Solbidyum Wars 3: Pirates of Goo'waddle Canals by Dale Musser Read Free Book Online Page B

fare as well.  The most recent report from Lieutenant Commander Sokaia is that five of the attackers died in the counterassault, three were wounded and captured and the rest managed to escape.  We’re just now pulling into the capital complex.”
    “Lieutenant Commander Sokaia! Man, they gave her quite the promotion!  I may never get a date with her now,” Marranalis said.
    Marranalis had trained Sokaia and the Special Operations units.  Originally she had been reluctant to train under Marranalis, because her military rank was above his.  It took some intervention from Kala and Admiral Regeny to set her straight on who answered to whom regarding the matter.  Eventually, though, the two had become good friends, and Sokaia had become Marranalis’ training assistant.
    “So, what made you take the precautions you did?” I asked Marranalis.
    “Actually, it was your observation of the senator in the corner.  Oh, by the way, his name is Senator Euregata from Samalis.  Samalis is one of the outer worlds in the Federation and, as such, will be one of the last to receive solbidyum.  Euregata has been somewhat sympathetic to Brotherhood claims about the Federation, though we have no evidence of real connections between him and them.  The thing that made me take action was that he spoke to one of the men with him, who then made a call and shortly after went outside to meet with a group of men.  Things started moving way too fast, and I felt it wiser to play it safe and assume a worst case scenario.  I contacted Admiral Regeny and he immediately deployed the Special Operations unit.  One of my men at the base brought the smaller ground transport to the club and staged himself in the garage until we arrived.”
    “Well, I am very impressed.  Thank you, Marranalis and Kala, for the way you handled the situation when I told you of my suspicions.  You never even glanced at the senator, and the way you alerted Marranalis would hardly have created any suspicion as to what was going on.  I’m really impressed with you both.  By the way, who is interrogating the attackers that were captured?”
    “I suspect that Wabussie will be handing that assignment.  Even though he is FSO, everyone is unaware of that o rganization and his role in it; and it will be assumed that the admiralty will conduct all interrogations.”
    “Kala, can you contact Wabussie tomorrow and have him provide us with copies of the interviews and any other evidence they may have gathered? Marranalis, I would like you to assign someone on your team to investigate Senator Euregata; maybe even place him under surveillance.  Our agents are trained as well as the FSO’s agents – or at least they should be, as we trained both groups together.”
    “Right, Tibby.  I’ll get someone working on it tonight.”
    “I’m glad this played out the way it did, Tib,” Kala said.  “This is the first time there was action against us that we didn’t find ourselves in the middle of.  If it hadn’t been for this attack, I would have rated today as one of the nicest days we’ve had in public.”
    I laughed.  “Kala, this is about the only day we have had in public.” Kala looked at me and we both burst out laughing.
    Early the next morning Marranalis came to see me.  “I just received a request from the Federal Office of Investigation.  They are investigating the attack of last night.  They want to interview me and others of our security team as to what happened and how we knew to switch you and Kalana out from the ground transport.  What do you want me to tell them?”
    “That’s very interesting; the FOI now wants to do something.  Do you think they have any clue about the FSO?”
    “I seriously doubt they are suspicious.  Incidents like this do fall under their jurisdiction.  But if I tell them everything that took place, they are going to get suspicious.”
    “I agree.  I think it best that you not mention anything about our reservations