Dragon and Soldier (Dragonback Series, Book 2)
Timothy Zahn
Language: English
Pages: 151
ISBN: 0765350173
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Dragon and Thief, the first novel in the Dragonback series, was named an American Library Association Best Book For Young Adults. The second novel, Dragon and Soldier is another fast-paced, compulsively readable SF adventure featuring an odd couple of reluctant partners on an unusual quest.
Draycos, a golden-scaled draconic K'da poet-warrior, was on a scout fleet ship when it was attacked, with him the lone survivor. Forced to find a new symbiotic humanoid host, he found Jack Morgan. Jack has been on his own, making his way by shipping interstellar cargo on the ship he's inherited from his Uncle Virgil, a con-man and thief who met with a fatal accident. Draycos has vowed to uncover those behind a vast conspiracy to wipe out his people, while Jack is determined to find out who framed him for a crime he didn't commit. Virgil, who survives as "Uncle Virge" in the ship's computer, is against their plan. But Draycos once saved Jack's life, so Jack feels an obligation to this strange creature who can slip onto the boy's skin, pressing against it like a living tattoo. Knowing that mercenaries were involved in the ambush that killed Draycos's fleet, Jack enlists in a mercenary outfit that practically enslaves adolescent recruits.
But the soldier's life isn't exactly what Jack had bargained for, especially when a mysterious girl is recruited into his group. Strange things are happening, and people and events are not always as they seem.
Luminary (Anomaly Trilogy, Book 2)
The Confusion (The Baroque Cycle, Book 2)
Dragon and Soldier (Dragonback Series, Book 2)
Want to make. But if that decision was to back away, this was an odd way of leading up to it. “Twice, in fact, both in their attack on our ships and later during our escape from the planet,” he went on. “Their maneuvering and tactics were quite professional.” “Doesn’t mean they’re necessarily soldiers for hire,” Uncle Virge argued, his voice gone suddenly cautious. Perhaps he’d picked up on Jack’s expression, too. “Maybe they’re someone’s official military. Maybe some planet has made a deal.
“Mercenaries don’t hire teenagers just to polish their boots,” Uncle Virge insisted. “And you can get just as dead from a little war as you can from a big one.” “I’ll be all right.” Jack peered across the cabin at Draycos. “Draycos? You’re a soldier. You tell him.” “Yes, tell him, Draycos,” Uncle Virge demanded, an almost frantic undertone to his voice now. Small wonder: as a computer, even a computer that controlled the entire ship, he had no physical power to make Jack do anything he didn’t.
Said—” “You will deliver my compliments, and my message,” Lieutenant Cue Ball said, turning his back on the alien. “This way, puppies.” He took them into the larger of the two buildings, into a back room that seemed to have been specifically designed to be a jail cell. There were no windows, the door was equipped with two separate locks, and there were a dozen metal rings embedded halfway into the concrete floor. At Lieutenant Cue Ball’s instructions, the soldiers produced handcuffs. Ordering.
Tree, they were no more than eight feet above the ground—he pulled the cable taut and tied another quick-release knot connecting it to a branch. That left him perhaps ten feet of loose cable. He tied a slipknot loop in the end, draped it out of sight across two branches, then climbed back to his first quick-release, the one holding the springy branch taut. A gentle pull released it, and there was a soft twanging sound as the rest of the cable took up the tension. For a moment he crouched there.
Option. “We need the start key,” he told her, turning and heading aft. “There ought to be a copy on one of the computers in the Shamshir HQ. I’ll go get it.” She was at his side before he even got to the hatchway “I’ll go with you,” she said, snatching up a machine gun from the floor. “Forget it,” he said, throwing her an annoyed glare. There was a fair chance there were still some soldiers lurking in the building, and the last thing he wanted was to have Draycos’s freedom of action cramped by.