Shara Radum
Kar Daim Anessa sat on her throne looking over the room and the people gathered there, leaders of different systems that had arrived to Shara Radum to pledge their loyalty and seek favor. She was forced to sit and listen to their words of admiration and praise as each leader had a short time to greet her and pledge his loyalty. And this had been going on for days, as more and more of the people from the remote systems of Shara Daim arrived. Some came in person, other sent proxies, but for now, no one had refused to come.
Coming to see the new leader of Shara Daim was high on almost everyone’s list, but now they had one more reason to come and kneel before her. And that was to look at the person standing at the side of her throne and his two beasts that slept beneath her feet. Adrian stood wearing a white Shur At molded in the same style as Anessa’s, with blue strips falling from his hips matching hers. But the most important piece of gossip and rumors was the relationship between the two of them. Adrian now bore a white marking on the side of his neck, the exact same as the one she wore on the side of her neck, announcing to all that they were Dal A’sha—life partners.
It had made quite the stir that first day when Anessa had entered the throne room with Adrian and his two beasts following behind her, dressed in the Shur At and with both of their markings showing in plain sight. There had immediately been whispers, some outraged, some confused, others disgusted. But none dared say anything to either of them. They knew Anessa’s strength, and the word had spread about Adrian’s duel with Dai Sha Farran. And over the months, his presence had become a bit more accepted in the palace and on Shara Radum, as Anessa never went anywhere without him.
The people quickly realized that what they had once known abstractly, that the Humans, Nel, and Shara Daim were both created by the same person—with the same base DNA—was true. Havasse had been instrumental in the acceptance of Adrian and the other humans and Nel that now had an embassy on Shara Radum, mostly by interacting with them and being seen in public with them. It went a long way for the common people to start changing their views.
Adrian was now acting as the lead representative of the Empire to Shara Daim. And as he told her, he would be the ultimate commander of all forces that the Empire would send to aid Shara Daim, coordinating with her own in their efforts against the Erasi. But until his forces arrive there wasn’t really much for him to do.
She knew that there were people that disapproved, that found it abhorrent, but it didn’t bother her as long as they followed her lead. Most of her time was spent dealing with the demands of the various systems. The Elders had delegated that to other people, only stepping in when they wanted. Anessa wanted to be involved in as many things as possible. In public, she portrayed an image of a strong and ruthless leader, with Adrian walking beside her, never saying anything but making everyone uncomfortable and off their guard by his very presence.
Adrian had moved into her quarters along with the two beasts, Akash and Sora. It had been a challenge for her to accept that the two beasts were intelligent, that they could understand the spoken language, and an even greater challenge to accept that they had some Sha abilities—until they demonstrated their intelligence and Sha. Since then, she had grown accustomed to their presence, and almost understood why Adrian liked to have them follow him everywhere. They were large and imposing; it added to her image of the ruthless Kar Daim.
Then there was the AI that was somehow imbedded under Adrian’s skin, and the Empire’s implants. She had been wondering how the Empire’s technology worked if not by telepathic interfaces, but once she learned about their implant technology, it made sense. She never felt them use it because it wasn’t Sha, it was technology. The AI, Iris, was a bit harder to accept. The Shara Daim had AIs, but none of theirs were as advanced as Iris seemed to be. And she had been with Adrian for most of his life, always there, watching through his eyes. It was going to take some time to get used to that.
Adrian and Anessa spent most of their free private time talking about their lives, learning their respective histories, among other more enjoyable things. They had touched upon a few cultural conventions that were a bit hard for the other one to accept. For example, Shara Daim duels to the death. It seemed normal to her, and was a way to settle large grievances. In the Empire, there was nothing like that; they had something like duels, but it was much more controlled, and not to the death.
But in the end, those little things didn’t matter; they understood each other despite those differences. And that was all that mattered to her. She had struggled with her identity ever since she had taken the rule of the Shara Daim, but with Adrian, all her worries went away. She knew who she was, what her purpose was.
The Shara Daim had already begun the change. A lot of her people had wanted it for a long time but had been stuck in a belief of worship towards the Elders. Anessa had taken the Elders away from them; she had thrown change after change at them and forced them to accept them. The Shara Daim weren’t capable of changing easily and without bloodshed, she knew that. They liked fighting and killing. She needed to channel those desires into another direction, and right now that direction was the Erasi.
Adrian had told her that the Empire’s forces were on their way to Shara Radum, along with the first shipment of defensive platforms. And the two of them had started planning on how to best throw the Erasi out of the occupied Shara Daim systems. Once his forces arrive both of them would leave for the Erasi invaded sectors, and assume command directly. Already her decision to have him stay by her side had paid off. Adrian was a brilliant strategist, and she knew that together they would be a force to be reckoned with.
Epilogue
Shara Daim — Erasi border; Unknown system
The Empire’s stealth ship Scarab sat in the shadow of the moon orbiting the gas giant of the Erasi system. It had arrived there only two months ago, and per its orders had set up a monitoring grid across the system, watching and documenting every supply ship passing through the system on its way to the Erasi-controlled systems in the Shara Daim. This was the Empire’s part of the deal now that they were allied with the Shara Daim, as the Shara Daim didn’t use stealth ships. And the traffic in the system had been significant; large transport ships passed through regularly, and every now and then larger cargo ships that the Empire knew carried defense platforms headed for the systems the Erasi had taken and were now planning on holding.
There wasn’t much to do in the system; they were hidden both by their ship’s stealth and by the interference of the gas giant and the moon, getting the information about the system from stealth probes scattered across the system. The post was a boring one—until an unscheduled Erasi entry into the system.
The High Prime of the Scarab called her Ship Master immediately after they started receiving data from the probes.
“What do we have?” Ship Master Sshaat said as he walked into the command center on his six legs. His large Guxcacal body settled just behind his High Prime. The integration of the Erasi translators into the Empire’s implants had made it much easier to operate for those members of the Empire that had languages that were more difficult to speak.
“Hyperspace entries into the system. Erasi warship signatures, and a lot of them. They are still coming in,” High Prime Jaqueline said.