Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation (45 page)

After the meeting adjourned I returned to the
DUSTEN
and sat down with Kala to have a talk.  “Kala, I think you and the twins should transfer over to the
NEW ORLEANS
until after this battle at Spellhes is over.  While the
DUSTEN
should be safe with the RMFF, there is no telling what might happen, and I know the
NEW ORLEANS
is safely on its way to Mars right now.  We can still conveniently pass through the Cantolla gates to see each other, so it’s almost the same as being on the same ship, but should something go wrong I want to know you and the twins are safe.”

“Tib, what could go wrong?” Kala asked, “the
DUSTEN
has an RMFF and a cloaking device.  It’s about as safe as one can get.”

“The
HAPRIN
had a cloaking device and an RMFF as well, and look at it now,” I said.

“That’s different, Tibby.  You tricked them.”

“And before that the Brotherhood tricked them, which is how they got the ship in the first place.  What makes you think they can’t trick us?  Look at what happened to the
NEW ORLEANS
on the way back from Earth when we had a Brotherhood ship explode in our hangar.  We may have good defenses on these ships, Kala, but we are not fool proof.  I want; no, I need, to know you and the twins are safe when we go into this conflict.  This is probably going to be the biggest battle the Federation has fought in 600 years, so for the sake of the kids, please take them to the
NEW ORLEANS
, at least until the battle is over.”

Kala thought a minute and then said, “I’ll agree on one condition.  You must come over every day and spend just a few minutes with the twins, and so I can see you.”

“Agreed,” I said, and I kissed her.

I awakened early the next morning by my com link buzzing, “Tibby here,” I mumbled, still half asleep.

“Admiral,” I recognized Marranalis’s voice, “A’Lappe says he needs to see you immediately.  He claims he has something that will help the Federation immensely in future battles with the Brotherhood.  He wants you to meet him on the bridge of the
NEW ORLEANS
in 30 minutes.  What do you want me to tell him?”

“Tell him I’ll be there,” I answered. “Meet me at the Cantolla gate in about 25 minutes; I want you there, too.  Hopefully, what he has planned won’t take that long, because I am hungry.  That reminds me, tell Piesew that Kala and the twins will be moving back to the
NEW ORLEANS
today.  Oh, and see if he can prepare something for us to eat when we finish with A’Lappe.”

I showered quickly and got into a fresh uniform.  Marranalis was waiting at the Cantolla gate when I arrived with my parade of guards.  If ever there was an incentive to end a war early, getting rid of the ever present guards was on the top of my list.

“Any idea what A’Lappe has for us that is so urgent?” I asked as we passed through the Cantolla gate over into the
NEW ORLEANS
.

“No, sir,” Marranalis responded, “he wouldn’t say.”

Moments later, we arrived at the bridge of the
NEW ORLEANS
and entered, to be greeted by Captain Kerabac, A’Lappe, Cantolla and Padaran.

Once greetings had been made, I said, “All right, what’s this all about?”

Captain Kerabac looked at A’Lappe, who then stepped forward and began.  “First Citizen, as you are aware of the technology of the cloaking device, and the RMFF has fallen into the hands of the Brotherhood.  So far, they have not been able to master implementing RMFF technology on their ships and have it only on starships they gained from the Federation.  Most likely their inability to replicate the RMFF’s for their other ships are due to their lack of adequate power sources, however, they have managed to replicate cloaking for most of their ships.  Which means in a battle you don’t know where they are to target them.  For our purposes, we have implemented coded beacons for our own ships and crews, so we can see and track them on screen and avoid colliding with or shooting down our own ships, but we’re blind as far as seeing cloaked enemy ships.  That is, until now,” he said with a grin.

“Captain Kerabac, if you would please, tell the patrol ship that we see on the vid screen to cloak.”  Moments later, the ship vanished from view, only to be replaced on the screen by a red blip with a coded number by it.  “What you see there is our typical beacon to let us know the ship is there, and that it is one of ours.  Now, Captain, if you would be so kind, ask the patrol ship to turn off their beacon.  A moment later, the red blip and code vanished from the screen leaving only a blank view of space on the screen.  “Now, watch this,” A’Lappe said with a huge grin.  He entered a few commands into the control console and suddenly a green colored image of the ship appeared on the screen.  It was a bit fuzzy on the edges, but you could clearly see it was a patrol ship.

“What the?” Kerabac muttered.

“How’d you do that, A’Lappe?” I asked in amazement.

“A’Lappe grinned and blinked his eyes.  “I realized that while the cloaking device blocks every sort of radiation we know of, it doesn’t block gravity.  What you are seeing is the ship's mass in terms of gravity.  The cloaking device can’t mask that.  All I had to do was rewrite the software for the ship's gravity sensors that are used for the navigation system, and you can see the results.  If we turn the identification beacon on again; Captain Kerabac, if you would kindly ask them to turn it back on please, you will see that you now both see the ship and its identification marker.  By this means we can see all cloaked ships and still identify ours from the enemy.”

“That’s incredible, A’Lappe!” I exclaimed, “is there any way we can keep the enemy from getting this technology if they manage to capture one of our ships with it?”

A’Lappe’s chin dropped and he looked crestfallen, “I’m afraid not, Tibby.  The first time they manage to capture one of our ships with this software, they will be able to use it.”

“So it’s only a short term technical advantage for us,” I said.

“I fear so,’ A’Lappe responded, “but the Brotherhood will be completely at your mercy with any unshielded cloaked ships they have out there.  A software update can be performed on all your Federation ships very quickly, and if the intel from the FSO is correct, merely about one-quarter of the Brotherhood ships once belonged to the Federation and then only the star ships had RMFF’s.  In your upcoming battle that means that at least 75% of the enemy ships are vulnerable while the Federations ships are untouchable, invisible, or both.”

“A’Lappe, if you are right this could be a major turning point in this war with the Brotherhood,” I said, and A’Lappe beamed.

When Marranalis and I arrived at my suite aboard the
NEW ORLEANS
, Kala and the twins were already back aboard.  Lunnie was fascinated by the glass-enclosed atrium in the middle of it and had managed to smudge the glass at numerous locations as she pressed her nose and hands against it looking at the plants inside.  “She absolutely loves the plants,” Kala said, “she must take after my mother in her love for botany.”

“Take the twins down to my study and let them see the fish,” I said as I finished off another mouthful of the breakfast Piesew served Marranalis and me.

“Hmm, “Kala hummed, “I don’t believe the twins have been in there since we left Desolation.”

“Better still, you could always take them to our special atrium where they can feel and interact with the plants,”  I mumbled as I finished off another bite.  Kala looked at me with a frown as I spoke.  “Sorry,” I muttered, “I’ve not been able to get much to eat lately, and, well, I’m rather starved.”

“Tib, that’s no reason to talk with your mouth full.  You don’t want to teach the twins bad manners?”

“Humph,” I muttered, “I’m sure somewhere in the Federation it’s polite to talk with your mouth full.”  Kala shook her head but didn’t say anything.

After eating, Marranalis and I returned to the
DUSTEN.
We had been planning on holding a memorial service for the troopers who had died in events surrounding the
HAPRIN;
however, Admiral Regeny suggested we hold off on it the battle in Sector 3 was over.

By now several hundred ships had passed through the Cantolla gates from Sector 1 to join ships in Sector 3, and the ships were being placed in cloaked groups in various locations near Spellhes but out of the way of any approaching ships on a route that the Brotherhood might be taking in their attack on the planet.  During the night, more reports had come in from scout ships from the third fleet that more and more Brotherhood ships were assembling at three different points, and that they had started moving along a direction toward Spellhes.  Using their best data and calculations the FSO predicted the siege of Spellhes would start in about 30 hours.  From as near as we could tell, we outnumbered them with Federation ships three to one.  But I had a hunch there was a fourth group someplace we didn’t know about, and that with that fourth group was the Tottalax ship and most likely Ming on an RMFF-protected starship as well.

I ordered two frigates, the
OAPEG,
and the
CRIFSAC
along with two corvettes and dozens of patrol ships to take orbit around the planet in what would appear to be a normal defensive posture for the planet.  To have had less would have appeared suspicious.  I had issued orders to the ships' commanders, who at the first signs of hostility were immediately to cloak their ships and get as far from their original position as they could in the following minute and then to turn and start taking out as many enemy ships as possible.

As fast as the ships came through the Cantolla gates, new software was uploaded into their computers that would allow them to be able to see cloaked ships.  Each day the
NEW ORLEANS
drew further away from Federation space on its journey to Mars, but thanks to the Cantolla gates it was only a short walk away from me on the
DUSTEN
.  Flight simulators were kept busy on all the ships that had them with crews practicing maneuvers and attack strategies.   While everyone went about their duties normally, there was a tension to the air that usually was not felt.  Finally, the day came when the klaxons sounded on the ships throughout the Federation fleet that the Brotherhood ships were now approaching Spellhes.  All radio contact between Federation ships was ordered to cease, and messages and contacts were only through Cantolla gate communication devices that were undetectable to anyone not tied into the loop.  All the Federation ships save for the
OAPEG,
the
CRIFSAC,
and the patrol ships intended to appear part of the normal planetary defense were cloaked, and everyone waited patiently as the Brotherhood fleet drew nearer.

The government officials on Spellhes were the first to attempt contact with the Brotherhood, asking the meaning of their intrusion of Spellhes space with such a large armada of ships.  There was no reply from the Brotherhood.

“Why isn’t the Brotherhood responding and at least asking Spellhes to surrender?”  Marranalis asked.

“It’s Ming’s way of creating terror in the minds of his enemies,” Captain Slater said, “Ming used to do the same thing on Earth.  He appears with an overwhelming force, wreaks havoc on several cities, destroying everything and killing every man, woman, and child before he demands total and unconditional surrender.”

“What would happen to them if they did surrender?” Captain Wanoll asked.

Slater replied, “Ming would take one out of every twenty individuals who surrendered and have them executed publicly.  He would enslave most of the population, only those he felt he could use and who would support and be loyal to him he would allow to remain free.”

“Where is Roritat in all of this?”  Marranalis asked, “As bad as he is, I can’t imagine him agreeing to all of Ming’s evilness.”

“If Ming operates here the same way he did on Earth, Roritat may have already been displaced by Ming, if not he is afraid of Ming and electing to sit quietly on the sidelines letting Ming do as he wishes.  At some point though, Ming will see Roritat as a threat to his climb to power, and he will have him assassinated.  Ming has no loyalties to anyone but himself.”

Slowly, we watched as the Brotherhood’s fleet began surrounding the planet.  He had brought three starships with him that had once been part of the Federation Fleet.  Accompanying them were thirty frigates and one hundred corvettes, and we still hadn’t seen the thousands of patrol ships and mirage fighters that were housed inside the hangars aboard the larger ships.

By now the officials on the planet below were panicking and begging the Brotherhood fleet to communicate, but still there was no response.

“Admiral Tibby, we have contact on the sensors of a ship about the size and configuration of the Tottalax ship approaching.”

“I was hoping they wouldn’t show.  However, at least this time we are ready for them.  Make sure all personnel are wearing their headgear to block the Tottalax sleep weapon.  Our first targets are to be the hangar bays on the starships once they have released most of their patrol ships and fighters. I’ll give the signal when I want us to open fire on them.  Hit those hangar doors with everything you can.  They’ll get their shields up before we can do too much damage to their ships, but all I want is to make their hangars useless at this time. Once they have their RMFF’s back up, I want the focus changed, and I want to hit the Tottalax ship with as many nuclear GW torpedoes as possible.  We know we can’t do much damage to their ship, but I’ll bet we are giving the occupants a hell of a shaking up.  Maybe with enough discomfort they will go home.”