Inheritance (Rise of the Empire Book 5) (22 page)

Chapter Thirty-Three

Tarabat

Aileen walked down the streets of an alien world. All around her walked strange creatures, and her senses of smell and sound were bombarded with unfamiliar things. They were several levels above ground level, on streets connecting the buildings. Above them flew small shuttles or transport vehicles. It was a strange sight.

She wore her Sentinel suit, though not in the battle mode; she only had the plate over her chest and the leg parts. The rest of her was covered with her skin-suit. Beside her walked Björn wearing his Warpath suit, and in front of her were Adrian in his own Sentinel suit, his two wolions, and Gotu.

They had landed on the planet in a dropship—Adrian didn’t want to use the shuttle, as it wasn’t as armored—and their landing place was close to where they needed to be. And after a few more minutes of walking, they arrived at their destination.

“This should be it,” Gotu said.

As they approached the tall building, an alien standing in front of it noticed them.

“Ah, you must be the newcomers. Come, we have been expecting you,” it said. It glanced at the wolions but didn’t comment, and then it led them inside.

They were shown into a big room and asked to take seats on strange but useful chairs that had no backs and stood on five legs. The chairs would grow or shrink, depending on the need, in order accomodate the size of the person sitting on it. As they took their seats, the doors on the other side of the room opened and three new aliens entered. One was a Ssarath, and the other two Sorvani.

“Welcome. I am Trader Reshe. I will be conducting business with you today,” the Ssarath said.

“It is a pleasure meeting you, I am called Adrian. I hope that we can do some business today,” Adrian said.

“Your people said that you wish to trade? Materials for credits, yes?” Reshe said.

“That is correct,” Adrian said.

“I assume that you have brought a list of things you have available?”

Adrian glanced at Gotu, and he took out a small datachip from his pocket. The Erasi had provided them with the software that allowed them to convert Empire means of data storage to that of the Erasi, which used the same system based on zeros and ones, only in a different “language”.

Reshe took the small datachip, studied it for a moment, then placed it in a round box-like device that one of the Sorvani had placed on the table. After about a moment, data from the chip was read and it appeared above the table, translated into their language as a hologram, in a similar manner as what the Empire used.

Reshe studied the list for a few long minutes before speaking. “These materials are very common in here. I am afraid that they will not get you anything more than a couple hundred credits, at least in these quantities.”

Aileen glanced at Adrian. One hundred Erasi credits was very little, not enough to even get them lodging on the planet. But they had already known that their materials wouldn’t get them anything more. The list was mostly of metals that the Veritas carried for fabricating repairs. But they had decided to start with something small and build up.

“My ship doesn’t carry big quantities of those materials,” Adrian said. “I am sure that you have had the chance to take a look at it; you should know that it is not a cargo ship,” he added pointedly.

“Yes, yes...” Reshe said. “It is an impressive vessel. One built for war, if I am correct.”

“It has weapons, if that is what you are asking about,” Adrian said deftly.

“Perhaps you can trade in some technologies?” Reshe suggested. “We are always looking for new and interesting things.”

Adrian paused and pretended to think. “We don’t generally trade our technologies to people we have only just met. I don’t have a good enough grasp of your own technology in order to offer you something, and I don’t feel comfortable with giving you the data on what we possess.”

“Understandable, of course,” Reshe said evenly. “Although, it is said that you encountered a research station before you came here. Sorvani, yes?”

“That is correct. I am surprised that you know of that,” Adrian said.

“Information is a resource to the Erasi,” Reshe said. “It is also rumored that you made an in-system jump, from within the hyperspace barrier to its edge.”

Adrian looked at the Ssarath but didn’t respond. Aileen could see him thinking. Ever since they’d arrived and started studying the Erasi net, they’d known that it was likely that the knowledge about that ability would spread to the rest of Erasi. The only thing they hadn’t been sure about was how long it would take. Them knowing about it meant that they had interstellar FTL comms, not just in-system.

Adrian had already known that them skimming in that system had been a mistake; they had been in a hurry to get here and they’d revealed more than they would have liked.

“That is an interesting rumor,” Adrian said evenly, neither denying nor confirming it.

“And we would be interested in attaining that technology,” Reshe said eagerly.

“I am sure you would,” Adrian said, and smiled, a gesture that was probably lost on the aliens. “But as I said, we don’t trade technology with people we don’t know well.”

Reshe started to speak, but Adrian continued before he could, “Although,” Adrian started, “there might be something else that you will find acceptable.”

Reshe tilted his head. “And what is that?”

“We have done a fair bit of research before we decided which guild to contact. We chose this one because you trade in large amounts of materials my people have abundance of, mainly metals and alloys,” Adrian said.

“That is true, but you sadly don’t have those amounts available now,” Reshe said.

“No, but I can offer you a onetime deal, right now, for exclusivity. Our Empire will trade these materials with your guild exclusively for the next fifty years. And yes, we have checked the numbers you are dealing in, and we can double them,” Adrian said. They had programmed Empire’s measuring units into the translators so that the Erasi heard the measures converted into their own.

Reshe remained silent, and Aileen knew that he was thinking about it. His guild was a relatively small one, dealing in materials that the more advanced races didn’t use, which meant that they needed large quantities in order to remain relevant. “That would be a good deal—if you could deliver on it.”

“The Erasi know how to use trans-space for travel, correct?” Adrian asked.

“We do.”

“If you are willing to explore the lanes to our Empire and back to here on your own expense, we will be able to get resources to you much faster than your current suppliers in the heart of the Erasi territory. With our in-system jump technology, we can move from one trans point to another far quicker. It would not take more than a couple of days for us to deliver goods here to you from our territory.”

The alien remained quiet, and Aileen couldn’t tell if he was intrigued or not, but after about a minute, he spoke again, “And in return for this deal, you would want credits now?”

“Yes. You pay us five thousand credits now, and we will sign a contract that gives you exclusivity in trading with the materials we showed you earlier with the entire Empire,” Adrian said. “I am a...ruler of a system in which we are mining these resources. I can guarantee to you that you will have them.”

“If we make an agreement, and you then don’t fulfill the bargain, Erasi fleets will get involved,” the alien threatened, which told Aileen that they had him. He was already worried about the Empire fulfilling the bargain, which meant that he was interested. From everything that they had learned of this guild, they knew that it needed this desperately if it was to survive and grow amongst its competition.

“We understand,” Adrian said.

***

“This is still not enough to get us to see a broker,” Gotu said once they left the guild.

“It is not, but it is enough to help us get established here. Get us lodging, and allow us to hire guides. Then we slowly start dropping hints that while we might be new, we have things to offer,” Adrian said.

“Why can’t we just go and offer the information to the brokers in return for what we want?” Aileen asked.

“It isn’t that simple,” Björn said. “They have a far greater network than we do. What could we offer them? We don’t know anything about this area, nor about what they want to know. We need to find out what they want, find out how much it is worth, and then intrigue them enough for them reach out and offer a trade.”

“And how will we do that?” Aileen asked.

“By letting it be known that we are looking for the Ra’a’zani,” Adrian answered. “We try to get the information out of the other traders, perhaps we even get lucky and someone will know something. But it will also put us on the radar of the information brokers. They will try to learn more about us. In doing that, they might get intrigued enough to reach out and offer us information about the Ra’a’zani in exchange for something about us. They will know that we don’t have credits to pay them, but their currency isn’t just credits and information. They might want to trade future favors from us in return for what they know.”

“And we know all this how?” Aileen asked.

“Their net is full of people that have had dealings with the information brokers before. Iris managed to piece together their practices,” Adrian said.

“And what do we do until they decide to reach out?” Aileen asked.

Adrian gestured around them. “We watch and learn more about our neighbors.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

July; Year 54 of the Empire – Sanctuary

Tomas read through the message from Adrian, then scrolled all the way to the beginning and read it again. After he was finished, he reached up with his hands and rubbed his palms over his eyes. They had found the third race that Axull Darr had engineered.
Shara Daim,
he thought. And apparently they held a territory that was at least 7000 light years in diameter, dwarfing the Empire, which had around 1000 at its two furthest points, and that was with them having colonized systems dispersed in order to take a large territory. There were gaping holes between the systems he controlled. Eventually, he wanted to make the Empire dense, with most systems populated, but for now he was in expansion mode, grabbing as much territory as he could until they ran into something that stopped them. Like the Shara Daim and the Erasi.

This development posed a problem. The Shara Daim did not seem like a very hospitable race, disregarding those that were not their race, but if they knew about the sphere, that attitude might change towards humans and Nel.
Or would they see us as a threat?
Tomas wondered. If they had the sphere, they had the technology contained in it, and the psionics. But he didn’t know for how long they’d had them. He knew nothing.

He made a quick message approving of Adrian’s trade plan; he would make sure that all Clans abided by it. Adrian had the right to speak for Warpath only; even though he wasn’t a Clan Leader anymore, Tomas knew that he held a great weight with Isani, the current Clan Leader. But Tomas agreed with the trading agreement; they had a surplus of metal ore and could benefit from starting the trade with the Erasi. Then he told Adrian to find out everything he could about the Shara Daim. He wanted to know as much about them before they met.

Then he recorded another message for the Sixth Fleet, which had arrived in Sol a month ago, letting Fleet Commander Johanna Stern know about the Erasi, and that she should start patrolling that side of their border.

Finished with Adrian’s messages, Tomas turned to the requests from the Trivaxians. They wanted permission to colonize another three systems, two which they wanted to turn into mining systems in order to fuel their rapid expansion. Tomas approved their request, but added the condition that one of those systems they delegate solely for the trade that would soon start with the Erasi. The Trivaxian Clan still didn’t quite match the mining productions from other Clans, and they too were bound by the trade agreement.

Then he started reviewing the reports on the Furvor. The avian-like race had been isolated on their own planet for the past sixteen years, as punishment for attacking the Trivaxians. But they had done everything Tomas had asked of them. Their society had been rebuilt from scratch. They were more Empire now than Furvor. And he had been thinking about cutting their punishment short and accepting them into the Empire now. After all, wasn’t the complete eradication of their former society punishment enough? He keyed his recorder again and sent out a message to the genetics center in Olympus City, telling them to start perfecting the immortality treatment for the Furvor. That was one more thing that he needed for everyone that joined.

The Trivaxians had already received theirs and would no longer age. But for them, he had to establish other laws, ones concerning births. They were not allowed more than a set quota of children per year, at least until they got to the point where they could sustain such growth.

After he finished with all that, he started on the last thing on his agenda: the Sowir, Nel, and Guxcacul. He knew that he needed them in the Empire, especially now when he knew what existed out there. He could get the Nel from Nelus and the Guxcacul to join, he was sure of that. But not if he tried to bring in the Sowir. And he knew that eventually he would need to do that. Maybe not for a long time yet, but a couple hundreds of years down the road, it would become a necessity. He couldn’t keep them isolated in their home system forever.

And they had proven surprisingly useful. They had been building civilian and cargo ships for the Empire in the shipyards that Adrian had left alone when he’d taken the system. And Tomas had allowed them to expand them a bit. So far, they had been acting very remorseful, and were eager to aid in any way possible. But the Sowir were very different from the other former Consortium races; they had moved on, and were focusing on the future. Nelus and the Guxcacul were still stuck in the past.

It would be a very hard conversation.

***

August; Tarabat

Adrian walked from the dropship to the bar that was just around the corner from where they had rented a pad. They were living out of the dropship, as it did have rooms, instead of going up to the Veritas every day. And so far they had made many contacts with the trading guilds. Once it had gotten out that they’d made a deal with one of the trading guilds, others had reached out seeking to get into trade with a new player and hopefully get an exclusive deal for their corporation or guild.

They had made a few deals—nothing on the same level as the one with the first one, but Adrian had permission from Tomas to promise a few things.

But sadly they were still not closer to the finding out about the Ra’a’zani. None of the contacts they made knew anything about them. There were a few whispers about a race that was engaged in a war with the Shara Daim, but no one knew if they were the same race that Adrian and his people were interested in. And information on the Shara Daim themselves was very limited; they kept their borders tight, only allowing a few trading partners entrance into their territory. And those trading guilds were the most powerful ones, which Adrian had no access to, as they were still new and had little to offer those guilds.

“Adrian?”
Iris said through his implant.

“Yes, Iris?”

“I found something interesting in the Erasi net.”

“Concerning what?”

“One of their founding races, called Uvaramo.”

“What about them?”
Adrian asked.

“They are very reclusive, but I have found some images of them. They bear a striking resemblance to one of the Union races, Loraru, the ones that built the ship Olympus found on Earth,”
Iris said.

“Really?”
Adrian said, surprised.
“That could mean that the Union managed to survive their attackers.”

“Or that they fractured, and some survivors found refuge with the Erasi,”
Iris added.

“That is possible too. Keep looking, try to find out more,”
Adrian said as he reached his destination.

He entered the bar, and was immediately assaulted by exotic and unpleasant scents. He consciously tuned out his sense of smell, so that he didn’t need to smell the odors. He walked over to one of the aliens sitting alone at a table, a nasty-looking drink in her hands.

“Narateth,” Adrian said to get her attention. “Your message said that you had news?” Adrian asked the alien as she slurped the liquid through one of her slim trunk-like appendages. Adrian grimaced at the slurping sound. Narateth was of a race called the Jugat. They weren’t a part of the Erasi; their race didn’t really have a government or even held territory. Instead, their people lived spread out over the Erasi territory in family units, which usually numbered in dozens. They held businesses, providing a wide range of services on Erasi hub worlds. Narateth and her family served as mediators, usually employed by races new to the Erasi to help them navigate through the complex workings of Erasi trading systems.

The Jugat were another bipedal race, with two trunk-like appendages that they could use to drink located below their wide mouths. They had two eyes slightly bulged out of their head and to the side, giving them a faint fish-like appearance. Their skin was rough and thick, grayish in color. The tallest Jugat Adrian had seen was Narateth’s brother, Suthat, who was about Adrian’s height, a bit over 180 cm.

Narateth glanced at him and opened her mouth to speak while her trunk kept slurping her drink. “News, yes. Sit, sit.” Her voice and language translated directly into Adrian’s brain via the Erasi translating device on his temple.

Adrian sat on the bench. This bar catered to mostly bipeds, and with the many different shapes and forms even in that category, most of the sitting apparatuses were benches that could be adjusted for height and width.

“So what is it?” Adrian asked. Narateth had been acting as his people’s agent of sorts, setting up meetings with the interested guilds, spreading the word that they were interested in information about the Ra’a’zani and the Shara Daim and that they were willing to trade for it. Obviously they’d had a few come to them trying to scam them, but so far Narateth had proven very good in weeding out them.

“The people from the Loksi Corporation have reached out,” she said as she finished with her drink. She removed her trunk from the glass, then put a hand in one of her pockets, brought out a small chip, and paid for the drink using the small computer on the table.

“Finally,” Adrian said. “Do we know what they want?”

“No, they have invited you to their headquarters. Only you,” Narateth said. “It was much faster than what I anticipated; they rarely deal with new races unless they have funds to purchase their time. Something about you has intrigued them.”

“When?”

“In five days’ time. You may bring your companions, but they will not be allowed inside the building itself,” Narateth answered.

“And you have no idea what they might want? They do know that we will not trade in technology?” Adrian asked.

“They are not interested in that. Technology inevitably finds its way; you will not hold it secret for long. As to what they do want, I don’t know; you will have to find out on your own.”

Adrian sighed. “Very well. Can you try and find something more? We have a bit more time.”

“Of course,” Narateth said.

“Good. Then meet us at our dropship in five days.”

***

Aileen and Gotu walked the merchant streets of Tarabat. All around them were stores and businesses that sold a wide variety of things, from clothes that could be adapted on the spot for your species to ornaments and art. But they were here to look at weapons. There were many stores that sold handheld weapons in small amounts, just as there were stores that were fronts for much larger enterprises that could produce enough weapons to arm the entire population of Sanctuary.

Aileen and Gotu entered one of the stores that sold weapons for personal use; they were here to buy samples. With their fabricating technology, they didn’t need vast amounts; once they knew all the components, they could make them themselves.

They were met with an alien of a species that neither Aileen nor Gotu were familiar with, and he, she, or it took them to the section that had weapons designed for use by the races similar to Nel or human. Then he left them alone to browse. There were holograms that explained each weapon above them, which included footage of them being used.

“I don’t see any projectile weapons here,” Gotu noted.

“No, it looks like other races prefer energy weapons,” Aileen said. “Which isn’t really surprising, they are more price effective. You don’t need to manufacture tons of ammunition.”

Gotu reached down and picked up a handheld weapon. “A sonic stun gun. Effective against a majority of known races. Great for use by security forces or for nonlethal control of the population,” Gotu read off the hologram above while a video played of it being used against a group of people that had apparently been protesting something.

“It is effective,” Aileen said as the video finished and restarted from the beginning.

“That it is,” Gotu agreed.

They moved on, looking at other weapons. They didn’t really find anything that was more advanced than their weapons. Different, yes, but most of the weapons available were weaker than what the Empire had. They moved on to the armor and suits section, and found that all of their armor and suits were designed to protect from energy weapons. The Empire’s projectile weapons would cut through them like they weren’t even there.

They did find a couple of small deployable energy shields, which they purchased. But in the end, they left disappointed. The Erasi had little that was far more advanced than the Empire’s technology, at least from those that were available to the public. Aileen was sure that their best stuff was reserved for their military, but what they had available for the public was a reflection of their doctrine and weapons focus. And both Aileen and Gotu agreed that the Empire had far more extensive weapons technology.

After visiting a few more shops, they decided to go back to the ship. There was nothing else for them to check out.