What War Had Wrought (Rise of the Empire Book 7) Page 23

  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.

  “It is the way of my people. When a powerful telepath sees into the mind and soul of another, when they experience their inner-mind and find them worthy, they give them a name that reflects what they have seen,” Valanaru said.

  The Lord Sentinel stared at her for a moment before finally speaking. “Have you made a decision?”

  Valanaru looked at the Lord Sentinel, seeing his calm and collected pose. She remembered her battle with him; she remembered his inner-mind. She decided. “I have. The Erasi will do as you ask; we will sign your accord and leave these territories.”

  “Very good, O’fa, a smart choice. I expect the preparations to begin immediately. Our ships will be coming in to…aid you in your move.”

  “Until we meet again, Heart of the Mountain.”

  ***

  Four months later — April; Year 59 of the Empire — Sanctuary

  “The Erasi are beginning their withdrawal,” Seo-yun said. “It will take years, and I doubt that it will go as smoothly as we think, but Adrian’s plan seems to be working.”

  Tomas’s response was only a grunt.

  “What is it? You have been acting strange,” Seo-yun said.

  Tomas sighed. “I was so angry, Seo-yun, and I felt so much guilt. I wanted them to know that we had the power to defend ourselves.”

  “That was the right decision, Tomas.”

  “The Erasi might have agreed to Adrian’s demands, but it is because they have nothing that can match the Enduring. That doesn’t mean that they will forget. They might fear us, but they will push themselves to catch up and overcome us now. Every race that learns of what happened will fear us, and all will be looking for something that they can use against us. No one likes someone else holding all the power.”

  “They will not catch up to the technology of the People anytime soon. We have their knowledge and we are still struggling to catch up,” Seo-yun said. “You have nothing to worry about.”

  Tomas smiled and nodded, but he knew that what she said wasn’t true. The technology of the People wasn’t infallible; Tomas had read through many of their records, and he knew that a World-ship had been destroyed by races that did not possess the same level of technology as the People. Three races that they had uplifted had joined and struck at the People. His fears were not unfounded.

  Nevertheless, in the end, he had made a decision, and now he needed to live with it. Everyone in the Empire was going to live with it.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  October; Year 59 of the Empire — Erasi core

  O’fa Valanaru walked into the council chamber of the O’fas, and walked to the podium in the middle. Directly in front was the current Voice of the Council, another O’fa.

  “Weaver,” the Voice said, “you have been called before the council to answer for your actions in the Narad sector.”

  “You have had the chance to see my reports?” Valanaru asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Then you know the Empire has demonstrated far superior technology and might. Refusal of their demands would’ve meant a complete loss of all our assets in Narad and perhaps more,” Valanaru said.

  “You gave the Narad sector to them. An entire sector; that is a loss of a great deal of resources,” the Voice said.

  “It was preferable to the alternative.”

  “None of our early reconnaissance suggested such a level of technology from the Empire.”

  “I believe that their ship was the only piece of such advanced technology that they possess. The rest of their technology, while certainly advanced, is not up to par with that ship.”

  “Do you have any evidence that confirms your suspicions?” the Voice asked.

  “Only a few snippets and bits of memories I got from the Empire’s Lord Sentinel’s mind. In the end, it doesn’t matter; we have nothing that could match them now,” Valanaru said.

  “So we abandon Narad, abide by their accord, and bow our heads in fear,” the Voice said.

  “For now, yes,” Valanaru said.

  “What guarantee do we have that they will not attack?” the Voice asked.

  “I believe that as long as we abide by the accord I signed, they will not act.”

  “And we are supposed to allow them to keep growing more powerful?”

  “I have some plans, a few of which have already been set into motion. Their taking over of the Narad sector will not go as easily as they think it will,” Valanaru answered.

  “I assume that nothing can be traced back to us?”

  “Of course not, I have been doing this for a long time.”

  “Good,” the Voice said. “We have another problem. Because of Garash’s failure, our rimward border is weakened. The Krashin will notice if we do not reinforce it soon.”

  “We can send ships that we had stationed in Narad sector, augment them with levies.”

  “Those ships will not hold for long if the Krashin decide to test us again.”

  “They only need to hold long enough for us to replace our losses. I suggest that we reactivate the shipyards.”

  “That will cost us,” the Voice said.

  “It is inevitable. We need to rebuild, and we need to invest in researching new technologies. Our scientists already have an idea on how the Empire’s FTL drives work; we will need to start testing soon.”

  “And what about their ship? Do we have any idea on how its weapons work?”

  “Ideas? Of course. Whether they are right or not, we shall see. But I wouldn’t worry, the Empire seems to be willing to give us time, and technology never truly remains a secret. It is only a matter of time before we catch up.”

  “Very well, Weaver,” the Voice said, “the council is giving you the lead on this matter. Hopefully you will not make the same mistakes as O’fa Garash.”

  “Thank you, I will not fail.”

  Epilogue

  World-ship Everlasting

  Ullax Darr woke to darkness and a slow return to consciousness. Her eyes gazed blankly at the dark ceiling above her for several minutes before her mind caught up to the fact that she was awake. Slowly she attempted to sit up, but her old body refused her, so it took her several minutes before she managed to swing her legs over the side of the stasis bed. She reached out with her mind—ignoring the sharp pain caused by that action—and turned on the lights in the room. The three other beds in the room were empty, as they had been for a long time. Ullax was the last of her kind, the last of the People.

  Sluggishly, she got to her feet, holding on to the bed for support. Her legs ached with pains from the stasis sleep and from old age and the illness that had killed her people. With a thought, she prompted the computer and checked the status. Immediately, she noticed that she had been woken ahead of the schedule.

  “Why was I awoken?” Ullax asked raspingly. Even talking was hard for her now.

  “An anomaly was detected, Grand Exatt,” answered the station’s AI, its voice seeming to come from everywhere around her at the same time.

  “What kind of an anomaly?” Ullax asked. She only had a few precious years of life left, and could not afford to lose them on things that did not require her attention.

  “An access point in grid 19-31 has been used. The signature matches that of the World-ship Enduring,” the station’s AI answered her.

  For a moment, Ullax’s heart stopped. The Enduring was the World-ship of her twin brother, who she had believed dead for a long time. Yet the Enduring couldn’t be used by anyone not of the People, and only Axull could’ve used it; there were no others of her kind left. Pain, old and yet still fresh as on the day they’d parted, came back to her. Their disagreement over the way to combat the three had f
orced them apart, and it was one of the great regrets of her life. Axull had disagreed with her plan; she had wanted to contain the Enlightened and their abominations, hoping to find a way to defeat them someday, but the price she was willing to pay for containing them was terrible, and her twin hadn’t wanted to be a part of it. He’d left, trying to find another way. Now Ullax wondered if her brother was still alive, and if she would have a chance to make amends.

  “Prepare a scout group, send it to the last used access point and find the Enduring. I want to know if my brother is still alive.”

  ***

  Enlightened territory

  The three woke from their hibernation to instant clarity. The cocoons holding them slowly opened and allowed three strange figures to step out into the small round room. One of the figures had a lithe body similar in shape to that of a female of the People, with dark orange-tinted skin, except that she had six horn-like growths on her back that curved to the sides and two on top of her head that curved backwards and framed her long, flowing black hair. The second figure was large and beastly-looking, with an elongated snout filled with sharp teeth, six large upper limbs and four legs, with its entire body covered in a scale-like fashion. The third appeared similar to the male of the People, with large wings on his back, and black carapace covering his important areas.

  All three walked towards the center of the room. And the being that had once long ago been called Waiss—and now answered to Aranis—approached the circular table that had started growing out of the floor in the center of the room, and sat in the chair that had finished its growth just as he reached it. His large wings furled behind his back and he leaned forward, placing both of his arms on the table. The contact made a connection with the living-ship they were on, and he started soaking up information dumps about the time they had spent hibernating.

  Loranis took a seat at his left, her small, lithe body settling into the chair. Aranis looked at her for a moment. Once, when he had been something less, her naked form might have aroused something, but now when gender held no real meaning to them, it was insignificant. Any of the three could alter their forms in minutes if they so wished, becoming whatever they desired to be.

  Doranis knelt on his four legs on his side of the table. No chair was grown for him, as he didn’t need it. Aranis immediately noticed that he had changed the color of his scales yet again, now to yellow with black accents. As all three finished receiving the information from the ship, they turned to look at each other.

  “She is awake again.” It was Loranis who voiced what all of them already knew. Each of them had sensed Ullax waking from stasis from thousands of light years away through the Sha. Their connection to the Sha was considerable, even in their hibernation.

  “Our forces have not increased pressure. Whatever the reason for her waking before schedule, it is not us. Could her AI have discovered something that could help them to fulfill their programming?” Doranis asked.

  “Possible. Whatever it was, it must’ve been something important enough for her AI to deviate from schedule; she has very little life left in her,” Loranis answered, her hands still on the table. Aranis felt her take hold of the Sha around them, then reach and meld with Doranis and himself. Then, using the amplifier of the ship, she spread their minds across the galaxy. “I feel no buildup of machine forces,” Loranis sent. “And there don’t appear to be any primitive races close to Ullax’s containment; it doesn’t appear that she is using them again.”

  “Of course not, she learned her lesson the last time they attempted that. They are far too primitive; when given advanced technology, they will always turn against her,” Doranis sent back.

  Aranis felt Loranis begin to withdraw from the connection. Then she froze, and her face took on a confused look. “I feel something…” Loranis sent, and she dived deeper, focusing her mind at a smaller region. “That is impossible.”

  Doranis’s beastly head rose up in bemusement. “That can’t be, they are all dead!”

  Aranis too was confused. What he felt shouldn’t have existed. “They feel like the People,” he sent.

  “They cannot be, only Ullax remains,” Loranis added. “The last time we were awake, they hadn’t been there.”

  “There are so many of them,” Doranis added, a bit dazed. A glimmer of something passed through him, too fast for Aranis to identify it. “More than there ever were of us.”

  “More than there ever were of the People,” Loranis corrected.

  While Loranis and Doranis were caught up in their shock, Aranis looked deeper, comparing what he was sensing to his memories. “No, they are different than the People. And there are…three distinct signatures, similar in fashion, but apart,” Aranis sent.

  “Yes, I see it now,” Loranis agreed.

  “There is something else,” Doranis added. “Their taste, they feel like—”

  “Like Axull Darr,” Aranis finished.

  “But how? He has been dead for a long time, we felt him die and pass through the Sha,” Loranis asked.

  “Axull always was brilliant,” Aranis answered. “Now we know why he split off from the rest.”

  “So this was his solution for us. I don’t know whether to be flattered or insulted. He created new races based on his genome to fight us,” Loranis sent as she pulled them back from the amplifier. It could not be used for long periods without damaging them.

  “Their connection to the Sha is the same as that of the People, the same as ours,” Doranis said.

  “In the end, it won’t matter; we have moved beyond the technologies and understandings of the People. Even if these children match the People, we will not be stopped,” Loranis said.

  “We shouldn’t wait any longer,” Doranis said stubbornly.

  “The consensus was reached long ago, Doranis; to break from it now is to descend into the same anarchy that plagues the rest of the galaxy,” Loranis said adamantly. “And we are not like the rest of them.”

  Doranis bared his teeth and hissed, showing the more beastly nature that he had gained when the lifeform they’d created had merged with him. “Every moment that we wait, we waste our resources holding back Ullax’s machines; we lose far more by keeping this balance than we would if we showed our true strength.”

  “The consensus still holds, you agreed to it,” Loranis added, unmoving.

  “Two votes are required to change any consensus; if you change your vote and agree with me, the consensus will be broken and a new one put into place,” Doranis tried to convince Loranis.

  Loranis glanced at Aranis, who had kept silent during the exchange, still thinking on the people his once best friend had created. Then she looked back at Doranis. “Every decision until now has been made by the agreement of us all, and I will not make this one the first where we break with consensus. Especially not when I agree with Aranis.”

  Doranis hissed in anger and turned to look at Aranis, who met his gaze levelly. “Why do you persist in entertaining this emotional stance? We have abandoned who we once were; there is no point in your sentimentality.”

  “Whatever we are now, Doranis, we are not monsters. There are reasons behind our actions and goals. I am more than I once was, but I am still me. Ullax is the last of the People, the first intelligent life in this galaxy, and she deserves our respect. Her life will soon come to an end, and then we shall correct the mistakes that the People made. A few thousand years more will not change anything,” Aranis responded calmly.

  “The only reason I agreed to this waiting was because they did not have long left to live. If I had foreseen that they would prolong their lives by going into stasis, I would never have agreed to your suggestion,” Doranis said angrily.

  “Yet, we have reached consensus, Doranis. The mistakes that the People made—that we made—will be corrected after Ullax dies,” Loranis said firmly.

  “Both of you have absorbed the data collected during our hibernation,” Doranis said. “You know what is happening beyond Ullax’s machine
s. More and more races are emerging; their numbers have tripled since the last time we were awake, and the dimensional barriers are weakening faster than before. We need to purge them now!”

  “That is true, but it will still take a long time for the effects to become hazardous. Ullax will die long before that comes to pass. We have time,” Loranis added.

  “I don’t even need you. I could take my forces and crush her containment,” Doranis said.

  The temperature in the room suddenly plummeted to the point that frost gathered on the table as Aranis turned to look at Doranis. “You try to end her life before it is her time, and I will send my Juggernauts against your forces. And then, I will kill you,” Aranis promised.

  Doranis bared his teeth and grabbed hold of the Sha, and Aranis flexed his wings in preparation for battle, when another force slammed into both of them, keeping them in place.

  “Don’t,” Loranis sent, hammering the thought deep in their minds.

  Both Doranis and Aranis flinched at the intensity, and released the Sha.

  “Fine,” Doranis said, backing down, “I will stand aside, but as soon as she is dead, there will be no more delays. And what of these people that feel like Axull Darr?”

  Aranis looked at the two. “I shall go and see what they truly are.”

  “You won’t be able to take any force beyond the machines without Ullax noticing it,” Loranis said.

  “I don’t plan to,” Aranis said. “I will go alone, walk among them and learn what Axull’s plan is.”

  “You think them important enough for you to go by yourself?” Doranis asked, surprised.

  “I respect my once best friend’s capabilities. I want to see his progeny with my own eyes,” Aranis answered.

  “Again with your irrational need for sentiment,” Doranis said, disgusted.

  “I am who I am, Doranis,” Aranis said.

  “Then it is decided,” Loranis said. “Doranis and I shall keep the borders and make sure that our project is on track, while you travel to these new races’ space and find more about them.”