“How fast is it, and just what type of drive can it be using inside that shield? My captured images show the back end of the Dreadnought, assuming that it even has a back or front in any conventional sense, and we can clearly see that it does not employ main drives or star drives as we know them. But I did observe evidence of unexpected speed. My own guess is that the Dreadnought uses a very refined version of a jump drive, technology that we do possess but never bothered to refine.”
“But not a very powerful version of a field drive?” one of the Kelvessan engineers asked.
“Even a field drive has a very strong static power emission, but I did not detect anything. Any final speculation about that drive must wait for one piece of information that my files do not possess. Can Kelvessan sense a jump drive in operation? My crew was able to sense the Dreadnought’s generators while its shield was down, but not a drive.”
Not even any of the ships knew the answer to that question, but somewhere in that station were the records dating back to the time when the first jump drive had been tested aboard the carrier Valcyr, which had disappeared on her first flight.
“There is one observation that I certainly would not have expected to have found,” Valthyrra continued. “I believe that the Dreadnought is nearly blind. Now it is only logical to realize that it is receiving no visual information through that light-consuming shield, but I now suspect that its ability to receive common scanner information is very limited. Once it had restored its shield, the Dreadnought pursued me at a following distance of less that a thousand kilometers. I was open to passive scan as well as being very visible against that planet, and yet it seemed unable to see me.”
“Do you have any theories on that subject?” Asandi asked. “For that matter, I believe that I have proof. Meaning no criticism, I suspect that our scientists here at Alkayja invented an explanation for why it could use its scanners through its own shields, when in fact it cannot,” She began feeding images to the main viewscreen. “Because I did have the Dreadnought targeted clearly against the planet, I was able to get some detailed images of its shield. In these images, you can in fact see several relatively tiny objects protruding through the Dreadnought’s shield. Several are knob-like projections about a meter across coming only just through the shield, which I believe are scanner beam projectors. There are also dozens of whip antennas, coming through the shield to a length of four or five meters, which are probably active and passive scan detectors. When the Dreadnought is under attack or trying to evade detection, it draws these units back until they are obscured from scan by that shield, but this severely limits the effectiveness of these devices.”
“In that event, if the Dreadnought was attempting to avoid detection by one carrier, a second carrier might be able to slip in close enough to fire cannons through those shields?” Trendaessa Kerridayen observed.
“Yes, I believe so,” Valthyrra agreed. “And that brings me to one very encouraging observation about the Dreadnought. I suspect that it might not be as tough to crack as we feared. Once a cannon bolt finds a way through that shield, it seems to take damage very easily, if only temporarily. It also seems to get shaken, as if it cannot decide whether to take an offensive or defensive stance. These are things that we can exploit to our advantage.”
Asandi nodded slowly. “Since you have fought the Dreadnought with reasonable success, what do you recommend?” “Is the Kerridayen fitted with an impulse scanner?” Valthyrra asked.
“Yes, but the ship is not yet fully repaired.”
“Then my suggestion is that the Kerridayen and myself coordinate an attack, luring or driving the Dreadnought within range of an ambush. Once it has come within moderately close range, two or three carriers could match frequencies with their main batteries until they pierce that shield, standing by with either missiles or conversion cannons when it fails. Once we know where it is, we should be able to find a place to arrange an ambush easily enough. I will admit that this plan is not perfect, but it is the best that we have at this time.”
“And you believe that you should be allowed to fight the Dreadnought?” Asandi asked.
“I believe that I should be allowed to coordinate the attack,” Valthyrra declared frankly. “I have a feel for how the Dreadnought operates and reacts. I think that I have proven that.” “One might also argue that you were lucky,” Asandi remarked. “It was my thought that we should have you repaired but held in reserve, in case our first major attack against the Dreadnought should fail. Captain Tarrel, what has been your impression of Valthyrra’s performance?”
“Actually, I believe that she has done very well,” Tarrel insisted. “I hesitate to speak plainly in her presence, however.” “I prefer that you should,” Valthyrra told her.
“Then the bad news first,” she continued. “Valthyrra still seems to be getting used to stressful situations and dealing with events beyond her own control, experiences she could not get sitting inside a construction bay. At the same time, she allows nothing to interfere with duty. When the time comes to act, she never foils to act cleverly and decisively. Although I must admit that my experience with the Starwolf carriers is limited, it did seem to me that she is more inventive and quicker to react than I found the Kerridayen to be. I believe that her desire to lead the fight against the Dreadnought has to be considered for the very reason she gave, although we must still consider all the alternatives.”
“Some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them, and some are just built that way?” Asandi asked, amused. “Frankly, I do see reason to be impressed with our young ship. But regardless of her qualifications, the Methryn is still wrecked. Half of her main drives are out, her star drive is operating at half of normal efficiency, and a portion of her sensor array and her weapons have been destroyed. Will she be in any condition to fight any time soon? I cannot in all conscience send her into battle crippled.”
“The star drives can be repaired easily enough,” Gelrayen said. “Those can be fully operational in a few days. She does have four heat-damaged main drives that will need weeks to rebuild, but we could replace those here in station in a matter of hours.”
Asandi looked uncomfortable about that. “As it happens, we have a full set of eight main drives in surplus here at the station, and the Methryn will get the four she needs. Fortunately, she is the first carrier to come home needing replacement drives.”
“All other repairs will be simple enough,” Gelrayen continued. “We can go out again in perhaps as little as four or five days.”
“What do you think about your ship’s ability to fight?”
“I learned very quickly that I can trust her completely. She was making all the decisions and giving the orders during that battle.”
Asandi nodded slowly. “What about her ability to lead others, and to deal with people? Does she have the experience to deal with others?”
Captain Tarrel smiled. “You saw the state her crew was in. Valthyrra talked them into that quite cleverly. That was, by the way, a little joke that turned into a philosophical experiment.” “A what?” Gelrayen asked, perplexed. “What does tricking several hundred Kelvessan into running around naked have to do with philosophy?”
“Well, Valthyrra and I discovered that the most amazing thing happens when you take the clothes off a Starwolf,” Tarrel commented. “He begins to contemplate the meaning of his existence and his place in the universe.”
“Oh, is that what causes it,” he said, looking greatly surprised. “Well, a Starwolf just has to be careful about the strange thoughts that seize the mind when he is naked.”