by Dale Musser
Kala looked sympathetic and said, “Kerabac, you did just fine. You didn’t trade me away and, while his pawing was disgusting, it didn’t do me any harm. I knew what I was signing up for on this mission. If this is the worst thing to happen, I’ll not complain. Honestly, I was more concerned about what Tibby would do.” She looked at me questioningly.
“It took every ounce of self-control to keep from pouncing on him and tearing him to shreds,” I said. “But I realized you were going along with the act, because if you weren’t, you would have torn him apart yourself, Kala. I’ve seen what you can do when you are truly upset. Kerabac, you did just great. You could have even fooled me, if I weren’t in on the plot. And Endina, back on my home world, they would have given you best actress award for your performance… You were most convincing.” Endina smiled and gave a slight bow.
“Kerabac, I see that Howebim was so kind as to fit you with a courier bracelet, so it seems he bought our ploy. Just what are we carrying?”
“He wouldn’t tell me, but he did indicate that if we get caught by any of the cartels, things will not go very well for us. He also said that being stopped by the Brotherhood is of no concern; they’ll no doubt let us go on. He said he hoped we would be able to avoid all of them and, if we do, he has a bigger assignment for us. Whatever this is we’re carrying must be very valuable; what he’s paying us is nearly five times the value of the liquor we sold him and he paid half in advance; the rest is to be paid by his brother when we deliver the package.”
“Well, if everyone is ready, I suggest we get ourselves underway to Goo’Waddle,” I said.
We anticipated that the Brotherhood would try to intercept us as we left the planet – and we weren’t disappointed. We were barely past the first moon of Ryken when a Brotherhood corvette raced toward us, broadcasting orders for us to stop and accept boarders for an inspection.
“This is the Brotherhood of Light addressing you from the OREGANDER. You are hereby ordered to bring your engines to a full stop and prepare for a departure inspection. Failure to do so will result in decisive actions against you. Your ship will be fired upon and disabled. Immediately bring your ship to a halt and await a boarding party.”
Kerabac grinned. ”Oh, this is going to be fun,” he said as he reached forward from his captain’s chair on the bridge and activated the vid screen. “This is Captain Kerabac of the trade ship RASSON BEDAN. You’ve no jurisdiction to board any ships in this sector, so why don’t you just go to your cabin and entertain yourself?”
Very quickly, an image appeared on the vid screen of a red-faced man dressed in a Brotherhood captain’s uniform. He looked to be in his mid 40s – and it was that obvious he was very angry.
“Listen, you little flea… I am Captain Joresue. If you don’t stop right now, I’ll blow your ass right out of this sector.”
“What was that?” Kerabac said, as he slowly increased our speed away from the OREGANDER. “Did you say you want me to stop so you can blow on my ass? Pervert!”
“That was your last warning, butt wipe,” Captain Joresue said. “Take out their engines,” he commanded to the gunners.
There was a brief flash on the RMFF screens and, at the same moment, Kerabac activated the cloaking device. Instantly, the alarm on his wristband began flashing and the countdown clock indicated that he only had minutes before the thing was going to explode, killing him and anyone near him.
“What the….” he stammered. “Oh no…. Something in the cloaking device must be blocking the signal for the courier band. We have to uncloak or it will explode.”
“How far can you move us before we have to uncloak?” I asked.
“Not far enough to be out of sensor range,” he replied.
“Move us as far as you can, quickly, and then uncloak briefly. Hopefully, that will reset the countdown. If it does, cloak immediately and move forward again the same way. Keep doing that until we are out of sensor range.”
“But the Brotherhood will know what we’re doing,” Kerabac said with a look of panic on his face. All this time, he was maneuvering us away from the Brotherhood as fast as he could.
“Maybe not…just do it now.”
Kerabac did as I said. Just as the courier band was about to run out of time, he uncloaked the RASSON BEDAN. Luckily, as I hoped, the courier band stopped beeping and reset as soon as the cloaking was turned off. Kerabac waited only a few seconds before re-engaging the cloak and, as soon as he did, the countdown started again. It took three hops to get out of range of the Brotherhood ship. Once we were no longer in range, Kerabac uncloaked and took a fast route to Goo’Waddle.
“So what now?” Kerabac asked. “Our plan is ruined; they now know we have a cloaking device.”
“I don’t think so. See if you can intercept any of their messages and listen to what they are saying.” A’Lappe had installed equipment into the freighter before we left and trained key personnel that allowed us to monitor Brotherhood communications frequencies at will. Kerabac nodded to Endina, who activated the unit. After some adjustments a frantic voice came over the speakers.
“I’m telling you, sir, we fired on them and they just disappeared. Minutes later, they reappeared on our sensors, only out of our weapons range. Then they just disappeared again, only to reappear about twice that distance out. Then seconds later they disappeared once more.”
“It sounds like they have a jump drive of some sort. I’ve heard of them in theory, but never heard of one that worked. Somehow, they must have gotten ahold of one. They’re jumping from one spot to another. Obviously, it has a limited range or they would be jumping further; still, it obviously works well enough to get them out of range. You say you think they were headed toward Goo’Waddle?”
“Yes, sir, that’s the direction they seemed to be heading.”
“Get your ship over to Goo’Waddle. I’m heading there myself to look for Logden. I’ll keep an eye out for this RASSON BEDAN and find out what I can about it. If we can get our hands on that jump drive, we can use in our fight against the Federation.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll do that. Good luck on Goo’Waddle.”
When the message ended, I turned to Kerabac. “That worked better than I hoped. They think we have a jump drive, not a cloaking device. Once you have that bracelet off, we can activate the cloaking device and RMFF and they won’t know we’ve left the area.”
“True, but now they’re motivated to find us, even if we’re on the ground, in order to get the jump drive that they think we have,” Kerabac said with concern.
“Hmm. You’re right — I hadn’t thought of that. We’re going to have to rethink our strategy – or…maybe not. If they think we have a jump drive that can elude them, and they start looking for us, they’ll almost certainly leak the information about the jump drive. If that should happen and the rumor gets to Logden, he may see us as his one opportunity to get out of the system alive with the solbidyum in hand. In that case, he will seek us out. In the meantime, we need to keep this ship out of the Brotherhood’s sight.”
“Our best bet is to get off and then have the ship leave the surface and fly out cloaked to a safe orbit and stay there until we call. When it’s off surface, the ship isn’t likely to fall into enemy hands,” Kerabac said with some conviction.
“I see your point. This might throw off the Brotherhood in other ways, as well. If our ship’s not here, they are less likely to think we are. We might be able to move about more freely. But that also means we will have to find a place to stay. We’ll need to maintain the slave/master act 24 hours a day and we won’t have a place to run for refuge in case of trouble.”
“Getting a place to stay may not be too big a problem. The information I have been able to gather about Goo’Waddle indicates that people come and go frequently; and there are numerous small estates available for lease at any given time. We’re not short of funds; and leasing a place may make it look like we’re planning to stay awhile to establish a trade hub here, which would also h
elp us to build a network of key contacts.”
“How long would that take to set up? I don’t want to spend a lot of time setting up a base of operations, if Logden isn’t on the planet. He’s the key to recovering the solbidyum; we need to stay focused on him. Don’t they have some sort of hotel accommodations where we could stay?”
“They do, but that won’t work, Tibby. Remember, I’m supposed to be a Ruwallie Rasson with slaves, and we are not likely to find hotels with the kind of accommodations that provide a secured area for slaves. Even if you did, I can guarantee that you would not want Kalana and Sokaia staying in the slave pens, regardless of the fact that they can handle themselves.”
“OK, I guess I can see that. Even if we lease an estate for months and then have to leave the next day, it’s not really a big deal. Do what you need to do, but do it quickly. The longer this takes, the more likely it is that the Brotherhood finds Logden before we do. Right now, I think we need to get down to the planet and find Agama. Find a place for us quickly so we can get set up and then I want the RASSON BEDAN up in orbit and cloaked. I don’t want the ship visible any longer than necessary.”
Just as we were wrapping up our conversation, Norkoda interrupted. “Tibby, a message just arrived from Commander Wabussie on the NEW ORLEANS. I think you need to hear it right away.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“He said that shortly after the attack at TEZU LAGONG, Senator Euregata, along with all his staff, left the planet. Our FSO operatives have since discovered that their planet, Samalis, is currently involved in some kind of negotiation with the Brotherhood. The solbidyum we’re now trying to recover was to be sold to them by the Brotherhood. The Samalis leadership believed that they were on the tail end of the receiving list and they weren’t prepared to wait their turn to obtain a share. So far as we know, they’re not yet aware that the Brotherhood doesn’t have the solbidyum in their possession.
“The Federation received word today from Samalis that the planet is withdrawing from the Federation. A mutiny of Brotherhood officers and troopers resulted in the commandeering of two Federation starships in that sector just before they were scheduled to be loyalty tested. Since then, more Brotherhood ships have been brought in to reinforce the two starships, along with the Samalis military and their own home fleet. We don’t know what will happen once the Samalis leaders find out the Brotherhood doesn’t have the solbidyum.
“The admiral contacted the NEW ORLEANS to stress how important it is that the solbidyum does not fall into the hands of the Brotherhood. He also said the Federation is assembling a force to fly to Samalis for a confrontation with the Brotherhood; he’s equipping several starships with Mirage Fighters and loading up as many Special Ops teams as he can; but his concern is mounting. Recent FSO intelligence reports seem to repeatedly indicate that the Brotherhood has assembled a strong force in that quadrant and may be planning to use this area as the starting point for an invasion of other Federation planets.”
“So it falls on us to stop a war by acquiring the stolen solbidyum before Brotherhood gains control of it. Wonderful! Simply wonderful. How do we always end up being the ones to get stuck with all this crap?” I exclaimed with frustration.
Kerabac laughed. “In all fairness to the admiral, we’re not exactly stuck with all the crap. The Federation forces still have to respond to the crisis at Samalis, and they haven’t exactly been sitting still while we’ve been busy singlehandedly saving the Federation.”
“True,” I mumbled, “but it seems we get more than our share of the work and that we play a larger role in defending the Federation than we should.”
“Honored First Citizen,” Norkoda interjected, “if I may be so bold, it is not that the Federation is lax in its duties; rather that they are ignorant of the ways of war and combat, whereas you are well versed not only in hand-to-hand combat, but in the strategies and alliances that emerge during such widespread hostilities. Give us time to learn what you know, and you will see a Federation that is eager to defend its citizens and preserve its ways of life.”
“Well said, Norkoda,” Kala said as she joined us. “Tib, before you showed up, the Federation thought they had it all down when it came to warfare and military campaigns; but in the short time that you have been here, it has become painfully obvious to the Federation how deficient we are. You have demonstrated that there are areas to requiring great leaps of improvement and that your knowledge of Earth-style warfare and war history is sorely needed. I think you’ll be surprised how fast the Federation will embrace what you have to give and how quickly they’ll put it all into motion.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing,” I replied. “I would hate to see the Federation become a nation of warmongers constantly engaged in one war after another.”
“There is one more bit of news,” Norkoda said with a slight cringe. I stared at him, waiting. “Commander Wabussie also relayed that the frigate RIVED, while on a mission to place satellites intended to monitor and receive transmissions from your home planet of Earth, encountered a very large and unusual ship that didn’t match any known configurations in our database. The ship approached and attacked, without any warning or contact. Fortunately, the RIVED is one of our ships equipped with the RMFF and 10X reactor, so she withstood the conventional attack. The alien ship then attacked with some sort of energy weapon that rendered the entire crew of the RIVED unconscious, though there was no damage to the ship itself. The RMFF remained active and prevented anyone from boarding the ship. When the crew regained consciousness, the attacking ship was gone.”
“That information seems to correspond with the information that you brought us on the recording of the Brotherhood members. My guess is this mysterious ship belongs to the Tottalax they were talking about. How long was the crew unconscious?”
“Commander Wabussie didn’t mention how long, but I’m sure we can find out.”
“Please do, and let me know.”
Norkoda open a channel to the NEW ORLEANS directly. “I’d like to talk to Stonbersa and A’Lappe to see if he or Cantolla has any idea as to what this weapon maybe or how it works and whether there is any defense against it.
“Kerabac, can you show me on the star map just where Samalis is in relationship to Earth?”
“Yes,” Kerabac said as he activated the controls for the vid screen and a vast star map appeared. “Here,” he said, “is Samalis.” A bright red blip appeared over a star on one of the edges of the map. “And here is Earth.” Another red blip appeared on the map.
“They’re on complete opposite sides of the Federation territories,” Kala exclaimed with surprise.
“Where are we now in relation to this star map?” I asked.
“Here,” Kerabac responded as another red blip appeared on the map, closer to Earth than I would have suspected. I stared at the map a moment, pondering what I was seeing.
“What are you thinking, Tib?” Kala asked. She knew me well enough by now to know when I was formulating ideas.
“I’m thinking the Brotherhood is planning to attack us from two sides to divide our forces. They’re hoping to initiate their attack in the Samalis sector and draw Federation forces in that direction, and then direct the Tottalax to attack from this side of the Federation where there will be nothing to stop them. With this weapon they have, they can disable any Federation forces they may encounter; and with most of the Federation ships drawn to the Samalis sector, it would be an easy run on the capital for the Tottalax ships and a small number of Brotherhood ships.”
“You think the Tottalax are on this side the Federation space?” Kerabac asked.
“The conversation Norkoda recorded was here – in this sector – and it seemed like it was fresh news. The attack on the RIVED took place here on this side the Federation and it certainly seems to correspond to the information Norkoda recorded. If the Tottalax were in contact with the Brotherhood in or near this sector and the attack on the RIVED also occurred on this side the Fe
deration territories, it stands to reason the Tottalax world must also be on this side of the Federation territories. It also means it must be relatively close to Earth, possibly someplace between Earth and here. Norkoda, contact Wabussie and have him check into all references of contacts and rumors about the Tottalax and find out where they occurred. I fear the Federation may be going to be hit from two sides.”
At that fateful moment, Norkoda, who was sitting at the communication console, suddenly interrupted us.
“I have another urgent message coming in from the admiralty over the DSC system,” he said with one hand on the earpiece in his left ear. “Do you want me to relate it as it is coming in?”
“Yes, please do.” I answered.
“A shuttle arrived on the starship GROTTOM in the Nayjax system near the planet Tonhig a few hours ago. When the passengers were being taken for screening prior to being granted access to the rest of the ship, they suddenly produced weapons, killing all the security forces in the hangar area.” The bridge immediately responded by sealing off the hangar from the rest of the ship and sending troopers deal with the attackers. At about the same time that the attack was taking place, the GROTTOM was attack by a swarm of ships that had been hiding behind one of the moons. The GROTTOM reported eight corvettes in the attack and one battle cruiser of Markazian design. They were accompanied by nearly 100 fighters that took up positions about the GROTTOM. Captain Donol immediately activated the RMFF to protect the ship; but with the enemy holding the hangar bay the GROTTOM was unable to launch any fighters or patrol ships, most of which had been secured earlier as the GROTTOM was about to depart for the Kandien System.