This development posed a problem. The Shara Daim did not seem like a very hospitable race, disregarding those that were not their race, but if they knew about the sphere, that attitude might change towards humans and Nel. Or would they see us as a threat? Tomas wondered. If they had the sphere, they had the technology contained in it, and the psionics. But he didn’t know for how long they’d had them. He knew nothing.
He made a quick message approving of Adrian’s trade plan; he would make sure that all Clans abided by it. Adrian had the right to speak for Warpath only; even though he wasn’t a Clan Leader anymore, Tomas knew that he held a great weight with Isani, the current Clan Leader. But Tomas agreed with the trading agreement; they had a surplus of metal ore and could benefit from starting the trade with the Erasi. Then he told Adrian to find out everything he could about the Shara Daim. He wanted to know as much about them before they met.
Then he recorded another message for the Sixth Fleet, which had arrived in Sol a month ago, letting Fleet Commander Johanna Stern know about the Erasi, and that she should start patrolling that side of their border.
Finished with Adrian’s messages, Tomas turned to the requests from the Trivaxians. They wanted permission to colonize another three systems, two which they wanted to turn into mining systems in order to fuel their rapid expansion. Tomas approved their request, but added the condition that one of those systems they delegate solely for the trade that would soon start with the Erasi. The Trivaxian Clan still didn’t quite match the mining productions from other Clans, and they too were bound by the trade agreement.
Then he started reviewing the reports on the Furvor. The avian-like race had been isolated on their own planet for the past sixteen years, as punishment for attacking the Trivaxians. But they had done everything Tomas had asked of them. Their society had been rebuilt from scratch. They were more Empire now than Furvor. And he had been thinking about cutting their punishment short and accepting them into the Empire now. After all, wasn’t the complete eradication of their former society punishment enough? He keyed his recorder again and sent out a message to the genetics center in Olympus City, telling them to start perfecting the immortality treatment for the Furvor. That was one more thing that he needed for everyone that joined.
The Trivaxians had already received theirs and would no longer age. But for them, he had to establish other laws, ones concerning births. They were not allowed more than a set quota of children per year, at least until they got to the point where they could sustain such growth.
After he finished with all that, he started on the last thing on his agenda: the Sowir, Nel, and Guxcacul. He knew that he needed them in the Empire, especially now when he knew what existed out there. He could get the Nel from Nelus and the Guxcacul to join, he was sure of that. But not if he tried to bring in the Sowir. And he knew that eventually he would need to do that. Maybe not for a long time yet, but a couple hundreds of years down the road, it would become a necessity. He couldn’t keep them isolated in their home system forever.
And they had proven surprisingly useful. They had been building civilian and cargo ships for the Empire in the shipyards that Adrian had left alone when he’d taken the system. And Tomas had allowed them to expand them a bit. So far, they had been acting very remorseful, and were eager to aid in any way possible. But the Sowir were very different from the other former Consortium races; they had moved on, and were focusing on the future. Nelus and the Guxcacul were still stuck in the past.
It would be a very hard conversation.
August; Tarabat
Adrian walked from the dropship to the bar that was just around the corner from where they had rented a pad. They were living out of the dropship, as it did have rooms, instead of going up to the Veritas every day. And so far they had made many contacts with the trading guilds. Once it had gotten out that they’d made a deal with one of the trading guilds, others had reached out seeking to get into trade with a new player and hopefully get an exclusive deal for their corporation or guild.
They had made a few deals—nothing on the same level as the one with the first one, but Adrian had permission from Tomas to promise a few things.
But sadly they were still not closer to the finding out about the Ra’a’zani. None of the contacts they made knew anything about them. There were a few whispers about a race that was engaged in a war with the Shara Daim, but no one knew if they were the same race that Adrian and his people were interested in. And information on the Shara Daim themselves was very limited; they kept their borders tight, only allowing a few trading partners entrance into their territory. And those trading guilds were the most powerful ones, which Adrian had no access to, as they were still new and had little to offer those guilds.
“Adrian?” Iris said through his implant.
“Yes, Iris?”
“I found something interesting in the Erasi net.”
“Concerning what?”
“One of their founding races, called Uvaramo.”
“What about them?” Adrian asked.
“They are very reclusive, but I have found some images of them. They bear a striking resemblance to one of the Union races, Loraru, the ones that built the ship Olympus found on Earth,” Iris said.
“Really?” Adrian said, surprised. “That could mean that the Union managed to survive their attackers.”
“Or that they fractured, and some survivors found refuge with the Erasi,” Iris added.
“That is possible too. Keep looking, try to find out more,” Adrian said as he reached his destination.
He entered the bar, and was immediately assaulted by exotic and unpleasant scents. He consciously tuned out his sense of smell, so that he didn’t need to smell the odors. He walked over to one of the aliens sitting alone at a table, a nasty-looking drink in her hands.
“Narateth,” Adrian said to get her attention. “Your message said that you had news?” Adrian asked the alien as she slurped the liquid through one of her slim trunk-like appendages. Adrian grimaced at the slurping sound. Narateth was of a race called the Jugat. They weren’t a part of the Erasi; their race didn’t really have a government or even held territory. Instead, their people lived spread out over the Erasi territory in family units, which usually numbered in dozens. They held businesses, providing a wide range of services on Erasi hub worlds. Narateth and her family served as mediators, usually employed by races new to the Erasi to help them navigate through the complex workings of Erasi trading systems.
The Jugat were another bipedal race, with two trunk-like appendages that they could use to drink located below their wide mouths. They had two eyes slightly bulged out of their head and to the side, giving them a faint fish-like appearance. Their skin was rough and thick, grayish in color. The tallest Jugat Adrian had seen was Narateth’s brother, Suthat, who was about Adrian’s height, a bit over 180 cm.
Narateth glanced at him and opened her mouth to speak while her trunk kept slurping her drink. “News, yes. Sit, sit.” Her voice and language translated directly into Adrian’s brain via the Erasi translating device on his temple.
Adrian sat on the bench. This bar catered to mostly bipeds, and with the many different shapes and forms even in that category, most of the sitting apparatuses were benches that could be adjusted for height and width.