Axull wondered if their new project would end in the same way as their last one. He knew that this time they wouldn’t allow the uplifted races access to their advanced technology. Everything they achieved would be on their own. Perhaps that would make the difference.
Chapter Thirty-Six
January; Year 59 of the Empire — World-ship Enduring
“This is spectacular,” Anessa said as she and Adrian walked through the empty city on what Adrian had told her was called a World-ship, a ship that had once been the home to their ancestors, the People.
“It is,” Adrian told her, as a bulbous shape with many tentacle-like appendages flew past them. “It just shows you how much they truly were ahead of us.”
Anessa agreed. Everything that she had seen from this ship was amazing; it was unlike anything she had ever seen or even imagined. Adrian had taken the Enduring to every system in Shara Daim territory that was under Erasi occupation and they had destroyed the invaders. Now only a few systems were still under their control, and they were on the way to the next one. This ship had much faster hyperspace drives than the Shara Daim or the Empire, and with their skim drives, they could cover a lot more ground than they would’ve been able to do in a ship of the Legion.
“So, what do you think?” Adrian asked her.
“About?”
“My plan.”
“Ah… It is a good plan. I don’t think that it will work as you think it will, but a good plan.”
“What part of it do you think won’t go as I think it will go?” Adrian asked.
“The one where the other races just accept the change,” she answered.
“They will have a choice in the matter. It’s not like I will force them to stay,” Adrian said defensively.
“What kind of a choice is it? The Erasi will not care for them, probably won’t even allow them to come with them, and those that do stay will just be spying on us for them. They have nowhere else to go.”
“We will deal with it once we come to it. I am confident that we can do this.”
“I’m not arguing with you, Adrian,” Anessa said with a smile.
“Fine. What about your people’s part in it?”
“We are willing, we want to change. I will make sure that we abide by the accord, although I doubt that many will actually believe us.”
“They’ll learn in time. It will take an effort for you to change their perception of you.”
Anessa huffed in agreement and they continued walking. They walked for what seemed another hour in silence, just enjoying each other’s company. Ever since the battle, Adrian had seemed more… approachable. He spent more time with her. She had realized that he had been worried about her, that she would die. It made her feel nice to be wanted, to know that if she was to die, someone would miss her.
She hadn’t begun her relationship with Adrian because of affection, but she had come to care for him, even love him.
“Here we are,” Adrian announced, snapping her out of her musings.
“Here where? I was not aware that we were going somewhere,” Anessa said.
“Come,” he said, and led her up a series of steps to a large balcony with a structure built on it. He approached and entered the building, pulling Anessa inside with him. She was surprised to see that the interior was furnished, and in what seemed like a mix of Empire and Shara Daim styles.
“I thought that buildings weren’t furnished, that the maintenance units had everything recycled?” Anessa asked.
“They did, but when I am in the chair, I can adjust their orders. I had them furnish this housing unit. I had to upload the records of appliances and furniture from my implant so that the ship could fabricate them,” Adrian said, looking around. “We will be spending a lot of time on this ship, I think, and the temporary quarters that Isani had built are not really all that comfortable. And I know that you can’t really get a good night’s sleep there; you’re not used to human-sized beds,” he said with a smile.
“So this is for us?” Anessa asked.
“Yes,” Adrian said, turning to face her. “And most importantly, the bed is Shara Daim sized,” he said mischievously as he grabbed her hand. “Come and see.”
Smiling, Anessa followed him upstairs.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
January; Year 59 of the Empire — Tarabat
Valanaru sat in the sanctum of her devastator, Sojourn to the Stars. She had been trying to figure out a course of action ever since she’d learned of the events in the Kaleras system. Even now, after all the records she had seen from the ships that had escaped—or rather, were allowed to escape—there were moments when she just couldn’t really believe it. Garash was dead, one of the oldest Erasi, one of the founders. And the Empire was not at all what it had appeared to be. The technology that that ship possessed was something no one in the Erasi had ever seen before, something that they couldn’t fight.
And the message that the Empire’s Lord Sentinel had sent to be delivered to her had told her exactly what that ship would do if she didn’t agree with his ‘request.’ Her meditation didn’t seem to provide an answer, and she had been unable to go into a deep meditation since her encounter with the two mindbenders. Her mind was filled with emotions that she didn’t know how to deal with, and the only thing she could do was to seal them away in a corner of her mind, but still sometimes her control slipped and the emotion and memories came back. It was a horrible thing, and an attack unlike anything she had ever seen before.
But she had more important things to worry about—chiefly, the Lord Sentinel’s demand. On the surface, it seemed insane, and everything that made her an O’fa screamed that it must be refused. But the part of her that had battled against the Lord Sentinel, and had seen what had happened to Garash, told her that to refuse was to sign the death sentence for the Erasi.
The demand required the Erasi to pull out of this galactic arm, all of their territory forfeited to the Shara Daim and the Empire. All of the Erasi members would have to move back to their territory towards the core; any lower member that wished to remain would be allowed to do so, and would then fall under the rule of either the Shara Daim or the Empire. But all of the main members’ assets were to be relocated.
It was unthinkable to think that a small empire could demand such a thing of the Erasi, but they did have the power to back up their demands. But no matter what decision she made, she would have to answer to the council of O’fas, both for her and for Garash’s failure. The loss of his fleets would be felt on the Krashin border, and they would need to reinforce it somehow.
A mental presence poked at her mind, and Valanaru turned towards it. “What is it?”
“It is here.”
Valanaru sighed and stood, walking out of her sanctum and towards the command center of her devastator. A few minutes later, she stepped onto the command center and approached the holo-table, and then she waited for them to contact her. Several minutes later, they got the request for a channel, and Valanaru accepted.
The hologram of the Empire’s Lord Sentinel appeared before her.
“O’fa Valanaru,” the Lord Sentinel said. “I see that you have recovered well from our encounter.”
“I have, Heart of the Mountain,” she said.
“You called me that before. Why?” Lord Sentinel asked.