Warpath (Rise of the Empire Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

to them, it was earned.
    Seo-yun reached her and Tomas’ quarters and entered slowly, Tomas was probably already asleep and she didn’t want to wake him. As she made her way across the living room towards the bedroom, she noticed a light coming from the direction of Tomas’ private office. Seo-yun sighed and made her way to the light.
    “Still awake?” Seo-yun asked when she entered the room.
    Tomas swung his head to the door startled for a moment, and then after he realized it was Seo-yun his head turned back to the screens projected above his table. He glanced at them for a moment and then he leaned back into his chair, rubbing his eyes with his left hand. “I didn’t realize what time it is.” Tomas said.
    “So, what is keeping you from sleep now?” Seo-yun asked.
    “Sowir.” Tomas said seriously, “Ships are still arriving at their staging system. And not only warships, there are transports, support ships, repair ships. They plan on sieging Nelus.”
    “We always knew that they would do that.”
    “Yes… I thought that with our fabricating technology we could out manufacture them, but those numbers mean that we are still behind them. Our projections put their remaining forces at around two hundred ships at the point we arrived in this region. Their border worlds are protected by one hundred and sixty ships, and the fleet they are amassing already numbers more than a thousand. That means that their production is at least fifty percent larger than ours, if not more. We have no way of knowing what they have deeper in their territory. Not to mention what we now know they really are.”
    “Our technology does give us an edge. But remember that they had most of the infrastructure of the Consortium, that’s dozens of worlds. Not to mention anything that the Sowir built in secret in their territory before they started the war, or maybe even outside it. Their industrial base was far larger than ours. Thirty years ago we were two systems, now we have sixteen and our industry grows by the day, as does our work force.” Seo-yun said.
    Tomas nodded, “I know, but I also know that as soon as Sowir deal with Nelus they will start planning their attack on us.”
    “Again, we knew that already. And even with their greater numbers, they have very little chance of taking us now, our technology has advanced, even with what we know about their genetic knowledge, our shipbuilding capabilities are such that we could replace any losses much faster than they could. What is really bothering you Tomas.” Seo-yun said.
    Tomas looked her in the eyes, “The ‘why’ bothers me Seo-yun.” Tomas said.
    “‘The Why’?”
    “Yes.” Tomas nodded gravely, “Why are they doing this? There is no sense in anything that the “Sowir” do. Their first incident with the Consortium could be looked at as an isolated incident. As far as we are aware it was their first contact with alien life. So they attacked, perhaps they were frightened to discover a life form so different than them, and then when the Consortium showed its power they changed gears, asked for peace and eventually joined the Consortium. They prospered and grew, and then they turned on the other four races. Why? There was no reason, I looked over the records from that period there was nothing to set them off, they just attacked for no reason. They refused to communicate for years, decades. They just killed anyone in their way.” Tomas shook his head.
     “And then we come along, we had better ships, better technology, we protected one Nel colony. They knew nothing about us other than that we defeated their forces in a battle. And they had records of that battle, they knew that our ships were better, but not by that much. So we send ships to their system trying to intimidate them, hoping to open talks. And what do they do?” He asked.
    Then continued talking. “They accept our terms, no negotiating no nothing. Any sane being would have tried to learn more about this