Ivan Kal - Out of the Ashes

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.