Come here.
I’ve got something good for you.
Lance sent the thought out through the Force, and the dragon paused, catching the shape of that calm, friendly presence circling somewhere nearby.
A voice echoed faintly through its mind.
It didn’t understand most of it, but something about eat seemed to snag on a deep instinct.
Its eyes lit up.
Something flickered behind them, hesitation warring with hunger for a long moment before hunger won out.
Good food from that one.
Good.
It crawled out from behind its rock, stopping a dozen meters short of the ship.
Instinct told it that distance was as close as it dared go.
Inside, Omega sat in the pilot’s seat, hand over her mouth, staring out at the fog where the vague shape of something enormous moved.
Lance felt the resistance in it clearly.
No matter how he coaxed, it wouldn’t close the gap.
Not enough temptation yet, maybe.
He borrowed Echo’s flashlight too, holding both together, tossing them lightly and catching them again.
The dragon’s golden eyes tracked every movement, practically salivating.
It lifted one paw, took half a step forward, then yanked it back immediately.
Greedy and terrified in equal measure, torn apart by wanting something it was too scared to reach for.
It circled anxiously, a low hiss rattling in its throat.
Lance decided to close the distance himself instead, stepping forward and tossing the lights again.
To his mild surprise, the dragon matched him step for step.
Maybe it’s the crowd inside the ship it’s wary of, not me.
He kept walking, and it kept pace with him, until they finally met in the fog, barely a step apart.
Good food.
Trade.
Home.
He simplified the thought and sent it again.
The dragon tilted its huge head, clearly working through the meaning, eyes never leaving the flashlights.
He kept at it patiently, repeating the offer, until something finally seemed to click.
A low growl answered him.
Lance let out a breath.
That had taken more effort than expected.
“Take us to your den.
Understood?”
He tossed one flashlight over.
You take payment, you finish the job.
Rules are rules.”
The dragon caught it in its jaws, body lighting faintly for a few seconds before the glow faded and the drained light dropped to the ground.
Roar.
It picked the empty light back up anyway and turned, padding off into the fog.
“That’s done.” Lance pulled his comm from his chest pocket.
“Hunter, Tech, with me.”
“Copy.”
Some of the tension in the group visibly eased.
Hunter tucked his own comm away and led Tech into the mist behind Lance.
Omega watched them disappear into the fog, unable to hold back the question.
“Where are they going?”
Echo turned back to the circuit he was repairing.
“The dragon’s den.
Looking for parts.”
Her eyes went wide.
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
Echo snapped the panel shut over the freshly welded wiring.
“Relax.
Lance is a Jedi.
They can talk to animals through the Force.”
That earned a flicker of pure curiosity across her face.
The terrain grew rougher the deeper they went, fog churning thick around jagged outcroppings of stone.
Lance moved steady and light, keeping an easy pace behind the dragon.
Hunter tracked alongside him without effort, his instincts doing most of the work.
Close to ten minutes later, the dragon finally stopped in front of a cave mouth.
Roar.
It turned, eyes locking onto the remaining flashlight in Lance’s hand.
Final payment, clearly expected.
Lance felt its impatience plainly, but this time he didn’t just toss the light over.
He held it flat in his open palm instead.
The dragon hesitated, then lost the fight against temptation entirely, leaning in slowly and opening its massive jaws.
Lance slid the flashlight in, and its body lit up once more with that same faint glow.
He raised a hand and reached toward it.
The dragon glanced at him briefly, made no move to stop him, too absorbed in the pleasure of feeding to care. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
His palm settled against fur that turned out soft and smooth, and it didn’t flinch away at all.
He stroked its shoulder gently, waiting for Hunter and Tech to catch up.
Once the energy finished absorbing, the dragon leaned into his chest on its own.
Something warm tugged at the corner of Lance’s mouth, and he kept petting the “cat” without really noticing what he was doing.
A few minutes later, Hunter and Tech arrived and froze on the spot.
There sat the supposedly fearsome moon dragon, sprawled on the ground, letting Lance scratch its head, eyes half closed in pure contentment.
The instant it registered the newcomers, its eyes snapped open, wary again.
“It’s fine.
They’re with me.”
Lance kept petting its head while quietly working the mind trick he’d developed, easing the tension right back out of it.
The wariness melted away again, eyes narrowing back into contentment.
Hunter studied the whole scene, something complicated in his expression.
“Are all Jedi secretly beast whisperers?”
“Not exactly,” Lance answered without a hint of irony.
“It’s mostly just kindness plus a few good meals.
Only works on things that aren’t naturally hostile, though.”
Tech pushed his glasses up, genuinely stunned.
“I’ve never seen a moon dragon this docile.
Remarkable.”
Lance nodded toward the cave entrance.
“Go take a look inside.
See if there’s anything useful.”
The two of them crawled in one after the other, the passage tight and winding, forcing them to squeeze through in places.
Hunter’s lead kept them from wasting time, and before long they reached the dragon’s actual den.
They pulled themselves out of the narrow passage and sat up, taking in the space around them.
Piled in one corner sat a heap of broken electronic parts and energy modules.
Tech’s eyes lit up instantly, and he crawled over to examine them.
“Bad news.
Every one of these is damaged to some degree.”
Hunter’s brow tightened.
“And the good news?”
Tech turned, holding one of the components up.
“With some rework, these are salvageable.”
“By my estimate, this should get the ship back to roughly sixty percent function.
More than enough to get us off this rock.”