[Ruatha]

2406.4 Weyrling Empire.
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Aboard the Destroyer "Responder":

Thurya was astonished over Try's expertise at the point defence guns, he hit almost anything they could throw at him. The change in his results had been sudden and understandable she thought.
"-Try, training is over, excellent result. Meet me in my cabin for evaluation."

"-Yes, capt'n", Try responded and left the turret.
When he arrived at Thuryas cabin after having finished his post maintnance of the point defence cannons Thurya was waiting for him. He entered and sat down. Their relationship had developed and was now on the surface the same as what she had with the rest of the crew, a comradiere.
"-So Try", Thurya started. "I think we both know what has initiated this drastic improvement in your handling of the PDC's. Do you want to talk about it?
I know it must have been bad seeing that Terran fighter pilot hit the turret, and to clean up that mess he left on the turrets wievports must have been gross!"

"-No, it's not that.
When we moved away from the first battle and passed that debris field we where getting up speed so I didn't catch any close look at him. I just saw a flashing light and then the view ports where all red. I didn't understand what had happened until you up in the bridge informed me what it had been.
And to go out and clean it up wasn't all that bad either. The remains where mostly unidentifiable, blood and some small flesh and clothing strips jammed into the angles of the turret. What really got to me was this;"
He pulled out a strange looking wallet from his pocket and gave it to Thurya.
"There's not much in it. Some money and some id cards. But if you open that Last flap by pressing that button you'll see some pictures Of the pilot, Garret Jahson was his name. See there, that must be his family, his kids. Look, he was a person, just like you and me. It could have been me that smashed into a Terran ship if circumstances where reversed. We don't know if he was still alive and had time to understand what was about to happen.
This is no game Captain. I realize that now. If I don't do my best we might all die becouse of me."

"-Yes, I've feelt that way all along. Like living on overtime!
Still, don't let this get to you. We have a job to perform and so do the Terrans. They might be people like us but it's either them or us, so don't hesitate if you get them into your sights."

"-Never. I don't want to die. So if it means I'll have to kill them, I'll do that."

"-Good. I've diversified your training schedule to include more training with the beams. I still think you'll do better at them. And I've decreased your training time, the other gunners need more practise too.
That will be all. And if this thing about the terran smashing into your turret starts to bother you even more, I wan't to know about it. Is that clear?"

"-Yes."

"-Good, now you may leave."
Try got up and went to the mess to help out with the next meal.

Aboard the Battlecruiser Indestructible,
Flagship of fleet Sledge;

Elyssandra had thought about what to do for a whole day before reaching her decision. Now her new strategy was being put into action.
The Weyrling fleet and the Draven fleet would merge to form an unbeatable force. It was the only way to be assured of victory.
The Dravens hadn't exactly jumped of joy when she introduced them to her plans but eventually they had complied.
Now the faster Weyrling fleet would try to draw away the Terran fleet guarding the worm hole to Sladden while they at the same time waited for the slower Draven fleet to catch up.
If they succeded they would merge up with the Dravens at a designated sector and then head back to the worm hole and pass through it to utterly destroy the Terrans industrial capabilities.
If they didn't succed they would have to do it the hard way. But with both fleets merged Elyssandra was sure that they would win against the Terran fleet if needed and still have enough force left to destroy the Terran homeworlds.

The Draven military had complied she tought. But that Yalare was bugging her again. When Elyssandra had talked to the alliance headquarters the Draven attache had insisted that the Dravens had paid all they should. And that there wouldn't be anymore resources coming from the them.
It felt bad to abandon the fleet at this time, but with the fleets merging there wouldn't be much to worry about. So Elyssandra planned to take the Indestructible and leave the fleet, then make best speed towards the Alliance headquarters and straigthen this out.
If all went as planned she would make it back to the fleet in time to witness the end of the war. Still she didn't have to rush away, she would stay another couple of weeks and lead the coming joint operation. After they had a clear path into the Sladden system the Indestructible would leave. It would travel alone, the Lasat system was cleared of all enemy presence so there was no real danger for the virtually unarmed ship. The Indestructible was a one of a kind sjip, a battlecruiser built for leading. It was heavily armoured and shielded but with a limited offensive capacity, it was meant to assure the survival of the leader, not to win combats.
As it wasn't equipped with that much weaponry the Dravens had insisted that she should take a Draven ship with her as escort, to show that they were an alliance. A show of unity.
She actually thought it was a good idea.
She had ordered admiral Panar to send a ship to meet up with them at the wormhole leading to Lasat in a months time. She just hoped that it wouldn't be one of the slow ships the dravens had so many of. That would be a real annoyance.
During the time she was away her second in command, admiral Gryt would be commanding the fleet. The Draven admiral Panar had complained and meant that he should lead the fleet in Elyssandras absence. But Elyssandra was reluctant to let him. The Dravens might be good at the actual fighting but as to their strategic capacity she hadn't witnessed much and wasn't really capable of judging it. It was too big a risk to hand over command to them merely to show unity. They would have to accept that this was a Weyrling led operation.
Elyssandra and the Indestructible would stay one more month and lead the joint battle if the Terrans didn't leave the wormhole. After that she would have to leave for alliance HQ.

On Kalzeron Prime;

The research aiming to awaken the one had come to a complete stop as a second casualty had happened.
A cleaner in the next room had become comatose, just as Marit, when they had turned on the device one day.
Ilian didn't understand why.
The condition of the cleaner Jon and Marit was weighing heavily on him, he thought it was he's responsibility. He might have killed those people if they didn't wake up from their coma. The device was just too dangerous.
He was spending most of his time going between the two hospitals where the comatoses where placed.
He had fought this separation idea, they should have been placed in the same hospital he thought. Then the doctors would have two cases to work with and would have a better chance to cure them. But the Free council had fought him, and they where in charge. They said that it was too risky. Two comatose cases made up an epedemic and the authorities would surely investigate it. But one isolated case wasn't enough to draw their attention. So the patients where treated at different hospitals by different doctors who didn't know of the other case.
Ilian had a hard time not telling them when he went to the hospitals to visit.
And he felt inadequate, he was actually a theoretical practician engineer, not a medical proofessional. He couldn't understand what had happened, there was nothing in his theories explaining it.
He could understand the Free councils fear of detection. Under Ruathas reign they would have been executed. Now that Ely ruled that was unthinkable. But still, it was an attempt to undermine the authorities and they would surely receive some sort of penalty. Ilian thougt they would be fined but the others on the project feared life time imprisoment. Ridiculous Ilian thought. Yes, Ely had changed a bit since taking reign of the Weyrlings, their divorce proved that. But she was still the Ely he had known most of his life.
He didn't understand why she wanted the divorce. But he wouldn't stand in her way, even though it casued him alot of pain. Even more now that he couldn't bury himself in his project.
Oh Ely, I miss you so, he thought.