will show us the way to lost Terra. Have you ever wondered how that was supposed to win the war for us?'
'How?'
'Because Terra holds the original Home Base of the Kelvessan Fleet. Terra and her moon have the construction docks and support factories for the assembly of Starwolf carriers — ships so technically advanced that they make me look like an antiquated hulk. Can you not see how the possession of such ships could win this war for us?'
'Yes, if there were crews for them,' Velmeran said.
'Our ships operate at only a fraction of their fighter capacity now.'
'Because that is all we have been able to use for some time now,' Valthyrra said. 'Five thousand years ago your race was in danger of dying out. At that time there were only eighteen thousand Kelvessan divided between twenty carriers and one freighter. Now there are sixty thousand divided between twenty-seven ships. And, as you ship-born ones are inclined to forget, there are now five and a half million Kelvessan who do not call themselves Starwolves but live in our stations and on human worlds. We can recruit a few shiploads of pilots and crewmembers from their numbers. And the rest are surely ready for a world of their own.'
The idea obviously appealed to Velmeran, who smiled broadly. 'Just imagine, the cradle of human civilization becoming the home world of the Kelvessan. But where would we live? There are few portions of the planet that we would find comfortable.'
'Yes, there is that,' Dveyella agreed. 'And I wonder if there is anything left. We have no idea what forced the evacuation of the planet.'
'Well, we will have to see,' Valthyrra said. 'We have to find it first. And for that, someone has to go after the Vardon's memory cell.'
Velmeran was so deep in his own thoughts that he did not notice both Valthyrra and Dveyella staring at him expectantly. Although his qualities as a leader were beginning to manifest themselves quickly, he was still very much a child in one respect. Although he could make decisions in a hurry in an emergency, he still waited for his elders to initiate any spontaneous action. Since he did not comment on this idea, there was no way to tell what he thought about it. Valthyrra realized that the time had not yet come.
'I also wonder about these new weapons,' Velmeran said after a long moment. 'I wish that we did not have to just wait until those weapons are used against us.'
'If we had some idea of what those weapons are or where they are being built and tested, we could strike first,' Valthyrra agreed. 'Once we know what a weapon is, we are always able to neutralize it or guard against it. That is why all this talk of new, secret weapons does not worry me greatly. Those weapons tend to work well, if at all, only the first time they are used. Also the Union is in a constant cycle of forgetting and reinventing technology, so that they seldom come up with anything we have never seen before. You say that these are designs that Commander Trace himself worked out?'
'That is what Councilor Lake said,' Velmeran answered.
'According to my intelligence work, Trace has had years of training in various fields of engineering,' Valthyrra mused. 'Because he is of undeteriorated human stock, he is much smarter than anyone who works under him and; so he does it all himself. Engineering computers must take his finished plans for conversion into working designs.'
'And can we take anything that he throws against us?'
'Yes, if we are careful. The effectiveness of a weapon depends most upon the cleverness of the user and the carelessness of the victim. You know yourself that carriers have been destroyed by simple means when they are caught unprepared, while at times the best of plans have gone awry for no apparent reason.'
'And if Commander Trace has a fault, I suspect that it is his own impatience to act when he is sure that he is right,' Velmeran mused.
'His second fault is that he believes that he is right until proven otherwise,' Dveyella added.
'As well as the two of you have him figured out, we have nothing to worry about,' Valthyrra said, amused. 'It is strange to think that this ancient war is finally coming to an end. It will be nice, never again running this endless patrol.'
Velmeran glanced at her, startled. 'You are a fighting ship. What will you do when the war is over?'
'I shall probably be decommissioned,' she replied dryly.
'What?' he demanded. 'You are not exactly a machine to be thrown away.'
'No, and there certainly will be enough police work for me to do for some time to come. Humans are capable of incredible mischief. But, once our duties are fulfilled and our fates are our own, I am sure that our old alliance with the Aldessan will be strengthened. They made us both, you and I. At least they drew up the specifications. We are like them in heart and mind. Someday I would like to be an explorer, a long-range research vessel. I would need no special modifications.'
13
Leaving Vinthra, the Methryn followed the freight lane directly to the Kalleth system. There she paused outside the system itself and far enough to one side of the freight lane to remain undetected. The Kalleth system was near to Vinthra, still very much in the inner systems even if it was not one of the rich inner worlds. Indeed it lacked a single world that could have been made even remotely inhabitable. It was just a system consisting of four gas giants and a wealth of ore-rich moons and debris, with a total population of nearly a billion divided between several large mining colonies and stations. Bulk freighters brought in all the necessary supplies and equipment, and left shifting all the mass they could manage in raw ores.
Velmeran approached this run with as much apprehension as he had the last time. Instead of demoralized students and an older pilot who should not have been flying, he now had seven eager and possibly overconfident students and a girl he could not quite consider his subordinate. In truth he had little to fear for the younger members. After their last battle, they were out to prove themselves experienced pilots and the only danger was that they might try too hard. But Dveyella was another matter altogether, and one that he did not know how to approach.
'Dveyella, we must be pack leader and pilot now,' he reminded her gently, almost questioningly, as they rode the lift down to the bay.
'Meran, for as long as I fly with you, we must always be pack leader and pilot to a certain extent,' she answered. 'For now, we must forget that we are anything else. I will follow your orders without question or condition. You must not be afraid to give me those orders.'
Velmeran smiled uncertainly. 'Yes, I know. The problem is more likely to be with me, not you.'
'Why? Because there is love between us, or because I have been a pack leader myself.'
'Both, perhaps,' he admitted.
'If that is the case, then I will leave the pack,' she told him. 'There are other things that I can do aboard this ship. But there is no one else I love. I will never allow anything to come between us.'
The lift deposited them on the lower flight deck and they went directly to their ships. Time was running short, for their target ship would already be on the edge of the system before they could overtake it. Steena and Delvon would have as many chances at the freighter as time allowed before he let Dveyella pull it down — if necessary.
The nine fighters thundered out of the bay, holding formation so tightly that even Velmeran was impressed. He did not know whether they were inspired by their past performance or if they operated under a collective urge to impress their new member, but he was grateful for the change. The last time he had taken this pack out for battle, he had been concerned that Vayelryn might bump wings in her nervousness. Now she snapped her fighter up into its running position above the pack with casual precision.
Shayrn brought her own pack in close behind his own and the two formations moved as one into starflight. They were upon their prey almost immediately. Valthyrra Methryn had been flanking it as closely as she dared, every scanning device she had turned on it, remembering the misfired trap that had awaited them last time. She reported a crew of seven and a half-filled hold, mostly inexpensive bulk items and what appeared to be an uncertain
