by Ivan Kal
Havasse lowered her old body to a single knee with a grace unbecoming her age, and then she looked up. “I will have you lead us, Kar Daim.”
Anessa allowed herself a small smile as the rest of the room followed suit and dropped down to their knees.
***
Two months later — December; Year 56 of the Empire — Shara Radum
Anessa let out a moan of pleasure as the man beneath her moved in unison with her. She put her hands on his chest, feeling the hard muscle there and noting the difference in their skin color. In the back of her head, she found that strange; Shara Daim didn’t look like that. But it didn’t matter. The strange brown eyes looked up at her as she shook in ecstasy.
Anessa woke up, her breathing hard and her body hot and drenched in sweat. She lay in her large bed in a renovated wing of the palace, thinking about the dream. She had known that she was attracted to the Human, but what she had felt in the dream went far beyond that. Her mind was a mess. So many things had changed; it wasn’t strange that she was confused. She remembered the dream and immediately felt her body shiver. Adrian was strong, he was smart, he was a great commander, and she had seen his people give him respect. He was also manipulative and prepared to do everything to win. She remembered their fight, how he’d moved. At that moment, they hadn’t really been fighting. It had been more of a dance; they had been completely in sync, lost in each other. She had never felt that way with anyone before. She shook herself off, went to her cleaning area of her quarters, and then returned to bed. Now she was unable to sleep, the same thoughts always coming to her mind unwanted.
She didn’t know who she was, not really. She had always believed that she was a servant of the Shara Daim, that her duty was to follow the orders of the Elders. And now she had taken the reins of leadership from the ones she had been taught to obey without question. She couldn’t allow herself to go down that path of thinking, not now. Because even though she didn’t know who she was, she couldn’t let her people die. It was one thing that kept her from bowing down to the demands of those who didn’t agree with what she had done.
Anessa had brought the Shara Daim under her rule; the relays had spread the word much faster than any ship could travel. She had the loyalties of the Legions; she had been one of the Dai Sha for a long time, and they respected her. There were some who weren’t completely on board with her rule, but for now they were silent, at least in her presence. Anessa had recalled ten Legions to Shara Radum under the guise of reinforcing her rule, but the truth was that six of those Legions were the ones that had refused her orders to defend the Shara Daim from the Erasi, those who hadn’t disobeyed the Elders. None of them argued with her rule now in public—she had too much proof of what the Elders truly were—but it was best to keep them close, perhaps even goad some of them into challenging her and taking care of that problem permanently.
She didn’t have the problem with them following orders; she had the problem with the fact that they hadn’t even argued to the Elders for protection of the people. Being Shara Daim needed to mean more than just following blindly, especially now when she had revealed all. Everyone knew about their true history, both of their ancestors and the history doctored by the Elders.
In the first month, she had been challenged three times over the fact that the Shara Daim had been engineered. But after she had made a point of ripping the third challenger in half in front of all watchers, she had suddenly found herself with no new challengers.
Dai Sha Farran was the most ‘vocal’ one of her opposition, speaking against the changes she was trying to implement in the Shara Daim society. She knew that she needed to deal with him, but he was very respected, and powerful. She could kill him, but she needed him to issue a challenge. And he wasn’t that stupid; he knew that she was much stronger than him.
She knew that she needed to change the Shara Daim. The looking down on other races needed to end, and expansion politics would need to change as well. However, even with all those changes, she would not change who the Shara Daim were at their core: a warrior culture that valued strength.
Now that she had taken rule, her first task was to defend her people. She had given the command of the defense to Garaam, and all save the ten Legions were now on their way to the invaded sectors.
She had ordered every shipyard to begin war manufacturing, to build ships and weapons. But as she had found out, the production rate of the Shara Daim could barely sustain their current needs; they needed more materials, especially now that their limited trade with the Erasi had ceased. She needed to find a new source of materials to build up her war machinery.
There were a few contenders, races, civilizations, empires, large enough to be able to provide them with enough materials. The problem was that none of them would deal with the Shara Daim in good faith. The Erasi had probably already made sure that they wouldn’t trade, and she had no forces available to force their hand.
Which left only one choice—the Empire. She knew that they wanted peace. She could probably get a trade deal with them. But her people couldn’t change overnight; she needed to force them to change. And that meant them interacting with others. But more than a simple trading agreement, she needed help. She was trained as a Dai Sha; she knew that Erasi had more forces, that they already had a foothold in Shara Daim territory that would be hard to take back. The Legions might be able to stop them eventually, but many Shara Daim would die in the meantime, and they might never regain the territory they had lost.
Again, the only ones who might even entertain the possibility of helping them were the Empire. Moreover, she knew that the Empire would want a lot more for help than they would want for simple trade. And that was without the problem she would have with her own people resisting any kind of an alliance. She would need to convince the Empire and her own people to agree. And she knew of only one way that her people would accept help, which was if they witnessed strength.
Anessa smiled in a predatory way as an idea started to form in her mind. It seemed fitting. Adrian had manipulated her once before. Now she would do the same to him, and take care of two problems at the same time.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Three months later — March; Year 57 of the Empire — Sol
Adrian entered the command hub of Olympus Mons, summoned by Gotu.
“It should arrive any moment now, Lord Sentinel,” Gotu told him as he approached.
Adrian nodded, and waited. They were expecting a courier ship from the Shara Daim to come out of trans-space. Their stealth ship in the Shara Daim staging system had seen it leave, and their assets on the other side of the trans-lane had seen it enter on its way to Sol.
Adrian was intrigued. He didn’t know what the reason for it coming here was, but it must have been something interesting. Since the battle, a lot of things had changed. The Erasi had launched a surprise attack on the Shara Daim, and the forces once bound for the Empire had now reversed course and headed back, presumably towards the areas attacked by the Erasi. The Empire had stealth ships in border systems of both the Erasi and the Shara Daim; it allowed them to observe the activities in those systems. But they didn’t really have a source of information from the Shara Daim; they couldn’t listen in on their secure communications, and they had no assets that could give them information. With the Erasi, it was another thing entirely. Their system was much more open, and they had assets that could obtain information for them.
Which was why the arrival of the courier ship was such an interesting development. The courier ships were used to send messages between different societies. And the arrival of the courier meant that the Shara Daim wish to open a dialogue, or at least speak with the Empire. Adrian didn’t know if Anessa had managed to change the minds of her Elders, but the fact that they were now ready to speak meant that something had changed.
“Here they are,” Adrian said as the ship entered the system and was met by the large defense station. They made no threatening moves, and immediately answered the
defense station’s challenge, telling them that they were on a mission to deliver a message from their leadership. The station allowed them through, and they started on their way towards Mars.
An hour later, Adrian, Gotu, and a squad of adepts and Sowir moved to the hangar as the ship asked for permission to land on the planet. They waited for the white cylinder-shaped ship to land, and then met with the people who exited it. It was three Shara Daim, all wearing their Shur At that looked like a loose bundle of something that was a cross between a robe and tunic on top and a loose pair of pants at the bottom. Two were men and one a woman. They, unlike Anessa, had hair on their heads; all of them had it cut short to the head. The men had white hair, and the woman black that almost melded with her skin tone.
The man in the lead stepped up to Adrian’s group, with the two behind him following a few steps away.
“Greetings,” the Shara Daim said, his tone sounding somehow unsure to Adrian’s ears. He of course understood Shara Daim language, as he had learned it from Anessa. But even if he didn’t, his implant now had a device based on the Erasi translators, like every other implant in the Empire. The Sowir, on the other hand, had a device much more similar to the Erasi version on the top of their heads closest to their brains.
After a short pause, the man continued speaking. “I am Va Dan Reisi, envoy of Kar Daim. I’m here to deliver a message for the leadership of your Empire. I was instructed to speak with someone bearing the title Lord Sentinel,” Va Dan Reisi said slowly.
“I am Lord Sentinel Adrian Farkas,” Adrian said, then turned sideways and gestured. “Let us move to someplace more comfortable before you deliver your message.”
The Shara Daim followed, their movements unsure, edgy. They seemed like they were battling what they really wanted to do, which Adrian assumed was to fight him and his people. He led them through Olympus Mons towards one of the larger meeting rooms close to the command hub. Once inside, Adrian guided them to sit at the round table, with the three of them sitting on the one side and Adrian and Gotu sitting on the other, with one Sowir, Song of Silence, standing behind them, a precaution on Adrian’s part. The Shara Daim could for sure feel that the Sowir had Sha, they might not know what they could do but Adrian hoped that they would think twice before they did anything hostile. The Sowir were much better telepaths than the Shara Daim or anyone else the Empire had encountered with the ability. The rest of his people remained outside of the room.
“So what is the message from your leaders?” he asked.
“Our Kar Daim wishes for peaceful talks to be established between the Shara Daim and the Empire,” Va Dan Reisi said in a rehearsed way, with no actual emotion behind the words.
Adrian allowed himself a little internal cheer. Something must’ve changed. Anessa and her people might’ve changed the Elders’ minds. He was aware that it could be a trap, but everything he knew about the Shara Daim told him it wasn’t. Then he remembered something that the envoy had said.
“You said that you are the envoy of Kar Daim? I am unfamiliar with that title; is it another name for your Elders?”
All three Shara Daim suddenly looked unsure, and if his study of Shara Daim expression from Anessa was solid, just a bit afraid.
“No. Kar Daim is an old title for the leader of Shara Daim,” Va Dan Reisi said.
Adrian frowned. An old title for the leader of Shara Daim, he thought to himself. “Do we have any data on that title?” Adrian asked Iris internally.
“There is nothing on the data we received from the Erasi. And we don’t really have anything directly from the Shara Daim,” Iris responded.
“Are the Elders not the leaders of the Shara Daim?” Adrian asked. There was a chance that he had missed something. They only had data from the Erasi and what he had gotten Anessa to tell him, but she had been a prisoner; there was a possibility that she hadn’t told the entire truth.
All three Shara Daim now looked very uncomfortable, but Va Dan Reisi answered, “The Elders no longer rule the Shara Daim.”
Adrian’s eyebrow quirked in a gesture completely lost on the Shara Daim. He knew that if Anessa and her people dug deeper, they would uncover the truth, perhaps enough to change the minds of their Elders. But he hadn’t anticipated that they would overthrow them completely, and not in such a short period of time.
“And this Kar Daim now wishes to start peaceful relations with us?” Adrian asked.
“Yes. The Kar Daim wishes for you to send a team of envoys that can make agreements on the behalf of your Emperor. If your response is affirmative, my ship is to escort the envoys to Shara Radum to speak with the Kar Daim. Only two military escorts aside from a ship carrying the envoys will be permitted in our territory,” Va Dan Reisi said.
“I will need to consult with my Emperor first, but I believe that those terms will be acceptable. Meanwhile, we will provide you quarters here on our base,” Adrian said, he debated pushing for more information on this Kar Daim, but he felt the Shara Daim’s reluctance and unease when he spoke of him or her, and Adrian didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize this chance. Adrian stood, with the rest following. With his imp, he called an adept from outside the room and gave them instructions. An adept entered. “Adept Sunai here will escort you to your quarters,” Adrian said, gesturing at the Nel woman. The Shara Daim inclined their heads and followed the adept out, Song of Silence trailing silently in their wake.
Adrian remained inside with Gotu.
“You think that they had the time to organize and remove their Elders from power?” Gotu asked.
“Hmm…We don’t know how their society works. Not really. Everything we know comes from the Erasi, and the little Anessa spoke of,” Adrian answered.
“It could be a trap,” Gotu cautioned. “Only three ships in the heart of their territory.”
“I don’t see what it would accomplish. They can’t plan on getting our technology; they must know that we would destroy our own ships before we allow them to take them. That is assuming they manage to catch us.”
“They could be trying to kill you. You did destroy one of their Legions,” Gotu said.
“That is true, and I did tell Anessa that I can make agreements on the behalf of the Emperor. Any attempt at diplomacy would mean me…But I doubt it. It’s too much trouble just to kill me, and they would destroy any chances they have of having peace. And the Emperor would not allow my death to go unavenged; we would attack, and with them already fighting the Erasi, we could do a lot of damage,” Adrian said.
“True, but you can’t always apply logic to other races. Not everyone thinks like you do; to them it might be a matter of honor. They might not even have any choice but to attempt to kill you,” Gotu said.
Adrian remained silent. Would Anessa counsel their leaders to do that? Would she even want to kill him? He knew that there was something between them, a mutual respect, attraction, but was it enough for him to be able to trust that the Shara Daim leaders really wanted to talk? It didn’t matter in the end. He would go. Tomas would agree because he didn’t want a war, and this was an opportunity they couldn’t pass.
“I need to speak with Tomas, it’s his decision,” Adrian said, and left the room, going to his own quarters to make the call in private.
***
Adrian sat in his private office reading a book as he waited for a response from Tomas. Even with the relays, there was some lag and they couldn’t speak in real-time. The lag between Sanctuary and Sol was around twenty minutes in one direction now, with relays between the two systems placed at every fifty lightyears along the way.
Finally, his comm chirped, announcing that the lag of forty minutes for his message to reach Tomas and his response to come back had ended. Adrian continued reading, as it would probably be some time before Tomas sent the response back. He would take time to listen to Adrian’s message and then formulate an answer. Adrian had sent him a written report along with the video message. Another hour later, his comm chirped with the sound of an i
ncoming message, and Adrian accepted.
A hologram of Tomas appeared in front of him and started speaking.
“Adrian, I guess that your gamble paid off in the end. Of course we will accept the Shara Daim’s offer and send an envoy. Your request that it be you is, of course, granted. You may choose your escorts from the fleets in Sol; I already informed Laura and she agreed. As for what we are prepared to grant, that will depend on what they want. They are in a state of war with the Erasi, and while the Erasi have tried to infiltrate and manipulate us, we would rather not do anything that could be construed as us entering in this conflict. That being said, we have a lot of evidence to support that Erasi are not really good long-term ally material, but neither are the Shara Daim. It will be up to you in the end; I trust your judgment. I’m sending you everything that our analysts have on the Shara Daim and Erasi conflict, as well as what the most likely outcome of it will be. Good luck,” Tomas’s hologram said, and then it disappeared, the message ending.
Adrian’s imp had already downloaded the data Tomas sent from Olympus Mons servers, and he settled in to read it over. He would need to know as much as possible if he was going to deal with this Kar Daim.
***
Adrian sat on board the Veritas as it skimmed towards the outgoing trans-station flanked by two battleships, the Inglorious and the Fortunate. Johanna had refused to let him go with only cruisers, even though he had argued that there was no need for her to send him with battleships, as he didn’t want to take so much firepower away from the fleets. But in the end, she had won, not wanting to send him to ‘hostile’ territory with anything less.
