It happened in the dead of the night, a silent ripple cascading out from dragon to dragon as the weyr in its entirety awoke at once. Thread! The first dragons in bowl had been the larger ones, their riders moving quickly to situate the harnesses on them. L'lir was already out as well, getting the drudges to drag up what firestone stores they had left and divying out the sacks between the adult dragons. He looked a bit shocked but said nothing as Daren was there beside him, looking pale, drawn, and trying to ignore the dragons, but adding another seasoned hand to the work.

"Alright." K'thal had Nimmath pass this between the dragons as he spoke and the riders started assembling, "The old formations will not work with our numbers." He frowned at them, less than a full wing strength, he looked older than his years at this point as he paced up and down watching dragon and rider prepare for the on coming threat. "We will need to keep an even closer eye out on our neighboring riders. Learn quickly who's to your left and right, and above and below you. Dive for the clumps do not expect there to be a dragon there to catch it if it goes past you. More so than ever, we are the only defense the holders have out here." His gaze lifted to the still dark sky, his eyes worried. "The whers will be on ground crew with what flame throwers and experienced weyrfolk we have with them. If we can manage to last out the year our numbers will be bolstered. Remember that. We have a future generation waiting on us. And for the love of your dragon do NOT stay out if you have been seriously injured. There are to few of us fighting ready, we cannot afford to loose any more."

With that he used the offered foreleg and mounted Nimmath, his eyes scanning his dragonriders. Nimmath's eyes whirled Orange and Red, his age old enemy was in the air and his instincts told him to fly, His head turned back to K'thal to accept the first piece of firestone, chewing it with a massive crunch of his jaws.

L'lir frowned, he had fitted Denuth with her harness but there was no one else to direct the ground crew in the weyr. A hand on his shoulder made him jump, he had not expected Daren to willingly touch him, much less the next words excaping the man's mouth, "Go, we need you in the air, dragonrider.." His voice was strained, but his eyes showed a grim sort of determination, "I am seasoned enough to handle the goings on down here." L'lir paused and was unsure about the offer, Daren was dragonless, and while he seemed to be wanting to help, the strain of this situation might just be too much for the hollow man. "By the egg man, just go..." He hisses and shoved the weyrling master towards his pacing dragon, "Dragon men must fly when thread is in the sky..." L'lir nodded and moved to slip on the rest of his riding leathers before grabbing a sack of the stone and mounting, settling the flying goggles on his face.

Daren turned without thinking and started barking orders to the briefly stunned drudges.

J'som was both incredibly serious, and had a slightly maniacal grin on his face as he tightened the last couple straps down on Reiath's hide, to be flying again!. He tugged his gloves on and latched down his coat before grabbing the bags of firestone and swinging up onto the 'saddle' latching himself into it. "I've got your back!" He hollered over at Seana with a thumbs up, briefly worried. There were so few of them now... He shook his head and tossed Reiath the first chunk of stone.