Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (42 page)

“Tough guy huh
?” Lexmal said with a sarcastic grin on his face, “good that will make it all the better when you finally do scream and spill your guts!”  He took the knife out of my hand and then rammed it to the hilt into the fleshy part of my thigh, twisting as he pushed his face close to mine and said.  “I’m going to really enjoy this, now how about you tell me the Federations plans, and how they got so close?” He twisted the knife again making me wince, “ and where the hell they came from so quickly?”  He pulled the knife from my thigh and stabbed into my biceps twisting it again. “What’s the matter, something get your tongue?” he laughed, “Ahh,  don’t worry, I won’t cut your tongue out like Captain Thimas did with Maxette.   It’s too bad that Captain Thimas got impatient with Maxette’s refusal to call him Captain and cut out his tongue before he could get the codes for the Solbidyum container. We’ll get that soon enough.  Our Brothers on Tenner have the codes, they’re only a few weeks away, but what’s a few weeks for all that wealth eh Tibby old boy? Maybe you’d like to share some of your wealth with me in the meantime, you know, to make me stop hurting you?” he said as he stabbed me in the opposite thigh digging and twisting his knife again.  “Now how about you TALK!”

“Didn’t mommy tell you never
to play with knives?”  I said between gritted teeth.

“
You know you’re almost as funny as Corporal Luinella was, but she isn’t laughing anymore now is she?”  He said bring his face up close to mine.  I watched his eyes and just as I saw he was blinking I slammed my head into his face as hard as I could, I could hear the crunching of bone as his nose broke.  “YOU! YOU BROKE MY nose! YOU… YOU…!” Lexmal screamed as he raised his knife and stabbed me in the chest and raised his knife to stab me again, I though any moment I would be joining Lunnie when Thimas voice came from the view screen over the door, “LEXMAL, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?  STOP THIS INSTANT! We need Tibby, alive you fool!”  Lexmal lowered his knife and turned toward the screen. “He broke my nose… that asshole broke my nose…,” he stammered.”  

“I don’t care if he cut the damn thing off,” Thimas
growled, “We need him alive.  We must know what he knows and for what he’s worth, his fortune alone can keep the Brotherhood going and supplied for centuries.” Thimas’s eyes turned toward Lunnie’s body hanging limp and dead on the wall.  “What happened to her?  Did she talk?” 

“The
damn doesee bit off my finger,” Lexmal said holding his hand up so Thimas could see the still bleeding stump.

“
YOU KILLED HER? You stupid fool! You killed her! We could have used her to make the others talk. You are so dumb! Did you even try and get Tibby to talk by threatening to kill her?  By the stars I should come down there and cut all your fingers off and make you eat them!”  Thimas exploded in the screen, behind him I could see, Captain Maxette working to free his bindings while everyone else’s eyes were on Thimas.

“I can make him talk,” Lexmal
stammered, “he’s alright, he’ll talk!”

“He better
” Thimas said, “or you’ll be having your gonads for your next meal.”

I coughed and blood came out of my mouth
, my ears were ringing and I could feel my eyes wanting to close, I was fighting to keep them open.

“
YOU FOOL HE’S DYING,” Thimas shouted! “You bumbling fool, just when we were getting the upper hand you blow it again!” As he was ranting the door under the vid screen opened and the blurred outline of some people were framed by the door, for a minute I could not focus my eyes but then as they slowly came into focus I saw Kala between two large rebel guards, each having a firm grip on her arms.

“Well, well, well, look what we have here, and just in time for the party,” Lexmal said, “I think, Captain Thimas, that Tibby is about to tell us everything he knows. Bring her up here boys, put her were her sister was!”

I looked at Kala’s eyes, shock
, horror and anger filled them, I saw her face twist in rage and then, suddenly she became a blur of motion and I saw her perform a martial arts movement I had only seen performed once and had never been able to duplicate. In an instant she had broken free of the grips of both guards and had grabbed their knives from their scabbards as she began to move forward with lightning speed, never taking her eyes off of Lexmal, her arms flung out cutting the throats of both guards.   As she ran forward screaming, “YOU KILLED MY SISTER!”  The two other guards in the room were stepping forward to stop her as her arms crossed over each other in and X and then back again and both guards dropped, their throats cut as well.  There was no pause in her motion, her eyes never leaving Lexmal who stood there frozen in the sight before him as Kala arms crossed once more in and X and slashed back like scissors severing Lexmal’s head from his body.  From the screen I heard Thimas shout, “NOOOOOO!” and I noticed behind him Captain Maxette had freed himself while everyone on the bridge had their eyes glued to the screen and the event that was unfolding here as Lexmal’s head hit the floor.  I saw Maxette reach with his one good hand and grab a gun from the holster of one of the guards and as blackness faded over me I saw him take aim and shoot Thimas in the back.

I found myself standing in an open meadow with knee high grass
, to the right and left of me were hills covered in huge old trees. A breeze blew through the grasses and ahead of me a little way I could see Lunnie walking. I tried to call out to her but my voice would not work.  As she reached the crest of a small hill she turned and looked back at me smiling and said, “Go back Tibby, it’s not yet your time.  You still have more to do. Go back to Kala, take care of her Tibby, she loves you.”   I felt myself being pulled back as I reached out my arms toward her, my head was filled with the buzzing of bees, light and colors swirled around me and I heard a voice say, “We got a pulse, he’s coming around,” and then all was peaceful and quiet and dark.  When I opened my eyes I realized I was in a bed, I could feel someone holding my hand and turned my head to see Kala there, her face still with splatters of blood and her hair matted.  I could see she had been crying, but she looked at me and smiled and I tried to talk but was barely able to say, “Hi.”

“Oh Tib, thank the stars you are still alive,” she cried
, “I could not live if I lost you too.”

“Lunnie,” I whispered with tears in my eyes, and Kala nodded, tears running down her cheeks.

One of the medics came in, looked at some instruments and gave me a shot with a device and then left. The shot seemed to give me a bit more strength and I asked,

“
Did we win?”  Kala grinned while crying and could only nod her head yes.  “Reidecor’s dead!” I said.  Kala nodded “Marranalis?” I questioned?

“He’s in the next room, a bit banged up he’ll be ok.” Kala
answered while wiping away a tear.  “Captain Maxette?” I asked 

Kala shook her head
, “But he got that scum Thimas.  That’s what ended it, once Thimas was dead everyone else just surrendered.”

“Kala, what happened
?” I asked, “I mean how did you get aboard the
DUSTEN
?   Those martial art moves, I never have done those, I’ve seen them but the learning band didn’t work. How???”

“It’s not exactly true that the Learning bands didn’t work.” Kala said, “
After you and the others left for the
DUSTEN
in the
TRITYTE
Cantolla discovered there was a loose wire that was not connected.  But it was too late.  There were not many troopers left on the
NEW ORLEANS
only ten in fact. We all used the Learning band after Cantolla fixed it, but there were no patrol ships left.  Fortunately we were able to get the
NEW ORLEANS
close to the aft hold where Thimas had been dumping people into space and he had left the hatch open.  We turned the RMFF off and using spacesuits and rocket packs we jetted over and into the hold.  With all the fighting onboard the
DUSTEN
no one noticed us.  Fortunately the door switches on the
DUSTEN
were still keyed to my commands and I was able to activate the airlock door and get us in.  From there it was simply a matter of fighting our way forward.  One of the prisoners we took was a person I knew on the
DUSTEN
and I think he was sick of what he was seeing with the Brotherhood and with Thimas.  He told me that Lunnie and you had been captured and were being tortured. The quickest way to find you was to get captured, so that’s what I allowed to happen and fortunately they brought me to where you were before you died.  But I was too late for Lunnie,” she sobbed.  “Once Thimas and Lexmal were both dead the rebels simply surrendered.   Tib over five thousand Loyal Federation troopers died, as well as over three hundred diplomats and civilians that Thimas sent out into the vacuum of space.”

I closed my eyes, “Kala I was there when Lunnie was killed
, you would have been so proud of her, she was a true hero. She never broke under Lexmal’s torture, she even bit off his finger in defiance.  But what I don’t know is how she got aboard the Dusten or how she got captured.”

“I can answer that,”
Lt. Commander Wanoll’s voice came from the doorway.

I
looked over to see him in the doorway.  “Glad to see you made it. Lt. Commander.”  I said.

“Actually
, it’s now Commander Wanoll,” another voice from the corridor said and I looked to see Admiral Regeny standing there. “He’s temporary acting captain of the
DUSTEN
until we find a new captain to replace Maxette. “

“
Admiral, it’s good to see you too, sorry my plan was such a disaster, so many lives lost.” I said.

“Tibby it was not your fault.  From what we can see your plan would have worked
perfectly if the Learning Headband had not had the loose wire, as it was in the end it did do the job.  As for the lives that were lost, well those are the casualties of war.  Your actions were sound and in the end it was your plan that kept the Brotherhood from winning.  The Admiralty takes full responsibility for your actions as we ask for and accepted your plans. Don’t go shouldering the entire burden for the lives that were lost. We could have stopped you and said no at any time.  The fact of the matter is Tibby that we have not had any serious wars in the past two hundred years and we really don’t know how to plan battles anymore.  We have little policing actions on planets from time to time and have quelled them with brute force and not with brilliant strategies.  I fear that without your help we would have ended up blowing up the
DUSTEN
with all its passengers, both civilian, military, diplomatic and rebels to prevent the Solbidyum from falling into the hands of the Brotherhood.”

Kala interrupted
, “You said you can explain how Lunnie got on the
DUSTEN
and got captured.”

“Yes,” Commander
Wanoll answered as he walked to the view screen at the foot of the bed and placed a small chip in the slot on the side, “Corporal Luinella left a message on the computer of the
TRITYTE
for you, we just found it about an hour ago,”  Wanoll activated the screen and Lunnie’s image appeared.

“Hi Sis;
If you’re seeing this vid it’s because I didn’t make it back and I know you and Tibby and a dozen others are wondering why I was on the
TRITYTE.
I had told Tibby that I could power the
TRITYTE
with a small fusion battery, which was true, but I didn’t have time to make a solid connection and someone was going to have to be onboard to maintain a connection or it would fail before the
TRITYTE
ever made it to the
DUSTEN
.  I could not let Tibby know that and I could not let the mission be delayed after seeing what that asshole Thimas had done to Captain Maxette as well as all those other poor people on the
DUSTEN
.   I’ve never been one to try and be a hero, I only joined the service to be like you Kala, and because there were lots of cute men in the service, and I am not trying to be a hero now, but I can’t stand by and let more people die because… well… you know. 

Any way sis, I want you to know I love you, I always have.  I am extremely glad that Tibby came along to be in your life.  I know he is not the man you dreamed of because he is way more than you ever dreamed of and I can see it in your eyes every time you look at him.  I know he loves you and I hope the two of you stay together because if you do not I will come back and haunt you both!   Oh and one thing more sis, if you and Tib have a baby girl, and I know you will, name her after me
, I never believed in reincarnation, but if it exists I cannot think of two people I would want more for parents.  I’ve got to go hide as the
DUSTEN
has taken over controls of the
TRITYTE
and we will soon be brought into their hangar.  I was going to say wish me luck, but I guess you already know how that turned out.”

Kala put her head against my chest, fortunately not where I was stabbed, and I put my bandaged arms and hands around her and we both sobbed.  Lunnie had been a true hero in
every sense of the word. Kala and I stayed like that for a long time and when we finally looked up the Admiral and Commander Wanoll gone, leaving us alone to share our grief and console each other.