Solbidyum Wars Saga 4: Too Late for Earth

by Dale C. Musser

“No, and now that I think about it, Kala and I have never walked any great distance on the ship together. I’ve seen these doors about the ship along the outer hull, but never knew what they were.”

  A’Lappe responded, “The shuttles only run along the outer hull. There are shuttles on every deck level as well, and of course, there are the lifts that go from level to level; those are placed more in the interior of the ship. I know you are aware of those, Tibby, because I have seen you use them all the time.”

  “Well yes, I know about the lifts. However, when you gave me your tour of the ship, you never showed me the external shuttles.”

  “Well, no, I wanted you to see the ship, not take a ride.” A’Lappe responded as the shuttle began slowing down.

  “Arriving at bridge station,” the computer voice said as the doors opened to reveal a section of the corridor just outside the bridge area. As we exited the shuttle, I saw Marranalis approaching from the interior corridor.

  “Do you think it’s a Brotherhood Armada?” He asked.

  “We won’t know until we get in there and see.” I answered, as the door to the bridge opened.

  Captain Kerabac and Commodore Stonbersa stood looking at the large vid screen that encompassed the front wall. “Tibby,” the Commodore began, “We’re counting 16 ships, including one that we believe belongs to the Tottalax. They seem to be heading toward the weapon system located nearby in the spiral arm of the Galaxy.”

  “Are you sure they are Brotherhood ships?” I asked.

  “Not really, but they are the type of Markazian style corvettes they use, and that Tottalax ship is pretty unique. Who else could they be?”

  “We can’t go taking action against them unless we are sure. For all we know the Tottalax ship could be a trade ship,” I answered. “A’Lappe, could you take the communication console and see if you can tap into any ship to ship communications to see if you can discover who they are and their intents?”

  “Certainly Tibby. Commodore, with your permission?” The Commodore motioned to the communication console in a bowing like gesture, as the operator seated there surrendered the chair to A’Lappe.

  A’Lappe had previously cracked the communication codes used by the Brotherhood and was a genius at accessing their communication. He fussed over the console for a while and then announced that he was picking up signals between the ships, as he keyed the dialog into the bridge speakers for all of us to hear.

  “… So we took leave for three days at Belteeor and me and Groen found us a place with some really sweet women,” a male voice was saying. A second male voice followed, “Was it at a place called the Silver Nydex?”

  “Nah, not that place-- the women there aren’t that special, and besides, I hear they got diseases.”

  “Ha, like that ever bothered you before, with the new nano-biotics we got now, what’s it matter anyway?

  “I don’t think that conversation is what we’re looking for,” I said, “Just where is Belteeor anyway?; we might be able to determine where they’ve been.”

  “Not necessarily,” Marranalis chimed in. “we don’t know when he was talking about; it could have been last week --or last year for all we know.”

  “You’re right, I didn’t think of that. Try another frequency, A’Lappe.”

  A’Lappe turned in his chair and made some more adjustments to the controls.

  “…need to make a stop at one of our bases to get a new one. This one is shot, and I don’t want to have it break down at a critical time.” A voice came through the speakers.

  “There may be a spare aboard the FORMEETE, they are supposed to be carrying spares and supplies for the fleet.”

  “The FROMEETE… huh? I didn’t even know we had a ship in this fleet carrying spares.”

  “That’s right, your ship just joined up with us last week, they probably never got around to telling you. You’re one of the ships that fled Goo’Waddle?”

  “Yeah, but you don’t need to say it like that; we were under a full-scale assault, we couldn’t even see the ships attacking us, they must have had half the Federation fleet there.”

  “The way my captain talks about it, it sounds more like you guys just panicked and fled.”

  “Hey, it wasn’t like that at all. We got it straight from Shydak himself, it was that Tibby fellow who was leading the attack at Goo’Waddle; he’s the one who took the DUSTEN and shut down our operations at Alle Bamma.

  “Ahh you guys have all been sampling too much GOD’s SWEAT, hallucinating, if you ask me. This Tibby guy is a Federation myth to get us off balance.”

  “Look-- I’m telling you I was there, they were picking us off right and left. From the news we received, those that didn’t escape are now slaves on Goo’Waddle; we had a lot of ships destroyed and those that were captured are presently in the hands of the Ruwallie Rasson that are helping to protect the planet.”

  “Ruwallie Rasson? Protecting the planet! That bunch of pirates couldn’t and wouldn’t try to defend their own mothers if they had to. Now I know you are on the juice.”

  “Look asshole, I’m telling you I was there, and I saw it for myself. We barely escaped as it was.”

  “Yeah, well I sure hope your ship isn’t near mine trying to provide defense if we run into the Federation, ‘cause you're likely to run away leaving us wide open.”

  “Yeah, well screw you!”

  “Screw you too.” And then silence pursued.

  “They have discontinued communication,” A’Lappe said.

  “I think we have our answer as to if they are Brotherhood or not. Commodore, do you think we should give them a chance to surrender or just open fire on them?”

  “Any other time I would say to give them a chance, but if we do, 50% of them will get away before we’d get a shot off. I say we get up close, and while staying cloaked, drop our shields and send out several squads of Mirage Fighters; then open fire and take out as many of their ships as we can. We can turn the RMFF shields back on before we attack. I would suggest that the NEW ORLEANS take on that Tottalax ship and see what she is made of.”

  “I think that’s a great suggestion; are we inside or outside of Federation space at the moment?”

  “Outside,” Kerabac spoke up.

  “Good, since we are a private ship, the Federation can’t be blamed for an unprovoked attack. Commodore, you’re in command; do your stuff.”

  I was amazed just how quickly the Commodore had crews manning the Mirage Fighters and had them out in space. Each was cloaked, but with the new view screens and coded transmitters aboard them, they were now able to see each other on their view screens. Quickly, the squads spread out, and in less than 40 minutes, all the Brotherhood ships were targeted.”

  “Commodore, are you sure we should attack without giving them a chance to surrender?” I asked one last time.

  “Actually, no. Now that we have all our ships in place, I would feel guilty if I didn’t at least give them a chance.”

  “Good, I’m glad to hear that; I was starting to feel the same way. Do you want to make them the offer, or shall I do it?”

  “I think it would be best if it was from you, Tibby. The shock and terror value of Tibby, their chief nemesis, should make them think.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  A’Lappe opened a broad sweep communication band; I stepped forward and began to speak. “This is Thibodaux James Renwalt aboard the NEW ORLEANS, addressing the Brotherhood fleet. We have your ships surrounded and targeted. You cannot escape. Surrender now and no harm will come to you; try to escape and you will be destroyed.” We waited several seconds, but no reply came. I repeated the message. “This is Thibodaux James Renwalt aboard the NEW ORLEANS, addressing the Brotherhood fleet. We have your ships surrounded and targeted. You cannot escape. Surrender now and no harm will come to you;, try to escape and you will be destroyed. This is your last and final warning. You have 30 seconds to reply.”

  “Tibby, I’m detecting a coded transmission from one
of the Brotherhood ships, but I don’t recognize the code.” A’Lappe stated.

  I looked over at Captain Kerabac and saw him start the countdown clock as we began watching the numbers count down. There was no response by the Brotherhood, and their ships kept on moving steadily in the same direction. The countdown had reached 03 seconds, and I was about to give the order to open fire, when suddenly it felt like I had received a hard blow to the head, and all went black.

  I awoke with a shooting pain in my head as fields of brightly-colored stars spiraled in my vision. I could hear a high-pitched voice calling out. “First Citizen, can you hear me? Are you okay?” Slowly, I opened my eyes while enduring the excruciating pain. “First Citizen?” The voice repeated, and I was surprised to see myself looking into a face that appeared to be made of rough tree bark. It was a Nibarian, Norkoda to be precise.

  “Where am I? What happened?” I asked as I tried to sit up. I looked about and found myself in a bed, but I had no idea where the bed was located. “Are we still on the NEW ORLEANS?” I asked as memories started to return.

  “Yes sir, we are. We were about to initiate the attack on the Brotherhood fleet when unexpectedly all the humans aboard the ship dropped to the floor unconscious. I was in engineering at the time and came straight here to the bridge when no one responded to my calls.”

  “What? What happened to us?”

  “Frankly, sir, I do not know. Neither I nor any of the Nibarians onboard were affected by what happened. We all had a moment of slight dizziness but that was all, but the rest of you all dropped.”

  “What happened to the Brotherhood fleet?”

  “I’m not sure sir. I could see their ships retreating from the scene when I arrived on the bridge, but I felt my first need was to see to you and the others before attempting to track or follow them.”

  “You did the right thing,” I said as I rubbed my head, hoping the stimulation would lessen the pain. “Did the Mirage Fighters return to the NEW ORLEANS? How long have we been unconscious, and just where am I, and where is the rest of the crew?”

  “It’s been nearly 20 hours since you all passed out. As for the Fighters, they are still out there, and no one is responding to calls to them. I fear they all may be unconscious as well. There are only five of us Nibarians aboard, and we have been busy getting you and the rest of the crew into beds where we could better attend to you.” At that moment, another high-pitched voice came through Norkoda’s com link. “Norkoda, this is Brackmu on the bridge. There are signals from some of the crew on the Mirage Fighters. Many of them are waking up, and they want to return to the ship. Should I drop shields and the cloaking and let them return?”

  Before Norkoda could reply, I spoke up. “This is Tibby,” I began, “tell the fighters to hold for a few minutes until I can get to the Bridge and assess the situation.”

  “Yes sir, First Citizen. I’m glad you are awake.”

  “Norkoda, just where the heck am I on the ship, and which way is the bridge?”

  “You’re only about 25 meters from the bridge at the moment in one of the small guard stations. Here, let me help you.”

  Norkoda assisted me to stand. I was glad for his assistance, as my head was pounding and I was dizzy and weak, but I could slowly feel myself recovering.

  “Get me to the bridge; I need to evaluate what is happening.” As Norkoda helped to support and guide me, I continued questioning him. “What happened to the others in the crew, the Commodore and the others that were on the bridge?"“As near as we can tell no one has died, but other than a few of us Nibarians, everyone else was rendered unconscious. We have assisted as many as we could to beds, but many still lay where they fell. Brackmun has been manning the bridge and making sure the RMFF and cloaking remain on.”

  “Do you know if Kalana is all right?” I asked worriedly.

  “I found her lying outside the door to the bridge; I think she was either leaving or about to enter when the attack took place. I moved her into a room down the corridor not far from where you were. She was in about the same condition that you were.” As we were approaching the bridge, I saw Marranalis staggering along the walls of the corridor heading toward the bridge. “Tibby,” he mumbled, “what happened? I feel like someone crushed my head between two rocks.”

  “I think I was hit with those same rocks,” I replied, just as we reached the bridge. Inside I could see Brackmun at the controls.

  “Thank the stars you are alright, First Citizen. We feared for a while you all were dead, and then when we realized you were not, we were uncertain if any of you would recover.”

  “Marranalis, if you’re up to it, see if you can find out what is happening with our Mirage Fighters and how many of them are awake now.” I said, as I took a seat in the command chair usually occupied by the Commodore. “Norkoda, open a channel for me on the ship wide com, if you can.” Norkoda moved to the communication console, and manipulated some controls, and then nodded to me.”

  “Attention! This is Tibby speaking. We apparently experienced an attack by the Tottalax weapon. We don’t know the conditions of all the crew members on this ship at the moment, or of the situation with the Mirage Fighters that went out. I ask that all of you who are conscious report to the senior most officers you can find and report your status. I want a report by all conscious senior officers in 20 minutes.”

  By the time 20 minutes were up, nearly everyone on the ship and aboard the Mirage Fighters had recovered consciousness. Other than for extreme headaches, everyone seemed to be functional, with no other adverse effects. A’Lappe had been one of the last to regain consciousness and still seemed a bit dazed by it all, but he showed signs of more recovery as time progressed.

  Commodore Stonbersa and Captain Kerabac had returned to the bridge and had taken charge of the ship; the Commodore asked Brackmun to remain on the bridge and update him on all that had transpired while we were unconscious. Brackmun worked in engineering, and when he felt the sensation and saw his crew mates around him pass out, he immediately tried to contact the bridge. When he got no response, he headed to the bridge, fearing that the RMFF might be down and the ship under siege. On arriving at the bridge, he could hear calls from around the ship of other Nibarians. He quickly assessed that the RMFF was still functional, and we seemed safe from being boarded. His evaluation was confirmed when he saw the fleet of Brotherhood ships, accompanied by the Tottalax, moving away from the area. He began to check those of us on the bridge and moving us to the nearest rooms he could find with beds in them. He and Norkoda had removed all of those on the bridge, while checking the scanners to see if any Brotherhood ships were trying to attack, but by the time they had finished getting everyone off the bridge and settled, all signs of the Brotherhood ships were gone.

  An hour later everyone was conscious again, and other than for the residual head pain, everyone appeared functional again. Kala had come to the bridge as soon as she was conscious; we both were relieved to see the other up and alive. Once things were functional again and everyone was back at their stations, the Commodore began to bring the Mirage Fighters back aboard in small groups. As each ship entered and docked, they were carefully inspect for any traces of monitors or bugging devices that may have been place there by the Brotherhood. However, none were found, and there was no indication that any of the ships had been approached by the Brotherhood.

  “Why do you suppose they didn’t try and attack us?” Marranalis asked.

  “I’m not sure. We don’t have RMFF’s for the fighters, and even though our fighters are cloaked if they had fired random shots they probably would have hit some, but they didn’t really know that and may have thought that any shots fired would been wasted. Maybe they just wanted to get away.”

  “I think you are right, Tibby,” the Commodore said, “they have made too many assumptions in the past about our strength and numbers and have gotten their butts kicked as a result; I suspect that now they just want to get away and not take a chance.”

&
nbsp; “A’Lappe, what do you think it was they hit us with?” By now, A’Lappe was back on the bridge and had been busy eyeing the sensor readings.

  “I think it was similar to a sonic weapon, only it wasn’t sonic; I’m not sure what it was. These readings indicate some frequency that obviously could penetrate the RMFF field. Whatever energy and frequency it is seemed to affect the inner ear, and while you don’t feel anything at the onset, it renders you unconscious. There doesn’t appear to be any long-term harm to anyone.”

  “Why weren’t the Nibarians affected?” I asked.

  “It’s probably their unique physiology,” A’Lappe replied. “Their ears are different and are more suited to higher pitched sounds. The frequency that we were hit with seems to oscillate at a very low frequency, and the Nibarian’s ears aren’t adapted to low frequencies. Even though it wasn’t an audible sound for us, the impact on our inner ears was much the same.”

  “I think it might be a good idea if we recruit more Nibarians for our crew if we are going to be going up against the Tottalax again.” I replied. “By the way, Norkoda, how is it you are still here? I thought you had left with Commanders Wabussie and Sokaia to return to your FSO unit for more training?”

  “I was scheduled to, but I suggested to Commander Wabussie that I might be of more use here-- and learn more as well. The commander would like as much information as he can get about Earth, and I think he wanted another pair of eyes to look at things. He quickly agreed to my proposal, and here I am.”

  “Remind me to thank him when I see him again. We are most fortunate to have you and all the other Nibarians aboard.” I noted a look of pride on Norkoda’s face, and he seemed to stand a little taller at my comment.

  Once all the Mirage Fighters were back aboard, the Commodore issued a report to Admiral Regeny and Commander Wabussie that related our encounter. The Admiral announced he intended to approach Senator Tonclin to recruit more Nibarians to serve aboard Federation ships. In the future, their service could make the difference between Federation ships being captured by the Brotherhood or being lost. The Admiral also wanted to know if we had any idea how to defend against the Tottalax weapon, which we didn’t.”