CHAPTER NINE:
DRAGONFIRE AND HELLFIRE
"Giga, fly this thing!" Riff shouted.
The android tilted her head. "Sir, we are low on fuel, and we haven't flown in a year. I need regular maintenance, an oil change, a thorough inspection, a hull wash, a paint job, a resupply of water and toilet paper, a—"
"Just fly, Giga!" he shouted, gripping the armrests of his chair.
Giga nodded. "Happy to comply!"
Steel and Nova leaped into their own seats. With a curse, Piston raced downstairs, muttering something about priming the engines and Twig's wrenches clogging things up.
The HMS Dragon Huntress began to rumble and shake.
A black starjet hovered before them. Within its cockpit blazed Grotter's red eye. The cyborg grinned.
"In the name of the skelkrin masters, shut down your engines, Riff! Or you will die."
"Giga, now!" Riff shouted.
She nodded. "Happy to—"
"Just fly!"
With an ear-splitting roar, the HMS Dragon Huntress blasted upward.
Smoke burst out, covering the used ship lot. Fire raged. The ship rattled madly, and screws came loose from panels and rolled across the floor.
"This thing is a death trap!" Steel shouted, digging his fingers into his seat's armrests.
"The whole planet's a death trap!" Riff shouted back. "Giga, get us higher! Out of the atmosphere. Far as you can go!"
"Happy to comply!"
They kept soaring skyward. Riff's seat shook so madly he thought it would collapse. The windshield panes rattled so loudly he thought they'd shatter. Through the glass, he saw the Cosmian starjets follow, slick black sharks chasing a lumbering whale. Blasts of plasma shot out from the enemy ships. One slammed into the Dragon Huntress, and the bridge rattled. Sparks flew.
"Giga, you got any weapons on this ship?" Nova shouted, clinging to her seat.
Giga nodded, the smile never leaving her face. "Yes, ma'am! Fully loaded stocks of plasma jets, ma'am."
"Then fire! Down the enemy ships!"
Giga smiled sweetly. "Cannot compute. HMS Dragon Huntress cannot fire its weapon while leaving the atmosphere."
More blasts of plasma rose from the enemy ships. Another hit the Dragon Huntress, and more sparks flew. Riff cursed. This might turn out to be the shortest business venture in history, he thought.
"Giga, do something! Evasive action! Dodge the enemy fire."
She nodded. "Happy to co—"
"Enough with that! Just do it!"
The ship jerked madly in the sky, swerving in another direction. Steel tumbled right out of his seat and slammed against a wall. Nova flew into the air. Riff clutched his seat for dear life. Enemy fire flew all around them, crisscrossing the sky. The enemy jets roared, swarming upward. The ground was distant now; they were flying high above the clouds. The dragon ship jerked again, flying left and right, dodging the enemy plasma.
She's rusty and full of misfits, Riff thought, but damn she's fast.
"Keep going higher, Giga," he said. "Get us into space and then engage those weapons of yours."
The android nodded, smiling sweetly. "Happy to co— I mean, yes, sir."
The Dragon Huntress kept soaring and the land grew more and more distant below. And then the sky vanished. Riff saw the stars. They were in space.
And the Cosmians were still following. Their black jets soared up, firing their weapons.
"Giga, that plasma cannon?" Riff said.
"Ready to fire, sir."
"So fire!"
The Dragon Huntress soared higher, then swerved in the air, positioning its head down toward the Earth. Riff found himself staring right at the soaring Cosmian jets.
Then the dragon blasted out its fire.
The plasma flowed from beneath Riff's feet; he felt the floor thrumming. The energy flared out like fire from a true dragon's mouth and slammed into an enemy jet.
The Cosmian vessel shattered and rained down toward the Earth in pieces.
Riff gasped and leaped from his seat. "Fire, again!"
Giga nodded. "Happy to comply!"
The Dragon blasted out her dragonfire, burning down the jets soaring from below. One by one, the enemy vessels shattered and fell back down to the planet.
The Dragon Huntress flew on, rising higher, traveling deeper into space, serene, still in one piece, floating like a leaf on the wind.
For a long moment, they were all silent, staring at the pieces of enemy jets still raining down.
Finally it was Nova who spoke. "I like this ship."
Steel nodded. "So do I."
Riff collapsed back into his seat. "I miss my guitar."
Nova leaned across her seat and punched his shoulder.
"Giga, take us far out into space." Riff's voice was weak. "Out into the emptiness. I . . . I'll . . . I'll wake up later."
He closed his eyes and he slept.
* * * * *
The Earth was but a speck in the distance when Riff, suddenly captain of a starship, called a staff meeting.
They met in the main deck, a motley crew. Riff stared at them one by one.
Nova, warrior-princess from Ashmar, still wore her golden armor, and her whip hung at her side. Her pointy ears thrust out from her blond hair, and her green eyes stared back at Riff, and he saw the rage inside them. He had already taken her off one planet, her homeland, where she could have risen to the throne. Now, after she had struggled and fought to find a new home on Earth, he was yanking her away from that world too, leaving her old life in tatters. The guilt still filled Riff's stomach like a bad meal.
He turned to look at his brother. Steel stared back solemnly, his expression inscrutable. His long brown mustache drooped down to his raised chin. He had polished his armor, and his hand rested on the pommel of his antique sword. He stood in the corner, refusing to sit, forever the knight on his guard.
I shattered his life too, Riff thought, even more guilt piling up.
He turned to look at his new companions next. Piston sat on the couch, smoking a pipe and stroking his long white beard. The gruffle stood shorter than Riff's shoulders but probably weighed more, most of that weight in his muscles. His hammer hung across his back, its head the size of a shoebox. If the battle had perturbed the gruffle, he showed no sign of it. He stared down at the counter-squares board, studying the pieces, seeming as relaxed as a drunken patron at the Blue Strings.
Beside Piston sat little Twiggle Jauntyfoot. The halfling was a fraction of the gruffle's size, not much larger than a toddler. Her legs didn't even reach the edge of the couch, let alone the floor. She too was busy studying the counter-squares board, tapping her cheek with her wrench and mumbling, deep in thought.
Finally, Giga stood behind the couch, smiling and pleasant as ever. Not a wrinkle marred her blue kimono, not a single hair lay out of place on her head. Her scent of jasmine tickled Riff's nose. Riff wondered how much sentience filled Giga, whether she was aware of herself as an android, or whether she was essentially just a clever keyboard.
He cleared his throat. "All right, everyone. Listen up. First staff meeting. Giga's brought us far into the depths of space, and she's cloaking our signals. We're safe from the Cosmians . . . for now. But not for long. There's trouble going on in this corner of the galaxy, and we've got to solve it."
Nova snorted. "Trouble in the galaxy? Riff, more like you got into trouble in your life and dragged us into it."
Riff tightened his jaw. "Nova . . . not in front of my staff."
She laughed. "Your staff? Riff, two days ago, you were playing guitar for spare change, too poor to even get drunk. You're not some space captain."
"I am now, Nova. I gave you a chance to buy this ship yourself. You refused. I swapped my guitar for the Dragon Huntress, so I'm your captain now."
She growled, leaped to her feet, and unfurled her whip. "Like hell! If you think I'm going to obey your orders like some docile geisha, you've got a reality check coming." She
glanced over at Giga. "Sorry, sweetheart. No offense."
Giga only smiled and bowed her head.
A large thump sounded above. Riff stared up. On the ceiling, the padlocked hatch rattled.
"What was that?" Nova whispered, clutching her whip.
"Ignore it." Piston moved a piece on the counter-squares board. "Trust me. Ignore it."
At his side, little Twig glanced up to the ceiling, then back down. "Listen to him."
A loud moan sounded above, then died. Something scraped overhead, then fell silent. Riff frowned up at the ceiling.
A ship possessed by a demon? He shuddered. Utter nonsense. Impossible. No such things as demons existed. Probably just a family of possums, just like Leroy had said.
Riff looked back at the others. "All right, gang. How much fuel and food we got on this ship? How far can we get?"
Twig sighed. "Not far. Romy ate almost all the food and drank almost all the fuel. She—"
"Hush!" Piston said, glaring at the halfling. "Get back to the engine room, you clod. They don't need to know about that." He turned back toward Riff. "We've got enough to reach Mars. Saturn maybe if we tighten our belts. We could have gone farther on hyperdrive, but we're out of hyperfuel. If we coast to the nearest colony, we can stock up on more supplies there."
"And this time keep Romy locked up!" Twig said. "Or she'll just eat it all again."
"Hush you!" Piston pointed at the hatch on the floor. "Get to the engines."
Riff blinked, looking back and forth between gruffle and halfling. "Who's Romy?"
"Nobody!" Piston insisted.
Twig opened her mouth, prepared to speak again, then closed it when Piston glared at her.
The scratching sounded again above. The padlock rattled. A new moan rose from the attic.
Riff frowned. "That does it. What the hell is up there? Piston, you got the key to that padlock?"
The stocky gruffle grumbled and twisted his fingers. "Aye, Captain. But . . . with all due respect, sir. I've been engineer on this ship for years now, and I've learned a thing or two about how the Dragon operates. You really do want to keep that hatch locked."
"Especially if you don't want somebody drinking more fuel," Twig added.
Riff held out his hand. "Key. Now."
Piston took a deep, shaky breath, and Twig curled up on the couch. Even Giga's smile faltered. With a wince, Piston held out the key, and Riff snatched it.
"Nova, Steel, watch my back." A ladder was attached to the wall, leading to the hatch above, and Riff began to climb. "Whatever's up there, if it tries to bite my head off, kill it."
"Maybe yes, maybe no," said Nova, lazily flicking around her whip.
Steel raised his sword. "By my honor, brother, if any foul demon of the Abyss slays you, I shall avenge your death."
Lovely, Riff thought.
He gulped, placed his key into the padlock, and unlocked it.
The hatch swung open.
A voice wailed.
Wings beat and with a squeal, something large and red and squirming fell down onto him.
"Fragging aardvarks!" Nova shouted, leaping back.
Riff thrashed, heart pounding, trying to free himself. Leathern wings beat. Claws flashed and fire crackled. The creature wailed above him, crushing him.
"Oh shenanigans!" Riff finally managed to shove the creature off. He rose to his feet and stared down.
His eyes widened.
"Yep," Nova said, "it's a demon all right."
"My bum hurts," the demon said, sounding miserable. "I fell on my bum." Tears welled in her eyes, and she began to suck her thumb.
Riff rubbed his eyes in disbelief. In storybooks, demons were hideous creatures, all hooves and blazing hatred. The demon who sat before him, sucking her thumb, looked anything but intimidating. She was a young woman, it seemed, perhaps twenty years old. Her skin was red, her fingers sprouted claws, and a long tail flicked behind her. Bat wings grew from her back, and her hair seemed woven of flame, crackling like a torch. She wore pajamas with little teddy bears printed on them, and she held a real teddy bear in one hand.
Piston sighed. "Meet Romy."
The demon pulled her thumb out of her mouth, waved, and grinned. "Oh hai! Got any fuel around? I'm parched."
"No drinking fuel!" Piston roared.
Romy leaped to her feet and wagged her tail. She turned toward Riff, thrust out her chest, and saluted. "Hi there, Captain Riff, sir! I heard your name from up above. They usually keep me locked up there. At least since the time I gnawed through the cooling coils that day we flew by the sun. Bad timing. But I can hear everything!" She grinned, revealing long fangs. "Cadet Romy, reporting to duty!"
"You're not a cadet!" Piston rumbled. "And you're not part of this crew! You're a very bad demon that's possessing this ship." The gruffle sighed and turned toward Riff. "I'm sorry, sir. I did warn you, though. She'll be a right nightmare to lock back up now. Last time she got loose, she hid in the engine room for a week."
Twig nodded. "And she ate three of my wrenches! Ate them!"
Romy stuck her tongue out at the little halfling. "Well it's your fault for leaving them in the kitchen."
"They were on my tool belt!"
Romy snorted. "Tool belt, kitchen, same difference." The demon turned back toward Riff. "Ignore the little ones. I'm the most valuable crew member you have. Got any enemies you need clawed to death? I'll claw 'em!" She lashed her claws. "Got any nasty aliens you need bitten to death? I'll bite 'em!" She bared her fangs. "Got any poodles?"
Riff frowned. "Why poodles?"
"I like poodles." Romy wagged her tail. "I was hoping you'd have one around. They're delicious." She smacked her lips.
"Right." Riff turned toward Piston. "Lock her back up."
Romy gasped, let out a wail, and her eyes welled up with tears. "You can't make me go back! I won't go! I won't I won't!" With a wail, the demon leaped forward, barreling between the others. Her hair of flames crackled. Fast as wildfire, she leaped through the trapdoor in the floor, racing down into the engine room.
"Great!" Twig said. "She'll be guzzling down fuel again and eating more wrenches." The halfling grumbled and raced downstairs after the demon. "It can take days to catch this one, and we'd be lucky to have any bolts left without chew marks on them."
Riff sank into a couch and clutched his head.
"Giga?" he whispered.
The android nodded. "Music, sir?"
"Yes please."
Soon the sounds of guitar and keyboards filled the ship again.
Nova flopped down onto the couch beside Riff, leaned against him, and patted his knee. "Not how you imagined your week would go."
He sighed and leaned closer to her. It felt nice. Oh gods, it felt nice. It had been so long since he'd sat like this with Nova, seen her relaxed, felt her touching him.
He looked at her. His ex-girlfriend. The fiery warrior he loved. Even now.
I still love you, Nova, he thought, gazing at her freckled face, green eyes, pointy ears, hair like molten gold.
"Nov, I'm sorry." He held her hand. "Honestly. I'm sorry I dragged you into this mess. I know that . . ." His throat felt tight. "I know that you found a better life without me. Fame in the arena. A fancy motorbike. A luxury apartment at Dune Plaza. A new life on Earth, better than the one I gave you. And I'm sorry." He looked around him at the ship. "You deserve more than to be dragged across the solar system inside a rusty dragon, a crazed cult in pursuit, and a demon guzzling down fuel in the engine room."
Nova nodded. "I do. I was a princess of Ashmar once, you know, until I followed you away from my home down to that rock you call Earth. And I still follow you." Her eyes were suddenly damp. "Damn you, Riff. Damn you."
Riff turned to look at Steel. His brother stood, stiff as always, his hand clutching his sword. "Sit down, Steel."
The knight raised his chin. "A knight does not sit while defending his—"
"Sit."
Steel sat.
&n
bsp; "Look, brother," Riff continued. "I want to apologize to you too. I didn't want to drag you into this either. I know you were happy in your castle, with your horse, with—"
"I was not happy," Steel said.
Riff blinked. "But . . . you had it all. A castle, a noble steed, the life of a knight."
Steel sighed and lowered his head. "Brother, I'm a relic of an older time. I know this. A rusty old relic, as Nova has called me. What's a knight without a battle to fight? Without enemies to slay?" He looked around him and nodded. "But now . . . now I'm a knight who found a dragon. Who found a quest." He squeezed Riff's shoulder. "Who fights with a brother he loves. We'll find Father. Our family will reunite, fighting together."
A great, sniveling sound rose below. Romy's head thrust out from the basement, and she blew her nose into a handkerchief. "That . . . that was beautiful." Tears streamed down the demon's red cheeks. "Just beau—ow!" Romy glared down into the engine room. "Stop tugging my tail, Twig!"
The demon vanished back into the basement.
Riff sighed. He rose to his feet and began walking toward the bridge. "Giga, come with me. We're taking this hunk of junk to the nearest colony. We begin our search for my old man there. And if any Cosmians show up on the way? Do that dragonfire thing again."
The android grinned and followed. "Happy to comply!"
The HMS Dragon Huntress sailed onward through space. The music played on. Down in the basement, wrenches clattered, Twig cursed, and Romy wailed.
CHAPTER TEN:
EMPEROR IN THE ALLEY
Grotter, Field Commander of the Cosmian Order, walked into the alleyway, his metal claw ready to draw blood. With every step, his body clanked and his anger grew.
Starfire almost killed me, he thought, clenching his fist. He almost blasted my jet from the sky. If Grotter hadn't swerved his jet around, the dragon's fire would have burned him. Now fire seemed to blaze inside Grotter, an unquenchable rage.
The alley was a narrow, filthy tunnel like the intestine of a Carinian stone-beast. Scraps of newspaper, Styrofoam cups, and empty beer bottles rolled across the ground. Laundry hung between the windows of the apartment towers that rose all around him. A homeless man lay by a trash bin, drinking spirits from a bottle in a paper bag. Muffled blues wafted from ahead, discordant wailing like dying cats.
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