“I cannot believe that we have the time,” Valthyrra answered. “You know how hard it would be to target those weapons on a ship moving that fast, and then I would still have to come in and attempt to turn it aside. That is not something I care to try at that speed.”
“No, there is not enough time,” Gelrayen agreed. “I was able to collect detailed interior scans. Perhaps that will tell us all that we need to know.”
“Just what are you interested in?” the ship asked. “Are you lusting after reactionless drives?”
“Why not? You are not too new to refuse a refitting.” “Commander, the Dreadnought has begun building power,” she interrupted him. “Entirely too much power for a ship that has no drives.”
“I should have gone after the generators after all,” Gelrayen commented to himself. “Does it seem to be doing anything with that power?”
“No, just holding it.” She paused, and when she spoke again she seemed honestly frightened. “Commander, can you anticipate the power involved if every generator in that machine was forced to overload?”
“Yes, I warned you about that already.”
“Then can you imagine what would happen if the Dreadnought brought every generator it has to a level just below overload and then hurtled itself into that star at nearly the speed of light? It would be bad enough just to throw a hundred million tons of machinery into a star at that speed, but I had calculated that the star would have survived that. The power of those generators alone would explode that star, but the combined energy will create a shock wave that will destroy the closer planets in this system. I am moving to intercept.”
“Val, what can you do?” he demanded. “Can you get yourself in range in time?”
“I doubt that very much,” she admitted. “But I still have to try. There are two hundred million colonists in this system who are not out of range of that blast.”
“If you cannot stop it, then you will never get yourself out of range in time,” Gelrayen told her as he brought his fighter around. “Take yourself and your crew to safety. I will ram that monster.”
“Commander?”
“The sacrifice of one is preferable to that of an entire carrier, and I have a better chance of getting there in time. Teraln?” The other fighter had already pulled ahead of his own, moving quickly to overtake the Dreadnought from behind.
“You save yourself, Commander,” Teraln answered. “Valthyrra Methryn needs you. This is work for peons.”
Valthyrra interrupted the discussion. “If you gentlemen are finished being noble and self-sacrificing, you might be interested in knowing that the Dreadnought is changing course.”
Now that the Dreadnought no longer had its concealing shield, it was open to even common scanners. Before any of them could respond, or even begin to wonder why the Dreadnought was turning away, the massive machine had used its own limited resources and the pull of the star’s gravity to take itself close enough to speed of light to kick itself through threshold and into actual starflight, if at extremely low speed. Once it was into starflight, however, the greatly reduced drag of acceleration permitted it to build its speed more rapidly. After everything that had happened, the Dreadnought was still about to escape. And it almost certainly had the ability to repair itself, even after so much damage. Although it had lost several vital systems, it had only suffered destruction of well under a quarter of its total machinery.
Valthyrra responded out of desperation, locking het scanners on the fleeing ship and forcing herself over threshold prematurely. She knew that she could keep pace with the Dreadnought if she could only catch it before it was able to disappear from her own scanner range. She could hardly imagine how that machine could have gotten itself into starflight without the use of any of its primary drives, until she locked in her spanners for a detailed analysis. The Dreadnought, as Commander Gelrayen had observed, had been built with multiple redundancies and capacities that far exceeded the needs of normal use. Its secondary drive system, a very refined and powerful version of her own field drive that would have normally been reserved for close maneuvering, was in fact powerful enough to carry it past threshold. After it had used its primary drives to take it nearly to light speed before they had been destroyed, it had used the gravity of the star as an added boost to get it clear of the Starwolves as soon as possible.
Under the circumstances, the Dreadnought certainly no longer possessed the power to outrun a Starwolf carrier; its only hope had been to get itself into starflight before it could be tracked. Valthyrra had not forgotten that it still had its complete array of weapons and could probably defend itself as well as ever. She launched a spread of six missiles, each carrying conversion devices and given a very precise set of instructions. The missiles did not attempt to strike the Dreadnought itself but paced it, moving in close beside its massive hull before detonating. Shaken by that rapid series of concussions, the Dreadnought lost power and dropped down out of starflight.
When it again began building its remaining generators to an overload, Valthyrra accepted that gesture as an honest one and remained in starflight to take herself to safety as quickly as possible. That was just as well for her. The Dreadnought’s generators reached their capacity in a matter of seconds, and the explosion of the first caused a cascade of detonation through the complete power array. The Dreadnought was consumed in a sudden blast that was quite literally equal to that of an exploding star, its cumulative capacity for self-destruction far greater than anyone had anticipated. At least its brief run into starflight had carried it well outside the system, and its passing did no harm to anything except itself.
Valthyrra Methryn circled around to collect her fighters, and to make a final check for survivors.
12
Captain Janus Tarrel did not accompany the Starwolves back to their base at Alkayja station. While the freighter Taerregyn carried the damaged carrier Destaen home for extensive repairs, the Methryn and the Vardon had remained in system for a time to attempt to salvage the wreck of the Kerridayen and search for additional survivors, including the ship itself. Commander Daerran and his bridge crew were still missing and none of the ship’s memory units that had been located so far had survived intact, but the Starwolves still had some hope that the Kerridayen herself could still be rebuilt; as much as sixty percent of the carrier’s hull, including her forward-thrust main drives, her star drives and her generators, were still reasonably intact or could be repaired. The ship itself would probably fly again, after years of refitting, and possibly with a new guiding sentience.
As much as she wanted to stay with the Starwolves a while yet, Captain Tarrel left the Methryn within hours of the destruction of the Dreadnought. Because the Starwolves had been able to intercept the alien weapon before it could attack, the local system, including the System Fleet, had survived undamaged. After the System Commander had made contact with the Starwolves, he offered a heavy cruiser for her use. Hardly two hours later, she found herself on her way to Vinthra with only the special armor that had been made for her and a great many new aches to remind her of her time among the Starwolves. When Valthyrra Methryn had moved to intercept the Dreadnought during its attempt to escape, she had used some very sharp accelerations.
Tarrel did not believe that the Starwolves simply wanted to be rid of her now that her usefulness was at an end. The circumstances of her sudden departure had not been of their contrivance, nor did they operate in that manner in the first place. In fact, they were very anxious to know if the Union intended to extend the truce now that the Dreadnought was destroyed, and they looked upon her as an important source of information. But she had been given the means to leave, and no one could think of any good reason for her to stay.
Since she was once again only a passenger on someone else’s ship, she had time to wonder whether or not she had unfinished business with the Starwolves. She wanted very much to be able to encourage them to re-evaluate their standing with the Republic and to seek their own destiny. That se
emed certainly to be in the best interests of the Kelvessan themselves and she believed that it would also be in the best interests of her own kind, if not necessarily best for the Union. At the same time, she knew only too well that the actions she contemplated would be viewed as improper if not actually treasonous by the Union, and she remained a Union Captain with all the duties and moral responsibilities that involved. So perhaps it was just as well that the matter had been decided for her, even though she could not escape the feeling that this was not yet over.
The massive military and commercial complexes above Vinthra had survived intact only by virtue of the fact that the Dreadnought had not come here. And that had been entirely a matter of chance. That sprawling array of docking components, warehouses and repair facilities would have been one of the most tempting targets in Union space, if the Dreadnought had known of its existence, and it certainly could not have been moved to safety. Captain Tarrel watched the final approach to station through the wide bank of windows in the cruiser’s lounge, wondering if she would see her own Carthaginian nosed in to a docking, slip, although she was not surprised when she did not. She was able to see only a small proportion of the ships moored at the station, and there was even the chance that Carthaginian was out running errands at the moment.
After all that she had been through, she almost expected some recognition of her efforts. Still, she was practical enough not to be surprised when no one was there to meet her as she came off the ship. She arranged to have her bags sent to visiting officer’s quarters on the station, then presented herself at Sector Commander Victor Lake’s office. At least he was on station at that time, but he was away for the moment. His personal secretary was away also, and the computer indicated that she was welcome to wait. Since only the computer was there to look at her, she elected to stay rather than leave a message. The fact that Lake was due back at any moment decided the matter, since she did not feel like waiting long for anyone.
Victor Lake arrived in a hurry, glancing at her briefly and without much concern on his way through the outer office to his own. Then he stopped short and stared. “Janus Tarrel? What the hell are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” she asked, then paused and made a face. Since she had not asked the Starwolves to send a message, the news had not arrived any faster than herself. “Of course, you don’t know. The Dreadnought is dead, blasted to little tiny pieces these last nine days.”
“So the Starwolves finally came through,” Lake commented. “We were beginning to think that they were waiting to see us whipped first.”
“The Starwolves took a real beating for our sakes,” Tarrel said sharply. “They did the best they could. You had my reports.”
“We took quite a beating ourselves,” Lake insisted. “I’m not asking for sympathy after all you’ve been through, but I’ve had the Combined Council and the heads of every trade company demanding to know what I was doing. I must have invented half a million ways to avoid telling them that the matter was out of my hands. Do you tell people like that to sit tight and trust in the Starwolves? Why don’t we go into my office.”
She followed him through the inner doors into his office, where he went immediately to the bar and began preparing drinks for them both as if that was his most pressing duty of the moment. Tarrel wondered if she looked like she needed it; her weeks among the Starwolves had left her fairly beat up, but she had had time since then to recover. If he was to be serving drinks, then she decided to help herself to the stuffed leather sofa, reclining sideways across its length to encourage him to take the chair opposite.
“Why did you send me that Walter Pesky person?” she asked sourly; her opinion of the departed had not improved in the weeks since his death. “Was nobody aware of the severity of his xenophobia?”
“Apparently not,” Lake insisted. “The only thing in his record was praise for his precise, diplomatic politeness in dealing with aliens, due no doubt to the fact that he secretly hated and feared them. It seems that he only lost it once in his career, but then he lost it all the way.”
“Well, it was partly my own fault for not sending him home when I should have,” Tarrel admitted. “I was just afraid of leaving him alone and completely unsupervised until they had a ship free to bring him back. Of course, my only concern was that he might do something to embarass us politically.”
“I can hardly imagine anyone putting anything over on Starwolves. They deal with their enemies fairly harshly.”
“Their enemies, yes. We were theoretically friends and allies by that time, and Starwolves can be so damned trusting with anyone they consider their friend. You probably have to know them better to believe that.”
“No, I’ve heard something to that effect before.” He handed her a glass, then settled with his own drink in the chair opposite her. “Drump nut liqueur in iced mint tea. I still recall your odd drinking habits.”
“I was never a serious drinker in the first place,” she reminded him, taking a quick swallow. “When did you start keeping mint tea at hand?”
“Since I knew that you would be coming back here when your mission was done.”
She nodded absently. “What about my ship?”
“Actually, I seem to recall that the Carthaginian is out running errands somewhere in the Sector. She should be back within the next few days, which means that you get a short vacation.” Tarrel shrugged. “I’m in no state of mind to run a ship right now anyway, even if we’re not at war with anyone for the moment.”
Lake spent a moment watching the ice in his glass. “Can we talk business for just a moment? I have to go out there very soon and announce that the Dreadnought has been destroyed, and I need to be prepared for some very hard questions.”
“Go ahead.”
“Did the Starwolves ever find out what it was?”
“In general terms, it was a big machine designed for the single purpose of wrecking the space-faring capabilities of a civilization less technically advanced than itself,” she explained. “We would have never found a way to destroy it ourselves; you can tell that to anyone who says that we should have never made a truce with the Starwolves. The only reason we survived is that we had someone willing to protect us who possessed the ability to understand that thing and fight it on its own terms. Except for Starwolves, we would be sitting here waiting to die.”
“No question?”
“No question.”
Lake nodded. “Was it sent to attack us specifically, or did it just happen to wander into our space and begin executing its primary function?”
She shook her head hopelessly. “There never was any way to know that for certain. There was no evidence one way or the other, and no way to talk to that thing. It was willing to listen, but it shot anything that did not give the proper recognition code immediately.”
“The fact that there was only the one suggests that the Dreadnought had simply wandered in,” he suggested.
“I don’t consider that conclusive,” Tarrel insisted. “If it hadn’t been for the Starwolves, the one would have been enough to destroy us. Some unknown enemy would likely have never considered that we would receive help from the Starwolves after we’d been at war with them for thirty thousand years. I guess that we’ll know the answer to that question if a certain amount of time passes and they don’t send out a modified Dreadnought, one better protected against Starwolves.”
“Is that possible?” Lake asked.
“Even the Starwolves can’t fight it. They just happened to find a way to sneak in through its shield and destroy it from the inside. A design flaw that will probably not be repeated.”
“In that case, will the Starwolves be able to destroy a second Dreadnought if one is sent?”
“If that flaw is corrected, then no. But I believe that they have the ability to come up with some new weapons in a hurry.” Victor Lake spent a brief moment regarding his glass, then finished his drink in a quick swallow. “There are certain questions of a very sensitiv
e nature that I would like to discuss with you off the record. I never asked these things, and you never spoke to me about them. But these questions will be asked. If some powerful elements of the Union wish to break the truce, then I do not have the power to stop them. I can even be ordered to break the trace, and I can’t refuse short of resigning. And I should warn you that there are strong incentives to break the truce as a quicker way to recover our losses.”
She had anticipated that much already, although it still saddened her to realize that it was indeed inevitable. The truce was doomed, and they both knew it. “I understand.”
“You’ve said that the Starwolves took a beating. How bad?” Tarrel frowned; this was the part that she hated the most. It was the balance between doing her professional duty, without regard to the consequences, and doing what she had come to believe was right. She could not escape the feeling that she was betraying a friend, but she was compelled to answer. “Is this off the record?”
“This entire conversation is completely off the record,” he assured her. “If I don’t believe that it’s in the Union’s best interest, then I can pretend that I never heard any of this. You don’t seem to think that we should break the truce.”
“Let’s just say that I have a much better idea of just what the Starwolves can do, and I can see the futility of fighting them. I’ve also seen that they can be reasoned with. If we weren’t so greedy and impatient, we could have everything we want without fighting.”
Lake looked more amused than impatient. “I know that already, and I don’t doubt that clever people have been figuring that out since the war first began. Unfortunately, the Union is designed to insure that greedy people are always in control. So what about the Starwolves?”
Tarrel sighed heavily. “I saw the carrier Mardayn destroyed outright, and the Kerridayen was almost certainly destroyed as well. The last I saw, the Starwolves were trying to salvage the pieces. The Destaen was towed away with serious damage, and she probably faces months if not years of repair. Even before that last battle, the Kerridayen, the Karvand and the Methryn had all taken damage in separate attacks, and I can recall it being said that their resources have been stretched to the limit. I doubt very much that they have the ability to repair their damages any time soon.”
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