SWEET HOME ALLE BAMMA (SOLBIDYUM WARS SAGA) (18 page)

“I actually stumbled on to it while trying to figure out why and how the RMFF acted as a cloaking device when subject to certain radio frequencies, as Kerabac discovered shortly after Tibby bought the
NEW ORLEANS
.  I was monitoring developments from my suite; and when Kerabac inadvertently triggered the cloaking frequencies, I noted all sorts of crazy readings on my monitoring devices.  It took me a few weeks to sort out the details, but I was able to come up with a small personal device that is based on a similar mechanism.  Unfortunately, the current prototype draws a lot of power and lasts only a few minutes.  My latest focus has been to find a more potent energy source to power it.”

“Have you tried making it more efficient so it requires less power?” asked Cantolla.

A’Lappe blinked several of those incredibly hypnotic blinks and then said, “No, to be honest, I never gave that aspect any thought.”

“Well, in that case I think I can help you,” Cantolla answered.  Suddenly
, the two of them went off into some sort of rapid techno-speak, as they discussed potential improvements to the cloaking device with great excitement.  Kala and I looked at each other and shrugged.  Kala offered me her arm and the two of us left unnoticed by the two now entirely engrossed scientists.

“How long do you think it will take them to solve the problem?” Kala asked.

“Which one, the cloaking device or the reactor?”

“Either… or both,” she said with a grin.

“Well, my guess is about two days for the cloaking device and hopefully no more than a week for the reactor.  I’m just hoping this will keep A’Lappe busy enough so that the admiral doesn’t feel like he has an invisible intruder lurking over his shoulder every hour of the day and night.”

Kala laughed at my comment.  “Yeah, A’Lappe sure had the admiral rattled.  He’s not used to having someone around who possesses more information about what’s going on than he does.”

The rest of the day went by quickly and it was evening before I realized it.  After we ate a light meal, I casually suggested to Kala that we should visit the entertainment lounge.  She was most receptive to the idea.  I found a light colored pair of trousers in my wardrobe and picked a shirt in a slightly darker shade and of the special cut that I had Piebar create for me.  Kala dressed in a very sexy outfit of dark shimmering green.  The short skirt displayed her long legs in all their beauty.  She was breathtaking; and I could tell she was pleased with my reaction when I saw her.  I was almost tempted to forego the lounge when I saw her and instead spend the entire evening making love to her; but I knew dancing would only enhance that pleasure later, so I restrained myself.

We arrived at the lounge to see a small group of musicians made up of crew members playing on stage.  I was struck by the similarity of the beat to Earth music from the late 1970s period.  When the band began playing a tune similar to one from an entertainment vid story or “movie” on Earth, where the star of the movie performed a stunning solo dance routine, I couldn’t resist showing off just a bit for Kala.  When the movie first became popular, I was determined to learn every step and nuance of the
dance.  I practiced relentlessly to get it right.  Over the years I made a habit of including the routine as a warm-up for my martial arts drills, so I hadn’t forgotten any of the choreography.  Since it was the first time anyone had seen me dance solo, it didn’t take long before everyone stepped to the perimeter of the dance floor and to watch and clap in rhythm to the music.  When the music ended I dropped to my knees and slid across the floor, ending up at Kala’s feet in a perfect pose.  The onlookers went wild with cheers and applause, while Kala just looked at me with a beaming smile.

The crowd wanted to see another dance, but I declined.  The band played another number and people once again filled the dance floor, while I sat with Kala and caught my breath.

“Tibby, that was incredible!  I only wish Lunnie had been here to see it.  She loved dancing so much and truly admired anyone who could dance well; and what you just did was fantastic.”

“Kala, I would cut off both my legs and never dance a step again, if it would bring her back,” I said somberly.

“I know, Tibby, but I’m sure that, if there is an afterlife, someplace out there Lunnie was watching and dancing with you.”

Kala and I relaxed at our table while we listened to the talented musicians and watched the dancers.  Kala ordered an afex for me and, surprisingly, one for herself.  I made no comment about it, however. 
After finishing the last song of their program the band left the stage; and immediately Kerabac stepped up.  As before, Kerabac was greeted with cheers and shouts from people requesting songs.  Kerabac started out with one of the songs that seemed to be a favorite with the crowd.  Kala and I got up and danced through the number.  When the song finished, everyone applauded and again started to call out their next requests; but Kerabac interrupted with an announcement.  “I have a special request from First Citizen Tibby.  This is a song from his home planet of Earth, which he wishes to dedicate to First Citizen Kalana,” and with that he began performing one of the Nat King Cole songs that I discussed with him earlier in the day – one of my favorites called
The More I See You.
  I took Kala by the hand and led her to the center of the floor, where we danced in a soft spotlight as everyone stood back to watch.  Kerabac’s rich voice and the magical lyrics of the song had their effect on Kala; I saw tears glisten in the corners of her eyes.  Soon her head was on my shoulder as I held her close throughout the rest of the song.  It ended all too soon to another round of cheering and applause and Kala kissed me gently on the cheek.

As we walked off the dance floor, Kerabac began another announcement.  “And now I have another surprise for you.  Most of you have not met our latest crew member, though a few of you have seen him accidently a few times,” he added with a chuckle.  “You’ll be seeing him a lot more in the future, I assure you; and after tonight I think you will be hearing him a lot more often, as well.  Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… A’Lappe.”

Both Kala and I stopped in our tracks and turned around to see A’Lappe take the stage with Kerabac as a mixture of murmurs and clapping stirred the room.  A’Lappe sat himself down in the middle of a number of musical instruments arranged in a close configuration at the center of the stage.  When he was situated and satisfied with his adjustments, he nodded to Kerabac, who had also seated himself at his
Judaras
keyboard.  Suddenly, the room was filled with music and both Kerabac and A’Lappe were singing together in perfectly blended and effortlessly harmonized voices.  Like his speaking voice, A’Lappe’s singing voice was rich and mellow, which belied his diminutive stature.  His hands flew over the various instruments to produce exquisite sounds as the two of them sang a popular tune that was apparently composed for a duet.  As the melody reached its last note, a deafening applause erupted in the room; and in the span of three minutes A’Lappe had endeared himself to the ship’s entire crew.

“You know, Tib, I almost think you and A’Lappe are related,” Kala said into my ear over the roar of the crowd.

“Oh? Why do you say that?”

“Because it seems there is nothing the two of you can’t do.”  I couldn’t take my eyes off Kala; her skin glistened under the lights of the dance floor and her elation was almost tangible as she gazed up at the stage, clapping enthusiastically along with the rest of the throng.  At that moment I couldn’t imagine this life without her.

Early the next morning I met with Admiral Regeny and his staff to assemble a list of key planets whose contacts he and the High Command believed to be secure.  Before long, we had loaded a number of GW pods with reactors and solbidyum and an encrypted message directed to each contact.  Admiral Regeny chose to include in the initial shipments several destinations mid-way between the central Federation sector and the outlying areas, believing a strategy that included successful deliveries to these highly frequented planets would facilitate rapid spread of news in both directions that solbidyum distribution was in progress.

A’Lappe showed up as we were loading the last of the pods we intended to launch for that day.  “Admiral,” he said, “I suggest that once these pods are away that we
postpone the trip to Aburn and your visit with the crew of the
PURFIRE
and expedite our journey to Plosaxen so you can quickly test and secure all the troopers and leadership there.  Then I recommend that you immediately establish a stock of solbidyum on Plosaxen and notify local planets to dispatch their own secure contingent to pick up their allotment there, if they do not wish to wait for the Federation to deliver it.  Without going into the details as to why, let them know that the Federation simply doesn’t have enough ships and troops to transport and guard every one of a million deliveries; and if they wish to receive their solbidyum sooner than the Federation schedule allows, they will need to respond with their own ships and guards.  I believe most of the Federation planets have their own home guard and a few ships at their command.  This will place less strain on the Federation and will help to prevent spreading the fleet over too much territory.  There will no doubt be attempts to intercept and raid their ships; however, by that time you should have all the troopers and Federation ships in and around Plosaxen cleared and equipped with 10X reactors and RMFF shields, so the military will be able to provide rapid assistance, should anyone’s private contingent be attacked.”

“Humph,” the admiral snorted, “you want us to split up the solbidyum supply so there is more than one location that can be attacked and that have to be defended?  The more places we have involved, the easier it will be for the Brotherhood to find a weak spot and take that supply.”

“Yes, that’s true in some regards; but weighted against the impossible odds of ever getting the solbidyum distributed, it’s one worth taking.  Plus, as it is now, the risks posed by having all the solbidyum in
one
location are immense.  Should the Brotherhood be able to infiltrate this ship or should this ship be lost by one means or another, the
entire
supply of solbidyum is lost.  That scenario, too, is unacceptable, Admiral,” A’Lappe asserted, blinking in his spellbinding fashion.

“Damn!” the admiral said running his hand through his hair as he paced the floor.  “Why do you have to be right?” the admiral sighed with
exasperation.  “Okay, I see what you’re saying and I agree; however, we need to work out security details and distribution protocols.  We can’t just have a bunch of ships lining up to get their share and then taking off, only to run into a raider that comes from behind the nearest asteroid to pick them off.”  The admiral rubbed his forehead as he continued, thinking more out loud to himself than anything.  “I just wish we had more ships and more loyal crews to escort the solbidyum to the Federation planets.”

“Wishing isn’t going to help you, Admiral.  You need to work with what you have.  Deploying shipments via GW pods and allowing systems to pick up their own shipments from secured and well-defended sector headquarters are what you have as available options.”

I had an idea.

“A’Lappe, you told me that the ship in the lower hangar is faster than a patrol ship but equally armed, didn’t you?” I asked.

“What ship?  What lower hangar?” the admiral blurted.

“It’s a smaller, sleeker ship than the patrol ships that is suited for both in and out of atmosphere flight and is fully capable of engaging in combat situations.  Before long, it will hopefully also be equipped with a small-scale cloaking device, once the design A’Lappe has been perfecting with Cantolla’s help becomes serviceable.  The ship is in a hidden hangar that Galetils included for emergency escape purposes,” I
 said.

“Yes, Tibby, the ship is armed as heavily as a patrol ship and can achieve much faster acceleration and sustained speeds.  Also, as I’m sure you recall, it is equipped with longer range sensors than those found on the Federation patrol ships,” A’Lappe said with a grin.

“How long does it take to build one?” I asked.

“With the right automated fabrication and assembly machines, that craft can be constructed and commissioned in three days, given the required parts are at hand.  If this is not the case, then the parts must be pre-fabricated and the total construction time increases to five days.  If you mean to have such a craft built by way of
manual
labor on one of the less advanced worlds, you’re looking at a construction schedule of almost a year per ship,” A’Lappe answered.

“Does Plosaxen have a modern fabrication and assembly facility?” I asked, shifting my gaze from A’Lappe to the admiral.

“Well, yes,” the admiral drawled out, “but they are busy building two badly needed frigates at the moment; and those are months from completion.”

“There is a well-established personal and commercial airship fabricator located in the city of Yoroa in the southern hemisphere,” A’Lappe interjected.  “Their facility is most certainly large enough to handle this size ship.  If they were able to dedicate most of their assembly lines to the project, they might be able to turn out three ships a day, once the project reaches full production.  There’s also another assembly plant outside of Gingham in the northern hemisphere that could probably turn out the same results.”

I didn’t want to share any more of my idea just yet, so I thought silently to myself, working out the math related to producing more of these ships.  I figured that, if each star ship were to have a squadron of 180 ships it would take about 30 days to fabricate a full squadron at six ships per day.