The Price of Conquest

"That's hull material?" Kressa asked, gazing at the plain-looking hunk of rock.

Jonathan nodded. "We call it nelux. Of course, this is only the raw form. It needs to go through several stages of processing before we can actually begin to grow a hull."

Grow a hull? Kressa wondered if she'd heard him correctly. She started to question him about it, but noticed the frown Mathan was giving him and decided to let the matter pass.

"There must be tons of this stuff lying around the mines on Calton," she said.

Jonathan nodded. "Apparently there's some on Ularis, too."

"But that piece came from Teneia?" Vel asked, gesturing to the ore in front of Jonathan.

"That's right." He picked up the sample and passed it across the table to the Vsunan. "But it's extremely rare, and that's about the last of it."

"Then the only place we can get the needed material is either Ularis or Calton," Ciroen said. "Those are both United Galaxy worlds."

"Unfortunately, they're the only places we've found it," Jonathan said. "We have ships out looking for other sources, but so far they haven't turned up anything very promising. We might find a planet full of the stuff tomorrow, but we can't count on it. We've got to go with what we have. I doubt we'll be able to get within a light year of Ularis, it being Gaunis's home planet and all. Calton, on the other hand—"

"I knew it!" Kressa exclaimed. "That's why you wanted me at this meeting. You want to send me to Calton for this hull material stuff."

Jonathan shot a sidelong glance at Halav, and then looked back at Kressa. "Gee, I guess you caught me. But you will do it, won't you? Ensign."

Kressa opened her mouth to protest, and then closed it with a frown. "That's one of Gaunis's worlds."

"I doubt Gaunis has very much interest in a backwater planet like Calton," Jonathan said. "Your father's the real person in charge there."

Kressa felt a surge of excitement from Emre's mind. She gave the th'Maran a quick glance, and then looked at Jonathan again. "Is that supposed to be reassuring?"

Jonathan shrugged. "Just a statement of fact. But I've a feeling Shaw will be a bit more lenient than Gaunis should our operation come to light. But it won't come to light, will it? Surely you can arrange for the shipment of some rocks without the Patrol catching on. You've done it before."

"Sure, years ago. But a lot could have changed since then. Calton's… bureaucracy, for lack of a better word, is about as stable as Gaunis's mind."

"Oh?" Jonathan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How much do you know about Calton?" Kressa asked.

"I know it's a United Galaxy world under Gaunis's control. I know it's a popular tourist destination and has an impressive university system." He paused and smiled. "And I know it's run by crime houses more than by the Patrol factions stationed there, if that's what you mean."

"I wouldn't call them criminals to their faces," Kressa said, "but, yes, that's exactly what I mean. House Moorlan, the one that controlled the diamond mines, may not even exist anymore. Those diamonds were their main source of income. Once that market collapsed…" She shrugged. "No more House."

"But one of the Houses must own the land where the mines were," Jonathan said. "You'll just have to find out which one it is and make a deal with them. Unless you want to make a play for the ore on Ularis?"

"No, thank you. I'll stick with Calton. At least it's familiar."

"And you have family there," Halav jabbed.

Kressa glared playfully, a juicy retort forming on her lips, but she swallowed the comment as another rush of strong emotion from Emre brushed her awareness.

"I will go with you," Emre said, her voice brimming with excitement.

Kressa stared at her, taken aback. "What do you mean? I don't need any help."

Elated eagerness poured from Emre's mind. "I will go to see Richard."

"No, you won't," Kressa said. "If you think I'm going to take you, a th'Maran, to one of Gaunis's worlds…"

Emre's elation vanished as if someone had closed a door on it. "But, Kressa—"

"No!" She instantly regretted the harshness of her tone, but she had to make Emre realize how dangerous it was for her to leave the safety of a Confederate world. "Emre, I'm sorry, but…" She tried in vain to catch the th'Maran's downcast eyes.

"Emre," Jonathan said, his voice gentle. He repeated her name until she looked up. "It's not safe for you to see Richard yet. Perhaps after the children are born—"

"Nooo…" The single word came out of Emre like a low, animal moan. "If Kressa is going, then I must—"

"Emre, please," Kressa pleaded, horrified to find the joyous woman of minutes before completely overwhelmed by sorrow. "It's for the best for now. I'll try to deliver another message…"

Emre looked away, her mind and emotions shut off to Kressa.

"Emre," Ciroen said quietly. He laid a hand on hers where it rested on the tabletop beside him.

She met his eyes. They sat silent for a brief moment, gazes locked, and then Emre looked away and pulled her hand out from under his. Without another word, she swept to her feet and left the room.

Ciroen stared after her, frowning.

"Ciroen?" Kressa called quietly. "Is she okay?"

He turned his gaze on her. "I believe she will be. She simply needs time to think through what is best for her and her children."

Kressa looked at Jonathan. "Damn," she whispered. "She was so happy about getting that message."

"She'll be all right, Kres. Like Ciroen said, just give her some time to think it through." At Kressa's solemn nod, he switched his gaze to Halav. "What kind of Guard activity is there on Calton? Any chance of getting help there if we need it?"

Halav shook his head. "Not likely. The closest thing Calton had to Guard forces was a loose affiliation of university students and professors who helped smuggle out the occasional dissenter. They were going to help with the th'Maran exodus, but apparently something went wrong. We haven't heard from them in months. I don't even know if they exist anymore."

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"Well, I guess that's it, then," Jonathan said. "Unless anyone else has any ideas?" He scanned the table. "No? Then Kressa can go to Calton to check on the nelux supply. Dania, you and Ciroen had best get the Cheops back to Vsuna. Caile and I can keep the Stingrays on Gaunis's tail, maybe make a few random jumps to some of the other Confederate worlds to make sure everything's all right."

The door announcer chimed, and Jonathan glanced at Halav, brow furrowed.

"Come," the general said, his bewildered look suggesting he had not been expecting anyone.

The door opened, and Scott Warren stepped into the room, features pinched as if struggling to hold back some strong emotion. An instant later, a second figure pushed past him.

"Cody!" Kressa gasped in astonishment as the dark, rangy youth stepped into the room.

Studying the boy, she realized there was a difference about him, something that had not been there when she last saw him. It was not his extra handbreadth of height, or the harder, more mature look to his features, or the slight broadening of his shoulders. It was something lurking in his large brown eyes, a grave look that should not cloud the gaze of any seventeen year old.

"Cody," she said again, rising to her feet and taking a step toward him as the door slid shut. "What's wrong? What are you doing on Arecia?"

Cody stepped up to the end of the table. A strip of crimson cloth bound his long, dark hair at the nape of his neck, but several strands had escaped to hang in his eyes. He did not bother to brush them back as he looked up, his gaze lost far beyond the room's back wall.

"Janae's dead," he said, his tone flat, emotionless. "Tyler killed her, and now he's gone, too."

"What do you mean, 'gone'?" Kressa asked, feeling an unreasonable sense of panic gather in her chest. She struggled to ignore it.

Cody turned his head and focused on her for the first time.

"Gone," he repeated. "Escaped. On a transport to Arecia."

Kressa stepped forward and put an arm around his shoulders. Beneath her touch, his body quivered as he fought to keep his emotions under control.

She looked at Warren still standing unsurely by the door. "What happened, Scott? Where did you find him?"

"I was down near the hangar," he said. "He came in on one of those black courier ships and asked if I knew where you were. He said Tyler had escaped from Marasyn and was probably here on Arecia. I thought I should bring him to you right away."

Kressa nodded and turned back to Cody.

He shrugged out from under her arm and leaned forward, hands flat on the tabletop, head bowed.

She lowered her arm and took a small step back, giving him the room she sensed he needed. "Cody, tell us what happened."

He nodded slowly, his eyes closing briefly with strong emotion, and then looked at Kressa. "A few days ago, one of the regular supply ships came from Arecia. I had to spend a lot of time with it, so Janae was going to meet Dev—to meet Tyler and shoot the day with him."

Kressa's eyes narrowed, but before she could say anything, Cody shook his head once, hard.

"Don't start in on any long wind about not trusting him," he said. "I didn't trust him—not like that. And I told Janae not to, too. But he was straight with us, and he was someone to talk to…" He glanced away.

"It's all right, Cody. I'm sure you took every precaution."

He nodded listlessly and continued his story. "I was going to hook up with Tyler and Janae that afternoon, but they never showed. I didn't worry 'cause I knew they sometimes went deep into Sullis and lost track of time. When they didn't show the next day, we searched for them, but none of the th'Maran could even feel them. I worried then.

"What if they'd left the city and got hurt?" he went on. "Or gone into one of the dead areas of Sullis? Tyler liked to do that. I even considered the chance that Tyler slipped Marasyn. But how could he without Janae raising the alarm? If he tried anything, she'd call for help. And they couldn't have gone so far that no one could sense her." He paused to draw a ragged breath.

Kressa sent a gentle, reassuring probe into his mind. Surprisingly, he responded to the mental touch with a brief, thankful smile. Apparently, his time spent on Marasyn had made him sensitive to such things, just as her work with Emre and the other th'Maran on the Arecian base had bolstered her natural abilities.

He lowered his gaze to the tabletop again and went on, his voice low. "A port worker found Janae… her—body in one of the warehouses today. It didn't take long to sync what'd happened. Tyler used her to get onto the port, and then he killed her."

"How?" Kressa asked. "Why didn't she call for help?"

"Tyler had effelin," he said. "We don't know how he got it, but they found traces of it in…" He shook his head again, swallowed hard, and straightened. His face twisted into an enraged mask. "He used Janae to get onto the port, and then he killed her! Why? Why couldn't he just—?"

"Cody, don't," Kressa said, putting her will behind her words and a second soothing mental caress. "It's over now. Are you sure Tyler left on the transport?"

He drew a deep, shuddering breath and nodded slowly. "It was the only ship there except for the Teneian courier, and that's only for emergencies. They didn't even want to use it to bring me here. Said I could just as easily send you a hyperwave."

Cody paused to cast a disparaging look at Jonathan and Mathan, as if the fact that they both commanded Teneian ships made them responsible for any trouble he had with the courier's commander. Then he looked at Kressa again. "But I made them bring me. I had to! I have to find Tyler before he gets away!"

Kressa glanced at Halav. "Is it possible Tyler's still here?"

"I suppose so. He can't have been here more than a day or two. That's not much time for someone six months out of touch and creditless to arrange for transport off-planet, even someone as wily as Tyler."

I wouldn't bet on that, Kressa thought, but she dared not voice her opinion and risk shattering Cody's hopes of finding the man.

"What about his ship?" she asked. "Wasn't it on Arecia when he was sent to Marasyn?"

"It was," Halav said. "We had it impounded months ago."

"Okay, so let's assume he's still on Arecia. Where would he be?"

"You and Cody know him better than the rest of us," Halav said. "Where do you think he'd be?"

Kressa considered the question. Where would Tyler go? What would he do? If she were in his place, her first thought would be to get off Arecia, but without his ship, he'd need help. Was there anyone she knew of who owed Tyler anything? Or—better question—what did he have that he could bargain with?

Information. Tyler had information only a handful of others shared. He knew the truth about the th'Maran, the truth behind their existence and the existence of the other human races. Everyone in the th'Maran Fruelar had learned that truth the day the Om-Mar revealed its eons-long plan and then disappeared.

Tyler had been there, and like the others present that day—Kressa, Jonathan, and Cody among them—he'd learned that the creation of the th'Maran and the other human races were simply steps in the Om-Mar's plan to bring about a superior race of beings, beings gifted both physically and mentally in a way their parents could never hope to match. Emre's unborn children, as well as the children of any th'Maran-human pairing yet to come, would be the first of the potentially powerful new race.

But who would want such information?

"Tyler will try to get in touch with Gaunis," Kressa realized aloud. "He was working for Gaunis when he was captured, and Gaunis would pay a lot for the information Tyler has about the th'Maran, not to mention any information he might have managed to pick up about us."

"But Gaunis is the one who sent all of you to Marasyn in the first place," Jonathan said, "as prisoners. With no intention of ever seeing any of you again."

"But Tyler doesn't know that," Kressa said. "We were all transferred directly from the Esprit. We thought it was Shaw who sent us. I didn't learn the truth until I got back here."

"No one ever told Tyler?" Jonathan asked.

"I don't think so," she said. "You never mentioned it, did you, Cody?"

He shook his head. "We've got to find him," he said. "If he's still on Arecia, we have to find him!"

"We'll do our best," Halav said. "But, right now, you need to get some rest. Warren, could you show Cody—"

"I know the way!"

Halav shot Kressa a questioning look. She shrugged. It would probably be best for Cody to have some time alone, and he wasn't likely to get into too much trouble on the base.

"All right," Halav told him. "But I don't want you to leave this base without permission. Is that understood?"

"But—"

Halav stopped his outburst with a stern look. "We'll get to the bottom of this, but we'll approach it best with a rested head, huh?"

Cody sighed. "Yes, sir."

Halav flashed him a warm smile. "Now, go on."

Cody turned and stepped past Warren. As soon as the door closed behind him, Captain Vel rose to her feet, and Ciroen stood with her.

"We'd better get back to Vsuna," she said and motioned Ciroen toward the door. As it slid aside, she glanced at Kressa. "And we'll make sure your rash young friend doesn't do anything stupid."

Kressa smiled her thanks. "I'll see you, Dani. Take care of her, Ciroen."

They both nodded and disappeared out the door.

"Kressa, when can you be ready to leave for Calton?" Halav asked.

"Anytime tomorrow, assuming your document people can pull a few tricks."

"They'll have everything ready by morning, but be sure to stop by my office before you leave. I still want that report."

"Yes, sir." She glanced at Jonathan.

"Meet me in my quarters," he said with a promising look. "I'll be along soon."

She smiled and brushed past a silent Scott Warren as she stepped into the hallway.