Ivan Kal - Sanctuary

“Simulation is now over.” Iris’s voice rang out through the speakers, and the images on the holo changed. Ships from the Second Fleet appearing in places where they were “destroyed”. Adrian looked around the command center, everyone was still celebrating. He let them, they deserved it, but he was already planning a strategy for the next game. He knew it would be much harder.

Nuva – four days later

“How much longer do you think we have?” Lanai Sumia asked. Retsar Isani looked at the image of Nuva projected on the screen in Sumia’s office. After a minute of gazing at the world he was supposed to protect he turned to Sumia. “A few weeks at the most.” He said.

“They might let us be, we are not a threat.” Sumia said weakly.

Isani smiled ironically. “We, the Consortium were never a threat to them. And yet they still attacked. No, they will come, they will want to isolate Nelus, show them that they are truly alone. Getova would have fallen by now, I suspect that they might have already dispatched a force to deal with us. And if they didn’t, they soon will. Getova is a month away, so we have a month at the most.”

“There is no hope for us then?” Sumia asked.

“No. My ships can’t defend Nuva, and the militia we organized can’t fight off Sowir assault force.” Isani said.

“What point is there even in trying? We should have already put everyone we can on what few ships we have left and sent them away. Perhaps some could survive.” Sumia said.

“And where would we send them? Nelus won’t accept them, there are already too many people there, the only ones they accept are those that can help them fight. And most of our population are Farmers and their children. Not exactly a fighting force. Sending them out into the unknown might be worse than dying here protecting their homes.”

“I should have pressed the Humans. Perhaps we could save those too young to fight.”

“We do not know them Lanai. They appear to want to help, but in truth we know nothing about them. How many worlds do they have? How are they governed? What’s their history? They look familiar, so we are quick to trust.” Isani said.

“Do you really believe that they would harm us?” Sumia asked.

“No.” Isani said. “But still…”

“It is our only chance, so that at least some of our people survive. We both know that our race will not survive the Sowir.” Sumia said.

Isani sighed, “You are right. We should ask again.”

“Our race won’t end with us.” Sumia said.

Isani was about to add something, when his personal comm sounded. He accepted the call on his wrist unit and the comm went to his earpiece.

“Tell me.” Isani said. And then after a moment. “I’ll be right there.”

He ended the communication with his wrist unit, and then looked at Sumia.

“Sowir ships have been detected, they will be here in a month.” Isani said.

“I’ll contact the Humans.” Sumia said. Isani nodded and walked out of the office.

Sanctuary

Every seat in the small meeting room at the Olympus city palace was filled. Tomas Klein looked at the people seated there, they were those he trusted implicitly and whose opinions he valued and appreciated.

“We have a choice to make.” Tomas said. “Sowir ships have been detected in Nuva system, they will arrive at the planet in twenty three days.”

“How many?” Laura asked.

“Twenty two ships have been detected. Four battleships, eight heavy cruisers, eight light cruisers and two troop transports.” Tomas said.

“Can Nel fight them off?” Nadia asked.

“Retsar Isani doesn’t think so. But they will fight nonetheless. They have asked us again to take the refugees, they have a few remaining civilian ships, they plan on loading them with as many people as they can.” Tomas said.

“A few merchant ships… If what Traveler sent us is correct, they can’t have more than ten of those. They could barely fit a few thousand people on them. What about the rest?” Elias asked.

“They will stay and fight. Sowir will destroy the ships in orbit and then land troops. They will take over the planet.” Tomas said.

“We can’t refuse.” Nadia stated. No one contradicted her.

“We will of course help them. But the real question is, whether or not we involve ourselves in this war.” Tomas said.

“We already are involved.” Seo-yun said. “We were the moment Sowir destroyed Voyager.”

“We could still try and find a peaceful solution. Perhaps we can come to an agreement with them.” Nadia said slowly.

Laura shook her head. “I don’t think we can. We have no cause to doubt records that Nel provided. Sowir are not trustworthy, they will eventually turn on us.”

“They will only grow more powerful with time.” Elias warned.

“So what do we do then? We don’t have the numbers for an all-out war, nor the resources to build massive fleets quickly, in a couple of decades perhaps. But not now.” Nadia said.

“Sanctuary is very well hidden, it’s unlikely that Sowir will find us any time soon. If we don’t give them cause to look for us.” Laura said.

“What do you mean?” Seo-yun asked.

“The Sowir ships have already detected the Traveler, and no doubt they will realize that it is of the same make as the Voyager. If we take the refugees they will wonder where they are going, and they will try to find us.” Laura said.

“So what, you want us to let them die?” Seo-yun asked disbelievingly.

“No. I just want you to realize that if we help them, we will be exposed.” Laura said.

“Alright then we take their people and bring them here.” Nadia said.

“And what about those left on the planet?” Elias asked.

“We can send ships to protect them. All the test on the translanes have been successful, but they will need to come back using hyperspace. There is no time to install trans field generators on the ships, we will need to use the one on Insight to send them. And we don’t have the translanes mapped out. We will need to do that soon.” Seo-yun said.

“If we fight off Sowir, it will get Nuva a few months at the most. And next time they will send more ships. We can’t keep defending them.” Laura said.

“There are 10 million people on Nuva. We could bring them here.” Nadia said.

Tomas put his elbows on the table and then leaned his head on his fists, looking around the table, “We will send the First Fleet. And worry about transferring people of Nuva after we are sure that they are safe.”

Nuva

Lanai Sumia and Retsar Isani stood up as the human Ship Master entered Sumia’s office. The humans didn’t seem to care whether they talked standing or sitting, so they followed the Nel customs. As the human female entered Sumia bowed her head shallowly. “Ship Master Kisaragi.” Sumia said slowly in human tongue. She tried to at least learn some of the humans titles. “I hope that you have a response for us.” It all seemed very strange to Sumia, being able to talk to someone light years away in a blink of an eye. Humans haven’t revealed where exactly their worlds are, but from a few comments their diplomats made Oferani Esama discerned that the closest one was at least ten light years away, six months at Nel ships fastest hyperspace speed. There would be no help from them, thought Sumia never really believed that they could help them, it was a fools hope.

“Yes, Lanai.” Human female said. “Our leadership has decided to give your people Sanctuary on our world.”

Sumia let out a breath and showed relief on her face. At the moment she didn’t really care that she showed emotion in front of a stranger, the only thing that mattered was that at least some of her people will survive. She looked at the human Ship Master with gratitude in her eyes, “Thank you. How soon can you leave? There are still weeks before Sowir arrive, but there is no need to stay and wait for them to get closer.”