Chapter 1
The screams of the dying K'da and Shontine in the Havenseeker's engine room were growing
louder. Draycos tried to shut out the sounds—tried to cover his pointed ears with his paws.
But nothing helped.
He could see them now, back there in the engine room. Which was odd, because Draycos
himself was up in the Havenseeker's control complex, all the way at the other end of the ship.
He could see outside through the navigation bubble as the unfamiliar enemy ships sent the all
too familiar violet beams of the Death twisting and sweeping across the Havenseeker's hull.
The Death was coming closer to him . . . closer . . . closer. . .
With a jerk that sent his claws scratching across the soft plastic coating of the floor beneath
him, Draycos woke up.
"Bad dream?" a soft voice came from across the room.
Draycos blinked his eyes, clearing away the last images of the nightmare. The room was
mostly dark, but there was enough light for him to see the narrow cot built into the wall at the
other end of the small cabin. His new companion, Jack Morgan, was propped up on one elbow,
his hair sticking out in a dozen different directions. "Yes," Draycos told him. "I apologize for
waking you."
" 'S okay," Jack said, yawning. He ran a hand through his hair without making any noticeable
improvement in the mess. "I'm just glad you weren't on my back when you started twitching.
What was it this time?"
"The same," Draycos said, the tip of his tail curving into a K'da frown. Odd; he had started out
the sleep period pressed against Jack's back in his two-dimensional form. When had he jumped
off and become fully three-dimensional again? During the terrible dream? "I saw again the
destruction of our advance team."
"I don't suppose you happened to notice any markings on those Djinn-90 pursuit fighters this
time," Uncle Virge put in.
Draycos glared over at the monitor camera. Uncle Virge was the Essenay's computer, with an
artificial personality designed by Jack's late Uncle Virgil. A personality, Draycos had
discovered, that often seemed to go out of its way to be irritating. "No, I did not see any
markings," he told the computer stiffly. "I saw no markings when they first attacked our ships.
file:///C|/3278%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20...onback%202%20-%20Dragon%20and%20Soldier.htm (5 of 182) [1/17/2005 6:49:17 PM]