Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (34 page)

“I’m sure you all are wondering why I have brought you here and since I am sure
you all are very busy people, so I will get right to the point.  My knowledge of the learning head bands is very limited, so please bear with my ignorance and do not hesitate to correct me if I am wrong.  As I understand it you can transfer knowledge to a person on an intellectual level, but not physical skills, such as with art, you could give a person all the knowledge of mixing colors and styles, but you could not transfer to them the psychical dexterity with which to do the painting?  Am I correct?”

“Oh my, oh my, yes you are ever so correct,” 
Dakko blurted out, “basic knowledge can be implanted into the mind, but the physical components must be practiced and learned, they cannot be transferred.”

“Yes,
I agree with Dakko on that,” Rivez said a bit less enthusiastic than Dakko. “We have been trying for years only to find a way around that one with no success.”

I glanced at Cantolla who was sitting in her chair
coolly staring at Kala and I while tracing her finger around the edge of her glass, she seemed to be in thought and then suddenly seemed to snap to the moment, “I’ve been doing some research along this area, and I believe it can be accomplished, but it will be tricky.  Unlike conventional information, movements and coordination rely on multiple senses, sound, vision, balance as dictated by many other factors in the brain.  The body needs to access all that information to know how to match the knowledge with the body it is in and the information used by the body for physical movements. I think it can be done, with more research, time and above all funding.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that Cantolla,
” I responded, “because that’s exactly what I need you all to work on for me.  Cost is of no matter, but time is.  A laboratory will be set up for you here at the estate, any materials you need let us know and they will be delivered to you in an expedited fashion.  The sooner you can complete the task the better.  Cantolla, how long do you think it will take you to be able to accomplish the task if you have all the resources you need and no interruptions?”  Cantolla looked at me in a frozen look momentarily and said, “I honestly don’t know, a week, a month, a year, and maybe years.  I honestly have no idea.”

“
Do it in a month and you each get one million credits as a bonus, three weeks and you get a two million credits bonus and if you can accomplish it in two weeks I will make it ten million credits each.  Cantolla I want you to head up the project, but you all are on it.”

“Why are you putting Cantolla in charge?”
Rivez asked in a slightly challenging tone?  “Why not one of us?”  Rivez was sitting forward in his chair in a challenging fashion while Dakko was sitting back in his with his arms crossed in a somewhat pouting fashion.

“Because of the three of you she is the only one who said she thought it could be done and presented
information that made sense to me. If you do not like the arrangement you are free to leave and will still pay you the agreed upon amount for your time when you accepted the offer to come here.”

“What about the patent rights if we do pull it off, who gets those?” Dakko wanted to know.

“Don’t be stupid Dakko,” Rivez said, “You know as well as I do that if we discovered it at our companies the company would get the patent and you or I might get a bonus check equal to a month’s pay if we were lucky. What Tibby is offering us is way more than we’d ever get any other way.”  As I was watching the dialog play out I noticed Cantolla coolly sitting back in her chair still tracing her finger on the edge of her glass with a look of mild amusement on her face at Dakko and Rivez arguing.

“
I for one,” Rivez began, “accept your offer.”

“Ok, count me in too
, you’re offering a much bigger reward then I could ever hope for anyplace else!” Dakko said.   “I will need to contact my company to take an extended leave of absence.  It should be no problem as I have personal leave time available and work is slack at the moment.”

I looked at Cantolla who had not shifted in position all the while and still bore the slight trace of a grin on her lips.  She sighed and then with all the grace of cat sat forward slightly and said
. “Ok, I’ll do it, and you get the patent rights if it works, but just one question, what do you want to teach with it?”

“Martial
arts!” I responded, knowing that they would not be as familiar with it as my group had become. I noted both Dakko’s and Rivez’s eyes widen with curiosity while Cantolla’s seemed to squint in contemplation just a bit.

A
fter the meeting, when everyone else had left, Kala and I relaxed on a small settee by the aquarium. I had my arm about her holding her close when she asked, “What did you think of Cantolla?”

“I think she is very shrewd and intelligent, controlled and methodical
.  I think she will do a good job trying to get the learning bands where we need them to be.”  I answered.

“That’s not what I mean
.  I know you noted her movements and actions, her body language, didn’t her flirting bother you?”

“Bother me? 
Kala I have no interest in anyone but you, my interests in Cantolla are purely professional. You need not worry I have no interest in her sexual wiles.”  Kala began laughing hysterically.

“What?”  I said
, “What’s so funny?”  It took Kala a few minutes to regain her composure and then finally through smaller laughs she choked out, “I guess you didn’t know, or realize it, but Cantolla was flirting with me! She’s a lesbian; the University on Essen is a school for lesbians only.”

“Well
,” I muttered, “In that case we will have to see to it your duties keep you far away from their research lab I guess.”  Kala laughed and put her arms around me, “Do not worry my love,” she whispered in my ear, “You fulfill all of my desires.”  

The
next few days I spent working with Marranalis and the martial arts trainees, both our own and those of the Federation.   Progress was terribly slow and I was praying that Cantolla and her team would come through with a breakthrough with the learning head bands.  Marranalis had been able to recruit nearly one hundred ex-troopers for our security force, and we had an additional fifty trainees from the Federation that would eventually become instructors.  Our classes were way too big and we had divided them up into three separate classes, one in the morning, two in the afternoon.  However, progress was slow and the size of the classes meant that personal attention to the students was a fraction of what it should be. 

On the third day I received a message from
Cantolla saying they needed me in the lab.  They needed to record my mental actions while performing various martial arts moves.   At first I just went through various moves in a shadow boxing manner announcing each move as I did them while wearing a learning headband, only this one was set to record my mental signals instead of implanting information.   After doing this for about an hour, we called Marranalis in to help assist with hand to hand combat. When we finished we called in a new recruit who had no training at all and a head band was placed on his head in the teaching mode.   After that he was asked to display certain moves that the head band hopefully had taught him. The results were not terribly promising, for while he knew the moves, his reflexes and coordination were way off he went through the motions clumsily. When Marranalis attacked him, he nearly flattened the poor guy and it was obvious that very little had been accomplished.  On a whim, however I asked that they place the band on Marranalis head and see if it improved his skills any since he already had some knowledge of martial arts. Much to my pleasure I saw major improvements in his skills leading me to believe that at the very least there would be some merit to using the headbands in teaching the martial arts to the troopers.  Dakko and Rivez both were rather pessimistic about the lack of progress and lamented that it was next to impossible. Cantolla, however, seemed more optimistic saying that she felt progress had been made and that by installing more receptors and transmitters into the headband she thought they could improve the bands significantly.  I asked if in the mean time we could have all the trainees come in for a quick session with the band because it would greatly enhances their leaning time.  Cantolla said she saw no problem to that and that it might even help in her calibration of the bands.

I received word from Piesew that he had managed to contact the couple that he
thought would do a good job designing uniforms for my crew on the
NEW ORLEANS
, pictures were included and I was impressed.  For the most part the uniforms were similar to those of the Federation and were of a comparable cut, the only difference being their colors which would correspond to each individuals function on the ship.  The ranking bands would also be different amongst each person and instead of going across ones chest it was instead placed on their sleeves.  Also officers had long sleeved jackets with a similar Nehru collar as the diplomatic cut jackets that I frequently wore, except that in every cast these had the collars in a contrasting color to the jacket.  The Captain and first officer both had ivory colored uniforms with gold banding on the sleeves. The others of the bridge crew had uniforms of a royal blue with either gold or silver banding depending on rank.  Throughout the ship most of the other uniforms were either green or a light yellow, engineering had gray uniforms with a silver piping.  They were all very impressive.  I asked Piesew how long it would take to get the uniforms made up and he laughed and said.   “Sir Renwalt, you do not need to have someone make the uniforms, all you need do is to install the design in the ship’s computer and the clothing will be made for each individual according to their measurements in their own closets.” 

“
I’m sorry Piesew,” I responded, “I still have much to learn.  Please see to it that the program is installed on the ship’s computer and that all are informed they are to wear these uniforms while on duty.  Also see to it that the ship’s purser pays the couple double what the designers asked for and with my complements.”

“As you wish sir,” Piesew answered, “I shall see to it at once.” And with that he was gone.  I was barely off the vid
screen with him when call came in from Lt. Commander Wanoll.

“Greetings Lt. Commander, to what do I owe this call?” I asked
.

“I fear I have some bad news
, with the discovery of the infiltration of the crew on the
DUSTEN
by rebels the Federation has quietly begun a security sweep of everyone in the immediate area of Megelleon. There have been over one thousand Brotherhood rebels discovered so far and the sweep isn’t even completed.  It seems they have been here a long time but have been lying low, quietly waiting for a reason to take action. But now, fired by the potentials that Solbidyum could give them, they have become a malignant body that we must deal with.  I understand you have swept all the personnel at your estate and on your ship and can be relatively certain of your security? I wish we could say the same for the Federation military.  We’re sitting on a time bomb that is ready to explode and if it does Captain Maxette is not sure he can hang onto the
DUSTEN
or that we will be able to depend on aid from him if needed.  Admiral Regeny is also concerned because three rebels have been found on his personal staff. He doesn’t know what information they may have leaked out.”

“That sounds ominous indeed,” I said.  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Tibby, I wish there was, but honestly I am not sure what anyone can do right now.  We just have to hope the lid stays on everything at the moment.  The first shipments of Solbidyum were supposed to start going out this week to their respective planets, but right now we can’t guarantee their safety, and if just one shipment doesn’t make it, well we’re looking at the Solbidyum Wars all over again.”  We briefly discussed the security measures on the
NEW ORLEANS
and just finished up when a message appeared on the screen that I had another call coming in from Lunnie.  I ended my conversation with Wanoll and toggled over to Lunnie.

“Hi love
r boy,” Lunnie began, “I think I have some good news for you,”

“You’ll be the first one today Lunnie,
if you do,” I said, which wasn’t quite true, but uniforms don’t count.

“I pulled up the
TRITYTE
plans on the ship’s computer and it has the complete plans for the Solbidyum reactor.  The reactor is not all that big, actually less than a meter square; however, I will need to replace the exotic metals.  These would only be found on other planets, but I am sure I could get them shipped here.  It would be much easier to build a new reactor and simply move the grain of Solbidyum to it than to try and move the entire reactor.  I could build the complete thing here in the onboard machine shop.  If you can get me the metals I need I can have your reactor built and in system in three to four days.”

“Lunnie
, you are a genius,” I said, “Remind me to give you a bonus.  Just requisition anything you need and put a rush on it.  I have a feeling we are going to need that Solbidyum moved very soon.   Once you have the reactor installed in the
NEW ORLEANS
I want you to disguise it so no one knows what it is.  Let them think the fusion reactor on the
NEW ORLEANS
is the only power system on the ship, in fact if you can make it so the reactor room for the Solbidyum reactor is completely hidden with a secret door that would even be better.”