The Phoenix Rising (2 page)

“
Planetary forces have
locked onto the Black Swan and are powering up to fire,” reported
Adrienne. “Should I disable them?”

“
Absolutely not,” said the
commander. “If the Black Swan comes any closer we could lose the
station. Begin—”

“
The station’s shields have
just gone offline. Defense batteries are no longer
responding.
We’re unable to
fire
.”

“
What?
”

“
I don’t understand
it
,” Adrienne fought her controls. “It’s
like they were there one minute and now… they’re just
gone.”

“
Sabotage!”

A new alarm sounded. Pieter
ran to an auxiliary station and got a report from it. “Hull
breaches on decks three, six, and nine. We’re losing air.
Fast
.”

“
All sentry ships
destroyed,” said Adrienne.

“
Oh, God
...” said the commander. “There were hundreds of people on
those ships.”

“
And now the Black Swan is
firing on the planet!” said Adrienne.

Out the window they could see the
death-black ship raining down missiles and rockets at the most
urban hub of the planet’s surface.

“
That’s the Government
Center!”

Like an unyielding storm, countless heavy
ordnance poured down toward the planet’s surface. Impacting with
such severe destruction, the signs of it could even be seen from
orbit.

“
Do we have anything that
can intercept those weapons?” asked the commander.

“
No, sir,” said Pieter. “Not
anymore.”

“
Adrienne, send out a
general distress call to Fleet Command. Tell them we’re under
attack. Pieter, sound the evacuation. Then let’s get the hell out
of here!”

“
The Black Swan has targeted
the station!” yelled Adrienne.

An instant later the station lost power.
Everything went black. Pieter was thrown over his console as
something collided with the station and gravity went offline. In
the dim light shining through the window, he could make out the
commander’s figure. He was floating motionless—passed out or dead.
As for Adrienne, she managed to hold onto her desk, sort of half
afloat, knuckles white.

Out the window the Black Swan had turned its
attention to the station and faced it, like the harbinger of doom,
blank and expressionless. It was like staring into the soulless
eyes of the grim reaper. And, in that moment, as tiny missiles and
rockets could be seen fast approaching the station, a calm came
over him. “Goodbye, Adrienne,” he said.

He let out a deep breath and embraced the
inevitable.

Chapter 2

Gemini was an interesting place. As a member
of Intel Wing, Calvin had travelled all over the empire and done
missions in both Polarian and Rotham space—usually without the
knowledge of the other sovereign states. But he’d never been to
Gemini, despite its proximity to the Imperial border, nor had he
seen any place quite like it.

It was a red star system with only five
planets, most of which were gas giants. The only planet that had
been able to support life, Gemini Two, no longer could. Its once
precious resources had been so severely mined that the planet had
been rendered uninhabitable during the extraction process. Its
atmosphere was almost totally gone now and, with the exception of
microbial life, everything biological had died off, leaving behind
a barren husk of what had once been a spectacular world.

It hadn’t been lost in vain, though. The
resources taken from the depths of Gemini Two had helped enrich an
otherwise poor Polarian nation. Now, in a display that seemed to
Calvin as clever as it had been unnecessary, the inhabitants of
Gemini Two had built huge, interconnecting space platforms, forming
thousands of cities in close orbit. The web of structures, which
could be detached individually and moved around via propulsion
systems, couldn’t support the same population the planet once had,
in the billions, but it nevertheless was home to some three million
people. Making it the most sophisticated array of orbiting
structures in the galaxy. Not even the empire, with its superior
wealth and technological prowess, had ever assembled something even
remotely similar to the Gemini conglomerate. Reminding Calvin that
even though the Polarians were often dismissed as a superstitious,
quarrelsome, backwards people, they were still the architects
behind some of the galaxy’s most impressive innovations. And should
not be dismissed lightly. Their war fleets were some of the
fiercest and, even though they mostly kept to their own kind, when
they chose to enter a conflict they did so with passion and
commitment that neither humans nor Rotham seemed to understand.

To whatever extent the Polarians had become
involved in the Phoenix Ring, or Raidan’s mysterious Organization,
was a cause for concern. And certainly something Calvin owed to
himself, and the empire, to investigate thoroughly. But, since he
was a guest at Gemini, and Polarian resources were being spent for
his benefit—on the tab of The Organization—Calvin had no choice but
to place a cautious trust in the Polarians of Gemini. And hope that
such trust, which was ultimately in Raidan, had not been misplaced.
Calvin wasn’t sure how far he could trust Raidan, but one thing was
abundantly clear—there was something foul and corrupt that had
taken hold in the empire, and Raidan, at least, seemed to be on the
side fighting it. With few other allies to turn to, Calvin had
little choice but to throw in his lot with Raidan and his
organization. At least for now.

“
Repairs are continuing
without a hitch,” said Sarah from behind him. Calvin turned away
from the window overlooking the red star to face her. The young
woman, who was both Calvin’s friend and the senior pilot of the
Nighthawk, seemed out of place delivering him this news. Normally
such a report would have come from Shen, Calvin’s chief of
operations, but Shen was still undergoing treatment for burn
injuries and hadn’t returned to active duty. Since Calvin had
procrastinated selecting a replacement for Shen at ops, the duty of
overseeing repairs had fallen to Sarah. One of a handful of people
Calvin trusted with his life.

“
Thank you, Sarah. Is there
an estimate on when they’ll be finished?”

“
Another day should be
enough.”

“
That’s good.” Upon arrival,
Calvin had dismissed his crew and allowed them to disburse onto
Gemini Station. He’d left a rotating skeleton crew of people he
trusted to keep an eye on the repairs, but the rest were free to
enjoy the services of the station and let their hair down. After
the terrors they’d experienced in Abia, this short respite was the
least he could do for them.

Like most of the crew, Calvin had boarded
the station and taken up temporary quarters. He’d barely left them
during the past few days and had spent most of his time in
contemplation. Trying to make sense of the situation he was in. And
struggling to decide, among a list of applicants recommended by
Raidan, which officers and civilians he would bring aboard the
Nighthawk to replace the staff he’d lost in the battle of Abia. In
addition to those who’d chosen to leave him and return to the
empire. Washing their hands of his sins.

“
I still don’t like the idea
of these aliens having their way with the Nighthawk,” said Sarah.
“I don’t trust them.”

“
I understand,” he said.
Even though her comment sounded racist, Calvin knew better. Sarah
didn’t mistrust the Polarians because they were aliens—though the
Polarians’ withdrawn nature and spiritualism did give them an air
of mystery. Rather it was more an issue of trust in general. Their
own leaders had been willing to sacrifice them. And they’d all
watched the Imperial Fifth Fleet fire on its own ships, killing
thousands of innocents. And strangest of all they’d experienced
rescue by the very person they’d been tasked with hunting down and
eliminating. So now everything was a disorienting jumble of
upside-down and inside-out, and Calvin didn’t blame Sarah for
having reservations. He had several himself.

After rescuing them, Raidan had divulged
much to Calvin, when pressed, but still withheld secrets—Calvin
could tell—and now the mysterious renegade had disappeared once
again. The moment their convoy had arrived at Gemini, Raidan had
deposited Calvin’s wounded onto the station, sent along a
message—including a strongly worded request for Calvin to hunt
after some lost ship known as the Arcane Storm, and then Raidan and
his stolen vessel, the mighty Harbinger, jumped away. Never
communicating where he was going or why it was so urgent. Just that
he regretted having to leave Calvin so soon but assured him he was
“in good hands.” Leaving Calvin at the mercy of the supposedly
trustworthy Gemini personnel, and of course the equally secretive
Tristan. The lycanthropic Remorii who allegedly was there to help
Calvin. The only person Calvin knew—if one could accurately call
him a person—who could contact Raidan. So Calvin couldn’t dispense
with him. Even though he hated Remorii. And would never forgive
them for what had happened to Christine.

“
They might not have earned
your trust yet,” said Calvin, “so it’s okay not to trust them
completely. You don’t have to trust anyone who hasn’t earned it.”
He knew she’d take his comment to mean the Polarians, but it was
Tristan he thought of.

“
I’m sorry, Cal. I didn’t
mean to sound so pessimistic. I just…” Sarah fumbled for
words.

“
It’s alright. No one is
that comfortable with the hand we’ve been dealt. But we have to
make the best of it and let the chips fall where they may.” He
glanced at the clock and let out a nervous sigh. “Go on, it’s
almost time.”

“
Aren’t you
coming?”

“
Yes,” he said. “But I have
something to take care of first. I’ll meet you at the terminals
with the others.”

“
Alright, Calvin. See you
there.” She gave him an earnest look, trying to appear supportive
and hopeful, but he could see through it. She was tired and
confused. To her credit though, despite the exhaustion deep in her
eyes, she was sticking by him. And for that he was
grateful.

Once she left, he went to the communication
terminal and made an important call—one that had been on his mind
all day. Because he was aboard the Gemini Station he couldn’t
encrypt the message, so he was careful not to divulge too much.

“
I need to see you,” said
Calvin. “
Immediately
.”

“
Yes, sir,” replied Rafael
Te Santos, one of Calvin’s junior officers. He clearly had no idea
what this was about.

“
Go to the Nighthawk, I’ll
meet you there.” It was the only place Calvin could be sure wasn’t
bugged by the Organization. Supposedly they didn’t run Gemini; it
was an independent system belonging to the Polarian Confederacy.
But the fact that Raidan had brought them here, and seemed to have
tremendous clout and resources in this place—enough to order the
secret repair of the Nighthawk—was evidence that the mysterious
Organization had plenty of eyes and ears here. And the conversation
he intended to have with Rafael was one he didn’t want them to
overhear—for Rafael’s own safety. For that matter, no one else
could be allowed to hear what he had to say.

“
I can be there in five
minutes,” said Rafael.

“
Good. I’ll see you
soon.”

Chapter 3

Calvin arrived to find the drydock emptier
than he’d expected. The massive doors on the ceiling, which opened
into space, were sealed tight and several dozen crews of Polarian
engineers were tirelessly at work on the two ships and several
shuttles parked on the gargantuan deck. Some of the other craft had
been carved open, exposing their dark recesses and naked wiring
structures, but Calvin had eyes for only one ship.

The IWS Nighthawk sat very still, like a
sleeping black falcon. Its contours—which had been burned and
beaten during the fight in Abia—had been almost completely mended.
Some of the patchwork on the outer hull was obvious, in places the
sleek black metal had been replaced by grey or silver, but most of
the scars were gone. And the ship looked about how Calvin felt.
Reinvigorated and ready to charge back into the melee. Being cooped
up here, on this alien station, was uncomfortable and unsettling.
The ship and Calvin both belonged out in the stars.

“
Good to see you, sir,” said
one of Calvin’s officers. He looked exhausted. Sweat drenched him
and his skin was bright red, except for a streak of oil across his
face. He was one of a handful of engineers from the Nighthawk that
Calvin had left to oversee the repair operation.

“
Likewise,” said Calvin. “I
trust everything is going well?”

“
Yes, sir. Repairs are going
as scheduled.”

“
And our...” Calvin lowered
his voice. “
Friends
. Have they cooperated?” He check to make sure the nearest
Polarian was outside earshot. The thickly muscled, tall,
blue-skinned aliens looked out of place in maintenance uniforms.
They just didn’t seem to fit the engineering stereotype.

“
Yes, sir, they have
cooperated to the letter.”

“
And have they done anything
suspicious?”

“
Pardon my asking but, what
do you mean, sir?” the officer looked curious.