Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation (37 page)

“Is this a duel to the death?”  I pushed further.

“No sir, it goes until one opponent receives three small cuts deep enough to bleed, but sometimes those cuts end up being deeper than needed and fighters have been known to die from their wounds.  The intent is to humiliate either the challenged, or the challenger.”

“But if Jenira loses, she still loses a hand?” I said.

Padaran started to answer, but before he could Jenira pushed her way forward and began signing, “I’ll fight him.  I'm not afraid, and I will not lose a hand, either.  No one will beat me!”  She had that defiant stubborn and proud look on her face that I had seen so many times before.  I turned to Kerabac.  “If she loses a hand can her old one be reattached, or a new one cloned?”

Kerabac answered, “That question has never come up before.  I don’t think the Ruwallie Rasson would allow you to take her old hand with you if she loses, but it would be possible to grow her a new hand, though it would take some time to do it.”

“What happens if we ignore this entire challenge and just fly off?”  I asked, trying to find a way out of this mess.

Kerabac replied, “Padaran would lose face in the eyes of the Ruwallie Rasson as a leader, and they would reject him and find a new one.  They would most likely revert back to piracy and slavery again as it was before we came to Goo’Waddle and Padaran defeated Tondor, and took his place as the leader of the Ruwallie Rasson.”

I gave a big sigh and looked at Jenira, who once more began signing, “I can beat him, Tibby.  I know I can.  There is no one better than me with the catas.  I know it!”

“By the stars, Jenira, Kala will skin me alive if you lose your hand, even if they can clone you a new one!”

“I will not lose my hand!” Jenira signed roughly with anger showing on her face.

“I don’t see any other option; how soon does this bout have to take place?  I need the
NEW ORLEANS
to be en route to Mars as soon as possible,” I said.

“I’m sure I can have it set up for tomorrow before noon,” Padaran stated.  “I sure hope you are right, Jenira.  I would hate it if you lost a hand, even if it was only for a short period of time.”

“I WILL NOT LOSE MY HAND!” Jenira signed fiercely with a look of anger flashing in her eyes.

Before heading back to the
DUSTEN
I had one more stop to make, with my ever present compliment of guards, I marched to A’Lappe’s lab.  When I arrived, he was bent over some experiment as usual.

“Honored First Citizen, what may I do for you?” he asked as he lifted his head and noticed me.

“I’m hoping you can tell me you’ve located the perfect space station for us to use as a transfer station for the Cantolla gates. “ I said.

“Actually, I think I have.  It was a research station set up over a century ago and used to observe a star that was going nova.  The station itself was far larger than required, as it had been built and used earlier as a half way station for ships traveling between the Gama and Dynan systems, but with the advent of GW drives its use dwindled until it was no longer required.  That’s when the Federation decided to re-purpose it and towed it to where it is now.  The star went nova much sooner than expected so its use was very brief; it was considerably larger than required.  The station was abandoned rather than dragging it back to Federation space where there was no ready use for it.”

“What condition is it in now?” I asked.

“If it hasn’t been gutted by pirates and marauders, it should be in pretty good condition.  I have some of our staff flying there now in a patrol ship with components for a Cantolla gate, and once they are there, and have the first gate in place we can give it a thorough going over and begin outfitting it properly.  It will need a solbidnite reactor, of course, and the quarters will need to be updated. While that’s being done we will tow the station a few million kilometers from its current location and have it cloaked and shielded with the RMFF.  The the few external windows of the station will be covered, so that people passing through the station will have no idea where it is in the universe,” A’Lappe said smugly.

“I like it.  Now all we need is a hidden central hub we can pass ships through.”  I muttered.

A’Lappe’s countenance fell, “I’m afraid we haven’t gotten that one figured out yet,” he said.

“A’Lappe, I have another question for you.  I know you are using solbidnite to fuel the gates, but how much of it exists?  I’m not aware that we have any ships going out to mine more of it, where is it?”

A’Lappe chuckled and clapped his hands and for a minute I thought he would fall off his chair.  “That’s the beauty of it, Tibby.  The stuff is so fine it’s barely dust, and it only requires the smallest piece to generate the power we need.  I have a canister of it I keep in my ship that has more than enough to last us for years.  When it runs out we can simply go get more.  There is plenty to go around.”

“Good, because starting now I want all our new ships to be powered with it instead of the 10 X reactors.  However, let me ask you this, if there is so much of it, why don’t we just mine the stuff and give it to the Federation planets, that would stop the feuds and war, wouldn’t it?”

A’Lappe looked at me with his huge eyes and blinked that hypnotic blink that usually preceded either a joke or something profound, “Think about it, Tibby, all that power; do you think for one minute the Brotherhood would just say everything was okay, and they would not try to corner and capitalize on all that power?  If they knew of its existence, they would do all they could to try to capture its source and dole it out at great cost and hardship to people in the Federation.  No, Tibby, the Brotherhood must be defeated before the existence of solbidnite is made known; it’s a power source that may give the Federation the upper hand in this battle, but it’s certainly not one we can afford for the Brotherhood to get their hands on.”  A’Lappe was right and I knew it, like it or not.  For the time being, solbidnite would have to remain our secret.

“Did you ever find anything out about that rod that was stuck in the hull of the
ALI
?”  I asked as the thought hit me.

A’Lappe suddenly took on a more serious look, “It’s like nothing I have ever seen before.  It’s organic, for one thing.”

“Organic?  You mean it was alive at one time?” I asked in amazement.

“I’m not sure it was ever alive, but it was made from material that had been produced by a living organism, much like the shell of a Yugarian tri-valve shellfish.  The material was somehow reformed to make the rod that was found in the
ALI’s
hull.  I'm convinced at least that it was manufactured, only using organic materials.”

“Any ideas what it was for?” I asked.

A’Lappe smiled, “That I am.  It was part of the sleep weapon for sure.  When exposed to certain frequencies the rod material excites, producing the waves that put you to sleep.  We’ve been able to replicate the special head gear and ear plugs the Brotherhood have been using to dampen the waves so they aren’t affected by them.”

“That’s great, so we have no need to fear the Tottalax anymore.”  I said as I relaxed.

“That’s not exactly true; as you will recall our replicators cannot reproduce or replicate certain substances, like solbidyum or solbidnite; the materials needed to make the devices to dampen the effect of the sleep weapon can’t be replicated, and we need to get it from its source, a planet in the Snoate system called… Winsdor.”  I noted A’Lappe hesitate as he said the planet’s name.

“Is there something I should know about this planet that I don’t?” I asked.

“It’s outside Federation space and is under the control of the Brotherhood,” A’Lappe said.

“And let me guess. It's also clear across the Federation from here as well?” 

A’Lappe shrugged, “I’m afraid so, Tibby.  I do have a team heading there with materials to set up a Cantolla gate once they arrive, but you’re going to require a pretty substantial force to take the planet.  It’s heavily fortified, and the Brotherhood has a lot of ships in that sector.  Right now we have enough of the material that we can make the devices and supply one of the three fleets with them, but that’s it.”

“Are you positive this is where they get the material to make their protective headgear they wear to counteract the Tottalax weapon?” I asked.

“I’m sure of it,” he replied.

“If we can get the gate close enough to the planet for a lot of our ships to get through and have a ready ground force, we could take the planet.  With the War Power Act in effect, we no longer are constrained from engaging in battle outside the Federation with the enemy, so if we can take the planet and hold it, not only will we have access to the protection we need from the Tottalax weapon, but we will be cutting the Brotherhood off from the supply as well,” I said.  “I need to get back to the
DUSTEN
, but we need to talk about this some more.  Good work as always, A’Lappe.”

As soon as I got back on the
DUSTEN
I called a meeting with Marranalis, Captain Wanoll and Captain Sokaia.  “I’ve just gotten some news that may help us defend against the Tottalax,” I began.  “The materials we need to make the headgear to block their weapon, whatever it is, is to be found on a planet called Winsdor in the Snoate system.  Marranalis, see if you can pull it up for us on the vid screen,” I said as I continued on.  “This planet is outside the Federation territories, but it is under the control of the Brotherhood and under the War Powers Act, we are permitted to pursue and attack enemy bases regardless of their location, inside or outside of the Federation.  It’s far off on the other side of the Federation, but we have a team taking materials for a Cantolla gate there to set up.  Once it is, I want to send through a small fleet, as well as ground troops.  I want to secure the planet, denying the Brotherhood access to its materials and also making it possible to produce headgear that will protect our own troops.  We’ve obtained enough head gear from captured Brotherhood ships to supply about one third of our troopers here, but we need enough to supply the entire Federation military.

“Captain Sokaia, I want you to get as much intelligence about Winsdor as you can.  Get with Wabussie at the FSO and see if he has any intelligence that will help us, I want a full-scale sweeping assault that will take the planet quickly.  There are likely to be a lot of Brotherhood ships in the area to defend the planet, so we will need to be prepared for action almost immediately on arrival at Winsdor.  Captain Wanoll, I leave it to you to develop a battle strategy to deal with any ships that may come to the planet's defense.  We have time to develop our strategies; it’s going to be months before we are able to get Cantolla gates set up near Winsdor to transport our ships there for the attack.”

Once my meeting was over, I returned to my suite aboard the
DUSTEN. 
I was expecting to see Kala and Jenira chasing the twins about the room, but instead I found Jenira and one of her women swords bearers sitting on the floor with Reidecor and Lunnie.  Jenira tended to both children who, to my surprise, sat intently listening to the Oriental lady reading a story to them.  Usually, children aren’t really interested in stories before they learn to speak, so I was intrigued that they were so patiently listening.  Then I realized that Jenira had hand puppets and was mimicking the actions of the characters in the story as her companion read.  I went into the bedroom expecting to find Kala in a state of exhaustion, but she was nowhere to be found.  I returned to the main room and asked, “Excuse me, but where is Kalana?”

“First Citizen Kalana has gone to prepare for a meeting tomorrow with the leaders of Kendrop and Gochian,” Jenira’s assistant said.

“Jenira, does Kala know about your sword battle tomorrow?” I asked.

Jenira stopped and gave me a serious look before signing, “No, I felt it best she not know.  I do not wish her to fret about the matter; besides, I will be the victor.”

“But what if you aren’t?” I asked, “This Ruwallie Rasson is a master with the swords.  He is not Kerabac or Padaran.  He is a master.  You are taking a great risk.”

Jenira looked at me with a fierce stubborn look in her eye.  “Why do you have so little faith in me?  Have I not always proven my skill to you?  Have I ever failed?  You must have faith in me.”  And then quickly she added, “and if I should lose a hand I will have another regrown, and I will know I must study and practice even harder.”

I shook my head and walked away, there was no way I was going to win this argument with her, and I knew it.

The next-day Kerabac was waiting for me as I arrived through the Cantolla gate on the
NEW ORLEANS
.  “Tibby, you can’t go to the surface in your admiral’s uniform and with a contingent of Federation troopers’ body guarding you.  Remember Goo’Waddle is not a Federation world and your appearance in your uniform with armed troopers would likely set off an incident.”

“You’re probably right, but I can’t let Jenira go there and fight a duel and not be there.”  I answered.

“Then I suggest you wear a mercenary black uniform and use security from here on the
NEW ORLEANS
.  Padaran has enlisted several Ruwallie Rasson as members of your crew, specifically for our security team, and if you were to go to the planet with them as your guards with you dressed as a mercenary, I don’t think anyone will pay you too much consideration.”