by Ivan Kal
“Remaining?” Adrian asked.
“The Ra’a’zani made the mistake of attacking a Shara Daim scientific outpost. The Shara Daim have been at war with them for some time, and have wiped out most of the Ra’a’zani clans. But those that remain are hidden; their territory is spread out, and the Shara Daim have not had any luck in locating the remainder on their own.”
Hearing that, Adrian felt a burden lift of his chest. They had been worried that the Ra’a’zani would be a threat. But if this was true, they were almost beaten. He needed to send a message to Tomas and see what their next step would be. Probably contacting the Shara Daim and getting them to help find the slaves—unless they already had, in which case, why hadn’t they returned them to Sol?
“Thank you for this information, but I doubt that you are just willing to give me this data,” Adrian sent.
“We wish something in return. An exchange of information. Your Empire is spreading anti-spinward, in an area we have little influence and knowledge about. We want safe passage for our exploration ships through your territory, and a sharing of information concerning any new powers you encounter in that area of space.”
Adrian looked at him, surprised. It was far less than what he had imagined, and within what Tomas had allowed Adrian to give.
“That can be arranged,” Adrian said. Hanaru took out a datachip and offered it to Adrian as the hologram disappeared. “That is all?” Adrian asked, referring to the comments about the Shara Daim, human, and Nel connection.
“The Shara Daim guard their secrets vehemently. We know enough to be sure that there is a connection between you. But in the grander scheme of things, it is insignificant, a scientific matter. Not one that threatens the Esari.” With that, Hanaru turned and left the room. Adrian looked at the closed door for a moment before turning and leaving the room. He exited the building and he and his people left.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Anessa exited her shuttle, followed by Do Sun Arikas and two Va Sun. All of them were wearing their Shur At, the weapons and protections that they wore in battle. The Shur At was not active, so it hung around their bodies like a simple garb. But with a thought, Anessa could turn it into armor that encased her body, could have it mold into powerful energy weapons. She had always believed it to be one of her people’s greatest inventions. But after she’d learned more about the device, she knew that it, like so many other technologies they possessed, had come from their ancestors.
Their shuttle had landed close to the Loksi headquarters; it took them only a few minutes to get to their destination. At the entrance, she turned to Do Sun.
“Do you have everything you need?” she asked.
“Yes, Dai Sha, I have the list,” Do Sun answered. While she talked to the Gatrey, he and the two Va Sun would arrange for supplies for their Legion. She wanted to end the Ra’a’zani as fast as possible; already her delay had started whispers from the other Dai Sha.
“Good, I’ll meet you back at the shuttle,” Anessa said, and entered the building as the three of them went the other way to meet with the trading guilds. She needed no guards; she was probably the strongest of the Dai Sha.
Once inside, she was led to an empty room, and as she entered, the doors on the other side opened and a Gatrey entered.
“Dai Sha. My name is Hanaru. It is an honor to speak with you in person,” he sent. Anessa fought back the impulse to squash him for his presumptuousness of speaking to her with the Sha. But she reined in herself. The Esari was powerful, and the Gatrey held great power in it, even though they liked to pretend that they were simple information brokers. They were the Esari’s spies and scouts.
“I am in need of information,” Anessa said, refusing to acknowledge him.
She felt him close off his welcoming aura. “How may we help the Shara Daim?”
“I seek the Ra’a’zani, the race we are at war with. The locations of their worlds,” Anessa sent.
“Well, that is interesting,” Hanaru said, and she caught a brief taste of amusement from him.
“What is interesting?” Anessa sent.
“You are the second person today to ask that information from me.”
Anessa frowned. “Who was the first?”
“We value the privacy of our clients very much,” he said. Anessa prepared to press him, when he added, “Although the person very much resembled a Shara Daim.”
Anessa froze. She glared at the tiny alien. “What do you mean?”
She felt another rush of emotions from the Gatrey; he was studying her, and was very much interested in her reaction to his words. “The person asked about the Ra’a’zani worlds as well, and he looked very much like you. Shorter, with different eyes and skin color, but everything else was the same.”
Realization came to Anessa immediately. That could only be another descendant of the People. The Humans were slaves, but did some escape? Or was it the third race? Hanaru continued, all the way studying her closely.
“They are from an Empire anti-spinward from here, and are new to our sectors. Why they wanted to know about the Ra’a’zani, I do not know.”
“You said that they were here today? Are they still on the planet?” Anessa both spoke and sent.
“I do not know,” Hanaru said. Anessa felt the lie.
“Where are they?” Anessa said forcefully, drawing on the Sha and smashing through the Gatrey’s defenses, entering his mind.
She felt his shock, but she pushed it aside and searched his memories, looking for whoever it was that he had spoken with. And then she found the memory. The being he had been talking with was a Human. She couldn’t make out the conversation; the Gatrey was strong and was fighting her probe. But she moved forward. She found him ordering his people to follow the Human and his party. There were more than one. She drew more of the Sha and dug out the information she was looking for—the Human was still on planet. And he was in a local establishment.
She was about to try and dig deeper, find everything that this Gatrey knew, when he pushed back. A resonating pain smashed into her mind, but she shielded most of it. The Gatrey had regained his wits and was fighting back. She reached to the Sha and threw him across the room, breaking the connection.
“You have made a mistake, Dai Sha,” he ground out as he got to his feet, alert. “Your agreement with the Erasi prohibits you from using your power to harm our citizens.”
“Your threats don’t faze me, Gatrey. You should have known better than to try and play with a Dai Sha. And you should not have lied to me.”
Anessa turned and left the alien there in the room. No one tried to stop her as she left the building and made her way towards the last known location of the Human. She got her directions from the Erasi net and cut through the throngs of aliens walking around her. There was a Human on this world, and she needed to get to him. Find out the location of their homeworld and recover the device of the People. And anyone that stood in her way would die.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Adrian sat in the bar with Narateth, finalizing their transaction, and was waiting for Aileen and the rest to get back. They would be leaving soon, but there were still a few things to take care of concerning the deals they’d made. Akash was sleeping outside the bar, while Sora had gone with Aileen.
“That is the last of your pay. I’ve added some extra for the great service,” Adrian said as he transferred credits from his chip to hers.
“Thank you, it has been good working with you. I will spread the word that you pay well and are fair. And I hope you recommend me to any of your people coming this way,” Narateth said.
Adrian smiled. “Of course.”
Narateth stood to leave, but then her eyes wandered and fixed on something behind him, and her entire body froze. Adrian stood and turned, only to see a tall obsidian-skinned woman with a shaved head walking up towards him. Immediately, he recognized that she must be Shara Daim. She reached him and stopped, looking down at him.
“You are a human?�
�� she asked, her voice melodic and yet somehow cold.
“Yes,” Adrian said simply, and tried to think through the possibilities. He hadn’t planned on getting in the contact with the Shara Daim, not before they knew more about them. And she knew that he was a human. How does she know? he thought, just as her hand landed on his shoulder.
“I have questions for you,” she said, and started pulling him with her. “You are coming with me.”
Adrian reached up and broke her hold, taking a step back. “That,” he said, pausing for effect, “is no way of making new friends.”
“I don’t have the time nor patience to explain things to you. I need information that you possess. Either you come willingly or I will take you by force.” She took a step towards him, and Adrian retreated a step back. The people in the bar had pulled back, and others were leaving.
“Wait, you obviously know about my race, and by your reaction I can see that you have knowledge about Axull Darr and...” Adrian stopped as he saw her eyes widen. She stopped, and Adrian realized that that had been the wrong thing to say, just as he felt her pick him up from the floor with the Sha and then bring him closer.
“You know? How do you know?” she demanded. “You are slaves to the Ra’a’zani!” She looked him in the eyes, and then something powerful smashed into his mind, trying to get in.
For a moment, Adrian was taken aback, surprised. And then he recovered. The training he had received from Lurker in the Depths, the most powerful Sowir telepath that had ever lived, came rushing back to him. He slammed his will against her attempt and threw her out.
That staggered and released her hold on him, dropping him to the floor. She looked at him and her clothes started to change. “By force it is,” she said. Her clothes flowed as if they were made from liquid, until she became entirely covered in a smooth, metallic-looking black suit.
She jumped forward, throwing a punch at his head, but to Adrian the attack was telegraphed. He moved out of the way with ease. He felt her try to grab him with her mind again, but this time he was ready. He negated her attempts and jumped back, creating more distance between them. He gave the command to his Sentinel suit for it to go into battle mode, and scales started cascading over his body. He used his implant and sent a request for help to Aileen.
The Shara Daim obviously wasn’t going to let his armor finish encasing him; instead of trying to grab him, she threw a kinetic blast at him. Adrian jumped to the side, evading, as tables and benches that were behind him flew away and hit the wall.
Adrian knew better than to try and grab her telekinetically. What he did instead was grab a table close and flip it at her as she was moving towards him. The table hit and did nothing; it broke on her body, not even staggering her. She came in close and started throwing punches at him. Adrian, now encased in his Sentinel armor, blocked.
Each hit felt as if a sledgehammer struck him; he could feel it vibrate through his bones. She is stronger than me. So he switched tactics and instead of blocking started evading and deflecting. But she proved incredibly fast, and he couldn’t put enough distance between them. Each time he tried, she would close it with a step.
She was bigger, stronger, and faster than him. Standing at least 240 cm tall compared to his 184 cm, she had both reach and power behind her attacks.
Adrian tried to fire off a kinetic blast at her torso, but she twisted away and swiped her hand at his shoulder, hitting him and throwing him across the room. Adrian hit the wall, stunned. He raised his head only to see her charging at him.
Time slowed down as he increased his mind’s processing speed. He studied her. He didn’t know why she was coming after him, but she intended to take him with her. And he would not allow that. She was stronger than him, faster than him, but her fighting style was transparent. Her attacks were wide, fast, and powerful; he had no problem seeing them. It was not designed to fight others like her, he realized. The attacks she most often used were from above swiping down, using gravity and her entire body’s strength to strike.
He saw the style in his mind’s eye, and he understood it. It was designed to fight non-humans. There he had the advantage. Human martial arts had been perfected for the single purpose of defeating other humans, which the Shara Daim was very much like.
But there was the other problem: she had the Sha. And hers was more powerful. He couldn’t match her there. He needed to buy time until his people arrived.
But in order to survive, he needed to react faster, to strike perfectly every time. Adrian studied the room around him—it was almost empty. It hadn’t been more than fifteen seconds since their battle had started. He needed processing power. Color disappeared from his world. Objects that he didn’t need to see disappeared too. Finer details left his sight. And she sharpened.
He stood up. His attacker moved to attack, her fist coming down from above. Adrian stepped in and punched her in the jaw from below. Her head snapped back and she staggered a step, recovering almost immediately. Adrian didn’t let up, throwing punches at her torso, pushing her back. She swiped with her hand from the side, but Adrian ducked beneath, hitting her in the kidney area. As her leg rose to kick at him, he dropped to the floor beneath it and swiped at her other leg. She lost her balance and fell to the floor.
He knew that he hadn’t done much damage, so he went for her head, hitting her a good two times before a blast threw him backwards. He caught himself and oriented so that he landed back on his feet. But before his feet even touched the ground, she grabbed him telekinetically, pulling him towards her and smashing him with her fist as he was flying through air.
He hit the ground hard, and she straddled him, pinning his arms with her thighs and holding his legs in place with the Sha.
“You are good, but you don’t know how to use your power. Stop struggling or I wi—” She was interrupted mid-sentence as a massive shape moving incredibly fast slammed into her. Akash closed his jaws around her arm as he dropped on her. Adrian got to his feet just as she broke Akash’s grip and threw him telekinetically away from her. The massive wolion wasn’t really thrown as much as pushed across the floor a few meters away. Adrian crashed into her from the side, picking her up and then slamming her into the floor, cracking it.
He pulled back and started raining down punches on her head. But her armor protected her. She closed her hand around his elbow and then punched him in the head with other arm as she twisted and changed their positions.
Akash jumped her from behind again, but this time she caught him mid-air with the Sha and threw him across the room. She took hold of Adrian’s head and started beating it down against the floor. A quarter of his vision disappeared as she dented his armor and destroyed the nano-cameras there. He tried to shake her off, but with no success. Then he started drawing on his already half-spent energy supplies.
She hesitated as she noticed what he was doing, but she was too late. He released an energy blast all around him, throwing her back and pushing himself off the floor. He stood and tried to shake off his dizziness. The Shara Daim was leaning against the wall when Akash closed his jaws around her leg, clamping down and pinning her in place. She started raining down punches on his head.
Adrian jumped forward, kicking her in the torso and banging her back against the wall. He tried to hit her again in the head, but she sent an attack against his mind, distracting him enough to slam another kinetic blast in, throwing him backwards.
As he was getting up, another teal-colored shape entered the room, moving quickly and directly towards the Shara Daim. Sora bit down on her arm and started pulling on her. Aileen entered directly behind, her Sentinel armor already in battle mode. She went straight for the Shara Daim, hitting her in the head with her fist.
Adrian started towards them just as the Shara Daim punched Aileen in the head so hard it threw her backwards at least three meters. Then Adrian felt a familiar buildup of Sha energy. She sent out a wave around her, sending tables, benches, and everything else flying away from her. He was
hit by a nearby table, and Akash was dislodged and flew away as well.
Sora, on the other hand, held on to the arm. Adrian ran forward again before she could hit Sora. He grabbed hold of her other arm, and she headbutted him, breaking even more of his vision. He staggered, but Aileen reached her and threw a kinetic blast point blank at her head, smashing the Shara Daim’s head into the wall. Adrian used his imp and removed his helmet; it was only hampering his vision now. But without it, he needed to be much more careful.
The Shara Daim recovered from Aileen’s attack immediately and threw out a psionic that he was unfamiliar with. She raised her open fist and then closed it. Aileen’s hand was crushed as if it were made out of paper. Adrian heard her scream and she staggered back just as another kinetic blast picked her up from her the floor and sent her flying backwards. Adrian turned sideways, putting his right hand behind him and drawing on the remainder of his energy. He ran towards the Shara Daim, just as Akash jumped from the side. He bit on her shoulder and brought her down on her knees. Her head turned towards Akash, and Adrian felt her draw on her energy to use the Sha.
But then Adrian was there. He raised his hand, and he noticed the moment when the red mist on his palm drew the Shara Daim’s attention. She tried to twist away, but the two wolions had her fixed. The mist changed, turned into plasma just as he pointed his palm at her head.
The red plasma bolt hit her helmet; it charred but didn’t break. Adrian put his hand on her shoulder, jumped, and slammed his knee into her head. The helmet cracked, and he saw her feel the effects. Suddenly, Adrian and the wolions flew away from her—not pushed from her, but pulled from behind. They crashed into each other three meters away, along with several tables that had been drawn to the same point. They dropped to the floor in a tangled mess.