Solbidyum Wars Saga 7: Hunt for the Reduviids

by Dale C. Musser

  “I’m afraid we’ve pretty much exhausted the useful data extracted from the Brotherhood computers confiscated at Windsor,” replied Wabussie. “It was virtually that information alone that provided us with the locations of those targets. We had a good initial run of success with those sites; however, the Brotherhood abandoned the remaining centers after the first three strikes and relocated elsewhere. Since the Windsor operation, they’ve also developed more effective self-destruct mechanisms to shred their electronic records and destroy their computers in the event that a facility was captured. We’ve pretty much exhausted all available information on base locations and Brotherhood plans, sir, in spite of our uncompromising efforts.”

  “What about Epsirt and that Brotherhood agent, Sisopan, from a few years back? At that time, it looked as though Brotherhood had something underway at Epsirt and you were trying to install an agent there. What happened to that lead?” I asked.

  “We’ve been stonewalled in our efforts to plant an agent on Epsirt. The only way you can get to the planet surface is by invitation from an existing landowner; the planet is completely closed to outsiders. Even the few resorts on the planet are attended by invitation only. Despite ongoing efforts, we have yet to find an agent who can develop a strong enough relationship with a landowner to secure an invite.”

  “Do you have access to a list of landowners?” I asked.

  “Yes, we’ve managed to compile a list of at least some of the more prominent owners, but it’s not much to work with. Nearly all of them are rich industrialists and shipping magnates, most of whom are not Federation citizens. The only names on the list you would recognize, Tibby, are Eulshod Rendoid and your old friend, Wrinkles Half Job,” Wabussie said, as he started to laugh.

  “Wrinkles? I mean, Rinncal Haf-joab has an estate there? I thought he said he was from Bothex,” I stated in amazement.

  “He is from Bothex, but he owns estates on several planets throughout the galaxy. I think it’s safe to say he hasn’t been to the Epsirt estate in quite a few years, though,” Wabussie replied. “He was convicted of his crimes and eventually given a 20-year sentence for treason. He’s still serving his term in prison.”

  “He was the guy who accosted you a few years back, when you wouldn’t turn the DUSTEN around for him,” Regeny said with a burst of laughter. “I remember that… Wrinkles Half Job! By the stars, Tibby, that had me cracking up for weeks. I’ll bet they’re still calling him that in prison.”

  “Is there any way we can use his estate as a means of entry?” I asked while trying to ignore Regeny’s comment.

  “Not unless he decides to offer it up for sale, in which case you could get a visa to visit the property for inspection,” Wabussie responded.

  “Can get him to do that?” I asked.

  “Knowing his love for you, I doubt it,” Wabussie answered.

  “What if he doesn’t know I’m the buyer? Say someone approached him through legal channels, saying they were interested in his property and were willing to pay a handsome price for it. Rinncal has a real love for money; and if the price is high enough, I’m betting he’ll jump at it. Besides, the estate isn’t doing him any good while he is in prison.”

  “It’s a possibility. I'll put a man on it,” Wabussie answered.

  “I don’t understand,” Regeny said. “Why don’t you simply put a man down on the planet using a cloaked ship and pick him up again later?”

  “It’s not that simple, Admiral,” said Wabussie. “The planet is over two thirds ice. Only the equatorial region offers a habitable, temperate climate. That region is so heavily monitored that even in a cloaked ship it’s nearly impossible to get past the secured zone. If you were lucky enough to make it through, you’d immediately be recognized as an intruder. There aren’t many people on the planet at any given time, so everyone pretty much knows or at least recognizes each other. A stranger would stick out like a feather on a gainga.”

  “So if the planet has so much ice on it, why can’t you land someone in a cold region and let them trek in, cloak and snoop about, then rendezvous for retrieval after they complete their mission?” Regeny added.

  “It won’t work. They monitor the remainder of the planet’s surface with satellite technology. They would spot signs of life moving through the frozen tundra with little effort.”

  “Couldn’t you have a cloaked agent parachute in and send a signal when he’s ready to be picked up? he could remain cloaked while on the surface, so he wouldn’t be seen.”

  “The cloaking devices don’t last that long. Besides, we have no idea where anything is down there; we’re talking about thousands of square kilometers of planet surface that need to be searched. It’s not like we’d be able to approach someone to ask directions or get our questions answered. A standard agent operation of any kind could go on for years and never find out much. Meeting even the basic needs of such agent is an unrealistic prospect; just securing reliable food and shelter is next to impossible without putting the agent at extreme risk.”

  Regeny sighed. “I see your point. I guess your approach is the best bet, Tibby; that is, if we can get Wrinkles Half Job to sell his place.”

  I turned to Wabussie and changed the subject. “Have we received any new information as to where the Brotherhood has been building their asteroid-ships?”

  Wabussie replied with a growing look of defeat on his face. “We’ve searched the asteroid cloud you originally thought was their source location and have found nothing. We managed to get some pieces of the asteroid-ship used in the attack at Weccies that were broken off when our missile pierced their RMFF shield and exploded. Analysis of the debris indicates this asteroid could not have come from the local asteroid field. We’ve been trying to determine the true source, but we’ve had no luck so far. We can only conclude that the Brotherhood planted the ship shell near that field to mislead us.”

  “How about the other asteroid-ships we’ve managed to strike? Have you analyzed pieces from them?” I asked.

  “Yes, and indications are that they come from the same field as the first one, but where it’s located remains a mystery. The galaxy is a very big place, Tibby, and there are a lot of asteroid debris fields out there. We’re essentially looking for a ruzi fleck in a jabba tank until we get some more definitive leads.”

  “Well, unless they started building the ships years ahead of their attacks, we should be able to narrow that area down to something more manageable than the whole galaxy. It’s unlikely the asteroid came from anywhere that’s located more than two years travel time from Weccies, considering standard GW speed. More likely, it's somewhere within a nine-month travel time from there.”

  “We’ve pretty much searched everything inside Federation space in that area,” Wabussie replied.

  “What about outside Federation space?” I asked. “How about in the direction Roritat took that asteroid-ship when he fled Weccies? That ship headed into space somewhere beyond Federation boundaries. How far have we checked in that direction?”

  “We haven’t explored much beyond our boundaries in that region. We did some preliminary searches, of course, but you don’t think they’re out there, do you? Why would they go directly to their base from Weccies? Surely they wouldn’t want us to follow them!”

  “Maybe they did,” I answered. “Perhaps they laid a trap out there that we never walked into. Ming and Roritat are not easy minds to fathom and their reasoning isn’t always logical, at least not to us. I think we need to expand our searches in that direction. Let’s move to the War Room; I'd like to review the locations where all the attacks involving asteroid-ships have occurred in the past few years. We may be able to uncover some clues.”

  Once in the War Room, I instructed the War Room lieutenant and technician to activate the holographic display of Federation space and surrounding areas and tag each planet where attacks or encounters involving asteroid-ships in brilliant red. The technician worked quickly to retrieve the applicable data; in moments 200
bright pinpoints lit up within the three-dimensional representation before us.

  “What are we looking for, Tibby?” Regeny asked.

  “Well, for one thing,” I began, “you’ll notice the majority of these encounters are clustered in Sector 3. Only a few spill over into Sector 2 and absolutely none have occurred in Sector 1. You can also see that the tags seem to radiate out from one area.

  “Lieutenant, delete all incidents that occurred within the past year.” The size of the red pattern decreased significantly.

  “Wow,” Wabussie exclaimed, “I think I see where you’re going with this, Tibby.”

  “OK, Lieutenant, restore the original display of all attack sites, please. Now, construct transparent spheres around each site to represent a distance of, let’s say, nine months’ travel time at standard GW speed.” Spherical clouds of reddish-pink phased into view around each dot. Before long, one end of the display developed into a grouping that resembled bubble clusters in a bath tub.

  “Enlarge that area of bubbles,” I said. “Now, is there some way you can isolate the area where the majority of bubbles intersect?”

  “Uh, I’m not sure, sir. I’ll have to cross-reference the resulting data sets. I'll try to do it as quickly as possible,” he answered.

  “Are you thinking the origin of the asteroid-ships lies inside that area?” Wabussie asked.

  “Don’t you think it’s a logical deduction?” I answered with a question.

  “Yes! I must admit, Tibby; it never occurred to me to do this.”

  While we were talking, I saw the lieutenant refer to a digital computer manual. I assumed he was trying to access commands and features of the display that weren’t used routinely. “Sir,” he finally said, “I think I’ve determined how to do what you want.” Abruptly, the bubbles vanished and a strange sort of multisided shape appeared some distance outside of Federation space.

  “That, gentleman, is where I think we will find the Brotherhood fabricating their asteroid-ships.”

  “So what are your intentions now?” Regeny asked.

  “I’m going to send some scout ships from the First Fleet through Cantolla Gates to that area to conduct a recon operation,” I answered.

  “Why from here and not from Admiral Kophious’s fleet?” Regeny asked.

  “Because I suspect that the movement of our fleets closest to the Brotherhood bases are being observed. Sector 1 is furthest from this location, so ships coming and going from my fleet are least likely to be noticed. Beyond that, I want all the ships in those sectors to be immediately available for combat, given the intense amount of aggression occurring there.”

  “Tibby, why do you think the Brotherhood has avoided attacking sites within Sector 1?” Regeny asked.

  “I can answer that,” Wabussie interjected. “Sector 1 is under Tibby’s leadership. Tibby has been responsible for their biggest losses and defeats, so they want to avoid him as much as possible.”

  “Yes, but the Cantolla Gates allow Tibby to be at the scene of any attack and take command within seconds; so technically, the threat of counterattacks against them under Tibby’s leadership is a reality, no matter where they are.”

  “True, but I don’t think they see it that way. Plus, if their main forces are concentrated there, outside of Sector 3, they would have a great deal of difficulty mobilizing to Sector 1 without encountering the Federation ships of our other sectors in between.”

  “Most of the attacks we’ve seen in this sector have been terrorist attacks. It seems the longer this war goes on, the further away from the Capitol we’re seeing the main battle actions take place. Prior to Ming’s arrival, the Brotherhood focused their attacks in Sector 1 and directly at the Capitol. Since Ming took control of their forces, they’ve shifted as far away as possible from the Capitol. I wonder if Slater can shed any light on this tactic and perhaps determine whether this new strategy corresponds to any specific objectives historically pursued by Ming during the Earth wars,” I pondered.

  “Do you honestly believe that Roritat has completely surrendered control of battle planning to Ming?” Regeny asked.

  “Yes, I do. The Brotherhood’s tactics since Ming’s arrival are radically different from those employed by Roritat.”

  “I don’t understand this Ming-Roritat relationship,” Regeny said. “Both of them have this desire to dominate and rule the galaxy. I can’t see them ever wanting to share power.”

  “I don’t think either of them ever intended to,” I answered. “I think right now they are using each other, but when the time comes that one of them no longer sees the usefulness of the relationship, the other will be killed.”

  “I wish that day were today; it would make our job easier,” Regeny muttered.

  “I have to agree with you,” I answered. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that day is coming any time soon.”

  When the meeting was over, I decided to visit A’Lappe back on the NEW ORLEANS and find out what he wanted.

  “So, A’Lappe,” I began as I entered his lab, “I understand you wish to see me.”

  “Yes, Tibby. I’ve been working on a surprise for you for some time now and it’s finally finished. Come and see,” he said, as he hopped off his stool and led me to one of the hatches leading to the maintenance tunnels located beneath the ship's floors. Navigating the tunnels was not a new experience for me. I had been there a number of times. I knew A’Lappe’s quarters were located here, as well as the hidden hangar that originally housed my personal ship, the ALI, which had since been destroyed in the crash on Desolation. I also entered the tunnels to search for Ming and his cohorts when they escaped from incarceration during the return from Earth’s Moon. By the time I descended into the area again to find toddlers Lunnie and Reidecor, who had managed to get themselves lost in this maze a few years later, I knew my way through a great deal of the network by heart. Even so, negotiating the cables, pipes, electrical switchgear and ductwork was still tricky.

  As I looked ahead through the narrow passage, I saw the door leading to the secret hangar. It was a rather small space design to dock only two ships, the ALI and the very tiny ship owned by A’Lappe. I had never seen the inside of A’Lappe’s ship, as it was too little for me to enter. I suppose I might be able to crawl inside on hands and knees if I had to, but it would be an extremely tight and uncomfortable fit. Getting back out would probably require a full blown extrication and, though the idea of really being in that position was one I did not particularly relish, the thought of finding myself in such a pickle made me chuckle.

  Instead of turning toward his quarters as I had expected, A’Lappe headed straight ahead to the hangar entrance. When we entered, I was surprised to see two ships docked there – A’Lappe’s ship and another ship slightly smaller than the ALI.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “Your new personal ship,” A’Lappe said with a sparkle in his eye.

  “What is it? It looks like some kind of fighter, but much smaller than the fighters we use now.”

  “You have a keen eye, Tibby. This craft design most certainly incorporates some elements of design from the Mirage fighter, but not those features that have become more or less obsolete. For instance, the Cantolla Gate system is now a Federation-wide network, so there is no need for smaller ships and fighters to be equipped with quarters. As you can see, though, there is a small but complete toilet facility onboard. It’s also equipped with a basic food synthesizer, though it’s highly unlikely to be needed, when almost any destination can be reached in less than a day. Like the Mirage fighters, flight and operation requires only one person, but seating in this craft accommodates up to five passengers.”

  “So why five seats? Why not two or even one?” I asked.

  A’Lappe grinned and said in a tone that hinted at a secret behind it, “You never know when you might need them.”

  “What about speed? Can this thing achieve the speed of the Brotherhood ships?” I asked.

  A’L
appe’s head drooped. “I’m sorry, Tibby. I haven’t been able to figure out how they’re accomplishing the speeds they’re demonstrating with the ships, but Cantolla and I are still working on it.”

  He turned his attention back to the ship. “If you’ll look over here,” he said as he gestured toward a hatch barely large enough to crawl through, “you will find a Cantolla Gate linked to another gate here on the NEW ORLEANS that provides you with a means of escape directly into this craft in case of an emergency.”

  “What about weaponry?”

  “Rail guns, lasers, plasma torpedoes and a particle beam, as well as a sleep-inducing weapon adapted from the technology used by the Tottalax, and a microwave gun like the one we used to defeat them. I dare say that this ship has as much firepower capability as the NEW ORLEANS. The ship is also equipped with a limited RMFF.”

  “Limited?”

  “Yes, it will work to deflect most shots, but one shot in ten or fifteen might have a chance of passing through and impacting the craft. This ship is powered by the smaller 6X reactors, which aren’t able to generate a field as strong as those generated by the power sources of the larger ships. The 6X reactors work on a similar principle as the 10X reactors and are adapted to fit the smaller ship design. So, while they are capable of powering an RMFF field, the shielding is a bit weaker and is subject to breach, if the shot’s angle of impact is correct.

  “One more thing this ship is designed with folding wings that you can deploy for in-atmosphere flight. I copied the idea from information I found in the archives recovered from your Earth. It seems that this technology was something your scientists perfected during your lifetime while you were still there.”

  “Yes, I’m familiar with the design. While in the Navy, I served on carriers that docked these aircraft,” I said.

  “Were you a pilot back then?” A’Lappe asked unexpectedly.