Just after he passed the second carrier, a single fighter shot out from beneath it to fall in line directly behind him. He wondered who would be in such a hurry; perhaps it was her Commander, coming to confer in person. Mayelna did not fly herself, mostly because it was too harsh of a reminder of what she had given up. But Commanders were always chosen among the pack leaders, and some kept their own fighters even if they did not fight. He knew that he would.
Since Valthyrra must have directed the pilot to follow him in, he landed just to one side of his usual position in the center of the deck, allowing the second fighter to set down beside his own. Their racks were brought in together. Although Velmeran did not lack assistance, he saw Benthoran go to the aid of the visitor. He did not think about it until he was on his way to the lift, passing in front of the two fighters. He saw Benthoran speaking with the pilot, a tall, thin and rather good-looking girl. Benthoran called him over with a wave of his hand, although Velmeran joined the pair with some reluctance.
"Captain, can you show our guest to Mayelna's cabin?" he asked.
"I was not aware of any difference in the design of our carriers," Velmeran snapped, bad manners born of his preoccupation. Realizing that, he shrugged and attempted a smile. "Actually, I was on my way to the bridge anyway."
Leaving her helmet with her fighter, the pilot joined him quickly. But they did not speak until they entered the lift. As soon as the doors snapped shut, she placed a hand on her chestplate and bowed her head in polite greeting. "Pack Leader Daelyn."
"Pack Leader Velmeran," he replied. She stared at him, first in surprise, then with a curious intentness. "Pack Leader Velmeran? Your mother is Commander Mayelna?"
"Yes," he replied uncertainly. Had he already acquired this kind of reputation? He thought it best to change the subject. "I had wondered if you were the Commander coming over to talk business."
She laughed easily, apparently satisfied with him. "No, although I am Commander-designate of the Karvand.
This is only a social call, although we will certainly have enough business to discuss when the Delvon arrives."
"Have you known Commander Mayelna long?" Velmeran asked. Now that he knew most of what he wanted, he wondered if there was still any point in going up to the bridge.
"Oh, yes. All my life, in fact," Daelyn replied. "I was born on this ship and lived here until thirty years ago."
"You flew with Mayelna?"
"Quite some time!" she laughed, with a look of terror that told him that she had indeed known Mayelna very well.
The lift came to a stop and the two parted company, Velmeran hurrying on to the bridge to find Consherra. If Mayelna was in her cabin, he knew that he could get all the news he wanted from the helm or the ship herself. Daelyn took the side corridor to Mayelna's cabin. Mayelna was stationed, as always, behind a monitor; only Valthyrra knew what occupied so much of her time. This time, however, she had apparently been hard at work on some task of her own, for her desk was strewn with lists she had made and diagrams she had drawn up. Whatever it was, she abandoned it quickly enough when she saw who was calling.
"Daelyn!" she exclaimed, leaping up. "Valthyrra warned that you were wanting to board, but I did not think that she meant so soon."
"After all these years, I was not going to be slow about it. You do look well," Daelyn said, although that was not entirely the truth. Her last memory of Mayelna was that of the Starwolf who had not changed a day in three hundred years, while the Mayelna she saw now was beginning to grow old. That startled her, perhaps, but it did not worry her. What did worry her was the fact that Mayelna looked as tired as if she had personally fought half the sector fleet in a twelve-hour running battle.
"You know, I will never get used to seeing you behind a desk," Daelyn continued. "I can only remember you in black armor, the meanest wolf on this ship."
"I am still mean," Mayelna said, very matter-of-fact. "Ask anyone. You left this ship a long time before I became Commander."
"You chased me out," Daelyn corrected her.
"I did no such thing!" Mayelna insisted. "I was asked to make a decision as though I were the Commander."
"Gelvessa Karvand thought me capable enough."
"Yes, and she got a bargain. So it would seem that — once — I did make a mistake," Mayelna admitted, with obvious reluctance. "A very bad mistake. And you were gone. Do you regret it?"
"Gelvessa has named me Commander-designate," she said, by way of reply. Then she saw Mayelna's reaction to that. "Really, do you have to look so horrified? I know that you would not approve… "
"No, and time would prove me wrong again," Mayelna interrupted impatiently. "My problem is more acute. I need a replacement now."
"And no one suits you?" Daelyn found that easy enough to guess.
"If you have waited these many years to point out my mistakes and shortcomings, then you are too late. Is this your idea of revenge?"
"No, because I really do have no regrets… except, perhaps, one," she frowned. "I met Velmeran on the way up."
Mayelna glanced at her expectantly. "So?"
"He seems like you. Just as mean and ill-mannered. And even more brooding."
"Then you have not met Velmeran," the Commander remarked as she leaned back. "He is quiet and introspective, yes. But not mean. This is a bad time for him, and I hate for you to have to meet your younger brother under these circumstances."
"He has been in trouble?"
"He has been in trouble for a long time now. His first pack was shot out from under him; he was one of two survivors. Then I let Valthyrra make him a pack leader of seven students and one old fool who should have retired. Now he has lost a pilot the last two times he has led his pack out. That girl we lost was flying under him."
"That is bad," Daelyn observed.
"She was also his chosen mate."
"That is worse."
Mayelna nodded slowly. "Through no fault of his own. Any other pack leader would have lost more. He is the best pilot I have. The best leader as well, I am beginning to think."
"From you, that is high praise." Daelyn did not mean that as a joke.
"Then you know that it has to be the truth. He is better than I ever was. That is why he is going to have to command this ship when I go."
"Is that so bad?"
Mayelna glanced up at her. "You are a pilot. You should know."
"I understand."
"I hate to do this to him, since I know that he would not want it himself," Mayelna continued. "Fate is kind and cruel to him at the same time, but lately it seems that he has been made to suffer more than his share. I would shed a tear or two for him, if I were not so mean."
"It seems to me that you are not nearly that mean," Daelyn said. "I do not know him, but it seems to me that he has the strength to endure this."
Mayelna shook her head slowly. "He never was that strong before. Dveyella gave him something to love and to believe in. But he had to stand by and wait for her to die when no one could do a thing to help her, and I wonder if his strength has died with her. That is one thing I am still waiting to find out."
Daelyn glanced over her shoulder, as if she expected to see her brother standing there, and shrugged. "The Velmeran I met was very strong. Whatever he was up to, he seems quite resolved about it."
"He was out running his pack," Mayelna said. "Some tricks that he had learned flying special tactics. What he has in mind…" She shook her head helplessly. Then certain pieces fell suddenly into place, and the shape they revealed frightened her. "Of course. He knows who killed her, and he wants payment from the source. Damn that Valthyrra, she knew this from the start."
"What?" Daelyn was bewildered, but concerned by her mother's obvious distress.
Mayelna caught her in a firm stare. "Daelyn, you have to help me put a stop to this."
The Delvon arrived barely two hours later, and a meeting was called in the Methryn's largest council room as soon as representatives of the three carriers could gath
er. The main table was filled to its limit. The two visiting ships were represented by the usual probes, perched on the arms of their chairs with their long necks snaking about as they observed the gathering. Each ship was represented by Commander, helm and Commander-designate, seated together in small groups. Valthyrra Methryn held forth from on high, enjoying the greater mobility of her camera pod.
Velmeran was seated near the head of the table with the delegation from his own ship, by all appearances in the role of Commander-designate. Mayelna wondered at that. He would be expected to testify, certainly, since he had been in the middle of all these strange events. But that did not earn him a place at the council; he should have been with the other pack leaders in the crowded gallery, waiting to be summoned. But she was ready to bow to the inevitable, and this might even begin preparing him for that task. She was even just a little proud to see both of her children in that same honored position.
Valthyrra called upon Velmeran to testify from the very start, having him take up the story from it's true beginning with the evening he and Dveyella had spent with Councilor Lake. He recounted the Councilor's exact words, relying upon his total recall to quote accurately. He was allowed to continue uninterrupted to the end, although at that point the Kelvessan members of the council wanted to know more about the possibility of the extinction of the human race. Only the ships themselves were not surprised. For them, the only real news was the discovery that the Union had finally recognized the threat.
Schyrrana, Commander of the Karvand, shook her head slowly. "This is all quite beyond me. I came here to deal with the worst problem I have faced in my entire life, and now you tell me that the war is nearly over. Mayelna, you have had time to think on this. What do you make of it?"
"I think that these animated hulks that we call home have been keeping secrets from us," she replied. "But if they say that it is true, that they have been keeping watch for some time, then I am ready to believe it."
"Lake is faced with the destruction of all human civilization," Valthyrra explained. "And, being a close approximation of an honest man, he is willing to sacrifice the Union to save the civilization that it has always fed upon. He is going to throw the resources of the Union against us, forcing us to fight and knowing that we must win. He knows that we are the only thing that can save his civilization; by defeating it, we also accept the burden of caring for it."
Schyrrana snorted derisively. "That certainly is having the last laugh!"
"Wait a minute," Korlan of the Delvon interrupted. "We still have this new weapon to deal with. Is there any way that we can detect it in advance, or neutralize it?"
"This weapon is just a variation of the old Wolfhound missile design," Valthyrra explained, putting up a schematic on the main viewscreen. "They used it to limited effect in the early days of the war, and again when I was young. Its main fault is obvious enough. Detection is simple, because you can scan them inside your target ship. I saw the ones that were used against us inside that freighter, but I mistook them for something else."
"But is there a way to fight them?" Korlan insisted. "Ignoring the ships that carry these missiles is no answer, since the Union would quickly put a clutch in every military and commercial ship it has."
"Actually, we have a very simple method of dealing with them," Valthyrra said. "Before, when we knew that we were after a ship that carried wolf-chasers, we would send along an adapted transport that carried a powerful field generator. The first pack would run in and lure the missiles out, and the transport would blind their scanners with a static distort. Then the first pack would destroy the helpless missiles, while the second pack would go in after the ship itself. That is one reason why the packs run double to this day."
"Also, when we went after military targets, we would lay down a blanket distort from the first," Gelvessa Karvand added. "Then they would most often realize that they could not even launch at all."
"Still, they are very dangerous, when you suddenly get nine in your face when you are not expecting it," Thenderra Delvon said. "Velmeran was lucky to come away as well as he did."
"He did not lose any ships in the initial attack," Valthyrra said. "He warned his pack away at the last moment before the wolf-chasers launched, and that was what saved his pilots. Dveyella ran into trouble when she went in to help someone else."
"How did he know?" Thenderra asked. Valthyrra turned her camera pod to regard the younger pilot. "Meran, I never have figured out what did clue you to the trap. How did you know?"
Velmeran shrugged. "A lucky guess, for the most part. Lake's warning of a new weapon was very much on my mind. I was not about to take a chance, when my fighters were right on top of that ship and it still did nothing to evade. It seemed to me that we were being lured in."
"The stories I have heard about you must be true," Korlan said. "I do not know if any other pack leader would have made that connection."
"The next question, I suppose, is what countermeasure we are going to take," Gelvessa said. "I suppose that we are in agreement that we must answer this attack with some action of our own."
"That is simple enough," Valthyrra said, and brought her camera pod around to face her young pack leader. "Velmeran, will you explain your plan?"
He glanced up at her sharply, understanding only too well exactly what she meant. "You have been watching me."
"Of course," she replied with no shame. "It was not hard to figure out what you were planning. Now I would like for you to explain it to everyone."
Velmeran had only a moment to collect his wits. And, after his initial resentment, he could see that it was very much in his interests to ally himself with Valthyrra. They shared a dream. She needed him to do it, and he needed her to arrange the opportunity.
"I intend to recover the memory cell of the Vardon," he announced simply. "I have discovered a way to get an attack force inside Vannkam undetected."
He paused then, knowing what the reaction to that would be. The only members of the gathering who did not appear surprised were the mechanical manifestations of the visiting ships. Mayelna looked dismayed, but he had expected that. What he had not expected was the eagerness he began to detect.
"I have been made aware that there is an unknown and unguarded entrance to Vannkam," he continued. "An artificial tunnel, leading down from the lake near the port trams to the sea several kilometers away. A special attack force can approach the planet through the magnetic corridor and fly underwater to the entrance of that tunnel."
"Fly underwater?" Korlan asked, stilling a second outburst with that important question.
Velmeran nodded firmly. "The atmospheric shields of our ships can be adapted for underwater flight… "
"In theory!" Schyrrana interrupted.
"In fact!" he insisted. "I have done it myself — three times — in the seas of the planet below. I was able to achieve a test speed of nearly four thousand kilometers. That means a two-hour flight from the polar corridor to the tunnel entrance, but it can be done."
"Assuming it is done, what then?" Schyrrana asked.
Velmeran frowned, hastily assembling his plans. "I know of a transport, adapted for Dveyella's special tactics team, that has a large cargo bay and handling arms that can be used to carry out the memory cell. My computer projections show that a transport can fly underwater as well as a fighter, so that is no problem. Aside from that…"
"Assuming that you have the complete resources of these three ships at your command," Valthyrra told him gently, encouragingly. "You are giving the orders. Tell us what you need."
Velmeran sat back for a moment, deep in thought. "I would like to lead ten full packs into the city, mostly to serve as a distraction. Tregloran and I will guard the transport during the securing of the memory cell. There is another pilot, Baress, who is very familiar with special tactics. I will send him with a pack or two to destroy the generators that power the dome shields and planetary defenses. With all the major power systems out, we will simply punch a hole
in the dome and leave unopposed.
"By that time, the system fleet will be closing in to intercept us. That is when the remaining packs will attack the Union Fleet from behind, coming in two or three large groups. They will crush the fleet between them, and we will shoot a hole for ourselves during the confusion. Valthyrra, I am hoping that the ships will have acquired maps of the Vannkarn complex, especially of the generator stations."
"Of course," Valthyrra replied. "Actually, we have always known about the underwater entrance."
Korlan glanced at her questioningly. "Why have you never gone after the memory cell before?"
"The time had not yet come," she answered simply. "And this is the time?"
"Has it not been said that the memory cell would not be reclaimed until the end of the war was drawing near, so that it can show us the way to Terra? Who do you think started that rumor? Besides, we have never had someone like Velmeran to go after it."
Mayelna made a small derisive sound that only those nearest to her could hear, her first contribution to the conversation in some time. Valthyrra Methryn was about to get her way in everything she had ever wanted. Mayelna wondered what she could do to stop this, although it already seemed too late for that. She wondered if she should even try.
Velmeran studied the map that Valthyrra had brought up on the main viewscreen for him, quietly comparing notes with her. At last, seemingly satisfied, he leaned back. "It can be done. I will need Baress, Threl and Marlena."
"Here!" the three answered from the gallery.
"Threl, do you want a chance to fly that transport underwater?" Velmeran asked, turning to face that section of the gallery.
"That is the only place that I have not flown it," the pilot answered.
"Baress, you have the greatest special tactics experience of us all. Will you go after those generators?"
"I will, if I have the proper help."
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