The Phoenix Rising (5 page)

On the bottom level there was a table with
three seats and a microphone. A few meters away, facing opposite,
was a raised platform that seated three senior Assembly members. He
walked along the aisle, ignorant of the heated debate currently
raging, and took his seat at the table. There he collected his
thoughts and waited. Mentally sorting through the most recent
intelligence dispatches he’d been sent.

After a few minutes, an end was called to
the debate and the pandemonium diminished. “The Assembly recognizes
Captain Lafayette Nimoux of Intelligence Wing on the witness stand
at this time,” said Representative Lekovic, the ranking Assembly
member seated opposite him. He and the other two senior officials
on his flanks, a man and a woman, stared down at Nimoux from their
elevated platform. All looked tired. Nimoux doubted any had slept
since news of the attack on Renora.

At the sound of his name, the Assembly broke
out into applause. Nimoux felt his face redden with embarrassment
and he waited uncomfortably for the praise to die down.

“
Captain,” Lekovic spoke
again, when he did all hints of clapping ceased. “I will begin by
saying that, for all of us—regardless of our affiliated Houses—it
is indeed an honor to have you with us today. The citizens of the
Empire sleep easier at night knowing there are men and women like
you out there. On behalf of everyone here, I thank you for your
service.”

Nimoux leaned into his mic. “Thank you,
sir.” He was the most decorated, most successful operative in Intel
Wing history, but the distinction made him feel more guilty than
proud. He’d just as soon not have it.

“
Captain, the issue before
us today is one of national security. You have been brought before
us as an expert witness to testify regarding the state of the
Empire in general and the Renora Crisis in particular. Do you
understand?”

“
I do.”

“
Good. Now, before we
proceed, I must ask you to rise and raise your right hand and take
the oath.”

Nimoux stood up and raised his hand. A
nearby marshal of security read him the oath.

“
Do you swear and affirm
that the testimony you are about to give before the Assembly, and
the Committee on Internal Security, is the complete and
unimpeachable truth?”

“
I do.”

“
Let the record show that
the witness answered in the affirmative,” said Lekovic. “Captain,
you are now under oath.”

“
I understand.”

“
You will have five minutes
for an opening statement or you may submit a longer statement for
inclusion in the session record. Captain Nimoux, do you have an
opening statement?”

“
No, sir,” said Nimoux.
There had been no reason to prepare one and asking him for one was
simply a formality.

“
Then we’re going to go
right into questions. I will begin,” said Lekovic. “Captain, please
describe for us what happened at Renora. We have all been briefed
but, for the sake of the record and any Assembly member still in
the dark, tell us what happened exactly.”

“
About twenty-eight hours
ago, a ship entered the Renora system that had not been scheduled.
That ship approached the main starport and interrupted traffic
around the planet. The controller ordered the ship to alter course,
but the ship refused to comply or communicate. Sentry ships
attempted to contain the vessel but it refused to respond, and
rammed one of the sentry ships—killing everyone on board. The
intruding vessel then armed its weapons and fired on both the
station and the planet. The starport and government center were
both destroyed. Casualties are estimated in the hundreds of
thousands, including nearly every government official. The ship
then left the system.”

“
Can you identify that ship
for us, Captain?”

“
Yes, sir. Before all
communications with Renora broke down, a distress call was sent. In
it, the station controller identified the ISS Black Swan as the
perpetrating vessel.”

This was not new information for the
Assembly members, they’d already been sent this intelligence, but
there was still a measure of shock that spread throughout the room.
Nimoux shared their surprise. It made no sense for Princess
Kalila’s ship to have perpetrated this tragedy.

“
The ISS Black Swan,” said
Lekovic. “That’s the personal vessel of Princess Kalila Akira. Is
that correct?”

“
Yes, sir. The princess is
not in command of the crew, that responsibility belongs to Captain
Adiger since the princess has no military qualifications. However
the captain is legally bound and sworn to obey her wishes so long
as they don’t compromise the safety of the ship.”

“
And would Captain Adiger be
bound to follow her order to attack another ship?”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
And would he be bound to
fire on an Imperial colony if given the order?”

Nimoux didn’t know the answer to that. “I
suppose he would, though an officer put in that situation would
still probably refuse and accept court martial.”

“
Therefore do you believe it
was Captain Adiger and not Princess Kalila who ordered this
attack?”

“
I can only speculate,” said
Nimoux. “The truth is, because no communication was established
with the ship, there is no way of knowing who was operating it.
Because neither Captain Adiger nor Princess Kalila had any motive
to order the attack, it is my belief that the ship was taken over
by some as-of-yet unidentified third party.”

“
Assuming the princess was
behind the attack, is there not a political motive?”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Could the generation of a
crisis on an Imperial world improve her father’s possession of the
Imperial throne?”

“
I am not comfortable
speculating along these lines, but if I had to guess—I’d say it
would have the reverse effect. It would make people question the
king’s leadership.”

“
And if the instability
became serious enough to require a succession in executive
leadership, is it possible that Kalila herself might take the
throne?”

“
I do not think so—not if
Kalila were blamed for the crisis.”

“
Is it possible that Kalila
had such a motive when she ordered the attack, and did not
anticipate being identified as the culprit? Perhaps expecting the
captain of the ship to receive the blame?”

Nimoux looked at each of the committee
members in turn once again, not really sure how this line of
questioning was useful—or how he was qualified to weigh in on it.
It was as if someone wanted to blame Kalila for the attack and use
Nimoux’s reputation as a way of validating that claim. Perhaps she
was behind the attack, but Nimoux considered the issue far from
settled. “I have no comment on the political implications,” he said
finally.

“
Very well, Captain,” said
Lekovic. If he was disappointed by Nimoux’s response he masked it
well. “Tell us, did the Black Swan operate alone, or were other
ships involved?”

“
We believe it was the sole
aggressor involved in the attack.”

“
How was it, by itself, able
to execute such destruction? Didn’t Renora have adequate defense
systems to repel an attack from one ship?”

“
Yes, it did. Its planetary
defense matrix should have been able to repel a force several times
the strength of the Black Swan.”

“
Then why didn’t the
planet’s defenses prevent the attack?”

Nimoux looked each of the three committee
members in the eyes before replying. He wondered what they believed
had happened. “I do not know,” he said at last. “We have yet to
determine why the planet’s defense systems failed. Our current
belief is that they were sabotaged in advance of the attack.”

“
Has Intel Wing produced a
list of suspects who may have performed such sabotage?”

“
To my knowledge, our agency
has not.”

“
Is it not true that such an
action would have had to have been an inside job?”

Nimoux raised an eyebrow. Again this line of
questioning seemed purposeless except to implicate Princess Kalila.
“I haven’t been sufficiently briefed on Renoran security protocols
to answer that.”

“
What can you tell us about
the targets the Black Swan chose to fire upon, were they
random?”

“
No, sir. The Black Swan
destroyed the orbital military infrastructure—most likely to
protect itself—and fired on the planet. The damage to the surface
was not widespread, however, and appears to have been a neatly
contained, surgical strike targeting the Renoran seat of
government.

“
The result of which has
been?”

“
Since communication with
the planet was restored, we’ve learned that there is a growing
amount of chaos. Uprisings are popping up and both violence and
looting are widespread. Local authorities are disbanding or being
overthrown—and those still intact report that the situation is
escalating.”

“
It is likely, Captain
Nimoux, that this body will soon vote on whether or not to
recommend the deployment of troops to maintain order on Renora. As
a matter of principle most people here are against it. In your
professional opinion, would strong action along those lines restore
order more quickly, or would that only fan the flames?”

This was probably the most serious question
he had ever been asked, so he took a moment to consider it. He knew
that he was held in high regard and so what he next said could
conceivably sway some of the Assembly into recommending a course of
action which, if heeded by the king, would greatly affect the
violent situation on Renora.

“
I do not know enough about
the planet or situation to recommend either way,” he said. The
stakes were too severe to simply hazard a guess, and neither
solution seemed like a right answer.

“
Very well, I have no other
questions.”

Nimoux nodded, expecting to be done.

“
There is another matter
before us I’d like you to weigh in on, Captain,” said
Representative O’Neil, the only female member of the committee. She
was portly and big-faced with hair that she kept short and tidy.
She was not a pretty woman, but her countenance was one of
confidence and intelligence.

He looked at her expectantly and she cleared
her throat before speaking.

“
Captain, of growing concern
in these intelligence reports is the rising number of ships that
have gone missing. These are not random explorers on two-person
skiffs skirting into unchartered deep space, these are military
warships last seen inside Imperial space. One of them, the
Andromeda, is a flagship carrying an admiral. Nothing has been
heard from anyone on that ship for several days now. And yet no
search and rescue operations have been launched. Please explain why
not—and why these disappearances are happening.”

“
I do not know the answer.
The last known position of most of these ships has been searched,
to my knowledge, but if any of these ships were destroyed during an
alteredspace jump, or if they were captured, or if they defected...
we would have no idea where to even begin looking. It’s a massive
galaxy out there so our searches have been limited. We’ve also
avoided conducting public searches because we don’t want to spread
alarm. I didn’t make the call—I’m just following orders.” He agreed
that the increasing number of missing high-profile ships was of
great alarm—and probably constituted a nationwide emergency. But
Intel Wing had decided to keep this intelligence under wraps and
only recently sent a report to the Assembly about it.

“
Tell us, Captain, is it
true that your agency is conducting operations—that have been
unsuccessful—to recapture a stolen dreadnought which has been
implicated in several attacks on allied shipping
vessels?”

“
Intel Wing is cooperating
with the Fleet in a joint operation to recapture the ISS Harbinger
which is still at large, yes.” He had been briefed on the Harbinger
situation but wasn’t aware of the exact details since that
assignment, until recently, had belonged to Lt. Commander Cross.
Now it was up in the air who was continuing that
mission.

“
And your reports indicate
that the Harbinger was spotted at Renora not long after the
attack?”

“
Yes. Reports from the
planet state that about fifteen minutes after the Black Swan left
the system the Harbinger arrived. It kept its distance and did not
approach the planet. After staying for about ten minutes, it jumped
away.”

“
Is it your opinion that the
people on the Harbinger are cooperating with those on the Black
Swan?”

“
I believe the events are
connected. But I doubt they are cooperating. The Harbinger arrived
too late to contribute to the attack—and the ship didn’t do
anything noteworthy. It stuck around long enough to complete a scan
and then departed.” Nimoux believed that the Harbinger may have
made its appearance for the sole purpose of being identified at the
scene, but he couldn’t guess why yet and didn’t see a point in
bringing it up here.

“
One final question for you,
Captain,” said O’Neil, her eyes locked with his. “Your reports
indicate that one of your own—a Lt. Commander Cross, who had been
assigned to track the Harbinger, has become unreliable and
disappeared. What kind of a threat does this present to the Empire
and what is being done about it?”