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Stepping out into the city was always a bit of a shock, even after all of this time. First, there was the dry air, the heat, and the dim lights. But all that paled to the look of the city. The Guxcacul city was unlike anything that Sahib had ever seen. It had been built inside a spherical cave, with some buildings buried inside the walls, while others were suspended in the open space of the cave, connected to the “walls” of the city by bridge-like pillars. There were a kind of plateaus carved inside the walls, which was where his and the houses of his team were. The plateaus were the only areas of the city that were horizontal; the rest were all at an angle, which didn’t really bother the Guxcacul.

Sahib walked towards the edge of the plateau and one of the many “bridges” attached there. Once he reached it, he placed his feet and hands in the holes placed there and started climbing. The bridges were all at an angle, so it wasn’t as dangerous to climb as it would be climbing a near vertical mountain. After a couple of minutes, he finally reached a building attached to a few bridges and carefully moved from his bridge to the building, entering it through a rounded wall. The inside didn’t look anything like what the rustic appearance suggested. It could have passed for almost any house in the Empire, except for the fact that there weren’t any walls inside and that it wasn’t floor-oriented.

“Hey, Riss,” Sahib said to the Guxcacul that was hanging on the left wall by the computer console. The Guxcacul didn’t move, but he did respond.

Sahib.” Riss spoke in his language and Sahib spoke in standard. Both of them understood the other one’s language, so they rarely used a translator to speak. The Guxcacul couldn’t reproduce many of the sounds required to speak standard—the language of the Empire, which was mostly English with a few words taken from the Nel language. The experts on Sanctuary predicted that in time it would become a complete blend of the two, as the majority of the Empire were Nel and human.

“I got some news,” Sahib said as he moved to the center of the room, where he sat down on a large pillow.

Riss turned the console off and then moved across the wall to the floor and joined Sahib. “Is this the kind of news I will be happy to hear?”

“Of course. If it weren’t, I wouldn’t have bothered climbing all the way up here,” Sahib said. “I received a message from the Fleet Headquarters. They will begin the offensive in five months, and Guxaxac will be the first world targeted. Five more months and the Guxcacul will be free.”

Riss stilled, but Sahib had known him for a long time now and could see that he was affected emotionally.

Finally,” Riss said. “I will need to inform the Elders. Did the Fleet send any plans for the offensive?

“Yes, I have them all in my imp. We can go see the Elders whenever you want,” Sahib answered.

* * *

Sahib and Riss entered the large chamber. It too was strange to his eyes. It was rounded, with nine pillars grouped together in the middle of the room. A small platform stood below them. The two of them made their way over to the platform, while nine of the Guxcacul Elders already waited on their pillars. The Guxcacul didn’t use chairs, or anything similar, so the nine stood with their two front legs on top while the four back were placed in small holes in the sides of the pillars.

Out of the nine, five were female. The difference between the two sexes was obvious. The males had carapaces in shades of gray and brown, and looked a bit bland, while the females had widening bone crests on their head plates, which were in various shades of red and green.

The chamber itself was brightly lit, a courtesy for Sahib more than anything else. The Guxcacul had very poor eyesight, but then, they relied on other senses to ‘see.’ In the middle of the platform was a chair, another courtesy. Sahib sat down, and Riss stood to his left. In front of them was a small table with one of the Empire’s translators, which the Guxcacul scientists had improved over the three years.

Greeting, friend. We are told that you have good news for us,” one of the Elders, identified by Sahib’s implant as Sisstra, spoke in her language. Sahib heard her words in standard directly in his mind through his implant, which was aided in translation by the bigger device on the table.

“Yes, Elders, that is true,” Sahib spoke in standard, not bothering to speak up so that the Elders could hear his words; it was enough that the translator could. His words were translated into Guxcacul and played to the Elders on the devices placed on their pillars. “I have received a message from my people. The offensive will start in three months, and your world will be one of the first targets.”

“After all this time, our world will be free,” another Elder said.

“The Fleet will take care of the Sowir ships in orbit, while our troops attack their positions on the ground. The plan is for your troops to attack at the same time from underground,” Sahib said.

“We will be ready.”

* * *

A few hours later, Riss and Sahib sat in the middle of Sahib’s home. The meeting with the Elders had been surprisingly short. For a long-lived race, the Guxcacul where surprisingly quick to act. Already, their troops had started preparing for the coming fight.

Do you plan on living here, once we free this world? Help in the rebuilding?Sahib asked.

“No…” Riss said after some thought. “This is no longer my home. That place is Warpath. I have changed; the Empire is my home now.”

“Do you think that they will ask to join us?”

“Not at first. They will want to rebuild the homeworld, regain something of what we have lost. But, in time, yes, I think that they will ask that of the Emperor,” Riss answered.

“You know the plan, right? To imprison the Sowir in their home system? We haven’t told your people that yet. I must confess that I thought you would tell them.”

“There is no point, they have no power to do anything about it. I know that they will ask for a harsher action, but they have been living in fear for a long time. And they are not like you Humans; before the Sowir, we never knew so much death and war.”

“And what do you think, should they pay a greater price?” Sahib asked.

“I do not know. All that I am screams for vengeance, for their death. And yet I have spent a long time in Warpath. I am a Sentinel, and have studied Human history, and the history of the Consortium through Human eyes. I have read about the things you did to yourselves, in your own wars. I know that if we get what we want, if we do to the Sowir what they did to us and the Mtural, and the Pouute, we will not be the same. Your kind is younger than mine, but in this you are our elders. I support the Emperor’s decision.”

Chapter Four

Sanctuary

Adrian stood in his room on Sanctuary, surrounded by holograms. All of them were concerning the Sowir. Information on their population, their military, and their government—or rather, the closest thing they had to a government. Holos of their system spun around him. The Empire had scouted all of their remaining systems, of which there were eleven, except for their home system. Every time they sent a probe through the trans-lane, it was destroyed. Their remaining fleet outside of their home system numbered about two thousand, spread across those eleven systems. The same as the fleet they had gathered for the invasion of Nelus. Out of those eleven, the most fortified was their home system, at least according to the little they’d managed to get out of the Sowir prisoners. Even now, when they were willing to talk, the Sowir never revealed anything of substance about their home system. Apparently there was a limit to how much they were willing to reveal as amends for their crime. But still, Adrian knew that they could defeat them with little to no casualties, especially now when the Empire had upgraded all of their old ships.