Koban 5: A Federation Forged in Fire (53 page)

“Ethan and Carson are on my ship, the Ripper, and are maintaining a position two hundred miles overhead of Sayed’s palace. They can take out any of the cutters that show up here, the nearest plasma batteries, and then come down to get us if need be.”

“They don’t have pens for the animals.”

“You’re kidding. Chief, I don't think Tet put any thought into bringing them back. The rhinolo and blue streaks are a loss of meat for Koban larders, but I suspect they’ll be eaten here too after we leave. I don't know about whiteraptors. We don't hunt them for food, but I’ll bet some that have been killed were eaten back home. I don't think Islamic dietary law applies to these animals, so they wouldn’t necessarily go to waste.”

“Yea, I guess. I don’t like how the sheiks intended to use them for sport, by pitting them against each other or other animals, or against men in the arena. Perhaps they’d let strange new predators hunt our animals while they watched for entertainment.”

“Chief, these are
prey
animals on Koban, to us, rippers, whiteraptors, and to other predators. It ain’t like they live a life free of peril you know. Besides, what non-Koban predator, or a human hunter for that matter, would have an easy time facing a rhinolo? Even a blue streak can be deadly. They’re faster and stronger than anything they’ll face here, except for a well-placed high caliber bullet.”

“Fine. I’ll leave them to their fates. I just hope they get some retribution from these damn sheiks if we can’t take them all down ourselves.”

A servant arrived soon with new casual wear Hub world garb, an expensive Smart Fabric light grey pull-on that the automated tailoring system had just produced, stylish and in his exact size, with an accent belt having small pouches. The sheiks might not admire Hub society, but they didn’t reject everything from there. Haveram had half thought he might be wearing a robe to breakfast and lunch, as he’d seen Sayed wearing in Bill’s image of the night before. He wondered where he’d put his usual pocket items in a flowing robe, and if he’d be expected to wear underpants. The protocol instructor hadn’t covered those subjects, and Haveram hadn’t thought to ask.

Kadar arrived a few minutes after his fresh clothes arrived, waited for him to dress and escorted him to a side entrance to the palace, passing below a wide veranda several stories above. As it happened, it was where he was having breakfast with Sayed.

The Sheik was seated, but rose and extended his right hand as he approached him, relieving Haveram from wondering which sort of greeting was expected. He shook the offered, but slightly limp hand, as he said “As-salam alaikum,” bowing his head slightly.

The tall but pudgy looking Sheik raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, and replied, “Wa alaikum as-salam” also nodding minutely.

In Standard, he said, “Sit and eat with me,” and gestured to a chair on the other side of the table, which a male servant pulled out for Haveram.

“Do you speak any other Arabic?” he was asked. “That was spoken with no accent.” The Sheik had a very noticeable accent, demonstrating that Standard wasn’t his customary language.

“Very little Sir. A few expressions only. I heard this from some of your people.”

“It was good of you to try. If you will look to the side table, there are a few food selections, which you may wish to consider. There is genuine Chinese tea, Earth Columbian coffee, and several fruit juices to drink. Please point them out to Calmar, since he does not speak Standard.”

The “side” table was double the size of the one at which they sat, and had well more than just a few selections. Haveram had noticed that Kadar was not invited to sit, and he had moved away to stand near the railing of the veranda, facing them, his submachine gun slung to his right side, as always.

Haveram had glanced at the Sheik’s plate as he shook hands, and requested two fruits he recognized there, and had not eaten in many years. To the servant he indicated a pineapple slice and a small bowl of figs, with a glass of what he thought was orange juice, but proved to be guava juice. He had a serving of scrambled eggs served from what he had thought was a rounded beige bowl set in a wooden holding frame. This proved to be a half eggshell from an ostrich, as Sayed told him with approval, as if Haveram had known and deliberately made the exotic choice.

They ate and held small talk of Rim worlds Haveram and the Sheik had visited, of the surprising sudden end to the war with the Krall, and of how free market trade would be improving now. Haveram took that to mean smuggling would be on the increase now that the PU navy was drawing back to the globe of Hub worlds.

With no preamble, Sayed asked him, “What do the Kobani look like? Can you tell them from other people?”

“Sir, they look exactly like a cross section of people from colony worlds all over Human Space. That’s where the older ones originated, captured at random on spacecraft by the Krall before the start of the war, and their children reflect the same diversity. The genetic changes they have are all internal, because I can see no differences or strangeness in those I met on Poldark. They have had people there helping to fight the Krall, while hiding their existence from the Planetary Union.

“I might add that I didn’t go to Koban to get my cargo of animals this time. Although I expect to go there in the future. They were delivered to me in the outer Poldark system, and the Kobani handled the transfer to the Falcon, using micro gravity control and docking tubes. It was while I was still in the Poldark system that I learned about the capture of the Delta Dawn from customs officials I had bribed, and about its connection to Khartoum’s Destiny. I knew about the business the Falcon’s previous owners and captain had done here, at least in general if not specifics. They didn’t offer to introduce me to anyone here, so I plied my trade elsewhere.

“When I inquired of the customs officials about what the Dawn was doing when captured, I learned of a customs cutter that had rescued some kidnaped kids, and that the captain had not mentioned a particular boy to the Poldark police. The officials believed he would be very valuable to them if they could get him delivered here, but they didn’t know how to do that. That’s where I found my business opportunity. I will owe them ten percent of whatever fee you deem worth paying me for the Christoph boy’s delivery. To me the real value of that kid was the opportunity to establish a business relationship here, and aside from that kid, the animals were another perfect sales opportunity for me.”

“I see you are a person who grabs an opportunity when it appears, and you have a good business sense. The boy is very valuable to me personally, perhaps valuable in money if his father has managed to hold onto his fortune, and still loves this boy as he once appeared to. If not, the boy will become my method of vengeance against his father, a source of particular pleasure for myself, and when I am done with him he will serve as a warning to others on Poldark to never try to cheat me again. I have a long reach and great patience.”

“I respect that Sir. I too hope his father has retained his family fortune for the ransom, and my Customs contacts think the father owes you a great deal of laundered money. They had accepted bribes from the elder Christoph in the past, but he failed to deliver on promises of more, and that’s why he did
not
get his son back this time. I would hope to increase my fee for his delivery to you if he proves as valuable as you think.”

“If I’m paid what I’m owed you will be well compensated. Even if not, I will be generous for this opportunity. His father’s action with my investments on Poldark has been a sore point with me among my peers here. With the animals you have brought, assuming you can obtain more and in a greater variety, you and I have a basis for a continuing business relationship. You told my man over there that you can find young talent for me on Rim Worlds, and possibly on New Colonies, where the education and quality could be better for the tastes of the sheiks I could supply.”

By
talent,
Haveram assumed Sayed meant attractive children from a better-educated, more sophisticated class of families than typically was found on rough settlement Rim Worlds. He was a truly discerning form of a sadistic child trafficking pervert. One that was deserving of all that the Kobani would be delivering.

Sayed then discussed how the afternoon’s presentation would go, how Haveram had arranged for exchanging the animals out in the arena, using the rippers. That he found fascinating, that those deadly looking cats could be used in such a controlled manner. The Sheik discussed the interval he expected would be needed after the rhinolo were penned in the side passage, before the antelope were allowed inside. A crew would have to remove the remains of the four people that would experience the “justice” meted out by the Sheik’s court today, delivered by rhinolo horns. There needed to be parts collected, blood raked over and fresh brown soil spread to cover the discolorations before the blue streaks were released into the arena. This necessity was discussed in a dispassionate fashion, something obviously quite familiar to the Sheik.

Sayed asked, “Should I save one of the intended rhinolo demonstration subjects for the antelopes to kill?”

The euphemistic term “demonstration subject” solidified Haveram’s resolve to “adjust” Sayed’s perception of the value of human life personally. However, his practical reply revealed none of that.

“No Sir. The blue streaks can be quite deadly, but with just a few of them in such a large area, they’re more likely to back away from a human unless approached or cornered. The subject you mentioned I presume wouldn’t deliberately go anywhere near them. If there were a larger herd of the animals, with fawns to protect, some of them would certainly attack anyone in the arena with them as a possible threat.”

Sayed didn’t appear ready to question how a man that implied he’d not been to Koban could know so much about the behavior of its wild animals. Haveram had a question about where his guests would be sitting in the coliseum.

“There is a great deal of seating around that oval arena near the bottom levels, and I can have the rippers jump down into the arena from there if there is a section without people present. Will the stadium seating be crowded with people besides your invited guests? That will determine how I will use and direct the rippers to chase the rhinolo and antelope to clear the arena after each is shown. I’d like a section left open on the far side from your pavilion, where you can see me work with the rippers. If anyone were sitting over there I couldn’t do that.”

Sayed waved a hand dismissively. “Not to worry. All of my invited guests will be with me under my shaded pavilion, where food and refreshments will be served by my servants. No one else will be present today besides my animal handlers, arena cleanup crews, and security details of course. Kadar and his security men will be present with me, and each guest will have two of their own security men with them. There will be no one on the far side from us, so you are free to work from over there.”

“Excellent, I think you and your guests will have an experience you did not expect.” He smiled broadly.

Just then, there was the distant thunder of thrusters, as a descending and gleaming white and gold space yacht dropped down towards the landing pad, five miles distant.

Sayed sighed. “As usual, Sheik Qasimi is first to arrive, determined to try and make a deal before his rivals arrive. It must work for him sometimes, because he is always early. Now I have to entertain the old fool for additional hours, while I refuse to reveal what I have to sell. I apologize, and must ask you to return to your quarters and the animals until my guests and I gather at my pavilion. Kadar will not accompany you now, but one of his men will escort you. I will see you next at the arena.”

They both stood, another limp handshake, and a guard that Haveram had seen on the Falcon met him as he left the veranda.

Haveram visited Kim and Karl, and via frilling, outlined the fake show he had planned. Of course, Kim wanted to change things.
“Just two of us cannot kill a bull rhinolo, why not let the blue streaks go first, and Karl and I can demonstrate our hunting technique and bring down that big buck.”

“Are you advocating wasting the meat of a kill?”

“No! We would feed on the meat after frilling its death thoughts.”
She was shocked he would suggest she would waste a kill.

“There’ll be no time for that. We may be involved in a fight before you could eat anything. Besides, the agenda is set, and the rhinolo are already inside the arena. The Sheik plans to put four people into the arena with the rhinolo, to watch them be killed. These are bad humans, and you want to entertain them first with your hunt, to kill for fun? What sort of domestic ripper have you become, anyway?”
He was grinning as he thought that at her.

She was sullen in her answer.
“I wasn’t serious. I only tried to tease you, as humans do. You turned it back on me, I think.”

“Nice try pussy cat. But don’t tease a race of teasers, we can smell it coming.”

“Ha. Tell that to your shoes tomorrow, Chief super nose.”

Uh oh. Rippers had a sense of humor that might involve peeing in his shoes, or leaving a small dead animal’s bones in his bunk. He’d have to sleep fully dressed and in another bed for a few nights.

Then, Haveram linked to the entire planet-side complement, as they discussed possibilities and actions today, and then added links with the four ships in orbit, as to what was being observed at multiple palaces, where yachts, but not their cutters were seen undergoing preflight activities.

After hearing the reports, Haveram said, “It looks like nineteen of twenty-two sheiks may be coming. That reinforces my impression that a few of the sheiks don’t engage in the death games and child sex trade. They also have the smaller palaces, without a coliseum type structure nearby. The more decent and moral men may end up being the top dogs after today.”