop their first intruder, but it would effectively stop any further incursions.
Dragon Isle, The Weyrleader's Office...
"Jenny, it looks like we have a new Security Directive direct from Harry that's come in the Courier's pouch today," said Frank Taylor, the current senior Weyrleader for Dragon Isle.
After looking at it, Jenny Taylor said "I'll make sure it gets down to Emigration Control right away."
Security Directive: 20300212-001
Classification: Urgent
It has come to my attention that we have a gaping security hole in our immigration checks. From this point on, no incoming pets are to be allowed out of the holding area in Spath's Weyr until they have had the Homorphus spell cast on them. Until that happens, all pets are to remain locked in quarantine in a special area with anti-apparation wards and anti-offensive spell wards permanently engraved on the outside walls of the room.
In conjunction with this, any pets bound for Pern, from any location, must go through the same procedure.
From the Office of The Weyrleader
Harry Potter
"I wonder what caused that?" wondered Skip.
"No idea," replied Jenny, "but it looks serious whatever it is."
'Hole filled,' thought Harry as he slipped out of the Office. 'Now to enlist my accomplice.'
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Professor Potter's Quarters, Nov 4, 2030...
Mary was tired and wanted nothing more than to have a nice warm bath, a hot drink, and a good night's sleep. She entered her quarters and immediately went to full alert as the door silently closed behind her … something was off, and it was never a good policy to be incautious.
A soft chuckle drew her attention to a dark figure in the far corner of the room who was just removing his invisibility cloak and opening the visor to his Stealth Suit.
"Dad! To what do I owe the dubious honor of almost being scared to death?" asked Mary.
"To the fact that I need help and I think you are the one who helped me."
"Helped as in the past?"
Harry held out the folder on Ltjg Mary Waters and watched as his oldest daughter read with ever-widening eyes.
"This shows I started working for Captain Vincent on November 21, 2029, but, to my knowledge, I've never served on board a ship like the SPS Dronth."
"You do remember that dragons can jump in time?" teased Harry.
"Of course I do. I can only surmise that you need me to go back and help with something having to do with the Dronth."
"You are correct. The SPS Dronth was seen to suffer from a huge explosion today and sank within a few minutes. By the time any dragons could arrive, there was no trace of the ship on the surface. When a pod of dolphins arrived, they said that they heard one of their own get off a partial cry for help which was cut off. An assassin called Nassor Mustafa will become part of the Dronth's crew on February 15, 2030. I want you in place to keep an eye on him and ensure he does as I 'suggested' he do."
"Sounds almost like some of the games I used to play at with my friends."
"Which is what made me realize it was you when I saw the names of the only two new crew members. I mainly want you onboard to ensure that no water actually enters the living or cargo portions of the ship. I have some plans for refitting the Dronth, but still have to take care of that part of my plan. Are you willing to help?"
"Of course I am! Not only will I help save the entire Pern Fleet, but all the lives on board her."
"That's my girl," said Harry proudly. "We are going to go back to November 20, 2029, and explain what is happening to Captain Vincent. He has to know, but no one else can, at least until after the fact. We must be extremely careful if we are to save everyone. Even Captain Vincent is not to know that we have traveled in time. I will just introduce you as one of my 'agents'. He has never met you personally, so we should be safe there.
"Before we go, I need you to fix this time in your memory so you can safely return when we are finished. You look tired and a little stressed, so you should probably make sure that you get plenty of rest before you return."
' November 4, 2030, at 1930,' thought Mary. She then quickly donned her flight suit, went full stealth, and followed Harry down to the Hogwarts Weyr.
SPS Dronth, North of Sakushima Hold, Nov 20, 2029...
Captain Vincent was startled out of a sound sleep by The Weyrleader gently shaking him awake.
"Sorry to startle you, Captain," said Harry, "but we needed to talk to you under the utmost secrecy. What I am about to tell you cannot even be spoken of to either of us at any time over the next year at the very least. You cannot even intimate anything about any of it to me even in private. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Weyrleader. I have been entrusted with secrets in the past, but never have I been told I cannot even mention them to the one who told me the secret!"
"Just remember, your life and the lives of everyone on your crew rest on you being able to maintain this secrecy. In a few days, my agent here will be joining your crew. She will have sufficient paperwork to identify her as a New Ltjg who was retired for medical reasons which she disagreed with, so she came to Pern to join our fleet here. She has special capabilities that none of your crew can match and is essential to the successful completion of this mission. Feel free to assign her to any task you would normally expect a new Lieutenant to be able to perform.
"Shortly, you are going to experience an unexplained failure in one of your hull plates. It will not put your ship in danger, but it will require your ship to go into drydock for 'extensive' repairs and refitting. When she comes out of drydock, you will have some capabilities you will have never dreamed of in an aircraft carrier. The main capabilities will be kept a secret from everyone, myself included.
"You will receive further orders at a specific time in the future as to exactly what you are to do. Quite probably, they will be delivered verbally by Ltjg Waters when no one else is around. No matter how strange the orders are, you can trust her with your life as you would me.
"We must leave now before anyone else sees us. You will know what to do when you need to know. Good-bye, Captain."
Captain Vincent looked at the young woman with The Weyrleader and tried to memorize what features he could see, which wasn't much. She was dressed in the same light-absorbing suit as The Weyrleader. Only her face was visible. When they abruptly disappeared, he mentally shrugged his shoulders and rolled over to try to go back to sleep.
SPS Dronth, North of Sakushima Hold, Nov 21, 2029...
Captain Vincent watched as the huge Bronze dragon lifted off the flight deck and went Between. A diminutive figure had climbed down from the dragon, taken off a passenger flight suit which was passed back up to the rider, and started for the hatch leading to the bridge just before the dragon took off. He was now waiting for what he knew was going to be the latest member of his crew. He had no idea where all this was going, but the man was his boss. He had been party to stranger things during his years as a Naval Officer.
Just then the bridge hatch opened and in walked the young woman he had seen climbing down from the back of the Bronze that had delivered her to his flight deck just moments before.
"Lieutenant Junior Grade Mary Waters, reporting as ordered, Sir!" she exclaimed in a clear voice.
'Well, at least she knows something of military protocol,' thought Captain Vincent. "At ease, Lieutenant." He held his hand out for her orders and she handed him a manilla envelope with a folder inside. He took it out and read some of the information. U.S. Naval Academy graduate, class of 2027. Higher than average grades with outstanding marks in Naval Architecture. Helped with the design of the latest hydrofoil attack cruiser. Promoted to Ltjg early. Medically discharged for unspecified reasons with full retirement and an honorable discharge.
"Quite an impressive record for such a short time in uniform, Lieutenant. I notice the reason for your Medical discharge is unspecified. Will there be any problem with you performing your work aboard the SPS Dronth?"
"No, Sir," she replied, her back ramrod straight as she remained at attention. "That's why I'm here instead of back on Earth. I felt I was unfairly treated and should never have been discharged."
"Do you mind if I know the reason for the discharge or is it too personal?"
"Not at all, Sir. I was sexually assaulted by a senior, married Officer and he ended up being hospitalized for three months. From what I heard later, his wife left him and he was later discharged. It wasn't a *BCD, but it was under Conditions other than Honorable, so he lost any retirement he might have gotten."
Captain Vincent chuckled, "At Ease, Lieutenant. We are quite a bit more relaxed here on Pern than back on Earth. As long as you perform your duties and snap to when conditions require, we are rather informal and relaxed amongst ourselves. I take it you have Martial Arts training."
"No, Sir," said Waters, as she relaxed into Parade Rest. "I only had one arm free, so I hit him as hard as I could in the nose. He stumbled backward and fell off a 20 ft embankment. Unfortunately, there was an open dumpster below, full of old broken-up packing crates and when he tried to climb out, the lid closed on his forearm, shattering it near his elbow. By the time I was able to return with some *MPs, he had passed out from the pain. It was not a pretty sight. I hear they were pulling splinters and old nails out of him for most of the next day."
Vincent looked up pointedly at the sounds of chuckles and at least one gasp as someone did their best to restrain themselves from outright laughter.
"Unfortunate for your 'Superior Officer', but most fortunate for us. While I don't expect any of our crew to treat you with anything other than the utmost of respect, I would hope that you would still be able to adequately protect yourself from any unwelcome advances."
"Oh, yes, Sir," said Waters, in a quiet, innocent voice. "After my encounter, I decided to learn a few self-defense moves. Nothing formal, but, if I had known them, the Officer that attacked me might not have survived." She purposely left out the fact that she had attended Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts classes taught by her father and had done better than most of the older Aurors who attended. Probably because Harry had concentrated on Physical Fitness and most of the older Aurors couldn't run 20 ft without almost throwing up! She was not only protected by her Dragon Pendant and her Stealth Suit but was quite adept at physical attack and defense on her own.
There were more chuckles around the room, this time of approval.
"Petty Officer Scott, would you please show Lieutenant Waters to her quarters? Any of the empty quarters on the O3 Level should be fine."
"Aye, Aye, Sir," said Bosun's Mate 2nd Lydia Scott, who turned from her position as one of the Duty Messengers and escorted Mary off the bridge.
"Do you have a seabag?" asked Scott. "We can collect that before we go to your quarters if you want."
"That's alright. I was sent here in a bit of a hurry. My baggage will be arriving later." Actually, she had everything she might need, including clothes, in her Flight Suit belt pouch.
Petty Officer Scott led Mary down the ladders from the bridge until they were just below the flight deck and they started forward until they came to a door without a name on it.
"Everyone in the crew has their own room, even the Enlisted ranks. This ship is so automated that it doesn't really require that many of us, but they have used magic to make every room bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. This gives us plenty of room for personal space." With that, she pulled open the door to the quarters and stepped aside.
Mary walked into a spacious suite that would not have looked out of place in any luxury hotel back on Earth. Petty Officer Scott watched carefully, hoping to see a shocked reaction. She was disappointed, though, as Mary simply walked in, took a quick look, and came back out. Scott shrugged and wrote 'Ltjg Mary Waters' on the door in black felt tip marker.
"You will eventually get a proper nameplate, but this will do until someone can make it for you. I will let someone in Engineering know to make one."
"Thank you," said Mary. "Are your quarters as comfortable?"
"Almost. We don't have private baths, but it isn't too bad. When I get promoted next, I will be eligible for better quarters."
"Well, feel free to visit me anytime. I have a younger sister and have gotten used to sharing. It would be nice to have a friend on board I could talk with."
Petty Officer Scott gave a shy smile. None of the other officers seemed to be as friendly as Mary seemed to be. She would have to be careful, but she would make it a point to try to get to know this new Officer a little better. As they both turned to make their way down to the Hangar Deck to get lunch, the SPS Dronth gave a sudden lurch … sideways, accompanied by a loud, almost gong-like sound. Scott and Waters were almost thrown off their feet.
"Battle Stations! Battle Stations! All hands to Battle Stations!" sounded over the *1MC. Scott and Waters rapidly retraced their route back up to the bridge.
By the time they reached the bridge, the Dronth had been brought to a halt, which was probably not what they should have done if they were actually under attack. Mary looked out the starboard window and saw a huge mass floating in the water alongside the ship.
"Evidently we looked like a meal to an over-zealous grabber," said Captain Vincent, looking at the stunned form of the largest ocean life-form he had seen to date. It was almost as long as the SPS Dronth!
"Bosun, call for the Damage Control Team to the Starboard side, midship," ordered Captain Vincent.
"Aye, Aye, Captain," replied the Bosun of the deck. "Emergency Response and Damage Control Team to Starboard side, midship! Emergency Response and Damage Control Team to Starboard side, midship!"
"Lieutenant, think you can find your way down there?" asked Captain Vincent. "I would like you to make an evaluation of any damage we have sustained."
"Aye, Aye, Sir," replied Mary, as she saluted and rushed out the door. Initially, she had trouble making any headway until she remembered the acronym *FUSPAD. Then she was caught up in the fierce swirl of people intent on getting where they had to be as quickly as possible.
She quickly caught up with the tail end of the Damage Control Party and slowed slightly so as not to over-run the last members. When they finally arrived at the site of impact, most of the group bunched together, making it hard for Mary to reach the point where a Master Chief was closely examining the wall of a compartment through the tiny glass window set in a door.
When she tried to push her way through, the last sailor in line turned angrily towards her and immediately stepped back. He yelled, "Officer coming through, make a hole!" From there on, those in front of her appeared to melt out of the way as they moved aside enough to allow her passage.
When she finally managed to make it up next to the Chief, she said, "How does it look, Master Chief? Captain Vincent ordered me to come down and see if I could add anything."
Master Chief Caleb Collins turned to look at the young Officer his Captain had saddled him with and sighed. He had helped in the real navy training of many a junior Officer and this looked like it would be one more episode of the same thing. He would start out by giving her the opportunity to show what she knew … which usually lasted until the junior Officer opened their mouths to exhibit their appalling lack of knowledge about how things really worked. After that, the old Chief would quickly terrorize the Newbie as he started their real education. That this Officer was young and pretty didn't matter; that her lack of real-world knowledge could potentially cost one of his crew their life did.
"Why don't you take a look and tell me, Lieutenant," said Chief Collins as he stepped back from the window.
Mary stepped up to the window and saw the inner part of the double outer hull. If this was the correct point of impact, and she knew that it was, because this was the exact compartment Harry had said she should pay particular attention to, there didn't appear to be any damage.
"From the looks of the wall opposite, there doesn't appear to be any damage to the inner part of the double outer hull," said Mary. "Without divers going over the side in questionable waters, we have no immediate way of determining if there is any real damage to the outer portion of the hull. If I were in charge … which I'm not … I would recommend a round the clock watch on this window in case something gives way, and make for port at best speed where any external damage can be safely ascertained."
Chief Collins was stunned. Maybe the Academy was actually doing things right now or they had lucked out and actually graduated someone with more common sense than knowledge. He turned to the man standing next to him.
"You heard the woman, Petty Officer Puckett, set up a watch on this window. Two hours rotation, at least 12 men so no one gets overly bored. Make sure there are extra sound-powered phones available in case one pair stops working. The Lieutenant and I are going to see the Captain."
Chief Collins turned a penetrating stare on Mary as several Damage Control Party members were being called out behind him. "Shall we, Lieutenant?"
"After you, Chief," said Mary, glad that the working uniform required trousers. She would never have been able to go up and down the stair-like ladders as quickly as she had done in a skirt.
With a quick nod, Chief Collins quickly made his way along the passageways and up the ladders to the bridge where they could report their findings to the Captain.
As they made their way onto the bridge, Captain Vincent turned to Mary and ordered, "Report!"
"Sir, by the time I arrived, Chief Collins had already assessed the possible damage. I simply verified what he already knew. We should make for port at best safe speed barring any further reports of hull failure so the outer hull can be properly and safely inspected."
Both the Captain and Chief Collins were impressed by the fact that she didn't try to take credit for what had happened, even if her analysis was the same as the Chief's. Perhaps she would make a good Officer after all.
"Helmsman, 30 knots and steer for home," ordered the Captain.
A/N: I know, unfamiliar acronyms! I'd better define them now before I get too much negative feedback.
*1MC: First Main Circuit. Think ship-wide intercom system.
*BCD: Bad Conduct Discharge.
*FUSPAD: Forward, Up, Starboard, Port, Aft, Down. Used as a reminder about shipboard traffic patterns during General Quarters and Man Overboard evolutions.
*MP: Military Police.
Sakushima Hold, Nov 22, 2029...
Dolphins and then Navy Divers had quickly verified that there was a big ding and a crack in the outer hull of the SPS Dronth. Mary knew there was no such thing because she knew Harry had actually cast an illusion to make it appear to be damaged. Nothing on Pern, even the huge Grabber Harry had stunned and left next to the Dronth could have caused such damage. It was a convenient excuse to put the Dronth into dry dock.
The word had been passed for everyone to pack up and move to the shore quarters. Anything left onboard would be safe but unavailable until the Dronth came out of dry dock again. Captain Vincent was having a last private chat with her before he left his ship.
"Well, I guess this is it. Just as The Weyrleader said, the Dronth is going into dry dock. I have officially placed you in charge of the repairs and refurbishment. Please take care of my ship."
"I will, Captain. You will get her back in much better shape than she is now. I would like to request you assign Chief Collins to 'assist'. Someone will need to understand the new capabilities and it's not like he will be able to practice once the ship comes out of dry dock."
"I can make that happen, but why can we not practice?"
"Sorry, Captain, I wish I could tell you, but Harry expressly told me not to. It's not that we don't trust you, it's that we cannot afford even the slightest slip-up."
"Understood," said Vincent, regretfully. He then turned to leave his ship, not to return for many months. After he left, Mary made her way to the bridge where she would ride the Dronth into dry dock. Her very own Linoth would be part of the Wing of dragons assigned to transfer the ship. She had a feeling Master Chief Collins was in for the surprise of his life.
Spath's Weyr, RTL Dry Dock, Nov 22, 2029, 0900...
Mary watched through the window as the SPS Dronth appeared underground in the dry dock facilities. She looked over towards the connecting tunnel and could just make out the Royal Tour that was watching the ship being placed on the supports. She would have to be very careful from here on out. Her own father couldn't become aware of what was taking place!
Spath's Weyr, RTL Dry Dock, Nov 25, 2029...
Mary, again on the bridge, watched as the first of many hull segments were replaced. This one was critical, in that it was where the explosives were going to be placed. Harry had not been able to determine anything about the explosives used, only that there had been a huge explosion and a towering pillar of water. Since she knew the exact time of the explosion, she decided to opt for the simplest option. This hull segment would be almost identical to the rest with one slight modification, the door leading into it would actually work. The hull segment was made of magically compressed steel, far stronger, with greater tensile strength than ordinary steel. To add to that, it was made up of layers with an inner layer of carbon-nanotube fiber, similar to that worn by the Dragonriders. To outward appearances, the wall on the inboard side of the hull segment was only slightly thicker than normal. If a conventional bomb went off inside this compartment, a loud noise would be heard, but nothing else would happen.
The inner and outer panels of the outer hull were similarly layered. The trickiest part of the entire procedure had been the wards which caused a variable diameter opening to form in the double hull allowing water to flood the compartment. If all the hull segments were flooded simultaneously, the SPS Dronth would quickly reach negative buoyancy and would sink in a matter of minutes. This particular hull segment had been a particular headache because she wanted to be able to expel an air bubble containing the contents of the segment while keeping everything intact. In the end, she managed to accomplish her desire by using the incoming water to enter and push the artificial bubble of air out using water pressure from the inboard side of the compartment. Once the door was closed, and the hull opening sequence was engaged, nothing in the compartment would ever be able to make it back into the ship.
All the other segments only had an illusion of welded plates and doors. The inner compartment walls were actually smooth, seamless, and proof against thousands of pounds of pressure.
Spath's Weyr, RTL Dry Dock, Jan 28, 2030...
Sixty-Four hull segments! They had managed to do one a day since starting. It helped somewhat that the steel from the removed segments could be reused for the replacement, but Mary'd had to go back a couple of times to arrange for delivery of additional derelict ship hulls to melt down for the additional required material. Without magic, this ship would far outweigh anything in its class back on Earth. As it was, she was trying her best to maintain the original weight even with the compressed and sandwiched construction.
Chief Collins had mentioned in passing how difficult it was to dock and undock a vessel as large as the Dronth, so she had designed special attachments for the hull plates along the centerline on the bottom. Each one now housed two special water thrusters which could drop down and shoot water in any direction. They acted like squirrel-cage fans which blew air through a large central opening. Instead of blowing air, however, these fans push hundreds of gallons of water a minute. With 32 plates along the bottom, the ship should be able to move up to 10 knots … sideways! She used the same wards to open a small hole in the bottom to allow the water thrusters to dropdown. While in operation, she had spells that made sure nothing but water entered the area where the squirrel-cage fans rotated. One of the last spells she worked on was one that not only helped protect the entire hull from collisions but also protected it from saltwater corrosion. Millions of sailors would love her if her accomplishment ever made it to general usage.
While she was overseeing hull segment replacements, Chief Collins was overseeing the overall streamlining of the hull and Island. There were no external ladders, conduits, or safety nets. The entire surface of the carrier was streamlined to an extraordinary degree, even down to making sure that any raised rivets were ground down smooth and refinished for protection against corrosion. Chief Collins supervised a crew of muggle and magical workers. The muggles did the main grunt work and the magical workers followed up adding the magical spells required to take the place of previously physical safety features. It was now next to impossible for someone to fall overboard.
On the Island, where protruding features were needed, such as antennae, RADAR domes, and lookout posts, magic was used to cause water to avoid those areas as if they were streamlined physically.
Another important part of Chief Collins' work was making sure that each and every external hatch could be sealed so it was absolutely watertight. This included the huge Hangar Deck outer doors. The entire Hangar Deck was now guaranteed waterproof if the carrier were to submerge. The big doors that separated the Hangar Deck into three giant rooms were almost unnecessary now.
The cargo areas below decks were not forgotten either. The cargo hatches that allowed each hold to be accessed were checked and double-checked for watertight integrity. The bulkheads between cargo holds were removed and replaced with the same specially constructed steel plates as were used for the hull, and each internal space had its air recirculation spells recast by the goblins. If anyone was inside any of the interior spaces and the carrier went down, they would live comfortably as long as their food held out. Even the Launching Bay on the aft end of the carrier received attention. Additional sliding bulkheads were installed that ensured no water could get in or out if the Dronth were in high seas … or submerged.
One of the first tests Mary carried out was to determine if a cell signal could be detected inside her first hull segment replacement. It couldn't, meaning that terrorists' favored method of remote detonation was removed. Anyone wishing to detonate a bomb in the compartment would have to be inside with the bomb.
Spath's Weyr, The Weyrleaders Outer Office, Jan 31, 2030...
"Courier!" yelled Jeofrey as the Rider hurried into Daniel's Office.
"You'll never believe what happened!" exclaimed Katie Bell excitedly.
"What's that," asked Daniel as he accepted the courier pouch.
"Britain competed in the Quidditch World Cup and almost won!"
"OK," replied Daniel, as deadpan as he could manage in the hope of getting a rise out of Katie.
"What do you mean, 'OK'!? The UK has never been in the finals and it was the Chudley Cannons who played. The final score was 470 points to 480 points. The Chudley Cannons were winning when the Japanese Seeker barely managed to grab the snitch ahead of the Cannons' Seeker!"
"Sounds exciting," said Daniel in as bored a tone as he could manage. This was phenomenal news but it was too good a chance to pass up to tease Katie.
"Exciting! I was there. All the points they scored were in only five hours of play! The game went so fast that I swear some of the spectators got whiplash from looking back and forth." Katie looked at Daniel with suspicion. "You're having me on, aren't you, you stupid git. Someone already told you."
"Busted," said Daniel with a smile. "You can't keep news like that away from the Quidditch players here on Pern."
"It would have been nice if the UK team had won. They played a much cleaner game than the Japanese. Why can't we have our own Quidditch teams?"
"No reason, I guess," replied Daniel. "Probably because no one has thought to organize any teams yet. There would be no trouble because everyone on the planet knows about magic, so there is no reason to have to hide the games."
Katie left the office with a thoughtful look on her face.
Spath's Weyr, Immigrant Baggage Claim and Pet Holding Area, Feb 8, 2030...
Knowing when and where Nassor had arrived in Spath's Weyr, Harry decided he wanted to see for himself how Nassor, a non-magical Assassin, had managed to get out of the holding area. He had silently apparated in well after the last of the Employees had gone home and now sat comfortably, high up on a wall shelf where he had a good view of the pet crate he knew Nassor had arrived in.
As he watched through his helmet's low-light display, he saw Nassor suddenly appear inside the open wire crate. Obviously, the spell that had been applied to him had been set to wear off when a specific set of circumstances occurred, like no one is around at night.
He watched as Nassor painfully turned in the now way too small crate and carefully reached through the wire side to unlatch the simple catch, After he tumbled out, he removed what appeared to be a small toy dog from his pocket, set it inside the cage, and closed and re-latched the door. Within seconds, the toy turned into a dog that was the same size and type as Nassor had been just minutes before. Someone had put a lot of thought into this incursion.
After Nassor painfully limped out of the area, Harry checked on the dog left behind. It seemed healthy and happy enough, especially when Harry gave it a dog treat.
He left a note for the morning shift on the crate asking them to have Weyr Security do a thorough investigation into the owners of this dog.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ministry of the Interior, Feb 2, 2030...
Cheki dropped Harry off on the roof of the building of the Ministry of the Interior. Harry carefully entered the building and made his way to a specific, little-used office. Once inside, he made himself comfortable in a corner where two shelving units came together. He made himself a comfortable, invisible nest and waited.
About an hour later (Harry hadn't been able to extract the exact time) Nassor entered the office with the dog Harry had seen on Pern, someone who appeared to be a low ranking Mullah, and a young wizard, barely 14 years old. Harry kept himself from reacting. He really needed to gather more intel rather than punish those present. He knew he had the luxury of time right now.
He watched as the Mullah demanded that the boy cast what was actually a very complicated spell on the dog. The boy opened an old, dog-eared book and searched for a minute before finding what he wanted. Then, despite the constant haranguing by the Mullah, carefully studied the spell before finally looking up and indicating he was ready. Nassor and the Mullah moved away, leaving the boy and the dog alone just under where Harry sat.
Having seen what had happened on Pern, Harry knew what they wanted to happen. Unfortunately, the boy was really too young to cast the level of spell required, he didn't have a wand, and his pronunciation of the Latin incantation was atrocious. Harry wasn't sure what would happen if he allowed the boy to continue, but he knew what he would have to do to save the dog. He put both Nassor and the Mullah in stasis and made himself visible. The boy was concentrating so hard on what he had been basically forced to do that he never even noticed Harry in his full Stealth Suit sitting above his head.
Harry grinned and decided to have a little fun. He crunched down into as small an area as he could, wrapping his arms around his knees and hunching over them. He slowly and silently extended the wings that were now a permanent part of his Suit ever since they had proven so useful in Africa. He also toggled on the LED 'eyes' on his helmet.
"You called, Master?" intoned Harry in a shallow, breathless tone. The boy froze and looked up with wide eyes at Harry sitting above him, looking for all the world like a hole in the corner of the room with two red eyes glaring out at him. The poor boy almost fell over in terror before he managed to grab hold of his courage and stand up.
Shakily, the young boy tried his best to play the part Harry had cast for him. "I did, oh mighty demon. I have two minor spells I require you to perform for me."
"And what is your name, O Mighty Wizard, that you can call such a demon as myself to do your bidding?"
Harry watched as the boy almost gave his name and thought better of it. "I know better than to give you a name, demon. I have no wish for you to have power over me! Just do my bidding and begone."
"As you say, Master. What is the first spell you wish me to perform?"
"This animal in front of me is to be temporarily transformed into a tiny toy replica. Once transformed, it is to stay that way until it finds itself alone inside a cage."
Harry cast a mild legilimens on the dog to keep it calm, levitated himself up off the shelves, and extended to his full height while releasing his wings as he slowly drifted down to the floor. He was just glad that he was inside his sealed suit because it was obvious that the unfortunate boy had had an accident. Harry turned to the dog and wandlessly and wordlessly cast the required, extremely intricate spell. As soon as he was finished, the dog instantly shrank down to toy size.
"What is next, my Master?"
The boy darted forward, grabbed the toy dog, and for the first time realized that the other two people in the room were standing as if they were statues. He darted over to Nassor, placed the toy dog into his pocket, and turned back to Harry.
"This person is to be changed into an exact replica of the dog you just converted. He is to be returned to his original form only after at least five days have passed and he must be in an area where no one will see him, preferably after dark."
Harry knew what was supposed to happen, so adjusted his spell accordingly. Soon Nassor had been turned into a dog and was lying across the room, patiently waiting as only a dog could. Harry had made sure he would remember nothing of what happened to him while in dog form.
"Begone, demon, now that you have successfully accomplished your tasks."
Harry turned to look carefully at the boy. He was small for his age and Harry was well aware of what that probably meant. He carefully cast legilimens, this time on the boy as he stared at Harry, almost quaking where he stood in fear of what he had supposedly brought forth.
'Fear not, Aymn Sleiman. These people who are mistreating you are evil men. I will return soon with a mighty dragon and a magic house that flies. When I do, have all of your friends who wish to escape from here with you and meet me at the north shore of the lake in King Abdullah Park. I may look like a demon, but these men truly are demons. The great dragon and I will meet you there in five days' time. Do you believe me?'
"I do not know what to believe, Demon. I have been treated as less than dirt all my life. Why should you be any different?"
"Because I am more like you than you can imagine," said Harry as he raised the visor on his helmet and looked into Aymn in the eyes. We both have magic, it's just that I have more training than you. You can have that training if you wait for me where I told you. Now, watch what I do to this man who would play God."
Harry waved his hand over Aymn and banished the mess caused when he voided himself. Then he healed Aymn as best he could in the limited time he had before he turned to the Mullah. He closed his helmet and brought the Mullah out of stasis but kept him paralyzed. The Mullah's eyes widened as he voided himself upon seeing a demon suddenly appear from out of nowhere.
He reached out with his mind and slipped into the mind of the Mullah as if he were an open door. He extracted all the information he needed and quite a bit he didn't.
'You, a supposed holy man, are playing at being a God,' said Harry roughly in his mind. 'I will show you what it is really like to be a God. Then you will take this dog back where he belongs before you go find your leaders and, at the most appropriate time, do to them all as they are trying to do to others. Once you ascend to Godhood, I will await you.'
Harry then showed him some of his happiest moments with Chekiath. He showed him memories of them flying high over the ground, flying in space, looking back at Earth, he showed him flying over Pern, he showed the Mullah everything he could never have but desperately wanted because of who he was and what he believed.
'You have used children to further your ends. You will stop that now or you will never ascend. You will now turn and leave here, taking this dog with you.'
The Mullah shook himself after seeing the glory of the vision provided him by the demon. He now had a new, holy purpose. He stood tall, turned, and left the room.
Harry turned and looked at Aymn and said, "I will see you in five days." Then he reengaged full Stealth Mode, including invisibility. He grabbed the old book of magic spells and quickly levitated himself so he was near the high ceiling and Aymn wouldn't accidentally brush up against him. He retracted his wings and turned off the LEDs for his demon eyes. After Aymn shakily left the room, Harry made his way back to the roof to re-join Cheki.
'You did a good thing, Harry'
'I hope so, my friend, I sincerely hope so.'
The courier pouches for the next week would show a series of unexplained explosions in Mosques all over Saudi Arabia that killed a good number of people, guilty and innocent alike. Eventually, the Saudi people got fed up with their leaders' lack of caring about them and revolted en masse. Saudi Arabia was just starting on the road to true freedom.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the north shore of the lake in King Abdullah Park, Feb 7, 2030...
Harry watched as a ragged group of 12 children and 3 adults slowly made their way towards him. They were close enough now for them to see the Dragon Egg when the dragons let go of it. He made sure the door was open and the boarding ladder was down before he gave the word to Cheki, 'OK, now should be a good time to release the Egg. They are close enough.'
Aymn had stressed for days over what the demon who appeared to really be a man had told him. If he had just told him in words, he would not have believed him, but he heard the words in his mind and saw the inherent truth behind them. Finally, he had gathered his friends and the three adults they relied on for help and told them everything. They discussed it for another two days. Finally, the adults had suggested that they at least go look. If there was no magic house, then they could continue as they had been. If it was there, they could decide what to do then.
Suddenly, almost right in front of them appeared a shiny house on raised legs. It had a single door and many windows, but it was the oddest house they had ever seen. They approached as quietly as they could, little dreaming that two dragons and a Mage were watching their every move. One of the adults quietly climbed the steps leading to the door and carefully looked inside. It was empty, but there was a table set up in the middle that held food and drink. They all rushed inside to get at the food. They hadn't eaten well for the past several days.
After they had all eaten their fill and were drowsily relaxing in the odd chairs, they heard a slight noise coming from the end of the house furthest from the door. They all looked up and Harry dropped his invisibility spell.
"Hello, Aymn. I told you I would be here for you."
As a group, they all ran like scared rabbits and bolted out of the door. They had gone a quarter of the way around the lake before they realized no one was chasing them. They slowly came to a stop, confused. They all knew about magic, but what they thought they knew and what it actually was were not necessarily the same. They all agreed that they had seen a man appear out of thin air. That had to be magic, but they couldn't immediately agree if it was good or evil.
Finally, Aymn decided for himself, "If it was evil, it would never have allowed us to escape. I'm going back. He promised me I could learn more and I want that."
He started back toward the house and slowly the others followed, slightly behind … just in case. When they re-entered the house the man was still sitting exactly where he had initially appeared. They slowly filed in, some of the children approaching the table to grab some of the food and secrete it about their clothes against future need. The man just watched, amused.
Slowly, the man stood and everyone tensed. He didn't come forward, however. He just reached into a pocket on his form-fitting suit and pulled out a bag which he held out toward them.
"If you really feel the need to take all the food, the very least I can do is offer you something to carry it in."
Aymn hesitantly closed the distance between them and quickly snatched the bag from the man's hand. He never made a move to try to grab Aymn or do anything that could be construed as being something to be afraid of.
Aymn looked closely at the strange man and finally said, "You were the demon that I called!"
Harry chuckled and replied, "Actually I was there waiting for you to show up. I was hiding on top of the bookshelves when you came in. When you started trying to cast a spell I had to step in or you might have done some serious harm to the poor dog."
"You stopped me because you were afraid I would hurt a dog!?" exclaimed Aymn. "Why care about a dog when you have such wealth?"
"I care about many things," said Harry. "I care that you want to come with me rather than take you by force. You saw how easily I controlled the Mullah. I could do the same to you and you would never know, but I would know and it is wrong to do something like that. My only excuse is that he was doing something that, if it had succeeded, would have killed a good many people. You have done me no harm and do not intend to do so. Why would I treat you with anything other than respect?"
"How do you know what he was trying to do? All he did was want a dog enchanted."
"A dog and an assassin," replied Harry. "His job is to destroy a great ship and all who sail on her. My job, which is now almost complete, is to stop him. I will not know for a little while if I have succeeded or not, but I am fairly sure I have."
"Why I have come here today is to offer you a place where you can live and learn in freedom, with no fear of others. If you accept my offer, we will take this magic house to a place where my friends will prepare you to go to our place of refuge. Before you can go, you will be required to take a magic oath that you will harm no one who is not actively trying to harm you. Until then, you will be taught about this new place and what awaits you there. You will be allowed to learn whatever you wish. When the time comes where you must decide to take the oath or not, you will be given a choice, take the oath and go to this place of safety, or do not take the oath and we will bring you back here."
"What about the Great Dragon you said would be with you? We saw nothing of any dragon when we got here!"
"Look out the windows here and I will ask him to show himself to you."
All of Harry's guests moved to look out the windows on the side of the Egg away from the door and looked out expectantly.
"Chekiath, would you let our new friends see you, please?"
There was a loud gasp of mixed fear and wonder when the giant reptile appeared, lying on the ground so as not to tower over them. 'Hello, little humans, my Rider is most pleased that you have come to visit and hopes you will accept his hospitality. May you find peace and shelter under our wings.'
"He talked in my head!" gasped Aymn. "Just like you did."
"Well, it makes sense if you think about it. His mouth is not shaped like ours, so he cannot talk like we do. He must talk in our minds or we cannot hear him."
"So, are you willing to trust me enough to go to a new place with me?" asked Harry. "Take your time to decide. If you want to stay here, I will leave you and you will never have this chance again. If you come with me, you will still have a chance later to return here and not go to our refuge."
Harry waited while they argued amongst themselves. In the end, what decided them all to go with him was the fact that he had asked. No one had ever given them a choice before. They felt it was worth a chance to find out if what he told them was true.
Harry walked over to the door, drew up the boarding ladder, and closed the door. He then, to their confusion, opened the door and lowered the ladder again. He simply said, "We are here."
They looked out and saw they were not where they had been. Outside the strange house was now entirely different!
Dragon Isle, Lecture Hall 1, Feb 11, 2030...
Today Aymn and his friends were going to get their chance to meet a dragon up close and personal. They were in the required colonist lecture about Dragons and other intelligent species. The lecture was supposed to end with them getting a chance to meet a real dragon! So far all they had done was watch a fairly interesting movie, but it just looked like a science fiction movie with very poor special effects. If they hadn't already met a real dragon, he wasn't sure the movie would have helped.
It shouldn't be much longer though, the movie had just ended and someone was walking up onto the stage.
Sakushima Hold, Feb 15, 2030...
Nassor Mustafa had finally managed to get signed on as a Seaman Second Class. His early years working on various small vessels, and later working on larger ships up to Cruiser size, were paying off. He knew enough to satisfy those who were hiring that he knew what a sailor should know. He would be a very good sailor as well, while he scouted out this new situation and determined the best place to plant his bomb. Once he knew where to plant it, he would build it and set it up to detonate it remotely. He would be ashore while they would be at the bottom of this accursed planet's ocean.
He walked up the gangway and into the Hangar Deck without being challenged once. Even though he had planned this to happen as close to the semi-annual dragon egg hatching as possible, he was still amazed at how easy everything was for him! He looked up and saw a petite female Officer looking his way. Perhaps he could enjoy himself while he was here before he sent them all to their watery graves.
Mary felt dirty as his thoughts brushed against hers, especially after he saw her looking at him. She quickly withdrew the majority of her mind from contact, leaving only enough so she would always know exactly where he was at all times. She knew she could take him over at any time if she had to, but preferred to leave him to his own devices … at least for now.
Dragon Isle, Lecture Hall 2...
Today they were going to their first lecture on the Planet Pern, They were supposed to learn about the different animals and plants and what to watch out for.
He doubted this lecture would be as interesting as the first. He had actually made friends with a Chinese Fireball called Tozaith!
SPS Dronth, Apr 7, 2030...
Nassor Mustafa was supposed to be taking inventory of the emergency stores in Hold #4 but he was also still looking for the best place to put his explosives. He had finished the inventory as quickly as he could, so he could have extra time to search this area of the ship. Just as he was about to exit the hold, he noticed another door in the side of the ship, outboard of the hold.
He stepped up to the door and looked through the round glass porthole and saw an empty room. This could be it! He carefully undogged the door and stepped through to get a better look at the entire room. It appeared to be perfect for his needs. It was small enough that a powerful enough shaped charge explosion should punch through the outer hull while damaging the flimsy inner wall so that water pressure would soon finish what the explosives had started. If he placed two shaped charges, then there would not even be an inner wall to worry about. Now all he had to do was collect his materials, process them into what he needed, place them appropriately, set his remote trigger, and he would be ready.
Mary looked at the Opening Indicator Panel, nicknamed the Christmas Tree, and noticed one light in particular that momentarily went from green to red and back again. She smiled. Nassor had taken the bait. This particular light had a single toggle switch below it. If she changed the position of that switch, it would initiate a sequence of events that would end up with the entire contents of the room ejected from the ship, but still surrounded in an almost solid bubble of air. She really wanted to toggle the switch now, but she had her orders. She couldn't use that switch until November 4th. As soon as the light changed state on that day, she would be free to flip the switch. Until then, she maintained a visual watch on the board and a light mental watch on Nassor.
Dragon Isle, Lecture Hall 3, Apr 7, 2030...
Aymn and his friends had been told they would not be able to leave for Pern until November 4th at the earliest, even if they decided they wanted to go and were able to qualify to go. None of them understood the reason for the delay, since many people came and left within a matter of weeks. They weren't going to complain though. They had been assigned an Executive Guest Suite fairly near one of the kitchens and adjoining dining room where they could get anything they wished to eat at any time of the day or night.
Not much further along were the Lecture Halls where they learned all about Pern, magic, and other intelligent species, including dragons. They had been here so long already that some of them were going through the lectures again to make sure they knew everything they could about their new home. They had all decided fairly quickly that they would be fools indeed to pass up such an opportunity.
The lecture in this particular room concerned magic. The best part of it was that for the last two hours of the scheduled time, they were offered one-on-one tutorials with some of the resident wizards and witches. Aymn realized he didn't really know that much, and he and those in his group like him were doing their best to absorb as much information as they could before they left. They didn't know when they might have another chance.
For the purpose of the classes, they were given 'training wands' so they could practice the spells they were learning. It was sheer pleasure to finally find that he could do real magic! If this wasn't heaven, it had to be the next best thing.
SPS Dronth, Apr 20, 2030...
"General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands to Battle Stations! Ensure all watertight doors are closed and dogged tightly!"
"Not again!" exclaimed Bowen Puckett, BM2, on the deck crew, as he ran at top speed for his GQ Station. "We've had one of these drills every day since the beginning of the month! What are they trying to do!?"
What Ltjg Mary Waters was trying to do was get the time that all hatches were secured down as fast as possible. She had direct contact with Chief Collins and he was going around personally 'encouraging' all those who were slow to respond. The drills all lasted until the Christmas Tree was a solid green, a fact that they were doing their best not to let the rest of the crew know about.
Dragon Isle...
Today Aymn had asked for and received permission to go riding on Dragon back! He would be flying on Tozaith and his friends would be flying on other, unbonded dragons. They had all received simple passenger flight suits for their use while on the island. The lecture on their proper use had been short and specific. The lecture on the flight had been even simpler; talk with your dragon and do what he tells you to do.
South of Sakushima Weyr, May 5, 2030...
Nassor stumbled upon one of the perfect ingredients for his bomb … quite literally. He had been looking for something he could use in making his bomb when he had stepped into a hidden shallow hole. This caused him to lose his footing and fall forward. His right hand immediately sank, up to his wrist, into the most disgusting pile of excrement he had ever seen. He immediately felt relatively lucky. If he had tripped even a few seconds later, he probably would have done a face plant into the same mess. He looked down sadly at his right hand, 'It had to be my right hand,' he thought to himself with annoyance.
He wiped his hand off on the surrounding grasses as much as he could and then surveyed his find. The pat was huge! It could only have come from one of those cursed dragons that were always flying about. Now that he knew where it was, he could harvest it over time and combine it with the other ingredients he had to make a quite satisfactory explosive.
He put on his rubber gloves and carefully pulled off a small amount for testing. He put it in the container he had that had all the other ingredients in the quantities needed for the tiny pinch of dung he had added. Once mixed, he added a long fuse, laid it out, and lit it. He ran back from the container quite a ways and threw himself to the ground. Seconds later there was a most impressive explosion! He was lucky. This was a most impressive quality of dung. Then he noticed that the rubber glove he had donned to work with the dung was rapidly dissolving and his right hand had turned pale as the outer layer of skin had been eaten away. He was going to have to rethink how he was going to get this to the carrier.
Nearby, an invisible Linoth sat watching intently, allowing Mary to watch through her eyes. When the explosion went off, she quickly sent word to all the dragons that it was nothing to worry about, just a small test she was conducting. She didn't want Nassor discovered by anyone else. While Linoth was watching Nassor, Mary was busy installing small video cameras up near the ceiling at each end of the room. She was curious to see what he was doing. The cameras were wide-angle, normal light or infrared, and the size of small buttons. The batteries would last for a year, and the signal output was routed directly to her room where she had her computer set up to record everything.
Dragon Isle, Lecture Hall 3, May 5, 2030...
Today was the end of the lecture series on magic, the fifth one that Aymn and his friends had attended. The other attendees were slowly filing out, but Aymn and his friends had been asked to stay behind. They had all moved up to the seats closest to the main stage.
"Aymn, you and the others here are not our normal immigration candidates," said their magic instructor, Amelia Cole. "You have been brought here by The Weyrleader himself. As such, he has personally vouched for you all. Even though he still wants you all to learn as much as you can about the world around you and Pern in particular, because that is where he hopes you will eventually go, he realizes that you may decide to take your chances and stay here on Earth. He has not told me why you cannot go to Pern for so long, he has even instructed me not to discuss it with anyone else, including himself, something I need to stress that you need to remember.
"He did tell me that, if you or any of your friends showed an aptitude in magic that I should give you your own beginner's training wands that you may keep if you decide to stay on Earth or that may be exchanged for your own personalized wand if you decide to go to Pern. These wands will not allow you to perform any spells you haven't learned here, but that should be enough to start building up your magical core. From here on, I want you all to attend a daily tutorial on 'Magic Spells and How to Cast Them'. It will be in here every morning starting at 0800.
"If you would step up here, one at a time, I will bind the wands to each of you. Aymn?"
Shocked, Aymn stood and walked up onto the stage next to the instructor. She handed the wand to him, handle towards him. When he took hold of the handle, she retained her grip on the shaft, pointed her wand at his hand holding the wand, and said something he didn't understand. Instantly, a feeling of well-being filled him and his friends later told him a pale blue glow had surrounded him and his new wand.
Stunned at his great fortune, he staggered back to his seat as one of his friends was called up to the stage to take his place and get his wand as well.
South of Sakushima Weyr, May 12, 2030...
Nassor had quickly found out the normal plastics, cloth, and even uncoated metal did not react well with Dragon dung. He had finally found an old polyethylene, Teflon-lined plastic bucket with a tight-fitting lid that had been used to store Sulfuric Acid for some reason. It seemed to do the trick. It was only a ten-gallon bucket but was about all he could carry anyway, once it was full. He could even use the lid to scoop up the dung and, as long as he remembered to bring something disposable to wipe down the lid with, it also kept the smell from being noticed. He would bring it aboard at night when everyone was asleep. He was surprised at the laxity of security, but it definitely worked in his favor.
He managed to get cargo hold #4 assigned to him full time and he was the only one who was ever in the space, so he had no worries someone might stumble upon his work. He was so busy with his preparations, he never noticed that no one else went into any of the other holds unless they needed to load or unload the contents.
He'd found twenty 50-gallon carbon steel storage tanks which he surreptitiously moved into 'his' compartment. He did his mixing in the storage tanks and left the finished product there. When all the tanks were filled he would have enough explosives for his needs. They would also do nicely for channeling the explosions in the direction he desired. Now all he needed to do was gather a sufficient quantity of that accursed dung.
Dragon Isle...
'Amelia?'
"Yes? Who is this?"
'This is Tozaith. I wasn't sure until recently, but Aymn and some of his friends have the potential to become Riders. I thought someone should know.'
'Thank you, Tozaith. Will you ask them to meet me in the Weyrleader's Office please?'
'As you wish.'
Amelia hurried up to the Weyrleader's Office. When she arrived, she had to wait a short while before seeing him, which gave Aymn and his friends a chance to get there as well.
"Aymn, I need to see the Weyrleader first, but then he will probably call you all in. Please wait here."
"Yes, Amelia," replied Aymn respectfully.
When Amelia was allowed into the Office, Skip looked at her questioningly.
"Tozaith informed me that Aymn and some of his friends have the potential to become Riders. I felt it important enough to pass the word on to you. They should be on Pern in time for the November hatching, so I don't think that will be a problem, but I thought we might want to afford them a bit more protection so they can get there safely."
"Sounds like a good idea to me," agreed Skip as he opened his drawer to check on its contents. "Did you bring them with you?"
"They are waiting outside."
"Well, go get them and I will give them each a Dragon Pendant."
"I don't think we should tell them everything the pendants are capable of yet, do you?"
"Probably not. I will tell them the bare minimum. Please bring them in."
Amelia went to the door and ushered the 12 youngsters and 3 adults into the room.
"This is the Weyrleader currently in charge of Dragon Isle. He speaks with the full authority of The Weyrleader who speaks to all dragons. Dragonrider Taylor, this is Aymn Sleiman and his friends."
"Welcome to the Weyr at Dragon's Isle," said Skip, formally. "I have here some rather special Pendants that will allow you to call a dragon if you need help and will allow that dragon to find you no matter where you may be. Once they have been fastened around your neck, no one else can take them off and I highly recommend you never remove them, no matter what the reason."
Aymn and his friends were suitably impressed and received their Dragon Pendants with the same thankfulness as they had received all the other wonders given them since arriving.
SPS Dronth, July 17, 2030...
Nassor was finally about halfway finished with his bomb-making. He would have been finished by now if he hadn't had to go to sea so often. At least when the daily General Quarters was called he had some extra time to work on the bombs. He would have to concentrate on stockpiling as much of the dung as possible when the Dronth was tied up to the pier. Then he would have the materials he needed to continue his work.
What he didn't realize was that Mary was watching his progress and she did whatever she could to slow him down. He couldn't finish until early November.
Dragon Isle...
Aymn and his friends were just finishing up their daily physical fitness exercise sessions, now given after their daily magical lessons. It had been told to them that they would be better able to protect themselves from other magic users if they were in better physical shape and could simply dodge any incoming spells. It had sounded logical, but who knew it would be so hard!
This was their third session and Aymn thought he was going to die.
SPS Dronth, Sept 4, 2030...
Mary walked down to Hold #4 to find Nassor just entering the mostly filled hold. She saw him glance guiltily over towards the compartment where he was building his explosives before he moved to intercept her. 'Really, this is supposed to be a World-Renowned International Assassin!' she thought to herself. 'Could he be any more obvious about what he doesn't want me to see!'
She was studying the neatly stacked, securely tied down cargo and making notations on a form on her clipboard when Nassor got to her.
"What's up, Lieutenant?"
"Just a routine space inspection. I noticed this space had been left out last inspection, so wanted to make sure I didn't miss it this time. Looks like you've been taking good care of the cargo, though the floor could use a little work. I saw some loose paper on my way in."
"Ah. If I had known there was going to be an inspection, I would have made sure everything was ship-shape beforehand."
"Which is why this is a surprise inspection," replied Mary as she continued casually around the room. "So far, everything looks pretty good, though."
As she got back to the entrance, just before she exited the space, she 'just happened' to notice Nassor's special compartment, "What's this? I don't see another compartment on the inspection list."
"That's because it's next to the ship's hull and is not supposed to be used for anything."
"Well, it looks like it's being used for something now," she replied, purposely egging him on to see if she could get him to panic. "I can see all sorts of odd things in the room. Care to tell me what's going on?"
Nassor managed to paste a patently false embarrassed look on his face before he replied, "I am trying to invent something that I can go into business and sell once I get out of the service. I will need more than my military pension to live on and thought I could use the unused space to try to come up with something."
"What is it?" asked Mary with faked curiosity.
"It's a new form of fertilizer," said Nassor, anxiously. "My father grows crops back home and I know how important proper fertilizer can be to growing the absolute best plants."
'Good story. Not bad on the spur of the moment,' thought Mary. "Well, just make sure nothing from there can possibly manage to get out here. We can't have our cargo polluted with foreign material. Carry on, but make sure to let your supervisor know if you run into any trouble and need to clear out the compartment in a hurry."
Nassor looked ridiculously relieved to hear her final comment. As she walked out, Mary smiled to herself at the thought that he would actually want to remove any of the contents from the room. She also knew that if she had pushed just a bit more in the wrong direction she would have been forced to kill him early. She had felt him tensing up, preparing to attack her.
Dragon Isle...
Aymn and his group were now routinely finishing their physical training with no problem. He just hoped they didn't throw anything new at them. They were feeling pretty good about all they'd accomplished so far. He looked up as he saw Amelia approach.
"Hi, Aymn," greeted Amelia with a smile. "You've been with us for a while now and I thought you might appreciate a chance to give back for some of what's been done for you so far as well as learning something new."
"What would that be?" asked Aymn curiously as his friends gathered around.
"Why not follow me to the hospital and you can see for yourself." She turned and started on a run for the Island hospital, which was fortunately nearby since the physical training field was used to help give some patients therapy prior to being released.
As they entered the dragon ward, they could see a yearling unbonded dragon they knew slightly sitting up on his hind legs while a doctor did something to one of the scales on his stomach. They all followed Amelia over near the doctor.
"Hello, Alice," said Amelia. "I have some prospective helpers here who want to learn about dragon care. I thought I would show them one of the main things they will be looking for."
Alice Wagner turned and looked at the 15 people arrayed behind Amelia and raised her eyebrow. "Starting a prospective Rider class early?" she asked.
"No, just putting some long-time residents' idle hands to good use," said Amelia with a smile.
Alice Wagner proceeded to take time to demonstrate what was wrong with her patient, how to spot problems, where to look for them, and what to do if they found any such problems. By the time she was through, the small group had as good an initial introduction to one of the health problems young dragons faced as could be expected on short notice.
As they finished up, Amelia thanked Alice for her time and escorted the group back out into the main caldera.
"I am going to schedule a meeting with the Weyrling Master currently here with the duty Weyr. Her name is Katie Bell and she is one of the original Weyrhealers as well. She should be able to give you some good information and I bet your new dragon friends will love to let you practice on them."
SPS Dronth, North of Sakushima Hold, Nov 4, 2030, 0755...
Nassor was having problems. He couldn't get his phone to connect to the phone in the chamber no matter what he did. He was going to have to find out when the Dronth was going to be at sea after he got ashore, and rig a timer to go off then. He entered the chamber, dogged the hatch, and started walking towards the explosives that held his phone detonator.
SPS Dronth, On the Bridge...
Mary was closely monitoring the Christmas Tree and had been since early this morning. Harry had told her the time the explosion had occurred, but she didn't want to take any chances. At 0755, she saw the light she had been monitoring flicker. As soon as it turned green again, she flicked the special toggle.
SPS Dronth, In the Hold Compartment...
Something was wrong. He could see an opening in the outer hull of the ship and water was coming in! It was odd though because it was swiftly flowing along the walls, floor, and ceiling before forming an ever-larger pool in front of the door he had just entered through. He ran back and tried to un-dog the hatch, but something was keeping him from reaching it.
He turned back and saw that the opening in the outer hull was growing larger quickly. Suddenly, the water pressure inside was more than the water pressure outside and everything in the compartment enclosed in the bubble of air was being squeezed out the opening. What was happening? How could he salvage his operation and live to fight another day? As the last of the bubble was expelled from the Dronth, he realized there was no way he could complete this operation and live through it. He quickly dialed the detonation number and hoped his explosives would be close enough to rupture the hull next to it. He pressed dial and never felt the blast that killed him.
SPS Dronth, On the Bridge...
Mary felt the slight push as the last of the air bubble was expelled and she felt the larger push as there was a huge explosion off the starboard beam. Immediately she triggered the 1MC circuit that she had on standby.
"General Quarters! General Quarters! All Hands to Battle Stations! Ensure all watertight doors are closed and dogged tightly!"
She watched her Christmas Tree closely. Most of the board was already green, now the few red lights quickly turned green and it was a solid green in a matter of seconds. She again reached out to the 1MC Circuit that she had appropriated as Captain Vincent and the rest of the bridge crew looked at her in shock.
"Engine Room, All ahead one-third."
She waited a fraction of a second before she got the speed change she was expecting. Since the Dronth's engines were not using any air, they would operate similar to nuclear engines in a submarine. There was no need to shut down engines and run on batteries. The Dronth's engines were better than any battery.
"Dive, Dive, Set bow plane for a descent angle of 30 degrees."
Again she waited while she got the indication that Chief Collins was performing as he had been trained. Once they were completely underwater, she flooded more 'tanks' in the hull to give them a definite negative buoyancy and turned to the 1MC again.
"Settling nicely, Chief, All engines Full Stop."
She looked over at the panicked bridge crew and took mercy on them and the rest of the crew not in the know and spoke into the 1MC once again.
"For most of the crew, this will be a rather novel situation. Aircraft carriers are not meant to submerge, at least and continue to operate. During the last refit of the Dronth, that minor problem was overcome. You are now on board the very first submersible aircraft carrier.
"We will be settling to the bottom in a few minutes and we must all do our best to remain absolutely silent. We will stay on the bottom for 30 minutes at which time we will return to the surface and proceed to port.
"Once we surface, I will fill everyone in on what has happened."
Suddenly she remembered a minor but significant detail, so turned to the 1MC again.
"I just remembered that we have a dolphin in the loading dock at the end of the ship. Would someone who is close, please get there as soon as possible to ensure our guest is OK."
"Lydia Scott on my way!"
Mary glanced up at the livid Captain but was busy expanding her mental senses to ensure everything was working fine with the new 'submarine'. Once she was satisfied, she looked up at the Captain and said, "We did tell you this would save your crew and it will. I'm sorry it was such a surprise, but we couldn't take the chance that the one person who initiated this entire scenario would find out we knew what he was up to. Please try to be as calm as possible until we are back on the surface. I will explain everything to everyone at that time."
They all waited in a very uncomfortable silence with the Captain glaring at her periodically. Finally, the 30 minutes were up. Mary returned to her control board and the 1MC.
"Stand by to surface!"
Mary carefully checked her controls and indicators and again made a ship-wide announcement.
"Surface, Surface, Surface!"
Chief Collins responded with, "Bow planes rigged in!"
Mary ordered, "Engines, one-third."
She again checked her indicators and saw that everything was operating as it should. If anything, they were coming up a little fast, but, given the near panicked state of the crew, that couldn't be bad. As they finally surfaced and were at their normal operational level, she made one last announcement, "All Clear, we are now on the surface again and all normally open hatches may be opened."
She looked at the Captain and said, "I give you the Con."
The Captain looked back at her, angrily and replied, "I have the Con. Helm lay in a course for Sakushima Hold, best speed."
"Aye, Captain!"
"Now, Lieutenant, I believe you said you would explain what just happened."
For the next hour, Mary spoke over the 1MC and explained in an abbreviated manner what had happened and why leaving out all mention of time jumps. She admitted that she was a mage and was entirely capable of lifting the Dronth from the bottom to the surface by herself if anything had gone wrong, but it hadn't. Chief Collins had been her able assistant through the entire evolution and, once they returned to port, the Captain would be given the option of training his crew to be part-time submarine sailors. They had just proven that the Dronth could submerge and surface. The only thing that remained to be proved was that they could actually operate underwater. SONAR had been installed in a small blister on the Dronth's bow, normally underwater, and hi-def, day/night cameras could be mounted in strategic spots around the ship to give a view of the surrounding sea while submerged.
When she finished up, Petty Officer Scott called up on a private channel to let Mary know that their dolphin passenger had hit his head and lost consciousness temporarily but retained enough unconscious thought processes to be able to remain afloat and not drown. He was even now being treated for a minor cut and would be transferred to the new Dolphin Hold once they reached port.
Dragon Isle...
Aymn and all his friends were finally leaving their newfound friends on Dragon Isle and would be going to Pern. They had packed all the belongings that they had accumulated over their stay on the Island, said their good-byes, some almost tearful, and would soon be entering the magic house once more to start another grand adventure. Aymn could hardly wait.
Hogwarts, Nov 4, 2030, 0800...
Mary tiredly entered her Quarters she had left so many months ago, yet only a half-hour ago. She was tired, yet energized because she had helped to save a ship full of very wonderful people. She wasn't sure Captain Vincent would ever forgive her, but she had 'only been following orders'. Surely he had to understand that concept if nothing else. Hopefully, he would soon enough realize that "All's well that ends well."
She began to get ready for bed. She had classes to teach. Tomorrow was Tuesday, only the second class day of the week.
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