The Price of Conquest

"You said I could have the Adriassa!" Renee Andren all but whined. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared down at Gaunis seated at his desk. "Why did you destroy it?"

"Renee, you sound like a spoiled child," Gaunis said sourly and met her violet eyes with a disgusted glower. "In a matter of weeks, I'll be back in charge of the United Galaxy, with you by my side. You can have any dreadnought you like then, or you may remain on the Esprit with me." He returned his attention to the timetable revisions he was working on.

Renee gave him a long look. "'Weeks?'"

He glanced up at her. "If everything goes as planned," he said, and then looked at the computer screen again. "And there's no reason it shouldn't."

"I still don't understand why you had to destroy the Adriassa," she continued her admonishment, persistent as ever.

Gaunis gave her another aggravated look. "There are a lot of things you don't understand, Renee. Maybe if you thought more and complained less, you could begin to understand some of them."

Renee stuck out her lower lip in a feigned pout. "Can I have a hint?"

He let out an exasperated sigh. "You have all the 'hints' you need. Use your brain, I know you have one in that pretty little head of yours."

She grew quiet, her expression thoughtful.

Gaunis returned to his work.

"Wait a second," she said after several long moments of silence. "How did you destroy a dreadnought?"

He looked up at her with a trace of a smile. Now she was beginning to think.

She took the chair opposite his, and her expression grew even more thoughtful.

"Okay, so you have something new," she said. "Something that can take out a dreadnought. But you didn't build it to destroy dreadnoughts, did you?"

He continued to smile.

"You're going after the Stingrays, aren't you? The Adriassa was just a test." She cast a sly glance at him. "Did it work?"

"Well enough," he said. "There are some refinements to be made, but there are still nine dreadnoughts out there to test it on before we go for the real targets."

"Nine?" Renee asked. "But there are ten—"

"The Esprit is mine."

"You're not going to destroy all of the other dreadnoughts." It was not a question.

"Not if I don't have to."

She shook her head in amazement. "Damn, you're ambitious."

Gaunis had returned to his work again, but he took the time to give her another momentary glance. "That surprises you?"

"Hardly. But…" She studied him for a long moment. "You'd really do it. You'd kill all the admirals, destroy their flagships, maybe their fleets as well, just to get the Patrol back."

"I doubt it will come to that. The admirals aren't that stupid."

"Ahh," she breathed, her eyes sparkling with further realization, "that's why you went after Byerly's dreadnought, isn't it? You wanted to remind the admirals what happens to those who cross you."

Gaunis looked up at her again, and his smile returned. "You see, Renee? If you think, instead of whining and carrying on, you understand things."

"So, are you going after another one of the dreadnoughts?"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to. I've got to convince both the admirals and the Confederacy that I have the power to destroy any ship I like, any time I like. Besides, I'd like to test a few of the refinements I've ordered."

"Which ship are you going after this time?" Renee asked.

"There are a couple of candidates, actually. The two most likely being Reiger's Riposa or Estura's Avanti." He paused and cocked his head in her direction. "Why don't you choose?"

"Really?"

He nodded, interested to see if she was willing to make a decision with so many lives hanging in the balance, and how she would decide.

"Well, I never much cared for Reiger," she began, clearly willing. "He's not the brightest sun in the sky. Still, he does know how to get things done. And he's been loyal to you. But Estura's been loyal, too. Hell, he came over to your side before I did." She shook her head slowly. "It's a tough decision. I guess it all comes down to who's going to be the most loyal once you come back into power."

"And who do you think that will be?"

Renee's expression turned thoughtful again, and Gaunis imagined her going back over the dozens of Council meetings and reports she had been privy to over the years, weighing the reactions and decisions of the two men in question. It pleased him to see this side of her, a side he had seen all too rarely over the past several months.

"Reiger's your man," she said finally. "He questions everything, but once he's convinced of something, he knows how to take orders." She paused, as if double-checking her thinking, and then nodded decisively. "Yeah, that's it. Your next target should be the Avanti."

"Very well, the Avanti it is."

The low chime of an incoming comm signal sounded. "Sir, the Phoenix has just arrived."

"Is everyone we expected on board?" Gaunis asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Very good. Have Tenu take care of his lieutenant. I'll meet with them later. Escort the others to my office, and then have Rhoad get the ship back to the Esprit as quickly as possible. That is all."

Gaunis looked at Renee again. "I have a present for you, Renee. One I trust will make up for the Adriassa."

"A present?" she said with childish delight. "What—?" She started to question him about it, but then seemed to think better of it.

"It will be here in a few minutes," Gaunis said. "Why don't you just sit there and look beautiful while I get some work done?"

Several minutes later, the door chime sounded.

"Come," Gaunis called.

The door slid open. One of Gaunis's soldiers waited in the corridor outside the office. Beside him stood Devin Tyler. Cradled in Tyler's arms was a small, cloth-wrapped bundle. Gaunis motioned him inside, and then glanced at Renee.

"Renee, I'd like you to meet Devin Tyler. Tyler, this is Area Commander Renee Andren."

Renee rose to her feet.

Tyler's mahogany gaze swept over her. She returned the look, her eyes sparking with interest and then growing wide in realization.

"Oh! Are those the babies?" she asked excitedly and took a step toward Tyler.

Gaunis bristled at the looks she and Tyler gave one another. "Renee, sit down!"

His order halted her in midstride. She shot him a resentful look, but obeyed.

Gaunis looked at Tyler, still standing in the open doorway beside the guard.

"You're dismissed," Gaunis told the soldier. "Tyler, have a seat." He gestured to a chair, and then studied Tyler as he crossed the room.

Something had changed in the months since they last met. Much of Tyler's callous arrogance had disappeared, replaced by a more watchful, almost cunning, thoughtfulness. Gaunis wondered what had brought about the change.

"I trust we can put the past behind us," Gaunis said once Tyler settled himself in the chair.

"You mean the trip to Marasyn?" Tyler's changed eyes met Gaunis's.

Gaunis made an instant assessment based on that change, and decided Tyler was a far more capable—and dangerous—man than he had been before. With some work, Gaunis hoped to turn that capability to his own ambitions. In the meantime, Tyler would have to be watched closely.

He nodded in response to Tyler's question.

Tyler's shoulders moved, almost a shrug. "You had your reasons."

Gaunis indicated the small bundle Tyler held. "You brought only one child?"

"He was the only one available."

"Let's see it."

Tyler pulled back one corner of the blanket in which the baby was wrapped. Renee craned her neck to see.

Gaunis studied the child's face, the relaxed pink features, the headful of dark, wavy hair.

"It looks very human," he said.

"Tell me that after you see his eyes," Tyler said.

"Is it drugged?"

"Yes, he is drugged." Tyler put a definite emphasis on the word "he," and looked down to study the child for a moment. "He's been on effelin most of the way from Arecia." He looked at Gaunis again. "His name is Zac."

"Was it?" Gaunis said. "We shall call him 'Darius,' in tribute to a lost—friend." He shot Renee a quick look.

She quirked a smile at him.

Admiral Byerly, who died with his flagship, Adriassa, had been Renee's commanding officer before she decided to follow Gaunis. Byerly's first name was Darus. The child's new name was close enough for Renee to catch the reference—she'd shown that with her smile—but different enough that Gaunis would not be reminded of the traitorous man every time he heard the child's name.

He looked back at Tyler. "Did you have any trouble getting to Darius? Or getting him off Arecia?"

Tyler shook his head. "Except for the fact that his brother wasn't there, everything went as planned."

"Don't worry about the brother. Even if the children can communicate across light years—something I doubt very strongly—I've had a room prepared for Darius with some special equipment that will keep any thoughts he has inside the room. I have a few rules about that room and about how Darius is to be treated." He moved his eyes to include Renee. "I'll make the rules known to everyone, but I want the two of you to hear them now, to be sure you understand them.

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

"First, until either I or Doctor Behlyl say otherwise, the child is to remain on effelin at all times, the only exception being when I am around him. At such times, he will be given the antidote."

An unhappy look crossed Renee's features, and she started to speak. Gaunis stopped her with a look.

"Second," he went on, "there is a field surrounding the child's room—the special equipment I mentioned. That field will remain on at all times. In fact, I am the only one with the code to shut it down. Which leads to rule number three. Under no circumstance is the child to be removed from the room unless he is on effelin or under some other form of control." He looked at Renee, and then Tyler. "I trust these rules are clear."

Renee nodded, a slightly exasperated look in her eyes. "Of course. Perfectly clear."

"Tyler?" Gaunis asked, wanting an answer.

"Whatever you say."

He didn't much like that answer, but, as he had decided earlier, Tyler would be watched carefully.

"Renee, take Tyler and Darius to the sickbay," he said. "Doctor Behlyl is expecting you. He'll examine the child and then show you his room. Dismissed."

Gaunis returned to his work.

Tyler gathered Zac carefully into his arms at Gaunis's dismissal and rose to his feet. Beside him, Andren stood as well. She laid a hand familiarly on Tyler's arm.

"This way." She gave him a radiant smile and led him from the room.

"Tell me, Devin," she said as soon as the door closed behind them. She paused in the corridor and gave him a questioning look. "Can I call you Devin?"

He shrugged and wondered what game she was playing with her overly friendly manner. He had seen the almost jealous cast in Gaunis's eyes when she gave him her first inordinately personal look. Was there something between the two? Were they, perhaps, lovers? He dismissed the idea as ludicrous, then reconsidered. There was definitely something going on between them; he would have to keep alert for any further clues about what that something was.

"Is the child as powerful as the rumors say?" Andren's question broke into his thoughts.

"That depends on which rumors you've heard." He glanced down at Zac as Andren led him around a corner, and thought about the small but impressive demonstrations of his abilities the child had given him, not the least of which was "telling" him his name. "But he is powerful."

She smiled suddenly, as if she had discovered something sinister and secret. "So you haven't kept him on the effelin all the time!"

"That would hardly be practical," he said calmly. "It took almost three days to get from Arecia to here—wherever here is." He gave her a quick glance, hoping she might volunteer some information about this ice-and-snow-covered world Gaunis had chosen to hide upon, but she remained silent.

"Despite any abilities Zac may have," Tyler went on, "he still needs to eat. I couldn't very well feed him while he was knocked out on effelin."

"You took care of him all the way from Arecia?"

"Someone had to," Tyler said.

"Where did you learn to take care of babies?"

"I took care of my brothers and sisters when I was growing up."

"What happened to your mother?" Andren asked.

"She left one day, never came back."

"And your father?" Andren continued her questioning.

"Never knew him."

"That's sad." She remained silent for a moment. "So you took care of your whole family, all by yourself?"

He nodded. "Until my sister was old enough. Then I left."

"What happened to them then?"

Tyler shrugged. He hadn't thought about any of them in years.

Andren studied him as they walked, her violet eyes unreadable. Finally, she halted before a door and opened it. Beyond was a large room equipped with an array of modern medical equipment intermixed with out-of-date fixtures.

Tyler looked around speculatively.

One of the first things he noticed upon arriving at Gaunis's base was its age. The place was more than a century old, he had guessed, a conjecture supported not only by the type of construction and the many outmoded fittings, but by the feel of the place as well. A lot of modern equipment had been installed, and there was evidence all around of modern repairs, but there was no doubt the place had been built a long time ago, probably during the time of the Alliance, predecessor to the United Galaxy.

A slender older man with the looks of aristocratic breeding sat behind a desk to one side of the room. Alert blue eyes watched Tyler as he followed Andren into the chamber.

"Hello, Renee," the man said in a richly cultured voice. He stood to greet his visitors.

"Hi, Gen. Devin, this is Doctor Gen Behlyl. Doctor, Devin Tyler."

Tyler shifted Zac to one arm to shake the doctor's outstretched hand.

"Welcome to Halycen, Mister Tyler. Is this the special child we have all waited so long to meet?" He reached for the bundle Tyler held.

"His name is Zac." Tyler passed the child to the doctor, and made note of the name 'Halycen.' Was that the name of the planet they were on? If so, he'd never heard of it.

"Gaunis wants us to call the child 'Darius,'" Andren reminded Tyler and informed the doctor simultaneously.

Behlyl carried Zac to the nearest of two examination tables and began to remove the blanket that swaddled him. "Well, little Darius, let's see how you survived your journey."

Tyler started forward to join Behlyl and oversee his treatment of Zac, but then thought better of it.

"What do you plan to do now that you are here, Mister Tyler?" Behlyl asked without looking up from his work.

"I don't plan to be here long."

"Gaunis may have something to say about that," Andren said.

Tyler shrugged. Being trapped here couldn't be any worse than being trapped on Arecia—for a while anyway.

"But don't worry," she continued. "We'll all be leaving within a few weeks, if everything goes as planned."

Tyler started to ask what she meant by that, and then caught Behlyl looking at her, a surprised—and interested—expression on his face.

She smiled at them both, but said nothing.

Tyler continued to watch her. How much did she really know? Or were her comments intended to allude to knowledge she didn't actually have?

Her smile grew.

Behlyl returned his attention to Zac when it became evident that Andren was not going to volunteer any further information.

"How much effelin did you give the child, Mister Tyler?" the doctor asked. "And how often?"

"I gave it to him whenever the last dose wore off." He didn't mention that each dose had worn off faster than the last, or that he had to increase the dose each time he administered the drug. Behlyl could discover that for himself.

"I dosed him until—" he hesitated minutely, "until he slept again." He had almost said "until I could no longer feel his mind on mine."

"You didn't measure the doses?" Behlyl asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Tyler shook his head.

"Well, we'll figure it out soon enough." He picked up the child and a small medical kit. "Darius seems healthy enough, but I would like to examine him while he is awake. Let's take him to his room." He stepped toward the door and gestured for Tyler and Andren to follow.

Andren reached for Zac as she joined the doctor. "Let me carry him."

Behlyl passed the child to her with a smile. She took him and held him close as she followed the doctor from the room. Tyler fell in behind them.

The room Gaunis had prepared for the children was quite a walk from the sickbay. As they made their way down the long main corridor, Andren pointed out a control room across the corridor from Gaunis's office, as well as several of the base's amenities. Finally, just past the entrance to the hangar where the Phoenix had dropped off Tyler and the others, Behlyl turned left down an adjoining hallway and halted before a closed door at the far end. He tapped a code into an access panel, opened the door, and gestured Andren and Tyler inside.

As Tyler stepped through the opening, an odd, pressing sensation seemed to wrap around his head, and he felt suddenly as if his senses had been turned down one notch. He decided it must be the effect of the field Gaunis mentioned.

The room was small, about three meters on a side. Two cribs, a cabinet, a padded chair, and a table—all the same lifeless gray as the walls—were spaced evenly about the chamber.

Andren gazed around the flat, monotonous room with a look of distaste. "What an awful place to keep a baby." She looked to Behlyl for support.

"Put Darius on one of the beds," was his only response. He set the medkit on the table, opened it, and withdrew a small packet.

Tyler stopped near the door. He watched as the doctor went to Zac, tore open the packet, and pressed the drug pad it contained against the child's arm. Andren stood beside the crib.

After a moment, Tyler felt the increasingly familiar touch of Zac's mind on his, the curious questing that seemed to tap a different part of his mind with each tentative probe. Always before, on board the Phoenix, Tyler had administered another dose of effelin when the child's mental touch grew this strong. Now, he wished he could.

The feel of Zac's elation as the antidote Behlyl administered began to free his mind from the hold of the effelin strengthened with amazing speed, changed in a heartbeat from an inquisitive probe to a desperate search as Zac tore through his mind with enough energy to physically rock him.

Tyler staggered backward in shock, caught himself against the door, and tried in vain to shield his mind from the mental onslaught. But as quickly as it began, the assault ended and the harsh probe faded, leaving only the familiar light touch.

Behlyl had begun to turn at Tyler's startled reaction, but he spun back now at a gasp from Andren.

Tyler straightened. He struggled to determine what Zac had done and followed the doctor's gaze.

Andren stood over Zac's bed. She stared down at the child, her mouth open in shock, her eyes locked on Zac's wide, hauntingly aware silver gaze.

Behlyl turned again.

Instantly, Tyler knew the man's intent—he was returning to the medkit for a dose of effelin—and knew he had to stop him. He reached the table a single step ahead of the doctor.

But instead of trying to push past Tyler, Behlyl stumbled into him.

The doctor clutched his head, and a single startled cry forced its way between his lips.

Tyler caught the man, keeping him on his feet, and then looked beyond him to where Andren stood over the crib, still enraptured by Zac's gaze.

Through his link to Zac's mind, Tyler sensed the mental energy the child was using to search Behlyl's mind. Finally, his desperate scan ended.

As the doctor slowly recovered, Tyler helped him straighten. He tried to get to the medkit, but Tyler kept himself between Behlyl and the table.

"Not so fast, doctor," Tyler said.

Behlyl's eyes drifted up to meet Tyler's, dim at first, but they quickly regained their former vitality.

"Move aside, Tyler, I have to—"

"No more drugs," Tyler said firmly. "Not now. Do your examination."

"But he tried to—"

Tyler shook his head and stopped Behlyl's words with a look and a mental suggestion so powerful he surprised himself with its intensity. It was as if he had a full, fresh dose of mecklin in his system, but with none of the uncomfortable side effects. He wondered if it was the result of Zac's touch on his mind.

Despite the severity of Tyler's mental suggestion, Behlyl did not seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, and he calmed instantly.

"Renee?" The doctor pulled out of Tyler's grasp and turned to face the woman. "Are you all right? Did the child harm you?"

Andren started at the sound of her name and pulled her eyes from Zac's. She turned slowly to face the two men.

"No, I… I'm fine," she said, and glanced back at the child lying peacefully in the bed.

His strange eyes watched the three adults curiously.

"He just… startled me…" Andren's voice trailed off, and she shook her head in bewilderment.

The doctor turned to Tyler, his calm demeanor gone.

"What did he do to us, Tyler?!" He tried again to press past him to his medkit.

Tyler continued to block his route.

"I don't know," he half-lied, for although he did not understand everything that had just occurred, he did know that Zac had touched all three of them, one after the other, with a powerful mental probe that had seemed, at least to Tyler's mind, to look into every part of his being, completing the search the child had begun on the mountain road east of the Confederate base.

"He didn't hurt us," Tyler said to Behlyl. "And I don't believe he'll try it again. Not on us, anyway."

"What do you mean, 'not on us'?" the doctor asked.

"I believe that is Zac's way of—"

"His name is Darius," Andren said.

Tyler ignored her. "I believe that is his way of getting to know us," he said, aware that his statement was only partially true. The child had done something far more in those few brief moments than simply get to know each of them, but Tyler did not understand what that something was.

"The child is awake now, doctor," Tyler continued. "Finish your examination."

Again he put his will behind the command, although he used far less force this time, and again the doctor obeyed without the slightest indication that anything unusual was happening.

Tyler stepped aside to allow Behlyl access to his medkit, certain the man would not use any effelin for now.

Behlyl returned to Zac's crib and looked tentatively inside. Zac had been engaged in an idle mental examination of the room—Tyler sensed his inquisitive probe—but now he felt the child pull back the probe.

Zac's mind filled with power as the doctor's eyes met his. But, this time, the power was not backed by curiosity; this was raw survival energy.

Zac, don't! Tyler commanded the child with his mind. He won't hurt you.

Amazingly, the child obeyed. The incredible power dispersed from his mind as quickly as it had gathered, and Zac returned to his idle examination of the room.

His awareness expanded outward until Tyler sensed it butt up against the chamber's walls, ceiling, and floor, where Gaunis's field must be. But the field did not deter Zac. Tyler felt him probe the barrier, exploring it for weaknesses.

A touch on Tyler's arm drew his attention back to the room.

Andren stood beside him.

"Does he do that to everyone?" she asked quietly, a trace of nervous awe in her voice.

"I think he must," he answered, remembering that Zac had tried—and, perhaps, succeeded—to do the same thing to Commander Rhoad on board the Phoenix. "But he isn't trying to hurt anyone. I think he's just afraid."

"The poor thing," Andren said. She started to move back to the bed, but Tyler stopped her.

"Let the doctor finish. He won't hurt him."

"But he'll give him more of that terrible drug when he's through," she said. "We can't let him do that!"

Tyler wondered if that concern was truly hers, or one planted in her mind by Zac.

"Remember Gaunis's rules," he warned.

She pouted. "Well, that's an awful thing. Keeping poor little Za—poor little Darius in this horrible room, always on that drug! You can't treat a baby like that!"

"They're not my rules."

She turned back to watch Behlyl and the child. "Gaunis just wants to win Zac's love—no, his loyalty. And he thinks he can do it by keeping him miserable except when he's around. He doesn't know a thing about children!" With that, she stormed through the doorway.

Tyler watched her leave, and then returned his attention to Zac's amazingly meticulous examination of the barrier that surrounded the room.