What War Had Wrought (Rise of the Empire Book 7) Page 14

  Every Va Sun around her sprang into action, as shields came online a split second before the Erasi ships opened fire. Erasi energy weapons struck the shields. If Garaam or any one of her crew had been a second slower, they would have taken heavy damage. Two of the ships exiting the storm matched the visuals of the Erasi super battleships, but the third was unknown. It was larger, but as all three ships were still mostly inside the storm, she couldn’t tell how much larger.

  “Hyperspace communications are being jammed. Shuttle crew is reporting the meeting is a trap; the troops are moving to extract Kar Daim and the Lord Sentinel,” the Va Sun from the comms reported.

  Garaam’s face contorted in anger. The Erasi had lain a trap for them.

  “Dai Sha, the Erasi super battleship is moving towards us and the meeting place.”

  Garaam glanced at the c-board and saw that her ship would be there first, but not by much. “Start priming the skim drives,” she ordered, then turned to the weapons terminal. “Load three salvos, standard missile loads, ten missiles each. Target that vessel and fire when ready. All main weapons target the largest of the Erasi vessels exiting the storm and fire when ready,” Garaam ordered.

  Garaam watched the three ships as they were rising from the storm. Their shields were fluctuating, probably because of the storm, and they hadn’t fired missiles yet. The only reason that Garaam could think of as to why they didn’t was because they couldn’t; the storm must have been wreaking havoc on their systems. Three salvos of ten missiles each left the Bloodbringer on their way to the Erasi ship in orbit of the planet.

  “Load another three standard loads, fifteen missiles each, target all three ships.”

  Several second later, the Va Sun at the weapons spoke up. “Erasi vessels targeted, Dai Sha.”

  “Fire,” Garaam said, and another three salvos launched, this time towards the three Erasi ships on the planet, which were much closer. The Erasi ships started shooting them down, but they still hadn’t left the storm’s effective range. Several missiles exploded against their shields, but a few passed through the fluctuation in their shields to explode against the hull, only about half of those missiles failed to detonate upon impact.

  “Why didn’t they explode?” Garaam asked.

  “It’s the storm, it is damaging the missiles’ sensors.”

  Garaam grunted in displeasure as she watched her particle weapons strike against the three ships and their shields. The three ships were pouring as much fire as they could into Bloodbringer’s shields, but they were holding. The missiles that she had fired at the first Erasi warship were all taken down by their missile defense, and the warship fired a salvo of missiles in return.

  “Channel from the shuttle, Dai Sha!”

  Garaam immediately accepted on her c-board. “Garaam, what is the status in orbit?” she heard the voice of the Lord Sentinel ask.

  “Three Erasi ships were hiding in the storm, two super battleships and an unknown. Is Kar Daim—is Anessa alright?”

  “Damn, yes, we are…all on the shuttle. I would’ve skimmed the shuttle to orbit, but with you engaged in combat, we can’t risk the Bloodbringer losing its systems from the skim,” Adrian said. “You need to cover us, we will execute a combat landing.”

  “I’m already moving towards you.”

  “Good, see you in a bit,” he said, and closed the channel.

  Garaam watched as the shuttle rose through the atmosphere, speeding towards her ship. The Bloodbringer slid in place to shield the shuttle as it approached, and took on the fire of the three ships, returning fire as best as it could. She didn’t worry about the first warship; it was behind the curvature of the planet and couldn’t fire directly, and its missiles would arrive after the shuttle had already landed.

  “Load three salvos, high yield, programmed to fly wall formation towards the storm and explode four hundred meters from the Bloodbringer. Fire on my mark, and be ready to lower the shields for the shuttle’s landing,” Garaam ordered. “Contact the shuttle crew, warn them that we are about to move at full thrust. They need to compensate for our position.”

  “Yes, Dai Sha.”

  Garaam knew that the Erasi were aware that she would need to lower the shields in order for the shuttle to land, and she was certain that they were waiting for that moment.

  “Salvos loaded, Dai Sha.”

  Garaam watched the c-board, and the shuttle, waiting for the right moment.

  “Fire missiles!” Garaam ordered. “Navigation, stand by for full thrust.”

  The missiles exited the crossing space quickly, and just before they passed four hundred meters, Garaam shouted, “Engage full thrust!”

  The missiles exploded, creating a curtain of fire inside the atmosphere of the planet, and obscuring the Bloodbringer from the Erasi ships’ targeting systems. The Bloodbringer lurched as its engines pushed it forward, and Garaam felt herself slam into her chair as the ship’s dampeners fought to keep up with the sudden thrust.

  The shuttle approached, and the Bloodbringer’s shields went down, allowing it to pass. Erasi fire struck through the curtain, most of it missing but some striking the back end of her ship.

  “Impact! Hull breach in section three, decks seven and eight. Shields are back online. The shuttle has landed,” a Va Sun reported.

  “Turn us towards open space, be ready to skim to hyperspace border on my signal!” Garaam ordered. Their shields were starting to drop below fifty percent, and Garaam knew that they couldn’t take much more of this.

  As her ship was turning and trying to get away from the planet, the curtain cleared, and Garaam glanced at her c-board, seeing two of the Erasi super battleships fully out of the storm, but the third ship was still in it, and already what she could see it was much larger than any of the Erasi super battleships.

  “Energy buildup from the unknown Erasi warship!” a Va Sun reported.

  Before Garaam could ask for an elaboration, the Bloodbringer shook, and lights in the room dimmed and fluctuated.

  “Hull breaches, sections four, five, and six, decks nine through fifteen and seventeen through twenty-one!”

  “What was that?” Garaam asked, as she saw that their shields were still online and at forty percent.

  “Unknown, Dai Sha! The energy weapon passed clear through our shields!”

  “Are the skim drives ready?” Garaam asked. She looked at the visual sensors and saw the massive Erasi ship. Two turrets were now visible as they just left the storm—the weapons that had just hit her ship.

  “Fifteen more seconds, Dai Sha.”

  “Target every weapon on that ship!” Garaam ordered, and all of Bloodbringer’s fire switched to attack the massive Erasi warship.

  “Energy buildup from the Erasi ship!” Garaam glanced at the visuals and saw light emanating from the two turrets.

  “Skim us when ready!”

  “Skim in three, two, one! Skimming!”

  The Bloodbringer entered the skim, and Garaam released a sigh of relief as they managed to get away in time.

  “Get us to the Legions. Engage hyperspace when ready.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Three days later — November; Year 58 of the Empire — Erasi Devastator End of Hope — Numvani orbit

  Garash looked at the recording of the fight in the Numvani orbit, trying to see if there was anything that he would’ve done differently. He had nearly killed the commander of his ship when he’d learned that the Shara Daim warship had escaped; the only reason he hadn’t was because he wasn’t in any shape to do so. He cursed himself for giving Weaver Hanaru all of his stealth ships; if he’d had even one near the Shara Daim warship, he could’ve destroyed it before it entered FTL. He glanced at the stump of his hand, covered in healing gel that would close the wound. He could’ve started the process of having the hand regrown, but doing so would require him to be put to sleep for the duration of the procedure, and he couldn’t do that now.

  Seeing the stump brought another bout of anger
to the surface. He had been defeated, had actually been in the danger of losing his life. He glanced at Valanaru, who was standing across the table from him.0 The plan to take out the Shara Daim and the Empire’s leaders was hers, and it had failed spectacularly. The only reason Garash hadn’t turned on her was because he’d agreed to the plan, and because Valanaru had left the planet as injured as he. Garash could see that her fight with the Human had taken a great toll on her, a thing that he hadn’t believed possible, yet it was clearly visible. She looked sickly, unnerved, and every once in a while, he could see her body twitch uncontrollably. And the only answer Garash had received from her concerning her battle was her telling him that the Human had been a mindbender, a thing that he hadn’t even considered possible. None of the information they had gathered about the Empire suggested such level of power in any of the three categories.

  “How did we not know that the Shara Daim had the Empire’s FTL technology?” Garash asked angrily. The fact that the Shara Daim possessed the FTL technology of the Empire was the only reason why they had managed to escape. “Your Weavers assured me—you assured me that they did not possess it.”

  “I have read the agreement of alliance between the Shara Daim and the Empire,” Valanaru said, slowly, as if she had trouble finding the words. “The agreement clearly states that the Empire will not share their FTL technology with the Shara Daim.”

  Garash grunted, “Yet they obviously did. Your Weavers should have known.”

  “You understand nothing of how spying truly works, nor do you understand the difficulty that the Shara Daim present. They are near impossible to turn, and we can’t insert our agent anywhere without them standing out. We must rely on pieces of communications we manage to get.”

  “And we were wrong about their strength,” Garash said harshly.

  “We underestimated them; there was nothing to indicate that the Empire had mindbender-level telepaths,” Valanaru said.

  “Both the Kar Daim and the Lord Sentinel were far stronger than what we had believed them to be. I almost died.”

  “As did I,” Valanaru added.

  “I should’ve never allowed you to convince me to use Weaver tactics,” Garash said, looking at his stump again. He was barely containing his anger. “There will be no more of that. As soon as we get back to the fleet, I am taking it straight into Shara Daim territory.”

  “We underestimated them once, Garash. Do not do so again,” Valanaru cautioned.

  “They surprised us,” Garash said. “And even if the Shara Daim have the FTL technology, they couldn’t have had the time to retrofit all of their ships. We must strike now, before they do so.”

  “There are things that I haven’t shared with you yet. Things that I learned about them from the Human’s mind during our battle.”

  “What did you learn?” Garash asked.

  “Nothing that would give you an advantage. The things that I learned were only bits and pieces from his unprotected surface memories, things that only raise more questions,” Valanaru said. “The Shara Daim and the Humans are more connected than we realized; they are the same people.”

  “How do you mean? Our scientists said that they are similar, but that even genetically they are different species.”

  Valanaru’s hand twitched, and she closed her eyes for a moment. “According to what I got from his mind, there are three races, the Shara Daim, Humans, and Nel, who are actually descended from the same race. I did not have the time to learn how that thing was possible, but I did a few other pieces. This ancestor race was called the People, and as far as the Human believed, they were the first intelligent race in the galaxy.”

  “The People…” Garash said, intrigued. That was something that interested him. He had been trying to figure out the patterns of the galaxy, and in that search he had come across mentions of an old race, far more advanced than anyone else, who had disappeared from the galaxy a long time ago. “Did you learn anything else?” he asked.

  “Nothing of consequence. A few more bits, memories of his life, images of worlds, pieces of conversations—nothing that would aid you in this conflict.”

  “You could show me those memories and I could see for myself,” Garash said.

  Valanaru visibly shook. “No, that wouldn’t be wise. Trust me on this, Garash, you don’t want to be anywhere near my mind right now.”

  “What happened to you down there?”

  “I suffered an attack unlike any I have ever experienced. And I am still fighting off its effects; it is taking all that I have to keep my mind whole, and myself sane,” Valanaru said.

  Garash looked at her in surprise. The Valanaru that he knew would have never admitted weakness, would have never given let him see her in such a vulnerable state. He looked at his stump, reminding himself that he too had lost something on that planet. “We lost the first battle, but the next one will be fought aboard warships. We shall see how they fare against our fleet,” Garash said, determined to see the Shara Daim and the Empire suffer for the insult and defeat they had brought him.

  Chapter Twenty

  Eight days later— November; Year 58 of the Empire — Bloodbringer

  The shuttle landed gently on the massive Sowir construction ship, and Adrian stepped off as soon as the ramp lowered. Lurker of the Depths met him, and together they walked over to Lurker of the Depths’ office.

  “How many more did you manage to make?” Adrian asked.

  “Another four thousand.”

  “That brings the number to five thousand and one hundred…” Adrian shook his head in dissatisfaction. “That’s not enough, nowhere near enough.”

  “We’ve been focusing on defense platforms,” Lurker of the Depths sent.

  “I know…I need you to do something else for me. How many missile pods do you think you can equip with skim drives in two days?”

  Lurker of the Depths remained silent for a moment, thinking. “Two hundred, maybe, if we halt all other manufacturing.”

  “Do it.”

  “What are you planning, Adrian?”

  “I plan on showing the Erasi just how big of a mistake they made when they decided to go to war with us.”

  ***

  A few hours later, Adrian sat at the edge of Anessa’s bed and watched her sleep. On Numvani, he had learned just how important she was to him. He had known in the moment that he wouldn’t be fast enough to save her; he’d been convinced that he would watch another loved one die because he wasn’t good enough. And it was his fault. He’d insisted that they needed to meet with the Erasi; he’d thought that they would want to discuss peace, even though he was aware of the force they had brought.

  “You really love her, huh?” Iris asked.

  “I believe so. Yes.”

  “Well, she’s not that bad, I guess, for a tyrant,” Iris said.

  “I could’ve lost her, if Akash hadn’t been there…And because of me he’s gone.”

  “Akash loved you. More than any other person around you, the wolions understood you. Both of them knew your emotions as intimately as they knew their own. Perhaps he knew you even better than you yourself did. He did what he did to spare you the pain you felt once before.”

  “It was my fault,” Adrian said.

  He was wrong, and Akash had paid the price. The wolion had died saving Anessa’s life, and Adrian had lost someone who had been a part of his life, a constant presence. Adrian looked at Anessa’s chest rising and falling, and Sora’s head with it. She was sleeping on the bed with Anessa, both resting from their injuries at the medical facility on Kaleras. Anessa had suffered a concussion, but with quick treatment, she was already recovering and should be back to full strength by tomorrow. Sora was emotionally drained. Adrian could feel her sorrow, in times when she let it spill through.

  Slowly, Adrian felt Anessa return to consciousness. Her eyes opened and locked with his. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Like my head was smashed against rocks, repeatedly,” she answered
drowsily. “How long was I asleep?”

  “Eight days.”

  “What happened? Where are we?”

  “We are in the Kaleras system. What do you remember?”

  “I remember fighting the Erasi O’fa,” Anessa said. “He was strong, the strongest I have ever fought against. I couldn’t defeat him, and then I remember using the drug. I freed myself and was fighting back, and then…It’s fuzzy…” she said. She noticed Sora and her eyes narrowed. She put her hand on Sora’s head and gently petted her. “Akash?”

  “He died,” Adrian said sorrowfully.

  “He saved my life…” Anessa said, and Adrian could see her hurting. “Before I met you, I would’ve never believed that someone could get so attached to what I thought were such simple beasts.” She shook her head, composing herself. “I can’t remember anything after that.”

  “While you were fighting, I was engaged in a mental battle with the other O’fa. With help from Lurker of the Depths, we managed to defeat her, then I turned to help you. I fought the Erasi fighting you. I cut off his hand, and they retreated. We went back to the shuttle and back to the Bloodbringer. The Erasi tried to trap us; they had three ships hidden in the atmosphere of the planet, inside the storm. Two super battleships and the large ship we detected with their fleet. If the Bloodbringer hadn’t been retrofitted, didn’t have the skim drives…we would’ve been dead,” Adrian told her. “You were right, they never wanted peace.”

  “I’m sorry, Adrian,” Anessa said, and he could see that she was. She had never believed that the Erasi would make peace, but she had allowed herself to be swayed by his opinions. The Empire’s policy was always to seek a peaceful resolution. And a great part of why they were pushing for that was because of past actions. The wars against the Sowir, the Ra’a’zani, the Furvor, even against the Shara Daim had not been handled well in Tomas’s opinion. And with the galaxy opening up, with them meeting more and more alien races, he had wanted to establish a more understanding policy.