A click at the doors startled Aileen and the rest, and all raised their weapons just as Narateth entered. “It’s only me.”
Aileen and the rest lowered their weapons, but didn’t really relax. Aileen stood and walked over to the alien. “Any news?”
“Communications outside of the system are still impossible. The Erasi insist that a hyperspace storm is over the system, which most believe is true. The news feeds are still looping the story that your ship attacked unprovoked, and that it means war between the Empire and the Erasi. The problem is that they are not allowing any ship to leave the system; they say that it is for our protection and that your ships could arrive at any moment. The merchant guilds that had been working with you are obviously not happy, and there are many that managed to hobble together the more true sequence of events; they know that Erasi warships fired first. But they still don’t want to speak out against the Erasi,” Narateth said.
Aileen grimaced. There was no way that her people could get out if the Erasi weren’t letting ships leave. She had entertained the idea of trying to get to Jurr on the other side of the planet, as she had no worry that he would be able to hide them more effectively, but it would be risky and, with no way of getting out of the system, not worth it.
“Are the Erasi looking for us?” Aileen asked.
“They are, although they don’t want anyone to know that they are. They told the public that you were on the ship when it exploded, but they are looking covertly,” Narateth said.
“Any chance that they allow ships out of the system anytime soon?” Aileen asked.
“Many are very vocal about not being able to leave, but in the end, no one wants to defy the Erasi. But if they don’t find you soon, they might allow it, if only to tempt you to try to escape.”
Aileen nodded. “Thank you, Narateth. The fact that you were willing to help us means a lot, and we will not forget it.”
“Of course. You have always dealt more than fairly with me and mine; this is the least we can do,” Narateth said, and then turned and left the room, closing the doors behind her.
Aileen only hoped that Narateth’s goodwill lasted long enough for her to figure out a way to escape, or at least send a message to Sol.
Chapter Ten
July; Year 58 of the Empire — Erasi border system
Garash finished reading the latest report from the Shara Daim territory, and shook his head in annoyance. He and Valanaru were in his command center on board the End of Hope as Garash made the final preparations for the fleet’s departure.
“This will be another inconvenience,” Valanaru said, concerning the report.
Garash glared at the Gatrey. “Their presence is inconsequential for my plans.”
“Did you forget who we are talking about? This is the greatest of their Dai Sha, who took the rule of the Shara Daim by force, and one of the Empire’s leaders, who defeated both our forces and hers. Do not underestimate them,” Valanaru warned.
“They are outnumbered, and the Empire’s troops will not engage ours until they exhaust all diplomatic avenues. And in any case, Hanaru will soon begin executing his orders, and that will take care of any involvement by the Empire,” Garash added.
“Those diplomatic avenues will close as soon as they realize that something is wrong on Tarabat,” Valanaru said.
“That incident works in our advantage; it will take time for them to check the situation out, and by then we will have already struck at the Shara Daim and Hanaru will have given the Empire other things to worry about,” Garash insisted.
“You, better than anyone, should understand that things don’t always work out the way we want them to, Son of Carnage. Different races react differently to threats,” Valanaru said evenly. “And the fact that the Kar Daim and her consort have moved to the front means that they will restart the offensive before our fleets can arrive. Unless you decide to split them up and send them through trans-space, we will arrive too late.”
“And you would counsel splitting my forces?” Garash asked. He had thought about it; it would mean that some elements of his fleet would arrive faster, but the limits on trans-space meant that he could only send a small portion of his fleet through and wait until the trans-route reopened to send another. And that made those smaller taskforces vulnerable to ambush by a superior number. Hyperspace might be a bit slower, but also allowed him to move his fleet in full force.
Valanaru made a show of pretending to think about it, but Garash had known the Weaver for a long time and could see right through her. “It is an option,” she started. “We could reinforce all the hub systems under our control faster, true, and we could probably fight of the Shara Daim counteroffensive. Then we could take time to decide how to proceed. But perhaps a small sacrifice could give us a larger reward.”
“I’m listening,” Garash said. He and Valanaru might not have agreed on many things, but in the end, they were both Erasi.
Garash felt her access the holo-table and a ringed planet appeared. He looked at the data and saw that its location was in Shara Daim territory. Garash turned and looked at Valanaru questioningly.
“That world is not really important, there is nothing of worth there. It has few trans-routes and almost no resources of note; the Shara Daim don’t even have a single outpost in that system. But that world has one interesting thing about it,” Valanaru said, and the holo zoomed in. “That storm covers more than half the planet, and it rages constantly and is electromagnetically charged.”
“And what does that have to do with anything?” Garash asked, already growing impatient. He might have been willing to listen to the Weaver, but he hated her games.
“The Shara Daim just went through a major change, and they are powerful because their Dai Sha are powerful and unified. They have been following the Kar Daim because they have had no choice; she forced them to follow her. And with her coming to the front, they will be even more dangerous. A force is only as strong as its commander.”
“Meaning?”
“We introduce chaos into the Shara Daim. Without Kar Daim to lead them, they will shatter,” Valanaru said.
Garash laughed. “There is no way that we can get to her.”
“Of course not, we will make her come to us,” Valanaru retorted, raising her hand to point at the planet spinning in front of them. “There.”
“How?”
Valanaru told him.
Garash stood on the command center of his devastator warship, End of Hope, and watched as his massive fleet prepared to leave. All of his ships had been refueled and stocked with ammunition and provisions for the continuation of the invasion, and the levy fleet had been assembled. The final count put his individual fleets number at one hundred modern Erasi fleets and thirty-eight levy fleets. A force large enough to deal with the Shara Daim.
In the end, Garash had decided to follow the Weaver’s plan, even though he hated those types of manipulations. Her plan would probably result in the deaths of many of his people, but in the end, it would be worth it, because no matter what Garash said when he was speaking with Valanaru, he was very aware that this invasion was time-sensitive. He couldn’t be drawn into a war that would last centuries; at most, they had a couple of decades before the ships he’d taken from the front were missed, and that meant that he needed to finish the Shara Daim cleanly and with as few losses as possible.