Dragon Fire (Galaxy On Fire Book 5) Read online

  ALSO BY CRAIG A. ROBERTSON

  BOOKS IN THE RYANVERSE:

  THE GALAXY ON FIRE SERIES:

  EMBERS, BOOK 1

  FLAMES, BOOK 2

  FIRESTORM, BOOK 3

  FIRES OF HELL, BOOK 4

  DRAGON FIRE, BOOK 5

  THE FOREVER SERIES:

  THE FOREVER LIFE, BOOK 1

  THE FOREVER ENEMY, BOOK 2

  THE FOREVER FIGHT, BOOK 3

  THE FOREVER QUEST, BOOK 4

  THE FOREVER ALLIANCE, BOOK 5

  THE FOREVER PEACE, BOOK 6

  STAND ALONE NOVELS:

  THE CORPORATE VIRUS (2016)

  TIME DIVING (2013)

  THE INNERgLOW EFFECT (2010)

  WRITE NOW! The Prisoner of NaNoWriMo (2009)

  ANON TIME (2009)

  DRAGON FIRE

  BOOK FIVE OF THE GALAXY ON FIRE SERIES

  by Craig Robertson

  NEVER STOP BELIEVING IN MAGIC

  Imagine-It Publishing

  El Dorado Hills, CA

  Copyright 2018 Craig Robertson

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from the author.

  ISBN: 978-0-9997742-0-5 (Print)

  978-0-9989253-9-4 (E-Book)

  Cover design by Jessica Bell

  Editing and Formatting services by Polgarus Studio

  Available at http://www.polgarusstudio.com

  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to the innocent mass-shooting victims, especially the children, as well as their families, and their communities. We face such horrors much too often. They all deserve better.

  Table of Contents

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  TWENTY-NINE

  THIRTY

  THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY-TWO

  THIRTY-THREE

  THIRTY-FOUR

  THIRTY-FIVE

  GLOSSARY

  And Now A Word From Your Author

  ONE

  “I say we may safely ignore both you and your report.” Harsher words had never been spoken in the chamber of the Secure Council. But High Wedge Lesset was a person of passion and excessive pride. Plus, he wielded the ultimate power both on the council and in the empire. His word became dogma.

  Transit High Wedge Varsor was aware of the position he’d just been placed in. He never liked the council Prime, but he’d never openly tangled with him either. Most who had were soon dead. The few who survived did so in anonymity, serving in some far-flung backwash of the empire. Still, his intelligence report was both accurate and alarming. To the best of his knowledge, nothing like this had ever confronted the mighty armies of the Adamant. He only hoped that doing the right thing didn’t get him and his family deleted.

  “I will overlook the tone of your remarks,” said Varsor evenly, “in the interest of the security of the empire. I cannot, however, turn a blind eye to your flippant disregard of a potentially critical development.”

  The other ten members of the council either sat stone-like or looked away. The certainty of a cataclysmic collision was not something any of them wanted to witness. It wasn’t that any of them were kindly, empathetic, or actually interested. It was that the impending bloodshed would only cause confusion and delay in the business of the council. Nothing useful would come of it. By tradition, the combatant who survived would choose the loser’s successor. For the other ten, there wasn’t even the prospect of juicy political infighting when the confrontation was complete.

  “Do you have so many mites in your ears that you failed to comprehend? As council Prime it is my duty to the emperor to keep these proceedings focused and moving along at a productive pace. The airing of inconsequential, irrelevant, and imbecilic issues runs contrary to those efforts. Please defer for the remainder of your designated-speaking time, or I will be forced to remove it by fiat.”

  “I will not defer my time when I have a report that needs to be addressed. My spies have constructed a cohesive picture of alien planets actively working together ahead of our invasion of their sector. This is unheard of and must factor into our planning.”

  Leaning forward, Lesset angrily knuckled the table. “I will address your precious concerns, fool. If every world in the sector lashed their planets together like a gigantic raft and swung their pitiful paddles at our forces, it would alter nothing. We always sweep away resistance in one fell swoop. If these primitives fight separately, together, or not at all, they will die as civilizations just as swiftly and completely. The only possible difference it will make is how harshly we deal with them when the fighting stops. Are you as happy as pup sucking on his mate’s teat now, Varsor? May we proceed?”

  “I would like to query the other council members to see if they feel this new and unprecedented cooperation should be factored into our assault plans,” Varsor said defiantly.

  Lesset glowered at the toad he was facing. Then he spoke loudly with a melodramatic tone. “Fine. I call for a vote. All in favor of listening to the squeals of this frightened lunatic, signal so by raising his paw. I see no paws raised,” he said without even pausing to take a breath, “so the motion fails just like it’s author. High Wing Oltimure, I believe the floor is now yours for the next ten minutes.”

  “What of my remaining time?” howled Varsor as he leapt to his feet.

  “By fiat, I declare you are out of time,” replied Lesset coolly. He drew his sidearm and blew away most of Varsor’s throat.

  Varsor seized his throat and tried to keep his head from toppling. Blood geysered through his digits. He took a step toward Lesset.

  “No, not in this direction,” screamed Lesset. “You’ll … ah, there you’ve done it. You have ruined my favorite jacket. I have half a mind to call a medic to resuscitate you, just so I may kill you again for that affront.”

  Well before Lesset finished, Varsor was dead on the floor.

  “Everything that fellow did was annoying. Look at the mess he’s made,” remarked Lesset casually. “Well, there’s nothing for it, we’ll have to continue the meeting covered in a traitor’s blood. No time to clean up and remain on schedule.” He pointed to Oltimure. “Sorry, you’re down to six minutes now. Please begin.”

  “I defer my allotted time, Prime.” Oltimure wished to remain as invisible as possible while Lesset’s blood lust ran so high. He was a wise and prudent High Wing. He was a survivor.

  TWO

  “Jon, swim over to me. I see a turtle under the pontoon,” Jenna yelled to me joyously.

  She was always full of joy, come to think of it. She exuded the stuff. She was my best friend, even though I only saw her for two weeks once a year. That’s when both out families vacationed together in the log-cabin campground near town. For us, it was Tom Sawyer and Nancy Drew all rolled into one nonstop adventure. She was ten, I was about to turn nine.

  The specific problem I faced was that I didn’t w
ant to swim over to where she was on the floating platform. It hadn’t been a full hour since I had that ice cream cone. I didn’t want to risk drowning because of a stomach cramp. My parents swore it was a certainty and made me promise years before never to attempt it. My dad said it was because we were such a poor family that if I died, they couldn’t afford to bury me. Mom slugged him good for that crack, but he just laughed. Dad was always funny, a regular cutup.

  “I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I shouted back as I checked my Timex.

  “No, he’ll be gone by then.” She pouted. From two hundred yards I could see it plain as day.

  I decided if I swam real slow, maybe my stomach wouldn’t know I was cheating the clock, and I wouldn’t go under in pain. I always told everybody I wanted to be an astronaut. Heck fire, they took all kinds of risks. I had to stop being a sissy and get used to it. I walked out in the lake as far as I could and then dog-paddled slower than any dog ever did all the way to the float. I looked back at the shore. I was not, in fact, dead. Maybe my parents were wrong. Maybe there were exceptions to the rule. Or maybe the rules didn’t apply to me. That thought made me kind of happy.

  “Over here, Jonny. He’s nearly gone.”

  I walked over to where Jenna had her torso craned down to view the underside of the platform.

  “How do you know it’s a boy?” I asked as I bent over to join her.

  “It’s leaving before I’m done looking at it. Only a boy would be so rude.”

  “Oh, ya mean like this?” I ripped a juicy fart.

  “Oh, you’re so gross. Now look,” she pointed, “you can just see him over there.”

  Sure enough, there was a snapper turtle pulling at some plants growing on a pontoon.

  “You know why he’s diving down?” I asked very seriously.

  “No. Did we scare him?”

  “Naw. He saw us, sure. But he’s going under to be able to bite off one of our toes when we get back in the water.”

  “He’s not that smart, Jonny. You’re just trying to scare me.”

  “No, it’s true. It’s all instinct with them. He knows we have to try to make it back to shore sooner or later. Even if we wait for it to get dark, he’ll be happier because he’ll be more invisible. Why last year over at Lake Dakota, a kid got—”

  I was about to cook up some bull about his bones being picked clean like a piranha ate him, but Jenna was up and running. She dove into the water so fast she was a blur.

  She surfaced, threw her hair off her face, and challenged me, “Come on, scaredy pants. See if you can beat me to the shore.” With that, she spun and started swimming like a pro.

  I flew into the water and swam for all I was worth. Just when I was about to catch her, maybe ten yards from the beach, a thought hit me. I started treading water. She scurried up onto the muddy sand and turned to me with her hands triumphantly planted on her hips.

  “Hey, Mr. Slow Boat to China, I knew you—”

  Jenna stopped talking when I lifted my feet off the bottom and screamed in terror. I disappeared under the water for as long as I could hold my breath, then jumped up real high. Reaching for my feet, I screamed, “He’s got me.” Then I went under briefly. The next time I was at the surface, I yelled, “Find a gun and shoot him!” Then I vanished under the water.

  By the time I was forced to come up for air, Jenna was by my side. She kicked and splashed with her arms like a girl possessed. Then she put her arm across my neck, the way we were taught when saving a drowning person. She began to walk/swim, dragging me to safety.

  I wasn’t sure what to do, but when we got to shore, and she saw I wasn’t bleeding, she gave me a stern look. Then she began to laugh. We plopped onto a beach towel and both had a good laugh. Jenna was the best.

  “Jon, when you die, would you rather be alone or with somebody?” she asked me after we calmed down.

  “What a weirdo question,” I replied. “How should I know? I mean, it’s not like they always give you a choice, you know?”

  She pulled her knees up tightly to her chest. “I died alone, and I didn’t like it one bit. I was scared and lonely. You should die with people you love all around you.” She sounded quiet, authoritative on the topic.

  “One prob, goofball. You’re talking to me, so you’re not dead. That means you never died, because if you did, you’d be dead.”

  “Can’t you be serious for one minute of your life, Jon Ryan?”

  “What?” I reached over and pinched her hard.

  She jumped. “Ouch. Why’d you do that?”

  “To prove you’re alive. I rest my case.”

  “Well, Perry Mason, you miss my point. I died alone.” She pointed at the pontoon. “I was swimming to that very float, and I bumped my head on it and drowned. I was all alone. You didn’t come up here in time, or you’d have been with me and I wouldn’t have died.” She reached over and punched me. “It was all your fault.” Then she threw herself belly down on the blanket. “But I forgive you because I love you.”

  What? Did a girl just say she loved me? Did I need to marry her now? Gross.

  “How can what never happened be my fault when I wasn’t here?”

  “Exactly. Now remember, you should die in the company of loved ones. Okay?”

  “Sure. I promise. Hey, maybe you can be there when I croak. That way I’ll have all the company I need.”

  She sat and balled up, clutching her legs tightly again. “No, Jonathan, I can’t be there. You won’t die for several billion years. By then, I’ll probably be too busy somewhere else. Who knows, maybe I’ll have kids of my own and can’t leave them because they’ll need me.”

  “What, you gonna have a family after you’re dead and gone?”

  She looked at me like my fourth grade teacher Mrs. Blum. I was so scared of that witch. “I may be dead, but who says I’ll be gone?”

  “Can we like talk about something less creepy?”

  “Sure. How about a snack?”

  “I’m always up for that.”

  “My mom packed us some sandwiches,” she pointed, “over there. Grab the basket.”

  I retrieved it and she studied the contents.

  “Jon, I will miss you so terribly much, you know, after I die and you won’t, for almost ever.”

  What a screwy conversation. “I’ll miss you too.” I said more as a question.

  “No, you won’t. You’ll have long forgotten me. Plus, you’ll be busy saving everybody and trying not to get yourself killed. No, by the time you die, no one will remember me at all. I be just some silly girl who bumped her head.”

  “Please stop saying that. You’re scaring me.”

  She rested an ice-cold hand on my forearm. “I know you’re scared, Jonny. But don’t be. You’re not going to die now, not today.” She angled her head. “Who knows, maybe you never will. Or maybe it’ll be tomorrow. But you will not die at your own hand today.”

  “Please, Jenna, you’re freaking me out. What? Are you saying I’ll commit suicide? Jenna, please help me.”

  “Jonathan, I am.” She leaned over and kissed me gently on the forehead. Her lips were as cold as deep space. “Now you go show that mean robot who’s boss.”

  “Where will you be? What mean robot?”

  She extended her arms. “Right here at our lake. I’ll always be here. Now go, before I start missing you even more.”

  I’d looked toward the lake when she gestured to it. When I looked back, Jenna was gone. Poof. She’d simply disappeared. It was like she was never there but like she was always there, at our lake. I started to cry but forgot to. I was distracted by something. Something painful. Something bad. Something slapping my face in rage and hate.

  My eyes popped open. I gasped. I tried to sit up. I was lashed down and couldn’t move an inch. Someone slapped my cheek again, very hard.

  “Wake up you piece of rat shit,” wailed EJ as he drew his arm above his head to repeat the action. “I don’t have time to waste getting a useless mach
ine out of his trance.” He pounded my face again.

  “Stop!” screamed a female voice from somewhere. “He’s coming to. Stop hitting him.” It took a second, but I figured it out. It was Sapale, my Sapale, not the little girl I’d saved.

  EJ rested his arm down and peered at me from directly above. “Why so he is.” Then he slapped me twice more. “Now I’m done, for now that is.”

  “Leave him be, you monster!” Sapale yelled.

  He turned to her. There she was, cowering in the corner of the large room. “STFU, bitch. Remember my warning. If you so much as help him take a piss, I’ll kill your entire family, kids first.”

  Wow, he was crazy mad. And I hadn’t urinated since the day I became an android. What kind of stupid threat was that?

  Sapale shrank farther into the corner. It was pitiful to watch.

  “Now, as for you, Sleeping Beauty, here’s the deal. I need Risrav and I need it now.”

  “Huh?” was all I could muster. Some of my components were still not back online yet.

  “Risrav, you know, lunkhead, the stone that negates mine, stops me from using my magic on you?” He slapped me again.

  “I’m awake now, if you hadn’t noticed,” I snarked.

  “I know but beating the crap out of you is better than sex.”

  “Now I know we’re not identical. You’re an idiot.”

  Yeah, he slapped me a few more times, but it was worth it.

  “Now, I need that rock. I went over you good, but I can’t find it. I have two options. One, you can tell me where it is, then I kill you quickly and painlessly.”

  “Don’t even tell me choice two. That one sounds delectable.”