by Ivan Kal
The pirates caused mayhem and chaos in the occupation zone, harming the Empire and Shara Daim efforts to integrate the sector. And the liberation force harmed the citizens of the Empire and Shara Daim living in the occupation zone. While the Hand was almost certain that the two acted in concert, and were backed by the Erasi themselves, there was no proof.
And that was what the Hand had been looking for a long time.
Elias shook his head. “It actually does make sense, if you remember that when the pirates began operating in the occupation zone, that area wasn’t a part of the Empire.”
Elias waved his hand and a map of the Empire appeared, then zoomed in to show the occupation zone and Clan Kazalir’s territory. “As you can see,” Elias started, “this area is extremely well placed as a base of operations. It is far enough from the occupation zone to evade detection by our patrols, and placed perfectly on several trans-routes leading to the occupation zone. It would explain why we haven’t been able to find their main base.”
Jacob shook his head dubiously. “Why haven’t we discovered them sooner?” Jacob asked. “Clan Kazalir had presence in that area for a long time.”
“They had claimed the area a long time ago,” Elias clarified. “They had only a few outposts and some mining operations. They’ve just now started putting colonists on the planets. I need you to go and investigate. Find the pirates, if there are any, and learn where their base of operations is.”
“You don’t think that this is it?” Nkiruka asked.
“The colonists hadn’t detected any traffic in the system; if it was their base, there would’ve been more signs. No, I think that it might be a depot of some kind, which is why I am sending you two. Find out if there is any pirate presence on that world, and if there is, eliminate it and recover any salient information.”
“Yes, sir,” Jacob said, and both he and Nkiruka stood up.
“I have a transport ready to take you to Sol. You will meet the ship that will take you to Santis there.”
The two saluted, and left.
***
Two days later, their transport’s shields glowed as it slowly lowered itself into the corona of the sun in the Nelus system. As they dropped lower and lower, a small sphere of blue light became visible. The transport approached, reaching it and passing through the blue light into the protected area. The transport’s shields disappeared as they entered the area protected by the massive shield that surrounded the access point.
A ring, large enough for entire stations to pass through, loomed in front of the ship, making it look tiny. The transport got in lane with dozens of other ships waiting moving toward the ring. As they reached the ring, they passed through the nothingness that pervaded it, and entered a strange space. Jacob knew that if the transport had windows, and if he were too look outside, he would see nothing. The access points compressed space and time to a single point—the inside of each ring occupied the same space. The Empire wasn’t yet sure how it worked, but that did not prevent them from using it. Once inside a ring, a ship only needed to send an access code for the ring they wanted to exit out of. The rest of the trip was nearly instantaneous. They hadn’t spent more than a few seconds inside the ring before they exited into Sol. The transport continued on its way outside of the Sun and toward the Jupiter yards, where Jacob and Nkiruka were supposed to meet their ride.
Several hours later they arrived at the docking berth at the Jupiter yards, and Jacob noticed two people walking toward them. A Trivaxian wearing the uniform of a Warpath Ship Master, and a Furvor who appeared to be his second in command. As soon as they reached them, the Ship Master inclined his head and spoke.
“Inquisitors, welcome. I am Ship Master Quas, and this is my second in command, Hassal. My crew and our ship is at your disposal for the duration of your mission. I was told that your mission is time sensitive, so we should move to the Erebus as soon as possible.”
“We are ready,” Jacob’s modulated voice came through his suit’s speakers. “If you could only have someone bring our gear from the transport?”
“Of course.” Quas turned to his second in command, and the much taller Furvor tilted her head and her eyes lost focus, which was an obvious indicator that she was using her implants.
“The crew will see to it,” Hassal said after a moment.
“Well, then, lead the way,” Jacob said, and followed as the Ship Master escorted them.
“I’m surprised you came to meet us,” Nkiruka said after a minute.
“There isn’t much for us to do on the ship right now. The crew is doing their final checks, and frankly we had been cooped up on Erebus for too long,” Ship Master Quas said.
“Did your ship require a retrofit?” Jacob asked.
“No, no… It’s a new type of a ship. This mission is supposed to be a live test.”
“A new type of ship?” Nkiruka asked.
“You’ll see… Ah, there it is,” Quas said, pointing through the large viewing windows with his lower arm.
Jacob followed the arm’s movement, and found the ship immediately. It stood out too much. It wasn’t very big, not by the standards of the Fleet—Jacob’s implant put it somewhere at around six hundred meters, making it barely a frigate. Its hull was completely smooth and silvery; it seemed solid, yet there was something about it that gave it an unreal look. There didn’t seem to be any imperfection in its bullet shape. There were no hatches, no weapons, nothing at all. Jacob glanced at Nkiruka and she glanced back at him. Their helmets prevented direct eye contact, but the two of them had been partners for a long time, and he could see that she was wondering the same thing.
They walked over to the airlock that was supposed to connect to the ship. Once inside, Jacob noticed that the tunnel ended some five meters before meeting the hull of the ship. And just as he was about to ask the Ship Master about how they were going to enter the ship, the hull moved. A piece of the hull seemed to flow away and reach over to engulf the airlock they were standing in. A few moments later, Jacob could see a tunnel leading into the ship.
The door opened and they stepped through.
“What is this?” Jacob asked as he studied the walls of the tunnel. They were the same color as the outside of the ship, and were completely smooth.
“This is a nano-ship. Most of the ship is made from nanites, except for the core,” Quas said. “The nanites surround the core—the command hub of the ship. They can change their structure to create most anything we need, from weapons, to—as you have seen—an access tunnel.”
Jacob looked in front of them. The tunnel seemed to keep going far deeper into the ship than he imagined it would need to. They walked for at least seventy meters until they finally reached a door, meaning that all around them was a sea of nanites. At the end of the tunnel, Jacob could tell that the hatch, at least, was not made out of nanites like the rest of the ship. This was solid plate—compressed hull, if he wasn’t mistaken. The door opened and they entered into what Jacob considered a more traditional ship interior.
“Hassal can give you a tour of the ship, and show you to your quarters. We can leave as soon as your gear is onboard, unless you have other business?” Quas asked.
“No. We should be on our way as soon as possible,” Nkiruka said.
“Very well,” Quas said. “I will be in the command center if you need me.”
Chapter Four
Sol—Olympus Mons
Ryaana fidgeted in her seat as the transport she and her father were on passed through the Sol access point and into Shara Radum. She had gotten a bit of a reprieve; her father had an emergency and hadn’t been able to go home with her. So, she had spent a few more days in Olympus Mons, being debriefed and seeing the friends she hadn’t been in touch with for years. Her father had tried to get her to go alone, but she had refused. It wasn’t like she was scared of her mother—but she wasn’t going to go face her alone, no matter what her father said about her supposed change of heart.
Their transport
exited from Sol and entered the Shara Radum system, skimming to the planet. It was her father’s private transport, so it was allowed down to the planet without much delay. With the access points, the trip between Mars in Sol and Shara Radum took barely an hour, which is how her father could work in Sol and live in the palace on Shara Radum with her mother. The transport landed in on the palace grounds and the two of them exited and made their way to the palace proper.
Her father led the way through the palace and toward the family wing. The staff and guards they encountered bowed deeply as they passed, reminding Ryaana that to them she was still the heir to the Kar Daim. They reached the doors leading into one of the family living rooms, and they entered.
As soon as Ryaana stepped in the room, she was tackled to the ground by a half-a-ton beast.
“Hello, Sora!” Ryaana said to the wolion as she snuggled in her neck. She reached over and petted her for a moment, and the wolion stepped back, letting Ryaana up.
“Ry!” two voices at the same time called from the other side of the room.
Ryaana turned toward them and smiled as she saw the twins, her younger brother and sister. “Kane! Vaana!” she exclaimed, walking over to give them both a hug.
After a moment she leaned back and looked at them. “What’s up with the hair?” she asked them. Her sister’s hair was half dark red and half dark blue, split down the middle.
“I’m trying new things,” Vaana answered.
“I like it,” Ryaana said as she admired her sister’s shoulder-length hair. She glanced at her brother and raised an eyebrow in question at his natural black hair color. The two of them never did anything without the other doing the same.
“Mine was green last week. I’m trying to decide which color I want next,” Kane said.
Ryaana shook her head at them, and then she looked around the room.
“So…where’s mother?” she asked finally.
The twins looked at each other, and then at their father, who was standing behind Ryaana.
“She is in a meeting. It shouldn’t be much longer,” Kane said.
Ryaana sighed. She had been ready to face her mother as soon as she stepped into the palace. She should’ve known that her mother would again put her duty to the Shara Daim over her. Ryaana shook her head, dismissing that thought; she didn’t really mean it. She knew that her mother had a duty, she understood that, it was that she just didn’t want any part of it.
She turned to her siblings and smiled.
“Come, let’s sit, and you can tell me all that has been happening while I’ve been gone.”
***
Speaking with her siblings and listening to their stories only served to illustrate how truly different from them Ryaana was. The twins loved being Shara Daim, they loved serving as Dai Sha, ruling over entire sectors of Shara Daim space and commanding fleets. Ryaana had hated that—she didn’t want to be responsible for worlds filled with billions. For the twins, ruling came as naturally as breathing. She listened as they spoke of their mother, and she noticed the way they spoke about her. They had had a much different mother than Ryaana had.
When she had been born, the Shara Daim had needed her mother, and her mother had chosen the Shara Daim over her. Not that she had been abandoned completely—her mother had taken some time to spend with Ryaana, but such happenings had been rare. She had very few childhood memories of days spent with her mother. She had always spent more time with her father, who, while busy as well, had always taken her with him when he could. She had spent more time sitting quietly in meetings he’d had with his Sentinels than actually spending alone time with him, but at least he had tried. The twins had been born much later, when both her parents could afford them more time.
Ryaana knew that most of her life had been her trying to please her mother, to make her proud, hoping that she would at least once put her before the Shara Daim. It was why she had spent so much of her earlier life following in her mother’s footsteps. She had trained and became a Dai Sha, just like her mother. The day when she was accepted into the order had been the one time her mother had actually told her that she was proud of her. And so, Ryaana had continued doing everything her mother wanted: she studied under every tutor the Kar Daim sent, she ruled in her mother’s name, served as a visible symbol of the Shara Daim to the remote sectors…
Until, one day, she realized that she didn’t want it. She didn’t feel comfortable amongst the Shara Daim. Their values were not her values—she had always felt much more comfortable in Sol, amongst the Sentinels, where race had no meaning, where only one’s achievements mattered. For her mother’s people it was all about the Shara Daim. It had changed a lot over the years, largely in part because of her mother; they traded with other races, and there were even some races from the Empire that worked and lived in the Shara Daim. But it was not the same as in the Empire, not yet.
Their conversation came to a halt when their mother walked in. The twins glanced at their father, who had been silently listening in on the conversation, and they then stood up, looking apologetically at Ryaana.
“We better leave you alone to talk,” Kane said, and the two left the room, leaving Ryaana alone with her parents.
Ryaana studied her mother as she walked over to stand near the chair her father was sitting on, putting a hand on his shoulder. She hadn’t changed, of course. No one in the Shara Daim or the Empire aged past their prime. A part of Ryaana had hoped that when she looked at her mother’s face for the first time in thirty years she would have seen something other than the unmoving Kar Daim Anessa of the Shara Daim, that perhaps her eyes would be softer. Or perhaps that she would grant a smile for her firstborn daughter.
There were none of those things. Her mother was the same as she remembered her.
The two studied each other for a moment, until finally her mother spoke. “Daughter, welcome home.”
Ryaana waited for a beat, hoping that she would say something more, but she didn’t.
“That’s it?” Ryaana asked, standing up and glaring at her mother. “Thirty years and I get only a welcome home?”
She heard her father sigh in exasperation, but Ryaana kept glaring at her mother.
“And what did you want?” her mother asked.
“An apology would be a start.”
“You want me to apologize for you abandoning your duty?” her mother said loudly.
“Ah, so that’s it! You are still mad that I left the Dai Sha!” Ryaana said.
“To be a Dai Sha is an honor without peer. No true Shara Daim would ever dare dishonor that.”
“Even among the Dai Sha, all everyone saw when they looked at me was you, your heir!”
“A Shara Daim would shoulder anything for the good of their people. You had an obligation to your people.”
“Again you oh-so conveniently forget that I am only half Shara Daim. I am half human, too, and humanity and the Empire are my people as well. You just assumed that that part of me didn’t matter, that I would do what you wanted because I had no other choice!”
Her mother’s eyes blazed, and Ryaana felt her anger. She steeled herself for another screaming match.
“Enough!” The word slammed inside her head past all of her defenses and made her wince. Across from her, Ryaana could see her mother do the same, then turn to glare at her father.
Ryaana turned to look at her father as if seeing him for the first time. He had never before used Sha against Ryaana. She had never even seen him use his full abilities. She had heard stories, of course, read the reports of his battles, but she could never see him the way that he was described. Cold, calculating, powerful. To her he had always been a father who never missed the chance to let her know how much he cared about her.
Now, he looked much different. He stood up, his face void of any emotion and appearing eerily similar to that of her mother. He wasn’t as tall as her mother, or Ryaana for that matter, but in that moment he seemed to tower above them both.
He look
ed at Ryaana’s mother. “We’ve talked about this, Anessa.”
Her mother glared back at him, and for a moment Ryaana feared that they would fight each other. But then Sora appeared at her mother’s side and leaned her snout in her hand. Her mother looked down and she seemed to calm down instantly as she scratched the wolion behind her ears. “Thank you,” she whispered.
The pressure around her disappeared, and her father looked at them both for a moment and then spoke into the silence. “Now, both of you, talk like adults.”
Ryaana and her mother looked at each other for a moment. After a few seconds of awkward silence, her mother’s face relaxed, and for the first time ever Ryaana saw uncertainty and even fear in her mother’s eyes.
“I’m sorry Ryaana,” her mother said, shocking Ryaana speechless. She had hoped, but never really believed, that she would hear those words from her mother.
“I hadn’t reacted as well as I could’ve,” her mother continued, “but I will not lie to you. I am—was, disappointed. Like any parent, I wanted my child to follow in my footsteps, and I wanted the things that matter to me to matter to you as well. I have come to realize that it was unfair of me to push you the way I did. That it was hard on you growing up with both of your parents absent, that I should’ve made more time for you. But I had my duty toward all the Shara Daim. I can’t change the past, nor can I force you to do as I want. I realize that now.”
Ryaana looked at her mother as if she were a stranger—though Ryaana supposed she was, in a strange way. She was tempted to try and pinch herself to see whether she was dreaming. “Thank you for saying that,” Ryaana said finally.