Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans

by Dale C. Musser

  We do not believe that Roiax ever knew he carried the greatest treasure in the universe on his ship; he was driven solely by the desire to escape. He never turned on the communication system, he changed directions and speed many times in an effort to throw off any pursuers, but there were none actually anywhere close to him. Millions of ships took to space looking for him, all going in the wrong direction. Roiax had skimmed the outer arm of the galaxy not moving in toward the center for many days. All the searchers were expecting him to be heading toward one of the planets in the Federation territories with the intent of bargaining with the Solbidyum for his freedom and more, the truth is he could have gotten anything he wanted if he had. There were planets that would have provided anything his sick perverted mind wanted, he could have bought armies, planets and governments with what’s in the hold of the TRITYTE.

  As the years went by and no trace of Roiax or the TRITYTE was found, rumors grew that the three planets that had previously received grains of Solbidyum had confiscated the entire supply of Solbidyum. Other planets that seemed to be succeeding and profiting more than average were also suspected of have secretly obtained Solbidyum and all sorts of diplomatic problems. Some of the planets withdrew from the Federation in protest of what they believed to be a plot to keep them impoverished and under Federation constraints. Groups of planets banded together in an attempt to get the Solbidyum they believed to be stashed away on the three planets that previously had obtained the first three grains and were powering their entire planet with them. The attacks were swift and brutal, billions of people died in the battles that ensued. The Federation rushed war ships to the scene as fast as they could and the rebels warned that if the supplies of Solbidyum they believed to be on the three planets was not turned over immediately they would destroy the planets. Of course there was no supply of Solbidyum to be given up and the rebels lived up to the threat literally turning all three planets into small blazing stars. Everyone was horrified, now even the three grains of Solbidyum that did exist on these planets were gone as well. Many of the Federation ships in the area were destroyed in the blast of the planets when they exploded into mini-suns. One of the planets destroyed, Caldon, was capitol of the Federation at the time. Luckily most of the top government officials managed to escape when the first attack took place. But much of the Federation control of the galactic community was severely weakened and wars broke out between individual planets and wars and raiding went on all over the Federation territories. Megelleon was established as the new Capitol planet and struggled to hold together as much of the Federation as possible. It was nearly two hundred years before peace began to be re-established across the planets and the Federation to begin to re-establish itself as a unified control over this segment of space. Over the years small prospectors have searched the outer fringes for the lost Asteroid mining area in hopes of finding just one grain of Solbidyum. Federation star maps show its location but even though the asteroids in the region have been searched not one single grain of Solbidyum has ever been found since the accident and Roiax’s escape.

  The story of the Solbidyum and the TRITYTE grew to be a legend and billions of people have searched for it. Many today believe the entire story to be a myth. Only a handful of people in the government know the entire truth of what happened and until now no one had a clue of where the TRITYTE, the Solbidyum, and Roiax vanished to.”

  Captain Maxette paused and took a drink of his Foccee. While he was doing so I glanced at the faces in the room, I could tell by their expressions that much of this was new to them also. The Captain cleared his throat and continued.

  “In an effort to recover the Solbidyum intact, so it could be equitably distributed among the Federation planets, huge rewards were offered in the hopes that anyone finding the ship would turn it over intact and not sell to one planet or a small group. They did this hoping to prevent an imbalance in power and to prevent the wars as had occurred early on when the Solbidyum went missing. Originally the reward consisted of about one percent of the value of the Solbidyum, which by any standard have made the discoverer richer anyone in the universe at that time. As time progressed and the Solbidyum was not found and concerns grew of one planet gaining control of the entire supply grew and it was decided that the discoverer could get twenty percent of the value of the Solbidyum. Later it was increased to fifty percent and eventually to eighty percent. Then a few years ago one man claimed he knew where the ship was and demanded eighty-five percent plus the ship TRITYTE, unaltered and with the reactor still intact. There was a lot of discussion and shouting in the capitol over that one, few were willing to go to eighty- five percent of the value of the Solbidyum, however none of the politicians knew of the Solbidyum reactor in the TRITYTE and were willing to give it up. In the end it was agreed on and written into law that anyone finding and turning over the Solbidyum to the Federation would be paid eighty percent of the value of the Solbidyum and would also get to keep the TRITYTE unaltered, which meant the reactor would still be intact. As it turned out the ship the man had found was a luxury yacht that had been stolen years earlier and parked in a remote asteroid cluster after it had pretty much been gutted. The man had spotted if from outside the cluster and was afraid to go in to retrieve it so he didn’t really know what it was. The story made big headlines for a few days on the news but then eventually died. However, the law about the recovery reward still exists in the records today, making you, Tibby about to receive the reward of a life time. The total value of your find can’t even be calculated and will only be known once the last grain of Solbidyum has been sold . You could literally buy yourself several solar systems with all the planets in them and barely scratch the surface of your wealth.”

  I was starting to sweat and get light headed as the impact of what he was saying sank in.

  The Captain went on “So you see Tibby why all the security is necessary and why protection of you is so critical, because with your worth being equal to eighty percent of the value of the Solbidyum there will be many a kidnapper out there looking to snatch you just for a ransom. You may soon become the richest man in the universe, but you will also become the largest target for someone wanting to make a huge ransom on a kidnapping. Until your claims on the ship and the Solbidyum have been resolved in the Capitol, you are the responsibility of the Federation, after that only time will tell.”

  Suddenly I saw myself spending the rest of my life being surrounded by two dozen armed body guards, proceeding and following me where ever I went. It was not a pretty picture. On the other hand I saw huge estates with every luxury ever imagined by man, and in my fantasy I saw Kala there as well.

  Then my bubble burst and I found myself back in the moment looking at Captain Maxette and I asked, “But what about Roiax and the ship, how did it get on Earth and what happened to him?”

  “We’re not exactly sure but we have a good idea,” he began “like I stated earlier, many of the ship’s computer functions and interfaces to the ship were turned off during the time he was on board. We were able to trace from the navigation logs in the computer the course he took and the evasive actions he took to avoid discovery and capture. He changed directions and speeds many times going from Gravity wave warp speeds to faster than light speeds and a few times dropping below those even. Your return trip was retracing that route when the TRITYTE managed to pick up a Federation signal and get in touch with us as it was programmed to do if out of touch with the Federation for an extended period. I think six hundred plus years qualify for that. “He chuckled and then continued,” once communication had been established the TRITYTE headed toward us and we toward it until we met. At that point the ship’s Prime Directive had been met and the computer relinquished navigation controls over to the Federation. It’s really a bit more complicated than that, but suffices it to say that’s the short version of what took place. As for Roiax from what we can tell he kept taking evasive actions getting further and further away from the Federation territories, never once stopping
or leaving the ship. After about five weeks of traveling and starting to feel safe I think he wanted to set foot on a planet and take a deep breath. Obviously he didn’t make a very good choice from the information in the ship’s computer. Had the computer been in control of the landing it never would have allowed the ship to land where it did. As it was I don’t think Roiax planned to stay there long. The ship’s records indicate he left the ship and came back onboard about 20 minutes later cussing and in pain. The computer recorded his voice cussing and mumbling about some red black and white creature he thought was a strange stick biting him. Shortly thereafter he was having problems breathing and his hand was swelling. He went into the infirmary and hooked up to the med unite there and a few minutes later was dead. With the ships automated navigation system turned off the ship just sat there and slowly sank into the mud, until you arrived and turned it back on. With the infinite power of the Solbidyum reactor the ship maintained its self, but could do nothing more until you arrived. “

  The Captain paused and took another sip of his foccee and said, “ Now we would like to ask you a few questions if you do not mind. First, could you tell us a bit about yourself, what do you do? Your profession?

  “Well I recently got out of the military, the Navy actually. I worked on the flight crew on an aircraft carrier. I’m not sure if you have those or not, but I guess you must since Federation language seems to have a word for them. Since getting out of the Navy I have been working helping to redesign the system for draining the water out of New Orleans, a city on Earth that is partially below sea level.”

  “Why did you get out of the Navy?” Lieutenant Commander Wanoll asked.

  “I had completed my term of service and didn’t care to reenlist.” I responded

  “What was your rank when you left the Navy?” Lieutenant Commander Wanoll asked.

  “I was a Lieutenant” I responded.

  Captain Maxette asked, “You said parts of this city you call New Orleans is below sea level, are many cities on Earth below sea level?”

  “Very few actually, I know there are in Holland, but outside of that I do not know of many.”

  “Holland?” Commander Thimas said questioningly, “is that another planet?

  “No sir,” I replied “Holland is a country or territory on Earth. Earth is divided into countries or different territories, each with its own governmental systems and politics. Each country is divided into smaller regions and those into still smaller regions as well.”

  Kala asked, “What about your family?”

  “There’s nothing much to say there. My dad was killed in a military operation in the Middle East, he was a Marine, I was a teenager when that happened. My mother died shortly after that from lung cancer, and I went to live with my grandparents. My grandfather died just before I went into the Navy and my grandmother died two years later. I have no siblings, I did have an uncle, but he drank himself to death.”

  “Drank himself to death?” Kala questioned “He kept drinking liquids until it killed him?”

  “The liquids he was drinking were alcohol based and he developed a disease that is common on our planet for people who consume too much alcohol, it’s called Sclerosis.” I responded.

  “You had no mate?” Commander Thimas asked.

  “No sir, I never found the right woman.” I responded.

  I noticed the Captain seemed a bit relieved when I answered the last question and he said, “Tibby I am sorry to have to tell you this, but there is one thing more you need to know. Like I told you, Roiax dropped in and out of Gravity Wave drive into FLT drive and back and forth several times. When you travel using a Gravity Wave you travel in relative time with the rest of the universe but in FTL you travel in relative time to your ship. I do not know if this is part of your science knowledge of understanding or not.”

  “Well sir,” I began, “I do understand that with FLT drive that time flows at different rates relative to how fast you are moving compared to another object is moving. Gravity Waves are new to me though.”

  “Well suffice it to say for the moment that even though you can travel faster on a Gravity Wave, relatively speaking if you were to travel four days on a Gravity Wave only four days would pass at your destination as well, but in FTL speeds depending on just how fast you are traveling a week or more could go by. What I guess I am trying to tell you is that since you left Earth, even though to you it was only a little over two weeks, nearly twenty years have passed back on your Earth. The ship was duplicating the path and speeds Roiax used, only in reverse, to get back into Federation territory.” The Captain stated and stared at me watching my reaction.

  Up until this point I hadn’t really thought about Earth. I never stopped to wonder what people were thinking when I didn’t show up to work and I simply disappeared. Possibly they found my boat in the swamp. Mound Island would have disappeared but no one would really take notice of that; the murky water would have filled in the deep hole. But no one would notice that at all. It would no doubt be believe that I had fallen overboard and gotten eaten by a gator if they found my boat, otherwise I would just be one of the missing.

  “Well Captain,” I began “I do not think they recognize Federation currency back on Earth so if I am going to be rich I think I will need to stay in the Federation Territories, if they will let me.”

  I saw a huge smile appear on the Captains face and from the corner of my eye I noticed Kala’s head turn toward mine and I noted a smile on her face as well.

  The Captain spoke, “I have a feeling you will not have any problem gaining citizenship in the Federation Tibby, none at all!”

  The rest of the meeting went pretty much with me relating the events of my discovery of the ship and how I got onboard and the events that followed, occasionally one of the officers would ask me a question relating to information in the ship’s records with regards to my testimony to clarify some point.

  Eventually the Captain said, “Tibby I apologize but when was the last you slept?”

  I had not realized it but I was starting to droop with fatigue and honestly I had no idea how much time had transpired since I had left the TRITYTE. “Well I had been awake about six or seven hours before you contacted me on the ship and I’ve not slept since then.”

  “That was over twelve hours ago so you’ve been awake at least eighteen to nineteen hours,” the Captain said, “you must be exhausted.”

  “To be honest Captain I can feel myself starting to fade,” I replied.

  “Major Kalana, “the Captain said “would you see Tibby back to his quarters. We can resume tomorrow afternoon once Tibby has had a good rest.”

  Kala replied “Yes sir,” As she rose to her feet and turning to watch me as I rose from my chair.

  As we headed for the door the Captain said, “We’re about three weeks out from the Capitol now Tibby, though you are not Federation military under my command you are a guest on my ship, I would respectfully ask that outside of the persons in this room that you do not discuss any of the details of what was spoken here, for all of our safety. I think you understand why now.”

  “Yes sir,” I said, “I think I do, and you do not need to worry I have no intention of telling anyone.”

  Once Kala and my body guards had returned me to my room and the guards had been stationed back outside my door, Kala entered with me and asked if I had any questions before she left for the evening. Despite being as tired as I was I didn’t want her to leave, but could think of nothing I could say to keep her there longer that would not come across as an obvious move on her. So I simply said, “no I could not think of anything”. Kala then walked to a panel in one wall and touched the framed edge of it and it slid aside to reveal a door. Kala said, “our separate quarters are connected by this door. You can lock it from this side if you desire privacy for some reason, but it is preferred that you leave it unlocked so I can reach you if needed.” She then proceeded to show me how to open and close the panel and how to lock it. She told me
that should I need anything that Piesew Mecarta or the staff could not provide or handle that she would be available around the clock to assist me. As she stepped into her own quarters and closed the panel from her side I was fighting the thoughts trying to enter my mind on just what she could do to assist me. Wearily I stumbled into my overly large bed room with the bed large enough to sleep everyone that had been in the conference room and with room to spare. I barely got my clothing off, letting them fall to the floor, and crawled onto the bed before I was sound asleep. That night I dreamed of a naked Kala and myself naked floating down a wide river on my bed as though it were a boat. In my dream Kala was running her fingers through my hair as she recited poetry to me about a ship with a stolen cargo while over head the TRITYTE was flying with millions of dollars blowing out the open hatch.

  I was awakened in the morning by the voice of Piesew “Greetings sir Renwalt, I am most sorry to awaken you, but it has been ten hours since your meeting of yesterday with the Captain and Major Kala thought perhaps it best if I awakened you and see to your personal needs before you meet with the Captain again today.” I rolled over on the bed to see Piesew moving about the room as he spoke picking up the clothing I had dropped there as I went to bed. Just inside the door of my room stood one of my body guards, neither he nor Piesew seemed in the least concerned that I was lying naked in the bed. I realized that I had not even bothered to get under the covers but had fallen asleep on top of them. I yawned and said.