The Phoenix Crisis (33 page)

“
Incoming missiles have all
been destroyed,” reported Miles. “The Phoenix is in full
retreat.”

Summers’ eyes flicked to the 3d display. “Is
that—?” She paused. It was just as she’d suspected. The Harbinger
had arrived.

“
The Phoenix has jumped into
alteredspace,” said Cassidy.

“
Is the Harbinger pursuing?”
asked Summers.

“
Negative. It has adjusted
course and appears to be commencing docking procedures.”

“
The Harbinger is sending us
new instructions for the resupply and repair operation,” said Jay.
“We are requested to dock with the Harbinger for immediate transfer
of personnel; afterward our ship and the supply convoy are to
follow the Harbinger to coordinates near Renora System where the
repair operation will take place and the supply ships will transfer
supplies. The Arcane Storm is no longer a part of the
operation.”

“
What happened to the Arcane
Storm?” asked Summers. She knew that Vargas had been given specific
instructions from Calvin to return to the Nighthawk with the Arcane
Storm in hand, along with the rest of their absent crew.

“
The instructions don’t
specify,” said Jay. “Shall I comply?”

Summers took a deep breath and, somewhat
begrudgingly, ordered him to comply. She wasn’t sure what Raidan
was up to, showing up here himself, but she would keep a sharp eye
on him.

***

Pellew cleared the newcomers entering the
ship one by one. Most were returning personnel, and they looked
almost as tired and run-down as the crew that’d stayed behind. But
there were some fresh new faces too. Four crewmen, a medic, and an
entire detachment of new soldiers to replace the Polarians. These
fighting-men looked green and inexperienced. Pellew stopped one of
them at random.

“
You there,” he said. “Where
do you come from?”

The man looked at him with narrow,
suspicious eyes. “What’s it to you?”

“
I’m your commanding
officer,” said Pellew. “And you will address me as
sir
or I will throw you
off this ship. And I promise you, that is not a
metaphor.”

The man stared at him, perhaps testing him,
but eventually submitted. “I’m from Capital World,” he said.

“
And your name?”

“
Rodriguez.”

“
You ever served his
Majesty’s military, Rodriguez?”

“
No, sir. Can’t say ‘at I
have.”

“
So what’s your fighting
experience?” Pellew pressed him.

“
Mercenary,
mostly.”

Pellew was not surprised. This man
Rodriguez, and all of the rest of them, had looked exactly like
hired guns. Sure they had a kind of toughness about them, and
they’d probably killed people before, but none of them had the
steel in their eyes that came from real military service. None of
them had any of the trained habits that came from years and years
of drills. And none of them showed the kind of camaraderie that
came with fighting in uniform side by side with the best and the
brightest. These were civilians who happened to be in the business
of soldiering, but they weren’t actual soldiers. Not one of
them.

“
Is that all,
sir
?” the man
asked.

Pellew sent him on his way. Like the others,
the man carried two bags of personal possessions, both of which had
been searched for weapons. Until Pellew trusted these men, and
believed them capable of seeing action, he was not going to arm
them. When they finally were ready to carry weapons, they would be
standard issue and would come from the armory. But for the near
future Pellew intended to keep the weapons lockers secure.

One familiar face that Pellew did not expect
to ever see again belonged to Rez’nac. The large, fiercely muscular
Polarian stepped through the airlock, having to duck to enter, and
then greeted Pellew with a proper salute. Everything about his
demeanor, the way he stood, and even his scars and injuries were
all tributes to his great strength. All except his eyes, which were
sad.

“
Welcome back,” said Pellew.
Though, in truth, he wasn’t sure it was such a good idea for the
Polarian to return. His special forces detachment had yet to get
the closure they needed regarding Staff Sergeant Patterson’s death.
And Pellew worried that they might take their retribution out on
Rez’nac. Who, despite his toughness, was no match for the Special
Forces by himself.

“
I am honored to be back,”
said Rez’nac. “I would like to see the captain right
away.”

“
Calvin isn’t on the ship
right now, so Summers Presley has command. I could take you to her
if you’d like.”

“
Is Calvin
returning?”

Pellew shrugged. “Who knows? I imagine so.
But right now he is working for the Akira House on Capital
World.”

“
I see…” said Rez’nac.
Pellew expected more surprise from Rez’nac than the Polarian
showed. Pellew himself had been quite shocked when he’d heard the
news. “In that case I would take my matter to you,” said
Rez’nac.

“
Go ahead.”

“
I know that Grimka—my
son—is the one who committed the injustice against your
officer.”

“
And?” asked Pellew, folding
his arms. “Was justice done? Did Grimka answer for his
crime?”

Rez’nac glanced away for an instant. It was
hard to tell on an alien face, but he looked pained. There was no
trace of pain in his voice, however. “No,” he said. “Grimka did not
pay. And justice is not done.”

“
That’s not what I was
hoping to hear…” said Pellew. Knowing that, if Grimka had died for
his murder—as was customary in Polarian tradition—that might have
been enough to appease some of his angrier men.

“
I cannot stand an
injustice,” said Rez’nac. He knelt down on the ground and raised
his head high. Pellew wasn’t sure what the hell he was
doing.

“
I offer my throat to you,”
said Rez’nac. “It was one of mine who slew one of yours. You have
the right of blood for blood. The Essences are good, let all things
be in harmony with them and unity be one.”

Pellew wasn’t quite sure what to do. Some of
the crew had stopped in their tracks and were looking at them now,
trying to make sense of this strange display. “No,” said Pellew.
“Get up.”

Rez’nac opened his eyes and looked up at
him. “Are you sure?”

“
Yes,” said Pellew. “Now, on
your feet.”

Rez’nac stood and bowed his head. “My life
is yours. I will serve you alive or dead as you see fit.”

Pellew decided he was going to let this be
Calvin’s problem. So long as Rez’nac was willing to work for him,
and help him train his new troops, Pellew would welcome him. But he
wasn’t sure it was safe here for Rez’nac—and he didn’t know what to
make of all of this Polarian ritualism and self-sacrifice. Pellew
had studied the Rotham in detail. The Rotham made sense to him. But
the Polarians, aside from their warrior tendencies, were a complete
mystery to him.

***

Rosemarie watched the new reports come
in.

At first it was unknown who’d been
responsible for the attack on the newly appointed Executor of the
Empire. Now the police were saying they had suspects in custody,
and the rumor mill spun furiously. The attack had been a statement
by Khan gangsters—news commentators were saying—against tighter
restrictions on controlled substances throughout the Empire and
stiffer criminal sanctions. Whether these rumors, which spread like
wildfire, were created by the government to spread misinformation,
or were simply the product of poorly informed news commentators
speaking out of their asses, Rosemarie was uncertain. One thing she
did know for sure, however, was that this attack on the young
Executor’s life had clearly been the work of The Phoenix Ring.

If it was true that the enemy of her enemy
was her friend, then she needed to reach out to the Executor and
help his investigation.

When she’d first heard the news that the
position was being created, and that Kalila Akira had appointed a
former Intel Wing officer to the post, Rosemarie hadn’t been sure
what to think. She supported the Akira House, and certainly would
do her duty to sustain the King and his interests, but were his
interests and his daughter’s in line? That had been the question.
And, for that matter, was the new Executor, this Calvin Cross,
playing Kalila for a fool? Perhaps he was a puppet of the Phoenix
Ring. Such thoughts had weighed on Rosemarie’s mind when the
networks had first lit up with gossip, rumors, and buzz about the
development. In hours billions of people, who’d never heard of
Calvin Cross before, were scouring the public databases for
anything they could find on him. Rosemarie too had found what she
could, but ultimately none of it had been enough to convince her
that Calvin should be trusted. Until now.

Today gave her
proof—
beyond a doubt
—that the Phoenix Ring was targeting Calvin and wanted him out
of the picture, so she could be sure he was on the right side of
all of this. Which meant she needed to reach out to him, even if it
meant coming out of hiding.

Ever since she’d informed Raidan of the
replicants bound for Capital World, purchased by MXR, and Raidan
had intercepted and destroyed most of them, the Phoenix Ring had
swept its organization looking for the leak. It didn’t take them
long to figure out it had been Rosemarie who had compromised them.
By then, however, she’d changed her appearance, adopted an alias,
and moved to the other side of Capital World. There were still
Phoenix Ring operatives looking for her, she was sure, which was
why she hadn’t been able to reach out to the Organization and
contact them. But through extreme measures of caution, and a bit of
luck, she’d managed to elude capture and keep herself alive.

Now, though, it was time to put it all on
the line once more. She would throw her fate in with Calvin’s, and
the Akira House, and hope for the best. If she had even the most
remote prayer, it was the hope that Kalila had known what she was
doing when she’d picked Calvin Cross to be her Executor of the
Empire. Would he be a match for the upper echelon of the Phoenix
Ring? Only time would tell. But Rosemarie knew Calvin’s best chance
was with the information she had, so she had to get it to him. And
the surest way to get his attention was to leak a message through a
trusted source letting Calvin know that Rosemarie had information
regarding Calvin’s missing man. Rafael Te Santos.

Chapter 23

Summers heard the door to the CO’s office
slide open and close. She glanced up from the desk to see Second
Lieutenant Vargas enter. His brown skin looked paler than usual and
his eyes bore a look of disappointment and shame.

“
It’s about time you got
here,” said Summers.

He saluted. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting,
Commander.” He looked around, as if expecting to find something
that wasn’t there. “Is Calvin indisposed?” he asked.

“
Mister Cross is not on the
ship and, until he returns, I have command,” said Summers. “You
will therefore make your report to me. Is that
understood?”

“
Sir, yes, sir!”

“
At ease, Lieutenant,” she
said. “Now tell me, what is the status of our people we sent aboard
the Arcane Storm?”

“
Healthy and fit for
duty,
sir.
At least
the humans are. The Polarians have abandoned us, all but their
leader, and he seems not right in the head. Might be best for Rain
to take a look at him. Make sure he’s stable.”

Summers made a note of that. “And where are
our people now?”

“
They have all returned to
the Nighthawk, I just finished overseeing that. In addition we’ve
brought aboard a new analyst, two engineers, an ops officer, a
medic, and twelve soldiers.”

“
And did you properly vet
these newcomers?” she looked at him. She’d gone over the records
they’d sent her, which gave her a cursory idea of who they’d taken
aboard, but the Nighthawk was a sensitive ship—and had already been
plagued by at least one enemy informant and a murderer. She didn’t
want to take an chances.

“
Yes, sir,” said
Vargas.

She’d have to take his word on that for now,
but she intended to do a more thorough background check on her own.
“And will the returning staff, as well as the new engineers, be
ready to assist in repair operations in a few hours?”

“
Yes, sir,” replied Vargas.
Currently they were in alteredspace, following the Harbinger and
the convoy of supply ships to coordinates Raidan had given them.
Summers suspected that Raidan wanted to keep an eye on
Renora—perhaps he was waiting for something—and as such didn’t want
the Harbinger to be too far from the scene as it repaired the
Nighthawk in deep space. “Additionally,” said Mister Vargas, “our
returning staff is rested and fully prepared to resume normal
watches.”

That, at least, was some good news. Summers’
crew, which had remained on the Nighthawk with her, had been worn
to the bone. The chance to return to three shifts: White, Red, and
Green, would be welcome news for everyone. “See to it that regular
watches are instated immediately.”

“
Yes, sir, right
away.”

“
But first,” Summers leaned
back in her chair and looked shrewdly at Second Lieutenant Vargas.
“Tell me… what happened to the Arcane Storm?” She knew that Vargas
had been given orders to return to the Nighthawk with the Arcane
Storm in tow. Instead he and all of the others had been ferried
back to them on board the Harbinger.