by Dale Musser
“Right away, Admiral. Why do you suppose Admiral Wabussie chose not to send this communication officially?”
“Well, Wabussie seems to be secretive about lots of things these days and I’m not exactly sure why or to what extent. In this case, I suspect he’s concerned that he might find himself in a good deal of trouble, if Regeny were to find out I’ve received this information. This way it’s unclear who sent it to me and, unless Regeny questions Wabussie using a truth band, which I doubt he would do, Wabussie can deny knowing anything about it.”
“I understand, sir. Do you think there will still be trouble over this operation if we succeed?”
“Captain, there’s no telling. We have a fickle Senate. One day they praise you and the next they want to court-martial you. However, if there is a problem, the greater blame – if not all of it – will likely be focused on me.”
I spent the remainder of the day reviewing the intelligence regarding Domagota. It was late in the afternoon by the time I decided to call it a day and prepare to return to my estate. Just as I was about to leave, Marranalis returned to me with information about Asalott.
“I found Asalott, but there’s a problem,” Marranalis began.
“What kind of problem?”
“He’s on Eh-Netta and won’t leave the planet. If you want to talk to him, you'll need to go there. The entire planet of Eh-Netta is a spiritual collective governed by the Neovian Universalists, a religious sect that was quite a sweeping fad at one time. However, it has lost its popularity over the past several hundred years. The order is known for its extensive meditation practices and communion with nature. The fundamental belief is that one's inner being is connected to a greater galactic consciousness.”
“Sounds a bit like Thumumba and his philosophies,” I said half to myself.
“I wouldn’t know about that, sir. As much as I’ve tried, I simply don’t understand Thumumba. I asked Regata about him once, but I just couldn’t grasp what he was trying to describe to me.”
“So what’s the problem with Asalott leaving the planet? How does religion play any part in this?”
“Asalott is planning to take vows to become a priest in the order. Right now he is undergoing certain rituals, so he is not allowed to leave the planet during this period. If he does, he has to wait at least another two years before he can re-apply to the order and begin all over again.”
“But surely that shouldn’t be a problem. He must have met with FSO agents recently before joining the order, so he can’t have been in it more than a few days,” I said. “Talking to us now shouldn’t cause him any delay.”
“I’m afraid, sir, that the Neovian Universalists don’t see it that way. Once an applicant pledges to enter and complete their program, it doesn’t matter if they’ve been in it one hour or one year. If a Pledge steps outside the program for any reason, they must wait two years to re-apply.”
I sighed. “I see. But he is allowed to speak with us if we go there to see him?”
“Yes, sir, that is permissible.”
“Then I guess we will need to go to Eh-Netta to talk with this Asalott character. Instruct Captain Mareoparen to set course to Eh-Netta.”
“Uh, sir, that’s another problem. Eh-Netta isn’t a Federation planet. We’ll be violating the law, if we go there in the MAXETTE.”
“By the stars,” I exclaimed. “Very well, then. It is probably best that we make this visit as discrete as possible anyway. Prepare a team of my personal security forces and a freighter to go to Eh‑Netta as quickly as possible. Before they depart, make sure they install a personal Cantolla Gate on the ship so I can come and go as needed. Tell Padaran to personally select a well-trained crew, in case it’s some sort of trap and we need to fight our way out. Once they reach orbit, I want this Asalott contacted and a meeting arranged. I’ll transfer through the gate, meet with Asalott, and get back here before anyone realizes I was gone.”
“You’re planning on going personally? Is that wise, sir?
“Yes, I’m going personally, and no, it probably isn’t wise, but I’m going to do it anyway. I want to meet Asalott myself. Any information he can provide that might help us get Ming is something I want to hear with my own ears. The one thing I understand in this convoluted mess with Regeny right now is that I can’t depend on others for information, when it’s clear they can be so easily silenced.”
“You mean like Regeny stopping Wabussie from providing you information?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” I fumed.
I reviewed the last bits of data provided by Asalott before going home. I was surprised at the level of detail he had gathered. Clearly, Asalott knew what he was doing and the information, if true, would help us immensely in the development of our plans. Not only was Ming’s palace floorplan and its security systems highly detailed, but the surrounding terrain and defensive armament locations were identified as well. Asalott had even managed to document schedules that Ming followed for certain daily activities. I began to wonder how Asalott had gotten all this information and just how long it had taken him to acquire it. It seemed to be too good to be true – and I began to be nagged by my belief that, if something seemed too good to be true, it probably wasn’t true at all. Nevertheless, it needed to be checked out.
Even though Eh-Netta was outside the Federation, it only took three days for the team assembled by Padaran to reach its orbit, as it relatively close to the Federation border and near to one of our Federation stellar Cantolla Gates. I had no idea how soon Regeny would be leading his assault against Glomar Rosa, so I felt a sense of urgency in carrying out the attack on Domagota. If I could get to Domagota before the Glomar Rosa offensive, I was sure Ming would draw back ships and troops to protect him, assuming I didn’t kill him first. A diversion of Brotherhood forces to defend Domagota would certainly help the Federation fleet at Glomar Rosa in just about any scenario. On the other hand, if Regeny attacked before I got to Domagota, Ming’s paranoia would kick in as soon as word of the attack reached his ears. He would either boost his defenses or he would flee to another location where he felt safer.
Regeny’s insistence on excluding me from his plans was not only irrational but dangerous for everyone. Since he had first given the order that I was to stay in Sector 1 and protect the Capitol while he took the rest of the fleet to liberate Glomar Rosa, he had not spoken to me, issued me any new orders or communicated with me in any fashion. This was most unusual for Regeny. In addition, Regeny ordered that all daily reports of fleet actions and conditions throughout the military were to now be issued directly to him and no longer to me. This meant I had no idea where any of the fleet ships were deployed or what their current activities were. With the exception of the ships in Sector 1, I had no data on what the fleet was doing – at least not officially.
There were a number of admirals quite upset with Admiral Regeny and his actions, but they kept quiet about it for fear that he might demote them or cut them out of the loop like he had me. However, through various means they managed to provide me with information as to what was going on without ever contacting me directly. Most of this information came to me through the incoming supply deliveries. Scraps of information would mysteriously appear in the electronic shipment manifests that didn’t relate to Sector 1. Goods intended for delivery to another sector would inexplicably get delivered to the MAXETTE and would need to be sent back, but the manifests for the misdirected materials showed the correct shipping location. So, by correlating the type of supplies or materials with their intended destination, a great deal could be deduced. A picture began to form from the mass of information and I didn’t like what I was seeing. Regeny wasn’t taking any precautions to maintain top level secrecy; and if I could develop a picture of Regeny’s plans from the shipping information, the enemy would be able to do so as well. I feared the Brotherhood would either be prepared and waiting for him when he arrived or, in the best scenario, they would evacuate the planet and be long gone.
&n
bsp; Even though my team made it to Eh-Netta in three days, getting in contact with Asalott turned out to be more difficult than we anticipated. It wasn’t hard to determine his location, as all members of the Neovian Universalists were registered on the planet and their whereabouts known, but Asalott was in a monastery as a neophyte undergoing initiation and, as we were told, our presence as visitors did not absolve him of the required meditation and studies that preceded his induction into the priesthood. We were advised that it would be more than two weeks before we could visit him. This meant that by the time I’d be going to the monastery I’d be well into my first or second day after a treatment with A’Lappe, so in that way the timing was good. We were warned to abide strictly by the monastery rules for the length of our stay. Furthermore, we would only be allowed to visit with him in an area set aside within the monastery compound for outside visitors. Padaran and Marranalis were adamantly against me meeting with Asalott without a contingent of guards, but I believed it was necessary. I felt confident enough in my own skills and strength that I doubted I was in any danger, even though logically there was a reason to be suspicious. In the end, I had to compromise with Marranalis and Padaran and allow Padaran to accompany me as an added protective measure.
I had no idea just how much trouble I could get into by going to Eh-Netta. Technically, I wasn’t violating any law, except perhaps that one might construe leaving Sector 1 as a violation of my orders from Regeny. I would argue, however, that those orders didn’t directly ban me personally from leaving the sector, rather they simply restricted my fleet operations to Sector 1. Since all the Federation ships under my command in Sector 1 were technically still there, including the MAXETTE, I was not violating my orders, whether I was maintaining command from the MAXETTE, from my space yacht or estate, or elsewhere. The situation was no different than usual; by merely stepping through a Cantolla Gate I would be back inside the flagship. It was a sticky legal point but not one that I was terribly concerned about. If all went well with Asalott, what I planned to do next was a far stickier legal concern than stepping outside Federation boundaries to visit him.
Eh-Netta was similar to Earth in size and atmosphere. Like Earth, there were essentially two land masses separated by two large oceans. However, there the similarities ended. One continent was covered with vast snow and glacier-capped mountain ranges that rose in some places to seven kilometers. At lower elevations the mountainsides were covered in lush, green vegetation and the valleys between were carved by giant waterfalls and streams that twisted through the landscape. Some mining took place on this continent, but surprisingly it was not for metals, which were all imported. Instead, mining here was focused on rare gemstones. Operations were generally small, each run by anywhere from one to a dozen miners.
The second continent was mostly flat with the exception of some confined belts of low, rolling hills. The highest point of this continent was less than 1.3 kilometers above sea level, from which point the land tapered slowly toward the sea in all directions at such a gentle slope that it appeared flat to the eye. Most of the continent consisted of either semi-arid and coastal desert biomes or grass prairies. A few valleys and canyons interrupted the terrain where spring-fed streams and shallow rivers had eroded the soil as they meandered toward the sea. Regions surrounding the river deltas hosted the only forested land and only one river flowed wide enough and deep enough for navigation. This river served as the primary means of industrial and agricultural trade within the continent and provided the only route for intercontinental commercial ships traveling between the centrally located cities and the sea. On any given day, the largest percentage of incoming ships were transporting lumber or logs from the mountainous continent. One of the main exports from the flat continent was coal, which also served as the primary source of energy. Coal was abundant across the entire continent and mining accounted for more than a third of the economy.
According to the data, most of the inhabitants lived a simple and minimalist lifestyle, preferring to do most things manually rather than by mechanical or technological means. Aside from space ports and airports, the most modern means of transportation on the flat continent was a network of coal-powered steam locomotives that moved across elevated monorails. These trains were used routinely for transportation across vast distances; however, short, local treks were generally traveled on foot or by way of small boats or beasts of burden. Transportation on the mountainous continent was dominated by unique single-line ascending and descending gondola systems powered by waterwheels placed along the rivers.
Less than half the homes on either continent were equipped with electricity or any other type of central power. Cooking and heating fires were fueled by coal or by scrap wood that resulted from logging operations.
The main spaceport for the planet was located in one of the desert regions of the flat continent. Travel beyond that point was by way of smaller ships and aircraft flown to minor airports scattered about the planet, from which one would then take surface transports or walk to one’s destination. Marranalis tried to obtain permission to allow Padaran and I to fly our transport directly from the to the monastery, but we were told it was forbidden and that we were to land only at their main spaceport. I was not happy about this, as I wanted as little contact with the inhabitants of the planet as possible. Even outside the Federation I was well known. Word of my appearance on the planet could spread quickly throughout the galaxy and reach not only Ming’s ears but those of Admiral Regeny and the Senate.
Since Reide went off to the JAC training base, going home at night and not hearing of his exploits from Lunnie or Kala felt strange. Lunnie was becoming moody without her brother’s presence and would ask me every day if I had heard anything about how he was doing in boot camp. She reasoned that, since I was the second highest ranking person in the Federation military, I should be all-knowing regarding every activity in the Federation military, especially relating to my own son. I tried to explain to her that I was sure Reide was fine and that he was going through the program like all the others without my interference. This didn’t suit her, as she felt I should be getting daily reports on his performance. Kala tried to soothe her concerns, but it was Jenira who came down hard on Lunnie by telling her that, if she was so concerned about his well-being and training, she should have signed up when he did. Lunnie stiffened under Jenira’s scolding but said nothing. She simply turned rigidly and went to her room. She didn’t mention Reide again until he finally came home on leave weeks later.
I noticed a change in Kala as well. She was more contemplative and smiled less with Reide away, but other than for a comment or two about how quiet it was since he left, she made no complaints. I have to admit, I was curious as to how he was doing and considered contacting the base commander more than once, but I was a bit conflicted about using my influence to get an inside view of his progress. Besides, fast-tracking the planning and schedule for the attack on Ming at Domagota was keeping me extraordinarily busy.
The person I was most concerned about being negatively affected by Reide’s absence was Rory. However, Rory surprised me. Under A’Lappe’s guidance, he was doing very well and displayed far greater brilliance than anyone had imagined. A’Lappe said he was amazed at Rory’s ability to grasp extremely complex theoretical concepts and convert them into mathematical equations. A’Lappe tasked Rory with calculating mathematical probabilities to identify the most likely places where we might find more samples of rundadite. Rory took to the task with excitement and gathered all the information he could on characteristics of the comet that provided the original source of rundadite, including the scant data that had been gathered about its course. He quickly and almost effortlessly postulated three possible locations for the origin of the comet, but all of them were far outside of Federation territories. Even using Cantolla Gates, months would be required before a ship could reach the nearest of these locations. The next location was many times farther out in space. A’Lappe reviewed Rory’s calculations a
nd agreed with the findings, but he was far from elated. It would be nearly a year before we’d know whether there was any rundadite at the first site and at least three times longer if we needed to move on to the second. The comet appeared to have been traveling on a straight trajectory through the Federation and there was no way of knowing for sure just how far out it may have originated. Nevertheless, a team was deployed immediately to check out the first location and to establish a stellar Cantolla Gate there before proceeding on to the next, if necessary. It was a shot in the dark. A’Lappe knew we might go on forever and never find another piece of rundadite. I hoped that, by some small miracle, we’d find a large enough quantity to supply the Federation fleet with sufficient PLABE weapons to destroy the Brotherhood forever. As it was, we only had two working PLABEs – one mounted on my personal fighter docked on the NEW ORLEANS and one mounted on the MAXETTE. At least for the moment, A’Lappe had to focus on his work with Rory and the science teams to initiate the equally important long-term search for new rundadite sources, so assembly of the last two PLABES was temporarily put on hold.
On the evening before my scheduled visit to Eh-Netta, Reide came home. His first few weeks of basic training were over and he was on his first official leave. I cannot relate to you my feelings upon seeing him as he walked up to Kala, Lunnie and me while we were dining on one of the estate patios. Kala and Lunnie had their backs toward him when he walked across the patio, so I was the first to see him. At first, I didn’t recognize him in his JAC uniform. He seemed to stand taller than the Reide I knew and he walked with an air of discipline and confidence I wasn't accustomed to seeing in my son. For a moment I thought he was some messenger sent by the Admiralty.
Then I saw his face and rose from my chair in amazement. He immediately snapped to attention and saluted me. A huge grin spread across my face as I returned the salute and stuttered, “At ease, cadet.”
