Chapter 1: Unexpected Arrivals

It was dark. At night, on the war-ridden, nuke-destroyed planet, things were relatively more peaceful. But people were leaving. Illegally, yes, but leaving nevertheless, for various other planets that had been colonized. Planets without this destruction, where new starts could be made.

One of the groups of inhabitants had been working on a genetic project for quite a while. Now they were almost ready, hoping to use it as a weapon against their opponents. But, a group of their enemies had attacked, unexpected, the day before. Now, they were running.

Cornered in a dead end, their leader, desperate, gave the signal. A group of dragons winked between.

Telgar Weyr, Pern, Rukbat System, Early Morning

The watchdragon was sleepily maintaining his post on the heights of Telgar Weyr, when suddenly, a group of strangely colored dragons appeared from between, looking exhausted. Managing to land safely on the ground, the dragons then all but collapsed, while their riders leaped down to tend to their beasts. The watchdragon didn't recognize any of them, and they obviously were not from Pern. Whoever had ever seen a red dragon? He bugled the alarm.

Fiona. Wake up. Fiona was wakened by her urgent dragon. Talenth. she thought, fondly. What is it, love?The golden queen dragon, her dragon, Talenth, shook herself a little and turned her massive head to look at her rider with one large green eye whirling with excitement. There are strange dragons at the gate. She paused. Winurth reports one silver, two black, two red, two orange, and two white. All have riders...I did not know there were silver dragons. Talenth sounded rather disgruntled at the fact that there were dragons she didn't know about.

Fiona smiled as she rose from her bed and got herself prepared. She needed to be out there as Weyrwoman. She paused in front of a mirror. Weyrwoman. She had expected it eventually, and had enjoyed her time in Ista Weyr, where she had stood in as the Weyrwoman in the absence of another queen. But...she did miss Cisca, the Weyrwoman before her, and K'lior, the former Weyrleader. Staring at herself, she marveled at how much time had passed and how much she had grown from the surprised Lord Holder's daughter that had impressed Talenth unexpectedly in Telgar's Hatching Grounds.

Mentally shaking herself, she turned to check on Talenth, ready to go. Now was no time to reminisce, not if these strange dragons were a potential threat to her weyr. Hearing a noise at the entrance to the weyr as she mounted Talenth, she turned, to see her weyrmate and Weyrleader, T'mar.

"Weyrwoman." he greeted.

"Weyrleader." she responded, grinning. "Winurth passed the message on to Zirenth as well, I assume?"

"Indeed." he grumbled. "I was enjoying my rest, you know. We just flew Thread."

Are you two done yet? asked Talenth impatiently. I am ready to fly. Zirenth is ready to fly. We are waiting for you and T'mar.

"The dragons are getting restless." commented Fiona. "Let's go."

T'mar nodded. "I'll meet you outside the weyr."

As T'mar exited the queen's weyr, Talenth took off and winged towards the intruders.

The rider on the silver dragon dismounted and hurriedly looked over her dragon. "You alright, Shironeth?" she inquired worriedly. I am well, replied the silver. We are all well, except for Minath. His wingtip got grazed by a bullet, but he will be fine. We need rest, though. The rider nodded. "At least we escaped..." she sunk into mournful reminiscence.

"Taka!" cried one of the black riders. Alertly, the silver rider responded.

"What is it, L'cas? Is Rainith hurt?" asked Taka.

"No, but there is a gold and several bronzes circling above us." L'cas indicated the dragons of Telgar Weyr.

Taka nodded. "That's fine. We need to see if they will shelter us, anyways." Together, the group of dragons and riders awaited the dragons of Telgar to descend.

Fiona frowned. "I know that Winurth said that these dragons were different, but still..." She was startled by the distinct differences in coloration. Red? White? Black? Silver? Orange? Where did these colors come from? She felt a slight jerk, and grabbed on to the riding harness as Talenth responded to T'mar's signal to land.

On the ground, she stared. These riders...looked as if they had just finished fighting Thread and an army at the same time. They were exhausted, covered in grime, and their dragons were pale. She stepped towards the one who seemed to be the leader.

"Greetings. I am Fiona, weyrwoman of Telgar Weyr, rider of the queen dragon Talenth." she indicated Talenth, who rumbled in response.

"This is the Weyrleader, Tmar, rider of bronze dragon Zirenth." She indicated T'mar.

"And this is F'jian, on bronze Ladirth." F'jian nodded.

"Welcome to Telgar Weyr. May we please hear why a group of strange dragons has decided to land on our doorstep?" said Fiona tartly.

The leader of the dragons nodded. "Allow me to introduce my people."

"I am Taka, rider of silver Shironeth," she continued.

"The dirty blond haired one with his hair tied back is J'mes, rider of red Vamprath.

"The other blond one is L'gel, rider of red Mirketh.

"The shorter brown haired one is L'cas, rider of black Rainith.

"The redhead with the attitude problem is A'ran, rider of black Death.

"The silver haired one is K'sik, rider of orange Minath.

"The taller brown haired one is D'nos, rider of orange Naveth.

"The olive skinned woman is Zikal, rider of white Mossath.

"And the short black haired woman is Ruen, rider of white Hakath."

Each rider nodded as Taka introduced them. Fiona noticed that they all had either inscrutable or arrogant looks on their faces.

"I assume you wish to know why we are here?" inquired Taka. Fiona only nodded.

"Well..." the young woman scratched her neck sheepishly. "We are from Earth."