“I’ve had time to work on it,” Adrian answered. His construct was modeled on that of his teacher. The Sowir had evolved as an aquatic species, living beneath the ocean floor in submerged cave like cities. They had eventually evolved the ability to survive on the ground, but the ocean was their true home. Lurker of the Depths’ construct was a cave similar to Adrian’s, only his was submerged in water.
“It is impressive work,” Lurker of the Depths sent, and an image of a vast underwater cavern filled Adrian’s mind—a memory from his teacher. Lurker of the Depths looked around at the smooth gray rock walls with great interest. Most of the room was empty; this was his central chamber where he was strongest inside his mind. The rest of the rooms that were at the ends of the many tunnels had furniture. Most had a holotable and shelves with datachips—a visual representation of his memories. With a thought, he could close every tunnel and keep his memories safe. But the main chamber was empty; it had nothing that an invading telepath could use against him.
“Although, I do see a couple of weaknesses,” Lurker of the Depths added while pointing to the side.
Adrian frowned and looked in the direction that he was pointing. To him, the walls looked like smooth, strong rock—and then he noticed a minuscule defect in his defenses. He focused and reinforced the ‘walls.’
Then, Adrian felt amusement from his teacher. “Don’t worry. These defenses are far above what anyone of your age could’ve accomplished. Above what even the more powerful Sowir could accomplish. Only the most powerful telepaths would’ve even noticed those weaknesses, and few of them would be powerful enough to take advantage of them.”
“You noticed,” Adrian said gloomily.
“I did, but I am far older than you, Adrian. I had time to perfect my skills.”
Adrian grunted unhappily. He knew that he was already extremely powerful, stronger than any other telepath he had encountered, even every Sowir other than perhaps Lurker of the Depths. Although Adrian was stronger in terms of raw power, his teacher was far better in skill.
“Your defenses are good, Adrian; there is nothing else that I can teach you,” Lurker of the Depths sent.
“Thank you, Teacher.”
“No, I am no longer your teacher,” Lurker of the Depths sent, along with images of them standing side by side as equals.
Adrian smiled. “Thank you, Tea—Lurker of the Depths.”
“Now, tell me how you have been doing? I can feel that you are not balanced; there are things bothering you.”
Adrian sighed. He stood from the center of the room and moved them out of his construct. Suddenly they were back in the ‘real’ world, sitting on the floor of the small room on their new base designed for telepathy training. “Anessa is moving to the front. She believes that her people need to see her lead from the front, that that would reaffirm her rule.”
“And what do you think?” Lurker of the Depths asked.
“I agree with her to a point. That action will show her people that she is prepared to fight for them, that even with all the changes she has been forcing, she is still a warrior. But I cannot have our fleets aid her beyond simple scouting. I know that the Erasi have no desire to deal with us fairly, but many deal with them without being their members. If we join in the Shara Daim attack while they are attempting to reach a diplomatic solution with us, we will be perceived as untrustworthy,” Adrian sent, allowing some of his troubled emotions to pass through. “That would jeopardize all of our future dealings with the races in this sector, perhaps even beyond if the word spreads. All of our conflicts until now have been because we had no choice, but we’ve always tried to speak with our opponents first. We can’t refuse now when one of them seemingly wants to speak with us. If the Empire is going to achieve its goals, we need to be known to be trustworthy, ready to deal fairly with all.”
“I understand the Emperor’s thoughts in this, but both of you must know that that will be used as a weakness by others. The Erasi are just the first that are going to take advantage of your honor,” Lurker of the Depths sent.
“Of course we know,” Adrian responded. “It is the price we need to pay in order to achieve our goals.”
“Do you really believe that we can make a difference against the numbers the Erasi possess?” Lurker of the Depths asked.
“We can,” Adrian said confidently. “Our ships are better; our skim drives give us an enormous advantage, and we do have a few things that can level the playing field if used effectively. And another six fleets should arrive from the Empire by the end of the month.”
“Skim missiles are a great advantage, I agree; we just don’t have enough of them. As we don’t have enough fleets.”
“Every month that passes gives us more time to build ships. We have been completely focused on building warships for the past three years. Our shipbuilding efforts have just hit their stride. Counting the fleets that are here, the Empire has sixteen fleets, and we produce a new one every three months. The more time the Erasi give us, the better.”
“They will still have the advantage in numbers, Adrian. I know that you are used to fighting at a disadvantage, but for all we know, those reinforcements could be just a small token of their true numbers,” Lurker of the Depths sent. “I know you, Adrian, I understand you. I know what you are planning, and I don’t think that it will work here. The Erasi cannot afford to be seen as weak, their entire system depends on their ability to enforce their contracts, that their people know that the Erasi are the strongest and can fight off any outsider. In a way, they are far more like the Shara Daim than they are like us; they take care of any potential threat to their empire before it can have a chance to threaten them. The Shara Daim did it by force, the Erasi use guile, tricks, and manipulations, and as we can see now, when those fail, they have enough force to deal with anything. They will not come at us head on; they will try to get any advantage that they can.”
“You are right, but even for them, there must be a point where it will be too costly for them to continue fighting us,” Adrian sent.
“You cannot apply your logic and honor to them, Adrian. If you hadn’t showed us our error, my people would’ve never have stopped fighting you, no matter the cost,” Lurker of the Depths sent.
“Then all I need to do is show them that they are wrong and that we can coexist in peace.”
“I hope that you manage it.”
“I hope so too,” Adrian said, as the two left the training room.
They walked together through the newly constructed base on the moon of the seventh planet in the Shara Radum system. The base construction had been quick and easy; the Empire had long ago started using modules for all of its constructions, both military and civilian. They would build ‘boxes’ that had different purposes, from those that had living quarters to those that housed generators or training rooms. The only thing that was required was for them to be placed on the ground and connected to each other in whatever order they needed them to be. There were several different shapes and sizes, from smaller boxes that were cubes of 10 meters across, to far larger cuboids that could be up to 200 meters long. The modules could be attached to each other on any side, and were quick and easy to assemble. Anessa had already told him that she was impressed with the speed at which they had assembled the base.