Koban: The Mark of Koban (86 page)

Reynolds looked at him skeptically. “How do
you explain the full twist each one of you did today at this deck, if you
weren’t showing off for us, before you ‘killed’ the unexpected ambushers?”

Chen looked puzzled only for an instant, and
he seemed to search his memory. “Oh…, that’s because you passed Jorl Breaker
with the highest score yesterday. We wanted to try to beat his score by being
faster.” He smiled as if that was actually an explanation that made sense.

Reynolds remembered Jorl’s near perfect fast
run yesterday. “Neither of us was on this deck, and he didn’t execute a full
twist when he picked me off, how about you Colonel on your deck?”

“No full twist for me either.”

Chen nodded. “Sarge, you were on deck 18,
Colonel you were on Deck 24, and you weren’t here to see his full twist as he
passed deck 28. This is the only place he did one because he knew you had both
been ‘cleared’ and there were no more targets. I guess he felt happy and added
that move.”

“You didn’t test yesterday, how do you know where
we were then, and what Jorl did?” Thad wasn’t challenging, but he wanted to
understand.

“After he got the highest score, we knew his
technique worked the best, so Ethan did a Tap on him, and passed his test run
along to the rest of us. Even the other’s you passed yesterday got a copy. They
wanted to be able to try to beat him on their own, if they get a chance to do
it again.”

“So today, this time, all of you were simply
copying exactly what Jorl did that passed him? You shared his mental image and
thoughts of what he did, through Ethan?” Reynolds was still skeptical.

“Sure, Sarge. We also did that on the test where
we needed to run in that clumsy fitting Krall armor. We copied the best run you
saw from the first day. Ethan did a Tap on Yilini Jastrov, who figured out how
to run just leg flexing from the knees down. He was fastest and most realistic
looking you said, so we all matched what he did. Just like we were doing today
on the stairwell run. I suppose we all thought you could tell we were
mimicking. How else could we all do it exactly the same way? It seemed obvious
to us.”

“I’ll be damned. I hadn’t known you could do
that so precisely. So you wait until someone passes the test, or perhaps
several do, then copy the best method for doing it yourself?”

“Well, until we had TG1s we couldn’t do that
Sarge. The cats can’t share the same physical feel of muscle contractions and
limb placements with humans. We can’t run like a ripper.”

Thad shook his head. “I think you’ve hit on a
spectacular way to learn how to train quickly. But also a way to possibly be
limited to the bare minimum required to pass, and everyone then copies that
minimum requirement.”

“Sir, I was trying to beat Jorl’s time from
yesterday. That would be an improvement wouldn’t it Colonel?”

“But son, it might not be the best possible technique.
Faster is only one facet of what we need to do. Doing it the best way is also
important. Don’t misunderstand me. You kids hit on a great idea. However, your
implementation needs improving. It won’t take much tweaking to do that.

“Jakob, Link me to Ethan.”

After explaining what he’d just learned, he
complemented his son for the idea, but described the problem he saw in its
implementation.

“Son, everyone is using Jorl’s passing run as
their benchmark today, but he was one out of thirty we tested, and we only passed
four of you the first day. Today everyone is doing the run exactly as Jorl did,
and would all have passed based on that.

“Except Jorl was only the best one out of
thirty of you yesterday. I want the benchmark to be the best one out of two
hundred tested. Simply wait to share the Mind Taps until we have a chance to
see what everyone did, and then combine the best segments of different stages
of the operation. One of you will have had the fastest way to run in a Krall
suit, another the best way to open the portal to gain access,  a third how to
move up deck by deck, and another a better method of scanning for and taking
out any Krall that might be waiting.

“Just good enough isn’t acceptable for us. Let
everyone do it on their own, and then all of you, and Sarge and I, can discuss
the pros and cons of the better performances, and then select and share the Mind
Taps of those pieces. You TG1’s can send that data to us slower old foggy SG’s,
so we have a feel for what you can do. In any case, congratulations. That was
an amazing way to speed up our training, and get the best out of everyone.”

Before the week had ended, the training was
complete. They were three weeks ahead of schedule. Thad and Sarge were
convinced they had two teams of inexperienced kids that knew exactly how to
simultaneously, and rapidly, take over two enemy ships. The ten TG1’s passed the
detailed knowledge of how to conduct the raid by Mind Tap, in only a couple of
hours, to the other hundred kids, who had not even participated in that
training.

With the K1 training completed before he
expected, Mirikami quickly made a series of test Jumps from Koban to the edge of
the local Oort cloud and back. After several tries, he had narrowed his return arrival
point down to three hundred thirty miles above Koban. The new elevator system
was hurriedly completed and equipment and supplies were loaded. They were ready
to Jump back into Human Space.

****

Mirikami was with the Inner Circle, standing
in the open bay of the Flight of Fancy’s hold, looking out over friends and
neighbors, and anxious but proud parents of the two hundred TG’s that were going
on the mission. He had parked the Mark of Koban close to the Fancy, and the
kids making the trip were walking around on the tarmac, greeting friends and
family.

It was an emotional parting, and not all of it
positive. There were hundreds of Hub City residents in Prime City today, and
perhaps a quarter of those were asking for a return to Human Space. When told
that the first landing would be a raid on a Krall base, the former colony world
of
Greater West Africa, with a plan to overrun and steal two more Krall
Clanships, most sensible people backed away from the request. A few that were
most adamant, and disliked Koban and the “criminals that ran things,” still
wanted those “criminals” to do them the favor of taking them to Poldark.

They persisted even after Sergeant Reynolds told them the
bad news.  That the Mark of Koban would be landing behind the enemy front, on a
continent where the Krall had invaded in force. Furthermore, Poldark planetary
defenses would be actively trying to destroy the Mark as soon as it entered the
atmosphere, and would assume it must a routine Krall craft with supplies and
warriors.

“Land at Belgrade, the capitol. Simply radio ahead,” shouted
one Lady, who rallied a few other voices in support.

Mirikami answered her. “An entire planet’s population is under
attack, supplied by ships exactly like this one. One of them tries to land near
the seat of government in Belgrade, and you think a radio call will convince
them to hold back their missiles, lasers, and plasma beams, while they wait to
see if a possible human collaborator is telling the truth?” He shook his head
no.

“By landing in Krall occupied territory, we expect to
encounter no human ground opposition, fewer human anti-ship weapons on our
approach, and the Krall will only see some random clan’s ship arriving, which
isn’t even a conceivable threat to them.

“We are on a mission to obtain help fighting the Krall inside
their own territory. We are few in number, not even sure of our reception by
the Poldark military or the government. There is no doubt of a hostile reception
if the Krall know we are on this ship, and you think we have time and people to
babysit civilians in a combat zone?” He raised a hand as the Lady was about to
argue some more.

“Don’t waste your breath. The answer is no! I don’t think we
can count on your willingness to die under torture before you tell a Krall
captor of all the people living here, on a planet the Krall consider their sacred
future home. Take up your debate with your neighbors; they don’t appear ready
to risk their lives, children, and home for your personal motives.” He felt
less charitable today than he had in past such confrontations. He knew some of
the kids he was taking with him were going to die on behalf of these ingrates,
who despised them for existing.

Mirikami went down the ramp to mingle with friends and the
families of the two hundred TGs he was taking with him. He joined Noreen and
Dillon, involved in a discussion with their two envious younger children.

“Mom, a lot of the TGs going are
exactly
the same age
as me.” Katelyn was badgering again to get to go on the mission.

Noreen had heard the claim years before, in different
circumstances, but had the answer memorized. “You turn eighteen in a few weeks,
and Lawrence and Ellen will be nineteen a week or so after your birthday. Two
is not ‘
a lot of TGs
,’ and eight or nine days overlap of the same age
year does not make you
exactly
the same age. You graduated a couple of
months ago, and told me last summer you would simply
die
if your father
and I didn’t let you go to the University at Hub City. The semester starts in
three weeks, and we signed you up for the courses you picked out three months
ago. I pulled strings to get you in this year. The only thing that changed was
the Clanship arrival. And you are not going on this first mission.”

“But I’ll be all alone here. Except for Cory, that annoying itchy
little scab on a moosetodon’s rump.” With her parents and Carson away on the
mission, only her younger brother, by two and a half years, would be staying behind
on Koban.

“Katelyn, you told us going to school in Hub City would be
the chance for you to get away, to be on your own as an adult. We arranged for
that chance to come true, and Cory won’t be over there to be that itchy scab.”

“Hey!” Cory complained. “I
am
standing right here,
you know. The itchy little scab?”

Noreen laughed and hugged her youngest. “Sorry baby. Mom
gets carried away when your sister starts these arguments that wander all over
the savanna.”

“I’m not your baby anymore, but I’ll miss
you
guys. Certainly
not prissy catty Kate here. Besides, I have to stay with Aunt Maggi at night,
and I’ll be catching all of Dad’s whacks on the head when I annoy her.”

His father’s sage advice was, “Don’t annoy her son.”

“It’s fun. I can’t help it.”

Noreen shook her head at the father-like-son attitude. “Then
take your lumps like a man. You’ll find Aunt Maggi is very smart, and knows a
ton of interesting things. You may even enjoy the old movies.” Cory groaned.

Mirikami said his hellos and goodbye’s to Cory and Katelyn,
then to Bradley and Danner, the younger kids of Thad and Marlyn. He learned the
latter kids would be jointly looked after by Aldry and Mel Rigson, his former
Steward turned teacher. Aldry and Mel had surprisingly (to Mirikami anyway),
recently entered into a two year marriage contract.

He conferred with Aldry and Rafe, and agreed with them that
any TGs that wanted the Contact Telepathy genes should have them, and probably
all of them would. They would all likely become manmade TG1’s, rather than waiting
for their children to be born with those genes. The only genes they now
expected to wait for the actual births of third generation children would be
the ultrasonic wolfbat hearing and ripper night vision and scent ability.

Slightly behind schedule, they wrapped up the
sometimes-tearful goodbyes, and Mirikami and Chief Haveram walked up the ramp
into the Mark of Koban together, the last to board.

There were quite a few young people standing on the lower
deck, looking out of the sally ports and waving. Mirikami nodded to the Chief,
and they activated the ramp first, then final waves and lowered the portal
door, as the crown outside retreated to the dome.

“OK people, get to your launch stations, we’ll lift in
fifteen minutes.” For the SG’s that meant acceleration couches, for TGs, they
had simple sleeping pallets to use.

Mirikami and the Chief took the lift, as the TGs ran up the
steps to see if they could beat him to the upper decks. When the lift stopped
to let the Chief off at the Engine Room level, some of them were there,
grinning, not even breathing hard.

He stopped briefly at the Jump Drive room, again seeing
several smiling faces from the previous stop, still breathing regularly. He
returned their smiles, checked in on Marlyn, who was talking with her former
Drive Engineer from the Rimmer’s Dream. The Krall ship was fully automated, so
that other than watching alien output displays on the fusion bottles and the
surge on power monitors when a Trap field caught or released a tachyon, there
wasn’t anything to do. Jakob was fully capable of monitoring everything for Mirikami,
but having a few people around for possible maintenance seemed like a good
idea. They even had two Drive Rats down with the Chief, with apparently nothing
to do.

The liftoff went smoothly, and kept to a more sedate
acceleration than the TGs would have liked, because the SGs aboard decided it
was more important to reach vacuum with them still conscious. The kids would
have loved a showy max performance takeoff, which would have left everyone but
them blacked out.

Once they had tachyons in their Traps, the internal gravity
and inertial compensation would activate, and considerably higher Normal Space accelerations
were possible. Not as high as what the Krall would tolerate, and well below
what their TG’s could accept. Even with the clone mods, and over twenty years spent
in 1.52 g’s, the SG’s (“near Normals,” as the youngsters sometimes described
them) were the limiting factor for enduring internal acceleration forces.