Solbidyum Wars 3: Pirates of Goo'waddle Canals

by Dale Musser

  “I see,” Tondor said. “Perhaps the two of you having been slaves together and his not having had a father in his life caused him to substitute you in this way.”

  “Perhaps, something like that,” I said.

  “Look, the boat is slowing down and pulling into that small canal up ahead,” I said as I pointed to the screen.

  “Indeed, that is where the Brotherhood maintains their headquarters. I will not be able to dock there, but I can drop you off nearby and wait for you out in the canal. When you’re ready for me to pick you up and return to the estate…” he said as he handed me a light, “flash this light out over the water and I will be there almost instantly.”

  Moments later Tondor brought us up beside a small pier just around the corner from the boat that docked ahead of us.

  “You will have to get off here. I shall wait out there. May the gods protect you.”

  No sooner were we off the boat than he was back out in the middle of the canal. Marranalis and I moved just as rapidly into the shadows by a large building that I assumed was the opposite side of the structure that the men arriving ahead of us had entered. It was a four-story warehouse; and the first two floors appeared to be dark. A light could be seen on the third floor. Marranalis and I looked around for a way in.

  As we were about to round the corner to the front of the building, Marranalis silently stuck out his arm to stop me.

  “There’s a guard over there,” he said quietly, pointing to a small crate in front of which the guard’s silhouette could be seen pacing. There was no mistaking that he was a guard, as he was fully armed and his gaze roved the canal just beyond the dock where his cohorts had arrived earlier. “Shall we use the personal cloaking devices now to get past him?”

  “No, let’s see if we can find some other way in.” As I was saying this, another boat approached the dock. The guard’s posture became more rigid until he apparently recognized it and relaxed as began walking toward it. “You have another shipment?” he called out as the craft docked.

  Several men got out of the boat and approached the guard. “Yeah,” one of them said. “This is the pure refined stuff, ready to go out tomorrow. Shydak plans to use it to make a payment to the Tottalax to keep them happy. We’re leaving it here, and he’ll take it with him in the morning.” The man turned to the boat and yelled out to the others who were still aboard. “Get those crates up here! Now!” Two men wearing slave collars immediately lifted a heavy crate onto the dock and set it between us and the men.

  “I have an idea,” I said. “Plant the bomb in the crate.”

  Marranalis looked at me and grinned. While the slaves were going back to the boat for a second crate, Marranalis cloaked. I watched and held my breath, as I saw a board on the crate slowly being pulled back. I feared it might squeak or break, but it didn’t — or if it did, I didn’t hear it. Meanwhile, the men on the dock continued to talk as the two slaves transferred three more crates to the dock. At last, I saw the board on the crate being forced back into place, and a moment later Marranalis reappeared beside me. “Let’s get out of here,” he said.

  “I think that’s a very good idea. How long do we have before the bomb goes off?”

  “I reset it for 20 minutes.”

  Moments later, we were back at our drop-off point. I signaled with the light, and instantly we heard the boat motor start up as Tondor quickly swept in to pick us up. He barely slowed down as we leaped aboard, and then he quickly steered the boat away from the dock and headed back toward the Dormon calgana. We were far enough away after 20 minutes that, when the bomb went off — assuming it did detonate — we never heard it or saw the flash.

  “I think Shydak is going to be madder than hell,” I said.

  “Yeah, I think so, too. I wonder what he’ll do now.”

  When we got back to the house, I told everyone what had happened. Tanden was upset and believed the Brotherhood were back to look for him. We tried to explain that was not the case; nevertheless, he was terrified and Kala went with Jenira and Tanden into their room and promised she would stay there with them during the night so they would not be afraid.

  Kala had no sooner gone with them to their room than Endina came to me and said, “I’m afraid we got some bad news today. Jenira told us, while Tanden was with Padaran, that their parents are both dead. She witnessed their deaths at the hands of Brotherhood. She hasn’t told Tanden, because she doesn’t want to hurt him.”

  “Oh no! I was hoping we could reunite them. How much suffering must these poor kids go through?” I exclaimed.

  “If it’s any consolation, Tibby, I think the fact that you found them at all is pretty good luck from their point of view, and things are improving for both of them.”

  I sighed and said, “I guess only time will reveal how good that luck is. For now, I need to have Padaran make arrangements for extra security here tonight.”

  Tondor suggested that Padaran appoint several squads of guards to patrol the calgana. He had, at times, had his own run-ins with the Brotherhood; so his men were familiar with the protocols for heightened security. They were put on guard at various posts about the island. I divided the rest of us into two teams — Marranalis, Kerabac and Endina on one team and Padaran, Sokaia and I on the other — to take alternating shifts for patrol of the house and grounds while the other team slept. It was a tense night, as we anticipated a retaliatory attack, but dawn arrived without incident.

  In the morning a fresh rotation of guards were put in place at their posts, while my crew and I gathered for a fine breakfast prepared by the house chef that consisted of trays of fresh fruit, some sort of cold pickled meats and the most wonderful pastries that reminded me of crepes from Earth, only they were square and folded instead of rolled. Each version was stuffed with tasty treasures and drenched in sweet, nutty syrup.

  Just as we finished eating, a call came in to Kerabac from Agama. He wanted to meet with us immediately and he required directions to the calgana. After disconnecting the call, Kerabac said, “I think this is going to be it. Agama sounded almost desperate and I think he’s going to either bring Logden here or make arrangements for us to meet him someplace.”

  “I certainly hope so,” I replied. “It’s time for us to be getting away from here.”

  “What about my mother and my dad?” Tanden asked abruptly. “You’re not going to leave them here, are you?”

  “No, Tanden,” I said, “I have not forgotten my promise to you. Once we have Logden off this planet and have recovered the item he stole from the Federation, we will return with my ships and troopers to look for your parents…” I noted Jenira hang her head when I said this and I quickly added, “…and I will take you all off this planet and back to Megelleon where you all can live in peace.” I saw Jenira lift her head and force a smile, as she turned to Tanden and patted his hand affectionately. I thought to myself, What a heavy burden this young girl bears to preserve as much happiness for Tanden as she can!

  After we finished eating, Marranalis and I practiced martial arts in an open courtyard. As Jenira and Tanden watched our routines, Tanden excitedly explained to his sister what we were doing. Of course, as with all young boys, he eagerly danced about, pantomiming our movements and shadow boxing invisible opponents. We were just finishing our exercise, when Kala came out to tell us that Agama’s boat was pulling up to the front pier. It appeared to carry three passengers.

  When the boat landed, Padaran’s head of security, Sondan, stepped forward and assisted in securing the boat. I was surprised when Agama and his brother, Howebim, got out of the boat. I had not expected to see Howebim here on Goo’Waddle. I watched them nervously look about before signaling to someone in the boat. Moments later, a rather thin man, who I assumed to be Logden, exited the boat behind them. I was somewhat stunned, because I had expected someone bigger and tougher looking — and Logden was anything but tough. He was short and thin and almost cowered as he stepped from the boat, looking this way and that, flinching
with nervous fear every time the wind blew a tuft of grass or tree branch — hardly the classic image of a smuggler or pirate.

  Kerabac stepped forward and greeted them, but Agama quickly cut him off.

  “May we please go inside quickly? It is best that we not be seen here.”

  “Certainly, my friends,” Kerabac said with a bright grin.

  Once inside, Agama wasted no time in making his point. “We need to leave today — immediately, in fact. I’m assuming your ship is nearby and we can be underway within the hour?”

  “I think that can be arranged, but why the rush? And when did you and Howebim decide that you were joining on the journey? That wasn’t part of the original deal. More importantly, where is the cargo you wish us to carry?”

  “Never mind the cargo — there will just be the three of us. Now, how soon can we be underway?”

  While Kerabac and Agama continued this exchange, Logden slinked past me and I paid close attention to the solbidyum indicator that A’Lappe had installed in our wrist coms. Sure enough, it vibrated as Logden passed and I knew he had the solbidyum with him. I could have tackled him then and there, but I felt it would be better if we had him on the ship where there was no escape.

  “There isn’t enough space on the calgana to land the ship. We will need to meet the ship at the spaceport,” Kerabac replied.

  Agama and Howebim looked at each other nervously. “Just do what is necessary. We need this to unfold as discreetly as possible, so we must to travel in an enclosed transport to your ship — we cannot afford to be seen.”

  Kerabac stepped aside and made a call to the RASSON BEDAN. They were to move in near the spaceport, staying cloaked below the traffic area until he called again. Padaran instructed Sondan to prepare a transport and security detail to take us to the spaceport. Sondan left quickly to carry out his orders.

  Moments later, there were several loud explosions, followed by Sondan running into the house, yelling that we were under attack. The sound of weapons being discharged outside and other small explosions left little doubt as to his claims.

  “You’ve got to get us out of here!” Howebim shouted. “It’s the Brotherhood… they’ll kill us if they find us!” At the same time I saw Kala, Endina, Sokaia and the children come running into the room.

  “Where is Tondor?” I shouted, hoping he might have a secret way out of his house.

  “He’s dead,” Sondan yelled back. “He was on the boat when the attackers blew it up.”

  “Is there a secret way out of here?” I asked.

  “Yes, this way,” Sondan said, leading us toward the center of the house.

  Outside, shouts and more explosions sounded, and the waves of dust that blew into the room indicated that the main walls of the house were being breached. When we reached the center of the house, Sondan activated a hidden switch that triggered a large fountain in the room to pivot slightly, revealing a hidden stairway beneath its foundation. “Down there… quickly!”

  Agama, Logden and Howebim raced down the stairs ahead of everyone else. The rest of us followed after the children were ushered in, followed lastly by, Sondan. Once inside the tunnel, Sondan activated another switch and the fountain rotated back into place, closing the entrance to the passage. “Follow me,” Sondan said as he started off at a rapid pace through the tunnel.

  “Where does this tunnel lead?” Padaran asked.

  “It goes under the canal and over to another calgana to a storage barn there. The tunnel is quite long. Here, take these lights.”

  Sondan opened a small panel in the wall and extracted four lights that he passed out to us before starting down a sloping tunnel. After descending awhile, the tunnel leveled off and ran straight for a distance of nearly a kilometer before it gradually sloped back up again.

  Tanden seemed to be having trouble keeping up with everyone, and I saw Padaran sweep him up and carry him. Behind us, the dull concussions of explosions could be heard echoing down the tunnel. When we came to the end, Sondan whispered that we should turn off our lights and keep quiet. Then, slowly, he opened a heavy metal door. He went through the door and motioned for us to follow him. We emerged into very large and dark room, illuminated only by the weak, diffuse light entering skylight windows high above that were spaced evenly about the enclosure. The light reached the center of the room so the floor was visible, but the regions around the walls of the room were cast in dark shadows. Once we were all through the door, Sondan closed it, and we heard the click of it being locked.

  Suddenly, blinding lights came on all around the room and a voice rang out.

  “Well, well. Look what we have here.” As the effect of the momentary blindness from the sudden light dissipated and we looked around the room, we saw nearly a hundred armed men surrounding our small group — clearly Brotherhood militia, and they didn’t look at all friendly. Several of them came forward and searched us, confiscating our guns and knives.

  “You didn’t think you were going to get away this easily, did you, Kerabac?” the leader said. His was a new face, but beside him we saw several of the Brotherhood goons who had visited our estate making threats and stalking us from the canals during the preceding days.

  “And what’s this? I do believe it’s none other than Logden! You didn’t hope to get away with Kerabac on his magic ship, now, did you?”

  As he spoke, he slowly sauntered toward us, his personal bodyguards close at his side, while the rest of men around the room kept their weapons trained on us.

  “Oh my, the surprises just grow and grow,” he said as he looked me up and down. “I’m surprised none of you recognized these two.” He gestured at both Kala and me, as he paced a circle around us. “We are graced with the heroes of the Federation,” he mocked, “none other than Tibby the Recoverer and Kalana the Avenger, in the flesh. But then, most of you were here and not in the Federation, when these two spoiled our plans there. You didn’t think I’d recognize you with your hair dyed, did you, Tibby?” He turned back to face me.

  “It wasn’t you we were trying to disguise ourselves from, Shydak,” I said, making a wild guess that this was the infamous Shydak, the leader of the Brotherhood in this region of space.

  “Ahh, so you know who I am,” he responded with a sarcastic grin. “I suppose I should be flattered, but in all honesty, I’m not. I really could care less about you and your crew. Killing you will definitely raise my standing in the Brotherhood, but learning the secret of your cloaking device will gain me even more.

  “Yes, I realize now that your erratic appearance and disappearances were not a jump drive but something faulty with your cloaking mechanism. No doubt, by now, you have that fixed, and soon one of you will reveal to me where your ship is. The technology will be in the hands of the Brotherhood, where it belongs. But the real prize of the night is here,” he said, walking to and putting his arm around a visibly shaken and terrified Logden. Shydak turned to his guards. “Strip him. Go over every thread of his clothing. I doubt he would try to leave here without the solbidyum.”

  Two of the guards grabbed Logden and, while he screamed, they dragged him away from the rest of us and turned him over to several others, who immediately began taking his clothing piece by piece, searching it carefully. While they did, Shydak kept talking.

  “I must admit that I didn’t realize Agama and Howebim were involved with Logden, but when Howebim received a message from Agama and then suddenly liquidated all his assets and left, we realized something big was taking place. As it turned out, everything worked in our favor. If you hadn’t come here from your old location, we would have moved on you too soon to get our hands on your ship, which would have spooked Logden, Agama and Howebim. We may have missed the opportunity to capture them. As it was, your move delayed our actions long enough for everything to align perfectly.

  “When I sent two men to bomb Tondor’s estate in hopes of scaring Kerabac into turning over his ship, you retaliated by bringing the bomb back and blowing up our supply of Go
d’s Sweat. That really pissed me off, but then Sondan here showed up a few hours later, offering to sell you all out for a million credits and, well, the rest is history.” He swept his arms out as he slowly turned in a celebratory gesture.

  “You betrayed the Ruwallie Rasson to the Brotherhood?” Kerabac said to Sondan in disbelief. “How could you?”

  Sondan stepped back away from us to stand next to several of the Brotherhood men.

  “How could I? How could I not? This white mockery is not Ruwallie Rasson.” He gestured toward Padaran. “He may have tricked Tondor and the others, but not me. I have not betrayed the Ruwallie Rasson! It is you and this half-white doesee…” he pointed at Endina, “…that have betrayed the Ruwallie Rasson by bringing this abomination…” he gestured toward Padaran again, “…to this world and fooling the chosen. I tried to talk some sense into Tondor, but he truly believed that Padaran had defeated him by the will of the gods. Well, now you will all pay for your deceit and I will take what’s left of the Ruwallie Rasson people and rebuild them. We will be stronger and wiser than before,” he added with contempt written on his face.

  “There, you see, Tibby; and now he, too, will receive his just reward. Pay the man, Narfi,” ordered Shydak.

  Suddenly, Sondan dropped to his knees and fell face forward, revealing a dagger that protruded from his back. A man behind him leaned down and extracted the knife and then used Sondan’s shirt to wipe the blade off before sheathing it and putting it back inside his coat.

  “Not a very bright man, this fellow,” Shydak said, as he pushed the body with his foot. “He should have known that we in the Brotherhood never make deals with the Ruwallie Rasson.”

  “Boss,” yelled one of the men searching Logden, “we ain’t found nuttin!”

  “I was afraid of this,” Shydak said. “Either it’s hidden on one of the others, or he has it already moved it off-world and plans to pick it up before leaving the region.

  “Search these two…” He indicated Howebim and Agama, “…and if you don’t find it on either, kill them. Leave Logden alive — he’s the only one who knows for sure where the solbidyum is.”