Koban: The Mark of Koban (7 page)

The hauler forks were not quite high enough to lift the
explosive pallets over the lip of the backside of the dump trucks. Will and the
other two “Turds” solved that by tilting the beds up five degrees, to allow the
forks to clear the now lowered rear lip. Four men helped in manhandling the
pallets off the forks, then a second, third and a final fourth pallet was
loaded onto each truck.

The front loaders carefully divided their rock loads in the
back of the trucks, and the remote initiators were only then attached to the
chain of detonators. Banked dirt from the sides of the now empty three bunkers
was used to cover the explosives. When finished they had three Big Dumps, ready
to blow it out their asses.

The urgency of the plan gained impetus when Brad called to
say that much of the town was on fire, and about three or four hundred of the
invaders were moving at a rapid trotting pace on the road towards the Pipe.

Sanji spoke to the three truck drivers privately, and told
the other men they could return to the Pipe in the air cars, or stay here, it
was their choice. However, he was going in a truck with Will, and the other two
drivers were going part of the way with them.

Brad recalled his lookouts from the top of the bluffs, and
heard from Saul that his crews had inserted as many of the charges as they had
boreholes. They were pulling back. They intended to bury the remaining charges
in the roadway, closer to the Pipe.

****

Grodol’s mood was improving, slightly. A rough body count
revealed that each warrior would share in just over thirty-two kills apiece,
after the commander collected his share, and he then awarded additional points
to warriors that could prove exceptional performance. This was below the
hundreds of kills per warrior he had expected, but now they were seeking out where
most of the humans had fled.

He had sent most of his warriors ahead, following the
massive scent trail. He was returning to the Clanship with a hundred twenty
eight warriors and his K’Tal. He would move the Clanship close to wherever the
largest number of humans had gone to hide. There would be fresh ammunition to
increase the kill rate if the prey tried to flee farther.

Over by the Pipe, from around another bluff, Saul watched
the curve in the road through the explosives rigged area, hearing the rapid
crunching of hundreds of heavy feet. These beasts were not only strong, but
they ran the entire six miles from the flames at Gem Town. Even at only .81 of
Earth gravity, these creatures were obviously very strong and tough.

Suddenly a wall of the large bipeds poured around the curve,
almost filling it from side to side. They had a rather funny looking bowlegged
look, but moved very gracefully, smooth like a cat. He was tempted to let the
leaders get a little past the explosives, but wondered what he would do if even
a few got past.

He flipped up the safety cover, and motioned the others to
move back towards the Pipe’s entrance. Suddenly there was a barrage of shots,
with rounds exploding near him. Somehow, they had seen his motion there in the
shadows and were firing at him.

He pressed the button, the last valiant act of his long
life. His head and chest errupted from explosive round impacts, just as massive
explosions rippled along the rock walls, blowing tens of thousands of tons of
rock through and over the suddenly faster rushing horde.

The few men in position to see what happened saw the
incredibly fast reaction of many of the creatures as they leaped into the air,
pushing off the sides of the walls and individual boulders to gain height. It
didn’t work for most of those in the vanguard, as the crushing rocks buried
them. It was impossible to see what happened to those around the bend of the
curve, but the explosions must have caught many of them the same way.

Only three Krall escaped the explosion and wall collapse in
the front. From screams of rage well behind them, they knew other warriors
survived farther back. Strung out to fit through the narrow canyon, some had
been clear of the blast, but many clearly were injured and angry that a prey
animal had tricked them, after fleeing from them for so long.

The three warriors entered a berserker’s rage at the loss of
so many clan mates, particularly from the insult inflicted by a weak cowardly
enemy.

The three, as one, virtually screeched rage as they ran
towards the next bend, emerging from the choking dust. When they rounded the next
curve, they could see a hand of humans running, as if in slow motion to the
Krall’s senses, passing between rows of the parked wheeled human transports.
Like robots linked by the same software, all drew both of their pistols and
pulled the triggers repeatedly.

There was only a single shot heard, because they had used
the last of their ammunition firing en masse at Saul, in an excessive barrage.
That one final round was armor piercing, and passed through the upper left
shoulder of one of the engineers running away. He went down, but the rest continued
running, as they looked over their shoulders to see the three gape jawed
terrors gaining rapidly on them.

It would only be four or five leaps and the three warriors
would have their hated prey. They passed the first of the transports when one
of the humans, apparently resigning itself to death slowed and faced them. One warrior
drew a short sword, to carve pieces from this human, to eat as it and the other
humans watched.

It was that delightful thought he still had in his mind, as
he suddenly departed the Great Path, the route to improving the Krall’s breed
of warriors. These three killers lost all status points for this day’s killings,
when the human that had slowed pressed the button of a
second
detonator.
He watched the explosives buried in the roadway shred even the tough tissues of
the three Krall.

Grodol learned of the disaster of the pursuit of the humans
from an octet leader that had lost five of her warriors in the blast at the
canyon. There remained only sixty-eight effectives, and two hands of warriors
that might live, but were unable to pursue the enemy due to multiple lost
limbs, or crushing injuries. Many were pinned under slabs of rock even several
warriors could not move.

This particular octet leader, clearly angry with her
commander, had communicated her report on an open channel that every warrior could
hear. Grodol knew that this level of insubordination foretold more than a
disgrace and loss of breeding points for him. His particular gene line would
end. An honorable option was to turn berserker and fight humans until killed. However,
he had no clear successor.

The leader of a hand of octets, ordered to follow Grodol back
to the ship, eliminated this difficult decision. He did that by erasing the
stain from Graka clan. He shot Grodol in the back of the head. There was a
consensus of octet leaders that this was the most efficient way to resolve the
issue. Now the highest status warrior in this raiding party was Daktor, and he would
lead.

Daktor ordered all of the survivors to return to the ship
with haste. The resupplied warriors would attack the humans from an unexpected
direction, after he repositioned the Clanship on the other side of the blocked
canyon. Telour had warned that humans were fond of traps and trickery.
Therefore, the key was to place his warriors were humans did not expect the
Krall to be.

****

The aliens would not expect the humans to be here. Sanji was
taking the trucks off-road by the most direct route to the alien ship. He had
learned of Saul’s death from Brad, but his chief engineer had taken many of the
killers with him. The last of the explosives stored at the Pipe had killed the
only three aliens that had made it past the initial blast in the canyon.

In a show of intestinal fortitude that Sanji admired, Brad
had climbed the bluff to see what the aliens were doing where the canyon road
was blocked. He could have run right into them, bypassing the blockage in the
same way. Instead, for some reason they were racing back towards the town, he
reported seeing the flicker of their shadows from the backlight of fires that
they had set earlier.

Speculating, Sanji asked, “Brad, if
you
could climb
up to get around the blocked road, why do you think
they
didn’t? Give me
your best guess.”

“Boss, they somehow spotted Saul in the shadows and started firing
at him, just before he blew the canyon. The number of shots they fired was relatively
low. Only ten or fifteen rounds, from at least a hundred of them that were
leading the charge. Of the three that got past the destruction, they all drew
their weapons, yet only one fired a single shot, wounding one of the riggers.
They holstered their guns and drew knives, still running at us, before Jason
blew them to Hell. I think they used up most of their ammunition in town.”

Sanji considered that a moment. “Then you think the retreat
is just to resupply at their ship?”

“Yes Sir. Would you invade a world only with the ammunition
you could carry on your belt?”

“Makes sense to me. It sounds like there are two parties
heading back to their ship now.  So,” he mused. “They’ll be there soon getting
reloads, with the others close behind. All the rats in the same hole…” he left
the thought hanging.

Suddenly he made his decision. “I’ll get back to you Brad.”

Next, he turned to Will for some instruction. “Show me how
you link up a lead truck to make the others follow.”

Suspecting what his CEO had in mind, Will told him, “It
won’t work without at least one certified transducer equipped driver in the
lead truck, Sir. I’ll bet that isn’t you. The other drivers and I can drive them
where you want. Tell us what you plan to do, and then you should get out.”

“Will, I won’t allow you to do something that I expected to
do alone. I’ll not let any of you do it in my place. It could be a one way
trip.”

“Relax Sir. I’ll tell you how a real Turd would do this.” He
grinned.

****

Daktor, the K’Tal pilot, and one hundred twenty eight novice
warriors reached the edge of the pad where the Clanship had landed. Using his
com button on his shoulder, the K’Tal tapped out the coded signal to open the
lower hatches. All four hatches snapped up into their hull recesses, revealing
the stacks of pistol and rifle ammunition inside, and even heavier plasma
rifles, if they were required.

Addressing his octet leaders, Daktor instructed them, “Make
sure every warrior takes the maximum ammunition they can carry. We will use
knives only when we have captured the last of the enemy, and no other traps or
long pursuit is possible.” He wasn’t going to allow
his
warriors to
rampage recklessly and run out of ammunition. That was Grodol’s mistake. One of
several he made.

Reloading and stocking up was still underway when all of the
Krall heard the sudden roar of a powerful engine. It was close.

Daktor was among the first to react, leaping out of one of
the large hatchways. From around the side of the heavy human shuttle, on which so
many warriors had wasted ammunition, rumbled an extremely large transport. It
must have been sitting there waiting with engine off, because they would have
heard it coming from a long distance away. That meant a human was in control,
and trying a surprise attack on the Clanship.

A hundred thirty Krall, two pistols each, began firing at
the gigantic machine. There was a cockpit-like compartment on the front,
located under a wide heavy lip of what had to be part of the giant truck’s rear
bed.

Explosive shells and armor piercing rounds were striking the
monster all across its front, as they sought a way to bring it to a halt. It
clearly was going to try to ram and damage the Clanship. The huge black wheels
seemed impervious to their fire, as indeed they were for the most part. They were
solid carbon fiber matrix, and although chips were coming off where explosive
rounds struck, the armor piercing slugs were simply absorbed.

The plazsteel front windshield shattered, as hundreds of
rounds sparked off the heavy hardened steel of the cockpit. The thick plate
steel, there to protect drivers from collisions that would crush smaller
machines, kept the bullets from damaging the electronics and the AI that steered
the truck. However, it wasn’t a combat designed vehicle, and some serendipitous
shots managed to hit hydraulic lines.

The machine began to slow, it’s steering appeared to be drifting
to the right. The engine even increased its roar, but the huge truck wasn’t
picking up speed. It continued towards the Clanship, no longer centered on it,
as the speed gradually slowed. When it hit, it’s mass, even at only ten miles
per hour rocked the ship with a huge clang and a sound of crumpled hull plates.

Several warriors raced up to the cockpit and emptied their
pistols into it from over the edge of the shattered windows, in case there were
living humans hiding inside.

Daktor was no longer interested in the disabled truck. He
needed to inspect the landing jack that it had struck. Calling the K’Tal on his
com set, he met with him to inspect the damage.

There was a hole in the hull from warped and torn plates,
and the landing jack had bent slightly. This was not serious damage at all. The
humans’ trick had failed. However, it was another clever use of mining
equipment. Humans were good at improvising, he was learning.

He sprouted his internal ears as he caught the sounds of
ultrasonic calls coming from the direction of the collapsed human dome. The
remainder of his new command would be here shortly. The damaged jack would not
retract, but that wasn’t necessary for the relocation he would make, nor would
this hamper Jump travel. The K’Tal returned to the command deck to prepare for
the short relocation flight.