Four stories, derived from the same Universe as the Koban series. These are tales involving Koban life forms and the Kobani people. Reading the other books isn't required to understand and enjoy these stand-alone tales. Australian Krall: A fully gene enhanced petite Kobani woman finds herself trapped in total darkness, pursued by hundreds of slavering, semi-sentient, maniacally aggressive and hungry aliens. Take a walk on the dark side Bats of a Leather Flock Together: The wolfbat Flock Leader takes his colony to an unexplored Koban continent to set up a nest in virgin territory. The wily leader uses his cooperative experience with humans to try to forge similar alliances with other native creatures. Not everyone wants to play nice. Kobani Kiddie Cappers: How do Kobani parents cope with children that are born with the contact telepathy gene, and have eidetic memory? Adults that think teenagers act like they know everything never had an overconfident four-year old super child, with a ripper cub as his partner. Living to his teens is in doubt. The Smuggler and the Crime Lord: When you land your spaceship at a ruthless Crime Lord's city using false registry, it's hard to convince a platoon of armed thugs that you're only shopping, not smuggling without paying the boss his cut. If you happen to be Kobani, and you're buying everyone drinks in a spaceport bar, making threats and spoiling the fun can be fatal.

Already faster and more powerful than the last 17 species that they have destroyed or subjugated, the Krall have set their sights on humankind. After testing humans on their future home world of Koban and finding them worthy opponents, the Krall start a war of slow extermination with the rest of humanity. The war is intended to last generations as they apply their own version of "natural selection" to cull their weaker warriors in combat, purifying the Krall gene pool with finest warriors for breeding. Why? The Krall desire to rule the galaxy someday, from their future home world of Koban, where the impossibly fast and powerful animals have proven to be too fast and strong for them to match. Only through the attrition of war will the Krall perfect their bloodline to become the masters of Koban. When the Krall departed Koban to start their war with humanity, they destroyed the protections that kept their prisoners safe. They left the human test subjects to fall victim to high gravity, and the deadly predators. Big mistake. The bio scientist left behind enhance the human genome with Koban genes, forming the next generations of humans. They are becoming what the Krall sought to be. The fastest, most powerful species in the galaxy. The men and women trapped on Koban, locked in a struggle for their own survival for twenty years, return to the stars to help defend Human Space. The Krall have had their way with human worlds, killing when and where they wish. Outnumbered, the new Kobani will now take the war to the Krall.

We colonized over seven hundred planets in 200 years. Humankind enjoyed the benefits of unlimited expansion and the end of wars. We even disbanded our military. Then the Krall found us. The Krall have used thousands of years of combat to select the genes of the strongest and fastest warriors for breeding. They are a species determined to rule the galaxy, through death, destruction, and domination of every opponent. Ruthlessly, they tested captured humans on a savage planet called Koban. The choice faced was simple for the prisoners: Prove humans can produce fighters again, or be exterminated now. The aliens are only part of the captive's problem. Left to die, the captives must survive Koban's high gravity and superfast animals, with organic superconductor nerves. The huge tiger-like rippers are predators too fast even for armed Krall to face. The human solution, with the help of a ship full of captive bio scientists is genetic: If you can't beat them as you are, become more like a ripper. The Krall will discover more than one species can bypass natural selection.

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.

This is a book of remembrances, about 60 years of experiences in Sail boats, Powerboats, canoes and sea kayaks. It is a book about places from the Maine coast to North and South Carolina, Florida Okinawa and Israel. I want to share a life time of joy and experiences on and around the water in small boats. Experiences which include quiet and peace as well as times of high adventure. If you chose to read my book, I hope you greatly enjoy it and have some sea adventures of your own.