Koban: The Mark of Koban (73 page)

This is taking too long.
She fumed.
If this were
Kimbo I doubt they would wait this long to attack unless they are weak in
numbers. If the clan were Maldo, they would want their leader’s decision, even
if they outnumber us.

“I will not be angry if you call me again to look.” She went
back outside to make another call to the dome to ask for a negotiation.

Her reward this time was a response on the same frequency
she had been using, broadcast as an Omni-Directional transmission that each of
the warriors could hear.

“What do you want to negotiate?” Jake asked that in response
to her offer.

That brought her up short. The subject of a negotiation would
be blindingly obvious to a pair of novices that had each broken a rule. The two
clans were on Koban against the orders of the joint council. Neither group
wants to risk losing any of a lifetime of earned status points for promotions
and breeding.

The accent was neutral for whichever clan the warrior
speaking was a member, and the pitch of the voice was odd. The pronunciation
was perfect to a Krall’s sensitive hearing. The words sounded as if they came
from a high-ranking older Krall with many years of experience guiding their
tongue and lips. Yet they did not understand what negotiation this predicament
required?

She noted the looks from the four warriors outside with her
that they found the question and speaker somehow off kilter as well. She shook
her left shoulder to signal her mystification to them.

“We require an agreement for silence of our mutual visit to
Koban. We will offer a reasonable assurance that our clan will not learn of our
landings here. We want the same of you. I am of Tanga clan, of what clan are
you?” She had made the first offer of openness, so they were honor bound to
follow suit.

Jake was unschooled in Krall culture, and directed to keep
the presence of the human “clan” here a secret, so he equivocated. “We agree to
maintain our silence if you will do the same. What do you consider a reasonable
assurance of secrecy from our clan?” He ignored the issue of what Krall clan he
presumably represented. The AI wasn’t aware that a mutual exchange of trust was
expected, that knowing the other clan’s identity demanded he provide the same
information to them.

Toltak was initially shocked at the lack of honor displayed,
realizing that no negotiation would now be possible. However, the naïve offer
to maintain silence, without first offering a reasonable explanation of how to
assure it, was backwards. She was inclined to attack them immediately, but this
warrior’s behavior was decidedly unlike a Krall. The other presumed warriors
with him would not want to be included in the lack of honor this one displayed.
One of them should have spoken up by now.

One of them did, and her previous shock was multiplied many
fold.

****

Mirikami, monitoring Jake’s Standard translation of what he
was saying to the Krall, immediately sensed this was the wrong opening
question. He didn’t hear Jake’s translation of Toltak’s negotiating points, because
Dillon broke in to tell him about Cahill. He was thinking furiously as Jake
translated a now meaningless response to the Krall. Time to let them know whom
they were really dealing with before Cahill did it for them.

He quickly told Alyson what Cahill was doing, then said,
“Jake, put me on the frequency with the Krall, I’ll do the talking, no
translation needed.”

“Yes Sir. Ready.”

“Toltak, the human that was speaking for me does not speak
high Krall very well, so I will conduct the negotiations in Standard, which I
know you speak well. I am the human clan leader here, and my name is Mirikami.
I am sending a representative to speak directly with you as a show of my trust.
She is in a blue uniform, walking towards you from the dome. She is unarmed.”

Perhaps the Krall might think a blue covering signified a
translator, as it often did for them. It might keep Cahill alive another few
minutes. He wondered how long it would take Toltak to realize he had slipped up
when he used her name.

“Jake,” using the AI’s name assured he would not send this
to the Krall. “Has the Krall speaker ever said her name or their mission here?
Don’t reconnect me for a moment.”

“No Sir. She never said her name or mission.”

“I was afraid of that. I hope she doesn’t ask how I know her
name. Jake, connect me again.”

Toltak was in the middle of demanding confirmation of what he’d
just said. “…are humans we left here at Koban Prime? How did you reach this
dome? We see the animal you are sending to us. If it makes any movement we do
not trust, it will die.”

Mirikami heard enough to fill in her first question,
remembering she knew the Prime City compound by its old name. “We had some
shuttles inside the larger human ships disabled at Koban Prime, and used them
to move people here after all the Krall left. Parkoda had destroyed the gates,
and the Koban animals were killing our people. I was the Captain of the first
large ship Parkoda brought there, called the Flight of Fancy. I led some of the
survivors to this compound, where the gates remained closed. We restarted the
fusion bottles to keep the Koban animals out, and we ate the Raspani for food.
I told Telour, of the Graka clan, that we would stay alive.”

There are enough plausible story details in there
, he
thought.

Some were even true, and knowing she was Tanga clan meant
she probably knew of Parkoda. A fact she quickly confirmed.

“Parkoda was right. We should have killed all of you before
we left. The joint council should not have agreed to let any of you live. I
will fix that mistake, by destroying this dome.”

Mirikami had a counter to that anticipated threat. “If you
leave such obvious destructive evidence that you were here, some future joint
council will search for the clan that violated their restriction and returned
to Koban, no matter how many years have passed. Your clan will pay the price when
they find proof of your past dishonor. We will hide many recordings of this
conversation, and the video proof of your landing. To keep this dome in one
piece, you will have to find and kill all of us in a hunt, and we out number
your small force. We have over eight humans for each of you six warriors. Speak
to our emissary and she will confirm we have the guns that you left us. If you
do not harm her, we will let you live.” That should inflame Toltak, yet force
her to verify what he said with the so-called emissary.

“Jake, cease the Krall radio transmission. Encrypt our conversation
now, and send a text copy to Ethan’s radio hand set. Now Link me with Thad and
Dillon.”

“Ready, Sir.”

“Gentlemen you heard. We have until Cahill walks over and
spills the beans to decide our next move.”

“Won’t they be listening to this now?” Dillon asked.

“Probably, but it should take a little time to find the
encryption key to these transmissions. I won’t talk long and I want you to
activate one of your portable radios for those around you to hear what we say.
Invite Stewart over to participate.”

As soon as the mayor joined them, Mirikami started. “What about
if I let the Krall know we have control of the Clanship? I can open the hatch
facing towards them and be ready to fire on the six of them and the shuttle
with our four pistols.” Mirikami didn’t think they could possibly hold them
off, not even using the four nearly depleted plasma rifles that he deliberately
failed to mention. This was pre-emptive, because this bad tactic might occur to
someone else.

As he anticipated, Dillon and Thad strongly argued that idea
down.

Thad outlined the reasons the best, really addressing the comment
to Hub City residents rather than trying to convince Mirikami. He was certain
Tet put that bad idea out for exactly that purpose, since he’d had voiced the
same objection earlier. “Not a good idea Commander. If even one warrior gets
past you, the fight is over and we lose the planet when they power up the
plasma cannons and lasers. The shuttle pilot would also be free to reload the
warriors under its cover. Then lift up and use their lasers. That eventually
has the same fatal result for us. We don’t want them thinking of those options.”

“Right you are. I agree, but I wanted everyone to know why
that’s too risky.”

MacDougal offered another idea that Mirikami had expected.
“What if we all charge them from out of the overhang, driving and using the
cover of the trucks? They can’t stop us all and we’ll reach and overwhelm them.”

Mirikami tackled that one. “It’s a courageous proposal
Stewart, but again, it takes time to develop. The shuttle lasers would hit you
hard, and it can load up and lift before you get there. We lose if we force
them to take that option.”

They partly heard a proposal from someone behind MacDougal, and
the mayor repeated it on the com system. “The boy, Ethan, he went out with the
two rippers to flank them. They can attack from the back side at the same
time.”

They were closer to the scenario Mirikami was trying to
orchestrate, but that wasn’t enough by itself. “Only Ethan can attack them from
a distance with his rifle or pistols. The cats will take time to cover the
ground and close with them. Some of the Krall will make it inside the shuttle
and it will lift, and we lose. We need that shuttle staying on the ground, its
hatch open, and the Krall distracted from that eventual attack. We need all the
warriors otherwise involved when that attack comes.”

Dillon was feeling as frustrated as the rest of the
listeners. There didn’t seem to be an answer that led to a victory. “Tet, you
said Cahill was the distraction. How can we use that?”

“She
is a
distraction but not
the distraction
we need. What do you think will happen when the Krall have her behind that
shuttle and start to question her?”

“She went there on her own. They’ll listen.”

“No, these are Krall. They won’t believe anything she says
that physical duress did not force from her. I’m going to push them hard enough
that they will place her under duress. That’s unfortunate for her traitorous
ass, but we need a reasonable excuse for what we will do next.”

Mirikami suspected Thad might have figured out the next
step. He certainly understood the honor code of Krall warriors. If not aware of
what Mirikami was up to yet, he’d recognize its necessity, and no matter how reluctantly,
would accept it. Dillon, for all of his successful efforts at becoming
proficient with guns, at hunting, and hand-to-hand training, was at heart a
civilian scientist without a military background. His logical mind might tell
him one thing, but his heart would say another. He hoped his friend would
forgive him.

“What will that step be?” Dillon asked.

“Let me set it up first. Has Cahill reached the shuttle
yet?”

Thad provided him an update. “She passed almost under the
Clanship, and is walking towards the nose of the shuttle. It looks like she’s
having trouble holding up her arms so long in this gravity. I can see sweat on
her back and under her arm pits.”

They couldn’t see Mirikami’s nod. “Naturally. She doesn’t
have the heat mod, or any of the mods that make it easier to live on this
world. Her physical weakness matches the last impression the Krall had of
humans here. However, I don’t want them to shoot her if her arms drop. Jake,
put me on the Krall radio frequency again.”

“Ready, Sir.”

“Toltak, my emissary grows tired in the gravity and heat.
You can see she is having trouble holding up her arms. Do not shoot her if she
lowers her hands. She has no weapons, but brings you information about why you
would be wise to leave here while you can. We have grown much stronger living
here, and you will find we are better fighters than before you left. She will
confirm that for you. I told her what to tell you.”

“I see the animal’s wetness under its arms. Your strength is
not so great if you cannot walk fast or even hold up your own arms. Do you
think her example will make us leave you alive, to continue to foul our future
home world?”

“She will tell you the truth, that you cannot beat us in a
fight. Our children are stronger than you are now. They grew up on this world.
Do not test us, and leave us in peace while you are still alive.”

There wasn’t a snowball’s chance at midsummer on the savanna
that the Krall would do that, but their blood pressure, from both heart
systems, would probably be spiking right now.

He could easily visualize Toltak’s snarl when she answered.
“I, Toltak, of Tanga clan, will personally cut out and eat your foul tasting living
heart for that insult.”

“I think you will change your mind when you hear from my
emissary. Hear what she says, and then give your more informed reply.” Poor
traitorous Cahill was about to meet an ugly fate. Nevertheless, she could still
render a service to humanity. This was assuming that Mirikami’s callous seeming
plan worked out. That was far from certain. He felt some guilt over sealing
Cahill’s fate, assuaged, slightly by the knowledge he would not long survive
her if this plan failed.

“Jake, let me know when she answers.” He then addressed his
human listeners.

“People, I’m certain the Krall were going to kill her
anyway, but now her inevitable death has been turned into an official pretext
to make what must follow sound reasonable, at least from a Krall warrior’s
perspective. I gave her a fictitious role in the presumed negotiation they
themselves called for. Their offer to negotiate wasn’t intended for us, but we
can demand satisfaction for the death of our so-called emissary.”

MacDougal was confused, but not outraged. “Demand
satisfaction? What do you expect them to offer? They don’t give a damn about
us, or our anger. I don’t see how ensuring Cahill’s death helped us.”