Ivan Kal - What War Had Wrought

Jonas went back to his station and targeted the active scanners. A moment later, new scans showed up on his console.

“Anything strange?” Low Prime said from right behind Jonas, making him start.

“Uh, nothing out of the ordinary, sir. I mean, there is interference, but it is consistent with every other scan inside the nebula,” Jonas answered.

Low Prime nodded. “Alright, I’ll mark this in the report for the High Prime as low priority. Good job.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jonas said as the Low Prime moved back to the command chair and continued reading his book.

“Is everything ready?” Hanaru, Weaver of the Erasi, asked.

“It is,” Hanaru’s second in command answered. “The stealth ships are on the way and will reach their targets in about a month. They have loaded up on rocks and are calculating the trajectories and speeds.”

“Good, that’s enough time for us to prepare our attack,” Hanaru said. “And we weren’t detected?”

“No, Weaver. There was a close encounter with an Empire patrol ship, but our new stealth ships proved superior to the Empire’s sensors.”

“They didn’t see us?” Hanaru asked.

“They detected something, most likely the nebula’s interference caused something detectable, but it wasn’t enough to betray our presence.”

“Good, and everything else in on schedule?” Hanaru asked.

“It is.”

“Gather the commanders. I want one last planning session before we attack.”

“As you wish, Weaver,” Hanaru’s second in command said, and left him alone in the room.

Hanaru looked over the scans of the Empire’s Sanctuary system. It was as detailed as their stealth ships could get it without revealing their presence. There were many uncertainties, but in the end, they didn’t matter. Hanaru was given a mission that he had to fulfill, and he fully intended to. With a thought, he switched the holo off and left the room.

Sol

Gotu sat down at the table in his office, and with a thought accepted the incoming call. “Fleet Commander, I hope that you have news for me.”

“I do,” Fleet Commander Johanna Stern said. “My scout ship sent a message; they managed to enter the Tarabat system undetected. The good news is that the Tarabat system is still there; the bad news is that all hyperspace transmissions in the proximity of planet Tarabat itself are impossible—whether by jamming or by natural phenomenon, we don’t know. The bad news is that there are clear signs of a battle in the orbit. My ship detected several debris fields, and a few of the stations in orbit are clearly damaged. They couldn’t get close enough to find out if some pieces of the debris belonged to the Jewel, but seeing as there wasn’t a ship matching the visual scans of the Jewel in the orbit, I would say that it is very likely that Jewel was destroyed.”

“Which means that our people are probably dead. Unless they were on the planet when it was destroyed,” Gotu said sadly. He hadn’t known Sentinel Aileen very well, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t feel sorrow.

“Probably. The Erasi are regulating traffic through the system; it appears that no ships are allowed to leave it. With the hyperspace communication still impossible, it’s probable that they do not wish us to learn of what happened. They probably don’t know that we have allies on the planet, but they must assume that some of our trading partners would let us know what had happened,” Johanna said. “As for the possibility that some of our people are still alive, it is slim.”

Gotu thought about it for a while before speaking. “The fact that all communications are blocked can’t be a coincidence; they must be jamming communications actively. And it could be that they are afraid of someone letting us know; the Erasi must be aware that as soon as we learned what happened, we would put all our resources at disposal to Shara Daim,” Gotu added. Then after a moment of silence, he looked back at the hologram. “But it could be that some of our people are alive and they don’t want to risk them getting a message out.”

“It’s possible, but there is nothing that we can do until we know for certain. Tarabat is too well defended for my single fleet to take, and all of our other forces are tied up elsewhere. Any rescue mission would need to be a stealth one, a small team. But without knowing if they were alive and where, it’s impossible to plan for anything,” Fleet Commander said.

“You are right, of course. If some of our people are alive, they will need to send a message before we can act.” Gotu brought his arms in front of his chest in a gesture of gratitude. “Thank you, Fleet Commander. I assume that you have already sent a report to Fleet Headquarters?”

“I did,” Johanna answered. “My scout ship will remain in Tarabat to monitor the situation. If there is any further development, I will let you know.”

“Thank you again, Fleet Commander,” Gotu said.

Fleet Commander Johanna Stern nodded firmly and closed the connection. Gotu sighed and stood. He needed to send a message to Adrian letting him know that the negotiations with the Erasi were now over. Which would mean that his fleets would be free to join the Shara Daim and engage the Erasi forces. Not many in the Empire had truly believed that the Erasi would accept a diplomatic solution; most of them had expected war. And yet, Gotu had never imagined that the Erasi would stoop to actually attacking the diplomatic team from the Empire.

He knew that Aileen had been given instruction to give the Erasi an ultimatum: they were to commit to finding a diplomatic solution, or the Empire would sever all ties and go to war fully. However, he’d never imagined that they would kill them in order to get more time. Gotu shook his head and started recording a message for the Lord Sentinel. Adrian needed to know about Tarabat as soon as possible.

A long time ago

Axull Darr, his twin Ullax Darr, and their close friend Waiss Gast sat on board the exploratory vessel Star Hope, reviewing all the data from the beginning of their observation of the alien potentially intelligent lifeform—which they had named Alphas. They had been at it for a long time. Over six thousand years of observations were compiled in the raw data in front of them, and this was the sixth month of their review.

“There is nothing here!” Ullax said, frustrated. “You were wrong, Waiss, Alphas are not a stage three lifeform.”

“They must be,” Waiss insisted. “They exhibit all the characteristics of what we believe a stage three needs to have. They live in communities, they care for their young, they use tools, and have limbs suitable for executing complicated tasks.”

“Pah!” Ullax exclaimed. “A beast can use things in its environment as a tool if it discovers that it is useful. And there are beasts that live in communities and care for their young.”

“Yes, but none have limbs suitable for more advanced tasks!” Waiss responded.

“That means nothing! They haven’t advanced at all since we started watching them, not one recorded instance of innovation, of a new use for a tool or even a slight improvement of the same!” Ullax stood up. “Admit it, you were wrong.”

“We should give them more time,” Waiss pleaded.

“I’m sorry, Waiss, but I have wasted enough time on your project,” Ullax said, and left the room, leaving Waiss following her with his gaze.

“I know that she is probably right,” Waiss said, his eyes still on the door through which Ullax had left. “If only I could figure out why no other life has shown signs of higher intelligence, I feel like she would look at me differently.”