Koban 5: A Federation Forged in Fire

by Stephen W Bennett

  That specific inclusion triggered stifled laughs all around and a rare red face for tall-tale-teller Reynolds. The stifled laughter wasn’t to save Sarge from embarrassment; it was for “Polo,” the presumably unfeeling AI.

  Maggi spoke first, eyebrows raised at Reynolds in a warning to stay quiet. “We are not offended by that comparison Polo, because it happens to be accurate. In fact, I suspect that characteristic is far more common in most species than you think. It appears that the Olt’kitapi were exceptional in the honesty and morality departments as well as in intelligence and science. As a copy of their mental patters, you are a reflection of their minds and attitudes.

  “I think all of us here assumed that the Thandol were deceptive and treacherous, well before you revealed that suspected personality aspect to us. I think you were trying to question some of the claims they made to your builders, without calling them liars. To keep Sarge from exploding, and to set your thought circuits at ease, the Thandol are certainly liars, and like Sarge, not everything they say is bullshit. A race of part-time liars, like all of humanity is, are able to determine for ourselves what statements we should believe or not, or to verify them if we must know the truth.”

  “Thank you for your clarification, friend Maggi. I will continue.

  “Please do.”

  “Prior to being a single empire, the Thandol were divided into four competing interstellar kingdoms, which were consolidated by force into a single empire by one king, who declared he would be ruler of all the kingdoms. That conquest became possible when his kingdom was the first to acquire T-cubed travel.

  “This historical information wasn’t learned directly from the Thandol, who refuse to speak of the time before the founding of the empire. Their weaker, subservient races are not as reticent about telling others what they know of Thandol history. The Olt’kitapi managed to speak in private to a number of representatives of the weaker member species of the empire.”

  Dillon looked worried. “What you have said about them still makes them sound intimidating, even if some of their claims are exaggerated. The Krall bragged, but they were still dangerous. Their empire might be larger than the territory we just won, or not, but we barely occupy all of that vastness we have claimed. They clearly do have some of the technology of the Olt’kitapi, and which is new to humanity. They also have three servant races to fight for them. Damned if we aren’t outnumbered and out tech’ed again.”

  Sarge quipped, “At least we’ll outlive them, if they don’t kill us first.” He wasn’t letting a brief embarrassment get him down.

  Maggi spoke up, “That’s brings up a good question. How long do they live, such as how long are the reigns of their Emperors? With those big numbers for past emperors in a single family, I’d thing not very long.”

  “Friend Maggi, their normal life span was not known precisely to us, but appeared to be in the range of about eighty to ninety of your years. They displayed no evidence of your species willingness to alter the genetics for lifespan or body function. No species known has done so as extensively as you humans have. The Prada’s indefinite life span, and DNA repair to stay at their peak physical age for their elders, is the only other example of such tampering that I have found in my database.

  “In any case, the typical Thandol life span is not a significant factor for most Emperors. An Emperor sometimes does not remain in power for even a tenth of that length of time. A male that succeeds to the throne must first live at least half of their life to gather the political support to be considered a viable contender. The heir or successor normally comes from the noble herd of the current emperor. However, he is not necessarily an Emperor’s direct male descendant. There is apparently considerable political competition, and it must be quite stressful for them, because some leaders are not on the throne for even a quarter of the typical time, and expire young and are replaced.”

  Maggi grinned wickedly. “Yes, I’ll bet. When I heard there had already been eighty-four Farlol’s, I suspected there was a bit of a turnover in the top spot. Reusing the same name suggests a continuity of family leadership to their subservient races, but numbering them also reveals their internal conflicts. I imagine every Emperor is looking over their shoulder all the time for the next usurper. I wonder if they have an imperial guard, and food testers?”

  “I do not know about food testers, but there was always a sizable Imperial Guard, friend Maggi, and that changed with each new emperor.”

  “Oh. Those were rhetorical questions, Polo. I recognize the sort of politics involved. I’ll be studying some of humanities own Imperial dynasties, for how the intrigue worked. It is rare for one dynasty to transition smoothly into the next, and changes came at, shall we say, irregular intervals? Following tragic and often mysterious deaths.”

  “You think an empire this size and ancient is that unstable?” Mirikami asked.

  “Not the empire itself, but to those that lead it, yes. It can literally be a cutthroat ascension to the throne. There are always dynasties in empires and kingdoms, and they fall or change for multiple reasons, while the empire or kingdom usually survives, because the successors also want it kept intact. Think of ancient Rome.”

  Noreen had little knowledge of monarchies or dynasties. “What triggers the change? I guess a desire to just have the power?”

  Maggi shrugged. “More reasons than that. Such as when, not if, corruption occurs. Say, an emperor fails to rule over the empire properly and leaves all the drudgery to his advisers. The advisers are highly bribable and therefore become corrupt as well, leaving the running of the empire in favor of those with money for bribes. With the flip-flopping of governmental direction and policy, based on who offered the most recent high bribe, people get resentful. When this happens, the ruler's power weakens, which gives a chance for other powerful noble families to find support for a takeover, or for an ambitious member of the Emperor’s own herd, since we are talking about the Thandol. If a new family wins a civil war, they often kill every member associated with the old regime, and then the pattern starts again, or a different pattern of failure does. Sometimes the new Emperor, already old when crowned, dies and there is a fight for succession. The dynasty that controls the throne can be stable for a time, but over the long haul, the chaos in leadership will eventually return.

  “There will be many modes of failure for a dynasty. If this is how their politics work, then understanding these various failure modes may help us maneuver them to our advantage when we meet them, or at least recognize the current weak points in the throne’s support, and discover who is waiting in the wings to take over. That’s if we don’t have to fight them constantly, and get to visit their court.”

  Sarge shook his head. “My God, you really are a devious manipulative woman.”

  “Why thank you for saying such nice things.”

  “Not at all. Happy to have your sneaky treacherous nature on my side, for a change.” He offered, in pretended magnanimity.

  With a sweet smile in his direction, she turned to leave the conference room, to make the promised Comtap links to the colonies and Haven in private.

  Never content to leave the field of verbal combat without parting shots, she muttered, her words growing gradually fainter as she walked down the corridor. “What a thick headed curmudgeon, or is it Cro-Magnon? Perhaps colossal colon or colon head.” The last discernable insult was, “Probably head-stuck-in-colon…” Indistinct words continued for additional seconds before fading with distance.

  Chapter 14: Meeting the Neighbors

  Stewart reached Mirikami in the middle of his sleep cycle on the Mark.

  “Are you awake now Tet? Jakob said it was local night for you when I checked, but this is important.”

  Avoiding speaking, he stayed with silent Comtap mode, and Mirikami sat up and thought his reply, instantly awake. “I’m up. What’s happening?”

  “The Thandol appeared over Green Atoll a short time ago, and demanded the Torki swear allegiance to Emperor Fart
all.”

  “His name’s Emperor Farlol, but I like your pronunciation better. What happened?”

  “Thank the stars, Maggi linked to their Olts a few hours ago to warn them to be on guard. Our sentry ships are still enroute from Haven, so the Torki had quickly offloaded supplies to the colony, letting Water Drifter get off the planet quicker. She used her new Normal Space drive to reach orbit, and had started a survey of local ocean currents. The colony is conducting their first egg and sperm release and wanted to predict drift for...” he was interrupted by an impatient man.

  “Stewart, you woke me up for this emergency call. I don't need to know about young crabs returning home two years from now. Tell me what happened please.”

  “That same giant ship, or one like it, told them in the Thandol language they had to either join the empire now, or evacuate the planet before nightfall. That was at midday for the single nest site on Green Atoll thus far. The Torki had the language data packet Maggi sent them, so they were able to understand and answer them.”

  With a sigh and a sense of dread, Mirikami asked, “And what happened? Did they attack the Water Drifter and the colony? I know the Torki would never agree to join their empire, and even a full day is too short a time to evacuate the size colony we put there, with only a single migration ship.”

  “They immediately fired on the ship, and then the nest site when they said they wouldn’t join the empire. Didn’t even wait for sunset at the colony site.”

  It was like getting teeth from a tulip to get this excellent politician to provide pertinent militarily meaningful details. “I take it the ship was destroyed, and the colony wiped out?”

  “Oh no. Thanks to Maggi’s advice, the Drifter was holding a Jump tachyon in their primary Trap, ready to flee. The ship’s captain used his Olt to warn the colonists to flee to the open sea just as soon as the Thandol ship appeared, even before they made their demands. As soon as the captain said they were a member of the Galactic Federation, and wouldn’t join the Empire, they were promptly hit with what must have been one of those weapons used at Paradise. Then they Jumped.”

  “Who Jumped? The Thandol?”

  “No, the Water Drifter, of course. They’re on the way back to Haven with internal damage. The Torki spokescrab on the ground at Green Atoll reported by Olt that the Thandol hammered the coastal cove of the colony, the building supplies and equipment, but everyone was dispersed into the ocean by then. No loss of life.”

  “Wait! You said the Drifter is headed for Haven. How long ago? Who’s the captain, I have to stop him and change his destination. The Thandol will follow him home.”

  “Uh…,” he quickly checked his memory. “Her name is Captain Tirdal.”

  “OK. I’ll wake Maggi and have you speak with her Stewart, while I find out exactly where the Drifter is right now. Fortunately, at T-squared speed she can’t be close to Haven yet.”

  He woke Maggi, sleeping next to him and quickly filled her in, as he dressed. He headed for the Bridge as he searched his Comtap for the link address of the Torki captain he’d never met.

  “Captain Tirdal, this is Captain Mirikami. Are you headed for Haven, and do you need assistance? I understand you were hit by one or more Thandol warheads, or whatever you would call those things.”

  “Captain Mirikami, I’m relieved to hear from you. I initially started for Haven, but I have altered course to remain in the area near the colony. I wanted to confirm my change in plans with someone more experienced. It is possible the Thandol could pursue us to Haven, and I also wanted to return to Green Atoll to recover some of our people if we are able to evacuate them.”

  Relieved, Mirikami congratulated her. “That was good thinking. We know that the Thandol track ships, particularly large ships like yours through Tachyon Space at higher dimensions. President Stewart says there were ships just sent to Atoll from Haven. Please contact them and have them meet you at some mutually suitable uninhabited star system, before continuing to Green Atoll. They could also be backtracked to Haven otherwise. I don't know if the Thandol know where Haven and Koban are yet, but I don't want to lead them there if they don’t know yet, especially before we have gathered our forces.”

  “President Stewart told me who the commander is in charge of the ten ships he sent. I’ll contact her by Olt.”

  “Good. How badly were you damaged? Did you lose any people?”

  “We lost one male, who was passing near the empty center of the ship when the weapon appeared there. A quarter of his body was sheared away, but fortunately, his Olt and brain survived. Despite the pain, he dumped his personality into the Olt, as we learned to do from the Raspani. He will have to endure youthful molting again when his Olt is implanted in a returning Torkedia, but he will be restored.”

  “How is it that you didn’t suffer serious or disabling damage to your ship?”

  “This is a large ship as you know, with a considerable open volume located near the center for habitat water, which was just emptied before we departed Green Atoll, to save weight. That’s where the warhead struck, at our geometric center. It suddenly appeared inside of us, with no penetration through the hull or surrounding decks and bulkheads. The weapon disintegrated a volume of matter in a sphere that passed through two decks, but nothing critical for our operation. Because of our size, and the limited mass that was converted to atomic particles, there was only a small internal pressure increase.”

  “Captain that confirms our suspicions we had at Paradise that the weapon suddenly appears inside the target. We already know that its destructive effect is a variation of the same quantum application of the Raspani boring tool. I wanted to assure myself you were safe, and to divert you away from Haven. I’m pleased that you had changed course on your own. I’ll check back with you later. Mirikami Out.”

  The Mark was traveling in company through Thandol territory, using only the single rotation into Tachyon Space. This made their intrusion path virtually impossible to detect, but their rate of travel was very slow. They had initially Jumped in deeper, using T-cubed travel to penetrate well into Thandol space, as if headed for their central interior, leaving a strong wake pointing that way. Then they made White Outs, followed by a greater than right angle change in direction and lower speed.

  They were now moving towards a star system that Pholowela had assured them was inhabited by a race that paid obedience to the Empire, but had been said to be a reluctant member. Where best to get honest answers about the Empire than from those that opposed the overlords?

  He linked with the other ships with him, the Avenger, Ripper, Sneaky Bastard, and Wanderer. The Vanguard had returned home with the more fragile Torki and Raspani aboard her, and the four other ships at Paradise picked up settlers from the three other small towns.

  After calling the other sleepyheads to their Bridges, he described what had happed at Green Atoll.

  “Noreen, your hunch was right. They don't think any other warnings are required. However, that assumption and their visit to Atoll revealed something else they must know about us, which the Krall never figured out. They are aware we have instantaneous long-range communications. Without that, there isn’t any way we could have warned the Torki on the other side of our volume of space in so short a time, less than a day. Yet the Thandol expected them to know about the ultimatum, and were apparently not surprised the Torki could communicate with them.”

  “Well, I’m not surprised.” Dillon asked. “The Olt’kitapi had tachyon modulated instant communications, and surely the Empire must as well. It’s an advantage we no longer uniquely hold.”

  Noreen added, “Well, not even the Olt’kitapi had Mind Tap, to instantly and directly share mental contacts via Comtap with each other as we do, let alone via direct physical contact with any species. Our superconducting nervous systems and Mind Tap, plus Koban strength and reaction speed are advantages we need to seek ways to expand on. The Thandol can’t do that, because that isn’t exactly technology they can simply copy, and they pr
obably don’t even suspect it exists.”

  “They might, if they saw our Tri-Vid broadcasts from Earth.” Maggi reminded them, as she joined the group chat.

  “Knowing it exists, and obtaining the capability are different things.” Mirikami stated. “Anyway, I’d rather we didn’t advertise it to them, because it’s unlikely the Thandol understand Standard, even if they somehow gained access to that old broadcast.”

  “Hey, I have a thought.” That was Carson. “Our Comtaps have unique addresses for each person, as do Olts and mind enhancers, and now the Prada com sets, and all of them use tachyon modulation for instant communications. Have we looked into the equivalent of wire taps, to listen in on other communications?”

  His dad seemed unsure. “Blue told us there are almost an infinite number of addresses possible and certainly different protocols for the message formats or modulation, even if the addresses were used in duplication.”

  Ethan, always on the same wavelength as Carson suggested a solution. “Steal a device sample of whatever the Thandol use, and figure out how their system works. Then read out the addresses of significant people in their Empire. Listen-in to what they say if we can, or perhaps block its use by them at a critical time if we can’t do that. Simply contacting one of their leaders unexpectedly could give them a damned good scare. Can’t hurt to try.”

  Thad, generally more practical and serious when it came to an approaching fight, spoke from the bridge of the Ripper, “Tet, I know you didn’t rouse us just to discuss Green Atoll, since it’s so far away. What’s going on in the middle of what we would call night?”

  “I suggest we get to the Hothor’s home system sooner. We’re almost four days away at this speed, and less than one day at T-squared. I know its only minutes at T-cubed, but I don't want to draw obvious attention from the Thandol to these people by our visit. After a day at this speed, we are light years away from where we made our exit and we almost turned back on our previous path. I want to get useful intelligence as quick as possible, because the Thandol are stepping up their aggression, and might move against us much quicker and with a stronger response if they learn where Koban and Haven are.