Koban: Rise of the Kobani (16 page)

“We didn’t bring any first aid equipment out here,” he said. “We weren’t really prepared for this fight. The damn Krall over there is who told me how we
should
have attacked them with what we have. We have ability, but too little training. I love Colonel Greeves, and of course my dad, but neither of them has ever fought a war like this.”

“Colonel Greeves was in the militia here on Poldark. He had training. They named a camp after him.” Carol sounded defensive of their training commander.

“Carol, all of you. I’m not criticizing what they have done to organize us, and what they have taught us. However, you do know that one of the reasons they came here to meet with General Nabarone is to obtain some specialized and experienced instructors for us. We need to learn from men that have now seen war up close. The Poldark militia never fought an actual war. We have just learned that being faster and stronger than the Krall isn’t enough. Knowing
how
to fight is as important as being able to fight well.” 

“OK.” Carol agreed. “What were you going to do with the big truck and its guns? We have another one here. Two will help more, whatever it is.”

He told them. “I found out how the Krall can duck away from a plasma rifle shot before the bolt leaves the gun. They see a pre-flash invisible to our eyes. It isn’t much of an edge, but it’s one we don’t have.” He pointed at his leg.

“Ethan told me they close the gun ports on the clanship before they can get off a shot from the Dragons. I think the bigger guns have a bigger pre-flash. I was hoping to use the double barrels on this thing to hit them again fast, right after a wasted shot, as they reopen a port. I don’t know if it would work, I just wanted to try.”

“Why don’t you?”

“See that big wide wind screen? The sides top and bottom of the truck will take a heavy hit, but not that.”

“How did you find out they had cannons?” Brian was full of questions.

“It seemed odd that Krall warriors would just ride around inside, unable to fight back if shot at, and I asked the mission commander if they were armed while I Tapped him. The picture popped into his mind with cannons on top.”

Carol looked at him, her head tilted. “When you asked him about the front glass being the soft spot of these big suckers, what did he show you?”

Carson blinked. He stepped over to the Krall, now propped up against a rock, his pain under control, blood loss completely sealed off, his glare intact. Avoiding another snap of teeth, Carson grabbed a hand. “How do you protect the front of the truck from lasers and plasma cannons?”

It surely was against Hortak’s will, but the image of the blast shield cover slipping forward out of the thick roof over the cab and folding down and clamping to brackets, which Carson had seen previously, was the answer.

“How is it activated or deployed?” Another image of a small panel to open on the front console, and the ubiquitous touch pad under that.

Carson took Carol’s hand a moment. Then waved graciously towards the truck cab. She grinned, and skipped over, six feet between each light little TG skip. Jumped into the cab, and they suddenly heard a humming sound as the lip over the front edge of the cab roof raised for a thick panel to slide out, and pivot down on sturdy arms. It settled into place as the heavy brackets clamped it tightly to the front, covering the windshield with a bit of wrap around at the side and top edges.

Carol looked out and said, “I don’t see any cracks in coverage, but I can’t see to drive either. Next question please.” She grinned again.

“Hortak, how do you see out when driving?” Carson nodded and let the hand drop.

“Carol, start the engine, or rather switch the power back on. I cut it off when I parked.”

“Oh, wow.” Carol said. “This is great. It’s like looking out of the view screens on the Mark.”

From outside, the panels remained dark gray, like the sides and top of the truck. However, Carson realized that up close its surface resembled the fine crystal-like grains on the outside hull of the Mark, or the skin of a single ship. He peeked around the door and saw as sharp a view of the outside as if the material were transparent. They had decided the substance on the Mark’s view ports was actually a type of video repeater, but for this use, it worked as an armored windshield on a truck.

Carson was ready to join the action. “OK, we have two of these armored trucks here, but the other two are back in the other valley. The four cannon pairs here can add to the attack on the clanship. I propose to drive them over and try to knock out the plasma cannons and lasers, or melt their port covers closed. After that we can open the main portals and clean out the entire ship.”

“What do we do with him?” Brian pointed at the Krall.

“Anybody have a supply of the thorn extract?”

Half a dozen small vials were produced. “I need to keep some of that with me at all times,” complained Carson, in self-recrimination.

A single drop was applied to a nick made by a knifepoint on the Krall’s neck, where the drug would take effect quicker, and immobilize the fully alert Krall.

“Load him in the front section of the truck I came in, and I need a driver…,” he was interrupted by Carol.

“You already have a driver! Try and make me get out of this cab!” She grinned in anticipation.

“Fine, then I’ll need a
second cannon…,” he was interrupted again. This time by Brian.

“I’ll operate the back guns.”

“Before anyone else interrupts me, I will let the rest of you decide how to draw straws for the three to take the other trucks.” 

“The trucks can hold us all. Why not all of us go?”

“Because the captain placed me in overall charge, and the extra riders are at risk for no gain in firepower.”

“When the big guns are silenced on the clanship, how many of us do you plan to send in and face the one hundred or more warriors inside? Or will you let them prepare while you return to pick up the last eight of us here to help?” That was Andreana
D'Alema, the second surviving female TG of Conrad’s group. She was right. The original twenty-four was twenty-two now, with the two deaths. That was heavy odds against them, at five to one.

Nuts!
He hated other people’s logic constantly proving he didn’t have all the answers. He was of course going to give in, but felt he had to quibble a little. “After three people man the second truck, I only see seven more of you, not eight.”

She smirked. “Peter Godwin is hard to see, up on the ridge, even with your big pretty brown eyes.”

He reddened. Was there a hidden gene Maggi slipped into every TG girl that made them so damned hard to deal with? On the other hand, did he simply inherit his dad’s predilection to literally charm their pants off, but make himself a target they loved to hit?

“Yes,” he admitted. “I forgot about Pete. However, the estimate that we possibly have over a hundred Krall inside a clanship that can’t fly anymore, and only twenty-two of us, means I have to stop making poor decisions right now. I’m going to join Pete for a few minutes.”

“How does that help you make better decisions?” Andreana wanted to know.

“It is actually the start of one of my better decisions. Up there I can Link with the Mark. We need reinforcements. A lot of them.”

Mirikami knew from the last report from Carson that the TGs had taken control of the Dragons and plasma batteries, and the subsequent flashes reflected from low cloud bases told the story of a conflict being waged, but not of how it was going. The Link wasn’t reaching anyone that could answer. Jakob verified that there were no transducers responding that he could detect. The hills from only three valleys away were blocking the weak rice-sized transducer signals more than anticipated.

He had the Mark’s plasma chambers hot, the barrels preheated, and the port covers opened on those and the lasers. He had pulled in the ramp and was prepared to lift in support of the force he had out now, but if the clanship had realized the opposition came from the nearby ship, he could lift up into a hail of missiles and plasma fire.

He had a hundred and fifty TGs with him total, two dozen went to the valley, and twenty others were on guard at their valley entrance. He had over a hundred on board that were pushing for a chance to go after the Krall, armed only with pulse rifles and pistols. He was worried about why the group had not returned or reported. Although, they obviously had encountered opposition. Sending additional poorly armed TGs out, without knowing what was happening was reckless.

Thad agreed, and wondered why one of the three with Link capability had not called them with a report. He had sent Carlos, a TG1 with a Link to the valley entrance, right behind the previous stampede that had gone to guard that. They hadn’t seen a thing of interest other than the same flashes reflected from low clouds. Just a few minutes ago he’d sent Kally, another of the ten TG1’s up to the ridge top closest to the ship, with their best pair of old field glasses, to see if she could spot any of the TGs on other ridge tops closer to the clanship.

Kally reported that she could see Peter Godwin, on the ridge closest to the clanship, and that he ran down the slope out of sight back this way for a moment, and then returned to his point of concealment. That implied he was on watch, and without a Link was calling information back down into that other valley. Some of their people were obviously waiting there, and not involved with the fighting.

Reynolds thought most of the cracks he heard, which followed the flashes some seconds later, were from Dragon main guns. The echoes made it hard to be sure that they were only Dragons. The plasma cannons were smaller bore, and he expected them to sound softer. He didn’t hear any of those now, but thought he had earlier. He had seldom heard them previously in fighting, because the Krall normally kept them so far behind an assault line, as a means to discourage aircraft attacks, or to fire on human hilltop strongholds from a distance. The loudest cracks were obviously from the clanship, as were the intense red laser flashes. The Dragons only had small lasers.

No sooner than Kally told them she saw Carson, he was Linked with the Mark. Mirikami had Jakob put him on speaker. “We hear you, Carson, Kally is on a ridge top and saw you through her glasses. What’s your situation?” The Bridge listeners were on virtual pins and needles.

“Captain, our use of the Dragons and plasma cannons was sloppy, and we found ourselves in a fight with sixteen Krall that stumbled onto us before we knew how to use what we took from them. However, we won that fight because the Krall were driving construction equipment, not more tanks or cannons. Ethan and Conrad led the tanks and cannons out around the protection of the valley opening, and shot out the main thruster system on the clanship. It can’t lift, but it can still shoot. We lost Gamal and Jolene on two of the cannon carts when they stayed exposed too long.” Sighs and a low groan were all the listeners expressed. Expecting casualties was one thing. Losing the first of the youngsters was another.

Reynolds had a question he couldn’t hold back. “Son, if the Dragons took out the main thruster, why can’t they blast the guns when the ports are opened? We’ve done that with big lasers before, and the Dragons have more than enough power to damage the barrels or aiming system, I think.”

“Sarge, the Krall infrared vision can see the magnetic field forming a fraction of a second before a pulse is fired. They managed to slam the gun ports closed with their fast reactions. I just passed this on to Ethan and Conrad, but I don’t know if knowing that helps. We started with eight Dragons, but two are out of the fight. No casualties by the way, but the ceramic cracked and the turrets won’t turn.” He rushed to add that last sentence.

“I was about to try something new to help, using the big armored trucks. They have roof top plasma cannons on each section, and there are two of them in the valley below me. We were hoping to try staggered shots at the gun ports, to see if we can catch one as it opened.”

Reynolds did a headshake Carson couldn’t see. “I didn’t know about the advance flash, but the early infrared flash you describe will happen anyway, and they’ll just slam the ports closed again. We always had trouble knocking them out, so the guns the PU Army found most effective on clanship gun ports were heavy lasers. They fire instantly with no warning, so perhaps that’s why they worked so well. Unfortunately, you only have the small antipersonnel lasers. The alternative was to use a heavy plasma cannon that can burn through the port covers and hull, or fuse them closed. You don’t have those either. I think you simply need to prevent the warning flash,” Sarge said.

“OK. How do we ‘simply’ redesign a plasma gun, Sarge?” The frustration was showing in Carson’s reply.

Calmly, Reynolds explained. “Perhaps you should try a variation of a trick my ambush teams used a few times. We covered a number of plasma batteries with cloth tarps and wood frames to change their outline, or hid them under haystacks. The Krall drove or walked right up to them before we fired. The tarps and hay were less than cobwebs to the bolts, but we could sight the guns using cameras, which were not covered. If they don’t see the first flash at the end of the barrels, they won’t have any warning to shut the ports. That concealment may have accounted for our success at surprising them in ambushes.”

The silence at the other end was as eloquent as a “DUH” accompanied by a slap on the forehead.

“Sarge, we shoulda brought you with us. You old cats have some tricks to teach us.”

Reynolds did a shrug invisible to Carson. “The phrase is ‘old dogs’ which you don’t have on Koban. Unless you carried me, you would have left my tired SG ass below the first cliff you young mountain goats climbed. We never figured out the advance infrared flash thing, which probably happens too fast for us mere mortal men to use to our advantage anyway. How did you learn about that, considering your infrared vision is no better than mine?”

“Watching a rifle bolt fired that grazed my leg before I could react, and then asking the Krall commander, whom I captured, how he was able to dodge a head shot from my rifle. He spilled the data to my Mind Tap.”

“You have the clanship commander?” Mirikami blurted. “Still alive?”

“Yes Sir. He should be in the land of the paralyzed numb and dumb by now, but alert and thinking. He has been a fountain of information.”

“OK. Try to keep him that way. Let’s move on to things that are more vital. I believe I know what you called about, since you didn’t come back here with the purloined Krall toys, and tried a shootout with the clanship. How can the few of you there take the ship, even if you disable its outer defenses?”

“Yes Sir. I don’t want to risk losing any more of my friends.”

“Carson, you can’t permit the fear of losses to petrify your thinking. There will be lives lost no matter how carefully you plan, and some will be friends. Once your small force was discovered, and the clanship was prevented from lifting, you had done everything you were capable of doing on your own.

“There will be additional TGs coming to help you take the ship, but first you need to find a way to shield the ends of your plasma cannons on both the Dragons and those on the big transports. I don’t want you risking anyone again on those carts yet. Sarge’s idea would only be good for a single shot, and then you retreat to cover the ends again, so try to get it done the first try with all six Dragons. Use any available nonmagnetic material that will cover the muzzles and not disperse the bolts. The reinforcements can’t rush the ship until the heavy weapons are neutralized.” 

“Yes Sir. I’ll have people looking for covering material, and I have an idea if we can’t find anything the Krall left lying around. One serious problem we have is the lack of Link to everyone. These tall ridges cut us off from you sooner than we expected. I see a lot of red in the strata of these cliffs, and it’s possible there are more iron oxides here than Jakob expected. We were out of communication with you as we approached the tanks and clanship.”

“Carson, modern longer range transducers are something we hope to acquire if we can get in contact with General Nabarone. I plan to send your dad out to you for planning the internal assault on the ship once you pull its teeth. Colonel Greeves and Sarge will take a team to start walking the tunnel towards Novi Sad. I’ll send another TG with a transducer to stay on the ridge where you are, for a constant Link. We had ten TG1s and ten TGs equipped with transducers when we left home, and I only have sixteen of you down here with me, and two each on the other ships. I’ll standby here with Chief Haveram and a couple of Linked TGs for relay or as runners. Good luck to you, son.”

“Thanks. I believe we’ll have the clanship guns silenced soon. Out.”

As Carson signed off, Mirikami turned to Dillon. “I know Thad has more military training than you, but I need him and Sarge to make contact with Poldark forces. You’ve participated in all of the ship clearing practices, and the kids know how to do that anyway. I want you there as a stable influence for them, and a source of older advice.

“I’ll send you with another hundred TGs, including most of those guarding our valley opening. The clanship doesn’t have any warriors to spare to send over here, so two on watch with one Linked is enough for a warning. You take the Krall shuttle and stay below the ridges to land where Carson is. Haul as many TGs with you as will fit in the shuttle, and let Carson teach you and them, by Mind Tap, how the transports work. The rest will go overland as before, to the valley with the second pair of armored transports.

“As Sarge said, these young mountain goats would leave your tired SG butt far behind. Fly back to join the others at the other valley and a TG1 can pass on what Carson teaches you about transport operation. All of you should be able to crowd into the two big trucks, to drive to join with the other two. When the clanship guns are down, you have four armored transports for shelter to surround the clanship. The portal doors can’t hold up to your massed cannon fire for long, so the Krall may decide to come out after you, thinking humans can’t beat them.”

Dillon laid a hand on Mirikami’s shoulder. “Sounds like a plan, Tet. I don’t know about you, but letting these young squirts have all the fun wears on the ego. Know what I mean?”

Thad nodded in sympathy, but offered a caution. “Being closer to the action is fine, but don’t let yourself be fooled into thinking we SGs are a match for a Krall, just because the smallest TG kid, including the girls, can kick Krall asses in a straight up fight.”

“I’ll keep my head down. Let me go pass the news to our eager beavers below.”

Just then, cheers were heard from decks below. They had not restricted Bridge access, and had spoken to Carson on speaker. The exciting news, once overheard, shot down the stairs with several TGs that had been eagerly waiting.

Thad shook his head and chuckled. “If I needed more proof that I have not instilled military discipline in these youngsters, that sound is as conclusive as it gets. I will be pleased to have the task turned over to men that have combat experience, and have done more than play militia war games over twenty years in the past.”

****

Dillon flew the Krall shuttle out of its small hanger, preceded by the rush of TGs on foot headed to take over the clanship. The shuttle had barely departed when Greeves and Reynolds walked down the ramp, followed by twenty TGs, two of which were TG1s. They headed for the concealed vehicle ramps of SOB-23, and Reynolds lowered one of the ramps as he passed the hidden control pad.

As soon as they had marched down into the parking area, Reynolds keyed the ramp to close using the ambient light that filtered down. The ceiling lights would activate once the ramp shut. Only this time they did not.

A shouted command came from the darkness behind them. “Lower your weapons to the floor and freeze in place. We can see every move you make. Your Links are disabled, so calling to the ship for help is a waste of time, and hazardous to your health. Greeves or Reynolds, whichever of you is in charge, kindly tell those youngsters with you to quit moving around and looking for us, or someone is going to get killed.”

As startled as they were at the trap that had been sprung, hearing their names called out was more surprising to the two older men. Yet that seemed promising for their goal of making contact with Poldark forces, because the voices were clearly human.

Thad spoke out. “TGs, these appear to be the people we hoped to contact. Carefully unsling and lower your plasma rifles to the floor. They have night vision. Don’t do anything foolish to ruin our mission.” As he spoke, he lowered his own rifle, bending slightly, and heard the rustle and clatter behind him, and from Reynolds on his left.