Monday 30 June 2014

How Ythrians Fight In Space

(This cover illustration definitely has a wrong detail: a beaked Ythrian.)

The Avalonian torpedo launcher, Three Stars, is similar to a Terran Meteor but has to be slightly bigger than its adversary, the Meteor Hooting Star, because:

an Ythrian cannot bear to be enclosed in a spacesuit even when flying a combat ship whose hull may be breached so Three Stars needs a thicker hull (Ythrians are People of the Wind but not of the Void);

Ythrians need space to spread their wings in order to pump oxygen into their blood (necessary not for breathing but certainly for remaining alert and combat ready);

Three Stars is crewed by five Ythrians whereas Hooting Star has only two human beings and one Cynthian (regular readers will know that arboreal, squirrel-like Cynthians are small).

Three Stars disables Hooting Star, killing the Cynthian. Hooting Star surrenders but Three Stars is destroyed by friendly fire from Avalon. Hooting Star crash lands on Avalon where one of the remaining crew is killed on the surface. Casualties: seven of eight beings and two spacecraft. But there is a lot more destruction in the rest of the battle.

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