these past two years. He had just finished with a series of operations to reconstruct his ruined back, blasted by a bolt from a Starwolf’s gun. Nor had his reputation survived the raid on Vannkarn unaffected, in spite of his uncle’s best efforts to protect him. Then the old Councilor had died suddenly, leaving him to fend for himself while still immobilized by his injuries and his new weapon only half built. As the new Councilor, Richart had shown him little support and had gone so far as to consider his replacement.
But now that they needed him for their purposes, they could not be nicer. The door to the inner office opened and Richart Lake stepped out. Trace rose as quickly as he dared, hoping that he was not betrayed by the pain in his back. His real condition was such that, had it been an officer in his command, he would have restricted the man from space travel and certainly combat duty.
“Hello, Don. I’m glad that you could make it,” Lake greeted him cordially enough, almost enthusiastically.
“No problem,” Trace assured him, stepping into the office as the other held the door for him.
“Please excuse the mess,” Lake said as he pulled the door shut, indicating the boxes, files, and temporary access terminals that littered the room. He showed Trace a chair in front of the desk and hurried around to take his own seat behind. “I’m afraid that we are only now getting matters straightened up and back into working order. Next week we move into the new government building, but it will be at least a year before we return to the same level of efficiency we had before the Starwolves brought the roof down on top of us. Farstell was a lot easier to put back together.”
“Farstell had the advantage of duplicate records as shipping and receiving ports and factories,” Trace pointed out. “There was a lot gone from the government and military offices that can never be replaced.”
“True enough,” Lake agreed, and leaned back in his seat. “I have received a full report on the space trials of your new ship.”
“So? What do you think?”
“It is slow… “
“It was never meant for speed,” Trace replied. “Just as long as it can get itself where it needs to be.”
“Then you are satisfied with the machine?” Lake asked.
“Yes, I am,” the Sector Commander replied without hesitation. “It is everything that I had hoped it would be. It accelerates and handles perfectly. The computer network and channeled power grid work as well in real life as they did on paper.”
“And the sentient command computer?”
Trace shrugged. “Again, it was perfect in its operation. It is no more or less than it needs to be. As you know, it has intelligence, independent reasoning capabilities, and self-awareness, it can take care of itself, but it will also follow orders without question. It is not a living, thinking, feeling being like the Starwolf carriers, but we did not want that in the first place.”
“No, we did not,” Lake agreed thoughtfully.
“And it can fight,” Trace continued. “We ran it through twenty-eight simulated attacks by Starwolves. Everything we know they have, we threw at it. It survived every attack, and won more than half of the engagements that we played through.”
Lake glanced up at him. “No problem for you, I trust? I mean, you are still fairly fresh from your last surgery.”
“No, no problem,” Trace assured him. “As you pointed out, the machine is no light cruiser. We took at most a momentary five G’s, otherwise no more than sustained three.”
“Then you will be along for its first mission?”
“Yes, I must. I expect that we will have no problem the first time that we meet Starwolves, since they will not be prepared for what my beauty can do. Assuming they survive, they are likely to run crying for Velmeran to slay this dragon for them. And Velmeran is the one unpredictable element. If he shows up, then I want to be there.”
“Well, that is just the problem,” Lake said, leaning back heavily in his chair. “The Fortress is a strong defensive weapon. Put one of these in a system and you are drawing an imaginary line that you dare any Starwolf to cross. I do not like having to use our only Fortress as a combat lesson. But we need that ship at Tryalna if we are going to retake and hold that system. The Starwolves know what the revolt and secession of a major system will mean for the Union, and they are going to fight to keep it free.
“We have to do something about the Starwolves if we are going to be respected. They have been having their way with us ever since they broke into Vannkarn. And you can bet that Tryalna would not have been so quick to revolt if they had not been certain that the Starwolves would protect them.”
Richart Lake sat back for a moment, deep in thought. Trace knew that he was being lectured one last time before being sent off to complete his assigned task, but he accepted it in good grace. The unfortunate reality was that if he wanted the High Council to give him more of these very expensive ships, then he had to listen attentively to a certain amount of advice and words of wisdom.
“Do you believe that you can defeat a Starwolf carrier with this machine?” Lake asked after a moment.
“Yes, I know I can,” Trace replied quickly and certainly.
“Just stay away from Velmeran, if you can. He has a bag of tricks for every situation. His is a problem that we must work around, for now.”
Trace looked up at him. “Quite to the contrary, I should think. Velmeran is a problem that we cannot ignore; if we can eliminate him, the rest will be comparatively easy. This is my best chance to defeat him, before the Starwolves can develop any strategy against this new weapon.”
The Councilor considered that. “You might well be right. But you must also take whoever comes your way. I’m glad that you were able to get Maeken Kea to captain your ship, especially since the Krand sector helped us put up so much of the cost.”
“She is the best that I could find. True military geniuses are few and far between these days.”
“Geniuses of any type are few and far between anymore. That is why the situation is becoming so critical. We have to save ourselves while we are still smart enough to be able to do it. You will be on your way, then?”
“We have to get to Tryalna in time to do some good.”
“Then I must allow you to be about your business,” Lake said, and leaned over the desk to shake his hand. “Good luck, Don. I cannot tell you how important this is. But if you lose this ship because of your personal grudge against Velmeran, I’ll hang you out to dry when you get back.”
“Don’t worry about that. Besides, if I don’t win, there probably will be nothing left of me to send back.”
Maeken Kea was not at all sure she liked this. She had arrived on a military courier late the previous night, shown to a room — a suite — that was opulent beyond even her rank and reputation, and then pushed on board a small passenger shuttle the next morning to find herself in the company of no less than Sector Commander Donalt Trace. Now they were on their way back into space with an air of calm stealthiness that left her very uneasy.
Maeken was smart enough to figure a few things out for herself, since the Sector Commander sported a self-satisfied wait-and-see attitude toward this affair. She had been relieved of her command while she had still been trying to get her battleship into dock, informed that she was now attached to Union High Command. Her orders vaguely mentioned a new command. Well, she had heard a rumor that Donalt Trace was off his deathbed and running trials on a new ship that was supposed to be a match for a Starwolf carrier.
She did not much care for the prospect of commanding a ship designed to equal a Starwolf carrier, since it implied that she would be fighting Starwolves. She had once fought Starwolves and won, holding on to a very valuable piece of property her sector had wanted for a long time. A short but successful career bore out the fact that she was probably the Union’s best tactical genius. But she had no false pride in that regard. She knew that she could not take on the likes of Velmeran or Tryn or Schyranna and hope to win. And she certainly did not want to fight Starwolves under the command of someone like Donalt Trace. Rumor made him out to be either a fool or a madman, and either one was dangerous.
“What led you to choose the military?” Trace asked suddenly. Maeken glanced up, startled from her own thoughts.
“I hesitate to mention it, but it is really just an indulgence of my childhood fantasy,” she explained. “I love big ships.”
The Sector Commander laughed. “I might just have a ship for you! Would you be willing to fight
