Björn nodded, agreeing with her words. “So what are you planning to do?”
Aileen stood and started for the exit. “I’m going to go and find out as much as I can before we pull out.”
Several hours later, Aileen entered a familiar little establishment on the other side of the planet. She had taken a transport to this particular dome city. She waved to the alien standing in the first room and made her way to the back room. The short Hav recognized her and simply acknowledged by returning her wave with one of its appendages.
Aileen entered the back room, stepped into smoke up to her hip, and waited for Jurr to arrive. The Hav in the front would let him know that she was here. Several minutes later, Aileen felt someone approach, and the smoke’s surface rippled and a large snake-like head and body rose above it.
“Jurr,” Aileen sent.
“Sentinel,” Jurr greeted her. “How may I aid you? We did not have a meeting scheduled today.”
“The Erasi negotiators that I have been dealing with are stalling our talks. I need to know why,” Aileen sent.
Jurr dipped his large triangular head. “My contacts on Tarabat tell me that the companies are speaking with the core, urging them to stop the aggression against the Shara Daim and your Empire. The delay could simply be because of the distance between the core and Tarabat,” Jurr sent, but Aileen felt that there was more.
“But you think that there is something else?”
“All of my contacts in the core have gone silent. And I have received reports of strange movements across the Erasi—cargo, supplies, warships. Ships from the smaller members of the Erasi suddenly leaving on classified missions.”
“Why is that strange? They have fleets in Shara Daim territory, they need to keep them supplied,” Aileen said.
“Yes, but the amounts that they are moving are greater than what their fleets require,” Jurr sent.
“That could mean that they are expecting reinforcements…” Aileen said.
“If they are, they have gone to great length to conceal the movements of those reinforcements.”
Aileen nodded absentmindedly. “Anything else?”
“Your people have asked me to share any information about Weaver Hanaru, should I learn of it,” Jurr said, and Aileen immediately paid more attention. Weaver Hanaru was the one that had ambushed Adrian and his ships on their way to Shara Radum. The Emperor was adamant on having the Gatrey face judgment for the deaths he was responsible for.
“You know where he is?” Aileen asked. The Weaver had disappeared after the skirmish with the Empire’s ships.
“I know where he was several days ago,” Jurr answered. “He was spotted arriving in Halros system, replacing his damaged ships and picking up several cargo ships that had arrived from the core last month. After that, he departed the system in the anti-spinward direction.”
Aileen did a quick check with her implant and found out where exactly the Halros system was located. She frowned when she saw that it was in fact close to the Erasi border on the Empire’s side, away from the Shara Daim.
“Why would he go anti-spinward? The only thing in that direction is the Empire’s territory, and I doubt that he wants to turn himself in to us,” Aileen wondered, more for her own benefit than Jurr’s.
“I do not know, but he did not report to Tarabat and the regional government. Following his skirmish with your ships, he disappeared. This was his first sighting in months,” Jurr added.
“Thank you. I will relay the information to my people,” Aileen said.
“This is the least that I can do for you curing and sheltering the last of my people,” Jurr said, then slowly disappeared into the tunnels leading to the underground portion of the domed city.
Chapter Three
Erasi Devastator End of Hope — Unknown system
Garash, O’fa of the Erasi, sat on the ground in his private sanctum. A large boulder—brought by him from his people’s homeworld before it was taken from them—was held in the air in front of him by the brute strength of his psionic power. Most life had potential to tap into the psionic energy that filled the Universe. Some were more connected to it and others less; some could manipulate that energy and others could only feel it or use it to augment their own senses. Different people called this power different things—psionic energy, dark energy, Sha. Nevertheless, all intelligent life had the potential to feel it, even if only subconsciously; all were connected to it, even if they didn’t know it.
Different races had different strengths, different ranges of access to the psionic energy. It was still a mystery as to why most lifeforms eventually evolved psionic abilities, and why there were races that evolved them without any apparent need, yet all life that was classified as intelligent had psionics—whether they had conscious control of them or not was irrelevant. But then again, the scientists still couldn’t figure out why many races of the galaxy looked similar.
Most races separated the psionic abilities into three categories—external manifestation, internal manifestation, and mind manifestation. It had also been noted that those races that had somehow evolved to resemble each other were the ones that gained psionic abilities across all categories, while those that were truly different and more shaped by their environment usually developed abilities from only one or perhaps two categories, and are always very strong in them. A people that evolved telekinesis because they had no limbs that allowed them to use tools would naturally be able to do more than a being that had evolved it with no apparent reason. Garash had spent much of his long life trying to solve the reason behind this strange pattern unsuccessfully, but he knew that it was not just chance.
Garash’s race, among all the races in the Erasi that possessed a conscious ability to manipulate psionic energy, was on the lower end in terms of power. But that was on the scale of an entire race; individuals could have more talent, could be born with a natural ability to wield that power, and given enough time and effort, even the weakest could become strong.
And Garash was old by standards of most races; he had taken his power and skill far beyond any other of his kind. Not all races could access all three areas, and it took many lifetimes for someone to master even one of these disciplines. Garash had spent most of his life mastering the external manifestation of psionic power, the ability to affect the world around himself.
Any race that was even marginally advanced and intelligent found a way to extend life. Many found a way to do so indefinitely, whether by gaining the ability naturally through evolution or by using technology. Life extension drugs or treatments, genetic alterations, cybernetic enchantment, cloning and thought transference—all these methods allowed individuals a chance to become something great, to master the energy that held all the Universe together. Sadly, very few reached the age that Garash had; they would grow tired of living and let themselves die. They wasted the gift of life on trivial things. Choosing to simply survive, instead of trying to attain greatness.
Garash gently lowered the boulder to the platform in front of him. It had been the focus for his meditations for millennia; it was a reminder of why he did all the things that he did. Why he’d turned away from the ideals of peace that his ancestors preached, why he killed so many. The constant reminder of the black ships scourging his homeworld of life, unstoppable, unyielding, indestructible.