Ivan Kal - Out of the Ashes

“And what do you need from me?” Elias asked Tomas, the man that he loved as a brother.

Tomas reached into the drawer of his desk and brought out a black object, he pointed it at Elias and said sadly, “I need you brother mine, to die.”

April 2172 – Nuva

Adrian read through the petition forms for the new colonies, or rather new Clans. Tomas Klein, the Emperor, had changed things. They haven’t yet felt the full effect, but Adrian knew that would come soon. The petition form for the new Clan was extensive. Every member of the Empire that was qualified or had a qualified enough team to lead a new colony could send a petition. Detailing what they wanted to do, how their colony would develop, with the plans for the next ten years. Tomas Klein and his advisors would choose the most promising and allowing the petitioners to colonize a new system and create a Clan. There were four systems available. But there was also a list of the other systems that Olympus – the Empire had discovered. One of those systems caught Adrian’s eyes, and he was doing a mental exercise with the help from Iris, in creating a petition for the system. It was meaningless, the system wasn’t even one of the available ones, but Iris insisted that he expand on his idea.

The Nuva system, or rather the Nuvan Clan was now part of the Empire. And he could already feel a slow change come over the people here. Some had asked to go to Sanctuary and go through the academy and join the fleet or the army. All had been allowed. Retsar Isani and his ships had been accepted into the Empire, and Isani was now Fleet Commander Isani. Him and Adrian were now in a joint fleet with a purpose of protecting Nuvan Clan.

A ping on his imp interrupted Adrian from his system colonization exercise and he closed it. He saw a comm request from Paul.

“ What is it Paul? ”

“We have ships dropping out of hyperspace Adrian. A lot of them.” Paul said.

Adrian got to his feet and started towards the bridge, Akash and Sora following behind him.

“Sowir?”

“We don’t think so, they came from the direction of Nelus.” Paul said. Adrian frowned, he hadn’t thought that Nelus would decide to come here in months, and not with so many ships. He ran to the CC, and within a minute he was sitting in his command chair. He opened a video channel to Fleet Commander Isani, and his face showed on the display to Adrian’s right.

“What do you think?” Adrian asked.

“ I didn’t think that they would come here until long after they were sure that we weren’t coming back. If these ships are here, it means that they started on their trip shortly after we left. ”

Adrian nodded, he concurred. The scans of the ships were coming up, and Adrian saw that most of the ships were Nel merchant ships, twenty were merchant ships retrofitted into warships and five light cruisers. He frowned at that. If they came to drive them from Nuva, why come with merchant ships?

“We are receiving a message. It is addressed to Retsar Isani and you, Fleet Commander.” Comm Handler said.

Adrian looked at Isani who shrugged. Adrian used the c-board to send the message feed to Isani’s ship. Then he played it.

“Greetings to the people of Nuva.” Said a familiar face of Sestar Jusan, “I came to you in peace, to seek asylum in your system…” Jusan said. Isani and Adrian exchanged glances.

Then Iris spoke in his mind, “This looks like it will be good.”

Jusan sat in the ready room on the human warship, the two other people there were the human Commander, Adrian, and Retsar Isani. No. Fleet Commander Isani. Jusan thought. He had been told what happened in the short time it took his ships to get here. And he didn’t know how he felt about it. But the more he heard the more he realized that it was a good thing. He brought his people here to be safe, and it looked like this Empire would do that, if they joined with them. Jusan needed to talk to his people, but he knew that he wanted to be a part of that.

“That is some development…” Jusan commented, as Adrian finished.

“If you wish for asylum I will need to ask that of the Emperor.”

Jusan nodded that was to be expected. “How long will it take for a message to reach him and his response to come back? I’m sure that Tavaar will send ships after. He most likely already sent them by now.” Jusan asked.

The two looked at each other in confusion. Jusan watched the exchange, he noticed true trust between the two. Then they looked back at Jusan, and Isani’s eyes widened in understanding.

“The humans have FTL communications. The message and the response will be instantaneous.” Isani said. “You can even speak with the Emperor yourself.”

Jusan’s eyes widened, he looked at them and saw that they spoke the truth. Looking at them he finally decided what to do.

“I think that I will request to join this Empire of yours, I am sure that my people will agree. But before I speak with your Emperor I think that I need to show you something.” Jusan reached inside his pocket and drew a silver sphere.

“This is the real reason of why I came here, to show this to your people.” Jusan said to Adrian. Then he turned to Isani. “What this sphere will show you will be hard to see and hear. But afterwards you will realize that knowing the truth is always better than living in lies.” Jusan took a deep breath, and released it slowly, “This sphere has been passed down through my family for generations, from the ones that found it… The Order of Truth.”

Isani’s face twisted, but Jusan interrupted, “The history you know is not the whole truth. Please, see what this sphere holds. Afterwards you can say your piece.”

Isani calmed, and Jusan turned the sphere on and placed it on the floor. A hologram appeared, and the being started to speak,

“Greetings my children. My name is Axull Darr.” It said in Nel…

And then some time later the hologram finished it’s story.

“… You are my children, the successors of the People.”

The hologram stopped speaking. Isani looked in pain, while Adrian looked stunned. Jusan looked at them, “You see now. This could shatter my people. At least I thought so. But now that they have joined your Empire I think that it will strengthen the bond between us.”

“Amazing.” Adrian said in English. Then the hologram that was still active turned its all white eyes to Adrian.

“I see that the two of my children have found each other.” The hologram said in English. Jusan jumped back. He looked at Adrian and Isani in disbelief and said, “It never spoke more than the one message.”

The hologram turned to Jusan, “That was because the conditions for my secondary protocols were not yet met.” The hologram said in Nel. It turned to Isani and Adrian, “ You all understand this language, correct? ” It said in Nel.

“Yes.” Adrian responded in Nel, stunned even further.

“Good. Now that my secondary protocols are unlocked, I can provide select knowledge based on your technological level.” The hologram said.

“What are you?” Jusan asked softly.

The hologram turned to him, “I am the shadow of Axull Darr, his thoughts and knowledge transferred to a memory container.”

“We need to get this to Sanctuary. I think that perhaps you should talk with the Emperor in person.” Adrian said to Jusan, who couldn’t draw his eyes away from the hologram. Perhaps he might finally get some answers.

May 2172 – Nuva