Ivan Kal - Out of the Ashes

Johanna looked at her Comm Handler, they were now inside the 50 light year limit of the FTL comms, meaning that their communications were nearly instantaneous. Anything longer than 50 light years and the FTL comm signal slows down rapidly. That was why they were leaving the comm relays behind them. With them the communication with Sanctuary will take about three weeks, opposite the five months it would take without them.

“We received a message! The Resistance says they are ready!” The Comm Handler said.

“Send a message to Sanctuary, tell them that we are beginning our mission, and they should expect a response one week after this message.” Johanna told the Comm Handler.

Then, Johanna turned to Andros, “Notify the fleet, we are clear for entering the trans-lane.”

Andros opened a channel to the fleet and ordered the transfer. The trans-ship Traveler acknowledged, and began the countdown. The clock started ticking down on the holo, and Andros ordered the screens turned on. They had stopped doing that after the first few transfers, but this one was special. The screens shifted, turned on, and they could see the rest of the Second Fleet. Then the clock hit zero, and the violet wave swallowed her ships. The trip would take four days. And then the battle for Earth will begin.

Four days later – Solar system

Jacob sat in the command chair on the Star Gazer. Everyone on the bridge was counting down the seconds, waiting for their moment. The Olympus fleet would enter Sol any moment now. Everyone was ready, both here in the belt, and on Earth. They only waited Jacobs word. The attack on Earth and the belt wouldn’t start until the Ra’a’zani warship is engaged with the Olympus fleet. And because those on Earth had no way of knowing when that happened, Jacob would be the one that gives the order for the attacks to start. The Olympus fleet had orders to open communications with the Ra’a’zani before attacking, and while Jacob wanted nothing more than to see them all die without even knowing who it was that killed them, he understood. But Jacob managed to convince the Olympus Fleet Commander to hold all communications with them until they commit to meeting the fleet. Which Jacob had no doubt they would do. Ra’a’zani wouldn’t know if the fleet was friendly or not.

Jacob’s people had placed equipment and men in battle armor on the mining sites, his people didn’t let anyone other than those they trusted know about the coming attack for fear that the Ra’a’zani would find out about their plans. But his people had reported that the others slaves had noticed something, they could feel a shift. Jacob knew that they couldn’t wait any longer, the Ra’a’zani were not stupid, and with all the things they had to move into place they must have noticed something.

Then Asumy declared, “They are here.”

The space between the fourth and the third planet of the Sol system was suddenly bathed in a bright violet light. In a single instant, light came and disappeared, leaving twelve ships that were not there before. The residual effects of their transfer washed off in the following seconds as the last of the lightning arcs bounced of their hulls and disappeared into nothingness. The ships drives activated, and the twelve ships started moving. Soon the two of the ships started turning separating from the fleet, on a course towards the asteroid belt between the fourth and the fifth planet. The other ten continued towards the third planet in the system.

Vit’r’an was woken in the middle of the night by the sound of his comm unit ringing. He rose from his pool and reached for the comm. He saw who it was and then accepted the call.

“This better be important Tra’r’an.” Vit’r’an rasped out.

“It is Dakar. We have detected twelve ships in system.” Tra’r’an said.

“There wasn’t another convoy scheduled…” Vit’r’an said thoughtfully, Another unannounced visit? Unlikely. He thought.

“Dakar, we have gotten a good look at these ships, they do not match any ships we have encountered before.”

Vit’r’an frowned, he wondered if they could be ships from the new race they found. But if it was, why would they come here? And how? He dismissed the notion, even if they could come all the way over here, they would have never managed to come through the Ra’a’zani territory unnoticed. Vit’r’an started rising from the water. “I’ll be there in an hour.” He said, that would give him enough time to wake up properly and get something to eat.

“Dakar.” Tra’r’an started, “These ships are nearly here. They entered the system inside the barrier.”

“That’s Impo—” Vit’r’an began, and then stopped himself. He knew that for a ship to enter a system inside the hyperspace barrier was impossible, but Tra’r’an would not lie to him. He knew what the consequences would be if he did. “I’m coming.” Vit’r’an said. If what Tra’r’an said is true, this situation could become much more dangerous than what he initially thought. He believed that Tra’r’an was telling him the truth, as he saw it. But there could still be other explanations for what he said. The ships could have entered the system and traveled unnoticed until now, unlikely but it could happen. And if they truly couldn’t find a match for these ships, then they might have found another race. If they have he needed to step carefully, he had only one warship. But if he was the one to discover another slave race, his position as the next Rakar would be all but assured.

Vit’r’an dried himself in the mist, put on his belt and left his quarters heading towards the main room. Once he arrived he found all of his people awake and alert. Vit’r’an approached Tra’r’an, “What do we have.” He asked. Tra’r’an turned on the screen, and showed Vit’r’an a video of empty space. Just when Vit’r’an was about to ask what it was, something happened. A big wave of light appeared, lasting but an instant. And once it disappeared, twelve ships were there. Vit’r’an was amazed, it seemed that what Tra’r’an said was true. Whoever this was, had the ability to enter a system within the hyperspace barrier. They had to be advanced. Then he saw two of the ships split off and go in a different direction, while the rest continued towards Earth.

“Do we know where these two ships are going?” Vit’r’an pointed at the two that split off from the others.

“They are on the course that will take them to our mining operations in the belt.” Tra’r’an said.

Vit’r’an looked at the screen. That didn’t make sense, why would they go there? And how did they even know that those operations were there? The asteroid belt was big, the chance that they would start on a direct course with the mining operations was miniscule, unless they already knew they were there. Which meant that these ships were here with a purpose.

“Do we have the scans of the ships?” Vit’r’an asked.

“Yes Dakar. But… they are strange.” Tra’r’an said, and brought forward the scans of the ships.

Vit’r’an looked at them and frowned. The majority of the ships were smaller than his ship, only one ship was bigger. And even it was smaller than Ra’a’zani mainline warships. Vit’r’an’s ship was a simple escort ship, their true warships were much bigger. But the strange thing was the scans of the ships themselves. The ships looked like they were not advanced at all. They certainly didn’t look advanced enough to be able to do something that Ra’a’zani hadn’t been able to do in thousands of cycles. There were a few things that they couldn’t identify, the ships hulls were hard to get a read on, being coated in an unfamiliar substance, a few of their mounted weapons were unknown. But the rest, it was all so… primitive.