Episode 3 | The Dragon

Dragons in Space: a YA Science Fantasy Serial

This is a serialized story. Check out Episode 2 if you missed it.

Athyn

I rocket forward through the Black. I’m burning so fast my thrusters trail streaks of vibrant blue light behind me. I reach the nearest asteroid and shoot to the top before kneeling down. The mags in my suit adhere to the metal in the rocky surface and I widen my HUD which makes my helmet all but disappear from my view.

Distant stars wink above me and to the right the ascending light of the Polis Sun. Bright rays reach into the Black offering some definition to the asteroids around me, but it won’t ever get truly bright here due to the position of my home planet blocking the light in this rotation cycle. Vōrsus is to my right looming as a giant next to Colosis and its moons in the distance.

I’ve personally seen nothing of the galaxy I live in, only the tales from travelers, but I can imagine the galaxy map room I’ve visited since I was a little girl. Glowing lights representing the seventeen planets of our system. Segregated into four quadrants, I’ve lived only the best life in Quadrant-4, but it’s never stopped me from dreaming about travel beyond our wealthy sector.

Focus, Athyn. Mission first, dreams later.

I turn back to the task at hand and use the high vantage of the asteroid to scout. I have a wide view of a good portion of the field laid out before me. My military grade optics reach a great distance, but even still, no dragon appears. Just clusters of rock amid larger chunks. The Alvyn Belt in all its glory.

Most dragons have natural camouflage that makes them little more than black streaks against the already black Void, but still I expect to see something.

I initiate a scan but it comes up blank.

“Dragons breath,” I mutter.

It was right there. I even saw the sparkle of the air barrier all dragons maintain around themselves. Or was I just imagining it?

“Replay.”

My view shifts to a replay of a few minutes ago and I see it again. It’s definitely a dragon swooping down past the asteroid I’m on now. It was right there!

The asteroid shakes violently beneath me. I fall forward, hands bracing for extra hold. “What in the Verse?”

It quakes again and then a swath of black surges from beneath me, cascading out from under the asteroid and darting behind another one.

“Gottcha.”

I push off after the dragon, weaving in and out of smaller asteroids, mindful not to get too close. Clipping any of these space rocks could do serious damage to my suit even though its composed of the highest quality materials.

“Target lock and follow.”

My suit beeps acknowledgement and I let some of the calculation go to automatic tracking and object avoidance. I need the mental space to plan my next move.

Dwin and I worked on several strategies and I so badly wish to comm her. She’s the level head I need to calm my racing thoughts. The kind of logical thinking that will talk me off the ledge of—

A streak of vibrant blue light that comes from after-burn streaks past me.

“What in the Black?”

The shape disappears. “Identify.”

I know my suit can’t tell me who it was but—

<IDENT: JARIS C’EIN>

I blink. My suit logged his identity when I touched his helmet, establishing a local connection, and it recognizes the signature now.

Well, at least I know my competition—my enemy?—like the ancient book says, but I’m left wondering how in the Void he raced past me like that?

I open my mouth to initiate a harder burn, but speed won’t win me the dragon, cunning will. I’ve got to outsmart him, even though I’m at a disadvantage.

Now, he knows what I’m willing to do.

Jaris

That cunning little vex!

I shoot past her position, but don’t even bother to give a backward glance. I thought we could be decent to one another even though we’re in the Determining. I mean, I know we’re not here to make nice, but it doesn’t mean we need to stop being civil.

I hear Vern’s voice in my head calling me a slagged fool for thinking I could trust, let alone put my guard down, anyone inside this stars-born game, but here I am. The mistake is mine for letting slip what I saw.

I won’t be so naive again.

My plan is simple. Find the dragon before her, initiate contact, and hope for the best. From everything my father told me, physical touch was his strategy going in and he had success, so I figure why stray from what works?

There are a million and one theories out there about what really happens when you meet a dragon, but the only one I care about is what happens when I meet mine.

There’s a massive asteroid up ahead and, for the first time since we slipped past Nolis, I see other participants. Well, it’s more like I see evidence of them. Some laser fire and a few quickly fading burn lines streaking in the distance. I’m happy we’re away from the majority of the fray, but I’m worried that it won’t last.

One thing I know from watching cycles of the Determining in the past is that many opportunists wait patiently and scope out other participants. When it looks like they are getting close to a dragon, those opportunists swoop in and steal the dragon without a backward glance.

I’ve got alerts set up for incoming traffic, but that doesn’t mean cloaking or other tech won’t be in play. I’ve got to keep my eyes open.

My focus is simple. I need to secure this dragon now and—

“Hello, Jaris.”

My jaw clenches. “Hello, A.” I emphasize the name signifier. I’ve never seen anyone manage to hack their suit so that only their first name appears, and I’ve never ever seen someone only have a letter as their full name. It’s not regulation, which tells me even more about her suit maker.

“Yes, we meet again, hum?”

Her speech is hard to place. Her voice is soft with rounded accents and there’s a hint of aristocrat to it. I wouldn’t doubt she’s high-level, not with the gear she has, but what in the Verse is she doing in the Determining?

If I know anything of high-level, which I’ll admit I don’t know much, it’s that they pay out gobs not to have their kids participate. I mean, I get it, it’s either this, Fleet, or some kind of trade if you’re low to mid-level, but for a high-level to even think of competing…well, there’s no sense to it.

“Why don’t you run along and leave this dragon to me?” There’s a smile to her words.

“You mean my dragon.” I shoot around the asteroid and pull up short.

I run another scan and see a shape move just beyond the next asteroid. Yes!

“I mean—” I hear a grunt and see a few pebbles scatter across my field of vision “—my dragon.”

I see her before I know what I’m seeing. She rockets forward, using not only the momentum of her suit, but her push from the asteroid above me. She’s a white streak across the Black highlighted by the rays of the Polis Sun.

My suits’s fast, it’s one of the few things I put everything I had into, but she’s faster. I briefly wonder why she didn’t catch up to me when she clocked me racing past. A thought comes to mind as I, too, shove off the asteroid.

“You sure you don’t need me to find it for you? With all that tech I’d assume you had better optics.” I smile to myself because, while she certainly has better tech, I’m positive she doesn’t have what I have.

I see the evidence of this very thing as she veers to the left, but I see the tip of a shining wing to the right.

“Thank you, dad,” I mutter.

“Did you just call me dad?”

I swear, jamming the comms. I forgot we had an open channel, but it doesn’t matter. Dad passed down the tech he’d gotten from his father and his father’s father. A filter that allows the glow of the dragon’s breath-layer to be visible. It’s highly secretive tech, but it’s my inheritance. About the only thing we have that’s wroth anything.

I’d never sell, no matter the bidder, but it’s not about that kind of gain.

I catch the faint shimmer again and adjust course, putting a few smaller rocks between me and where I last saw A. I can see where she’s blind, but she can see me.

Weaving in and out, I zip through a cluster of small asteroids and then, when I see the shimmer again, I back-burn to a stop and shut off my signal. It’s technically an illegal move mainly for the fact that those in the Capital City are paying hundreds of Creds to watch this, but I can’t risk A finding me and I’m a small blip in a pool of hundreds of participants. I just need to get close enough without A following me.

There’s the shimmer again. Closer this time. I wonder if the dragon is looking for me too?

It’s a foolish thought. They are known to be oblivious to humans unless allied and it’s likely just searching for space dust to chow on, but I’ve been known as a bit of a romantic and the thought that my dragon might want to ally with me too is kind of comforting.

I push out into the open on what I think is the path of this dragon and wait. I only use minimal adjustments, the shortest burst of air, to keep me steady, and I wait.

Breath held, hands clenched, I wait.

The swish of a tail.

The edge of a wing.

The creature dives down in front of me like a tidal wave of darkness.

It’s massive body is like an asteroid itself, but mobile. I look up and am frozen for a moment in time. Shocked to be this close. I can’t think. Can’t move.

Then, with deliberate slowness, I reach up and trail my gloved fingers along its underside. Sparks leap and play in a rainbow of colors along my glove. It’s the breath-layer parting but not breaking. It’s fluid in a way I don’t understand but. Instead of bursting, it envelopes my hand then my arm.

The moment my palm connects with the dragons thickly scaled skin I’m yanked upward until my palm rests firmly against the chest of the huge creature. I’m pulled along by his motion, helpless to disconnect—not that I’d want to.

My heart pounds and I’m dizzy. Am I breathing? Have I lost O2 in my suit?

Just as I think I may pass out a voice reverberates through me, drilling into my mind. It’s the dragon, I know it in my core.

“Who are you?”

I’m overcome. Overwhelmed. Mute. I can’t think. Can’t speak. Can’t.

Always be honest with them, Jaris. No matter what cost to you. My father’s words come to me now, but I don’t know what honesty will do for me. If this dragon doesn’t like my answer I don’t know what will happen.

Fighting though my fear and expectation, I think back, “I’m Jaris C’ein of Vōrsus. I am here to ally.”

The dragon makes a chittering sound. “Hush, small one. You are loud.”

I think again, but softer—or at least I try to. “I wish to ally with you, oh Great Dragon.”

Rumbling reverberates through its body and a shiver overtakes me.

This is the moment. This is my destiny. Hope swells in my chest and I grin despite the sheer terror I still feel so close to this massive creature.

It huffs, sending me shaking and rattling my bones, and then speaks directly to my mind, “I do not accept you as you are.”

Read Episode 4 here

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Dragons in Space (working title) is being released episodically as I write it. Read about why I chose to serialize it HERE. Forgive any errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation as this is not professionally edited upon release. You can expect new episodes weekly unless otherwise noted in the chat.

If you enjoy this blend of science fiction and fantasy you may enjoy my Xerus Galaxy Saga. It’s a fast-paced and swoony, no spice YA Science Fantasy space adventure with harrowing stakes, high action, and humor. It’s perfect for fans of Skyward, The Lunar Chronicles, and Star Wars.