SWEET HOME ALLE BAMMA (SOLBIDYUM WARS SAGA) (44 page)

“On the contrary, it makes perfect sense; they want all the drugs they can carry.  From what I’ve seen, just the smallest drop of this sap will have a person high for days.  I imagine they extract the sap and dilute it down before it’s sold, which will double or triple the street value of each harvest.  Heaven only knows how much of this stuff they must be making.  Certainly they’re producing enough to buy and support the ships and manpower they have here,” I said.

We had only gone a short distance down the path when we spotted someone coming toward us.  We took up locations in hiding until we were certain that
it was one of the two men that had accompanied Felenna.  We then stood in view; and when he came near he said quietly, “The village isn’t far.  There are a lot of troopers posted around the base, so we’ll have to be quiet and careful.  Felenna made it to the ship she wanted and got inside after talking to a guard posted there.  She hasn’t come back out.  Wilnod is cloaked and keeping watch.  That native fellow you sent with us disappeared shortly after we got to the camp.  He never said a word – one minute he was there, the next he was gone.”

Just then my communicator began vibrating on my wrist.  I lifted it to my face and said quietly, “Tibby here.”

“Tibby, this is Stonbersa.  I’m not sure how the natives across the entire planet knew we were coming; but all over the surface are clusters of three pillars of smoke rising from the jungle.  Right now I can identify about a dozen locations where the Brotherhood camps have been marked.  We’re setting down as many men as close to the bases as possible; but we don’t have enough men to tackle all these bases at once.  We do have Mirage Fighters in the air, though; and if the Brotherhood doesn’t have too many ships coming up at one time, we should be able to pick off any that try to leave.”

“That’s good news, Captain,” I said.  “Be sure to feed the location data into the computer on all the bases.  Those we can’t get to today we can save for the next assault.”

Then I turned to my men and ordered, “Okay, let’s get going.  We have a lot of work to do.”

As part of our plan
we had given Felenna an hour from the time she boarded the
MIZBAGONA
to plant the EMP device.  It was set to detonate 15 minutes later.  We reached the base about 20 minutes after the trooper met us on the path, meaning we had 35 minutes before the device would disable and ground the
MIZBAGONA
. We needed to synchronize our attack so everything would be set in motion just after the EPM device crippled the ship
.

My men were instructed to spread out about the camp and plant bombs in key locations so to inflict maximum damage.  We knew the natives were not on the base, so we didn’t need to spare any structures or other items in the camp, save the
MIZBAGONA
,
which we hoped to capture intact.

I was
a bit anxious, hoping that our timing would be right.  We had no way of knowing from outside the
MIZBAGONA
if and when the EMP device would detonate, as there would be no explosion or anything visible to indicate that the ship had lost power.

When the time arrived for the bombs to detonate, chaos erupted.
  Buildings and ground conveyances began exploding one by one.  The laboratory building went up like it was sitting on a volcano.  Buildings burst into flames and troopers and men in white lab clothing began running manically in all directions.  Many of the troopers and technicians instinctively ran toward ships, but most of the ships were in flames as well.

Suddenly
, men and women were running out of the
MIZBAGONA
to another smaller craft that that appeared to be something other than a military ship – something more like a very small personal yacht.  Within seconds it lifted into the air and took off, hugging the treetops as it fled.

Seconds later more men
fled from the
MIZBAGONA
to look for refuge and, finding none, took off running into the jungle.  They didn’t make it very far, as my men picked them off one by one.  Within a few minutes the base appeared empty of people, with the exception of the few wounded and dead laying here or there.  All the buildings were in flames, as were three transports and two patrol ships.

I got another buzz on my communicator and answered, “Tibby here.”

“This is Captain Stonbersa.  We spotted four ships that left your location.  They all seem to be heading to the same location in the far north of the planet.  Ships are also escaping from other bases we’ve hit and they’re heading to that same location.  Do you want us to pursue and eradicate them?”

“No, just mark where they land for now.  You can also tell the patrol ship that brought my team here that it’s safe to land at the base with the new reactor core.  We need to move quickly and get the
MIZBAGONA
out of here.”

“Right, Tibby.  He should be there in less than three minutes.”

By now most of my team had returned to the rendezvous point.  “I need five of you to come with me.  The rest of you take up positions where you have broad visibility; and if any Brotherhood men approach the
MIZBAGONA
,
shoot to kill.”

I led the five men into the
MIZBAGONA
.  Amber emergency beacons lit up the main corridors and spaces within the ship, but everything else appeared to be nonfunctional.  We managed to find our way to the bridge.  The door was standing open and inside I could see a figure sitting slumped in the captain’s chair.  It was Felenna; she was badly wounded.  Blood covered her left shoulder and arm but she was still conscious.

“Felenna, are you okay?!  Medic!”
Almost immediately one of my men appeared and quickly began assessing Felenna’s injuries.

“Nasty shot,” he said, “but it will heal.  We need to get her back to the
NEW ORLEANS
and into the infirmary.”

Felenna looked at me and said somewhat weakly, “Sorry, Tibby, but I don’t think I’ll be captaining the
MIZBAGONA
out of here after all.”

“Nonsense,” I said.  “You can still talk and give commands.  My men can do the flying.  You’re not getting out of this for a little flesh wound.  What happened anyway?”

“Everything went as planned until the EMP device went off.  The chief engineer must have deduced that I was the one who planted the device, since I was the last one to come aboard and I’m not a part of the ship’s regular crew.  While everyone else fled the ship when the explosions started erupting across the compound, he came looking for me.  I thought everyone was gone, so I came out of hiding to find that he had lingered behind.  He spotted me just as I stepped into view.  He shouted and called me a traitor, and then he shot me before I could take cover.  He managed to hit me in the arm.  I had a flat gun in my other hand and got a shot off as I fell that struck him in the head.  He’s dead, back there in one of the corridors.”

Just then one of my men came into the bridge with a status report.  “Our patrol ship just
arrived with the spare reactor core.  They’re bringing it in right now and we should be ready to fly in 20 minutes.  The patrol ship is going to cloak and scout around until we’re airborne; then he’ll escort us back to the
NEW ORLEANS
.  By the way, there’s a guy in a Brotherhood captain’s uniform lying dead back there in the corridor…looks like a head wound… but other than that the ship’s clear.”

I chuckled, “Okay, carry on.  Good work.”

By then the medic was finished patching up Felenna and she was looking better, though still quite shaken.

“How are you feeling now?”  I asked.

“Better,” she said.  “The medic sprayed something on the wound and it doesn’t hurt as much, but I’m still trembling.  I’ve never killed anyone before.”

“It’s never fun or pleasant,” I said.  “Listen, what I said a minute ago about you giving orders to fly this ship back – If you’re not able to do so, I understand.  You’ve done plenty already, just helping us capture this ship.”

“No, no, it’s alright; and if you’re still willing to let me, I would be deeply honored to command the ship on its return to the
NEW ORLEANS.
”

“Good, then that’s settled.”

While we talked, some of my security troops came in to take up stations at various positions on the bridge.  They had all been briefed on the ship’s operations and had familiarized themselves with their respective equipment and consoles using the
RUNANA
as a training model.

With a series of whirls and pings the lights and instruments suddenly came to life and a message came over the com link.  “Reactor is operational, we’re ready to go.”

I turned to Felenna and said, “Well, Captain, the ship is yours to command.  Take us home.”

Immediately
upon our return to the
NEW ORLEANS
I went to see Kala once more.  Nothing had changed, but I needed to see that for myself.  My time with her was cut short as we were still in the middle of a hostile situation and there were many details for me to address.  I needed to meet with the assault teams and get reconnaissance reports. I needed to meet with Stonbersa and A’Lappe. I needed to do a million things if I wanted to see this all brought to an end and see Kala out of this stasis.  Sitting there with her, as much as I wanted to stay, was not going to get her out of there.  Taking action would.

The rest of the day was jammed with meetings and decisions.  After the day’s triumphs everyone
on the
NEW ORLEANS
was in a celebratory mood.  The operation was a success, though we did have a few injured troopers and two damaged patrol ships that suffered some mild damage from glancing blows as they collided while cloaked.  Fortunately, everyone was expected to recover fully and nothing on the patrol ships was too seriously damaged; both ships were still operational.  We weren’t able to get both of the captured corvettes into the hangar on the
NEW ORLEANS
; so the
RUNANA
took up an orbit position near the
NEW ORLEANS
and the
MIZBAGONA
was brought inside to be looked over and fitted with a cloaking device.

A’Lappe was like a small child with a new toy as he crawled about the
MIZBAGONA
, examining every mechanism and support system.

“These really aren’t bad ships,” he said.  “They’re remarkably well built, except for the lack of redundancy.  They’re armed with just about everything you can think of.  Not much good for anything else than fighting; but a real war platform, nonetheless, for a planet or mercenary who needs affordable performance.  I’m surprised the Brotherhood didn’t start using these ships sooner.”

“I don’t think they’ve had them more than a few months,” I said.  “They seemed to be ramping up drug production on the surface; and I think the drugs have been their main source of revenue, at least for these big purchases.  I’m sure the arms merchant that sold them to the Brotherhood operates on a cash-only basis; so they’ve likely developed a pay-as-they-go agreement for their orders and transactions.  Their drug operations on Alle Bamma are so new that they wouldn’t have had time to bring very many of these ships into service.  I don’t suppose there’s any way you can make a smaller energy source for the RMFF that will fit into the
RUNANA
and the
MIZBAGONA
?”

“I’m afraid not, Tibby, not unless you can obtain some more solbidyum and convince the Federation to let you have it.”

“I wouldn’t even want to ask,” I said.  “Since you mention it, though, I have been thinking about the solbidyum.  When I first arrived in the Federation territories, Captain Maxette explained solbidyum as a rare element produced in the collapse of a black hole.  I know from what he told me that this event occurred on the outer edge of the galaxy; and it has me thinking.  If it happened once, it most likely has happened in more than one place.  There must be other black holes out there that collapsed for one reason or another.  If so, there must be a way to detect them.  Do you think you can do that?”

“Hmmm, that’s an interesting thought.  These anomalies would most likely not be in a galaxy itself, but in between galaxies.  The black hole that produced the solbidyum was most likely a competing black hole or possibly a small one that was caught up in the spiral arms of our galaxy as the two objects passed one another.  It would have to have been very small – that is, it would have absorbed relatively little matter, at least not enough to sustain itself.

“But you’re right; if there was one, there must be another someplace.  It could take centuries to find it; and even then there’s no guarantee that the collapse would have also produced solbidyum.”

“Well
, play around with the idea, A’Lappe.  If you come up with a good theory as to where to find another or how to detect one, I would be willing to fund an investigative expedition.

“
I do have one other question that has been bugging me.  My understanding of a black hole is that it compresses material tighter together by way of gravity, causing the incredibly dense singularity.  According to my understanding, a grain of solbidyum should be so dense and heavy that we would be unable to lift it; yet in reality, the whole lot of it isn’t at all heavy, not to mention a single grain.”