“Kala, this isn’t going to be like anything we’ve seen so far. There are going to be terrible battles. I’m not sure if there is any safe place, probably the safest place will be on a shielded ship, but I don’t like the idea. We’ve already discovered that our RMFF shields can’t stop the Tottalax sleep weapon and it may be possible they might discover some way to make that fatal instead of putting us to sleep. We just don’t know what other potential weapons exist.”
“Tib, you can’t go around worrying about what might be. You need to focus on what is. Now that you are Vice Admiral you are going to be very busy, and you still have unfinished business to take care of. Have you thought about what you will do to fulfill your commitment to Andy and the androids at Goo’Waddle? You promised them you would find them a world they can colonize, one outside the Federation.”
“Actually, I think I have that one solved. I’m thinking of transporting them to Mars and letting them colonize there. It would be ideal for them as they don’t need air or water like humans do, and if they start to industrialize the planet, the emissions from their factories could cause the planet to warm up a bit, liberating frozen ground water and gradually creating an atmosphere where humans might be able to visit and exist.”
“Why would making Mars atmosphere habitable for humans be necessary if the planet is going to be inhabited by the androids?”
“Because, I am hoping that one day the humans and androids will be able to live and work together as social equals. My experiences with Andy cause me to believe that humans and androids can co-exist and treat each with dignity.”
“Do you think that humans will ever trust them?”
“I don’t see why it should not happen. They seemed to be getting along all right with the humans on Goo’Waddle when we arrived. Give them time and I think one day the Federation will accept them. However, I think when they do, they will be as intelligent beings with rights of their own and not pieces of mechanical property.”
“You really do trust the androids, don’t you?” Kala asked me with an amused look.
“Yes, I do. I have no reason not to. They have lived up to their word and saved our lives. Why shouldn’t I trust them?”
“I guess you’re right. I spent my entire life hearing tales about the genocide the androids tried with humans and how evil they were. I suppose that my view is lopsided a bit. Hearing Andy talk about the way androids were owned and treated by humans certainly added a new perspective to the events. I have to confess that I still have some trepidation about them, but I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.”
I sighed and looked about the ship. “This is kind of nice.”
“You’ve seen this ship a lot of other times before, Tibby. What it makes it seem nicer this time than any other time?”
I laughed. “I’m not talking about the ship. I mean you and I being alone without staff about us or people questioning us, and especially not having Jenira fussing over us constantly.”
Kala’s look went sober when I mentioned Jenira. “Tibby, what do you think of Jenira and her idea of us having her women warriors as guards? Tell me honestly!”
“I have a lot of concerns about it. Heck I’ve had nothing but concerns about her since she stopped speaking, and she took up swords. However, I must say I am impressed with her abilities and her dedication to training. Both Stonbersa and Marranalis say she is phenomenally good, but she is so young, and I find her feeling that she personally needs to see to our security unnerving.”
“Tibby, I think you are letting your image of her as a young slave girl override reality. There are a lot of troopers her age in the Federation military, or at least very close. We still aren’t sure of her exact age, but Dr. Danjuma believes she is over 17 and could be as old as 19. There are many young men and women in the military that are 18.”
I sighed. “I guess you are right, but I want to see her in action against a trained security team. I want to know you and our children are as protected as possible.
“Speaking of our children, how are those little womb renters doing?” I asked.
Kala grinned, “They are more like womb wreckers of late. I think they must be trying to compete with Jenira as fighters because, I swear at times it feels like they are doing martial arts drills in there. I’ll be glad when they finally decide it’s time to join us here on the outside.”
“It won’t be long now,” I said, “less than two months, if I recall correctly.”
“Dr. Danjuma said it might be sooner, but if I carry the full term it will be about six more weeks.” Just as Kala finished talking, a message came in from our lead escort ship.
“Admiral Tibby, this is Captain Dolaner on the CRAKREC, we are picking up readings of a large ship moving in from the rim in a direction that will take it to Plosaxen. Indications are that it’s a Tottalax ship.”
“What do you estimate its time of arrival there will be?” I asked.
“At the moment, our best guess is it will arrive there shortly before we do.”
“Captain, have your DSC officer contact the NEW ORLEANS and alert them to this development,” and then the thought hit me. “Do we have any Nibarians in the escort ships?”
“Negative sir, we were supposed to be getting Nibarian recruits just before Roritat’s attack on the Senate, but after the attack they shipped out on the NEW ORLEANS headed to Plosaxen to serve there. Your Commodore Stonbersa volunteered to deliver them to the main base on Plosaxen. Admiral Regeny felt they were needed there more at the moment. Major Marranalis was intending to train them en route."
“It’s good they are headed to Plosaxen, and Marranalis is training them, but we may have some difficulties without a Nibarian with our entourage.”
“If I may ask sir, what advantage would having Nibarians aboard give us that we don’t have at the moment?”
“We discovered from earlier encounters with the Tottalax that the Nibarians are immune to the effects of their sleep weapon. If you have a Nibarian onboard trained in flying your ship, they can keep the ship running and in operation while the rest of the crew is unconscious.”
“I’d not heard about that sir, but I can see where that could be a huge advantage.”
“Keep an eye on that Tottalax ship and let me know if there are any new developments.”
“Will do sir,” the captain replied.
After he signed off Kala looked at me with concern, “Tib, how are we going to get aboard the NEW ORLEANS with both a Brotherhood-controlled starship, and a Tottalax ship present? I know we now have cloaking systems on these small ships, but we have no RMFF shielding, and if we uncloak, they will know we’re there and they will fire on us, and we can’t pass through the NEW ORLEANS RMFF shield, and they can’t drop theirs off without being damaged by enemy fire.”
“To be honest,” I began, “I don’t know how we will board the NEW ORLEANS as long as the HAPRIN and the Brotherhood are in the vicinity. We’ll just have to take it one step at a time and when the opportunity presents itself, we’ll take advantage of it.”
Over the next two days, Kala and I enjoyed our time alone. We spent some of our time together sitting in the control room just chatting about how we’d met when I first arrived in the Federation. Kala reminded me of my initial embarrassment and reactions to nudity in the Federation, and I had to confess that it still was something that caused me some stress, especially in Jenira’s presence. This made Kala laugh, and she responded that it didn’t seem to bother Jenira at all, to which I commented that the only thing which did seem to bother Jenira was our safety.
When we weren’t with each other in the control room, we usually were laying together in the bed on the ALI, while the ship navigated on autopilot. We were still far enough out from Plosaxen that there was no real danger of any sort which might require our attention in flying the ship.
On the third day, we received another call from Captain Dolaner on the escort CRAKREC.
“We’ve just received a messag
e for you from Admiral Regeny,” he began after he had completed his call greetings, “The Admiral said that he was receiving word by GW message pods of a number of defections and mutinies of Federation ships in the outer regions to the Brotherhood. The actual defections must have taken place months ago, before the word had reached them of events at Megelleon; It would seem that Roritat had planned some sort of coup to take place about the same time that word of the mutinies and secessions reached the Capitol. The Admiral believes that the events surrounding you, and your hearing before the Senate forced Roritat and the Brotherhood to move sooner than they would have otherwise at the Capitol. He concluded it was the intent that news of the defections would have coincided with Roritat’s attack on the Senate, and might have caused the Federation to surrender and dissolve.”
“Were any of the ships involved in the defection equipped with RMFF’s or cloaking?” I asked.
“The Admiral said that most of the ships involved were too far out to have received the upgrades. He also indicated he’s relatively sure that they hadn’t even received word at the time they sent their GW pods, about loyalty testing. These ships are pretty far out near the Federation border.”
“How many ships are we talking about?” I queried.
“Admiral Regeny said he didn’t have definitive numbers, but he estimates we could be talking about one eighth to one-quarter of the fleet.”
“That’s not very definitive,” I said. “What about the planets in those sectors? Have they seceded from the Federation also?”
“Admiral Regeny only said there hasn’t been any word from any planets in those sectors since we received word of the mutinies, but he believes it’s a safe bet that many of those planets are now under Brotherhood domination. Many of the senators who left with Roritat were from those worlds.”
“Has he said anything as to how the Senate is reacting to this news?”
“Only that the Senate has authorized massive funding for military expansion and new equipment. He also said that enlistments in the military are up, and that he’s going to need more facilities to train them. He wants you to contact him as soon as you get aboard the NEW ORLEANS using the DSC system.”
“Is there any news from the NEW ORLEANS?”
“The last report was that they would be arriving at Plosaxen today. We’ve not had any messages since then.”
I replied, “Have your DSC officer contact them and ask for an update. Furthermore, find out if they’ve had any word from A’Lappe.”
“Tib, this sounds bad,” Kala said once I had finished talking to the captain.
“Far worse than I had expected,” I answered. We’re preparing to go to war against ships and many men and women who just months ago were part of the Federation. To complicate matters, we don’t even know which ships and troops have defected and are now the enemy. We may need a Federation logo or identifier we can have painted on our ships, so we don’t shoot down our own personnel in battle, since our ships, and the ex-Federation ships look the same.
“But you have electronic identifiers on your ships to track them when cloaked. Can’t you use that system to identify your ships in conflict?”
“Yes to some extent, but in close range visible combat, visual identification helps.”
“But all your ships have vid screens, and you’re not looking out through a window. You can just as easily have your computers identify your ships on the screen with some overlay and have the enemy ships identified with some other overlay.”
Kala was right; I hadn’t thought of that even though it was something that I knew had existed on war planes back in my days in the Navy on Earth. I found not remembering or thinking of that disturbing.
“What’s wrong Tib?” Kala asked as she observed my disillusionment.
“Kala, I should have thought of that. We had that technology back on Earth and used it on our war planes. Why didn’t I remember that and think of using it here? We even used a similar system at Goo’Waddle.”
“Oh Tib, you can’t think of, or remember, everything all the time. With all that has gone on and all the pressure you’ve been under since you arrived here, I’m amazed that you have been able to accomplish as much as you have.”
“Kala, back when I lived on Earth, there were a few rich countries with large militaries with modern and fancy war machinery, their militaries had elegant uniforms and their generals paraded around like fancy birds with bright plumage. Many of these countries hadn’t fought any actual wars in over a hundred years, and none of their officers had ever seen battle. Even though they had vast armies and modern fighting machinery, when they finally were confronted with actual warfare, their military forces quickly fell apart, and in just a matter of days their mighty armies were destroyed. All because they believed in their fancy hardware and size and didn’t rely on skill and knowledge. Their generals had no idea how to lead men; instead, they dictated to them and made demands without any leadership or instruction.
“The Federation’s military is much like those were back on Earth. They have large and imposing ships and equipment, and officers in striking uniforms. Their troopers present an image of invincibility, but the truth is, it’s all just show. In an actual combat situation, they have no real training or leadership and against any foe with cunning, training and experience they don’t stand a chance. The Federation relied on its size and hardware to maintain control and peace for 600 years with no real proficient enemy. Now for the first time since the initial Solbidyum War, they are faced with a real enemy that is cunning and has a strategy and plan. An enemy with allies, an enemy whose size and strength we aren’t sure of, and one that has infiltrated our own military and is taking our hardware and turning it against us. None of us can afford lapses in memory or awareness if we are to beat this foe.”
Kala walked over to me and put her arms around me and laid her head on my shoulder. “Tib, I know you are doing your very best, that is all anyone can ask. You’ve already done more for the Federation in the fight against the Brotherhood than anyone else; I don’t think there is anyone in the Federation who thinks otherwise.”
“That may, or may not be true. However, no matter how much I do, I worry that it may not be enough. It's obvious that the Brotherhood has been operating a long time, and has been organizing for years. How they have been able to organize and get to the size they are today without detection amazes me, but be that as it may be, now we have to work very hard to get organized and trained so we can fight off the Brotherhood. It would appear they are a much larger organization than was thought, and they have been preparing for a long time to take over the Federation, and now they believe they are ready. The question is, are we?”
It was near noon on the sixth day after leaving Megelleon, when we received a direct call from the NEW ORLEANS; by now we were close enough that it was no longer necessary for us to use the DSC system, though there was a delay of several seconds between questions and responses.
“Admiral, this is Commodore Stonbersa,” the Commodore said as his image appeared on the vid screen. We’re detecting the identification signals from the ALI and your escort ships on our long range scanners. I would advise that you turn them off, as the HAPRIN has your ID codes and will be able to locate and fire on you if you don’t.”
“Thank you Commodore, we’ll take appropriate measures. What is the situation there?”
After a brief pause while the message moved through the vast distances at light speeds the Commodores response came back, “The the HAPRIN arrived about an hour ago, and is taking up positions for an assault on the planet. Admiral Regeny was able to get word through to the bases on Plosaxen and all flight worthy ships have left the planet surface and are cloaked so they won’t be damaged by fire from the HAPRIN. They still are in the general area but not so close as to be hit by random fire. If we need them for an attack they can assist in minutes.”
“Unless we can find a weakness in the RMFF shields there isn’t much we can do. We’ll have to t
ry A’Lappe’s suggestion of continuous fire from the NEW ORLEANS against the HAPRIN in hopes it overloads their fusion reactor, and weakens their shields, but other than that we don’t have much to go against them at this time. Is there any evidence that the Brotherhood have figured out the cloaking system on the HAPRIN?” I wanted to know.
Once again there was a lag before the Commodore’s answer came back. “Negative on the cloaking, Admiral. Either they haven’t been able to get a crew member to show them how to use it or they prefer to be visible, thinking it might provide some psychological effect if they can be seen.”
“In that case, Commodore, I suggest you launch as many patrol ships and fighters as you have, and open fire on the HAPRIN as soon as you are in range. Keep firing and see if it weakens their shields enough to do some damage.”
“Will do, Admiral, do you want me to call in any of the ships from the bases on Plosaxen to assist in the attack?”
“Not unless you have a means of identifying the locations of those ships,” I said. If they have beacons that you can identify their whereabouts while cloaked, okay, otherwise you might end up hitting one in the assault.
“One more thing, Commodore, it looks like the Tottalax are planning on joining the HAPRIN, no doubts with hopes of knocking out all the defensive ships so they can hammer Plosaxen. You need to make sure you have Nibarians on the bridge and weapons so if the Tottalax do attack with their weapon, you will be able to continue firing on the HAPRIN, and to also maintain your own defenses and navigation.”
“With the Nibarians we picked up before departing the shipyard, I think we will be able to cover all the stations on the ship, should the Tottalax hit us with their sleep weapon again. Marranalis and Kerabac have been training them to handle the weapons systems, bridge, and engineering sections should we get hit by them. I think we’re safe on that measure.”
“Thanks, Commodore. By the way, I’m authorized to re-instate you into the Federation military with the rank of a fleet admiral to head up one of the three fleets. You’d be answering only to me and Rear Admiral Regeny if you take the offer. The Federation needs your expertise as a fleet admiral, more than I do as a personal fleet commodore. What do you say?”
Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation Page 4