Koban: When Empires Collide Read online

  Thad smiled. “I know Kobalt shared images with you of Tet fighting a much larger Krall, unarmed, and he killed that warrior with his bare hands. That didn’t seem convincing?”

  “Weapons, and skill with them, turn those than can use them properly into superior fighters. I have only seen humans use machines that amplify their abilities. Technology can be bought or duplicated. Warrior skills must be learned and earned. My people respect the Finth and Thack Delos far more than they do the Thandol, because those species are good fighters. We don’t like one another personally, for many reasons, but we respect their ability in combat. The Thandol merely had the advantage of hundreds of years of technological development on us before we encountered them. They rule their empire by luck of the advantage of time, and blocking us from catching up with them.

  “Even now, the flat-footers can’t produce a ground force that could take and hold a small town, not without their navy to beat the opponent into submission first.”

  He ruffled his shaggy shoulder hair, a gesture the humans failed to initially grasp was a skeptical shrug.

  “I see your new ship here, and we verified it appeared there directly from above our Northern pole. We saw a sample of a weapons technology, which seems superior to what the Thandol have. But this is machinery again. You want us to respect your fighting ability, to risk the displeasure and revenge of the Thandol to actively support you, or to merely standby and do nothing. However, we have not seen what true warrior skills humans have learned and earned, particularly by you Kobani.”

  Sarge, who had spent some time on the ground opposing the Ragnar armored units on Tanner’s, asked, “What happened to you on Tanner’s World, before we Kobani arrived, wasn’t that a destructive enough fight for you?”

  “We were caught by surprise, by their innovative ways of using what was available as unexpected weapons. But I had learned, before reaching that last city, not to charge ahead with excessive overconfidence. I admit, I learned another lesson there, but in a long, drawn out war, the ability of our individual fighters would wear down an enemy that only relied on trickery and withdrawal to avoid coming into direct contact with us. At some point, an enemy must stand and fight us. Then we would know their true measure as soldiers and warriors.”

  Thad silently conducted a rapid series of Comtap exchanges, most of them with the eight-people standing openly with him. It required only seconds for superconducting minds to reach a conclusion.

  “Commander, you have walked all around what you want to say to us, and despite your claim that you are not a diplomat, you have been very good at building your case carefully, trying to avoid being reckless. That must be difficult for a soldier like you.”

  “What is it that you believe I want to say to you?”

  Hitok was being uncharacteristically circumspect here, because he wasn’t going to anger Civil Sovereign Dendor, who had cautioned him that as Acting Force Commander, he did not have the authority that Military Sovereign Thond still held. The Civil Sovereign didn’t want the Ragnar to end up being caught between the conflicting interests of two powerful military forces, causing either, or possibly both the Galactic Federation and the Thandol Empire, to declare war on their three worlds.

  “You, and by that, I mean the Ragnar, not just you personally, need to know if we Kobani are what we claim to be. If our fighting capability can earn us the respect of your people. I think you want a genuine test, or demonstration, of our individual fighting skills and capability, measured against combat experienced Ragoons.”

  Hitok confirmed Greeves supposition. “Yes. A ripper’s viewpoint of one instance of unarmed combat, conducted by one Kobani against a single Krall foe, neither of which our Ragoons have ever fought, is not adequate to convince our people. The way it was presented to us was by a telepathic mental image, from a predator that appears to be merely an animal to our people here. It is hard to prove what we experienced represented a real event.”

  Thad understood. “I believe you wish to propose an arranged fight with us, for your people to witness. A fight with no restrictions on ending the lives of the participants, I assume. You mentioned gun or knife fight examples earlier. You are speaking of lightly armed combat with simple weapons. Is that correct?”

  Hitok returned Greeves’ frank, and unblinking gaze. “Yes, I am. If the participant’s lives are not at risk, there is no assurance the motivation is present to win at any cost to those engaged. If higher technology weapons are employed, the aspect of accidental good fortune plays too great a role in which side wins.”

  “I accept for the eight Kobani here, if appropriate conditions can be set. All of us are veterans of fighting the Krall, having fought them both in space, and on the ground. We each have engaged in life or death fights against Krall warriors, using space craft and complex weapons, and with various projectile and energy beam hand weapons in ground warfare.

  “In many cases, we Kobani have fought their warriors with only knives, or at times we faced them unarmed and out of our armor, and the enemy used their favorite bladed weapons. We deliberately did this as an object lesson, to humiliate them before we killed them.” He was perfectly aware that this would sound like braggadocio.

  “Commander, we first need to discuss when, then where in space or on the ground we will meet your representatives, and what weapons we will use. After that matter is resolved, I hope we can reach an agreement about your support in opposing the Thandol, through mutual respect.”

  Hitok was surprised at the quick acceptance, and he’d not thought about where, because he’d not anticipated this turn of events. Although, when would be as soon as the place was decided. There would be a few moments to consider weapons, because he had to consult with the Civil Sovereign to select where, and of course verify he had his approval and that of the Legal Sovereign.

  “I’m fundamentally Ground Force,” Hitok explained, “and it is with those forces we take and hold territory, pitting ourselves physically and directly against other species that are our opponents.” Providing a clue as to how the matchup would play out.

  “This course of action must involve approval from the other two branches of our government, despite my current position as Acting Force Commander for the Thandol. This is essentially a Ragnar Military decision, but in the absence of Commander Thond, our Military Sovereign, I require concurrence from the other two Sovereigns for an action that could result in your Federation declaring war on us, when we kill you.”

  Most of the Kobani merely nodded or shrugged at this reasonable condition from Hitok, although Sarge smiled at the confidence the Ragnar expressed in the outcome.

  Thad asked, “How long will that take you?”

  “I’m in contact with Sovereign Dendor,” he tapped his head, “I’m using my memory enhancer, which has a communications capability. He is observing and listening to our meeting from inside the Tri-Branch Government Center, the building behind the Ravager. He is there with Legal Sovereign Frodum Tolmek, who is part of the discussion.”

  While they waited, Mel had a question. “Thad, do we ask them to include a female, since we have Macy on our team?”

  Gundarfem added a touch of biting humor to the personal life or death aspect the mission had acquired. “Why? Do you want the advantage of a smaller female to fight you Mel? I want to face the largest male bastard they have. Perhaps Hitok. He’s the biggest one I’ve seen so far, and his nickname is Head Basher.”

  Seemingly caught in the embarrassing and inappropriate archaic practice of trying to protect the only Kobani woman of the eight from danger, Mel defended his question.

  “Bullshit! That wasn’t my point at all Macy. You damn well should know me better than that. They might want to permit one of their own females to participate, considering they’re forced to conform to the damn Thandol’s gender bias when dealing with them.

  “This might be an opportunity to demonstrate to the Ragnar we don’t have the same bias, by pointing out that we have a female in our group,
and that we have no objection if they put one or more on their team. If they’re like most aliens that first meet us, they probably can’t tell our genders apart. Frankly, I can’t tell if any of those hairy apes over by the Ravager are male or female, can you?”

  “Would seeing the tip of a skinny pink pecker below the crotch of that brown one on the right be a clue?” She grinned when he looked quickly towards the indicated brown and tan ape. Who was so hairy, it was impossible to see any gender signs.

  “I can’t see one either,” she admitted with a laugh. “Sorry Mel, I didn’t mean to insult you. I know you weren’t putting me down. I’m just nervous, and got a little touchy. These are big suckers, but they’re fifty to a hundred Earth pounds lighter than most Krall, male or female. We’ve all faced those large, tough as nails frigging lizards, and we’re still here to talk about it. These apes do seem more thoughtful in their actions than those leap and scream, barbarians. We need to be more careful because of that.”

  Hitok, after a few minutes of apparent silence, had completed his conference with the two Sovereigns, and had some answers.

  “There is an infantry training center on an island near here, where a wide river splits to flow around it. The river grows from tributaries that feed into it from the other side of the central ridge just west of High City, where we now stand. It is a relatively short flight away, and as a training site where we have motion capture cameras placed strategically around the entire island. It is used for evaluating the performance of young candidates who undergo qualification testing there, for membership in our elite special combat units. There is a mixture of developed trails, trees, interconnected path-vines, and natural underbrush.

  “This is the dry season, which means it rains only once or twice a day, for roughly a tenth of a cycle. The island has been populated with various dangerous lifeforms, both large and small, from this planet. As you can see, half of our world is rainforest jungle, and has medium height mountain ridges along most landmasses. The animals you will encounter range from much larger than your rippers, down to hand sized stinging insects, which either live below the trees on the ground, or move around up in the trees. The test will last no more than a cycle, because the island isn’t so large that two groups of eight antagonists can avoid each other that long. Avoidance isn’t an impressive accomplishment to us, in this case. We wish to see armed contact between you.”

  “Weapons?” Thad asked.

  “That required an override from me. The Sovereigns wanted projectile pistols issued, to you, and to our volunteers of course. With so few opponents, a single weapon in one lucky or skilled participant’s hand could quickly unbalance the contest through blind good fortune. The captured weapon from the first fatality adds to the other side’s advantage. I strongly advised against use of any weapon with a standoff range, like a gun. Knives, improvised clubs, spears, or whatever you can devise from the wilderness around you, will be permitted.”

  “I assume your team of eight are experienced veterans?”

  “Yes, much like you described yourselves to be, and we will also have one female.”

  Thad looked at Macy and Mel, who shared a smirk. “We were discussing among ourselves if we should tell you one of our team was a female. How did you know?”

  “Scent. We are jungle evolved, and spend time in them even now, so we have good noses. She,” he pointed at Macy, “smells different than you human males, as did Maggi Fisher, and one you called Carol, with a second name I cannot remember.” Carol Slobovic had been at the truce meeting on Tanner’s.

  Thad, thinking of his ripper sense of smell, realized something. “There were two female Ragnar at our truce meeting on Tanner’s World, wasn’t there? We Kobani also have an excellent sense of smell, and I detected that two of your officers had mildly different odors. However, they were not introduced to me, and it might have been impolite to ask why they smelled different, so I didn’t make the connection.”

  “Humans too are jungle evolved?” Hitok was fishing for information.

  “Not for a million orbits, and few live in such an environment now. Normal humans do not have our Kobani senses.”

  There was that tantalizing hint again, of the Kobani differences from standard humans. He was burning to ask how they had become different, and about the hints that Kobani humans in the Planetary Union were on the increase. Did they breed that rapidly? That had been a Krall advantage, but few mammal-like aliens in Ragnar experience laid eggs. Most experienced live births, of one to four offspring, which required a lengthy growth period to reach adult status. That didn’t sound like how the Kobani were increasing their numbers so quickly. It left him more than curious.

  “Our selected Ragoons will arrive shortly, from two other remote training locations that require suborbital shuttles to bring them to High City.”

  “You didn’t have volunteers right here?” Macy pointed towards the dozen or so Ragoons near the Ravager.

  “It wasn’t for lack of volunteers,” Hitok huffed. “I was forbidden from participating because I carelessly allowed myself to be designated Acting FC, in Thond’s absence. We had too many volunteers. I was asked to select them, from nearly every Ragoon on the planet, after the general request was broadcast to their memory enhancers a short time ago.”

  Sarge wasn’t above a bit of needling himself. “Asked for trainees, did you? To have someone freshly taught how to fight? I’d think you’d want veterans.”

  “I did chose veterans,” came the rebuttal. “These are some of our finest instructors in personal combat techniques. I know most of them personally. With the limitations placed on weapons for this contest, you Kobani get to find out how poorly you have positioned yourselves. You eight are random selections, perhaps with combat experience, but you seldom have fought with so little technology to help you.” He huffed again, in wry amusement.

  “I have enjoyed meeting you a second and final time, Thad Greeves, and you as well Sarge Reynolds. I regret this will be my only meeting with you other six. I assume you have all been in communications with your comrades in orbit? Stealthed as they are, how will we deliver your remains? We will broadcast the highlights of your last moments from the nearest cameras, if any are positioned record the events.”

  Mel was annoyed by Hitok’s attitude. “You really have no idea who you are sending your very best against. If I were a young, inexperienced full Kobani, sent alone to fight any four of your Ragoons, you would still need four oversized body bags to take them home. Unless you decide to leave them to rot where they fall.”

  Macy snorted her own amusement, no longer feeling nervous. “Do we pair-off with our designated dead meat, or is it simply team against team? If one of us kills one of them, do we join the others in the match, or will we be done? I warn you, if we help the others, it will be a very short day for your team.” Both Hitok’s and Grudfad’s fur suddenly bristled.

  Hitok’s words held barely suppressed rage when he responded. “Any method they use to kill you is fair. One on one, or all eight of them against the last one of you, as you run for your life. I deeply regret I’m not allowed to participate. I would personally carry your bashed and removed head back here with me, for placing on a pike in this plaza, to send its image to every Ragnar on our three planets.”

  His fur shivered as he said, “I no longer have any reservations for making this a match to the death, with no mercy granted. I hope to see all eight of my team present to rip the last screaming human survivor apart, where we all can see.”

  “You need to be very careful what you wish for,” Sarge warned him.

  “Why, will your hidden ships attack anyway, when you all die? We couldn’t honor an agreement with a treacherous ally anyway.”

  Greeves was provoked now. “We offered, and then honored a truce, to let you drag your beaten asses off Tanners World, and it is you who did not follow the agreement we had in place when we let you live. You didn’t tell the Thandol what happened there, to perhaps slow them in their foo
lish rush to a war we do not want.

  “You know what, Commander? I’ll accept whatever blade I’m given today, but I don’t expect to need it in a fight. I won’t need more than what you see in front of you right now. My bare hands.”

  Further brags and threats ended when the faint whine of thrusters grew much louder, as two Ragnar shuttle craft approached the Plaza. Both ships settled vertically, landing close to the Ravager. Five Ragnar exited one of them, and three came from the other. They hustled towards Hitok and Grudfad.

  Greeves noted that when running, the longer legs of the Ragnar, compared to Tri-Vids he’d seen of Earth apes, displayed none of the rocking bow legged gait of those primates, and there was no sign of any tendency to knuckle-walk to help them lope along, although their long arms wouldn’t make that impossible. They weren’t as well adapted for running as were normal humans, and they had none of the smooth flowing motion of a Kobani at any speed.

  Hitok turned away and moved towards them, covering a dozen paces to meet them and apparently have more privacy when he spoke to them. After knuckle bumps, an animated conversation ensued with the eight new arrivals. Two of them were quite large, one even bigger than Hitok, who previously was the largest Ragnar the humans had seen. Most were a bit smaller than the two largest members, but two of the apes were less husky, and leaner than average for a Ragoon, built more like Grudfad, who seemed to be typical of the body types of most Ragnools that joined the space force.

  The shortest one of the two smaller apes had a dark beige shade of fur, with brown accents around the face, hands, upper chest, and crotch. The breeze happened to be from the direction of the Ravager. Their ripper sense of smell had all the Kobani lifting their noses, identifying the scents of their future opponents.