Koban: The Mark of Koban Read Online Free PDF Page B

just as fatal to them. It
was certainly a much greater weight on Koban than it looked to their eyes,
perhaps forty five hundred pounds here. They might not be able to move its
heavy carcass from over the narrow opening.
    Obviously, the two predators didn’t recognize the danger
from the weapon, but they were smart enough to know they couldn’t reach the two
morsels either. The men could hear distant growls, most likely from their pack
mate feeding on one of the two dead moosetodons. The two raptors above decided
the big meal below the hill was worth more than the fun of a hunt that had
devolved into a waiting game. They could hear them leave as they scrabbled down
the rocks.
    “So…, they seem to be leaving for the larger feast.”
    “You know the old saying,” Dillon improvised, “a moosetodon
in the hand is worth two men in a cleft.”
    With a pained expression, Thad told him, “I should have
jumped in without you and let them eat your ass. It would serve you right.”
    “Maggi would be proud I kept my good humor,” he retorted.
    “Be serious, she’d whack you in the head for dropping your
rifle.” Shifting subjects, Thad added, “I don’t know how long it takes one of
those things to fill its belly, but I’m not climbing out of this hole for a couple
more hours, just in case.”
    “You’ll be putting your cold adaptation to the test before
then. How about we shift positions a bit and let me open my parka to share some
body heat. Promise not to tell Noreen we got so cozy?”
    “I don’t intend to tell anybody we got caught flat
footed by a gaggle of big white birds, like rookie hunters. By the way, what do
you think we should call them Mr. Scientist? Not Thad or Dillon’s Terrible Turkeys,
that’s for sure. How about something a little smarter sounding than moosetodon?”
    “They resemble dinosaur raptors from Earth’s past, so why
not whiteraptor?” Dillon suggested.
    “OK, that’s good enough for me,” agreed Thad. “We’ll have to
wait awhile. Want some jerky?” he offered.
    Dillon looked at his offering, “I’d rather yak.”

3. Slaughter on the Nook
     
    Telour was disappointed. The team the humans had called a
SWAT did have weapons somewhat equivalent to those they had provided to test
subjects on Koban, but they were not as effective as he had expected.
    Hand held rapid-fire weapons, called submachine guns, had
managed to injure all four of his hand of warriors, but the ammunition pellets were
so small that the injuries caused were hardly life threatening, even when his
novices were struck multiple times. Had a human been able to steady their aim
on the heads, there might have been the possibility of killing a careless
warrior.
    A captive human leader he had briefly permitted to live, for
interrogation purposes, had told him these were the heaviest weapons allowed
for his “officers.” He said the frangible bullets, as he called the pellets,
avoid deep penetration and needless deaths. They were the only ammunition type
they had. Irrational animal behavior like this frustrated Telour. The leader
died slow, and poorly.
    The SWAT humans had worn a partial type of body armor that
proved somewhat effective against the Krall pistol ammunition. However, it did
not cover their arms and legs, and the helmets were open on the front except
for a fragile transparent shield. The warriors simply targeted the exposed
limbs and faces, and the enemy fell quickly to almost any wound. Most disgusting
were those that tried to surrender. There were more bad deaths for those
cowards.
    He did have a brief thrill that quickly turned to
disappointment. In an effort to make an assault on his warriors, the humans
with submachine guns first threw small hand bombs. They only made a bright
flash and a loud noise, and were useless as weapons.
    Telour had thought they were the same hand held explosives
that humans used in their final combat testing on Koban. Those that the human
clan leader, Mirikami, had ordered