“Why did you defy the orders of the Elders?” Anessa asked him curiously. She couldn’t imagine ever going against the Elders’ orders.
“Because they were wrong. We are not better than other races, they have the same rights as we do,” Jassarak said.
Anessa angered. “We are the heirs of the galaxy; there are none who can stand alongside us.”
“You are wrong. You sit on your ship and reign chaos and death on the people that you don’t even know, certain in your Elders who gave you those orders. If only you would spend time with them, you would see that they are the same as us,” Jassarak said.
“The Elders are the ultimate authority of Shara Daim, the wisest of us. You knew that to defy them is paramount to suicide,” Anessa said.
“I knew. Better that I die knowing I have saved innocents from the cruel fate you would’ve rained down on them than to live as a coward hiding behind their orders.”
“Well, you will get your wish granted. You will die,” Anessa said as she stepped forward, a ball of orange plasma forming on her palm.
“You are worse than them, Dai Sha Anessa,” he said with a voice full of sorrow. “You have been granted gifts beyond anyone else. You could have been the best of us, and yet you are nothing but a slave,” Jassarak said, looking her in the eyes.
“To serve the Elders is the greatest honor there is,” Anessa said as she burned a hole through his chest.
Bloodbringer dropped out of hyperspace at the hyper-limit, followed by more than six thousand other ships. Three Legions assembled and immediately started moving deeper into the system towards the trans-exit point, the direct path to the Human system.
“Anything on scanners?” Anessa asked as the joint force accelerated in-system.
“Nothing, Dai Sha,” answered the Va Sun at the scanners. Then, a few minutes later, the Va Sun spoke up. “We got contact—a ship just powered up and is moving towards the trans-point.”
Anessa narrowed her eyes as the ship entered the trans-point and engaged its drives, effectively locking the point for the duration of its trip, which was only four hours. Something didn’t feel right. She knew Adrian was smart; if they had no defenses at their trans-entry point, then it made sense that they would have assets at the other end of the trans-point. But the ship was either powered down or had stealth capabilities. If the Empire was even close to Shara Daim and Erasi technology, they should have FTL comms, which meant that they already knew that the force was coming. That ship could have observed the Legions as they passed; by closing the point, they had gained nothing, as it would take the Legions a little over four hours to arrive at the point. The ship could’ve waited until the Legions were closer and closed it then, buying them more time.
Anessa turned the privacy screens on and requested a channel to Narrasak’s flagship, the Ravager, and Garaam’s Soulsworn. A moment later, two holograms appeared in front of her, both sitting in their own chairs.
“What is it, Anessa?” Narrasak asked from the command of the Ravager.
“I don’t like this, that ship had no advantage for leaving now,” Anessa said.
“Are we sure that they have inter-system FTL comms?” Garaam asked from the Soulsworn.
“We have never seen proof of them using them, but with all the other technology they have, I assumed that they have them,” Anessa answered.
“They are weaklings, slaves. They might’ve gotten lucky and scavenged technology far above them,” Narrasak said dismissively.
Anessa started to respond but paused. A year ago, she wouldn’t have questioned Narrasak; she would’ve agreed that their enemy could not have possibly pose a threat, even knowing that they had the device of their ancestors. After all, the Shara Daim had had it once and still had data from it, and it had still taken them a while to grow as large as they were now. If she hadn’t spent time as a prisoner, she would’ve dismissed her enemy. She thought about her response for a moment before responding, “We should send a scouting force first,” she said.
“What?” Narrasak asked incredulously. “That would give them another eight hours to prepare!”
“We are attacking a system through a trans-point on information that might be outdated. We should take every precaution,” Anessa answered.
Narrasak fumed. “We are Shara Daim, we are the strongest! You insinuate that we have something to fear from them!”
Before Anessa had the chance to respond, Garaam interjected, “I agree with Anessa,” she said evenly. “We are the strongest because we are the best, raised to understand war. Because we don’t take foolish risks. Sending a scout force is smart.”
Narrasak glared at her for a couple of long seconds, and then finally relented. “Fine, I will assemble a scout force.” And he immediately closed the link.
Anessa turned to look at Garaam, who remained studying her. “Your time in captivity changed you,” Garaam said, and Anessa made a conscious effort not to let any of her internal turmoil show.
“How so?” Anessa asked.
“We are raised to know that we are better than anyone, that other races pose no threat to us, that they are beneath us. Our belief is tempered by our training and ability, but that belief is always there, because our ancestors once ruled the galaxy through strength. Before, you would’ve never counseled caution against an opponent that was beneath us, a race that had allowed itself to be enslaved, who helped the weak,” Garaam said.
“Why did you agree with me, then?” Anessa asked.
“I am not stupid enough to believe that we couldn’t be led into a trap and that we couldn’t lose. I have fought against many races that were more than a match for us. I won because I was a better commander than they were, not because I somehow could not lose. Narrasak has spent his days leading his Legion against opponents far too inferior to truly test himself; his victories have only reinforced his belief of invulnerability. Our technological advantage has made us think we are superior against everyone. However, fighting an opponent that has the ability to harm you is another thing entirely,” Garaam said, and then studied Anessa, looking for something.
Anessa looked at her longtime friend as if she was a stranger. She acknowledged her words and closed the channel. She couldn’t believe what she had heard; Garaam was one of the most respected Dai Sha, but her words were heretical. The Anessa of before would’ve heard those words and looked at her in disgust, perhaps even going as far as to execute her for her blasphemy. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Now she knew that she could be defeated. She had been captured, and that had shaken her. Then, she had spent a long time as prisoner, learning about an alien culture and customs from the source, something she had never done before. Once, she would’ve looked at a race that lived by rules other than strength and thought it weak, but now she wasn’t sure.
Now she couldn’t help but wonder if there were more Shara Daim that felt like Garaam did.
Several hours later, the Shara Daim force were still waiting for word from their scouts. They had sent ten of their destroyers and eight of their cruiser-class ships to scout out the trans-point. And they should have been sending back word to the flagship any moment now.
Anessa waited impatiently, until finally the Va Sun at the communications station spoke up.
“We received an update from the Ravager. The scout force has arrived in system and reports that the Empire’s point is filled with debris; they lost one destroyer and have three other damaged. They caught Empire ships as they were pushing the debris inside. They destroyed the Empire’s ships and are proceeding to clear the point. There doesn’t appear to be any enemy warships except for a dozen or so at the fourth planet, so they will be able to clear the point before we arrive. Ravager orders the force to move into the trans-point.”