Books in Dragonback series

Fourteen-year-old orphan Jack Morgan is hiding out.In a spaceship.Falsely accused of a crime, he pilots his Uncle Virgil's spaceship to a remote and uninhabited planet hoping to escape capture. When another ship crashes after a fierce battle, Jack rescues the sole survivor-- a K'da warrior names Draycos. It turns out Draycos can help Jack clear his name. All they have to do is team up. No problem, right?Until Jack learns that Draycos is not your average alien.Ages 10 and up

Jack Morgan has had it rough. He was orphaned at three, then lost his Uncle Virgil ten years later. But the plucky fourteen-year-old didn't know what rough was until he met Draycos, sole survivor of an advance force of alien refugees that had been brutally ambushed over the world where Jack was in hiding from the authorities. The K'da poet-warrior needed to bond with a host, or he would die; the reformed boy thief and con artist needed a friend, someone he could depend on as he tried to clear his name. Since then they've formed a unique team, determined to find and expose those responsible for the slaughter of Draycos's team.In the months since fate threw them together, they've been through a lot. But when Jack tries to hack the computer in an office of the notorious Malison Ring, their quest nearly ends in the jaws of that mercenary organization's trap.Luckily, Alison Kayna, a girl Jack had worked with as a reluctant mercenary for another outfit, comes to his rescue. Evading pursuit, they escape to the primitive world of Rho Scorvi, where she's planned a rendezvous with friends.But at the edge of Rho Scorvi's hundred-mile-wide forest, they make a shocking discovery: traveling with a group of the planet's native Erassvas is a small lost colony of Draycos's own race, the K'da. But unlike Draycos's people, these K'da--known as Phookas--are slow, lethargic, and unintelligent. When the Malison Ring tracks Jack's ship, the Essenay to Rho Scorvi, Jack realizes that unless he and Draycos and a reluctant Alison can lead the Phookas to safety in the forest, these unfortunate creatures will become the latest victims of the genocide that threatens to wipe out their entire race. Jack has already been a thief, a soldier, and a slave. Now he must become a herdsman, protecting the Phookas from danger as they travel deep into the unexplored forest. But even more importantly, he must protect from the mercenaries and Alison the dark secret of the herd and Jack's poet-warrior ally. Only if they succeed do they stand a chance of surviving Rho Scorvi to continue their quest . . .

New edition of the first book in the popular Dragonback science fiction series from Hugo Award-winning author Timothy ZahnTimothy Zahn has been entertaining science fiction readers young and old for more than twenty years with exciting, thought-provoking adventures. Dragon and Thief is sure to delight all his fans and gain new teen and adult readers as well. Jack Morgan has been framed for theft. He's hiding on a distant planet with the virtual presence of his deceased Uncle Virge, a con man who has been his only family since Jack's parents died. Jack knows he must clear his name before the cops catch up with him. A firefight among ships in the skies above leaves a downed ship near Jack's hiding place, with a single unlikely survivor. It looks like a dragon, and it must join with a human host within six hours or die. The only available host is Jack. Draycos, Jack's new "companion," is a K'da, a dragon-like species that lives symbiotically with the humanoid Shontine. The attackers, determined to exterminate Draycos's people, will find them if they don't flee; so the pair works together to escape the planet and begin a search for the truth behind Jack's frame-up and the identity of the attackers.With Jack's future hanging in the balance, as well as the future of billions of Draycos's people, the pair must track down the people who framed Jack, and prevent the destruction of the remaining K'da and Shontine. They'll also discover whether their union was mere coincidence, or a friendship written in the stars."Zahn keeps the story moving at breakneck speed."--Publishers Weekly

In this exciting space adventure, fourteen-year-old Jack Morgan and Draycos, a poet/warrior K'da dragon who can hide himself as a tattoo on Jack's back, have their backs to the wall. Brought together by a twist of fate, these two have been through a lot of scrapes, risking death and imprisonment on worlds far and wide, seeking justice for Jack and information that might save Draycos's people from a genocidal ambush. But now, Neverlin, the man who killed Jack's parents and destroyed the scout fleet of which Draycos was the sole survivor, is about to ambush millions of K'da refugees, and kill them with a Death weapon that kills any living being within its range. To prevent Neverlin from eradicating the K'da race, Jack and Draycos must somehow disable the Death. But for Jack and Draycos, things never seem to go the way they should. When Jack's friend Alison is captured, Jack gives himself up to keep her from being harmed. Neverlin, with Jack and Draycos as his prisoners, holds all the cards. But desperate times call for desperate measures, as time is running out, not just for our young heroes, but also for the millions of K'da who face annihilation, and resourceful Jack and his remarkable ally will fine a way . . . or die trying. A powerful, thrilling conclusion to this terrific Young Adult six-book series. Fun for readers 10 and older.

Orphaned at the age of three, brought up by his Uncle Virgil, a con man, Jack Morgan has done things that are unusual even in the future in space. 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 Jack thinks he may finally be on the trail of the information he needs. But before he can act on what he knows, he's kidnapped by aliens, who ask him to be a judge for them, as, they reveal to him, his parents had once been. Jack's friend Alison Kayna and her newly acquired K'da symbiont are also kidnapped, by the people trying to ambush the K'da/Shontine fleet. Her captors will do almost anything to learn from Alison where the fleet will rendezvous. Jack and Draycos must rescue her before Alison is hurt--or worse. Using every trick in the book, Jack and Draycos race to her aid, but they aren't able to eliminate the threat to the endangered fleet...and precious time is running out!

Dragon and Thief, the first novel in the Dragonback series, was named an American Library Association Best Book For Young Adults. The second novel, Dragon and Soldier is another fast-paced, compulsively readable SF adventure featuring an odd couple of reluctant partners on an unusual quest.Draycos, a golden-scaled draconic K'da poet-warrior, was on a scout fleet ship when it was attacked, with him the lone survivor. Forced to find a new symbiotic humanoid host, he found Jack Morgan. Jack has been on his own, making his way by shipping interstellar cargo on the ship he's inherited from his Uncle Virgil, a con-man and thief who met with a fatal accident. Draycos has vowed to uncover those behind a vast conspiracy to wipe out his people, while Jack is determined to find out who framed him for a crime he didn't commit. Virgil, who survives as "Uncle Virge" in the ship's computer, is against their plan. But Draycos once saved Jack's life, so Jack feels an obligation to this strange creature who can slip onto the boy's skin, pressing against it like a living tattoo. Knowing that mercenaries were involved in the ambush that killed Draycos's fleet, Jack enlists in a mercenary outfit that practically enslaves adolescent recruits.But the soldier's life isn't exactly what Jack had bargained for, especially when a mysterious girl is recruited into his group. Strange things are happening, and people and events are not always as they seem.

Timothy Zahn has been entertaining science fiction readers young and old for more than twenty years with exciting, thought-provoking adventures; now, with Dragon and Thief he offers his first new series in a number of years, one that's sure to delight all his fans and gain new readers as well. It's called Dragonback because Jack Morgan has a dragon on his back--literally. We think of dragons as enormous fire-breathing, flying creatures of myth. But in Jack's universe, dragons--or, more precisely, the dragon like K'da--are big, but they also depend on being in a symbiotic relationship with a humanoid. And when the K'da warrior known as Draycos is the sole survivor of a space battle and must find a new bondmate or die, for better or worse Jack happens to be the only available host. They may be an odd couple, but together they're more than the sum of their parts; they are destined to travel far and wide, facing many perils--human, alien, and other, as they seek justice and safety--Jack for himself, and Draycos for his people.

In this exciting space adventure, fourteen-year-old Jack Morgan and Draycos, a poet/warrior K'da dragon who can hide himself as a tattoo on Jack's back, have their backs to the wall. Brought together by a twist of fate, these two have been through a lot of scrapes, risking death and imprisonment on worlds far and wide, seeking justice for Jack and information that might save Draycos's people from a genocidal ambush. But now, Neverlin, the man who killed Jack's parents and destroyed the scout fleet of which Draycos was the sole survivor, is about to ambush millions of K'da refugees, and kill them with a Death weapon that kills any living being within its range. To prevent Neverlin from eradicating the K'da race, Jack and Draycos must somehow disable the Death. But for Jack and Draycos, things never seem to go the way they should. When Jack's friend Alison is captured, Jack gives himself up to keep her from being harmed. Neverlin, with Jack and Draycos as his prisoners, holds all the cards. But desperate times call for desperate measures, as time is running out, not just for our young heroes, but also for the millions of K'da who face annihilation, and resourceful Jack and his remarkable ally will fine a way . . . or die trying. A powerful, thrilling conclusion to this terrific Young Adult six-book series. Fun for readers 10 and older.

Dragon and Thief, the first novel in the Dragonback series, was named an American Library Association Best Book For Young Adults. The second novel, Dragon and Soldier is another fast-paced, compulsively readable SF adventure featuring an odd couple of reluctant partners on an unusual quest.Draycos, a golden-scaled draconic K'da poet-warrior, was on a scout fleet ship when it was attacked, with him the lone survivor. Forced to find a new symbiotic humanoid host, he found Jack Morgan. Jack has been on his own, making his way by shipping interstellar cargo on the ship he's inherited from his Uncle Virgil, a con-man and thief who met with a fatal accident. Draycos has vowed to uncover those behind a vast conspiracy to wipe out his people, while Jack is determined to find out who framed him for a crime he didn't commit. Virgil, who survives as "Uncle Virge" in the ship's computer, is against their plan. But Draycos once saved Jack's life, so Jack feels an obligation to this strange creature who can slip onto the boy's skin, pressing against it like a living tattoo. Knowing that mercenaries were involved in the ambush that killed Draycos's fleet, Jack enlists in a mercenary outfit that practically enslaves adolescent recruits.But the soldier's life isn't exactly what Jack had bargained for, especially when a mysterious girl is recruited into his group. Strange things are happening, and people and events are not always as they seem.

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!

Fourteen-year-old Jack Morgan has gone through a lot since he met Draycos, a dragon-like K'da warrior he saved when everyone else in Draycos' scout fleet was killed in an ambush. Ever since, Jack and Draycos, who slips onto Jack's back like a living tattoo, have been trying to track down the people responsible for the massacre. On the planet Brum-a-dum Jack gets hired to work on a plantation owned by a Brummga whose family has ties to mercenary groups. One of those groups might have been involved in the ambush.Jack's a terrific thief, and managed to do a passable imitation of a mercenary, but those talents don't help him much on the plantation. Here, he's just one of many slaves, with little hope of finding the information he came for. But that's not his biggest problem now. The slavemaster knows Jack's no ordinary slave, and has his eye on him. Jack, who's been in tight spots before, knows that can only mean trouble.On the heavily fortified grounds of the alien plantation, there's no way to get out, and nobody to help him. Nobody, that is, except Draycos. Jack can only hope that's enough.

In this exciting space adventure, fourteen-year-old Jack Morgan and Draycos, a poet/warrior K'da dragon who can hide himself as a tattoo on Jack's back, have their backs to the wall. Brought together by a twist of fate, these two have been through a lot of scrapes, risking death and imprisonment on worlds far and wide, seeking justice for Jack and information that might save Draycos's people from a genocidal ambush. But now, Neverlin, the man who killed Jack's parents and destroyed the scout fleet of which Draycos was the sole survivor, is about to ambush millions of K'da refugees, and kill them with a Death weapon that kills any living being within its range. To prevent Neverlin from eradicating the K'da race, Jack and Draycos must somehow disable the Death. But for Jack and Draycos, things never seem to go the way they should. When Jack's friend Alison is captured, Jack gives himself up to keep her from being harmed. Neverlin, with Jack and Draycos as his prisoners, holds all the cards. But desperate times call for desperate measures, as time is running out, not just for our young heroes, but also for the millions of K'da who face annihilation, and resourceful Jack and his remarkable ally will fine a way . . . or die trying. A powerful, thrilling conclusion to this terrific Young Adult six-book series. Fun for readers 10 and older.