by Ivan Kal
He gave the orders and the fleet started moving, and soon enough they entered the skim. The Enlightened did not use the newly discovered methods of faster-than-light travel, nor would they ever do so. It was anathema to everything that they represented. And there was no need regardless, as his bioships were capable of far greater speeds than the People had ever been able to achieve.
It would not take them long to reach the border.
Already Doranis could feel excited by what was to come. He had grown tired of waiting for Aranis to return. The other Enlightened had been gone for barely a few hundred years, nothing really in the grander scheme of things or even the length of their lives, but still, Doranis was annoyed. Aranis was the one that had insisted on them restraining themselves, but the knowledge that Ullax did not have a long time left did mollify him somewhat.
Even though he was curious about what he had found, Axull Darr was no fool, and if he had created an entire race of people in his image, they would be a threat. No matter how small their threat inevitably turned out to be, Doranis was in agreement that knowledge was an advantage. Their forces might be powerful, but once they entered the last stage of their preparations, there would be no room for unknowns. The relays had to remain in position and the Conduit could not be interfered with.
Still, Doranis might disagree and argue with Aranis, but he had faith in him. They were the Enlightened, and they would always act together for their ultimate goal.
Aranis could not fail.
CHAPTER FIVE
Year 709 of the Empire — Sanctuary
Emperor Tomas Klein looked over the data scrolling over his holo-screen and frowned. He had received the latest message from Levisomaerni, matriarch of the Partenai, one of the core races of the Josanti League. She had been contacting the many star-nations of the galaxy on his behalf, as she was one of the oldest and most influential people in the galactic core. Her reach stretched far across the galaxy; her word had meaning.
The first part of the message was good news. She had secured the Suvri as the hosts of the summit, and she had the agreements of most of the galactic powers to show up. Of course they had veiled the summit in part as a diplomatic summit meant to both inform them of the threat and work on the relationships between the major players in the galaxy, which was not technically a lie; but the true reason Tomas wanted the meeting was to reveal the knowledge he possessed about the Enlightened.
Yet even Levisomaerni had had trouble with bringing everyone to the same table. For the better part of the century Levisomaerni had sent messages out to other influential people across the galaxy, and yet until recently she had little to show for it. The galactic nations were unwilling to believe in her messages, and there had been some evidence of foul play. Over the last century there had been an increase in rumors about the Empire, none of which were good.
Most of the star-nations that were far away from the Empire had an incredibly wrong impression of them. Mostly, the rumors flying around were that the Empire was a bloodthirsty expansionist force bent on dominating the galaxy—and while there had been a large amount of expansion by the Empire, they did not make war lightly. The Empire had many races under its banner—many Clans, Protectorates, and vassals—but the rumors made it seem like it was humans, Shara Daim, and Nel that dominated and ruled everything. In the end, Levisomaerni had been forced to travel across the galaxy and meet with galactic leaders in person, and that had taken time.
Tomas had studied the rumors closely, and he could see that there was just the right amount of truth for them to seem plausible. The rumors, however, had been something that they had been battling for a long time.
But the subject of the second part of Levisomaerni’s message was not focused on the rumors. Instead, it contained proof, at long last, of something that they had known for a while now.
Their attempts at creating an alliance have been interfered with. The only question they’d had was by who—and now they knew.
For decades, they had been attempting to discover the truth, with both Levisomaerni and Tomas sending out agents across the galaxy in order to find out. They had never gotten close. Sure, they’d discovered attempts by a few star-nations, but those were not on the level of the interference that they were sure was occurring; for there was no clear outward sign of sabotage, yet the pattern was there, if one looked deeper.
Messages arriving late, just as some event drew the intended recipients’ attention, some not arriving at all, and yet there was no evidence of this on their side. But now they knew—and Tomas was stumped by it.
Their agents had managed to intercept a signal that had hacked into one of Josanti League’s relays and had recorded it scan one of their messages and then alter it. The signal had then been traced back to a ship hidden in-system.
A black ship. A machine ship.
And Tomas could not find a single reason as to why it would do that. The AI controlling the machine ships that kept the Enlightened contained had never interacted with any star-nation. They never answered any message, never interfered. They only watched, and in case of Enlightened movement, they expanded their borders, wiping out all life they could find as they expanded. As far as Tomas was aware, the AI’s purpose was to combat the Enlightened. Now, however, there were two questions in Tomas’s mind. Firstly, was the AI malfunctioning, or had its ships been captured and reprogrammed by someone else? Secondly, what would it mean if there was no malfunction, and it had done this on its own?
Already Tomas’s plans had been delayed significantly from his original timeline. But Levisomaerni was old and savvy, and while there might’ve been interference from an outside force, she had managed to convince most leaders of prominent star-nations to agree to at least meet. It had taken longer because she had needed to go to each of them in person. Going in person across the galaxy took time, and came with a lot of political maneuvering. Levisomaerni was a prominent figure in the Josanti League; she could not act as freely as she would like.
Tomas put the message aside and turned his thoughts to the machine ships. Their meddling had delayed them some, but that was done with. Now he needed to look forward, toward the summit with the representatives of the galaxy’s most powerful star-nations. Afterward they could worry about the machines and the AI that controlled them. They would need to go and find its base system somehow. He doubted that they would manage to speak with it, as its actions so far had shown that it was either not able to communicate or unwilling. If they couldn’t get access, then it would come down to fighting—and Tomas really didn’t want to shake up the balance between the containment and the Enlightened. But he knew that they would have to do so. They didn’t know how much time they had before the Enlightened started moving again, but Tomas would much rather fight at a time of his choosing rather than theirs.
But now he had to prepare for the summit. It was scheduled for five years from now in order to allow everyone time to get there, and Tomas would travel with a small fleet which would itself be escorted by Adrian’s Nomad Fleet. They still didn’t have permission for his fleet to pass through the core, but they had a clear path to Suvri territory, and the summit was very close to the Suvri border. The Nomad Fleet could be stationed there.
One of the points of the meeting would be the Nomad Fleet’s status. Currently the Empire had acknowledged it as an independent nation, albeit one allied with the Empire. They were hoping that that would be enough for them to at least reconsider their position on allowing it passage. If not… Their other plan was not going to make anyone happy. But they just couldn’t afford traveling around the core, especially since they lacked trans-lane maps and would have to take the time to map out their path.
Tomas needed to make the summit a success. Everything rested on it.
CHAPTER SIX
Year 711 of the Empire — Warpath
Adrian sat in his room in the Residential District of the asteroid that served as Clan Warpath’s capital. He was meditating inside in his mindspace, mea
ning that for him time passed much faster than it did in the outside world. He was living through the memories of his training with Anessa and Lurker of the Depths. His former master had discovered a new and powerful way to use the Sha, and had taught it to both Anessa and Adrian.
This new ability was in Adrian’s opinion one piece of the puzzle about why the Enlightened were so strong. Sha was something that was almost impossible to comprehend; it literally was reality. Every time someone who could use it tried to do something, they needed to spend energy to bend reality to their will. But with this ability, it was different: with it, one had access to all the power of the Sha one could ever desire, just at the tip of their fingertips. Sha influences all things in the universe, but their existence was actually just beneath the surface of the Sha.
And there was an ocean’s depth beneath—it was hard for Adrian to comprehend, to wrap his mind around it, even after decades of training. There was something there that was just outside of his comprehension, a gnawing sensation of a greater understanding that he just couldn’t wrap his mind around. Both Anessa and Lurked of the Depths felt the same.
This power did not seem restricted to some evolutionary trait, but there were things one required in order to reach this level of power. The first was a great understanding of how to use the Sha, second was a powerful and disciplined mind and, third, one required great will. Once one was immersed fully into the ocean that was the Sha, it threatened to overwhelm and crush the mind of any who tried to bend it to their will. And that—will—was the only thing that was required to use it. It strained the mind terribly, making one tired and weak, drained somehow.
The three of them had kept it a secret for now, but in truth Adrian doubted that there was anyone else who even could achieve this state. For a while he had considered his daughter Ryaana, but in the end he knew that she wouldn’t be able to do this. Not yet. And her close relationship with Vas—one of the Enlightened—meant that they had to be very careful what they did around her.
Adrian was still not completely certain that the Enlightened could achieve this state, but it was the only thing that explained their abilities. They could not be as powerful as they were otherwise.
Slowly Adrian pulled out of his memories and then out of his mindspace. He opened his eyes and was met with his dimly lit empty room. Anessa was on the Sowir homeworld training with Lurker of the Depths, and Adrian would need to go and pick them up soon.
Yesterday, he had received a message from Tomas. The summit was finally happening and the Nomad Fleet would go with the Emperor. It would not be allowed in the system where the summit was being held, of course, nor would it be able to enter the Suvri territory at all—but they would wait on the border. The plan was for them to start on their journey as soon as Tomas received permission from the core powers.
Hopefully there would not be any problems. The public and even some of the galactic leaders thought that the summit was a first gathering of galactic powers in order to bring the galaxy closer, to negotiate trade and alliances. Tomas and Levisomaerni had other plans: They were bringing data and records of the People, records that would convince them all about the Enlightened and the threat that they posed.
He stood up and after a quick shower left his apartment. He made his way to one of the many trams that connected all of the asteroid’s districts. It took him barely two minutes to arrive to his destination at the high speeds the trams were moving. Once there, he was met by an excited-looking Nel.
“We are ready to leave at your command, Warmaster,” Gotu told him using Adrian’s old title from when he had created Warpath. After he had left the Sentinels, Adrian had decided on using that title for his new position as the head of the Nomad Fleet. The rest of the ranks for their military they had borrowed from other military organizations inside the Empire.
“Good, get to your ship. I’ll be out soon,” Adrian said.
“Are we finally going to see it?” Gotu asked with a grin.
“You will,” Adrian answered, and walked away. Gotu was of course referring to the Skywrath project, as most knew it. Adrian had kept it a secret for a long time. Sure, most people had seen the hull as it was being constructed, and had seen when he had sent the hull away to Axull Darr for him to install his upgrades and weapons—but after that it had been kept in a sealed berth, where only those working on it knew what it truly was. The existence of Moirai was a secret. People thought that the Krashinar were in Warpath for more of a diplomatic reason, their spawnery here only for the Empire to study their ways and technology.
Very few people actually knew that Moirai was inside the Skywrath hull. They had made sure that it completely sealed the beast inside, and Moirai had grown to fill the entirety of its shell. The weapons on the Skywrath hull were technological in nature, mounted turrets that were linked to the other tech systems inside. Moirai’s grown weapons, on the other hand, were hidden inside by hull.
Adrian made his way to the sealed berth and entered through the private tunnel leading inside Moirai. The opening was made out of compressed matter, the inside out of highly durable ceramic polymers. It was a part of Moirai that had not been grown, but built, the small landing bay and a cargo bay. They were far smaller than most other ships had, but Moirai didn’t properly speaking need them. The only things inside were two small high-end shuttle sized ships. She had no need for more, as she had no crew other than Adrian.
As soon as Adrian stepped inside, he felt a large mind brush against him, welcoming him inside. Adrian sent his thanks to Moirai and walked forward. Soon enough he reached a large door, and the sides slid away and let him in. He stepped into a dimly lit corridor that was a part of Moirai’s innards. The walls were black, and were a part of Moirai.
Once, long before he had shared his life with the Old Scar, Adrian had seen the Krashinar great beasts and wondered what their insides would look like if there were people inside of them. Would they be wet and slimy, or something else? he had asked himself. But he had learned that it wasn’t like that—that the Krashinar had long ago learned how to manipulate every part of their great beasts.
The corridor that Adrian now walked through was clean and dry. It was black and more organic looking than a constructed corridor, curving along its length. It was, in fact a hollowed-out bone—the walls surrounding him were black because of the inner layer of carbon that covered the almost pure white bone of Moirai, which was designed mostly by the Krashinar with only a few additions by the human geneticists. It was almost as strong as the compressed matter that was the hull. A small cable line was stretched across the sides and was glowing dimly, providing the light.
Adrian made his way to the small pod, which was mounted on the rails placed on the top of the corridor, and stepped inside. Moirai was far too large for him to simply walk to where he was headed. He used his imp to activate it and the pod started accelerating, flying past several intersections. Eventually, he reached his destination.
A metal door at the end of the corridor opened and he stepped into the core of Moirai. The inside was a half-sphere room, its gray wall made out of metal. On one side of the room was a holographic command hub—a round-table device that currently showed the Warpath system above it. On the other side of the room was another door leading deeper into Moirai, and in the center of the room was a large chair—or as Iris liked to call it, “the throne.” It was half organic in nature and half technological. Its base and back were pure white, being made of Moirai’s bone, with brown and purple flesh-like nodules attached to it. This was at least how it looked from afar; the flesh was actually a piece of Moirai’s nervous system, through which Adrian could connect to her. There were technological add-ons as well: cybernetic implants which connected to the mess of cables below the floor but were just visible in the base of the chair, and around the throne were also mounts with holo-emitters, as well as one smaller, more conventional display which could be moved around.
As Adrian made his way to the throne, the form of a fier
y woman appeared next to it. Iris looked much the same as she always did, with her reddish form and hair that seemed made of fire. She had abandoned her dress, also made of fire, for an almost nude-looking body, and she had also now made herself as tall as Adrian.
“So we are finally getting out of here?” Iris asked with an upraised crimson eyebrow.
“Yes, we are. Tomas just sent the word.”
“Great! I’ve been dying to get out of here for decades!” Iris said, pumping her fist in the air.
Adrian’s mouth curved upward as he sat down in his throne. Iris had been transferred to the Moirai’s tech computers, and was now in charge of operating all non-biological systems for Moirai. It had become apparent early on that, while Moirai could interact with the conventional systems through her cybernetic implants, there were difficulties in the form of much slower response times, and she was not as apt with the control of the computers as they had thought she could be. Even with training that had not changed.
So they had decided to put an AI in her to help do that for her, and Adrian would not trust any AI other than Iris. The core Iris now inhabited was larger and more advanced than her own, and also partly biological. It was a brain-processor hybrid, but Iris had adapted extremely quickly. She was also the first AI that had been put into this kind of a core, and with it Iris controlled everything that Moirai did not. The three of them had started referring to the non-biological systems as a part of the shell—which was what they called the Skywrath hull that surrounded Moirai.
The shell consisted of the hull, the shield emitters, and the weapons mounted on it, as well as the large antimatter core that was situated deep inside Moirai in a hollowed-out, hard bone. There was also communication equipment, drives, trans and hyper systems, and a few more smaller backups. Moirai could do all these things herself as well only in different ways. There were power conduits stretched through her body to every system from the core. While this had presented them with a difficulty in the beginning, as they had no idea how they could repair them inside of her body should they be damaged, they had developed a specialized type of nanites that could operate inside of Moirai. Her system was flooded with them even now, and there were enclosed capsules which held even more in reserve. The nanites also helped Moirai regulate her biological systems and repair them, as well, should the need arise, and they had a legion of autonomous bots moving around, which could be directly controlled by Iris if there was a need. With them, she could repair anything herself, or help Moirai if she needed anything. But it wasn’t like non-biological systems had no benefit for Moirai as well—she had specialized tissue surrounding the anti-matter core which allowed her to feed off the heat and residual energy that it gave off. In addition, there were four fusion cores specially dedicated to providing Moirai with energy, essentially feeding her.