The Starwolves (13 page)

"Can you give me plans for that design?" she asked.

"Of course," Valthyrra said, and turned to Velmeran. "I have
also made you a pair of special guns to carry in the belt of that new suit.
More powerful than anything I have in reserve. They will not pierce the armor
of those automated sentries, but their high-output generators will allow
you to shoot more rapidly. Up to four times a second."

"You will not find better than that," Dveyella said. "Take
them."

"I will," Velmeran agreed. "Where are they?"

"Down in one of the shops," Valthyrra said, pausing a moment as
her camera pod quickly scanned the room. Consherra stood quietly in the
doorway, and the machine focused on her. "Consherra, my dear, do you
recall the place?"

"Of course," the first officer replied, and gestured for Velmeran
to follow her. "Come along, killer."

"Meet me in the landing bay as soon as you can," Dveyella said
quickly.

"I will not be long," Velmeran promised as he followed
reluctantly. He knew that Consherra was by no means pleased with him, and he
expected a lecture. Dveyella was much better company, and prettier too.

Velmeran surprised himself with that last thought, since he seldom
entertained such notions and never seriously. It was true; Dveyella was
prettier, but not by much. She was also more interesting because she told him
about the things he liked to hear. Consherra was intelligent, knowledgeable and
even witty, but she seemed to think that her most pressing duty was to attend
to the lecturing and nagging that she thought Mayelna missed. It was easy
enough for him to see how he would like Dveyella. What surprised him was that
he compared her with Consherra, when he had never given the Methryn's helm any
thought in the first place.

"So, you actually mean to go through with this," Consherra said
disapprovingly, staring straight ahead as she marched down the silent corridor
at a brisk pace.

"It seems to me a little late to back out now," Velmeran
said. "Even if I wanted to. The thought had not occurred to me."

"Velmeran, you have never done this before!" she exclaimed as
she stopped before the lift door and hit the call button so hard she nearly
broke it.

Velmeran only shrugged. "No one is born experienced."

"And is that any reason why you have to do it? What good does it do
you?"

"None, perhaps," Velmeran replied. "Or perhaps a great deal.
Dveyella has said that she might like to keep me."

Consherra stared in disbelief. "Would you really go, give up your pack
to be a new student in another?"

"I would, if I like it well enough," he said. "Valthyrra made
me a pack leader. You would have me command this ship. But my one and only
talent is for flying, and Dveyella is willing to allow me to fly like I never
will on this ship. She appreciates me for what I can do, not for what she would
make of me. Can you understand that?"

"Unfortunately, that makes perfect sense," Consherra agreed
meekly. "But is that what you want?"

Velmeran considered that for a moment before he replied. "I cannot
yet say. I have two futures before me, and I will decide upon the one that will
allow me to do the most good. But I will have to look at them both before I
will know which one."

"I have the answer to that question," she said firmly.

"I am sure you do. And Dveyella has a completely different answer. So
it remains for me to decide. And you are not helping matters."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Dveyella is nicer than you."

The lift doors opened and Velmeran entered quickly. Consherra only stood and
stared in disbelief, unable under the circumstances to indulge her temper.
Before she could decide what to do, the door closed in her face.

"Dveyella indeed! What does she have that I do not?" she demanded
of the closed door. In her fury she paced in a complete circle, returning to
stand before the lift doors. "You will come back to me yet, Velmeran! You
have no idea of where you are supposed to be going!"

Valthyrra Methryn pushed the best pace she could, cutting her jump from
Boulder to Bineck to only thirty-six hours. She wanted to catch up with Keth
before the Union had the opportunity to move him to some more secure location.
But that also meant that she did not have time to service all her fighters as
she would have liked, so that more than half of the packs had to go out again
in the shape they were in, fresh from the last battle.

The pilots had their own way of preparing themselves for the coming battle,
spending their last few hours enjoying a precelebration. A party, small,
quiet and private, helped to distract them from worrying excessively about what
lay ahead. And Kelvessan were, by natural inclination, excessive worriers.
Velmeran, as the only member of the assault force who was also a permanent
resident of the ship, acted as host. His pack, like all others, was housed
together in a suite of nine apartments that opened upon a large common room
that included all the comforts the pilots were given in return for their
hazardous duty. The walls were paneled, with wooden beams to support a ceiling
that did not look metal. The floor was carpeted, although showing some wear
since the Methiyn's last overhaul, with comfortable loungers and a large sofa
bolted into place. There was audio and video equipment for their entertainment,
and shelves with a wealth of books secured behind locking glass doors.

Aside from the members of Velmeran's pack and Dveyella's team, there were
only two other guests. Baressa had come looking for Velmeran in time to receive
a special invitation. The other guest was Consherra, uninvited and unexpected,
refusing to say how she even knew of this little celebration. That was not so
hard to figure out, since she led a procession of three automated carts
overflowing with food... and all automatons were under Valthyrra's command. But
no one questioned her right to attend, once they saw that food.

"This is a nice place you have," Dveyella mentioned as she sat
alone with Velmeran in one corner. Velmeran lifted his head to glance around
the room, as if seeing it for the first time in his life. When not involved in
business, he was about the most innocent, unassuming person she had ever met.
Already she had seen that he seemed unable to take a compliment for what it
was; he always weighed it and then himself in comparison, to see if it was
deserved.

"You have a nice group of pilots in your pack," she said, deciding
to try again.

"Do you think so?" Velmeran asked, somewhat concerned.

"Yes, of course," she insisted. "They are young and innocent.
That is very refreshing to a pack of battle-weary veterans like
ourselves."

"Young and innocent?" Velmeran asked, laughing to himself.
"Does that include Baressa and Consherra? You see in them two of the
sharpest tempers on this ship."

"Baressa?" she asked in disbelief. Baressa was busy in the
opposite corner conferring with Baress, having discovered that they shared
the same name. They appeared to have more in common than just names, to judge
by the undue interest she had in his injuries and his tale of how they
happened.

"Actually, I cannot imagine why Baressa is acting so silly,"
Velmeran said, mystified. In his years as a student, he had always looked upon
her as what a pack leader should be. He was shocked and annoyed to see her
acting like a... a person!

"I can understand," Dveyella said suggestively. "In fact, I
feel like acting a little like that myself right now."

"Well, I hope I never do!" Velmeran declared. Dveyella sighed
softly. If they stayed together, she was either going to have to grow him up or
become very blunt.

"Eat!" Consherra ordered, seeming to appear from nowhere to force
a large hot roll with cheese into Velmeran's hands. "Valthyrra says
that we will be coming into system in about four hours."

Dveyella shrugged. "I guess that we did not get started in time to have
any real fun. Some things might have to wait until later."

"I certainly hope so," Consherra muttered coldly.

Dveyella glanced up at her sharply, at first in surprise, but then with an
appraising look that became shrewd.

"Yes, I do like to take my time," she responded in an insinuating
voice. "But not too long. I – for one – believe in taking
advantage of my opportunities."

"Well, you certainly impress me as the type," Consherra
remarked cattily.

Velmeran chewed his roll, blissfully unaware of the battle that raged over
his head.

"Well, Meran, I certainly envy you," Baressa said as she and Baress
approached at that moment. "Not many pilots get a chance to do the things
that you will. You should learn a few things that the regular pilots never
know."

"You will have to share your secrets when you come back,"
Consherra agreed guardedly.

"If he comes back," Dveyella corrected her.

"What do you mean?" Baressa asked anxiously, misunderstanding
her.

"I mean that if he works out as well as I expect, I might not be
willing to let him go again," she explained. "I will still be
shorthanded even when Baress comes back to work."

No one was more surprised to hear her say that than Velmeran himself. He had
already known that he had two futures for the choosing, but he considered that
choice a purely personal and private one. He certainly did not consider it
to be a matter of contention between two and possibly three factions
aboard this ship.

"Velmeran, is this what you want?" Baressa asked gently, startling
him out of his own thoughts. He was surprised by her apparent concern for
his desires.

"Yes, I want it," he admitted slowly. "But I also want...
what we talked about. I do not know which."

"But you think you will be able to decide after you fly with Dveyella's
pack this first time?" she inquired with the same gentleness, as if all
she wanted was what pleased him most.

"No, I doubt it," he admitted frankly. "That will only make
it harder for me to decide. And yet I also know that I am not going to be able
to decide until I do."

Baressa considered that and nodded thoughtfully. "Do what you feel you
must, and have faith that you have made the right choice."

She turned to leave, but Consherra, nearly speechless with indignation,
blocked her path.

"What are you doing?" the first officer demanded. "You said
that you were going to talk to him."

"And so I did," Baressa answered impatiently as she forced her way
past. "But I said nothing about coercing him to do what you want of
him."

"You know how much we need him," Consherra insisted.

"Of course. But I also..."

But I also believe that he will, in the end, do what is expected of him. Or
so Velmeran finished for her in his mind, after her soft voice was lost beneath
the music that his students were playing rather loudly, or perhaps, he realized,
his conscience was only too willing to supply that answer, because he knew it
to be true. Doing what he wanted might satisfy his desires, but doing what was
expected of him, what he took to be his duty, satisfied his needs. And
ultimately he wanted the future that would allow him to accomplish the most.

"Is this your room?" Dveyella asked suddenly, glancing at the
door to her right.

"Yes, it is. Would you like to see?" Velmeran was quick to seize
upon that as a chance to escape the others, if not his own thoughts.

As Dveyella followed him into the cabin, she happened to see Consherra,
still conferring hotly with the others, staring at her in sudden alarm.
Resisting the temptation to stick out her tongue, she ducked into the room
quickly, stepping away from the door so that it would close.

As pack leader, Velmeran had the largest room in the suite. As always, the
small bed folded into the wall; Kelvessan did not sleep unless driven to
the point of exhaustion. There were two large reclining chairs and a
fairly large desk with a terminal for access to the ship's computers. As
outside, the floor was carpeted and portions of the wood were trimmed with real
wood. There were two suit racks near the bed, one holding his old armor while
the other displayed the new. A small kitchen area was partially removed from
the rest of the room by cabinets, a welcome luxury for a people who had to eat
tremendously, while a bathroom and closets filled the wall adjacent to the bed.

That was all standard, and Dveyella had seen its like on many ships. What
did interest her were the things that he had done to make it his home. Curtains
closed off an entire blank wall to the left of the door, suggesting that a
large window lay beyond rather than a metal bulkhead. He had also brought in
his own audio equipment, and enclosed shelves that contained his generous
selection of books. A drawing table was mounted near the desk, so that she wondered
if he had done the handful of paintings that hung about the room. One showed
nine girls, obviously human, in some manner of archaic armor, each one bearing
a spear, their golden capes flowing in the wind as they rode flying horses
through a dark, stormy sky. Another depicted a dragon seated atop a mound of
gold, glaring menacingly at a tiny figure that was so nearly invisible as to be
just a vague shadow. Velmeran apparently liked fanciful subjects.

"Do you like it?" Velmeran asked.

"Yes, very much," she agreed. "It reminds me of why I wish
that I had a home of my own."

"And something that I would have to give up, if I went with you,"
he reflected thoughtfully.

Dveyella turned to look at him. "Could you really leave, with so many
people counting on you to become Commander-designate?"

"I really do not know," Velmeran said, indicating for her to take
one of the two large chairs. "I know that Mayelna plans to retire in
twenty years, more or less. And that is a little soon for me. I think that I
might be ready to command this ship in twenty years. And yet..."