Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (16 page)

Another difference was tha
t they didn’t have two relatively equal in power political parties; they had five.  Major elections were held every eight years instead of every four. Leaders were in office for sixteen years as one term, but could not serve consecutive terms, though they could be re-elected eight years later.  Not all three Leaders were elected at the same time so this meant that at least one was always already in office when a new one was coming in. This helped to eliminate partisan politics and forced the representative’s to compromise and work together, instead trying to dictate politics by holding a majority of representatives of anyone party.  Due to the vastness of space the Federation occupied and the slowness of communication and reliance on gravity wave pods to transport information, it was necessary for each planet to have a number of ambassadors and embassies in key worlds and locations. Larger and more powerful Systems could afford more ambassadors, and many of them had permanent ambassadors constantly flying about the Federation on star ships so as to be able to quickly deal with situations that may arise and impact their particular System.

We had reached the point in the topic were we had pretty much exhausted the conversation when I decided to change the topic and ask Kala some more personal questions
, “Kala I hope you don’t mind but I have a personal question, if you do not want to talk about personal things I understand, but I am curious.”

“Go ahead and ask” Kala
responded.

“You and Lunnie seem to be very close, yet you have completely different personalities.” I s
tarted.

“Yes we do,” Kala said, “
but what’s your question?”

I laughed
nervously, “Well actually I guess I am just curious as to why the two of you are so different and yet so close.”

Kala began
thoughtfully, “I’m not really sure I can give you an exact reason. I am the eldest of us by three years. I enjoyed keeping to myself growing up, interested in almost everything but content to entertain myself.  We lived in a remote area on Gosney back then, and the community we lived in didn’t have a lot of children, or they were too far away to play with often, so one didn’t have a lot of friends.   As we grew older Lunnie looked up to me, I was her big sister. When I was about twelve we moved to a new settlement on Gosney that was larger and more populated.

Lunnie was very outgoing where as I was more reserved, she quickly became very popular
in our new community, she has high level of self-confidence on the other hand I always felt I needed to prove myself I guess.  I was always involved in competitive activities, whereas Lunnie was more into social gatherings., When I was gaining recognition for my competitive skills in athletic and academic events, Lunnie was being elected president of social clubs and winning popularity contests.  I think everyone was later surprised after we had grown that despite Lunnie’s social skills and my more physical interests that she had become an engineer and I became the attaché.  I am sure it was always predicted the opposite.”

“How did that happen?” I asked

“For me, the choice came about after I signed up for the military,” Kala began, “I wanted to be a trooper originally and did quite well in training.  Our unit was on its first active mission on the planet Maitag trying to end a war between the original settlers and a local warlord.  The warlord was in the process of genocide of the original settlers.  It was a really bloody ordeal until a military attaché from the Federation showed up and acted as a negotiator and was instrumental in bringing the war to an end.  I was impressed that one person could bring about an end to a war more effectively than hundreds of troops.  It made me think that perhaps I could be of more service to the Federation as an attaché than trying to force people into submission with physical might. After we were relieved of duty on Maitag I asked for a transfer and trained to become an attaché. 

Lunnie, joined the service during the time when I was on
Maitag trying to quell the conflict. I think her intents were to follow in my footsteps, she had no idea what she wanted to do upon entering the service but when they tested her, she showed great skills mechanically and for engineering. they made her an offer to train to become a ship engineer.  I’m sure her decision was also swayed by an attraction she had at the time for a guy who also happened to be an engineer,” Kala made a nonchalant hand gesture and shrug her shoulders at this last comment, “We were surprised to find out that we had both been assigned to the
DUSTEN
two years ago.”

“Now,” she continued, “perhaps you will answer a personal question for me
?”

“Sure
,” I said, “it’s only fair that if I ask you a question you should be able to ask me one in return.”

“Earlier today, when you and Lunnie were showering and I showed up and Lunnie was laughing,”  she began, “ I asked what was so funny and she would not say and you looked dismayed
. Well I asked Lunnie and she would not tell me, but she did relate that she mentioned wanting to have sex with you and that you declined her. I have never known anyone who hasn’t wanted to have sex with Lunnie and I’m not sure she’s ever been turned down before, though she didn’t seem to be upset by it. I’m curious as why you turned her down.”

“I’m not sure I can explain it so it fits into your culture
but I will try.” I began, “Your sister is attractive and certainly sexually appealing, but for me personally, sex without a meaningful emotional attachment is not something I want to engage in. It’s not that I haven’t done so in the past, but it is just so meaningless to me and leaves me feeling empty emotionally, I really prefer having a sexual relationship with someone I share an emotional attachment with.”

“Hmm
,” Kala was thinking over my statement “that still doesn’t quite explain Lunnie’s reaction.  I got the feeling like there was something else.  She didn’t say anything more?”

“No, not really,” I lied, “that was pretty much it.”
  There was a strange look of sadness in Kala’s eyes that made me want to ask her what was bothering her, but I decided against it.  I felt that whatever may have bothered her was probably personal and I had no right to intrude.  

Kala
got up to leave my compartment after our discussion.  As she opened the door we both heard music coming down the corridor.

“Shall we investigate?” Kala asked, a lighthearted smiled spread across her face and into her eyes, making the previously saddened look
disappear, I got up and we decided to follow the music. We proceeded down the corridor together to the Crew lounge & galley.  The music was much like the kind heard on Earth back in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. It was similar to a kind of a disco.  Inside Lunnie and Lt. Reidecor were doing a dance not too unlike some of the dances I’d seen on Earth.

Lunnie spied us and said, “Come on in and join the party.  Tibby I’m assuming that people on your planet dance?”

“Yeah,” I grinned, “where I come from people love to dance, not too unlike the dance you are doing now actually.”

“Well come on in
! Grab old Stiff Ass there beside you and show her a few of your moves.” Lunnie grinned with a wink.

“Hey…! “Kala exclaimed with a grin, “watch who you call ‘Stiff Ass’
Corporal or I’ll report you!”  They both laughed at that comment.

I was a fairly good dancer
. My mother had been a part time dance instructor for dance studio and taught me popular dance steps when I was growing up and had taught me lots of dance steps.  Even after she died I kept up with all the latest dances moves.  She had instilled in me a love for dancing.  I remembered a dance that seemed to fit the music playing and began gyrating to the rhythm.  I motioned to Kala, who had a crooked grin on her face, to join me and I held out my hand for a minute. From across the room Lunnie called out. “Come on STIFF ASS, you need to get them hips into motion before they lock up for good.”  Kala shot her sister a dirty look and then took my hand. 

I did a few steps and told Kala to repeat them, she did so excellently and I gave her a few more, it seemed that she had some sort of incredible memory because she never forgot a step once she had seen and performed it
. In no time at all we were really into the dance and the music, our eyes were locked on each other’s as we moved through the room.  I don’t think I could have taken my eyes off of hers if I tried.  Suddenly the music stopped and there was the sound of several people clapping.  Kala and I looked over to see that Sergeant Marranalis had come in and was standing with Lunnie and Lt. Reidecor.  All three had been watching us and were now applauding.

“Now that was some dancing Tibby, “ Lunnie said
amazed, “ you even managed to get the stiffness out of Kala, quite an accomplishment if I do say so. You two dance very well together.”

Both Kala and I blushed
when I realized was still holding her hand and could feel it was damp from one or both of us perspiring.  I released it quickly and said admiringly “You do indeed dance well Kala. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.  We should do this more often.” 

“Perhaps, if circumstances permit.” Kala responded
professionally. “I did enjoy it, you seem to be a man of many talents Tibby.”

“Hey Kala,” Lunnie called in a teasing voice, “Maybe you can convince Tibby to teach you some moves beneath the sheets, with the way he moves his hips I’ll bet he could teach you
a lot.” She moved her body around playfully as she said this.

Kala’s face went dark
red as she turned to Lunnie “That will be quite enough Corporal” she said sternly, emphasizing Corporal, “I think your ENGINES need checking, report to your station at once.”

Lunnie’s
huge grin exploded into a laugh as she walked out the door and headed toward the engine room. She glanced at me over her shoulder as she continued walking off, winked and then just kept going toward the engine room, Her hips swinging like she had just really accomplished a great feat.

When I glanced back at Kala
it was obvious she was upset over the exchange, “Tib I apologize for my sister’s actions and comments,” Kala began, “Please excuse her behavior, she is not aware of your customs on Earth and her sexual comments come out of ignorance of your customs.”

“I’m not offended Kala,” I
laughed in reply, hoping to lighten the situation, “Similar teasing and comments are not uncommon on Earth either so I am not offended in any way.  Please don’t be hard on your sister; she in no way has offended me.”

“I’m glad Tib, I would really feel badly if my sister had offended you, she means well but loves to tease, especially me, but sometimes she goes too far.” Kala explained.

The next day everyone except for Corporal Lexmal was in the cargo hold practicing Martial arts moves.  Lexmal seemed to prefer spending most of his time in the control room and barely left it.  It worked out well because even though the ship’s computer would alert us to any approaching ships long before they got into range it was always good to have at least one person monitoring things in the control room at all times.  We had just gone through a series of martial arts move when suddenly I saw Lunnie slump and drop to the floor followed by Sgt. Marranalis and Lieutenant Reidecor, I saw Kala start to move toward Lunnie and then suddenly crumble to the deck as well. Then everything started spinning and going dark as I felt myself falling too.  It seemed like I fell forever into darkness suddenly my ears were filled with the sound of a hive of angry bees and light began to return.

Upon
first opening my eyes I had trouble focusing and my surroundings seemed blurred.  My sight eventually returned, only to see my crewmates seated against the wall with restraining cuffs on their wrists; I looked down at my own and saw the same thing.  I quickly looked around and noted there were two armed guards brandishing some rifles and then I noticed that we were no longer on the
TRITYTE
. I also noticed that Corporal Lexmal was not with us and I had a sinking feeling that I knew why.  I appeared to have been the first one to come around as the others seemed to still be unconscious.  Slowly, one by one they regained consciousness but no one spoke for a while. 

Finally I broke the silence in a hushed tone directed at my crew,
“By the look of things I’m assuming that we have been captured and that Corporal Lexmal had a hand in it?”  

“We were gassed in the cargo hold,”
Lieutenant Reidecor said in a quite tone of disgust, “I never even stopped to think of the possibility.” 

“It’s not your fault Lieutenant,” Kala said, “typically the cargo holds in patrol ships are not equipped with gas as they never carry any cargo of value
, we failed to remember that the
TRITYTE
is not your standard ship.  Anyone have an idea where we are?”

“My guess, “said
Sgt. Marranalis, “is that we are in one of the smaller holds in a Bunem cargo ship.  I suspect that they have the
TRITYTE
in one of the larger holds. “

At this, o
ne of the guards chuckled, he had been listening without our notice, “Pretty smart for a Feddie. But don’t worry you won’t be harmed, we’ve got orders to just keep you restrained until we get back to Bunem.  Then you will be sent back to your precious Federation, if they still want you after you lost their prize of all prizes.”  He and the other guard both laughed.  Just then the hold door slid open and Corporal Lexmal walked in smiling and looking smug.