The Price of Conquest

High Admiral Colliard Gaunis studied the image of Eminence displayed on the screen in his quarters aboard the courier ship Phoenix. Viewed from this distance, the space station looked like a fragile sculpture, a spidery silver assembly of flattened spheres and ray-like cylindrical beams hanging before a shimmering backdrop of stars.

It was a magnificent sight, one Gaunis rarely missed the opportunity to view, but today Eminence had a contender for his attention. From behind the nearest of the station's pods, a colossal United Galaxy Patrol dreadnought began to emerge. Gaunis took in every detail of the newly renovated ship, savoring the triumph the vessel represented.

This ship, the new hub of the battle fleet that would allow him to bring all of the known worlds under his control, was the Esprit, one-time flagship of Richard Shaw.

After a surprise attack by one of the Free Worlds' black ships destroyed Gaunis's own flagship, the Kinsa, he had called Shaw before the Admiralty Council for his role in luring the Kinsa to her destruction.

Shaw answered the allegation with a charge of his own. He claimed Gaunis hired an assassin to kill Shaw's long-time friend and top military advisor, Captain Aidan Terling, thus giving Gaunis the excuse he needed to move in on Shaw's victory over the Arecian Guard.

Shaw's charges were true, but Gaunis had seen to it that Devin Tyler, the would-be assassin, had been placed safely out of the way before the matter came to light, forcing dismissal of the charges.

At that point in the proceedings, Gaunis had felt confident of victory over Shaw, for even with the four admirals Shaw convinced to side with him, Gaunis still held the two-thirds majority necessary to convict Shaw of treason. But then Captain Terling, acting as Shaw's legal counsel, dredged up an old Admiralty Council rule that allowed Shaw a vote until formally convicted.

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Thus the best result Gaunis could muster was a final vote of five for Shaw, seven against; one short of the two-thirds majority necessary for a full conviction. Still, the five-to-seven vote cost Shaw his place in the Admiralty, demoted him to sector commander, and barred him from ever regaining his former rank.

Once the formal sentencing was complete, Gaunis had placed Shaw in the recently vacated position of military governor of the planet Calton, one of the worlds in Gaunis's jurisdiction. He then ordered Shaw's upstart champion, Aidan Terling, discharged from service.

The sentence was far less than Gaunis would have preferred, but stationing Shaw on Calton allowed Gaunis to keep track of his activities and gave him the ability to arrange at any time for an accident similar to that which had taken the life of Calton's former governor.

With Shaw out of the way and Gaunis's victory over the man fresh in the minds of the other admirals, he had turned the Council over to Admiral Korin Deroga.

As they had planned beforehand, Deroga called for the creation of the singular rank of High Admiral and requested that Gaunis accept the honor of being the first recipient of the position, a promotion intended to honor his thirty-five years of service to the Admiralty.

Gaunis accepted the rank and asked for support of his plans to take over the Free Worlds. But recalling the ease with which the black ship destroyed the Kinsa, most of the admirals balked at the suggestion. In the end, only admirals Genen and Deroga agreed to assist in the High Admiral's efforts to bring the Free Worlds under United Galaxy control.

Thinking of the Free Worlds brought a scowl to Gaunis's face, and he turned his back on the view of the Esprit as he considered their latest move.

The Free Worlds had banded together and sent a declaration of confederation, a peace treaty, and a trade agreement to the Admiralty Council, and several of the bleeding-heart liberal admirals suggested that the United Galaxy acknowledge the existence of the so-called Free World Confederacy, accept the treaty, and begin to trade.

Gaunis scoffed at the idea. With or without the assistance of all of the admirals, the United Galaxy would take control of the Free Worlds.

The first part of Gaunis's plans to do that was with him now, contained in the information on a single data card he carried. The information had cost him dearly, but the price was worth it, for the data detailed the resources, strengths, and weaknesses of two carefully selected Free Worlds.

With that information, and with the help of Genen and Deroga, Gaunis would show the others there were safe, effective ways to deal with the Confederacy.