Koban: Rise of the Kobani (26 page)

“This is why we don’t yet want widespread contact with the people of the Hub worlds. We don’t expect approval or acceptance, not at first, if ever. Away from the Rim worlds, they haven’t experienced firsthand what facing these killers means. Seeing atrocities on Tri-Vid doesn’t have the same impact as watching these barbarians cut apart a family member.

“We intend to stay hidden and a secret or we will leave here, and fight them on our own. Not as well without your help, but at least we won’t have to guard our backs from our own side, threatening us with the death penalty or prison. Don’t answer too quickly, before you have thought about it, because you will be joining a conspiracy.”

As they all expected, Nabarone was first to speak. “You make it damn hard for a man used to quick decisions, Mirikami. I’ve jealously watched spec ops run operations that I was unable to conduct. I wanted what his men had for my own troops. Now you dangle this juicy rutabaga in front of a stubborn but hungry man to move him, and I’m told I can’t bite it yet.”

“Carrot,” Mirikami said.

“What’s a carrot?”

“The orange colored root vegetable you dangle before a stubborn mule to get it to move.”

“Not on Poldark. It’s a rutabaga. And thanks for the mule comparison.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Besides, I’m
ready
to move, but you told me to wait, so who’s being the jackass here?”

Thad looked over at Dillon. “It’s just like watching Maggi and you talking.”

“Why?” he laughed. “Is someone going to get smacked on their pecker?”

Trakenburg grunted in exasperation. “No need to wait, I’ll bite. I have already fought the legal and social stigma factor you were discussing. We wanted to use genetic modification in our program and couldn’t get approval, so we were forced to find electronic and mechanical means to try to achieve what we needed.

“By the way, on my colony world of New Bavaria, it’s a parsnip. I don’t like them.”

Mirikami nodded, and accepted their rush to sign on with them. He actually expected that from Nabarone, based on Thad’s opinion of the man. Trakenburg had been the unknown factor, but his participation in a different, but parallel program to boost human performance made him a natural ally.

“OK, if you are committed, then we will share what we have, and expect some of that knowledge to filter through to your scientists.” He lifted a small soft side black case he brought with him.

“Frankly, you were getting these anyway. You might even have others from destroyed clanships that you didn’t understand their use or significance.” He lifted a dark gray, flashlight-sized device from the case, its flat oval end forward, an array of buttons on one side of the handle.

“This is a Katusha. We had four of them we managed to steal from the Krall twenty years ago. They are how the Krall apply their tattoos, and how we,” he indicated his own black oval on at the base of his neck, “applied them to ourselves. You wanted the key to operating Krall machinery, and their weapons. This applies the tattoos that make that possible.” He gave them each one to hold.

“We have a printed guide to give you, derived from empirical methods of watching how the Krall used them. Aside from applying a visible tattoo, they also inject or embed some sort of apparent quantum pattern or substance in your skin that has a short interaction range of roughly one hundred twenty-two feet.” They held them gingerly, afraid to activate them by accident.

“You need to press two buttons on opposite sides to activate the controls, then enter a sequence for the type of tattoo, and press a send button on top with the flat end pressed on skin. At least that’s how we interpret what it does when we apply a new tattoo.

“An intriguing ability is to use them to find someone with a tattoo; you must be within the device’s short range, and press the top button and hold. Do it, and point the flat end at any of us. It will work through any shielding material we ever had available to test.” He waited while they tried them out.

Trakenburg said, “It has a light on the butt that glows when we point it at one of you, and dims as we aim away. You said it has a short range, of one hundred twenty-two feet?”

Mirikami smiled. “That range sound familiar? The Worm missiles the Krall used, per Sarge’s description, has that same short range
for boring holes, which is the warhead’s ability to disintegrate anything it strikes, provided it is within a small cone directly in front. Much like these Katusha’s. We saw the Krall use a handheld tool, they said came from a species called the Raspani, to bore holes in fusion bottles, to try to leave us without power when they left us stranded.

“I suspect they placed those same atom dissolving quantum tools on the Worm missiles to weaponize them. The two types of devices were supposedly manufactured by two different peoples, the older Olt’kitapi and the Raspani, but we believe they are both based on similar principles of quantum mechanics, which the Olt’kitapi first discovered. That older species was once mentors to the Raspani, and likely shared physics and technology with them. If the Katusha’s are the forerunner device, they might help you learn how the Worms work. We have five of them for you in this case. We found more on each of the four clanships we have now been able to search.”

“In four small sealed vials you will find the drug we discovered, a drop of which can paralyze a Krall for several hours. It affects all but the autonomous muscles and nervous system. The two hearts beat and they still breathe, move eyes, defecate, and can ingest food and water if you feed them via a tube into either stomach. They lose the ability to will their hearts to stop, however they eventually manage to disable other organs, I think.  They started to waste away for us, after a few months. Do not let any of the drug contact a human, because it’s fatal, quickly. I assume several drops at once would kill a Krall. We never tried that.”

Nabarone asked for clarification. “These are ours?”

“Yes, we have others, and you can divide the five Katusha’s between you as you wish. Our only condition is that we receive feedback about how they work, and any new uses for them that your scientists discover. We had mostly experts in biology with us and no physics equipment. We never learned much about them. I’ve had hope they might lead to some new technology we can use. The Krall don’t show an interest in anything unless it helps them kill something.”

Nabarone pressed a button at a console built into the table. “I’ve summoned our chef. He has a high clearance, but let’s not discuss our business before we sit down to eat and he leaves. I had a privacy shield over us since you arrived.”

They enjoyed a meal that centered on traditional Poldark dishes for Thad and Sarge, but featured real Earth raised beef in the form of large porterhouse steaks. The other two men were astounded to see the four guests put down the twenty-four ounce cuts of meat, and then they piled on the vegetables, clearly appearing comfortable with what was a very heavy late meal. It was nearly ten at night on Poldark, although they had never asked what ship time they had been on the Mark, before they landed just at dawn.

Mirikami answered the question about ship time. “We were in orbit several days watching the intended landing area, waiting for a storm front to help us sneak in quietly. We set our clocks for local time, so we are not too far off your clock. It’s growing late on the Avenger and the Beagle, although I don’t think they were expecting us to make contact so quickly. We should give them a call.”

“Your other two ships are close?” Nabarone was startled.

“I said we didn’t want all our eggs in one basket.” Mirikami responded. “They are in stealth mode, waiting for us to call so they can continue with their own missions. Now that we don’t need rescue.”

“I forgot you are using clanships, so we can’t see them. I’ll bet you were the three mysterious arrivals we had four or five days ago. Can we furnish them supplies? They don’t need to land here. We can just meet them in orbit…, or since that would let a crew see the type ships they are dealing with, perhaps leaving supply pods in a high orbit, for your ships to pick up would be best.”

Thad said, “I have two smaller lists for those ships in my pocket. Just in case, if we had a chance to supply them. It might take a few days to round up the things they need. We want modern transducers for them, and the other TGs at home, similar to what Sarge has or spec ops uses, if those aren’t restricted. Both ships need a couple of med labs to keep aboard, and the Beagle could take as much of the equipment you are giving us to carry home, since that is her next stop. So, the list is med labs, transducers, an AI they can mount in each ship for navigational help, nanites for the med labs,…” Nabarone held up a hand.

“Give me the damn lists, Thad. That’s why I have flunkies, to do that crap for me. Besides, the expenses for those items are relatively peanuts. Getting Jump ships for you will be more expensive. Let’s have some brandy, and then you will want to visit your son and the other wounded, and presumably get some sleep.”

****

Thad made the radio call from the Bridge. He wanted to be the first to speak to Marlyn, to reassure her that their son was going to be OK. “Beagle and Avenger, this is the Mark. We are down safe, with friends, and we have relocated in case you are looking for us. Over.” He waited a few minutes, and repeated the call. It was nearly midnight, and it was possible that only a watch stander was on the Bridge.

A breathless Marlyn answered just as he was starting the third call. “Thad, we hear you. Noreen was just awakened as well. We didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. Did your old friend make contact?”

“Hi, honey. This frequency isn’t guaranteed secure, so no names, or mention of our home. However, we made contact with the man we wanted to see, and another person that is sympathetic. We will get what we came for, and will have some material for the two of you, once we work out the delivery details.”

“Great. I can see Noreen…, oh, sorry that’s a name.”

“I really meant the names of who we were meeting. Our own names are unknown. Is she also on com?”

“I’m on, Thad. How are you making out? We lost sight of you due to low clouds, and did not want to go active to search. We could not detect you on passive scans, and you seemed to have relocated.”

“We did, and that was a good thing. You knew we sat down near unfriendly neighbors?”

“Yes, we saw them
follow you down. Problems?”

“It proved necessary to clean their house, totally. Then had to move before their other friends arrived. Our own friends showed up, and after a misunderstanding about who we were, and what we were doing, we eventually joined forces.” He took a deep breath.

“Marlyn, Ethan is going to be OK, but there was some fighting. He and some others were wounded, and they all are in modern med labs healing. I just visited with him. He was asleep, but the Doctor overlooking their recovery says he will be awake and talking by morning, and could be out of the box in several days. Full recovery in under a month.”

Marlyn paused only a few seconds before replying, and sounded cool and collected, but Thad could sense the tension she was hiding. “Where was he hurt? No regrowth?”

That question revealed her worry and distraction, because a limb loss would not have him out of a med lab in three days. “He had a chest wound and collapsed lung, and a bad burn to his left rib cage. Both are considered minor injuries when you have the equipment we now have, and which we will be sending up to you later this week.”

Noreen asked about the other wounded, and after she had their names to pass along to the other TGs, she asked the question he had dreaded almost as much as telling Marlyn her son was wounded.

Thad gave them the worst of the news. “We lost six people in the assault, mostly from not knowing how to conduct the operation with the equipment we acquired. There will be a recording of the details, which Carson is making for you, to share with your crews. We will keep the bodies here in cold storage on the Mark until we return home, and then have a full honors service for them.”

Both women looked grave, but the adults knew that the first fight on Koban, and what happened on K1, against a handful of Krall that didn’t know what they were facing, had created a sense of overconfidence in the TGs. Now they would have to understand the need for considering their moves before they made them, and have respect for the training they came here to get.

Mirikami, having given Thad time to talk with his wife, stepped into range of the view screen. “Captains, our benefactor will have the items we asked for, ready to be placed in a high orbit by tomorrow. Our ability to pay in precious metal means he’s able to buy some of it on the free market, without drawing attention to his normal sources.” They were remaining circumspect for both the Krall, and for humans that might be trying to decrypt this conversation.

“Marlyn, the task of transferring the massive amount of material to the Beagle, in space, is more than your reduced crew can easily handle. There are plenty of Spacers at home ready to help you. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but use the ‘Parkoda tow’ method to get it home, then leave it in orbit while you land to get your help, then bring it down in several trips.”

Marlyn’s eyes brightened, as she said, “I’d prefer to call it the ‘Mirikami maneuver’ since I hear you came up with the idea.”