Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (8 page)

“It’s the same on Earth,” I replied
“we have numerous cultures and religions there that ban the consumption of alcoholic beverages as being evil, while yet others use them as a part of their religious ceremonies.”

“That interesting,” Kala began “When we have the time I really want to hear and learn as much as possible about your planet and its cultures.”

“Any time madam.” I replied with a smile. Her words had given me the impression that I would be spending a lot of time with her in the future.

Before I r
ealized it we had finished our meal and Kala indicated it was the appointed time for our meeting with the Captain. I was not sure how she knew this as I saw no time pieces about that I recognized.  We got up from the table and went to the door where we were immediately joined by the two guards on duty.  Kala led us through the large common room and to the right to a door about mid wall.  We entered what turned out to be an elevator and went up about eight or so meters to a second level that looked out over the common room.  The conference room itself was sort of recessed with a balcony that extended out from it so the edge of the balcony was flush with the wall of the common room.   We had arrived before the Captain and others had so I took the opportunity to investigate the conference room.  The conference room had a large table able to seat at least eighteen people, there was a podium at one end of the room and I assumed that behind the wood paneling that covered three walls of the room that there probably were viewing screens as well.  The wall separating the balcony from the conference room was glass with a glass door in the middle of it that didn’t seem to have any hinges that I could see or detect, yet when one pushed on the door it swung open easily to allow access to the balcony.  One of the stewards assigned to my accommodations was in the room and asked if we would care for a beverage. 

Kala explained
, “While is it not exactly a ritual, traditionally at many meetings people drink a beverage we call Foccee, it’s made from a plant originally from the jungles of the planet Epur, but today it is grown commercially on many worlds.  It has a mild non-addictive stimulant in it that increases alertness and reduces fatigue and also seems to enhance mental acuity.  Would you like to try some?”

“Sure,” I
answered, “I’ll give it a try.”

My first thought was that the people of the Federation had found and cultivated coffee, but when I saw the purple liquid that looked more like burgundy wine that was handed to me that image quickly dispelled.  I was surprised however when I took
my first sip and it reminded me of a Coke from back on Earth with a twist of mint added. It left a cool refreshing feeling and aftertaste in the mouth and I could feel a relaxed feeling spread over my body.

“H-h-mmm… I think I like it,
” I offered after my first sip “it is very refreshing.”

“Just don’t drink any for a few hours before going to bed or you will be tossing and turning for hours
, it has a tendency to keep one awake.”

“We have a beverage on Earth that is used in much the same fashion, but it is a dark black in color and served hot, but it too serves to keep one awake if taken shortly before going to bed
.  I think, however, I like this Foccee much better though.  It has a nicer after taste to it.”

Just as I was finishing my comments
Captain Maxette and two other officers entered the room. Both Major Kalana and the trooper guard assumed a stiff posture and placed their right hand on their left shoulder across their chest. The Captain and the other two officers repeated the same gesture, but from a more relaxed posture. 

“Captain
,” Kala said in acknowledgement of his presence.

The Captain repeated with “Major” as he averted his eyes from her to me.  There was no verbal acknowledgement between any of the others and I had the impression when two parties met that only the
senior members of each group acknowledged each other verbally as a sign of recognition of leadership for each group.

”So
Tibby, we get to meet face to face at last.” The Captain began with a warm smile “I am sure you are eager to get some answers from us, just as we are from you.  Please, sit down.  Everyone please sit.” 

Everyone
took a chair at the table except for the guard who remained inside the room stationary by the door, and the steward who was busy placing beverages in front of everyone before leaving the room.  Captain Maxette took the chair at the head of the table, his two officers sat on the right side from him, Kala sat next to him on his left and motioned for me to take the seat next to her.

Captain Maxette
began to speak “Before we begin, I would like to introduce you to Commander Thimas,”  Thimas nodded in my direction, “ And Lieutenant Commander Wanoll, ” Wanoll too nodded.

             
I acknowledge them with “Gentlemen” all the while wondering about the ranking system,.  All the ranks I was being introduced to were translating in my brain from Federation language to their English equivalents or close equals.  But in the United States military rankings from one branch of the service to another are not the same.   The Navy has no Major whereas the Army and Air Force do.  In the Air Force, a major is higher ranking than a Captain, but here it seemed that the Captain is higher than a Major, so I was somewhat confuse by the system. I had noted though that all uniforms had stripes that ran around the chest and torso area, and that the more stripes one had the lower in rank.   The Captain had the least in the room followed by the Commander and Lieutenant Commander, with Major Kalana having the same number of stripes as the Lieutenant Commander though all of Kala’s stripes were one color the bottom stripe of the Lieutenant Commander was gold.  It was all a bit confusing at the moment and I made a mental note to get Kala to explain it to me later.

             
Captain Maxette continued “I’m sure by now that Major Kalana has explained to you that she is a military attaché in our diplomatic service and her functions.  She is on full assignment to you at the moment to help you integrate with the Federation and also to help us learn more about you and your culture.  Commander Thimas is my second in command and is here to learn as much of this event as possible in case something should happen to me that he will be fully apprised of the situation.  Lieutenant Commander Wanoll is representing the defense and security elements of this operation and to assess dangers and to provide security and offer suggestions on security procedures.

“Let me begin with a bit of history that will set the stage for
where we are today.  A little over seven hundred years ago
(this is translated from federation time to Earth years)
our scientists discovered an asteroid cluster on the edge galaxy that was believed to have been ejected from a black hole trillions of years ago.  The scientists were interested in looking for new elements that might have been created in the black hole, and indeed they found several. One element, which was extremely rare and dense showed remarkable properties and when brought into proximity of another very common element produced tremendous amounts of energy.  Oddly neither of these two elements seems to be altered in any way and precisely how this energy is generated is still a mystery even today.  To give you a hint at the energy potential for this new element, which is extremely rare and called Solbidyum, if you were to take a piece the size of a single grain of salt and place it in proximity of the second element, which is rather common and put them inside a low grade magnetic field produces enough energy to meet the needs of a large industrial planet with a population of one billion on for a nearly infinite period of time.

In the beginning, after the Solbidyum and its potential discovered
three planets set up power plants producing power for their entire planets using some of the original samples discovered.   It gave huge advantages for these planets in terms of industry and resources.  Everything was converted to electrical systems and the need for fossil, nuclear or fusion were no longer needed nor was there a need for systems to process waste or store radioactive wastes.  It was clean, non-polluting and above all didn’t require a lot of maintenance or personnel to maintain, nor did it take up a lot of space.

At first the planetary governments rejoiced, at the time the Federation as in its infancy, newly formed and dedicated to the principal of seeing to it that everyone, no matter what planet they lived on, had the same opportunities and access to the same resources for life and energy.   The discovery of Solbidyum meant that some of the planets that heretofore had been struggling to survive because they lacked energy resources now could flourish
.  Then the scientists gave us the bad news. Solbidyum was only found in this one very remote place in the Universe, so far as anyone knew.  The amount of Solbidyum was finite and while only the smallest particle of it was required, the amount of existing Solbidyum was estimated only to be enough for each planet in the Federation to possess one, maybe two grains of it, and it would take years to mine and process it all. Every planet wanted to be first on the list to receive it and many heated debate and discussion took place as to who should get it and when and how it should be distributed.  It was finally decided that all Solbidyum would be collected and refined and processed at one time so that no planet had an advantage over another because of when they received it.  Each planet would be responsible for paying for their Solbidyum at a rate to be set by the Federation, but planets that didn’t have the money to pay for it could get it on credit from the Federation so every planet would get a fair shot at the advantage of endless and unlimited energy. Lastly, mining Solbidyum was extremely dangerous as the asteroids patch in which the Solbidyum was found was extremely active with Asteroids orbiting around a dense particle believed to also have been left over from the black hole.  These Asteroids were crashing into each other from time to time leaving dense meteoritic debris also bumping and crashing into things and the entire area in a dense dust cloud.  The scientists believed that in a few million years all the debris and Asteroids would be pulled into the dense core particle and would eventually become a new star that is if there had been enough core and debris to do so, but there wasn’t.  At first they tried harvesting the meteoritic debris robotically to extract the Solbidyum, but the process was very slow and produced little Solbidyum and the equipment was constantly being damaged by the meteoric debris.  To get the Solbidyum it took manned equipment moving about the debris field with harvesters, but that too was very expensive, not just in equipment but in men as well.  A person volunteering to work in the harvesting area could earn a life time in wages for a three month stint of work, but few who ever signed up ever lived the three months to collect their wages;  the handful that did never signed up for a second stint.  Eventually it was so bad that no one at all would take the chance that is until several of the worst criminals the universe had ever seen volunteered their services working the debris field
if
their death sentences would be set aside if they survived one year.   At first the citizens of the Federation were against the idea of letting these psycho criminals, convicted of the worst crimes humanity can imagine, go free.  But an arrangement eventually was made that they would be allowed to live and would all be moved to a prison planet on the outer fringes of the Galaxy in a remote location.  The planet was actually a very lovely world but not near any other habitable planets for hundreds of light years and served no real use to the Federation. It was decided that these criminals, if they survived one year working the Solbidyum fields, would then be transferred to this planet and set down on it with limited resources and allowed to survive or die there based on their own skills.  Surprisingly many criminals on death row signed up even knowing that their chanced of living just three months were about one in fifty.  To the amazement of the Federation, several of the prisoners actually lived to make it three months, but none ever made it the full year, but they never stopped trying.”

In the
meanwhile years had gone by and only a small supply of Solbidyum had been produced.  Many of the planets, desperate for energy resources became suspicious that there was a plot to keep their worlds repressed and believed that a coalition had been formed to distribute supplies to Solbidyum to certain planets ahead of others.  Some were even prepared to go to extreme measures to make sure they got the Solbidyum as soon as they could and sent out pirate ships to attack ore transports before they could return to Federations processing facility to refine the Solbidyum.  Many lives were lost and ore destroyed in the attacks leaving the Federation to look for other solutions.  It was decided that all Solbidyum would be refined and kept on one of the larger asteroids on the outer edge of the Asteroid cluster where the Solbidyum was. Few people knew its exact location, because of its remoteness the space between it and the Federations main territories was normally vacant of ships and any pirate ships or war ships entering that space would be easy to spot and intercept.  The idea was that enough Solbidyum would be refined and shipped in one shipment to meet the needs of all the planets in the Federation.  It took nearly one hundred years to collect enough, even so the Federation realized the terrible potential that existed if all the Solbidyum suddenly fell into the hands of one planet or group.   Despite the fact that the Solbidyum was to be shipped in one large shipment with an armada of ships to protect it, the Federation feared that mutiny or a coup within the fleet of the escorting armada could take the entire supply of Solbidyum.  It was decided that a covert plan would be established to get the Solbidyum from the Asteroid field to the Capitol of the Federation unknown to everyone but a few of the highest officials.