The Phoenix Crisis (40 page)

But, as hopeful of a sign as the Andromeda’s
return was, troubling thoughts persisted. Why had the ship gone
missing? Why had it mysteriously returned—and chosen this moment to
do so. And perhaps most curious of all, how had the ship been
repaired? Who had arranged for and paid for those repairs? And why
were the Intel Wing archives and the military databases silent on
the matter. How had the Empire’s best resources and information
gathering agencies been kept in the dark?

Calvin wondered if perhaps this Andromeda
was not the real Andromeda. Kalila’s extremely powerful
dreadnought, the Black Swan, had been effectively cloned and built
by a foreign power. Was the same thing possible for the Andromeda?
It seemed hard to believe. The Andromeda was an alpha-class ship,
much like the Black Swan, but I seemed far too expensive and
ludicrous an undertaking for someone to build not one but two
alpha-class ships without word getting to Intel Wing. But… Calvin
couldn’t rule it out. He supposed he would know for sure whether
this ship was legitimate once members of its crew went aboard the
orbital station and were seen. It was one thing to clone a ship.
But it was quite another to clone an entire crew. Sure, there were
replicants here and there who’d replaced some critical
personnel—Calvin knew. But there was no way the Phoenix Ring had
made a thousand unique replicants to replace the entire crew of the
Andromeda. It was impossible. Calvin was sure.

There was other interesting news, the
Andromeda hadn’t been the only high-profile ship to appear in
Capital System in the last several hours. The Desert Eagle had come
as well. And though that ship hadn’t been missing—and its presence
shouldn’t be too shocking or inexplicable—Calvin still found it
strange. Last he’d known, Nimoux had been tasked with hunting him
down. And, while Calvin was no longer a fugitive and the order to
capture him had been rescinded, the order to capture the Nighthawk
was still in play. Calvin had assumed that Nimoux and his taskforce
of ships had been hunting after Summers and the others. A concern
that had heightened his anxiety and made sleep difficult. The
Nighthawk was in no condition for a fight and Summers and the
others weren’t truly a match for Nimoux and his unparalleled skill
at deduction and intelligence gathering. Calvin had only managed to
comfort himself with the memory that Nimoux wanted the Nighthawk
taken alive and intact—he’d prevented the Phoenix from destroying
the ship after all.

But, now that the Desert Eagle was here,
clearly not pursuing the Nighthawk, it meant one of two things.
Either the Nighthawk had been captured or destroyed—which Calvin
would have heard about—or else Nimoux had been pulled off the
hunt.

It made Calvin wonder what mission could
possibly be more important to the Phoenix Ring. How did they plan
to use Nimoux, the most brilliant operative in all of Intel Wing,
to further their depraved agenda? He had no clue. Maybe, if Calvin
was lucky, Nimoux was here for his own purposes. Maybe he’d taken
Calvin’s warning seriously and, after spying the Rotham fleet in
Remus System, Nimoux had put two and two together and was now doing
what he could to get to the bottom of things and save the Empire.
Nimoux was certainly smart enough to realize things were amiss and
Intel Wing had been compromised. Hopefully that was exactly what
had happened. Perhaps he’d come to Capital World to warn the
Assembly in person that a Rotham fleet had crossed into Imperial
space. Calvin knew that Nimoux had gone before the Assembly before,
and that his reputation carried considerable weight, so if Nimoux
was willing to testify of the things he’d seen—and Calvin believed
him to be a man of integrity—it would go a long way toward
convincing the Assembly that there was an imminent threat. Which
should, if there was any logic to the universe, convince more of
them to support Kalila and the monarch. So it was difficult for
Calvin to see how this was bad news. Though the strangeness of the
timing, both for the Desert Eagle and the Andromeda, did give him a
haunted sense of foreboding.

He continued to keep tabs on these
developments as he resumed work on his investigation. With
Rosemarie’s help Calvin was able to pinpoint where the Intel Wing
prisons were—the interrogation houses that were completely off the
books—and he was making arrangements for a simultaneous raids on
all of them. Nearly every piece was in place now, and soon—he was
sure—he’d find Rafael. Hopefully alive. But Calvin knew better than
to assume all would be well.

His concentration was interrupted by a high
level message. Kalila warned him that he would be called before the
Assembly in very little time. That he should prepare himself. And,
before Calvin could process what it meant, he received the official
summons. He was ordered before the Assembly immediately. He gave
the order for the raids to begin. Then he headed for the door
without taking even a minute to adjust his appearance or put on
nicer clothes. If the Assembly wanted to see him immediately, he
decided it was best to get there as soon as he could.

***

After being sworn in, Calvin took his place
on the Assembly Floor next to Kalila on one of the witness tables.
He noted that several people sat at the opposite table, chief among
them were Vice Admiral Harkov and Captain Lafayette Nimoux. They
wore their military dress uniforms and showed none of the signs of
wear or fatigue Calvin would have expected. He wondered why they
were here, and supposed that the Assembly had called an emergency
session to uncover the mystery of the Andromeda’s
disappearance.

It wasn’t every day that one of the
flagships, and one of the most powerful vessels in the entire
Imperial war-machine, vanishes for weeks and then inexplicably
resurfaces. So it only made sense that Harkov would be summoned.
Nimoux’s presence was a little harder to understand, but Calvin
guessed that the Assembly had asked him to attend in order to gain
his insight. He was a trusted person here, and none of the
political factions—no matter how diametrically opposed they
were—had anything but respect for Nimoux. Though it did seem
strange that Nimoux had been seated with Vice Admiral Harkov…

“
This isn’t going to be good
for us,” whispered Kalila. “I can feel it.”

Calvin too felt pessimistic and concerned,
though he didn’t know why. So far there wasn’t anything so strange
that it defied explanation, and he couldn’t think of any motives
that would lead either Harkov or Nimoux to testify to things that
would hurt Calvin’s investigation or Kalila’s influence in the
Assembly. Perhaps this was merely a red herring to delay Calvin’s
efforts and slow down his investigation. If so, it wouldn’t work;
he wouldn’t let it. Even now his people were raiding Intel Wing’s
secret prisons, making arrests, and—if the universe was
kind—liberating Rafael.

“
This session of the
Assembly has been called to investigate the disappearance of the
Imperial Military Starship Andromeda, and to consider sworn
statements and testimony of Vice Admiral Harkov, Captain Lafayette
Nimoux, and Lieutenant Commander Calvin Cross who is also the
Executor of the Empire,” said Representative Tate, presiding. She
sat on the centermost platform with the two other members of the
Defense Committee at her sides, Representatives Lekovic and
O’Neil—both of whom also sat on the committee on Internal Security.
Calvin wondered why his name was being included, and what the
Assembly wished to glean from him. He was more than happy to
cooperate, but the amalgamation of his testimony along with
Harkov’s and Nimoux’s seemed like a strange, almost suspicious
combination.

“
The Members of the Assembly
have been provided with copies of the sworn statements,” continued
Representative Tate. “And everyone here should have had ample time
to review them.” Calvin wasn’t sure what she was referring
to.

He gave Kalila a confused look and the
princess tapped the table, using its electronic interface to pull
up pictures of several documents. Calvin gave them a cursory scan
and found what appeared to be affidavits by the senior officers of
the Desert Eagle and the Andromeda. They confirmed that the Desert
Eagle had been hunting the Nighthawk, mostly unsuccessfully, the
details were sketchy. There was no mention—that Calvin could see—of
anything that’d happened at Remus System. Nor was there any mention
that the Desert Eagle had followed the Nighthawk into the DMZ. As
for the Andromeda, the documents relating to it were more
interesting. They went into depth and were quite long but, after
skimming through several of them, Calvin gleaned that they were a
report of events leading up to the Andromeda’s disappearance and a
record of what had happened during its mysterious absence. Calvin
was sure it would make fascinating reading.

“
The Committee on Defense,
representing the interests and authority of the Assembly, call Vice
Admiral Harkov as a special witness to the matter at hand,” said
Representative Tate.

Harkov bent the microphone in front of her
and moved it closer to her lips.

“
Admiral,” said
Representative Tate. “You have already risen and taken the oath, so
you should consider yourself under oath until these proceedings are
complete. Do you understand?”

“
I do,” said Harkov. Calvin
recognized her voice. And remembered how the Vice Admiral had
refused to speak up on his behalf during Raidan’s trial on Praxis
One.

“
You may take five minutes
at this time for an opening statement if you so choose, Admiral.
You may also submit a longer opening statement for the record if
you wish.”

“
I would like the Assembly
to consider the materials I have already provided to be my official
statement,” said Vice Admiral Harkov.

“
Duly noted,” said
Representative Tate. “The Committee on Defense also recognizes
Captain Lafayette Nimoux on the witness stand. Additionally the
Committee recognizes the presence of Lieutenant Command Calvin
Cross who is also serving in the capacity of Executor of the
Empire. However the matter before us today is not regarding his
work as Executor but rather his record as the commander of the
Intelligence Wing starship Nighthawk. Mister Cross he will
henceforth be referred to as Lieutenant Commander or Mister Cross
and not Mister Executor for the duration of these proceedings. Do
you understand, Mister Cross?” Tate looked at him.

“
Yes,” said Calvin. In truth
he didn’t understand why he was here, or why his record as an Intel
Wing CO was at issue, but perhaps this would mean an opportunity to
expose some of the darker parts of the conspiracy rotting away the
soul of their government, dark things that he and his crew had
witnessed. As had Harkov and Nimoux.

“
Both of you have also been
sworn in and read the oath, so you should both consider yourselves
under oath until the conclusion of these proceedings, do you
understand?”

“
Yes,” said Calvin and
Nimoux in sequence.

“
Do either of you have a
prepared opening statement you would like to give or else submit
for the record?” asked Representative Tate.

“
I would like the documents
I have already submitted to be considered my official statement,”
said Nimoux.

Calvin wondered why Nimoux and Harkov had
had advance-enough knowledge of this meeting to prepare official
statements while Calvin hadn’t known a thing until he’d been
summoned. “I do not have a prepared statement,” he said, once he
realized all eyes were on him.

“
So noted,” said
Representative Tate. “I will now proceed directly into
questioning.” She cleared her throat. “Admiral, please give us your
account of events leading up to the disappearance of your vessel,
the ISS Andromeda.”

“
It’s all in the record,”
said Harkov. “I have nothing to add.”

“
I see. And you maintain
that your ship was hunting the IWS Nighthawk on special orders when
everything happened?”

“
Yes, that’s correct,” said
Harkov. Calvin looked at her, wondering if she would go into
details about what had happened at Abia or if he’d have to bring it
up. “The Andromeda was part of three separately assigned taskforces
that were given orders to capture the IWS Nighthawk,” said Harkov.
“There was a flotilla of ships pursuing the Nighthawk, led by the
ISS Avenger, and the Andromeda was of course pursuing the
Nighthawk, and lastly the IWS Desert Eagle led by Captain Nimoux
was pursuing the Nighthawk.”

That wasn’t
true
. Calvin knew for a fact that the
Desert Eagle hadn’t been assigned to chase after him until
later—Rafael had sent him a warning once it was fed through Intel
Wing channels that Nimoux had been assigned to take on the
Nighthawk, which had been after the Andromeda disappeared. Also,
there had been no mysterious
other
flotilla of ships assigned to capture the
Nighthawk; the only flotilla has been under the Andromeda’s direct
command. And they’d flown as a group.

“
The Nighthawk was
coordinating with the rogue vessel ISS Harbinger—which is still at
large,” said Harkov. “Along with several other ships. The flotilla
chasing the Nighthawk was led into an ambush and destroyed by the
Nighthawk, the Harbinger, and other vessels—”

“
WHAT?
” shouted Calvin, unable to believe what he was hearing. Did
the Vice Admiral just accuse him of destroying the flotilla? Firing
on Imperial starships and slaughtering thousands of people? The
same starships that had, in fact, fired on the Andromeda while
Calvin and his crew were prisoners on a Rotham
battleship.