Onslaught (Rise of the Empire Book 6) (23 page)

And there were other differences as well. They were different races, with different norms and ideas about sex, but those differences only made them more interested in each other. Although the things worked pretty much the same. Adrian wondered if the Nel and human couples in the Empire experienced something similar. They had experimented, forgetting the outside world completely.

But Adrian knew that the outside world was waiting; already they had been in this room for several hours. Too long of a time for a simple talk. The guards outside must have been getting anxious, but so must his people. Now after the excitement was past, the magnitude of what they had done truly hit him. He had slept with a ruler of a foreign empire. He knew that it wouldn’t really change the way he would approach any negotiation, but it could still pose problems for both of them.

He had enjoyed himself, and he cared about her. She was not like anyone in the Empire; the morals of Shara Daim were not the same as those of humanity or the Empire. She had manipulated him ruthlessly into eliminating someone in her path. And no matter how much she said she wanted to change, how much intellectually she understood that her people weren’t superior to others, she would still look down on the weak. She would always be arrogant to some extent, respecting only strength. There were serious differences between them, social and moral norms that were completely different. She might never understand his human morality or thinking, but she understood that other part of him, the one that made him different than anyone else in the Empire. She knew him and he knew her, on an instinctual level.

And Adrian was fine with that. He had given up ever finding someone who could understand what it was that drove him to push himself forward, what drove him to act. And she did understand. He came back from his inner mulling to find her white eyes open and focused on his.

***

Anessa woke slowly. She felt satisfied and more relaxed and rested than she had been in a long while. She moved her head and noticed the person lying on the other side of the bed watching her. Immediately, she remembered their intimacy earlier. It had been amazing, strange, and new. They were different enough for it to be intriguing and similar enough for it to be more than satisfying. But it was also more than just an experiment, more than just release.

She had feelings for him, strong feelings that she hadn’t felt in a long time, but that were also more fulfilling. Adrian understood her. He knew that she was different than him and his people. And he cared for her in the same way that she did for him. She had suspected it, but after what they had experienced together, now she was sure. There was a closeness between them that made her feel at ease. It had been present even while she was a prisoner, only both of them had kept it suppressed.

And he was not afraid of her. She remembered picking him up and pinning him against the wall; he hadn’t even tried to defend himself because he had known that she wouldn’t have harmed him. There was no envy in him towards her power, even though she was stronger both physically and with the Sha. She remembered her pinning him to the bed and being in charge. A Shara Daim man wouldn’t have been so at ease with letting her handle him like that.

She crawled over to his side of the bed and lay down an arm’s length away, keeping her head leveled with his.

After a while of studying each other, Adrian spoke.

“I should leave. Your guards must be getting anxious,” he said.

Anessa’s lips curved into a smile. She knew that they would be losing their minds by now, but their fear of her was too big for them to try to interrupt, especially since she had given them a direct order not to.

“You should,” she said, and then after a beat, “I don’t want this to be a one-time occurrence.”

Adrian opened his mouth to respond, but then he closed it and frowned. He looked in her eyes for a few seconds, and she saw him debating something with himself. Then his face cleared and he responded.

“We should first talk about the relations between our two empires. Then after that we can talk about ‘this,’” he said resolutely.

Anessa’s face cleared as well. She understood. Both of them had a duty. They would talk first, as he wanted, but afterwards they would have a much different discussion. “Yes, we should talk first.” She stood and grabbed her Shur At from the floor, putting it over her shoulders, and with a thought activated it. It started molding itself to her body.

Adrian put on his own garments and then stood, watching her. Anessa walked to him and grabbed him behind the head; she lowered her mouth to his neck and bit hard. She raised her head and turned to walk towards the doors. They would have their diplomatic talks first, and then, she would make him hers, to stay by her side always.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Shara Radum

Two days later, Adrian and two of his soldiers walked through the Shara Radum palace escorted by six honor guards, as he learned they were called. One of the guards was giving Adrian a strange look, but then Adrian was pretty sure that he was one of the guards who had been in front of Anessa’s quarters during their ‘discussion’ in private. Once the two had left the quarters, the guards were somewhat surprised, and if they were anything like his escorts, there were rumors a-plenty.

They were headed to a meeting with Anessa, this one a much more formal one than their last. They had already agreed to peace, with Anessa and Adrian both sending the documents for the agreement for the other party to read through and agree on. Now they would officially confirm those agreements, and start the discussion for anything more than peace. He didn’t really know what Anessa had in mind, but he could guess. He didn’t know how much success the Erasi had had in their attack on the Shara Daim, but they had certainly caught the Shara Daim off guard, and had a larger force. Aileen had reported somewhere around sixty fleets, which was more than what the Shara Daim had. The fact that the Shara Daim were the defenders was in their favor, but he knew that if the Erasi had a foothold in their territory, it would be extremely hard to push them out.

They reached their destination, and Adrian and his two escorts were led into a medium-sized room, with an ornate table and chairs in front of them. One of the chairs was a bit different, and Adrian assumed that that one was for him. The regular Shara Daim chairs were all just a bit too low for him to sit at a table comfortably. Already sitting were Anessa and a woman that Adrian recognized from being in the crowd when he had fought Farran.

He bowed to Anessa and dipped his head to the woman, who surprisingly returned his gesture.

“Lord Sentinel,” Anessa said, her melodic voice even, not giving a hint of what had happened between them.

“Kar Daim,” Adrian acknowledged.

“This is Vallar Havasse. She is my advisor, among other things. She will conduct most of these talks. I have been trained to be a warrior and a commander; she has more experience with negotiating than me.”

“Of course,” Adrian said as he took his seat, his two guards taking positions behind him while Anessa’s took positions behind her. Adrian put a small black object on the desk, and immediately a document appeared above it. It was one of the Erasi-made universal data chips with a telepathic interface. The Empire’s ones wouldn’t work for the Shara Daim, as their interfaces were implant-controlled.

“I read the document, and this is acceptable for the Empire.” The document affirmed the current borders of the Empire and the Shara Daim on the sides where they were facing each other, and an agreement for splitting the uninhabited area between the two empires equally and therefore establishing a new joint border. The rest were agreements of non-aggression between the two, but which also absolved the Empire of the deaths of the Shara Daim people in Sol, and Anessa’s kidnapping. That part had already mainly been fulfilled by Adrian killing a Dai Sha that had challenged him for that reason.

“We have read your document as well,” Vallar Havasse said. His document was basically the same thing, only reaffirming what theirs said from the Empire’s point of view, with them absolving the Shara Daim for the attacks on the Lord Sentinel and Sol. “It is acceptable.”

The holographic interface changed to show both documents, and a prompt appeared for both parties to sign it with their telepathy, making unique signatures. Adrian used his telepathy and signed his part; Anessa used hers to sign her part.

“Now, with that finished,” Vallar Havasse said, “the Shara Daim would like to open the dialogue for a possible alliance with your Empire.”

Adrian nodded. He had thought that this might be what they were after. Adrian was authorized by Tomas to make whatever deals and agreements he saw fit. Initially, he hadn’t been prepared to go further than trading deals. But then the Erasi had attacked his ships and destroyed one battleship. They had also attempted to hack into Sol’s systems, tried to manipulate them into a conflict with Shara Daim, and had stealth ships in the Empire’s systems. He didn’t really blame them for the stealth ships or the hacks—the Empire had ships and people in their territory as well. He was still not completely prepared to give the Shara Daim direct aid against the Erasi.

“What would you consider as a part of this alliance?” Adrian asked.

Vallar Havasse glanced at Anessa and then back at Adrian. “First, we would like an open trade agreement between us, meaning that any corporation in Shara Daim may openly trade with any in the Empire,” she said.

Adrian nodded again; that was something that he could do. Open trade would mean that the Shara Daim could get most of the civilian-grade tech, which included conventional and bio-fabricators. It would also mean nanotechnology, which he was pretty sure the Shara Daim didn’t have. But the Empire would get a lot in return. Most of the Shara Daim military tech had been derived from the sphere, but their regular tech had been developed by them or appropriated from other races.

“That is acceptable,” Adrian said, and waited.

After a beat, she continued, “We would want an exchange of military technology as well.”

And there it was. Adrian knew that they were after the skimming technology. It would give them a huge advantage over the Erasi.

“That would be a bit harder. The Empire doesn’t trade military technology with other races, not unless the relationship between the two was much more involved,” Adrian said.

“We would be prepared to pay you additionally for certain technologies,” Vallar Havasse said.

Adrian debated continuing the back and forth, but there was really no point. Tomas, Adrian, and the rest of the Clan Leaders had discussed what they would require of an ally for them to share the technology of the Empire long ago. The conditions were the same.

“You want an alliance; you need one because of the Erasi attack,” he stated. “The Empire isn’t prepared to go to war with the Erasi just yet. Giving you our technologies would give the Erasi cause to consider us hostile. And we can’t do that, not without other assurances.”

“What kind of assurances?” Vallar Havasse asked.

“If you want our military technologies and support, you would need to agree to a real alliance. And frankly, the history of Shara Daim is such that we don’t really know if we could trust you enough for that,” Adrian said. He glanced at Anessa and saw her looking at him with her expression darkened. He knew that she wanted to change her people, but there was really no guarantee that she would succeed.

“The leadership of Shara Daim is changed, I will not allow the same things that the Elders did,” Anessa said.

“I understand that, but it still doesn’t change the fact that you have spent the great chunk of your history destroying other civilizations,” Adrian said.

Anessa moved to say something, but Vallar Havasse interrupted her. “What are your conditions for an alliance?”

“Completely open borders, freedom of movement for both military and civilian ships and personnel. Several joint colonies to be established in both territories, with mixed settlements and educational programs in order to bring both people closer. Exchange of military instructors, full sharing of military technologies. Agreement of mutual defense. And an agreement of conduct.”

Both Anessa and Vallar Havasse looked at him as if he had grown an extra head. “An agreement of conduct?” Havasse asked.

“A set of rules by which both empires conduct themselves in dealings with other intelligent life in the galaxy. For example, if a planet with an intelligent lifeform that hasn’t yet reached space is encountered, that planet and the systems in the range of ten lightyears will be left alone as the right of that race, with no contact to be established until they have reached space. Would you be able to agree to something like that?” Adrian asked.

Havasse and Anessa exchanged a look, and Adrian felt them speak with their minds for a short interval. “We could; it isn’t that much different than our current policy,” Havasse said.

Adrian knew that Shara Daim ignored other life unless it was in the way. Adrian brought out another data chip and placed it on the table. “This is the list of all the requirements for a full alliance that the Empire needs from their allies. Some are negotiable, others are not.”

Havasse took the data chip, and spoke with Anessa privately again. “We will study this document and continue these talks afterwards, if that is acceptable to you?”

“Of course,” Adrian said, and stood to return to his quarters.

***

The next day, he found himself back at the same table across from Anessa and Vallar Havasse.

“We have looked over your requirements, and we can abide by them. But we have a few additional requests,” Vallar Havasse said.

“What kind of requests?” Adrian asked.

“We would like to be given historical data from the device left by our ancestor,” she said.

Adrian thought about it, but then concluded that there wasn’t really any reason not to grant that request. “Alright, but you still haven’t given me a reason to believe the Shara Daim will be trustworthy in the future.”

“We understand that our past makes it difficult for you to trust us. Many of our people will have trouble accepting the new ways, but we are adamant to change. Even before Kar Daim removed the Elders from power, some of us were seeking a change,” Vallar Havasse said. “So in order to win that trust, we are prepared to eschew the right to your military technology. We would provide all the rest of what your agreement requires. But in return for this, we want your immediate direct military aid against the Erasi invaders.”

Adrian scratched his chin as he thought about it. Without the Empire’s military technology, the Shara Daim would be at a disadvantage, true. And it would give them time for the two people to grow and trust one another. Tomas and his teams had projected that the Erasi were going to be a threat in the long run. Their practices were shadowy, and they liked to manipulate other races; it was only a matter of time before they did the same thing to the Empire as they had just done to the Shara Daim. In addition, their laws allowed for anything and everything to be bought and sold in their space, including slaves. Both the Shara Daim and the Empire didn’t allow for slavery. Then there was the fact that both of the races were descended from Axull Darr. That kind of connection was a solid foundation for them to build on.

Giving them military aid, on the other hand, was a bit different, mainly because the Empire didn’t have as many assets that they could commit to a war. By now the Empire should have around ten fleets, a fifth of what the Shara Daim had. Committing any of those fleets would weaken the Empire considerably.

He mulled it over a bit more, thinking about what Tomas would want. His orders were clear: the Empire needed to expand and make powerful allies. The enemy that the People had created was out there, and they needed to start preparing now. Coming to a decision, Adrian turned to Anessa and Vallar Havasse.

“I could accept that, but as far as military aid goes, the Empire can’t commit a lot of resources to your war,” Adrian said.

“How much could you commit?” Anessa asked.

“We could probably send six fleets, around the same number as six of your Legions. All fleets equipped with our skimming technology,” Adrian said.

“Skimming?”

“Our name for the normal-space FTL drives our ships use.”

“Six Legions isn’t much, but your technology does give you an advantage,” Anessa mused.

Adrian decided that there was a bit more that the Empire could add. “We could also provide you with our defense platforms; we could build them in our systems and ship them over to you. I don’t know if you have something better.”

“Ours are about the same strength…” Anessa said, “That would be useful as well. How many could you provide us if we make an agreement today, and how quickly?”

“Two thousand in one shipment. It would take several months for them to get here, though; we would need to set up relay point between here and the Empire to get the communications between us faster. We can build two thousand platforms every eight months in Sol,” Adrian said.

“Eight months?” Anessa and Vallar Havasse both said, shocked.

Adrian nodded. “Yes, we have a manufacturing technology that allows us much faster construction than by conventional assembly.”

“And would you be willing to share that technology?” Anessa asked quickly. He detected that it would mean a lot for them. She probably knew that it would take Shara Daim shipyards much longer to replace the losses against the Erasi. The fabricating tech was technically a military technology, which they would share with their allies. He thought about it and then an idea struck him.

“We would be ready to share this tech, but in return for something,” Adrian said.

“In return for what?” Vallar Havasse asked.

“I want several of your best Sha instructors to go to the Empire and teach my people. In return for that, I will give you our fabricating technology,” Adrian said.

Both Anessa and Havasse looked taken aback, and they conferred mentally. After several minutes, they both turned to him. “We can agree to that,” Havasse said.