Tactical Error (29 page)

With even automatic flight control relying on the ship’s non-sentient
computer network to coordinate her systems. Consherra or even Velmeran on the
upper bridge could have handled all of those functions alone. There was going
to be a great deal of shouting orders and instructions across the bridge, and
Velmeran had to direct the battle through this awkward network. All of this was
complicated even more by the fact that this was an unfamiliar ship to the crew
of the Methryn, with more main drives and a more efficient jump drive than they
were used to, and a more complex weapons array that included a second
conversion cannon. Consherra was hoping for at least one trial flight before
battle, to get some feel for what was in effect a very different ship from the
old carriers.

The gods of fortune must have forgiven Velmeran somewhat. With perhaps half
a day remaining before battle, a second carrier appeared in the system and
hurried in to dock. It was the Vardon, the second of the new carriers and the
best possible choice in all the Wolf Fleet. They would now face the assault
fleet with the two most powerful, heavily armed, and well-shielded ships in the
fleet, and the unpopulated and expendable Methryn. Velmeran knew very little of
Theralda Vardon’s previous military experience, except that she had
managed to get herself destroyed once already. At least he did have
considerable faith in Tregloran’s ability to command.

Tregloran immediately brought his command crew over to the Maeridyen. They
were experienced with these new carriers and could check out the systems. And
since the Vardon was battle-ready, they made arrangements for the
Methryn’s bridge crew to take her out for a practice run and familiarize
themselves with the ship.

“I am sorry about Lenna,” Velmeran said when Tregloran joined
him on the bridge of the Maeridyen.

“Yes, Valthyrra told us on the way in.” He shrugged, feigning
more casual acceptance of the situation than he felt. “It was bound to
happen eventually. She insisted upon living that way.”

“Yes, we will do what we can for her as soon as things settle
down.”

Tregloran frowned, then glanced about the bridge. “This has all been
very strange business. I was here for several months only a year ago, and there
was no hint of any of this. Then, before I can make it back again, the whole
thing comes apart at the seams and you put it back together again. Valthyrra
said that you had to grant them all immunity.”

“Only the top three,” Velmeran insisted. “At last count,
we have more than 70 Senators who voted this mess into existence in prison, and
some 200 corporate executives who funded the takeover and were waiting in line
to buy trade monopolies and Kelvessan slaves. It was as bad as anything in the
Union. We will let them sit in jail without bail for a few days, then put most
of them on lifetime probation, on the condition that they can never again hold
public office. The funny thing about this whole affair is that absolutely no
member of the human population ever cast a vote to put these people in office
or approved of what they were doing. Everyone was on to these criminals from
the start, but what can you do?”

“Not a one? My, my!” Tregloran took his meaning with amusement.
“What about President Delike and his little friends?”

“All hiding out in the government complex on board the station,”
Velmeran explained. “They do not dare go back down to the planet, as much
as they would like to collect their private data files and financial records. I
had wondered if they would run for cover while they had a chance, but they seem
determined to sit tight. My guess is that they hope we lose the battle, and
they will kindly offer their services to the conquerors as puppet
rulers.”

“We could still get another ship in before things start,” Tregloran
mused. “Then we might see them run in a hurry.”

“How is Theralda Vardon? Will this be her first real fight?”

“Well, she is more consistently lucid than she used to be.”

“Lucid?”

“Well, yes.” After looking for a gentler term to describe his
ship’s behavior, he decided that he was being generous enough already.
“You know that she was put together with only one memory cell. Sometimes
I think that even the one was shaken too hard when we stole it. There used to
be days when she would just hang there in the middle of the bridge, relaying
information like a damned machine. She is developing a higher degree of
spontaneity.”

“I just hope that she remembers how to fight.”

Tregloran smiled fondly. “It seems like old times, fighting with the
odds against us.”

Velmeran stared at him. “This is the first time in my life that
I’ve ever considered the odds against me.”

Tregloran’s face fell. “Oh.”

The final hours passed slowly in a frenzy of hurried preparations. At almost
the very last moment, a final Starwolf carrier, the Karvand under the
command of Velmeran’s half-sister Daelyn, hurtled into system and dropped
out of starflight almost on top of the station. The ship was already launching
her packs, ready to move immediately into battle. Gelvessa Karvand explained,
once the initial chaos was past, that she expected them to come under attack at
any moment. Decelerating out of starflight, she had scanned an indisputable
total of ten Fortresses and a number of other ships that she thought to be
stingship carriers all arranging themselves in what appeared to be attack
formation.

The Fortresses presented their own problems. The Starwolves could crack the
heavy hull-shielding from the giant ships with their quartzite detonator
missiles, but it still took the shot from a conversion cannon to destroy the
Fortress. The Methryn and the Karvand both had only the one cannon and the
newer ships had two, making a total of only six, and the cannons had a tendency
to burn themselves out after only one firing. He could only hope that the
cannons of the newer ships did not burn out. There was also the matter of the
sixteen Mock Starwolf cruiser, which were fairly massive piles of armor in
their own right. He now had over 700 fighters, and the most powerful accessory
cannons had been fitted to those small ships.

Velmeran decided it was time to launch the carriers. The worst possible
disaster on his own part would be to allow his carriers to be caught in their
bays if the Mock Starwolves moved in suddenly. If time allowed, he was tempted
to lead some of the carriers on a sudden strike against the Union attack force
before it had time to get itself into motion. He was also afraid that they
might be waiting to draw him out, divide his forces, and then hit him from
behind. Donalt Trace had spent the last twenty years figuring out endless ways
to trick him.

Now he had to face the hardest part yet. He had to go back to the Methryn
and order Valthyrra disconnected from her backup cells and send her out to die.
What Tregloran had said about Theralda Vardon had left him even more uneasy
about this. He had already been worried about making certain that he had
captured enough of Valthyrra’s memories to return her to life. Was there
something more that he needed, perhaps that soul that Valthyrra was always so
concerned about? Where does a starship keep her soul?

He had made no provisions to protect that part of Valthyrra Methryn that
mattered the most to her, and she had not held him accountable for that.
Perhaps she did not trust even the psychic abilities of the High Kelvessan to
give her what she wanted most. Perhaps she was just doing what duty required of
her, taking solace in the thought that eighteen thousand years was long enough
for anyone to live.

“Standing by to disconnect,” Consherra said over the com link in
their suits. They were already dressed for battle, knowing that they would have
to move quickly. This was quite literally their final task before battle. She
was standing by at Valthyrra’s primary cell, while technicians were ready
to disconnect the others.

“Not until I give the order,” he answered. “Then you go
straight to the Maeridyen. Let the technicians remove the duplicate memory
units.”

The lift pulled to a stop and Velmeran stepped out onto the bridge, only too
aware that this might well be the last time he would see this place. Even the
seats at all of the various stations had been stripped in a gallant effort to
reduce the Methryn’s weight and give her a fighting advantage in
maneuverability. The carpets in the cabins had been pulled as well, and she now
weighed three-and-a-half million tons less than when she had entered this bay.

Valthyrra’s camera pod was rotated well around, watching him in
silence. The note that he had attached to the side of the boom was still there,
ordering the crews that this was to be left. If Valthyrra did have a soul, then
this simple piece of machinery was its focus.

“We both knew that I would have to leave this ship eventually,”
she said, breaking the silence. “Three kilometers of starship is not the
sort of thing that you can keep around for sentiment. I would rather see this
old shell burn away in battle than be carved up for scrap. A person’s
life should come to more than just scrap.”

“There is no reason for you to assume that you will be
destroyed,” he told her. “We stand or fall together in this, and
the odds tell me that none of us will be here when it ends. If anything, I have
given you two chances to survive.”

“I am not concerned for that part of myself,” Valthyrra
insisted. “No matter what happens to me, whether you succeed or fail in
bringing me back, or even if you never have the chance, I have no regrets. Not
for myself.”

Velmeran smiled. “No regrets, perhaps. But it does not stop you from
feeling afraid and alone.”

Valthyrra dropped her camera pod lower. “I find that I have an
instinct to stay alive, and there is precious little in the universe that can
threaten you when you are this big and powerful. I find that I am by no means
used to being afraid for my life. But what is my life? Those large metal boxes
full of data that you are packing out of here? I like to think that my life
means more than just information and programmed responses, but I never did find
my soul. I have always been afraid to look. It was safer – less
frightening – to hope that I do have one, than to discover that I do
not.”

Velmeran reached up, gently laying both of his right hands on the side of
her camera pod. “You keep your soul in the very same place the rest of us
have ours, in the hearts and minds of others. This ship seems so big, cold, and
empty just now, because in a way you have already gone. We took your spirit
with us when we left.”

She glanced away for just a moment before turning back, her camera pod
regarding him almost shrewdly. “Is that the truth, or just a lot of fancy
words you mean in kindness?”

“Your spirit is with your crew,” he assured her. “We will
keep it safe for you. When you see me again, then you will know the truth in
that.”

Valthyrra turned away, watching the main viewscreen and its unchanging image
of the inner docking bay. “They are calling, Commander. Long range
sensors indicate a large body of ships moving into the system at high sublight
speeds.”

Velmeran nodded and turned away, activating the com link to Consherra.
“Disconnect now and get out. This ship must be clear for undocking in
five minutes. Consherra, I need you on board the Maeridyen by then.”

“Disconnection is complete. Sealing the hatches now, Commander,”
she promised.

“Commander?”

He turned, and saw that Valthyrra was watching him. He shook his head.
“No more words, old friend. Say nothing that you might not remember when
we meet again.”

Valthyrra seemed to agree with him in that thought. “Farewell,
Commander. As you say, I will be with you in spirit.”

She could do nothing but watch as he walked away.

Velmeran stepped onto the bridge of the Maeridyen, watching with silent
approval as the members of the bridge crews worked diligently at their stations
to bring the immense ship up to flight-ready status. Some would have argued
that a Starwolf carrier was simply too big and complex to fly with only minimal
computer support, and he would have ordinarily agreed. They simply had no
choice. Consherra hurried past him to her own station, where an assistant helm
officer had been watching the console in her absence. The helm station was the
focus of all other activities on the bridge, and many of the primary functions
of the ship had to be coordinated through that console.

“Engineering is flight-ready and standing by,” Tresha reported
as soon as Consherra took her station, beginning the final check immediately.
“All power systems are idling at nominal.”

“Running shields standing by. Battle shields and stealth available
upon demand. Internal shields and dampers are at minimal.”

“All weapons systems standing by. Conversion cannons are
pre-heated,” Cargin reported from the central weapons station on the
central bridge.

“All scanners and ambient sensors standing by until the ship is in
open space.”

“All uninhabited sections of the ship are pressured down.”

Consherra looked over at Velmeran. “All set.”

He nodded, and turned to communications. “Status?”

“All ships standing by. All fighters are ready to launch. Recovery
transports and capture ships are in space. Alkayja station reports that the
automated defenses and long-range scanners are standing by.”

“Relay this order to the carriers,” Velmeran said. “To
avoid collision, all ships will rotate right upon backing out of their bay,
then come around to the left when moving forward. Execute.”

Consherra considered this possibly the trickiest move that she would take
this big ship through all day. Even Valthyrra moved herself in and out of the
docking bay with extreme caution. Consherra engaged the forward engines only
for a moment. The docking braces snapped back as the Maeridyen’s shock
bumper slipped out of the forward brace, and she backed slowly out of the bay.
As soon as she was clear, Consherra pivoted the ship around and engaged enough
thrust from the main drives to bring the ship to a stop. The other three
carriers, emerging from adjacent bays, moved in almost perfect unison. They
pivoted around and accelerated, moving swiftly away from the base.