Koban: Rise of the Kobani (47 page)

Trakenburg wasn’t nearly so skeptical now. He recalled the incident. His AI, Max, back at his headquarters was out of transducer range, but he used a landline to call, and asked him to upload that fight sequence to another AI at the training base in the crater.

He and Longstreet watched the short sequence multiple times, in light of their new perspective. Brock deliberately looking away from Jenkins, nodding to Greeves and then leaping to meet what should have been a surprise move from Jenkins.  He clearly anticipated Bender’s kidney kick without ever looking his way.

Shaking his head in dismay,
he decided Longstreet was probably right. Trakenburg gave him the first order that came to mind. “Make all our men wear the beta test Booster Suit gloves, even if they crumple a few fragile items before they develop fine control. You and I will wear them too if we are ever in a position to shake hands with any of those TG1s.”

He gave his reasoning. “Every indication I’ve seen and as you have described is that if this is real, it requires physical contact with their hands. Mirikami and his men don’t form those rings when training, so they can’t directly do what the TG1s do. However, they must get a training update from them each night. Obviously, these kids can send as well as receive…, something…,” he was grasping for the proper description. 

“They could be passing what they learned on to the SGs later. That must be why the older men show a day’s lag time in improvement, yet are still far ahead of the training schedule.”

His own mind was doing what Longstreet’s had just done. Going over inconstancies and mysteries, which he’d recently pondered. “It is incredible, but this idea certainly makes some other pieces fall into place that I couldn’t make fit. General Nabarone and I have had joint possession of that damn Krall clanship commander; a fruitless interrogation, I might add, since they turned his paralyzed butt over to us last month. He’s alive and aware and we have to force feed him, and apply that drug daily to keep him docile and unable to will his own death.

“However, he has never uttered a single word to us. Dr. Martin says the Krall had finally realized he was actually speaking aloud when he thought of the answers to our questions, and had clammed up to stop helping them after they attacked his ship. Before that, Carson, was recorded telling them by transducer that he had been getting intelligence from that Krall, which they acted on to win the fight. Such as how to armor seal the troop transport’s front cabin, how many warriors they faced, and that clue about how the Krall were warned just before a plasma weapon would fire.”

Longstreet nodded. “Sir, as you know, our technical people have programmed our AI’s to look for that weak pre-flash via our IR sensors. It’s a real effect, which we never noticed and they lacked IR sensors to see. It’s plausible that the Krall commander told them that.”

Trakenburg shook his head. “That detail
seemed
to imply a fluency in high or low Krall, which I questioned that they had. The TGs can’t hear ultrasonic speech, which is what a Krall normally uses with other Krall, so he would have needed to mumble to them in low Krall or Standard. You claim Carson is a TG1, so he might be able to read an
alien’s
mind against his will.” He definitely looked troubled now.

“I don’t know if we should let them know what we suspect, or confirm the ability some way first.” He made a Krall-like snort, unaware that it sounded like one. “Hell, if I report this, and I’m believed of course, the government might order the Navy to simply nuke them here in the crater, to kill them all before they get strong enough to take us all over if they defeat the Krall.”

Longstreet was shocked. “Colonel, whatever their capabilities are, or why they want to stay unknown to the Hub government, they risked the future of all their people to come here to help us fight the Krall. In my opinion, their fear of Gene War paranoia is valid, and your comment confirms you apparently agree with that.”

“I do, and I have no intention of sharing knowledge of their existence with the Navy or any political arm of our government. I’m a patriot, but the Krall are the enemy we face now. Who in your platoon knows what you suspected?”

“My men haven’t spoken to me on this so I don’t think they suspect anything. However, if you and I suddenly cut off physical contact now, with no more hand touching, the TGs or Mirikami will soon deduce that we learned they have this ability. If we don’t prevent physical contact they will sense it sooner.”

Trakenburg agreed. “Damned if we do and damned if we don’t. If we let them know we found them out, and then we accept them and continue to work with them, it should earn their trust. A trust they will know we return, assuming that we do, because we probably can’t hide it from them anyway. Are you personally prepared to take that step, Captain Longstreet, and offer that exchange of trust?”

“Colonel, if they can do what I believe they can do, it can’t just be me showing trust. You need to be party to the agreement as well, because I will know of any reservations you express to me now. Frankly, even if you conceal negative feelings from me, Sir, they will know of your knowledge. You’ll have to allow them to touch you to verify your thoughts. I definitely have privacy concerns. However, I believe there is a genuine sense of integrity in Captain Mirikami, and those that follow him. Sergeant Reynolds was a Poldark patriot, who would not sell his soul for a new arm and big muscles. He was won over by these people, and he certainly knows about these TG1s, because he hasn’t fallen behind in our training.”

In a rare smile from Trakenburg, he said, “Captain, I started out skeptical as hell, but I was feeling you out just now, because I was already committed to meeting with them, to say we know what the TG1s can do, and that I trust them to use the ability to humanity’s benefit. They will certainly learn that I damn well want to try to get that same ability for our own troops.

“We need to set up a meeting. If they are going to trust you and me, then I suspect it will be extended to General Nabarone. I don’t kid myself. They like him, and even you for that matter, far more than they do me.”

****

Thad was suspicious. “This morning you announce we’re leaving next week, and suddenly we are invited before noon to meet with Henry, Joe, and Trakenburg, all of it set up by the colonel. He wants you and me, Dillon and Sarge present, and we learn through Jakob that Ethan and Carson were pulled from a practice Special Reconnaissance mission and are flying back.”

“I can almost hear an accusation from the tone of your summation, Thad.” Mirikami told him. “All of us here know you don’t trust the colonel, and I have reservations concerning his motivations, and the means he might be willing to employ to achieve his goals. However, I’m also confident that his goal is to develop a force that can attack the Krall on their base worlds. Something Trakenburg knows we intend to do.

“What skullduggery could he engage in that would involve General Nabarone in a complicit manner? And include his subordinate, Captain Longstreet, whom I know wants us to succeed, and frankly, via a chance Tap last week, was seriously thinking of jumping ship to go with us.”

“Really?” Dillon asked. “He’s a pretty gung ho trooper. I’d not think he’d ever consider desertion.”

“Hey! Did I desert, Dillon?” Sarge quickly asked. “I’m going with you, even though I’m back on Poldark, my home, and I’m technically still in the PU Army for the duration of the war. I once swore an oath to the PU that I would help protect this planet and all of Human Space.”

“I’m sorry, Sarge. Poor choice of words. I meant he is so devoted to Special Ops. He’d be leaving that if he came with us, if we could even take him, that is. Our next stop is home.” They still avoided saying the name.

Thinking around Sarge’s offended feelings, Thad asked, “Tet, how did you find out about Joe’s intentions? Did he come to you?”

“No. A little Mind Tapper told me.”

“Then the blue bird of happiness flew up my nose. What do you mean a little ‘Mind Tapper’ told you? I thought we were no longer snooping on our allies.”

“The descriptive ‘little’ in this case is accurate. Kally Murchifem told me.” The Hub City girl was one of the smallest TGs they had, but had earned the TG1 upgrade before the Jump to Human Space by her attitude and skills.

Tet explained how the Tap had happened. “Kally wasn’t
trying
to Tap Joe. She had nearly taken a fall when the single rope she used to rappel down the crater wall was cut by shards of rock, detritus which someone else’s rope above her scraped loose. In a fluke, it hit right on a piton or on her anchor and cut the line. Kally instantly pulled line in and formed a large bight in her slack rope, and slung the loop over a nearby basalt projection to stop her fall. You know how crumbly these crater walls are; she said choss was falling from the base of her new support rock. She still wasn’t safe, and swinging like a barn door, dangling well away from the wall, and the chunk of basalt was slowly giving way.

“Joe was on a parallel rope near her, instructing and providing advice to the entire squad.  He dropped lower and did a pendulum over to grab her hand for a moment. She attached a spare carabiner from her pocket to his line, and made the last hundred feet of the descent on his rope.

“Aside from the falling rocks and cut line, what made it unusual was a grateful comment she made when he offered her his hand, and the fact that neither was wearing gloves for the exercise’s simulated impromptu emergency descent. Kally told him she would miss him and his men’s help, after we are on our own against the Krall.

“While she grasped his hand, she saw that he desperately wanted to go with us to fight the Krall. She sensed his determination to find a way to make it happen. Kally told me, and I’ve since been trying to think of ways I can help him do that.”

Thad said, “Unless he makes it a lifetime commitment, we can’t let him know where home is located, or even its name. How could we leave him on his own there, or let him come back here after that?”

“How did we verify Sarge’s commitment, his dedication? Why do we know we can trust him?” Tet reminded them.

“Hey again! I’m standing right here, you know.”

Tet grinned. “You’re
here,
Sarge, because we have TG1’s that quickly discovered your honesty your commitment, and your sincere desire to jump into our illegal gene pool, in which you now stand, right up to your scrawny neck.”

“Hell. I didn’t know I was being vetted for membership to your damned club. Is there a secret handshake I missed? And my neck isn’t scrawny anymore.” He was glaring back, but had a devilish twinkle when he looked at Thad.

Thad matched the twinkle. “Not a handshake, Sarge. A twentieth century gang sign from Earth, just like this one that Maggi taught me.” Thad’s middle finger demonstrated.

“Oh. I’ve seen that. Behind your back, every time you think you’ve won an argument with your wife.”

“Gentle Men,” Mirikami admonished. “Aside from the fact that I’ve never observed Thad win an argument with Marlyn, I was pointing out we have the means to not only determine their sincerity, but to make them
coconspirators
. I believe they want to do more than join us, I think they wish they could
be
one of us. At home, we have the means to make them SGs, as we did Sarge, and ourselves.”

He emphasized his most salient point. “We are truly
a self-made people.
”

Dillon was nodding his understanding. “Twenty years ago we thought we would need three actual generations to achieve a third generation. We have TG1s now, and with new Hub technology, driven by the war the Krall forced on us, we have new med labs and the nanites we never imagined having when we started. I have not had time to analyze the templates for the new nanites we sent home, but I know Aldry and Rafe have had time since the Beagle returned. In principle, they should be able to put them to use improving our gene mod processes.

“We four have already committed to trying to reach the next generational level, just to be able to
travel
with our TGs. We can’t place them at risk simply because we can’t survive the same stresses they can take in stride. However, I don’t think you have to have been stranded on our planet for twenty years, or to be born there to become one of us.”

Mirikami felt smugly proud, as he sensed Dillon was on the verge of making the proposal he’d been leading towards, and making a better case than he might have done.

Dillon asked the question that, for generations to follow, would become the defining one for Koban’s place in humanity’s future.

“Why can’t we offer citizenship by applicants literally becoming one of us?” He of course meant their opting for the illegal gene mods to become a Kobani, subject to a HUB law death penalty, unfortunately.

That should tighten the loyalty bonds,
thought Mirikami.

There was a moment of silence, as this enlightening question was considered.

Of course, Sarge had to sully the grand moment, slightly.  “Hell yes. That makes me immigrant New Citizen Number One! I want a certificate.”

Mirikami sighed, his pride diluted. He finally got someone to announce the right decision
before
he had to maneuver anyone into it, or decide
for
him or her. Thanks to Sarge, it would become a bone-headed contest to see who would have the next lowest New Citizen number as bragging rights, because Reynolds would make sure everyone knew
he
was the first.