Inheritance (Rise of the Empire Book 5) (13 page)

Chapter Twenty

June; Year 36 of the Empire – Sanctuary

Tomas stood as Adrian entered his office. He had spoken with Laura the day before and had seen that she was much more relaxed now compared to how she’d been over the last three months. She had been worried about Adrian and his refusal to leave his home on Warpath. But Tomas could understand Adrian’s grief and him wanting to be alone. He had gone through similar experience when he’d lost people back in Sol. He’d known that Adrian would recover; Adrian was far too strong to break.

“Adrian,” Tomas said as he walked around the table and shook his hand.

“Hello, Tomas,” Adrian said.

“Come, sit.” Tomas guided him to the two couches to the side of the room. “How have you been?” Tomas asked once they were comfortable.

“I could be better, but well enough,” Adrian responded.

“Good. It will lessen over time, the pain, become easier to live with. You will never truly forget, but I think that you wouldn’t want to,” Tomas said.

“No,” Adrian agreed.

“So, tell me, why have you come?” Tomas asked.

Adrian took a breath and released it slowly. “I wanted speak to you about the Sentinels.” Tomas quirked his eyebrow, and Adrian continued, “I want to accelerate our plans a bit.”

“In what way?” Tomas asked.

“I know that originally we planned on making the Warpath system the base for Sentinels, but lately I was thinking of moving it to someplace else. We would still train people in Warpath, choose Sentinels from there. But the actual base would be somewhere else. I want to keep Warpath out of it, make it a place where people can train to be warriors, not turn it into a Sentinel choosing ground. We will make an offer, and if someone wants to take it, we transfer them to the program,” Adrian responded.

“I think that we are still a few years away from that, Adrian,” Tomas said.

Adrian made the Nel gesture for agreeing. “We are. But I want to build the base now, to get everything up and running. And there is one more thing. I want to give Sentinels psionics.”

Tomas scratched his head for a few moments, thinking. “Why do you think that they will need them?”

“Besides making them much more formidable, it is the telepathy that will make their work much easier,” Adrian said.

“We don’t know how to use the psionics yet. And our bodies aren’t yet up to par,” Tomas commented.

Adrian looked uncomfortable for a moment before sighing. “I have talked with Seo-yun, and will be going through the treatment she devised in a couple of days. And after I recover, I plan on going to the Sowir homeworld to learn how to use my telepathy.”

“You would go to them to teach you?” Tomas asked, taken aback. He didn’t know if he could have done the same thing.

“They are my only chance of mastering it. The other psionics I will need to discover and master on my own,” Adrian said. “And I didn’t mean that we give psionics to every current Sentinel, and not for a long time. The current Sentinels aren’t ready, they need to learn more. They don’t even know our plans. I will need to see which ones want to take it on. And our people haven’t figured out how to trigger the change in grownups yet. But in five, maybe ten years, we will, and I think that we should give it to them. By then I will have learned enough to train others, and then they can come back and train more.”

Tomas nodded thoughtfully, agreeing. “Yes. And by then we could start triggering the change in infants, in the progeny centers. By the time their psionics manifest, there will be people who could teach them.” Tomas looked at Adrian, impressed. “That is a good plan. And which system do you plan to turn into Sentinel home system?”

Adrian made a Nel gesture that Tomas didn’t recognize and then spoke, “Sol.” He smiled and added, “More precisely, Mars.”

***

Several days later, Tomas sat in his office with his top advisers and friends: Laura, Jack, Nadia, Seo-yun, and Sumia, who was visiting from Nuva.

“The Sowir have apparently kept their word. We haven’t had any incident since Adrian talked with them,” Laura said. “The effort of securing the system is going well, and soon we will be able to let them have a limited control over their system back.”

“What about their tools?” Jack asked.

“They put those in their home system in stasis, and we will transport them out of the system soon,” Seo-yun said. “Those they had left on their other worlds have already turned feral and killed each other or starved. We can’t do anything about those.”

“How is the situation on Guxaxac?” Tomas asked.

“The fighting is still intense. The Sowir are refusing to communicate, even when we broadcast the recordings from their brethren or bring a Sowir from their homeworld to speak with them. It is just as Lurker of the Depths warned us. They will keep fighting. And in truth, I doubt that the Guxcacul would have appreciated or allowed the Sowir to surrender. There is a lot of hate towards the Sowir there,” Jack said.

“At least the Sowir that surrendered don’t appear too broken up about their fellows dying,” Tomas added.

“They are a very strange race. They knew that it was impossible to get their people off Guxaxac, so to them, they are already dead,” Laura added.

“I still can’t believe that the Sowir are defeated,” Sumia said. “It has been so long…before your people came, we were counting days until the Sowir turned and finished us off.”

The others didn’t respond, and the room lapsed into silence, until Nadia broke it.

“The Nelus government is moving. They are going to start angling to get their former worlds back,” she said, “and I’m sure that the Guxcacul will do so too once they get their own world under control.”

“Well, tough luck,” Tomas said. “We took them back; they are ours.”

“Once they see that you won’t budge, they will want to join the Empire,” Sumia added.

“And when they ask, we will speak about it. Until then, I am keeping what we conquered,” Tomas added firmly. He would not allow anything to compromise the strength of his Empire. If the Guxcacul and Nelus wanted to join the Empire, they would have to work for it.

***

Sowir homeworld

Lurker in the Depths swam aimlessly in the ocean that had birthed him. For the first time since he’d ben born, since he had become aware of himself, he was feeling unsure of himself, of his path and that of his people. He had always believed that to feel the Spirit of the Universe was to never know doubt for your actions. What his people had always believed to be the truth was nothing more than an incorrect assumption. They’d been wrong.

One moment had changed everything. And now his entire people knew guilt, a thing that they had never felt before. They knew that they had done a horrible thing, and they didn’t know how to handle that.

Already some of his fellows had sunken into madness. The ones on Guxaxac had all gone insane. Lurker of the Depths had lied when he’d told their jailors that they wouldn’t respond to the messages, that they wouldn’t believe them. When they had sent people from the homeworld, let them get close enough to send messages through the Spirit, they had listened. And they had gone mad. They would continue to fight not because they didn’t believe, but because they could not handle the truth. It was they who had almost wiped out an entire species.

Most of those on the homeworld had not been in such positions, where they commanded their tools from the ground to slaughter and kill.

Lurker of the Depths himself was close to madness. He might not have commanded troops on the ground, but he had commanded fleets. He had killed. And he knew that they would never be able to redeem themselves for what they had done.

And yet, there was a part of him that refused to give in to the madness. It would be an insult to all he had killed, all the lives his people had taken. And he would not allow that. The Sowir race would change. It would take time, but Lurker of the Depths would make sure that the Sowir were not remembered as mass murderers.

***

Sanctuary

Adrian, Sora, and Akash stood at the edge of the plateau on which Olympus City was built. Behind them was the city, and below them spread the endless sea of trees, illuminated by the two moons and the nebula. The vista was amazing, with mountains in the distance piercing the teal-tinted sky.

And this was the spot where his former squadmates had held the wake for Bethany. Where they’d said their goodbyes. Even though they had lost touch over the years, she was still a part of their team.

Adrian studied his surroundings for a few minutes in silence, an alien world that was the new cradle of humanity. He turned to the sky and spoke.

“Hey, Beth. I…I wanted to make a promise. A promise to myself, and I wanted you as my witness,” he said to the sky. “I will never stop pushing myself. I will never stop trying to better myself, to push against my limits. And I will not retreat into my shell again. You were the first person that I let inside, but I will not let your death be something that breaks me, turns me away from other people. I don’t think that you would have wanted that.” He paused, a tear rolling down his cheek. “I know that there are still so many areas in which I can improve, so many things that I need to learn and master so that what happened never happens again. I will become the example that others will want to follow. And I will never forget you.”

Adrian looked down at a couple of rocks lying around him. He reached out with power, and slowly several rocks rose to float around him, and he grabbed one of the larger ones and pulled it above his palm. With a surge of power, he broke it into three pieces.

Yes, there are still many things that I need to master.

INTERLUDE

Fourteen years later; Year 50 of the Empire – Ra’a’zani space

A flash of violet light announced the arrival of a hostile fleet inside the Ra’a’zani system. The Ra’a’zani fleet was ready when they came, and three thousand war vessels moved in unison to intercept the invaders.

Ra’tran watched as his fleet moved towards the hostile force, which numbered some eighteen hundred, fewer than his force. But their vessels were powerful, and he knew that while his force would hurt them, he and his vessels would die in the end. The invaders were too strong, and the sacrifice of his fleet would serve to give the Ra’a’zani people time to build new fleets, research new technologies, and finally strike back against the invaders.

For as his fleet was dying, the people on the planets and stations of this system were destroying every mention of the other Ra’a’zani worlds. Only three clans had survived until now, and only because their territory was further away from the core. The Ra’a’zani had sent all that they were able there—people, slaves, materials, everything that they would need in order to someday defeat the invaders.

Every world that the invaders took died after they had destroyed their data about the other clans and locations of their worlds. But this system was the last and the largest core world. There was so much here that it would take time for everything to be destroyed. And every moment that they kept the enemy occupied here was a moment gained for those in the last three clans.

Ra’tran ordered his fleet to fire their Pasha’ka, and thousands of them launched from every vessel, speeding towards the enemy. He watched as they fired their own Pasha’ka. Half of them slammed into those of his fleet, destroying a great number of them, while the rest continued towards his vessels. He didn’t order the Srasah’uk used; it was useless against the Pasha’ka of the enemy. Instead, his vessels fired their own modified Pasha’ka to hunt and destroy the enemy’s. But it was not enough; the enemy Pasha’ka got through, and he lost three hundred vessels.

Pasha’ka from his ships had passed to the enemy as well and had impacted their ships, only they did nowhere close to the same amount of damage. The enemy lost only two vessels, with one other being damaged.

Ra’tran watched as his fleet entered the range of his other weapons, and he ordered his Larsha’ka and Tarsha’ka to fire. The space between the two forces was suddenly filled with beams of light and heat, energy weapons and plasma.

***

Shara Daim forces – Bloodbringer

Anessa, Dai’Sha of the First Legion, commanded her fleet against the Daksinn—those marked for death. The Ra’a’zani had killed Shara Daim. For that, there was only one possible punishment: death. The Ra’a’zani ships were adequate, and they had powerful weapons. But that did not mean that they had any hope of victory. The only thing that they were able to do was prolong their lives by denying her the locations of their other worlds, making her devote time and resources to exploring their area of space in order to find them. But in the end, it would not matter; she would find them and destroy them.

And now she had one more thing to do. She had found a mention of a Ra’a’zani slave race, Humans. And they looked very similar to the Shara Daim, barring a few differences. They could only be one of the three that the Shara Daim lore spoke of, descendants of the People. She remembered how she’d felt when she’d learned of them, another race who was their equal. Someone with whom they could share their legacy. But as they’d found more information about them, she’d learned the truth. They were weak; they had allowed themselves to be made slaves. And so they were not of any use to the Shara Daim. She had sent a message to the Shara Daim Elders; it was they who would decide what would happen with the Humans. She would try and find information about them, the location of their homeworld, but it was not her primary task.

Anessa looked at her battle map as the Ra’a’zani started to retreat behind their stations and defense platforms. It was to be expected; they too would try and prolong this fight, as all others of their kind had. But in the end, the Shara Daim would spill their blood and bring their deaths, as they always did.

Two years later; Year 52 of the Empire – Unknown space

Anessa, Dai’Sha of the Shara Daim, entered the great Hall of Ages, the heart of the Shara Daim civilization and the seat of their rulers on their homeworld of Shara Radum. She moved below the high-reaching arcs and paintings of Dai’Sha of the past. One day, after she no longer walked the realm of the living, she too would be immortalized up there. Hundreds of years of history were painted on the walls, back to the time before they’d conquered their homeworld—ending the war with the Nazaari, who were the second race that had evolved on this world—and left to explore the stars.

She reached the end of the hall, and the two guards wearing the traditional chestplate armors that left their dark arms bare, the intricate white markings there shown to all who could see, moved as she approached. They were bearing the traditional Doams—the long staffs of their ancestors—and as they moved, they grabbed the handles and pushed the massive ornate doors open. Anessa entered the darkened round room, walking down the stairs to the podium below. She stopped in the center and dropped to one knee before the nine Elders sitting in high-backed chairs on pedestals in a half circle in front of her, obscured by shadows.

“Greetings, Elders, I answer your summons,” Anessa said.

“Rise, Dai’Sha of the First Legion,” one of the Elders to her left said.

Anessa stood and turned her eyes upwards. Here inside the hall, she didn’t need her secondary eyelids that had evolved to shield her people’s eyes from the deadly radiation of their homeworld. Her eyes were now a white iris surrounding a dark pupil inside a black backdrop.

“Why have I been summoned in the middle of a war?” she demanded. Dai’Sha standing was second only to the Elders, and she was the first among the Dai’Sha. In time, as she grew older and lost her prowess in battle, she would replace one of these Elders. Her previous name would be taken from her and a new one given so that she could become one of the rulers of her race. As such, she could demand answers from them. She had just finished taking the last Ra’a’zani system they knew about, and had been sending ships to look for others. It was taking her too long to finish the Ra’a’zani, and she was growing impatient and agitated.

“We wish to speak to you about the information you reported, about the Ra’a’zani slave race,” another Elder, this one a woman, said from Anessa’s right.

“The Humans,” Anessa said. “I have not yet been able to find a Ra’a’zani world with these Human slaves on it. The Ra’a’zani we have defeated had made sure that we got no information about their other clans. Three of their clans still live. Until I find them, we cannot be sure that they are the ones that the lore speaks of.”

“We have reviewed what you have found in the Ra’a’zani records,” said one of the male Elders, “and we are certain that they are indeed the same as the ones the lore spoke of. The physical resemblance is undeniable, apart from their strange coloring—but then, the skin of the People is not the same as that of the Shara Daim. They have the blood of the ancients.”

“You wouldn’t have summoned me only to tell me of this,” Anessa said, irritated, partly because of their summons, and partly because of her inability to find the last of the Ra’a’zani.

“No, we have not. We want you to shift the priorities of the First Legion. You need to find the Human homeworld,” an Elder said.

“I was already doing that,” Anessa argued.

“You have been trying to find and kill the Ra’a’zani for their crimes, to punish their arrogance. Finding the Human homeworld was secondary to that task; you were hoping to find out more about them as a byproduct of your conquest.”

Anessa narrowed her eyes at the Elders, whose faces she couldn’t see. “Why are you so adamant about this? Finding these Humans might be interesting—we could test them to learn more about ourselves and how we differ from the People—but aside from that, they would serve no purpose towards our goals.”

“The location of their homeworld is more important than the conquest of the Ra’a’zani,” another Elder said.

Anessa reached for her power; her eyes tingled as power of the Sha flowed into them, revealing the dark room to her sight. “The Humans have allowed themselves to be enslaved; they are weak and deserve no consideration from the true heirs. Their existence only confirms that the lore is truth, and perhaps sometime in the future we will find the last that the lore spoke of. Maybe they will prove themselves worthy. The Humans are not, and I will not allow their existence to hinder me in spilling the blood of our enemy.”

She pointed at the Elders, whose faces she could see clearly now even in the dark. “Marked for death. Pronounced Daksinn by you,” she said calmly, and saw them flinch as power made her voice resonate. “You would have me abandon my honor, my duty? In order to search for slaves?” she finished pointedly, glaring at them, waiting for their response.

She saw them turn to look at one another, felt their minds touch. They conferred privately, and it took all that Anessa had for her not to try and break into their conversation.

Finally, the Elder in the middle turned to look at her. “We apologize, Dai’Sha. We had asked much of you without providing knowledge of the why,” he said.

Anessa held the Sha for a moment more, and then released it. Accepting their apology with a shallow bow of her head, she spoke, “Then let me understand why this is so important to you.”

She watched as he glanced around at the other Elders, and felt more than she saw them shifting uncomfortably before he turned back to look at her. “What we are about to tell you has been a closely guarded secret, known only to the Elders of their times, since the time our people awakened to the Sha.”

Then another Elder, a woman, continued.

“As you know, before our people awakened to the Sha, we were losing the war with the Nazaari over control of our star system. Our history tells the story of how the Sha gave us the power to defeat them. But the truth is a little different,” she said. “Once we gained the Sha, our people heard a beacon and, following it, they discovered a gift left by the one who created our race, Axull Darr of the People.”

Confused, Anessa interrupted, “What do you mean, ‘created’? The lore speaks how we were their direct ancestors, one of three forgotten colonies that got left behind, the last of our kind. It speaks of how our skin changed to accommodate this world, and we lost the Sha only to regain it once we became strong again.”

“The lore was written at a time of hardship, to make us feel special; it is what allowed us unity at a time when we were close to being broken. It allowed us to spread this far and gain strength,” another Elder said.

“And what is the truth?” Anessa asked.

“The truth is that the People were dying; there was only a handful of them left. They tried to prevent their own deaths, but failed. Axull Darr split from the others of his kind because he did not agree with their methods. He created three races, using his own genetic code to mold them. He then placed them on three different worlds, so that they had evolutionary variance. The lore does not lie about everything. We are the heirs to the People who ruled the entire Galaxy. Our blood is their blood.”

“And what does this have to do with the Humans?” Anessa asked.

“As we were saying,” the Elder in the middle continued, “Axull Darr left us a gift. A device containing all the knowledge and technology of the People. It was that technology that allowed us to end the war in our star system, to defeat the Nazaari. But, as the Nazaari neared their end, they learned of the device.” The Elder said regretfully, “With their last strength, they mounted an attack on its location and managed to destroy it.”

Another Elder to her right then spoke. “We lost all the knowledge that the device contained. At the time, we didn’t have the technology to transfer all of that information; what we did transfer were only bits and pieces that barely scratched the surface of what the device contained. And those small remaining pieces of technology that survived are what have made us this strong. Even now, hundreds of years later, we are benefiting from those technologies. It is why other races fear us,” the Elder said.

Anessa studied them for a moment before speaking. “You don’t care about the Humans. You want their device,” she concluded.

“Yes,” the Elder sitting in the middle said hungrily as he leaned forward to look at Anessa. “Axull Darr left a copy of the same device with each of the three races. The Humans have been enslaved by the Ra’a’zani, who had no concept of the Sha when they met with us. That means that the Humans do not have it, and have not yet heard their beacon. Their inheritance is still hidden on their homeworld. And with it, we can finally regain our birthright, and rule this Galaxy.”