The Challenger left starflight reluctantly, her vast bulk refusing to lose momentum. The moment she dropped to sub-light speeds she sent out her riders, a hundred destroyers and twenty battleships she carried in bays hidden within her outer hull. They quickly fanned out ahead, forming a protective cone about the larger ships. A fleet of stingship carriers followed close behind, and then the supply convoy with spare engines and cannons transported in long racks. A planetary invasion force brought up the rear, then regular carriers and five battleships with a score of destroyer escorts. Two separate forces, one to deal with the rebellious planet they had come to tame, and the other to deal with the Starwolves who would come to protect it.
The Challenger’s bridge was a scene of organized confusion. It now seemed that Maeken Kea was the only Captain of this ship. Commander Trace clearly deferred to her in the operation of the ship, staying completely out of her chair and, for the most part, off the bridge as well. That did not mean, however, that she was not under his orders, and she waited now for him to tell her what he expected.
“All secure, Captain?” Trace asked suddenly over com, obviously still in his cabin. She bent over the unit in her console to answer.
“All secure, Commander. She fought us a little coming out of starflight, but I understand that you’ve see that before. What are your orders?”
“My orders?” Trace asked. “I brought you along to give the orders. What do you think we should do?”
Maeken Kea sat back in her chair a moment to consider that. “Actually, there are not just a great many options. First, we send in the invasion force immediately, standard procedure, and get that out of the way. It seems to me that this ship will fight best alone. Send the convoy into hiding and give it all our fighting ships for protection, since it is the weak link in our defenses. When the Starwolves realize that they cannot fight us directly, they will go after the convoy to rob us of our advantage in damage control.”
“Interesting,” Trace commented. “I had always thought to keep the convoy close, but you’re right. What next?”
“Well, a Fortress is no good in a chase, so we have to get the Starwolves to come to us. I would park it in a very wide orbit over the planet. With any luck they will see it, take it to be a large armored battle station like I almost did, and come strolling over to take a look. That way we might get them well within our range before the fighting starts. Then we move the stingship carriers halfway between us and the convoy so that they can move quickly to support either position at need.”
“Carry on as you see fit. You are in complete command.”
“Does that include the invasion force,?” she asked.
“Fleet Captain Margis is responsive to your orders. But he has done this before, so he knows what he is doing and you can trust him to handle things at his end.”
“Very good, sir,” Maeken said, although Trace had already closed the line. She shrugged and looked up. “Marenna Challenger?”
“Yes, Captain?” the machine responded promptly.
“Get me Captain Margis.”
The response came momentarily. “Margis here.”
“I’ve been busy with this monster of a ship, so I haven’t had a chance to look at what you’re up against. What do you think?”
“This is going to be a tough nut to crack,” Margis explained. “They’ve got quite a horde of fighters, and if they’re smart they’ll make us come inside the planetary defense shield to fight. They have the fighters and the defenses to make it hard to get at their defensive installations. We will take it slow and careful.”
“That’s fine,” Maeken answered. “Keep your communications closed so that nothing gives us away. We’re going to be parked a little way out pretending to be a battle station, and no one is to know otherwise. I certainly don’t want the locals tipping us off to the Starwolves. Proceed when ready.”
“We’re ready now, so we might as well go straight in,” Margis said. “I’ll keep you informed of our situation. Out.”
“Out.” Maeken glanced up. “Marenna?”
“Yes, Captain?”
“Find us a likely place to hide this convoy, will you?”
“Word does have a way of getting around,” Lenna Makayen offered helpfully as Velmeran stared dejectedly at the pitcher of beer in front of him. He had been receiving ‘presents’ all afternoon, rewards from various members of the grateful population of Kanis for his brave act of pesticide. He had no use for any of it; Lenna stood to do well by his notoriety.
“You have no place for me in your ship. I’ve guessed that already,” Lenna said, returning to their original subject as she reached for his empty glass, set it beside her own, and filled up both.
“So? I have connections with the regular Traders. All I have to do is put in a good word for you, and someone will come for you soon. Or advise you where to meet them.”
“I’d rather go with you.”
He smiled. “Once you step on board your own ship, it will be a long time before you think of me again.”
“You’ll not be an easy one to forget,” Lenna said, reaching across the table to catch the end of one of his braids. The thick, soft tufts of fine hair fascinated her. “You come from somewhere outside Union space, don’t you?”
“No, I was born in this very sector,” he said. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you’re the most curious little fellow I’ve ever seen. You look like the people I grew up with, only they didn’t wear their hair in braids. And they didn’t speak with an accent.”
“Everyone has their own dialect.”
“Sure, but I know the Trader’s dialect,” she insisted. “Yours isn’t a dialect. It’s the accent of someone who knows Terran very well but speaks something else at home. For one thing, you don’t contract.”
“Just because I don’t doesn’t mean I can’t.”
“You know what I mean,” Lenna said, frowning. “There’s something about you that is as alien as can be in something that’s still human.”
“What? Oh, come on!” Velmeran declared, rising swiftly and pulling her with him. “I learned last night that when you begin to wax philosophical, it means that you are getting drunk.”
They paused outside the door of the pub, looking up and down the street. Velmeran was unaware that there was anything different about this night compared to the last, but there were more people out and about the narrow streets. And he thought from their manner and dress that they were looking for entertainment rather than just shopping.
“You realize that there is nowhere we can go tonight that people aren’t going to make a fuss over you,” Lenna said after a moment. They started down the street to their right.
“Why?” Velmeran asked. “Are they that glad to be rid of Lesries?”
“Everyone hated Lesries, that’s a fact, and everyone is glad he’s gone. But you, now. You’re a hero. It’s you they’re celebrating.”
“Me?” he asked, confused. “I only paid back a murderer.”
“And so you did, “ Lenna agreed. “That’s what people admire you for. You saw what needed to be done and you did it, simple and quick. You’re a little like Treck in that. Sure, he was a murderer and a first-rate bastard, but he took what he wanted and never gave a damn what anyone else thought about it. He was completely independent and never afraid of a thing, and neither are you. You’ve got to admire that in a man, because most of us don’t have it.”
Velmeran did his best to understand, but he was defeated by that curious sense of panic of a mind struggling with an impossible concept. To Kelvessan, the concepts of good and evil were nearly absolute. Their own laws of society were instinctive and inviolate, without the need of the enforcement of police and courts. For humans, he realized, the laws of nature were instinctive, laws that held that the self is all-important and each took what he wanted. The laws of society had to be learned and accepted, but were always in danger of being lost beneath older, more basic standards. He could understand that much, but that was the limit of his comprehension. He could not begin to understand why humans actually cherished that lawlessness in themselves.