Out of the Ashes (Rise of the Empire Book 3) (13 page)

***

“Did I do the right thing?” Johanna asked.

“I don’t know. I guess that we will see in time.” Andros said, and Johanna nodded. The aliens have been trying to contact them for the entire trip her fleet took through their system on its way to the trans-station. But Johanna never answered. What she gave them would have to be enough. There was little of importance to Olympus there, mostly things to put them on the right track. After the light cruiser Ajax returned to the fleet, they knew where to look, and once they passed their planet they could see the glare of her ships drives. Johanna tried to imagine what was happening on their world as they watched her fleet pass.

“We are ready for transfer Fleet Commander.” Navigation Handler said.

“Notify the fleet, we are clear to begin transfer.” Johanna said.

***

Quvor was glued to his screen watching the feed from his home planet. They used a much more powerful telescope that was in the orbit of his home world to watch the aliens. And he had access to that feed. There were ten ships in total, and Quvor was amazed to see that the ship that helped him was one of the smallest ones. The largest was more than ten times bigger than Quvor’s ship.

Things have already changed drastically back home. At first the government wanted to keep the knowledge of aliens a secret, but such things can rarely be kept. The information leaked to the public, and the impact was monumental. Some people rejoiced in the knowledge that they were not alone. That there were others out there. Others took to the streets, rioting. But as aliens kept going without answering any communications, the situation calmed down a bit. Things were changing. Quvor looked at the alien fleet and wondered how different his life would have been if they didn’t happen by. If he managed to figure out what was wrong with his ship on his own he would have continued on his path to Rofvax. If everything went according to plan he would have been the first person to step on Rofvax. And now he was ordered to turn back, the mission he once thought would be the greatest achievement of his life was now forgotten. His name would be remembered in his peoples history, but not as the first person on Rofvax, but as the first Trivaxian to make contact with an alien race.

Then, as he watched the alien fleet a flash of violet appeared among the ships, and in the next moment they were gone.

Chapter Fourteen

August 2171 – Earth

The stench of the city was rotten, so Aileen adjusted the mask on over her mouth. She walked among the filthy and the sick. People lying down on the street in makeshift cots, dirty and thin. Their grimed faces hiding bleak expressions. Few bothered to look up at Aileen as she passed. They cared for nothing, living only out of habit. Aileen called them the walking dead, because that was what they looked like to her. Ra’a’zani left them alone, they were insignificant to Ra’a’zani needs. When they need slaves for the breeding camps or the mines, they go after those healthy and young. Mostly from those who managed to come together in communities, whether in the cities or out in the wilderness to survive the shortages of food and water. They were what Aileen referred to as free slaves, in her own private thoughts. Free because Ra’a’zani leave them alone for the most part, trusting their irregular patrols and inspections to keep them in check. These people have long ago learned that trying to hide weapons and anything else that the Ra’a’zani banned, was a quick way to get entire communities killed. Instead they go about their lives, such as they are, and accept that at any moment they can be taken to the mines or the breeding camps. The next level of slaves were the ones Aileen referred to as entitled slaves, those who have sold out their fellow humans when the Ra’a’zani came. They did whatever the Ra’a’zani wanted them to do. Build, serve, some even joining suspect communities in order to later expose them to Ra’a’zani. They had privileges, food, water, power, all in exchange for their freedom. Aileen was good with that, she was after all an entitled slave. She heard speeches from the other slaves about what freedom is, and what it means. But it meant nothing to her, she was young when the Ra’a’zani came. And before she lived on the streets, much like some lived now. For her things didn’t change much.

Finally, after walking another few blocks she came to her destination. She entered the small gray brick building. Cots were arranged inside on the both sides of the room. She knew that the ‘owner’ of the building allowed people to come inside and sleep during the night, usually different people every night. As it was now day, it was mostly empty. Aileen spotted the person she was here to see and made her way to him. The black robed figure heard her steps and turned around. Once he recognized her, his face split in a welcoming smile.

“Ah, child. You have come again?” The man said.

“Yes, Father.” Aileen said, she didn’t know his name, but most people simply called him Father, so Aileen did as well.

“Bless you child.” He said. Aileen grimaced, he always said such things when she came around.

“Here, I brought you this.” Aileen said, taking the bag of her shoulder. Inside were a few items, food and medicine, that she managed to get from the Ra’a’zani base.

“Thank you. It means much to me and these people.” The Father said.

“It is nothing, just a few things.” Aileen said.

“To us it means everything.”

Aileen stood there in an uncomfortable silence as the Father took out the items from the bag and arranged them on the table in front of him. She didn’t know how to act around the man, he always put her off guard. She remembered the time that she first met him. She was out doing an errand for Vit’r’an when she decided to take a short cut through the slum part of the city. And there she saw him, he was kneeling close to a little girl giving her food, and Aileen stopped to watch. After he fed the little girl he moved on to the next person lying on the floor, repeating the same action until he fed them all. Something about that stuck with Aileen, there among such filth and wickedness was this one man that was kind. She kept coming back looking at what he did for the people. And then after that she started sneaking food and medicine out of the base. She didn’t even really know why she was doing it, and yet every time the opportunity presented itself she would do the same thing.

“This will help a lot.” The Father said.

“I’m glad that I can help.” Aileen said.

“I just wish that there was something I can do to repay you…”

“There is no need Father.”

“You have my thanks, and if you ever have need something that I can help you with, you only need to ask.”

Aileen nodded respectfully and turned to leave. Before she left she turned and saw him looking at her with a thoughtful expression. Then she was out of the door and started the walk back to the base.

A few minutes of walking later, Aileen entered the base. Like always the Ra’a’zani paid little attention to her, the other humans avoided her, while the thralls gave her a sharp look as she passed. She made way to the chambers assigned to the humans. She had little to do these days, ever since Vit’r’an’s sire Tig’r’an arrived, she was left more or less on her own. Tig’r’an disliked slaves, so Vit’r’an rarely summoned Aileen to his presence. That allowed her more opportunities to steal supplies, but also left her bored. As an entitled slave, she had more or less free reign to come and go as she please.

She entered the hallway leading up to her room, but stopped as she noticed two other slaves whispering in front of one of the rooms. She quickly hid behind the wall, and then peeked out. She couldn’t hear them, but she saw one slip something to the other, then enter the room while the other continued down the hallway in Aileen’s direction. She quickly took a few steps back and started walking normally. As she turned the corner, the other slave looked at her but kept walking. Aileen reached her room and brought her red armband up to the door sensor and they slid open. She entered and swiped her hand in front of the sensor inside the room, closing the door.

Aileen thought about what she just saw. This was not the first time she saw something similar. There have been strange occurrences for the few months now. And even a few new slaves. At first Aileen didn’t pay any attention to it, she didn’t socialize with the other humans. But recently, she noticed a lot of whispering, and slaves moving around places they were not supposed to. She even debated reporting it, but hesitated. It was one thing to report someone that has harmed her personally, and quite another to report people that have done nothing to her. So she tried to ignore it. But her eyes were trained on the streets since young age. She noticed things. She could feel a change amongst the other human slaves. Something has changed for them. She couldn’t exactly put her finger on it, but it was there.

Aileen shook her head and moved to her bed. She had no reason to worry, whatever was happening had little to do with her. She had long ago learned the truth about their fate. Aileen closed her eyes and went to sleep. For the first time in decades, her dreams were not nightmares.

***

Dakar Vit’r’an – the Overlord of the Sol system stood on the bridge of his flagship, the Blood Claw. Looking at the screens at the far wall which showed his sire’s ships on their way to the hyperspace barrier of the Sol system. The other warships that were under Vit’r’an’s command – three ships on patrols in the outer system and the one that was guarding the mining belt – were with his sire’s ships now. No longer his to command. Leaving him only with the Blood Claw to keep the entire system under control. He wasn’t worried, humans posed no threat, he made sure of that when he took the planet. There were still cargo ships going from the belt to the planet and back, cargo ships that he now had a year load with as much materials as he could and then bring them to his clan in the core. As he watched the ships slowly creep over the barrier, Vit’r’an thought about the Destra’ka. The weapon has been transferred to his ship, primed and ready to be used. Vit’r’an’s feelings about it were conflicting, on the one side, he understood the reasoning behind the decision. If the this new race was as big of a threat to Ra’a’zani as it seemed it might be hundreds of rotations before they were able to come back, and the humans couldn’t be left unsupervised. But on the other side, he felt like they could make it work, the Sol system was very rich. It might not be anywhere near the output of their other systems, but in time it could be. In any case, the decision has been taken out of Vit’r’an’s hands. He wouldn’t dare disobey his sire.

Then the ships on the screen entered hyperspace, and were gone. In fact, they had left several seka ago, but Vit’r’an’s ship in Earth’s orbit just now received their light. A Ra’a’zani at the communication station turned to Vit’r’an. “We received a message for you Dakar, it’s from Elder Tig’r’an.”

Vit’r’an accessed his terminal and turned on the privacy field before starting the message.

“
Vit’r’an, before we leave I wanted to tell you that I have enjoyed the time I spent with you. I see now that it was not a mistake that I acknowledged you. And rest assured I will keep pushing things in your benefit back in the core. But make no mistake, while I am pleased with your progress, I will not tolerate failures. Make sure to follow my orders to the letter. And once you return to the core, we shall see where your future might lead.
” With that Tig’r’an ended the message. Vit’r’an looked at the blank screen thinking about what his sire said. It felt good to be thought so highly of by someone of Tig’r’an’s stature. But it also put a lot of pressure on Vit’r’an, he needed to make sure that he does not disappoint his sire. Elder Tig’r’an might be able to push Vit’r’an to the position of Rakar, but a word from him could also end his life. No, he would not disappoint. Tig’r’an knew Vit’r’an well it seemed. The message came just as he was doubting the orders given to him. No matter what misgivings he had about the Destra’ka, he would use it. Just like Tig’r’an ordered.

Chapter Fifteen

Sanctuary

Fleets Master Laura Reiss stood on the command deck of the station/shipyard orbiting Thanatos, one of Sanctuary’s moons. The station was finished just a month ago, and was a part of a major expansion of the Fleet. Even now they were building habitats on the moon that would serve as Fleet Headquarters and the Academy. It will be another couple of months for them to finish those.

Now she was overseeing a live test of the new drones. They have already built one squadron, ten drones of the ‘light’ variant. And with the breakthrough in FTL comm, they could now control them from light hours or even light years away. The drones were a bit smaller than the light cruiser ships, being one hundred meters long compared to the one hundred and twenty meters that was the length of the light cruiser ships. The drones had around 30% increase in firepower, and 20% thicker hull. They had no need for many things that a manned ship needed to have. And their only purpose was for battle, they only had a few access tunnels, for the purpose of repairs. There was no life support, no atmosphere. For all those reasons they managed to make the drones much more durable. Their hull was thicker, their drives bigger and stronger, and their weapons more powerful than those of the light cruisers.

And Laura was very pleased with how they performed. Each drone was controlled by a drone team consisting of four people, one in charge of the drones maneuvering, two in charge of the weapons, and one managing the sensory data from the drone and reading the orders sent from the overall commander via command boards. Each drone squadron had ten drones, and all were commanded from a drone command room on board a command ship, a battleship or a dreadnought. Each drone squadron would be commanded by a Drone Leader, who will oversee the execution of the Fleet Commander’s orders.

Laura looked as a team of ten drones maneuvered into position to attack their designated targets. Almost as one they opened fire and within minutes the slabs of metal that served as target practice were destroyed.

“It looks like the test is a success.” Commander of Fleets Oswald Mein said. He was second in command of the Fleet, Laura’s second.

“Yes.” Laura agreed.

“Did you decide who will be given the command of the Home Fleet?” Oswald asked.

“I’m leaning towards Force Leader Bethany Jones.” Laura said. The Third Fleet or rather Home Fleet still didn’t have an overall commander. They were waiting to see if the drone program would work out, and now she needed to decide who would be in command. The decision was between the two dreadnought commanders. Bethany Jones of the Prideful and Nair Hakeem of the Salahuddin. But in the end Bethany Jones was a better fit. She had experience, she was the High Prime on the Athena under Adrian during their encounter with Concordis ships back in Sol. And her scores were at the top of the fleet. Nair Hakeem on the other hand was older, and had served as the commander of one of the first military vessels Olympus built.

“It will be Bethany.” Laura added, finally deciding.

“Good, I will take care of everything.”

“Contact the lead shipbuilders, I want to have a meeting with all of them here in two days.” Laura said.

“I’ll send out the invites. What will be the topic of the meeting?” Oswald asked.

“I want them to start full construction on the drones, another seven squadrons, so that we will have two for each ship in the Home fleet. And I want half of those to be heavy drones.” Laura said.

“Alright, I’ll let them know.” Oswald said.

“Any news from the Second Fleet?” Laura asked.

“Nothing since their last update. Even with the relays they are too far away now, it takes weeks for messages to go back and forth, especially when they didn’t drop a relay in the alien system, that adds another six days to the message travel time. But they should be close enough to contact the resistance on Earth.” Oswald answered.

Laura nodded, “I don’t remember asking you what you thought about Fleet Commander Stern’s actions in the alien system.” Laura said.

Oswald scratched his head, “Well, Tomas Klein already approved. But, I don’t know. I would like to think that I would have helped someone in need like she did. But giving them that data. I don’t know how I feel about it. I know that Klein approved primarily since the alien system is on the trans-lane route to Earth. We will be sending a lot more ships through once we get back Earth, and regularly too. It is good that we build some good will before then.”

“You don’t worry that our interference will harm them? Things that we gave them can change their entire society.” Laura asked

“No, it is their choice whether to use what we provided or not to. Sure it is tempting, but it is still a choice. And everything changes. We too advanced with the help of aliens, if we didn’t find that alien ship on the bottom of the ocean, we wouldn’t be here now.” Oswald responded.

“I guess you are right.”

***

Force Leader Bethany Jones sat in her ready room, looking at the small box in her palm. She knew what was inside, and her hand trembled as she reached out with her other hand and opened it. Inside was
one silver star and three silver V shaped bars. Slowly, Bethany reached to her shoulder and took off her old insignia, a dark green star and two bars, then she took the new ones out and put them on. She felt right wearing them, all her hard work paid off. Using her implant she started the message that came with the box.

A video prompt appeared above her table and a video message started.

“
Congratulations Fleet Commander Jones. With this promotion you are to take command of the Home Fleet. Two dreadnought class and three battleship class warships, along with one squadron of light drones. The drones are being put into production, so over the next two years we plan on giving you the rest of drone squadrons. As for your first assignment as the Fleet Commander, you will return to Thanatos shipyards to take control of your drone squadron, it will be assigned to your flagship – Prideful. After that the Prideful, the Salahuddin, and your drone squadron are to make way to the Nuva trans-station and leave for Nuva. There you will place yourself and your ships under Fleet Commander Farkas’ command. The details of the mission you will be a part of will be given to you by Fleet Commander Farkas upon his return from Nelus. Once more Congratulations Fleet Commander.
”

Bethany grimaced at the words, she was happy about the promotion. But having to place her fleet under another’s command being the first act she did as the Fleet Commander made it bittersweet. Not to mention who it was that she would be answering too. She hadn’t spoken to Adrian since she introduced her fiancé – now husband Harry to their group. She and Adrian had become good friend following their graduation from the academy, after a bit of a rough start. They were together on the Athena when Concordis attacked Olympus. And Bethany served as his High Prime when they fought against the Concordis ships. Then after they came to Sanctuary they were split, Bethany gained her own command, and their relationship evolved. They became best friends, talking every day over the comms. At the time Beth thought that they could become something more, but Adrian made no move. And Beth met Harry, she fell in love, and moved on. She knew that she could’ve handled everything better, but when Adrian declared that he loved her, she snapped at him. And since then they had no contact. She heard from Paul that Adrian seemed fine after their ‘fight’, which only infuriated Beth. She married Harry and put Adrian behind her. And now they were going to be forced to work together. Well, she wasn’t going to let any history they have together influence her actions or interfere with her duty.

She opened a file that was attached with her promotion, it was mostly more data on the drones. Most of which she already knew, but also the files of the drone operators that would be coming aboard her ship from Thanatos station. She sat in to read them and familiarize herself with her soon to be crewmembers, then afterwards she will inform the fleet of her promotion and their assignments.

***

Lanai Sumia walked the streets of the human city looking around at the amazingly colorful buildings. She wondered about the name of the city, she was told that it was called Olympus city. It was a beautiful city, sometimes she couldn’t believe that it wasn’t here just a couple of cycles ago. It was mind boggling what these humans managed to achieve. They used their grav cars to get around the city, the areas that the vehicles used were walled off, and people could walk around the sidewalks unbothered. A great number of bridges connected the two sides of the streets, and every now and then a bridge was wide and held a small park with trees and sitting benches, walled off with a transparent material. It gave the city a feeling of life which she hadn’t seen since the forest cities of the Mtural.

The human society seemed such an unbalanced jumble. They had technology far ahead of what a species that has been able to travel to other star systems for such a short period of time should have. They were young, not as individuals, but as a people. They set their minds to something, make a decision, and then just do it. No overthinking it just going forward tackling any consequences as they came up. Sometimes they seemed reckless, but Sumia has spent enough time with them to understand what it truly was. They weren’t reckless, they believed in themselves, when they find an answer they don’t second guess themselves they act. Not only did they trust in their own, they were prepared to face the consequences of their actions. They accepted them and owned up to them. It was a thing Sumia admired about them. They accepted their history and their mistakes, it made them stronger, better. Unlike the Nel, they hid from their mistakes, ashamed of what they’ve done. Sumia hoped that someday her people could grow to be like the humans, to learn from their mistakes.

As she walked Sumia glanced back. Behind her walked Hokra Gotu and Hokra Dson, her ever present companions. Not that there was any danger to her life, they just worried too much. The human city was remarkably safe, even with seven million people living there. She remembered the first time she saw human children. That was such a shock for her, as Nel children aren’t allowed outside their family home unsupervised, and even then they are expected to act dignified and collected. The human children had no such constrictions. They played and ran down the streets and many parks of the city unsupervised. At least not supervised by their parents. Every now and then Sumia would see a person dressed in the dark green colors of the human military. She knew that they served as a kind of police, and often a sole figure would be seen walking the city streets. They never interfered with the people walking past them, only watched and made sure that there were no incidents. And Sumia did inform herself on the subject. There was little crime in the human city, mostly what humans called brawls or verbal disagreements. Nothing like the criminal activities she knew occurred on her home world.

Three small humans ran past Sumia not even sparing a glance in her direction, they had much more important thing to do than to look at the alien. She remembered the first time she went out for a walk, how the children reacted then. They rushed over to her and the rest of her party, running around them in circles looking at their tails, asking them all kinds of questions too fast for Sumia to understand them. The reactions of Hokra Dson and Hokra Gotu were probably the funniest things she ever saw. They had no idea how to react to them. She remembered how a small girl told her how she didn’t look like an alien, but rather like a human with a tail. Sumia saw then something that she never saw before. An innocence and acceptance that was not present in Nel society. Human children had no fear of her, an unknown, an alien. The child asked her to touch her tail, and Sumia smiled and let her, she remembered the look of amazement on the child’s face when Sumia moved her tail closer to the child. It was something she would never forget. She knew now why humans wore their emotions on their faces, why they were so accepting and tolerant of those different. She knew that it had taken them a long time to get to this point, and that not everything was perfect. But the simple fact that they fought to make things this way made her feel somehow… Inadequate.

“I love it here.”

“Lanai?” Hokra Dson asked.

Sumia turned and looked at Hokra Dson and Hokra Gotu and realized that she spoke out loud. “Nothing, I was talking to myself.” She studied them for a moment, “We need an alliance with these people.”

They looked at each other and then back at her, “They already refused Lanai. I don’t know that we can offer them anything that they don’t already have?” Gotu asked.

“They refused when they were hoping for an alliance with Nelus. Now that they know it will not happen they have no reason to refuse.” Sumia said, “But I think that we need to offer them more, or rather ask them for more.”

“What do you mean?” Hokra Dson asked.

“I think that we need a much closer connection with them. Closer than what a simple alliance would give us.” Sumia said.

“I don’t think that they will accept that.” Hokra Gotu said.

Hokra Dson continued, “Nor would our people.”

“Perhaps, we need to convince them.” Sumia said.

“Why Lanai? We have a chance of being truly independent now. Why bind us to the humans.” Hokra Gotu asked.

“Look around you Gotu. Look at what they achieved with so little, in such a short time. Can you imagine what they would become in ten cycles? What about a hundred? We need to convince our people, both here and at Nuva. And then we need to convince the humans.”