Solbidyum Wars Saga 6: Defeat of the Tottalax (38 page)

I have to admit I was angry with Regeny at that moment.  I had been angry with him one time before when Kala was poisoned, but this was different.  I was angry because he doubted me and my decisions and angry because he went to Tonclin, casting doubt in Tonclin's mind about my leadership, and my choices as well.  Oddly enough I was also angry because now he had put himself in doubt in Tonclin’s mind, and I didn’t know where that would lead.  Certainly, Tonclin would think of demoting Regeny.  The stars forbid that he should do that.  If he did I was next in line, and the last thing I ever wanted was to be in command of the entire Federation military.

Tonclin stayed aboard the
MAXETTE
longer than I anticipated.  After we finished our foccee, Tonclin asked for a tour of the ship. He had toured it when it was dedicated, but then it didn’t have a full complement of fighters and scout ships aboard.  Nor did it carry thousands of special operation troopers ready for action.  Now the ship was buzzing with action with everyone at the ready for whatever the next few hours were to bring.  I could see Tonclin was impressed with what he saw.  Finally, after we had toured nearly all the ship, he announced that he needed to leave, but that he wanted to use the Cantolla Gate to the
NEW ORLEANS
, so he might meet briefly with his daughter, Chanina, before he returned to the Capitol.

As he was about to pass through the gate to the
NEW ORLEANS,
he turned to both Regeny and me and said, “I hope all this turns out well.  I recognize that both of you wish only for what is best regarding the Federation, and I appreciate that one must raise hard questions at times in order to determine what is best.  Regardless of the outcome of this battle here, I hope that you two will recognize that, and understand that we all are striving for, and want what is best for the Federation, and that there is nothing personal in this.”  And then he turned and passed through the portal.

Regeny and I stood there a moment watching him go.  Finally, Regeny sighed and turned to me, “Tibby, I’m sorry.  I should have talked to you more about my concerns, and I should have looked into the details closer.  I guess I just didn’t want to accept that this would happen.  I also must confess that I have a disliking for the Weccies that may be clouding my choices concerning them.  I hate their arrogance, and their attitude about the Federation, and saving their skins rubs me the wrong way.  However, I see your point, and like it or not, I think you’re doing the right thing.  I’m sorry for creating this mess.”

“Look, let’s just forget this ever happened,” I said.  “We’ve got one hell of a battle to fight, and right now I need to get with A’Lappe to see how his new weapon design is coming along.  We think we may have a weapon that can defeat the Tottalax.”

“What?  When did this happen?  Regeny asked.

“Very recently, after talking with Tot.  If A’Lappe has been able to make this new weapon, we may see the end of the Tottalax and their presence with the Brotherhood.  You’re welcome to come along and see if you like.”

“Thanks,” Regeny said with a smile, “I think I will.”

“When I got to the lab flashing arcs of light were sporadically lighting up the walls.  The light was coming from behind a large partition at the end of the room, and I could see A’Lappe wearing dark goggles standing at the side of the partition.  One of his assistants noticed us, and donning a pair of goggles himself, went and got A’Lappe’s attention.

“Admirals”, A’Lappe addressed us, “what brings you here today?”

“We came to see how the microwave weapon is working out,” I said.

“Ah,” A’Lappe said with a huge grin.  “If the rest of the hull of the ship is similar in nature to the rod sample you provided me, you’ll be able to cook them like Cengale's shellfish.  There’s is one minor problem,” he said wrinkling his nose as he said this.

“What?”  I asked.

“You’ll need to be within less than 300 meters of their ship to use it,” A’Lappe said.

“We can’t get that close with the MAXETTE or any of the starships,” I said.  “Can the weapon fit into a patrol ship’s hold?”

“I think I can get it small enough, but we’ll need to add a lot of extra shielding to keep from cooking the crew in the ship and damaging the other instruments in the ship.  I would recommend ripping out part of the quarters area to get enough shielding in.”

“How fast can you get this done?”  I asked.

“If I start right now, maybe a day, maybe a little more,” he said.

“We have about a day,” I said.

“Hmm, I’ll do what I can,” he answered.  One thing more, Tibby, we’re going to need a solbidnite reactor to power it.”

“Is that a problem?”  I asked.

“Not exactly, but I am starting to run a little low on my supply of solbidnite.”

“I thought you said you had enough to last for years?”

“That was before we started sticking it into everything.  The Cantolla Gates and the special torpedoes that you want to use against RMFF equipped ships for one; that takes up a lot of the supply,” he said.

I sighed, “Well, do what you can with what we have, and as soon as we get these battles over with, you can get more.”

“One thing more, A’Lappe, how long will it take for the microwave weapon to cook the Tottalax?”

“I figure it will take slightly less than two minutes with intense and direct radiation,” A’Lappe said.

“Good!”  I replied, “Admiral, do you have any questions?”

“Yes, where do you plan to put the Tottalax prisoners you capture?”

I gave Regeny a hard stare, “If what Tot tells us is true there will be no prisoners.  According to Tot, none of them will listen to him, nor will they surrender.”

Regeny gave me a hard stare and then said, “Tibby, I am glad you are making these calls and not me.  I’m really not suited for this job.  I should resign and let you carry the ball.  You’re far better at it than I am.”

“Don’t even think about it, Admiral,” I said.  “As soon as this war is over, I am out of this uniform for good.”

Regeny smiled and slapped me on the back, “You’re always the reluctant warrior who never fails to come through when it counts.  What would the Federation do without you?  By the way, just what are you going to call this Tottalax killing weapon?”

“I don’t know… how about the
KNOCKOUT PUNCH?
” I said laughing.

Regeny laughed, “Why not, it’s a perfect description.”

“All right then, the
KNOCKOUT PUNCH
it is.”

I made a quick trip back to the
NEW ORLEANS
and had a meal with Kala and the twins.  Piesew was there to serve us for the first time in several weeks.  I was surprised at how well-mannered Lunnie and Reidecor were around him.  They sat around the table in their adjustable height chairs and looked like two miniature adults as they were served and ate with a decorum I had never seen before, and I could not help but comment to Kala.

“Has someone been training our children on dining manners while I was gone?”

Kala smiled, “No Tibby, Piesew simply told them he would not serve them if they acted like little giggots in a mud pit, and that if they wanted dessert they would have to act properly.”

“Would that work if we told them that?”  I asked.

Kala almost choked on the wine she was sipping.  “Probably not.  Piesew has an air about him that demands some respect.  In Lunnie’s and Reidecor’s minds respect doesn’t apply to family," she responded.

After we finished our meal, I read some stories to the twins and then told them that I would be busy for the next few days, and that I might not have much time to play with them.  Reidecor said, “Daddy’s always busy,” which hurt, but there was nothing I could do about it.  Lunnie saw the sadness in my face and came and put her arms around my neck and said, “We love you, Daddy.”

“Wars must be created by men without families or men with no feelings; otherwise I do not see how anyone would start a war knowing that it would separate them from their families for long periods of time.  Men who go to war usually do so to protect their families, and way of life from the men who create the wars.  Most people it seems would be content to share the world in friendship and peace.  It is merely politicians and monarchs that wish to dominate it all, and those who try to carve pieces out of worlds for themselves who cause us to go to war.  In the case of the war against the Brotherhood, it was their desire to conquer and dominate the universe that made it necessary for us to fight.  I was contemplating this when I received word that a new GW message pod had arrived at Megelleon with a message from Ming.  I immediately headed to Admiral Regeny’s office and arrived at the same moment as Admiral Wabussie.

“Come in, Admirals,” Regeny said, “let’s see with this despot has to say this time.”  As soon as we were all seated, Regeny had his assistant activate the message to display the face of an obviously very angry Ming.

“Once again you have interfered with the Brotherhood.  Your assault on our ships and the taking of the planet Windsor must be avenged, and as a consequence, I have taken the liberty of destroying the planet Cardak and its citizens.  I hope you are satisfied that you have caused their deaths.  We will not tolerate any actions against us.  Because of your continued resistance against us, the Brotherhood has decided to resort to new tactics.  Tibby will understand what I mean when I say that in the future the Federation can expect acts of terror, aimed at the Federation and its citizens.  The Federation is unfamiliar with the tactics, but on Earth they became quite common.  So be warned; your actions against us will be responsible for the actions that will happen in the future.” The vid ended abruptly.

“What’s he talking about Tibby?” Regeny asked.

“You’ve watched many of the historical vids from back on Earth,” I said to Regeny, “Do you remember seeing the vids of planes being hijacked and flown into tall buildings on Earth, killing thousands of innocent people?  That’s what Ming is talking about.  Doing terrible things to innocent people to terrify them and make them live in fear.”

“But why?  What does that accomplish other than to make people want to rise up against them and fight them even more?”

“You would think it would work that way, but on Earth, it didn’t, at least not for long.  Instead, it created an atmosphere of fear, and absurd security procedures were put into place more to comfort the minds of the citizens than to actually prevent other acts.  Each time a new terrorist attack took place, more security procedures were enacted.  Eventually, countries that once had lived in freedom became police states with restricted citizens living in fear of not only the terrorists, but their very own governments.  Business and the economy began to suffer under the scrutiny.  Travel was curtailed, and all communications were monitored; people began to question whether it was worth it to fight against the terrorists, or to simply ignore the enemy and allow them to continue their wars and conquests with the hopes of fewer attacks.  For a brief time that’s what happened.

“Countries like the United States began withdrawing from the fighting, and reducing their military activity against the common enemy.  During that time, men like the Brotherhood expanded their empires using the most brutal and cruel means possible.  By the time the United States and other nations realized what was going on, the enemy had grown to such a size and power that a global war was inevitable.  When it did happen, both sides were pretty closely matched, and the world suffered far worse than they would have been had they taken the terrorists and their backers more seriously and fought them more strongly from the beginning.”

“So how do we fight this and avoid what happened on Earth?”  Regeny asked.

“We get more agents working for the FSO for a start, and we train more special operation troopers to deal with terrorists.  We also aggressively seek out and destroy all Brotherhood bases and facilities that we can.”

Regeny rubbed his eyes and then said, “This isn’t going to end soon, is it?”

“I’m afraid not, Admiral.  This war will probably last for many years.”

We were interrupted by a message coming in from the bridge and Captain Wanoll.

“Admiral, a message has come in from the
MAXETTE
that their scouts are getting more information about the object closing in on Weccies.  If their information is correct, this thing is huge, many times the size of our largest starships.  It appears to be a large asteroid, but it’s got a GW propulsion system.  It appears to be manned; our scouts are flying in for a closer look at it.”

“A manned flying asteroid?”  Regeny stammered..

“It’s not an unusual concept,” I replied.  “Back on Earth there had been talk in my day of hollowing out an asteroid and using it like a spacecraft.  All you needed to do was add a propulsion system.  The thick walls of the asteroid would serve to protect those inside from radiation; and once hollowed out and pressurized, accommodations and other areas could be created quite easily.  I wonder if this is another of Ming’s’ doings?”

“Tibby, if this asteroid thing really is a ship like you’ve described, won’t it be easier to destroy than one of the starships the Brotherhood acquired from us through mutiny?  It wouldn’t have an RMFF,” Regeny commented.

“I would think so, and we destroy asteroids all the time with our weapons.  It might take more time because of its size than an unprotected starship, however,” I paused a minute before saying, “this doesn’t make sense, though.  Without an RMFF, the asteroid will be obliterated before it can get through the mine field.  A starship with RMFF could fly right through it.  So why the asteroid?”

Abruptly, Wabussie sat up as I finished my thought, “By the stars, now it all makes sense.  A few weeks ago, we intercepted a message we believed to be between Brotherhood ships, but the message didn’t make sense, so we assumed it was a diversionary tactic to mislead us.  The message was from the captain of one of the starships they have with an RMFF system, and he was complaining about the RMFF being taken away from him, and his 10X reactor being replaced with one of the old fusion reactors.  We thought the message was a fake.”

“I don’t understand,” Regeny said.  “Why would they take the RMFF and the 10X reactor out of the starship?”

My eyes went wide.  “Because they were taking it to put in the asteroid,” I said.  “It makes perfect sense.  They probably have a lot more space inside the asteroid for ships and troops, but they also have a lot more room to carry away the loot from Weccies as well.  I wonder, though, if the power from the 10X reactor will be sufficient to generate enough power to the RMFF to protect an object the size of the asteroid.

“Marranalis, contact A’Lappe and Cantolla and ask them if the RMFF from a starship would be able to shield an object as large as the asteroid the Brotherhood are using,” I ordered.  Moments later A’Lappe appeared on the vid screen.

“It’s possible Tibby,” A’Lappe answered, but it will be stressing the 10X reactor to the max.  The larger the field, the more power it will take.  Ideally, they should have two 10X reactors in tandem to provide sufficient power, but they might be able to do it with one.  However, if they do. it’s going to reduce power for other components, like weapons and the GW generator for propulsion.  If they only have one reactor, you may well be able to get them to overstress it and the system will have a catastrophic fail.”

“That’s the kind of news I like to hear,” I said.

“Don’t get too excited, Tibby,” A’Lappe added.  “The Brotherhood has had sufficient time since capturing Federation starships with 10X reactors and RMFF systems to have been able to reverse engineer them.  It’s quite possible they may have several 10X reactors, and an even stronger RMFF on the asteroid.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.  Do you really believe they could be making 10X reactors of their own?

“If they aren’t, I will be greatly surprised.  The timing of the appearance of this object would be just about right time-wise for them to have accomplished it and have them installed.  There is one other possibility that I hesitate to bring up.  The Brotherhood have captured several Federation planets that have solbidyum reactors.  It’s entirely possible they removed one of those and put it in their asteroid-ship.  That would provide ample power for the RMFF, with some left over to spare.” A’Lappe replied.

“I wonder what other surprises they have in store for us with this craft of theirs?”  Regeny said.

The next day, as the object drew closer to Weccies, it became apparent that it indeed was an asteroid that was modified into a spacecraft.  It joined up with the Tottalax ship just about the time it entered the Weccies system, and it wasn’t long before the Weccies began sending messages inquiring to their presence and intents.  Their messages were ignored.  The Weccies gave warnings to the Brotherhood about their mine fields and sent out several fighters as a warning, but neither the Tottalax ship nor the Brotherhood asteroid altered their course or slowed.  The Weccies issued more warnings; right up until the Brotherhood’s asteroid-ship entered the mine field and began plowing through it toward the planet.  Flashes of light burst like bright fireworks as the mines touched the RMFF shield, but the asteroid-ship plowed on unencumbered by their explosions.

The Tottalax ship followed in the cleared wake of the giant asteroid craft.  The Weccies military ships followed after both ships, firing on them to no avail.  As the Brotherhood and Tottalax cleared the outer mine field and entered into the clear space around Weccies, it was apparent the Weccies were in a panic.  Lasers and torpedoes streaked up from the planet, impacting the RMFF shield of the asteroid as it continued along its path.  Behind the Brotherhood, the Weccies warships followed, unleashing a torrent of weapons on the Tottalax, but no signs of damage could be seen.  All the time the Weccies were broadcasting warnings to the oncoming enemy, and panic could be heard in their voices as warnings became pleas for the enemy to retreat.  Finally, the Brotherhood made their demands known as the image of Roritat came on the vid screens.

“People of Weccies,” he began.  “We ask that you join our empire of the Brotherhood of Light and become a part of our glorious empire.”

Moments later the image of a small, rather wizen looking man with jet-black hair appeared on the screen.  “I am Arjuk Norcar, Chief Banker and Ruler of the Weccies.  Why do you come here like this, clearly you do not wish us to join you?  What is your true motive?”