Solbidyum Wars Saga 7: Hunt for the Reduviids (16 page)

“The attackers seem to have left the scene, but we’ve lost all contact with the boys and Jenira’s Women with Swords.  Our last message was they were taking shelter inside a cave.  The storm is still raging here and it’s believed it could last for another 12 hours,” Kala said wearily, I could see the signs of concern on her face.

“I’ll be right there”, I said, “The battles ended here.  I'm going to leave it to Marranalis to fill in Admiral Regeny with details until I get back.”

“Regeny’s not going to like that,” Kala said.

“Yeah, well that’s tough.  I don’t think he’s going to fire me,” I said.  “I’ll be at the estate in a few minutes.”

As soon as I reached the estate, I donned water repellant fatigues and with a team of security people led by Padaran and my four off ship Federation bodyguards, we ventured out into the storm to find the missing boys and their Women with Swords bodyguards.  The storm was nothing short of a cyclone, with wind speeds of about 80 kph.  The driving rain made it hard to see and the slippery mud in the path coupled with the wind made it nearly impossible to walk; we all slipped and fell many times.  “Sir, do you think this is wise?”  One of my guards shouted to me after a tree snapped mid-section and crashed on the path in front of us.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s wise or not,” I shouted back, “my son’s out there and I’m not stopping until I find him."

At one point, where the path runs along the edge of a sheer drop-off that overlooks the cove, we nearly lost a man when he slipped and slid toward the precipice; luckily Padaran grabbed his hand and prevented him from going over the side.  Twice we needed to stop and huddle together because the rain was blinding and we could not see more than two meters at best.

We were soaked even though wearing water repellent clothing and we were cold as the temperature outside was about 12C.  The only thing preventing us from getting hyperthermia was our movement.  Under normal conditions the trip to the upper lake where the boys had their treehouse took about thirty minutes; on this occasion it took us nearly three hours and it was starting to get darker as night was approaching.  Fortunately, we got a little break with the wind and the rain was no longer as heavy, but when we arrived at the treehouse my feelings sank, as the building had been ripped from the tree and lay shattered on the ground.  I was glad the boys hadn’t been in the structure when it came down, but now the question was, where was the cave they had used to take shelter?  I was unaware of any caves on the estate.  I didn’t think it would be too far from the treehouse, but most of the terrain nearby was relatively flat in the area near the lake.  I doubted the cave would be here, or that the cave would be lower than the water level of the lake, so it had to be on higher ground.  That left only one area, a place where a mound of rock jutted up by the lake.

It was Padaran who found the semblance of a path leading along the edge of the shore that headed toward the rocks and suggested that if the boys traveled to the cave frequently enough, it would have made a path.  With nothing more than this to go on, we followed the trail to the rock outcrop where it ended on the hard rocky surface.

“Everyone spread out; check every crevice and nook in the rocks.  The cave must be here somewhere,” I shouted out.

Padaran had gotten the frequency for the com links used by the Women with Swords’ bodyguards with the boys and tried to reach them, but there was no response.  I was starting to worry that something bad had happened.  It was nearly dark now and we were using lights we had brought with us in our search.  I stood up looking at the horizon and the edge of the rock near where it jutted up along the shore of the lake, when I spotted one of my security team waving their light and pointing to a section of rock.  By now, the wind had died down enough that I could run the distance between us, though I did have to climb a few rocks and make a few detours.  I arrived about the same time Padaran did and we looked where the trooper pointed and noticed a descending groove in the rock about a meter wide that vanished into a hole in the rock side about two meters lower.  I didn’t wait for anyone else to arrive; I immediately descended, calling out Reide’s name as I did.

When I reached the bottom of the decline, I needed to duck a little as I entered the cavern.  Inside it opened up into a larger room; I moved my light about, surveying the area but didn’t see any sign of life.  I looked down and saw a stream of water flowing down the incline and deeper into the cave and I followed it with my light in the direction of the flow.  I was feeling hopeless when accidentally my beam hit a soft patch of mud laid down by the stream and there I saw footprints.  Someone clearly went this way.  By now, Padaran joined me and my trooper guards as well.  I called out Reide’s name one more time and heard it echo through the cavern. I waited and then I heard, “Dad, we’re back here!”  I let out a hard gasp of air; never had I heard any sound as sweet and dear as the sound of his voice at that moment.

“Are you all right?”  I shouted back.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” he yelled.  “Wait a minute and we’ll come out.  It would be hard for you to find us.”  Minutes later, two very muddy boys and four equally as dirty Women with Swords’ bodyguards came crawling out of one of the small openings in the wall.  Each of them carried a light and I saw that the women carried canteens as well.  Reide immediately rushed across the cave and hugged me tightly; he looked up at me with his mud-smeared face beaming.  “Dad, it was so cool.  Monokoce got word from Jenira that the estate was under attack and we came here to hide.  Rory and I found this cave and we knew the bad guys would never find us here," he gushed out.  He looked at everyone around us and quickly got serous.  “Is Mom all right?”

“Yes, your mother and your sister are all right,” I said.  “But, there is a bad storm outside right now and we may have to wait a bit for it to calm down before we can head back to the estate.”

“Yeah, we know about the storm.  We thought maybe it was safe to leave a while ago, but when Monokoce tried to contact Jenira, her radio would not work here inside the cave and she went out to try to call, but the storm had started and she had to come back in with us.  We were going to try again in the morning.”

“Padaran, tell one of the men to go outside and to contact Jenira and Kala and let them know we found everyone and all are safe,” I said.

“Already done,” Padaran said with a smile, I notified them as soon as I saw they all were safe.”

“Dad,” Reide began, “did the Brotherhood actually attack the estate?”

“Yes Son, they did.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“I’m afraid so, but no one in the house was hurt.”

“Why did they attack the house?” Rory asked from beside Reide.

“They are bad men, with bad ideas and they try to hurt people who don’t let them do what they want to do,” I answered.

“Sir,”, Monokoce spoke up; she was one of Jenira’s Women with Swords, “did they also attacked the Capitol?”

“No, but they did attack Alle Bamma and Sectors 2 and 3 at the same time.  We’ve been battling them for over a day now.  The battles have ended for the moment; I think.”

“Did we win?” she asked hopefully.”

“In war no one ever truly wins,” I said, “however, the Federation is still free and no part of it fell to the Brotherhood this day.  I'm afraid a lot of good men, women and friends died today to keep us free.”

A lot of men, women and good friends died today to keep us free;
the words echoed in my head after I said them.  I instantly was stricken with deep feelings of grief.  Stonbersa died in the battle.  Stonbersa, one of the kindest men I ever knew.  I recalled his reactions on first seeing the
NEW ORLEANS
and his absolute delight when I made him captain.  The reverence and awe he showed when he first saw the
TRITYTE
.  Stonbersa, who had been forced out of the military by a corrupt senior officer, only to come back again to become one of the highest ranking officers as Admiral of the Second Fleet and now he was gone. 

I wondered if I should blame myself.  I had wanted all my fleet admirals to have the new carriers as their flagships for many reasons, not the least of which was they were safer.  However, Stonbersa balked and wanted a starship as his flagship; it was a decision that had cost him his life.  It made me realize that both Admiral Regeny and Admiral Wabussie both currently had stationed themselves aboard the
DUSTEN
and were using it as their headquarters.  I was hoping that now with the new space station set up as the Capitol, they would move their headquarters there, where it was safer.  Starships no longer represented the safest place to be.

“Dad,” Reide’s voice broke my reverie, “this cave reminds me of the story you told us about you and Kerabac spending the night inside the tree on Alle Bamma, with Hotyona.”

I laughed, “We were a lot wetter that time.  We didn’t have clothing that wicks the moisture away from our bodies, keeping us dry like this outfit does and we don’t have any rubloids biting us here.”

The heavy rain lasted most of the night.  Several of my security team and the troopers broke out packets of rations that they shared with the boys.  Reide told me how the Women with Swords had gotten them to come down from the treehouse when they received word the estate was under attack.  They were afraid the Brotherhood might set ground forces down that would locate the boys and they needed to hide.  The boys immediately thought about the cave.  They had found it weeks earlier and thought it to be a secret, though the Women with Swords knew about it from following the boys.  It was the best and closest hiding place and a location easy to defend from within.  The storm was brewing when they arrived at the cave, but once the storm began, they decided to retreat deeper into the cave, only to discover their radios would not work there. We didn’t have any sleeping gear with us and we sat on rocks strewn about the floor of the cave.  It was far from comfortable, but it was better than being outside in the rain.

By morning, the storm had passed and the skies were clearing off; there still was a stiff breeze and it was a bit chilly.  The troopers had provided the boys with emergency blankets much like the emergency Mylar space blankets from back on Earth, only these were more like extremely fine silk.  Despite their thinness and light weight, they were very warm and the boys were quite comfortable wrapped in them.

We had to detour from the path several times on the way back to the estate house, as there were numerous trees across the path.  At one point, near where one of our men had nearly gone over the side of the cliff the day before, the path was washed away completely, but after two hours, we reached the estate.

On seeing Reide safe, Kala immediately ran to him and hugged and kissed him, getting mud all over herself and her clothing.  Jenira, on the other hand, stood frowning and began signing her irritations about nearly everything from the lack of communication to the dirt on both boys.  Her ire didn’t bother Reide in the least and he laughed and ran and hugged her.  While she feigned disgust at his getting her muddy; I could see the faint smile on her lips and the liquid in her eyes as he embraced her.

“Tib,” Kala said as she came and hugged me, “Admiral Regeny has been calling every hour since you left to hunt for Reide.”

“Did you explain to him what was going on here?”  I said with minor irritation.

“Yes!  Don’t worry, Tib, he’s not upset that you came here to look for Reide.  He understands that.  He’s concerned and wants to know what’s happening.  I sent him a message that you found the boys and everything is all right here. He wants you to talk to him as soon as you can.”

I sighed, “Well I guess I should go see him and give a report on the battles,” I said.  “However, I’ll be damned if I’m going to shower and change before I do.  Let him see what hell I’ve been through the past few days.”

When I entered Regeny’s office minutes later, the shocked look on his face said it all. “By the stars, man, you look terrible.  When did you sleep last?”

“Honestly, Admiral, I don’t know.  Two days ago, maybe longer,” I said as I dropped down into his chair.  I almost raised my muddy boots up and set them on his desk, but I figured that might be pushing it a bit far.

“Kala informed me that your boy is safe.  I’m glad to hear that, “he began.  “Bad thing about Stonbersa, he was a great man.  What went wrong, Tibby, how did the Brotherhood get through to the
PRIZAMET
?

“Stonbersa ordered the launch of more fighters from his hangars.  He assumed all the Brotherhood was far enough away from the ship that there was no risk of being hit.  He didn’t realize that several cloaked enemy ships were waiting; and as soon as they saw ships leaving, they knew the RMFF was off and they targeted the hangars.  From what we can tell, they managed to take out the bridge in minutes.”

“I thought that your fellow A’Lappe had found a way to launch ships that minimized the RMFF down cycle to a fraction of a second.”

“He has and we have it on all the carriers, but it doesn’t work for starships with only two hangars.  You’d never be able to get ships in any number launched with that system from a starship.”

“So the same thing could happen here with the
DUSTEN
?”  Regeny asked nervously.

“Yes, if the RMFF is dropped to launch a group of ships and there is an enemy sitting nearby targeting the hangars.  That’s why I wanted you and Wabussie to use carriers for your headquarters instead of a starship,” I said with some irritation.