Koban

by Stephen W Bennett

  This was a bit of new information they hadn’t had, concerning existing wrecks, but that was just the first proposal. They had anticipated a hard sell.

  “Ms. Willfem, how hard is it to completely remove the three main thrusters?” He asked the question for which they had prepared an answer. Painful to implement, but an answer they were depending on to work.

  “Sir, without a port facility repair dock, we can’t remove them in one piece. They would have to be dismantled, but we don’t have a crane to do this without damage to them. The Chief here,” she indicated Haveram “says we can cut them into pieces and let the parts just fall to the ground between the landing jacks. There they can be dragged away by our two cargo movers we have in the hold.”

  Mirikami saw the Chief wince as she described the destruction process for his three “babies,” but they already knew the alternative was for the Krall to fire on the parked Flight of Fancy and do worse.

  “Chief, how long would it take you and your Drive Room crew to do this?”

  “If we get some help from other crew members, and perhaps from the civilian maintenance folks intended for Midwife, I think it can be done in four hours. In only three hours if we open access panels, and cut a few redundant support braces while we’re still in space. We have eight cutting torches, and ten or so powered tools to loosen bolts or saw through fittings, if we have people to use them.”

  “I’ll get you the people, and we need to start teaching them what their jobs will be right away, so we might even finish in two hours.” He spoke as if the decision had been made, and the job would be done even faster.

  They intentionally wanted it to sound easier than it would actually be, so the Chief had been told to avoid mentioning the risk from the toxic and explosive fuel that would still be in the feed lines. He was to avoid discussing any problems due to the higher gravity. If they were permitted to start the work, then they might be granted extra time if it was needed to finish. It had never been done this way outside a scrap yard, and even there they were interested in salvage of reusable parts.

  “Telour, do you think Parkoda will permit your real plan to survive if it takes us two or three hours to finish the work?” Mirikami deliberately phrased his question so as tie Telour’s success to theirs.

  “It is possible that I can distract Parkoda by calling for a meeting of the combined clans. There I can say how successful his leadership of the raid was, and give him public credit. This will take from my own status because he will receive a larger share of the breeding points given for the raid. But my own plan grows even stronger when he leaves on the next raid; if your ship can make weapons that help you fight.”

  It was odd to hear Telour speak like a human politician, scheming to undermine an opponent while apparently backing them. He was so invested in his own plan, that talking in front of the mere “animals” that were working for him didn’t faze him at all.

  He still had a concern. “Even when your engines are gone, your ship will look almost untouched, which Parkoda will see, even if convinced by more than one K’Tal that it can never fly. A reason for this is needed, to prevent his order to simply destroy the ship and damage my own plan.”

  He now was talking like a coconspirator with them, but it was a valid point. In addition, it was a point they had thought about, but the best they could come up with was more flattery and status for Parkoda, which might not set well with Telour.

  “Telour, we learned that the compound area where humans live will become crowded, when we move in there and the new raids return with many more captives. This ship can be used to house not only us of course, but other humans as well, which is a more efficient use of resources. The Flight of Fancy can be displayed as an example of Parkoda having captured a large ship that can still be used to Krall advantage.”

  He hurried to finish, before Telour could object to giving Parkoda anything more, cursing himself for reversing the order in which he had originally intended to present the final points.

  “For you the advantage to your own personal plan will be that the number of humans you want to use to demonstrate improved fighting skills will increase as we teach them here. You will also have the chance to find other humans with military training to join us, which we can help you select. We will all be under your personal control in one place. No other Krall can then claim a share of the new success you create from Parkoda’s own prize.”

  It had all been laid out now, even though the rehearsal Mirikami had planned today with his people hadn’t happened. It wasn’t what he had intended to speak to Telour about when he came down here, but this was far more important.

  They all waited for Telour to speak; something that a Krall rarely delayed doing, and he didn’t disappoint now. “This idea will be included in the clan meeting I proposed. If it is my idea to save this disabled ship for the benefit of storing more humans, I will regain status if the clan leaders agree, and Parkoda will have to accept their decision.

  He rehashed Mirikami’s proposal, as if it were his own idea. Seeming to say the words to see how they sounded when he said them. Perhaps he was mentally rehearsing his clan speech.

  “The dome will soon be crowded, and some may need to live outside. Many captives will wastefully die when the insects and flying animals discover a new food source, even with the weapons we give you. The clan leaders will not keep humans in our compound. It would be like living with a stinking Raspani herd that you don’t like to eat.”

  Flattering comparison Mirikami thought, in a sardonic mood.

  Speaking without really thinking, “Or we might say ‘a wise man won’t live with hyenas.’ ” Luckily, Telour didn’t know the animal, or the contempt most human’s felt for the ugly scavengers. Mirikami was distracted when he received an urgent Link from Noreen. He had to keep his face impassive.

  “Captain, a Krall warrior just came down and took Isadora’s body, slung it over his shoulder and leaped up the stairs. Our friend says he went to their deck 8 compartment. Because the camera there was destroyed by them, we can’t see what he did with her.”

  Telour, having nothing more to say, had turned in their usual swift graceful motion and was through the hatch when Mirikami called to him.

  “Telour, I had another reason to speak with you, but in private please.”

  Motioning for him to follow, Telour went farther into the outer compartment. Mirikami closed the hatch behind him.

  Now for the subject he had originally intended to talk about, but the body removal had happened while he was down here, so he shouldn’t know about that.

  “Telour, a warrior killed one of my clan mates a short time ago. You have a responsibility to protect my people, which have been granted Ra Ka Endo and novice status.”

  “I know of the event, I spoke to the Mizak clan warrior when I heard your words about the stairs. He was bored and exercising, but did not violate an honor code with a challenge when the female animal was damaged. I took a breeding point from him for failure to detect the presence of an enemy. The death blow after that was the proper result of the damage.”

  Simply outstanding, Mirikami thought. I wonder how many points before these killer bastards start to feel a real sting. “Will this prevent more killings of the human novices?”

  “Probably not,” he admitted. “We expected the journey to Koban to have ended before now. Towing this ship is slower than Parkoda’s K’Tal had said it would be. He may lose points. The young and low rank warriors Parkoda left with me are frustrated, they desire activity.”

  Mirikami realized this certainly put their status back in proper perspective. Humans were potential entertainment for bored low-level warriors to ‘trip over,’ injure, and then justifiably kill.

  “Telour, I ordered that the stairwells be blocked from use by humans. I have to protect my people to retain their trust as a leader, and to be useful to you. Are there other locations your warriors might exercise and waste some of the captives placed under your control?”

/>   He was certain the sarcasm was undetectable by Telour, but the idea of losses in a valuable resource, which Parkoda had entrusted him to transport might register, even if only minimally.

  “The warriors from other clans occupy themselves in ways I cannot predict. I am going to the Bridge after I eat the last piece of our Raspani. If we do not arrive soon, your dead clan mate will be our new rations. I told the warrior I would return the point if we use the meat. After he has a taste, he may refuse the point.” This ended with a snort, showing it was Krall joke.

  Telour seemed to consider that punch line. “It’s too high a price for the bad taste, I think.”

  On the other hand, maybe this death wouldn’t register as a loss at all for Telour, not if a cheap dead resource still had use.

  19. Advanced Planning

  The afternoon after Isadora’s killing, Tetsuo, Noreen, Maggi, Dillon, and Aldry were all participating in another information exchange, but this time they were in three different locations, distributed around the ship.

  Noreen had worked out a method with Jake of conducting a video meeting, to replicate what they had attempted in the conference room previously. They needed privacy not only from Telour but also from their own people, particularly because they were discussing genetic modifications.

  Maggi and Tet were ostensibly having a private meal set off from the main dining room for privacy, with a video screen inset in the table. Aldry was at her small cabin’s computer console. Noreen was with Dillon in his cabin sharing his screen. He had made no secret they were engaging in an afternoon ‘interlude’ as they were called. This was a common sexual pastime among the tense and otherwise unoccupied passengers.

  “First,” Noreen spoke as the conference facilitator, “can every one hear me? Please answer only if it’s safe for you.”

  Tet and Maggi’s voices were heard simultaneously, followed by Aldry’s affirmation. Dillon didn’t add his own voice until Noreen jabbed him sharply in the ribs, to remind him that the others hadn’t heard his nod.

  “Captain, it’s your meeting,” so she turned it over to him.

  “This was a good suggestion Noreen. Our friend can Link us, and he will warn us of intrusions.” As usual, Jake would advise them of potential eavesdroppers, including human this time.

  “Despite the absence of her body, the memorial service for Isadora was broadcast ship wide. Its briefness was at Rafe’s own insistence. What you may not know is that her remains were placed in a cold locker on Deck eight.”

  Maggi hadn’t known that, and she turned towards Mirikami. “Rafe didn’t choose cremation? He doesn’t want a burial on Koban, I hope?”

  “He doesn’t know what I’m about to tell you, and please don’t tell him or any others. Let them think she was dropped into a Jump Hole like the others.” He looked at their faces on the monitor.

  “Telour revealed that the trip to Koban has been days longer than they expected, despite their faster mode of Jump travel. This must be because the Clanship is towing our larger ship with them. The rations the Krall brought aboard are running out, and he frankly said that human meat would be used to fill their needs.”

  Aldry’s shocked look spoke for the other two civilians. “Then you have to cremate her body at once!”

  “That was my first impulse,” he acknowledged. “But the cold locker is the one inside the compartment the Krall commandeered. Who do you propose will go to take the corpse away from them?

  “Remember that the Krall basically consider us to be talking animals. Something that they can use as needed, despite granting us Novice Status. This marking,” he hooked a thumb at his tattoo, “is simply a cultural pretext that they are using to keep their young warriors from killing us on mere whim right now.

  “Telour deducted only a single breeding point for the killing of Isadora, which will be restored if they use her for rations. When I say he was reluctant to have her eaten, it was only because of the poor flavor of the food. After we get to Koban, they will get sanctioned chances to kill us, where they can earn breeding points for kills. We better hope we get there soon, because I don’t know how much they eat per day.”

  With that sinister warning delivered, silent nods were the only replies.

  “I have fewer things to brief you on this time, and most concern how the Krall fight. There are some surprising lapses in their tactics that we might exploit. Let me list them, and then we can talk about them.” He noted their agreement and continued.

  “In hindsight, I should have realized what questions a bunch of scientists were likely to ask. We got useful information about their society and history, but almost no practical data on what we will face when we have to fight them.

  “Ms. Jorl’sn and Motorman Johnson were particularly productive in this respect today, and Noreen and I added questions of our own. We avoided asking any questions of Telour. I’m not sure he won’t share any ideas he learns from us with members of his own clan’s warriors. The other two translators are from different clans, and don’t know what Telour has asked us to do.

  “We discovered that the Krall prefer small unit raids in most cases. Eight warriors with a senior leader on a small raid are common, and with a sub leader for each octet if there are more units in a combined larger raid. They generally fight until their unit’s losses reach about forty or fifty percent. Then they call for retrieval, so that their performance can be evaluated, breeding points awarded and enemy tactics and weapons reported.”

  “Oddly the Krall don’t appear to use sea or water assaults, since they can dash in and land where they chose. A warrior can stay underwater longer than we can, holding their breath, but are far too dense to float without assistance. I’ll bet they can swim only with considerable expenditure of effort to stay at the surface. We might be able to use that as a tactic if we have water where we are supposed to fight.

  “They were asked about artillery and mortars. The concept was learned from one of their opponents, but apparently never improved upon and isn’t used. They aren’t very inventive and don’t improvise much until they observe a tactic to emulate.

  “Another advantage for us, if we can make the weapons, is they have never heard of anything like hand grenades. I think that past opponents were peaceful and civilized when they encountered the Krall, and didn’t possess such weapons. Therefore, the Krall didn’t copy them.

  “If their opponents had stellar societies tens of thousands of years old, then violent tendencies of their early civilizations may have been long forgotten. If so perhaps they wouldn’t think to employ ugly weapons like these, and the Krall didn’t copy what they didn’t see. I’m only speculating, but why would an old genocidal species not know about so many ways to kill that we, in our short history, have already used?

  “Humans have been quite inventive in the past, and if we can make them we can try mines, booby traps, grenades, and mortars, none of which seem to be Krall-like notions. No doubt, they will adjust, and even incorporate what we show them, because they certainly are not squeamish about killing or stealing ideas.

  “And perhaps most encouraging for our experience to come on Koban, Noreen and I confirmed independently something about the compound where humans live.” He let them hang on his words for an impatient moment.

  “I’ll kill you myself dear Mr. Captain, if you don’t stop this damned habit of making us hold our breaths, waiting for your shoe to drop,” groused Maggi, giving him a threatening look.

  “Ok, Ok,” pretending to draw back in fear, hands warding her off.

  “The Krall don’t live in that compound where we will stay. It’s a small one recently abandoned by the Maldo clan. Remember the question Dillon nearly was killed over, when he asked Dorkda why they were leaving the planet they wanted to call home? That compound is where his small clan once lived.”

  Dillon, remembering that moment vividly, asked, “Where do the Krall actually live, and how do they control their captives? Telour said he spent a lot of time with them.”
/>
  “The main Krall compound is quite some distance away. They only maintain a few guards and some living quarters at the human compound. However, the guards are primarily there to keep out local animals and maintain the walls and electric fences. Ironically, this is so their human prey is safe until the Krall have a chance to kill us. We might have more autonomy than we expected, once on the ground.”

  “What do they name their own compound?” Dillon asked.

  Mirikami shrugged. “Apparently it’s like their ships. They don’t appear to name them, just identify which clan uses them. They aren’t particularly into aesthetics.”

  “How is the fighting conducted?” Maggi wanted to know. “I had assumed they just stuck some people with guns in an arena with warriors and watched what happened.”

  Noreen had that answer. “That wasn’t far from the truth in the beginning, Maggi. Per what Kapdol described. But now it’s done more like the Krall apparently expect to fight us on our planets.”

  “And how is that?” Dillon asked.

  “They send out a group of armored and armed humans into the large outer compound, with weapons, and tell them to find positions to defend, or places to hide. Then, after a few days for the group to prepare, an octet or more of Krall novice warriors fly in without knowing anything in advance of what they face, and hunt them. They kill anyone they can find, and expect the humans to fight back, trying to kill any warriors they can.”

  “How many people are sent each time and how have they done, did you learn that?” came from Aldry.

  Mirikami gave her the bad news they anticipated. “The Krall send out anywhere from eight to sixteen, even thirty two humans of any gender. Four to eight warriors hunt them.

  “As to how well the captives do?” He shook his head. “Up until Dorkda left on this raid, only a couple of warriors have ever been killed, and a few seriously wounded. Although one was killed later, by his own octet leader, for allowing himself to be shot in the back, not a fatal injury otherwise. Dorkda displayed what I think was a mixture of amusement and contempt over the executed novice. If you’ve seen them snort and throw back their heads, you’ve seen their equivalent of a belly laugh.