In Space, We Don't Abandon Innocence

by David Silver

15 - Stay a While and Listen

Susan chewed on her lip as she gazed out at the city before her. A crowd of dragons milled around outside a high building, some entering and others leaving. Smoke, scent, sound, and activity filled the air with a heady mix of sights and sounds. As promised, the dragons had advanced to the point that ships that sailed the stars weren't unreasonable.

But they were still dragons. Though they had tall buildings, they were the minority compared to most that seemed one floor at most. Many were raised slabs of stone, dug into to recreate the illusion of the burrowed caves dragons found comfortable. Most had full environment controls. All had lighting. Some were open to the sky above. They were dragons, and what they built reflected that.

"This is wild." Susan paced just outside the shuttlecraft as she peered about. She reached up to press at her communication device on her ear. "All's clear here at the ship. How's the negotiation going?"

A long sigh came from Roger. "I'm working on it. Twilight's apparently something of a celebrity here. And also incredibly useful. Every dragon wants a little bit of her." He sounded distinctly frustrated with the situation. "Be advised that this might take longer than expected."

Sunset shrugged, next to Susan. "Looks like we get to guard things a bit longer. If you need a break, lemme know. These feet don't get sore." She pointed down to her simulated shoes.

"You're a peach, but I'm not giving up that easily." She watched the dragons going by with some suspicion. "This is my first real task. I'm not letting it go anything but perfectly."

Sunset whistled at that. "Famous last words. Let's aim for 'we did it decently' instead."

Susan arched a brow at that. "Deal. Or even, hey, wow, this turned out great. Now, I'm thinking this side of the ship looks good to stand around."

"On the left? I got the right." Sunset moved to take her new position. "I noticed something though."

"About the city?" Susan waved over the metropolis before them. "Amazing, right?"

"Sure, yeah." Sunset instead pointed to another ship. "But that one ain't a dragon ship. They're chums with some other races besides humans and themselves." She hummed gently as she focused on the ship. "Looks like some sort of trading vessel, one way or another. Bunch of crates coming off of it."

Susan stood at the edge of their own shuttle. "Huh. I'll keep an eye on that." She returned her attention to the area in front of the shuttle. "They'll bring what they need. We just have to stand guard and look pretty."

"Check." Sunset laughed as she saluted. "So far, so good. Oh, um, thanks. This is more interesting than guarding the library. Hope they can find their books while I'm away."

Susan snickered. "You think we're the only people to ever go through there? No way. They have programs. They won't be nearly as nice to talk to as you are, but they can get the job done." She shrugged at the idea. "You're way better though."

The two laughed as they scanned the area, alert for trouble around their ship.

---

Casey glanced over her shoulder. "Captain, why are we haggling about this? We're not a merchant vessel."

Roger scratched at his chin as he considered the situation. "No, we aren't, but these people don't know that." He pointed towards the collection of screens on one wall of the room. "That dragons out there is just like us. They want what we have and are willing to pay for it. If we fold too easily, they'll wonder if we're serious. Besides, we need the funds to buy more raw materials. We went through quite a bit building what we're selling."

Casey tugged at her own collar as she turned back to watch the various screens. The dragon negotiating with them was certainly unconcerned with notions of modesty, leaving much of his skin exposed. Fortunately, for a dragon, his skin was scaled entirely. There really wasn't anything to see that they didn't want seen. "I see." She turned her head back to her own console. "Their docking structure is simple, but effective."

Structure was, perhaps, a bit generous. There were no build things for the ship to be in, simply assigned zones that each ship was allowed to be in. The ship held its own position in an assigned area by choice. When the shuttle departed, it was a gentle push from their propulsion to keep them within the assigned area. The other ships they could see were performing similar dances to stay in their own areas.

It all seemed quite easy, but Casey still checked her instruments obsessively. As long as they stayed inside the allowed zones, there wouldn't be any trouble. "Rainbow's doing her part." She smiled, thoughts on the rainbow-colored program. "Helping me keep us in position."

"Glad to hear." Roger pressed a larger button. "Any thoughts?"

The dragon looked up towards Roger. "Hm? Ah, excellently timed. My apologies for the interruption, but one of our contacts needs an emergency evacuation from their planet. We are calling in the request now."

Roger raised a brow at that. "Alright. Are you able to handle that without our help?"

The dragon, female in tone, waved that offer away. "We can handle our own business. Now, let's talk about yours. We've appraised the crate you've released to us. These tools are acceptable, even if we might have done better ourselves. But their size is perfect." She flexed her hands. "Delicate work sometimes requires something like this."

The communicator on Roger's chest blipped once. He ignored it for the time being. "All made according to spec. I trust it meets your needs?"

She considered the screen showing the inside of the case in question. It was filled with little items of differing sizes, shapes, and colors. "What's this?" She poked at one in particular, a small hammer with a long handle and soft head. She laughed at it. "I hadn't realized you put in some wyrmling toys in here." She worked her fingers, separating the toys in the display from the rest. "You are the gift that keeps giving, it seems. I'll need to recalculate this. Out." She ended the call without ceremony.

Roger looked over at Casey. "If you get anything interesting, please alert me."

Casey offered a short nod. "Yes, Captain."

Roger smiled and raised his hand to answer his communicator. "Captain Roger here. Is something wrong?"

Smolder spoke from the other end. "Wrong? Yes. A trader crashed their ship in your area. They're asking for help."

Roger blinked with amazement. "Do you mean near our shuttle on the ground?"

"No." Smolder huffed, likely with more smoke involved. "They've lost power. They'll be drifting into the allotted space of your ship shortly. Stop it from leaving, keep it in one piece. We'll send some tugs along to ferry it safely away."

Roger narrowed his eyes. "Yes. We can do that." He gestured to Casey. "You heard all of that, I trust."

Casey swiped her hand over her screen, displaying a small ship approaching their shuttle at high speed. "Here it comes. How'd they crash it? No matter, informing the ship and working up a few plans to catch it."

The ship loomed large in their view screen, seeming as if it was about to slam into their ship. Twilight appeared in the center of the bridge. "Captain. I've worked out three potential plans to arrest the movement of the ship." She extended one wing. "Option one: We could ensnare it. Chance of success is near assured, but injuries to their crew would be quite high with the deceleration Gs placed on it."

Roger worked his jaw as he considered that. "Put that away for now." He leaned forward. "Next?"

Twilight lifted another wing. "We could use a tractor beam, or some form of energy push, to guide it to safety. We would have to follow it as we provided drag to slow its velocity until it reached a point we could bring it safely to a halt. We would have to cross into other ships' assigned areas. If we can coordinate with them to avoid any other collisions, the odds of injury are much lower."

Roger pressed a few buttons. "Send that to the ships in question. Coordinate this. Offer to trade information." He eyed the ship drawing closer to them. "But get it done. We're running out of time here. What's the third option?"

Twilight folded both her wings up. "We send an away shuttle, evacuate their personnel, then safely detonate their ship. You can imagine the downsides of that, but the odds of injury are the lowest."

Roger nodded along with that. "Too right." He opened a channel. "Susan? You're on your own. We've been drafted for a rescue operation. I'll contact you when it's over." He flipped channels quickly. "Yellow alert." And again. "Get word to other dragon vessels. We'll be coming in hot until we can slow that ship down. The faster they get out of the way, the safer everyone involved will be."

Twilight waved her wings. "I have informed the dragons."

The ship drew closer still, an almost visible blur of motion. How the ship had gotten so much speed, so close to the world, was unknown. They didn't spend time musing on it. They lashed it with attracting rays, enough to slow it, but not stop it. Their ship was pulled right along with it, becoming part of the crashed ship's cargo as they tried act as its brakes.

The only sound in the room was a collective hiss of breath. Everyone knew what happened if the ship escaped their reach. Then it slowed further, still out of control but heading for a soft impact in their holding zone. The other dragon ships had moved to one side or the other, none of them interested in being collided with.

"Now!" Twilight shouted, having no need to. "Increase power to the tractors and pull it in." She gestured with her wings towards the front of the ship, an extension of Roger's desire. The mesh network of power brightened around the damaged ship, drawing it powerfully. It groaned, though only the people on it could hear that, but came to a half without exploding.

A new image appeared, a smiling hippogriff. "Wow! Thanks! Phew, I thought we were really in a pickle there." He wiped his brow. "Everycreature's alright in here! Um, minus a few bumps and bruises. We'll handle that."

Roger cleared his throat. "Glad to help. As soon as the local dragons can send a tow ship, we'll get you on your way." He adjusted his collar as he thought of what to do next. "For now, we're keeping the towing lines on. We don't want you drifting off."

"No! No, that would be awful." The hippogriff looked around and at Roger specifically. "If you don't mind my asking, who are you? Besides our saviors, obviously." A crowd cheered somewhere off camera.

Roger shrugged with a chuckle. "We're new to the area. Our ship is here on a trade mission."

The hippogriff raised a feathered brow. "Yeah, uh, good luck with that. Not exactly the friendliest people in the galaxy."

"So we've gathered." Roger chuckled as he waved that away. "But we'll work it out." He glanced aside for a moment. He doublechecked that the ship was moving back towards its allotted space. "I should check in with Smolder. You okay over there?"

"All is good, thanks to you." Another cheer erupted around the hippogriff leader, and the call ended.

Smolder quickly replaced the cheerful hippogriff. "You're not dead, and I'm not looking at a bunch of paperwork." She rolled her eyes. "Not even fair, but since I let you in, any accidents that happen while you're there somehow become my fault! Ugh. Still, thanks. You saved a bunch of bird brains, and who knows what they would have crashed into."

Roger didn't quite hide his smile at that. "We were happy to help. While we're here, let's finish our trade mission." He tipped his head towards Casey, letting her focus on the negotiations with the dragon.

Smolder lifted her hands at that. "Hey, I work in security. I don't do number swapping. I'll leave that to other dragons, okay? Have fun." She flashed some odd sign, then vanished.

Casey went to work speaking to the other, more economic, dragon. "Mmhmm, good. Yes. Good." She inclined her head at the monitor. "Mmhmm, let me check with the captain." She hit the pause on the conversation. "Captain?"

"Yes?" Roger rubbed at his chin. "What's the holdup?"

"She's surprised that you've passed our terms." Casey leaned forward towards her screen. "Asking if there's a problem."

Roger directed the call to the main screen. "A pleasure to speak with you again." He leaned forward. "We're hoping this can be a long-term arrangement. Are there any problems?"

The dragon shook her head, dark eyes almost sparkling. "No. We are willing to commit to a trade deal." She motioned with her clawed hands. "I'll want to check in on things personally at some point. Part of me wonders if you're trying to get one over me. Mmm, but you aren't dragons. Are humans more like hippogriffs when it comes to trading? No matter. If you accept the terms, then so do we. Inform your agents on the ground and we'll start unloading immediately."

Roger beamed at that. "Oh, you won't be disappointed. Feel free to inspect things thoroughly." He waved as he cut the connection. "Alright, one part down. Next?"

Casey looked at her own screen. "Now we need an excuse for not leaving the dragon space immediately."

"Well." Roger waved one hand. "We could go down to the planet and do a little sightseeing."

Casey glanced over with some surprise. "Sir? We have responsibilities."

Roger leaned back in his chair with a casual wave. "Which include exploring. We have a whole world worth having a look at. That's not outside the scope of our mission. Check with our hosts about rules regarding such excursions."

Casey didn't stop looking surprised, but did return her attention to her own console. "A moment." She pressed a button or two, then nodded. "We can't land the entire ship, unless we're being repaired, likely at quite a cost. But we are permitted to send and receive shuttles from their port. They have to pass through immigration to receive a visiting visa, but can then remain for a limited time. So long as they follow local laws and leave before time runs out, there's no law against it."

"Importing anything from the surface to the ship is, as one might expect, subject to tax and inspection." She peered at Roger. "Are we going down?"

Roger rose from his seat. "Not all of us. But I feel it'd be a betrayal of our mission not to allow some of us to take some notes."

Author's Note:

We have goods if you have coins. Also, the hippogriffs are around, yay!

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Comments

[harts fire]

well there is a foot / hoof in the door. now will the dragons slam it shut?

[Booster Spice]

A new to a dragon prefered planet Away team?

how will they possibly see the Red shirts against the magma lakes before somedrag wants to play pool boy with them?

[Okie Brony]

We have goods if you have coins. Also, the hippogriffs are around, yay!

Yay.

I wonder if the different races of Equus all have their own planets now.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Slowly building more political/social bridges.