Dragonhood Chronicles

The Star Shifter

Tages walked to the pilot's seat and sat down. Tages had blonde hair, a scrawny physique, and was about 5'7".  He had sapphire eyes, and was great with machines. He flipped two switches on the dashboard of his trans-planetary ship, the Lavendar. The Lavendar was a lower class ship, meaning without a certain component, the Arcane Core, he would not be able to travel back into solar system 3, his home. Every solar system has an Arcane Core, and each solar system has people who need it. Tages understood that if he didn't get the solar system 2 Core, he couldn't get it. It was as simple as that. 

"Lavendar 04, requesting Fortifier to pull into Star Bay 17. Over," Tages said into his radio. 

The Fortifier was a supply ship, used for giving food, water, and repairing other crafts. The Fortifier, like many other supply freights, contained up to 20 Mechs, or robot slaves. 

"Fortifier docked in Bay 23, Mech-01, 02, and 03 working on downed ship. Cannot report to bay 17. Lavendar, pull into Bay 23 to buy whatever you need. Over."

Tages sighed. He pressed the button labelled Proton. He walked to the escape corridor and entered the small pod. The Proton detached and Tages flew throughout the gigantic complex, dodging the other ships. He entered Bay 23 and hooked into the pocketed wall. Tages deployed the ladder and climbed down, all the while looking at the Fortifier. The freight was massive, with a quantum generator smack in the middle. The quantum generator was as big as the Proton, and as green as the planet Corgare. It allowed the ship to travel to the Rift, a wormhole between Solar Systems 1 and 2. Many people have gotten rid of the quantum generators, seeing as Solar System one was destroyed in The Atom War. 

"Chris!" Yelled Tages all the way to his African-American friend, the salesman of The Fortifier.

"Tages! Here to buy?" 

"You know it. I need some spare parts for a Star Shifter."

Chris' eyes widened. "A Star Shifter? Those things are ancient!" 

A star shifter allowed access to fly through a star, protecting the ship and the driver from disintegrating. They haven't been seen in over two decades. 

"Chris, please. I need them."

"Fine. Follow me to the back of the ship." 

Tages nodded as Chris walked onto The Fortifier. Tages had never been on the ship before, and as the airlocks twisted open, Tages gasped in amazement. There were at least fifteen Mechs inside. Chris kept on walking, and pulled Tages with him. Chris reached the storage array, and opened a door. Dust flew out, causing the two to cough. Chris pulled out a wooden crate.

Chris spoke up. "These are so old, we haven't bothered to upgrade the containers." 

Chris gave the box to Tages, and left the storage hall.

"Chris! Don't you need the pay?" Chris turned around and shook his head. 

Tages shrugged and left the craft. Still star-struck from all of the Mechs, Tages boarded the Proton. He flew back to the Lavendar, and set the crate in his workshop area. He grabbed his tools and broke open the box. He poured the parts out onto his bench and grabbed his tools. He then started to build the Shifter. When he was halfway there, he threw away the instructions and went on his own homemade paper. He actually had plans to make a trans-solar device. Basically  an Arcane Core. This was another experiment of Tages'. When he was finished, he walked over to the mainframe array of The Lavendar and placed the machine into an empty port. It made a whirring sound as Tages powered up The Lavendar. The craft rose up as he flew out of the atmosphere of Mechoron, the maintenance planet. He set the coordinates to the Akuron, the barrier between solar system two and three. Moment of truth, Tages thought. He pressed the newly installed trans-solar button on The Lavendar's dash, and he sped into the raging storm.

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