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a considerable nuisance. The Methryn
was still closing, now so close that her viewscreens were picking up cannon
flashes. The battleship suddenly cut from the main group, driving directly
at the Methryn, while the rest continued at a right angle to her approach.
    "Go clear up whatever might be left," Valthyrra told the pilots
when she saw them circle back to give chase. "I will take care of this
one."
    Mayelna glanced up from her screens. "Do you know what you are
doing?"
    "I should certainly hope so!" the ship replied indignantly as
she swung her boom around to the helm and weapons stations on the middle
bridge. "Cargin, I will operate the cannons. Consherra, stand by with your
hands on the manual controls in the event something happens." She glanced
around. "Do I know what I am doing? Do you think me a tottering
wreck?"
    "You are getting a little old," Mayelna commented as she sat back
to watch, seemingly disinterested.
    "Old?" Valthyrra asked incredulously. "Now I feel obliged, just
to prove that I am still a very alert and capable fighting ship. Indeed!"
    "Then shut up and do it."
    Valthyrra quickly launched the two packs that stood ready in her bays and
immediately brought in her carrier arms to remove the empty racks to make way for
another pack. At the same time she prepared a single cannon for only one shot.
    "Watch your controls. Consherra, stand ready," she warned, and
glanced up at her main screens. "Ramming speed!"
    Mayelna rolled her eyes and sighed heavily.
    The Methryn fired one bolt directly into the nose of the approaching
warship. In spite of the distance that remained between them, it caught
the battleship dead center on her bridge, slightly below where her own
viewscreens would have been. Content, Valthyrra cut speed and waited. Nothing
seemed to happen at first. But with her main computer destroyed, the
various systems aboard the smaller ship began to shut down, leaving her to
drift helplessly. The crew might have restarted her easily enough, but they had
already learned the futility in that. They began to evacuate her in
launches and transports, leaving the ship itself like a token of appeasement to
their conquerors.
    "Simple, but effective," Valthyrra remarked smugly as the first
launch cleared its bay.
    "Why, you greedy old fool!" Mayelna exclaimed. "You want to
capture as many of those ships as you can so that you can sell them back at a
profit."
    "Not me!" Valthyrra insisted, rotating her cameras around.
"First you question my abilities, and then my motives. Actually, I
want those ships so that I can sell them to non-Union colonies."
    "Valthyrra?" Velmeran called in suddenly. "Those two packs
have arrived and have matters well in hand. Baressa and I are on our way back
to our own packs."
    "Very good," Valthyrra acknowledged. "Two more packs will
join you about as soon as you can get there. The rest will close up matters
with that second fleet."
    "Fair enough."
    "You close up things out there," Valthyrra added quickly, ignoring
Mayehia's look of protest. "But go ahead and get your pack out of the
fight as soon as possible. You have done more than you should already."
    "No problem."
    "And why did you do that?" the Commander demanded as
Valthyrra extended her camera well back into the upper bridge for privacy.
    "Velmeran has had things well under control from the first; he should
be allowed to finish," she said firmly. "Besides, he is going to
want answers to a great many questions the moment he comes on board. And
the fact is that I do not have all the answers myself. The battle is nearly
over, but the trouble has just started."
     
    Velmeran and Baressa were the first to lead their packs in, even though it
was some time after the fighting stopped before they found the opportunity to
do so. Chance had cast Velmeran in the role of leader, which everyone but he
seemed to recognize and yet no one questioned. Although the Commander had
remained silent, Valthyrra was deferring to his judgment. No one dared