-KAJA-

  "Strap in!" Kaja yelled to Artos and Portos. She grabbed the StarHawk’s controls and turned off the autopilot as Artos and Portos scrambled to get into the two remaining seats in the cockpit.

  Ramis had activated the weapons. Kaja saw him select a set of cannons and aim them at the dragon. The weapons system consisted of a control panel, two sets of joysticks, and a viewing screen. Ramis aimed at the dragon and squeezed the trigger. He screamed expletives as he fired.

  Kaja watched the dragon and its rider on the holographic screen. The dragon easily dodged the energy beams Ramis had fired, and the dragon rider raised his sword again. He made a gesture, and the dragon opened its jaws. Its eyes flashed a brilliant blue.

  "Oh no," Kaja said. She pushed hard on the ship's controls, forcing it into a sudden dive. A blue beam of mana burst out of the dragon's mouth and blasted through the space they had just been in.

  "Why can't we just have some rest?" Ramis moaned. The dragon dove after them.

  "I'm contacting the Flagship!" Portos called out.

  Kaja didn't respond. Her eyes and attention were focused solely on flying the ship. They dived rapidly towards a forest of large trees with jagged peaks. Kaja banked the ship hard, causing them to move from vertical to horizontal almost instantly. The move was executed well, but she heard some of the ship's fastenings strain in protest. She glanced at the holographic image and saw the dragon mirror her maneuver with ease.

  Kaja cursed.

  [That is a very agile dragon.] The Master Cube said.

  "I don't need the running commentary." Kaja sneered.

  [Sorry.]

  "Ramis!" Kaja screamed as they shot over the treetops. "Shoot it down!"

  "I'm trying!" Ramis shot back.

  He cycled through weapons, firing cannons and blaster bolts at the creature.

  The dragon dodged everything.

  "There are some advanced weapons here," Ramis said. "But they're locked behind some access keys."

  "Master Cube?" Kaja said to the device on the dashboard.

  [Unlocking weapons.] The device said. [...done.]

  Ramis whooped with joy. "Grenades!" He cried. He aimed his newly selected weapon and fired it at the dragon.

  A small oblong metallic projectile flew at the dragon. The dragon dodged, but then the projectile exploded, releasing a shockwave that blew the dragon out of the sky.

  Kaja watched as the beast and its rider fell and disappeared into the trees.

  Ramis pumped his fist in the air. "Yeah!" he cried.

  "Well done Ramis," Artos said.

  Kaja breathed a sigh of relief. She angled the ship into the sky. She could see the Flagship in the distance. It had stopped, hovering in space. Kaja was sure the people on board had been watching in shock.

  ‘I wonder if they knew there would be dragons,’ she thought.

  As if answering her, Portos spoke up.

  "The Flagship said to fly closer to them. Apparently the thing that attacked us is called a Rhega. But they've never heard of one with a rider before."

  ‘A rhega then, not a dragon; though it basically looked like one.’

  "I think flying close to the flagship is a bad idea," Artos said. "The Flagship may be big but it's not built for combat and fast maneuvers like we are. It barely has weapons. If another Rhega comes, they may not fare as well as we did."

  ‘Did we really fare well?’ Kaja thought.

  [Kaja?]

  ‘We only ran away. We were lucky it didn't know that was a grenade we threw at it.’

  [Kaja?]

  "What?" Kaja said to the Master Cube.

  [It's back.]

  Kaja looked at the holographic image. Sure enough, she could see a distinct shape rising out of the forest, blue light streaming behind it.

  "Ramis!" she cried and pointed at the screen. Ramis quickly aimed the weapons again. Kaja could see the rhega and its rider clearer now.

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  The rhega's right flank and wing were singed and trailing faint whispers of smoke, but that didn't appear to affect the creature’s ability to fly. The rider had also been affected. The right side of his armour had been burnt black by the explosion, and his helmet was cracked. However, the armour overall seemed to have done its job.

  Ramis fired more grenades, but their assailants had learned. They skillfully avoided the blast radius of the grenades and when they couldn't, they blew the grenades up with the rhega's blast breath before the grenades could get close.

  The beast and its rider were getting closer. Kaja jerked the controls, resuming her evasive maneuvers. Again, they dove towards the forest, but this time the rhega didn't follow. Instead, it continued to fly upwards towards the Flagship.

  "Oh no," Kaja whispered. She redirected the StarHawk to pursue them.

  "It might be a trap," Artos warned. "They might turn to face us when we get close."

  Kaja agreed, but they couldn't leave the Flagship hanging. Portos was shouting warnings to the Flagship over the comms, and Kaja could see movement along the ship's surface. A set of three guns unfolded and pointed at the rhega.

  "They said we should get out of the way," Portos yelled.

  Kaja nodded. She guided the StarHawk to the side, and the Flagship fired its guns. Simple blaster bolts lanced at the rhega.

  It dodged them easily.

  "That's not going to work!" Ramis shouted. He turned to Portos. "Grenades! Tell them they need grenades to kill that thing."

  "Your grenades didn't work anymore," Portos snapped.

  Ramis pouted, but his initial point was right, Kaja thought. The simple weapons the Flagship had would not work.

  The rhega opened its mouth, and Kaja whirled to face Portos.

  "Tell them to dodg-"

  It was too late.

  The rhega shot its blue beam straight into the Flagship. The beam smashed into the ship's shields and dissipated in a blue wave. The Flagship remained undamaged.

  Again Ramis punched the air and whooped.

  "Don’t celebrate," Artos said gravely. "The shields won't hold out."

  Ramis sighed. "Can't you be positive Artos?"

  But Artos was right. The rhega's beam breath was powerful. If it kept shooting, the Flagship's shields would fall in no time.

  "We need to step in," Kaja said.

  She pushed the controls and they sped towards the rhega. She didn't need to issue a command to Ramis. As soon as they got close, he started firing. He fired simple blaster bolts but they were enough to get the rhega's attention. It turned into a dive and flew at them.

  "Tell the Flagship to get out of here!" Kaja instructed Portos. Portos nodded and began yelling the instructions over the comms.

  ‘Time to dance.’ Kaja thought to herself. She knew technology, and she knew starships. That knowledge extended to flying too. She had spent a lot of time piloting starships. She knew how to fly, and she knew how to fly well.

  She led the rhega across the treetops, cutting and weaving, dodging its beam whenever it fired. As she did, she kept an eye on the Flagship signal. They had obeyed her instruction and were flying away at full throttle.

  "They left us a signal to follow if we get free," Portos said.

  "When we get free," Kaja and Ramis responded in unison. They glanced at each other and grinned.

  [Kaja?]

  "What?" Kaja asked the Master Cube. She was beginning to resent the Master Cube’s voice. So far, it had only spoken up to give bad news.

  [Something is happening.] The Master Cube said.

  Kaja looked at the holographic screen. The rhega was still flying after them, but its rider was no longer in the saddle.

  ‘What did I miss?’

  [On your left.]

  Another holographic image popped up, showing the left side of the StarHawk. There Kaja saw the rider, streaking through the air with a set of bony wings which had thin membranes.

  "He can fly?!" Everyone in the cockpit said in unison.

  The rider held his sword in one arm. He pointed it at them, and blue energy coalesced around it.

  ‘Oh no,’ Kaja thought.

  He shot the beam at them, and Kaja dodged. But her sharp turn sent her straight towards the rhega's own beam.

  She tried to maneuver out of the way, but the rhega's beam cut through the StarHawk's wing. Kaja lost control. The StarHawk spiralled and smashed into the trees. They flipped multiple times until finally everything stopped spinning.

  Kaja groaned. Everything hurt, and her vision was a blur. She could hear a million warning signals beeping all at once.

  When her vision finally cleared, she saw that the StarHawk had cut a groove into the forest. The windshield was broken and the engines were sizzling.

  Her companions seemed to have fared worse than she did. Their seatbelts had kept them in their seats, but the sudden forces and perhaps wayward debris had knocked them out.

  [Kaja?]

  Kaja took in a few breaths before responding. "Yeah?"

  [He's coming.]

  Kaja looked through the smashed windshield and saw the rhega’s rider fly down and land in the clearing the StarHawk had created.

  Kaja tapped at her seatbelts, releasing them. She wobbled forward and retrieved the Master Cube from the dashboard.

  "Do you trust me?" she asked the machine.

  [Of course.]

  Kaja glanced back at her three friends. That was what they were to her now. She hoped what she was about to do would keep them all safe.

  Kaja crept out of the broken windshield and dropped to the ground. The air was moist and smelled like honey. Kaja could hear various creatures calling out to each other in the trees. Their crash had undoubtedly caused a stir. The surrounding sound was suddenly drowned out by a crash as the rhega itself landed behind the rider.

  "Here we go," Kaja said to herself. She lifted the Master Cube into the air.

  "This is a bomb!" she cried. "If you come any closer, I will detonate it. And trust me, it is strong enough to kill all of us."

  The rider didn't move.

  Kaja could see through his cracked helmet that he was Chintari. He had red eyes and dark blue skin.

  "Let my friends go," Kaja said. "Do that and I will come with you. I won't detonate the bomb."

  [Ramis was right.] The Master Cube said. [You are very brave and kind. Though you could have just threatened him with the bomb. Maybe he would have left.]

  "Nah," Kaja responded. "This isn't the kind of guy to leave with nothing."

  The rider began to walk forward.

  Kaja eyed him warily. "Okay that's enough!" she said when he was just a few feet away.

  He spoke with a clear, strong voice. "That's a Master Cube," he said.

  Kaja's heart sank.

  [Whoops. Plan foiled.]

  The rider continued speaking. "Are you telling me that you have managed to change this Master Cube into a bomb?"

  [Or maybe not.]

  "Uh...yes?"

  The rider thought for a while. "I accept your offer," he said. "I will spare your friends. But that means you and your Master Cube will come with me."

  "Alright," Kaja said, shakily.

  ‘What am I getting myself into?’ she thought. ‘And why am I doing this? Is it guilt for all that I've done wrong?’

  [I think it's just who you are.] The Master Cube commented.

  "Come," the rider said. He turned around and began to walk to the rhega.

  Kaja glanced at the ship then back to the rider. "I guess I won't get to pack," she said.

  [That's good Kaja. Humor is a great defense mechanism.]

  Kaja groaned.