by Ivan Kal
Garash felt her access the holo-table and a ringed planet appeared. He looked at the data and saw that its location was in Shara Daim territory. Garash turned and looked at Valanaru questioningly.
“That world is not really important, there is nothing of worth there. It has few trans-routes and almost no resources of note; the Shara Daim don’t even have a single outpost in that system. But that world has one interesting thing about it,” Valanaru said, and the holo zoomed in. “That storm covers more than half the planet, and it rages constantly and is electromagnetically charged.”
“And what does that have to do with anything?” Garash asked, already growing impatient. He might have been willing to listen to the Weaver, but he hated her games.
“The Shara Daim just went through a major change, and they are powerful because their Dai Sha are powerful and unified. They have been following the Kar Daim because they have had no choice; she forced them to follow her. And with her coming to the front, they will be even more dangerous. A force is only as strong as its commander.”
“Meaning?”
“We introduce chaos into the Shara Daim. Without Kar Daim to lead them, they will shatter,” Valanaru said.
Garash laughed. “There is no way that we can get to her.”
“Of course not, we will make her come to us,” Valanaru retorted, raising her hand to point at the planet spinning in front of them. “There.”
“How?”
Valanaru told him.
***
Garash stood on the command center of his devastator warship, End of Hope, and watched as his massive fleet prepared to leave. All of his ships had been refueled and stocked with ammunition and provisions for the continuation of the invasion, and the levy fleet had been assembled. The final count put his individual fleets number at one hundred modern Erasi fleets and thirty-eight levy fleets. A force large enough to deal with the Shara Daim.
In the end, Garash had decided to follow the Weaver’s plan, even though he hated those types of manipulations. Her plan would probably result in the deaths of many of his people, but in the end, it would be worth it, because no matter what Garash said when he was speaking with Valanaru, he was very aware that this invasion was time-sensitive. He couldn’t be drawn into a war that would last centuries; at most, they had a couple of decades before the ships he’d taken from the front were missed, and that meant that he needed to finish the Shara Daim cleanly and with as few losses as possible.
And that meant that his forces would move as one large fleet using hyperspace. It would take them longer to reach the front, and they would arrive after the Shara Daim resumed the hostilities, so they wouldn’t be able to help the forces already there. But if the Weaver’s plan was going to work, a sacrifice had to be made.
Garash’s subordinate reported that all ships were ready to depart, and with one last look at the holo showing the entire fleet, Garash gave the order. In a blink of an eye, his massive fleet entered hyperspace and disappeared.
***
After the Erasi fleet left, a small ship left its hiding place inside the system’s asteroid field. It entered FTL and made its way to the edge of the hyperspace barrier. In a flash, it too departed the system.
Chapter Eleven
September; Year 58 of the Empire — Erasi-Shara Daim front
Adrian sat on board the Veritas and watched the battle play out on the holo in front of him. The Shara Daim had attacked a hub system that the Erasi had taken from them. Adrian’s ships had scouted the surroundings and made sure that no Erasi force was close enough to come to this systems aid, and now his twelve fleets were watching from the sidelines. That wouldn’t be the case for long; Aileen had orders to give the Erasi an ultimatum. If they refused, the Empire would fully commit to the war; if they accepted, the real talks would begin. Only he doubted that they would accept. Their reinforcements had left the system they had been gathering in, which meant that soon enough they would have a lot more Erasi ships to worry about.
Tomas had given Adrian leave to join in the fighting the moment that those forces arrived, taking that as a certain sign that the Erasi would not deal in good faith. And they had enough recordings of their diplomatic talks that they would make sure that all knew that the Empire was prepared to deal with the Erasi. And that was what was ultimately important, and why they held back. Perception was a powerful thing, Adrian had seen that with the Shara Daim. They were regarded as completely untrustworthy, and no race wanted to trade with them. A large part of that was their own fault, but in order to achieve its goals, the Empire couldn’t afford to be seen as such. The smaller races needed to see them as good neighbors.
But even though he understood that, it didn’t mean that he was any less frustrated with having to stand on the sidelines. And not only because the Empire was still in talks with the Erasi, but because Anessa needed to do this on her own. She needed to win her people’s trust, and to do that she needed to win on her own. On the holo, Adrian could see the battle in real time. He had drones close to the battles and was receiving data from several Shara Daim ships. The Shara Daim were winning.
Anessa had brought fifty Legions, two of which were upgraded with skim drives, but she hadn’t used them yet; she was planning on keeping that capability a secret for now. The Erasi had ten fleets in the system plus the fixed defenses that they had brought to defend the system. Anessa’s Legions arrived in system two days ago through hyperspace. That had allowed the Erasi to pull their forces—from all around the system—behind the defenses around the fifth planet, where they waited for her Legions. Anessa had spent the first day bombarding their defensive platforms, expending a large number of missiles to cut the number of defensive platforms down before she brought her Legions in closer range.
From there, she had tested the Erasi, looking for weaknesses in their formation, and once she’d found one, she had pressed. By then, the Erasi ships no longer had the protection of the platforms, and when she brought the Legions in, they ran, making the battle into a prolonged moving engagement that stretched across the system as Erasi fleets tried to spread out and escape. They ultimately failed, but Anessa had anticipated that and had ordered ten of her Legions to key positions around the system prior to the battle, positions from which they could cut off the Erasi fleets’ most probable escape routes. There were several smaller engagements occurring in the system as Shara Daim Legions pursued the fleeing Erasi ships.
Adrian checked up on Anessa’s ship, the Bloodbringer. She had led the battle well, and her ship had engaged the enemy several times, but fortunately she hadn’t taken any unnecessary risks. Adrian glanced to his side where Sora was sitting and watching the holo with him. He wasn’t sure if she could understand the images, but he wouldn’t have been surprised. But he knew that she was worried about her sibling, Akash, who was on the Bloodbringer with Anessa. Adrian was both surprised and glad to see that his wolions had taken to her, and usually when Adrian and Anessa were apart, one of them would be with her. He reached over with his hand and patted Sora behind the ears, reassuring her that all was well.
“They won,” Rasshat, Veritas’s Ship Master, said as he moved his large body to stand on Adrian’s other side.
Adrian watched the Shara Daim Legions hunt down the few remaining stragglers. “They did,” he responded, and turned to look at the large Guxcacul Ship Master. Adrian didn’t have the translator in his imp turned on at the moment, so he heard the Guxcacul speak in his own language, which was no problem for Adrian—he had learned their language a long time ago. The Erasi translators had made things in the Empire much easier, and the adapted version that all people of the Empire now held in their implants was even better than the Erasi original. As long as both parties had translators, each side would hear speech in their language. Of course, only already known languages could be translated in this manner, but it was still a great tool. Adrian liked to turn off the translations on his side for the most part, liking to practice understanding different languages on his own.
“The Erasi still have troops on the ground. It will be a hard fight; they’ve had time to dig in,” Rasshat said.
“Yes, but the Kar Daim has brought enough troops,” Adrian said as he switched the holo to show troop transports in orbit of the world dropping down through the atmosphere. With this win the Erasi forces in the Shara Daim territory had been reduced by more than half of their initial number to only twenty-three fleets spread across another two hub systems and several other less important systems that they had taken control of. “As soon as they finish here we will be moving on to the next target,” Adrian said. His scouts had discovered three Erasi fleets moving towards one of the hub systems, and if the Shara Daim move quickly enough, they would be able to ambush them before they reached an Erasi-controlled system, although that would mean that they would need to send only ten Legions through the trans-lane, having the others follow through hyperspace. But Anessa had decided that it was worth it.
“And we still can’t join in the fight?” Rasshat asked.
“Not until their reinforcements arrive or the talks end,” Adrian answered. “The Shara Daim don’t really need our firepower; they have cut down the Erasi numbers enough that they have an advantage, and with our ships scouting for them, they have better intel as well. There is a reason why the Erasi attacked while the Shara Daim Legions were out of position. Now when the Shara Daim fleets are gathered, the Erasi will not have an easy time. Until those ships arrive, then they will need all the help they can get.”
***
Anessa felt her ship shake slightly as an Erasi missile passed through a small hole in the Bloodbringer’s shields to detonate against the hull.
“Report?” her Legion’s commander, Dai Sha Garaam, asked.
“Hull breach on level nine; repair group is on its way, Dai Sha,” a Va Sun answered.
Anessa still felt uncomfortable with watching someone else command her Legion and ship, but after many long talks, Adrian had convinced her that she as Kar Daim should assume command over all the Legions. And she could see the benefits of that, but it still felt foreign to her. She was using a command board based on the Empire’s technology to watch the battle, adapted to her people’s telepathic interfaces so that it could be used by the combination of telepathy and hand gestures. The Empire’s version was controlled by hand and their implants, and no matter how much Adrian tried to convince her that they were perfectly safe, she was not ready to put a device inside her head.
She watched several battles play out on the ‘c-board’ and sent additional orders where required. Meanwhile, Garaam, Anessa’s best friend and the new commander of the First Legion, battled a fleeing Erasi formation. Anessa watched as Garaam commanded the battle, and while she completely trusted her friend, a part of her that was still a Dai Sha wanted to take charge directly. But she resisted the urge, focusing instead on the battles in front of her raging across the entire system.
***
Anessa entered her quarters exhausted, immediately dropping to her bed. She felt someone get on the bed and looked at the wolion—Akash—who had jumped on the bed and laid at the foot of it, making himself comfortable. Anessa was still surprised at how much she had come to care for the beasts. The first time she had seen Adrian’s two wolions, they had been attacking her, defending Adrian. And Anessa was sure that she had hurt Akash during the fight, and yet somehow he had come to care for her as if she had been by his side as long as Adrian had.
And she knew that beyond any doubt, as the wolions had Sha abilities—they could project emotions. She didn’t know what the wolions saw in her, but she was glad for their affection. Her life had changed so much since that first encounter. She had taken the rule of Shara Daim by force, and she had started a…relationship with Adrian. Someone who was technically the same species as her, but not really. They were very different, and yet they understood each other. They had found comfort in each other’s presence that neither of them had felt before. But the main reason as to why she had made the decision to make him her Dal A’sha—her life partner—was because she needed to make sure that the alliance between the Empire and the Shara Daim succeeded.
Ever since she had become the Kar Daim, she’d known that they needed that alliance to fight off the Erasi. She had learned everything that the Elders had kept from their people, and she knew exactly how unprepared the Shara Daim were for a true war against someone who was technologically their equal. Her Legions had stopped and were now in the process of pushing back the Erasi invading force, but that initial force had never been her true concern. She’d always known that once the Legions gathered, they would be able to defeat them. Her worry had always been the prospect of an extended war. The Shara Daim industry couldn’t match that of the Erasi, who had more people, more worlds, and more resources, who had good relations with other races and benefited greatly from trade with them, while the Shara Daim were widely hated by their neighbors—which was their own fault—and had stagnated over the years under the Elders’ guidance. The Erasi would win any prolonged war, and her Legions didn’t have enough strength to push into the Erasi territory.
The Shara Daim needed an ally, and the Empire was probably the only race that was willing to deal with them. She needed to do everything in her power to make sure that that alliance succeeded, even if she had to bind her life to someone she despised. Fortunately, she didn’t despise Adrian. Well, she had in the beginning when he had taken her prisoner. But since then, she had come to respect him greatly, both him as a person and his skills, and over time that had turned into affection.
The alliance with the Empire had already benefited the Shara Daim greatly, as the Empire had shared some of its advanced technology and brought experts to teach her people on how to operate it. The original agreement was for the Empire to provide military assistance to push the Erasi out of Shara Daim territory, but when the Erasi had reached out to them to ‘negotiate,’ Adrian had asked her to change the agreement a little. The Emperor wanted to try and reach a peaceful solution, something that her people didn’t take well, but in return for the Shara Daim agreeing to try a diplomatic avenue, they had shared their inter-system FTL technology. They had also sent over a large fabricating ship to speed up the construction of the new Shara Daim shipyards that would utilize that technology.
Now, the situation was very different. Every Shara Daim shipyard was working at full power to build new Legions, and the fabricating shipyards were under construction, and with the trade with the Empire, the notion of a prolonged war was no longer as dire. Or it wasn’t until they’d learned of the force that the Erasi had assembled. Now she wasn’t sure that they could win, not without losing a lot of territory and Legions.
But for now, she had the upper hand. She closed her eyes and forced herself to rest. Tomorrow her Legions would leave the system to ambush several Erasi fleets, pushing their momentary advantage.
Chapter Twelve
September; Year 58 of the Empire — Unknown system — Erasi super battleship
Weaver Hanaru looked over the new information with interest. His new stealth ships had proven to be undetectable by whatever technology the Empire used to see their previous generation, and the scouts had sent back a lot of very interesting information. They had finally found the Empire’s more developed systems and a few possible targets. They had also found the Empire’s principal system—Sanctuary. On a whim, Hanaru had sent one of the scouts to a system he had seen on a map that he received from the Ancient, a system that was inside a nebula.
That system had been the most developed one they’d found to date, with several planets and dozens of planetoids, hundreds of stations, shipyards, mining stations, and tens of thousands of ships moving around. Immediately, it was apparent that it was their principal system, and the only reason they had found it was because they’d known that that system was there. The system had only one incoming trans-route, and a few outgoings, but Hanaru’s scouts couldn’t use trans-routes because using them was clear
ly detectable. Instead, they moved through hyperspace, and the only reason that they could reach Sanctuary was because they knew its exact location. His scouts had dropped out of hyperspace inside the nebula just enough to hide their entrance, but close enough to the clearing inside the nebula that they were safe from the system’s Oort cloud, which was hidden in the nebula.
Immediately, Hanaru saw the advantage of a hidden system. Unless one knew the exact location where they could drop out of hyperspace, they would’ve never found it, and Hanaru only knew because the Ancient’s people had passed through it and mapped it out. There was a note in the maps that said that the system was habitable and rich, but that they were unwilling to settle a system which wasn’t a hub. Every race preferred hub systems to those that had few trans-routes; they were tactical positions that provided a perfect launching pad for growth. The Empire seemed like it didn’t care for that.
Now Hanaru had a choice to make: to hit one of the other of their large systems, or to hit Sanctuary. This system did have the biggest shipyard that they had detected to date, and he didn’t have much time to search for others, and attacking it would send a right message. The plan was to cripple the Empire’s manufacturing ability while also forcing them to pull their forces back to defend their own territory, allowing the Ancient to deal only with the Shara Daim.
The only problem Hanaru saw was that this system was well defended—very well defended, actually. Not as well defended as the core systems of the Erasi, but still more than what he had thought that he would find. He also couldn’t identify everything; the scout was scanning the system passively, and while some objects could be identified easily based on the traffic to and from them, as well as their size, other objects were unknown to him. They could have been anything from more defenses to simple satellites; there was no way of knowing.
But they did find matches on the known Empire defenses. This system had two stations just like the one that had showed up in Sol, both positioned at the two incoming trans-routes; obviously those stations had been designed to defend trans-points. And there were several thousands of their defensive platforms. That was a problem. He didn’t have the numbers nor enough ammunition to take care of those. Although he didn’t really need to, his job was to wreak as much havoc as he possibly could and then leave and attack another system.