Koban 6: Conflict and Empire

by Stephen W Bennett

  Stewart MacDougal

  Former Hub City resident, initially resisted gene mods, then changed position. Moved to Haven, entered politics and became the first Galactic Federation president, and accepted full Kobani mods.

  Other Captives (at Koban Prime, later renamed Prime City)

  Thaddeus Greeves

  Former Colonel of a Diplomatic Security detail for Poldark Ambassador. Married Marlyn Rodriguez. Father of TGs Ethan, Bradley, and Danner.

  Marlyn Rodriguez

  First Officer of Rimmer’s Dream, arrived in mass capture of human ships. Married Thad Greeves. Mother of TGs Ethan, Bradley, and Danner. Captain of the Beagle, a stolen Krall clanship. Killed in raid at K1.

  Second Generation Kobani

  Carson Martin

  Parents Noreen and Dillon, born an SG, received Koban gene mods to become Third Generation Kobani. Marries Alyson Formby.

  Ethan Greeves

  Parents Marlyn and Thad, born an SG, received Koban gene mods to become Third Generation Kobani.

  Alyson Formby

  Born in Hub City as an SG. At eighteen, left home to request Koban mods, against her parent’s wishes. Became first TG from Hub City, then first to be a TG1 from there. Married Carson Martin.

  Jorl Breaker

  Fred Saber

  Bill Saber (Killed on Meglor Dock raid in Thandol Empire)

  Their parents were all early Koban captives. At sixteen, they became TGs.

  HUMAN SPACE

  Garland (Sarge) Reynolds

  Sergeant in the PU Army on Poldark. Captured by the Krall, and in a fluke of circumstance is taken to Koban by his captors, and is there rescued by the Kobani, twenty years into the war with the Krall. His arrival and rescue, and capturing a clanship, is the key event for the Kobani to travel back to Human Space.

  Henry Nabarone

  A Major General of the Planetary Union Army, in charge of Poldark’s defense. Formerly in a local militia unit, and second in command after Colonel Thaddeus Greeves of that same unit. He becomes a Kobani.

  Joseph Longstreet

  Captain of a platoon of spec ops troops, expanded to absorb remnants of units suffering losses from missions behind Krall lines on Poldark. Becomes a Kobani.

  Golda Mauss

  Admiral that commanded first two PU naval raids on K1, participated in a third as ship captain and advisor. Becomes a Kobani.

  Marlene Strickland

  PU politician in the LOR party, becomes PU president, is pro-Federation, and supportive of the Kobani gene mods.

  Adriana Bledso

  Former Naval Chief of Staff. Becomes Chairfem of Joint Chiefs of Staff of Planetary Union military. Retired and entered politics. Becomes PU Vice President, is pro-Federation and supports gene mods.

  Heavyside

  A Rim world planet, not considered suitable for mass human colonization. Located on the anti-spinward side of human exploration, on the far side of Human Space from the Krall invasion. It has 1.41 times Earth’s gravity. Heavyside was home of the Special Operations training program. Site of a second gene lab for converting selected spec ops candidates into Kobani.

  KRALL

  Tor Gatrol Telour

  Originally a Krall translator, of Graka Clan. Second in command of Newborn Raid that capture the Flight of Mancy and Mirikami, her captain. Became second in command of Krall, with the title/rank of Til Gatrol. Became Tor after arranging previous Tor’s murder. Personally captured by Mirikami, and taken to Earth for trial for genocide. When anti-Kobani PU president wanted to arrest Mirikami for her bias against gene mods, a diversion was created by Mirikami issuing a Death Match to Telour. The Krall reader died a grizzly death in front of media cameras, proving the Kobani claim that gene mods made them physically capable of defeating the Krall.

  KRALL’TAPI

  Called the “soft Krall” by the now genetically distinct Krall. The Krall’tapi are what the Krall were twenty-five thousand years ago, when they allowed the Olt’kitapi to modify a gene that made Krall super aggressive and war-like, creating a people less uncontrollably violent, and ready to work with the Olt’kitapi. After the warrior Krall revolted against the ancient race, the Krall’tapi were held captive by the self-evolving Krall for many thousands of years. Only the soft Krall could command the ancient Olt’kitapi mining ships that could break apart worlds. Freed by the Kobani, they have joined the Federation as its newest citizens.

  OTHER ALIEN RACES

  Olt’kitapi

  Highly advanced and ancient people, determined pacifists, who first discovered the Krall. Mentored the violent race, hoping to make them more peaceful, but were betrayed and destroyed by the Krall about 22,000 years ago. Believed to have been exterminated, survivors were found hiding in Empire territory, under the protection of the Hothor, a sloth-like subservient species of the Thandol overlords.

  The race of gentle mantis-like large insects, were a slow expanding space traveling species for over a hundred thousand years, with brilliant mathematical minds. Their compound eyes contributed to their mental ability to perceive geometries and patterns that extended into alternate spaces, such as Tachyon Space, which at points impinge upon what humans call the Normal Space of our Universe. Many space faring species discovered the mathematics of reaching into Tachyon Space for the energy required to produce event horizons, and rotating into that adjacent Universe to achieve faster than light travel. The Olt’kitapi learned to do it more efficiently, and deduced the higher dimensions in that space, equivalent to the four dimensions of Normal Space, which yield shorter travel times.

  Their life cycle begins with an egg, hatching into a caterpillar state of multiple colors, depending on its gender. The larval stage is also intelligent, and at the discretion of the individual can last from two to ten “orbits,” or years in human terms. It must select which adult body form it wishes for its future, a maker, a builder, or hybrid, and adjust its diet to achieve the intended result. The Makers are the more intellectual and theoretical thinkers, their scientists and philosophers, who produce ideas and new theories. The Builders are those that engineer, build, and actualize the ideas, and what theory shows is possible.

  After a pupa stage, the final body style emerges, resembling a walking stick-like creature with a triangular mantis shaped head, and a two segmented body with six limbs. They grow larger over many orbits via molting, to become an adult maker, builder, or combination of types. The inherited hormones of their gender determine adult coloration rather than body style. Females, which have names that traditionally end with a “la” sound, and male names that end with “da,” have obvious differences in shadings and colors. Females are brightly colored with a high sheen, with colors such as shades of purple, blue, orange and reds. The drabber males displayed shades of dull greens, tans, browns, and some had mottled black markings or splotches. The heights of the insects varied, with maker forms of either gender being taller, and builder forms shorter in length, holding more of their torso horizontal as they moved.

  Gith Prola and Gith Frithda

  A mated Olt’kitapi pair, the female being a maker form, chosen with her builder form mate as representatives for their species, acting as intermediaries with other races. Gith is their chosen mating name to denote their connection.

  Prola is a light purple shade, her overall length being roughly six feet, and her thick lower abdomen is partly held horizontally, before curving up sharply to her thorax. Her face is five feet above ground, with four legs supporting the lower abdomen two feet off the ground. The flat sections of the angular legs have a considerably sturdier appearance than the spindly stick like legs of a scaled up insect. The back feet are two-toed pads, but the middle limb’s feet resembled a cross between feet and hands, with a grasping capability. The triple jointed front upper limbs were held high, hands together, but were distinctly not made for grasping prey, and were articulated much like a human’s arms. There were six finger-like appendages for hands, of three to six inch lengths, and had several j
oints on each digit, making them very flexible.

  Frithda was at least a foot shorter in length, mostly light green, with shades of brown on his lower abdomen. He normally poses more horizontal than his mate, although his middle limbs also have basic grasping hands. His front limbs are noticeably sturdier than his mate’s, and his hands have thicker stronger fingers and look less flexible. His head shares the same triangular shape and compound eyes, with two shorter brown colored antennae.

  Raspani

  A spacefaring, once highly intelligent and peaceful race, with about a dozen colonized worlds. They were a client race of the Olt’kitapi, advancing under their guidance. After their defeat by the Krall, they became semi-intelligent because the Krall bred and used them as meat animals. They were raised in herds on many of the Krall worlds. The grey creatures, paler on the stomach than on the back, looked somewhat like a pigmy hippopotamus from Earth. They are nearly three feet high at mid back, and five feet long in the lower torso. The upper part of their torso is vaguely centaur-like, which when held upright places their heads five feet above ground.

  They have a pudgy pair of human-like jointed arms and dexterous looking hands. When grazing, they pluck tender grass shoots and fern leaves with their hands. They also eat fruits and berries if they can find them. They have the masticating side teeth of most herbivores, but sport two residual tusks, jutting up from the lower front jaw. These protruded three or four inches above fleshy lips, and have facial features arranged much like on a human. They have a central flat nose above their lips, with two large nostrils, and large, forward-facing brown eyes under light brown furred brows. The head was smooth, rounded, and hairless, but there was some sparse brown hair growing along their upper and lower backs.

  Blue Flower Eater

  A Raspani spokesperson’s mind, encoded on a modified quantum storage device along with millions of other Raspani minds, who sought protection from Krall atrocities on their species.

  Prada

  Bipedal, forest and jungle living, eats fruit, nuts, insects, and small game. The creatures are black or brown, with white markings. Resemble a lemur or monkey-like mammal, with a useful prehensile tail. About the size of an Earth Chimpanzee, they can use their five fingered hands (with longer middle finger for digging out grubs) and long toes almost equally well. They retain some arboreal ability. The Prada have large yellow eyes, and they were originally nocturnal animals. They were the Krall’s main assemblers and builders.

  Their society took roughly seventeen thousand Earth years to colonize a volume some three thousand light years in radius. They selected moderate gravity worlds of 0.7 to 0.8 g’s, and preferred dimmer redder stars than Sol. They befriended other races, unless such contact was rejected. Engaged in cooperation and trade with the Olt’kitapi.

  They are a long-lived species who place their eldest members in charge. This deferment to the elders is why they originally cooperated with the Olt’kitapi, the oldest intelligent species they knew. After the Olt’kitapi were all killed by the Krall, the next oldest species they knew was the Krall. They became loyal and submissive to them, and lost their original language, so speak only “low” Krall. They are the largest group of slaves and can build most things the Krall want for war, or have copied from other races.

  Wister

  A male Prada elder, roughly one thousand three hundred years old, found in a tree village on the planet next to Koban, left there by the Krall when they departed the system.

  Nawella

  A female Prada elder, and sister of Wister. She is a bit older than her brother is and he seeks her advice. Together they manage a small village of their people, who preserve an underground factory complex where anything required by the Krall can be built.

  Torki

  A highly intelligent eight-foot-wide by five-foot-long, and three-foot-high land crab race with one large defensive pincher and a smaller one for grasping, and a hard deep purple shell with eight amber colored legs. The two in front of their mouths are small and used as dexterous manipulators. Their eyes are on two-foot stalks, and they perform fine assembly of tools and electronics for the Krall, copying from plans taken from other defeated races.

  They had been star traveling for eleven thousand years when the Krall over ran them. Preferred worlds with ample seashores, and bypassed most worlds inside their six hundred light year sphere. They built giant ships for their large bodies, and simulated seaside environments for their own comfort. Huge ships carried only a few hundred Torki, but when used by the Krall they had room for ten thousand warriors, or even more Prada. Several thousand Torki could fit, with great discomfort.

  As adults, these land crabs are terrestrial and are found as far as ten miles from the shoreline, returning to the sea only to soak or breed. They sleep at night in cool burrows several feet deep, or at least to a level that will allow water to seep in for moisture. They are primarily vegetarians, preferring tender leaves, fruits, berries, flowers, seaweed, and some vegetables. Occasionally they will eat fish, beetles, or other large insects.

  Like all crabs, they shed their shells as they grow. If they have lost legs or claws during their present growth cycle, a new one will be present after they molt. If the large claw is lost, males will develop one on the opposite side until their next molt. Newly molted crabs are very vulnerable because of their soft shells. They are reclusive and hide until the new shell hardens.

  Coldar

  An influential Torki in his lodge, left behind on the world next to Koban when the Krall departed. The crabs can communicate electronically by a quantum storage device they were given prior to becoming sentient, by the Olt’kitapi. As they advanced, the locked libraries in the storage devices open to help them access new knowledge and databases. They know of the ancient race, but they never met their benefactors. They build new storage devices as their population expands, and copy the data they have into them, not knowing what new information they may contain.

  Hothor

  A space traveling but subservient species in the Thandol Empire. They vaguely resemble upright sloths, and stand between five and five and a half feet tall as adults. They don’t move slow or sloth-like, and have a quick and nervous seeming quality when they move.

  There is gray and white fur down their backs, thick looking hair of a few inches in length, thinning at the sides and on their upper limbs, and nearly gone on the front. Their arms are nearly hairless below their elbows, and the bare skin of the arms and hands are almost black, with only short fine and sparse gray hair there.

  They have a round head with short hair on the top and sides on a long neck, the skull being slightly smaller than a human’s, with a circular, nearly flat and hairless face, with a small pointed muzzle and fine little teeth. Their wide set small eyes are dark, in a face that was is black as the skin of their arms. There are two slits between their eyes that served as nostrils, rather than being placed at the end of their small muzzle.

  They cooperate with the Federation, in an effort to undermine Thandol rule. On their second colony world, the only free and surviving members of the Olt’kitapi reside hidden in a forest under a false canopy, their existence a Hothor secret from the Empire.

  Ragnar

  An ape-like species within the Thandol Empire. A former aggressive opponent of the Thandol, but defeated and made subservient by their higher technology enemy. Their combat ability and natural aggression was exploited, and they were made a security force for the Empire, with only limited naval and ground forces permitted, to keep them from attempting a revolt against the Thandol. They enforce the Emperor’s will on other species in one of the three sectors of the Empire, collecting and sharing in taxes, punishing disobedience, and participating in annexation of new species when encountered. They were tasked with conquering the Federation after the Krall threat was eliminated by the Kobani.

  Gimtal Thond

  The Force Commander of the Ragnar led Annexation Campaign of the Galactic Federation stars, on behalf of the Thandol
Empire.

  Thandol

  They resemble amber colored smaller sized elephants, standing on four legs, with two very strong and flexible trunks below their mouths, paired with two manipulator tentacles on the front of their faces above their mouths. The upper two manipulators, about half the diameter and length of the trunks, are true tentacles, with small gripping suckers on the undersides. The ends of the tentacles became very slender, almost tendrils, clearly capable of fine manipulation. They’re strictly vegetarian, have no tusks, and are almost seven feet high at the front shoulder.

  Their walking pace was similar to an elephant’s, two or three feet normally touching the ground at a time. With a smaller body mass, and adapted for lower gravity worlds, a Thandol could actually run, getting all four feet off the ground in a full out gallop.

  Thandol evolved from herd animals, have a tremendous ego, with males driven to dominate their herds. That is why they formed an Empire, with a single Imperial Herb master Emperor over them all. Emperors are periodically overthrown and replaced, with little effect on their control over the species they dominate.

  They are a naturally aggressive species, and it was their accidental discovery of higher level Tachyon Space rotations that gave them the edge in expansion, and the ability to defeat the only three aggressive species they encountered, of the twenty-six they have defeated and annexed into their slowly growing Empire. The Ragnar, Finth, and Thack Delos became their security forces in three sectors, but not permitted to have combined force close to what the Thandol maintained.