Re: Sa'Vasku Ship Lifecycle

Laserlight wrote:
> The concept of "mating dreadnoughts" is a bit boggling.
> Perhaps, given the owners' origin, they arrange things
> analogously to fish, ie the female lays corvette-sized eggs,
> then male provides fighter-sized bits of its replicative coding.

	Heh. Reminds me of an ancient SF short story, who's name
	escapes me at the moment (I believe it was collected in
	an anthology entitled something like "Dreadnoughts"
	or "Starfighters")

	On this weird planet, the highest form of life is this
	huge monster with all sorts of organic weaponry.
	The mother lays an egg about the size of a fighter
	plane.	The egg starts broadcasting a radio signal.

	Over the horizon, a male picks up the signal, 
	lines up his generative organ, and fires off a
	volley of spermatozoon.

	( I am forcefully preventing myself from
	using terms like "erecting his weapon" and
	"pops off a volley"...)

	These fly under rocket boost to the egg, throwing
	out chaff, decoys, and other counter measures.

	The female sets up an anti-aircraft barrage,
	attempting to destroy the spermatozoon.
	Only the fittest one survives to fertilize the egg,
	the one with the best jinking skills, the most
	effective counter measures, the best ECM.

	In the novel, Our Hero is flying a crippled
	interstellar fighter, escaping from a battle
	with the bug eyed monsters from beyond.
	
	A mother thing sees the fighter, thinks its
	the best spermatozoon it has ever seen, and
	uses a tractor beam to drag it into her egg.

	The egg and the fighter merge, making
	an organic techology fighter with the
	firepower of a battle cruiser.