Solbidyum Wars Saga 6: Defeat of the Tottalax (22 page)

“Yes,” I laughed, “I suspect we will have to do that…” and then I added, “to protect the citizens.”

I had Padaran and part of the security team evacuate Kala and the twins back to the
NEW ORLEANS
while I stayed behind to talk with Tot.  I thanked him once again for saving the twins, and he replied, “It is the responsibility of all intelligent living things to protect and preserve the lives of other living things.  It is only when one is threatened by the aggression of others that we must resort to violent means and death to stop them.”

“I agree with you,” I said, “unfortunately the ones we call the Brotherhood wish to do great harm to most of those in the galaxy.”

“I fear they want me dead also.  This one who tried to kill us here today has tried in the past to kill me as well.”

“Why would the Brotherhood want you dead?”  I asked, “I thought the Brotherhood and your people were allies?”

For a moment, Tot’s skin turned a dark blood red all over.  I learned later this was a sign of extreme anger and frustration, then his skin patterns settled, and the translation device interpreted, “As I mentioned earlier, I was their ruler until my sibling usurped the throne.  Very few of my people think for themselves and leave governing and decisions to others.  As long as they have entertainment, food, shelter and sex, they are content.  With this evil compound the Brotherhood brought us, they now have more sex than ever, and they care little about anything else.  All will end badly for my race if this is not stopped.  If you can help me regain my throne I can restore civility to my world, and I can end the use of this evil substance by my people.”

“Will your people support you if we restore you to power?”  I asked.

“My people will not even question it, they will simply follow whoever is in power.”

“Then how did your sibling gain power?  I asked.

Once again, Tot's skin turned a dark blood red for a few seconds, then he said, “My sibling, and the sibling group faked my death, and had the sibling group take me away as a prisoner.  They brought me to this world and left me here.”

I was beginning to realize that many different words were being translates as
‘sibling’
and it was becoming confusing as not all of them meant the same thing, “Why didn’t the Brotherhood kill you then?”

“They thought they might use me in the future if my sibling didn’t perform as they wished, they could threatened to bring me back,” Tot flashed.

“So why would they now want to kill you?

“I do not know, possibly because they no longer feel I am of use anymore.  I present a greater threat should I decide to help their enemies.”

“Yes, that makes sense.  Would you be willing to come with us?  I can provide you with accommodations suited to your needs on my ship.  You will be safe there from the Brotherhood.”  I said.

Tot’s skin flashed a peach color before he responded, “I sought to ask you that favor, thank you for offering.  I will accept your offer.  In exchange, I will assist you to end the alliance of the sibling group with my people.”

As soon as I returned to the
NEW ORLEANS
I left Tot in the hands of Kerabac and Padaran, instructing them to see to arranging quarters for him and to the construction of a special habitat suitable for him somewhere on the ship.  Even though several years had transpired since I had purchased the ship, and had enlarged the crew substantially, there still was ample unused space aboard to make a place suited to Tot’s needs.  I wasn’t totally sure about Tot’s loyalty and we discovered that our loyalty testing headbands didn’t register any reading with Tot, so we were left to my judgement on the matter.  I discreetly told Padaran and Kerabac I wanted Tot watched closely but not in any way that appeared threatening or demeaning; if they observed anything questionable about Tot’s behavior to report it to me.  I also instructed them to get more shirts like the one A’Lappe made for me, and anyone having daily contact with Tot should wear them so they could communicate with him.  Then I headed to the infirmary to check on Kala’s condition.  When I arrived, Doctor Danjuma was just helping Kala put the top of her uniform back on.

“How is she, Doctor?”  I asked.

“She’ll be fine,” she answered, “a bit sore for a few days.  With all this fantastic medical gear you have here she’ll be normal in less than a week.  Back on Earth she would have been recovering for over a month. ”

“Where are the twins now?”  I asked Kala.

“Jenira’s taken them back to our suite, she’s going to give them a bath and get them ready for bed.  Tibby, I was so scared by what happened tonight.  Even when we were stranded on Desolation and the Brotherhood was after us, I wasn’t this frightened.”

“I know, Kala.  I felt the same.  It’s a horrible thing to be helpless and see your children in danger.  That’s exactly what Shydak wanted us to feel.  I’m glad Jenira killed him.  I’m glad she’s talking again also.”

“Tib, she’s not.  I thought the same thing, but after it was all over she went back to signing again.  I asked her why and she said,
Because the Brotherhood is still alive
.  She said the only reason she spoke tonight was because she wanted Shydak to know who it was that was about to kill him.  Now she says she won’t speak again until the Brotherhood is destroyed.”

I sighed, “I wish she wasn’t so determined about this.  It serves no one by her being silent.”

“It serves her, Tib,” Kala said, “it gives her purpose and drive and makes her who she is.”

“I guess you are right, but I don’t like it.”

“So what now, Tib?  Are you heading back to the
DUSTEN
?”

“Only briefly, I need to confer with Admiral Wabussie and Admiral Regeny.  If Shydak was on Irribis, there is a good probability there is a Brotherhood cell operating on the planet, and we need to smoke them out.”

“Be careful, Tib,” Kala said.  “I don’t want to lose you.”

Two hours later, I met with Admirals Regeny and Wabussie in my office aboard the
DUSTEN. 
I noticed that Regeny kept looking about the office, and I could tell he was sizing it up; I knew he was planning on making it his new official headquarters once I moved over to the
MAXETTE.

“I understand you have a Tottalax prisoner,” Regeny said, “I’m assuming you’ve transferred him to the prison on your Earth’s moon.”

“Ah, sir, first of all, Tot is not a prisoner, I’ve given him Federation protection.  He’s offered to help us in any way he can.  Secondly, he’s on the
NEW ORLEANS
as my guest, and I am having special quarters built for him there.”

“Aren’t you being just a little naïve?”  Regeny asked, “This is a Tottalax; how do you know this isn’t some ploy to gain access to your ship?”

“I don’t, which is why he will have constant surveillance, but I also have no reason not to give him a chance to prove himself.  He saved Lunnie and Reidecor from dying on Irribis, and I owe it to him to give him the chance to prove his sincerity.”

“Hmm, I don’t like it, Tibby.  However, you’ve been right about these things before, with the androids and the Ruwallie Rasson.  But, by the stars man, you are pushing your luck.”

“The knowledge Tot can provide us is worth the risk,” I said.  “We basically know nothing about the Tottalax, Tot was their leader, or at least so he says.  He knows all we need to know about them, and he says he’s willing to help us if we can help him to regain his throne.”

“Tibby, you know how the Federation hates us getting involved in civil matters on planets not part of the Federation,” Regeny said sternly.

“Yes I do, sir, but I also know the Wars Powers Act gives us a lot of latitude in what we do so long as it’s for the good of the Federation, and under these conditions, I believe this is in our best interest.”

“Wabussie, what do you think?”  Regeny asked as he looked at him.

“We know very little about these Tottalax and virtually nothing about their ship, other than we seem to be unable to do it much harm.  We don’t know the location of their home world nor anything about their technology.  I think Tibby is right.  This Tottalax is an opportunity we must try to use.  If this doesn’t work out, and he turns out to be a decoy, or intent on sabotaging us, we can resort to other methods of dealing with him.  But for now, I think Tibby’s reasoning is sound and the way to proceed at the moment.”

“Hmm, well at least you two are in agreement,” Regeny huffed, “I hear you killed that Korgian blood sucker, Shydak.  Isn’t he the one you were after on Goo’Waddle?”

“Actually it was Jenira who killed him,” I said, “and we’ve been after him longer than that.  He was the one who had been in command of the drug operation at Alle Bamma, and he was in command of the Brotherhood operations running slaves and drugs on Goo’Waddle as well.  He was a very high-ranking individual in the Brotherhood, which is what makes me think there is more taking place on Irribis with the Brotherhood, and I think we need to investigate.”

“You’re right, Tibby,” Wabussie spoke up, “I received a report from Halfredies earlier today saying that he’s uncovered information indicating the Brotherhood has established an underwater base on Irribis.  The planet is 90% water and there are plenty of places they could hide a subsea base here.  The intelligent aquatic species here only dwell in the top one thousand meters of the oceans; below that there are life forms but none with any degree of intelligence and that could, or would report any facility the Brotherhood might establish in the deeps.”

“How deep do the oceans on Irribis go?”  I asked.

“Over eight kilometers, if all our data is correct.”

“What’s the deepest underwater structure they could build?”

“They could go over ten kilometers easily with technology at hand.  Our patrol ships can submerge to over seven kilometers,” Wabussie replied.

“Wow,” I responded, “I keep forgetting that our ships can go underwater.  Hull materials are much stronger here than they were back on Earth, that’s for sure.  What size ships are best suited for underwater searches?”

“Our patrol ships are probably best suited, but you could use a corvette just as well. However, I would recommend you get a submarine on the planet to do your searching.”

“Did Halfredies indicate where this base might be?”

“The intelligence he has received indicates it’s somewhere in the southern hemisphere, that’s where the oceans are the deepest and where there are fewer islands and population.  It’s a vast area and will take a long time to search out.”

“I wonder if Tot has any information that he might give us as to their location?”  I muttered.

“What was that, Tibby?”  Regeny asked, “I didn’t hear what you said.”

“I was just wondering if Tot has any information that might help us in this regard,” I said.

“Ah, yes.  I assume you will be asking him?”

“Definitely,” I responded, “it’s on the top of my list.”

As always, news of events had spread quickly around both the
DUSTEN
and the
NEW ORLEANS,
and once again Jenira was being lauded as a hero.  If she took any delight in the attention she was receiving, she did little to show it and would only smile when someone congratulated her on killing Shydak.  Padaran, on the other hand, was distressed about the event, partially blaming himself for not having foreseen the possibilities of danger and not having been there himself to provide protection.  I think he was also concerned about the danger Jenira was in, but he said nothing about it.

Kala was another matter.  She had always been cool and responded well to stress, but this time she was not doing as well, most likely because of the danger to the twins.

“Tibby, I think we need to have around the clock personal security for the twins,” she stated flatly when I got back to her on the
NEW ORLEANS.
  “They nearly were killed on Irribis.”

I looked at Jenira, who was behind Kala, playing with the twins in the corner of the room.  She saw me looking and held her hand up by her head and wiggled her fingers, a Federation gesture for crazy, or crazy talk.

“Do you think increased security would have prevented Lunnie and Reidecor from being drawn into the sphere?”  I asked.  "I mean everyone was helpless; having additional helpless people there would hardly have made any difference.”

“Well, I don’t want the twins going anywhere until we can guarantee their safety!” she stated flatly.

“Kala, there is no place that is totally safe, and I don’t want our children growing up in an environment so protected that they are always afraid and never get to experience life to the fullest.”

“But Tibby, they are so helpless and defenseless,” Kala blurted out.

“I would hardly say that,” I replied, “they both knew how to swim and both knew to hold their breaths in that sphere, that’s not helpless.  There will always be dangers everywhere, it's our responsibility to teach our children how to deal with dangers and to protect themselves, not to spend our lives trying to always protect them.”

Jenira rose from the corner and was quickly by Kala signing, “Tibby is right; look at me.  When you and Tibby rescued me, I was helpless, but today I am not only able to defend myself, but others as well, and I will help you to teach Lunnie and Reidecor to be strong and defend themselves also."