The Starwolves

by Thorarinn Gunnarsson

  A muted vibration ran through that portion of the station as the incoming ship nudged cautiously into its moorings. Attendants assembled quickly but quietly to service that ship as soon as its one, infinitely important passenger was discharged. A last metallic clang announced the opening of the ship, and a moment later the inner doors of the airlock rolled back. A pair of guards with rifles stepped out to take positions to either side, followed a moment later by an older man pursued by the automated carrier that bore his luggage. He was a tall man as well, not as tall as the Sector Commander – even allowing for his slightly bent back – but still far taller than anyone else within sight. And like the Sector Commander, he was clearly of older, purer Terran stock, his features rougher and more clearly defined than the norm. But there the resemblance ended. He wore no uniform but rich if subtle civilian dress, with an unruly mane of long white hair and deep blue eyes that were alert and held a glint of skeptical humor, as if he was amused with his own pretensions.

  "Hello, Don!" he exclaimed when he saw the one who awaited him. "How nice of you to come all this way up here to meet me."

  "Richart couldn't make it," Commander Trace said tightly, but with no regret. "But how did it go?"

  "Well enough. But not here," the Councilor said, with a subtle gesture for him to remain silent.

  Donalt Trace nodded in agreement. "I understand. I have a shuttle waiting."

  "Your ship?" Councilor Lake asked. He knew that Trace would have flown himself in a launch borrowed from the pool. If so, there was little chance that anyone would overhear, accidentally or otherwise, what they had to discuss.

  "I had one called up for servicing this morning – and then I chose another at random," he explained as they started toward the shuttle bay.

  The Councilor laughed. "Don, you are the suspicious type!"

  "I learned from you, Uncle Jon," Commander Trace replied.

  The shuttle was indeed a small one, hardly large enough to seat six. An in-system fighter would not have been much smaller. Donalt Trace slipped the tiny shuttle out of the bay and shifted easily into their designated path of descent. Since the military station was on the opposite side of Vinthra from the port, they had to make a fairly quick descent in only half an orbit. That added somewhat to the roughness of the ride, since they would be braking most of the way down. But Councilor Lake had anticipated this, and two glasses of his favorite wine beforehand helped smooth the bumps somewhat.

  "Well, they bought it," Lake said, leaning back in a seat that was too small.

  Commander Trace made a derisive sound. "They bought it, after the problem became so bad that it could no longer be ignored. Then they accept your theories and plans? All of it?"

  "Nearly all of it," Lake replied, grinning. "They certainly bought more of it than I thought they would. You will get your weapons, Don. Even the big, expensive one. And I get my plan of genetic population control. The only thing we don't get is a Union Fleet Commander. A High Council of Sector Commanders, yes. But the sectors are by no means ready to give up their old political and military autonomy. We will cooperate for the good of all, but we live or die by our own efforts."

  "But that was the most important part!" Trace protested. "We cannot fight the Starwolves separately. They have a unified command..."

  "We assume."

  "Jon, you know they do. They will fight together, when there is need. They just seldom have to, since a single carrier can take on anything an entire sector can throw at it."

  "And there are more carriers in the Wolf Fleet than we have sectors," the Councilor added. "Obviously we cannot fight them, one on one or all together, not the way we have been going about it. We have to find new ways to fight them. That's why I consider that a small loss. You have only one carrier to worry about, and her name is Methryn. You find a way to destroy her, and then we can go after the rest."

  Which was much easier said than done, Councilor Lake reflected. And just the beginning of his own problems. The human race was dying, or at least degenerating to the point that it could no longer care for itself. The genetic message that made a human was deteriorating; random, detrimental mutations were not only occurring at an alarming rate but were being passed into the common genetic pool. There was no determining the exact cause, although the Councilor preferred to believe that mankind had been too long removed from the laws of natural selection that had guided its evolution.

  People were smaller than they had been in the first days of space flight, slighter of build and gentler of mood and feature. Unfortunately, people were also less intelligent than they had been, less able to reason and remember. Mental deficiency and imbalance claimed a fourth of the population, and another fourth was genetically sterile. It was a problem that had been a very long time coming, but it had finally become so bad that the High Council could no longer ignore it. For in another thousand years the machinery of the Union, of huthan civilization itself, would grind to a halt for want of maintenance. That might seem like a very long time, but for a problem fifty thousand years in the making, it was already too late.

  Still, Councilor Lake wanted to save what he could. And if stern measures were taken now, a large part of the Union could be saved. The only solution was to enforce the sterilization of large segments of the population, intervening where nature had failed. The general population would not take such controls lightly. The military would be needed to enforce order, especially on those worlds that bore little love or loyalty for the Union from the start. And for that, the problem that the Starwolves represented would have to be eliminated. Or at least reduced to a thanageable level.

  That was Donalt Trace's responsibility as Comthander of the Sector Fleet. Never before had the Union been able to fight the Starwolves effectively. They had technology that the Union did not and now would never have, ships that were faster and pilots that were better. The Union's only advantage lay in its seemingly inexhaustible resources, its ability to replace ships, supplies and personnel as fast as they were lost. But the old resources were disappearing, and new ways had to be found to fight and win.

  It was up to Donalt Trace to find those answers. He had been selected for that task at an early age. Every aspect of his training, all of his education in strategy and military concepts, had been selected and guided by the elder Lake, just as the Councilor had selected and trained his grandson Richart to be his replacement. But there was that element in Trace that was unpredictable, a blind, self-righteous confidence in his own abilities and his hatred for his enemy. Councilor Lake was aware that his weapon was flawed, but he had no choice. The fact remained that if Don could not do this, no one could.

  "Then everything is ready here?" Lake asked, roused from his reflections when the shuttle began to buck as it slipped into the upper air.

  "The trap is laid," Trace assured him. "I don't give this old ploy a chance of working, but it will put the Starwolves off their guard."

  -2-

  Valthyrra Methryn found her prey after five hours of waiting. It was, as she had anticipated, a medium bulk freighter. Bulk freighters were about as big as they came and generally ships of the inner lanes, while smaller ships of three hundred meters or less ran the fringe. The packs caught one of the largest bulk freighters, wallowing monsters of nearly six hundred meters, perhaps once a year.

  This was a bulk freighter of just over five hundred meters, and just the right size for a pack of students. Designed to move heavy cargoes inexpensively, she was too underpowered to ship a full load, and too slow and barely thaneuverable under ordinary speeds. The difficult part of this task was that the pack was not trying to destroy the ship but disable it with a minimum of damage, and without touching the holds at all, so that her cargo and most of her parts could be salvaged. Bringing down a freighter intact required some very delicate shooting.

  Velmeran was in a more hopeful mood once he knew what they would be hunting. But as always, it seemed, his timing was bad to the end; the call had caught him when he had just remov
ed his armor. He was still securing the suit as the lift carried him down to the bay while a fright deck crewmember, already in her white armor trimmed in black, assisted him. He was still setting the controls when the lift door snapped open.

  The others were already at their ships, either in their cockpits or waiting nearby as crewmembers made final adjustments. Vayelryn was already in her ship, strapped in and helmeted; he hoped that her eagerness would be reflected in her flying. She was the slowest, shakiest pilot of the lot; he had moved her to the far right of the pack formation in the hope that she would not run into anyone if she rode on the outside.

  The twins Ferryn and Tregloran comprised the middle part of the pack's right wing; Velmeran kept them together, since they seemed to work best that way. They were his best pilots, perhaps because they had more ambition than the rest. But Tregloran was also his greatest embarrassment; in the last month he had once landed gear-up, although with no damage to his tough little ship, and he had been the one who had ripped open the hold of that first freighter. His problem was that he was entirely too eager. Ferryn's problem was that she spent too much time watching out for her brother, and not enough watching her own business.

  Of the rest Velmeran had few worries. Merkollyn and the other two girls, tall Gyllan and tiny Steena, would make good, reliable pilots. Delvon would also be a good pilot once he lost his fear that he would lose control in a tight turn.

  Velmeran found Tregloran and Ferryn between their ships, either conspiring or consoling each other. They looked up guiltily when they saw him watching them, and all but shook inside their shells when he started in their direction. Velmeran put on his charm, hoping that he radiated mature affection and concern as befitted their teacher and pack leader. It was a difficult task, considering that he was only five years older than they.

  "Treg, you run in first and go after her star drive," he said. "Ferryn, I want you be ready to go in second. You can have four turns each."

  "Us, Captain?" Tregloran asked. "Is this punishment for last time?"

  "This is what you are here to learn," Velmeran insisted. "Take your time and set up your shots carefully – I am sure you can do it. Consider it practice, for you are under no stress to bring this ship down. Although the one who does take her gets first choice of anything on board... within reason."

  "Fair enough!" Tregloran exclaimed, as if that was all the encouragement he needed to fly like a hundred-year veteran. Velmeran sent the younger pilots to their ships and then hurried to his own. But at the last moment he discovered the seeds of another plan, a way to solve his remaining problem, and paused at Keth's fighter.

  The older pilot was already in his cockpit, arguing With his attending crewmember about the condition of some system on board his ship. He saw Velmeran and waved the frustrated crewmember away.

  "I was just thinking that you and I should hold back," Velmeran called up to him. "I am giving this one to the twins for practice. Valthyrra says that this is a big, slow ship, so they should have no problem. They need the confidence as much as the practice."

  "Oh, right!" Keth agreed enthusiastically; the bait had been taken. He was pleased and flattered to be in on this little conspiracy, never realizing that Velmeran only looked upon it as a chance to keep him out of the way.

  Velmeran hurried on to his own ship, aware that he was taking too long, and feeling guilty for his deception when he realized that this would be Keth's last time out. Most pilots were wise enough to retire in grace and honor before they were asked. Keth was too proud, even if it was a false pride. He climbed the boarding platform of his fighter, lifting himself with all four arms by the overhead supports and lowering himself into the cockpit. He immediately powered up the on-board systems and got a clear check. The conversion generator purred gently, cycling its tremendous power back into itself.

  "Do you know what Keth was complaining about?" he asked Benthoran as the bay crew arrived to secure his straps.

  "No, but I can imagine," the older crewmember said, frowning. "His fighter is as worn out as he is. Maintenance said that only a new ship would cure that, but Valthyrra put his request on hold."

  "Of course," Velmeran agreed. "Save a new ship for someone who can use it."

  "Are you going?" Valthyrra dethanded suddenly over ship's com.

  "Yes, M'Lady!" he replied, and held still as Benthoran slipped the helmet over his head and closed the clips. He sealed the canopy and powered up the main drives as the crew chief quickly withdrew the overhead supports and the boarding platform. All of his fighters indicated ready, and Velmeran relayed pack ready to flight control. The forward doors were already going up, and Valthyrra gave them the count while it was still rising. A row of red lights above the wide door began to flash, beginning at either end and moving quickly to the large green light in the center.

  Engines flaring, the nine little ships leaped out of their racks and thundered out of the bay. They slipped casually into V formation and they hurtled down the length of the Methryn's hull and shot out beneath her tapered nose. Once clear, the ship at the tip of each wing moved to the center of the pack, one above and one below. A moment later a second pack emerged from beneath the carrier, moving into formation as it closed rapidly to a position just behind the first.

  Velmeran shifted power from the main drives to the star drive, and the two packs moved unhesitantly with him into starflight. They accelerated rapidly to overtake the freighter, setting a course to intercept the big ship. Velmeran could feel the slow, heavy drone of her star drive distinctly. Pilots depended more upon their inner senses than on scan, and visual was of no use at the speeds they flew. The packs flew wing to wing even in starflight, at speeds when Union pilots liked to put kilometers between each other, and yet with an accuracy that no automatic system could match.

  They overtook the freighter in seconds, still unaware of her pursuers. Velmeran oriented by feel on the steady, rapid pulsing of the giant star drive. He could also sense the fighters about him, like nine high voices holding a single sustained note, and a second set of nine close behind. Far behind he could still hear the gentle hum of the Methryn's main drives. Starwolves could identify the size and type of ships by the frequency of their drives. Union ships pulsed low and heavy, phasing lower as the size of the drive increased; their warships phased more rapidly, forcing more power out of a crystal engine at the expense of slowly burning it out. Starwolf ships sang in clear, sustained tones; they knew how to get a great deal more power out of an engine without tearing it up.

  The pack moved in close behind the freighter and matched her speed, breaking formation. Tregloran had first chance; he dove in with frightening speed and locked on the freighter's tail with surprising ease. But his prey was aware of him now; she executed a series of slow but elaborate turns and dodges, but he was still waiting when she righted herself and fired everything he had. That unfortunately included his tail cannon, and Velmeran had to jump to save his left wing. Several of his bolts caught the star drive too far near its outer edge and discharged into the flare.

  Ferryn dropped into place immediately and tried to follow up on her brother's attack, but the freighter resumed her evasions. Ferryn held back until her chance came, then rushed forward. She fired too soon; her first bolts were deflected by the freighter's shields while her later shots were too near the center of the star drive and dissipated in the backwash of far greater energy.

  Tregloran, greatly daring, began his run almost on his sister's tail, this time catching the freighter before she had time to evade. Velmeran doubted that he could make that work, for such tactics, while he might have observed their like from experienced pilots, were beyond his limited skill. But luck was with him that run, or else the promised reward inspired him to perforthance beyond what he would give for duty, ship or pack leader. A bolt slipped past on just the fringe of the star drive's flare, striking the immense crystal within centimeters of its outer edge. The drive flare intensified and exploded in a sudden, sustained flash as
the damaged crystal melted from the core.

  The freighter dropped out of starflight with an abruptness that almost twisted her apart, and the pack was upon her instantly. They saw her now for the first time; she was long and fat, her forward cabin extended forward of the holds, with generator and drives in a blocklike module behind. Now the fighters began their strafing runs at her bridge, as the freighter did her best to run sublight under her main drives.

  It did not take long. A final shot found her bridge and discharged. With the main computer gone, the freighter quietly shut down her drives and major systems, leaving only lighting and atmosphere as she drifted in silence. Velmeran came in alone and sat just twenty meters off the ruined bridge while the short-range scanners of his ship probed for any sign of life. There was none, nor were any major systems in operation.

  Now the capture ships moved in. Long and slender of body, almost all generator and drive systems, they approached the lifeless bulk of the freighter cautiously from behind. The pair moved in slowly, one to either side of the ship's ruined drive section. Three pairs of long, sturdy mechanical arms unfolded from their slender bellies to press their flat locking plates against the freighter's hull. Those locked down magnetically, and the capture ships pulled themselves close against the larger vessel's hull. Firing their main drives simultaneously, they slowly brought the drifting hulk around on a new course, back to where the Methryn waited patiently.

  Velmeran thought that he had reason to be pleased, for his pack had flown well. They had run down and captured a fairly large freighter, nearly as big as they came, her damage limited to her star drive and bridge. He knew that her holds were full by the way she had slid through her turns; freighters were generally built to the specifications of an empty ship and running with cargo, as they were meant, actually strained their capacities. This run had been a victory for him as much as it had for his students. He was beginning to overcome self-doubt and indecision, and to look forward with hope to greater successes. Victory had a very sweet taste, and it was very addictive.