Victoria Sorofia’s Point of View
House Sorofia has a history thousands of years old, dating back to the era of the space exodus, in M15.
My ancestors set out from Earth for the reaches beyond the solar system just a few years after the discovery of the Immaterium, or Empyrean, that extradimensional space the scientists of the time catalogued as the key to interstellar travel.
Back then only short jumps were possible, which meant a colony ship could take entire generations to reach its destination.
For my ancestors, luck was on their side.
A lot of luck, in fact: we reached our destination safe and sound, with the full crew, without a single casualty or lasting harm to lament.
That is, in truth, one of the defining traits of House Sorofia: luck that defies heaven itself.
No matter what we do, the best possible outcome always seems to be on our side, as if we were the galaxy’s favorite children.
That trait was stamped on us from the very first world we reached: a planet similar to Earth, but with three times its mass, great continents and an immense sea, a true paradise.
And it was all, really, the product of a mistake.
In those days navigation depended on computers, long before the arrival of the Navigators and true warp drives.
The ship was under the command of Captain Roland Sorofia, who, after drinking too much at the farewell party on Earth, got the original coordinates wrong by a single digit.
We ended up somewhere completely different from what was planned.
Nobody minded much: we had arrived somewhere better.
Roland was named leader of the fledgling colony, and so the foundations of our house were laid.
In the years that followed, every leader of House Sorofia had their own moment of good fortune.
Matriarch Ellen Sorofia, the fifth to hold the position, began exploring the system and found worlds capable of supporting human life, as well as other human colonies that hadn’t been so lucky, having lost half their crews on the voyage.
As soon as we made contact with them, they were quickly integrated into our sphere of influence, establishing trade routes that would give rise to what would eventually be called the Mercantile Confederacy of the Rose: a small pocket empire of four hundred and sixty-eight worlds.
The emblem of our house is a lotus, or golden rose, native to our world.
The first head of the Sorofia family chose this symbol for a very special reason: when they descended to the planet to found their first colony, they landed in a meadow of flowers beside a great lake covered in what looked like lotuses.
When night fell, those flowers opened their petals, releasing tiny motes of golden light that floated in the air, as if welcoming the colonists.
To this day, that symbol remains the mark of our family.
It wasn’t until M18, with the creation of true warp drives, that we were able to make a real name for ourselves within the budding galactic Federation, which finally managed to establish contact with the colonies farthest from its motherworld, Earth, bringing an age of prosperity to all of humanity.
But the galactic Federation was never a united bloc.
Every human empire and faction governed itself in its own way, and it wasn’t unusual for some groups to end up pointing their guns at each other.
Our house experienced it firsthand: having so many treasures and trade ties attracts, along with wealth, the gaze and envy of others, and it takes power to spare to defend what matters to you.
In our case, we were attacked by two human powers that coveted our territories and resources, beginning what would come to be known as the War of a Thousand Tears.
Before it ended, thousands of human lives were lost.
It wasn’t until the Banfield and Helion families joined our cause that we managed to drive them back, inflicting devastating losses on them and forcing them to pay for the damage they had caused.
When the war ended, we agreed on a prosperous trade relationship with Houses Banfield and Helion.
And since the Banfield family was a militaristic house clearly on the rise, it proposed a political marriage with House Sorofia.
The patriarch of the time accepted immediately, sealing the deal with a hearty laugh, as if both houses were the best friends in the world, right in front of the defeated enemies.
The only problem was that, at the time, both families had sons, and the Sorofia daughters were already married, with a considerable age gap relative to the available suitors.
Marrying two little boys to each other was, obviously, a flat no.
So the marriage contract remained in force for millennia, waiting to be fulfilled.
And it was fulfilled with me: Victoria Sorofia, and my husband, Marcus Banfield.
We were the same age, and still just a little girl and a little boy when our engagement was made official.
Luckily for me, on top of that, we liked each other from the start, so there was never much trouble with that arrangement.
I was on my way to becoming the successor to my father, then leader of the house after the patriarch, thanks to my aptitude for business.
In time my first daughter was born, Charlotte, to whom I gave all the love a mother can give.
But, as in any dynasty, there was friction.
My older brother and sister believed they deserved to be the next leaders of the house, and they did everything they could to get in my way.
It was only thanks to my marriage to Marcus that there were no assassination attempts against me or my family: any attempt would have unleashed the Banfields’ wrath upon them.
So, grudgingly, they left me alone.
That was when the council and the patriarch gave the order to send the three of us siblings to different worlds, each with the task of founding a colony.
Based on the results, a decision would be made about the succession.
With no other choice, I moved with my family to what would be our new home, but not before gathering all the necessary resources: each of us was allotted a fixed amount of income that, because we were members of House Sorofia, would double over time, as if by magic.
It was on that trade world that we found the one who would end up becoming part of our family: Samuel, a logistics AI automaton, along with all his metal comrades.
The first time I saw him, I felt there was something different about him.
I don’t mean technical upgrades or updates to his programming, but his personality: he had genuine curiosity, a mind full of ideas of his own, and above all, a way of behaving that made him feel like a person, not a machine.
He gave off a charisma that made everyone around him feel at ease.
Charlotte dragged him everywhere, kidnapping him from work so he would play with her, and although he should have refused, according to his programming, he simply went along with it, resigned to his fate.
Over time, their relationship became that of two siblings.
(Picture Charlotte and Samuel: this is a reference image.)
It may not look like it, but Samuel appears in all our family photos.
I myself came to cherish him almost as if he were my own son, and when my other two daughters were born, he looked after them from the time they were babies.
As they grew up, they loved him as if he were their big brother.
There was a time when my youngest daughters insisted on dragging him across the floor, and since their weight and childish strength weren’t enough to manage it, he modified himself with gravitational control upgrades, just so they could drag him around to their hearts’ content.
My daughter Anni, the shyest, followed him everywhere, asking him to carry her on his shoulders every chance she got.
One day, in the park, she put a crown of flowers on his head.
I took a photo of that moment, which sits on my desk today, and to my surprise, that very same crown—preserved in a small stasis chamber—is also in Samuel’s office, on his work desk. Follow the newest chapters on novelping dot com.
A sign of the affection he has for us.
And it isn’t just him: all his robot companions are different from one another, each with their own personality and, to my surprise, a name of their own.
Another moment I remember fondly was when the engagement between Charlotte and Abel Helion was agreed upon.
They had gone out together several times, and it was obvious there was chemistry between them, something more than simple friendship.
But since Marcus was flatly opposed, Abel had to present himself at his office and ask for his permission before nightfall, overcoming all sorts of obstacles along the way.
Just as he was about to reach the final stretch and open the doors, he had to face Samuel.
Samuel handed him a shock sword to duel with.
The fight lasted no more than ten minutes: Samuel had, for obvious reasons, an overwhelming advantage, being a machine with far more strength.
The outcome seemed a foregone conclusion, Abel would lose hopelessly, until Charlotte’s little sisters pinned Samuel to the floor.
Samuel, feeling betrayed by his own family, simply went limp, defeated, while the girls sat triumphantly on his back, cheering Abel on.
In the end, he managed to get through the doors and found himself face to face with Marcus, who, seeing how much Abel loved his daughter, ended up giving him his blessing.
And it wasn’t only because his wife was glaring daggers at him, although the cold sweat on his forehead suggested that had something to do with it too.
The day ended with everyone present laughing.
The years passed, and as a reward for creating the interstellar communication networks, we gave Samuel permission to build his own factory and shipyard, with which he created his first ships, the Paris-model frigates, and a complete space station.
He invited us all to the frigates’ first official departure, and I could tell he was excited, though I couldn’t quite explain why.
When we were finally given clearance to begin the voyage, the first thing I noticed was that the portal into the warp, which should have been its characteristic purple, was instead an intense blue.
The voyage was extraordinarily smooth, without a single hitch.
We reached our neighboring world in a matter of minutes, and other nearby systems in a matter of hours, depending on the distance.
I couldn’t stop feeling excitement, joy, an endless stream of positive emotions.
But also, I have to admit, some fear.
Being part of a mercantile house, I knew well how the true powers that govern the Federation operated, and this was a discovery capable of marking a before and after, not only for humanity but for the entire galaxy.
It was a decision I couldn’t make alone.
(…)
So, as soon as we returned from our voyage, I immediately got in touch with my family, and my husband with his.
Not with our parents, but directly with the matriarch and the patriarch, and awaited instructions.
What I didn’t expect was that, eight months later, both heads of family would come in person.
Current location: office of the planetary governor
Inside the working offices of the planet’s regents, the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.
The maids serving the tea and snacks could barely hide their nerves, and no wonder: in the room sat the two heads of both families, the people who had been alive longer than anyone else in their respective houses.
Iris Banfield, matriarch of House Banfield, age: 1,250 years.
Bruce Sorofia, patriarch of House Sorofia, age: 1,500 years.
“Will there be anything else?” one of the maids asked, in a clearly nervous tone.
“That will be all.
You may go,” Iris replied.
“As you wish.”
The maids turned around and hurried out of the room, leaving the four people present alone.
The tense silence was broken by Victoria.
“It’s a pleasure to have you here, Patriarch.
I hope you had a good trip.”
“If you mean that I lost eight months of my time inside a stasis chamber, time I could have spent on other matters, then you tell me.”
“I’m sorry,” Victoria replied, lowering her gaze.
“Don’t apologize.
I left others to fill my place; this matter is of greater importance and requires my full attention,” said Iris, her expression serious.
“She’s right.
This matter is of vital importance and demands our complete attention,” Bruce added, with the same grave countenance.
“I understand,” said Victoria.
“So, may I see it?” asked Iris.
“Of course.
Here you are.”
Victoria handed them the blueprints for the communications and the new drive, along with the videos recorded during the voyage.
Both leaders reviewed them in silence.
“This changes the rules of the game,” Iris said at last.
“Without a doubt,” Bruce confirmed.
“Who else knows about this information?”
“Not many people,” Marcus replied.
“My daughters, our escort, and the AIs that accompanied us on the voyage.”
“Are they trustworthy?” Iris asked, looking him straight in the eye with a coldness that allowed no evasion.
They’re my personal guards, people I trust completely.
They would give their lives for us without hesitation.”
“Good.
And your people, Victoria?
Can they be trusted?”
“Without a doubt.
Our people would rather take their own lives than betray us.”
“Very well.
And what about the AI that created the drives?” Bruce asked, glancing sidelong at a photograph on the desk.
“From what I read in your report, it has shown unique behaviors.
Is that so?”
“Yes.
He’s with the girls, at the market, right now.”
“Oh, interesting.
I’d like to meet him,” said Iris.
“So would I,” Bruce added.
“But leaving that matter aside for now, let’s talk about the course we’re going to take.
This is going to change many things, not only for humanity—it will mark a new era for this entire galaxy.
Since the invention of warp drives in M18, humanity has been able to expand rapidly into new regions of the galaxy, allowing trade between systems without it taking decades to get from one point to another.”
“It’s not just that,” Iris added.
“From what I can analyze of the communication blueprints, this would give us far better reaction and deployment times, both for troops in conflict zones and for keeping in contact with the colonies of the Knight Worlds, which are extremely far away.”
“As we were, in the old days,” said Marcus.
“Exactly,” Iris confirmed.
“If we handed this technology over to the Federation, we would receive enormous compensation for our achievement.
But, of course, that is never going to happen.”
“It’s because of them, isn’t it?” asked Victoria.
“Yes, dear.
Precisely because of them,” Bruce replied.
“The Navigator houses.
Ever since we entered M19, they’ve become a power in their own right within the Federation, and I am absolutely certain they will fight tooth and nail not to lose their influence in the upper echelons.”
“He’s right,” said Iris.
“They’ll most likely fight to the death to keep this from moving forward, because it would mean their end.
But we also have to be very careful with the megacorporations.
If they find out, I have no doubt they’ll mobilize their entire military capacity to kill us and rip the technology from our corpses, just to monopolize this new method of travel.”
“She’s right,” said Bruce, his face serious.
“This new means of travel isn’t just going to affect a lot of powerful people.
Most likely it will unleash a war, not only in human space—it will draw in other races that will also want their slice of the pie.”
“Then what do we do?” Marcus and Victoria asked, almost in unison.
“For the moment, this stays top secret.
We’ll discuss it with the patriarchs of the other families.
If this comes to light prematurely, everyone involved will suffer the consequences.
So we have to be careful how we move our pieces.”
“Are you talking about…?” Iris began.
“Exactly what you’re thinking,” Bruce cut her off.
“We have to expand and claim new worlds.
In our current state, we can’t compare to the most advanced colonies and corporations near Earth.
We need to grow in power, and fast.
What do you think, Iris?
Do you agree?”
“You read my mind.
It’s the only way.
As we stand now, even if we gathered all our allies, we would end up losing.
We have to begin the greatest exodus in the history of our two families.”
“Good,” Bruce concluded.
“When your daughter turns twenty-five, she will have to set out and found a new colony.
Her two sisters will follow her when they turn twenty.
I’ll discuss it with the other houses.
If we do this right, we will create a new power in this galaxy.”
That day, the first steps were taken toward what would eventually become a nascent empire.
I hope you can understand, and thank you for your patience and support!