Koban 4: Shattered Worlds (75 page)

He expected to win now with what he had, of course, even if the humans found backbone enough to stay here and fight to the end. However, higher clanship numbers for him now would reduce the clanships they would lose from lack of total firepower and mutual support. He was convinced the navy wanted to pull out, but he needed to keep them here longer, to reduce their numbers further.

He still intended to send trackers to pursue the enemy when they departed. There had been very serious losses suffered by the Great and Major clans, and he wanted to give them a chance at direct revenge in Human Space, on the shipyards where the navy had forged these ships. Those yards were targets that they would never neglect again.

The Olt’kitapi ship would be used for his personal revenge, under the guise that it was being done for all the Krall. The clans would benefit and appreciate the punishment, but it was mainly damage to Telour’s status that he wanted restored. Killing as many billions of human as he could.

Telour thought of one way he might keep the navy here longer. They were dedicated to picking up their survivors, something the Krall wouldn’t do until a battle was over. He had clanships in orbit, loaded with warriors. He could send those warriors in to try to board the crippled ships, or board the ones motionless next to them, poised to receive their clan mates from the damaged ships. Slowing the rescues would allow time for greater attrition of their ships, he believed.

****

Mauss had Mirikami bring the other two Task Forces out into Normal Space at a range of fifteen thousand miles, well clear of the fighting so she could speak to them directly. Their Comtap Kobani on each ship had already informed the captains of the disaster. She told the two remaining Task Force commanders that there was no longer an advantage or realistic opportunity to attack ground targets. She wanted them to help the Kobani ships defend the task force ships rescuing their comrades, to draw away the attackers that were moving in, then Jump clear locally, when that was done.

She pointed out that the missiles previously fired by the three now splintered task Forces had pounded Tanga, Dorbo, and Maldo domes to rubble. The more deeply penetrating missiles designed to target the factories were never launched. Mauss told them the domes were the final offensive actions they would take today. Defense and force extraction had become the priority goals.

Mirikami had one hundred ten Kobani ships, counting the Mark, and fifty shadow fighters he could send against clanships. As with Mauss, domes and infrastructure was off the target list now. By use of a group Comtap link, and a Kobani Mind Tap mental linkage he simultaneously and rapidly directed his forces in a brief but complex message.

He sent the fifty Shadows against hundreds of clanships still on the ground, to try to prevent any of them from lifting to attack navy ships involved in low orbit rescues. He provided images of the dozens of domes where they’d find them parked, and they’d have to fly sub orbital to reach some of them quickly. Those were sitting targets that a space plane could hit quickly and perhaps without warning, coming in low from behind a dome or hilly terrain. A lightly armored Shadow was no match for clanship firepower, and if the enemy was airborne or in space it was too risky. However, their railguns and tungsten carbide coated depleted uranium slugs could crack a man thruster nozzle. That ship would be grounded.

Of his one hundred ships roving through K1’s atmosphere in the northern hemisphere, he split them into three groups to rise and engage any clanship moving towards the heavy cruisers engaged in rescue operations for the stricken task forces. Jumping in above the rescue operation would be the other task force ships, forming a milling shield of hard to pin point targets for suicide minded clanships pilots.

Mirikami asked Mauss to pass along to the navy that they wouldn’t have to hold off the Krall very long, that his Comtap people were helping the rescues go faster. He told her Kobani had the lead in the evacuations on most of the crippled ships, and they were transferring personnel to rescue ships faster by throwing them across the gap to open holds. Mauss looked at him a moment, shrugged and passed the word.

****

Quick crew rescues from the disabled ships was imperative, and not only because of the Krall coming in after them. The three attacking formations had been synchronized so as to White Out with a Normal Space velocity matching K1’s rotation, which kept them directly above their designated ground targets. This wasn’t required when they launched self-guided AI controlled rockets, but it was ideal when they fired energy weapons to defend those missiles. They could accurately shoot down counter missiles launched from the surface, and were able to target specific laser and plasma cannon ports on the defending clanships parked near the domes. At least that was true until the splats hit the three fans.

That low velocity tactic now worked against the rescuers of the crews on ships left without any power for drives or thruster control. The Trap emitters on the missing hull segments had dumped their tachyons even faster than the explosive decompression vented atmosphere. They had limited fusion bottle power, and no thrust or gravity control.

Their velocity was far below that required to remain in orbit. Each formation, from the moment of White Out, had been “falling” towards their targets from an altitude below three hundred miles, but drifting along laterally with the planetary rotation. They had certainly intended to Jump away long before they touched the first fringes of atmosphere, and in fact would have done so before penetrating the gravity well so deep that a Jump Hole might be unstable. Therefore, a freefall state hadn’t mattered to them then. Now it did, and they were running out of time.

The surviving crews of the damaged ships were enclosed in their pressurized acceleration suits, but the suits were clamped in place and filled with jell in the event high accelerations were applied. Many of the crewmembers would step into a vacuum if they opened the seals now. In hindsight, wearing soft suits for a vacuum exit sounded brilliant, despite the soupy jell that filled the larger suits. For crew in pressure, the viscous fluid was being pumped into its holding tanks, using suit battery power, but the lack of gravity made the task progress slowly and incompletely.

On ships where the Comtap specialists had survived, their armor had sealed like a space suit, and they immediately raced around the crippled ships, releasing the clamps on the acceleration suits of the crew they found in vacuum, informing the men and women via contact audio, helmet to helmet, what was happening. The released suits were then towed, weightless, to convenient places where they hoped to meet with rescuers, said to be on the way.

There were sizable sections of the hulls missing on these ships, along with sections of the compartments once inside that hull. Tragically, partial acceleration suits were encountered with no purpose to be served by looking inside or opening them. There was only time for the living.

Some places where the Kobani secured the big suits were near the cut edge of a deck, open to space and in freefall. That seemed precarious to the helpless navy personnel, but they were assured this would be faster for getting them off the ship. Frequently, internal compartments had sealed automatically, and the Kobani simply allowed those people to climb out and don their soft suits stored close by. They weren’t given time to wash or even scrape at the jell clinging to their skin and body suits. Once in soft suits, they helped move other acceleration suits caught in vacuum to the rescue spots selected by the Kobani.

When a heavy cruiser approached to take on survivors, the Kobani always distained the slow process of sending over lines for a secure transfer. In every case, they instructed the other ship to come close and open their main hanger bays, then hold their position. The experience of Captain Longstreet’s team in getting back inside a heavy cruiser over Poldark was now a form of entertainment, shared between Mind Tappers.

The Kobani would hoist an acceleration suit to their shoulder, brace their feet against a bulkhead or deck plate, and look across the gap to the other ship. The heavy suits were weightless but still had considerable mass and contained extremely apprehensive people. With casual ease, the suits were tossed with considerable speed and unerring accuracy at an opened hatch. The suits traveled about two hundred feet, with a stabilizing spin imparted before release, which kept the suits oriented feet first, with the passenger unable to see their destination. They all passed through dead center of the open hanger bays of the rescue ships.

The most frightening moment for them came when artificial gravity suddenly dropped the now dizzy occupant to the deck, and they skidded across the hanger. Once inside, they were dragged clear by a waiting navy crewmember in a soft suit that quickly shoved them against a bulkhead in the airless compartment. They had to hurry, because two more survivors would already be on their spinning way. The survivor recovery went considerably faster than the navy had anticipated, or could have managed using standard rescue procedures. The last person to leave each drifting ship was a Kobani, usually carrying someone with them.

The men and women on the damaged ships focused on saving themselves, as did the people who worked to rescue them. They were seldom aware of what was happening that permitted the operations to proceed so smoothly and rapidly. This happened at a cost.

****

Before the two other task forces could engage the Krall from the high orbit side, Mirikami and the nine Kobani ships that had been in orbit Jumped to join the other defenders of the rescue operations. He split them up to send three ships to two of the groups, and Mirikami joined the three Kobani ships that reinforced the remnants of Task Force 1, the one where Chatsworth’s flagship had been a member. TF 1 had been hit hardest, with only eighty-two survivors, and that group had the highest number of damaged ships to be evacuated.

Obviously, a navy force attacking from low orbit above the Tanga domes had been expected by the Krall, and this particular formation had received the most well prepared counterattack. Mirikami’s instant thought as he looked at his screens when the Mark completed its White Out, was that he had somehow beaten the Krall to this position. Except, the Krall had known what was about to happen, and should have been ready to pounce on the weakened and disoriented enemy. That only meant they expected other human ships to rush in to rescue their comrades. There was zero possibility they were being indecisive. They wanted more of the human ships in the same three regions before they struck again.

Mirikami leaned over to touch Mauss’ hand to get her attention, and for the first time used Mind Tap to save time, using full emotional content and images for clarity, to support his mental words.

“Admiral, the Krall are holding back to let the rest of the fleet come to the rescue. Keep the other Task Forces above a thousand miles and fire anti-ship missiles at all three groups as soon as possible. Every friendly ship has IFF active, and you’ll only hit their clanships. They want you clustered tightly down here, to pick enough of you off until you’re forced to Jump, leaving the stranded crews behind. They won’t find it so easy to fight my people, who will Jump here in a minute or two.”

The admiral’s eyes widened when he started, but her nod and a shrewd expression told him she had suspected the Kobani had more capability than they were openly advertising. Fast on the uptake, instead of speaking she thought back, “Let me change my orders. Good luck. We need you people to get out of this damn mess quicker.”

She turned away to amend her orders to Task Forces 2 and 5, now telling them to shorten their Jumps, to stand off above the debris fields and fire down on the Krall from there.

Using Comtap, Mirikami didn’t need to touch Maggi’s hand, and the exchange went far faster with another Kobani. He gave her his plan, for her to share with the two Kobani groups that were racing to support the other two rescue missions. Even with rapid thought processes, two minds working together shaved seconds off the effort.

He was going to organize his people, and give the Krall a taste of what micro Jumps could really do when done by a Kobani in a space dogfight. He’d sent Noreen to run the defense of the remnants of Task Force 3, and Marlyn to Task Force 4.

They were his most experienced captains, participants in multiple fights against clanships. Despite Mind Taps, those with live experience in combat had a slight edge in reaction times, and displayed a superior ability to find new solution for old or new problems.

Thad was captain of an unnamed ship joining Mirikami, Dillon would be with Noreen’s group, and Carson’s ship would join Marlyn. He considered them innovative thinkers, and they would complement the abilities of the flight leaders. He expected to lean on Thad more that he might otherwise, because the Mark of Koban, which Mirikami hadn’t expected to be in the thick of a fight, was handicapped by the need to protect Mauss.

“Golda, I hate to do this to you, getting covered in that mess of jell, but please step into the acceleration suit next to you as quickly as possible. I’ll link Jakob to your com system so you can direct the task forces. The maneuvers will get violent for a Normal.” What he didn’t say was that without her aboard they would be highly stressful for a Kobani, and fatal for a Normal like her.