Solbidyum Wars Saga 6: Defeat of the Tottalax (41 page)

During the meal Padaran started mimicking voices of different crew members and others we knew.  He was excellent at copying the voices of others, including the mannerisms of the person.  Everyone howled with laughter when he would mimic the voice of his uncle, Admiral Regeny.  Chanina laughed so hard when he mimicked her father, Leader Tonclin, with his high-pitched voice, that brown tears rolled down her bark-like skin.  As always, he included a bit about me that had the crew howling with laughter, but it was his last act that got to us all.  Jokingly, Kerabac asked him to mimic Jenira, thinking it a good joke as Jenira doesn’t speak.  Instead of backing away from the challenge Padaran began signing like Jenira, copying her mannerisms and facial expressions perfectly, but what we saw in them was Jenira the way Padaran saw her.  There was a compassion and love in his enactment that revealed not only the love he felt for her, but a depth of understanding that left us all in awe and silence.  When he finished, none of us spoke, and I noted several people with tears in their eyes.  Jenira merely looked at him in admiration.  Finally, I cleared my throat to end the awkward and growing silence, and said.  “Kerabac, I haven’t heard you and A’Lappe sing in quite some time.  Would the two of you sing a few tunes for us?

Kerabac looked at A’Lappe, who nodded, and he replied, “We’d be delighted to.”

A’Lappe and Kerabac treated us by singing several melodies, and Kala pulled her chair close to mine and lay her head on my shoulder as Kerabac crooned some of our favorite Nat King Cole tunes.  In the back of my mind, I was telling myself we would try to make this a monthly event, but deep inside I had a feeling that it would not happen as the challenges of war grew.

Once the event was over, Kala and I returned to our suite.  I was expecting the twins to either greet us or to be in bed asleep with a sitter waiting to tell us what tricks the two of them had pulled, but all was silent and no one was there.

“I thought we might enjoy some time alone together tonight, just the two of us,” Kala said as she threw her arms about my neck and kissed me.  “The twins are spending the night at James’s place.  Lánhuā Mao said she would be glad to take care of them and that James was all excited about having them spend the night.  Lánhuā said she would bring them home about noon tomorrow, so that should give us more time alone.  That night Kala and I made love with a passion like our first-time years earlier in the
TRYTITE
, and I wondered how I could feel more love for this fantastic woman than I did at that moment.

The next morning after Kala and I had a leisurely breakfast, Lánhuā Mao returned the twins to us.  Both of them came bounding through the door screaming “Mommy” and “Daddy,” and talking at the same time about what they did at James’s place the night before.  Lunnie kept talking about “noodles” that they ate for breakfast, and Lánhuā Mao explained that she had made a traditional Chinese noodle dish for the kids that morning.  Apparently, they were a big hit with Lunnie, as she was wanting to know if she could have them again.  While we were talking with Lánhuā Mao, Reidecor and James were tussling on the floor, giggling and laughing.  “You would think they would be tired by now,” Lánhuā Mao said, “they tussled like that all evening yesterday.”

Looking at the boys tussling on the floor reminded me of my youth back on Earth and wrestling with my friends on the soft grass in the yard behind our house.  I wondered as I watched Reide and James, what ever happened to those friends.  I knew they were all dead now, but I wondered what sorts of lives they had led; had they married, did they have happy and productive lives?  I would never know.  I was still mulling things over when my com link began beeping.

“Tibby here,” I answered.

“Sir,” Marranalis’s voice began, “Admiral Wabussie called and says he has new information to pass on to you at your convenience.  We also received word from the
FARWAR
this morning that they are turning back.  The Brotherhood asteroid-ship they were following has outpaced them and disappeared from their sensors.  Furthermore, Chief Banker Arjuk Norcar on Weccies sent a message that they wished to extend to you the rare honor of coming to the planet’s surface for a hero’s welcome for saving their planet from the Brotherhood.”

“That’s the last thing I need right now,” I said, “can’t some diplomat handle that?”

“I don’t know sir, but they forwarded copies of the request to Admiral Regeny’s office as well as to Leader Tonclin.  I’m afraid you’re going to have a hard time getting out of this one, sir.  There also is a request for you to meet with Admiral Regeny and Leader Tonclin on the
DUSTEN
this evening as well.”

“All right, I’ll be in my office on the
MAXETTE
in about 30 minutes,” I said.  “See if you can hold everyone off until then.”

As I left my suite on the
NEW ORLEANS,
I noticed that all my guards were wearing their canteens.  I smiled as we began our journey to the Cantolla Gates.  I was glad that my orders were being carried out.

My meeting with Wabussie was more informative than I had expected.

“Admiral,” he began, “I requested all the data our FSO teams had that might relate to this asteroid-ship the Brotherhood is using.  I’ve discovered we have far more information about it than we realized.  We just didn’t know how to interpret the information, and consequentially overlooked it.  Starting over a year ago, we began intercepting messages between the Brotherhood ships about a huge asteroid field with suitable asteroids.  There were orders to acquire special boring machines to tunnel the asteroids out, and we assumed they were planning on mining the asteroids.  We didn’t see it as a military threat.  We also heard strange rumors that the Brotherhood was stripping down one of the starships they had that was severely damaged during the mutiny when they took the ship from the Federation.  Evidently, loyal Federation troops aboard the ship put up a fight and damaged it heavily rather than let it fall into enemy hands.  It was going to require a lot of work to repair, and instead of fixing the ship, they gutted it of machinery and weapons and put them on the asteroid.

“Here is one very significant report; a professor of physics, who specialized in the mechanics of gravity-wave propulsion and was working on a project at Ordon to increase the performance of current systems, mysteriously disappeared shortly after the mutiny.  He was last seen leaving a bar with an attractive woman and never seen again.  I had my agents dig into this a little deeper, and about an hour after he was last seen, a yacht named
FLAME OF BRIGHTNESS
departed from the spaceport, destination unknown.”

“
FLAME OF BRIGHTNESS
?”  Do you think they might have taken him to Epsirt?”  I asked.

“It’s possible, but more likely they would have taken him to where they had the GW propulsion generators, so he could work on them.  They probably got him hooked on God’s Sweat like they did Bandur and then gave him an option he couldn’t refuse.”

“Do you think the woman was Sisopan, and they are still holding him?” I asked.

“Why would they let him go?  He still has value to them.  If he can improve their GW propulsion speeds, they can outrun us every time,” Wabussie stated.

“We need to find him and get him back,” I declared.  “Do we have any clue where he might be, if not at Epsirt?”

“We have some idea where the asteroid field is based on the locations of equipment purchased for asteroid mining, as well as components needed to make an asteroid into a ship.”

“Just where might this location be?”  I inquired.

Wabussie reached over and activated the vid screen, displaying a sector of space with a highlighted region.  “There is a huge asteroid field in this region and there has been a lot of Brotherhood activity in that sector as well.  It’s also outside Federation territory.”

I looked at the image on the screen; there was something familiar about it that I just couldn’t put my finger on.  “Can you show me where Maisha is on this map?”  I asked.

Wabussie typed some data into his computer, and a light lit up on the screen indicating the location of Maisha.  “Could you rotate that image?”  I requested.

Wabussie made several more adjustments, slowly rotating the image.  “There, stop it there!”  I said.  “This is where Ming was when he sent the message about aiming an asteroid to hit Maisha.  If this is where the field is and where they made their asteroid-ship, and where they launched the asteroid toward Maisha, they probably have a base there. They will likely try to make more there as well.  It’s the most likely place they would have the missing professor is being held.  By the way, what’s his name?”

“Fass Hakwin.  Professor Fass Hakwin.”

“See if you can find out any more information about activities in the area of this asteroid belt,” I said.

“Ah, it’s not a belt,” Wabussie stated.

“It’s not?”  I said in surprise.

“No, it’s just a large clump of asteroids that covers several million square kilometers of space.  It’s not even in a star system.”

“Sounds like a good place to hide,” I replied.

“Yes, and some of the asteroids are nearly as large as some small planets.”

“How many asteroids are there in this cluster?”

Wabussie checked his vid pad, “it’s well over three million.”

“Three million!  How are we supposed to find the Brotherhood in that mess?”

Wabussie laughed, “Let me narrow this down to only the larger asteroids.  We're not interested in all the small ones.  Here, when you narrow it down, you only had a few thousand, and if you have a few cloaked scout ships in the area you will probably be able to spot ships coming and going and follow them to their base.”

“Great going,” I said, “see what you can find out.”

After Wabussie had left my office, I called Marranalis in.  “I want a set of Cantolla Gate ships sent to this location,” I handed him a printout of the coordinates for the asteroid cluster.  Have them set up a gate and take up a station about a half a day’s distance from the cluster.  Tell them to remain cloaked there.  We may need quick access to that area soon.  I want Mazone to start training his troopers to fight in conditions like an asteroid cluster.

That evening I met with Admiral Regeny and Leader Tonclin in the Admiral’s suite on the
DUSTEN
.  It had been the suite that Kala and I had used when we resided there
,
but now it was Regeny’s, and it had been renovated to suit his tastes.  The walls were painted various shades of green, and the floor looked like travertine with expensive-looking rugs here and there.  The dining area was still much the same, other than for the green walls, and some wood paneling added at places.  The table had been adjusted in size to suit the three of us, and we were served an exquisite meal by the Admiral’s majordomo; a chap named Tesagg.  I wondered if he, too, came from Piesew and Piebar’s world, as he bore a resemblance to them, and had the same mannerism and speech patterns that they possessed.

“So, Tibby”, Regeny said while still chewing his mouth full of food, “I imagine you suspect why Leader Tonclin and I have invited you here this evening?”

“Unfortunately, I do Admiral.  Marranalis told me about the request from Weccies.”

“Ah, yes, well then, I guess you do,” Regeny said as he dropped some sauce on his uniform, “By the stars,” he exclaimed as he tried to dab the juice up with a napkin, only spreading the spot more.  “Tibby, can’t you get A’Lappe to produce some material that sheds stuff like this so it doesn’t show?”  I had to grin, but I didn’t say anything.

“I believe, what the Admiral is trying to say,” Leader Tonclin said in his high-pitched voice, “is that the Federation leaders feel it would be in our best interest if you were to personally go to Weccies.  It’s a high honor they offer you.  No one outside of the Weccies themselves has set foot on their planet in centuries.  The Weccies have shunned all attempts to establish alliances with any outside groups.  If we can establish such an alliance, it would be a great thing.

“Our political analysts believe that the Weccies realize they are in a serious situation; and they can no longer defend or protect their planet against the new technology like the RMFF and don’t have access to solbidyum, solbidnite, or 10X reactors to power RMFFs.  They are at the mercy of those who do.  We think what the Weccies are going to ask for is an alliance where we provide them with the technology in return, and that they will help to pay for our war efforts and ships in return.  We suspect that they will also want us to provide protection for them until such time as they have their own ships equipped with RMFFs as well.  The Weccies need this, Tibby, because if they can’t secure our help, they will lose depositors.  The reason people put their wealth here on Weccies is because it's secure here; as soon as word gets out that the Brotherhood nearly took Weccies, there will be a rush of people withdrawing their wealth from Weccies.

“There is another aspect to this.  The Brotherhood has money on Weccies in the accounts of their members and supporters; if we can identify those parties and groups and provide that information to the Weccies, they may seize those accounts, or at least freeze the funds, putting a real squeeze on the Brotherhood financially.  So you can see how important it is that we take advantage of this opportunity during this time.”

“Will I have to go there alone?”  I asked, “Or will there be others going with me?”