Sanctuary (Rise of the Empire Book 2) Read online

  “So because they use lasers, I assume that you can’t listen to those communications?” Jacob asked.

  “Correct, though I can monitor their radio communications. Which most of their military vessels use.”

  Jacob’s mind immediately went into high gear, thinking how he could use that in his favor, and then he realized that he needed the cooperation of the Ai first.

  “I’m going to be direct with you. First, why are you here?”

  “I was left by Professor Hyeon Seo-yun, to monitor Earth, and in case it ever united in a single entity aid them in their expansion to the stars.”

  Jacob remembered about Professor Hyeon, she was a brilliant scientist, and later one of the leaders of Olympus. He stored that information for later and continued.

  “I assume that it was you who sent us these coordinates, so that we could find you. Will you help us against the Ra’a’zani?”

  “Yes.”

  Jacob released a breath he didn’t know he was holding, he knew that the Ai was in control of the ship, and since his people lacked expertise, he knew that they had no hope of circumventing the Ai in order to gain the ship and its technology.

  “There is one more thing I need to ask you.” Jacob looked back at the others present on the bridge before continuing. “Can you contact Olympus?” He asked.

  The Ai didn’t immediately answer, the hologram looked right at him, as if it was really seeing him through the image's eyes, even though Jacob knew that he saw him through some hidden cameras in the room.

  “Yes, I can contact them.”

  “How long would it take to get a message to them?” Jacob asked.

  “Approximately six months.” Asumy said.

  “Six months?” Jacob exclaimed. “So little? They said they were going to find another Star system, and there isn’t supposed to be one close enough so that messages at light speed could get there that fast.”

  “They are not close, this ship is capable of faster than light communications.” Asumy said.

  Jacob was stunned, yet again his knowledge of Olympus was proven insufficient.

  “Faster than light? How far away are they?”

  “The system they planned on colonizing is 600 light years away.” Asumy said.

  “600 light years? So far… Then we are on our own, there is no way for them to send help back, they might not have even arrived there yet.” Jacob said solemnly.

  “According to their projections they would have arrived there five years ago, Olympus ships could travel up to ten times the speed of light.”

  “That is amazing, but that means that it would take them around 60 years to come back, provided that they had ships that could fight the Ra’a’zani. And from what I remember of Olympus warships they were impressive, but I don’t know how they would fare against the Ra’a’zani, I don’t know if we can wait that long.”

  “It wouldn’t hurt to let them know that the Earth is enslaved.”

  “Why didn’t you inform them when the Ra’a’zani came?” Jacob asked.

  “There was nothing they could have done then, when the Ra’a’zani came they were still in hyperspace, and once they reached their destination they would have been busy colonizing a new planet and building infrastructure. Letting them know about the Ra’a’zani wouldn’t have mattered in the short term, they would still need time.” Asumy said. “We can send them a message now, even if they can’t do anything in the short term, perhaps they can aid you in other ways, there is still a lot of technology that Seo-yun didn’t leave with this ship. In the meantime, I will release all the technology this ship was equipped with, there are a few things that Seo-yun specifically transferred that will be of great use to you, including a fabricator.”

  Jacob stared at the hologram. “A fabricator? And you will let us use it?” He asked excitedly.

  “Yes.” Asumy answered.

  “What’s a fabricator?” Tamara asked.

  “It’s a machine that can create anything it is programmed to, provided it has materials, and in a lot shorter period of time than a regular assembly would take.” Asumy said.

  The rest of the party looked confused, so Jacob forestalled any more questions.

  “Can this ship move? And can we move it without alarming the Ra’a’zani?” Jacob asked.

  “Yes. The Ra’a’zani have little sensor coverage in the belt, their patrols are focused further out in the system close to the transit barrier, so that they can respond to any threat coming into the system, they do not consider humans a threat.” Asumy said.

  “Good, can you show my people how to pilot the ship? And we need to give you the coordinates of our base.” Jacob said.

  “I can teach them, the controls are fairly simple, and I already know the location of your base.” Asumy said.

  Jacob smiled softly. “Of course you do.”

  For the first time in a long time, Jacob felt hope for the future.

  Chapter Three

  October 2169 – Planet Sanctuary, Olympus city – Capital of Olympus

  The night sky on Sanctuary was different from the one on Earth, there were no stars, only the two moons orbiting the planet, Thanatos and Hypnos. Thanatos glowed red, and Hypnos faintly blue. The night sky was of dark teal color with streaks of purple and red, it was the light reflected by the nebula that surrounded the newly named Sanctuary system. If there was one thing Tomas Klein missed about the place he left behind, it was the star filled night sky. The sky was beautiful here, but it was not the sky he grew up with.

  Tomas sighed, he would have time enough to get used to it. He stepped off his balcony and back into his office. It was late, but it was not unusual for him to be working at this hour, there was so much to do. Building an entirely new civilization turned out to be tiring work. The 7 million colonists from Earth had been calling this system their home for the past five years. And they did turn it into a home. After landing five years ago, the first thing they did, after they chose the spot for their first city and landed, was to start assembling the necessary buildings for their people to live in after they were woken up from stasis. Then all the other building they would need, hospitals, storage facilities etc. Most of the work was already done, they brought enough materials with them to have a head start, and the fabricators on the four colony ships had been working for the last few years of the trip making the components they would need when they arrived. In one months’ time they already had a semblance of a city, and they started waking people up, after that everything happened at a faster pace. Two months later they had finished all the constructions on the city, which was then named Olympus city. All of four of the colony ships were built with dual purpose, they were to get them here, and then to be used for the other purposes. After everyone was transferred to the planet, two ships were disassembled and then reassembled into a station/shipyard that was now orbiting Sanctuary. The third ship was put in orbit around the fifth planet in the system, and used as mining station. The fifth planet – Gem, was an ore rich rock and by the end of their second year they already had mining operations there exceeding their needs. The fourth ship was used as a separate shipyard that focused only on mining needs, ships and equipment. With their fabricating technology they could build a lot faster than people on Earth could, and since then they had increased their fabricator factories numbers by 800%. Their population also had a constant increase over the years, since everyone went through the agelessness genetic treatment they didn’t need to worry about anyone dying of old age, they had a few accidental deaths, and with a lot of new births, they projected that their population could reach a billion in less than a hundred years. And every child was born with the agelessness gene, meaning that they wouldn’t age past their twenty fifth year. It was strange to Tomas, thinking that he would never die, barring a disease or a violent death. He always had to keep in mind that he would not live forever, and now that was no longer the case, it boggled the mind. He couldn’t yet wrap his thoughts around the concept, but he kne
w that he had forever to get used to it.

  He walked to his desk and looked at the reports shown on the holographic displays there. There were numerous requests waiting for his approval. They had created a new form of government, taking the best parts of those from Earth and inventing new when they needed to. They kept the name, Olympus, even though they were no longer simply a company. They first of the humanity to venture this far. And Tomas was their leader, many had started referring to him as the Emperor, though not in his presence. But he thought himself only as a leader, he didn’t rule with an iron fist, he had many advisors. He didn’t really do much, leaving the governing to the people, only stepping in when asked to. He found that given a chance, people would rise to the occasion. But then his people were the best Earth had to offer, those who believed in the same things he did. The request on his displays ranged from someone asking permission to proceed with experiments, to those asking for land to build homes. The planet was big and they had more than enough room, so Tomas gave permissions for his people to start building homes outside of the city. He scrolled down the list using his implant to interact with the display, he gave permission where he thought it was appropriate, and offered other solutions where he believed it was not. After finishing with the civilian requests he started the ones from the military. The first request was from the fleet, it was a request he had read through many times, he had discussions with Laura Reiss the Fleets Master of Olympus’s fleet, and not all of them had ended well. She wanted to turn the entirety of one of the Sanctuary’s moons, into Fleet zone, with only fleet facilities on it, the Academy, Fleet Headquarters, research departments, and a new shipyard in orbit devoted solely to fleet needs. Tomas was reluctant to allow that, they were in a new system where they didn’t have enemies, and while he did see the advantages of her plans, he believed that it was best to wait until other things were done. They didn’t even have Sanctuary firmly under their control, and the fabricators were all working around the clock producing other things vital to their expansion. Laura’s plan required them to retask half of the fabricators to building new fabricators and the stations that would house the shipyards. Tomas was conflicted, on the one hand, he wanted his people protected, he did not want a repeat of the events that transpired back in the Sol. But on the other, there was no threat here. The entire star system was engulfed in a nebula, no one could detect them from the outside. The nebula was at least 4 light years across at its widest, the system hidden inside was around 5 light months in diameter. If someone wanted to enter the system they needed to know the exact coordinates, otherwise they risked coming out of hyperspace inside the nebula, where sensors had a hard time working, and where other hazards awaited. Including the systems Oort cloud. The only reason they knew about the system was because of the records in the Union databases they found on the alien ship back on Earth. And they had eight warships they brought with them from Earth, it seemed enough.

  Tomas reach inside his shirt, he grabbed the chain around his neck and brought out a small round metallic object, he pressed the button on the pendant and a list appeared above the object. He gazed at the list of names. He read all 316 names that appeared, though he already knew each one. The names were of people that died when Concordis government ordered the destruction of the Cloud space station, in hope of hiding the theft of one of memory cores filled with data about Olympus’s technology. They failed, but still 316 souls died because of their greed. 316 people that were under Tomas’s protection, he knew that he would never forgive himself for their deaths. He looked back at the request still on his holographic display, he sent the authorization for it. Immediately another two attached requests filled his display, they were set to appear after authorization of the original proposal. He read them and shook his head, Laura must have known that he would change his mind. He authorized both requests, and then shut down the holodesk, it was enough work for one day. He stood up and walked across the office to the adjacent room, he entered it and collapsed on the bed. He fell asleep the moment his head struck the pillow.

  ***

  Laura Reiss Fleets Master walked to her office at a brisk pace, she was alerted the moment Tomas approved of the Fleets requests. That was an hour ago while she was still sleeping, she immediately sent for a meeting of top Fleet officers, then quickly showered and dressed. Then after having a quick meal she proceeded to the meeting room. The Fleet headquarters for now were on the station orbiting Sanctuary, it was named Olympia after a great deal of consideration, there were some who wanted to name it Cloud station after the station that was blown up by Concordis back in Sol, but Seo-yun shut it down. Tomas was already weighed down too much by what happened. Following their arrival here, Tomas had retreated behind his desk, his people didn’t see him for the past four years, all he did was answer requests that came to him. That didn’t make him a bad ruler, a leader needed to address his peoples wishes. But he was not the Tomas that they all followed here. The Tomas of then had hundreds of plans or schemes for the future, he acted, and now he only reacted. The only ones that he saw were Seo-yun, Elias, Nadia and Laura, and then when they tried to bring him out of his depressed state their conversations deteriorated into screaming matches. Laura took his approval for the Fleet a good sign, perhaps he was starting to come out of his shell.

  Laura arrived and entered the meeting room. She met with four people that ran the Fleet, Edith Leets Headmaster of the Fleet Academy, Oswald Mein Commander of Fleets, Daria Veisi Head builder for the Fleet and Nigel Smith Head quartermaster for the Fleet. She greeted them and sat at the head of the table.

  “You must all be wondering why I called you so early in the morning. Well, Tomas has approved of our requests for the fleet.” Laura said.

  Grins immediately showed on their faces.

  “That’s great!” Edith said.

  “Did he approve of all our requests?” Daria asked.

  “Yes, he approved those requests as well.”

  “Great, then I have your permission to begin construction?” Daria asked.

  “Yes. We will start by building twenty ships that will become the home fleet, and another twenty next year that will be the first fleet. Our 8 old warships will be a part of the home fleet, but they won’t really match up to the new ones, we will upgrade them as much as we can.”

  “Why next year?” Daria asked.

  “Well, we could build them now, but that would mean using resources that are being allocated to other projects. Our mining operations can’t meet the demand for that many ships.”

  Daria frowned, “Didn’t we produce much more than we needed in these past years? Shouldn’t there be enough?”

  “We did, but most of those reserves will be spent to build the first twenty ships, not to mention that we will need to borrow fabricators that are being used for other things. At least until we get our own. And while our mining operations are sufficient to meet most of our demands, they didn’t take into account the vast amounts going to the fleet.” Laura said.

  “What about the Academy?” Edith asked.

  “We don’t need to rush there, all the classes had already finished their schooling, we will need to wait until the next generations grows up, but we will start with laying down the ground works on Thanatos, as the materials became available.”

  “And my defense stations?” Oswald asked.

  “You can build two, one in the orbit of Thanatos, and one in the orbit of Sanctuary. Over the course of the next two years.” Laura said.

  “Two won’t be enough to give us complete coverage over the planet.” Oswald noted.

  “I know, but that’s all that Tomas was prepared to allow at this time. Don’t worry, he will change his mind in time.”

  “I hope he does before something finds us here.” Oswald added.

  “No one has found this system in more than seven thousand years, I doubt that they will now.” Laura said.

  “I hope you are right.” Oswald said.

  “Anything new from Trave
ler and Voyager?” Laura asked.

  “Nothing. And Voyager visited the system where according to the Union databases should be a civilization, and they only found only a barren rock. I worry that they might run into something they can’t handle.”

  Voyager and Traveler were two explorer class ships that Laura managed to convince Tomas to build, they were much more advanced than any ship they built up to date, with better hyperdrives allowing them to travel at up to 15 times the speed of light, they were armed lightly with advanced weapons. Their job was to explore their new neighborhood, and make contact with any other race they encounter. They knew that there was other life out there from the Union databases, though their charts for this region of space were sparse, the Union only passed through, not bothering to explore.

  “They could have done that to themselves Oswald, remember that we almost destroyed ourselves back on Earth. And as for Voyager and Traveler, they just barely moved out of the 10 light-years radius around Sanctuary.” Laura said.

  “I know. It’s just, that knowing there are civilizations out there that have been in space since before we learned to write... It scares me Laura, we have only 8 warships, and they won’t stand a chance against them. We need to start putting the technologies we recovered from the Union ship and those we developed into our ships. And the fact that Tomas is hesitating, well, it makes us worry even more.” Oswald said shamefacedly.

  “Don’t you worry about Tomas, he will come around. All of us needed time to adjust to this new world.” Laura said. She hoped she was right, they needed their leader back.

  Chapter Four

  November 2169 – Resistance base

  Mathias ran down the training course, it became his routine in the past three months. He would spend his mornings training, then his afternoons learning about operating human technology and fighting. He was one of those chosen to operate Star Gazer. He was in charge of the weapons board. The weapons that the ship had appeared amazing to Mathias, but Asumy told him that they were nothing compared to Ra’a’zani, so they weren’t going to use the ship in combat, not yet at least. They have been trying to acquire some Ra’a’zani weapons to put on the ship, but getting anything like that was difficult. Ra’a’zani might not watch humans all that much, but all the technology they didn’t want humans touching was keyed to their genetic makeup. And they were still trying to figure out a way around it.