Koban: The Mark of Koban by Bennett Stephen W

Author:Bennett, Stephen W [Bennett, Stephen W]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Stephen W Bennett
Published: 2013-02-11T07:00:00+00:00

15. Fjord

The Krall had largely bypassed Fjord, after nearly four years of light to heavy raids on other Rim worlds. Frequent raids had forced abandonment of several Rim worlds, including the first Krall target in Human Space, Gribbles’ Nook.

The Nook was effectively a privately owned world operated by mining companies, and without a citizen base, it could not vote to join the Planetary Union to receive a mobile defense force. Contract labor wouldn’t sign on without greatly higher wages and benefits, and they insisted on owning their own guns. The companies couldn’t enforce their former strict control, nor make enough profit. Therefore, they pulled out.

Using remote monitoring it was clear that the Krall virtually ignored Nook after the humans were gone. This was further evidence they didn’t particularly care about holding on to even valuable resources. The Krall didn’t care about territory other than as a place to build a base, such as Greater West Africa, now called K1.

What drew them were opportunities for exciting combat, many kills per warrior, and significant warrior culling. Fjord didn’t offer them much in that respect.

The infrequent small Krall raids here had encouraged the population to resist joining the Planetary Union. If they voted to become a New Colony, they would be expected pay for and host at least ten thousand troopers in a mobile force. That system was based on the most successful ground defense system found thus far, the Poldark model. It was a double-edged sword if they did this, possibly making them a more desirable target. The discussions on why the Krall seldom targeted this planet centered on several factors.

First was climate. The cold world had a Nordic type climate even at the equator, with huge polar ice caps extending over a half way to the equator. The equatorial landmasses, with seaports ice-free only in the summer, were rife with narrow glacier gouged steep walled coastal valleys, remnants from past ice ages, the most recent one being in slow retreat. Glaciers had been gradually retreating since humans discovered the planet three hundred years ago. Because the Krall preferred warm climates, they usually raided temperate worlds.

Second, it was true that worlds that were the most successful at driving off raids, such as Poldark, also received more raids, presumably because they were better opponents. The basing of troopers on Fjord might draw a large Krall raid.

Third, a sizable percentage of the population lived on boats or giant floating rafts where they docked their fishing fleets and where they built fish processing plants. Much of the remaining population lived in coastal regions, with sections of towns built on piers out over the water. The Krall didn’t like water and, with their dense bodies, they swam like flailing rocks. When one or two warriors raided a town on Fjord, the heavily armed population evacuated to the rafts, boats, or other locations over water, limiting the Krall’s options for reaching them.

As the name Fjord might suggest, hardy, independent Scandinavian immigrants with a generous smattering of other Nordic peoples had settled the colony.

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