It was revealed that during their dramatic journey one of the crew identified as Corporal Lexmal gassed his fellow crew mates and hi-jacked the TRITYTE and the Solbidyum cargo. He then met up with a Bunem freighter at a pre-determined rendezvous location where the TRITYTE was taken aboard. We are told the crew of the TRITYTE were restrained and held on the Bunem freighter guarded by two armed guards. Despite being even restrained Tibby managed, by means of a person to person combat system he calls martial arts, to subdue both armed guards and free his crew mates. He then led a daring raid recapturing the TRITYTE within just a few hours of its hi-jacking. I believe we have a segment of Tibby displaying some of these skills at the request of Admiral Regeny. Ahh yes, here it is, you can see a Federation trooper here approaching Tibby to try and restrain him. Now watch, Ahh did you see it? Here it is again in slow motion, AMAZING! Now watch as the trooper attacks Tibby with a drawn knife. Unbelievable! Again in slow motion. Truly amazing! We interviewed the trooper later and he said that nothing was faked and that he gave it his best effort but was quickly overpowered and subdued by Tibby.
We have been told that later today the Federation Senate is to bestow on Tibby Honorary Citizenship in the Federation and that he is to be considered as a dignitary of the highest level within the Federation. In addition, and in accordance to the finder’s reward that has existed for centuries, Tibby will receive full title to the TRITYTE as well as a down payment on the sales of the Solbidyum, after today Tibby will officially be the wealthiest man in the universe.
In related news, word of the discovery of the TRITYTE and the Solbidyum has created celebration in the streets on Megelleon as people of the Federation rejoice. We anticipate that as other Federation planets receive the word that celebrations will be going there as well.”
Lt. Reidecor turned to me and said, “Well Tibby, I think it’s pretty much official you are now top dog in the universe. I guess officially now you are our boss also, so what do you want us to do?”
I was completely taken off guard by the request, Kala put her arm around my naked waist and looked up in my eyes and said, “Yeah boss, what do you want us to do.”
I smiled and said, “Well you can get back in the bedroom and I will show you, as for the rest of you, take the rest of the morning off. I’ll see you all at lunch. Oh yeah, somebody order lunch for us all!” and then I followed Kala back in the bedroom closing the door behind us.
Later as we were seated in the dining area of our accommodations, eating a delicious brunch that Lunnie had ordered us, I said. “We’ve been together for several weeks now and I just realized that I only know you by your last names or in the case of Kala and Lunnie their nicknames as well. I would like to know your full names.” Everyone stopped eating and looked at me with their mouths still full of food, quite a comical picture really.
Kala swallowed and began, “Tibby I never thought to explain it to you, only on a very few planets in the Federation do people have more than one name. Unlike your planet where you have family names and middle names people here simply have one name or nickname. It’s not that it’s unheard of to us, but it seldom happens.”
“But how?“ I asked “How do people know to direct things to you, or refer to you so others know who you are? Surely there are other Kalana’s in the Federation and other Marranalis. How do you differentiate? Suppose I wanted to send a message to you on the DUSTEN and there was another Major Kalana onboard, how does anyone knows which one the message would go too?”
“You would simply direct it to Major Kalana, attaché, Federation Star Ship DUSTEN,” she said matter of fact. “Also we all have personal ID numbers that you can attach to our names. For instance I am Kalana9549403956-GOS.”
“What does the GOS” signify I asked?
“Gosney, the planet I was born on of course.”
“Ahh, ok I understand now, or sort of anyway.”
“Why do you have more than one name on your planet?” Marranalis asked
“I think basically it was a way of differentiating one individual from another. It seems like in the earlier history of my planet many people named their children with the same names. For example James, but across the hill there might live another family who also names their son James. The first James’s dad may have been Thom and the second James dad may have been a Blacksmith by profession, to differentiate between them one would be referred to as James Thom’s son and the second James the Smith’s son. Eventually these names got shortened to James Thomson and James Smith, and the last part of those names got carried on from generation to generation so all of the decedents of James Thomson had the Thomson name and all the decedents of James Smith had the Smith last name. Middle names are tricky and I have no idea how they came about but quite often the middle name one gets is that of relative or person the parents of the child were fond of. In my case James was my grandfather on my father’s side of the family and Thibodaux was actually my mother’s maiden name before she bonded with my father.”
“Maiden name,” Lunnie asked curiously. “What’s a maiden name?”
“Typically on my planet, at least in the some of the major religious cultures, a female child has the last name of her Father until she bonds, which on my planet they called ‘married’, at that time she takes the last name of her husband as her last name.” I explained.
“Sounds terribly complicated to me,” Marranalis said.
“So if your mother decides she wants to bond with another man what happens then?” Lunnie asked. This was becoming way more complicated than I intended.
“Well first off bonding or being married on Earth is not exactly like bonding here. As I understand it bonding here simply means that two persons cohabitate and may or may not have children together. If one of them decides that they no longer wish to be bonded to that person they simply move out and the responsibility of the child is determined by the government as to which parent become responsible for the child. If neither parent is considered responsible the child is a ward to the government and placed in a foster family. Both parents are taxed by the government for each child they have regardless of if they are together or not and care, clothing and food expenses are paid for out of those taxes… is that not right?”
“Yeah, pretty much so,” Lunnie said, I noted that she was looking at Kala while she spoke to me.
“Well on Earth when a couple marries it’s an official bonding and recorded by the government, in fact you have to get a license to get married. A ceremony takes place where the couple stands before a legally authorized person who conducts marriage ceremonies and takes the couple vow to love, honor and protect each other for the rest of their lives. At least that’s how is used to be, but in the past eighty years much of that has changed a lot and many couples only stay together a few years and then get a legal nullification of the agreement in what is called a divorce. If they have any children sometimes they may have shared custody of the children where the children spend part of the time with one parent and then with the other, generally the cost of rearing the child falls on the father until the child reaches the age of eighteen years old.”
“So, if I understand you correctly,” Lunnie said getting one of the peevish looks in her eyes, “back on Earth if you were to bond with, or as you say marry, Kala, she would then be called Kalana Renwalt. Right?”
“Ahh, yeah,” I said. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Kala squinting and tight lipped looking hard at Lunnie, who sat with a huge grin on her face.
“But to get back to my original point,” I said hoping to get things back onto a different line of thought, “unless you feel otherwise, I would rather not have to go around referring to you by your ranking.
After my talk with the Admiral, he felt that because of the Solbidyum reactor on the TRITYTE and the temptation for someone to try and steal it, that he would prefer when traveling that we park the TRITYTE on Federation military bases, Base Star ships, or Federation Space Stations, where sufficient troops are available t
o guard it. It will be your responsibility, Reidecor, to make arrangements, filing flight plans and the like so they can prepare in time. Marranalis will take care of the security. Also, we will need a navigator, one we can trust, I would like for all of you to take part in finding one. Kala and I will have the final say on who is selected. Lunnie, you will still be Chief Ships Engineer, no matter which ship of my ships we are on, I plan to have a few. You will be responsible for all supplies on the ships and seeing to the operations and repair of all components. You may all possibly be given additional responsibilities later, but that’s it for now.
“Kala, you have been my right hand since I arrived here and I want you to continue to be so. You will be making a lot of decisions for me and I fully trust in you judgments. All of you will be answering to me through Kala, and any instructions she gives you are with my full authority and I expect them to be followed as if I gave them. Everyone clear on that?” Everyone replied with a “yes.”
“Lastly,“ I continued, “Marranalis, will hire and train no less than one hundred persons as a private security force, more if you think necessary. I’ll assist in the martial arts training. Look for ex-military if you can get them, both men and women. I want them to be highly skilled in many areas. Whenever we are outside of our personal compound, I expect each of you to be accompanied by one personal body guard. Kala will have no less than two at all times outside our ships or compounds, and since the Federation thinks I need them I will have four. All drivers for our personal transportation will be our own trained drivers and will be sufficiently trained to act in an emergency as body guards. Marranalis it will be your responsibility to find them, it will be Kala and my job to filter them out. I want to make sure we have a highly efficient team that works like a well lubricated machine.” I cleared my throat and gave Lunnie a stern look and she grinned and saluted me.
“ I understand our meeting with the Senators is this evening, Kala if you can find out all the details and prepare us before hand as much as possible I will be greatly in your debt. I don’t want the surprise that we had last night. One more thing, I don’t expect any of you to do all that I have assigned you by yourselves, you will need assistants and helpers, think about it, if you know someone you trust and is qualified submit their name to Kala. Any questions?”
Lunnie, with her usual peevish smile raised her hand and I said, “If this has anything to do with Kala and last names, forget it and lower your hand, otherwise what’s your question.” Lunnie’s hand lowered and she stuck out her lower lip as though she was pouting, but she winked at me just the same.
“Okay, well you have a lot to think about, the next few days and weeks will be a wild ride for us I’m sure. Until we move out of here and into our own estate compound we will be training instructors in martial arts for the Admiral. Once we have moved we will not doubt be training for some time to come. None of you are even close to being proficient enough to truly train but I will never the less need your assistance in doing so. I have a plan that I hope will speed up the process, but I don’t know if it will work or not. Thanks for your attention, and thanks for sticking with me, I will do my very best to make it all well worth your while. Kala, could you meet with me after you find out the details of this evening, I have a few other matters I wish to discuss with you.” As we were leaving the table I heard Reidecor say to someone, he wants four body guards and he’ll most likely be the one saving them, I heard chuckles all around from everyone.
We were still in the underground facility on the military base where the TRITYTE and the Solbidyum was being stored and guarded. The quarters we were in obviously had been set up to be occupied by dignitaries with an entourage and were set up much like the ones on the DUSTEN. Similar to the facilities on the DUSTEN there was a gym, a shooting range and a pool of about the same size as the one on the DUSTEN that I was immediately attracted to. I had stripped off my clothing and was swimming laps contemplating the many things that would need to be done when suddenly my feet were grabbed and I was yanked under water. I had no doubt in my mind as to who the attacker was, by now I knew the feel of those hands very well. I quickly folded under myself and saw Kala was standing flatfooted on the pool bottom holding my feet, but that meant I could reach hers. A moment later we both were spinning around in the water holding on to each other’s feet and then suddenly, both letting go we popped to the surface gasping for air and laughing. She swam too me throwing her arms about my neck and kissing me. I marveled at how her mouth always tasted like the sweetest of fruits. We broke free and began swimming in tandem matching each other’s strokes; unlike our swims in the past there didn’t seem to be any competition between us as we swam. After several laps we both pulled ourselves out of the water and lay down on some lounge pads situated under some lamps that may have been tanning lights or heat lamps that felt remarkably like natural sunlight. I reached out my hand and Kala seeing it reached out hers so we could hold hands. We lay there calmly for a few moments before I spoke.
“Do you think you will regret your decision to stay with me as my assistant? “
“Well, I don’t know,” she said in a teasing voice, “I don’t seem to be getting as much sleep working with you as I was accustomed to, even though I do seem to be spending more time in bed!” We both laughed at that. “Seriously though, you’re going to be very busy in the near future and I want you to hire an assistant and begin training them as soon as possible. I will want you with me at all times but you will need someone centrally located who will know your thoughts and styles of working. Your assistant can handle administrative duties and manage everyday affairs of our soon to be empire.
One of the first things I will need you to do is to get me copies of the personnel files of everyone working for me, yours included.” Kala looked at me strangely. “Don’t worry dear; it’s not what you think. I just want to know all your capabilities. I have great faith and trust in you and the rest of the crew, but I know you all have other abilities and talents that will show up in your personal folders that are important to me, and unfortunately I do not have the time to wait to learn them gradually. I may need to draw on them sooner. But, do me a favor; don’t tell the others, I do not want them to get the wrong idea.”
“What makes you think that the Federation will give you the personnel records?” Kala asked.
“I think you will get them with no problem at all, because when you request them you will do so through Admiral Regeny’s office.” I said
“Oh, I see, and you and the Admiral are great friends now I take it!” She teased.
“Something like that,” I said smugly.
She laughed came over to where I was laying on the side of the pool and lying on top of me kissed my lips and then rested laying her head on my chest. “Tibby she said, I feel like all of this is a dream and I’m afraid I’m going to wake up.”
“Well think what it must be like for me then,” I said.
“I have another job for you to take care of, not this minute, but when you have an opportunity in the next day or so.” She raised her head and looked at my face, “We are going to need a place, a really big place, an estate with lots space, preferably a place with lots of accommodations for staff. I need for you to find us an agent who can locate some places we can look at, cost is not a factor. Oh yes, and this one is important, we were going to need someone to handle our finances, preferably a major banker who will have financial advisors and people accustom to handling multiple transactions and expenses for large businesses and the like. The sooner we get everything set up, the sooner we can start having fun.”
“Wow,” Kala exclaimed, “I feel like I need that staff now!”
As we showered and Kala went over with me what she had found out about the meeting with the Senate that evening. It would be similar to the previous night and there would be a few senators present that had been in the dinner the night before. Kala warned me that unlike the night before, where the Admiral dominated my time, that at the dinner to
night many senators would be vying for my attention. She told me that she would scratch her wrist if the person vying for my attention was someone I should try to avoid and she would rub behind her ear if it was someone I should talk with. Basically she told me to acknowledge everyone, not snub anyone and to be careful not to let anyone talk me into anything. She also told me that there would probably be a few alien species there as well, something I had not seen thus far.
Alien species brought up another question for me and as we began to walk back to the common room I asked “Kala, I noted that everyone I have seen so far is human or at least like you and I. It seems odd to me that so many planets would have humans evolve the same throughout the galaxy, yet other plants and animal on the planets differ and are not that similar. Why is this?”
“That’s a question that has perplexed our scientists for centuries,” Kala said. “The current belief is that at some time, a major portion of the Galaxy was seeded with DNA and though that DNA may have combined and recombined, evolving differently on many planets based on its environment, ultimately most of it will end up human like us.”
“I’ve heard a similar theory on Earth,” I said, “I think they referred to it as STAR SEEDING.. How would that account for other sentient life forms?”
“I’m not sure,” Kala answered, “but I guess that life could have evolved separately as well. Or perhaps because of environmental differences evolution took a different course in combining the DNA material. I do know that on Irribis there are sentient aquatic creatures that live under water and humans that live on the islands there, both originally believed to have evolved there and yet they have totally unrelated DNA. In fact the DNA helix is completely reversed indicating two differing origins for life there. Perhaps with all your newly found wealth you can fund your own scientists to investigate the question.” Kala responded.
Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans Page 16