The Phoenix Crisis (36 page)

“
I think we need to focus on
damage control,” said Celeste.

“
I couldn’t agree more,”
said Zane. Though, in truth, there was little he could do. “I think
it’s time to start bringing our forces home. Our interests in
Capital System and the heart of the Empire must be protected. I’ll
make the necessary arrangements.”

“
What about the
An—”

“
All of them,” said Zane.
“I’m bringing all of them. Because now… it’s all or nothing.” He
switched off the terminal and then began sending out his orders.
There were ships, very important ships, that had to be diverted to
the system. He also needed the Phoenix Ring bunker to be prepped
and sufficiently defended so that he and the others would be safe
when the hour of Ascension was upon them. Safe from the Executor,
safe from the Organization, and most
importantly—
safe from the
Rahajiim
.

He was interrupted by a high alert call to
his mobile. Only the most important people knew the number and he
changed mobiles frequently, often destroying the mobile and
replacing it after an important call.

“
Go ahead,” he said after
flipping open the phone. He knew that most communications were
being monitored by the Executor’s people, which was why he insisted
on only using secure lines.

“
What the hell were you
thinking?” screamed Rita Donovan. “Cepheus?!”

“
Cepheus was not our
operation,” he explained calmly. “It was a false flag planted by
the Organization.”

“
Regardless…
the Rahajiim
,” she
struggled to get the word out.

She had every right and reason to be
troubled by this news. And Zane knew, better than anyone in the
Phoenix Ring, how truly dangerous the Rahajiim was, but he also
couldn’t afford to let Rita go into a panic, or frighten the
others. Their best hope now was to hide and await Ascension. If
they started fleeing the system every which way, they would only be
hunted down and eliminated one-by-one. “Stay calm,” said Zane.

“
How can I possibly stay
calm?
”

“
Everything is under
control,” he assured her. “The Rahajiim will not be able to act
before Ascension. And once Ascension is complete, there will
literally be
nothing
that can stop us. All the might of the Empire will be ours and
more.”

“
And if they do strike
before Ascension…
It will be our heads for
this!
”

“
They won’t,” said Zane in
the most confident and reassuring voice he could muster. “Don’t
forget, we have resources of our own. Enough to keep us safe. So
long as we stick together.”

Chapter 25

Miles took his leave of the bridge and
headed for the lower decks.

In truth he was glad to be out of there. He
was getting tired of seeing Summers, despite how positively sexy
she was. If she wore a bit less clothing, or something tighter, he
could probably stomach being around her a little easier. But since
she dressed as modestly and professionally as she could—not even
cropping her uniform—there wasn’t much reason to have her around.
She was a stick in the mud, and grouchy, and for some reason always
on his case. He assumed it was because he was attractive to her.
Why else would she give him so much more attention than anyone
else—and hell, he didn’t blame her—but her way of flirting was
confusing and tiring. And always left him in need of a good stiff
drink and a long nap.

He liked being the acting
XO. It gave him a sense of authority and importance that he knew
he’d always deserved, but he’d happily go back to being
just
the defense
officer—
still the most important job on the
ship
—if it meant getting Calvin back. He’d
been lonely these last few days and it was starting to feel like
the band had broken up. But at least Sarah was back. Miles had
welcomed her in his traditional way, by lambasting her with a
tactical argument and then teasing her about her pansy-ass away
mission on the Arcane Storm while the real warriors had stayed with
the Nighthawk. She’d deflected his teasing with her own banter and
even cracked a tiny smile at him, and that was when he knew she was
going to be okay.

Miles meandered his way
through the ship before eventually arriving at the infirmary. He
wasn’t sick and he didn’t need anything, but Calvin had asked him
to do something
and, while Miles so far
hadn’t had the guts, he decided to stop putting it off. If there
was anyone in the galaxy he would keep his word to,
no matter what
, it was
Calvin. Which meant he had no choice.

He stepped inside and immediately caught
sight of Shen looking faint and… possibly even dead. He was
strapped down tight on one of the medical beds with a
soldier-in-arms standing attentively next to him. Miles slowly
approached and stared down at his friend. Memories poured through
his mind, and it seemed like only yesterday Miles had been coaching
Shen on how to get with the ladies.

“
Hang in there, little
buddy,” he whispered. There was a burning feeling behind his eyes
and it forced him to blink. It wasn’t a tear though—Miles was sure
of that—just…
an
irritation
.

“
He’s a fighter, this one,”
came a creamy-silk voice from behind him. Miles turned to see the
chief physician. She was tall and pale, and had the deepest,
reddest hair he’d ever seen. It was all in tangles, unkempt and
untamable—just how he liked it—and the woman’s eyes were the
prettiest, pales shade of blue he’d ever seen. He’d met her before,
briefly, but only now did he realize just how beautiful she was.
When he saw them, and noticed how candid they were, he glanced away
immediately. Feeling his heart quicken.

“
I—” he tried to talk but
his words caught in his throat.

Rain stepped near him and placed a
reassuring hand on his shoulder. Her fingers were thin and long,
and he wanted nothing more than to take them in his hand and feel
their warmth. “It’s all right,” she said in a voice that was warm
and soothing. “Don’t worry. He isn’t in any pain.”

Miles glanced down at Shen and saw the look
of peace on his face and he knew that Rain spoke truly. It was
almost as if the ops officer had passed into the great beyond
already, and that what they carried with them—strapped to this
medical bed—was merely a wax tribute. A statue of a great man who’d
been by their side.

Miles felt something wet in his left eye and
he quickly lifted a finger to wipe it away. “Damn allergies,” he
said.

Rain gave him a small smile, then walked
away and began checking several of the monitors attached to Shen.
She wrote notes on her clipboard as she did.

“
The important thing is that
we don’t give up on him,” said Rain. He watched her. Unable to stop
himself from tracing her long feminine figure with his eyes. It was
hard to get a picture of her physique through her baggy medical
scrubs. But there was enough there to fill Miles with a warm rush
of excitement.
Now this was a true
woman
, he thought. Lots of passion and
personality, not to mention a kind of hardiness that made him think
of the women back home. Strength and not just beauty. Summers was
still better looking, but Rain made him melt in ways Summers did
not. Miles stared at her. Rain was filled with heart. He could
tell. And there was no substitute in the universe for a woman who
was all heart.

“
I know I certainly haven’t
given up on him,” she said, now looking at him. Miles’ looked away
from her.

“
Me neither,” he said,
suddenly remembering why he was there. “Tell me…” he struggled to
find the words. “How… how is he?” Miles thought of what Calvin had
told him. How he’d asked Miles to check up on Shen and make sure
the man wasn’t suffering in vain. Calvin had said that if Shen was
suffering—and there was no hope of saving him—it would be kinder to
give him a gentle sendoff into the unknown. Miles had promised to
look into it. But had put it off, dreading that he would find
things were exactly as Calvin feared. And, as tough as Miles knew
he was, he doubted very sincerely that he could be the one to end
Shen’s suffering.

“
Well…” said Rain, taking a
moment to collect her thoughts. “We had a scary minute not too long
ago, but as you can see he got through it. The good news is that
the virus has not progressed since we got him stabilized. It’s
still frustrating our efforts to eliminate it but… I’d say it’s
only a matter of time.”

“
Really and truly?” Miles
asked, suddenly beaming. He hadn’t let himself believe that Shen
could be cured and now the doctor had practically told him
so.

“
No one knows exactly what
will happen,” said Rain, suddenly sounding a bit more cautious.
“But I think the best thing we can do now is to have hope. There is
no scientific reason for this and the evidence is purely anecdotal,
but I have noticed that in cases where the patient and his loved
ones keep their hopes high there is a higher rate of
recovery.”

“
Okay, great,” said Miles.
He patted Shen on the leg. “You hear that buddy? You’re going to be
okay!”

He spent another few minutes in the
infirmary. Mostly trying to chat with the beautiful red-headed
enchantress that ran the place. He left in good spirits and made
for his quarters, deciding to reward himself with a good stiff
drink and a nap.

***

Rain hadn’t told the defense officer the
complete truth. She didn’t fancy herself a liar, but when she’d
seen the look on the man’s big childish face—and the sweet tears in
his eyes—she hadn’t the heart to tell him how grim Shen’s condition
truly was.

Rain still hadn’t given up on him. That was
certainly the last thing she would ever do. If she wouldn’t give up
on herself—even though she knew she was dying—how could she
possibly give up on anyone else? Whether a person had a hundred
more years to live or mere seconds, they were still entitled to
life, hope, and happiness for as long as they could possibly cling
to those things. And even here, where the ghastly picture of death
was slowly creeping over the unconscious ops officer’s face, he was
still clutching to life. His body hadn’t given up, and neither
would Rain.

I will save
you
, she thought, perhaps trying to
reassure herself more than him.
I
will
.

For every puzzle there was a solution, just
like for every question there existed an answer—somewhere—she had
to believe that. And as she puzzled over the strange biological
processes going on in Shen’s body, as his immune system fought the
contagion while other whole systems seemed to be surrendering to
it, Rain could think of nothing in medical science that she’d ever
heard of that was like it. In a way it was a marvelous and curious
thing, probably the most fascinating phenomenon she’d ever
witnessed. And yet she would fight it with everything she had. With
everything she could possibly think of. Because, if there was a
such thing as objective evil, this disease certainly qualified. The
toxin, and what it was doing to this poor man, was an unforgivable
wrong. And Rain was not about to stop fighting.

Unfortunately the clock was
against her, she knew. And while Shen seemed relatively stable for
now, she knew his condition was deteriorating and it wouldn’t be
long before things took a permanent turn for the worse. Which meant
she had to come up with another treatment fast. At her most
optimistic, she guessed Shen had mere days—at best
a week
—before fatal,
irreversible damage was done.   

***

“
This was an attack,
sanctioned by the King, on our own sovereign soil
against subjects of the crown
!” Caerwyn’s voice boomed. He stood on the Assembly Floor and
felt sweat drip down his face as he squinted against the bright
lights. Princess Kalila stood opposite him.

“
I assure you, Lord
Representative, that the attack on Renora is a tragedy and was not
sanctioned by my father or His Majesty’s Imperial forces,” said
Kalila. The feeling in the Assembly Floor was tense and there
wasn’t a vacant seat to be found. Every member of the Assembly was
there, and all of them knew that the citizens of the Empire
demanded an explanation—and a
response
—for the recent bombing of
Renora. Heads would roll, everyone knew it. And everyone was
anxious to make sure his or her head wasn’t one of the ones that
did.

“
A fleet of ships from orbit
rained down a torrent of military-grade bombardment rounds onto the
civilian populace—destroying hospitals, schools, and homes—and you
claim this was done without the knowledge and permission of our
military? Who else could have done it? I ask you. If not the King,
then who? I’ll tell you who,” said Caerwyn, clearing his throat.
“No one.” He paused. “No one but the King’s military could have
waged war like this. But understand this isn’t war, this is savage
butchery. And the people of the Empire demand justice!”

“
I remind the honorable
Representative, and all the noble Lords and Ladies of the Assembly,
that there is no convincing proof that this attack was an action by
our military,” said Kalila. “Our best intelligence indicates that
it was a terrorist attack. Perhaps an action by a foreign
state.”