“They’ll stay away from one another… maybe a few hundred years?” Drogan figured.
“Which is a few lifetimes for us to figure out a more permanent solution,” said Machaeus, “It all rides on you, Drogan… much as I make it seem like you work for me, you do have a choice. And that choice is powerful. I hope you won’t disappoint me,” said Machaeus. Drogan didn’t have a chance to close his propped jaw before his connection to Machaeus severed. He sat there, claws on his scaly knees. He was quiet. For the first time in years, his mind was quiet, at least to those outside it. The reality was that there were so many crossed signals of thought that the noise was indistinguishable.
“Drogan?” DA-Vos said, when he could bear it no longer.
“I need you to do some digging, DA-Vos,” Drogan finally got out. His mind was hardly so singular. “Find me an outerworld pilot from the Milky Way. We need squeaky clean, preferably a woman.”
“Chris... there might be another-
“Not here, DA-Vos. We’ll talk on the way. Just find me someone,” Drogan cut him short, “And please… don’t call me that.”
Chapter Sixteen: The Billionaire Boat
“Where are you going?” Miller caught Dawn’s shoulder.
“We’re launching. I was going to head back to my room to begin watching the plants grow until we get to Mukurus,” Dawn told him. They’d spent the last hour boarding the newly repaired and stocked Arcadia. The viewing screen behind them turned for the surging blue Skyline.
“The Captain should be in her chair when the ship sets out,” said Miller.
“Her chair? I figured you’d be raring to get back in the throne,” said Dawn.
“I would, but… I fear one of my best qualities was always to know when I’m beat. Doesn’t mean I always back down, but this time… well, that seat’s yours now, Dawn.”
“Miller. I’m a pilot. I was never meant to be-”
“You beat me, at every turn. The way you talk to Marcus. The way you manage the crew. Everything you do impresses me, Dawn. As current Captain, it’s my duty to do what’s best for this ship and its crew. Right now, that means stepping down,” Dawn hardly believed the words, or the fact that Miller choked on half of them.
“Miller, I…” Dawn drifted off when his fingers clasped tighter around her shoulder. He moved her over to the Captain’s throne.
“Have a seat, Captain.” Miller sat her down, and stepped aside. He wandered off to a seat among the rest of the crew before she could call him back. Eyes waited on her from around the room. Dawn cleared her throat.
“Alice. Let’s embark.”
Two days in the cosmic blue pipe, Dawn found she had much more to watch than the plants grow in her room. Marcus had the Arcadia’s weapon stores upgraded to the best the WCC had to offer before they left, but that couldn’t explain the Chrysum miniguns and phase-blades that quite literally appeared around the ship. They came in crates. They came in cases. They came in anything but an official WCC casing. Dawn started a detailed log of their armory, to make sure nothing was simply misplaced and rediscovered. It took two days of mysterious appearances and crew interviews for her to determine that these weapons were, in fact, new. All of them were also unregistered.
“So you just found it in the cargo hold?” Dawn asked Reese.
“Yeah. I was there not five minutes earlier - no box. Then all of a sudden…” his eyes wandered to the latched steel case in question. Inside was a fusion pulse launcher, a technology hardly in beta in WCC labs Dawn knew of.
“You don’t have any idea where it came from?” Dawn asked.
“None. Obviously, the hatch didn’t open,” said Reese.
“Obviously… alright, get back to work,” Dawn dismissed him. She jotted a note and wandered over to the reatomizer. Dawn hung a hand in the tall column of silvery lights. The air inside was still warm. “Alice, check the logs for an atomizer delivery in the past two hours.”
“A fuse pulse launcher was delivered fifteen minutes ago,” Alice’s voice fell on her.
“Cargo bank F?”
“Yes.”
“Who ordered this delivery?” asked Dawn.
“I did,” Alice told her.
“Wha- why? Who authorized you to purchase this?” Dawn asked, “It doesn’t even look like it’s within regulations.”
“The WCC armed us with the best they had, but I hardly trust that. The worst thing they ever have to deal with on Earth are insurrection groups with dated gear. I saw better bootlegged weapons when we were on Neptune. These were made by scared people who have actually seen Dragons,” Alice explained.