by Ivan Kal
But that would cripple them too. For all of their technology and knowledge, the People had failed. Failed to stop what they unleashed, and failed to stop themselves from dying. And Tomas was not going to let that happen to the Empire. They would use their ancestors’ technology only as a rough guideline, as inspiration for the things that would surpass their ancestors. Tomas wanted the Empire to struggle, to be challenged by other races in the galaxy, to grow from those interactions. But this ship was a lifeline, a thing that he would consider using only as a last resort to preserve the Empire. That was the only way they could surpass their ancestors fast enough. The People had had no rival to push them forward; they had done everything on their own over an insane amount of time. And Tomas knew from Earth’s history that conflict and struggle were the only way for them to catch up faster and also grow more than their ancestors ever did, even though growing might hurt more than if they simply used the People’s technology.
“So what is the real reason?” Isani asked.
“Adrian asked me to choose a replacement for him as the Lord Sentinel,” Tomas said, turning to look at the Clan Leader. “But there isn’t really a need for that; the only obstacle is that he wouldn’t be able to be on Mars for some time. The Sentinels don’t need his constant oversight; they were designed to be independent and to operate outside of the Empire. But he still needs to be reachable for any emergencies and discussions. So I was thinking of giving him a mobile base, one that can accommodate all of his needs and staff, and can move fast from Shara Radum to Sol.”
Isani bent the fingers of his left hand in a gesture that signaled alarm. “You are not thinking of giving him this ship?”
Tomas laughed. “No, of course not. I wanted to see if you might be able to speed up Project Sovereign.”
“I don’t see how that would allow him to move faster than with the ship he already has,” Isani said.
“You forget, Axull Darr put the Shara Daim on Shara Radum, and just like in Sol and Nelus, he built an access point in the system’s sun, and Sovereign ships will be able to use them,” Tomas said.
“Of course, but you know that we are a long way from even finishing the prototype. We could do it faster if you allowed us to use this ship’s manufacturing capabilities,” Isani said.
“No. If I give in to that, I might as well let you copy technologies from it. Everything needs to be built by our hands and our technologies,” Tomas said sternly.
“How much faster were you thinking?” Isani asked.
“A year,” Tomas said.
“Impossible. Projections put it at ten years before we finish everything, maybe more now that we are funneling all our resources into increasing the number of our fleets. Half of the resources we were sending here are now rerouted to the Forge. You can’t rush this, Tomas, not if you want a ship with a hull strong enough to survive passing through an access point. And if you don’t want us using this ship, then it will take time until we can manufacture enough compressed matter for even one ship,” Isani said.
Tomas grimaced in annoyance. “And if I get you resources? More people, more experts?”
“Even if we can halve the time needed, it will still be too long, Tomas,” Isani said.
“We need this, Isani. I don’t want us relying on the People’s technologies, but access points are one of their more advanced technologies that we can make use of even if we can’t build them. With our advances in compressed matter, we can survive going through their access points. Just barely, but that is enough,” Tomas said, and shook his head, suddenly feeling a great weight on his shoulders. “We are spread too much, Isani.” Tomas continued wearily. “And we don’t have the infrastructure of other civilizations. They had years developing and expanding slowly; their outer territories are mostly self-sufficient. Ours rely mostly on our core, and we are expanding too fast. Unless we can have ships traveling much faster across the Empire than even with the skim drives, we will have problems.”
“I know,” Isani said. “But unless you want us to use our ancestors’ technology, you will have to be patient.”
“No, I don’t want that. You have seen the records; it will do us no good following in their footsteps. And you’ve seen what alterations Axull Darr did to this ship for their battles with their enemy. They are laughable; all that technology and they failed because they didn’t know how to fight. If Adrian was in Axull Darr’s place, the enemy never would’ve had spread so much, even if he only had this ship’s technology at his disposal. This ship’s weapons aren’t weapons, they are glorified tools. Tools advanced enough that they could wipe out every single ship in the Empire, but still only tools. None were truly designed for warfare. Their enemy adapted, changed; their technology went beyond the People in directions they never explored. We need to advance beyond them, to build up technologies that they neglected and found no use for,” Tomas said.
“We will, Tomas. We have time. The People’s countermeasure has kept the enemy contained for a long time; it will not fail before we are ready,” Isani said.
“I know. I just hope that we survive long enough to become ready,” Tomas said. “Now let’s continue with a tour of the ship, I am eager to see all of it.”
Chapter One
Shara Radum
Adrian stood in the landing bay of the Veritas, watching the shuttle from one of the Empire’s ships that had just arrived in the Shara Radum system land and then the doors of the bay close, with air being cycled back into the room. As soon as it finished, Adrian entered the bay and walked towards the shuttle to meet the person just then coming out of it.
“Teacher,” Adrian greeted the taller Sowir, Lurker of the Depths, telepathically.
“Adrian,” Lurker of the Depths returned.
Lurker of the Depths had just arrived with six of the Empire’s fleets, and had brought with him his construction ships from Sol, as well as some cargo ships carrying materials so that they and the fleet auxiliaries could meet the needs of the fleets.
“Come, let us move somewhere more private,” Adrian sent, and made his way through his ship towards his rooms. Once there, he took one chair and the Sowir curled his three tentacle-like legs and lowered himself on the floor.
“I hope that you’ve brought everything that you will need,” Adrian sent.
“Most. A few shipments of materials are lagging behind, but they will be sent here from Sol.” Lurker of the Depths responded.
“Did you bring me what I asked for?”
“Yes, although we had some difficulties making them. They are still too large to be fired from current war vessels without significant retrofits,” Lurker of the Depths sent.
“Pods or cargo ships?” Adrian asked.
“Cargo ships. They are too large to fit a reasonable number into the pods.”
Adrian grimaced. “I had hoped for pods; bringing cargo ships into a battle will be an extra worry.”
“We cannot yet reduce the skim drives sufficiently in size, and we still need a fairly large battery in order to run them. Coupled with the targeting systems and the receiver, we cannot reduce them in size any more than we already have. And they are resource costly; I don’t know if they will be as useful as they are time- and resource-consuming,” Lurker of the Depths sent.
“Still, they are powerful weapons, ones that our enemies don’t know about,” Adrian said.
“Perhaps…it is something that is easily deduced. If you can move your ships faster than light within the system, why shouldn’t your missiles have the same capability?”
“It is one thing to suspect something and quite another to face it in combat,” Adrian sent. “How many did you bring?”
“Twelve hundred.”
“I hoped for more…”
“I have brought everything we need to build more, but if you want my ships to build more of the missiles, the production of the defense platforms will suffer,” Lurker of the Depths said.
“I’ll think about it. In the meantime, Kar Daim has
given us one small moon to set up as a temporary base for our people as well as a more permanent embassy. I want you to start placing modules on the ground as soon as possible; put the personnel areas and living quarters down first. Shara Radum might be changing, but there is still friction; I would much rather our people had a place where they can take leave without worrying about offending some Shara Daim.”
“Of course, we can start right away,” Lurker of the Depths sent.
“Good. I’m afraid that we will need to keep your people away from the Shara Daim. They might have started a change, but there is still thousands of years of them looking down on other intelligent life. I hope to have you by my side when we go to the front; hopefully your presence will be a good experience for them.”
“I understand,” Lurker of the Depths sent.
Adrian felt the weight of those words; he knew that the Sowir might understand that more than anyone else. “Of course.”
“When will our forces go to the front?” Lurker of the Depths asked.
Adrian shook his head as he answered, “I don’t know yet. Our stealth scouts have been scouting out Erasi forces and relaying information to the Shara Daim, who have managed to regain a few systems and halt the Erasi advance. There haven’t been any new large-scale battles in months; the Erasi are content to hold and reinforce the systems they have already taken, while the Shara Daim are preparing for a push to recover their territory. The Emperor has asked us to hold off on sending fleets until our people can finish our talks with the Erasi. The Erasi are trying to clear the air about their attack on my ships, which they call a minor incident, and want to repair the relations between us. Tomas is trying to get them to pull back from the Shara Daim territory and pay restitution to both the Empire and Shara Daim.”
“I doubt that they will agree to that; they planned this attack long before we came into the picture. And I also doubt that Kar Daim will be amenable to just letting the Erasi get away without paying in blood,” Lurker of the Depths added.
Adrian grimaced. “Yeah, I talked with her about it. She wants them to pay, but I managed to convince her that termination of hostilities is in her people’s best interest. Although the price she will ask if they agree is substantial. As for the Erasi, I agree, but we still want to give them a chance. It has been made clear to them that if they continue with their aggression against the Shara Daim, we will respond by providing aid and technology as well as declaring a state of war between us and the Erasi, which will mean us stopping all trading with their companies. I think that they are hesitating because of that, if nothing else. The Erasi are not like the Empire, and some of their companies have a lot to lose if we go to war. Our diplomats think that the companies are putting pressure on the Erasi ruling caste.”
“But you still don’t think that they will agree and pull back?” Lurker of the Depths asked.
“No. As you said, they had planned this for a long time. And with everything we have learned about them, we know that they like to meddle and influence other civilizations in order to eliminate threats. They were not able to influence the Shara Daim because they are a very xenophobic civilization—the Erasi couldn’t get a great enough foothold to manipulate them—and they were far too powerful to be taken out easily. I suspect that the Erasi had a hand in manipulating other races around the Shara Daim to breed distrust and resentment against them—although I doubt that they needed to apply much effort—so that when they finally struck, the Shara Daim would be alone,” Adrian responded.
“Plausible, but not certain. We don’t know their true motives and should not allow ourselves to believe assumptions. That could lead to false conclusions. My people have learned that lesson well.”
“You’re right. Hopefully our diplomatic talks with them will give us more clues about their true motives.”
Chapter Two
One month later; March; Year 58 of the Empire — Tarabat
Aileen stormed into the Empire’s compound on Tarabat furious, followed by two Warpath adepts trained in Sha recently sent from Sanctuary to act as additional support. Once inside, she made her way to one of the offices and entered, leaving the two adepts on their own. Inside, she was met by the compound head Björn Borg, who waited for her to drop onto one of the couches that was against the side wall before speaking.
“That bad, huh?” Björn asked.
“I hate this kind of politics where you say one thing but mean something completely different, giving half-truths and twisting words for your benefit. The Empire got rid of those politics a long time ago, but the Erasi are such a jumbled mess of agendas, corruption, and manipulations that I don’t know how they even function,” Aileen said tiredly.
“Well, they are a jumbled mess of many races, corporations, and ideologies,” Björn said.
“Ugh,” Aileen grunted. “They are blocking me, stalling for something, and I can’t figure out what!” She raised her voice. “I can’t figure out if they are really concerned with our threats or if they are pretending to be! And I certainly can’t figure out what they want!”
“The Shara Daim will not wait for long. If the Erasi don’t agree to terms, they will attack to regain their worlds and people; they won’t allow the Erasi any more time to set up defenses,” Björn cautioned.
“I know, which is why I am so frustrated. We have two more months until the Emperor’s deadline, and I doubt that Erasi will somehow miss us leaving Tarabat. They’ll know that we are stopping with negotiations,” Aileen said.
“What about our other channels?” Björn asked.
“Our contacts are too far down the ladder to know anything useful. We didn’t really have time to make a good net,” Aileen said.
“And companies?”
“The company leaders assure me that they will not allow their government to go to war with us. They don’t really care for the Shara Daim, as they never really had many deals with them. But we have proven ourselves as fair and secure trading partners. And our economy is growing; we are an investment, a pretty large and potentially very lucrative one,” Aileen said.
“But you don’t think that they will manage to sway the Erasi government,” Björn said.
“No, I think that the companies have a lot of sway in the Erasi, sure, but we have been dealing with mostly midlevel companies in the outer sectors of the Erasi. Their larger and more influential companies are in the core, and I doubt that they will care.”
“So you think that continuation of the war is inevitable.”
“Sadly, yes. I don’t think that the Erasi government really cares that much about us. They look at us as a minor player.”
Björn nodded, agreeing with her words. “So what are you planning to do?”
Aileen stood and started for the exit. “I’m going to go and find out as much as I can before we pull out.”
***
Several hours later, Aileen entered a familiar little establishment on the other side of the planet. She had taken a transport to this particular dome city. She waved to the alien standing in the first room and made her way to the back room. The short Hav recognized her and simply acknowledged by returning her wave with one of its appendages.
Aileen entered the back room, stepped into smoke up to her hip, and waited for Jurr to arrive. The Hav in the front would let him know that she was here. Several minutes later, Aileen felt someone approach, and the smoke’s surface rippled and a large snake-like head and body rose above it.
“Jurr,” Aileen sent.
“Sentinel,” Jurr greeted her. “How may I aid you? We did not have a meeting scheduled today.”
“The Erasi negotiators that I have been dealing with are stalling our talks. I need to know why,” Aileen sent.
Jurr dipped his large triangular head. “My contacts on Tarabat tell me that the companies are speaking with the core, urging them to stop the aggression against the Shara Daim and your Empire. The delay could simply be because of the distance between the core and Tarabat,” Jurr sent, b
ut Aileen felt that there was more.
“But you think that there is something else?”
“All of my contacts in the core have gone silent. And I have received reports of strange movements across the Erasi—cargo, supplies, warships. Ships from the smaller members of the Erasi suddenly leaving on classified missions.”
“Why is that strange? They have fleets in Shara Daim territory, they need to keep them supplied,” Aileen said.
“Yes, but the amounts that they are moving are greater than what their fleets require,” Jurr sent.
“That could mean that they are expecting reinforcements…” Aileen said.
“If they are, they have gone to great length to conceal the movements of those reinforcements.”
Aileen nodded absentmindedly. “Anything else?”
“Your people have asked me to share any information about Weaver Hanaru, should I learn of it,” Jurr said, and Aileen immediately paid more attention. Weaver Hanaru was the one that had ambushed Adrian and his ships on their way to Shara Radum. The Emperor was adamant on having the Gatrey face judgment for the deaths he was responsible for.
“You know where he is?” Aileen asked. The Weaver had disappeared after the skirmish with the Empire’s ships.
“I know where he was several days ago,” Jurr answered. “He was spotted arriving in Halros system, replacing his damaged ships and picking up several cargo ships that had arrived from the core last month. After that, he departed the system in the anti-spinward direction.”
Aileen did a quick check with her implant and found out where exactly the Halros system was located. She frowned when she saw that it was in fact close to the Erasi border on the Empire’s side, away from the Shara Daim.
“Why would he go anti-spinward? The only thing in that direction is the Empire’s territory, and I doubt that he wants to turn himself in to us,” Aileen wondered, more for her own benefit than Jurr’s.
