Okay so you may be wondering why this last chapter has taken so long to be posted. Well when I had done the final proof read, I discovered something; it was crap.

So I cut the end off and spent two days just thinking about a better way to end the story. Eventually I worked it out but it meant that this is no longer the last chapter and there will be one or two more. The good thing is the new ending sets up the next story much better than the old one did.

Chapter 66

Needless to say the Dragon Riders were very amused when they finally found out what had happened to Neville Sage and his raiders. Abigail and Saffron were a little upset about the wonderful place they had grown up in suddenly being turned into a prison, but they could see the sense in the idea.

"You shouldn't worry about it too much girls" April told them "I'm sure it won't be this way forever, but for now it is just what we need."

Eventually the initial excitement of regaining control of the complex subsided, accepting the dragons as a normal part of life became the next priority. Having them all at the ship meant small groups from the railgun could go be sent to be familiarised with the dragons; some people took to the beasts like a duck to water, while others even found a sleeping Terror to be excessively intimidating. Several people naturally asked Blue if they really needed to take part in these dragon acclimatisation sessions, to which Blue would give the following reply.

"As long as you are on Earth, an encounter with a wild dragon is a distinct probability. Also we need to find out how different people will react, so we can learn how to assist integration in the future."

Wording his answer to make the whole process sound like scientific research, certainly helped to convince many of the railgun staff of the validity of their presence in the dragons home, and they all did their best to assist Blue with his (ahem) research. Another day went by before Blue finally remembered at that he had something very important he needed to give to Doctor Spencer.

"A memory stick?" Sarah wondered about what Blue had put in her hand.

"Be very careful with it" the young man warned "This was given to me by Professor Adisa not long before he died. He said it contained files he had stolen from Prime Governor Redding's computer. He also told me he may have inadvertently copied any number of security protocols as well, so I wouldn't just plug it into our main system if I were you."

"Good advice" Sarah agreed as she took the stick "I'll get our best hackers to work on it."

Both the dragons and their riders were enjoying their stay in Sumatra, but eventually the Striker arrived back and Blue asked Captain Debar how long she and her crew planned to stay before heading back to Berk.

"I think everyone deserves a fair amount of shore leave" Debar told him "It's been quite a long journey; we might even do a crew rotation."

"Do you have to leave straight away do you?" April asked when she overheard what they were talking about.

She was enjoying having all her children together in one place for the first time since Rose was born.

"We don't have to go tomorrow Mom, but we can't stay forever. It's only a matter of time before more dragons emerge from the Hidden World and if the world isn't ready for them, we could end up with a second Dragon War. We'll give Haley plenty of time to recover from her concussion and then set a time and date for our departure."

Eavesdropping in on the conversation, Sarah Spencer weighed in on what was being said.

"Listen Blue, if you want to cover as much of the world as you can to pass on your dragon knowledge, you may want to consider a third vessel. The now departed General Neville Sage has left us several ships in reasonable condition, and you could easily take advantage of the situation."

"Wonderful idea" Blue agreed "When can we go and have a look at them?"

It was the next morning when Blue and Calla took the opportunity to see the vessels, giving Doctor Sarah Spencer and April Dias the chance to experience their first terrifying ride on the back of a dragon.

"Okay I can understand the attraction of the experience, but it's still making me nervous" Sarah admitted to Calla.

"Believe me Doctor Spencer, I've ridden with Blue a few times and it always feels better when you're the one controlling the dragon."

Over on Speedy, April Dias was having a very different experience.

"Your father would absolutely love this" she told her son.

"I get the feeling that as a former Air Force pilot, he would take to dragon riding like it was second nature" Blue agreed.

In less than fifteen minutes they were flying over Padang harbour and inspecting their choice of ships.

"Land on that one" Sarah pointed.

Calla did as requested and Blue followed her down. Sarah was very impressed by Windstorm but was still pleased to have something solid under her feet, even if only for a short time.

"What about this one?" Sarah started her sales pitch "Twin rear helipads with a hanger big enough for two or three dragons, armour plating, offensive armaments; you'd be quite safe on this little beauty."

"I can see the advantages of a naval vessel, but I'd rather not look like we were invading every port we entered" Blue admitted "I was thinking of a ship more like that one."

Blue pointed to a mid-sized merchant vessel on the other side of the bay.

"Four holds, two swing cranes, it's a bigger ship with more room for the dragons" Blue noted.

"Oil fired boiler though; not easy to get fuel for a ship like that" Sarah argued.

"If it has a boiler, what's to stop us from converting it to thermal solar?" April offered.

"Hmm" Sarah thought "It maybe bit too small for all the reflectors you'd need on the deck, but I'll think about it and maybe get some of our engineers on the task. It won't be ready by the time you want to leave, but we'll get it to you as soon as we can."

"Seems like a lot of trouble to go to" Calla shrugged.

"Ah but I have an ulterior motive" Sarah smirked "I can give you a list of places from China and Japan, up through the North American continent, Africa and all over Europe, where you can find more supplies and equipment we can use in our space colony endeavours. While you're travelling with your dragons, I'd like you to pick up what you can and bring as much as you can back here."

"You know you can always count on us" Blue nodded.

"Keep in touch when you can and we'll let you know when we've got a ship ready for you" Sarah smiled.

"Okay then, you've got a deal we'll leave soon with the Striker as a support ship, and get you all the stuff you need when we can" Blue nodded.

'

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Now that the ship situation had been sorted, Doctor Spencer had to steady herself for the flight back to the railgun. Calla took Blue's mother to the ship so she could catch up with Abigail and Saffron, while Blue took Sarah back to base. When they arrived in the massive garage at the bottom of the main ramp, they found Haley out of bed but in a wheelchair but still in the presence of Doctor Quill Vieira as he examined Boris's wing.

"He was lucky the bullet missed the bone structure of the wing and passed straight through the skin membrane. I assume the bones of a dragon's wing are a strong, lightweight honeycomb composite of calcium and cartilage, so a bullet would probably cause a compound fracture effectively grounding the animal for the rest of its life; unless an appropriate splint can be applied and the wing wrapped to prevent movement."

"That's good to know Doc" Blue said "I'll try to remember what you said if anything goes wrong in the future."

"Take careful note of anything you find out in your travels, it would probably be advantageous if we were to start a dragon medical journal."

"Already have one Doc, but it does need translating" Blue informed him.

Doctor Vieira re-dressed the minor wound, took a blood sample and a mouth swab and retired to his lab, firmly telling Haley to stay in the wheelchair.

"We're very lucky" Haley noted "With his skill and equipment, we are bound to learn more about the dragons that Gothi could ever have hoped to discover."

"We should let him get samples from all the dragons before we leave" Blue nodded.

"I was really proud of Boris" Haley nodded "I could tell he was very uncomfortable with the examination and treatment, but he seemed to know Doctor Vieira was trying to help and he stayed really calm."

"I think Boris also saw how you trusted the doctor, and he trusted you" Blue added as he scratched the Nightmare's chin "An extra baked fish for you tonight boy."

With Doctor Vieira back in the medical centre, Haley now had the opportunity to extract herself from the wheelchair and stretch her legs while Blue started re-fitting Speedy's saddle.

"Blue, have you given much thought about where we go from here?" Haley asked.

"Do you mean for the future or our literal direction when we leave?" he wondered.

"Both I suppose, but mainly the second one."

Blue stopped fastening the saddle girth strap and sighed.

"Where we head to next is all I can think about" he admitted "I really want to go back to Berk and check on the entrance to the Hidden World, as well as find Dragon Island. But at the same time I also want to get back to eastern Canada and see what Doom and Emerson have discovered, while letting everyone up there know about the opportunity for evacuation. I mean they can stay with Gran if they want, but they should be told they don't have to.

Then there's another choice to make; do we try and spread the word about dragons ourselves, or would it be better to train up more Dragon Riders in the area around Berk and let them spread out around the world from there. Thinking about these things kind of makes it hard to sleep and I have to make a choice soon."

Haley looked down at her feet, feeling a little guilty about having to add to Blue's burden.

"Well I have an idea about where we should go first... well it's more of a request but... it's more than just a request because I have to go there."

Haley stopped talking when she realised she had started to babble somewhat. Noticing how nervous she was, Blue grabbed a chair for himself and motioned for Haley to sit back in the wheelchair.

"Tell me about it; where do you have to go?" he asked.

"It's kind of a long story but I'll try to make it short" she began "Back in El Centro we would spend some of our time in the bunker of Prime Governor Redding. I don't know what you've been told about it, but it was a dark cramped place of relative safety where one third of the population would live on a rotating basis. If there was a meteor strike in the surrounding area, anyone inside the bunker was safe, while back at town you took your chances."

"Why didn't everyone live in there?" Blue asked.

"There wasn't room, and we weren't allowed. Some of the men we just sent to Mars were guards at the bunker, and they ran the place like a prison. Inside there were two large rooms just like this garage, filled with lathes, drill presses, welders, all kinds of machines. The guards would let us use the equipment to build and repair what we needed on the farms, and in return we would provide them with food, as well as doing repairs on their equipment too. During the time we were inside the bunker, we would eat and sleep in the same rooms, bunked down next to the machines."

"Okay I get the idea" Blue nodded "but I assume there's more"

"Well... although it was safer inside, there was still the occasional... accident. Over the years several people were killed when something went wrong with a machine. In most cases we would take the deceased outside for burial, but sometimes we couldn't recover the body. My mother was one of the people killed in a fire several years ago, and some of those bodies were never recovered intact."

"I'm sorry... I didn't know; but why..."

"I'm getting to that" Haley interrupted "Just before we fled California on the One and All, we found out the truth about what was deeper inside the bunker; where we were never allowed to go. We found out about the luxury lifestyle Prime Governor Redding and his people enjoyed, and... and..."

Haley's bottom lip started to shake.

"...and of how they had some of our people as essentially slave labour. When there was an accident, Redding would use the opportunity to boost his staffing levels by taking some of the injured beyond the barrier and telling us they were among the casualties. When they recovered from their injuries, they were put to work. Blue... I can't know for sure, but one of those slaves could be my mother; and even if she isn't, we still need find out if any of Redding's former prisoners are still there."

"I see" Blue pondered "When Sage took over after killing Redding, there was nothing you could do. But now Sage has gone..."

"I need to go back, and I'll go alone if I have to; just me and Boris" Haley insisted.

"You won't have to go alone" Blue said reassuringly "We'll bypass all other countries for now and head straight for California. We'll decide what to do next once we've ascertained what the situation really is."

"Thank you Blue" she smiled through her tears.

The two stood up and hugged before Blue finished up with Speedy's saddle. When all was set he waved goodbye and flew off up the tunnel. He thought deeply about Haley's situation, remembering how desperate he felt when his father and Abigail were trapped in Earth orbit, with little hope of survival and no apparent means of escape. Not even knowing if her mother was alive or dead must be unbearable for Haley, yet she never let it get in the way of what she needed to do up until now, when the time was right at last.

'

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Back at the ship, Blue could see the Dragon Riders getting into all kinds of mischievous fun with their dragons on this balmy afternoon. Saffron must have told Shifty about Fishlegs Ingerman's famous manoeuvre, the Gronkle Drop and Stop because he and Spud were practicing it out over the water. Both were soaking wet, indicating that they had not quite mastered it yet.

Abigail and Gage were having a ball confusing Lucy and Ricky by running around the dragon in opposite directions, leaving the poor Zippleback in a slight tangle, while Calla and Windstorm were just relaxing in the shade of the supertankers hull. Blue waved as he and Speedy flew past into the ship before landing near their little section of living space.

"Okay Bud let's get that saddle off and then you can go play with the others."

Speedy did not have to be told twice and as soon as he was burden free, the happy Night Fury bounded back outside and started goading Windstorm into a game of dragon tag.

"Hey Babe, welcome back" Calla smiled while relaxing in her deck chair "Sit down please, I have something important to tell you."

"Sure thing; what's up" he replied, sitting on the side of the ramp.

"When we leave, we have to head back the way we came so we can check on Gage's Mum and Dad in Lyon."

Blue suddenly felt something heavy deep in his gut. The way Calla was talking, it was as if he had no choice in the matter.

"Err... no, we head east across the Pacific towards San Diego" he said firmly.

Calla sat up and looked at Blue like he was crazy.

"But I promised Gage we would..."

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" Blue snapped "Especially without talking to me about it first."

"Well two reasons actually; firstly because you still hadn't made up your mind about which way we should go, and secondly because you yourself said we were both leaders of the Dragon Riders."

"Yes both of us; which means you don't make decisions like this without discussing it with me first" Blue insisted.

"Okay I'm sorry" Calla said in frustration "but that still doesn't explain why you're so upset. You saw how some of the people of Lyon reacted to the dragons, so Gage is a little worried about his parents; and I must admit, I am too."

"I'm upset Calla because Haley just told me that her mother, who at one time she thought was dead, may be still alive back in El Centro California; so I told her we'd go straight there."

"Without talking to me first? Calla asked sarcastically.

"Oh come on, this is different and you know it." Blue argued.

"Why, because you're the high and mighty Dragon Master?"

"I never said I was the Dragon Master" Blue fumed.

"No but you're acting like the Lord of the Dragon Butt Heads" Calla hissed.

"Well now you're just being childish" Blue sneered.

"You want to see childish without looking in a mirror? Then watch this."

Reaching down beside the deck chair, Calla removed her sword from it sheath and brandished it at Blue's throat.

"Come on then" she goaded.

"I'm not going to... OWW!"

In an attempt to wipe the smug smile from his face, Calla whipped the sword around and slapped the flat of the blade against Blue's hip. The pain and humiliation soon got to him as he reached over his shoulder and removed his own blade.

"Right, if you're gonna be like that..."

Further down the beach, Abigail heard her brother cry out and wondered what was going on.

"Are they fighting?" she asked with concern.

"Oh they're just sparing for practice; this should be fun" Gage replied.

Blue tried to mirror Calla's manoeuvre but she just brought her blade into block.

"HA! You'll have to try harder than that" she taunted.

And try harder he did. Moving fast, Blue swung the blade around to his left, setting Calla a little off balance as she blocked again. With the upper hand at last, Blue continued to swing his sword around in a circular arc from left to right and back again, keeping Calla constantly on a defensive stance.

"Had enough yet?" his smug smile returned.

"I tell you when I've had enough" Calla replied "First I have to teach you not to be an arrogant hypocrite."

She pirouetted around so fast, she was able to get under Blue's defence, intending to end the fight with a slap hard slap to his left thigh that should knock him sideways. What Calla had not noticed though was her grip had twisted slightly during her frantic defending. Out of the corner of his eye, Blue could see the razor sharp edge of Calla's sword was about to cut deep into his leg. He jumped back as quickly as he could but he was not quite quick enough. The tip of the blade sliced through his trousers, leaving a three inch long gash halfway up his thigh.

"Oh no!" Abigail gasped as her bother fell onto the sand.

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Sorry to say that the last chapters are not written yet, but I'll get started on them straight away. There is still no work to go to, so I've got plenty of time to write.

Bye for now, Marty.