Chapter 9: Making a Home - Part 3

Three days later I watched the first long range transport bank as it slowed and came in over the bay. We had managed to cut and put almost twelve hundred meters of platform in. We also had another six parking pads and six more pods. It moved onto and down the landing platform smoothly before slowing.

A minute later it turned and started back before stopping. As it shut down the rear hatch opened and several men started down the ramp. Everyone had been waiting for this moment and we all walked towards the vehicle. Mr Davis grinned as he strode ahead of the other men, "you did it!"

I grinned and he glanced at George and Momma, "is this one of the ... people I have been hearing about?"

I turned, "this is George. George this is Mr Davis."

George chuffed and I glanced at the other men as they stopped, "who did you bring?"

He glanced at them, "councilor Simmons you know. The other two are professor Howard and Benson."

I nodded, "we have an empty pod you can use."

I looked at Mr Davis, "did you bring the vet pod and lights?"

He nodded and turned, "Tara said you were going to set it on one of the parking pads?"

I nodded as Dr James pulled away from Tara, "the female tiger went into heat as soon as she saw the male."

I grinned, "that sounds good but they need to be separated after she conceives."

I turned and started for the pod cage, "the griffin eggs should hatch today or tomorrow."

Edward grinned, "my Helen wanted one as well as a giant bird bat."

The councilor cleared his throat and I glanced back, "yes?"

He gestured to George, "we will need to examine..."

I shook my head, "you start poking at me and I will punch you, you poke George and he will probable rip you open. If you want to talk or question them answer this, how can they understand what we say?"

I started towards the pod again as Tara laughed, "or you could challenge George's mother to a game of three dee chest."

I smiled and looked at Mr Davis, "she likes to play Go but no one is even close to beating her."

He grinned, "I heard your griffins changed things when Hunter laid her eggs."

I nodded and stopped to let him enter the cage, "I will see you later, I need to help off load."

I looked at the councilor and the two professors, "be polite."

The vet pod had a sliding side that opened so the middle and end section were much larger. We let Leo and Peter climb up and start installing the lights as we put together several small reactors. When I returned to the vet pod it was to see the older dragon on a table with Sweetie and George watching.

Alex was back in our pod cage with all the companions as mom, Tara, Jade and Dr James moved around the dragon and set everything up. The two professors were watching and taking notes. They spoke to George or Sweetie who nodded or shook their heads. I touched George on the shoulder, "they will help her."

He chuffed and mom looked up, "no talking now."

I had seen mom operate many times, Tara may have more animals to care for but mom had been doing this a long time. She started as soon as the dragon sighed and went to sleep. I could see George and Sweetie tense up when they cut into the dragon but they remained still. It took almost six hours before they finished and stood back.

I moved forward after washing my hands and pushed them towards the front, "sit."

I started cleaning the dragon and George moved to her and nudged her head. I glanced at him, "it will be a few minutes before she wakes. You can feel her breathing though."

He nodded as I went back to what I was doing. Ten minutes later I moved to touch the dragon's neck as she shifted, "slowly and do not try to stand."

Tara walked to her as the dragon opened her eyes and knelt, "thinking clearly?"

The dragon hesitated before nodding and Tara smiled, "okay. We reset the bone and used a quick heal but it is going to take a few days. The muscle and tendons we had to replace and it is going take time to get them back into shape. Give it a week and you will be walking, a month and you will be as good as new."

The dragon chuffed and Tara glanced at me, "we are going to need to move her into the cage."

I headed out, "let George and Sweetie talk to her."

Of course George wanted to go hunting for her but we had plenty of meat in large stasis boxes. I used a hover bed to move the dragon and as soon as she was parked in the pod cage all the animals crowded around. That night our pod cage was crowded with people as we talked about the next step.

We still had parking pads to make and pods to put in but the hard part was done...

I walked out and off the large cage pad that was the small settlement marketplace. In the two years since we had started it, things had grown. We had over two hundred people here now, including a federation rep to the dragons. Jade and Tara had a clinic attached between our houses and Alex had her clinic on the other side.

I used the walkway that was patrolled by dragons and walked into the house. I glanced up at the wide ledge around the room where the second floor was. George and Sweetie chuffed from their shared nest with another female dragon that was visiting. I smiled as I shifted my daughter, "where is everyone?"

George nodded towards the back and I sighed, "is Duchess laying or still waiting?"

He shook his head as Sweetie chirped and I smiled, "waiting it is."

I headed to the kitchen and set the net of fruit on the counter before putting my daughter in one of the jumpers. She yawned and put her fist in her mouth as I started making her lunch. Jade was busy in her clinic today and Alex had our son while she went out for a house call with Momma and her companions.

I looked out the kitchen window at the crowd of companions around Duchess and Duke. The large room was where we relaxed and had nests everywhere. I turned and saw my daughter sleeping and sighed before glancing at the front door as a chime went off. I crossed the room and opened the door to see Peter looking worried.

I frowned as I opened the door wider, "what is it?"

He glanced up at George, "another shuttle crashed. This time we have survivors talking on the emergency radio."

I turned as I closed the door, "where?"

He sighed, "almost three thousand kilometers to the east. The shuttle hit the water and slid under the trees."

I headed towards the sat table, "is the shuttle intact?"

I brought up the sat look down and he touched a spot, "the shuttle is intact. But they landed on a narrow peninsula which means they would have an extra thousand kilometers if they walked out."

I kept looking as Alex and Jade walked in. I touched a spot a hundred kilometers north of the crash site and looked at Peter, "the longbows can reach here and get back."

He nodded, "that is still a long way for..."

I looked at Alex and Jade, "a few of us could be dropped at the crash site and we could lead and protect them."

George dropped down and moved to the table and bumped me as he looked at the sat map. He chuffed and I rubbed his ear, "Sweetie is not going, she has eggs."

He shook his head and looked at me and I looked at Alex and Jade. Alex finally nodded, "I am coming."

Jade nodded, "me too."

I shook my head, "the..."

Alex smiled, "your mother is here and can look after the children."

Jade nodded, "George and Momma and our other companions will come."

I shook my head, "not the griffins and not Princess or Gloria or the bird bats."

They nodded and I looked at Peter, "see if Leo or Tiger is back. I think four or us will be enough."

He looked at the map, "moving that many people..."

Jade grinned, "what about using all those anti grav harnesses you made for tourists?"

I looked at Peter, "one cargo bag for the harness?"

He spun and ran for the door, "I will call flight ops."

I glanced at our daughter and then looked at Alex and Jade, "call mom and come pack."

Alex lifted our daughter out of the chair as I walked out. In our room I loaded a pack before heading out into the large nest room and looked around, "Alexander and Cynthia come."

I glanced at my mini dragons, "Dawn and Simon come."

I sighed as I looked at the six tiger monkey adolescents Momma and George had saved, "David, Chris Mike, Ann, Renee, Abby come."

I looked at the dwarf dragons, "Junior, Hunter come."

I looked at the others, "protect Duchess."

I turned as my companions followed me out and found Momma waiting by the door. I rubbed her face and waited for Alex and Jade. Mom hurried in with my son, "Leo and Tiger will meet you at the longbow."

I nodded, "you might want to call dad."

She nodded as I thought, "get with the council. We need the other longbow to do a drop just before it gets dark there. Tell Dr James we need thirty net bags with the new collapsing carbon fiber poles as well as rations for ... two hundred and fifty people. We also need someone to monitors us on the thermal sat scan, especially during the night."

She nodded as she headed towards the bedroom. It was five minutes before Alex and Jade joined me and we left. I grinned when we got to the longbow and saw George with five other dragons. I nodded to Leo and tossed my pack in before taking Alex's and then Jade's. Tiger appeared with Peter and we went to help pull the cargo bag into the longbow.

I went to talk to the pilot, copilot and load master. It was a few minutes before everyone was in and we were moving. It is strange, dragons fly but did not like flying inside a transport. We sat together with the dragons and I went over what I wanted to do. It was almost three hours before the load master gave us a warning.

Unlike the flying transports the longbow could not hover and would only slow. We would be jumping a lot higher then the other times. I had explained to the dragons about how to jump so they did not injury a wing. I went over it several time with all the dwarf dragons and then harnessed Momma and the other leaf leopards and then the smaller leopards.

My two mini dragons I put in a pouch they would be able to climb out of and added the large bag and the six tiger monkeys climbed in. I moved to grab one corner of the cargo bag and looked at Alex and Jade, "do not hesitate to jump and stay close."

Leo, Tiger and Peter each grabbed a corner of the bag and we stood waiting. It was several minutes before the load master opened the hatch and wind buffeted us. A couple of minutes and he yelled and I ran and leaped out. I dialed up the anti grav and looked back at everyone and then started looking around.

We had jumped from three thousand meters so we had room to glide. I smiled at the dragons when they roared to let anything and everything below know they were coming. Momma and the other leaf leopards echoed their roar and then it was the dwarf dragons. I heard my brothers and Peter laugh as Alex and Jade giggled.

I turned and headed towards the ocean before turning again when I saw the wreckage below. We drifted down and into the tree above the wreckage and at the ocean edge. We landed a hundred meters up on a huge branch and I let the cargo bag go as I knelt to let the mini dragons and monkeys out.

Everyone else was doing the same thing as well as readying rifles. I looked below us and nodded to Peter, "I will move the cargo bag."

He nodded and grinned as he jumped off the branch and floated towards another below. I gestured Alex and Jade to follow and then grabbed the bag and yanked as I jumped. Our companions flew around us as we moved down and in. The dragons stayed a little above to watch over us as I finally dropped onto the huge shuttle.

I glanced at the ground below and the few elephant wolves gathered into a defensive circle. I turned to bang on the door and a moment later a face looked out through the armored glass. The door opened and I looked up, "to the wreck Alex and be careful."

I gestured for the people to move back and waited until she landed. She pushed in and started talking and then she vanished. I looked up at Leo's call and he pointed, "Tiger."

I grinned when I looked and saw four dragons chasing it down a branch. I secured the cargo net and stepped into the shuttle, "quiet!"

A uniformed woman pushed her way through, "when is the rescue flight getting here?"

I looked at her and then at the people, "are you going to build the thousand foot landing platform?"

She frowned and I shook my head, "we are here to help. Each of you will wear a anti grav harness and we will guide you north about a hundred kilometer where there might be someplace a longbow can land."

They groaned and the woman shook her head, "we can not..."

I growled, "me and two girls walked two thousand kilometers after our shuttle crashed. We had nothing and no one to help. The men and dragons with me will guide and protect you but you will walk and those that can not will be helped by others."

I looked around at the quiet people, "this is the only way."

The woman finally nodded and I moved to the door, "help me hand out the anti grav harnesses."

Alex appeared when we were halfway done, "four with broken legs and two with broken arms. A dozen others with bad bruises."

I nodded, "did you bring the quick casts?"

She smiled, "I am the doctor remember?"

I smiled, "assign two men to each of the ones with a broken leg and one to the ones with a broken arm."

She nodded and left as I went back to handing harnesses out. When I was done I caught a rope Tiger dropped and gestured to the closest woman, "time to go."

I showed each how to turn the anti grav on and let my brothers pull them up. They were moving them on the branch above so we had room. I helped the last few including the injured before looking around and following Alex up. I opened our comm link, "go Peter."

He was ready and started north and climbed another branch level. I pointed out the few children as I moved around the sides, "Dawn and Simon watch these children."

I touched a small boy, "Alexander?"

I called each of the tiger monkeys as I found other children. I climbed up and moved to take a man's place as he helped pull people up. Momma appeared and a woman gasped and I looked at Momma, "watch below us."

She chuffed and sat while the woman looked at me and I turned to pull someone else up, "move down the branch."

It was not easy moving that many people but we managed twenty kilometers before gathering them under thick branches. I opened the sat comm, "mom?"

"She is busy."

I smiled, "any idea how long before the longbow drop?"

"It should be there in thirty minutes."

I took my pack off and dug into it for the long cord, "was everything we needed loaded?"

"Thirty net bags with the collapsing carbon fiber poles and rations for two hundred and fifty people."

I nodded and turned, "I will call later."

"Good luck."

I gestured to Jade, "watch for me?"

She nodded and I tied one end of the cord before using a vine to climb up. I tried to climb straight as Hunter and Junior flew up and watched. I was at the tree top when the longbow called, "this is longbow flight one calling rescue party."

I glanced around, "this is Firehawk. Guide on my comm signal and make sure the bag anti gravs are on when you drop them."

"Copy."

I glanced at a dragon as it appeared and hovered while watching me. I frowned, "do I know you?"

George flew out of another tree and the dragon turned as he roared. The dragon shifted before moving down to a wider branch and I looked up as the comm opened, "dropping in five ... four ... three ... two ... one ... dropping."

The longbow went by slowly and thirty two bags fell out and started floating, "Hunter, Junior."

They leaped and flew towards the bags above us as they spread out. Several other dragons and dwarf dragon appeared to join them and the strange dragon below went too. They caught and pulled the bags towards me and I caught the first and threaded the cord through a side handle.

I dropped it and caught another to repeat it before quickly opening our team comm, "net bags coming down Jade. Have them sent to Peter, Leo and Tiger. Seven for each branch."

I went back to threading bags onto the cord and dropping them. The last two were the bags filled with rations. I waited before starting to climb down and coiled the cord as I went. I dropped onto the branch next to Jade and the others were already putting the slim carbon fiber poles together and spreading the nets over them and fastening them together.