Mirikami and the Chief took the lift, as the TGs ran up the steps to see if they could beat him to the upper decks. When the lift stopped to let the Chief off at the Engine Room level, some of them were there, grinning, not even breathing hard.
He stopped briefly at the Jump Drive room, again seeing several smiling faces from the previous stop, still breathing regularly. He returned their smiles, checked in on Marlyn, who was talking with her former Drive Engineer from the Rimmer’s Dream. The Krall ship was fully automated, so that other than watching alien output displays on the fusion bottles and the surge on power monitors when a Trap field caught or released a tachyon, there wasn’t anything to do. Jakob was fully capable of monitoring everything for Mirikami, but having a few people around for possible maintenance seemed like a good idea. They even had two Drive Rats down with the Chief, with apparently nothing to do.
The liftoff went smoothly, and kept to a more sedate acceleration than the TGs would have liked, because the SGs aboard decided it was more important to reach vacuum with them still conscious. The kids would have loved a showy max performance takeoff, which would have left everyone but them blacked out.
Once they had tachyons in their Traps, the internal gravity and inertial compensation would activate, and considerably higher Normal Space accelerations were possible. Not as high as what the Krall would tolerate, and well below what their TG’s could accept. Even with the clone mods, and over twenty years spent in 1.52 g’s, the SG’s (“near Normals,” as the youngsters sometimes described them) were the limiting factor for enduring internal acceleration forces.
Mirikami used the star chart himself. They had not been able to interface Jakob to the alien computer technology, so he would have to observe the star map by camera, and help guide them to select systems where they wanted to travel. Mirikami zoomed in on the galactic map, to display a region about ten light years in radius around the home star in K1’s solar system.
The uninhabited stellar system for their first destination was three and a half light years from K1, called Chandler’s star. It had three outer rocky planets and two inner gas giants, one a so-called ‘hot Jupiter’, with no life bearing worlds or moons. At least none that anyone had bothered to search hard enough to find.
It was the first long Jump Mirikami had tried with his new ship. He only had Reynolds’ anecdotal tales of how short a time Jumps took, using the T squared level of Tachyon Space, which humans had learned to access from copied Krall technology.
Based on the described reduction in travel time to Poldark, from various Hub worlds named by the Sarge, Mirikami had an estimate of five or six days to reach the empty destination star system. It was well off to the side of a direct line to K1 from Koban, but both systems were on the the Rim of Human Space. He estimated Poldark would take perhaps a day longer to reach, if they were Jumping there directly from K1, which they were certainly not going to do.
With Noreen and Marlyn both checking his work, and Jakob concurring, he moved the destination star to the center of his screen, zoomed in to look at the various worlds, and tapped a spot clear of any planet but near one in particular, and then tapped the command to execute the Jump. They had decided they didn’t need to waste time telling the ship’s complement in advance when they Jumped, because there was sensation at all, not even a hull ‘ping’ as human ships produced, and no external ports or view screens except on the Bridge.
The outside view went black instantly, and stayed that way, much longer than the few seconds the Oort cloud Jumps had required. They were truly on their way back into Human Space. It was a momentous occasion for them, and completely anticlimactic in execution.
“Jakob, ship wide broadcast please.”
“Ready, Sir.” The voice had a slightly different bland inflection, which Jake’s alter ego said must be due to the different speakers and acoustics. It was a useful distinction to remind them that Jakob was a slower and less capable AI version of Jake.
“We have initiated the Jump, and I expect the journey will take between five and six days. Exercise for TGs will only be allowed on stairways numbered two through six. Number one and seven is reserved for us old SG farts to use, and yes, we all can use the lift that replaced number eight, in between one and seven.” He laughed at himself, knowing the kids already thought of them as old farts.
Noreen, hearing him limit stairwell use, reminded him of the TGs abilities. “Tet, they are a heck of a lot more agile than the Krall. None of them would accidentally hit anyone they passed on a staircase.” She was referring of course to a fatality on the Flight of Fancy, when a Krall warrior killed Rafe’s wife on a stairwell, as it exercised recklessly.
“I’m not afraid they’ll hit me, but the flinch I’ll make as they pass me in a blur might make me trip, and it will damn well make feel inadequate.” They chuckled and nodded at the truth of that.
“I gave them five of the stairwells because Thad wants them to continue to work on their ascent times, and try various different techniques. With more of us aboard, moving around on random decks, they can practice clearing targets with dry fire as they go. Expect to be killed a few times this week by two hundred hyperactive kids.”
In hindsight, he should have said, killed thousands of times, per TG. Hyper indeed!
22. K1
Mirikami’s estimate to reach Chandler’s star was quite accurate. It was five days, nine hours, forty-one minutes when the external screens illuminated with a splash of galactic sky and a nearby red dwarf star.
It was still ship morning, and Mirikami had been on the bridge for over an hour. He was chatting with Ethan, listening to him describe the training adjustments they had made yesterday, in the variations of the assault strategy and techniques they had added to their repertoire. Alternatively, as he called it, the game of capturing a Krall Clanship.
He had Mind Tapped the Captain to share the details of the primary method, then the many variations they had considered. Most of the alternate plans involved finding more Krall on either ship than expected. That was a result of having so many people being aboard the Mark, and some would be in control rooms, others eating, some in various private compartments, and more than one surprised person was “killed” while performing biological necessities in the waste disposal areas modified for human use.
If they really needed to clear the entire ship, every possible place of concealment needed to be examined, once the main goal was achieved of taking over the command deck, and then secondary goals, such as controlling weapon and ammunition access, and securing any single ships or shuttles.
“Ethan, part of your plan is to physically look into any compartment where a Krall could be concealed. You eventually will have to do that to be thorough. However, I think all you need to do to find them is make enough “human” noise and they will oblige you and come out on their own. They aren’t shy or cowardly, and if they hear you with those highly sensitive ears, they will come after you on the run. Yell and make noises as if you’re frightened. It’s almost like an aphrodisiac to them.”
“Good idea. None of us thought of that, since it wouldn’t work like that with our people.” He was about to say something else when instead he said, “There that is again.” Just before the external view screens lit up with stars.
Mirikami went to the closest control position, as Jakob automatically made the arranged announcement that they had arrived. As soon as he was certain their position was where he had expected, and active radar scans revealed no nearby ships or any radio transmissions, he turned back to Ethan, who was about to leave the Bridge, thinking he’d be in the way.
“Ethan, wait a moment please. What did you mean a moment ago by ‘there that is again’ as we did our White Out?”
“When we Jumped from Koban, I felt something in my mind. Afterwards, when I heard your announcement, I figured it was normal and related to the Jump. Alyson said something about feeling it as well, when we talked later. I felt that same sensation just now, a second before we c
ame out, so I see it really is related. This was the first Jump for me and Alyson, or any of us TGs of course. As rookies, Alyson and I were surprised when we felt it happen. None of you professional Spacers ever mentioned that.”
“We never told you because we’ve never felt anything. A ship makes no sound on entering the Hole, and on most human ships we hear a small ping, from a tiny flex of the hull due to a change in gravitational adjustments as we make a White Out. That’s a function of our inertial dampeners preparing for possible sudden accelerations if we encounter rocks headed our way. Krall ships don’t take that precaution, so there’s no sound. If we didn’t do that in our ships, we’d feel or hear nothing physical at all. You said you and Alyson felt something in your minds? I didn’t, and I’ve never heard of anyone that has.”
“Perhaps it has to do with our superconductor nerves?” Ethan suggested.
“Son, I don’t have a lot of use for mine, but I have that mod as well. Perhaps it has to be actively connected to the brain neurons, like yours are.
“Jakob, Link me to Dillon please.”
When they were connected, Mirikami explained what Ethan had told him.
“Hold on Tet, Carson is just outside our sleeping compartment, talking to his mom. I’ll ask him if he felt anything. I sure didn’t, but there are things about these nerves we might not know yet.” Mirikami heard him call to his son and wife to join him. Dozens of TGs bunked on pallets on the floor, in an open bay by Noreen and Dillon’s private room. There was a lot of background noise that cut off, as the swish of a closing door sounded through the open Link.
“Jakob, add Noreen and Carson to the Link.” That was Dillon speaking, who then asked his son a question.
“Carson, did you sense anything when we entered the Jump Hole at Koban, and when we did the While Out a few minutes ago?”
“Yes. But the guys I was sitting with when we left didn’t notice, so I thought it was just me. I felt it again a short time ago, but didn’t know we had arrived until the announcement. Why, is that unusual?”
“Carson, check again with some of the TGs right now, and find out if they felt it.”
The door swished, and noise resumed. In under a minute, Carson was back. “Dad, Uncle Tet, I Mind Tapped what I felt with several TGs, and they said they didn’t sense that. I was told Ron Lowell asked one of them the same thing when we Left Koban. With me, Ethan, Alyson, and Ron, that makes four TG1’s that felt something. I’ll bet all ten of us did. We all have transducers, I can check.”
Mirikami kicked himself. He knew that all of the TG1s had them. He simply had not been talking to them by Link for the last twenty years, and it slipped his mind. “Jakob, Link all the TG1’s in with Carson and me.”
“Done Sir.”
“Carson, you are Linked with the other TG1s. All of you get together, in person, and find out what you sensed, and then pass what you learn on to your father and me. I need to work on planning our approach to K1 right now, but this apparent detection of entering and leaving Tachyon Space is interesting. Captain Out.”
Ethan was already talking with Carson as he nodded to Mirikami and turned away. He’d heard the Captain’s instructions, and was heading down to meet with the other TG1s. There was no telling what this unique ability might mean, but it appeared to affect only those with the contact telepathy mod. That was a new sense to humans and any novel aspect of it was worth exploring.
Shortly, Noreen and Dillon, Thad and Marlyn, stepped off the lift, accompanied by Reynolds. They had exhaustively discussed the overall plan previously, and enroute, but the Jump to K1 from here would take less than three hours. Any proposed changes needed discussion before they made the next leap, and Mirikami had a minor change to make.
“Tet, do you still want to Jump in at the K1 Oort cloud and observe from there before the last short Jump?” Noreen had suggested only one White Out in the K1 system be done, close to the planet. Mirikami had been cautious about trusting the Krall navigation for a close exit after a three point five light year Jump.
“The test Jumps near Koban had accurate readings of the orbits of the planet and the moon, Kratos, so the navigation system had a reasonable chance to know where they were when we made an exit at orbital height from a Jump from the Oort cloud. I didn’t know how accurate it might be jumping from Koban to here or from here to K1. How would it know the present planetary positions? If I zoomed in the map to select a White Out point close to K1, would it actually be where I tap when we get there? Now I’m sure it will, and I don’t need two Jumps.”
“What convinced you?”
“We jumped over five hundred light years to Chandler’s star, and I deliberately selected a spot, using Jakob’s range scale for the system, one thousand miles above the extended north axis of the second rocky planet out from the star. However, the inner two gas giants and the three rocky planets are not close to where they were in their orbits when we looked at them five days ago at Koban. Nevertheless, we came out one thousand miles due north of the second rocky planet anyway. The Krall navigation computer brought us to the same relative location to that planet, meaning it adjusted for the differences of the orbit when we arrived. I don’t know how it did that while we were in the Jump Hole, but it did.”
“So, no pause to observe K1 from the Oort?” Marlyn asked.
“I doubt normal Krall arrivals do that, and I see it isn’t needed now, so we won’t do that. I want the two of you to study the star maps of the two systems you will Jump to first from K1, and then the rendezvous star where we all meet. You aren’t going to have Jakob to help you, and you’ll only have your data pads for reference.” The two Ladies recorded the detailed images of their two-Jump routes to the place where all three of them would meet.
When they closed down their data pads, Mirikami said, “Why don’t we have breakfast, and then go to war in a few hours?”
All ten of the TG1’s happened to be eating in the designated dining area when the group from the Bridge arrived. The Krall deck, furnished with equipment salvaged from one of the old disabled passenger liners, held fifty people at once. Using the transplanted automated food dispensers and their simple AIs, they sat at a table near the ten young adults. Realizing they could be fighting for their lives by this afternoon, referring to the TGs as ‘kids’ was harder.
Mirikami noticed as he ate, that the entire group of ten had all linked hands around the table. He had not considered the process of a group Mind Tap previously. He had frequently joined one or two others in a frill with a cat, when one of them returned with some interesting images to share. Thus far, he’d only gone one on one with any of the TG1s, as he had with Ethan this morning. With the more complex thoughts and images of ten people, he wondered how they kept things clear. He envisioned a sort of crowd murmur as they all talked at once. He’d have to ask about it later. Just as Mirikami’s table was finishing breakfast, Ethan, Carson and Alyson came over.
“Carson, I saw you all in that group Mind Tap. Was that useful?”
“Yes Sir. We all sensed something going into the Hole and again at White Out. You may not know this, but when we Tap with someone often, it’s similar to knowing their voice without seeing them, such as hearing them on a com set without a picture. Their thought patterns are recognized, but it’s much more identifiable than hearing their voice. We don’t think you can fool anyone that knows you, such as pretending to be another person if you blindfold us and take our hand.
“What six of us sensed, for that brief moment, was like Tapping another one of us for a moment. I thought I felt Alyson’s thought pattern for a second or two. Ethan said it was as if I had touched him briefly this morning. I actually was talking about him to Mom when the White Out came. Several others all had the same sense that they knew who it was, and it was always one of our group of TG1s. Those that didn’t sense a specific person said they were not paying attention, or were distracted and can’t say for sure.”
“What did your group Mind Tap accomplish?”
“We all shared our impression of both events. The one today was fresher of course. We decided to all focus on a single person’s mental pattern when we do the next Jump, and see if we can detect her without physical contact. It was Alyson’s idea, so she’s the focal point. She’ll tell us what she may have felt from us after that, and what we may have experienced from her.”
“Good. We’ll start the next Jump in less than an hour. I’ll make an announcement just before then, so you can be ready this time. After that, we have about three hours to reach K1, and the Colonel wants the six of you with your units below, an hour early. The other four of you will stay with your reserve sections on the deck above. OK?”
When Mirikami and the four Bridge crew left them, the youngsters were excitedly talking about the raid. The four TG1s that were part of the reserve force desperately wanted to have a chance to get in on the action. Mirikami wondered how they managed to avoid being afraid, or not showing it if they were.
“Thad, they seem optimistic and eager. Is that just a front you think? I can’t feel anything but a gut wrenching worry that something serious will go wrong.”
“Tet, it isn’t a front for them. It’s partly the confidence they got from the mental images Carson and Ethan provided of their meeting with the first six warriors. They know they are faster and stronger than the enemy is, and have a telepathic ability the Krall don’t have. I reminded them that they don’t have Krall hearing or night vision. However, we are landing on the dayside so darkness is no factor.
“The same confidence runs through all the TGs, Tet, and they each know their tasks well, because of the Mind Taps. I’ve never seen a more ready unit. Sarge agrees.”
“Well, I’ll do my best to put them down in as good a spot as I can find, to reduce the time it takes to cross to the ships we chose. A fast waddle in a Krall suit may hide the first three of each team, but the rest of them will be exposed on the ramp for any Krall to see.”
Koban: The Mark of Koban Page 63
