The Starwolves (31 page)

"That is bad," Daelyn observed.

"She was also his chosen mate."

"That is worse."

Mayelna nodded slowly. "Through no fault of his own. Any other pack
leader would have lost more. He is the best pilot I have. The best leader as
well, I am beginning to think."

"From you, that is high praise." Daelyn did not mean that as a
joke.

"Then you know that it has to be the truth. He is better than I ever
was. That is why he is going to have to command this ship when I go."

"Is that so bad?"

Mayelna glanced up at her. "You are a pilot. You should know."

"I understand."

"I hate to do this to him, since I know that he would not want it
himself," Mayelna continued. "Fate is kind and cruel to him at the
same time, but lately it seems that he has been made to suffer more than his
share. I would shed a tear or two for him, if I were not so mean."

"It seems to me that you are not nearly that mean," Daelyn said.
"I do not know him, but it seems to me that he has the strength to endure
this."

Mayelna shook her head slowly. "He never was that strong before.
Dveyella gave him something to love and to believe in. But he had to stand by
and wait for her to die when no one could do a thing to help her, and I wonder
if his strength has died with her. That is one thing I am still waiting to find
out."

Daelyn glanced over her shoulder, as if she expected to see her brother
standing there, and shrugged. "The Velmeran I met was very strong.
Whatever he was up to, he seems quite resolved about it."

"He was out running his pack," Mayelna said. "Some tricks
that he had learned flying special tactics. What he has in mind..." She
shook her head helplessly. Then certain pieces fell suddenly into place, and
the shape they revealed frightened her. "Of course. He knows who killed
her, and he wants payment from the source. Damn that Valthyrra, she knew this
from the start."

"What?" Daelyn was bewildered, but concerned by her mother's
obvious distress.

Mayelna caught her in a firm stare. "Daelyn, you have to help me put a stop
to this."

The Delvon arrived barely two hours later, and a meeting was called in the
Methryn's largest council room as soon as representatives of the three carriers
could gather. The main table was filled to its limit. The two visiting ships
were represented by the usual probes, perched on the arms of their chairs with
their long necks snaking about as they observed the gathering. Each ship was
represented by Commander, helm and Commander-designate, seated together in
small groups. Valthyrra Methryn held forth from on high, enjoying the greater
mobility of her camera pod.

Velmeran was seated near the head of the table with the delegation from his
own ship, by all appearances in the role of Commander-designate. Mayelna
wondered at that. He would be expected to testify, certainly, since he had been
in the middle of all these strange events. But that did not earn him a place at
the council; he should have been with the other pack leaders in the crowded
gallery, waiting to be summoned. But she was ready to bow to the inevitable,
and this might even begin preparing him for that task. She was even just a
little proud to see both of her children in that same honored position.

Valthyrra called upon Velmeran to testify from the very start, having him
take up the story from it's true beginning with the evening he and Dveyella had
spent with Councilor Lake. He recounted the Councilor's exact words, relying
upon his total recall to quote accurately. He was allowed to continue
uninterrupted to the end, although at that point the Kelvessan members of the
council wanted to know more about the possibility of the extinction of the
human race. Only the ships themselves were not surprised. For them, the only
real news was the discovery that the Union had finally recognized the threat.

Schyrrana, Commander of the Karvand, shook her head slowly. "This is
all quite beyond me. I came here to deal with the worst problem I have faced in
my entire life, and now you tell me that the war is nearly over. Mayelna, you
have had time to think on this. What do you make of it?"

"I think that these animated hulks that we call home have been keeping
secrets from us," she replied. "But if they say that it is true, that
they have been keeping watch for some time, then I am ready to believe
it."

"Lake is faced with the destruction of all human civilization,"
Valthyrra explained. "And, being a close approximation of an honest man,
he is willing to sacrifice the Union to save the civilization that it has
always fed upon. He is going to throw the resources of the Union against us,
forcing us to fight and knowing that we must win. He knows that we are the only
thing that can save his civilization; by defeating it, we also accept the
burden of caring for it."

Schyrrana snorted derisively. "That certainly is having the last
laugh!"

"Wait a minute," Korlan of the Delvon interrupted. "We still
have this new weapon to deal with. Is there any way that we can detect it in
advance, or neutralize it?"

"This weapon is just a variation of the old Wolfhound missile
design," Valthyrra explained, putting up a schematic on the main
viewscreen. "They used it to limited effect in the early days of the war,
and again when I was young. Its main fault is obvious enough. Detection is
simple, because you can scan them inside your target ship. I saw the ones that
were used against us inside that freighter, but I mistook them for something
else."

"But is there a way to fight them?" Korlan insisted.
"Ignoring the ships that carry these missiles is no answer, since the
Union would quickly put a clutch in every military and commercial ship it
has."

"Actually, we have a very simple method of dealing with them,"
Valthyrra said. "Before, when we knew that we were after a ship that
carried wolf-chasers, we would send along an adapted transport that carried a
powerful field generator. The first pack would run in and lure the missiles
out, and the transport would blind their scanners with a static distort. Then
the first pack would destroy the helpless missiles, while the second pack would
go in after the ship itself. That is one reason why the packs run double to
this day."

"Also, when we went after military targets, we would lay down a blanket
distort from the first," Gelvessa Kar-vand added. "Then they would
most often realize that they could not even launch at all."

"Still, they are very dangerous, when you suddenly get nine in your
face when you are not expecting it," Thenderra Delvon said. "Velmeran
was lucky to come away as well as he did."

"He did not lose any ships in the initial attack," Valthyrra said.
"He warned his pack away at the last moment before the wolf-chasers
launched, and that was what saved his pilots. Dveyella ran into trouble when
she went in to help someone else."

"How did he know?" Thenderra asked. Valthyrra turned her camera
pod to regard the younger pilot. "Meran, I never have figured out what did
clue you to the trap. How did you know?"

Velmeran shrugged. "A lucky guess, for the most part. Lake's warning of
a new weapon was very much on my mind. I was not about to take a chance, when
my fighters were right on top of that ship and it still did nothing to evade.
It seemed to me that we were being lured in."

"The stories I have heard about you must be true," Korlan said.
"I do not know if any other pack leader would have made that
connection."

"The next question, I suppose, is what countermeasure we are going
to take," Gelvessa said. "I suppose that we are in agreement that we
must answer this attack with some action of our own."

"That is simple enough," Valthyrra said, and brought her camera
pod around to face her young pack leader. "Velmeran, will you explain your
plan?"

He glanced up at her sharply, understanding only too well exactly what she
meant. "You have been watching me."

"Of course," she replied with no shame. "It was not hard to
figure out what you were planning. Now I would like for you to explain it to
everyone."

Velmeran had only a moment to collect his wits. And, after his initial
resentment, he could see that it was very much in his interests to ally himself
with Valthyrra. They shared a dream. She needed him to do it, and he needed her
to arrange the opportunity.

"I intend to recover the memory cell of the Vardon," he announced
simply. "I have discovered a way to get an attack force inside Vannkam
undetected."

He paused then, knowing what the reaction to that would be. The only members
of the gathering who did not appear surprised were the mechanical
manifestations of the visiting ships. Mayelna looked dismayed, but he had
expected that. What he had not expected was the eagerness he began to detect.

"I have been made aware that there is an unknown and unguarded entrance
to Vannkam," he continued. "An artificial tunnel, leading down from
the lake near the port trams to the sea several kilometers away. A special
attack force can approach the planet through the magnetic corridor and fly
underwater to the entrance of that tunnel."

"Fly underwater?" Korlan asked, stilling a second outburst with
that important question.

Velmeran nodded firmly. "The atmospheric shields of our ships can be
adapted for underwater flight... "

"In theory!" Schyrrana interrupted.

"In fact!" he insisted. "I have done it myself – three
times – in the seas of the planet below. I was able to achieve a test
speed of nearly four thousand kilometers. That means a two-hour flight from the
polar corridor to the tunnel entrance, but it can be done."

"Assuming it is done, what then?" Schyrrana asked.

Velmeran frowned, hastily assembling his plans. "I know of a transport,
adapted for Dveyella's special tactics team, that has a large cargo bay and
handling arms that can be used to carry out the memory cell. My computer
projections show that a transport can fly underwater as well as a fighter, so
that is no problem. Aside from that..."

"Assuming that you have the complete resources of these three ships at
your command," Valthyrra told him gently, encouragingly. "You are
giving the orders. Tell us what you need."

Velmeran sat back for a moment, deep in thought. "I would like to lead
ten full packs into the city, mostly to serve as a distraction. Tregloran and I
will guard the transport during the securing of the memory cell. There is
another pilot, Baress, who is very familiar with special tactics. I will send
him with a pack or two to destroy the generators that power the dome shields
and planetary defenses. With all the major power systems out, we will simply
punch a hole in the dome and leave unopposed.

"By that time, the system fleet will be closing in to intercept us.
That is when the remaining packs will attack the Union Fleet from behind,
coming in two or three large groups. They will crush the fleet between them,
and we will shoot a hole for ourselves during the confusion. Valthyrra, I am
hoping that the ships will have acquired maps of the Vannkarn complex,
especially of the generator stations."

"Of course," Valthyrra replied. "Actually, we have always
known about the underwater entrance."

Korlan glanced at her questioningly. "Why have you never gone after the
memory cell before?"

"The time had not yet come," she answered simply. "And this
is the time?"

"Has it not been said that the memory cell would not be reclaimed until
the end of the war was drawing near, so that it can show us the way to Terra?
Who do you think started that rumor? Besides, we have never had someone like
Velmeran to go after it."

Mayelna made a small derisive sound that only those nearest to her could
hear, her first contribution to the conversation in some time. Valthyrra
Methryn was about to get her way in everything she had ever wanted. Mayelna
wondered what she could do to stop this, although it already seemed too late
for that. She wondered if she should even try.

Velmeran studied the map that Valthyrra had brought up on the main
viewscreen for him, quietly comparing notes with her. At last, seemingly
satisfied, he leaned back. "It can be done. I will need Baress, Threl and
Marlena."

"Here!" the three answered from the gallery.

"Threl, do you want a chance to fly that transport underwater?"
Velmeran asked, turning to face that section of the gallery.

"That is the only place that I have not flown it," the pilot
answered.

"Baress, you have the greatest special tactics experience of us all.
Will you go after those generators?"

"I will, if I have the proper help."

"Do you think Baressa's pack would be a good beginning, if she is
willing to go with you?"

Baress considered that, and brightened. "That would be a very good
beginning. I would also like Kalgeran's pack, from the Delvon."

Velmeran glanced at Thenderra Delvon. "Is that agreeable?"

"Do you even have to ask?" a pilot called from the gallery,
bringing laughter from most of the gathering.

"That makes three packs to follow me in," Velmeran mused as he
returned to his seat. "I would like to have ten – certainly no less
than six. Not only will we need that distraction inside the city, but we
certainly need that firepower to get back through the system fleet. I think
that our ships should make two or three suggestions each, and we will decide
from among those."

"Easily done," Valthyrra said. "Then we are in agreement that
this is what we must do? Karvand?"

Commander Schyrrana quickly consulted with her ship, first officer and
Commander-designate, and there was no dissension. Daelyn was grinning with
mischievous satisfaction. Schyrrana nodded. "We agree."

"Delvon?"

"No complaints here!" Korlan insisted, not even pausing to consult
with his ship or officers. There was no need; they all nodded eagerly.