Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (21 page)

He moved
forward quickly grabbing me by the arm, which was precisely what I had hoped he would do. Instead of pulling away from him I move into him catching him off balance, placing one of my feet on top of his causing him to fall backward.  As he fell I was able to take the restraints from his other hand and snap it to his arm I was holding. I then managed to spin him so he landed on his side with his free hand up. With one quick move I attached the restraint to his other arm and he was left helpless on the floor with his hands restrained behind his back. The entire demonstration took place in the blink of an eye and was followed by gasps all around the room.  I removed his restraints and helped him to his feet, he was red faced and a bit shaken. 

“S
ergeant, please take your knife and attack me,” the Sergeant looked at the Admiral with a questioning look.  The Admiral gave an approving nod towards the Sergeant. Unlike Marranalis on the
DUSTEN
the sergeant pulled his knife out of its scabbard.

“I want you to really try and hurt me any way you can
,” I said confidently.

It was almost a repeat performance of
the demonstration on the
DUSTEN
. In just seconds the poor sergeant was lying on the floor with the knife at his throat.  On the platform I could hear Sgt. Marranalis say, “Now I don’t feel so bad,” as he chuckled.  All around the room people were on their feet in amazement. Applause broke out as I helped the defeated man back to his feet and thanked him as we walked back towards the table. Kala beamed looking at me and the Admiral said to me, “Looks like you got yourself a crew and I’m going to get a team of fighters. I wonder which of us is getting the better deal.” To which Kala replied, “I think all of us Admiral!”

Admiral
Regeny looked me over from head to foot and then announced to the room.   “Not a single wrinkle, amazing, simply amazing!” Once again applause rang out.

Later that night
in my room, with Kala lying in my arms, she asked teasingly, “Is there anything you cannot do?” 

“Yes” I said
, “I can’t stop loving you.”

The next morning we were awaken by the door chime and pounding on the door
, Kala activated the door and Lunnie came bouncing in, clearly excited “Come quickly you guys, you’ve got to see this! Hurry, hurry or you’ll miss it! No, no don’t waste time getting dressed, just get out here!”  Naked as a bunch of Kobolian binbaers Kala and I followed her into the common room where Lt. Reidecor and Sgt. Marranalis were seated looking a giant vid screen. 

On the screen images of the dinner the night before were being displayed
showing us as we were entering the great hall, a commentator was saying, “Members of the crew of the
DUSTEN
participated in the daring plan of the discoverer of the
TRITYTE. 
Here you can see Tibby, as he prefers to be called, Lt. Reidecor, Corporal Luinella, and Sgt. Marranalis. Now you can see coming down from the Captain’s table to join them Major Kalana, the attaché assigned to Tibby and part of the crew that brought the
TRITYTE
and the Solbidyum back to Megelleon.

It was revealed that during
their dramatic journey one of the crew identified as Corporal Lexmal gassed his fellow crew mates and hi-jacked the
TRITYTE
and the Solbidyum cargo.  He then met up with a Bunem freighter at a pre-determined rendezvous location where the
TRITYTE
was taken aboard.  We are told the crew of the
TRITYTE
were restrained and held on the Bunem freighter guarded by two armed guards.  Despite being even restrained Tibby managed, by means of a person to person combat system he calls martial arts, to subdue both armed guards and free his crew mates.  He then led a daring raid recapturing the
TRITYTE
within just a few hours of its hi-jacking.  I believe we have a segment of Tibby displaying some of these skills at the request of Admiral Regeny. Ahh yes, here it is, you can see a Federation trooper here approaching Tibby to try and restrain him.  Now watch, Ahh did you see it? Here it is again in slow motion, AMAZING! Now watch as the trooper attacks Tibby with a drawn knife. Unbelievable! Again in slow motion.  Truly amazing! We interviewed the trooper later and he said that nothing was faked and that he gave it his best effort but was quickly overpowered and subdued by Tibby.

We have been told that later today the Federation Senate is to bestow on
Tibby Honorary Citizenship in the Federation and that he is to be considered as a dignitary of the highest level within the Federation.  In addition, and in accordance to the finder’s reward that has existed for centuries, Tibby will receive full title to the
TRITYTE
as well as a down payment on the sales of the Solbidyum, after today Tibby will officially be the wealthiest man in the universe.

In related news, word of the discovery of the
TRITYTE
and the Solbidyum has created celebration in the streets on Megelleon as people of the Federation rejoice.  We anticipate that as other Federation planets receive the word that celebrations will be going there as well.”

Lt. Reidecor turned to me and said
, “Well Tibby, I think it’s pretty much official you are now top dog in the universe.   I guess officially now you are our boss also, so what do you want us to do?”

I was completely taken off guard by the request
, Kala put her arm around my naked waist and looked up in my eyes and said, “Yeah boss, what do you want us to do.”

I smiled and
said, “Well you can get back in the bedroom and I will show you, as for the rest of you, take the rest of the morning off. I’ll see you all at lunch. Oh yeah, somebody order lunch for us all!” and then I followed Kala back in the bedroom closing the door behind us.

Later as we were seated in the dining
area of our accommodations, eating a delicious brunch that Lunnie had ordered us, I said.  “We’ve been together for several weeks now and I just realized that I only know you by your last names or in the case of Kala and Lunnie their nicknames as well. I would like to know your full names.”  Everyone stopped eating and looked at me with their mouths still full of food, quite a comical picture really.

Kala swallowed and began
, “Tibby I never thought to explain it to you, only on a very few planets in the Federation do people have more than one name.  Unlike your planet where you have family names and middle names people here simply have one name or nickname.  It’s not that it’s unheard of to us, but it seldom happens.”

“But how?
“ I asked “How do people know to direct things to you, or refer to you so others know who you are? Surely there are other Kalana’s in the Federation and other Marranalis.  How do you differentiate?  Suppose I wanted to send a message to you on the
DUSTEN
and there was another Major Kalana onboard, how does anyone knows which one the message would go too?” 

“You would simply direct it to Major Kalana, attaché, Federation Star Ship
DUSTEN,
” she said matter of fact.  “Also we all have personal ID numbers that you can attach to our names.  For instance I am Kalana9549403956-GOS.”

“What does the GOS” signify I asked?

“Gosney, the planet I was born on of course.”

“Ah
h, ok I understand now, or sort of anyway.”

“Why do you have more than one name on your planet?”
Marranalis asked

“
I think basically it was a way of differentiating one individual from another. It seems like in the earlier history of my planet many people named their children with the same names.  For example James, but across the hill there might live another family who also names their son James.  The first James’s dad may have been Thom and the second James dad may have been a Blacksmith by profession, to differentiate between them one would be referred to as James Thom’s son and the second James the Smith’s son. Eventually these names got shortened to James Thomson and James Smith, and the last part of those names got carried on from generation to generation so all of the decedents of James Thomson had the Thomson name and all the decedents of James Smith had the Smith last name.   Middle names are tricky and I have no idea how they came about but quite often the middle name one gets is that of relative or person the parents of the child were fond of.  In my case James was my grandfather on my father’s side of the family and Thibodaux was actually my mother’s maiden name before she bonded with my father.”

“Maiden name
,” Lunnie asked curiously. “What’s a maiden name?”

“Typically on my planet, at least in the some of th
e major religious cultures, a female child has the last name of her Father until she bonds, which on my planet they called ‘married’, at that time she takes the last name of her husband as her last name.”  I explained.

“Sounds terribly complicated to me
,” Marranalis said.

“So if your mother decides she wants to bond with another man what happens then?
”  Lunnie asked.  This was becoming way more complicated than I intended.

“Well first off bonding or being married on Earth is not exactly like bonding here.  As I understand it bonding here simply means that two persons cohabitate and may or may not have children together.  If one of them decides that they no longer wish to be bonded
to that person they simply move out and the responsibility of the child is determined by the government as to which parent become responsible for the child.  If neither parent is considered responsible the child is a ward to the government and placed in a foster family.  Both parents are taxed by the government for each child they have regardless of if they are together or not and care, clothing and food expenses are paid for out of those taxes… is that not right?”

“Yeah
, pretty much so,” Lunnie said, I noted that she was looking at Kala while she spoke to me.

“Well on Earth when
a couple marries it’s an official bonding and recorded by the government, in fact you have to get a license to get married.  A ceremony takes place where the couple stands before a legally authorized person who conducts marriage ceremonies and takes the couple vow to love, honor and protect each other for the rest of their lives. At least that’s how is used to be, but in the past eighty years much of that has changed a lot and many couples only stay together a few years and then get a legal nullification of the agreement in what is called a divorce.  If they have any children sometimes they may have shared custody of the children where the children spend part of the time with one parent and then with the other, generally the cost of rearing the child falls on the father until the child reaches the age of eighteen years old.”

“So
, if I understand you correctly,” Lunnie said getting one of the peevish looks in her eyes, “back on Earth if you were to bond with, or as you say marry, Kala, she would then be called Kalana Renwalt. Right?”

“
Ahh, yeah,” I said. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Kala squinting and tight lipped looking hard at Lunnie, who sat with a huge grin on her face.

“But to get back to my original point
,” I said hoping to get things back onto a different line of thought, “unless you feel otherwise, I would rather not have to go around referring to you by your ranking. 

After
my talk with the Admiral, he felt that because of the Solbidyum reactor on the
TRITYTE
and the temptation for someone to try and steal it, that he would prefer when traveling that we park the
TRITYTE
on Federation military bases, Base Star ships, or Federation Space Stations, where sufficient troops are available to guard it. It will be your responsibility, Reidecor, to make arrangements, filing flight plans and the like so they can prepare in time. Marranalis will take care of the security.  Also, we will need a navigator, one we can trust, I would like for all of you to take part in finding one. Kala and I will have the final say on who is selected.  Lunnie, you will still be Chief Ships Engineer, no matter which ship of my ships we are on, I plan to have a few. You will be responsible for all supplies on the ships and seeing to the operations and repair of all components.  You may all possibly be given additional responsibilities later, but that’s it for now.

“
Kala, you have been my right hand since I arrived here and I want you to continue to be so. You will be making a lot of decisions for me and I fully trust in you judgments. All of you will be answering to me through Kala, and any instructions she gives you are with my full authority and I expect them to be followed as if I gave them. Everyone clear on that?”  Everyone replied with a “yes.”

“Lastly,“
I continued,  “Marranalis, will hire and train no less than one hundred persons as a private security force, more if you think necessary. I’ll assist in the martial arts training.  Look for ex-military if you can get them, both men and women.  I want them to be highly skilled in many areas.  Whenever we are outside of our personal compound, I expect each of you to be accompanied by one personal body guard.  Kala will have no less than two at all times outside our ships or compounds, and since the Federation thinks I need them I will have four.  All drivers for our personal transportation will be our own trained drivers and will be sufficiently trained to act in an emergency as body guards.  Marranalis it will be your responsibility to find them, it will be Kala and my job to filter them out.  I want to make sure we have a highly efficient team that works like a well lubricated machine.” I cleared my throat and gave Lunnie a stern look and she grinned and saluted me.