The Phoenix War (31 page)

“Very good,” said Calvin. “Then Rain will go
with me as planned. I’m also going to be taking Alex.”

Summers was happy to hear that. She’d told
Pellew to keep a sharp, careful eye on the Rotham, who, aside from
wandering the ship occasionally and sometimes observing the
goings-on of the bridge, seemed reclusive and usually stayed in his
quarters. Summers was glad not to see him, but out of sight wasn’t
the same thing as out of mind. And she was constantly worried, to
one degree or another, that the Rotham was up to some kind
mischief, and would ultimately betray them all. Sooner or later.
Perhaps he already had. Sending him away seemed like a breath of
fresh air, although it made her a little concerned for Calvin’s
sake.

“What has he been up to?” asked Calvin. “Has
he given you any trouble?”

“No. Since you left he’s mostly kept to
himself. He says he likes to read and that’s what he spends most of
his time doing. According to reports, he uses the computer terminal
in his quarters a great deal and has been keeping himself informed
about current events. I haven’t seen the harm in that.”

“All the same, I’m sure you’ll be glad to
have him out of your hair. And his knowledge of the DMZ, Rotham
space, and Republic codes will be invaluable.”

Summers could see the wisdom in that but
remained skeptical of their Rotham tagalong. Even though he’d
proven himself of some use so far, his origins were still
mysterious and they’d picked him up from the prison block of an
enemy warship. Not the most reputable of establishments… “Are you
sure you can trust him?” she asked Calvin, point blank.

Calvin seemed to think hard before answering.
“No. I can’t be sure. But I don’t have much choice. I need his
expertise for this mission to have any hope of success.”

“The more inside knowledge of the Rotham
Republic, the better your chances of slipping into their space
without drawing attention.”

“Exactly.”

“So I take it that means you’ll also want to
take Captain Pellew,” said Summers. She remembered how, back when
they’d been prisoners aboard the Rotham ship at Abia, Pellew had
used his ability to understand the Rotham language to help free
their captured crew. He was also extremely capable with a
firearm.

Calvin looked surprisingly squeamish at the
suggestion. Perhaps he was thinking of how the last time they’d
gone into Alliance space, they’d needed to capture a civilian
freighter and Pellew had blown its crew out into space without
hesitation. He’d called it necessary. Summers had never been
convinced, but even she had to admit that in his own ruthless way
Pellew did seem to always get the job done.

“Actually, I think I’ll leave Mister Pellew
here with you,” said Calvin. “Rafael knows the Rotham language
about as well as Pellew and, since I’m already taking your medical
department head, I don’t think it would be very nice to steal away
your security department head too.”

“Are you going to keep your crew small and
not bring any soldiers with you?” asked Summers. The fact that some
of the soldiers on the Nighthawk were unprofessional mercenaries
caused her more anxiety than she would’ve liked to admit. And,
although she didn’t trust them to go with Calvin, she didn’t really
trust them to remain either, and wouldn’t have minded offloading a
few. She wondered if she should dump some of them off on Aleator
just to leave them there. No doubt the den of crooks and scumbags
was a more fitting habitat for them than a military frigate.

“I’d like to take someone,” said Calvin. “In
the event we get boarded by an Alliance convoy or a Rotham squadron
it won’t make much difference whether I have one soldier or
one-hundred, but it would be useful to have a tactical point of
view in the event that we try some sort of boots-on-the-ground
operation of our own.”

“In that case, I strongly advise you to take
Rez’nac.” So far she’d let Pellew handle the situation, and he’d
done a reasonably good job of keeping his men as far away from the
alien soldier as possible, but there was still a great deal of
tension. And she regarded it as inevitable that another unfortunate
incident would occur. Perhaps one with a more fatal outcome.

“Rez’nac is aboard?” Calvin looked surprised,
excited even. Summers took that to mean Calvin and the old,
battle-scarred Polarian had built some kind of rapport during the
harrowing events of Remus Nine, events that’d managed to kill off a
significant portion of the Polarian detachment.

“Yes. He’s the only Polarian that returned to
the ship, word is the rest of the detachment have gone their
separate way and we’re not likely to see them again. But for some
reason Rez’nac did not go with them.”

“That’s wonderful news,” said Calvin. He
looked eager to put the Polarian soldier to work. Summers regretted
that she had to burst his bubble of enthusiasm somewhat.

“Yes, well, it is and it isn’t,” she
said.

“What do you mean?” he looked confused. “Has
he done something?” Calvin started to look worried.

“No, not as such,” said Summers. Wondering if
she ought to tip-toe around the details. She rarely did, preferring
instead to plunge into issues face-first and get everything out on
the table. “He came back to us in a state that can only be
described as
depressed
. Pellew told me the Polarian soldier
literally knelt before him the minute he returned to the
Nighthawk.”

“Well, the Polarians have a lot of strange
customs. They love the power of symbols and rituals and—”

“Pellew said Rez’nac offered his throat to
him, asking him to end his life.”

Calvin looked unsure what to say. He clearly
wanted to defend Rez’nac, to believe in him. But he also looked
very uncomfortable with this information. “Well,” Calvin began.
“The last I heard from Rez’nac, I had just told him that his son
was indeed the murderer of Staff Sergeant Patterson. No one wants
to hear news like that, least of all a Polarian. I don’t claim to
comprehend their culture, but I know it well enough to understand
Rez’nac had to punish Grimka, perhaps even take his life. Can you
imagine that, Summers? Having to kill your own son? Your only
child?”

She frowned. Of course she couldn’t imagine
that. She had no children. And for that matter neither did Calvin.
“I don’t think he killed his son,” said Summers.

“I wouldn’t put it past him, Polarians take
these sort of things very seriously. Religiously, even.”

“According to Pellew, by Rez’nac’s own
admission he did
not
make Grimka ‘pay the price.”

“Oh,” Calvin looked speechless.

“I’m telling you all of this so you have fair
warning,” said Summers. “So you can use your judgment regarding
Rez’nac. However, the best thing for the Nighthawk is for him to
leave. So if you decide to take him with you, that’s wonderful, but
if not then I request permission to leave him off at Aleator.”

“Why are you so eager to get rid of him?”
Calvin looked at her with more curiosity than suspicion. He
evidently knew her well enough to understand she was not being
racist by wanting the only Polarian on the ship gone, clearly she
was motivated by something else.

“There was an incident in the mess hall
awhile back.”

“What kind of incident?” asked Calvin.

“Rez’nac was taking a meal and he was
confronted by some members of the special forces. Men who’d been
friends with the late Sergeant Patterson. They wanted revenge so
they attacked him.”

“Did he kill them?” asked Calvin, looking
suddenly worried. No doubt thinking this was something he should
have been informed of much sooner. Summers could also tell that
Calvin had an almost exaggerated level of respect for Rez’nac’s
fighting ability. He no doubt assumed automatically that Rez’nac
would prevail over his human attackers, even though she hadn’t told
him how many there’d been or what weapons they’d used.

“No he didn’t kill them,” said Summers.
Calvin looked palpably relieved. “In fact he didn’t participate in
the fight at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean they attacked him, beat him within an
inch of his life, and he refused to defend himself. Simply allowed
his attackers to do to him harm as they pleased.”

“And they didn’t kill him?”

“No, Pellew got there and broke it up before
they could. Since then we’ve kept the soldiers and Rez’nac
completely apart. But I fear that is only a stall, not an effective
remedy.”

Calvin seemed to consider this for a moment.
And then he looked at her candidly, like he’d reached a decision.
“Summon Rez’nac here, I’d like to speak with him. Depending on what
his wishes are, he’ll either be coming with me or else remaining
behind on Aleator. Either way, I agree that he should leave the
Nighthawk. It’s not safe for him.”

Summers nodded. Grateful that Calvin could
see sense. She tapped her line to HQ.

“Pellew here,” the voice answered over the
speaker.

“Mister Pellew, please notify Rez’nac that he
should report to the CO’s office immediately. I’m sure I don’t need
to remind you that it would be best for your soldiers not to be
involved.”

“Understood. I’ll see to it personally.”

“Thank you, CO out.”

She looked back at Calvin. “Do you plan on
taking anyone else with you? Any ops staff, or analysts, or
defense
?” She meant the last suggestion as a not-so-subtle
hint. But Calvin seemed not to pick up on it.

“No, there’s not really any need,” said
Calvin. “I can fly the ship and Rafael is a top analyst. The vessel
we’re taking isn’t very sophisticated, so no ops expert is
necessary—besides I wouldn’t want to take one away from the
Nighthawk, you still need them. And as for defense, the ship won’t
have any weapons. And it doesn’t take a specialist to raise and
lower shields. Besides, if we get in a battle, it means we made a
fatal mistake and we’re already dead anyway.”

Summers looked at him earnestly. A little
annoyed that Calvin didn’t pick up on what she was really asking
him, so she decided to be completely blunt. “Calvin, please, for
the love of
god
, take Miles Brown with you.”

Calvin raised an eyebrow, looking more
surprised than he rightly should have.

“He’s beyond worthless to me here,” said
Summers quickly. “I don’t need him at the defense post, I can
manage that myself, and we have promoted a new defense officer to
the position for White Shift anyway—a Mister Donaldson. And as for
XO… Mister Brown makes it so I have to do
three
jobs instead
of one. I have to be the CO, I then have to be the XO and do his
job for him, and on top of it all I have to be a janitor and clean
up any mess he makes of things whenever he
tries
to do his
job. I have neither the time nor the energy to look over his
shoulder and keep undoing the pathetically stupid things he does.
Did you know that he tried to instate a policy of beer-drinking
for the on-duty bridge officers
?”

Calvin seemed to be fighting a smirk. Summers
didn’t like the unbelievably forgiving attitude Calvin had always
taken with Miles, he was altogether far too willing to look past
the idiot’s mistakes. She’d long suspected that fully half of
Miles’ incompetence was directly due to Calvin’s willingness to
tolerate—and even encourage—the oaf’s ridiculous antics. Though, in
fairness, Miles’ wanton stupidity was, in equal measure, his own
natural fault.

“
Well
?” pressed Summers when Calvin
didn’t say anything right away.

Just then the door slid open and Rez’nac
entered.
No, I’m not letting you use this interruption as an
excuse to dodge the issue
, she thought, keeping her eyes
attentively on Calvin.

“Hello, Rez’nac, it’s great to see you,” said
Calvin. He visibly flinched at the many bruises and bandages
Rez’nac wore, but despite the injuries the Polarian warrior seemed
to stand as firm and unbreakable as ever, like a statue wrought in
steel.

“It is a true honor to again be in your
presence, Human Commander,” said Rez’nac. They approached one
another and, as Calvin saluted Rez’nac, Rez’nac got down on his
knees rather than saluting back and bowed his head in an
ostentatious gesture of submission and respect.

“Thanks,” said Calvin, looking uncomfortable.
“Stand up,” he said when Rez’nac didn’t rise immediately.

Rez’nac raised his head high, exposing his
muscular neck. “I regret that Grimka has not paid the price, and
has not tasted of any justice. Therefore I am here in his place.
Human Commander, my life is in your hands. I offer my throat to
you. That justice might be served upon the universe. The Essences
are good.”

“Rez’nac… stand up,” said Calvin. Obviously
not wanting to deal with this kind of thing. The whole display was
quite strange to Summers, though she still expected an answer from
Calvin regarding Miles. And used the brief pause, while Rez’nac was
climbing to his feet, to press the issue.

“Calvin,” said Summers. “I need an answer
from you. Will you take Miles or not?”

He looked at her, seeming almost to have
forgotten she was there, and that they’d been having an independent
discussion prior to the Polarian’s dramatic arrival.

“Very well, Summers,” said Calvin. “I’ll take
Miles with me. I need another crewman and now that Shen is up and
about I admit he’d make a better Acting XO than Miles anyway.”

“I was actually thinking of Lieutenant
Winters,” said Summers, remembering her suspicions that Shen was
not enough of his old self yet to take on such a level of
responsibility.
Although I will have to talk to her about that
very unprofessional, cropped uniform of hers
, thought
Summers.

“Yes, she’d do a good job too,” admitted
Calvin. “Sarah and Shen would both be excellent candidates so
either one.” Calvin then looked immediately back to Rez’nac, who
was now towering over him. “Rez’nac, I’m leaving on another away
mission. One into the DMZ and then afterward into Rotham space. Our
mission is to collect intelligence which, I hope, will be used to
prevent a war. It promises to be a dangerous mission and I’m not
requiring you to come with me. However, if you feel you are up to
the task, and you’re willing, then I’d be honored to have you
along.”