Some of the early goods found when a few containers were opened were nonperishable canned foods. Hardly gourmet fare, but highly welcome as relief from the years of frozen military rations. There were also sizable rolls of colorful Smart Fabric that had been shipped to Thor for some unknown use. They could become impenetrable body suits with a bit more fashion flair.
Just after lunch there were two memorial services held, one after the other. The first one was held in and just outside the cargo hold of the Flight of Fancy. The ship’s complement was nearly all present, passengers and crew remembering Nan Willfem, and noting that her final sacrifice came trying to protect strangers setting foot for the first time on this dangerous world. Mirikami, Noreen, and the Chief all spoke a few words. There wasn’t much time to spend in remembrance.
The second service was less well attended because most of the Pink Nebula’s passengers had not had the opportunity to meet their Captain. Most didn’t even know the other passengers, on a run that was a routine passenger hop between several colonies. They had only been in transit for four days when they did a White Out at a colony world they were passing near enough to make a brief port of call. In a typical pattern, sixteen single ships quickly disabled the Trap fields. Then in a break of pattern, the small ships shot off the emitter antennas, and a Clanship pulled near and they were suddenly swallowed into a Jump Hole for two weeks.
Except for the crew and those that lost someone, few of the Nebula’s passengers wanted any part of the Koban heat or the need for heavily armed guards all around.
In the science lab, just after the memorial, Maggi and Aldry held a briefing on what the pros and cons were of the modifications Mirikami and Dillon had received. Five people were invited, Thad, Deanna, and the other three volunteers that had joined Mirikami and Dillon at ridge on their Testing Day. Having seen the results first hand, all five wanted to undergo the initial set of gene modifications.
Combat immunity or not, there were other challenges to face if they were going to live out their life on Koban. They wanted to start right away, but the press of all the landings pushed that back a few days.
In the early afternoon Mirikami was in the Great Hall, describing Krall combat testing to avid yet horrified and repulsed listeners among the new arrivals. He explained what his ship had manufactured to give them some surprises the Krall warriors had not expected. It was surprising to find that most of them had not even seen one of their captors. Very few of the ships had been boarded before finding themselves in orbit here. Then the local Krall complement had pulled out before they landed.
Many were clearly skeptical of the claims of how dominating the aliens were physically, when compared to humans. This was despite the exasperated insistence of those with direct firsthand experience telling them it was true. Aliens were too alien to accept sight unseen. They also didn’t want to receive any tattoo from these purported aliens, even when told of the protection it offered them if confronted by one of these merciless killers. The old timers knew that would change soon after they saw their new keepers.
To aid in convincing them, Mirikami had a holo projector set up, and using Jake’s fiber optic lines showed them scenes the AI had recorded of Krall action when first boarding the Flight of Fancy. They saw bloody dead bodies strewn in the two corridors, but didn’t really see the Krall through the smoke. Then they watched their arrival on the Bridge, the ceiling flips, the rapid pistol draws and a close up of a face with red-pitted eyes in the black orbs.
A kernel of belief had been planted, and the depth of their predicament was starting to sink into their minds. The Captain played a video of the violent warrior exercises they had conducted in the hold area while in transit to Koban. Explaining that the image was not speeded up, that the Krall really moved that fast and were that strong. The warriors were essentially “playing at war,” and the ship’s gravity had been set at the same level as they presently felt.
It was during the discussion afterwards that Jake Linked to Mirikami. “Sir, a shuttle is approaching from the south east.”
He held up his hands, tapping a dummy earpiece to conceal the use of their transducers, which he still kept concealed. “I have just learned that a Krall shuttle has been sighted. Probably coming from the direction of their main compound, and evidently coming to Koban Prime. If you want to see them with your own eyes, you can do so in relative safely through the windows on the second level overlooking my ship, where they normally land. If they come inside, they will certainly pass through this Hall, so get out of their way and do not look them in the eye.” He emphasized.
“Otherwise there may be another memorial service this evening,” he gazed around the room.
“I can’t and won’t order you not to follow me to meet them. But I don’t recommend that any of you new arrivals go outside as I try to meet with whoever is coming here.”
He pointed at his tattoo, “Remember, you have not accepted the terms of Ra Ka Endo, when these tattoos are applied. You literally risk death for simply staring at one of them, even with a tattoo. I won’t do it and I have been granted immunity from combat testing by helping to kill three of them. However, that fact will not save me from a challenge of honor. I would not survive a personal challenge by any of them.
“I know you have all heard the recording made by the now dead Doushan Mavray, either on your ship or earlier today in a replay. Remember his advice and warnings, and believe what he told you. It is all true.” He waved to them as he stepped down from a table and headed for the east entrance.
47. The Mark
Mirikami waited under the garage overhang as the shuttle landed. As prearranged, he had Jake Link him to the other five Koban Committee members, so they would hear what was going on while they watched from the second level of the dome. He walked into the afternoon sunlight as the side hatch lifted.
He was relieved when Telour and a K’Tal stepped out, along with the usual hand of warriors. The feeing didn’t last very long.
Telour spoke first. “You are enjoying your immunity human?”
“It isn’t a thing to enjoy. I fought before I was forced to do so to earn it early, but even with immunity, I would do that again if it advanced the survival of the humans here. I have tried to contact you or Parkoda to get permission to bring down the other humans in orbit. And then to ferry down those in the larger ships.”
“Yes, those big ships proved surprising to the raiders after they brought them here. All of our ships, even the largest, are made to land on planets. They did not know or believe that your largest ships were so weak.” He snorted.
“What is amusing about such an efficient design? It is not very efficient to make a large ship do what small ships can do better. We ferry our people up and down on smaller ships to make our big ships better suited for long space travel. You say all humans are weak, so why would a human ship design with weaknesses surprise you?”
“I do not think the design is so bad, it is that Parkoda did not know that the largest new prize ships, many of them eagerly caught by his own raiders, cannot sit on the ground to be displayed as proof of his great victories.” He snorted again, and despite himself, Mirikami smiled.
“Have you returned to resume command of Koban Prime?” He asked.
“There will be no more commanders here.” He answered. “Unless you humans chose one,” he added cryptically.
Wondering where this conversation was going, he asked “How will we know when you want to conduct testing and how many humans will be required?”
“All humans everywhere will be subject to testing every day.” He answered, still cryptic.
A chill ran down Mirikami’s back. “The war is starting.”
“I told Kanpardi you would understand this quickly. I would send you back to lead one of your worlds in the war if I could. I would be interested to see what you could do with more than one ship’s machinery and with many more humans.”
“We all would be happy to return to teach our people how to
fight and kill your warriors. Send us home and we will do that,” he promised, positive they would never do that.
“If humans here could be made as forgetful of their past as Raspani are we could do that. Not that we would of course. It would waste our time. But I know, as do our clan Leaders that some of our humans, I am sure that you in particular, know exactly where this world is in the galaxy.”
There it was.
However, Telour couldn’t resist a boast, “We would defeat you just as surely as we intend, no matter what you could teach your species of us, or of this world. Nevertheless, humans have the ability, like any race with Jump ability, to reach anywhere almost undetected.
That was the reason they had to die here.
Mirikami told him so. “You will not risk your future home world by letting us return to Human Space and tell them where it is. We would find a way to kill this world out of vengeance as you kill our worlds.”
“That is what we would do,” he agreed.
It was time to cut to the heart of things. “Have we met the terms of our agreement with you? Did we help you and Graka clan gain higher status by fighting better?”
“Yes, you did more than I expected and in a very different way than I intended. Humans will never be good warriors, but they are tricky and treacherous opponents, as you proved.”
Mirikami bowed slightly.
“That is your gesture of respect for a superior, or of gratitude,” Telour recalled from memory. “I do not believe from you it is for my superior position, so you are grateful I called you bad things?” Called tricky and treacherous rather that a good warrior was a deep insult to a Krall.
“Those abilities were enough for our purposes, so yes.” He replied.
“We can follow the Great Path by fighting an enemy that can fight us that way. We need to understand the ways of the many different enemies we will find. However, I will correct you in one thing you say. My agreement was not with all humans here, it was only with you and only you have earned your immunity and completed our agreement. We have each gained the advantage expected.”
This didn’t sound reassuring. “I required many humans to follow my directions and all of them here have done so. The last Testing Day involved humans from my original clan and those from my expanded clan among humans already here. You agreed I could give immunity to those I needed.”
Telour snorted. “Are you claiming immunity for all humans here because some followed you? I know most already here did not want to follow you, and the new human prisoners have not followed you at all yet. Why would I give them immunity, and why would it matter if I did?”
The bastard was having a good time watching him argue a pointless case. Telour was perfectly aware that Mirikami knew that the immunity agreement had always been limited to a select few, and was only a useful lever while combat testing was conducted. Testing was over and now the wider war would start.
The private joke he snorted over wasn’t about a now useless and expired immunity agreement with him, it had to be about all of the humans he was trying to protect, about something that he knew, and that Mirikami didn’t know.
Mirikami probed. “I don’t think it is the end of our agreement and the grants of immunity that you find amusing. Your leaders promised when the Krall left Koban that any humans here that survived the testing would remain alive. That was because we cannot survive here without your protection. Parkoda destroyed the gates yesterday, and last night a pride of rippers killed thirteen of the new prisoners and one of my clan mates. I believe we were already on our own then, and probably from the day you left the dome.”
“Again you are close to the correct conclusion, and you remembered what our honor places on us for our offer of life when we depart.”
“Are we supposed to be grateful for the slow death we will be left with here?”
“If you are grateful or angry it is of no matter to me or to the clans. You were not offered more than life, and the clans in truth had no need to offer you anything at all. To fight us or die was a reasonable choice. We wanted a better fight, so made the offer.
“For amusement I would have left the compound’s gates standing, to let you slowly discover that you could not survive even with that protection. However, Parkoda was not happy when Graka clan earned first right of battle to start the war. He learned this yesterday and was vengeful enough to make your end come sooner. He is too merciful.
“His Tanga clan learned how to capture enemy ships whole with more prisoners alive inside. Graka clan proved the humans we already had could be taught to fight. What I made happen with my plan has greater value for following the Path and my clan received more status points.
“Our clan leaders, except for Tanga clan, say we do not need more tests of humans, so Parkoda’s towing trick has no great value, and we do not need the captives the raids brought back. This too was decided yesterday.
“While Parkoda was running after more animals for status, I passed him by staying here to use the animals we had.” As always, he was taking credit for what humans accomplished.
“That’s really super good news for you, for your wonderful clan, and your almighty Great Path,” acknowledged Mirikami sarcastically, knowing a Krall was insensitive to such human phrasing.
“So when can we bring down the rest of the humans in orbit? I need all the help I can get if I expect to rebuild the gates and survive the winter this year.”
Telour looked at him in appraisal. “I did not think you would simply quit and I was correct. However, do you actually expect the humans still in orbit to become prisoners on Koban? They were never subject to testing here.” He snorted, rearing his head back.
This was black humor from him. If the orbiting prisoners never landed on Koban, they could kill them in orbit without the Krall going back on what was offered to those on the surface. Koban itself was the testing ground, not the space around the planet. It was their usual self-serving version of honor.
Mirikami made a proposal. “All but eight of the human ships can land right here, so they can descend at any time you allow that. After you let those ships land and unload, we can ferry down the remainder of the people, which is an efficient way for you to let us do all of the work.” He didn’t dare sound like he was pleading.
However, Telour had a different concept of economy. “It is also efficient to leave he rest of the ships Parkoda claims credit for capturing in orbit. Because of my own plan, we do not need the ships that carry them, or the animals for testing. Your cooperation helped me make this possible.”
Mirikami knew the sadistic bastard personally enjoyed this last cruelty, but he refused to flinch as the psychological knife struck him in his gut.
Telour continued in an offhand casual manner, to twist the metaphorical blade. “We would destroy all Jump capable ships anyway before we depart Koban, and it is more efficient to do that where they are.”
His mind was racing with arguments he could make to save those people, but he had to base the reason on something the Krall would consider of value, certainly not human lives.
A possibility came to him. A clan’s glory or accomplishments in their twenty five thousand years of history were an important element in the stories they told on the trip here. He needed to play on that need to earn respect in that history.
“You told us Koban will become your new home world,” he reminded Telour. “I assume it will be the home base of your expanding Galactic Empire for thousands of years. I am surprised that the Krall would not show this world respect.”
“We have great respect for this world,” Telour answered sharply, leaning towards the human in a threatening manner. “It is why we keep its location secret, why we leave it for a time, to follow the Path and make our bodies worthy of living here. I have also told you we will return when we move along the Path so that we do not need guns and walls to live here. That sacrifice shows our respect and honor for this place.”
When his talons had started to extend, Mirikami kn
ew he had pushed him close to the brink of a challenge. He quickly explained.
“The human ship that tried to flee was destroyed by a thoughtless raider, leaving millions of pieces of debris in orbit, large and small. Most of that debris will still be there like small deadly moons around the planet when you return to live here, even after thousands of years.”
Telour interrupted him. “The ship commander of Parkoda’s raiders had a right to punish them, to make the other humans see they must obey us without question. The other ships only needed to move to different orbits.”
Mirikami made his point. “Would you add billions more pieces of human garbage to fill the space over your honored and respected home?” Telour appeared to be listening and his talons had retracted.
He added a sense of history now. “The Krall will be fighting and conquering in the Galaxy for thousands of years, and future Great Clan leaders will gather here to plan other wars. To come and go here, will their ships need to avoid pieces of trash from a careless mistake that a few clans make now? Is the story of your departure from Koban to be that important clans left behind a perfect world, with human trash forever circling above?”
“I do not want advice from an animal,” he told him coldly, eyes still glaring.
“In truth Telour, I do not want to offer you anything that can be used to your advantage. Nevertheless, I must because I can see how an important advantage for your own clan’s place in Krall history can also give a very small advantage to a few humans. You, and your clan, can gain status and a place in history by telling the other clans why the easy choice of Parkoda’s ship commander is a bad choice for the future of your home world.”
The fact that Telour was still listening to a mere human told Mirikami he had his interest.
“Would the clans see you as showing more respect for the future of the Krall home than Parkoda? Your Graka clan could earn another story in your long history by protecting this world from mistakes that Tanga and the other Clans would make without thinking.”
Koban Page 66
