Solbidyum Wars Saga 6: Defeat of the Tottalax (44 page)

Just as Kerabac and I were about to enter the Cantolla Gate that would take us first to the transfer hub station, and then back to the
NEW ORLEANS
, Jenira came up to me and signed that she wished to return to the
NEW ORLEANS
with Padaran.  She hurriedly added that the ship was too large for one person to fly.  I told her that would be fine, knowing fully well, she just wanted to spend the time with Padaran.  As she rushed off to tell Padaran that she would be returning with him, Kerabac said to me, "Tibby, you do know that I told Padaran I would be sending several crewmen from the
NEW ORLEANS
to help fly the ship back, don’t you?”

“Yes, I was there when you told Padaran, but Jenira wasn’t,” I said with a grin.  Kerabac looked at me with a grin as we both stepped through the gate and onto the space station hub, accompanied by the security team made of up of Ruwallie Rasson men on my ship.

I was barely aboard the
NEW ORLEANS,
when Marranalis contacted me saying Admiral Regeny had been calling him every ten minutes wanting to know the results of the
Sith lubnol,
and insisting I contact him as soon as I returned.  No sooner did I get through to Regeny than he asked, “How did it turn out; is Padaran all right?”

“Let me put it this way,” I began just to torment Regeny a bit, “Padaran is now the owner of another estate on Goo’Waddle, and also of a very sleek, and luxurious spaceship as well.”

“What?  How?  Tibby, by the stars, don’t leave me hanging here, I need details man, details!"  Regeny fumed.

I laughed and then filled Regeny in on all the details.  Of course, I had a vid of the entire contest that I had brought back with me, and I promised Regeny that as soon as I had a chance to get to my study, I would make him a copy and send it to him.

“Tibby," Regeny began just before I disconnected the link with him, "just how much is Padaran worth now?  I mean I know that as Dormon of the Ruwallie Rasson, after beating Tondor and also killing that other Ruwallie Rasson who tried to assassinate him , that he acquired a good bit of wealth; but now with this, the boy must be quite well off.”

“He’s not hurting, Admiral, but he did give a considerable bit of the wealth away from the first two.  He refused to take Tondor’s money or estate, though he does hold title to it.  He paid all of Tondor’s slaves at the time, the money that they would have earned had they been free and working for Tondor.  As for the money from Jadong’s estate, Padaran distributed most of it to Jadong’s slaves, and then hired them to run the estate in his absence.  I’ll bet he’s done the same with Frigbot’s slaves.”

Regeny stammered, “I didn’t know about all that.  I knew he’d freed the slaves and hired many of them to stay on with pay, but I didn’t know about the other part.  Damn, Tibby, you make me even prouder of the boy.  He’s never mentioned any of this to me.  Where is he now?  Back on the
NEW ORLEANS
, or still on Goo’Waddle?”

“He’s on Goo’Waddle; he and Jenira will be flying his ship to the nearest interstellar Cantolla Gate and then on to the
NEW ORLEANS,
” I said.

I heard Regeny chuckle, “He and Jenira, huh.  I have to admit, Tibby, they make an interesting couple.  I wonder if she has ever spoken to Padaran?  It’s a shame she won’t speak.”

“Well she did briefly before she killed Shydak, but she said it was only because she wanted him to know who it was that was killing him,” I said.

“You know, Tibby, you’re a very strange catalyst in the Federation.  People you become associated with seem to excel at becoming great.  Until they met you, they all were good people, but somehow you bring out the greatness in them.”

“Admiral, I can’t take any credit for that, believe me.  It's just pure dumb luck that has these great people working for me.”

“Well, without a doubt you’re the luckiest person I have ever known,” Regeny laughed.

I had to repeat the story of Padaran’s contest as soon as I got back to my suite.  Kala greeted me with a concerned face that rapidly turned to a smile when I told her Padaran had won, and he was all right.  She did frown when I told her that he’d beheaded Frigbot when he attacked from behind after being defeated.  She laughed when I told her about Jenira saying she needed to help Padaran bring the
PINGOT
back to the
NEW ORLEANS
, and she commented, “Jenira will say anything for an excuse to be with Padaran; anything but the truth.  I wonder why she tries to act as though no one knows the two of them like each other. As though it’s some big secret.

“How long will it be before they get back?  I’ll need someone to help with the twins,” Kala finished.

“About two days,” I said, “if everything goes as it should.”

Just then my com link beeped, and I answered, “Tibby here.”

“Admiral, this is Verona.  “A message has just come in from the Ruwallie Rasson ship near Maisha.  They have reached the asteroid and are firing on it, trying to break it up, but they say they aren’t having much success.  Their weapons are mostly for defense and not all that powerful.  The asteroid is about a day away from hitting the planet, and they doubt they will be able to break it up enough to prevent it from doing serious damage to Maisha.”

“Tell them to keep firing on it and break it up into as many smaller pieces as they can.  Hopefully, a lot of those pieces will burn up entering their atmosphere, and the smaller pieces will do less overall damage.  Have they warned the planet about what’s coming?”

“Their captain said they have contacted the space station on Maisha, but most of the planet is without communication, as they are minimalists, and many of the parts of the planet don’t even have electricity.  Communication there is very slow and news is delayed often for weeks.”

“So in all likelihood, the majority of the people on the planet have no idea what’s coming.”  I said, more to myself than to anyone else.

“Thanks, Verona, keep me updated if there is any more news from them.”

After disconnecting with Verona, I had Marranalis contact Admirals Wabussie, Regeny, Stonbersa, Kophious ,and Captain Slater, and set up a meeting for the next morning.

When I finished talking to Marranalis, I looked up and saw Kala sitting patiently in a chair looking at me.  It took me a few seconds to realize that we had been in the middle of a conversation earlier when we were interrupted.

“Kala, I’m sorry, “I began, “I can’t seem to finish one thing before I have another demanding my attention.”

“I understand, Tib.  However, I worry about you.  You’re under too much stress all the time, and it doesn’t leave up for you.”  Then she grinned, “Why don’t you go to the kids’ playroom; they are building something out of blankets and chairs.  Reide calls it his spaceship; why don’t you go in there and play with them for a while, and I’ll stall anyone trying to reach you unless it’s a matter of life or death.”

“You know, that sounds like a great idea,” I said as I headed toward the kids’ playroom.”

The kids’ play room was nothing like any playroom I’d seen on Earth.  It was more the size of a small house with an assortment of furniture designed for kids, a vid screen on the wall, and toys the likes of which kids in my days on Earth would have drooled over.  So what did Lunnie and Reidecor like to play with most?  Blankets and chairs that they would improvise into houses, ships, caves and whatever their little minds could dream of.  Reide would take apart other toys and reassemble the pieces to create things from his own mind.  Most of them, I had no idea what they were supposed to be, but they functioned in some fashion that delighted Reide.  Lunnie would often make suggestions, but she usually was more content to let Reide make the new stuff, and then she would play with it.

“Daddy, come see the ship me and Reide made,” Lunnie said when I entered the room.

“Come in our ship and fly with us, Daddy.  We’re going to see the horses,” Reide said.

“You’re going to fly all the way to go back to our estate?  “I asked, playing along with them.  “You’re not going to go through the Cantolla Gates?”

“No Daddy, we want to fly,” Lunnie said.

“But it’s a long trip, and you’ll need food,” I said.

“We got a sin-sizer,” Reide said.

“A food synthesizer? Does it work?” I asked teasing him.

“Daddy!” Lunnie said, “It’s just pretend.”

“Oh, I see,” I said as I crawled under the blanket they had strung over some chairs.

“You need to sit over here, Daddy.  That's the food sin-sizer,” Reidecor said.

I spent about 40 minutes playing with the twins, and I have to admit I had a great time with them.  I was amazed by their imagination and creativity.  I noted that Lunnie’s language skills were still more developed than Reide’s, but his understanding of science and mechanics baffled me, and I wondered if this might be something he also inherited through Kala, as both her parents had been scientists.

“All right, everyone,” Kala called out later, “It’s time for dinner.  Piesew has prepared a wonderful meal for us.”

“Yay,” both Lunnie and Reidecor yelled as they ran off quickly, while I tried to untangle myself from the blankets and chairs.  From the dining room, I could hear Piesew’s voice.  “Master Riedecor and Mistress Luinella, it is proper that young ladies and gentlemen wash their hands before they eat.”

“I’m not gentlemen,” Reidecor blurted out, “I’m captain.”

“Ah, yes well, then you will have to wash your hands twice as much,” Piesew said, “As captain's hands get twice as dirty.”

“Oh, grumple bottoms, ”Reidecor said, as he headed to the lavatory.

“Grumple bottoms?”  I said, inquisitively looking at Kala.

“It’s something the kids on the ships say,” Kala said, “I’m not sure if a grumple is an animal, or what.  I don’t think the kids know, either.”

The next morning I arrived early at the meeting room, just off the War Room on the
MAXETTE,
as I needed a little time to go over what I wanted to discuss with everyone.  It seemed to me, we were barely holding our own in the fight against the Brotherhood; and while they had suffered heavy losses in the past, their attacks were growing both in numbers and in strength.  At best, we were barely holding things together against them while making no real progress about stopping them outright.  I had a fair idea what I wanted to say and hoped to accomplish with the meeting, but I needed to make sure I had it all properly sorted out.  Stonbersa and Kophious arrived first, and moments later Admirals Wabussie and Regeny came in with Captain Slater.  After foccee had been served, I began the meeting.

“I trust all of you have been reading your morning updates,” I began, looking at Admiral Regeny who usually was a day or so behind with his.  He smiled at me and nodded.

“The first matter I wish to mention is my going to Weccies; while it’s not something I want to do, I see the value in it, and I’ll go.  We still have the
SOKAIA
there, and she’s equipped with a Cantolla Gate, so we won’t need to have another ship fly there for me to make the visit.  What I want to discuss with you all is our providing the Weccies with cloaking technology and new reactor technology.  If they are going to be able to defend their planet against the Brotherhood, they will need cloaking and RMFF technology as well as 10X reactor technology, or higher.”

“Ah, excuse me, Admiral, just what do you mean by higher?”  Stonbersa asked.

“I mean either a solbidnite reactor, or a solbidyum reactor,” I replied.

“But we can’t just give them solbidyum.  It's restricted and regulated by the Federation,” Stonbersa exclaimed.

“True, but solbidnite isn’t, and I could give them enough of it to meet their needs,” I answered.

“That may not go over very well with the Senate," Regeny spoke up.

“No, it may not, but unlike the solbidyum, the solbidnite doesn’t belong to the Federation, nor does the reactor design.  If we’re going to form an alliance with the Weccies, we need to share the technology needed to keep them as safe as us, and equally armed to do it as well.”

I could see the men at the table weighing what I was saying.  “If we don’t supply them with the technology, we will be obligated to having a fleet of ships tied up there until the war is over just to protect the planet, and all the monies stored there.'

“All right, I can see that,” Regeny said finally.

“Good, I hope you see the next part as well.  We need to share the same technology with the Ruwallie Rasson as well,” I added.

“WHAT!  Have you forgotten what the Ruwallie Rasson are?”  Regeny said jumping out of his chair.  “Why, they're nothing but a bunch of thieving pirates.  Who knows what they will do if they have that technology?  No!  We can’t allow that to happen,” he said, red faced.

“So, Admiral, you’re saying your nephew Padaran is a thieving pirate because he is their leader; and if they can’t be trusted, then he can’t either?”  I asked.

“Well, no…, but by the stars, man, they’re pirates!”

“They WERE pirates,” I said, ”Other than for Brotherhood ships they attack, there have been no incidents of piracy by the Ruwallie Rasson since your nephew became their leader over four years ago,” I reminded him.  “Since then they have fought the Brotherhood with us and have participated in trade between planets.  I think we owe it to them, to at least provide them with technology that matches what the Brotherhood is using against them.  Furthermore, let me point out that at this very moment, out there in space, a Ruwallie Rasson ship is trying its best to pulverize an asteroid small enough so it won’t kill everyone on Maisha when it hits.  Without them, Maisha would be totally doomed.  As it is, they will be able to reduce the asteroid in size enough that at least some of the people on Maisha will survive.  I think we owe it to the Ruwallie Rasson.  Besides, the Brotherhood already has the technology, except the Cantolla Gates, in their hands, even if they can’t figure it all out.”