Dragonriders of Pern series 1. Prologue: A Brief History

_A/N: Hello there, thank you very much for clicking on my story! This is an idea I've had in my head for many years, and I hope to share a bit of it with you. I will be sticking largely to canon, though a number of things have changed in the several hundred years since the end of the Ninth Pass and the beginning of these events. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it, and I'd very much like to hear what you think._

**Prologue: A Brief History of Pernese Space Travel**

Pern began as a colony mission for settlers who wanted to escape the more complex life of the main galactic civilizations. The end of a major interplanetary war left plenty of people tired and longing for a new beginning on a new world, the Pern mission was far from the only colony ship to leave at the time. The fall of Thread and subsequent dismantling of old technology left the young colony completely cut off for hundreds of years, far too concerned with its own devastating problems to worry themselves with the rest of the universe.

After the rediscovery of the original Landing site and the heroic mission that saw the planet finally freed from Thread, the people of Pern suddenly found themselves with access to archives that would allow them to rebuild everything they had lost and more. A general consensus was reached through the Holds, Crafthalls and Weyrs to keep their agrarian society as the Colonists had intended, but redevelop some technology that would help them improve quality of life and medical care. Dragons and their riders, now free from their protective duties, proved an invaluable aid in maintaining this balance between pastoral life and technology. Rather than congregating in large settlements to facilitate assembling complex devices, work could be spread out over the entire planet and finished pieces teleported around as needed. Power needs were kept to a minimum through the use of this organic transportation, allowing advanced technology and medicine to reach those who needed it instantaneously without a planet-wide infrastructure being required.

The new devices being redeveloped, however, soon started to run up against Pern's natural mineral scarcity. Some remnants of the ancestral space technology was used to scout the surrounding solar system for mineral-rich asteroids, and dragons trained to safely teleport them down from the sky and directly into the yards of the Miners, Smiths and Technicians who would make best use of them. This technique proved so effective that the colonists began to work on space probes of their own, using teleportation to skip the hugely difficult steps of launching and reaching escape velocity. Probes were sent out in various directions to scout the solar system and nearby star systems, needing only very minimal power to travel through space and send back data about their locations to Landing Central Command. Dragons could then use this data to plan long _between_ jumps to a probe's location, arriving within minutes and getting back home in time for dinner. To facilitate even longer jumps, airtight space platforms were constructed and teleported into place, allowing for brief rests between the huge distances. They could be brought back to the planet for maintenance and refuelling, then reused on new jumps.

In exploring their galactic neighbourhood, Pern sent out messages on every available frequency and began scanning for incoming transmissions, hoping to re-establish contact with other colonies. No one wanted to accidentally start a war through mining or exploring the wrong asteroid or planet. To their surprise, and then alarm, they received no transmissions in return. What had become of the huge city-planets spoken of in their Landing's archives? What had become of all the other colonies?

Weyrship One is the planet's attempt to answer those questions, and peacefully explore the universe they have still so recently rediscovered. A vast spaceship capable of housing two hundred dragons and their riders, built to be teleported around the cosmos by its own inhabitants and survive autonomously for turns on end. It represents Pern's culture and people as a mobile base, facilitating long-jumps to a wider and wider world. Though still in contact with the main planet, the jumps to and back will get longer and longer as they travel, and its crew will be expected to operate largely under their own power. The Weyr format was a matter of necessity: over the centuries since Threadfall's end, several attempts at establishing smaller format dragon colonies have proven unpleasant for the dragons involved, who seem to be most content in groups of 100 or more with representation from all colours and a natural breeding/Impression cycle. The crew of Weyrship One was chosen from amongst the very best and brightest across the entire planet, but includes a great number of younger professionals with high enough EMP rating to Impress, for the sake of the two Queens the ship plans to take along and their expected clutches.

Weyrship One begins its mission heading towards the closest known colony planet on record, on the way to their eventual goal of reaching the capital planet of their ancestors' seemingly abandoned civilization. Perhaps the answers they seek will lie somewhere along the way, scattered amongst the stars in the vast universe they have set out to explore.


	2. Rising Part 1

_A/N: Thank you very much to those who left reviews on my introduction, I hope the story will not disappoint! _

Through the wide screen of the ancient spaceship, all of Pern seemed very small indeed. He could trace the curvature of the planet with his finger, and pick out the glimmering lights of settlements where hundreds of thousands carried out their lives. And in front of it all, almost perfectly centred in the viewscreen, was the ship that would soon be carrying hundreds more.

From this distance, it looked like a toy, with tiny little dragons flying in slow motion around a central mass of metal. Three of the five rings were installed, and they were working on the fourth now. They turned lazily around the main shaft, where the engines and central controls were housed. Tomorrow they'd be _betweening_ in the last ring, the huge glass and stone construct that would play home to a Weyr amongst the stars.

His Weyr. Captain-Weyrleader J'vaine on Bronze Kirth. He wasn't sure it had much of a ring to it.

"All of Pern you could be hiding in, m'boy, and you're still always in the first place I look." J'vaine jumped for a second at the unexpected visitor, but he recognized the voice that had spoken immediately. Gruff and sea-weathered, yet with that sense of presence that came with Lord and Harpercraft training both. He didn't need to turn to see the face of the man behind him, dark greying hair would still frame its harsh lines, silver-blue eyes, and rare but fiercely genuine grins.

"Guess I'm not going to win any points for originality." A trace of bitterness there that J'vaine hadn't meant to let slip, not in front of A'ten.

"Aye." The other rider was silent for a moment, "but, then, they didn't pick ya to be unpredictable."

"They didn't pick me at all."

"Now, that's not bein' terribly fair, J'vaine-"

"I… I appreciate the kind words, A'ten, you know I do. But I was a compromise candidate, they haven't exactly made much effort to hide that I was nobody's first choice." He turned himself away from the monitor, only to find A'ten's eyes staring straight at him from behind small silver-rimmed glasses at the door to the Yokohama's bridge. "H'tan was a first choice, or V'cerra. Or one of the Technicians, maybe. I'm here because I'm too young to have offended anyone yet."

"Ah, yes, the only quality the Lords and Masters have chosen to use in selecting leadership over their very, very expensive project: the ability not to piss them off." A'ten was mocking him now, but J'vaine knew he'd been acting the brat first.

"I'm sorry, I should be happy. I am, really, I'm flattered to be picked-"

"-But you're still up here, sulking, with half the planet waiting to congratulate you."

"I'm not sulking." J'vaine was thirty one turns old, and somehow A'ten still knew how to make him sound like an apprentice again. "I just… I needed somewhere alone for awhile."

"And you don't have anything you should be doing groundside?"

"Not really." He turned back to the viewscreen. "Most of them don't want me in charge until I absolutely have to be, they aren't exactly tripping over themselves to get me involved before launch."

"Really now" said A'ten. The silence hung in the air between them for a moment as long and cold as the jump between. "And since when, Captain, has that ever stopped you? They gave you a title, but that's all you're going to get for free. If you want the ship that comes with it you've got some work to do. There are people who don't want you here, fine. Throw 'em _between_, show the rest why you're here."

Weyrship One hovered just outside, rotating slowly in space as the dragons did their work. Tomorrow was Launch Day, and it would be his to command.

_He is quite right, ridermine._That deep familiar voice, the mirror to his own, piped up in J'vaine's mind. A_nd you can stop feeling so sorry for yourself because I am here, and I will help you command. And you can please tell this blue that he should not be lying down because he is taking up all the space down here._ J'vaine smiled, it was hard not to be a little enheartened by his dragon's bold confidence.

_Alright, Kirth, we're just leaving anyways. Leave Forsith alone, though, I think he's earned a bit of a lie-down_.

_Good, this space is far too small for us._

"Thank you, old friend. I mean it." A'ten was right, of course, as always. Having his old mentor use his new title sounded strange to the bronzerider's ears, though. "You know, you don't have to call me Captain."

"Oh?" A'ten grinned, "I think you'd better be checking your crew rosters again there, Captain-Weyrleader sir. Would do to keep track of who you've got under your command. I'll be seeing you soon, m'boy, and you'd best be getting yourself ready for it."


	3. Rising Part 2

_A/N: My thanks again for the reviews and follows, I will attempt to keep this updated once a week until Rising is finished._

* * *

Whoever was in charge of organizing the Launch Day Gather, J'vaine had to admit they had done a spectacular job. It seemed like every dragon on the planet had shown up to attend, and all the streets of Landing were lined with stalls of food or craftwares. Bright flags were flown for every Hall, Hold and Weyr participating in the project, and with the crest the committees had finally decided upon to represent Pern as a whole: a white circle surrounded by five arrows, one each of green, blue, brown, bronze and gold. Simple but fitting, the design was meeting with general approval amidst the expected grumbles of those who disliked change in general.

Those men and women who would be crewing Weyrship One had privileged access to the roof of the Control building, which had been decorated for the occasion and set up with tables of refreshments. It served the triple purpose of keeping them all entertained, allowing the rest of Pern a glimpse at their new Weyrship crew, and ensuring that any needed experts were close at hand should something go wrong. But the cheer had already gone up that the final ring had been successfully lifted, and all that was left of Launch Day was attaching all the various sub-systems. The _between_ing crew was due back any minute, and the Technicians hovering around the edge of the roof were beginning to relax. J'vaine could stare into the sky above and know that every single piece of Weyrship One was off this planet and out amongst the stars.

Most of the crew, however, would be Pernbound for another few weeks as final adjustments were made shipside. It was rapidly becoming evident to the bronzerider that his usual leadership style of learning everyone's name and face would be impossible here, but he'd resolved to try. As the festivities got rolling, people would come up and introduce themselves in twos or threes, and he would repeat their name back and ask about their positions, their dragons, their lives. J'vaine was rapidly coming to believe that every single person that would be serving aboard his ship was smarter than him.

_It is good to be in command of many clever people. They will serve us well._ Kirth cut an impressive figure perched on the building next door, apparently socializing with one of the many surrounding greens. _And we, them, of course_ he added, after a moment's pause.

_Already found a friend, I see_ J'vaine was well aware that his bronze could find the nearest pretty female dragon while blindfolded in a snowstorm.

_Orith is also very clever, and very beautiful._ Kirth drew himself up to his full height and sat looking defiantly down at his rider. _You will be meeting Hers presently, I think._

"Just the man I was hoping to catch, Captain!" J'vaine turned at the sound of his title to see a man he didn't recognize approaching with two drinks in hand. He looked young, couldn't have been thirty at the oldest, but the traditional rank knots he wore on his loose white shirt spoke to his credentials. Double mastery with the Harper and Healer halls, Journeyman status as a Lord, and a dragonrider on top of it. J'vaine was getting used to meeting astonishingly well educated individuals this Gather, but most of them had twice this man's turns and half his good looks. "Looks like you're out" he offered forward one of the glasses, filled with the sweet red fruit juice for which Landing was famed, and J'vaine remembered that his first drink had been empty for half an hour.

J'vaine took the drink and set his empty cup on a nearby table. "Thank you very much, ah-"

"K'ten, of Green Orith." His wide grin certainly helped the impression that he was quite young for his rank. "I'll be heading the Medical and Diplomacy ring for you, Captain, provided no one manages to break the whole ship before we get going. Pleasure to meet you at last, sir."

"The pleasure's all mine. They installed your ring last week, right? Had a chance to get up to see it?"

_You cannot complain about Orith and me if you are finding this man's looks distracting_.

_He's not distracting me, Kirth, you're projecting._

_I am not_.

"Hah, only for a few minutes. You _have_ met the woman in charge of overseeing assembly, right?"

J'vaine winced. "I've had the pleasure, yes."

"Diplomatically put, Captain." K'ten winked, which did not help J'vaine's side of the argument with his dragon. "She kicked me out pretty quick, but I've been over the blueprints enough that I've started to dream about them. It's a top-of-the-line medical facility, that's for certain. Research lab, outpatient rooms, space for worried dragons, a Healer couldn't ask for more. Of course, I expect you'll be keeping me far too busy to do much patient care myself, but we've assembled an amazing team."

"And the diplomacy side of things?"

"Well, they've planned for everything. A linguistics analysis lab, a full paper library of pernese history, spare medical and food supplies… the Smithcraft Hall even set us up with some good old fashioned crowned jewels in case we need to make an impression. But we're facing a complete unknown out there, it's been thousands of years and who knows how much has changed. Maybe we'll run into something no one here has even thought of yet." For half a second, the greenrider looked deadly serious, but then he grinned again. "But then I guess we'll just wing it with what we've got, right Captain? I'm sure we'll do fine." He looked so utterly self-assured, J'vaine found himself nodding in agreement.

"Sounds like we're all set, then."

"Should be." K'ten gave a lazy salute. "Now, so long as you've now got yourself an utterly inflated view of my qualifications and capabilities, I shouldn't keep you. I think I hear a refreshments table calling my na—."

A dragonlength away, someone suddenly began to yell quite loudly, startling the whole rooftop into a brief moment of silence. K'ten put his sentence on hold, and J'vaine was close enough to make out the words of the rant.

"Well of course the deviations are within acceptable parameters! YOUR idea of 'acceptable' is dangerously unsafe and scientifically unfounded. I sharding well designed the thing, you think I don't know when it's broken?!" The woman doing the yelling did not, at first glance, seem capable of making such noise. She was at least sixty, with a thin frame and dark grey hair, dressed in full riding gear with the pants of a longjump suit that she must have either just started putting on or not yet taken off. J'vaine realized why the Technician she was yelling at looked so nervous as soon as he recognized her voice.

_Go, then. Help them._ J'vaine didn't realize until his dragon said as much that he was thinking about interfering.

_Me though? I'm no Technician_.

_You are their Captain, you will solve their problems. Go._

If he thought about it for any longer, he'd just find some excuse. J'vaine strode towards the conflict, hoping he looked more certain than he felt. "Good afternoon, mastertechnician. Is there some sort of trouble?"

The poor journeyman being yelled at cowered further as the woman turned to face J'vaine. Mastertechnician Maevra was fit and fierce despite her sixty turns, she wore an intricately woven knot that displayed a triple craft mastery and the honourary Junior Weyrwoman rank that came with her Queen dragon. Though a few spare coloured strands indicated further cross-craft apprenticeship certifications, Lordcraft was not among them: the only gold in the knot was tied for Weyr, not Hall. She had, the story went, told the Council of Lords that she 'didn't have time to learn their prattling politics'.

She was also the woman largely in charge of ensuring Weyrship One made it safely into space.

"Yes, there is some sort of trouble." Maevra replied. "The power modulation unit on the medical ring is entering critical overload, and some dimglowed idiots are telling me that it's within acceptable parameters. Which it is not."

"The medical ring?" K'ten asked. He'd followed close enough to hear those important words.

Maevra closed her eyes, and continued in curt, quick words. "Until the main engine is fully operational, the five rings are fueling their primary systems through the separate power units on each ring designed for emergency backup. Each unit is encased in a modulation unit, which has to be in perfect functioning order or, as a 'safety feature'" she clenched the two words out through a humourless grin, "the entire power unit shuts down."

K'ten's eyes widened. "The medical ring is still using shield power to maintain atmosphere, without power it would start losing air. In a vacuum… we'd lose all our most sensitive equipment, and the rest will have to get recalibrated or repaired. It could delay the launch by… months, if not turns."

"I… appreciate that you're all concerned" the nervous Journeyman piped up, his voice quivering. "But…mastertechnician, Control has assured me that there's nothing to be worried about. The power modulator's readings are well within the normal-"

The journeyman stopped as a green firelizard appeared in the air a foot from his nose, harnessed and carrying a small scroll in her claws which she quickly dropped into his hands. Maevra's sneer widened as the young man read the note with dawning horror. "We-" he stammered out, "we might have a problem."

Maevra snatched the note out of his hand. "I'm going myself. My prototype modulator always worked better than their final version, I can switch the two before the power level reaches critical levels." She was already walking towards the exit, leaving the Journeyman standing dumbfounded and the two other riders rushing to catch up.

"You're not going up alone. I've got my suit downstairs fully charged" J'vaine said. He nearly had to run to keep up with her pace.

"Mine too" added K'ten, a step behind.

"I appreciate the offer, but the last thing I need is a pair of Harpers wandering around making things worse."

"The power modulation unit is inside the ring, too tight for a dragon to fit." Said J'vaine, glad he'd paid attention to those blueprints. "We'll need a human team, but the entry hatches have to be—"

"—unlocked by simultaneous override at three separate stations" K'ten finished for him.

"It's a security mechanism in case of hostile boarding action" Finished J'vaine. He couldn't blame Maevra for looking upset.

"It's a sharding death trap!" Said the mastertechnician.

"You need a team of three, and K'ten and I know the medical ring back to front. We can find our way around in low light and no grav, and we're ready to go now. Besides, it's my ship."

"Not until it takes off it isn't."

"I think you'll find" J'vaine looked back at the Launch Day banners that surrounded the roof, "that it just did. Now are we going to argue about this, or are we going to suit up?"


	4. Rising Part 3

Breath in, count to three, breath out.

J'vaine counted down the half minute of utter darkness between Pern and the orbiting Weyrship. _Between_ing in a full spacesuit wasn't cold or breathless, but there was something uniquely unnerving about being in that void for so long. He held tight to the neck of his dragon, and to the mental image of their destination. Breath in, count to three, breath out.

It seemed like an eternity before they appeared again, but when they did Kirth settled himself down almost noiselessly against the steel floor and lay down for his passengers to dismount. The dragon bay was big enough to host three full grown beasts, but in the end they'd chosen to take only one. Maevra's gold Britaeth was still tired from her part in the launch, and there was no need to load up two dragons when the large bronze could easily carry all three riders.

J'vaine dismounted first, and pulled his air feed tube out of Kirth's oxygen tanks with a turn and click. He switched his personal air supply to atmnosphere and removed the spacesuit's helmet, since the ring still had full life support so there was no sense in wasting packaged air. K'ten and Maevra followed a moment after, she with the practiced ease of many such trips and he with only a little more fumbling to get his air tube free.

"Alright, Harpers" Maevra wielded that honoured title like an insult, "you know what we're doing here. K'ten, you have the control centre by main medical. J'vaine, you're taking the main library. I'll enter my controls by the escape pods, that's where the airlock to the inner ring is. My Britaeth will give the mark. Get to your station, sit tight, and try not to break anything."

K'ten and J'vaine exchanged a quick glance behind her back, the bronzerider would have laughed at the face the Healer made if he wasn't fairly sure that Maevra could still hear them as she walked briskly off. But there wasn't time to waste with socializing. The three control stations were evenly spaced around the ring, and since K'ten's was only steps away in main medical J'vaine had a lot of ground to cover. Fortunately, it was in the opposite direction from Maevra.

Weyrship One consisted of five hollow rings rotating around a central column, with each ring housing more or less one full department. The culture and medical ring was divided off again into three parts, with airlock seals between them. One third housed cultural resources and light recreational facilities, while the other two thirds lay reserved for minor and major medical issues respectively. The dragon bay had been cleverly placed right up against the emergency ward, so nervous beasts could watch their partners through the thick glass viewing windows even when one or both of them were injured.

Once finished, it would be one of the finest pernese medical facilities ever built, but as J'vaine jogged through the hall that led around the ring he could see that there was still work to be done. The small screen on the wrist of his jumpsuit, now loading data from the ship's main computer, told him that the interior of this ring was 87% complete. There were still tools lying about, carpets left rolled up against the walls, light fixtures hanging dark and unfilled, all the little signs of a building in progress.

His command code opened the small airlock chamber that connected the medical section to the cultural third of the ring, J'vaine was glad that someone had remembered to put him in the ship's computer. This section was in better condition, and without having to dodge incompleted floor pannels and machinery the rider soon found his way to the main library. The room was set up for dozens of people to access the ship computer at once, reminiscent of Landing's vast Technician labs. J'vaine took the closest consol, quickly tapped in his code again, and started sorting through the command windows that would let him access the airlock override. A little window popped up to the side of the screen, complaining that the power modulator was malfunctioning and that tertiary backup power was keeping all systems at half power or worse. They had about sixteen minutes to return the ring's power to a functional state before life support and gravity went down, but the Technicians had estimated they'd only need five for the actual repairs. Plenty of time.

_The Queen's is at her station and prepared, as is lovely Orith's partner. Are we ready?_

J'vaine double checked his screen. All he needed to do was press the button within a thirty second window of the other two and the airlocks would be ready for use. _I'm ready, Kirth._

A moment's pause, then _Britaeth gives her mark_.

J'vaine pressed his enter key, and the computer made a little chime to acknowledge the input. Airlock Seal Removed, read the screen.

And that's when everything went wrong.


	5. Rising Part 4

The whole room shook, and the already dim lights flickered off, leaving a sudden and complete blackness. After a heartbeat of nothingness, more frightening than _between_ for being unexpected, emergency lights came on in twos and threes, and every computer in the library suddenly flashed a bright red warning on its screen.

_Kirth, I need your status_.

The computers were smart, without having to be told they were already listing the details of what had just happened. The ship's shields were usually enough to repel minor space debris and asteroids. But with them running at less than half power, something had gotten through. Just a small rock, the computers were projecting a size of only a few centimeters, but at the speeds the Weyrship was dealing with, even in orbit, it had breached the hull and torn a clear hole through the ring near the main airlock.

_I am well, my rider. Orith's is also well. Britaeth's is... injured. She-_ Kirth paused to finish a conversation that J'vaine couldn't hear with the other dragon. _She has been hurt by something, her suit is breached. She requires assistance. Britaeth is very upset._

J'vaine was already moving.

His wrist screen read him the damages. 80% of air lost to one third of the ring, airlocks to all other sections functional. Power from lights and oxygen cycling were being rerouted to shields, trying desperately to keep everything in one piece, but with the added strain the breach had caused the last dregs could only be stretched so far. They wouldn't have long to fix Maevra's suit well enough to between back to planetside. Maybe, with luck, they could send a Technician back quickly, before the downtime did much further damage.

And maybe, they'd still want J'vaine as Captain in a few turns time when everything was ready for relaunch.

The doors opened and quickly closed behind him as J'vaine ran through the ring, and he fumbled to put on his helmet and gloves. The shields would try and keep atmnosphere in the breached room if there was someone with a ruptured suit inside, but they wouldn't hold forever and precautions couldn't hurt. Thank goodness for a circular station, since they'd left in opposite directions Maevra was now only a third of a ring away. Adrenaline and Kirth's urgent demands to speed up ate through the distance, though not quite fast enough for J'vaine to feel comfortable with the rapidly diminishing amount of time they had left.

The airlock room was in shambles, but the impact wasn't the only thing to blame. According to the blueprints, since the airlock room was for emergencies and internal use only it didn't have any of the lavish decor of the rest of the ring. Evidently the crafters had taken to storing their tools and supplies in here while they polished up the finishing details on the rest of the station, and they hadn't been particularly neat about it either.

The tiny rock had smashed right through the wall and up through the ceiling, J'vaine had a brief, disconcerting glance at the dark hole where only shields stood between them and cold space. Building supplies and shattered glass made a pile around it, attracted by the vacuume before the shields managed to slip back into place. Another few seconds and the whole wall might have burst from the pressure, and they would have lost more than just debris to the void.

Maevra was on the ground next to the control consol, calmly bandaging her bleeding leg with heavy industrial tape.

"Faranth's tail!" K'ten wasn't far behind J'vaine, swearing loudly and nearly out of breath. "Are you alr-is that tape? Are you trying to tape yourself back together? What the shells happened?" Though his voice was panicked, he had his medkit out and was down by the old goldrider's side before he'd even finished speaking.

"Some dimglow left their tools on top of one of those piles of boxes, they fell." Maevra looked up from her taping to glare at a sort of saw-pick device, which had been kicked to the coner with a trail of her blood behind it.

"You... shards, you really shouldn't have pulled it out like that. Sit still, I need to take off your suitleg to-"

"Leave it. I have repairs to make." Fighting off the Healer, Maevra ripped off the end of the tape, pressed it down, and started trying to get to her feet.

"Oh no. No, no, no. Tape is not vacuume safe, for starters, and-" said K'ten.

"Doesn't have to be, I'll extend the shields outside temporarily, should hold long enough." Maevra's confident assertion was somewhat betrayed when she wobbled on her one good foot and had to promptly sit back down again.

"You're bleeding, and you can't stand."

"It's space. I'll be floating."

"Absolutely not, no, no, and also no." K'ten's assistive grip on her shoulder turned into a clinch as she tried to stand again.

"You are wasting my time, Healer. Let me up!"

J'vaine cleared his throat, to remind the pair that he was still in the room. "I'll go."

For a second, they both stared. "Captain," said K'ten, "we'll send another team. The tech is replacable, it's just delays. But we're running on fumes, the shields are failing. It's not safe out there, even if you aren't already hurt."

"I know. But... Weyrship One isn't going to be in orbit forever. Sooner or later it's just going to be us and the stars, and once we're out there we won't be able to just try, and fail, and go home. If I'm going to be Captain of a mission like this, see this ship through the best and the worst of times... I might as well start now."

Their silence seemed to last an eon, though Maevra broke it after only a second. "You'd better sharding well get started then, we don't have much time."

K'ten started to object, but J'vaine already had the Technician's bag and was opening the airlock door. "Make sure she's stable for the jump home, get back to Kirth. I'll meet you there once I'm done. Send... send for Orith, K'ten, just in case anything goes wrong."

"Britaeth will relay my instructions directly" said Maevra, still fighting off K'ten's efforts to help her up. "You only get one shot at this, Harper. Don't screw it up."

J'vaine gave the pair one last firm nod, then sealed the airlock door.

A new voice in his head sounded just when the outside door opened onto the cold space and stars outside. _Good afternoon, Captain-Weyrleader J'vaine. I am so sorry to meet under such unfortunate circumstances, we shall have to make more pleasant introductions once you are safely back on Pern._ The dragon's mental voice was warm and faintly melodic, as if it were about to burst into song. For a moment, J'vaine was quite sure she must be the wrong beast, and Maevra's partner had yet to get in touch. _My dear Maevra asks that you go directly to your left, keeping yourself parallel to the airlock doorway._

J'vaine followed her instructions, and relayed back his compliance through Kirth to the Queen. Few riders ever bothered with radio, dragon speech was simply so much faster and more convenient. It took training to get a dragon comfortable with speaking to a human outside their bond, and skill for a pair to communicate clearly and correctly even under stress, but J'vaine trusted Kirth implicitly, and he was quite certain Maevra's dragon must have been taught to relay complex technological details.

_You should see a pannel in front of you, some half a dragonslength from the door, labeled power. Please open it from the left, and relay back what you see._

J'vaine pried the door of the pannel off with as much care as he could manage in zero gravity, and immediately saw the problem. The power modulation unit was soldered in on both sides, but where on one side the wires were neatly separated and soldered in with thin lines, the other side was lost in a sort of puddle of silvery metal that connected them all into one jumbled, entirely ineffective circuit. The thin leaf-like veins of a Lichtenberg figure ran across the metal, sure signs of some massive electrical overload.

_One moment please_. There was a brief pause while Britaeth communicated with her rider. _My Maevra says you will have to remove the fused solder, carefully so as to not damage the main wires. That should let you take the old device out and plug in the new modulator safely._

J'vaine was no Mastertechnician, but when his name had come up for a Wingleader position with the Weyrship project, he'd put in the hours for some basic apprenticeship lessons on repairs and maintenance. He extracted the right pair of pliers from his suit's basic toolkit, holding them awkwardly in gloved hands. The electrical treeing meant that the metal came off in chunks and pieces, and every single piece that came off would have to be carefully caught and stored. In the void of space, even the tiniest pieces of garbage were a disaster waiting to happen.

The computer at his wrist complained that power levels in the ring were reaching critical, J'vaine really wished he could turn that feature off. Slowly, carefully, the last of the wires fell away and he began to slide the old power modulator out.

_Is all well? The new device should fit into the same space as the one you have removed._

The fit was tight, to say the least, Maevra's prototype was about half a centimeter larger and that made a world of difference. Electrical tape would have to do for the connecting points, J'vaine had neither the time nor the skill to re-sodder them.

One by one the wires slipped into place, and J'vaine secured the last with a swift twist of black tape. He held his breath in the deathly quiet of space, as for a moment that seemed like forever his computer readings didn't change at all.

_It has worked!_ Britaeth exclaimed happily just as J'vaine's computer updated to confirm it. Down the ring, the lights flickered back on room by room. Power levels were at 1.8%, but climbing, and computers projected that all systems could be safely brought back online within the hour.

_Of course it worked._ Kirth, ever smug, chimed in. _Now come inside. You are far too small to wander around in space on your own, and there is a celebration we must get back to._

* * *

_Thank you again to everyone who has been following, favouriting, reading, and especially leaving comments. I really love reading what people have to say, and it's been a great way to keep motivated with this writing project. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and the next one (the last part of Rising) will be up next week._


	6. Rising Part 5

There was no big announcement when they returned, no celebration of the near miss. Just as quickly as the problem had been found and solved, the Landing council had decided that it was best kept quiet. Since J'vaine didn't feel any pressing need to be handed public praise for doing his job, it was just as well that none was given.

What he was given was a finalized crew roster, handed over rather unceremoniously by a slightly tipsy journeyman while J'vaine was just getting ready to leave the Launch Day festivities for the evening. His temporary weyr was just on the outskirts of Landing, so Kirth flew lazily overhead as his rider walked the short distance back home.

_You do not think it was suspicious? It was a very convenient piece to have broken, with just that one small piece of machinery our Weyr might have been delayed for turns._

_It's space, Kirth. Even a tiny accident can have huge consequences, no malicious intent needed._ J'vaine looked up at his dragon, whose huge faceted eyes met his.

_There are people who do not want us to be Weyrleader, this would have given them more time._

_Now you're just being paranoid. And tired, we both are._ That, at least, Kirth could not argue with.

The next day saw J'vaine up with the dawn, trying to match the faces he'd met with the crew files on his desk. The central ring of the ship, where the dragons and their riders would live, was officially under the direct purview of the Captain-Weyrleader, but the other four were each headed by a rider of their own.

The Medical and Diplomacy ring, one up from Central for the sake of easy access in an emergency, was indeed headed by K'ten and his green Orith. The man was just as well qualified on paper as he was on his knots, if not more so, with beaming recommendations from the MasterHealer and MasterHarper both. He was also rated as a high EMP 7 on the standardised testing scale Pern used to measure psionic abilities in humans. It was only with a score over 8 that people started to demonstrate psionic skills of their own in a reliable, scientifically provable way, but there'd always been stories of EMP 7 individuals exhibiting strange abilities under pressure. And there was bound to be plenty of pressure in being a Ringleader.

The top ring was Holdcraft, where all non-rider personnel had their beds and where everyone would go to eat, play, relax and otherwise live outside of work. J'vaine smiled when he saw the personnel file for A'ten of blue Forsith listed as head of Holdcraft. It would be very strange, being directly in command of his former Weyrlingmaster and dear friend, but there really was no better man on Pern to keep the ship running as smoothly as possible. The bottom ring, Security and Defence, was being lead by a woman named M'rel and her brown, neither of whom J'vaine had had the pleasure of meeting. Her background was certainly impressive, standing as one of the most decorated of Pern's slim ranks of Enforcer-Riders. Her Journeyman knot with the technicians would certainly help if violence happened aboard the ship, but J'vaine hoped she'd never have to use either set of skills.

The last ring was Engineering and Navigation, but no Ringleader was listed. J'vaine frowned and flipped through his files again in case he'd missed it. They were due to board in less than two sevendays and they still hadn't decided on a head scientist? He supposed Maevra, who should have been in charge of finalizing the whole Engineering and Navigations crew, had been otherwise occupied, but she didn't seem the type to waiver and deliberate for long.

_She is also here to see you_ said Kirth. The big bronze had been sunning himself next to the weyr for the last few hours, but now he got to his feet and took that statuesque pose that always seemed to fortell the arrival of a female dragon.

_What?_

_That angry woman you are thinking about and her beautiful Queen. They pass _between_ now, and soon we shall see lovely Britaeth's golden wings beaming in the sunlight. Or glowing in the sunlight... does that sound better? Well, I shall tell her how pretty they look._

Sure enough, a breath later the sun was blocked by the unmistakable silhouette of a gold dragon. Britaeth's rider leapt off before the Queen had even finished landing, despite then having to pull a crutch from her dragon's straps to help support her injured leg. J'vaine was there to meet Maevra at the door to his weyr, since he was pretty sure the healers had said she wasn't to be up and riding for another sevenday.

"Your head scientist, I've made my choice." No pleasantries, it seemed, Maevra got right to the point and handed J'vaine a stack of papers. The bronzerider had to do a double take, because the name on the file was hers.

"I'd heard you'd turned down the position" he said, skimming the first page. She was eminently qualified for the science portion of the job, and she certainly had leadership experience if not actual Lordcraft training. Her file also listed her as EMP 8, with a demonstrated ability for erratic precognition. Shards, no wonder she'd been so certain that something was about to go wrong.

"I did. Twice. They've been after Britaeth since this whole project began, of course. A clutching gold with a qualified rider." Maevra glanced back at her dragon, and for half a moment a look of real tenderness passed over her otherwise scowling face. "I have other projects here on Pern, but it's become evident that I can't simply let my Weyrship launch and hope it manages on its own."

J'vaine suspected that Maevra would be the cause of as many problems as solutions, but he smiled nonetheless "Well, it will be a pleasure to have you aboard."

Her scowl turned into something between a sneer and a grin. "I wouldn't count on that, Harper."

Another dragon popped between, a lithe little blue bearing the banner of a healer-rider emergency transport. Maevra sighed as it quickly became apparent that she indeed had nothing even resembling her healer's permission to wander about, let alone fly. "Dimglowed overcautious Healers..." She whispered under her breath, still quite loud enough to hear. "I will see you aboard... Captain J'vaine."

_Ah, must she leave so soon?_ Kirth said, clearly not talking about the rider. _It's lovely that she will be joining our Weyr, is it not?_

_I suppose Britaeth seems nice, but her rider doesn't seem the type to take orders_.

_Well, not from those fussy little Healers. I would not listen either, if they were asking me to sit still when I was fine and healthy._ The big bronze stretched and yawned, and walked over to place his nose next to his rider. _You will earn her respect, as you will earn everyone's. You are my rider, and so of course you will lead. We will take them to the stars, my J'vaine, and we will show them how we shine._

-**End of Weyrship Episode 1: Rising**-

_Thank you again to everyone who has been reading, favouriting, commenting and following so far. This marks the end of the first episode, so to speak, of Weyrship One. I would like to finish writing the second episode, The Azure Night, before I begin editing and posting it. This will likely take a few weeks at least, but I hope to bridge the gap with a few more brief info guides like the prologue._

_I hope to have the next episode started posting by late July, and I hope you will consider following to be alerted of the next update!_


	7. Interlude: The Dragons of Weyrship One

The dragons of Pern have always been highly adaptable creatures. In the five hundred someodd turns since the end of Threadfall, massive changes in their environment put that adaptability to the test, and saw all expectations met and exceeded. Over a remarkably short period of time, changes to their anatomy, psychology and empathic abilities have kept the dragons of Pern, and their riders, relevant and indeed necessary to Pern's evolving culture.

The modern dragon is noticeably smaller than their ninth pass ancestors, ranging between sixty and eighty percent of the size of the largest dragons on record with newer generations still shrinking. As during intervals, Queen dragons have proven able to subconsciously control their birthrates to accommodate the number of dragons required by the planet, and the population has stabilized at approximately three hundred grown dragons per Weyr. As the reintroduction of gender and sexual identity equality spread across Pern along with AIVAS' other revelations, alterations were discovered in the Impression patterns of new hatchlings, leading to the now prevalent theory that dragon Impression standards are based partly on the cultural norms they are exposed to in the shell. Dragons of every colour now seem happy to Impress to the most appropriate candidate regardless of their gender, sex, or sexual preference. The only preference that seems to be ingrained too deeply for culture to change is the insistence of the two largest colours on Impressing humans of their own gender, though the much smaller sample size of Bronzes and Golds makes tracking trends in their Impressions difficult. It could simply be a matter of time before the planet sees its first female bronzerider or male queenrider.

In the absence of Threadfall, dragons have been able to spend their formative years training a very different set of skills. Safe _between_ing, even under difficult circumstances, has become a central aspect to weyrling training, and most grown dragons are able to teleport quickly and safely even without their rider aboard. Complex group manoeuvres across large gaps, such as those used to teleport the colonists' antimatter engines to the Red Star, have become relatively commonplace, often used to bring asteroids and other space debris back to Pern for mining operations. Riders often cross-train with the Starsmiths to learn how to use data transmitted by space probes to costruct enough information for a safe _between_ trip to a never before seen location. Teleknesis has proven to be much more difficult to master, and is only commonly used by the few dragons who choose to specialize in it. Chewing and using firestone has become less necessary, and while most dragons do learn the basics for the sake of tradition, very few dragons go much further.

Stereotypically, Greens are now seen as being the cleverest of the colours, great with complex and detail-oriented tasks but flighty and unstable under stress. Blues are considered the most empathic, good in social situations and excellent search dragons. The "dumb brown" stereotype paints the middle dragons as less intelligent than the other colours, but they are believed to be the most hardy and stoic under pressure. Bronzes are known for their natural leadership qualities and their rather inflated self-image, though whether this is confidence or arrogance depends on who you ask. Queen dragons are seen as strict and uncompromising, probably in part because their mental command skill has proven invaluable in apprehending criminals and stopping fights without unnecessary violence. Of course, plenty of dragons don't fit into the planet's preconceived notions about their colours, however much the stereotypes persist.

_Thanks for sticking with me while I write the next part! To answer a couple of questions from the comments:_

**_Where do the dragons have space to have Flights and everything?_**  
_Weyrship One is very, very big: large enough that even its draconic crew members have space to stretch their wings. I'll go into more detail about day-to-day life and, of course, Flights, in chapters to come._

**_Is the similarity between Kirth and Kirk intentional?_**  
_Haha, I'm glad someone noticed! Entirely intentional, Star Trek is a huge part of my inspiration for this story, and Kirth isn't the only Trek reference amongst the crew (fair warning, though, the other one is much more subtle.)_


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Dragonriders of Pern series, Drama, Sci-Fi