The Phoenix Rising (46 page)

“
Yes, I understand,” said
Summers. Knowing that they were about to abandon their
fast-diminishing hiding place. “That is why we must retrieve our
people as quickly as possible.”

“
They are calling for
medical and security teams to meet them at the hatch,” said
Sarah.

“
Comply with all requests,”
said Summers. “ETA to rendezvous?”

“
Two minutes.”

“
Security
?” asked Cassidy. “What are they bringing back with
them?”

Summers was equally baffled. “I suppose
we’ll see.”

***

“
The Nighthawk is on our
scopes again,” said the ops officer. “It’s emerging from the mine
field.”

“
About time they saw
reason,” said Nimoux. By this point over half the minefield had
been destroyed. “Commence capture operations.”

“
Sir, the ship is heading
away from us, not toward us,” said the ops officer. “It’s flying
toward the planet.”

“
Toward the planet?” Nimoux
raised an eyebrow.

“
It is on an intercept
course with a small shuttlecraft.”

“
Ah, so they sent a team
down to the surface,” said Nimoux, wondering what was so important
on that nightmare-infested rock to risk life and limb to see in
person.

“
Apparently so,” said the
ops officer.

“
Now that they’re clear of
the mines, we can use a missile to knock out their engines. Are
they in weapons range?” asked Nimoux.

“
No, sir,” said the defense
officer. “Not even our long-range ordnance can strike them from
this distance. The ship’s stealth system is still engaged and would
prevent a missile lock from this far away. I believe we’re the only
ship in the squadron that can even detect the
Nighthawk.”

“
Very well. Ops, transmit
the coordinates and vector of the Nighthawk to every ship in the
squadron. And keep them updated on the ship’s position.”

“
Aye, sir.”

“
Shall I order the fleet to
converge on the Nighthawk?” asked the pilot.

“
No,” said Nimoux. “Tell
them to hold position. I don’t want to give the ship a window of
escape. Have them continue blocking every alteredspace trajectory
from the planet.”

“
Understood.”

“
And what are our orders,
sir?” asked the defense officer.

“
Ops, can you confirm that
the Nighthawk is a safe distance from the remaining mines?” asked
Nimoux, wanting to be doubly sure.

“
Affirmative.”

“
Good. Destroy the remaining
mines. Let’s deprive the Nighthawk of its hiding place. With the
minefield wiped out, they will have no choice but to surrender or
be destroyed.” Nimoux sincerely hoped Calvin would choose the
former.

***

The elevator door opened and Calvin stormed
out onto the bridge, Miles at his side. Sarah lit up when she saw
him and even Summers, who was sitting at the defense post for some
reason, seemed relieved.

Sarah looked past them, toward the empty
elevator. “Where’s Shen?”

Shen had been rushed to the infirmary, under
heavy guard. Along with the rest of their surviving shore party,
nearly all of whom had sustained injuries requiring immediate
treatment. Calvin had taken several cuts and bruises, and had a
severe headache, but wanted to be nowhere else but the bridge at
this moment. “Shen is in the infirmary,” he said gingerly, not
wanting to create any alarm.

“
Oh my god, is he alright?”
asked Sarah.

Calvin didn’t want to tell her the
truth—that Shen was probably going to die—or worse, transform into
a mindless type one Remorii—so he lied. Now was a critical moment
and he didn’t want Sarah’s, or anyone else’s, judgment to be
compromised. “He’ll be fine.”

“
It’s good to see you in one
piece, Lieutenant,” said Summers. The tiniest smile broke through
on her face.

Calvin nodded, trying not to think of the
hell he’d just gone through. The images of the violent horrors of
Remus Nine were still fresh in his mind, but he pushed them away.
Knowing the experience would probably haunt him the rest of his
life, which wouldn’t be long if he didn’t compartmentalize right
now. It helped being back on the Nighthawk. The one place in the
galaxy that felt like home. “Status report,” he said, taking the
command position.

“
The Desert Eagle and a
squadron of Imperial ships have surrounded the planet,” said
Summers, relinquishing the defense post to Miles, who looked at her
in his chair as if she were an unwanted squatter. Summers walked
over to Calvin and stood by his side. “They can see through our
stealth system unless we hide in the minefield. We hid there until
we heard from you.”

“
Sir, the mine field has
been completely destroyed,” said Cassidy, looking over her ops
console. “It is no longer possible to hide there.”

“
Status of the other ships?”
snapped Calvin.

“
Five warships are in a
containment pattern, blocking alteredspace vectors away from the
planet. Including the Phoenix.”

“
The Phoenix?” asked Calvin
excitedly. He wondered if Anand was in command of that ship. If so,
perhaps his best friend would show him some leniency.

“
Yes, sir. And two other
warships are mobile, the Desert Eagle and the Rhea. They are on an
intercept course with us. Weapons range in eighty
seconds.”

“
Disengage stealth and clear
for action,” said Calvin. If hiding wasn’t an option then fighting
was their only recourse. It didn’t look hopeful, but at least
they’d succeeded in destroying the isotome weapons on Remus Nine.
He wondered briefly if there was a way to get Anand to help him
without making it so obvious that Nimoux had Anand arrested.
Probably not
... For that
matter, Anand might not even be in command of the ship
anymore.

“
Aye, aye,” said Miles. He
sounded general quarters, raised the shields, and began arming
weapons. Calvin strapped in, as did the rest of the bridge
crew.

“
Any sign of the Rotham
fleet?” asked Calvin.

“
No sir. Though they are due
to arrive at any moment,” said Cassidy. “According to our best
estimation.”

“
If we’re lucky, maybe
they’ll arrive right now and throw Nimoux’s squadron into chaos,”
said Calvin, trying to be optimistic—despite the long
odds.

“
If a fleet of thirty Rotham
warships enters the system, no one is escaping alive,” said
Cassidy.

“
I’ll blast every last one
of them to hell,” said Miles. “I ain’t dying here!” Calvin knew
that Cassidy’s assessment was correct, but he was grateful for
Miles’ spirit.

“
Desert Eagle and Rhea are
still closing,” said Cassidy.

“
Sarah, begin evasive
maneuvers. Let’s stay out of their weapons range as long as we
can,” said Calvin.

“
Aye, aye. I can probably
buy us another thirty seconds.”

The view out the window changed as the ship
rotated.

“
Miles, defensive fire only.
I don’t want our weapons to overheat.” Calvin knew this measure
would only buy them some time and ultimately wouldn’t drive the
equally matched Desert Eagle, and the Rhea—whose armament he didn’t
know—away.

“
We are being hailed,” said
Summers. “The Desert Eagle is ordering us to power down our
defenses and surrender.”

“
Ignore them,” said Calvin.
He briefly considered letting them board, wondering if their
chances would be better in a small arms battle but knew, with only
half his garrison and most of the Polarian soldiers dead or
wounded, they’d be quickly overwhelmed.

“
Recommendation,” said
Summers.

“
I’m all ears.”

“
If we try to run the
blockade—”

“
Running the blockade is
suicide
,” interrupted Miles.

Summers talked over him,
sounding annoyed. “
If we fly between the
ISS Spirit and the ISS Phoenix
, we could
outmaneuver the slower Phoenix and possibly only take fire from the
Spirit before we escape.”

“
If we move between any two
ships, they’ll both intercept us together—not even Sarah can get
around that,” said Miles.

“
If these particular ships
both move to intercept us,” said Summers, “they risk
collision.”

“
It’s true,” said Cassidy.
“Only one ship will be able to block us. The likeliest candidate is
the faster Spirit. And our computer estimates a one in two chance
that the Spirit would fail to disable our alteredspace system
before we jump.”

Considering the alternatives were death or
captivity, a one-in-two chance sounded pretty good. “Do it.”

“
Winters
,” said Summers. “Execute contingency plan. Escape vector one
alpha.”

“
Aye, aye,” said Sarah.
Sweat glistened on her forehead and she looked more stressed than
Calvin had ever seen her, but in typical Sarah fashion she remained
graceful and didn’t let the pressure affect her performance of her
duties.

Calvin watched the 3d
display as the Nighthawk soared, aiming for the gap between the
Phoenix and the Spirit.
This is
it.

***

Nimoux stood up as he watched the 3d
display—he could tell what they were doing. The Nighthawk was
attempting to run the blockade, maneuvering between the Spirit and
the Phoenix. It wouldn’t work.

“
Order the Spirit and the
Phoenix to intercept the Nighthawk,” said Nimoux. “Do
not
let it slip through
our formation.”

“
Sir, if both ships move to
intercept they risk collision,” said the ops officer. So that was
what Calvin was hoping... a very desperate tactic indeed. No
matter, nothing a little patience couldn’t handle.

“
Order the Spirit to
intercept,” said Nimoux. “Tell the Phoenix and the rest of the
squadron to hold position.” It was tempting to throw everything at
the Nighthawk, and would probably work, but was a less sure plan
than the more restrained procedure of blocking the ship’s escape
and then slowly and methodically lassoing it in.

“
Aye, sir,” said the pilot.
He relayed the order.

Nimoux kept a sharp eye on the 3d display.
Watching the blip that was the Spirit mobilize to intercept the
blip that was Nighthawk. Unexpectedly, the Phoenix mobilized too.
“What the—?“

“
Sir, the Phoenix does not
acknowledge the order,” said the pilot.

Nimoux’s first thought was that the Phoenix
hadn’t heard them. “Repeat order.”

“
The Phoenix is not
complying,” said the pilot.

“
I confirm that,” said the
ops officer. “The Phoenix is on an intercept course with the
Nighthawk.”

“
Communications
malfunction?” asked Nimoux.

“
No, sir,” said the ops
officer. Communication was received.

“
It’s like... they’re just
ignoring us,” said the pilot.

***

“
Both the ISS Spirit and the
ISS Phoenix have mobilized to intercept,” said Cassidy.

“
Those
idiots
, they’ll crash into each other,”
said Miles. “Bully for us, I guess.”

Calvin frowned and watched the blips move on
the 3d display. Something was wrong. He knew Nimoux better than
that. He’d never order his ships onto a collision course with each
other—especially when such action was unnecessary to contain the
Nighthawk. The Spirit alone had decent chances of stopping them.
Was Anand putting himself in danger to assist Calvin? Or was there
something else going on? Something up Nimoux’s sleeve?

“
Stay the course,” said
Calvin.

“
Aye, sir,” said
Sarah.

“
Weapons range in ten
seconds,” said Cassidy.

“
All weapons standing by,”
said Miles. “Ready to intercept incoming flak. Shields at
maximum.”

“
Let’s see if that’s even
necessary,” said Summers.

All free eyes were glued to the 3d display
as the Spirit and the Phoenix approached each other rapidly. Should
the two meet it would be a spectacular collision that would, at the
very least, destroy the Spirit and do severe damage to the Phoenix.
It would also be the sloppiest navy incident Calvin had ever
witnessed...

“
The Spirit and Phoenix are
both bringing weapons to bear,” reported Cassidy. “Proximity to
each other... fifty kilometers and closing.”

When the ships were literally on top of each
other on the 3d display—only about a kilometer apart—the Spirit
aborted and gave way to the Phoenix, which flew onward,
unflinching. Clearly willing to smash through its ally if
necessary. A move Calvin did not understand. He wondered if there
was a breakdown in the squadron’s command chain—perhaps the
different captains coming to different conclusions on how best to
deal with the Nighthawk. Even if that was so, Nimoux undoubtedly
had the overall command. So all Calvin could think was that this
was Anand’s strange way of helping him. If so, he was lucky his
best friend had been somewhat sloppily assigned to the taskforce
meant to bring him in.