What War Had Wrought (Rise of the Empire Book 7) Read online

  “You shouldn’t be sorry. The Empire should apologize; you have honored your part of the deal, even when doing so went against your beliefs. You have shown that you are truly willing to change. Now, it is time for the Empire to honor its part of the deal,” Adrian said.

  “The Erasi fleet will move,” Anessa said, “and they will certainly move against a hub system. And the closest one is here, Kaleras. We need to prepare for the defense of the system.”

  “They outnumber us more than two to one. Any attempt to defend this system will finish with our loss.”

  “I will not retreat. I will not let them take one more system,” Anessa said with a determined expression. “Our ships are better than theirs, my commanders are skilled. We have fortified the system with defense platforms; we can win.”

  Adrian closed his eyes and sighed. “That was true until now. The three ships that ambushed the Bloodbringer were from this new fleet. They look the same as the ships your Legion fought until now, but they are better. The scans and records that the Bloodbringer took indicate that their energy weapons are twenty percent more powerful than what their previous ships used. Their shields are more powerful as well, although because of the storm, we are not sure how much of an increase they have, but it is at least fifteen percent. That new class of warship, which is far larger than anything you have seen from the Erasi, fired a weapon that went clear through the Bloodbringer’s shields, completely ignoring them. And that is only the things that we know about.”

  Anessa’s expression turned sour. “So you want me to pull back, abandon systems and my people to the Erasi? There are two hundred million people living in Kaleras. We don’t have enough ships to even attempt to evacuate them all.”

  “That would be a smart, ruthless way that would give you a greater chance of eventual victory. If you buy time for all of your Legions to be retrofitted with skim drives, you would have a better chance,” Adrian said. He saw her half rise from the bed in anger, but he pushed her back with one hand and continued speaking before she could say anything. “But no. I understand you and the Shara Daim well enough to know that doing that would be unimaginable for you. So I will do everything I can to help you win.” He smiled down at her. “My fleets are ready; in two hours, we will be leaving.”

  “Leaving to where?” she asked suspiciously.

  “As I said, it is time for the Empire to honor its part of the deal. I am going to attack their fleet,” Adrian said.

  “You just told me that you don’t believe we can defeat them when they come, and you think that your twelve fleets can?” Anessa asked incredulously.

  “Of course not,” Adrian said, “but I can hurt them. Reduce their numbers, before they come here.”

  “With twelve fleets?” Anessa was on the verge of laughing. “The only thing you will accomplish is get your people killed.”

  Adrian looked at her for a moment. She, of course, didn’t believe that he could accomplish anything. Even though the Empire and Shara Daim had an alliance and had shared many technologies, the Empire hadn’t shared any of their weapon systems other than the defense platforms, which used almost the same weapon systems as the Shara Daim. And what Anessa had witnessed in Sol was not everything in their arsenal. There, Adrian had used weapons suited for that situation, but in truth, not even one of the Empire’s true warships had engaged in combat, only drones. “It always seemed so strange to us,” Adrian told her, “that the war technology of all the races we have encountered since we left our homeworld seemed so…limited. Even now, when we have encountered you and the Erasi. Your technology is advanced, but the way you implement it is uninspired, you don’t try to find new and better ways to overcome your enemies. You rely on power.”

  Anessa’s expression darkened, but Adrian didn’t let her speak, raising his hand to forestall her response.

  “I do not say this to insult you, to diminish your achievements. But almost nothing we have seen from the more advanced races had actually been new to us, a weapon that we have never encountered or imagined. The only ones that had something that was new to us were the Ra’a’zani. You yourself have seen this; you had difficulties defeating them, not as fast as you should have, at least. They were inferior to you, yet they had prevailed, because they had weapons systems that you had never encountered before. And they used them in ways that you hadn’t seen before; they knew how to fight wars.”

  Anessa remained silent, and Adrian could see in her eyes that she knew that he had spoken the truth, so he continued. “Both your and the Erasi weapons technology is based on the same things. Your ships use particle beams as your main weapons, lasers for point defense, and missiles as secondary weapons. The differences are minimal, and in nuances. We have always wondered why that is, and we have a theory. The Shara Daim have never been divided; you never fought against yourselves. When you left your homeworld, you had the sphere and the data contained there, and while you did lose it, you still retained much of that technology. That made you superior to other races in your neighborhood, so while you fought many wars, you were never really challenged, never fought against an equal or superior opponent. The Erasi are the same; they were always superior, and always struck before their opponents could become a threat.”

  “And what? You are different?” Anessa asked.

  “Yes,” Adrian said, unashamed. “Humans fought against one another for thousands of years, before we even knew how to write. We killed and subjugated, we did horrible things to ourselves, and in the process, we perfected how to fight wars. We have invented such terrible weapons that we ourselves banned them from use. We adapted our technology for war; many of our achievements have been invented for war and nothing else. And I know that you don’t understand, you can’t understand; you don’t have anything in your history that comes close to the things we have done. We remember all the horrible things that we have done, because they should never be forgotten. But those horrors, those wars and struggles are what made us strong. Our weapons are not more advanced than yours are, but we have more variation. Different weapons systems for different situations.”

  “If you have weapons that can help us defeat the Erasi, you should’ve shared them,” Anessa said.

  “We don’t.” Adrian shook his head. “In a straight battle, our ships against theirs, we have nothing that would miraculously change the outcome of a battle. However, depending on the situation, we have different weapons that would suit them better. My twelve fleets can’t stand up to the Erasi numbers, not in a straight fight. However, neither you nor they truly understand the advantage that the skim drives give my fleets. I don’t plan on pitting my ships against theirs in a slug match. Humanity learned long ago that fighting a war is not about numbers and power—it is about how you use the assets available to you. It is about manipulating your opponent to remove his advantage and force him to fight when and where you want. My attack will serve more than one purpose; if we are to win against them at Kaleras, we need to be able to guide the flow of battle, and an angry opponent is one that is easily manipulated.”

  “You are planning to do to them the same thing you did to my Legions in Sol,” Anessa said.

  “Something similar.”

  “And you really think that what you are planning can work.”

  “I always think that my plans will work. The outcome is never exactly as I planned.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  November; Year 58 of the Empire — Tarabat

  Aileen walked through the streets of one of Tarabat’s cities dressed in a loose garb that covered all of her features. It was not actually hard for her to hide among Tarabat’s masses, especially when the Erasi had stopped actively searching for them. There were many races on Tarabat, and a lot of them had a similar general shape to a human. With her garb, it was impossible for anyone to actually recognize her as human, and most didn’t even know what a human was or how they looked. Few cared about the matters of the Erasi, if they were even aware of them. The Erasi had finally
released their restrictions on the system. Ships could leave, and the communications were no longer being jammed—or rather, the ‘storm’ had moved on. Which could mean only one thing: it no longer mattered if she escaped or contacted the Empire. She didn’t know anything about what had been happening outside of Tarabat, and the Erasi news didn’t reveal anything important.

  Now that ships could actually leave the system, she needed to get her people out. She entered the small shop that served as a front for Jurr’s meeting place. She removed the garb from her face so that the attendant in front would recognize her and then made her way to the back. Jurr was already there waiting for her.

  “I am glad that you’ve survived, Sentinel,” Jurr sent.

  “As am I,” Aileen told him. “I need a way off planet and passage to the Empire.”

  “The Erasi have given up their search of you, so it will be relatively easy to smuggle you off world. But I have more information for you.”

  “You know why the Erasi decided that it was more preferable to kill my people than to let us leave?”

  “Yes. After the communications were reestablished, my agents reported in. The Erasi are no longer interested in you because their forces have begun or soon will begin their offensive against the Shara Daim, and levy fleets from this sector have augmented their reinforcements. And they are confident that they will win.”

  Aileen nodded to herself; it was about what she’d believed had happened. “Then I need to leave as soon as possible.” She would’ve tried to send a message, but for it to arrive in any reasonable time, she needed to use the Erasi relays, and it was actually far easier for her to leave than to do that without the Erasi knowing where the message was sent and its contents.

  “I will make arrangements,” Jurr sent. “This will mean war between the Empire and the Erasi, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I wish to offer my services. My people have planned for this day for a long time. We have assets in place that can set this Erasi sector on fire, disrupt their communications, and destroy their supplies. There are also many smaller members of the Erasi that are not happy under their rule. If your Empire can promise protection, they will rise against the Erasi.”

  “I can promise nothing without first seeing what the situation in the Empire is. After I’ve reached Sol and talked with our leaders, I will pass on your offer.”

  “I hope that you will see the advantage. With my help, you could push the Erasi out of this galactic arm.”

  Aileen could feel the fervor behind his words. In a way, she understood them. She had once been a slave to the Ra’a’zani; she had seen the rebels and the lengths they had been willing to go to free themselves. But she also knew that the Empire might not be able to do what he wanted.

  “I can promise only that we will consider it, nothing else.”

  Interlude III

  A long time ago

  “We did it!” Ullax said as she hugged Waiss and cheered.

  “This will change everything!” Axull said, looking at the data. The altered group of Alphas had passed the barrier from stage two to stage three lifeform. They had started improving their tools, building primitive structures, taming wildlife, and planting plant life in the beginnings of agriculture.

  “If the only thing necessary to jumpstart intelligence is a conduit to the Sha, we could start altering life across the galaxy!” Ullax said as she untangled herself from Waiss.

  Waiss smiled at Axull’s sister. “We are a long way from that. First, we need to gather more data. Who knows what kind of effects this could have in the future?”

  “Of course, but this discovery will for sure be well received by the Grand Exatts. They might even allow us to accelerate their growth. We could force them to advance faster if we take a direct hand in guiding them. Teaching them about the universe, about advanced technology,” Ullax said.

  “Yes…” Waiss said. “We would need to be careful, introduce everything slowly, so as to not overwhelm them. And we would need more people.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Axull chided them gently, “we still have a lot of work ahead of us. Once we have enough data to show the council of Exatts that there is no doubt, then we can start planning on how best to accelerate their growth.”

  “You’re right, as always, brother,” Ullax said with a smile. “I’ll go and start compiling the data that we do have. We still need to repeat this result in at least two more groups,” Ullax said, turning around and leaving the room.

  Axull turned from the retreating form of his sister to look at Waiss gazing at her longingly. Finally, Axull couldn’t take any more. He stepped in front of Waiss, startling him.

  “What?” Waiss asked.

  “You need to stop acting like this. If you want to have something more than a simple friendship with my sister, you need to go and tell her that.”

  Waiss stammered, “Uh…I…”

  “No. You know who she is. We have spent a long period of time together on this project. She doesn’t care for social norms, and she doesn’t care for those who are not as driven as she is. You have proven that you are like her; she respects you and knows you. But you will never get what you want from her if you keep waiting for her to give you some kind of a signal. She just isn’t like that,” Axull said, and with each word Waiss grew more pale. “Now, go there and tell her how you feel.”

  Waiss swallowed, then steeled himself and went after Ullax. Axull watched him go in amusement. He was pretty sure that his sister had grown to care about Waiss during these last few years, but he also knew that she, like Waiss, was hopeless when it came to things like that. Thankfully, he as her brother was here to give them a little push.

  ***

  Several years passed, and their other groups showed the same progress as the first group. Ultimately, Axull, Ullax, and Waiss decided that it was time. They were going to present their findings to the council of Exatts. And the decision came at an opportune moment, in Axull’s opinion; he had grown tired of watching his sister and his best friend cavort around him. Not that he didn’t love them, but enough was enough.

  Hopefully the Exatts would accept their plans, and give them permission to accelerate the advancement of Alphas. And perhaps after that, allow them to start uplifting more races from across the galaxy.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  November; Year 58 of the Empire — Sanctuary

  Fleet Commander Nair Hakeem of the First Fleet startled awake from his bed as alarms blazed across his ship. For a moment he thought that was dreaming, and then reality hit. The alarm blazing through the speakers could only mean a hostile force inside the Sanctuary system. Setting aside all the questions that had immediately entered his mind of why and how, he stood, dressed, and ran out of his quarters, going straight towards the command center. On the way, he passed startled crew, all in similar haste running to their posts.

  Nair stepped into chaos. The command center was a flurry of activity as people shouted and tried to make sense of the data. His eyes were immediately drawn to the large holo-table in the middle of the room where the entire system was represented, and which showed large red shapes moving from the hyperspace barrier and towards Sanctuary.

  Nair approached his command chair and the Ship Master of his flagship, the command ship Astarte. “What do we have?” Nair asked, announcing his presence.

  The command center crew calmed down and waited. The Ship Master stood from the command chair, allowing Nair to take his place, and moved to his chair just below the podium.

  “Erasi ships have entered the system and are on course towards Sanctuary. They haven’t responded to any attempts at communication, and are assumed hostile,” the Ship Master answered.

  Nair nodded, projecting the image of a calm commander. “How many?”

  “Early reports put them at just over nineteen thousand—ten Erasi fleets.”

  Nair winced. The Sanctuary system was defended only by his single war fleet; the rest were
drones and defensive platforms and installations. It was very well defended, but most of its defenses were focused around the trans-stations. Since the location of Sanctuary was inside of the nebula, it had always been assumed that any attack would be forced to come through the lanes. The Erasi had come through hyperspace, which could only mean that they knew the coordinates of the system. It didn’t matter now how they got here, only that they had.

  “Status of the fleet?” Nair asked.

  “All ships reporting ready status, Fleet Commander.”

  “Good,” Nair said. He looked at the holo. The Erasi fleets had come out of the hyperspace near the orbit of the fifth planet in the system, Gem, and would pass close to Eurus, the system’s only gas giant, where most of Sanctuary’s shipyards were as well—on their path towards Sanctuary, assuming that Sanctuary was their intended target. He couldn’t let them reach Sanctuary. The system’s population lived mostly in stations in Sanctuary’s orbit, and any fighting close to the planet would certainly finish with many civilian casualties. His best chance of stopping them would be at Eurus. “Open a channel to Fleet Command.”

  ***

  “I agree with you, Fleet Commander,” Fleets Master Laura Reiss said to the hologram of Fleet Commander Nair Hakeem. “We’ll contact the Eurus shipyards and start evacuating people. We are bringing the drones online from across the system; they will rendezvous with your fleet as soon as possible.”

  “Thank you, Fleets Master,” Nair said, and closed the channel.

  Laura turned to the room, looking at the top officers in the Fleet. “Alright, contact all the stations and assets we have in system. Those close to the Erasi should start evacuating now; those that are unable to do so are to lay low and wait until we can get to them. Olympus City should raise the shields; I don’t want any chances taken with the Emperor’s life. And keep all of our eyes on that fleet. I want to know what they are doing before they do.”