Beneath Sovereign Skies

by Bobmin356

Harry and the dragons fight to find their place and gain acceptance amidst growing international tensions. Not all is well and good as the Weyrs threaten established powers and offer new opportunities. Follow Harry and the dragons as they try to navigate increasingly turbulent waters of international politics, terrorism and intrigue. On indefinite hiatus.

6. Chapter 6

Standard Disclaimer:

Bob stepped onto the stage and skidded to a halt. The stage looked like someone had exploded a flag factory, there were American flags everywhere!

"It's the fourth of July!" Alyx exclaimed, then she pushed him out of the way and dragged a heavy box into the center of the stage.

Bob looked up from the floor and paled dramatically. The heavy box Alyx was dragging was clearly labeled TNT.

"What are you doing?" he exclaimed as Alyx pried open the box and extracted a stick of dynamite. She then carefully unwrapped it and dumped the explosive powder into a large oil drum.

"I'm making a nuclear firecracker in honor of July Fourth!" she replied brightly.

"A nuclear firecracker?" Bob repeated stupidly, because even authors can do stupid things sometimes. Its rare, but it happens.

"Yep," Alyx replied, popping the "p".

Alyx turned to Bob and glared at him. "And don't you start with me about Uncle Sam, I'm not going to fall for that old trick and stay up all night dressed only in a three piece string bikini colored as a flag just to see if he shows up! He didn't show up last year and I even tried to entice him with blinking leds in my cups!"

"Damn," Bob muttered, "There goes that idea, the residuals from the you tube videos nearly payed for the expansion to our llama herd!"

Bob looked up at Alyx. "Do you even know how to make a nuclear firecracker?"

"But of course," Alyx answered. "I read about it in last month's issue of Backyard Terrorist Quarterly. All you need to do is have a controlled explosion that forces two pieces of Plutonium together at high speed causing a chain reaction."

Bob blinked in surprise at that simplistic, albeit correct explanation.

Alyx dumped another load of powder into the steel drum, then she used a torch to weld it shut.

Bob dived into a handy bomb shelter and watched the process from the periscope viewport ™.

Alyx rolled the drum out into the back alley and carefully positioned it.

"Now what are you doing?" Bob asked, using the special bunker approved PA system ™.

"I have to position the barrels just right don't I?" she retorted.

"Nearly done," she muttered to herself, "this is going to be the best nuclear firecracker ever."

She then went and grabbed a pair of tongs to move the final elements into position. Bob watched the operation on his bunker approved video screen ™ in awe.

"And what is that?" he asked.

"Shhh, don't make me jostle this, it's the Plutonium," she replied.

Bob watched her place the stuffed Disney dog toy into the PLUTOnium chamber ™ and then he turned to the audience. Of course, being underground in a bunker, they couldn't see him. "Looks like we won't be able to tell you that we don't own Harry Potter or the Dragonriders of Pern. On the other hand, Alyx is about to blow up the police station next door. Why don't you enjoy the chapter while I use my bunker approved escape tunnel ™ to get out of the danger zone."

---

Beneath Sovereign Skies
- Chapter 6 -
Old Enemies and Dubious Allies

---

Plaza de Jacinto, Madrid, December 1999...

"You are a difficult man to locate Senor," said a gravely voice.

Carlos the Gerbil glanced up and instinctively placed a hand under the table. His wand automatically deployed to his hand. The man eyeing him expectantly was ordinary in every aspect, and yet Carlos knew instinctively that this man had carefully cultivated his appearance to seem ordinary. This man was not ordinary and Carlos' internal alarms were screaming 'danger' to him.

"Perhaps I do not wish to be found?" he replied cautiously. "Especially by people who I do not know."

The man nodded and gestured to the empty chair. "Ah I do understand my elusive friend, but I have been asked to seek you out to give you a message. May I sit so we can talk like two civilized men? I promise I will keep my hands in view at all times."

Carlos nodded slowly and his eyes darted around the room for a moment before settling on the stranger again. With the exception of this stranger, no one looked out of place, no one was paying extra attention towards his section of the small restaurant.

The man sat across from Carlos and he glanced down at a menu for a moment, then he looked up at Carlos and smiled. "It is known to my employers that you have connections among a special group of people," the man said.

"I may," Carlos hedged, "or I may not. I am not accustomed to dealing with people I do not know Senor."

The man across from Carlos smiled broadly at him. "Well then let's fix that Senor. I am Markus Petrovich Acoperit. I work at the Russian embassy here in Madrid."

As if by magic Acoperit produced a small business card which he laid on the table between them.

"I see," Carlos said slowly. His one hand played with a fork on the table while he considered if anyone from Russia had a reason to kill him. He couldn't think of one, but that didn't mean the man wasn't a free agent working for someone else. "And what do you do at the embassy?"

He carefully reached for the card and noted absently that it did claim to be part of the Russian Embassy, not that really proved anything.

"Officially I am part of the press office," Acoperit admitted.

"And unofficially?" pressed Carlos.

Acoperit smiled. "Come now Carlos, men of our profession are rarely so open about what we do. I am, like you, shall we say 'a remover of obstacles'."

Acoperit held up both hands to placate Carlos who leaned back. "I am not here in that capacity my friend. I have tasked with using my skills to locate you in order to pass a message for you and your employer."

Carlos relaxed fractionally. Acoperit could have easily killed Carlos without this elaborate meeting. Even with his location in the restaurant, a sniper shot could have easily taken him out. "Oh, and what is this message?"

"We note that the conflict between your neighbors is at an end and now that new governments are in place; Italy and Greece are moving towards a more open and economically damaging era for Spain. We also note that most of your recent difficulties resulted from British intervention. Now the British stand to create even further havoc with these dragons of theirs," Acoperit said, then he paused and waited while the waiter approached the table.

"Are you ready to order sirs?" asked the waiter.

Acoperit glanced at Carlos. "What would you suggest?" he asked calmly.

Carlos smiled thinly. "I am quite fond of their lamb, but they serve a very good fish dish called Bacalao al Pil Pil here."

Acoperit nodded. "Excellent, I'll have that."

Carlos placed his own order and waited a moment longer for the waiter to leave. He allowed his wand to retract and then he lifted his hand to the table. "You sound like you do not like the dragons?"

Acoperit shrugged. "Personally I have nothing against dragons. But my employers deem them a destabilizing influence. They are actively seeking out others who might feel the same way in the hopes of finding allies. Common interest is a powerful thing no?"

Carlos leaned in a little, relaxing more. "Common interest and common purpose."

Acoperit nodded. "Indeed you do understand. My employers are concerned at events unfolding in Europe but it would be greatly frowned upon if our involvement became known. Your employers on the other hand have the freedom of being European to start with."

Carlos nodded. "And this alliance would come with offers of assistance? Some of what you would ask of us would undoubtedly be expensive. Dragons make for formidable opponents."

Acoperit smiled in response. He already knew that Carlos had an operation shut down in Britain due to dragons. It was the only real blemish on Carlos' record. "That is a lesson my employers have already learned my friend. Our assistance can be multifaceted. We can supply materials, information and sometimes disposable help. We have contacts among many that would like to see harm come to the dragons, with your help we can pull them all together as a unit."

Carlos leaned back on his chair and considered Acoperit's words. His group was small and that made them an easy target. A larger more cohesive group would be harder for the European governments to combat. The waiter arrived and began to place their order on the table. While the man worked he pondered the hidden meaning behind what Acoperit was saying. Russia was willing to assist in a campaign against dragons in Europe, but their involvement had to remain a secret. They were willing to pay some of the bills, but were unwilling to take many of the risks. It wasn't an unusual theme with people that sought his services.

There was no great love of dragons within the Spanish Ministry, but there was no great hatred either. On the other hand the Spanish Ministry of Magic had always worked on a policy of destabilizing the surrounding countries because conflict brought opportunities.

Carlos slowly twirled his wine glass for a moment longer, then he looked at Acoperit who was enjoying his fish with gusto. "I will approach my superiors with your offer. While I cannot say for certain they will accept, I think I know them well enough to say they will look upon your offer with favor."

Acoperit wiped his mouth with a napkin and then he lifted his own wine glass. "Excellent, one cannot ask for more than that my friend."

Carlos returned the salute with his own wine glass. It wasn't often that he had the opportunity to dine with someone in the same line of work as his own. The man was clearly a muggle, but that didn't matter to Carlos, he was a kindred spirit, an outcast from society that fulfilled a vital role to society. "Let us enjoy this fine meal. Rico, the chef, is a personal friend of mine and an excellent cook."

Acoperit smiled warmly and turned back to his meal. The main reason for meeting was over and now both men could relax. They both knew that tomorrow they each could be paid to kill the other, but men like them didn't worry about that.

Condron Weyr, New Mexico, USA, January 2000...

"You interested in jets son?"

Jared Wilkson turned and nodded at the Air Force Colonel. "Yes sir, my grandfather was a fighter pilot and I always dreamed of becoming one."

Colonel Michel nodded. "You and just about every other boy, still, you earned your wings in a way."

Jared's eyes drifted towards his dragon Milth who was sunning himself nearby. "Yes sir, I did," he said with pride.

"Its a shame you can't join the service, but if you like I can get you some posters and photos of jets," offered the Colonel. "I often have to visit various manufacturers who are eager to give away photos and posters of their products."

Jared turned to look at the colonel with a touch of awe. "That would be great! I could hang them up in my quarters."

He looked down for a moment while the Colonel watched him. He visited the Weyr on a semi-regular basis, checking in with the various scientific teams and once in a great while he'd fly to Condron. Each time he'd draw a small crowd of riders to admire the sleek T-38 trainer that he often used. Jared was one of the lads he had noticed who always appeared to admire the jet.

Officially Michel wasn't attached to any unit. He was a ghost, he didn't exist, and yet he had the authority to 'borrow' equipment as he pleased. His real job was part of a black research project that very few knew about. He would often pass assignments to people and they would never know they were working on a small piece of a much greater project. Such was the case here in Condron were several people were working on diverse projects that had far greater implications than anyone knew.

The colonel gestured to the trainer. "I don't get much of chance to fly these days, so in a way I envy you."

"Me?" exclaimed Jared.

Michel nodded. "No one is going to tell you you're too old to fly your dragon son. When you get to my age and they tell you you can't fly anymore, it's a real kick in the balls. Suddenly you're behind a desk and struggling to believe that flying a desk is serving your country."

Jared shook his head. "I would hate to be too old to fly Milth. I'm sure you are still serving our country Colonel. My granddad said his days in the air force were his best."

Michel nodded and glanced around. "Jared right? I think you introduced yourself to me once before."

Jared's smile widened. "Yes sir, Jared Wilkson, Milth's rider."

Michel held out his hand, "Pleased to make your acquaintance Jared. Say is there someplace nearby we can get a cold coke? There's no stewie in that thing to bring me a cold drink and I'm parched."

Jared bobbed his head and pointed to a building in the distance. "The Weyr mess hall is over there, you can get just about anything to drink there."

"Well lead on then son. We can talk over a cold drink, I'm always interested in talking with a fellow pilot," Michel said.

Jared nodded and led Michel in the direction of the Weyr Mess Hall. Milth lifted his head and watched his rider and the other man. He wasn't sure about the other man, he didn't mean any harm, but he had secrets and that bothered him.

The Burrow, January 2000...

Arthur waited until everyone had sat down and Molly bustled around the kitchen preparing drinks. Once everyone was settled he smiled gently at his family. He was so very proud of them.

Ginny was apprenticed to a healer. That came as a surprise to everyone who thought she wanted to play Quidditch for a living. Through Madam Pomfrey, she was able to obtain a very coveted apprenticeship just at a time when certain fields, like healing, were starting to use muggle techniques. It was an exciting time for Healers and Ginny was a part of that.

Percy had been picked up as an administrator and budget accountant for the MLE.

After Percy's ordeal with the Drought of Living Death it had taken him months to recover fully and Arthur wasn't sure he would have recovered at all had it not been for the determination and tenacity of his girlfriend Penny.

To Molly's intense delight they married nearly a year after that incident and both Arthur and Molly were delighted with Penny. She had an uncanny knack of keeping him grounded unlike anyone else could, even his own family.

Bill still worked for Gringotts and was quickly rising among the ranks of human employees to the position of Senior Curse Breaker. He was unattached still, but Arthur knew he had been seeing a girl on the side and hiding it from Molly.

Molly, bless her soul, Arthur thought, would take any girl her sons bring home and start planning a wedding. She simply couldn't believe her boys would prefer to play the field for a while before settling down. Bill had dated several girls that Molly didn't know about.

He glanced at the empty chair that normally would have been Charley's seat and held in a sigh. Charlie continued to write but he had gone to South America to work at a hippogriff reserve when he lost his job as a dragon handler.

Arthur hoped that someday Charley would understand that dragons were truly sentient and come home. Charlie was bitter about losing a job that he had wanted ever since he had accidentally seen a dragon at Gringotts when he was little.

Moving to Ron he grinned at his youngest who had managed to surprise everyone. Ron had rebelled against Molly and took a position as an assistant coach for the Chudley Cannons. To everyone's surprise, he started helping design plays that resulted in a few wins, and then more wins. There was only so much that could be done considering the quality of the players, but Chudley had moved up in the rankings and were no longer the worst team in the league. That in itself was enough for people to sit up and notice him.

The owners of Chudley were tickled pink with Ron's performance and were actively trying to recruit better talent to take advantage of his plays. Ron was making a name for himself in the small circle of Quidditch coaching and he thought he might make a full coach position in the coming year.

Arthur then turned to the reason why he had asked for this family meeting. "I've asked you all here today because I want to address an issue with everyone, but most importantly, with Fred and George."

Both twins looked up with interest. They had graduated Hogwarts with decent, if not outstanding grades and it had been good enough for them to find work in the ministry. The ministry even now, was still trying to find competent people rather than simply hiring another pure-blood.

"Boys, I've had a long talk with your mother. I know from talking with your boss that you are both hard working good employees. But even your mother saw that neither of you were happy in your jobs. Your mother has also come to realize that sometimes happiness means taking a risk."

Arthur placed a hand over Molly's hand. "Your mother believes firmly that a solid job will allow you to find your happiness and I must admit that in my case, it is true. But you are not me and I would never want to force you into doing something that made you unhappy.

"Your mother and I know you have been pooling your salaries and saving as much money as possible in the hopes that someday you could open your Joke shop."

Molly sighed and shook her head, but didn't say anything.

"How much have you managed to save?" Arthur asked.

"About two thousand galleons dad, why?" asked George.

Arthur blinked in surprise, then his smile broadened. "Well what I am going to suggest is that you start planning on opening your shop. I've talked it over with Percy and Bill we're willing to offer you a loan to start up the shop. We each are willing to put in a thousand galleons, between us and your two thousand that should be enough to open a store don't you think?"

Fred stared at his father in amazement while George turned to Percy who nodded at him. "Why? Really?"

Percy frowned. "You're both annoying and often prats, but even I will admit your jokes are funny," Percy said, then he flushed slightly. "Besides I miss your happy go lucky attitudes. Anymore time in the ministry and it will kill you."

Percy shivered slightly and Penelope reached for his hand. "If there is one thing I have learned, its that you have to reach for your happiness with both hands."

Fred turned to George and for the first time in several years dropped into twin speak. "We'll have to see a solicitor."

"The contract of course."

"And start buying supplies."

"Cauldrons, we need new cauldrons!"

Ginny started giggling as the two started exchanging ideas that consisted of little more than a word or two. Arthur looked at his wife and was pleased to see her smiling happily. There were tears in her eyes because her sons were back again for the first time in several years.

Arthur sipped his tea and watched as one of the twins produced a notebook full of ideas that they had been compiling since graduating Hogwarts. As family talks went, this was one of the most successful. Weasley Wizarding Wheezes would be opened as a partnership of Fred, George, Arthur, Percy and Bill.

Harry's office, Campbeltown Weyr, January 2000...

"Harry? Are you busy?"

Harry glanced up from the papers on his desk and smiled at Susan Bones. "Sue, no, come on in."

Susan entered the room and paused to greet Chekiath. "Hello Cheki," she said, then she took a seat across from Harry.

"Hello Sue, how are you today?" asked Cheki.

Sue smiled. "I'm fine but Nimonth is unhappy that you turned her down again."

Harry grinned. Chekiath frequently partook in shagging flights, but never with a bonded dragon except his consorts. It was a bit of a insider joke at the Weyr that the Weyrleader's dragon introduced polygamy to the Weyrleader and the Weyrleader introduced fidelity to his dragon. Chekiath politely rebuffed every bonded female that offered to partner in a shagging flight.

Chekiath rumbled with laughter. "The bonded females know I will say no. I think they ask now just to have something to complain about."

Sue laughed, then she turned to Harry who was trying not to smirk at her. He counted Susan as a close friend and an important part of the Weyr community they were building.

Susan had taken over the traditional role of head woman right out of the Pern lore and turned it into a modern day job akin to today's plant manager. She was in charge of housing and building allocations as well as overseeing the Kitchen hall and making sure the Weyr had a stocked warehouse of items like replacement harnesses, uniforms, training materials and even ammunition for the riders crossbows.

Susan also oversaw the Elves except for the very few personal elves like Dobby.

"So what can I do for you today Sue?"

Susan glanced down at the clip board in her hand. "Harry, this coming impression will see us dealing with two hundred and eighty eggs and three hundred and forty candidates. If we assume the usual Weyr turn out, that will be over one thousand riders, over six hundred family members and another one hundred dignitaries and press. We've been muddling along with Campbeltown mostly footing the bill and handling the hatching. I think it's time we start asking the other Weyrs to start contributing. I spoke to Karen who told me we spent nearly fifty thousand pounds in just food beasts for the last hatching. Plus at the rate we've been growing we seriously need to consider relocating to a larger facility or enlarging our existing facility. There's enough room on the hatching sands for another hundred clutching mothers, but we need to expand the visitors seating."

Harry winced at the numbers and leaned back in his chair. Campbeltown had been the only Weyr financing the hatching since the formation of Condron and Maziang. It was also the wealthiest of the Weyrs although some Weyrs, like Condron and Sakushima were quickly catching up to Campbeltown in terms of productivity.

He leaned forward and pressed a speed dial button on his phone. Most of the Weyr was present today. It was a Friday and most of the riders had arranged their university schedules to give them Fridays free for Weyr duties.

"Karen," he said to the speaker phone, "can you come in here?"

"I'll be right there Harry," she replied.

Harry smiled over his desk to Susan. "I don't want to make any mistakes here, and making decisions about expenses without talking to Karen would be a mistake."

Susan nodded, she spoke to Karen this morning to get an idea of the costs involved.

"How is school going for you Sue?"

Susan grinned. "Well I don't sound like a total idiot anymore, unless someone mentions a telly show or a rock band. I'm doing well enough in my classes. I'm no Hermione, but I think I'll pass just fine."

Harry nodded, he had seen some of the work Sue had come up with since attending school. She was studying plant management with a minor in architectural design. One of the first things she had done after the first dragon apartment complex had gone up was to mark up the blueprints with revisions based on problems that she and others had noted in the first building, then she returned the plans to the original architect for corrections. The first apartment building was still usable, but the later ones were more comfortable.

The first apartment building was now affectionately called the "Noobie block" and usually the apartments there were assigned to new riders. The apartments were generally comfortable, but the building had a smaller water heater and tended to be very hot in the summer months.

"Please, as much as I love her, I don't think I could handle someone else that smart," Harry countered.

"Harry, Hermione may be smart, but she relies on you for a lot of practical matters. Besides, you're no slouch when it comes to intelligence. We all know about your private tutoring and we know that Hermione has been working with you so that you can take your NEWTS someday."

Harry was about to reply when the door opened and Karen entered. As usual she was carrying her laptop computer, and if you could believe Ronan, the only time Karen didn't have that machine at hand was when she slept.

"Karen, come on in, Susan here was explaining about the hatching and I thought it would be useful to include you in our discussion," Harry said from his chair.

Karen walked in and sat down next to Susan who she greeted with a smile. "I'm glad she brought it up Harry, it's becoming quite expensive and so far the only one paying for it is us."

Harry arched and eyebrow and Karen chuckled, then she powered up her laptop and read off some figures. "Last November we spent just under eighty thousand pounds for the hatching. We hatched two hundred and eight dragons who each had on average three yearling sheep a piece per week. Over six hundred yearling sheep cost us fifty four thousand pounds, then there was another fourteen thousand to feed everyone at the hatching feast. It cost us twenty thousand pounds to install those cabins for the press. Since we opened up the hatching to the press we had to hide the magic being used which drove up our costs because we had to bring in human help."

Harry flinched with each number. He knew Campbeltown was very wealthy, but hatchings were a major drain that showed no signs of going away anytime soon.

Karen smiled at Harry's expression. "It's not all bad news Harry. Some of the expenses are non-recurring, like the press cabins. As long as we maintain them, they should stay usable for a number of years to come.

"The last three hatchings have had roughly the same number of hatchlings so the costs were flattened out. Still, not counting the cabins, we spent around eighty thousand pounds for each of the last three hatchings. Unfortunately the number has been steadily increasing as the number of dragons being hatched increases, plus every Weyr wants to be present which means their number is increasing etc."

She trailed off and looked at Harry expectantly. "Are we in danger of not being able to afford a hatching?" Harry asked cautiously.

Karen blinked in surprise, "Erm... no, not now. In fact our income is out-pacing our expenditures by nearly sixty two percent. That was another issue I wanted to talk to you about, right now we're sitting on a pile of money that isn't doing anything."

Harry nodded. "I will place this on the agenda for the next Weyrleader's meeting and ask each leader to bring along their financial manager. I can see that an established Weyr that is making money should be able to pitch in to help with the hatchings, but I won't agree to burdening a poor Weyr or one that is just starting up. As to the money situation, put together your suggestions and we'll go over it."

Karen nodded happily, she had a number of ideas for what to use the money for that would provide a nice solid return on their investment.

He glanced towards Susan and she smiled slightly, "There is also the issue of the hatching chamber," she prompted. "The coming hatching will see us putting some three hundred and forty candidates on the sands. If every rider attends, then we'll put eleven hundred and sixty riders, plus over six hundred parents and a couple hundred dignitaries and press in the stands. That's over two thousand people in the stands. We were barely able to fit people at the last hatching. The chamber needs to be enlarged and more seating installed."

Harry frowned, the November hatching had resulted in him standing for nearly all of the six hour process. There had been seating still available, but not a lot of it and he had been too busy making sure things ran smoothly to sit and watch with the others.

"There's two problems here I think," he said softly.

Susan looked up sharply at his comment and he smiled to soften the impact. "You've done a wonderful job of organizing the back end of the hatching, making sure we have enough sheep and food etc. Hagrid is run ragged at each hatching even with our volunteers directing the hatchlings to the feeding pens. Hagrid needs help as well. I believe it would be prudent for each Weyr to have their own Weyrling master who would remain after the impression and help Hagrid. Right now Hagrid is largely in charge of the Weyrlings until they are cut free to go to their respective Weyrs, sure he had some riders helping, but that help isn't consistent. Hagrid needs to train up a Weyrling master from each Weyr so he has help after the impression."

Susan nodded slowly, "That would be a big help for Hagrid, but what about the hatching grounds?"

Harry shrugged and made a quick note in his book. "One step at a time Sue, I'll arrange to go see Ragnok and Polenth. I know we're sitting on a large amount of galleons from Polenth's clan, perhaps we can arrange for Polenth and the goblins to carve out a bigger hatchery."

He looked pointedly at Sue. "You and Karen need to work up a projection of how big we need it to be. I'm actually thinking that we may have to alternate hatchings for the more established Weyrs. There are thirty four Weyrs now that Romeral and Nevado del Huila have merged. Even if a few more merge, and I see that as a distinct possibility, thirty Weyrs hatching at the same time would be an enormous strain on Disko's resources."

Karen tapped a few keys, then she looked up with a troubled expression. "Even if we went to fifteen Weyrs per hatching, at the average rate of forty eggs per Weyr we're looking at six hundred hatchlings. The hatching ground is going to need to be stadium sized to handle that. We are really fortunate that the dragons can control their egg laying production."

"Well I don't see enlarging the chamber as a problem," countered Sue. "We built the apartment buildings, we can build a stadium sized hatching ground. We'll build it so it's big enough to handle more than the fifteen Weyrs, this way we have room to grow if we need to. The nicest thing about the hatching grounds is we're building down into solid rock and we don't have to worry about power lines, foundations or zoning laws."

"No, just lava. Disko is a volcano you know," Karen said softly.

Harry rooted around among his papers. "I don't think that is a real issue Karen," he said, then he found the sheet he sought. "Here it is." He briefly scanned the document. "According to Ragnok, the magma chamber at Disko is at a depth of more than thirty kilometers. I seriously doubt enlarging the chamber will risk breaking into the magma chamber. However, it would be prudent to ask the Goblins to survey the chamber first."

"Are you sure it's safe Harry?" Karen pressed. Karen and her dragon had just narrowly missed getting hit with a lava bomb when the volcano at Nevado del Huila erupted. Since that point she was more than a little nervous around volcanoes.

"From an eruption? Yes. The same report from Ragnok suggests that they were far more successful channeling the lava away from Disko that they originally thought," he said, then he frowned. "On the other hand there is now a possibility that we may lose some of the hot springs. Ragnok says the chances of an eruption are nearly zero now and are expected to remain that way for at least a century. In the meantime we can explore the idea of opening a second hatchery that could handle half of the Weyrs, say in Asia or Africa."

Harry glanced up at a map of the world and he frowned.

"What is it," asked Susan worriedly.

Harry turned away from the map. "You know I'm kind of disappointed. I think I always hoped we could have kept using Disko for all our needs."

"Maybe we can," mused Karen.

Harry turned to look at her in surprise. "Eh?"

"Well let's look at this in pieces. First we know the hatching grounds are getting too cramped. Right?" she said.

She paused and waited for Harry and Susan to agree.

"What if Susan took the problem to the same architect that designed the apartments. We could take the finished design to the goblins and ask if they could build it couldn't we?"

Harry turned to Susan who looked between the two of them. "I suppose we could try? I would need your permission to bring some of them to the hatching grounds so they can get an idea of the scope of the project."

"Granted," Harry said with a smile.

"Good," Karen said. "If that works out, then the next step is dealing with the housing issue for the guests and the Weyrs. The Weyrs are simple. Let each Weyr pay for the construction of a single apartment block. At roughly sixty apartments per building that means they are limited to three wings of attendees but realistically if we didn't limit them we'd be drowning in riders come the hatching day."

"The riders that stay behind in their Weyrs can always watch the hatching on the telly," Susan added hesitantly. "I mean can't we send them live images via our network?"

Harry nodded thoughtfully. There was more than enough room on the island for the construction. "That satisfies the issue for the riders who can't make it, but what about the guests and special visitors?" he asked.

Karen smiled. "Well that's one I've been meaning to talk to you about. Lee forwarded a message he received from a large hotel chain. There have been enough news pieces on the hatching Weyr and the hot springs that they were interested in opening a large hotel on Disko. You know there's been considerable interest in opening up the hatchings to the general public. I'm sure we could negotiate to reserve the entire hotel for our guests during hatching season."

Harry frowned. "I don't know," he said, then he hurried to add. "It's not necessarily a bad idea Karen, but I'm concerned about having the public at a hatching. We could end up with people trying to storm the hatching grounds."

Karen sat back in her chair with a crestfallen expression. "I didn't think of that," she replied softly. "Maybe we can enclose the guest stands in plexiglass like they do for Canadian ice hockey."

"I'm not going to say no to the idea Karen, but any hotel on Disko changes things. A hotel would want to be open all year round. The only draw would be the hot springs which we may lose or we turn Disko into a manned Weyr," Harry offered.

"Create a showcase Weyr," Susan offered.

Harry turned to her. "I'm sorry?" he asked.

"A showcase Weyr. You know how now we have days where schools come to visit and we hold little classes to teach the children about dragons? Or the times when we host conferences for business owners so they can see what we're doing and how it might fit in with their business?" Susan replied. "This could be a Weyr dedicated to a similar function only it would be set up for adults. We could add classes about our dragon powered technology, even set up a business and technology center for businesses so they can learn about what partnering with dragons means. Have every Weyr contribute a wing on a rotating basis to staff the Weyr and run the center."

Karen perked up and looked extremely interested. "That could work," she mused. "It's more ambitious than I envisioned, but..."

She trailed off when Harry shook his head. "Setting up Disko as a manned Weyr is possible, but first we need a concrete plan and I want to float this with the Weyrleader's council first."

"One more thing Harry," Susan added.

"Yes?"

"We really wouldn't lose the hot springs. Couldn't we place some hot rocks in them and pipe in the water?" she asked.

Harry chuckled and shook his head. "You know that never occurred to me."

"Me either," murmured Karen sheepishly.

Harry added more notes in his book while Susan and Karen exchanged a knowing grin. Every rider knew about his book and several had approached Remus about getting his book for the Weyr archive and giving Harry a new book. So far he refused to give up his book.

Weyrleader's Mast, Campbeltown Weyr, July 2000...

Harry looked at the large photo with interest. It looked like a ten meter tall radio antenna that someone had attached all sorts of instruments to. He absently noted the solar panels and wind speed meter, then he turned back to Arnas.

"And you say this will help us Arnas?" Harry asked a bit dubiously. He sat at a table along with the four divisional leaders. Other tables nearby held the Wing leaders in each division. This was something new that Harry had instituted. Modeled after the naval tradition of the Flag mast, twice per month Harry would hold an afternoon long session in the Kitchen Hall where the Weyr leadership would deal with problems that have arisen among the riders. Sometimes Harry would have to mete out a punishment, but more often the mast allowed riders to present new ideas.

"Yes I believe it would. I understand these are expensive Harry, but these self contained meteorology stations would allow me to quickly provide a forecast at any particular Weyr around the world. All I would need to do is remotely access them via the net and we'll know exactly what the weather conditions are at a particular Weyr," Arnas said a bit nervously. He had been given the job of Weyr meteorology officer shortly after he had impressed.

Although quiet and introverted, Harry was very pleased with Arnas. The boy had spent his weyrling days hovering around the edges of his peers, never truly socializing with them. When Harry asked for someone to monitor the weather for the Weyr he volunteered immediately. Since then one of the more outspoken girls snapped him up and he was turning out to be an excellent addition to the Weyr.

Academically he was one of the most intelligent people in the Weyr and in charge of the Weyrs fledgling weather bureau. Arnas was now well along to earning his degree in meteorology and was already considering attempting a more advanced degree in the subject. He was still soft spoken and introverted, but wife Annie had brought him out of his shell and his position as Weyr meteorologist earned him a lot of respect among the riders.

Ronan who sat next to Harry leaned forward in his chair with intense interest. "How do these things communicate with your laptop Arnas? Only the manned Weyrs have electrical power," he asked.

Arnas grinned, "That's the beauty of these things Ronan. Each station contains a bank of solar electric cells for electricity that charge batteries and each station has a satellite uplink which provides a 128kb connection to the net. The unit is really powered down most of the time. It's fully programmable so I can set it to automatically power up to take and store its measurements every hour, but until I command it to upload the data it uses as little power as possible. We can always install one of our portable power generators, it wouldn't need to be one of the big ones, just a E model would provide more power than it could really use."

Dragon Services Limited produced five designs of portable steam power plants ranging from A to E. The A Dragon Plant model was capable of supplying any inner city hospital with power and was the size of a large truck. The power models then worked their way down to the E Dragon Plant, which could provide power to a single house.

While the Weyr provided the designs for the power plants, companies like Honda and Mitsubishi actually produced and marketed them under license from the Weyr.

"The company that manufactures the unit is eager to have us use their product. I haven't mentioned it to Lee as yet, but they are the leading supplier of remote meteorology sensing stations and some of them are very difficult to reach. I believe we could come to an arrangement to help them reach some of the more remote locations in return for a substantial discount."

Karen looked up from her spot nearby. While technically not one of the Wing or Division leaders, her position as the Weyr's chief financial officer gave her a prominent place at these meetings. "I'd like to know more about this Arnas," she said, then she turned to Harry. "I've been talking with Kat Mathews at Condron and we've come to believe we need to set up a ferry group. There are a number of industries

interested in using our services to move equipment, either because the location is very remote or because the equipment is difficult to transport. This fits right into that idea."

Harry made a note on a pad in front of him. "A ferry group? Can we tie this in with the riders that are pushing for us to set up tour services? Bess Middleton from Condron has been sending me weekly emails asking to form a group to provide tours," Harry asked. "To be honest, Hermione told me this is an insurance nightmare so I've been reluctant to do anything. Perhaps if there is enough interest we can look into it further?"

Shortly before going public with the Weyrs, Harry took the advice of the Weyr's legal group and formed Dragon Services Ltd. The board of directors for the company consisted mainly of Weyrleaders and it's principle purpose was to allow all the various opportunities to be consolidated under one banner. So far Dragon Services Ltd had nearly a dozen sub-corporations. Adding another would be time consuming and involve a ton of paperwork, but it would be worth the effort.

Karen looked surprised, then she nodded. "That makes sense. Two groups performing similar services but tied together under a single sub-corporation. Yes I think we can do that easily enough."

"Well you know the drill Karen, get the people together and let them hammer out a plan and presentation to the board," Harry said with a wry smile.

Karen dropped her eyes and nodded. The Weyr had set up several sub-corporations within the Weyr for handling different functions and Karen had nearly put herself into the hospital trying to coordinate everything. Harry finally put his foot down and made it clear, no Weyr executive would be allowed to get involved with any sub-corporation unless they gave up their current position. Karen had worked herself into exhaustion and Harry reluctantly stepped in at Ronan's request. Karen was the chief financial officer for Campbeltown Weyr and Dragon Services Ltd, but she wasn't allowed to do any more than that.

It was the only time she had been called to the Weyrleader's mast and Harry as punishment sent her and Ronan on a two week cruise without her computer. It turned out that it really was Harry's wedding present to Ronan and Karen, to pay for their honeymoon.

Harry turned back to Arnas. "Arnas, I like this idea, but it bears more looking into. Please gather your materials and get together with Karen. I will say this, even if we do not get involved moving these stations, we will purchase enough of them for our needs."

Arnas nodded gratefully and he turned and walked over to where Karen was sitting.

"What's next?" Harry asked.

"A disciplinary action Harry," Hermione said softly from the corner where she acted as meeting secretary. "Gordon Chapman showed up drunk last week when he was due to go on late night watch patrol. He was incapable of going on patrol and needed to be relieved."

The Weyr maintained a 24 hour patrol over the surrounding territory. Since going public it was necessary to keep an eye out on people approaching the Weyr. There were four basic patrols lasting six hours each, Morning watch, Afternoon watch, Evening watch and Late Night watch. No one liked Late Night watch which lasted from midnight to six in the morning.

No one rider stayed aloft for the full six hours since there were always enough riders on hand to let a rider shift one hour aloft and one hour sitting in the office. A typical shift meant a total of only three hours air time unless something unusual popped up.

Harry sighed, he hated dealing with disciplinary actions. Most of these meetings dealt with riders looking to improve things but at least once a month someone would require disciplinary action for something they did. Most of the time it was minor stuff and Harry would fine the rider a portion of their weekly pay or place them on a duty that everyone hated. So far Harry had not had to deal with anything major or anything that would conflict with British law, but he knew it was only a matter of time before that happened. Harry dreaded the day when that happened.

Chapman had been a problem from the get go, one of a handful of riders that consistently caused problems. At least twice a year Harry would have to smack down the man and that would cause him to behave until his next infraction.

While Chapman usually did whatever task he was assigned without any problems, he tended to be abrasive around the other riders. Chapman was one of only a handful of the first riders that hadn't gone on to university and since Harry hadn't gone on either, it wasn't like anyone could complain about that. Unlike Harry however, Chapman had an excessive amount of free time on his hands which he used to chase girls in his old neighborhood, or just generally get into minor trouble around the Weyr. His Wing leader had assigned him a job, but he was a little too efficient at it, leaving him extra spare time.

This was the first time he had done something that impacted his duties.

A side door opened and Bob Malwich, Harry's Wing second for Wing One entered followed by Gordon Chapman who sported a very unhappy look. Malwich led Chapman to stand before the table containing Harry and the divisional leaders.

Harry leaned forward in his seat. "Gordon, do you have an explanation for your behavior?" he asked icily.

Several around the table shivered in their seats and fervently hoped that they never did anything to cause Harry to speak to them like that.

"Aw come on Harry. Late watch is dead boring. I don't know why we even bother having a patrol anymore," protested Chapman.

"Last month four people were caught trying to enter the Weyr during late watch. Three were harmless, but one was planning on trying to deface our property with religious slogans decrying our dragons. He could have been just as easily carrying a bomb! You call that boring?"

Harry sat back and blew out an explosive breath. "Chapman, since you impressed you've been a source of problems for the Weyr..."

He trailed off and stared hard at Gordon who had the grace to look down and at least pretend to be ashamed of himself.

"Very well," Harry said finally. "You are fined two months pay and confined to the Weyr for the next month. For the next four months you'll receive only half pay."

Chapman looked up and glared at Harry.

"Furthermore until I say so, you're on dung duty full time."

Harry paused a moment, then spoke again. "Cheki, inform Kirteth of his rider's limitations for the thirty days."

The limitation was a problem for Chapman who, if you believed him, had several girlfriends outside of the Weyr as well as occasionally sampling one of the newer riders who hadn't learned yet how bad he could be. With over 400 riders there was always some girl that didn't believe the stories about Chapman.

"I have Harry. Kirteth is very unhappy with his rider," announced the dragon to the whole room. A gasp ran through the room at that pronouncement.

Chapman paled considerably and now looked very unhappy, a nervous twitch appeared in his expression. It wasn't often that a dragon was unhappy with their rider, to announce it so publicly was a major blow to the man's ego.

"I am sorry that my rider has caused so much problems Weyrleader," Kirteth said suddenly. The dragon's distress was obvious in his tone.

Harry grimaced and glanced upwards to the ceiling. Kirteth and Chekiath were currently on the roof of the building. "It is not your fault Kirteth, I'm sure things will get better," he said, then shot Chapman a hard glare.

Chapman nodded fervently, all bluster pulled from his sails by the announcement that his dragon was unhappy.

Harry looked towards Chapman, "Report to Toby Boblett immediately. Tell him that you're assigned to him for the foreseeable future and I will email him confirming it. Dismissed," he said coldly. "And don't show up at mast again for disciplinary action."

Chapman nodded and walked despondently towards the exit. Harry waited until he left the room before nodding in thanks to Bob Malwich and asking what was next on the list.

"That would be me Harry," Lee said a bit uncertainly. He had news he wanted to share, but he was reluctant now, he could tell Harry was still angry about Chapman.

Harry glanced over towards Hermione who nodded in agreement. Lee was on the list. They were coming down to the end of the Mast and Lee had asked to make an announcement.

"All right Lee, you have the floor," Harry replied.

Lee stood and walked over to the spot where Chapman had been standing. "Well, you see, it's like this. Mariah and I are going to get married. Next week actually. I was wondering if you'd mind if we popped over to Gretna Green to do it?"

Harry's eyes narrowed in suspicion and he leaned forward on his chair. Lee turned a bit darker under Harry's gaze, but he held his ground. "Lee," Harry started to say.

"Er... well the truth is Mariah and I are going to have a baby," Lee suddenly said. Hermione gasped in the corner and smiled broadly. Lee and Mariah would be the first rider pair to start a family. There had been others who had gotten married, or hand-fasted, but Lee and Mariah would add another first, the first baby.

Harry leaned back and shook his head. "What I was about to say Lee, is that no one, not even me, has any say over what you do privately. I'm pleased for you both and offer my congratulations, but I'll admit I'm also puzzled why you'd think it was necessary to ask my permission."

"Publicity," Lee mumbled.

"Harry, a Gretna Green wedding will make the front page of the next day's paper," James said. "Lee could have arranged a more conventional service, but with a pregnant bride, time is a bit of an issue."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. Nearly a dozen of the first riders had gotten married by this point, most of them holding the service either at the Weyr or at a church in the town of Campbeltown. "Lee, you and Mariah are adults. What you do is your own affair. All I ask is that you remember who you are and who you represent when you are outside of the Weyr," Harry said, then he paused and looked around for a moment. "Each of us has an obligation to uphold the honor of the Weyr, but no one should ever feel like they need my permission to follow your heart."

He glanced back to Lee. "I do want to make one thing plainly clear. Mariah is pregnant and we know from the dragon memories that Between can sometimes interfere with that. From here on she's to be closely monitored by Issac, or a specialist of his choice. The safety of the mother and baby are paramount, so when she's down checked for flight I don't want to hear any complaints about it."

"Issac's already been working on a program for monitoring a pregnant rider Harry," Remus offered.

Harry leaned back and smiled in relief. The dragon memories contained disturbing instances of women miscarrying their babies after a trip Between. Issac pointed out that the Weyr's of Pern had lost most of their medical knowledge that it was safe to say the modern Weyrs had access to better doctors than Pern did.

Harry stood and offered a hand to Lee. "I do hope you don't mind some of us attending your service?"

Lee grabbed Harry's hand and shook it eagerly. "No, not at all!"

"And with that, I'd say the mast is done. It's nice to end on a high note," Ronan declared.

Harry walked over to Hermione. "Will you see that everyone knows they don't have to come ask permission if they want to start a family?" he asked a bit plaintively.

Hermione smiled at him. "I'll send out a memo via email Harry. Don't take it the wrong way, it's just that everyone knows how hard we've all been working and starting a family will steal time from our efforts."

Harry ran a hand through his hair and Hermione was startled to notice faint streaks of gray at his temples. "I know. But I don't want people to think I want that kind of control. I appreciate Lee telling us, but he didn't need to ask."

Hermione reached out and grabbed his hand. "I'll see to it," she repeated, "Now let's go to lunch."

He nodded and followed her over to where the elves were setting up the buffet.

Later that evening Harry was finishing up reading a report from Albert Ford concerning his efforts to open up the Colombian government. So far the government was not willing to talk to the Weyr. The Colombians weren't against dragons in any way, but Albert Ford had learned that they were very unhappy over the issue of autonomy.

It concerned Harry because Colombia had several former reserves in their territory and they would either become a manned Weyr, or he'd have to find countries to relocate them to. If Colombia wouldn't accept an autonomous Weyr, he'd had no choice but to relocate those Weyrs.

He was indulging himself in a bit of rare late night office work. Hermione was down in London, getting ready to attend a contract meeting the following morning with Maggie Sheppard. May was also in London, working on a project for school. Such nights rarely happened anymore and Harry always felt a little disconnected when it did. It was like the girls had created an atmosphere that he deeply missed when they were gone.

He looked up from his reading and noted Cheki still in his spot. "Cheki, why don't you head on home? I'll be along in about an hour. At least there you'll be able to watch the telly or read something instead of watching me read this report," he said.

Chekiath cracked an eye open. "Are you sure Harry? I don't mind waiting."

Harry waved. "Go on, I know you're itching to see that new Blue Planet special that Sir David sent up."

Chekiath rumbled softly. "Sir David is a good friend to send us those shows. I will see you soon. Shall I tell Dobby to have your evening tea ready?"

Harry smiled. "Yes please."

He watched for a moment longer then he turned back to the report. He frowned and wrote a comment in the margin next to one paragraph, then he summoned an atlas from his shelf.

More than an hour passed with the only sound in the office was that of his pencil against the paper, then he heard the sound of the dragon door opening again.

"Back again Cheki?" he murmured without looking up.

"Gordon no!"

Harry looked up at that call and he started to turn in his chair.

Pain flashed against the back of Harry's head and his head and body hit the surface of his desk painfully. Bright spots danced in his vision and he vaguely heard a dragon bellowing in anguish before being abruptly cutoff.

"Damn you!" snarled Gordon Chapman. His mind filled with rage as Kirteth broke his bond with his rider by jumping Between.

Harry tried to push himself up from the desk when Chapman up ended his broken liquor bottle and plunged it deep into Harry's back. Harry was pushed face down into the desk again and his vision grayed out. The pain in his back was intense and crippling.

Chapman snarled something again and he reached forward to try to wrench the bottle out of Harry's back so he could plunge it in again. He paused in confusion when a pair of jaws closed around him, piercing him in dozens of places. Chapman shrieked in agony when Chekiath pulled him from the office and flung the rider behind him.

Gordon Chapman landed a good forty feet away and rolled to a bloody stop in the middle of the road. Around the Weyr dragons awoke in confusion, a dragon had committed suicide and no one knew what was happening. The dragons wanted to mourn the loss, but the intense anger radiating from Chekiath was scaring the Weyr, they didn't understand why their alpha dragon was so upset.

A siren sounded across the Weyr and lights lit up the areas around the hangars. Ronan was the first to arrive on the scene after Chekiath, urged on by a frightened Garanoth. He skidded to a halt at the dragon entrance to Harry's office.

He could see Harry slumped over his desk with something sticking out of his back, but he couldn't get around the outraged dragon who was spitting short bursts of flame.

"Chekiath move out of my way!" he bellowed.

The large dragon was blocking the entrance to the office. Chekiath turned his head to glare at Ronan, his eyes a solid bright red. Flames lapped from his nostrils and Ronan suddenly realized he was seconds from being burned alive by a dragon that wasn't in control of himself.

"Chekiath no!" May yelled. She appeared overhead on Trath dressed in her pajamas. She was shivering with cold and it was obvious that she hadn't waited around to dress properly before jumping home. A moment later Hermione appeared, in the same condition.

"Chekiath, what's wrong?" asked Comaloth.

The redness in the great dragon's eyes dimmed slightly. "Harry is hurt. Kirteth's rider attacked him. In shame Kirteth jumped Between."

The dragon moved backwards slightly and both girls landed in the street while Ronan rushed past Cheki to get to Harry. Ronan skidded to a halt and fumbled for his phone. A moment later it was ringing the security duty watch office.

Both girls rushed into office and stopped in their tracks. Harry was a mess, there was a bottle sticking out of his back and he was bleeding heavily from a head wound. He also smelt like a distillery.

"I need an ambulance at Harry's office right now, and send some security here as well," Ronan said, then he ended the call.

"What do we do?" whispered Hermione.

"Nothing," May said firmly. "He's badly injured, but he's alive or Chekiath wouldn't be here. We need to wait for someone trained in this to help him."

She moved closer and felt for a pulse. She was relieved to find it seemed alright to her. On the other hand, he was bleeding from his nose and mouth, which was not a good sign. What little she knew of human medical treatment came from her first aid classes taught by the Red Cross. Harry's head injury looked a lot worse than it actually was. May was certain anything she did could risk injuring him further.

Chekiath bellowed again and both girls looked out the dragon doorway. Trath and Comaloth were between Chekiath and the still form of Chapman. Several riders were clustered around him and it appeared as if they were trying to administer first aid.

"Move out of my way," Chekiath snarled, he made a deep barking like sound that caused every dragon present to flinch away, but Trath and Comaloth held their ground.

"You cannot do this Chekiath," Comaloth said. "You stopped Kirteth's rider from hurting Harry more. But if you kill him you will cause many problems for the Weyr. You cannot kill him now that he's not a threat. Leave it to the humans to solve."

Cheki bellowed in anger and he shot flames a good forty feet into the air. Every dragon flinched back from him. Comaloth and Trath cowered in front of him, but held fast.

May sprinted out of the office and ran to stand in front of Chekiath. She reached up and managed to grab onto his lower jaw, pulling his head down so she could look him in the eye. She knew she was risking her life by what she was doing, but someone had to reach through the anger Chekiath was feeling. "Cheki," she said urgently. "Let Major Atkins take care of Chapman now. We have more important things to worry about. Listen to your consorts."

"I do not wish for you to get into trouble Chekiath," Trath said. "If the humans hurt you because you killed Kirteth's rider, it would kill Harry, and the rest of us."

"Cheki, please?" May pleaded.

It was the fear that slowly penetrated the fog and anger in Cheki's mind. This was Cheki just one step away from the time of the beasts, with no control, until he felt the fear coming from his consorts and their riders. Hermione stood only a few feet in front of her dragon as if she could block him from flaming Comaloth, it was clear she was afraid, not for her own life, but for that of her dragon and her family.

His consorts were afraid, and their riders were afraid of him! He had allowed his anger to get out of control.

Slowly the angry red faded to streaks of black and yellow in Chekiath's eyes. He lowered his head nearly to the ground in shame. "Harry will be well?" Chekiath asked hesitantly.

May glanced back towards the open doorway and she could see Doctor Sheppard and Madam Pomfrey, each working their own form of magic.

"I think so," she said hopefully, then she knelt and wrapped her arms around the huge dragon's neck. "I hope so."

She saw Remus and Sirius nearby, which explained how Madam Pomfrey had arrived here so quickly. That both of Harry's friends watched worriedly was something she didn't bother sharing with Cheki. The dragon was barely keeping himself in check as it was. The last thing they needed would be for him to lose control now.

Hermione came around from behind and put a hand on May's back. She gently tugged her away from Cheki so that they could observe what was happening around them.

A military ambulance pulled up to the curb and four men exited from the vehicle with two stretchers between them. Two went towards Harry while the other two headed for Chapman.

Chekiath growled deeply and smoke wafted from his nostrils.

"Cheki," Hermione said sternly, warning the big dragon to not interfere. Both girls were now trying to help the huge dragon. There wasn't anything they could do for Harry except wring their hands and worry. At least by helping Cheki they were helping Harry, and the Weyr. There wasn't a rider present that didn't understand that Chekiath had come within a dragon's breath from killing an unconscious human. And no rider would have blamed him had he done so, but the government might not be so forgiving.

Everyone present knew that Chekiath had gravely injured Chapman, and they could understand and condone the reason for it. But they knew the law would be firmly against any further action even if the dragons didn't understand it.

"But my Harry!" protested Cheki.

Dronth landed next to Norendrath and he turned his head to look at Chekiath. "It is time to let the humans handle this Chekiath. You defended your rider as is your right, but the humans have laws which now must be followed," the elder dragon said firmly.

Chekiath bowed his head and both of his consorts moved up closer and rubbed their heads against his to comfort him. Both girls could sense something happening in their bond, but it wasn't directed at them so they only felt the edges of it.

Dronth turned to May and Hermione. "You have calmed Chekiath enough that his consorts can now see to their mate. Now it is time for you to attend to your mate."

"I do believe we've just been dismissed," murmured a surprised Hermione. Dronth had succeeded Spath as the elder dragon for the planet and while he was an excellent elder, he was in someways more formal and aloof than Spath ever was. To Dronth, May and Hermione had one job only and that was to support the Weyrleader. He appreciated what they did for the Weyr, but keeping the Weyrleader happy and healthy was their main task in his opinion.

May grunted softly in acknowledgment and she started to walk back to Harry's office. She was surprised to see they had loaded Harry onto the stretcher and had an IV already going. Both girls stopped near Remus and Sirius who watched grimly.

Dobby appeared and handed both girls a heavy robe which they gratefully slipped on.

"How is he?" asked Hermione in a whisper.

Remus started, then he glanced over to her. "Issac thinks that Madam Pomfrey has saved Harry from having to undergo surgery. She transfigured the glass shards in his back to water. On the other hand he has a punctured lung and several broken bones. Issac wants to send Harry to hospital so they can deal with the head wound. Madam Pomfrey is going to fix his lungs, but leave the rest of the damage alone. Issac pointed out this is now a muggle crime and that limits the amount of healing we can do."

Issac nodded to one of the ambulance attendants, then he stood and walked over to where the four stood watching. "We're moving him to the clinic where an air ambulance will pick him up. I'm sending him to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary," he said softly.

"Wait, why? I don't understand, isn't Madam Pomfrey going to heal him?" Hermione asked in confusion, then trailed off as Issac shook his head.

"Poppy did heal the damage to his lungs," Issac replied patiently, "but Harry has a head injury with a very deep cut; and if there is one thing the incident with Lee Jordan taught me, it was that magical medicine isn't so good when it comes to injuries involving the spinal cord or the brain. Madam Pomfrey doesn't like it, but we need to leave most of the injuries alone so they can be documented.

"He'll undergo a MRI to make sure he isn't bleeding inside his head. I don't think he is, but I want to make sure. I don't have the equipment on hand or the expertise to run that kind of test. The Royal Infirmary will handle him and they'll make sure he's well cared for in the process. They'll also deal with the cuts to his back and his ribs. The dangerous damage has already been fixed."

"Girls," Sirius said, "take a breath, then go get changed. It'll take Harry at least an hour to reach the hospital then we'll all go see what we can find out."

Hermione nodded, then glanced over to see May practically in tears. She stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her friend. "It'll be fine," she said softly. "Harry's had worse than this."

Hermione and May stood silently while they loaded Harry into the ambulance. A second one had already left the scene with Chapman. Sirius placed a hand on their shoulders. "He'll be fine, you'll see," he said softly. "Come on, let's get you home and dressed, then we have to get Cheki to Glasgow."

Glasgow Royal Infirmary, July 2000...

It was the pain that forced him awake. His head pounded mercilessly and his chest ached painfully. He tried to think about what had happened, but he was drawing a blank. All he knew was that he was laying on a bed, on his stomach, he hated laying on his stomach. He rolled over gingerly on his back and sucked in a breath at the pain it caused.

"Harry? Are you feeling better?" Chekiath asked, his voice was laced with worry and hope.

He winced, Chekiath hadn't spoken loudly but it caused his head to pound heavily. "I'm not sure mate. What happened?" he sent back, then he sighed and opened his eyes finally.

"Kirteth's rider attacked you, I came as quickly as I could but he had already hurt you by the time I arrived," Cheki said sadly. "Now things are all confused and angry at the Weyr."

"Hey it's okay Cheki, you did your best," he whispered in reply.

A door opened and a face moved into his view. "You're awake Mr. Potter? You really should have stayed on your stomach, you have a nasty wound on your head and your back."

"Where am I?"

The nurse smiled at him, then leaned over and stuck a machine in his ear for a moment when it beeped, she removed the electronic thermometer and said, "You are in Glasgow at the Royal Infirmary. You were brought in last night quite unconscious. It was quite a shock to come in this morning for my shift and find the hospital covered in dragons let me tell you! Why one of your cheeky friends decided to sleep in the director's parking slot."

She didn't need to mention that the dragon took up a lot more space than just a single parking slot. Harry gave her a weak grin. The nurse was an older woman that reminded her somewhat of Madam Pomfrey.

"This morning we had to have one of your people ask the dragons to move from our helipad," she added, sounding a bit put out. It was okay to inconvenience the director, but preventing the sick from arriving was nearly a crime in her book.

She moved over to a chart and wrote something down then she turned back to Harry. "You're doing rather well all things considering. The doctor said you might need something for a headache when you woke up?"

Harry nodded slowly, any quick movement would have hurt too much. She smiled a grandmotherly smile and pat his hand. "Well I'll be back in a jiffy with something. Breakfast will be in half an hour, then the doctor will see you, after that you'll be able to receive visitors."

"How long will I be here?"

The nurse stopped at the door and turned back to him. She smiled again. "I don't think it will be too long. You needed some stitches and some x-rays last night. Most of that was taken care of pretty quickly. The doctor will tell you more, and I suspect the director will want his parking spot back sooner than later."

Harry waited until the door closed behind her, then he turned his head towards the window. "All right Cheki, tell me the bad news. I can feel you're holding something back."

There was a moment of silence and his inner tension built higher. "After yesterday's Weyrleader's mast, Kirteth's rider grew very angry. He started thinking bad thoughts and Kirteth couldn't calm him down. He also spent most of his day drinking. Kirteth had mentioned to Dronth that there was something wrong with his rider, like a part of his mind that felt like it was growing sick, but the healer didn't find anything wrong with him.

"After Kirteth's rider attacked you, Kirteth jumped Between in shame."

Harry closed his eyes and moaned slightly. Chekiath didn't need to elaborate any further. A dragon had killed himself because he couldn't stand the shame of his rider's actions. "Oh no," he whispered.

"Weyrleader? Mr. Potter, are you all right?" asked the nurse. Harry wasn't aware she had returned.

His eyes sprang open. "Yes," he stammered. "I'm sorry, my dragon was just explaining what happened last night."

The nurse handed him a cup of water and a couple of pills, then she sat on a chair next to the bed and leaned forward. "Your dragon is really speaking to you?" she asked. "And here I was afraid I would have to report you being delusional."

Harry smiled faintly. "Cheki, say hello to... I'm sorry, but what is your name?"

"Mrs. Robinson, I'm one of the senior nurses for the floor," Mrs. Robinson replied.

"Hello Nurse," Chekiath said, "is a nurse like a healer or a doctor?"

Mrs. Robinson's eyes bulged in her head and she sucked in a breath in surprise. "My lord, the tales are true, it's like someone is speaking right inside my ear!" She looked around a bit wildly as if she expected Chekiath to be hiding under the bed.

"He's on the roof," Harry said quietly. "He was telling me that there was something wrong with Chapman, the man that attacked me. He was a rider and his dragon said part of his mind was feeling strange, like it was growing sick, but his last examination came up clean. Apparently after Chapman attacked me, his dragon couldn't take the shame of what his rider was doing, so he committed suicide."

Mrs. Robinson paled and placed a hand to her heart. "Oh my," she said, then lapsed into silence for a moment, then she stood.

"Cheki," she said a bit hesitantly, "to answer your question, a nurse helps the doctors heal people."

"Oh that makes sense," Chekiath replied. "They do seem to be very busy people."

Mrs. Robinson took the empty cup from Harry's hand and pat it once again. "Yes, they are indeed. Do try to rest Mr. Potter, I will call the doctor and inform him you're awake. Word came from the Prime Minister's office that we're to take special care of you, so I think he'll be here straight away."

Harry nodded and closed his eyes. The throbbing began to ease off as the pain medications kicked in.

He dozed for a while then he awoke to someone prodding him. "Eh? What?" he mumbled.

A young woman in a white coat smiled at him apologetically. "I'm sorry to wake you Mister Potter, but I'm Doctor Nugent, I'm the chief resident. Your own physician, Doctor Sheppard will be here shortly along with Doctor Upton our chief of neurosurgery."

Harry's eyes widened and she grinned. "Don't fret any, we have no plans to open you up. Doctor Upton was called in last night to check your MRI and check my stitch work. Your doctor didn't think there was a problem, but you were bleeding badly and your doctor didn't want to risk missing something."

It was obvious that Nugent didn't like the idea of someone having to check her stitch work, but she couldn't exactly tell off the chief of her department.

The door opened and Hermione and May slipped inside. Doctor Nugent turned and frowned. "I'm sorry, but you can't come in..."

"It's all right," Harry said quickly. "They are with me."

Nugent turned and gave Harry an astonished look, then the door opened again and the nurse entered, pushing a cart with breakfast on it. She saw that Harry wasn't alone reached for a tray on her cart and pulled out two more cups for the girls.

Nugent frowned and made a notation on the chart. With a sharp snap, she flipped it closed and left the room.

May watched with a bit of a smirk, she could understand the woman's attitude. Here on the ward, she was in charge and Harry was breaking her rules.

Harry waited until the nurse had left, then he turned his attention to both girls. "Cheki told me about Kirteth. I knew Chapman was a problem, but I never expected him to attack me. Chekiath also said that Kirteth said something was growing wrong with Chapman's mind," he said, then he tried to shift his position in the bed without spilling his breakfast. He wasn't able to hide the wince from the flash of pain in his chest. "How did my chest get injured?"

"Chapman hit you with a heavy bottle," May explained. "It broke against your head, then he used what was left to stab you in the back, breaking a rib and puncturing your lung. Poppy fixed the damage to your lungs before they moved you, then Issac sent you here to take care of the rest of your injuries. As far as the doctors are concerned you were stabbed in the back which resulted in a broken rib and some bad cuts, but your ribs prevented damage to your lungs."

Harry shook his head in dismay, then his eyes narrowed. "And Chapman?"

"Alive, barely. Chekiath grabbed him in his mouth and threw him over his shoulder. He landed about forty feet away, in the street," Hermione said tightly. "He's under police guard now, but the loss of his dragon has made him violently uncontrollable."

"He's here also, and there's talk that he might be totally insane," May added softly. "What ever problem he had, losing Kirteth has made it much worse. He's strapped into a bed after nearly strangling one of the nurses despite his injuries."

Harry sighed and laid his head back against the pillows, one hand came up to rub his temple tiredly. "It fits, we knew that most riders would suicide when their dragon died. Staying alive probably drove him over the edge," he said, then he looked pointed at May. "We need to look into improving our vetting process. And look into Chapman's family background to see if there was an existing history of mental problems."

"You think we shouldn't allow candidates with that kind of background?" she asked incredulously.

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. I think we need to consult with an expert or two to get more information. The one thing I do know is that his dragon said something was going wrong with him."

He looked around for his book of things to do, but it wasn't present.

Hermione smiled at him. "I'll add it to your list when we get home," she said.

Harry nodded and pushed his tray away, then he closed his eyes. A moment later he felt someone take his hand. He opened an eye to see May looking at him in concern. "I'm fine, just tired," he mumbled.

"It's fine Harry," Hermione said from her seat. "In fact it's to be expected, you have a nasty concussion. Chapman used a nearly full bottle on your head, that's why Issac was so worried."

"And then he stabbed you with the broken bottle while you were unconscious," spat May angrily. Her eyes glistened with tears and she angrily dashed them away.

Harry reached out and caught her hand in his, forcing her to look at him. "May, it's all right," he said.

She pulled away from him and shook her head. "No! It's not all right. Harry, you don't understand, a dragon is dead. His rider could have killed you! If Cheki hadn't arrived, he probably would have!"

"I understand far too well," he snapped back in an icy tone. He tried to sit up, but the pain left him gasping for air and collapsing back to the bed.

After a moment to gather his strength he continued. "Yesterday I punished a rider that I should have been sending off to a specialist for help. But since he impressed Chapman has been riding my arse and bucking my authority. Instead of trying to find out what was causing the problem, I stepped on him again and gave him the reason he felt he needed to attack me. Yes a dragon is dead and Chapman will probably spend the rest of his life under guard. A dragon is dead and we're down a rider who generally did his job because I thought he was merely being an arse as usual."

May flinched and paled, she hadn't meant to imply it was his fault.

"Stop it both of you," Hermione said firmly. "There is no way we could have known what was happening. Kirteth didn't share that information with anyone but Dronth and he didn't understand what was happening to Chapman. Even Spath wouldn't have known or understood what was happening with Chapman. There's no one to blame, it happened and we'll learn from it. Yes it's painful to lose a rider and dragon, but none of us could have foreseen this. Fighting over it is a waste of time."

Harry leaned back into his pillow and sighed. "May, I'm sorry," he said softly, his anger rapidly turning to shame. She nodded and smiled weakly back at him. She started to move closer when the door opened. Nurse Robinson entered the room and quickly removed his breakfast tray. As soon as she walked out of the room Sirius entered.

"Your looking a bit peaky there Harry," Sirius said in an uncharacteristically soft tone.

"It's the hangover Siri," Harry said, trying to lighten the mood. "I don't remember drinking anything, but I still smell like a distillery."

Sirius grinned, "Katherine here took care of the police for you. They wanted to send a dozen people to the hospital to interview you, but Katherine told them you were unconscious for most of the attack. You'll probably see someone later today, but I wouldn't expect them to send a troop of people."

"Thank Merlin for that," Harry said. "Honestly, I was working on a plan for opening two new Weyrs next year when I heard the dragon door open. I didn't even look up, I just thought it was Cheki coming back from the house. Both Hermione and May were in London for the night and neither of us like it much when the house is empty like that. Anyway, the door opened, I said something to Cheki and next thing I know I'm waking up here."

Sirius nodded, "We figured it was something like that. Norendrath said that Chekiath's first inkling that something was wrong was when the bond collapsed when you were hit in the head. Even if you were surprised, he would have felt it. As it stands Cheki destroyed the dragon door to your house trying to get to you."

The door opened again and Issac stepped in followed by a gray haired gentleman he didn't know. Issac nodded to the others who moved away from the bed, then he approached Harry.

"Harry, you're looking better than last night," Issac said with a smile. Although he was a doctor and a wizard, it always seemed like he had the kind of empathy for his patients that most doctors would kill for. "Allow me to introduce you to Doctor Walter Lipton, chief of Neurosurgery here at the Royal Infirmary. He came in late last night to examine your MRI results."

Harry offered his hand and the older man shook it. "I'll be brief Weyrleader, I just want to perform a few simple tests, but I'm confident that by this time tomorrow you'll be home."

Lipton shined a light in his eyes and made him track his pen with his eyes as he moved it, then he performed several more simple tests. Straightening up he grinned at Harry. "You have a moderate concussion but I'm happy to say there's no indication of anything worse. You broke one rib and the x-rays noted a few hairline stress fractures which is why your chest is taped up.

"It took eighteen stitches to close up your scalp and we'll want you to avoid getting it wet for a few more days. Your back also needed another fifteen stitches. Fortunately the stitches will dissolve on their own so you won't need to get them removed. All in all, I think you're a very lucky young man. From what I've heard about your assailant you could have been hurt a lot worse. Today you will probably feel very tired and have a headache, those are normal all things considering. If you want to doze, do so. If you feel you need something stronger for your headache or if your ribs bother you, just ring for a nurse."

He glanced over towards Sirius. "We'll keep him here today as a precaution but I don't think there will be any problems. It might be best if someone brought some clothing for him to wear, I'm afraid most of what he was wearing was ruined when he arrived in the emergency room."

"Thanks Doc," Sirius said with a broad smile.

Lipton glanced at Black and frowned, then he shrugged helplessly. Sirius' attitude annoyed him, he had worked hard to get to where he was and he disliked being called Doc. Sirius for his part, picked up the term from Remus' fiancée, Mildred who was now one of the chief research scientists for Dragons Services Ltd.

"Thank you doctor," Harry repeated. Lipton turned back to Harry and nodded.

"If you need anything, just ring the nurse and she can send for me," Lipton repeated, then he bustled from the room.

Harry nodded and yawned widely.

"I think someone needs a nap," May said, then she stood and walked over to where Harry lay and softly kissed him. "Sleep Harry, Hermione and I are going for some tea and will be back within an hour."

Sirius nodded. "I better get back to, Katherine get nervous when Norendrath and I are out visiting without her around."

Hermione looked up from kissing Harry and scowled at him. "That's because the last time you went out you caused a traffic jam trying snap a photo next to the M1 motorway," she said with a bit of exasperation.

"Hey now! It was a pretty sunset and I needed to learn how to use the camera that Katherine gave me. It's one of those digital thingies you know," Sirius said in protest.

"And the sight of a dragon on the road bank caused a traffic jam five miles long," May quipped.

"Hermione, talk to Issac about what Chekiath said about Chapman," Harry mumbled.

"I will, sleep Harry, we'll be back," Hermione replied, then she turned and motioned for Issac to follow her from the room.

Harry smiled and closed his eyes.

Condron Weyr USA, Mid July, 2000...

"Is that it? It doesn't seem like much if you ask me," Jared said.

Colonel Michel smiled at the young man. "No it doesn't does it? But I'm told it doesn't take much to make the measurements we need."

Over the past half year Michel had built up a friendship with the young rider. He had been one of the youngest candidates ever presented at Condron, having turned fifteen a mere month before the hatching. And as riders went, he was one of the Weyr's most introverted and shy riders in the Weyr.

Now, some two years after his impression and Jared still had trouble dealing with the female riders. One of his closest friends had helped him when Milth rose by convincing one of the girls to go to him. He was generally liked and he was a hard working rider who did whatever task he was assigned without complaint, but even with Milth and a girl interested in him, it was hard for him to come out of his shell.

The only time he really became animated was when he was flying, or talking about flying. It didn't matter if he was talking about dragons or flying airplanes, it was his one great passion and his one great weakness.

Jared looked up from examining the small box with a switch and what looked like a camera shutter. "And you cleared this with Doctor Standish?" he asked.

Doctor Standish was the head of the NASA run research facility at Condron. NASA ran the research facility and managed all of the US led projects in the Weyr. The government had opted to put NASA in charge since it was a civilian agency and not a military one.

"Of course, of course, in fact he personally told me that he thought you'd be perfect for using the monitor since you are always flying your dragon," Michel replied smoothly. In fact Standish and Michel did have a conversation about Jared and other riders, but never once did Michel mention any special testing. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't exactly a truth either.

Jared smiled and glanced over to the apartments block where his dragon was napping in the sun and couldn't help but smile.

"So what do I have to do?" asked Jared.

"Just hang this from your harness and make sure you wait at least four minutes after you turn it on before going Between. I'm told the unit needs to charge up so it can take it's measurements," Michel said, trying to sound as if he was unsure exactly what it did. As far as Jared was concerned Michel was in charge of moving data and equipment from various research projects and was primarily a pilot. He made it sound like he didn't really know what the machine did. "Every night you need to plug it into a wall socket to recharge. I'll pick it up in two weeks and hand it back over to the scientists to download the data."

Jared glanced down at the simple looking machine. "That doesn't seem too hard," he mumbled.

Michel put an arm around Jared. "I also managed to talk one of our chiefs into building another F-86 model, I should have it for your collection when I pick up the data collector."

Jared looked up at the older man and beamed a huge smile. He had a large collection of model planes and he was still missing the F-86.

Michel pat Jared on the back. "So I'll see you in two weeks then?"

Jared nodded. This wasn't the first time he had performed little jobs for Colonel Michel, most of them had been fairly innocuous although once he did have him take some photos from the air of a building in Mexico. Colonel Michel said it was a favor to a friend in the Drug Enforcement Agency. The fact that the building was on a Mexican Air Force base and contained dozens of antennas meant little to Jared who 'knew' the Mexicans had a corrupt government.

Eight days later Jared carelessly hung the measuring device from his harness and never noticed that when he mounted his dragon he jostled the unit so that the aperture was pointed directly at his calf.

---

Author's Notes and Mockeries...

* This chapter is published early due to the national holiday. The next chapter will be published on the appropriate Saturday.

* A number of people decided that they had to inform me that the Danes have no nuclear power plants. Silly Danes, this is fiction. My version of Denmark does have nuclear power, live with it or I'll also make your Prime Minister a Squirrel loving midget with delusions of wanting to be a waste basket in a women's restroom.

Fiction is like that, it doesn't necessarily have to contain a lot of truth. Things happen because I need them to happen.

I have worked hard to find out names of people and the like, but I can't check every fact in this story and maintain any reasonable publishing schedule. This also applies to the people that insist on saying someone's name is gender wrong. All I can do is point to the websites that list typical names used in countries, sorted by gender and tell you that until you can get them to change their lists, I am going to assume it's you that is wrong.

The Internet doesn't lie. I read that once on the Internet, on the Fox News website I think, and we all know those people wouldn't lie.

* A question was raised about some countries having compulsory military service. If you all recall back in Book I, Gordan Chapman was pulled from the British Army version of boot camp and after he impressed, he never returned to service. Part of the Weyr treaty with each host nation excludes the riders from any military service, even in times of War. I had thought that was clear, but apparently not so I'll say it here. No military service for any rider is allowed. The benefits from having a Weyr in country outweigh missing out on having less than 500 people serve in uniform.

* Barkeeper, well you did point out that the currency was available as early as 1999 for accounting purposes and Karen, the Weyr's CFO is a far thinking individual when it comes to modern accounting practices. Also, see my first note of this Mockeries section about fiction. It applies.

* Disasters will happen and real events will be seen through different lenses in this story. We may not see every major disaster in detail, to do so would quickly become repetitive. As a former member of a local volunteer SAR unit I know every emergency was a learning experience that changed our future responses. That's going to happen to the Weyr just like it happens in real life.

* The Loyal Executioner is in trouble with her hubby for missing their "Dating Anniversary" so that she could read books 1&2 and catch up to here. Obviously hubby doesn't understand the importance of fan fiction and must be eliminated. Any volunteers?

* And finally I have been asked to include a list of Weyrs and people. That would be too much and frankly giving you that list would include people and places you haven't seen yet. The best I will be able to do is provide a table at our Yahoo group listing the Weyrs, Weyrleaders and dragons. I honestly did try to include one here, but this system is poorly suited to displaying a neatly formatted table. What I ended up with was a total unreadable mess. I will try to get something up soon at the Yahoo group, but not until after the holiday.