Dimar: Lost Waters
(you can order a paperback copy or ebook here)

Table of Contents

Intro
Prolog

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33

Glossary
Dimar terms
Arrallin terms

Map

Prolog - Dimar: Lost Waters

The Gate Program

In the year 2072, a military pilot program in conjunction with several major worldwide universities was approved by the United Nations. A select team of scientists was transported by a set of new ion drive ships to Earth’s outpost at Pluto. Project Darkstar had permission for a limited testing of a theory involving exotic matter and black holes. If the results were promising, further experimentation in the next decade would be funded and permitted.

      Not sure what the team would find, they generated two small black holes at the furthest reachable edge of the solar system, barely within the orbit of our sun. As expected from calculations, the force of these two tiny singularities ripped a hole in the fabric of space. They sent a probe through, receiving a variety of data for a few seconds before the gate closed. The data from the probe was conclusive: it did survive and pass through to the other side. The project was immediately classified.
      In secret, several small holes were opened over the course of the two year experimentation period. The team was able to pop one gate closed and use the force from this operation to open the next. Using exotic matter, they found they could open the gates and keep them stable. By the third year, the gates had graduated to a larger and practical size; the Large Gate.
     

Although data was collected at a phenomenal rate, no one knew why the gates worked, and funding was quickly drying up for the project. The possible practical applications of the gates were staggering, but no holes had opened near enough to any system to make them useful.

Arrallin Human Contact

      The fifth Large Gate changed all that. The glimmering hole opened just within ion drive range of a tiny system in a far wing of the galaxy. A flickering candle in space, the gateway beckoned the ships of the nearest inhabited planet to it like moths.
     

The Arrallins themselves found humanity irresistible. The Arrallins are a hive species, comprised of thousands of Arallakeeni (Beta) individuals all centered on supporting the Arrallin mated pairs. Charismatic and self-serving humans registered quite immediately to the Arrallakeeni as leaders. Captains and charismatic individuals of human fleet ships found themselves mobbed by little furry groupies, long separated from their own true Arrallin alphas back on their home world.

      Much of the Arrallin population had been put to service on their long range fusion drive ships to mine neighboring star systems for valuable materials for more hives. Their dedicated engineers had worked up through numerous designs for engines to create a stable and efficient sub-light vehicle. Plasma weaponry for fighting the occasional hive wars, as well as mining and construction, were also well developed. Their technology was well beyond Earth in all respects, however their biology had not well adapted to their space fairing lifestyle.
     

Unsupported by close contact with Alphas, the Arralakeeni on board these ships lacked the leadership support they needed to keep at peak efficiency. On long voyages of years at a time, Arrallakeeni found themselves in Alpha withdrawal. Armies of Arrallakeeni deserted their home world almost instinctively upon contact with humans, gladly providing them with the keys to fusion drives and plasma tools to bring them up from the dark ages of space exploration, in return for the security of finding strong personalities to trigger some of the necessary chemical reactions for Arallakeeni health.
     

Back on Earth, humanity was quick to adapt to their new partners as well. Within a generation, they found places for Arrallakeeni in all aspects of human life - especially all the hum-drum jobs humans were reluctant to continue. Grinding research in all manner of human projects was taken over by dedicated and patient teams of Arallakeeni, while the more intuitive humans were free to lead and guide research and analyze results. This particular pairing was positive. Arallakeeni also made excellent teachers and child care specialists, as on Arralla they would each be paired with an Arrallakeeni infant for raising. But, the arrival of the Arallakeeni also completely destroyed humanity’s current way of life.

Causes of the Unwilling War

      Without a profit motive, Arrallakeeni destabilized the entire capitalist system on Earth. They would fix a person’s car because it was broken, not because they would be paid. They would do what was asked of them because it was unheard of on Arralla for an Alpha to ask anything of a hive member that was not in the best interest of the Hive. They were, at the start, a willing slave population. In all aspects of society, demand for Arallakeeni rose to a clamorous level, and regard for their individual rights, needs and personalities dropped.

      Over the next seventy years, flaws in this situation made themselves evident. Alphas needed their Betas on Arralla to continue parenting the population of their planet. (Betas take guardianship of kits produced by the Alphas of a hive, producing milk to nourish them.) Arallakeeni could not be true parents on Earth -- they needed to receive their children from the Alphas on Arralla, and to trigger milk production, they needed to be in contact with an Arrallin Alpha for at least three months. Some Arallakeeni could find satisfaction in raising human infants, but for most, the drive to continue their species the Arrallin way was overwhelming. The life spans of Arrallakeeni on Earth were becoming alarmingly short from stress, as they were refused the right to return to Arralla to start families and receive kits from the Alphas of their Hive.
     

Physically, exposure to Alphas was essential for Beta health. On Earth, Arrallakeeni were completely removed from exposure to Alphas, and in less than half a normal life span they would sicken, go mad and die. Young betas taken to Earth would grow stunted, and lacked the aptitudes of those which had spent their entire maturing years in the presence of a true Alpha.
      Despite their physical need to spend part of their time in the presence of an Alpha leader, Arallakeeni as individuals are as diverse as humans themselves and many were great leaders in their own right. Most leader-oriented Arallakeeni betas, a large subset of the beta population, were unable to find comfortable positions on Earth. On Arralla, they generally rose in the ranks to positions of ship captains, diplomatic liaisons, societal leaders and even stewards of entire Hives in situations where there were only mated pairs too young or inexperienced to take leadership of the Hive. Some of these individuals found places on Earth where their ability and status were recognized, but many were cast out as aberrations to the more desirable servile beta ‘norm’.
      After 70 years (a beta lifetime), the effects of the human/Arrallin situation were becoming alarmingly clear. Entire hives were on the verge of extinction on Arralla, but shuttle ships from Earth continued to arrive, loaded with their best pitch-people to lure Betas to Earth to work for corporations that had thrived during the early Arrallin contact. Exploitive humans had seen the problem coming and secretly mounted defenses around the tenuous wormhole that linked Arralla to Earth. Trade ships quietly carried armament, and various hive heavy cruisers turned up missing more and more often. Alphas were lavished with the best humanity had to offer to ensure that the situation was still considered mutually beneficial. For some Alphas, who had grown indolent and spoiled with centuries of comfortable living, the health and fate of the Arallakeeni outside of their immediate court and provinces was of no concern. They would gladly produce and raise more children and send them to Earth, for a price. But for some, the situation was too painful to continue.

The Unwilling War

      The Unwilling War, as it was known, was a long and sordid affair. Individual hive leaders began to mount resistance to Earth’s advances, ripping through fleets that approached Arralla. However, they were unwilling to crash the gateway between Earth and Arralla as many held the continued hope that they could rescue and return their Arallakeeni to the home world. Shutting the gate would have quickly ended the conflict, but the tactic could never be agreed upon by the strongly individualistic Hives.

      For the first four years, it was vicious open war, with successful strikes against many places on Earth by pirate fleets on the earth side of the gate. Attacks on the gate guardians on the Arrallin side were also successful, but they never captured control of the gate. This was in part because of participation of the complacent Hives, who lent their ships to the Arrallin effort, but their people to Earth. The Arrallin fighters had been constantly demoralized by having to fire on their own brethren on board Earth ships, all now unwilling conscripts. Because of this they tended to damage rather than destroy the earth ships sent against them. Earth-friendly hives would secretly supply these damaged ships with fresh Arallakeeni crews for repairs. This gave Earthers the breathing room they needed to hold out for the first four years and maintain control of the gate.
     

In the first four years, all older Arrallakeeni on board the ships would refuse to repair them, even fatally sabotage the ships resulting in the death of all on board. The new Arallakeeni were specially groomed for the war and worked willingly, believing the propaganda fed to them by both Earth and their Alphas. By the end of the first four years, all Arallakeeni from the first generation of contact were executed quietly and without trial on the fleet ships and on Earth. Earth’s guns blazed on in the silence of space, computer guided and controlled, as Arallakeeni-operated guns and ships faltered and failed with insufficient supplies and support. Earth never lost control of the wormhole. Hives dedicated to the defeat of Earth made vast concessions to their complacent neighbors to continue their effort. As the war dragged on much longer than the Hives expected expected, they found their holdings completely absorbed by their neighbors, who in turn used their resources to populate Earth’s fleet ships with Arallakeeni.
     

After 15 years of fighting, the war reached its inevitable end. Of ten thousand hives on Arralla, each with 50-100 breeding Alphas per hive, one hundred and seventeen still existed in their original form on the home world. All others were believed to have been destroyed, their breeding pairs lost leading fleet ships into battle against Earth. The one hundred and seventeen Hives remained to produce Arrallakeeni to suit the needs of Earth, unwilling to hear the cries of protest from their own populations for freedom. With only 7,020 known Alphas left, and complete removal of the balanced system that had produced the Arallakeeni populations of the first generation of contact, the entire species was dying, but no one seemed willing to face it.

Effects of Human Arrallin Contact

      When Arralla was discovered by humans, there were 2 billion individuals in their population. This was comprised of essentially 4,000 hives, with 250,000 members each, split into provinces that varied based on terrain and resources. Each Hive had between 50-100 mated pairs, each with a breeding life span of 50 years, in which they could produce 100 kits a year in three litters. By the end of the Unwilling War, there were one hundred and seventeen Hives remaining, with 50 million total individuals on the planet or on Earth. Imagine the current population of Earth reduced to approximately the size of the population of Nigeria. This is what happened to Arralla.
     

The Gate program had continued over this hundred years unabated, despite having uncovered only two useable systems it uncovered. The discovery of Arralla had proved so profitable humanity would continue it indefinitely, honing gate opening skills and profiting from the technological boost from Arralla.

The Insurrection

      Humanity’s role in Arralla’s downfall did not unnoticed, and, typical to our species, the outcry for equal rights for the Arrallins was powerful, but late. The fight to save Arralla on Earth took many forms, but one in particular was separatist movement. This is where this story begins.
     

Tara Hunt, a retired Lt. Colonel of the United Earth Command (United Earth Confederacy’s military branch), now working under the guise of a private trading and colonization company, heads one wing of the separatist resistance. She is leading three mated pairs hidden among the Arallakeeni on her ships on a search for a colony world or system where they can re-establish a Hive in balance with humanity.

Arrallin Facts:

      Arralla had 2 billion Arallakeeni at Contact.
      Arrallins left by the end of the Unwilling War: 50 million
     
      These were split between 4,000 hives the size of San Francisco (Proper).
      Each hive has 50-100 breeding pairs, that produce approximately 100 kits per year. There is generally one or two breeding pairs per province in a Hive, but there are sometimes as many as 5 in a single province.
     
      Approximately 250,000 Arallakeeni are produced by each hive each generation (40 years).
      Life span Alpha: 100 years
      Life span Beta: 80 years
      Life span on Earth
      Alpha: 75 years
      Beta: 35 years

Physical statistics

      Arrallins
      (Arallakeeni and Alphas)
      Diminutive Terms used for Arrallins on Earth:
      Lupines, Felines, Fuzzies, Furries
      Alphas
      Height: 6’5" approximately
      (Both males and females)
     
      Physical Features:
      Canine in appearance, along the lines of a wolf. Two eyes, two ears, with large lobes connecting down the sides of the head, one nose set on the end of a long muzzle. Generally walk on all fours, but do have a two legged gait, and a five legged gait that uses the tail. Tail is prehensile.
     

Hands:
      They have opposable thumbs on both forepaws, and four toes that curl under (pads on knuckles.) Each finger or toe has a long claw (non retractable.)
     
      Coat:
      Alphas always have some kind of striking stripe pattern (black, dark gray or brown), a thick mane and a very long bushy tail that ends in a tuft. Their undercoat can range from dark charcoal gray to white, with all colors of tan, orange, brown, rust, or tawny golden.
      The stripes can vary in width from 5" to as thin as 1/4", giving some Alphas the appearance of being dark with light stripes.
      The mane may be a separate color from the coat, but the stripes are constant throughout the coat.
     
      Eyes: Golden yellow (Alphas only.)
     
      Breeding:
      Each Alpha has eight functioning mammary glands (both males and females.) Apart from that, males are males, and females are females. These glands do not store fat, like human breasts, so they generally lay flat under the coat unless the Alpha is raising kits at the time. Male Alphas carry fat stores on their backs for milk production. Females tend to have it more evenly distributed.
     
      Females can produce 20-30 kits per litter three times a year.
     
      Pairs mate for life, until the death of one member of the pair. They can then remate.

Arallakeeni

Height: 5’3"
      Physical Appearance:
      Canine in appearance, along the lines of a wolf. Two eyes, two ears, one nose set on the end of a long muzzle. Generally walk on all fours, but do have a two legged gait, and a five legged gait that uses the tail.
     
      Hands:
      They have opposable thumbs on both forepaws, and four toes that curl under (pads on knuckles.) Each finger or toe has a long claw (non retractable.)
     
      Coat:
      Arallakeeni have a wide variation in coats. They can have stripes, splotches, calico patterns, flea-bitten speckles, dapples, and any combination of these. Aggressive betas tend to have more striping than less aggressive ones, but this is not a rule.
      Unlike alphas, Arallakeeni have even coats - no manes, and usually thinly coated tails (no tufts). One type of northern Arrallakeeni have long foxlike tails, but they don't have tail tufts at the end.
      Their undercoat can range from dark charcoal gray to white, with all colors of tan, orange, brown, rust, or tawny golden.
     
      Eyes: Black, Brown, Tan, Blue, Blue Green, Dark Green, Gray, Violet, Hazel, Orange. Never golden or gold-green.
     
      Breeding:
      Arallakeeni do not breed, but do parent young. Each has 2 functioning mammary glands which react to the presence of a kit and an Alpha. A kit is usually given to a single Arallakeeni or set of parenting Arrallakeeni a week or so after birth in an Introduction ceremony.