Koban: Rise of the Kobani

by Stephen W Bennett

  Thad slid a hand into a pocket and pulled out a small vial of pale amber liquid. “Then please accept this gold nugget. That is a concentrated sample of the Krall paralyzing drug, Captain. A single drop, on skin or tongue numbs one of them for perhaps four hours or more. They can breathe, move their eyes, defecate, but that’s about all. Long term, you have to feed them by a tube down the throat to keep them alive. That same drop will kill most humans.”

  They had not tested it that way, but they thought a TG’s nervous system would survive a single drop.

  “Saying ‘be careful’ is an understatement, Captain.” He handed him the inch long unbreakable sealed tube he generally carried in his pocket.

  Longstreet promptly reciprocated. He reached into a slit gap in his flexible Chameleon Skin scaled armor and then withdrew his hand. “Try your Link now, Sir. I am obligated to inform you that I will be able to hear what is said, and that it is likely being repeated back to my headquarters group.”

  “I understand, Captain. I’m not concerned.

  “Jakob, can you hear me?” He waited a couple of seconds to see if Jakob could receive from here. No reply, so he continued, using the shorter-range local transducer-to-transducer communications. “Link to Carson. This is Uncle Thad. Can you hear me Carson?”

  “Yes Sir,” was the surprised sounding reply. “Dad didn’t say or know you were coming out here. Captain Mirikami said he thought you, Sarge, and the whole group had gone down a tunnel to Novi Sad, without making a final com check.”

  “Well I didn’t know I was coming this way either, but that’s a story for later. Sarge and I are actually in a position to observe the clanship. There are small tunnels running under and through many of these ridges and valleys. We are in small observation rooms inside the ridge wall, on the opposite side from the ship. We are roughly a mile from the clanship and the valley end where the Dragons must have entered. We can see three of the Dragons, and they just placed pant legs on the barrels. I hear that may be your idea.”

  “Yes Sir. We couldn’t find any material we could safely take out to them, so their clothes were the only option left. I cut off some tough seat fabric with great difficulty, and we cut the blue suit off our now naked Krall commander. I let Carol Slobovic and Andreana D'Alema peek at him after they begged me. No one ever told us the Krall genitals and excretory orifices are as concealed as their ultrasonic ears. The girls somehow thought laughing at him would hurt his feelings. They must have been thinking of boys.” He paused, as if realizing he’d strayed off track by that amusing thought.

  “Anyway, we tied the fabric and suit pieces over the double plasma cannon muzzles on top of the transports. The other two transports in the first valley, holding our reinforcements, have covered their cannons and are on the way to join us.”

  “You have done well, lad, and I hope it works. However, clearing this ship is going to be more dangerous. It won’t be a surprise this time, as it was on K1, and we know there are warriors aboard this time. They’ll be waiting for you. How are you planning to coordinate the simultaneous attack on the guns? Are you in contact with Ethan and Conrad?”

  “Yes Sir. Conrad, from where you said you’re located, is against the opposite wall behind a rock outcrop I believe. Ethan is just around the edge of the canyon wall from the valley where I’m located. He plans to take shots at the clanship if they try to fire on the two arriving transports. The trucks have heavy armor anyway, so they should be safe. Do you want to talk to Ethan? He’ll be coordinating the action, since he will be in position to see all of us as soon as he pulls out into the open.”

  “No. I don’t want him to think his dad is looking over his shoulder. Might make him nervous, or worse, ready to show off. I only plan to watch, unless I see anything you need to know about.”

  “OK Sir. We should be ready in about five minutes. Talk later. Out.”

  Ending the head tilt of a Link conversation, Thad smiled at Longstreet.

  “Thanks, Captain. I feel better, even if I can’t really do anything to help.”

  “You’re welcome, Sir. Did I understand correctly? Carson is your nephew, and your son, Ethan is in one of the Dragons?”

  “Ethan is my actual son and Carson is the oldest son of my best friend, Dillon Martin, who flew that Krall shuttle you saw. He came out to join the kids.

  “We are called uncles to each other’s three children, our wives are aunts. Captain Mirikami and Sarge have the same uncle status. As a community, we have grown into a tight knit group, isolated on our remote world, all of us presumed dead by the Krall that left us to die. We’ve waited in fear for the damned Krall to possibly return and wipe us out if we were discovered.

  “A clanship recently came to our world, unsuspecting and carrying just six warriors. Two of our TGs managed to take them out, with a bit of support from some allies, and we then had their ship. Once Tet, that’s Captain Mirikami’s nickname, approves our doing so, we’ll be talking more about ourselves, but never about where we live. A single slip to the Krall and our world is toast.”

  Longstreet now understood their caution. “There must not be very many of you.”

  Thad nodded. “I don’t know the last census exactly, but we are about thirty thousand I think, in two cities. About half of the older adults are Normals, just ordinary people like any Hub citizen. The other half of older adults are SGs, as Sarge and I are, and roughly half of the seven thousand younger children are also SGs. The other half of older children are TGs, with most of those kids younger even than the two hundred we brought with us. I know we haven’t explained what those terms mean yet, and I won’t try right now.

  “However, numbers are not all there is to our potential effectiveness. There are not many of you Special Operations forces either, but I’ll bet you have a greater impact than your numbers imply. A force multiplier, as you might be described.

  “We believe our TGs, with the right equipment and training can take the war to the Krall, in operations much as I suspect you conduct on human worlds. We believe only a force of TGs can successfully raid unsuspecting Krall manufacturing worlds, where they can take on and beat the warriors they’ll find. Then they can destroy the war manufacturing plants, operated by presumably unwilling alien slaves. We hope the lack of replacement weapons and clanships will end their war in Human Space. It’s a long shot, but the alternative is eventual extinction for the human race. We were privy to Krall history and their goals from before they started the war. They used to talk to us humans captives then, since they didn’t expect us to survive long. The government needs to know what we learned.”

  Before Longstreet could ask him about the cryptic and extremely intriguing reference to allies, or their being on K1, Carson Linked to Thad and Sarge again.

  “Colonel, Sarge, I told Ethan I had updated the new arrivals by Tap, and also my dad. We have everyone spread out and loaded in the four transports. My dad has the shuttle and a few TGs to help if we need to evacuate any wounded. As soon as Ethan coordinates with Conrad, we will all charge out and try to hold our fire until the Krall attempt to light us up. We need to get the transports closer, because of the shorter focal range on their tubes. Just so that you know, D1 is Ethan’s three Dragons, D2 is Conrad’s three, and I’m T1, with all four Transports. I’ll keep my Link to you open so you can listen in on us.”

  “We copy you. Give them hell.”

  Thad looked at Longstreet, grinned and shrugged. Carson wasn’t aware that all their Links were being monitored all of the time by someone, open Link or not.

  Thad heard Ethan’s voice. “D2, when I give the mark, count ten seconds and then all of you race into the open, and zigzag towards the clanship, use your lasers first. D1 will be coming out with you. We can draw fire from the transports, since we haven’t tested them for plasma hits yet. Carson’s big blue boy informs him the front of a transport is as tough as the sides. The weakest points are the flexible links between sections, so they will drive straight at the ship until they get
close enough for all of them to fire, at about a thousand feet. We can shoot plasma earlier, but try to save that first shot for an open port cover. I’m certainly not climbing out in my undies to pull another pant leg over my barrel out in the open. Ready, mark!”

  The men in the observation post saw Conrad’s mini tank fire a laser across the valley, the apparent visual signal to his other two units to start their count. The watchers also started counting the seconds. Simultaneously on the count of ten, the three Dragons they could see rocked back, as their treads started churning, hidden under their ceramic skirts. They spewed dirt behind them and accelerated from behind their protection, and spun in tight turns towards the clanship. The Krall fire control gunners were quick to respond, and laser ports flew open and red beams lanced out to intercept the rapidly moving and turning Dragons. The tank plasma cannons were held steady on the ship, despite wild gyrations and speed adjustments, and they deliberately went up and down small hills, then briefly behind rocks, all to complicate the manual Krall gunnery.

  The ship’s lasers were seldom held on a single point on the gleaming white surfaces for long, as the drivers pivoted and turned, all the while closing on the clanship. The Krall were also firing towards the other Dragons or Transports, which were still out of view of the cliff observers.

  The first plasma port slammed open and fired a bolt that glanced off the side of one of the Dragons, and it pivoted away just as a heavy laser tried to strike it on the same place. If they could overheat the ceramic quickly as the nearby surface remained cool, there was a chance it could be cracked. The cannon port slammed shut as a medium power hand laser from the tank lanced into the opening before it could fully close. All of the tanks were firing, using whichever front or side laser would bear as they drove madly towards the clanship. Tank lasers were reflecting from the other gun ports, as they slammed closed, or were opening. Other beams were scattering from the edges of the large portals at the base of the ship.

  The Dragon drivers were suppressing plasma rifle fire from warriors inside the clanship, shooting back at them through a foot high slit at the base of each of the big doors. The drivers might not be having luck with the gun portals, using the lower powered lasers, but it appeared that they hit some of the warriors at the base. The rifle plasma bolts from the base reduced, and several bolts went wide of any reasonable target, suggesting the shooters or weapon was hit as they fired.

  Finally, two of the Dragons approaching from the opposite side came into view, via the deep-set openings in the cliff face of the observation rooms. They now were within a couple of thousand feet of the ship, as were the three Dragons that had started from closer to the observers. Thus far, the Dragons had fired only the lower powered hand controlled lasers, and spent most of their time turning and adjusting speed to prevent plasma bolt hits from being matched by heavy laser strikes. The main guns of the tanks had remained sighted on the clanship, the turrets swiveling as needed and gun elevation changing, apparently holding aim on some selected target on the ship.

  The plasma fire from the ship shifted direction, and was firing over the Dragons approaching from the other direction, and all three were now far enough across the valley to be visible. The six mini tanks were forming an arc as they neared the ship. The plasma bolts were barely over those far Dragons, apparently directed at the Transports, still just out of view of the observers.

  Suddenly, as two of the ship’s plasma cannons were firing in the direction of the presumed transports, two of the Dragons fired bolts simultaneously, while both gun ports were wide open. The port covers slammed shut, but neither gun ever fired again. Two down.

  The remaining plasma cannon that could bear on the attackers grew silent for a time, apparently being saved. However, the maxim was that if you can’t use it, then it is useless definitely applied here. A heavy laser port slid open and started firing on the front of a Transport that was headed directly at the clanship. One of the three other Dragons fired, and the pulse instantly died, the port staying open. For good measure, the same tank fired again, making sure. Three down, three to go.

  As the big Transports closed to within a thousand feet, they split, two turning right, two went left to arc around the ship. The Krall laser gunners leaped at the opportunity to see if they could penetrate the accordion pleated flex joints between segments. As soon as the ports opened, four of the double plasma cannons fired together from the two that turned left. The last plasma port cover froze open, although a bolt still lanced out from its weapon. The two remaining heavy lasers went dead, each cut off in mid shot with a spray of molten pieces and smoke. One of the other Transports used a single pair of its cannons to blast into the open plasma gun port, silencing the last main weapon that could be brought to bear on the attackers. The laser and plasma cannon facing the cliff were useless.

  Two tanks, with covered muzzles, had yet to fire. They lowered their barrels to point right into the foot-wide gap at the base of one of the main portals and fired from less than eight hundred feet. The secondary explosion, which that double blast caused, sent wide jets of black smoke, mixed with orange and purple flame spewing out all four sides of the clanship at its base. They must have ignited some pistol ammunition or spare rifle power packs.

  The Link suddenly filled with an unintelligible mix of cheers and shouts from what had to be Carson, Ethan, and Conrad, all screaming in victory together.

  Smoke surrounded and billowed around the base of the ship. From their higher vantage point, the cliff observers were looking down on a spreading ring of black smoke, left behind as brightly colored orange flames quickly died. One of the spec ops men in the room called out to Longstreet.

  “Backside, by the cliff, Sir.”

  Thad and Sarge only saw the black smoke billowing upwards, as it was diverted by the rock face.

  Longstreet peered intently for only a second, and reached into his slit pocket, then spoke over the Link he’d only been monitoring. “Carson, Ethan, or Conrad, five Krall have slipped out of the rear portal by the rock face, and they each have shoulder fired rockets. You may be able to hit them under the base of the ship. Don’t wait for them to shoot.”

  Two of the D2 Dragons promptly fired blindly under the ship, the bolts passing easily through the dense black smoke that would refract or disperse a laser. They fired their front lasers anyway, which were quickly attenuated by the heavy obscuring smoke particles.

  Longstreet gave them an update. “You got two of the five. They are separating to either side, staying in the smoke. Three going to the right side, watch out!”

  Suddenly, a short streak of slender yellow fire lanced out of the black gloom, and struck a Dragon of the D1 group, right at the turret and lower body, blowing its turret into the air.

  Sarge’s shout followed. “The driver may be alive. Protect him before the warriors try to finish him off.”

  The two D1 companion Dragons turned towards the damaged tank, lasers flashing into the thinning but spreading gloom and one fired a plasma bolt through the darkest region. A warrior with a half burned off black uniform ran out of the smoke, plasma rifle leveled at the disabled tank. He fired at the open top even as two lasers virtually cut him in half, his upper torso and arms trying to fire again, as the upper body toppled off the collapsing legs and lower body. He didn’t get a last dying shot, as his flash broiled brain made his head explode, from the heat generated by two intersecting laser beams.

  “Where are the other two?” That was Carson’s voice, sounding even and calm.

  In an equally calm voice, Longstreet said, “Both are coming around the back side of the ship, on the side away from the valley entrance. They are following the rock face in the dense smoke, looking to get clear.”

  One of the Transports continued around the ship in a narrowing spiral towards where he was told the Krall were going. The four plasma cannons fired down into the smoke, aiming for the base of the cliff, firing one barrel at a time, taking four rapid shots, then had to wait a few secon
ds for a plasma build up for the next shots.

  “Both are down, but one is able to move. He has a tube up and he may fire,” warned Longstreet.

  A second shaft of slender yellow flame shot out of the gloom, and the small missile struck the front right section of the Transport at a sharp angle. The hypervelocity missile and its shaped charge scoured the armored side with a green glow of molten and burning copper. It glanced into the less angled second section, but had lost its less-than finger sized core of molten metal on the initial impact. It had been fired from too close for maximum effectiveness, and struck at an oblique angle. The next four plasma cannon shots finished the job of cauterizing its Krall targets. The hot carbonized Krall molecules would only be dangerous if someone ran up to breathe them.

  Carson’s voice, strained, but not panicked came over the Link. “Uncle Thad, the TGs we carried out here will start on clearing the ship as soon as we can see, but if you have a med kit, or whoever that was helping us has one. Please get it out here now. The first missile hit Ethan’s Dragon. I hope Sarge was right.”

  Thad’s throat was tight, as if his heart had risen to block his effort to breathe normally.

  Chapter 5: Let’s Make a Deal

  Ethan regained an agonized and fragmented awareness as he was being placed on a stretcher. He was surprised to see his father by his side, speaking with a man Ethan didn’t recognize. The stranger wore an odd camouflage system, which shifted colors as if it had small live Tri-Vid images in thumb nail sized pixels. He nearly vanished, except for his bare face and hands, when the suit blended with its background anytime he held still for a few seconds.

  He heard his dad speaking. “Captain, if you can help us get my son and the other three most seriously wounded to med labs at Novi Sad, we…, myself in particular, would be extremely grateful. If we have any more casualties before the clanship is cleared of Krall, the shuttle can bring them over to the Mark as well.”