Velmeran, who had remained silent so far, watched in fascination and amusement. Valthyrra Methryn was so agitated that he almost expected to see smoke escaping from the cowling around her retractable neck.
'Yes, and he does not have to decide soon,' Dveyella added. 'Several weeks may pass before we are requested somewhere else, and it is customary that we remain where we are until then.'
'That is true,' Valthyrra agreed quickly, her camera pod lifting hopefully. She turned to look at the larger group standing to one side of the scorched fighter. Dyenlerra had moved in on Keth, and had already attached a portable diagnostic unit to the leads inside the control panel of his suit. 'I want to thank you for returning our merchandise safely. Now let us see if it has suffered from its rough handling.'
The entire pack was gathered close, silent as they awaited the medic's judgment. Keth himself bore a pained expression of barely restrained impatience, obviously of a mind that all this was unnecessary. Dyenlerra appeared equally exasperated with her patient's unwillingness to cooperate.
'Good enough,' she decided as she jerked out the leads. 'At least until I can get you out of that armor and properly checked.'
'I am all right?' Keth asked with both impatience and concern.
'You are not ill,' Dyenlerra said as she bent over the device and pointed toward the lift, indicating for it to put itself away. It turned and rolled off at a quick pace. 'Like so many of us, you are getting old.'
Keth's reply was a moment of thoughtful silence. Obviously the matter of his age did bother him, whether he chose to believe it or not.
'They did not mistreat you?' Mayelna asked.
'No, certainly not,' Keth answered quickly. 'They were scared to death of me, although I did nearly starve on their rations. They eat like birds.'
'We eat like wolves,' Dyenlerra corrected him. 'At least they did keep him cool.'
'They let you keep your suit?' Velmeran asked.
'Not at first, but I convinced them that I had to have it,' Keth replied, obviously pleased with his ingenuity. 'I thought that I would need it, since I knew that someone would be coming after me. Actually, it was quite comfortable in those caves.'
'We will need a complete report later,' Mayelna said. 'For now, you report to sick bay for a complete checkup. I want to see you in my office as soon as you are finished.'
'Immediately, Commander,' Keth agreed with only minor reluctance, well aware that he had been given an order. He departed alone. Some of the others watched him leave but no one was inclined to go with him, no doubt to his annoyance. They were waiting for their pack leader.
'Dyenlerra,' Mayelna said softly. 'Just what is his condition?'
'About the same as when he left, less about two kilos from light rations,' the medic replied. 'As I said, he is getting old — fast.'
'Would you be willing to declare him unfit to fly with the packs?' she asked suddenly.
'I might have to.' Dyenlerra did not seem surprised by that question.
'Valthyrra and I already have, although I would like to have your support on that. Is he capable of being an instructor?'
Dyenlerra nodded. 'Yes, he should be up to that for another twenty years, certainly ten.'
'Then so it shall be,' Mayelna said, and glanced over her shoulder at the younger pilots waiting silently as a group. 'I trust that the lot of you can be counted upon to be more discreet than your superior officers. Let this business serve as a lesson to you on the virtues of honest introspection, but do not make the mistake of thinking that foolishness will always be forgiven. I have a present need for an instructor, and as such Keth will be useful to this ship. He might be foolish enough to refuse. Now, forget what you have heard.'
No one answered, but there was no question that they took the point to heart. They had matured enough in recent days to recognize a threat when they heard one, although most of them still did not realize that they had been meant to overhear what had been said.
'Then I must leave you,' the Commander continued. 'There is a war and, unlike Valthyrra, I can only be in one place at a time. Just now I am needed on the bridge.'
'I am calling the packs in,' Valthyrra said. 'We will be under way as soon as they are secure.'
'Make it quick, then,' Mayelna said as she left with Dyenlerra.
'Well, children, the last order of business is port leave,' Valthyrra continued. 'There are two packs and several other members of this crew, not to mention our hardworking visitors, who are to be rewarded with leave. There are also eight packs and a large portion of this ship's crew whose tardiness and lack of devotion will be punished by being denied leave. What will be your choice?'
'Kanis!' Tregloran exclaimed, answering for them all. Kanis was one of three places that all Starwolves liked best; the climate was good — meaning cold and dry — the port was interesting but tame enough that they did not have to worry, their kind was very well liked by the locals, and there was no Union base. The others were quick to nod in agreement.
'You are all agreed on Kanis?' Valthyrra asked. 'Very well, then Vinthra it is!'
Velmeran looked at the machine questioningly. 'Vinthra? Why Vinthra?'
'I have business in Vinthra,' she answered simply.
'And since Vinthra is also the capital world of this sector, you also have a lot of brass — if you will pardon the pun — poking your big nose there immediately after your last two encounters with the military.'
'So it would seem,' Valthyrra agreed. 'All the more reason, in my estimate, for going to Vinthra.'
Her probe turned and drifted off at a sedate pace toward the lift door, no doubt to return itself to its rack; Valthyrra had transferred immediately to the bridge the moment she was finished there.
'Then we are not going to Kanis?' Tregloran asked, as mystified as the rest of the pack.
'Copperbottom asked us where we would like to go,' Velmeran explained the ship's odd sense of humor. 'She never promised to take us there. Some of her jokes are older than she is.'
Tregloran only shrugged. 'The underground city of Vannkarn should be just as much fun.'
Dveyella frowned. 'Actually, I have had quite enough of underground cities for now.'
'You wish to speak to me, Commander?' Keth asked hesitantly, standing in the doorway of Mayelna's office behind the upper bridge.
Mayelna quickly put away her computer terminal, swinging the monitor around on its support arm until it locked into place on the arm and flipped the keyboard over so that the wood grain of its bottom matched inconspicuously with the rest of her desk, while using one of her free hands to indicate the two chairs before her. Although she seemed distracted, she watched Keth closely as he crossed the room slowly to take his seat. It seemed that he was at last beginning to understand how matters stood in regard to his future. Understand, perhaps, but not necessarily accept; he still wore his black armor.
'So, how did your visit to the medic go?' she asked casually.
'I thought that you might tell me,' Keth replied nervously. 'You have the report. There is something wrong?'
'No, there is nothing wrong for someone your age,' Mayelna said, with slight emphasis on that final word. 'Keth, Valthyrra and I have a small problem that you might be able to solve for us. We have some busy times ahead of us, and we want more packs for those two bays we are reopening. We have a whole class of students, fourteen in all, just waiting to begin flight instruction. They can be fighting in two years, with another class of twelve ready to begin when they are finished. All they need is an instructor. I thought that you might want to do that.'
Keth looked at her in surprise and mild confusion. 'There must be someone else. I do not have that many years left, and I would prefer to spend them in the pack. Surely you can understand that.'
'That is not your choice,' Mayelna said. 'I will not force you to be an instructor, but you will either instruct, or you will be retired. Valthyrra and I have decided, and your physical has proven us correct. You can no longer endure the stress of hard accelerations. I will not have a repetition of this previous fiasco, nor will I allow you to be a menace to the other pilots.'
'Commander, that was not my fault!' Keth protested. 'I saved myself when that ship turned in front of me… '
'There is nothing wrong with your reaction time, I will grant you that,' Mayelna interrupted him. 'But the fact remains that if you had time to find that corridor to try to poke through, then you also had time to turn. Any other
