Solbidyum Wars 3: Pirates of Goo'waddle Canals (42 page)

“There, you see, Tibby; and now he, too, will receive his just reward.  Pay the man,
Narfi,” ordered Shydak.

Suddenly, Sondan dropped to his knees and fell face forward, revealing a dagger that protruded from his back.  A man behind him leaned down and extracted the knife and then used
Sondan’s shirt to wipe the blade off before sheathing it and putting it back inside his coat. 

“Not a very bright man, this fellow,” Shydak said, as he pushed the body with his foot.  “He should have known that we in the Brotherhood never make deals with the Ruwallie Rasson.”

“Boss,” yelled one of the men searching Logden, “we ain’t found nuttin!”

“I was afraid of this,” Shydak said.  “Either it’s hidden on one of the others, or he has it already moved it off-world and plans to pick it up before leaving the region. 

“Search these two…” He indicated Howebim and Agama, “…and if you don’t find it on either, kill them.  Leave Logden alive — he’s the only one who knows for sure where the solbidyum is.”

“Wait!
Wait!” Howebim cried.  “We don’t have the solbidyum or know where it is.  Logden promised us part of the money from its sale if we helped him, but he never told us where it was.  Look.  We have over thirty-five million credits we can pay you if you just let us go.”

As he said this, he held out a case he had been carrying.  Shydak indicated for one of his men to take the case and open it.  Inside were hundreds of the chip coins considered so valuable in the outer worlds.  One of
Shydak’s men brought a scanner forward and swept the case with it.  “I confirm 35,322,006 credits,” he announced.

“I thank you for the contribution,” Shydak said, looking at both Agama and Howebim.  “Shoot them both and
then
search them,” he said to his guards.  Before Agama or Howebim could voice another protest, several laser blasts burned holes into their heads.  Shydak’s men then dragged their bodies away.

“The crowd gets smaller,” Shydak said with a smile.  “Now, about your ship…” He looked at me rather than Kerabac.  “I suspect you have it nearby someplace, as well as that wonderful yacht of yours, the
NEW ORLEANS
.  Odd name,
NEW ORLEANS
.  Don’t think of trying to alert your ships, Tibby.  We won’t give you that opportunity.  This building is shielded from broadcasts.  Even if you tried, you wouldn’t be able to get a message to your people.  I have no intention of letting you make the call, either — you’re too tricky.  I think, though, that with a little incentive, we can get you to provide us with the information to get the
RASSON BEDAN
to come to us here.  Once we have that, I’m betting we can get aboard the
NEW ORLEANS
and take it also. 

“
Narfi, take these two children up to that platform over there.”

Narfi
gestured to two more men.  Each of them grabbed Tanden and Jenira and began dragging them away from us toward an elevator.  Padaran acted too quickly for me to stop him and he swung out with a leg to try to prevent one of the men from taking Tanden.  Before his leg reached its target, a bright flash of a laser caught his leg and Padaran dropped to the floor in pain.

“Not a very wise move.  I could have killed you just now, but I may still have need for you.  Before this night is over, you may lose your legs and arms, but for now, I’m satisfied to just cripple you.

“Now, about the ships,” Shydak said, looking at me once more.

At this point
Narfi and his men had loaded Tanden and Jenira on a freight lift and taken them up to a platform about 10 meters above the floor.

“You have the choice,” Shydak began.  “You can tell me what I want to know now or I will have the children tossed off that platform one at a time…the girl first, I think,” he called up to
Narfi.

Jenira began screaming, as one of the men tried to pick her up.  Tanden, too, began to struggle; and then suddenly he lifted his leg and brought his heel down with all his might on his captor’s foot.  Immediately, the man let loose of Tanden, who rushed to help his sister.  He managed to get hold of the hand of the man restraining Jenira and bite down as hard as he could.  The man howled and released Jenira, but he managed to catch Tanden with his free hand while he cussed, “Why, you little
cordac
!”  He lifted Tanden in the air and threw him with all his might off the platform.

It seemed to me at that moment that time froze.  Hours passed between my heartbeats and I ceased to breathe, as his small body twisted and tumbled through the air.  I saw his head turn back and look at his sister one last time before his body smashed into the floor with a horrible crushing sound that echoed in my mind seemingly forever.  All heads and eyes had turned to witness the horrible event; and as the last remnants of sound faded from my ears, my fighting skills went into motion.

Though the Brotherhood had removed our weapons, they had not bothered to take our wrist coms.  I instinctively reached down to activate the cloaking device, and started to move toward Shydak.  One of his men saw me vanish and stepped forward, getting in the way before I could reach Shydak, who saw what was happening and turned to flee.  I hit the man in front of me hard and pushed him aside into others who were rushing at us.  I tried to pursue Shydak, but more of his men filtered in behind Shydak, closing the path between him and me.  Seconds were ticking away and I knew I only had a short time before the cloaking device would give out.

Behind me, I could hear all sorts of chaos breaking out; I could only assume that my shipmates had also cloaked and were fighting back.  I saw Shydak briefly as he turned a corner, and I muscled my way through the tangle of men following him.  As I turned the corner, I saw him head up a set of stairs.  I followed as fast as I could.  As it turned out, the stairs led to the platform where Jenira stood with her captors, her face ashen and tears streaming as she stared where her brother lay on the floor in a pool of blood.  Shydak rushed out to the end of the platform and grabbed the girl, while telling his men to guard the platform. 

Just as he gave these orders, my cloaking faded and I became visible.  Down on the floor, my invisible compatriots were doing serious damage to foes who could not see them.  But just as in my case, their cloaking failed one by one.  Guns pointed at them and they became still and were taken prisoners again.  Padaran was the last to become visible.  With his leg having been damaged before, he had not engaged in the fight, but instead had crawled over to where Tanden’s small body lay on the floor.  There he lay, holding one of Tanden’s small hands and weeping.

“My, my, my, Tibby.  That was quite some show,” Shydak said as he took a knife and put it to Jenira’s throat.  “I do hope you won’t be disappointed if I don’t cheer for an encore.

“As you can see, one small life has been lost.  If you wish to avoid seeing this young lady bleed to death here on this platform, I suggest you tell me where the ship is and how to contact it.  Otherwise…”  As he spoke, he made a small, but deep slit in Jenira’s throat so that blood began to flow freely from the wound, “…you will get to see this young life slowly drip down to the floor.”

I could see the look of horror in Jenira’s eyes.  I glanced quickly at Kala and the others on the floor, and I could see the despair on all their faces.  I had no choice. 

“Very well,” I said.  “You —”

Before I could say
win,
there was a crashing sound.  Shattered glass and something large fell from the skylight above and landed on the platform behind Shydak.  Before he could react, I saw a strong gray arm reach around and grab Shydak’s wrist that held the knife to Jenira’s throat.  Shydak struggled to get free and, for an instant, I got a glimpse of Andy as he pulled Shydak’s arm away from Jenira’s throat.  Shydak released his hold on Jenira and she dropped to the platform, holding her hands to her bleeding throat while Shydak struggled with Andy.  Shydak’s men turned to help him, and when they did, I rushed them. 

Far below on the floor I heard crashing sounds once more, and I knew the fighting had renewed.  The first man on the platform I encountered I simply tossed over the railing in one smooth motion.  The second turned to see me coming and he prepared to fight.  His attack was classic; and he soon joined his partner on the floor below.  In the meantime,
Narfi had brought a small gun out of his pocket.  He took aim at Andy and fired, hitting him in the shoulder.

Exactly what damage it did, I cannot say, but it was enough to cause him to lose his grip on Shydak, who quickly bounded around Andy and raced out a door at the other end of the platform. 
Narfi tried to follow him, but Andy caught him by the leg.  I heard a crunching sound as Narfi screamed.  Andy had crushed his leg bone.  Then Andy simply lifted his body and dropped him over the side of the platform.

My first instinct was to chase after Shydak, but Jenira was laying there on the platform, slowly bleeding to death.  I went to her and saw that she was quite pale.  I ripped a piece of cloth from my shirt and used it to try to stop the bleeding. 

I looked over at Andy.  He said, “I told you we would be able to provide assistance.”

I glanced over the side of the platform and was amazed to see nearly 200 androids that had swarmed into the building and now had all the surviving Brotherhood men in captivity.  Endina and Kerabac were helping Padaran, and I heard and saw Kala and Marranalis moving across the platform quickly to help me with Jenira.  Marranalis had managed to find a first aid kit from someplace, which he and Kala quickly used to treat Jenira, who was about to lose consciousness. 

As Kala and Marranalis took over, I sat back against the railing and looked at Andy.  “Are you alright, my friend?” I asked.

“
Friend?” Andy said in a curious tone.  “My friend...  I like that.  Yes, I am alright.  My nanoskin is quite capable of healing itself.”

As he spoke, I noticed that the hole in his shoulder where he had been shot was getting smaller.  I looked once to the floor where Tanden lay.  Padaran was holding him in his arms, rocking back and forth and sobbing openly, as Kerabac and Endina stood at his sides with a hand on each of his shoulders
while tears streamed down their faces.  I looked at Jenira — all the color had drained from her face and crimson stained her clothing from her bleeding throat.

Anger overwhelmed me.  These two innocents, who had done nothing in this life to deserve the kind of treatment they had received — two precious lives that had been denied a childhood, denied the joys and pleasures of life because of evil, selfish men like Shydak and the Brotherhood.  I got to my feet and headed in the direction that Shydak had gone.

“Tibby,” Kala called, “where are you going?”

“To get Shydak.”

“He’s gone,” Kerabac called up to us.  “I chased him outside when he came down.  He ran out and jumped into one of the small Brotherhood fighters outside and escaped with some of the others.  I sent a signal to the
RASSON BEDAN
.  They’re on their way here and they’re tracking Shydak’s ships on their scanners.  The
NEW ORLEANS
is also tracking them while they hold in orbit, awaiting your orders.”

“What about Logden?” I asked.

“He’s down below being held by one of the androids.”

I turned to Andy.  “Thank you Andy.  I truly appreciate you and your people coming to our rescue, and I won’t forget my part of the bargain.  But right now, I have something I need to do.”

As I raced off, I could hear Kala calling, “Tibby, wait!  Where are you going?”

As I ran outside, I saw one of the Brotherhood fighters still parked on the ground.  I raced over and jumped in.  It was a small, two-man craft designed for short flights.  I was hoping it was the kind Shydak was using.  I quickly fired up the engines and was in the air in minutes.  I switched to the coded frequency we used with the
RASSON BEDAN
and quickly identified myself to Norkoda, so he would know which ship I was in.  Then I asked, “Norkoda, are you still tracking the ships that left this site?”

“Yes,” he replied, “most of them are heading toward a location south of you, but a few are heading northwest.”

“What about the first ship to leave this site?  Do you know where that one is headed?”

“One moment, let me check,” he said.  “It appears to be in the smaller party of heading to the south, but I have no idea which one it is, as they are flying in too tight a formation.”

While he was talking, I turned the ship in that direction and opened it up to full throttle.  “What can you tell me about their speed?” I asked.  “Are they traveling at top speed?”

“They were for
awhile, but they’ve slowed down a bit now.  At your current speed you should catch up with them in about ten minutes.  Do you want me to relay to the
NEW ORLEANS
and have them dispatch some of our own fighters?”

My mind was boiling now and I was getting angrier by the moment.  “Yes,” I said.  “Tell them anything identified as being associated with the Brotherhood is to be destroyed — ships, houses, fields — anything that is positively Brotherhood is to be eliminated.”

As I gave these orders, my scanners began picking up the images of the fleeing ships.  I was hoping they would think me to be one of their escaped brothers joining up with them, which would allow me to get right up on top of them before they knew what was coming.