Empire's Son: An Epic Science Fiction Novel Series

The office was much as I expected—orderly, minimalist, and pristine. A large, dark wood desk dominated the center of the room, its surface clear except for the small silver casing of the terminal and a miniature holo-disc. Above the silver disc, I saw a slowly rotating transparent bust of a strikingly beautiful woman. Heavy brunette curls framed a matronly face with the palest blue eyes I'd ever seen, halting me in my tracks.

"Who is that?" I heard myself say.

I felt a sudden sharp pain I knew was coming from Markus, which only added to the influx of emotions that I'd been sensing from him from the moment I'd awakened from my trip to the dreamscape.

"My mother," he said so quietly I almost didn't hear his words.

My eyes stayed on the woman as a flicker of something was roused in my mind. It died before I could fully grasp what it had been, but I was left with a feeling of warmth and love. "I knew her, didn't I, when I was a child?"

From the snippets of conversation and raw emotion I had gotten from Markus since I'd met him. I suspected she had died, but I was certain she had been around when I was a child and living at River Palace.

"She loved you like her own," Markus said, a little louder this time.

I wanted to ask more about her, but the other man's emotion was so strong, I decided perhaps now wasn't the best time. I even thought to suggest once more that maybe we should do this meeting elsewhere, since it seemed the office was making Markus's already dark mood even darker since we'd stepped into it. But one look over my shoulder at the man's brooding expression and I thought it might be wiser to say nothing at all.

I sighed to myself. When I'd first met Markus, I had been impressed and maybe a little disappointed with how I couldn't pick up any emotion at all from him. And now with the bond giving me an inside glimpse of the man's mental and emotional landscape, I was realizing how volatile Markus could be. This would take some getting used to. I turned my attention back to Rainus's office.

My eyes traveled, taking in the set of shelves on the left and right walls that held other holo images––one I recognized as a teenage Markus with a mischievous smirk that made me smile. And there were other objects that looked like collected curiosities, including a glass figurine replica of the White Palace.

In front of the desk were two chairs and a small table between them, which implied the King received multiple and frequent guests who stayed to chat for a while. Behind the dark wood desk was a large view port similar to the one in my suite, offering the same spectacular view of space, though from a slightly different angle. I turned and saw that the wall that held the door we'd come through had a large view screen that was currently dark.

"Does he use this office often?" I asked as I ran my fingers across the brightly polished wood. The dark surface was slick under my fingers, but I could clearly see the swirls and markings underneath the polish that declared the desk was made from all natural wood.

"Yes, in fact, you'll see him in here more than his suite when he's traveling, even in the dead of night."

Markus moved past me and touched a finger to the side of the terminal's base. A hum erupted and a holographic display sprang to life above the desk. Markus tapped in a series of commands, then stepped back.

"There. I created a new workspace for you. It can be linked to your unity ring. Once done, you can transfer data back and forth. It will also save the workspace so you can access it at any terminal, not just this one."

Markus' mood seemed to shift to something lighter as he focused on something else. I filed that away as helpful in navigating any future heavy moods from him.

"Cool," I said as I sat down in the chair behind the desk. I waited for it to conform to my body. I had to admit that I liked this bit of Ethian technology. The chair seemed to know exactly how to align with my spine and support my lower back. I grinned at the marvelous luxury.

"Tap your ring to the terminal box."

I did as he instructed, stretching my arm out so the unity ring on my right wrist contacted the silver box. I felt a slight vibration through my fingertips. The holographic display flickered, then reorganized itself into a more personalized layout I'd set up on my network profile while recovering at the chalet.

"Now you're synced," Markus said, straightening. "The code pavi sent you to access Vang's files—input it here." He pointed to the glowing input field.

I entered the long stream of characters the King had sent me via a message on a holographic keyboard overlaid on the desk in front of me. Immediately, the display filled with data streams, images, and what appeared to be sensor readings.

I stared at the flood of information, my eyes trying to make sense of the complex readings and diagrams. There were schematics of the alien vessel—or what could be discerned of it from limited scans—alongside spectral analyses, trajectory calculations, and communications logs filled with static and undeciphered symbols.

"This is…" I trailed off, overwhelmed.

"A lot," Markus finished for me, leaning over my shoulder. "Don't worry. You're not expected to understand all of it immediately."

I scrolled through the data, pausing at an image of the mysterious ship. There wasn't much to observe. It appeared that the ship could shift in and out of the visual spectrum. The only effective method of monitoring it was by following a distinctive signature that appeared as a red blip. There was, however, a brief recording of the ship when it was visible. The video had been enlarged and enhanced to reveal as much detail as possible, yet it still required a lot of imagination to fill in the gaps.

I peered at the grainy image where I could at least see the dark shape that was long and elliptical, and even in the video the ship appeared to shimmer and fade as if the vessel itself was only partially present in our dimension.

"Is this accurate?" I asked, enlarging the image as far as it could go. The vessel's surface appeared to ripple and distort, almost as if it were breathing.

Markus frowned as he peered at the images displayed. "As accurate as our sensors could manage, it seems. This looks like the ship absorbs or deflects most of our scanning technology. This appears to be a composite image from multiple sensor arrays and spectrums."

I leaned closer, studying the peculiar geometry. Something about it tugged at my mind, like a half-remembered dream. "These patterns... they look almost organic."

Before Markus could comment, a soft chime announced someone at the door. I was about to say enter, but Markus crossed the room and pressed his palm against the panel, no doubt taking his job as Protector seriously. The door slid open to reveal three people in the dark gray uniforms of the Vanguard.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

A woman in front of the three, her dark hair pulled back in a severe ponytail, nodded respectfully. "Prince Adar, Captain Pylor sent us. I'm Lieutenant Commander Leyva, Chief Science Officer. These are Lieutenant Dorn and Specialist Dax Ferran." She gestured to the two men beside her, one tall and lanky with his red hair pulled back as well, the other shorter with deep brown skin and keen eyes that seemed to catalog everything in the room.

"Please come in," I stood, suddenly conscious of sitting in the King's chair.

The three officers entered, each giving Markus a respectful nod. Lieutenant Commander Leyva's eyes swept over the holographic display.

"Captain Pylor informed us of your assignment," she said. "We haven't had the data for more than an hour and have not had time to completely analyze it."

"Neither have I." I gestured to the chairs in front of the desk. "Please sit. I've just started looking through this myself."

Leyva and Dorn took the offered seats while Specialist Ferran remained standing, his attention fixed on the holographic display. Markus walked back to stand behind me and a little to the right.

"I'm not sure what I can add to your expertise as my knowledge of such things is limited," I admitted, "but King Rainus seems to think my Perception Dome-ni might help us understand what we're dealing with."

"It will be an honor to work with someone with your gift, Highness," Leyva replied with a ghost of a smile on her stern face.

I paused a moment, wondering if I should say anything about the information I had learned about the enemy in the dreamscape. My head was still trying to wrap itself around the idea that I had yet another Dome-ni available to me, not to mention one that apparently had been dormant for several generations. I had a lot of questions about the whole thing, but I also couldn't shake the evil I had felt while in the dreamscape.

Whoever these Shixxaminti were, their intentions were not good. They were coming to destroy us all, and I had to find a way to explain that to these officers that wouldn't sound like the ravings of a madman. Markus had also cautioned me after I had told him about the dreamscape to keep this third Dome-ni to myself for the time being, since it would be difficult to explain how I'd gotten yet another Dome-ni when most Ethians only had one.

I blew out a breath of air as I considered my words carefully. "I must say up front that I have stumbled across another source of information about these invaders. At this time, I cannot reveal the source, but it is reliable, and I guess you will just have to take my word on that." I glanced at Markus quickly, and he gave me a reassuring nod. Through our bond, I sensed his silent encouragement.

"Through this source, I have learned the name of this enemy. They are called the Shixxaminti. These beings harbor deep hostile intentions towards us because they believe we are encroaching on what belongs to them. Apparently, our galaxy used to be their home long ago and are seeking to reclaim it."

The three officers exchanged glances, their expressions a mixture of surprise and skepticism.

"The Shixxaminti," Lieutenant Commander Leyva repeated, testing the unfamiliar name. "And you say they believe this galaxy belongs to them?"

"That's correct," I said, leaning forward. "According to my source, they were here long before us, perhaps millions of years ago. They consider our presence an invasion of their ancestral territory."

Specialist Ferran cleared his throat. "Forgive me, Your Highness, but that timeline doesn't align with any known galactic history. The oldest civilizations we've documented only go back a few hundred thousand years, and I certainly don't recall any race called the Shixxaminti in any historical records. My father is a historian, so I know more than most on the subject."

"I understand your skepticism," I replied, trying to keep my voice even. Markus had said pretty much the same thing to me when I had told him of what I'd learned. "But perhaps it's possible that the Shixxaminti predate our historical records, and they existed before our earliest documented civilizations."

Markus shifted behind me, and I felt a wave of protective concern through our bond. "The Prince's information comes from a highly classified source," he added, his tone leaving no room for further questioning.

Lieutenant Dorn leaned forward, his lanky frame seeming to unfold as he studied the holographic display. "If I may, Highness—these sensor readings show some rather peculiar quantum signatures. The ship seems to exist partially out of phase with our dimension. Could that be related to their... antiquity?"

"That's an astute observation," I said, grateful for the shift in focus. "And it might explain why they've been absent for so long. Perhaps they haven't been in our dimensional plane."

Lieutenant Commander Leyva's eyes narrowed with sudden interest. "Interdimensional beings? That would explain the difficulty in scanning their vessel." She turned to Specialist Ferran. "Pull up the quantum resonance readings from the Maxem's scan."

Ferran stepped forward and activated his own holographic interface. His fingers danced in the air as he made adjustments. A new set of data materialized—complex waveforms that pulsed and shifted in patterns that seemed almost deliberately evasive.

"There," I said, pointing to a recurring sequence in the data. "That pattern repeats every few microseconds. It's too regular to be random noise."

The science officer nodded slowly. "It could be a quantum communication or perhaps a stabilization field to maintain their presence in our dimension." She glanced at me with newfound respect. "Your Perception Dome-ni is already proving valuable, Highness."

I felt a small surge of pride at her words, but quickly refocused on the task at hand. These patterns were important—they were trying to tell us something.

"Can we isolate this sequence and run it through a broader spectrum analysis?" I asked, pointing to the recurring pattern.

Specialist Ferran nodded. "Already on it, Highness." His fingers moved with practiced precision across the interface. "I'm running it through all known communication protocols and mathematical sequences."

Lieutenant Dorn leaned closer to the display. "There's something else," he said, highlighting another section of data. "These energy readings from their propulsion system—they're unlike anything I've ever seen. It's as if they're not so much moving through space as... sliding between points."

"Folding space?" I suggested.

"Perhaps something even more fundamental," Leyva said. "Look at this temporal distortion field around the vessel. Time itself seems to flow differently in their immediate vicinity."

I leaned in, captivated by the anomalous readings. Something about them resonated with what Razivi had said in the dreamscape.

The Old Ones were here long before the Empire, before even my kind. They seeded countless worlds in this galaxy, created life forms, which eventually evolved and were sent out to the rest of the universe to learn, grow, and consume the knowledge of other beings. Now, their children seek to come back to their home.

I knew Razivi was old, perhaps thousands of years, if these Shixxaminti were older than her….

"Could that explain how they've survived for millions of years?" I asked. "Perhaps they experience time differently than we do?"

"It's possible," Leyva conceded. "If they exist partially outside our dimensional plane, they might experience the passage of millions of years as merely centuries or even decades."

Excitement built within me. On one hand, this information was terrifying. Could we even do anything against such an enemy that seemed so far outside even the advancements of Ethia technology? On the other hand, the idea of what these beings were capable of was mind-boggling. It was like a science fiction movie come to life, and a part of me was geeking out.

The four of us continued to go over the data without discovering much else, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was keeping up fairly well with understanding the other scientists, even if some of the technology they talked about wasn't yet familiar to me. We had been at it for several hours when I felt exhaustion sweep over me. I was about to call a break so I could get in a quick nap when a beeping sound came from behind. I turned to see Markus eyeing his unity ring.

"It's Nathias with an urgent message," Markus said.

"Go ahead and answer it," I replied, hoping it was news about the attack on the College, though if it was, I didn't like that it was coming from the Arch-Major and not Rainus.

Markus tapped the top of the ring, and the rugged face of Nathias Roth winked into existence on a square holographic view screen in front of Markus. The Protector motioned with his index and middle fingers, and I watched in surprise as a large view screen across the room came to life with the full effect of Nathias's grim expression.

The Arch-Major's piercing golden eyes fell on me for a moment, and then landed on Markus as he spoke. "I'm afraid I have some bad news."