Koban 5: A Federation Forged in Fire

by Stephen W Bennett

  Maggi stepped to the forefront, and now the voice coming from all of those elevated locations around the area carried her lilting voice, which had the distinctive accent of someone from Rhama. She knew she appeared much too young to be a stodgy ambassador, when in reality she was a stodgy bio-scientist, with sidelines in politics, diplomacy, and warfare. She just happened to look young, pretty, and blonde. This was fun, but she had hoped for some sort of confrontation with authority, to entertain the watching public around Earth, and eventually all of Human Space. She had a chip on her shoulder today, and that didn’t translate into a very diplomatic attitude.

  As she started speaking, Maggi questioned in the back of her mind where Medford and the State Department people were right now. She had half expected them to send someone racing up the street from State’s complex on the Grand Mall. The Presidential Palace faced her now, on the opposite end of the long Mall, and she wondered if Medford was looking back.

  ****

  “They’re where?” Medford yelled in a high pitch, but it sounded angry and not just a screech. Special Agent in Charge, Carl Ferguson, the head of her security detachment tonight, repeated his words.

  “They’re conducting a press conference just up the Mall, in front of the Capitol.”

  He added more detail. “It’s being covered by all the local and major news outlets. They interrupted regular broadcasting, and some of our agents watching Tri-Vid in the break room downstairs said they popped up their breaking news banner and interrupted regular programming. That press conference you told the news bureaus wasn’t happening is underway, Mam.”

  “How the hell did they get there? I wasn’t even told they had arrived at the spaceport. We don’t meet with them for almost two hours, and their motorcade was to bring them directly here, to this building.”

  “Yes Mam. I’m told the first images put on screen show them leaving a large structure sitting on the Mall grass, with what looks like an open airlock. It matches the shape of the alien spacecraft that helped evacuate and protect Meadow and Bootstrap. The Kobani and some aliens, or possibly animals, walked out of the airlock and started addressing the press and pedestrians over a public address system.”

  “I want the capitol police sent there and have this stopped.”

  “The Park Police are there now, but Denver Police don’t have jurisdiction on the Mall. This is a large crowd, and it’s growing rapidly. This is a holiday before a weekend. There are thousands of people from all over the Hub out there, waiting for the evening lights to come up soon. Twenty Park police are assigned to the west end of the Mall, and they can’t handle that size of an unexpected crowd. You would have to ask the Denver mayor to send in regular police, and grant them temporary enforcement rights on PU territory. As I said, the Grand Mall is outside their jurisdiction.”

  “Send your agents.” She snapped.

  The refusal came just as quickly. “I can’t do that Mam. Your safety and protecting the Presidential Palace is the extent of our legal authority. This is a Federal Park matter, or a situation calling for outside civil authorities, not your presidential security detail. We have thirty-five agents on duty tonight, and twenty are in the Palace with your family. I have fifteen agents right here, with us. They can’t go where you don’t go.”

  “Stop telling me what you and I can’t do. This entire government enclave is PU territory. I’m Commander In Chief, so I do have some damned authority here!”

  “Yes Mam. The Army has a small base near the spaceport, and there are probably navy ships there with perhaps some Marines aboard, and plenty of Marines up at Lunar Base. I think they have to respond to your orders Mam, even for a civil matter. Planetary Defense is outside my area of presidential security expertise, Mam.”

  “Shut the hell up. Send Oswald to me. He’s in his office down the hall.”

  Ferguson didn’t think telling the President that he wasn’t her errand boy, or reminding her that her Chief of Staff in the next room actually was her designated flunky, probably wouldn’t help his career progression. He anticipated he’d be protecting a different president in eighteen months, if this difficult woman were voted out of office. In the meantime, he hoped he’d not have to throw himself in front of a bullet or an explosive to save her, as he’d sworn to do, and would actually try to do if required.

  “Yes Mam. I’ll have Secretary Oswald notified that you wish him join you.” He then lifted his left hand and spoke into his cuff button.

  In the meantime, Gillis Frambolt, her C of S, heard the yelling and discussion and came in to see what he could do to help his always-complaining boss.

  He held up a briefcase shaped object. “Madam President, I have your emergency com set here if you need to contact the Secretary of Defense, the navy or army Chiefs of Staff, the marine detail that pilots your local area flights, or anyone else you need to contact.”

  “Thanks Gillis, I can always count on you. Anyway, I think Secretary Oswald and I will have to drive up the Mall to the Capitol and see for ourselves what’s going on. There isn’t any way a frigging spacecraft landed directly in front of the Capitol in daylight and the navy and the Park Police somehow missed noticing that. Have my car and escorts readied downstairs. If our guests are already here, and everyone else on Earth knows about it, I may as well go see them. It’s a photo opportunity I can’t leave all to them.”

  She nodded to herself. “If Mirikami is there, I may have him arrested right where all my constituents can watch it happen live.”

  ****

  Mirikami had previously heard what all the representatives were going to say in rehearsals, back on Haven, and until Kobalt’s turn came, he wasn’t paying close attention to Coldar, who was speaking now. Newalla and Blue had spoken for the Prada and Raspani respectively; and now it was the Torki’s turn to introduce their species to humanity. The crab, his purple upper carapace and amber legs coated with a glossy waxy substance that Coldar normally didn’t use, were gleaming in the camera lights, as the sun sank farther below the mountains to the west. The Mall lights automatically came on as he was speaking, giving the gilded dome of the Capitol a glorious golden glow, which also bathed the portico area with its reflected light.

  Coldar had relaxed to his normal conversational mode, which meant his claws, and shell scrapes were fully engaged, and his native body language and speech was showing proper emphasis for the Torki people, who would watch the record of this historic moment later. For his words issuing in Standard from the translator disk, and repeated on the hundreds of Kobani suit speakers, the emphatic clicks, clacks, and scratches heard by people close to Coldar were out of synchronization with the human words used. At a distance, and over live Tri-Vid broadcasts, only Standard was heard.

  This had all became background noise for Mirikami, and he was listening to Comtap reports from various Kobani perched high for sound projection and surveillance. One, placed behind the ship, was using her helmet visor to watch for activity anywhere else down the length of the Grand Mall.

  “Sir, there are a string of vehicles with flashing lights that just came around the corner of a side street, close to where my grid map indicates the State Department buildings are located. There are twelve men and women in gray business suits, standing on narrow side platforms, two per side of three different cars, holding to roof handgrips. Deep scan shows they probably all have slim line pistols in at least one outside lower suit pocket, a heavier pistol in a left shoulder holster, and hidden under the jackets of three guards per car are short barrel laser rifles with suspension straps hung from their right shoulders. A fourth person of each car has what appears to be a short barrel plasma rifle with a large power pack.”

  “Ah, that must be a presidential motorcade with Medford’s security, coming to see what we are up to over here. Coldar is nearly finished speaking, so I need to frill Kobalt and prepare to introduce him. This is when the public in Human Space learns about contact telepathy, and some of our gene modifications. I’ll bet that stirs s
ome controversy.”

  Revealing the telepathy secret had been a point of contention, because that ability in the Kobani had provided a distinct edge in dealing with Normals, and not only the Krall. The argument was settled when first Mirikami and Maggi, and then finally newly inaugurated President MacDougal said the secret could not be maintained. Stewart put it in terms that every Kobani could understand, and based his opinion on fairness, and over twenty years of sacrifice and suffering by a group of their reluctant former fellow captives.

  “My friends, we have had among us people that wish to return to Human Space to live, some of them are sympathizers of the genetic changes that made the Kobani what they are, and some of them are even full Kobani now. As you well know, there are people that have never wanted to remain in the Koban system, even while living on Haven in easier circumstances. Many of them have objected to the genetic modifications that assured their own survival. A promise was made to allow them to return to Human Space when Koban’s location no longer had to be held secret to keep us safe from the Krall. The secret of our location is out to the Krall, and we have now removed them as a significant threat.

  “Therefore, how in good conscience can anyone deny the people that want to leave the Koban and Haven system the chance to go home now? None of us ever wanted to be brought to Koban as captives, and yet we turned our prison world into our home. At least it is for the full Kobani. Some of our non-human allies want to resettle their original home worlds and leave the Koban system because even Haven isn’t their dream world, and we’ll help them. We should do no less for those that want be repatriated to Human Space. They certainly all know of the changes we have undergone, and some of them will not remain silent. There are already military leaders in the army and navy that know of most of our genetic changes, if not about Mind Tap. I think all of our genetic secrets should be revealed to the people of Human Space by us, on our own terms, and not leaked out as if we were ashamed of them.”

  And so it was decided. A revelation would be made just prior to the attempt to establish diplomatic relations. This way, the Kobani genetic mods would not appear to be some secret they had tried and failed to hide.

  Coldar was ending his prepared speech. “As fellow intelligent beings, we invite you to visit our worlds, to engage in trade, to exchange culture and knowledge. As in Human Space, where you have the Planetary Union with its member planets, our Galactic Federation has member species, like separate states, which will be spread among many planets. There are hundreds of planets that were home worlds and former colonies of the Prada, Raspani, and the Torki. There are many hundreds more that were inhabited by species that you have never heard of, and most of those you will never meet because of Krall genocide. We will seek out survivors of those peoples and invite them to join as, as new species states of our Federation, and enable them to return to their original worlds. We have literally thousands of habitable worlds with no populations, or some have remnant Krall and their forced labor left on them. If people from Human Space wish to live among us, settling on worlds within our vast volume of space, they are welcome. Provided they come with the understanding that they will become citizens of the Galactic Federation, and must abide by our constitution and laws, which state that all of our worlds are open to citizens of all member species.

  “There will certainly be more threats in the galaxy than the Krall, and it was the humans in our Federation that defeated the Krall. The Kobani will be our guardians, our interstellar police force, if you will. We await your government’s answer to our offer to exchange diplomatic relations. Thank You.”

  Coldar skittered back to his place in line, and Mirikami and Kobalt walked to the front and center position. Mirikami’s voice sounded again from the hidden speakers, and curious onlookers and news people alike were comforted by seeing his hand resting casually on the ruff of flesh and fur around the big beast’s muscled neck.

  “Gracious Ladies and Gentle Men, the next speaker is of a species native to the planet where the Krall took the first human captives for combat testing, before starting the war with humanity. A planet that came to be called Koban by the human prisoners brought there, and where we who now call ourselves Kobani struggled to survive. We endured gravity that is more than one and a half times that of Earth’s, suffered wide swings of seasonal temperatures, from blistering tropical heat to frigid artic cold. We also had to survive the astounding lush variety of native life of that planet, which evolved a musculature and bone structure that allowed them to thrive in that high gravity. For all that, those weren’t the most remarkable adaptations they exhibit, because animals on Koban have a nervous system that is unique among any life forms we have yet encountered in the galaxy.”

  He let that sink in for a moment, as the questions started to form. “Every type of animal life we’ve found on Koban employ’s organic superconducting nerves. These superconducting tissues evolved very early in primitive sea life there, and it had an evolutionary advantage, so the trait was passed down to every form of animal life that evolved from them. We now know that heavy metals in Koban’s crust provide the rich variety of minerals, elements, and rare earths required for this evolutionary adaptation.”

  He patted Kobalt. “This friend of mine here, named Kobalt, fearsome looking as he is, represents a species native to Koban, and despite the lack of a technological civilization, they are highly intelligent. They had never developed an articulate spoken language because, as I’ll explain, they didn’t need one. When we first encountered them, we thought they were savage predators, and unbelievably cunning. Of course, predators they are, but then so are humans. Humans kill far more often than do Kobalt’s people, and we frequently don’t do it for food, as they do. They have never gone to war with their own kind, but have joined us in combating the Krall, who kill for pleasure.

  “We were enemies initially, and in fact humans were prey animals to them. That was before we raised two orphaned cubs that had lost their mother to human hunters, and we quickly discovered we both had aware and intelligent minds. This was made possible when we shockingly learned they had a form of communication, found nowhere else in Human Space, or possibly anywhere else within the galaxy.

  “This unique form of communication is due to a one-of-a-kind fluke genetic mutation on Koban, which took advantage of the superconducting nerves in a long ago feline analog of Kobalt’s people. They can directly share mental images, thoughts, and emotions, as well as making a range of audible sounds that you would expect from something like a tiger.”

  He grinned, “Believe me, their roar is nearly as bad as their bite, and it communicates exactly what you would expect. Terror, you if you are the one being hunted.”

  Pulling again at the frill on the side of Kobalt’s neck, he said, “This fleshy tissue under the fur around their necks is full of nerve endings, and we call it a frill. It is as densely packed as the nerves in human fingertips. Except these nerves are superconducting, so the tissue is very sensitive to even what we would consider weak signals. They are linked directly to their brains, in a region that corresponds to a language center.”

  He looked up. “In short, they have an ability we describe as contact telepathy. Kobalt and I have been exchanging thoughts even as I spoke to you. He not only understands Standard, he speaks Standard in his thoughts to humans. This is not like the Tri-Vid dramas, where some fictional character sends thoughts through space and speaks to you, or can detect your thoughts from a distance. You must be in physical contact to exchange thoughts with a ripper.”

  They’d decided they would discuss Comtaps later, if at all, since not even Kobani, without a device connected to their brains, could engage in thought exchange at a distance.

  “He can communicate not just with his kind and humans this way, but so far as we can tell, it works with any creature with a mind and a nervous system that makes physical contact with a ripper, particularly with this ruff, which as I said, we call a frill. Knowledge of another intelligent creature’s lang
uage isn’t required to communicate, when you each can share your mental images, and direct meanings and feelings. Language did however, come early into the life of Kobalt, and to his sister Kit, who is sitting behind us. They were those first two orphaned cubs that we raised, and they have lived among humans their entire lives. They are family to those they live with, and they consider those people to be their family in turn.

  “They have a far deeper connection to us though than merely our ability to communicate, and to love one another as family. Humans were not going to survive for long on Koban, let alone thrive, after being abandoned there by the Krall to die. We had to do more than adapt in the traditional way to the conditions there, and we were determined to survive, to get off the planet and go seeking the genocidal killers that had destroyed the civilizations of seventeen previous species, and who had targeted humanity next.

  “Except on Koban, we had too many flaws and weaknesses to survive there. Humans were not only too weak and too slow to match the Krall, but on that world, even small animals, birds, insects, and even some mobile plants could kill us. Yet, we noted that the Krall not only feared Kobalt’s people, they were even terrified of them. The Krall were hard pressed to kill rippers on hunts, even with guns, and many warriors on hunts failed to survive those meetings.

  “Our enemy gave them a descriptive name we still use for our friends. They called them what translated from the Krall language into a word in Standard, which is ripper. Rippers are much stronger, and are far faster than the Krall. They also can think faster, see better, and have a better sense of smell to track them. We humans needed to be able to defeat the Krall, but we saw that only a ripper had the native ability to do that. We had captured bio-scientists with us, and geneticist. What do you think we did to solve our problem?”