Valthyrra's camera pod accusingly. 'Why did you never tell me about any of this?'
'You never asked,' the ship replied simply. 'We have waited a very long time for the Union to realize that it is doomed, knowing that it will begin the last phase of this war. We have known that we would have to be very careful if we are to save anything of what would otherwise be destroyed.'
'But what would happen if we drew back and refused to fight?' Dveyella asked.
'The Union wid fall apart very quickly once interstellar trade begins to fail,' Valthyrra explained. 'Then greedy men would seize control to wring what they can of dying worlds. Faced with starvation, entire populations could erupt into uncontrollable violence… or entire populations could be put to death so that the chosen few might live. As I said, the deaths of worlds would not be measured in years or generations, but weeks or even days. Or perhaps even seconds, if they turned their own planetary defenses upon themselves.'
Velmeran shook his head slowly. 'You envision a very dark future indeed, but I fear that you are right.'
'You should be pleased,' she told him. 'Your stupid little dinner party was the turning point of this entire war.'
'Then, by your leave, I would contemplate the future from the safety of my own room,' Velmeran said as he and Dveyella turned to leave. Then he stopped short and turned back. 'I am forgetting the real reason why I came. Dveyella wants to stay with us, and we would like to know if she can fly with my pack for now.'
Valthyrra's camera pod bobbed as she momentarily lost control of her voluntary functions. She glanced at the Commander, but Mayelna only stared back in speechless confusion. She turned back to the younger pilot, pausing a moment to check her breakers and relays as an excuse to gather her wits.
'I see no reason why that would not be perfectly acceptable,' she said in a surprisingly even voice. 'Although I think that it would be something of a waste of her own abilities as a pack leader.'
'We had thought that it would only be temporary,' Velmeran explained. 'Once Keth's students are ready to fly, I thought that we might disassemble my pack to form two new ones, the other under Dveyella's leadership.'
'That sounds good to me,' Valthyrra agreed, suppressing an uncharacteristic urge to giggle with hysterical relief. She glanced at the Commander.
Mayelna shrugged. 'Suits me.'
'So be it,' Valthyrra declared with an air of finality. 'You would be going out to hunt within the next few days.'
'We were the last to hunt,' Velmeran cautiously pointed out. 'Remember? We ended up the hunted.'
'With eight entire packs humbled, no one is going to complain,' Valthyrra insisted. 'And I want your children to make another run. Their confidence is high now, and I want them to hunt again before they lose that.'
'A good idea,' Velmeran agreed. 'By your leave, Dveyella and I would get down to serious business.'
'I would have thought that you had done that last night,' Valthyrra remarked as the two young Starwolves left. Whether or not they heard her, Mayelna certainly did. She reached up to give the camera pod another swat.
'I actually got my way,' Valthyrra muttered after a long moment. 'Just when I thought that I had screwed things up beyond any repair, I actually got my way.'
'Through no effort of your own,' Mayelna added. She returned the monitor to hold and sat back wearily. 'And I remind you that you have not had your way completely. I have not yet named him Commander-designate.'
'If you do not, I soon will.' That was no threat, but a promise. 'Why do you think Dveyella gave up special tactics to remain with him?'
'To indulge her infatuation for my poor baby!' Mayelna replied hotiy.
'She could have had him entirely to herself; he meant to go. He wanted to go,' Valthyrra insisted. 'This was her idea. She knows.'
'Whoever had the idea, I do approve of one aspect,' Mayelna said. 'At least Velmeran will live to see his first hundred years. And not come back crying because his beloved mate ran out of her own portion of luck.'
'Then we are actually in agreement?'
'Well, partial agreement,' she amended. 'I do not approve of this business. Velmeran is simply too young. What is the point of love anyway. It can be among the worst of personal catastrophes, and yet people go looking for it like fools.'
'Command has turned you into the machine I never was. I would bet that you have never had a passionate thought in your entire life.'
'Oh?' Mayelna asked, glancing up. 'Do you suppose that I got Velmeran out of ship's stores? Besides, he was not out looking for his fate. Love jumped him from behind.'
'It also seems to have done him a great deal of good, and I like the improvement.'
'Yes, I can tell the difference,' Mayelna reluctantly admitted. 'What do you suppose Consherra is doing?'
'She is in her room crying.'
'I had always considered them a likely match,' she mused, and turned to her monitor yet again. 'It is Consherra's own fault. Actually, I do believe that I could like this Dveyella very well indeed.'
'Oh, indeed!' Valthyrra agreed.
Mayelna frowned, realizing that she had quite forgotten what this report was even about, and quickly set it back to its beginning. Thirteen officers at their posts did their best to pretend that they lacked both good hearing and natural curiosity.
'If it be love indeed, tell me how much,' Valthyrra quoted softly. 'There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.'
Mayelna glanced up. 'What?'
'Shakespeare.'
Councilor Lake sat at his desk, bent over the long printout of some report, peering so closely at the print that his nose almost touched the page. Donalt Trace paused at the door, having seen that his uncle was not yet aware of him. He was suddenly impressed by just how old Jon Lake appeared after his return from the Union High Council. He was shrunken and frail, half-blind and more than half-deaf. Uncle Jon had not been a young man for as long as he could remember, and he was no longer all that young himself.
Councilor Lake suddenly became aware of his presence and hastily put down the report, somewhat guilty for having been caught peering at it so closely. His vision had een artificially corrected as much as possible, and yet he stubbornly refused to wear his glasses.
'Hello, Don! Do come in,' he said jovially, indicating the chair in front of his desk. 'I was just thinking about you. What brought you in?'
'Oh, just sneaking around to see if you were asleep at your desk again,' Trace teased.
'Not this time,' Lake said. 'Have you been busy today?'
'No, not really. You know how business is, waxing and waning like the three moons of Maldeken. In terms of that analogy, there are no moons tonight.'
'Maybe they just haven't risen yet,' the Councilor said, pushing a report, still in its metal folder, across the table to him. 'This should keep you busy. Your test ship arrived and is ready for fitting with bays for those new Tracer automatic fighters. They're sending her straight into airdock. Now what do you plan to do?'
'What else can I do?' Trace asked. 'We load these machines and send that freighter back out to run the lanes until someone takes the bait.'
Councilor Lake frowned. 'I hate to think that our two young friends will be out there with those things.'
'So do I, but it can't be helped. The Rane Sector has been the Methryn's private hunting ground for a long time now. I want those missiles tested here, in this sector, where the two of us have absolute control over their use.' He paused a moment, reading the report. 'At least they have the launchers up to one hundred percent. Those things are too expensive to lose because they explode when launched in starflight.'
'When a twenty-two-ton missile converts its entire mass to energy, the term explosion is something of an understatement,' Lake remarked dryly, then frowned as he glanced down at the papers that littered his desk. 'I heard that you visited with our two young friends again this morning.'
Trace glanced up at him in surprise. He knew, better than anyone, that Jon Lake employed many spies, electronic and living, to watch the movements of his associates and underlings, but he had never suspected that he was a subject of such scrutiny.
