Onslaught (Rise of the Empire Book 6) (24 page)

“Then I will have a document drawn up and sent to you as fast as possible, outlining everything that we have discussed.”

***

Two days later, Adrian found himself sitting in Anessa’s quarters again. They had just finished having a meal together, prepared by her chef. The food had been delicious, but a bit on the dry side compared to human meals. The conversation during the meal had been friendly, with no talk of deals and war; they had both signed the document agreeing to the alliance yesterday. Instead, they had talked about their childhoods and how they differed. It was an interesting conversation, and Adrian had managed to get Anessa’s age out of it. She was one hundred and seventy-seven years old. A bit older than Adrian, who was eighty-six—or technically one hundred and forty-six, but he had spent much of the sixty-year trip in stasis, waking periodically to check up on things during Olympus’s hyperspace trip from Earth to Sanctuary. He didn’t really know how much time he had spent awake, but it was several years at least. And then there was the time he spent in his mind-space, which several decades at least.

After the meal, they had moved to the sofas, which were a bit strange to Adrian in design but comfortable nonetheless. They had continued their conversations, talking to each other about trivial things with no other things on their minds for the first time since they met each other. But eventually their conversation trailed off, and both of them were aware of the real reason Anessa had called him to her quarters.

Then finally, Anessa stood and moved to his sofa, sitting down beside him, facing him. “So we are having the talk about ‘this,’” Adrian said, gesturing between them.

“Yes,” Anessa said. She paused. “I want you to stay here as my Dal A’sha,” she said seriously.

Adrian frowned at the unfamiliar word. He had the translating software disabled, as he had learned the language, but he turned it on and checked with his imp to find the meaning of the word, it had the complete database from the Erasi devices. He did a double take at what he found. After a few seconds of reading the meaning over and over, he looked at Anessa.

“What does that mean, exactly?” Adrian asked, not really trusting the software.

“It means someone who is a life partner,” she said calmly.

Adrian blinked slowly.

Before he had a chance to say anything, Anessa continued speaking, “I want you to stay with me. If I am to change the way my people think about other races, I need to show them. Having you here would be a perfect way of doing that.”

Adrian snapped out of his confusion, and his lip curled up in a smile. “So, you want to use me to change the way your people are thinking about aliens. Consort with an alien and lead by example,” he said, grinning.

“Yes,” she said without shame, “but also because I care about you, and I know that you care about me. We understand each other. You are strong and powerful; I trust you. And I will need help in trying to change my people,” Anessa said with a serious expression on her face. “And also, if you stay with me, you could make sure that the alliance between the Shara Daim and the Empire is honored. You can make sure that our people grow together. But do not mistake this for purely an emotional decision, you are right, I need you in order to change my people.”

Adrian thought about it. His first instinct was to refuse her; he had a duty to the Empire, and he couldn’t set it aside for personal gain. But then he thought about it more. He was a Sentinel, and they had been created to live outside the territory of the Empire and make relations with other races, to be diplomats and envoys and spies. The alliance with Shara Daim was important, and he couldn’t let it fail. What Anessa had said was true; if he stayed, he could make sure that it succeeded.

But she was not asking him to stay as a diplomat. She wanted a relationship with him, a lasting one, if he was not mistaken. He thought about it logically. He knew that he couldn’t stay Lord Sentinel and remain here. But there were others who could take his place, and knowing Tomas as he did, he would like the idea of having someone he could trust at the side of the Shara Daim ruler.

But then there was the other side. Did he want to stay with this woman, make a life with her? He had thought that he would never do that with anyone after Bethany. And Anessa was certainly not Beth. Anessa was a tyrant; she ruled her people with fear. She loved fighting, and killing. She didn’t care for the weak, nor did she allow anyone to truly question her. And he doubted that she would ever change much; her beliefs might mellow, but at her core she would remain who she was. It wasn’t like Adrian was any better, but ultimately he only sought to better himself. And Anessa understood his drive; she was the same. And he did care about her. When he was with her, he felt whole, alive in a way that he hadn’t been ever before. Both of them would never allow their emotions to interfere with what they perceived as their duty, only in this case it seemed that what they wanted to do and what they needed to do coincided.

He looked into her eyes. She was silent and waiting for his answer. In the end, he had much more in common with her than with anyone else.

“What do you think?”
Adrian asked Iris.

“I will always be where you are, Adrian. I don’t want to see you alone anymore. No matter who she is, she does make you happy,”
Iris said.

Adrian took a deep breath and focused on Anessa.

“Yes, I will stay,” he said.

Anessa smiled a radiant smile that made him weak. She leaned towards his neck in the customary Shara Daim form of affection, but then she stopped and put her lips on his. After, she stood and took him by the hand, leading him towards the bed.

Adrian stopped her. She turned and looked at him quizzically.

“Wait, if we are doing this, there is someone you need to meet,” he said just as Iris appeared over his shoulder in her fiery form.

“Hi, I’m Iris,” she said.

Anessa looked at the floating fiery woman, then at Adrian, and back again at Iris, her expression bewildered.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Three months later — November; Year 57 of the Empire — Sanctuary

Tomas read the alliance agreement with the Shara Daim. It was a large document, detailing obligations from both empires. Adrian had made sure that all the points Tomas was adamant about were in the agreement, and the things added by the Shara Daim were understandable. There was no problem with the agreement, and Tomas agreed with Adrian completely. He had known that Adrian would make some kind of an alliance with them; it had been a plan of his from the start. And with the aggression by the Erasi and their destruction of one of the Empire’s battleships, Tomas was in a much more favorable state of mind towards the Shara Daim. Even though they had actually attacked an entire system, intent on conquering, Adrian’s tactics had ensured that there were no casualties on their side.

And the change in Shara Daim leadership had come as a great surprise to Tomas. He trusted Adrian, but hadn’t been sure that his plan would work. As it turned out, it had, perhaps even better than he had planned. But what he hadn’t seen coming was Adrian’s decision to stay on Shara Radum, nor his relationship with the Shara Daim’s new leader, Kar Daim Anessa. Adrian had sent Tomas a private message detailing everything about their relationship and what the Kar Daim had asked of him. Instantly, Tomas had seen the value in having Adrian as a partner to the leader of Shara Daim. He didn’t have a problem with it; he trusted Adrian implicitly, and had known that he had had trouble finding someone in the Empire. If this was what made him happy, Tomas had no problem with it. He knew that Adrian would always look out for the interests of the Empire.

Laura, on the other hand, was another story. Tomas glanced to the other side of the room, where Seo-yun was trying to calm Adrian’s adoptive mother down, unsuccessfully.

“I can’t believe he is going to stay there with that…that…I don’t know what she is!” Laura said as she frantically waved her arms around.

“Calm down, Laura,” Seo-yun said, trying to guide her to the couch.

“I haven’t even met her yet!” Laura said. “And she is…Urgh, I’m going to kill him.”

Tomas shook his head and tuned them out. Adrian had sent him a list of people who could replace him as Lord Sentinel, but he thought about whether he actually needed to replace him. A plan was forming in his head. He would need to get a few things together, but perhaps he could pull it off.

***

Shara Radum

Kar Daim Anessa sat on her throne looking over the room and the people gathered there, leaders of different systems that had arrived to Shara Radum to pledge their loyalty and seek favor. She was forced to sit and listen to their words of admiration and praise as each leader had a short time to greet her and pledge his loyalty. And this had been going on for days, as more and more of the people from the remote systems of Shara Daim arrived. Some came in person, other sent proxies, but for now, no one had refused to come.

Coming to see the new leader of Shara Daim was high on almost everyone’s list, but now they had one more reason to come and kneel before her. And that was to look at the person standing at the side of her throne and his two beasts that slept beneath her feet. Adrian stood wearing a white Shur At molded in the same style as Anessa’s, with blue strips falling from his hips matching hers. But the most important piece of gossip and rumors was the relationship between the two of them. Adrian now bore a white marking on the side of his neck, the exact same as the one she wore on the side of her neck, announcing to all that they were Dal A’sha—life partners.

It had made quite the stir that first day when Anessa had entered the throne room with Adrian and his two beasts following behind her, dressed in the Shur At and with both of their markings showing in plain sight. There had immediately been whispers, some outraged, some confused, others disgusted. But none dared say anything to either of them. They knew Anessa’s strength, and the word had spread about Adrian’s duel with Dai Sha Farran. And over the months, his presence had become a bit more accepted in the palace and on Shara Radum, as Anessa never went anywhere without him.

The people quickly realized that what they had once known abstractly, that the Humans, Nel, and Shara Daim were both created by the same person—with the same base DNA—was true. Havasse had been instrumental in the acceptance of Adrian and the other humans and Nel that now had an embassy on Shara Radum, mostly by interacting with them and being seen in public with them. It went a long way for the common people to start changing their views.

Adrian was now acting as the lead representative of the Empire to Shara Daim. And as he told her, he would be the ultimate commander of all forces that the Empire would send to aid Shara Daim, coordinating with her own in their efforts against the Erasi. But until his forces arrive there wasn’t really much for him to do.

She knew that there were people that disapproved, that found it abhorrent, but it didn’t bother her as long as they followed her lead. Most of her time was spent dealing with the demands of the various systems. The Elders had delegated that to other people, only stepping in when they wanted. Anessa wanted to be involved in as many things as possible. In public, she portrayed an image of a strong and ruthless leader, with Adrian walking beside her, never saying anything but making everyone uncomfortable and off their guard by his very presence.

Adrian had moved into her quarters along with the two beasts, Akash and Sora. It had been a challenge for her to accept that the two beasts were intelligent, that they could understand the spoken language, and an even greater challenge to accept that they had some Sha abilities—until they demonstrated their intelligence and Sha. Since then, she had grown accustomed to their presence, and almost understood why Adrian liked to have them follow him everywhere. They were large and imposing; it added to her image of the ruthless Kar Daim.

Then there was the AI that was somehow imbedded under Adrian’s skin, and the Empire’s implants. She had been wondering how the Empire’s technology worked if not by telepathic interfaces, but once she learned about their implant technology, it made sense. She never felt them use it because it wasn’t Sha, it was technology. The AI, Iris, was a bit harder to accept. The Shara Daim had AIs, but none of theirs were as advanced as Iris seemed to be. And she had been with Adrian for most of his life, always there, watching through his eyes. It was going to take some time to get used to that.

Adrian and Anessa spent most of their free private time talking about their lives, learning their respective histories, among other more enjoyable things. They had touched upon a few cultural conventions that were a bit hard for the other one to accept. For example, Shara Daim duels to the death. It seemed normal to her, and was a way to settle large grievances. In the Empire, there was nothing like that; they had something like duels, but it was much more controlled, and not to the death.

But in the end, those little things didn’t matter; they understood each other despite those differences. And that was all that mattered to her. She had struggled with her identity ever since she had taken the rule of the Shara Daim, but with Adrian, all her worries went away. She knew who she was, what her purpose was.

The Shara Daim had already begun the change. A lot of her people had wanted it for a long time but had been stuck in a belief of worship towards the Elders. Anessa had taken the Elders away from them; she had thrown change after change at them and forced them to accept them. The Shara Daim weren’t capable of changing easily and without bloodshed, she knew that. They liked fighting and killing. She needed to channel those desires into another direction, and right now that direction was the Erasi.

Adrian had told her that the Empire’s forces were on their way to Shara Radum, along with the first shipment of defensive platforms. And the two of them had started planning on how to best throw the Erasi out of the occupied Shara Daim systems. Once his forces arrive both of them would leave for the Erasi invaded sectors, and assume command directly. Already her decision to have him stay by her side had paid off. Adrian was a brilliant strategist, and she knew that together they would be a force to be reckoned with.