by Ivan Kal
Adrian pushed Akash off of him and glanced at his opponent, who was standing and walking towards him. He could see that she was hurt, but it wasn’t enough. Adrian was exhausted; using the plasma had hurt him. He glanced at Aileen on the floor, who was still in agony.
She raised him off the floor telekineticaly and started moving him closer to her. Adrian struggled, but he didn’t have the strength or energy to resist. With no other option, he triggered the command on his imp. The NX-02 entered his system. He felt on fire. Color returned to the world, and he felt strong again.
He sent out a wave of telekinetic energy, distrupting her hold on him, and dropped to the ground. Then he got to his feet and charged. She tried to grab him, hold him, but his reserves were replenished. He was strong. He was powerful. He threw a kinetic blast that hurled her back against the wall. He telekinetically spread her arms and legs, bound them to the crumbling wall. She sent out a surge with her telepathy, but it wasn’t focused on him, so he ignored it. And then he reached her.
She tried again to telekinetically grab him, but he shrugged off her attempt. He jumped and smashed his knee against her helmet again, then punched her. His fists were like sledgehammers smashing into her helmet. Once, then again and again, each punch thrown with the perfect movements of his body. On the seventh strike, her helmet broke. The smooth-looking faceplate shattered into pieces and he saw one half of her face.
Her one visible eye looked at him dazedly. And Adrian punched her, and then again and again, until she lost consciousness. Finally she slumped, her body relaxed, and she remained in position, only held up by his power.
Adrian took a step back. He still had strength; the drug was still in his system. He heard footsteps. Gotu and Björn entered, breathing heavily. Adrian looked around; the bar was torn to pieces. He looked at Gotu and Björn and realized that barely a minute had passed since Aileen had arrived. She was much faster than them, and had left them behind.
Aileen got to her knees and Gotu reached her.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“Yes, it just hurts so much,” she ground out, retracting her helmet.
Adrian looked at the Shara Daim still suspended against the wall. He released his hold and caught her as she fell, then motioned to Sora to approach. He put her on the wolion’s back and turned to Gotu.
“We are leaving, now,” Adrian said.
Gotu looked at the form slumped over Sora. “Why are we taking her?” he asked.
“She attacked me once she learned that we know about Axull Darr. And I intend to find out why.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Arisak Do Sun heard the telepathic cry for help from his Dai Sha and abandoned everything that he was doing. He and the two Va Sun ran as fast as they could towards the source of the cry. He was in panic, wondering what could have made a Dai Sha send such a cry for help. When they arrived, they saw aliens standing in front of a building. What they found inside was a destroyed alien bar, but no sign of the Dai Sha. The aliens that had gathered moved out of his way, afraid. He approached the crowd.
“What happened here?” he demanded. But no one came forward. Losing his patience, Arisak reached for one of the aliens and raised it off the ground. Immediately, it started speaking, telling him that she had been taken in the direction of the landing pads. Signaling the two Va Sun, they ran there, only to find no sign of her.
Do Sun found one of the aliens in charge of the landing area and demanded to know if he had seen anything. After some intimidation, he admitted to seeing the Dai Sha taken on board one of the alien shuttles. He demanded to know which ship they were from. The alien checked the records, and after he got that information, they boarded their own shuttle on the way to the Bloodbringer. The aliens that had taken their Dai Sha would not get away.
***
Veritas
The moment their dropship landed, Adrian and the rest exited it. They were met with people from medical and Warpath warriors that took the Shara Daim. They would keep her sedated until Adrian could fabricate a device that would drain her energy at the same rate she recovered it. He had it used on himself when he’d been undergoing the operation that augmented his body; he would need a more powerful version for the Shara Daim, though.
Aileen, Sora, and Akash went with them. Aileen would need to have parts of her hand regrown, and the wolions were bruised badly. With Akash wobling on his feet. Aileen would spend at least a month with it in the healing tank. Adrian knew the feeling; he had shattered his own hand using psionics, long ago.
Adrian, Gotu, and Björn got on the lift going to the command deck.
“Iris, get us ready to go. Contact the Erasi and tell them that we are leaving,” Adrian said.
“Do you think that they will try to stop us?” Björn asked.
“I doubt it. They don’t care as long as we don’t break the trading agreements. But just in case, I want us ready to run. They should have already learned about what happened,” Adrian answered.
“The Erasi command gave us permission to break orbit,” Iris said as she appeared in front of him.
“Good,” he said, and grimaced at the pain in his side. He was not unscathed.
“You should go to medical,” Gotu said.
“Not until we are out of the system.”
They arrived at their destination and Adrian sat in the chair on the dais. The ship was already moving out of Tarabat high orbit and towards the hyperspace barrier.
Iris appeared at his side. “Adrian, three ships have just started moving towards us on a direct course.”
“Erasi flotilla?” Adrian asked.
“No, the Erasi net identifies them as Shara Daim,” Iris responded, and changed a part of the holo surrounding him to show him the ships. Two ships were smaller than Veritas, at around 1400 meters long and about 600 wide and tall, and they looked like pointed pillars with some bulges at the base, where the drives were. The third one was larger, 3500 meters long. Its back and front looked like rectangular towers, about 800 meters wide and tall, but its middle was wider, at least 2000 meters wide, 600 on each side of the central pillar, and about 1000 tall, 100 above and below the central pillar.
“Adrian, I know that she attacked you, but we are risking war over something we know nothing about,” Gotu tried to reason.
“She wanted me to go with her from the moment she saw me. She said that I know something that she needs. And once I mentioned Axull Darr, she used the Sha to force me. There is something going on with them, and it is better that we find out if they are a threat now than to wait until they come knocking,” Adrian said as he studied the three ships.
“You are provoking them,” Gotu said.
“I am making it clear that we do not tolerate attacks on our people. If they are prepared to intimidate and bully, they should also be prepared to face the consequences of those actions.”
“We are receiving a message from the leading ship,” the Communications Handler said.
“Translate and put it on,” Adrian said. They had already purchased and implemented the Erasi translators into their own systems. The Erasi translators had a language database of every race they had ever encountered; the Veritas crew only needed to add the language of the Empire.
A voice spoke out, “To the alien ship, stop immediately, return our Dai Sha, and I promise you a quick death. Refuse, and we will come and get her ourselves, and your deaths will be anything but quick.”
Adrian glanced at the people around him. From everything they had learned about the Shara Daim, they didn’t really like other races, choosing to leave them be as long as they didn’t get in their way. But if someone was foolish to do so, they would simply destroy them. Ever since he had learned that, Adrian had had a bad feeling about them.
“Tell them that their ‘Dai Sha’ attacked a Lord Sentinel of the Empire, and that we will return her once she answers questions as to why she did that,” Adrian said, and to her credit the Comms Handler hesitated for only a moment.<
br />
Adrian turned to Iris. “Anything from the Erasi?”
“There has been communication between them and the Shara Daim ships, but they haven’t moved. And there is also a lot of chatter between their flotilla and the Loksi Corporation,” she answered.
Adrian quirked an eyebrow. The Loksi Corporation was supposed to be independent, but it seemed like they were more than that. Adrian was not an idiot; he knew that he was risking war with these Shara Daim, who he knew were the last race that Axull Darr had created. That did not make them good guys, though. From everything he had heard from them, they were not really altruistic. They conquered everything around them, crushing the weaker races.
But there was also the fact of this Dai Sha finding him. There were hundreds of races living on Tarabat, and new ones arrived often. He and his people were not a novelty. And she had come straight at him; she’d known he was there. Someone had told her. Something was not right, and he needed answers, even if he risked war obtaining them. He doubted that that would happen. There might be an incident, but he fully intended on returning his prisoner once he found out more.
“The Shara Daim ships are powering up weapons,” the Sensor Handler said.
“Power up the shield matrix,” Adrian ordered.
“Incoming fire!” the Sensor Handler said.
The enemy energy beam struck at the back of Veritas, and his ship shook slightly.
“Shields holding at ninety-four percent,” the Sensor Handler reported.
Adrian nodded to himself. “Erasi?” he asked. Firing a weapon in their system was forbidden.
“Still not reacting,” Iris said, and Adrian got a piece of the puzzle. For whatever reason, the Erasi would not interfere, which made him want to know what was happening. Why would she attack him at the mention of Axull Darr? Why didn’t the Loksi press him on the connection between the Shara Daim, Nel, and humans?
“Find us a clear course to the hyperspace barrier for a skim. But get us away from the stations and other ships. I don’t want to antagonize the Erasi more than this incident already has,” Adrian ordered. The Shara Daim were gaining on them; their drivers were apparently faster. The scans said that they, like the Empire, used both gravity and conventional drives in concert.
The Shara Daim fired again, all three ships this time, dropping the shield matrix to 85%.
“Should we return fire?” Gotu asked.
“No. They are not using all of their weapons, and are only trying to disable us,” Adrian said. “We will get away soon enough. I don’t want to declare war.”
“You think that kidnapping one of theirs is not enough to achieve that?” Gotu asked incredulously.
“She attacked me. If us capturing her for that is enough for war, then they planned on it from the beginning.”
“They didn’t know about us before,” Gotu said.
Adrian shook his head. “She called me a human. And she said that we were Ra’a’zani slaves. They obviously had plans for us, and I want to know what they are,” Adrian said grimly.
“The hostile ships have fired missiles!” the Sensor Handler yelled out.
“Point defense grid is online,” Iris said. Lasers reached out and took down the missiles.
“How long until we get clear?” Adrian asked.
“We will be out of the range of the stations and other ships in one minute, Lord Sentinel,” the Navigation Handler said.
The Shara Daim ships increased their rate of fire, but the Empire’s shield technology held. By the time the one minute passed, the shield was down to sixty percent.
“Ready to engage the skim drive,” the Navigation Handler announced.
“Engage,” Adrian said.
Veritas shuddered for a moment, and then they were moving faster than light inside the system. Their sensors didn’t work now; they couldn’t see anything around themselves. But that was why they always skimmed when they had a clear line of sight. A few seconds later, they stopped behind the hyperspace barrier. The Shara Daim ships were still inside it, searching for Veritas. They might have been able to follow them with sensors, but unless they could skim, they had no chance of catching them.
“Chart a hyperspace course towards the closest system. We will jump around a bit until we go back to our trans-lane route back to Sol,” Adrian ordered. And less than a minute later, they entered into hyperspace.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Tarabat – Loksi Corporation headquarters
Arisak, Do Sun of the Shara Daim, exited the shuttle. They had returned to Tarabat following the escape of the ship that had taken the Dai Sha. The ship was powerful, and Arisak wanted to know who they were. He charged into the Loksi Corporation headquarters, followed by five Va Sun. They shoved aside the pitiful aliens in their path and moved deeper inside the building, only to be met with a group of aliens in a large receiving area—a handful of Bomtu and Ssarath, and in the middle of their group were four Gatrey, obviously the leaders.
Arisak took a step towards the middle. “Who were they, and where are they taking the Dai Sha?”
“That is no way of asking for help,” the lead Gatrey said.
“Do not play with me, Gatrey! I have no patience for your games. Tell us or we will take the knowledge from your mind!” Arisak sent, enraged.
The Gatrey watched them, and then Arisak dropped to his knees as the Gatrey blanketed the room with their Sha. Piercing pain spread through his mind as the Gatrey broke through his defenses.
“Do not threaten us, Shara Daim. For far too long have we stood by and watched you intimidate and conquer other races with your power. But we are not them; we are not defenseless.” The Gatrey’s voice echoed through his mind. “Your Dai Sha might be powerful enough to fight us off, but you are not.”
Arisak pulled on his energy and stood up, grabbing one of the aliens and lifting him off the floor, only to have another Gatrey step forward and throw Arisak aside into a wall. He held him there for a moment before releasing him.
“You do not demand here, Shara Daim. Your victories over races weaker than you have made you arrogant. You don’t think that there is anyone that can match you. Your Dai Sha believed herself the strongest. She made the mistake of assuming her target was far weaker than her, and she is now paying the price,” the Gatrey said.
Arisak got back up to his feet and saw the rest of his people released. They moved to attack, but Arisak stopped them.
“You will pay for this insult, Gatrey,” Arisak said.
“We are done with standing by as you do what you wish. Find your Dai Sha on your own; you will have no aid from us.”
Arisak snarled at the smaller alien, and then turned and left the building with his people. Once outside, he turned to one of the Va Sun.
“Spread our people, find out who the ones that took the Dai Sha were,” Arisak said.
“But the Gatrey will have surely spread the word that they should not speak with us.”
“Yes, but there are always those that are willing to speak in return for credits, and if that fails, we will dig it out of their minds,” Arisak said.
“As you order, Do Sun.”
***
Hanaru watched as the Shara Daim left his building.
“Was that wise?” his compatriot Ubvaru asked.
“War between the Shara Daim and the Erasi is inevitable. Projections show us that they will only continue to grow in power until they can no longer be stopped. It was either now or when they were ready. They don’t suffer competition,” Hanaru responded.
“Their Elder council will demand that we find their Dai Sha or they will send their Legions to our doorstep,” Ubvaru sent.
“I’ll admit, that I did not plan for. I wanted to see the Dai Sha’s reaction to the mention of the Human. I did not anticipate her acting the way she did, nor did I think that the Empire’s people would be strong enough to incapacitate and take her. I know that we wouldn’t have been able to, no matter how many people we brought against her. But it
has worked in our favor,” Hanaru sent.
He had been trying to learn more about the Shara Daim ever since he’d gotten this post and had been put in charge of the planning for the inevitable war. He couldn’t resist poking at the Dai Sha once he had an opportunity. In hindsight, that wasn’t really smart. He knew stories and had read reports about the Dai Sha. They were the Shara Daim’s strongest and most powerful. She could have crushed him in an instance.
But somehow the Human had managed to subdue her. He had had help, but still. It said a lot about them. The Empire ship had already entered hyperspace. Rumors about their in-system FTL technology proved true. Their ship was powerful, too; it had shrugged off attacks of the Shara Daim warships like they were nothing. He wasn’t sure that the Erasi warships would fare as well.
“Make sure that someone leaks the information about this Empire to the Shara Daim, location and basic knowledge only. But don’t make it obvious,” Hanaru added.
“You want to point them at each other,” Ubvaru sent.
“I doubt that it will come to war; there is a connection between them. But it will make matters between them tense, especially since they kidnapped a Dai Sha. It will keep them occupied long enough for us to put things into place, get our fleets ready. And ensure that they do not unite against us anytime soon,” sent Hanaru, Weaver of the Erasi.
Chapter Forty
September; Year 54 of the Empire – Veritas
Adrian exited the med bay, where he had been checking up on Aileen. She was still asleep and in the tank, having her hand rebuilt. It would take a few more days, but it would be as good as new. He made his way towards the room they had transformed into a holding cell for the Shara Daim. She was still drugged and unconscious. He’d had the device that drained energy made, and it was now piercing through her skin and into the Nursha, draining everything that the organ attempted to store. He’d had a similar device put on him when he went through the augmentation to prevent him from unconsciously using vitakinesis and healing himself, hampering the process.