SWEET HOME ALLE BAMMA (SOLBIDYUM WARS SAGA) (26 page)

“I wasn’t aware he had done that,” Cantolla said.

“Is there some problem or reason that you and A’Lappe are not working together?” I asked sternly.

“I, well, he… he doesn’t work well in a team environment,” she blurted out.

“Look, I understand that you want credit for your discoveries and your talent, but I didn’t hire you to do everything yourself.  You’re a brilliant scientist and your intellect is leading us to discoveries that are needed by the Federation and by me; but I also need you to be able to work with others who are equally as brilliant and gifted.  What you have discovered here is incredible but it could take you months or years to figure out how to get it working optimally on your own.  Likewise, what A’Lappe has discovered is incredible and valuable; and it could very well be the answer you need.  If I were to ask A’Lappe to develop a communication system on his own, he might never discover what you have.  Ultimately, each of you has something important to offer to toward the development of this technology and your cooperation with each other is needed to achieve the fastest and greatest success with this and other projects.  This is not a contest or competition to see who is the smartest or who is in charge.  Besides, you’re intelligent enough to know that A’Lappe is not looking for credit or glory, or he wouldn’t be leading a clandestine existence where the scientific public knows little or nothing about him – and likely never will.

Think about it,” I said as I got up and walked out, feeling myself getting a bit agitated.  I glanced back to see Cantolla leaning on her hands against the table, staring at the floor with a sullen, contemplative look on her face.

The presence of security at the banquet that evening was obvious and impressive.  Fully dressed and armored troopers were seen everywhere along the route to the banquet hall.  My own security force maintained positions as bodyguards around our immediate perimeter and snipers positioned themselves out of site on the rooftops and balconies.  Hidden in buildings along the route were squadrons of Special Ops troopers who were operating under the direction of Major Sokaia, since Marranalis was part of the banquet party.  We arrived at the banquet hall without incident, where we were briefly ushered to a private room adjacent to the main banquet hall.  There we were introduced to the FOI security contingent; and it came as no surprise when I was introduced to Halfredies.

“Ah, Halfredies, I understand that you are the brother of Galetils,” I began.  “I never had the opportunity to meet him, as his death occurred before I arrived here in the Federation territories; but I certainly wish I had.  He was a great man with grand visions.”

“Thank you, Honored First Citizen,” he began.  “I believe that if my brother were alive today, the two of you would become great friends.  If there is an afterlife, I have no doubt that he is very pleased to know that it is you who occupies his estate and flies his yacht.”

“I would be greatly honored if you would visit me on the
NEW ORLEANS
.  I understand that you haven’t had the opportunity to see the ship your brother built and I would be honored to give you a tour of his creation,” I said.

“I would enjoy that greatly.  Galetils had planned to take me on the maiden voyage when it was completed; but, as you know, his death occurred just weeks before construction was completed.  I heard, of course, that you had purchased it; but I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to see it for myself.”

“Well after this ordeal is over tonight, I would like very much for you to accompany me back to the
NEW ORLEANS
.  Other than for a few compartments that have been converted into laboratories, the ship is pretty much as your brother built it.”

“I would enjoy that very
much; though I’m not sure I’ll be able to get the time off on such short notice.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” I grinned.  “I have a
little
political pull and I think your superior will be more than happy to allow you a day or so.”

Halfredies laughed.  “Yes, I would say you have more than just a little political influence.  I will be honored to accompany you back, given, of course, that your influence is sufficient to sway my boss.”

“Good, then it’s settled.  Oh, I do have one special request for you.  I would like you to personally see to scanning all our foods this evening before we dine.  Kala, do you have the scanner?”

“Yes, Tib.  Here it is.”  She handed me the scanner, which I then gave to Halfredies.

“It’s not that we don’t trust the staff and people here,” I said, “but after the events of the past few days, I believe it’s better for us to be safe than sorry.”

Halfredies paused a moment as he took the scanner.  I looked him in the eye and I could see that he gathered there was more behind my request and comments than I was making plain at the moment.

“I’ll personally check every item as they are served,” he said and I nodded to him as I let go of the scanner.

The banquet was another of those events that I have come to detest – or I should say it was the fanfare and attention that I detested.  Prominent leaders got up to speak verbosely, thanking me, Kala, Marranalis, and the admiral; heaping praise on us; and honoring Lunnie, Reidecor and Captain Maxette in their absence.  Vid clips were shown; battle scenes were chronicled; and the death of Lunnie, Maxette, Lexmal and Thimas were recounted in vivid detail.  I found myself nearly drifting off to sleep as they talked on.

Our food was served while the dignitaries made their speeches.  I noted Halfredies discretely checking each dish delivered to the table and even the utensils and glasses.  My eyes played over the thousands of faces that filled the banquet hall and noted their rapt attention to every detail that played out on the vid screens as the speakers continued on and on.

I was so absorbed in watching the audience that I nearly missed hearing Senator Tacfacs say, “After seeing the incredible feats performed by First Citizen Kalana in the vid chronicles, I’m certain that you would all enjoy a demonstration of the martial arts skills that First Citizen Tibby has brought to the Federation and its military forces.  We were able to get Lieutenant Marranalis to provide us with two trained fighters to demonstrate some of these
techniques.”

I looked at Marranalis questioningly.  He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I didn’t have time to mention it to you.  I thought you would approve.”

“It’s all right by me,” I said.  “It just came as a surprise.”

Two troopers from the Special Ops unit came out and performed a number of routines in a central area of the banquet hall that had been left clear of tables. 
Gasps, oohs and ahhs filled the room from those in attendance as the troopers demonstrated some hand-to-hand combat techniques.  They finished to the expected round of applause and cheering.

Then, as things
settled down and I was about to get back to dining, Admiral Regeny got to his feet.  I felt my stomach sink, as I could see by the grin on his face that he was about to do something I wasn’t going to like.

“As impressive at that was, it is nothing compared to the skills of First Citizen and Vice Admiral Tibby.  When I first met him, I scoffed at the rumors of his skill and abilities.  I asked him to demonstrate his techniques against a fully armored trooper with only his bare hands, making some joking comment about getting his clothing wrinkled.  Not only did he defeat one of our best troopers in seconds, but he finished without producing a single wrinkle in is uniform.  I would like to ask both him and Lieutenant Commander Kalana to show you what two well-trained combatants can do when going up against our best conventionally trained troopers.”

Applause and cheering broke out in the hall and I knew that this was a matter in which we had no choice.  The crowd expected it; and even though we had just eaten, we were still expected to go through with this demonstration on full stomachs.  As Kala and I walked toward the central area where two of the largest troopers I had seen to date stood waiting, I turned to the admiral and said, “Last time I did this I got something in return.  This time you owe me.”

The admiral grinned.

Instead of Kala and I each sparring off with one trooper at a time, we were asked to fight them simultaneously.  They attacked with bare knives – quickly and without warning.  I was glad that I had gone swimming earlier to loosen up my muscles; otherwise, my reflexes may have actually been too slow and I might have gotten injured.  As it was, I quickly sent my opponent flying over me as I disarmed him of his knife in the process, holding it to his throat as he landed on his back with a heavy thud.  Even though Kala’s opponent was nearly twice her size, she too had her opponent disarmed and on the floor with his knife at his throat.

Cheers and applause echoed through the banquet hall as people chanted, “Tibby” and “Kalana.”  Kala and I simultaneously helped our opponents to their feet and handed them their knives.  As we turned to walk back to our seats, I
suddenly saw Kala’s opponent lunge forward and sink his knife deeply into Kala’s back.  At the same moment, I sensed my opponent moving behind me and I turned just in time to deflect his blade with my arm, but not quickly enough to prevent him from slashing me with it.

I heard one of men scream out, “
For the Brotherhood!
” as multiple flashes of light filled my vision when the security forces opened fire on the two attackers.  Seconds later, both lay dead as I rushed to Kala.  She was alive but bleeding profusely.  I put pressure over the wound to stop the bleeding.

“It’s okay, Kala, you’ll be ok,” I said, hoping and praying that I was right.

She looked at me with a weak but loving smile; and then her eyes closed as her head lolled to the side.

It seemed like hours before anything else happened, though in reality it was only seconds before security troopers surrounded the scene and ushered in Special Ops medics to assess and treat Kala, who had slipped into unconsciousness.  I was faintly aware of someone pulling on me and looked to see a medic trying to apply bandages to my bleeding forearm.  I started feeling dizzy
and my surroundings began to spin around me as sounds echoed in my head.  The last thing I recall is a blur of screams and scrambling images fading away from me, as if retreating into a distant tunnel.

Then all went black.

I found myself sitting in a field of long grass.  There was a sweet fragrance in the air and a sense of familiarity about the place.  I felt compelled to remain very still as I tried to remember what happened and figure out where I was.

I looked up to see a figure approaching me.  It was Lunnie… but Lunnie was dead.  I wondered, was I dead too?

Lunnie stopped some distance away and greeted me with her familiar vibrant smile.  “Hello, Tibby.  You really
must
stop coming here before it’s your time.  You have a hard battle to fight if you’re going to save Kala.  You
can
save her, Tibby.  She’s counting on you and so am I.”

I looked past Lunnie
to see Kala lying on the ground behind her.  I tried to get up from the grass and go to her, but I couldn’t move.

“It’s not her time yet either, Tibby, so you must save her,” said Lunnie in a very insistent but loving tone.

Things began to swirl again and my head was filled with a relentless buzz.  Then I suddenly found myself lying in a bed with a medic hovering over me.  A’Lappe, Marranalis and two Special Ops troopers stood by.

“He’s coming around now, sir,” the medic said to Marranalis.

“Kala?” I said, no doubt with a great deal of fear and desperation in my weak voice.

“She’s stable for now,” said Marranalis immediately, sensing my need for immediate reassurance.

“Stable
for now
?  What does that mean?”

I saw Marranalis look at A’Lappe questioningly and A’Lappe nodded.

“Tibby, the knives that were used to injure you and Kalana were laced with a lethal poison.  For some reason, you seem to be largely immune to it – or at least it’s not killing you and you seem to be recovering so far.  On the other hand, the toxin has infected Kalana’s entire body.  Immediately after being stabbed, her organs began to rapidly show signs of shutting down.  The medics responded quickly by placing her in stasis until an antidote can be found.”

Marranalis’ words hit me like a hammer.  For a few minutes I felt like I was going to black out again.

“The two troopers you fought in the demonstration were both Brotherhood members.  They killed and took the place of the two loyal troopers who were originally selected to oppose you.  Their sole purpose was to kill both you and Kalana.  Somehow they knew or found out that Admiral Regeny was going to have you and Kala participate in a demonstration.  As soon as we saw what was happening, security shot and killed both attackers; but we were a split second too late to prevent them from wounding you and stabbing Kala.  The medics believe there is something unique to your genetic makeup that is responsible for your resistance to the poison.”

“Will Kala be okay?” I asked, closing my eyes tightly.

“Honestly, Tibby, I don’t know.  The medics say that as long as she remains in stasis, she is stable; but unless an antidote can be found, she will only live a few hours if they bring her out of stasis.”