SWEET HOME ALLE BAMMA (SOLBIDYUM WARS SAGA) (37 page)

“What’s your name, if you don’t mind telling me?” I asked.

“Felenna,”
she said.  “What’s your name?

“Tibby.”

“TIBBY!  Oh my god, you’re the guy that brought the solbidyum and the
TRITYTE
back and recaptured the
DUSTEN
at Megelleon.  Your ship blew up our base on Megelleon.  This isn’t possible!  You’re supposed to be dead – our agents on Plosaxen said they killed you!”

“Yeah, yet here I am,” I said with a grin on my face.

Felenna was visibly shaken and confused.  Her hand was trembling as she reached to activate the controls required to make the broadcast.

“Just take a deep breath and relax,” I said.  “We have no desire to kill anyone, unless we have to.  Now just make the announcement exactly as I told you.”

Felenna toggled the controls to broadcast mode and said, “All personnel, the Captain orders all persons to report to the staff conference room immediately for an important situation update.  All personnel report to the staff conference room
immediately
for an important situation update.”

She then closed the link and asked.  “What are you going to do with them?”

“That depends a lot on their reactions.  If they surrender without a fight, we’ll simply lock you all in a hold until after the conflict is over; but if there’s opposition, it’s difficult to say what will happen.  Is there a camera in the conference room?”

“Yes,” she answered and indicated where to activate it on the control panel.

“Can we turn it on without them seeing us in here?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Hotyona will you see if you can do that?  Not that I don’t trust you, Felenna, but I’m not alive because I am overly trusting.”

Felenna stepped aside and Hotyona activated the controls on the console.  The view on the vid screen displayed an empty conference room.

“I want to wait until everyone is in the room and seated before we enter,” I said.  “Hopefully none of them are armed so we can make this relatively easy.  I’d just as soon get it done without anyone getting injured.”

As I spoke the first two people arrived, a young woman and a man.  Both appeared to be officers and neither were armed, at least not obviously so.  They each took a seat at the large conference table and began
to talk just as a third person arrived.  From his uniform it was obvious that he was an engineer stationed onboard to maintain the ship’s equipment.  He was followed by a trooper and another officer.

After waiting a few minutes Kerabac and I moved to the conference room door, while leaving Hotyona to guard the others on the bridge.  When we opened the door to the conference room, everyone inside just stared silently at us for a moment, not immediately realizing that we weren’t Brotherhood members.

“Who are you?  Where’s the captain?” the trooper finally asked, reaching for his side arm.

“I suggest you not go for your gun
, trooper,” I said.  “Remove it slowly with two fingers and slide it across the table to me.”

The trooper slowly withdrew his gun and placed it on the table; but instead of sliding it to me like he was told, he suddenly grabbed
for it and tried to aim and fire.  Kerabac and I fired at the same time and he dropped to the table dead.

“I’m sorry he did that,” I said.  “We truly don’t wish to kill any of you, if we can help it.  Now, if the rest of you are willing to cooperate, perhaps you’ll live to tell stories about this one day.”

It took us about 15 minutes to move them all into a small empty cargo hold.  One by one, we made them strip down and dress in simple jumpsuits.  Once locked away inside, we left Hotyona to guard the hold from outside the door.

In all it had been less than 50
 minutes since we entered the ship.  If the dead men had since been discovered on the trail, it hadn’t been reported to the base yet.  If they had been was more likely that no one had bothered to venture out into the rain to search for what they probably believed were deserters.

“How long do you think this rain will last?” I asked Kerabac.

He checked some instruments on the control console and said, “By the looks of the weather radar, I’d say a few hours.  This is a pretty large storm.”

“Listen, I’m going out there.  This is our opportunity to free the slaves.  If my latest dream about Thumumba is accurate, they’re in that large building behind this ship.  If I can disable the guards and let the natives out through the back, it’ll create a large diversion.  We can use this ship to disable the other Brotherhood ships here at the base; and
once the natives are clear of the area, we’ll destroy the lab.  By the way, this is probably a good time to contact the
NEW ORLEANS
.  It should be in orbit by now.”

Kerabac
had already activated the communication system and set it to a coded frequency that the
NEW ORLEANS
would expect for our transmission.  When he opened a communication link, Stonbersa’s image appeared on the screen.  “Tibby, it looks like you’ve joined the Brotherhood.”

“Not exactly,” I said.  “Not everything is at it appears.  Things are a mess down here.  We ran into a base where the rebels are manufacturing God’s Sweat, the illegal drug that’s been plaguing dozens of planets in the galaxy.  The Brotherhood has been forcing the
natives into slavery to harvest and process the plants used in its concoction.  Right now we’re in their base camp, or at least one of their bases.  I suspect there are many more to be found elsewhere on the planet.

“We’re about to steal one of their ships and create total havoc at this site.  For the moment, I would appreciate if you could keep the
NEW ORLEANS
cloaked and shielded.  Have Marranalis get two squads geared up.  The
ALI
is at a hidden location in the jungle; I’m going to have Kerabac give you the coordinates.  The
ALI
is currently surrounded by Brotherhood troopers that are hoping to capture us when we return to the ship; but that number may soon be reduced, once the fireworks begin here.  I want Marranalis and his men to retrieve the
ALI
and fly her back to the
NEW ORLEANS
.  Marranalis is the only one who can access the
ALI
, as we sealed the hatch.  His prints are still registered with the ship, so he’ll be able to open her.  Once we’ve done what damage we can here, we’ll join you in orbit.  Have the fleet of Mirage Fighters ready to go; we may have a real battle on our hands in a short while.

“What’s the status of A’Lappe and Cantolla’s efforts with the instant communicator?”

“You won’t believe it, Tibby, but their contraption works.  It still needs some refining but the damn thing works.”

“That’s great news.  Listen, I need to speak quickly.  I need you to get a message back to Admiral Regeny apprising him of the situation here.  Tell him that the Brotherhood has been financing their expansion at least in part with the drugs they’re manufacturing on this planet.  The ship we’re in at the moment is like nothing we’ve ever seen.  It’s armed like a star ship but it’s the size of a corvette.  Right now I wish it had an RMFF on it, but I would settle for a cloaking device.  See if A’Lappe can get a cloaking device built that we can put in this ship as soon as we get back to the
NEW ORLEANS
.  I think we’re going to need it.

“One more thing – how is Kala doing in stasis?  Is everything alright?”

“Yes, Kala is fine and the stasis system is functioning well.  How did your hunt go for the ruguian eggs?”

“We were able to collect some, but not enough yet to make the
anti-toxin.  We ran into the Brotherhood before we could finish.

“I need to cut this transmission short.  I have some natives to free before it stops raining.  Kerabac can give you more details.”

I turned to Kerabac and said.  “I’m headed out.  If I’m not back in 40 minutes, I want you to take this ship and the prisoners and head for the
NEW ORLEANS
.  On your way out, use the torpedoes to take out the processing plant and as many other buildings and ships on the ground as you can.  Then move out fast, in case someone on the ground gets a message to other bases to pursue you.”

“Understood,” said Kerabac.  “Good luck.”

I descended to the hatch level and exited the ship using the code Kerabac entered to secure the door.  It was still pouring rain and no one was in sight.  I resealed the door and quickly headed to the large building Thumumba had shown me in the dream.  I found a door and walked in quietly, only to find myself face to face with a trooper standing guard just inside the entrance.  Since I was in a Brotherhood uniform he didn’t realize that I wasn’t one of them.

“They must have sent you here on something really important for you to come in this storm,” he said.  “I’ll be glad when they get the underground connecting tunnels completed.”

“Yeah,” I said… and then I hit him square in the face, knocking him out cold.  On the wall behind him were storage racks filled with slave control collars.  I placed one on his neck and activated the full restraint setting.  His body immediately went rigid.

I opened a nearby door to a large area of holding cells loaded with natives from wall to wall.  A long corridor separated the cells, at the end of which I could see a small room behind an open door, where four guards sat around a makeshift table, playing some sort of gambling game.  I went back into the room I had just left and gathered about a half dozen collars and a controller
unit and then walked confidently down the corridor as if I belonged there.  At first the sight of the restraining collars the natives flinched; then they appeared somewhat confused when I passed right by them and headed straight for the end of the corridor.

As I walked bold
ly into the room, one glanced up briefly from his cards and said, “I take it that it stopped raining and you need some of the ants to do some work?”  It was obvious from his tone that the “ants” were the natives.

“Not exactly,” I replied, as I lifted my gun and aimed it at them.  I tossed the collars on the table.  “Put one of these on… all of you… NOW!”

One guard’s eyes shift toward the wall beside me.  I glanced quickly to see all their arms propped up against the wall.  The guard moved quickly in that direction, but I shot him before he moved very far, almost instantly recovering my aim on the other three.

“Anyone one else want to join him or are you going to follow orders?”  Slowly, they each put on a collar, after which I used the remote device to activate the restraint setting, leaving them rigid on the floor.  I took their weapons, just in case they were somehow able to free themselves before I finished my task.

I looked about the room and noted toggle switches on a wall panel that appeared to be used for opening and closing the cell doors.  I opened all the doors and then went back to the cell corridor.  None of the natives tried to flee; instead they just stood there looking scared and confused.

Using their universal language I said to them, “
My name Tibby, friend of Jnanara.  I speak for Thumumba.  Thumumba send me to free children of Thumumba.  Go quickly into jungle.  Return to your people.”

They began murmuring and repeating “Thumumba” among themselves as they slowly began to emerge from their cells and move tentatively past me.  I told them to move quickly and gestured toward the large roll
-up door at the back of the building that faced the trees, away from the rest of the compound.  Unless there were troopers standing back there in the rain, which was unlikely, the natives would be able to make a clear break for the jungle.  I found the control to open the door and then, holding my gun at the ready, I pressed the button.  I held up my hand to quietly hold the natives back, until I was able to glance past the slow-moving door into the rain.

Seeing no one in the area, I said to the natives, “Go!  Go quickly!  Thumumba wish you free.”

I didn’t have to repeat the command.  They all moved forward and out the door with remarkable speed and silence, disappearing quickly into the shadows under the jungle canopy.

I noted several cans of fuel sitting near a piece of equipment by the large roll
-up door, which I used to soak the building walls, before dragging the bodies of the guards outside to the jungle’s edge where the rain and trees would protect them from the flames.  It was not an easy task, as they were quite large men.  I searched the pockets of my combat vest that I had taken earlier from the trooper as I made my way back inside.  As I anticipated, I found a lighter device like the one Kerabac had used to light the oil reeds.  I tossed the lit device into the fuel that pooled on the floor and instantly the building was ablaze.  I then quickly ran to the corvette and punched in my code at the hatch – and none too soon, as alarms started to sound within a minute or so and men came running out of buildings toward the burning prison just as the hatch opened.  Once inside, I quickly resealed the hatch again and took the lift to the control room.

“Get us out of here,” I said to Kerabac, “and blow up as many buildings and ships on the way out as you can.”

“Right!” said Kerabac.  “How about you do the shooting and I’ll fly us out.  We’re going to be taking the netting over the compound with us, I fear.”