Solbidyum Wars Saga 6: Defeat of the Tottalax (40 page)

“Yes, yes, I understand.  Thank you,” Arjuk said.

“Marranalis, send two tow ships out there and secure the Tottalax ship; we’re going to tow it back to their world and have a talk with them.”  I turned to Tot and made sure Truath was where he could see her.

“Tot, I want to thank you for your help. I am sorry we needed to kill your people in the ship.”

Tot flashed some colors and patterns, “Are they dead?  I failed to see anything happen.”

“Yes, I believe they all are dead.  We will tow your ship back to your planet so your people can see what will happen to them if they help the Brotherhood more.  Do you think this will persuade them?”

“It will be most horrible to them.  They will (static screeching) and mourn greatly.  I think they will see me once they have witnessed what you have done.”

I could not tell if Tot was emotionally moved by what had happened or not.  I saw nothing in his appearance that changed.

Once we picked up all our fighters, the
MAXETTE
followed in pursuit of the Brotherhood in their asteroid-ship.  With our new hangar and launch tube arrangement, it took less than an hour to get all the fighters back aboard the carrier.  We were just leaving the mine field area when Marranalis said, “Admira,l we’re getting reports back from the
FARWAR
that they are not able to keep up with the Brotherhood on the asteroid.”

“The
FARWAR
is equipped with the latest GW propulsion system, isn’t it?”  I asked.

“Yes sir, but they say they can’t keep up with it and they are at maximum.  They say that the asteroid appears to be about 8% faster than they are.”

“What’s our maximum speed?” I asked, “Are we any faster?”

“No sir, we have the same GW propulsion system as the
FARWAR
.”

“Get A’Lappe and Cantolla on the vid; I need to talk to them.”

Seconds later A’Lappe and Cantolla appeared on the vid.  “What can we do for you Admiral,”  A’Lappe asked.

“We’re in pursuit of the Brotherhood in their flying asteroid, and they are getting away from us and flying 8% faster than we are.”

A’Lappe appeared surprised and said, “They must have found some way to make a faster propulsion system.  I have no idea what they might have done.  I would assume they had copied the propulsion system we had on the ships they have captured from the Federation.  They must have found a way to increase the speed.  I will begin reviewing the designs and see if I can discover what they have done.”

“That’s good, but it doesn’t help us now.  They are getting away,” I said.

“I’m sorry, Admiral, there is nothing I can do about that.  Can you think of anything, Cantolla?”  A’Lappe asked.

“I can’t think of anything at this time,” Cantolla answered.

“So they are going to get away?  I can’t believe it.  We had Roritat in our grasp, and now he’s going to get away again.”

As if he were listening to us, Roritat’s image reappeared on the vid screen.  “You have interfered with my plans once again, Tibby, but your days of interference are about to come to an end.  By now, you have learned this new ship of ours is faster, and it is harder to destroy, even if you have means of penetrating the RMFF shields.  You are about to discover the new power of the Brotherhood.  Ming and I have prepared some new surprises for you and the Federation, and we will make you pay for your interference.”  The screen went blank as Roritat cut the transmission.

“Marranalis, what direction is Roritat heading?”  I asked, “Is he going back the way he came?”

“No sir, he seems to be heading out into deep space away from the Federation.”

I was hoping he was heading back the way he came.  We might have been able to have some of our ships intercept him; and we could have used the Cantolla Gates to get ahead of him for an ambush; in the direction they were going, we had nothing.

“Tell the
FARWAR
to follow them as far as they can; once the enemy is no longer detectable on their scanners, to return to the third fleet for reassignment.”

“So, Tibby,” Admiral Regeny began, “What’s next?”

“I think the next thing we need to do is to get Leader Tonclin to prepare to send an envoy to Weccies to negotiate a treaty of cooperation with them.  Hopefully we can get them to ally with us in fighting the Brotherhood.  I think with what just happened, there is a strong chance they will accept.  I’m betting the Brotherhood has large deposits at Weccies through various groups and individuals.  I suspect the Weccies will be more than happy to seize those accounts, if we could provide their names and proof of their Brotherhood involvements.  It would be a major blow to the Brotherhood to have access to those funds cut off.”

“What about fleet activity?”

“We need to look at that some more.  In the next year, we’ll have more carriers coming into service.  I want more Cantolla Gate-generating ships produced and sent out; we need to get them distributed to locations we feel we may need to access quickly.  We also need to find another space station to use as another Cantolla Gate hub; the one we currently have doesn’t have sufficient space for all the gates we will need.  Those gates are our best asset in this war.”

“So what are you going to do now?”

“As far as we know, the Brotherhood still has not figured out how the DCS system works, nor do they have the new Cantolla Gate transceivers that allow instant communication over the vast distances of space.  The last information we had on Ming’s location was he was headed in this direction, most likely to join up with Roritat.  I’m assuming he is still on that course and hasn’t heard what’s happened here, so we’re going to head in his direction and hopefully find him.  We still have some of our shield-penetrating torpedoes that I would love to send Ming’s way.”

“What about the Tottalax ship?”

“I’ve given the space tugs orders to take it into tow, and using the interstellar Cantolla Gates, haul it to the nearest location we have to the nebula where Tot’s home world is.  Hopefully, Tot will be able to provide us with directions from that location to his home world.  Once there, we’ll contact the planet and discuss terms with them.  Tot says this is the only ship they have of its kind and the other ships they have are shuttles and orbital ships.  He thinks once his people see their ship and crew destroyed, they will surrender and stay out of the war from here on.”

“Do you really think everyone aboard their ship is dead?

“Yes, A’Lappe said the water in there would heat to over 80C in less than a minute.  The Tottalax can’t survive in water greater than 29C.  They would have been dead in seconds.”

“How do you know the ship itself is damaged?”

“To be honest, I don’t, and it may still be functional to some degree, but I’m betting a lot of systems on the ship are dead, and the environmental system isn’t working.  By the time we get the ship back to Tot’s planet, the ship will be damaged beyond repair.”

“You’re planning on using it for some sort of target practice?” Regeny asked.

“No, nothing like that.  You know what happens to water when it freezes?” I asked.

“Ah, sure… it turns to ice.  So their ship will be a solid block of ice.  So what, all they need to do is thaw it out.”

“It’s not that simple,” I said, “As ice freezes, it expands and as far as I know, nothing can withstand that expansion.  If the ship is tightly sealed, the ice will cause the hull to rupture.  Most everything inside the ship will be crushed and ruined.  The ship will be beyond repair.”

“By the stars, Tibby, I never would have thought of that.  Do you think the water inside will freeze before you get the ship back to their home planet?”

“We'll know soon enough.  A’Lappe thinks it will take about a month at the most for the entire ship to freeze to the point of rupturing.  If it hasn’t by then, we will have to look into other options, the last of which would be to send the ship into the star nearest the Tottalax planet, so they can witness its destruction for themselves.”

While we had been talking, Truath and the guards had taken Tot back to his quarters on the
NEW ORLEANS. 
If he was disturbed by what had happened to his people aboard the Tottalax ship, he gave no signs.  I instructed Padaran to have the guards keep a close eye on him, as I didn’t know if he might be upset by the event and might want revenge; or if he was pleased by the outcome since he had warned his people that involvement with the Brotherhood would have a bad ending, and this event was his vindication.  My own arrival on the
NEW ORLEANS
was met with a flurry of new issues to deal with.  Padaran informed me that he had been issued a
Sith lubnol
challenge at Goo Waddle, and that he needed to respond in three weeks or lose his right to rule the Ruwallie Rasson.  I asked how this came about.

“A Ruwallie Rasson ship that has been away for several years returned, and the captain was an old-school supporter of Ruwallie Rasson tradition.  He refuses to believe the events that happened and accept me as his leader.  He has issued the
Sith lubnol
challenge, and three of his crew men back him up with it; I have little choice but to accept it.  If I don’t, he becomes the new leader, and the Ruwallie Rasson will revert to what it was before we went to Goo’Waddle,” Padaran explained.

“Do you think you can beat him?”  I asked.

“Nybidong seems sure of it, and so does Tondor.  Plus my skills are far superior to what they were when I fought Tondor.”

“True,” I answered, “but never go into a fight too sure of yourself.  It can cause you to get careless.  Besides, you’ll be fighting with catas, and that’s more Jenira’s thing than it is yours.  I think you need to practice with her more before you go into battle with this man.”

“Oh, Jenira and I spar nearly every day as it is,” Padaran said.

“Yes,” I said jokingly, “but I mean with both of you having swords and not the one the two of you have been playing with.”

Padaran turned crimson, “We… ah… we practice with the catas, sir.”  I laughed and slapped him on the back.  “I’m sure you do, Padaran.  I'm sure you do!”

“So have you sent a reply to the challenge?”

“Not yet sir, I wanted to talk to you first.”

“We do have a Cantolla Gate at Goo’Waddle, don’t we?”  I asked.

“A private interstellar gate, yes.  However, we don’t have a Cantolla Gate in the surface.”

“Private interstellar gate?  I don’t recall anything about that,” I said.

“Ah, I sort of authorized it in your name, sir.  I knew the Federation wouldn’t put one there, at least not until Goo’Waddle is accepted into the Federation, and well, we need an interstellar gate there to be able to mobilize the Ruwallie Rasson fleet quickly and get them where needed.”

“I see,” I said and I could see Padaran starting to sweat in anticipation to my reply.  “Good thinking, Padaran, you did the right thing.”

“I wasn’t sure what you would say, but I felt this is what you would have wanted, and I believed it was needed.”

“So we should be able to get to Goo’Waddle relatively quickly,” I said.

“Well sir, actually we will have to get to Megelleon first.  The ships that form the gate that connects to Goo’Waddle are located there.

“That shouldn’t be any problem, there are a lot of gates that go to Megelleon; all we need to do is go to the nearest one.  That shouldn’t take more than a week or two.”

It had been a very long time since I had last shared a meal with my crew on the
NEW ORLEANS.
What had once been a weekly routine had abruptly stopped altogether, and I missed it.  I talked to Kala and Piesew and made arrangements that evening for a private dinner under the starlight dome on the yacht.  As always, Piesew’s choice of foods was exquisite.  I had left the selection of crew and guests up to Kala, and I was surprised by some of the new additions to the guest list.  Captain Kerabac was there, of course, as was Marranalis; though he was now a part of my crew on the
MAXETTE
, he had been with Kala and me ever since my arrival in the Federation many years earlier.  A’Lappe was present and made his entrance in his old style of instantly appearing from nowhere; only now, everyone knew how he did it.  Even so, it got a chuckle out of people remembering how he used to frustrate Admiral Regeny with his sudden appearances.  Cantolla was also present, and though I shouldn’t have been, I was surprised to see her arrive walking arm in arm with Truath.  Padaran and Jenira also were present and while they arrived separately, they stayed close to each other.  They kept glancing back and forth at each other with hints of smiles.  Doctor Danjuma and Doctor Hughes were present as well as Endina, whom I had barely seen since our venture at Goo’Waddle.  Rounding out the group and surprising me with her presence was Chanina, Leader Tonclin’s daughter.

The meal was exquisite as always.  Piesew had selected several rare foods from across the galaxy and served them in small quantities; meats, fruits, vegetables, fungus and fish all made up the menu.  We joked, laughed, shared stories, reminisced and were having a great time.  The only part of the event that I didn’t enjoy was Dr. Hughes’ reminders that I had not been coming to see him as I promised.  In frustration, I laid out my schedule and all the things that had happened in the past few weeks and asked him, where in there he felt I should have come to see him.  He finally relented some, but said that as soon as I found the time I should come see him.