Free Out of the Ashes (Rise of the Empire Book 3) by Ivan Kal Page B

to Navani. “Send everything to Nelus.”
    “Right away Retnor.” Hosar Navani said.
    ***
    Sestar Jusan of house Dai Ven stood impatiently on the platform of his house in the main council room on planet Nelus. All the other family heads were present, save for the one who summoned them all in the middle of the night, Sestar Tavaar of house Nor Ral. The mood in the room was impatient, with everyone voicing their displeasure over being woken in the middle of the night. Tavaar as the head of the leading house had the power to gather all the other at any time, but that didn’t mean that the others liked it. And if the reason for the meeting wasn’t as important as Tavaar stressed in his summons, he would pay the price. The rest of the council might be obligated to follow his leadership, but combined and unified they wielded just as much power. Although they rarely dared to act against Tavaar, but interrupting a great family heads sleep might warrant an exception.
    As they waited Jusan’s mind turned to the matters of his household. His family has built its fortune on trade amongst the many systems of the Consortium. But since the Sowir war and them losing contact – and trade – with the other systems his family focused on trade inside the Nelus system. Quickly after the war started, Jusan’s father – then family head – realized that their assets were in danger. So he recalled the merchant fleets back to Nelus. And now the wealth and power of Dai Ven was assured. Between keeping a near monopoly on trade among the planets in Nelus system, and the power and income they got from selling their merchant ships to the Fleet – or rather the military families – to convert for their use, Dai Ven was one of the four most influential families.
    The top three were all military families, with all of their power coming from keeping the Fleet alive. There was an illusion kept for the public's sake that the Fleet was independent, answerable to the ruling council but separate. But the truth was that ever since the openings of the war, when the Consortium fell and the families retook the power over the Nel society, it was owned by the families that supported it. With no Consortium funding, the fleets could not survive without the families. Now all of their policies were run by the council.
    But it didn’t really matter, unlike the other family heads, Jusan wasn’t in denial. He knew that it was only a matter of time until Sowir overrun them. They had much greater shipbuilding capability than Nelus and the near limitless resources from the former Consortium systems. There was no stopping them.
    Jusan would do everything in his power to help his people fight and delay the inevitable. Even though he knew it would make little difference to the 50 billion Nel currently living in the system, when the Sowir finally decide to wipe them out. At least I won’t pass my family’s burden to another. Jusan thought to himself, Not that I have anyone to pass it to.
    He was brought out of his thoughts when the doors on the far side of the room opened. Sestar Tavaar of house Nor Ral entered, followed by two servants of his house. He wore a great red and white flowing robe – the colors of his house – embroidered in glyphs of his house. He made way to his place at the house Nor Ral platform and turned to the rest.
    “Thank you all for coming at such short notice.” Tavaar started, “I apologize for the wait, important matters required my attention.”
    Soft grumblings could be heard among the other Sestar’s. None of them truly believed that he was detained by anything other than his desire to make them wait, remind them that he was the one with power.
    “Tell us what this is about, and why it couldn’t wait for the scheduled session.” Sestar Nimuse head of house Jar Tel said.
    Tavaar brought his left hand to chest level and bent two fingers signifying grave importance.
    “Few hours ago three ships entered our system.” Tavaar said and