going to happen to the Union in that time? How much more damage will Union shipping and the military fleet take in that time? And how many of our own carriers will be sacrificed fighting the Dreadnought?”
“You do not encourage me,” Tarrel said as she looked out across the vast expanse of the Methryn’s smooth, black hull. She had been feeling very safe, thinking that she would be aboard a Starwolf carrier, even though she had been aboard the Kerridayen during its own fight with the Dreadnought. Methryn would be going out to find the enemy, sticking her figurative head into the mouth of a beast with a proven history of snapping.
“I do not feel encouraged myself,” Gelrayen admitted. “Is this what it has been like for you people?”
“What do you mean?”
“Having to fight Starwolves when we possess all of the advantages.”
Tarrel laughed, mostly because he was so sincere. “No, it was never like this. We always knew where we stood with the Starwolves, and how we could expect you to respond when we pushed. Your objective was never to destroy us, and that limited the scope of our war. This thing is merciless.”
“Whoever designed it was merciless,” the Kelvessan corrected her. “Would you like to go aboard and meet Valthyrra?”
“Yes, certainly.”
He led the way to one of the two main docking tubes, a walk of some considerable distance just to board a ship. Captain Tarrel had to get used to everything involving the Starwolf carriers, operated on a very different scale, including the time it took to get anywhere. Since these ships were quicker and more agile than anything she knew, it was hard for her to think of them as being so incredibly large while she was aboard one in flight. Only seeing one in the enclosed space of a bay, standing at the nose and seeing that black hull stretch away into the distance, did its actual size become inescapable. Tarrel wondered how it even flew the way she knew it would and stay in one piece; she would have given a lot to have been in this bay six decades earlier and seen the ship’s space frame standing alone.
“Do you know, I find myself feeling sorry for Valthyrra,” Gelrayen commented as they walked the length of the docking tube. “Other carriers get centuries of light duty before they are given their first patrol. But Valthyrra has to go straight out from this bay and find the Dreadnought. This is no way for her to begin her life. But do not tell Valthyrra that I ever said such a thing.”
“I understood that she is actually quite a bit older than I am,” Tarrel said.
“She has been up and running for that long, but a carrier’s life really does not begin until she leaves the construction bay and flies for the first time,” the Starwolf insisted. “If you were locked in one place, unable to move and always seeing the same thing, would you consider that life?”
Tarrel smiled fondly. “Starwolves are secretly incorrigible romantics. Who would have ever thought? But I do see your point.”
Gelrayen glanced at her. “You might not have been told; I do not know. The sentient systems aboard a carrier are not just a very big computer that you can turn on and have a person. They are given the means of developing a complete personality and a set of basic traits, but it takes time and a great deal of interaction with others before they become a complete personality like Trendaessa Kerridayen. Valthyrra still seems just a little remote and not always very spontaneous compared to other carriers.” “Have you been with her long?”
“No, I came aboard three months ago. We were supposed to have half a year together to get comfortable before we were to go out for the first time. It seems that I was chosen to be the Commander of the Methryn some time ago, but I only learned about it myself when I was transferred aboard.”
“Why were you chosen?” Tarrel asked.
He seemed amused. “I was the Commander-designate aboard the Vardon, and Valthyrra must have been impressed with my record as a pack leader. But you will have to ask her yourself. I never have.”
“Pardon?”
Gelrayen glanced at her a second time. “Carriers are allowed to make their own choices for their Commanders, including the Methryn. Theralda had already chosen me to be her Commander-designate six years ago. The Commander-designate is always chosen from among the pack leaders, of course. The two ships had gotten to know each other very well when the Vardon was in for refitting a few years ago, and I suppose that Valthyrra trusted Theralda’s judgement on that subject.”
They entered through the main lock and took the lift just within to the bridge, which was in fact not a particularly long ride from the point where they had come aboard. Captain Tarrel knew that they were indeed back aboard a Starwolf ship when she found herself suddenly pressed against the wall as the lift made its typically fast lurch forward. At least she had remembered to be certain that she was comfortably close to the wall when she had stepped aboard the lift.
They entered the bridge from the right wing, stepping slowly and carefully to avoid the various tools, cables and components scattered about the deck. Technicians and members of the Methryn’s own bridge crew were all hard at work fitting the final adaptations for the impulse scanner, the work here involving the installation of a new surveillance console with an additional monitor and main keyboard. Images from the impulse scanner could of course be transferred to any monitor on the bridge, including the main viewscreen. Tarrel paused for a moment, having noticed that the main viewscreen was indeed engaged, but divided into a dozen segments to show images from various points within the construction bay.
Valthyrra, who had been watching the work on her surveillance station very closely, brought her camera pod around and rotated the dual lenses to focus on the newcomers. She seemed particularly interested in Captain Tarrel, who had considered it a point of honesty to wear her Union uniform. “Are you the enemy?”
“Not at the moment, no,” Tarrel responded. “Right now, someone else has that job.”
“Val, that is not entirely polite,” Gelrayen warned his ship quietly.
“I know that,” she replied with exaggerated dignity, then turned her camera pod back to the captain. “I have to admit that I am not entirely certain what to make of this. Making my first flight is going to be embarrassing enough without a representative of the enemy hanging out to see my mistakes. Are you going to spy on me?”
“Do you want me to spy on you?” Tarrel asked as seriously as she could, amused with the ship’s rather remarkable sense of humor.
“Oh, would you? I would hate to think that I might have missed the war entirely.” She turned her camera pod to Commander Gelrayen, who was waiting tolerantly. “The impulse scanner will be ready for static testing as soon as this console is rigged. It is already integrated into my computer grid.”
Gelrayen nodded. “How does it feel?”
“I have not yet powered up the system, so I have not had a chance to get its feel. I am still worried about resonant scatter, however.”
“We will not know if we actually have to modify the impulse cannons until we can get you out of the bay. Anything else?” “At the moment, no. But I do believe that we should begin closing up the hull immediately. Nothing will be served now by keeping the plates off. Any modifications now will not involve internal components, and it might get me out of here two days early to start closing the hull now.”
“Consult the construction chief and tell him that we both recommend that the closing of the hull should begin immediately,” Gelrayen said, then turned to Captain Tarrel. “Would you like to see your cabin now? You can move yourself aboard while I attend to my ship for a while. The diplomatic guest suite here on the bridge level should be ready for use.”
“Of course, Commander,” Tarrel said. “That is probably the same as the suite I was given while I was aboard the Kerridayen. I do know the way, if you need to get to work.”
As it happened, Commander Gelrayen wanted to get to work on the closing of the Methryn’s hull immediately, and he suspected that the construction chief would not be willing, unless he presented his arguments and pleading in person and possibly brought along Fleet Commander Asandi as well. Captain Tarrel found the guest suite to be in the exact corresponding place it had been aboard the Kerridayen, proof that the Starwolves were fairly satisfied with the thirty-thousand-year-old deck plan of their carriers. Since it was in the collection of corridors immediately behind the bridge, that meant that she could be there in half a minute or less without having to bother with the lift. In fact, her cabin was hardly any farther away than that of the Commander himself.
She did not remember Lt. Commander Pesca until she was on her way back into the station to collect her things. He was unobtrusive enough, since she generally ignored him altogether, but she was still responsible for him and made a point of checking on him two or three times a day to see if he was making a nuisance of himself. The trouble was that she found him dull, inept and given to petty complaints — poor company compared to Starwolves
