Out of the Ashes (Rise of the Empire Book 3) (6 page)

“Destra’ka? Have you gone mad? It hasn’t been used in a two thousand rotations, just the fact that you built another is enough for the other clans to turn against us should they find out.”

“They will not know. Destra’ka is undetectable unless you see it used, and our clan will be the only one in the system when you do so. Besides, there are many things that can cause the same effect as a Destra’ka. They will not have enough evidence to accuse us, assuming that any clan sends ships here afterwards.”

“As you wish sire.” Vit’r’an said, knowing that his opinion mattered little.

“Good. I leave as soon as we transfer the cargo, I will also take the other ships in the system. Only your flagship will remain with your transports and my cargo ships. You have a year to fill the ships with as much as you can and set for the core. Use the Destra’ka before you leave.” Tig’r’an ordered.

“Yes, Elder.”

Chapter Six

Four days later – Sedna

“My God. Look at that monstrosity.” Igor Akulov said, in the middle of the table was the hologram of the three ships that entered the system a few days ago. The entire leadership of the resistance was still at Sedna, they were still in the beginning fazes of the planning. And also until the fabricators built enough FTL comms for all of them, it was better for them to be close. The Ra’a’zani thankfully didn’t have the ability to detect the FTL comms, at least not that they were aware of. But Asumy also assured Jacob that even if they could detect it in space they would be unable to do so on Earth, too much interference.

“Did we have any idea that they had something like this?” Anissa asked the table.

Everyone around the table shook their head, including Jacob.

“We have never really managed to hack into their secured computers. Everything we know is from the unsecured ones and from what we managed to get by eavesdropping.” Jacob said.

“So what are we going to do now?” Oliver Eldritch asked.

“We need to warn Olympus. The odds are now turned against them. There is no way they can fight off eight ships with their ten, not when three of them are bigger than all of theirs combined.” Jennifer Williams said.

“Come now, let’s not be hasty. There is no need to alarm them just yet.” Akulov said.

“Alarm them!? Can you see the size of that thing?” Williams shouted.

“We don’t even know if those ships are meant for war.” Akulov responded.

“Oh c’mon! You can’t think that they are meant for anything else. I mean, look at them!” Williams said.

“Calm down, both of you!” Anissa shouted, before Akulov could open his mouth again.

“I believe that Igor is right. There is no point in alarming Olympus just yet.” Eldritch said in his calm voice.

“What? You mean for them to come and get blown to pieces by that?” Williams asked, pointing towards the hologram in the middle of the table.

Eldritch raised his arms and shook his head. “Nothing like that. It is probable that those ships will not be here when they arrive. They are obviously a part of a convoy. True, we didn’t know that one was scheduled, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t. As soon as they load the materials they should be on their way back to Ra’a’zani space.”

At that Jennifer calmed down a bit, “And what if they decide to stay?”

“Well then we can tell Olympus, they are still a year away. There is no point in alarming them with something that might not even be a problem a year from now.”

“Eldritch is right.” Jacob said. “They must be an unscheduled convoy. But those ships pose a long term problem for us.”

“Yes,” Anissa said. “Even if we liberate the system, if they have that kind of ships, it won’t take them long to take it back.”

“Their size doesn’t necessarily mean that they are better than ours.” Akulov said. Jacob looked at the tall Russian.

“Perhaps you are correct, but most likely you are not.” Jacob said, shaking his head. “For now none of this matters. We need to continue on the assumption that those ships will leave. Otherwise, our chances of success drop dramatically.”

“Yes, Jacob is right. And space is Olympus’ problem, let them worry about those ships.” Akulov said. Jennifer turned on him and was about to open her mouth when Eldritch put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

Clearing his throat Jacob drew attention to his side of the table, “We need to decide on the course of action. I will need to return to the belt soon.”

“Our priority must be the Rome base. It has the biggest number of Ra’a’zani and their pet thralls.” Akulov said.

“Yes.” Jennifer agreed reluctantly, “But it is heavily guarded, I don’t think that we have enough trained people to take it by force.”

“Then we need to raze it to the ground. Perhaps we can plant bombs? We have a few people inside.” Eldritch said.

“We could, but it would take a lot of guile to get the explosives inside. Ra’a’zani might not watch us that closely, but their sensors are good.” Jennifer said.

“The best course of action would be to take it out from the distance.” Anissa said. “With the fabricators now online, we have started to manufacture weapons for my submarines. The Lords and Colorado could get to the Mediterranean sea undetected, and fire missiles from close enough that they don’t have time to respond.”

“That could work, but their defense systems are good. It would be best if we could shut down their defense grid, even for a few minutes.” Jacob said.

“And what of our people that live there? No matter how much we try to contain the destruction it will spill into the city. We could be killing thousands of our own.” Jennifer said.

“Collateral damage, those people would gladly give their lives if they knew Earth would be free.” Akulov said.

Jennifer immediately blew up. “We can’t possibly make that decision for them!”

Eldritch intervened before Akulov could respond. “Calm down Jennifer. You are correct that we can’t make the choice for them, but there might not be another way. We can’t tell them as we risk exposure.”

Jacob could see Jennifer struggling to say something, but he spoke before she had the chance. “We might not be able to tell them well in advance, but we can send word just before we hit, for them to take shelter. It might not save everyone, but it is something.”

“Jacob is right, we can spread the word just before the attack.” Anissa said. Jennifer looked around the room and then nodded defeated.

“There are still other outposts spread out over the globe. Taking them all down at the same time will be difficult.” Akulov noted.

“Yes. But the other bases are much less fortified. Perhaps we could hit them from afar as well? At least those that are most heavily defended.” Jacob said.

“If we are to take down the Rome base we will need to lower the time they have to react, which means parking the subs right next to the coast.” Anissa said.

“Do we need to use both?” Eldritch asked.

Anissa grimaced, “Colorado has a lot shorter range, its missiles will not be able to reach all the targets at the same time. But the Lord could. We could use the Colorado for Rome, and the Lord for the other targets. But there will still be a lot of outposts we won’t be able to hit. That means attacking with ground troops.”

“Ra’a’zani have never seen our suits in action. I’m confident that we can take them.” Akulov said.

“It is your specialty Igor. It will be up to you to plan the assaults.” Jacob said, Akulov was a General in the Coalition’s army before the Ra’a’zani, “And I’m sure that Oliver can manage a few unfortunate accidents that will give you the opportunity to strike decisively.” Oliver Eldritch, was a spook during the war, and was now in charge of the Resistance’s spy network.

Eldritch nodded. “I can arrange a few power failures. We have been setting things up and planning for a long time.”

“Well then, I guess that we finally have a semblance of a plan.” Anissa said, everyone had grown tired of constant bickering and inability to agree on anything.

“Great. That means that I can return to the belt and start planning how to take control of the mines.” Jacob said. From there the discussion moved towards weapon fabrication. As the others argued over who gets to fabricate things first, Jacob looked at the three ships still shown on the hologram, turning in the air above the table. He couldn’t help but wonder what more Ra’a’zani had that his people were unaware of.

Chapter Seven

February 2171 – Leviathan

“We will be exiting hyperspace in two minutes Fleet Commander.” Ship Master Paul Isaacs said.

“Good. Be alert, we are not expecting any trouble, but…” Adrian said.

“Yes Fleet Commander.” Paul said.

Adrian turned to the person standing next to his chair, Retsar Isani.

“How long do you think it will take them to respond?” Adrian asked.

“Not long. The council will move quickly to meet with us and open dialog. The problems will come after that.” Isani said.

Adrian nodded to himself and waited. Then the Navigation Handler called out. “Exiting hyperspace.”

A moment later a portion of the forward wall turned into a screen and they could see stars. The holo in the middle of the CC started receiving the sensory information from the ship and updated its status. Two ships appeared almost immediately close to the Leviathan. The light cruiser Swift and the heavy cruiser Enterprise. Then the planets and the rest of the system.

“Damn…” Paul let said under his beard, but loud enough that Adrian heard him. Adrian felt the same. The holo now showed the state of the system as it was a few hours ago, when the light it read originated. The system had six planets, three of which had at least two moons, and one five. The second planet from the sun was Earth sized, and from Retsar Isani, Adrian knew that was Nelus, Nel home world. But that was not what shocked them. No, it was the amount of traffic in the system. Countless ships moved from one planet to the other, from one moon to the other or to stations in orbit of every planet. The holo had a hard time showing them all, as there were thousands. The stations were massive constructs that dwarfed the biggest ships around them.

“And we want to offer our help to them?”
Adrian said in his head.

“They had a lot longer to spread across their system. But technologically we are closely matched.”
Iris said.

Adrian looked to his left only to see Isani studying him. Adrian took a breath and turned to the Communication Handler.

“Send the first prerecorded package to the coordinates Retsar Isani provided.” Adrian said.

“Sending now.” She answered.

“I’m detecting five ships close to our position.” Sensor Handler said.

“Have they seen us?” Paul asked.

“Not yet, but they will in another five minutes minimum.”

“Send them the second package. What types are they?” Paul asked.

“Light cruisers sir, same class as the ones at Nuva.” Sensor Handler answered.

“Any chance that they ignore the message and attack?” Adrian asked Isani.

“The message should convince them that we are not a threat, at least until the council sends their response. And even if they don’t believe it, I doubt they will attack the Leviathan.” Isani said.

“Good, then we wait.” Adrian said, and made himself comfortable, it would be hours yet until they get the response from Nelus. Enough time for him to catch some shuteye, but first he needed to see if the five light cruisers will pose a problem.

***

Retnor Savnai rushed to the bridge of his ship, Ras Var. He was woken by his first officer with the news that they have just detected three ships. And his five ship patrol was the closest one to them. As he ran, Savnai wondered if this was it, if the Sowir Dominion finally decided to wipe them out. It has been a long time since the Sowir visited the system. A decade at least. And as no other Nel colony survived there was no one else to whom the ships could belong to.

Almost without breath Retnor Savnai entered the bridge.

“What do we know? Are they Sowir?” Savnai asked as soon as he cleared the doors.

“Their ships don’t match any signatures we have, Sowir or any other member of the Consortium.” Hosar Navani, Savnai’s first officer answered. She turned to look at Savnai and then manipulated her board. As Savnai found his spot in the commander's chair an image of the three ships appeared on the viewing screen. The ships were dark, almost black in color and the computer had to brighten the images in order for anything to be seen. The ships were obviously made for war. Their hulls bristled with weapons. But it was the difference in size between the three that caught Savnai’s eye.

“Can we tell how large they are?” He asked.

Navani turned her palms and the screen on Savnai’s chair changed.

Savnai looked in disbelief at the information, “This can’t be right. That ship is twice as big as our battleships!”

“It’s true Retnor.” Navani said simply.

Savnai opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted.

“We’ve received a message from the unidentified ships. They identify themselves as friends from Nuva. Retsar Isani is onboard, the ships belong to another race. They call themselves human.” Hosar Fasal from the communications said.

Savnai recognized the name. Retsar Isani. There wasn’t a person living that didn’t. The one that retreated from the battle for Nesva, leaving an entire planet to the mercy of the Sowir. He defended himself saying that there was nothing his fleet could have done to turn the tide of the battle. After the records were studied, the council realized that it didn’t have justification to remove him. And they had no choice but to keep him in command. But a lot of great families had interest or acquaintances on Nesva, so they sent Isani to Nuva. To guard an insignificant world.

“Has Retsar Isani’s presence been confirmed?” Savnai asked.

“Yes Retnor.” The communication officer said sending a video message to Savnai’s screen.

Opening the message Savnai was met with the face of Retsar Isani. It was a simple message, he gave only his name and identification code.

“Has this been verified?” Savnai asked.

“Yes Retnor. It is Retsar Isani, and the codes match those from our database.”

“Bring us closer to their ships, keep our formation. And put all ships on high alert.” Savnai said, then he turned to Navani. “Send everything to Nelus.”

“Right away Retnor.” Hosar Navani said.

***

Sestar Jusan of house Dai Ven stood impatiently on the platform of his house in the main council room on planet Nelus. All the other family heads were present, save for the one who summoned them all in the middle of the night, Sestar Tavaar of house Nor Ral. The mood in the room was impatient, with everyone voicing their displeasure over being woken in the middle of the night. Tavaar as the head of the leading house had the power to gather all the other at any time, but that didn’t mean that the others liked it. And if the reason for the meeting wasn’t as important as Tavaar stressed in his summons, he would pay the price. The rest of the council might be obligated to follow his leadership, but combined and unified they wielded just as much power. Although they rarely dared to act against Tavaar, but interrupting a great family heads sleep might warrant an exception.

As they waited Jusan’s mind turned to the matters of his household. His family has built its fortune on trade amongst the many systems of the Consortium. But since the Sowir war and them losing contact – and trade – with the other systems his family focused on trade inside the Nelus system. Quickly after the war started, Jusan’s father – then family head – realized that their assets were in danger. So he recalled the merchant fleets back to Nelus. And now the wealth and power of Dai Ven was assured. Between keeping a near monopoly on trade among the planets in Nelus system, and the power and income they got from selling their merchant ships to the Fleet – or rather the military families – to convert for their use, Dai Ven was one of the four most influential families.

The top three were all military families, with all of their power coming from keeping the Fleet alive. There was an illusion kept for the public's sake that the Fleet was independent, answerable to the ruling council but separate. But the truth was that ever since the openings of the war, when the Consortium fell and the families retook the power over the Nel society, it was owned by the families that supported it. With no Consortium funding, the fleets could not survive without the families. Now all of their policies were run by the council.

But it didn’t really matter, unlike the other family heads, Jusan wasn’t in denial. He knew that it was only a matter of time until Sowir overrun them. They had much greater shipbuilding capability than Nelus and the near limitless resources from the former Consortium systems. There was no stopping them.

Jusan would do everything in his power to help his people fight and delay the inevitable. Even though he knew it would make little difference to the 50 billion Nel currently living in the system, when the Sowir finally decide to wipe them out.
At least I won’t pass my family’s burden to another.
Jusan thought to himself,
Not that I have anyone to pass it to.

He was brought out of his thoughts when the doors on the far side of the room opened. Sestar Tavaar of house Nor Ral entered, followed by two servants of his house. He wore a great red and white flowing robe – the colors of his house – embroidered in glyphs of his house. He made way to his place at the house Nor Ral platform and turned to the rest.

“Thank you all for coming at such short notice.” Tavaar started, “I apologize for the wait, important matters required my attention.”

Soft grumblings could be heard among the other Sestar’s. None of them truly believed that he was detained by anything other than his desire to make them wait, remind them that he was the one with power.

“Tell us what this is about, and why it couldn’t wait for the scheduled session.” Sestar Nimuse head of house Jar Tel said.

Tavaar brought his left hand to chest level and bent two fingers signifying grave importance.

“Few hours ago three ships entered our system.” Tavaar said and immediately the room exploded with questions. Words Sowir and Attack were thrown out more than once. Jusan chose to keep his cool.

Tavaar brought his hands up, putting them in front of himself, palms turned towards his chest in a placating gesture. The room quieted and Tavaar continued.

“No. We have a patrol close by, and they have concluded that the ships do not belong to the Sowir Dominion, nor to any other race of the Consortium.” Stunned silence met Tavaar’s words, and he kept talking. “We have received a message from the lead ship. And I must say that it came as a great surprise, as one of our own kind appeared in it. But I will let you see it for yourselves.” With that Tavaar turned to one of the servants who brought up his wrist unit. An instant later the screen on the other side of the room turned on. Immediately Jusan recognized the Nel standing there as Retsar Isani, he had been in charge of the small task force guarding the Nuva colony. He disobeyed orders and chose to remain there when he was ordered back to Nelus, and was presumed lost along with Nuva. But it was the being that stood beside him with its arms crossed behind its back that immediately caught Jusan’s attention. It was obviously not Nel, just as it was obviously similar. Its skin color was strange, sickly yellow, its eyes had only a single pupil, and it had hair above its eyes. If its anatomy was anything similar to Nel, it was male. Just looking at the alien, Jusan could feel a shiver of fear run up through his body, he could feel himself sweating. Then Retsar Isani started speaking.

“I greet the council.” Isani started with the traditional opening words, when someone addresses the council. “I am Retsar Isani, and I come to you aboard the ship of friends, bringing to you news of Nuva. More than a year ago, Nuva had an unexpected visit from a ship belonging to an unknown race. They came in peace, looking to learn more about an unfamiliar part of space. We made contact with the race of people that called themselves humans, and sent a diplomatic team to meet with the newcomers. Both we and they were shocked, much as I presume you are now, at their appearance which was so similar to ours. But as you all know our position was desperate, and we had no time to get to know them properly. We told them of our plight, of the war with the Sowir and everything that has happened to the Consortium. And soon after, a Sowir task force entered our system on a course for Nuva. The Humans decided to help us, and sent ships to defend Nuva. Together with my ships, we succeeded, but not without a price to both people of Nuva and humans. I tell you all this, so that you know that the humans can be trusted. And I urge you to hear what they have to say.” With that Retsar Isani took a step back. And then the human started to speak.

“I greet the council.” He said in near flawless Nel, immediately whispers could be heard across the room. Jusan felt another shiver.
No, no, no, no! This can’t be happening! It can’t be happening during my lifetime! It was supposed to die with Nelus and me!
Jusan screamed in his head.

The human continued speaking. “I am Fleet Commander Adrian Farkas, and I come to you with an offer of friendship and perhaps more. I know that the war with the Sowir has crippled your people severely, and I know that the Sowir Dominion is a great threat not only to your people, but mine as well. They will eventually spread and reach human territory. And by that time they might be too great to stop. But they must be stopped. Towards that end, I bring you an offer. If you are interested, I require that you send people to meet with me on my ship, which will remain here at the edge of your system. Send them quickly as I cannot stay long, Nuva is still in danger and my people have placed it under our protection.” With that the human bowed his head deeply and the message ended.