The Phoenix Rising (3 page)

“
Have they moved onto
restricted sections of the ship, or made a download of our
computers, or taken an inventory of our resources? Things of that
nature.”

“
No, sir. We’ve kept an eye
on them but, to their credit, they haven’t tried to do any such
thing. They seem to be real decent folk.”

Just then Calvin spotted Rafael Te Santos
enter the deck. He was tall and thin, almost wiry, with tidy almond
hair that was kept exactly as long as regulations allowed, and not
a centimeter longer.

“
Thank you, that will be
all,” Calvin dismissed the engineer.

“
Yes, sir.”

Calvin met Rafael halfway. Once he was near
enough to whisper he told him, “follow me, we’re going aboard the
Nighthawk. I can’t say anything until then.”

“
Understood.”

The two of them approached the ship, climbed
one of the ladders mounted to the outside of the Nighthawk’s hull,
and made their way through the hatch which was wide open. They
passed a repair crew and followed the long corridor beyond the
electric lanterns that had been set up to assist the work teams.
Calvin withdrew the tiny flashlight he’d brought with him and used
it to lead Rafael to the nearest room. It was a crewman’s quarters.
Normally the door would only open for the official occupant, or a
computer override, but since most of the systems were powered down,
and the door had been left partially ajar, Calvin was able to slide
it open manually. Rafael helped him close it once they were inside.
Then they both searched the room thoroughly, making sure no one was
around to listen.

“
Satisfied?” asked Rafael.
His tone was respectful but Calvin guessed the man thought Calvin
was being overly paranoid. Perhaps so. But in this business that
wasn’t usually a bad thing.

“
Yes. I suppose I am,” said
Calvin.

“
So what is this
about?”

“
Rafael, did I ever thank
you for what you did for me?”

“
You mean hiding you from
the soldiers during the mutiny?”

“
Yes.”

“
I don’t know if you did, I
don’t remember. But it doesn’t matter; I’d happily do it
again.”

Calvin smiled. “I know I put you in an
unfair position back there, but despite that you came through for
me. Even risked your own neck. I want you to know you earned more
than my gratitude back there. You earned my trust.”

Rafael nodded. “I won’t pretend that it was
an easy decision. But I’m glad I made the right one.”

“
Which brings me to the
point of this meeting...”

Rafael raised a curious eyebrow.

“
I need someone I can trust
for an important assignment.” Calvin looked into his officer’s
eyes, searching them. An abundance of sincerity reflected back in
them.

“
As always, I’m honored to
serve.”

“
Don’t volunteer too
hastily,” said Calvin. “This is a dangerous mission.”

“
I didn’t join the service
to play it safe, sir.”

Calvin nodded. “I like that attitude. Now
tell me, Rafael, do you intend to go with the others?”

“
I beg your
pardon?”

“
Are you returning to the
empire with the others?” Calvin had chosen to allow anyone on the
Nighthawk the chance to leave and return to the empire in its good
graces. There was no point in forcing others to support his illegal
actions, even if he did believe he was doing the right
thing.

Rafael seemed affronted by
the question. “
Of course
not
. I am no coward. I will do my sworn
duty and defend the empire. Even if it takes from me my life. I
will most certainly remain with you on the Nighthawk,
sir.”

“
Are you sure I can’t change
your mind?”

“
Excuse me?”

“
I need someone to go with
the others, pretend to disown me, and then use Intel Wing resources
to feed me information. It’s extremely dangerous and there’s a high
chance that anyone who takes the assignment will be discovered and
executed.”

“
But,” said Rafael, “the
intelligence that could be recovered would be
invaluable.”

“
That’s right,” said Calvin.
“Because of the risks involved, I am not ordering you to go. But I
am asking you to consider volunteering. There is no one I trust
more for this assignment than you.”

“
I’ll do it,” said Rafael
with barely a thought.

“
Before you commit to this,
make sure you understand one thing. If you run into trouble out
there, and get found out, there is no help coming for you. You’re
on your own.”

“
I understand,” said Rafael.
“It carries risk. But that comes with the job. Staying with you on
the Nighthawk has its share of risk too. I know this needs to be
done and I’m honored that I’m the one you trust enough to do
it.”

Calvin gave Rafael a firm handshake and
looked him in the eyes. “Thank you, Rafael. You are a good
friend.”

“
It’s more out of duty to
the empire than friendship, but I’ll accept the compliment
anyway.”

“
I will give you a dossier
of information I want you to begin investigating—if possible commit
it to memory and destroy it. If you can’t do that then keep it
closely guarded. I’ll also provide you with coded, restricted
channels you can use to contact me. It would be less safe for me to
contact you, so you will have to contact me.”

“
Otherwise you’d give me
away.”

“
Exactly. I can prevent the
comms array from identifying the Nighthawk as the source of the
message, however, it would still be suspicious and someone would
probably put it together.”

“
What is the subject of the
dossier?”

“
I want you to begin an
internal investigation of Intel Wing. I want to know who can’t be
trusted and when they became unreliable. We need to dig into the
corruption and root it out. The first step is to identify the
compromised agents.”

“
Understood, though such an
investigation will take an enormous amount of time. And might not
be possible.”

“
Do what you can. You also
need to investigate any information that exists inside Intel Wing
archives regarding a group known as ‘The Phoenix Ring.”

“
Who are they?”

“
The notes I have on them,
which aren’t many, will be in the dossier. I’d also like you to
find out anything you can about Raidan’s organization.”

“
I’ll do all I
can.”

“
Thank you, Rafael. Now we’d
better hurry. The others have started gathering at the terminals
and you have a shuttle to catch.”

***

He knew their names, all of them. Knew their
faces too, and their stories. Some of them he’d handpicked to be
part of his elite crew. He wasn’t as close to some as he would’ve
liked, but all of them he’d enjoyed serving with. Which made it
hurt all the more to see them go.

“
You okay, Cal?” asked
Sarah. She stood next to him as he leaned against the wall of the
main terminal. Together they watched the embarking figures of
former crewmembers. Fellow brothers and sisters of the IWS
Nighthawk. Now leaving. Unwilling to take part in Calvin’s fugitive
actions. He understood why. They had families to worry about,
careers they couldn’t risk flushing away, and they didn’t know what
was right anymore. But it still hurt to see them go.

“
Cal
?”

Only then did he realize Sarah was talking
to him. “I’m sorry, what?”

“
Are you okay?”

“
Oh yeah, I’m fine,” he said
automatically, not even pausing to think about it. He shot Sarah a
fake smile and looked back at the departing figures. The line of
them had split into groups of four, each destined for a different
shuttle and different destination. Sixteen of them in total. So
many. They’d heard his pleas, including his most recent plea today
to stay and join in the fight against the corrosive influence that
had seated itself so deeply inside the empire. They’d also seen the
betrayal at Abia, when human ships fired on other human ships, and
had caught a glimpse of an alien battlesquadron illegally
positioned inside Human space. Yet they would not be convinced.
They’d made up their minds to wash their hands of Calvin Cross and
Raidan and everything else. And nothing he could say to them now
would convince them otherwise, so his last words had been
reflective rather than persuasive. He’d thanked them for their
service and wished them a safe journey. All of them. And hoped
secretly that they’d never forget what they’d seen in
Abia.

“
I can’t believe so many are
leaving,” said Sarah. “But that’s okay, right? We’re getting
reinforcements here aren’t we?”

“
Yes, we are,” said Calvin,
thinking at least now he had an exact number to ask for. Between
their losses at Abia and the surprisingly large number of
defectors, the new crew would outnumber the original crew. A fact
that was on everybody’s mind but no one seemed to want to talk
about.

“
Can we trust
them?”

Sarah kept her voice tender, conscious of
Calvin’s feelings. But her compassion was unnecessary, Calvin found
himself asking her very same question in his head, over and over.
Ultimately realizing that, trustworthy or not, he had no choice.
Not enough of the Nighthawk’s original crew remained to fly the
ship. Not if they ever intended to get any sleep.

“
If we are careful about who
we bring aboard then yes, we can trust them.” Calvin tried to sound
reassuring but doubted he’d convinced her. Sarah nodded and didn’t
press the issue further. But Calvin guessed he could expect less
grace from Miles who was bound to press him harder on this issue.
Calvin had personally asked Miles not to attend the sendoff, for
fear that he’d start a fight with some of the defectors.

The last to disappear up the ramp and onto
his shuttle was Rafael. He looked back once, very briefly, and then
ascended the ramp like the others. Calvin was glad to know that at
least one of the sixteen would’ve preferred to stay.

“
I know you’re depressed
that so many are leaving,” said Sarah. “But I think most of them
wanted to stay. They’re just afraid. If they really didn’t believe
in you, they would have tried to bring the Nighthawk back to Intel
Wing by force.”

“
Good point.” Although he
suspected that decision had more to do with the fact that Captain
Pellew had somehow convinced a majority of his special forces unit
to stay. Still, Calvin was grateful not to be fighting his own
shipmates again. One mutiny had been more than enough, and had
nearly been the end of him.

The horn sounded, alerting everyone to clear
the deck so it could be depressurized for shuttle launch. Calvin
looked over the four grey birds one final time, letting out a sigh.
Then he followed Sarah to the gate. Expecting to never see most of
those officers again.

“
Oh well,” he said, more to
himself than to Sarah. “I suppose all good things end eventually.
We were a good family.”

“
We still are.”

***

Back in his quarters, Calvin finished typing
a dispatch and sent it to Tristan. Now that Raidan was gone, the
Remorii was Calvin’s only contact with the Organization. He’d made
repeated requests to meet with the senior member on Gemini, but
either Tristan refused to forward those requests or else he was
being ignored.

Along with the itemized list of all the
specific supplies and personnel he hoped to requisition, he sent
another request to meet with the head of the Organization on
Gemini—this time more strongly worded. If the Org wanted him to
hunt after the Arcane Storm—like Raidan had asked—they’d better be
willing to play ball. If they ignored him, he threatened to take
the Nighthawk elsewhere and not cooperate further. Truthfully,
there was nowhere else for him to go, but it was important they not
take him for granted.

When it came to selecting replacement crew
for the Nighthawk, Raidan had already done the heavy lifting. He’d
forwarded a list of recommended people to Calvin, many of whom fit
the bill nicely. At least on paper. And, although Calvin couldn’t
trust them until he got to know them, he was eager to work with
many of them. They were experts in their fields, and by all
appearances people of integrity and professionalism—even though
some had no military experience at all. Not many of the civilian
candidates piqued his interest, most of the solid applicants were
former navy officers, but those who did were outstanding.

What unnerved him most was the need for
replacement soldiers. Raidan hadn’t forwarded any suggestions and
Calvin had mixed feelings about inviting armed strangers onto his
ship. Strangers whose loyalty was still in question. But without
taking the chance and bringing aboard more forces, he would be
severely limited in his ability to assign field deployments. Past
experience had taught him that most missions required some kind of
soldier-driven shore party. Not to mention the benefit of having
more soldiers in the event their ship was boarded. He made a note
in his request form that he needed some disciplined soldiers to
augment his short-staffed Special Forces division, but he doubted
Gemini had anyone qualified to fill the gap.