The rest of the trip was spent in silence; I was sure we were all thinking over everything we had just learned. I could see even Emy was somewhat shaken, but thankfully Michael took her hand, and I could see he was not only managing to calm her but also to be the rock she needed in this now uncertain sea of revelations.
As soon as we arrived, he walked us through a carefully secured and clearly reinforced hall to a small room filled with various kinds of computers and machines and large tubes of various sizes, with some holding what I recognized as parts of dragons. Various cables were running across the walls, and I even saw quite a few running under the clear floor to odd boxes.
“Welcome back to my own personal slice of heaven. There’s been some changes as I’m sure you’ve noticed, starting with the lack of anything remotely draconic. While besides the bits and pieces in the tubes, but those are for some other things I’m working on. Hard to believe none of you looked further into what it could be used for.” He told us, arms wide as he did an overly theatrical turn.
“Yes, while we had other matters to deal with at the time, like getting off our planet and finding somewhere new we could survive. Even managing space travel and a means to fold space when we blended certain rules and principles of physics with the rare, at the time, black dragons’ cores. After that we became more focused on our continued survival and seeding the stars. And it’s not like we didn’t advance for a time and learn new ways to use our former foes.” I told him bluntly with some annoyance. At the start we didn’t have the luxury of convenience and even afterwards it was more a matter of securing our foothold and ensuring future generations.
“Yes, managing to use the dragons to power homes and people’s toasters is an amazing feat, especially when you even managed to turn them into an endless supply of meat for generations, even creating a carefully selective breed for that singular role. I’m talking deeper, though. For example, did you know if you use dragon blood, run it through a centrifuge, and then mix a drop of the blood needed for a transfusion, it will copy the drop, and you end up with a whole lot more of the needed type almost identical to its sample? Or how if you tweak the plasma in certain ways, it can help with liver issues? I even managed to create some specialized med packs for the soldiers.” He continued before pulling out a syringe filled with a bright red fluid. “This is what I’m talking about; if one of the men gets badly hurt, let’s say they get a nasty cut, they take a shot of this, and it will excite the body’s cells and seal up the wound. Yeah, they will lose anywhere from a week to a month of their life because of it due to the limit on the number of replications our body's cells have, but that’s a small price to pay to survive. Hm? While it seems like they're growing anxious; let's go meet them, and I can show you their humans in dragon form.” Michael’s creation was truly amazing; I hadn’t expected something like that, but it would prove to be invaluable. And the way he spoke clearly showed it was in mass production and already being spread around. I knew I should have felt more excited; I should have praised it or asked more questions, but he was leading us to something I truly hated.
As soon as we walked through the door at the other end of the lab, I clutched my cane tightly as we were greeted by the sight of two adult dragons, their gazes locking onto us. The intelligence behind those large orbs put me on edge; already I was evaluating how to bring each of them down, looking them both over for any sign of weakness I could exploit.
The left one was sleek and lithe with azure blue scales blending seamlessly into one another with a mesmerizing shimmer broken only by faint scar lines across its form, what seemed like a screen fused onto its left arm, and a few faintly visible marks along its back with a few holes by the base of its skull—a water dragon. The type used to both purify water and produce it for so many previously barren and dry planets, including most ships. It would no doubt be fast and agile; I would need to focus on striking its neck in hopes of paralyzing it while doing what I could to dodge its swipes and possible water blasts.
The one on the right was its opposite, a metal dragon. The type we used to get a constant source of metals. This one wasn’t as bulky as the ones we harvest but was still rather large. Its cancer cells had clearly not been excited and made to run rampant to create an overabundance of metals across its form like others of its kind. Its legs and body were stumpy, its body a patchwork of silvery gold metal lumps over smooth-looking metal, and its head resembled a knight’s helm with many horns, something others like its kind didn’t have. I wasn’t sure what metal it was producing, but I did notice the same kind of scarring on it as the water dragon, along with the holes and the same kind of screen fused into its wrist. I would need to rely on speed to bring this one down and try to find any weak points I could exploit while using its size and slowness to my advantage.
“No. Harm.” A gravelly voice that sent shivers down my spine rang out, causing me to whip around, my cane ready to lash out. My old bones were protesting at the sudden action, but I ignored it due to what I saw in front of me.
Pale blue skin that was almost transparent, claws like diamonds, and golden eyes shining with far too much intelligence, its size dwarfed by its companions, measuring only the size of a regular person.
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“Anger. Rage. Fear.” It ground out, making me have so many horrible flashbacks to the war and then of the Leviathan, the only difference between the three being their manner of speech: the first only in growls and an unknown tongue, the Leviathan with elegant and fluid words in a silky tone, and now this one with a gravelly, broken tone that seemed to struggle to speak.
“Don’t! I know you don’t like dragons, old man, but these are the three I was talking about; the special projects raised to be humanlike and have what I prefer to call humanity. I already spoke to you about them after all. And you lot, use the compact computers I gave you to speak.” Michael ordered, but I didn’t lower my guard, my grip growing tighter on my cane as I looked at him.
“We have been taught; we have learned humans’ past and their struggles, their ways of adapting, and all they have overcome, and what they have done to our kind. The strong will always rule the weak; they were weak, and you were strong. You fought with honor, and like a dragon, he did not accept his defeat and instead acted cowardly. Blessing you and the others, knowing it would be a curse. We don’t agree with how humans awakened the mothers, but the reaction was fuelled by vengeance. The coward’s spawn was killed, and that led to him attacking everyone. We do not have a word for it, rather when the leader speaks, we are forced to listen, to follow its command. Mind of hive with many others acting as points to get his orders and control others.” An overly synthetic voice sounded from the small screen fused into its own wrist, making me clench my teeth so hard they felt like they would crack or shatter.
“You expect me to believe it forced the attacks? Forced you all to try and wipe out humanity! And you mentioned our curse. You couldn’t have been born that long ago, a few years ago at most, so how would you even know these things?” I demanded, taking a swing at it with my cane as I lunged forward. My speed taking Michael and Emy by surprise, but the damn creature seemed to be expecting it as it leapt backwards to dodge me only to be caught off guard as I forced myself to twist and catch it on the leg, forcing it to let out a cry of surprise.
“Please stop this now. You defeated our past leader, you proved to be the superior warrior, and even now, aged and frail, you fight like a dragon. I submit myself to you, my lord.” The synthetic voice sounded out again as it pressed its body to the floor, neck exposed, taking me by surprise; the look in its eyes expressed subservience I had not expected. I saw Michael and Emy at the side, both clearly wanting to step in, but the water dragon had moved to block them; it seemed to have said something to them through its own computer.
“Begin explaining now. And if I don’t like what I hear, I will kill you.”
“Old leader, you call it Leviathan. It is an old leader, forcing its memories to awaken faster than the rest of us through old methods. Skinny human used chemicals and other stuff to help us, lots of shocks to our brains causing the old memories to come back. We remember everything; the skinny human calls it ‘bloodline memories’ carried through a gift he calls a virus. Very few are blank slates. We follow the strong; when the current leader is challenged and loses, he is replaced by a stronger leader. It’s how we survived generation to generation. The old leader had us sleep after we began to run out of food during the cold times. Many listened; few didn’t and ended up dying. The old leader knew you were coming; it let you all come, it grew arrogant, and it paid for it. We hear the whispers. When he was killed, his control broke; the shock had many of us fight on instinct, our minds refusing to work right. Over the years, while traveling through the veil of stars, many began to reawaken. They realized their place as below the winning race. We have learned that many are content in their new lives. They are fed, cleaned, housed, and not used for conflict. The old leader has further proved his failings; a dragon fights in the open, yet he turns human on human, lurking in shadows, and claims it is to fight like a human.” I watched it somehow scowl and try to spit. “Many refuse but some follow, his control grows steadily but he is not strong like he once was. He can not control us like he once could. We whisper through the hive mind as well, arguing and pointing out his failings. Some are young and do not remember yet and thus followed along; others ignore him or are angered at how he has chosen to spit on our ways.”
I stared intently at it, eyes narrowing. “The hive mind part of the dragons is what we were using for communications before and, according to him, could have even been a means to subconsciously influence people and listen in on whatever is said over it. Considering the smaller forms are used for every other form of communication, including holocom’s, it pretty much had us wiretapped from the start. Upside, these three have been subtly countering it, and that's how I found out about it.” Michael told me, but that didn’t make me feel any better; instead, I turned my focus onto him with a glare.
“And what stops any of these three from turning on us to join Leviathan? Especially since it’s one of their own. Who’s to say they’re not acting as spies or moles?” I demanded.
“You are lord through combat; you even wish to use more combat among your own to unite them once more; you desire your own to press forward. We grew stagnant, complacent. Old leader only desires power, desires to regain control and use humans for its own personal gain.” The small one in front of me spoke again.
I couldn’t keep from growling out as I turned my gaze back onto it, taking a small amount of pleasure in the way it flinched and pressed its head back to the ground. “And that’s your reasoning? Some kind of honor?”
It nodded slowly, causing me to shake my head and turn to Michael. “How long till the third fleet collects the dragons and starts the operation?”
“If things go well, they should be collecting them from the small planetoid lab at the edge of the system, and from there it’s about four hours to the target planet only because they will be using a smaller shuttlecraft to transport them over along with our agents.” He told me.
“And will these ones be commanding and coordinating them from here?” It was the one in front of me who confirmed it once more through its synthetic voice. “We will command; we follow our lords’ orders and will make sure they listen. Please tell us, Lord, what you wish for them to do.”
“Have them behave like monsters, slaughter everyone and everything, and stir any other dragons around them into an equal frenzy. And Michael? Tell the captain that those who will be giving their lives for this operation are to have some of their members dress like they’re from one of the corporations, perhaps ‘Bio-Pharma’? They had been rather vocal lately in their desire to expand, and we could play it off as them working with the church to achieve that goal,” I ordered.
“What about the children?” I heard Emy ask quietly. “You want to frame them by attacking a city, but what about the children or families?”
“Sacrifices that must be made—we need to spark the war, and their blood will be added fuel for it.” I told her. The captain’s target would be one on the edge of ‘Vulkan Industrial Solutions,’ specifically one of their main trading and mining planets where they kept various ore dragons.
