Koban 4: Shattered Worlds

by Stephen W Bennett

  With Nabarone’s mental picture of each of them in his memory, Mirikami approached Admiral Bledso, his hand extended early, to give her time to react with her own right hand. “I’m Tetsuo Mirikami. I’m pleased to meet you Admiral Bledso. I implore you to excuse the lack of formality my people use between the genders out where we live. Particularly since the Krall will gladly murder either gender. It tends to equalize us in our resolve to fight back.”

  Bledso, her normal human genetics hiding her years well, nevertheless was startled by the apparent youth of a man she anticipated would be at least near her age of sixty-eight, and look even older. The Rim worlds weren’t noted for gentle aging of those hardy souls that moved there. She thought he looked to be no more than in his mid to late twenties. She shook his hand, remembering to use enough firmness to convey her position of authority, in a gesture she seldom used with a civilian male.

  “We’ve heard about the exploits of your people, mister Mirikami, or do you have a rank title I should be using? I’ve only heard you described as a commander in the Rimmer forces that have helped us, and took the war to the Krall.”

  “Admiral, I am often called simply Captain, because I fly a ship, but I generally go by my nickname of Tet. However, in deference to the military aspects of our meeting, and the conventions that I’m sure you two career military officers employ, Captain Mirikami is perhaps easiest for our purposes.” He shook her hand, sensing a few thoughts, and turned to Admiral Foxworthy.

  “Admiral Foxworthy, your heavy cruisers and Starfire space planes performed brilliantly against the Krall. My congratulations.” He shook her hand, and received a few sharp mental impressions from her as well.

  She accepted his complement, and acknowledged her debt to his presumed Rimmer group. “Using your new stealth technology helped our ships, and particularly the Starfires in the encounters, and produced the best outing against the Krall in over twenty years. However, my Starfires didn’t do as well by far, as your Shadows did. I didn’t hear of any losses on your part to single ships, clanships, or ground fire.”

  “We did lose one Shadow, to an unfortunate collision with a single ship, but not directly from enemy fire.”

  “Clearly Captain, it was far more than your stealth coating that made your Shadows so dominate. Your pilots outperformed the Krall pilots. We want that capability as well.” She left it hanging, to see what his response might be.

  He diverted her for the moment, by touching on what he was here for today. “Admirals, performance improvement will come, as the alien technology we use becomes more available. As you know, deep into Krall territory, our raiders have attacked and destroyed Krall production facilities, particularly those for building clanships and the Eight Balls. In the process, we rescued many of their forced labor aliens on those planets, and they are now allies with us against the Krall. However, we had a few of them already working with us, even before the large-scale raids took place. They were a source of intelligence, and most of our new technology.

  “We destroyed many factories that made Krall equipment, particularly the shipyards that produced most of their clanships and all of their largest transports, and destroyed clanships that were parked and undefended around domes on those planets. However, we don’t have the high tech production capability to provide to the freed aliens. They are creating that as they go, and will eventually help us more than they are able to do at present.”

  Bledso offered the suggestion that Nabarone had cautioned Mirikami she would make. “We could certainly furnish them with considerable resources, if they wish to come to the Hub worlds to work.”

  “Admiral, they are understandably cautious in their dealing with a new species like humanity. We are an immature civilization to them, and also aggressive.”

  She was prepared to push a bit more. “I’m sure they could reconstruct their technology faster with what the Hub worlds can offer.”

  Mirikami looked into the eyes of both admirals, and spoke firmly. “I will certainly not push them, let alone try to force them to work for us. We are not like the Krall. We need them to see that difference.”

  When he saw Bledso was about to offer another point, he raised a hand to stave off her words.

  “These three races, the Prada, Torki, and Raspani, suffered unknown billions of dead. They lost all of their worlds and civilizations, and then spent thousands of years in bondage, or were used as food animals in the case of the Raspani. If we behave improperly towards them, the technology they are willing to give us will dry up. Their improvements of existing technology weren’t offered to the Krall. New ideas will not be offered to us either, if we seem a future threat to them.”

  He wanted to be certain to emphasize that alien help was voluntary, and why it would remain so.

  “At this time some of them are actively helping us, others are experiencing their first taste of freedom in many thousands of years, and are only passively accepting of us. My people are helping them establish simple housing on a safe habitable world, which we are sharing with them. They know that safe is a relative term with the Krall in this part of the galaxy. That’s why some of the Torki and Raspani have designed new technology for us, which the Krall do not have. The Prada are manufacturing and building things all of us need. The stealth technology is but one aspect of what we have received. I’d like to show you a couple of others today, before I offer a proposal to help you prevent what I believe is a planned new invasion.”

  This pronouncement got their attention. Foxworthy asked him, “You do know the force that left here has already attacked New Dublin, don’t you?”

  “Do you mean another invasion, another one besides that?” Bledso asked for clarification.

  He nodded. “Yes, to both questions. However, you need a source of intelligence to show you where it’s being staged prior to being launched, and when it will happen. Before I propose how I will get you that information, I want to show you why my people are the only ones that can get it for you. You need to know how we learned about the second invasion. The navy was part of the effort that led us to that information.”

  “We were?” Queried Bledso. “In what way?”

  “Admiral Foxworthy, or rather one of the ships under her command was actually involved. I see from her expression she recalls the actions of her heavy cruiser, the Claw.”

  He’d already known from her unguarded thoughts that she intended to talk to him about that event, based on some of her own investigations. He was heading her off at the pass, giving her the answers before she asked.

  Bledso looked at her subordinate with the implied question obvious, but Mirikami spoke first. “If the two of you will allow General Nabarone to escort us to an observation room next to a holding cell, much of what I intend to share with you can be seen firsthand, with less explanation. The General has already been shown.”

  When they reached the observation room, there were the armed men on either side of a two-way plazsteel mirror, which looked into a darkened interrogation cell. Nabarone waved his hand over a sensor, and the cell’s bright lights came up. Suddenly, eight feet away there were Krall eyes glaring right at them. Bledso jerked in shock at the sight of the two-meter tall red tinged Krall warrior.

  Hothdat’s body was fastened upright to a support frame, arms strapped to the side rails, with feeding tubes entering its slightly opened toothy mouth, leading down from containers of fluid and nutrients hanging from the top.

  Bledso and Foxworthy had seen the tapes of the capture operation, but the Krall had been inside armor then, and had seemed more mechanical than alive. Both had also seen and been in the presence of dead Krall before. This was the first live one either had ever seen close up, its malevolent black eyes with flame red pits, glaring its hate right into them, as if it could see through the mirrored surface. It was unnerving.

  Mirikami noted Bledso’s reaction. “Its muscles are paralyzed Admiral. I suspect you’ve heard that by now. It can breathe, move its eyes, and the other autonomous
body functions continue to work, such as dual heartbeats, and the functions of internal organs. Even its sensitive ultrasonic hearing works. That high frequency hearing told it we had entered this room when the door behind us opened in this sound proofed room. The ambient high-pitched noise from the air handlers in the outer corridor rose in intensity. It knows someone is in here observing. I was told it glares like that at the window every time the door opens.

  Bledso shook her head with a bemused expression. “Why do you bother to keep it alive, or had it captured in the first place? The paralyzing drug itself is interesting, and Admiral Foxworthy and I have inquired around. It appears to be completely unknown to our own naval intelligence. However, what use is it in this case?”

  “You ever hear the story that Krall never sleep?”

  Two affirmatives led Mirikami to part of Sergeant Reynolds fairy tale of the sleep drug he claimed was used on this Krall. That spurious fabrication seemed to have grown a life of its own. He modified the tale, to leave the preposterous supposed human brain as the source of the drug out of the story, and didn’t say that what was being used didn’t really induce sleep in a Krall.

  After he finished, Foxworthy said, “That was the drug Captain Longstreet, or whoever he really was, used to put the Krall out. Records show that Special Operations once had an officer by that name, but he’s been dead for over a year. I think that was actually one of your people, using that name to throw us off track, wearing the same new armor we know your people wear, and that the Shadow pilots have. You’ve sold some of that same armor to spec ops, which is why those men seemed plausible troopers to us.”

  Mirikami nodded. She had done this with less guidance on his part than he expected.

  “Yes, three of my men were on Poldark, visiting the command bunker, to discuss some supply issues with General Nabarone’s staff when the Claw’s report of finding a high status Krall drifting in space arrived. On their guarantee that they could capture it alive, the general loaned them his personal shuttle on trust. They didn’t have a lot of time to plan, but it was a chance to test the drug on a Krall that actually knew something useful, besides how to pull a trigger when presented with a target. They were right.

  “This one knew what was happening on K1. It talked in its imposed sleep when asked questions for the first day, before the drug’s efficacy wore off, and it soon developed a resistance to its effects. It remains paralyzed, but it no longer can be put into a forced state of sleep. That’s how my men were able to learn that the Tor Gatrol has been gathering large quantities of war material on K1 for an invasion. They didn’t actually need to take any from Poldark to stage yet another invasion. Therefore, the equipment on K1 must be for invading an even more important world.

  “The clan rumors this one heard,” he pointed at the captive, “say that it will be a heavily populated Hub World, not a Rim world or New Colony. This sub leader,” he nodded at the Krall again, “knows recognition codes for safely entering orbit at K1, and which clans have responsibility for safe guarding the weapon systems and supplies stored around domes on its surface. We even have a code for leaving orbit to land at the clan dome of this one.”

  Bledso also had some information Mirikami didn’t know the navy knew. “Is this landing to be done using a captured Krall clanship? I understand you have a number of them under your control. You apparently found a way around their quantum locks.”

  He nodded, as he thought of a plausible answer. “The Torki workers that make the quantum locks for the Krall also know what unlocks them.” This was all he offered to confirm her statement. Revealing his Krall tattoo and its use wasn’t advisable. General Nabarone even had one now, as did any Kobani in the speck ops units.

  Foxworthy had a question Mirikami expected, based on what her unguarded mental images suggested she intended to ask him when they shook hands. “Your three men captured that Krall while it was fully conscious, long before they had a chance to give it that drug. I watched the recordings repeatedly. They overcame it with brute force, and it was wearing powered armor that made it even stronger and more dangerous.”

  It wasn’t quite an accusation, but she would demand an explanation before he could talk them into the agreement he wanted. He had a ready story, one less colorful and embellished than Reynolds would have used, but Mirikami was telling his story to skeptical human beings, not the Krall, who knew little of humanity’s ability to fabricate tales. The Krall bragged and embellished, but they didn’t have the artistry to tell an elaborate good lie.

  Another superior human trait, thought Mirikami, sardonically.

  He started this way. “Alien technology is exactly that. Alien, and advanced. We don’t understand how all of it works yet. Our new allies gave us the sleep drug, built our armored suits, and improved on the existing Krall stealth technology. Those limited number of top of the line suits give us the edge we need over the Krall in direct combat. The suits you saw on my men on the capture mission have an amazing stealth capability, which you didn’t observe because it wasn’t needed there, and frankly, they didn’t use it because they knew you were watching. We guard our secrets. I’m telling you this now, because I want you to use your fleet to attack K1 if we scout the planet for you, and tell you where to strike hardest. We have to demonstrate what the suits do for us, to convince you we can pull this mission off in secrecy.”

  “I don’t believe you about the suits.” Foxworthy rudely told him. “There is no way suits that form fitting can give you that much of a physical advantage, or have the energy to provide the type of stealth our ships generate with tachyon derived power. Your people also moved and reacted just as fast as that Krall did.”

  He shrugged. “Despite seeing them for yourself in those recordings, I knew you wouldn’t believe it without a personal demonstration.”

  He walked over to the plazsteel and tapped hard with a knuckle. He gestured towards the glaring Krall and said, with a Reynolds-like flourish, “Watch this neat trick.”

  The Krall suddenly lifted six inches from the floor and quickly lurched the eight feet directly towards the plazsteel window, causing both admirals to flinch back, and look towards the armed men stationed to the sides of the room. The men stood there, stone faced, as instructed.

  Mirikami stepped to the door that led into the interrogation room and insanely, from the viewpoint of the two naval officers, pulled it open. The two officers looked concerned, but realized that no one else in the room seemed worried or had pulled back. What the hell was he up to?

  Mirikami said into the room, clearly empty except for the Krall, “Set her down there please, and step back to the far wall. Use low power settings on your lasers to hit the top corners and fire one low power plasma bolt to hit the top center of the frame holding the prisoner.”

  To whom is he speaking? Certainly not the Krall, Bledso thought.

  The Krall and the entire heavy steel framework settled to the floor without a loud thump. The women realized the Krall hadn’t walked or jumped towards them, it was still strapped to the framework, body sagging against the restraints under gravity. Suddenly, two lasers, one red and one green beam, lanced out from a point in space near the far wall, about five feet from the floor, briefly touching the top corners of the steel frame, and a single actinic but obviously low energy plasma bolt struck the center top of the frame. It also originated from that point in space by the back wall.

  “Admiral Bledso and Foxworthy, this was done by one of my people, wearing the stealthed armor you don’t believe can exist. You just saw some of its weaponry, and I think the stealth capability speaks for itself. I doubt you saw more than a ripple of movement from that suit, if even that. The armor was powerful enough to lift not only the Krall, but also that heavy steel frame. Let me introduce you to my trooper.”

  He leaned through the door. “Stealth off please.”

  The black and white armor that instantly rippled into view was of the same type the three men had used to capture the prisoner. Except the
two navy officers realized the images recorded outside the Claw and in its cargo hold had apparently misrepresented the true size scale. This figure seemed very much smaller than they expected.

  Still skeptical, Foxworthy asked, “Is there even a man inside that? It’s very small. And those men at the Claw moved as fast as the Krall did.” She considered the possibility that this object, and those men, were a new type of AI controlled device.

  “Is that a robot?”

  Mirikami offered an odd assurance. “It’s true that there’s no man inside.” He grinned.

  Both women looked sharply at him at that admission, thinking the robot guess had been right.

  “Helmet off please.” He said, through the open door again.

  The headpiece suddenly spread wide at the neck, as hands reached up and lifted it higher. A shock of short dark hair fell free, in slight disarray, and distributed itself more evenly as the person tilted their head down and shook the unruly hair into a semblance of order. Then the person raised their head, revealing facial features of a rather normal looking, small sized young woman. When she smiled, she suddenly seemed transformed into an attractive, petite young Lady.

  “Gracious Ladies, I’d like to introduce you to Lady Carol Slobovic.”

  Carol merely nodded at the window, unable to see who was on the other side, now that her helmet sensors were unavailable to her.

  “Carol, could you remove the rest of the suit please, and join us? I want our two navy visitors to be certain you are not some sort of attractive young cyborg.”

  He turned away from the door as he spoke, to observe the two admirals. They in turn divided their attention between him and the young woman through the window, quickly removing armor that opened wide to let her step clear and remove.