Out of the Ashes (Rise of the Empire Book 3) (18 page)

Chapter Twenty Two

January 2172 – Second Fleet

The Second Fleet rested in the final trans-station. They were thirty light years from Earth. Just one more trans-lane, and they would reach their destination. The mood among the fleet was exuberant. Ever since they received word from the Resistance and learned that there was only one ship left guarding Earth. It was the best news that Johanna had ever heard. It was not that she was afraid, but she had no desire to see her people die, even though she knew it was unavoidable. Their plan had changed. They would no longer need to worry about drawing all the ships to them. Now they could go straight to Earth and deal with it. The Resistance would wait until the ship was engaged with Johanna’s fleet before they start their attacks.

Johanna looked at her Comm Handler, they were now inside the 50 light year limit of the FTL comms, meaning that their communications were nearly instantaneous. Anything longer than 50 light years and the FTL comm signal slows down rapidly. That was why they were leaving the comm relays behind them. With them the communication with Sanctuary will take about three weeks, opposite the five months it would take without them.

“We received a message! The Resistance says they are ready!” The Comm Handler said.

“Send a message to Sanctuary, tell them that we are beginning our mission, and they should expect a response one week after this message.” Johanna told the Comm Handler.

Then, Johanna turned to Andros, “Notify the fleet, we are clear for entering the trans-lane.”

Andros opened a channel to the fleet and ordered the transfer. The trans-ship Traveler acknowledged, and began the countdown. The clock started ticking down on the holo, and Andros ordered the screens turned on. They had stopped doing that after the first few transfers, but this one was special. The screens shifted, turned on, and they could see the rest of the Second Fleet. Then the clock hit zero, and the violet wave swallowed her ships. The trip would take four days. And then the battle for Earth will begin.

***

Four days later – Solar system

Jacob sat in the command chair on the Star Gazer. Everyone on the bridge was counting down the seconds, waiting for their moment. The Olympus fleet would enter Sol any moment now. Everyone was ready, both here in the belt, and on Earth. They only waited Jacobs word. The attack on Earth and the belt wouldn’t start until the Ra’a’zani warship is engaged with the Olympus fleet. And because those on Earth had no way of knowing when that happened, Jacob would be the one that gives the order for the attacks to start. The Olympus fleet had orders to open communications with the Ra’a’zani before attacking, and while Jacob wanted nothing more than to see them all die without even knowing who it was that killed them, he understood. But Jacob managed to convince the Olympus Fleet Commander to hold all communications with them until they commit to meeting the fleet. Which Jacob had no doubt they would do. Ra’a’zani wouldn’t know if the fleet was friendly or not.

Jacob’s people had placed equipment and men in battle armor on the mining sites, his people didn’t let anyone other than those they trusted know about the coming attack for fear that the Ra’a’zani would find out about their plans. But his people had reported that the others slaves had noticed something, they could feel a shift. Jacob knew that they couldn’t wait any longer, the Ra’a’zani were not stupid, and with all the things they had to move into place they must have noticed something.

Then Asumy declared, “They are here.”

***

The space between the fourth and the third planet of the Sol system was suddenly bathed in a bright violet light. In a single instant, light came and disappeared, leaving twelve ships that were not there before. The residual effects of their transfer washed off in the following seconds as the last of the lightning arcs bounced of their hulls and disappeared into nothingness. The ships drives activated, and the twelve ships started moving. Soon the two of the ships started turning separating from the fleet, on a course towards the asteroid belt between the fourth and the fifth planet. The other ten continued towards the third planet in the system.

***

Vit’r’an was woken in the middle of the night by the sound of his comm unit ringing. He rose from his pool and reached for the comm. He saw who it was and then accepted the call.

“This better be important Tra’r’an.” Vit’r’an rasped out.

“It is Dakar. We have detected twelve ships in system.” Tra’r’an said.

“There wasn’t another convoy scheduled…” Vit’r’an said thoughtfully,
Another unannounced visit? Unlikely.
He thought.

“Dakar, we have gotten a good look at these ships, they do not match any ships we have encountered before.”

Vit’r’an frowned, he wondered if they could be ships from the new race they found. But if it was, why would they come here? And how? He dismissed the notion, even if they could come all the way over here, they would have never managed to come through the Ra’a’zani territory unnoticed. Vit’r’an started rising from the water. “I’ll be there in an hour.” He said, that would give him enough time to wake up properly and get something to eat.

“Dakar.” Tra’r’an started, “These ships are nearly here. They entered the system inside the barrier.”

“That’s Impo-” Vit’r’an began, and then stopped himself. He knew that for a ship to enter a system inside the hyperspace barrier was impossible, but Tra’r’an would not lie to him. He knew what the consequences would be if he did. “I’m coming.” Vit’r’an said. If what Tra’r’an said is true, this situation could become much more dangerous than what he initially thought. He believed that Tra’r’an was telling him the truth, as he saw it. But there could still be other explanations for what he said. The ships could have entered the system and traveled unnoticed until now, unlikely but it could happen. And if they truly couldn’t find a match for these ships, then they might have found another race. If they have he needed to step carefully, he had only one warship. But if he was the one to discover another slave race, his position as the next Rakar would be all but assured.

Vit’r’an dried himself in the mist, put on his belt and left his quarters heading towards the main room. Once he arrived he found all of his people awake and alert. Vit’r’an approached Tra’r’an, “What do we have.” He asked. Tra’r’an turned on the screen, and showed Vit’r’an a video of empty space. Just when Vit’r’an was about to ask what it was, something happened. A big wave of light appeared, lasting but an instant. And once it disappeared, twelve ships were there. Vit’r’an was amazed, it seemed that what Tra’r’an said was true. Whoever this was, had the ability to enter a system within the hyperspace barrier. They had to be advanced. Then he saw two of the ships split off and go in a different direction, while the rest continued towards Earth.

“Do we know where these two ships are going?” Vit’r’an pointed at the two that split off from the others.

“They are on the course that will take them to our mining operations in the belt.” Tra’r’an said.

Vit’r’an looked at the screen. That didn’t make sense, why would they go there? And how did they even know that those operations were there? The asteroid belt was big, the chance that they would start on a direct course with the mining operations was miniscule, unless they already knew they were there. Which meant that these ships were here with a purpose.

“Do we have the scans of the ships?” Vit’r’an asked.

“Yes Dakar. But… they are strange.” Tra’r’an said, and brought forward the scans of the ships.

Vit’r’an looked at them and frowned. The majority of the ships were smaller than his ship, only one ship was bigger. And even it was smaller than Ra’a’zani mainline warships. Vit’r’an’s ship was a simple escort ship, their true warships were much bigger. But the strange thing was the scans of the ships themselves. The ships looked like they were not advanced at all. They certainly didn’t look advanced enough to be able to do something that Ra’a’zani hadn’t been able to do in thousands of cycles. There were a few things that they couldn’t identify, the ships hulls were hard to get a read on, being coated in an unfamiliar substance, a few of their mounted weapons were unknown. But the rest, it was all so… primitive.

“Have they communicated?” Vit’r’an asked.

“No Dakar. We tried contacting them, but if they can hear us, they are not responding.” Tra’r’an said.

Vit’r’an blew air out of his nostrils, “I’m going up to the Blood Claw. You are in charge here until my return.” Vit’r’an said. Tra’r’an bowed his head as Vit’r’an turned to leave. His crew was all already up on the ship, sending them a message that he was coming he exited the building and went to the shuttle waiting on a platform.

Chapter Twenty Three

“The Ra’a’zani ship is moving outside of the Earth’s high orbit.” Andros said. Johanna watched on her c-board, as her fleet drew closer. The Ra’a’zani ship was now on an intercept course. They were still trying to contact the Second Fleet, but Johanna still didn’t respond. She would wait until the Ra’a’zani warship came closer to her fleet. Using this time she looked over her ships formation one last time. She chose to use the same formation that Fleet Commander Farkas used against the Sowir with her small touch on it. Her strongest ships were in front and her lighter units behind, the same as Fleet Commander Farkas’. But her differed in that that her lighter ships didn’t hide behind the stronger. The middle of her formation was the Monarch flanked by the two battleships the Claymore and Sovereign. Her light cruisers were behind them and above, the four light cruisers were arranged in a with two on one plane and two on the other. Her three heavy cruisers were below and behind her middle line. There was sufficient room between their lines that all had a clear line of sight to the Ra’a’zani ship, but should they be fired on, the middle line would be able to add their much greater defensive fire.

For twenty minutes Johanna watched as the Ra’a’zani warship moved away from Earth. During that time she looked at the rest of the system, with the updates from the Star Gazer they had the picture of the entire system. Ra’a’zani cargo ships were on their way from the belt to the planet, but when they saw the Second Fleet they slowed, and were turning, going in the other direction. Johanna would love to capture a few of them, but knew that it was probably impossible. As soon as the shooting starts those ships will start running away. And Johanna didn’t want to separate her warships. The two trans-ships she sent to the belt, as she couldn’t risk losing them, but those ships were not equipped for capturing hostile vessels.

The Ra’a’zani warship exited the high orbit and moved towards her fleet, but it didn’t move too far away from the planet before it slowed and came to a stop. It still tried to communicate, but Johanna’s fleet was still silent. Johanna turned to the c-board asking Turiel to provide her with the information on the Ra’a’zani warships distance from Earth. Looking them over and deciding that the Ra’a’zani would stay and wait for her. Looking at her own fleet she saw that within minutes they would enter firing range. Steeling herself, she turned to the Comm Handler.

“Open communications.” Johanna said.

***

Vit’r’an watched the unknown ships approach. He stood on a platform surrounded by railings, his two clawed hands were planted on them as he watched his bridge crew work. He had brought his ship to a stop, there was no point to going to meet them. He put sufficient room between them and the planet, as he did not know their intentions. He still had materials stored on the planet, and did not want to risk these new aliens trying to bomb his planet. As the time passed with no attempt at communication from the aliens, Vit’r’an became more and more annoyed. He debated going up to them and destroying them, but hesitated. They had a way to enter the system inside the barrier. If he could acquire that knowledge, his position as the next Rakar would not only be assured, but he would become probably the most powerful Ra’a’zani alive. The other clans would do anything to get that knowledge.

“Dakar! We are receiving a communication from the alien ships!” A Taskmaster called out.
Finally!
Vit’r’an thought to himself.

“Put the message through the translating software, I want to know what they said.” Vit’r’an said.

The Taskmaster looked uncomfortable and confused at the same time.

“What is it?” Vit’r’an asked annoyed.

“It isn’t a message Dakar… It’s a request for a video channel, using our protocols. It’s live.” The Taskmaster said.

Vit’r’an frowned, that was disconcerting. Having their protocols suggests that they had been watching them long enough to learn them.

“Engage the translators, and open a channel.” Vit’r’an said. Then a few moments the main screen on the forward wall turned on and showed the video link from the alien ship. Vit’r’an and his crew stared at the screen stunned. Disbelief and shock spread among his crew. The alien on the screen was a human. Vit’r’an couldn’t explain what he was seeing. The bridge looked clean and bright. Holograms could be seen above the humans manning their stations. The humans were focused on their stations, not looking at Vit’r’an and his crew. All except one. A single human, a female, was sitting in what humans called chairs. Around her holograms were displaying information in human language, but the middle was clear giving Vit’r’an a clear view of her. Vit’r’an immediately noticed everything on the bridge, and if there were no humans it would look unnervingly close to the command room on Ra’a’zani mainline warships. Vit’r’an had spent a lot of time in human presence, and he could see hatred in this human’s eyes. She watched him for a few moments, and Vit’r’an studied her in turn, not able to quite believe what he was seeing.

The human opened her mouth and spoke too softly for Vit’r’an to hear, and then a moment later a computerized voice rang out, speaking in Ra’a’zani. “Did you lose your words Ra’a’zani?”

The translation was not done with a Ra’a’zani translating computer, Vit’r’an knew that immediately when he heard it. It was the humans who had translated their words into Ra’a’zani.

“What are you? What kind of trick is this?” Vit’r’an growled out. The human just cocked her head, and Vit’r’an heard his words translated into the human language.

“I am Fleet Commander Johanna Stern, and I am human. There is no trick Ra’a’zani.” She said.

Vit’r’an showed his teeth. “I don’t know what you are playing at, or how you managed to hide ships from us. But your people will pay for this!”

“We are not playing at anything, my ships are not from the Solar system. And the only ones that will pay are you and your people. You will pay for what you have done to the Earth, and you will pay for what you have done to the human people. But we humans are not like you. Monsters and slavers. So I offer you this one chance. Order all your people in the system to lay down their weapons. Power down your ship and surrender. And I promise you that I will let your people live. Imprisoned yes, but they will be alive. Your fate I am afraid will not be the same, as the one who ordered the deaths of countless human lives, you will be executed for your crimes.” The human leaned forward, “Do the right thing, surrender, and give yourself up. You have my word your people will be spared.”

Vit’r’an barely contained himself as he listened to the human speak. “You dare threaten me!” Vit’r’an growled out, spit flying from his mouth. “I will feast on your flesh slave!”

The human had the gall to look unconcerned, she shook her head sadly. “I had little hope that you would accept. But then again, you Ra’a’zani are savages.”

Vit’r’an gripped the railings that surrounded him and squeezed until he could hear the metal cracking. “I will end you human!” Vit’r’an bit out, trying to calm himself down.

The human looked at him thoughtfully, and then said loudly in a near fluent Ra’a’zani. “No Dakar Vit’r’an. The only one that will die this day, is you.” With that the channel closed.

Vit’r’an slowly unclasped his hands from the railings he looked to his crew who were silent. Taking a big loud breath through his nostrils, Vit’r’an calmed. He realized that the human was antagonizing him on purpose. He pulled back and reflected on the facts. The ships were human. They came from outside the system, using technology that allowed them to enter it inside the hyperspace barrier. They knew about him, about the Ra’a’zani, their language, what they have done on Earth, and since two of their ships were on their way to the belt, they knew about their mining operations. That meant that they were in contact with the people on Earth. Logically, this all also meant that there were humans living in other systems. When he discovered Earth, and when they arrived everything about Earth suggested that it was the human home world. And even with the evidence that there were humans outside of Earth, Vit’r’an still believed that Earth was the place of their origin. Too much history was there for it to not be their home world. Which would mean a colony. The humans had a presence in space before the Ra’a’zani arrived. But had abandoned their installations in the belt. They had a few satellites in orbit, but most of them were old. The level of that technology did not show him anything that might suggest a race that could colonize other star systems. Obviously there was something that Vit’r’an had missed, but he had no time to figure out what.

Based on the facts, he knew that humans had at least one colony that was in contact with Earth. But why not come sooner? Vit’r’an wondered. Perhaps they didn’t have the ships? He was sure that their ships couldn’t stand up to his. He needed to capture one of their ships, and find out where these humans came from. But also get the technology that allowed them to travel inside the hyperspace barrier.

Vit’r’an looked up as one of his Taskmasters spoke, “Dakar, the human ships are accelerating.”

Vit’r’an looked at his terminal, “Let us meet them. We need to capture one of their ships.”

With that, his crew went to work, they designated the earth ships numbers from 1 to 10, and Vit’r’an started planning on how exactly to capture a human ship.

***

As soon as the communication channel between the Monarch and the Ra’a’zani ship closed, Johanna leaned back in her chair. She was breathing heavily, her hands shivering. She had tried to keep it together, to make the Ra’a’zani think she wasn’t afraid of him. But she was. This battle would decide the fate of her home world. And she was terrified that she would fail. She knew that she was being stupid, her ship outnumbered her foes ten to one.

Johanna took a deep breath, and looked at her c-board. On it, she saw the scans of the Ra’a’zani ship. It was a bit bigger than her battleships, but almost half smaller than the Monarch. The hull had no weapons visible, but she knew that they were retracted into the hull. The rest was unknown, their scans were not good enough to give her any more information. She reached over to the holographic interface of the c-board with her hand, she highlighted the fleet and ordered them forward.

Almost immediately her fleet started accelerating. She watched as the Ra’a’zani ship did the same, it started accelerating straight for her fleet.
I guess that I managed to goad him into attacking us.
Johanna said. She couldn’t imagine attacking a force that was ten times bigger than hers. Reaching to the side she toggled a comm channel. With the Ra’a’zani ship now fully committed, the rebellion on Earth could finally begin. She sent the signal.