Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation (3 page)

“Look out,” I yelled as I leapt ahead, shoving Tonclin to the side.  In that same instant, I felt a searing stab of pain in my right shoulder, and as I fell forward, carried on by my own momentum I glanced at Admiral Regeny, his knees buckled as he collapsed upon the floor, a bright crimson spot spreading out on his uniform as he fell.  I could hear scuffling and yelling all about me, and I could hear the zapping sounds of plasma bolts being fired from weapons, but I didn’t know who was firing or at what.  I was momentarily stunned when I hit the floor hard and I recall thinking,
“I wonder where all my training went to, I should have tucked and rolled.” 
Then my head hit something hard and for a moment I was in darkness. 

I could not have been unconscious more than a second or two because the sounds of chaos and fighting were still taking place when I awoke.  I saw two Senate guards rapidly approaching me and another two escorting Leader Tonclin off the platform.  I saw another kneeling over Admiral Regeny, who lay sprawled upon the floor, a small pool of blood forming at his side, and I feared him dead until I saw him raise an arm for the Senate guard to help him.  By now, the sounds of battle and conflict were gone and only the sounds of panicking people hastily leaving the Senate Chamber could be heard.

“Are you alright sir?”  The first guard to reach me asked.

“I’m not sure,” I replied as I raised my hand to touch my still throbbing head, as I did I noted blood stains on the right sleeve of my uniform, and I felt pain in my shoulder.

“You’ve been hit sir.  Lie still.”  He instructed me.   “Corporal, get a medic, the First Citizen has been wounded.”

“Tonclin,” I asked, “is he all right?”  I tried to see if he was still on the stage, but he was gone, as were the two guards with him.

“Yes sir, that was some quick action on your part.  You saved his life.  You took the shot intended for him.  The Admiral would probably be dead now also if you hadn’t startled him when you pushed Leader Tonclin to the side.  As it was, the Admiral moved just enough so he took a grazing wound that otherwise would have gone through his heart.”  As he was speaking, he had the heel of his hand pressing against my shoulder trying to stop the blood flow there.

“He didn’t look too good to me just now,” I said as I looked back to where he was laying on the floor.  By now, there was a small group of Senate guards about him and medics were placing him onto a gurney-like device.  I saw the Corporal moving around them with a medic in tow.  As soon as he reached me, the medic immediately began looking me over and quickly cut the uniform and sleeve area of my uniform to inspect my wound.  He wiped the wounds, both entrance and exit, with some damp pads, and then placed two large bandage- like patches over the wounds.  “This should hold you until we can get you into a med unit.  Do you think you can stand?”

“Ah, I think so.”  I answered.  As he reached forward and took me by my good arm and helped me to my feet. 

I looked out at the Senate Hall which by now was nearly empty.  How thousands of senators could leave the place so quickly astounded me.

“This way First Citizen, take it slowly.  You've lost a small amount of blood, and you may be a bit light headed.”

“Did they get the shooter?”

“Yes sir, we got both just seconds after you were hit.”  The Senate guard replied, as they led me off the stage and to a waiting conveyance in a side tunnel.

“Both of them?  There was more than one?”  I asked in astonishment.

“Yes sir, one was apparently targeting Leader Tonclin, and the other was targeting Admiral Regeny.”

“I recognized the one man,” I said.  “He was one of the men Roritat had to pick me up and detain me before my hearing.”

“It’s a good thing you spotted him.  Otherwise, we might be without both a leader and a rear admiral right now,” the Corporal added.

The trip to the nearest medical facility within the Capitol only lasted a few minutes.  Once there the medic and one of the Senate guards helped me off the conveyance and past a squad of troopers and other Senate guards who surrounded the facility in ready mode.  We entered a large room with beds and med units by each bed.  I noted Admiral Regeny reclining on one of the raised beds with an I.V. in his arm.  Leader Tonclin stood by his bed; it was obvious the two were involved in a serious discussion.

“Ah, Tibby, there you are.”  The Admiral said as he looked up and saw me entering.  “I see they hit you too.  I guess both Tonclin and I owe you our lives.”

“Indeed, we do,” Tonclin added, “Most Honored First Citizen, once again both we and the Federation are in your debt.  Had you not pushed me out of the way and taken the shot intended for me, I would no longer possess this life.”

By now, the medic had led me to the bed next to the Admiral so it was possible for us to continue talking as the medic began scanning me with instruments.

“I’m confused about one thing,” I said to no one, in particular, but I hoped someone would answer.  “Plasma energy bolts have intense heat to them.  If we were hit by plasma bolts, the wounds both the Admiral and I received should have cauterized immediately from the heat, and we would have little to no bleeding, but we seem to have lost a fair amount of blood.”

“We weren’t hit by plasma bolts,” the Admiral said.

“But I clearly heard plasma weapons being discharged.” I replied.

“Those were shots being fired by the Senate guards at the assassins.”

“What were we hit with?”

“Ice bullets,” the Admiral replied.  The assassins couldn’t smuggle in any high tech energy, or explosive projectile weapons without them being detected by electronic scanners.  Instead, they used compressed air powered rifles, made of composite materials that are harder to detect.  They most likely used simple water and polycarbonate molds in the flash freezers in the kitchen areas, here in the capitol, to make the projectiles and kept them in cryo-pouches until the last minute.  The chambers of the rifles have a chilled magazine that keeps the bullet frozen until fired.  The projectiles wouldn’t pierce your skull, but they tear through flesh easily enough.  A good marksman usually tries for a heart shot, which is what it appears the assassins attempted with me and Tonclin.  If they had succeeded they would have severely crippled the Federation.  Even if their shots don’t manage to hit the heart, the wounds are not cauterized by heat like they would be with a laser or plasma weapon, and bleeding is usually profuse.  A victim may bleed to death in a short period of time.  We should have been wearing armored vests under our uniforms.  I think until this war with the Brotherhood is ended, we may need to do so anytime we are off ship or off base.”

The Admiral turned to Tonclin, “Leader Tonclin, is there anything that prevents you from swearing Tibby in here instead of before the Senate?"

“I am not aware of any regulations that would prohibit it.  All we need is three official officers or representatives from the government to witness the event.”

“Hmm, any member of the Federation military is a representative for the government, are they not?”  Regeny muttered.

“I suppose that is true,” Tonclin said.

“So any of the Senate guards, or troopers, here could provide witness and you and I are both official representatives.”

“That is correct.”

“Then I think for the sake of the Federation, it is expedient that Tibby be sworn in immediately so that, should anything happen to us, he will be able to take command over the military with appropriate action immediately.”  And so it was I was sworn in as Fleet Admiral of the Federation while sitting on a bed in a med unit as a medic worked on my wounds.  I had barely been sworn in when a young lieutenant in the Senate guard came up to me.  “Sir, we’ve received a call from First Citizen Kalana inquiring about your condition and wishing to speak to you.”

“Thank you Lieutenant, I had better call her back. I imagine she was viewing the event on the vid screen and saw both the Admiral and I shot.  She is probably pretty upset.”

“I informed her you were wounded, but it was not life threatening, sir, and that you were being sworn in at that moment.”

I excused myself from the presence of Admiral Regeny and Leader Tonclin, and followed the lieutenant through a series of corridors to a communications station.  As I entered the room, immediately everyone snapped to attention.

“At ease gentlemen,” I said and then added, “and lady,” as I noticed there was also a woman officer present.  “I need someone to open communications with First Citizen Kalana at my estate.”

“Sir,” one of the officers began, “we still have a link open with the First Citizen as she requested, until you could get here.”

“Ah, good,” I said as I was directed to a small booth-like room with a vid screen and a chair.  Once I entered, the glass door was closed, and I noticed a guard took up station outside.  I knew there was a button that I could press that would turn the glass opaque, but I didn’t know where it was and I wasn’t in need of secrecy.  I had barely sat down when the screen in front of me lit up, and Kala’s face appeared.

“Tib, are you alright?  I saw you shot when you shoved Leader Tonclin out of the way.”

“Yes, yes.  I’m fine.  Just a minor shoulder flesh wound.  It will be healed in no time.”

“You look a bloody mess,” she said, and I realized I was still wearing my bloodied uniform jacket.

“I haven’t had a chance to find a new jacket.  I was just sworn in as Fleet Admiral only minutes ago.  In fact, the medic was still working on my shoulder as I took the oath.”

“How soon will you be back here?”  She asked.  “Do you need me to come to you?”

“No, no, there’s no need for you to come here.  I’m coming back to the estate as soon as I get finished here.  I’m going to need to get to Plosaxen and the
NEW ORLEANS
as soon as I can.  I’ll probably leave first thing in the morning.”

“What about Regeny?” she asked.  “His condition looked pretty serious on the vid screen.”

“He’s fine.  His wound was only a flesh wound also.  He had a lot of blood loss and needed a transfusion, but he’s up and about again.”

My return trip back to the lodge at my estate was anything but normal for me.  My official shuttle was escorted by four trooper filled patrol ships and two mirage fighters with crews.  As I exited the shuttle, I was greeted by a color guard of troopers already at my estate, and Kala and Jenira were waiting eagerly when I exited.

“Tibby I’m so glad you are back!  I was afraid you might have been killed when I saw you get shot while trying to save Leader Tonclin.”  Kala barely spoke to me before Jenira angrily began signing in my face that I should not have been risking my life the way I did, and this was why she needed to be there to protect me.  I was both touched and amused by her concern, but one look at Kala’s face told me that I had best not let the amusement show.  We were quickly led to our cottage while troopers took up stations around the area.  I noted several troopers unloading laser canons from two of the shuttles and setting them up at the edges of the landing site.  Kala noted the look of concern on my face and said,  “Get used to it Tibby, this is how things will be from now on.  You’re the number two man in the Federation military and you will have security forces with you from now on for your protection.”

Jenira sported a pouting look while she signed that she could do a better job of protecting me than the troopers, but she didn’t press the matter.

“I need to make contact with A’Lappe.  Is there a DSC system on any of the patrol ships?”  I asked the captain of the troopers guarding me.

“Yes sir, there is one in the ship we arrived in.  I can have Lt. Kacosen link up for you if you can provide A’Lappe’s location.”

“He’s aboard the
NEW ORLEANS,
trailing the
HAPRIN
at the moment,” I answered.

“If you’ll follow me sir, I will get you with the lieutenant.’

We returned to the ship, and I was introduced to Lt. Kacosen, who turned out to be a young man of about 20.  I explained to him I needed to communicate with A’Lappe on the
NEW ORLEANS,
and he said he would make contact immediately.  Since there was always someone at the communication station on the
NEW ORLEANS,
contact would be instantaneous.

The lieutenant turned to the console and began concentrating on the message destination, and the message that would be picked up on the other end.  Moments later, he turned to me and said, “Sir, they say A’Lappe isn’t there.”

“What?”  I exclaimed.  “He must be there.  He never leaves the ship.”

The lieutenant stared blankly at the wall as he sent back a message to the
NEW ORLEANS
, then he turned to me again.

“Sir, according to your communication officer, Verona, Commodore Stonbersa is saying that A’Lappe left the
NEW ORLEANS
at Nibaria when they arrived there for repairs, and he said he would be back in a few weeks.  It was believed then that the
NEW ORLEANS
would be at the ship yard for a month or longer, and A’Lappe said he needed to check something out.”

“Does the Commodore know where A’Lappe has gone?”  I asked.

Again, the lieutenant stared blankly at the wall a few minutes before replying, “No sir, he says he doesn’t, but he believes that someone named Cantolla does, and he is contacting her now to find out.”