The Phoenix Crisis (2 page)

“
Use any local resources we
can and try to secure them, in the meantime I will talk to White
Rook about the option of securing and removing them by force, for
their own good.”

“
They won’t like
that.”

“
True,” said Raidan,
pressing his hands together. “But disgruntled assets are still more
useful than dead ones.”

“
What I’d like to know is
how our people are being made. Somehow information is leaking out
of the Org and into Phoenix Ring ears,” said Mira. “I can’t help
but wonder if it’s my fault—perhaps I should have destroyed
all
of the shuttles.
Instead of sparing one.”

Raidan frowned. He understood what she was
implying but he doubted her conclusion was correct. “You spared
that one shuttle under my recommendation. You yourself showed me
the surveillance footage that clearly indicated that Calvin had a
secret meeting with Rafael Te Santos on board the Nighthawk when
the Nighthawk was in Gemini. I am sure Calvin gave Te Santos an
important assignment, if his shuttle had shared the fate of the
others… that assignment would never have been completed.”

“
Frankly, sir, I don’t trust
Cross. And I think you should be more cautious in your trust of him
as well. For all we know he instructed Rafael to leak the extent of
his investigation to the Intel Wing resources, perhaps to the
Phoenix Ring itself.”

“
Now that’s just being
paranoid.”

“
Maybe. Maybe not. In any
case, there were three other surviving Nighthawk deserters on that
shuttle besides Rafael Te Santos, and any one of them could be
leaking the Nighthawk’s findings to the Phoenix Ring. Knowingly or
not.”

Raidan supposed that was true. And perhaps
Mira had a point. It would have been a tidier sweep if he’d allowed
her to destroy all of the shuttles. But he couldn’t get past the
nagging intuition that Calvin had been up to something, and killing
Te Santos would have thrown a wrench into it. “For what it’s worth,
Mira, I hope you’re right. If the information leak is coming from
one of the Nighthawk’s former crew then that well will dry up soon.
Calvin’s investigation into the Organization had to have been both
short and limited. Anyone who took that lucky shuttle to Capital
World won’t know much.”

“
With respect, if I’m right,
we could have prevented the loss of Yanal and several
others.”

Raidan was through debating the issue.
Perhaps Mira was right, perhaps not. There was no way to know for
sure. All Raidan knew was that Calvin had seemed to trust Rafael
and that meant Raidan didn’t want to obstruct him. Hopefully his
trust in Calvin wasn’t misplaced. There were very important things
left for Calvin to do, beginning with the chat they would have once
the Nighthawk and Harbinger met for the scheduled rendezvous. Time
was running out and important decisions had to be made. Until then
Raidan had work to do and discussing the sunken past with Mira
wasn’t worthy of his time. “I understand your dissent, Mira, now go
follow my orders. Secure our remaining assets on Capital World as
best you can.”

“
Understood,
sir.”

Raidan cut the line. He then took out his
stationary and began penning a note to White Rook—the only way he
could communicate with her:

“
In light of recent events I
formally request that permission be granted to forcibly remove our
remaining assets on Capital World and impose maximum security
measures until the situation is better understood. I believe that
Yanal’s death, and the others before him, are just the beginning.
A. R.”

Chapter 2

Calvin’s wrist throbbed and there were sharp
moments of pain if he moved his hand at an angle or tried to lift
anything heavy but Rain had assured him it was only a sprain. Of
the away party that had landed on Remus, he’d been one of the
luckiest survivors, no broken bones and only superficial cuts,
bruises, and scratches. No lasting injuries. He was grateful for
that but felt a sickness in his stomach when he thought of the
others and how they’d faired, especially Shen who remained
unconscious and confined in the infirmary under constant watch and
guard. Calvin doubted he’d ever see his friend conscious again,
despite Rain’s stubborn belief that Shen could be saved. Calvin had
seen Remorii toxins firsthand and if there was any one truth about
them, it was that they were unstoppably lethal.

The door opened and Calvin glanced up to see
Summers enter the CO’s office. He waved her in and the door slid
shut behind her. They were alone.

“
Good, I was hoping you’d
get here soon,” he said, leaning back in his chair. He’d originally
instructed her to come to his office right away but on second
thought decided to allow her to finish her current duties
first—mostly so he’d have enough time to organize his thoughts. He
still wasn’t entirely sure how he should broach the subject at
hand.

“
I got here as soon as I
could,” she said, giving him a curious look. He hadn’t told her
what this meeting was about—just that it was important and she
should come see him as soon as her duties permitted. “Figuring out
how all the shifts will be covered while loaning a good portion of
our crew to the Arcane Storm has proven to be a difficult
challenge.”

The mysterious ship they’d found abandoned
in dead space had been taken in tow. A handful of people had
already boarded, just enough to fly the vessel. But Calvin had
assigned Summers to select an adequate crew to leave the Nighthawk
temporarily and help manage all of the Arcane Storm’s many systems.
The inevitable result was that both the Nighthawk and the Arcane
Storm would be understaffed.

“
I’m giving command of the
Arcane Storm to Second Lieutenant Vargas while it is under our
control,” said Calvin. Vargas had become the de facto second
officer since Vincent Rose’s death, even though Calvin had never
officially assigned him to fill the position.

“
Yes, I am aware,” said
Summers. “And I approve. Vargas has been in command of Red Shift
since Abia and all of Red Shift are among the officers I’ve
assigned to transfer to the Arcane Storm. Was that what you wanted
to see me about?”

Calvin tapped his fingers
and looked away for a moment. He had mixed feelings about what he
was about to say. But, considering how the situation had developed,
and that he had a critical decision to make, and no more time to
make it—and that he needed to trust
somebody—
and Summers had really proven
herself in the Remus action, he decided it was worth it. Even
though it meant going against his word.

“
Sir?” she asked, her eyes
probing him. He realized he’d been unresponsive a bit too
long.

He swallowed and accepted that what he was
about to do was the right thing. “Summers… I’m not allowed to tell
you what I’m about to tell you…”

She perked up.

“
I gave my word that I would
not share this information.”

She said nothing to interrupt him but he
could see the hunger in her eyes, signaling him to keep
talking.

“
But the situation has come
to a head and I have to make an important decision. I don’t want to
make that decision without having someone else check my logic. I
don’t want to make this decision alone, and on this ship… there’s
no one here whose insight I value more.” His eyes met hers and he
could see how pleased and pleasantly surprised she was behind her
cold exterior. She fought a smile.

“
Thank you, sir.”

“
Now to get right to it,”
said Calvin, “do you remember when we were pursuing Raidan and I
ordered the ship off mission to—”

“
Tau System, yes I
remember.”

“
Well prior to going there I
was sent a message from Kalila Akira.”

“
The princess?”

“
Yes. She asked me to go
there and meet with her, and so that’s what I did.”

Summers’ eyes widened. She almost seemed
skeptical. Such a claim probably sounded absurd—a member of the
royal family asking a random mid-level military officer to meet her
in secret, not the most common of occurrences certainly. But Calvin
could tell that, despite Summers’ instinctive skepticism, she
believed him. After all, he had no motive to make up such a
ridiculous story.

“
What did she want?” prodded
Summers gently.

“
She was very interested in
our pursuit of Raidan. She wanted me to follow Raidan and collect
intelligence on his organization and to not interfere with his
actions.”

“
A direct violation of your
orders from Intel Wing and the Fleet.”

“
Exactly,” said Calvin. “And
there’s more. She kept her presence on Tau Station secret from the
station’s personnel. She was in disguise—almost looked like she was
in hiding—and she told me specifically to keep quiet about the fact
that we met.”

“
And have you met
since?”

“
No,” said Calvin. “I’ve
barely heard a word from her. But now she wants to meet with me
again, and she claims it’s urgent. She asked me to divert the ship
to rendezvous with her as soon as possible.”

“
I see,” said Summers, “and
did she give any details as to what this is about?”

“
Only that it’s urgent and
the window of opportunity is closing,” said Calvin.

Summers folded her arms. “So what’s the
problem?”

“
Raidan asked me to
rendezvous with him. And, like Kalila, he claims that it’s urgent I
meet with him, that he has something critical to tell me that he
won’t trust to kataspace.”

“
And I take it you can’t do
both?”

“
Raidan wants to meet at
Lyra Minor and Kalila gave me a set of coordinates that lead the
other way, the timeframe I have is now about twenty-two hours for
each of them. It was never possible to meet with them
both.”

“
At least, not possible
for
you
to.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
I mean you could send
someone on your behalf to meet with one and then you could meet
with the other. The Arcane Storm could go to Raidan and the
Nighthawk could go to Kalila.”

“
That’s one option,” said
Calvin. In truth he hadn’t decided whether or not it would be wise
to let the Arcane Storm out of his sight. He’d promised to deliver
it to Raidan, but a part of him had hoped to be there when the ship
was torn apart from bow to stern to uncover all of its many
mysteries. Another complication that Summers seemed to be
downplaying was that, given his past conversations with Kalila and
Raidan, Calvin doubted either would accept him sending one of his
inferiors to meet on his behalf. “I’d have to go to Kalila, she’s
under the impression that I haven’t told anyone about our meeting.
And, until a few seconds ago, I hadn’t.”

“
I could go to Raidan,” a
fire showed in her eyes when she said the name. Clearly she still
had strong feelings for him—mostly negative. “Vargas can remain
here and I can take command of the Arcane Storm. Whatever Raidan
has to say to you he can say to me.”

Calvin saw some logic in that plan, but he
didn’t want Raidan and Summers’ history to become an issue. Calvin
also didn’t want Summers to leave the Nighthawk. It was a strange
feeling—more gut intuition than anything else—but he knew he’d be
more comfortable if Summers remained. “Actually I think I’ll
continue with the crew assignments as they’ve been given. Vargas
will go aboard the Arcane Storm and meet with Raidan; you’ll remain
here on the Nighthawk.”

Summers looked hurt. She masked it well but
Calvin was starting to get to know her. The last thing he needed
was for her to again doubt that Calvin trusted her. “And, the
minute I’ve finished my meeting with Kalila I’d like to have you
around to discuss the new information.”

Summers nodded, accepting this
reasoning.

“
Just… tell me one thing,”
said Calvin. “Am I making the right choice? Choosing Kalila over
Raidan?”

“
Raidan cannot be trusted,”
said Summers with a flat simplicity to her voice as if her
statement was one of the axioms that defined the
universe.

“
But can Kalila?” asked
Calvin. He wanted to trust the princess, she was remarkable, and
had this… profound effect on him. Her words stirred him and every
moment in her presence was more pleasant than he would like to
admit. She affected his objectivity, and he knew it. He didn’t want
his feelings for Kalila—as weak or strong as they were—to impair
his judgment. “After all, she is the Empire’s most wanted
fugitive.”

“
When her ship attacked
Renora,” said Summers, “someone gave the order to fire, but it
might not have been Kalila. Whether it was her or not, I’m sure she
has a valuable perspective on the situation. Meeting with her might
be an opportunity to get information you can’t get from anyone
else, not even Raidan.”

That was true, Calvin supposed. Despite
everything Raidan seemed to know, he probably had no more
information on Kalila than Calvin did. “It is a golden opportunity.
It might also be a trap. If Kalila’s ship was taken by a hostile
force, and that force wanted to eliminate us, she could have sent
her message to me under duress, to lure the Nighthawk to its
death.”

“
We have the stealth
system.”