The Price of Conquest

The victory celebration at Arecia's Confederate base had been going on for well over a day, but Garrett Atkins knew the elation could not last forever. Once the excitement died down, someone would discover who he was and what part he had played in letting Gaunis know the Terran attack was coming. While the information had not allowed the High Admiral to win the war, it had given him the opportunity to take a hell of a lot of the enemy with him when he fell.

Victorious or not, the Confederates would never forgive Atkins for that.

He would leave now, he told himself. He would check a car out of the vehicle pool and never come back. It shouldn't be too hard to get himself off-planet using the credits in the account Gaunis had given him. Once he was safe, he could use the remainder of the money to set himself up nicely on some little out-of-the-way planet.

Atkins had made the decision to leave twice since the Confederate victory was announced. Unfortunately, something had come up both times where his absence would have been too suspicious to go uninvestigated for the time he needed to get cleanly away. But tonight the celebration would redouble with the return of the victorious Captain Westlex. In all that excitement, no one would miss him.

Decision made, the timing right, he tossed his few belongings into a pack, gave his tiny cubicle a final glance, and stepped through the door into the wide hallway.

"Going somewhere, Atkins?" The voice came from directly beside him.

He wheeled, his hand going for the laser pistol beneath his jacket.

General Kamick was leaning against the wall beside the door to his room, apparently unarmed, his lack of concern for the half-drawn pistol plain on his face.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." His amber eyes shifted to look over Atkins' shoulder.

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Atkins let his pistol slide from fingers gone suddenly numb and turned his head to follow the general's gaze.

The business-end of a pulse gun hovered between Atkins' eyes, held there by Captain Westlex. Kressa Bryant stood beside the captain, grinning, a credit-account card held up before her.

Amazed, Atkins recognized the card as the one Commander Lehrton had given him.

Still grinning, Bryant reached forward to pluck his laser pistol from its holster. She opened the charge casing on the grip and held it up to show that the compartment was empty.

"You sleep far too deeply." She produced the missing charge pack from a hip pocket, inserted it into the gun, and then turned the weapon on its owner.

Atkins opened his mouth to protest, to deny what they had not yet accused him of, and then abandoned the attempt as hopeless.

"Nothing to say for yourself?" Westlex asked, his voice mean, finger tight on the trigger of his gun. "Your actions got a very good friend of ours killed, Garrett Atkins. What reason do we have to keep you alive?"

Atkins started to speak again, and then swallowed hard, his gaze drawn inexorably to the death hovering centimeters before his eyes. But before he could think of anything to say that might postpone that death, the general spoke.

"Go easy on him, Jon." Kamick's voice held a definitely amused tone. "After all, he did deliver our message to the High Admiral."

The general's words tore Atkins' eyes away from Westlex's gun.

Kamick beamed a smile at him. "You don't honestly believe Captain Westlex and I would disagree on something as fundamental as destroying Gaunis's Terran power base, do you?"

Atkins closed his eyes, his heart pounding in his throat, and then opened them again as the general went on.

"We had you followed, Atkins. We let you deliver your message to Lehrton, then let him deliver it to the High Admiral. Now, I want you to tell us everything you've done since leaving Terra, and just to be sure you don't forget anything important…"

The general stepped back far enough to reveal the approach of three th'Maran.

The trio of pale-skinned beings halted before Atkins and caught his gaze. There was a light, spinning feel in his head and then, without knowing why, he began to talk.

Children of the Om-Mar
concludes in
Book Three: The Children