The Phoenix Darkness (55 page)

“The Forum is at an impasse. Both the Primary
and the Secondary appear to have garnered significant support,” she
said into the mic. “And there are other voices too to which the
Forum is listening. I request instructions on how to proceed. I do
not wish to act against your wishes. As things are progressing
here, I believe your suspicions have proven correct.” She waited,
uncertain if the Master would reply. If not, at least she had
communicated to the Master her desire to serve the Master’s
will.

“It was not difficult to predict,” came the
reply in that same disguised voice. “All signs were there.”

Captain Valentine felt a rush of anxiety as
she always did when speaking to the Master. “If things continue to
go as they are, there may be conflict.”

“There
will
be conflict; it is
inevitable. But the conflict will be swift,” said the Master.
“Understand I favor the Primary over the Secondary in this
conflict. Those other voices will soon prove irrelevant. Be ready
and see to it my wishes are fulfilled.”

“Yes, of course,” said Captain Valentine. It
was not the response she had expected from the Master, but then
again she had not known what to expect. “If I might trouble the
Master with one question…?”

“Ask.”

“Why does the Master prefer the Primary over
the Secondary?”

“The words of the Secondary are air of the
wind and shall be made swiftly irrelevant. Only the Primary
matters. I favor the primary. Make the arrangements.”

“It will be done,” said Captain Valentine,
knowing this request would be difficult to fulfill, but not
impossible. The transmission ended and she rushed to unlock the
cockpit, desperate to see to it that the Master’s arrangements were
dutifully fulfilled before it was too late.

***

The moment had arrived. White Rook stepped
forward to announce her judgment.
With any luck, she will choose
wisely
, thought Raidan.
If she does, a lot of chaos and
bloodshed can be avoided
.

“I have heard the arguments,” White Rook’s
voice boomed through the concourse. “I have listened patiently.
Captain Asari Raidan suggests we make a bold move. Mira Pellew asks
for one even bolder. The Group Leaders seem divided on the issue.
And now it falls to me, the leader of our Organization, to decide.
And I say…it is too risky!”

Raidan felt like he’d been punched in the
gut. After all the diplomacy, the speeches, and the attempts at
persuasion, White Rook was still going to insist on making things
as hard and as painful as possible.

“We shall aid Kalila Akira in her battles,
but that is all we shall do,” continued White Rook. “That is all we
can
do.”

Mira Pellew gave Raidan a dark look, and he
saw the corner of her lip was slightly raised, as if she fought a
smile.
Of course she’s happy
, he thought. This was the
outcome she'd wanted all along.

“Well?” she asked, expectantly as White Rook
continued her speech—advocating for her strategy which would
certainly lead to failure and defeat.

Raidan nodded. It was time; there was no
longer any choice. He raised his hand, palm open, and then quickly
clenched it into a fist, signaling his men. Mira took several steps
away from him and signaled her people too. Hers acted first.

The sound of muffled gunshots echoed in the
concourse, and the honor guards surrounding White Rook each dropped
to the ground simultaneously, dead from sniper fire. White Rook
stopped speaking and looked panicked. There was a collective gasp
and then chaotic chattering filled the concourse.

Raidan’s soldiers surrounded White Rook and
grabbed her by the arms, dragging her away.

“The time has come,” said Raidan, raising the
volume on his microphone to maximum, so he could be heard over the
chaotic panic. “For
new
leadership of this Organization. For
strong leadership. Leadership which will end this war and save this
Empire! I have…” he stopped as he heard another gunshot, this one
not expected. It took White Rook in the head and she fell limp in
Raidan’s soldiers’ arms. They looked as confused as he was. Then
more gunshots followed, and Raidan’s soldiers, who were there to
escort White Rook away, safely to her internment, began to
fall.

Raidan looked to Mira, who had sprinted quite
a distance away. She was giving instructions to her men around her
while her snipers had opened fire on Raidan’s people. She’d turned
on him the instant he ceased to be useful to her, just as he’d
always suspected.

Raidan drew his handgun, pointed it in Mira’s
direction and fired, snapping off three quick shots. He took one of
her men in the leg, but the other two missed.

He heard a whistle zip past him and he
realized he himself was under fire, no doubt from those damn
snipers. He retreated a few steps before his men grabbed him,
surrounded him, and began escorting him away from the concourse,
trying to get him to safety. As he left the room, he heard Mira
addressing the crowd, which was obviously panicked and
confused.

“Today is the day the Organization ceases to
be weak! Today we are reborn. Strong, under my leadership. Under
our new flagship, the
Harbinger
. That ship shall lead and
all of you shall follow and together we will end this war!”

On top of the yelling and screaming, Raidan
actually heard some cheering. Then he was out of the room and in
the corridor. He and his men were sprinting toward the nearest
hangar, where he knew two shuttles were waiting. They met up with
Tristan on the way.

“Are the shuttles prepped?” asked Raidan.

“I only had time to prep one of them before
those gunshots happened,” the Lycan replied. “For additional
security, I have your name registered to the other one, but we’re
taking the shuttle I prepped.”

“Good thinking,” said Raidan, though he
doubted Mira would fall for such a ruse. The shuttles would be the
most vulnerable part of this, being unarmed small transports, but
Mira suffered from the same vulnerability, as she no doubt sped
toward her own shuttles.

“Did you contact the ship?” asked Raidan.

“Yes, sir,” said Tristan, pulling out a
handheld short range transmitter.

“Tell the men
Omega Protocol
is in
place. They are to turn their weapons on Mira’s people and
eliminate them. No quarter will be asked or given.”

***

Mira raced to get to the
Harbinger
before Raidan. She knew whoever took control of the
Harbinger
’s Bridge would control the ship, and whoever
controlled the ship, which was the
de facto
flagship of the
Organization, would be seen by the other Group Leaders as the new
power inside the Organization.

That person, she had it on excellent
authority, would be the one to step in and fill the vacuum left by
White Rook’s capture. Raidan was racing her there, she knew. That
damned old fool would ruin all of her plans if he could. She would
not let him, which was why she’d made proper arrangements to ensure
her success and his failure. With any luck, had her people come
through for her, Raidan would not even make it back to the ship at
all. But, failing that, she’d left a great many of her people
aboard the
Harbinger
, had swung much of its crew to her
side, and been using her network of influence for months to steer
these arrangements this direction.

She’d licked a finger and tested the winds
and knew a change of leadership was coming. Just as she’d been
assured by the one at the top, the real source of power behind the
Organization, that White Rook would have to be removed, and in her
absence there would be new, better, stronger leadership. Leadership
which, through brutal but necessary tactics, could end the civil
war and thereby save the Empire. Mira had always known the best
person to do that job was herself and she’d be damned if she let
Raidan, who had proven as cowardly and as conservative as White
Rook, beat her to the punch.

I will prevail
, she told herself as
her shuttle left the asteroid and made a beeline for the
Harbinger
’s docking bay. I must prevail.
The future of
humanity depends on me
.

It was an old cliché that a person must break
a few eggs to make an omelet. She had never particularly cared for
the metaphor, but it would prove true, once she took the reins of
the Organization. There would be sacrifices, and humans who would
be forced to suffer and die. But it was to prove a point to the
Empire; it would be for the greater good and from their sacrifice
she would bring back the unity the Empire so desperately needed.
History might remember her as a bloody maniac, but Mira would
always know the truth behind her actions. She was the savior of the
Empire, the only one willing to act when all others stood idly by
awaiting their dark fates.

The first sacrifice would necessarily be
Raidan himself. He'd proven a useful ally for a time, but now his
usefulness to her had ended and he remained her only rival. He
stood in the way of progress and so would have to be eliminated,
immediately.

“Coming up on the docking bay,” said her
pilot. “Putting in a request to dock.”

“Hurry up,” she said. “Time is of the
essence!”

***

“Almost there, almost there,” said Raidan,
watching the
Harbinger
loom large out the window. “Can’t you
make this damn thing go any faster?”

“I’m flying her as fast as I can, sir,” said
the pilot.

Raidan looked out each of the windows,
frustrated he couldn’t see Mira’s shuttles anywhere. He worried
she’d arrived first. In every direction, all he could see were
stars, the
Harbinger
, and his second shuttle, which also
soared fast toward the
Harbinger
right off their starboard
flank.

“Once we get there,” said Raidan to Tristan.
“We’ll need to affirm control of the ship. That means the Bridge
and Engineering, at the very least. If we control those, we control
the
Harbinger
. And if we control the
Harbinger
…”

“We control the Organization,” said
Tristan.

“Exactly,” said Raidan. With White Rook gone
there was a momentary vacuum of power, but Raidan knew the other
Group Leaders and understood they followed strength. Now the only
symbol of strength which remained was the
Harbinger
itself,
and he and Mira had both cast themselves as the new leader of the
Organization. Only one of them would prove to be right.

“We’ll have to split up then, at first,” said
Tristan. “I’ll take a team and you take a team. With any luck we’ll
run into a lot of friendlies along the way.”

“We’d better,” said Raidan, counting on his
loyal crew to remain loyal, even though he knew Mira and her
followers had made deep inroads among the people who served aboard
the
Harbinger
. Enough so, Raidan had to give bribes and make
threats to some of the most influential officers in order to retain
their loyalty. No doubt Mira had done the same thing.

“Whoever takes Engineering can do a clean
sweep of it, lock it down, and then go to the Bridge to reinforce
the other team,” suggested Tristan.

“I agree,” said Raidan. “And let’s not
forget, Mira Pellew will be at one of those two locations if she
made it aboard the ship first, which I suspect she has. If we can
take her out, or capture her, then this little insurrection will be
put to bed once and for all.”

“She’ll be at the Bridge,” said Tristan. “The
Bridge is the symbol of command; that’s where she will gravitate.
It’s her nature.”

“It is her nature,” agreed Raidan, though he
was not entirely convinced. It was also Mira’s nature to be
unpredictable.

“In that case, we should both rush the
Bridge, together, and take her out. With her gone, we won’t need
Main Engineering; her people will be forced to give in. You know,
chop the head off the snake and all that.”

It did sound like a good plan. But it was
exactly the sort of plan Mira would be expecting. “She could very
well be in Main Engineering,” said Raidan.

Tristan looked doubtful.

“Think about it. She knows we expect her to
be on the Bridge. She’s not the type to put herself in the way of
bullets she knows are coming. Instead, she could be sealing Main
Engineering
right now
and rallying the rest of the crew
loyal to her, gathering an army in the lower decks.” The more he
thought about it, the more convinced he was that was her game.

“I suppose it is possible,” said Tristan.

“You have to take Engineering,” said Raidan.
“Let me deal with the Bridge.”

“I’ll take Engineering and seal it off; after
that I’ll race to the Bridge to support you. Hopefully, you’ll have
it well in hand.”

“Don’t worry,” said Raidan, feeling
determined as hell. “I
will
.”

There was a bright flash out the starboard
window, vanishing almost as quickly as it appeared. Raidan looked
out the window; they all did. The second shuttle was gone, leaving
behind a spray of debris. Some of it slammed into their
shuttle.

“God damn her,” said Raidan, thinking about
the dozen men of his who had been on that shuttle. “We registered
my name to that shuttle, so she wired a bomb to it. Honestly, that
was sloppy of her; she should have seen through the ruse and bombed
this shuttle instead.”

“She
did
wire a bomb to this shuttle,”
said Tristan, pulling out ignition wires from his pockets. “I
disabled the damn thing, but it was there. Still is, actually.”

She was proving to be one step ahead in
everything; in the concourse, her snipers managed to take out half
the men in Raidan’s delegation and very nearly Raidan himself. And
now she’d wired bombs to the shuttles, one of which had
successfully wiped out more of her competition. Raidan wondered
what surprise she had for him next and found himself deeply worried
that, despite his campaign of bribes and threats, she had somehow
swayed the majority of the crew against him.