The Phoenix was moved to one of the larger orbital shipyards while it underwent repairs but with their newest assignment taking precedence it had been towed back to the space port attached to the Luna orbital elevator for ease of embarkation. His crew did not take kindly to their interrupted leave; Alex easily saw their ire towards him for their cancelled sabbatical. Though none dared to say anything to his face, their dismay could not have been more obvious and it killed Alex internally that he could not tell them why he was doing this.
Only one reprieve from this mess had ever manifested itself such that Admiral Valso had covered Alex with the paperwork and authorisations to restock the Phoenix and prepare her for flight prematurely. In exchange for completing this assignment, Valso had also signed off on an additional three months leave on top of the other two the crew had missed out on. Alex thought about how he was going to explain to the crew the reason for why they were here and what they would get in return, it bothered him to keep this from his crew as he made it a policy to be as transparent as possible with the crew. Barring any sensitive materials.
Alex had stood outside the airlock hatch that led to the umbilical connecting the Phoenix. He had finished signing the paperwork that allowed the transferral of munitions onto the ship while his crew slowly boarded the ship. His wrist was aching for the last ten minutes as he repetitively signed his name allowing each type of torpedo and missile, bullet and Gauss ammunition that was getting stocked in the Phoenix’s magazines. Frustratingly he pondered why the bureaucrats didn’t simply have it all on one document that he could sign for rather than individually sign for each type. When he had let out a sigh of exhaustion, he saw only the families of the crew standing around the Gate’s lounge area before dismissing and saluting the uniformed officer that had brought him the approval forms. Alex promptly turned around and entered through the hatch and transitioned via the umbilical glass tube with steel support beams in an interlocking pattern; the length of the umbilical was no more than twenty-five meters from airlock to airlock. Inside it felt almost wonderous when having a near unobstructed view of the stars in a 360 degree view.
After successfully crossing into the airlock of the Phoenix, Alex reached for the lever in its alcove to seal the outer door before exiting the airlock. Guarding the entrance were two Marines who stood at attention as soon as he crossed the threshold. One held a small cylindrical whistle and blew into it creating a high pitched sound that made the crew line themselves up with their backs against the wall. Alex stood still in the centre of the hallway with his hands behind his back.
“All hands, go to your stations!” He shouted “Ready to leave the dock, prepare for Warp!”
“SIR YES SIR!” they shouted in unison before leaving their formation and running in all directions.
The programmed boatswain's whistle call sounded when Alex entered the Bridge, he was greeted by his bridge officers standing at attention and saluting him, he sat down onto his chair as it sighed under stress.
“At ease.”
Alex grabbed the microphone on the console above him and pressed down on the button to issue an announcement. “All hands, all hands this is your captain speaking. I realise many of you are not happy to be here, I share in your resentment. I realise many of you are wondering ‘why did we have to get called back into action, we had two months left’. Unfortunately, a matter of extreme importance arose during our sabbatical and we have been personally tasked by the Council of Terra to investigate a ship that went missing inside Dragon space.” Alex took a deep breath in and then released it before he continued. “However, I know this crew will succeed in our goal, we will complete the mission assigned to us and when we return, we will be compensated with an additional three months or Rest and Relaxation on top of the two you have missed out on. So at least there is a light at the end of this tunnel.”
At the mere mention of the additional time off, the bridge crew smiled and let out a small chuckle. Alex smiled.
“I know we can do this; I have faith in all of you. All hands… prepare to cast off.”
Alex looked to his left and addressed Lieutenant Hazaari, her plumage ruffled in surprise when he spoke to her “Lieutenant, signal the Harbour Master and tell them we are ready to cast off.”
“Aye sir.’ She nodded.
Tremors rumbled around the ship, a mild shaking as the Mechanical moors inched the Phoenix away from its gate. Over the radio, the harbour master counted down when the arms would release and as soon as he had said zero the padded grips of the moors released and immediately retracted back towards the megastructure. The Phoenix continued to inch its way outward from the Space dock, Alex informed Lt. Hazaari to inform the harbour master they have been successfully casted, she confirmed, meanwhile, Alex adjusted his radio and set it from signalling the whole ship to the Chief engineers’ workstation in Engineering.
“Captain to Engineering,” he said, “Spool the fusion reactor and fire up the Engines.”
Alex then looked toward his Helmsman. “Ensign Clemens, drift us astarboard at thirty-five degrees for five seconds, zero elevation, then thrust forward at Acceleration zero-zero-five.”
Clemens acknowledged the order and the view outside began to shift away from the space dock in response to Clemens’ surgical touch, the stars slowly shifted across the windows while a rumble from the thrusters could be felt. Clemens grabbed his controls and pressed them forward into the console to engage thrusters at a slow crawl away from the space dock. Alex had given the navigational coordinates to Clemens for Faster than light travel; a location nowhere near anything of importance in the Lynx Constellation under Draconic authority.
“Engineering to Bridge, Warp engine is primed and ready on your command.” Milo said over the radio.
“Acknowledged engineering. Standby for Jump-three then accelerate to seven.”
Clemens looked back to face his captain “We are away from space dock sir, we are cleared for Jump Space.”
“Ensign Clemens,” Alex said “Prepare to engage Jump Drive, activate on my command.” Clemens nodded approvingly and tapped on his console.
Outside the window, the arrow shaped keel panels pulled themselves back to expose the warp spear and it began to power up. Lowly humming could be heard through the hull around them growing ever more stronger as time went on.
“Attention all personnel Jump-drive is active, remain seated during the Threshold crossing. Refrain from leaving your restraints”
Alex looked toward Lieutenant Collins and inquired about the correct coordinates. He then turned his attention to Ensign Clemens and asked if he was ready for the FTL. “Yessir! Liquid Helium is flowing through our engines, all superconductors are steadily reading at five hundred thousand degrees Kelvin and steadily climbing. Plasma dischargers are primed. We are good for Jump”
“Good. Lieutenant Hazaari, sound the countdown”
“Aye, sir, '' she responded. Shortly after she tapped on her console shortly before the bridge quickly grew dim as the warning lights replaced any interior illumination while the bridge officers strapped themselves into their chairs as Alex gave the announcement to the rest of the crew. The automated countdown started to sound off, starting at a five second countdown followed by the loud low pitch buzz of an alarm while the warp spear was consumed by a bright blue aura that lit the bridge up as insurmountable amounts of energy began to surge within it. I almost appeared as if the ship had been graced with a bayonet fixture ready to pierce the very fabric of space-time. Alex had always tried to not directly observe the epicenter of the spear when it was active; its distortion of space and time was also known to warp one's vision. The surge of energy grew immensely and when it was close to achieving full power the countdown started.
“Five…”
Alex hadn’t noticed his grip on the seat's armrest was tightening at an increasing rate. He was anxious about the Threshold crossing, it always gave him anxiety about accidents occurring.
“Four…”
His nervousness was felt throughout the bridge, even Clemens had noticed his hands vice like grip crushing the solid metal armrest.
“Three…”
Lieutenant Hazaari held on to her seat belts tightly for comfort, even if they didn’t do much against extreme gravitational forces that would assault her. She looked like a small scared kid who holds onto her teddy bear tightly in the face of danger for comfort.
Two… One…
Ensign Clemens firmly gripped the control handles of his console before thrusting it forward into the console with one sudden push. Alex inhaled sharply, more loudly than he intended as he tensed his muscles when suddenly… An explosion of overwhelming visual stimulation occurred before their very eyes as the stars in the furthest corner of Alex’s field of vision moved closer toward him as if the stars themselves wanted to peck him lightly on the cheek. The innermost stars central in his eyes had made themselves appear to be getting as far away from the Phoenix as possible. The warp spear that had been revealed in the bow of the Phoenix surged with its power showing the distorted view like a looking at the horizon in the desert.The stars suddenly shot past the corner of the bridge and the stars that tried to once get away were now overshot by the Phoenix as well as countless other stars as colour flooded the eyes of everyone who observed the tunnel that quickly enveloped the ship, it was a quick kaleidoscope of visual beauty and distant objects being torn away as even the black void that the Phoenix previously saw had transformed into a field of colour as the ship kept pace with the spectrum of light. The sudden burst of acceleration had thrusted the bridge crew into their chairs with a force much more powerful than most Jumps giving Alex the impression his chair was slowly consuming him; the seatbelt between his legs grew heavy on his groin shooting pain up through his lower body and caused his kidneys to ache immensely. The sound of metal shuddered and creaking was heard all around as the Phoenix’s hull started to acclimate to the increased stresses. Anxiety and nerves that had once fiercely grabbed the crew died down in an instant as a second later the gravitational forces died down.
The lights returned to normal while the shrill buzzing alarm ceased its tone. The crew were free to move about as their inertial compensators started to perform their task. Alex reached for the microphone to tell the crew the good news, He chuckled a bit.
“I will be in my office.” He said as he stood up.
---
The water on board was recycled from nearly every possible liquid source, as large as ships may be in this day and age, it had no matter on their air and water storage capacity. It was always filtered by various methods of osmosis, filtration, treatment and any other method that the Environmental Department could come up with, anyone outside the environmental and engineering department wouldn't think about it heavily but they were trained to ignore it or you simply didn't care. It depended on where you grew up such as a Triton or any filth ridden asteroid station or backwater colony on a barren world it was still better than what one would be accustomed to. But for many who grew up on a civilised world like Earth, Terra Nova or Green Hills you were trained to ignore it. Nevertheless, it was an interesting thought to entertain how almost all of the crew's urine and excess water and even discarded soup and in some cases heavily filtered engine liquids was all repurposed to make decent shower water. It didn't bother Alex at all even if he did grow up on Earth, the only time it did bother him was when he was told the filters were not functioning. But a shower was still pleasant nonetheless, with its warm watery beads gently caressing his skin as they worked down his body and finally joining with the other water droplets down in the drain. It had been relaxing still with not much to do while at Warp and to top it off, a new Chief medical officer. Besides tending to his duties as Captain and reviewing status reports from department heads Alex had found himself with plenty of time to slow down. He opened his eyes to press down on the conditioner dispenser when Alex could've sworn something was off, he couldn't put his finger on it but the water beads were acting differently, yet, they were still falling, they still obeyed the laws of physics but something wasn't right. The problem took nought but a second to solve and it became apparent that the drops were falling slower than usual. Alex wondered if the Artificial gravity was malfunctioning; The answer soon showed itself in the absence of a gentle humming sound which, while almost unnoticeable under the sound of water hitting the floor, its absence can still be detected.
Water started to collect itself into little balls which grew in diameter on its journey downward. Pressure eased off of Alex’s spine while his feet gently lifted off the ground. He cursed his ship’s decrepit age as he tried to stabilize himself in the shower cubicle by forcing his hands against opposing surfaces, the water continued to flow out of the shower head until it collected itself into a large sphere of water that continued its expansion in the confined cubicle. Using his foot to reach for the tap was a struggle to maintain balance and turn the water off.
The gentle hum of the gravity plating soon returned but it had not applied its powers of attraction gently like it had previously decreased. Staying still in the center of the cubicle with only his hands holding him steady as Alex began to experience his stomach pulling him to the floor along with the rest of his mass and in an instant he dropped suddenly with his hands dragged down the wall with little resistance. The landing and the ball of water returning to its fluidic state caused him to slip and fall onto his buttocks quite hard, shooting pain up through his tail bone and letting out a pained yelp. The sphere of water that had once slowly threatened to consume the shower cubicle was nullified as the bubble fell to the ground.
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Massaging his rump, the captain had left his shower to find the communication terminal in his room, when he did find the panel he established a link to Engineering. “Captain Rowan to Chief Engineer Hammer; Milo what the Hell is going on? The gravity went offline in my shower, I almost drowned in zee-gee!”
Milo’s response was almost instantaneous. “Sorry, Captain but yours isn’t the only one. We’ve had a number of gravity plates go offline recently.”
Alex let out a deep sigh, his body still dripping wet and aching from the fall. On the carpet beneath him he had left a damp stain on the industrial carpeting. “What’s it going to take to fix these malfunctioning plates?”
“Completely overhaul the wiring of every gravity plate on each deck and completely overhaul the entire heat exchanger system for them. That’s a seven-month job at best.”
“Do what you can until we get back to Terra. Captain Rowan, out.”
Alex left the communication terminal to dry himself off and after a thorough cleaning he had successfully donned his loosely fitting casual undergarments before putting on his space suit. His suit was unlike his formal attire where it was armoured, hardened and patterned in a recognisable way, the suit was more loose fitting and had no hard-shell parts attached and allowed for greater airflow and a better climate-controlled system. In the midst of interstellar travel, it was unwise to not be without a proper suit. He grabbed the lever and his door and swung it upward to break the airtight seal and stepped over the hatch frame and into the corridor; aside from himself there were only two other crewmen present with one of them observing the inside components behind a removable panel, the other carried a tablet at her side as she walked toward the Combat Information Centre.
The onboard entertainment for a battleship was nothing compared to those of purpose built luxury star liners however, that did not imply that Navy ships were spartan in their facilities. The Phoenix’s large design gave it the opportunity to have plenty of recreational facilities. A small club with a bar was adjacent to the mess hall, but one form of recreation had eluded Alex for a long time.
The recreation centre in the ship was outfitted with some of the latest and most ancient of entertainment equipment from pinball machines to the neuro-synaptic simulators, Alex found himself resting on the surgical chair with a Cerebral scanner crowning his head; at first nothing had happened, he closed his eyes like he was instructed by the attendant, an officer from Hospitality, and soon In the darkness he found himself on the pristine white beaches of Albali; Its rings rose from the horizon of sapphire blue waters and stretched high above the sunset pink and orange sky with one of its large moons brightly lit behind the rings. Alex sat down on the sand as he watched the waves slowly lap over the sand while a gentle salty breeze brushed past him bringing a sense of serenity and calm he hadn’t felt before, even in his simulated dream, the gentle sound of the waves combined with the breeze had relaxed his body to a slumber. Nobody else was present on the endless stretch of beach, he had it all to himself and when night had finally settled, the pale blue glow of its rings and moon illuminated the darkened beach with ribbons of green light dancing in the sky while in the smooth gentle water, the bioluminescent sea life joined in on the parade of colour to add to the natural phenomena to put his mind further into rest.
His eyes opened slowly while his vision cleared up and took the time to remove the sand that had collected in his eyes. He felt them being irritableand the light coming from the rec centre was overstimulating his eyes which slowly adjusted to the harsh lighting. He pinched the bridge of his nose to rub them out.
“Welcome to the future, captain!” The hospitality officer shouted.
“The future? What are you on about?”
“What you experienced was a four-hour experience condensed into one.” He explained.
“I’ve been out for an hour? Geez, it felt so real; I can still feel the sand in between my fingers. I can still smell the salt.”
“Those are echoes, don’t worry it is normal for them to linger long after your session. Some say it is more beneficial that way.
Opposite Alex in the recreation centre were more beds occupied by various species.They looked peaceful as the crown they wore lulled them away to a simulated paradise.
His wrist pad beeped twice in short intervals, when he viewed the interface, it showed Ensign Clemens name on it, he accepted the call and brought his wrist pad close to his face “Captain Rowan here, what is it Clemens?”
“Sir I am informing you that we are forty-five minutes from exiting Jump to the middle of nowhere in the Lynx constellation.”
The good feeling that had infected Alex disappeared when he let out a sigh. He rubbed his forehead once more before telling Clemen’s he would return to the bridge soon.
On his trip back to his private quarters, Alex had felt another rumble from the ship's hull under stress. Once inside his cabin he exchanged for his proper Captain’s uniform before heading to the bridge. His footsteps were heavy as he marched down the corridor with authority, the twin metal doors slid open to his presence and openly revealed his bridge crew working at their stations. They were all working on something, however, Clemens looked so nonchalant casually steering the ship with his right foot on the controls. In his relaxed position, his other foot was resting over his knee and both hands behind his head. Captain Rowan walked toward his chair between the Navigator console and the Main Gunnery console. He slowly descended on it and made the leather give off its creaking sound which drew the attention of the pilot.
“Clemens!” He raised his voice. “I told you not to have your feet on the fucking console!”
Clemens obeyed.
“Christ, do you ever fucking listen?” Alex muttered to himself.
When the Phoenix finally exited Jump, the kaleidoscopic tunnel it had travelled through for the last six days disappeared, blackness leaked from the centre and spread outward, bleeding out the colour and replacing it with darkness. When the ship entered Real-Space the inertia from the deceleration had barely been noticeable apart from a gentle pull forward. Alex told his pilot to slowly crawl while Lieutenant Hazaari contacted the Dragons.
“I.D.N Rakii is on approach” she said, the feathers on her nape stood on end when she spoke. “Her Helmsman reports they are sixty seconds away from exiting Jump.”
Alex nodded “Acknowledged, Ensign, bring us about full stop.”
On the outer edge of the window's visibility, it could be seen the large rocket thrusters emerging from the hull and firing off in short bursts to slow the ship down to a stop. Around them, the Phoenix positioned it outside a nebula of dark purples and bright violets, the patterns resembled the inner tunnels of a bee hive glowing a bright ultraviolet hue, its light made the bridge a shade of purple, captivating in its intricate pattern and spectacular colours made it a sight to behold. Hazaari looked on at the nebula with her large golden eyes completely entranced by the colours “It’s so beautiful.” She said, a hint of sadness crept into her voice. “You should pay a visit to the Astronomic labs and ask them for pictures, Lieutenant.” Alex suggested.
Slightly shaking her head, the Garuda spoke “But it doesn’t capture what I can see, I pity humans cannot see this like I can.”
A series of beeps came from the Navigation console, a blonde human male, Junior Lieutenant Collins, drew his attention away from the nebulae and checked his console before he had swung his head back to meet his Captain’s gaze. “Sir, it’s a Proximity Alert; The Rakii is about to tear its way here.”
“Copy that; Ensign. Back us up a bit, astern at factor zero one zero.”
Clemens acknowledged grabbed his control armature and pulled It toward him, the ship shuddered as her engines pulled her backwards, Alex swore he thought a rivet was going to come loose out of one of the nearby panels. The ship shook mildly until its infrastructure settled shortly after, if it weren’t for that indicator Alex would not have known they were going backwards. In fact he would not have known they were moving at all for the nebula was not a reliable thing to measure distance. A series of flashes went off in front of them, brightly lit like lighting. Before, a large flash had suddenly summoned a vessel of massive proportions that dwarfed the Phoenix out of thin air.
It’s massive body spotted wing blades coming out of its midsection while the front of the ship was decorated in gun batteries and launchers. It did not stop its approach, soon it was over the Phoenix, staring at its large belly. The rear of the ship was most peculiar as its design was reminiscent of lobster tails or smaller crustaceans. Each tip of the tail sported an engine that each had a white hot plume of exhaust that stretched out for nearly two hundred meters.
“Lieutenant Hazaari, established a channel with the Draconic cruiser. Put it in on all frequencies… God forbid the dragons ever share anything.”
“You are live on all bands, sir.”
Alex reached for the microphone and brought it to his mouth, then pressed down on the button to speak. “This is Captain Alexander Rowan of the Unified Terran Alliance Navy, operating the U.T.S.S Phoenix out of Aldrin Port, Terra Luna. Calling the Imperial Draconic Naval vessel: Rakii. Please respond on SH Frequency one-five one-seven point two-seven-seven.” He cradled the microphone as he waited, a dreaded ominous presence was felt in the quietness on the bridge which soon left when crackling was heard over the speakers.
“Alliance vessel, Phoenix. You are in Imperial Dragon territory. State your purpose!” It spoke.
The speaker was guttural and deep, definitely a Dragon’s voice and its higher tone implied to be a female.
“Phoenix here, to whom am I addressing?”
“I am Executive First Officer Ki’Rayn of the Imperial Draconic Navy cruiser Rakii, I speak on behalf of my Captain.”
“First Officer Ki’Rayn, we are under orders to collect our new Chief Medical Officer from you, we request permission to dock to initiate transfer.”
For a solid minute, nothing was said, then Ki'Rayn spoke again. “My Captain has confirmed your identity and has agreed to docking. We ask that you surrender navigational controls to our Flight Boss.”
Alex snapped his fingers to get Clemens attention then he flicked his hand in the direction of the Rakii.
“Understood, Rakii. Transferring controls over to you now.”
Soon, the Phoenix gave a shudder as her engines fired and her rocket thrusters manoeuvred the battleship toward the rear section of the draconic dreadnought. Everyone took the moment to look out the windows as they watched the docking bay ever draw closer to the Phoenix. The bulkheads opened up and the mooring clamps reached out from their alcoves. Rowan had only one thought on his mind; How much did these things take to construct? The magnetic mooring clamps drew closer as did everyone’s anticipation. Only meters away Rowan could spot every detail in the hangar from the hydraulic pistons on the mooring clamps to the orange warning beacons constantly flashing bright orange into his eyes and breaking the all-white interior. But with a shudder and a large thumping sound, the Phoenix rested in the hangar bay. Another thud sounded off, when Alex checked the exterior camera footage the source of the noise was the umbilical attaching itself to an Airlock in the middle compartment. Next, Alex stood up and called up his Master-At-Arms, a man with a gruff voice with a Russian accent responded on the other end of the line.
“Major Fëderov, meet me on deck seven, mid-section, Portside airlock five. We have dragons to meet.”
Outside the inner door of the airlock Alex waited for the dragons to approach them first, to his side was his Master-at-arms and commanding officer of the onboard Marine regiment. When his helmet cascaded back into its protective compartment behind the neck of the operator to expose his head, the man still wore his beige communications cap. Alex knew that under the cap, the Major had already lost most of his natural hair colour with streaks of oil black hair still surviving, his square chin and high cheekbones on his weathered face which a lifetime of active duty had moulded into a permanent scowl. Had Alex not seen the Major without his power armour there would have been no way of knowing that even in his advanced years, the man could still run laps and beat the captain in a fight. For as bulky as the armour looked, it was mostly the man’s frame and musculature that had the bulk.
Through the windows, Alex saw the dragons waiting to enter the airlock through the outer doors, he pressed a button on the control panel to release the doors and the dragons stepped in.
“I take it, I am just for show?” he asked with an accent.
“Dragons come from a place of strength, they’ll respect us to see me with my security officer as honouring their culture.”
The major huffed. “I guess I am just for show.”
Alex opened the inner set of doors and two armoured dragons emerged from the airlock and took position on the outside of the door allowing a highly decorated dragon passage. It’s light blue scales were covered in precious jewellery and scale decorations. The base of the neck was covered with scales of precise art etched onto them, the winged creature looked at Alex with a curious and intelligent set of eyes as it observed them and the surrounding architecture. “Captain Alexander Rowan, I presume?” she said with a feminine voice.
“You must be First Officer Ki’Rayn.” Alex said while extending his hand to shake.
“No,” the dragoness said. “I am Captain Riyak Grayich of the I.D.N Rakii. Permission to come aboard?” She spoke with articulation and a gentle smile.
Alex returned the friendly smile “Permission granted. Captain Riyak, allow me to introduce my Master-At-Arms; Major Zakhar Fëderov.” He said as he gestured to the major.
Fëderov bowed slightly to the dragoness. They exchanged glances as the greeting took place.
“Captain Riyak, is our new CMO ready for transfer?”
“Of course, he should be finishing packing up his things” Riyak raised her left foreleg displaying her bracelet, a gauntlet of ornate decorations which glowed an electric blue, she spoke into it for one of her crew to bring in the CMO.
Far behind her, Alex could make out another two draconic marines marching lockstep down the umbilical toward the ship, he couldn’t see anyone behind them. The marines parted ways outside the outer doors to expose the young dull sand colored dragon that walked behind them, the dragon looked younger than present company, Alex raised his eyebrow in confusion. The dragon was covered in satchels and containers, his legs had a slight bend in them indicating his entire luggage wore heavily on him.
“Uhh, who is that?” he spoke as he pointed at the dragon.
“That is your new chief medical officer, captain. I want you to meet my little brother: Liyurch Grayich.”
Liyurch wore a wide smile, proudly beaming at the mention of his name. He clumsily waved a paw whilst avoiding dropping any of his luggage. He wore a wide sincere smile, however Alex and Zakhar looked at each other with confused expressions. Was this young dragon their new Chief medical officer? He looked far too young compared to the captain and her marine guard. Alex quickly glanced over to the dragoness and she returned the look with a sympathetic expression.
“Hi Captain, may I come aboard?” His said highly energetic. His voice sounded younger than he looked, parts of his intonation suggested his vocal chords had not fully developed. Liyurch propped up his front left claw to shake.
Reluctantly, Alex took his clawed hand and shook it meekly “It’s ‘permission to come aboard’ and yes.” He said with uncertainty. “Doctor Liyurch you may take your station in Infirmary One, Major Fëderov here will show you.”
As both Human and Dragon watched as the duo left, they turned their attention back to each other, the sympathetic look in Riyak’s eyes remained as she dropped all formalities. “Captain, if I may be candid with you. If it were up to me, my little brother would still be aboard my ship. I ask of you, kindly to take care of him. Out of our entire siblings, he is the one I am most fond of.”
“May I ask why he is being assigned to my ship and not on yours?”
“He-our father is Admiral of the Fleet, and Liyurch does not meet our father’s expectations. He believes having him around will cause our name to be tarnished.”
“I understand completely, Captain Riyak.”
“Good.”
The dragoness then extended her front right leg and bowed to Alex, he gave a slight bow in return as he watched the dragoness turn around before her guards followed suit. He sealed the inner and outer doors behind them. Soon, clanking noises were coming from around the airlock as the umbilical disconnected itself from the hull and retracted itself back into the wall.
Meanwhile, back on the bridge, Alex sat in his chair watching as the Magnetic moors pushed the Phoenix out of the Rakii, helm control was restored and Clemens steered the ship away from the Rakii before it disappeared in a flash. After having jumped out of the region, Alex gave Junior Lieutenant Collins their new set of coordinates.
“All hands, prepare to Jump!”
The Jump rod glowed with a ferocious intensity as its aura distorted the realm of space time as it charged. With a full charge, Clemens thrusted his controls inward and the ultraviolet nebula stretched and distorted until it blurred before disappearing from the view altogether.
“Next stop, ship hunting!” Clemens proudly declared.
Alex stared at the warped vista as he thought to himself, their dragon doctor being sent here was to avoid ruining family names? He could not wrap his head around why they would do that. By his navigator's estimates, the Phoenix had another seven days to reach the final location of the Krath’let; he was going to use the time to learn all he could from the dragon.
“Bloody politics!” Alex whispered to himself.