Koban: The Mark of Koban (87 page)

Mirikami used the star chart himself. They had not been able
to interface Jakob to the alien computer technology, so he would have to
observe the star map by camera, and help guide them to select systems where
they wanted to travel. Mirikami zoomed in on the galactic map, to display a
region about ten light years in radius around the home star in K1’s solar
system.

The uninhabited stellar system for their first destination was
three and a half light years from K1, called Chandler’s star. It had three outer
rocky planets and two inner gas giants, one a so-called ‘hot Jupiter’, with no
life bearing worlds or moons. At least none that anyone had bothered to search
hard enough to find.

It was the first long Jump Mirikami had tried with his new
ship. He only had Reynolds’ anecdotal tales of how short a time Jumps took,
using the
T squared level of Tachyon Space, which humans had
learned to access from copied Krall technology.

Based on the described reduction in travel
time to Poldark, from various Hub worlds named by the Sarge, Mirikami had an
estimate of five or six days to reach the empty destination star system. It was
well off to the side of a direct line to K1 from Koban, but both systems were
on the the Rim of Human Space. He estimated Poldark would take perhaps a day
longer to reach, if they were Jumping there directly from K1, which they were certainly
not going to do.

With Noreen and Marlyn both checking his work, and Jakob
concurring, he moved the destination star to the center of his screen, zoomed
in to look at the various worlds, and tapped a spot clear of any planet but
near one in particular, and then tapped the command to execute the Jump. They
had decided they didn’t need to waste time telling the ship’s complement in
advance when they Jumped, because there was sensation at all, not even a hull
‘ping’ as human ships produced, and no external ports or view screens except on
the Bridge.

The outside view went black instantly, and stayed that way,
much longer than the few seconds the Oort cloud Jumps had required. They were
truly on their way back into Human Space. It was a momentous occasion for them,
and completely anticlimactic in execution.

“Jakob, ship wide broadcast please.”

“Ready, Sir.” The voice had a slightly different bland
inflection, which Jake’s alter ego said must be due to the different speakers
and acoustics. It was a useful distinction to remind them that Jakob was a
slower and less capable AI version of Jake.

“We have initiated the Jump, and I expect the journey will
take between five and six days. Exercise for TGs will
only
be allowed on
stairways numbered two through six. Number one and seven is reserved for us old
SG farts to use, and yes, we
all
can use the lift that replaced number
eight, in between one and seven.” He laughed at himself, knowing the kids
already thought of them as old farts.

Noreen, hearing him limit stairwell use, reminded him of the
TGs abilities. “Tet, they are a heck of a lot more agile than the Krall. None
of them would accidentally hit anyone they passed on a staircase.” She was
referring of course to a fatality on the Flight of Fancy, when a Krall warrior
killed Rafe’s wife on a stairwell, as it exercised recklessly.

“I’m not afraid they’ll hit me, but the flinch I’ll make as
they pass me in a blur might make me trip, and it will damn well make feel
inadequate.” They chuckled and nodded at the truth of that.

“I gave them five of the stairwells because Thad wants them
to continue to work on their ascent times, and try various different techniques.
With more of us aboard, moving around on random decks, they can practice
clearing targets with dry fire as they go. Expect to be
killed
a few
times this week by two hundred hyperactive kids.”

In hindsight, he should have said,
killed thousands of
times
, per TG. Hyper indeed!

Mirikami’s estimate to reach Chandler’s star was quite
accurate. It was five days, nine hours, forty-one minutes when the external
screens illuminated with a splash of galactic sky and a nearby red dwarf star.

It was still ship morning, and Mirikami had been on the
bridge for over an hour. He was chatting with Ethan, listening to him describe
the training adjustments they had made yesterday, in the variations of the
assault strategy and techniques they had added to their repertoire. Alternatively,
as he called it, the game of capturing a Krall Clanship.

He had Mind Tapped the Captain to share the details of the
primary method, then the many variations they had considered. Most of the
alternate plans involved finding more Krall on either ship than expected. That
was a result of having so many people being aboard the Mark, and some would be
in control rooms, others eating, some in various private compartments, and more
than one surprised person was “killed” while performing biological
necessities
in the waste disposal areas modified for human use.

If they really needed to clear the entire ship, every
possible place of concealment needed to be examined, once the main goal was
achieved of taking over the command deck, and then secondary goals, such as
controlling weapon and ammunition access, and securing any single ships or
shuttles.

“Ethan, part of your plan is to physically look into any
compartment where a Krall could be concealed. You eventually will have to do
that to be thorough. However, I think all you need to do to find them is make
enough “human” noise and they will oblige you and come out on their own. They
aren’t shy or cowardly, and if they hear you with those highly sensitive ears,
they will come after you on the run. Yell and make noises as if you’re
frightened. It’s almost like an aphrodisiac to them.”

“Good idea. None of us thought of that, since it wouldn’t
work like that with our people.” He was about to say something else when
instead he said, “There that is again.” Just before the external view screens
lit up with stars.

Mirikami went to the closest control position, as Jakob
automatically made the arranged announcement that they had arrived. As soon as he
was certain their position was where he had expected, and active radar scans
revealed no nearby ships or any radio transmissions, he turned back to Ethan,
who was about to leave the Bridge, thinking he’d be in the way.

“Ethan, wait a moment please. What did you mean a moment ago
by ‘there that is again’ as we did our White Out?”

“When we Jumped from Koban, I felt something in my mind.
Afterwards, when I heard your announcement, I figured it was normal and related
to the Jump. Alyson said something about feeling it as well, when we talked
later. I felt that same sensation just now, a second before we came out, so I
see it really is related. This was the first Jump for me and Alyson, or any of
us TGs of course. As rookies, Alyson and I were surprised when we felt it
happen. None of you professional Spacers ever mentioned that.”

“We never told you because we’ve never felt anything. A ship
makes no sound on entering the Hole, and on most human ships we hear a small
ping, from a tiny flex of the hull due to a change in gravitational adjustments
as we make a White Out. That’s a function of our inertial dampeners preparing
for possible sudden accelerations if we encounter rocks headed our way. Krall
ships don’t take that precaution, so there’s no sound. If we didn’t do that in
our ships, we’d feel or hear nothing physical at all. You said you and Alyson
felt something in your minds? I didn’t, and I’ve never heard of anyone that
has.”

“Perhaps it has to do with our superconductor nerves?” Ethan
suggested.

“Son, I don’t have a lot of use for mine, but I have that
mod as well. Perhaps it has to be actively connected to the brain neurons, like
yours are.

“Jakob, Link me to Dillon please.”

When they were connected, Mirikami explained what Ethan had
told him.

“Hold on Tet, Carson is just outside our sleeping
compartment, talking to his mom. I’ll ask him if he felt anything. I sure
didn’t, but there are things about these nerves we might not know yet.”
Mirikami heard him call to his son and wife to join him. Dozens of TGs bunked
on pallets on the floor, in an open bay by Noreen and Dillon’s private room.
There was a lot of background noise that cut off, as the swish of a closing
door sounded through the open Link.

“Jakob, add Noreen and Carson to the Link.” That was Dillon
speaking, who then asked his son a question.

“Carson, did you sense anything when we entered the Jump
Hole at Koban, and when we did the While Out a few minutes ago?”

“Yes. But the guys I was sitting with when we left didn’t
notice, so I thought it was just me. I felt it again a short time ago, but
didn’t know we had arrived until the announcement. Why, is that unusual?”

“Carson, check again with some of the TGs right now, and
find out if they felt it.”

The door swished, and noise resumed. In under a minute,
Carson was back. “Dad, Uncle Tet, I Mind Tapped what I felt with several TGs,
and they said they didn’t sense that. I was told Ron Lowell asked one of them
the same thing when we Left Koban. With me, Ethan, Alyson, and Ron, that makes
four TG1’s that felt something. I’ll bet all ten of us did. We all have
transducers, I can check.”

Mirikami kicked himself. He knew that all of the TG1s had
them. He simply had not been talking to them by Link for the last twenty years,
and it slipped his mind. “Jakob, Link all the TG1’s in with Carson and me.”

“Done Sir.”

“Carson, you are Linked with the other TG1s. All of you get
together, in person, and find out what you sensed, and then pass what you learn
on to your father and me. I need to work on planning our approach to K1 right
now, but this apparent detection of entering and leaving Tachyon Space is
interesting. Captain Out.”

Ethan was already talking with Carson as he nodded to
Mirikami and turned away. He’d heard the Captain’s instructions, and was heading
down to meet with the other TG1s. There was no telling what this unique ability
might mean, but it appeared to affect only those with the contact telepathy
mod. That was a new sense to humans and any novel aspect of it was worth
exploring.

Shortly, Noreen and Dillon, Thad and Marlyn, stepped off the
lift, accompanied by Reynolds. They had exhaustively discussed the overall plan
previously, and enroute, but the Jump to K1 from here would take less than
three hours. Any proposed changes needed discussion before they made the next
leap, and Mirikami had a minor change to make.

“Tet, do you still want to Jump in at the K1 Oort cloud and
observe from there before the last short Jump?” Noreen had suggested only one White
Out in the K1 system be done, close to the planet. Mirikami had been cautious about
trusting the Krall navigation for a close exit after a three point five light
year Jump.

“The test Jumps near Koban had accurate readings of the
orbits of the planet and the moon, Kratos, so the navigation system had a
reasonable chance to know where they were when we made an exit at orbital height
from a Jump from the Oort cloud. I didn’t know how accurate it might be jumping
from Koban to here or from here to K1. How would it know the present planetary positions?
If I zoomed in the map to select a White Out point close to K1, would it actually
be where I tap when we get there? Now I’m sure it will, and I don’t need two
Jumps.”

“What convinced you?”

“We jumped over five hundred light years to Chandler’s star,
and I deliberately selected a spot, using Jakob’s range scale for the system, one
thousand miles above the extended north axis of the second rocky planet out
from the star. However, the inner two gas giants and the three rocky planets
are not close to where they were in their orbits when we looked at them five
days ago at Koban. Nevertheless, we came out one thousand miles due north of
the second rocky planet anyway. The Krall navigation computer brought us to the
same relative location to that planet, meaning it adjusted for the differences
of the orbit when we arrived. I don’t know how it did that while we were in the
Jump Hole, but it did.”

“So, no pause to observe K1 from the Oort?” Marlyn asked.

“I doubt normal Krall arrivals do that, and I see it isn’t
needed now, so we won’t do that. I want the two of you to study the star maps
of the two systems you will Jump to first from K1, and then the rendezvous star
where we all meet. You aren’t going to have Jakob to help you, and you’ll only
have your data pads for reference.” The two Ladies recorded the detailed images
of their two-Jump routes to the place where all three of them would meet.

When they closed down their data pads, Mirikami said, “Why
don’t we have breakfast, and then go to war in a few hours?”

All ten of the TG1’s happened to be eating in the designated
dining area when the group from the Bridge arrived. The Krall deck, furnished
with equipment salvaged from one of the old disabled passenger liners, held
fifty people at once. Using the transplanted automated food dispensers and
their simple AIs, they sat at a table near the ten young adults. Realizing they
could be fighting for their lives by this afternoon, referring to the TGs as
‘kids’ was harder.

Mirikami noticed as he ate, that the entire group of ten had
all linked hands around the table. He had not considered the process of a group
Mind Tap previously. He had frequently joined one or two others in a frill with
a cat, when one of them returned with some interesting images to share. Thus
far, he’d only gone one on one with any of the TG1s, as he had with Ethan this
morning. With the more complex thoughts and images of ten people, he wondered
how they kept things clear. He envisioned a sort of crowd murmur as they all
talked at once. He’d have to ask about it later. Just as Mirikami’s table was
finishing breakfast, Ethan, Carson and Alyson came over.