Out of the Ashes (Rise of the Empire Book 3) (24 page)

Chapter Thirty Four

April 2172 – Nuva

Adrian read through the petition forms for the new colonies, or rather new Clans. Tomas Klein, the Emperor, had changed things. They haven’t yet felt the full effect, but Adrian knew that soon that would come. The petition form for the new Clan was extensive. Every member of the Empire that was qualified or had a qualified enough team to lead a new colony could send a petition. Detailing what they wanted to do, how their colony would develop, with the plans for the next ten years. Tomas Klein and his advisors would choose the most promising and allowing the petitioners to colonize a new system and create a Clan. There were four systems available. But there was also a list of the other systems that Olym- the Empire had discovered. One of those systems caught Adrian’s eyes, and he was doing a mental exercise with the help from Iris, in creating a petition for the system. It was meaningless, the system wasn’t even one of the available ones, but Iris insisted that he expand on his idea.

The Nuva system, or rather the Nuvan Clan was now part of the Empire. And he could already feel a slow change come over the people here. Some had asked to go to Sanctuary and go through the academy and join the fleet or the army. All had been allowed. Retsar Isani and his ships had been accepted into the Empire, and Isani was now Fleet Commander Isani. Him and Adrian were now in a joint fleet with a purpose of protecting Nuvan Clan.

A ping on his imp interrupted Adrian from his system colonization exercise and he closed it. He saw a comm request from Paul.

“
What is it Paul?
”

“We have ships dropping out of hyperspace Adrian. A lot of them.”
Paul said.

Adrian got to his feet and started towards the bridge, Akash and Sora following behind him.

“Sowir?”

“We don’t think so, they came from the direction of Nelus.”
Paul said. Adrian frowned, he hadn’t thought that Nelus would decide to come here in months, and not with so many ships. He ran to the CC, and within a minute he was sitting in his command chair. He opened a video channel to Fleet Commander Isani, and his face showed on the display to Adrian’s right.

“What do you think?” Adrian asked.

“
I didn’t think that they would come here until long after they were sure that we weren’t coming back. If these ships are here, it means that they started on their trip shortly after we left.
”

Adrian nodded, he concurred. The scans of the ships were coming up, and Adrian saw that most of the ships were Nel merchant ships, twenty were merchant ships retrofitted into warships and five light cruisers. He frowned at that. If they came to drive them from Nuva, why come with merchant ships?

“We are receiving a message. It is addressed to Retsar Isani and you, Fleet Commander.” Comm Handler said.

Adrian looked at Isani who shrugged. Adrian used the c-board to send the message feed to Isani’s ship. Then he played it.

“Greetings to the people of Nuva.”
Said a familiar face of Sestar Jusan,
“I came to you in peace, to seek asylum in your system…”
Jusan said. Isani and Adrian exchanged glances.

Then Iris spoke in his mind,
“This looks like it will be good.”

***

Jusan sat in the ready room on the human warship, the two other people there were the human Commander, Adrian, and Retsar Isani.
No. Fleet Commander Isani.
Jusan thought. He had been told what happened in the short time it took his ships to get here. And he didn’t know how he felt about it. But the more he heard the more he realized that it was a good thing. He brought his people here to be safe, and it looked like this Empire would do that, if they joined with them. Jusan needed to talk to his people, but he knew that he wanted to be a part of that.

“That is some development…” Jusan commented, as Adrian finished.

“If you wish for asylum I will need to ask that of the Emperor.”

Jusan nodded that was to be expected. “How long will it take for a message to reach him and his response to come back? I’m sure that Tavaar will send ships after. He most likely already sent them by now.” Jusan asked.

The two looked at each other in confusion. Jusan watched the exchange, he noticed true trust between the two. Then they looked back at Jusan, and Isani’s eyes widened in understanding.

“The humans have FTL communications. The message and the response will be instantaneous.” Isani said. “You can even speak with the Emperor yourself.”

Jusan’s eyes widened, he looked at them and saw that they spoke the truth. Looking at them he finally decided what to do.

“I think that I will request to join this Empire of yours, I am sure that my people will agree. But before I speak with your Emperor I think that I need to show you something.” Jusan reached inside his pocket and drew a silver sphere.

“This is the real reason of why I came here, to show this to your people.” Jusan said to Adrian. Then he turned to Isani. “What this sphere will show you will be hard to see and hear. But afterwards you will realize that knowing the truth is always better than living in lies.” Jusan took a deep breath, and released it slowly, “This sphere has been passed down through my family for generations, from the ones that found it… The Order of Truth.”

Isani’s face twisted, but Jusan interrupted, “The history you know is not the whole truth. Please, see what this sphere holds. Afterwards you can say your piece.”

Isani calmed, and Jusan turned the sphere on and placed it on the floor. A hologram appeared, and the being started to speak,

“Greetings my children. My name is Axull Darr.”
It said in Nel…

“…
You are my children, the successors of the People.”

The hologram stopped speaking. Isani looked in pain, while Adrian looked stunned. Jusan looked at them, “You see now. This could shatter my people. At least I thought so. But now that they have joined your Empire I think that it will strengthen the bond between us.”

“Amazing.” Adrian said in English. Then the hologram that was still active turned its all white eyes to Adrian.

“I see that the two of my children have found each other.”
The hologram said in English. Jusan jumped back. He looked at Adrian and Isani in disbelief and said, “It never spoke more than the one message.”

The hologram turned to Jusan,
“That was because the conditions for my secondary protocols were not yet met.”
The hologram said in Nel. It turned to Isani and Adrian, “
You all understand this language, correct?
”
It said in Nel.

“Yes.” Adrian responded in Nel, stunned even further.

“Good. Now that my secondary protocols are unlocked, I can provide select knowledge based on your technological level.”
The hologram said.

“What are you?” Jusan asked softly.

The hologram turned to him,
“I am the shadow of Axull Darr, his thoughts and knowledge transferred to a memory container.”

“We need to get this to Sanctuary. I think that perhaps you should talk with the Emperor in person.” Adrian said to Jusan, who couldn’t draw his eyes away from the hologram. Perhaps he might finally get some answers.

Chapter Thirty Five

May 2172 – Nuva

With Fleet Commander Isani and Jusan traveling to Sanctuary via hyperspace, carrying the orb there, Adrian was left in charge of the system. Commander Isani’s and Jusan’s warships left in his command, all save Isani’s flagship, battleship Valor. The knowledge in the sphere is amazing, and they would need all the expertise of Sanctuary to unlock its full potential.

With little to do in Nuva, Adrian busied himself with tweaks to his colony “proposal”. It had engrossed his mind. It was fun, trying to come up with a way to run a colony. Especially when he knew that it would never happen, he could do whatever he wanted.

Then a ping on his imp interrupted him, again it was a call from Paul. Adrian sighed and answered.

“What is it?”

“Ships dropping from hyperspace, from the directions of Nelus.”
Paul said. Adrian stood up and started towards the CC.
“They came earlier than I thought they would.”
Iris said. Adrian agreed, but in any case they were ready.

Adrian reached the CC and sat in his chair. His ships were ready. He gave the order to the First Fleet now consisting out of 20 Nel retrofitted merchant ships, 10 Nel light cruisers, 2 Nel heavy cruisers, 3 human light cruisers, 2 human heavy cruisers, 2 human battleships, and his flagship the dreadnought Leviathan. All of his ships moved towards the hyperspace barrier and the Nel ships.

There were fifteen Nelus ships in total, 10 retrofitted merchant ships, 3 light cruisers and 2 battleships. They started moving in the system towards Adrian’s ships. An hour later they received a message from the Nelus ships.

Adrian had it played on the forward screen. “We are here on behalf of the council of Nelus. The human presence in the Nel colony of Nuva is no longer needed, my ships are here to protect the system. You are to leave the system immediately. Before that we require that you escort us to Sestar Jusan.” The Nel said. Adrian smiled and looked at Paul,

“He didn’t even introduce himself.” Adrian said.

“No manners.” Paul said nodding gravely.

“Well, I was taught better.” Adrian said and started recording a message.

“Greetings, my name is Fleet Commander Adrian Farkas. Sadly Sestar Jusan is not in the system, and your claim on Nuva no longer applies. Both Sestar Jusan’s people and the people of Nuva had decided to join the Empire. Meaning that you are trespassing on our territory. I require that you turn your ships around and leave, otherwise my ships will open consider you hostile and open fire. If you wish to make diplomatic contact with the Empire, you may send a diplomatic ship escorted by no more than four warships. Fleet Commander Farkas, end.” Adrian sent the message and waited.

When the response came, it was exactly what he thought it will be.

An angry Nel started speaking, “This system belongs to the council. You will leave the system immediately or we will open fire, and destroy your ships.”

Paul sighed, “They can see that they are outnumbered right?”

“I don’t think that they believe that the Nel ships on our side would fire on them.” Adrian said. Then he put on a calm commanding face, “Ship Master Isaacs, I believe that the Nelus ships had declared their hostile intent.”

“They have Fleet Commander.” Paul said.

Adrian nodded, “Order all ships to target the incoming Nelus ships with missiles. Missile package “warm welcome”.” Adrian said. He didn’t use the c-board, as the Nel ships in his fleet didn’t yet have their interfaces installed.

Paul acknowledged and relayed the orders to the fleet.

“Missiles locked.” Paul said.

Adrian nodded again, “Fire.”

***

Seven thousand Swarm Mk1 missiles launched from the First Fleet, from three times the missile range of Nelus ships. At almost twice the speed. The Nelus ships tried to take them down with their laser point defense, but the missiles were outside of their effective range, and their evading capabilities far too effective. Then, as the missiles finally entered the Nelus ships point defense range, and they started taking a few of the missiles down, the Swarm missiles engaged their secondary protocols. What was around seven thousand missiles suddenly became twenty one thousand. The Nelus commander knew that he was doomed his ships couldn’t possibly take down that number.

Their point defense firing frantically even as the Nelus ships tried to move out of the way. Then the missiles reached his ships. Nelus commander closed his eyes as he waited his death. After a few moments, he realized that he was still alive and opened his eyes in time to see the human missiles pass right through his formation and then explode behind them. Stunned, he looked at his crew. He realized that this was just a warning. Immediately he ordered his ships to turn and head back to Nelus.

***

“You think that they will be back any time soon?” Paul asked.

“Don’t think so.” Adrian answered,

“Yeah, probably not.” Paul added.

***

Sanctuary – ten days later

“The council will not take well to this.” Clan Leader Sumia said.

“No, but I doubt that they will do anything about it.” Laura said.

“Even if they do, we have sufficient defenses protecting the system to hold them back.” Tomas said. Tomas looked at Sumia, “When do you think that we should tell both our peoples about the sphere?”

“Let’s wait until Sestar Jusan gets here and we can verify it in person. Then we shall see.” Sumia said. Jusan and Isani would arrive at Sanctuary in eight months.

Tomas cleared his throat, “Well then let’s move on.” Tomas said, “The Second Fleet has started exploring the trans-lanes back to Sanctuary. They are carrying three thousand people rescued from Earth.”

“Three thousand… Out of so many.” Seo-yun said.

“There was no way for them to save more Seo-yun. The mega storms that are ravaging the planet don’t allow them to even land anymore. The people on Earth are probably already dead.”

“And what about those in the asteroid belt? How could the Fleet Commander let that maniac kill them all!” Nadia asked.

Tomas shook his head in sorrow. “Were they supposed to let them starve to death, or in desperation turn to cannibalism? It is a terrible thing that Jacob Kelly did, and he had surrendered himself to the Fleet Commanders custody. But I can understand the act. It was he that started the rebellion, he felt responsible for them, he failed them. And so he took it upon himself to end their lives before their suffering truly began. He will have a trial once the Second Fleet returns home.”

Elias nodded firmly, others kept their mouths closed. “Let’s move on from Earth. It will be a while until the wound heals sufficiently for us to be able to talk about it without so much emotion.” Elias said.

Tomas nodded, and turned to Laura. “Did you all get the chance to look at the colony proposal from Adrian.” Tomas asked.

Laura nodded her head, “It is interesting. I don’t know if he could pull it off. It is ambitious, and completely different from every other proposal. But that system isn’t on our plan, it will be dependent on Sanctuary for a long time before it could sustain itself. And the nature of the Clan itself…” Laura said.

“I think that we should consider it further.” Elias said. “When Tomas started that petition program this is what was he had in mind. And his proposal is the most detailed and fleshed out one of them. He had the plans drawn out for the next fifty years.”

Tomas scratched his head. “Yes, let’s check all his data and plans. See if it could work. Then we make our decision.”

They spent the next few hours going through Adrian’s proposal before finally coming to a decision.

“Well, that decides it then.” Tomas said, “I think that we are done here for today.” All of them got up and left quickly, each had a lot of work to do. They exited the conference room, Elias staying behind with Tomas at the exit. Tomas had sent him a private message via his imp to stay.

Tomas turned to his friend, “I think that it is time.” He said.

Elias looked at the backs of his friends as they each went their own way.

“I’m sorry Elias.” Tomas said.

Elias took a deep breath and turned to look at his friend, “Don’t be, it was my choice.”

***

Seo-yun stood beside Tomas, who was dressed in his black suit. Her eyes hurt from crying, but Tomas was being stoic, not letting anyone see his pain. But she knew how much Elias meant to him. He was more than a friend. It was such a stupid way to die. A shuttle malfunction caused Elias and twenty other men to crash into the ocean. They couldn’t even retrieve the bodies, the violent ocean life of Sanctuary had probably already taken care of that.

She looked at Tomas as he gazed at the headstone.

Here lies the memory of Elias Bakas;

Born on Earth – 13
th
of Jun 2018;

Died on Sanctuary – 28
th
of May 2172

A friend, a brother, a leader.

He will never be forgotten.

Saying goodbye to his best friend without a body was hard on him. She could see him being weighed down by something, but she didn’t want to push. He would tell her when he was ready.

“Let’s go home Tomas.” Seo-yun said.

Tomas raised his eyes to look at her, for a moment she thought that he was going to say something, but then he sighed, shook his head and said. “Yes. Let’s go home.”