by Leslie Chase
Making his way back to the other dragons, Verikan found that he couldn't keep the smile off his face. He still had problems to face, but finally he knew what he needed to do, what direction he would lead his people in. That lifted so much stress from his shoulders, and the burden he had left to carry Josie would help him with.
Mordrak and Askelon were waiting for him in the palace war room, making plans as they examined the hologram map of Earth. Another image hung beside it now, a projection of the cavern where the royal guard slept. Readings displayed beside the image showed that they were already stirring on their slow path back to wakefulness.
"How can we help, Your Highness?" Askelon asked, rising to his feet and bowing his head respectfully. Mordrak stood too, a hungry grin on his face.
"I have altered the plan," Verikan told them. There was no point in drawing this out, and he would need them thinking on the problems ahead. Taking a deep breath, he explained. "There will be no invasion of Earth, that part of the Empire's history is behind us now. Instead, we shall build alliances with the nations of Earth and together expand and explore the galaxy to see what has become of our people."
The other two stared at him for a moment in disbelief, looking as though he'd sprouted a second head. Askelon recovered first.
"And yet, Highness, the humans are a danger to us. A grave one. We cannot allow such a danger to exist without controlling it," he said, palms spread, every inch the reasonable advisor.
Verikan had had enough of such advice.
"The humans will be no less dangerous if we kill millions of them, and perhaps more," he said. "Do you really think that a people who were willing to fight us with iron swords will balk at resisting us now that they have nuclear weapons and spaceships? But that is not the point. I don't make this decision out of fear, I make it because it is the right thing to do."
"The right thing to do?" Mordrak drew himself up, eyes flashing and wings half-unfurled. "No, Highness, the right thing is to look after your species, the people you were born to lead. The humans are a threat to us, and they must be put in their place — as our servitors, working for the good of the Empire. Anything else is an unacceptable risk."
Verikan met his glare with one of his own. "Captain Mordrak, you are sworn to my service and you will obey my commands. I will hear your advice, but the decision is, and must be, mine alone."
The two of them stood face to face, and Verikan could feel the fire of his rage building again deep inside him. From the look in Mordrak's eyes he could see that the Captain felt the same, but before they came to blows, Askelon pushed Mordrak back.
"Peace, Mordrak," he said, voice low and calming. "Remember the oath you swore as a royal guard. We both owe the Imperial Family our obedience, and nothing good will come from bloodshed between us now. If Prince Verikan has made his decision, no matter what our objections, fighting him will only make matters worse. We dare not weaken the Empire further."
Verikan's fists uncurled and he let out a deep breath. Reason, at last. Mordrak, too, calmed in the face of Askelon's speech. Reluctantly, he nodded.
"Very well," he said, grinding the words out. "Yes. You say you'll hear my advice, then listen to me, Prince. Your human female has turned you against your own people. Consider that, and change your mind before the warriors are awake. She will lead you and our people to ruin."
Verikan glanced out over the balcony at the sleeping horde of dragons. So far they looked no different, but he knew that even now Askelon was bringing them up from sleep. It wouldn't be long before he needed to explain the situation to them.
"I will consider your words," he said to Mordrak, nodding to him. There was no need to be disrespectful of the man, particularly now that he was cooperating. "In the meantime, though, we must prepare to contact Earth. I have sent my mate Josie to speak with her fellow humans, and we will plan together how to approach the governments there."
Mordrak and Askelon looked at each other, and then at Verikan. Their bows were perhaps not as deep and formal as they should have been, but it was a start.
"How long until the warriors wake?" Verikan asked.
"The faster I push, the less will recover from the long sleep," Askelon explained. "It will take at least a day to wake them all safely, though it could be done faster if we accept a few extra deaths from the process."
Verikan shook his head. "There is no need to hurry, and every one of them is precious. This may be all of our species that remains, and I will not waste them on speed."
"My thoughts exactly, Highness. But I thought it best to inform you that the possibility exists, and I have a suggestion if you will hear it."
Verikan gestured for the scientist to continue, and Askelon smiled, a quick expression that flickered across his face. "Your orders will be unpopular, sir. We all know that. It might be best if Mordrak identifies which of his men will be most loyal and we wake them ahead of the rest. Then you will have a force with you when the rest are told the plan. If they see that others of their number are already in agreement there is less potential for troubling confusion."
Verikan frowned and walked out to the screen, looking at the sleepers laid out in the misty cavern. "Won't that increase casualties among exactly those we will need most?"
"Unfortunately so, Highness," Askelon said, joining him. He sounded tired, and Verikan couldn't blame him. "But we must make sure that everyone is pulling in the same direction. If all awake at once, there will be chaos and confusion amongst the ranks — I see no other way to build a loyal cadre first."
It wasn't an easy decision, but Verikan knew that if he was going to lead his people there would be times where he had to choose between the good of the many and the good of the few. And this was too important to allow it to go wrong. He nodded to his advisor.
"Very well, we'll do it your way," he said. "Do your best to minimize casualties."
"Of course, Highness," Askelon said, sounding relieved. "In that case, I had better get to work as soon as possible. The longer I have, the better the outcome will be."
Verikan looked out at the mist-shrouded chamber of sleeping dragons on the screen. His people. The people he would be leading as Emperor — and his first act as leader was to condemn some of them to death. He took a deep breath and turned away, promising himself that he would honor their sacrifices. And that meant taking action.
"I will go and speak with the humans," he told his two advisors. "Josie will have gotten them ready to listen by now, and there is little time to lose."
"Good luck, Your Highness," Askelon said. Mordrak simply glowered and nodded, unhappy and silent. Let him be angry, Verikan thought. As long as he obeys, that isn't a problem. Turning, Verikan swept out of the room to go and meet his beloved. Together, they had a new kind of empire to forge.
15
Josie
Finding her way back to the humans' prison had been a little trickier than Josie had expected. Wandering the huge hallways of the palace alone was a daunting experience, and there were no signs for her to read. At least the doors opened for her now, but that only made getting lost more of a worry.
At last, taking her time and carefully retracing the path that Verikan had led her on, she found the room that she was looking for. The great door slid open with a swoosh and she found herself walking into a full-fledged argument between Dr. Cain and Commander Woods. They stood among the remains of the foodmaker, its innards exposed and parts lying on the floor around them. A weird bubbling goo slowly oozing from it, smelling awful.
Both fell silent as the door opened, and the four humans stared at her as she entered. She felt herself blush as they looked at her in her new dress, the dark blue fabric cut to show off her body in a way that none of them had seen. The Mars mission hadn't had space for her to bring any nice clothes, and anyway she wouldn't have wanted to wear something like this for any of these men.
At least it served to interrupt the fight. She tried to focus on that rather than her embarrassment.
"I don't know what you're arguing about, and I don't care," she said, letting the door slide shut behind her. "Things have changed. Verikan isn't going to let the dragons attack Earth, so we don't need to choose between fighting and collaborating anymore."
The four humans stared at her with disbelief, silent. It should have felt like a victory to have shut them all up, but instead it was annoying.
"Oh come on, don't you think I can be persuasive? And he's a good man, it didn't need much to push him to be reasonable."
"I'll bet," muttered Owens, just loud enough that she could hear him. She felt her cheeks heat but stared him down.
"Are you really going to worry about how I convinced him not to attack our planet?" Josie put her hands on her hips and glared. "If you think it's all about my sex appeal, that's fine. You're wrong, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that Earth is safe."
Owens blushed and looked away, muttering something. Radcliff laughed, looking relieved.
"I guess we don't need to worry about your poison brew, Doc," he said, clapping Cain on the shoulder. The Doctor looked unconvinced by that, but she put down the screwdriver she'd been holding.
"Maybe," she said dubiously. Then she sighed. "I wasn't getting anywhere, anyway. Not fast enough."
Josie walked closer, taking a look at what she'd done. It was, she had to admit, impressive — the technology was completely alien, but in a few hours Cain had managed to get it to make toxic mush instead of food. Breaking it completely would have been easy, but getting it to do something other than what it was meant to do? That took skill.
"What were you going to do with... that?" she asked, gesturing at the fizzing muck. Cain shrugged.
"I wanted to make something that would be toxic to the aliens," she said. "Tricky with the resources we have here, and the damned failsafes, but I was getting somewhere — until Woods worked out what I was up to."
"You don't get to decide to kill the aliens," Woods snarled. "I'm in command of this mission, and I'll make the decisions."
"Right up until you decided to betray humanity," Cain shot back and just like that, the argument was back on. Owens and Radcliff looked at each other and shrugged, staying out of it.
Josie didn't have time or patience for that. She stepped between the two, shoving them apart and glaring from one to the other. "Weren't you listening? Verikan is calling off the invasion. You don't need to kill them, you don't have anyone to collaborate with. What we need is to work out who to call first and what to say, and that's your department, Mike."
Grumbling, they separated, Cain glaring murderously. Woods threw up his hands and turned away. "Alright, fine. We take them to our base and call the company back on Earth. They can make introductions."
He sounded almost disappointed, and Josie glared at his back. Before, he'd seemed like a weak man who gave in almost immediately when threatened. Now, though, it sounded like he resented the peaceful resolution.
As long as he does the job, it doesn't matter, she told herself. Soon I won't have to put up with him anymore, and it'll all be over.
It did rankle a little bit that he was likely to be the one who got the credit for this as commander of the mission. But she pushed that aside. Credit didn't matter as long as they saved as many lives as possible.
"Okay, that sounds like we have a plan," she said, trying to sound cheerful rather than nervous. "So let's work out the details. We want this to go smoothly, and that'll be best if we can show Earth that it's in everyone's best interests if they cooperate with the dragons."
"There's a lot of technology that we'd love to get our hands on," Cain said. She took a deep breath and let it out, visibly suppressing her anger. "The foodmaker is amazing, for example. As far as I can see you can put in any organic material and get out food. If they can offer us that... well, they could get rich off the patent and it could pretty much end hunger on Earth."
"And if we can get a share of that, we'll be set for life," Woods mused. He didn't sound happy either, but at least he was thinking about it. Even if it took the thought of personal profit to bring him around.
They settled down to work out some details, and the five of them were sitting around a table comparing notes when the door opened. Josie looked up to see Verikan standing there, a broad grin on his face and his eyes shining.
Before anyone else could react, she was up and leaping into his arms. His solid body absorbed the impact of her body without moving in the least and he held her to him, lifting her up to kiss her full on the lips. It was only when she heard the disgusted noise Dr. Cain made that she remembered they had an audience and reluctantly pulled back.
"I take it your meeting with the others went okay?" she asked, taking her prince's hand and leading him towards the other humans.
"Indeed," he said, squeezing her hand. "They may not like it, but they have agreed to try it my way. Have you discussed how to make arrangements with Earth?"
"Yes, sir," Commander Woods said, an ingratiating smile plastered across his face as he stood to welcome Verikan. Josie could feel the prince's discomfort with Woods' fawning, but he nodded to the commander and let the man continue.
"We think that there is an excellent chance that, if you are willing to license your technologies to Earth, you will be recognized as the rulers of Mars. There is the question of the existing colonies here, though — there are already more than a dozen of them, and that might make a sticking point. I'm certain that we can help you overcome any such hurdles, though."
Dr. Cain coughed, and Josie caught the miserable look on her face. Verikan paid it no mind, though, sitting down at the table and looking at the notes the humans had been putting together with interest.
"That is a detail," he said. "An important one, of course, since I have no interest in mistreating any of your species. But I will claim this world for the Dragon Empire, and the status of those colonies can be sorted out in time. I have no objections to human immigrants, in fact I hope to encourage them."
"As long as the humans are treated fairly," Dr. Cain said. "We're not selling out anyone here."
Verikan nodded thoughtfully. "As you say, doctor. I wouldn't expect you to be any less loyal to your people than I am to mine. So, how do I proceed to contact your government?"
Josie leaned against her man's shoulder, the feeling of relief that washed through her taking her out of the conversation. She didn't need to follow it, after all: this was Commander Woods' area, not hers. She could relax and enjoy the presence of her dragon prince. Soon, this would all be over.
Woods seemed intent on going over every detail, anyway, and that was probably for the best for all that it meant the conversation dragged on for hours. And this was only the beginning of the conversation — the real negotiations wouldn't start until they'd made contact with Earth again.
She wasn't sure how long it had been before she heard the door open behind her. She didn't think anything of it until Verikan turned to see who was there and she felt him stiffen in surprise.
Turning to look she gasped. In the doorway stood Mordrak, flanked by two other aliens she didn't recognize. That's impossible, she thought, staring at them. All the other dragons are hibernating, aren't they? Verikan said they'd take days to wake up.
"Your Imperial Highness," Mordrak said carefully and formally. "Please come with us."
Polite as the words were, they didn't sound like an invitation. All three of the newcomers wore crystal armor and looked ready for a fight.
"What is the meaning of this?" Verikan demanded, standing and drawing himself up to his full height. "I am not going anywhere."
"I am afraid that I must insist, for the good of the Dragon Empire," Mordrak said, striding forward, followed by his guards. Two more aliens stepped into the doorway behind him. The humans scattered back away from Verikan, all apart from Josie who stood by his side as Mordrak approached.
The expression on his face was cold and determined, and somehow more frightening than the rage Josie had s
een on it when he'd attacked her. She braced herself to try and fight, unsure what she could do, but determined to do something to help her prince.
Verikan took a single step forward, his hands squeezing into fists. Before he could say any more, the guards pounced. They were fast, almost faster than Josie could follow, but Verikan was faster. Ducking under their grabbing arms he dodged aside, his fist lashing out to send one of them sprawling back against the wall. The second circled him and the two in the doorway rushed forward to join the fight.
Outnumbered five to one, Verikan's position looked hopeless to Josie, and her heart leaped into her mouth as he pressed on with the fight. Rather than surrendering, or trying to run, he charged straight at Mordrak, catching the other man by surprise and lifting him clean off the floor. Together they slammed into the wall, and Josie felt the thud of that impact echo through the room. The guards followed, pouncing on Verikan as he pounded his fist into Mordrak's unarmored face, slamming the captain's head into the wall over and over.
The guards grabbed hold of his arms and pulled him back, and that was enough to shake Josie free of the fear and shock which paralyzed her. Grabbing up the chair she was sitting on she swung it hard at the head of one of the guards. It was heavy, clumsy, and unwieldy, but the crack of its impact drove the man back cursing, freeing Verikan to punch the other in the face with a roar.
Behind her, Josie heard the other humans start to move, but she couldn't spare them any attention. The guard she'd hit leaped at her, and she could barely keep him back with the chair, holding it in front of herself like a lion tamer. That worked for a moment, and then he grabbed hold of the chair himself and pulled it aside, his strength far too much for her. Verikan roared with anger, leaping to her defense and smashing that guard away, and even outnumbered as they were, Josie felt a surge of hope. Perhaps they could do it, perhaps they could really win.