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Starwolf carrier.
    She did not much care for the prospect of commanding a ship designed to
equal a Starwolf carrier, since it implied that she would be fighting
Starwolves. She had once fought Starwolves and won, holding on to a very
valuable piece of property her sector had wanted for a long time. A short but
successful career bore out the fact that she was probably the Union’s
best tactical genius. But she had no false pride in that regard. She knew that
she could not take on the likes of Velmeran or Tryn or Schyranna and hope
to win. And she certainly did not want to fight Starwolves under the command of
someone like Donalt Trace. Rumor made him out to be either a fool or a madman,
and either one was dangerous.
    “What led you to choose the military?” Trace asked suddenly.
Maeken glanced up, startled from her own thoughts.
    “I hesitate to mention it, but it is really just an indulgence of my
childhood fantasy,” she explained. “I love big ships.”
    The Sector Commander laughed. “I might just have a ship for you! Would
you be willing to fight Starwolves?”
    Maeken shifted uneasily. “Do you mind if I do not answer at once? Yes,
I would fight Starwolves if I had the right weapon. Do you have one to
offer?”
    “Your judgment of my new ship will be your answer?” Trace asked.
    “If I think that I could defeat Starwolves with it, I might just be
willing to try.”
    Trace nodded. “That is reasonable. Of course, the burden of
responsibility will not be yours alone. I will be going along with you, at
least this first time out. The two of us together should be as smart and any
Starwolf Commander.”
    “Including Velmeran?”
    “I hope so. But it is not our business to track down Velmeran or any
other Starwolf. We are on our way to Tryalna to secure the planet against a
Starwolf counterattack while our forces reestablish firm control.”
    “Your weapon has such power?” she asked.
    He nodded. “You see, the Starwolves were designed for a specific
purpose, a very specific set of rules, and our mistake has always been in
playing according to their rules. This new ship is designed to bring the
advantage to our side, forcing them to play according to our rules. Their
high-speed attacks, their swift reflexes, and ability to endure crushing
stresses will no longer be of worth to them. We now have shields to counter
their big guns, guns of our own powerful enough to pierce their shields. Look.”
    Maeken brushed back her pale brown hair and leaned toward the window to see
that they were overtaking a temporary station of some size. Temporary stations,
as the name implied, were meant for temporary use, able to move where they were
needed under their own power and be ready for immediate service. This one was
clearly meant for military use, for she could see at a glance that it was
heavily armored and sported cannons inside retractable turrets large enough to
swallow their shuttle. But it was also dull black, nearly invisible against the
stars in spite of its vast size. Starwolf color. Then she understood only too
well.
    “Your ship?” she asked simply.
    Trace nodded. “This is what we call a Fortress.”
    “Impressive,” Maeken remarked, recovering from her surprise.
“Of course, I know that you are too smart to believe that simply building
a bigger battleship than they have will give you any special advantage. What
does this beast have that makes it so special?”
    “Look at its design,” Trace said. “Begin with the engines.
Notice that it has no main drives, just clusters of stardrives.”
    That much she could see. The engines were arranged in hexagonal clusters of
seven large drives, six on the outside with one in the center. The engine
clusters were themselves arranged in a flattened hexagon on the rear of the
drive housing, six outside with two, side by side, inside. They were large
engines, at least half the size of the immense crystal drives that the
Starwolves somehow synthesized for their carriers.