Out of Space
Chapter 445: Funny Business

United Nations, Sawtooth Mountain Airforce Base

The break of dawn cast an orange glow on the runway as the sun peeked out from the peaks of the mountains. Dozens and dozens of dragons of all weight classes had lined up in an orderly manner on the runway, snapping and growling amongst themselves impatiently.

Suddenly a flutter of wings came overhead and large shadow descended down from the skies. Blue Thunder's size and weight was clearly larger than the largest dragon standing by on the runway. He landed with a heavy thump and folded his wings before standing before the gathered dragons with his head held high.

"Attention!" The dragon acting as the right marker in the formation roared out and the other dragons silenced up and straightened their spines before saluting with their right wingtips to their raised serpentine heads.

"At ease!" Blue Thunder returned their salutes and strolled down the line of the formed up dragons. "Squadron leaders! Report strength!"

"Squadron A! Strength ten! All present! Sir!"

"Squadron B! Strength nine! All present! Sir!"

"Squadron C! Strength ten! All present! Sir!"

One by one the heavyweight dragons reported the strength of their formations which they led. In total there was six heavyweights, ten medium weights and thirteen lightweight dragons split into three squadrons.

Majority of the dragons were from the Empire, either emancipated from their service,directly recruited or willingly defected over after the war. Now they stood in three rows awaiting Blue Thunder's commands, who was made Wing Commander of the Air Force Dragon Wing.

Blue Thunder cleared his throat and ordered, "Spread out! Maintain one wing tip distance from each other and one tail length from the one in front of you!"

The dragons quickly fanned out, stretching out their wings and tails to measure their distance between each other. Once satisfied, Blue Thunder strolled down the line, inspecting his command before he returned to the front.

He reached into his belly pouch and removed an audio player and placed it on the floor. Using his pinky claw, he poked the play button and turned the volume up to the max. Almost instantly, the music of Survivor, Eye Of The Tiger played.

"Ready?" Blue Thunder asked as he bobbed his head to the beat. "One, two, three, RAWR!"

"Two, two, three, RAWR!"

"Three, two, three, RAWR!"

The dragons started stretching out their wings and arms, doing some kind of weird exercise dance. The Air Force techs and even the air traffic controllers inside the Air Traffic Control tower watched and laughed, unable to comprehend what the dragons were up to daily.

Finally, after a few more workouts accompanied by songs, the daily morning exercise ritual ended and Blue Thunder dismissed them. The dragons started to get rowdy as they chatted and gossiped among themselves, leaving the runway in groups of twos or threes, some returning to their hangars, others flying off to have breakfast at Burger Shack.

Blue Thunder took out a blanket sized towel and wiped the sweat off his face before he gathered up his audio player. "Oh... I need to grab breakfast for Raz..."

He gave a friendly wave to the guys inside the Air Traffic Control tower, and with a might bounce, he leapt into the air with his wings spread out. He did a loop around the airbase as he orientated himself before he headed towards the city.

The flight took him half an hour, and as he approached the city, the air traffic controllers in Haven pinged him, diverting his approach to another vector. He switched his flight path, following the directions given by ATC and glided into the city, his passing over the buildings made the children squealed in excitement.

He flared his wings and came to a landing near a large open air market. A large field was set aside for dragons to land, and this market for specially designed and catered to dragons and other large species, under the Greater Species Co Inhabitation Act which dragons fall under.

The market stalls had wide spaces between each other, to allow a dragon as large as Blue Thunder to be even able to squeeze between them. Unlike the normal markets, these stalls sold items in bulk and even packed them properly for easy transport! Hence, Blue Thunder enjoyed coming here, other than going to Burger Shack for his usual orders of cheese fries.

Other than him strolling through the wares in the market, there were a few Orcs, a troll and even some elves who wanted to do bulk purchases. He even spotted a few other dragons who did not sign up with the Air Force but were working in other branches or services doing their morning shopping.

Finally, after getting what he wanted and paying them, he watched the workers packed all his purchases into crates and lashed them all up before they helped attach the lines to his belly harness. Once done, he gave his thanks and took off, returning to the airbase where he shared a hangar with the red dragon, Rastraz.

After clearing his landing with the base's ATC, he waddled his way to his den and crawled on all fours into the hangar/den that was half buried under a pile of earth with only the hangar doors exposed. "Ras! I'm back!"

"mmmm..." Rastraz mumbled in acknowledgement. She had curled into a ball and was watching some Korean drama being projected on the wall. In her claws, she was holding a large metal barrel of pickled fish in oil. She poked the barrel that looked like a soda can with her claws and worked the lid off, before using her long tongue to slurp up the mess of fish and oil. "Mmmm..."

"Seriously..." Blue Thunder looked at the mess of emptied barrels at one side and at the sight of the Rastraz lazing around. "You should join me for the daily morning workouts! You have been keeping yourself inside all day long! It is unhealthy!"

"Mmmm..." Rastraz replied without looking at him as she continued her drama. Blue Thunder sighed again and removed the sweatband from his head and arms. He hung them outside, under the sun to air it before he packed the groceries he bought, stacking the crates and barrels he bought onto the metal shelves on one side before he started tidying up the hangar.

He tsked as he picked up the emptied barrels of pickled fish and set them outside their den at the designated collection area for recyclables where every alternate day, someone will come and collect and recycle them for use.

"Mmmm..." Rastraz mumbled again as her eyes were glued to the scenes being played out. "Did you buy me any sour appleberries?"

"Yes... yes..." Blue Thunder sighed, thinking that Rastraz seemed to be getting lazier and fatter as all she did was just lay there, eating and sleeping and watching her dramas!

"Here!" Blue Thunder took out a sack and handed it over to Raztraz who happily ripped the sack open with her claws and speared the tiny purple plum looking like fruit with her claws and sucked them off, her face scrunching up when the sour juices of the fruit exploded in her mouth. She spat the tiny seeds off to the side of the hangar where the seeds ricocheted all over the interior.

Blue Thunder shook his head at her antics and wondered which God did he offended to suffer such injustice. He grabbed a dragon sized mop and started to clean up the areas dirtied by Rastraz, wiping away the oily stains and sweeping away the seeds.

As he kept away the mop and wiped his brow with his claws hands in satisfaction at making the whole clean and tidy again, he noticed Rastraz had curled up and fallen into slumber again. He smiled and shook his head before he picked up a blanket and covered Rastraz's body to keep her warm. "What will I do with you... Hmmm"

"Is she getting fatter again?"

-----

United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, XO's Quarters

"She what?" Commander Ford shot up from his chair in surprise as he stared at the image of Magister Thorn on his display. "Where are you guys now?"

"Oh... We are at the School..." Magister Thorn replied. "She-"

"Got it!" Ford cut Magister Thorn off in mid sentence. "I am on my way over now!"

He left his quarters and headed straight down to the vehicle bays and grabbed a driver to send him to the School of Science and Magic. Once he reached the School, he stormed into through the main doors, surprising the students at the hallway and he grabbed a nearby student and asked, "Where is the Magic Arena?"

"Eh... Down that hall and turn right..." The student replied. "Its the big round building..."

"Thanks!" Ford replied and followed the student's instructions.

"Is that a hooman?" The other students whispered as they watched the uniformed soldiers ran down the hall. "Is something bad going to happen?"

Unknown to Ford, the students who rarely seen a hooman except for some of the teachers, had their curiosity roused up and they started to follow after Ford and his escorts. They reached the Magic Arena and found the entranced blocked off by a couple of soldiers and the students could only try to replace some windows to peek inside.

"What is going on?" Ford asked as he can before Magister Thorn and Dr. Sharon who both stood in the middle of a huge colosseum like arena. "Is it true that you can use magic?"

"Yes!" Dr. Sharon looked elated as she replied. "For some reason... I suddenly could!"

"How is that possible?" Ford frowned. "Didn't you and Magister Thorn found it impossible for humans to wield magic? But now you can?"

"I think it is due to the voice in my head!" Dr. Sharon explained. "It seemed to have evolved or mutated my body..."

Ford's eyes narrowed as his expression turned grave. "Do you know how dangerous that is?"

Dr. Sharon gave a nod, "Of course! I have been monitoring my body with medical checkups constantly!"

"And with Tavor and his spies watching my movement," Dr. Sharon added. "If there is anything wrong with me, we would know!"

Ford shook his head, wondering if that if these issues where what the Captain faced every day, no wonder he got depression! "No matter what, I want you to be on full twenty four hours surveillance!"

"What?" Dr. Sharon pouted. "That is too extreme!"

"How do we know if that voice or whatever is inside you that changed you did not change your emotions or thoughts?" Ford shot back. "What if it can control your body without you knowing?"

"But!" Dr. Sharon tried to argue back.

"No buts!" Ford cut off her words and he took out his communicator. "Tavor! Get a team and your ass over here to the School of Science and Magic ASAP now!"

"Yes, Sir!" Tavor's cold reply came back instantly without any questions.

Dr. Sharon looked crestfallen as she stood there and Magister Thorn patted her shoulder in comfort. "You do know its just a precaution! We do not even know what kind of spirit or force has possessed your body."

"But if it can adapt your body to the use of magic..." Magister Thorn frowned. "I think it might be some Greater spirit or even some kind of minor Deity!"

"Now, what kind of magic can you use?" Ford put away his communicator and stared at Dr. Sharon like so was some naughty child caught red handed with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Erm..." Dr. Sharon's face turned red with embarrassment as it was one thing to show to Magister Thorn her ability, but the thought of showing it to her fellow colleagues in such an embarrassing pose made her regret her decision. "Its... Its... just some sparky sparkly stuff..."

"Sparkly stuff?" Ford's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "Huh?"

"Show me!"