Bates sighed. “Nothing. The odds of any of us surviving this are so low they might as well not exist. But if we can make sure the tech they are using to try to open the wormhole, and none who might have the science used to work out a plan to do so survive, we could stave this off.”
Renall said, “Stave it off?”
Bates said, “We have to let the universe know what it is The Federation plans. Until all stand against them, there’s no way to kill them off. You know this. There must be a total rebellion, not just the pockets of it we have seen over the years.”
Bates’ eyes turned to Jeval. “I need you because I know of that thing you possess. You could topple their entire research lab from a distance, and you know it.”
Marik leaped from the chair he sat in. “To do so would mean his death! To do that would drain him totally dry and kill him!”
Bates said, “Then give enough for the men I command, that we will all command, to get into that place and level it. If it means dying inside those walls as they implode around me, I am willing to do that. I am willing to die for this. I am. I do not expect you to feel the same, of course.”
They would all die, most likely. On that score, Bates had been one hundred percent correct. The retribution for destroying that research lab would be swift and harsh. Jeval said, “I will help. I think they all will too, but I want a promise from you.”
Bates said, “If I can give that to you, I will.”
It was a concession, but not enough of one. “If we all die there, you must have some sort of decoy in place; you must be able to make it look as if the attack came from elsewhere, was plotted out elsewhere, so that the people here don’t find themselves being hit with the same weapon blast that destroyed Old Earth.”
Bates’ smile was not nice. “Oh, I have a plan for that already. I have spent the last year inserting evidence that proves, substantially, that several of the highest-ranking Federation officials are our allies. Because of that, they shall die too. The best way to kill off anything is with a headshot; don’t you agree?”
Jeval couldn’t argue that. None of them could.
Bates asked, “Do we have an accord?”
Jeval looked at his siblings. They had all known for some time that the war was coming. They had all known that the rebellion against The Federation would catch them up in its grip. But were they willing to cast their lot with this man and his plot and risk everything when it might be simpler to just sit it out and wait to see if his dire predictions about the unknown wormhole and The Federation’s opening of it, and the possible consequences of that action, came true?
They were.
They had no choice at all really.
Margie stood by the door as he came out of it. His gaze went to her. He had refused to allow himself to consider the words and actions she had used when Bates had demanded an audience.
He’d had to block that from his mind because if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to focus on that conversation with Bates, and he would have been distracted by all the questions her words and her being there at his side brought up.
Now that the thing with Bates was over, he had no choice but to let those questions come. They would not stay buried anymore.
His siblings and their mates drifted off. Bates left and got back on his ship, but the ships didn’t leave. Margie stood there, her wide eyes locked onto his face and her bright lips slightly parted.
Those lips he wanted to kiss so badly, that face he wanted to cup between his hands and just stare at until he burned every detail into his memory.
Because he might not come back from the mission he had just agreed to undertake.
Margie looked down at her feet and then back up at his face. A wry smile played out on her mouth. “You’re not going to tell me what just happened, are you?”
“Yes, but…but not here.” That surprised him. He had not meant to tell her. It was not the time. The last thing he needed was to have a heartache left behind. This was a suicide mission, and that was why he had insisted that Renall and Marik stay behind. He and Jessica and Talon alone would go with Bates to the research lab, and Bates damn well better be able to provide the backup and troops he had promised, but even if he did, there was little likelihood he would return alive.
Jessica would know the odds, but she would go anyway. She would because that was her nature and she would die with Talon before she lived without him.
For one moment, he really wondered if he could say the same thing about Margie, and if he could, would he allow her to go?
No.
Hell no.
He loved her too much to see her die.
Loved her.
That hit him like a jagged bolt of the purest and most deadly lightning. He loved her, and the last thing he wanted was for her to die.
