We juked and dodged like mad as the sky literally turned red with laser
blasts. Screaming across the ground *centimeters* above the tops of sand
dunes, we returned fire as best we could. It was like shooting a squirt gun
up into a downpour.
	Rock formations blew apart all around us, sand was melted to glass, and the
air turned almost unbreathable from the heat. Passing under the main body of
the enemy fleet, we were almost vaporized by thunderous volleys from the
underside guns of their battleship line. Empire flitters swarmed all around
us, but they were forced to attack more infrequently than one might expect,
dodging fire from the capital ships high above. More than one flitter met
its end in the grossly misnamed phenomenon known as friendly fire.
	Firing wildly at an onrushing group of flitters, I managed to scatter them
and we broke through an opening, sailing up and away from our pursuers
behind us. We had passed by the worst of enemy fleet, and thankfully were no
longer in the battleships' fields of fire. As most of the pursuing flitters
broke off, I breathed a brief sigh of relief. The reprieve was only
temporary, however, as I noticed a bizarre Empire airship had detached from
the main group, and was moving towards us at a speed I had never seen from
an airship before.
	The odd craft was the size of two destroyers, twice as wide as it was long,
and looked vaguely like two globes fused together side-by-side. Several
flaring fins jutted out the back, and I could make out turrents of some sort
on the top and bottom of it.
	My attention was drawn to the rear of the airship as it disgorged several
large projectiles. Flame spewed from the rear of those projectiles, turning
them into the oddest missile I had ever seen in my life. Spinning like a
top, the missiles dove all the way to the desert floor, almost colliding
with it, and then climbed high into the sky and dove again, homing lazily in
on our position. I almost casually blasted them out of the air, nearly
losing my grip on my dragon as they detonated massively, sending huge
shockwaves through the air. Regaining my composure, I fired at this unusual
airship, surprised to find my laser was only chipping away at the thick
shell armour of the craft. In the meantime, the airship had launched more
conventional missiles; three homing missiles resembling tropical fish
streaked from the rear of the craft, and two heavy triangular missiles tore
from side launch tubes, heading in our general direction. We dodged the
heavy missiles and shot the fish-like ones out of the air, and I prompted my
dragon to bank right in behind the craft.
	I had to dodge quickly as six small missiles closed on us from the
direction those heavy missiles had travelled in; the heavy missiles had
broken apart upon missing us, sending these smaller ones back the way they
came. Deciding I'd had enough of this, I fired a steady stream of laser
pulses into the rear of the airship. No sooner had I opened fire than a long
green beam lanced out and struck my dragon. Fearing the worst, I tried to
urge my dragon into a dive. The Kouriheat struggled, but for some reason we
couldn't break free of the beam, which as it turned out wasn't harming the
dragon, merely holding it in place. The two ominous-looking cannons that
were pivoting around to point at us, however, undoubtedly *would* hurt us,
so I fired at the source of the emerald beam. There was a small explosion,
and the beam winked out, releasing us. We dove and banked just as the other
two cannons fired, angry red pulses converging on empty air.
	Two more of those odd swerving missiles appeared, and an idea occured to
me. Annihilating those missiles and bracing for the shockwave, we juked and
dodged until I noticed another pair appear in their launcher. I fired
everything we had into those missiles before they could launch, detonating
them and blowing the whole rear of the airship off. The remainder of the
craft plummeted to the desert and crashed, sending up a huge plume of sand
as it hit.
	Looking around to make sure there were no additional pursuers, we shed a
little altitude and rocketed northwest, straight towards the principle
cities of the Empire.

	I walked through the streets of downtown Taveid, a sprawling city on the
edge of the Inner Empire, feeling almost naked without my armour and
blaster. They were waiting for me with my dragon in a cave well outside the
city walls. I was forced to enter the city because of my dwindling food,
water, and Feska essence supply; the first two seemed to exist only on farms
in this region, which were under heavy guard this close to the front lines.
Upon approaching the city gates, I had been challenged to name the fifth
Emperor and had responded with the only Emperor's name I knew. Fate once
more smiled on me as that had proven to be correct, and I was allowed into
the city.
	I had sold the body of a Kanta ray, one I had killed on the outskirts of
Ceero just prior to crossing over into the Eastern Continent, getting a
less-than-fair price for it, but more than enough to purchase what I needed.
After buying a sack of Feska essence at the alchemist's table at the market,
I treated myself to a well-prepared meal of Kanta steak. Refreshed, I
refilled my canteens at a public font and now returned to the marketplace in
search of some nonperishable food supplies.
	Perusing the tables, I was sorely tempted by some delicious-smelling
pastries at an old lady's table, but settled on the more nutritious - if not
exactly appetizing - choice of preserved Marlack meat.
	It had been quite some time since I last experienced the hustle-and-bustle
of life amongst humans... almost two months now... I felt a twinge of
nostalgia, an urge to simply take up residence here, maybe start a farm...
live out my days in peace.
	I shook my head, dissolving those thoughts; they were a luxury I couldn't
afford. I had chosen to fight the black dragon, and I owed it to myself, my
Kouriheatan friend, and our two species to see it through to the end. I was
so engrossed in my musings that by the time I looked up, I was totally lost.
The sun drifted low in the western sky, and I tried to get my bearings.
	At that moment, no fewer than six large men strode onto the deserted street
where I stood. Warning bells went off in my head; these people didn't seem
like the type to want to chat. It was at that moment I noticed the uniforms
they wore; Imperial Civil Security.
	"There's a curfew," the first one told me. "No people on the streets after
sunset."
	"But the sun's still up." I protested, not liking the looks I got from some
of them.
	"So?" the first one asked. "But seeing how this is your first offence,
*right*?" I nodded, vaguely wondering what the penalty was for blowing up
enough Empire airships to conquer a small continent. "Well, then, we might
let you off... with a little *persuasion*." The others gave murmurs of
assent, eyeing me evilly.
	"I don't have any money," I replied cautiously, taking a step backwards. "I
spent it all in the market today."
	"In that case, we're going to have to deal with you." one of the others
said, cracking his knuckles. I set myself for a fight, but then felt a
presence closing on my location. I heard several shouts of panic and smiled
grimly.
	"Before you do that, you might want to look behind you." I said smugly.
They all laughed at me, telling me they were too smart to fall for that one.
One of them, however, did glance over his shoulder, doing an astonished
double-take and alerting his comrades as he saw what was hovering behind him.
	My Kouriheatan friend let out the most hideous, formidable, bloodcurdling
scream I had ever heard him utter mere centimeters from these thugs' faces,
the sheer volume of it shaking the ground and rattling the walls of the
nearby houses. Two of them fainted right there, while the rest tripped over
themselves in an effort to get away, running like crazy when they were free.
I didn't stop laughing until they were well into the distance. Walking up to
where my dragon had landed, I patted it on its armoured neck. "Thanks." I
said, still shaking my head. The Kouriheat let out an amused chirp as I
donned my armour, obviously enjoying this as much as I was. After a moment
we took off with the setting sun to our backs, leaving behind a confused
city garrison and six Imperial guards who would think twice before
assaulting anyone ever again...

	The towering marble walls of Genos, the capital city of the Empire, loomed
before us. The entire city was inhabited by highly-screened servants of the
Emperor, who did everything from attending the Emperor's sometimes
extravagant wishes to polishing the marble walls, streets, and buildings of
the city every other day. That we had managed to get this close to the city
was an indication of just how much of the Empire's might had been sent to
crush Mechania; normally, the sky over Genos would be filled with dozens of
battleships, over a hunderd destroyers, and the Emperor's personal flagship.
Now, although the mighty flagship still cast a shadow over the Imperial
Palace, its escort fleet was barely larger than the one I had defeated at
the Mechanian crash site back in the desert.
	I was surprised as my dragon banked up and over the city wall, flying
extremely low down a side street, cutting under clotheslines as we drifted
down the surprisingly wide road. Below us, people pointed up and scattered,
and cries of panic could be heard everywhere. Nevertheless, we drove on
towards the Imperial Palace as I kept a nervous eye on the flagship, half
expecting it to start bombarding us at any moment. That did not happen, and
we shot up the steep wall of the palace, flying into the Emperor's expansive
throne room. I was shocked to see the black dragon sitting in front of the
Emperor and raised my cannon to fire, but the blue dragon urged me not to.
Reluctantly, I lowered the weapon as we drifted to a landing near the two of
them.
	"So you did come," the Emperor said to me. He turned to the black dragon.
"It seems you were correct, after all." The black dragon merely grunted in
response, turning on me with a look so hateful it shocked and terrified me,
but only for a moment.
	"My young friend, why do you oppose us?" the Emperor asked me. "Once we
have crushed the Mechanians, there will be peace. As allies, we would be a
poten..."
	"*You* attacked *us*," I reminded him. "And I'm not sure peace is worth the
price of your rule."
	The Emperor's tone became angry. "We attacked you because you assaulted the
black dragon, *unprovoked*, outside the Mechanian crash si..."
	"That's a lie!" I shouted. The Emperor held up a hand to silence me, and
despite my anger, I decided to hear him out.
	"It doesn't matter; what's done is done. I say we make a new beginning.
Together, we can maintain order all over the globe. Humanity can prosper
again," I gasped. "Yes, that's right, I too know of the history of mankind.
I believe we can return to that world, a world where human and Kouriheat
live on equal terms."
	I wanted so much to believe him... "But what of the black dragon?" I shot
back, pointing at it. "What is its role in this?"
	"The black dragon is our ally in pea..."
	I snorted a laugh. "You are a fool! The black dragon desires only the
destruction of humanity. You may have seen humanity's past, but have you
seen the black dragon's? If you had, you would understand that it believes
there can be no reconciliation with humanity, and even subservience wouldn't
be tolerated. No, what the black dragon desires is genocide, and if you were
any kind of a leader, you'd order your war fleets to turn on *that*!" I
finished, pointing at the black dragon.
	The black dragon screeched at me, and I felt its considerable psychic
powers reach out and seize my mind. I was flooded with countless images of
humans killing and slaying Kouriheat. The deluge was more than I could
handle; my heart pounded and my breath caught, and I felt myself slipping
away. Then a more familiar force intervened, shutting out those images. I
held my chest, gasping for air; that was another one I owed the blue dragon.
	"I see," the Emperor replied emotionlessly. "I don't think we have anything
further to discuss... wait, what are you doing?! NOO..."
	The Emperor's scream was cut off as the mammoth tail of the black dragon
came down on his head, crushing him with a meaty 'thwack!' Eyes burning, the
black dragon turned towards me. "Wh... why?!" was all I could manage.
	'The seeds of doubt were planted; I could not let him live,' I heard the
black dragon's voice in my mind. Obviously it had had much more experience
in communicating with humans. 'Besides, it was an excuse to do away with one
more human, one of the more vile ones, if I do say so myself. And now I will
deal with you...'
	"Wait!" I pleaded. "Let us talk first! I..." I was cut off as two guards
burst into the throne room.
	"Emperor!" the first one shouted, staring as the mess of bones and blood on
what used to be the throne. He then looked up to me, pointing. "The blue
dragon has killed the Emperor! Sound the alarms!"
	I wondered about the guards' reaction; not only were we across the room
from the Emperor's remains, but a huge red bloodstain was evident on the
black dragon's tail. Then I realized that the black dragon had manipulated
the guards' minds, causing them to see what it wanted them to see. Deciding
it would be best not to be caught underneath the flagship of an Empire whose
Emperor you were charged with murdering, I urged my dragon to fly out of the
open throne room, diving alongside the palace walls and sticking close to
the rooftops as we fled the city.

	Shaking the Empire's pursuit fleet had not been easy; cut off from
returning west we turned east, finally losing them over the Panean Sea.
Panea stretched across the horizon, an Imperial domain, to be sure, but
hopefully not a well-armed one. I cursed the latest turn of events; if
Empire forces were hostile before, they'd be positively ruthless with us
now. I could almost picture the black dragon chortling back in the throne
room; once more it had successfully manipulated the pathetic humans into
doing all its work for it. The situation was so ironic it was ludicrous; the
black dragon was humanity's greatest threat, and we were mankind's best
hope, and the black dragon had just tricked a good chunk of humanity into
attacking us for it. Reasoning with it was seeming less and less likely...
	A thought occured to me. Perhaps after reputedly killing the leader of
their enemy, Mechania would become our ally. Frowning, I dismissed that
idea; Mechanians only tolerated total servitude, and besides, they weren't
the type of allies we needed. Feeling as if the whole world had turned
against me and my dragon, we pressed on to Panea, hoping to perhaps somehow
to draw the black dragon to us...

	"It's hopeless..." I lamented, tossing a clump of dirt into the Feska fire,
watching it disintegrate. "The black dragon will hang around Genos and we'll
never be able to get within a thousand kilometers of it without forty
destroyers crawling all over us."
	The blue dragon did nothing, simply watching me from where it rested.
	"And reasoning with it... hah!" I shook my head. "It killed its closest
ally because he *might* possibly become wary of its motives! I don't think
it'll cut us much slack," I looked up at the Kouriheat. "Will you quit
staring at me like that?! I can't help it that we lost... twice. Weapons
failed, reasoning failed... what's left?!"
	The blue dragon still remained silent, just looking at me with those
seemingly human eyes. I felt myself giving in, even though I was certain it
wasn't influencing me. "Oh, all right, I suppose we can give it another go.
What do we have to lose?" No reaction. I shook my head, chuckling wryly.
"Damn, I hate it when you do that..."

	Panea had not proven hospitable; two days and sixteen downed airships
later, we headed north into the Layan mountains. We were forced to alter
that course, however, as an Empire war fleet came dangerously close to
spotting us. Despairing at the ever-increasing distance between us and the
black dragon, we headed southeast, towards the tropical jungles of the Thao
peninsula.

	Flying in amongst the trees of the forest, just scant meters above the
underbrush, I was reminded of the last time we flew through such a forest;
hopefully we would have better luck this time.

	I believe those were my exact thoughts as we soared into a slight clearing
and stumbled on a rather large Marlack den.

	Firing wildly at several Marlack as they attempted to bat us out of the
air, we banked left and were about to climb above the treetops when we
spotted it.
	Four Empire destroyers escorted a huge warship, its size rivalling the
flagship's. It wasn't anywhere near as large as the crashed Mechanian ship,
but its odd shape seemed to be that of two ships grafted onto each other.
Deciding I'd rather deal with the ferocious but none too bright Marlack than
an unknown Empire ship, we refrained from climbing as I turned to fire at my
foes.
	I gasped in horror as a Marlack queen tore through the jungle behind us,
bowling over trees as if they were twigs. The queen resembled a
shell-covered catlike creature, with an almost feline face, scorpion-like
tail, and lobster-like claws. Screeching like a banshee, it quickly gained
on us as we were forced to dodge and weave in amongst the trees. Just when I
thought it would run us down it leapt completely clear of the forest,
landing in front of us and turning to swat us out of the air.
	Diving suicidally, we barely ducked underneath its massive claw, my
dragon's underbelly scraping against the underbrush. I fired steadily into
the queen's front, side, and then back, but only seemed to be having
moderate success.
	The queen turned and leapt once more and I braced myself. Suddenly, several
pink objects fell from the sky, hit the ground, and blossomed open. I only
had one second to recognize them as the biggest Feska fireflower blossoms I
had ever seen in my life, and only one more second turn urge my dragon into
a sharp bank before those blossoms shot huge streamers of flame into the
air, as was their natural defense. It appeared this particular queen was no
stranger to strategy.
	Blasting away as the queen finally hit the ground, I manged to sever its
left arm. Screaming in pain, the queen tried to swat us with its tail, but
we dodged easily. Firing crazily, I made what would have been, in other
circumstances, a fatal mistake.
	Three Marlack leapt at us from the bushes all around us. We had no time to
dodge. However, before they could hit us, red fire from above vaporized
them, and the queen as well.
	Looking up, I saw the Empire task force we had been trying to elude,
raining fire down on the general area. They hadn't exactly spotted us, but
knew we were in the area and were trying to flush us out. Unsure whether to
be thankful or not, I urged us north, dodging laser blasts and exploding
trees as we eventually wound our way out of their fields of fire.

	Setting down on a towering cliff, I looked to the east; the entire horizon
held a seemingly endless sea. As the sun set behind us, I slid off my
dragon, gazing despondantly at the ocean below. Our backs were against the
wall - there was nowhere to go but back west now, back into the veritable
hellstorm of Empire ships that had no doubt been deployed to intercept us.
	My dragon gave a breif screech, gesturing with its head at the ocean. It
took me a moment to interpret what it was saying, and even then I couldn't
believe it.
	"You want us to cross *that*?!" I questioned it disbelievingly, pointing to
the ocean. "That ocean is thousands of kilometers wide! And even if we did
make it, we'd have to cross the Dead Continent and *another* ocean almost as
large to reach Genos! It'd take two weeks at best!"
	My dragon snorted, shifting its feet impatiently. Would it be any easier
heading back west? They certainly wouldn't expect an attack from the east...
"You better not let me fall off if I go to sleep on your back." I warned it.
The Kouriheat chortled, and we made camp for the evening.

									- MW
  /---------------------------------------------------------------------\
 /"The secret sits: we dance around in a ring and suppose, but the secret\ 
|            sits in the middle and knows." - Robert Frost               |
 \=---===---===---Co-Moderator of the Robotech Cantina---===---===---===/
  \---===The Robotech Cantina <cantina@paulm.chemistry.uq.edu.au>---===/