Beth had spent all of that time on the front, and even though she was allowed to take time and return to Sanctuary, she never did, which had only put more strain on the relationship with her husband, Harry. Technically, they were separated, but during their last conversation in person they had decided to try and fix their marriage. But Beth and Harry both knew that their hearts just weren’t in it. Their lives were too different. Harry never could make peace with the nature of Bethany’s calling, and he knew that she would never sacrifice it for him. Over the years, they had a few conversations over the comms, but they were always short, filled with awkward silences. In a way, she knew that she had been avoiding the problem. She didn’t want to admit that she had been wrong when she’d agreed to marry him. But now, years later, she knew that she did not marry him for love. She did it because she was simply going through the motions; it was what one was supposed to do. And no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, she had done it because of Adrian.
She was in love with him once. But their relationship was never traditional, not even back in the Sol system when they’d attended the Academy together. And she had waited for him, until Harry had come along and she’d decided not to wait any longer. Ironically, it was her getting married to Harry that had made Adrian confess his feelings to her. And her reaction hadn’t been so good. She’d been cruel, as she had been when they first met. She had lashed out at him, hurt him. She knew that, and yet she had convinced herself that it didn’t matter, that she would be happy with Harry. And she’d been wrong. She had lost her best friend in Adrian, and slowly over time had lost contact with her other classmates. She had never even attempted to mend fences, to reach out; instead, she’d allowed her pride to govern her decisions.
She knew that she needed to change, to try and make up for her actions over the years. And she had decided to do that after the war was over. She was aware that in a way that was cowardly of her, but as Fleet Commander, she couldn’t allow any distractions. Especially now, as she could feel that the time for another offensive was near. The facilities they had acquired were more than what they needed; already a few shipyards had been upgraded with fabricating technology and would soon start production. And the next offensive was going to be very different, as now they didn’t need to take additional Sowir facilities. Soon, the short respite would reach an end, and this time the Empire was going to roll over them and destroy them for good.
Bethany hurried and cleaned up in the bathroom, then made her way to her desk and turned on her holo table. The space in front of her came to life, with dozens of holo windows, saved work from last night. With a gesture, she cleared them and brought up the message from the Fleet. She had been expecting it, and hoped that it was the order for the new offensive.
She read the message from the Fleet and then slumped, disappointed. It was not what she had expected. She frowned as she read through it again. Her orders were to take all of the Second Fleet’s Mark Two dreadnoughts and return with them to Sanctuary. Her fleet’s Kraken-class dreadnoughts, along with the auxiliaries, were to stay and protect the front.
Bethany had no doubt that the Kraken-class dreadnoughts were up to the task, especially when all of the systems that had been taken had already been reinforced with defense platforms and the Third Fleet. Her orders made it clear that it was only her ships that were being recalled.
Beth sighed, then formed messages for her staff, organizing a meeting; she would need to inform them of their orders. Looking at the message one last time, she felt a taste of trepidation. She would be going to Sanctuary, and now she couldn’t hide behind the war. She would need to face Harry, and a lot sooner than she had planned.
PART ONE – WHAT WAR HAD WROUGHT
Chapter One
October; Year 35 of the Empire – Sanctuary
Adrian Farkas Reiss turned his eyes upwards towards dark, teal-colored night sky of Sanctuary. The color came from the reflected light of the gas nebula that surrounded the Sanctuary system and the two moons orbiting the planet. There were a few stars in the sky, other planets in the system and their moons. But there were more of them than there had been when humanity had first arrived on this planet. Since then the system had grown, and many of those stars were in fact stations or shipyards.
And he too was different. He had come a long way from the small orphan boy on Earth. Now, he commanded a fleet, he was one of the greatest fighters in the Empire, and he was the leader of Warpath, one of the six Clans of the Empire. When he looked back on the time he’d spent on Earth, almost a century ago, it seemed like such a small part of his life.
Adrian sighed and continued walking down the streets of Olympus City towards his destination. His arm was bent at the elbow, and above his open palm a small lead ball floated, held there with his telekinesis. At his sides followed two massive beasts. Akash and Sora, twin wolions, animals native to Sanctuary. Adrian had adopted them long ago just after they’d been born, because their mother had died. The two were empaths, capable of communication by sharing emotions. He had raised them, and they had become a kind of a family. They followed him everywhere.
As he walked, he readjusted his coat over his skin-suit. Everyone in the Empire now wore them; the clothes of old had been mostly left behind, with the exception of overcoats, which served to satisfy the need for individuality and fashion. The suits were skin tight, based on the skin-suits that Nel invented; they looked to be one piece, but were actually two, lower and upper. When not used, they were loose, and could be put on like any other piece of clothing. Once on, with a command from the wearer’s imp, the suit would become skin tight and meld into one piece. The clothing had some solid pieces that satisfied the need for modesty, for women across their chest, and both for men and women over the groin. The suits were superior to anything else, as they could protect from both cold and heat. The overcoats were simply for fashion, and Adrian’s overcoat was dark blue with black sleeves.
Walking down the street, he reflected on the fact that he had spent the last three years on Sanctuary. The reason was the many changes that occurred to his body as he’d triggered the failsafe engineered into human genetic code, and gained psionic abilities, what his ancestors had called the Sha. And that power came with a big price. He had spent eight months in a bed after the change truly kicked in.
The change had occurred in stages, with the first one being what he’d experienced after he’d pushed himself to the limit during the battle with the Sowir. His brain and nervous system had ‘evolved,’ changed, and lain the groundwork for future changes. That first change had resulted in him spending a month unconscious. The second stage had come after he’d heard the telepathic beacon from Axull Darr’s sphere. A growth had appeared inside his body, below his left collarbone, inside his ribcage. At first, his doctors had assumed it was a fast-growing tumor, until Axull Darr had told them that it was actually a newly formed organ. The growth had then made connections to his bloodstream and nervous system, which had put Adrian in bed for another three months as the doctors watched and recorded every second of the change.
The third stage had started as soon as the second had ended, which resulted in him getting random muscle cramps that could last anywhere from a moment to hours, itching across every single part of his body, random pains that radiated out of the new organ, and headaches that lasted for days. The last stage had lasted for about four months. But thankfully it had ended, and Adrian had received the Sha. Each of the psionics required energy in order to be used, which was stored inside the Nursha, the organ that was the part of the package. The organ took a small part of the energy that the body got from food or drink and body heat, and stored it to be used later.