Standing near where Osar said the boarding hatch was located near the rear of the voidship, Eric could now fully appreciate the size of the Plunderer. He estimated the ship rose twenty-meters high above them and was around sixty meters in length. The entire hull was almost entirely smooth, like a bullet, but Eric figured it would be able to extrude wings or ailerons for atmospheric entry.
Osar equipped a green and white gauntlet from the ring he had taken from Lugthal. The gauntlet was made of thin interlocking metal bands and looking more like an accessory than a piece of armor, glittering brightly as Osar raised it above his head. A large yellow gem on the back of the gauntlet shone brightly, and a ramp seamlessly lowered from the voidship’s belly.
Teal-colored velvet-carpeted steps were revealed on the ramp, and soft soothing music began to play.
Osar laughed at the bemused expressions of his companions and motioned them forward to board the ship.
At the top of the stairs the ramp opened up into a luxurious lounge done in teal, ivory and gold, complete with several lounger couches and a long, well-stocked bar at one end. Dark green glass made up the ceiling, and more stairs led up to the beautifully-decorated surface of a blast door.
“Not what I expected at all.” Serra said aloud, her brown eyes wide with the elegance and extravagance of what she was seeing.
“Vashanka had almost the same reaction the first time he entered the lounge; the old worm claimed he recognized the décor,” Osar casually talked as he walked towards the steps leading up to the blast doors. “Seemed amused that the ship had ended up with criminals when its previous owner…”
“Wait!” Eric interrupted as the ramp slid shut behind him, as the meaning of Osar’s words reached his brain. “Are you saying Vashanka entered this ship?”
“Yes,” Osar turned to answer at the foot of the stairs leading up. “Did I not say we arrived here with him?”
“We’re talking about Vashanka right? The dragon?”
“Yes Jad-Os,” The Urgan’s wore a puzzled expression, his head slightly tilted to the side. “Vashanka the dragon, the one you claimed your ring from.”
“Vashanka the massive dragon?! How could it ever fit into…?”
“Oh!” Osar suddenly exclaimed, bursting out into laughter. The Terrans looked at him in confusion. “Of course, you don’t… I mean… haha… how could… haha, hem.”
It took a while for the big Urgan to settle down, but the Terrans waited, becoming more and more irritated as the moments passed. Finally, Osar straightened himself, wiping back a few teardrops with his black-nailed hands.
“Right,” The Urgan said finally, clearing his throat. “Didn’t you ever wonder why Vashanka’s Ring had all sorts of humanoid clothes in it… and similar-sized swords and other weapons, tools, books and so on? Why would he carry such things around?”
“Because they were taken from others? Or there were no draconic versions of the books?”
“Plausible I guess,” Osar chuckled, putting up his hands to forestall an angry outburst from his companions. “It’s because all adult dragons have a humanoid form and Vashanka was in that form when he boarded the ship!”
“That is interesting.” Pig interjected suddenly, apparently jolted to voice a comment by the Urgan’s revelation. Eric shared his AI’s sentiment, remembering the strength and majesty of the dragon as he had first seen it, and he wondered what could have driven such a beast to take a humanoid form?
“Why?” Serra blurted out, saving Eric from asking the question himself.
“Dragons are technically evolved beasts, though they do not like being reminded of that fact,” Osar explained, telling the Terrans what he had been taught as a child. “The System does not normally manifest in beasts, only in humanoids. So, the dragons evolved enough to take humanoid forms, which they have to be in to use all the advantages the System gives them.”
“That actually makes sense.” Cid opined, wrapping his brain around the concept. “I assume the dragons gain the advantages of both forms and few, if any, of the disadvantages.”
“Yes, friend Cid,” Osar said as he turned and began to walk up the stairs again. After a moment, the Terrans followed after him. “In fact, most beasts that evolve high enough take a humanoid form and advance through the System.”
The Urgan raised his gauntleted hand again as he approached the blast door, which divided into three parts and folded open, revealing a long, wide, brightly-lit corridor. Osar waited at the top of the stairs for his companions, indicating everything as he announced.
“Welcome all, to the Plunderer!”
All the doors within the ship would open to Osar’s gauntlet, emphasizing his control over the vessel. Lugthal, the Geludan leader and former master of the Plunderer, had apparently run a tight ship and all the quarters were relatively neat and tidy. Around the middle area of the ship were large lifts on the left and right, which Osar said would lead to the two other levels of the voidship.
As they passed a beautiful art-piece composed of glowing lights and intertwining crystalline fronds, Eric was once more struck by the enormity of what they had gained seemingly by pure luck.
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“Osar,” He finally asked, as they entered a room designed to be a training area, complete with target dummies and various exercise equipment. “What are the odds that we actually get to keep all this?”
“Why do you ask, Jad-Os?”
“Well, aren’t there any laws we could be breaking by just taking the ship?”
“Hmm, I often forget that you are newcomers here,” Osar muttered, brushing down his chin tendrils. His eyes twinkled with amusement as he continued. “I will try to explain as if to a child.”
Serra rolled her eyes, and Cid chuckled at the jab. Eric’s lips quirked upward in a slight smile, but his expression was serious as he settled down to listen. Laws were important to understand, especially if you were a visitor in a foreign land.
“Only three laws are universal throughout the Empire and they are the bedrock of society and culture. Sector governors, Stellar System administrators, even planetary governments may make their own laws and enforce them independently, but the three imaginatively named Imperial Laws remain inviolate, backed by the power of the Empress and her myriad Legions.”
“Three laws to rule a Galactic Empire?” Cid wondered aloud. “I can’t see how that’s even possible.”
“What you have to keep in mind friend Cid, is that the Scaled Empire was established, expanded, and is still ruled and dominated by dragons… Or at least dragon-backed Houses.” Osar paused so everyone could think on that, letting them work through the implications on their own. “These are very intelligent, selfish, paranoid, extremely territorial and avaricious creatures: The Imperial Laws, as they are written and disseminated, are designed specifically to favor them and their appetites over all others.”
Everyone nodded; it was much the same in the Union, though whole rooms could be filled with bound volumes of all the rules and laws that governed everyday life.
“The first law is simple:” Osar continued, smiling grimly as he spoke. “Only a dragon may kill a dragon.”
Hellfire!
Everyone turned to Eric and the white bracelet that encircled his wrist.
“There must be a way to alter or at least disguise the spatial device, sir.” Pig said supportively, though even Eric felt a frisson of fear at the thought of facing down an angry dragon. Osar continued talking, though he gave Eric a sympathetic look.
“The First Law is further complicated by the fact that you can be declared a Dragon, whatever your original race, by personal declaration by the Empress or unanimous acclamation by the entire Imperial Assemblage of Peers.”
“So, it’s either be born one or grow so powerful that even dragons acknowledge you as their peer, eh?” Eric said; maybe that was the way to go.
“So how do you know if someone is a dragon before you kill it?” Serra asked half-jokingly, cracking her knuckles dramatically.
“Oh, you’ll definitely know that,” Osar said, amused by the woman’s antics. “Few dragons are truly what one would call… subtle.”
“Ok, so first law; only dragons have the right to kill dragons… what’s the second law?”
“The second law is also relatively simple: You keep what you can hold.”
“But that’s…” Cid exclaimed, crossing his arms across his chest. “On second thought, that also makes sense, as long as we assume that dragons will adhere to our traditional understanding of draconic temperament and behavior.”
“Greedy, irritable, and prone to violence if balked?” Osar quipped.
“Yes.”
“Then you have dragons in a nutshell, friend Cid.”
“Hey,” Serra whispered at Eric, nudging him with her elbow. “That law sounds like something you’d come up with, eh?”
Eric gave a snort and gave a scowl, but he couldn’t refute her statement. Serra chuckled a bit at his reaction, feeling she had come ahead in that exchange.
“The intent is obvious,” Osar agreed. “Whatever the dragon desires, it may take, and only another dragon of its societal rank or power level, can stand in its way.”
“Very, very convenient,” Eric contributed. “But I can see it leading to a rise of pirates and would-be conqueror’s just taking stuff from everyone.
“Which is where the Imperial Legions, the Empress’s Hands, the Watchful Itinerants, and all manner of official, semi-official and clandestine organizations who have someone powerful, who may even be unknown, backing them. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of other dragons with differing agendas in the whole wide Universe… if nothing else, the people of the Scaled Empire are polite, since you cannot know if the person you are interacting with is safe to insult.”
Osar, beckoned them all out of the room before continuing with his explanation.
“The third law is the most debated: ‘To walk the Paths of Power, is to wield Power.’”
“Rather vague.” Cid commented, which Osar quickly tried to clarify.
“The end goal of the Rulers of the Scaled Empire, and by extension everyone within it, is to grow into as powerful an entity as they can become: That means cores, resources, rare materials, new techniques, powerful new spells, the list can go on and on.”
“Sounds like a Pyramid scheme.” Serra mumbled, clearly impatient with all the discussion.
“What’s that?” Osar asked, always eager to learn more of his new comrades’ old universe.
“It’s where contributors, which may number in the millions, are arranged in layers of seniority wherein the resources of those in the bottom are passed up to those at the top of the pyramid.”
“That does sound like how many of the Clans and Houses are set up,” Osar conceded, nodding his head and setting his chin tentacles bobbing. “Most justify it by saying the best resources should go to those that can make the most use of them… though the leaders make sure to be the ones to choose who is worthy.”
“Wouldn’t that make rebels and unrest common among the poorer sections of the populace?” Eric asked, trying hard to recall the conflicts back in Union-space that had occurred during the dark period historians had dubbed the post-Diaspora. “It seems that a lot of people would die in endless petty rivalries and wars.”
“There are rebellions and conflicts aplenty Jad-Os, genocidal clashes that empty entire worlds of life… But what do you think happens if the rebels actually win? In a few decades, maybe a couple of hundred years, the rebels will be no different than the rulers they had overthrown! It is the nature of any society populated by people with desires and needs.”
Osar stopped and looked at each of his new companions, and they all recognized the sadness in his voice.
“The Lords of the Empire hardly care if a billion sapients die, unless of course, their own interests are impacted. Then they descend upon those they deem the transgressors with fire and blood.” The Urgan’s lips curved in a bitter smile. “It is a harsh and savage system, worthy of the dragon's that created it, but it is also one where a strong hand and a steady heart can win power sufficient for one’s needs.”
Osar then turned to Eric, and his expression hardened into determination.
“So, to answer your original question Jad-Os; for all intents and purposes, the Plunderer is ours, or yours since you are our leader.” Osar paused, thinking. “Although a few precautionary alterations to its records and superstructure, and perhaps a change in color scheme could save us from some… troubles from particular individuals in the future.”
Eric grinned in response, liking the direction of his companions’ thoughts.
“Ok then: Once we have time, we’ll work on the ship… and then we’ll see what we can do about growing into proper Dragons.”