Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (27 page)

“You do me great honor as always Major Kalana,” Senator Tonclin said.  
“I shall be most honored to hear from you the decision of the Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer.”

After
Senator Tonclin had disconnected the communication Kala looked at me, “What are you thinking Tib?” 

“Well first of all I am thinking perhaps I should have paid full price for the estate after all
. Second, I am hoping that I am not going to have to listen to that long spiel of the
Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer
every time we meet with some dignitary or government official.”

Kala laughed and said with a bow “Get used to it Honored Citizen
Tibby the Recoverer. It’s the price you must pay for the fortune that has been poured upon you.  Seriously, though I have not seen the yacht that Senator Tonclin was speaking of I have heard of it, it’s been the talk of people for years.  The people of Nibaria are considered the best craftsmen in the Galaxy and I cannot imagine the ship being anything less than the crown jewel of ships in the Galaxy.  Personally I think you should at least go to Nibaria and look at it.”

“Ok, make the arrangements and we’ll go
, but we still have the matter of the dispositions for Corporal Lexmal’s trial that we have to wait for before we can go.”

“You
’re right, but I think I can arrange it so we need not attend the trial.” Kala replied, “I think it can be arranged that we can give sworn depositions before the trial that will suffice.  After all its five credible witnesses, plus the testimonies of the Bunemnites that were on the freighter and they have no reason to side with Lexmal, so the court martial is going to pretty much a formality.”

I grinned and said
, “Kala what would I do without you?”

With a twinkle in her eye
she crossed over to where I stood and put her hands around my neck and kissed me, “Don’t you ever dare try and find out!”

A week later
and with our depositions out of the way we boarded the
TRITYTE
and headed for Nibaria.  The trip to Nibaria was short since it was the next planet over from Megelleon the time to travel between the two was only a matter of less than a day using the
TRITYTE
.  Reidecor, Lunnie and Kerabac
were immensely excited about seeing the space yacht.  It had been big news in the Galaxy for years since it was described as being a flying luxury palace with all the amenities of a luxury resort.  Not only could it carry one thousand guests, but it had a crew of over a thousand as well.  It had its own hanger bay for smaller ships and surface craft since the ship itself was too large to land and needed to remain in orbit where ever it went.

Reidecor
told me upfront that if I planned on buying the ship I would need a more seasoned captain for it as he was nowhere near qualified to captain it.  Lunnie and Kerabac on the other hand felt they would fully be able to serve on it with no problems.  As Kerabac put it mapping the route between stars is the same in a space liner as it is in a patrol ship.  Since Solbidyum was restricted in its use to only powering planets, with the exception of the
TRITYTE
, the space yacht was powered with a fusion react, highly efficient though not as powerful as a small amount of Solbidyum .  According to the information we had received from Senator Tonclin the yacht was complete and ready to go except for provisions and crew.  The shipyard at Nibaria actually was on a lesser moon and the ship itself assembled in orbit near the moon.  Workers were shuttled from the planet to the worksite daily, many of them staying on the moon during the work week. A work week on Nibaria was 10 days and they had 4 day weekends but the shipyard staggered crews so the ship was worked on around the clock a day during the 5 years of its building.  I had been impressed by the size of the
DUSTEN
when I first saw it and I knew the yacht was smaller in size but I was still overwhelmed by it I had an inkling of the vast amount of wealth that Galetils must have had to have such a ship built as well as his estate..  We didn’t go to the shipyard itself, but docked in one of the two hanger bays on the ship, and while not as large as the hanger bay on the
DUSTEN
they still were impressive and had sufficient room for a few dozen ships of varying size in each bay.   

The
Nibarians seemed to all be about 1.4 meters tall compared to my 1.83 meter height.  Senator Tonclin was among the group, I recognized him more because of his clothing than because of his physical appearance for though I could see subtle differences among the Nibarians they all looked pretty much the same to my untrained eye.

Senator Tonclin
stepped forward and greeted me with what I assumed to be a smile.  “Greetings Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer. We are honored that you have chosen to accept our offer to view this magnificent ship. We trust that once you have seen it you will recognize the value of it and desire it for your own.   It would be a great honor for the peoples of Nibaria to have the Honored Citizen Tibby the Recoverer be the owner of their finest ship ever built.”

“Greetings honored representative of the people of Nibaria
, Senator Tonclin, “I said, just as Kala had instructed me. “Please just call me Tibby; the titles make me feel uncomfortable.” 

“Ahh
, then it is true that you wish to only be called Tibby” Senator Tonclin responded, “as you wish Tibby and you may call me Tonc if you wish.  May I introduce Orcpipin, manager of the shipyard here at Nibaria.”

Orcpipin
gave a slight nod in my direction and I did the same in return.  I introduced the members of my crew and without further ado Orcpipin began to lead us on a tour of the ship.  I was amazed to find the master suite on the ship was exactly as at the Estate and there was also an office complete with glass wall and aquarium, although in this case empty and without fish.  Many of the rooms that mimicked the ones at the estate had already been furnished but many more were not.  I was astounded by the several large dining rooms aboard the ship and the many galleys and kitchens.  There was an onboard theater designed for live performances, gyms, swimming pools, shooting galleries, there was a huge central atrium that ran down the middle of the ship with some type of clear plastic arched windows spanning it and huge trees and plants along the walkways and streams that interwove through the trees. 

I think what amazed me most was the amount of detailed woodwork that seemed prevail everywhere one looked. 
The ship was truly amazing.  I thought we never would get Lunnie out of the engine room, she was like a kid in a toy store, chattering and squealing about this and that.  The look in Kala’s eyes and the smile on her face told me how much she was enjoying Lunnie’s glee and I nearly bought the ship for that reason alone.  All of this was most impressive, but what really wowed me was the bridge of the ship.  It was immense and decorated with the utmost of class and comfort.  Throughout the ship the ornate and finely polished wood work constantly caught the eye, but the wood work on the bridge was beyond anyplace else in the ship.  The wood was like a light pine and was composed of blended curves that complemented the curvature of the hull where it joined the bridge. The room itself had rich red carpeting and the room was lit entirely with back lighting.  Various stations with panels and screens lined the walls and center consoles.  Lush padded chairs stood at the ready at each station Kerabac was drawn to one station like a magnet, he commented on the quality and extent of navigation equipment that complimented the ship. I could see Reidecor, was very impressed as well and looked over all the stations carefully.  Marranalis was looking about the various stations when suddenly he became excited.

“This can’t be what I think it
is, ”Marranalis said in amazement.  “This ship cannot possibly have a RMFF.” The blank look on most of our faces told him we didn’t have a clue, “A reverse mass force field. The Federation military ships don’t have these because there isn’t enough power in a fusion reactor to power one.”

Orcpipin
stepped forth with a smile on his face and said, “That is indeed what it is, and it is fully functional except for the fact that as you sadly stated a fusion reactor is not powerful enough to power it.  Galetils had one of his companies on Astamagota working on the design for a new fusion reactor that was small yet extremely efficient.  It would have been capable of producing ten times the power output of the conventional reactors.  He had planned to have it installed in a space located just behind the forward hangar bay and even had all the ceramic power cabling and switch gear installed to provide the power to the shields. He wanted to use this ship to demonstrate to the Federation the functionality of the shields with his new reactors and sell them to the military for all the major Federation warships.  However, with the loss of everything on Astamagota including the designs of the reactors it became useless.”

“This ship looks
like a luxury liner but is equipped line a battle cruiser!” Marranalis exclaimed. “There are laser cannons, extreme long range GW-antimatter torpedoes, fission bombs, and a phalanx plasma gun system.  This ship is armed to the max.”

“
Citizen Galetils              was a bit paranoid it seems and feared that sooner or later war would break out again with the Bunem System or one of the non-aligned systems and he wished to be prepared.” Orcpipin said.  “But come, let us dine now, a meal has been laid out for us in the star light hall.”

The star light hall was located in the upper deck on the ship just under the arched window
canopy and provided a vista of the stars and planet Nibaria off to the one side. Senator Tonclin sat at the end of the table and I was to his right with Kala beside me.  To his left and straight across from him sat Orcpipin.  The meal was just like the others I had experienced so far in the Federation; exquisite.  During the meal Senator Tonclin carried on a most pleasant conversation with Kala and me about our adventures of getting the Solbidyum safely to the Megelleon.  Orcpipin and Senator Tonclin both tried to convince us to spend the night on the ship but I declined stating that we had much business to attend to back at the estate.  For a moment I sensed that both Orcpipin and Senator Tonclin took this as a sign that I was not interested in buying the ship and I could see that they both were down fallen by this.

“So,” I began “
how much are you asking for this ship?”

Immediately I saw
Orcpipin’s countenance pick up. “Well Honored…ahh, Tibby the original price for the ship was thirty –four billion Federal dollars, of which twenty-two billion has already been paid leaving a balance of twelve billion Federal dollars, which is the amount we are willing to let you have the ship for.”

I
chewed on my lip a moment “Hmm, I don’t like that price,” I said.  I could see Orcpipin’s countenance fall again, “no I don’t, that will not do.  I think eighteen billion Federal dollars would be much better.” 

Orcpipin
and Senator Tonclin both sat there wide eyed, “But that’s more than we are asking.” Orcpipin said in disbelief. 

“Indeed
,” I said, “and I won’t pay a cent less.  Now do we have a deal or must I go someplace else to find a ship?” and with that Orcpipin passed out.

As part of the closing deal on the
yacht I requested that I might have several minor modifications made to the ship; Orcpipin was more than happy to agree to those terms.  I also asked them to assist in stocking supplies. Since the ship had not already been named I insisted that it be named the “
NEW ORLEANS
” and that the ships name is painted on the bow and that a brass plaque be mounted on the Bridge.  Naming this ship gave me another idea.

“Once a ship is named is it possible to rename it.” I asked? 

“But we haven’t put the name on the ship yet, so that would be no problem.” Orcpipin responded.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I should have made myself a bit clearer perhaps…
I was not thinking of this ship, I was thinking of the
TRITYTE
, I was wondering if I could change its name.”

Senator Tonclin looked at me as thought I had lost
my mind, “But why would you want to do that?  It’s the most famous and recognized ship in the entire Universe.” He said.

“That’s precisely the reason I would like to change
its name,” I said, “So it is NOT so easily recognized.  It will make it easier for my crew and I to go places unobserved, it will mean a lesser need for security.  Personally I would prefer less fanfare when I travel.”  I could see heads turning as people looked at each other hoping someone had a sensible answer.

Kala spoke up, “There are times when having the
TRITYTE
known by that name will have its advantages, but I can also see your point. I wonder would it be possible for the ship to have two names on the ships registry with the Federation. Perhaps there’s a way of changing it from within the ship by means of a lit name on the hull that can be changed when you see fit.”

“I like that idea, does anyone know if it can be done?” I
asked the group around us.

Senator Tonclin laughed “For you
Tibby I think anything can be done. If you have problems doing so please feel free to contact me and if necessary I will make it an issue to be voted on by the Senate. But I don’t think it will ever come to that.”