that he had the situation well under control. But that was hardly the case, for Velmeran knew that the little gun could not so much as dent his armor. He stood for a moment, regarding the intruder with an appearance of mild surprise and patient tolerance, even though he was securely helmeted.
'Commander Trace,' he acknowledged at last, switching on the com link that gave him contact with the world outside his suit.
'Pack Leader Velmeran,' Trace answered coldly. 'I knew that I would find you here.'
'So?' Velmeran asked, drawing his own gun. 'What do you expect to be able to do about it?'
Commander Trace hesitated as that very question occurred to him. Somehow he had thought that if he could just get here in time Velmeran would be defeated and he would win, as if those were the rules of the game. But that was not the case at all. This game went to the player with the greatest advantage, and just now Velmeran possessed every advantage. His confusion gave way to real fear, for he knew that he was facing his own death. And when the Starwolf raised his gun to take aim, he turned and fled in open terror. He knew that his one, remote chance for life depended upon getting himself out of that chamber.
Velmeran hesitated, astonished at this turn of events. Defeated and fearing for his very life, the plight of this man evoked his sympathy. For once Velmeran saw him as he was, not a personification of evil or the enemy of the Kelvessan, but a man. In spite of his prejudices, his blind hatreds and his disregard for the lives and rights of others, he also possessed rare courage and a selfless devotion to duty. For good or ill, he was human. And for the first time Velmeran understood what being human really meant, both the familiar and the alien.
Velmeran realized something about himself — what he was in comparison, and what he believed himself to be. Killing this man would give him no satisfaction, nor would it restore some balance in his own sense of justice. Dveyella's death would not be vindicated in blood, but by the accomplishment of her dream. Vengeance was his for the taking, and he did not desire it. He could not hate this man, not as Commander Trace hated him.
He shot anyway, because it was his duty.
Commander Trace's back exploded in a sheet of flames, and the force of that explosion threw him forward to land with bone-crushing force just short of the open doorway and the safety he sought. He lay there motionless, the material of his uniform burning lazily. Velmeran had no more time for that matter. Turning back to the transport, he saw that Marlena had done nothing to load the memory cell.
'Get that thing on board!' he called impatiently. 'We have to get out of here now.'
'I did not want to be a distraction,' she replied, working the controls of the handling arms. The unit lifted easily from its cradle where it had lain for thousands of years, and the arms retracted it back into the ship, drawing it into the bay. The fit was so tight that it did not appear likely to go, although the measurements Valthyrra had provided insisted that it would slip in with a third of a meter to spare. Velmeran tossed the cutting laser and the light into the bay even as Marlena began to close the door.
'He is gone!' Tregloran warned suddenly.
Velmeran turned quickly to see that Trace's body had indeed vanished. He had either revived enough to drag himself out the door, or someone had quietly collected him, dead or alive. Velmeran suspected the latter. Either way, there was nothing that he could do about it. He wanted Donalt Trace dead for the same reason that he would want to deprive the Union of any valuable weapon. But at that moment he had to get his attack force away.
'We have to be on our way out,' he said, and waved the transport out of the chamber. 'Swing that ship around and get out of here, Threl. We will guard your back.'
16
The transport spun around in a half circle as Threl cautiously pivoted the ship to face back the way it had come in. He then led the transport down the side corridor and out the impromptu entrance of the gaping hole in the outer wall. Once the larger ship was clear of the budding, the two fighters rose to the ceiling and passed out through the broken windows. It might have seemed easier for them to have followed the transport out, but they could not. As small as they were in comparison, their wingspan was too wide for that opening; the boxlike hull of the transport had no wings or fins.
What they found outside appeared at first glance to be absolute confusion. The government building had apparently been replete with automated sentries. Scores of them had appeared on terraces and rooftops to shoot at the circling wolf ships. And the Starwolves had been entertaining themselves with picking off those sentries. But the sentries were a self-sacrificing diversion, occupying the Starwolves' attention while the inhabitants of the budding fled. Indeed, the Sector Residence and the Farstell Trade building had been evacuated as well; Velmeran applauded Councdor Lake's wisdom in guessing his next move.
The wolf ships now dropped to street level for the final phase of their attack. They began to streak in low and fast, firing rapid bursts from their auxiliary cannons into the lowest levels of those three buddings, so that in barely half a minute they were all reduced to smoking rubble. This was not wanton destruction but a calculated strategic move. The destruction of those buildings also meant the destruction of the bureaucracy they housed. The management of both the government and the trade company in this sector would be seriously impaired for months or even years to come.
Once that task was complete, the Starwolves withdrew to the upper levels of the cavern, forming into their separate packs. Velmeran found eight present, including his own; the two that comprised Baress's assault force had not yet returned.
'Baress?' Velmeran called.
'We are on our way out,' he answered promptly. 'The planetary defenses are down. Cut a hole in the roof and start out. We would join you in time to bring up the rear.'
Velmeran waited no longer. Flying out over the middle of the city, he dived down to make some running room and arched up toward the dome, aiming a blast from his accessory cannon to its very center. As the smoke cleared he saw blue morning sky beyond and shot through that small opening without hesitation, his pack following him closely. The transport slipped through the hole next, and the remaining packs brought up the rear. The second attack force shot out the tunnel leading to the power complex in time to fall in place behind the others.
Once all the wolf ships were clear, they began to accelerate quickly, at the same time reforming into the tight arrowheads of their running formations. Velmeran's pack took the lead and the rest gathered into a defensive sphere about the transport. Once assembled, they accelerated straight up, leaving the planet by the shortest course. They were aware that a fleet of Union destroyers and battleships such as they had never seen lay directly in their path, waiting to intercept them.
At that moment four more groups of five packs each suddenly appeared at the same instant, descending upon the Union fleet with frightening speed as they closed for the kill. Warships tried to adjust to the new attack, frantically pivoting to face incoming ships. The only result was that the fleet was in a state of complete confusion as their new attackers began to rip them apart with cannons they did not normally expect on fighters. The Starwolf forces closed quickly to crush the Union ships between their concentrated barrage, the packs separating to strike at different portions of the fleet, then separating again as fighters went after individual targets. They shot to kill, their accessory cannons tearing entire ships apart in a single pass.
Velmeran's assault force stayed in tight formation, concentrating their own fire on anything in or near their path, opening a hole for themselves through the enemy fleet. Six of the packs fell behind the transport to guard the rear as they shot through that opening unopposed. Then they were out the other side, and the six following packs circled around to return to battle. Two of the remaining packs dropped back behind the transport as they prepared to cross the Union's second line of defense.
Farther out, in an arch behind the first fleet, awaited the stingships. Their original task had been to go after anything that tried to break from the main battle. They now prepared themselves to intercept this small group fleeing with their prize. Thirty carriers worked quickly to release their loads, swinging long racks of stingships out from their sides for deployment.
Before they were able to launch, powerful bolts of energy leaped out from empty space, so powerful that they completely destroyed the carriers and their cargoes of stingships on touch. Perhaps the Union pilots looked about in confusion for their unseen enemy, but their scanners reported only empty space. At the last instant
