Adrian shook his head. “No, the Elders are the problem. They must have access to at least some information, and yet the rest of the Shara Daim don’t know about it. But she is influential and powerful. I can only show her the truth; it is her job to do with it as she wills. If she decides that her people are still right even after she knows everything, then that is her choice and we will go to war with the Shara Daim, one in which only one of us survives.”
“I hope that your plan works. It would pain me to see my children killing one another.”
“We shall see next month, when they arrive.”
Adrian stepped off the shuttle and onto the Jupiter shipyards. Hundreds of humans, Nel, and Sowir walked around doing their jobs. A single Sowir stood close to the shuttle and waited until Adrian walked over to him.
“Teacher,” Adrian sent as a way of greeting.
“Adrian,” Lurker of the Depths responded. Lurker of the Depths motioned for Adrian to follow, and they walked over to a small room already prepared for their meeting.
“Progress?” Adrian asked once they were alone.
“We have done as you asked; the production will be done on time,” Lurker of the Depths responded.
“Good, and what about the special project?” Adrian asked.
“The technology is unstable; we can’t power it long enough for it to be useful weapon,” Lurker of the Depths sent, allowing his frustration and apology to underline his words.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get it. I’ve brought you some help,” Adrian sent with just a hint of amusement. He reached into his pocket and brought out the sphere, throwing it in front of him and catching it with the Sha to keep it in the air.
“Is that…?” Lurker of the Depths asked slowly.
“Yes,” Adrian said as the hologram of Axull Darr appeared in front of them.
“Greetings, Lurker of the Depths,” Axull Darr sent telepathically, or rather using the telepathic transmitter of the sphere.
“Greetings,” Lurker of the Depths responded respectfully.
“Axull Darr here will help your people get the weapon done by our deadline,” Adrian sent.
“Then we should get to work immediately, there isn’t that much time left,” Lurker of the Depths said. Adrian gestured and sent for him to lead the way.
Tarabat
“Our people at the embassy finally managed to get us something,” Hanaru’s aide Ubvaru sent.
“What do we have?” Hanaru asked.
“We have confirmed the status of their defenses in the Sol system; they have only a few defenses. The signals in the asteroid belt are mining stations and mining ships; the construct at their gas giant is a storage base, a shipyard, and a research facility. And it seems that they are using the designs for our defensive platform—we found test records,” Ubvaru responded.
“And do we have anything on their normal space FTL technology?” Hanaru asked.
“Unfortunately, no. However, we always knew that it was unlikely for them to have that kind of sensitive data there. We have recovered some data about the number of their warships.”
“And?”
“They seem to have four advanced fleets, those that have their new FTL tech, but we didn’t yet find any details on their armaments, and we only assume that these fleets have the FTL tech because of some data we recovered about their movements. Their warships at least have advanced shields, as we saw from their skirmish with the Shara Daim. The rest of their ships seem to be obsolete and are used strictly for system defense, much slower than even our regional guard, using completely primitive kinetic kill weapons,” Ubvaru said.
“Really?” Hanaru said, surprised. “Did we really overestimate their capabilities that much?”
“We were right about their technology; they should be on par with Shara Daim and us. But only their new ships. Their technology is new; they haven’t had the time to upgrade or build new ships.”
“Then they can’t hold the Shara Daim occupied for nearly as long as we initially thought. Why are the Shara Daim mobilizing all of their Legions? They could’ve taken them with only ten Legions,” Hanaru asked.
“We leaked a lot of information about the Empire to the Shara Daim; they might think that the Empire has more ships than it really does,” Ubvaru answered.
“They called for all of their Legions as soon as the Empire kidnapped a Dai Sha. Could it really be only because of that…? A Dai Sha has never been kidnapped before; they might want to make an example of them,” Hanaru mused.
“So what do we do? Narrasak and the three Legions under his command have already left for an attack on Sol, and even without the rest of the Legions, they will surely take the system,” Ubvaru said.
“We should have an extraction strategy for our people there. Moreover, I need to inform our superiors about the Empire. I must counsel them to accelerate the plans; we should strike now while the Shara Daim Legions are out of position, rather than wait for them to engage the Empire. If Narrasak takes Sol, they might even decide that they don’t need all those Legions and send them back, and we can’t miss this opportunity,” Hanaru sent.
“It will mean a much larger timeframe between waves than what we initially thought; Legions will be able to respond much quicker. We will have more losses during the first wave,” Ubvaru added.
“Yes, but there is no other way, the onslaught must begin now.”
August — Ra’a’zani space
Johanna sat on board the Argo, above the last Ra’a’zani world, and watched as a group of transports disappeared into trans-space on their way to the Empire’s space with the last of the freed slaves. It had been a tough few months; her fleets had hunted down every Ra’a’zani ship, destroyed all their space assets, and bombed every piece of technology and infrastructure on their planets. The surviving Ra’a’zani had no factories, no material processing plants, and no power. They would not leave their planets in their lifetimes, and would have no offspring; all of their worlds save this one had been infected.
The army had secured enough of their fertilized eggs that they could ensure that their genetic code survived—maybe altered, but still there would be something left. But the Ra’a’zani as a race would die. Johanna was surprised at how little the Ra’a’zani truly had; the Shara Daim had all but destroyed them. Their population had already been decimated, their best and brightest having died fighting the Shara Daim, and they had had few warships left. They didn’t really stand a chance against Johanna’s fleet.
The freed slaves were being sent back to Sector One where they would go through acclimation programs, and with that last group of transports, her job was almost finished. She had only to release the pathogen on this last world and then return to Empire territory.
Chapter Fourteen
One month later — September; Year 55 of the Empire — Bloodbringer
Anessa was one hundred and twenty-one years old on the day she passed judgment on a fellow Dai Sha. Jassarak, former Dai Sha of the Thirty-Second Legion, was on his knees in front of her. Six Do Sun kept him immobilized with the Sha. He had defied the Elders; instead of destroying the last remnants of an alien race that had defied Shara Daim demands, he had allowed them to escape while he stalled for time.