Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (37 page)

“We
discovered that when we used the RMFF our nav system didn’t function.   Kerabac believed this to be due to the magnetic field and decided to try using an optical navigation system, not as powerful but adequate for short range navigation. In the process of playing around with this he accidently discovered that if an energy beam of a certain frequency is beamed from the ship to the inside of the RMFF it cloaks the ship.  We’ve set up a control system that is keyed to senior crew members only so the system can’t be activated by anyone but a senior officer on the
NEW ORLEANS
. Even if the ship were captured they would not be able to operate it even if they knew of what all it can do.  The same holds true for the RMFF.”  Every member of Regeny’s staff was now sitting forward in their chairs with looks of total amazement on their faces.

“But what of radar and other sensors, won’t they still see the
NEW ORLEANS?
” Regeny asked.

“No the RMFF prevents that
as well,” I said “as far as they would observe we simply are not there.”

“
Impressive,” Admiral Regeny said, “this certainly puts an entirely new perspective on things.  We can sneak right up to the
DUSTEN
, and… and…”

“Yes,
and what? An attack on the
DUSTEN
is not possible, yet.  There are too many innocent lives aboard that ship.  More thought must go into a rescue plan.” I said.  “We can’t blow the ship up with 10,000 mostly innocent people aboard.  You can’t leave this ship to get over there because we’d have to drop the RMFF to do so and they would blow us to bits if we did.  We could take out the patrol ships and the
TASSAGORA,
but what would that accomplish you?  They still would have the
DUSTEN
holding a large number of their troops, and thousands of hostages.”

“It seems like you have already given this some thought Tibby, so would you advise us doing?”

“First you make your announcement to the Federation saying that you and the High Command are all safe.  Inform them that your security team learned of the eminent attack shortly before it happened and that you and the High Command moved to a secure secret command center.  Mention that upon knowing of the imminent attacks, you also saw it fit to relocate the Solbidyum. None of this is a lie, but if you say it right it will look like you have intelligence sources and resources in place that give you control of the situation, we must continue to give off the image that the Federation still has the upper hand. Once you have done that, I suggest we cloak and remain cloaked for further protection. We can then move to a viewing position of the
DUSTEN
and the
TASSAGORA
and observe the surrounding ships movements
.
I believe that if we are patent, the rebels will unknowingly lead us to their headquarters. Due to the fact that we are invisible and able to follow these ships, once we take out their base they will automatically assume they have a Federation spy in the Brotherhood. I suspect when the  rebels see the news cast they will think we already have spies in their midst and will begin a witch hunt looking for them, they won’t use standard communications because they will fear we can monitor them somehow so they will use a shuttle or patrol ship to carry messages to and from their headquarters to be safe. Once we find their headquarters we destroy both the ship and the base, make a vid of it, show it on the news with an announcement that your spy’s infiltrated the Brotherhood and that is how you located their base.  That should get the rebels concerned and not trusting their own; some may even defect hoping to get off easy by bargaining information for freedom or their lives.  Once their high command is out of commission we will move on the
DUSTEN
and the ships around it. 

“Damn Tibby, I think I should just retire and let you run the
Federation military. All right everyone, you heard what he said, let’s make it happen!”

While the High
command officers and the Admiral prepared his presentation for the news Kala and I went looking for Lunnie and Reidecor on the
TRITYTE
.  I was shocked to find the
TRITYTE
dark and dead, no power at all.  Plus the cable for powering the RMFF from the
TRITYTE
was missing.  Just as I was starting to panic Lunnie and Reidecor came strolling toward the ship with their arms about each other.

“Hey Tibby, sis… how you two doing?” Lunnie said smiling.

“What happened to the power on the
TRITYTE?
” I asked, choosing to ignore Lunnie’s question.

“Oh
, that, you said to look into removing the Solbidyum reactor from the
TRITYTE
and after I found the reactor plans in the ship’s computer and built one, I installed it like you said.  Tibby you will never find it in a million years. Anyway, I needed to test it so while we were in orbit over the Estate I moved the core into the new reactor to test it, works like a charm.  But I’ve not had a chance to move it back because of all the action that broke out shortly thereafter.”

“So right now the
NEW ORLEANS’s
RMFF is running off the new reactor you installed and not off the
TRITYTE
?”  I asked in amazement.

“Yep
, guess you could say that.”

“Lunnie were I not madly attached to your sister I would kiss you right now
!” I burst out in pure amazement as I embraced her in a tight, almost bone crushing hug.  Then I felt my cheeks quickly turn red as the others laughed and I quickly let go. “Go ahead and kiss her Tibby, maybe that will shut her up for a while.  I don’t think your kissing her on this occasion counts for anything but a reward for a job well done.” So I took Lunnie in my arms and gave her a huge kiss, when I stepped back she said. ”WOW sis, you said he was a good kisser, but I didn’t think he was this good, say does this mean that I can come and sleep with the two of you now?” To which Kala, Reidecor and I said in unison “NO!”

“So just where
is the reactor,” I asked Lunnie.

“Follow me,” she said and led us away from the hanger and down a short corridor to a small inconspicuous
looking storage room that had some pipes running through it and a pump sitting on the floor.  “Here you are,” she said. 

“Where?” Kala and I asked in unison.

“You said you wanted it hidden, well there it is.” and she pointed to the pump.  “You’ve got to be kidding I said.  That’s the reactor?”  Lunnie with a huge satisfied grin on her face said, “Yeah! Pretty neat isn’t it? No one would ever think it was a reactor.” 

“
What about radiation, heat, and all that stuff???” I asked.

“It doesn’t work that way Tibby,” Lunnie sai
d,” it produces pure electricity. I have the cables running in the pipes so you don’t see them, but the reactor is actually inside the pump.  I don’t think anyone in a million years would suspect it of being a reactor.”

“That’s great
Lunnie” I said, “but what are we going to do with the
TRITYTE, it
has no power?”

“Well
, you said you wanted to use it as a museum piece and take it about the galaxy for people to see and touch.” Lunnie said.

“You said that,” Kala looked
at me with a pleasantly surprised look on her face.

“Lunnie you weren’t supposed to tell anyone about that.” I said.

“I’m not telling anyone, Kala and Reidecor don’t count because they’re family.” Lunnie said. 

I threw my hands up in desperation
“Lunnie when I say
no one
, I mean
no one
!”

“Yes, I said that,” I
turned toward Kala, “when I saw how Captain Stonbersa reacted on seeing the
TRITYTE
and how he got all teary eyed, I realized that this ship is something everyone in the Federation should be given a chance to see and touch. We obviously we can’t allow that with a functioning Solbidyum reactor in it, so I decided to have Lunnie move the reactor, or at least the Solbidyum into the
NEW ORLEANS
and we would load the
TRITYTE
into a freighter and turn it into a flying museum and take it on tour around the Federation so everyone has a chance to see the real thing at no cost.”

“Tib you are a wonderful guy
, you really are.” Kala said and hugged and kissed me.

“O
kay,” I said, “but now how do we get the
TRITYTE
out of here when we want or need to?” I asked.

“No problem Tib,” Lunnie said
, “I can hook a small fusion battery into the ship that will give in minimal power to fly.  It won’t power the guns or anything, but it will fly, sub light and no gravity wave, but it will fly.”

I laughed
. “Okay Lunnie, you did a good job, but get that battery hooked in to this thing as soon as possible, I don’t want anyone knowing the Solbidyum has been removed from the
TRITYTE
just yet.  It may play out to our advantage for people to keep thinking the
TRITYTE
is fully functional.

One more thing, I want you to find some empty cubby hole or recess big
enough for the container of Solbidyum that was on the
TRITYTE
, the Admiral brought it with him and we need to hide it here for a bit, after putting it in that space I want the entrance plated over and painted to match so on one, except us, will know where it is. If the New Orleans should get taken they not only will not know it’s here but they won’t find it by accident either.   But PLEASE keep it quiet… PLEASE!”

We all headed to the bridge and arrived just in time to see
Admiral Regeny starting his speech on the vid screen to the people of the Federation.  Behind him on the elegant wood paneled wall was displayed the Federation logo and the room looked like a high ranking room such as one would expect to see in an operational government facility.

“
Addressing events of earlier today, as most of you know by this time, the Federation military headquarters building was attack by mutinous factions in the Federation military, members of a group known as the Brotherhood of Light.  Rumors and news spread quickly that the High Command was taken out by the blasts and assault on the building and that the Solbidyum stored there was taken by the raiders.  Both of these accounts are false and as you can see none of the High Command were killed or injured.  Moments before the attack took place we received word from a spy we have within the raider’s camp warning of the eminent attack.  Realizing there was no time to prepare sufficiently for the level of attack coming, the High Command elected to move to a more secure secret location where we can prepare and direct the assault against the traitors that have taken over the
DUSTEN
and the
TASSAGORA
.

Today’s
attack on the Federation headquarters was the third such attempt to get the Solbidyum and the High Command felt that it was no longer safe at this location and so have moved the entire supply of to a more secure and secret location.  Let me assure you not one grain of Solbidyum has fallen into enemy hands.  Our spies are working within the raider’s camp and we are receiving information that will soon make it possible to end this nightmare that is blighting the Federation.  We ask that you please be patient while this matter is resolved, and if you have any information that is of use you may contact Federation headquarters, where we still have normal operating conditions.  Let me repeat, the rumors of the deaths of the High Command are false, you can see us all here well and intact.  The rumors that the Solbidyum is in the hands of the raiders are false also.  The Solbidyum is safe in a new secure location and shipment to the planets will begin very shortly.” 

After
activating the cloaking and RMFF shield Kerabac and Captain Stonbersa maneuvered the
NEW ORLEANS
into a position near the
DUSTEN
and the
TASSAGORA
that allowed us to watch all ships coming and going in the area, it was not long after Admiral Regeny’s speech that we saw a small ship breakaway from the
TASSAGORA
and head for the planet’s surface.  We followed it maintaining our cloak so we were undetected, the craft moved down toward one of the two large oceans on the planet and then suddenly dove into the water and vanished.  Admiral Regeny was on the bridge with several of his officers when the event happened and he exclaimed in amazement, “No wonder we could not find their base they must have it under water.” 

Stonbersa said
, “If memory serves me correctly, back when we used to have a navy on the planet, there was an underwater submarine facility around this area.  You don’t think they may be using that as their headquarters do you?”

“Captain Stonbersa,”
Admiral Regeny started to ask, “Does the
NEW ORLEANS
have access to the Federation computers on Megelleon?”

“I’m afraid not,” Stonbersa responded, “this is a civilian ship and we do not have authorization codes to access it.”