Solbidyum Wars Saga 7: Hunt for the Reduviids

by Dale C. Musser

  I was expecting Nybidong to be excited when I showed him the ship, but his first reaction was anything but enthusiastic.

  “What is this tiny thing?” he exclaimed. “Surely, Admiral, this is a joke. This is not a fighter; it is too small!”

  “This small fighter has more firepower than the fighters and patrol ships you use now. It has more firepower than a corvette and is more maneuverable, plus you can take it into the atmosphere and sustain long-distance in-atmosphere flight at higher speeds than any other ship in the Federation.”

  “This little thing? Where does the crew stay? I only see three seats and no accommodations.”

  “As I said earlier, accommodations are not needed. Nor is a larger crew. This ship can be flown by one person in a fight, but having three increases its firing and targeting capability. At the end of the day the ship returns either to a carrier, or it returns to a planet base via Cantolla Gates. There is no need for quarters.”

  “Hmm, I am not sure I like this fighter. However, I will fly it and see.”

  Nybidong boarded the fighter along with two other Federation pilots and moments later they blasted off from the hangar launch tube and into space. We were close enough to the planet Daxyon that they could take the ship into the atmosphere and also near an asteroid field where Nybidong could also test out the collision avoidance system. I had expected that the test flight would last about an hour and I started to get concerned when nearly four hours later Nybidong still had not returned. I was about to have the bridge try and contact him when I got word he was returning to the MAXETTE. I made it to the hangar as he landed. No sooner had the hatch opened than two very pale troopers ran from the ship holding their hands over their mouths. Moments later a grinning Nybidong stepped from the fighter.

  “Admiral, this fighter is beyond anything I could have imagined. I do not believe that even Moozien swallows can maneuver better. When I took it down to the planet, we skimmed along the ground so fast we sucked the trees from the soil as we passed; and in the asteroid swarm, we dodged rocks while traveling at twice the speed of normal ships. Oh, and the firepower, I have never seen the likes of it. We blew up asteroids so quickly, I tell you; I don’t believe we left a single asteroid intact in the area,” he said, laughing loudly. “Oh,” he said as he saw the two troopers kneeling over a trash receptacle throwing up; “You will need to have someone clean-up inside. I fear my two companions must have eaten something bad. They became quite ill about the time we started dodging asteroids.”

  I had to suppress a grin; the Ruwallie Rasson were known for their reckless, daredevil flying, and I had no doubt that he scared the crap out of his two companions – perhaps even literally. Neither of them looked too good at the moment.

  “Tell me, Admiral, what do you call these fighters?”

  “We haven’t named them so far,” I said.

  “Then we must think of a good name, something that reflects their abilities,” he said thoughtfully. “They should be named something that puts fear into the minds of the enemy. I know! There is a serpent on Hergoth called a Terornor. Its strike is like lightning and death from its bite is instantaneous. We should call them Terornor Fighters!”

  “I like that; Terornor Fighters it is! So how do you feel about heading up a squad of Ruwallie Rasson using these ships to fight the Brotherhood?”

  Nybidong’s face got serious and he turned his head to look once more at the ship. “How many of these fighters do you intend on providing us?” He asked.

  “How many do you want or need?”

  “Hmm, some of my men would not want to fly in so small a ship; but most, once they see what it can do, will insist on flying nothing else. I would guess about 800 for a start. Once the others see how these fighters perform, we will need a lot more.”

  “Good, then I will see to it that at least 800 of these ships be built. They can be built quickly, so you should start receiving some very soon. I want you to train a special team of fighters for these ships. I’m hoping that soon we will be able to increase the speed of these fighters as well; and when we do, I plan to chase the Brotherhood to the ends of the universe, if needed and destroy them forever.”

  The next few days went well and for the first two, I managed to beat Padaran in our morning sparring matches, but on day three he beat me once again and on days four and five there was no doubt in my mind the effects of the treatment A’Lappe was giving me were wearing off. Although my memory was still sharper than before, I could feel a mental slowness creeping back with each new day. Any dream I may have had that one treatment would fix me evaporated. I dreaded the idea of going through the hell of the treatment again, but I saw no choice. I would soon need another one.

  By now, Norcar had taken possession of his estate on Epsirt and our FSO agents were on the planet. Norcar insisted that he needed to go with them as he couldn’t wait to see the Estate for himself. No sooner did my agents get a Cantolla Gate set up on the planet than Norcar used it to visit me on the NEW ORLEANS. Admiral, I realize that you didn’t buy me Rinncal Haf-joab’s estate as a gift and that you intend to use it as a base to spy on the Brotherhood on the planet, but I must thank you anyway. The estate is beyond my dreams. I fear I shall never get any banking work done as I will want to spend all my time there relaxing.”

  “Well, it is important that you do use the estate and enjoy it so everything appears natural. Take your friends there to entertain; use it as if we were not there spying. The FSO agents there are trained to function with others about and not look suspicious. Tell me, have they installed the Cantolla Gate on your estate someplace that is not noticeable?”

  “Admiral, they were truly ingenious with it. There is a huge piece of wall art in one room that goes floor to ceiling. They installed the “nodes”, I believe they called them, so that they appear to be part of the art. As long as the gate is inactive, it looks like a piece of normal art; but when they activate the gate, it turns into a doorway to a compartment on the NEW ORLEANS. From there one of your crew led me to the gate that brought me here to your ship. I must tell you, Tibby, that traveling through those gates is a magical experience.”

  “Well I am glad you enjoy it, but I fear you will need to do most of your traveling to and from Epsirt via space ships, or the Brotherhood is going to become suspicious as to how you are getting on and off the planet. Since Epsirt isn’t part of the Federation, it’s not supposed to have a Cantolla Gate.”

  “Yes, I understand, but it is sad; traveling through the Cantolla Gates makes things so much easier. When will you be coming to Epsirt?”

  “Maybe never,” I answered. “If I came, it would be through a Cantolla Gate and my presence on the planet would be noted almost immediately.”

  “Not if you stayed on the estate grounds,” Norcar said.

  “I fear that may not be true. I have no doubt that there are people observing those coming and going at your estate, as well as some sort surveillance cameras watching what goes on there. If I were to pass by a window, or set foot outside, I would be spotted and our cover blown. Unless there is a need for an invasion, my presence on Epsirt would only cause questions we can’t afford to have asked.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Norcar replied. “Do you think we are being watched?”

  “I’m relatively certain of it, at least until the Brotherhood is convinced you aren’t there to spy on them.”

  “Oh my, I never thought of that!” Norcar exclaimed.

  “Go and enjoy yourself. There is no need for you to get involved in the spying part; let our people do that. The less involvement you have, the better off it will be for you should any of our people get caught.”

  Our conversation was interrupted by a call on my com link from Marranalis, “Admiral, we’ve received word of a Reduviid attack on Gangeer. Preliminary reports indicate there could be as many as 200 dead.”

  “Damn! Alright, Captain, I’m on my way.”

  I turned to Chief Banker Norcar, “Sir, I’m sor
ry, but it looks like I have matters to attend to. Allow me to accompany you to the Cantolla Gates.”

  “Oh my, yes. Do you see many attacks like this these days?” Norcar asked.

  “More than I would like,” I responded, “and they seem to be increasing.”

  At the Cantolla Gates, I left Chief Banker Norcar in the hands of an FSO agent who would accompany him back through the gates to Epsirt. I was hoping that Norcar didn’t decide to avail himself of the gates too often as it might arouse suspicion. The existence of the gate was supposed to be a secret from all but a few individuals at his estate. Every time he used it, there was the risk of someone else discovering its existence.

  Admirals Regeny and Wabussie were both in the War Room on the MAXETTE when I arrived.

  “What’s the situation, Captain,” I asked Marranalis before either Admiral had a chance to speak?”

  “Sir, it appears to be three-body bombers; no other attackers, no shooting or hostages taken. They went into one of the largest shopping malls on the planet and blew themselves up.”

  “So it was an act of terror with no real target or motive other than to frighten people.”

  “It would seem so,” Marranalis said.

  “Tibby, we must do something about these body bombers,” Regeny demanded.

  “I’m open to all suggestions, Admiral.”

  “Well, harrumph, well find them and wipe them out!” Regeny said in frustration.

  “Definitely, sir, where would you like me to begin?”

  “By the stars, man, wipe out their bloody bases,” Regeny said getting red faced.

  “Right away, sir, which one do you want me to destroy first and ah – could you give me directions to it?”

  I could see Regeny was getting angry and frustrated, but finally he got hold of himself and said, “All right, you made your point. However, we need to do something; there must be some way to stop these fanatics.”

  “Not without more information than we have at the moment,” I replied.

  “How about you, Wabussie? Do you have any new intelligence that might help us?” I asked.

  “I have some new intelligence on Sisopan. She was seen at Plosaxen two days ago. We have a vid shot of her with two other men in a bar near our largest military base on the planet.”

  “What have you been able to learn?” I asked with optimism.

  “Not much; Sisopan vanished soon after leaving the bar and we’ve seen no other sign of her. The two men have been going around from bar to bar and seem to be looking at and observing troopers who come from the base, but they don’t try to communicate with any of them, or at least not that we have detected.”

  “Hmm, do you think perhaps they are hoping to get one of the troopers and get him hooked on God Sweat, like they did Bandur when they made him try to kill me?”

  “It’s possible, but so far we have nothing to go on. Both men have no signs of employment, but they seem to have enough money to spend.”

  “Have you been able to overhear any of their conversations?” I asked.

  “Nothing specific, either they are talking in some sort of very sophisticated code, or they are two of the most mundane people on the planet.”

  “Keep an eye on them and keep trying to find Sisopan; it may be the two of them are body bombs and they are waiting orders to go to their detonation points. If they do anything suspicious, or head to any areas that might be targets for an attack, I want them captured if you can; if not, kill them. We can’t take any chances.”

  “Admiral, I have a message coming in from A’Lappe; he says he has the answer to how the Brotherhood is increasing the speed of their ships.”

  “What,” I exclaimed? I turned to Admirals Regeny and Wabussie, “You may want to come with me to see this.”

  “By the stars, Tibby, I wouldn’t miss this,” Regeny said as he started towards the door, “What are we waiting for? I’m assuming he’s in the lab on your ship.”

  Once we had all arrived at A’Lappe’s lab, I was surprised to see Reide and Rory there excitedly talking with A’Lappe. “Congratulations, A’Lappe,” Regeny began as he entered the door, “You’ve done it again.”

  “Oh, hello Admirals, I didn’t see you arrive. Actually, I didn’t do it; the boys here did,” A’Lappe said with a smile.

  “I don’t understand,” Regeny exclaimed, “Captain Marranalis said you had figured out how the Brotherhood ships go faster than ours.”

  “I said WE had figured it out, not that I did,” A’Lappe said.

  “But it is figured out? Right? You know how it works? Right,” Regeny said anxiously?

  “Yes we do, but the credit goes to Reidecor and Rory this time,” A’Lappe said as he looked at the two grinning boys.

  “But how? I mean explain,” Regeny commanded.

  “I’ve been letting the boys work with me; Reidecor is a genius with mechanics; and Rory, well Rory has a special gift with mathematics, not uncommon considering his condition. It’s not unusual for persons like Rory to have extraordinary skills or abilities, in one area that go beyond those of the average person.”

  “What does that have to do with the ships' speeds,” Regeny asked impatiently?

  “I’m getting to that, Admiral. I was tearing apart the GW drive and young Reidecor was helping me, when all at once he asked me what was supposed to be here on the GW drive unit. You can see that at one time there had been something, but now it’s been removed and the opening sealed. I went back to the designs of the original GW drive units and there was this device you can see here," he indicated a spot on the illustration. “I wasn’t sure what it did, but then Reidecor said it looked like a governor device to limit the GW frequency produced by the drive unit. I couldn’t see why that would be important and I had started putting equations on the board to see what was going on when Rory, here, looked at the calculation and said that at the original power levels of the old GW drives, to travel at GW 1 the waves were unstable and a governor was needed to stabilize the waves; otherwise a ship riding in the wave trough could bounce out of the wave. The governor synchronized the fore-and-aft waves, keeping the ship in the trough. Here you can see where Rory adjusted the calculations that show this.” A’Lappe said excitedly.

  “Ah, yeah, but how does that explain why their ships fly faster?”

  “When I modified the engines to fly at GW 1.5 years ago, I amplified the power, which tightened the wave trough making the waves faster, but it also stabilized the waves as well. I didn’t remove the governor then. In fact, I never gave it any thought. We were going faster and that was all that mattered to me. The Brotherhood discovered that if the governor was removed, like on this ship, that the waves at the higher power level were even faster and that at greater speeds they are stable without the governor.”

  “I don’t understand,” Regeny said dumbfounded.

  A’Lappe laughed, “It’s simple, the GW drive produces a faster speed without the thing that went here,” he said pointing to the location where the governor had been located.

  “Oh well, why didn’t you say that? So now all we need to do is take those thingies off our ships’ GW drives and our ships will fly as fast as the Brotherhoods?”

  “Exactly,” A’Lappe said.

  “Well, let’s get rid of them; by the stars, what are we all standing around here for?” Regeny said. Then he paused and looked at the two boys who stood by A’Lappe, “You did good job, boys. You should be very proud.” Rory grinned from ear to ear and Reidecor slapped him on the back and said, “We did it!”

  I decided that the boys needed a little special recognition and I invited Admirals Regeny and Wabussie to stay for a meal and then invited A’Lappe and Rory to join us. For Reide, it wasn’t that big a deal; but for Rory, it was like he had been named First Citizen. All through dinner the boys talked about the GW drive and how they had helped A’Lappe with it. A’Lappe smiled and gave encouraging comments to them both and from time to time Regeny would make a positive comment a
bout their accomplishment. After the meal, I approached A’Lappe where no one could hear me and I said, “A’Lappe, how much of a help were the boys, really? How many clues did you give them to draw the conclusions they did?”

  “Tibby, it’s exactly as I told you and the others. Your son is quite the mechanical genius. And Rory, that boy has a mind like a computer when it comes to math. And it’s very natural. He's never studied it and picks it up by watching me put equations on the board.”

  Yes, but he’s – ” I began.

  “He’s what?” A’Lappe cut me off. “… a Down Syndrome child with a special talent for math. That's what he is. Tibby, it’s not all that rare for children like Rory to have special abilities. It can be in nearly any discipline. In Rory’s case it’s math.”

  “So they truly did help?”

  “Yes, to be honest I don’t know that I would have found the answer. I was looking in all the wrong directions, if I had figured it out, it wouldn’t have happened any time soon. The same holds true for Cantolla; she was as stumped by it as I was.”

  “Speaking of Cantolla, where is she? I didn’t see her in the lab.”

  “She was there earlier but needed to go back to the estate to help with some problem there. Her lab assistants are having problems cloning the new horses and the embryos are wanting to produce conjoined twins.” The image of an eight legged, two-headed horse popped into my head for a second.

  “Yes, well I hope she’s not devoting too much of her time on cloning; right now we have higher-priority things to deal with for Federation safety.”

  That night after returning to our suite Reide and Rory were excitedly telling Kala about what they had done. Reide asked if Rory could spend the night, something that was occurring more and more often and we said yes. Lunnie wasn’t so pleased, saying we never let her have any friends spend the night, to which Kala responded that she never asked to have any of her friends spend the night. I could see by the look on Lunnie’s face that this had got her thinking and I could see that in her mind, she was figuring out who to invite to spend the night with her. I was glad that compartments on the ship were soundproof once the doors were closed. Once things had settled down and everyone was in their rooms and Kala and I in our own bed, she turned to me and said, “Tib, you’ve been mighty strange of late.”