Koban: When Empires Collide Read online

  Obviously, those watchers were seeking any sign of the Scouts, and looking for movements along the paths or through the brush. There were no openings in the windows, so it didn’t seem likely there would be any firing from that direction, even if he should be seen briefly, or if he brushed aside undergrowth. He increased his speed, since the two he stalked were being so careless and noisy, and still talking, so they clearly didn’t suspect they were being hunted. Hunters seldom expected to be considered prey.

  Finally, Kopper caught sight of who he was following. They were not exactly running full out, as their long legs implied they could have been doing, but they were jogging, looking from side to side intermittently, but not over their shoulders behind them, and their deep sibilant filled speech sounded somewhat like hissing, between the occasional low barks.

  He needed to close with them before they reached the nearest wall, where there was presumably a door or portal they would enter, and windows that would allow onlookers to see what happened. The ripper put on a burst of speed. In this low gravity, sixty percent less than at home, he could catch them in seconds. They had clawed feet he noted, and there was no harsh clicking from them. The trail must be soft enough to provide a natural feeling grip. He extended his claws slightly, and leaped over a low shrub and landed on the path, a full five body lengths behind them, his broad foot pads softly cushioning his landing. He tested the grip with the tips of his claws, and found it was a moderately soft surface as he’d suspected, and there was no harsh click or scrape as his claws gripped.

  He took them in at a glance, in an experienced hunter’s assessment of its prey. He instantly analyzed their strides, their arm and leg movements, the heavily muscled backs and shoulders, thick necks, and the short black claws at their fingertips, as their empty hands and long arms swung like those of humans did, with each stride.

  When one turned its head to the right, he was prepared to leap at them in an overpowering attack, but held back when it simply glanced into the jungle and then looked forward again. The images of a Finth’s face, extracted from the Thandol prisoner’s memcache, matched the protruding muzzle, and exposed teeth he saw as the partly open mouth revealed.

  He knew he could be on them before they could draw their pistols, which he saw in holsters on a belt at the right side of their hips. They were short furred creatures like himself, and one had a deep red tint, with nearly black fur in a strip leading down from the top of its head and down its back, and which thinned as it vanished above the gun belt at a narrow waist. The belt also secured the top of a pair of skintight black britches, with pant legs that only extended down to the center of where a human’s calves would be. Its upper torso was bare, at least from behind. The brown colored companion was slightly shorter, also well-muscled, and dressed in the same black britches and gun belt, with a dark brown fur stripe from head down the back to its waist.

  They had pointed ears that extended higher than the top of their heads, and like a ripper’s, they pivoted forward and to the sides as they jogged and talked. Observing them while he could, his Comtap images were being shared with the others, so he only gained a single body length on them.

  The smell that had led him to them was much stronger directly behind them, and it was unpleasant. He suddenly realized there was a narrow opening at the seat of the pants that each of them wore, with a dark moist spot on the exposed fur, nearly as black as the pants. With only mild surprise, he understood. They must have an anal musk gland, like several predatory animals he knew of on Koban. They used it to scent mark the boundaries of their territory.

  Rippers did something similar, to mark pride territory, only it was done with urine. If raised with humans, as all the rippers on this mission had been, the young rippers learned at early ages that marking territory that way around your home got you into trouble with your human family.

  If ripper pee smelled as bad to humans as Finth musk did to Kopper, he just gained an appreciation for their previously irrational seeming attitude. Although, when annoyed enough with almost any human, a ripper often rewarded the offender with a non-territorial marking. In say a shoe, or on some other personal possession. Or left them a small, long dead animal, to improve the odor of their bed.

  At his superconducting speed of thought, his extended observation and mental musings had only consumed two strides of the slow moving Finth. Ahead of them, the jungle growth would soon grow sparser, and the winding trail must surely turn directly towards some entrance into the structure, which would expose him and his two targets to the probable observers at the windows. It was time to act.

  ****

  The two Finth, a mid-status mated pair from lowly Delta pack, the Tribalt Hunters, were annoyed when their personal hunt was ended early. They had waited fifty cycles to enjoy this day, and before they found the prey type they had paid to hunt, the Alpha Leader closed the reserve to all hunters.

  Hisstal, the big red male, was skeptical. “We neither saw nor heard any ships land in the reserve. There were only claps of soft thunder. I think Alpha Pack wants to hold a private hunt, because the leaders had to remain on Home Den when the fleet departed. They will use up the entire new shipment of prey animals. Our Delta pack should never have supported the Stalkers of Sissbalt two orbits ago, to add our votes to make them the new Alpha Pack. They do not show us enough respect.”

  Frisstan, his lovely brown mate, never hesitated to disagree with her partner of many orbits. “That is a pile of slondat shit! If the Dominant One lies to us publicly, only to gain a private hunt for his pack, and uses alien ships as the excuse, it will be quickly exposed. The Pack Arbitrators would cancel the agreement his clan reached with our clan, and with the minority faction of the Killers of Prey, to gain our votes. The Arbitrators would call for another vote for an Alpha Pack, and it would not be the Stalkers again if both the Hunters and Killers change their allegiance.

  “You and I urged our Hunters to vote for the Stalkers, and they know they owe us a debt of honor for our effort, however small that may be. There was no reason to end our hunt without cause. They will owe us a better hunt after today, at the same fee.”

  Her mate was still not pleased. “Then why can’t we seek the alien ships along with them? We were already in the reserve. It would be a better hunt than what we bought.”

  “With only our laser pistols, teeth, claws, and no armor? Alpha Pack will be coming with heavier weapons, and body armor. They gave us enough time to exit the reserve while they prepare, otherwise, we will also become prey. That is another threat they cannot take back. It is only your pride that has slowed our pace, else we would have passed through the west side hunter’s portal by now. I think all other hunters have left the reserve.”

  Hisstal looked to the side, hoping to sight some sign of an alien through the trees, vines, and underbrush. It was a futile hope, and he didn’t even see the lesser game animals, or the ubiquitous small furry flying rislers, flitting between trees, catching, and eating the numerous insects that thrived in this well fertilized and watered artificial jungle.

  This close to the building was where many of the frequent hunters entered the reserve, and it was common for them to test their smallest weaponry and shooting skill on such little moving targets. The animals avoided the trails where the Finth first entered the jungle, as a survival tactic.

  The first sign he and Frisstan had that the alien he wishfully sought, had instead found them, was the sharp downward blow at their right hips, on their holsters. The laser pistols and holsters were torn from their belts, and in Hisstal’s case, a sharp claw tip also severed his belt where the holster was. The blow came from behind them and downward, casting the weapons ahead of them on the surface of the trail.

  They had barely started to react when the same yet unseen massive paws pulled back, and with claws now retracted, simultaneously slammed down on their upper backs, hard, with eight hundred pounds of mass behind them, knocking them both forward and off their feet. They managed to put their hands f
orward soon enough to spare them from smashing their muzzles into the trail material. Their barrel chests smacked the ground with thudding impacts, knocking the air from their four-lung systems. A great weight landed on their legs, and on their backs, holding them in place and making it very difficult to draw in the gasping breaths, which their lungs now craved to replace, after the extended run they’d had seeking the scent of their prey animals.

  As soon as they drew in ragged breaths, the two predators reacted instinctively, and wasted those breaths on snarls, as they tried to twist from under the heavy weight, to get at whatever had attacked them from behind.

  A far deeper growl, from a more massive chest answered them, and then spoke in the implausible soft bugling of a Thandol’s voice. “Remain still, and stay quiet. I will not need to harm or kill either of you if you do that. My friends will be here soon.”

  Despite that order, they both used an arm to raise one shoulder slightly, just enough to rotate their heads on their thick necks, so they could glimpse who held them down so firmly that they couldn’t pull or twist away. A glance was enough to show them they could cease looking for unwelcome aliens. One had found them.

  It had piercing blue eyes, a color no land animal on Home Den possessed, and it glared down at them into their startled, and widening yellow orbs. It exposed enormous white fangs that made their own fearsome dentition seem like a cub’s first set of milk teeth. It had wet red and purple fur on its face. At least that was their first impression, until the base teal colored hair was revealed as coated with red juices of local plants, making smears of red that shaded into deep purple where the juices were thinner, showing small patches of blue fur between and below the smears. The effort to camouflage itself was obvious to the two experience hunters. However, it needed to do some more work to hide its odd spicy smelling natural scent, which made it past the smelly plant juice odors.

  “Who are you?” Frisstan croaked out, her rib cage pressed so tight against the ground she could barely breathe.

  “I am a shredder, one of the Federation species.” At least that was how the word ripper was translated into Thandol, which was close enough for Kopper’s purpose.

  The alien’s face descended closer, between their heads, its nose touching the trail’s surface, and something soft on its neck touched the sides of their heads, and brushed against their long ears.

  Hisstal was on the verge of trying to put enough strength into lifting and turning his head, so that he could bite into the furred right cheek now so close. He’d make it draw back enough that he or Frisstan might roll free and go on the attack.

  There was a louder and deeper growl, and the widening jaws turned towards the male Finth’s face. “If you attempt to bite me, I’ll chew off your muzzle, and your mate will never think you are attractive again.”

  The words, as much as the gaping jaws, made him pause. And not just because of the threat. How did it know Frisstan was his mate? Perhaps because she was a female, of course.

  Then it said, “My friend is here, and he is armed. You cannot see him because he is in stealthed body armor, but you will hear him speak. I will slowly release you, and the two of us will take you to our ship to ask you questions.”

  The soft touch to their heads and ears returned, followed by, “Your weapons have been picked up. I would not have let you reach them anyway.”

  Again, the heavy beast had guessed what he would do, if he could rise. His plan had been to dive towards one of their guns laying on the path. He glanced ahead, and saw the two pistols elevated in the air. Their captor was telling the truth, and someone stealthed had their weapons.

  To reinforce that realization, an identically sounding Thandol voice, issuing from where their pistols were held aloft, said, “I have weapons you can’t see or take away from me. We are going escort you to our ship, to learn who we need to talk to in your government if we want to avoid going to war with you Finth.” The fact the voice was identical, meant it was translation software speaking for them both.

  The pressure on Hisstal’s back and legs was suddenly gone, but before he could take advantage, iron hands grasped his upper arms from behind, and bodily lifted him in a painful grip, and set him on his feet, the creature holding him was now standing behind him. He assumed his captor had powered armor to lift him so easily, and surely had weapons trained on his back.

  He looked down to his mate, just as she was rolled over onto her back. That was accomplished by a large clawed paw, attached to a thick and muscled front leg of the massive beast that had held them pinned to the ground. Its large head and chest blocked his view of most of Frisstan, except for her face and upper shoulders. It was nearly three times her mass, and under that red plant juice was a powerfully muscled four-legged predator that no Finth would dare face alone and unarmed.

  A repeat of the Thandol voice issued from a black fob attached to a strap around the animal’s neck. It spoke to the female Finth, but what it said provided her mate information he was surprised the beast knew about them. It wasn’t just a savage looking animal.

  “You two know that many heavily armed Finth, of another pack, will soon swarm out of the building, hunting for us. They are not interested in talking to us. If either of you attempt to use your memory enhancer to send them an encrypted message, or try speaking to each other, even once, we will detect the signal even if we do not know its contents. You will complete your trip to our ship in a comatose condition until you are in a shielded environment. Do you understand?”

  The female responded with a sideways head shake, and spoke in her own language. She understood, but apparently couldn’t speak the difficult to reproduce Thandol patois, or dialect.

  Her mate suddenly started to collapse, but was held up when his unconscious form was prevented from falling. Shocked and alarmed, the female tried to rise to his aid. A large paw held her down, and the beast’s next words eased her concern, slightly.

  “He tried to send an encrypted message on a different frequency than you two were using earlier to sometimes speak together. We don’t understand your language, but it was not encrypted. He has been made unconscious with a safe form of radiation, like the Thandol Debilitaters, but not painful. He will be carried to our ship. Will you walk or be carried? Move your muzzle up and down if you will obey us, or you will be made unconscious, like he was.”

  Her nod of agreement received, she was told to stand up, and to turn back on the path, to travel deeper into the managed jungle. Several other invisible aliens met them, also speaking to her in that annoying Thandol language, reserved for subservient species. Even the Thandol had the curtesy to use translation programs to use Slithan to speak with the Finth.

  For some odd, and uncomfortable reason, the huge predator had previously instructed her to place her left hand on its neck as it walked next to her, and she felt the ridge of flesh under the fur. It had placed its neck against her head previously, when she was on the ground.

  An explanation was suddenly offered for why they used Thandol to speak to them, as if she had asked the question. Only they had admitted a moment ago, they didn’t understand Slithan, and she had not spoken anyway.

  “If you will share the database of your language with us, with the translation index into this Thandol patois dialect, our computers will learn your language. If you know the Ragnar language, we understand that, and it will also help us learn your language faster. If we can speak to your leaders, we can possibly avoid a war with the Finth, and not be forced to destroy your fleet.”

  Abruptly, the beast halted, and the form of her mate, being carried in a draped over fashion on his invisible captor, also stopped moving down the path. The pause lasted only a few seconds, before a curious apology was offered.

  “Sorry for the inconvenience, but we need to move faster, and you will be carried.”

  She felt a buzzing feeling as she went numb, and before the world went black, she realized she’d been caught, to prevent her from falling face first into the trail.<
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  ****

  Seiko, angry with himself, swore when Kopper told him what he’d inadvertently frilled from the female when he mentioned their fleet. “Damn it to Hell. We should have asked them about their fleet right away. These two knew it had just left here to attack us.” He slipped his small jazzer back into the utility compartment of his suit, as Carrie Hawk, of his flight crew, caught the unconscious Finth.

  Tossing the limp form over her raised arm and shoulder, Carrie and the other three stealthed Kobani, and Kopper, started a hard run along the path, to reach a closer place to turn off to reach their Scout as soon as possible.

  “She didn’t know where their fleet was going,” Kopper corrected Jason. “It may not have been sent to attack a Federation planet. They also know where some Human Space worlds are now.”

  “Then we had better catch some of the Finth coming out here to find us, who do know where they went. That fleet needs to be intercepted, no matter which world it is.”

  Carol, suddenly paying attention to what they were discussing on the group link, had an idea. “I wonder what it would take to convince them to recall their fleet? Perhaps an attack here at home? They have the same long-range instant tachyon communications as the Thandol. Their fleet commander can surely communicate with the home world while in Jump status. Let’s make certain the leaders here give him an earful. There must be someone in charge inside this big damned building. We’ll try to find him or her.”

  Danica Filho, her Scout hovering well above the team bringing back the captured Finth, informed them that their chance was at hand. “There are armored Finth charging out all six sides of the building, into the trails. They have virtually the same stealth type all the Empire forces we’ve seen use. Meaning, we can still see them as shimmery gray outlines. The Ragnar couldn’t see us on Tanner’s World, and hopefully these guys can’t see us either.”