Koban: Rise of the Kobani Read Free

ship would be hidden from the opening to the box canyon valley for passersby. The cliffs are several hundred feet higher than this clanship…, I mean than the Mark is. It’s also in the foothills of the Sredna Gora range, on the same side of the mountains closer to where I think the PU Army will be fighting now.”
    “You don’t think the Krall will be using your old base themselves?”
    Sarge shook his head. “They never have before, not even when they push us out of a small field command post. They know we have miniature spy bots, disguised as insects and small animals, which we leave behind in areas we abandon. They learned the hard way that we ‘cowardly’ sneaky humans sometimes mine our underground lairs, to blow up and bury their red, scaly, colored asses under millions of tons of rock. They make underground bunkers for their own use, and stay out of ours.”
    “It’s safe for us to use that old base ourselves?” Mirikami asked.
    “Probably. We have to check it out first, but it had long tunnels leading away from its center under the foothills in all directions, which would let us surface miles from where the ship is hidden.”
    “W on’t our own people going inside trigger the booby traps?” Noreen was asking what was on Marlyn’s mind as well. Both of their sons, Carson and Ethan, and husbands, Dillon and Thad, were part of Mirikami’s landing party.
    “Nope. They use life-form discrimination detectors Ladies.” He answered, and then he grinned. “Fancy pants words for saying they can tell the difference between Krall and humans, or even from animals that might enter the tunnels. At some point, if a mined but still occupied base was being overrun by Krall, a seriously detrimental ratio of enemy to human is reached in different sections. Those areas would blow first, where the most Krall are located, and there could be collateral losses of our people trapped there or captured. However, remember that the Krall don’t let prisoners live to a peaceful ripe old age anyway.”
    Tet wanted details of the tunnels. “How far away could those tunnels take us? Into or even behind the Poldark lines?”
    Reynolds seemed to think for a moment. “I don’t think they would go that far. At the rate we were losing ground, I’d expect the Krall to have pushed our forces back a dozen miles from where the longest tunnel I recall came to the surface. I never used all of the tunnels personally, so I can’t be sure. It was a forward post for the spec ops troops, and our ambush teams came along when the Krall were on the doorstep. We tried to suck their lead elements into artillery ambushes or mine fields.” He paused to think for a moment.
    “You know…, I said we leave spy bots behind, so there could be some crawling on the walls inside. We might get one or two of them to report seeing humans in the tunnels, to set up some sort of remote meeting. I don’t know how good they are at talking back to us if they report seeing humans. I wasn’t part of the ‘spook’ division, and the Krall wouldn’t make for good conversationalists, so the spy bots might provide only a one way street to the listeners.”
    Tet nodded. “OK. In any case, I like the proximity to the Poldark lines, and the ship should have good cover. Frankly, I’m not worried about the Krall questioning our ship being there, since they already control the area. They’ll assume we are some clan of raiders on our own business, at least if the ship is only seen from a distance. The PU Army, however, will shoot first at a clanship, and ask no questions at all. How wide is that canyon compared to this ship? How much room will I have to set down?”
    Reynolds closed his eyes a moment to visualize the canyon the last time he’d seen it, with Dragon mini tanks chasing his team. “It’s roughly twice as wide as the ship for most of its length, and actually opens up a bit near the back wall at the end of the box canyon.” Reynolds could only fly a