“The Erasi?” Adrian repeated the unfamiliar word. “I thought that your race was called Sorvani?”
“It is. Your translation software must not be perfect, or you don’t have a word for that. The Erasi is a trading group, several races living together; we still govern ourselves, but trade is free and our territories open to companies from all,” the Sorvani explained.
“Ahh… I understand. You said that these information brokers might help us in finding more about this area of space?”
“Yes. My team is away from the Erasi territory, but the information brokers know things beyond Erasi.”
“Would you be able to provide us with the coordinates of one such world we can visit? One that is closest?”
The Sorvani turned slightly and reached with its arms to a console to the side. “The closest hub world that would have up-to-date information is Tarabat. It is close enough, but how long your trip would be depends on your technology. I am sending you the coordinates now,” the Sorvani said.
Adrian gestured to Gotu as they received the information. “Thank you. I must say that I am surprised that you gave us this information so freely.”
“Sorvani and the Erasi survive on trade with each other and races outside of our territory. Your ship looks impressive, but you would be foolish to try anything against Tarabat; the Erasi have not survived for so long without being able to protect their interests. And the Erasi always looks for new races, as such things bring more opportunities,” the Sorvani said.
“Well we don’t have any ulterior motives aside from establishing a good relationship with our neighbors and finding information about the Ra’a’zani,” Adrian said. “Also, do you know if there are any dangers in this area, races that we should be careful around?”
“As I said, my team and I are scientists; we don’t really follow the news all that much. But before we arrived here, we did conduct an investigation of the area around this system, and they found nothing. Pirates might be a problem, but we have nothing of value; our research is of no concern to them. And most of the races that deal with the Erasi know better than to attack our interests.”
“Thank you again for your openness and help,” Adrian said, and the Sorvani started blinking its eyes in a rapid sequence that Adrian took as an elaborate goodbye. Then it closed the channel.
“Where is that system?” Adrian asked.
“About one hundred and ten light years from here,” Iris said as she reappeared.
“That close?” Adrian said. “Does that mean that their territory now stretches from the Sagittarius arm all the way into Orion, or were they always here?”
“No way of knowing without going there and learning for ourselves,” she responded.
“We don’t have a trans-lane route, and I don’t want to spend time trying to find it. Using hyperspace, we could get there in about month and a half,” Adrian mused. “Alright, we are obviously not going to find the Ra’a’zani on our own like this. We are already in the wrong area. We might find something to point us in the right direction there.” He nodded, making a decision. “Let’s skim to the hyperspace barrier and get underway.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
April; Year 54 of the Empire – Former Ra’a’zani system
Anessa, Dai Sha of the First Legion, sat in her meeting chamber on board her warship the Bloodbringer, frustrated, and listened to the report of her subordinate. And she was not content; the news was the same as it had been the last time. They had yet to find the Ra’a’zani, which meant that she was still no closer to finding Humans and continuing her true mission. Her ships had been scouring the space around the Ra’a’zani systems that they had already taken, but she had a limited number of ships that she could send to look, and the volume of space that they had to search through was large, with no lanes explored.
The Ra’a’zani had spread their territory instead of choosing to keep it dense, which meant that the distance between one of their worlds and another could be as far as a hundred light years. And since they did not use trans-travel, the locations of their worlds could be anywhere. And the Ra’a’zani had been thorough in denying the Shara Daim any information about the locations of their other clans. Each clan she had destroyed she had found on her own. And now the last three of their clans had proven that much harder to find.
They hadn’t even found their homeworld yet. And the more time that passed, the more they rebuilt. Contrary to what the results of her war on the Ra’a’zani looked like, the Ra’a’zani technology was not that far behind that of the Shara Daim, at least regarding their weapons and ships. Their void transport technology lacked in every area. The reason why she was winning was because the Shara Daim were better at war, and because they had much better void transport technology; she could outmaneuver them easily, even though the Ra’a’zani had had more ships than her Legion ever since the beginning of the war. Spilling blood was her calling as Dai Sha, her Legion bred for a single purpose: to conquer.
“Dai Sha,” said one of her subordinates, of the rank of Do Sun, bringing her attention back to the Va Sun that had finished her report.
“You have done well, Va Sun,” Anessa said, and then with a gesture dismissed her, leaving her alone in the room with Arisak Do Sun.
“I think that it is time we consider other avenues, Dai Sha,” Arisak said.
“What do you suggest?” Anessa asked.
“The Ra’a’zani have obviously hidden well; they know that they need time in order to match us, so they are lying low. We need more ships if we are to search so big of an area effectively.” He paused, then hesitantly added, “Perhaps we might consider calling on another Legion?”
Anessa turned to look at him slowly, making him wither under her icy gaze. “The Ra’a’zani killed people in my sector, the blood protected by my Legion. You would have me lose even more face by calling another Legion?”
“Of course not, Dai Sha,” he answered quickly, not meeting her eyes. “But there is nothing else that we can do.”
Anessa turned away, thinking. She needed to find the Ra’a’zani. Or rather, she needed to find Ra’a’zani that had Human slaves. The Human homeworld was under the rule of the Ra’a’zani; she had the data on it, but no location. The Ra’a’zani were her only clue. Using the Sha, she keyed the telepathic interface on her table and brought up the map showing this sector of space.
The middle of the spur of their galactic arm in this area of space belonged to the Shara Daim. The first Ra’a’zani worlds they’d found were further towards the spur’s inner edge—coreward. She had been focusing her search there, along the edge of the spur. She glanced at the map and the icons there; the outer rimward edge of the spur was where the Erasi had a presence. Their territory was large and stretched from the closest galactic arm to this spur of the arm where the Shara Daim were. Their territory was bigger than that of the Shara Daim, but not by much. The Shara Daim held the remainder of the spur, back to the point where their galactic arm split.
The Shara Daim didn’t care about other races as long as they didn’t get in their way. The Erasi, on the other hand, were far too big and powerful to be ignored. So the Shara Daim had a cordial if somewhat tense relationship with them that included trade, but that would not be forever. The Shara Daim were the heirs to the Galaxy. Competition was not tolerated. She glanced at the closest hub world of the Erasi, their center of trade in this sector, and an idea struck her.