The Price of Conquest

"I wish you could stay longer, Kressa," Anna said, leaning against the navigation board in the Conquest's control room. "It's been nice having an ally against the guys."

Kressa smiled up at the girl from her seat in the pilot's chair. "You proved to them you were right."

"You mean about Gaunis and the Salkairs?" Anna asked, pouting. "They'll just find something else to pester me about."

"You love it," Kressa said. "You know you do."

The blonde girl smiled. "I still wish you could stay."

"Sorry, I've got to get this load of ore back to Arecia and make sure it's what the Confederacy wants."

"If it isn't, I'd hate to be the one to have to tell the Moorlans the deal's off," Anna said.

"If it isn't, then we went to a lot of trouble for nothing."

"I wouldn't call what you did nothing," Anna said. "Besides, you helped your dad."

Kressa sneered. "If I helped him, he has a strange way of showing it."

The raid on the Salkair Residence and holdings had gone well, and it had given Shaw the opportunity he needed to round up all of Gaunis's forces on Calton, but Kressa had not been involved in any of it. Aidan Terling, the mastermind behind the raid, insisted that Kressa and the th'Maran members of Max's Calton Guard forces not be included, claiming it would do his people's morale no good to have to fight alongside "criminals and aliens."

Although Kressa did not like to admit it, the omission hurt. She had hoped to see her father again before she left Calton, to learn if their brief encounter had mended any of the past, but it never happened.

"He's been busy, Kressa," Anna said.

"Yeah, I know. He's got a planet to run." She rose to her feet and pushed her resentful feelings aside. "And I've got a cargo to deliver. Say goodbye to everyone for me, will you?"

"Of course," Anna said. "They wanted to come themselves, but they're still at the Salkair Residence."

"What are they doing out there?"

"Helping get things set up. Max suggested that Governor Shaw turn Salkair House into a sort of neutral ground, a House authority where the others can take their complaints against one another."

"What did Shaw think of that?" Kressa asked.

"Oh, he loved it. In fact, he wanted Maxie to be in charge of it."

"I assume Max turned him down."

"He did, and then Shaw reminded him about the warrants for his and Torch's arrest. Max changed his mind."

Kressa laughed. "So Max is The Salkair now, and Lusk's boss?"

Anna nodded and returned Kressa's grin.

"Excuse me, Kressa," Connie spoke into the brief silence. "There is a call for you. Confederate code, from Stingray One."

Kressa arched her brows in surprise. "Put it through, two-way coding."

"Affirmative. Connecting now."

"I hope you've had your fun, Kressa," Jonathan's voice rang through the control room a moment later, "because Gaunis is on his way, and he left Eminence in an awful hurry." Pause. "What the hell have you been up to?"

"J—Jonathan," Kressa stammered. "Where are you?"

There was another short pause. "Twenty-two thousand four hundred and thirty-eight point seven kilometers above your head."

Kressa caught herself glancing upward. "At Calton? And Gaunis is coming here?" She shot a worried look at Anna.

"We've got to warn the governor," the girl said.

"Kressa, is there someone with you?" Jonathan asked.

"A member of the Calton Guard. They helped me escape from… Well, let's just say a lot's happened in the past few days."

"And that has something to do with the fact that you should warn the governor?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes, sir."

"I think you'd better tell me what's happened. But not over the comm. I'll be right down."

Kressa frowned. "Do you think that's wise? Coming down here, I mean."

"How else can I get in on your little chat with Governor Shaw?"

"Er—right. But…" She gave up with a forlorn shake of her head. "Forget it."

"It is forgotten," Jonathan said. "Did you get what you came for?"

"It's in the bay."

"Good. I'll send someone down to get a sample. See you soon. Stingray One out."

Anna met Kressa's eyes. "Was that Captain Westlex?" she asked with a touch of awe.

Kressa sighed. "In all his glory."

* * *

Kressa couldn't believe what she was doing. She wanted to see her father again, but these were not the circumstances under which she wanted the meeting to take place, not with Gaunis on his way. But after hearing about everything that had happened since her arrival on Calton, Jonathan asked her to accompany him to the Governor's Base.

Anna insisted she be allowed to go, as well, pointing out that her work with the governor's staff over the past few days would give them an edge in getting through the barrage of security checkpoints behind which Shaw worked. So far, the girl had done an admirable job, leading them through every obstacle up to Shaw's personal assistant, outside whose door they now stood. With a game smile, Anna opened the door and stepped inside.

Kressa swallowed the last of her apprehension and followed. Jonathan, dressed in a dark, nondescript civilian outfit, stepped through the opening beside her.

Anna walked up to the single desk that stood between them and the door that led deeper into the governor's sanctum.

The middle-aged woman seated behind the desk glanced up. "Can I help you, miss?"

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"We'd like to see the governor."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, ma'am, but I'm sure he wants to see us."

"I'm sure," the woman said in a doubtful tone. "If you'd like to make an appointment—"

"We want to see him now." Anna put a slightly menacing emphasis on the last word.

The woman gave her a calm look. "I'm sorry, but the governor is busy. He's in a meeting right now and—"

"I don't care if he's in a meeting with the High Admiral," Anna said.

Kressa cringed at the blonde girl's choice of words, but remained silent.

"Don't you realize who these people are?" Anna continued, waving her hand to indicate Jonathan and Kressa.

"No," the woman said in a slightly bored voice. "But I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"Damned straight. This is Kressa Bryant, the governor's daughter, and Captain Jonathan Westlex of the Confederate Navy."

The woman looked at Jonathan skeptically, and then turned her gaze to Kressa. A vertical line formed between the woman's brows, and for a brief moment, Kressa entertained the hope that, for once, her resemblance to Richard Shaw would prove beneficial.

The woman returned her gaze to Anna with an amused shake of her head and a smile that seemed intended to congratulate the girl on a scheme that was original but not quite enough to get her in to see the governor.

"You'll still need an appointment." She tapped the desk's inset computer screen to life. "When would be a good time?"

Anna let out a breath in exasperation. "Can't you at least tell him we're here?" she asked, a note of defeat in her voice. "I'm sure he'd—"

The door behind the desk opened, and an armed man in civilian clothing stepped through.

"Mister Terling!" Anna almost shouted in relief.

The man stared at her for a moment. "Annatrialla, what are you doing here?" Terling's eyes swept over Kressa and Jonathan, and then he glanced at the woman behind the desk. "Sophi, who are these people?"

"I'm sorry, sir. I was just going to get rid of them. They claim to be the governor's daughter and a Confederate Navy captain." Doubt rang plain in her voice.

But it was a doubt Terling did not share, Kressa realized as his blue-gray eyes snapped back to her with a look combining curiosity and menace.

"So you're the brat who's given me so much trouble these past days. Or should I say years?"

Kressa balked at his look and tone. Something about Terling's attitude required—no, demanded an apology. She took a chance instead.

"It's a bad habit we Shaws have."

Terling's eyes grew mean, and she instantly regretted her statement, but then he gave her a wry smile.

"You're Bryant, all right. And definitely your father's daughter." He glanced past her to Jonathan, studying him minutely, as if comparing him to an image in his mind. "You must be Westlex. You've given me a bit of trouble yourself."

"I hope that's something we can put behind us," Jonathan said.

Terling held his gaze for a moment. "That depends on you, Captain, and why you've come."

"I need to speak with Governor Shaw," Jonathan said. "To let him know that…" He glanced at the woman seated at the desk between himself and Terling.

The older man followed his gaze. "Take a break, Sophi. I'll call you when I need you."

"Yes, sir." She pushed herself away from the desk and left the room through the door they'd entered.

Terling closed and locked the door behind her, consulted a readout on a device affixed to the wall beside the door, and then gave Kressa a hard look. He brushed his hand against the pulse gun that hung holstered at his hip.

Kressa tensed, aware Terling had detected the pulse gun hidden beneath her overshirt.

"What's so important that you risked coming here, Westlex?" Terling asked.

"Gaunis is on his way to Calton."

One of Terling's eyebrows twitched, but he made no other response to Jonathan's disclosure.

"Didn't take him long, did it?" Terling gave each of them a suspicious look that indicated he would not put any of them, or the rest of the Calton Guard forces, past setting up the entire Salkair House incident simply to lure the High Admiral to Calton. "Did you come here just to warn us?" He gave Jonathan another hard look. "Or to help?"

Jonathan returned his canny gaze. "That depends on you," he said. "And Shaw."

Terling's gruff expression faded to emptiness, and he nodded.

"Very well, Westlex, you've got your audience with the governor. Come with me." Terling started for the door behind the desk.

Jonathan followed him, and Kressa and Anna fell in behind.

Terling laid a hand on the door panel and glanced back. "Not you, Bryant. You'd never make it through here alive with that gun."

Jonathan shot her a piercing look. "I said no weapons."

She glared at him for an instant, and then, without giving herself time to consider what she was doing, she withdrew the gun and placed it in plain view on the desk.

Terling opened the door. "Right this way."

The short corridor beyond the door was dark and narrow, out of step with the rest of the building. The close, heavy air pierced Kressa with an ominous feeling, and then they stepped through the door at the far end into a large, well-lit office with two rows of desks. Uniformed men sat at three of them. They looked up, noted Terling, and returned to their tasks.

Terling led his entourage toward a door at the far end of the room. He entered without announcing himself.

"Aidan, what—?" The questioning voice from beyond the doorway halted at Terling's raised hand.

"You have visitors, Richard."

All the way to the Governor's Base, Kressa had refused to let her mind consider the fact that she was walking knowingly, willingly (and now unarmed) into the presence of Richard Shaw. And letting Jonathan do the same.

It's safe, she told herself. Probably, it's safe.

Shaw glanced up at her from behind his desk. The stormy look in his too-familiar eyes grew stormier still when he focused on the man with her.

"Westlex." The acknowledgement was little more than a half-choked whisper.

"Admiral," Jonathan said with a respectful nod.

Shaw looked as if he intended to correct Jonathan's use of the title, but he waved them all to seats instead. Only Terling remained standing, his position at the door providing protection from outside disturbance as well as an assurance that no one would leave the room without his permission.

Jonathan wasted no time getting down to business. "Admiral Shaw, Gaunis is on his way to Calton."

The silence in the room hung for a full thirty seconds, and Kressa began to wonder if the admiral would react at all, and then Shaw shifted in his seat.

"I see," he said quietly. He looked at Terling, and then back to Jonathan. "You know this for a fact?"

"Yes, sir. I was at Eminence when he left on a course that will bring him here within a day."

"Gaunis has… That is, he had quite a lot at stake here," Shaw said. "Clearly, he means to take it back. Unfortunately, we have no way to stop him."

"No, sir," Jonathan said, "you do have something. You have Stingray One."

"Then you do intend to help us," Terling said from the door.

Jonathan glanced back at him. "For a small consideration, yes."

"And what might that be?" Shaw asked.

"House Moorlan has something the Confederacy needs," Jonathan said, meeting the governor's eyes. "They have agreed to provide it to us. I request that you allow Confederate ships into Calton space to transport the… merchandise back to our own worlds."

"And for this you'll protect us from Gaunis?" Shaw asked in obvious bewilderment. "Why not take what you want and save yourself the trouble of facing him?"

Jonathan almost smiled at that. "Unlike the United Galaxy… unlike Gaunis, the Confederacy does not take what it wants, Admiral. We trade. Still, there is no guarantee that we can protect you. We can only try."

Shaw looked surprised. "You expect trouble, Captain? After what happened with the Kinsa, I would think—"

"Sir," Jonathan interrupted with a polite shake of his head, "what happened to the Kinsa will not be repeated here. It cannot. Gaunis was not suspecting our attack on the Kinsa. We took him completely by surprise. This time, he is expecting trouble, and he's made several modifications to the Es—to the ship he's using." Jonathan paused, his eyes locked on Shaw's. "There is every possibility he can defeat us."

"At least you're willing to try," Shaw said.

"Then we have a deal, Admiral?" Jonathan asked.

Shaw hesitated for an instant, and then he stood and extended a hand to Jonathan.

"Captain Westlex, we have a deal."