Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (23 page)

As for the unbelievable wealth you have bestowed on me
, I plan to see to it that a great portion of it gets returned to you and your planets in various ways that help with the needs of each individual planet. It may be a while before all of this is in place but I hope to see that everyone gets to benefit from my wealth, and not just from the Solbidyum recovered.

While I realize that with a
ll that you have showered on me I should not be asking for anything more, but I am. For years wars, deaths and destruction took place because of the loss of the Solbidyum, three worlds were destroyed, billions of lives lost, and the Federation was broken and divided. Over the past centuries, as I understand it, the Federation has slowly reformed, and today it is almost whole. There are still a few systems who have withheld themselves due to a belief that Solbidyum had been deliberately withheld from them.

Now, the Solbidyum is back
, unfortunately  anger, jealousy, and despair still plague some systems today.  I would ask that you extend to them the hope of reconciliation and restoration into the Federation bringing an end to the suspicion and rejection that they have felt so long.  Hopefully, in this reconciliation, a fair share of the Solbidyum can be distributed as with all planets in the Federation.” 

My last statements were met with mixed reactions
. Some  “boos” and stamping of feet were heard in rejection of my words.  However, others cheered and applauded, it was obvious that the Senate was clearly divided on this issue. I didn’t have a good feeling about how this was going to play out in the future, but I had made my feelings known.

When I took my seat Kala leaned over to me and whispered
, “Do you have any idea what the significance of the kiss on the forehead in public means to the people of the Federation?”

“Not really,” I said
uncomfortably “But I have the feeling that it’s pretty damn significant.”

“To kiss one on the forehead in a public setting is the highest form of respect you can show to a person
. It is saved for heroes and persons who have done great deeds, to kiss a person on the forehead means you will give your life for them.  For a Leader from the Federation to kiss you on the forehead that means that the government itself stands behind you and pledges to protect you.  In the history of the Federation it’s only happened four times before.  When you immediately kissed us after you had been honored, you in turn brought us under the umbrella of the Federation’s pledge to you.”  She seemed concerned about what I had done, and I could see her lips quivering as though she feared I would have to take back my previous actions.

“
It’s okay,” I quietly reassured her, “I meant every bit of it. Regardless of what it means to the Federation.” and with that, in front of the entire Senate Kala threw her arms around my neck and kissed me with a kiss that was electrifying and even though my ears were ringing from the kiss I could still hear my crew, led my Lunnie no doubt, applauded and cheering.

I had hoped that the event would be over in about the same amount of time as the even
t the night before, but that was not so.  Of the thousands of senators at the event most of them felt it necessary to meet and greet me personally. As a result the event lasted well into the early hours of the morning.  Thankfully Kala stayed by my side assisting me as a number of the senators that approached us Kala knew personally, having worked with them before in her capacity on the
DUSTEN
as an attaché.  While all who approached me were friendly and all seemed grateful for my contribution, few praised my comments on offering a chance for the rebel systems to rejoin the Federation. Some even told me flatly that they believed that the rebel systems should be annihilated upon the return of the Solbidyum  .

I saw
Kala motion to Reidecor and speak to him , he quickly left only to return with our escort. The escort announced that our conveyance was waiting our return to the compound. Suddenly our eight trooper guard appeared to escort out of the hall. Once on board our conveyance I was able to relax, and promptly fell asleep for the entire trip to the compound.

The next day everyone slept in la
te, exhausted from the events that had taken place the night before, it was noon before most of us were awake.  There was a message waiting for me reminding me of my martial arts training that I promised the Admiral I would do and he was suggesting that I might start in about four weeks.  The Federal treasury also had left a message for me regarding the previous night’s deposit; I had never seen so many zeros in a row in my life.  Unlike back on Earth, there were not different banks for one to choose from.  Instead, there was one Federal depository that everyone belonged to; I was now their single largest account holder. 

Kala was with me
upon seeing my new account balance; I thought for a moment she was going to pass out.  I inquired how difficult it would be for me to transfer money to other accounts and she explained it was very easy if I had the account codes.

Kala earlier had checked her own messages and was shocked to see all the personal f
iles I had requested on my crew. “I never thought I would get them this easy she said, or even that I would get them at all.  I expected it would take weeks.”

“Did you talk to
Admiral Regeny’s office” I asked.

“Yes
, but still I didn’t think it would happen this fast.”

“Kala,
is all your pay from the Federation directly deposited in your personal account?”

“Yes
” she confirmed.

“Good
, then it’s safe to assume that you and the others personal account numbers are in the personnel records?”  I continued.

“Well yes
, oh I see you want to set up an automatic payment system for paying us,” she said.

“Yes, I want it
set up so each of you are being paid at ten times the rate you were getting for your military pay. I also want to give you each one million credits right now, call it a signing bonus.” I laughed, knowing she probably didn’t understand.

Kala turned white
awes struck. “Tibby, you can’t, well I guess you can, but, well are you sure???”

“Kala, I have more than I can ever spend
, the least I can do is share it with the people I am closest too,” I said.

Kala came and sat on my lap and helped me transfer funds from my account into each of my
crew’s accounts. When it came time to transfer into her account instead of transferring one million credits I transferred five million Kala looked at me and shrieked “No!”

“What’s’ the matter
, it’s not enough?” I said teasingly.

“
It’s not that,” she said, “it’s too much!!  I don’t feel I deserve it.”

“Good than you know how I feel millions of times over for what I have been given
,” I said.

It was just before noon when several messages came at the same time for each of my
crew; the messages came in the form of an order, and for me in the form of a request.  The message was regarding being witnesses in the court martial trial of Corporal Lexmal.

News,
both good and bad travels quickly, by the time we sat down to eat a most exquisite meal provided by non-other that Lt. Reidecor ,he had already checked his financial account with the Federation and discovered he was suddenly a rich man.  It turned out that Reidecor had gourmet tastes but heretofore he had not been able to dine to the level of his tastes, now he was celebrating with food and we were all benefitting from it.   Apparently he had contacted many of best restaurants in the Capitol and had their best and most expensive dishes prepared and delivered to the compound.  He even had white linen table cloths, fine china and waiters.

While we were dining
Reidecor told us about all of the dishes we were eating, where they were from and their preparation.  I won’t say it made the food taste any better, but it was interesting to learn and the food was delicious.  During the meal Lunnie and Marranalis kept thanking me over and over again “for everything”.  Kala sat by my side and seemed somewhat lost in thought but from time to time I would see her smile and her hand would reach over and she would lay it on my leg.  Finally I asked her what was wrong.

“
I keep thinking about Corporal Lexmal and how he turned traitor trying to gain wealth, and now here we are, all wealthy and he could have been too had he not been so greedy.  Now he will probably die for what he did.”

             
”Probably so,” Lunnie said, “but had he gotten away with it possibly millions or even billons  more would have died and wars would have broken out. I don’t feel sorry for what happens to him.  He made the choice and now must pay the consequences.”

“Oh,” Kala exclaimed, “with all that’s been going on this morning I forgot to tell you, I may have a lead on an estate you might like. It’s in the mountains not too far out of the city, it has its own lake as part of the property, and belonged to an industrialist from Astamagota who wanted a place near the Capitol to entertain senators and other dignitaries.  Recently his company went broke when the sun, spewed out a solar flare searing everything on the planet destroying all life and property there. Shortly thereafter he committed suicide and now the Federation is selling off his properties to cover his debts.  The estate is so huge that almost no one can afford to even bid on it, it has numerous cottages on the grounds that he used for guests, as well as barracks for guards on the premises. There also is a large landing pad and huge hanger build into the mountain.

“
It certainly sounds promising, when can we look at it?”

“Day after
tomorrow but let me confirm it.” Kala said.

“
Lunnie tomorrow you and Reidecor check out the ship and supplies, I want the ship ready to fly when we want.  Reidecor, check out the flight plans for moving the
TRITYTE
.  I would like to see how it fits in the hanger there.”

I’m not sure when they arranged it but the next day there seemed to be a steady stream of people coming and going that
Kala and Marranalis were interviewing.  Later in the day Lunnie and Reidecor returned saying that everything was ready for the next day and that they thought they may have found the replacement member for our crew. Lunnie had run into someone at the hanger that she had met when she first enlisted in the service and it turned out that Reidecor had known him also.  Both were fond of the possible new crew mate, now it was just a matter of seeing if they could get this individual to join us.  Marranalis had a number of people he interviewed but insisted upon needing to conduct more interviews. before decisions could be made..  Admiral Regeny had promised us security until we could acquire our own.  I hoped to combine the martial arts training of the troopers with training our own security force at the same time.

Kala came to me
, overwhelmed with the sudden need for more personnel and crew but also overwhelmed with the amount of applicants applying for positions.  She realized the sudden need she was going to have for a personal assistant, finding an assistant was going to have to be a top priority. To make matters worse nearly 300 requests had arrived in two days from various Senators, dignitaries and persons of other import wanting the 5 of us to either attend some function in our honor or they wanted to sponsor, it was going to be a full time task for one person just handling these requests.

“Kala, do they have
temporary employment services here, or agencies that you can hire from on a temporary basis with the potential of being hired full time?”  I asked.

“Yes they do
,” she said excitedly, “why didn’t I think of that?”

“You’ve been
too busy with so many other things to give full attention to anyone of them.” I said, “I suggest you contact some hiring agencies and get yourself a temporary staff at least until you can find the people you want full time.  I would focus my searches towards people with a military background and training.  I think they will be more focused to their tasks, but that’s your decision.”

“I remember about a year ago hearing of an agency that specialized in placing ex-military people in both government and civilian jobs
, I could start there.” Kala said.

“Great
, I would also suggest that you look for persons that held high level security clearances and maintained them during their career. It will save us time on having to run background checks and trying to find out who we can trust.” I rationalized.

Kala shook her head
, “You amaze me at times; you just seem to pick things out of the air as you go along without thinking about them too long.”

“One more thing Kala
, find out when Piesew Mecarta’s tour of duty contract is up and see if he would be interested in serving as house majordomo when I get my estate, offer him whatever he wants for a salary and then double it, and let me know when he will be available?”

Kala said with a smile
, “You never forget anyone who serves you well do you?” 

Due to
all the activity it was not until early evening that all of us had time to assemble in the gym for martial arts practice. Everyone seemed off on their movements because they were distracted by other thoughts and I was a bit rougher than usual in throwing them or catching them off guard than I usually was. All their attention needed to be on every fiber of their being and what is was doing, there was no place for wondering about who they were going to see tomorrow or whether someone that interviewed that day was right for  the job.  Their full focus had to be on the moment.  After the workout we showered, the shower in the gym was large enough to accommodate everyone and it was quite noisy for the few minutes we were in the shower and locker room getting dressed.  Each person was wanting to talk about some aspect of the people they were trying to hire, the conversation continued all the way to our dining room and then it suddenly dawned on everyone that with all that had gone on that day, no one had made arrangements for dinner that evening.  Everyone broke out laughing as we all traipsed into the kitchen to the food synthesizer and punched in our favorite concoction from the thousands the synthesizer could produce. Minutes later we were all seated about the dining table, some slurping down noodles and others spooning up some stew like dishes, everyone was still talking animatedly.