Koban: The Mark of Koban

by Stephen W Bennett

  That knowledge would be of use in estimating the strategy for terms of negotiation. If Kimbo clan, it was important to recall their ultra-aggressive tactics in a fight, and how that translated into a more forceful negotiation style. If the Maldo clan, a small and recent offshoot of old Dorbo clan, they would more likely want equitable trades for each concession or agreement. Both trespassing parties would require assurances that were plausible, that the other side could not divulge the mutual secret. They needed to know how secure the other illegal visitor was of their secrecy within their own clan.

  She found Gapod facing aft and looking at the secondary communications display rather than looking out of the windows at the dome and Clanship. This was sloppy, and she challenged him. “If we are attacked from the dome, you are not ready with our most powerful weapon, the right side laser. Why are you not watching?”

  Undaunted, Gapod was ready with an answer. “The computer sent the sound that it had a possible match for reading part of the messages. It did that twice before and I called you to look. You were angry with me after the second time, because you said you were not where you needed to be if they attack. Your action made no response possible by me that would not leave you angry if this was a false match. I chose to look for myself, and only call you if we could read the messages. I did not know you would enter.”

  She didn’t directly rebut him since he had a valid point, so she looked at the console to see the last search results. Gapod returned to his pilot’s seat, already aware that he’d been correct not to call her. The possible match had been yet another random combination that briefly looked logical. The following attempt to decode more of the messages using that ancient encryption system had failed.

  This is taking too long. She fumed. If this were Kimbo I doubt they would wait this long to attack unless they are weak in numbers. If the clan were Maldo, they would want their leader’s decision, even if they outnumber us.

  “I will not be angry if you call me again to look.” She went back outside to make another call to the dome to ask for a negotiation.

  Her reward this time was a response on the same frequency she had been using, broadcast as an Omni-Directional transmission that each of the warriors could hear.

  “What do you want to negotiate?” Jake asked that in response to her offer.

  That brought her up short. The subject of a negotiation would be blindingly obvious to a pair of novices that had each broken a rule. The two clans were on Koban against the orders of the joint council. Neither group wants to risk losing any of a lifetime of earned status points for promotions and breeding.

  The accent was neutral for whichever clan the warrior speaking was a member, and the pitch of the voice was odd. The pronunciation was perfect to a Krall’s sensitive hearing. The words sounded as if they came from a high-ranking older Krall with many years of experience guiding their tongue and lips. Yet they did not understand what negotiation this predicament required?

  She noted the looks from the four warriors outside with her that they found the question and speaker somehow off kilter as well. She shook her left shoulder to signal her mystification to them.

  “We require an agreement for silence of our mutual visit to Koban. We will offer a reasonable assurance that our clan will not learn of our landings here. We want the same of you. I am of Tanga clan, of what clan are you?” She had made the first offer of openness, so they were honor bound to follow suit.

  Jake was unschooled in Krall culture, and directed to keep the presence of the human “clan” here a secret, so he equivocated. “We agree to maintain our silence if you will do the same. What do you consider a reasonable assurance of secrecy from our clan?” He ignored the issue of what Krall clan he presumably represented. The AI wasn’t aware that a mutual exchange of trust was expected, that knowing the other clan’s identity demanded he provide the same information to them.

  Toltak was initially shocked at the lack of honor displayed, realizing that no negotiation would now be possible. However, the naïve offer to maintain silence, without first offering a reasonable explanation of how to assure it, was backwards. She was inclined to attack them immediately, but this warrior’s behavior was decidedly unlike a Krall. The other presumed warriors with him would not want to be included in the lack of honor this one displayed. One of them should have spoken up by now.

  One of them did, and her previous shock was multiplied many fold.

  ****

  Mirikami, monitoring Jake’s Standard translation of what he was saying to the Krall, immediately sensed this was the wrong opening question. He didn’t hear Jake’s translation of Toltak’s negotiating points, because Dillon broke in to tell him about Cahill. He was thinking furiously as Jake translated a now meaningless response to the Krall. Time to let them know whom they were really dealing with before Cahill did it for them.

  He quickly told Alyson what Cahill was doing, then said, “Jake, put me on the frequency with the Krall, I’ll do the talking, no translation needed.”

  “Yes Sir. Ready.”

  “Toltak, the human that was speaking for me does not speak high Krall very well, so I will conduct the negotiations in Standard, which I know you speak well. I am the human clan leader here, and my name is Mirikami. I am sending a representative to speak directly with you as a show of my trust. She is in a blue uniform, walking towards you from the dome. She is unarmed.”

  Perhaps the Krall might think a blue covering signified a translator, as it often did for them. It might keep Cahill alive another few minutes. He wondered how long it would take Toltak to realize he had slipped up when he used her name.

  “Jake,” using the AI’s name assured he would not send this to the Krall. “Has the Krall speaker ever said her name or their mission here? Don’t reconnect me for a moment.”

  “No Sir. She never said her name or mission.”

  “I was afraid of that. I hope she doesn’t ask how I know her name. Jake, connect me again.”

  Toltak was in the middle of demanding confirmation of what he’d just said. “…are humans we left here at Koban Prime? How did you reach this dome? We see the animal you are sending to us. If it makes any movement we do not trust, it will die.”

  Mirikami heard enough to fill in her first question, remembering she knew the Prime City compound by its old name. “We had some shuttles inside the larger human ships disabled at Koban Prime, and used them to move people here after all the Krall left. Parkoda had destroyed the gates, and the Koban animals were killing our people. I was the Captain of the first large ship Parkoda brought there, called the Flight of Fancy. I led some of the survivors to this compound, where the gates remained closed. We restarted the fusion bottles to keep the Koban animals out, and we ate the Raspani for food. I told Telour, of the Graka clan, that we would stay alive.”

  There are enough plausible story details in there, he thought.

  Some were even true, and knowing she was Tanga clan meant she probably knew of Parkoda. A fact she quickly confirmed.

  “Parkoda was right. We should have killed all of you before we left. The joint council should not have agreed to let any of you live. I will fix that mistake, by destroying this dome.”

  Mirikami had a counter to that anticipated threat. “If you leave such obvious destructive evidence that you were here, some future joint council will search for the clan that violated their restriction and returned to Koban, no matter how many years have passed. Your clan will pay the price when they find proof of your past dishonor. We will hide many recordings of this conversation, and the video proof of your landing. To keep this dome in one piece, you will have to find and kill all of us in a hunt, and we out number your small force. We have over eight humans for each of you six warriors. Speak to our emissary and she will confirm we have the guns that you left us. If you do not harm her, we will let you live.” That should inflame Toltak, yet force her to verify what he said with the so-called emissary.

  “Jake, cease the Krall radio t
ransmission. Encrypt our conversation now, and send a text copy to Ethan’s radio hand set. Now Link me with Thad and Dillon.”

  “Ready, Sir.”

  “Gentlemen you heard. We have until Cahill walks over and spills the beans to decide our next move.”

  “Won’t they be listening to this now?” Dillon asked.

  “Probably, but it should take a little time to find the encryption key to these transmissions. I won’t talk long and I want you to activate one of your portable radios for those around you to hear what we say. Invite Stewart over to participate.”

  As soon as the mayor joined them, Mirikami started. “What about if I let the Krall know we have control of the Clanship? I can open the hatch facing towards them and be ready to fire on the six of them and the shuttle with our four pistols.” Mirikami didn’t think they could possibly hold them off, not even using the four nearly depleted plasma rifles that he deliberately failed to mention. This was pre-emptive, because this bad tactic might occur to someone else.

  As he anticipated, Dillon and Thad strongly argued that idea down.

  Thad outlined the reasons the best, really addressing the comment to Hub City residents rather than trying to convince Mirikami. He was certain Tet put that bad idea out for exactly that purpose, since he’d had voiced the same objection earlier. “Not a good idea Commander. If even one warrior gets past you, the fight is over and we lose the planet when they power up the plasma cannons and lasers. The shuttle pilot would also be free to reload the warriors under its cover. Then lift up and use their lasers. That eventually has the same fatal result for us. We don’t want them thinking of those options.”

  “Right you are. I agree, but I wanted everyone to know why that’s too risky.”

  MacDougal offered another idea that Mirikami had expected. “What if we all charge them from out of the overhang, driving and using the cover of the trucks? They can’t stop us all and we’ll reach and overwhelm them.”

  Mirikami tackled that one. “It’s a courageous proposal Stewart, but again, it takes time to develop. The shuttle lasers would hit you hard, and it can load up and lift before you get there. We lose if we force them to take that option.”

  They partly heard a proposal from someone behind MacDougal, and the mayor repeated it on the com system. “The boy, Ethan, he went out with the two rippers to flank them. They can attack from the back side at the same time.”

  They were closer to the scenario Mirikami was trying to orchestrate, but that wasn’t enough by itself. “Only Ethan can attack them from a distance with his rifle or pistols. The cats will take time to cover the ground and close with them. Some of the Krall will make it inside the shuttle and it will lift, and we lose. We need that shuttle staying on the ground, its hatch open, and the Krall distracted from that eventual attack. We need all the warriors otherwise involved when that attack comes.”

  Dillon was feeling as frustrated as the rest of the listeners. There didn’t seem to be an answer that led to a victory. “Tet, you said Cahill was the distraction. How can we use that?”

  “She is a distraction but not the distraction we need. What do you think will happen when the Krall have her behind that shuttle and start to question her?”

  “She went there on her own. They’ll listen.”

  “No, these are Krall. They won’t believe anything she says that physical duress did not force from her. I’m going to push them hard enough that they will place her under duress. That’s unfortunate for her traitorous ass, but we need a reasonable excuse for what we will do next.”

  Mirikami suspected Thad might have figured out the next step. He certainly understood the honor code of Krall warriors. If not aware of what Mirikami was up to yet, he’d recognize its necessity, and no matter how reluctantly, would accept it. Dillon, for all of his successful efforts at becoming proficient with guns, at hunting, and hand-to-hand training, was at heart a civilian scientist without a military background. His logical mind might tell him one thing, but his heart would say another. He hoped his friend would forgive him.

  “What will that step be?” Dillon asked.

  “Let me set it up first. Has Cahill reached the shuttle yet?”

  Thad provided him an update. “She passed almost under the Clanship, and is walking towards the nose of the shuttle. It looks like she’s having trouble holding up her arms so long in this gravity. I can see sweat on her back and under her arm pits.”

  They couldn’t see Mirikami’s nod. “Naturally. She doesn’t have the heat mod, or any of the mods that make it easier to live on this world. Her physical weakness matches the last impression the Krall had of humans here. However, I don’t want them to shoot her if her arms drop. Jake, put me on the Krall radio frequency again.”

  “Ready, Sir.”

  “Toltak, my emissary grows tired in the gravity and heat. You can see she is having trouble holding up her arms. Do not shoot her if she lowers her hands. She has no weapons, but brings you information about why you would be wise to leave here while you can. We have grown much stronger living here, and you will find we are better fighters than before you left. She will confirm that for you. I told her what to tell you.”

  “I see the animal’s wetness under its arms. Your strength is not so great if you cannot walk fast or even hold up your own arms. Do you think her example will make us leave you alive, to continue to foul our future home world?”

  “She will tell you the truth, that you cannot beat us in a fight. Our children are stronger than you are now. They grew up on this world. Do not test us, and leave us in peace while you are still alive.”

  There wasn’t a snowball’s chance at midsummer on the savanna that the Krall would do that, but their blood pressure, from both heart systems, would probably be spiking right now.

  He could easily visualize Toltak’s snarl when she answered. “I, Toltak, of Tanga clan, will personally cut out and eat your foul tasting living heart for that insult.”

  “I think you will change your mind when you hear from my emissary. Hear what she says, and then give your more informed reply.” Poor traitorous Cahill was about to meet an ugly fate. Nevertheless, she could still render a service to humanity. This was assuming that Mirikami’s callous seeming plan worked out. That was far from certain. He felt some guilt over sealing Cahill’s fate, assuaged, slightly by the knowledge he would not long survive her if this plan failed.

  “Jake, let me know when she answers.” He then addressed his human listeners.

  “People, I’m certain the Krall were going to kill her anyway, but now her inevitable death has been turned into an official pretext to make what must follow sound reasonable, at least from a Krall warrior’s perspective. I gave her a fictitious role in the presumed negotiation they themselves called for. Their offer to negotiate wasn’t intended for us, but we can demand satisfaction for the death of our so-called emissary.”

  MacDougal was confused, but not outraged. “Demand satisfaction? What do you expect them to offer? They don’t give a damn about us, or our anger. I don’t see how ensuring Cahill’s death helped us.”

  Proving that he had indeed grasped what Mirikami planned, Thad said simply, “Challenge them to single combat.”

  Mirikami confirmed. “Exactly. Our honor and theirs will have been offended. One on one challenges are how they resolve such issues between themselves. I predict they will energetically accept such an offer.”

  “Who wants to follow Cahill to the grave?” MacDougal demanded more than asked.

  “I’ll make the challenge. I have no doubt the entertainment will be distraction enough for he Krall. The cats will be able to creep to the shuttle, and Ethan can pick off any warrior that might notice. With the cats inside, the pilot is history, and the rest of you can rush them.”

  “No!” The outcry was from Dillon, Mirikami recognized his voice. However, he hadn’t directed the objection at Mirikami.

  “Carson, there are six of them. Not even you can handle all of them at once.
”

  Through the radio’s mike, which drew stronger as Dillon must have approached his son, Mirikami heard the boy’s determination, and knew that he had already analyzed the situation faster and for longer than his father had.

  “Dad, they will fight a challenger one at a time, it’s an honor thing with them, and I can beat them. The Commander can’t, not for long enough for the distraction to work.”

  “Carson, even if you beat one to the draw, the next one will chose knives, or go bare handed. You don’t have talons, Son.”

  “Dad, I was literally made for this. I was conceived, and then purposely modified to defend our world, our race, against the Krall. I even demanded the modifications.”

  “Son, that isn’t why you were conceived, your mother and I wanted you. The modifications were to give you a fighting chance on this world and against…,” he let that argument trail off as he realized he was about to repeat his son’s own argument.

  “Besides Dad, you talk as if I’m facing them alone. Ethan is out there, and Alyson is too. There are three of us TGs here. If we had the hundreds at Prime City with us this wouldn’t even be a discussion. All we have right now are we three, and our continued existence on Koban depends on us. I have spent hours and days talking about this sort of scenario. It’s necessary to do this, and you know it. Your objection is because of who I am, your son, than of what I am, a Third Generation Kobani Krall killer. Use your mind not your heart, as you are always reminding me when a rational decision is required.”

  There was a moment of silence that lasted only a short time, but which felt like an eternity to Carson. His father finally looked up at him, placed a hand on his shoulder and granted him the approval that he didn’t need, but desperately wanted. “I love you Carson, make us all proud, and come back to your mother and I.”

  Mirikami felt the weight of guilt all the heavier, now that his plan moved into its final phase. He was sending these three kids up against six battle-hardened representatives of the most powerful, ruthless race of killers in the known galaxy.