The Bodyguard - My best friend
From The Pardusian Chronicles
Part I
My line of work rarely takes me to taverns frequented by the unscrupulous and down right dirty. The closest I had come to underworld dealings was when I caught a glimpse of a PASC several fields away with a scorpion mark on the side. However, the IGCSB had contracted me to conduct some research on space dragons and a dragon’s nest is not a place for a scientist with little or no battle experience. So despite my protestations that I could handle myself and that anyone else would scare the dragons, the Empire assigned a seasoned fighter to be my escort.
I was to meet Master Lenderz on Sigma Draconis at the aptly named “Dragon’s Den”. I seem to recall some 2-d films from 20th century Earth known as “spaghetti westerns”. Those who know what I’m talking about will have seen the point where a man, unknown to the parts, walks into the bar and everyone in there stops to look at him. This was very much the same thing. My pristine clothes, my unscarred skin, the way I walked, all confirmed everyone’s suspicions that I should have little business there.
A tall slender Keldonian approached me and introduced himself as Lenderz. He had a scar running from the base of his right eye to the corner of his jaw. His dull eyes revealed nothing yet they watched everything. He was not dressed in his Imperial uniform and my inquiries yielded no reasons. I was invited to join the Master at the space dock. He wanted to look at my ship, and then we would talk about the mission.
Lenderz spent a short time roaming the Mawrhin-Skel Interceptor before a look in my direction signalled me to join him. I had not warmed to this character so far, and I was certain that he had not warmed to me. Apparently he had recently been busted down a few ranks after a secret mission was leaked to GNN. Someone had to take the fall and that person had been Lenderz. It seemed we had both been burdened, Lenderz with the mission, and myself with Lenderz. There was a silent agreement to stay out of each other’s way as much as we could.
Our destination was Edeneth and the starbase Nova Roma. We arrived a day later with little trouble, apart from a seemingly inexperienced pirate that Lenderz dispatched of with ease in his scarred Mercury called The Chutney Ferret. To be honest, I was very impressed with the way he handled the pirate, yet it also chilled me slightly to think that such ease only comes with experience.
Nova Roma reminded me very much of the Dragon’s Den back on SD. Mercenaries, privateers and traders of less “available” resources roamed the shipyard and taverns. There were a few species that arrived on a constrictor, wealthy types out for a weeks hunting, but then main were people on business. It was much easier for the Empire to employ brigands for certain assassination missions than bother the Imperial Guard. Lenderz nodded here and there to passing beings, an acknowledgment of notoriety as opposed to friendship I guessed.
We spent the first two days with Lenderz teaching me some basic manoeuvres in case there was trouble. The next day was spent going over what my researched entailed so he could provide some input on safety procedures. He earned my respect again, he was nothing if not thorough.
We started out on the fourth day, my research was linked to some Electro-magnetic Fermion armour that although had already been researched and was in the testing stage, needed some more information. Our map indicated that we were nearing the main entrance to the nest yet there were no signs of the dragons. The narrow corridor between the energy fields that surrounded the nest was getting ever tighter, yet the nest was empty. Lenderz spoke over the com unit explaining that it looked as if the hunting party had just been through on a rather successful hunt, however it wasn’t clear how long ago they’d been there.
Suddenly blinding lights followed by a deafening roar crashed across the front of my ship and struck Lenderz clean on the port side. I looked across and saw an elder space dragon emerging from the energy fields. I looked back towards Lenderz for support. A huge tear had been created down the port side of his hull exposing the vulnerable electronics and more importantly the ion drive core. He was already taking evasive manoeuvres, although the ship was limping badly, and I endeavoured to follow suit. He soon started firing back as I continued my evasion tactics.
It was then I saw the next ESD come from the other side of the corridor, already prepared to fire. I shouted over the com to Lenderz but it was too late. The fiery breath crashed into the exposed ion drive and started a chain reaction. Lenderz then appeared in my ship. He managed to teleport out to watch The Chutney Ferret vaporise in front of his eyes. I was immediately relieved of my captaincy and my seat as Lenderz took control. As a master of fighter ships he soon was able to take the fight to the dragons and destroy them both.
Unfortunately, a quick damage scan reported the main drive off-line. The dragons had once again managed to hit vital parts of the ship and we floated in space. We were sitting ducks. Although we had auxiliary thrusters we could only last so long before we needed to repair and then we would not be able to escape. We were running out of time in a dragons nest, and the queen had yet to be seen...
(to be continued...)
Part II
...We were floating and lifeless. Lenderz and I performed several system scans to ascertain the exact problems we were encountering and what was actually functional. Although we had weapons online we had lost all ability to manoeuvre or target. Life support systems were ok for the moment but needed some attention. According to Lenderz, the ion drive was out of commission but the drinks replicator was fully functional. I hadn’t realised the ice-cold mercenary had a sense of humour. Our only chance was to get the docking thrusters online and power our way out with those. The docking thrusters provided manoeuvring ability and a small amount of thrust needed to make small adjustments for bring the ship into a spaceport.
Despite their fairly large and frequent population, little is known about space dragons outside certain scientific circles. For instance, where are they from? What do they do? What happens when they die? The average pilot is usually ignorant to these simple questions, seeing them as target practice, or a paycheck. Space dragons are beings made from energy. They are born inside energy fields and appear as young beings. They then harvest the energy fields, almost like a farmer tends his crop, maintaining the balance that stops the fields expanding too far. When they die or are killed, their energy trace is absorbed back into the field and regenerated, much like the cloning process used by Pardusians. The nest we were in was currently empty, but we didn’t know how long it would be till the SD’s would regenerate.
We worked hard and fast, as time was against us, and we soon brought the docking thrusters back online. I fired the thrusters for an extended burst, careful not to overheat them and we slowly picked up some speed, but we were still vulnerable.
It was then we saw the Queen of the nest. We were both awe struck at its magnificence. It turned to us and prepared to fire, but nothing came out. I then saw the problem it was badly injured. It looked like the hunting party had injured the beast but had been unable to complete the kill. Also, the wound stopped it from entering the energy field to recuperate, where the dense energy would have torn it to pieces. I decided to investigate closer, much to the disagreement of Lenderz who kept his finger on the weapons all the way in. I managed to perform the research I had been contracted for, whilst Lenderz watched on, obviously humbled by the Queen. I even managed to teach him a few things for his hunting, a weak spot to aim for on all dragons.
After I was finished we moved slowly away, turned, and fired several pulses at the dragon. The poor thing could never recover from the wound. We watched in silence as the energy traces were drawn back to the field to be regenerated. A truly remarkable being.
We talked most of the slow journey back, generally of stories and anecdotes of past exploits. Lenderz and I parted at Nova Roma. We were from very different backgrounds yet we had formed a kind of friendship out of mutual respect for each other. I am still very good friends with him and I hope to be so for a long time.
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