Free Dreadnought by Thorarinn Gunnarsson Page A

reception committee
was waiting for them outside the docking tube. Hasty introductions were made,
but these were mostly between some three dozen people who already knew each
other at least by name and reputation and Captain Tarrel was able to remember
only the most important ones present. There were three other carriers already
at the station, including one that was still in the late stages of
construction. For reasons that she did not expect, she surprised herself by
taking exception to the fact that the Starwolves were actually under the
control of a human senior officer, a certain Fleet Commander Dave Asandi. He
was a tall man and rather dark, reflecting like all other humans at the station
a more direct Terran ancestry than herself, reminding her oddly of the Union’s
ruling Sector Families. The Fleet Commander’s entourage of scientific and
military advisors was a mixed group, with slightly more Starwolves than humans.
    Kelvessan,
she reminded herself, that being their name for their race in their mysterious
language. A language that, for all the long-suffering Lt. Commander Walter
Pesca had been able to determine, did not even exist. He was, for that matter,
still in his own cabin aboard the Kerridayen, forgotten and not necessary for
the business at hand. Now that she had discovered humans in the station, Tarrel
wondered if he might be encouraged to defect.
    It
seemed that this group had been waiting for the Kerridayen to arrive with her
important data on the Dreadnought and the observations of witnesses who had
fought the machine. Their first serious strategy meeting was planned to begin
immediately. Tarrel found herself walking beside Fleet Commander Asandi, who
was openly curious about her. She had found the Starwolves to be very open, uncomplicated
people, direct, honest and incapable of duplicity. The humans among them shared
many of those same qualities, although it came across almost as a rigidly
honest gallantry in them.
    “I
find you a very uncommon person, Captain,” he said. From anyone else, such
flattering comments would have put her on her guard against lechery and
requests to borrow money. “You have repeatedly faced two of your most deadly
enemies.” “You did not expect that of a Union captain?” she asked, speaking
more directly than she would have among her own.
    “Frankly,
I did not,” he admitted. “That is not to say that I question the courage of
your officers. But the limits of your technology would not seem designed to
inspire courage, but prudence.”
    Tarrel
smiled. “To tell you the truth, I believe that the only reason I am alive now
is because I have a very accurate sense of knowing when it is time to run.”
    “Your
own people seem to value you highly,” Asandi told her. “So that you may know
how matters stand at this point, we now have a formal truce with the Union. You
have been appointed special diplomatic and military advisor. And we are happy
to have you. We will be carrying our fight with this Dreadnought into your own
space, and we need you to smooth the way with local officials when our ships
descend in force upon their systems. I have received a special communication
detailing your new duties and special powers. I will add that you can expect
any reasonable cooperation from us, including the right to see and to know
certain things that we would otherwise have kept to ourselves.”
    She
hesitated. “If you will excuse me for bringing this up, but it does seem like
the proper moment. Commander Daerran indicated that those very matters that you
just mentioned might interfere with your ability to allow me to return home
again when this matter is settled.”
    “He
was right to broach that subject with you,” Asandi explained carefully, after a
moment’s pause. “It involves certain assurances that he did not have the power
to give you himself. He could not promise you something that the Council might
then feel compelled to take away.”
    “I
do understand,” she