Inheritance (Rise of the Empire Book 5) (21 page)

Chapter Thirty-One

June; Year 54 of the Empire – Veritas

Adrian stood in the control room with Gotu and Björn as their ship exited hyperspace and entered the Erasi system. They followed the regulations they’d received from the Sorvani, and had all their weapons powered down, although Adrian had their shields and field emitters primed just in case. The Veritas’s active scanners activated, and the holo in front of them updated.

“Well, this is something new,” Björn said.

And Adrian agreed. The entire system was full of traffic, with ships moving from hyperspace barriers and trans-stations towards and from the second planet in the system. The planet had its entire surface covered with buildings—large, city-sized domes, space elevators stretching from the surface to the stations in the orbit, and the stations themselves that filled the high orbit of the planet. But what really got their attention was the differences between the ships. Iris had identified more than two dozen types of ships that likely belonged to different species.

“How do you think we should proceed?” Adrian asked the two.

“We should follow the guidelines that the Sorvani gave us,” Björn said. “Announce our presence and then follow their instructions. Something tells me that this isn’t the first time they’ve had unfamiliar visitors.”

Adrian nodded, agreeing. “Start with the communications. Establish us as new to the neighborhood, seeking to meet people interested in trade. Don’t mention the Ra’a’zani just yet.”

“I’ll get the Comms Handlers on it immediately,” Gotu said. “Do you want us to skim to the planet? There is a lot of traffic; we will need to find a clear course.”

Adrian thought about it, but then shook his head. “No, I think that we made an error when we showed that to the Sorvani. I don’t see any of the ships in system skimming. Let’s keep it to ourselves for now.”

“As you wish,” Gotu said.

***

Seventeen hours later

Adrian and Aileen entered the briefing room on the Veritas control deck. Already there were Gotu and Björn. Adrian took the seat at the head of the table, with Aileen to his right and Gotu and Björn on his left.

“So, what have we learned?” Adrian asked.

Gotu stood up and took control of the holo, zooming in on the planet. “Tarabat is what the Erasi call this hub world. Trade with those outside of the Erasi is conducted on such worlds. Anyone can own properties on hub worlds; if we wanted to, we could buy a building here and use it however we wished.”

Björn stood and continued for Gotu, “But, the laws on Erasi hub worlds are...very loose. From what I have read of them, pretty much anything is legal, from slavery to drug trafficking to weapons trade. The reason for this is because there are so many races, cultures, and different ideologies that it would have been impossible to make laws that everyone would agree to follow.”

Gotu turned his palm, agreeing. “Yes. They use the hub worlds to trade and negotiate with other races. Their other worlds, those where only the member races of the Erasi are allowed in, are much different.”

“So what does this mean for us?” Adrian asked.

“Basically, we can do whatever we want once we are on their stations or on the planet. We are, however, forbidden form firing our ship’s weapons within the system. They have a flotilla that is there to punish any who break that rule. Although there are circumstances in which that is permitted, for example if we are attacked first, or if some outside force attacks the system. The flotilla is relatively small, twenty ships only. But no outside force would dare attack an Erasi system, especially a hub. One reason is that the Erasi have massive fleets in their core systems, and the other is that if anyone from the outside tries to attack a hub world, the other races that have business with the Erasi would turn against them in order to protect their interests. And there are thousands of warships here, protecting convoys that are doing trade with Erasi.”

“If we can do whatever we want, I assume that they can do so as well?” Aileen asked.

“Yes, Sentinel. There are guard forces, but they are in the employ of the trade guilds, and don’t really care about anything unless it concerns a breach in the validated contract. The Erasi are a conglomerate of many races, held together by thousands of corporations. These corporations establish offices on hub worlds and then make deals there. A deal made with a corporation or a private business on a hub world is binding. If you break it, the Erasi step in and enforce it. The corporations are so large that they deal with multiple races at the same time,” Björn answered.

“Hm...So the only kind of relations we can establish with the Erasi is trade?” Adrian asked.

“Yes, and they are very large, Lord Sentinel. If what we have read on their net is true—and I see no reason why it shouldn’t be—their territory stretches from our galactic arm to the next. They don’t concern themselves much with races that are not on their level. And they don’t know much about us, except that we just came onto the scene. In time, if they deem us worthy, or a big enough of a threat, the Erasi ruling council will reach out. Until then, we are able to trade freely with their corporations or other races that have representatives on their hub worlds,” Björn said.

“Did you find any mention of the Ra’a’zani on their net?” Adrian turned to Gotu.

“No, but there is just too much data, too many races. And their records for our area of space seem empty, at least their public ones. They do have information brokers on the planet, and as far as I can tell, those will be our best bet to learn anything,” Gotu said.

“Much as the Sorvani said, then. Have we figured out how we will be able to pay them?” Adrian asked.

“We have some materials on board, for use in our fabricators,” Björn started. “I have taken the liberty of setting up talks with a few small businesses that are a part of a local guild to which we can sell them. That will give us enough funds for us to be able to hire guides and to do a bit of trading. Maybe set up trading contracts for Warpath, or even the Empire.”

“How do you think that we should go about this?” Adrian asked.

“First things first, we need to get a shuttle to this station,” Gotu said as he changed the holo to show the station. “It is the base for the Erasi. As a new species in their area, we need to check in. They will enter us into their database with the most basic information—what we look like and our language. We will also receive a sample of five personal translation devices, to use and study in order to produce more.”

“Translation devices?” Aileen asked.

“Apparently they have a superior piece of translating tech. It is customizable for any intelligent race, and you wear it somewhere where it is close to your brain. Every being on hub worlds wears one. It makes it so you hear anyone speaking in your language, immediately, not like how our implants do it where we hear an echo. And everyone else hears their own when we speak,” Gotu said.

“That will be useful,” Adrian commented.

“Yes. After that, we park Veritas into orbit around Tarabat and go down to the planet,” Gotu said.

“Well, then, that sounds like a plan,” Adrian said. “Let’s get on it.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Tarabat system

Gotu and Björn
watched from the shuttle as Veritas slowly reached the massive station in orbit of Tarabat. On their way here, the two of them had studied the system and the ships in it closely, evaluating threats and trying to discern their capabilities. The Veritas was the largest warship in the system; there were larger ships, but those were obviously cargo haulers. The other warships that were part of cargo convoys were smaller, none larger than 1000 meters, and ships close to that size were few. Most of them fell within 300 to 600 meters in length, in all shapes and forms.

The Erasi flotilla, on the other hand, was a different story. They had twenty ships, and all were saucer-shaped. Ten were around 800 meters in diameter, another eight about 1500, and the last two were 2200 meters in diameter. Smaller than Veritas, but those ships were clearly of a much different make than the others in the system. They had no visible drives, which would indicate that they only used gravity drives, which didn’t need an exhaust. That could make them more maneuverable, but probably not as fast as his ship, which used both types of drives at the same time. And according to the info they’d gotten from the net, those last two ships were of a class comparable to the Empire’s new battleships, and were not the Erasi’s largest ships.

When the Veritas got close enough, they received word from the station that they could come aboard, and Gotu and Björn, along with another three adepts in battle suits, left on board the shuttle towards the station. Adrian and Aileen stayed on the Veritas, as they weren’t sure if the Erasi would covertly take scans or samples, and they didn’t want to reveal their psionics and augmentation.

According to what Gotu had managed to find out, they wouldn’t be on board long. The shuttle approached and passed through a field that held the atmosphere inside; the Erasi station had the same air composition as what humans and Nel needed. And as it turned out, most of life had similar needs, which wasn’t such a mystery to the Empire, as they knew the reason. The People had been responsible for guiding and pushing forward life on many worlds, and they’d chosen life most similar to their own.

The shuttle landed and the five people inside slowly exited. Inside the clean-looking hangar, they were met with three aliens. One was a Sorvani; the other two were new to Gotu, but he had read up on them. One was a slim red-and-black-colored alien looking similar to snakes, which he’d seen on the old vids from Earth, only it had arms on its upper body, while its lower part slithered on the ground. They were another member of the Erasi and called themselves Ssarath. The other alien was a fur-covered biped with a large, hulking torso, but about as tall as Gotu himself. Also a member of the Erasi, they were called Bomtu. All the aliens had some kinds of clothes on, and they approached as Gotu and the rest of his people exited the shuttle.

The three adepts had their heads covered, while Gotu and Björn went forward with theirs still visible. As they approached, Bomtu—the hulking alien—offered them an open package with five devices on it. Gotu had already been told about how their meeting would go about, and had provided the Erasi with images of the Nel so that they could build the devices. One of the adepts stepped forward and took the package, then offered it to Gotu and Björn, who each took one and placed the small, round part on their temples. The devices were very small, about a size of a small coin, slim, and they stuck to their heads.

The leading alien, the Sorvani, spoke first.
“
Do you understand me
?”

“Yes, I understand you,” Gotu said, impressed. He’d been under the impression that calibration of some kind would be necessary. He glanced to the Bomtu and noticed him looking at the device in his hands.

“That was unexpected,” the Sorvani said.

“What do you mean?” Gotu asked.

The Ssarath on the right slithered a bit closer. “The devices need calibration when they are used for new species, and yet they have adapted to your brainwaves immediately.” It angled its head and looked from Björn to Gotu. Then it glanced at Gotu’s tail.

“The two of you are not the same species?” it asked.

Gotu hesitated; he didn’t want to give away too much at their first meeting. “No, but we are both a part of the Empire.”

“You closely resemble each other. And you also look surprisingly similar to a race we are familiar with. Your brainwaves are almost exactly like theirs, only slightly off,” the hulking alien said. “But you are different. They are larger than you, their skin is of a different color, and their eyes are different.”

“Really?” Gotu said slowly, but already he could see Björn stiffen. “How much different are they?”

“Their skin is black across their entire bodies, even the eyes. And they have several pupils that move constantly,” the Sorvani said, and Gotu knew who they were. The third descendant race of Axull Darr. His eyes were the same, or rather, his secondary eyelids were. He didn’t have them closed now, as he didn’t need them, so his eyes looked similar to those of a human—a single pupil and iris.

“We are not aware of any other race that looks like us. We were very surprised when we encountered each other,” Björn interjected. “What is the name of this race?”

“They are called the Shara Daim,” the Sorvani answered.

“Are there any here? We would be very much interested in talking to them; our scientists have several theories about why humans and Nel look so much alike. They might provide more insight into the topic,” Gotu suggested.

“No, the Shara Daim do not do trade with the Erasi in this sector. They rarely interact with most races peacefully, and only tolerate others if they are strong,” the alien on the left said.

“We would be interested in anything you can share about them,” Björn persisted.

“There is some data on them on the net, but if you want to know more, you will need to purchase that information,” the Ssarath said.

“Of course,” Gotu said.

“Now, if you will follow me, we will take you to the information center, where we will make a record of your people,” the Sorvani said as it gestured towards the hallway leading deeper into the station.

***

Veritas

“Shara Daim?” Adrian asked.

“Yes, Lord Sentinel,” Björn answered.

“And how sure are you that they are the third race?” Adrian asked.

“Very,” Gotu answered. “We checked the net and got images. There is no doubt. They have the same features that the both the Nel and humans inherited from the People.”

“Do we know anything else about them?” Adrian asked.

“The public nets don’t have comprehensive data; we would need to go to an information broker for more in-depth data. But we know that their territory is some seven hundred light years from here, that they hold a large area of territory, almost the size of the Erasi, and that other races stay out of their way,” Björn answered.

“So we have finally found our last siblings,” Adrian commented.

“Should we try and make contact?” Aileen asked.

“Yes, but not yet. We need to let the Emperor know, and let him decide when and how to approach them. In the meantime, we have a different task: finding the Ra’a’zani,” Adrian said. “Any news on that front?”

“Sadly, no. There is no mention of them in the net. But the net holds information only about races that have dealings with the Erasi. Our best bet is to deal with the information brokers,” Björn said. “The only problem is getting to them. They don’t just allow anyone to come and seek information. You need to either pay an incredible amount, or have something to offer them in return.”

“Hm...I think that we need to learn a bit more about how things work here,” Adrian said, a plan forming in his mind. He turned to look at Gotu. “Do we know where we are most likely to get what we need?”

“There are several information-dealing brokers. Most contend with matters inside the Erasi and concerning their trading partners. The ones that would be able to help us are those large enough to have nets all over, and who look beyond the Erasi borders, which means we need to go to the largest information brokers. On Tarabat, that means Loksi Corporation; they are the largest in this system. But I doubt that the funds we’ll get from what we sell will be enough to get us inside.”

“Then we will need to improvise,” Adrian said. “For when did you schedule the meetings with the trading guilds?”

“We are scheduled to meet at their guild in about four hours,” Gotu said.

“Then that is our next move. We get funds, then we will start setting up connections. See if there is something we can offer them that will get us enough funds to get an audience with the brokers. If not, we will need to grab their attention in other ways,” Adrian said.

“As you say, Lord Sentinel. Björn and I will go down to the planet and set everything up,” Gotu said.

“Aileen and I will accompany you,” Adrian added.

“Uh...Lord Sentinel, I don’t think that would be wise,” Björn said slowly.

“I don’t need to be protected, Björn, and neither does Aileen. If anything, we will be protecting you. I want to see how things work down there with my own eyes. In the future, this will be the job that Sentinels will carry out. And we were given five translators, right? We have enough for the four of us and one for study,” Adrian said.

Gotu, knowing that there wasn’t anything he could say to change Adrian’s mind, agreed. “As you wish, Lord Sentinel.”