The Phoenix Conspiracy Read online

  "The bridge is twice as secure as engineering," said Shen, his arms folded. "So no I wouldn't say we are in any immediate danger. Down in engineering the designers didn’t have enough space to put up as many defensive measures as on the bridge."

  "Well at least that's some good news," said Sarah. "But we're still sitting ducks."

  "I assume there's no way to override the controls in engineering and get the engines back online from here is there?" Calvin asked.

  "Nope," Shen and Sarah both replied.

  "So it's a stalemate," said Calvin.

  The comm switch beeped and Sarah patched the message through the main speaker. Summers' voice came over the line. "Calvin, we have control of the whole ship apart from the bridge."

  "Well the bridge is really the most important part," Calvin replied.

  "Enough games, Calvin. You had your shot and you blew it. Now the whole ship is against you and we're not going anywhere. There's nothing you can do from up there, and you can't hold out forever. The Major and I urge you to surrender. Then we can put in our reports that you surrendered voluntarily. And you will be treated with dignity."

  "Dignity my ass," said Miles.

  "We're not going to surrender the bridge," said Calvin. "For the same reason we started this whole thing. It has nothing to do with dignity or pride or anything like that. It has to do with defending the Empire. You'd see that too if you just looked hard enough."

  "You flew the ship off mission and let a condemned criminal get away. That has nothing to do with defending the Empire."

  "Don't you see? That has everything to do with it."

  "I'm not going to argue. I'm just going to tell you. Either surrender the bridge or we’ll take it by force. Your choice."

  Calvin motioned for Sarah to cut the line. When she did, he spoke. "Other ships are certainly looking for us now, since they haven’t heard from Summers in awhile. And, with the help of her beacon, they will find us eventually. But, in the spirit of being found as slowly as possible, let's engage the stealth system."

  "Can't they just shut that down too?" asked Sarah.

  "Not from engineering," Shen replied.

  "It's done," said Miles.

  The usual purr of the vents stopped abruptly and, after checking his console, Shen confirmed that all ventilation to the bridge from life support controls had been cut off. "But it's not all bad news," said Shen. "We have an emergency air supply for the bridge. I'd say we have at least six hours before we begin to suffocate."

  "So it's a war of attrition," said Calvin.

  "With time not on our side," Sarah added.

  "If it takes us six hours to think of something to do then we’re as good as dead anyway. We need to come up with something now. Who knows what’s in Abia and for how long?”

  ***

  "ODB is prepped for phase two, requesting clearance to execute, over.”

  “Clearance granted.”

  ***

  "I keep telling you that a fight won’t work, Miles," said Sarah. Calvin glanced from her to Miles since no one else was talking.

  "It's either that or we sit here doing nothing. If that happens, we lose by default. We should at least try."

  "Can you make him listen to reason?" Sarah asked, looking at Calvin now.

  "Don't look at me," said Calvin, raising his hands.

  "But we do need an executive call on this," said Shen. "We need you to make a decision."

  Calvin knew that was true but a no-win scenario sat before them. He was content to wait a bit more, hoping to find some way to dull either the rock or the hard place.

  The trouble was, Special Forces' position offered no obvious weaknesses for him to exploit. He had the loyalty of most of the crew, he thought. And, if he could rally them, he had superior numbers. But whether or not they'd be willing to put it all on the line for him was another question. They did like him better than Summers. And several of them, most likely, did believe they were under orders to assist him. But they might not be convinced of it enough to fight hand to hand, especially against a superior adversary like Special Forces.

  "You're both right," said Calvin. "Unless the situation changes somehow, a fight is unacceptable. But, if we don't fight, we might have no other choice than to surrender. Which is also unacceptable. Our job, then, is to change the playing board so a fight is practical."

  "And how would we do that?" asked Shen.

  "Deceive, cheat, lie, make our position look better than it is." Before Calvin could pitch any of his zero ideas, the vents turned back on and began sending air to the bridge again.

  "Now, what do you suppose that's about?" asked Shen.

  "I don't know, but I don’t like it," said Calvin as he saw white smoke pouring onto the bridge.

  Shen looked at him, "you don't think..."

  Miles, who was closest to the gas, began coughing violently and let out a wail, red eyes streaked with tears. "Son of a..." his words were lost as he coughed again.

  The smoke spread quickly and Calvin felt a surge of pain in his nose, mouth, and throat, as his eyes watered. He too began coughing and wheezing and all of them, instinctively, retreated away from the main vents.

  "Tear gas," said Shen, spitting up mucous.

  Sarah kept herself together the best, but her eyes were brimming with tears and she was too busy sneezing and coughing to do anything else.

  The burning sensation was overwhelming. Calvin felt like the insides of his nose and throat were literally on fire; his eyes watered and burned. He waved toward the exits. "We can't..." more coughing "… can’t...stay."

  Shen nodded. Miles rubbed at his eyes and cursed.

  "You... go down... the... ladder," said Calvin, wiping his eyes and clearing his throat—or trying to. Shen and Sarah were closest to that exit and, Calvin was sure, one of them would know how to unseal the hatch and retract the defense wall manually. They followed his orders and went into the corridor where the ladder was.

  Calvin waved for Miles to follow him and they entered the elevator, unwilling to cross through the noxious gas to get to the ladder. And Calvin hoped that if they split up, maybe some of them wouldn't be caught.

  Once inside, with the door sealed, they could breathe a little easier, but that didn't stop them from coughing, wheezing violently, and tearing up. Miles re-enabled the elevator and sent it below—to a much lower deck. Hoping they could shoot past whatever security Special Forces had waiting for them.

  But, now that the elevator wasn't disabled, the main control overrode their order and the elevator came to a forced stop one deck below the bridge. The door slid open and Calvin caught sight of Summers and four soldiers, including Captain Pellew. Shen and Sarah were there too, already in restraints. A look of defeat on their faces. Seeing them only made Calvin more desperate.

  "Hands on your heads," Pellew ordered. He and the others brandished stun weapons; only Summers was unarmed.

  Calvin did as he was told and marched out of the elevator, his hands on his head. They took his wrists and cuffed them behind his back. For a moment he was worried Miles might try to resist and get hurt, but even he knew they couldn't win this fight. Despite all the big talk, Calvin knew Miles wasn't actually stupid.

  "Confine them to quarters," said Summers. Then she gave Calvin a very disapproving shake of her head. "Why did you make me do this?"

  Calvin didn't reply except to look away. This must have upset her because, for whatever reason, she felt the need to whisper "checkmate" under her breath as he passed.

  "You're all a bunch of cowardly mangy dogs," Miles bellowed and they shoved him along. He stuck out his tongue at Summers when he passed.

  "Double guard on that one," Summers snapped. She seemed to enjoy seeing Miles reduced to this.

  Very well, Commander, Calvin thought. You win this round. But the game isn't over...

  Chapter 24

  Summers sat in the command position watching Red Shift closely.

  The tear gas had been cl
eared out and the bridge was again safe to operate. On her left stood Lieutenant Commander Rose who, normally, would have command of this shift. But, given the situation, Summers thought it best she take the deck for now. Either this precaution, or the presence of two soldiers on the bridge, seemed to make Lieutenant Commander Rose nervous and he had a habit of pacing back and forth.

  "Please, sit down, Mister Rose," said Summers. Seeing him anxiously move about made her feel uneasy, even though she knew she had the situation well in hand. Ever since Calvin and his mutineers had been locked away, everything had been calm and uneventful—aside from Miles’ several vain attempts to bribe his doorguards with liquor.

  "Ops, any progress on getting outside communications back online?" she asked. Cassidy spun her chair to face Summers.

  "Maybe," she said. "I figured out what is blocking communications. Someone put a subroutine into our communications software that is causing it to think it's getting hailed over and over when it isn't. I cleared it out but it's in there redundant times. Hopefully," she said spinning back to her console "this is the last time."

  "Keep me informed," said Summers. She turned her attention back to Lieutenant Commander Rose who had taken a seat but somehow managed to look even more uncomfortable.

  "You're not in any trouble," said Summers. "So keep it together. Follow my orders and we'll be back on mission in no time."

  The Lieutenant Commander didn't say anything. He didn't even make eye contact.

  "Mister Rose," Summers raised her voice.

  "Yes, Commander?" He snapped to attention in such a start it seemed his mind had been elsewhere completely.

  "Are you able to perform your duties here?" she asked.

  "Yes, Commander."

  "Then look alive," she debated whether or not she should relieve him. He didn't seem unfit, necessarily. He wasn't tired or intoxicated or anything. Just nervous—a bad trait for the new acting XO to have.

  "I did it, Commander," Cassidy said. "We have outside communication again!" she beamed, obviously thrilled she'd been able to solve the problem. Summers was at least as happy.

  "Excellent work, Midshipman Dupont.”

  Practically the instant communications were restored they received a message from Capital World, this time from the office of Fleet Admiral Tiberon—one of only eleven such admirals, one for each fleet. The lighting in his room seemed a bit unusual, making his face a little harder to see but it was still recognizable. The diamond emblem of his rank gleamed and reminded them all of his absolute authority.

  He kept his message short, expressing concern over their recent loss of communications—a situation Summers assured him was under control—and gave them new orders. Rather than going to Xerxes they were to meet up with the Andromeda and a flotilla of warships. Summers was surprised the Andromeda was deployed this close to their position but was all the happier for it.

  ***

  Calvin felt trapped in his quarters—not just physically, but psychologically also. He mulled over the situation, trying desperately to think of some new strategy he could implement. He thought about challenging his guard, his arms were free now, and Calvin—like all Intel Wing agents—was proficient with a mixture of martial arts. But the armed guard was probably at least as experienced, probably even more so. And should Calvin manage to beat him, what would that buy him? He had nowhere to go; he certainly couldn’t defeat all of Special Forces with his bare hands.

  Another thought he considered was that, should he be able to get to Shen, perhaps they could adjust the navigational software to trick the ship into auto-course-correcting its way to Abia while appearing to still be on course to Xerxes. But he didn’t get too excited about that idea since he had no way to access Shen, no way for Shen to get inside engineering, and no reason to believe such an idea was even possible to implement.

  As much as he hated it, and blamed it, his impulse was to take some equarius. It always had a way of making everything seem better. It could force him to smile for absolutely no reason in even the worst situations... but all the pills had been seized while he was away—and probably for the best. His open safe was as barren as the prison he was destined for. His weapons too, few that they'd been, were gone.

  It was all too frustrating, to the maximum degree, that this was happening to him, on his ship, right when they were so very, very close. Damn the Fleet!

  He was surprised to hear his door open, and even more surprised to see who had entered.

  “I told the guard I had to sweep your room for weapons,” said Captain Pellew.

  Calvin looked at him, his room had already been thoroughly cleaned out. "Why are you really here?"

  Pellew made sure the door was closed before he spoke. "I'm on your side."

  Calvin felt his heart quicken.

  "A lot of us are still on your side, I think."

  Calvin felt a surge of hope but at the same time a hint of suspicion. In his experience, nothing in life came that easily. "Why would you help me?"

  Pellew smiled. "The good of the Empire, right?"

  Calvin didn't say anything.

  "Look, my reasons are my own. But I am offering you help, I suggest you accept it otherwise it may not be offered again.”

  Calvin nodded. Suspicious as he was, he couldn’t afford to be picky.

  "Then we need to figure out how to retake the ship," said Calvin. "Before we get to Xerxes.”

  "Actually we’re on course to rendezvous with a flotilla of warships led by the Andromeda."

  "That's not good,” said Calvin. He wasn't sure why those in command thought meeting the Andromeda was preferable to going to Xerxes, unless the Andromeda was closer. Making it all the more important for them to beat the clock. "How far out are they?"

  "I don't know," said Pellew. "Probably a few hours still. Maybe less."

  Calvin nodded, that made sense. Especially if the Andromeda had been sent after them the minute he declared his intention to go to Abia. "Okay then. How much of Special Forces will side with me if you're behind me?"

  "Six guys. Only a fourth of Special Forces but proven men all. Some of the best.”

  "I see," said Calvin. He was grateful for the newfound help—if they really were on his side. “We have to regain control of the strategic points. If we take the bridge we can lock it out and keep only a skeleton force there, but engineering will be harder to defend. I’m going to need all your men there. As for taking those areas, coordinating two simultaneous strikes would be best.”

  “Yes, though that may not be possible,” said Pellew. “Without freeing your people, or else recruiting more sympathizers from the crew.”

  Calvin nodded. “In the meantime you’d better get some extra weapons so, should we get more help, we can arm people.”

  “I already have a guy on it.”

  “Good. And, if we can, I’d like to avoid causing fatalities. We’ll need non-lethal weapons. Hopefully that will be the Major’s strategy too.”

  “It will be. The Major is a by the book CO and the book is very clear on this. Because the enemy combatants—that’s us—are Imperial citizens, we have to be taken-in as non-violently as possible. If we don’t switch to lead they won’t either. They can’t.”

  The door whisked open again and in stepped Calvin’s door guard.

  "What are you doing here, Simms?" Pellew snapped. "You’re supposed to remain outside. Return to your post now, soldier!"

  "I'm unable, sir."

  "Why?" Pellew asked.

  Simms remained silent. Calvin could think of only one explanation, someone higher up the chain than Pellew had given him contrary orders which he had to obey. Probably he’d reported in that Pellew was secretly visiting Calvin and he’d been sent, by the Major, to see what it was about. Whatever the case may be, he had to be dealt with. Calvin made eye contact with Pellew who seemed to understand.

  "Simms," said Pellew. "You're a good loyal man of the Empire, aren't you?"

  "I am, sir."

&nbs
p; "Then you want to do the right thing and defend it?” asked Pellew. "From threats inside and out?"

  "I do."

  "Then you must realize that what is happening on this ship is very wrong, and that Calvin's command must be restored. And as a good man of the Empire, you have to support him," Pellew squared his shoulders, preparing for the man's reaction—whatever it turned out to be.

  Simms tensed. "As a good man of the Empire I must obey my orders."

  "I respect that," said Pellew. Then, in the blink of an eye, Pellew withdrew his stunner and took a swing at Simms—who blocked it with both arms, knocking it aside.

  Calvin bolted for Simms and exchanged a series of grapples and blows with the man, keeping him from drawing his own stunner.

  Pellew came up from behind and put Simms into a chokehold, slowly increasing the pressure until Simms could no long breath and passed out.

  "I tried to be reasonable," said Pellew, bending over to retrieve Simms' stunner and radio. He tossed them to Calvin then withdrew some thin cables from one of his cargo pockets.

  "There’s no going back now," said Calvin.

  "Had to be done," Pellew said as he dragged Simms across the floor and began cable-tying him to Calvin's desk. "The way I see it, we only have two choices: fight or give up."

  Calvin nodded. “Whatever our next move is, we’d better act quickly.”

  "I’ve already given my men orders, it’s time they execute them.” With that he clicked on the radio and spoke a command into it.” No reply came but Calvin thought that was probably deliberate.

  “So how do you and I factor into this plan?” Calvin asked as he followed Pellew out of his quarters at a brisk jog.

  “We’re going to help take engineering.”

  ***

  Summers was surprised to see two additional Special Forces soldiers step onto the bridge. She was going to greet them but they spoke first. There was something… familiar about them.