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Dragon and Judge: The Fifth Dragonback Adventure

Dragon and Judge: The Fifth Dragonback Adventure
By Timothy Zahn

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Product Description

Orphaned at the age of three, brought up by his con man Uncle Virgil, Jack Morgan has done things that even in the future in space are unusual. But when he rescued Draycos, a dragon-like symbiont, from certain death, his life became a series of breathtaking adventures. With the help of Draycos, who can leap onto Jack’s back and become what looks like a tattoo, Jack has been doing everything he can to find out who ambushed the scout-fleet of Draycos’s people, the K’da and Shontine, leaving Draycos the sole survivor.. Now, just when Jack thinks he may finally be on the trail of the information he needs, he’s kidnapped by aliens, who ask him to be a judge for them, as, they reveal, his parents had once been.
 
Jack’s friend Alison Kayna, and her newly acquired K’da symbiont Taneem, are also kidnapped, and she is forced by two of the conspirators to open the booby-trapped safes from the K’da/Shontine scout fleet, to try and learn the rendezvous point of the larger fleet. With the help of Jack’s Uncle Virge and his ship Essenay, Jack and Draycos escape and rescue Alison, but they are unable to gain the information they desperately need to save the refugee fleet… and precious time is running out!

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #114646 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-06-03
  • Released on: 2008-06-03
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Mass Market Paperback
  • 320 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Zahn has always managed to tell an enthralling story in the past, and this one is no exception. Ignore the young adult label if you’re older and read it anyway.”
--Chronicle on Dragon and Slave
 
“As with the other books in the series, this novel is a well-done, lightweight adventure story. Zahn continues to find ways to put Draycos’s unique symbiotic nature to good use, and fans will look forward to the promised fourth volume in the series, Dragon and Herdsman."
--Voices of Youth Advocates on Dragon and Slave
 
“This first book in the Dragonback series is a fast-paced suspense novel, full of exciting twists and turns in the story. But it’s not a simple adventure tale; the partnership of a con man and an honorable warrior raises some interesting questions about morality. Just enough of the story is wrapped up at the end to feel satisfying, while leaving plenty of questions to be answered in future installments of the series.”
--Kliatt on Dragon and Thief
 
“Zahn keeps the story moving at a breakneck pace, maintaining excitement”
--Publishers Weekly on Dragon and Thief
 
"It's a good lightweight adventure story, a space opera for all ages."
--Science Fiction Chronicle on Dragon and Thief

About the Author

Timothy Zahn has written more than thirty SF novels, including Dragon and Thief, Dragon and Soldier, Dragon and Slave and Dragon and Herdsman, the first four Dragonback novels; as well as Night Train to Rigel, The Green and the Gray, Blackcollar: The Judas Solution, the all-time bestselling Star Wars spinoff novel, Heir to the Empire, and as a number of other best-selling Star Wars novels. Winner of the Hugo Award, he lives in Oregon.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1
“‘The quick red fox jumps over the—’” Taneem paused, her glowing silver eyes narrowing in concentration, her whiplike K’da tail making little circles in the air behind her long, gray-scaled body. “‘Lassie dog’?” she suggested.
“‘Lazy dog,’” Draycos corrected, keeping his own tail motionless. Having grown up among the Phookas instead of proper K’da, Taneem’s body language was very different from his. He didn’t want to make any gestures that she might interpret as impatience. “The ‘y’ at the end of the word makes the ‘a’ long.”
“‘The lazy dog.’” Taneem gave her tail another flick. “There are so many rules to this language,” she said ruefully.
“And so many exceptions to those rules,” Draycos agreed, his mind going back to his own introduction to written English. He and the others of the K’da/Shontine advance team had learned a fair amount of the spoken language from their peoples’ earlier contacts with the Chitac Nomads. But it wasn’t until the advance team had been ambushed and destroyed, and Draycos had linked up with Jack Morgan, that he’d been introduced to the written form. “But you’ll make it through,” he assured Taneem. “I know you will.”
“Then I will,” she said firmly, turning back to the display. “‘When the tall cliff is lit by the sunlight . . .’”
Draycos listened with half an ear, his eyes tracing down the smooth lines of her neck and across the sleek scales along her flank. She did so much remind him of the other Taneem, the friend he’d lost so many years ago to the Valahgua and their horrible Death weapon.
Which made it even more of a shock sometimes when he remembered that only a couple of weeks ago this Taneem had been little more than an animal. A Phooka, rooting around in the forest of Rho Scorvi for grubs, with no knowledge of starships or computers or written English.
Or of war or hatred or enemies. Enemies who had launched a war of conquest against the K’da and Shontine in their distant homelands, ultimately driving them out and into a fleet of refugee ships that was still making its long journey here to the Orion Arm part of the galaxy.
Enemies who had now made that same long trip across space in order to intercept and destroy those K’da and Shontine refugees. Bringing his gaze back to Taneem’s silver eyes, Draycos wondered if he’d really done her a favor by taking her away from that simpler, safer life.
Taneem finished the page, and Draycos keyed for the next one. Nothing happened. Feeling his tail curve in a frown, he tried again. This time the next page came up.
But that second’s delay meant that the ship’s computer was busy. Very busy.
Had Jack made it in?
“Please continue with your exercises,” Draycos told Taneem as he headed for the dayroom door. “I’ll be back soon.”
He found Jack in the Essenay’s cockpit, sitting in the pilot’s seat and glowering at the displays. Alison Kayna was standing behind him, leaning an elbow on the back of his seat as she gazed thoughtfully at something on a handheld computer. “Anything?” Draycos asked as he padded up behind Alison.
“No,” Jack growled. “For a minute there I thought we were in. But then it locked back up on me.”
“I told you it wouldn’t work,” Alison said. “Malison Ring computers aren’t easy to get into without the proper passkeys and protocols.”
“I suppose you want to give it a try?” Jack suggested acidly.
“Well, not now I don’t,” Alison said. “The whole system’s been alerted.”
“What do you suggest?” Draycos asked.
“We pull up stakes and try a different base.” Alison cocked her head. “Only next time I get to try first.”
“Forget it,” Jack said. “My ship. My mission.”
“Your ship, Draycos’s mission,” Alison corrected calmly. “It’s his people at risk out there, not yours.”
“Maybe his people happened to be the first ones on the field,” Jack countered, “but that doesn’t mean the rest of us are sitting on the sidelines. Once the Valahgua finish them off, what’s to keep them from turning that Death weapon of theirs on everyone else in the Orion Arm?”
“Numbers, for a start,” Alison said, shutting off her computer. “If and when you’re ready to give up on that, I’ve got something to show you.”
“Fine,” Jack said, keying a handful of switches. “I’m done.”
“Thank you,” Alison said. “Uncle Virge? Pull up your record of the Iota Klestis battle, will you?”
“Jack, lad?” Uncle Virge asked.
“Sure, go ahead,” Jack said in a tone of strained patience. “While you’re at it, go ahead and call the port tower for clearance. We might as well get off this rock.”
“Preferably before the Malison Ring traces your intrusion attempt,” Alison said.
“Alison—”
“Okay, here we go,” Alison interrupted him smoothly as the main display lit up with a set of slightly fuzzy spaceship images. “Four Malison Ring attack ships, four K’da/Shontine advance team defenders. Note how the Malison Ring ships open up with that whatch-ya-call-it—”
“It’s called the Death,” Draycos said, his tail lashing the air as the memory of that horrible day came rushing back. “The weapon that kills right through bulkheads and walls and even the heaviest metal or ceramic shielding.”
“And I still don’t understand how that can work,” Alison said. “But I’ll take your word that it does. Anyway, note how the Malison Ring ships all open up with the Death in perfect unison?”
“Yes, we see,” Draycos said.
“And we’ve been through it a hundred times,” Jack added.
“Maybe you should have gone through it a hundred and one times,” Alison countered. “Remember your theory that Neverlin and the Valahgua must be really good allies because the Valahgua gave him their precious Death weapon to play with?”
Jack’s back visibly stiffened. “Look—”
“We’re listening,” Draycos cut him off, his eyes on the display. Arthur Neverlin was the brains behind this plot. He’d been the second most powerful man in the megacorporation Braxton Universis until he’d tried to kill Cornelius Braxton and take over the company. Jack and Draycos had foiled that attempt, driving Neverlin underground in the process.
But even on the run, the man had plenty of resources to draw on. One of his allies was the Chookoock family of Brum-a-dum, with their collection of slaves and big Brummgan soldiers. Another ally was Colonel Maximus Frost and his team of Malison Ring mercenaries.
All of them with just one goal: to assist the Valahgua in their attempt to utterly destroy the K’da and Shontine.
“Okay,” Alison said. “Let me fast-forward a bit . . . there. See how all four Death weapons also cut off in perfect unison?”
“Because all the K’da and Shontine were dead,” Jack said with exaggerated patience.
“No, they weren’t,” Alison said. “That’s the point. The Havenseeker’s little twitch maneuver had slipped it out of the beam for a few seconds, which is why Draycos and the rest of the bridge crew were still alive at this point. So why did the mercenaries quit firing?”
“We were already on the path to a crash landing,” Draycos said grimly. “They had no need to continue.”
“No, what they didn’t have was the capability,” Alison corrected.
Jack frowned over his shoulder at Draycos. “Is she making any sense to you?”
“Yes,” Draycos said, the pain of memory fading into cautious excitement as he suddenly saw where Alison was going with this. “The Malison Ring ships didn’t shut off the Death weapons. The weapons shut off by themselves.”
“Bingo,” Alison said. “Probably with their innards burned to slag. The Valahgua didn’t trust their new allies not to double-cross them and fly away with their wonderful little Death weapons. So they put a timed self-destruct into each of them, giving the mercenaries exactly three minutes forty-seven seconds’ worth of juice they could use to take out your advance force ships.”
“Which is two birs of Valahguan time measurement,” Draycos said.
“Even a nice round number.” Alison looked at Jack. “You see now what I meant about them not being ready to take on the whole Orion Arm? They don’t even have enough people here to secure and operate the weapons aboard four ships.”
“Which also makes sense,” Draycos said. “In order to have arrived before our advance team, they would have had to travel faster, with more fuel and fewer passengers.”
“It also means they don’t trust their new allies any farther than they can spit them,” Alison said.
“Not really surprising, I guess,” Jack said. “Not with what we know about Neverlin and Frost. Though that doesn’t mean they don’t have a few more Death weapons stashed away to use against the main refugee fleet.”
“Oh, I’m sure they do,” Alison agreed. “But at least this means we’ll mostly be tangling with Neverlin and his buddies. At least those are known quantities.”
“Known quantities who want to ki...

Customer Reviews

An extraordinarily well-told story from a master writer!5
I have been a fan of Timothy Zahn since Heir to the Empire, and it has been a pleasure to watch his work subtly change and mature over the years. The Dragonback series, thus far, has been potentially his most engaging work yet, although The Icarus Hunt has historically been my favorite.

Dragon and Judge might have changed that.

I am amazed at what Zahn has managed to do in this so-called children's series - he has taken very real characters, warts and all, through deep personal struggles that most authors would not dare to plumb in literary fiction, much less sci-fi "youth" fiction. And he has done so in the midst of a fast-paced, action-filled story brimming with gloriously witty writing. Is it a sci-fi? A coming-of-age? A gritty social commentary? A deep psychological drama? A tantalizing mystery? A modern morality play? A suspenseful nail-biter? Or perhaps even an intricate allegory of deeper truths?

Zahn has that wonderful knack of taking other genres and plopping them with great skill and believability into a sci-fi setting. The Icarus Hunt was a classic whodunit; Night Train to Rigel was a deco-era spy thriller; The Green and the Gray was a clever spin on gang warfare. What Zahn has done in the Dragonback series is perhaps even more impressive, more well-rounded and well-crafted.

The story continues seamlessly as the pieces of this intricately woven tapestry begin to come together with amazing skill. The characters are consistent - growing and changing as people do in real life, reacting in believable ways to extraordinary circumstances. May I, for a moment, risk offending fans of the great J.K. Rowling by comparing these two series? I am a dedicated Harry Potter fan, but it is clear that while she is extremely talented and creative, Zahn is the superior storyteller. His characters are more consistent than hers, his suspense better sustained, his surprises more genuine, his story more flawlessly executed.

I have read many books, and I have written many myself, and I have become extremely difficult to impress. But Dragon and Judge impressed me considerably. It is a mature novel from a mature author, who has the courage to write a very moral story in an increasingly immoral world, and to do it with excellence that I know from experience is almost impossibly draining. Especially when the series has not even attained much renown. That is a mark of integrity.

To those who have not yet discovered the Dragonbacks, or Zahn fans who are hesitant to read a "kid" series, I challenge you to immerse yourself in the world of Jack and Draycos, and see if you can emerge from it without being changed. You are unlikely to encounter, in any series or novel or story, two characters you care about more than the noble ex-thief and his K'da poet-warrior. And that is what separates a good story from a great one.

Dragon and Judge is a great one.

Fast moving and fun -- engaging if fluffy space adventure3
I've been reading Timothy Zahn's "Dragonback Adventures" series with a fair amount of enjoyment through the five books so far. It's a YA series. The hero is Jack Morgan, who has acquired a symbiotic companion, Draycos, a dragonlike being of an alien species, the K'Da. The K'Da can turn two-dimensional on the skin of an appropriate host. Indeed, they need to do so at least every six hours or so. Draycos was one of a vanguard group of K'Da as well as their hosts, the Shontine, who were fleeing an evil enemy in another galaxy. They had arranged for a colony in our Galaxy, but were ambushed on arrival. Draycos was the only survivor, and luckily for him Jack turned up -- luckier still, humans are acceptable hosts.

Over several books Jack and Draycos have been trying to track the humans who seem to be helping the bad aliens arrange to destroy the rest of the K'Da. They have by the by acquired an ally of sorts, Alison Kayna, a girl Jack's age (14 or 15) with a similar skillset to Jack's -- thief, hacker, safecracker, etc. And in the previous book they discovered a planet inhabited by a species much like the K'Da, but doomed to mindlessness by the lack of suitably intelligent hosts. Alison is now host to a female named Taneem. (So it would seem -- possibly -- that love interests are in place for both Jack and Draycos, though no real moves in that direction have been taken.)

In this book the quartet head to a planet where Jack's Uncle Virge had stashed something mysterious in a safe-deposit box. No sooner does Jack arrive, however, that he is shanghaied by a group of aliens and taken to their rural home to act as "Jupa", or Judge-Paladin -- to adjudicate tribal disputes, basically. It turns out he smells like their previous Jupas -- who turn out to have been Jack's long-dead parents. Jack cooperates, while he and Draycos sense a mystery concerning an abandoned mine -- and possibly concerning Jack's parents' death.

Meanwhile Alison retrieves the contents of the safe-deposit box, and is immediately kidnapped by bad guys who have been expecting someone to take an interest in that box. Rather implausibly, what they really want is a super-skilled safecracker, to open a safe from Draycos's ship -- that may contain information about the arrival of the rest of the K'Da. In other words, these are the bad guys. Why a 14 year old girl is the best safecracker available to them is a mystery never revealed. It turns out the safe is back on the planet from a couple of books before where Jack freed some slaves -- and Alison finds herself, against her will, guilted into trying to free more slaves.

The book (as with all in the series) has great gulps of implausibility and downright silliness. But it is also fast-moving, fun, with engaging main characters. I find the whole series pretty enjoyable fluff.

Fun Book5
Zahn is a wonderful writer who has immersed his characters into a new sci-fi setting. This story is a great whodunit and and is well written. The story keeps your attention and skillfully has the characters grow before your eyes.

I would compare this book to ones as written by J.K. Rowling. Zahn has a way of making even adults love the characters. In the world of Jack and Draycos, you will be thoroughly entertained throughout the experiences of these two key characters.