Chapter 18

He may have been dressed in a very ordinary way, but Neville Sage walked down the Railgun Complex entrance ramp in the manor of a flamboyant emperor entering a newly conquered city. Flanked by Carson Rake and Colonel Joshua Cook, Sage looked approvingly upon the armed guards he had ordered to be stationed there.

"Very good; let's proceed to my quarters" he ordered, beckoning the four wheel drives to pick him up for the trip down the main tunnel.

Sarah and April sat in the front of the lead vehicle allowing Sage to sit in the back and play the part of respected leader, which he intended to enjoy as much as possible. Even though on Mars, Sage was under the direct command of Premier Olive Roux, it had always bothered him that people like April Diaz were considered to be of higher rank than he. His only consolation was that he outranked her husband Luis and daughter Abigail when they were on the Mars Transfer Vehicle.

Sarah had organised the best room for Sage close to her office, where he could keep a close eye on her and bark out as many orders as he needed to feel important. Of course he sneered at what he had been given, even though it was the best thing he'd seen since crash landing back on Earth. Just like Sarah's, this room had a large outer office where Sage could intimidate people from the comfort of own home.

"I must admit Mrs. Diaz, I was surprised to see you here; what made you to decide coming to Earth was a good idea?" Sage asked.

There was no doubt about it; Sage was still very good at intimidation. He made sure April and Sarah sat with their backs to the door while Rake and Cook sat opposite them. To make things worse, Sage kept walking around behind them.

"Several reasons, and one of the main ones was to help Sarah get you and your... friends back to Mars; that way we can get back to building our own colony in the Asteroid belt."

"So you did this for me" Sage pretended to be sweet "How good of you; now when do I get to leave?"

No matter how hard she tried, Sarah found it hard not to feel nervous.

"Well um... the extension work being done on the Railgun is coming along nicely..."

"WHY DO I HAVE TO WAIT?" Sage shouted as he thumped his fist on the back a table "You sent that shuttle into space to save Diaz's husband and kid, so why can't we leave now?"

"That shuttle had to be stripped down to the bare bones to get it into orbit" Sarah explained "And even then we could only send the two children to keep the weight down; I was originally meant to go but the added acceleration needed would have killed us all. If you want to send multiple capsules with your entire army and all the supplies they'll require, then we need to have enough length in the Railgun to get them up to speed without killing anyone. Blue and Calla still passed out from the high G-Forces they had to endure, so I'm sorry but you really need to wait till it's finished."

"How long?" Sage asked.

"Four months" Sarah replied bluntly.

Sage face turned red with rage.

"FOUR MONTHS; YOU THINK I'M GOING TO WAIT FOUR DAMN MONTHS?"

"Err... but you are much safer down here than you were on the surface; we've survived a number of meteorites in the last sixteen years and..."

"I don't care about that, I just want to get back to Mars and make certain people pay the price for trying to kill me" Sage fumed.

"Sorry but you're too late" April interjected "The man who tried to kill you was murdered by the Deep Council."

"Klein is dead?" Sage pondered.

"Yes, both him and Topolski; the Deep Council were worried they might start giving away the council members identities."

To everyones surprise, Sage roared with anger and kicked a chair up against the wall.

"DAMN IT; I NEEDED HIM TO FIND OUT WHO WAS ON THE COUNCIL!"

"Well you don't need to worry about that either" April told the angry man "because the Deep Council has been deposed. They tried to have me killed with an arranged accident when I left Mars, but they totally stuffed it up and ended up killing Talon Descott instead, along with Marshal Baron."

Sage calmed down a little and started to pace back and forth.

"Ah... so that's what happened to Prime Governor Redding's grandson. When he ordered the execution of the Earth bound members of the Deep Council, his wild ranting made it difficult to work out what had gone wrong. I knew Talon was dead but... yes it all makes sense now. So who gave the Council Members away? It could only have been Gretel Descott?"

"Yes; as soon as her son's ship was destroyed, she calmly got onto the base intercom and recited the names of every single Deep Council member before anyone could stop her. Olive Roux told me Gretel then tried to walk out of an airlock onto the surface of Mars without a pressure suit, but they managed to stop her."

"Well then, that is good news; now I don't have to worry about tracking them all down" Sage actually smiled "All I need to do is walk in and take over; an easy job when you're side is the only one with guns."

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Several months had passed since the Dream Chaser shuttle had made its emergency landing in California, and Abigail had slowly become more accustomed to the very different lifestyle forced upon her on Earth. She no longer noticed the stronger gravity, or the different temperatures and aromas she would encounter from day to day. Indeed she now realised how constant and sterile living on Mars had really been. With Blue now gone, Calla had taken it on herself to assume a protective role over the young man's sister, making sure nothing and no one put excessive pressure on her; but this was now increasingly becoming unnecessary. Even so, Gran decided it may be best to first approach Calla with some of her concerns about Abigail, so when the young girl returned to camp with her escorts after collecting firewood, she was taken aside for a talk.

"Everyone seems to enjoy listening to the stories you girls are telling after dinner" Gran noted.

"Yeah well... real life adventures are more entertaining than chatting about the day's work followed by a discussion about tomorrows chores" Calla shrugged.

"Indeed..." Gran nodded being oddly agreeable "...but a normal boring life certainly brings with it far less chance of unexpected death or injury; what I'm saying is... dull can be healthy."

"Sorry but I'd dispute that assumption" Calla argued "Before my family left New Zealand, the normal boring parts of our lives could often be punctuated with moments of extreme peril. You may not be as safe here are you think you are."

Calla thought this comment would bring a reply of anger from Gran, but she just shook her head and chuckled.

"There are so many things you do not know my dear. Believe me, we are quite safe here... within reason of course. I was wondering though, if you little friend could... shall we say... lighten up a bit on stories about Neville Sage."

"What... why? These aren't stories about Sage, they're Abigail's recollections of what happened; what she went through. Sage is only in the stories because of the part he played."

"Well I believe the thought of him being out there somewhere, is making people nervous and I for one would feel better not hearing his name bantered about every night."

Without waiting for a reply, Gran turned and walked back to the out buildings. Calla frowned as she thought about what she had been told. It seemed to her that Gran was the only person truly worried about Sage and although Calla felt she was being a bit vindictive, she did not feel inclined to do her captor any favours.

Gran could feel her heart racing as she walked back towards the tunnel. A few people tried to talk with her but she just waved them off, saying she would catch up with them later. Back in her room, she locked the door and went to her bedroom. Sitting down near her pillow, the let her head drop into her hands as she took a few deep breaths. Eventually all courage left her and she reached down and opened the bottom draw of her bedside table. Hidden at the back behind some clothes was an ornate box. The inside was lined with red felt and contained a good sized glass bottle and two small glasses. The bottle was filled with a clear liquid that had showed a slight blue tinge when held up to a white light. Removing the stopper, Gran filled one of the glasses to the brim before throwing the drink down her throat.

Across the room from where she sat was an old dressing table with a mirror on the top, but Gran could not bring herself to lift her head and look into it; she felt too ashamed.

That evening after dinner, the new tradition of gathering around Abigail and Calla continued. Every last person was mesmerised as they listened to the story of how Sage released the clamps holding the nose capsule of the Mars Transfer Vehicle to the main body of the ship, setting Abigail and her father adrift in space. After Calla had interrupted to insist the ship be referred to as the Star Cruiser in future, Abigail went on to tell of the near decompression they suffered, until the rear hatch had been slammed shut only a split second later. There were gasps of near terror as she described the damage done to her eyes, and told of her father bandaging her face and fitting her space suit. The part where Luis and Abigail managed to make radio contact with the Railgun Complex lifted everyone's spirits, but there wasn't a dry eye in the room when she described how it felt to learn that her older brother was still alive, and to talk with him for the first time.

Calla took over the story and told the crowd of Blues plan to use a Dream Chaser mini shuttle as a rescue craft, and his determination to get it ready in time to save his family.

"It wasn't easy; even though they knew there were a few shuttles in the belly of the giant ship, nobody had any idea where they were, so it was a race against time to get all the other equipment out of the ship and find one."

"But you obviously found it in the end" Eric stated a little cynically.

"Yes but they we discovered other problems" Calla continued "Because the Railgun had not yet been extended, the rate of acceleration needed to get it up to speed was far too great; and anyone attempting to launch that way would almost definitely die. The answer was to cut out as much weight s possible because the lighter the craft the more added speed it would gain from its booster rocket. We spent days trying to get the weight down far enough but in the end it was still too heavy."

"So you removed a bit more and just made it" Eric sighed.

No one was sure why, but Eric was in a particularly bad mood that evening. Normally he would be just as engrossed as all the others.

"Err... actually, the engineers had already gone as far as they dare; internal panels had been removed exposing the wires and plumbing, most seats were gone and the ones left had been slightly butchered, even the internal frame structure had over a hundred holes drilled into it to reduce mass. In the end everyone thought they had failed because the only choice left was to remove one of the two crew members, but the rescue plan needed them both. This was why I took the place of Doctor Spencer; at the time I was thirteen and less than half her weight."

"You are rather skinny" Eric sneered.

Doing her best to ignore the remark, Calla went on to describe as much of the launch as she could remember, before she and Blue has blacked out due to the excessive acceleration. The details of the rescue itself kept everyone on the edges of their seats, if they were lucky enough to have a seat. Abigail and Calla shared the narrative as they told of the rendezvous and accidental collision, the air leak on the docking seal, Luis's near asphyxiation and the inventive use of an inflatable life raft to help reseal the shuttle's hatch.

When they finally reached this point of the story, Calla suddenly realise they had been talking for much longer than usual. Normally Gran would have called an end to the proceedings by now and had the girls removed from the dining area. She was not the only one to have noticed Gran's absence, but Eric was the first one to act on it.

"Okay everyone, times up; you've all got a busy day tomorrow" he said as he stood.

There was a slight murmur of disappointment from a majority of the crowd, who had been quite enjoying themselves.

"Oliver, do me a favour and get these two locked up for the night, and take a few Gate Guards with you. I think Stan and I better check on Gran" Eric decided.

"Give Phyllis my love" Calla said with a mocking smile.

Doing his best to ignore the young lady, Eric and Stan made their way through the tunnels to Gran's door and found it locked from the inside.

"Gran... Gran are you there?" Eric enquired while knocking firmly.

There was no answer at first but they did hear sounds of movement coming from within. A few seconds later they heard something metal crash to the floor; it rattle loudly as it bounced across the room. Gran tried but failed to manipulate the lock, until eventually the goal was achieved and the door swung in. As he had expected, Eric found himself looking into the bloodshot eyes of a very intoxicated Phyllis 'Gran' Lindstrom.

"Yeth... you want thumpthing?" she slurred.

Eric could not help looking very disappointed but before he had the chance to do or say anything, Gran noticed the man standing behind Eric and her neutral visage turned instantly to one of complete horror.

AAAARRGH... SAGE! She cried out in panic.

Gran drew back her arm and carelessly hurled the near empty bottle in her hand into the dark outer tunnel. Eric ducked down to the right as the missile flew passed his left ear, but Stan was not so lucky and it bounced off the center of his forehead.

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Marion Green caught the rope tossed down to the small lifeboat and tied it to the bag containing her rifle and ghillie suit. As it was raised up to the One and All, two hooks were lowered for her to attach to the boat fore and aft. With her task done, Marion climbed the rope ladder to the deck and was surprised to find a rather tall and bulky man waiting on the forward block.

"Ready?" he asked when Marion had grabbed the rope attached to the stern block.

"Haul away" she responded and together, they pulled on the ropes and lifted the small boat back on board.

The strange man proceeded to tie off and stow the boat's oars while Marion crouched to untie the rope from her bag.

"Welcome back."

Marion recognised the voice speaking from behind her as friend and crewmate Jose Garcia. She turned towards him and quietly asked the one question that had been bothering her.

"Who's the new guy?"

"Haley found him up the coast; apparently he's a bit of a treasure hunter."

"Oh... well I'd better report to Captain Sumner I suppose. While I was looking for clues, I met some other hunters who saw a huge vehicle southwest of here over a month ago; it could have been the Bull Ant."

"I dare say it was" Jose grinned "Considering the Captain is down below with Blue and DeGroot as we speak."

With half the crew already in their bunks and the rest on duty, the galley was left free for Captain Sumner to spread out his charts.

"It will be at least a week before we'll be able to make contact with the other ships coming to assist us" Jack noted "I think we should set course for Portugal; or possibly western Spain, and wait for them there."

"May I suggest the Faroe Islands?" DeGroot interrupted.

Blue and Jack Sumner looked at each other; they both knew what DeGroot was thinking.

"We are not going on a dragon hunting detour Mister DeGroot" Jack said sternly.

"Oh you misunderstand me Captain Sumner" DeGroot smiled disarmingly "The last time I was in the Faroe Islands, it's true I was looking for clues as to where the island of the dragons might be, but I also found there were several settlements dotted about the place. I simply thought we may find assistance there."

Jack did not believe the obsessed man, but decided to let it slide for now.

"Maybe so, but if the ships we're waiting for have to travel that far north, it will take an extra week or two before they get there and I don't think we should waste any time on covering any extra distance."

"As you say Captain" DeGroot nodded, apparently satisfied to concede.

With everything decided, Haley showed Blue to one of the tiny cabins where he could get some rest, while Jack Sumner went topside to set their course. Finally alone, DeGroot pick up a small satchel he had kept hidden and removed some very ancient charts of his own. Having chosen the one he wanted, DeGroot began to make a few disturbing calculations.

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As expected, a few of the small dragon's friends did visit his island, but they were not the only ones. A few other breeds also turned up and made other areas on the island their new home. A few Smothering Smokebreaths made nests in the mountain caves, some Buffalord took up residence in the forest near the western beaches, and half a dozen Night Terrors moved into the same general area as the small greenish dragon's cave.

All this company made the dragon feel much more secure; if anything big and mean should turn up, he was pleased he would not have to face it alone.

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Hello again everyone :D

Wow... long chapter this time.

Now the weather has become warmer it is much easier to write because I don't have to type with gloves on (yay). I wanted to thank Draco38 for the words of encouragement a few weeks ago, and Vin for your concern. Don't worry too much about my frustration, it's only because I can't write two stories at the same time. As for this years Snoggletog story, IT'S FINISHED! (yay 2); and it ended up being 19 chapters so I'll start pubishing it about the 5th of December.

Thanks again to all you cool dudes and dudettes for reading, and I'll be back soon; Marty.