Solbidyum Wars Saga 7: Hunt for the Reduviids (32 page)

“Oh Dad, this one didn’t come from Gorboron.  This one came from our zoo at the estate.”

“We have a zoo at the estate,” I asked dumbfounded?

“Yes, Tib, you do.”  Kala said as she entered the room, “Tib, you still have no idea what you own and have, do you?”

“I guess not,” I answered, “So why is the... what did you say it is again,” I asked Lunnie?

“A Mellapuee, Dad.”

“Yeah… so why is this Mellapuee thing here and not back at the zoo?”

“Your daughter thought it would be a fun thing to bring back for a pet,” Kala said.

“I see and what about Mimic?”  I asked.  “You already have a pet here.”

“I can have two,” Lunnie said, “I’ll take care of it, Dad.”

“Lunnie, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Kala began.  The Mellapuee let out a squawk and it emptied its bowels all over Lunnie.  To say it was one of the messiest and foulest smells would be an understatement.  Behind me, I heard the guard retching as the stench reached him.  The look on Lunnie’s face was priceless as it first went from shock, to horror and finally disgust at the smell.

“Uh Dad, I think I will take him back to the zoo,” Lunnie said with a wrinkled face.

“Be sure to clean this mess up before you do,” I said.  Actually, cleaning the mess off the floor would be no problem, as the cleaning bot in the suite would take care of that.  However, Lunnie was going to need to shower and a change before she went anywhere.  Behind Lunnie, I saw Kala shaking her head with a frown, “I hope you learned something from this, Lunnie.”

Once Lunnie had left the room to shower and change clothes and while the cleaning bot took care of removing the Mellapuee excrement from the floor, Kala looked at me and asked,” What brings you home?”

“Well, I was hoping to have lunch here with you, but the atmosphere here at the moment reeks a bit too much of nature, so how about we go to one of the dining rooms on the ship and have a meal?”

“Oh Tib, that sounds wonderful!  Jenira was telling me the other day that the dining room on level three has been serving this great dish from Kaldon and I have wanted to try it.”

“Great, let’s go.  By the way, where is Jenira?  I’ve not seen her in quite some time.”

“Oh, she’s around.  She comes and takes Lunnie and Reide for martial arts training every day and she accompanies them whenever they go to the estate.”

“How are the twins doing with their martial arts training?” I asked.

“Well according to Jenira, a tree rooted to the ground is better at martial arts than the twins are; but you know how critical she is.  To be honest, I think they are doing exceptionally well for their age.”

“I’m assuming she and Padaran still spend a lot of time together.”

“Yes, I think so; at least I see them together most of the time when she isn’t here or training her Women with Swords.

“Oh and speaking of the estate,” Kala added, “I needed to go there this morning and there was a package there for you from Stonbersa’s attorney.  I had it brought here to the
NEW ORLEANS
; it’s in your study.”

“What’s in it?”  I asked.  “I can’t imagine what he would leave me.”

“I have no idea.  I didn’t open it.  However, it’s fairly large, whatever it is.”

“Well let’s go eat and I’ll see what it is after we’ve dined.”

The
NEW ORLEANS
had many dining areas.  In the early days after I had first taken possession of the ship, only a few were used and operating; but now that the ship was nearly 85% occupied, all of them were operational.  Some were cafeteria-like while others were more like restaurants with menus dedicated to specialties.  Some only served food dishes popular to particular planets or cultures, while others were dedicated to fast, finger food dishes.  The restaurant that Jenira had talked to Kala about was small and definitely had a cozy romantic feel to it.  Tables were situated in private little coves with subdued lighting.  I could imagine that Jenira and Padaran dined here frequently, where they were out of sight of others.

I have to hand it to Jenira.  The food was appetizing and I found myself wishing for more when I finished, even though I was full.  During the meal, I informed Kala about events of the morning and about the relocation of the Cantolla Gate station.

“I wondered why you got up so early this morning,” she said when I finished, “I heard you talking to Marranalis on your com link, but I was too sleepy to make any sense of it.  What do you think made you have that dream?”

“I guess my mind was assembling bits and pieces of events and data in my sleep and somehow put it all together.”

“Only your mind would do that, Tib,” she said as she placed her hand on mine on the table.  “Do you think the Brotherhood will try to attack the old station location?”

“I’m hoping so; if they do, they will have a huge surprise coming,” I said.

“What if Pynice warns the Brotherhood?”  Kala asked.

“I doubt he will.  I don’t think he knew the Brotherhood plans or cooperated knowingly in what happened.  I suspect that someone else was involved.  Only three of the crew at the station at the moment even know the station is being relocated.  I have had the security team that guards the operation's center at the station rotated out with new guards with FSO training and they are watching everyone.  If anyone on the station realizes relocation is taking place and tries to notify the Brotherhood, they will spot them and take them into custody.

“Now, let’s go see what Stonbersa left me.”

I was surprised at the size of the box in my study when I got there.  It was a meter and a half wide, two meters long and over a meter in height.  If the door to my study hadn’t been a double door, I don’t know how they would have gotten it inside.

“You were right, it is large,” I said.  “Let me see if I can open this container.”

Fortunately, it turned out to be quite simple to open; there was a dial inside a recessed area on one end and once I turned it, the sides separated and it was possible to lift the lightweight panels it was made of away.  Inside I found a clear display case containing a replica of a patrol ship.  Not simply any patrol ship, as I was to discover when I read the note attached to the case written in Stonbersa’s hand.

“Tibby, if you have received this note, then you should also have received the model that goes with it and it means that I am dead.  I hope I died valiantly and in service to the Federation.  I cannot express to you the full extent of my gratitude for all that you have done for me.  Before you hired me to be captain of the NEW ORLEANS, I believed my career over and that I would die a disgraced ex-military officer, but you changed that.  You trusted me and gave me a chance to reclaim my damaged career and took me far beyond what I had ever dreamed of accomplishing when you made me a Fleet Admiral in the Federation.  You and Kalana both made me feel like I was a part of your family and I love you both as if you were my own kin. 

“I wished to leave you something to remember me by, but what do you leave to a man who is the richest man in the Universe, certainly not money or more property?  However, this gift I hope you will cherish and it will give you fond memories.  I told you when we first met that I had always been intrigued by stories about the TRITYTE, what I didn’t tell you was I so enamored with the ship that I had built this scaled replica of it.  My original version of the ship was a little different from how you see it here.  I only had verbal descriptions to go by in building this model and I got a few things wrong; however, after seeing the real TRITYTE, I could take images and measurements and correct my model so it is now accurate in every detail.

The top half of the ship is attached by clips on the underside and it can be removed to display the inside in full detail; I hope that you will enjoy this and accept it as a token of my love and appreciation for all that you have done for me.”   ~Stonbersa~

“Tib, I believe this ship is a model of the
TRITYTE,
” Kala exclaimed as she walked around the case.

“It is”, I said and handed her the note to read.  I walked around the case and noted a button on the side.  When I pushed it, the top of the case folded in against the one side and the sides retracted into the case, leaving the model exposed.  While Kala continued to read, I found the clips Stonbersa had mentioned; I unfastened them and lifted the top half of the ship off, exposing the interior.  I was expecting the top half to be heavy, but it was very light and I wondered what material it was made of.  Inside the ship was accurate in every detail, like Stonbersa had said, right down to the box of solbidyum in the cargo hold.

“Oh Tib, this is beautiful,” Kala exclaimed.  I turned, seeing she had finished reading the note and she stood staring at the model.  “It must have taken Stonbersa years to make this.  Look-- he even has all the buttons on the control console.  Where are you going to put it?”

“I have no idea.  I have to confess I would like to leave it here and look at it when I use my study, but I think it should be displayed someplace where more people can see it.”

“I agree, how about the grand entrance hall at the estate?  There is a huge open area there with the skylight above it.  People coming and going would all get to see it.”  Kala suggested.

“Hmm, I like that idea and it would be a fitting reminder that the estate and everything else I own has come about because of the
TRITYTE. 
I think though, that we should have some sort of memorial plaque to go with it honoring Stonbersa.”

“Yes, I think that would be appropriate,” Kala agreed.  “Maybe even a statue.”

My wrist com beeped and I answered it to hear Marranalis’s voice, “Sir, Admiral Wabussie wishes you to contact him immediately; the Brotherhood has made contact with Báihuā on Epsirt.”

“Very well, tell him I will meet him in his office in twenty minutes,” I said.  I turned to Kala, “Sorry, it looks like I need to dash off again.”

“I understand, Tib.  Wasn’t Báihuā one of the Chinese women we rescued from the Lunar colony?”

“Yes, she is a double agent working with the FSO and an undercover member in the Brotherhood.  We stationed her on Epsirt as one of Norcar’s staff, hoping the Brotherhood would contact her and now it appears they have.”

Twenty minutes later, I arrived at the FSO headquarters on the Capitol Station.

“Admiral, I’m glad you could make it so soon,” Wabussie began, “We have both the opportunity we hoped for and a serious problem.”

“I heard that Báihuā was contacted by the Brotherhood on Epsirt, but I hadn’t heard about the problem,” I replied.

“Yes, it seems the Brotherhood wants Báihuā to participate in whatever they have going on there, but first they want her to take their loyalty test, similar to what we now use with all our Federation troops and other personnel.  When Báihuā originally went undercover, they didn’t have any such tests and it was easy for her to fool them; however now, if she takes the test she will fail and they are sure to kill her on the spot.”

“How soon do they want to administer the test?”  I asked.

“They are pushing for her to take it right away.  She doesn’t know what they are planning and they won’t say until she has taken the test.  She’s put them off for the moment, claiming she has some duties to take care of for Norcar, but has told them she will take the test as soon as she can.  However, she can’t delay this too long without causing suspicion.”

“A’Lappe told me a few days ago that Cantolla was working on a device that blocks the signals of the truth bands and makes the machine display green even if the person is telling a lie.  I’ll get with her and see how far that is developed; hopefully it works and is small enough that Báihuā can wear it undetected and take their test.”

“I hope you are right; from the way Báihuā described her encounter with the Brotherhood, they have something big planned and they feel she could be instrumental in it.  If we can find out what it is, we may be able to disrupt their operations in a huge way.

“By the way, our hunch was right.  Apparently, the information gathered by the government agents who came to Norcar’s estate made it into the Brotherhood’s hands.  That’s how they found out Báihuā was there.  As we suspected, they’ve checked out everyone at the estate.  The Brotherhood seems delighted that one of their people is working for Norcar.”

When I left Wabussie’s office, I went straight to my estate and tried to find Cantolla.  I expected to find her in her main lab; but when I arrived, I was told she was at the cloning lab down by the stables.  I called her on my com link and said I needed to talk to her in her lab; she said she’d be there in a few minutes.  I walked around casually looking at experiments that were going on as I waited for her to arrive.  There were close to twenty people in the lab, all busy doing something and basically ignoring me.  I had no idea what any of them were doing, or why.  I was beginning to wonder how much I was paying all these people and if they were worth it, when Cantolla entered.

“Tibby, I didn’t’ know you were coming, or I would have been here to meet you.”

“Yes, well, that was my fault.  I should have notified you, but things happened quickly and I didn’t know I was coming myself until a few minutes ago.”

“I hope it’s nothing serious,” Cantolla said with concerned.