Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (9 page)

The ship
TRITYTE
was built to be real transport for the cargo; the hull design is that of a typical patrol ship of that era and only carried a crew of five. Few people in the Federation really had any concept of just how small a space the cargo of the entire supply of Solbidyum would be, most thinking it would take a major cargo carrier to transport the shipment.  Though the Federation had the
TRITYTE
built to resemble a patrol ship it was nothing like its lookalikes.  The hull was made a much stronger metallic ceramic alloy that could take just about anything the weapons of the day could toss at it.  It had the most sophisticated guidance system ever produced and a top secret prototype gravity wave propulsion system faster than anything ever known. One other thing, the only thing that could provide enough power for the ship to operate was Solbidyum itself.  The
TRITYTE
and its crew were transported to the Asteroid production facility in the cargo ship that was to be used as a decoy bringing back the Solbidyum, one grain of the Solbidyum was to be placed in the reactor on the
TRITYTE
to power it, and rest of the entire Solbidyum shipment to be placed in a single small container aboard the
TRITYTE
.  The Cargo ship would be filled with containers of waste material from the Solbidyum processing; the
TRITYTE
was to take place in the armada protecting the cargo ship.   If nothing happened and the ships all arrived safely at the capitol no one would ever know that it was the
TRITYTE
that carried the Solbidyum. The grain in the reactor of the
TRITYTE
would be removed and added to the supply.  But if the fleet were attacked in an attempt to take the cargo ship, or a secretly planned coup or munity took place, the small
TRITYTE
could easily slip away from the armada unseen and with its incredible speed and super protective hull get the cargo safely to the Capitol where it could still be distributed to all the worlds as intended.  The crew members were carefully handpicked, tested psychologically for loyalty and the entire mission and everything about it known to only a handful.  No one anticipated what happened next.

There was one prisoner at the processing facility named Roiax, a brilliant super criminal if ever there was one.  He had managed to survive
three months harvesting in the field and only had a few days more until he would receive his freedom on the prison planet; its only human inhabitant.   No one is exactly sure how he happened to get into the hanger where the
TRITYTE
was located.  It had only been fueled the day before and the cargo loaded that very day in preparation for the transport to the Capitol.  What we do know is that somehow one of the asteroids in the system managed to smash into a larger one starting a chain reaction within the vicinity of the hanger and cargo.  We know is that part of the prison facility was hit by meteor fragments, at the time Roiax would have just been coming off duty and probably was still suited up so he would not have been killed in the decompression of the prison building if hit.  In all the chaos that ensued he somehow managed to get into the hanger building where he killed the one crew member, entered the
TRITYTE,
and either managed to deactivate the ship’s autopilot and Federation control system, or for some reason the system had not be activated after the Solbidyum had activated the power system.  I don’t think we will ever know the answer to that question.  What we do know is that immediately after that Roiax blasted the side out of the hanger and took off.  In all the confusion it was nearly an hour before the Armada discovered that the Solbidyum and
TRITYTE
were missing.  What followed was the biggest manhunt in the history of the universe. 

We do not believe that Roiax ever knew he carried the greatest treasure in the universe on his
ship; he was driven solely by the desire to escape.  He never turned on the communication system, he changed directions and speed many times in an effort to throw off any pursuers, but there were none actually anywhere close to him.  Millions of ships took to space looking for him, all going in the wrong direction.  Roiax had skimmed the outer arm of the galaxy not moving in toward the center for many days. All the searchers were expecting him to be heading toward one of the planets in the Federation territories with the intent of bargaining with the Solbidyum for his freedom and more,   the truth is he could have gotten anything he wanted if he had.  There were planets that would have provided anything his sick perverted mind wanted, he could have bought armies, planets and governments with what’s in the hold of the
TRITYTE.

As the years w
ent by and no trace of Roiax or the
TRITYTE
was found, rumors grew that the three planets that had previously received grains of Solbidyum had confiscated the entire supply of Solbidyum.  Other planets that seemed to be succeeding and profiting more than average were also suspected of have secretly obtained Solbidyum and all sorts of diplomatic problems.  Some of the planets withdrew from the Federation in protest of what they believed to be a plot to keep them impoverished and under Federation constraints.  Groups of planets banded together in an attempt to get the Solbidyum they believed to be stashed away on the three planets that previously had obtained the first three grains and were powering their entire planet with them.  The attacks were swift and brutal, billions of people died in the battles that ensued.  The Federation rushed war ships to the scene as fast as they could and the rebels warned that if the supplies of Solbidyum they believed to be on the three planets was not turned over immediately they would destroy the planets.  Of course there was no supply of Solbidyum to be given up and the rebels lived up to the threat literally turning all three planets into small blazing stars.  Everyone was horrified, now even the three grains of Solbidyum that did exist on these planets were gone as well.  Many of the Federation ships in the area were destroyed in the blast of the planets when they exploded into mini-suns.  One of the planets destroyed, Caldon, was capitol of the Federation at the time.  Luckily most of the top government officials managed to escape when the first attack took place. But much of the Federation control of the galactic community was severely weakened and wars broke out between individual planets and wars and raiding went on all over the Federation territories.  Megelleon was established as the new Capitol planet and struggled to hold together as much of the Federation as possible.  It was nearly two hundred years before peace began to be re-established across the planets and the Federation to begin to re-establish itself as a unified control over this segment of space.  Over the years small prospectors have searched the outer fringes for the lost Asteroid mining area in hopes of finding just one grain of Solbidyum.  Federation star maps show its location but even though the asteroids in the region have been searched not one single grain of Solbidyum has ever been found since the accident and Roiax’s escape.

The story of the Solbidyum and the
TRITYTE
grew to be a legend and billions of people have searched for it.  Many today believe the entire story to be a myth.  Only a handful of people in the government know the entire truth of what happened and until now no one had a clue of where the
TRITYTE
, the Solbidyum, and Roiax vanished to.” 

Captain Maxette
paused and took a drink of his Foccee.   While he was doing so I glanced at the faces in the room, I could tell by their expressions that much of this was new to them also.  The Captain cleared his throat and continued.

“
In an effort to recover the Solbidyum intact, so it could be equitably distributed among the Federation planets, huge rewards were offered in the hopes that anyone finding the ship would turn it over intact and not sell to one planet or a small group.  They did this hoping to prevent an imbalance in power and to prevent the wars as had occurred early on when the Solbidyum went missing. Originally the reward consisted of about one percent of the value of the Solbidyum, which by any standard have made the discoverer richer anyone in the universe at that time.  As time progressed and the Solbidyum was not found and concerns grew of one planet gaining control of the entire supply grew and it was decided that the discoverer could get twenty percent of the value of the Solbidyum.  Later it was increased to fifty percent and eventually to eighty percent. Then a few years ago one man claimed he knew where the ship was and demanded eighty-five percent plus the ship
TRITYTE
, unaltered and with the reactor still intact.  There was a lot of discussion and shouting in the capitol over that one, few were willing to go to eighty- five percent of the value of the Solbidyum, however none of the politicians knew of the Solbidyum reactor in the
TRITYTE
and were willing to give it up.  In the end it was agreed on and written into law that anyone finding and turning over the Solbidyum to the Federation would be paid eighty percent of the value of the Solbidyum and would also get to keep the
TRITYTE
unaltered, which meant the reactor would still be intact.   As it turned out the ship the man had found was a luxury yacht that had been stolen years earlier and parked in a remote asteroid cluster after it had pretty much been gutted.  The man had spotted if from outside the cluster and was afraid to go in to retrieve it so he didn’t really know what it was.  The story made big headlines for a few days on the news but then eventually died.  However, the law about the recovery reward still exists in the records today, making you, Tibby about to receive the reward of a life time.  The total value of your find can’t even be calculated and will only be known once the last grain of Solbidyum has been sold .  You could literally buy yourself several solar systems with all the planets in them and barely scratch the surface of your wealth.”

I was starting to sweat
and get light headed as the impact of what he was saying sank in.

The Captain went on
“So you see Tibby why all the security is necessary and why protection of you is so critical, because with your worth being equal to eighty percent of the value of the Solbidyum there will be many a kidnapper out there looking to snatch you just for a ransom.  You may soon become the richest man in the universe, but you will also become the largest target for someone wanting to make a huge ransom on a kidnapping.  Until your claims on the ship and the Solbidyum have been resolved in the Capitol, you are the responsibility of the Federation, after that only time will tell.”

Suddenly I saw myself spending the rest of my life being surrounded by two dozen armed body guards, proceeding and following me where ever I went.  It was not a pretty picture.
  On the other hand I saw huge estates with every luxury ever imagined by man, and in my fantasy I saw Kala there as well. 

Then my bubble burst and I found myself back in the moment looking at
Captain Maxette and I asked, “But what about Roiax and the ship, how did it get on Earth and what happened to him?”

“We’re not exactly sure but we have a good idea,” he began
“like I stated earlier, many of the ship’s computer functions and interfaces to the ship were turned off during the time he was on board.  We were able to trace from the navigation logs in the computer the course he took and the evasive actions he took to avoid discovery and capture.  He changed directions and speeds many times going from Gravity wave warp speeds to faster than light speeds and a few times dropping below those even.  Your return trip was retracing that route when the
TRITYTE
managed to pick up a Federation signal and get in touch with us as it was programmed to do if out of touch with the Federation for an extended period.  I think six hundred plus years qualify for that. “He chuckled and then continued,” once communication had been established the
TRITYTE
headed toward us and we toward it until we met.  At that point the ship’s Prime Directive had been met and the computer relinquished navigation controls over to the Federation.  It’s really a bit more complicated than that, but suffices it to say that’s the short version of what took place.  As for Roiax from what we can tell he kept taking evasive actions getting further and further away from the Federation territories, never once stopping or leaving the ship. After about five weeks of traveling and starting to feel safe I think he wanted to set foot on a planet and take a deep breath.  Obviously he didn’t make a very good choice from the information in the ship’s computer.  Had the computer been in control of the landing it never would have allowed the ship to land where it did.  As it was I don’t think Roiax planned to stay there long.  The ship’s records indicate he left the ship and came back onboard about 20 minutes later cussing and in pain.  The computer recorded his voice cussing and mumbling about some red black and white creature he thought was a strange stick biting him.  Shortly thereafter he was having problems breathing and his hand was swelling.  He went into the infirmary and hooked up to the med unite there and a few minutes later was dead.  With the ships automated navigation system turned off the ship just sat there and slowly sank into the mud, until you arrived and turned it back on.  With the infinite power of the Solbidyum reactor the ship maintained its self, but could do nothing more until you arrived. “

The Captain paused and took another sip of his foccee and said
, “ Now we would like to ask you a few questions if you do not mind.  First, could you tell us a bit about yourself, what do you do?  Your profession?