Koban 5: A Federation Forged in Fire

by Stephen W Bennett

  She spun to her right, the same side the man had swung around while holding onto her horn, in plain view of her right eye. He, on landing nearly at rest in the arena behind her, had immediately started to sprint towards the rhinolo’s left side before she even started her turn, as if he’d known which way she would spin. In fact, he had better than a guess to guide him in that, since Haveram had put the idea into the beast’s mind while he was in contact with her, touching her with his left hand on the side of the face in passing, with an image of him running away to her right.

  She spun to face where she expected him to be running, and then took a number of lumbering steps back along her previous path, seeking the creature she had felt leap off her rear end. She looked all along her back trail, and then her head quickly snapped around towards the sounds of roars, which she had ignored earlier in her single-minded focus on a possible threat to her calf. There were two rippers, nipping at the heels of the bull, and it was pivoting to face them. Her calf and the older female had pulled up, fearful of the rippers, but unwilling to run away from the protection the bull offered.

  The older cow had also anticipated that additional rippers might appear, had she had intervened with her shoulder to prevent the inexperienced young male from putting its head down, and recklessly charging at the two smart and deadly predators. If they tore at his weakest points, his lower legs, he might be crippled and fall prey to these agile and fast moving killers.

  The mother, seeing her offspring had two adult protectors near him, a wall blocking an attack from one side, and only two rippers present, decided she should resume her attack on the two smaller predators out here in the open. She whirled around in place, and promptly caught sight of the one that had jumped on her back. It was running quickly towards her initial target.

  Good! Instead of spreading out, they were concentrating where she could pursue both of them together, then she would select whichever one made the first mistake, or stumbled again.

  She pushed off with her powerful rear legs, again surprised at how light and powerful she felt in this strange place, and cleared the ground by nearly three feet as she restarted her charge. The small predator that had dared touch her was amazingly fast. It was easily overtaking the other one, which had a respectable lead. She wasn’t sure she could catch the fast one before it reached the wall, but she knew she could reach the slower one before then. Besides, where could they go, hemmed in by these gray cliffs in this odd canyon?

  Looking back over her shoulder, Akilah was surprised to see the stranger was still alive, and overtaking her at what seemed an impossible speed. He was covering ground in huge bounds. That wasn’t a reassuring thought, because she saw the rhinolo had started a bellowing, thundering stampede, coming her way again. It would reach her before she got to the door, where she had pinned her hopes on finding a grip at its edge to use for climbing higher than the animal could reach.

  She put on a bit more speed, saving no energy reserves for when she reached the door and would have to try to climb. The principle was basic. She didn’t have to be faster than the man, just far enough ahead that the rhinolo would reach him first. As it happened, beating him in that race had never been a viable option.

  When he reached her side, he unexpectedly slipped his right arm around her waist and lifted her with a jerk as he pulled her to his side, nearly draped over his right shoulder, and continued his run for the wall. She noticed he didn’t continue with her angled path along a longer track to reach the door, but was moving directly at the wall. That shortened their distance to the wall and increased the distance the rhinolo had to run to catch them, but they damn well couldn’t climb that flat rock face. He was going to get them both killed. She wanted down.

  “Stop kicking. I’m trying to save you. You’re dead if I set you down.”

  She understood him well enough to stop squirming, surprised at how calm he sounded, not even breathing heavy, despite all of his strenuous activity in the last few minutes. Besides, his grip on her hadn’t yielded a millimeter when she pushed with all her might. She was going with him, no matter what their fate was to be.

  As he neared the wall, he repositioned her and shifted his grip to place his left hand and forearm under both her thighs, and she thought he was about to cradle her in his arms in what would seem a less efficient means of carrying her at a full run.

  Being carried, she had been free to look back, and realized they were about to die anyway, because the rhinolo was barely twenty feet from them, horn lowered, and because they were slowing slightly, it was about to catch them. She closed her eyes, grateful nevertheless for the stranger’s attempt to help her. She seldom had received any beneficial or altruistic male attention that didn’t come from her father, or a brother who had died in this very arena last year.

  “You’re welcome,” she thought she heard, but it hadn’t arrived via her ears. The next words also appeared directly in her mind.

  “When you reach the top of my throw, grab the railing and climb over. Then lay flat behind that one-foot support wall below the railing. There may be bullets coming this way.” Amazingly, she saw images of what he meant, and with that clarification, the half-understood words in Standard were redundant. Only what did he mean by throw? She immediately found out.

  The right arm around her waist suddenly released, as the left arm lifted rapidly under her thighs, and she knew she’d never reach the top of the wall with that push. That was when the real thruster was applied, abruptly and somewhat painfully to her shapely posterior, and the man shoved her up with a splay-fingered right hand planted on her butt. He then jumped powerfully and added his leg muscles to increase the upward motion, the front tip of his left foot planted on the wall to divert some of the forward momentum into more lift. She sailed clear of him and grasped at the top of the rail as she actually overshot the target slightly. She was slung around the rail by her momentum, and thudded on her shoulder onto the walkway, banging her head as she did.

  She heard a bellow of rage and pain from the rhinolo below, and felt the thud and heavy vibration as tons of meat hit the wall, moving at least forty miles per hour. Despite the warning to keep her head below the foot high wall, where the three-foot metal railing was mounted, she looked over the side, her vision a bit blurred by the head blow.

  She didn’t believe what she saw. Her benefactor was sitting astride the hump of the rhinolo, which appeared to have stunned itself with the impact against the wall. Almost three inches of the tip of its horn had broken off.

  Haveram looked up. “I wish I had a saddle and reins. I hear these can be a wild ride.” With that, he got to his feet and used the eight foot height advantage of the cow to jump easily over the railing, where he grasped her shoulders as he pulled her down flat.

  “I told you to keep your head down. Sayed’s security might start shooting, now that the show is mostly over. I’m sure they were willing to wait and see us both get killed, but we made it out of the arena alive.”

  “They kill us now, even if run,” she replied in a fatalistic tone. Her Standard was broken and heavily accented, but he would have understood her, even if he didn’t have the advantage of a hand on hers for the Mind Tap.

  “Nope, they’re not going to be able to chase you, but stray bullets could ruin your day before we disarm them.”

  He linked to the team to get information. “Shandra, what did the sheiks do when the rippers and I jumped into the arena?”

  “Most of them applauded, thinking it was part of the presentation. Sayed called Kadar over to speak privately. I could only hear part of what was said, but I think he’s ordered you killed. Even wolfbat hearing has its limitations when cats are roaring and rhinolo are bellowing. That was a neat demonstration you put on, so I might put in a bid for your ass myself.”

  “I’m not for sale, but I’m available for rent so I hope you brought plenty of extra credits.”

  “Right. I see you snuggling down with that dark haired beauty you rescued. If she
has any money I think we’ll have a bidding war.”

  “What’s happening with the three men in the arena?”

  “One managed to climb up ten feet, using a grip on the edge of the door and his bare feet on the wall, but a security guard pointed a submachine gun his way and he let go and dropped back down. I watched the guard’s finger and if it had gone inside the trigger guard, he’d be a dead man now. The man that fell back into the arena is running to the other two men, over by Sarge and the door for the blue streaks.”

  “Has anyone made a threatening move towards Kim or Karl?”

  “No, they’re stealing the show right now, keeping the other three rhinolo dancing around and away from the three men. The sheiks, except for Sayed, love this. Do you want the rhinolo herded to the end to let in the blue streaks? Both Juan and Sven are down in the front, by the pavilion’s arena rail now, facing the security guards and sheiks. If the guards get orders to shoot, they’ll be dead meat.”

  Haveram had been given authority for this operation, so he altered their rather loose original plan. “Thad, I want to keep the rhinolo inside the arena now, so you can vacate that door and go to the pavilion. Sarge, if you can protect the men over by your door from the blue streaks, how about opening that door to let the antelopes out, and let those men in, then you go to the pavilion. Once the herd animals are in the arena, we’re going to take out security, and give the sheiks an expensive education.”

  Switching to full link for the entire force, he started the next phase of the conquest of Khartoum’s Destiny. “Take out all of the cutters, disabled if possible, destroyed if not, but we don’t want them launched. Then destroy all of the heavy plasma batteries. You people at Sayed’s landing pad, clean out crews on all those ships, but we want the yachts usable later.”

  Haveram heard the rumbling of the door where the blue streaks were contained, and promptly heard screams and yells from the three men that hadn’t known what was behind that door.

  Sarge reassured Haveram that all was well. “The antelope have been huddled at the other end of the passage, ever since they heard the rippers roaring. The sight of more teal colored animals scared the hell out of those three men when they ran through the door, but they’re more afraid of the rippers and rhinolo than what they think are deer. The Menagerie Master is wringing his hands, certain that his Sheik will feed him to the rippers after today. They all can get out through the personnel doors at the middle. I’m headed for the pavilion.”

  He called out over the arena in Standard, “Kim, Karl, you can quit harassing the rhinolo, and in just a minute you get to show the sheiks just how useless their arena walls were.”

  He switched to local mode on his Comtap. “Shandra, Juan, Sven, use microwaves and infrared to force the guards to drop their hot weapons. Sarge, Thad, and I, will join you in a moment. I’ll be last, since I’m not in armor. Let me know when I can stick my head up without getting shot.”

  There were some howls as guards suddenly found their rifles and submachine guns too hot to hold, and pistols when drawn were the same. Haveram heard a couple of shots fired and a scream and he asked quickly. “Who’s shooting?”

  Sven answered, sounding sheepish. “Ah…, that was my fault Sir. I had too high a power setting on infrared, and set off some ammunition in a pistol.”

  “Don’t Sir me, just call me Chief.” It was his usual response to being addressed as Sir. “Anyone hurt?”

  “A sheik with a concealed pistol shot another sheik in the leg when a bullet in the chamber went off, and then ammunition in the magazine went off and fragments tore into his hand.”

  “OK. Can my lady friend and I safely get up now?”

  Shandra was quick with her quip to the man she knew had a way with the ladies, herself being one of them. “Are you sure you don’t want to spend a little more personal time with her Chief? I saw your hand on her shapely ass earlier.”

  Haveram, who had been sensing Akilah’s unguarded thoughts, as they lay concealed, offered a cautionary word for them all. “Shandra, I absolutely know you mean that as a joke on me, which is fine, and I find it funny in that context. But now I know what this young woman’s offense was that earned her a penalty from Sheik Sayed, which morphed into a death sentence, simply to demonstrate how much damage a rhinolo could do to a person. She failed to satisfy an animal trainer the Sheik wanted to reward for some noteworthy service to him, and Akilah never even knew what he did to earn his bonus. As if that mattered anyway. She was presented as a sex toy for him to use as he wished.

  “A bit more than a year ago, her older brother was killed in this very arena in single combat, conducted solely to provide practice for an expert fighter Sayed was preparing for a match with a fighter of another sheik. These people have endured tremendous abuse from their masters and, for all intent and purposes, their owners. We need to be wary of inflicting additional casual and unintended hurts to people that have already suffered so much.”

  “Holy crap Chief. Tell her I’m sorry. I feel like shit.”

  “Shandra, you and I spoke by Comtap so she didn’t hear you. I wanted us all to be reminded of why we came here, and to understand the scars this planet of victims may bear, and of who has inflicted the worst of those scars. Before this day is out, the punishments meted out may get difficult for some of us to accept, and I’ll understand if anyone wishes to be excused.

  “I want each of us to take turns and engage in some of the Mind Taps of these sheiks as we question them, to remind us of why we came here. It isn’t just because of the four kids killed at Poldark, and not only as the result of a single sheik’s cruelty.”

  As he’d been speaking by Comtap, he was walking around the lower level of the arena, crossing the pedestrian bridges over each of the side passages, walking with Akilah, his hand on her arm. Simultaneously sending her mental reassurances that she was safe.

  By the time he reached the VIP pavilion, and passed through the normally guarded gate that kept the lower classes separated from the rich and powerful, the nineteen sheiks, their ranks having been increased by the two late arrivals, were furious and sullen. Sayed and Kadar saw only Haveram, but they knew there were unseen others present, wearing the concealing armor they had previously learned was used in the war with the Krall. The various sheiks had never been able to purchase a working set of this improved armor.

  Sayed boldly stepped forward. “You did not just meet with some of the Kobani at Poldark; I know that you are one of them yourself. We saw how you moved in the arena. It was not as an ordinary man can move.” It sounded like an accusation, as if he somehow still held the power here.

  “I told you we look like any of the other citizens of Human Space. Although, you sheiks have managed to maintain a monopoly on much of the Arabic bloodlines from Earth, via the isolation in which you keep yourselves. I wonder, after your rule ends, if your people will become more open to change and freedom?”

  He smirked. “You cannot legally remove us from our lands, and titles. We know the laws of the Hub worlds, and the PU’s legal limitations. Everything will be the same after you leave here. I suspect you were sent by the Poldark Governor, who has had lingering resentment of us. He is a pawn of the Planetary Union witches.”

  “Yep, I’m sure you think that. Too bad for you pricks that we Kobani don’t have to follow those rules, or comply with those limitations, and we were not sent by Poldark or the Planetary Union. They don’t have any control over us at all.”

  “Haveram, a man like you and a few friends can’t dictate to our entire planet, not if we won’t let you. Our militias and defense forces will guarantee that you will not leave here alive unless you run for your lives now. To encourage you to do that promptly, we each have agreed to pay you a fee that you do not deserve, of a million Hub credits, to get off our planet. I can pay for us all now, and they will pay me back. If any harm comes to any of us, all of you are doomed to ugly fates.”

  Haveram just looked at the man, and before he could e
ven flinch, slapped him in the face and grabbed his right hand with his own and asked a question. “You say you have nineteen million Hub credits here in your palace?”

  Sayed tried to free his right hand as his cheek reddened, but that proved impossible. “We did not agree to pay that much.”

  “But you do have that much here, right? In a vault?”

  He glanced at the other sheiks, knowing that they didn’t want to haggle for their safety over such small sums. “I may not have that much in credits, so you would have to accept some in Rials.”

  “You have a vault in the palace. How do you open that?” Haveram kept nodding each time he asked questions, even before Sayed answered.

  “I have a small vault in my study, where I sometimes conduct business.” He resigned himself to their looting that small safe, of its tens of millions in large sums of electronic currency on chips, and some fine jewels he kept there. It would cost him perhaps fifty million. A fraction of what he had in his main vault. Seeing an eyebrow raised and an amused expression in Haveram’s eyes, he added more to his story.

  “Like all of us here, we keep the bulk of our ready cash funds in banks in Khartoum City.”

  “Is that right? I’d think you would keep it here, say under your palace, with some secure means to keep an interloper from entering a larger vault and robbing you.”

  “No. That would be reckless.”

  “A code phrase and retinal scan, with a hand print, would make it just as secure here, and certainly where you could protect it from your less than honest rivals on the planet.”

  Sayed frowned, and looked nervous. “No. We have nothing to fear from one another, and the bank vaults are where we keep most of our funds.”

  Haveram grinned, and said into the air, “Did you get that Sarge?” He’d been in an open Comtap link with the entire group as he Mind Tapped Sayed.

  Flickering into sight, practically bedside Haveram, Sarge spoke via his suit speaker, as a startled Sayed tried to jump back, but was held by the iron grip on his right hand. “Yep, got it clearly, Chief. The big vault is right under the room where he put Billy boy. Oh, excuse me Sheik Shit Head, you met him as Arkedy Christoph, but he’s one of us. If you don’t mind, your eyeballs and palm print will go with me to open that vault. I assume you want to go with them.”