A single clanship made an exit over Koban, broadcasting the recognition signal as it did so, and thirty minutes later another ten ships erupted into Normal Space within a two or three minutes. Without the advance warning, some of the people below might have gone into a panic, learning so many clanships emerged together. Work crews quickly met them as they landed near the four entrances of the Prime City dome. There, some provisions for the human crews were taken on, and dozens more TG2s came on board to supplement the flight crews as supply loaders when they Jumped to Haven. They would remain aboard as added crew for the missions to support and defend the migration ships, which were still enroute to the systems where they would rendezvous with the three raiders.
The pause at Koban lasted only an hour, and all eleven ships launched in rapid succession for Haven, making the short Jump inward as soon as they cleared atmosphere. Having been forewarned by radio, the Kobani, Prada, and Torki waiting for them on Haven, had provisions ready for the refugee’s needs, which were loaded as swiftly as possible. Some of the TG2’s focused on loading pallets of anti-ship, and new heavy ground attack missiles aboard each ship, and using the internal hoists to place them in the appropriate launcher compartments. The designated TG2 gunners used a few minutes in Mind Taps with the Torki, learning how the new ground attack missiles worked, and their capability. The new larger rockets had just been produced on a recently opened production line.
The Prada seriously needed the refugees they expected to arrive soon, to increase their worker numbers. The factory was in short supply of the raw materials needed to make many of the weapons that were being requested. There were too few Prada to manufacture and to expand mining operations. They also needed workers to rebuild the old transport systems to bring the materials to the required locations. This entire process seemed much like the wartime migrations to new bases, which the younger Prada had heard about, in histories that described past Krall wars. They were eager to please, and knew what was required of them. However, those being pleased were not those that the average Prada thought they were serving.
For now, only a few of the elder Prada were aware that the production was not for use by the Rulers. There was no one openly lying to the work force about the purpose of this increased production. The deceit was one of omission. After thousands of years of working as loyal slaves on behalf of the Krall, direct explanations from the Rulers had never been offered previously, and that absence now wasn’t questioned.
Mirikami, and the handful of Prada elders, accepted the guilty necessity of having the war material manufactured, which was needed for the rescue of Prada populations. Wister had cautioned Mirikami against trying to explain what was happening, when he had suggested that he wanted to be more forthright with the younger Prada.
Wister justified his actions this way, “Our people do not question guidance and advice from the elder Prada, accepting that we have the longer perspective and wisdom to make the right decisions for them. We elders are doing this for them now. It would be unwise to shake their confidence in a belief system that was bred into us before we met the Krall, and has been reinforced more strongly in us not to question the Rulers. Any Prada that questioned their right to rule us as an elder species has died. Such selective evolution applies to us as well as to the Krall. Now is not the time to try to modify those inbred instincts. Not when the first opportunity to do so in thousands of years is close to a reality, and is still fragile.”
The workers probably thought the humans were taking the arms to the Rulers elsewhere. That presumption was accurate, if they were not to be as benignly delivered as they assumed.
The Torki had technical improvements to offer on some of the standard Krall weapons, and they too needed more workers and production facilities. Haven was swinging into a phase of growth that would create an inter species power base for the years to come. Unarmed Kobani supermen were far less effective than some armed with weapons only they could wield so fast and deadly, as no previous species in the galaxy had been able to do.
The Kobani spear point was being sharpened, even as their numbers (although still far too few) were increasing faster than anticipated. Humanity was in no way able to take the Krall on head-to-head. These first three strikes were only expected to wound, and with luck could prove crippling to Krall invasion plans for a year or two, giving humanity some breathing room, and time to prepare for greater strikes.
The eleven clanships were on the ground on Haven in as short a time as possible, and the first five ships were launched in a rush, going to join the six slow migration ships they knew were headed for distant CS1, and joining Captain Mirikami on the Mark. Within hours, the other clanships would be launched as well. Four of them would go in support of Captain Renaldo and the Avenger, for the CS2 raid. Two more went to the Botolian world where Captain Greeves and the Beagle would attack the Eight Ball orbital manufacturing station.
****
Marlyn’s Beagle reached her rendezvous star system, six light-years from the old Botolian target world, twenty-two hours before the first migration ship did a White Out. The next two migration ship arrivals were staggered over a forty-five minute interval, matching the different tachyon capture times for their Jumps from Toborkiti.
Marlyn sent both shuttles to gather the three flight crews for a meeting on the Beagle, and to give them food supplies specific to both species, which she still had aboard from the journey transporting them all out from Haven.
This was only a contingency, in the event the two clanship loads of supplies from Haven failed to arrive before she had to depart. In order to coordinate her attack with those that the Mark and the Avenger would make, she had to Jump in two days.
Marlyn was still hosting the three Prada and three Torki representatives, furnishing them with a small buffet, when Kap told her the expected two clanships had all performed White Outs within minutes of each other. They were on the far side of the blue giant star, and had emerged transmitting their recognition signals. The wide separation distance was actually a security precaution to prevent an accidental emergence of all of the ships into any potential Krall ambush. That seemed incredibly unlikely, but it was another caution that Mirikami insisted on, and which cost nothing to implement.
Marlyn had been continuously broadcasting her own encrypted recognition signal, and the clanships had sent their own as they emerged. The intent was for them to allow enough time for her to have received their counter signals, and then they would Jump in-system to join the Beagle and the three migration ships. With Jump technology, the clanships arrived right on the heels of their own original gamma rays and recognition signals, popping out a few hundred miles away. Using Normal Space drives, they moved into a loose formation. They each had two shuttles, but rather than physically cross over to talk, they used their view screen systems for a conference meeting. Marlyn led her alien guests up to the Bridge to participate.
Marlyn took charge of her small task force. “Captains, I will Jump in a little more than fifty-two hours. I sent a message into Tachyon Space to both the Mark and Avenger, to let them know I was on schedule. I hope and expect to receive their messages, telling me the same thing, as I depart from here.
“The Beagle and our two shuttles will be here for two days to assist you in transferring supplies to the three migration ships.” She paused a moment, looking at the Prada and Torki with her. “I don’t know which ships are being used for which species to evacuate. Nor do I know the names you have chosen for them. I assume you have decided that already?”
Because the ships were to become Torki property, and each had a pilot, they had made the naming decisions on their own. In discussions with the Prada representatives, they had assigned which species would be boarded on each ship. Marlyn heard now what they had decided.
One Torki separated slightly from the other three. “I am Tathed, and have been selected to speak for us all. The ship names are in Torki, and are not pronounceable in your words. However, after we explained the meani
ngs of our names to the humans with us, they suggested human terms that you can use to identify them. The Torki names are only symbolic, and logic does not care what you or the Prada use in your own words. Only that you know which ship is which.”
Marlyn nodded, aware now that all Torki and Prada knew the gesture, from Mind Tap lessons of human speech and mannerisms. “I am pleased we will be able to return your ships to your control when we return to Haven.” A subtle reminder that the three spacecraft had a human intended purpose for now, which probably matched what the Torki wanted as well. It didn’t hurt to make certain there was no misunderstanding.
“What are the ship’s names?”
Tathed told her his own ship’s name, in Standard and in low Krall, meant Sea Wanderer. There was a grating clicking sound he made after that. Marlyn assumed that was the equivalent name in the Torki language. The other two Torki representatives bobbed their whole bodies in apparent excitement.
“The ship that Jatrup will pilot,” he waved a claw, in a gesture to mimic a human’s hand motion, and the indicated Torki did a semi bow by lowering her carapace, “is named Larval Drifter.” A hardly poetic sounding name in Standard.
The third ship’s name was announced for its pilot, Galrop, as Home Tide, which was a better sounding name to a human’s way of thinking. Marlyn had already surmised, from overheard remarks from the human crews that flew the shuttles over and back, that they knew the names in advance, and had already “humanized” them. She didn’t know the official names before now, but had already heard mention of the Wanderer, the Drifter, and the Tide.
“Those are fine names, and I am sure you will do them honor by your service to them. Have you decided which will be used for Prada evacuations if we are able to safely land on the planet?” With the bounty of three ships, they no longer needed to transport Torki and Prada together. The Torki would be drier than they wanted, and the Prada wetter if they had to share.
A small bow from Tathed, and he gestured to the Prada that had accompanied him from the Migration ship. The Prada spoke for the first time that Marlyn had heard. “I am Faltif Maltid, or just Faltif if you wish. Wister choses to use only one name, as do most of the Rulers, but I have taken my paternal name as second, as was our custom long ago.” A Prada rebel, Marlyn noted with satisfaction.
“The Sea Wanderer will attempt to rescue the Prada that we believe are in a forest close to a small dome by the sea. Tathed will pilot the ship to land by that dome, and I will try to talk them into leaving the forest to join us. If there are workers in the factory under the dome, they may come as well. That is, if you do not need to destroy the dome first.”
“Faltif, we can attack the dome without its complete destruction. We know where the underground entrances are, below the elevator shafts around the inner ring of the central great hall. We can fire missiles and plasma bolts to miss these areas. There will not be very many Krall inside the dome and most of them will be on the top floors. They always prefer the high ground.”
She knew this from Mind Taps of their Krall prisoners on Koban, those that had not managed to will their own deaths yet. The higher the status, the higher the floor they were assigned for use. Blasting the tops of domes took out their highest status warriors and most experienced sub leaders. It was convenient that they always organized in that “top down” manner.
“There will be a delay before we can be assured you can safely land, Tathed. I can attack the dome and clanships we find there with a surprise volley of missiles they will not expect, from what they will believe is one of their ships. The underground factory is not vital so I don’t need to destroy that, and I will be too busy to land troops there right away.
“My primary mission is to destroy the Eight Balls, and the orbital station that helps build them. There are Torki up there, which one of your ships will rescue when we take the station. There may be Prada up there as well. I don't know if the water in the station can be transferred to the migration ship quickly.”
With a mental Olt signal from Tathed, Jatrup spoke now. “I will pilot the Larval Drifter to dock with the station when you say it is safe. Then when I have the workers, I can land at sea anywhere on the planet to load enough water for the Jump.”
“It may not be made safe to dock there until I have destroyed all of the Eight Balls, and return.” Marlyn told her. “I don’t know where they might be located.”
“The Torki inside will know. If you take the station, they can tell us where the hammers were placed.”
“If there are hammers or Eight Balls, where I can see them, I will attack those first. Then I will take the station. Each of those weapons can kill a planet. However, we have two clanships, and one was not part of the planning. We hoped to have at least one, and we have two. I can place more TG2s on one of those for attacking the station, because I don’t need them with me to shoot at Eight Balls.”
This was an improvisation on her part, but the actual fighting at the station was all going to be done by the TG2s anyway. A missile or beam attack on that would open too many compartments to space, and kill most of those they were here to rescue.
One of the clanship pilots volunteered to deliver the large boarding party to the orbital station, leaving her free to track down Eight Balls. The Torki from the station could then tell them where more of the Balls were located, if spread around the system as she assumed.
The ground rescue might need all of their forces to take the dome and guard against a possible Krall counter attack while the Sea Wanderer loaded. The lodge evacuation on the other hand, would be easier. The Krall disliked water, and they were too dense to swim far or fast, and generally stayed away from cool, dank lodges.
The Home Tide was going to land in the ocean just off shore from the Torki lodge. It would take on water, and the lodge population could swim out underwater to get aboard. There were seldom Krall visiting a lodge, other than for picking up completed single ships, mini tanks, or testing other weapons that required electronics and quantum encrypted locks.
There would be a few dozen TG2s landing with Home Tide, to go ashore to provide protection.
Marlyn wrapped up the meeting, so the task of transferring supplies that the migration ships needed could start. She spent time with the three clanship pilots, whom she insisted on calling captains, despite their feelings they had not earned the position. All of them had the full complex of ripper genes, which meant they soon had the knowledge of how to fight their ships as well as fly them. If things went well, they would get to watch the Beagle do most of the shooting. Marlyn wasn’t about to let on to them that she had gained no combat experience from her trip into Human Space, just more flight experience in a Krall clanship, which these former Spacers didn’t have.
They were finished with the supply and crew transfers a half day before Marlyn needed to Jump. The newly christened Thunder, a name her new captain liked, would Jump with the Beagle. It would hold back while Marlyn made a pass at the unsuspecting planet, to take out the small number of clanships expected there, and hit the top floors of the dome where the lone Prada factory was located underneath. The Thunder would then follow the Beagle to the orbital station, and hard dock to let seven hundred TG2s knock on the doors, so to speak.
****
The Avenger came out at its waypoint system all alone. Noreen and her Bridge staff were informed by her signals section that there were two sets of messages for them. One, a day old message from the Beagle, which said all of its migration ships and clanships had joined her. Marlyn would be ready to Jump on schedule, as would be her rescue ships.
The second message was from Mirikami, sent two days ago, saying that the Mark of Koban was now waiting at its standoff point, but didn’t expect his other ships to catch up to him before he had to Jump to CS1. He pointed out that he didn’t need the rescue ships to meet with him before he started his raid, and he planned to leave a message for them to follow him as soon as they could. If supplies were not loaded by a day later, the transfer
work could be completed after they left CS1. Saving the factory workers came first.
Noreen grinned over at Carson, monitoring a console on the Bridge. “Now if our own ships can get here before we have to leave. Our migration ships were the second set that Tet sent ahead, right after his group. I think they’ll be here by tomorrow, and our supply clanships left Heaven early, and should arrive today.
“I’ll ask your dad to organize our people below, to help prepare as many shuttle loads as we can before the big ships get here. Like Tet, I don’t think we can get all the clanships unloaded into them before we have to Jump.
“I’d like to have one of the new clanships go with us, to add some firepower. Their message said they took on some of the new ground attack missiles, which we don’t have. I wish we had known the Prada could turn those out so soon. Wister must have lit a fire under those bushy tails to get them so busy. I suspect Tet would have waited another day or two for those, if he knew they would be ready so soon. The Prada have not had tight deadlines from the Krall, who spent fifty years preparing to fight humans. They don’t coordinate well with our impatient species, mostly because we are not the high and mighty Rulers.”
Carson looked worried about her last remark. “Mom, if the Prada and Torki can gear up for faster production for us, can’t they do it for the Krall if ordered? Are we really going to slow them down in attacks in Human Space that much? I know Uncle Tet is counting on our attacks to do that.”
“Carson, your uncle Thad and General Nabarone understand this strategy better than I do, and they support it. Captain Mirikami has been so right so often on the big picture, that I don’t doubt his overall plan. The Navy briefing they received on Poldark indicated the Krall were massing material on planets that were scouted out in their territory. It appeared they were almost in position to use the migration ships to transport a lot of war material forward to K1, or start more invasions.
Koban: Rise of the Kobani Page 68