The Phoenix Rising (6 page)

“
Mister Cross’s possible
defection to a foreign power, along with his ship and crew, does
represent a serious danger to the empire. A great deal of
information is archived on the Nighthawk that could be deadly in
the wrong hands. Additionally, highly trained Intel Wing agents and
an advanced stealth ship are assets of great potential strategic
use for any other political power: the Rotham, the Polarians, the
Alliance… honestly, it’s anyone’s guess who might be involved.
However, I can assure this Committee that no expense will be spared
to recapture the ship. Intel Wing understands that Mister Cross and
the missing Nighthawk are an immediate threat and must be dealt
with swiftly.”

“
Thank you, Captain. No
further questions.”

Nimoux left the Assembly Hall and a car took
him to his hotel. He had to remain another day in case the Assembly
wanted to bring him back to the floor for more questioning. He
rested his mind as best he could in the idle quiet, and spent much
of his time lifting weights in the rec room and swimming in the
pool. The exercise was part of a structured regimen and helped
clear his head. He needed to be refreshed and ready for his next
assignment, which he suspected would involve one or more of the
missing ships. The Andromeda, the Nighthawk, the Black Swan, the
Harbinger... it didn’t really matter which. They were all threaded
together somehow. And it was high time Intel Wing pulled him into
the investigation.

He got his orders the next day.

Chapter 5

“
You’re not an easy person
to get a hold of,” said Calvin.

He stood in room C-3 of the Gemini
conglomerate, on the hundred and fifteenth deck. It was simple,
almost barren, with only a table, four chairs, and a small window.
A woman was there, gazing out the window into the black abyss. He
could see her profile, she looked about thirty years old but he
wouldn’t bet heavily on it. He considered himself rather skilled at
guessing people’s ages—but had learned through childhood experience
not to vocalize his best guesses.

“
If I were easy to
‘
get a hold of
,’ I
wouldn’t be very good at my job.” She turned and faced him at last;
instantly he saw the resemblance.

“
So you are the mysterious
Calvin Cross,” she said, looking him over with scrutiny. She folded
her arms, displeased.

“
And you’re Jason Pellew’s
sister, aren’t you?” The likeness between her and the top special
forces officer on the Nighthawk was uncanny. And Calvin remembered
Raidan telling him that Pellew had been an easy asset to recruit
into his Organization because his sister was already a member.
Small galaxy...

“
Very astute, Calvin Cross.
Yes, I am Mira Pellew.”

It was the face mostly, he decided. She and
her brother had the same chestnut hair and striking amber eyes. She
was pretty, but not breathtaking like her brother, and shared many
of his harsher features. She was broad-shouldered, tall—even a
smidge taller than Calvin—and had a square jaw. These masculine
attributes detracted somewhat from her sexual appeal but made her
appear powerful and dangerous. From her body language alone, Calvin
guessed that Mira had the overall command of the Organization’s
resources on Gemini—and gripped them with an iron fist.

Fortunately Calvin was not easily
intimidated. “I’ve been trying to arrange this meeting ever since I
arrived. Why did it take this long?”

“
Tell me, Mister Cross, how
long have you known Asari Raidan?” she asked, deflecting his
question.

He was annoyed but decided not to press the
issue. “Not long.”

“
And what is the extent of
your relationship with him?”

Calvin had arranged this
meeting so he could get answers, not give them. But he didn’t want
to test her patience by noncompliance—in case she refused to
resupply the Nighthawk—and he decided that the type of questions
she asked him was still useful information to have; they revealed
what she didn’t know and implied what she was most interested in.
“I was the investigating officer when Raidan stole the Harbinger. I
uncovered some things while chasing him that proved the Empire has
been corrupted at its highest levels. I threw away my career by
allowing him to go free, and he saved my ship and crew from certain
death in Abia. So, I’d say our relationship has been...
symbiotic
. At least so
far.”

“
I see.”

Calvin couldn’t get a good read on her. She
masked her emotions well and didn’t give him any clues as to her
thoughts. There wasn’t much to glean from those lucid amber eyes.
He decided to change the subject. “As you know, I’m currently
understaffed.”

“
Yes I know. And it’s a
problem that you yourself entirely manufactured,” she
said.

“
What
?” The accusation took him by surprise and he was offended by
its implications. “I know a CO is responsible for every life under
his command, but I didn’t choose for those men and women to die.”
The images of violence and death on the Rotham ship in Abia were
still fresh in his memory.

“
Of course you did. But I’m
not talking about your dead. I’m talking about the ones you allowed
to defect. Sixteen men and women, and you just... let them
go?”

“
Yes,” he said somewhat
defensively. “It’s not like they were my prisoners.”

“
The way I see it, you
created two problems for yourself. You just released sixteen
brains’ worth of information back into the jaws of the beast—people
who can and
will
tell Intel Wing everything they know—including that you came
here. And secondly, you let go of trained and expert crew when you
were already understaffed from casualties sustained in your most
recent action.”

“
They’re useless as crew if
they don’t want to be there. And as for letting them go, I don’t
think most of them know anything that’s truly dangerous to me or my
cause. And, even if they did, would it really be worth holding them
captive, or worse—killing them, to protect myself?”

“
You tell me. A lot rides on
what we are doing. And any choice you make, such as that one, puts
other people at risk, not just yourself. This whole station might
be torn apart by Imperial operatives. Gemini citizens might be
secretly abducted and interrogated in secret Intel Wing torture
prisons. Even worse, you enabled the other side to potentially get
that much more information about
us
. About our efforts. That small
difference might be all it takes to keep us from saving the
Empire.”

“
I doubt it,” said Calvin.
He wasn’t about to be blamed for failing to save the Empire in the
future because he didn’t detain or kill his defecting
officers.

“
I’m not going to debate the
issue with you, Mister Cross. The fact is you made your choice, no
matter how foolish it was. And, despite that, Raidan still trusts
you for some reason. At least for now… Which is why I am allowing
you and your people to leave Gemini alive. Just make sure you
understand that your choices have deep consequences. Even to people
not on your ship.”

“
A fact I’ve never
forgotten.”

“
Good,” she said, not
masking her overall disapproval of him. “See that you
don’t.”

“
I won’t.” Despite how much
he disliked her tone, and hated having strangers question his
command decisions, the whole exchange had been useful. At least now
he could be sure that she worked for Raidan, and not the other way
around. An arrangement he’d assumed to be true, but hadn’t
confirmed until now.

“
And what about my request
for supplies and replacement staff?”

“
The supplies have all been
approved and will be moved onto your ship later today. As for the
candidates you requested to join your crew, none have changed their
minds and all are preparing to report to your XO at 0700
tomorrow.”

“
Thank you.”

“
After that, you are
expected to depart immediately and hunt down the Arcane Storm. I’m
sure that Raidan’s continued trust hinges on your success.
Therefore I wouldn’t dawdle here any longer than
necessary.”

“
About that... why is that
ship so important? And why has the Organization not gone after it
until now?” He’d read some limited intelligence reports on it and
found most of them to be useless. The only interesting detail: the
Arcane Storm was suspected of transporting isotome, an unstable
compound that Calvin had positively identified in the rubble of a
Rotham ship—which potentially linked the Arcane Storm’s
disappearance to the Rotham Republic.

“
We have gone after it—don’t
think we haven’t. But the ship vanished off our radar and the few
leads we have—leads Tristan will fill you in on—are not the kind
just anyone can follow. Your ship is designed for this kind of
mission, your stealth and sensor technology far outstrips anything
we possess—and you have Tristan on board. All of these will be
necessary to find the Arcane Storm. Or so Raidan
believes.”

“
You didn’t tell me why the
ship is so important to you. Why does it matter if I find the ship
tomorrow or a year from now?”

“
The ship belonged to us and
has since disappeared—probably captured or it defected. Our guess
is that it is now possessed by the Phoenix Ring. And... recently
there have been certain rumors that it is carrying something
extremely deadly. But those are unconfirmed speculation. Find the
ship and put the matter to rest.”

“
Deadly—like what?” Its only
suspected cargo—at least that he’d been made aware of—was the
isotome, which had no practical use.

Mira’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t know.
Hopefully nothing. But then again... perhaps it’s a weapon that
could devastate a planet. The sooner the ship is found and
recaptured, the better.”

“
If I am going to even begin
thinking about capturing a ship potentially occupied by a hostile
force,” said Calvin, “I will need more soldiers.” He’d been
debating whether or not he wanted to bring new soldiers onto the
ship—the suspicious part of his mind thought that might be an
invitation for the Organization to take physical control of the
Nighthawk—but with only one detachment’s worth of troops remaining
behind there were severe limits on the kind of missions he could
carry out. “My handful of soldiers—while elite—are not enough to
manage that kind of operation. Not unless the Arcane Storm is a
tiny ship with a crew of only twenty people.”

“
The Arcane Storm is
normally staffed by a crew of thirty. We will augment your special
forces garrison with enough new soldiers to make a capture
operation possible. I have selected a detachment of highly trained,
fiercely loyal troops to meet your needs.”

“
And have they agreed to
come along?”

“
Rez’nac has,
yes.”

Upon hearing the name, Calvin felt a wave of
anxiety. That was not a human name. “And the others, have they
agreed too...?”

“
The consent of the others
is not required. They are sworn to Rez’nac and will follow him
anywhere, until they are released or killed.”

That confirmed his
suspicion. “You want me to take
Polarian
soldiers aboard the
Nighthawk?”

Her lips curled into the tiniest smile. “Why
not? Do you have a problem with Polarians?”

“
No,” he said immediately.
He wasn’t racist. He didn’t think the Polarians were inferior, or
superior, to humans. But... he still wasn’t comfortable with the
suggestion. Aliens had less of a stake in rescuing the
Empire.

“
Then what’s the
problem?”

“
I just...”

“
You just what?”

It was hard for him to frame his discomfort
into words.

“
Mister Cross, these men are
loyal to the Organization. They are beyond competent in their
skills. And they are healthy. I don’t see a problem.”

“
But can we trust them?” he
said at last. He remembered seeing a Polarian ship with the
squadron of Rotham warships that had been illegally camped inside
Imperial space. He also didn’t forget how surprised, and concerned,
Raidan had been to learn about it. It meant that some Polarians, at
least, were likely cooperating with the enemy.

“
In my opinion, you can’t
really trust anyone,” said Mira. “Not completely. But I’ll remind
you that you’re on a Polarian station, in Polarian space, and
you’ve trusted Polarians to repair your ship and resupply you.
You’ve eaten Polarian food and drank Polarian water. And put your
entire crew in the hands of the Polarians of Gemini. And from all
of this, have you been given any reason to distrust
them?”

“
No,” he admitted. “It’s
just... the fact that they aren’t Imperial citizens means... I
don’t understand what their stake is in this. Why would they care
about the Empire and what happens to it?”

He knew that, despite his other reasons,
some of his discomfort was due to cultural differences—the
Polarians were a spiritual, mysterious, and private people. He
didn’t understand them. “The Polarians that are working alongside
or for the Organization are completely trustworthy. They are afraid
of a war with the Empire if certain factions have their way. If the
Empire destabilizes that will change the balance of power, and
certainly lead to another galactic conflict like the Great War
which, as you recall, did not go well for the Polarians. For those
reasons, there are many Polarians, particularly from systems close
to the Empire, who are willing to put everything on the line to
prevent such a bloodbath from occurring again. And make no mistake,
this time it would be a thousand times worse.”