Chapter 11 Reunion

Chapter 11 Reunion (The Phoenix Part 2) 2114;

Captain Vink looked forward out of his command deck at the two small vessels floating in front of his ship. A boring mission they were sent on during a time of war, the Militia leaders had somehow heard a ship was wandering into the wastelands, and it was potentially human. Having little experience but knowing the human race was nefarious, they sent a ship to check things out and make sure there was no threat to their efforts. His ship, the Rebel, was chosen for being the closest, but it would end up being the perfect choice, there was one dragon on board who could speak and read the human language. “Second Commander Jake, what do you think? Is it a human ship?”

Jake stood up from behind his console, two slim gold bands on his left horn, he had climbed the ranks over the past 3 years as Skro had anticipated, a lot of his class had as the Militia filled out, he was third in command already, the ships lead gunner, which also made him head of security and intelligence for this ship. Jake looked out the front of the ship as well and studied the reddish brown vessel. “Yes, sir, the first one is definitely human, there’s English on it. The second one, that’s an older shuttle class though. It’s not used in Titan’s military anymore, it might be third party surplus. I don’t know why it would be all the way out here.”

“If it’s English, you can read it?”

“Yes, Sir, it says ‘U.S.V. Phoenix’ and underneath seems it’s just a serial or registration number” He squinted to read the text and look at the symbol on it’s right side, starboard the humans would call it. “The other side says ‘Castle Sciences Group’ and that’s just the company logo I would think”

“What’s a Phoenix?” the captain asked

“I’m not an expert of human mythology, but, essentially it’s a bird that dies in a great flame, then rises again from it’s own ashes” Jake explained “Like us, the humans like to give their ships names, though they tend to use animals or locations rather than words.”

A dragon from across the command deck spoke up “Sir, there’s still no response from our request to communicate on any channel, Sir” But as she spoke the Phoenix’s lights came up, illuminating her name, and white lights to her sides began to strobe.

“Well looks like the situation for whatever is going on is still evolving” The Captain said “Okay, Commander Jake, take a team over, check it out, make sure the humans aren’t robbing our people, or our people aren’t robbing them, and make sure these humans are not a threat to our operations. Maybe offer some help if it’s a life threatening failure” He was working under the assumption that both ship’s crews were still alive.

“Yes, Sir!” and Jake left the command deck, already making a roster in his head. He left to gather Jude and Larice, the two he trusted the most. Also a medic and a secondary engineer, to offer any help if needed if this was just a simple failure that lead to humans floating into our space. The team of 5 boarded a small shuttle, normally meant for boarding raids not rescue missions. The medic had brought a duffle of supplies and the engineer a bag of simple diagnostic tools.

The shuttle floated towards the pair of small ships. Jake noted the lights on the human ship had shut off now, which seemed a little suspicious but not entirely out of the normal if the ship was encountering some sort of failure and they were progressing on trying to repair it. The pilot of the shuttle spoke up.

“This is going to be weird, since both ships are docked together the only option we have left is to mag lock onto the emergency hatch on the older military ship on the top. So when you go to get inside their gravity is going to be perpendicular to ours, so watch that you don’t fall!”

“Okay, stay here and keep everything running for now” Jake ordered “Just in case whoever is in there isn’t exactly friendly” The worst case scenario running through his head was an armed salvage crew had killed the humans and taken the ship by force, but he kept hoping for the best, just one crew helping another in the middle of space.

Soon he would get his answer, the shuttle locked around the escape hatch and the door opened to the bare spaceship it was now clinging on to. Jake put his fingers under the latch and pulled it out.

“How do we know if there’s air in there, Jake?” Jude was a concerned but Jake knew the answer already.

“Then the pressure of our air will keep me from opening this door, and we’ll have to think of another way to go inside” Jake smiled back at his friend and twisted the latch. Turning his attention to the door with a much more serious look, he took a deep breath and pulled on it. To everyone’s relief, the hatch opened, and no one was sucked into space. Jake slowly put his head through the port, his balance taken by surprise as the top half him felt the gravity of the second ship, pulling him “forward” while the shuttle kept him on the floor. “Is anyone here? Do you need assistance?” he spoke into the ship, not shouting to alarm anyone. There was no response. After a moment he looked at the other four and nodded his head toward the inside of the ship. “Okay, let’s go” He held onto the door frame and swung himself into the gravity of the other ship, expertly landing on his feet. Larice followed, landing gracefully behind him. Jude was not so lucky, thrown off by the change of direction in gravity, he comically landed flat on his chest, but quickly regained his composure and stood up with his riffle to his shoulder as Larice stifled a giggle. The engineer and the medic followed, landing much like the first two.

Jake looked up first, into the cockpit area of the small ship, evidently empty. Looking around the main level there was no on in this ship. Perhaps they were all inside the human ship, helping to make repairs or hiding the bodies. Straight ahead was the airlock. Jake remained unarmed, aside from the pistol strapped to his thigh. He gestured for the other four to follow and ventured into the dark ship, taking a small light from his tact vest and turning it on to light the way ahead. Inside he shined his light around. English text labeling various things, shiny dead computer screens, a table in the middle of the room they were now in, seemingly had a few empty packets of food. He pointed his light to the left and right, through two large windows into two rooms at either side, both filled with computer terminals and odd devices he didn’t recognize. The doors to both were closed but through the windows, so far, no one was around. But he thought he heard a cough from down the corridor. Someone was alive at least?

He started down the corridor ahead as the 4 followed, Larice and Jude were the only ones armed, their riffles pointed ahead ready to go after anyone or anything that leap out at him. They were about halfway down this corridor when suddenly a fireball came at the group.

“FLAMETHROWER!” Jake yelled “EVERYONE BACK!” the group retreated, taking cover behind the wall at the beginning of the corridor in the first room they were in. A few second later Jake yelled down the corridor “HOLD YOUR FIRE! WE’RE ONLY HERE TO HELP!” realizing he was on a human ship, he repeated the second part in English “WE’RE HERE TO OFFER HELP!” He pulled the piston from it’s holster on his thigh, not yet loading it, but having it in hand in case of the worst.

A few minutes earlier;

“I’m going to kill the lights!” Deakon said, and started down he stairs near the bridge as Exodus followed. “Maybe they will think were dead and just carry on without a second thought” He made his way back to the electrical control room he found earlier, and started pulling down every breaker except life support sections. The ship went dark. They made their way back up the narrow stairs, Deakon coughing a couple times along the way. Once they reached the top he looked down the corridor, and could see the flashlights shining around the main room at the end. Deakon grabbed Exodus’s arm and the two slipped down the remaining free direction towards the left of the ship. A moment of panic came over them both before Exodus finally whispered. “There’s 5 of them, I can’t get into any of their heads, they’re all too strong willed for me, I don’t know what their intentions are”

“We’re going to have to defend ourselves, maybe I can scare them off the ship” Deakon whispered back his face spikes started to glow orange in the dark. As the lights started coming down the corridor Deakon inhaled and quickly darted his head out from behind cover, throwing a breath of flame down the hallway at them. Pulling back he sputtered and coughed as the group seemed to retreat from them. Listening to the once in charge yelling “FLAMETHROWER! EVERYONE BACK!” There was a pause as the group took cover “HOLD YOU FIRE! WE’RE ONLY HERE TO HELP” But the next part shocked Exodus and Deakon both, hearing English words for the first time in a decade “WE’RE HERE TO OFFER HELP!”

The two looked in surprise at each other, even in the darkness they could meet each other’s eyes. Exodus was the first to respond. “Who are you?” they asked down the dark corridor in English.

“We’re the Revolutionist Militia!” Jake replied in English “We just wanted to make sure there was no threat and offer any help if needed!”

“There is no threat!” Exodus replied.

Deakon was lost, as if something was awakened deep within his mind. That voice, he knew it, but it had been 10 years since he heard English.

“Then why not put down the flamethrower and come have a chat with us! We’ll put down our weapons too okay?” Jake tried to negotiate, but his team mates were becoming concerned, unable to hear the conversation.

“What’s going on Jake?” Larice whispered

“I think we just surprised them” Jake said Calmly, “I think we’re going to diffuse this quickly” He looked at her, then Jude.

Deakon sat behind the wall, processing, as if his brain was looking for old records. He coughed again, then yelled back in English “No, who are YOU?!!?”

Jake was clear in the head, he knew that voice, but the odds were astronomically against the situation. This had to be a mistake, he thought his own judgment was clouded by the constant thoughts he had in the back of his head. But there was someone, possibly a dragon, yelling in English, who sounded just like his little brother.

Deakon was on the other side of the wall, his tired brain was finally putting two and two together. A dragon, who could speak English, with a familiar voice. This was impossible odds, but the reply he got confirmed his theory.

“I’m Sub-Commander Jake” He replied “And we’re not here to hurt you!” He added.

“JAKE!” Deakon stood up quickly and ran down the corridor, Jake shined his light, hearing his brother say his name, and now seeing him run towards him.

“DISARM YOURSELVES!” Jake ordered and got up and started to run down the corridor towards his brother. The two nodded, and nervously disarmed their riffles, putting the magazine back in their tact vests and slinging the riffles over their shoulders. Jake was nearly in tears with happiness, the random chances of the universe finally bringing him some good luck and his brother back to him. “DEAKON!” he yelled.

The two met halfway down the hallway, Deakon wrapped his arm around his older brother, holding on as tight as his weakened state allowed. His own eyes were watering, he coughed as his noticed something was different, not all of his brother was there. “Jake” He said as he pulled back from the hug, Jake noticing his eyes were not fully focusing, he was not in great shape “What happened to your wings?” But before he could explain, Deakon coughed again, this time blood sprayed across the front of Jake’s uniform as he collapsed against him.

“Me- MEDIC! NOW!” Jake yelled as he lowered his now unconscious brother tot he floor. The excitement had been too much for his injured lungs. “HELP NOW!” The medic ran over and started opening the duffel of supplies as Jake lowered Deakon to the ground on his back. Jude and Larice ran up right behind the medic. Jude shined his light down the corridor, the purple dragon had followed behind Deakon, now standing alone in front of the soldiers, naked, unable to hid their purple color. It was Jude who spoke up, surprising Jake with the words that came from his mouth.

“What did you do to him!? You did this didn’t you!?” he yelled, he wasn’t normally superstitious but in the heat of the moment it slipped out, the assumption this was somehow the purple dragon’s fault.

“Jude!” Jake yelled. He looked at Exodus, into their eyes, a moment of flashback in his mind, they day they left Earth, the purple dragon Deakon ran off to save, this had to be them. The fact the two were still together was probably a good sign, they likely had no ill intention towards Deakon. He looked at Exodus and asked in English to test his theory. “What happened to him?”

Jake got the answer, Exodus, answered in English, there was no other purple dragons on Earth, they were definitely the one. “Two days ago we had the ship drained of air, his visor got smashed in an accident, and he was exposed to space. I was barely able to revive him.” Tears welling up in their eyes as they switched back to Draconis so the others could understand “Please! Please help him, Jake!”

By then the medic was already at work, holding a stethoscope to Deakon’s chest “What did they say” He asked. “He’s alive and breathing but he’s not in great shape, I need to know what happened”

“Two days ago he was exposed” Jake translated

“He’s lucky to be alive then! We need him in our med bay ASAP, I’m not equipped for this but the doctor can help, I think he’s got some severe lung damage”

“Get him on the shuttle now!” Jake turned back to Exodus “Is there anyone else on board?”

Exodus shook their head “No, the human crew has been dead for about 6 years, their bodies are in their quarters”

“So why were you here?” Jake asked

“We needed a ship, the other one isn’t ours, it belongs to our freind” Exodus explained “We were going to bring it back with us and fix it up and live in it, together”

“Scavenging then.” Jake assumed correctly, Exodus nodded “There isn’t a law against it, but it’s not really the safest line of work”

“We normally do this in a bigger group, but the others were overwhelmed with work, and this ship was meant to be ours, so we came out alone. Our usual work is much safer than this. It’s sort of a one off type of thing we’re doing.”

“Where is the weapon? The Flamethrower?” Jake demanded “We have to secure the scene, for the safety of my crew”

“You’re holding him in your arms” Jake seemed confused “If you don’t believe me, look around! I’m obviously hiding nothing unless it’s up my ass!” Jake nodded at Larice, who got up and started searching around. Jude and the medic got Deakon ready to move, while the engineer stood watching on, their skills not required at this time.

A few moments later Larice reappeared. “I didn’t find any weapons, Jake”

“We’ll figure that out shortly, for now let’s get Deakon to med bay!” Jake lifted with the other three, carrying Deakon back to the shuttle, awkwardly up the ladder. Exodus and the engineer following. Once aboard Jake ordered the pilot “Call the Rebel and tell them we have one causality, a civilian, and one more coming for questioning, we need to hurry so let loose and head back as fast as this thing can go!”

“Yes, sir! The pilot started flicking things on the panels, still laying on the control mount. The engineer closed the hatch then the airlock before shouting an affirmative word to the pilot indicating they’re good to go. The shuttle made it was back to the Rebel where Deakon would get some medical attention.

I thought I was dead, I woke up to bright lights, everything sterile and white. Obviously I had hallucinated meeting my brother in my dying breaths, or maybe his spirit was there to take to me to the afterlife. I struggled to adjust my eyes to the bright lights of the afterlife. Damn, the afterlife was too bright, this is bullshit, all that just to be blinded once I die? What a rip off. Everything was blurry but I heard voices talking. Familiar voices, Exodus’s voice. Oh no! They died too?!!? This is complete bullshit, what happened to them? I took in a breath, my chest rumbled, it still hurt. Great, now I get to spend eternity in the state I died in, with a sore chest! Finally I decided get some relief, and shouted out to angels or demons or whatever our kind believed in. “Turn down the fucking lights!” I tried to yell, but I think it came out as a hoarse whisper.

“He’s awake!” I heard Exodus first, then a few more murmurs.

“Exodus, I’m sorry, I think we’re dead!”

“No, Deakon, we’re far from it! Look! Jake is here too!” They exclaimed. I tried to focus my eyes, damn it was too bright, but after a moment I saw him, I laid eyes on my big brother. He smiled down at me. It was almost as if the past decade apart didn’t happen, but he was in a military uniform. He teased me just like he would have when we were kids.

“Wakey wakey sleeping beauty” His face was a warm smile. Things started to sink in. I turned to my head and on the other side of my was my mate, Exodus. Two of the most important people in my life were in the same room together, where is this room?

“Where am I? Where are we?” I asked, things were still blurry but getting better quickly. I lifted my head and felt a hose in my nostrils. I instinctively reached up to pull it out then Jake stopped me.

“Leave that in there, you need oxygen and steroids to heal up your lungs. You’re on the Rebel, it’s a ship in the Revolutionist Militia, in the med bay, and our doctor is taking great care of you for me” A light blue dragon and another green one stood behind him, they were smiling as well. Waiting for Jake to introduce them. He sighed picking up on their anticipation. “Deakon, This is Jude and Larice. We’ve been together since training, my best friends”

Jude was first “We’ve heard so much about it over the years! We’re pretty excited to meet you finally!”

“Hi, Deakon, you look just like your brother!” She took a moment “So this is what you’d look like with wings, Jake?”

That’s when it dawned on me a second time “Jake, what happened to your wings? Did you lose them on the prison ship or something?”

Jake took in a deep inhale, there was lots to catch up on it seems, but Jake was ready to tell all. He turned to his friends “Do you mind giving us some time?”

Surprisingly they both declined “It’s going to be a rough ride, we’re here for you, Jake. Let us stay and help you both through it” Larice said, Jude placing his hand on on Jake’s shoulder. The fear was taking hold, the next question I wasn’t sure I wanted an answer to. Exodus picked up my hand and held it.

Next he looked at Exodus, who stood firm, realizing they would go no where to provide any support to their mate. Jake sighed a little frustrated, he wanted us to be alone, an officer of the ship shouldn’t let their crew see this side of them that was about to come out, and he had no idea who Exodus was as a person. “Anything you need to tell me, Exodus can hear to, they are my mate” Jake looked a little surprised, maybe annoyed at the new fact he learned.

“Jake” I felt like I knew from the look on his face, the fact he wanted the room. His friends already knew as well. “Jake, were are Mom and Dad?” I choked, my lungs still hurt, but now it was harder than ever to breath. “Jake, where are they, can I see them?”

“Deakon, take a moment for me to tell you everything okay?”

“Jake”

“Our ship landed on Titan’s world. It’s not a very nice place and the tyrant in charge wanted them for their history, there was a reason they never talked about it here. Titan took us prisoner, then on public display he took my wings.” He took a deep breath, stumbling and trying to hold back himself, just to get it out. “He took my wings from me, Deakon, and he took Mom and Dad from us.”

I tried to shake my head, this was a lie, telling stories again like when he was a kid. He wasn’t a kid anymore though, neither was I. The room became blurry again, the lights smeared into multiple copies of themselves. I could feel Exodus squeeze my hand. Jake leaned down, his face blurry but I felt a tear hit my should as he leaned it. He hugged me tightly. It wasn’t a story, I would never find Mom or Dad. They were lost to us forever now. Only Memories.

I sobbed, I felt like a child in the moment, a little boy who couldn’t find his parents. Luckily my older brother was here to comfort me. Somehow I got the sense he never properly grieved himself, as he let it all go at once and cried with me. He had been alone from his family for years, and now here I was, he could finally grieve with someone and share the loss. We held each other in an embrace of sorrow for several minutes, tears covering my bed. Finally he leaned up, his face spikes were jet black, and imagine mine were as well. Looking around the room the other three were also feeling the sadness, dark gray on all their faces.

We took our time, eventually the sobbing stopped. Jake’s face wet with tears form sorrow and anger. “So what are we going to do? Where to we go from here?” I asked.

“I don’t know about you, Deakon, but I’m going to kill that fucker. I’m not going to rest until I see his head off his body. That’s why I’m here, to fight for the dragons who are still alive, and to avenge Mom and Dad and everyone else he has taken.” He paused “You should join us, Deakon, we need good people like you, people like us, who had a strong purpose.”

I thought hard. I was overwhelmed, and invitation to join a military was the last thing I wanted. My thoughts strayed quickly to Glavous, my abilities. Jake had found his path to revenge, and now I wanted my own as well, but I already had started a way to achieve it, even if I didn’t know it at the time. I would return to Glavous with a renewed source of vigor and energy over this, not point guns and command ships. “We have different paths, Jake.”

“Different paths? What do you even mean? How else could you ever get close enough?”

“I’m going to show you, privately though, later, but trust me, brother”

Jake nodded, wiping the tears form his eyes, purposely keeping his face away from his friends. Our conversation was cut short, the Captain of the ship walked in, along with the Doctor who had been treating me in my previously unconscious state. Jake, Jude, and Larice stood up straight and forward ahead briefly before the Captain said “Ease” and the three relaxed.

“I see the patient is awake. Deakon is it?” I nodded as the doctor started listening to my chest, noticing my face was covered in tears “Are you okay?”

“I just got some bad news, hopefully you’ve got some better for me”

“I’m sorry, son, but yes I do have some better news, you should be fine in a few weeks. Your lungs got torn up a little when you got exposed. I’m assuming you tried to scream or hold your breath?” I nodded “Obviously you haven’t had and real space training of the sort. Well, for future reference, don’t do that if you get into a vacuum state again, just expelled everything in your chest. Better yet, don’t get exposed ever again. You need to take it easy for a few more days, maybe give up on your salvage mission here or your…” He looked at Exodus with a look of displeasure “your friend here can finish the job without you.”

Captain Vink spoke up next, seemingly he was in a hurry “I don’t mean to be rude, but we are at war, so as soon as the doctor clears you, we will return you to your ship and we need to be on our way.”

“Sure, I get it” I responded, nonchalantly, still obviously rather upset from the new I had gotten moments before. I think the civilian reply might have annoyed the Captain slightly, but not as much as Jake annoyed him next.

“Sir, why are we suddenly in a hurry?” Jake asked, sensing something was going on.

“There’s some reorganizing to do, which means we’re going to need to be on the move for a while. I’m calling a staff meeting in 10 now that you three are back on board.” Vink ordered. “Doctor, how long before we can let our guest go and be under way?”

“Well, if you let me send him away with some medicine, and he promises not to exert himself for a week, we can send them back now” he replied.

He turned back to me “So that ship is dead, you have a plan for getting it back to where ever you are going?”

“Oh! Sure! We get things back by expanding our warp bubble around things like that. Our head engineer modified the coils a little to accommodate that quite well!” Kelly was pretty good with such things.

“Son, don’t you know how dangerous that is?” his words were firm, oddly caring about the civilian riff raff in his med bay.

“Yea, I’m something of a warp tech myself, so I get it, but we’ve done it’s lots of times, we have lots experience with it!” That was a lie, we’ve done it 3 times.

“Okay, we’ll get you back right away and leave you to it. I need to get this ship moving!” The captain walked away in a bit of a huff, I think he was more upset at the fact he was losing two of his best than angry with his officers themselves.

“Okay, you heard the Captain, easily, up and gone” The doctor took the oxygen form my nose “You’re going to be light headed while you get used to normal air again.” He handed me a small device “This is a puffer, plain and simple, put it to your lips, and while inhaling press the button. Do it three times a day until it’s exhausted, it should be about 2 weeks worth”

“Okay, thank you doctor, really!” I was happy to get good treatment, but I was curious about the meeting they were about to have, I wondered if it was because of us or something different, it was a warship after all, it could have been about anything.

10 minutes later Jake, Jude, Larice, The Captain and his first officer were in the Operations room, just off the command deck, a few more officers where present too but not everyone, so the meeting wasn’t extremely important, or it only involved those present.

“First Order of business is a pleasant one. The First Officer of the Wilds has taken command of his own ship. The Lead gunner took a promotion to First Officer to fill that slot, Usually a gunner on board the ship would take the Lead Gunner role, however the Wilds currently has a pretty green crew, they were refreshed after the last time she was getting repaired for 3 months straight. So to help with the experience level, one our of gunners is getting a promotion.” Vink turned to Larice. “Congratulations Lieutenant Larice, as one of our best gunners, you are that choice.” Vink picked up a small package off the table and handed it to her, containing her new ranking rings for her horns along with patches and orders. “You are hereby promoted to Sub-Commander and ordered service aboard the Wilds. We are going to Base ‘G’ when we are done here for you transfer. I’m losing one of our best but our sister ship is gaining a good leader!”

There was a round of applause in the small group, then the Captain turned to leave, but Jake stopped him “Sir, if I may have a minute?”

“Sub-Commander? What is it?”

“Normally I’d ask this privately, but time is essential now. I need a leave of absence!” Jake asked. “I just found my brother who I’ve been seeking for 10 years and had to give him some very bad news. I need some time with him!”

“And leave me without a head gunner?”

“Jude has proven to be an amazing gunner, Sir, I think he is more than perfect for the task while I’m away”

“I’m already losing a good gunner here to the Wilds, Jake” he was not pleased, but something told me he wasn’t going to fight it, I think he was well aware what was going on here.

“Sir, we’re fighting for freedom, and right now I need that freedom, I can’t let my brother grieve alone like I had to, I need to be there for him.” he paused “I need to properly grieve with him, it’s family!”

The Captain took in a big breath, and lowly growled as he let it out. “Okay fine, you’ve got 3 months, if you need more get in contact with the militia, if you can return sooner I would appreciate it. Your service is exemplary and the ship won’t be the same without you.” He turned to Jude “Lieutenant Jude, you are hereby given the rank of Sub-Commander and the position of lead gunner” He looked at Jake for a moment then back “Effective immediately! Sub-Commander Jake, once you have your replacement settled in with command access you are relieved. Jude, see me in my office when you are done for you ranking rings and patches."

“Yes Sir!” Jude, a mix of emotion of Jake going away for a bit, but proud of his new promotion as well.

“Jake, 3 months, or sooner!” Vink turned to Jake, his own face spikes a little gray, annoyed at the situation, but Jake had a good point.

“Yes Sir! Thank you, Sir!” Jake replied He took Jude to the command deck, getting him access to the lead gunner’s console for the first time. Sometimes there would be a small ceremony on the command deck for changing of officers, but time was short. Jake did notice the murmurs among the command crew, those he had worked closely with and looked forward to working with in the future, he made a short announcement.

“I am taking a short leave of absence, It’s been an honor to serve with you all, and an honor that I’m looking forward to continuing! In my absence, my friend and our best gunner Jude will be taking my role, I trust you all to give him the same respect and camaraderie that you’ve given me, Thank you!”

We where hurried along to the shuttle which took the three of us back to the ships and departed, once it got back to the Rebel they took off. All of this happened so quickly, with military precision.

“So what is left to get back on our way?” Jake asked

“We were testing it to make sure it holds air, and it does. Then I powered up the life support, and that’s all working. We wanted to make sure it would be worth all the trouble before going though the effort of bringing it back with us” I explained “She’s in great shape, still nearly new really, aside from missing a power source. Our leader is Duke, maybe leader is the wrong word, more like a mentor?”

“I’d call Glavous our mentor!” Exodus interrupted

“Oh, yea, I think that’s more accurate” I looked at Jake, his face was puzzled “Don’t worry, you’ll meet everyone else soon, there’s 12 others on the station.”

“12, that’s it?” he was surprised

“Yea, but there’s usually some others as well. We fix ships, which is why we salvage, getting parts. Often the clients stay at the station while we fix their vessels.” I realized I was rambling “But, yea, back to this. The Phoenix is well worth the trouble. So all that’s left is to uncouple the ships, strap them together, and do the double warp bubble to get us back!”

“Vink said it’s dangerous though.” Jake was worried about ended up smeared across a star system or two.

“It can be! Kelly is my master engineer, I’m her apprentice, though I’m catching up! She taught me all kind of things about warp drives and I study often in my spare time. I know exactly what we’re doing!” That was not a lie, I’ve only done it three times, but I had a firm grasp on what was required. “The down side is it’s going to take us twice as long to get back because of the extra power it’s going to need” I explained

“Okay, when you say ‘strap the ships together’ what do you mean?” Jake asked

Exodus was pulling out the long wide straps from a storage compartment, struggling with their small size. “We mean, to actually strap them together! Want to go for a space walk? With Deakon down I’m going to need some help!”

Jake sighed, he wasn’t comfortable with everything yet, its had only been hours. But he did want to get going and into a bigger space. “This station, it’s bigger than this ship I hope?”

“Oh, yeah! It’s like a hotel plus a repair port. There’s lots of space!” I went to the airlock and started cracking back the door to close up the Phoenix, preparing for our two weeks back. Exodus sent a message back to station.

‘We’re on our way back with the ship plus one, two weeks out.’

It was tough for Jake to be out alone with this dragon he hardly knew, mag boots keeping them attached to the surface of the Phoenix. Exodus was keeping the line taught against hook in the Talon, while Jake walked around the ship’s exterior and hooked up the strap on the opposite side. Suddenly Exodus spoke over the radio. “You know, I thought you’d be more talkative like Deakon, you too are brothers after all.”

“I’m a dragon of few words I suppose” Jake was annoyed at the purple dragon trying to engage in conversation.

“Well, we should get to know each other!” Of course Exodus’s intuition was picking up that Jake was being abrasive, but Jake was important to Deakon, and therefore important to them.

“Look, for now, I think you should leave me some space.” He sighed through the mic as he walked along with the strap, reaching the hook. “Okay, it’s on, you can tighten it up”

Exodus started pulling on the strap until it was tight, then pulled on the handle ratcheting in the last little bit. It didn’t require a lot of strength, just enough to keep the ships from floating apart, the warp bubble would handle the rest. “He talked about you a lot you know, I almost feel like I know you with how much he went on about you!”

“If you think you know me, then you should know I’m rather pissed off with you.” he blurted out.

Exodus started making their way to the other side of the ship to strap the other side, rather hurt at what they just heard, but they had a job to do. “Pissed? Why? You only just met me, don’t tell me it’s over my scales aga-”

“No, not at all. I didn’t know about purple until I asked around after seeing you on Earth. What I’m pissed about is you took him away from me for a decade.” He was blunt, maybe honestly was the best, to get it all out.

Exodus was equally as armed though, retorting “Maybe it was better for him, sounds like if he hadn’t come to save my ass, he might have ended up under Titan’s sword too!”

That stung, but Jake couldn’t really reply, the other dragon was right, Deakon’s head could have just as easily ended up between their parent’s. The thought made him shudder. He walked up behind the smaller dragon, they had the second strap hooked into the Talon, and handed Jake the coiled up length. “Maybe we can work things out in time, Exodus, but right now, I’m just interested in helping my brother through things. He took it quickly, I don’t think he’s processed things yet” Jake started to walk around the bottom side of the Phoenix again, releasing some of the strap as he went around.

“I think you’re right about that. He was already pretty injured when you showed up. But you need to know I care a lot for that dragon, and I’m not leaving his side when he needs support the most. I’m going to be there whether you want me there or not!” Jake was surprised by this small dragon’s fierce personality, a moment of pride caught his mind.

“I’m glad he found someone who has so much fire in their heart. So how long have you two been mates? Since you left Earth?” Jake was conceding a bit, he didn’t want to cause friction in his brother’s relationship.

“Oh, hell no, I was only 16 when we met, that would have been icky” Exodus stuck their tongue out and shook their head. “I’m 26 now, we’ve been mates for” They paused, Jake though they were calculating months or years and was surprised at the answer “3 days!”

“What?!?” Jake walked along nearing the other hook “Were you two separated?”

“No, we’ve been together since the day we left Earth. But that near death incident, really brought us both back to reality, better not to leave loose ends” Exodus took a deep breath “I thought I lost him. I felt strongly for him for a long time now, and when I thought he was… well while I waited for him to wake up I promised to hold nothing back. Funny enough, he said it first!”

“Okay, hook is in!” Jake said as Exodus started pulling the strap tight “So, you’ve both had a very exiting few days then?”

“Maybe a little too much excitement. I’m looking forward to setting the autopilot on the Talon and sitting back for two weeks.” They tightened down the last of it “Okay, we’re secure, lets go back inside”

I helped Exodus with inputting the modified warp field. I was the tech, they were the pilot. They didn’t’ even need to lay down on the mount, the autopilot would handle most of this, as it was a straight line. A special command that Pike wrote long ago would keep an eye on the expanded warp bubble, if anything came up it was direct the autopilot to immediately stop. As dangerous as this process was, Duke’s crew had made it almost entirely automated once you got it going. That way would could sleep and rest, I could heal myself.

I bet the setup looked pretty silly. The Talon was small, typical dragon triangular design, but only 15 meters wide. Strapped to this huge 45 meter wide rust colored ship, it was actually the driving force. Like a small bird making of with an entire cow as it’s prey. Finally hours after were underway and made sure things were stable, Jake cornered me. “We’re brothers, no lies, nothing stands between us for the rest of our lives, Deakon”

I was taken back by the sudden confrontation “Of course not Jake, but what is this about?”

“You attacked my team with a flamethrower, which by the way if a less level headed officer was there, you’d be dead right now. But then when we looked for it, nothing was there. What did you attack us with?” He was dead on getting the fact straight. Exodus stood a few feet away, frozen, there was no way out of this. “Not even a can of aerosol or anything flammable that Larice found, I grilled her while you were passed out, I didn’t like having to ask my… friend like that. Obviously you picked up some self defense tricks in your travels”

“Yea, it’s a bit more than that, Jake” I nodded to Exodus “You better sit down, I was pretty dizzy when I found out” Jake sat down. I gathered my energy, I was still rather weak but I wanted to prove my point without also putting myself into a coughing fit and delaying my healing. It was when my face spikes started to glow orange when his face and posture changed from slight anger to bewilderment. I inhaled, but not too deeply, and standing facing perpendicular form him, I shot a tiny flame.

“What the fuck is this?!!” his initial reaction of a childlike amazement quickly turned to fear.

“The element of fire, Jake” I looked at Exodus, they nodded as a go ahead “Exodus is the element of the mind, they can do some amazing thi-”

“It’s really a demon?!?”

“JAKE NO! SHUT UP! DON’T EVER SAY THAT ABOUT THEM!” I screamed at him.

Jake withdrew a bit, knowing he just crossed a big line. Exodus hung their head low, obviously hurt. “Jake, the one we called Glavous, he is our teacher, he showed us how to reach the power within ourselves, and he’s trained us the last 3 years. I do want you meet him, okay?”

Jake was silent, embarrassed for overstepping and insulting Exodus by mistake, but digesting what he just saw.

“I told you in the moment, you were holding the flamethrower” Exodus spoke up “And call me a demon again and I’ll make slap your own face!” Jake didn’t know the threat was empty, his will was too strong for Exodus to do anything to at their current level. I pulled open a nearby drawer though, something I had hidden at the beginning of our trip, a nice bottle. Exodus noticed right away “Really? Now?”

“It’ll help us loosening up. Exodus you may be the master of the mind here but even I can sense the tension between you two. I also wish I had a shot when Glavous opened my third eye, so I’m sure that Jake would-”

“Absolutely!” he spoke up. “A shot would really be amazing right now!”

“Fuck it, pour me one, honey” Exodus asked

“Honey?” I asked teasing

“I’m trying out things okay?” they laughed as the retrieved 3 small metal cups. I poured out some of the drink and handed the other two to my mate and my brother. We raised our drinks and took the shot. I grabbed the bottle and offered more. Exodus shook their head, they rarely drank to being with, likely feeling a lot off this one shot in a few minutes. But Jake raised his empty cup. I poured us each another one and we took the shots together, but then put down the cups.

Jake laughed after ‘trying out names’, “Exodus told me you haven’t been a couple very long”

“No, we’ve been together for a long time though. Maybe it was just an eventuality but I’m glad we’re not hiding anything anymore”

“We haven’t even gotten a chance to consummate our relationship yet” they blurted out. We both turned to them, their face spikes a rosy color and they were giggling, evidently the shot had taken it’s hold already. Jake turned back to me and raised the glass again, but I didn’t pure him more.

“I think we should hammer shit out before we get drunk” I said to him, he lowered the glass and nodded in agreement.

“I just found out my brother can breath fire, and he’s mated to a… well what do I call you?”

“Exodus!” they smiled. “Call me my name, your brother gave it to me after all!” after a second they clued in “Oh, I guess the closest word aside from ‘Mage of the Mind’ that Glavous calls me would be psychic”

“Right, a psychic and a fire breather” He took a deep breath “Any other secrets?”

I thought for a moment and shook my head, but then Exodus spoke up “When we get back to the station, the others, they don’t know I’m purple” they grabbed the body of the flight suit hanging nearby “I always wear this when I’m there, I’m always covered!”

“I see, I was beginning to wonder if you ever wore anything” he joked, Exodus had been nude this entire time after all.

“We would both be grateful if you didn’t say anything about it to the others. As you’re probably aware some dragons aren’t so nice and believe in fairy tales.” They said, staring at the floor.

“Of course, I think it’s silly really, our parents brought us up a little dif… You know it’s funny, they never mentioned purple scaled dragons. Maybe they just though it would never happen on Earth with out small population.” Jake suddenly became withdrawn “There was a few things they never taught us, to be honest, about our own kind, and their own history” He took a long sigh “The shots are sinking in Deakon, sit down, it’s my turn.”

“For what?” he asked curiously as he sat on the bench across from his brother.

“Mom and Dad, well, they never lied to us directly, they had a history they never shared as well. I understand now it was to keep us safe, but, while we’re talking about honesty and keeping secrets, you need to know” I sat for the next couple hours as Jake told me everything. Our parents were among the founding members of the militia he now fought for, it started as protests for a better life, against Titan’s rule, but over time it got stronger, eventually Titan turned his military against the movement, and they fought back. Exodus climbed behind me, draping their arms over my shoulders, holding me tight as I learned my true history. Eventually reaching the bad part, Jake gave us the first hand account of our parent’s public murder at the hands of Titan.

Of course I cried, I think that’s when it finally and truly set in. We did stop there for the night and got some sleep. I cried again as we feel asleep, an anger rising up inside me. Eventually after some time I was able to get some sleep.

I learned the next day there was more to go, but the worst was over. Jake told us about his time in the hospital, his training and his rising of the ranks on the Rebel. His main goal was vengeance for our parents death, but the fighting for the freedoms and breaking the grip over our people was also a high priority now.

About halfway through the day, the tables turned. Exodus and I started giving Jake our story, he listened intently to our tales, no matter how grim they were. Exodus vividly describing the tearing of flesh while they witness our kind eating their own aboard the prison ship, but when they got to our initial night on Sandpit, that’s when some pieces came together for me. The female dragon who gave Exodus the cut of fish to save me, her name was Sorah, as was our mother’s. She was passed at that time without me ever knowing. I know the name was likely coincidence but I chose to believe. Her sudden disappearance after, talking to a purple dragon, giving away her best food. I wanted to believe, that was Mom, caring for me one more time. It had to be, and it brought a small spark of joy to my mourning heart.

The next few days of our journey was much more lighthearted. Mixed with moments of grief crying into my mate’s chest or solemnly hugging my brother. I slowly started to let the mourning process happen. Jake as well. He hadn’t allowed himself the chance to properly grieve and now he could, clearing his mind, so that can later press onto his goals.

The rest of the trip slowly became less solemn over the two weeks. I broke out the bottle a couple more nights, and the three of us bonded. Jake told us tales of the battles he had been in so far, funny stories about shore leave, even the nature of his friendships with Larice and Jude. He was sad knowing she wouldn’t be on the Rebel when he got back, but they Wilds was a sister ship and the two would still see each other frequently. We told Jake our stories of Sandpit, our time with Clay and mostly the lightning festival and how beautiful the ritual of the rain was. It should actually time out for him to come see it with us before he returned if he took his 3 months!

After two weeks of crying, laughing and some bickering between Exodus and Jake, we did arrive back safely. We left the Phoenix floating near the station, Micah and Sond came over in one of the smaller shuttles we used for going into the junkyard and unstrapped the Phoenix from us, congratulating us on a good job, then we docked with the station.

I was quite surprised at the welcoming party at the airlock. We couldn’t even directly get in as everyone was blocking our path! Kelly was up front, worried about how everything went, and about my health after being exposed! Little Chickadee ran passed everyone’s feet and leaped into Exodus’s arms. Jake was last to come out, a couple gasps as the wingless dragon came through the airlock.

“Everyone, this is my brother, Jake!” I introduced him, but before I could start naming the other for him, Glavous was approaching him, quickly, as if on a mission.

“I felt your power the moment you dropped form warp nearby, come to me!” Before Jake could react Glavous had his hand on the side of his head, his spike turned purple as he fed him information and after a moment contact broke. I knew exactly what had just happened, the same thing he did to me, ‘opening his third eye’. Maybe it was because we were brothers, being related, he held the same power. What I saw next though really surprised me, maybe even made me a little jealous. Jake slumped to the floor, taking it all in. Glavous, Exodus, Drito and I watched, we knew what was going on, even though I STILL didn’t know what Drito could do. The others gasped even starting to protest the sudden assault. Glavous pulled a candle from his satchel, held it front of Jake and simply said “I believe you know what to do”

Effortlessly and without hesitation, Jake blew a perfect flame from his mouth on his first try, his face spikes glowing brightly and strongly, he already had control over it, immediately and instinctively. He lite the candle with next to no effort, where I took several tries my first time. My jaw had dropped.

Jake looked around, to the stares of the other, they had of course seen what I can do and the weird things Exodus got up to with their daomo, they weren’t overly shocked but still very curious. After a moment he spoke “So, is that what my brother has been up to?”