Solbidyum Wars 3: Pirates of Goo'waddle Canals (39 page)

“You think the Brotherhood is simply going to let us have the ships and not try to take them back?”

“I have very good information that the Brotherhood is engaged in a large conflict elsewhere, and that they do not have any more ships to spare for reinforcement in this region.  If they feel their forces here are compromised, I am relatively sure they will retreat.  They won’t be able to afford any more losses at that point and they will pull all their ships back for their battles elsewhere.”

“You ask a lot of us,
Dormon
,” one of the older, white-haired Ruwallie Rasson leaders exclaimed.

“Do you feel you are not worthy of the challenge?” Padaran replied.  “Perhaps you no longer are deserving of being
the chosen
after all.  It would seem that the Ruwallie Rasson are not the great and mighty beings they once proclaimed.”  This evoked a number of mumblings and angry statements from the room.

“If you are Ruwallie Rasson,
the chosen
, then prove it,” Padaran said firmly.  “If you are not, then leave your daggers at the door.  Leave here and go raise
chakaka
seeds to feed the livestock, and call yourselves Ruwallie Rasson no more!”  This caused many of the men in the room to drop their heads in shame.

“Now, if there are no more objections, I wish to discuss the plans for this mission.  The sooner we carry it out, the sooner
you
will be in control of this region of space, not the Brotherhood Vorgovian slime slugs.”

The remainder the meeting went without interruption.  If there were any in attendance who opposed Padaran’s plans, they were no longer voicing it.  After Padaran set a time for the attack on the Brotherhood ships two days later, the meeting adjourned.

Because Jadong had attacked Padaran, who was now the
Dormon,
and Padaran had beaten him, all of Jadong’s possessions became the property of Padaran in accordance with Ruwallie custom.  As it turned out, Jadong owned one of the best ships of any of the Ruwallie Rasson, one better armed and shielded than most privately owned ships.  It was also said to be faster than the ships of the Brotherhood fleet and Jadong had been known to outrun them on several occasions. 

Jadong’s estate was located on the
calgana
adjacent to the one Padaran had inherited from Tondor, so it was possible for us to examine it the next morning.  Jadong had not released his slaves, of which he had several dozen in service.  Padaran assembled them all and told them they were free, but he asked them to stay long enough for him to find where Jadong stored his money so he could compensate them for the time they had each spent in service to their slave master.  Most of the slaves were in disbelief at what they were being told.  Some of them wept and bowed down at Padaran’s feet. 

One was an old man who was mostly bald, with tuffs of white hair on the sides and back of his head.  In a feeble voice, he informed Padaran that he knew where Jadong kept his money and led Padaran into the master bedroom.  There he revealed a secret door that led into smaller chamber with another door at the back. 

“Behind this door is where Jadong keeps his money,” the old man said.  “I know you must press the symbols on the wall in a particular order to open the door, but I fear I do not know the combination.  I know it started out by pressing these four symbols….” He indicated which ones.  “But after that, I never saw what he pressed next.”

Both Kerabac and Padaran stared at the panel of symbols.  Padaran scratched his head.  “I have no idea what this is.  I recognize the symbols as being Ruwallie Rasson writing, but that’s all.”

Kerabac stared at the panel a few minutes and then turned to the old man.  “Could you show me one more time which symbols Jadong pressed and the order he pressed them in?”

“I think I can.  I’m pretty sure it was these four and he pressed them in this order,” he answered as he touched various symbols.

“
Sleep my son, dream…
.  That’s what the series of symbols means.  There is something familiar about that,” Kerabac said as he tugged on his chin.  “Wait a minute,” he exclaimed, as he began to press symbols and recite, “Sleep my son, dream of things to be, dream of the glory and dream of me.”  Suddenly, the door popped open.

“How did you know that?” I asked.

“It’s an old nursery rhyme.  My mother used to recite it to me when she tucked me in at night.”

When Kerabac said that, the old man began to laugh.  “Who would have thought that Jadong would have used a nursery rhyme?  He hated children and always acted so tough and angry.  I wonder if he even had a mother.”

Once the door was open and we were able to enter Jadong’s vast cache; and everyone but me seemed to be in awe.  I must confess that even though I am the richest man in the universe, I have no idea what the values of the various metals, gems and currencies are throughout the galaxy.  Inside, we found bags of gems and bars of metals, as well as a number of small cases full of the currency chips that were considered so valuable.  In addition, there were objects of art and other items of value.

“Wow!” Padaran exclaimed.  “This man had a major fortune.”  Padaran picked up several of the boxes of chips and handed some of them to the old man and some to Kerabac.  “Here, could you help me carry these out to the main hall?”

The old man and Kerabac took their loads out of the chamber and Padaran handed me a few boxes, as well.  Together we headed out to the main room.  Padaran called each of the slaves forward and handed them each a box, telling them that it was theirs and they were now free.  When he did, the slaves broke out crying and laughing, and leapt about. 

“How much did he give them?” I asked Kerabac.

“Enough to set most of them up for life.  They will easily be able to educate themselves and set themselves up in business if they want or, if they’re careful, they could live the rest of their lives with what he gave them.”

Oddly, after he had paid the slaves and set them free, several of them didn’t want to leave and asked Padaran if they might be allowed to stay on and serve him.

“Tibby, what should I do?” he asked me nervously.

I chuckled.  “How should I know, Padaran? You’re the expert on the Ruwallie Rasson.  Just what exactly are your plans when the time comes for us to leave?”

“That’s what I mean, Tibby.  I’ve just sort of been making things up as I go.  I have no idea.  For example, I have the Ruwallie Rasson set up to go after the Brotherhood, and to take some of their ships; but once they do, who gets the ships? It’s not like I can just turn it over to one of the Ruwallie Rasson — the others who participate would not go for that.  If they sell it off and split up the money, the possibility of the Brotherhood coming back to retaliate is all too real and the whole thing will backfire.”

“You have an interesting point there,” I said.

“Maybe you could organize the Ruwallie Rasson into a sort of mercenary group whose ordained mission is to specifically target the Brotherhood of Light throughout the galaxy,” Kerabac interjected.  “Let them hunt them down and destroy their businesses and operations.  As long as they focus their actions only against the Brotherhood, the Federation won’t bother with them if they happen to cross over into Federation space; and it would certainly reduce the Brotherhood’s capabilities against the Federation.  The crews of the Ruwallie Rasson vessels could split up any treasures they acquire, like they have always done.”

“We had a situation like that back on my home world several centuries ago,” I said.  “Two countries were competing for the development and colonization of a newly discovered land mass on our planet.  One side, called the English, sanctioned privateers to intercept ships of their rivals, the Spanish, and plunder their wealth.  They also attacked ports and pillaged villages.”

“How did it work out?” Padaran asked.

“It worked well for a little while, but then politics started to complicate the situation, as the Spanish and English leaders decided to bring an end to their hostilities.  The privateers didn’t want to give up their conquests, and many of them continued, in spite of the movement toward peace.  Only then, they no longer restricted their attacks to just the Spanish, but began attacking and raiding the English, as well.”

“Hmm, I see what you’re saying, Tibby.  If we set the Ruwallie Rasson up as privateers against the Brotherhood, what happens when the Brotherhood are vanquished?”

“Exactly.  The idea has merit, I must confess, but you need to have an exit strategy instilled in their code from the outset.”

“Maybe you can set it up so a generous portion of the loot they take goes into a common fund.  Each member will only be allowed to collect their share once the Brotherhood is defeated and the privateers formally disband, or when one of them is disabled or needs to retire from their service because of age or health issues,” Kerabac said.

“The pirates on Earth tried something like that by burying portions of their treasures with the intent of retrieving them later on.  But, if memory serves correctly, it seemed that most of them never collected.”

“What if they put their treasures in safekeeping in the banks at Weccies?” Padaran asked.

“What is so special about Weccies?” I asked.

“Weccies is a planetary system that has never joined the Federation.  They pride themselves on their security, as no one has ever been able to steal anything deposited there.  The Weccies themselves have a very high sense of pride and believe their worth is in their honesty and loyalty in carrying out any agreements they make.  However, they are not at all opposed to setting up accounts for anyone, regardless of how they acquired their money.  Also, according to their code of conduct, they do not reveal any information about their clients or their accounts.  Anything deposited with them is safe from the outside worlds and only the rightful owners can reclaim it.  There are a lot of unscrupulous people who hide their ill-gotten gains there; but there are also lots of good and honest people who do as well, especially ones from non-aligned worlds where things are unstable and there is little security in terms of law enforcement.”

“How do they protect these deposits from outside raiders and pirates?”

“To begin with,” Kerabac started, “they have an incredible fleet of highly advanced warships and other weaponry.  Large regions of the sector are peppered with minefields that are supremely difficult to penetrate.  No outside ships are even allowed to fly directly to Weccies itself; instead visitors must stop at one of six space stations on the outer edges of their solar system to make their deposits.  Anything of value being sent to Weccies for safekeeping is transferred to one of Weccienite large carrier ships, which are armed like nothing you have ever seen.  These ships then transport the items to Weccies, where they are stored in large vaults deep inside the planet itself. 

“Weccies is barren on the surface — nothing but rock.  There is only one city and no one other than
Weccienites are permitted to set foot there.  In fact, no one other than Weccienites are permitted inside the orbit of the six space stations – and this is most strictly and severely enforced.  Once, about a hundred years ago, some Bunemnites tried to commandeer one of the Weccienite ships to fly to the planet.  They had taken its crew hostage and threatened to kill them all if the Weccienites didn’t let them through.  Without hesitation the Weccienites chose to blow up their own ship, sacrificing their own people who were aboard, rather than allow the Bunemnites passage to the surface.  Since then, there have been no further attempts to breach their security.”

“Hmm.  I can see where setting up accounts there might work, if it’s set up with enough forethought.  If the Ruwallie Rasson know there is a fortune waiting for them upon the defeat of the Brotherhood, there is no reason for them to continue being pirates.  At the same time, it gives them an incentive to go after and capture as many ships and Brotherhood cargos as possible.”

It was dusk when we got back to the
Dormon
estate.  Kala called me aside.  “Come, Tibby, I have something I want to show you,” she said as she took me by the hand and began leading me through the maze of rooms in the house.

“What is it?”

“Just wait, you’ll see, and I know you’ll like it.”

Kala led me through the house and then down a side hallway to a door that opened to a private garden on one side of the house.  Because of its configuration at on the corner of the
calgana
with the house at its back and canals on two sides obscured by the layers of landscaping and shrubbery, it was totally enclosed and private.  There, situated in the middle of the ribbons of flowerbeds and trimmed lawns was a lovely pool of clear water. 

“What do you think, Tibby?  Our own private swimming pool.”

It seemed like forever since Kala and I had last gone swimming together.  Swimming had become a regular part of our activities together and was one of the first recreational things we had shared after we met.  Both of us were competitive swimmers, and Kala really pushed me to the max when it came to the challenge of racing laps against her.

Before I knew what was taking place, Kala had slipped off her clothing and dived into the pool.  “Well,” she said, “what are you waiting for?”

As soon as I was undressed and in the water, I immediately felt better.  I began a nice slow, steady stroke across the pool.  While the pool was not rectangular like a normal exercise pool, it was long enough and wide enough to stride through some serious laps.  The pool seemed to be of a uniform depth — just deep enough so the water came to Kala’s shoulders when standing flatfooted on the bottom.  The temperature was just cool enough to be refreshing without giving me a chill; and it was not long before Kala was matching pace beside me with strong, steady strokes.  After swimming about ten laps, we reached one end of the pool where Kala and I stood silently in the water and embraced.  It felt really good to hold her in my arms again; it felt right and natural.