“The council will not take well to this.” Clan Leader Sumia said.
“No, but I doubt that they will do anything about it.” Laura said.
“Even if they do, we have sufficient defenses protecting the system to hold them back.” Tomas said. Tomas looked at Sumia, “When do you think that we should tell both our peoples about the sphere?”
“Let’s wait until Sestar Jusan gets here and we can verify it in person. Then we shall see.” Sumia said. Jusan and Isani would arrive at Sanctuary in eight months.
Tomas cleared his throat, “Well then let’s move on.” Tomas said, “The Second Fleet has started exploring the trans-lanes back to Sanctuary. They are carrying three thousand people rescued from Earth.”
“Three thousand… Out of so many.” Seo-yun said.
“There was no way for them to save more Seo-yun. The mega storms that are ravaging the planet don’t allow them to even land anymore. The people on Earth are probably already dead.”
“And what about those in the asteroid belt? How could the Fleet Commander let that maniac kill them all!” Nadia asked.
Tomas shook his head in sorrow. “Were they supposed to let them starve to death, or in desperation turn to cannibalism? It is a terrible thing that Jacob Kelly did, and he had surrendered himself to the Fleet Commanders custody. But I can understand the act. It was he that started the rebellion, he felt responsible for them, he failed them. And so he took it upon himself to end their lives before their suffering truly began. He will have a trial once the Second Fleet returns home.”
Elias nodded firmly, others kept their mouths closed. “Let’s move on from Earth. It will be a while until the wound heals sufficiently for us to be able to talk about it without so much emotion.” Elias said.
Tomas nodded, and turned to Laura. “Did you all get the chance to look at the colony proposal from Adrian.” Tomas asked.
Laura nodded her head, “It is interesting. I don’t know if he could pull it off. It is ambitious, and completely different from every other proposal. But that system isn’t on our plan, it will be dependent on Sanctuary for a long time before it could sustain itself. And the nature of the Clan itself…” Laura said.
“I think that we should consider it further.” Elias said. “When Tomas started that petition program this is what was he had in mind. And his proposal is the most detailed and fleshed out one of them. He had the plans drawn out for the next fifty years.”
Tomas scratched his head. “Yes, let’s check all his data and plans. See if it could work. Then we make our decision.”
They spent the next few hours going through Adrian’s proposal before finally coming to a decision.
“Well, that decides it then.” Tomas said, “I think that we are done here for today.” All of them got up and left quickly, each had a lot of work to do. They exited the conference room, Elias staying behind with Tomas at the exit. Tomas had sent him a private message via his imp to stay.
Tomas turned to his friend, “I think that it is time.” He said.
Elias looked at the backs of his friends as they each went their own way.
“I’m sorry Elias.” Tomas said.
Elias took a deep breath and turned to look at his friend, “Don’t be, it was my choice.”
Seo-yun stood beside Tomas, who was dressed in his black suit. Her eyes hurt from crying, but Tomas was being stoic, not letting anyone see his pain. But she knew how much Elias meant to him. He was more than a friend. It was such a stupid way to die. A shuttle malfunction caused Elias and twenty other men to crash into the ocean. They couldn’t even retrieve the bodies, the violent ocean life of Sanctuary had probably already taken care of that.
She looked at Tomas as he gazed at the headstone.
Here lies the memory of Elias Bakas;
Born on Earth – 13th of Jun 2018;
Died on Sanctuary – 28th of May 2172
A friend, a brother, a leader.
He will never be forgotten.
Saying goodbye to his best friend without a body was hard on him. She could see him being weighed down by something, but she didn’t want to push. He would tell her when he was ready.
“Let’s go home Tomas.” Seo-yun said.
Tomas raised his eyes to look at her, for a moment she thought that he was going to say something, but then he sighed, shook his head and said. “Yes. Let’s go home.”
Epilogue
Pinging in his implant woke Adrian up. It was a priority one message from Sanctuary. He sat up in his bed. It was strange that he had received a message, instead of a call. Now that they had two way communication anyone on Sanctuary could have live vid conversations with anyone on Nuva. Adrian accessed his inbox and opened a message. It was a document, with the title “Petition”. Frowning at that he opened it. After reading a couple of lines, his mind froze at the words.
“Iris!” Adrian said.
“What?” She responded.
“Would you by any chance know how my proposal for a colony got accepted by the Emperor?” He asked.
“It got accepted? YES!” Iris exclaimed.
“Yes? What do you mean Iris? How did the Emperor see it in the first place?” Adrian demanded.
“How else? I sent it, silly.” Iris sounded puzzled.
Adrian groaned, as Iris continued to celebrate. He put his head in his hands and curled up on the bed. Then he opened his eyes and brought the document to his HUD.
Congratulations, your proposal for the colonization of a new star system and the creation of a new Clan has been accepted. You are required to return to Sanctuary and prepare for the colonization.
“What am I supposed to do now?” Adrian grumbled. He looked at the bottom of the document, at his new title and the name of his Clan.
Clan Leader Adrian Farkas Reiss of the Clan Warpath
“This is going to be so much fun!” He heard Iris say in his head.
Elias Bakas, allegedly deceased, took the long elevator down to the bottom level of the complex. Tomas had imagined the complex as the headquarters for the Sanctuary police, but now it will have a slightly different purpose. After some time, the elevator finally reached the bottom.
Elias exited the lift. There in the large living room he was met by twenty men and women, each recently deceased. He approached and they each stood up and saluted with their fist to chest. Elias returned their salute, and looked at them. He knew them all, trusted them all. Each of them, he and Tomas selected together, for their loyalty, intelligence, prowess, and most of all morality.
Elias took a deep breath, “You know why you are here. You have already made the choice. There is no more going back. Your lives before this moment are gone. You have forsaken your names and identity. This is a commitment for all time. From now, up until the end of your lives. You will have no friends and no family other than those inside this building. Those that have committed their lives like you did. Outside of this building we will be a single entity, a force of the Empire’s law. We will never venture outside of this building with our faces revealed. We will always wear masks, to show the Empire that we are no one, and everyone. We will be fair and just. Always.” Elias looked at them, saw the determination in their eyes. Elias raised his right hand and the black object in it, he activated the small holo-projector. A symbol appeared in the air in front of him. A metallic hand with an open dark blue eye tattooed on its back. “From this moment on, we are the Hand of the Empire.”