Koban (63 page)

Realizing he had forgotten to ask Jake to include Dillon in the
Link, and he was too far away for transmission to the ship, Mirikami laughed and
explained.

“Dillon, our crewman in the ship has been watching and I told
him to observe us when we reached this ridge. I asked him to tell me when I signaled
by raising my arm and fingers, what arm and how many fingers. He thinks your middle
finger indicates bad manners.” Understanding what that had been about both of the
other men laughed.

“I wanted to make certain the ship’s telescope and cameras could
see us clearly, even though I confirmed that the ledge was visible days ago. The
real test was confirming I could hear him with my implant. This might be useful
if we can get some live surveillance of this area.”

Now fully aware of Mirikami’s focus on the high ground, Thad
felt he needed to offer his advice. “Tet, if anyone backs into one of these shallow
caves it’s true the Krall can’t get above or behind you, and you would have a clear
line of fire to anyone trying to enter. But if you check the floors of each of these,
you’ll find small scraps of armor where they simply blasted away until the people
hiding in there were shredded.”

All Mirikami said was, “I expect so Thad. That’s why I think
it’s a good idea to get them to come after whoever is in there shooting at them.”

“It’s a death trap in any of these small crevices,” Greeves repeated.

“Oh, I don’t doubt it. That’s why Dillon and I won’t be in there
doing that shooting. But I want them to think that someone is.”

“Ah. Drawing them to where you want them?” Greeves asked.

“I hope so. I don’t want a shootout with them, so I don’t expect
Dillon and me to be on this ledge at all.”

Looking up the hundreds of feet above, he asked, “How hard is
get to get to the next terrace, and are there more caves and such up there?”

“The ledge there ranges from ten to twenty feet wide, and has
another rock face about a hundred feet high. It runs almost the length of this lowest
terrace, which continues at least a quarter mile beyond that curve ahead, before
reaching the steep gorge, where the river cuts through.”

“Caves?” He repeated.

“A few small openings, but not as deep as these. There are more
and larger caves along this level we haven’t seen yet, just around the curve. Two
of those are real caves, with branching passages in side, and the two larger entrances
link up about a hundred feet into the rock. There are caves on the other face of
the ridge, but I don’t know if any connect to this side. The hillside over there
overlooks the valley where the truck park is located.”

“It looked like it would be easier to reach the top of the ridge
there.” Mirikami pointed up. “Climbing from that side with an easier slope.”

“It is, but in this gravity it’s still damned hard on a human,
and a warrior can run up it like it’s a flat plain.” Greeves noted.

“So if they come by truck and park over there, instead of by
shuttle, and there’s shooting over here, they run to the top of the ridge to get
to the action on this side?” Mirikami asked.

“I’ve seen them reach the ridge top from my view at the dome,
and they climb down to join any fighting over here. Unless there was someone in
the caves on that side with a fresh scent to draw them there. You have to understand,
once shooting starts anywhere, it doesn’t last very long. They swarm to the action
and kill what they find.”

“Hmm. Then I don’t want anyone over there to distract them from
getting here,” Mirikami mused, pulling his lip.

Graves was nodding his head. “It sounds like you are setting
up an ambush for them over on this side.

“I’ll tell you that this is what my two men and I did, but we
only revealed ourselves to one warrior to draw him to us, and we waited and focused
our fire to take him down quickly.

“If successful we were going duck into those two larger caves
around the bend for cover, and hope to ride out any attack until the hunt was ended
by his death. That is what I was barely able to do, and it still required the sacrifice
of my friend’s corpse to draw them away from me for long enough.”

Greeves shrugged. “Tet, I’ll grant you have smarts, and an ability
to make complex plans. However, a complex plan falls apart the moment the enemy
doesn’t do what you expect. My men and I were trained as soldiers on the Rim, where
we had ample places to train without Hub government interference. With three of
us working with a simple plan and one Krall after us, we were two thirds of a near
failure.” He shook his head.

“You and Dillon have never trained as soldiers, and have just
started getting your Koban legs under you. It sounds like your plan is to draw as
many of them to you as possible, with your goal to be somewhere else when they converge,
probably hoping to blow some of them up with a mine. I like you both, I really do.
But I’m going to miss your company.”

“Thad, it’s not one complex plan, it’s several, and I’m counting
on your advice to help me make the pieces of each more simple and predictable, so
that at least one of them might work. I’ll give you my ideas, and I want you to
help me make them better. We have two days to set this up.”

The three of them sat on rocks outside a cave, much like hunters
of old, and discussed strategy for bagging the most dangerous of prey.

The shuttle made a brief stop near the edge of the forest to
pick a few Death Limes, and headed back to land beside the Flight of Fancy. Both
Dillon and Mirikami were definitely feeling feverish as they stepped out of the
shuttle, proving the viruses were at work.

Dillon and Noreen carried the metal box with the fruit to the
ship’s commissary while Mirikami and Thad carried a second box to the machine shop,
and Maggi went to the lab to talk with Aldry.

“Bob, I have two projects for you, one is potentially dangerous
for you,” Mirikami informed the machinist, placing the box on a table.

“Yes Sir? I hope it isn’t a big one since we are already hustling
just to have the claymores you asked for this morning to be ready for tomorrow.”

Smiling in appreciation of the effort they were making for him,
he clapped Bob on the shoulder and told him “I said
dangerous,
not big. I
know you have plenty of the metal pellets and small scrap you’ve been putting into
the claymores. Do you have something you could tumble them in, like a closed drum?”

Bob looked puzzled. “I’m sure I can rig something like that.
I have a three-foot section of heavy eighteen-inch pipe I was saving to test as
a large mortar tube, sometime down the road. One end is already capped. I could
rig a cap to cover the other end and set it on a pair of rollers to spin the tube.”

He looked at his Captain, scratching his head. “You plan on polishing
them Sir? I don’t have anything handy for suitable grit, but I might…”

Interrupting, Mirikami laughed. “Not polish Bob, I don’t need
that and we wouldn’t have time anyway. I doubt we need more than thirty minutes
per batch, and I think just enough filler for two of the mines is all we can manage.”

Then he explained the special handling required, and asked that
two of their most reliable remote actuators be rigged to trigger the mines, with
a trip wire as backup.

“OK Captain, that job won’t take long at all since we already
have the claymore cases made. You say you have two projects?”

“Bob, after discussion with Thad, I have a simple but high priority
manufacturing task that I need later today. I’m satisfied we have enough claymores
and grenades for this Training Day, so put folks to work on making six large cylinders,
Three feet wide by five and a half long, and half inch plastic might do. Thad here
will give you some details since it was his idea, and he has the practical experience.
Dillon will drop by after lunch to give you more specifications for wiring and electronics.”

Just then Maggi Linked and told him Aldry had ordered that he
and Dillon needed to eat again, drink more of the “tasty” fluids, and take their
supplements.

“With all due respect, Captain Reckless, get your butt up to
Deck eight and eat right now. Noreen and I will watch you to make sure you both
finish it all.”

“Aye, Aye Mam. Deck eight, dining room.” He meekly acquiesced,
feeling more feverish.

“Well,” Thad winked at him, “you appear to have gotten some marching
orders. Was it Aldry?”

“Indirectly. Maggi is the bullyboy in this case, ready to make
me pay for laying down the law to her earlier this morning. A lot of spite in that
little woman.” He grinned, shaking his head.

“I watched you pause and listen. You need to work on that tell,
poker player. Telour might eventually figure out you’re listening to someone, and
I know that’s one of your key secrets from him.”

“Good point, and while I have you here Thad, I want to offer
you that same key to our secret com system. Willing to have an implant behind your
ear, and give up a lot of privacy?”

“Oh goody, I get to join the club? Is there a secret handshake?”
Greeves joked.

“In a manner of speaking there is sort of a secret handshake
with our AI, and a com protocol to learn.” Mirikami informed him.

Telling Bob he’d be back to help him in an hour, he left with
Mirikami.

As they walked towards the lifts, Greeves asked, “You don’t mean
one of those simple AI’s you have in the couches or dining areas do you?”

“Nope, ours is a near top-of-the line JK series AI, and we naturally
called him Jake because we had no imagination when Interworld received delivery
of the new ship. He can be tedious, but a handy source of information. That was
our ‘friend’ that talked to me out there on the ridge. He will be part of our surveillance
source when we start our Testing Day.”

“I’m game.” Thad told him. “Pleased that you offered. Extracting
some payback from the Krall, at a mere cost of privacy, is worth a great deal to
me. Thank you. Does it take long?”

“About five minutes to insert, then a protocol briefing and some
practice. Let me set it up while Dillon and I have to eat a pile of crud. Here’s
a little demonstration of its use.”

“Link to Mister Rigson.” He waited a second before talking. “Mel,
are you on the ship?”

“Yes Sir.” He replied promptly.

“Can you meet me in the Deck eight dining room, and escort Thad
Greeves to the dispensary for one of our transducer implants?”

“I can be up there in about five or ten minutes Sir, after I
dress. I’m in my quarters.”

“Fine, Mel. No rush. Mirikami Out.”

“Neat huh?” He looked at Greeves. “I probably caught him on the
toilet or in the shower, so that’s part of what I meant about loss of privacy,”
he explained.

“The other part is that Jake can, if requested by only me or
Noreen, record everything that you say and hear, but only with your approval
given first. If you request privacy from the AI, we cannot override that without
Jake notifying you in advance. You can of course request that he record your conversations,
things you say and hear. You’ll hear samples of him doing this this when you listen
to the record how I set up the com protocol shortly after the Krall boarded us.
Are you ready for this?”

“I don’t see why not. Is it reversible?” he asked.

“Oh absolutely. The device is barely the size of a grain of rice
behind your ear, and it can be easily removed.”

“I still want a secret handshake,” he grinned, “but I’ll start
with this.”

There ended up being quite a few people in the main dining room,
so Dillon and Mirikami ate in a more private alcove off to one side. This was partly
to avoid looks and questions concerning the types and amounts of food the two had
to eat, and all the pills. It also permitted some private conversation.

Before they finished, Thad rejoined them, having first tested
his new “toy” by asking for a Link to Dillon from the dispensary. Thad ordered a
modest plate, but noticed that the two men were still working on the considerable
remains of what had been an even larger meal.

Looking at Maggi and Noreen, who had half-finished simple sandwiches
on their plates, he talked with them. Tet and Dillon kept their mouths full and
chewing like it was a duty.

“Do those two always pack it in like this? They told me they
ate a huge meal just before we went out in the shuttle. That was only four hours
ago.”

He noticed Maggi and Noreen looked uncomfortable about answering,
and looked to Mirikami for some reason. Approval?

Mirikami bobbed his head, and waved at them to indicate they
should wait for him to swallow. After washing it down with a drink of grayish fluid
that made him grimace, Mirikami looked around to see who might be siting close to
their table.

“Thad, Dillon and I are on a special diet to feed our bodies
extra nutrients that will help us build up a heat tolerance and boost our metabolism.
This is to increase our ability to perform better on Testing Day. You already know
about our Pep and Oxy pills, which lead to a physical crash in less than a day of
heavy use. We are testing a method of bypassing the drugs. This is a longer term
solution.”

“I should have figured with all your doctors and scientists you’d
have some better ideas than popping pills. Is that why you both look flushed despite
a cool room, and you both show sheens of perspiration?”

Damn, the guy’s observant
, Mirikami thought. “Yes, it
is. We’re each running a fever from the burst of absorption our bodies are being
forced to endure.” He’d like to tell him the truth, but there were their own scientists
that had not been informed of what they were trying to achieve genetically. In
addition, it was criminal as hell everywhere in Human Space, bordering on Death
Penalty serious. Of course, they weren’t actually
in
Human Space he thought,
in a flash of irony.