by Ivan Kal
Krashinar beasts feed from the energy given off by suns, which Moirai could do as well, but she was currently enclosed inside her shell pretending to be just a large warship, and couldn’t extend her harvesters. All of her weaponry was currently retracted inside the shell. The four fusion cores, however, were enough to keep her fed on their own; they only required fuel.
Iris and Moirai could communicate with each other independently of Adrian, as Iris’s core was plugged directly into Moirai’s secondary brain, and the two of them had been in contact non-stop since the moment Iris had been put in several decades ago. Their interactions were why Moirai had started referring to itself as a she, even though she had no real gender. Adrian had honored that request, as it was not like humans hadn’t been putting genders and names to inanimate objects before, and Moirai was most certainly not an inanimate object.
Adrian leaned his head back, opening his mind and making a connection with Moirai.
“Do you remember what I told you?” Adrian asked.
“HIDE,” Moirai rumbled in his mind.
“Yes. We want you to be a secret.”
“WANT TO FIGHT,” Moirai added.
“I know. Trust me, you will have all the chances you want soon enough,” Adrian sent. He could feel Moirai’s anticipation: she wanted to fight, to show what she could do. Up until now, all of their training had been internal, inside her mind. Now was the first time that she would be leaving this asteroid.
“FINE. PROMISE?” Moirai asked.
“I promise. Let Iris take us out, and you help her after we have left the asteroid.”
Moirai didn’t respond verbally. Instead, she just sent him reluctant agreement. Adrian turned his head and looked at Iris. She could hear all of their conversations, so she just nodded without Adrian having to say anything.
“Right, I’m taking us out,” Iris said.
Adrian used his imp to call up a few holograms in front of him that showed him Moirai moving slowly out of the berth. The shell had its own gravity-based and thrust-based drives, but currently only the gravity ones were engaged. Once they left the berth and were inside the Forge’s shipyard, Moirai added her own gravity drives, and suddenly to all those watching from the outside the massive ship appeared to be moving far more gracefully and with greater maneuverability through the yard. Working together, Iris and Moirai were capable of utilizing both drives to achieve far better performance than either could alone. The two drives working together actually made Moirai the fastest thing in space, as far as sublight speeds went. With the thrust drives active, Moirai was far ahead of anything the Empire or anyone else had built.
Moirai left the asteroid and made way to join up with the ships waiting a bit further in system. The shell protected Moirai from more than attacks—it also hid her true nature. Even with both of her drives running, it was impossible for anyone to really detect the discrepancy. Iris and Moirai were so in sync that to anyone looking it showed as a single signature. Some would be able to notice some differences, but most would assume a new type of drive before they would think on the truth.
“Incoming communication from Commander Gotu,” Iris reported.
“Put him through,” Adrian said.
A holo screen popped up in front of Adrian and Gotu’s grinning face looked out at him. “That is one impressive looking ship, Adrian. It is almost as big as the Enduring.”
Adrian returned the grin. Gotu knew some details about Skywrath, but he knew the old details, when it was still supposed to be just a ship with some biological enhancements.
“You have no idea, my friend,” Adrian responded.
Gotu made a gesture with his hand, a Nel way of indicating great interest. Adrian returned with the gesture that meant he would tell Gotu in the future.
“Fine,” Gotu said. “Keep your secrets. I’ll get to see it in action eventually.”
The connection ended and they approached the waiting two ships. One was Gotu’s Titan, Fate at Nuva. The name was a reminder of the first meeting between the humans and the Nel at their colony of Nuva—a meeting that Gotu himself had been a part of.
The second ship was the great beast Araxi, led by the Old Scar. Araxi had grown a lot in the last several decades. The Krashinar had allowed it the growth, as well as some upgrades. It was very hard for the Krashinar to upgrade already grown beasts, but with the Empire’s help, they had managed it. Araxi was almost sixty kilometers long, almost double her previous size, larger even than the Sovereigns and the Titans.
But it was Moirai who made them all seem small. She was one hundred and twenty kilometers long, just a bit short of the size of a World-ship of the People. Shaped like a wedge, narrower at the front and widened at the back, her Skywrath hull was speckled by turrets, cannons, and missile-launch bays. There were fewer of those weapons than on a Titan, but there were a lot of raised-hatch sections across the hull which were hiding Moirai’s natural weapons. Her main weapon, crafted by Axull Darr, was hidden in the nose at the front.
“All right, Iris, alert the others that we are about to enter skim.”
“Fate at Nuva and Araxi acknowledge,” Iris reported a few moments later.
Adrian nodded, and then told Moirai to enter the skim. The only skim drive was her own biological one, but the signature was the same, so he did not fear anyone noticing something. Moirai formed the field around her shell and, a moment later, they were on their way.
First to the Sowir homeworld, and then…then to find the Enlightened. Finally.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Year 711 of the Empire — Sowir homeworld
Anessa, the former Kar Daim of the Shara Daim, floated in the air. Her eyes were looking at the lonely island surrounded by endless ocean below her. She scanned everything, knowing that somewhere down there, that her opponent lurked in the shadows. As submerged as she was in the ocean of the Sha, she could feel him, feel his power—for he, too, was in the same state. But just as she could feel him, so could he feel her, though that did not mean that she could pinpoint exactly where he was. Their powers glowed brightly, sending echoes through the Sha, but that only told both of them the approximate direction where the other one was, not the exact location. But Anessa knew her opponent well; he liked to lurk in the water and wait for a chance to strike. Anessa knew that he would not show himself unless he saw an opening—and Lurker of the Depths had endless patience.
Her eye twitched as she realized that she would need to bring him out. She did not enjoy these kinds of battles; she would much rather punch and kick through her enemies. Adrian and the Lurker of the Depths, on the other hand, were perfectly willing to play mind games and wait for the right opportunity to show itself, even if that meant waiting for days. They had done this once. Much to her annoyance, both of them had decided not to show themselves during one of their three-way battles. Anessa had spent six days blasting across a deserted island attempting to find them, until she got lucky and forced Adrian out of his hiding place. In the end she had drained Adrian enough that Lurker of the Depths had finally decided to strike. The oldest living Sowir won that battle.
Now, it had been a long time since that battle, and Anessa knew better how her opponent’s mind worked. She raised one of her arms to the sky and reached out at the Sha in the air around her. Quickly, she started pulling it to the point above her palm at such speeds that the air started howling and clouds started spinning, all being drawn in. She imposed her will on the Sha and compressed the air into a small sphere while still pushing more in. Eventually the cyclone forming around her looked almost like a storm, and the clouds trapped inside the sphere gave it a spinning, deep-gray look. In several seconds she had compressed enough air that once she threw the sphere and released its containment it would have enough power to completely blow apart the island below her. Anessa knew that her opponent knew it; he could feel what she was doing, after all.
Lurker of the Depths’ favorite tactic was staying in the underwater caverns that led below the island
. A strike against the island’s surface would most certainly cause massive cave-ins. Lurker of the Depths was far too powerful to die from that, but it would force him to act in order to free himself, and that was when she could pummel the sneaky little lurker to the ground.
Unless, that was, he chose the other option. Anessa tensed her muscles, preparing to throw her little air-destruction ball when she felt it. After barely a moment’s notice, Lurker of the Depth struck. She had knew that it was coming, and still her mind’s walls barely held as the full weight of Lurker of the Depths telepathic attack came to bear against her. For a single moment, she almost lost her hold on the sphere in her hand as was Lurker of the Depths’ intent. That would not have been pleasant for her—an explosion of air that close to her would send her tumbling down, and could even injure her if she didn’t pay attention. Unfortunately for her opponent she had battered his strike away, and now knew where he was. She threw the sphere toward the water.
It sped down and an instant later plunged into the deep blue water. A moment later she released her hold on the containment. The water bulged and then exploded upward as air shot up to the sky, leaving a hole in the water that suddenly started filling up, creating a powerful implosion of water. Anesse watched, looking for any sign of Lurker of the Depths. Not even he could escape such a powerful pull.
Then a shadow rose before her as something obscured the sun behind her. She turned only to see a tower of water crushing down on her. She had no time to respond as the water punched her with the force of an entire mountain falling down on her. The water carried her down and slammed her against the island, breaking the rock and sending splinters all around. Several moments later the water flowed away, leaving Anessa in a crater looking at the hole in the clouds. She groaned and got to her feet. As submerged into the Sha as she was at the moment, she had managed to protect herself from most of the damage, but it had drained her. She felt the state slip from her grasp and then it was gone, and she felt weary and lightheaded.
She heard Lurker of the Depths approach, and she turned to glare at him.
“The mind attack was a distraction,” she sent, along with all of her feelings about the battle, and felt a dull pain spread through her head. She knew that she shouldn’t have used telepathy, but she wanted Lurker of the Depths to know exactly what she thought about his tactics.
“I need more practice with the other disciplines, not only telepathy,” Lurker of the Depths sent back.
Anessa shook her head and started climbing out of the crater. “You couldn’t have waited and practiced on Adrian?” Anessa told him out loud.
Lurker of the Depths didn’t respond. She wasn’t really mad at the Sowir, but rather at herself for not anticipating such a tactic. She always preferred a straight-up fight, no sneaky tactics, no trickery. Just a pure and simple fight, power against power. And she knew that that was one of her greatest weaknesses. Each one of them had them, of course; Lurker of the Depths was a master of telepathy, but was lacking in the other areas. He was not a physical fighter, nor did he like to use Sha to influence his surroundings. When they were in that state of power, submerged in the ocean of Sha, they were all equal in power. It was their will and skill that separated them. Without the other restrictions Lurker of the Depths had without that state, his telepathy shined. Not even Adrian could match him when he truly let loose.
Adrian, on the other hand, while still a very powerful telepath, excelled in manipulating the Sha from a distance. His preferred tactic was to stay at a distance and use kinetic strikes, telekinesis, and other ranged abilities to batter his opponents into submission.
Anessa herself liked to close the distance and use the significantly increased strength and speed that the Sha state allowed to punch her opponents into the ground.
Their training sessions had been geared toward eliminating their individual weaknesses—but not even the fact that this was only training could alleviate the feelings of annoyance from her mind. Anessa liked to win, and this battle had just brought the score between her and Lurker of the Depths to a tie, as 11348 wins for each of them. She did not like at all. Already, she had to put up with Adrian’s smugness because he was in the lead.
“Why don’t you don’t do something useful and call us a shuttle? I would really like to get some rest,” Anessa said.
Lurker of the Depths’ third arm, the one that came up from his back and above his hand, pointed to the sky. “Unfortunately, rest will have to wait. He’s here.”
Anessa turned to see a shuttle coming at them from orbit, which meant that it could only be Adrian. There was not much traffic to the Sowir homeworld these days, and anyone coming at them from the city would be coming from beneath the water.
“If he is sending a shuttle without us asking, it means that we are leaving,” Anessa said slowly. Adrian would not risk sending a shuttle while Anessa and Lurker of the Depths were training. A lot could go wrong when they were throwing such great forces at each other; a shuttle might get in between them.
“Yes… We might not be ready.”
“We are as ready as we could be,” Anessa said. “We do not have the luxury of waiting for that monster to decide that he has watched us enough and is ready to strike.” Anessa shivered at the thought. She still wondered how Adrian convinced her to let one of the Enlightened stay by her daughter’s side.
“We shall see,” Lurker of the Depths added as the shuttle came in for a landing.
That we will, Anessa thought to herself.
* * *
Anessa’s and Lurker of the Depths’ shuttle landed on the World-ship Bastion, and as soon as they stepped out of it they were met by Adrian.
“I’m surprised that you are not on your ship,” Anessa told him as they embraced. As the Shara Daim, she had never been much for outward gestures of affection, but over her life with Adrian she had grown used to some.
“I’ll go over that later. For now, I wanted to be here to welcome you to the Nomad Fleet.” Adrian spread his hands and gave her one of his playful grins, which made her smile just a tiny bit. She had to admit that the Nomad fleet did look intimidating from far away, and even more so up close. She had watched it from the shuttle on their way over, and while she had seen the ships that were now a part of the fleet, seeing them in formation was another thing entirely. The three Hephaestuses were at the center, with the Bastion keeping its position close to them. Surrounding them on all sides were the Titans, split into small squads of five, with their escorts keeping positions alongside of them. Each one of the small squads was equivalent in power of a smaller conventional fleet—not including the Sovereigns, of course.
She could hardly believe that it was finally finished.
“So, we are leaving?” Anessa asked.
“Tomas sent a message: Levisomaerni has managed to convince most galactic leaders to join the gatherings. We are going to follow our representatives to the Suvri border.”
“We are not a part of the talks?” Lurker of the Depths asked.
“No,” Adrian responded and with a wave of the hand created a bubble around them that prevented sound from spreading farther than the three of them. “Tomas does not think that it is a good idea. We need passage through their territory, and it is best if Tomas negotiates that on our behalf. That is the official reason; the real reason is that we do not want Vas in the same system as the summit. Tomas does not want to take any risks.”
Anessa nodded. Tomas was to only other person outside of the three of them that knew about the Enlightened among them.
“He is aware of what the summit is for, you told him yourself.”
“I want to watch him and see his reaction to the summit, but limiting his ability to do something about it is paramount,” Adrian said.
“And what if he decides to reveal what he is?” Anessa asked. “What if he decides to go to the summit by himself? We know what is possible when one is in the Sha state. If the Enlightened can do the same thing… It would not be outside the s
cope of his power.”
“Which is why we are here. All the things I did to upgrade this fleet were so that we can fight him. I am confident that, should he decide to reveal himself, the Nomad Fleet would be able to stop him, even kill him.”
“He is on the same ship as Ryaana,” Anessa reminded him. Adrian raised his shoulder as if to say that there was no other way. Anessa felt anger bubble up within her—Adrian had risked far too much, in her opinion. She knew he desired to fight the Enlightened, to match his power against theirs; Anessa understood his desire to get stronger, and she shared it, but for very different reasons. She fought to protect her people, to make the Shara Daim strong. Adrian fought only for himself. She knew that he loved their daughter, but his blind desire for power could threaten them all. She had told him as much before.
“I do not think that he would harm her. It is my opinion that he had formed some kind of an emotional bond with her. And it would not be a sound move; killing her would only enrage us, and he must know that.”
