Starwolves?”
Maeken shifted uneasily. “Do you mind if I do not answer at once? Yes, I would fight Starwolves if I had the right weapon. Do you have one to offer?”
“Your judgment of my new ship will be your answer?” Trace asked.
“If I think that I could defeat Starwolves with it, I might just be willing to try.”
Trace nodded. “That is reasonable. Of course, the burden of responsibility will not be yours alone. I will be going along with you, at least this first time out. The two of us together should be as smart and any Starwolf Commander.”
“Including Velmeran?”
“I hope so. But it is not our business to track down Velmeran or any other Starwolf. We are on our way to Tryalna to secure the planet against a Starwolf counterattack while our forces reestablish firm control.”
“Your weapon has such power?” she asked.
He nodded. “You see, the Starwolves were designed for a specific purpose, a very specific set of rules, and our mistake has always been in playing according to their rules. This new ship is designed to bring the advantage to our side, forcing them to play according to our rules. Their high-speed attacks, their swift reflexes, and ability to endure crushing stresses will no longer be of worth to them. We now have shields to counter their big guns, guns of our own powerful enough to pierce their shields. Look.”
Maeken brushed back her pale brown hair and leaned toward the window to see that they were overtaking a temporary station of some size. Temporary stations, as the name implied, were meant for temporary use, able to move where they were needed under their own power and be ready for immediate service. This one was clearly meant for military use, for she could see at a glance that it was heavily armored and sported cannons inside retractable turrets large enough to swallow their shuttle. But it was also dull black, nearly invisible against the stars in spite of its vast size. Starwolf color. Then she understood only too well.
“Your ship?” she asked simply.
Trace nodded. “This is what we call a Fortress.”
“Impressive,” Maeken remarked, recovering from her surprise. “Of course, I know that you are too smart to believe that simply building a bigger battleship than they have will give you any special advantage. What does this beast have that makes it so special?”
“Look at its design,” Trace said. “Begin with the engines. Notice that it has no main drives, just clusters of stardrives.”
That much she could see. The engines were arranged in hexagonal clusters of seven large drives, six on the outside with one in the center. The engine clusters were themselves arranged in a flattened hexagon on the rear of the drive housing, six outside with two, side by side, inside. They were large engines, at least half the size of the immense crystal drives that the Starwolves somehow synthesized for their carriers. And like the Starwolf ships, they had armored plates that closed like doors to protect them. Each engine also had a protective flaring that made shooting out a running drive very difficult.
“Each engine is a self-contained unit,” Trace explained. “Each is a module that contains its own generator, drive system, and controls. The same is true for each major cannon, which consists of generator, gun, and retractable focusing turret. These modules simply slip into sockets in the hull, where they merge with the central computer system. It is possible to change out every engine and cannon on this ship in only five hours’ time.
“The hull is composed of heavy armored plates, sloped to shed heavy bolts by deflection. Each plate is covered by a thin sheet of quartzite which, when infused with a defensive shield, becomes impenetrable to any bolt or missile the Starwolves can throw against it. In that way the body of the ship serves as an indestructible platform for its engines and cannons, which are the only vulnerable points.”
“And, as such, you have designed those areas for rapid damage control and repair,” Maeken observed.
Trace nodded approvingly. “Exactly. A convoy of tenders will follow the Fortress — at a discreet distance. Engines and cannon modules are transported end to end in special racks that have their own drive units.
“This ship has the firepower and shielding of a major planetary defense system. Its cannons have nearly the power and range of those of a Starwolf carrier. But we have more guns; we can inflict more damage, and endure more damage, in the same amount of time. And, if a battle breaks out for a short time, we can repair our damage, while they cannot.”
“I like it so far,” Maeken said. “But I see one flaw. What about their conversion cannon? They might hesitate to use it on a planetary target, but it would be the ideal weapon against this machine.”
“It would seem so, yes,” Trace agreed. “They can convert enough mass to destroy a world in a single shot. But the Fortress can divert the energy of all its generators into a single defensive shell of tremendous power. Even damaged guns and engines can supply power, as long as their generators are operative. Simulations have shown that it can turn even that.”
“And this beast can move?” Maeken asked, staring out the window as they rounded the nose of the Fortress. The main forward battery was located here, as well as two more engine clusters to provide reverse thrust.
“Yes, it accelerates and handles as well as a Class A bulk freighter. Not all that fast for a warship, but that can get it where it needs to be.”
“But it cannot actively chase down a Starwolf carrier.” Maeken stated the obvious. “Then what is to keep them from simply ignoring it? If it was in my way, I would simply go around it.”
“I suppose they will, when they simply want to get past. But it cannot simply be ignored if it is guarding an inner world we want protected, or in orbit over a colony they want us to leave alone. Then they will have to deal with it first.”
Maeken considered that for a moment, and shrugged. “You seem to have thought of everything.”
“So, what do you think?” Trace asked. “Do you believe that you could fight Starwolves with this?”
Maeken looked at him sharply. “Are you giving me any choice?”
“Of course,” he insisted. “If you think that this is not right for you, that you cannot use it to best advantage, then you are completely free to return to your former command and tell your Sector Commander that Donalt Trace is as mad as rumor makes him out to be.”
Maeken leaned back in her seat and sighed heavily. “You are mad. And so am I, for that matter. Crazy as Treyvestrian Knock Beetles, so I guess that we were meant for each other. Who wants to grow old, anyway?”
“Well, they are safely gone,” Velmeran observed. The Velka, flying again under her own power, was cruising into the system as if she had made the entire run herself, rather than suspended in the belly of a Starwolf carrier. The Methryn held back; she had business elsewhere.
“I was beginning to wish that you had blasted them when you had the chance,” Valthyrra told him quietly, turning her camera; pod away from the main viewscreen.
“Have they really caused that much trouble?” Velmeran asked. “They never even came out of their ship.”
“All the same, that is the last that I want to see of Traders,”‘ Valthyrra insisted. “I have never before had a murder on my decks.”
“Attempted murder,” he corrected her. “A very near miss.”
“Well, Kella Mersans is their Captain now, just as I expected she would be, and she will keep them under firm control.”
“You expected?” Mayelna asked, looking up from her monitor for the first time. “Was that a premonition?”
“No, just an intelligent guess,” he insisted. “I refuse to believe in foretelling. The future is a variable. It can be predicted, in the honest sense of the word, but I cannot believe that anyone can actually see visions of what will come to pass.”
“Still, I wish that you would keep an open mind on this and any subject,” Mayelna said. “That is the only way to find out what you can do.”
“I cannot help wondering what we will do if these talents turn out to be fairly widespread,” Valthyrra added. “I suppose that we could carve up old drives to make crystal balls.”
“I hope that the two of you enjoy your fun at my expense,” Velmeran said coldly, and turned to Valthyrra. “And yes, I have had others come to me about developing their own talents. In fact, I already have two promising students.”
