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.

8. Chapter 8

Standard Disclaimer:

It was the noise that first tipped Bob off that something different was in the works. Alyx was running his air compressor again and that couldn't possibly be good. The last time she used the air compressor, she had fitted a neighborhood child's bicycle with a small air powered rocket.

They called off the search three days later when they failed to find the brat and the neighbors gave Alyx an award for ridding the neighborhood of a very annoying pest.

Needless to say, Bob wondered what kid Alyx was tormenting with the air compressor this time. Hitting the special Bob powered Save button(TM) on his keyboard, he turned and walked onto the stage.

Skidding to a halt he stared in amazement. "What is that?"

Alyx looked up from the compressor and grinned madly. "I thought I would save us the trouble of creating a disclaimer so I ordered one cheap from a Taiwanese manufacturer."

Bob looked at her, then back up at the huge inflatable duck holding an inflatable sign. "You bought an inflatable disclaimer?" he exclaimed. Sometimes she did stuff that just amazed him. Other times she scared the pants off him!

"That's right! We got it cheap!" Alyx exclaimed happily. "No more fighting over disclaimers, no more struggling to think of something new, no more llama harming disclaimers. We're finally free!"

Bob stared at the three story high duck with the two story high sign. "'We no owen Hairy Pots ors Dragging writers of Perth?'" Bob said softly, then he looked at Alyx and smirked. "Please tell me that you asked for something different?"

Alyx stared up at the sign in confusion. "I thought for sure they said they had the very best translators that money could buy."

"This is what happens when you buy cheap," Bob quipped. "Remember Clell and his prostetic heart? He blew up! He bought cheap also!"

Alyx whimpered in dismay.

Bob chuckled and walked off the stage while Alyx fell to the floor and wept. She knew Bob wouldn't let this go, he'd remind her of this mistake, magnify it and tell all their friends over and over again for the next fifty years!

Bob sat down at his computer and paused for a moment. Suddenly there was a loud boom and he chuckled. "I knew if I pointed that sign out, she'd forget to turn off the compressor," he muttered. "Lets start the chapter while I send out a mass mailing about the dangers of inflatable ducks and Taiwanese sign makers."

---

Beneath Sovereign Skies
Chapter 8
Points and Counter Points

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Power Plant Construction Site, Bourges, France, January 20th 2001...

Lukath perched on the crane tower and looked around idly. The humans that worked in this place were gone, off for the weekend and only a small handful of people remained. From his position high above the site he could easily see most of the site, plus the other four dragons that were aloft circling the site and watching for trouble.

Lukath was part of a contingent of dragons from Joensuu Weyr. They had set up a small camp in a clearing in a nearby wood with permission from the land owner and were providing security for the construction site.

Lukath was an unbonded dragon, formerly of Irtsyh River Weyr. He was proud to help his Weyr and dragons by doing his part in protecting this construction site. The dragons as a whole understood these buildings contained machines that were very important to the humans and to the dragons. The Weyrleader himself had explained to the dragons of the world that humans needed these machines to power other machines, and dragons provided the source of hot rocks which made everything work. Lukath didn't really care about that part, all he knew for sure was that The Weyrleader said this place was important to dragons and that made it his duty to protect it.

Like so many of the non-bonded dragons, they personally felt as if The Weyrleader had saved them. The bonded dragons were loyal to The Weyrleader and their Weyr, but they never experienced the time of the beasts, they never knew what it was like to be trapped inside one's mind, cognizant and unable to communicate or even control your actions.

Lukath's head swivelled to locate the source of four soft pops. In a split second he was airborne and diving on a man who was trying to place a small box near the base of one of the cranes. Lukath grabbed the man who screamed in fear, then Lukath popped between, confident that his wing mates would catch the other three men.

Ismo Sippola was walking across the temporary camp that he was using while some of his wings provided protection for the nearby construction site. He split his days between here and Joensuu Weyr, where he was Weyrleader.

"Adam!" he called, summoning his wing second over.

The tall red head turned and smiled to Ismo, then started to walk over to see what he wanted. Suddenly four dragons popped out of Between overhead, keening in distress. Both Ismo and Adam were shocked to see three of the dragons holding someone in their front paws.

Around the camp other dragons started keening in distress.

"Lakie!" shouted Ismo, turning to his dragon, Lakreth.

"Lukath is no more," replied the unhappy dragon. "He picked up a man and took him Between. Something happened to them. Lukath is gone."

"Could he have picked up a man who was carrying a bomb?" asked Adam.

Ismo glanced over and grunted at him. The truth is they would probably never know the answer to that question. "Call the police, let them come deal with our captives. I'll send word to Harry of what happened here."

"I am talking to Chekiath now Ismo," Lakreth said. Ismo nodded and turned back to Adam.

Adam nodded, "On it," he said, then he turned away and reached for his mobile phone. Joensuu had one of the smallest populations of wizards among any manned Weyr with only six wizards and nine witches. With such a small magical population in the Weyr, the riders were more familiar with muggle technology like mobile phones. Even Campbeltown had issued phones to everyone, but the magical riders had to be more cautious with their magic or they would fry the portable phones.

Ismo turned and walked towards his dragon, issuing commands as he went. The air above the camp erupted with three more wings from Joensuu. He had emptied his Weyr of riders except for the two new wings from the November hatching and Joensuu's Weyrling master.

One wing landed, surrounding the three captured men who were being disarmed by some of his riders. Ismo glanced in their direction and frowned. "Strip them down to their underwear," he bellowed at his riders, not caring that it was below freezing. Common everyday items like buttons could be enchanted to help them escape or attack.

Suddenly Lakreth reared up on his hind legs and bellowed a welcome. Campbeltown had arrived!

It turned out that Lakreth had managed to warn Chekiath of the problem while Division one had been running an air combat drill. Harry had immediately ordered the division to jump to the construction site.

Division one filled the skies above the temporary camp. Ismo shook his head in awe, his dragon was enormous, a fully grown horntail at the upper range of the Emperor class, but compared to Chekiath and his consorts, he looked like a yearling.

Campbeltown dragons set new standards for every class of dragon. Even the smallest of dragons, the vipertooth were nearly ten feet longer than the standard. In fact every bonded dragon was significantly larger than what was considered normal for it's breed, but Campbeltown took that to an extreme.

Ismo watched with a touch of envy as the wings peeled apart with a precision that only comes from years of practise. Harry and Ronan landed near Lakreth and quickly dismounted.

Harry paused in front of Lakreth and bowed.

"Campbeltown mourns with you Lakreth and your Weyr," Harry said formally to Ismo's dragon. "Lukath will be missed. We will add his name to the Big Book as one who gave his all for dragonkind and his Weyr. I firmly believe he is happy and reunited with friends no longer with us."

The Big Book, was Remus' project, listing every dragon when they passed away. In most cases it was just a name and a date entry, but for a few special dragons, they earned a page unto themselves, with photographs, biography and an explanation why that particular dragon was so special.

Spath had several pages dedicated to him; and there was a page dedicated to Ranglieth who lost his life protecting the Queen at from the dementor attack.

Ismo knew his Weyr would be scrambling to provide Remus with enough information and photos. Fortunately they had photographed all of the dragons. It was common procedure to take pictures of every non-bonded dragon when a Weyr transitioned to a manned Weyr.

Lakreth ducked his head low, his yellow eyes slowly mixing with green streaks. Lakreth would be the first Joensuu dragon so honored in this way. "Thank you Weyrleader," he replied.

Satisfied, Harry turned to Ismo with a grim expression. "I'm sorry about your loss Ismo, but your Weyr is to be commended. Your very presense at the construction site probably averted a greater disaster."

Ismo shook Harry's hand and motioned for Harry to follow him into the heated trailor he was using as an office/quarters. "The authorities should be here shortly, why don't we wait for them inside where it's comfortable."

Harry glanced over towards the nearly naked shivering wizards and grinned. "Excellent, we might as well be comfortable. "Ronan, ask Hermione to call Sirius on Katherine's phone. Tell him we're going to be turning over wizards to the muggle authorities. Someone might want to alert the French Ministry of Magic."

Chekiath could have bespoken to Norendrath, but Katherine's father was ill and both she and Sirius had been spending a lot of time at the hospital, using a car to go between the two places. It was likely that Norendrath was still in Campbeltown while the other two were not. Katherine was his link to the British government in times like these when Lord Mills was unavailable. Lord Mills rarely spent the night in the Weyr unlike Katherine who lived at the Weyr with Sirius.

"I'll take care of it Harry," Ronan said, then he turned and walked over to talk to his counterpart.

Harry smiled and followed Ismo into his trailer.

Adam stared at the dragons from Joensuu in confusion, then he noted Ronan standing nearby. "I know, normally the dragons would mourn for a lot longer, but Harry seems to know exactly what to say to shake them from their mood," Ronan offered.

Adam shook his head. "Is very unset... unsettling?"

Ronan smiled and clapped his hand on Adam's shoulder. Adam was nearly Ronan's age and also studying aeronautical engineering. The two were well acquainted with each other. "It is, and I have to say your English is greatly improving Adam."

Adam nodded seriously. "I know, but I would rather calculate lift ratios, at least Murath makes learning English easier."

Ronan grunted in acknowledgment. He had learned a smattering of Japanese so he could talk to another rider in the Weyr's informal design group. Ronan's design group was large enough to hide some of their projects by designing devices to solve real Weyr problems.

The design group didn't exist on paper anywhere yet. Harry and Ronan had plans to officially put together a design and manufacturering group at Campbeltown once Ronan and some others had finished school. But for now they were a Weyr secret.

"What will happen to them?" Adam asked quietly, he then jerked his chin towards the three captives shivering in the winter air.

Ronan scuffed a foot in the light dusting of snow on the ground. "That will be up to the authorities. You know we really can't get involved in that aspect, but if I had to guess, Harry is going to try to push for a murder charge because of Laketh."

So far few countries had come out and officially said a dragon was equal to a human.

#10 Downing Street, London, January 23rd 2001...

"So what have we learned?" asked Prime Minister Blair.

Lord James Mills sat off to one side, watching and taking the occasional note. Alfred Winniston, the new head of MI6 was discussing the recent attempt to sabotage a French construction site.

"Surprisingly very little, even with the abilities of magical interrogation," replied Winniston unhappily. "The three men in question were multi-national, one German, one French and one Italian. We did learn that the fourth man was also French, and a background check showed all four to be members of a small pureblood society called the 'Knights of Walpurgis'. It's an old group that was thought to be largely defunct after the end of World War Two."

Winniston looked up from his notes. "We believe that the missing man might have had a faulty detonator on his explosive device. While the explosives themselves were top quality Semtex, the detonators were cheaply made and according to our tech people highly unreliable. It's only a guess, but we think the bomb went off just after the dragon picked up the man and went Between."

"Great, there's no way to prove that," muttered James.

Blair shot him a quelling look, then he turned back to Winniston.

"I'm afraid Lord Mills is quite correct with his statement. The man and his bomb might have been responsible for the dragon's death, but there's no conclusive proof sir. I know the Weyrleader was hoping to make this a test case for dragon rights, but I'm afraid if he tries he'll only fail. No body, no witnesses to any explosion, no proof that anything happened at all; and it's common knowledge that sometimes a dragon goes Between and never emerges from it."

"Old dragons or dragons that are seriously ill, but Lukath was neither," James responded unhappily. He had dealt with enough legal issues, both for the Weyr and personally that he understood what was being said even if he didn't like it.

Blair turned back to James. "Lord Mills?"

"Sir?"

Tony Blair smiled slightly. The man wasn't part of his party and he had seriously considered replacing him when he took office, but the man was totally apolitical when it came to the Weyrs; and more importantly, had earned the trust of the Weyr and the Weyrleader.

"If you would, please convey the following to the Weyrleader. Her Majesty's government mourns with Campbeltown and Joensuu for the regrettable loss of a dragon. But we feel that this is not the case to use to press for dragon rights. Please explain to The Weyrleader that there are enough uncertainties present that trying to push for dragon rights on the basis of this case alone would only confuse and muddy the issue and may even set back his efforts.

"Her Majesty and this government are committed to extending equal rights to all sentient beings within our borders and I have prepared legislation addressing that effect. Unfortunately we do need to wait for more favorable conditions politically."

Mills nodded slowly, some of the members of his own party had openly formed a group that was dead set against giving dragons citizenship status. They were not a large group and did not represent a large percentage of the population, but they were well funded and had a smooth political machine that knew how to lobby for their cause.

According to the latest polls, the vast bulk of the British subjects were for granting dragons equal status. On the other hand a modest number of businesses that stood to be hurt by the dragons were funding a small group of members of Parliament to slow and obstruct any movement towards granting dragons equal status under the law. Former Prime Minister Major had managed a coup by converting British Petroleum to the dragon's side, but that still left dozens of smaller companies that were threatened by the dragons and the services they could provide.

"I will explain the situation to Harry. He'll understand sir," Mills replied after examining Blair for any sense of deception and finding none.

"Excellent," replied Blair, then he turned back to Winniston. "Anything else?"

"Yes actually, we're not sure exactly what it means, but it seems that there was a meeting two weeks ago involving the Deputy Minister of Energy for Russia, the Saudi Oil Production Minister and the Venezuelan Interior Minister. Several of my people believe it is related to the dragons. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia have openly expressed their unhappiness about dragons and what they will do to their economy. Venezuela is a surprise and right now it is thought that perhaps Russia and Saudi Arabia might be courting Venezuela in the hopes that they might come around to their way of thinking.

Winniston glanced down at his papers for a moment with a slight frown. "My boys in the Economics section are unable to put a conscise figure on the impact the dragons have had on Russia and the Saudis. I have estimates that range from three percent all the way to eleven percent. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia have lowered the price of their exports to compensate. What I do know for a fact is that China has been aggressively tackling their oil dependency issue by building six dragon powered power plants simultaneously; and once those six are done, the same crews will be moved to new locations to start building new plants. An informal question posed by our Ambassador to Bejing revealed that China hoped to be fully dragon powered country wide in twenty years."

"That's a lot of power plants," muttered Blair.

"It is indeed sir, but China is heavily reliant on imported oil. Currently they account for five percent of the Saudis' total oil sales, and nearly twelve percent of Iran's oil sales."

James looked up at that. "Iran? Is there any indication that they have met with the Saudis or Russians?" he asked. Iran was a major wild card in international politics.

"We haven't seen any signs of such as yet, but we are closely monitoring the situation," replied Winniston.

Blair looked over at James with a questioning look.

James shrugged. "Iran boycotted the United Nations address that Harry gave and they are one of the few countries to openly declare an intent to shoot down any dragon found in their airspace."

Blair nodded. "Yes I had forgotten about that," he muttered, then he turned to Winniston and arched an eyebrow.

"We are closely monitoring the situation sir, but as you know we have few assets inside Iran and even fewer inside Iraq. We've asked the Yanks to talk to their South Korean counterparts to see if North Korea might be involved, but the DPRK is not a member of OPEC, nor do they have any oil or gas to sell. They also declared they would shoot down any dragons they find in their airspace."

"So we have a lot of maybes and possibilities and no hard details," Blair summed up.

Winniston nodded slowly, "Yes sir, that is correct; plus we have other issues which we need to keep an eye on as well."

Winniston's eyes shot towards Mills and Blair understood, there were things Lord Mills was not cleared for and Winniston's concerns were on that list.

"Very good brief Sir Alfred, I'll call your office to reschedule your normal weekly briefing," Blair said.

Winniston smiled briefly, he was grateful that the PM caught his signal, he could resume his briefing when Lord Mills was no longer present. "Very good sir," he replied, then he started putting his briefing notes back into his briefcase.

"Lord Mills, are there any other Weyr related issues which need to be addressed at this time?"

James glanced down at his notes. "I don't believe so sir, the Weyr is constantly changing and I doubt you'll want to know every single detail."

Blair perked up at that. "Oh, is there something specific?"

James rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "There is a bit of work going on at the Weyr that no one has spoken to me about. When the Weyr was formed a small building, little larger than a large lorry was built to house a model airplane club. Last week that building was torn down construction started on a much larger building. Honestly I can't imagine the fifty person model airplane club needing so much space. I asked and was told that its exact purpose hadn't been decided, although there was some speculation of a new recreational hall, but the Weyr already has a recreational hall."

Winniston looked up from stuffing papers into his case. "Maybe they want to build something new before they convert the old facility into something else? You are always going on about their building shortages. In fact last year they built a school that is larger than the typical regional middle school. Something about building it large so they could grow into it."

"Yes sir, I did think of that. I guess I'm curious because no one is talking about it. The Weyrleader has been surprisingly open with us. In fact there have been only a handful of Weyr leadership meetings where I wasn't present."

"Perhaps its nothing my Lord, but nonetheless do keep an eye on it for us?" asked Blair.

"Yes sir, I will," replied James.

James recognized that he had been dismissed and he quickly stood, grabbing his coat and umbrella.

"I'll walk you out Lord Mills, if you don't mind," offered Winniston.

James smiled, "Not at all Sir Alfred."

Harry's Quarters, Campbeltown Weyr, February 20th, 2001...

Harry poured the coffee while May busily sliced up a coffee cake that she had bought from a bakery near her school. The bakery quickly became very popular among the riders and it wasn't unusual for someone to phone in an order and have it delivered to a nearby park where a rider and dragon were waiting for it.

The owner of the shop proudly displayed a sign in his window proclaiming his bakery to be dragon approved.

"Lord Mills is getting curious," Karen said, opening the conversation.

"So am I," muttered Hermione.

Harry turned to look at her and blinked in shock. "I haven't told you what's going on?"

"Harry," May said with an exaggerated sigh. "You did declare it a Weyr secret. Hermione and I figured you'd let us in on it sooner or later."

Harry chuckled and leaned back in his chair, he looked over at Ronan who was watching the byplay between the Weyrleader and his wives in amusement. "Ronan it's your baby how about you explain it?"

Ronan placed his coffee cup on the table and looked at May and Hermione. "Shortly after we went public, we received a proposal from NASA looking to run some experiments on dragons. We allowed the experiments for about a year before they came back and wanted to do a more detailed study that included a rider."

Hermione frowned. "NASA, that's the American space agency."

May looked at Ronan in horror, "They wouldn't!" she exclaimed.

Ronan nodded. "They wanted to see if it were possible to use a dragon to go to orbit. Needless to say Harry denied the proposal as they outlined it. Basically they were thinking about just putting a rider into a space suit. We know the dragons can survive the pressures and cold of space for short durations, but like Harry pointed out to them, a rider is a lot more fragile. Distance isn't an issue for the dragons, if you were to take the distance from here to London and travel that same amount straight up, you'd be in space."

"So what does this have to do with that new building going up where the clubhouse used to be?" queried Hermione.

"Ronan has convinced me that we need room to be able to build things. He's putting together a team of riders, some are studying to be engineers, others don't want to go to university, but are willing to learn how to use the complex machines that society uses to build other machines," Harry said with a grin. "We'll be sending a lot more people to trade schools in the coming years."

Ronan matched Harry's grin. "There are a lot of things that don't exist that we can use, that means we'll need people to make the prototypes and engineers to do the designs. And if some of them happen to be studying aeronautical engineering and physics, then we'll be well placed if we want to explore the idea of sending a rider into outer space."

Ronan pointed to Harry. "Harry's objection with NASA's proposal was that no one strapped a human to the outside of a rocket and sent him into space. Space is dangerous and NASA's idea was dangerous. If I were to make that sort of attempt I'd want more than a space suit."

Harry nodded. "It's not like we're actually planning this, but Ronan's put together a small team that is tasked with addressing Weyr specific issues. What they do in their spare time is their business," Harry said, waving his hand airily.

"Their business cost us nearly two hundred thousand pounds last month," Karen said drily.

"And it was worth it. That computerized milling machine goes for a cool million pounds brand new. We bought an older model, used, factory certified and under a service contract; and we got it at a discount because we were capable of moving it ourselves," Ronan countered.

"Whatever are you going to use that for anyway? I saw it when it arrived, it took four dragons to move each piece," asked May.

Ronan's grin broadened. "Well my Weyrleader is unhappy that his Weyrhealer still has problems setting bones. So my team are working on two designs, one to allow you to set a leg bone without requiring magic, or Hagrid's strength. The other item is a version of your wing braces, only it will be collapsible and easier to set up than what you and your Dad put together. Our design will be adjustable so it will fit every size wing and lighter than what you used."

May turned to look at Harry who shrugged back at her. "I knew you needed stuff like that, and Ronan needed to justify his expenditures. If you have ideas for more hardware needed, put a list together for Ronan to work on."

"So Ronan and his group are going to be making things we need and explore the possibilities of going into space?" asked Hermione.

"The space thing is a secondary, but very real goal Hermione," Ronan replied. "So far we've been thinking that the rider should be in some kind of capsule. Dragons can't hold their breath forever, so the capsule needs to be able to supply the dragon with air. Right now we have a list of over 100 hundred functions that a capsule needs to be capable of doing to keep a rider and dragon alive in space. That's all, just a list. If this project does reach the stage where people are working on it, it'll still take years to put together."

May leaned forward on her chair and poured a little more coffee into her cup, refreshing it. "What I don't understand is why? Why make it a Weyr secret? Why do this at all? Space travel is very dangerous, we could lose people like the Yanks and the Russians who have lost people."

Harry glanced around at the others and he could see they were waiting for his reply. "Society changes," he replied, then he frowned. "No, that is a bad way of saying it. Society evolves. Right now dragon power is slowly nudging fossil fuels off the world stage. It'll take years, but it will happen. Coal and oil powered our world for nearly two hundred years and no one could have predicted dragon power.

"In order for dragons to survive as a partner species to man, an equal partner, we have to evolve as well. We got lucky with the hot rocks, but sometime in the future there will come a day when a new technology will be invented that replaces dragon power. It's inevitable. If we sit idly by waiting for that day to happen, and it will happen, we will be caught out, unprepared. Rendered obsolete. Humanity has a terrible habit of discarding what they don't need."

Harry paused and sipped from his drink while the others waited for him to continue.

"When the old East India Trading Company started to decline, they simply cut loose thousands of local natives who they employed on the plantations or on the loading docks. Overnight in some countries they nearly doubled the number of unemployed. Some of those countries fell into anarchy and war because of all the unemployed people. I do not want to see that happen to us.

"To my mind, in order to ensure that our dragons remain partners with humanity, we must make sure we are at the forefront of research, we need to lead the way by supplying society with the tools to move forward. That's why Dragon Services Limited was created, and that's why Ronan is setting up his design group, to take what we learn and apply it to the Weyr and society's problems.

"As to why it's a secret, the answer to that is simple. I don't want our host government to start expecting us to provide solutions to all of their problems. When Ronan succeeds we'll be able to show a new capability to the world, but until then, it's just our business. I want humanity to rely on us, but not expect us to solve all their problems."

May looked at Harry hungrily and Hermione started to chuckle. "Just when I think I know my man, he still manages to surprise me. Harry, I am impressed."

"I'll say," May muttered. "Here I thought he'd say something like space is cool. Instead we get a history lecture wrapped around his plans for our future."

Harry chuckled softly and glanced over to see Ronan grinning broadly.

"What?" Ronan exclaimed. "Space is cool."

"Speaking of cool, did you see what the elves did to Lee and Mariah's place?" asked May. "They added another room right off their bedroom as a nursery."

Mariah, Lee Jordan's wife was pregnant and all of the first riders were excited about it. She was due any day and while she was taking it calmly, Lee was heading for a nervous breakdown.

"Oh I saw that," Karen replied. "From the outside it looked like someone added a walk in closet, but it's almost as big as their bedroom."

Harry nodded. "Yeah that reminds me," he said, then he reached for his book and made a quick notation. When he was done he looked up to see everyone staring at him. "What?"

"Harry," Hermione said with a touch of exasperation, "what could you have possibly needed to add to your book now?"

He glanced down at his book and shrugged a bit sheepishly. "I needed to remind myself to speak to Lee about that new room. He needs to either hide it from view or put a charm on it to make it appear bigger. The problem is right now anyone seeing it from the inside and outside is going to suspect something weird is going on. Its better that he hears it from me than getting fined by the Ministry of Magic for violating the secrecy law."

Hermione leaned back and nodded. Lee's house was in violation of the law and despite the ICW's publicly acknowledged plan to go public, no one is allowed to jump the gun.

"I swear I'm going to find a place to hide that book that you can't find it," May said. She was tired of it following him everywhere.

Hermione shook her head and turned to her friend. "May, you've hid that book several times now and he's always found it. That says to me that he has some kind of tracking charm on it."

Ronan laughed, "Take away Harry's book and he'll grind to a halt."

"No he won't," Cheki said from his bed. He had been watching the humans talk all evening. Trath and Comaloth were watching a nature show on Meerkats, which didn't interest Cheki.

Harry laughed and glanced over at his dragon. "You're going to reveal my secret?"

"Is it a Weyr secret?"

Harry's expression fell, "No, not really," he replied to the chuckles of everyone present.

"Well Cheki? What's his secret?" pressed May.

"Harry has retyped everything from his book, even the old items into his computer. Now days he often carries the book around because it's become a bit of a game to see what lengths you'll go to May, to hide the book," Chekiath replied.

Chekiath extended his long neck into the living room and he looked at May, his eyes whirling with bright streaks of green. "Sometimes he uses his book as a way of forcing you to relax. He knows how hard you've been working at school and after you've hidden his book you always go do something that relaxes you, like taking a bath instead of studying."

May turned on her seat and stared at Harry who shrugged. "Both you and Hermione are very focused people. My job is to make sure you don't burn yourselves out."

"I thought that was our job," exclaimed Hermione.

"It's both," Karen said softly, then she looked down at her hands. "When Harry forced me to step away from the three subdivisions of Dragon Services, he pulled both Ronan and I into his office and chewed us both out."

"Whatever for?" exclaimed May.

Ronan looked embarrassed, but he picked up Karen's hand in his and then continued her tale. "I had gotten so busy with Division two and with our little think tank. I knew Karen was working too hard, but I was afraid to tell her to stop, so I took the chicken way out and asked Harry to speak to her."

Harry leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. "It wasn't the chicken way Ronan, but it did highlight the fact that you two still had issues talking to each other. We three," he said, pointing to himself, May and Hermione. "have been forced to learn how to talk to each other from the very beginning. It was the only way to figure out how to make our relationship work. I will be the first one to admit I'm not very good at saying what I'm feeling, but I try. I wouldn't have gotten involved at all, but your personal problems were affecting your duties."

He turned to look at his girls. "I didn't chew them out because Ronan asked me to speak to Karen, I chewed them out because Ronan shouldn't have been reluctant to say something to her himself. And Karen, as smart as she is, couldn't see what she was doing to herself, and by proxy to Ronan. I do not like prying into the private lives of my riders, but in this case their private lives were affecting their jobs."

"My job, is to take care of you two, to make sure your happy and healthy. I believe thats one of the primary roles we all assume when entering a relationship," he said quietly to Hermione and May.

The group fell silent considering his words while Chekiath watched contentedly from his bed. Next to him, Trath and Comaloth had turned away from that nature show about Africa and were debating how many meerkats it would take to make a dragon meal.

Weyrleader's Office, Condron Weyr, February 24th 2001...

Skip frowned when the phone rang, then he sighed and placed his flight jacket back on the hook. He had been hoping to get a few hours flying time in with Menth, his dragon.

He picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Skip, it's Kat."

"Hi sweetie," he said with a smile, "how's things in Washington?"

"I met with Larry Newman this morning Skip, he told me that the Government has filed a motion to have the suit moved to a State Department secret court. That's really going to complicate things. He is drafting a rebuttal to the motion, but he's not very hopeful. The new administration is playing up the National Security aspect of the case for all it's worth."

"Damn," Skip swore softly, "Okay I'll fire off an email to Harry about this, but he isn't going to be happy over it."

"Is that all you're going to do?" she asked.

He frowned. "Do you have any other ideas?"

"I think we should go ahead and ask NASA and the military scientists to leave the Weyr like we discussed," she replied.

Skip glanced out his window, in the distance he could see the laboratories where most of the research was carried out. NASA and the military were involved in non-lethal, non-combat research plus there were another forty scientists from various private companies. They were present doing research for their company. Kicking NASA and the military folk out would cut the research staff by more than four fifths.

"Skip?"

"Still here babe, just thinking about it. I'm not sure we want to go that far yet and I really want Harry's input. If the shit hits the fan here, we're going to need his help you know what I mean?"

"Yeah," she said slowly, "dammit you're right. Contact Harry and see when we can meet. I'll be home tomorrow."

Skip nodded slowly. "Kat?"

"Yes?"

"I miss you, it's not the same here without you," he admitted softly.

There was a pause on the phone for a minute and in his mind he could picture her being surprised. It wasn't often that he admitted to her just how much he needed her.

"I miss you too Skip," she said, "I'll try to hurry, but the best I'll be able to do is leave in the morning. If you're still sleeping, I may have to jump on you to wake you up."

Skip smiled. "Then I'll make sure I go to bed later than usual so I can sleep late."

They both laughed and broke the connection. Skip glanced at his flight jacket and sighed before returning to his desk and opening his email program. How does Harry manage this? I feel like I'm married to this desk, he thought to himself.

Campbeltown Weyr, March 1st 2001...

Buth bashed her head against the door and it splintered into a million pieces, then she bellowed her alarm in the confines of the bedroom.

Lee bounced out of the bed and hit his head against the night table on his way to the floor. Dazed he struggled to shake off the sleep and the dizziness. "Wha?" he mumbled.

He looked around, the bed was empty and Buth was blocking the door, her eyes spinning with a bright yellow light that lit up the room. The door to the bathroom was open and Mariah was standing in the doorway looking totally disgusted. Her nightgown was soaked below her waist. "Lee, you better call Issac we're going to have a baby."

Lee blinked stupidly at her. He knew they were going to have a baby, so why was she telling him this now? He'd known for months!

Mariah looked at Lee still sitting on the floor staring at her and she shook her head. "Lee. Baby, now!"

"Now?"

Mariah cringed as a contraction started. "Now," she replied through gritted teeth.

Lee shook and reached for the phone while Mariah turned to look at Buth. She stared at the splinters that had been her bedroom door. "Buth?"

"You're in pain," announced the dragon. "Something isn't right. Laying eggs isn't supposed to hurt."

"I'm not a dragon," Mariah replied, then she made a shooing motion with her hand. "You need to make room so Issac can get in."

"I will," Buth replied, then her head pulled out of the doorway. There was a sound of a loud crash and a blast of cold air rushed into the room.

Meanwhile Lee had dialed Issac's house and was waiting patiently for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" a voice said groggily.

"BABY!" Lee shouted into the phone, then he hung up and looked very pleased with himself.

Mariah sighed and shook her head. "Lee you idiot, do it again and don't scream this time."

Lee looked at her with a perplexed expression, why couldn't she understand he had passed along the message? He reached for the phone and dialed the number again.

"Hello?" said the same voice, only this time it was more awake.

"Baby," Lee said in a calmer tone.

"Lee?" asked Issac.

"Baby," Lee said in agreement.

"Is it time then Lee?"

"Baby," replied Lee. Why wasn't this clear to people? He wondered.

There was a pause and a moment of silence, then Issac said, "I'm on my way."

Lee placed the phone back on it's cradle, then he turned back to Mariah. "Baby!"

Mariah rolled her eyes at him. "Is Issac on his way?"

Lee nodded, then he frowned. "Why is it suddenly cold in here?"

Mariah gripped the door frame and tried to pant through a contraction. "I suspect it's because my dragon just opened the front door," she gasped.

Lee stood on unsteady feet and walked over to her, he wanted to get her into one of the chairs but she wouldn't budge from the doorway. "Leave me be," she snarled at him when he tried tugging on her.

Buth suddenly reappeared in the doorway. "What are you doing to my rider?" The dragon roared and smoke wafted up to the ceiling from her nostrils.

Lee fell on his butt and scuttled back away from the angry dragon in a crab like motion. Mariah shouted at her dragon, "Buth, stop! He's only trying to help me!"

"You're in pain," Buth hissed angrily, then she turned to glare at Lee. "You did this."

Lee sat on the floor with his back against the wall and he looked up at Mariah. He wanted to help her, he needed to help her, but for the first time since he met the dragons he was afraid of one. From outside the house a louder roar signaled the arrival of Chekiath and Buth flinched back, hitting her head against the door frame and shattering it further. A large crack appeared in the ceiling. The sound of the dragon door opening meant that Chekiath wasn't alone. Harry was using his master key to open the door.

Ever since the attack on Harry by Gordon Chapman, all of the dragon doors had been refitted to open using a key, only Harry, Issac and Major Atkins had master keys for all of the doors in the Weyr.

Outside the room Chekiath bellowed again and stomped his front feet down hard. The crack in the ceiling widened and pieces of plaster fell to the floor. Buth whined and cringed down upon herself.

Buth withdrew from the door again and Issac Sheppard appeared in the doorway. He was panting slightly and he wore an open coat that revealed he had taken only enough time to put on pants. He wore a pajama top that declared him a number one dad. He stopped in the doorway and took a deep breath before entering and going over to Mariah.

Lee sat on the floor watching and worrying. "Lee, go get some blankets," Issac ordered after a quick glance at Lee. He had seen this kind of husband before. He'd be fine once he got over his initial shock but right now he was still useless.

Grateful for something to do Lee dashed from the room wearing little more than his boxers and one slipper. Lisa Turpin entered next with a large medical kit.

Issac nodded gratefully at her. "I don't think we'll need the kit for this Lisa, has the ambulance I called for arrived yet?"

"I heard one of the security people say it was at the front gate."

The ambulance actually belonged to the military base next door which is why it arrived so quickly. Cars were universally disliked by the dragons and not a single rider had one at the Weyr. The Weyr did own a few cars which it kept in places like London to allow a rider on business to get about, but at the Weyr there were several mini-buses and lorries, but no cars.

He nodded and turned back to Mariah. "Do you think you can walk to the ambulance?"

She nodded and Lisa hastily looked through a nearby closet until she found Mariah's flight jacket which she wrapped around her then she pulled out her wand and cast a quick drying charm on Mariah.

Mariah smiled weakly and nodded to Lisa in thanks, then she picked up a bag she had pre-packed nearly two weeks ago.

The three walked from the house towards the waiting ambulance. Nearby Chekiath, Comaloth and Trath were making sure Buth remained calm. Mariah was the first rider to have a baby and everyone was learning just what was involved when a rider was about to give birth.

Considering the damage done to Lee and Mariah's house by Buth, having children would require careful planning.

Issac helped Mariah into the ambulance and Lisa looked around in confusion. "Where's Lee?"

"Oh damn, I sent him to get some blankets, it's almost as good as sending a father out to boil water," Issac replied with a chuckle.

Lisa laughed and climbed into the ambulance with the doctor and his patient. She was studying medicine and hoped someday to couple that with healer training in the near future.

"I'll have Zinth contact Harry and he'll track Lee down," Lisa offered with a chuckle, "once they calm him down they'll probably have someone pop him over to the hospital."

Issac nodded and then he waved to the driver who pulled the ambulance away from the curb. By the time someone tracked down Lee, he had raided the Weyr warehouse and was struggling with more than forty blankets and shivering from the cold.

Condron Weyr, Weyrleader's office, March 3rd 2001...

Chekiath appeared overhead to the sound of dragons below bellowing in welcome. Harry smiled thinly and leaned to his left causing Cheki to bank to the right and spiral downward.

"I like Condron, it's always warm here," Chekiath observed.

"You would like it but their summers are brutal on people," Harry replied with a laugh. "I'd melt into the ground."

"Would you really melt? Lac Logipi was hotter than this and you didn't melt there," Chekiath observed.

Harry groaned, no matter how many times he reminded himself, his dragon always questioned his turn of phrase.

"It's just a saying Cheki. Look, there's Jasper and Skip, land near them," he replied.

"I didn't think you'd really melt," Chekiath said smugly as if he knew that humans can't melt. His wings snapped to their full extension and he flared out to land neatly some fifty feet from Skip and Jasper.

Harry deftly slid from his spot and dropped lightly to the ground.

"Harry! Welcome back!" exclaimed Skip, holding out his hand. Harry blinked in surprise, then he realized that most of the Weyrleader meetings had been at Campbeltown. Perhaps it was time to change that, he mused.

In short order Harry found himself in Skip's office with his wife Kat and Jasper Brady. Skip explained the business about the suit being moved to a more difficult court system. After listening intently he turned to Jasper and asked what he thought about the move.

Jasper looked uncomfortable. "Harry, what you need to realize is that the mood of the American people has radically shifted in the last few months. Right now jobs and security are their priorities. The new administration came in on a promise of making America a super power again and in doing so, convinced a large number of people that we needed to beef up our armed services.

"The unit that Michel was working for snuck in an experiment that wasn't approved by the Weyr. This Michel, for all intents and purposes doesn't exist and that unit has probably gone onto other projects now that there is funding for real weapons research. I can't say for sure, but I believe they have moved on and will leave the dragons alone."

Harry leaned forward on his chair intrigued by Brady's comment. "Why? Why would they leave the dragons alone?"

Jasper shrugged. "Well to be frank, everyone seems to think the device used was something to learn about Between right?"

He glanced around and saw everyone nodding at his comment. "Between, while very interesting scientifically, doesn't really have any immediately apparent application that would interest the military when they are looking at seeing real money for deploying new systems. It's a case of having it today versus what they might have in twenty years."

"So what you're saying is that for now, we shouldn't expect a repeat of what happened to Jared?" Harry asked.

Jasper nodded, "Call it a gut feeling, but it's what I believe."

Harry turned to Skip and Kat. "It's your Weyr and I'll support any decision you make including relocating to another country if need be."

Skip and Kat shared an unhappy look, it was obvious they were hoping Harry would decide for them.

"I don't really want it to come to that point," Skip said in a pained voice looking at his wife.

"Can't we keep that as an option along with our other options? I mean we've increased our level of scrutiny on all research projects and the riders have been told to insist on seeing the written work orders signed by Doctor Standish and initialed by one of us, isn't that enough?" Kat added.

Harry sighed softly. "Jasper, would you excuse us for a moment?"

Jasper looked surprised, but he reluctantly stood and said, "I'll be in the outer office until you need me."

"Thank you Jasper," Harry said while still looking at the two Condron Weyrleaders. Once the door had closed behind Jasper Harry ran a hand through his hair and then shook his head. "You know, I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing all of the other Weyrs, including this one a disservice by retaining final say. Skip, Kat, talk to me, what do you think you should do?"

Kat stood and walked over to stand behind Skip. She placed her hands on Skip's shoulders. "Harry, I know what the government did was a breach of our treaty and trust, but if Jasper is right, then it was a one time thing and we have measures in place to ensure it doesn't happen again. This is our home, I don't want to leave it over something that might never happen again."

"Then don't Kat," Harry retorted. "Look, this is your Weyr, your ultimate responsibility is to your riders and your dragons. The government slipped something by you once, but now you'll be on the look out for that happening again. As far as I'm concerned, the only time I will exert any authority is if I believe that you two are endangering your Weyr, and that is something I seriously doubt will ever happen from you two.

"Ask my advice and I'll tell you what I think, but I will not override your authority unless it's absolutely necessary," Harry said firmly.

"What do you think we should do?" asked Skip.

Harry leaned back on his chair. "Well since the law suit is a bust or nearly so and you have measures in place to prevent repeating this episode I'd say continue as usual for now. But! If this happens again you will not be able to ignore it, you'll have to do something and we now know that legally our options are very limited."

"So we'd have to do something other than another law suit," Kat said softly.

"Could we go to the press with the story?" Skip asked.

Kat shook her head. "Hardly, if there is a repeat, it will be classified like this time and just talking about it can get us arrested."

"So what? We do nothing?" demanded Skip.

"No Skip," replied Kat. "We give Jasper official notice to take to his superiors that we will not tolerate another incident like this. I think we should also modify our commercial contracts such that they will terminated if we're forced to relocate. That will bring an economic impact to bear on their actions as well."

Harry nodded and sat back on his chair, sipping his drink. He watched his Weyrleaders thrash out a formal position, then Skip quickly typed it up on his computer. His only involvement at that point was to agree that Michel would be detained if he showed up at any Weyr. Harry also made a note to ask Remus if there was a way Jared could provide a memory of the man so they could reproduce a photograph.

Skip took the single page document from his printer tray and passed it to Harry. He briefly scanned it, then gave it to Kat. "Make me an extra copy of that so I can pass it along to Remus and ask Jasper to come on back in," he said.

Kat nodded and walked to the door. She spoke briefly to someone outside and then opened the door wider.

Jasper took his seat again in front of Skip's desk and Kat moved to stand behind him. "Jasper, we appreciate all you have done for us. We would like you to deliver this statement to your superiors concerning our response should this incident ever be repeated," Kat said.

Jasper looked between Skip and Kat, and he noted that Harry had remained silent during this affair. It was a gesture of confidence for the American Weyrleaders from The Weyrleader.

Kat handed over the paper and Jasper quickly read through it. He noted the list of options that the Weyr could take should the government try this again and he also noted that Michel had been declared Persona Non Grata in any Weyr in the world and they would detain him if he were caught. The language and phrasing of that section was pure Harry and Jasper knew it. Condron was sending several messages with this document, but he doubted his bosses would be savvy enough to pick up on them.

"I'll deliver this tomorrow," he said softly. He knew his bosses weren't going to like it, but for now at least, cooler heads had prevailed and they had staved off some of the more drastic things they could have done. He would point that out to his superiors, but he doubted they would heed the warnings.

Along the Russian/Finnish Border, June 2001...

The Ilyushin Il-18M turboprop aircraft banked hard, just shy of the Finnish border and the pilot put the aircraft onto a parallel course to the border. In the back of the aircraft another crew fired up the powerful radar system that probed far into Finland. They had flown this track many times over the years, but never while looking for live targets.

Nearby two pairs of MIG-31 interceptors rode guard over the reconnaissance aircraft.

The Ilyushin, called COOT by NATO, was an old plane from the mid 60s that had proven to be extremely versatile to the old Soviet government and now the Russian government. The plane had found itself in many roles, including short haul passenger and freight carrying. This particular version however was designed to be an airborne radar and intelligence gathering platform.

Although officially called a 'training exercise', this particular mission had a unique purpose in mind, as they were particularly interested in a commercial airfield just fifty miles inside the Finnish border that shared space with a Dragon Weyr. A Weyr that used to contain dragons that had once called Russia home.

"Radar contact bearing three zero two, speed one forty, range seventy kilometers," called a radar operator.

The watch officer glanced down to examine the repeater screen that showed the same information as the operator. "Looks like a commercial flight taking off," he muttered. "Designate contact Sasha one and continue to track, but it's probably a commercial flight."

"Designate Sasha one and track," repeated the operator with a large grin. Sasha was the name of his wife, and the entire air crew honored her by naming their contacts after her. Privately most of the air crew wished she wasn't married to Mikail. She was a very beautiful and devoted wife.

The watch officer reached down under his seat and pulled out a thermos. He poured himself a cup of coffee and idly watched the screen. They would be on station for another six hours before starting the two hour flight home.

Two hours later and the watch officer was fighting the boredom by running a series of tracking exercises when the primary radar operator interrupted. "Multiple radar contacts bearing two six three, range two hundred and closing at four hundred kph. This looks like inbound interceptors. I count six of them."

The watch officer turned away from his drill book and looked at the screen for a moment. He frowned and flipped a switch on his console that allowed him to talk to the pilot and the pilots of their guard flight. "Multiple contacts on intercept course, six contacts bearing now two six two, speed four hundred, distance one hundred eighty and closing," he announced.

The Ilyushin Il-18M surged as the pilots advanced to full throttle. Nearby the Mig-31s closed the distance. No one thought the incoming planes would shoot, but no one willing to risk the precious reconnaissance aircraft either.

The aircraft coming up were part of a small purchase made by the Finnish Air Force from the Americans a few years earlier. Six F18a aircraft stopped short of the border and turned parallel to the course held by the Russians. The pilots of the Finnish planes were alarmed by what they saw and several used personal digital cameras to record the fact that the Russian interceptors had white missiles under their wings.

Countries had long ago had adopted a simple convention when arming their aircraft. Blue painted weapons were training weapons with little to no explosive force behind them. White weapons were weapons of war and the Russians, unlike the Fins, were packing for a fight.

Two of the Finnish planes broke formation and went to full military power, leaving the area at speeds just shy of supersonic. They would return within forty minutes carrying war rounds under their wings.

The two groups of aircraft flew only a mile apart for nearly an hour before the reconnaissance aircraft turned away, heading home. The presence of the Finnish aircraft was interfering with their mission, so the mission commander decided to end it early. During that time hundreds of photos were taken by both sides. It would take another week before someone noticed that there were a pair of dragons in the distance on a couple of the photographs. A careful examination of the radar tapes proved to the Russian Air Force general that ordered the mission that the dragons were not visible on radar.

It took longer for the information concerning the Russian flight to reach the right people on the other side of the border. Finland is the only non-NATO European nation that borders Russia and they don't routinely share information with their NATO counterparts. In this particular case a German officer stationed at the embassy heard about the Russian flight over cocktails with a friend in the Finnish Air Force.

No one would make the connection to the fact that the Russian flight was close to Joensuu, the Finnish Dragon Weyr but the next time the COOT rose to patrol the border, it was met with Finnish aircraft and both sets of fighters had white missiles under their wings.

Barcelona Spain, September 5th 2001...

Carlos the Gerbil was beyond bored. His superiors in the Spanish Ministry felt that his involvement in the "British affair" had seriously damaged his ability to move freely around the continent. It was true that he had to take more precautions than usual, but he disagreed with his bosses.

Despite that, he was temporarily grounded by his bosses. His employer's caution was slowing the effort to slow the construction of the Dragon Power stations. Success in that endeavor had been mixed at best, some countries were simply out of reach from his organization and others had taken to providing intensive security for the construction sites. He had managed to delay or slow some sites, but despite all efforts, no one had stopped construction and in some cases, the disruption was scarcely noticeable.

He chugged down his drink, then signaled to a nearby waiter to bring him another. The waiter nodded with a smile because he knew Carlos tipped well, then he turned and moved towards the bar. As he moved, he revealed a table with a solitary occupant. Carlos' eyes widened and he glanced down at his empty drink. It was his first drink so he wasn't drunk enough to mistake identity of the person at the table.

He shook his head and blinked, then he looked again.

Not twenty feet away sat his Anna, the prostitute that proved so useful to him when he was in Britain. She was as beautiful as ever, and dressed to the nines.

What is she doing here? He wondered. In a moment of weakness he had given her a business card to a secret safe house a friend ran for him. It was a means of contacting him, but she had never used it, of that he was sure. The woman he paid to maintain the house would have contacted him if Anna had tried to reach him there.

Anna pulled a small compact from her purse and adjusted her makeup briefly. It took her only a moment to spot Carlos in the table behind her and she smiled to herself. After she and Carlos had parted ways Anna had set herself up very nicely in the muggle world running a clairvoyant/fortune telling service. She would have continued quite happily, swindling people out of their savings, but for the fact that she ended up swindling the wrong person. The aged mother of a deputy Minister gave up her life savings to contact her dead husband. And while Anna did have magical abilities, necromancy was not among her talents.

Anna had been capable of using her magic to provide a convincing performance, but when the woman's son discovered she was nearly broke, he contacted people at CID for more information about Anna.

Official interest in Anna and her operation grew as CID investigated her. Her name had come up in the operation to catch Carlos and here she was now acting as a common thief. Her involvement with Carlos brought the DMLE into the investigation and new charges were laid against her as her victims tested positive for compulsion and confundus spells.

Two muggle investigators and two aurors, posing as a pair of married couples visited several times with Anna personally before arresting her. The fact that she had been arrested had so shocked Anna that she was disarmed before she could even reach for her wand.

The trip to CID headquarters allowed the cops to prime Anna for her interrogators by listing all of the charges she was going to be charged with. By the time she arrived, Anna was sweating heavily and certain she was about to go to prison, muggle prison, for the rest of her natural life. The fact that she was currently wearing magic suppressing handcuffs wasn't helping matters. She had been told that the DMLE was willing to let CID handle the matter and she would be most likely sent to a muggle prison with her magic suppressed.

And then CID laid their offer down on the table.

Anna had been given a choice, life in prison wearing magic suppressing wrist bands, or she could work with the government while on a closely monitored probation. Ever the realist she opted for the later figuring probation was better than prison. It was a decision that she was quickly coming to regret as her new masters set her up entrapping some of her old business associates. Anna quickly realized that even when her probation ran out, there would be no returning to her old life.

Now she was on loan from the British to the Interpol led task force of anti-terrorist forces that was trying to capture Carlos for his suspected role in the power plant sabotages as well as older charges.

Anna put her compact away, then she smiled brightly and waved to her contact who approached her table. She loathed the man, a German who treated her like dirt. There was little choice in the matter for her, he held her strings and had absolutely no interest in her sexually, denying her even that weapon.

The man nodded and smiled thinly, then he took a seat at her table.

Carlos watched from his table with interest. Anna looked like she was working again, albeit with a higher class of clientèle than what she had in Knockturn alley. That she was here, in Barcelona, intrigued him. She had been a valuable asset in Britain and perhaps she could be again. He stood and tossed some money on the table, then he walked out, never looking back. As he left, he stopped and slipped the maître d'hôtel some money to find out if Anna was staying at the hotel and if so, what room.

The man smirked at Carlos thinking he was looking to hire her and Carlos felt a momentary desire to strangle the man.

Anna's eyes tracked Carlos as he left, then she turned her attention back to her controller. "He is gone ja?"

"Yes, he just left after speaking to the head waiter," she replied.

"Then we wait, return to your room and stay there, my men are stationed nearby. Do not think about warning the Gerbil off," the man said imperiously, then he stood, leaving her alone.

Anna dropped her eyes to the table. She had been thinking just that. If she could just figure out a way to warn Carlos then perhaps with his help, she could break away from the people controlling her.

Weyrleader Meeting, Campbeltown Weyr, September 12th, 2001...

Harry waited until everyone had seated before beginning. He had called for this meeting in light of recent events and everyone was tense, there was little of the usual banter that accompanied the meeting.

Normally the Weyrleaders and their seconds would spend an hour or more just fraternizing with their peers, or sometimes arranging for trades of goods and people. It wasn't unusual for a Weyr to have several people looking for a change of scenery, transfers between Weyrs, permanent and temporary were easily taken care of during such meetings or at the Weyrleaders meeting that occurred at each impression.

Once everyone had taken their seats Harry looked around, in one corner Hermione sat ready to take notes. He could have used his secretary for this, but Hermione was one of the few people Harry trusted implicitly and she wanted to continue doing this for him. They only met once a month for a few hours, so it was no great hardship for her.

Hermione glanced down at her dicta-quill, then nodded to Harry. She would retype the minutes, but the dicta-quill would record every word spoken during the meeting. It had a distinct advantage over a tape recorder because the quill picked up things that most microphones wouldn't pick up and it never garbled a word.

He touched a small glowing gem in front of him and the walls glowed with a soft blue sparkle. It had been a gift from the Minister for Magic in Japan. With it, one could seal a room from all magical forms of eavesdropping. It was a rare artifact from a grateful nation that was enjoying the benefits of having a dragon weyr in their country.

With the room secure he turned to one of his Weyrleaders.

"Lobsang, you are probably the only person here that might be unaware of what happened yesterday?" Harry asked.

Lobsang shook his head. "No Weyrleader, our good friends at Sakujima provided us with a most excellent short wave radio which we have been using to help teach everyone in the Weyr English. We listened to the broadcasts from the BBC in horror. I even sent a message to Skip offering a full division to help with rescue efforts."

"Not that they were needed, but thank you again Lobsang," Kat said darkly. The destruction of the World Trade Center buildings in New York City had the potential for thousands of injuries. Unfortunately it was becoming very apparent that there would be few survivors.

The Weyr had wanted to go help, but no one had asked for their help. And then, soon after all planes had been grounded they received a frantic call from Jasper Brady warning them that anything flying over America risked being shot down. Skip reluctantly ordered all of the dragons, from all three American Weyrs to ground until further notice.

Skip and Kat had both used a very low altitude jump Between to make it to Campbeltown for this meeting. The only planes in America's skies were military planes and right now tensions were enormously high.

Kat crossed her arms and shivered slightly. She had been born in Boston and raised on the East Coast of the United States, to her the twin towers were an iconic symbol of New York. The world had changed forever just the day before and no one knew what the future would bring.

Harry smiled at Lobsang, then he turned to Kat and Skip, the Co-Weyrleaders of Condron Weyr and his expression darkened. "Campbeltown grieves along with your country for the loss of life, but I need to caution everyone to maintain their focus and perspective. While we can help our host country with humanitarian efforts, such as search and rescue of injured, we cannot become embroiled in a conflict as an active participant. Nor can we just show up uninvited."

Skip opened his mouth to speak but Harry held up a hand. "I know Skip, but this is something that we have to be above. Offer your services for search and rescue, offer to help move aid workers and material, but refrain from rushing out to punish some enemy unless he attacks the Weyr."

He paused and leaned back in his chair. "This morning," he said, "I spoke at length with Prime Minister Blair who warned me that some of the people believed to be involved in this attack are also against dragons. It is a legitimate concern, but right now they only have suspicions and I will not allow us to become involved in any action that hasn't involved us directly. I repeated to Minister Blair our intention to offer humanitarian aide wherever and whenever needed, but we shall not aid in fighting terrorists unless they attack us."

"The Americans have not asked for our assistance and we cannot go in uninvited. It doesn't help that our relations with the American Federal government is strained by the incident involving Jared and one of their military research groups."

"That's true enough," Skip admitted. "We have no problems at the local level, but there has been a marked cooling at the federal level. Jasper has been working overtime trying to help thaw the tension, but it's been slow going."

Harry paused and glanced over to a large TV that sat nearby. It was on, but muted and was showing the collapse of tower one in slow motion. He shivered from a primal mixture of fear, anger and sheer helplessness, then he turned back to the others. He knew that everyone was considering one additional item and wondering if it could help. It was time to put an end to this before it got out of hand.

"I know that our time traveling abilities must have crossed your minds," Harry said softly. "But consider this, how do you safely stop an airliner full of people in midflight when it's piloted by a crazed zealot? I don't know how and can't think of anything except flaming that plane and causing it to crash. The dragons might be able to catch a plane and prevent it from crashing, but they'd have to do it right, at least four times. And flaming a plane? What if it explodes, or breaks up?

"If even one airliner crashed because we intervened the world would have blamed us for those deaths. Our ability to time travel is a secret for a good reason, it is our weapon of last resort and one which I pray we never have to use. Using it to involve ourselves in this tragedy would put all of the Weyrs at risk, not just Condron. Right now the world is insane with anger and we don't need that anger pointed at us."

Kat paled and looked away, she had been seriously thinking of proposing exactly that. It hadn't occurred to her what would have happened if they failed to succeed for all four planes. Nor had she considered how they would have managed to bring down one plane, let alone four.

Harry waved to a map on one wall that marked all of the Weyrs in the world, manned and unmanned.

"We are very weak," he said softly. "Just eight manned Weyrs and two new ones due to open at the next hatching. Joensuu and Shetland Island have less than two hundred and forty riders right now and Lake Minnewanka has even fewer. If someone were to attack them like they did in the states our losses would be enormous. As it stands Joensuu and Shetland are still building their strength and are finally able to maintain their own round the clock patrols. Our Canadian Weyr is unable to do anything close to round the clock patrols and won't be for at least two more hatchings.

"If we get involved in this attack, we risk being attacked ourselves. No, the Weyrs cannot be seen to be involved here unless it's for humanitarian reasons. Personally I would like nothing more than to gather all the people that caused this attack to take place, and have the dragons flame that gathering to the ground. But for the good of my Weyrs and my dragons I have to step back though it tears at my soul to do so. I'm sorry Skip, Kat, this is a real tragedy in every possible way, and one which we can do little about."

Skip sagged back in his chair and blew out a noisy breath. "This is one of those times when what you want isn't what is important. The safety of our dragons and riders overrides everything," he murmured, then he turned to Harry. "And if someone does attack us?"

Harry smiled a feral grin. "Then the Weyrs will fight back with all of the abilities of the dragons and their riders."

"Even time travel?" asked Kat intently.

Harry turned to her. "Within reason Kat. For example, if an attack comes against a Weyr, we cannot simply go back in time and attack first. The world would condemn us for attacking an enemy first. But we could send a dragon back with a warning to evacuate a Weyr, and then after the attack, retaliate with all our might."

"Wouldn't that upset the time line?" asked Isikara Yuko, Weyrleader of Sakushima Weyr.

"Would it?" countered Harry. "By my reasoning, the future and the past are both changeable. Sidraneth came back in time to Earth, many thousands of years ago. Either her arrival created a new reality, parallel to the old one, or history is changeable. The people that study this kind of stuff don't know if there are multiple parallel universes, or history is changeable. Personally I don't believe nature would allow for a paradox to occur, that old tale of going back in time and killing your grandfather thus causing you not to be born.

"Confusing isn't it?" He asked with a grin. "What impact does that have on Pern? We know about dragons now, if we ever did return to Pern, it would be with our own dragons. The old Pern time line wouldn't be repeated, it would be all brand new. I have read about this a little, the science is beyond me but I think Sidraneth's arrival set the stage for a new range of possible futures."

"This is an interesting topic, but I fear one which gives me much pain in my head," Lobsang said as he rubbed his temples. "Master Jang Bu would say, 'let the future worry about itself while we deal with today'. The Weyrleader is right to be cautious, and right to say that we will use all our abilities. But for today, time travel is still restricted and we have no need to worry ourselves over something that might not come to pass."

"He's right. Debating this now is pointless," Ismo Sippola, Joensuu's Weyrleader added. "So for now, our policy is unchanged. Help with truly humanitarian efforts and let the nations worry about crime and war."

Harry glanced around and saw everyone nodding in agreement. He relaxed as relief flooded through his body. The attack on America was terrible and it had a small chance to draw the dragons away from the neutrality that they needed.

"All right then, moving on, I have a request here from Arron for two wings to be loaned to Minnewanka Weyr for added security," Harry said.

Arron Twosta looked up and grinned sheepishly. As the newest Weyrleader, and currently representing the smallest Weyr with only eighty riders and one hundred and sixty non-bonded dragons, he was the one person that felt most out of place at this meeting.

"My first thought was to assign several wings from Campbeltown, but after some consideration I changed my mind," Harry said softly. "Campbeltown will send one wing, but I'm asking for two more Weyrs to commit a wing a piece. In light of recent events I think it's crucial that we combine efforts to help out the newly forming Weyrs. Minnewanka should be capable of providing it's own security in another year, until then the established Weyrs need to help until the Weyr can field at least two divisions."

"Two hundred dragons? Might not be enough," commented Skip.

Harry nodded. "I know, but we can deal with it on a Weyr by Weyr basis, agreed?"

Harry and Arron looked around and noted everyone nodding in agreement. Arron sighed in relief, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to protect his Weyr and considering yesterday's attack, there was room to worry.

"Arron, I do have one piece of good news. Mildred Lupin has surveyed your Weyr and there is a nearby parcel of land that she'd like the Weyrs to purchase so that we can install a small research grade observatory. She has also agreed to start teaching select riders astronomy, physics and math. It is hoped that one of the universities will accredit the classes so that the students can use the class towards their degree," Harry said with a smile. "I've approved a preliminary budget for the construction of an observatory and Mildred has already placed an order for the telescope, which I understand will take over a year to build. Meanwhile Mildred is going to order some off the shelf telescopes once we have a place for them. It looks like Minnewanka will be our star gazing Weyr."

Arron smiled brightly at Harry. He had been hoping that Mildred's project would be approved. Each Weyr struggled to find one particular niche they could fill and his Weyr's location was perfect for such an endeavor. The Weyr was miles from the nearest human town and there was little light pollution to obscure their frequent pristine night skies.

Room 4108, Hotel International, Barcelona, Spain, September 12th 2001...

Carlos smiled to himself. He had learned where Anna had been staying the very next day, but a little investigation by his people also told him that Anna was being forced to work for Interpol, presumably to catch him.

He wasn't entirely sure why he was bothering, but something about Anna drew him to her. He knew it couldn't be love because that was an emotion he refused to consider himself capable of.

It had taken him a few days, but now he had managed to scope out the entire floor. Most of the rooms were empty, or occupied by random strangers. The newlywed couple in 4105 gave his men several nights of entertainment, but Carlos was more interested in 4110 and 4109. Those rooms contained the men that watched Anna constantly.

She had made nightly appearances in the restaurant downstairs, and a few time at a nearby club that Carlos was known to visit on occasion. To keep up Interpol's interest while he planned his move he would sometimes appear in those locations just after Anna had left, or leaving before she showed up. It had been tricky, but he had never managed to allow Anna to contact him, while her minders had spotted him at those locations.

Anna was at the heart of the problem. He knew she was being forced to work with these people, but he also knew she was a treacherous individual who would sacrifice anyone to save her own skin. If he was going to save her, it would be to his advantage for her to think she owes him a life debt.

Life debts were nebulous things, hard to define and even harder to quantify. The wizarding world knew that the process of saving someone created a debt, but the debt itself was entirely controlled by the savior. Often the person who had the debt would go out of their way to pay it back in some manner when the person they are paying back hasn't asked for any such payment.

There was no spell to detect a life debt, no way of verifying its existence at all. And because of that ambiguity Carlos could engineer a situation where Anna thought she 'owed' Carlos even though she really didn't.

Now he had an excellent idea of the situation. Anna had a controller who had a room adjacent to hers, and there was a security detail of two men that monitored Anna when she used the room for sleeping. During the day she would be paraded out to tour the city in the hopes of stumbling over Carlos.

He was comforted to discover that she was sleeping alone and her controller treated her with barely concealed contempt.

Carlos had just two men from his usual group helping him. They were discrete and very loyal to Carlos alone, and most importantly, even his employers didn't know about them. Due to the nature of his work, Carlos received more than enough money to payroll his own little organization. This way, his men could say that they worked for Carlos and not the Spanish Ministry for Magic.

Adelbert Ziegler absently slid his key card into the door lock when something appeared in his peripheral vision. He turned with one hand reaching for his service weapon, but he was too late.

"Dominar," whispered Carlos from the open doorway opposite his own. Ziegler paused mid-turn and his expression slackened. "Enter your room."

The man turned and pushed the door open. Carlos followed immediately behind him.

"You are watching the woman in 4112, why?" asked Carlos.

"She is bait for a terrorist," Ziegler replied. The Imperious curse wasn't quite as good as a dose of Veritaserum, but it would work in a pinch if you asked the right questions.

"Is she working for you willingly?"

"Nein, the bitch was given to us by the British. She must do as we say or she will go to prison."

Carlos nodded, this was something he already knew. "And when you find your terrorist?"

"She will still go to prison," Ziegler said flatly. "My men have found the messages she's been leaving behind in the hopes that someone would rescue her. I am trying to arrange for her to go to a good German prison, the British are too easy on their prisoners."

Carlos frowned, in the past three days he had learned that this man had a serious hatred for women. There was no doubt in Carlos' mind that whatever he had planned for Anna would be unpleasant and would perhaps cost her her life.

"I want you to listen carefully to these instructions, then you will carry them out to the letter, do you understand me?"

"Ya, I understand," Ziegler replied in a monotone.

Behind him the door cracked open and one of his men stepped inside. "It is done Carlos, the watchers are all dead."

"And the girl?"

The man grinned, "A little roughed up and used, but she'll do. She's the right height and general build which will make the polyjuice more effective."

"Excellent, keep her quiet until we leave, then you know what to do," Carlos said.

"Si Carlos, it will be our pleasure," replied his man, then he turned and left the room.

Carlos turned back to Ziegler and started to give him a detailed list of instructions. In a way he regretted what he was about to put Anna through, but he wanted her allegiance and for her to willingly give that she would have to believe she owed him a life debt.

Ministry for Magic, September 12th 2001...

Sir William looked up and frowned at the expression worn by Arthur Weasley. The man looked haggard.

"Well? From your expression I take it things didn't go well?" asked Sir William.

Arthur looked up and shook his head wearily. "No, they went well enough I suppose. I guess its just that this all came as a total shock to us."

"In what way?"

Arthur wiped at his face tiredly and then pulled his wand. William tensed for a moment, then he remembered that Arthur took an oath which prevented him from harming him. "This wand is both a weapon and a tool. With it I can end a life, or help create a life by increasing fertility," Arthur said, then he looked up at William. "But that's just one life, even Riddle couldn't kill three thousand people in a single day. In his first ten year rise to power we think he's responsible for eleven hundred wizard deaths and nearly twenty two hundred muggle deaths. In ten years and most of those deaths were done by his followers, the Death Eaters. I've seen the figures, barely fifty wizards and even fewer muggle deaths can be placed at his feet in that decade."

"Yesterday," Alejandro Croaker said.

"Yes, yesterday," Arthur agreed. "Yesterday over three thousand people died in a handful of hours. That's something no wizard could accomplish. That's something no one in their right mind would want to accomplish and it's only the beginning. Hermione Granger once told me that the muggles have weapons that can destroy London, killing everyone in the city in a matter of minutes."

"Seconds actually," Sir William said unhappily. "A single nuclear weapon dropped on London at noon on a weekday could kill four million people instantly, and more millions would suffer a lingering, painful death in the weeks to follow."

Arthur shook his head ruefully. "I went to the Daily Prophet today to try to clear up their ideas about what happened yesterday, but the more I explained the more I realized how stupid we've been to ignore the muggle world. The Weyrleader might be a mage, he might be a wizard, but he is right. It is a muggle owned world and we would be foolish to forget that fact."

"It's a hard blow," Croaker admitted. "It took the Italians and the Greeks over a hundred wizards working in concert to blow up that island. And they killed themselves in the process, we still don't know what spell was used, or if it was just a fluke accident. The muggles have machines that can kill so many more than that."

Sir William turned to look at him and arched an eyebrow in question.

Croaker looked at him sheepishly. "While we may no longer teach our children that wizards are superior, but this kind of news really highlights how far behind we have fallen. The Prophet reported the story and got some of the facts wrong because they didn't want to believe them. Arthur went over there today to straighten them out, but it's still humbling. The Prophet didn't want to believe that the muggles could build machines capable of carrying hundreds of people and fly. Not a single one of our buildings is capable of holding three thousand people, and yet the death toll could have been thirty thousand from just one of those buildings. Only our Quidditch stadiums are that big and those are temporary buildings that vanish with the magic. Plus I understand that our Quidditch stadiums are small compared to some muggle stadiums.

Croaker paused and took a breath. "It was a terrible thing that happened, but for the wizarding world it was a shock. A terrible shock because it highlighted in a single instant how far we have fallen behind the muggles. People are frightened, they went from believing they were safe from muggles to knowing that a single muggle can end the lives of many."

"In a way there is one silver lining from this tragedy," Arthur offered.

"What would that be?" asked Sir William. Anything that could be construed as good news at this time would be something to grasp and hold onto tightly. He personally knew some of the victims of the attack.

"Several of the holdouts for the Dumbledore plan at the ICW have contacted me and asked for my help in talking to their government. Yesterday's attack scared them off the fence and changed their attitude. Not all of the holdouts, but enough. The measure will pass easily with their support. Previously it had been iffy that it would pass."

"Well that's something then," muttered Sir William, then he sighed. "I suppose I should pass that information along to the PM."

Arthur nodded, it had been a very long haul to get the plan to this point. Several times in the past two years he had presented it before the delegates and each time it had been sent back to committee for modification. With several of the abstaining votes swinging in favor of the plan he was certain it would be passed this year.

Sir William considered the conversation, then he made a note to himself to see if oaths could be used in other areas. He would need to speak to Director Shacklebolt and Stokes to see what they thought.

---

Author's notes and Mockeries:

* I have become convinced that a vast bulk of the people are ignoring these notes. Why else would I continue to get reviews and pms asking if I am going to include 9/11 in this story. To prove that point and to answer that question for the last time (I've already answered it SEVERAL times) I am going to state here that no, we will never even mention 9/11 in this story, ever. Oh and as I type this, I am naked, smoking a cigar and sitting on a pile of rubber ducks. But since no one reads these notes, no one will care. I don't want to mention it, but one of these ducks is getting really personal.

* KB0, Finland as a resort offers a large variety of winter sports and the Joensuu Weyrleader comes from a long line of Inn keepers who know how to keep their customers happy even when the weather turns sour. Besides, for some reason most people seem to forget that cuddling and sharing body heat is a very old, very traditional and very popular winter sport. Cheers!

* LovestoRead247 wants the tension building to end so that they can read the story in one sitting. Ummm boring, but ok heres the story in one sitting.

Harry

Dragons

Implied sex

War

Boom Crash Bang!

Happy Ending.

There you go, the story in one sitting. Sorry, but setting the stage for events takes time. Lots of little pieces need to be added together before you can figure out what the puzzle is showing you. So be patient grasshopper.

* Shadow315 your car lights are still on! :)

* 1Batman4u, yeah Harry could purchase an island, but he's not going to. That particular problem will be eventually resolved but I'm not going to say how here. I'd give you a hint but Alyx used up our allowance of invisible pixels in the last chapter's disclaimer. Sorry.

* JDL45 if you think about, the attitudes you are seeing in the story are merely attitudes that we all saw in real life during this time frame. Did any of us complain when we suddenly needed to be searched to board a plane, or when we find US Border patrol holding spot checks on US Interstate highways? Future historians will recognize the first decade of this century as the single greatest erosion of personal liberties the US has seen in more than 200 years of existence. Annoying? Hell yeah.

Not every host nation will be perfectly friendly to their Weyr. Some, like the British will understand that the Weyr is truly beneficial as long as they are treated in a friendly and honest manner. And some wouldn't know a honest manner if they were hit over the head with it. Despite being American myself, the American government is going to fall into the dishonest category. If that bothers you, tough. This is one of those cases where I'm the author and what I write is what I write. So nana nana boo boo.

So adult of me I know. :)

ps. I'm not sure, but I think I'm now engaged to a rubber duck!