Chapters Draconia was the closest plant to the space station, so the Young Six decided to go there first. Their radar showed that the planet was 20,000,000 miles in diameter, so it would take a long time to map out. As they entered the atmosphere, they picked up strong readouts of cities and technology. Before finding a place to land, they took note of the fact that they saw numerous starships waiting to be launched. They took pictures of some of the cities and the ships because the design was like nothing they had ever seen in their life. There were several places where there didn't have any large cities, and this revealed that Draconia was a swamp planet. This meant they had to land carefully in order to avoid sinking in quicksand.
After touching down safely, they grabbed their weapons and disembarked. They did not know they had been seen. As they made their way to the outskirts of one of the cities, they heard the sounds of laser blasts behind them. As they turned around, they spotted a Draconian patrol. These aliens had four arms, spikes on their heads, and three eyes. Before the Young Six could shoot back and defend themselves, the soldiers shot blasts that knocked them unconscious.
When the Young Six woke up, they were chained in a prison cell. They quickly realized that they'd been captured by the Draconians. One of them came into the cell a few minutes later and unchained them from the wall.
"You're coming with me.", he hissed.
The Young Six had no choice but to follow him into a large room where another Draconian sat on a throne and wore a head-dress.
"I am Draconian Emperor Koval. Why are you here?", he asked angrily.
Sandbar spoke up to explain their mission.
"We are explorers on a mission to map part of the universe surrounding our home planet.", he said.
"If you are mapping space, then I want you to give us the location of where you live.", hissed Koval.
Sandbar recognized the tone in Koval's voice.
"By NO means are you invading our home planet.", he yelled back as he and his friends were marched out of the room.
"We'll see about that.", said Koval.
That night, Ocellus realized she still had her power to transform. She turned herself into a bear with razor-sharp teeth and chomped the chains on everyone's shackles. After Yona kicked down the door, they tackled the Draconian guard and raced out of the dungeon. Once outside, they fled into the forest. They realized that another guard on patrol had spotted them because a light shone on them as they were running. Luckily, the guard lost them in the dense forest. In the woods, they met some other Draconians who did not act hostile. They were being kind to them. One of them was named Leon.
"I overheard that you guys are mapping space. Am I right?", he whispered.
Sandbar nodded his head and this group led them underground into a cavern. Leon proceeded to explain what was going on.
"Ever since Koval became Emperor, he has been forcing our friends to invade any planets with intelligent life. All we know is that he is retaliating against someone for some reason. We have tried to find out, but all we do is get caught. Some of us have escaped his clutches and hidden in these caves, while others have been forced into his army. We will help you map out the planet and make sure you get away safely."
Leon explained that the patrols were constant and the Young Six had to time their camera shots carefully by disguising them in the sounds from creatures roaring or when thunder cracked during rainstorms. Draconians could apparently hear a camera flash from up to 200 feet away, meaning they had powerful ears. With only 20% of them not in the army, the odds of not getting captured again were extremely low. The next morning, the Young Six were led by Leon's group of rogues to a hidden facility where their ships were. It turned out that Koval had ordered their ships to be impounded. Luckily, they got their weapons back. Leon had grabbed them before the guards could come back and get them after impounding the ships. The Young Six were grateful that they got their supplies back, but they were also concerned whether they would be able to get their ships back and finish their mission.
Gilda had said Merlin 5 was not as treacherous of a planet as Draconia, but the Young Six still had to be careful. Merlin 5 was a rainforest planet with very lush plant life and 2,500,000 miles in diameter. So, it was only 1/8 of Draconia's size. Also, the majority of the probes that were sent out from the space station had been sent here. Only one probe had been sent to Draconia. After landing in a fairly concealed portion of the forest and cloaking their ships, the Young Six pulled out their mapping equipment and cameras to begin charting the planet. This planet looked friendly, but the Young Six quickly found out they were wrong after taking pictures of several trees, birds, and other animals. A patrol cruiser arrived and the crew started loud-hailing them with orders to leave the planet.
"Can't we discuss this face-to-face?", asked Sandbar.
The cruiser landed and one of the Merlinians disembarked. She was snarling. She had four eyes, two horns on her head, two arms with six fingers on each hand, and two legs with four toes on each foot. Her name badge said "Trinity".
"Listen up! We Merlinians do NOT like outsiders. Anyone who dares step foot on our world is tracked down and then brainwashed so that they will remember absolutely NOTHING!", she shouted.
"What if we told you we are on a mission to map out regions of space?", Silverstream asked firmly.
"That's irrelevant, young lady. We don't want our existence to be known by anyone. Even the Draconians dare not step foot here. We forced them to leave and ordered them to forget ever seeing us after they were done.", yelled Trinity.
Yona shot a stun blast at Trinity in annoyance and the Young Six fled deeper into the woods. They continued mapping while the patrol attempted to chase after them. Luckily, the trees were so thick that the patrol lost them. It took five days to map the planet, and they were almost back to their ships when Trinity's patrol spotted them again. She fired a weighted net to pin them down and then she got off the cruiser and pulled out a metal rod with a flashing light on one end. The Young Six didn't know what this thing was, but they figured it would make them forget seeing the planet when the light flashed. The Young Six closed their helmets and shut their eyes to resist the flash, and it worked. Trinity became enraged and said they were under arrest for trespassing. In retaliation, Smolder opened her helmet for a split-second to breathe a fireball and destroy the net. Once the net was burned to pieces, everyone stood back up and quickly boarded their ships. Trinity ordered their ships to be seized with restraining beams, but the Young Six were too fast and put their shields up. As they rocketed into the sky, Trinity's temper exploded and she threw her helmet on the ground. She returned to the capitol and went to her father, who was the planet's ruler. He was not pleased that outsiders had escaped with knowledge of their planet.
Author's Note
"Loud-Hailing" is a tactic used by SWAT officers to force suspects out of hiding or to talk to them.
When everybody returned to the space station, the crew members were grateful.
"It's amazing that you are still in one piece. Although it looks like some of your ships were damaged during the exploration.", said Gilda.
"You got that right. We were shot at during our escape from Draconia, but some of them protected us, having rebelled against their ruler. They were arrested, but gave us enough time to get away.", said Yona.
"Not to mention, we were almost arrested and brainwashed for trespassing when we were mapping out Merlin 5. Thankfully, we got away.", said Smolder.
Gilda advised that they repair their ships properly before proceeding to Sector 6, and the Young Six agreed. Sandbar radioed Flurry Heart that they were going to be delayed because of repairs and she understood. Once the repairs were complete, the Young Six boarded the Harmony and undocked to head for Sector 6. Little did they know that the Draconians had placed radar taps on their personal ships when they were impounded. After docking, they heard something pleasing from the station's Commander, which was Applebloom.
"Gilda informed me that you had a rough time in Sector 5, but you are unharmed. This sector will be your easiest one", she said.
At dawn the next morning, the Young Six shot at the guards outside the impound garage and stunned them. Once all of the guards were out cold and the cameras were destroyed, Leon ran up to the door and began cutting around the frame with a plasma torch. After the doors were cut open, The Young Six quickly boarded their ships and took off after removing some pieces that had been placed on the exterior to keep them in lockdown. Leon led the way to an area where they could start mapping. They flew to a high altitude and began charting the topography and architecture. Over the course of six weeks they managed to chart out 2/3 of the planet.
After that, they were spotted by a patrol. Refusing to let themselves be captured again, the Young Six began to raise their shields. As their shields went up, the patrol ships opened fire and hit some of the cannons. These cannons were among the Young Six's main arsenal, but they had plenty of other weapons to use. They fired back and succeeded in taking down the patrol. As they finished mapping out the planet, they got a radar signal that another patrol was coming to take them down.
This patrol was twice the size of the first one, and the Young Six knew they would have a hard time unless Leon and his group helped them. He accepted their request and his group joined them in the sky. They took down most of the ships, but Leon had missed a critical part of the last upgrade that the Draconians had added to their ships. This upgrade allowed the ships to fly lightning fast in tight situations. His ship's engines were hit and he was headed into a steep dive. The Young Six knew that he was flying too fast and the trees were too dense in the area to make an emergency landing.
"GET OUT OF HERE! FINISH YOUR MISSION!", he yelled over the radio.
As the Young Six flew higher until they reached space, they watched Leon's radar signal disappear from their screens. They thought he was dead, but then he radioed back and said he survived.
"I ejected from my ship before I crashed, but I've been arrested for rebellion. Good luck on the rest of your mission.", he said before his radio cut off.
The Young Six performed a spacewalk to fix their cannons and then they flew on to reach Merlin 5.