Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation

by Dale C. Musser

  “It sounds like some individuals are not happy,” I exclaimed as I entered. I had no sooner spoken than Lunnie stopped crying and twisted in Kala’s arms reaching for me. Reidecor reacted to Lunnie’s silence and stared at her a moment and then laid his head against Jenira’s shoulder and began sucking his thumb.

  “Here, Tib, you take her,” Kala said as she tried to blow a wisp of hair out of her face, and she passed Lunnie to me. Lunnie leaned back in my arms staring at my face and grinned as she grabbed hold of my nose.

  “How did things go at the meeting?” Kala asked.

  “It was mostly updating and organizing,” I answered, as I tweaked Lunnie’s nose in return to her grasp on mine. Lunnie giggled.

  “I think she was crying earlier because she wanted you,” Kala said, referring to Lunnie, “and Reidecor was crying because Lunnie was. He gets upset if she is upset.”

  “I told Admiral Regeny, I wanted Marranalis back, and he agreed,” I continued with my previous conversation. “Leader Tonclin was there. He was interested to hear about the twins. I saw Stonbersa. He's a fleet admiral now and under my command; I also met Admiral Kophious, he’ll be commanding the third fleet. Oh, and Captain Slater from the Mars colony is now working as a military consultant with the admiralty.” Lunnie had stopped tugging on my nose and was now poking one of her fingers up my nostril.

  Kala said, “Jenira told me that Slater had been helping to instruct the troops in some new tactics and some fresh martial arts moves as well.” I looked over at Jenira, who was now gently rocking a sleeping Reidecor. “Jenira said that Slater was very good at martial arts and that he, Marranalis, and Padaran sparred frequently until Admiral Regeny called Marranalis back to take charge of training troops on Plosaxen.”

  I carried Lunnie into the dining area with me as Kala followed. “I’m assuming you have already eaten, “I said.

  “Yes about an hour ago. You haven’t?” Kala replied.

  “No, and I’m starving, “I said as I balanced Lunnie in one arm while punching some selections into the food synthesizer.

  “Why don’t you sit down with Lunnie, and I’ll bring you your food.” Kala said as I tried to balance a now squirming Lunnie as she tried to reach and press buttons on the synthesizer. Kala brought my food selections to the table and placed them in front of me as Jenira walked across the room carrying the still sleeping Reidecor. She handed him to Kala and then signed. “I’m going to go now. I need to work out in the gym and meet with my warriors. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, Jenira, I don’t know how I would handle things with these twins without your help,” Kala said. Jenira smiled and waved as she headed out the door.

  “Jenira is really good with the twins,” Kala said as she turned back to face me again, “and the twins both love her. She has them laughing and giggling all the time. She seems to know almost instinctually what they want or need.”

  I was now trying to eat with Lunnie’s help as she kept grabbing things on my plate with her hands and putting them in my mouth. That would not have been so bad had I selected something like fruit or rolls. However, I had selected a dish that was more like a stew with large pieces of vegetables and meat in it. The gravy-like mixture was running down Lunnie’s arms as she would open her mouth, mimicking me as I opened mine, and she would attempt to stuff the fistful of food into my mouth. Kala chuckled. “Tib, you should see yourself. You have gravy all over your face and uniform.”

  “It’s a good thing the ship produces new uniforms on demand,” I mumbled as Lunnie stuffed more goo into my mouth.

  By the time I finished eating, I’d only eaten half the food, as the rest was smeared on Lunnie, me, or had found its way onto the floor; I needed a shower. Kala was going to take Lunnie, but I had another idea. “I’ll take her into the shower with me, and we’ll both get cleaned off.”

  “Okay, but let me undress her. I don’t think you will be able to undress while trying to struggle with her in your arms,” Kala commented.

  “Good point.” I replied.

  Moments later as I stood under the shower, Kala handed Lunnie to me. Kala pressed the button to start the shower and Lunnie jumped when the first fog-like mist hit her, then she giggled and squirmed about trying to see everything that was happening.

  “She is totally fascinated about everything she sees on the ship,” Kala said. She wants to examine it all. Reidecor seems more interested in the vid screen, if I have it turned on and if there is any motion on the screen he sits there totally absorbed in everything by it. It’s amazing how different the two are. However, if he’s awake and he can’t see Lunnie, he starts to cry right away”. As if that was a cue, the sounds of wailing could be heard coming from the babies’ room.

  By now, the shower sequence had finished so I carried Lunnie back to her room. “Here let me take and dress her. See if you can calm Reidecor down.” Kala directed.

  I walked over and picked up Reidecor, who had now gone from a wail to just sobbing since he had seen us enter with Lunnie.

  “What’s the matter, little fellow, you couldn’t see your sister? See, she’s right here.” I held him so he could get a good look a Lunnie. By now, Kala had finished dressing Lunnie in a clean outfit and had set her down on the floor. I put Reidecor down, and he immediately crawled over to Lunnie and sat up next to her and began sucking his thumb, whereupon Lunnie leaned over and bit his ear, sending him back to crying again.

  Once the twins were asleep and Kala and I had settled into our own bed, I said, “Admiral Regeny wants me to move aboard the DUSTEN and use it as my flag ship.” Kala didn’t say anything, so I continued. “Do you want to stay aboard the NEW ORLEANS, go back to the estate, or move over to the DUSTEN with me?”

  Kala turned her side to face me, “Well, the safest place for Lunnie and Reidecor are on either the NEW ORLEANS or the DUSTEN. I think the estate is relatively safe, but you saw what Roritat and Ming could do there, so I think a ship is the safest. If I have a choice, I would prefer to be with you, so I would say we all go to the DUSTEN.”

  “You could all stay here,” I said. “With a Cantolla gate installed on both ships, you can simply walk through a gate from one ship to the other at any time just like going from one part of the ship to another. For that matter, if we set a Cantolla gate up at the estate, you can move between the ships and the estate as well.”

  “True. I don’t know, Tibby; let me have a day to think about it. Things are happening so fast I can’t get a complete grasp on them. Just two days ago we were trying to survive on Desolation, and now we're here.”

  The next day I went to the room where the Cantolla gate was located, only to find more guards and more gates in the room.

  “Good morning, Admiral, one of the attendants in the room said when I entered. I’m Lt. Mentati. Where will you be heading this morning? We’ve installed new gates; one for the DUSTEN and another for the UBANTOUSE, Admiral Kophious’s flagship and a third for the ADANTA, Admiral Stonbersa’s flagship. More gates will be added as needed.”

  “It will be terribly crowded in here with all the gates after a while.” I replied.

  The Lieutenant responded, “A’Lappe is working on that. He visualizes a central hub that each ship will connect to; once it’s in place all you need to do is go from here to there and then to the gate that will take you were you wish. It reduces the number of gates required and still gets everyone where they wish. The only real problem is finding a secure place for it and protecting it.”

  “Interesting,” I responded. “I think I just might know a good location for such a facility. I’ll have to talk with A’Lappe about it. However, for now, I am headed to the DUSTEN, if you can show me which gate to use.”

  “Certainly sir,” the Lieutenant replied,” right through that gate over there.”

  As I passed through the gate, I was immediately met by four troopers guarding the gate and by another lieutenant. I was told that I was expected, and that Captain Wanoll awaited me on t
he bridge. He offered to escort me, but I informed him I was familiar with the DUSTEN and would find my own way. I was a bit surprised when four troopers fell into place with me, two leading and two bring up the rear.

  It had been several years since I had been on the DUSTEN last; in fact, I had not been on the ship since the battle when the Brotherhood had captured the ship, and we had fought to liberate it. Now I found myself back on the ship, and I found myself being flooded with memories of my first arrival in the Federation. Meeting Captain Maxette, the trip to get the solbidyum safely to Megelleon, Thimas and Lexmal the traitors, and all the rest.

  As I approached the door to the bridge, I was greeted and saluted by two troopers stationed outside. “Greetings, Admiral,” the highest-ranking trooper said as the second trooper opened the door. The first officer stepped in and stated, “Admiral on the bridge." Immediately, all personnel on the bridge, save for those monitoring vital stations requiring constant attention, snapped to attention.

  “At ease,” I said. Immediately I noted both Captains Wanoll and Marranalis. Both stepped forward almost in unison. “Welcome aboard, Admiral.” Wabussie said. “It’s great to see you back, Tib, I mean Admiral,” Marranalis said with a smile.

  “It’s great to see you both,” I replied, “the ships looking excellent from what I have seen thus far; you’ve done a good job Captain.”

  “I really can’t take credit for that,” Wanoll said through a grin. “I have a very good crew that makes me look better than I am.”

  “That I understand,” I responded, “I've gotten way more credit for things my crew accomplished than I should have.” I looked at Marranalis who only smiled.

  “I hope you don’t mind me pulling you back from Admiral Regeny,” I said to Marranalis.

  “Are you kidding, you mean Regeny didn’t tell you about the fuss I kicked up about him pulling me away from the search for you? He practically threatened to have me court-martialed if I didn’t return to active duty.”

  “No, all he said was that he had called you back to train troopers and what an outstanding job you and Captain Slater did.”

  “Slater could have done the job alone. He really is good, and he taught us a lot of ground techniques that are outstanding. If we ever engage the Brotherhood on the ground, they won’t stand a chance. The learning headbands you had Cantolla develop have been adapted to training the troops in all areas and have accelerated the process tremendously. The Federation is turning out better trained troops in half the time it used to take for basic training under the old program, but now we don’t have enough ships to carry them all.”

  “I’m hoping that with the Cantolla gates, we can distribute some of those troops to key planets to set up bases with mirage fighters and patrol ships plus corvettes with upgraded fire power.” I answered. “We need smaller ships with fewer civilians aboard. Huge starships are not going to be the way to win this war.”

  “Admiral, we’ve set up permanent accommodations for you here on the DUSTEN. I'm assuming First Citizen Kalana, and your children will be joining you here?” Captain Wanoll commented.

  “That hasn’t been determined yet. With the use of Cantolla gates, I can move from here to the NEW ORLEANS or to my estate as quickly as I can travel to the other end of the DUSTEN, quicker actually. There may be advantages to keeping Kala and the twins on the NEW ORLEANS. The Cantolla gates create a lot of new options and the full extent of their possibilities isn’t known yet.

  “Tell me captain how many ships, other than fighters, patrol ships, and shuttles, do we currently have in the first fleet?”

  “Sir, as of this morning, we have 2,917 ships in the first fleet.” Wanoll answered.

  “And where are they?” I asked.

  “Ah, they are scattered all over this sector,” he replied.

  “How many are in battle groups?” I asked.

  “Battle groups, sir?”

  “Battle groups, squadrons, fleets or whatever you want to call them, acting in concert with each other,” I stated.

  “None that I know of, sir. We reserve squadrons for fighters and patrol ships only.”

  I frowned and said, “We need to change that. I want every frigate paired with a least two corvettes. I want to see starships like the DUSTEN accompanied by no less than four frigates at least for the time being. Marranalis, from now on, you are my official aide.

  “I want battle groups set up at equally spaced intervals about the sector. Contact Admiral Stonbersa and Admiral Kophious and tell them I want the same setup in their areas as well. I want patrol ships from each battle group scouting their areas for any signs of Brotherhood activity, and I want daily reports from all three fleets as to what is going on in their areas. I exprect to see those reports on my desk first thing in the morning, and I want copies of those reports to be sent to Admiral Wabussie at the FSO every day also."

  “Yes, sir.” Marranalis said.

  “Where was the last attack by the Brotherhood that we know of?”

  “At Emallie, sir.” Wanoll said. “We received a report that there was an attack there about three weeks ago. The message only arrived yesterday by GW pod.”

  “Have any ships responded to the attack yet?” I asked.

  “No sir, we have no ships in that area. It’s in the third fleet sector, but their nearest starship is at least a week away.”

  “Show me on the star map of the Federation where Emallie is located,” I commanded. A moment later, the Federation star map appeared on the screen with a red circle indicating Emallie’s position. “Now show me where the next most-recent attack occurred in that same sector.” Another red circle appeared. “And the one prior to that,” I said, “And the one before that.” I was starting to see a pattern emerge. “Show me the next inhabited planet in the Federation that would be in this general location”, I said as I pointed toward the screen. Moments later, another circle appeared on the screen.

  “What planet is that?” I asked, “and what can you tell me about it?”

  “Sir, that’s Ugar,” Wanoll answered. “According to the computer, it’s a world rich in minerals and resources and has industrial capabilities. They just built a new shipyard there as well.”

  “What about planetary defenses?” I asked.

  “They have the usual complement of troopers and a few squads of patrol ships. No mirage fighters to date.”

  Are there any other planets in this general area?” Another circle appeared on the screen not far from Ugar. “What planet is this?”

  “Sir that is Splelhes,” Wanoll answered.

  “This area is where the Brotherhood will attack in that sector next. It will be one of these planets or both,” I commented, “my guess is it will be Ugar they hit first, but with Ming in charge, we can’t be sure. Get a message to Admiral Kophious; I want him to head to Ugar immediately. Tell him to get the four closest frigates in the area there as well, and as many corvettes as can be there in less than a week. Once there I want them to take up positions between Ugar and Splelhes and to keep his ships cloaked. My guess is the Brotherhood will attack there next, probably within three weeks or less. Tell Kophious to shore up the troopers on the planet surface. We’ll send more troopers through the Cantolla gate to his ship as we get them trained. If we can keep the ships cloaked and hide the troopers on the planets from sight, we may be able to capture a lot of the Brotherhood on the ground before they know it. I want the troop deployments there to be a secret so Kophious is going to need to do it in such a way that the locals are not aware of the troop increases. So far, the Brotherhood have been picking off outer planets without much opposition; its time they get their hands burned. If it turns out Splelhes is their target Kophious, and his ships will only be a few hours away so we’ll be prepared.”

  As I finished talking, I turned around and my eye was caught by a glint of light reflecting off a metal surface on one of the chairs in the control room. It was odd, because the plate was in the middle of the back of the chair and
would have made it very uncomfortable for anyone sitting in it. I walked over and looked closer and saw it was a plaque with writing engraved on it. The plaque read, “This chair is reserved in perpetuity for First Citizen Captain Maxette, who though tortured, gallantly gave his life fighting for the Federation at this location, and with his last energies killed the traitor Commander Thimas, freeing the DUSTEN from the hands of the BROTHERHOOD OF LIGHT rebels.” Even though it had been several years since the event, blood stains still could be seen on the chair. For a moment, I could not speak and my vision blurred. I touched the chair reverently for a moment, remembering what a dear friend Maxette became in such a short period of time, and how quickly he was gone.

  After discussing a number of details concerning the fleet and ship deployments, Captain Wanoll suggested we all dine in one of the private dining rooms aboard the ship. The DUSTEN, typical of all large starships, was a military ship, a cargo vessel, and passenger liner, all in one. With the vast distances of space to travel it was more practical to have starships that acted like huge ferries, passenger liners, freight haulers and military units instead of using hundreds of smaller ships, traveling back and forth the same routes and utilizing more energy. Civilians and businesses paid for their passage at a substantially lower cost than if they tried to make the journey in their own smaller ships. Since the starships were Federation Military ships, a substantial portion of the operational costs was picked up by the Federation , helping to lower costs for civilian use. The large starships had huge hangar bays capable of carrying freighters, frigates, yachts and fighters all at the same time. The disadvantage was that in time of war, a starship could be diverted from routine routes to engage in military actions where needed. But since the Federation had not really had any wars in over 600 years that inconvenience was unknown to the citizens living in the present.