Koban: The Mark of Koban (77 page)

Every Krall eye was on him as he turned to face the shuttle.
Toltak couldn’t believe such a small human, roughly one-third the apparent mass
of Stilkap, was able to hold his limp body by one upraised arm and hand.
Against Koban’s gravity, she realized this was a more impressive feat of
strength than she’d ever thought a human capable of performing. Then he showed
her another.

He began running the hundred feet towards the shuttle in
easy looking, long smooth strides, with Stilkap’s limp body hardly jiggling as
the human held it steady in front of him. She now could see Stilkap’s open
eyes, moving from side to side, trying to see what was happening. He wasn’t
unconscious, as she had assumed after learning he wasn’t dead, he was alert
enough to observe what was going on. How had this much smaller young human manage
to do this to an experienced warrior?

Her inquiring mind, not terribly curious at the best of
times, suddenly focused on her own survival. The human had, in a move even she
found fast, drawn his left sidearm and aimed at her. The flash and SWOOSH of
the caseless accelerating projectile was all that saved her life, because it
provided just enough warning for her fast reaction to move her head out its
path. She heard the high-pitched soft whine as it passed her left ear. It might
had struck her left eye had she not instantly ducked right, to get behind the
shuttle.

Rudbit had released the arms of the human he was holding to
draw both his weapons, and as the human’s first shot passed near Toltak’s ear,
Rudbit fired his left pistol (from his fastest hand), and didn’t make a useful
second shot from his right hand weapon, since that slug went into the tarmac.
That error was understandable, given the splatter of red and grey matter
exploding out of the rear of his skull.

Rudbit’s first aimed shot was on the mark, as was generally
the case for a Krall, particularly when simply standing still as he had been.
That bullet plowed deep into the left side of the chest, and buried itself in
the heart. Stilkap’s left side heart.

It originally had been on track to strike the human between
the eyes. Except Carson had estimated the future aiming point by looking along
the rising pistol barrel, and he shifted the “shield” he was carrying slightly
to his left as he himself moved to the right, just before the gun flash.

Carson’s own head shot, made after the Krall released Cahill,
but before she hit the ground, was already on the way. He had fired quickly
after the missed shot at the leader. It just couldn’t arrive in time to prevent
that return fire, so he employed his thick bodied “bullet catcher.”

Another warrior, Kildar, was stepping around the rear of the
shuttle for a clearer shot at the human. He’d have to expose his left or right
side from behind that Krall meat shield when he drew closer. The next thing
that entered Kildar’s thoughts was a .50 caliber round, which left a much
larger gap in his skull than a pistol round. His muzzle flew off and forward,
proving the shot came from behind. Ethan had arrived, firing the heavy weapon
at a dead run.

He dropped the big rifle in favor of using both pistols, but
quickly found himself twisting aside to avoid a shot from the Krall leader. She
was responding to that heavy gunshot sound, and narrowly missed her agile
target. He had twisted in midair, and the slug passed inches from him. He fired
back, hitting her once in the lower torso as she too rolled into a tuck to make
a smaller target. She continued to roll until she was behind Cahill, but not so
far as to be exposed beyond the shuttle nose, a target for the human running
towards the shuttle. The dimwitted emissary was numbly sitting next to Rudbit’s
corpse, too frightened to move.

In her left peripheral vision Toltak caught a glimpse of
teal, which flashed in view briefly towards the aft end of the shuttle, but her
attention was on the human that had just gone to ground after giving her a
minor abdominal wound, and presumably having killed Kildar. That warrior had
not fired back since the booming rifle blast, which was a powerful indication
he wasn’t able to do so.

She used the flabby human as a shield, as she sought out her
target in the high grass. He had appeared to scurry quickly through the high
grass after landing. She was on the verge of basting away with explosive rounds
in his vicinity, when a chilling huge roar sounded from her own right, in grass
closer to the shuttle’s nose. There was no mistaking the sound of a ripper this
close.

Pindor had an ankle wound, but was firing towards the human around
the rounded shuttle nose. He had left that foot exposed below the bow and the
human took the only shot he had. He must still be using Stilkap as a shield out
there on the ramp, because bullets striking the edge of the shuttle nose and on
the tarmac behind Pindor proved the human was still shooting back. Now a ripper
was joining the attack. The cowardly emissary had not lied about that either.

There were two mysteriously effective human fighters closing
with them, and a ripper nearby. Her team had suffered three warrior casualties,
therefore, it was time to get into the shuttle and use its mobility and lasers
from the air. She called behind her to Pindar, telling him to follow her, as
she picked up the human sack of flabby white flesh, to block the shots she
assumed would be coming from the human in the grass.

Pindor took several more shots at the prone corpse of
Stilkap, using explosive rounds that made small geysers of blood and guts spout
from his disgraced former clan mate. The human was so small he was invisible
behind the thick bulk of the now dead warrior. Except when he raised a hand in
a brief flash from some random spot behind the frayed body, firing extremely
accurate shots in return. That was how Pendor’s ankle had been shattered.

Unlike a Krall, humans did not charge into a battle,
recklessly accepting wounds. They were too fragile, and because of that, they clung
to life tightly. As tightly as this human appeared to be clinging to safety,
and staying under cover. His caution would cost all the humans their lives.
This cowardly bad tactic allowed Pindor to fire two shots, quickly disengage
and fall in behind Toltak and her human meat shield. He limped badly, but was
blocking out the pain. They would enter the shuttle and close the hatch, then
rise to let Gapod burn them. The ripper that had roared earlier now streaked out
of the tall grass towards the edge of the tarmac, bounding left, right, and
twisting as it was fired at, and missed repeatedly. A shot from the grass
struck Pindor in the arm but he considered it a flesh wound because it did not
break a bone. He lifted his bad ankle through the hatch, just as the other
human leaned around the craft’s nose around shot him in his other knee, causing
him to go down. He shot back instantly, but too late to score a hit.

Toltak callously stepped on his back and placed her other
foot in the shuttle, as she fired off a series of rounds towards the bow and
emptied her second clip. She counted on the hostage to guard her front from the
human that was too stupid to shoot through her to kill an enemy.

She triumphantly slapped the overhead panel to close the
hatch, unnecessarily leaving Pindor to his fate. As the hatch lowered past
halfway, she holstered her empty weapon, pulled a short knife from her chest
belt and, with a fast downward and powerful slash,
eviscerated the hostage and shoved her body onto
Pindor, as she screamed and clutched at her intestines, spilling from the long
gaping wound.

She
shouted to Gapod. “Lift the shuttle and come around before these two humans can
run far enough to find shelter. They move fast, but I want to see if they can
outrun a laser.” The last of the outside light at the bottom of the hatch, as
it swung closed, showed Pindor looking up at her with hatred. She could have
waited for him to use his arms to pull himself in, or hauled him in herself, but
chose leave him to the mercies of the ripper. She heard a shot through the
closed hatch, but didn’t know who had pulled the trigger.

She shook
her left shoulder dismissively at her clan mate’s hatred. If he were lucky, a
shuttle thruster jet would cut him in half, before the ripper tore him limb
from limb. With that thought in mind, she didn’t hear the low whine of the
thrusters increasing, as they built power to get airborne.

“Gapod get
us airborne,
now!
Before we have to hunt for those two humans.”

He didn’t
answer, the ship didn’t lift, and there was no thruster noise. The cockpit door
was open, as it often remained, but her pilot didn’t look around the edge to acknowledge
his leader’s order. She saw something on the darkened floor in the windowless
cabin area, darker than the shadows cast by the doorframe that was backlit from
the Koban sun. Her nose, previously filled with the scent of her own, Pindor’s,
and the human’s blood, scented other things. A fresh, strong blood smell was
from a stain on the floor, seeping out of the cockpit, from beneath the pilot’s
seat, but it wasn’t the source of another strong and unfamiliar smell.

Part of
the shadows on the floor moved, accompanied by a deep-throated low growl that
produced an unusual and very unpleasant sensation in both of Toltak’s double
stomachs. A large feline head swung around the edge of the doorframe and looked
into her eyes, reflected sunlight turned its eyes into green glows inside the
darkened cabin. Its massive jaws and huge canines were wet with Gapod’s blood,
which was what was flowing along the floor, and explained why bleeding had not
automatically sealed itself. She recalled the flash of teal color in her
peripheral vision when outside, as the humans shot at them.

This was
why they had pushed for that “honor” challenge. To keep the shuttle grounded,
its hatch opened, and her team distracted by the unprecedented spectacle of a human
beating a Krall. She could have ordered her team safely into the shuttle at any
time, but facing only ordinary humans, why would she? They had manipulated her
and her team to create a distraction, to keep the shuttle grounded and its
hatch open.

Toltak
remembered she had fired off the last rounds in her two clips before closing
the hatch, and had betrayed the first rule of battle, instant reloading. She
had ignored that rule because she
knew
she had reached safety, and would
defeat her foes.

She had
never seen a ripper, only recordings, and heard stories of them. This one
filled the doorframe, and outweighed her considerably. She performed a mental
inventory. She had her talons, teeth, the short bloody knife she had just used
to kill the human, two empty pistols, and multiple full clips. What she wanted
was armor and a charged plasma rifle, if even that would be enough at this
close proximity.

Toltak
moved her left hand slowly towards a spare clip, figuring a dumb animal would
not understand the risk if it allowed her that freedom. It appeared to grimace
as her hand reached the clip closest to her left pistol. The curving lips
remarkably resembled a human’s facial gesture, when they saw something amusing.
She would have to be faster on this reload than she had ever been in any combat
situation. She prepared herself, and made her move.

Outside,
as the hatch closed, Carson, Kobalt, and Ethan, running at maximum, all reached
the shuttle nearly together. Ethan had shot and destroyed a gun that Pindor had
turned in Kobalt’s direction, and Carson arrived in time to kick the other
pistol out of his hand when he drew that one.

Kobalt
stood, jaws agape, ready to decapitate the warrior if he moved to harm his
“humans.” Ethan had said he could kill, but also that his father and the pride
leaders wanted at least one red one taken alive. Kit had entered the not-life
flyer to kill its pilot. Her smaller size and superior stalking skill over
Kobalt’s ambush style, using his size and strength, had made her the best
choice for this mission.

He knew
this tube was really a machine that flew, but image sharing with wild prides
encouraged him to use their “language” and concepts. His sensitive ears had
heard no sounds from inside, particularly the absence of gunfire. He was
concerned for his sister, but knew she was aware the survival of all of the
human prides required that this flyer stay on the ground. She would die before
letting a red one regain control.

The boys
talked as Carson touched the flush mounted keypad by the hatch, pressing various
keys, starting with the standard press, but it wouldn’t open. He felt rather
than heard the entire craft suddenly rock and vibrate, and the roar from inside
was easily heard, probably all the way over to the dome. Kobalt snarled, and
looked at the Krall on the ground looking back at him nervously, fatalistic
about his survival beyond the next minute.

Ethan felt
another vibration at his hip. It was his Dad, sending him a text. He switched
it to voice, and answered what the message must have been asking of them,
located as they were out of sight behind the shuttle. “Kit got inside, we are
certain she killed the pilot, because Carson could see that from where he was
concealed behind that big ass warrior he carried with him.”

“Are they
all dead?”

“The
leader made it inside well after Kit killed the pilot, and it closed the hatch
after killing Cahill. We heard no gunfire inside, and I just heard a hunting
roar, so I hope she’s OK. We have a live one wounded and captured outside the
hatch. Dad, we can’t get inside to see if Kit is OK, and she can’t get out.”
The last was an anguished cry for help.