The Alkayja system seemed unusually busy as the Methryn dropped out of starflight, hurtling in toward her destination at high speed. The Republic had never really recovered from its early defeats, remaining a relatively small and inactive group of underpopulated colonies. That had been changing very quickly in the past few years, due mostly to the sudden expansion of both the size and fortunes of the Kelvessan race, particularly the High Kelvessan. But the Starwolves themselves lived most of their lives apart, and they often had no clear idea what was happening at home. Velmeran had certainly never expected this.
“Incoming carrier, identify immediately,” the voice of system control demanded imperiously.
“This is the Methryn,” Valthyrra responded, as surprised as everyone else on the bridge by that cold welcome. She recovered quickly. “My crew and I were responding to your most polite request that we pop in for a visit, as inconvenient as it has been to our busy schedule.”
“Methryn, you are directed to move into an equatorial orbit of fifty thousand kilometers and await further orders. You are to launch no ships of your own nor engage in unnecessary communication. Bring your running lights to full immediately,” system control directed, abruptly cutting the channel.
Valthyrra’s camera pod lifted in surprise. “Well, I like that! I get a warmer welcome than that at Vinthra, even after what we did there. So what happened? Did my warranty expire?”
“Something is wrong,” Velmeran commented. “Why are we being shunted into a holding orbit? Is something happening at the station?”
“Not that I can tell,” Valthyrra answered. “There are no explosions or wrecks, although they do seem busier than the last time we were here.”
Long minutes passed as the Methryn whipped around the curve of the planet Alkayja at a speed which brought another curt reprimand from system control, braking hard as she settled into her assigned orbit. Valthyrra inserted herself at a position in orbit where she had a fairly good view of the station. It was a mobile station, complete with its own drives, although it had been in orbit over this world for centuries. Its thick, main body, twenty-five kilometers across, was a large city in itself. This was surrounded by two rings of docking bays, the smaller bays for commercial and military ships, and below that the immense modules that housed the carriers.
“There are two carriers already in port,” Valthyrra reported. “The Delvon and the Valdayen.”
“What are they doing here?” Velmeran asked. “Can they tell you what is going on?”
“No, they ward off my attempts to communicate without explanation.”
“Well, I have had just about enough of this nonsense. Put me through to system control,” he said, and waited until Valthyrra indicated that the channel was open. “This is Fleet Commander Velmeran. I ask to speak with Admiral Laroose, or whoever might now hold his position.”
“That is not currently possible,” the reply came immediately, so quickly that it was an obvious refusal to forward the request. “You will be directed to dock shortly.”
“I wish I knew what this delay was about,” Consherra commented, leaving her place at the helm station to pace the center of the bridge. Like the rest of the bridge crew, she had been watching the image of the station on the main viewscreen.
“Yes, I know what this reminds me of,” Velmeran declared suddenly. “What do you suppose all other ships do when they come into port, and they have to take their turn to come in to dock?”
That startled the others, even Valthyrra. In all of her long life, no one had ever told her that she would have to circle while she awaited clearance. No one, not even their own people, ever asked starwolves to wait.
“Well, how rude!” Valthyrra declared. “The only reason I took this job was for the perks.”
Velmeran returned to the bridge hours later, responding to Valthyrra’s summons. The Methryn had finally been committed to her dock, a third of the way around the ring of carrier ports on the station’s lower ring from the other two ships, with orders to keep her airlocks sealed with her crew on board and to deny all attempts at communication except from a special Senate Committee or one of the Members of the Triumverate. By this time, Velmeran was very certain that something must be very wrong, and that the Starwolves were being called home to solve it. He was willing enough to help, but he was impatient to be started. With both Lenna and Keflyn away on important missions, the Methryn needed to be free to respond to their calls on a moment’s notice.
Consherra and Valthyrra were both in the center of the main bridge, staring at the viewscreen. Velmeran wondered about that at first, since the only image was that of the inner wall of the bay. Valthyrra turned her camera pod to glance at him, then turned back to the screen as she magnified the image on the wide bank of windows that formed the bay’s control room and, above that, the larger observation deck. There were guards, dozens of human guards, at both sets of windows, watching the Methryn with the same intensity.
“They are not trying to board, are they?” he asked.
“No, not yet,” Valthyrra answered. “All of that milling about does suggest such an intent, however.”
“Now I wonder why they would be so interested in this ship,” Velmeran mused. “They might be in our own service in theory, but I will not have any humans on this ship uninvited. Any attempt to board this ship, whether by order or by force, is to be denied by any means necessary. I want a pack in armor standing by at each airlock connected by a docking probe, and find some way that you can speak privately with those other two ships. This is now hostile territory until I know what is happening here.”
“Could the Union be in control here, and trying to trap us?” Consherra asked.
“If they are, then they are even wearing Republic uniforms.”
“That, however, is not actually what I called you to the bridge to see,” Valthyrra said. “I took the precaution of putting a drone overboard while we were still in orbit outside, just so I could keep an eye on things from that angle. That helped me to intercept an achronic message from Lenna and Bill. She needs for us to come quickly.”
Velmeran frowned. “Very quickly?”
“She says that if we do not get there in a hurry, then it will be the end of civilization as we know it.”
“That does sound like Lenna Makayen.” He stood for a moment, considering the problem. “Get me in touch with someone willing to talk to me. Tell them that the Methryn is pulling out of this bay in ten minutes unless they can give some very good excuse for remaining.”
“What if they try to stop us?” Consherra asked.
“How? There are no doors on this bay.”
Velmeran’s threat of ten minutes might have seemed a little severe, but it was met with time to spare. Hardly a minute had passed when Valthyrra lifted her camera pod in a gesture of extreme surprise and perplexity. “Commander, I have a call from Central Command. President Alac Delike wishes to speak with you.”
“I expected no less,” Velmeran said with such indifferent certainty that they had to wonder if he did. “Put him through.”
“Commander Velmeran?” the warm, friendly voice, more like that of a used freighter salesman than a leader of worlds, responded a moment later. “You seem to have some complaint with your orders.”
“I have no orders,” Velmeran corrected him briskly. “As Commander of the carrier fleet, I am answerable to no orders except my own unless I receive special instructions from the Senate itself. I have received no such orders, but I do have people out on two very important missions. I must respond to a call from one of those missions immediately, or I might lose both my people and the important information they were sent to collect.”
“I know that it must seem very important to you, but something has happened here that will make all other concerns inconsequential,” Delike answered in that same cheerful voice, suggesting good news. “I would like for you to come over for a private discussion with myself and a couple of representatives of the Senate. It’s important for you to understand everything.”
Velmeran considered that briefly. “I have no choice, I suppose.”
“You will not be disappointed,” Delike assured him. “If you would like to come over as soon as you’re ready, I’ll have someone standing by to guide you at your main airlock.”
Valthyrra moved her camera pod closer, an indication that she had closed the channel.
Velmeran shook his head slowly. “This is about as strange as it gets, but Delike does seem agreeable enough, even eager. I will discover what this is all about, and then we will do something about Lenna even if we have to send another ship after her.”
“Another ship and crew would not know what to do,” Consherra reminded him. “Her mission is very important.”
“This had better be even more important, or certain members of the government of the Republic are going to
