Breath of Fire

Posted on Thu Aug 20th, 2026 @ 8:23pm by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson & Lieutenant Kate Kono & Chief Petty Officer Aaron Geiger

2,011 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Here There Be Dragons
Location: Draco IV

Deanna called out, "Dragon!" pointing skyward towards the rear. For any who looked back, a massive beast soared in the air, its shadow darkening the ground below as the sunlight glistened off its scales showing a distinct red color as it seemed to be diving towards the team like an old-fashioned Earth aircraft on a dive bomb approach.

Trees now!" Jon shouted as the dragon came dive bombing toward them. Unfortunately he was at the end on the line and the farthest from the safety of the the trees. He turned to face the beast, his hands clutching his phaser. The dragon was enormous and he could small it's hot breath as it zeroed in on him. He didn't know if his phaser could slow it down let alone stop it but he wasn't going to a snack without a fight. he raised his phaser as the dragon drew closer until it filled his vision and at the last second it pulled up but the force of it's dive knocked Jon to the ground.

Callie was quick to reach her husband’s side. She wasn’t leaving him.

Lieutenant Kate Kono stood four-foot-ten in her boots and had, in her twenty-one years, survived a Category 4 hurricane, Starfleet academy, being dissected by nazi’s, shot by arrows, and nearly torn apart by AI Terminators, and internally by her mother's cooking. She had not survived a dragon. Technically she was still surviving it, in the sense that she was still breathing, but her brain had filed a formal complaint and was currently on hold with reality. The dragon was enormous and scaled and doing exactly what dragons do, which Kate knew because she had apparently absorbed that information somewhere between dismissing every single thing her grandmother had ever told her. Her slender frame didn't move. It seemed like the right policy.

If Jurassic Park had taught her one thing, it was that a T. rex’s vision was based on movement. Which, you know, great, except this wasn’t a T. rex, it was a goddamn dragon, and apparently dragons didn’t give two shits about Michael Crichton’s narrative rules. It hadn't gotten the memo. It hadn't even pirated the movie. So when the leathery son of a bitch zeroed in on her like she was the last chimichanga at a stoner convention, her legs finally got the memo her brain had been sending for approximately seven eternities: time to vacate this medieval crapshow with extreme and panicked prejudice.

Of all the people to unstick Kate from her personal freeze-frame moment of staring at the thing that was definitely not supposed to exist, it was Irwin who grabbed her by the arm and push-started her like a lawnmower that had been sitting in a garage since 1987.

"It's a..." Kate managed, her legs somehow already at a full sprint while her brain was still filing paperwork.

"Yeah, it's a bloody dragin!" Irwin confirmed, helpfully, at volume.

"That's not possible!" Kate screamed.

"Oi, reckon she ain't readin the same script as youse, sweetheart!" Irwin hollered back as the tree line swallowed them whole, the team crashed through brush ahead like a herd of people who had also recently seen the thing that was not supposed to exist. Because they did!

Jon rolled to his knees, his eyes scanning the skies for the diving bombing B-52 and he could see it a dot high in the sky as it swung around to make another attack run. he got to his feet and sprinted towards the trees and reaching them before the dragon had reached him and quick fry him to a crackly crunch.

Callie was right at Jon’s side, running for her life alongside him.

The huge red dragon made a pass of the tree line and the surrounding field and released a stream of flame that hit the ground with a thunderous sound as it scorched a path towards where the away team had entered the forest. The creaking of the trees was prevalent as the sudden gust of wind created by the dragon's wings hit them and then the ground shook violently for a brief moment as the dragon touched down. The dragon looked at the forest as if it was scanning the area the way Deanna had with her tricorder when they first arrived.

The entire away team had managed to reach the forest safely and now was congregated a few meters into it hiding behind several of these massive trees, using them for cover. Deanna felt the disbelief and fear of everyone, but her mind was on the scientific aspect at the moment, along with that damn report. "Damn Vulcans..." she mumbled as she pulled out her tricorder. She leaned out ever so slightly and began scanning. The dragon was impressive, and her scans were providing her with great data, but it was from personal observation that she discovered that these creatures had vision that would make any predator jealous as it roared loudly. The roar was powerful, so much so that it shook the environment around before the huge creature.

It was at this moment that Deanna noticed something deeper in the forest, a greenish-yellow fog of sorts that seemed to be growing and moving towards them. She scanned the fog and discovered two disturbing facts. Fact one was about the fog cloud itself, which was highly toxic to humanoid life, something akin to mustard gas. Fact two was that another dragon was indeed as she thought in the forest itself and it was moving towards them, potentially using the gas cloud as cover. She looked to Jon, "We appear to be in a pincer situation. Beam up may be prudent."

Suddenly everything was interrupted as another roar was heard and then the red dragon was bathed in fire before the ground shook violently as a gargantuan copper colored dragon pounced on on the red dragon, which was dwarfed by the new dragon. The two dragons fought ferociously for a few moments, before the red dragon, looking severely injured, bowed its head as it backed off and then took to flight, heading back towards the mountains. A voice called out, "Out of the forest, quickly. I will not harm you."

Irwin looked toward the others, "Did the bloody dragon just speak?"

Kuzma was in equal amazement and terror, " I think it did."

Jon looked around, "Deanna, you're with me, everyone else move to the tree line and stay put." he ordered as he and Deanna ventured out of the forest to confront the majestic dragon before them. Looking at the dragon said spoke first. "Um, hello. I'm Commander Jonathan Grayson and this is Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes. We mean you no harm."

Callie watched in amazement as Jon and Deanna approached the dragon, allowing her mind to open up as Deanna had taught her not just allowing emotions but thoughts as well.

A stream of consciousness entered Callie's mind. The thoughts of the others were the main minds, but at least two alien consciousnesses were in her mind as well, one good and honest, and another disciplined and evil. Deanna glanced back at Callie and sent her a simple telepathic message, Calm and focus. I believe these creatures have telepathic abilities.

Callie nodded reigning in her control and keeping her focus.

The gargantuan copper dragon stood confidently before the forest in the open grasslands. "Yes, you are from Earth. My kind knows of your species, has been to your world, though we have not been there in a millennium, no heard of those that travelled there. But not all of your people are of your world despite your appearance." The dragon looked at Deanna, "You look human, but you are not. Your scent is different, and I sense you have abilities that humans do not possess, similar to us."

"I am Betazoid. My people are naturally telepathic, and I sense that you are telepathic as well. Is that how you speak a language we understand?" Deanna replied.

"Telepathic, yes, we have that ability. But we have learned many languages naturally over the millennia" the dragon replied. "Your other friends need to exit the forest. It isn't safe."

"Why isn't it safe?" Deanna questioned.

"Not all of my kind value life outside our species. You are viewed as prey to those more evil of my kind, and our abilities vary to make things even more dangerous to you" the dragon replied.

Aaron had not known what to think from the moment they stepped foot on this planet, let alone now. His mind reeling, a long hidden evolutionary marker to be wary of large reptiles began to rear its head as he found himself unable to form coherent thoughts as the large... dragon appeared to communicate with the Commanders. He pulled out his tricorder, documenting the exchange from afar. Even though it was an Engineering tricorder, it still had visual recording capabilities and a decent sensor suite. Tapping a few commands, it began simultaneously uploading the encounter to the Washington as he recorded.

"L.T." Aaron said to Kate, not daring to take his eyes off the encounter. "This is more screwed up than a football bat, what did you all drag me to?" He coughed. "Respectfully."

Kate shook her head slowly, the movement heavy with disbelief. Her eyelids fluttered as she tried to process what she'd just witnessed.

"When it comes to this operation," she whispered, the words barely audible as she settled into a low kneel, "you and I got stuck with the same Ruck, Chief." Her eyes never left wooden land behind him while he conducted his scans. If the Chief was recording and monitoring the open field, she would cover their six, ensuring nothing moved in the shadowed woods. Later, she could review everything through his recordings. "I just can't believe it," she breathed out, a faint smile touching her lips despite the surreal reality settling around them. "Freakin' dragons."

Kate kept her dark eyes locked on the woods, watching and listening. She had only just then pulled her Phaser out despite the whole ordeal they had just gone through, and she guarded her position beside the Chief, her voice drooped to a low, thoughtful tone. "My great grandmother used to tell me bedtime stories about dragons from ancient Japan. Not the cute, fire-breathing kind you see in cartoons, but the kind that lurked in shadows… silent, patient, and deadly."

She paused, eyes distant, as if recalling the tale vividly. "There was one story about a dragon named Orochi, a beast with eight heads and eight tails, each as fierce as the last. It was said to guard a sacred river, but it wasn’t just the dragon’s strength that made it terrifying… it was the way it waited, watching, calculating.” Kate’s eyes focused hard between every tree as she talked… Every stump, every mound and shadow… “When the time was right, it would strike without warning, devouring everything in its path. No one who faced Orochi came back." Her words drifted into the wind like a thought she wished she hadn’t said out loud as she continued guarding the Chief while he made his scans. She didn’t like these woods.

Kate's gaze sharpened "Feels like whatever's in these sticks and shadows is a bit like Orochi. Patient, deadly, and hiding within reach. We’d be fools to overstay our welcome."

Kate adjusted her slung phaser rifle, the beam of her flashlight cut through the oppressive darkness behind them. The distant dew from leaves tapped amongst the overgrowth with metronomic precision. Each echoing drop to her felt like a countdown to something that brought concentrated anxiety. A calm before some terrible storm.

Callie was sensing and feeling the danger, hearing the words of the dragon she motioned the others forward. “We have to move away from the trees.” She stepped out slowly moving toward Jon and Deanna her mind open to be shared if her intentions needed to be checked.


TBC

 

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