[Ruatha]

Weyrling Empire 2406.7
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At Kalzeron prime.

Illian sat in his lab discussing with the One, this is something he had been occupied with alot since the awakening.

The Weyrlings were in a completely new and henceforth unknown situation. What capabilities have they gained and what limits does the One have, this needs to be ascertained Illian belives.

"-How comes that you still exist while we retain our individuality? There shouldn't be enough neurons for you to use should there?", Illian asked in his mind and directed the question towards the one.
The use of their newfound capabilities where becoming easier and easier for each day, and more and more of the uses of it was discovered.
To speak with someone, you no longer had to be in the presence of that person, you could just voice a sentence in your head while picturing who you wanted to receive it, one or several individuals. If you wished you could send the sentence or tought or emotion blindly for anyone to hear but that was generally not appreciated, others could shield away your thoughts but it was thought that it was the senders obligation to make sure where the thought was sent.
When the awakening happened everyone had sent blindly and it had been hard to make out one's own individual thoughts even though the One had let the individual minds up to surface again. It had taken weeks before people began feeling themselfs again, clarifying the boundaries of their own individualites.
Most Weyrlings had come through this phase without problems. Those who where in contact with aliens though where an altogether different matter.
It had quickly become clear that they couldn't contain their joy over not being alone anymore, so the One had retained control of all Weyrlings who had contact with aliens, only letting their individuality take control when they where alone. This didn't leave them enough time to train their new abilities and clear out the borders of their own individuality. All these people where slowly being replaced and sent home so that they would get enough time on their own to deal with the new situation. Meanwhile the One was seeing that the aliens where noticing the difference in the Weyrlings they met, still it didn't want to try to mimic emtions as it thought it propable that it would insert the wrong emotional response, no response was better.

"-I use the neurons in the Weyrlings that are asleep, and a proportion of every Weyrling brain is used by me. If you where to make extensive tests you would find that the cognitive functions of the Weyrlings has degraded some since I awoke, but at present we do not have tests precise enough to show this. The wast amount of Weyrlings means that I don't have to use very much of each brain to function, but I'm nowhere near my original thought capacity though.", the One responded.

"- So now we have telepathic and teleempathic capabilities, but sadly enough we haven't found any aliens who have the Celia vortex so we can't scan any aliens. That would have been great though!"

"- Yes, it would have made my understanding of the aliens much easier, I still cannot understand their motivations and thoughts. It will make it hard for me to deal with them, therefore most of the dealings with aliens are best left in the hands of the individuals, not the collective."

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Weyrling Empire 2406.8
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The Starship Indestructible located in the Lasat starsystem:

Matriarch Elyssandra was sitting in the command bridge of the Indestructible, admiral Gryt was leading the battle.
After they had entered the Lasat system the Troikens Pride had slowly placed itself in a position behind the Indestructible.
Captain Jalan had stated that his intent was to protect the vulnerable rear of the Indestructible which where out of the Indestructibles weapons aiming arch.

During an uneventful passage between some asteroids the second in command Larissa had sat at the helm when the Troikens Pride had opened fire with all four of it's telekinetic cannons. The Indestructibles shields had flared up but held most of the incoming fire away and the ship had escaped the first volleys unharmed except some minor dents in the armour. Admiral Gryt and Elyssandra had run to the helm when the ship was shaken by the incoming fire and the ship's crew had instantly taken their battle positions. When Gryt and Elyssandra reached the bridge they where fully informed, their new telepathic capabilities had it's advantages.

Admiral Gryt barked out his orders;
"-All weapons fire at will, use your opportunities!
Heading 250 by 180 and full reverse!"

The Indestructible seemed to do a loop and came out beside the Troikens Pride some time later and then their powerful phased polaron beams started to fire. The Indestructible was a battlecruiser but had only two main weapons, large mounted phased polaron beams of the fifth level. The beams penetrated the Troikens Pride's shields as if they hadn't existed, but the Troikens Pride had advanced ECM capacity and mots of the beams missed, the only damage inflicted upon the target was some severed antennas sticking out from the hull.
Despite being a light cruiser the Troikens Pride carried more weapons then the Indestructible who was a command ship and was geared towards defence with shields and heavy armour.
The Troikens Pride opened up again with it's telekinetic cannons, this time Captain Jalan didn't fire them all at once but in a sequence and aimed at the same point on the Indestructible. The first three rounds where caught by the shields who sent out bright lights as the energy ate away at the incoming projectiles, the Last round hovewer pierced through the hole left in the energy barrier by the presedent shots, it struck the Indestructible in the front of the ship, creating a man deep crater in the thick armour, this didn't cause any fear in the crew as the armour was three times as thick as that. Some melted metal struck the portholes in one of the polaron beam turrets but it didn't block very much of the view.

The Troikens Pride altered course, now it was on a straight collision course which unaltered would ram the larger Indestructible just below the command bridge.

"-Roll 180 and present another side to the target!
Then come around zero by 180 and full ahead. Take us away, this isn't a battle we wish to fight"

The Indestructibles engines spewed out massive amounts of ions as the throttle was pressed to the bottom.
The more modern engines were slowly accelerating it away from the Troikens Pride, even though they would soon be out of eyesight of each others they would still be within fire range for a long time.
The polaron beams fired again and again, there was a massive exchange of projectiles and beams between the both ships but the advanved ECM on the both ships made it almost impossible to gain a lock on the target.
Elyssandra could imagine Jalan laughing at their combat capacity, but she couldn't fathom why he had started this fight.
Another round of telekinetic cannon fire was caught by the shields, this time the aim wasn't as precise and the rounds hit different parts of the shields and caused no damage to the ship.

The Troikens Pride was no longer within sight so the gunners where relying on the target scanners to aim their shots. The gunners fired their beams at their own will and there was no coordination between the shots, that wasn't really necessary as they didn't need to concentrate their fire to penetrate any shields or armour, if the beams hit they would deliver all their destructing energy to the vulnerable innards of the Troikens Pride.
As the Indestructible fired her two beams over and over again while the generators spewed out the massive amounts of needed energy they made an impressive light show, but no real damage until one beam hit straight on. On the scanners they could see the beam hit in the middle of the light cruiser leaving no visible entry mark on the hull but instantly one of the telekinetic cannon turrets exploded outwards, sending debris in all directions. A moment later the Troikens Prides engins went dead. Now the distance between the two ships increased quickly.
On the bridge they could through the scanners see an EVA team leave the Troikens Pride heading for the engines, propably some debris from the exploding cannon that damaged some vital component in the fuel distribution cutting of all fuel to the engines, was the analysis by the bridge crew.
The Troikens pride was still firing its two remaing cannons but at the quickly increasing distance their aim was very bad and the rounds almost didn't make it all the way.

Elyssandra was somewhat upset. Her tail was wagging wildly from side to side and her fangs where visible through her tight lips.
"-Gryt, take us to alliance headquarter as quickly as possible.", Elyssandra ordered. Continuing but not speaking out, only voicing her thoughts and sending them to the One she continued:
"We need an explanation to this attack at once! Are the Dravens going to war against us or was this a madmans attack? Also we need to send in some ships to try to capture the Troikens pride, that might be our only chance to get true answers. Detatch the Psi corps ships from the Sledge fleet and send them here to try to capture the Troikens Pride. If they can get captain Jalan to convert his alligience to us we will have the answer.
And get the Speaker in the allaince headquarter to question the Dravens, if they need to know how we got the information so fast to headquarter womba**** them!"

The voice of the One responded at once in her head,
"-Womba****? We have no wombacats at the headquarter and so no defecations from them either."

"-Sorry, it means that you should come up with a lie, and in this case as they are the aggressors it can literally stink, just as womba****. They will be so occupied with providing answers that they will propably not dare to question any explanation we might give."

At the Central Powers Alliance Headquarter:

Speaker Farth was sitting on the podium staring down upon the Draven reprasentative Josha.
"-So, what explanation do the Dravens have as to why they have tried to assasinate our leader, an unprovoced attack upon the very symbol of the Weyrling Empire?
Does this mean war? Our fleets are gathered at Terran space and with the wormhole openers they can be in Draven space within weeks, is that what you wish? If so speak up and we will grant your request!
You may be sad to know this but the Matriarch survived this surprise murder attack and is heading here at this moment, she isn't pleased with our Draven allies right now!
We are right now discussing this with the Thermolians and they are as shocked by the Draven actions as we are.

Now, Draven Josha. You may leave, but return quickly with a good explanation if the alliance shall have any chance of surviving your deeds!"

In the Kuat system aboard the Destroyer Responder:

The new tactic was working.
The Hammer fleet had entered the Terran home system Sladden by a wormhole which closed behind them.
They had already landed troops at two of the Terrans homeworlds and captured them intact, destroying masses of construction star bases orbiting the planets. The resistance had been sparse. A few weapon platforms had put up a token resistance before surrendering.
The Terrans had some starships in the system but they seemed reluctant to attack the large Hammer fleet. Many of the Terran ships where leaving the system towards Nyran space. The reason for this was uncomprehensible to the Weyrlings.
A single Terran Battleship had been converted to the Weyrling side by the Weyrling intelligence service. That ship had the Last month alone glassed three Terran worlds, depriving the Terrans of resources. Still the Terrans seemed unwilling to commit their ships to battle even against this single ship.
The same pattern was seen in the neighbouring Kuat system where the Sledge fleet was glassing planet after planet with little resistance. The main Terran fleet was still located at the wormhole connecting Kuat to the Terran homesystem Sladden, unwilling to leave that strategic point even though the Sladden system already was compromised.
Thurya though that perhaps they had already destroyed so much of the Terran infrastructure that the ships were stuck due to inadequate resupplies. The Weyrling fleet was equipped to fight far from home in enemy territory, but the Terrans had planned on fighting at their known territory with ample resupply bases present. Those bases where now being destroyed in a faster and faster pace. In the Kuat system only two planets remained, more than ten worlds where now uninhabited.

The Responder had been given new and appreciated orders. Up to now they had been doing flank protection for the fleet while they went from world to world and burned millions of people to ashes, largely unapposed.
Not a very actionfilled assignment but Thurya hadn't complained, rather nothing to do than participate in the killing of millions of unarmed civilians. She could se the necesseity of it as the superior Draven fleet hadn't been able to put a dent in the Terran fleet. Attacking them would be suicide, and if she had to choose she'd rather fry some Terrans than die herself.
These new orders where appreciated though as they might indicate some coming action.
Intelligence weren't reporting any major enemy fleet movements in the neighbouring systems apart from the Sladden system. Now the Responder was assigned to recon duty, they should pass through the closest wormhole and check out the next system, if it seemed safe the Sledge fleet would follow as soon as the Last Kuat planets had been turned into artistic glass sculptures.
Thurya edged her ship closer to the Wormhole and seeing no danger she gave the order to pass through.
On the other side everything seemed calm when suddenly something started to shimmer on the left side of the ship.
Try who was manning the main gun on that side voiced to Thurya;
"-Thu, it's a ship coming out of cloak, it shouldn't be a terran ship as we've never gotten any indication that they have that kind of technology."

"-It could be a Draven ship, if it is fire as soon as you get a clear shot. We know what they tried doing to the Indestructible and we don't have that kind or armour!", Thurya sent.

"-No, it's not a Draven ship, it looks like a CCCP ship but not quite.... Hey, it got Terran markings!! Targeting, Firing!"

The Responders four Phased Polaron beams opened up almost at the same time. The Terran ship hovewer wasn't where they had thought it would be and all shots missed widely. The Terrans constantly changed their tactics and pressed their ships to unbelivable prestations, making them almost impossible to hit.
The Terran destroyer opened fire with some kind of beam and hit with the first shot, the beam wasn't fired as the Weyrling polaron beams in short bursts but rather as a continious beam.
First they could feel the ship vibrate but it didn't seem to take any damage but then the warning lights on the bridge started flaring. The ion engines magnetic inducer coils where being overloaded and started melting. The cooling system couldn't cope with the incoming energy and the cooling gases started boiling and vented out into space, sending geysers of white fumes out through the emergency vents. The engines shut down and the Responder was dead in space.

The Terran ship was closing in, the Responders weapons franticly tried to get a lock but the Terrans had engaged advanced ECM's making it hard to aim correctly. The Terran ship opened up with a polaron beam of their own, blowing one of the Responders four main guns into debris and sending the gunner out into space in small pieces, the emergency vacuum doors on the ship closed immediatly. Another beam from the Terrans evaporated all reamins of another Weyrling Gunner along with her gun turret.
"-Abandon ship!!", The One's voice echoed in the heads of the Responders crew. All the crew headed for the escape hatces, grabbed the emergency packs and said godbye to the Responder. Before leaving Thurya armed the automatic self-destruct mechanism and then joined the others abandoning the ship.
The small objects the individual Weyrlings posed were too small for the Terrans to track and the emergency packs containing oxygen and fluid refreshers and nutrishments would enable them to survive for a month. Previously it was belived that anyone out there wouldn't make it that long, propably not more than a week before they would open their suits to the vacum to end the intense loneliness they would experiance. Now when they were in constant contact with each other and the One they would propably survive.

The Terran ship docked with the Weyrling ship and troops swarmed aboard, finding an empty ship.
Try had been caught in his tower that had been damaged by debris from the exploding gun turrets so he hadn't been able to get loose and abandon ship at the same speed as the others. There hadn't been any fear that he shouldn't make it, he just had to wind the turret into the correct position by hand and should have had ample of time before the self destruct destroyed the ship.
Rounding a corner towards the closest escape hatch Try ran straight into a Terran marine, there was no meaning of putting up any struggle, it would have been a one-sided match. On one side a Terran marine in combat armour with a phaser gun and on the other Try in a exposure suit and no weapon.
The Weyrlings might look fearsome but against an alien they where not very god in close combat, originating on a low gravity world they where quite weak. They looked strong and fearsome with fangs, claws and big muscles, but the muscles weren't very effective, they had developed for use against other low gravity animals.
Try was quickly ushered over to the Terran ship that severed it's bonds with the Weyrlings ship. Finding it virtually deserted the Terrans quickly suspected something was wrong, and they didn't intend to stay and see what surprise the Weyrlings had planned for them.

Floating in space seperated from the other in the crew Thurya voiced to Try,
"-Hang in there my love, we'll come after you."
"-I know you will Thu!"

Thurya saw her ship explode in a consuming fire ball, the escape hatches had air pressure catapults that threw the crew safely away from the ship so there was no big risk of being hit by debris. Thu could see glowing pieces pass by her as the tears flowed down her cheeks. She was a warrior now, finally she had fought her first battle. But she didn't feel as a warrior, she felt alone."

[ March 31, 2003, 06:48: Message edited by: Ruatha ]