Koban

by Stephen W Bennett

  Mirikami nodded, saying, “Roni is a good officer, and I knew of her previous shuttle pilot experience. That’s why she’s one of my pilots. However, I doubt she has much combat experience, if any, but certainly some training. I wish we could use her flight experience some way, but I doubt we get to keep our two shuttles on Koban. Films aren’t going to actually train anyone, but her idea has some merit.”

  “I thought so too. She is now recruiting help for her record search. I hope you don’t mind my taking that prerogative.”

  “Not at all Maggi. While under Clanship tow we have few shipboard duties, and even those will only last a short while longer, until we land on Koban. She knows how to use our friend’s resources; if the records exist in our huge library, she should find them. Who was the other crewperson?”

  “Motorman Johnson had some weapons training in a militia unit on a New Colony planet; I forget which one. He had heard we would get pistols and rifles, something like what we saw the Krall boarding party carry and use. He thought we could start teaching weapons use, safety practices, and general maintenance procedures. Perhaps set up a few virtual firing ranges using game systems in the entertainment lounges. I doubt we’ll have much time on ship, but we might get a real firing range set up on Koban, if Telour is serious about wanting us to fight effectively.”

  “Johnson is another committee head?” he asked smiling.

  “Yes indeed.” She smiled back.

  “There were about a half dozen people with martial arts training, which I doubt can be useful against the speed and strength of a Krall. Nevertheless, I set up a make-work group for them anyway, if only to keep people busy and to feel like we are moving in a positive direction. I created a larger exploratory group to find out what else we might do. I’m sure the people already on Koban have put some thought into this subject under the duress of facing actual fights to the death. I hope they have better ideas for us. We are slim to none on any sort of infantry experience.”

  Mirikami was about to agree, when he heard Jake’s voice in his ear. “Captain, we have had a fatality in stairwell three, between decks 6 and 7.” He held up his hand to forestall a question from Maggi, as she saw his expression turn grim.

  “I bet we both wonder if we have any Krall close by or listening to us,” He blurted. He knew they would have been warned of electronic monitoring or proximity of a Krall, but he wanted to alert Maggi, and reassure himself.

  Both heard the reply. “There are two Krall on deck 8, located in their designated eating locker and not close to you. There is no electronic monitoring of your dining room.”

  He had stood up quickly, but didn’t want to blunder into a situation blind. “We both want to know what happened, and who died.” It was an odd question to ask aloud, if overheard, but they weren’t under surveillance. The remark had the intended effect of galvanizing Fisher, who also quickly rose.

  “Lady Isadora Bodkin was killed by a Krall Warrior on staircase three, as she was climbing to deck 7. A Krall warrior, named *****,” there was a noticeable blank as the ultrasonic version of the warrior’s name was spoken, “was descending rapidly from higher decks and struck her, causing severe injury to her left leg. The warrior then struck her again and crushed her skull. She has a severe head injury that I can see on camera, and which I predict was fatal. Her body has slipped back towards deck 6. The warrior continued its descent to deck 3…, and is now rapidly leaping up staircase 2, and has passed deck 4.., now 5.., 6..”

  Stop, Mirikami ordered. They had heard the air swish faintly as the warrior passed, glimpsing him flash by as they ran towards the central lifts.

  “What was the Krall doing before striking the Lady?”

  “It has been rapidly climbing and descending the four side staircases in turn. It has done this six times, and has started another descent now in staircase one.”

  Mirikami stopped at the com station between the lifts and pressed the code for a ship wide broadcast.

  “Attention, all personnel, this is an emergency. Exit from any stairwell immediately. Do not use them and stay well clear. At least one Krall warrior is racing up and down them at high speed, and we have had one person seriously injured. Any available Medical trained crew should to report to the entry point for Staircase three, at both decks 6 and 7, but do not enter the stairwell. I’ll have more information in a few minutes when I arrive there myself. Mirikami Out.” Then he switched off.

  “Are the lifts safe to use?” He asked of the air.

  “Both are in use by humans at present, and I have never observed a Krall in one of the lifts,” was the reply. Mirikami realized Maggi hadn’t heard that.

  “Maggi, we can use the lifts to deck 6. When we know we can get to her body safely, we can pull her off the steps.”

  Mirikami used his override code to summon a lift. When they made their exit, a Steward could be seen trotting towards staircase three, with a medical kit in hand.

  “Branson,” Mirikami shouted, as he recognized the man. “Be sure to stay away from the stairwell.”

  The Steward turned, in confusion. “Sir, I can see arms hanging down the steps, and blood. Can’t I just lift him and lower him down?”

  “It’s a woman Robert, and I’m pretty sure she’s already dead. Killed by a Krall. I don’t want anyone to join her.” He was also running to the stairwell as he talked.

  “I wonder where that Krall is now.”

  “Pardon, Sir?” Branson asked.

  Jake’s reply came over Branson’s question. “The Krall has stopped racing on the stairs, and has gone to their eating area on deck 8. Telour spoke to him just before he stopped.”

  “Never mind Robert, we can get her down now. I believe she’s dead, but let’s be gentle just in case.”

  Multiple other people had arrived, and several crowded up the stairs to help them lift the limp form and carry her down. They laid her still body on a lounge couch, which Jake had leveled for that purpose. The AI would be measuring her biometrics, but the deeply depressed top of her skull and visible brain tissue made a diagnosis a forgone conclusion.

  Mirikami saw that her left leg had suffered a compound fracture. That wound probably happened when the speeding Krall first hit her as it raced down the stairs. Seeing she was seriously injured, and thus worthless as a captive, it probably bashed in her head, and continued on its run.

  Noreen arrived by the second lift, having also been advised by Jake of the events. Following close behind her as she got off was a short chubby man.

  Maggi spotted him and quickly ran to him, calling his name, “Rafe. Please wait there.”

  She stood in front of him and tried to prevent the man from approaching any closer. Maggi had seen the bashed in skull, the face where internal pressure had forced the eyes to protrude, gray matter and blood oozing through the woman’s red hair.

  Rafe was Lady Bodkin’s consort. Maggi knew them both, having recruiting them for the Midwife Project. She was an agricultural crop scientist from Brussels, a New Colony. In addition, Rafe researched harmful genetic mutations in humans that were exposed to higher than Earth levels of cosmic ray damage on Brussels. They had been together for decades, unable to marry when they first fell in love due to genetic based laws; Rafe was born a victim of one of the random mutations he now researched. They were much closer than many married couples were with reproductive contracts.

  Maggi was aware Rafe had been black listed when still a boy, blocked from reproduction due to a congenital heart defect he carried, among other unspecified problems, and thus Lady Bodkin couldn’t marry him back then. When the male population increase was deemed adequate, some of the restrictive laws were rescinded. Rafe and Isadora saw no need to make any change in an already full and happy life. A Krall had just made a permanent change for them.

  Rafe suspected immediately, from a glimpse of short red hair he had seen that it was probably Isadora. Few women aboard had red hair. When Maggi intercepted him, he knew it was she, and knew that it must be bad
. As he called his consort’s name he was about to push past Maggi, but Noreen also realized who he must be. She turned back to help restrain him, offering condolences, which affirmed his worst fears. He suddenly sagged to the floor, tears flowing, groaning as he began to sob in deep chest heaving gasps.

  Speaking softly, as if to the group near him by the body, Mirikami asked, “Does anyone know where Telour is right now?” He ignored the negative replies of those around him.

  “Telour is in the Drive Room.” The answer came from Jake.

  He wondered how he was going to explain how he just happened to “find” Telour in the Engineering department so quickly. The resolution came when Branson shouted there was a com call for the Captain.

  Going to the wall unit he lifted the hand set. “Captain Mirikami.”

  It was Telour. “Come to your Drive Room.” That was all he said and disconnected.

  He walked to where Noreen, Maggi and others were trying to comfort Rafe. After a few quiet words with Maggi about the man being Isadora’s consort, he knew enough to offer his own sympathy.

  “Rafe,” he realized with a twinge of guilt that he didn’t even know his last name, since it wasn’t his wife’s family name of Bodkin if they never married. “I’m so sorry for your loss. As I understand what happened, this was an accident on the part of the Krall warrior, who was not seeking to kill anyone. It was apparently exercising at what we would consider breakneck speed, leaping up and down the outer stairwells. Isadora had the bad luck to be climbing the stairs as the Krall leaped down from deck 7, striking her with killing speed and force.”

  He didn’t know if the accidental part was accurate, in view of a Krall’s lightning fast reflexes. However, he certainly knew a deliberate killing blow had come after the supposed accident. There wasn’t reason to hurt the man more by telling him his life’s love was indifferently dispatched, as damaged goods, merely because her leg was broken.

  “I’m on my way to speak to Telour, the ranking Krall left aboard. We have to find a way to prevent such accidents in the future.”

  As Noreen and Maggi quickly glanced up from the sobbing man, he felt like a huge hypocrite, knowing what the Krall intended for their future. He shrugged for their benefit, since Rafe was slumped on the floor, looking down at his clenched hands. It wasn’t as if everyone aboard hadn’t discussed their frightening prospects constantly, but pretending that this one death was entirely unintentional might help the poor man accept it easier.

  He spoke to Noreen, and to Branson, who had come over as well. “Use ropes or tape, or whatever you come up with, but cordon off every stairwell entry and spread the word. The Krall never use the lifts, so we will stay clear of the stairs and use only the lifts. It will slow our movements between decks, but we aren’t going to be on the ship very much longer, I suspect. I’m headed to engineering now, where Telour presently is located, and who just summoned me.”

  He took the lift down, wondering what Telour had been doing there. The watch stander there hadn’t called him.

  When he arrived, Willfem, Chief Haveram, and two “Drive Rats,” Gundarfem and Yin-Lee, were standing on one side, with Telour apparently looking at the Trap control consoles, and the fusion generator’s monitoring panel.

  Oh, Oh, He thought, he may have figured out we have our two Traps still holding those huge Jump energy tachyons.

  Telour, who had of course heard him approach and enter, didn’t even turn around. “Clan leader, I have learned that you want to retain electrical power for your ship after it is parked on Koban. One of your non-crew clan mates asked your K’Tal here if they could use a machine making shop after landing. He said it would be to make the armor suits we brought to Koban better. To make them move easier under the gravity there. How do you know we have that armor there?”

  It sounded accusatory, but at least it wasn’t about the tachyon Traps.

  “Telour, I don’t know which Translator told that to some of my people, but we learned of it from answers to our permitted questions. We know that this armor will make us more protected, but also heavier, and I’m certain the higher gravity on Koban is a big problem for Humans there.

  “We will be even slower and tire more quickly with armor, even if better protected. We once used mechanical assistance on some of the armor used in our past wars, and we think we may be able to add that ability if we want to fight like we once did. This is following your orders to fight more efficiently and effectively.”

  Telour turned, as he deployed his internal ears, and tapped his shoulder com button. The usual silence, to humans anyway, ensued as his lip ridges rippled. After a moment, he tapped the button again, disconnecting.

  “You did not tell Dorkda, who told you about the armor, what you want to do and why?”

  Ah, that was the issue. Mirikami was somewhat relieved. “No Sir. We only gathered information as you instructed. My clan mates were not aware of all of my plans after our arrival on Koban,” he lied, “but I told them not to tell any Krall of why we were asking questions.”

  He’d have to make sure none of his extremely bright passengers inadvertently let any idea they thought up on their own, slip out when around a Krall other than Telour. Preferably, not even around him.

  “Then why did he ask your K’Tal about this plan to improve armor?” He was still probing him.

  “Humans here know we will be fighting on Koban, and they now know of the higher gravity there. You were told we are preparing for that by increasing ship gravity, to be ready. My clan mate must have concluded on his own that power assisted armor would be a good idea, because it is an obvious conclusion.”

  “Can you improve the armor?” Telour did show interest in that.

  “We have not seen it yet, but we have copies of old human designs that we can follow, to attach support to the outside of armor. It may be possible to make what we need ourselves, and that must be done in a machine shop that my K’Tal here can operate. But only if we can retain power on this ship.”

  “How long would this take?’

  “Each set of armor must be done one at a time, because we do not have a factory to make many at once. However, we have other ideas to help us become effective fighters, and these need the machine shop to build special weapons. There are simple but quiet mechanical weapons that humans have used for thousands of years to silently throw small pointed projectiles, which we know how to make and use.” The term “use” was in theory only, since crossbows were not commonly found.

  “Then you are following my instruction,” he conceded. “But why can you not move the machines to make these things away from the ship?”

  “The tools used, Telour, are controlled by small computers that are built into the walls of the ship, and the different power settings of all of these things are already part of the ship, including power from the fusion bottle generator here.

  “I also want to ask you if small poisoned darts are permitted. These are small projectiles that have a toxic chemical on them, that would perhaps kill or slow the one warrior touched. If we have power to the ship, and its medical computers and records, our equipment might be able to make this poison for us. It also can make drugs for humans to eat, to keep them awake longer, to help them feel stronger, to fight better. These are simple examples of what other humans will force your warriors to face and defeat, when the worlds you invade start to fight back.”

  “I have made a good choice I think, for my human clan leader,” Telour admitted. “These are better ideas than I believed humans would have. Some are not very good ideas, because Krall are not easy to poison, and even mostly silent weapons make noise through the air, which we hear. I repeat our warning to not make any biological or chemical weapons that kill many warriors at once.”

  “We understand this restriction, and the ability for that sort of weapon is not present on this ship anyway, because we are not a warship or a science laboratory.” No need to let him know that it held a bunch of biological scientists and their equipment,
however.

  “Parkoda will want to power down or destroy your ship after landing. Can your K’Tal make it impossible for the ship ever to fly again, as confirmed by our K’Tal, but leave it with electrical power?”

  “I need to ask my clan mates here for this information, because I am not a K’Tal.”

  “Do that.” He ordered, and waited to hear what was said.

  Looking to his Drive Room crew, he started with their boss. “Ms. Willfem, how can we do this to guarantee to the Krall that the ship will never fly again, yet remain partly intact, with electrical power?” They had already discussed this, but Mirikami wanted it to appear fresh to Telour.

  Knowing what Telour wanted to accomplish it might not be terribly hard to convince him. However, Parkoda couldn’t know about that plan, so they had to try to balance the two Krall’s diverse and conflicting ambitions.

  “Sir, our three main planetary thrusters are the clear choice,” Willfem started. “We can disable or remove those engines, and then we cannot lift out of a strong gravity well to engage our Normal Space drives. Not without blowing ourselves and a big piece of real estate up with us.”

  “Is disabling them without removal possible?”

  “Yes Sir, by pulling out a number of irreplaceable modules, and control systems for each of the three main thrusters. The small attitude thrusters can’t begin to lift the ship, but we can remove those completely. We could do that quickly, within an hour of landing, and give those to the Krall for destruction. We can’t make replacements, and there won’t be any spare parts coming.”

  Mirikami looked at Telour, the implied question obvious.

  “This would not satisfy Parkoda,” He stated firmly. “There will be more human ships arriving with parts you might use, even if those ships are then damaged so they can’t fly. There are wrecked human ships at the port now, which might have parts you can use. The difference between those blasted ships and your untouched ship would be obvious to a novice.”