“Even I cannot order Valthyrra against her will,” Gelrayen said. “She made the decision to do what you told her, and she was the one who actually fired that missile. She just needs a little time to adjust.”
“Is there anything that I can do?”
“Valthyrra will feel better when we get her repaired and under way on her own power. We have begun moving the main drives, and I need to get back to the repair crews. Will you watch the bridge for a while yet?”
Tarrel was surprised by that request. “Yes, I suppose. If you still trust me with your ship.”
Gelrayen smiled. “You have taken good care of her so far.”
10
After nearly three days of hard work, the Methryn was ready to get underway again under her own power, if only barely. She had half as many main drives working as she should have, and her star drives were expected to operate at only one-third of normal capacity, if that. A part of her sensor array remained out, along with her rear battery and some of her perimeter cannons, as well as several external cameras and a section of her heat exchange. All the same, she had been very lucky in many important respects. Her armor was completely intact, and her main battery and her shields were both fully operational, even at stealth intensity. Her star drives could be restored with only a modest amount of work, and the phasing crystals and major components could be salvaged from her four damaged main drives. Four or five days of work in a construction bay would have her in fighting condition once again.
The most serious problem she faced was being able to beg those repairs when she did return to Alkayja station. Opinions varied greatly aboard ship about whether she would be returning in favor or disgrace. She did not have detailed interior scans of the Dreadnought, but she had proven that it could be fought successfully. Valthyrra herself was very pessimistic. She remained very embarrassed over the incident with the incomplete water line that fueled her conversion generators, even if that had been the responsibility of the station construction crew. And that was directly responsible for the damage that she had suffered.
She also felt that she was very much to blame for the sabotage attempt and Walter Pesca’s subsequent death. She had known that he had been wandering the remote areas of the ship, spying, but she had assumed that it had been a part of his linguistic research and she had not anticipated that he would do her any harm. He certainly should not have been able to steal an entire conversion-warhead missile from out of her own launch tube. She saw that as giving her very bad marks for carelessness.
Captain Tarrel was delighted to point out that there was one advantage to the Methryn’s lame condition: The carrier was no longer capable of crushing accelerations. Valthyrra was herself polite enough not to" respond that she could still make at least one person’s life very miserable, even on only two main drives. They eventually made something of a running joke about it, which helped to restore a better mood aboard the ship. Although Tarrel was somewhat annoyed when the Kelvessan were so endlessly fascinated to find that she did indeed have a sense of humor.
She had accompanied Commander Gelrayen on a final inspection of the major comppnents of the ship. The star drives had been ready for some time and the functional main drives had not needed repair in the first place; they had only been moved. The two damaged main drives had been mounted into the two empty forward slots, being too valuable as salvage under the circumstances. Although the Starwolves never said a word on the subject, Tarrel suspected that they were also reluctant to leave large pieces of their machinery drifting about in Union space. With the inspection complete, they took a lift directly to the bridge to prepare for immediate departure.
“Well, everything worked well enough when we powered up for a static test earlier,” Gelrayen remarked as the lift hurtled along the length of the ship. “Of course, we will know nothing for certain until we are actually underway, especially where those star drives are concerned.”
“We have to take the chance,” Tarrel commented. “Just as long as there were not too many parts left over, we should be all right.”
Gelrayen looked uncertain. “Actually, there were about a hundred thousand parts left over. I wonder if that is relevant, considering the size of the task.”
“Is that supposed to be funny, Starwolf?” Tarrel asked. She was still very worried about those star drives, knowing that the carrier would be going nowhere without those.
“I am very sure of my drives,” Valthyrra assured them over the lift com. “Captain Tarrel, the entire bridge crew wishes to express its delight that you do not need the protection of your armor due to my incapacitated state.”
Tarrel was not allowed time to wonder why the Starwolves would have been concerned about that, since the lift drew to a stop in the next moment and the doors snapped open. When she stepped out onto the bridge with Gelrayen, they could both see what the bridge crew had in mind. They were all seated at their stations, ready for duty, except that each and every one was completely naked.
“Kelvessan do appreciate a good joke,” Gelrayen said very softly as they went directly to the upper bridge, ignoring the dozen and more naked Starwolves who were studiously pretending that nothing had happened.
“I suppose that they must, considering the great lengths they will go to for the sake of a bad one,” Tarrel observed. She lifted herself into the seat at the Commander’s station. No matter how lame the Methryn might be, she would not try to ride out any acceleration standing up.
“Valthyrra, are you ready to get underway?” Gelrayen asked. She brought her camera pod around. “I am as ready as I can be.”
“Secure all bays and locks for flight and begin warming up your main line of generators.”
Kayendel glanced over her shoulder. “Commander, the members of the bridge crew would like very much to step outside for a moment to collect our proper uniforms.”
“No, I need for you people to stand by your manual controls until we see how those main drives are going to handle,” Gelrayen replied, as if refusing them with great reluctance. “We have a long haul ahead of us, and every minute counts. You can certainly understand that.”
They understood that he was taking advantage of the situation. “Commander, the Maeridan is moving clear,” Valthyrra reported. “Khallenda Maeridan reports that she will stand by until she knows that we are away, before she returns to her patrol. I have sent her and her crew my regards, in the innocent hope that I am going somewhere.”
“Well then, feed some power to those drives and we will see what happens,” Gelrayen told her.
There was really no reason to worry that the main drives would not work properly unless the Starwolves had not put them together right, and the static tests would have detected that. As it happened, everything functioned exactly as expected. The two rear drives engaged and built thrust to cruising power smoothly, phasing flawlessly all the way across that range. Although the Methryn did not leap forward with her usual vigor, she was still moving out smartly by Captain Tarrel’s standards.
“No worries or surprises,” Valthyrra reported. “I am increasing power slightly to move us on up toward threshold.”
“If you feel that you can handle it,” Gelrayen agreed. “The real test, of course, will be those star drives.”
“Commander, if the ship is performing well…” Kayendel began, turning in her seat to look up into the upper bridge.
Gelrayen motioned for her to turn around. “I understand your desire to maintain proper appearances, but I believe that we really should not leave the manual controls unsupervised until the Methym is safely in starflight. You do agree, Valthyrra?” “Oh, most certainly,” the ship insisted, swinging her camera pod around to the upper bridge. “I would feel better about it. Besides, Kelvessan hardly need to wear clothes in the first place. I doubt very much that you could be cold.”