Koban

by Stephen W Bennett

  “The sad news is that not many humans ever make it back alive, yet the hunt only lasts one full day. For incentive, a human receives immunity from all future testing if they simply make it through that day and night. The whole group is awarded immunity if any one of them manages to kill a warrior.

  “People that is all I’ve got concerning actual fighting. Any comments?”

  “It’s grim, but don’t you think the captives there should have had a bit better luck?” asked Maggi.

  “I wonder about that too,” Dillon agreed. “Do they get any training or have any strategy before they go out? I’d think some of them would set up an ambush and try for a kill, no matter what the risk if the entire group gets immunity after that.”

  Mirikami shook his head no. “Neither of the other two translators were aware of any planning the captives have done. But Telour implied that there was no human leadership on Koban now.” He reminded them of the recording Jake had made of that conversation.

  “I suspect that any leaders the captives may have had were expected to lead them in fights, and probably wouldn’t have survived the experience. Eventually no one would take the job. It may be an every man or woman for themselves mentality now.

  “Telour seems to be the only Krall that has thought to try and use humans to train and organize other humans. He is essentially offering immunity for those organizers. I told him people would not respect or follow leaders that were never put at risk themselves. I still think that.”

  “Tet,” Maggi warned, “don’t let us hear you say you are going to get yourself killed before we develop all these fresh ideas that are giving us hope.”

  Looking at her then the other three faces on his screen, he shrugged. “I don’t relish dying uselessly, so if Telour will allow us a little time to build our weapons and come up with tactics, I’ll wait to go out with our first prepared group. However, I’ll never be a macho leader. I’m middle aged and hardly imposing as a would-be warrior.”

  “Captain Mirikami,” Dillon spoke forcefully and respectfully, “I promise to follow you whenever you’re ready to lead such a group. We need your leadership and ideas to carry us through this.”

  Startled, and embarrassed at the unexpected turn of events, he merely mumbled, “I thank you for that support and trust. I hope it isn’t misplaced.”

  Aldry took this opportunity to bring up a topic she had been considering since yesterday. “On the matter of who goes on these missions, and who Telour will exempt, I think this needs some painful and uncomfortable discussion.” They gave her their attention, Maggi having already talked with her on the matter.

  “We have a lot of smart and technically capable people with us, but many are old and will hardly make fighters. If we expect to do the genetic work we discussed, and for others to make the weapons we think up, we can’t afford to lose those valuable people in risky fights before we get the results we need.”

  “What are you proposing, Aldry?” Mirikami asked.

  “I went back over that taped conversation last night, the one you just reminded us about when Telour was left in charge. When you didn’t accept his offer of what must have included immunity for yourself, he didn’t reject your counter proposal to allow ‘advantages’ to go to those who help you organize or fight. I think we can use that, don’t you?”

  “Aldry, I don’t want immunity, nor be the ‘King’ that grants immunity to his favored friends!”

  “Hear her out Tet, Maggi asked. “There is something to this, and she and I talked about it. Please let her continue.”

  “I’ll listen. Go on Aldry.”

  “The Krall respect their K’Tal class for their knowledge and special skills, so why not establish that class for the humans you need to do the preparations? Ask for immunity for your engineers that will make our weapons, for our best minds that will attempt the genetic enhancements. We need those people to stay alive for an extended period.” She paused for his response.

  “That is probably necessary, but I will not make those decisions, choosing which lives to protect from risk, leaving others fully exposed. What I told Telour was accurate when I said my orders would not be followed or respected if I did that, and I will not do that.”

  “But...’ started Dillon, but he was interrupted by Maggi.

  “So! You are not opposed to the concept, you acknowledge that it can help more of us to survive this, but you will not make the immunity decisions yourself. Simple solution here Captain. You won’t make them.” Her hand slammed the table.

  “A damned committee can spread that responsibility around, making it clear that you have no say in their decisions. You said we can’t fight a war by committee, but that doesn’t mean committees have no use.”

  “I..., uh” Mirikami faltered.

  “I second that!” said Dillon.

  “Me too,” Aldry chimed in.

  Both conveniently overlooking that this wasn’t a meeting of the Consortium’s Board of Directors, that two participants weren’t even on the Board, and Maggi hadn’t framed it as a motion.

  “Captain, it’s a practical solution.” Noreen tentatively offered to her superior officer, showing her own support.

  “How would we convey the selections to Telour, and explain why those particular people?” he answered, letting the rest know they had won their point.

  Aldry said, “Telour should hear it from you Tet, because we need him to see you as being in charge, but the people will know you followed the committee’s selections. The committee will take any heat or complaints over grants of immunity. Assuming Telour agrees.”

  Mirikami had a point to make of his own. “If this doesn’t produce the results Telour wants the committee and I will be in an armed fight, if we are lucky. Or found dead in our sleep if our own people get to us. Who would serve on such a committee?”

  Maggi was ready. “When Aldry spoke to me about this, I gave it some consideration. I think it should involve between five to nine people, an odd number to avoid ties, and have a rotating membership that lasts a month, to be decided by our people as soon as Telour agrees to the proposal. The committee members themselves would not have immunity while serving, so no advantage to volunteers. What do you think?”

  “It sounds like you and Aldry have given it more thought and detail than I could have. In fact I feel positively ambushed!” but he laughed.

  He conceded, “I’ll approach Telour as soon as we break up here. I only know of one more item from my side, the ship I mean, and Noreen will talk about that.” He looked at her image. “Noreen?”

  “Thank you Sir. The first practice run-through for the engine drop went as expected. Screwed up and confused. But Chief Haveram noted the problem areas for the next one in…” she looked at her thumb nail watch, “about twenty five minutes.”

  “The Chief personally is supervising the cutting of as many supports as he thinks are safe for landing. Our silent friend can adjust for the higher gravity to put us down as easy as possible, feeding the information to the Navcomp and Engine control system.

  “All told, we have forty-two people, fourteen on three teams. Enough to rotate them for breaks on the jobs that don’t involve cutting.”

  “That’s good,” agreed Mirikami. “I think higher gravity will be a greater hindrance than we anticipate. We are living with it now, but we can sit down when we get tired. We are not close to being acclimated, and a mistake due to exhaustion could blow us up, or start a fire we can’t control.”

  “And concerning that Tet,” Noreen added, “when I asked the Chief how we could safely drain those fuel lines dry, I inadvertently phrased the question to him so that our friend suddenly offered a solution. It’s idea that we didn’t think of, never having had the need.

  “Our friend will calculate the precise cut off time of the fuel feeds just before we set down, using up what’s in the main lines, and switch some emergency valves to send the residue to burn in the ten attitude thrusters that are normally cut off as we settle on
the landing jacks. “The lines will be bled essentially empty before we ever light a cutting torch. The Chief says, and I quote, ‘It’ll be hell on my pumps and lines,’ followed by comments unsuitable for our guests.” She laughed.

  “Hmm,” hmm’d the Captain. “We better not need a last minute drift correction. However, that isn’t any more risky that a hell of a lot else we are doing. My compliments to you, Willfem, Jorl’sn, the Chief, and his Rats. Particularly to our civilian volunteers.”

  Shifting focus, Mirikami asked, “What’s new on the dirty tricks side Dillon?”

  Dillon had a report he was eager to give. “I spent last night and part of this morning with your cargo specialists, Chack and Ricco, and scoured through our invoice that I had you send to Midwife. I also talked with the two machinists about what they can make and with Mister Rigson and Mister Branson about your pharmacy supplies. Naturally our friend helped us all with research, chemical names and processes, blueprints or pictures of devices.”

  “Dillon, a lot of what we are planning depends on making what we need the soonest.” Mirikami felt his chest tighten with apprehension. This was key to a fast start, and critical to their basic plan.

  “It looks promising.” Dillon stated firmly.

  “Bob Campbell and Neri Bar; the Fancy’s machinists” he added for the benefit of Maggi and Aldry, “looked at the designs for crossbows and darts, air guns, remote actuators and trip wires, mine fuses and casings, and says they are possible to make by the automated equipment if it’s programmed correctly. A friend can help there greatly!” Jake was central to their plans.

  “Fragmentation grenade cases are easy to do, they tell me, but trigger fuses seemed tricky to me unless we can find some detailed design as a guide.”

  “What are we going to use for an explosive?” Mirikami asked.

  “That was part of what I was doing in the cargo hold,” Answered Dillon. “I was looking for some supplies we brought for Midwife, verifying ingredients I was told to check for in some cleaning compounds that seem harmless to me otherwise. I was startled to see how much we have around us every day that can become dangerous if you know how. You really do have a huge library,” he added.

  “That friend says we can get quite a bang out of several mixtures of material we have aboard. Some is almost like soft clay to be shaped as we want. The description says it can be burned or dropped and not blow up, but a small detonator makes any size hunk go off with a big bang

  “Mister Rigson discovered that the pharmacy can be programed for manufacturing small quantities of more volatile fusing materials with the raw materials we have, so we can make the triggers. We also have remote radio control devices that can be converted to use as actuators to make things go boom at a safe distance.

  “A mortar tube is child’s play to make, I’m told by your machinists, because the smart part is in the shell and propellant, which we don’t have solved yet. Baby steps, I guess. These would seem to be dead give-away devices when fired, so those might require remote triggers and be pre-aimed.

  “Land mines and booby traps, I am told, are easy to make and fill with explosives and shrapnel, and can be formed out of metal or plastic. This is the list so far, on things that shoot or go bang. The Defense Rests,” he concluded with a pun.

  “That’s a good start, Dillon. Is that it for your report?” Mirikami asked.

  “Nope, now for drugs.” He answered with a grin, and continued.

  “Mel Rigson and Cal Branson checked your existing supplies, and I fed the computer the invoice of all of the lab supplies and chemicals we brought with us. We can make some compounds that rev up your metabolism and promote mental acuity, some others that regulate lactic acid and oxygen transfer when you run or exercise for an extended period, and let you do it longer and faster than normal.

  “Koban has high Oxygen levels, so that last drug may allow us to make even better use of that. I think we’ll have to find out the hard way. All of these are detrimental to your health in the end, but so are the Krall.

  “The good news is that we can turn out all of the drugs, and in quantity. It’s more efficient to make one type for a while and stockpile it, rather than switch back and forth. Nevertheless, we can make enough doses of most of the human drugs for everyone aboard, many times over. We’ll have to see which ones really help by trial and error, no matter what the medical records say, because we aren’t using them as prescribed. But that’s it for me,” he concluded again.

  Everyone congratulated him on the depth of his review and quick results.

  “Dillon,” beamed Maggi, “I think that I finally believe that we might actually be able to put up a real fight.”

  “Let’s not get too excited. All we have is untested theory.” Mirikami cautioned. “And we can’t be the only race that had bright and unexpected ideas that went up against the Krall.”

  “Tet, you sure as hell know how to bring a Lady down,” she complained. “Let’s not display that level of pessimism for our people, OK? We want them motivated and positive. Let’s not start out sounding defeated.”

  “You’re right Maggi. My apologies to everyone. That was an encouraging list of things we can work on. Was there anything else?” He looked at each of them.

  “Tet,” started Aldry tentatively, “the long range process to boost human physical capability was touched upon in our last discussion, beyond what drugs can do. The genetic approach.”

  “You have something to tell us along that line Aldry?”

  “We do,” she emphasized. “Maggi, Dillon, and I, plus almost a dozen other people we brought along with us to Midwife have something to say.” She had talked this over with Maggi late the night before.

  She explained. “For two decades there has been a quiet need expressed by parts of the Hub government, and certain Colonial Agencies, to find a way to solve a crisis that has been slowly building on the New Colonies, and delaying establishing colonies on promising worlds.

  “Human settlement on so many alien worlds had only been made possible because we had genetically modified our crops. Adapted our livestock to filter out toxins in the new environments, to enable them to eat and digest native vegetation.

  “Genetic modification has always paved the way for humanity. Reckless tinkering with human genetics caused our downfall. We came to Midwife for the stated purpose of the project, but we also were sent there to use the remoteness to do the research and work needed to reinvigorate our failing colonies. Research that was essential to humanity’s future, but publically and politically unmentionable.”

  “I take it that you are, to use an ancient phrase, ‘coming out of the closet’ now?” Asked Mirikami with a smile.

  “Yes and no” Maggi responded for her. “Aldry made some discreet inquiries of our recruited group of scientists. We have a mixed result, but I’ll let her explain.”

  “Each of them agree that what we discussed is not only possible, but that we can do it with the information and technology we brought with us.

  “Most accept that it might even be necessary for long term human survival against the Krall. However, down to every woman and man, none wants it made known to even our fellow scientists and technicians at this time. I have their support, but only if we retain the secrecy that had been in place from the start. They worry that word will leak out to nonscientists, and some sort of miniature version of the Purge will rear its ugly head here. I can’t blame them”

  Mirikami pulled at his lip. “There isn’t any assurance that I can offer to protect them, so what’s the consensus? Will they work on this if we have the opportunity?”

  “They are fearful of being discovered by humans to be working on human genetics, but are far more afraid of what the Krall will do to us. As a race that is. They already know what they plan to do to us on Koban. So every single one of them are onboard.”

  Shaking his head slowly, Mirikami had to ask a question. “That’s a fine and dandy commitment, but folks, what can you actually do for u
s? You know what I mean. For the poor bastards stuck on Koban and facing a fight to the death next week! Can you do anything to impact those outcomes within a time frame that we will find practical?”

  Aldry was grinning and nodding her head, but just as she was about to speak, all five received a simultaneous warning from Jake.

  “Telour is now monitoring the Captain and Doctor Fisher, using both audio and video from the bridge. As previously instructed I have closed the video Link to their table, but they can still hear the other participants and you can hear and see them.”

  Sure enough, the other three saw Tet and Maggi look away from the still active camera pickup embedded the table monitor, as their own video feed went blank. Mirikami promptly lifted his wine glass, took a sip, and asked Maggi how she liked the wine. She smoothly took a sip of her own wine and made small talk about its flavor, how it complemented the fish, which they had been ignoring until it grew cold.

  They set to eating their cold meal slowly, silent as they chewed.

  “Well, are we done for now?” Aldry saw Mirikami shake his head negatively in a small gesture.

  Noreen was more at ease with Jake’s capabilities. “No. They can hear us, but can’t see us, or risk talking to us. The Captain knows we see and hear them. It’s why he set up our friend this way, so we can share information. Please go on Aldry, they can offer comments or questions later.”

  “Good,” she stated. “I may not deliver the instant gratification that Dillon’s new ‘toys’ will deliver, however we can test useful ideas within a couple of weeks. Assuming we actually get one or two of our most automated labs set up and working.”

  Feeling a bit rattled by Jake’s reminder that their privacy could suddenly be interrupted she rushed to get her own report done quickly.