Solbidyum Wars Saga 9: At What Price

by Dale Musser

  “I used the direct gate on the Capitol Station,” he said. “I had to fight my way through with a few of my troopers. Several enemy troops got through ahead of me and they’re aboard now.”

  I heard more fighting and another small explosion somewhere behind us. I glanced back and saw several of Padaran’s elite holding off enemy troops in the corridors.

  “Where are we going?!” I asked.

  “The only place where you might have a chance,” he replied. “The NEW ORLEANS!

  “Where is Reide?!” I asked.

  “Last I saw him was on the Capitol Station. He was leading the evacuation of the senators,” replied Padaran, as he yanked me through the smoky hallway and around a corner.

  As we approached the Cantolla Gate that led to the NEW ORLEANS, the first thing I noticed was the dead Federation trooper guards lying by the portal. The gate was open and on the NEW ORLEANS side of the gate were several enemy troopers engaged in hand-to-hand combat, not only with my own private security team, but also with Jenira and Kala!

  Marranalis and I rushed forward and into the conflict.

  Nine enemy troopers fought against the six of us, including Kala, Jenira, the two gate security guards, Marranalis and me. Padaran was still on the GLOMAR ROSA side, fighting the advancing Brotherhood insurgents who had overcome his team and backed them into the gate room from the corridor. Extensive fighting could be heard on the GLOMAR ROSA side, but there was little I could do about it, as I was immediately set upon by two Brotherhood troopers. Both of my NEW ORLEANS security guards had been wounded, but they continued to fight valiantly. Kala and Jenira were each fighting two men and their opponents weren’t faring too well. Both of them had also sustained significant wounds.

  These invading combatants were better trained in hand-to-hand combat than those we had faced in the past, but I also suspected that their strength was augmented by drugs. In any case, we were all struggling to overcome our adversaries. I was glad that my last nerve treatment was still fresh enough that I was fighting at something close to my normal capacity, as I was most certainly fighting for my life against these assailants.

  I heard a sickening thud and glanced over to see that Marranalis had fallen to the floor on top of one of his unconscious attackers. I wasn’t sure what had happened to him and wasn’t able to look long enough to assess the situation, as his second assailant immediately leapt over him and headed toward me. I managed to reposition myself, so he was forced to fight beside his comrade in very close quarters. This situation made it easier to defend myself, but I wasn’t winning any points in this match-up.

  Every so often I was able to get a glimpse of Kala and Jenira. They were still uninjured, but they were engaged in heavy combat and I didn’t know how long they would be able to maintain such an intense level of fighting. Finally, Jenira managed to wipe out one of her attackers.

  I glanced between my assailants and through the Cantolla Gate long enough to see that Padaran was inching his way closer to the portal. If he could make it past the threshold, we could activate the switch that would close our side of the gate, which would give us one more person to help overcome these goons, and then we would be safe.

  I managed to get a solid kick to the head of one of my opponents, which knocked him out, but the other assailant was on me immediately and got a few good blows in while pinning me against the wall. He tried to stab me with a knife, but the body armor under my shirt stopped the blade.

  Jenira and I continued to fight our way back to the gate switch, so one of us could close it as soon as Padaran passed through. I struggled toward him as he and the last remaining Federation troopers fought fiercely to defend the last few meters between them and the gate. It looked as though one of them was trying to close the gate when he was shot. Padaran himself had sustained several injuries, causing his fighting skills and speed to be significantly impaired.

  Before Jenira or I could make it to the gate switch, we saw the last trooper fall, leaving only Padaran to fight off a hoard of enemy troopers.

  Jenira and I subdued our last assailants almost simultaneously and started running toward the gate. As I raced toward him, I thought, If I can just reach him and pull him across the threshold….

  He held them back as long as he could, until finally he took another hit from an enemy’s weapon. His body spun, and as it did, I saw him grab a grenade from his belt. He took one look at me through the gate, nodded, and then quickly met his gaze with Jenira’s, and with a smile on his lips, he turned the dial that activated the grenade.

  All of us, including Jenira, screamed out in unison, “NO-O-O-O-O-O!”

  A flash and brief concussion shock wave threw all of us to the floor, including the attackers, as the grenade exploded and the gate closed, leaving the cold bulkhead surface where the gate opening had been.

  “NO-O-O-O-O-O! NO-O-O-O-O-O!” Jenira continued to cry, her long vigil of silence shattered, as she ran back to the wall and pounded the hilts of her catas against the metal wall where the gate stood before Padaran had sealed it forever.

  Meanwhile, Kala and I and the one surviving security guard had no choice but to get back on our feet and fight off the four remaining attackers. Behind them, lying on the floor, Marranalis started to stir. He hadn’t been killed after all and must have just been knocked unconscious during the conflict. I was occupied with two men at one time and Kala the other two as our second security guard fell to the floor. I heard Kala call out to Jenira for help, but Jenira didn’t respond. Slowly, Marranalis regained his footing, shook his head, and then, with a lumbering gait, made his way to the rear of the four attackers. His hulking frame towered over them. The scene was almost surreal as he grabbed one of the men fighting me and one fighting Kala and smash their heads together so hard that blood shot from their mouths and ears. This caused a momentary distraction for the other two, which allowed Kala and I to dispatch them quickly thereafter.

  Before the body of Kala’s opponent even struck the floor, she had spun around and rushed to a sobbing Jenira’s side. Her bloody swords now laid on the deck where she knelt near the wall, pounding it with her fists as she cried NO over and over.

  From the corridor behind us, I heard the rushing of many feet as a squad of the NEW ORLEANS security team came running to assist. But it was too late. Padaran was dead and the Brotherhood had won. Ming now held the most prized and horrible weapon in the universe – the GLOMAR ROSA – and most frightening of all, its PLABE weapon. With the PLABE on my personal fighter destroyed there were now only three PLABEs left, and one of them –possibly more – was now in the hands of the Brotherhood.

  I glanced at Kala, who was now crying on the floor next to Jenira, while Jenira had clearly gone into shock. When one of the security team retrieved her catas from the deck, she stared at them blankly as though she didn’t recognize them. The trooper carefully returned them to the scabbards on her back, but she didn’t seem to notice. The security team stood motionless, looking at the mayhem on the floor, then looking at me, expecting me to give them some kind of orders, but I was at a loss.

  I tried to gather my thoughts. Surely, there had to be ships in the fleet still capable of putting up a fight. But it would only be a matter of time before they would be eliminated by Ming using the PLABE that was now at his disposal. I needed to get to one of the remaining warships that was equipped with a PLABE and hope that somehow we could defeat the GLOMAR ROSA before Ming turned the full power of its arsenal on the defenseless planets of the Federation.

  To make matters worse, I had no idea what had happened to Lunnie or Reide. The last thing I knew of Lunnie was that she was headed toward Megelleon in a severely damaged ship surrounded by loyal Federation fighters who had seen her destroy the Brotherhood’s stellar gate and a vast number of their asteroid-ships and warships. But I didn’t know whether she was injured or how severe or – the stars forbid – whether the navigation completely system failed and she crashed. Reide was last seen on the Capitol Station whe
n it was being overrun by enemy troops; and by the time we’d lost Padaran, the station had probably succumbed completely to the Brotherhood insurgents. I didn’t know if Reide had managed to escape with the senators or if he had died trying. My mind was spinning with fear. Fear for my family, fear for my comrades and fear for the billions of citizens in the Federation coalition. I had to move.

  “Kala, take care of Jenira. I need to get to the Control Room and find out what’s happening,” I said.

  Kala nodded and said, “Take care, Tibby. I love you.”

  “I love you too, Kala,” I answered as I raced out the door with Marranalis. I couldn’t stop to tell her what had happened to Lunnie or Reide and I hated that, but there simply was no time.”

  When we ran into the Control Room, Kerabac immediately spoke up. “Thank the stars, you're still alive! We saw some of what was happening on the ship’s security cameras, but it all unfolded so quickly that we couldn’t respond in time to be of any aid. What happened?! We saw a fight involving enemy combatants that spilled over from the GLOMAR ROSA into the NEW ORLEANS, but we couldn’t see what was happening on the other side the gate.”

  “Padaran was killed,” I said bitterly and still somewhat short of breath. “Actually, that’s not true. He blew himself up near the gate to save us all. So he gave his life; he wasn’t killed. But he had taken enemy fire just beforehand and may have believed it was fatal.”

  “Oh, no! Kerabac said in a shocked whisper. Not Padaran!” He slumped back in the captain's chair. The news of Padaran's death clearly had a powerful impact on him. “He was one of the bravest warriors I have ever known. The Ruwallie Rasson will mourn his loss heavily, but they will be proud of the way he died.”

  “Kerabac, I need to use the communication system to find out what’s happening in the battle. The Capitol Station has fallen to the Brotherhood. They now have control of the GLOMAR ROSA and they’re invading Megelleon as we speak. And I have no idea if either Lunnie or Reide is alive.”

  “By all means, Tibby. Verona will assist you,” replied Kerabac.

  “If it’s all the same, I would prefer that Marranalis make the calls. We’ll use the War Room across the corridor.”

  If I had thought the situation bad moments earlier, once we began making calls from the War Room, we discovered it was far worse. The MAXETTE and FAZTA’MINA had been boarded and captured in the same manner and at the same time as the GLOMAR ROSA, so Ming now possessed all the PLABE weapons and major Federation warships. Many or perhaps all of the Federation carriers and frigates had also been captured in the same fashion. CGS-1 and CGS-3 had both been captured and were under the complete control of the Brotherhood, with the exception of the Control Rooms and Security Centers, which they had yet to find. CGS-2 responded that they the station had been infected by a canister containing the deadly pathogen and they had sealed all gates so no one could transmit the plague to other locations. Perhaps because of the confined environment, the illness was progressing into the latter stages very quickly. In a few hours everyone aboard would be dead.

  Ming had won. The war was over. A handful of Federation ships still survived, but not enough to fight off the Brotherhood. I told them to disburse. Flee the Federation and hide until I could find out whether any of the Leaders or senators survived. Pieces of the Federation still existed, but it was a question of how long they could hold out. With all the PLABEs under Ming’s control, Federation worlds had a choice to either surrender or to be totally annihilated – and Ming didn’t really care which choice they made. He had won.

  I went to the NEW ORLEANS’ med unit, where Doctor Danjuma and A’Lappe were examining Jenira. I walked in to find Kala’s tear-stained face staring through the examining room window as she waited with her arms hugged around herself.

  “They say she’s in shock… some sort of catatonic state,” said Kala as I embraced her.

  “I suspected as much. Listen, Kala, I have something to tell you,” I began. “Lunnie was shot down over Megelleon. She was alive, last I know, but she was trying to land our damaged fighter after she destroyed an enemy stellar gate.”

  “WHAT?! How did she…? She was here earlier today. When did she leave?”

  “She took our Nijang Fighter prototype, the one that A’Lappe equipped with the first PLABE weapon. She flew directly into the war zone at Megelleon and the Capitol Station. By the stars, Kala, her flying skills were unbelievable… the best I’ve ever seen! The girl is an honest to the stars hero!”

  “Tibby, you said she was shot down? Is she injured?

  “I don’t know. Her communication system was damaged in the fight. There were dozens of android and Nijang Fighters that escorted her back to Megelleon, but before I saw her land, the GLOMAR ROSA came under attack and Padaran showed up and told me I needed to leave the ship and come here.”

  “Reide! Tib, where’s Reide? Wasn’t he with Padaran?”

  “Padaran left him in command of evacuating the senators and Leaders from the Capitol Station. I've heard nothing since then.”

  “Oh no!” Kala said as her lips quivered and her eyes filled with tears.

  “Kala, it gets worse. Ming has captured nearly all the major Federation warships, including all those equipped with PLABE weapons, CGS-1 and CGS-3 are under Brotherhood control and CGS-2 is in permanent quarantine lockdown, infected with the deadly pathogen. Kala, Ming has won. We’re defeated. There aren’t enough ships left under Federation control to put up even a minor fight.”

  I looked over at A’Lappe, hoping he would offer some miracle, but he only looked at me sadly and hung his head in despair.

  At this point, Doctor Danjuma had finished her examination of Jenira. She approached Kala and me and said, “I think she will come around in a day or so. She’s suffering a traumatic shock right now. I’ve given her a sedative that should make her sleep. When she wakes up, I’m hoping she’ll snap out of it. Someone needs to be here with her until then. Someone she trusts needs to be at her side when she wakes up.”

  “I’ll stay,” said Kala as fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. “Tib, find out what happened to Reide and Lunnie.”

  “I will,” I said.

  I returned to the NEW ORLEANS War Room. It wasn’t as big as the one on the GLOMAR ROSA, but it was every bit as powerful. Marranalis had already taken up station at the console and was making contact with surviving Federation ships. Ming had planned out his operation well and the Brotherhood had managed to take nearly all the carriers in the Federation fleet. They didn’t bother going after the frigates and corvettes. From what Marranalis was able to learn, the Brotherhood had been able to get aboard CGS-1 and CGS-3 using gate nodes for their own gates. They did this by mobilizing troops to less-traveled worlds, whose Cantolla Gates were guaranteed to be located remotely in the less commercially affluent areas of the gate stations. Then, at a synchronized, selected time, they stormed through the gates of these worlds and aboard the CGSs, swiftly overtaking the guards, switching out the gate nodes on several gates to match their own gates, and moving thousands of troops onto the CGSs, where they were then in a position to quickly sweep the facilities and moved into the secured essential military and governmental gates to get onto the Federation ships and the Capitol Station.

  It was a fast and well-planned operation. The Brotherhood even knew enough to make a priority of disabling the CGS communication systems so no one could call for help. It was an ingenious plan and one that used our best resources against us. Where Cantolla Gates were once one of the main tools that kept us going in the battle against the Brotherhood, they had become the very instrument of the Federation’s destruction.

  I knew my first concern had to be the troops that were still out there fighting. I wanted to forget about all of it and just search for Lunnie and Reidecor, but duty demanded I take care of business first. The remnants of various fleets were told to take refuge at smaller bases and outposts for the time being. I was able to get in contact with Andy, who made apologies for
not being able to do better than they had in the battle. I thanked him for coming to our aid and expressed my regret that it hadn’t turned out better. I advised him to return to Mars and build up the defenses of his home planet in preparation for the day when the Brotherhood would try to come and take Mars.

  In my mind I was hoping that Ming would die before he could establish his empire in the Federation that had become all but totally destroyed. Perhaps, once he was gone, the citizens would be able to rise up and regain their freedom from any remaining Brotherhood members that survived their slave collars and drug addictions.

  I knew a broadcast was inevitable, so I wasn’t surprised when Kerabac contacted me to say that Ming was making an announcement on all commercial channels. Marranalis opened the vid channel where Ming was already speaking.

  “…useless. I have defeated your puny Federation Military. Your most dangerous warships are now under my command.”

  I noted that Ming was seated in what normally would have been my chair in the War Room of the GLOMAR ROSA. He looked terrible.

  Ming giggled and then suddenly reverted to a serious expression again.

  “IF you wish to survive, you will surrender completely. Any resistance on your parts will result in the immediate destruction of your world. You will surrender all weapons, ships and armaments to my troops or you will be destroyed.”

  He leaned forward into the camera as he spoke. His soulless, black irises were surrounded by a sick, yellow color and sagging lids. He looked older and even more frail than the last time I had seen his face. Had I not known better, I would have thought he was in his late 90s. His complexion was pale and waxy, except for the blue-gray veins in his skinny hands that shook from the onset of palsy that I knew was caused by the advancing Kuru disease. A twisted kind of hope gripped the pit of my stomach and I wished that he would take his last breath and die right in the middle of his broadcast, but my hopes were too high and he just kept on ranting.