Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans

by Dale C. Musser

  “Hey, what about me,” Lunnie chimed in, “You don’t want to be around so we can win more dance contests?”

  “That goes without saying Lunnie.” Kerabac said with a grin.

  I looked at Kala and she gave me a slight nod and Marranalis flipped his thumb up where Kerabac could not see it so I knew they were in agreement. Lunnie and Reidecor both had given me their feeling beforehand about him so now the decision was up to me. I still had one question to ask and I was not sure how it would go over in the Federation culture.

  “Just one more thing, I don’t know what things are like here in the Federation, but back on Earth where I come from, there are many people who are racists and have prejudices against people of other cultures and races, even though it is illegal to practice such behavior. Some employers will not pay of give promotions to a person because of their race or culture; some won’t give those persons jobs at all. At one time on my planet persons of your color were taken and made slaves, and though that slavery ended hundreds of years ago bitterness and prejudices still exist there. I guess what my question is, do such prejudices exist here in the Federation and if so I want to know what each of you here in this room think about it.”

  I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t what I got. Suddenly the room went deadly silent and all the faces took on a stone countenance.

  “Kerabac, I would like to hear your thoughts first.” I said.

  Kerabac had a hard look on his face and his look indicated serious though and conviction about what he was about to say, he began slowly with controlled words. “I will confess that there exists such prejudices within the Federation and I deeply regret that they do. I would hope that you not hold me responsible for the actions of my people, past or present. I do not harbor the feelings of superiority that many of my race do. I do not approve of or condone that they once enslaved millions of white people as forced labor on several planets. I deplore slavery of any sort and I would hope that I am judge on the bases of my personal character and accomplishments. I believe that all men are equal and should have equal opportunities regardless of the laws and not because of them. “

  I was shocked, it had not occurred to me that in this galactic community that it might have been blacks that took the superior attitude and that it might have been their culture that would take and have white slaves. Before I could say anything Reidecor burst out with, “I can attest to Kerabac character and that he is not prejudiced, when I was on Ginet, which is a predominantly black planet, and I was being refused service in a bar Kerabac came and sat next to me and bought drinks and in defiance of others in the room gave me one and the two of us drank together, if he was a prejudiced bastard he would not have done that.”

  Lunnie likewise interjected. “Kerabac has never once indicated any discomfort or displeasure or embarrassment being seen with me when we have gone out dancing or for dinner, you would never get me convinced he’s prejudiced. “

  I looked at Marranalis who said, “I’ve had some blacks that have looked down on me, but I don’t have any hard feelings about them. I figure they just don’t know any better and simply have grown up with attitudes they never questioned.”

  I looked at Kala who said, “Oh please Tibby, don’t tell me you have such thoughts!?”

  I turned and looked at Kerabac “Okay here’s the deal, I’ll pay you ten times what you are currently being paid by the military. You will be given accommodations here at the estate like the rest of my team. Reidecor is the chief officer on the TRITYTE and you will be second to him. Marranalis is the gunner and in charge of security, both on and off the ship. You will have a personal body guard at all times when you are off ship or away from the estate here. When we acquire other ships you will serve as navigation officer and any other position that I may decide on. At all times Kala’s orders or requests are to be treated as my own. If that’s acceptable to you, you may move in here next week.”

  “One question before I give you my answer,” Kerabac said, “What would you have done if someone here had given an answer that they felt differently.”

  “I would have fired them immediately!” I said my voice full of conviction.

  Kerabac got a huge smile on his face “In that case I accept.”

  I looked around the room to see everyone else relaxing and with smiles on their face.

  Lunnie and Reidecor left with Kerabac to show him around the estate and to find a suitable suite for him in the main house. Kala informed me that she had taken my advice and found an employment agency that placed ex-military people in jobs and had found a temporary staff for us. She was very hopeful that some may even become permanent. Now that the estate had been purchased I needed to see to living up to my promise to Admiral Regeny about training his people in martial arts. I needed to find some way to expedite the process. For this task I felt that perhaps Kala could put her staff to work.

  “Kala, when I was on the TRITYTE, after I more or less fell into it, there was a device that I put on my head and it taught me your language,” I said, “I need to find out who makes them today and if there have been any advancements in them in the past six hundred years. When you find someone set up an appointment so we can go meet with them, I may be looking to have one made that is specialized.

  Just as I finished calling, one of the few staffers left over at the estate called me saying that a person representing the shipyard on Nibaria was calling claiming they had a wondrous opportunity for me. Since receiving my first outpouring of cash from the Federation I had been receiving calls similar from just about everyone that had something to sell someplace in the Galaxy, so this call came as no surprise. Kala started to tell the assistant to simply give this person the same story that we gave all such parties so eager to partakes of my wealth that I was not interested in purchasing anything and that I did not accept solicitation calls (a message I used to give to all such calls back on Earth) then assistant interrupted, “But ma’am the person is calling on behalf of the shipyard is Senator Tonclin!”

  Kala froze mid speech, “patch him through here,” she looked at me and said, “it never pays to ignore a senator.

  Tonclin was the first non-human sentient life form that I had a chance to observe close up, albeit via a view screen. There had been several non-humans at the senator’s dinner, but in the hustle of the crowd about me none had been able to actually speak to me. With nearly one million persons attending the event and non-humans sentient races representing less than three percent of the Federation that didn’t amount to many. My first impression of Tonclin was that he looked like he was covered with rough tree bark. There was a humanoid resemblance to him, he appeared short and squat and he didn’t appear to have either hair or eyebrows. His eyes were round and a very dark green in color and I could not detect a pupil. I expected his voice to be a deep base and was surprised when instead it was high pitched a rich soprano voice.

  “Senator Tonclin,” Kala began, “It is a pleasure to see you again. It’s been three years since I was attached to your delegation on the DUSTEN. To what do we own this honored call?”

  “Major Kala, it is so nice of you to remember this humble one. I am most pleased to speak with you once again. I recall well the kind and professional manner with which you served our delegation. We were most appreciative.

  I’m calling on a matter that we hope will be of interest to the Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer. We heard today of Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer’s acquisition of the estate of Galetils the industrialist of Astamagota, he is to be congratulated on this wondrous purchase. I myself have been to this estate as a guest of Galetils and recall its grandeur; it is good to see that it has gone to one so deserving as Tibby the Recoverer.

  But as to why I have contacted you, I have been asked, on behalf of the shipyard here on Nibaria, to inquire if the Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer would be interested in purchasing the space yacht that Galetils was having built, as you are no doubt aware it is the largest and most luxurio
us, and though it is still untested, fastest space yacht ever built. It was nearly completed when the sad demise of Astamagota and Galetils occurred. Unfortunately Galetils still owed vast amounts of moneys on the unfinished yacht and were due to be paid upon its completion and delivery. With all of Galetil’s debts and the wealth and remaining resources of his estates, after liquidation, the Federation will not have enough monies to pay in full the debts that he left. For the shipyard here on Nibaria and many of the subcontractors and suppliers this means that they will take huge losses and many may have to go out of business, and so it is that I come to the reason for my call. The ship yard is prepared to offer to the Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer the space yacht of Galetils for what is yet owned on this ship, the value of which two thirds had already been paid and only one third of its cost would have to be paid by the most Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer. Otherwise this wondrous ship, that is now ready to traverse the galaxy, will have to be scrapped to pay the debts the shipyard incurred in building it. Such would be a terrible waste. The peoples of Nibaria would rejoice in knowing that this proud ship was in the possession of one as great as the Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer.”

  Being out of view of the camera on the screen I motioned to Kala that I wished to talk to her and I mouthed the words, “I’m interested”.

  Kala without giving the appearance that I was there said to Tonclin, “Senator Tonclin, I am sure that Tibby the Recoverer will be most interested in hearing of this wonderful offer on behalf of the shipyard at Nibaria. I shall personally inform him of your honored call and the offer being made. Should Tibby the Recoverer be interested in acquiring this yacht, I am sure he would first like to visit and see for himself the wondrous workmanship of the peoples of Nibaria before making the purchase. We would of course be honored if we may respond to you personally and should Tibby the Recoverer be interested in seeing this ship for himself we would be most pleased to meet with and greet the Honorable Senator Tonclin as well.”

  “You do me great honor as always Major Kalana,” Senator Tonclin said. “I shall be most honored to hear from you the decision of the Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer.”

  After Senator Tonclin had disconnected the communication Kala looked at me, “What are you thinking Tib?”

  “Well first of all I am thinking perhaps I should have paid full price for the estate after all. Second, I am hoping that I am not going to have to listen to that long spiel of the Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer every time we meet with some dignitary or government official.”

  Kala laughed and said with a bow “Get used to it Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer. It’s the price you must pay for the fortune that has been poured upon you. Seriously, though I have not seen the yacht that Senator Tonclin was speaking of I have heard of it, it’s been the talk of people for years. The people of Nibaria are considered the best craftsmen in the Galaxy and I cannot imagine the ship being anything less than the crown jewel of ships in the Galaxy. Personally I think you should at least go to Nibaria and look at it.”

  “Ok, make the arrangements and we’ll go, but we still have the matter of the dispositions for Corporal Lexmal’s trial that we have to wait for before we can go.”

  “You’re right, but I think I can arrange it so we need not attend the trial.” Kala replied, “I think it can be arranged that we can give sworn depositions before the trial that will suffice. After all its five credible witnesses, plus the testimonies of the Bunemnites that were on the freighter and they have no reason to side with Lexmal, so the court martial is going to pretty much a formality.”

  I grinned and said, “Kala what would I do without you?”

  With a twinkle in her eye she crossed over to where I stood and put her hands around my neck and kissed me, “Don’t you ever dare try and find out!”

  A week later and with our depositions out of the way we boarded the TRITYTE and headed for Nibaria. The trip to Nibaria was short since it was the next planet over from Megelleon the time to travel between the two was only a matter of less than a day using the TRITYTE . Reidecor, Lunnie and Kerabac were immensely excited about seeing the space yacht. It had been big news in the Galaxy for years since it was described as being a flying luxury palace with all the amenities of a luxury resort. Not only could it carry one thousand guests, but it had a crew of over a thousand as well. It had its own hanger bay for smaller ships and surface craft since the ship itself was too large to land and needed to remain in orbit where ever it went.

  Reidecor told me upfront that if I planned on buying the ship I would need a more seasoned captain for it as he was nowhere near qualified to captain it. Lunnie and Kerabac on the other hand felt they would fully be able to serve on it with no problems. As Kerabac put it mapping the route between stars is the same in a space liner as it is in a patrol ship. Since Solbidyum was restricted in its use to only powering planets, with the exception of the TRITYTE, the space yacht was powered with a fusion react, highly efficient though not as powerful as a small amount of Solbidyum . According to the information we had received from Senator Tonclin the yacht was complete and ready to go except for provisions and crew. The shipyard at Nibaria actually was on a lesser moon and the ship itself assembled in orbit near the moon. Workers were shuttled from the planet to the worksite daily, many of them staying on the moon during the work week. A work week on Nibaria was 10 days and they had 4 day weekends but the shipyard staggered crews so the ship was worked on around the clock a day during the 5 years of its building. I had been impressed by the size of the DUSTEN when I first saw it and I knew the yacht was smaller in size but I was still overwhelmed by it I had an inkling of the vast amount of wealth that Galetils must have had to have such a ship built as well as his estate.. We didn’t go to the shipyard itself, but docked in one of the two hanger bays on the ship, and while not as large as the hanger bay on the DUSTEN they still were impressive and had sufficient room for a few dozen ships of varying size in each bay.

  The Nibarians seemed to all be about 1.4 meters tall compared to my 1.83 meter height. Senator Tonclin was among the group, I recognized him more because of his clothing than because of his physical appearance for though I could see subtle differences among the Nibarians they all looked pretty much the same to my untrained eye.

  Senator Tonclin stepped forward and greeted me with what I assumed to be a smile. “Greetings Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer. We are honored that you have chosen to accept our offer to view this magnificent ship. We trust that once you have seen it you will recognize the value of it and desire it for your own. It would be a great honor for the peoples of Nibaria to have the Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer be the owner of their finest ship ever built.”

  “Greetings honored representative of the people of Nibaria, Senator Tonclin, “I said, just as Kala had instructed me. “Please just call me Tibby; the titles make me feel uncomfortable.”

  “Ahh, then it is true that you wish to only be called Tibby” Senator Tonclin responded, “as you wish Tibby and you may call me Tonc if you wish. May I introduce Orcpipin, manager of the shipyard here at Nibaria.”

  Orcpipin gave a slight nod in my direction and I did the same in return. I introduced the members of my crew and without further ado Orcpipin began to lead us on a tour of the ship. I was amazed to find the master suite on the ship was exactly as at the Estate and there was also an office complete with glass wall and aquarium, although in this case empty and without fish. Many of the rooms that mimicked the ones at the estate had already been furnished but many more were not. I was astounded by the several large dining rooms aboard the ship and the many galleys and kitchens. There was an onboard theater designed for live performances, gyms, swimming pools, shooting galleries, there was a huge central atrium that ran down the middle of the ship with some type of clear plastic arched windows spanning it and huge trees and plants along the walkways and streams that interwove through the trees.

  I think what amazed me most was the amount
of detailed woodwork that seemed prevail everywhere one looked. The ship was truly amazing. I thought we never would get Lunnie out of the engine room, she was like a kid in a toy store, chattering and squealing about this and that. The look in Kala’s eyes and the smile on her face told me how much she was enjoying Lunnie’s glee and I nearly bought the ship for that reason alone. All of this was most impressive, but what really wowed me was the bridge of the ship. It was immense and decorated with the utmost of class and comfort. Throughout the ship the ornate and finely polished wood work constantly caught the eye, but the wood work on the bridge was beyond anyplace else in the ship. The wood was like a light pine and was composed of blended curves that complemented the curvature of the hull where it joined the bridge. The room itself had rich red carpeting and the room was lit entirely with back lighting. Various stations with panels and screens lined the walls and center consoles. Lush padded chairs stood at the ready at each station Kerabac was drawn to one station like a magnet, he commented on the quality and extent of navigation equipment that complimented the ship. I could see Reidecor, was very impressed as well and looked over all the stations carefully. Marranalis was looking about the various stations when suddenly he became excited.

  “This can’t be what I think it is, ”Marranalis said in amazement. “This ship cannot possibly have a RMFF.” The blank look on most of our faces told him we didn’t have a clue, “A reverse mass force field. The Federation military ships don’t have these because there isn’t enough power in a fusion reactor to power one.”

  Orcpipin stepped forth with a smile on his face and said, “That is indeed what it is, and it is fully functional except for the fact that as you sadly stated a fusion reactor is not powerful enough to power it. Galetils had one of his companies on Astamagota working on the design for a new fusion reactor that was small yet extremely efficient. It would have been capable of producing ten times the power output of the conventional reactors. He had planned to have it installed in a space located just behind the forward hangar bay and even had all the ceramic power cabling and switch gear installed to provide the power to the shields. He wanted to use this ship to demonstrate to the Federation the functionality of the shields with his new reactors and sell them to the military for all the major Federation warships. However, with the loss of everything on Astamagota including the designs of the reactors it became useless.”