Koban 5: A Federation Forged in Fire

by Stephen W Bennett

  “True, but one we are forced to assume because the technology exists, even if we don’t like how it can be subverted to do harm.”

  Tet had kept part of his attention on the discussion on the Bridge of the Mark, but he and Dillon were also linked to others on Poldark and New Dublin. That link had just ended, with some decisions made.

  “People, we personally are going home via the fast track, but our two hundred ship fleet here, now to include the additional sixty four Guardian clanships and Telour’s small group, will take a slower path. I’ve decided to make an exception for the Mark and the Avenger, which will each be towed by a Dismantler to Koban. Pholowela and Harlshonla will return home with us, taking our two ships in tow. Unbelievably, it’s a journey of slightly over one day, by rotating into T-cubed Tachyon Space.

  “Molonsela, the third active ship, is remaining here with some of our people and Dillon’s ship, to try to assist the other eight ships that are alive and self-maintaining. They have responded only to communications from their sisters for millennia, but it’s possible they could recover and become active again. We have the names of those inactive eight ships now. Remela, Afromfela, Treycila, Deconela, Tecrasela, Fretonela, Gonwela, and Abronela. Which, without wolfbat memory would be too damned much for anyone to remember.

  “The active Dismantlers, with our Mind Tap help, can show the sisters the deaths they detected through waves in Tachyon Space were not a result of mistakes they made, but that they were tricked. If they can shed their sense of guilt, it’s possible they’ll become active once more. That’s what the other three active ships believe. They claim to understand the thought processes they inherited from the Olt’kitapi, mind patterns that were overlaid onto their circuits by their makers.”

  Maggi interjected a comment here. “By the way we know a bit more about those makers now. The Olt’kitapi apparently evolved from a large insect-like species on a low gravity tropical planet, and they go through a complex life cycle, with immature and adult forms that are quite different.

  “There are at least two basic adult forms, both for females and males alike, all of which resemble one another, but differ in color and I guess you’d say they differed in caste, or their functions in society. They had no interest in preserving images of themselves, such as family pictures or statues, but I’ve received what must be memories stored in the recorded minds of these ships, of past activities of the Olt’kitapi. It will be fascinating to learn about this once great species when we have the time. They were a matriarchal society, and the names of the Dismantlers reflect that in the endings on their names. The ‘la’ suffixes indicate an adult feminine name. They were originally social insects, but evolved away from that, and the males became more than drones, and they look much like the females. They were slightly smaller than the females, and they served more like workers, although they too had castes.

  “Their social structure was considerably different from hive insects of Earth, and some other planets. They have no queens, or drones that die after breeding, and I have the sense from the ship’s minds that this was a deliberate alteration of the Olt’kitapi’s natural evolution, because they saw a use for having the males become more than mere sperm donors and then dying, thus contributing to building their mature civilization.”

  “How large an insect are you talking, Maggi? Bug brains are not very complex on any planet.” Dillon hadn’t even known she’d been making inquiries about the Olt’kitapi.

  “In the few mental images where they were seen in front of large buildings or other constructs, their body scale wasn’t obvious. I’m estimating about four to six feet high as adults, but their bodies were not always entirely held upright. I think the males were the shorter body types. A thicker section of the adult bodies, just behind their mobile heads, could hold their primary brain. The mental images I received were also viewed from a distance, and the constructs they were near seemed huge. Not a fraction as large as the stellar habitats they planned to build, but nonetheless big. They may have done many engineering projects on a large scale, or perhaps their preferred low gravity worlds made big structures practical.” She shrugged.

  “I was only granted a glimpse of that single recorded memory,” Maggi admitted. “Perhaps if we can find a former low gravity colony world of theirs we’ll learn more from the ruins. There may be some here in this system if we explore it thoroughly, but the gravity on this planet seems too high for their apparent preferences. I think four of their six legs were often used for walking, although I saw some up on two legs, apparently using four limbs for doing something.”

  Dillon displayed surprise. “Huh. I’d had some preconceived ideas about what sort of creatures they were, but a giant insect wasn’t one of them,” he admitted.

  “Perhaps that’s why the Krall never said much about them physically in their histories. They called them weak and soft, fruit, berry, or vegetation eaters. It isn’t a great accomplishment to outfight a low gravity bug. No wonder the Olt’kitapi wanted allies that could be their protectors.”

  Mirikami put them back on track. “I’ll let you biological scientist types investigate to your heart’s content, but do it later. With the two Dismantlers going to Koban, I want to see if it’s too late for them to tow some migration ships to Bootstrap, for rescue operations of people stranded in those temporary habitats. Not only will that allow those ships to demonstrate their sincerity and willingness to help, with us along, it won’t hurt our image either.

  “After that, we need to complete subduing Krall territory, or at least isolate them on their clan worlds without operational factories to build new weapons and clanships. They can order their Prada and Torki to make equipment that doesn’t require the quantum code key for activation. We have to locate the factories and forced labor that needs to be rescued and relocated to Haven.

  “The ships we came here with, plus what we took from the Guardians we killed, and at least ten or fifteen from the Krall’tapi prison world, can be used to raid Krall worlds on their way back to Koban.” He looked to his wife.

  “How many clanships have we taken at the last tally?”

  “Jakob has told me we have about three thousand four hundred, counting our haul here. New ships are added almost daily as our fifty-ship raider groups reach other Krall planets. If you make up another five or six raiding parties out of the ships we have here, collectively they might all bring back another four or five hundred clanships to Koban. Roughly four thousand of the estimated ten or twelve thousand clanships the Krall had at the start of the war.”

  Dillon was puzzled. “Doesn’t seem like so many, when compared the hundred million Jump ships in Human Space. We were always way ahead of them in ship numbers.”

  Mirikami shook his head. “Don’t confuse quantity with quality and the intended use, particularly for warships. We predominately built civilian ships, carrying no armament and no armor, and the Krall didn’t take vacations, explore, or conduct trade and commerce, they only made war. The Flight of Fancy was nearly as large as a clanship, yet she was easily captured by a squadron of single ships, and it took only two of those to knock out our tachyon Traps, leaving us helpless.

  “That tells us that sheer ship numbers isn’t a useful comparison. A clanship is a heavy warship, significantly better than the PU navy’s heavy cruiser, having heavier weapons, much greater performance, and significant room for supplies and warriors. Perhaps fifteen billion Krall were on a path to defeat about a trillion humans, and less than two billion of them were engaged in fighting us at any given time, and still winning. They kept the pace of the war slow, to provide time for their selective breeding, but they could have rolled up the PU forces any time they wanted.

  “Look at our own impact on the war. Barely thirty thousand Kobani, with a technology boost via the Denial list, have managed to cripple a vast war machine of billions of warriors, which has endured for roughly twenty five thousand years. We have been the tip of the spear, as I once described our function with re
spect to the rest of the military.”

  Noreen thought ahead. “If this war winds down, and we have control of all the Krall worlds, we can use most of these captured ships for something besides cleaning out pockets of Krall. They can work as supply ships for colonies, and the Prada, Torki and Raspani want to return to some of their former colonies immediately, if not their actual home worlds. Assuming the Krall didn’t totally ruin the ecologies of those worlds.

  “The migration ships can move more supplies and people at one time, but the more numerous Krall ships are better suited for landing and taking off on hard surfaces. The Torki are happy landing at sea, which is safer and easier for those big tubs. Although, the Prada don’t even like getting wet from rain, and prefer forests. The Raspani are not water lovers either, and they want to live near grassy plains, far from the seas. We’ll have quite a few former Spacers willing to deliver them where they want to live, and will supply them for a price using these ships. One problem though, is it’s a very long haul from Human Space, or even from Haven to reach their old worlds. Buying what they need to start a colony, even shipped from the closest New Colonies, means nearly three to four weeks in the Hole for supply ships, and we need to help them earn some Hub credits to pay for that.”

  Mirikami agreed. “If they license the new technology they have to companies in Human Space, particularly on Rim worlds and New Colonies, they can earn a lot of Hub credits. The Prada can also mass-produce things human colonies need, if they reprogram factories to produce something besides war material.” Then he winked.

  “Delivery time might not be as long as you estimated.”

  “Tet, these Dismantlers, even if all eleven are restored, and if they even want to do it, can’t carry the volume of material that even two or three colonies will need.”

  “Folks,” he looked around the Bridge, “what does a Dismantler have in common with a clanship?”

  “Uh, Olt’kitapi designed, obviously,” answered Dillon.

  “More importantly, the Jump drives are similar.” Mirikami supplied a clue.

  “OK. Except they can’t access T-cubed level, so why does a common designer matter? It didn’t help human Jump drives get to the T-squared level, having a common design.”

  “Exactly! It was our original design approach at fault. Our designs were based on the partial mathematical theory we employed. The Olt’kitapi had a more general and complete theory. We couldn’t modify human Jump drives to get to the T-squared level. Instead, we replaced them with new engines, or built ships that used the new design drives from the outset. The Falcon is an example of a drive replacement. The navy chose to build new ships with the smaller, lighter weight drives. Except, we retained the same construction methods for T-squared Jump drives, which was a human invention.

  “It was an Olt’kitapi original design difference, based on a more complete mathematical model, which made it easier for them to discover the next two rotations into Tachyon Space, when our scientists never did. Using our original design to reach only the lowest level of Tachyon Space, we couldn’t modify them to get to T-squared. Now we can’t get to T-cubed starting from our newer engines. Perhaps the Olt’kitapi really had mathematical insights that don't come easy to us.

  “In any case, per Pholowela, Molonsela, and Harlshonla, it is a function of the software the Olt’kitapi drives use, to take the energy of tachyons of successive low levels to force the Trap fields to undergo the next rotation. Practically any moderate energy tachyon of the first level can power the fields from the Trap emitters to rotate into the second level, or into T-squared, if you are using an Olt’kitapi Jump drive. A modification of the Olt’kitapi T-squared drives and their software, to use higher energy second level tachyons to force a third rotation, should expand a Trap field into the considerably higher energy levels of third level tachyons, which then have the energy to rotate the ship itself into that level of Tachyon Space for T-cubed travel. There is a huge increase in travel velocity in that new energy regime, which cuts yet another corner in that higher dimension.”

  Maggi looked at her husband with respect. “Damn. It really is a matter of asking the right questions. I’m a biologist and so I wanted answers about the biology of the Olt’kitapi, and a simple Spacer wanted to know how these ships could travel so fast. Academic knowledge versus practical knowledge. Can we modify our ships to do that?”

  “How the hell would I know? I’m just a simple Spacer.” He grinned wickedly at her.

  The dangerous glint in her eyes hastened an inordinately brave man to add, “Max, Blue, and Coldar will ask more pertinent and detailed scientific questions than I did. They’re already talking to the ships by Comtap.”

  “Thank you dear.” Her annoyance vanished.

  “One thing is clear. Our ships will never be able to enter Jump holes while sitting on planets, as the Dismantlers say they can safely do. They have billions of tiny Trap emitters embedded in their flowing hull material; all linked somehow to the Jump drives. That lets them form event horizons that smoothly conform to the surfaces of their hulls, instead of the large dangerous spheres we form. That’s why they say all of the T-cubed capable Olt’kitapi ships had smooth rounded hulls, with no sharp angles or edges. That’s completely unlike clanships, which have protruding landing jacks, reaction thrusters, or weapons ports.”

  “So, when do we go home Captain?” Noreen was ready to get back to Koban, now that the potential system evacuation had been called off.

  “As soon as you and Dillon board the Avenger and undock with the Mark, then Pholowela and Harlshonla are ready to Comtap link and pull up close to us for the tow.”

  “Should we transfer over to them for the trip?”

  “For only twenty eight hours of transit time? You could, but you can communicate with them the entire way, and we have food and personal quarters on our own ships. Maggi and I are staying on the Mark.”

  “OK, then. See you at home tomorrow.”

  Traveling nearly seven thousand light years in that short a time was definitely going to change space travel. Crossing the galaxy, side to side, would only take about sixteen days to cover the roughly hundred thousand light years. T-cubed technology would greatly influence how large a volume of space a small group, such as the Kobani, could protect and control.

  Chapter 6: Birth of a Federation

  The Chairman had opened the floor for a discussion session, and Tet was addressing the Xenos city council. “Pholowela and Molonsela, with Kobani aboard, and our ships in tow have Jumped for Meadow and Bootstrap. I hesitate to call our people crew on the Dismantlers, since the ships can act alone, but they need our advice. Saving anyone on Meadow, or probably on Bootstrap, is a forlorn possibility by now. Too many sizable pieces of debris have struck both, particularly Meadow, which was likely sterilized by the last impacts before we pulled back from Human Space, when Medford tried to capture some of us.

  “The mission is to rescue more of the people that actually got off-planet, or already lived on habitats within the systems can be moved out of the way of imminent destruction. Those millions of people take time to be ferried to adjacent colonies, and they’re at risk from the spreading debris field while they wait, with limited essential supplies. Two of our ships were towed with them, and thanks to T-cubed travel, they arrived even before you could gather for this meeting. Our people are communicating now with the local emergency coordination centers the PU set up, to explain what these powerful large ships could do there. The Dismantlers, an unfortunate descriptive name with a negative connotation now, which may have to be changed, are already herding the most threatening fragments away from those temporary refuges.

  “Our own two ships have the ability to dock with the various makeshift habitats to take aboard at least twenty five hundred people at a time per ship. The Dismantlers don’t have compatible docking systems, so this rate of transfer isn’t very fast. Having said that, Pholowela and Harlshonla can at least tow our loaded ships to the next closest colony world i
n barely five or ten minutes, for offloading. If we can convince captains of human commercial space liners to trust us, some of the large Orbital Based Only ships being used for rescues can be quickly towed back to load ten thousand people at a time.”

  Stewart MacDougal, the new council Chairman had a proposal. “The Raven, in orbit over Haven is operational and has the OBO capacity you mentioned, even if it only has a level one Jump drive. We could send her and some other of the old OBO ships we have here that are capable of maintaining life support, even they are unable to Jump. Why can’t those be towed to the two systems, if the Dismantlers come back here to get them? Is it just a matter of what the Olt’kitapi ships can tow? The OBO’s and migration ships all have much greater capacity than our captured clanships.”

  Mirikami, his mouth slightly agape, shot a shocked look at Maggi. Her eyes widened as she too realized what Stewart, with no experience with the Dismantlers, or Jump Hole towing had proposed. It was even better than his proposal sounded on the surface.

  “Maggi contact our people there, and tell them to use the Dismantlers to tow the habitats themselves to the nearby colonies. I know they can dredge up the tachyon energy to form the huge Jump Holes required.”

  Looking sheepish as he shook his head, Mirikami said, “Great idea Stewart. I can’t imagine why that simpler solution failed to register with me. Why take the time to transfer smaller numbers of people from a habitat to a ship and then tow the ship to a safe system to transfer them to another orbital station, and then bring the ship back to the dangerous wrecked system to reload? Just tow the entire damned habitat, and then local shipping at the destination colony can ferry the people down to the planet. With the short Jump times possible, more remote colonies can become involved in the relief effort. I’m sure the closest worlds have been strained to the limit to accommodate so many refugees.”