Anessa froze. She glared at the tiny alien. “What do you mean?”
She felt another rush of emotions from the Gatrey; he was studying her, and was very much interested in her reaction to his words. “The person asked about the Ra’a’zani worlds as well, and he looked very much like you. Shorter, with different eyes and skin color, but everything else was the same.”
Realization came to Anessa immediately. That could only be another descendant of the People. The Humans were slaves, but did some escape? Or was it the third race? Hanaru continued, all the way studying her closely.
“They are from an Empire anti-spinward from here, and are new to our sectors. Why they wanted to know about the Ra’a’zani, I do not know.”
“You said that they were here today? Are they still on the planet?” Anessa both spoke and sent.
“I do not know,” Hanaru said. Anessa felt the lie.
“Where are they?” Anessa said forcefully, drawing on the Sha and smashing through the Gatrey’s defenses, entering his mind.
She felt his shock, but she pushed it aside and searched his memories, looking for whoever it was that he had spoken with. And then she found the memory. The being he had been talking with was a Human. She couldn’t make out the conversation; the Gatrey was strong and was fighting her probe. But she moved forward. She found him ordering his people to follow the Human and his party. There were more than one. She drew more of the Sha and dug out the information she was looking for—the Human was still on planet. And he was in a local establishment.
She was about to try and dig deeper, find everything that this Gatrey knew, when he pushed back. A resonating pain smashed into her mind, but she shielded most of it. The Gatrey had regained his wits and was fighting back. She reached to the Sha and threw him across the room, breaking the connection.
“You have made a mistake, Dai Sha,” he ground out as he got to his feet, alert. “Your agreement with the Erasi prohibits you from using your power to harm our citizens.”
“Your threats don’t faze me, Gatrey. You should have known better than to try and play with a Dai Sha. And you should not have lied to me.”
Anessa turned and left the alien there in the room. No one tried to stop her as she left the building and made her way towards the last known location of the Human. She got her directions from the Erasi net and cut through the throngs of aliens walking around her. There was a Human on this world, and she needed to get to him. Find out the location of their homeworld and recover the device of the People. And anyone that stood in her way would die.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Adrian sat in the bar with Narateth, finalizing their transaction, and was waiting for Aileen and the rest to get back. They would be leaving soon, but there were still a few things to take care of concerning the deals they’d made. Akash was sleeping outside the bar, while Sora had gone with Aileen.
“That is the last of your pay. I’ve added some extra for the great service,” Adrian said as he transferred credits from his chip to hers.
“Thank you, it has been good working with you. I will spread the word that you pay well and are fair. And I hope you recommend me to any of your people coming this way,” Narateth said.
Adrian smiled. “Of course.”
Narateth stood to leave, but then her eyes wandered and fixed on something behind him, and her entire body froze. Adrian stood and turned, only to see a tall obsidian-skinned woman with a shaved head walking up towards him. Immediately, he recognized that she must be Shara Daim. She reached him and stopped, looking down at him.
“You are a human?” she asked, her voice melodic and yet somehow cold.
“Yes,” Adrian said simply, and tried to think through the possibilities. He hadn’t planned on getting in the contact with the Shara Daim, not before they knew more about them. And she knew that he was a human. How does she know? he thought, just as her hand landed on his shoulder.
“I have questions for you,” she said, and started pulling him with her. “You are coming with me.”
Adrian reached up and broke her hold, taking a step back. “That,” he said, pausing for effect, “is no way of making new friends.”
“I don’t have the time nor patience to explain things to you. I need information that you possess. Either you come willingly or I will take you by force.” She took a step towards him, and Adrian retreated a step back. The people in the bar had pulled back, and others were leaving.
“Wait, you obviously know about my race, and by your reaction I can see that you have knowledge about Axull Darr and…” Adrian stopped as he saw her eyes widen. She stopped, and Adrian realized that that had been the wrong thing to say, just as he felt her pick him up from the floor with the Sha and then bring him closer.
“You know? How do you know?” she demanded. “You are slaves to the Ra’a’zani!” She looked him in the eyes, and then something powerful smashed into his mind, trying to get in.
For a moment, Adrian was taken aback, surprised. And then he recovered. The training he had received from Lurker in the Depths, the most powerful Sowir telepath that had ever lived, came rushing back to him. He slammed his will against her attempt and threw her out.
That staggered and released her hold on him, dropping him to the floor. She looked at him and her clothes started to change. “By force it is,” she said. Her clothes flowed as if they were made from liquid, until she became entirely covered in a smooth, metallic-looking black suit.
She jumped forward, throwing a punch at his head, but to Adrian the attack was telegraphed. He moved out of the way with ease. He felt her try to grab him with her mind again, but this time he was ready. He negated her attempts and jumped back, creating more distance between them. He gave the command to his Sentinel suit for it to go into battle mode, and scales started cascading over his body. He used his implant and sent a request for help to Aileen.
The Shara Daim obviously wasn’t going to let his armor finish encasing him; instead of trying to grab him, she threw a kinetic blast at him. Adrian jumped to the side, evading, as tables and benches that were behind him flew away and hit the wall.
Adrian knew better than to try and grab her telekinetically. What he did instead was grab a table close and flip it at her as she was moving towards him. The table hit and did nothing; it broke on her body, not even staggering her. She came in close and started throwing punches at him. Adrian, now encased in his Sentinel armor, blocked.
Each hit felt as if a sledgehammer struck him; he could feel it vibrate through his bones. She is stronger than me. So he switched tactics and instead of blocking started evading and deflecting. But she proved incredibly fast, and he couldn’t put enough distance between them. Each time he tried, she would close it with a step.
She was bigger, stronger, and faster than him. Standing at least 240 cm tall compared to his 184 cm, she had both reach and power behind her attacks.
Adrian tried to fire off a kinetic blast at her torso, but she twisted away and swiped her hand at his shoulder, hitting him and throwing him across the room. Adrian hit the wall, stunned. He raised his head only to see her charging at him.
Time slowed down as he increased his mind’s processing speed. He studied her. He didn’t know why she was coming after him, but she intended to take him with her. And he would not allow that. She was stronger than him, faster than him, but her fighting style was transparent. Her attacks were wide, fast, and powerful; he had no problem seeing them. It was not designed to fight others like her, he realized. The attacks she most often used were from above swiping down, using gravity and her entire body’s strength to strike.