Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation (42 page)

“Let me just ask you one question, what do you think Sokaia would want you to do now?  Give up and beat yourself up over this, or to stand tall, and resolve yourself to put an end to the Brotherhood, who is the true cause for Sokaia’s death?”

Marranalis stared at the wall a second and drew a deep breath.  I saw his jaw tighten, and then he said, “You’re right, Admiral.  I'm sorry for my actions.  If you still want me, I’m ready to kick some Brotherhood ass.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.  Now let’s get back to work, shall we?  For the rest of the night, I just want you to be at my side relaying orders.  After we return to the
DUSTEN,
I want you to go over to the
NEW ORLEANS
, see Dr. Hughes and have a chat.  Tell him I recommended he give you something to help you sleep tonight and then go back to the
DUSTEN
and get some rest.  Tomorrow we’ll assess the data that we get today.”

“Yes sir,” Marranalis said as he got up and preceded me out the door; as he did the lieutenant with us came up beside me and quietly whispered, “Sir, my men and I couldn’t help but over hear your conversation, and well sir, we just want to say thanks for what you did for Marranalis, and if anyone ever asks us, we didn’t hear or see anything here today.”

I smiled and gripped his shoulder, “Thanks, Lieutenant, that is much appreciated.”

By the time we returned to the bridge, Marranalis had composed himself and while he still looked distressed, he no longer appeared to be in shock or an emotional wreck.  I didn’t want him on the bridge too long though, knowing that just a short time earlier Sokaia and other troopers had died there would have been too much, I thought.  Instead, we set up a temporary command station in one of the undamaged conference rooms near the bridge.  I tried to keep Marranalis busy conveying commands, most of which were not vital, but I hoped it would help to keep his mind away from the helplessness that the loss of Sokaia was giving him.

At one-point Commander Mazone came in and reported that the hull damage was wider  spread than we had previously suspected, and that it would be necessary to evacuate many parts of the ship and seal them off, as the loss of air was becoming an issue.  I agreed with his evaluation and issued orders to have those areas evacuated immediately.  Fortunately, the area around where the prisoners were being held was still intact, so for the moment we had no need to relocate them, but I was beginning to worry that we might have to before the place I had in mind for them would be ready.  Another explosive device was found in the engineering section, but luckily it had never been armed.  I ordered Mazone to have it examined, thinking if it were similar to the one that had had exploded on the bridge, we might learn what went wrong when Sokaia and her troopers were killed.

About six hours after I had arrived on the
HAPRIN
things seemed to be getting under control, and I took my leave with Marranalis and returned to the
DUSTEN
.  Once I was sure Marranalis had gone to the
NEW ORLEANS
to meet with Dr. Hughes, I returned to my suite.  Kala was sleeping when I undressed and slowly slid into bed, hoping not to wake her, but she must not have been that sound asleep, as she woke up and in a sleepy voice asked, “How bad was it, Tib?”

“Bad, really bad,” I answered “the bridge is totally gone.  It needs to be completely rebuilt.  Commander Mazone said there were 13 troopers killed with Sokaia in the explosion on the bridge.  The ship is leaking a lot of air, and they had to seal off large sections. Marranalis was a total wreck when I arrived and in a state of shock.  I got him off the bridge and took him to one of the bars in the civilian section, gave him two glasses of brandy, and we had a chat.  He’s doing better now, however I had him report to Dr. Hughes on the
NEW ORLEANS
for some therapy and to get some medication to help him sleep tonight.”

“I feel so sorry for him,” Kala said, “I knew he and Sokaia were close, but they must have been closer than I realized.”

“He told me that they were talking about retiring together some day and getting a place of their own,” I replied.

“Oh, Tib!  I never realized they were that involved.  He must be devastated.”

“I guess a lot happened while we were on Desolation,” I said, as I thought about witnessing Padaran and Jenira earlier.  I gave a huge sigh, “Well I guess we should get some sleep.  Tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.”

When I awoke it was to the sound of my com link buzzing.  “Tibby here,” I answered.

“Admiral, this is Captain Wanoll.  I have received a message from Admiral Regeny requesting your presence for a meeting in his office an hour from now.  He would like an immediate reply to his request.”

“See if it can be arranged for two hours from now, and if he agrees, have Commander Mazone meet me in the Bridge conference room in 20 minutes to update me in the situation on the
HAPRIN
.”  While we were talking, I glanced about the room and noted that Kala must have gotten up earlier and was already gone.  After showering and dressing I heard giggling from the outer rooms, and I assumed it was Jenira with the twins.  I looked in the room to see what they were doing and saw Jenira sitting on the floor with them playing the Federation version of pat-a-cake with them.  Jenira saw me and stopped and stood up and signed.  “I heard that Sokaia was killed last night.  She was a good lady and a good friend.  I will miss her.” Then she walked over and gave me a hug.  Lunnie and Reidecor watched Jenira do this and assumed it must be some game, and they must do likewise; I looked down to see them each hugging one of my legs.  I picked one up in each arm and gave them both kisses… Reidecor immediately wiped his off, but Lunnie decided she needed to kiss my nose and eyes as well.  Jenira laughed and then took them both from my arms.  I sighed, “I need to go.  I wish I had more time to spend with the twins, but I have a meeting with Admiral Regeny.”

I headed out the door and was immediately greeted by my bodyguards.  How I wished I could just ditch those guys.  Not that they were unpleasant, it’s just that it was such an inconvenience.  I could not even go into a toilet without one of them going in first to check and make sure everything was safe. 

I met with Mazone and got filled in on the details of conditions on the
HAPRIN
and then headed for the meeting with Regeny.  I decided not to take Marranalis with me, thinking the rest might do him well, so I sent him a message saying I was called to a meeting with Admiral Regeny, and I would get with him as soon as I returned.

One of the strange things about Cantolla gates that I found interesting was that the difference in atmospheric pressure and density between the two sides of the gates made it necessary to have an airlock arrangement on at least one end of the gates, otherwise you could end up with a howling gale of wind blowing through from the higher pressure side to the lower one.  Another thing that I noticed was the difference in humidity as well; air temperatures indoors in most places only varied by a few degrees, so they were not so noticeable.  So I wasn’t surprised at the humidity change when I stepped through the gate and into the arrival area near Admiral Regeny’s office.  I was met by Lt. Commander Goncest, who escorted me to the Admiral’s office.  He didn’t knock but simply opened the door and said to me, “The Admiral is waiting for you.”  I entered the room to find Admiral Regeny, Admiral Wabussie, Captain Slater, and Leader Tonclin seated at a round conference table.

“Come on in, Tibby, we’ve been waiting for you.  Would you care for some foccee?” and then without waiting, he said, “Goncest, get Tibby some foccee, will you?  Tibby, have you eaten?  I just realized we got you up rather early with little notice.”

“Actually Admiral, I haven’t eaten anything in nearly 20 hours,”  I replied.

“Hmm, that won’t do.  Goncest, see what you can get in some sort of food tray that Tibby can snack on.  I wouldn’t mind snacking on something as well.  I don’t know about the rest of you,” he said turning to Wabussie and Tonclin.

I looked at Leader Tonclin and said, “Leader Tonclin.  It's a pleasure to see you again.”

“The honor is mine, First Citizen,” Tonclin replied, “I trust you do not mind my inviting myself to this meeting today.  Admiral Regeny was relating to me earlier the developments at Kendrop and Gochian, and your theory that they plan to attack Sector 3 next.  I'm interested in hearing more about your plans.”

“Yes, well that’s what we’re here for,” Regeny chimed in, “so why don’t we all have a seat and begin?  Tibby what can you tell us about the situation at Kendrop and Gochian and also what your plans are.”

I related to them everything that had happened, about Sokaia and the troopers being killed in the booby-trapped explosion, the condition of the ship, and how much of it had to be sealed off.  I told them of the plan to have the ships repaired at Kendrop and Gochian and about our intention to use large Cantolla gates to rapidly relocate ships to Sector 3 to fight off the Brotherhood in what we anticipated as a major offensive there.  When I finished, Admiral Regeny turned to Admiral Wabussie, “How does this compare with the information being collected by your field agents?”

Wabussie had a contemplative look on his face, and he paused a moment before responding.  “We’ve not received any information that would confirm intentions of a strike in Sector 3.  However, there have been strange things happening with the Brotherhood recently which tends to support the idea that they are preparing something big somewhere.  They have reduced the number of ships and troops in most of their strongest held territories gradually over the past few months, and we haven’t any real clue where they have gone.  We can only assume they are assembling them somewhere in preparation for some major offensive.  Another strange thing is a reduction in the appearances of the Tottalax ship.  What we do know is that on many of the planets they have captured, they have forced men into their armies as conscripts and forced them to fight using slave collars and drugs, like Tibby has reported with captives taken at Kendrop and Gochian.  It’s a bad situation, sir.  We may be required to kill men fighting against us who have no choice in their actions and may not really want to fight us at all.”

“I can see the dilemma,” Admiral Regeny said, “but we can’t let them kill us, regardless of what they may really want.  If they are attacking and it’s a choice of them or us, I don’t see that we have any choice.  Tibby, what are your thoughts?”

“I’m afraid I have to agree with you, Admiral.  We may not have any choice other than to rescue those that we can, when possible, but the rest of the time we have to treat them as the enemy and a serious threat.  I’ll talk to A’Lappe and Cantolla and see if they have any ideas as to some way we may be able to block the signals to the slave collars; beyond that I don’t know what else we can do.”

“We have another problem as well, Tibby,” Regeny said, “the prisoners.  Most of the Federation planets don’t want prisoners of war on their planets, fearing the Brotherhood will try to free them and will seek retribution against the worlds that do imprison them.”

“I have a solution for that Admiral, but it’s one we will need to keep top secret.  There exists a large underground facility on Earth’s moon where Ming and the Chinese colonists were trying to survive.  If we build a Cantolla gate there and transfer prisoners there from a central hub someplace, no one will know where they have gone or are being held.  Supplies and guards will only have access to the base through the gates, so there would be no way to trace or follow a ship there.  Since the location of the central transfer hub will also be a secret and its location unknown, and it will be cloaked and shielded, it’s unlikely it could ever be captured.  If by some chance it ever was, shutting down the gates on the other end would still render it useless.”

“Excuse me for interrupting, First Citizen,” Leader Tonclin’s high-pitched voice interjected, “are you suggesting that the base where we hold the Brotherhood prisoners will be outside the Federation borders?”

I responded, “Precisely, who would think to look for them there?”

“I’m not sure that is permissible under Federation law,” Leader Tonclin said with concern, “I can see the value in it, but it’s something the Senate might have a fit over if they were to learn we were holding prisoners of war outside the Federation.”

“Leader Tonclin,” Regeny began, “I believe that during the first solbidyum wars that not only did the Federation have prisoner camps set up outside the Federation borders, but they also had prison work camps where the prisoners were used as forced labor as well.  So unless the laws have changed since then, I don’t foresee a problem.”

“I hope you are correct, Admiral, in the meantime I will discretely have some of my aides investigate the legality of such a move,” Tonclin stated.

Regeny replied, “Thank you Leader Tonclin, the less that is known about our activity and plans, the safer things will be for the Federation.”

“Tibby,” Leader Tonclin continued, “Do you plan to submit your proposal for a new ship repair facility to the Senate for funding and approval?  It could take months or years for them to reach a decision as each planet will want the yard to be in their system.”

“You mean to tell me that with a war going on they would be so petty as to stall things in an effort to profit their home worlds?”  I asked.

“I fear so.  You may need to abandon the
HAPRIN
completely rather than trying to repair her.”