Solomon Family Warriors II

by Robert H. Cherny

  Warren Elias Rothschild the fourth read his spy’s report with mounting concern. The ship that had single-handedly decimated his father’s forces and killed both his father and his brother was back. There was no doubt that his secret was soon to be breached. The entire human race knew who the Solomon family was. They would soon have access to the ship’s logs. They would know who he was and how he was linked to the Third Force. The question was what they would do with that information. If the information had fallen into other hands, he could be sure of reprisals or an outright full force attack. With the Solomon family that was by no means certain. Greg Solomon was a wild card. The Solomon family publicly espoused a three way balance of power to maintain the peace which, if implemented, would require that he declare himself as the power behind the Third Force. The balance they advocated included the Third Force, the Federation and the Swordsmen continually doing battle with the forces of organized and disorganized crime as well as a variety of terrorist groups. There was no way to know what Greg Solomon really had in mind. He might do nothing. Blackmail might be an option. He might attack Stellar headquarters. Warren had no way of knowing. As cunning and resourceful as the Solomon family was, he had reason to fear an attack from them, but a preemptive strike against them was to invite disaster. The Swordsmen had provided painful evidence to that fact. Warren sat and debated his options for hours.

  A man at the helm of the largest corporation in the Federation did not act precipitously and still keep the tens of thousands of people whose lives and livelihoods were in his hands gainfully employed. Warren took his responsibility seriously and approached the issue of the ship’s return with caution. He often joked that he did not run the company, it ran him. He called his executive assistant into his office. When she entered, he held a print showing the warship’s battered armor. He said, “As soon as Sabrina Mahoney hits the planet for the gathering, bring her to me. I have a special mission for her.”

  “Yes, sir, I will take care of it personally, sir.”

  “Thank you.”

  Sabrina and Fiona arrived three weeks later and were ushered to Warren’s office. He looked up from an accounting report he was studying. He jumped to his feet to greet them. “Sabrina!” He ran around the desk to give her a hug and kiss. The kiss he received in return was warm and welcoming. “It is so good to see you!” he effused.

  “I’ll bet you say that to all the girls!” Sabrina smiled.

  Warren laughed. “Yes, I do.” He turned to Fiona and held out his hand, “Hello, Fiona, it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person now that you know who I am.”

  Fiona studied him for a second intently sizing him up. “What? No hug? Are you not my father? Fathers hug their daughters.”

  She had clearly caught him by surprise. He smiled. He recovered quickly. “Only when given permission. Not all daughters like to be hugged by their fathers.”

  “I demand it.”

  He hugged her and gave her a demure kiss on the cheek.

  “Better,” Fiona challenged. “What was so important that the port authorities did not give us time to change out of our flight suits before demanding we appear in your office?” Fiona glared at him.

  “Ah, the brashness of youth! I like you already.” Warren laughed as he returned to his desk. He picked up a pile of pictures and handed them to Sabrina. “Recognize this ship?”

  “Oh my God! It’s Elizabeth.” Sabrina exclaimed.

  “Elizabeth? A sentient ship perhaps?” Warren asked.

  Sabrina regarded him with a sudden chill. “This is the ship that killed your father.”

  “Yes, is it sentient?” he asked.

  “It was when I left it.,” Sabrina affirmed “With all this damage, I don’t know if it still is.”

  “Which is why you are being redeployed to find out. If the ship’s logs are intact, the Solomons will know that we are the Third Force. There is nothing we can do to prevent that now. What we don’t know is what they intend to do with that information. I also want to know what they intend to do with that sentient warship. You will find out and report back to me.”

  “If they know who you are, they will be suspicious of my return. What should I tell them?”

  “If they know, tell them the truth,” Warren said. “I sent you to spy on them. They will understand and not be offended. They will also know that as long as you are with them, I will not attack them. You and Fiona are their protection. If they don’t know, you came because you were concerned about an old friend.”

  “When do you want us to leave?”

  “After the gathering. Fiona needs to meet her brothers and sisters. We have work to do before we scatter to the edges of the galaxy.”

  After they had left the office, Fiona turned to Sabrina and asked, “Mom, is this as dangerous as I think it is?”

  “Yes, dear.”

  “Can they make our ship sentient?”

  “I don’t know. Would you want it to be?”

  “I don’t know,” Fiona mused. As they walked to their quarters, Fiona assimilated what she had just learned in the brief meeting. He certainly was charming. She understood how her mother had fallen for him. Even more than that she understood why they had been chosen for this mission.

  The following morning, Warren, his ten children and their mothers gathered in the conference room closest to his office. Warren stood at the end of the long conference table.

  “Welcome to headquarters! One day one of you will occupy my chair. The goal of this week is to begin the process by which one of you will be ready to take over when the time comes, and the others will rally to support them. As we look forward we must be ever mindful of the past. This is why I have insisted on so much history as part of your academics. There are those who think of Biblical King Solomon as a wise man. I disagree. On his death his kingdom disintegrated. Many other great empires and companies have suffered the same fate on the death of the great leader. I do not intend to see that happen to this company. Not on my watch! Therefore, the ten of you will spend this week getting to know each other so you can better understand each other.”

  Warren paused. “The mission of Stellar Interstellar Transport is the support and promotion of interstellar commerce by providing safe, reliable, timely and economical transport of goods, services and people. By properly fulfilling its mission, Stellar Interstellar will provide safe, fulfilling and lucrative careers for its employees and stakeholders. As the heirs to this organization, you will have the responsibility of guiding this collection of people and equipment for the next generation. It is a duty to which you must devote your lives for upon your stewardship could rest the health and safety of vast numbers of human beings. You were born into privilege and that carries with it responsibilities. Responsibilities you cannot avoid will seek you out and drag you back if you try to escape them. Reconcile yourselves to the fact that the shipyard worker who services our ships has greater personal freedom than you do. It is a fact of life. Get used to it.”

  He took a sip of water before continuing. “Ladies and Gentlemen, the envelopes before you detail your part of the plans with which we intend to deal with the crisis looming ahead. Unfortunately, a situation has arisen which can have great impact on us. Our primary concern is the potential for war between the Swordsmen and the Federation. If such a war breaks out, our people and our ships will suffer. Too many people have worked too hard to build a safe and fulfilling working environment for me to allow a bunch of glory hound politicians to destroy it!” His voice had risen to a shout.

  He paused again to regain his composure. “In the envelopes you will find deployment orders. You will maintain station as described in these orders. It is my intent to stop a war between these two groups of bull headed idiots as soon as it starts. Since I do not trust any mechanical or electronic device well enough to accomplish this task, you will be the ones who will deliver the crushing blow that will stop this war in its tracks. Let me amend that. Nine of you will take the stations as ordered in th
ese documents. Sabrina and Fiona have a more delicate mission which I had not anticipated. You need to be aware of what they are doing and come to their assistance should that be necessary.”

  He paused. “Most of you know that my father and brother were killed while preparing an attack on New St. Louis.”

  Fiona, reacting to a subtle change in his voice, raised her hand and asked, “Father, did you approve of that attack?”

  Warren stared at the cold blue eyes boring into his soul. “We do not discuss actions we may or may not have agreed with in the past.”

  Fiona was not letting him off the hook. “In public we say what we need to say for the good of the company. In private among the people you intend to entrust the company’s future, you must tell the truth. If you cannot trust us, then we cannot trust you.”

  Sabrina beamed. The kid had spirit.

  “Whether I agreed or not is irrelevant.”

  “No! We need to know if you approved the raid on New St. Louis, and if not, why not. If we are to properly govern, we must understand your thinking.”

  The other children were stunned at the brazenness of Fiona’s attack on their father.

  Warren stood for several seconds while he controlled his anger. Nothing he ever did in anger turned out the way he intended. He had learned from his mistakes and waited until his anger subsided. “I did not approve of the raid. My father had opened a competing depot and wanted to remove the competition. I did not approve of the tactic. There are better ways to eliminate a competitor than by killing them. I also feel that the depot at New St. Louis needed to continue to be part of our freight network even with our own depot nearby. While I was away researching the next generation of cargo ships and escorts, they launched the attack and were killed. Does that answer your question?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “The reason I bring this up is that the Federation ship that single-handedly destroyed our entire fleet has turned up at Eretz. This could be a serious problem. We have reason to believe that the ship is sentient. Sabrina would you care to comment?”

  Sabrina stood. “The ship was sentient when I served on it. I suspect that since it made its way across such a large span of space unassisted by humans in a voyage that took twenty years, it is still sentient. When I served on it, the ship was extremely intelligent and resourceful. We do not want it to be our enemy. There are other sentient ships as well. To the best of our intelligence service’s knowledge all of these sentient ships are in service to Eretz.”

  “Which is why Sabrina and Fiona are going to Eretz,” Warren said. “Sabrina has an established relationship with the people who now hold the ship.”

  One of the older boys raised his hand. “If we know where they are why don’t we attack them with our Third Force assets?”

  “Eretz is in a unique position. They are not members of the Federation and are not bound by its rules. They have built a huge defensive force. They patrol the half dozen systems in their immediate area on the basis of mutual defense contract agreements with those systems. They have never launched an attack outside their declared protected space. They have been attacked by pirates, crime syndicates, Jihadists, Swordsmen and P A F, but they have always overwhelmed their enemies. Even the most aggressive pirates avoid their space. They are an extremely tough nut to crack.”

  “But not impossible,” Fiona said.

  “We must always weigh the expense of a project against its financial gain,” Warren replied. “The cost of an attack on Eretz, even if we won it, would be greater than any possible gains. Not only that, everything we want from them can be achieved at less cost with peaceful means. Attacking them is not an option. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Fiona said. “Are you saying the decision to go to war is a business decision?”

  “It is for me,” Warren affirmed. “Keep in mind that they manufacture the convoy escort craft we use in large numbers and keep a couple dozen of them involved in advanced live fire training exercises. They can quickly turn any exercise into a combat interception. Anyone stupid enough to attack them will regret it. This is why we are sending envoys on a mission of peace. They crave peace and we hope they will welcome us as allies. We can use their desire for peace to our mutual benefit.”

  A steward entered the room and stood for recognition. When Warren acknowledged him, he said in a voice too haughty to be real, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Luncheon is served in the next room. If you will kindly follow me.”

  The ten young adults sat around a large table while their mothers and Warren conferred at another. Fiona mentally stepped back to observe her half-siblings. The time would come for them to understand her pirate heritage, but for now, let them expose themselves to her.

  THIRD GENERATION - CHAPTER NINE

  SIX MONTHS AFTER ELIZABETH showed up, Sabrina and Fiona entered the Eretz protected space as escorts to a regularly scheduled convoy of cargo ships in accordance with standard practice. As far as Sabrina could tell, the real purpose of her mission was still secret. In keeping with procedure, they were closely escorted by a flight of four ships each of which was as heavily armed as theirs. Further out, two flights of four of the intra-system light fighter interceptor that was also built in the ship yard that was their destination maintained formation from a safe distance.

  Fiona scanned her displays at the fire power arrayed around her. “They don’t trust us, do they?”

  “No, but don’t take it personally,” Sabrina said. “They don’t trust anyone.”

  “Probably smart.”

  Sabrina and Fiona docked and proceeded to Greg Solomon office at the ship yard.

  Greg looked tired and much grayer than Sabrina remembered him. Even his voice spoke of a bone deep exhaustion she had never seen in him before. He had been alerted of their arrival and greeted them when they entered the office. Acting as if he didn’t know, he asked, “Dear Sabrina, it is nice to see you. To what do I owe the honor of your visit?”

  “Convoy duty as always,” Sabrina replied. “Passing though town.”

  “How long will you be here?” Greg asked.

  “Cargo transfer is expected to take a week,” Sabrina replied.

  Greg focused his attention on the cold blue eyes regarding him intently from Sabrina’s side. He returned the scan in kind with an evaluation of his own. “This must be Fiona. Pleased to meet you!”

  “My honor sir,” Fiona replied.

  “Would this happen to be a member of the latest generation of the House of Rothschild?”

  Sabrina blushed. “Yes, it would.”

  “Ah, then, I see. If she’s anything like her father, she won’t have much patience for social chit chat. We should get right to business.”

  His eyes connected with Fiona’s even though his words were for her mother. “I suspect that the dear Mr. Rothschild is concerned about what we may or may not know about his activities as they relate to the Third Force. Am I correct?”

  Sabrina nodded. She had always known Greg could be blunt, but this was blunter than normal. Fiona did not move a muscle although she was as surprised as her mother.

  “Let me get straight to the point. Intelligence forces here at Eretz have suspected the link for a long time. Thanks to Elizabeth, we know the truth. We have not shared this truth outside the family. We would offer a small bargain, a minor blackmail if you will. We request services we need to accomplish our goals which we believe Mr. Rothschild would support even if we were not blackmailing him. The Federation has refused our claim of salvage on the ship we refer to as Elizabeth. They have offered to sell her to us for a fee which I intend to renegotiate. That leaves us strapped for cash. In return for keeping his secret and for signing a nonaggression and mutual protection agreement, we request that the noble Mr. Rothschild provide us with certain services of which his company has an abundance. Will you send him this message and seek his reply?”

  “What services would those be?” Sabrina asked.

  “Discreet transpor
t of replacement parts currently scattered across the galaxy. Discreet transport of medical supplies and crew rations to support our on-going mission. The loan of yourself and your ship to assist in our defense. A pledge not to attack either ourselves or Eretz. If indeed it is Mr. Rothschild’s intent to prevent a war between the Swordsmen and the Federation, we would wish to assist him in that endeavor. In return for his clandestine support we will keep his secret and assist his intelligence gathering activities.”

  “How do you intend to do that?” Sabrina asked.

  “We plan on restoring Elizabeth to full operation as an independent combat ready hospital ship conducting humanitarian and exploratory missions. We also have a war to stop.”

  Sabrina gasped. “Do you really believe you can do all that?”

  Fiona’s eyes never left Greg’s face. She smiled at the audacity of the plan.

  “No guts, no glory! Will you pass the message along?” Greg said.

  “Certainly. What is the status of the ship?”

  “The reactors and drive systems have been replaced. The hospital section life support systems are functioning, but little else is working. The bridge is still in vacuum. Weapons systems are destroyed. Work has ground to a halt for lack of parts. But, enough of that. The family is gathering at the equestrian center tomorrow evening. We would be pleased if you would join us for dinner.”

  Fiona suddenly broke her gaze and looked at him aghast. “Horses!!?” She spun to look at her mother. “Yuck!”

  Greg smiled. “Maybe we could convince Saul to teach you to ride. They are gentle creatures.”

  Sabrina grinned. “We’ll see you tomorrow. It will be fun.”

  Fiona protested as Sabrina dragged her out the door, “Mom! Horses! They smell!”

  Sabrina laughed off Fiona’s continuing protests as they headed down the hallway. Sabrina already knew the answers Warren would give. She had been empowered to grant a wide variety of requests. Nothing in what Greg had suggested was beyond her authority. There would be logistics to work out of course, but the value of the requests were insignificant compared to the importance of keeping the Third Force secret. As she walked away, she knew the one string Warren would attach would be a meeting between the Solomons and the Rothschilds. That would be an interesting meeting.