The importance of the Thirteen Heroes cannot be overstated. It was through their eternal wisdom that the homeworld was unified, allowing us to take our rightful place amongst the stars.
– Bishop Emphet Castos
The bizarre multicolored environment of Etherspace carried no sound, just like the vacuum of space. Even if Apex’s new body could scream and roar out loud, nothing would come of it.
This was fortunate, since otherwise everyone would know where he was.
Since he could not scream, Apexillos seethed. Sallus had gone to get some rest during the trip, wisely sensing that Apex was in no mood to discuss strategy or the situation.
They still lived.
In the chaos of the escape, he’d been forced to set aside his anger and the trauma of what had happened. Immediate survival and getting his bearings had taken precedence over processing the battle that, to him, had just happened.
In truth, many of the memories of that final battle were a little… jumbled. He remembered the highlights, and his recollection of everything leading up to that time was still clear. It was only once the battle with the so-called “heroes” had gotten desperate that things became hazy and uncertain.
Once more, the dragon turned his attention inward. Not to the strange devices inside him that let him see within, but his metaphysical senses. He felt the distant, sputtering candle of his draconic Essence, a mere ember compared to the roaring conflagration that it had been before. Even more distant, he could barely feel the flickering sparks of the rest of his power. Small, to him, but only because of their great distance.
He dared not reach deeper yet, to touch the source. If he could sense the other remnants of his power, then so too could they sense him. With luck, they had yet to notice that his own spark was active and fitfully fighting to grow again.
And that just made his anger come around again. Anger not only at what they had done, what these creatures had stolen from him, but anger that he was so… helpless now.
This body was even more physically impressive than his biological one, and that was nice, but Great Dragons such as himself cared less about physical bodies and more about the power within. Besides, as impressive as this body was, he had already seen that there were machines of war in this time that could be a threat even to this massive… ship.
Oddly, the idea of being a manner of conveyance for Lesser Folk bothered him much less than he thought it would.
“We’re about to exit Etherspace, Apex. Are you feeling any better, big guy?”
He had not been monitoring his internal rooms, so Apexillos did not realize Sallus was up. It didn’t surprise him, though… she had said she intended to be up in a few hours.
“Your manner of address is lacking in respect,” he growled back at her without looking inward. He’d spent an hour or two perfecting that trick, allowing himself to keep his attention on the rainbow tunnel.
“If I were the sort to respect authority, I wouldn’t be riding inside a resurrected dragon patched together with spare parts while plotting to murder the rulers of the galaxy.”
Apex snorted to himself internally. He couldn’t argue with that, and her irreverent attitude did not chafe him as much as he implied. He could forgive a lot in pursuit of a common goal, and even without knowing much about the world he’d been reborn into, he could tell she had sacrificed much to be here. He still had scattered memories of just before awakening, and knew that several had died to allow him to launch. They were likely companions of Sallus. Not to mention that putting together this body, rickety and old as it seemed to be, had clearly been an expensive endeavor for a mortal being.
Which lead him to believe she had her own reasons for hating these heroes as much as he did.
That did not mean he trusted her… but for now, their goals aligned.
A mild tugging sensation rippled through his mechanical body, and a moment later the rainbow tunnel of Etherspace collapsed in on itself, jolting the dragon ship into real space. Stars resolved around him, with one in particular, off to his left, brighter than the others.
“I’m going to do a quick EVA to see what I can do about the damage outside. I’ve already done what I can inside. Had to bypass a mana condenser, so that side might feel a little sluggish until we get a proper repair done. I’ll link my suit to this room’s comms so you can still talk to me, until you figure out how to do it yourself.”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Apexillos didn’t respond immediately, now taking the time to admire the starry sky without the filter of the atmosphere. Even a Great Dragon could take a few moments to appreciate being in a new environment, far from anywhere they had traveled before. He’d lived centuries before his death, so the novelty of just floating in space, nothing for leagues around him, almost helped to calm his anger at how he’d ended up here.
Almost.
“We should discuss what your plans were, as I imagine they have been changed.” He felt some tickling as he said that, and directing his attention to his side, he saw the clumsy-looking suit the elf wore while working on the hole in his side. “I am clearly not a ship meant for only one to crew.”
Sparks flew as Sallus did a spot weld on a damaged component. “No, this wasn’t the plan.” She sighed through the intercom. “I had an entire organization, most of whom were in that hideout. We’d planned to have a few more years to replace your plating, upgrade your systems, and mount modern weaponry. We’d already prepared the ritual because we intended on calling you to the body sometime during that process, not as an emergency. We would have negotiated and worked on the details of a plan together.”
She peeled away from his side and, with small jets of white hissing from the pack on her back, made her way toward a hatch in Apex’s side. Now that he was in normal space instead of the psychedelic corridor of Etherspace, he could see the scrapes and pock marks across his armored faux-hide, hinting at centuries of service just as she’d said. He was not a new vessel, that was certain.
“You’re right, a Draconis vessel was meant to have a crew of over one hundred, minimum,” she agreed with a neutral tone. “And had our plans worked out, we might have been able to provide that. Fortunately, with you inhabiting the vessel, we don’t really need that crew. You can even fly without me, but you’ll run into problems the first time you need to dock for repairs.”
Apex rumbled quietly to himself, watching the elf open the airlock and ease into his side. It may not bother him to be a vessel, but it was still surreal watching someone crawl inside him. That disconnect made his head throb, a brief spike of disorientation that he had to fight down.
“You are remarkably candid about your own value,” the dragon noted. “When we first spoke, I thought you were going to attempt to make yourself indispensable.”
“I thought about it.” Again, Sallus was bluntly honest, it seemed to Apex. He knew she had secrets, still, but her candid answers continued to flow. “But that would be a mistake, especially with the loss of the Cult. The fact is, I need you more than you need me… I think. If I tried to force it, you’d realize that pretty quickly. The legends never said Great Dragons were stupid. It’s better if you just know our goals are aligned. I’m convenient to have, and not a threat.”
“You are probably right,” Apex grumbled. His eyes scanned all the empty space around him. He’d expected something significant to be closer. Had they just run to the middle of nowhere?
“This does not answer my question of a plan.”
It took Sallus a little time to answer, this time. His internal ship layout was large enough that walking back to the bridge took some time. He could tell, because he looked inward and watched her navigate the corridors. His camera footage did not cover anywhere close to every location inside, but he was getting much better at using it, and had begun to build a mental map of the internal layout of his body. The hollow, livable parts with atmosphere were only a small percentage of his massive frame, which seemed strange to him. Not at all like the sailing vessels he had known.
“The original plan was to sneak you in to the first target, but that’s not happening.” Sallus finally answered as she dropped into her chair at the bridge. Apex turned his attention back to the stars, listening through the intercom.
“Now, my plan is to first come up with a plan.” He heard the dry humor in her voice… but he could also guess that she was desperate. Did she even have supplies loaded into him? He had not seen her eat since their escape. “Step one is to reliably repair and restock you, since without you I don’t think I have a chance of getting what I want. I’m sure you want some updates as well. You’re mostly obsolete tech, aside from the plasma lance, and that’s a pretty situational weapon. You don’t even have a working shield generator.”
Apex snorted again. “So you are saying I am weak compared to the vessels I must face?”
“Not exactly weak,” she admitted. “Compared to a modern cruiser? Yes. You mass quite a lot, but without weapons there’s not much you can do, and your mana circuits are in need of a complete overhaul if you want to use actual magic. But that’s why I chose these coordinates… because compared to a patrol corvette, you’re dangerous. You’d have to be careful, but if you ambush a small corvette, you could disable it with your claws and mass.”
He paused at the implication of what she was saying. “You believe I should find a… patrol of some kind and assault it? Do not your people have laws and rules against such things?” His tone was not shocked, merely… amused, with a low rumble in the speech. He made a mental note to ask about fixing the speech and how it sounded. It was good for intimidation, but he much preferred his more refined, actual voice.
The elf’s voice let out a bit of laughter. “Well, I certainly can’t use the money I had in my old account, now that I’ve been exposed. I have other IDs – by the way, don’t turn on your beacon unless I tell you – but getting funds will be difficult.”
Apex grunted. He only understood some of that, but it did make it very plain that she’d forgotten to tell him important details. He had been wary of trying anything he didn’t understand, so had yet to try to turn on the beacon that the informational window had mentioned, but the lack of a plan meant he could stumble into a mistake all too quickly.
“And your solution?”
“This is right on the edge of unclaimed space.” Sallus paused, but without looking Apex had no idea why. “There’s a port of call not too far from here that isn’t aligned with any of the Principalities, but it is also close to the border. The Commonwealth sends out patrols to keep the area safe at regular intervals, and those are military craft. Not new, but better equipment than what the civilians can normally get.”
He saw where this was going already. “And you are suggesting we ambush the patrol, take any valuables, and sell them off at this port, is that it? That could attract attention.”
