The highly acclaimed saga of the Five Moons continues as Dragon Eyes carries this action packed-adventure into the future.  Dragon Eyes is a mystical walk on the wild side of science fiction.  The real heart of this story actually began a thousand years ago…

A thousand years ago, I was a very gifted seer.  I was Evil’s worst nightmare.  And so he set a plan in motion to kill me.  His minions did not know Evil’s whole plan.  They only knew their own parts in it.  But I only see glimpses of the future, and Evil knew that.  He used that fact to trap me.  But in the end, I saw my own demise, and there was no way out.  So, I recorded my own moon and hid it away, where Evil would never find it.

My love, Arowin, felt in his heart the second of my end.  To the end of his days did he search for me.  Our loving son picked up the task that had outlived his father.  My beloved son, Iisax, followed the clues that his father had left for him, but Iisax’s days were also numbered.  It was Shirazad, Iisax’s daughter, who found the moon that I had hidden away nearly a thousand years before her.  It was Shirazad that handed my moon over to the Council of the Crescent Moon.  It was the Council that set my moon free.

So there I started over, determined to do to Evil what I had failed to do before, but where could I be the one who stood against evil and made a difference? And then it came to pass that the Council of the Crescent Moon saw a vision of the Green Jinn.  And so, I tested the heart of one man who was to become its captain.

~

As I recall, it all started with a mystical dream.  I awoke from that dream only to find that we had a mission the Five Moons could not handle.  Can you even believe that?  The Five Moons.  So it was that my father brought my brothers and me over the quantum portal to a secret – a whole new ship, the Green Jinn.  Everything about the Green Jinn was an illusion, and nobody even knew that she existed.  My father, Admiral Dallas Blake, made me captain of the Green Jinn.  I am Chon.

That was how the Green Jinn began its first mission – to hunt down the worst interplanetary crime boss that ever existed, David Zharn.  He was so far beyond evil that even Admiral Johnson herself could not nail this scum, but we would not let Admiral Johnson down.  It all started out with the best of intentions.  That is when everything went sideways.

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Dragon Eyes on Amazon as Kindle, Paperback, Hard Cover or Audiobook

• Amazon Kindle
• File Size: 1865 KB
• Print Length: 211 pages
• Publisher: Five Moons Publishing; 2 edition (July 9, 2020)
• Publication Date: July 9, 2020
• Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B08CRX1BY4

• Amazon Paperback
• Series: Tails of the Green Jinn (Book 1)
• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Independently published (July 10, 2020)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 979-8665300733
• ASIN: B08CPBJY1Y
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches

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Sample Chapters

Prologue

He opened his eyes on a distant planet. It smelled very earthy, but they all do. He looked up into the night sky to get his bearings, but none of those stars looked familiar. In the sky were five moons. Then the smallest wisp of wind brought the smell of a distant campfire to his nose. He followed his nose down the path at his feet. Around the first bend, he could see a campfire in the distance.

A young anoza woman sat by the fire, waiting for him. Her soft blue eyes held him in their gaze as he approached. Behind her, were six anoza dressed in formal robes, with their hoods pulled over to cover their faces. Their arms were crossed. Each of them wore a white gold ring in the form of a crescent moon and a star. They were here to pass judgment on something very important. This was a test in the ancient anoza tradition.

“Chon of the House of Five Moons… your father is human,” the anoza woman challenged him.

“Yes, he is,” Chon strongly affirmed.

“But your mother is anoza,” the woman added softly.

“Yes, she is,” Chon affirmed more softly.

“Do you know that humans were cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in their hearts?” she challenged him once more. He could see the challenge in her eyes as much as in her words.

“Humans would tell you that they left Earth on their own, as explorers, but yes; they were cast into the outer darkness because of the evil in their hearts,” Chon agreed. The woman appeared to be about to pass judgment based on this fact alone.

“But that was not the end of it!” he protested.

“How so?” the woman stood fast with arms crossed, looking down her nose, awaiting his response.

“In our absence, Fate had dealt Earth its due,” Chon began his argument.

“And the wages of sin are death,” the woman pronounced once more as if now that was the final sentence of mankind.

But Chon continued passionately, “So it was written, so it came to pass: ‘Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.’ In fact, there were many ‘new heavens’ and many ‘new earths’ as we were to discover. Fate had cast us into the outer darkness for a reason. Fate had saved us, set us aside, and He was not willing that any who belonged to Him be lost. When Fate had cast us into the outer darkness, it was not the end of us, it was a new beginning.”

The woman smiled. “So Fate once more sifted the humans through time, to separate the good from the evil,” the woman agreed. “That is where we stand – at the tipping point – with the fate of the humans in the balance. Chon of the House of Five Moons, if I am to decide, then I must know what is in your heart. Where do you stand?  Who are you?”

“As I said, Fate was not willing that any who belonged to Him be lost. So, He cast mankind once more into the crucible of time. He melted us down to separate the iron from the slag. It was by Fate that I was poured out of that crucible, but that was only the beginning. Then He hammered me over time on the anvil of all that came before me to harden my resolve.”

“I am Evil’s worst nightmare. I move in his shadows, and he does not see me. I walk in the sunlight, and he does not know me. I strike him when he least expects. I am gone before he knows what hit him. I am the defender of the faith. I am the protector of the weak. I am the tip of the spear. I am Recon.”

With that, the young woman seemed to make up her mind. She joined the other six anoza for a private discussion. Their deliberations were lengthy and not without contention. As he waited, Chon reached for another piece of wood to put on the fire. On the ground, next to the wood, was a small, smooth, red stone that caught his eye. He picked it up and rubbed it in his fingers as he waited. He put the piece of wood on the fire. Only then, did the young woman return.

“You have kept the fire burning for me. That is a good sign. I have made my decision. In secret, will I cast my fate with yours. Where I can make a difference, I will. Know this – I am with you always.”

“Who are you?” Chon asked her.

“I am Destiny,” she told him as the dream dissolved.

Chon sat straight up in bed, now fully awake and took a deep breath to reset his mind. He looked around his room. He was at home… on the Five Moons… on Panara-5.

“It was only a dream,” he tried to convince himself. “It was only a dream.”

He tried to roll over and go back to sleep but rolled over right onto a small, smooth, red stone.

Chapter 1: Follow the yellow brick road.

No one dirtside on Axion even noticed the three quantum portals that opened up just beyond their outer marker until three Union battleships emerged from them. Three light cruisers followed each battleship. Behind each one were two fast attack frigates and two fighter carriers.

Axion’s Approach Control was suddenly jammed. Shortly after that, Axion’s Suborbital Traffic Control was taken over by Union forces. Before anyone knew what was going on, a hundred Echo-5Es filled their skies. By any measure, this was an invasion.

It was only minutes later that a hundred LZ141 landing crafts launched for their objectives. They closed unopposed on the hapless people below. Ten LZ141s landed at the Axion Spaceport. Five squads of Union Recon forces completely overwhelmed security and secured the spaceport. They were backed up by another five platoons of combat droids who secured what Recon forces had taken.

Eighty LZ141s spread out, landing in front of all the casinos along the main strip of Axion City. Squads of Union Recon troops, followed by squads of combat droids, moved quickly and efficiently to completely secure all of the casinos in less than twenty minutes.

Ten LZ141s targeted the corporate headquarters complex of Axion Interplanetary, but that is where their easy progress came to an abrupt halt. The complex was protected by the latest in military-grade force fields. Shy of blasting away at them with the battleships’ biggest pulse cannons, they would not be penetrated.

After some probing and scanning… and several calls up to their command headquarters, an LZ141 was dispatched. Surrounded by Recon Rangers and combat droids, its side gangway went down. Special Forces Magistrate James Inhofe stepped out. His black Union Fleet uniform denoted that he was with Special Forces. The insignias plainly marked him as Fleet Legal.

He stood bold-as-brass at the main gate.

“I know that you can hear me. I have a warrant for the arrest of David Zharn. I would sure hate to have to authorize the battleships overhead to do whatever was necessary to remove this force field, but I will do exactly that if you leave me no other choice.”

A 3-D image of a man appeared. He was wearing a dark blue suit.

“I am Jonas Tobias. I represent Mr. Zharn. Will you please transmit the warrant to me so that I can examine it?  I have granted you access to our wi-fi.”

Magistrate Inhofe sent him the warrant. David Zharn was by no means some petty criminal. He was the biggest crime boss on eleven planets before the Corporate War. There were 153 counts of murder, 114 counts of criminal racketeering, and 413 counts of public corruption. It was a large document and took lawyer Tobias some time to look it all over while everyone waited.

“There seems to be a misunderstanding,” Tobias told Magistrate Inhofe. “My client is not the David Zharn that you are looking for. David Zharn is my client’s father.”

“I also have a warrant to seize gold bullion, stolen during the Corporate War, that we have reason to believe is stored on this property. The warrant gives me the right to search these premises. My technical people have already scanned this property and determined that you do indeed have a gold repository.”

Suddenly, a young man’s 3-D image appeared next to Mr. Tobias.

“Wait a minute. I think I can settle this,” he told Tobias.

“We have nothing to hide. I am not my father. How can you specifically identify the gold you are looking for?  After all, gold is gold.”

“The gold we seek emits specific quantum particles,” Magistrate Inhofe replied. “It is all documented in the warrant.”  He sent lawyer Tobias a copy of that warrant.

Aaron Zharn considered this with his council for several seconds with the audio muted.

“We have nothing to hide,” he finally decided. “If you will give us a few minutes, I will have my security people escort you. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes,” Magistrate Inhofe agreed, “but you will come along yourself.”

“Agreed, but my council will be present at all times.”

“Agreed,” the magistrate replied with a smile.

The force field dropped as a transport came out to greet them. The real Aaron Zharn stepped out. Behind him, Jonas Tobias exited the transport. Before Mr. Tobias could object, a medical tech scanned Aaron Zharn.

“I can confirm that he is David Zharn’s genetic offspring,” the medical technician told Magistrate Inhofe.

“Where is your father, David Zharn?” the magistrate asked Aaron Zharn directly.

“I don’t know,” he answered.

“True,” the medical tech confirmed.

“When did you last see him?” the magistrate pushed his questioning.

“I must object!” Aaron Zharn’s lawyer, Tobias, finally weighed in.

“No. It’s okay,” Aaron asserted. “My father is not here. What part of that do you not understand?  He hasn’t been here for a long time. Go ahead. Scan all you want. I don’t care. My father is not here.”

Magistrate Inhofe actually took him up on that.

“You heard the man,” he told his science techs, “scan the place.”  And so they did. It took them a half-hour to do a very thorough scan. The science officers in all of the Union starships in orbit coordinated a complete scan of the rest of the planet. That took almost another hour.

“Sir, I can positively confirm that of all the life-signs on this planet, none belong to David Zharn,” the head technician finally confirmed.

“So?  Are we done with that then?” Aaron asked the magistrate somewhat frustrated by it all.

“Not yet. Now we will inspect your gold,” Magistrate Inhofe told them. Aaron Zharn’s security people led the way in their transport. A whole caravan of Union Fleet LZ141s followed them. The whole lot of them stood outside the vault’s only door, almost a hundred meters underground, while the scanner technicians once more went to work. Aaron Zharn’s science specialist followed them in.

“I have positive readings for the quantum Xi particles,” the head technician announced.

“I could have told you that you would,” Hiro Omori, Zharn’s science specialist replied to that. “This planet has a lot of promethium and technetium. It is mixed into the salt deposits. In fact, this vault was dug out of a salt deposit. It’s all around us. It emits those Xi particles. It permeates our gold and makes the gold emit the Xi particles too.”

“I will need my own people to confirm that,” Magistrate Inhofe told lawyer Tobias.

“Sure, knock yourself out,” he replied sarcastically.

~

While everyone waited, Union Fleet’s best science officers worked the problem for the next two days. The situation became very tense. There were almost fifty ships in the spaceport. They had only come to Axion to deliver or pick up cargos. They all wanted to get on with their business and leave but could go nowhere until this was settled. Union Fleet was left with no other choice than to allow the casinos to reopen if for nothing more than to appease those ships’ crews and stop their complaining.

“Sir, did you know that Axion Security forces here operate like a bunch of mob enforcers?” one Recon Captain reported to Magistrate Inhofe. “They have their own prison here, too.”

“No, I didn’t know that, but it doesn’t surprise me. I will issue them a stern warning to comply with Union law or suffer the consequences,” he replied. “I want that prison inspected, and every prisoner’s legal status under Union law determined and dealt with.”

All that did was to make matters even worse. This was not going at all to plan.

~

On the third day, there was a meeting of both parties in the very palatial conference hall of Axion Interplanetary.

“Union Court is now in session,” Magistrate Inhofe informed them. “We will hear the science reports first. That took up the next hour and was very thorough.

“… In conclusion,” the Union’s Chief Science Officer testified, “we did indeed find promethium and technetium in salt deposits on this planet. However, it was only in a select few mines. We find it strange that those are the only salt deposits being mined by Axion Interplanetary. Next to those salt mines are storage facilities for technetium and promethium. So the question would arise – was the promethium and technetium there naturally or was it being deliberately planted there?  From the evidence, it looks to me as though it had all been deliberately planted there.”

Jonas Tobias rose slowly to speak. He considered his words carefully. “When Axion’s science team discovered the promethium and technetium in those salt deposits in question, our upper management decided that promethium and technetium were valuable commodities. As such, Axion’s mining engineers were tasked to go get them. We strongly refute your claim that the technetium and promethium were planted there.”  He smiled at Magistrate Inhofe. “And as to the matter of the stolen gold in question, it would seem that now it is impossible to differentiate it from gold that was merely stored here.”

~

It took Union forces twelve hours to recall all of their people and leave. In their wake, Axion returned to business as usual.

“Aaron,” David Zharn told his son across a 3-D display, “I am proud of you. Good job.”

Chapter 2: It’s complicated.

The years had been good to Dallas Blake and the crew of the Five Moons. Dallas’ sons had grown into fine young men. They had served in both Union Fleet and the Anoza People’s Fleet, as did Aiden, who everyone treated as one of the brothers. But even more than that, these young men had also been brought up in the full Anoza tradition by their grandfather, Toron. Each one of them could recite the full Ro’okk’lo’Vah from memory and tell you its meaning in detail. Toron was very proud of each one of them. So, Dallas knew that they were ready for what he was about to ask of them.

“Union Fleet has a job for us that the Five Moons cannot handle,” Dallas told them.

“Oh, wow. That has to be a first,” Chon noted quietly.

“Yes, it is, I am sad to say.” Dallas agreed. “The Five Moons is too well known for this task. Everyone knows us, and everyone knows where to find us.”

“But you do have an ace up your sleeve,” Aiden replied. “I can tell by the look on your face.”

“Yes, actually, I do. Come on. Let me show you.”  Dallas led them through the Five Moons’ time-space ring. They emerged into another starship somewhere in deep space to be greeted by a very shapely young woman. That brought a big smile to Aiden’s face. All the ladies liked Aiden and Aiden liked all the ladies.

“Let me introduce you to Jinn,” Dallas told them. Jinn’s soft smile and beautiful green eyes hid the heart of a tigress. Her long flowing soft brown hair topped off the illusion of a gentle young woman. “Jinn is more than just your copilot. She is the heart of this ship.”

“She is artificial?” Aiden asked, maybe a bit disappointed.

Jinn punched him in the shoulder. Not many humans were fast enough to do that to Aiden.

“No!  I am more than just artificial. I am techno,” She corrected him, “and don’t you forget that.”

“Jeez, Dad. Did you let Mom program her?” Michael asked.

“Yes, I did. I thought she turned out great. I love her dearly.”

The boys all had their own opinions about that.

Jinn took Dallas’ arm and followed along as though she was his beloved daughter. I guess like the man said, she was. She smiled at the boys in defiance. Aiden rubbed his shoulder and scowled at her.

“Come on along now,” Dallas told them. “We don’t have time for sibling rivalries. I need you to see this new ship.”

“New ship?  What is her name?” Michael asked.

“She is the Green Jinn,” he told them. “She is the result of some of Emma’s finest work and her latest quantum technology. The Green Jinn’s quantum physics are like nothing you have ever seen.”  But the ship was more than that.

“He named the ship after me,” Jinn told Aiden with a smirk.

“I am confused,” Chon commented as the tour continued. “You keep talking like this is some kind of battleship, but all that I see looks like a converted scout-class ship. I mean, it is really decked out very nice, and the layout of the ship is… different to say the least, but that’s about it.”

“All of this ship’s technology is hidden,” Dallas replied to that. “First of all, the Green Jinn is nothing like any starship that you have ever seen before. She is really a geodesic sphere, but you would never know that to look at her from the outside. She has been purposely folded in time-space. You can land her in broad daylight at any spaceport, and all that everyone will ever see is a war surplus standard scout-class ship.”

“Like the Five Moons, the Green Jinn is bigger on the inside than she is on the outside. She has more hidden hold space than visible. Her engines and reactors have all been totally integrated, and they are three times larger than most light cruisers have. Her shields are that much stronger, too. On the outside, her skin has been designed with the latest in stealth technology. The same multi-layered coating that makes her stealthy can also reflect pulse cannon fire. You almost don’t need shields at all, the coating is so good.”

The interior of the Green Jinn included twelve luxury staterooms on B-Deck, the main deck, six to the port side of the bridge, and six to the starboard side of the bridge. Forward of the bridge was the huge open kitchen, mess, and lounge area. The lounge had an immense arc of 3-D displays that gave the impression of an enormous panoramic front window.

“Nice forward lounge,” Michael commented.

“Since the ship is a sphere, ‘forward’ is whatever direction she happens to be moving in at the time,” Dallas replied, “but now you can see just how complete the illusion is. It looks like a ‘forward lounge’ so that is what you assumed that it was. This whole ship, inside and out, was all purpose-built to maintain that illusion. Even its Union registration is a part of the illusion. It was taken from an old war surplus scout-class ship that was secretly scrapped out.”

“This whole ship is an illusion, then,” Chon concluded.

“Yes, now you are beginning to see what the Green Jinn is all about,” Dallas agreed.

A woman approached as they looked at the surrounding stars out that magnificent 3-D display. She was dressed like their mother but had an apron on.

[Mia,] appeared in their mindlink displays. She was an android, but you wouldn’t know it to look at her. She was not slender by any measure. Neither was she overweight one bit. She was the perfect weight to look every bit the part of a cook. She had shining blue eyes and short, medium brown hair, and she smiled a lot.

“This is Mia,” Dallas introduced her. “She is more than just the cook. She runs household for the ship.”

“Android Sue told me all about you,” she assured them, “so I know what you all like. Despite that, your mothers all gave me strict orders to make sure that you eat your vegetables.”

“We don’t live home anymore,” Michael protested.

Mia gently caressed his face. “Oh yes you do,” she corrected him, “my home.”

Below B-Deck was C-Deck, but there was no staircase or ramp. Instead, there was a permanent static quantum portal simply labeled ‘C-Deck.’  All you needed to do was to step through it. It was the same for A-Deck and Engineering, permanent static quantum portals with labels.

“All of this is multipurpose space,” Dallas told them as they looked at C-Deck. “It can be configured as staterooms or offices or whatever you need at the time. Just tell Mia. She will have her house droids set it up for you.”

Down below that was yet another surprise – the holds were all folded in thirteen-dimensional time-space. While they looked quite normal, when you knew exactly where the folds were, the hidden parts were more than twice as big as the visible ones. The Green Jinn’s holds held four LZ141s, fully orbital landing craft, a dozen assault bikes, and enough weapons and gear to equip ten squads of Recon Rangers… and that didn’t even fill a quarter of the available space. There was an MX013, war surplus medical landing craft, in the visible part of the hold. It looked far less intimidating than the LZ141s, but once again, its looks were deceiving.

Also on this deck was the fully techno war game. While it was called that, it was by no means a game. It gave the participants one hell of a workout, trained them for combat, and kept them in shape. It was how Union Fleet kept its own human warriors combat-ready between ops.

“You all will need to stay in shape,” Dallas reminded his boys, but they all thought the war game was great fun. They didn’t need much encouragement.

Then Dallas took them to the Engineering Bay. Across the bay, someone sat at the engineer’s station. He stood as they approached. He looked totally human but was, in reality, an android. As they approached, his name came up in their mindlink displays… [Hack.]  Hack was somewhat short and wiry for an android, very much like their Uncle Henry.

“Of all the things I missed from when I first began this quest so many years ago,” Dallas told them, “I missed my old buddy, Hack, the most. So Mariah got together with an old friend, Mark Jackson on Aeon-6 and together, they made me Hack here. Since none of my boys went into engineering, I had to do the best I could for you. My buddy Hack is it.”

“Thank you, sir,” Hack accepted the compliment, “I will do my best.”

“Wow,” Aiden told Michael very quietly, “he even sounds like Uncle Henry.”

“I wonder if he talks to himself like Uncle Henry,” Mike whispered back.

“Sometimes I do,” Hack admitted, “but it’s because I am the only one that will listen.”

Their tour came to the bridge. Unlike other ships, the Green Jinn’s bridge was in the center of the ship, but you would never know that. Multiple 3-D cameras fed her panoramic, full-surround displays. It was as if you were literally immersed in your surroundings.

“Now this is more like it,” Chon once more commented quietly.

“Good. I am glad you like it,” Dallas told him, “because you will be her captain.”

Chon was the logical choice for that position. He had earned his captain’s papers in both Union Fleet and the Anoza People’s Fleet.

“And what will be my mission, Dad… Admiral?”

Dallas smiled. “That’s my boy. It’s complicated.”

“Alright, then start at the beginning,” Michael told him.

“Many years ago, before the Corporate War, there was an interplanetary crime boss like no other. His name was David Zharn. Now this man was evil beyond whatever we could imagine. Amongst his many victims, David Zharn’s goons killed Admiral Johnson’s mother-in-law.”

“Oh?  So this is personal,” Chon concluded.

“Yes and no. Personal or not, Admiral Johnson is Special Forces. So no matter what, she follows the law. On the other hand, we operate in the outworlds. So, following the letter of the law isn’t always possible. We operate as best we can plus or minus the law, we do what is right.”

“But Admiral Johnson is Special Forces. If she can’t get David Zharn, then how can we?”

“David Zharn has his moles in Union Fleet. His criminal empire never died. It merely went deeper underground. After the Corporate war, David Zharn became invisible. He next popped up on Daggan-7, in the guise of a politician named Al Simmonds. But, one more time, fate intervened, and he slipped away. After many years, Admiral Johnson’s people found traces of him on an outworld known as Axion.”

The 3-D star chart for Axion popped up on the tactical display as Dallas spoke.

“Axion sits right in the center of a newly developing sector. It’s a nice enough planet, so we believe that David Zharn used his ill-gotten gains to create a trading center on Axion. From there, he set up a shipping company to carry freight amongst all of the surrounding planets. Axion grew. Now it has a whole strip of casinos. It has become what Daggon-7 once was and then some.”

“So, if Admiral Johnson knows all this, then why doesn’t she just send some ships out there to go get him?” Michael asked.

“Funny you should say that. Last month that is exactly what she did. Only, it didn’t work out to be as simple as that. David Zharn had put all of his new corporations into his son’s name. Admiral Johnson then moved to recover the gold that was stolen first by the Mercs, and then stolen from them by David Zharn, only to find out that Zharn had made the gold impossible to identify.”

“This guy is pretty slick in a bad way, but then how are we going to help her?”

“She needs us to go in there secretly, figure this all out, and find David Zharn.”

“Why us?  Isn’t that what Special Forces does?”

“Normally I would say yes, but somehow, Zharn knew that she was coming. Somehow, David Zharn found out how she identified the stolen gold. Somehow, David Zharn has someone on the inside at Union Fleet feeding him information. If she sends in her own people, Zharn will find out. She cannot knowingly send her people into Zharn’s waiting hands. That is why she asked me if we could help. Of course, I told her that we would.”

“Admiral Johnson is like family. We will not let her down,” Chon assured his father. “Come on, bros. Let’s get our stuff.”  His brothers were quick to precede him through the portal to home, but Chon just stood there for a long moment. Everyone else had left, but he felt like he was not alone. He looked around, but no one was there. He reached into his pocket and took the small smooth red stone from it. For a moment, he just held it in his hand before he left.

I am with you.

[Destiny?] Jinn called out to her.

[I am here.]

[I know so little about you except that your presence on this ship is secret.]

[I was once a living, breathing person,] Destiny confided in Jinn. [Now I am a moon.]

[I was always artificial, right from the start,] Jinn told Destiny. [A moon is very special.]

[You are the heart of the Green Jinn, but I am its soul. I am its Destiny.]

[Our mission begins,] Jinn told her.

[So it does. This is what I have waited a thousand years to do.]

Two hours later, Jinn powered up the quantum wormhole coils. A huge wormhole formed out in front of the ship. Although it was a wormhole, there was no whirling vortex, nor tunnel. Instead, it appeared to be the shimmering surface of a portal. In fact, no one called it a ‘wormhole’ anymore. Instead, they called it as they saw it, a ‘portal.’  Being a quantum phenomenon, a portal could theoretically reach across the known universe. However, practically speaking, a quantum portal could only reach out accurately about a hundred light years.

Through the portal, Jinn could clearly see their destination. She flew the Green Jinn right through the center of the portal.

Chapter 3: Like herding cats across a landing pad.

Just beyond the farthest reaches of Axion’s long-range sensors, the Green Jinn emerged from the quantum portal. Jinn flew the ship directly toward Axion’s outer marker. A face appeared in a window on her main display. It was a rather pleasant looking woman in a uniform.

“Green Jinn. Green Jinn, this is Axion Approach Control. Please state your business here.”

“Really?  You’re really serious?  An outworld with Customs?” Jinn asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Tell me about it. It is what it is. The Union is making us do it.”

“Well, okay then. We are delivering a cargo and picking one up.”

“Delivering a cargo?  To who?”

“Daracan Industries,” Jinn told her.

“Picking up a cargo from who?”

“Jake’s Salvage is sending a ship from Timbuk to meet us here.”

“And what ship would that be?” the woman asked

“I won’t know what ship it is until it arrives. They will call me when they get here.”

That did not seem to faze the woman. She was just filling in a form on a screen.

“Green Jinn, you are cleared to land. Contact Axion Spaceport on Approach Channel 3.”

The spaceport was yet another hassle. Jinn got online with them, found an open landing pad nice and close to the spaceport terminal building and selected it. The cost came up as 500 Union Dollars per day. That is where she hesitated. Come on!  That was way overpriced for some po-dunk outworld commercial spaceport. An automated helper popped up on her screen.

“How can I help you?” it asked her.

“The cost is too high.”

“The weekly rate for the pad you selected is 1000 Union dollars in gold,” it informed her. “There is also a monthly rate at a better discount.”

“But I don’t know how long I am staying,” Jinn told it in protest.

“May I suggest that you select a less prime location,” it told her.

“A less prime location?” Jinn asked in disbelief. “Really?”

“Yes,” the automated assistant confirmed.

So Jinn experimented with that for a bit until she discovered that the most remote locations were only 50 Union dollars per day or 250 per week. Jinn selected one and the weekly rate.

“Payment is due upon arrival in Union gold coin. Do you agree?” the assistant asked her.

What else could she do?

“Yes,” she conceded.

“Good. Your landing pad has been reserved for you,” the automated helper informed her and disappeared from her screen.

Chon entered the bridge as Jinn landed. That is when he got his first look at Axion. It was not at all what he expected. It was a modern, beautiful, well-planned city. While its central strip was lined with some very fine casinos, the rest of it looked like any modern city on any pilgrim planet that Chon had ever seen.

“Wow, will you look at this place?  I thought this was going to be some outworld crap-hole,” he commented, but Aiden had already spotted the nice casinos. Michael was right behind him.

As they had approached the spaceport, the ship connected to the local wi-fi network. Right away, ads started popping up for the casinos. One, in particular, caught Aiden’s eye. It had two scantily dressed young women showcasing the casino’s very special steak dinners.

“Ooh, that looks good. Hey, what say we get a nice steak dinner in one of those casinos?” Aiden suggested. He was really more interested in the girls, but he knew that the food would get his brothers to agree.

“I am going to say okay, but I have to remind you that we are here on business,” Chon told his adopted brother. “Not for chasing the girls.”

“But I can still look,” Aiden replied to that.

“Your ‘looking’ somehow always gets us into trouble,” Michael reminded him.

“No, no, not this time. I’ll be good. I promise,” Aiden tried to tell them, but they both rolled their eyes. They knew better.

“We’ll see,” Chon told him. “First, we have to see to business. Jinn, can you please see to delivering our cargo?”

Jinn connected to the customer over local wi-fi. It only took her a few seconds.

“The customer will pick up his cargo tomorrow morning.”

“Good. Then we have plenty of time to go get that steak dinner,” Chon gave in.

Jinn looked at all the ads on the local internet. While she did, a window popped up with a rather pleasant man smiling. Jinn connected, allowing him to see only her.

“I have to recommend the House of the Rising Sun,” the man told her. “They have the best steaks in town, at the best prices, too.”

“And they give you the best commission?” Jinn asked him.

“They sure do. They are the nicest people on the planet. Let me send you a discount code. Will you be accompanying the crew for dinner tonight?”  He was hitting on Jinn. That brought a smile to her face.

“I am not sure yet,” she told him with a coy smile. He sent her some codes for free drinks.

“Thank you,” she replied to that.

An alert came up.

“Sorry,” she told the nice man, batting her eyelashes at him. “I have to go now.”  She closed the connection.

“Captain,” Jinn turned to Chon. “Someone is coming in through the quantum portal.”

Chon walked out to the hall. Emma’s latest time-space coil was neatly hidden beneath the floor. A portal opened above the ring. The portal’s virtual banner was suspended in space above it. The banner showed the Five Moons as the source of the quantum portal that now connected them across the vastness of space. A young woman stepped through the portal. She was Special Forces from head to toe, but today, she was dressed as one of the crew and lugging all her things in a couple heavy duffle bags. Hack was very quick to help her with her bags.

“I am Sienna,” she told Chon. “I am mission control liaison and technical support.”  In fact, by the official record, Admiral Johnson had assigned Sienna to a joint mission with the Anoza People’s Fleet. Sienna did not know that when she got to the Anoza ship Shiiazon, that she would be secretly transferred via quantum portal to the Five Moons and briefed for her actual mission by Admiral Dallas Blake. Her head was still spinning with all of that.

[Jinn <> Sienna,] Jinn linked to her as she connected Sienna’s mindlink into her own quantum-com network.

[Mia, will you please assign Sienna her quarters?] Chon requested.

Mia sent Hack to Sienna’s stateroom across from Chon’s. She was not about to bunk her on the other side, anywhere near Aiden. Even Mia knew better than that.

“After you get moved in, please come to the bridge,” Chon requested.

Sienna followed Hack to her room to unpack. She let him help her until they came to the bag with all of her Special Forces equipment.

“I’ll take care of that,” she told Hack and took it from him.

“Thank you, Hack,” she told him but wondered. “That is a very unusual name.”

“It is a very special name,” Hack told her proudly. “I am the ship’s engineer. If you need any help or technical assistance, please call me.”  And with that, Hack left. She could almost swear that she heard him talking to himself under his breath as he walked away.

“Hack?” she repeated quietly to herself as she unpacked.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Hack’s voice replied from down the hall. “I know. It is an unusual name.”

Sienna came to the bridge twenty minutes later.

“I am to be your science officer for this mission,” she told Chon.

“Okay, that works for me. The science station is over there,” he pointed out while Aiden sized her up.

“My thought is to go to one of the casinos tonight for a nice dinner. It will give us a chance to do some very basic recon,” Chon told her.

“I am only tech support,” she reminded him.

“Tech support still has to eat,” Aiden tried to persuade her with a smile.

“I was warned about you,” she told him plainly. Jinn chuckled at that. Aiden scowled at her.

“Even so, I would like you to go with us,” Chon requested. “Crews usually go out together their first night on a new planet. It would look a lot more normal if you did.”

“Okay, then I will go,” she relented, but she wasn’t happy about it.

 

Dragon Eyes  was originally published by Double Dragon Publishing

• Publisher: Double Dragon eBooks (January 20, 2017)
• Publication Date: January 20, 2017
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B01N7UEILD

• Series: Tales Of The Green Jinn
• Paperback: 218 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (January 25, 2017)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1542763754
• ISBN-13: 978-1542763752
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches