SWEET HOME ALLE BAMMA (SOLBIDYUM WARS SAGA) (6 page)

Our first stop was to be Nibaria, the planet where the
NEW ORLEANS
had been designed and constructed.  Nibaria was the closest inhabited Federation planet in the vicinity of Megelleon.  By the time we arrived at the planet the reactor was ready.  Cantolla had been able to resurrect the plans for the solbidyum reactor from the
TRITYTE
,
just as Lunnie had done; and with minor adjustments she was able make a reactor design suitable for a planetary power production system.  The only problem was that the Nibarians didn’t know we were coming.

During my previous trip to Nibaria to purchase the
NEW ORLEANS
, I had met with Senator Tonclin, who represented the people of Nibaria within the Federation governmental and legislative body; so it was logical that he would be the first individual we would contact upon our arrival.  Without revealing the purpose for our visit we contacted the senator and said that we had a matter of interest to Nibaria that we wished to discuss and asked whether it would be possible for him to join us for dinner on the
NEW ORELANS
.  We received a reply almost immediately that Senator Tonclin would be most pleased to dine with us that evening, if it was convenient for us.  As it turned out this was perfect timing.

Since we had arrived in orbit over Nibaria’s capital city early in the morning, we had an opportunity to deal with other matters before the scheduled dinner.  I requested a meeting with Admiral Regeny, which he accepted immediately.  Instead of meeting in the large conference room with his staff, I elected to meet with him privately in my study, which was an exact duplicate of the study in my estate house on Megelleon.  I was staring into the large aquarium behind my desk, marveling at how many varieties of fish resembled the fish of Earth, when Piesew announced the arrival of the admiral.

“Admiral, thank you for responding so quickly to my invitation.  I know how busy you must be as you get settled in and organized,” I said.

“Actually, Tibby, I’m at a loss for something to do at the moment, as my staff is still making all the necessary arrangements; so I have a bit of free time.  Besides, it would be rude not to respond to your request after all you’ve done and are doing for the Federation.  By the way, I must say this is an incredible office you have here.  Absolutely amazing!  I love the aquarium wall; and the dark wood paneling gives this space a real air of class and power.  But I’m guessing you didn’t invite me here to see your office, now
, did you?”

I chuckled, “No, sir, I didn’t.  Please have a seat.”  I indicated two large
, comfortable chairs arranged around a small table.  “Would you care for something to drink?”

“Perhaps a cup of foccee,”
said the admiral.  Piesew immediately went to a panel in the wall that opened to reveal a drink dispenser, from which he retrieved two cups of foccee, one for the admiral and one for me.  Then, once his duties were performed, he departed the room in accordance with Federation protocol.

“What I want to discuss with you is a means of expediting the delivery of the solbidyum and reactors to some of the planets in the Federation.  It will involve some risk, but if we can work out a few security issues, I think we can speed things up tremendously.”

“You have my interest, let’s hear your plan.”

“The solbidyum reactors are quite small, considering the incredible power they produce, and the solbidyum itself is but a grain of sand.  I was thinking, if you have people you know and trust on
the receiving end, we could modify gravity wave message pods to deliver both the solbidyum and the reactors to planets where there is little likelihood of them falling into the wrong hands.  We obviously would not be able to do it for very long, because word would quickly leak out to the Brotherhood and other nefarious parties, who would then be looking specifically to intercept the pods.  If we could send out several hundred at the same time, before the Brotherhood or anyone else learns what we we’re doing, you could quickly head off the political ploy that the Brotherhood will try to create by claiming that the solbidyum is being hoarded.  The big problem is that we can’t provide any preliminary warning that the delivery is coming.  It’s an uncertain option in more ways than one; but the biggest risk is that the party receiving the delivery is potentially not loyal to the Federation.”

I could see the admiral mulling over the idea and weighing the risk against the benefits.  Finally he said, “I must admit it, this course of action would prevent a lot of problems; I just don’t know how we can assure that the people receiving it at the other end will see to it that it is employed properly.  All it would take is for one delivery to go wrong to create dissention among a number of planets.  However,
that having been said, I would suggest that you stock up on GW message pods while we’re here near the Nibarian suppliers.”

Although the Federation had been able to overcome the restriction of light speed by using gravity waves for propulsion, they had not been able to come up with a method of instant communication over spans of light years.  Even so, the Federation was able to communicate using gravity wave pods (GWPs) that could carry messages at faster than light speeds; however, communication beyond a solar system could take weeks or even months and two way communications was extremely limited.  Because of these constraints, even GWP communication could take several months
to arrive with news at the more remote planets of the Federation.  The mutiny and coup of the Brotherhood and the news of their defeat still had not reached most of the planets in the Federation.  In fact, nearly half the planets in the Federation still had not gotten word that the
TRITYTE
and the solbidyum had been found.  It was still uncertain how large the Brotherhood was or the extent of their reach across the Federation; and it was entirely possible that, when news reached various branches of the Brotherhood in other parts of the Federation, their ranks might stage mutinies and revolts before hearing of the ultimate defeat of the Brotherhood at Megelleon.  To compound matters, as word reached planets throughout the Federation of the discovery of
TRITYTE
,
many other unscrupulous individuals and groups would be also be scheming intercept a shipment either for their own use, for black market sale or even for ransom.

“Tibby,” Admiral Regeny said, “I’ve been thinking about what you said about your planet having vids
– or what did you call it?
TV
, I believe – and documentaries of battles and wars on your planet.  If we were to position satellite receivers 20 light years out from your planet to pick up broadcasts of these programs from the more distant past, we could glean a good amount of Earth’s military history from these transmissions.”

“Hm, you’re right.  I hadn’t thought about that.  If you placed twenty of them one light year apart you could basically get twenty years’ worth of transmissions in one year.”

“Exactly.  I’ll leave orders before we head out of the system.  It will take several months to deploy and position all of the receivers; but once they’re in place, we can immediately begin gathering data.  Within a year we should have a good foundation of information as to how your planet wages war and implements battle strategies.  It could make a huge difference in our dealings with the Brotherhood or other entities that may decide to engage the Federation in conflict over the solbidyum or any other matter.  In the meantime, we can draw upon your knowledge to help us develop the proper approach to various encounters.  I just wish we had a fleet of ships with RMFF and cloaking capabilities like the
NEW ORLEANS
, but the Federation has made it clear that using solbidyum to power our military airships is forbidden; and without solbidyum we can’t produce enough power make an RMFF work.”

“Sooner or later we will, Admiral.  Perhaps I can get Cantolla working on that.  Galetils had been working on it and was supposed to be in the final sta
ges of developing a fusion reactor that could generate enough power for the RMFF, but the solar flare at Astamagota destroyed it.  The factory, plans, and pretty much everything that might have given us a clue as to how far they had advanced the design are gone.  I’m not sure how well it would work for some of your smaller ships; Galetils’ design may only be suitable for something the size of the
DUSTEN
, as I know how large a space he had allotted for the fusion reactor here on the
NEW ORLEANS
– and it was a
very
large space.  That reactor wouldn’t fit in the
NIGHTBRIDGE
, of that I’m sure.”

“Equipping only the star ships would still grant us a huge advantage.  We would then have invulnerable bases of operation in any star system and a safe haven for our patrol ships and corvettes while in hostile territory – and, of course, the greatly enhanced firepower.”

I briefly discussed this matter already with Cantolla when I hired her. Once she has her lab and staff functioning, she and her team are to make this project a priority and concentrate on trying to figure out what Galetils was doing.  But even if she comes up with the answer, it will take quite a bit of time to modify a ship to include the fusion reactor as well as the RMFF equipment.  Both are going to eat up some space.  Fortunately your star ships are not lacking in space; but with all the diplomats and civilians you carry, I think you’re going to require some layout modifications so there is a more rigorous isolation of military areas from non-military personnel.”

“Yes, I agree, but it’s not going to be an easy thing to accomplish.  Many of our dignitaries and senators are going to be very sensitive on this matter
.  They feel they should have access to everything.  Also, while I’m here, how soon do you think you can start training our FSO agents?”

“How about tomorrow, mid-morning?”  I responded.  “I would like to hold the first day of training in the conference room that we’ve been using for your meetings and Federation broadcasts.  It’s large enough to hold everyone and I think it’s important to maintain the feeling of Federation discipline and jurisdiction in their training environment.  We want super patriots for this type of work.”

“What about our Special Operations troopers?  We need to get started with their training as well.”

“Initial training is scheduled to begin tomorrow morning in the sports arena on the upper level under the direction of Lieutenant Marranalis.  The arena provides sufficient space for the first drills they will undergo.  I’m going to be observing their abilities over the next few days to see who among them should be leaders.  This may be a sensitive issue with you and some of them, but as of tomorrow they all have equal rank; and new ranks will be applied according to their demonstrated abilities.  One other thing, I don’t know how you selected these recruits; were they given a chance to volunteer or were they simply drafted?”

“All the candidates for the Special Ops units are volunteers.  We made no secret of the formation of that unit.  I’m not so sure about the equal ranks or how that will go over. l go along with it for the moment, but I think we need to readdress it after their training is complete.  FSO candidates were drafted; only those with the highest skills and loyalty ratings were selected,” explained the admiral, “but they were given the right to refuse the assignment if they wished.”

“Normally, Admiral, I would say that only the top 30% would make it through the program.  However, this organization is new and the Brotherhood is completely unaware of its formation, so they won’t really be looking for them.  Under these conditions we will probably retain every recruit, though
some may strictly be clerical and desk operatives.  We’re going to have to go with what we have.  Moving quickly will be the key to success with the fewest possible casualties.”

“Again, I have to agree with you.  I don’t think most people have a clue what a nightmare we have in front of us between rooting out the Brotherhood and trying to safely distribute the solbidyum.  One misstep and the entire Federation could go up like a super nova.  I don’t think I’ve had a good night’s sleep since you showed up at Megelleon with the solbidyum – that’s no reflection on you, Tibby.”  The admiral was about to continue, when a message came in over his personal communication link requesting his presence for a meeting with the High Command.  “I’m afraid we will have to cut this short, Tibby, no doubt one of my staff has forgotten which shoe goes on which foot.  Were there any other critical issues we needed to discuss at this time?”

“No, sir,” I replied, “I think we’ve covered the major points for now.  We’ll be seeing you this evening, of course, for the reception dinner with Senator Tonclin?”

“Yes, definitely, it would hardly be proper if I didn’t attend.  I think I’ll also enjoy seeing the surprise on his face when we tell him why we’re here.”  The admiral chuckled at the thought.  So did I.

After the admiral left I tracked down Kala and found her busy with her staff.  As I approached, I heard her giving them instructions and helping them deal with problems that they were afraid to handle on their own.

She smiled when she saw me coming and said, “My hero com
es to rescue me from a fate worse than death!”  Then she turned to her staff and said, “You will have to handle these problems yourselves.  That’s what I hired you for.  Right now I have more important business to attend to.”  With that she walked over to me, kissed me on the cheek, and laced her arm in mine while she led me away from her gaping staff.