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[b][u][center]Galactic Enlightenment

Chapter 6: Another Flightmaster

For Txeptirea and Necross

By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]

Space didn’t feel as good as it used to. Not for Zephyr, at least, though for different reasons than he expected.

It wasn’t that the capsule around him felt insecure, or that he worried that he might be injured if it was damaged. It wasn’t that space felt so huge, or that it seemed to go on forever, far past the boundaries of any human comprehension. In fact, those things enticed him.

What detracted from it was that he couldn’t be as much a part of it as his flight could be.

He looked out of the shuttle window, glancing at the ranks of dragons that lined almost every part of his vision. Red, blue, green, black, gray, white, and every other color imaginable floated in the darkness of space, forming an array of glimmering scales around his metal craft.

Perhaps that was it. He was human, and subject to a limitation that none of them shared. The shuttle was a constant reminder that there was a part of him that was less, compared to everything they had. No matter how much power he gained from them, no matter how he grew in comparison to what they could accomplish, there would always be the fact that the dragons could fly through space on their own, and he – no matter how powerful – could not.

He shook his head. He needed to focus on the situation at hand.

[i]Einar, are we ready for a launch?

Almost. We are setting up for a slingshot.

Any complaints?

Only by those left on the planet, Flightmaster.[/i]

He nodded, leaning against the console of the ship. It wasn’t that there was any worry of someone taking over – not now, not when he had handed a whole planet to his dragonflight – but there was the idea that some might decide it might be in their interest not to fight if there was a risk of the humans killing him.

Not very likely, though. Dragons were more honorable than that.

Zephyr looked at a different screen on the console, going over the last scans again. From what it said, the human forces en route to Chryssa to attempt to take it back were still about half a lightyear away. That wasn’t much, but with the way dragons could come out of nowhere, faster than most ships, it should be sufficient to keep the Agglomeration from coming too close.

The only issue was whether there were other ships out there…

He’d been holding back on using his power, mostly to conserve it for the fight ahead, but the time had come to reach out. Zephyr held his breath and extended his senses.

The Mindgrip came to him, and he reached through the stars. The lives of every dragon in the flight flickered around him, as did those of the people still on the planet below. Further, further he reached, past the moons and the settlements among them, past the sun, all the way to the corridor between systems where the ships were coming.

They were still the same, still four dreadnaughts with many soldiers within. They hadn’t been reinforced. But…

Zephyr’s forehead wrinkled as he pushed himself further, looking past the planet to a point halfway across the other system. Another flicker, another bit of life that he hadn’t expected. He forced his attention closer to them, but they were so far away, just at the very edge of his awareness. Even with all of his effort, he couldn’t see much.

But he could see that they were military, and he could read their course.

He pulled back from them, putting a hand to his chin.

[i]Three choices. Go now as the plan suggests? Would leave our back open, though, and if we’re still engaged with the dreadnaughts, then they’ll hit us from behind. Wait for them to merge and then attack? They’ll be closer to the planet, and some might slip around.[/i]

Which left the third option. Splitting his force, and taking a smaller group to hit the reinforcements, while the majority moved according to the original plan. But in order to keep sufficient numbers with the original attack, he’d have to go with the group attacking the reinforcements.

He pulled back, reaching out to Geir.

[i]There’s a change in the plan. Einar and twenty others will come with me. You take the rest and hit the dreadnaughts as planned.

Why? What’s happened?

There’s someone else coming to battle. I’m taking them down before they can get close enough to interrupt.

As you say, Flightmaster.[/i]

He nodded as he pulled back, directing the same thoughts to Einar. The dark dragon was quick to gather up others for the smaller attack, and Zephyr pulled the shuttle off to a different course, pulling the others along with him.

Knowing Geir would wait until he and Einar had launched themselves through the stars, he didn’t waste any time. Reaching out towards the planet, Zephyr sped himself and his dragons around it faster and faster, until only the power of the Mindgrip in addition to the shuttle’s grav-compensators kept him from passing out.

And then, after a full twenty rotations, he let go.

The roars of twenty-one dragons and one human echoed silently through the stars as they shot off at high speed, all of them ready for bloodshed.

#

The dragons came crashing back to normal speed as they punched through atmosphere after atmosphere, taking three planets to slow them down enough to see what was coming. As soon as they did, Zephyr started cursing up a storm.

It wasn’t a simple convoy of small military ships to assist the dreadnaughts, but two more dreadnaughts with full fighter support. The big ships were more than two thousand feet from front to back, and were bristling with missiles and other projectile launchers, and Zephyr knew from his old time as a mercenary that they were stocked with more than enough ammunition to level four cities before running out.

The fighters were the icing on the cake. Each one was twice the size of a dragon, and he knew that they each had a stock of missiles as well as high-powered railguns, and there were hundreds of them.

And on his side…twenty-one dragons, and a shuttle.

[i]This is not good.[/i]

As the communications channel started exploding with chatter, Zephyr reached out to his flight.

[i]New plan. Sweep up towards the moon, and swing around it. We move fast, get up momentum, and slice through anything that comes close. Orbital blades.

Understood, Flightmaster.[/i]

The dragons shot themselves off of his shuttle with powerful blasts of their power, sending themselves rocketing through space. Through the shared power, he could [i]see[/i] the blades and weapons that they projected ahead of themselves, slicing through anything that stood in their way. Missiles and the occasional fighter that thought about ramming the dragons were cut to shreds without the slightest bit of mercy.

Zephyr followed as fast as his engines would let him, nervously throwing himself from side to side as he juked around the ships chasing him. The only advantage he had over them was the power of the Mindgrip telling him where the pilots would be, and where they were aiming. There were too many missiles for him to get cocky, and he knew from experience that they would catch him in an explosion if he wasn’t quick enough to keep them to a minimum of lock-ons.

So he did his best not to be where they were shooting. Up, down, left, right, back, forward. Any direction he could take to throw off one locking tone was something he took. He didn’t dare hold still for longer than a split second, didn’t dare think about what he was doing. All he could do was keep moving.

The dreadnaughts were shifting course, and he groaned. He’d been hoping that his force could stop this one from slamming into the rears of the rest of his flight, but this wasn’t quite the time for them to bring all that power to bear.

He reached the moon and joined with the flight, spinning around it faster and faster. Four members of the flight reached out, grabbing hold of the shuttle, and freeing him to use his powers against the others that were coming after them.

So he did.

[i]Pebbles from the moon, and whatever debris I can find…[/i]

Pebbles felt as large as boulders when he looked around in the Mindgrip, and he flung them with all the power that he could summon. Little pieces of rock and dirt, debris from thousands of years ago, started to shift. None of it was bigger than the nail on his pinkie finger, but with the force he used, and against ships that were rushing forward at hundreds of miles per hour –

The first wave of fighters shredded themselves on the pebbles and debris, exploding silently and leaving behind brief balls of light before they were completely extinguished. He grinned as he watched them die, and gathered up their debris in turn to send against the next wave. And the next. And the next.

It wasn’t a consistent strategy. After all, they were whirling about the moon at massive speed, completing a full rotation every four minutes, but it was something. The fighters couldn’t keep up with them, and so had to orbit the moon in a different direction if they wanted a chance to shoot at him and the other dragons. And this wouldn’t do a damn thing against the dreadnaughts.

In truth, he was holding out for some sort of strategy that would keep him from having to fight them at all. They were building up significant speed, but at the same time, there was no way that they could catapult off planet in the direction they needed to go. They could go in a completely different one, but then they would be flying off towards one of the other Agglomeration worlds, and he doubted that they’d get lucky enough to do that a second time.

But they couldn’t stay here, not with the dreadnaughts bearing down. Not when they had the power to blow them all to kingdom –

[i]There’s something following us, Flightmaster.[/i]

Zephyr turned his attention behind the shuttle, and groaned. It was a missile, and one of the newer models, too, meant to follow fleeing ships through space when they left battle. They were designed to outrun even the new ships that could hit faster than light speed, and he doubted he could divert it. The engines were too powerful for that.

Not to mention…it was catching up.

[i]This is not what I had in mind for this battle.[/i]

He looked up as they swept into view of the dreadnaughts again. The big ships no longer had the fluttering crowd of fighters around them; Zephyr would guess that they’d been shredded to pieces by now, as the mental count he had for them had dropped into the double digits instead of the triple ones. Probably they were pulled back to save them for a battle in the future.

That didn’t mean much when the big guns were bearing down on him. He doubted that they could get a lock on him, but he knew what their strategy would be. Surround the moon, so that one ship or the other had a lock on him no matter where he was. It would take them time, but they’d be able to calculate a shot on him with the double viewpoint, as he couldn’t slow down to turn without giving them an instant chance of a second lock-on.

Which meant that they only really had one chance.

[i]Einar. I want you and whoever is holding the shuttle to let go on the count of ten.

Taking the missile towards the great ship?

Yes. I need as much speed as possible, but maybe, maybe, I can get it to blow up on the side of the dreadnaught instead of chasing me around everywhere.

You’ll lose all your speed as soon as you’re past it.

Perhaps, but they’ll be after me, then, not you.

…You won’t be alone, Flightmaster.[/i]

He groaned. He knew what that meant, but he doubted that he could argue them out of it. As Flightmaster, the idea of fighting so that the others could survive wasn’t something that worked in dragon society. They went together, fought together, and either won or died together. One fighting for the others to leave was nearly unheard of, at least so far as the dark dragon told him.

But he would take it. At least it would give them a chance to strike at one of the dreadnaughts up close. They were expensive pieces of military hardware, and he doubted that one would fire on the other. Not without definite proof that it was either going down or about to be taken over.

[i]Okay…on ten. One…two…three…[/i]

They went around the planet, and swung back into sight. One of the dreadnaughts was halfway around the planet. There was no better time.

[i]Ten![/i]

They released the planet and him at the same time, and they went shooting forward faster than the shuttle was ever meant to go. The metal console rattled under his hands, and he had to divert some of his power to keeping the shuttle from breaking apart from the strain as it went flying straight at the biggest ship-class in the Agglomeration fleet.

Missile launchers targeted him, lighting him up with lock-on notices. He shot right past them, losing them and gaining them in equal measure. None of them could hold on for longer than a few microseconds, and none of the gunners had the reflexes to shoot the missile in time.

The only one he had to worry about was the one dogging him from behind, flaring brighter and brighter in his awareness. It was barely a hundred feet behind him, and catching up at the rate of a foot per second. He had to hurry.

He pulled the shuttle up just before it would have crashed into the side of the curving dreadnaught, and skimmed the surface with the missile right behind him. He shot up along the bow, and then over the top of it, heading for the command deck towards the stern.

“Come on, come on, come on…”

Zephyr could feel the other dragons fighting and desperately avoiding their own problems, missiles blowing up in space before they could hit the dragons, but slowly gaining ground as the dragons were just outmatched, outnumbered on every turn. In another situation, he would have been proud of them; twenty dragons taking on a full ship of the best weapons that the Agglomeration and the Enlighteners had to offer was beyond anything that anyone could have expected.

But they were his dragons. He didn’t want to see them dead. He wouldn’t see them dead.

He leaned over the console, pushing the shuttle’s capabilities to their limits and beyond. The missile was barely fifty feet behind him now, and getting closer. The command tower was only six hundred feet away, and he was closing fast.

There! He yanked on the stick, juking to the left, and then swung himself right back into place. If he was right –

BOOOOOM!

The explosion created a shockwave that launched him forward, but he could already see it on the scanner. The command tower was crippled, the missile strike blowing it right in two. The tower went flying away from the ship, jettisoned by the one missile that they’d managed to lock on him. Doubtlessly every officer on it was pissing themselves, he thought.

His amusement didn’t last long. While the missile was lost, his speed was going down dramatically, pulled to a slower state by the big ship’s own enormous mass. The thick metals lent it more gravity than it deserved, and its own gravity well extended out due to the artificial gravity generators in it. He slowed down to half his speed, and then a quarter.

Beep beep beep beep!

The console lit up with literally hundreds of different missiles, and he shuddered. There was no way he could stop them all, particularly not now. Not after he’d spent so much energy shredding the fighters.

[i]I’m dead…we’re dead. Even if we could take this ship down, there’s still one more. That’s too much for just us…

Hmmm, now isn’t this interesting. I haven’t seen someone this powerful in a long time.[/i]

The sound of another dragon filled his mind, and Zephyr blinked. That was –

He dodged a missile, barely, and used the Mindgrip to swing it around, blowing up another one that was coming after it. The explosion launched him forward, giving him that little bit more speed.

[i]Where are you? This is the Flightmaster of the Metal Flight, asking for help.

I am the Flightmaster of the Scorchclaw Flight. I think I can give you a claw.[/i]

Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught the flicker of light off of dragon scales, just behind the other dreadnaught. A moment later, the engines on the other ship exploded.

It was a brilliant spectacle, the back of the ship ripping open as the engines blew, their fire feeding the reactors for a moment before it became too much to contain. The metal ripped open under the stress from inside, breaking the whole ship apart and peeling it open like a banana.

The shock was enough to give him and the other dragons a moment to react, and he moved fast. With a growl that was almost like a real dragon, Zephyr reached for the damaged metal from the command tower. With all his remaining strength, he wrenched at the metal, pulling it open and exposing the inner corridors to the vacuum of space. With hundreds of men pouring out, his dragons – eighteen, now, three killed in the process – poured in.

As they did, the source of the other explosion came to light. Over two hundred dragons came flying towards him, fresh and strong, and they cut through the missiles flying towards them like they were nothing. He smiled.

[i]It’s good to see some help out here.

I’m surprised that there’s help needed. Talk later, fight now.

Agreed.[/i]

With a final bit of effort, he widened the hole on the ship and guided the shuttle into it. He had the feeling that he’d want to be inside, for now.

#

Three hours and an immense amount of fighting later, Zephyr managed to catch his breath. The dreadnaught had been taken, though not without some considerable help from Seimur, the Flightmaster of the other dragonflight. They’d sliced through the other side of the ship, and he’d met up with the dragon in the middle, somewhere over the life support system. Mostly to stop the other dragon from destroying it.

It had almost sparked another confrontation, but Seimur was – thankfully – quite a bit more reasonable than most of the other dragons he’d met. Not as reasonable as he’d once thought humans were, but quite a bit better than the majority of dragons. He’d agreed to a meeting, and he was just freshening up for that.

Using the captain’s quarters to clean up, Zephyr had gotten himself shaved, showered, and – hopefully – less pale than he used to be. He pulled the scaled boots and armor back on, and took a few deep breaths as he looked at himself in the mirror.

[i]You can’t go screwing this one up. This is our big chance to make sure that the dragons come together properly. If you can handle this, you can…you can give them a chance to stand up to the Agglomeration. They’ll be able to make it to the ends of the universe, if you can just make this work. If you fuck this up…[/i]

He didn’t want to think about it. No matter how hard he pushed, he knew that the dragons were, at least in part, the beasts that humans feared them to be. There was a ferocity there that no human could actually match. True, there were other things, but without some sort of guide, some sort of force to keep them from constantly lashing out, he knew that they would be back to where they started in months, if not weeks.

But even with his best efforts, he only had his flight. He needed to spread that. He needed to give other dragons the idea of being better, of coming together and making a stand for themselves. Of settling, rather than constantly raiding.

Civilization? Maybe. But the raiding would only work for so long. No matter how powerful they were, no matter how much they managed to subdue others, raiding only provoked anger. It didn’t provoke submission.

Which left them with the option of conquest. It was the only way forward, the only way that would give them a chance to survive and still give them what they needed. Humans would learn, eventually. When dragons didn’t just leave, when dragons actually had a chance to act normally before they were seen as monsters…humans would learn.

He hoped.

Taking a deep breath, he turned away from the mirror and adjusted his armor one last time. He’d taken a moment to feed from Einar and two of the other dragons before his shower – just to top up after exhausting so much of his powers – so he should be fine. None of the other dragons could match him in raw power, and he doubted that this new one could, either. So long as nothing bad happened, though, he should be fine. Should be.

He walked down the cold corridors, and could tell that the ship was slowly deteriorating. It wouldn’t be long before the shell that they’d formed around it – made of metal that was hastily ground together – would break down again. Then the air would escape, and the ship would be open to the darkness of space. He’d be in real trouble, if he wasn’t bad in his shuttle by then. With luck, it wouldn’t take that long.

He arrived at the conference room, which was – in reality – the modified canteen for the ship. Seimur stood on the other side of one of the tables, along with about half of his two-hundred dragon flight. They loomed over him, and Zephyr spared a glance for the group as a whole before turning to their leader.

Seimur looked to be one of those dragons that ruled through his reputation, for the most part, though he got the idea that the dragon had earned that reputation in the right way. There was a cunning mind behind those eyes, as well, something that he felt that he needed to watch out for. If he wasn’t careful, he might end up agreeing to things that he didn’t mean to.

Before he could sit down, Seimur spoke into his head.

[i]So, before we get started, what is our share of the plunder of the battle?

…Plunder?

Do you not claim anything, then?

No, I don’t.[/i]

He’d almost spoken that in a one on one thought, but at the last minute, he spread it out over the other dragonflight. Some of the dragons went positively bug-eyed at that, and there was a vast mental muttering going on before they quieted themselves.

Apparently, the idea of that much loot was not something that they’d expected. He smiled.

[i]I wasn’t here to raid for money or goods. I was here to stop them from trespassing on my territory. They were on their way to another battle, which is probably going a great deal better than mine was.

I could imagine it could scarcely have gone worse.

In my defense, they had much more firepower than I expected. The dragons sent to the other fight numbered more than five times your own force.[/i]

Seimur’s eyebrows rose, and Zephyr nodded.

[i]Yes, five times. More, perhaps, if I have the numbers right. But they will be fine. It is you, right now, that I’m concerned with.

Hmmm, and perhaps you should be. I didn’t expect to find a human lording it over my own kind, another flight or not.

Then let’s sit, and talk.[/i]

He waited for the dragon to make the first move, but he didn’t leave Seimur sitting for long. Zephyr adjusted himself, getting comfortable on the bench before he looked up again.

[i]What do you want to know?

Is it true that you captured a planet, human?

Yes.

Not a moon, but a planet, one of the rich human ones?

Yes, I did. Three years ago.

Hmmm…And there have been other dragons that have come to you in that time, joining you?

Yes, it’s part of the reason why the flight has grown so large.

I assumed it might. But do you even have power, beyond the ability to touch my mind, young one?

…[/i]

Zephyr looked past the Flightmaster, to the ten dragons right behind him, and grabbed them in a mental fist. He lifted them up, higher and higher, until their heads bumped against the ceiling of the canteen above them.

[i]Does that answer your question?[/i]

It didn’t help that Seimur was so leisurely in the way that he glanced up, so unconcerned about those that were held. Perhaps he thought that he could deal with it, or, more likely, Seimur was thinking that they would be fine if they were dropped. They probably would be, on reflection. The Mindgrip was not just good for holding things and redirecting them.

Still, the other Flightmaster nodded, and so he put the dragons back where they were. It wasn’t that hard a thing to do, but it had the desired effect. The other dragons were muttering to themselves in their heads again, talking about the thing he’d done, and how he’d done it without even trying.

He let them. Dragons were always impressed with power. Let them think that it was so easy for him. Shrugging, he continued.

[i]I should thank you for your help, but I imagine the loot from the ships will go a long way towards that.

You would be correct. Unless you wished to offer more thanks. I’ve heard that you humans can be –

I am not going to be offering that to you, Seimur. I have my own tastes.

Hmmm. A pity.[/i]

The dragon leaned back, as if deliberately showing himself off. Zephyr had to admit, the other Flightmaster was quite the intriguing specimen. Muscular, yet not overly thick, the Flightmaster had the body that would likely feel the best over him…particularly with that cock just starting to peak out.

But that was not what he was here for. No, he could get that literally any time if he wanted it, and if he bent for the other Flightmaster, it would be a disaster for his own people. They’d lose any respect that he’d gained. It was the dragon way.

[i]But I did have a proposition.

You have something to offer me for something I can offer you?

In a way. I offer you the chance of a planet of your own.[/i]

It had precisely the effect that he’d expected. The other Flightmaster’s eyes went wide, but only for a moment. Seimur was too clever to show too much eagerness at once. Instead, the dragon affected a little more casualness, leaning back.

[i]Continue. I might be interested.

There are four different planets around that would benefit from dragon rulership. I believe that there is a chance for you and I to strike it, and give you the chance to have what I have. A planet for you and your flight, a place for you to settle, grow, and build up a reputation for power as great as mine.

As great as yours? Human, take care what you say. You might be strong, but you are not a dragon.

…You don’t have to remind me of that.

I feel I should, if you put yourself that far above me.

My apologies, if I’ve offended.[/i]

The other dragon flicked his hand, and Zephyr realized how close he’d come to starting the conflict that he really didn’t want.

This was a true walk on the razor’s edge. If he was too weak, then he could end up starting a war with the other Flightmaster trying to conquer him. If he came too strong, the other Flightmaster would need to defend his honor in front of his men, or he would close his position, or at least risk losing it.

Careful. He had to be careful.

[i]I ask for your help in the assault. In return, I grant you the planet afterwards.

You offer a rich reward for something that seems so…simple.

I don’t want to risk losing my flight in an attack, if I can have them reinforced by such capable fighters as your own.

And myself.

And yourself.

Your offer is…tempting, to say the least, human.

Will you need time to think on it?

No. I think I have my answer.[/i]

Smiling, the other dragon reached out, and Zephyr did the same. Their hands touched, and they slowly shook.

Then Seimur pulled him in, the other dragon growling for a moment before Zephyr reacted. Mindgrip froze them in place, the dragon’s jaws mere inches from his neck.

[i]What –

A little test, human. To see how fast and powerful you are.

And are you satisfied?

Not entirely. After all, you don’t see the other danger.

Other –

Above you.[/i]

Zephyr slowly looked up, and he blinked. Suspended above him was another of the tables from in the canteen, floating more than fifteen feet above him. If it had dropped, it would have crushed him in seconds, crashing down on his unprotected head.

He hadn’t even felt that happen.

[i]How –

You haven’t learned everything, human. Don’t assume you’re invulnerable yet. But I’ll join you.[/i]

Seimur stood as Zephyr released him, and walked out of the room after pushing the table to the wall. The human was left alone, shaking his head. He’d gotten what he wanted…but he worried about what the price would be, at the end of it all.

[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]