not entirely the truth. Her last memory of Mayelna was that of the Starwolf who had not changed a day in three hundred years, while the Mayelna she saw now was beginning to grow old. That startled her, perhaps, but it did not worry her. What did worry her was the fact that Mayelna looked as tired as if she had personally fought half the sector fleet in a twelve-hour running battle.
'You know, I will never get used to seeing you behind a desk,' Daelyn continued. 'I can only remember you in black armor, the meanest wolf on this ship.'
'I am still mean,' Mayelna said, very matter-of-fact. 'Ask anyone. You left this ship a long time before I became Commander.'
'You chased me out,' Daelyn corrected her.
'I did no such thing!' Mayelna insisted. 'I was asked to make a decision as though I were the Commander.'
'Gelvessa Karvand thought me capable enough.'
'Yes, and she got a bargain. So it would seem that — once — I did make a mistake,' Mayelna admitted, with obvious reluctance. 'A very bad mistake. And you were gone. Do you regret it?'
'Gelvessa has named me Commander-designate,' she said, by way of reply. Then she saw Mayelna's reaction to that. 'Really, do you have to look so horrified? I know that you would not approve… '
'No, and time would prove me wrong again,' Mayelna interrupted impatiently. 'My problem is more acute. I need a replacement now.'
'And no one suits you?' Daelyn found that easy enough to guess.
'If you have waited these many years to point out my mistakes and shortcomings, then you are too late. Is this your idea of revenge?'
'No, because I really do have no regrets… except, perhaps, one,' she frowned. 'I met Velmeran on the way up.'
Mayelna glanced at her expectantly. 'So?'
'He seems like you. Just as mean and ill-mannered. And even more brooding.'
'Then you have not met Velmeran,' the Commander remarked as she leaned back. 'He is quiet and introspective, yes. But not mean. This is a bad time for him, and I hate for you to have to meet your younger brother under these circumstances.'
'He has been in trouble?'
'He has been in trouble for a long time now. His first pack was shot out from under him; he was one of two survivors. Then I let Valthyrra make him a pack leader of seven students and one old fool who should have retired. Now he has lost a pilot the last two times he has led his pack out. That girl we lost was flying under him.'
'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
