Solbidyum Wars Saga Book 1: Battle of the New Orleans (5 page)

I was starting to get very nervous about all of this, when suddenly a second viewing window opened on the ships screen, inside of which the image of a man wearing a
Kelly green uniform appeared.  From the expression on his face I assumed that he could see me and my surroundings inside the bridge as well.

“Congratulations on your recovery of the
TRITYTE
,” he began, “I trust the cargo it still intact?”

This initial communication did not match what was beginning to feel like a military interception, so I was still processing “Congratulations” and
“TRITYTE”
(probably with my mouth agape) when he cleared his throat and collected himself, “My deepest apologies for my lack of courtesy, sir, I’m Captain Maxette of the Federation Star Ship
DUSTEN…
and who might you be?”

In my insolent nature I wanted to say “I might be the Easter Bunny,” but on second thought I figured this was not the time to be funny, besides the fact that the reference would surely have been lost.  “I’m Thibodaux Renwalt, but you can just call me Tibby.  Everyone else does.”

“Well congratulations again, Tibby, but… uhhh… the cargo
is
intact, yes?” he asked again with some trepidation.

“Sir,” I began, “To be honest, I am not really sure, as I have no idea what
the cargo
might be.  My discovery of this ship was quite accidental…and…actually, I have more or less been a captive on this ship, since I seem to have unintentionally activated some primary directive program that has taken over navigation… and I have been trapped in the ship ever since.”

There was a momentary pause as the Captain hesitated, looking dumbfounded by my comment.  He turned to a man standing at a console behind him (I presumed another officer), who looked equally befuddled.  The Captain turned back to face me.  “You are from what planet?”

“Earth.”

Again, the confusion was apparent on his face.  He turned to the officer, who now seemed to be looking manically through data on a screen.  After a brief pause, the officer announced to the captain, “Sir, the data banks have no reference for a planet by that nam
e. Tibby, please allow us a few moments to access
TRITYTE’
s guidance program to ascertain the origin of your journey.” 

Several moments passed as a number or lights on the console flashed and blinked and several of the smaller screens on the console displayed bits of data that scrolled across the screens so rapidly I could not follow any of it.  After a brief period, the displays stopped and the officer spoke to the Captain, “Sir, apparently Earth is a planet quite some distance outside the Federation Territory in one of the un-explored areas.” 

The Captain’s confusion appeared to give way to something more like curiosity. “Tibby, how much of the ship have you explored?”

“
Ahh, sir, “I began, “I think all of it, though I really didn’t spend much time in what I think may be the engine room or what I assume is the storage room.  The really large room in the rear of the ship that has the big door or hatch looks like a cargo hold, but the only thing in there is a piece of equipment and a big box.”

“A big box, you say… please describe it.” He said anxiously.

“Well, Captain Maxette, sir, it’s about as tall as I am and big enough to fit about 8 people inside.”  The Captain appeared to be waiting for me to continue with more information, perhaps something to indicate that the container was still secure, so I offered, “…and it has some sort of sealed locking device on it so I don’t know what’s in it.  But that’s all that I see in that space.”

The Captain suddenly relaxed and a smile appeared on his face.  Until that moment, I hadn’t been aware of how tense he’d been.

“Tibby,” he began, with a tone in his voice that made him seem like a different person than the one who greeted me, “if what I hope is in that box is there, and I have every reason to believe it is, you have just become the luckiest and the richest man in the universe…without a doubt
the richest
.  We will arrive at your location in a few moments to retrieve you, the
TRITYTE,
and the Solbidyum.  This is a day that shall go down in history.”  He turned briefly to the side and announced with resounding command, as though dictating an order to someone out of view, “All ships under this command are to remain on restricted communication with the
DUSTEN
only.  All communications from the
DUSTEN
and its flight wings are hereby restricted to communication with the High Command at the capitol only.  Such communications shall be encrypted for delivery only by me or my successor, should I be unable to perform my duties.  From now until we reach the capitol all ships are to be at the ready and on full alert.  Word of this development must not be disclosed to anyone before we arrive.  Anyone attempting to communicate outside these parameters will be subject to court martial, punishable by death under Section 14589-QR-4.”

He then turned back to me, again with his huge, genuine smile and said
, “Tibby, I look forward to meeting you very soon.  You have no idea just how glorious a moment this is for you and for the Galaxy.”

As I waited for their arrival, I hoped that all of this was going to be as good for me as it sounded, but the commands to his ship and crew left me with a great deal of apprehension.  While it was fairly clear that the
TRITYTE
was name of the
ship, I wondered what in the hell
Solbidyum
was and what made this ship and this Solbidyum so damn important.

As the
Captain finished speaking, I saw a larger ship appear on screen.  Since my points of reference were rather skewed in the vacuum of space, I could not clearly understand the size of this massive craft moving toward me.  I had expected to see a larger vessel approach, after speaking with the Captain, but nothing I had ever experienced or heard of prepared me for staggering height and breadth of this ship.  I was nearly in shock at the sight of it.  “That thing has to be the size of a small city…!  It’s close to a half a kilometer in height and at least kilometer and a half in length!  There must be
thousands
of personnel aboard a ship of that size!” I couldn’t help exclaiming my astonishment out loud. I was nearly in shock at the sight I was seeing on the screen.  Lights on the console began flashing and things were obviously taking place and I assumed that either the larger ship had somehow taken control over my ship or that orders had been given to the ship for docking with the
TRITYTE…
Whichever it was, we were moving toward a section of the ship where there appeared to be a rather large opening.  Some of the smaller ships that were escorting me broke off from their positions and seemed to form a corridor through which my ship would move.  I was wondering if this was for my protection (from what I had no idea) or if it was to prevent me from escaping (as if I knew how).  In any case it didn’t matter because I was pretty sure I wasn’t going anywhere but into that bigger ship.  During this time the communication link with the
DUSTEN
was still active and it suddenly occurred that I had not mentioned the body of the man in the infirmary.   I felt it better that I say something before I was taken onboard the
TRITYTE
about the body.

             
“Ahh, Captain…” I began, “there is a mummified body onboard this ship that I think you should know about.”

             
The captain had been sitting in his chair and was still turned facing away from me having just finished giving orders to someone.  He turned rapidly to look at me through the screen and said, “a mummified body?  Do you know anything about it or how the person died?”

             
“Well Sir,” I began, “I asked the ship about it and it said it was the thief who had taken the ship and that he had died after being injected with some sort of poison from a bite from something on my planet. I suspect it was a Coral Snake but not sure, but if that’s what it was it should not have killed him, only made him real sick.”

             
“Interesting,” the captain replied “it’s quite possible as you said, people who have evolved or are native to a planet are generally more immune to venoms and stings from creatures native to the world they grew up on than are aliens to that environment.  We are accessing and downloading all your ships records now to analyze them and to find what has been happening since the
TRITYTE
was taken centuries ago.   This is something that stories will be told about for many generations to come.” 

             
“About that Sir, could you enlighten me on just what DID happen and what is happening now?” I asked “I am afraid I am at a total loss as to just what really is happening.”

The captain laughed a bit and replied
, “I think we both have lots of questions, you will soon be aboard the
DUSTEN,
once you are and things are secure and you have been provided accommodations and an opportunity to refresh, we will get together for a debriefing and explain what is happening.  We will also answer your questions as best we can, I think you are in for the surprise of your life,” the captain chuckled “Yes, indeed the surprise of your life!”

All this time of course the
TRITYTE
was moving closer to the
DUSTEN
, the door on the side of the
DUSTEN
now appeared to be big enough to put an Aircraft carrier from Earth through and I was overwhelmed by the scale of things inside as we entered. The hold itself was immense and to the right and left appeared to be levels like shelves with what had to be hundreds of ships of all sizes.  This was not a ship, this was a MOTHER SHIP, or the mother of all ships.  I could not comprehend the time it must have taken to construct this monstrosity.  The small craft in the squadrons that had surrounded me were like fleas on an elephant next to this behemoth.  As the ship entered the hanger bay, I do not know what else to call it, though it seemed to be much more than a hanger bay, I noted there looked to be smaller hangers within the main one; and it was to one of these smaller hangers that the
TRITYTE
was moved to.  The ship was barely inside and landed before the door to the smaller hanger was closed.  Moments later I could hear hissing sounds and I could see by the controls on the Console that the airlock on my ship had been activated.  Seconds later an armed man in a uniform and wearing what I suspected was some sort of body armor entered and politely said, “Thibodaux Renwalt, I’m Lieutenant Reidecor, please come with me… I am here to escort you off the
TRITYTE
and assume guard over it, and may I say sir it is a real honor to meet you.”

We headed down the corridor to the main air lock and
then turned to exit down a ramp that extended away from the ship.  On both sides of the ramp troops stood at the ready looking in all directions fully armed and prepared for action.  I was a bit dismayed by all the security and commented on it to the Lieutenant asking why all the security only to get the response “I’m afraid sir that for the moment that information is restricted, perhaps the Captain will explain it to you, but I am not authorized to comment at this time.”  I was beginning to wonder if “That information is restricted” was the standard answer to every question in the Federation.

As we w
ent down the ramp I turned and looked back at the
TRITYTE,
until this moment I had no
real
idea what the outside of the ship looked like.  All I had seen of the outside was a small portion of the ship.  However, now that I was able to see it in its entirety I was a bit surprised as it looked nothing like what I had expected. It had smooth lines and blended curves, and other than the hatch opening in the side that we were exiting from, I saw no indications of any doors or windows save for a small bowl shaped indentation in the hull, that I recognized as the object that caught my foot and started this whole adventure. Over all, the ship resembled some sort of symmetrical blob and not much more… the color of the ship over all was a dark tarnished brass if the ship were sitting in a field of dead grass from a distance one might think it was little more than a grass covered hill in the field.  I could see nothing about it that justified all the fuss being made about it.  When I was aboard the
TRITYTE
I tended to think of the ship as being fairly large but somehow seeing it here in this hanger inside the
DUSTEN
made it seem quite small and almost insignificant.

As we wa
lked away from the ship I could see another person approaching us with four fully armed and ready troopers, there was no mistaking, even from the distance that this person was clearly female and the closer she got the more attractive she became.  It was not that she was outstandingly beautiful, though she certainly could have held her own in any beauty competition, but rather in the way she carried herself.  She emitted an air of confidence that conveyed a relaxed composure that gave you the feeling that she was at home in any situation and was better prepared to deal with anything that happened than anyone else.  My first thought on seeing her was that of a cheetah, something in the way she moved that indicated both grace and speed.   She was about 1.7m by Earth measurements, which put the top of her head about my eye height, I being 1.83m tall.  She had a light olive complexion long black hair that cascaded past her shoulders and the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen, (she could have been Hispanic, Native American, Italian, Middle Eastern of any number of other races or nationalities on Earth, but yet there was something about her that told you she was none of these… )It took me a minute to realize that her eyes were a light blue grey, an unnatural color for anyone on Earth.  Even if they had been a standard shade of blue, like one found on Earth, it still would have appeared unnatural as one seldom finds darker complexioned persons on Earth with black hair and blue eyes, (though I do understand that the Basks people in Spain arte dark haired and darker complexioned with blue eyes.)  The Lieutenant with me stiffened in a posture that I assumed to position of attention that this society used when encountering a higher ranking officer and addressed the woman before us.  “Major, I present you with Thibodaux Renwalt as ordered.”  Then he turned to me and said, “This is Major Kalana, she will see to you from here.”  He then turned and walked back to the troops about the
TRITYTE.