Thrax

 His jawline was perfectly cut at an angle, not too broad and not too sharp, and it and his upper lip was shadowed with the stubble of a beard that he never allowed to grow out fully.  Thrax always looked as if he were just getting out of bed—or ready to invite someone to join him there.

At the moment, however, what he loved to do in bed—at every opportunity—was not the uppermost thing on Thrax Helmer’s mind.  For now, there were other priorities, and he hoped to dispatch them as quickly, albeit thoroughly, as possible.

The condition of his body in its present state depended on what had brought him on this trip home.  It was time for his life swim, the fateful swim in the lakes of Lacerta on which all of his kind depended for their health.  Much of the regular traffic to and from the planet consisted of dragon-shifter men and women in need of a swim in the waters that were the source of their metamorphic powers. 

Generations ago, colonizing ships of human settlers had left Earth and were lost in the sudden and violent outrush of hydrogen clouds from the nova burst of a white dwarf.  Their ships’ propulsion and communication systems damaged, they could not call for help and were immensely lucky to find and land upon an Earthlike planet other than the one for which they were headed.  And that was where an unexpected new life had begun.

The planet that would one day be called Lacerta had once had an age of reptiles, much like what prehistoric Earth was believed to have gone through before it was determined that dinosaurs were more birdlike than reptilian.  The ancient beasts of this planet truly were mighty reptiles, and some ecological disaster had rendered them extinct.  But their DNA remained in the soil and the water, and another factor had come into play when the colonists had taken possession of the planet.

 Lacerta abounded with a mildly radioactive mineral compound, which the colonists would name Draconite.  Exposure to this compound, which was dissolved in lakes and streams, caused a reaction between the reptilian fossil DNA present in the planet’s waters and the human genome.  Draconite had thus mutated the lost Earth colony into the first generation of Lacertan weredragons.

Their mutation had one other effect.  The Lacertans found that if they did not periodically bathe or swim in those lakes containing the highest concentration of Draconite, they were prone to a degenerative illness.  The disease would cause progressive lesions of the skin and breakdown of muscle tissue and organs from a rapid deterioration of their genes, with life-threatening results.  Thus, at many times in a Lacertan’s life, a swim in one of those lakes or streams was essential, and those who lived on other planets traveled home to return to the life-renewing waters.

 As a Knight of Lacerta, Thrax was responsible for returning home for his gene-rejuvenating swim before any symptoms ever showed.  As he did every other duty, he took it seriously. 

As much as Thrax loved patrolling other planets in the line of his duty, he loved coming home.  Returning to Lacerta meant flying through its skies once more, feeling its winds caress his scales and his wings, swooping and diving over its towers and its forests, and skimming and diving into its lakes.  It meant bonding with his brother Knights.  It meant sleeping with Lacerta’s females, or with comely humans who expressed an interest (as they always did). 

He only wished he could spend a little more time on the planet of his birth.  But there were reasons he made himself scarce on Lacerta, and he expected to make this as short a visit as he possibly could, the better to evade the one duty for which he had no love…

And no sooner had the thought entered his mind than his badge chimed, as if on cue.

Thrax had shut off the comm link on his badge, hoping to travel as incommunicado as possible.  All that he wanted was to make it home, take his renewal swim, perhaps find a bedmate, and be back in space in as little time as it took to tell the tale.  He had feared his hope was for naught—and hearing the chime of his badge, he feared he was right.

With a sigh, he picked up the badge and pressed his thumb into the surface.  The edges of the badge lit up, and a cordial voice that he recognized as belonging to the cruiser’s female human comm officer (whom he would not have minded having as the aforementioned bedmate) announced, “Sir Thrax, inbound communication from Lacerta.  Priority Level.”

Thrax sighed again, knowing who it must be.  If they could not page him directly, of course they would check the passenger manifests of all inbound cruisers and hail his ship.  “Very well, put them through.”

A hologram flickered into view in front of him.  The face of the party hailing him was male, older than Thrax by about twenty years, handsome but gaunt, with strands of gray mixed in with his sandy hair.  “Sir Thrax,” the man said, “welcome home in advance.”

“Thank you, Mentor,” said Thrax, acknowledging one of the trainers and delegators who taught the Knights and gave them their marching—or flying—orders.  The Mentor’s armor skin was of all four colors, distinguishing him as one of the highest-raking Knights.  “I hadn’t planned on staying long.  Just long enough to have my needed swim in Lake Shimmershine and be back in space in a couple of days.”

“Sir Thrax,” said the Mentor, “we’ll be requiring you to extend your stay this time.  I’m sure you know the reason.”

In deference to the Mentor and out of respect for the older man’s position, Thrax stifled his reaction, else he would have rolled his eyes and groaned in protest.  “Mentor,” he said, “I’m sure I’ll be of much better use just getting directly back to regular duty once I’ve finished reinvigorating myself.  I’ve already scheduled my flight out from Lacerta and…”

The Mentor politely but firmly cut him off.  “Cancel your flight, Sir Thrax.  We’ll need you to stay, take part in the Lottery, and proceed from there.  We’ve already entered your code into the system.  You’ll have time before your visit to Lake Shimmershine to report to the local Stadium.”