Solbidyum Wars Saga 6: Defeat of the Tottalax (46 page)

“Please come this way,” the Captain said.  “Chief Banker Arjuk Norcar is waiting for you inside.”  Without any other further comment, the Captain headed off toward a door about 50 meters away.  No one else was seen in the hangar area, but I did notice numerous vid cameras and automated laser guns mounted around the room.  Padaran, who was immediately behind me in the guard formation, said just loud enough so I could hear him, “Admiral, this is all rather strange.”  I think we were all more than a little tense when the doors before us automatically opened, and we stepped through.

Going through that door from the cavern-like hangar room and into the next room could be likened to stepping through a Cantolla Gate on a cold barren planet onto another planet rich with color and life.  Inside walls were richly panted and textured.  The floors were made of some patterned material and polished like glass, however as we walked on them, it produced no more sound that walking on a soft carpet.  Paintings and objects of art were placed here and there in attractive ways so their beauty was accented.  Before us stood a man of small stature, whom I recognized immediately as Chief Banker Arjuk Norcar.  Around him stood several other men of similar appearance.  I realized that the Weccies in general probably all shared the same dark hair and hawkish features. 

“Welcome to Weccies, Honorable Federation First Citizen Thibodaux James Renwalt, and Federation First Citizen Kalana.  I am Chief Banker Arjuk Norcar, leader of the Weccies.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Chief Banker Arjuk Norcar,” I said, “and an honor to be here.”

“Well,” Chief Banker Arjuk Norcar said with a grin, “you are one of our largest depositors, and a savior to us as well, so the honor is truly ours.  You realize you’re the first outsiders to set foot on our planet in over 800 years.  I’m afraid we are not very well prepared to entertain foreign dignitaries.”

“Treat us as you would any friend from your own planet,” I said.  “I’m not comfortable with a lot of fanfare; if you treat me like a friend, I shall be pleased.”

“Ah, a practical man I see,” Arjuk Norcar replied.  “We had feared with your wealth and status that you might be otherwise.  Come allow me to present you to some of my fellow bankers.”

After introducing us to the other bankers, apparently anyone in power or authority was called a banker; we were led to a tube transit where we all boarded a rather stylish car that carried us to a location with a small dining hall.  The hall was elegant to say the least and displayed incredible wealth, far more expensive than I saw anywhere else in the Galaxy so far.  My bodyguards took up stations around the walls of the room, two to each wall while the only two-bodyguards of the bankers took up stations at the doors to the room.  The Chief Banker noted me looking that them and said, “I should not be telling you this, but I feel that I can.  Those two guards are useless. They would have no idea what to do should anyone here on the planet try and break into this room.  They’re merely for show.  Tell me, Tibby, is that young lady over there in the black uniform, the Jenira we’ve heard about?”

“Excuse me, Chief Banker, but how is it that you have heard of Jenira?”  I asked, taken aback by his question.

“We know a great number of things that go on out in the Galaxy.  We have our spies out there to keep us informed.  With all the wealth stored here, it’s pertinent that we keep abreast of all that is taking place,” he said with a smile.

“I see, but you didn’t know about the Brotherhood’s plan to attack you here?”  I asked quietly.

Arjuk Norcar looked down for a moment and his face took on a more somber appearance, “We had heard rumors of it, but sadly we gave it-no mind.  We were convinced our defenses were adequate, and they could do us no harm.  I fear we were too arrogant to see the real threat.  However, back to my original question, is that the Jenira, who defeated the Ruwallie Rasson?”

“Yes, she is the one,” I answered, and I noted that Arjuk Norcar seemed to give a slight shiver of delight when I answered.

“I hope, perhaps before you return to your ship, that you might introduce me to her.  I have seen a vid of her duel.  I wish I had been there to wager on that fight.”

“You gamble?” I asked in surprise.

Arjuk Norcar smiled widely, “Only on sure things.”  Then he sighed and looked at me more seriously again.

“Admiral, oh, do you prefer I call you Admiral, First Citizen, or what is proper?” he asked.

“Just call me Tibby; I hate honorifics,” I answered.

“Very well, you may call me Norcar.  Now then, Tibby, as you no doubt have guessed, our real reason for inviting you here is because we wish to make a pact with the Federation.  We unexpectedly find ourselves defenseless and at the mercy of enemies with superior weapons, and the Federation is the only one able to stand up against them.”

“What do you have in mind?”  I asked, knowing full well what would follow.

“We cannot ask the Federation to be our guards and security.  Many of our depositors would not tolerate such an arrangement with the Federation.  However, we can ask for an alliance in fighting a common enemy that would allow the Federation to assist us in times of need; in return, we can help to defray the Federation’s costs in the war with the Brotherhood.  We would also want access to the latest technology the Federation has militarily; your cloaking technology, plans for the 10X reactors and the solbidyum reactor, as well as plans for your fighters and your newly built carriers.”

I looked at Norcar; under the table I felt Kala's squeeze on my leg as a signal that I should tread carefully in negotiating with him. 

“That’s an interesting offer, Norcar.  However, assistance in paying for fighting the enemy doesn’t justify giving up some of our secret technology, at least not in the eyes of the Federation,” I said.

“I see,” Norcar said, “and just what arrangement might cause the Federation to want to share in this information?”

“We know that many of the Brotherhood members and businesses have substantial sums of money deposited here at Weccies, and you have also said you have your spies out and about the Federation as well.  In addition to the things you've mentioned, we’d like you to share that information with us, and if accounts of the Brotherhood or their supporters are identified here in your bank, that those accounts be frozen.”

Norcar, froze and paled a bit before he answered, “That would violate a policy we have, never to interfere with the accounts of our depositors for any reason.  We would lose the respect and trust of many of our clients if we did this.”

“You also stand to lose them all if the Brotherhood captures Weccies,” I said as I raised a fork full of food to my lips.  I noticed that Norcar had barely touched his food, and now was fidgeting about nervously.

“I will need to discuss this with the other bankers before I can commit to such a treaty,” Norcar said.

“I understand.  Pardon me for asking, but when you listed the things you wanted the Federation to provide you as part of an agreement, you asked for the plans for a solbidyum reactor.  May I ask why?  Without Solbidyum, a reactor is useless and all the solbidyum is in the hands of the Federation, and they won’t give any up.”

“That is not exactly true, Tibby.  Some solbidyum has been captured by the Brotherhood on planets they captured from the Federation.”

“True, but I don’t think they will give you any of theirs at any price,” I said.

Norcar smiled, “and we also have two grains of solbidyum.”

“WHAT?  You have solbidyum?  How did you acquire it?”

“We’ve had it for over 600 years in our vaults.  When solbidyum was first discovered, one asteroid miner got word about it and raced out there before the mining of solbidyum began.  He brought the solbidyum back here and placed it in our vaults.  It’s been there ever since.  We don’t know what happened to him.  We’ve tried to track down any heirs he might have and have found none.  Our board of bankers has decided to lay claim to it as unclaimed property, but they don’t want to sell it. They would like to use it to power and defend the planet.”

“I see.  This certainly is something to think about.”  I said.

“Of course, this is highly classified information, and we trust you will keep it secret.  The last thing we need is for people trying to come here intent on stealing it.  Especially now,” Norcar said.

“All the more reason to consider our terms for sharing information about the Brotherhood, their accounts and freezing their accounts,” I said.

“I understand and I will talk to the other bankers about it.  However, for now, let us enjoy our meal, and then we will show you some of our planet and show you to the people.  We had hoped we might reach some preliminary agreement before we introduced you, so we could tell our people, but for now that will have to wait.”

Norcar excused himself for a few minutes and he and another of the bankers left the room for a few minutes before returning, and approaching me, “I’m sorry about that, Tibby, there were a few details I needed to discuss privately.”

“Norcar, I completely understand.  I have to do the same thing dozens of times a day myself.”

“Yes, I imagine you must be quite busy.  You're not just in command of one fleet.  You're in command of several, and then you have side issues to deal with also, such as your estate, and the Ruwallie Rasson, and the androids that you relocated somewhere I believe.”

I chuckled as Kala squeezed my leg once more, “You do seem to be well informed, Norcar.”

“Is it true you have a Tottalax aboard your ship?”  Norcar asked, “That is, if it’s not classified information, of course.”

“I’ll answer that question, if you answer one for me, do the Tottalax have any deposits here?”

“All right, I can answer that without violating any of our rules, so far as we know, the Tottalax have no deposits here.  If they do they were made by a third party under another name.  Before the Tottalax began assisting the Brotherhood, we had only heard rumors about them. No one from Weccies has ever had contact with a Tottalax.”

I nodded, “To answer your question then, yes, we do have a Tottalax aboard my ship.”

“Is he a prisoner?  What have you learned from him?”

I smiled and said, “I should make this a part of our negotiations.  However, I’ll tell you what we know.  Tot, the Tottalax on my ship, sat one time was the leader of the Tottalax.  At least, that’s his claim.  When they encountered the Brotherhood, they were offered the drug called God’s Sweat in trade.  Apparently, the drug has a completely different effect on the Tottalax than on other species and races.  I went on to explain what Tot had told us regarding the drug's effect on the females of his species and how the Tottalax race was growing so rapidly they needed to expand to other worlds.  When I finished, Norcar said, “That fits in with some of the information we have about the Tottalax.  So what will become of this Tot, as you call him?”

“When we tow the ship back to their world, we are hoping that, as Tot thinks, they will be so terrified by what they see that they will surrender and stop all associations with the Brotherhood.  We then hope Tot can be restored to power; he claims that their population can be brought back down to its previous levels within 50 years.  Tot would like to isolate their world from the rest of the galaxy, a move that I support at this time.  The Tottalax are not very well adapted for dealing with the rest of the races in the galaxy.”

With the meal over, Chief Banker Arjuk Norcar, led us back out to the transport car we had arrived in, and we traveled a short distance.  This time when we exited the car, there was a small crowd of people held back by lines of civilian police.  The people were cheering and looking at us wide-eyed at seeing “off-worlders” for the first time in their lives.  We were escorted from the car to an elevator that took us up one level, and then out into a long cavern that appeared to be at least a kilometer wide and ran on underground as far as the eye could see.  A monorail moved along its length above a street-like corridor between shops and other buildings.  No signs of vehicles were seen in this corridor, which seemed to be dedicated to pedestrians only.

We boarded the monorail, which was open on the sides, so we could look out as it traveled along at a speed of about 20 kilometers per hour.  Below us, about 100 meters, the corridor was packed with pedestrians staring up at us and waving.  Norcar, pointed out different things along our route; stores, hospitals, all the things one would expect in a city anywhere.  At one point along our route, we entered an area that was more brightly lit from lights above us in the cavern.  Below was a park-like area filled with trees and plants which Norcar said came from all over the universe.  Further on, we came to a similar area that we were told housed a zoo.  Norcar said there were corresponding forested areas and zoo areas all about the planet.  I asked how many kilometers of tunnels there were on Weccies, and he said he had no idea, but there were tunnels all over beneath the planet surface and at many different levels as well.  He said no one lived on the surface. 

At one point, we left the monorail and went down several more levels on another elevator and then boarded another monorail in another cavern corridor.  I asked Norcar what supported the vast spans of the corridor to keep it from caving in, and he said I would need to talk to their engineers about that, as he didn’t know.  As we moved through this corridor, there was a distinct difference in the air quality; it seemed fresher and moister.  Below us, I could see vast spans of green, and Norcar explained that these were the agricultural tunnels where food crops were grown.  At a few locations we passed over long bodies of water that he told us contained fish for food.  We stopped once more, to again transfer to another elevator, and then down even deeper and then again onto a monorail.  This monorail was closed entirely, and there were thick transparent panels on the sides.  When we exited the elevator, I noticed a number of armed guards about, and I spotted a number of remotely operated laser guns mounted in the walls.