Koban: Rise of the Kobani Read Free Page B

and attract a lot less attention.”
    Reynolds had a cautionary warning. “If the sky is clear there is a chance the ripple effect can show us up, and then you don’t have velocity to get you out of harm’s way as quickly.”
    Noreen was exasperated. “Damn it. Our sons and husbands, and our friends will be aboard the Mark! You included, you big negative sounding goof! Isn’t there any simple way to sneak in quietly? What the hell is the ripple effect?”
    He smiled, and explained. “Take a perfectly clear glass sphere and tie it to a thin string and hang it from a ceiling.  Then push it to send it oscillating around a normal room filled with lights, furniture, and objects on the walls. The sphere is almost perfectly transparent, but unless it’s motionless, you can see it easily because of how it affects the light passing through it from the other side as it moves. A stealthed ship is somewhat like that. The armor I wore in combat had active camouflage, and blended me in with the background, even matching the surrounding temperature for a low infrared contrast. Nevertheless, if I moved very much, or too fast, I became faintly noticeable. That’s the ripple effect.”
    Mirikami tried to ease their worries. “Ladies, I’m hoping to find a major storm system with high cloud tops and lots of turbulence, and try to sink into that for screening as long as I can.”
    “Right over the canyon you plan to use? How long will you have to sit and wait for a storm like that?” Marlyn wondered.
    Mirikami shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to do it over the destination point anyway. I have two-thirds of a large continent where the Krall are located to find a suitable storm. It’s spring in the northern hemisphere. There should be frequent thunder storms, right Sarge?” He knew Reynolds would agree, because not only was it an accurate statement, but because that was something they had discussed while in Jump transit.
    Reynolds tried to reassure them. “There are afternoon storms over coastal regions every day and some big ones in the central area of the continent of Macedonia often located somewhere along that mountain chain where we want to land. There was one storm building there when we arrived, but it will have dissipated before we are ready to make the entry. There’ll be others.”
     
     
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    “Gatlek Pendor,” Kaldot called to his superior. “The three clanships you inquired about have not left orbit. They are maintaining stealth and formation, and no clan has announced them as theirs. However, because of their action to move away, I do not think they carry the expected supplies from Telda Ka.” They were waiting for replacement Dragon mini-tanks, and automated laser defenses against the annoying human artillery. These were being shipped from their base world, named K1 by the humans.
    New warriors to participate in the war arrived loosely, as various clans chose to send them. Except for small, brief raids on other human worlds, they were not permitted to take independent action on Poldark without coordination with the Gatlek, and were subject to his orders when they attacked any designated target or fought along any front. Until then they were free to land, to become acclimated to the local gravity, climate, and terrain, and to train their warriors here.
    Pendor answered his Mordo clan mate and aid, “Advise me of what they do after they decide to land, Kaldot. They may be waiting for more of their clan to arrive. I have no interest in them if they did not bring the weapons I requested.”
    Pendor had only found it necessary to conduct two punitive raids against uncooperative clanship commanders, whom had refused to coordinate with him, or had deliberately not obeyed his orders. They had been removed forcibly, and in the standard Krall tradition, fatally. For one thing, rampaging over the humans was “wasteful” of their potential as worthy enemies. For another, that worthy enemy was adept at