A Dragon's Tale #Watty's2015

Taro's Sacrifice

“Cool”, he said quietly, “you do what my older brother does.”

I leaned down so I was looking him in the eyes, “whose your brother?”

“His names Arson”, the little cub said, “do you know him?”

“No”, I answered, “but I've seen him around, mind not telling him you saw my friend and I? We can't get into any more trouble with the commander.”

He made a motion as if he were zipping his lips and then went outside. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“That could have ended badly”, Nina whispered.

“Yeah it could have”, I replied, “let's keep going and see if can avoid killing anyone on the way.”

Nina nodded and we pressed even deeper into the ship. I could hear all kinds of lively chatter from the levels above and began to suspect that this was a kind of Firebase instead of just a prison ship. After all, what would a little, year old cub be doing on a prison ship? And wandering the halls on his own? Knowing that more troops were on their way, I radioed to Captain Abbie.

“Captain Abbie”, I called, “this is Major Serelath, do you read me?”

“I read you Major”, she called.

“Be advised”, I replied, “the ship has turned out to be a Firebase with entire families on broad. Advise all soldiers to enter quietly, using lethal force only if absolutely necessary, confirm.”

“I'll let my men know”, Abbie answered, “thanks for the heads up Major, out.”

I shut off the coms. Nina and I arrived at a door way with a sign that read “Stairwell”. There was a map posted on a wall right next to it, for new dragons by my guess. Judging from the map, the ship had three levels. B1, which Nina and I were currently on, B2, which held the barracks, kitchen, armory and recreational rooms and then B3, which was labeled, “brigs and interrogation rooms”. The tower floors were listed a F1, briefing room, F2, infirmary and F3, Command center.

“Looks like it's right up”, Nina said.

“Let's go then”, I answered.

Nina pulled the door open again and I slipped through. The stairwell was lit in dim orange light and stretched up pretty far, about 300 or so feet from the looks of it. Nina slipped in behind me and shut the door behind her. We started up the staircase like mice, retracing our claws so they wouldn't make noise. We crawled up the stairs as low as we could, they creaked a little under our weight, but not enough to make anyone who heard us expect anything but aged metal and ocean waves. The floors past quickly, B1, F1, F2 and then we arrived at a door labeled F3. Nina slowly pulled the door open and I quickly slipped inside, finding the room empty. I guessed the commanders of the ship were either with the birthday dragon down on the deck or asleep.

“So nice of them to leave the room un-guarded”, Nina said.

“Let's get to work”, I said.

I popped two panels off the control console and set a small LEMP charge inside. I replaced the panels and watched the dials go dark as a small zap sounded behind them.

“That should keep it dark a while”, Nina said.

“Let's get down to the prison and get Shadow out of this mess”, I said.

Nina and I slipped out of the control room as quietly as we could and snuck back down stairwell to B3 floor. On the way down, a dragon voice came over the radio.

“Major Serelath”, it said, “this is Staff Sargent Aron, were in position outside the ship, ready to move in.”

“Stay put until I give the order”, I replied him.