Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation

by Dale C. Musser

  “I like it. Now all we need is a hidden central hub we can pass ships through.” I muttered.

  A’Lappe’s countenance fell, “I’m afraid we haven’t gotten that one figured out yet,” he said.

  “A’Lappe, I have another question for you. I know you are using solbidnite to fuel the gates, but how much of it exists? I’m not aware that we have any ships going out to mine more of it, where is it?”

  A’Lappe chuckled and clapped his hands and for a minute I thought he would fall off his chair. “That’s the beauty of it, Tibby. The stuff is so fine it’s barely dust, and it only requires the smallest piece to generate the power we need. I have a canister of it I keep in my ship that has more than enough to last us for years. When it runs out we can simply go get more. There is plenty to go around.”

  “Good, because starting now I want all our new ships to be powered with it instead of the 10 X reactors. However, let me ask you this, if there is so much of it, why don’t we just mine the stuff and give it to the Federation planets, that would stop the feuds and war, wouldn’t it?”

  A’Lappe looked at me with his huge eyes and blinked that hypnotic blink that usually preceded either a joke or something profound, “Think about it, Tibby, all that power; do you think for one minute the Brotherhood would just say everything was okay, and they would not try to corner and capitalize on all that power? If they knew of its existence, they would do all they could to try to capture its source and dole it out at great cost and hardship to people in the Federation. No, Tibby, the Brotherhood must be defeated before the existence of solbidnite is made known; it’s a power source that may give the Federation the upper hand in this battle, but it’s certainly not one we can afford for the Brotherhood to get their hands on.” A’Lappe was right and I knew it, like it or not. For the time being, solbidnite would have to remain our secret.

  “Did you ever find anything out about that rod that was stuck in the hull of the ALI?” I asked as the thought hit me.

  A’Lappe suddenly took on a more serious look, “It’s like nothing I have ever seen before. It’s organic, for one thing.”

  “Organic? You mean it was alive at one time?” I asked in amazement.

  “I’m not sure it was ever alive, but it was made from material that had been produced by a living organism, much like the shell of a Yugarian tri-valve shellfish. The material was somehow reformed to make the rod that was found in the ALI’s hull. I'm convinced at least that it was manufactured, only using organic materials.”

  “Any ideas what it was for?” I asked.

  A’Lappe smiled, “That I am. It was part of the sleep weapon for sure. When exposed to certain frequencies the rod material excites, producing the waves that put you to sleep. We’ve been able to replicate the special head gear and ear plugs the Brotherhood have been using to dampen the waves so they aren’t affected by them.”

  “That’s great, so we have no need to fear the Tottalax anymore.” I said as I relaxed.

  “That’s not exactly true; as you will recall our replicators cannot reproduce or replicate certain substances, like solbidyum or solbidnite; the materials needed to make the devices to dampen the effect of the sleep weapon can’t be replicated, and we need to get it from its source, a planet in the Snoate system called… Winsdor.” I noted A’Lappe hesitate as he said the planet’s name.

  “Is there something I should know about this planet that I don’t?” I asked.

  “It’s outside Federation space and is under the control of the Brotherhood,” A’Lappe said.

  “And let me guess. It's also clear across the Federation from here as well?”

  A’Lappe shrugged, “I’m afraid so, Tibby. I do have a team heading there with materials to set up a Cantolla gate once they arrive, but you’re going to require a pretty substantial force to take the planet. It’s heavily fortified, and the Brotherhood has a lot of ships in that sector. Right now we have enough of the material that we can make the devices and supply one of the three fleets with them, but that’s it.”

  “Are you positive this is where they get the material to make their protective headgear they wear to counteract the Tottalax weapon?” I asked.

  “I’m sure of it,” he replied.

  “If we can get the gate close enough to the planet for a lot of our ships to get through and have a ready ground force, we could take the planet. With the War Power Act in effect, we no longer are constrained from engaging in battle outside the Federation with the enemy, so if we can take the planet and hold it, not only will we have access to the protection we need from the Tottalax weapon, but we will be cutting the Brotherhood off from the supply as well,” I said. “I need to get back to the DUSTEN, but we need to talk about this some more. Good work as always, A’Lappe.”

  As soon as I got back on the DUSTEN I called a meeting with Marranalis, Captain Wanoll and Captain Sokaia. “I’ve just gotten some news that may help us defend against the Tottalax,” I began. “The materials we need to make the headgear to block their weapon, whatever it is, is to be found on a planet called Winsdor in the Snoate system. Marranalis, see if you can pull it up for us on the vid screen,” I said as I continued on. “This planet is outside the Federation territories, but it is under the control of the Brotherhood and under the War Powers Act, we are permitted to pursue and attack enemy bases regardless of their location, inside or outside of the Federation. It’s far off on the other side of the Federation, but we have a team taking materials for a Cantolla gate there to set up. Once it is, I want to send through a small fleet, as well as ground troops. I want to secure the planet, denying the Brotherhood access to its materials and also making it possible to produce headgear that will protect our own troops. We’ve obtained enough head gear from captured Brotherhood ships to supply about one third of our troopers here, but we need enough to supply the entire Federation military.

  “Captain Sokaia, I want you to get as much intelligence about Winsdor as you can. Get with Wabussie at the FSO and see if he has any intelligence that will help us, I want a full-scale sweeping assault that will take the planet quickly. There are likely to be a lot of Brotherhood ships in the area to defend the planet, so we will need to be prepared for action almost immediately on arrival at Winsdor. Captain Wanoll, I leave it to you to develop a battle strategy to deal with any ships that may come to the planet's defense. We have time to develop our strategies; it’s going to be months before we are able to get Cantolla gates set up near Winsdor to transport our ships there for the attack.”

  Once my meeting was over, I returned to my suite aboard the DUSTEN. I was expecting to see Kala and Jenira chasing the twins about the room, but instead I found Jenira and one of her women swords bearers sitting on the floor with Reidecor and Lunnie. Jenira tended to both children who, to my surprise, sat intently listening to the Oriental lady reading a story to them. Usually, children aren’t really interested in stories before they learn to speak, so I was intrigued that they were so patiently listening. Then I realized that Jenira had hand puppets and was mimicking the actions of the characters in the story as her companion read. I went into the bedroom expecting to find Kala in a state of exhaustion, but she was nowhere to be found. I returned to the main room and asked, “Excuse me, but where is Kalana?”

  “First Citizen Kalana has gone to prepare for a meeting tomorrow with the leaders of Kendrop and Gochian,” Jenira’s assistant said.

  “Jenira, does Kala know about your sword battle tomorrow?” I asked.

  Jenira stopped and gave me a serious look before signing, “No, I felt it best she not know. I do not wish her to fret about the matter; besides, I will be the victor.”

  “But what if you aren’t?” I asked, “This Ruwallie Rasson is a master with the swords. He is not Kerabac or Padaran. He is a master. You are taking a great risk.”

  Jenira looked at me with a fierce stubborn look in her eye. “Why do you have so little faith in me? Have I not always proven my skill to you? Have I ever failed? Y
ou must have faith in me.” And then quickly she added, “and if I should lose a hand I will have another regrown, and I will know I must study and practice even harder.”

  I shook my head and walked away, there was no way I was going to win this argument with her, and I knew it.

  The next-day Kerabac was waiting for me as I arrived through the Cantolla gate on the NEW ORLEANS. “Tibby, you can’t go to the surface in your admiral’s uniform and with a contingent of Federation troopers’ body guarding you. Remember Goo’Waddle is not a Federation world and your appearance in your uniform with armed troopers would likely set off an incident.”

  “You’re probably right, but I can’t let Jenira go there and fight a duel and not be there.” I answered.

  “Then I suggest you wear a mercenary black uniform and use security from here on the NEW ORLEANS. Padaran has enlisted several Ruwallie Rasson as members of your crew, specifically for our security team, and if you were to go to the planet with them as your guards with you dressed as a mercenary, I don’t think anyone will pay you too much consideration.”

  “I see your point; thanks for calling it to my attention. This being an admiral in the Federation is very restricting, I'm not liking it at all,” I replied.

  “Will First Citizen Kalana be accompanying you?” Kerabac asked.

  “Ah, actually she doesn’t know I am going to the surface,” I replied.

  “But surely with as close as she is to Jenira, she would want to be there,” Kerabac said in astonishment.

  “She doesn’t know about the duel, unless Jenira told her, and I don’t think she has, or you would see Kala here ready to go into battle,” I said, “and I’d appreciate it if she didn’t find out about this until it’s all over. I’m going to have a difficult enough time explaining how I let this all take place as it is.”

  Kerabac feigned a wince and said, “I’m glad it’s you and not me that will have to answer to Kalana about this one, Tibby; and I certainly hope for your sake Jenira wins this match, otherwise you may be sleeping alone for a long time.”

  “That wouldn’t be anything new,” I muttered, “Since we’ve left Desolation, Kala and I have hardly had any time together. Recently, I’m starting to feel like a house guest when we are in the same room. I expect to walk in the door one day and find out my kids are teenagers, and I’ll be wondering when they grew up.”

  “Well sir, I can’t speak from experience, but from the way I hear my friends with family’s talk, that’s pretty much the way it happens for them all.”

  “Well, let me change this uniform while you round up Padaran and a guard contingent made up of Ruwallie Rasson,” I said as I saw Jenira walk through the Cantolla gate from the DUSTEN to the NEW ORLEANS. The sooner this is all over the better it will be for us all.”

  I’d expected that the contest between Jenira and the Ruwallie Rasson catas master to be either in a small building someplace or on one of the Ruwallie Rasson estates, possibly Tondor’s as he was acting leader in Padaran’s absence. Instead, we were taken to a huge coliseum that could easily seat 5,000 people, and every seat was filled with the black faces of the Ruwallie Rasson. I was amazed that the event was organized so quickly and word spread that so many were in attendance. The only white faces anywhere were those of Padaran, Jenira and me.

  As the leader of the Ruwallie Rasson, Padaran had a box set aside for himself and his guests, and it was in this box that I sat with him and the Ruwallie Rasson guards we brought with us from the NEW ORLEANS. Tondor officiated the duel. It was his responsibility to stop the fight at any point where he thought one contestant had received a wound and to see if it had drawn blood. If the wound was not serious or life threatening, the contest would continue until one combatant received three blood wounds, at which point the contest would end and the contestant with the least amount of wounds would be declared the winner. Unlike the Kandi Mondong challenge, which Padaran had made to Tondor, this battle did not require the non-Ruwallie Rasson, in this case Jenira, to be naked; and oddly, there was no name for this particular challenge other than a challenge for the right of one to bear catas. The Ruwallie Rasson were proud of their culture and had many strange traditions that were set up to protect their beliefs, even if they had to stack the deck to gain an unfair advantage for them to win. If it had been otherwise, Jenira would not have needed to face the best swordsman the Ruwallie Rasson had but any seasoned Ruwallie Rasson warrior would have sufficed; but like I said, the Ruwallie Rasson preferred to stack the deck in their favor.

  The two contestants were called to the center of the arena by Tondor. A loud cheer went up when he called out the name of Jenira’s opponent, a Ruwallie Rasson called Nybidong. The crowd let out a deafening cheer as he walked to the center of the arena, and he raised his arms in the air in a salute to his fans. He was a slender man and tall like all the Ruwallie Rasson. He wore a short sleeveless vest of a vibrant orange and dark-green trousers with bellbottom flares on the legs, his black skin glistening in the sunlight and his broad smile accented by his gleaming white teeth. Tondor was less than kind in introducing Jenira, in my opinion, as he referred to her as a former prostitute slave who had taken up the swords in Ruwallie Rasson fashion, with no regard for their traditions. His announcement was received with hisses and cat calls by the Ruwallie Rasson. Jenira had elected to wear an outfit similar to the one she usually wore, only this one had short sleeves; usually, she had sleeves that reached her wrists. I assumed this choice was to make it easier for anyone looking to see if she had been wounded or not. She wore her dark hair in the usual single braid she preferred, but instead of having it hanging down her back as she usually did, she now had it piled up in some fashion on top of her head.

  “Tondor is being a bit rough on Jenira, isn’t he?” I asked Padaran, who was seated next to me in the skybox.

  “He has to be Tibby, otherwise he would lose respect as a leader from the Ruwallie Rasson,” he replied. “If Jenira loses this battle I will no doubt be replaced as the Ruwallie Rasson leader and Tondor would once again have that position.”

  Tondor had Jenira and Nybidong stand about four meters apart, and I could see him saying something to both, but at the distance, we were unable to hear what it was.

  “He’s instructing them to limber and warm up with their catas,” Kerabac said from the other side of Padaran.

  Nybidong was the first to reach over his shoulders and draw his swords and begin flexing and twirling them around him as the sun flashed off their polished blades. The crowd cheered as Jenira looked at him a moment, before she reached over her shoulders and drew her catas slowly. She began twirling them much slower than Nybidong and snickers and laughs could be heard around the coliseum as she twirled her blades. Then as the laughter was reaching its peak, she gradually began picking up speed; the blades twirling more rapidly until they became a blur of flashing light and gleaming metal. Where moments before laughter had filled the stadium, now silence hung in the air; and then, in a motion almost too quick to see, Jenira brought both arms back, and without hesitation slid both catas back into their scabbards. By now, Nybidong had stopped his catas twirling and stood looking at Jenira with his mouth hanging open. Realizing that everyone was staring, he placed his catas, with far less finesse than Jenira I might add, into the scabbards on his back. Tondor just stood looking at Jenira with his jaw gaping until the silence of the moment was broken by someone in the stands crying out, “Let the fight begin!”

  Tondor shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts and gave one last set of instructions to the contestants and then stepped back and gave them the word to engage. Instantly Nybidong’s arms flew back, and he retrieved his swords and advanced on Jenira. Jenira made no move to retrieve her blades and Nybidong’s own whirling blades flashed as they drew ever nearer. Jenira moved cautiously about in a dodging fashion as someone from the crowd called out, “What are you waiting for, cut the doesee!”

  Nybidong made a lunging strike clearly intended to slice Jeni
ra on the arm, only when his blade got to where Jenira’s arm had been, it met with a metal catas instead. The crowd gasped because it had all happened so quickly that no one had seen her draw the blade. Nybidong swiftly attacked her other arm to find it now also held a blade; instantaneously the clash of metal and flashing light ensued as the two danced around each other, amazing those in the stadium. For nearly ten minutes they danced, and metal clashed. Sweat could be seen running down Nybidong’s skin, and you could see he was breathing hard. Then Jenira seemed to pause, and Nybidong’s catas nicked her arm and a thin line of blood appeared. The crowd went wild with cheering as Tondor stopped the two contestants to examine the wound on Jenira’s arm.

  “What’s she doing?” Padaran exclaimed, “she deliberately let him nick her.”

  “I do not know either,” Kerabac said stiffly, “I have sparred with her hundreds of times, and I can attest to the fact that she let him cut her for some reason.”

  By now, Tondor had examined the wound and confirmed that Jenira could continue fighting and the fight resumed much like it had before, only now it was becoming obvious that Nybidong was tiring, and his motions were not as smooth or fast as earlier; Jenira, on the other hand, seemed composed and in total control. The battle continued another ten minutes until once again Jenira paused for a fraction of a second and Nybidong scored a second cut on Jenira’s other arm. The Ruwallie Rasson in the stadium were on their feet cheering and patting each other on the backs, as Tondor once more stopped the fighting to examine Jenira’s wounds.

  “I don’t get it, Tibby,” Padaran said, “she’s letting him cut her.” I looked at Kerabac who was looking at Jenira through a vision magnifying device.

  “Neither of her cuts are more than surface deep, barely enough to draw blood. She obviously is letting him win for some reason,” Kerabac reported, “she is hardly bleeding at all.”

  The two had squared off again and Nybidong was moving in for his third and final cut with a smile on his face. Jenira stepped back, and then, with what I can only describe as a partial bow with her swords at her sides, she stared Nybidong in the eyes and gave a mischievous smile.