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active scanners were mostly back into the grid by
the time they arrived, and the hull shields were fully operational after
extensive rewiring. Carthaginian was an old ship, her frame and most of her
hull over two hundred years old, although she had seen no less than five
complete refittings in her life. After switching out some damaged components,
the old battlewagon could easily go out for another two hundred years, assuming
that Starwolves and other mysterious things bumping about the stars did not
make short work of her.
    Carthaginian
was a lucky ship. She had fought Starwolves, minor encounters to be true,
twenty-one times in her long career, five of those encounters resulting in her
unscheduled refittings. Once she had even been captured and sold back, that
being one method Starwolves had for earning their living. Now she had survived
two brushes with this new, devastating weapon. Captain Tarrel considered that
to be nothing short of a miracle, failing to credit that this matter was
largely due to her own cleverness and her uncanny ability to know when it was
time to run.
    A
meeting of the Sector’s senior coordinating officers was scheduled as soon as
Carthaginian came into the system, the data she carried and the personal
observations of her captain very much in demand. Although Janus Tarrel was
young, she did possess a gift of listening to, understanding and remembering
everything she heard, and that gave her a wealth of experience to call upon
that was not necessarily her own. She knew what to expect from this meeting, so
she was not taken by surprise. The minds of armchair admirals with policies
cast in stone followed predictable paths. They accused her first of fabricating
the whole affair to excuse her incompetence in losing the entire convoy. They
questioned her resourcefulness in failing to find a way to protect her convoy
against this new weapon, although they could think of none themselves. Finally,
having failed to discredit her, they politely asked her advice. Which they
largely ignored.
    Her
one, curious ally through all of this was Victor Lake, the young Sector Commander.
They had served together in their earliest days as junior officers, including
that first assignment aboard the Carthaginian, and at one time they had been
quite close. Lake had come from what was now a rather obscure branch of the
ruling Sector Family, unimportant enough to think that the only favors his
connections would gain him had already been granted in his commission in the
Sector Fleet. But he was clever, earning for himself first a ship, then the
post of System Commander, and finally the unexpected title of Sector Commander.
    He
was not loved by his senior commanders. Coming from the Sector Family, he did
not believe the propaganda and hollow beliefs that his seniors worshiped, but
he was more capable for his more realistic views, and so respected for his
abilities. He was very well-liked by his commanders and captains in the field,
largely because he was no more cruel to the colonies than policies he could not
control forced him to be, and also because he did not expect heroic, futile
gestures in facing the Starwolves.
    Captain
Tarrel had actually not seen him in the two years since his sudden and
unforeseen promotion to Sector Commander. His new duties had brought him to
Vinthra, and she had immediately been given command of the Carthaginian by his
order. She often wondered if that had been compensation for a relationship that
was no longer expedient, both excuse and reward for making herself scarce.
    Commander
Lake had remained largely silent during those times when the mood of the
council had turned hostile toward her. They had both recognized the importance
of allowing the matter to blow over by itself, although that did not help to
sweeten her opinion of him. When all was said and done, he had decided upon the
course of action, although his decisions were in certain respects surprising.
The council had recommended attempting