Hand of the Empire (Rise of the Empire Book 8)

by Ivan Kal

He winced at the sound of his own name—it reminded him of what they had seen. It reminded him that it was he who had been the one to instigate it. It was he who had gone to Axull, he who had gathered them and pointed them in the direction of studying primitive life. Because of him, they had given intelligence to things not meant to have it.

  “No… I can’t use that name again. Waiss was an ignorant fool, one who in his stupidity doomed the galaxy to a certain death. I require a new name…” He thought about it for a few moments, and then it came to him. “Anis—the Enlightened… Yes, that is a good name for what we are now. From this day forward, I shall be called Aranis.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  January; Year 564 of the Empire—Olympus Mons

  Adrian looked over the force assembled in Sol—fifty of the Empire’s fleets with another thirty from the Shara Daim, all ready to strike against the Erasi. Adrian and Anessa had planned for this for a long time, working around the plans of the Erasi. Adrian had been aware of the Weaver’s plans; not all of them, he knew, but enough to know that she would come back for her revenge. Come back to fulfill the promise she had given him at their last meeting. But it would not work out in her favor—Adrian had seen to it.

  The Weaver had made two critical mistakes. First, she was underestimating him again. Second, she had turned all of her attention on the Krashinar for too long. It made the thread she had used to bind the races around the Erasi weaker. And it also made her more likely to miss obvious things, such as Adrian’s spies in her territory.

  Now it all came back to the timeline. He couldn’t be in direct contact with his spies—sending them the message and hoping that they fulfill their mission in time had to be enough.

  More fleets had been assembled in the territories of the star-nations surrounding the Erasi in staging point that they had taken hundreds of years to set up. The people he had in the Erasi governments were informed of the beginning on operations, and were hopefully preparing accordingly. The attack on the Erasi would come from all sides—his fleets would crash against the Erasi systems, and his agents would light fires within their governments. Rebellions and coups would plague the Erasi ruling class, and once the dust settled, the Empire and the Shara Daim would control the Erasi.

  The only problem was that, as long as the Erasi had fleets, their government would retain power. They were not an easy opponent to defeat; and their industrial power outmatched both the Shara Daim and the Empire still. They had more ships. Adrian was confident that they could prevail in the end, but it was going to take many years. Hundreds, perhaps, unless the Krashinar struck as well from the Erasi’s rimward border. They alone had the strength and numbers to make a difference, to pummel the Erasi fleets and allow Adrian to systematically destroy the Erasi government. To conquer their territory.

  Adrian sighed; he had hoped that the Krashinar would’ve responded before now. But it didn’t change anything. They were going to attack anyway. Adrian looked over the fleets and the two Sovereign-class ships attached to them. One of the Empire, and one of the Shara Daim. This was going to be the first time in history where more than one was used at a single time, and the first time they were going to be fighting as a part of such a large force.

  “How much longer?” Anessa asked from behind him. She had finally changed the order of succession and put the twins as her primary heirs. The two would rule jointly, and she had decided to leave them in charge of Shara Radum while she went to war.

  He winced as he remembered the conversation. The twins hadn’t been at all happy to be left out of the war; they were Dai Sha, after all, warrior leaders of the Shara Daim. But this was personal for Anessa. She had a vendetta against the Erasi and nothing would stop her from being in this war.

  “We can’t know for sure. It isn’t really an exact science, you know.” Adrian gave her a wide smile over his shoulder.

  She snorted and turned away just as a chime announced a comm request from the Sol access point.

  “Tell me,” Adrian said.

  “They are through. They activated the point.”

  Adrian smiled. “Good.”

  “It’s done, we can go through,” he told Anessa.

  “Finally.”

  Then there was another chime, and Adrian turned back and accepted the comm from the access point again.

  “What is it?”

  “Lord Sentinel! We have an unannounced entrance! Ships are coming through the point—fleets!”

  “There weren’t supposed to be any Erasi there! Where are they coming from?”

  “It’s not the Erasi! We don’t have the records for these ships! They are not answering any hails, and the defender station are preparing to open fire!”

  “Do not fire yet—send me the feed.”

  Adrian looked at the feed, expecting to see an invading force, but as soon as he saw the ships coming through the access point he relaxed.

  “It’s all right. They are friends, and have been invited here by me. Let them through,” Adrian said.

  He turned to look at Anessa and grinned. “It looks like we will be having company after all.”

  “The Krashinar?”

  “Yes,” Adrian answered. “I need to get back to the Herald of War. We need to coordinate, fast. Once we enter Erasi territory, all hell will break loose.”

  “There are five days left until the rest of our fleets attack across the borders. We have time,” Anessa said.

  “It will be better if we draw some of their ships from their borders. If they think that all of our attacks are focused from the inside of their territory then they will reinforce inward from their borders, and make it that much easier for the rest of our forces to invade.”

  Anessa nodded in agreement, and then a smile blossomed on her face. “You know, I really missed this—war.”

  “Yeah, I know. I did too,” Adrian said, her predatory smile reminding him why he had fallen in love with her in the first place.

  ***

  “Thank you for coming, Old Scar,” Adrian sent to the leading ship of the Krashinar force. An entire Great Pack. The pack of the Seventh. Its size was comparable to around seventy-five of the Empire’s fleets—a large number to be sure. Adrian knew everything that the Old Scar knew. The Krashinar Great Pack was bred to act in such massive numbers; they were not made out of smaller packs. They were one single massive fleet.

  “It was the Six that came to this decision. I only provided them with information. If anyone deserves your thanks, it is them.”

  “Your Great Pack will aid us greatly,” Adrian sent.

  “I bring the Seventh Pack with me, for your attack. And three additional Great Packs are already moving toward the borders from our territory. They should be arriving within a month.”

  “That is greatly appreciated. It will add additional pressure to the Erasi, force them to split their forces further. I hope that the Six agreed to follow my plan?”

  “They have. We will strike only their military targets. It is not easy for us to abandon our revenge. But we understand now that many things have changed, and if you fulfill what you promised, we shall abide by the terms of our agreement.”

  “Good. Since there are few of my people capable of communicating with you, I shall keep in contact, but your Great Pack should act as independently as possible. We don’t have the time to integrate our forces. If you do need assistance, your people will need to send their request through me or the other Sovereign-class ships. I’ll make sure that there are people capable of communicating with you there at all times.”

  “Very well, Lord Sentinel. We follow behind you. May our hunt be successful,” the Old Scar said, and closed the link.

  Adrian turned to his crew, looking around the command hub of the Herald of War.

  “Order the force toward the access point. The invasion begins now.”

  “Yes, Lord Sentinel.”

  The massive force started moving toward the Sun. And then, slowly entering the corona, the legions of warshi
ps made their way to the access point.

  ***

  The massive force exited the access point and entered the Erasi system. Once they had found out about the access points, the Erasi had been very careful in the years since the war to find those in their territory and secure them. They had succeeded in most cases, building defenses around the access points that would savage any ship that attempted to get through. They had managed to secure every system in their core, and most in their other sectors. The system that their force came through was one of those that they had missed. It was an insignificant system—barren, with nothing of interest.

  Except for the fact that it had an access point.

  And Adrian’s people in the Erasi had activated it. He had people all over the Erasi, all of whom had just been activated. Soon enough, the Erasi’s territory was going to be set afire—but now was the time for the first blow. He knew that the Erasi had been planning to attack the Shara Daim and the Empire, and that meant that their fleets would be ready. And they needed to stretch them thin, to strike fast and strong.

  As the force organized itself, they skimmed to the hyperspace edge and set a course for the capital of the Horsiar sector, which was the sector bordering the Empire and the Shara Daim. It wasn’t as deep into their territory as Adrian would’ve wanted, but the other targets available by access points were far more fortified and closer to the staging points of the Erasi fleets. He had entertained the idea of attacking a deeper system, but eventually decided against it. The Erasi had the numbers advantage, and Adrian’s fleets would need to fight their way through the defenses and then engage the Erasi fleets. He would have no advantage in that situation. Adrian’s plan required for them to overwhelmingly take the system, to show the Erasi that they were not safe.

  He opened a channel to all ships and ordered them into hyperspace.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  February; Year 564 of the Empire—Horsiar sector—Erasi territory

  The joint force dropped out of hyperspace and into the system, which was filled with activity. The Erasi’s own spies must’ve sent word back that a massive force had left Sol—they just couldn’t have known where they were headed, and they hadn’t had much time to prepare. It had taken them no time at all to pass through the point, but about two weeks travel time through hyperspace. In any case, the system couldn’t have been prepared for the force that had just arrived.

  Immediately upon noticing them, chaos unfolded in the system. It was fairly large, with seventeen planets, thousands of stations, and swarms of civilian ships moving about. It was also well defended, and had twenty Erasi fleets stationed as a defense force. It wouldn’t matter; they were outnumbered almost ten to one. The force moving against them now was almost twice the size of the fore that the O’fa Garash had used to invade the Shara Daim.

  Adrian took a deep breath and then leaned back into his chair. Placing his hands on the two orbs on the armrests, he closed his eyes. He opened them again to see the entire system in front of him, his vision being fed by the sensors from all the ships in the fleet. The command interface was principally designed for fleet command.

  A moment later, Iris appeared beside him in her usual fiery form.

  “Shall we?” Adrian asked.

  “I’m ready,” she responded.

  With a thought, Adrian gave the order for the fleets to advance.

  ***

  The force split up, several smaller groups of fleets each moving toward a different target. The siege of the system had begun.

  Ten of the Shara Daim fleets skimmed around the system to attack the shipyards around one of the system’s gas giants. Twenty of the Empire’s fleets slowly moved forward toward the defense station guarding a mining planet. Several small groups were sent all over the system with orders to find and destroy every relay in the system, effectively cutting them off from the rest of the Erasi. The Krashinar moved as one, their immense numbers travelling as a swarm toward the Erasi fleets.

  Adrian’s orders had been for them to only hit military targets and to ignore the civilian ships that were attempting to run away. It was why he had chosen to start the attacks on the planets at the edge of the system. That would give the Erasi defenders more times to evacuate, but also more time to set up defenses above their capital planet and time to send word for help. It wouldn’t matter in the end regardless, as the rest of the fleets had already begun their attacks across the border, both from the Empire’s side and the Krashinar. The Erasi would need to choose whether to let this system fall or to allow his forces to take a dozen more systems on the borders. Even if they chose to send help here, it would take weeks, months even. The Erasi didn’t have useable access points, so they would need to rely on hyperspace and trans-lanes.

  Adrian didn’t envy the Erasi. There was no decision that they could make that would allow them to come up ahead. He had planned it that way. He sent orders to four of his fleets, ordering their missile cruisers to start taking down the static defenses—they had a range spanning essentially half the system, and it would be much easier for them to take the system without having to worry about their defense platforms.

  Thousands of s-missiles flew out of their launch bays and then entered the skim on their way to their targets around the fifteenth planet. Adrian watched in interest, until he suddenly saw his s-missiles drop out of their skim—all of them.

  “What is happening?”

  “Something is collapsing the skim fields,” Iris answered him.

  “Damn! I guess they have a new defense,” Adrian said as he watched his missiles now continuing to burn at sublight toward their targets. They had been fired from so far away that they wouldn’t even reach their targets before they ran out of fuel.

  He quickly went through his choices. He had no idea what it was that was disrupting the fields, but whatever it was, it had to be on the stations.

  “I guess that we are going to have to do this from close range then,” Adrian said, and gave the order.

  ***

  Ryaana sat in the assault shuttle and waited as it crossed the distance to their target. The fighting around the shipyard had been fierce, but ultimately the outcome was not in question. The Empire’s ships broke through the defenses easily enough, and then pummeled the yards’ shields until they dropped. And now the assault to take the shipyards was underway. The plan was conquest—not simple destruction.

  The Sentinels were acting as leaders of Sha commando units that were going to land first. The shipyards were vast, curving around the gas giant in not quite a ring, but it was massive nevertheless. She glanced behind her at Vas. He was decked out in the best gear the Sentinels had—a full battle suit. She had already seen him in action against the pirates, but now he was going to be acting directly under her command, and during an assault of much greater magnitude.

  The light flashed and a soft chime announced that they were about to reach their target. She could feel the internal dampeners as they suddenly slowed down. The assault shuttle shook as they made contact with the hull, and then the breaching charges detonated. Ryaana was first inside, her shield in front of her soaking up Erasi fire. Her turrets unleashed on the enemy, but their portable energy shields protected them.

  Ryaana extended her shields around the breach and signaled for her people to get through. Two Sha commandos jumped forward and put their own portable shields in place, allowing Ryaana to drop her Sha shield. She reached behind her back and pulled out two black spheres and threw them above the shields, guiding them telekinetically over the Erasi shields and into their numbers, and then she pulled their triggers.

  The devices activated and the two spheres imploded, ripping the Erasi to pieces as they were suddenly forced into two separate points. Their shields failed and Ryaana’s squad jumped forward, taking ground. They were in a medium-sized hangar area. A few shuttles were parked to the side, and some crates on the other, but other than that there was nothing of interest.

  As soon as every one of her sm
all seven-man squad left the assault shuttle, she ordered them forward. They were supposed to strike fast and deep, to cover as much ground as possible and disrupt the Erasi defenses, allowing the assault forces coming in behind them to land without much trouble.

  “Let’s go,” she ordered, starting toward a corridor that led deeper into the shipyard’s station.

  ***

  Aranis could barely believe his luck. Not only had he attached himself to the very top of the Empire’s leaders, he was now a part of a war. It was the perfect opportunity for him to gauge exactly what they were capable of. He had already seen a glimmer as the fleets had assembled in the Sol system.

  That exactly had been why the Enlightened had been forced to wait to enact their plan. They could not leave anything to chance, and the other races were just too numerous. Even with all of their advanced technologies, they would’ve been overrun eventually. The force assembled in Sol had already made up a good chunk of the forces that the Enlightened themselves commanded. And these Krashinar had been very interesting; their ships were biological in make, much like those that he and the others had designed, yet theirs were something more. He could feel them in the Sha. They had intelligence. Figuring out how they managed that might give the Enlightened an additional edge when the time finally came.

  If the galaxy united against them, before their countermeasures were finished, all could be lost. This was why Aranis needed information. In great part it was why he had forced the others to wait. He knew that Loranis would’ve been on his side, but Doranis was too primal. He would’ve started the purge immediately even if that meant uniting races in the cause against them. He didn’t understand that their advances mattered little when faced with such numbers. No—they needed to get the relays and the Conduit finished. It was the only way to finish them all.

  He jumped over a corpse of an Erasi with a hole in its chest and followed behind Ryaana. For now, he would watch and learn.

  Chapter Thirty-Three