by Ivan Kal
Tomas and Adrian had stopped seeing eye to eye a long time ago, if they ever had. They had different philosophies, Tomas made decisions for others, following his beliefs. Most of the times his beliefs were for the betterment of all, for the protection of the weak. It was why their goals had aligned for so long. But now Tomas feared Adrian, so much that he dismissed his advice, all because he had an idea of what Adrian was. A foolish attempt to put him in a box that could allow him to understand something beyond him.
It saddened him sometimes, when he saw others look at people that were different than them and give them labels, invent words and designations used only to allay their fears of the other, of something they didn’t understand. They did the same to him, he knew what Tomas thought, what his experts had decided Adrian was. They called him a sociopath. They thought him incapable of love, thought him selfish, but they were wrong. He loved differently. He cared for others, if only in a way that did not conform to Tomas’s own beliefs.
And now the Emperor wanted him to bow and do as he said. But Adrian now knew the true plan of the Enlightened; he had proof. He would not bow, and if Tomas did not change his mind, then he would go alone.
He shook his head as he walked into a large building, the headquarters for his Fleet. Inside, officers of fleet nodded as he walked pass them. His faction called itself simply the Nomad Fleet, as they didn’t have a territory to call their own. Even the one system that Adrian owned was a part of the Empire. Their homes were their ships. Most of his people had followed him from Clan Warpath or his Sentinels. Not all of the Sentinels did, as not all of them believed in the same things that he did, but those who did were here. They followed a simple doctrine: they sought only to improve themselves, in whatever manner they found right for them. Some chose to study different fields, others to train in martial arts, and many other different ways.
Adrian believed that power came to those who sought it, to those who reached out and grabbed it on their own. His entire life was focused on that one thing, on becoming stronger and uncovering more and more mysteries of the universe. A simple goal on the surface, but so much deeper than most could understand. It was what had set him apart from others. Even these people who followed him, didn’t really understand. And it was hard for him to explain to others who did not experience the same things he did.
He walked into the meeting room only to see that all the others were already there. Anessa, Lurker of the Depths, and his daughter Ryaana were sitting around the long holo table, and above it was the data sent to them by Tomas.
Adrian took a seat without speaking.
“Did you make a decision?” Anessa asked.
Adrian grimaced. “I will not put my forces under their command. Tomas has no right or power to command me, not anymore.”
“Dad,” Ryaana said urgently. “We can’t do this now. We need to be united, or otherwise we will lose.”
“If I agree to his plans, we will certainly lose,” Adrian said.
“Then go and convince him. We have the proof now, and he will see that your plan is the best. He had taken your advice before,” Ryaana argued.
“I don’t think he will agree to anything I say no matter what proof I bring. His ego will not permit it, and I will not bend.”
“It is foolishness, Adrian,” Lurker of the Depths sent.
“I told him that I will be there if the Enlightened attacked them, but I will not let my force be used for naught. His plan to attack that system is lunacy. You read the files—you know that the experts of his Grand Alliance all think that that system holds the bulk of the Enlightened forces. They are wrong. The rest is in the core, and it is there that we must strike,” Adrian stressed.
“Adrian,” Anessa cut in. “You are not thinking clearly on this matter.”
He frowned, then opened his mouth to deny her statement. But before the words left his mouth, he stopped himself and narrowed his eyes.
Anessa continued speaking.
“First we need to get to the core system, and the only path that will not take months or years is through the two systems in the Josanti League’s territory. So either we go through the Enlightened forces or the Josanti League—there is no other choice. What Tomas wants to do, you want to do as well.”
Adrian leaned his elbow on the table and put his head in the palm of his hand, covering his eyes. She was right, of course. The relationship between him and Tomas was strained, and their fight had affected him more than he realized. But still, he was not wrong. “Attacking the Enlightened is a mistake. It can provoke them to activate their weapon early. I always intended for us to go through the Josanti League access point.”
“Then you will need Tomas to intercede on your behalf with them. You saw that they had joined the Grand Alliance,” Anessa told him.
“And do you think that I could convince him to give me his fleets? No, there is no trust between us now. He will still want to go ahead with his plan, even if just to spite me.”
“And I think that he should do exactly that,” Anessa said with an arched brow.
“You agree with his plan?” Adrian asked, surprised. They hadn’t had the chance to discuss anything since the message arrived, but he had thought that Anessa approved of his plans, not Tomas’s.
“What do you think will happen once we reach the core? That we will smash through the Enlightened and get to this weapon immediately? It will have an enormous force around it, defenses, and who knows what else. We will be fighting in system for days, if not more. Enough time for the Enlightened to send reinforcements from there,” she said, pointing at the system floating above the table. The former Josanti League system, the one that was now under the control of the Enlightened.
“You think that this attack can be a distraction,” Adrian said slowly.
Anessa nodded. “At the very least it can tie up their biggest force, making it easier for us to get to the core.”
Adrian frowned. “Tomas will want us to join. Even if I convince him, he will ask for a part of our forces to join his.”
“Probably,” Anessa said simply. “I think that we should give them to him, and I think that one of us should go with them.”
Adrian closed his eyes. He knew why she wanted that, and when he thought about it, it did make sense. The last fleet had been decimated by the power of the Enlightened, something only the people in this room could counter. “Why only one?”
“No matter what Tomas thinks, I know his plan is nothing but a distraction. We don’t need to win against them, we just need to keep them from reinforcing the core system while the rest of our forces strike there.”
He could tell from the tone of her voice that she intended to be the one to go with the Grand Alliance fleet. “We need to get Tomas to agree to this.”
“Then go and convince him,” she said.
Adrian sighed, but he knew better than to argue with her. “I guess that I am going to Sanctuary then.”
“No. Tomas is in Sol,” Anessa clarified.
“Why?”
“With so many people from across the galaxy being brought to the Empire for negotiations and organizing the new fleet, he needed to be in a system with an access point. And Sol is the most defended one.”
“Well, then, Sol it is,” Adrian said. He was not looking forward to speaking with Tomas again. But he was willing to put their business behind him if it meant defeating the Enlightened.
He only hoped that Tomas would be willing to do the same.
CHAPTER THREE
Year 718 of the Empire — Moirai
Adrian sat on his throne, thinking. He understood that he needed to talk to Tomas again, needed to convince him that attacking the core was their only hope. He just feared that the two of them saw things too differently, and that they wouldn’t be able to come to an agreement. He sighed; he was not good at this, at compromise. He never had been. He was stubborn, and he stayed the course no matter what. Both of them thought that they were the one that was right, and perhap
s both them were, in a way. Adrian had always believed that the one who had more power was the one who got to make decisions. It would be easy for Adrian to go to Tomas, to kill him, to take over the Empire and to do as he wanted. There was no one who could stop him. Many looked up to him, many would be happy to follow. But he didn’t want to lead, didn’t want to kill Tomas. It would mean crossing a line that he had been very careful never to cross. He had never killed just because he could;—always it was in self-defense or in order to protect someone else.
“Brooding much?” Iris’s voice brought him out of his mind and he blinked at the floating shape in front of his face.
Iris had changed her usual form. She was no longer a fairy-sized woman made out of fire, but instead she looked like a real, full-sized human, only her hair remaining as flames. Her skin tone was tanned and identical to his, and her features were the same as they had always been, only she was life sized now.
“I don’t brood,” Adrian responded.
“Of course you don’t,” she said dryly.
He rubbed at his eyes for a moment, then exhaled. “When did everything become so hard? So many decisions and responsibilities that hold the weight of countless lives.”
“It’s always been that way,” Iris said. “You just didn’t notice.”
Was it? he thought to himself. Perhaps it had been that way since the beginning. But back then he still got to do what he wanted and when he wanted it. It would all be so much simpler if he could just ignore what others thought. But he wasn’t what they said he was.
He shook his head of those thoughts. He didn’t want to think about it anymore, and instead he focused on Iris.
“You find out anything new?”
She shook her head. “Not really. They are going to use the device in the core, the thing that they call the Conduit to wipe out all life in the galaxy. I have no idea how that will help anything or even how it works. Only that it will connect with the relays they had scattered across the galaxy.”
“It must have to do with reach, to help them hit everything at once,” Adrian added.
“Perhaps.”
Adrian grew quiet again. Iris had done a lot since the battle, the vast majority of ships in system were directly under her command, and then there was the swarm. She had been using it to harvest materials and was currently breaking apart a moon, in order to feed the materials to the massive construction yards across the system. They had also transferred her new home, the core that used to house the Custodian AI, to Moirai. It was a massive spherical component: the brain of an AI. They still didn’t quite understand it; it was an upgraded version of the core that the People had built long ago, far more advanced than her previous core.
She had recovered the Custodian’s plans as well. It had been attempting to convert the spherical vessel that housed its core into a mobile battle platform. The plans were impressive—it would’ve had enough firepower to protect itself from nearly anything.
Iris and Adrian had discussed finishing those plans, and they had constructed the battle platform, but her core wasn’t in it. Her home had always been near him, and Moirai was the safest place for her. It meant doing some upgrades to Moirai’s shell, as she had to have comm systems robust enough to handle Iris controlling both her swarm and the machine ships. They had taken her through the yards, repairing the damage as well as putting in a few upgrades.
Now, Moirai was flying with the Old Hunters, testing her new weapon systems. Adrian reached out with his mind and touched hers. She allowed him in instantly, with no resistance or even an acknowledgment. She was in many ways the closest person to him. Perhaps that said a lot about him, that the one he felt the most connected to was a monster that flew between stars. Anessa and Ryaana didn’t really understand, as to them Moirai was just his ship. Lurker of the Depths understood, but he was a being that communicated through telepathy, and he could feel more from the Krashinar beasts than anyone else.
Adrian smiled as he looked through Moirai’s senses. She had no eyes, not in the strictest sense of the word. She could, however, feel subspace, feel the echoes that objects in real space left there, could feel the electromagnetic spectrum, and she used those senses to form something like an image inside of her mind. Adrian had spent enough time with her that he could interpret it.
Currently, Moirai was being chased by ten Krashinar great beasts as they weaved and danced across the star system. He hated spoiling her fun, but it was necessary.
“Moirai, it is time for us to go,” Adrian sent.
“ALREADY?” she sent back in her usual petulant tone. It had been months since the battle, and usually she couldn’t wait to go back to fighting. She had learned much from the battle. She had lost friends, the Old Hunters that had taken her under her wing. He had felt her grief, the attempts at understanding them just no longer being here. It had not been an easy conversation to have. Moirai was in many ways so far beyond him, but in other ways she was like a child.
“Yes. We are getting ready to go against the Enlightened.”
Once, she would’ve rejoiced to hear that. Now, he could feel her hesitation. But it passed quickly. She was not a human, she was a beast, and even though she now knew the consequences of war, she wanted to pit herself against the Enlightened again.
“FINE. WHO COMES?”
“We are going to Sol to speak with Tomas. So just us and a small escort for now.”
She turned to the Old Hunters in system and informed them of her new task. He felt the edge of their conversation, and then she turned her attention back to him.
“ERAX WANTS TO COME,” she said.
Adrian grimaced. He hadn’t planned on bringing any of the Krashinar forces with him. He didn’t want to reveal Krashinar secrets to Tomas. If he knew just how large of a force Adrian had with him… He sighed yet again. He didn’t want to have Tomas thinking that the Krashinar were siding with him over the Empire. He prepared to refuse, but then he shook his head. Ultimately, it wouldn’t matter. They needed to be united and strike fast. He sent Moirai a bundle of emotions and his thoughts, letting her know that he would invite some of the Krashinar to come with them.
Then he turned to Iris as an idea sparked. He had intended on going alone, and trying to talk some sense into Tomas—but perhaps another approach would have more impact.
CHAPTER FOUR
Year 718 of the Empire — Sol
Tomas was woken by an alarm coming from his implant. It was an urgent comm, high priority, but from the tone he knew that it wasn’t as serious as the system being attacked. He shook his head to clear his mind and then answered.
“What is it?”
“Adrian Farkas has arrived through the Sol access point,” his assistant told him.
Tomas closed his eyes. He wasn’t sure if he should feel relieved or nervous. He had asked him to come, but he didn’t really think that he would. “I’m on my way.”
About ten minutes later he entered the Lord Sentinel’s office—now Tomas’s own—only to find it already filled with people. Laura, the Fleet Master of the Empire, sat at a large holotable, Hayashi sitting next to her. Levisomaerni was there as well, kneeling on a large foam seat designed for her quadruped body. The last person there was Urvu’ri, the Head of the Tar’ferat Flight, standing on a perch instead of a chair. She had become quite a close ally to Tomas over the years.
He wasn’t sure why all of them had gathered here now, but he could guess that something was up. “So, what’s the issue?” Tomas asked.
Laura tilted her head. “Why do you assume that there is any issue?”
“You’ve all gathered together and you are looking suspicious.”
She sighed. “Fine. Adrian didn’t bring his fleet. He came only with a small escort.”
Hayashi snorted at that, but Tomas put it aside for now. “I ordered him to come with all of his forces.”
Laura gave him a look that he remembered very well from their time back on Earth. “You don’t get to give him orde
rs, Tomas, not anymore. I thought that we agreed that you would ask.”
He grimaced. He didn’t want to air their dirty laundry in front of Levisomaerni and Urvu'ri, so he kept his mouth closed. He and Laura had gotten into many arguments over her son. But yes, she was right—he shouldn’t have worded his message as he had. He had been angry at Adrian ever since the Grand Fleet was defeated, so angry that he couldn’t control himself. He knew that it was a problem, that he needed to think clearly, but he just couldn’t help but feel betrayed. He had lost people just because there was no one with enough power to fight against the Enlightened. They had made plans, their massive ships were designed to fight them, but it didn’t matter. The Enlightened didn’t go near the Sovereigns, and the countermeasures they put in place mattered little when the Enlightened didn’t test them. Only four people had the power that could match them, and they had refused to follow his orders.
And no matter what he said, deep down, Tomas knew that he was afraid. He had grown used to holding great power, being a leader of an Empire that could stand up to anything. But the four of them were beyond that; he was powerless before them, and that terrified him.
He needed them, and the fact that Adrian had come despite Tomas’s message meant that perhaps they could make peace. He hoped that it would be so, because no matter how much he pretended to be confident, deep down he was just scared.
“Was he informed to come here?” Tomas asked.
“Yes, Moirai and her…escorts are on the way,” Laura said. Tomas knew her well enough to catch the deeper meaning in her tone. He remembered Hayashi snorting when she called it an escort.
“Tell me,” he said as he took a seat at the table.
“Well,” Laura started. “Aside from Moirai, he is being escorted by two small task forces of Krashinar. Araxi is flying side by side with Moirai.”