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March 2103 – Concordis attacks Olympus, resulting in the destruction of the Olympus station in Earth orbit and a Concordis warship.

November 2103 – Olympus leaves the Solar system, taking all their technology and people with them.

October 2109 – Lack of resources, and animosities between world leaders result in Earth being engulfed in a world war.

May 2129 – End of the Great War, Earth population decimated, estimated population 4.5 billion.

February 2159 – Ra’a’zani, an alien race, arrive and conquer Earth, enslaving the population.

November 2160 – Ra’a’zani execute one third of the human population in retaliation against actions of human resistance fighters. Estimated human population 3.5 billion.

May 2164 – Olympus arrives at their new home, they name the planet Sanctuary.

August 2169 – Human resistance in Sol finds Olympus Scout ship left in the asteroid field.

Prologue

Seventh partial of 2896th rotation – Ra’a’zani world Lu’tal

Ninth taskmaster Vit’r’an of the clan Ooruvan watched his screen in disbelief. He had spent the entire tenth of a partial on this post as a penance for his failure to notice a slave trouble maker. The slave in question tried to organize an escape, and even managed to pull two slaves, which were known for their obedience, in his plan. All three were executed when caught, an escape was, of course, impossible. The Ooruvan clan had been in charge of this world for more than 50 rotations, and had complete control over the planet and all traffic in the system. The Yunkari slaves were a primitive race, they had barely started constructing machines when the Ooruvan clan found them. The clan was trying to increase their holdings, and gain more influence with the great clans in the core. They were planning on setting a mining operation here, far away from the other clans, as they did not want to share the profits. It then came as a great surprise when they found one of the planets in the targeted system habitable, and an even greater surprise when they realized that it was inhabited with life forms of higher intelligence. The clan leaders immediately realized that they had found a source of great profit. Not only would they have a supply of workers for their mines, they would also be able to sell those acceptable specimens back in the core, earning influence. High intelligence life forms were rare, and very valuable. The Ra’a’zani had enslaved every other race of higher intelligence they found, and there were only three such races, including the Yunkari, that the Ra’a’zani encountered since they entered the great void. The encountering and acquisition of slaves brought a great deal of influence to a clan, the other two clans, the Uunaran and the Virnan, that encountered and enslaved other races gained much influence, and in time became the core of Ra’a’zani. Then, with the discovery of another source of slaves the Ooruvan gained enough influence to become one of the core clans as well, it had been more than 1000 rotations since another race was discovered, and the other slaves had become integrated in Ra’a’zani society. The Ooruvan clan’s influence was lesser than that of the other two of course, the others had a long time to build influence and connections among the clans, but Ooruvan were still one of the core. The other six clans now had to offer gifts, and seek influence with the Ooruvan if they wanted to expand in their vicinity. The Yunkari were very different than the Ra’a’zani, just like the other two slave races. The template was similar, they had four limbs, the Ra’a’zani had six, they had four digits on each limb, while Ra’a’zani had three on their upper, and none but the boney sharp spike on the lower, they breathed the same air composition as the Ra’a’zani and the other two slave races. But their skin was covered in short hairs, while Ra’a’zani had hard scales. One other great difference was that like the other slave races, the Yunkari reproduced via internal egg fertilization. The new life grew inside the female Yunkari which were numerous, unlike the Ra’a’zani. Ra’a’zani females were few, and each clan protected their females savagely. Only those with the greatest influence among a clan would be able to fertilize the eggs that the female lays, and so ensure passing on of their genes.

Which brought Vit’r’an back to his screen, the disbelief was slowly replaced with eagerness, and excitement. If what he was seeing was true, he might just ensure his spot as one of the fathers of his clan. The computer was still processing the data. But the preliminary reports suggested another high intelligence life form! The signals his station was picking up, according to the computer were communications from another race, and they were sent into the open! It boggled Vit’r’an’s mind, that another intelligent race would announce their existence so freely. The computer of course couldn’t translate the contents from the signals, that would take many partials, or rotations maybe. But Vit’r’an was certain, they had discovered another life form. He verified the data three more times, he didn’t want to risk being executed if he was wrong. He went straight to the clan Rakar, the leader of his parter. If he was right his clan would soon gain a lot more influence. Finding two slave races in a span of less than 100 rotations! Their influence will rise far above the other two core clans. And if he was the one to bring this information to the clan Rakar, the leader of the entire clan, he would gain influence enough to perhaps one day become the Rakar himself.

Chapter One

August 2169 – Olympus Explorer Ship Star Gazer – Sol

Mathias sat on the cold floor of the strange spaceship, the floor didn’t bother him, he was accustomed to sleeping on hard and uncomfortable surfaces. He spent ten years as a slave of the Ra’a’zani, the aliens that conquered Earth. But even before then, he learned how to survive on the streets of the slum city Berlin when he was just a little boy. He was 13 years old when the Ra’a’zani came. No, the cold and hard floor didn’t bother him. Beside him sat Gloria, she, like him was until recently a slave. They escaped their slavery with the help of human resistance, who sent them on a task deep in the asteroid field that resulted in them finding this ship. Across from them on a floorplate, stood an image of a human man, a hologram. The hologram activated when they stepped on the ship’s bridge. At first Mathias assumed that the hologram was a part of an interactive program, but then it told them that it was in fact a representation of an artificial intelligence. It introduced itself as Asumy. Mathias had no idea what that was, the Ra’a’zani had nothing like that, and his knowledge on prewar Human technology was lacking, but the hologram explained that it was a computer that was self-aware. He claimed that he could think and learn just like any other intelligent being. Mathias struggled with the concept. He knew little about the technology humanity had before the war, but he never heard about anything like that.

“We need to contact the resistance.” Gloria said.

“Yeah.” Mathias said, as a part of the resistance, they knew the low-band radio frequency that the resistance monitored. It was a way that those in the resistance communicated, as the Ra’a’zani didn’t have the capability to monitor such a low frequency. They just needed the equipment capable of sending the signal. It suddenly dawned on Mathias that they were given orders by the resistance to investigate these coordinates, but no way to let them know what they found. The Ra’a’zani shuttle they came in didn’t have the capability to send a low radio signal.

“Gloria, did the resistance message say how we can contact them?” Mathias asked. The messages in the resistance were passed on via small paper notes, from one person to another. So that no one knew where they came from.