Onslaught (Rise of the Empire Book 6) (5 page)

Adrian remained on the floor for a moment, his smile frozen in a half grimace, and then she saw understanding in his eyes. His face settled into an emotionless mask and he stood.

“Well, I hope that this was an educational exercise,” he said. “I know that I have learned a lot.”

“Yes, I too have learned a lot,” Anessa said tersely. She had forgotten, lost herself in their dance. Her attraction to him was more than she had initially thought. They watched each other for a few moments, until the doors to the training room opened, interrupting them.

“Lord Sentinel?” the Nel said. “We couldn’t reach you on the comms; you are needed at the command center.” Five armed guards followed the Nel, probably there for Anessa.

Adrian turned to face him. “I shut them off, I’ll be right there.” He then turned to look back at Anessa. “The guards will escort you to your quarters,” he said expressionlessly, and started walking towards the exit.

Anessa followed behind as the guards took positions around her, still replaying the last hours in her head.

***

Adrian walked quickly, leaving the young Nel adjutant trying to keep up with his pace. He reflected on what had just happened. For a moment he had forgotten who she was, and what he was planning to do to her people. Had forgotten why he needed her. He was attracted to her, had been almost from the beginning, but as he spent more time with her, that attraction had grown. It had snuck up on him. He wouldn’t have called it love, or even affection, but she fascinated him.

She was strong, powerful…beautiful, and she sought the same things that Adrian did. It was not such a surprise to him that he had grown…interested in her, and if he read her right, she felt the same. It would not change his plans, and he doubted that it would change hers. Both of them were the type that could put their emotions aside and do what they believed to be right.

Through their talks, he had realized that he had much more in common with her and the Shara Daim than he had with the rest of the people from the Empire. There were things on which they disagreed, important things, but at the core of who both Adrian and Anessa were, they were the same, even if they had different reasons.

Adrian’s goal, his life’s purpose, was to push his limits, to always strive to improve himself, to gain more strength—not for the sake of being the strongest, but for the simple fact that he welcomed the challenge. The Empire’s basic creeds, the basis for their civilization, rested in pursuit of knowledge. Every child was taught that it was their duty to always learn more in whatever field they chose, and to expand their views by studying more and more different fields, all in order to improve the Empire. Adrian himself had branched his knowledge base, from military disciplines, to tech, diplomacy, history, and more. The tattoos on his arms were the proof of that, of different aspects he had learned. He’d had the time for it.

However, Adrian was unique even in the Empire; he lived for the challenge of pushing his limits and overcoming them, having strength for its own sake. Others lived for the pursuit of knowledge and bettering of those around them, to protect, to broaden the knowledge of the Empire. Similar, but not the same.

The Shara Daim had similar values to the Empire. They too pushed themselves, but they did it to be the strongest. If what he had guessed from Anessa’s words was the truth, all Shara Daim were warriors. But their drive wasn’t to improve themselves, but to stand above all others and further the goals of the Shara Daim. Both of their philosophies had the same end goal—supremacy—but one set out to do that while pushing all those around them down, while the other hoped to pull them up with them.

But the core of the Shara Daim doctrine lay in the fact that they believed, with no uncertainty, that they were superior to all others. There was reason for that belief; they had never lost a war, never felt outmatched. It bred arrogance, and it was that belief that Adrian needed to shatter if he had any hope of changing them.

But what had shaken him was just how easy it was to forget that Anessa was his enemy. How easily he had relaxed in her presence and how easily he had trusted her. They had fought and trained like friends, like more than friends. Both had given their trust to the other so easily. To fight an opponent so openly with no guard was to know them as intimately as you know yourself. And he had never before allowed himself such a level of trust; he had never fought as he had now with Anessa. The two of them had been open books to one another. Every movement of her body, every attack or defense, told Adrian more about her. Every decision and deceit taught him about her character, what she was willing to do and what she wasn’t. And he knew that she had learned as much about him as he had about her.

“You knew, didn’t you?”
Adrian asked on his internal line to his personal AI.
“That’s why you didn’t like me spending so much time with her.”

“I suspected,”
Iris said.
“I knew that no matter how you feel, you would go through with your plans. And I did not want to see you get hurt, not again.”

Adrian knew that Iris was referring to Bethany, and how he she had died because of his mistake, because of his orders. And how he would’ve done the same thing again even if he had known beforehand that she would die.

“This is not like Beth,”
Adrian said.

“No. But I can see, Adrian, how much it pains you to be alone. There is no one in the Empire who could be your partner, an equal. They do not understand what drives you,”
Iris said solemnly.
“And she is your equal. She is one person that might understand you and know you for who you truly are. Both of you are the best of your people, and she is your enemy.”

Adrian kept silent; he knew that Iris was right. And he had no answer.

Chapter Six

One month later — May; Year 55 of the Empire—Empire’s attack fleet

Johanna Stern sat and watched as a lone ship closed the distance and joined her fleet. The holo identified it as the Sentinel ship Jewel, commanded by Sentinel Aileen. As the ship reached its spot in the large joint fleet, a small shuttle exited it and flew towards Johanna’s flagship, the command ship Argo.

“Two more weeks, and we will reach the first Ra’a’zani world,” Adrian commented from her side where he was standing. While Johanna would be in charge of the actions against the Ra’a’zani, she had invited Adrian to be on her flagship during the initial assault on the first Ra’a’zani world before he took his ship and his prisoner to Tarabat. She thought that he would have wanted to stay on his ship and watch with his prisoner, but for some reason he had eagerly accepted her offer.

“And we finally make them pay for what they had done to Earth,” Johanna said.

“Emperor’s orders were clear,” Adrian added.

“I know, but a part of me wants to do the same thing to them that they did to us,” Johanna said.

“In a way, what Tomas has planned is a far worse fate,” Adrian said.

“Yes, in a way,” Johanna agreed.

One of Johanna’s subordinates interrupted them, saying, “Sentinel Aileen is onboard.”

“Good, order the fleets forward to the next trans-station,” Johanna said.
Two more weeks,
she thought to herself as the massive joint fleet moved as one.

***

Adrian sat at the table in the small meeting room on board the Argo. Across from him sat Aileen, preparing to give her report on what she had learned on Tarabat.

“So, how right was I?” Adrian asked.

“Completely,” Aileen responded. “The Erasi have stealth ships in our systems, under the command of their Weavers. The intel I recovered indicates that there are five such ships. We don’t know where they are, but I have info on how we can detect them.”

Adrian nodded. “I received a message from Gotu: the Erasi ambassador has offered us help against the Shara Daim—for free, of course—in the form of blueprints for defense nets and platforms. The weakest of their designs, but still military-grade. And he dropped a few hints about other technologies they can offer in the future.”

Aileen frowned. “I’ve seen the data on their defense platforms; those are the same as the ones in Tarabat. They are inferior to ours.”

“Yes,” Adrian said, “which tells me that their stealth ships hadn’t reached our core systems. Sol is at the edge of the Empire; our most populated and defended systems are in former Consortium territory and around Sanctuary. We still don’t have full defensive nets in systems around Sol.”

“Wait, if they are in Sol, they must’ve seen the defenses there,” Aileen said.

Adrian smiled. “I think that Erasi were aware of our expansion, but don’t really know anything about us. Why would they? Their territory and resources are vast; we were probably low on their threat list. I think that our actions in Tarabat changed that. They must have sent ships to spy after we returned to Sol.”

Aileen nodded in understanding. Adrian had already started preparations for the Shara Daim attack, and the stealth ship must’ve used hyperspace in order to stay hidden, meaning that it had taken them a while to reach Empire’s territory, and by then Adrian had hidden most of Sol’s defenses. “So they don’t know as much as they think they do…”

“We still can’t rule out that they are faking. They might well know everything about us, but I think that that possibility is low,” Adrian said.

“Either way, you were right; they are trying to manipulate both the Shara Daim and us into a prolonged war,” Aileen said.

“They want us to keep the Shara Daim occupied. I doubt that they are thinking that we can weaken the Shara Daim enough for them to move in, but then again, we know nothing about the Erasi military strength aside from rumors. For all we know, they could roll over the Shara Daim at full strength,” Adrian said.

Aileen scratched her head as she thought about it. “None of the races that trade under the Erasi know anything, only that the Erasi have vast fleets. They are technologically inferior to the Erasi, so there is a limit to how much they can find out. Even the lowest members of the Erasi were reluctant to share anything. But I did manage to learn about the last time that they called one of the ships-of-the-line from their core,” she said, and put her hand in the inside pocket of her overcoat. She produced a small box and opened it to reveal several small data-chips. She placed one on the table and a hologram appeared above its surface.

“Approximately sixty years ago, one race broke the contract they had made with another race. The contract was verified by the Erasi, and the harmed party called on the Erasi to reinforce the deal. The Erasi sent one of their fringe taskforces to reinforce the deal, which meant that they weren’t their top ships, mostly ships from smaller and newer members.” The holo showed a group of ships, numbering twenty-six; they were of various shapes and sizes, but none was as big as the Empire’s battleship.

“The ships were fairly advanced, though nothing that could be a match to our ships now; more on the line of old Consortium ships,” Aileen said. “But they were still more advanced than what anyone in the region had.” The holo changed to show a star system. “Once the Erasi arrived in this system, they were met with fleet far larger than what they had expected.”

Again the holo changed, receiving commands from Aileen’s implant, now showing ships of a different make—cylinder shapes, in various sizes but all following the same design. “The offending race had broken its contract because they were funneling too many resources into shipbuilding. They had built a massive fleet in secret, almost six hundred ships. The Erasi ships were slightly more advanced, but they were outnumbered; all except one were destroyed, which returned to Erasi territory and reported what had happened.”

The holo changed again, now showing much larger saucer-shaped ships. “A year later, the Erasi fleet arrived, two hundred ships strong. They destroyed the aliens’ ships and wiped them out, making an example of them. No one has tried to defy the Erasi since.”

Adrian studied the Erasi ships. “Saucer-shaped ships are their real military ships?” he asked.

“Yes. They are usually kept back in the more important systems, or on borders with hostile civilizations. The rest is handled by smaller members of the Erasi and their militaries; their ships-of-the-line are all constructed in the core and are crewed by their more important members,” Aileen answered.

“There were a few of those ships at Tarabat,” he commented.

“They weren’t there when I went back. And I couldn’t find anything about why they were there, or why they left.”

“Hmm…Did you find out anything new about their military ships?” Adrian asked.

“They are mostly the same classes as they were sixty years ago; data on them is scant. Gravity drives and energy shields are confirmed, but we don’t know their strength. From few records I managed to dig up, we know that they use energy weapons and missiles. No kinetics recorded. But if information they gave us about the Shara Daim ships is true, then we can assume that Erasi ships are of comparable strength. I doubt that the Shara Daim could have such reputation in the Erasi if they couldn’t be a threat to them.”

“Agreed,” Adrian said. “And they don’t appear to have normal space FTL tech. Coupled with the rest of things we have, I would say that we are superior in technology.”

“What are our chances against the Shara Daim, real chances, if your plan fails?” Aileen asked.

“Tomas and I have a few contingency plans. Based on what we know about them, and if we assume that our projections of their numbers and tech are correct…” He paused, making a Nel gesture that she couldn’t identify. “We could take them, if we manage to sucker them into a few battles that favor us. But we would suffer heavy losses, and if they decide that it is worth it to them to sacrifice a large chunk of their Legions, they might still take us. If we slow down their initial attacks enough, the technologies from the sphere will give us an edge.”

“How long until we can be sure that our systems are safe?” Aileen asked. She knew that Tomas was focusing the system defense technologies from the sphere.

“Seven years for Sanctuary and Sector One, nine for the rest of the Empire,” Adrian said.

“It will take the Shara Daim time to gather a force big enough to get past Sol. Especially if they first attack with insufficient numbers,” she said. “And if your plan works, we might not even need to fight them anymore.”

“You know that changing the mind of someone who has spent their entire life thinking one way is a tricky thing. It took years for those we saved from Earth to change their views to that of the Empire. I have only one person to work with. Even if I manage to plant the seed of doubt in Anessa, we will still have war; they will come to Sol regardless.”

“Perhaps…But if she starts speaking for peace, it might give us enough time.”

***

The massive fleet exited the trans-lane and entered the Ra’a’zani system behind the sun of its target, giving them some time before the Ra’a’zani were aware of the Empire’s fleet. The fleet moved slowly, with no urgency; the 6402 ships of the fleet had nothing to fear from the Ra’a’zani in this system. Out of those 6402 ships, 5132 were warships, 870 were auxiliaries—support ships and army transports—and another 400 were large transport ships, more like freighters, added to the fleet in order for it to fulfill its mission: the rescue of the humans taken as slaves by the Ra’a’zani decades ago.

Johanna knew exactly what to expect from their enemies in this system. Ever since they had learned location of the Ra’a’zani, the Empire had been sending scout ships to verify all the information that they received from the Erasi. There was nothing that could threaten her fleet here, nor anywhere in the Ra’a’zani space. Their war with the Shara Daim had weakened them too much; they had sacrificed most of their war fleets in order to set up and hide at their furthest colonies, in order to get time so that they might have a chance of rebuilding. But sadly for them, the Empire had come to settle a promise.

Their first target was a system held by the clan that had enslaved Earth, and so had the most human slaves. According to their scout ships, most of the human slaves were held on the planet, in two different kinds of camps. Many of the slaves were in work camps, working in Ra’a’zani assembly lines and mines. The rest were in breeding camps, mostly women and children, with some elderly to take care of them. According to Aileen, the slaves that proved themselves to their overlords would be given leave to visit the breeding camps and reproduce.

And then there were the thralls: humans raised by the Ra’a’zani, indoctrinated and completely loyal to their masters. Johanna knew that they would have problems with the ordinary slaves. She remembered the people who they had rescued from Earth; they had had a rough time adjusting to the Empire and freedom. They had known nothing about humanity, and slaves here would know even less; many of them would have been born there, on an alien world, and would have no knowledge of anything other than what the Ra’a’zani told them. It was doubtful that there were any slaves still living that had seen Earth, who even knew anything about who they were.

But there would also be another race of slaves, the Yunkari. Johanna’s mission was to liberate them as well.

As the fleet moved out of the shadow of the system’s sun and into the open where the Ra’a’zani could see them, Johanna turned to Aileen and Adrian, who were standing by her chair. “You ready?” she asked Aileen.

Aileen closed her eyes and then nodded. “Yes.” She would be the one to make the first contact with the Ra’a’zani; she knew them best, as she had once been their slave.

“Good,” Johanna said, and then turned to her subordinates sitting on their stations below her dais. “Skim the fleet to alpha position.”

“Skim in fifteen seconds, Fleet Commander,” the Navigation Handler responded.

Johanna watched the holo in front of her as the fleet prepared to make an FTL transition within a system, what was supposedly impossible to do. But thanks to the knowledge in the sphere, they had attained the technology that allowed them to make short transitions through normal space, which meant that they were not forced to abide by the restraints of hyperspace travel.

Then the holo changed; the markings above the fleet and its representation started to move incredibly fast across the holo, crossing the 20-light-minute distance in a little over twenty seconds. The fleet ended its skim at around 400,000 kilometers from the planet.

“Fleet-wide skim available again in fifty-two minutes,” the Navigation Handler reported.

Johanna nodded. The technology was amazing but required a lot of power, which was why it took so long to replenish the skim-dedicated capacitors.

The holo now showed countless stations, assembly yards, and defense platforms in the orbit of the planet, ships moving between the stations and the planet and the two moons that orbited it. The moons had many facilities on them that were surrounded with large defensive weapons.

Johanna glanced at Aileen. “Go ahead,” she said.

Aileen stepped up to the holo, raising her hand and opening a channel to the Ra’a’zani.