Solbidyum Wars Saga 4: Too Late for Earth (48 page)

“I really need to stay here and communicate with my men outside,” the admiral replied.  “However you can see to the First Citizens and to Senator Tonclin.”

“The Senator and First Citizen Kalana, along with the young woman and the man from Alle Bamma have already been taken to their accommodations; I’ll send someone to guide First Citizen Tibby to join them.”

A female guard came and escorted me to the suite that had been assigned for Kala and me; there were two additional bed rooms in the suite and Jenira was in one of them.  I didn’t see Regata, so I assumed they had given him a room of his own.  I was glad to see Jenira was with Kala, as I didn’t want either of them alone at a time like this.  As soon as I was in the suite Kala rushed to me and put her head against my chest and sobbed.  “Tibby, they attacked the estate.  There are hundreds dead and wounded.”

“I know,” I said.  But how did you find out?”

“Once they brought me here I was able to use the communication system to contact my assistant back at the estate.  She survived the attack, but she said the place is badly damaged and many people are dead; some are still trapped in the rubble.”

“Is Piebar okay?”

“She didn’t know. They are still searching for people.”

“What about the orphans?”  I asked.

“It’s a miracle. They all are safe.  They were all at the cove in the area you asked to have built for them; they were having a concert when the attack happened. Fortunately it was far enough away from the main estate house that none of them were injured.”

“I need to get back there to help search.”  I said as I tried to think of what to do.

“Tibby, I don’t think you can get out of here.  I heard the guards saying that many of the tunnels and accesses to this area are blocked with debris; they were checking to see if they could find a clear route out.  In the meantime, there are people on the outside trying to get in.  If we had evacuated to shelters at the other end of the Senate hall, we would be able to get out, but we’re trapped at the moment.”

“The other end of the Senate hearing hall, you mean that the senators at that end got out?”

“A large percentage of them did.  Many of them are back at their estates and accommodations here on the planet.  The
HAPRIN
only seems to have targeted the capitol building and our estate.”

Kala turned on the vid screen in the room and we were able to see on the news the information about the attack.  There were aerial shots of the capitol building, or at least, what was left of it.  Most of the building that had existed above the ground was just a pile of rubble; fortunately half the complex was deep underground and those that made it there were safe and survived.  Nevertheless, thousands had died in the attack on the Capitol, and thousands more were trapped in the rubble.  The commentators seemed to be in a near state of shock and only muttered a few words every minute or two.  “Unbelievable!” and “Do we have any word as to if anyone in that section survived?” were heard from time to time.  Repeatedly they played back the last few minutes of my hearing when Commander Wabussie was giving testimony and Justice Mastoeth giving the announcement of Leader Rieam’s assassinated, right up until the attack begins and the cameras cut out due to damage from fire from the
HAPRIN
.  In one scene as the attack starts you can see the Senate guards rushing in to escort me and those speaking in my defense to safety, as a commentator said, “You can see the Senate guards rushing in to get the First Citizens to safety.  We are told that First Citizens Tibby and Kalana and those in the defense testimony box all made it to the shelters just seconds before the building collapsed in that area.  You can see three brave Senate guards who give their life’s to see them survive as the hearing hall collapses on them just as the last of Tibby’s defenders made it to safety.  It is the duty of these guards to see to the safety of the people of most value to the Federation, surely no one has been more valuable than First Citizen Tibby, and one can only ask now what role he will take in the protection of the Federation and the rebuilding of our society.

“We have reports that the Leader of the Brotherhood, who we thought was Roritat, wasn’t satisfied with destroying the capitol; he also destroyed a large portion of the First Citizens’ estate with fire from the
HAPRIN
.  We’re told there were a large number of the orphan child slaves that Tibby rescued at Goo’Waddle who now live at the estate.  Apparently the children had just moved into a new facility he had constructed away from the main estate, and they were having an outdoor concert nearby; fortunately it was far enough that none of them were hit by any of the fire from the
HAPRIN
.  The refugees whom Tibby brought from his home world of Earth didn’t fare as well; it is estimated as many as half of them perished in the attack. Their exact number is unknown at this time as some are rumored to be on his ship the
NEW ORLEANS,
which is currently at Nibaria undergoing repairs for damage incurred to the ship when he returned from Earth.

“With Leader Rieam dead and the real Leader Roritat dead, the Federation is left with only one Leader, Leader Floss, who is in the outer rim of the Federation on revolving duty.  Justice Mastoeth, speaking on behalf of the Federal Legal Review Board, has announced the reenactment of the war power act which allows for the Senate to elect and appoint an interim Leader to fill in until the next election.  Those members of the Senate who have survived will convene in two days in the old Senate assembly hall deep under the Capitol.  These halls haven’t been used in years but were kept in case of an emergency.  They were originally built during the first Solbidyum War after the capital planet of Caldon was destroyed.  According to the War Powers Act, 55% of the senators of the Federation planets must agree on the interim Leader, who must be elected from the existing senators.  Until an actual sign-in roll call is taken, we won’t know if there are enough surviving senators to even make the minimum to vote.”  I turned the vid screen off and buried my head in my hands.  Kala put her hand on my shoulder.

“Tibby it’s not your fault.  Don’t go blaming yourself for this.”

“How can you say it’s not my fault when everything the Brotherhood says is directed around me and my activities?”

“You’re not the reason they are the way they are, you’re the reason they can’t be what they want to be,” she said.  “You stand in their way of conquest and domination of the Federation; it seems that everyone but you sees that.  It’s why the Senate guards gave their life’s to get you to safety.  It’s why Admiral Regeny, Commander Wabussie and Senator Tonclin were behind and not in front of you in going down the escape chute.”  I looked at her questioningly as she had not been there when that happened.  “Yes, I know about that; Tonclin told me while you were with the Admiral in the communication center.”

“Why me?”  I asked.  “Kala, I am no one special, there are millions of people far better than I, people more suited for the task, why me and not one of them?”

“I can’t answer that, but I think something Dr. Hughes said might make some sense of it.  I was talking with him about you shortly before we got back to Megelleon and he quoted some saying from your planet of Earth.  He said it was written by a famous man named Shake a Spear.”

I snorted and laughed… “You mean Shakespeare, William Shakespeare… not Shake a Spear.”

“Whatever, but it’s what he said that was important.  He said that Shakespeare wrote
, Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them
; Tibby, you are one of those men who have greatness thrust upon them and all you can do is your  best.”  Then she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.  I lay there silently for a while thinking about what she said.  I could not argue it, for I indeed greatness had been thrust upon me.  I had never sought it or wanted it, it simply happened; and while I wanted to walk away from it, I had no choice but to follow it through to the end.

It was about eight hours later that a senate guard came to our suite to tell us that a route had been found out of the capitol complex and they would escort us out.  Kala made a call to our estate and had a shuttle sent to pick us up and take us back.  Before we left I had a chance to talk to the Admiral.  He looked exhausted; he had huge dark circles about his eyes and stubble on his face that revealed he had not left the communication center to sleep or freshen up.

“Tibby, it’s bad,” he said when he saw me.  “It’s the worst damage and attack I have ever seen in my career.  Our latest information is that 3,843 people died and another 5,232 were injured, some critically and others minimal, in the attack on the Capitol.  They are not sure they have found everyone yet and there may be more fatalities and injured.  A large portion of the Senate guards in the hearing hall gave their life’s to get us out.  The ships chasing after the
HAPRIN
say it seems to be heading toward Plosaxen.  Marranalis reported in a few minutes ago that the
HAPRIN
now has the RMFF working; we can only assume they found and coerced one of the crew members on the ship to turn it on.  So far, the ship is still uncloaked, but if they get the cloaking system working we’ll lose them.”

I suddenly had a chilling thought, “If they are heading toward Plosaxen it can only mean one thing; they intend to attack the surface facilities at the base there.  We need to get to a DSC system and tell them to get all their surface ships airborne and cloaked, or they will be wiped out on the ground.  Have all personnel on the bases and any government buildings get into deep shelters or as far away from the complexes as they can.  They still have some time to take precautions, but as far as defense… well, if the
HAPRIN
has its RMFF working, there is little we can do to stop them.”

“You forget Tibby we already have a fleet of ships at Plosaxen in anticipation of an attack.  Right after you contacted when you encountered the Brotherhood fleet and had your ship damaged we sent a number of ships to Plosaxen in anticipation of an attack there.

“Good,” I said, “I’d forgotten about them.  You’ll need the ships with RMFF’s to act as shields to block the shots from the
HAPRIN
from hitting bases and cities on the surface.  There won’t be much we can do against the
HAPRIN
if they have their RMFF working, but at least we can prevent some of the carnage they might otherwise inflict on the planet.”

“Put me through to the
NEW ORLEANS
at Nibaria, I need to talk to Commodore Stonbersa.”  I said to the communications operator.

A few minutes later the image of Stonbersa appeared on the screen; Nibaria was close enough that the DCS was not required for direct communication but there still was a several minute delay in conversation as the signals traveled back and forth between the planets.  Once the Commodore appeared in the vid screen I began, “Commodore, I’m hoping the repairs on the
NEW ORLEANS
are far enough along that you can take her out immediately, we have a very bad situation on our hands.  The Brotherhood has gotten the RMFF up and working on the
HAPRIN
.   They are headed to Plosaxen and we believe it’s their intent to attack the military bases and government buildings there.  We have a few ships in the area with RMFF’s that can block their shots, but I’m hoping that you can get to Plosaxen before the HAPRIN makes it and you can also position the
NEW ORLEANS
between the
HAPRIN
and their targets on the planet surface.  With enough ships you may be able to stop the HAPRIN from doing serious damage to the planet.  The RMFF on the
NEW ORLEANS
will shield the ship and block the
HAPRIN
.  If Roritat, or whatever his name really is, sees his shots are to no avail they just may leave.  Maybe if you keep the
NEW ORLEANS
and the other ships cloaked they might believe that Plosaxen has some sort of planetary shielding.”

We had to wait several minutes before the Commodore’s reply came back.

“Yes, we can get underway.  The hangar bay door is operational now and our RMFF has always been working.  There still are some minor items like painting that needed to be finished, but that can wait.  However, we have no fighters aboard at the moment and only three shuttles.”  There was a distraction to the Commodore’s side that drew his attention for a moment, then he looked back at the screen and said.  “A’Lappe wants to talk to you for a minute about the RMFF.”  A’Lappe appeared on the screen.

“Tibby, the
NEW ORLEANS
may have an advantage over the
HAPRIN
’s RMFF.  The
NEW ORLEANS
RMFF is powered by the solbidyum reactor and the
HAPRIN
’s is powered by the 10X reactor, both are powerful enough for their RMFF’s to withstand conventional fire using conventional weapons, laser and nuclear.  However, the RMFF enhances the energy behind shots fired from a ship, and two ships both with RMFF’s operational have never fired on each other, so we don’t know how the RMFF’s will handle that much energy, but I have a good idea based on calculations I’ve done.  Because the solbidyum reactor has more energy than a 10X reactor, it will generate a stronger RMFF than the 10X reactor; if the
NEW ORLEANS
fires on the
HAPRIN
, the RMFF on the
HAPRIN
will be able to repel the shots, but rapid consecutive shots will put a strain on the 10X reactor and gradually weaken the RMFF shield.  Enough shots and some of them may start to get through causing damage to the
HAPRIN
.  It might be enough that the Brotherhood may want to pull out and run for it.  The big issue will be if they get the cloaking device working.  We don’t know how they got the RMFF working; most likely they coerced a crew member, but it’s not impossible that they bypassed the ciphered switch in some way.  The cloaking device is on another circuit with a separate activation device that requires a coded input as well, but they may still feel safe enough shielded behind the RMFF so as not to bother trying to get the cloaking. operational.”