Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation (41 page)

“But Admiral,” Wanoll stammered, “you don’t think that the Brotherhood can get there before we do?  It’s weeks from here and it’s only been a few days since they left here.  They don’t have these gate things that Cantolla and A’Lappe have invented, so how can they get there so quickly?”

“The forces they used here were only a small fraction of what they have,” I began.  “You didn’t see the Tottalax ship here, did you?  If they were serious about taking these two planets, they would have had the Tottalax here.  We only saw one star ship, the
HAPRIN
, and a few frigates and corvettes with a few squads of fighters.  This was no major offensive; I agree with Captain Slater this was a trap set up to divert us from their real objective.  The forces they will use in Sector 3 will be many times what we saw here.”

“I agree with the Admiral on this,” Slater said, “This is precisely how Ming thinks and works.  I suspect Ming was hoping to draw a large portion of the Federation fleet here, with us calling ships from Sector 3 to move up to the adjoining borders as support if necessary.  That would leave the far side of Sector 3 practically defenseless.”

“You think they deliberately lost the
HAPRIN
to draw us here?”  Wanoll asked with reservation in his voice.

“No,” I said, “I think things went wrong on their end when they took the ships aboard that we surrendered and set to explode; they didn’t foresee that.  I think they fully intended to depart from this region with all their ships and probably head to help the attacks going on in Sector 3, or maybe to Sector 2 to assist in a future attack there.”

“Oh, that’s good, Admiral,” Slater interjected, “I didn’t think of that, but it would totally be something that Ming would plan.”

“As soon as we finish up here I’m going to get A’Lappe and Cantolla working on preparing things together for a large ship-sized gate for Sector 2,” I said.

“Do you ever let those two get any sleep?” Captain Wanoll asked, “It seems you have them going day and night working on stuff.”

“A’Lappe never sleeps, he says he doesn’t require it.  They do have a rather large team of other scientists working with them.  I assume they have most of them doing the work,” I said, and then muttered to myself, “at least I hope they do.”

A trooper in full battle gear entered the bridge.  “Commander Mazone reporting as requested,” he stated.  I looked at him and could see the tension on his face and the hard determination of one whose comrades-in-arms had just died, and he was ready to take whatever actions were necessary.

“Commander, I’m sorry we are meeting under these circumstances,” I began.  I need two squads of your finest troopers ready to transport through Cantolla gates to the
HAPRIN
in 20 minutes.  Can you do that?”

“Sir,” Commander Mazone answered stiffly, “they are assembled and ready to go.”

I responded, “In a few minutes, you will be joined in the assembly area by a number of security forces from the
NEW ORLEANS. 
I’ll personally be leading the expedition to the
HAPRIN.

“Admiral,” the communications officer interrupted, “we have word from the
NEW ORLEANS
saying the team you asked for is assembled and heading to the Cantolla gates. They wish to know what they are to do when they arrive there.”

“Have them come to the
DUSTEN
and assemble in the troop assembly area with the troopers here.  I need to get into my tactical gear, and I’ll meet them there shortly.  Slater, are you coming along or staying?”  I asked.

“I’ll be there, Admiral, it will only take me a minute to suit up.”

Moments later, after donning combat gear myself, I joined everyone in the mission briefing area that was set up like a small theater with seating for several hundred.  As I went to the podium at the front of the room, everyone drew quiet.

“By now I’m sure all of you have heard that Captain Sokaia, along with a number of your fellow troopers, were killed by an explosion on the
HAPRIN. 
We believe this was caused by a bomb left behind by the Brotherhood.  At the moment, other than for the troopers who are aboard the ship and the fighters and patrol ships flying around outside to defend her, the
HAPRIN
is defenseless.  The bridge was destroyed, there is no longer a working RMFF or cloaking device.  Should the Brotherhood return with their ships, they would be able to destroy the
HAPRIN
easily, even with our present forces here trying to protect her.

“We do not anticipate that they will return, but we must still prepare as though they will.  Most of the Brotherhood troops and supporters on the
HAPRIN
have been removed. Your jobs will be to search the ship thoroughly, every compartment, every space big enough for you to see in for both anyone still in hiding and anything that looks like it might be a bomb or other devices intended to do the ship or its crew harm.  You will be expected to carry this mission out as though at any moment, you might be attacked, and that around every corner the enemy lurks.  I do not want to see another casualty for any reason, let alone carelessness.

“Captain Sokaia was one of the finest troopers I have ever known.  She served with me on several secret missions and put her life on the line for the Federation and gave her life in trying to protect it.  I expect all of you to honor her memory by performing to your very best in a way that would make her proud.

“I've been told the Cantolla gate between the
DUSTEN
and the HAPRIN has been made operational again. We will be using that gate to move to the
HAPRIN. 
The first squad to go through will be from the
DUSTEN
and the second will be from the
NEW ORLEANS. 
Commander Mazone will be in command of giving orders to both groups, but everyone ultimately answers to me.  Padaran, I expect you to keep me personally advised as to the operations and findings of your squads.  I know that both the squads of the
NEW ORLEANS
and the Federation have trained jointly, so I expect you to work in cooperation as a united force.  Padaran, your second squad will be responsible for guarding the Cantolla gate from both sides.

“It is important that we save and salvage the
HAPRIN
if we can, but it is even more important it does not fall back into enemy hands, and no more lives are lost because of it.  Padaran, I will be crossing through the gate with you and the second squad through the gate.  Now let’s get over there and secure that ship!”

Our arrival on the
HAPRIN
was almost surreal.  Smoke, dust and debris filled the corridors and compartments.  Troopers were assisting injured personnel to the med unit or preparing them for transport to the
DUSTEN
for treatment.  My bodyguards cleared a path for me to the bridge area.  The closer we got to the bridge, the worse the conditions got.  The door to the bridge itself had been blown out, and it could be seen that additional force had to be applied to bend the doors opened enough so people could enter and leave.  The air was filled with rancid smoke from both the bomb and the shorted electrical gear in the room.  Lights were brought into the bridge area and set up to provide light, as the illumination in the room was no longer functioning.  I glanced about and saw Marranalis sitting in what was left of the only remaining chair in the room.  He was bent down with his face buried in his hands.  I walked over to where he was sitting and said, “Captain, what’s the status here?"

He slowly raised his head; his eyes were swollen and red, and he looked at me a second before suddenly rising from his chair, “Admiral, you shouldn’t be here.  It’s not safe for you.”

“Now you tell me,” I said as I looked about.  My senior officer ran off so I had no one to tell me what’s going on, so I just thought I would come by and see for myself.”

“Sir,” he sniffed, “Sokaia is dead,” then he stood sobbing for a moment, “She’s gone.”

I looked around the bridge; Mazone's men were surveying it and carefully looking for anything else that seemed suspicious. “Mazone, you’re in command here,” I said, and then to Marranalis, “Marranalis, come with me.”

The
HAPRIN
was a sister ship to the
DUSTEN
so their layouts were the same.  I led Marranalis back to the civilian area of the ship; there was less damage here and other than for the absence of people milling about, things looked pretty normal.  I found one of the bars and led Marranalis inside and called one of the troopers to me.  “Lieutenant, you know anything about mixing drinks?”

“Sir?” he said looking at me in astonishment.

“Do you know how to mix a drink, or at least how to get the machine behind the bar to pour a drink?”

“Ah, yes sir, I think I do.”

“Good, go get me two brandies and take them over there,” I nodded to a table in the corner.

“Marranalis, have a seat.”  He looked at me still in a sort of daze but seemed to be slowly waking up to the reality around him.

“Now, Captain, let’s hear it,” I said looking at him, just as the lieutenant returned with two glasses of brandy.

“Thanks,” I said to the lieutenant, “why don’t you and the rest of the men check this bar out and ensure there are no bombs hidden anywhere in here?”  He looked at me, and then at Marranalis, who had picked up his glass and swallowed it all down in one gulp, then he looked back at me and nodded.

“Tibby, she’s dead,” Marranalis said as tears filled his eyes. “She’s gone… I never had a chance to say good bye.”  I pushed my glass across the table to him; I really didn’t feel like drinking at the moment.  Marranalis looked at it a minute before he picked it up and drank some of it, then he set the glass down.

“We, we were talking about, maybe after this war ended, and when we no longer wanted to serve any more, about retiring, just she and I, and now she’s gone.”  He picked up the glass and gulped down the last of it.

“So, what now?  What do you plan to do now?  Stop living?  Is that what you think Sokaia would want you to do?” I asked.

He looked hard at me for a moment and then blurted out, “It’s my fault. She’s dead because of me!”

“Oh?  I said, “You planted the bomb here that killed her?”  I asked sarcastically.

“No, but I gave her permission for this mission.  She came to me after you had returned to your quarters with Kala, and she wanted to ask you for permission to come back here and check things out, after she heard something suspicious had been found here on the bridge.  I didn’t want to bother you, so I gave her permission in your stead.  If I hadn’t, she’d be alive.”  I thought for another minute he was going to break down in tears again, though his lips quivered, and his eyes flooded, he didn’t.

“So you think if she asked me instead I would have told her differently and forbidden the mission?”  I replied.  Marranalis looked at me and relaxed a little.  “I don’t know.  What would you have said?” he asked, looking me in the eye.

“I would have said exactly what you did,
Yes!
It was the logical choice with the information at hand.  However, Sokaia and her troops would still be dead.  It wouldn’t have changed anything.”

Marranalis looked about the bar, and at my bodyguards searching for bombs.  “I’m no good as your aide, Tibby, you need to get someone else, someone more reliable.”

“Oh?  What makes you think that?  You’ve been with me longer than anyone.  You know how I think and how I would handle things.  You’re honest and trustworthy; why would I want to replace you?”

“Look at me Tibby, I ran off on you in a time of crisis.  Heck, I didn’t even tell you what had happened or where I was going.  It was my duty to let you know, and I didn’t.  Now when you need me the most, I’m sitting here useless.  At the very least, you should have me court-martialed, or something.”

“I see,” I said as I lowered my head a moment and then looked back at him.  “Let me tell you a story about a man I know.  I think you know him too.  He was supposed to take part in a huge battle, and the Federation was relying on him for his assistance.  Just before the battle, his bond mate was poisoned; he took off with his ship, and crew, in the opposite direction, to a remote jungle planet to get a cure for her, leaving the Federation to fight the battle without him.  Then a few years later, on another mission that he was responsible for, he witnessed a small boy he cared for killed, and he snapped and took off in a fighter chasing after the boy's killer.  He did so without any regard for his crew or ship hovering above the planet.  Even when they tried to reason with him, he kept up his insane pursuit and ended up crashing and nearly killing himself, and still they made him, – ME – an Admiral!”

Marranalis stared into his empty glass for a moment and then said, “Okay, Admiral.  I get your point.  You may understand better than most what I feel, but dammit, I’m not you, Tibby.  I'm not as strong as you.”

“Strong?  You call chasing after Shydak foolishly the way I did, strong?  That had to be by far the stupidest thing I ever did.  I could have stopped at any time. Chasing after Shydak because things didn’t work out the way I wanted, is no different than you moping about because things didn’t turn out the way you wanted when you allowed Sokaia to come here to the
HAPRIN.