Koban 5: A Federation Forged in Fire by Stephen W. Bennett Page A

sister ships.” He said that with confidence.
    “Therefore, Telour isn’t able to bring them back here to destroy other worlds, but he doesn’t know that yet. His escape is disappointing, but not one leading to planetary catastrophe. With the Denial chips, we know we can take out his clanships too easily for them to risk closing with us. We’ve eliminated their ship numbers advantage, because their style of fighting is to get in close and kill their enemy in as personal a manner as possible. They can’t win a space battle if they, or we, Jump right into each other’s formations. Our lighter weight anti-ship missiles have proven too fast and maneuverable to be easily destroyed or evaded when fired so close to their backsides.
    “I stayed in orbit to watch their response. They didn’t recognize the real threat for long critical minutes, because none of their orbiting clanships became balls of fire after we attacked them. I’m sure they wondered why none of ours exploded when we moved in close for boarding, because their missiles should have struck us. I think our relatively smaller numbers, compared to the thousands of clanships they have here, caused their sub leaders on the ground to attempt to send fewer clanships aloft after us, unaware we were already among them on the surface. Otherwise, more of them might have gotten off the ground before being disabled.”
    “Does that mean when we have their fleet here fully grounded, we’ll take on the warriors in the domes, Sir?” He sounded a bit too eager to Mirikami.
    “No Carson, it does not. They have at least ten or fifteen million warriors down there. We would lose too many people, no matter how fast and strong we are individually. I was serious when I said a Krall body count isn’t what we’re after. That isn’t mercy on my part; it’s practical. If we leave them stranded on K1, with their strongest offensive weapons neutralized, then we can inform the PU army, and they can invade here and expect to win this time. This was a human New Colony once. The PU should be granted the right to reclaim it. You take care of yourself, and link to your mom and dad. They’re trying to pretend they don’t worry about you, Katelyn, Cory, and Kobalt.”
    Carson felt guilty he hadn’t called his parents when it was so easy. He rushed to tell his uncle now. “Kobalt was shot between the right front shoulder and chest. He’s not bleeding too badly, but it went deep and I think hit bone. I had Danner call for medical help while I reported.”
    “Damn! OK. I’ll send some medical help down to you. Ethan thinks we have all the clanships at that particular dome complex disabled. I’ll send our technical and medical staff on the Vanguard down from Cheetah. They’ll land well away from the dome for their safety, but if you call for a shuttle to carry Kobalt over to them, they’ll give him the best of care. We have several med labs configured for rippers. He and Kit are really too old to be fighting at this intensity anyway. They’re slowing down.”
    Carson automatically defended his lifelong friend and protector. “He did good Uncle Tet. He distracted Telour’s aide with a roaring charge while Kayla snuck up and attacked him from the side. The shot was random and convulsive, not aimed, caused when she struck and bit down on the Krall’s arm.”
    “Carson, Kobalt and Kit are the two oldest living rippers. No pride member that was around when they were born is still alive, not even other cubs from that same year. Ripper lifetime in the wild runs about eighteen to twenty years. They’re eight months older than you and Ethan. At nearly twenty four, they’re old for rippers, son.” He didn’t want to sound pessimistic, but a touch of realism might help prepare him for a painful loss in the near future.
    “Right. Ethan and I have been talking, and we’re going to have a serious frill talk with both of them. For now, I need to work down through the dome to disable their