The Phoenix Rising (41 page)

“
I can handle myself,
werewolf,” said Alex. “Don’t worry about me.”

“
For your sake, Rotham,
you’d better be right.” Tristan flashed his teeth for a moment.
“This way,” he led them on. Through a maze-like path of corridors
that wound their way through what was once a lab. As they moved
deeper into the complex, it became clear that it had partial power.
Some of the computer consoles, automatic doors, and mechanized
elevators hummed with life and some of the lights were on. Calvin
guessed these systems were restored recently.

“
This is as far as we go,”
announced Tristan. “The meeting is through the door down the hall
and around the corner. It’s up to you now,” he clapped Alex on the
back. The Rotham staggered from the force, nearly losing his
balance.

“
I know,” said Alex. He
handed his rifle and tactical gear over to Pellew—including his IR
goggles—because the instructions had insisted the Rotham
representative arrive at the meeting place unarmed. Alex then
switched the listening device back on—taking a moment to make sure
it was properly concealed. “Mic check.”

Alex’s voice came through Calvin’s earpiece,
as well as everyone else’s. “It’s working,” Calvin confirmed.

“
Time?” asked
Alex.

“
1451,” said
Pellew.

“
About forty minutes before
the scheduled meeting, hopefully that’s not a problem,” said
Alex.

“
We don’t have a choice,”
said Calvin. “That Rotham fleet could arrive any time.”

“
Understood,” said Alex.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, my public awaits.” He pushed his way
through the group and headed around the corner.

“
Godspeed,” said Calvin
under his breath.

Pellew gave the Polarian soldiers
instructions and everyone made sure that, should Alex give them the
signal, they would be ready to storm the next room. Hopefully they
wouldn’t be charging straight into the teeth of an overwhelming
force. Calvin checked his weapon, making sure it was chambered and
ready to fire, then he pressed a finger against his earpiece. And
listened.

The microphone was so sensitive they could
hear Alex’s footsteps. Eventually there was a muffled voice—it
sounded like it was coming over a low-bit speaker—and then the
sound of a door sliding open.

Calvin tried to imagine the scene but all he
knew, from the map they’d downloaded, was that it was a
medium-sized square room with two doors and windows along one wall
only. What was waiting for Alex inside that room was anyone’s
guess.

“
Who are you?” a voice
asked.

“
Envoy Riy’terim,” said
Alex, borrowing the identity of a low-level Rotham official he knew
of. “I’m here to finalize negotiations.”

“
You’re early,” the voice
said.

“
We make it a policy to be
early. That keeps the other party on its toes. Now, tell me where
my isotome weapons are,” said Alex, smoothly changing the subject.
“I don’t see them here.”

“
They aren’t yours yet...”
said the voice.

“
I am authorized to pay you
more than the agreed amount.”

“
How much?” the voice asked,
sounding skeptical.

“
Fifteen percent more. But
only if I can inspect the weapons,” said Alex. Calvin was impressed
as he listened; Alex was very graceful under pressure. He’d
certainly done this kind of work before.

“
How much money does that
amount to exactly?” the voice asked carefully. Of course Calvin and
his crew had no intelligence on what the specific amount was. They
didn’t even have a guess at the order of magnitude, or even unit of
payment. Which left Alex completely in the dark. He could make a
guess, but odds were he’d be wrong and they’d see through his cover
immediately.

“
Wait a minute,” said Alex,
no doubt trying to think of some way to dodge the trap before him.
“You’re stalling, aren’t you? You didn’t expect me to come early.
And now here you are, with no isotome weapons, trying to delay me.
You don’t have them here, do you? When the fleet hears about this
they’ll—”

“
I assure you the weapons
are here. You see out the window there?”

“
I see a lot of rain and
fog,” said Alex.

“
Across the courtyard there
is a silo. Half the weapons are there.”

“
And the other
half?”

“
Still aboard the ship that
delivered them.”

Damn!
They’d come all this way and it wasn’t the end of their hunt.
They still had to capture the Arcane Storm.

“
That wasn’t the deal,” said
Alex, his voice reflecting some outrage. “You were to turn all the
weapons over to us!”

“
The deal has changed,” the
voice said, textured by a hint of smugness. “The other half will be
delivered to you at a later date. Pending how things go
today.”

“
I see,” said Alex. “You
want payment before delivering all the weapons to us?”

“
Payment plus fifteen
percent,” said the voice. “As you so generously
offered.”

“
And the weapons that
are
here on the surface.
You say they’re in a silo out there. And I’m supposed to just take
your word?” asked Alex.

“
Come look at this. There
are cameras in the silo that broadcast to this terminal. As you can
see, these images are in real time. And show that the missiles have
been manufactured according to specifications and are ready for
use.”

“
Yes, I see that,” said
Alex. Calvin knew that statement was more for the benefit of his
team than it was for the Enclave’s agent he was talking to. It was
confirmation that the weapons were there as described.

“
Good. Now, do you see
this?”

“
What is that you’re
holding?”

“
Insurance,” said the voice
ominously. “Now, you’ll have to answer a few questions for me
before we can discuss terms.”

Calvin felt his stomach twist into a knot—it
sounded like the contact was going to try to make Alex prove his
identity. If so then things could get ugly fast. He signaled for
the others to get ready to move in. He would save Alex if he could,
but no matter what, they had to get to that silo and destroy those
weapons.

***

“
Sir, the squadron reports
that containment position has been achieved,” said the
pilot.

“
I confirm that all ships
are in position,” said the ops officer. “No ship leaving the
minefield or the planet will be able to jump away.”

“
Is it possible that the
Nighthawk jumped before our ships were in position?” asked
Nimoux.

“
No, sir. There is no new
alteredspace signature. My scans can’t conclusively find it, but
the Nighthawk is most definitely still out there.”

“
And not going anywhere
anytime soon, I take it,” said Nimoux.

“
Yes, sir,” confirmed the
ops officer.

“
Good. Continue sweeping the
mines.”

“
Aye, sir.”

“
Pilot, broadcast the
following message into the minefield on all channels.”

“
Broadcasting.”

“
Attention, Calvin Cross of
the Nighthawk. You are currently surrounded and unable to leave the
system. We are sweeping the minefield and
will
find you eventually. When we do,
we will use every means available to disable or destroy your ship.
Surrender now and you will not be fired upon. Refuse, and risk
destruction. Think of your crew. Their lives are in your hands.
This is my final warning.”

***

The mood on the Nighthawk’s bridge was grim
and anxious as they heard Captain Nimoux’s warning repeat
itself.

“
Shut that off,” said
Summers.

“
What are we going to do,
Commander?” asked Patrick.

“
Ignore him,” she said.
“It’s probably an empty threat.” She doubted the Desert Eagle would
destroy the Nighthawk without first making some kind of effort to
capture it.

“
I confirm that their ships
are deployed in a pattern that would prevent us from escaping,”
said Cassidy. She used the ops console to project the opposing
squadron on the 3d display.

“
We should surrender,” said
Patrick. “And save the ship.”

“
No
,” said Summers. “Midshipman O’Conner, you make sure our
stealth system keeps stable. Midshipman Dupont, keep an eye on any
ships that are sweeping the minefield. Feed their coordinates to
the helm.”

“
Aye, Commander,” said
Cassidy.

“
Lieutenant Winters,
continue covert maneuvers. Keep this ship inside the safety of the
mine’s cloaking field, and as far away from the sweeping ships as
possible.”

“
Will do,” said Sarah,
biting her lip in concentration.

Summers spun the command chair back to face
forward and began massaging her temples. She couldn’t delay Nimoux
forever. Calvin needed to return quickly. If he didn’t... she’d
have to leave him behind.

“
Every minute we’re putting
the ship in greater danger,” said Patrick.

“
I understand that,
midshipman
,” Summers
snapped at him. “There is something more important going on
here.”

Patrick’s face turned red
and he looked either irritated or embarrassed.
Serves him right
.

Summers stood up and walked over to the
helm. Even if Calvin did return, there was still a squadron of
ships holding them prisoner. “Lieutenant Winters, what is our best
chance of escape if we try to run the Imperial blockade?”

“
We’d have to find the
biggest gap between the ships and shoot through the middle,” said
Sarah.

“
All the gaps are uniform,”
said Cassidy. “The ships are evenly spread apart. I recommend we
identify the ships with the weakest firepower and try to maneuver
between them. Maybe we can get through before being disabled… or
destroyed.”

Summers looked at Sarah, wanting her
thoughts.

“
It’s as good a plan as any,
I suppose,” said Sarah. “But I wouldn’t bet on it
working.”

“
It may be our only shot,”
said Summers. “Perhaps when the Rotham fleet arrives—if the Desert
Eagle hasn’t found us yet—that will create enough confusion for us
to escape.”

Sarah shrugged. “We can hope so, sir.”

“
Midshipman Dupont, pull up
everything you can on those ships. Winters and O’Conner, do a
tactical analysis of the squadron. I’ll contribute what I know
about the Phoenix.” She was still surprised to see it in the
squadron and its ghostly image on the 3d display gave her a flurry
of mixed emotions—mostly negative.

“
The Desert Eagle is
effectively identical to this ship,” said Cassidy. “I’ll pull up
what I can on the others. The military ships should be in the
database but the other IWS ship, the Rhea, may be
classified.”

“
This is a waste of time,”
said Patrick. “We should just surrender.”

“
One more remark like that
and you’re relieved,” said Summers, glaring at him. Being a former
defense officer herself, she didn’t really need his expertise. She
just needed him to monitor his post and let her know immediately if
there was a problem with their stealth system or
defenses.

“
The Rhea has next to
nothing available on it, but I think it’s a safe bet that it’s one
of the slower ships,” said Cassidy. “Based on its design and the
position of its engines.”

“
The Phoenix is probably the
slowest in the whole squadron,” said Summers. Not that the Phoenix
was truly slow by any standard. “That will be the easiest ship to
outmaneuver.”

“
I can confirm that,” said
Cassidy. “With the possible exception of the Rhea. The downside to
the Phoenix is that it’s heavily armed.”

“
So if we decide to do a
flyby near the Phoenix, it’s all or nothing,” said
Sarah.

“
What about the ships next
to the Phoenix?” asked Summers, pointing to one of the smaller ones
on the display. “If one of them is poorly armed, our best chance
might be to go between that ship and the Phoenix. Taking heat from
the smaller ship—but hopefully not enough to be overpowered—while
outmaneuvering the Phoenix. Jumping before it can bring its weapons
to bear.”

“
It’s possible,” Cassidy
nodded. “The ISS Spirit is positioned adjacent to the Phoenix and
it does have the fewest armaments of all the ships here. It’s
conceivable that we could survive a beating from the Spirit,
outmaneuver the Phoenix, and outrun the rest of the squadron before
they converge on us and get into firing range, allowing us to
execute a jump before being destroyed.”

“
That may be our
best—”

“
Sir!” said Sarah,
interrupting Summers. “We’re visible!”

“
What?” asked Summers,
feeling a rush of panic.

“
I confirm,” said Cassidy.
“The stealth system has been disengaged.”

All eyes turned to Patrick who spun his
chair to face them, arms folded. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t
want to resort to this but you refused to be reasonable.”