by Dale Musser
“It would have been fantastic had Lunnie and Maxette survived,” I said. “Can you imagine how the people in here would react to four First Citizens being present here in the dining room all at one time?”
Kala laughed at my comment. “Probably half the people in here would die from heart attacks. At no time ever in the history of the Federation have there ever been more than two living First Citizens, and there have been long periods where there have been none at all. I notice that Celpar keeps looking our way. Perhaps we should decide what we want to order.”
“Kala, you know I have no idea what anything on the menu is. Why don’t you select something for me you think I might enjoy?”
Kala smiled. She glanced at Celpar and nodded her head; in an instant, he was at the table side. “Have you made your choices?” he asked.
“Yes, we have,” Kala said. “First Citizen Tibby is still not familiar with all our foods, so I will be ordering for both of us.”
Celpar nodded. “But of course.”
“I think we will begin with an order of Latto eggs for the appetizer, followed by the Werpo green salad with Lingsu dressing for both of us. I shall have the steamed Topho claws for my entrée and First Citizen Tibby will try your Anabur Korsak legs.”
As she was saying this, the head waiter approached with our glasses of wine, which he placed on the table before each of us. I was not sure what the custom was for sampling wine here in the Federation, but before I had a chance to lift the glass, Kala reached forward with Marranalis’ small sensing device. She waved the device over each glass and a small light winked.
“The drinks are safe,” she announced. I lifted the glass to my nose and took a small sniff. The bouquet of the wine was quite fantastic, to say the least. There was a very slight floral, fruity scent that seemed to be carried on a darker, almost forest-type aroma. I took a sip and the flavors swirled about in my mouth, seeming to invade all my senses at once. It was truly spectacular.
Kala was looking at me with a look of expectation. “Well?”
“Spectacular. Simply exquisite. I have never had anything like this before! We need to see if we can’t get some of this for the estate – and a few bottles for the NEW ORLEANS as well.”
Kala laughed again. “Tibby, I doubt there is that much in existence in the entire Federation. Most likely, there are only half dozen or so bottles in existence, and I would bet this club owns them all. That one glass probably costs the equivalent of the annual wages of the average Federation citizen.”
“In that case, we better drink it up before it evaporates,” I said with a wink.
Kala took a sip and looked at me, raising her eyebrows. “I see what you mean, Tib. This is incredible. I have never experienced anything this exquisite before.”
Across the room, I noted a man sitting at one of the tables intently watching us with a less-than-friendly look on his face. I noted he was wearing a senator’s style jacket. “Don’t look just now, but there appears to be a senator here who has been watching us and he doesn’t seem to be terribly pleased.” I glanced in his direction so Kala would know where to look.
Kala never looked up, but sat in a relaxed pose, sipping her wine. Our appetizer arrived, and I was surprised, as the Latto eggs looked much like mussels in their shell, only the shells were white. Kala took one and pried it open with a small chisel-like tool sitting on the side of the plate. She waved her scanner over it and once again, the safe light glowed. She passed the half shell with a gelatinous material floating in the shell and said to eat it. Obviously, it was eaten much like raw oysters were on Earth. Once again, I was surprised by the flavor. I was expecting something briny tasting, like an oyster. Instead, it had a delicate and fruity flavor, much like a mild cherry. Not too sweet nor to faint, but just enough to whet one’s appetite.
Kala’s look told me that she knew I was enjoying them. She opened a second and passed her scanner over it, and then hesitated. I noticed her press a button on her wrist com and heard Marranalis’ voice say, “Marranalis here.”
“Marranalis, could you please come to our table for a moment?” Kala said.
Marranalis arrived and Kala indicated for him to check the appetizer with his scanner. As he did so, he leaned down and Kala said, “There is a man in a senator’s attire in the back corner. Find out who he is and inform Wabussie to have all information on him available for us when we depart for Nibaria.”
Marranalis acted as though he had never heard Kala, but instead said, “First Citizen, my scan indicates the entire plate is safe.”
Kala responded, “Thank you, Marranalis. That will be all.”
Marranalis turned and went back to his station at the door. He did nothing for a time, but then I noted that he slipped out the door for a few minutes, only to return and take his station again.
The rest of the meal went along gloriously; the Werpo green salad was the best I had ever eaten. The Anabur Korsak legs turned out to resemble giant frog legs that, if they had come from a frog, it would have been one the size of a large chicken. They were batter fried and tasted much like frog legs did in Louisiana back on Earth. I had practically been raised on frog legs; my grandmother was always happy for me to catch a big sack full of them for her to cook. It made me feel a wave of homesickness for a moment, until I remembered that all my relatives were gone. Even if I were to return to Earth, it would have been over sixty years Earth time since I had left, so anyone I knew before I left would be long dead.
Kala and I each enjoyed another glass of wine. When we finished dining, she asked whether I wanted to go into the club’s entertainment lounge where there was music and dancing, but added that it would be a real security problem for our bodyguards. I glanced over toward the sour-faced senator and noted two other men had joined him at his table. All three were staring at us with the same venomous expression. I was beginning to feel a bit tired from the day’s activity, so I replied that I felt that we should probably leave. Kala signaled Marranalis and immediately all of our security people were flanking our table, ready to lead and follow us out of the dining room.
As we approached the front door, Celpar was there to bid us farewell. He extended his arms with something in hand and said, “Compliments of the house.” It was a bottle of the Lyonian wine. “Thank you once again for honoring us with your presence here this evening, Honored First Citizens. Please do come and dine with us again.” He stepped back so we could pass.
“It was our pleasure,” I said. “Our compliments to your chef and staff; we were well pleased.”
After this very brief pause the lead troopers opened the doors and stepped out with us following.
Obviously, word had gotten out that we were there. A huge throng of people had assembled outside the club and the troopers had to maintain a clear path for the short distance we needed to cover to get to the transport. People were cheering and chanting “Tibby” and “Kala.” Kala didn’t seem too shocked by the experience, but I was quite taken aback by it. I waved at the people, which only seemed to excite them more.
Kala stopped and briefly smiled and waved. Through her smile she said to me, “Get in the transport quickly before someone shoots you.” We boarded the transport, but the doors were left open.
Marranalis stepped into the transport and immediately said, “Activate your cloaking devices and take my hand. Kala, take Tibby’s hand and then follow me.”
Once cloaked, I had to fumble about to find his hand. Kala had managed to find mine. Quickly we were taken out of the coach and through the still-open front doors of the club. Inside, Marranalis led us through a narrow corridor, down some stairs and into a basement garage. There we were led to a much smaller ground transport designed to carry six passengers in tightly packed seats.
Marranalis said, “Stay cloaked, even after we all are inside.” We did as he said, and I noted one of our security team was at the controls. He spoke again, once we all were in and the doors were sealed. “We have no way of knowing whether our o
riginal transport will be attacked or not. The senator at the table you mentioned had one of his men make a call someplace, who then went outside and met with some people in the crowd. Everyone saw you enter the transport, so they all are assuming you are aboard it. We will wait here a few moments before we leave—that will allow time for the transport and escorts to have pulled away and people will assume we have left.” Moments later, a message came in to Marranalis that the transport was underway.
Marranalis instructed our driver to drive around to the front of the building and then progress along the same route our entourage would be taking and to maintain some distance behind them. Marranalis changed the window setting to transparent, so the transport would appear empty (except for the driver) to anyone in the thinning crowd who happen to glance into the vehicle as we passed in front of the club and would assume it was merely someone’s driver circling the building, waiting for their employers to finish their meal and exit the restaurant.
“Do you really think this is necessary?” I said.
“Tib, no matter where you go, you will always need some protection. The Brotherhood still wants both of us dead and mercenaries still want to capture and hold you for ransom.”
Kala had barely finished her statement when Marranalis’ com activated. “We are being barricaded in by vehicles on the central avenue ahead of you. It looks like it could be an attack. Advise you take alternate route.”
“Understood,” Marranalis answered. “You know what to do!” Then he said to us, “From here on, we will need to maintain radio silence until you are safely returned to the capital hangar and inside the ALI.”
I was beginning to regret my decision to go out for dinner.
Our driver suddenly turned down a side street heading off at 90 degrees from our intended route. We appeared to be heading around the outside of the capital complex. We had driven nearly two thirds the way around, having passed many of the entrances into the complex and I was beginning to wonder just where we were headed, when our driver slowed down and turned into a narrow entrance that may have been used for service deliveries. We entered the tunnel and drove along slowly. Several small delivery vehicles appeared from time to time and occasionally a small ground transport like our own. Eventually we turned into another tunnel and progressed until we came to a sentry post indicating we were entering the governing section of the capital complex. A sentry came out of the guardhouse and approached our driver.
“What business and authorization do you have to enter here?” the guard said, peering in the window at the driver.
The driver didn’t say anything but simply handed over an ID badge with a clearance code on it. The guard slid the ID into a slot on his vid pad and then stiffened and looked a bit frightened. “Ah, yes, sir, you’re cleared to enter. Please proceed and… uhh, have a good evening.” With that, he activated the gate and we drove into the secure area of the capital complex.
“Keep your cloaks active until we reach the ALI,” Marranalis directed. “We should be safe here, but one never knows.”
We drove another twenty minutes before we pulled over into a parking space near one of the internal tram stations. When we got out, we had to continue holding hands and follow our driver into one of the tram cars. Once inside, our driver inserted his identification card into a slot and punched some code into a keypad.
“This tram will head straight to the hangar without stopping,” he said. The ride lasted another ten minutes, during which time we could feel the tram make several sharp turns and changes in elevation, as though it were going up and down in an elevator. Eventually we stopped and the door opened to reveal that we were in the hangar area only a short distance from the ALI.
Troopers stood around the ship at the ready and a challenge was called out: “Identify yourself and state your business!”
To my side I heard Marranalis say, “It’s OK to drop your cloaks now.”
As we did, the lead trooper challenging our arrival snapped to attention and saluted. “Welcome back, sirs. We have been expecting you.”
We quickly boarded the ALI and, moments later, Marranalis had us in the air. Once airborne, he activated the ship’s cloaking device and then began making contact with his surface units. He turned the cockpit com on so we could hear the communication.
“…moving down the central avenue when we were barricaded in by a number of very large vehicles. We were ambushed by a small but well-armed force. They opened fire on the escort transports, pinning them down. Two large transport vehicles on each side of our transport opened panels on the sides of their vans and began to fire on our transport. Fortunately, our armor plating was strong enough to prevent them from doing serious damage to it, and we were able to return fire with our side guns. Federation Special Operations troopers were deployed throughout the area on standby and they quickly swept in with Lieutenant Commander Sokaia personally leading the intercept operation.
“The fight lasted only a few minutes. We’ve suffered only a few minor wounded. No casualties. The attackers didn’t fare as well. The most recent report from Lieutenant Commander Sokaia is that five of the attackers died in the counterassault, three were wounded and captured and the rest managed to escape. We’re just now pulling into the capital complex.”
“Lieutenant Commander Sokaia! Man, they gave her quite the promotion! I may never get a date with her now,” Marranalis said.
Marranalis had trained Sokaia and the Special Operations units. Originally she had been reluctant to train under Marranalis, because her military rank was above his. It took some intervention from Kala and Admiral Regeny to set her straight on who answered to whom regarding the matter. Eventually, though, the two had become good friends, and Sokaia had become Marranalis’ training assistant.
“So, what made you take the precautions you did?” I asked Marranalis.
“Actually, it was your observation of the senator in the corner. Oh, by the way, his name is Senator Euregata from Samalis. Samalis is one of the outer worlds in the Federation and, as such, will be one of the last to receive solbidyum. Euregata has been somewhat sympathetic to Brotherhood claims about the Federation, though we have no evidence of real connections between him and them. The thing that made me take action was that he spoke to one of the men with him, who then made a call and shortly after went outside to meet with a group of men. Things started moving way too fast, and I felt it wiser to play it safe and assume a worst case scenario. I contacted Admiral Regeny and he immediately deployed the Special Operations unit. One of my men at the base brought the smaller ground transport to the club and staged himself in the garage until we arrived.”
“Well, I am very impressed. Thank you, Marranalis and Kala, for the way you handled the situation when I told you of my suspicions. You never even glanced at the senator, and the way you alerted Marranalis would hardly have created any suspicion as to what was going on. I’m really impressed with you both. By the way, who is interrogating the attackers that were captured?”
“I suspect that Wabussie will be handing that assignment. Even though he is FSO, everyone is unaware of that organization and his role in it; and it will be assumed that the admiralty will conduct all interrogations.”
“Kala, can you contact Wabussie tomorrow and have him provide us with copies of the interviews and any other evidence they may have gathered? Marranalis, I would like you to assign someone on your team to investigate Senator Euregata; maybe even place him under surveillance. Our agents are trained as well as the FSO’s agents – or at least they should be, as we trained both groups together.”
“Right, Tibby. I’ll get someone working on it tonight.”
“I’m glad this played out the way it did, Tib,” Kala said. “This is the first time there was action against us that we didn’t find ourselves in the middle of. If it hadn’t been for this attack, I would have rated today as one of the nicest days we’ve had in public.”
I laughed. “Kala, this is about the only day we have had in pu
blic.” Kala looked at me and we both burst out laughing.
Early the next morning Marranalis came to see me. “I just received a request from the Federal Office of Investigation. They are investigating the attack of last night. They want to interview me and others of our security team as to what happened and how we knew to switch you and Kalana out from the ground transport. What do you want me to tell them?”
“That’s very interesting; the FOI now wants to do something. Do you think they have any clue about the FSO?”
“I seriously doubt they are suspicious. Incidents like this do fall under their jurisdiction. But if I tell them everything that took place, they are going to get suspicious.”
“I agree. I think it best that you not mention anything about our reservations concerning Senator Euregata. I would say that you noted some men acting strangely and making calls outside the club that made you feel apprehensive. In light of the attack we had here in the city a year ago, you felt it best to take precautionary measures. Your statement won’t be false; it will simply not include all the details. Instruct our own security team accordingly, so there are no conflicting stories. There will be an inquiry about the cloaking devices we used. By now, I am sure, they have heard that the admiralty possesses these devices; if they ask any questions about them or they want to see one, refer them to the admiralty, but under no circumstances allow them access to one of ours.”
“Right. I think that’s a wise move, especially since we know the Brotherhood has operatives in the FOI; however, I don’t think the admiral is going to look kindly on us tossing the matter of the personal cloaking devices into his lap.”
“You’re right about that,” I chuckled, “and it will be nice seeing the admiral on the receiving end this time instead of me.”
The rest of the day went by quickly. I spent the remainder of the morning working out alone, as Kala was busy with her staff, making arrangements for our trip to Nibaria and the likely continued journey to Plosaxen on the NEW ORLEANS. Marranalis was also busy with the security team, debriefing our troopers and issuing orders pursuant to their impending interviews with the FOI. Shortly after noon, three FOI agents showed up at the estate and the interviews and debriefings began; but if they suspected anything, they never let it show. By late in the afternoon, they seemed to be satisfied with the information they had collected and left the grounds. Marranalis, to his credit, conducted a quick sweep of the entire area that the FOI agents had visited and located three listening devices. Either the FOI didn’t totally believe our story, or one or more of the agents in the debriefing team were Brotherhood operatives.
