The Phoenix Crisis (24 page)

“
We’re no rebels!” a voice
shouted. Others joined it. Some of them screaming at the top of
their lungs. A woman shrieked and babes in arms began to
cry.

“
Continue to rebel, and next
time it will be your lives,” said Ryker, loudly and clearly. So as
much of the thick crowd as possible could hear him.

“
Our lives?” someone
asked.

“
The King? What right does
the King have here?” someone else asked, louder than all of the
others yelling. Shouts of agreement joined him. “These were our
homes! The King has no right to do this!”

“
The King has every right,”
said Ryker. “Everything you are, everything you have, you have at
the pleasure of the King!”

The crowd reacted very negatively to this,
just as Ryker had hoped. There were shouts of “Get him!” and a few
of the men broke away from the others and headed Ryker’s way. He
raised his rifle but the shot that burst into one of the
approaching man’s head—killing him on the spot—didn’t come from
Ryker’s gun.

The men approaching him stopped in their
tracks. Two of them dropped to their knees to examine the newly
made corpse of what Ryker supposed had once been their
neighbor.

“
He’s dead!” someone
yelled.

People shrieked. Some turned away. Others
rushed forward to see the body. “He killed Tommy White!”

“
Murderer!” someone else
shouted. The crowd became increasingly hostile and Ryker knew it
was time to make himself scarce. “Murdered by the King!”

“
Do not forget the lesson!”
said Ryker. He took out a stun grenade and tossed it into the
crowd, deliberately aiming for a group of women with babes in arms.
Hoping that at least one of the babies was severely injured or
killed. The death of one baby—or even a million babies—didn’t
matter. Not on Renora. They were too young to raise arms and rebel.
But if injury to them could aggravate the populace—and help Mister
Martel’s cause, and by extension Ryker’s—then all the
better.

He turned his back to the crowd, dropping
another stun grenade as he went, and walked away. Micah joined him,
getting away from the rubble, the refuse, and the scorching
building. He was dressed like Ryker and all of the other Black
Phantoms—they wore the military fatigues of the Imperial Marines.
Light-weight, durable, and most importantly—easily identified.
Ryker doubted a false flag operation had ever been so large, and
yet it was almost too easy. Everything was going just as Martel
said it would. Ryker had to give the man credit, scheming bastard
that he was. He’d managed to plant the uniforms, weapons, and other
supplies in warehouses and storage units all over the planet months
in advance, and all without letting anyone get the least bit
suspicious.

In the distance, emergency sirens could be
heard and at least one Foxtrot Transport was closing in, flying
low. Its troops no doubt were coming to help fight the flames but
they’d get a lot more than they bargained for once the locals
caught sight of them.

“
Report,” demanded
Ryker.

“
Tank says the other cells
are active. They know their instructions and are doing like they’re
told. Major cities are being lit up like candles.”

“
Good,” said Ryker. “So long
as they know to fade away once they’re seen. Do not engage the
enemy.”

“
They know,” said Micah.
“Everything is happening just like you said.”

“
And this is just the
beginning. Once we begin Phase Two…”

“
Why do we wait? Do it
tonight!” said Micah. “Let the whole world shake at its core and
not know what hit it.”

“
Phase Two cannot be the
same night as Phase One, that would be far too much at once. We
want to create sympathizers, not crush the spirit of everyone on
the planet. Besides, Phase Two is impossible so long as that damn
Harbinger is near.”

“
How do you know that ship
is even out there?”

“
Martel will tell me when it
leaves. We will do Phase Two then, not before.”

“
Whate’er you say. I still
think we should do it now, and be done with it. Let someone else
clean up the mess.”

“
And
that
is why you follow and not
lead.”

They caught up with Vulture, who’d been
covering them with his sniper rifle. Together they ran to their
waiting vehicle. It was time to disappear and move on to the next
target. Even if the Imperial troops were wising up to their tactic,
there was far too much planet for them to try to cover. Especially
when the rebellion was growing with speed and strength like never
before. A fire of anti-Imperial hatred was burning across the
planet tonight, and all Ryker and his Black Phantoms had to do was
give it kindling.

Chapter 16

After spending four hours making the plans
and moving everyone into place, Calvin gave the order for his
forces—soldiers and investigators given to him by the Akira
House—to storm the three most important facilities where the Intel
Wing Archives were stored.

“
Companies Bravo, Delta, and
Charlie, you are
go
,” said Calvin.

“
Roger. Execute!” the call
came over the radio.

He watched on the command display in one of
the offices he’d been given. On each of the screens he’d displayed
maps of the target buildings and surrounding areas. As well as the
positions of his teams who were being tracked.

The red dots that were his men moved swiftly
into the compounds and into the structures. He didn’t have enough
men to maintain a complete perimeter around each of the buildings
but that wasn’t important, they weren’t here to stop fleeing Intel
Wing agents, and they hadn’t come to make any arrests, so long as
no one flushed or destroyed the hard drives they’d find what they
were looking for.

Since arriving on the planet, and indeed
since being cut off from Intel Wing when he’d gone to Abia, Calvin
had been kept out of the secure archives. Now that he was here, had
his name restored, and had been appointed to the post of Executor
of the Empire, he had the legal authority to access the archives.
However, rather than giving a formal order to Intel Wing to restore
his access, and allow the organization the chance to sweep things
under the rug before allowing him access to their data, Calvin had
decided to take access swiftly and forcibly so that no intelligence
was lost. There would be a lot to comb through, and most of it
would prove useless, but he believed some of the most critical
answers were there.

“
Bravo Company confirms,
Facility Aveline is secure.”

“
Roger,” said Calvin.
“Commence linkup.”

“
Wilco.”

He shifted his attention to the other teams
on the other displays. Charlie Company had to secure the largest
facility, so it made sense that they were being slower, but Delta
Company seemed to have stopped their advance. Calvin stared at the
red dots until his eyes hurt.

“
Delta Company this is
Executor Actual, report.”

“
Delta Company here. We’re
meeting some resistance. Staff is armed and has initiated lockdown
protocols. Request further instructions, over.”

Calvin imagined the
situation, soldiers in arms making slow progress against a dozen
Intel Wing agents with small arms trying to disable the computers
and lock the doors. Perhaps holding out for reinforcements, but
most likely just trying to stall long enough to flush sensitive
data. He wished he was on the ground with his team, but understood
why he needed to remain at control. “Proceed with force,” he said.
“Engagement is authorized.” He didn’t like giving an order that
would lead to violence, and perhaps even the deaths of some of his
men, but he
had
to
secure that information before it was too late.

“
Understood.”

“
Charlie Company confirms,
Facility Aurora is secure.”

Calvin glanced away from Delta Company’s
screen for a moment to note that his second team had taken control
of the largest facility. “Roger,” said Calvin. “Commence
Linkup.”

“
Confirmed, linkup in
progress.”

“
Bravo Company to Executor
Actual, linkup is established. Over.”

“
Roger that Bravo Company.
Commence lockdown protocols and maintain facility security. Hold
that position until further instructions are given.”

“
Understood, Executor
Actual. Wilco.”

Delta Company was now moving swiftly to the
core of the facility. Three of the red dots were not moving and had
turned green—their trackers no longer detecting a pulse. Calvin
bowed his head out of respect for his fallen men, and told himself
once again that this was necessary. That there had been no choice.
Their sacrifice was essential for saving the Empire.

“
Delta Company confirms,
Facility Adalia is secure.”

Calvin breathed a sigh of relief. “Roger,
commence lockdown protocols and then establish the linkup.” As much
as he wanted the data they’d bled to capture, he decided it was
best—in the case of Delta Company—to secure their position before
brute-forcing into the local archives’ mainframe.

“
Understood.
Wilco.”

“
Charlie Company to Executor
Actual, linkup is established.”

“
Roger,” said Calvin. He
entered some commands into his terminal to test his newly
established access to the Archives, and to check their security. As
far as he could tell, all had been done according to plan. And once
Delta Company completed the linkup operation on their end, Calvin
and his people would have total access to all levels of the Intel
Wing Archives.

He gave instructions to his analysts to
begin processing and studying the data they’d just acquired, and
then Calvin sent a request to Kalila for additional security to be
provided, particularly to the Adalia Facility where his forces had
met resistance, and lost three men. After he’d finished, he got
word that the third linkup had been established. The archives were
ready to be mined.

The software experts, professional analysts,
cryptologists, and others were the ones who would extract the most
meaningful secrets from the secure Archives, but Calvin intended to
do what he could—be it a little or a lot.

The first thing he did was to pull every
file that made mention of Third Lieutenant Rafael Te Santos. Calvin
ignored the useless documents—such as the man’s biography and
family history, and focused in on the most recent documents. The
paper trail wasn’t very complete and he made inferences where he
found gaps, but after some time he was able to determine a few key
things. Rafael, like the three other agents who’d gone with him
from the Nighthawk to Capital World, had undergone an intense
interrogation and psychological analysis to vet his fitness for
duty and test his loyalty. He and two of the others had passed the
tests with flying colors, one was dismissed. Rafael then had been
returned to duty. The list of his assignments seemed limited and
incomplete and there was a report from a “trusted asset” that
suspected Rafael and the others from the Nighthawk as being an
intelligence leak back to “the still at large Calvin Cross.” An
investigation followed resulting in the arrest of Rafael and the
other suspects. After that the paper trail went completely dead and
Calvin could find no information.

Calvin tapped his desk and thought of what
to do next. He now knew for sure that Rafael had been taken and was
not in hiding of his own volition. Calvin’s hopes were dashed but
he wasn’t surprised, this was what he’d suspected. At least the
Phoenix Ring—or whoever had taken Rafael—hadn’t seemed to identify
him for sure as Calvin’s mole, since they had two other suspects.
But Calvin wasn’t naïve to think that meant they were treating
Rafael well. Or that they wouldn’t eventually get it out of him
that he was working for Calvin. Perhaps they’d even flipped Rafael
and he was now sharing everything he knew about Calvin. Whatever
the case, the sooner Calvin found Rafael and got him out of their
hands the better.

Calvin did a bit more
digging and identified the officer who’d been sent to make the
arrest and bring Rafael into custody. Merrill O’Reilly. Military
Police. It wasn’t unheard of for Intel Wing to use the muscle of
the military to perform arrests and other aggressive operations,
but for solo arrests it was rare. Intel Wing would typically use
their own people to make a secret arrest. But, because they’d used
a fairly non-descript and obscure military police officer—and
whatever support he’d brought—to make the arrest, Calvin had nearly
overlooked that detail. On his first few passes over the intel it
looked like there was no information about the arrest itself. He
was sure that the military police had been involved for that exact
reason, most analysts would probably have missed the subtle detail
that had pointed Calvin to identify the arresting officer—namely
that there was no other place he could have been, and what
he’d
officially
been assigned to do, his cover assignment, was not possible
because it was too far away and he couldn’t have been in two places
at once. Calvin smiled at his work and counted the finding as a
stroke of luck. “Looks like I’ve still got it,” he
whispered.

“
What was that?” asked
Nikolai. The large bodyguard still followed Calvin like a shadow.
He was so quiet that Calvin had forgotten he was even
there.