by Ivan Kal
“Friends.” Sumia said again as Seo-yun moved back. “Do all humans make friends so fast?” Sumia asked.
Seo-yun laughed, “That depends on the person. But when two people become fast friends, we call that “hitting it off.”” Seo-yun responded. Sumia realized then that she didn’t need to keep appearances here, to keep her emotions in check, allowing herself only a courteous smile or a strategic frown. The humans didn’t care about that. So Sumia let herself be who she was with someone who was not a part of her family. For the first time in her life Sumia laughed with no concern for appearances.
***
Tomas and Elias sat in Tomas’ small office at the palace. Tomas was showing Elias the plans for the Sanctuary’s police. On the desk in front of them was a hologram of the Olympus city with its surrounding, a few kilometers away was a small base, with a big installation below the ground.
“I was wondering what it was that you were building there. But no one knew anything, and those that worked there kept their mouth shut. It is for the police?” Elias asked.
“Yes, I have plans for expansion later.” Tomas asked.
“Expansion? Isn’t it already too big? You could fill five thousand people in there.” Elias commented.
“I imagined it as the headquarters for the entire planet. With their own prison system, and room for equipment, vehicles and such. You are right, it is too big for our needs now, but in time we will grow. I accounted for that in the designs now, rather than having to worry about there not being room for expansion later.” Tomas said.
Elias nodded, “It looks good. You plan on them having shuttles?” Elias said, and Tomas nodded, “Then it would take them about two minutes to reach the city, fast enough. I assume that you want my people to start the training of any people that might apply to be police officers?”
“Yes, I know that it isn’t their expertise. They will have problems enough trying to figure out things on their own. Some insight from your people might serve them well.” Tomas said.
“Okay, how long until you finish all the work?” Elias asked.
“The surface buildings are mostly finished, the underground needs a lot more work to be done. But there are a few areas that are finished. I think that we can start recruiting in about a month. We don’t need all the facilities to be operational.” Tomas said.
Elias nodded. Tomas waved the hologram off with his hand and implant.
“Anything else?” Elias asked.
Tomas got a faraway look in his eyes, “You remember a time when our biggest worry was if some paparazzi would get a picture of me? It seems so silly now, the things we used to worry ourselves with.”
“I can’t remember the last time I thought about those times.” Elias said.
“Yeah, it seems so far away. Especially now when we worry about alien races attacking us.” Tomas said, shaking his head.
“Do you remember the time when we found that redhead in your room?” Elias asked, smirking.
Tomas groaned, “Don’t remind me. That was one of the worst experiences of my life.”
Elias let out a laugh, “Not for me, or my men. That was probably the funniest moment of our lives.”
“Wait, didn’t we agree never to speak of that again?” Tomas asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Could be. It was so long ago I can’t remember. What can I say, I’m an old man.” Elias responded in a thoughtful voice.
“But you remember the incident?”
“Well, some things just stick with you.” Elias said grinning. Tomas couldn’t help but grin in return. Then the grin turned to a full blown laughter. They laughed until their stomachs hurt.
Finally Tomas regained his wits, “I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard.”
Elias managed to gather himself enough to speak, “I think that it was when you hired Seo-yun, at Sedna.”
“Yes… She called me a megalomaniac, if I remember correctly.” Tomas said.
“Yes, she did.” Elias added.
“That was the beginning. Of all this.” Tomas said swiping his hand across the room, “Could you have imagined all this back then? Would you have believed if someone told you then, about all this?”
“No… Our world was smaller then.” Elias said.
Tomas nodded, he looked at his oldest friend. “I miss this. Our conversations, we’ve drifted apart over the years.”
Elias sighed. “Yes, we have too much to do and not enough time. And I missed it too.”
“But even though we don’t speak as often outside of work, you are still my best friend, my oldest friend. You are probably the person I trust most in this world, I want you to know that.” Tomas said seriously.
“You trust me more than Seo-yun?” Elias asked half-jokingly.
“Seo-yun is… She is special. I love her, and I trust her with my life. But you and I, we have a bond. You were there with me as I started on the path to fulfill my dream. Never wavering from your place in my shadow, keeping me safe, being my right hand. I want you to know that I appreciate all that you have done for me.” Tomas said, looking at Elias with a piercing gaze.
Elias met his gaze and straightened, “I have always known Tomas, just like I have always trusted you. Your dream was always mine as well. You have my trust, always. And I appreciate all that you have done for me, and the rest of our people.”
Tomas smiled affectionately at his friend, who returned the smile. They spent a few moments in silence, content in each other’s presence. Then after a while, Elias stirred. “You really think that the Sowir will keep their agreement?”
Tomas shook his head, “No. But if they follow a similar path to what they did before, we should get at least some time. They agreed to stay out of our territory, and we out of theirs. No contact between us.” Tomas said.
“We have no way of monitoring the territory we said is ours.” Elias said, they specified their territory as everything in the ten light years from Nuva. Including the systems that have the trans-lanes that lead back to Earth. As per their agreement Sowir will not move past the former Consortium border plus the few systems that they have acquired since then.
“I have been meeting with Laura, we plan on building outposts in every border system, and to push the colonization up the timetable. We were going to include you in the future meetings, we are going to need your people.”
“That’s fine. I have thousands of people just sitting around their bases doing nothing. It will do them good to have something important to do.”
Chapter Twenty Two
January 2172 – Second Fleet
The Second Fleet rested in the final trans-station. They were thirty light years from Earth. Just one more trans-lane, and they would reach their destination. The mood among the fleet was exuberant. Ever since they received word from the Resistance and learned that there was only one ship left guarding Earth. It was the best news that Johanna had ever heard. It was not that she was afraid, but she had no desire to see her people die, even though she knew it was unavoidable. Their plan had changed. They would no longer need to worry about drawing all the ships to them. Now they could go straight to Earth and deal with it. The Resistance would wait until the ship was engaged with Johanna’s fleet before they start their attacks.
Johanna looked at her Comm Handler, they were now inside the 50 light year limit of the FTL comms, meaning that their communications were nearly instantaneous. Anything longer than 50 light years and the FTL comm signal slows down rapidly. That was why they were leaving the comm relays behind them. With them the communication with Sanctuary will take about three weeks, opposite the five months it would take without them.
“We received a message! The Resistance says they are ready!” The Comm Handler said.
“Send a message to Sanctuary, tell them that we are beginning our mission, and they should expect a response one week after this message.” Johanna told the Comm Handler.
Then, Johanna turned to Andros, “Notify the fleet, we are clear f
or entering the trans-lane.”
Andros opened a channel to the fleet and ordered the transfer. The trans-ship Traveler acknowledged, and began the countdown. The clock started ticking down on the holo, and Andros ordered the screens turned on. They had stopped doing that after the first few transfers, but this one was special. The screens shifted, turned on, and they could see the rest of the Second Fleet. Then the clock hit zero, and the violet wave swallowed her ships. The trip would take four days. And then the battle for Earth will begin.
***
Four days later – Solar system
Jacob sat in the command chair on the Star Gazer. Everyone on the bridge was counting down the seconds, waiting for their moment. The Olympus fleet would enter Sol any moment now. Everyone was ready, both here in the belt, and on Earth. They only waited Jacobs word. The attack on Earth and the belt wouldn’t start until the Ra’a’zani warship is engaged with the Olympus fleet. And because those on Earth had no way of knowing when that happened, Jacob would be the one that gives the order for the attacks to start. The Olympus fleet had orders to open communications with the Ra’a’zani before attacking, and while Jacob wanted nothing more than to see them all die without even knowing who it was that killed them, he understood. But Jacob managed to convince the Olympus Fleet Commander to hold all communications with them until they commit to meeting the fleet. Which Jacob had no doubt they would do. Ra’a’zani wouldn’t know if the fleet was friendly or not.
Jacob’s people had placed equipment and men in battle armor on the mining sites, his people didn’t let anyone other than those they trusted know about the coming attack for fear that the Ra’a’zani would find out about their plans. But his people had reported that the others slaves had noticed something, they could feel a shift. Jacob knew that they couldn’t wait any longer, the Ra’a’zani were not stupid, and with all the things they had to move into place they must have noticed something.
Then Asumy declared, “They are here.”
***
The space between the fourth and the third planet of the Sol system was suddenly bathed in a bright violet light. In a single instant, light came and disappeared, leaving twelve ships that were not there before. The residual effects of their transfer washed off in the following seconds as the last of the lightning arcs bounced of their hulls and disappeared into nothingness. The ships drives activated, and the twelve ships started moving. Soon the two of the ships started turning separating from the fleet, on a course towards the asteroid belt between the fourth and the fifth planet. The other ten continued towards the third planet in the system.
***
Vit’r’an was woken in the middle of the night by the sound of his comm unit ringing. He rose from his pool and reached for the comm. He saw who it was and then accepted the call.
“This better be important Tra’r’an.” Vit’r’an rasped out.
“It is Dakar. We have detected twelve ships in system.” Tra’r’an said.
“There wasn’t another convoy scheduled…” Vit’r’an said thoughtfully, Another unannounced visit? Unlikely. He thought.
“Dakar, we have gotten a good look at these ships, they do not match any ships we have encountered before.”
Vit’r’an frowned, he wondered if they could be ships from the new race they found. But if it was, why would they come here? And how? He dismissed the notion, even if they could come all the way over here, they would have never managed to come through the Ra’a’zani territory unnoticed. Vit’r’an started rising from the water. “I’ll be there in an hour.” He said, that would give him enough time to wake up properly and get something to eat.
“Dakar.” Tra’r’an started, “These ships are nearly here. They entered the system inside the barrier.”
“That’s Impo-” Vit’r’an began, and then stopped himself. He knew that for a ship to enter a system inside the hyperspace barrier was impossible, but Tra’r’an would not lie to him. He knew what the consequences would be if he did. “I’m coming.” Vit’r’an said. If what Tra’r’an said is true, this situation could become much more dangerous than what he initially thought. He believed that Tra’r’an was telling him the truth, as he saw it. But there could still be other explanations for what he said. The ships could have entered the system and traveled unnoticed until now, unlikely but it could happen. And if they truly couldn’t find a match for these ships, then they might have found another race. If they have he needed to step carefully, he had only one warship. But if he was the one to discover another slave race, his position as the next Rakar would be all but assured.
Vit’r’an dried himself in the mist, put on his belt and left his quarters heading towards the main room. Once he arrived he found all of his people awake and alert. Vit’r’an approached Tra’r’an, “What do we have.” He asked. Tra’r’an turned on the screen, and showed Vit’r’an a video of empty space. Just when Vit’r’an was about to ask what it was, something happened. A big wave of light appeared, lasting but an instant. And once it disappeared, twelve ships were there. Vit’r’an was amazed, it seemed that what Tra’r’an said was true. Whoever this was, had the ability to enter a system within the hyperspace barrier. They had to be advanced. Then he saw two of the ships split off and go in a different direction, while the rest continued towards Earth.
“Do we know where these two ships are going?” Vit’r’an pointed at the two that split off from the others.
“They are on the course that will take them to our mining operations in the belt.” Tra’r’an said.
Vit’r’an looked at the screen. That didn’t make sense, why would they go there? And how did they even know that those operations were there? The asteroid belt was big, the chance that they would start on a direct course with the mining operations was miniscule, unless they already knew they were there. Which meant that these ships were here with a purpose.
“Do we have the scans of the ships?” Vit’r’an asked.
“Yes Dakar. But… they are strange.” Tra’r’an said, and brought forward the scans of the ships.
Vit’r’an looked at them and frowned. The majority of the ships were smaller than his ship, only one ship was bigger. And even it was smaller than Ra’a’zani mainline warships. Vit’r’an’s ship was a simple escort ship, their true warships were much bigger. But the strange thing was the scans of the ships themselves. The ships looked like they were not advanced at all. They certainly didn’t look advanced enough to be able to do something that Ra’a’zani hadn’t been able to do in thousands of cycles. There were a few things that they couldn’t identify, the ships hulls were hard to get a read on, being coated in an unfamiliar substance, a few of their mounted weapons were unknown. But the rest, it was all so… primitive.
“Have they communicated?” Vit’r’an asked.
“No Dakar. We tried contacting them, but if they can hear us, they are not responding.” Tra’r’an said.
Vit’r’an blew air out of his nostrils, “I’m going up to the Blood Claw. You are in charge here until my return.” Vit’r’an said. Tra’r’an bowed his head as Vit’r’an turned to leave. His crew was all already up on the ship, sending them a message that he was coming he exited the building and went to the shuttle waiting on a platform.
Chapter Twenty Three
“The Ra’a’zani ship is moving outside of the Earth’s high orbit.” Andros said. Johanna watched on her c-board, as her fleet drew closer. The Ra’a’zani ship was now on an intercept course. They were still trying to contact the Second Fleet, but Johanna still didn’t respond. She would wait until the Ra’a’zani warship came closer to her fleet. Using this time she looked over her ships formation one last time. She chose to use the same formation that Fleet Commander Farkas used against the Sowir with her small touch on it. Her strongest ships were in front and her lighter units behind, the same as Fleet Commander Farkas’. But her differed in that that her lighter ships didn’t hide behind the stronger. The middle of her formation was the Monarch fla
nked by the two battleships the Claymore and Sovereign. Her light cruisers were behind them and above, the four light cruisers were arranged in a with two on one plane and two on the other. Her three heavy cruisers were below and behind her middle line. There was sufficient room between their lines that all had a clear line of sight to the Ra’a’zani ship, but should they be fired on, the middle line would be able to add their much greater defensive fire.
For twenty minutes Johanna watched as the Ra’a’zani warship moved away from Earth. During that time she looked at the rest of the system, with the updates from the Star Gazer they had the picture of the entire system. Ra’a’zani cargo ships were on their way from the belt to the planet, but when they saw the Second Fleet they slowed, and were turning, going in the other direction. Johanna would love to capture a few of them, but knew that it was probably impossible. As soon as the shooting starts those ships will start running away. And Johanna didn’t want to separate her warships. The two trans-ships she sent to the belt, as she couldn’t risk losing them, but those ships were not equipped for capturing hostile vessels.
The Ra’a’zani warship exited the high orbit and moved towards her fleet, but it didn’t move too far away from the planet before it slowed and came to a stop. It still tried to communicate, but Johanna’s fleet was still silent. Johanna turned to the c-board asking Turiel to provide her with the information on the Ra’a’zani warships distance from Earth. Looking them over and deciding that the Ra’a’zani would stay and wait for her. Looking at her own fleet she saw that within minutes they would enter firing range. Steeling herself, she turned to the Comm Handler.
“Open communications.” Johanna said.
***
Vit’r’an watched the unknown ships approach. He stood on a platform surrounded by railings, his two clawed hands were planted on them as he watched his bridge crew work. He had brought his ship to a stop, there was no point to going to meet them. He put sufficient room between them and the planet, as he did not know their intentions. He still had materials stored on the planet, and did not want to risk these new aliens trying to bomb his planet. As the time passed with no attempt at communication from the aliens, Vit’r’an became more and more annoyed. He debated going up to them and destroying them, but hesitated. They had a way to enter the system inside the barrier. If he could acquire that knowledge, his position as the next Rakar would not only be assured, but he would become probably the most powerful Ra’a’zani alive. The other clans would do anything to get that knowledge.
