Koban (24 page)

“This has far more importance than our own personal survival.
We captives, here and on Koban, need to
prove
we can learn to fight well
enough to beat their youngest warriors, at least often enough to make a protracted
war possible. That’s a counter intuitive concept you have to grasp, that the conquest
cannot be too easy for their warriors, nor proceed too fast. They have followed
what they call the Great Path for improving themselves as warriors through selective
breeding, and they have done that for perhaps twenty five thousand of our years.

“There are two alternatives if we can’t prove we can fight them
effectively, and both would be worse in my opinion. If we captives can’t demonstrate
an ability to fight them well enough, their clan leaders are close to a decision
where a small part of our race
might
be retained as slaves, to build things
for them. They would kill off the excess population. Or, and this really shows how
low they regard us to be, we could become cattle for them; fortunately we are bad
tasting meat animals, as Telour complained.”

That produced a mixture of stunned and sickened looks.

“Of far less importance, Telour has a personal agenda to undermine
Parkoda’s success deriving from our capture. He proposed an agreement with me to
organize the captives on this ship so they will learn how to fight in larger groups.
Perhaps to operate like army squads or companies were trained to do. We would also
be expected to promote this tactic with the other Koban captives.

“If Telour achieved this goal, using someone aboard this ship,
it would steal status from Parkoda because he would have overlooked the opportunity.
Telour’s plan depends on Parkoda quickly departing on a new raid without learning
about this project.

“Entirely on his own, I assure you, Telour has decided that
I
am the human he believes can lead the rest of you to do what he wants. He makes
no distinction between a Spacer and a soldier. I don’t know how to fight battles
on the ground, outside of what I’ve seen in Tri-Vid documentaries or read in old
books. However, I am convinced that if we fail to fight the Krall better than we
do as individuals, the alternatives for our species will be truly horrific.

“We need to learn everything we can about them, and we have perhaps
just a few more days to do that here on the ship. An advantage we have aboard
ship is that Telour told the other translators to talk to us about Krall history
and fighting methods, and they do love to talk about themselves and their exploits.

“But be very careful. If word reaches Parkoda of Telour’s plan,
I’m not going to see what happens after that, nor probably will anyone that allowed
that information to leak. But considering what the Krall have in mind for every
one of us, we all may have to fight or die one way or another.”

He placed his hands palm down on the table, and waited for their
reaction.

Fisher shook her head in dismay, “I had a suspicion, Captain,
based on what Dillon told us Parkoda had said, but it sounded much like a blowhard’s
exaggerated claims of superiority. To be honest, they strike me somewhat like barbarians,
at times not overly bright, despite the technology they control. If our species
had twenty five thousand years of space travel and exposure to so many alien civilizations,
I’d expect us to have left our war like ways long behind.”

“Captain, is it possible they have stolen or copied all of their
technology?” Dillon asked.

“Dillon, I didn’t hear either Parkoda or Telour brag about what
the Krall built or invented, just about the smarter species they wiped out. They
took a lot of technology from a race they called Olt’kitapi, a highly advanced spacefaring
species that appear to have actually found the Krall in their early history. Surely,
they took more from other races they say they destroyed. I don’t know if they
invented anything that we’ve seen them use.”

Dillon had another point, “Based on how you were able to convince
Parkoda to relax movement restrictions on us so soon, and the JK’s unsuspected help,”
he preferred not saying Jake’s name aloud, “they seem rather naïve in dealing with
a race they openly plan to exterminate. Aside from being willing to kill any one
of us for little or no cause, they have shown more latitude and less suspicion than
any human captors would. Does that seem smart and experienced to any of you?”

Noreen had an observation. “Perhaps they are that confident because
we’re clearly inferior physically, and they actually want us to fight back more
effectively. Why worry about what we might try to do against them? If we kill off
some of their weakest or slowest, it’s what they want anyway. I wonder about the
dumbest warriors they have. Were those already weeded out and we just aren’t seeing
the brightest on this raid?”

“I don’t believe so. The greatest achievements they claim through
those thousands of years are their own physical abilities. They score breeding points
to allow the best fighters to produce the most offspring. I don’t think they select
for the smartest warriors, just the most deadly, and Telour’s history of his species
described only contempt for the higher intelligence of the Olt’kitapi and other
defeated races.

“An example, I think, is the fact that Parkoda made us catch
a maximum energy tachyon, at least the most powerful that
we
are capable
of trapping. At the time he didn’t know we couldn’t Jump in the same manner they
do, into a faster higher dimension in Tachyon Space. I think they are now oblivious
to the fact that we were never ordered to dump that energy, and we actually have
two such tacs, one in each Trap. If we were suicidal, we could pull their ship with
us into a Jump Hole, open our Traps and we’d both disintegrate in Tachyon Space.”

“You’ve spent more time listening and talking with them Captain.
Do you think we can extrapolate from this group to most of the Krall?” asked Fisher.

Mirikami shrugged. “We’ve had too little contact with them to
generalize, but the racial history I was told is consistent with how they act. We
need to speak with Kapdol and Dorkda, the other two translators we have access to,
while we can do that in isolation on the ship, then compare notes. However, the
four of us can’t cover everything ourselves here and now, so let’s move to a different
subject while we can. You said you also have things to tell me Doctor?”

Maggi nodded yes. “It will sound ridiculously anti climatic after
what we’ve just learned, but the people that have to make decisions and devise a
strategy are important at least for our near future. Last night we nominated and
elected two new members to the Board of Directors. This not only restores the Board
to nine, but rather helps shift the political center in a more liberal and open
minded direction.”

Turning to her left, she smiled and placed her hand on Dillon’s
shoulder. “Allow me to present our first ever male member.”

A blushing but grinning Dillon bobbed his head in acknowledgement.

“Congratulations, Gentle Sir,” beamed Noreen. She reached over
and warmly took his hands in hers. A simple gesture, but it brought back the same
tingle to his nether regions; proving that end of the species scenarios couldn’t
subdue primeval urges.

“My congratulations as well Dillon,” added Mirikami, standing
to shake his hand.

Then asking, as he sat down, “Who might the other new member
be Madam Chairfem?”

Postponing her reply she said, “Captain, I doubt we’ll be allowed
to stay aboard your wonderful ship once we arrive at Koban, yet I fully expect we
will become a lot more conspiratorial in coming days. Won’t you please call me Maggi,
as a friend?”

“Certainly I will Maggi, and I’d like in private conversations,
such as this, if you would call me Tet. I think publicly you and I should remain
Madam Chairfem and Captain, to enforce our positions of authority with one another’s
respective groups, particularly after we reach Koban.”

She agreed. “I think we’ll each need as much authority as we
can muster, Tet. However, to answer your question, our other new member is a remarkable
Gracious Lady from Alders world, who I’ve known and collaborated with in my research
for decades.

“Her name is Aldry Anderfem, a granddaughter of Claronce Anderson,
the former President of Alders world, holding office when the Gene War came and
ended his term
and
his life. Her wealthy family is descended from the founding
fathers for the colony, and her first name is derived from the planet’s name.

“You might recall you’ve met her, she sat at the Captain’s table
a time or two for dinner, once by my side.”

“Yes, I do recall the Lady, and of speaking with her several
times. I told her I used to fly a route with Interworld to her home years ago, when
I was a First Officer. I didn’t make the connection to her grandfather’s name, Anderson,
when she said she was from Alders.”

Fisher chuckled, and raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Her grandmother
joined the movement on Anders to remove the ‘son’ from old family names, just as
women on other Hub worlds were doing then. Using ‘fem’ in place of ‘son,’ and adding
it to other words. As if doing that would fix everything that had gone wrong, blaming
men for everything.” She shook her head in wonder.

“Aldry’s family members are very well connected Old Colony world
Politico’s, a factor that should hold sway with a lot of Hub members of our consortium.
Not that anyone’s past influence should really matter now, not where we’re going.
She and I agree on many things, both scientific and political.

“I think the Vicechair
fem
” she emphasized the suffix,
“will find her clique’s voting bloc down to a single vote, her own. Her remaining
toady, Lady Waldon, is a bandwagon type and I’m driving that wagon now. The good
Professor Waldon will normally agree with what the most noted and influential person
says; and that will be Aldry. Alternatively, Waldon will vote with the majority,
and we have her anyway. Sycophants are tiresome, but it’s my turn to use this one.”
She added cynically.

“Whatever we decide is the right course of action, I think we
have enough objective, clear thinking people on the Board now. They will mostly
vote their own minds; however, there are more open minds on the Board than previously.
I’ll be accused of stacking the deck of course, but I think of it as having replaced
some of the marked cards.”

“Maggi, did you consider any proposals of how to forcefully handle
a situation where individuals or groups plan any actions that could get a lot of
people killed?”

“Honestly Tet, we aren’t very good at that sort of thinking and
planning, and Dillon reminded us that we probably have only a short time left on
the Flight of Fancy. We expected to spend weeks traveling to this Koban place, and
now it may be only another three days. We decided to leave it up to you, for the
time left on the ship. I imagine we will find some organization in place among the
captives already there.”

“Alright, I doubt anything will come up anyway. Nevertheless,
I realize I haven’t given enough thought to how leaving the Flight of Fancy would
affect us. If the Krall destroy her or power her down fully, or simply keep us too
far from her, we can’t use Jake for information and communications as the crew can
now. Noreen, you had some training on Jake’s hardware, any ideas on keeping in contact
with him?”

“Yes Sir, but not good ones” she conceded. “Our transducer implants
have about a three to seven mile transmission range outside the ship, based on
if we are inside or outside. However, we can
hear
Jake a lot farther away
than that, up to thirty miles line of sight. Except, outside the hull involves radio
signals, which the Krall could detect and not allow. It’s possible but unlikely
we could run a hard line from the Fancy to that dome, assuming they keep her in
one piece. We need her essentially whole and close by, once we are on the ground.”

“I’ll make an ‘efficiency’ type suggestion to Parkoda when I
can,” Mirikami proposed. “We may convince them the Flight of Fancy is useful for
them, such as an efficient way to support their captives, providing shelter, or
food preparation. They could land her at their camp, disable the Jump engines, thrusters,
and radios for example, but leave the fusion reactor active to power her. This is
Parkoda’s ‘prize,’ so keeping it for show might appeal to his ego.”

The meeting proceeded to discuss which scientists should approach
the two other translators, and what they should ask them.

Mirikami suggested someone be tasked to inquire about Koban as
soon as possible, because the Krall themselves apparently found it dangerous, and
were unworried about a human escape attempt. He told them Telour said they intended
to make Koban into their home world in the future, once they could survive there
without weapons.

Just as they started talking about whom among the ship’s crew
or passenger complement might have any military background, Mirikami and Noreen
suddenly and simultaneously waved the discussion quiet. Jake’s ever calm voice sounded
in their ears.

“Sir, a translator Krall in blue uniform has arrived on this
deck from deck 7, by the central stairwell. He spoke with the warrior in black,
and both Krall are coming towards you.”

“We have company, don’t look around.” Mirikami cautioned.

The two Krall silently glided into sight at the alcove’s opening,
where the warrior halted, and the blue uniform approached them. Mirikami couldn’t
tell if this was Telour or one of the other two translators. The typical “they
all look alike” syndrome.

The Krall apparently had a similar problem. “Is a human clan
leader one of you?”

Mirikami stood, and looked into the Krall’s chest. “I am Captain
Mirikami, the clan leader of the humans on the ship.”

It tapped its shoulder com, and its lips rippled briefly in silence,
one extended ear cupped towards the button. He pivoted and was about to leave when
Mirikami called to him.