Koban: When Empires Collide Read online

  Home Den had once been attacked on the orders of a paranoid new Emperor, who felt offended by aggressive remarks heard from a long-ago Alpha Pack Leader, while he was in the new Emperor’s presence. It was merely the normal manner of speech of a Finth leader, and the inexperienced Emperor, never having meet with a Finth Dominant One, took offense. He ordered the Finth Fleet to conduct an operation many days away from home, and then sent in a massive Thandol fleet to punish the population of the Finth home system, to teach them obedience and respect.

  A diplomatic protocol was later established by the frugal and cautious Thandol, to protect the Finth from such an inexperienced and emotional Emperor. But that came only after a bloody and costly revolt, which eventually led to the defeat of the Finth and their fleet, but there also were serious losses by the Thandol. A final and expensive victory was delivered by the huge Thandol navy, who wielded their massive number of ships and advanced weapons against their outraged security force.

  Despite the new diplomatic protocol offered by the Thandol, to avoid such a future misunderstanding, and the fatal termination of a reckless and inept Emperor and his High Command supporters, the Finth nevertheless took their own protective measures. Never again would the Finth allow the four top Pack Leaders, of whichever clan was the current Alpha pack, to leave Home Den totally exposed to the mercies of an unpredictable Thandol Emperor.

  After enough centuries, a degree of trust was restored, with the Thandol actively working to avoid the sort of destruction that another careless imperial betrayal could cause them. This time, nearly the entire Finth fleet was deployed, with the promise of a share of the taxes to be collected from the annexed new species. The difference now was that the Thandol needed all their security forces to fight for the Empire, so that a betrayal of any of them clearly was not in the Emperor’s best interests.

  Regardless, the Finth leaders of the current Alpha clan, the Stalkers of Sissbalt, were forced to remain at home by law, to defend Home Den, while their rival clan leaders flew off to war with nearly every ship that could defend their home. The other three major clans would naturally use victory in new battles to increase their own claims for future dominance in Finth culture, perhaps enough for one of them to be elected the new Alpha clan.

  Alpha Leader Slassler had tired of arguing the issue with the Pack Arbitrators, the multipack governing body that kept the peace between the four major pack affiliations, where the Stalkers of Sissbalt held only a quarter of the votes, and any other votes they could negotiate to receive from lesser packs, for retaining their position as the Alpha clan.

  Slassler was disposed to use his personal funds to buy a large prey animal to hunt for himself, to ease his tensions. Or even to use Alpha clan funds and his rank to obtain two or more criminals of some subservient species, and hold a group hunt with his pack mates, down there in the dark red jungle, which filled the huge courtyard of the Pack Command structure.

  He knew his three subordinates were as frustrated as he felt, and in a killing mood. It was doubtful there were any suitably combative prisoners available in custody. Most of the Empire’s population was called subservient species for a reason, and few Ragnar or Thack Delos criminals and smugglers, who risked entering Security Sector two, let themselves be captured alive.

  His hateful, violent mood, was about to be granted an outlet.

  ****

  Carol was having second thoughts about her choice of where to land. “What the Hell? The red garden I though was in the center of their huge government building, is a freaking jungle.”

  Sergey, on the open link, had a suggestion. “We can spread out and land on the larger paths, or at the open edges near the walls.”

  “That would place us up to three miles apart in this mess. Not good for mutual support, and the paths would lead them right to our ships, even if we need to go back to stealth. Let’s pick low spots in the undergrowth between the taller trees, because that gives the rippers better cover. Four teal tigers and red foliage doesn’t make for seamless blending into the background.”

  “We won’t look blue for long,” Kally assured her. “We’ll shred fleshy leaves and roll in the juices. It won’t be perfect, but I see many spots of colors in the flowers down there, and some are blue and purple. Send your message to the Finth while we slip into the brush.”

  The four Scouts shifted hull patterns to mottled red colors to better blend in, and sank below the treetops and midlevel brush. Some of the limbs, pushed aside by the rounded shapes of the Scouts, slid back over them, to make them difficult to see, even without stealth. The hatches spiraled open, without extending a ramp, and allowed the four rippers to exit.

  Kally, Kopper, Kandy, and Konar slipped separately into the jungle, relishing the intensely invigorating scents of strange plants and air, and surprisingly, there was the smell of quite a few different animals, and an unpleasant and pervasive background reek was in the air.

  Their vision, and that of the Kobani who shared the same genetics, extended into the infrared, and many of the plants had vibrant glows in the light of the red-orange sun, visible above them in a pink-to-orange and partly cloudy sky, in what was still morning here. They stayed linked by individual Comtap channels, but spread out to explore and share images and scents, ready to report what they found to each other and their human comrades.

  Carol used what appeared to be a public use air traffic control frequency, and two other frequencies the AI had detected from frequent transmissions coming from antennas on the roof of the immense hexagon shaped government building. She had the AI transmit her message in the simplified version of Thandol. The other aliens they’d met in the Empire, at least those that dealt personally and directly with the overlords, understood that sort of patois of simplified trumpeting and bugling, which the Thandol spoke to subservient peoples.

  “Hello, from the Galactic Federation. The four small ships that have landed in the central area of your six-sided military and government building, carry a delegation of Federation citizens, and we are one of the multiple similar races of humanity. Our race is called Kobani, and we live on a world with sixty percent higher gravity than here at Home Den, and we defeated the Krall in roughly twenty orbits of your world around your star. The Krall was the species the Thandol feared, and avoided, for over twenty thousand orbits.

  “Do not underestimate our capabilities. The Thandol intend to wage war with us, to send your forces to fight first, and suffer the losses they fear for themselves. Your fleet may already have departed to attack our worlds.

  “The Federation has technology, such as these ships that appeared suddenly, deep in your atmosphere via a direct Jump from orbit. A feat you and the Thandol cannot match. We have weapons and other technology you and they are not prepared for, and we intend to severely weaken the Thandol fleets. This reduction in their forces started when we destroyed two Thandol fleets at hidden bases, in Security Sectors one and two. Their weakening will be to your advantage because you will less monitored. Even if you do not chose to act against them, there is no need for your fleet to suffer the same level of destruction. We came to talk, but we will fight if you refuse to speak with us.

  “We Kobani are a species like no other you or the Thandol have met. Meet with us, and we will demonstrate, peacefully, what the Ragnar have already learned through combat losses to us.

  “We will wait here in this red jungle for your reply, but only for a part of one cycle of your world. We will demonstrate our ability to you before we leave, either peacefully, or not. The decision is yours. We are monitoring these same frequencies.”

  She ended the transmission, and on the group Comtap link said, “Watch for movements, since we can’t understand their language even if they don’t use encryption. All we’ll know is what they do visually, if they don’t call back using Thandol trumpet-talk.

  “You four cats, and any of our people that go into the jungle, be prepared for a quick retreat to the Scouts if they try to bomb us instead of talking.
In that case, we go out stealthed, and Jump from where we are with the resultant thunder. Then I’ll try to talk sense to them one more time from orbit, and if they don’t cooperate, then we turn every space dock and warship they have in the entire system into junk.”

  “That’s my gal.” Sergey complemented his new bride. And suffered the consequences.

  “That wasn’t operationally necessary. Please keep the personal chatter down so mission critical communications can be heard clearly.” Ouch.

  In a fast, private link, she added “Sergey, I told the others not to do that. This is the first mission I’ve led. Thanks, love, but don’t make me look like a girlfriend.”

  “Sorry, Hon. I liked the kick-ass attitude. We all do.”

  “Well, let’s see if they try to knock the chip off our shoulder.”

  Didn’t take long.

  ****

  Slassler was startled when the four red, elongated and rounded ships, much larger than shuttlecraft, suddenly appeared above the Pack Command’s hunting preserve. The pops of their emergence could be heard even through the armored window of his office. He was in the section of the huge building reserved for, and designed to protect the Dominate One from assassination attempts. The Alpha Pack Leader reacted as did his three subordinates. All four drew a pistol, either a laser or plasma bolt variety, and ducked behind the heavy metal furniture, prepared for the windows to splinter inward in jagged shards.

  His Beta, Shirhoss Bisstor, had risen to his level of dominance as a high fleet officer in the Sky Hunters, and knew every warship type any species had ever used in the Empire, back to when they were violently annexed.

  “Alien ships.” He snarled, then instantly clarified, since that was obvious to everyone. “Non-empire origin.” The implication of that last statement, combined with the newly declared war on a stellar association comprised of multiple species, was clear. These must be Federation warships. Like the Thandol, they didn’t yet know of the existence of the Planetary Union.

  Instead of firing at the inner walls of Pack Command, as expected, the four oblong ships settled quickly into the dense foliage, with some shifting of position to find landing places between trees. They quickly descended into the dense jungle cover, and vanished from view. It was puzzling. If this wasn’t an attempt to kill the Finth leadership, it was a ridiculously small force to mount an effort to capture the huge, and well-staffed, government and military center. What were they after?

  The AI in the communications center swiftly provided the answer. At least what these aliens claimed to be the answer. The Thandol words were understandable, but the true meaning of what they said was incomprehensible to a Finth.

  The barely known Federation had decided to send a delegation to talk to them? Arriving brazenly uninvited, settling in the heart of the largest collection of domination seeking Finth, the best hunters derived from their entire four planets of population? Were they insane, or suicidal?

  There was no way the Alpha Pack Leader could merely talk with them after this affront to his Dominance. He wouldn’t even survive to retain his position as leader of his own clan, the Stalkers of Sissbalt. Even if his Beta, Gamma, and Delta leaders lost their minds and courage, to foolishly support him in conducting talks with an enemy under these circumstances, all their torn bodies, throats ripped out, would be used to feed the predators in the hunting preserve. Slassler himself would also be consumed, but by the leaders of whichever clan managed to kill him, which could even be members of his own clan.

  Even before the transmission ended, Slassler and his closest aides were rushing to the drop tube at the center of his office complex. First stop, the armory at the first subbasement level.

  Using the same mental enhancement technology that the Ragnar used, they activated the encrypted communications capability of their memory enhancers. That technology had originally been provided to them by the Thandol, when they accepted their roles as security forces for the Empire. The Thandol had in turn stolen the basic concept from the bodies of dead Olt’kitapi, but were unable to master the advanced technology that furnished a link to tachyon space, to obtain instant and infinite range direct communications.

  Slassler was issuing orders through the Pack Command communications AI. “Hunting parties currently in the reserve are to withdraw immediately, by order of Alpha Leader. Small Federation ships have landed there without authorization, and are to be avoided. The reserve is closed for recreation. A hunt will be conducted by selected and armed Alpha pack representatives. When the hunt commences, any unauthorized clan members still inside the reserve will become prey. Obey me!”

  His three subordinates were also busy. One calling ahead to alert the armory, another was selecting Finth from the elite chapter of the Hunters of the Forests stationed here, to gear up for the hunt, and the last was notifying the Sky Hunter ships still at home to go on the alert, to guard the space over the city of Pack Central, and scan for alien activity around the Pack Command structure. They were ordered to shoot down any unknown alien ships identified or attempting a liftoff. The spaceport was closed, to avoid “unfortunate accidents,” if a commercial ship of a subordinate species was ready to land or depart.

  The enemy had sneaked in, but foolishly, just offered to talk. They weren’t getting out so easy, except as captives or corpses.

  ****

  Within minutes, Kally had found several plants with fleshy leaves, succulents that contained red tinted moisture, that when mixed with the shredded outer material was like a sticky gel that adhered to her teal colored fur when she rolled in the mess. She found other broader, dryer leaves, in different shades of red and orange, which stuck to the gel. It was gross, smelly, and would be Hell to clean from her fur, but she soon blended relatively well into the reddish hues of the dense local foliage. She shared her finds with the other three rippers, who had found similar plants. Kopper shared an image of a common and fragrant yellow flower, which had masked his own distinctive scent when crushed and added to the concoction.

  They had quickly encountered multiple small to midsized creatures, most were prey type animals, and two were predators of the same prey. Wary of possible food allergens, or toxins, none of them elected to enjoy more than a simple pounce, and test frilled the frightened animals they briefly captured. They didn’t display a true awareness, any more than did most prey animals of Koban, but they obtained images of the different predators these animals most feared.

  Some images were of obvious types of four legged predators, all considerably smaller than a ripper, but one they feared most, was what seemed to be a large upright biped with big jaws, that could convert to use a four-limbed loping run when in close pursuit. Those creatures, obviously the Finth, appeared to be twice the body mass of a human male, and were colored in fur shades that ranged from the ubiquitous mottled red, or brown shades, to solid black, and even a few that were a creme white shade.

  Konar, who finished frilling a large dog sized prey animal, said, “I think the Finth hunt this prey frequently. Many of them we’ve shared images from have memories of living in regions quite different from this thick jungle. I believe they were placed here by the Finth, to be hunted.”

  Kandy agreed. “There are too many here for us to accidentally find so many animals so quickly. I think the Finth must stock this enclosed area with prey, and they must hunt here frequently. That would explain why the lower leaves have not been seriously eaten away, reducing the ground cover. There must be much hunting here to thin out this many leaf eaters so quickly.”

  “I think you are probably right,” agreed Kally. “Can each of you detect that faint unpleasant animal odor drifting in the air? It arrives to me on every breeze.”

  They all mentally shared their scent impressions, which revealed that the indicated odor was considerably more intense for one of them.

  Kally, the senior pride ripper of the group, assigned a task to the male that appeared to be closest to the stronger source. “Kopper, stalk the scent near you. I
t could be from a Finth, and we need to frill it for information.”

  Carol, monitoring the link, warned, “Kopper, it may be armed.”

  He had a typical male ripper reply. “So were the Krall my grandfather stalked. They were faster than these Finth, and he killed them easy enough.”

  Most of the Kobani in each of the Scouts had also deployed into the jungle, using armored stealth rather than camouflage. Only one Kobani stayed with each ship, to guide their AIs in decision making, and to monitor sensors reports for details that could escape the notice of a computer intelligence.

  Despite the ripper’s confidence, Carol sent a stealthed Kobani as backup for Kopper. That would be someone from the same Scout. “Jason, send one of your people as backup. With stealth, they can move faster on the path. I doubt anyone can catch up before he reaches that Finth.”

  “I’m already doing that myself. I left Paulo on the Scout.” He was running on a path that he hoped led to the same trail the ripper was following.

  Kopper, slinking through the underbrush, and avoiding noise, stayed off a trail, which although it looked natural and winding, was covered in an artificial surface that only resembled dirt. Even a mottled large red tiger would sort of stand out, if seen on that open path.

  His hearing quickly picked up the sounds of multiple feet ahead, and low sounds that had to be soft communications. There were a lot of sibilants, and the words seemed to run together, but the speakers appeared to be in a hurry. They were moving quickly towards the edge of the jungle, towards the nearest wall of the surrounding structure, and his ears and nose made him certain there were only two of them. Kopper could see glimpses of that gray wall, and the myriad number of windows that looked out from the heights, which he could see through the small gaps in the trees. There were movements seen behind some of those windows.