Out of the Ashes (Rise of the Empire Book 3)

by Ivan Kal

  “Are you ready?” Adrian asked.

  “Of course Adrian.” Iris responded. The two of them took the time before they arrived, to run a last minute check on the c-board.

  “Entering Tarsas system in one minute!” Navigation Handler yelled out.

  Adrian finished his tests, and leaned back in his chair and waited. A minute later the Nav. Handler announced their arrival into the Tarsas system. Immediately Adrian’s c-board made connection with the fleet using it’s upgraded FTL comm hardware. The FTL comm didn’t work in trans-space. Both the holo in the middle of the CC that served the crew, and the smaller one on Adrian’s c-board started updating. They have entered the system close to their target, the shipbuilding facilities in the orbit of the second planet. As soon as they got a full picture of their target and their immediate surroundings Adrian ordered the fleet forward towards the shipyards. The shipyard that also served as a station, dwarfed the ships around it. The thing was massive, at least ten kilometers long and half that wide and tall. By now the Sowir should be aware of their presence. This time, Adrian had no Nel ships accompanying him, although Retsar Isani did offer. Adrian felt that the message would be more impactful if it came solely from human ships, so he declined the offer. And in any case those ships needed to be at Nuva, just in case that another Sowir task force comes by while Adrian’s ships were away. With the new station and defense platforms they should be able to defend Nuva.

  Adrian watched on the c-board as his twenty one ships accelerated steadily towards their target. There were no communications from the Adrian’s side, there was no point. Sowir refused to communicate every time they tried. And they were not here to plead with them, they wouldn’t initiate communications with them. They were here to intimidate them into opening communications.

  New information highlighted information started appearing on his c-board, Iris was anticipating Adrian’s needs and used the c-board to get him info faster than he could have looked it up himself. He looked at the holo of the shipyard and a few seconds later he started to see movement from their warships. The shipyard had three light cruisers, two heavy cruisers and a battleship guarding it. There were also at least two dozen ships in various stages of construction at the shipyard itself. If the projection about Sowir shipbuilding output was right, then the lack of defenses here suggested that the people back home were right, the Sowir were engaged elsewhere. Perhaps some of the Consortium still survived, and were even now fighting them.

  Adrian studied the Sowir movements. The ships were clearly trying to move in front of the shipyard, to protect it. According to Nel intel, the shipyard defenses were poor at best. Pouute used it to build civilian ships, and had no real need for defenses. And after the Sowir took it they didn’t add any.

  Then Adrian saw that his fleet had entered the maximum firing range of their missiles. The missiles that his ships now carried were not the same as what they had during the battle of Nuva. New upgraded versions were designed to fight the Sowir superior defenses. Adrian highlighted all of the ships on his c-board, preparing to order them to fire on the shipyard. Now came the most difficult part, according to the records from the Consortium, when the Sowir realized that they had no chance of winning against the Consortium military, they for the first time since their contact opened communications. In order for this plan to work, Adrian needed to make it completely clear to the Sowir that his fleet could wipe out their ships and shipyard, without actually destroying them. The Sowir had the records of the battle of Nuva, they knew what Adrian’s ships were capable of. He needed to convince them that humans were a threat that they can’t match yet.

  Adrian sent the order to the fleet. The amount of missiles they would fire should be enough that a significant amount would pass their defenses and inflict damage but not enough that they will destroy them.

  A few seconds later, Adrian watched as hundreds of missile signatures appeared on his board, headed for the Sowir shipyard. The new Swarm Mk1 missiles were almost 50% larger than the previous missile type and sped towards their target at a 20% faster speed than their predecessors, from a 30% greater range. After fifteen seconds of firing, six hundred missiles were on the way to their target.

  ***

  Sowir ships saw the incoming missiles, and managed to get into position in front of the shipyard in time to meet them. As the human missiles entered Sowir range, they opened fire with their laser point defense. Within the first few seconds of laser fire, the eight Sowir ships managed to take down ninety three missiles. Then the computers on the missiles figured out what was happening, they engaged the evasion protocols, which slowed down the rate of their destruction significantly. Another fifteen seconds later the Sowir ships managed to take down one hundred and forty five missiles. Then the missiles reached the optimum range for their secondary protocol. Each Swarm Mk1 missile separated into three missiles that engaged their smaller but more powerful drives, doubling their speed. The sudden increase of speed and the sudden appearance of more targets confused the Sowir computers. 1086 missiles sped past the Sowir ships ignoring them completely, the Sowir ships managed to take down another two hundred missiles as they went past them. Then the missiles came in the range of the shipyards defenses, another one hundred and ten missiles were taken down, but the rest smashed right through, finding their target. Half of the missiles exploded before they reached the shipyards surface by design, the other impacted with the hull. The damage that the missiles did was minor when one took into consideration the size of the shipyard, but its hull was clearly scarred. Craters lined the shipyards surface, with a few places clearly venting atmosphere. The first salvo from the human forces succeeded in its intention.

  ***

  Adrian watched as his missiles went pass the Sowir ships and reached the shipyard. The Sowir must have realized that this was nothing compared to what his ships could unleash. Especially now that he had three dreadnoughts in his fleet. There was still no communication from them, and Adrian watched as Sowir ships started moving away from the shipyard and towards his ships. He knew that it was futile, they stood no chance against the First Fleet. But Adrian needed to make sure to get his point across. Soon the Sowir battleship would enter its particle beam range, and Adrian remembered the power of that weapon, and knew that he couldn’t allow his fleet to lose any ships or drones. He needed to end this soon. Adrian gave the order.

  ***

  Suddenly the space between the two forces was filled with invisible beams as the human ships opened fire with their laser cannons. The Sowir ships started rolling trying to dissipate the heat of the weapons, just as they tried to bring their own laser weapons to bear. But before they had a chance human ships released one more salvo of missiles. Two thousand missiles left the human ships, and the Sowir knew that there was no chance of them surviving them. The human lasers kept firing even as their missiles sped towards their target. One Sowir light cruiser came under the attack from six different beams from three drones, their combined firepower melting the ship’s hull cutting inside, the air inside the ship caught fire and the resulting explosion blew the ship apart. The Sowir ships focused on the incoming missiles, their defenses striking out at them. Now and then a laser beam would reach out to the human fleet, but the coating on their hull dissipated almost all of the Sowir fire. The Sowir lasers barely scratched the human ships.

  Then the human missiles engaged their secondary protocol. One thousand and seven hundred missiles that survived the Sowir defensive fire, became three times that number. They sped forward through the Sowir point defense. It was overkill. Each Sowir ship disappeared into a ball of orange fire that lasted for a second as the air inside them burned out. Once the fire cleared, there was nothing remaining of the Sowir ships.

  ***

  Adrian heard the crew of the Leviathan cheer in elation at the destruction of the Sowir ships. But he kept his mind focused on the c-board. There was still no communication from the Sowir, he would give them one more chance, then if they still don
’t try to communicate he would destroy their shipyard and proceed to destroy any other asset they had in the system. The people back on Sanctuary already considered that they were at war with the Sowir Dominion. And while they had no resources to fight such a war, they would do everything in their power to make the Sowir think otherwise. Buying themselves at least some time. Adrian highlighted the three dreadnoughts on his c-board, sending out orders to the commanders of the Prideful, Salahuddin and his own Leviathan.

  ***

  The massive turrets on the three dreadnoughts swiveled around to face the Sowir shipyard, and within a single minute opened fire. Massive metal rounds exploded out of the human turrets sent towards the Sowir shipyard at a fraction of the speed of light. The human weapon was devastating, when it hit their target. The mass and speed of the rounds giving them amazing destructive power. But the downside of these weapons was that once they were fired their trajectory couldn’t be changed. If the enemy knew their trajectory it was an easy thing for them to move out of the way, which meant that their most effective range was short, when the enemy ship had less time to move out of the way. But unlike a ship, the Sowir shipyard was relatively stationary, and even thought the distance between the human ships and the shipyard was considerable, it could not move out of the way. The Sowir had no choice but to watch as the human rounds drew closer.

  ***

  The command board showed the trajectories of his ships fire, and Adrian calmly watched. Then a couple of minutes later the weapons fire reached the Sowir shipyard. Adrian’s target was not the shipyard main body, but rather three of the docks that held unfinished battleships. A few moments later a holographic display appeared in front of Adrian showing the visual of the destruction. The metal rounds smashed into the unfinished ships and the docks surrounding them, ripping through the ship hull, the docks fell apart as the explosions from the ships and the metal rounds smashed them apart. The resulting destruction caused a series of secondary explosions that spread to another two docks adjacent to the ones he targeted. The destruction was massive but didn’t threaten the integrity of the station itself, it was big enough that it could survive.

  Cheers broke out again among the crew on the CC. Adrian waited, his ships keeping their distance from the shipyard. This was the moment, if the Sowir were going to open communications it would be now. Adrian waited, but again there was nothing from the Sowir. He was tempted to open communications first, but decided against it. The Sowir needed to believe that the Human are more than willing to fight a war with them. A few more minutes passed with no word from the Sowir. Adrian sighed, their mission failed. They would have a true war with the Sowir. Failing to come to terms with the Sowir meant that they would be forced to go to the plan C. Hit the Sowir fast and hard. Keep them off balance with constant raids on their territory using their only advantage, the trans-lanes. With the arrival of Adrian’s fleet in Tarsas system Sowir knew for sure that they had a way to enter inside the system’s hyperspace barrier – if they weren’t sure after Nuva. That was supposed to be another clue to the Sowir that humans might not be an easy opponent.

  Adrian sighed, he looked at the other targets in the system. The Sowir had a refueling station in the orbit of the gas giant, a few cargo ships were on their way out of the system, and those that were on their way to the shipyard have started turning around as they saw Adrian’s fleet. He would need to destroy everything in the system, trusting that the Sowir ships running away would carry the word of what happened. While Adrian’s fleet kept attacking every system they find the trans-lanes to.

  He highlighted the fleet, readying to order an attack that would destroy the shipyard. But before he had a chance an alert appeared on his board.

  “We are receiving a message from the shipyard Fleet Commander!” The Comm Handler yelled out.

  Adrian released a breath. “Play it.” Adrian said.

  The message was in Nel, simple and short, it was the same message that the Consortium received a hundred years ago when they met the Sowir. A computer voice boomed out on the CC of the Leviathan, “Terms?”

  Adrian smiled, “Looks like our gamble paid off.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  Sanctuary

  The teal tinted leaves of Sanctuary trees were slowly entering their winter forms, they would roll up in a tight shell to protect themselves for the winter that will be coming in a few months. Seo-yun watched them from the balcony of her former home, she hadn’t been here in months. She still owned the house built some way out of the city, on the edge of the plateau that the Olympus city was built on. It had a great view of the forest that stretched below. Sanctuary was such a beautiful world in her opinion. In some ways maybe even more beautiful than Earth. She did miss Earth sometimes, but she had made a choice, this was her home now. Seo-yun glanced at the person standing next to her, who was captivated by the view. The Nel looked over the forest below in fascination.

  “It is something else isn’t it?” Seo-yun asked.

  “Yes.” Lanai Sumia responded mesmerized, “I have never seen so many trees, so much nature.”

  Seo-yun raised an eyebrow, “Really? I thought that the Consortium had plenty of different worlds. There must have been at least one as beautiful as Sanctuary.” Seo-yun said.

  “No, sadly all the planets in the Consortium had been very developed by the time I was born. The cities almost covered the entire planet. I have never even been in nature until Nuva, and even then I spent most of my time on the station in the orbit. But Nuva is nowhere near Sanctuary in terms of beauty. The only thing that comes close are Mtural forest cities.” Sumia said.

  “I read a little about them, the pictures I saw were beautiful.”

  “They were beautiful, until the Sowir bombed them from space.” Sumia said.

  “I’m sorry.” Seo-yun said.

  “You don’t need to apologize to me. Your people didn’t commit those acts.” Sumia said.

  Seo-yun kept silent, looking out over the forest. “I know that you don’t approve with our making an agreement with the Sowir…”

  “Perhaps a part of me hates it, yes. But I understand that you needed it. And I am thankful that you included Nuva in that agreement.” Sumia said then turned to look at Seo-yun, “You know that they won’t keep that agreement forever? The moment they think they are strong enough to beat you they will attack, and if they ever learn that you have only this one system…”

  “We know. That’s why we plan on expanding rapidly, we already have potential systems in mind.” Seo-yun said.

  “Good. If they believe that you are just now expanding into this area of space, and have a much bigger territory somewhere else, they will wait and build up their forces.” Sumia said. With that they again lapsed into a silence, enjoying the view. Seo-yun liked the Nel, she liked talking to her and enjoyed being in her presence.

  After a while, Sumia spoke, “Your leader still hasn’t made a decision on my request?”

  “No… He wants to, but he is still hoping that your people from Nelus will change their minds.” Seo-yun responded.

  “I know that my people are little more than a burden now, and I appreciate everything you have done for us. The fact that you helped us, and made sure that we are safe from the Sowir is something we can never repay you for. But I still hoped, that we might become more than a burden to you.” Sumia said.

  “Give it some more time. Tomas has been stung too many times by acting rashly. He has made himself stop when it concerns you, he wants to make sure that he does the right thing for everyone.”

  “Perhaps I was too rash in giving him the same request again, after he already didn’t approve.” Sumia said.

  “But he didn’t refuse either.” Seo-yun said.

  Again they lapsed into silence, this time it was Seo-yun that spoke first, “I brought you here, because I have something for you.” Seo-yun said.

  Sumia looked at her expectantly, “Oh?”

  “This was my home, before I moved t
o the palace to be with Tomas.” Seo-yun said looking around, “But now I rarely use it. So I wanted it to have a right owner.” Seo-yun said, reaching in her pocket for a small computer stick, that she then offered to Sumia. “These are the codes for the house, a human keeps such codes in his or her implant. But as you don’t have an implant, I made this. It will transmit the codes when you are near the house. As well as help you control a few of the appliances that require an implant.”

  Sumia looked at Seo-yun open mouthed. “You are giving me your home? Why?”

  Seo-yun shrugged, “I like you, and I know that you will appreciate the view.” Seo-yun smiled.

  “But… I planned on returning to Nuva…” Sumia said.

  “Doesn’t matter, if you ever come to visit you can stay here.” Seo-yun reached down and took Sumia’s hand in her own, placing the stick in her palm. “I want you to have it.”

  “I – I don’t know what to say, nothing like this has ever happened to me.” Sumia said and a tear rolled down her cheek.

  “A simple thank you is enough.” Seo-yun said.

  Choked up, Sumia managed a soft, “Thank you.” Then she leapt forward and hugged the nearly a head shorter Seo-yun. Then quickly she leaped back, shock and shame were written all over her face. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” Sumia said.

  “It’s alright.” Seo-yun said smilingly, and reached over to hug Sumia again. “We are friends.”

  “Friends…” Sumia whispered, she had never had a real friend, it was something that the people from the lower class did. Sumia always had her family, until she was disavowed. The closest thing she had to a friend was Retsar Isani, and that was a relationship born out of necessity. But with Seo-yun it was different. Seo-yun didn’t need anything from her.