“Crew of the Shallow Water. Most of you know me though we have not seen one another since I entered my convalescence. Chief Starr has done great work seeing the ship through its own convalescence. Sadly, five of our mates lost their lives to a dragon’s teeth.” She lifted her leg and placed it on a smaller crate that was resting on the larger one that formed the makeshift podium. She unfastened the leg of her suit exposing her bare limb to the upper thigh. Then she withdrew a small knife from her belt and stabbed herself in the leg, sinking the knife to the hilt.

  “The dragon who took our comrades also took my leg. The doctors tried many procedures but were unable to link the synthetic sensory neurons to my central nervous system, so I cannot feel this robotic replacement. Every dead footed step I take reminds me of what I’ve lost and while I welcome Voko, Lunkfleece, Dawningsun, Simmons, and Pippin to the crew, their presence takes me to task, because I remember our lost family and that I must avenge them and myself upon Big Jack. We must purge the galaxy of the white dragon and drain his oil to fill our coffers.” The crew cheered.

  “We are approaching the Flame Star, IRS 2b where Jack got the better of us. This will not happen again. We will hunt him throughout the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex until he is ours.” I noticed Koko and her friends quietly muttering to each other and so did the captain.

  “Fear not, new friends. There will be plenty of dragoning along the way to fill our tanks, but all the while, we will be looking for Big Jack. And to sweeten the deal I have opened up the sensors to all the crew and provided you with the scans we took of Big Jack during our last encounter. Whoever is first to detect the white dragon will receive, personally from me, one million marks!” That brought out an even bigger cheer of approval.

  “Now, we have a dragon on the long-range sensors. Sadly, not that accursed Jack. However, let’s see how our new interceptor crew handles things. By reputation, I expect great things, which is why I rushed to Bedford to recruit them, but when it comes to dragons, nothing will due but trial by fire.” A smile spread across her face and the old crew slapped the backs and shook the hands of their new mates, not including me, of course. “To your stations!”

  A voice, little more than a whisper, reached my ear. “She praises Starr, but I was the one who got the ship ready for launch in record time.”

  I turned to see Third Mate Flax standing just behind me. He looked better rested today, the rings bags under his eyes no longer giving him a haggard appearance.

  “Hi, uh, Third.”

  “I apologize if I was abrupt with you when you came onboard. It’s been a stressful few weeks.”

  “Oh. No problem. Third.” His eyes were intense and I only belatedly realize we were still standing front to back and too close. I stepped away and turned to face him. He wasn’t quite as tall as I had thought at first, but was still a few centimeters taller than I was. “I have to report to engineering,” I said.

  “Get into your uniform first, Herman. We won’t meet with the dragon for another hour and your current attire may prove distracting.”

  “Right, Third. I’ll go.” I left the cargo bay the way I had come and Koko was lingering in the passageway.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  “Um, I don’t know.”

  “Don’t mix with officers. You’re nothing on this ship to them. Go get changed and report to duty.”

  I returned to my quarters for a quick shower and then put on the forest green ship-suit I had been issued. It seemed to be made of the same material as the one Koko wore but was not nearly as revealing. No one else on the ship seemed to be leaving so little to the imagination. Did her muscular build just stretch the fabric thinner? Then I noticed I could see the lines of my undergarments through the uniform, but Koko had no such lines.

  When I arrived in engineering, Pippin and two female gnomes I hadn’t met were there. “Greenie, this is Tammy Dough from first shift and over there is Kaylie Carpenter from third shift. When facing a dragon, everyone’s on duty regardless of shift.”

  “What would you like me to do?”

  “Nothing. Just stay out of the way and watch what’s happening. You can sit at the auxiliary console and monitor what’s going on. Did they teach you anything about battling a dragon at that fancy school?”

  “No.”

  “Of course not. Almost thought you might be useful.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Actually, I have something for her to do,” Engineer Carpenter said.

  “Yes?”

  “Chief Starr is supposed to submit form one-dee-ten-tee prior to combat with a dragon, and he’s neglected to do so.”

  “Track him down and let him know he needs to send it, or we’ll be forced to power down the engines,” Pippin added.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Do you know where he would be?” I asked

  “Obviously getting ready to lead interceptor one.”

  “Okay, I’ll go.” I turned around and made my way towards the elevator. I accessed the ship computer and found where interceptor one was docked near the top of the tower on deck oh-eighteen. The computer indicated that the Chief Mate was in the nearby issue room.

  I entered as he was pulling on a slimmed down version of the spacesuit I had worn that didn’t appear to have thrusters.

  “Why are you here, Herman?” he asked as I poked my head through the hatch.

  “Chief mate, Engineer Carpenter sent me to get you to submit form one-dee-ten-tee. She said she would have to shut down the engines if you didn’t before we caught up with the dragon.”

  “What? Do you have the capacity for independent thought?”

  “Umm.”

  “I want you to visualize the form number in that little head of yours, then go back to engineering.”

  I pictured the alphanumeric code: 1D10T. I felt the blood rush to my face and chest in embarrassment.

  “Sorry, Chief Mate.” I backed out of the compartment feeling like an idiot and returned slowly to engineering. I would have to be more discerning about everything certain crew said, especially Pippin and now Carpenter. Simmons too. Actually Koko, Lunkfleece, and Dawningsun were in on the one about the dead head. The second mate’s talk had not changed Pippin’s behavior. It seemed a lost cause. I’d just have to get through it.

  I entered the main engineering compartment and returned to the auxiliary console.

  “What did Chief Starr say?” Carpenter asked.

  “I told him that the form that needed to be filed prior to engaging with a dragon had not yet been received. After I had delivered the message, he sent me back here.”

  “Did you tell him the form identifier?”

  “I accessed the ship computer to verify that I had remembered the number correctly and it could not find any such form, so I just described what it was for. He seemed annoyed, but I can only assume he’ll do what is required. Do you want me to confirm with him?”

  “No,” Carpenter said. She and Pippin seemed annoyed. I turned back to my console and smiled, just a little bit. At least I had somewhat undermined the prank. Engineer Dough kept herself separate from the other two. Maybe she was someone I should try to engage with.

  Via my CCP as well as from the console, I was alerted that we were within striking distance of the dragon. I brought up the main scanner focusing it on the creature. It was difficult to imagine the scale of the thing. Its wingspan was five kilometers tip to tip and slightly shorter from snout to tail with the tail making up half its length. The dragon was an iridescent blue in color or at least looked that way on the screen and yellow sparks trailed from its movement through the nebula; each beat of its wings driving it at around half the speed of light.

  The three interceptors launched as the main ship continued to close on the dragon. They zoomed around and came at it from behind, their shields glowing as they fought through the wake of the dragon’s propulsion. Koko’s second ship, indicated by a two pinned to the image of the interceptor, veered off to port and the third interceptor to starboard. When within just a kilometer of each wingtip and the first interceptor, a similar distance from the tail, all three gunners let loose their harpoons simultaneously and all struck true. Behind me the three engineers who were also watching let out a cheer.

  Interceptors two and three turned in opposite directions, the long fullerene cables trailing from the harpoons pulling taught as they hyperextended the dragon’s wings. Likewise the first interceptor dragged the tail out straight, gradually halting the creature’s forward momentum. The dragon was visibly struggling. It tried to twist and turn, yanking its wings and tail inward to dislodge the interceptors, but it wasn’t strong enough. It turned its head in the direction of Koko’s vessel and let out a long stream of plasma fire that lit up the shields but did no damage. This went on for nearly an hour. The glowing oil, which in reality was the dragon’s blood was seeping into space from its wounds.

  Once the dragon was exhausted enough from struggling against the interceptors, the Shallow Water moved in. It encircled the three ships and their catch, sending out fullerene lines to the three interceptors to allow them to transfer their burdens to the main ship. The lines were reeled in, immobilizing the dragon even more than the smaller ships had been able to do. Drones launched from the ship, towing drainage hoses that were driven into key points of the dragon, such as the neck, and the places where the wings and tail met its torso.

  The monitor indicated how much oil was being removed and I watched the glow fade from the dragon’s eyes as its blood was drained. At one point it achingly turned its head towards the sensor I was monitoring so that it seemed to be looking directly at me with its silvery-blue cobalt eyes as the life in them came to an end. I felt a tightness in my chest. My dream was to study alien lifeforms and the first time I encountered one I was a party to killing it.

  My reverie was interrupted by Pippin. “See that, Greenie. Catch it, ring it, drain it. That was a textbook dragon harvest. Stupid beast didn’t stand a chance. Once I find Big Jack, we’ll do the same to him.”

  “What makes you think you’re going to be the one to detect Big Jack?” Carpenter asked.

  “A million marks, that’s what,” Pippin responded.

  “I hope we never find him. You weren’t there. This was nothing compared to great white dragon,” Dough said.

  “Your crewmates seemed a lot more enthusiastic in the hold,” Pippin replied.

  “I was the one who found the captain in the wreckage of the pri-fly. She had somehow managed to cauterize her amputated leg. She melted the remnants of her spacesuit closed and airtight before passing out.”

  “But this time,” Pippin pointed at himself, “you have us.”

  “Didn’t you lose your last ship?” Pippin was silent. “If we do meet Big Jack again, it’s not only the crew on the pri-fly who should be suited up. It should be everyone. Carpenter and I had left engineering due to other damage to the ship, or we would have been dead too when that monster’s teeth penetrated the hull.”

  The three engineers turned back to their screens after that exchange and said little else before the signal was given that the hunt activities were concluded and all crew could resume their normal shifts. Dough and Carpenter departed. Fortunately, Pippin didn’t have time to mess with me as he had actual work to do, though he didn’t show me any of it. I was left to watch drones slowly remove the most valued parts of the dragon.

  After it was drained of blood oil, the head was severed from the body and strapped to the outside of the ring, near the tower. The organs somewhat analogous to the stomach, gall bladder and kidneys were split open for certain precious stones and crystals that collected within dragons. Its scales were stripped off and stored. The rest of the corpse was eventually released and set adrift in the darkness of space.