Koban: Rise of the Kobani - Paperback

by Stephen W. Bennett (Author)

The Kobani capture Krall ships and use them to return to Human Space. They seek expert training for their genetically enhanced young fighters, modern weapons, and new medical technology. There is a potential roadblock to such help, in the form of death penalty laws of the Planetary Union, prohibiting gene modifications of humans. These laws are a holdover from the Gene War, which nearly extinguished humanity. A perilous descent through a war torn planet's space defenses is the first step, while flying an enemy ship. After landing, a nearby Krall ship and its crew must be fought, as a watching hidden and suspicious Special Ops unit tries to decide if the Kobani should be trusted, or killed as collaborators. The Kobani, caught between a rock and a hard place, do what they were bred to do best. FIGHT!Exploration at home reveals startling alien neighbors, and a habitable world next door. A remarkable genetic discovery found there will forever alter the Kobani. Having found allies, Captain Mirikami forges a bold and dangerous plan, to strike deep into the heart of Krall territory. A place the enemy is confident that puny humans can't reach, let alone attack. Simultaneous coordinated Kobani raids seriously damage Krall war manufacturing, freeing many slave workers, and buying time for humanity. However, the Krall possess a terrible ancient weapon that none expected. Retaliatory escalation of the war has been triggered, and if it doesn't go as the Krall want, entire planets and their populations will be shattered.

Author Biography

I was born in 1942, so I'm an autumn rather than a spring chicken. I live outside of Tampa, Florida with my fabulous wife Anita, and one remaining son at home, Montana. I have three older boys, Mark, Gary, and Anthony, all of whom have married and presented us with terrific grandchildren. I read hundreds of books by the science fiction greats growing up, and thousands of fair to not so greats in dual novel paperbacks and magazines. My education gravitated to science, starting out as a physics major and my depression era folks told me I'd never make a living as a theoretical physicist (probably right, and Cosmology wasn't a career field then), so I moved to Electronics Engineering. I did most of that in the aerospace field for MacDonnell Douglas Corp, in St. Louis, Mo. I worked on the F4 Phantom project, and briefly on Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL), before the fickle fates of government finance forced contract cancelations. I devoted (read: I was drafted into) two years' service for the US Army from 1965 to 1967. A great two years, and the Army, caring not a whit for my electronics background, offered this draftee a job as an Air Traffic Controller. Cool! After discharge I spent a short time back at MacDonnell Douglas before the contract reductions laid me off, and was hired by Emerson Electric (1968), working on the design of a neat heads-up fire control system for the Army's new Cheyenne Helicopter (to be a 270-knot hybrid fixed wing/rotor craft). Never heard of it? The fickle fates of Army finance is why this time, plus Lockheed didn't keep the airframe part from crashing and burning at a crucial point in development. I taught Electronics for about eighteen months (near starvation wages after the high pay), and finally decided to try my hand at actually supporting my family again. I hired on with the Federal Aviation Administration as an Air Traffic Controller in 1970. Thanks Army! I spent exactly forty years in federal service, deciding in 1979 to use my technical background to work on writing features for the software of the FAA's Terminal Automation Systems (for 28 of those 40 years). Retired, I now work as a consultant/contractor for the FAA, supporting a software system I helped create. In anticipation of more free time in the future, I finally decided to try my hand at writing what I love to read, Science Fiction. Thanks for reading my books, Steve Bennett