Chapter 4: Becoming a Bodyguard

I stepped out of the shuttle’s door and nodded to the two officers that saluted me before returning it and shouldering my bag. The junior sergeant that met me only glanced up and down at me, pausing at the black leather hilt of the mono knife on my left thigh and the new Mark VI rail gun on my right thigh.

He looked into my face, “That leather is not going to hide what is under it.”

I shrugged, “I did not put the leather on it to hide it.”

He nodded and turned to lead the way through the busy terminal, “Dragon’s ... even Silver Dragon’s do not normally accept anyone as fresh as you.”

He glanced at me when I did not say anything. He went back to walking, “Albert ... the heir requested you when your name appeared as requesting to join us.”

He glanced at me and finally stopped and turned to face me, “Listen up corporal, the only reason you got in was because Albert said to give you a chance. We did and we did not give you any slack so you made it through the grinder on your own. Now that you are here we do not care about what you did in some jungle on a planet far away. We only care about what you do here and now. Since Albert said to give you a chance you are going to be his body man so do not fuck up.”

I smiled, “I have no intention of fucking up sergeant.”

He turned and led the way to an unmarked hover car. I looked at the other junior sergeant behind the wheel as he opened the door for us. I moved into the back seat and he sat beside the driver. I watched as we moved through the city, “Why is the heir going to Wayne?”

They looked at each other and the driver turned back to watch where he was driving. The other sergeant turned in his seat, “The emperor received a request from Admiral Harris to attend and address the advanced Command officers school as well as christen a new Phoenix Starship. Since it came at such a late date, he could not accommodate the Admiral. Albert decided he would accept in his father’s place.”

I was thoughtful and sat back, “What is our strength?”

He just looked at me and I looked back, “I am his body man remember?”

He sighed, “The entire Crimson Dragon company is going.”

I nodded and relaxed for the rest of the trip. Somehow I felt uneasy about going to Wayne. The hover car slowed and pulled into a large gateway. It stopped and several marines looked at us and then gestured through the gate. When I walked through the large doors with the sergeants leading the way, two senior sergeants were standing in front of the inner door.

They looked at me and I recognized both as the ones in the sickbay. I stopped as the two junior sergeants continued through the door. I looked at each man, “No hard feelings?”

They looked at each other and grinned, “Not yet.”

I shook my head and continued into the room. Two senior sergeants stood beside the emperor at a large armored window and the Lt turned to look at me. Around the edge of the room were officers and top sergeants. The Lt grinned, “You have no idea how many cases of ale you won for me.”

I came to attention and grinned, “Glad to help sir.”

He grinned again and the emperor snorted, “You cost me a bottle of Rainbow Brandy corporal.”

I shrugged, “You have to know how to bet sir. Sometimes the odds are on the underdog.”

He laughed and looked at his two Dragons as they snorted. He looked back to me and gestured for me to approach. I knelt in front of him and raised my hand and he accepted my oath of fealty. When I stood, he clasped my shoulder and then looked at the Lt and a full Colonel that approached.

He looked back at me, “I am glad I was wrong corporal. I think you are going to wake the dragon and give it a good shake.”

He nodded to Albert and walked out with the two senior sergeants at his shoulders. The Colonel held out his hand, “Welcome to the Gold Dragon’s corporal.”

I took his hand and we shook. He nodded to a Captain and Top Sergeant that approached, “You will be assigned to Crimson Company. This is Captain Anderson and your Top Sergeant; Sergeant Choi.”

I shook their hands and Top Sergeant Choi nodded to Albert, “It is Crimson Company’s job to protect the heir.”

I looked at the Lt, “He slipped out to join the marines?”

They snorted, “You have no idea of the trouble that caused.”

I smiled as the Lt grinned, “I have an idea.”

The Captain gestured to my bag, “Leave that, I have had your new uniforms and equipment sent to the shuttle.”

I glanced at the Lt, “Moving quickly sir?”

He shrugged, “I had them wait on your arrival otherwise I would already be boarding the transport in orbit.”

He gestured and I fell in at his shoulder, “I have kept a check on Senior Sergeant Harris and he has fully recovered. In fact he was just sent to the Top Sergeant Academy. Corporal Smith was promoted to junior sergeant and has his own squad in a recon company.”

He glanced at me, “I was surprised when you applied to join the Dragons.”

My eyes had kept scanning around as we walked and I glanced at him, “I thought about it sir. It seemed that if you could manage to sneak away once you might need a better keeper.”

He grinned and then laughed with the other Dragons walking with us as they laughed out loud. “Good luck with that.”

I looked at him, “I do not need luck sir.”

After a fast hover car ride and a short shuttle flight we boarded an insystem destroyer. While the Lt slept and another Dragon stood guard at his door, I went to find my new gear. I checked everything and laid it out before laying back to sleep in the room across from the Lt’s. I was up four hours later, I showered and started dressing.

The light mesh like body screen felt different and it was because this one had been made to fit my body. I rubbed the golden dragon on my flash with blood red rubies for eyes indicating I was in Crimson Company. I checked my rail gun and the spare magazines at the back. I undid the stitching and removed the leather around the handle of the mono knife.

I settled everything and glanced at a display that showed movement in the Lt’s room. I opened my door and nodded to the sergeant guarding the door and then knocked before entering. The Lt glanced at the door as I came through it and nodded. I stood behind his shoulder while he started reviewing something.

Captain Anderson knocked and opened the door. A senior sergeant came in with him and the Captain gestured to me, “I need to steal him for an ops briefing sir.”

The Lt waved and I nodded to the sergeant and headed around the desk to follow the captain out. The next eight hours was spent in a white noise room with a blue crystal box that was home to Crimson company’s AI. Her name was Peaches; she drilled me on the company procedures and policies as well as quite a bit more.

I spent everyday with Peaches after the Lt went to sleep. The Dragon transport passed us a day out and docked with the waiting starship twelve hours before we did. The next week was spent in intensive physical training when I was not with the Lt. One thing I made clear as I spared and threw the other Dragons around was that I was more than capable of handling myself.

When the starship worm holed out on the edge of Wayne, two insystem ships were waiting. One was a marine fast assault transport and the other was a light cruiser. Only my squad went on the cruiser, everyone else left in the fast assault transport. From the start the fleet officers onboard the cruiser were rude and insolent. The Lt mostly ignored them as he worked on reports his father sent him.

We were a day out from orbit when things came to a head. A lieutenant commander from the comm section had come into the Lt’s room. He tossed the data disks onto the desk and looked straight at me, “Leave us corporal.”

I ignored him and continued to stand beside the Lt. The lieutenant commander’s face went livid and he took a step as if to come around the desk. That broke protocol, my Mark VI was pointed into his face before he had taken a second step, “If you move I will kill you.”

I had grabbed the Lt and pulled him out of the chair and back behind me. As the lieutenant commander’s face went white I opened my comm, “Crimson Dragon primary has a breach.”

I gestured with the pistol, “Step back and put your hands on your head.”

The door was opening as the door guards started to come in. The lieutenant commander drew himself up, “I will have you court marshaled for this!”

I smiled, “You have an illusion that you have rank in the presence of the royal family, you do not. Now leave.”

The door guard and two other Dragon sergeants took his arms and pulled him out of the room. When the door closed, I nodded to the Lt as he moved back to the desk to sit and opened a comm to the bridge. My conversation was brief and not satisfactory. The captain was almost as belligerent as the lieutenant commander had been.

The next day before we left the ship I entered a Dragon protocol into the ships computers that locked the weapons down. From the moment we exited the shuttle I knew something was wrong. The marine honor party was missing and the fleet welcoming committee was not who it was supposed to be.

The welcoming party was a Rear Admiral Hepcock and a Captain JG Dongel. They were both arrogant and insolent. I was tempted to take the Lt straight back to the shuttle and lift. When we reached fleet headquarters it was strangely quiet with almost no one around. Captain Anderson called as we were headed into the emperor’s wing.

The Marine commandant was less than helpful and they had a lot civilian contractors wearing weapons. I glanced at my squad leader and the senior sergeant made a gesture to guard the Lt closely. When we cleared the last door into the emperor’s suite I was grateful. I knew no one could have entered without setting off alarms.

The squad broke up further as they headed out to take up positions, leaving Sergeant Henry and myself. The Lt looked at me, “Whatever is going on, I do not like it.”

I nodded and after thinking about it accessed Peaches on the transport, “Crimson Dragon situation warning to Gold Dragon command. Fleet officers and the Marine Commandant are behaving in a suspicious manner. Elevating security levels at this time.”