Koban: The Mark of Koban (88 page)

“Carson, I saw you all in that group Mind Tap. Was that
useful?”

“Yes Sir. We all sensed something going into the Hole and
again at White Out. You may not know this, but when we Tap with someone often,
it’s similar to knowing their voice without seeing them, such as hearing them
on a com set without a picture. Their thought patterns are recognized, but it’s
much more identifiable than hearing their voice. We don’t think you can fool
anyone that knows you, such as pretending to be another person if you blindfold
us and take our hand.

“What six of us sensed, for that brief moment, was like
Tapping another one of us for a moment. I thought I felt Alyson’s thought
pattern for a second or two. Ethan said it was as if I had touched him briefly
this morning. I actually was talking about him to Mom when the White Out came.
Several others all had the same sense that they knew who it was, and it was always
one of our group of TG1s. Those that didn’t sense a specific person said they were
not paying attention, or were distracted and can’t say for sure.”

“What did your group Mind Tap accomplish?”

“We all shared our impression of both events. The one today
was fresher of course. We decided to all focus on a single person’s mental
pattern when we do the next Jump, and see if we can detect her without physical
contact. It was Alyson’s idea, so she’s the focal point. She’ll tell us what
she may have felt from us after that, and what we may have experienced from her.”

“Good. We’ll start the next Jump in less than an hour. I’ll
make an announcement just before then, so you can be ready this time. After
that, we have about three hours to reach K1, and the Colonel wants the six of
you with your units below, an hour early. The other four of you will stay with your
reserve sections on the deck above. OK?”

When Mirikami and the four Bridge crew left them, the
youngsters were excitedly talking about the raid. The four TG1s that were part
of the reserve force desperately wanted to have a chance to get in on the
action. Mirikami wondered how they managed to avoid being afraid, or not showing
it if they were.

“Thad, they seem optimistic and eager. Is that just a front
you think? I can’t feel anything but a gut wrenching worry that something
serious will go wrong.”

“Tet, it isn’t a front for them. It’s partly the confidence
they got from the mental images Carson and Ethan provided of their meeting with
the first six warriors. They know they are faster and stronger than the enemy
is, and have a telepathic ability the Krall don’t have. I reminded them that
they don’t have Krall hearing or night vision. However, we are landing on the
dayside so darkness is no factor.

“The same confidence runs through all the TGs, Tet, and they
each know their tasks well, because of the Mind Taps. I’ve never seen a more
ready unit. Sarge agrees.”

“Well, I’ll do my best to put them down in as good a spot as
I can find, to reduce the time it takes to cross to the ships we chose. A fast
waddle in a Krall suit may hide the first three of each team, but the rest of
them will be exposed on the ramp for any Krall to see.”

Calling up the same star map he had saved earlier, Mirikami
again had Marlyn and Noreen confirm his work, as Jakob also observed and
recorded. He wasn’t unsure of what he was doing, but none of them had
significant flight time in the alien craft and by having all three participate,
it reinforced their memory if things got hairy.

They were ready. All he need do was deliver the two taps of
a stylus to initiate the Jump.

“Jakob, ship wide broadcast.”

“Attention, we are ready to initiate our Jump to K1. Then we
have three hours for fun and games, and final potty breaks.” He knew that would
amuse the youngsters, coming from their serious Captain.

“Jump in five seconds.” A short silent countdown on Jakob’s
screen, and the Captain made his two taps. The outside universe went away.

****

For those in charge the three hours raced by, as they
prepared to send their largely untested young men and women into combat with
ruthless, experienced killers. The only “tested” part of that force was the 1%
of the two hundred that had seen combat against this enemy, on one short afternoon.
Carson and Ethan constituted that one percent. Like the other one hundred
ninety eight, they were waiting to do something they had prepared for nearly their
entire lives. For them, the three hours seemed like it would
never
end.

They had only one thing interesting to talk about that
didn’t concern the possible fight to come. It was the exciting story
circulating, concerning a new capability that contact telepathy mods conferred
on recipients. It only presented when entering and leaving Tachyon Space, yet that
example offered the possibility that the “contact” part of contact telepathy
might not apply in special circumstances.

Dillon was intrigued and excited as well, because he had
never encountered any genetic capability that gave a biological organism the
characteristics that could account for what happened.

He told the others, “Alyson focused on an image and message
that none of the others could possibly have known, and all nine of the TG1s
reported it came through clearly, and definitely had Alyson’s personality
signature. She in turn, was able to sort out individual images sent from each
of the other nine in that ‘flash’ of connectivity. She correctly identified who
sent which information, and what they sent to her.” He chuckled and amended the
last remark.

“Correction, she will not tell
me
what my son sent to
her. She merely confirmed with him that it was an accurate transmission. The
kiss delivered upon confirmation is apparently a hint that it was personal in
nature.” He laughed, along with his wife and others on the Bridge.

Mirikami fingered his lip. “All of this had to have taken
place in the brief interval for the Jump Hole to form. I would have thought
that would be too short a time for as much information as they evidently
exchanged. This is a subject to explore when we have the luxury of time. I
can’t see a practical use for the ability yet, since they can simply hold hands
and do the same thing for a lot longer time.” He shrugged.

“Although…,” he paused in thought. “Basic knowledge has a
surprising way of becoming useful.” Proof again that prophetic words sometimes
become a self-fulfilling prophesy.

He swung towards his control station. “I had better make the
announcement I discussed. Jakob, ship wide broadcast.”

“Ready, Sir.”

“All personnel, we will White Out in roughly five minutes, at
about four hundred miles above K1. I will promptly start a descent, and make atmospheric
entry as soon as we identify the two Dorbo clan domes. I’ll choose a tarmac
with two closely paired and isolated Clanships if possible. Our portals number
one and two will be rotated towards the targeted ships, and facing away from
possible watchers in the dome. As soon as our ship settles on the landing jacks,
Colonel Greeves and Sergeant Reynolds will open the two portals for our six in
armor to exit. Good luck and good hunting.”

At White Out, the ring of view screens around the Bridge lit
up with an image of stars on one side, and a heavily forested green planet on
the other. Jakob promptly advised they were three hundred eighty eight miles
above the surface, and provided Mirikami a vector on a human made screen, that
matched the direction the Krall computer indicated was correct for the orbit
that would pass over Dorbo clan holdings. In hindsight, Mirikami wondered if he
could have selected a White Out point right above the two domes geographic
location on the planet.

Applying thrust aggressively, Mirikami moved the Mark
sharply into a lowering orbit, just as Sarge advised him Krall pilots usually
flew. Mirikami’s sensor screen in the center of the console reported a number
of pink icons for objects in polar orbits, occupying slightly higher orbits
than they currently flew. Five were on this side of the planet and three icons,
compared to their own centrally located icon, were quite large. More than
likely, those were the orbital defense platforms Reynolds told him were here.

Two small deep red icons could be the Eight Balls the Navy
had encountered. The Krall used colors to help identify the mass of objects,
and the deep red suggested very dense massive bodies, like those condensed
matter balls. Following the suggested computer vector, flying by the seat of
his pants like a Krall pilot would, they crossed the night terminator. Mirikami
was worried they had miscalculated and had arrived when Dorbo domes were in
darkness.

“Jakob, how far before we will see the Dorbo domes? Have
there been any broadcasts that seem directed our way, asking about us?” It was
poor practice to ask running questions of an AI, but Mirikami was anxious.

Left on speaker for all to hear, Jakob was reassuring. “The
Dorbo domes will be in early morning light when we approach them, on the other
side of the planet. There are numerous transmissions in high Krall. However,
none was beamed specifically towards us so I have not attempted to translate
those. They are not encrypted. I have detected many omnidirectional signals, which
do not appear to have conversations that apply to us. Per your instructions, I
have no signals to report that seem intended for our reception. I will report
immediately if I detect any.”

Noreen nodded her satisfaction. “If they haven’t switched to
encrypted transmissions, then they don’t see any security risks nearby.”

Marlyn had been watching for Clanship activity. “I have seen
three departures since we arrived, all climbing straight away from K1, no
arcing to enter orbit. I have an apparent inbound just appearing around the
limb of the planet ahead of us, apparently going towards the southern
hemisphere. We, of course, will be landing on the northern half, at middle
latitude.”

Mirikami was satisfied for now. This operation had proceeded
as they expected so far, based on information from their captives. He’d want to
thank them personally when he returned, if they haven’t finally willed their
own death before then.

Keeping thrust on and wasting fuel to hold their lower
orbit, like a Krall pilot would do, the dayside was fast approaching. Checking
the display controlled by Jakob, Mirikami soon eased the main thrust and
applied some reverse, starting down as the target indicator on the curve of
planet suggested the domes would be in view shortly. They gradually entered the
upper atmosphere fringes, nose first, the alien hull easily able to accept the
heat and abuse. Finally, at Jakob’s direction, Mirikami rotated the ship tail
forward and applied much higher thrust. This was more manual flying than the
Captain had done in most of his transport career, and certainly more than he’d
done in twenty years. It felt exhilarating!

Noreen had located the two Dorbo clan domes, and was using
her view controls to zoom the visual feed of one dome to her main screen, the
other dome onto the adjacent screen. She asked Marlyn to help, because the
moving Mark of Koban required constant adjustments. They really missed having an
AI handle these matters. Each dome had at least two hundred ships parked around
them. Finding Clanships to target was no problem, getting two that were relatively
isolated might be.

Mirikami finally was shown a dome with a tarmac where some
ships were parked in an asymmetrical pattern, with a section where it appeared
ten or fifteen Clanships ships had either recently launched, or space was
reserved for new arrivals. He chose that site for their landing. He had the
speed of reentry down to five or six times the speed of sound, and pivoted the
oval craft into a nose forward line parallel to the surface, at seventy
thousand feet and slowing. It was like flying a giant powered acorn, no
aerodynamics, simply raw power.

Letting atmospheric drag slow them, Mirikami gradually lost
altitude, and conducted the approach much as he’d watched Clanships do on
Koban, years before. He reached a point several miles over the dome, went nose
up, checked the screen of the tarmac below, and saw three Clanships isolated
from their neighbors, close to where the edge of the ramp gave way vegetation.
He could set down well away from the dome without crowding other ships, and
they would have to select which two of the three Clanships they would board and
capture.

“Jakob, repeat this image on the bottom deck’s screen for
Thad, and then Link me to him and Sarge.” He continued without waiting.

“Thad, that group of three ships in the center of the screen
is the most isolated I could find. I’ll set down near them and you chose the
two you want. We already have the plasma chambers hot, the ceramic tubes are
preheated, and the heavy lasers are ready. I do
not
want to have to use
them, but we will be ready to blast the third Clanship, the one you bypass, if
we see any hostile activity there.”

“OK Tet. I’ve already made a choice. I see the left ship has
a portal already open for us, so the middle ship and the left one are ours, the
right one is yours to cover. Line up our portals and let’s set down.”

As the Mark settled quickly on its thunderous column of
fire, Mirikami rotated the two exit portals to face the targeted ships. He let
his ship continue to settle swiftly, as he’d practiced, using the seat of his
pants flying and not concerned with paying passenger’s comfort anymore. Nevertheless,
the landing wasn’t as hard as he expected when the landing jacks took the weight
and he cut power. 

Of course! This was only .84 g’s, not the 1.52 g’s he’d used
in practice. Knowing something intellectually didn’t prepare you physically. He
suddenly realized he felt lighter than he had in twenty years. The internal artificial
gravity had automatically reduced inside, as the craft landed. The deceleration
had concealed that fact until engine cutoff.