Ivan Kal - What War Had Wrought

“We did hit them hard; they lost a lot of ships. It could be that they have realized that continuing this war would be far more costly than they initially assumed,” Dai Sha Garaam answered.

“They have more than double our numbers as reinforcements,” Dai Sha Karoom added.

“That doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have changed their minds. We have fought them at a disadvantage from the start. And the threat of our and the Empire’s alliance might be enough for them to realize that it would cost them much to continue this war,” Garaam retorted.

“More than possible is that they will ask us to surrender. They have arrived in Har Aras sector and must believe that we know about their reinforcements. We might have surprised them by our counterattacks, but I doubt that they think that they can lose,” Karoom said.

“Will the Empire’s forces join in the fighting now?” Garaam asked Adrian.

“My orders were to wait until their reinforcements arrive, so that we can be sure that they don’t want peace. But I was also ordered to answer any diplomatic request. We need to at least hear what they have to say,” Adrian answered.

“But?” Anessa asked, feeling that there was something that Adrian kept back.

“The timing is suspicious. Until now, they have always stalled. Although, it is possible that they simply couldn’t deal until now. The message said that we would deal with an O’fa; as far as I am aware, they are the leaders of the Erasi,” Adrian answered.

“We had never paid much attention to the governments of other races,” Anessa said remorsefully. “But we do know that these O’fa are highly regarded in the Erasi.”

“Then there is the possibility that their stalling wasn’t in order for that fleet to arrive; they might not have been able to deal and have been waiting for this O’fa. If our assumption that these reinforcements arrived from deep within the Erasi territory, then they could’ve been sent here long before the Empire even met the Erasi,” Adrian said.

“So you advise that we accept this invitation?” Anessa asked.

“As long as the Erasi want to talk, I am bound by words of my Emperor. The Empire wants peace; if the Erasi will not be reasonable, we will make good on our promise of military aid, but all avenues of diplomacy need to be explored before then,” Adrian said.

“And if they ask for our surrender?” Garaam asked.

“Then we will abandon any further dealings with the Erasi and my ships will join yours,” Adrian responded.

Garaam nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer. “The Erasi have a lot more ships than both of our forces combined, and you will still fight with us?”

“Those were the terms of our alliance. We might not have been aware of their reinforcements, but we don’t go back on our word,” Adrian answered. “And with the technology we have shared with you, we only need to stall that fleet until we have a force capable of defeating them.”

“That will not be that easy,” Karoom added.

“No. You will lose a lot of worlds; they will push into your territory, killing and subjugating millions. But your territory is large. If we slow their advance enough, and protect your shipbuilding systems, we can win. But no war is ever certain; we could defeat them with far smaller numbers, or we could lose no matter what we do.”

“Yes, that is true. Although I doubt that many other Dai Sha can see that,” Karoom said, turning to look at his Kar Daim. “These victories have made our Dai Sha emboldened; they think that we are far superior to the Erasi. You leading these battles has strengthened your rule, Kar Daim. But I fear that it has also reinforced their old beliefs, that we are superior to all others.”

Garaam grimaced. “He is right, Anessa. I have seen it among the others. They believe in you now, but our victories have crippled the views we were trying to spread. Any loss will now hit us far harder.”

“I couldn’t leave our systems in Erasi control,” Anessa said.

“Of course not. I just want you to understand the state of your Legions. If you ask them to attack a force three times larger than ours, they will follow you, completely believing that they will win, that there is no way for them to lose,” Garaam clarified.

“I have no choice now; it was either waiting for a stab in the back or showing that I am worthy of being followed,” Anessa stated.

“The Dai Sha are behind you now, fully. But if we start losing, their loyalty will waver,” Karoom cautioned.

“I know, that’s why we need to end this war quickly,” Anessa said, turning to look at Adrian. “I know that you want to prolong this conflict, to build enough forces to be able to defeat the Erasi with little risk. But it is not your worlds and people at stake. I can’t let this war continue; we need to find a way to end it.”

Adrian sighed. “I understand. If that is your wish, then talking to the Erasi should be your first step. There must be a reason as to why they want to talk now. Perhaps they are planning something, or perhaps they truly want to talk; either way, you have no choice now.”

“I am willing to talk with them, but you know my terms. I will not back down. Either they accept or they will pay the price,” Anessa said, then turned to Garaam. “What about this system where they want us to meet? Is there anything about it that might suggest that they are planning something?”

Garaam turned to the holo and brought up the system in question. “It is an insignificant system, it has no resources, no habitable planet. The world they want us to meet on, Numvani, does have breathable atmosphere, and it is charged and almost constantly in flux, resulting in frequent storms. There is a massive storm raging across the planet at all times, which makes the planet unsuitable for life on the surface. They want to meet on the small island as neutral ground. As for the rest of the system… it has no trans-routes, no asteroid fields, only three other planets that are far away from each other, no moons—nothing that would suggest a trap. In truth, it is a perfect neutral ground; there is no place where they can make an ambush.”

“Good. They said that we are to bring only one ship to the planet?” Anessa asked.

Garaam gestured in agreement. “Yes, they wish to speak with you directly, which is odd, as the Erasi rarely deal directly with the rulers of other empires; usually all negotiations are conducted by emissaries. But then again, their message said that they will be sending an O’fa, who are as far as we know the leaders of the Erasi. I doubt that they will be willing to risk an O’fa to set up a trap,” Garaam said, then turned to look at Adrian. “The message did say that they don’t want your ships in the system; your FTL ability could be used to ambush them. Only one Shara Daim ship can go to the planet. And they are interested in speaking with you as well.”

“I assume that both sides will bring only a single ship in the system?” Adrian asked.

“Yes, and they will do so at the same time,” Garaam answered.

“That suggests that they don’t yet know that some of your ships have been fitted with our skim drives,” Adrian said.

“It does suggest that, yes,” Garaam said.

“That is one more thing in our favor. Alright, I guess that we will be using the Bloodbringer?” Adrian asked Anessa.

“Of course,” Anessa answered.

“Alright, then,” Adrian said, and they started planning for the meeting.

October; Year 58 of the Empire — Sanctuary system

Tomas sat in the meeting room inside his palace with his closest friends and advisors, the four people that together made the ruling council of Sanctuary system—Fleets Master Laura Reiss, Army Master Jack Gin, Minister of Science Hyeon Seo-yun, and Minister of Civil Service Nadia Wilson. They were in the middle of their weekly meeting concerning matters of the system.