Solbidyum Wars Saga 4: Too Late for Earth

by Dale C. Musser

  “We’ll take you to get something to eat; if we return you to Leader Roritat’s men, I doubt you will get anything. He’s hoping to make you look as bad as possible, and if you are starved, dehydrated and tired you won’t be able to respond well on the stand. Furthermore, Commander Wabussie is concerned that they may try to drug you so your thinking will be dulled when you take the stand, and you will be confused, making it appear like you are trying to hide things. It’s important you be totally honest with everything you say on the stand when you are questioned.”

  While he was talking, we arrived at a small dining room that the captain said was used by the Senate guards for their own dining. The food was not fancy, but it was good and nourishing. While I was eating I asked the captain, “Can you tell me where the Admiral and Commander Wabussie are and why they are not here?”

  “They will only be allowed in the Senate hearing chamber during their statements in defense of you. During that time, your accusers will not be allowed in, but they will be able to view the event on vid screens from another chamber not far from here.”

  “Is that where the Admiral and Commander Wabussie are now?” I asked.

  “I believe the Admiral and some of his aides are, but the Commander is meeting with an agent who just arrived bringing new information that he believes will help you.”

  “What about Senator Tonclin?” I inquired.

  “He’s here in his Senate seat about three-quarters of the way down the assembly hall. He’ll be on the stand most likely tomorrow when he gives testimony to support you.”

  “I wish this thing was over,” I said as I pushed the plate of half eaten food away as my appetite had faded.

  I was allowed to freshen up in the small lavatory next to the dining area and then was returned to the Senate hearing room where I sat silently in my boxed area while the senators slowly returned to their places.

  Once everyone had taken their seats, a man entered my box with a headband that I knew was to be used to check if I was lying or telling the truth. He took several readings and after that another man entered the box and looked at the readings also. Apparently, both men were satisfied that everything was working properly; the both men approached Justice Mastoeth and spoke to him briefly before leaving the area. Justice Mastoeth rose and walked to the podium; as he did a chime sounded throughout the hall and everything went quiet.

  “Unless there are more charges and testimony to be given against the accused, we will begin the questioning phase of the hearing. Leader Roritat will be leading the questioning and may be aided by those in his box if he so designates.”

  Leader Roritat approached the podium once more grinning and looking at the assembly like a rock star expecting the crowd to stand and cheer; I would not have been shocked if he had raised his hands over his head in a victory sign. Once at the podium, he turned and looked at me, as he did, his expression changed to one of fierce intensity.

  “Well, Thibodaux James Renwalt, what do you have to say about the charges brought against you?”

  “I would say that I am amazed how well you were able to integrate truth and fiction into such a convincing tale.” I answered. I noted that a green color bar on the screen remained green; I knew that if it changed to yellow, it would indicate I was trying to find a way to obscure the truth, and if it turned red, it would indicate I was lying.

  “Let’s begin with how you convinced the admiralty to seek refuge aboard your ship the NEW ORLEANS before the attack on their headquarters; you had no evidence that there was any threat to them, did you?”

  I was amazed at the way he worded the question, as if he expected me to react emotionally, possibly saying something not quite true and triggering the yellow indicator on the truth detector, thus creating suspicion with the senators.

  “There was no hard evidence, but with the events that had just taken place on the DUSTIN, the probability seemed high to me.” I answered. The bar stayed green. I noted Leader Roritat frown, but he continued.

  “And you had no part in the bombing of the capitol and the admiralty headquarters?"

  “None whatsoever.” I replied. The bar stayed green.

  “I see,” Leader Roritat said. “What about the attack on the supposed undersea base in the western ocean? Did you really believe there was a base there or did you just bomb the area for effect?”

  “No, honestly I wasn’t sure there was a base there, but we had followed a patrol ship from the DUSTEN; it had entered and submerged in the ocean near there so we had reason to believe there probably was a subsea base there.” I said calmly. The bar stayed green. Leader Roritat seemed frustrated and said something to Justice Mastoeth that I could not understand. The Justice stood up and walked to the podium and asked, “Are you actually from the planet Earth?”

  “Yes, I am from Earth.” I answered.

  “Would you please say you are from Plosaxen!” The Justice said.

  Suddenly, I realized that he was testing to make certain the headband was working properly so I said, “I’m from Plosaxen.” Immediately the bar on the screen turned a bright red. I could hear a slight buzz of conversation around the hall as the Justice said something to Leader Roritat and returned to his chair.

  The Leader cleared his throat and continued his questioning.

  “Isn’t it true that the actions of Commander Thimas and Corporal Lexmal had nothing to do with the Brotherhood?”

  “Not to my knowledge,” I answered. “We had solid evidence connecting both Commander Thimas and Corporal Lexmal with the Brotherhood.”

  “Oh, and what evidence did you have that Commander Thimas was working for the Brotherhood and not just for himself?” Leader Roritat growled as he glared at me.

  “His own statement when he made his open broadcast to the Federation saying, ’This is Captain Thimas of the BROTHERHOOD OF LIGHT aboard the ship DUSTEN;’ I believe it’s a matter of record if you care to check the vids of the event.” I heard some hushed chuckles about the hall, and I observed Leader Roritat's face, and ears redden.

  “Isn’t it a fact that when you boarded the DUSTEN to retake it from Thimas, you had help from the Brotherhood, and that you didn’t take the ship on your own?”

  I was about to answer “no,” when I caught myself; I saw the green start to tint a little yellow on the screen. “It’s true that once we were aboard, there were a few Brotherhood members who had been part of the mutiny who felt they had made a mistake and provided some of my team information that helped us. However, it was only one or two individuals.” The bar remained a solid green for my entire statement.

  “And you know for a fact that all the other members of the mutiny were ALL Brotherhood members?” He quizzed. Once again, I could see the style of his question; obviously, I would have had no way of knowing for sure that ALL the mutineers were Brotherhood, but there was every reason to suspect so. I answered, “I didn’t know for sure at that moment they were all Brotherhood men, I only learned it later after we had taken them all prisoners." The bar stayed green. I was starting to wish I could get the Leader to wear a similar headband, so I could see if he truly believed the things he was accusing me of and in his implications of the innocence of the Brotherhood.”

  “Tibby, I have Garfreed Aliquatee here; he’s the director of the Federation Office of Investigation. He tells me that the FOI hasn’t found the number of Brotherhood members in the DUSTEN mutiny anywhere close to what you allege, nor do they find evidence of Brotherhood involvement in nefarious events you alleged are taking place all about the Federation. How do you explain that?”

  “I would have to say it would appear that the FOI isn’t doing a very good job; either that or that the FOI has been compromised in some way by the Brotherhood.” I could hear a buzz of conversation after my statement.

  “You’re accusing a branch of our Federation government of being subversive against the Federation that it is sworn to protect?” Leader Roritat shouted.

  “To quote an old adage from my h
ome world, if the shoe fits wear it; during the events of the DUSTEN mutiny, and afterwards, we found the information provided by the FOI to be unreliable and at times totally false.” I said. I saw Garfreed Aliquatee redden and laugh a forced laugh as if to slough off my comment, but it obviously hit its mark.

  “So, if the intelligence you had was bad, how exactly was it that you were able to get aboard the DUSTEN without the help of one of the Brotherhood men on its bridge assisting you by not alerting Commander Thimas of your approach?” The Leader demanded.

  “We used a cloaking device.” I answered, to gasps from about the hall.

  “A cloaking device? You have a cloaking device, and you’ve kept it a secret from the Federation?” Roritat asked as a grin began to creep back on his face.

  “Yes, but it’s hardly a secret from the Federation,” I answered. “It’s been installed on a number of Federation ships and eventually will be on all the larger star ships.”

  “And how is it that the Federation hasn’t installed them on all their ships?”

  “I suspect it’s because they haven’t been able to get to all their star ships yet; most of the ships are light-years apart. Some are so far out that even with our fastest GW message pods it will be years before they learn of them. Right now, there are outer regions of the Federation which still have not received word about the return of the TRITYTE and the solbidyum; you can hardly expect them to know about the RMFF’s and cloaking devices let alone to have installed them on their ships. However, you would have to ask Admiral Regeny that question, as I don’t have the actual answer for you.” The bar stayed green, and I could see Roritat slump slightly. I saw one of his men lean over and say something to him, and then he turned to me with a more triumphant look on his face.

  “So you have this cloaking device on your ship the NEW ORLEANS?”

  “Yes,” I answered.

  “And just how did you come to acquire this device?” He asked.

  “I don’t see what this has to do with the charges against me, but I’ll answer it anyway. It was discovered by a member of my crew.” I answered.

  “I see,” Roritat said as he stared at the green bar on the screen, “and would this crew member happen to be named A’Lappe?” His question took me by surprise, other than those on my ship and a few members of the military knew of A’Lappes existance . For a moment, I expected the bar to turn yellow or red as I answered, “No it isn’t,” and then suddenly I realized that it was in fact Kerabac who had made the discovery, A’Lappe only perfected it. bar stayed green, I could see a look of amazement and disappointment cross over Roritat’s face as he turned and looked at the man who had just spoken with him. I was beginning to ponder just how Roritat knew about A’Lappe and why he asked the question, as it really had nothing to do with what I was being accused of.

  “Let me ask you in another way,” Roritat began, “Do you have a crew member on the NEW ORLEANS named A’Lappe?” I was in a dilemma now; A’Lappe didn’t want his existence or whereabouts known to but a few, he had told me the Brotherhood was looking for him and wished to exploit his knowledge. If I answered the question truthfully it would reveal his whereabouts, but if I lied the machine would reveal it, and his whereabouts confirmed; either way it was a giveaway. I noted Roritat had a grin of satisfaction on his face, and the look of his colleagues indicated they believed he had triumphed in some way. I was opening my mouth to answer when Justice Mastoeth interrupted.

  “Leader Roritat, I fail to see how this question has any relevance to the charges against the First Citizens. This A’Lappe is not mentioned in the briefs you presented the Senate, nor, to my knowledge is he an enemy of the Federation. Unless you can show some relevance significant to the charges against First Citizen Tibby, I’m ruling that he need not to answer your question.”

  Roritat looked stunned by the Justice’s ruling as he turned and looked back at his associates in the box with him; they also looked stunned. He turned to me and started once again.

  “We’ve all heard you say that your ship has Reverse Magnetic Force Fields and that several of the Federations ships now have RMFFs as well; up until your arrival in the Federation the technology for RMFFs was known but there wasn’t a sufficient power source to power one of these units. Now suddenly, there are 10X fusion reactors that are being produced by several companies in a license to you; where did you acquire the technology?”

  “Leader Roritat,” Justice Mastoeth once more interrupted,” I do not see where this information is relevant to this hearing; unless you can show relevance the accused need not to answer."

  “Honorable Justice, it is possible that Tibby stolen this technology. If so, determining that would go a long way in proving our accusations.” Roritat said.

  “Very well, you may proceed, but keep your questions in line with this hearing.”

  “So Tibby, how did you acquire this technology?” Roritat asked.agan.

  “I purchased my ship, NEW ORLEANS, from the shipyard at Nibaria; it was being built for Galetils, the industrialist, who died before I arrived in the Federation. I purchased the ship with all its contents from the Nibarian ship yard for the outstanding balance owed them. One of the things Galetils’ company was developing was the 10X fusion reactor. It was Galetils’ intentions that the ship would be equipped with the RMFF and a 10X fusion reactor to power it. It was also his intention to use the ship as a yacht to entertain as well as a platform to demonstrate both the RMFF and the 10X reactor to the Federation military and other prospective buyers. The information for the building of the 10X fusion reactor was already aboard the ship when I bought it; all we needed to do was construct it.” I breathed a sigh of relief as the bar on the vid screens stayed green. While it had been A’Lappe who designed and built the 10X reactor, he had worked for Galetils trying to develop it, and he was aboard the ship when I bought it, so technically I had not lied, but I realized that Leader Roritat was looking for a lot more information than just what it would take to get me charged with crimes against the Federation and humanity. Something more was going on here other than what was being presented as the cause for my inquisition.

  Leader Roritat asked a few more questions, which seemed to be relatively meaningless before he changed to questioning on another area.

  “Shortly after the event on the DUSTEN, you and First Citizen Kalana went to Plosaxen, where you put on one of your acrobatic combat shows for Admiral Regeny and others. Isn’t it true that you had set this event up to show yourself superior, and that you paid the two men who were your opponents to allow you to defeat them?”

  “No sir, that is not true.” I answered as Leader Roritat continued, “And isn’t it also true that you and First Citizen Kalana’s injuries were because of an accident due to a lack of rehearsal, and the two men who were killed were innocent victims of your misjudgment and your desire to appear better than everyone else?”

  “No sir, both men who attacked Kalana and me were Brotherhood assassins; Kala had to be placed in stasis to prevent her death until we could get the cure.”

  “Oh yes, the cure, your alibi for going to Alle Bamma, where you destroyed the pharmaceutical labs stole spaceships and took the planet for your own.” Roritat continued his accusations.

  I leaned forward in my chair and replied, “Alle Bamma was under the control of the Brotherhood, and they were using it to produce the street drug known as God’s Sweat; they had enslaved the natives of Alle Bamma and forced them to harvest the plants they used to make the drugs. Yes, I destroyed their drug labs and freed the natives; as for dominating the planet, it was the citizens on the planet that decided that I should be their spokesman in all matters concerning the planet, and that was witnessed by Legal Federation representatives from a Federation Star Ship.”

  “The Brotherhood again— tell me, Tibby, what is your hatred of the Brotherhood really about? It seems that you’re the only one seriously having encounters with them, and you go out of your way to track them down and attack t
hem.”

  “You want to know what I have against the Brotherhood?” I said angrily. “I’ll tell you, the Brotherhood are pirates, thieves, warmongers, and drug pushers who enslave people and exploit them, not help them.” I noticed Justice observing the truth bar on the vid screen and I glanced at it to see it was still displaying green.

  “The Brotherhood are thieves? Unlike you, I suppose. Tell us that you didn’t try to steal a ship from the ship yard at Gaimse!”

  “I tried to reclaim my own ship that was stolen by the Brotherhood and taken to Gaimse, so they might reverse-engineer it,” I said with perhaps a bit more anger than I should have, but the truth bar remained green.”

  “Your ship?” Roritat said with a mocking tone. How do you figure it was your ship?”

  “It was my ship because it was my design; it’s called a Mirage Fighter, and I paid for it, and I had it built in the ship yard in Plosaxen. The ship was scheduled to be delivered to one of the Federation’s Starships when it was stolen by Brotherhood operatives and shipped to Gaimse, where the Gaimseian’s were expected to reverse-engineer it and build copies for the Brotherhood. I went to Gaimse to retrieve the ship, but it had been taken apart. To protect the design and secrets of its new and faster design from falling into the hands of the Brotherhoods, I blew up the ship.”

  “You expect us to believe you were building this ship for the Federation?” Roritat asked in an incredulous tone. “I’ve heard how you are building your own military fleet for some nefarious purpose.”

  “You can check it out for yourself; several hundred of them have already been supplied to a number of the Federations Starships.” I said… I noted everyone now was staring at the vid screens and the green bar being displayed.

  “The Federation isn’t paying you for any ships; we haven’t authorized the expense for new ships!” Roritat exclaimed.