SWEET HOME ALLE BAMMA (SOLBIDYUM WARS SAGA) (46 page)

I felt a sense of strength and purpose as I adjusted the uniform and looked at myself in the mirror.  I looked at the image and saw a man who held in his hands thousands of lives – the lives of his crew; the lives of hundreds, maybe thousands of Brotherhood members; and the lives of the gentle natives of Sweet Home, the
children of Thumumba
.  I smiled a crooked smile, saluted myself using the old Earth style salute and said, “It’s time to kick some ass.”

T
hen I made an
about face
and headed to the bridge.

When I entered the bridge
, all eyes turned toward me.  Stonbersa stood there with a beaming smile on his face.  Verona, who sat at the communication station, and A’Lappe, who acted as navigator and pilot in Kerabac’s absence, and two other officers on the bridge all applauded.

“All right, let’s gets this show on the road.  Open a communication link on all channels.”  I saw Verona make some adjustments on the console in front of her as the communication vid screen activated.

“Attention, members of the Brotherhood on planet Alle Bamma, this is First Citizen and acting Vice Admiral Thibodaux James Renwalt of the Federation.  I offer you one last chance to surrender.  All bases that wish to surrender must lay down arms and shut down all ships and power sources.  Remove your camouflage netting, immediately release all slaves that you may be holding, and assemble in the center of your compound to await troopers who will accept your surrender.  I repeat, all bases that wish to surrender must lay down arms and shut down all ships and power sources.  Remove your camouflage netting, release all slaves, and assemble in the center of your compound to await troopers who will accept your surrender.  Failure to so will result in the destruction of your ships and bases and, ultimately, in the deaths of many of your members.  Those who surrender, depending on circumstances, may be eligible for amnesty from the Federation.  Those who do not surrender, but are captured and found to be soldiers and officers of the Federation military will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of Federation law.”

I had barely finished the message when the vid screen lit up and a gray-haired man of about 60
 years appeared on the screen.  “You want us?  Come and get us, if you think you can.  Just because you caught us off guard the first time doesn’t mean you will be so lucky this time,” and then the screen went blank.

“Tibby,”
said A’Lappe, “I’m getting readings from the surface of three compounds withdrawing their netting.  It looks like they’re following your instructions for surrender, but I don’t see indications from any of the others.”

“I’m now getting readings of three ships taking off from the polar region where many of the escaping ships headed after our raid.  It looks like two patrol ships and one corvette similar to the
RUNANA. 
What do you want us to do?”

“Nothing,” I said.  “Felenna is there in a cloaked ship.  She’ll handle it.”

“Tibby,” Stonbersa said, “these are people Felenna lived and worked with for the past several years.  You don’t really think she will fire on them, do you?”

Just then from a point in space where nothing appeared to be, several laser weapons and torpedoes flashed across the blackness.  The two patrol ships vanished in nearly simultaneous explosions, leaving only the corvette.  Captain Felenna’s image then appeared on our vid screen as she broadcasted on all channels, “This is Captain Felenna of the
MIZBAGONA
, now in service to First Citizen and acting Vice Admiral Thibodaux James Renwalt of the Federation.  I advise all ships fleeing Alle Bamma to stop now and comply with Vice Admiral Renwalt’s terms.  Surrender or be destroyed.  You have ten seconds to comply.”

I needed only to look at Stonbersa; there was our answer.

At the nine second mark the fleeing ship suddenly came to a halt and the face of the gray-haired man appeared once more on the screen.  “We surrender.”

The screen split to show both Captain Felenna and the gray-haired man.  “Vice Admiral Tibby, I turn the prisoners over to you.”

“What is your name,” I asked the gray-haired man.

“Captain Theberas,” he said.

“Captain Theberas, I want you to land your ship back at the base from which you just fled.  You and all your crew will then disembark and gather in a group about 50 meters away from the ship.  Anyone found on the ship once we take possession of it will be shot and killed.  Is that understood?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Leave
ALL
your weapons on the ship.  Take nothing with you.  Wait at the gathering point until my troopers come to you.  Do not attempt to escape or you will be killed.”

“Tibby,” said Verona, “I’m getting reports from all our patrol ships of surrenders that are underway at the Brotherhood bases.  We’re going to be crowded if we bring them all here.”

“You have a point.  Have each team evaluate the size of the prison cells on each base and see if we can get all the prisoners collected and imprisoned in one place.

“On second thought, I want all the officers brought to the
NEW ORLEANS
and the troops secured on the planet in the slave pens.  Any functioning ships are to be flown off world and held in an adjacent orbit.  Should the Brotherhood members change their minds and attempt a breakout, they will have nowhere to go.

“
Have one of our cargo holds prepared as a prison for the officers.  It is to remain heavily guarded and under constant visual and audible observation via vid monitors until we can transfer them to the
URANGA
, when it arrives.  Also, contact Admiral Regeny and let him know that we have taken control of Alle Bamma and have secured several hundred prisoners so he can make similar preparations.  Find out when they will be arriving.”

“Yes, sir,” said Verona.

“And now if no one has anything else for me, I’m going to get out of this outfit and see Kala.”

When I got to the room where Kala lay in stasis
, I found Piesew sitting there alone with her, unaware that I had entered.  He was gaily chatting away with her as he sat casually in a rather comfortable easy chair with his legs crossed, sipping on a cup of tea.

I was struck by the informality of his demeanor
– something totally out of form for him normally; yet in this situation, it seemed somehow perfect.  When he finally saw me, he rose immediately from his chair and said, “First Citizen Tibby, I will leave you and First Citizen Kalana alone. I will be outside when you leave.”

“It’s alright
, Piesew. I’ll only be staying a moment.  I just wanted to tell Kala that we have defeated the Brotherhood; and first thing in the morning we will return to the surface to finish gathering the eggs necessary for her treatment.  We should have them in just a few days,” I said as I gazed at Kala through the encasement.

“That is indeed gr
eat news, Tibby. I’m sure First Citizen Kalana is most pleased.”

After a short visit I took a quick swim in the pool to undo some of the tension that had built up in my body over the past few days
; but it was not the same as swimming with Kala and I ended my swim sooner than I normally would have.

The patrol ships started arriving about an hour later to transfer officers of the Brotherhood into the vaulted cargo hold that was prepared as their confinement.  The hold was equipped with a large hatch that accessed space and a double airlock within the ship that served as a guard station for the hold area and allowed another set of guards to remain posted outside the airlock in the connecting corridor.  The cargo hatch also represented a significant and ever-present threat to the prisoners that told them any attempts to escape and take control of the
NEW ORLEANS
would be resolved by simply opening the cargo hatch and allowing them to float off into space.  As it was, most of them had simply given up.  They were a pretty broken bunch by the time they were herded into the hold.  They seemed to be expecting conditions equivalent to their own treatment of prisoners; and the relief was visible on their faces when they saw the bunks, toilet and food synthesizer that were set up within the space.

Reports from the planet indicated that it took two camps to hold all the non-officer prisoners.  They, too, were a pretty docile bunch that put up no
resistance, especially after it was explained that their stay on the planet would be at most a few days.  All in all, we had taken over a thousand prisoners.  We had also gained five fully functional corvettes, 17 patrol ships and two small cargo ships that were loaded to the hilt with processed and packaged God’s Sweat.  We decided to dispose of the drugs by ejecting the packaged cargo into the local star.  The freighters would be sent back to my estate for repurposing.  Four of the corvettes, all under the command of Captain Felenna, would remain at Alle Bamma to protect the planet and its people.  The other ships would be filled from the crew of the
NEW ORLEANS
.  One of the corvettes was to return to Megelleon with us where it would receive a new crew.  On a five-week rotation one of Alle Bamma’s contingent of ships would return to Megelleon for crew leave and ship maintenance as the fifth corvette returned to service at Alle Bamma.

As all of these arrangements unfolded, we received word from Admiral Regeny that the
URANGA
was two days out from Alle Bamma and only two Brotherhood ships remaining in the pursuit.  The admiral decided to give them one last chance to surrender, which they did.  One of the two ships also was a corvette; and the admiral was surprised to see the level of armament it contained.

On the day following the surrender of the Brotherhood troops
, Kerabac, Hotyona and I returned to the surface.  I had promised Jnanara I would return once the Brotherhood was defeated.  I looked forward to telling her that we had succeeded in freeing the children of Thumumba and capturing the evil ones and that we were proceeding with the restoration of their jungles as promised.  I also wanted to formally ask for permission to continue my search for ruguian eggs and hoped that she would allow me to return after unloading all the prisoners to the
URANGA
, which would free up my security teams to assist in the egg hunt and minimize the duration of our stay to a day or two.

We set the ship down in our original landing place and exited the ship with the intent of finding Jnanara and her tribe again; so we were surprised when we opened the hatch to find that hundreds of natives had suddenly appeared from the jungle.  Not one of them were visible when we landed; but seconds later the ship was surrounded by them.  As we stepped out, they began waving their arms and making a sort of
cheering noise that emanated from their throats.  The sound of their collective voices reminded me of the call made by creatures on Earth we call
howler monkeys
.  From the rear of their ranks I could see a small entourage of natives preceding Jnanara’s arrival.  This time she wore a lei made of red flowers.  As she moved through the crowd, the natives around her bowed their heads in her direction.  When she reached the place where we stood, she stopped and the cheering ceased all at once.  She smiled; and I sensed she was waiting for a formal greeting.

“Greetings, woman who speak for children of Thumumba,” I said as I bowed in her direction.

“Greetings, man who speak for Thumumba,” she said and bowed her head momentarily.

“I return as you ask.  Children of Thumumba again free.  In days all evil men gone from Sweet Home.  After many days all ugly villages gone and Thumumba’s jungle again clean and new
, like evil men never here. I bring many friends in days to take away all possessions and signs of evil men.”

As I finished saying this, three peals of thunder filled the air and all the natives bowed down in a low murmur of prayer.

“Man who speak for Thumumba speak true,” said Jnanara.

I proceeded to explain to Jnanara that there will be periodic short visits from small groups who would be allowed to come only with my permission and that these groups would study the plants and animals of Sweet Home and search for medicine to help other good men.

“I now keep houses in sky where friends live and watch over Sweet Home, so evil men not come again to take sacred plant and bind children of Thumumba.  Friends stay in sky houses and watch from above, not come down or walk on Sweet Home unless evil men come.”

Again came three peals of thunder and again Jnanara said, “Man who speak for Thumumba speak true.  Children of Thumumba will welcome friends who seek medicine and will protect from Slow Mover and other dangers on Sweet Home.”

Then she turned around and nodded to the four men waiting behind her.  Each approached me carrying nutshell bowls covered with large I’aban leaves, which they set on the ground before me.  I felt compelled to kneel in front of the bowls; and when they removed the leaves, my eyes filled with tears of joy.  Each bowl was filled with ruguian eggs, more than enough to supply the anti-toxin needed for Kala’s recovery.  I was speechless and in complete awe of the natives’ kindness and hard work.  Tears ran down my face uncontrollably as I looked up and smiled at Jnanara.  I would be forever grateful for the natives’ gift.

“Man who speak for Thumumba, this gift from Thumumba.  Children of Thumumba hear call and gather eggs as
Thumumba say.  Take to strange little medicine man in sky house.  Make medicine to fix woman who sleeps.  When she again whole, come back, you and woman.  No go away from Sweet Home until you come back, you and woman.  Thumumba say you must come back together.”