by Ivan Kal
“I do not know, but he did not report to Tarabat and the regional government. Following his skirmish with your ships, he disappeared. This was his first sighting in months,” Jurr added.
“Thank you. I will relay the information to my people,” Aileen said.
“This is the least that I can do for you curing and sheltering the last of my people,” Jurr said, then slowly disappeared into the tunnels leading to the underground portion of the domed city.
Chapter Three
Erasi Devastator End of Hope — Unknown system
Garash, O’fa of the Erasi, sat on the ground in his private sanctum. A large boulder—brought by him from his people’s homeworld before it was taken from them—was held in the air in front of him by the brute strength of his psionic power. Most life had potential to tap into the psionic energy that filled the Universe. Some were more connected to it and others less; some could manipulate that energy and others could only feel it or use it to augment their own senses. Different people called this power different things—psionic energy, dark energy, Sha. Nevertheless, all intelligent life had the potential to feel it, even if only subconsciously; all were connected to it, even if they didn’t know it.
Different races had different strengths, different ranges of access to the psionic energy. It was still a mystery as to why most lifeforms eventually evolved psionic abilities, and why there were races that evolved them without any apparent need, yet all life that was classified as intelligent had psionics—whether they had conscious control of them or not was irrelevant. But then again, the scientists still couldn’t figure out why many races of the galaxy looked similar.
Most races separated the psionic abilities into three categories—external manifestation, internal manifestation, and mind manifestation. It had also been noted that those races that had somehow evolved to resemble each other were the ones that gained psionic abilities across all categories, while those that were truly different and more shaped by their environment usually developed abilities from only one or perhaps two categories, and are always very strong in them. A people that evolved telekinesis because they had no limbs that allowed them to use tools would naturally be able to do more than a being that had evolved it with no apparent reason. Garash had spent much of his long life trying to solve the reason behind this strange pattern unsuccessfully, but he knew that it was not just chance.
Garash’s race, among all the races in the Erasi that possessed a conscious ability to manipulate psionic energy, was on the lower end in terms of power. But that was on the scale of an entire race; individuals could have more talent, could be born with a natural ability to wield that power, and given enough time and effort, even the weakest could become strong.
And Garash was old by standards of most races; he had taken his power and skill far beyond any other of his kind. Not all races could access all three areas, and it took many lifetimes for someone to master even one of these disciplines. Garash had spent most of his life mastering the external manifestation of psionic power, the ability to affect the world around himself.
Any race that was even marginally advanced and intelligent found a way to extend life. Many found a way to do so indefinitely, whether by gaining the ability naturally through evolution or by using technology. Life extension drugs or treatments, genetic alterations, cybernetic enchantment, cloning and thought transference—all these methods allowed individuals a chance to become something great, to master the energy that held all the Universe together. Sadly, very few reached the age that Garash had; they would grow tired of living and let themselves die. They wasted the gift of life on trivial things. Choosing to simply survive, instead of trying to attain greatness.
Garash gently lowered the boulder to the platform in front of him. It had been the focus for his meditations for millennia; it was a reminder of why he did all the things that he did. Why he’d turned away from the ideals of peace that his ancestors preached, why he killed so many. The constant reminder of the black ships scourging his homeworld of life, unstoppable, unyielding, indestructible.
His people had at the time been a part of a Union of many races. In numbers, they had found strength and security. In time, they had dominated the entire region of space through trade and technology. The Union had been a peaceful community, one with enough power to repel any invader—until the black ships came. They’d moved and systematically wiped all life from the Union worlds, taking their time and settling their own on planets once populated by peaceful beings.
To encounter them meant death. The Union’s ships, weapons, all of their combined technology of tens of thousands of years, was useless against them. It had no effect. They tried to slow them down, to give others time to evacuate and escape, but in the end, nothing mattered. The Union fractured, races that had trusted and lived together turned away from one another. Garash didn’t blame them. He had done the same thing. He’d sent scouts across the galaxy, searching for a new home. A place where they could start again.
And he had found it on the other side of the galaxy. His people encountered the Gatrey and the Sorvani. Garash’s people had then been called the Loraru—the children of the stars—but he gave them a new name, Uvaramo—those who remember. And remember they did. They built a new union, one that remembered the lessons of the past well. Together, they dominated their region of space, expanding, conquering. They used trade to bind races to them, and they manipulated and influenced those who could become threats from the shadows, making sure that there would never again be a threat that could do to them what the invaders had to the Union. And they made sure that when all else failed, they had the military power to match any threat.
The Erasi had survived for a long time, had expanded and prospered by dealing with threats before they became too much to handle. And now they were forced to use their military power to face another threat—the Shara Daim. Once the Erasi had moved into this arm of the galaxy, they had met the Shara Daim, and immediately they’d realized what a threat they were. The usual measures were taken—the Erasi Weavers had tried to manipulate them, to create wars between them and other races, but the Shara Daim had always prevailed, their technology having advanced far too quickly, even for a warlike race. And their people proved almost impossible to turn.
So they’d tried to get at them in other ways. They had traded with them, tried to cripple them economically. And they had succeeded—constant wars with other races coupled with a bad economy weakened the Shara Daim—but still they refused to break. So Garash had no choice; an opponent of their size and strength could not be allowed time to surpass or match the Erasi. He called the other eight O’fa, those who together were the council of the Erasi, and argued for the last measure—a military offensive against the Shara Daim. It was not easy; many O’fa had grown complacent, more reliant on methods that required manipulations and attacks from the shadows. Their fears of weakening the rimward border even a little made them hesitate. But in the end, Garash had convinced them to allow him enough ships to end the Shara Daim threat once and for all.
And the time for the continuation of the offensive against the Shara Daim was near. Two or three more months and the last of the preparations would be finished and his fleets would finally join the forward force and put an end to the Shara Daim. He was only waiting for the last of the levies from the lower Erasi members to arrive. Each of the lower members in this sector had been called upon to ‘donate’ a force to his fleet. For the most part, their ships were far inferior, but a few of the members had tech that was close to that of the Erasi. The levy fleet would serve as a support for the fleet he’d brought from the core, and would be about half of the size of his fleet.
Garash stood and stretched his four arms above his head, shaking off his soreness. His meditation usually lasted for several hours. He then unfurled his mind from the containment that such meditations required and drank in the feel of his surroundings. Immediately, he noticed a mind standing at the entrance of his sanctum, and with a thoug
ht, he bade the young Ssarath near. The Ssarath slithered close to Garash, crossed her arms across her chest, and waited.
“What is it?” Garash asked. He knew that no one would there enter his sanctum while he was meditating unless it was important.
“Another devastator has arrived in system several hours ago, Commander,” the Ssarath said. Her people had only small telepathic abilities, but enough to speak with their minds. Garash turned and looked at the Ssarath, recognizing her as one of the bridge crew—Lorsee, her name came to him after a moment.
He could already feel his mood darken. “Which one?” Garash asked with his mind. There wasn’t supposed to be another one here. Garash had been given full control over the offensive, and while he was one of the founders, a council of the three founding races ruled the Erasi. Garash’s status as one of the O’fa—the ancient—gave him a lot of influence, but he was considered equal to the other O’fa; he couldn’t command another devastator.
The Ssarath hesitated just for a moment before speaking. “Sojourn to the Stars,” she sent.
Garash almost snarled at her, but contained himself; he knew that she was not to blame. The Gatrey in command of the Sojourn to the Stars and Garash did not see eye to eye often, and she had been opposed to the offensive against the Shara Daim in favor of more manipulations. But Garash would not allow have his plans to be meddled with, especially not by a mindbender like her.
The Ssarath continued aloud, “The O’fa Valanaru informed us that she wishes to speak with you; she is already on her way.”
“When will she arrive?” Garash asked.
“Ten minutes,” Ssarath said.
Garash narrowed his six eyes in anger. “Escort her here once she arrives,” he said, and turned around to wait as the Ssarath left, working hard to contain his anger. He did not like Valanaru, nor any of the Gatrey, for that matter. They had been useful once, but the older they got and the more powerful they were, the less he liked them. Gatrey had a natural talent with the mind psionics, and Valanaru was as old as Garash, which meant that she was extremely powerful. Certainly a more powerful telepath than him, although he was the more powerful one in the external manifestation psionics.
Garash’s people had abilities across all three categories, but his people had evolved only a very limited number of abilities in each, which was also the reason as to why they were weaker than those races that had more focused psionics. Garash had overcome his people’s weakness by dedicating himself to training his abilities over millennia. From the mind category, Garash only had limited telepathy; he could speak with other telepaths and look through their memories—a skill that had taken him far longer to learn than it would’ve taken a natural telepath—but he could do little else. However, all who studied the other two psionic categories had a distaste for the telepaths, but especially for mindbenders, those who were the most elite and powerful telepaths. Because for all the power of the other psionic disciplines, it only took one slip, one moment in which your defenses were not adequate, and a mindbender could kill you with a thought. Thankfully, breaking through deep enough for that required both power and skill that few telepaths ever really attained, which was why those capable of that were called mindbenders.
Several minutes later, Garash felt a mind move through his ship, far before it ever came close. That was both the testament to Garash’s strength and to Valanaru’s, but it was also a sign that she was coming in peace; it was considered rude to shield one’s presence while in another’s home. The fact that Valanaru hadn’t shielded her mind meant that she was not here to cause trouble, although with the Gatrey you could never really know for sure. Garash turned and watched the entrance to his sanctum before she glided inside, sitting cross-legged on a disk-shaped floating vehicle. The disk carrying her floated towards Garash, guided by a telepathic interface that allowed her control.
“Greetings, Son of Carnage,” Valanaru sent, calling him by his earned name. Very few beings ever gained such a name, as it could only be bestowed by a telepath of great power, and it was given to those that had attained great power. It was more than a simple name, it was more like a title, one that reflected who you truly were, defining something about you that only a telepath could see. A name that told the world what you truly were.
Hearing Valanaru’s voice in his head made Garash suppress the instinct to block his mind. He knew that simple communication wasn’t enough to allow a mindbender power over you, but just knowing that the person in front of him could kill beings with her mind made him edgy. Of course, her ability to kill him before he could squash her telekinetically or shoot her with a weapon depended on how fast she could break through his defenses, but he didn’t really want to test himself against her.
“Weaver,” Garash greeted her, calling her by her earned name. Valanaru was the Weaver of the Erasi, the first one, the one who had created the organization, the greatest manipulator of them all. “The council agreed to allow me control over this endeavor. Don’t tell me that you managed to ‘change’ their minds,” he sent pointedly.
“No, the council did not change its mind. But recent events have made them more cautious of the future,” Valanaru sent.
“What events are you referring to?”
“The new Empire that has apparently allied itself with the Shara Daim,” Valanaru sent.
“They are a minor empire. They have some impressive technology, I will admit that, but technology ultimately finds a way. Our people now know that in-system FTL is possible; it is only a matter of time before we discover it. In the larger scheme of things, they are insignificant. They will not have enough time for their alliance to bear fruit. I will crush the Shara Daim before they can make a difference,” Garash sent.
“The council is worried that you are underestimating this Empire. We know little of them, and they have shown technological superiority in several fields. Coupled with the psionic abilities that match those of the Shara Daim, the council believes that we need to proceed with a greater degree of caution. The true extent of Shara Daim psionic power was never documented; we only assume. And we cannot allow this endeavor to continue for too long. You drew forces from the rimward front, and I don’t need to tell you that we cannot afford to have it weakened, Krashin will notice.”
“Better that we weaken the front now and take care of the Shara Daim while they are still not our equal than to wait for them to attack us when they are ready. We would be in a worse position fighting two equal opponents on different sides of our territory,” Garash argued. “The council’s thoughts are noted, but there is no need for them. I have already sent Weaver Hanaru on a mission that will make this small empire’s further involvement moot. They will not be able to help the Shara Daim for long. Trust that I will conclude this offensive in a reasonable time period,” Garash sent dismissively.
“The companies from this sector are putting pressure on the council; they do not want hostilities with the Empire,” Valanaru sent.
“What they want is not important, dealing with the threats to the Erasi is. This empire is not a threat now, but it could become one if left alone for too long. My plan will deal with them.”
“Of course, Garash, security of the Erasi comes above all other agendas. I am not here to stop your offensive, the council sent me only as an observer. They want this dealt with cleanly and efficiently. The blunder of Weaver Hanaru has already complicated things. I will stay on the sidelines and provide assistance only if it is needed,” Valanaru sent.
Garash’s upper eyes twitched in annoyance. He would need to put up with the Weaver for the duration of the war on Shara Daim, but that was a small price to pay for the council not interfering.
“Of course, Valanaru, you are welcome to join my fleet.”
Chapter Four
Shara Radum
Adrian walked into a meeting room that was already full, followed closely behind by Sora. He had been on Lurker of the Depths’ ship, overseeing the assembly of the command modules on the moon giv
en to the Empire when Anessa had called him urgently to Shara Radum. Once he entered, Akash lifted his head from behind Anessa to look at him and then put it back down. The rest of the people present had varying reactions to his presence. Two of the three Dai Sha stiffened and refused to acknowledge him, but Adrian could understand that; he had killed their friend, after all. The third Dai Sha—Karoom of the Twenty Second Legion—greeted him with a professional nod of the head. The four Do Sun followed his lead and nodded as well. Anessa, on the other hand, greeted him with a short, warm smile, before it disappeared behind her professional Kar Daim face.
“There has been a development on the front,” Anessa said, and gestured to the table in the middle of the room as Adrian came to stand next to her. “We have received a message from Dai Sha Garaam. One of your Empire’s scout ships has made contact with her fleets, and delivered a frightening piece of information.” Adrian felt Anessa reach out with her mind to the table’s telepathic interface, and a moment later, a hologram came to life above it.
Adrian watched the recording of ships arriving in system—Erasi ships. The record was obviously sped up, and still there seemed to be no end to the Erasi ships. Eventually they stopped dropping out of hyperspace and made their way to a planet, where they took orbit. Over one hundred Erasi fleets were assembled, and among them one warship that was far larger than anything they’d thought the Erasi had.
“Where is this?” Adrian asked.
“On the Erasi side of the border, or where the border used to be. Here,” Do Sun Arisak said, and the holo changed to show the map and exact location of the system.
“This is a problem, Adrian. We fought the Erasi to a standstill, and we have a good chance of routing the forces they have in our space. But not this—we can’t stop this, not without help,” Anessa said. Adrian could immediately feel the mood in the room turn sour. The two Dai Sha that disliked Adrian obviously did not like their ruler admitting that they needed help.