Koban 4: Shattered Worlds (96 page)

To demonstrate to his only subordinate that he was on top of things, Dolbor told him, “The enemy ship is on backup fusion power because of the explosion. The emergency override code will open the airlock.”

Bithdol snapped out a reply. “A novice with an empty tattoo would try that if the default door code failed.” He knew that he and Dolbor were sent on this mission because Telour doubted they would return, and he didn’t want to lose his most trusted advisors. He sent two newly promoted aides he could easily replace, or perhaps not bother to do that if they failed to return. Bithdol was smart enough to understand this reality, but his higher status clan mate was not politically adept, having won many of his status points by killing non-combat trained human family units in their nests.

Immediately after that, Bithdol reported he was about to exit the inner airlock hatch. However, he said, “I hear an enemy leaping up the stairwell from the main hold. I will put a plasma bolt through its head at first sight. I am in darkness within the airlock, but I see the top of the stairs.” Smarter than Dolbor didn’t make him brilliant. Human armor had nearly perfect invisibility.

He had remained quiet longer than his superior had expected, when Bohdar surprisingly stooped to ask Dolbor if his clan mate had successfully entered the enemy clanship. He acknowledged that his own warrior hadn’t reported leaving the airlock. When Bithdol also failed to reply to a call, they assumed they both had been seen and killed. Bohdar then generously shared the report he’d received from the four warriors that attempted entry by airlocks at the lowest deck.

One guardian had been killed immediately, and the other three were now trapped within their separate airlocks, unable to cycle back to the outside, and fully exposed if they made an exit into the wide-open hold area, which they could see through the small windows in the inner hatches. They had no idea how many enemy they faced, or where they were located.

The two warriors that had entered through the large blast damaged hull opening found no access into the clanship, but verified they had encountered several dead humans in damaged armor, who had died in the explosion or from decompression. They would require cutting torches or explosives to gain entrance, which were not tools that had ever been carried on such a mission. This type of problem was unprecedented when using one of the Olt’kitapi ships. Bohdar ordered them to try to join with the eight warriors out on the hull of the death ship, to press a flanking attack on the outnumbered humans there.

The report from that octet on the hull, when it came, was difficult to believe. The octet had suffered several fatal headshots from an enemy they couldn’t see, which apparently were able to fire lasers at them from over the curvature of the Olt’kitapi ship’s hull.

Bohdar was angry at their confusion. “The enemy cannot fire lasers that curve! They must be above the hull to fire down on you. You have heard they have superior stealth, so shoot where they must be to fire down at you, and keep changing your positions even if you do not see them.”

They soon scored a probable hit on an enemy, when they saw a plasma bolt break apart at a height of two body lengths above the hull. Further quick shots in that vicinity produced no further hits. However, they had lost two more warriors by then from the sniping. With those five dead, there were only eight warriors left from the sixteen sent out, and none of them had made it inside the enemy ship. Bohdar was on the verge of ordering a full-scale assault, when the external view display unexpectedly shifted out in range, to show that five more clanships had just arrived. Had it been only four, there was the possibility it could have been their protector clanships, which had been on the other side of the star engaged in fighting the enemy ships. However, with five arrivals, this had to be human reinforcements. The possibility of capturing the disabled clanship was now past.

They had to keep the enemy out of the death ship long enough to see if it could repair itself for a Jump, or until the Krall could decide how to destroyed the ship themselves. Huwayla had told Pildon that it was restoring its tachyon Trap ability for that purpose.

From the guardian’s perspective, the ship being destroyed was an acceptable outcome if they managed to kill the human attackers in the process. Destruction of a ship had never even been a consideration for these great weapons, and no previous enemy had even seen one, let alone damage or walk on one. With only plasma rifles, pistols, and their armor, there were very few destruction options for them. There was no reaction mass thruster system with fuel tanks to rupture, and no fusion bottles had ever been found. Although, Gorth Bohdar carried a Raspani boring tool, a personal weapons award from his clan upon his promotion within the guardians. A fusion bottle, if pierced by the tool would produce a suitable explosion. He could try making various holes near the command deck if they appeared about to lose the ship.

The Krall didn’t know where the living ship’s heart was located if it had one, or where its artificial brain might be placed. The command deck seemed to be the best place to start firing plasma bolts and boring holes if that time came. If they fought hard and well, they could hold the enemy indefinitely, certainly for the hours until the ship recovered tachyon power and they Jumped for Telda Ka. It was possible the enemy clanships would destroy them if they detected Trap fields forming, but that was better that losing the Olt’kitapi weapon to them.

Mirikami briefed everyone making the assault, 120 Kobani, on the hull of the Dismantler. “When our four teams get inside, move fast and work towards the center of the ship. As our prisoner told us, there’s no bow or stern and the control deck, or Bridge, is at the center. This advanced AI surely has eyes and ears throughout the ship, just as ours do, and it’s probably telling the Krall where we are at all times. Bithdol proved to be a poor choice for helping us find our way around once inside, because this was his first sight of one of these ships.

“The Krall don’t sleep of course, but even so, he saw little of the ship for the days he was on board. He went only to their food serving and sanitation hall, and the command deck. There is a grid of corridors running the length and width of the ship, and hundreds of ovals along them that resemble what we think are like the hatches on the hull. This implies there are many compartments.

“It’s apparent the Krall that guard these ships don’t trust warriors from outside their elite corps, regardless of clan affiliation or their connections to the Tor Gatrol or various clan leaders. They treated the two aides to the Tor Gatrol like dirt. The guardians are almost like a clan of their own, and stayed outside the political intrigue of the other clans.

“The eating hall is a large room near the bottom of the ship, quite close to where the Mark sheared off one end. It’s too bad we took as much of the ship as we did when we Jumped. Otherwise, half of the guardians would be sucking vacuum now. There are only ramps between decks, no stairs, and if there are elevators then this Krall didn’t use them, so we don’t know if they exist, and I wouldn’t trust using them anyway. There are two large side entry corridors, leading from either of the two main large hatches and airlocks, placed at midship on both sides, at the lowest deck. These airlocks are twenty levels below the central control room, with about fifteen feet per level, about double a tall warrior’s height. Artificial gravity is always towards the ships base.”

In hindsight, capturing one of the other warriors, the ones Bithdol thought of as the guardians of the Olt’kitapi ships, would have been more useful. However, they were motivated to fight and die, as were the most dedicated of warriors, and they behaved as if any fight was for Path and Clan, and gave and expected no quarter from any foe. The Krall that had come out to investigate the Mark had launched a fierce simultaneous assault against heavy odds. The final guardians died from Kobani fire inside the hold or from squadron ship’s lasers as they tried to enter the Mark at scattered airlocks. A second live captive had not been possible.

Mirikami continued. “Needless to say, we don’t want to find ourselves in any of the widest passageways with little cover except for corners at wide intersections. Staying to smaller side corridors with more intersections will help us, and perhaps we can open some of those compartments. We can shoot and duck faster than they can, but when in atmosphere and shooting, and I know this reminder is redundant, lasers negate our stealth. Nearly untraceable microwave is less powerful and not fatal as quickly. Unless they sit still, it may not be effective.” He had another caution to offer.

“Remember, we’d like to take the ship in reasonable working order, please limit grenade use to when it’s safest or most effective, such as a massed charge in a corridor, away from possible delicate equipment. They outnumber us better than four to one, and are willing to die to kill even one of us. They may not have leaders, parents, or mates that care, but yours want you back alive. Besides, as a practical matter, we can’t survive even a four to one trade.”

He looked to Will Horst. “Thanks to pack rat Will here, he had three breaching bubbles stored on the Hellion. These were left over from when we burned diversionary entrances into the orbital station where the Eight Balls were made. This time we’ll all actually go through the holes we make. Three teams will use the thermite rings to burn holes and enter that way, and my team will use a ring of plastic explosives. We aren’t concerned with retaining internal atmosphere, so the pressure tent isn’t being used on the bubbles. Burn through and start forcing your way through the hole while the atmosphere flushes.

“Heavy laser and plasma bolt tests proved the hull material is tough but vulnerable, but it will flow to cover the holes. However, after the hull skin is punctured you can hold it open with multiple sets of hands, at least long enough to pass the team through. You will have to fight outflowing air initially, but the force didn’t seem too bad on the test openings we made. Maggi easily grasped the sides of the opening and stuck her head in before the rush of air fully reduced, to see that the room had closed internal pressure doors. They work and look odd because they iris closed, and she saw them change color from pale amber to black. The Krall responded to those openings relatively fast, in under a minute and forced the inside doors to spread open by hand to get into each room, with air rushing in from behind them to help them push through. However, we could have had an entire team of thirty inside to fight them off by then. If they can force the iris doors open by hand, so can we. We need to get started. Questions?” There were not.

The teams had been Mind Tapping and sharing the results of the test breeches, and there wasn’t much complexity involved. Burn, or blow open a four to six foot wide section of hull, use four or five Kobani to grip the hull material to stop it from oozing fast enough to close the opening, and the rest of the team dives through headfirst. The first four or five through would take over the task of maintaining the opening while the last of the team slipped inside.

The next step? Kill anything that moves that isn’t Kobani.

With one exception.

A smaller and grayer unarmed Krall, in shackles, possibly in armor or a Krall version of a soft suit would be a prisoner they wanted to capture, and probably needed to protect.

They had all clustered near the Mark, as if that was where they intended to force a single massed entry. A bit of misdirection, as usual. On Mirikami’s word, the four teams dashed off…, or rather they shuffled off...

Having to keep their electromagnetic foot soles in contact with the Dismantler made their fast walks, with a foot always firmly in hull contact, look somewhat humorous. Each team had predetermined sites where they had used sound reverberation to identify where a sizable hollow area was below the hull.

As the teams moved over the hull towards their designated entry points, they left four smaller explosive packs adhered to the hull in their wake, with a remote detonator for each team.

When all the teams reached their actual entry points, another Comtap signal from Mirikami had them trigger the explosives they had left well behind them, making loud blasts that were adequate to blow a two-foot wide opening, permitting atmosphere to briefly vent.

As that happened, three of the teams had already laid down the rings of thermite, busy with their quiet burns. Mirikami’s team had a linked chain of plastic explosives in a crude ring, which they pressed firmly onto the hull, and backed away before its detonator was pressed. The Krall would presumably be scrambling towards the other sixteen false entry locations, drawing them farther from the true entryways, and dividing their force.

The first Kobani to dive inside was Mirikami, and he dropped into the internal gravity field of the ship through an eight-foot wide hole that had peeled back from the blast. After the low level emergency gravity field on the Mark and weightlessness on the Dismantler’s hull, the one and a quarter standard gravity inside was a minor surprise.

There was no way for humans, or even Krall to know that this was the original gravity of the Krall home world, Kratos. The Krall distain for sentimental names for places had led them to forget it was called “Home,” and the craving for higher gravity worlds had fostered their push to become stronger than they were created by nature at “Home.”

Mirikami did a graceful tuck and roll to come up at a run towards the door, which had rapidly irised shut, and changed from amber to black as he arrived. He punched the bunched fingers of his gauntlet into the center of the spiral of the door segments, and they gave way with a rush of air forcing its way through around his hand. He shoved through to his wrist and lifted hard, making the opening larger, and quickly jammed his left hand into the gap, with a gale of wind resisting. He was pulling left and right to make the opening wider when he felt a figure move up beside him, and two smaller hands grasped the top and bottom sides of the opening. The two of them forced the opening to grow as the force of wind increased for a few seconds, and then rapidly diminished. The door in the next compartment had now closed, to compartmentalize the air loss.

More hands came to help make the opening larger, but suddenly, the door swirled fully open. Apparently, it was because there was no longer any atmosphere in the next room to retain. Mirikami realized it was Maggi next to him, and she’d been forcing the door to reopen with him. Maggi had shoved Jorl out of the way and she had dived through on her husband’s heels. Turning, the two discovered all thirty of the team was behind them, inside the first compartment.

Mirikami waved them through the door, prepared to force open the next compartment, when he saw the last of the hull opening seal itself. It was a remarkable material. They were prepared to force open the next door when their suit visual displays indicated that external air pressure was rising rapidly.

By Comtap, Jorl said, “The door you forced open has returned to amber. I wonder if the color warns of pressure loss.”

Looking at the second compartment door, which had closed and gone black only a few seconds earlier, Mirikami agreed. “The next door is amber again. There’s surely pressure on the other side. Check if there’s some sort of a panel to open that door, and be prepared to shoot,” he warned them.

As Janice O’Malley stepped close to the door, it suddenly swirled open without warning. It was her Kobani reflexes already moving her out of the way when a plasma bolt was fired from the other side. She got off a red laser shot simultaneously, just as her left hand pushed on the circular doorframe to increase her rate of drop to the floor. That moved her below the return fire and to the side.

Even as she fell, she sent a mental image of what she saw. Three other Kobani, using the Comtap image she flashed to everyone, leaped forward in airborne dives towards the opening, and fired three maximum power plasma bolts where the image Janice had flashed told them the enemy was. There was an outlined stealth image of a hand of Krall warriors, three of them nimbly leaping over one in front, who was falling forward, with a glowing hole in his helmet. All three of the Krall went down from plasma bolt hits, but two had just fired their plasma rifles, both of them hitting a Kobani that had been the highest in the air on his lunge. Even effectively invisible, he simply happened to be in the space Janice had occupied when she’d fired her helmet laser. His helmet icon went red for Mirikami, and he was dead when he hit the deck.

There was one more bolt from a wounded Krall, which missed, before a half-dozen combined lasers and plasma bolts ended the exchange of fire with a certainty.

Janice leaned over the dead man. “I’m so sorry Andre. There was no time for a microwave beam.”

She had made an instant analysis when the door flashed open, and saw the shimmery moving outlines about fifty feet down the corridor, and knew they would fire through the suddenly opened door. Only a faster, higher powered killing energy beam on the lead warrior could help her, and she started moving as she fired, to get down and away from the target the beam briefly made of her head. She’d not known that someone else would move up behind her to catch the bolts intended for her.

Maggi touched her shoulder. “Random things happen that you can’t control dear. We have more of them coming after us. Shake it off and get even.”

Mirikami had to break the team’s fixation on the sudden death. “Get out of here and into the corridors, spread out and be careful. We can’t trade one of us for four of them, so fight smart, which is something they can’t match.”

****

Bohdar had clustered half his forces close to where Huwayla showed him the humans were gathered. They amounted to less than a quarter of his warriors, so he positioned others close to external hatches around the ship. Compared to a clanship, there seemed to be far too many points of entry. He told Pildon to instruct the ship not to permit the enemy out on the hull entry via the outside hatches and airlocks, and if they managed to cut their way in, to lock all doors in front of them.

Pildon dutifully passed on the “request,” but the reply wasn’t to Bohdar’s liking.

“Pildon, my external hatches are always closed against entry by those that do not possess a key from the builders. I have no reason to refuse entry to these visitors, and they all have a builder key. They are not listed as untrusted, as are your present guests, but they have not requested entry. They may not know how that is done. I do not have the ability to lock internal doors, unless there is a pressure loss, fire, or other hazard on only one side.”

“They have keys?” Bohdar snarled. Then the second qualification made him even madder. “The guardians are untrusted, but these attackers are not? We are here to defend this ship.” He raged, briefly oblivious to why they could not get the ship to do anything for them, requiring the presence of a soft Krall, who was apparently trusted.