Solbidyum Wars 3: Pirates of Goo'waddle Canals (10 page)

“Hmm, I see what you are saying,” I said.  “We’ll take every measure to ensure the first shots fired are by the Gaimseians, and that events are properly recorded and documented should it ever become an issue.”

“I think that would be a very wise idea,” Wabussie agreed.

As we spoke, Kerabac’s wrist com signaled and Commodore Stonbersa’s voice came across the link.  “Please advise the senator that we have arrived at Nibaria and he is able to depart at his discretion.”

“Thank you, Commodore, I shall see to it.”

I turned to the senator and said, “You’re most welcome to spend the night aboard, if you wish.  There is no rush, as we will need to complete the inspection and loading of the Mirage Fighters from shipyard, which will require a number hours to arrange and accomplish.”

“Honored First Citizen, I appreciate your offer, but I must be getting to the surface.  I know that Chanina is excited to hear about my trip home on the
NEW ORLEANS
.  Ever since she and I visited last year, you and the
NEW ORLEANS
is all she talks about.  If I may be so bold as to tell you, she even says that, when she finishes her schooling, she wants to apply for a job with you here on the
NEW ORLEANS
.”

“Really?” I said.  “What is she studying?”

“For all of her little girl silliness, she actually wants to be a Gravity Wave Specialist.  She studies everything she can find on the matter.”

“That’s interesting,” I said.  “It’s possible that I might actually have a position for her after she finishes her schooling, if she sticks with it.”

Chanina was the senator’s young daughter who visited the
NEW ORLEANS
with her father a year earlier, during which time she managed to get lost while wandering around the ship.  She was discovered by A’Lappe who, at the time, was an unknown stowaway on the
NEW ORLEANS
.  He escorted Chanina to the bridge while under the invisibility cloak before retreating again to an unoccupied area of the ship.  This event set off a ship-wide search for A’Lappe that failed to locate him or his hiding place.  A few days later, he appealed to me personally to stay on the ship in exchange for his help and information.

While the senator prepared to leave, Marranalis and Kerabac made arrangements with the shipyard to take delivery of the eighteen
Mirage Fighters.  Marranalis asked me if I could take over with a martial arts practice session with our security team, and I agreed, as I was in need of a workout.  Kala decided to join me, as she had not been exercising as much of late, either.

When I arrived at the training gym, I was shocked to see Lieutenant Commander Sokaia working out there with the others.  I really should not have been, as she had trained with many of them a year earlier under Marranalis during the joint security team and Federation Special Operations troopers sessions.

A’Lappe and Cantolla enhanced the learning headbands to enable transfer of the knowledge of martial arts techniques to the troopers; however, even though they knew and understood the movements intellectually, their bodies still needed to be trained to carry out the motions as natural and instinctive reflexes.

“Vice Admiral,” Sokaia said, snapping to attention.

“Lieutenant Commander,” I said.  “It’s good to see you here working out with the squad.”

“Just trying to refine my skills, sir” she said.

I began the workout by having everyone perform a sequence of fundamental moves before pairing them off to spar.  I was impressed with Sokaia’s technique and speed and it was apparent that she took her exercises very seriously.  Once the sparring began, it was obvious Sokaia was a step above all the members of my security team.  Kala observed me as I watched Sokaia and said, “She’s good.  I think I’ll try sparring with her — it should be challenging.”

“Oh, you mean you’re tired of sparring with me?” I said.

Kala laughed.  “Something like that,” she said as she walked over to Sokaia’s sparring mat.  The two spoke for a moment and soon after took their positions.  The match was on.

Kala was good; in fact, other than me, no one of our team was able to beat her.  But when she and Sokaia started, it was apparent that Kala was up against a solid opponent and the two seemed to be equally matched.  Kicks and jabs were thrown and blocked by each opponent, moves and countermoves were made as the two danced in a deadly dance.  Suddenly, I realized everyone in the gym had stopped and were focused on the two ladies as they seemed to move faster and faster, trying to get the other into a kill position.

Kala was trying too hard and was not letting her natural instincts take over, and I was almost inclined to yell something out.  Suddenly, I saw her step back and the realization in her eyes just as Sokaia made a lightning attack.  Kala seemed to melt, her body flowing like a liquid as she moved to the side, so Sokaia’s attack missed her by the merest fraction of a millimeter.  Kala’s body continued its liquid flow, following Sokaia’s move and forcing her along the lines of her own momentum.  She lost balance and Kala followed behind as she gained the dominant position.  Before Sokaia realized what was happening, Kala was on top of her and Sokaia was faced with what would have been the fatal blow, had it been delivered.

Sokaia lay there a second with a shocked look on her face as she stared up at Kala.  Suddenly, everyone in the gym was cheering.  Kala stood and offered her hand to Sokaia and helped her to her feet.

“That was amazing, First Citizen Kalana,” Sokaia said.  “I thought for sure I had you there, as you seemed to relax for a second.  What did you do?”

“I did just what you said, I relaxed.  I realized that I was concentrating too hard on my moves instead of letting my instincts work as Tibby taught me.  Once I relaxed, everything went into a natural flow and I simply allowed my body to react instinctively.”

“That was incredible, Kalana; I hope we can spar again before I have to leave the ship.”

“I think I can find the time.  It’s nice having someone other than Tib to spar with.”

I think what impressed me the most was that Sokaia actually looked like she was happy to have been beaten.  It was obvious that she liked being pushed to the max, and Kala had taken everything Sokaia could dish out and had beaten her.

As Kala and I headed back to our suite, she said to me, “I thought for a minute she was actually going to beat me.  We seemed to be equally matched, and I was starting to get tired.  Then I remembered what you said about being relaxed and letting the body react on instinct instead of trying to think about it.  As soon as I did, it was as if my body just took over and I was observing myself in action.  Before I knew it, she was on the floor and I was in the kill position.  I understand now why all this training is necessary, even when you know all the moves.”

“You were great, Kala.  I was very impressed.  I was also fascinated to see how Sokaia has developed her skills.  I think if she were to spar with Marranalis right now, she might beat him.”

“You really think so?
That would really deflate his libido.  As it is now he’s afraid to invite her to the employee lounge for a drink and dancing.”  We both chuckled at Kala’s comment as we headed to the shower.

We spent the night in orbit around Nibaria as the
Mirage Fighters were brought aboard and placed in the hangar in their proper positions.  A’Lappe had crews ready to install cloaking systems and fusion power cells as each ship was docked.  By the time the last fighter was brought aboard, two thirds of the fighters were fully equipped with permanent power and cloaking devices.

Senator Tonclin had left the night before, but asked that we hold until midday before departing.  I was not sure why, but I saw no reason we couldn’t wait that long.  Shortly before noon, a shuttle arrived from the planet and five Nibarians boarded.  One of them approached Wabussie.  They spoke a few minutes before Wabussie called one of my crew over.  He led them off into a processing room, where everyone who boarded the ship was screened for loyalty using the electronic testing program and provided with ID badges and appropriate clearances for various areas of the ship.  As the shuttle lifted off and moved out of the hangar bay, I approached Wabussie.  “Who are they?”

“The senator didn’t mention them to you?”

“No!”

“They are more recruits for the FSO.  The senator spoke with me after dinner last night and said he was impressed with the way the FSO is working so far, and suggested upping the number of Nibarians agents.  He had already compiled a list of candidates.”

“Excellent,” I said.  “The Nibarians that we have in the FSO now — just how are they doing, anyway?”

“They’re actually doing very well.  As we suspected, most people tend to ignore them, assuming they could not possibly be any threat.  Consequently, they manage to overhear a great deal of valuable information.”

“I just realized something – we’re heading straight to Gaimse, but we were supposed to drop Lieutenant Commander Sokaia off at Plosaxen.  We won’t be going anywhere close to Plosaxen now.  I suppose I can lend her a
Mirage Fighter or a patrol ship to take her there.”

“That won’t be a problem, Tibby,” replied Wabussie.  “When I spoke with
the admiral, he said he believed she might learn more by accompanying you.  He said after you have accomplished your goals at Gaimse, she could head back to Plosaxen.”

I chuckled to myself as I wondered how Marranalis would react when he learned that Sokaia would be with us for a few weeks.

Something had been bothering me since we discovered that anything fired away from the ship through the active RMFF experienced an exponential amplification of its force or acceleration.  I couldn’t understand why this same principle didn’t seem to apply to the propulsion system.  It seemed to me that, if the force of a laser fired from the ship increased its energy as it passed through the field, the propulsion forces of the ship should also be amplified.  I decided head to the lab to talk to A’Lappe and Cantolla about it.  When I arrived, I found them both bent over a countertop looking intently through goggles as bright flashes of light emanated from electrical arcs, casting their shadows on the surrounding walls.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything serious,” I exclaimed.

“No, no, not at all.  We’ve been trying to see if there is a way to penetrate the RMFF shield using various frequencies of energy,” Cantolla said.  “So far, nothing breaks through it.”

“It just happens that the RMFF is what I wanted to talk to you about.  Why is it that the ship’s propulsion is not amplified like other things are when they pass through the field?”

“I can answer that,” A’Lappe began as he removed his goggles and laid them on the table.  “The ship is not propelled by a pushing action, like a rocket; rather, it’s pulled by a gravity wave that is generated in front of the ship.”

“OK, you kind of lost me, there.  Isn’t gravity a function of mass? If so, where is the mass that creates the gravity?”

“Everything that has mass has a gravity field,” said A’Lappe, “but mass is a function of energy.  All mass is, in reality, energy which exists in a tight, organized form and which behaves in strict accordance with certain physical laws.  But it’s still only energy.  The gravity wave is generated without creating mass.”

“
Uhh, OK.  I’ll take your word for that.  I was sort of hoping you were going to tell me it would amplify the gravity wave and thus increase the speed of the ship, but I guess not everything works the way I would like it to.  But that does bring me to a second matter.  When I was pondering the amplifying effect of the RMFF, I started to wonder — instead of creating a new generator to power an RMFF field for the Mirage Fighters, can’t you simply amplify the existing power system by using a transformer or something?  In essence you would be boosting the power of a standard source to have enough energy to operate the RMFF?”

Both A’Lappe and Cantolla looked at me for a moment, and then turned to stare at each other.  “I don’t know, to be honest, Tibby,” A’Lappe began slowly.  “I guess we have been so used to having a lot of generated power to play with that amplification has never been explored.  It may be possible.”

“If we loop the signal, it’s possible that we may be able to amplify it.  Or maybe use a prism effect to focus the same signal into a common beam?” Cantolla said excitedly.  Then, suddenly, the two of them were both talking to each other so rapidly in techno-babble that I had no idea what they were saying.  I realized that they had forgotten I was even there, so I decided to leave them to continue with their ideas.  I slowly backed out of the room.

Over the next few days Kala worked out with Sokaia in the gym.  While their sessions were intense, Kala seemed to beat Sokaia each time with relative ease.  But at the same time, I could see that Sokaia was pushing Kala hard.  After each session, the two of them talked and Kala would offer pointers to Sokaia.  The two seemed to be hitting it off and becoming good friends — quite a departure from their first encounter, when Kala found it necessary to reprimand Sokaia. 

I sparred with Marranalis while the ladies sparred; it soon became apparent that he was not up to his usual level of performance.  He seemed to be over-thinking his moves and counter-moves instead of relying on instinct, like I had trained him — and I had a hunch why.