Koban 5: A Federation Forged in Fire (39 page)

There were gasps from some in the crowd. He wasn’t finished.

“For holding the position of clan leader of Human Space, you had poor knowledge of the Kobani, the best and most effective fighters you had. In your cowardly weakness, you were ready to trade them for the safety of your worlds, which I would never give you. When you told me the name they used was Kobani, and said they lived outside of Human Space, you suggested it was a form of the name taken from their home world. I remembered that this name sounds like the low Krall words for a training place. You were right. The Kobani name is taken from a world that our first human prisoners called Koban.

“We should have killed them when we left them to die there, more than a breeding cycle ago. I knew them, and I knew this small human. I gave Mirikami that mark on his chest, and gave him the title Worthy Enemy. He and his people convinced our clan leaders that humans were capable of fighting, and that we should not kill all of you swiftly. We were wrong.”

Eyes and cameras focused briefly on the black oval at the base of Mirikami’s neck, still exposed by the open flap of his tunic.

“He has proven more worthy than I thought was possible for an animal. I should have killed him then. It is not too late. Mirikami, I offer you a Death Challenge.” Now he’d learn if the little human also had honor.

Mirikami had kept his eyes locked with Telour’s as he spoke. He nodded his satisfaction. “I accept your challenge, and I chose hand to hand fighting, at this place and this time. I must explain to the watchers what will take place. Otherwise, the President’s guards might shoot you before the challenge begins.”

Before he could speak to the crowd, Medford yelled a series of denials. “I made no such agreement. That must be an imposter claiming to be Telour. He’s lying. Mirikami made him say that.”

Telour’s eyes flared at her, the pits glowing red in the light of the cameras. “Clan leader Medford, if it would not dishonor me to fight an animal with so little honor, I would challenge you next, after I kill this one. I know I will not leave this place alive, but I will die as a warrior, after I kill Mirikami and your warriors shoot me, or if he kills me.”

“That sure as hell isn’t going to happen,” she shouted back. “This is the heart of the Planetary Union. We are too civilized for duels.”

Mirikami smiled at her words. “Lucky for Telour’s wishes today, and for the human race, as a Kobani I have more than a trace of ripper blood in me. I’m not
nearly
as civilized as you seem to think. Would the Federation representatives please move to the sides to make room?” Maggi moved with them and looked concerned, even though she had Comtapped with him about what was required.

Agent Ferguson spoke for the first time. “Sir, I’m Agent Ferguson. Are you proposing to release that Krall and fight him here in front of the Capitol? I can’t permit that. That would place the president in jeopardy.”

Mirikami tried to reassure him. “I can understand your concern, but she is in absolutely no danger. Even if Telour defeated me in unarmed combat, which he will not do, he’s under no illusion that he can successfully attack the president, or escape. The other Kobani with me will not permit that to happen, and he is aware they are present.”

Ferguson looked at the shorter than average young looking man. He had a muscular build, but frankly, he thought any of his agents could take him down with one hand in their pockets. He glanced at the Krall, easily three times the mass of Mirikami. Then he looked at Maggi, even shorter than her husband, and more slightly built. They were the only two Kobani that he could see, and they hardly seemed imposing.

Watching the agent’s eyes, the cause for his concern was easily deduced. There was only one way to reassure him that the Telour couldn’t threaten the president, but that proof would scarcely diminish the agent’s worries. Mirikami saw no alternative.

“Special Agent, I ask that you and your detail to not overreact to what you are about to see. Our representatives did not walk up here from our ship entirely alone. We have protective escorts.”

He spoke softly, which came from the disembodied speakers, as Comtap passed his instructions to the minds of everyone in armor. “People, let’s prove the President has adequate protection from that Krall. Stealth off please.”  

One thousand white and black armored figures winked into view, spread all around the end of the Mall, up on the portico, hanging from light poles, standing on walls, and statutes, and they effectively surrounded the Galactic Federation representatives, including Mirikami and Telour. The reason the pushy reporters had been so easily held at bay was instantly apparent.

The warning from Mirikami, and their extensive training, kept any of the security detail from committing a foolish knee jerk reaction, thus risking a firefight, which they instantly saw they could never win. They had been vastly outnumbered from the start. Had the Kobani intended harm to the president, it could have been accomplished long ago.

That instant recognition didn’t occur to the onlookers, so it didn’t keep some members of the public from uttering a few screams and shouts. When Mirikami spoke to calm them, the distributed sources for his voice became apparent. Suit speakers on those armored figures positioned above them is where the sound had been issuing. There were some laughs now, and the army vets offered those around them more than a few
I told you so
comments
.

Even Telour hadn’t suspected here were so many. He knew he’d been carried, but thought there were only two or three present. His Worthy Enemy left little to chance.

“I have accepted Telour’s challenge, and as such I can select the mode of fighting. I chose unarmed combat, to eliminate concerns of a stray bullet, beam, bolt, or thrown knife. Before we fight, I will free him from his restraints, and we will greet one another briefly with a salute, within the circle of these armored Kobani. After that, it is up to us to decide how to attack the other, or to defend ourselves.

“No one, and I do mean
no one
, is allowed to intervene until the fight is finished. If I win, Telour will be dead. If he wins, I’ll be dead, and so long as he doesn’t attack anyone else, my people will allow him to stay alive. He’s perfectly aware of where he is, and that the Planetary Union will hold him accountable for ordering Hub worlds destroyed. Either way, he knows he cannot survive this visit to Earth. This challenge to me represents an honorable warrior’s death for him, or a last combat victory against an old enemy he wants dead. I don't think he deserves this honor, but I saw no other way to provide him with a motive to describe the things he had done. We’re a species he considers animals, and we deserve no explanation.”

“Give us a minute to get the President into the limo,” Ferguson asked.

“No! I want to watch this.” Medford had heard so much about Kobani ability that she wanted to see the fight. If Mirikami died, or they killed each other, she wouldn’t shed a tear for him. However, she didn’t see any possibility he could win. It occurred to her that he’d elected a brutal form of public suicide rather than to face arrest and prosecution by the PU. That might be his plan, to garner sympathy for his people, and if that was true, she admired his sacrifice. She sure as hell wouldn’t fall on her own sword.

Mirikami turned to Telour. “When I release you and you stand, the chair and container will be moved away. You will have time to move your arms and legs to remove any stiffness before our salute.”

“Accepted.”

Despite his spoken agreement, Telour glanced at the two armored figures inside the ring of figures around him. He was seeking side arms he could grab, but they were carrying nothing like slung rifles or side arms that would be useful. Those other Kobani around him were all two leaps away, and they alternated between facing inwards and out. He’d not be fast enough to reach them before they reacted. He knew firsthand how fast they were, and how effective their armor weaponry was.

In a Comtap, Sarge said, “Tet, he just checked Thad and me out for eternal weapons, I think. He’s going to grab anything he can for an advantage.”

“I saw. Frankly, I assumed as much, since that’s been his trademark. He hadn’t wanted to leave us alive on Koban, despite the Joint Council’s agreement to do so. Telour conspired to have his clan mate Kanpardi killed, so he could take over his position as Tor, and he readily admitted today that he never intended to honor the agreement Medford thought she had with him. He has little respect for agreements within his own species, and none with us. He’ll try to die with a final kill, or two.”

The ring of armored figures was partly blocking the view of observers, and Mirikami informed Ferguson that the suits facing inward would activate stealth again, partly to provide visibility, and partly to provide containment that Telour couldn’t see.

As soon as those suits vanished, Mirikami sent the chair AI the release signal, and one side of each of the heavy metal straps suddenly released, as did one side of the facemask. Telour lifted his arms, pushed the mask aside and swung the chest and neck restraints out of the way. He tested how securely the stiff metal arcs were attached to the chair. They didn’t display any give, so he couldn’t tear them loose to use as weapons. He stood up and looked back at the motorized chair, seeking any loose parts. It promptly rolled away from him, and the two suited figures grabbed the heavy device and tossed it to figures on the perimeter, followed by the container’s base. Then they retreated to the edge of the improvise arena.

Mirikami walked to within a half leap, roughly Telour’s body length, and stood with his arms held loosely at his sides. Telour, standing sideways, his opponent to his right, he started flexing his torso at the waist, his arms, neck, and legs, curling and uncurling his fingers and toes. He was pleasantly surprised to note that the talons of his toes had not been trimmed, probably because Krall toes didn’t have the same grasping ability of their fingers. He’d not been able to see his toes while secured in the chair.

Telour saw that Mirikami expected him to turn and face him for the traditional salute of mutual respect. Therefore, he pretended to stretch his limbs and leaned in the direction away from his foe, placing his left hand on the portico surface. If he got him on the ground or in his grip, there would be no toying with this prey. He was far too fast and strong to risk that, as demonstrated back on the ship when the little human had captured him.

He’d not given him credit for the speed and strength he displayed that time. With time to think, Telour believed he knew why Mirikami had worn armor in that first confrontation. It was because despite speed, strength, and nearly unbreakable bones, Kobani flesh, and relatively uncontrolled bleeding, were their weak points. He didn’t have that layer of armored protection now.

His mind went into the accelerated thought mode of an attack. This would happen as fast as he could possibly manage. Using the slight give and the non-slip texture of the Smart Plastic that only
looked
like polished marble, Telour shoved off with a powerful thrust of his bunched muscles in his thick left arm, as his feet came up, talons extending as they rose, his short legs bunched in close to his lower torso.

He would simultaneously slash low with his left foot at the lower abdomen, to spill intestines, and go high with his right foot, aiming for the eyes and jugular vein on the side of his neck. His IR heat vision saw the vein on the right as the warmer and larger of the two neck veins, and the high Kobani metabolism revealed the heated blood coursing just below the fragile tissue.

His foe had been looking at him as he lifted his feet, both legs fully bent, so he would know a dual kick out was coming. No Krall could successfully block both powerful attacks, but a warrior had the physiology capable of fighting on effectively if only one blow struck. In addition, a Krall had the natural weapons to deliver considerable damage as they engaged a foe. A human had useless nails, and blunt teeth.

His experience with humans was that if either foot landed, that foe would fall to his second level attack, when his arms and hands reached out to gather in the bleeding body, and tore at the damaged area, while his teeth slashed at any exposed skin. Humans simply had too few natural weapons, counting too much on technology. He should have called for pistols again.

As he approached his target, he saw Mirikami bending at the waist, leaning in towards him. The neck target was going below his high right leg kick, which he had already unleashed, and his leg was still extending. If lucky, he might rake down his opponent’s back with the lower two talons on that foot. His left leg kicked out slightly late since it had been the last to leave the surface, but it was on track to tear at Mirikami’s abdomen. Telour lowered the aiming point of his grasping right arm and hand for the lowering position of the man’s head, when Mirikami suddenly pushed off with both feet and left the ground, his shoulders and torso going horizontal to the surface as he sprang toward Telour.

The man’s legs and lower torso lifted to line up with his upper body and shoulders, and started a twisting movement. He was now located between the former target points of Telour’s feet and talons. The Krall desperately tried to squeeze in his legs, but Mirikami was coming at him so fast that he nearly passed between his feet.
Nearly.

Telour felt the tips of two toes of his right foot talons tear down the back of his opponent as they passed above him, even as Mirikami’s right hand shoved Telour’s left leg down and away from his own legs. The man’s left hand moved up and over the back of his head, a place where he couldn’t possibly see anything, and unerringly shoved Telour’s grasping right hand back into his chest. He was somehow passing between the feet and legs intended to rip him to tatters.

Now Mirikami’s right hand, no longer needed to deflect Telour’s lower left leg, flashed up in a blur, and grasped Telour’s approaching left wrist in a vice like grip. He used the Krall’s momentum to slide the length of the front of his body and past his head, making only limited contact, and pivoted around using the gripped left wrist, and twisted to land on his feet. The greater mass of Telour continued dragging the human several feet before the Krall hit the ground and slid to a halt.