“How long will the training take, and how soon can you begin training them?” I asked.
“We could begin training them tomorrow if you have candidates picked,” she said, “I would suggest you have individuals with engineering training, if at all possible.”
“We’ll get right on it, and I’ll have your candidates within less than a week. Now how about transfer stations?” I asked.
“A’Lappe, you can take this one,” Cantolla said.
“I’ve done a little research and discovered that there are a number of old space stations located around the Federation that were along routes between the stars as supply and way stations in the slower days of star travel. With the advent of the starships and the use of synthesizers and replicators, the stations were no longer needed and were eventually abandoned. Many of them are still manned with a minimal custodial staff in case they are ever needed for anything, but most have been inactive for decades or longer. It would be very easy to take a few of these and convert them into transfer stations. We can equip them with RMFF and cloaks and solbidnite reactors to power them. They can be towed to new locations or have them transferred through large Cantolla gates to some remote and secret locations where, once cloaked, they would be impossible to find.”
“Do you have any idea where these stations are now?” I asked.
A’Lappe blinked one of his hypnotic blinks and grinned. “I do indeed, and I have prepared a list of them with their current locations. I’ve also included the personnel requirements and the supplies we will need for each one.”
“How long would it take to get the first one operational?” I wanted to know.
“The quickest we can do it using the easiest one would be about two months. It would not be fully operational, but once it is partially operational and in position, it can be completed onsite by transferring materials through the gates on the station. I have the stations listed in order of best suited and easiest to convert at the top of the list. I also have recommendations for a few obscure relocations that would be difficult to find.”
“Excellent. Now what about the design of the new ship I’ve requested?” I asked.
“I’ve put together some drawings for you to look at,” A’Lappe said as he activated a vid screen across the room. “I went with your idea of using tubes instead of hangar bays and having upper and lower layers with four tubes running fore and aft, and four tubes running port and starboard. I’ve made the quarters areas smaller, though still comfortable, and increased the weapons supply areas in addition to the standard plasma and laser guns. I’ve added rail guns as well; there are times when impact weapons can do more harm than energy weapons. It’s very possible they might even work against the Tottalax vessel.”
“Speaking of the Tottalax,” I said turning toward Marranalis, “No one has really mentioned them since I’ve returned. Are they still attacking with the Brotherhood and using their sleep weapon?”
“Yes, they are. After the battle at Plosaxen when you collided with their ship, they were not seen for a while, and we thought perhaps their ship had sustained substantial damage and they were no longer in the battle, but then they appeared at the attack on Lanscade.”
“One of the rods on the outside of the hull of the Tottalax ship got embedded in the hull of the ALI when we collided with it,” I said. “They may have needed to take the ship back to their home world to fix it. I think the rods have something to do with their sleep weapon, as it started to glow white just before Kala and I blacked out.”
“You say it got embedded in the hull and then broke off,” A’Lappe queried. “Is it still there?”
“Yes, I think so, but it’s not going to be of much use. It’s not much more than a hollow pipe. It looks like it may have held some instruments, but those are gone now.”
“Nevertheless, I would like to take a look at it,” A’Lappe stated.
“Kerabac, has the ALI been retrieved or isn’t it worth retrieving?” I asked.
“We stripped out the cloaking device, and a few other items, but the ship is hardly in salvageable condition. We were planning on using it for target practice before leaving,” Kerabac replied.
“Can someone go down and get the rod out of the hull for A’Lappe? I inquired. I don’t think it has any real value, but I’m not a scientist.”
“I think we can find someone to do it. I’ll make sure it’s done before we leave for Goo’Waddle,” Kerabac replied.
“Well, that’s all I wanted, so unless someone here has something else to add, I need to get back to the DUSTEN. I want you all to know I really missed you and miss being here on the NEW ORLEANS, but I’m just a Cantolla gate away if you need me. The same is true for Kala as well. As I started to stand to leave, Cantolla asked, “Is it true that you called Rinncal Haf-joab, Wrinkle Half Job from buttocks?”
I sighed and dropped my shoulders realizing more and more this one statement was going to follow me the rest of my life. “Yes, I did. It may not have been very professional, but the man was being a total ass.”
“Oh, I’ve no doubt of that,” Cantolla said, “He once came to the university and tried to bribe the school into giving him access to data on some experiments we were doing for another client. It got very ugly, and he threatened to see that all funding for the school would be shut off if he didn’t get the information.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“One of the students on the research team passed information on to Rinncal for a huge sum of money. The client sued the university, but the judges ruled that the university could not be held responsible for the actions of one student,” Cantolla replied.
“Was the student tried?” I asked.
“No, the student died after an accident two days later while he was on vacation. The money paid the student was found in his bank account and was awarded to the client who had been paying for the university study.”
“And what about Rinncal? Was he ever charged?”
“Yes, he was charged, but he never went to trial because he bought out the client’s company that was funding the study. Once he did that, the court dropped the charges, saying that he could not sue himself so there was no longer any injustice to go to trial.”
“Do you think Rinncal had anything to do with the student’s accident?” I asked.
“I do, but there was absolutely no evidence to file charges, so he never was tried, or charged for that matter,” Cantolla said. “Anyway, I just wanted to say I approve of your calling him Wrinkle Half Job from buttocks; you’re probably about the only person in the Federation that could do that to his face and get away with it.”
After the meeting, I wanted to get back to the DUSTEN and spend some time with Kala and the twins, but first I felt I needed to talk to Regata one more time. The ship's computer told me he was in one of the observation bubbles on the outer hull. I found him there, sitting cross-legged, on a long padded bench that looked out at the planet and the sun. Once again the pods glass had been darkened to make it possible to look directly at the star without doing harm to one's eyes.”
“Greetings, Man-Who-Speaks-for-Thumumba,” he said without turning to look at me. I denoted a tone of sadness to his voice as he spoke.
“Greetings, Child-of-Thumumba,” I replied as I entered and sat down next to him. We both sat silent for a moment, looking out at the star which was radiating out long flares like arms, they reminded me ever so much of the tentacles of some mythical sea beast.
“I see the flares are very active at the moment,” I said at last.
“It is the star child,” Regata said. “It is testing its abilities and learning. Right now, it is playing with the energies from the sun. It isn’t even aware of the planets orbiting it, nor the stars that fill the universe around it.”
“Have you been able to communicate with it?” I asked.
“I have been able to get its attention briefly. In much the same way one might gain a newborn’s attention by touching it on the nose using a
piece of grass,” he said as he continued staring at the sun.
“If it hears my thoughts, it does not understand them. It has no real sense of me, or this ship for that matter. It will be millions of years before it begins to have any knowledge about these things, and by then we will be long gone.”
“Have you relayed this information to Thumumba?” I inquired.
At last, Regata turned looking at me, and he sighed, “Yes, Thumumba is glad to know he is not alone, but he is sad knowing he cannot communicate with this child.”
“Does this mean you are ready to leave?” I asked cautiously.
“Yes, First Citizen,” he said more cheerfully, “let us journey on, if there are two it is reasonable to assume there are more. Perhaps we will encounter another one more mature that Thumumba can communicate with.”
When I got back aboard the DUSTEN, I went straight to my suite in hopes of spending some time with Kala and the twins, but when I arrived, they were not there. “Computer, where is Kalana at this moment?” I asked.
“First Citizen Kalana is in the pool area,” was the response.
The thought of the pool seemed very inviting at that moment, and I turned and headed for the pool, with my parade of guards in tow. The guards took up station at the door as I entered the pool area. Once inside I saw Kala and Jenira with the twins in the pool. “Hey, Tib, you’re just in time for the twins' daily swimming lesson.” Kala shouted to me above the squeal of Lunnie, who was slapping the water with the palm of her hand. I began stripping down to get into the pool and noticed that Reidecor was clinging tightly to Jenira. “I take it Reidecor isn’t’ as enthused by the water as Lunnie is?” I commented.
Kala laughed, “You would be right there, though he is slowly lightening up to it. At least, he's stopped crying about getting wet. He seems to have gone backwards about water and swimming since we were on the planet. He didn’t seem to mind it there.”
I slipped into the water and immediately Lunnie started reaching for me. “Here, Tib, she won’t be happy or still until you take her,” Kala said, "Swim to daddy Lunnie," she said as she placed her in the water.
Lunnie put her head under water and began kicking and moving her arms. Her coordination wasn't great but it was good enough to get her to me, though she did lift her head once to take a breath. I picked up Lunnie and then an idea hit me. I lay back so Lunnie was lying on my chest and I slowly began to float. She looked at me with a stern look, and then when she saw we were floating, she smiled, relaxed and began to make happy baby sounds as she slapped the water on both sides of my body.
“You’re going to spoil her that way,” Kala said.
“I think it’s already too late,” I answered. I stood up and held Lunnie up in the air over my head, and then I ducked down under the water while still keeping her above it. When I popped back up, Lunnie squealed and laughed so I did it again. From nearby I heard Reidecor laughing and looked to see he was watching us; hearing Lunnie laugh made him laugh also. “He seems to follow Lunnie’s lead a lot,” I said to Kala.
“Yes, he does, Lunnie is more active and adventurous. Reidecor is more analytical and cautious. He always watches Lunnie do something before he tries it.” She waded over to Jenira and took Reidecor from her arms and brought him to me. “Here, you take him now and repeat what you did with Lunnie; let me have her a minute.” She tried to take Lunnie with one arm while handing me Reidecor with the other, but Lunnie clearly didn’t like that idea and began to fuss and pull away. “You can have him back in a minute,” Kala said to Lunnie as I took Reidecor from her arms, “you need to learn to share your father with your brother.” Lunnie looked like she was going to cry in a minute, and then turned to look at Jenira, who was now besides Kala, and she reached for her. “Okay, you can go to Aunt Jenira,” Kala said as she laughed and passed Lunnie on. I spent another 30 minutes in the pool playing with the twins and talking to Kala and Jenira and was about to leave when Marranalis entered the pool area.
“Excuse me, Admiral; we are approaching Kendrop and the battle zone of the HAPRIN. Captain Wanoll would like if you could join him on the bridge.”
“I’ll be right there,” I said as I handed Reidecor to Kala and climbed out of the pool. I could see a look of disappointment on Kala’s face, but she said nothing as I quickly headed for the shower before dressing.
When I arrived on the bridge, the battle scene was playing out on the giant view screen. I could see that the HAPRIN had experienced a lot more damage than we had imagined, and two huge gaping holes existed on her port side where the hangars had been located.
“Can someone tell me why all the hangar bays on all the ships I have seen so far are on the starboard side of the ship?” I asked. No one answered.
“Wanoll, can you tell me?”
“I really don’t know, Admiral. It's always been that way as far as I know. I don’t think anyone has questioned why, in my life time anyway.”
“Well in this case,” I said looking at the damaged HAPRIN, it works out in our favor. However, the new carrier ships I am having built will have hangar access fore and aft, port and starboard, and top and bottom, and while we can be glad in this instance all the hangar bays were on this one side, we would not be so grateful if the positions were reversed.”
Marranalis asked, “I’m curious though, why do you think they pulled so many of their ships back into their hangars with troops still on the ground? If they had left their corvettes out, they could have defended the HAPRIN.”
“Based on the past tactics they used on other planets, I think they intended to fill all the ships they had with as many troopers as they could and ferry them to the surface for major ground assaults. When they saw us abandon our frigates and corvettes, I think they saw it as a signal to begin their full planetary assault. Up until this point all their ground forces were doing was establishing and defending landing areas for the assault teams to use later.
“Has there been any talk about surrender?” I asked.
“None, sir,” Wabussie stated, “but we have intercepted communications from the HAPRIN to other Brotherhood ships asking for assistance.”
“What response did they get?” I asked.
“It’s been mixed, sir, at first they were told, no, and to fight it out and take control of the surface. Then once they heard the HAPRIN was dead in space with no propulsion, they said they would send several frigates and corvettes to help defend them, but that it would be several days before the first ships would arrive and for the HAPRIN to hold us off as long as possible. Since then the pleas from the HAPRIN have increased in intensity with them reporting the loss of the GW generator on the bow and losses of defensive weaponry. They have stated that they may need to surrender, to which and old acquaintance of yours named Shydak, sent back a reply that they had better blow the HAPRIN up with all hands aboard rather than surrender, or they would all wish they had when he got his hands on them.”
“Shydak! That Korgian blood sucker is out here somewhere?” I shouted.
“It would appear so,” the Captain said, “because the Brotherhood hasn’t figured out the DSC system yet they are needing to rely on old-style communications, and it takes nearly a day before they get any replies to messages. Based on the lag between the last messages, we believe that Shydak and a small fleet of ships are heading this way and a little less than a day away at the moment.”
“Alright then, let’s assume that they are coming from the nearest edge of the Federation space. I want you to place the DUSTEN somewhere in that general vicinity about an hour’s flight time from the HAPRIN. I want the DUSTEN to remain cloaked and launch the rest of our fighters and patrol ships; spread them out like a wall between the enemy fleet and the HAPRIN. Every ship is to remain cloaked.
“Captain, do we have any troop transports aboard that have cloaking capability?” I asked.
“All of them do Admiral,” Wabussie stated.
“And how many is that?”
“Forty, sir,”
he responded.
“Get Sokaia to the bridge,” I said. “I need her NOW!”
I saw Wanoll gulp and then turn and address the communication officer to notify Sokaia to come to the bridge immediately. The speed of her arrival was astonishing.”
“Captain Sokaia reporting as requested,” she said as she stepped onto the bridge.
“Very good, Captain, I’m impressed. How did you get here so fast?” I noticed as I was speaking that she was already in combat attire and ready for instant action. A slight grin played over her face as she answered. “I’ve grown accustomed to the way the Admiral thinks and acts, sir,” she said. I anticipated a call to action once we arrived here.”
“How fast can you deploy your troops?” I asked.
“Sir, they are all standing at the ready in the hangar bays at this moment. I can have them all outbound in minutes, if you so order.”
“Very good, Captain, have half your troopers board transports; you are to fly, cloaked, to the HAPRIN, and get aboard the ship anyway you can. Use your discretion in doing so. I suspect that most of the people aboard are going to be Brotherhood loyalists; those that aren’t are most likely slaves or hostages. You’re going to have your hands full trying to weed the good guys from any bad guys aboard.”
“Yes sir, understood, sir. What about the remainder of our troopers?”
“I want you to send them to the planet surface, also cloaked, and I want them to take out any Brotherhood ground forces you encounter. The Brotherhood has set up a number of landing points, and I want you to make sure none of those sites are in their hands, should other Brotherhood ships get here. Oh, and one thing more, Captain. You only have a few hours to accomplish the task.”
Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation Page 25