Solbidyum Wars Saga 7: Hunt for the Reduviids (30 page)

“Tib, I wasn’t expecting you.  If I’d have known you were coming home for lunch, I would have been here.”

Behind me, I could hear the twins arguing as Lunnie chased Reide down the hall.

Kala laughed, “Well, I see those two are back to normal.  I wasn’t able to watch Tonclin’s speech this morning; how did it go?”

“He and the other leaders are recommending to the Senate that they deny Syndrop’s and Porporat’s request to secede and that we bolster up security in the area and establish large bases on each planet.  We’re hoping that both worlds will retract their requests to secede once they see the details of our plan.”

“Tib, I am so proud of you.  I can’t believe you and Marranalis sat up all night putting this plan together in a workable fashion.  However, I worry that you are putting too much strain on yourself.  Your eyes are all dark and baggy this morning and you look run down."”

“Well I must admit I am tired,” I said.  “I’ll try to finish up early today and get home as soon as possible.  However, for now, I need to be getting back to work.”

Marranalis was back on duty when I returned to the
MAXETTE
and looking refreshed after his nap.  He gave me a questioning look when I entered and I gave him a slight nod and smile to let him know all was well.

“Good afternoon, Admiral,” he said.

“Captain, I hope you rested well.”

“I did, sir, thank you.”

“Anything new to report?”  I asked.

“Yes, sir, a message came in moments before you arrived from Admiral Wabussie.  He said our agents on Epsirt reported that government officials showed up at the estate and were upset because their drone had been shot down.  They are demanding that the estate turn over all weapons.”

“What did our people do?”  I asked.

“I don’t know, sir.  That was all the information that the Admiral gave me.”

“All right, let me get in my office and I’ll give him a call.”

“I entered my office and activated the vid screen and entered the codes to call Wabussie. A few seconds went by, during which time I stared at the image of Federation seal and the words
Calling Admiral Wabussie
displayed on the screen.  I was about to give up and try again later when the image changed and I saw Wabussie sitting in his office chair.

“Admiral, I’m, sorry for the delay in answering,” he said.  I was giving orders to our people on Epsirt when you called.  We have a bit of a mess there at the moment.”

“So I hear, I was calling to find out the extent of it,” I replied.

“It’s pretty much like we anticipated; the government officials showed up there earlier today demanding to know who shot down their drone.  Whereupon Norcar’s head of the estate, who happens to be one of our people, asked them which one of the three drones they’d shot down was theirs.  This of course, caused a lot of controversy with the government officials, who said their drone had been shot down illegally; and our people saying that they have the right to privacy and legal right to defend that privacy, as well as their airspace over the estate.  Of course, the government insists that their drone was not over the estate when shot down and plead ignorance of the other two drones, though they did seem surprised that there were two others and not just one other.  Our agent pointed out that their drone was shot down over the middle of the estate, which put it clearly outside authorized areas for the government drone, unless they had a special warrant and justifiable cause to be spying on the estate.

“The government also wanted to confiscate all weapons on the estate. Our people said no way; as until such time as it could be proven a law had been broken, they were entitled to keep them.  Our people did cooperate with them with regards to showing them the defensive forces used to track and shoot down the drones.  It was all standard gear used all across the galaxy by private security forces and none of it is Federation gear.  They also took the names of everyone on the estate and checked their documents; though they already had that information.  I suspect they were comparing it with what they had, to make sure that no one was there that wasn’t part of the original visas provided for Norcar’s staff.  In the end they left with veiled threats about shooting down their drone.  I doubt anything will come of this and my bet it that it was all deliberate, so they could get in the estate and check out everyone there and make sure that the estate is for Norcar’s use and not of some nefarious activity.  Our agent has prepared a report and document that is being forwarded to Norcar, which we hope he will sign; then our agents will file a complaint with the government for illegal spying and intrusion to his private estate.  It will be forwarded directly to the Sovereign Leader on Epsirt and I suspect that there will be a quick apology from the government and that will be the last we will hear of them.”

“What about the other two drones?”  I asked.

“One of them is a Brotherhood drone for sure.  The third is a mystery and we’ve no idea where it came from.  So far, no one has shown up complaining about either of those two drones being shot down.  It is interesting to note that the government agents that showed up at the estate wanted to take both of those drones into custody as well; but our people refused to allow it and told them they could only take the drone they claimed to be their own.”

“What can you tell me about the drones?”  I asked.

“I’m sending you a report with images,” Wabussie answered.  “You should have it in about an hour or two.  What I can tell you now is that both the Federation drone and the one we believe to be the Brotherhood’s are of similar design and both equipped with laser weapons capable of targeting and killing someone on the ground.  The third drone was equipped with cameras and was a cheap commercial model sold only on a few worlds and all of them in the general vicinity of Epsirt.”

“Thanks, Admiral,” I said, “Keep me informed of any new developments.”

“You’ll be the first to know anything I find out.  By the way, congratulations on the plan you put together and sent to Leader Tonclin.  I looked it over this morning and it’s brilliant.  I think you may have saved us on this one.  We would be in a bad situation if those worlds seceded and the Brotherhood moved in and took control of them.”

I was still feeling a bit tired after I finished talking to Wabussie and I didn’t have anything demanding my immediate attention at that moment, so I notified Marranalis that no one was to be admitted and I was taking a brief nap.  With that accomplished, I adjusted my chair, which had reclining capabilities and once comfortably positioned, quickly went to sleep.

I slept for about an hour and when I awoke I felt much better.  I contacted Marranalis and asked if there were any new developments while I was asleep; he said that a lawyer had called wanting to know why I had not returned his call.  It took me a moment to realize that days earlier I had received a call from an attorney about Stonbersa’s estate and I had forgotten about it entirely.

“Can you call him back for me and put the call through to my office?” I asked.

“Yes, sir,” he replied.

A moment later, the image of a thin man in a gray Nehru-style suit appeared on my screen.

“Admiral Tibby, I am Attorney Faypol, executor of Admiral Stonbersa’s personal estate.  You were named in his will to be the recipient of a boxed item, along with a letter.  I need to get your authorization to send it to you and your acknowledgement that you have been informed of his request.”

“Thank you, Attorney Faypol.  What do you need me to do?” I asked, feeling a bit confused.

“All I need is your verbal acknowledgement and a retinal scan to go with it and I will see to it the items are delivered to your estate, unless you wish it sent somewhere else.”

“No, my estate will be fine,” I said.  I followed Faypol’s directions in providing my verbal approval and eye scan and disconnected from the vid screen.  What could Stonbersa have left me, I wondered?

I had told Kala I would be home early and I returned to our suite earlier than usual.  As soon as I entered, I knew immediately that this was not going to be an ordinary night.  The only sound in the place was some soothing smooth jazz music that had been brought from Earth.  I listened, but didn’t hear any sounds of Lunnie or Reidecor.  The lights had been dimmed and candles were lit about the room.  Strange, I thought, how in both the Federation and back on old Earth candlelight was considered as being romantic.

“I’ve been expecting you,” Kala’s voice called to me from the other room.  There was a sultry tone in her voice that promised an even more interesting event to come.  I walked into the next room to find Kala dressed in a stunning low-cut black dress that left very little to the imagination. 

“I’ve had Piesew prepare a special dinner for us this evening.  Are you hungry?” Kala purred.

“I don’t know,” I said as I eyed her beauty.  “Right now I am tempted to go straight for the dessert.”

Kala laughed, “No.  You have to eat dinner first.  Piesew went to a lot of effort getting Anabur Korsak legs and a good Oreon wine for this meal.  Dessert will wait.”

“Where, if I dare ask, are the twins?”

“On our estate with Jenira and a host of Women with Swords,” said Kala.

“How did you ever get Lunnie to agree to go?  I would have thought she’d never leave the ship until her hair re-grew.”

“Oh Tib, it’s not that serious.  I took her back to the med unit today and Dr. Danjuma examined her and said it would be all right to dye her hair back to its natural color.  If you saw her now, you would never know what her hair looked like earlier.”

“I’m glad to hear that.  I don’t think Reide will forget it any time soon.”

“Okay, enough about the kids; I think we need to proceed to the dining room.  I'm starting to feel a little like dessert myself at the moment and I would hate to see this food go to waste,” Kala said as she took my hand and led me to the dining room.

The meal was superb.  And the dessert…?  Well, Kala and I were still feasting long past midnight on our own special desserts.  I’m not sure what Piesew had prepared; we never got to his desserts.

The following morning, I sparred with Padaran in the gym again.  Just as happened after my treatment a week earlier, I beat him the first two falls.  I saw him looking at me strangely as we started our third bout.

“Tibby, have you been doing something different?  Taking some performance enhancement drug perhaps?”

“Why would you ask something like that?”

“Well, it seems strange to me that you show such a rapid improvement and it tapers off until you’re back to your old level and then abruptly you’re unbeatable again.”

He was right; it was suspicious and I needed to be careful, lest I give away that I was taking treatments.  I lost the next bout deliberately and the next two after that.  “I guess I was lucky with the first two matches,” I said panting as though I was out of breath; I wasn’t.

“Maybe, but it seems strange to me,” Padaran answered, as he wiped the perspiration off his face with a towel.  I realized I wasn’t sweating and that alone would appear suspicious.  I hoped Padaran hadn’t noticed and I quickly excused myself and headed to the shower.

When I arrived back in the War Room on the
MAXETTE,
I found Marranalis waiting with a worried look on his face.

“I take it the news today isn’t good,” I said.

“It’s mixed.  The bad news is that there were 28 Reduviid attacks last night; all of them body bombers.  Nearly 3,000 citizens were killed and another 5,000 injured.”

“Where did this happen?”

“All over the Federation,” Marranalis said,” it wasn’t one planet, or place and all the attacks happened within a few moments of each other.”

“Bring up the star hologram and show me the planets where the attacks occurred.”

Twenty-eight brilliant yellow spots flared in the 3D hologram.

“They’re all over the place,” I exclaimed.  “In order for the Brotherhood to have been able to coordinate this and get all the bombers in place, they would have needed to use the Cantolla Gates to situate terrorists properly – either that, or this was organized years ago.”

“I agree,” Marranalis said, “or the Brotherhood now has gates of their own.  Admiral, I think you should know one of the worlds attacked was Nibaria.”

“WHAT!” I exclaimed, “How is that possible?  Humans don’t go to the surface of Nibaria and the Brotherhood doesn’t recruit non-humans.”

“Maybe not, but they somehow managed to get a bomb, or two, on the surface and detonated them at the Nibarian Capitol.”

“Have we heard anything from Tonclin?  That’s his home world!”

“There was a request came in right before you arrived; he wishes to meet with you and Admirals Regeny and Wabussie in two hours.”

“By the stars, what next?”  I asked.

“That was the bad news.  The good news is that the Senate has voted not to accept the request for secession of Syndrop and Porporat at about the same time as both worlds announced the revocation of their requests, on the conditions that the terms you proposed were implemented.”

“Well that’s good; now we need to get those actions started immediately before the Brotherhood makes some move of retaliation.  Say, you don’t think that was their reason for these attacks, do you?”