[PLOT] Bitter Work

[spaceman]

((OOC Note -- For Fort Riders on the secret mission. No captures without approval, please, we've already got one plotted for the Hatching itself.))

Thus far, everything was going perfectly according to plan.

It was dusk, the sky darkening just enough to make it harder to see, without being fully nightfall. At this time, most of the Weyrfolk would be at the evening meal. And Valoryn's eyes and ears in Skysong had reported to her that at this time, the Amethyst Queen and her Crimson mate would be off eating as well, leaving the eggs briefly vulnerable.

Very briefly. She had to work fast.

Amaranth winged swift and low over the Hatching Grounds, landing carefully, and Valoryn dismounted. Her hand-picked team would be with her shortly.

She thanked her lucky stars for Amaranth's small size and rosy gold hide. While no dragon would be fooled in broad daylight, if some Skysong dragon would happen to pass over now, in the dusk and from a great distance they might well mistake Amaranth for their own Citrine queen, come to look in on the hardening eggs. The gold queen was visibly pained at the prospect of what they were about to do -- and in truth, so was Valoryn. It felt unnatural to any dragonrider. But then the Fort Weyrwoman spotted something that hardened her resolve.

Three queen eggs on the Sands at once.

Further evidence of how unnatural the mutations were. There was a reason why queens were so rare on Pern. It was well-documented that when multiple queens of a weyr rose to Flight too close together, they would fight to the death. The one queen egg per clutch rule, that had lasted through all of Pern, kept those sad deaths to a minimum. But if such an abundance of queens was to become the new norm for Amethyst flights, within a few generations Skysong would become overrun with Amethysts, Citrines, and mutant Golds, tearing each other apart until the skies themselves were stained with ichor.

Valoryn hefted the heavy Smith's hammer she had borrowed for the occasion, and signalled silently to her other riders. It was time for the bitter work to begin.

[midnight]

Neriath's bright green hide was more conspicuous than Amaranth's pale gold, but who would notice an extra green in the Weyr? Besides, she was small. Neriath easily angled her way into the cavern and landed softly on the sands. P'nuk jumped nimbly to the ground. His stomach was churning with nerves. He was loyal to Valoryn to the end and he knew this had to be done, but it was still harrowing work.

They aren't innocent, he reminded himself, eyes flicking nervously over the shells. Those dragons could be very dangerous someday. They had to nip it in the bud. And, of course, the three Queen eggs were unnatural. At Valoryn's signal, he stepped forward, gripping his hammer hard enough that his hands stopped shaking.

[Faerie Fyre]

V'gor would follow his Weyrwoman to the ends of the earth if she asked him, even if what she asked seemed illogical. This assignment, however, was perfectly logical to the bronze rider, and while he didn't relish the job, he knew that for the sake of the sweet Pern he loved so much, it had to be done.

Tranth was a medium-sized bronze, unlike the small gold and small green who had arrived before he did. V'gor had the bronze drop him off on the Sands without landing. He tucked and rolled to let the ground absorb his moment, curling around his killing weapon. He clutched a long-handled hammer with a heavy metal head, and held it tightly. The weyr was at dinner, but they would want to make this fast so that nobody saw them.

Not, of course, that V'gor cared what the mutant weyr thought, but it would make it easier to explain to his sister Valor what had happened. If nobody saw, there would be few questions about how the mutants lived.

He followed his Weyrwoman's signal, selecting an egg in the darkening Sands, and applying his long-handled weapon. Smiths used it to smash apart old or badly worked pieces while Traders used it to pound in tent stakes. They called it a 'sledge hammer', and it was lethal.

[Astarte]

A soft, bell-like chime momentarily filled the air, and a small gold firelizard darted through the entrance to the Hatching Sands, making a beeline for Valoryn. The pale, pointed gold circled her for a moment, and then with another chirp that was like little bells ringing, disappeared. It was barely a minute before a slender female silhouette became visible in the entry, and Kishel padded through the sands without missing a step, walking around the dark shapes of eggs as if they weren't there at all and approaching Valoryn directly. "You came," she said, and as she stopped in front of the Fort Weyrwoman and bowed, her expression was briefly that of a child's. She was happy, delighted, that her Weyrwoman, her true Weyrwoman, had come.

Act quickly; there is no time to moon like a newly-hatched dragonling over His, Reyenth bit, but Kishel blocked him out of her mind quickly. She knew what was to be done, but Reyenth knew little of it beyond that things would be fixed and the strange colours would be kept in check. The dragon did not trust the mutants; his instincts told him they were wrong. He was like his rider, in that respect, but unlike her, he would not willingly harm the eggs. No, Reyenth was all talk.

"Thank you," Kishel said softly, longingly, and then her smile was lost as she saw the hammer in Valoryn's hand and recalled the reason for the riders' visit. "We have little time," she nearly whispered. "Be quick, be brutal if you need to. Pern's future cannot go so amiss as this." And for a moment, she leaned down to stroke the shell of one of the eggs. But when she straightened, her look of grim sadness was replaced by heavy determination, and she squared her shoulders. "I have no hammer, but I will do what I can."

"Direct me, Weyrwoman Valoryn."

Ahh, how sweet it was to say that at last.

[spaceman]

She actually smiled at Kishel's approach. It was good to see the woman again... To be reassured that she was safe. Granted, Kishel was good. She was very good, otherwise she would not have been chosen for this mission. But she wasn't infallible, and Valoryn did occasionally worry that she would be found out. Especially with the recent revelation of a spy at Fort... Rather than having the advantage, it would appear that Valoryn and Asmyra were equally matched in subterfuge.

"Weyrharper Kishel," she greeted warmly. "It is good to see you face-to-face again." Without a weapon, there would be little that Kishel could do to the eggs, but they needed her elsewhere anyway. "If you could keep watch, that would be best, I think... We need to be long gone before Zarinth returns."

Turning, she called to the others, "V'gor, P'nuk, deal with as many as you can, but prioritize your own safety above getting them all. If we need to go, then we need to go. Understood?"

That said, she approached the queen eggs. With one last deep breath to steel her nerves, she swung the hammer down. A spiderweb of cracks appeared across the first eggshell. Behind her, Amaranth let out a low, pained keen. Valoryn's mental urgings swiftly silenced her, but the gold's eyes swirled grey-white, and her head was low and swinging back and forth in dismay.

[Astarte]

"Of course, Valoryn." Kishel smiled back at the Weyrwoman, nodding her head and turning in the dark. She didn't glance back, but nonetheless flinched as Fort's leader brought the hammer down on one of the Queen eggs. And then with a brief thought, she summoned both her flitts. Bell appeared first with a blast of cold, dropping onto her shoulder and purring quietly. With a wave of her hand, Kishel sent her into the sky, monitoring the place as if she were doing nothing but guarding the eggs, a perfect little animal on watch duty when the dragons were away.

Archer came next, and perched on Kishel's shoulder, hissing softly at the strange riders but quieting with a touch from Kishel's finger. She transfered him onto her forearm, where he perched like a falcon, a pair of night-seeing eyes to aid Kishel's own heightened senses of space. And Kishel headed to the entrance to the Weyrbowl, though she remained within it, the better to feel the currents change.

Passing one of the smaller eggs, she glanced at it, frowned, and lifted a foot speculatively. Archer creeled, but she hissed at the brown and he silenced, eyes whirling to grey for a moment before going white as Kishel brought her foot down. And then down again.

Then satisfied, she continued to the exit.

[sigma]

R'ger and Harluth landed quietly behind the others, ready to do what needed to be done for the sake of Pern. Their task that night was a grim one which had his brown making muted groaning in distress. He may been a harsh man, but even R'ger felt uneasy about destroying dragon eggs.

The rider quietly leapt down from his dragon's back, the sand making his movement inaudible. He quickly untied the hammer he had strapped to his back and gave it a test swing. Harluth quickly took several steps back, his head swaying to and fro as his eyes whirled red and yellow.

He hated to make his dragon worry and upset, but the Weyrwoman was right. something had to be done about these....unnaturals. They were changing everything dragonriders stood for and with no one checking these new mutants powers they could cause disaster for all of Pern. No color should be bigger than a gold and there shouldn't be more than one kind of queen. With so many fight for power, only tragedy will result from the new dragons. They were doing the right thing, by putting a limit to these mutant's powers.

R'ger lifted the one of the hammers and swung it into the side of one of the eggs sitting on the far outer ring of the clutch.