Onslaught (Rise of the Empire Book 6) (25 page)

Epilogue

Shara Daim — Erasi border; Unknown system

The Empire’s stealth ship Scarab sat in the shadow of the moon orbiting the gas giant of the Erasi system. It had arrived there only two months ago, and per its orders had set up a monitoring grid across the system, watching and documenting every supply ship passing through the system on its way to the Erasi-controlled systems in the Shara Daim. This was the Empire’s part of the deal now that they were allied with the Shara Daim, as the Shara Daim didn’t use stealth ships. And the traffic in the system had been significant; large transport ships passed through regularly, and every now and then larger cargo ships that the Empire knew carried defense platforms headed for the systems the Erasi had taken and were now planning on holding.

There wasn’t much to do in the system; they were hidden both by their ship’s stealth and by the interference of the gas giant and the moon, getting the information about the system from stealth probes scattered across the system. The post was a boring one—until an unscheduled Erasi entry into the system.

The High Prime of the Scarab called her Ship Master immediately after they started receiving data from the probes.

“What do we have?” Ship Master Sshaat said as he walked into the command center on his six legs. His large Guxcacal body settled just behind his High Prime. The integration of the Erasi translators into the Empire’s implants had made it much easier to operate for those members of the Empire that had languages that were more difficult to speak.

“Hyperspace entries into the system. Erasi warship signatures, and a lot of them. They are still coming in,” High Prime Jaqueline said.

Ship Master Sshaat leaned and peered at the holo, looking at the ships dropping from hyperspace and moving deeper into the system. “Warships…must be reinforcements. But why are they using hyperspace? It would have been faster to go through trans-space,” Sshaat wondered. There were already thousands of warships, at least two fleets’ worth.

“I don’t know, Ship Master,” Jaqueline said.

They both settled and watched as ships kept coming, seemingly without end. Once the computer counted the ten thousandth ship, Sshaat clanked his upper claws together. “I guess that we know now why they didn’t use trans-space, they wouldn’t fit,” he said.

High Prime Jaqueline kept silent and watched as even more ships kept dropping out of hyperspace, the rate of them arriving actually increasing. Another half an hour later, there were around forty fleets assembled and moving deeper into the system, and still more ships kept coming. Then another hour later, the flow of ships started to ebb. Already there were close to one hundred fleets in the system. Jaqueline thought that it was over, when one more ship exited hyperspace.

The sensors immediately noticed the much larger signature, and both Sshaat and Jaqueline watched in disbelief as the computers calculated their size and generated a holo-image of the ship. It was shaped as an elongated saucer, but much larger than even the Erasi super battleships. The computers displayed the size; it stood at 8200 meters in length and 3200 meters in width. Their surfaces covered with weapons and hatches, it joined the fleets and started on a course towards one of the planets in system.

“We need to let the Fleet know,” Jaqueline said.

“Yes,” Sshaat agreed. They could send a message from here, but without comm relays, it would be months until it reached Sol. On the other hand, they could go in person, abandoning their post and getting there much sooner. Still, even going to Sol in person would be take too long; the Shara Daim territory was much closer. Although they were now allied, it was still very early, and going through their territory might be risky; there might be misunderstandings. Sshaat debated for only a moment. He knew a lot about the Shara Daim defending forces from the briefings, and their Har Aras sector was much closer than Sol. By the time he arrived, there might even be an Empire force there. He gave orders for the Scarab to make its way towards the hyperspace barrier.

The stealth ship used its gravity drives to slowly leave the orbit of the gas giant, and set a course in the opposite direction of the Erasi forces. Going as fast as possible without compromising their stealth, Sshaat didn’t want to use the skim drive and give them away. The fleets didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave for the Shara Daim territory, and he didn’t want them to change their plans if they suspected that their force had been detected. He had to warn the Empire that the Erasi were bringing another one hundred fleets against the Shara Daim.

The Scarab creeped across the system for half a day before it reached the hyperspace barrier, and then it slowly moved for another three days to put the Erasi force behind the system’s sun so that they couldn’t see the Scarab’s hyperspace entry. Once satisfied that the Erasi couldn’t see them, Ship Master Sshaat took the Scarab to hyperspace on its way to Shara Daim territory.

***

Hanaru’s taskforce exited trans-space and entered the Varat system. Immediately his ships detected the massive force gathered in the system. As soon as he saw that force, Hanaru felt a deep fear settle into his bones. The second wave of the Shara Daim invasion, waiting only on the last few supply ships before they started the next stage of the plan. It was an amazing force; one hundred Erasi fleets, enough to terrify anyone. But the force itself was not what made Hanaru feel terrified. Once he had reported his failure, he had been instructed to meet the force of the second wave for punishment. Now, upon seeing the the devastator warship, he understood what that punishment was.

Devastator warships were the pinnacle of Erasi military power, and had rarely been used. He remembered stories about them devastating entire solar systems all by themselves. But the true power wasn’t in the warships themselves; it was who commanded them. The Ancients, beings so old that they had seen entire civilizations rise from being primitive tool users to traveling through space. Tens of thousands of years old, they almost never left the core of the Erasi. The devastators were their flagships, their weapons, and Hanaru had never heard of one leaving the core, not in his lifetime at least.

As soon as his force was detected, Hanaru was ordered to come on board the devastator End of Hope. Hanaru couldn’t help but think about running away once he heard the name of the ship. Of all the devastators, that one was the most infamous. The one that had burned out seven suns in order to break the spirit of a race that had been at war with the Erasi, destroying entire solar systems and killing trillions. And its commander was one of the oldest living beings in the Erasi, an Uvaramo named Garash, but most commonly known as the Son of Carnage. He was one of the pivotal people in Erasi history, one of its founders.

Once, Garash’s people were called Loraru, and had been a part of a Union of species on the other side of the Galaxy. But their Union had been attacked by an unstoppable foe that slaughtered all in their way. He and a few others had escaped and had arrived at what was now the Erasi core. There they had encountered the Gatray and the Sorvani, and together the three races had used their superior technology to conquer everything in their vicinity and create the Erasi. And if any of the old stories were true, Garash was responsible for most of their military victories.

Several hours later, Hanaru was escorted through the corridors of the massive warship, and then led into the sanctum of the Ancient. He entered the room with dim lighting that all Uvaramo preferred and stopped after only several steps inside. He looked at the floor, and not at the back of the Ancient standing at the end of the room. Hanaru had trouble breathing; it was as if the very air around the Ancient was heavy and somehow opposed to Hanaru’s desire to breathe.

He stood there struggling with getting air into his lungs for what seemed like days, until the Ancient finally turned.

“Weaver Hanaru.”
The Ancient’s voice boomed with such power through Hanaru’s mind that his vision darkened and blurred.

Hanaru kept his eyes on the floor as he struggled to keep his balance, and he answered,
“Ancient one.”

“You have failed. You made an unauthorized decision that backfired. You might have just pushed this little Empire into an alliance with the Shara Daim. And that…is a complication,”
Ancient Garash sent.

Hanaru kept silent and didn’t answer. He hadn’t been asked a question, and he had no intention of trying to justify his actions.

“Do you know what your mistake was, little Weaver?”
the Ancient asked.

“Yes, ancient one. I have underestimated my opponent. I miscalculated,”
Hanaru answered.

The Ancient stayed silent for a few beats and then he walked closer, one of his arms grabbing Hanaru’s head and tilting it upwards. The Uvaramo had two sets of arms, and stood on two legs. They were only a little bit taller than the Gatray, but wider in the shoulders, and their heads were triangularly shaped with curved hornlike appendages at the top of the head. They had six eyes arranged in three rows of two, placed with the bottom pair being the closest together and the top pair the furthest from each other, making a V shape. Their skin was usually brownish, sometimes with a green tint.

The Ancient looked nothing like the other Uvaramo Hanaru had seen. He was taller, his arms and legs larger and with bigger muscles. One of his ‘horns’ was broken in half, and his eyes had a strange red color to them that Hanaru had never seen in a Uvaramo. He was intimidating, his very presence enough to make Hanaru weak.

“Yes, little Weaver. You underestimated your opponent. That is a good answer; had you given any other, you would’ve been dead at my feet now.”
The Ancient’s voice rang clearly through Hanaru’s mind as he added,
“To learn from one’s mistakes is to grow. And you have proven to me that you can learn, that you are not blinded by your failings.”
The Ancient paused, apparently lost in thought. Hanaru felt a pressure move through his mind, looking through his memories, studying them closely. Hanaru didn’t even try to resist; he knew that it would have been hopeless.

Then Ancient’s voice returned to Hanaru’s mind.
“Yes, you will do nicely, little Weaver. I have a mission of great importance for you, Hanaru, Weaver of the Erasi. Fail me, and it will mean your death. Succeed, and you will have a place by my side. Do you accept?”
Ancient Garash asked.

Hanaru knew that there was really only one answer that he could give.
“Yes, I accept, ancient one.”

*** END ***

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Rise of the Empire series

Olympus

Sanctuary

Out of the Ashes

Warpath